s then the wilderness of northern
New Hampshire and Vermont, in care of the wild lands belonging to the
college. Stricken with pneumonia on one of these journeys,--he would
not wait for a complete convalescence before returning to duty,--his
malady assumed the chronic form, and terminated his life in about six
months after its first invasion.

The influences of his early life were such as may well have conduced
to a broad and strong character.

His mother belonged to a family long identified with the early history
of southern New Hampshire.

His father, General William Chamberlain, after serving in the armies
of the Revolution, became a pioneer settler of northern Vermont, where
he acquired a handsome estate and a prominent public position. He
became Lieutenant Governor of the State, and represented it in
Congress for several terms. Among his public services may be mentioned
his care for the Caledonia County Grammar School, where his sons were
fitted for college. This school was at that time taught by Ezra
Carter, a man greatly respected for his attainments and dignity of
character.

Thus the future professor grew up amid the versatile life of the
frontier, surrounded by the contests and traditions of public service.

Distinguished for scholarship in college, a bold but prudent leader
among his classmates in their conflicts with the University,[43]
immediately after graduation he became the preceptor of Moors Charity
School, and a year later entered, as a student of law, the office of
Daniel Webster in Boston. Thence, in his twenty-fourth year he was
recalled to the college as professor of Languages, and in the ordinary
and extraordinary service of the institution he was intensely occupied
for the remainder of his short life.

[43] The Rev. Daniel Lancaster, of the Class of 1821, supplies the
following recollections of the assault upon the college
libraries, made by a band of towns-people, under the guidance
of Professors Carter and Dean of the University. They had
forced the doors only to find that the books had already been
removed, and themselves thus inclosed, the prisoners of the
college students, led, among others, by senior Chamberlain.
Mr. Lancaster continues: "Having stationed three or four of
his classmates at the door of the library to prevent ingress
or egress, he ascended a few steps on the flight