difficulty could be overcome, and I obtained the services of a reader whose acquaintance with modern and ancient tongues supplied, as far as it could be supplied, the deficiency of eyesight on my part. But, though in this way I could examine various authorities, it was not easy to arrange in my mind the results of my reading, drawn from different and often contradictory accounts. To do this, I dictated copious notes as I went along, and when I had read enough for a chapter (from thirty to forty, and sometimes fifty, pages in length), I had a mass of memoranda in my own language, which would easily bring before me at one view the fruit of my researches. These notes were carefully read to me, and while my recent studies were fresh in my recollection I ran over the whole of my intended chapter in my mind. This process I repeated at least half a dozen times, so that when I finally put my pen to paper it ran off pretty glibly, for it was an effort of memory rather than composition. This method had the advantage of saving me from the perplexity of frequently referring to the scattered pages in the originals, and it enabled me to make the corrections in my own mind which are usually made in the manuscript, and which with my mode of writing, as I shall explain, would have much embarrassed me. Yet I must admit that this method of composition, when the chapter was very long, was somewhat too heavy a burden on the memory to be altogether recommended. Writing presented me a difficulty even greater than reading. Thierry, the famous blind historian of the Norman conquest, advised me to cultivate dictation; but I have usually preferred a substitute that I found in a writing-case made for the blind, which I procured in London forty years since. It is a simple apparatus, often described by me for the benefit of persons whose vision is imperfect. It consists of a frame of the size of a sheet of paper, traversed by brass wires as many as lines are wanted on the page, and with a sheet of carbonated paper, such as is used for getting duplicates pasted on the reverse side. With an ivory or agate stylus the writer traces his characters between the wires on the carbonated sheet, making indelible marks, which he cannot see, on the white page below. This treadmill operation has its defects; and I have repeatedly supposed I had accomplished a good page, and was proceeding in all the glow of composition to go ahead, when I found I had forgotten to insert a sheet of writing-paper below, that my labor had all been thrown away, and that the leaf looked as blank as myself. Notwithstanding these and other whimsical distresses of the kind, I have found my writing-case my best friend in my lonely hours, and with it have written nearly all that I have sent into the world the last forty years.”
The success of the history of the “Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella the Catholic” (3 vols., Boston. 1838) was great and immediate. It was published in France, Germany, and Spain in the languages of those countries, appeared in an Italian version at Florence (3 vols., 1847-'8), and early in 1858 a translation was announced in Russia. Thus encouraged, Mr. Prescott again resumed his labors, and in 1843 published a “History of the Conquest of Mexico,” and in 1847 a “History of the Conquest of Peru.” These works, the fruits of the most painstaking investigation into manuscript authorities, procured from Spain, proved that the critics had not been too hasty in assigning a high place to Mr. Prescott from the day of the publication of the “History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella.” At least one of the Mexican edi- tions of the “Conquest of Mexico” was garbled by the translator to suit the political and religious atmosphere of the country. The Madrid edition is complete. To the French translation, by M. Amédée Pichot, a reference by Mr. Prescott will be found in the preface to the “Conquest of Peru.” Mr. Prescott wrote memoirs of John Pickering and Abbott Lawrence, and in 1845 published, under the title of “Biographical and Critical Miscellanies,” a selection of twelve papers from his articles contributed to the “North American Review” between 1821 and 1843, and a “Memoir of Charles Brockden Brown,” originally published in Sparks's “American Biography” in 1834. In the edition of the “Miscellanies” issued since 1851 will be found a valuable paper entitled “Spanish Literature,” a criticism published in the “North American Review” for January, 1850, of George Ticknor's admirable “History of Spanish Literature.” In the summer of 1850 Mr. Prescott visited England, and in the autumn spent a short time in Scotland and on the continent. In 1855 he published the first two volumes, and in December, 1858, the third, of what would have proved, had it been completed, his greatest work, “The History of the Reign of Philip II., King of Spain.” A translation of the first two volumes appeared in Russia in 1858. In 1857 Mr. Prescott added to a new edition of Robertson's “History of the Reign of Charles V.” (3 vols., Boston) a supplement (vol. iii.) entitled “The Life of Charles V. after his Abdication.” Early in 1858 he experienced a slight stroke of paralsis, from the effects of which he never entirely recovered, although he was soon able to resume his usual walks, and to devote some hours daily to his books and papers. On 28 Jan., 1859, he received a second stroke, which terminated his life about two o'clock in the afternoon. Mr. Prescott left a widow, two sons, and a daughter.
It is not to be denied that the portion of history selected by Prescott for illustration in his “Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella” had been neglected by the scholars of Germany, France, and England, and only superficially touched by Italian writers; it is equally certain that at an earlier date no faithful narration of the events of this reign could have been given to the world. Prescott had the advantage of the tragic annals of Llorente. the political disquisitions of Mariana, Sempere, and Capmany, the literal version of the Spanish-Arab chronicles by Condé, the invaluable illustration of Isabella's reign by Mr. Secretary Clemenein, many rare works and curious manuscripts purchased by his friend George Ticknor, in Spain, for his own library, and, unpublished documents of priceless value, collected from all available quarters, under the directions of the historian by the zealous agency of Alexander H. Everett, Arthur Middleton, and the learned bibliophile, Obadiah Rich. His “History of the Conquest of Mexico” is founded upon about eight thousand folio pages of unpublished duplicate of manuscripts in the collections of Don Martin Fernandez de Navaretta, other original authorities, and such printed works on the subjects discussed as had previously been given to the world.
In the preparation of his “History of the Conquest of Peru” Prescott used a portion of the manuscript collections that were used for the “Conquest of Mexico,” a part of the unpublished documents formerly in the possession of Lord Kingsborough, and other original materials collected at great expense in England and on the continent. In the preparation of the “History of the Reign of Philip II.” he is said to have employed six years. A letter written by him from Brussels in
