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See also:PRESCOTT, See also:- WILLIAM
- WILLIAM (1143-1214)
- WILLIAM (1227-1256)
- WILLIAM (1J33-1584)
- WILLIAM (A.S. Wilhelm, O. Norse Vilhidlmr; O. H. Ger. Willahelm, Willahalm, M. H. Ger. Willehelm, Willehalm, Mod.Ger. Wilhelm; Du. Willem; O. Fr. Villalme, Mod. Fr. Guillaume; from " will," Goth. vilja, and " helm," Goth. hilms, Old Norse hidlmr, meaning
- WILLIAM (c. 1130-C. 1190)
- WILLIAM, 13TH
WILLIAM HICKLING (1796-1859) , See also:American historian, was See also:born in See also:Salem, See also:Massachusetts, on the 4th of May 1796. His grandfather was See also:Colonel William Prescott (1726-1795), who commanded at the See also:battle of Bunker See also:- HILL
- HILL (0. Eng. hyll; cf. Low Ger. hull, Mid. Dutch hul, allied to Lat. celsus, high, collis, hill, &c.)
- HILL, A
- HILL, AARON (1685-175o)
- HILL, AMBROSE POWELL
- HILL, DANIEL HARVEY (1821-1889)
- HILL, DAVID BENNETT (1843–1910)
- HILL, GEORGE BIRKBECK NORMAN (1835-1903)
- HILL, JAMES J
- HILL, JOHN (c. 1716-1775)
- HILL, MATTHEW DAVENPORT (1792-1872)
- HILL, OCTAVIA (1838– )
- HILL, ROWLAND (1744–1833)
- HILL, SIR ROWLAND (1795-1879)
Hill; and his See also:father was a well-known lawyer. He received his earlier See also:education in his native See also:city, until the removal of his See also:family in 18o8 to See also:Boston. He entered Harvard See also:College in the autumn of 1811, but almost at the outset his career was interrupted by an See also:accident which affected the subsequent course of his See also:life. A hard piece of See also:bread, flung at See also:random in the See also:Commons See also:- HALL
- HALL (generally known as SCHWABISCH-HALL, tc distinguish it from the small town of Hall in Tirol and Bad-Hall, a health resort in Upper Austria)
- HALL (O.E. heall, a common Teutonic word, cf. Ger. Halle)
- HALL, BASIL (1788-1844)
- HALL, CARL CHRISTIAN (1812–1888)
- HALL, CHARLES FRANCIS (1821-1871)
- HALL, CHRISTOPHER NEWMAN (1816—19oz)
- HALL, EDWARD (c. 1498-1547)
- HALL, FITZEDWARD (1825-1901)
- HALL, ISAAC HOLLISTER (1837-1896)
- HALL, JAMES (1793–1868)
- HALL, JAMES (1811–1898)
- HALL, JOSEPH (1574-1656)
- HALL, MARSHALL (1790-1857)
- HALL, ROBERT (1764-1831)
- HALL, SAMUEL CARTER (5800-5889)
- HALL, SIR JAMES (1761-1832)
- HALL, WILLIAM EDWARD (1835-1894)
Hall, struck his See also:left See also:eye and destroyed the sight. After graduating honourably in 1814 he entered his father's See also:- OFFICE (from Lat. officium, " duty," " service," a shortened form of opifacium, from facere, " to do," and either the stem of opes, " wealth," " aid," or opus, " work ")
office as a student of See also:law; but in See also:January 1815 the uninjured eye showed dangerous symptoms of inflammation. When at last in the autumn he was in See also:condition to travel, it was determined that he should pass the See also:winter at St See also:Michael's and in the See also:spring obtain medical See also:advice in See also:Europe. His visit to the See also:Azores, which was constantly broken by confinement to a darkened See also:room, is chiefly noteworthy from the fact that he there began the See also:mental discipline which enabled him to compose and retain in memory See also:long passages for subsequent dictation; and, apart from the gain in culture, his See also:journey
to See also:England, See also:France, and See also:Italy (See also:April 1816 to See also:July 1817) was scarcely satisfactory. The See also:verdict of the physicians was that the injured eye was hopelessly paralysed, and that the preservation of the sight of the other depended upon the See also:maintenance of his See also:general See also:health. His further pursuit of the legal profession seemed to be out of the question, and on his return to Boston he remained quietly at See also:home. On 4th May 182o he was married to See also:Miss Susan See also:Amory. See also:Prior to his See also:marriage he had made a few experiments in See also:composition, but he now finally decided to devote his life to literature. A See also:review of See also:Byron's Letters on See also:Pope in 1821 constituted his first contribution to the See also:North American Review, to which he continued for many years to send the results of his slighter researches. Ile next turned to See also:French literature, and to the See also:early See also:English See also:drama and ballad literature. Of the direction and quality of his thought at this See also:- TIME (0. Eng. Lima, cf. Icel. timi, Swed. timme, hour, Dan. time; from the root also seen in " tide," properly the time of between the flow and ebb of the sea, cf. O. Eng. getidan, to happen, " even-tide," &c.; it is not directly related to Lat. tempus)
- TIME, MEASUREMENT OF
- TIME, STANDARD
time he has left indications in his papers on See also:Essay-See also:Writing (1822) and on French and English Tragedy (1823). In pursuance of his method of successive studies he began in 1823 the study of See also:Italian literature, passing over See also:German as demanding more labour than he could afford. In the following See also:year he made his first acquaintance with the literature of See also:Spain under the See also:influence of his friend and biographer, See also:Ticknor; and, while its attractiveness proved greater than he had at the outset anticipated, the See also:comparative novelty of the subject as a See also:- FIELD (a word common to many West German languages, cf. Ger. Feld, Dutch veld, possibly cognate with O.E. f olde, the earth, and ultimately with root of the Gr. irAaror, broad)
- FIELD, CYRUS WEST (1819-1892)
- FIELD, DAVID DUDLEY (18o5-1894)
- FIELD, EUGENE (1850-1895)
- FIELD, FREDERICK (18o1—1885)
- FIELD, HENRY MARTYN (1822-1907)
- FIELD, JOHN (1782—1837)
- FIELD, MARSHALL (183 1906)
- FIELD, NATHAN (1587—1633)
- FIELD, STEPHEN JOHNSON (1816-1899)
- FIELD, WILLIAM VENTRIS FIELD, BARON (1813-1907)
field for See also:research served as an additional stimulus.
In the meantime his aims had been gradually concentrating. See also:History had always been a favourite study with him, and Mably's Observations sur l'histoire appears to have had considerable influence in determining him to the choice of some See also:special See also:period for historic research. The selection, however, was not finally made without prolonged hesitation. It was not till the 19th of January 1826 that he recorded in the private memoranda begun by him in 182o his decision " to embrace the See also:gift of the See also:Spanish subject." The choice was certainly a bold one. He could only use the eye which remained to him for brief and intermittent periods, and as travelling affected his sight pre-judicially he could not anticipate any See also:personal research amongst unpublished records and historic scenes. He was happy, how-ever, in the See also:possession of ample means and admirable See also:friends; and he sketched with no undue restriction or hesitancy the See also:plan of the History of the reign of See also:Ferdinand and See also:Isabella—his first See also:great See also:work. Mr English, one of his secretaries, has furnished a picture of him at this period seated in a study lined on two sides with books and darkened by See also:green screens and curtains of See also:blue See also:muslin, which required readjustment with almost every See also:cloud that passed across the See also:sky. His writing apparatus—a noctograph—See also:lay before him, and he kept his See also:ivory See also:style in his See also:hand to jot down notes as the See also:reading progressed. In accordance with his general method these notes were in turn read over to him until he had completely mastered them, when they were worked up in his memory to their final shape. So proficient did he become that he was able to retain the See also:equivalent of sixty pages of printed See also:matter in his memory, turning and returning them as he walked or drove. The See also:rate of progress was necessarily slow, apart from any liability to interruption by other undertakings and failures in bodily health. He still continued his yearly experimental contributions to the North American Review, elaborating them with a view as much to ultimate See also:historical proficiency as to immediate See also:literary effect, the essays on Scottish See also:Song (1826), Novel-Writing (1827), See also:Moliere (1828), and See also:Irving's See also:Granada (1829) belonging to this preparatory period. On the 6th of See also:October 1829 he began the actual work of composition, which was continued without more serious interruptions than those occasioned by the essays on Asylums for the See also:Blind (183o), See also:Poetry and See also:Romance of the Italians (1831), and English Literature of the' 9th See also:Century (1832), until the 25th of See also:June 1836, when the concluding See also:note was written. Another year, during which his essay on Cervantes appeared, was spent in the final revision of the History for the See also:press. Its success upon its publication in Boston was immediate. Arrangements were speedily made for its publication in England, and there its success was not less marked. From the position of an obscure reviewer Prescottsuddenly found himself elevated to the first See also:rank of contemporary historians.
After coquetting for a See also:short time with the project of a life of Moliere he decided to follow in the track of his first work with a History of the See also:Conquest of See also:Mexico. See also:Washington Irving, who had already made preparations to occupy the same field, generously withdrew in his favour.
The work was completed in See also:August 1843, the five years' labour having been broken by the composition of reviews of See also:Lockhart's Life of See also:Scott (1838), See also:Kenyon's Poems (1839), See also:Chateaubriand (1839), See also:Bancroft's See also:United States (1841), Mariotti's Italy (1842), and Madame See also:Calderon's Life in Mexico (1843), and by. the preparation of an abridgment of his Ferdinand and Isabella in anticipation of its threatened abridgment by another hand. On the 6th of See also:December 1843 the Conquest of Mexico was published with a success proportionate to a wide reputation won by his previous work. The careful methods of work which he had adopted from the outset had See also:borne admirable See also:fruit. While the consultation of authorities had been no less thorough, his style had become more See also:free and less self-conscious; and the epic qualities of the theme were such as to See also:call forth in the highest degree his See also:powers of picturesque narration.
It was only a step from the conquest of Mexico to that of See also:Peru, and scarcely three months elapsed before he began to break ground on the latter subject. In See also:February 1845 he received the announcement of his See also:election as corresponding member of the French See also:Institute in See also:place of the Spanish historian See also:Navarrete, and also of the Royal Society of See also:Berlin. The winter found him arranging for the publication in England of the selection from his articles and reviews which appeared in 1845, under the See also:title of See also:Critical and Historical Essays, and was issued almost contemporaneously at New See also:York under the title of See also:Biographical and Critical Miscellanies. The Conquest of Peru was completed in See also:November 1846 and published in See also:March following. His misgivings as to its reception were at once set at See also:rest, and it was speedily issued in See also:translations into French, Spanish, German and Dutch, in addition to the English See also:editions of New York, See also:London and See also:Paris.
He was now over fifty and his sight showed serious symptoms of enfeeblement. Although during the composition of the Ferdinand and Isabella it had been of very intermittent service to him, it had so far improved that he could read with a certain amount of regularity during the writing of the Conquest of Mexico, and also, though in a less degree, during the years devoted to the Conquest of Peru. Now, however, the use of his remaining eye had been reduced to an See also:hour a See also:day, divided into portions at wide intervals, and he was driven to the conclusion that whatever plans he made must be formed on the same calculations as those of a blind See also:man. He had been for many years See also:collecting materials for a history of See also:- PHILIP
- PHILIP (Gr.'FiXtrsro , fond of horses, from dn)^eiv, to love, and limos, horse; Lat. Philip pus, whence e.g. M. H. Ger. Philippes, Dutch Filips, and, with dropping of the final s, It. Filippo, Fr. Philippe, Ger. Philipp, Sp. Felipe)
- PHILIP, JOHN (1775-1851)
- PHILIP, KING (c. 1639-1676)
- PHILIP, LANOGRAVE OF HESSE (1504-1567)
Philip II., but he hesitated for some time to See also:attempt a work of such magnitude, occupying himself in the meantime with the slighter labours of a memoir of See also:John See also:Pickering for the Massachusetts Historical Society and the revision of Ticknor's History of Spanish Literature. But in March 1848 he set himself with characteristic courage to the accomplishment of the larger project. He had been fortunate in obtaining the aid of See also:Don Pascual de Gayangos, then See also:professor of Arabic literature at See also:Madrid, by whose offices he was enabled to obtain material not only from the public archives of Spain but from the See also:muniment rooms of the great Spanish families. With an exceptional range of See also:information thus afforded him, he wrote the opening of his history in July 1849; but, finding himself still unsettled in his work, he decided in the spring of the following year to carry out a long projected visit to England. The See also:idea of writing See also:memoirs was dismissed in favour of the more elaborate See also:form, and in November 1855 the first two volumes of his uncompleted History of Philip II. were issued from the press, their See also:sale eclipsing that of any of his earlier books. This was his last great undertaking; but as See also:Robertson's See also:Charles V., in the See also:light of new See also:sources of information, was inadequate to take its place as a See also:link in the See also:series, he republished it in an improved and extended form in December 1856. A slight attack of
See also:apoplexy on the 4th of February 18 58 foretold the end, though he persevered with the preparation of the third See also:volume of Philip II. for the press, and with the emendation and annotation of his Conquest of Mexico. On the See also:morning of the 27th of January
18$9 a second attack occurred, and he died in the afternoon of substitute a definite for an indefinite period of See also:prescription. the same day in his sixty-third year.
As an historian Prescott stands in the See also:direct See also:line of literary descent from Robertson, whose influence is clearly discernible both in his method and style. But, while Robertson was in some measure the initiator of a See also:movement, Prescott came to his task when the range of information was incomparably wider and when progress in sociologic theory had thrown innumerable convergent See also:lights upon the progress of events. He worked, therefore, upon more assured ground; his sifting of authorities was more thorough and his method less restricted. At the same time he cannot be classed as in the highest sense a philosophic historian. His See also:power lies chiefly in the clear grasp of fact, in selection and See also:synthesis, in the vivid narration of incident. For extended See also:analysis he had small liking and See also:faculty; his critical insight is limited in range, and he confines himself almost wholly to the See also:concrete elements of history. When he does venture upon more abstract See also:criticism his See also:standards are often See also:commonplace and superficial, and the See also:world See also:- SCHEME (Lat. schema, Gr. oxfjya, figure, form, from the root axe, seen in exeiv, to have, hold, to be of such shape, form, &c.)
scheme to which he relates events is less profound than the thought of his time altogether warranted. Moreover, the authorities on whom he relied have had to be corrected since in many points of detail in the light of later archaeological research. If these things, however, indicate Prescott's deficiencies from the point of view of ideal history, few historians have had in a higher degree that See also:artistic feeling in the broad arrangement of materials which ensures popular See also:interest. The course of his narrative is unperplexed by doubtful or insoluble problems. The See also:painting is filled in with See also:primary See also:colours and with a free hand; and any sense of crudity which may be awakened by See also:close inspection is compensated by the vigour and massive effectiveness of the whole.
Prescott's See also:works in 16 vols. were edited by J. F. See also:Kirk in 187o-1874. His Life was written by See also:George Ticknor (1864; revised 1875). There are later lives by R. See also:Ogden (1904) and H. T. See also:Peck (1905).
End of Article: PRESCOTT, WILLIAM HICKLING (1796-1859)
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