HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHY. D MEMOIR of the REV. SAMUEL PARR, LL. D. R. SAMUEL PARR was born at Harrow, January 15, 1746-7. His great grandfather was rector of Kirkby Malory, in Leicestershire; his grandfather was vicar of Hinckley, in the same county: and his father was an apothecary and surgeon at Harrow. At Easter, 1756, young Parr was admitted on the foundation of Harrow school, where he became head boy in January, 1761, at the early age of fourteen. There he was contemporary with Mr. Halhed, sir William Jones, and Dr. Bennett, late bishop of Cloyne. His first literary attempt was reported by himself to have been a drama founded on the book of Ruth. Sermons are in existence, written by him at the early age of fourteen. Soon afterwards, Parr left school, his father wishing to educate him in his own profession, and for two or three years he attended to that business. He had a strong desire to obtain the advantages of academic education and honours, but his step-mother (he had lost his own mother when he was between nine and ten years old) feared the expense, and influenced his father to make the condition of his going to the University, his entry as a sizar. This was what his independent spirit could not brook, after quitting his school-fellows as an equal. His father gave him a month to determine, whether he would accept the proffered terms, or relinquish college altogether; he chose the latter alternative; but parental pride subsequently advanced a small sum, which, on his entry at Emanuel College, Cambridge, in 1765, young Parr confided to the treasurership of his old friend and school-fellow, the late bishop Bennett. His pecuniary necessities, however, soon became pressing, and he determined to leave the University rather than to borrow. On balancing his accounts, he found, to his extreme surprise, that he had 3l. 17s., over and above the full payment of his debts; and such had been the economy of his expenses, that, he said, had he previously known of any such sum, he should have remained longer! In one of his printed sermons, he pathetically laments his inability to continue where his talents and ac quirements seemed to promise him the highest distinction and worldly success. Dr. Sumner soon recalled him to Harrow, where he was appointed first assistant in January, 1767. At Christmas, 1769, he was or dained on the curacies of Wilsdon and Kingsbury, Middlesex, which he resigned at Easter, 1770. In 1771, he was created M.A. per literas Regias; and in the same year, on the death of Dr. Sumner, he became a candidate for the head-mastership of Harrow, with the late master's strong recommendation. Although sanguine hopes were entertained by his friends of his success, his youth and other influence prevailed against his nomination, to the great disappointment of the scholars, by whom he was sincerely beloved. The election fell upon Dr. Heath. The dissatisfaction of the school was manifested in Dr. Parr's favour by some overt acts of insubordination. These he was unjustly accused of having fomented; and the most violent clamours were raised against him, and circulated in the public papers. Ultimately he resigned the place of assistant, and established a private academy at Stanmore, with forty-five boys, of whom all but one followed him from Harrow. It then became desirable, and even necessary, that he should be married: he, therefore, espoused Jane, daughter of Zachariah Marsengale, esq., of Carleton, Yorkshire, and niece to Thomas Mauleverer, esq., of Arncliffe, in that county. Dr. Parr married Miss Marsengale, because he wanted a housekeeper; Miss Marsengale married Dr. Parr, because she wanted a house. She was an only child, bred up by three maiden aunts, as she said of herself, "in rigidity and frigidity," and she always described Dr. Parr as "born in a whirlwind, and bred a tyrant." Such discordant elements were not likely to produce harmony. The lady lost few opportunities of annoying her spouse; an object, which a strong understanding and caustic powers of language afforded her more than ordinary facilities of accomplishing; and she always preferred exposing his foibles and ridiculing his peculiarities in the presence of others. His mind and temper were kept in continual irritation; and he was driven to the resources of visiting, and to the excitement of that table talk which unfortunately superseded efforts of more lasting character. Porson used to say," Parr would have been a great man but for three things,his trade, his wife, and his politics!" By this his first wife, who died at Teignmouth, April 16, 1810 (and was buried at Hatton), Dr. Parr had several children, who died in their infancy; and two daughters who grew up. Of these, the younger, Catharine, died unmarried; the elder, Sarah, was united in 1797, to John, the eldest son of colonel Wynne, of Plasnwydd, near Denbigh, and died at Hatton, in 1810, having given birth to three daughters, two of whom, Caroline and Augusta, are now living, the former being the wife of the rev. John Lynes, rector of Elmley Lovett, Worcestershire; one of the doctor's executors. The period of Dr. Parr's continuance at Stanmore, was five years. The advantages of his establishment there had not, however, been equal to his expectations. His expenses were excess ive, his profits therefore inconsiderable, his labours most oppressive, and he found the impossibility of supporting his situation against the influence and credit of a great public school, and the well-founded reputation of his competitor, Dr. Heath. He therefore, in 1776, was induced to accept the mastership of Colchester school, and thither a considerable part of his Stanmore scholars followed him. He was ordained priest in 1777, and held the cures of the parishes of Trinity and the Highe, Colchester. In 1778, he obtained the mastership of Norwich school, where Mr. Beloe was for three years his under-master, and the rev. T. Munro his scholar; and in 1779, he undertook the care of two curacies at Norwich. These he resigned in 1780, in which year he received his first ecclesiastical preferment, the rectory of Asterby, in Lincolnshire. In the summer of this year he commenced his career as an author, by the publication of "Two Sermons on Education." In 1781, he was admitted to the degree of LL.D. at Cambridge, but without any particular mark of distinction. In the summer of the same year, appeared "A Discourse on the late Fast, by Phileleutherus Norfolciencis," 4to. This sermon has been considered the best of Dr. Parr's productions, and had a corresponding success; for though anonymously published, the whole impression, consisting of four hundred and fifty copies, was sold in two months; and it is at present a work of most extraordinary rarity. In the spring of 1783, lady Trafford, whose son he had educated, presented him with the perpetual curacy of Hatton, then worth about Sol. per annum; and in April 1783, he removed to that seat of hospitality, where he spent the remainder of his days; retiring, while yet in the enjoyment of youth and strength, from the fatigue of public teaching, and devoting his leisure to the private tuition of a limited number of pupils. After this preferment he resigned Asterby. In the same year, he obtained from bishop Lowth, through the extraordinary merit of his first sermon, supported by the interest of the present earl of Dartmouth's grandfather, the prebend of Wenlock Barns, in the Cathedral of St. Paul. In 1785, he resumed his former subject, in "A Discourse on Education, and on the Plans pursued in Charity Schools," and about a thousand copies were sold in a very short time. In 1787, Dr. Parr assisted the rev, Henry Homer in a new edition of the three books of Bellendenus,* a learned Scotsman, Humanity Professor at Paris, in 1602, and Master of Requests to James 1. These he respectively dedicated to Mr. Burke, lord North, and Mr. Fox.t He prefixed a Latin preface, with characters of those distinguished statesmen, the style of which is, perhaps, the most successful of all modern imitations of Cicero. How far the preface was appropriate may be doubted. Bellendenus had intended a large work, "De Tribus Luminibus * I. "De Statu prisci orbis in Religione, Re Politica, et Literis." 11. "Ciceronis Princeps; sive, de Statu Principis et Imperii." III. "Ciceronis Consul, Senator, Senatusque Romanus ; sive de Statu Reip. et Urbis imperantis Orbis." + Dramatis Persona. Doran, marquis Miso-Themistocles, duke of Richmond; of Lansdowne; Novius, lord Thurlow; Thrasybulus, Mr. Dundas; Clodius, Mr. W. Romanorum," the "Three Lights of Rome," Cicero, Seneca, and the elder Pliny; whence Dr. Parr conceived the idea of delineating the characters of the then three most eminent senators of Great Britain. The taste and character of the composition, and the singular discrimination in the portraits, created an extraordinary sensation in the literary and political world. A translation (by Mr. Beloe) was published in octavo in 1788, but without the author's approbation. Dr. Parr had thenceforth fully committed himself on the side of the popular party. This naturally terminated all hope of church preferment from the Court; and such was the low state of Dr. Parr's pecuniary resources, that a subscription was made by the leading whigs of the day, about the same period as that for Mr. Fox, and an annuity of 300l. was purchased for Dr. Parr's life. In 1789, appeared "Tracts by Warburton and a Warburtonian, not admitted into the Collection of their respective Works." Although it was thought that personal feelings towards bishop Hurd gave origin to this volume, yet it was allowed on all hands, to contain some admirable critical remarks. It produced a reply, entitled, "A Letter to Dr. Parr, occasioned by his Republication," &c. In 1790, Dr. Parr exchanged the curacy of Hatton (though he still continued to reside there as deputy curate) for the rectory of Waddenhoe, in Northamptonshire. In the same year he became acquainted with Dr. Priestley. In 1790, also, Dr. Parr was involved in the controversy on the real authorship of the Bampton Lectures preached by Dr. White. This controversy produced a pam phlet by Dr. White, entitled "A Statement of Dr. White's Literary Obligations to the late rev. Mr. Samuel Badcock, and the rev. Samuel Parr, LL.D.," Oxford, 1790. In 1791 happened the riots in Birmingham, when the library and philosophical apparatus of Dr. Priestley were burnt. The mob, hearing that Dr. Parr had been visiting Dr. Priestley, made known their determination to proceed to Hatton, and burn Dr. Parr's house and library. For three days and nights Dr. Parr and his family were agitated with consternation and dismay, but happily, before the mob could accomplish their purpose, the military put an end to their proceedings. In that unexampled period of national excitement, when political and religious prejudices raged together, Dr. Parr acted a manly and decided part. Undismayed by the dangers of the attempt, and the unpromising consequences to his worldly interests, he ardently strove to conciliate the divided parties of his countrymen. It is well known, that the pretext for these outrages was a meeting held by the dissenters on the 14th of July, 1791, in celebration of the French revolution. In consequence of a report that a party remained stubborn enough to meditate another commemoration upon the ensuing anniversary of that event, a step that might have brought destruction upon themselves and the whole town, the doctor, in one day, began and finished his "Letter from Irenopolis to the Inhabitants of Eleutheropolis; or a serious Address to the Dissenters of Birmingham, by a Member of the Established Church." This pamph let produced an advertisement from the dissenters, in which they dis élaimed all intention of meeting again upon that occasion. In 1791, Dr. Parr having received two anonymous letters, probably undeserving of notice, publicly attributed them to the rev. Charles Curtis, rector of Solihull, in Warwickshire. This unlucky surmise rested on a few slight coincidences, which suspicion, as usual, magnified into proof. There is strong reason for believing that these letters emanated from Dr. Parr's own pupils, who were fond of encouraging literary warfare. Mr. Curtis, in justification of his own character, contradicted the charge in the St. James's Chronicle, which produced from the doctor an octavo pamphlet of two hundred and seventeen pages, thickly strewed with notes, and a proportionate appendix, entitled, “A Sequel to the Printed Paper lately circulated in Warwickshire by the rev. Charles Curtis, a Birmingham Rector," &c. 1792. This huge Sequel tempted Cumberland to enter the field with a humorous pamphlet, called Curtius rescued from the Gulph, or the Retort Courteous to the rev. Dr. Parr, in answer to his learned Pamphlet, entitled 'A Sequel,' &c." From the title-page "Ille mi Par esse deus videtur, Catullus. to the word FINIS inclusive, In 1793, he was plunged into the depths of another and more important controversy. Dr. Parr had been induced to afford valuable advice and assistance to Mr. Homer and Dr. Charles Combe, in editing a most splendid edition of Horace. On the demise of Mr. Homer, the labour of completing the undertaking devolved on Dr. Combe, who was found incompetent to the discharge of so arduous a task; and not only was Dr. Parr's assistance towards the second volume withdrawn, but he was induced to publish some severe animadversions on the work in the " British Critic." In reply to this, Dr. Combe published a pamphlet, entitled, "A Statement of Facts, relative to the behaviour of the rev. Dr. Parr to the late Mr. Homer and Dr. Combe, in order to point out the source, falsehood, and malignity of Dr. Parr's attack, in the British Critic,' on the character of Dr. Combe, 1794." this statement, Dr. Parr was accused of breach of promise, violation of friendship, and even want of veracity. Being styled by his antagonist the "literary Ajax," he, to make that epithet good, replied, in a closely printed octavo pamphlet of ninety-four pages, called “ Remarks on the Statement of Dr. Charles Combe, by an occasional Writer in the British Critic,' 1795." The following extract from this pamphlet contains Dr. Parr's own account of his critical labours: In ، The reader will, I trust, excuse me, if, for reasons of delicacy, I now take an opportunity to state the whole extent of the share I have ever had in reviews. To the 'British Critic,' I have sent one article, besides those which were written for the Horace. For the 'Critical Review,' I have furnished a few materials for two articles only. For the ، Monthly I have assisted in writing two or three, and the number of those which are • This critique, which was continued through five numbers, was partly reprinted in 1812,"with alterations and additions," in the fifth volume of the "Classical Journal." |