Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 15.djvu/911

PICKERING. observatory at Arequipa, in Peru lie devoted particular attention to the study ot light and the MHctra of the stars and published the results of his observations in the Aiiiuih of the Bunaid Obsrnalory. He also vrote Elements of Physical il (I II iiiu la lion (1874).

PICKERLNG, JoUN (1777-1840). An Ameri- can linguist and lexicographer, son of Tiniothy I'ickoring, born in Salem, Mass. He graduated at Harvard in 1791), studied law with Edward Tilgham in Philadelphia, was Secretary of Lega- tion in Lisbon until 17nn, and then became private secretary to Rufus King, Minister to England. He practiced law in Salem, Mass., from 1801 to 1827, was City Solicitor of Boston ( 1827-4G), and during his service in the State Legislature took a prominent part in revising the Slassachusetts general statutes. He was president of the Ameri- can Academy of Sciences, first president of the American Oriental Society, an able linguist, and, like bis father, particularly interested in the languages of the North American Indians. He wrote A Uniform Orthography for the Indian Languages (1820), Remarks on the Indian Lan- guages of North America (1830), Vocabulary of ^yor<ls and Phrases f<upimscd to lie Peculiar lo the United Htates (1810), and a Greek and Eng- lish Lexicon (1820, .3d ed. 1840), as well as many monographs on ancient and international law. Consult the biography by his daughter, Mary Orne Pickering (Boston, 1887).

PICKERING, TiMOTHV (174.5-1829). An American statesman. He was born at Salem, Mass., July 17, 1745. graduated at Harvard in 1703, and was admitted to the bar in 1708. In 1773 he drafted for the town of Salem a paper entitled Slate of the l/ights of the Colonists, and in the following year the meninrial of the citizens of Salem to (Jeiieral Gage in regard to the Boston Port Bill. In 1770 he joined the Revolutionary Army and led an Essex County regiment to Tar- rytown, N. Y. In the following year he took part in the battles of Brandywine and Geiniantown. and was appointed a member of the Congressional Board of War. In 1780 he was appointed Quar- termaster-General of the army and retained the ofliee until its abolition in 1785. Upon his retire- ment from the army, he engaged in business in Philadeli)liia, but two years later removed to the Wyoming Valley and became involved in the dis- turbances of that region, where he was instru- mental in maintaining order and quiet. He set- tled the territorial disputes between Pennsylva- nia and the inhabitants of the Wyoming Valley, and organized Luzerne County, which he reiu'e- sented in the Pennsylvania Constitutional Con- vention of 1780. In 1790 he was commissioned by President Washington to negotiate a treatv with the Six Nations, which he did successfully, and later performed a similar service with the Indians of the Northwest. In 1791 Colonel Pick- ering was appointed Postmaster-General of the United States, which ofliee he held until 1795, when he was appointed Secretary of War. Pick- ering signalized his administration by establish- ing a military school at West Point and by super- vising the construction of the frigates Constitu- tion, United States, and Constellation. Upon the resignation of Edmund Randolph near the end of 1795. Colonel Pickering was appointed Secretary of State, which ofliee he liidd cluring the remain- der of Washington's term and through the greater part of Adams's administration. In ISOO he was abruptly removed on account of a serious dis- agreement with the President growing out of the difliculties with France over the X. Y. Z. corre- spondence (q.v.). He then retired to his uncleared lands in what is now Susquehanna County, Pa., but was in poor circumstances, and some of his Massachusetts friends prevailed upon him to re- turn to his native State, where in 1802 he became Chief .lustice of the Court of Common Pleas. In the following year he was elected to the United States Senate, where he served until 1811. As a member of the House of Representatives he served until 1817, when he refu.sed a renomination and again retired to private life. He died at Salem, January 29, 1829. Pickering wrote numerous po- litical papers, including a Revieic of the Corre- spondence Between John Adams and William Cun- ningham. A biography of Colonel Pickering in 4 vols, was published by Oetavius Pickering and C. W. Upham (Boston, 1807-73).

PICKERING, (1796-1854). An English publisher. After serving for ten years in a Quaker publishing house in Cornhill, London, he opened a bookshop of his own in Lincoln's Inn Fields (1820). Adding publishing to the business, he subsequently moved to Chancery Lane (1824) and to Piccadilly (1842). For printing he employed the Chiswick Press. About 1830 he adopted the trade-mark of --^Idus. the famous Italian printer — an anchor entwined with a dol- phin, to which was added the motto, Aldi Discip. Ang. Among his notable undertakings were the "Diamoncl Classics" (a series of delicate vol- umes in 48ino and 32mo. issued between 1821 and 1831) : and reprints of dirt'erent versions of the Book of Common Prayer between 1549 and 1002 ((i vols.. 1844), the tj'pography of which has probably never been surpassed. Among his sumptuous publications may be cited Walton's Compleat Angler, illustrated by Stothard and Inskipp (2 vols., 1836). He also projected the .ldine edition of English poets, j^fter his death the business was carried on by his son, Basil MoNTAGtTE Pickering (1836-78), who, among several reprints, issued a facsimile of the first edition of Paradise Lost. In 1878 the firm came to an end.