thirteen," and the private papers of many
of the civil and military leaders of the Revolution, were opened to his
inspection, and some of them actually placed in his possession for ten
years, while engaged in the composition of his great work.

This would have been anxious labor even for a man of leisure, robust
health, and a fortune that secured him from all care for present
support or comfort. But Sparks was still poor, and, while engaged in
this expensive preliminary task of mere accumulation--a task that might
produce profitable results after many years--he was also obliged to
provide for the needs of the passing day. His ready talent and
economical habits enabled him to do it.[1] Nor did he rest satisfied
with what he found in the United States or could gain by correspondence
from abroad. He went to Europe to complete his researches; and the
national and private archives of France and England, which had
hitherto been closed to American students, were soon unlocked for him
through the personal solicitations in his favor of Sir James
Mackintosh, Mr. Lockhart, Mr. Hamilton, Lord Landsdowne, and Lord
Holland, in Great Britain, and of General Lafayette, Monsieur Guizot,
and Monsieur de Marbois in France;--another proud achievement by the
charity student of 1811. I may add here, at once, that Mr. Sparks paid
a second visit to Europe in 1840, in order to examine its archives; on
that occasion, discovering, in the French cabinet, the original letter
of Franklin and the famous map with our North-eastern boundary
delineated by a "red line," which were so much discussed in the
subsequent negotiations with Great Britain in regard to our limits in
that quarter.

The first fruits of these domestic and foreign studies was Mr. Sparks's
valuable publication, in 1829-30, of the Diplomatic Correspondence of
the Revolution; followed, after two years, by the Life of Gouverneur
Morris, with selections from his correspondence and miscellaneous
papers. In 1830, he originated and edited that excellent annual, so
long a favorite in our country, known as the American Almanac; and,
about the same time, he began his Library of American Biography,
extending, in two series, to twenty-five volumes, for which he
composed the charming biographies of La Salle, Ribault, Pulaski,
Benedict Arnold, Father Marquette, Charles Lee, and Ethan Allen.

Meanwhile, his attention to the great work--the Life and Writings of
Washington--never flagged. Of course