The Encyclopedia Americana (1920)/Marsh, George Perkins

MARSH, George Perkins, American scholar and diplomat: b. Woodstock, Vt., 15 March 1801; d. Vallombrosa, Italy, 23 July 1882. He was graduated at Dartmouth in 1820; studied law at Burlington; was elected to the Supreme Executive Council of Vermont in 1834; sat in Congress from 1842 to 1849, when he went to Constantinople as Minister for four years, and in 1852 was sent on a special mission to Greece. In 1861, after seven years in the United States, he went to Italy as Minister, and held that post until his death. An able English philologist, Marsh wrote ‘Lectures on the English Language’ (1861); ‘The Origin and History of the English Language’ (1862); ‘Man and Nature,’ in which he urged forest planting and forest preservation (1864), etc. He edited Wedgewood's ‘Etymology’ and translated Rask's ‘Icelandic Grammar.’ Consult the ‘Life and Letters’ edited by his widow (1888).