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Elements of knowledge. Biddle, Horace P. (Horace Peters), 1811–1900.

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Elements of knowledge

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Biddle, Horace P. (Horace Peters), 1811-1900.

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BIDDLE, HORACE PETERS: 1811–1900.

Horace P. Biddle, who was to become one of the chief disseminators of culture in the early Indiana scene, was born in what is now Hocking County, O. His parents, Benjamin and Abigail Converse Biddle, had come to Ohio from New England.

Young Biddle attended such subscription schools as were available in Ohio in his youth and eventually he began to read law under the guidance of Hocking H. Hunter of Lancaster, O. "Reading law" in those days, unless the reader was able to pay tuition to the learned barrister who supervised his studies, involved far more than academic pursuits: the student was expected to (and had better, if he wished to continue his preparations for the acquisition of fame and fortune) keep the fire in the fireplace in a state likely to satisfy the expectation of the waiting client with real money to pay as a retainer (splitting the wood if that proved necessary), to maintain a supply of sharp quills, to see to the ink (boiling poke-berries as a last expedient) and to copy all documents which passed through the office in a legible hand and with absolute accuracy. Biddle performed these services to the satisfaction of his mentor, Attorney Hunter, and acquired a little knowledge of the law to boot. In 1839 he was admitted to the Ohio bar.

Either Ohio was becoming too crowded with lawyers or young Biddle believed that possible lacunae in his learning would be less noticeable in a new country, because in October of the same year he went to Logansport, Ind., and announced himself ready to receive clients in need of advice or assistance.

He soon acquired a profitable practice and, by investing his fees wisely, was in middle age one of the most prosperous citizens of the community. In 1846 he was elected presiding judge of the eighth Indiana district, and, while his service was adequate in every respect, it did little to add lustre to his name except for the fact that he was thereafter "Judge" Biddle to the title-loving Hoosiers. He later served, from 1874 to 1881, as a judge of the Supreme Court of Indiana. After 1881 he devoted his time entirely to writing, reading and research.

It was not as a jurist, nor as the very competent business man which he was, that Judge Biddle is remembered; it is as a patron, a student and a scholarly commentator of letters, science, philosophy and music. At his beautiful home on Biddle's Island in the Wabash River he found time not only to hunt and fish but also to collect one of the largest private libraries of its day in Indiana, to read, to translate from the French, German, Spanish, Portuguese and Italian, to study, and to play and enjoy music, and to write with authority on a great many subjects. Judge Biddle was able to live in this fashion, not only in the nineteen years of his life after his retirement but during his active career as well, while he was amassing a respectable estate entirely by his own efforts. Obviously, he was a master at organizing and utilizing his time to the best possible advantage. It is in no way remarkable that Indiana writers who knew him in their impressionable years invariably spoke of his culture and his manner of living with awe; he must have furnished an ideal for every ambitious and educated young man of the state.

Judge Biddle died on May 13, 1900.

Information from notes compiled by the late Esther U. McNitt, of the Indiana State Library.

My Cabin Home. 1839.
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A Few Poems. 1849. (No copy located but referred to by D. S. A. in an article in the CINCINNATI GAZETTE of Dec. 7, 1876, as having attracted the attention of Washington Irving.)
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A Discourse on Art … on the Occasion of George Winter's Annual Distribution of Oil Paintings at … Lafayette, December 30, 1854. Lafayette, Ind., 1855.
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A Few Poems. Cincinnati, 1858. (Apparently enlarged from the edition of 1849.)
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The Musical Scale. Cincinnati, 1860.
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My Island Home. 1860.
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Poems. New York, 1868.
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A Review of Prof. Tyndall's Work on Sound. Cincinnati, 1872.
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Biddle's Poems. New York, 1872.
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The Definition of Poetry: An Essay. Cincinnati, 1873.
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Glances at the World. n.p., 1873.
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My Scrap Book. Logansport, Ind., 1874.
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The Analysis of Rhyme: An Essay. Cincinnati, 1876.
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American Boyhood. Philadelphia, 1876.
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An Essay on Russian Literature. Cincinnati, 1877.
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The Tetrachord: A New Musical Instrument. Cincinnati, 1877.
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Amatories by an Amateur. Cincinnati, 1878. (Edition of 10 copies.)
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The Elements of Knowledge. Cincinnati, 1881.
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Prose Miscellany. Cincinnati, 1881.
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Last Poems. Cincinnati, 1882.
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The Eureka: A New Musical Instrument. Logansport, Ind., 1886.
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Life and Services of John B. Dillon (withJohn Coburn). Indianapolis, 1886.
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The Dictionary of Music.
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Publication Year:

1881

Source:

Cincinnati: Robert Clarke & Co, 1881. 245 p.

Bookmark:

https://purl.dlib.indiana.edu/iudl/inauthors/VAB8225

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ELEMENTS OF KNOWLEDGE

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