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Excerpt from Memoir of William Hickling Prescott: Historian of Spain, Mexico and Peru William, born February 20, 1726, died October 13, 1795 and Oliver, born April 27, 1731, died November 17, 1804. From the second son, William, who commanded the American forces at Bunker's Hill, on the memorable 17th of June, 1775, the first real battle of the Revo lution, was descended, by his wife Abigail (hale) Prescott, William the father of the subject of this memoir. William Prescott, Jr., was born at Pepperell, Mass, August 19, 1762, and died in Boston Decem her 8, 1844. He married, December 18, 1793, Catherine Greene, daughter of Thomas Hickling, who for nearly half a century held the position of United States Consul at the Azores. This estimable lady died May 17, 1852, aged about eighty-five. In Speaking of Judge Prescott, Theophilus Parsons, in dedicating his great work on The Law of Contracts, To the historian of Spain, Mexico and Peru, says, When he died, at the age of 82, I had known him intimately for twenty-nine years, and had known of him many more. And I never yet heard a word spoken, and never heard of a word spoken, to his disparagement or dispraise during his long life or. Since its close, by any person whomsoeve'r; not even have I heard the 'but' or 'if, ' with which many indulge themselves in qualifying and cloud ing the commendation they cannot but render. Mr. And Mrs. Pres cott had seven children, four of whom died in infancy, and of the remaining three the eldest was the historian. William Ilickling Prescott was born in Salem, Massachusetts, May 4, 1796. In 1808, when he was twelve years old, he removed with his family to Boston, where he was placed in the school of Dr. John S. J. Gardiner, a pupil of the renowned Samuel Parr. It was at this school that Prescott formed that acquaintance which soon ripened into a life-long friendship, with his future biographer the accomplished author of the History of Spanish Literature. Mr. Ticknor, in the preface to his life of Prescott, states that it is written in part payment of a debt, which has been accumulating for above half a century the historian of Ferdinand and Isabella having exacted from his early and everlasting friend the promise, thatin case he should survive him, he would prepare such a memorial of his literary life as might be supposed would be expected. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.
