366 LIFE OF BENJAMIN SILLIMAN. 



of inquiries, and quite ready to impart information." I had 

 seen him on several occasions before, and was first intro- 

 duced to him by the Hon. Rufus King, in his office, in 

 January 1804, in New York, when I was preparing to visit 

 Europe. Mr. Brooks I had seen in New Haven, with Mr. 

 Everett, when he came on as our orator. Mr. Paine I had 

 long known. Mr. Isaac P. Davis was an old and warm- 

 hearted friend, with a great disposition and equal power to 

 be useful to me. The interlude of the visit of these gentle- 

 men was therefore very agreeable, and broke up a little 

 the monotony of my life in Nantucket. 



The Nantucket gentlemen being desirous to honor these 

 eminent visitors arranged a walk about the town and its 

 environs, for Saturday morning, September 19. A com- 

 panion was assigned to each for the proposed walk, and I 

 had the honor to walk with Mr. Adams. The lions were 

 few in a town so much better acquainted with whales, and 

 our excursions therefore, did not lead us far, and were 

 limited by the hour of the departure of the boat. 



A principal object in our excursion was a garden and 

 grapery belonging to a Mr. Mitchell. I was more interested 

 in my distinguished companion than in the horticulture, 

 and I took the liberty to make some inquiries respecting 

 his early life, particularly at what age he began his career. 

 He replied, that he was fifteen years old when he acted as 

 private secretary to his father, then Minister at the Hague. 

 The reason why he was employed at so early an age was 

 that he both wrote and spoke the French language fluently, 

 and therefore could be very useful to his father. At that 

 time very few persons in our country were acquainted with, 

 the French language. This was his beginning ; and he had 

 been, more or less through his whole life, occupied with 

 public affairs. I had seen Mr. Adams at Washington in 

 his office when he was Secretary of State, during the Monroe 

 administration, and again in his chair as a member of the 

 House of Representatives, and again at the table of the 



