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only of enriching others and paying the debt which every scholar 

 owes to humanity and learning. The Monthly Anthology, the 

 North American, the Neio York, the American Quarterly Reviews, 

 and the Annals of Education, with other periodicals, as well as 

 the daily journals, were honored by the productions of his pen, — 

 productions which, however occasional in their purpose or origin, 

 possess that intrinsic merit which gives them a permanent interest, 

 and entitles them to preservation in some durable form. We trust 

 that in due time they will be gathered up and presented to the 

 world in a manner, and with a biography, worthy of the author. 



In all Mr. Pickering's zeal for ancient literature, he never lost 

 sight of his native tongue. He loved the Greek authors ardently 

 for their incomparable excellence, but he valued them the more 

 highly as being the best models of writing to the English scholar. 

 The purity and improvement of the English language in America 

 engaged his early attention. During his residence in England, 

 he began the practice of noting Americanisms and expressions of 

 doubtful authority, and as he continued the practice after his re- 

 turn, the collection so swelled under his hands, that he was induced 

 to prepare them for publication, and, in 1815, completed the Vo- 

 cabulary, which formed the first of his learned communications 

 to the American Academy. He afterwards republished it, with 

 additions, for general use ; and though he regarded it but as a 

 beginning, yet it was a work of long and patient labor, for which 

 he deserves the gratitude of every American scholar. The work 

 attracted attention even in Germany, where portions of it were 

 translated and published. With its preface and introductory essay, 

 it has served to guard the purity of our language and literature.* 



* Note H. 

 g 



