In 1835, while still working in the store, Melville enrolled in Albany Classical School, perhaps using Maria's part of the proceeds from the sale of the estate of his maternal grandmother in March 1835.[39] In September of the following year, Herman was back at The Albany Academy, participating in the school's Latin course. He also participated in debating societies, in an apparent effort to make up as much as he could for his missed years of schooling. During this time, he read Shakespeare, including Macbeth, whose witch scenes gave him the chance to teasingly scare his sisters.[40] By March 1837, however, he again withdrew from The Albany Academy.
Gansevoort served as a role model and support for Melville throughout his life, particularly during this time trying to cobble together an education. In early 1834, Gansevoort became a member of Albany's Young Men's Association for Mutual Improvement, and in January 1835 Melville joined him there.[41] Gansevoort also had copies of John Todd's Index Rerum, a blank register for indexing remarkable passages from books one had read for easy retrieval. Among the sample entries that Gansevoort made showing his academic scrupulousness was "Pequot, beautiful description of the war with," with a short title reference to the place in Benjamin Trumbull's A Complete History of Connecticut (Volume I in 1797, and Volume II in 1818) in which the description could be found. The two surviving volumes of Gansevoort's are the best evidence for Melville's reading in this period. Gansevoort's entries include books Melville used for Moby-Dick and Clarel, including "Parsees—of India—an excellent description of their character, and religion and an account of their descent—East India Sketch Book p. 21".[42] Other entries are on Panther, the pirate's cabin, and storm at sea from James Fenimore Cooper's The Red Rover.[43]
