Francis Parkman 259 



Atlantic." A considerable portion of this material 

 was in manuscript, and involved much tedious ex- 

 ploration and the employment of trained copyists. 

 It was necessary to study carefully the catalogues 

 of many European libraries, and to open correspond- 

 ence with such scholars and public officials in both 

 hemispheres as might be able to point to the where- 

 abouts of fresh sources of information. Work of 

 this sort, as one bit of clue leads to another, is ca- 

 pable of arousing the emotion of pursuit to a very 

 high degree ; and I believe the effect of it upon 

 Parkman's health must have been good, in spite 

 of, or rather because of, its difficulties. The 

 chase was carried on until his manuscript trea- 

 sures had been brought to an extraordinary de- 

 gree of completeness. These made his library 

 quite remarkable. In printed books it was far less 

 rich. He had not the tastes of a bibliophile, and 

 did not feel it necessary, as Freeman did, to own 

 all the books he used. His library of printed 

 books, which at his death went to Harvard Univer- 

 sity, was a very small one for a scholar, about 

 twenty-five hundred volumes, including more or 

 less of Greek and Latin literature and theology 

 inherited from his father. His manuscripts, as I 

 have already mentioned, went to the library of 

 the Massachusetts Historical Society. 



