Among his other qualities and accomplishments, Dr. had one, by the exercise of which he had attained the highest distinctions in the power of the University to bestow; and which could not fail of being peculiarly useful and important to Mr. Pitt in his situation of Chancellor of the Exchequer. This was a remarkable acuteness and knowledge with respect to every thing connected with numerical computations. This talent was of course exercised to good account. Mr. Pitt was not at all backward in acknowledging the merits of his early instructor, and the claims of his friend. If we mistake not, his first preferment was a Prebend in Westminster; this was not held long before in quick succession it was followed by a Canon Residentiaryship, a Deanery, and a Bishopric.

"In all these situations Dr. proved himself no indolent consumer of the emoluments of his high offices: a more vigilant, active, useful Prelate never adorned the bench. The able works which he has produced in succession, are to be classed among the most valuable publications of modern times. Not alone useful to students in theology, to the rights of the church, and the general interests of literature, they form standard books of reference and authority for all writers on theological subjects, now and hereafter. Perhaps the Refutation of Calvinism is that which displays most effectually the Bishop's powers of argument, extensive reading, and controversial skill. This work has been repeatedly attacked, but never will be answered. They who shall have the charge of pupils intended for the Ecclesiastical profession, never can be said to have discharged

their duty, unless they enforce the most familiar acquaintance with, and the repeated contemplation of the Elements of Theology. But we can only touch on these subjects; for having much to say of many, it appears necessary to curtail our friend's memorandums, and be satisfied with giving their substance, even when speaking of those who, like the Bishop of would justify long and circumstantial detail.

"It has been understood that Mr. Pitt took much and anxious pains to elevate his tutor and friend to the see of Canterbury, and that he would have succeeded, but that the King considered himself as pledged to Bishop

Nobody entertains the smallest doubt that the Archbishopric of York was intended for him, if Lord Grenville had continued in office. It is equally notorious, that at the decease of Bishop Randolph, the Bishopric of London was pressed upon him, which, however, for various reasons, important to himself and his family, he declined. There is one more fact to mention concerning this distinguished prelate, and we must have done.

"A whimsical old gentleman of Lincolnshire, whose name was T—-, conceived a great partiality for the Bishop, and principally from his punctual and conscientious discharge of the Episcopal duty. After a few interviews, this attachment increased, and he openly avowed his determination to make Dr. P

his sole heir and residuary legatee. But the matter was supposed to be suspended but on a slight thread, for Mr. T— had done the same by others, and made similar promises again and again. Indeed, if our friend was

rightly

rightly informed, the circumstance of his tea not being made one evening in a manner perfectly agreeable to the old gentleman's palate, was very near overturning the baseless fabric. He went home exceedingly chagrined and out of humour; but on the suggestion that it was another's fault, and that the Bishop could not possibly help it, he recovered his temper, and suffered things to remain as they were. He died, and the property to a very great amount came into the Bishop's possession: the whole could not be estimated at so little as two thousand a-year. One pleasing circumstance attended it: on felicitating the Bishop on an event so highly flattering in itself, and beneficial to his family, his lordship assured our friend, as appears from the manuscript, that there were no poor relations who could justly complain of being injured. This estate, with its appurtenances, has since been settled on the Bishop's eldest son.

"The Bishop had a brother, of Pembroke college also, who was nearly our friend's contemporary. He had the reputation of talents which had the same bias as those of the Bishop, but he was of infirm health; and at the usual time of

examination for degree, he was not able to encounter the fatigues and anxieties of the Senate House, and was accordingly put to his probation privately in his room. It must have been a vexatious circumstance, for he had so distinguished himself in the schools, that it was generally imagined he would have been the senior wrangler of his year. This honour was, however, well bestowed on a Mr. Oldishaw, a gentleman of Emanuel college, who was afterwards domestic chaplain to Bishop Sutton, and now, if we mistake not, resides on preferment in Norfolk, given him by his patron, where also he has the rank of Archdeacon.

"Mr. as might naturally be expected, was a participator of his brother's good fortune. He obtained the chancellorship of L, and a prebend in the cathedral of N He was to have been Canon Residentiary of St. Paul's, but this, if our information be correct, was objected to by the King himself, who learning that it might by possibility happen that the Dean with his brother might form a majority in the chapter, for this, and for this reason only, refused his. consent."

"PORSON was born at Earl Ruston, in Norfolk, on Christmas Day, 1759. His father was parish-clerk to Mr. H., who was also minister of B. Mr. H. was a most amiable and truly benevolent man; and beyond all doubt was the first encourager of Porson's early disposition to learning, and the individual also to whose exertions he owed the

opportunities he afterwards enjoyed, and so well improved. Porson had certainly, when quite a child, the practice of making letters on any sandy or moist surface upon which they could be conspicuously formed. His relations were wont to draw inferences very favourable to his intellect, from this circumstance; but after all, this is a very common

practice,

practice, indeed much too frequent to be considered as any indication of a prodigy. Mr. W., who was mentioned in the preceding chapter, noticed in him very soon an extraordinary quickness with regard to figures-this was much more to the purpose and this he ever retained.

"Porson's father and mother were both totally destitute of any education, except so far as being able to read and write. The father was a man of exceedingly strong sense, very silent and very thoughtful, and was accustomed with great regularity to exercise Porson's memory. To what an extraordinary degree of perfection exercise finally brought this faculty in the Professor, must be in the recollection of many; yet, strange to say, he who wrote this sketch of his friend, has repeatedly heard him assert, that he had not naturally a good memory, but that what he had obtained in this respect, was the effect of discipline only. His recollection was really wonderful. He has been known to challenge any one to repeat a line or phrase from any of the Greek dramatic writers, and would instantly go on with the context. The Letters of Junius, the Mayor of Garratt, and many favourite compositions, he would repeat usque ad fastidium. But, to return; the solidity and seriousness of Porson's father seem to have been well relieved by the cheerful and sprightly temper of his mother, who was very lively and very lighthearted. She had also a taste for poetry, very seldom met with in the wife of a cottager; she was familiar with the writings of Shakspeare, and could repeat many of his favourite and popular passages.

"It is stated by the writer in the Athenæum, who calls himself Hel

lenophilus, that Mr. Summers, ta whom afterwards Porson went to school, was a plain man, who professed nothing beyond English and the common rudiments of Latin. This is not quite correct. Mr. Summers was, and it is presumed is, a very respectable scholar. He was living when this was first written, and was master of the Free School at Happisburg, in Norfolk.

"Another inaccuracy in that account must also be corrected. It is there stated, that at nine years of age, Porson and his youngest brother Thomas were sent to the village school kept by this Mr. Summers. But at this period, his brother Thomas was not born. It is further remai ked in that publication, that the Rev Mr. H. heard of Porson's extraordinary propensity for study. Of course, the writer could not possibly have known that Porson's father was Mr. H.'s parishclerk.

"There is still another error in that memoir, of no immediate consequence with regard to Porson, but somewhat unaccountable, considering the quarter from which it proceeded. It is stated in the Athenæum for Nov. p. 430, that Porson married Mrs. Lunan, the sister of Mr. Perry, editor of the Morning Chronicle, in 1795, and that she died of a decline in 1797. Whereas the fact is, that Porson married Mrs. Lunan in Nov. 1795, and the lady died some time in the April following. The rest of the memoir is generally unexceptionable. With respect to the eulogium passed at the conclusion of the article in the Morning Chronicle, these are the sentiments ipsissimis fere verbis, of Mrs. H. as expressed to an inquiring friend.

I wish it had been suppressed. The editor, I have no doubt, had the

cumstances.

"The sentiments of Mrs. H. as above expressed, demonstrate congeniality of feeling with her brother. No man was ever less assailable by flattery, or disliked it more; nor could any one be possibly more averse than he was to be pointed out-digito prætereuntium. But let us proceed.

"At the age of nine, Porson was placed under the care of the abovementioned Mr. Summers, by whom he was well grounded in Latin. He remained with him three years. At twelve, he was taken under the care of Mr. H. who was then employed in the education of his own children; with him he also continued three years. By hit he was introduced to Mr. Norris, of Witton, the adjoining parish to Bacton; and this gentleman became his professed patron. First, by his example, and afterwards by his strenuous recommendation, a subscription was set on foot for the general 1817.

Sir

purposes of educating Porson, and of maintaining him at the University. The individuals who interested themselves about him, were highly respectable, both with regard to their rank, their character, and their number. Among them was Bishop Bagot, one other Bishop, whose name has escaped, Sir George Baker, Dr. Poynter, Dr. Hammond, Prebendary of Norwich, &c. George Baker was the Treasurer. But there was a lady among them, whose zeal and anxiety concerning Porson, surpassed perhaps that of her gentlemen coadjutors. This was Mrs. Mary Turner, the granddaughter of Sir Charles Turner; she was related to Mr. Norris, by whom Porson was introduced and recommended to her. She afterwards became his principal protector. Her house was always open to him, and whenever he returned from Eton, to pass his holidays in Norfolk, he enjoyed at Mrs. Turner's house the most constant and unrestrained hospitality.

“She was afterwards entirely alienated from him; for which the following reasons have been alleged. She was very piously disposed, and was exceedingly anxious that Porson should go into the church. The decision to which he came, of not subscribing to the articles, and consequently of resigning his Fellowship, was to her utterly incomprehensible, and exceedingly shocked and distressed her.

But the publication of his Letters to Travis gave the coup de grace to our unlucky friend. Some officious person represented this work to the old lady as a calumnious attack upon Christianity, and as malignantly intended to call in question the truth of the Gospel. It could only be the work of an H apostate,

apostate, an infidel, an abandoned reprobate. These circumstances prevailed upon Mrs. Turner to alter her will, in which she had left him a very considerable sum of money. He had only a legacy of 30l. We must now go back to our chronological order.

"In the year 1774, when Porson was about fourteen years of age, and had been under the care of Mr. H. for two years, he had already discovered a most extraordinary quickness of parts.

"His acquirements, indeed, even at that early period, and his remarkable powers of abstraction and of memory, the force of his intellect in whatever direction it was excited, induced in the breast of Mr. Norris a desire of extending the scale of his education. It was determined to send him to Eton.

"A circumstance relating to this event is communicated by his family, so much out of the ordinary mode of proceeding in similar cases, that a little suspicion of its accuracy may, without offence, be indulged. It is stated by his relations, that previously to his being admitted at Eton, Mr. Norris sent Porson to Cambridge, to be examined as to his proficiency in the classics, by the Greek Professor. This was in the midsummer of 1774. It is added, that in his examination, he displayed so much talent, and such extensive acquirements, that he was sent to Eton in the following summer, viz, in 1775.

"Now, if this really were the fact, it is more than probable that such an incident never took place before, and can only be explained by the possible circumstance, that the Greek Professor, who was at that periód Dr. , was an intimate friend of Mr. Norris, and from a

-

natural curiosity on his part, was entreated to perform this office. But there exists a still stronger reason for supposing there must be some mistake in this matter. Many of his schoolfellows at Eton still survive, and they all affirm, without any variation, that when Porson first went to Eton, he was not particularly distinguished above the other boys, either for learning, acquirements, or studious habits. Further than this, it is said by one who is well qualified to judge, that is by no less a personage than the present amiable and learned that as a boy, be discovered but an indifferent taste, and in his compositions was very fond of mixing Greek with his Latin, as thus, “ingemuere Tool," &c. &c.

"It may perhaps be the fact, that there is a little confusion and mistake with regard to dates. Porson was necessarily and officially examined by the Greek Professor, when he sate, as it is termed, for the university scholarship; and he might, after his admission at college, and before his actual residence, go down to Cambridge from Eton, or, not improbably in some interval of the holidays, from his friends in Norfolk, for this particular purpose. "It is very certain, that his contemporaries at Eton, with little, very little exception, do not remember much about him. The following particulars concerning him at this period, may, however, be depended upon, being either communicated by himself, or from authority which cannot be doubted.

"When at Eton, he wrote two dramatic pieces, and acted in them himself. All, however, that is remembered of either is, that one was more elaborate than the other, and indicated more of plot, ingenuity,

and