PRESCOTT, WILLIAM HICKLING American historian, was born in Salem (Mass.), on May 4, 1796, his grandfather being Colonel William Prescott (1726-95), who commanded at the battle of Bunker Hill, and his father, a well known lawyer. Although he was blinded in one eye by a crust of bread flung in the Harvard Commons, he graduated with honour in 1814 and entered his father's office. The verdict of physicians abroad, however, that the injured eye was hopelessly paralysed, and that the preservation of the sight of the other depended upon the maintenance of his general health, caused him to abandon further pursuit of the legal profession and to devote his life to literature. A review of Byron's Letters on Pope in 1821 consti tuted his first contribution to the North American Review, to which he continued for many years to send the results of his slighter researches.
Although his early essays were distinctly literary, history had always been a favourite study with him, and Mably's Observa tions sur l'histoire appears to have influenced him. After pro longed hesitation, he recorded in Jan. 1826 his decision "to em brace the gift of the Spanish subject." The choice was certainly a bold one, but he was happy in the possession of ample means and admirable friends. His method of work is an excellent illustration of his resourcefulness and perseverance. Seated in a darkened study, he kept his writing apparatus (a noctograph) before him, and his ivory stylus in his hand to jot down notes as his assistant read aloud. 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 equivalent of 6o pages of printed matter in his memory, turning and returning them as he walked or drove. On Oct. 6, 1829 he began the actual work of composition of his History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella, the concluding note being written June 25, 1836. Another year, during which his essay on Cervantes appeared, was spent in the final revision of the History for the press. Its success was immediate. From the posi tion of an obscure reviewer Prescott suddenly found himself elevated to the first rank of contemporary historians.
After coquetting for a 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 Conquest of Mexico. Washington Irving, who had already made preparations to occupy the same field, generously withdrew in his favour. Prescott's five years of labour on this second book were broken by the composition of various reviews and by the preparation of an abridgment of his Ferdinand and Isabella. In Dec. 1843 the Conquest of Mexico was published with a success proportionate to the wide reputation he had won. The careful methods of work which he had adopted from the outset had borne admirable fruit. While the consultation of au thorities had been no less thorough, his style had become more free and less self-conscious; and the epic qualities of the theme were such as to call forth in the highest degree his powers of picturesque narration. It was only a step from his great work on Mexico to that on Peru, and scarcely three months elapsed before he began to break ground on the latter subject. In Feb. 1845 he
received the announcement of his election as corresponding mem ber of the French Institute in place of the Spanish historian Na varrete, and also of the Royal Society of Berlin. The winter found him arranging for the publication in England of his Critical and Historical Essays (New York ed., Biographical and Critical Mis cellanies). The Conquest of Peru was completed in Nov. 1846 and published in the following March. His misgivings as to its reception were at once set at rest, and it was speedily issued in translations into French, Spanish, German and Dutch, in addition to the English editions of New York, London and Paris. Prescott was now over 5o and his sight showed serious symptoms of en feeblement. He had been for many years collecting materials for a history of Philip II., but he hesitated to attempt a work of such magnitude. Nevertheless in March 1848 he set himself with characteristic courage to its accomplishment. Through the aid of Don Pascual de Gayangos, then professor of Arabic literature at Madrid, he was enabled to obtain material not only from the public archives of Spain but from the muniment rooms of the great Spanish families. With an exceptional range of 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, where he was received with great honour. In Nov. 1855 the first two volumes of his uncompleted History of Philip IL, were issued from the press, their sale eclipsing that of any of his earlier books. This was his last great undertaking; but a year later he published in revised form Robertson's Charles V. A slight attack of apoplexy on Feb. 4, 1858 foretold the end, though he persevered with the preparation of the third volume of Philip II. for the press, and with the emendation and annotation of his Conquest of Mexico. On the morning of Jan. 28, 1859, a second attack occurred, and he died in the afternoon of the same day. Prescott's power lies chiefly in the clear grasp of fact, in selection and synthesis, in the vivid narration of incident. For extended analysis he had small liking and faculty; his critical insight was limited in range, and he confined himself almost wholly to the concrete elements of history. 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. Few his torians have had in a higher degree, however, that artistic feeling in the broad arrangement of materials which ensures popular interest.