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[11] opened an office in Court Square, near where Niles's Block stands now, having for a neighbor in the same building Mr. Alexander H. Everett, who had also studied with me, under Mr. Sullivan's auspices. We neither of us were earnest in the study of our profession, but I did rather more law business than he did, and, at the end of a year, paid the expenses of the office, such as rent, boy, etc.

But I tired of the life, and my father understood it; for I was very frank with him, and told him—what he knew very well—that I was more occupied with Greek and Latin than with law-books, of which he had given me a very good collection.1

In consultation with him, it was settled, that, after he had advised with Dr. Gardiner, Chief Justice Parker, and other friends, I should go to Europe, and study for two or three years. I therefore gave up my office, and turned all my attention and effort to learning what I could of the German language, and German universities, to which my thoughts and wishes had been already turned as the best places for education.

The first intimation I ever had on the subject was from Mme. de Stael's work on Germany, then just published. My next came from a pamphlet, published by Villers,—to defend the University of Gottingen from the ill intentions of Jerome Bonaparte, the King of Westphalia,—in which he gave a sketch of the University, and its courses of study. My astonishment at these revelations was increased by an account of its library, given, by an Englishman who had been at Gottingen, to my friend, the Rev. Samuel C. Thacher. I was sure that I should like to study at such a university, but it was in vain that I endeavored to get farther knowledge upon the subject. I would gladly have prepared for it by learning the language I should have to use there, but there was no one in Boston who could teach me.

At Jamaica Plains there was a Dr. Brosius, a native of Strasburg, who gave instruction in mathematics. He was willing to do what he could for me in German, but he warned me that his pronunciation was very bad, as was that of all Alsace, which had become a part of France. Nor was it possible to get books. I borrowed a Meidinger's Grammar, French and German, from my friend, Mr. Everett, and sent to New Hampshire, where I knew there was a German Dictionary,

1 This collection, with many well-chosen volumes of classical and general literature, was stored in a house in Roxbury, when Boston was supposed to be in danger from the English in 1812. There were between three and four thousand books, most of which were sold when Mr. Ticknor went to Europe.

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