The year 1795 was distinguished in the annals of English
literature, by the publication of a work of extraordinary merit; which was attended with
the singular fortune of being received, on its very first appearance, not only by professed
scholars, but by almost every class of readers, and by all the various, and at that time
fiercely contending, parties in the nation, with one instantaneous and universal burst of
admiration and applause. This was “The
Life of Lorenzo de’ Medici,” by William
Roscoe, Esq. of Liverpool. In this important work, the author has opened to
his countrymen new and delightful sources of information on some of the most interesting
subjects of history and literature; and he has enhanced, in a high degree, the value of
that information, by the mild spirit of philosophy and humanity which uniformly guides his
pen, by the pure sentiments of moral and politi-
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The attention of Dr. Parr was soon drawn to this work; and, after carefully perusing it, he addressed the following letter to the author, by whose kind permission it is here subjoined:
“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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“I well recollect,” says one of his own pupils, “the manner in which Dr. Parr devoured every page of Roscoe’s ‘Life of Lorenzo de’ Medici.’ After his first perusal of the book, he went through it again with me, to whom he dictated numerous critical observations and suggestions, which he enclosed in a complimentary letter to Mr. Roscoe; and which, I believe, led to a friendly intercourse between the Doctor and that gentleman.”1
These friendly criticisms were indeed received, as is here intimated, with a due sense of obligation by the candid and ingenious writer for whose use they were intended; and the intimation is also correct, that they proved the means of introducing an epistolary correspondence, followed by several personal interviews; of which Dr. Parr always spoke with high and rapturous delight. From a second letter, which passed on this occasion, the following are some extracts:
“I am determined to lose no time in acknowledging my good fortune upon the acquisition of a correspondent, whose candour is worthy of his talents, and whose letters are fraught with all the elegance and all the vigour which decorate his publication.”—“I rejoice, Sir, not so much upon your account, as upon that of your readers, to whom you have opened so large and so delightful a field of entertainment and instruction, when you tell me
1 New Monthly Mag. July, 1826. |
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Noctuma versare manu, versare diurna.— |
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In the year 1798 appeared another work by the same author, entitled “The Nurse; a poem, translated from the Italian of Luigi Tansillo.” According to the short account prefixed to the poem, Tansillo was a native of Nola, in the kingdom of Naples; and “was one of the brightest wits in that constellation of genius, which appeared in Italy in the 16th century; and which yet diffuses a permanent light over the horizon of literature.” The object of his poem is to inculcate on mothers the discharge of their natural duty towards their infant offspring; and to reprobate the custom of transferring that duty to others. As the subject is thus highly interesting in itself, “so is it treated in a manner peculiarly pointed and direct; yet without violating the decorum which is due to the public at large, and in particular to the sex to whom it is addressed.” A copy of this work, presented by the author, was read by Dr. Parr with eager delight; and the kindness of the giver, and the pleasure which his work afforded, were gratefully acknowledged in a letter, from which the following is an extract:
“Dear Sir,—You and I have read and rejected many a grave
definition of man; and if the failure
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But, whilst cultivating the new and the valuable acquaintance, which afterwards proved to him the source of so much high satisfaction, nearly about the same time, Dr. Parr’s attention was painfully drawn to the cruel wrongs, followed by the premature death of a friend, whose learning he respected—whose talents he honoured—whose virtues he admired—and whose misfortunes he deeply deplored.1 This was the Rev. Gilbert Wakefield, eminently distinguished as a scholar and a writer; and as a man, yet more eminently distinguished for moral rectitude, which no earthly hope or fear could move from its even course—for benevolent ardour, which no perverse opposition, or ungrateful returns to himself, could check in its pursuit of good to others—and for generous love of country, which seemed to regard all personal considerations as nothing, and even “the threats of pain and ruin to despise,” in supporting the sacred cause of its rights and liberties.
Mr. Wakefield was one of those persons who fell a victim to the barbarous persecution, which ministerial vengeance brought down upon so many innocent, but obnoxious individuals, during the period of the French Revolution; and which will for ever fix a deep and indelible stain on the Pitt-administration, even if it had been far more glorious, than its zealous partisans have represented it. For a few unguarded expressions, in one of his political publications, he was consigned to the common jail
1 “Wakefield. Silva Critica. The gift of the learned, pious, and injured author. S. P.”—Bibl. Parr. p. 330. |
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Of all his friends and admirers, and he had many, there were few who loved and admired him more than Dr. Parr; and the present writer, in the habit of visiting both, was often employed to convey messages of kind inquiry, and invitations of friendly hospitality, from one to the other. But though Mr. Wakefield greatly respected Dr. Parr, yet from the impulse of his own stern and unyielding integrity, which led him to judge severely of others, he could not help sometimes expressing, in strong terms, his disapprobation of Dr. Parr’s insincerity and inconsistency, as he did not scruple to term them, in disguising so much his sentiments on important subjects, and in refusing to act publicly in support of principles, which, in private, he was known to approve. These censures, however, were pointed against him more as a theologian and an ecclesiastic, than as a politician; and if in any degree deserved in the earlier periods, they were far less so in the later years of his life; when, it is certain, he threw around his opinions much less disguise, and when few opportunities of openly avowing and maintaining them occurred, which he did not embrace.
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If, on his part, Dr. Parr occasionally adverted to those defects in Mr. Wakefield, which cast a shade over the splendour of a good and a great name, it was always with tenderness and delicacy. Sometimes he lamented, and sometimes blamed, but much oftener candidly excused, that irritability of temper, which appeared so offensively in the publications of Mr. Wakefield, though not at all in his conversation or manners. It is neither necessary nor possible to justify the severe censures, the acrimonious invectives, the rude personalities, which may be found in his controversial writings, and even in those on subjects of philology and classical literature. But the example of other critics of great fame—the warmth of his own temper—the unmerited provocations which he received—the haste with which he wrote and published, and which precluded the possibility of corrections or obliterations, such as more sober reflection might have dictated; all these considerations were often forcibly urged by Dr. Parr in extenuation of faults, which certainly detract something from the excellence of Mr. Wakefield’s writings, important and valuable as they are.
Of his style in Latin composition, Dr.
Parr formed no very favourable judgment; and of his conjectural emendations,
he did not in general approve. He thought that Mr.
Wakefield wanted the time and the patience necessary to that discrimination,
which would have made his conjectures fewer, indeed, but more probable; and his principles,
in forming and elucidating them more exact. He fully acknowledged, however, the success,
and
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On receiving intelligence of Mr. Wakefield’s death, communicated by a common friend,3 Dr. Parr addressed to that friend a letter in reply; from which the following are extracts:
“Sir,—I was yesterday evening honoured with your letter; I read the contents of it with inexpressible anguish; I passed a comfortless night, and this morning I am scarcely able to thank you as I ought to do, for your delicacy in averting the shock, which I must have suffered, if intelligence so unexpected and so distressing had rushed upon me from the newspapers.”—“In the happiness of the late Mr. Wakefield, I always took a lively interest: many are the inquiries I made about the
1 Life of Wakefield, vol. ii. p. 449. 2 “Lucretii Opera à Wakefield. 3 vols. 4to. The gift of the very learned editor. S. P.”—“Wakefield’s Remarks on Horsley’s Ordination Sermon. Pungent. S. P.”—Bibl. Parr. p. 185. 689. 3 Life of Wakefield, vol. ii. p. 221. |
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1 “Noctes Carcerariæ. The last gift of the beloved and much respected author. S. P.”—Bibl. Parr. p. 634. 2 When the name of Wakefield occurs to us, who does not heave a momentary sigh, and, catching the spirit with which Jortin once alluded to the productions of learned and ingenious dissenters, repeat the emphatical quotation of that most accomplished and amiable scholar—“Qui tales sunt, utinam essent nostri?”— Review of the Variorum Horace, British Critic, vol. iii. p. 123. |
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In no long time after the death of “the beloved and much respected friend,” whose loss he deplored so feelingly in the above letter, Dr. Parr had to lament that of several other of his friends; among which number were, in his own neighbourhood, Lord Dormer, and the Rev. Mr. Gaches; and, at a distance, the Rev. Thomas Twining,1
1 “Mr. Twining of Colchester του Άττικωτατον.” Spital Serm. p. 109. |
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But the hand of death, which was thus striking down his friends around, was soon destined to reach nearer to himself; and towards the end of 1805, Dr. Parr was deprived, by that dreadful distemper, a lingering consumption, of the younger of his two daughters, Catherine Jane Parr, who was then in her 24th year. She had been, for some time, removed from Warwickshire, to try the benefit of milder air, at Teignmouth on the Devonshire coast. But the change came too late; and, as her father expressed himself in a letter to a friend, “Many, aye, many a time have I reproached myself, for not acting vigorously, according to my own conviction, in sending my daughter sooner to a more favourable climate, though in opposition to the judgment of a most sagacious and truly affectionate mother.”
The death of this excellent young lady was calm and peaceful. What seldom
happens, in such cases, she was fully aware of her own situation; and gave several
particular directions about her own funeral. The lingering hours of closing life were much
soothed by reading “Rogers’
Pleasures of the Memory;” over which she hung with delighted attention.
She retained her faculties to
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Inferior in powers of intellect to her elder sister, Catherine possessed, in a higher degree, the attractive graces of kind and amiable disposition, and of bland and obliging manners. She had much of the gay sprightliness of wit, but none of its satirical poignancy. She was her father’s favourite, and in losing her, he was for a time inconsolable. Thus, in a letter dated Teignmouth, Nov. 23, 1805, addressed to his excellent friend Mrs. Bellamy, now Mrs. Edwards, he communicates the sad intelligence:—
“Dear Madam,—I reached Teignmouth on Wednesday
afternoon, and found my beloved child so ill, as to be incapable of being
removed, as she and I wished, so as to breathe her last amidst the soothing and
affectionate attentions of her friends at Hatton. Poor Sarah arrived this morning about two; but too
late to see her dear sister alive; for yesterday, at a quarter before two, my
Catherine expired in the presence of
her mother and myself. I believe that a more virtuous soul never appeared in
the presence of God. I hope to meet her, where this painful separation will no
more be felt. Oh! Mrs. Bellamy, this is
the sharpest affliction I ever experienced. But of this no more.—Her parents
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According to the intention, expressed in the above letter, the remains were conveyed from Teignmouth to Hatton; and deposited, with a kind of state, in the library, where they were kept till it was no longer safe. There they were visited by the afflicted mother, at stated hours every day; who always went alone, and remaining long, especially before retiring to rest at night. The disconsolate father, too, often resorted to the same mournful scene, and at every visit spent some time in prayer, kneeling down near the coffin: nor could he, without difficulty, be torn away from the sad spectacle, when at length necessity required it.1 After the last rites of hu-
1 Much as it may surprise the reader, especially if little informed of the singularities which marked, in many instances, the mind and conduct of Dr. Parr—it was, no doubt, the warmth of parental affection which dictated the wish, and its constancy which, after the lapse of so many years, gave to that wish the form of the following extraordinary directions—found with many others of a similar kind, amongst his own written orders for his own funeral! “I lay particular stress upon the following directions: My hands must be bound by the crape hatband which I wore at the burial of my daughter Catherine. Upon my breast must be placed a piece of flannel, which |
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“At East Teignmouth, Devon, in her 24th year, died, after a long and painful illness, which she bore with exemplary patience and resignation, and the last hours of which she hallowed by an act of duty to her father, Catherine Jane, second and youngest daughter of the Rev. Dr. Parr. She was distinguished by playfulness of wit, and sweetness of disposition, by purity of mind and goodness of heart, by affection to her parents and reverence of her God. Her venerable father, whose attainments are exceeded only by the strength of his understanding, and the warmth of his heart, will long and deeply feel and lament her loss. It leaves a void in his enjoyments, which no other being can fully supply. Her afflicted mother, of whom she was the constant and beloved companion, and round the fibres of whose heart she was closely entwined, weeps, like Rachel, for her child, and ‘refuses to be comforted because she is not.’ Her sorrowing sister clings to the remembrance of her with the fondest affection; and her surviving friends, to whom she was deservedly endeared, can never call to mind her various virtues without the mournful tribute of a sigh.”
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Catherine wore at her dying moments at Teignmouth; and there must be a lock of Catherine’s hair, in silk and paper, with her name, laid on my bosom, as carefully as possible, and covered and fastened with a piece of black silk.” 1 Gent. Mag. Dec. 1805. |
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This affecting memorial, consecrated to a beloved daughter, was, within a short time, followed by another tribute, which Dr. Parr was called upon “in the discharge of a last and a pious duty,” as he himself expresses it, to pay to the memory of a much esteemed friend. This was the late Mr. W. Parkes, of the Marble Yard, Warwick; one of the most intelligent, upright, agreeable, and benevolent of men, who died amidst the sorrowful regrets, not of his afflicted friends only, but of the whole surrounding neighbourhood, July 13th, 1806. Though not a member of the same church with himself—yet utterly and nobly regardless of every other except the great and essential distinction of mental and moral worth, as Dr. Parr ever was—thus he portrays the pleasing picture of departed excellence, as it appeared in private life:—
“This excellent man discharged all the various and sacred duties
of domestic life, with the most irreproachable exactness and amiable tenderness. He was
intelligent, punctual, and diligent, in conducting the numerous and important concerns
of a very extensive business; and unwearied in his endeavours to relieve the indigent,
and to protect the oppressed. The activity of his benevolence was unrestrained by any
narrow and invidious distinctions of sect or party. His equanimity was alike
undisturbed by adverse and prosperous fortune. His patriotism was firm and temperate,
and his piety was rational and sincere. By constancy in his friendships, by placability
in his resentments, by the ingenuous openness of his temper, by the manly independence
of his spirit, and
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In the course of the year 1807, the wide circle of his friends, among whom
pre-eminently stood Dr. Parr, and the whole world of
letters, were alarmed by reports of the declining health of the celebrated Greek Professor
of Cambridge, Richard Porson. He was one of the most
extraordinary men of his time; in talents, surpassed by few; in learning, and especially in
Greek learning, certainly not excelled, and scarcely even equalled by any, not only of his
own age, but of all former ages. He had been long subject to spasmodic asthma; and this
painful disorder, increasing in the frequency of its recurrence, and the virulence of its
attack, reduced him, towards the end of the year
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He was undoubtedly one of those intellectual prodigies, which now and then appear to astonish, to delight, and to instruct mankind. With powers of memory1 almost miraculous, he united acute penetration, clear discernment, and correct judgment. His learning was enlivened by brilliancy of wit and humour; and his mental excellences were adorned by the noblest moral qualities. His piety was sincere; his integrity was inflexible; and more ardour of benevolence glowed in his heart than was generally apparent to others. So sacred with him were the rights of conscience, so extended his views of religious liberty,2 that he not only tolerated, but honoured and applauded differing Christians, and even opposing unbelievers, if they were sincere and virtuous. He resigned his fellowship, and closed against himself the prospect
1 He once told a friend of Dr. Parr, Mrs. Edwards, whose name has so often occurred in these pages, “that his memory was a source of misery to him, as he could never forget any thing, even what he wished not to remember.” 2 “Pillars of Priestcraft and Orthodoxy shaken, by Richard Baron, 4 vols. A favourite work of Professor Porson. S. P. “Gordon’s Cordial for Low Spirits, 3 vols. A favourite work of Porson’s. S. P.” Bibl. Parr. pp. 86. 520. |
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Though the opportunities of personal intercourse did not very frequent
occur, yet Dr. Parr always delighted in the society
of Mr. Porson, and always spoke of him, as the first
of scholars, and one of the greatest of men. In the list of learned academics, he is
mentioned as του πάνυ θαυμαστου; and his qualifications and his services
as Greek Professor of Cambridge, are thus described: “Mr.
Porson, the Greek Professor, has not read more than one lecture, but
that one was πίοαχος εξ ιερης ολίγη λιβάς. He has written, however,
books of utility, far more extensive than lectures could be; and I speak from my own
actual observation, when I state, that the Greek plays, edited by this won-
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As a scholar, a critic, a man of high talent, the character of Mr. Porson is sketched with a strong and a bold hand, in the following passage:
“Mr. Porson is a giant in
literature, a prodigy in intellect, a critic, whose mighty achievements leave imitation
panting at a distance behind him, and whose stupendous powers strike down all the
restless and aspiring suggestions of rivalry into silent admiration and passive awe. He
that excels in great things, so as not to be himself excelled, shall readily have
pardon from me, if he errs in little matters adapted to little minds. But I should
expect to see the indignant shades of Bentley,
Hemsterhuis, and Valckenaer, rise from the grave, and rescue their illustrious successor
from the grasp of his persecutors, if any attempt were made to immolate him on the
altars of dulness and avarice, for his sins of omission, or his sins of commission as a
corrector of the press. Enough, and more than enough, have I heard of his little
oversights in the hum of those busy inspectors who peep and pry after one class of
defects only, in the prattle of finical collectors, and the cavils of unlearned, and
half-learned gossips. But I know that spots of this kind are lost in the blaze of this
great man’s excellencies. I know that his character towers far above the reach of
such puny objectors. I think that his claims to
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One of Mr. Porson’s most remarkable publications, “Letters to Archdeacon Travis,” is thus praised by Mr. Gibbon: “I consider it as the most acute and accurate piece of criticism, which has appeared since the days of Bentley. Mr. Porson’s strictures are founded in argument, enriched with learning, and enlivened with wit; and his adversary neither deserves nor finds any quarter at his hand.” The same work Dr. Parr thus characterises: “Inimitable and invincible;”2 and speaking of the publication to which it was an answer, he adds: “Travis was a superficial and arrogant declaimer; and his letters to Gibbon brought down upon him the just and heavy displeasure of an assailant equally irresistible for his wit, his reasoning, and his erudition—I mean the immortal Richard Porson.”3
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1 Reply to Combe. 2 Bibl. Parr. p. 689. 3 Ibid. p. 601. |
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