VISIT TO EUROPE: RESIDENCE IN LONDON. 141 



departments. I had already arranged my money concerns 

 with the great American banker of that day, Samuel Wil- 

 liams, Esq., of Finsbury Square, a nephew of Col. Timothy 

 Pickering, by whom I was responsibly introduced ; and the 

 funds which I brought were deposited with him, a well- 

 known, exact, and reliable man, of few words, but of many 

 good deeds of kind service. 



A stranger in London, and a novice in its business 

 affairs, I did not feel safe in proceeding without mature 

 and wise counsel. For this purpose I obtained an intro- 

 duction to William Nicholson, a veteran in science, and an 

 author and journalist of high reputation. I called on him 

 at his residence in Soho Square, and was personally intro- 

 duced by a friend. My calls were repeated several times, 

 and I was present at one of his conversazioni. Nicholson 

 was an instrument-maker. I found this distinguished man 

 very affable and kind; and having explained to him my 

 object in coming to London, he entered into my views with 

 great readiness, and would not permit me to apologize for 

 the call. He said, on the contrary, that he had always 

 made it a principle to aid, as far as possible, every worthy 

 effort, and to impart to inquirers all the information in his 

 power. In this course he said, morever, that he had re- 

 ceived his reward in the great readiness which he found in 

 others to aid him in turn. Such liberal sentiments relieved 

 any embarrassment which I might have felt, and I hope 

 his sentiments have not been lost upon me, as an example. 

 Mr. Nicholson survived these interviews about fifteen years, 

 and the world was a loser when he died. In my published 

 journal of travels in England, I have recorded that he bore 

 a strong resemblance to the late President Dwight, both 

 in person and in the features of his mind. In his commu- 

 nications he was, like him, copious, flowing, lucid, and 

 courteous, bearing upon the given topic with great energy 

 and scope of thought, ready on almost every subject, and 

 pouring a full stream from a fountain so much more full 

 and ample that it was never exhausted. 



