at the chances are, as the world goes, of his
becoming a laborious and successful man of letters. He was handsome in
person, attractive in manners, possessed of a competent property, very
happy in his domestic relations, with one eye destroyed and the other
impaired by a cruel accident; what was more probable, more natural, than
that he should become a mere man of wit and pleasure about town, and
never write anything beyond a newspaper-article or a review? And we
should remember that defective sight was not the only disability under
which he labored. His health was never robust, and he was a frequent
sufferer from rheumatism and dyspepsia,--the former a winter visitor,
and the latter a summer. And not only this, but there was yet another
lion in his path. His temperament was naturally indolent. He was fond of
social gayety, of light reading, of domestic chat. He had that love of
lounging which Sydney Smith said no Scotchman but Sir James Mackintosh
ever had. But there was a stoical element in him, lying beneath this
easy and pleasure-loving temperament, and subduing and controlling it.
He had a vigilant conscience and a very strong will. He had early come
to the conclusion that not only no honor and no usefulness, but no
happiness, could be secured without a regular and daily recurring
occupation. He made up his mind, after due reflection and consideration,
to make literature his profession; and not only that, but he further
made up his mind to toil in this, his chosen and voluntary vocation,
with the patient and uninterrupted industry of a professional man whose
daily bread depends upon his daily labor.

And the biography before us reveals that inner life of struggle and
conquest which, while Mr. Prescott was living, was known only to his
most intimate friends. We see here how resolutely and steadily he
contended, not only against defective sight and indifferent health, but
also against the love of ease and the seductions of indolence. We see
with what strenuous effort his literary honors were won, as well as with
what gentleness they were worn. And thus the work has a distinct moral
value, and is full of encouragement to those who, under similar or
inferior disabilities, have determined to make the choice of Hercules,
and prefer a life of labor to a life of pleasure. And this moral lesson
is conveyed in a most winning and engaging way. The interest of the
narrative is kept up to the end with the freshness of a well-con