Ixx 



means of earning money. He gave much of his time to its generous culture. 

 From the walks of practice he ascended to the heights of jurisprudence, em- 

 bracing within his observation the systems of other countries. His contributions 

 to this department illustrate the spirit and extent of his inquiries." 



Thus was the law the laborious as well as honorable business of Mr. Pick- 

 ering's life. Literature, however intently pursued, was his amusement, his de- 

 lightful recreation. And this he enjoyed chiedy at home in the midst of his 

 family. Besides the fine law library at his office, he had at his house a large 

 miscellaneous one of choice books which gratified his highest wishes. But his 

 love for books did not seclude him from society or from domestic enjoyment. The 

 claims of hospitality as well as of his family were sacredly regarded by him ; and 

 when these encroached on hours which he had assigned to some favorite pursuit, 

 the early morning and the late evening would find him redeeming the time which 

 had been cheerfully given to the duties of social and domestic life. His extraordi- 

 nary faculty of abstraction, the readiness with which his mind could turn from one 

 subject to another, his unwearied industry, and a peculiarly calm and happy tem- 

 perament, all united in enabling him to accomplish what he did in the conflicting 

 pursuits of literature and the law. 



Note D. Page xliv. 



It is not easy to give a just impression of the variety and extent of Mr. Pick- 

 ering's kind and gratuitous services. At the moment the writer was engaged upon 

 this part of his subject, he received a letter from a friend, now a distinguished 

 author, containing the following grateful acknowledgment of assistance afforded 

 to himself. " Mr. Pickering," he observes, " was in my eye the model of a high- 

 bred, courtly, and refined gentleman, — profound, yet unpretending. I have gath- 

 ered much wisdom from his lips, as well as his writings ; the first compositions I 

 ever put to press were revised by him." Many an author has been ready to ac- 

 knowledge much more than this, and with equal pleasure. Mr. Pickering might 

 have justly applied to himself the remark which he made of his friend, Mr. Du 

 Ponceau, that, if he had been ambitious to claim all that he was entitled to, " he 

 might in numberless instances have said, in the spirit of the Roman poet, — Hoi 

 ego versiculos feci ; tulit alter Jiono7'es." 



