xliv 



bountiful both of his time and knowledge. The young student 

 was encouraged to repeat his visits by the manifest delight which 

 Mr. Pickering always took in imparting useful information. An- 

 noying applications for his patronage in matters of a dubious char- 

 acter were, perhaps, unavoidable, and these would sometimes be 

 intruded upon hours which should have been sacred to his repose 

 and recreation.* 



We now pass to the fourth class, comprehending Mr. Picker- 

 ing's writings and labors in the cause of ancient learning. We 

 have seen his constant devotion to the Greek and Roman classics. 

 The Hebrew and other Oriental languages cdso engaged his pro- 

 found attention. A competent knowledge of the original lan- 

 guages of the Bible he considered indispensable to the theologian. 

 He says, too, of the Hebrew, speaking of Harvard College, that, 

 " with a view to general philology, the student's labors will find as 

 rich a reward in the study of this ancient and curiously formed 

 language, as in any one dialect of the tongues spoken by man." 

 And he wished to see more attention paid to this study in all our 

 colleges.f It was his earnest desire through life, to diffuse the 

 love, promote the study, and raise the standard of classical learning 

 in our country. We can here take only a brief notice of his prin- 

 cipal efforts for the promotion of Greek literature. 



Mr. Pickering, while he was in Europe, wrote to a member 

 of the college government at Cambridge, proposing, among other 

 improvements, "the adoption of uniformity in grammars and other 

 elementary books at the University." This, whether from his 

 suggestion or not, was soon after carried into execution by the 

 selection of Adam's Latin Grammar and the Gloucester Greek 



• Note D. t Note E. 



