gent Ye Ee oe, Se ee he ge ee 
EN SUS LS a era er ne. 2, ee a, Sue ee 
ete | 
eee 
Life and Character of Nathaniel Bowditch. 33 
vince our young men that political life is not the only road to 
eminence, nor the only adequate and honorable sphere for the 
exercise and display of their talents. For affording us this evi- 
dence, his memory deserves to be honored, and his tiie dp. be 
held in everlasting remembrance. Agee! 
wditch was a remarkably domestic man. Bis affections 
clustered around his own fireside, ¢ ne 
? 
last moments. His attachn cde to home, and to its calm and 
simple pleasures was, ireleidy one of the most beautiful traits in 
his character, and one which his children and friends will look 
back upon with the greatest satisfaction. As Sir Thomas More 
says of himself, “he devoted the little time which he could 
spare from his avocations abroad, to his family, and spent it in lit- 
tle innocent and endearing conversations with his wife and chil- 
dren; which, though some might think them trifling amusements, 
he-placed among the necessary duties and business of life ; it being 
incumbent on every one to make himself as agreeable as possible 
to those whom nature ‘has made, or he nat has singled out 
for, his companions in life.”*— 
His time was divided. between bis olfiee and his shisase : and 
- that must have been a strong*attraction, indeed, that could aie 
him into company. When at home, his time was spent in his 
library, which he loved to have considered as the family parlor. 
By very early rising, in winter two hours before the light, “long 
ere the sound of any bell awoke men to labor or to devotion,” 
and ‘in summer,” like Milton, “as oft with the bird that first 
rises or not much tardier,” he was enabled to accomplish much 
before others were Stirring. iTS these morning — he used 
ears “Lam ir € bte d for ailmyn 
42 : mS Ste z ey 
a «Dum foris totum fariad dien alta impertior, <ciapiee mis, relinquo wibi, ee 
est literis, nihil. Nempe, reverso domum, cum-uxore fabulandum est, garriendum 
cum liberis, colloguendum cum ministris. Que ego omnia inter negotia numero, 
quando fieri necesse est, (necesse est autem nisi — esse dori tue potegeinaa) et 
danda omnino opera est, ut quos vite tue co mites 
aut ipse delegisti, his ut te quam jucundissimum compares.” "—Preface to Utopia. 
+ He ney literally apply to himself the apology of the great Roman orator, 
¥ Quare quis andem > me repr ndat, aut quis mihi jure succenseat, si quantum 
obeundas, quantum d festos dies ludorum celebrandos, quantum 
ad alias voluptates, et ad ¢ ag i et corporis conceditur temporis ; 
quantum alii tribuunt tempestivis conviviis ; ; quantum ae alex, quantum pee 
tantum mihi egomet ad hee studia recolenda sumpsero 
Vou. XX XV.—No. 1. 
