George Ticknor, Life, letters and journals of George Ticknor
George Hillard, Ed.

[9] made very effective recitations from Scott, Campbell, and Moore, some of which he sometimes repeated to us after supper; and Mr. James Savage, already one of my friends, and my father's.

Other persons were there, and sometimes ladies, amongst whom was Miss Lucy Buckminster, sister of the clergyman, one of the most charming persons in society.

These little symposia were always agreeable, perfectly simple and easy, full of fun and wit, and always rich in literary culture. It was my first introduction to such society.

I attended Dr. Gardiner for nearly three years, and acquired a love for ancient learning which I have never lost. At the end of that time, that is, in the autumn of 1810, I entered the law-office of William Sullivan, Esq., son of Governor James Sullivan, and one of the most popular lawyers in Massachusetts. I read law with some diligence, but not with interest enough to attach me to the profession. I continued to read Greek and Latin, and preferred my old studies to any other. The only law-books which I remember reading with much interest were Plowden's Reports, Blackstone's Commentaries, Saunders's Reports, in Williams's edition, and Coke in black letter, which I think I never mastered.

In 1813 I was admitted to the bar, at the same time with my friend, Edward T. Channing; who knew, I think, just about as much law as I did, and who afterwards deserted it for letters, and became a professor, as I did, in Harvard College.

Mr. Buckminster, whose acquaintance I had made at Dr. Gardiner's, I met also at the houses of other friends. I often went to hear him preach, and, a little later (1810), began to visit him on Sunday evenings, when he liked to receive a few friends in his library, and to continue brilliant conversation, over a simple supper below stairs, at nine o'clock, with his sisters, if they were staying with him.¹ There I found, generally, Mr. Samuel Dexter, the eminent lawyer, and Chief Justice Parker, both of them Mr. Buckminster's parishioners. The conversation was mostly theological and political. Mr. Buckminster was very brilliant and charming, but sometimes uncertain and abrupt. He was very fond of music, and played on a small organ which stood in his study. I grew gradually more familiar with him, and during the last year of his life was with him frequently. I was then a member of the Anthology Club, as he was also.

I was at his church the last time he ever preached. He had for many years been liable to slight attacks of epilepsy, and once or twice