36 Life and Character of Nathaniel Bowditch. 



ing back, for he had nothing to conceal. He Hved openly, and 

 talked freely, of himself, and of his doings, and of every thing 

 that was uppermost in his mind. He never hesitated to speak 

 out what he thought on all subjects, public and private, and he 

 avowed his opinions of men and things with the utmost freedom 

 and unconcern. It seemed to me that he never had the fear of 

 man before his eyes, and that it never checked, in the least, the 

 free and full utterance of his sentiments. 



Dr. Bowditch was perfectly fair and just in the estimate which 

 he formed of his own capacities and gifts. He did not, on the 

 one hand, overrate his talents; nor, on the other hand, did he, as 

 some do, with a sort of back-handed humility, purposely under- 

 value his powers, in order to enjoy the pleasure of being contra- 

 dicted by those about him and told that he was really a much 

 greater man than he seemed willing to admit. As an illustration 

 of this, let me mention a little conversation of his. "People," 

 said he, " are very kind and polite, in mentioning me in the same 

 breath with La Place, and blending my name with his. But 

 they mistake both me and him ; we are very different men. I 

 trust I understand his works, and can supply his deficiencies, and 

 correct his errors, and render his book more intelligible, and re- 

 cord the successive advancements of the science, and perhaps ap- 

 pend some improvements. But La Place was a genius, a discov- 

 erer, an inventor. And yet I hope I know as much about mathe- 

 matics as Playfair !" 



I have been informed by a gentleman of Boston, that soon after 

 his return from Europe a ievr years since, he happened, in a con- 

 versation with Dr. Bowditch, to mention to him incidentally, the 

 high estimation in which he and his labors were held by men of 

 science abroad, and told him that he had often heard his name 

 spoken of in terms of the strongest commendation by persons in 

 the most elevated walks of society in England. " Dr. Bowditch," 

 says my informant, " seemed to be sensibly affected by my state- 

 ment, so much so that I saw the tears glisten in his eyes. But 

 he immediately remarked that however flattering such testimo- 

 nials might be, yet the most grateful tribute of commendation he 

 had ever received was contained in a letter from a backwoodsman 

 of the West, who wrote to him to point out an error in his Trans- 

 lation of the Mecanique Celeste. ' It was an actual error,' said 

 the Doctor, 'which had escaped my own observation. The 



