The following article was published some time since in the Congregational Journal, and in copying it we need only to add, that recent circumstances within our knowledge, but which we are hardly at liberty to make public, give to this matter a particular and present interest.

‘ Some years since, our curiosity was excited by what we accidentally learnt of the literary pursuits of a secluded gentleman in the town of Pomfret, Vermont, not far back from the Connecticut River. Residing at no great distance from him, it was our cherished purpose to visit his retreat, and ascertain for ourselves the truth of the reports concerning him. The purpose was not executed, and in the mean time death removed the stranger. Not forgetting our interest in him, we have at last succeeded in obtaining materials for a short biographical and bibliographical notice.

Jonathan Ware was born in Wrentham, Massachusetts, and graduated at Harvard College, in 1790.

In straitened circumstances, and occupied in cultivating a most ungrateful farm, he engaged in a work of herculean labor, the accomplishment of which, as far as he carried it, and under all his embarrassments, is a matter of wonder.

As a literary curiosity, a monument of exhausting and persevering toil, it is without a rival in American scholarship.

Having devoted a large portion of his life to the studies of the ancient and modern languages, for which he had a Germanic passion, he conceived the idea of preparing a Polyglot Lexicon of the Old Testament.

It was not designed to be a commentary in any sense, though the critical and exegetical notes we meet with in another manuscript volume show that he did not confine himself to mere verbal investigation.

The manuscript Lexicon, bound in a quarto form, lies before us. Originally, the author designed to make it a quartuor-glot Lexicon, embracing the Hebrew, Greek, Latin, and English, according to which restriction he constructed the first draught of his Lexicon.

Nor did he observe in this first draught the alphabetical arrangement; but beginning with the first chapter and the first verse of Genesis, he proceeded onward to the close of Malachi, selecting whatever words he thought entitled to notice, and giving the verses in which they were found.

Thus the Hebrew word lehem has against it, in opposite columns, artos in Greek, panis in Latin, and bread in English.

In some cases there is a copiousness of definitions, as, Hebrew, tehom; Greek, thalasse, pelagos, limen: Latin, mare, oceanus, lacus; English, sea, lake, ocean.

In prosecuting his studies he had enlarged his acquaintance with modern languages, and desirous of making his work more valuable and acceptable to the learned, he proceeded to reconstruct his entire work, following the alphabetical order, and adding the Spanish, Italian, and Russian languages, making his Lexicon an octo, instead of a quartuorglot.

Thus against the word Abel, in Hebrew, in the opposite columns we have lithos in Greek, lapis in Latin, piedra in Spanish, pietra in Italian, pierre in French, stone in English.

In many instances, on the side margin, references are made to the passages where the word is to be found.

Such a work would be a convenience to scholars in many cases, and in the preparation demanded immense labor; but after all, it is a curiosity rather than an important instrument of study and knowledge, and can hardly be made available to any practical utility adequate to the time and labor expended upon it. Ten or twelve years were consumed in bringing it to the state of completion in which the author left it, and with six months more he thought he should be able to give the finishing stroke. The six months were not granted, and the work is left in such a condition that no one can carry out the idea of the author.

If we advert to the manual execution, the chirography is most admirable.

Not one blot mars the entire manuscript; not a single letter appears to have been ” scratched out,” amended, or retouched ; and the delicate strokes in the Hebrew and Greek letters are given with such accuracy of flexure and distinctness, that the reading is as easy as the printed page, though the letters are extremely small, not exceeding those of the Hebrew and Greek text books in common use, and the words closely crowded together.

So familiar was Mr. Ware with the Hebrew, that in a small manuscript volume originally designed, as appears from the vast entries, for a memorandum of the weather and passing events, but which was soon converted into a learned book of criticism, he always quotes passages from the Old Testament in the original language, writing them out with the same apparent facility as he would in English, and in as neat and beautiful a style as that of the Lexicon.

Mr. Ware had brought his work nearly to a close, and, wishing to consult some hooks not within his reach at Pomfret, set out in February, 1838, on a journey to Cambridge and Boston, to consult their ample libraries.

He was kindly and respectfully received by the Cambridge professors, and arrangements made to furnish him with the books he needed.

In returning, he took a cold, which terminated in lung fever, of which he died, after a few days’ sickness, at the house of his daughter, Mrs. Butterfield, wife of Samuel Butterfield, Esq., of Andover, aged 71 years.

The following letter of condolence written to his daughter, by Professor H. Ware, Jr., immediately subsequent to his decease, will exhibit the impression which the venerable student made during his visit to Cambridge. It is a matter of regret that he could not have enjoyed during his life, in a substantial way, a small dividend on his posthumous worth.

‘Cambridge, February 19, 1838.

Dear Madam: I am greatly obliged by your letter. We had seen, with surprise and strong emotion, the announcement of your father’s death, who had just left us in apparently vigorous health, and in high spirits. During the two days that he spent here, he seemed to enjoy himself very much, and was full of animation.

His enthusiasm about his work had all the charming simplicity of youth; and we could not but feel an admiration for the industry and perseverance which had carried him through so laborious an enterprise. He spent two mornings with Professor Palfrey, who examined his manuscript with a good deal of interest, and expressed great satisfaction at the neatness and accuracy with which the difficult work was executed. Mr. Folsom, also, than whom

no man is better able to appreciate such a work, was greatly pleased with all that he saw.

Your father spent one night at my father’s, and passed part of the day with me. He was also a guest with President Quincy.

His health seemed perfect, and you may believe that we were not a little shocked at the suddenness of his death.

If we could have been allowed to express a wish, it would have been that he might have lived to see the completion of his favorite and long-cherished plan; but He who orders all knows what is best. We must be content that he was able, and was permitted to have the satisfaction of mind which accompanies devotion to some great and praiseworthy task. He cannot fail of his reward.

I cannot find that he took any books from Cambridge, excepting what were given him as presents and tokens of respect. He was to have received some from the college library, of which a list was made out by Professor Palfrey, and sent to the president; but, the corporation not yet having acted on the request, your father had not received them.

Will you permit me now to suggest, as the manuscripts of your honored parent are not probably sufficiently complete, to be published, and as no other person could complete them, and as they are of a character to be interesting and useful only to scholars, that therefore they should be by and by deposited in our college library, where they will remain to all time accessible to any who might wish to use them, and a monument to their industrious and worthy author ?

His alma mater would be proud to possess this treasure of one of her sons.

I am, very respectfully, and with best wishes,

Yours, dear madam,

Henry Ware, Jus.’ “

Reference Data:

The Cyclopedia of Anecdotes of Literature and the Fine Arts, by Kazlitt Arvine, 1856, pages 344-5