Memoirs of the Rev. Samuel Parr
Ch. XXVIII. 1800-1807
Samuel Parr to William Roscoe, 4 October 1797
“Sir,—For the liberty I am going to take with a
gentleman, whom I have not the honour personally to know, I have no other, and
probably I could find no better apology, than the frankness, which ought to
subsist between literary men upon subjects of literature.”—“Your
life of Lorenzo de’
Medici had been often mentioned to me by critics, whose approbation
every writer would be proud to obtain; and as the course of reading, which I
pursued about thirty years ago, had made me familiar with the works of
Poggius, Pico of
Mirandula, Politian, and
other illustrious contemporaries of Lorenzo, I eagerly seized the opportunity of borrowing your
celebrated publication from a learned friend at Oxford.”—“You will
pardon my zeal, Sir, and you may confide in my sincerity, when I declare to
you, that the contents of your book far surpassed my expectation, and amply
rewarded the attention with which I perused them.—You have thrown the clearest
and fullest light upon a period most interesting to every scholar.—You ![]()
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have produced much that was unknown; and to that which was
known, you have given perspicuity, order, and grace.—You have shown the
greatest diligence in your researches, and the purest taste in your selection;
and upon the characters and events which passed in review before your
inquisitive and discriminating mind, you have united sagacity of observation,
with correctness, elegance, and vigour of style.”—“For the credit
of our national curiosity and national learning, I trust that the work will
soon reach a second edition; and if this should be the case, I will, with your
permission, send you a list of mistakes, which I have found in some Latin
passages, and which, upon seeing them, you will certainly think worthy of
consideration. Perhaps I shall proceed a little farther, in pointing out two or
three expressions, which seem to me capable of improvement; and in stating my
reasons for dissenting from you upon a very few facts of very little
importance.”—“At all events, I shall give you proofs of the care
with which I have read your admirable work; and as to the petty strictures
which I may have occasion here and there to throw out, you will find an honest,
and let me hope a satisfactory explanation of my meaning, in the words of
Politian to
Pico—‘Neque ego judicis, sed
Momi personam indui, quem ferunt sandalium Veneris tandem culpasse, cum
Venerem non posset.’”—“It is proper for
me to add, that I do not understand Italian; but am told by a very intelligent
neighbour, who is said to read it critically, and to write it elegantly, that
the matter contained in that language is apposite, ![]()
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curious, and instructive.—I have the honour to be, &c.
S. Parr.”
Hatton, Oct. 4, 1797.
Lorenzo de' Medici (1449-1492)
The son of Cosimo; he was a Florentine oligarch, poet, and patron of the arts.
