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724 be returned the next Monday. James spelled out the first sentence, which so excited his interest that by dint of hard study he mastered its contents before its return. At fourteen years of age he com- posed an heroic poem. He was graduated at Yale in 1815 at the head of his class, his tragedy of " Za- mor," which was subsequently in- cluded in his first published book, forming part of the commence- ment exercises. After teaching for a short time in Philadelphia he 5^ ^ ^ studied medicine and botany, was ^ licensed to practice, and made several unsuccessful attempts to establish himself, first in his native town and after- ward in Charleston, S. C. But his interest was concentrated in literary work, and in the compo- sition of his poems of " Prometheus " and " Clio," both of which gained him reputation, and were published in Charleston in 1832. He was appointed assistant surgeon in the U. S. army, and professor of chemistry at the U. S. military academy in 1824 ; but the duties proved too laborious, and he resigned in a few mouths to become a surgeon in the recruiting service in Boston, Mass. While in that city he contributed to the " U. S. Literary Magazine," edited, among other works, Vicesimus Knox's " Elegant Extracts " (Boston, 1836), and published a collection of his poems (2 vols., New York. 1836). He removed to New Haven, Conn., in 1827, where he published the third part of his tragedy " Clio," translated with notes Malte Brun's " Geography " (3 vols.. Boston, 1834). and assisted in preparing the scientific words in the first quarto edition of Noah Webster's " Dictionary of the Eng- lish Language." He had a strong taste for natural history, and at this time he began to interest him- self particularly in the study of geology, on his own account making an" examination of the ranges of trap rock in Connecticut in 1834. The follow- ing year, with Prof. Charles U. Shepard, he was appointed to make a geological and mineralogical survey of the state. To this work he bent all his energies, making a plan of the country and travers- ing tiie state. After many difficulties, much delay, and the consequent dissatisfaction of the legisla- ture, he rendered his " Report of the Geology of the State of Connecticut " (New Haven, 1843), con- taining an enormous accumulation of material. Notwithstanding the fact that the closeness and brevity of its descriptions make this work one of the driest that was ever issued, it is a monument to the knowledge and industry of its author. He accomplished an extended topographical survey of the state, and a thorough examination of its trap ridges, and their relation to those of the associated sandstone, and brought out as its result a system of general truths in regard to fractures of the earth's surface. He contributed metrical versions of German, Slavonic, and other lyrics to the New Haven journals in 1841-'4. and composed and pub- lished his " Dream of a Day " (New Haven, 1848). He was engaged by the American mining company to survey their lead region in Wisconsin in 1853, and in the following year was appointed geologist of that state. His first report was published in 1855, and he was preparing another at the time of his death. Dr. Percival was a man of great learn- ing, and is described by an eminent scholar as " having taken all knowledge for his province." He read ten languages with fluency, was a philolo- gist, geologist, botanist, musician, and poet. His habits were eccentric, and by nature he was retir- ing and inclined to melancholy. Although he was without vices, the shiftless management of his pecuniary affairs brought him into many diSicul- ties, but he left a library of more than 10,000 vol- umes of learned, scientific, and miscellaneous works which was sold by his executors for $30,000. Will- iam Cullen Bryant said of his poetry : " WHiile he was one of the most learned of poets, he was also one of the most spontaneous in the manifesta- tions of genius. He wrote with a sort of natural fluency which approached nearer to improvisation than the manner of most of our poets." A com- plete collection of his poetical works, including those already named, and some posthumous verses, was published, with a biographical sketch bv Eras- tus North (3 vols., Boston, 1859). See his' " Life and Letters," by Julius H. Ward (1866).

PERCIVAL, John, naval officer, b. in Barnsta- ble, Mass., 3 April, 1779; d. in Roxbury, Mass., 17 Sept., 1863. He left the merchant service in 1809, and entered the U. S. navy as sailing-master. He became lieutenant in 1814, and during the war with England was in several important engagements in that year, displaying courage in the capture of the British tender " Eagle " off New York, and in the engagements between the " Peacock " and the " Epervier." He became master in 1831 and cap- tain in 1841, and made his last cruise in the " Con- stitution " in 1843-'7, retiring in 1848. His rough and eccentric manners won him the soubriquet in the navy of " Mad Jack," but his professional skill was of a high order, and, although a strict disci- plinarian, he was a popular commander.

PERCY, George, governor of Virginia, b. in Svon House, Northumberland county, England, 4 Sept., 1580; d. in England in March, 1632. He was the eighth son of Henry Percy, eighth Earl of Northumberland. He entered the army early in life, and, after serv- ing in the Nether- lands, came to Virginia about 1606, and in 1619 succeeded Capt. John Smith as governor of the colony. He was possessed of soldierly qualities and adminis- trative ability. His portrait, a copy of which is in the collec- tion of the Virginia historical society, rep- resents him with a mu- tilated hand, which it is said was the result of a wound from the Virginia savages. He published " Observations gathered out of a Discourse of the Plantations of the Southerne Colonic in Virginia by the English " (London, 1606) ; also in- cluded in Samuel Purchas's "Pilgrirnes, 1685-'90" (1735). This narrative gives in minute detail the incidents of the fii'st voyage, and of the movements of the colonists after their arrival at Capo Henry until their landing at Jamestown.

PERCY, Hugh, Duke of Northumberland, b. in London, 38 Aug., 1742; d. there, 10 July, 1817.