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- Bopaer FL Apinx
E Adlard, SC
RICHLARIPORSON, MA.
London honnan
THE LIFE
OT
RICHARD PORSON, M. A.
PROFESSOR OF GREEK IN THE UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE
FROM 1792 TO 1808
· BY THE
REV. JOHN SELBY WATSON, M.A., M.R.S.L.
Tluctibus è mediis terras dabit ille magistro,
Et dabit astra rati ; cumque aethera Jupiter umbra
Perdiderit, solus transibit nubila Lynceus
Valerius Flaccus
LONDON
LONGMAN, GREEN, LONGMAN, AND ROBERTS
1861
PREFACE.
It may seem strange that so eminent a scholar and
critic as Richard Porson, a man whom not only his
countrymen, but the whole learned world, acknowledge
to have been at the head of his department in litera-
ture, should have been honoured with no complete
biography. Various notices of him were published
about the time of his death, and anecdotes and short
accounts of him have occasionally appeared since, but
no full history of his life has ever been offered to the
public.
The object contemplated by the writer of the fol-
lowing pages has been to throw into some kind of
order the several particulars concerning Porson which
have hitherto been suffered, for the most part, to lie
scattered and unconnected, and to combine with them
any additional information regarding him that might
be discoverable. With this view no available source
of intelligence has been neglected. The Porson manu-
scripts at Cambridge have been carefully consulted,
and several letters extracted from them which have
A 3
PREFACE.
Y
VL
never before been published. Applications, also, for
information, have been made to Porson's surviving
connexions, and to all from whom it seemed likely
that it might be obtained.
From Mr. Siday Hawes, Porson's only surviving
. nephew, I have received several acceptable communi-
cations, containing replies to every point on which I
have desired to be instructed.
The kindness of the Archdeacon of Colchester, Dr.
Charles Parr Burney, the son of Porson's intimate
friend, has enabled me to give, from his father's papers,
a nearly complete list of the subscribers to the fund
for Porson's annuity, and has supplied me with some
letters and anecdotes relating to the learned professor.
To the Rev. H. R. Luard, Fellow of Trinity College,
Cambridge, author of a memoir of Porson in the
“Cambridge Essays” for 1857, who has collected nume-
rous documents, in print and manuscript, concerning
Porson, and who has arranged, with praiseworthy care
and judgment, the great scholar's manuscripts in Trinity
College Library, my sincere thanks are due for many
obliging answers to inquiries, and for permission to
inspect his Porsonian treasures, especially a body of
manuscript memoranda of Mr. Edmund Henry Barker,
not included in the assemblage of heterogeneous frag-
ments called “Barker's Literary Anecdotes.” To Barker,
it may be observed, every one who writes of Porson
must be in some degree indebted, for though he had
im
PREFACE.
vü
little judgment to combine or arrange, he had great
industry in collecting and laying up stores by which
others might profit.
The facilities afforded me by the Rev. J. Glover, the
Librarian of Trinity College, Cambridge, in consulting
the manuscripts under his charge, deserve my best
acknowledgments.
To the gentlemen whose names are subjoined, also,
I desire to offer my thanks for obliging communications
or references regarding the subject of my biography :
The Rev. Joseph Thackeray, Rector of Coltishall and
Horstead, Norfolk ; the Rev. J. W. Flavell, Rector of
Ridlington and East Ruston, Norfolk; the Rev J. C.
Wright, Vicar of Bacton, Norfolk; the Rev. John
Gunn, Rector of Instead, Norfolk; the Rev. Edward
Hibgame, Vicar of Fordham, Cambridge; T. L'Estrange
Ewen, Esq., Dedham, Essex; the Rev. R. B. P. Kidd,
Vicar of Potter Heigham, Norfolk ; the Rev. P. C.
Kidd, Vicar of Skipton, Yorkshire ; the Rev. C. W.
Whiter, Rector of Clown, Derbyshire; the Rev. T. J.
Blofeld, Vicar of Hoveton, Norfolk; Robert Postle,
Esq., Kimberley Terrace, Yarmouth.
My information concerning the authorship of Gregory
Blunt's Letters, I owe to James Yates, Esq., Lauder-
dale House, Highgate.
Dates, in the following narrative, are carefully given,
as well as references to authorities wherever they ap-
peared necessary; and nothing is stated, whether
A 4
viji
PREFACE.
authorities are given or not, for which the author did
not consider that he had sufficient warrant.
The life of such a scholar could hardly be written
without exhibiting in its pages some portions of Latin
and Greek; but moderation, in this respect, has been
studied; and it is hoped that the book is of such a
nature on the whole as to be no unacceptable offering
to the literary world in general.
The notice of the Travisian controversy may appear
somewhat long ; but many readers might justly com-
plain if, in the life of the great champion in the con-
test, they were to find no satisfactory account of the
dispute. For the episode on Ireland's Shakspearian
forgeries some apology is offered at the part where it is
introduced.
The plural we, which is used in some passages, might
seem to indicate that there are more authors of the
work than one; but it is to be understood that for all
faults in the narration I only am responsible.
J. S. W.
STOCKWELL :
April, 1861.
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I.
Remarks on Biography. - Its Attractions. — Considerations on Intel-
lectual Excellence. - Birth of Porson. — Character of his parents. -
His Education by his Father, and at a Village School. - His Mani-
festations of Talent, and Fondness for Reading:—Specimen of his early
Attempts in Poetry. — His Abilities become known to Mr. Herritt and
Mr. Norris. - He is sent to Cambridge to be examined by the Greek
Professor and others. Their Report of him. - Mr. Noiris resolves
to raise a Fund for his Education. -— It is proposed to place him at
the Charterhouse, but he is eventually sent to Eton. . Page 1
CHAP. II.
Porson at Eton.--Dr. Goodall's Account of him.-- What he knew when
he went to Eton, and what he learned there. — His Memory. - His
Dislike of Composition.--Anecdotes. — Death of Mr. Norris. -Porson
liberally patronised by Sir George Baker. -- His Illness at Eton. —
Notice of his Drama, "Out of the Frying-pan into the Fire," written and
acted at Eton.— A Specimen of his School Verses. - His mind turned
to Critical Research.-His Estimation of Dawes and Bentley, 16
CHAP. III.
Porson entered at Trinity College, Cambridge. — Begins to show his
abilities in Criticism. — Gains the Craven Scholarship. --- His Greek
Iambics on the occasion.—He takes his Degree and is elected Fellow.-
CONTENTS,
His Habits. -- His Literary Projects. - His first Essay in reviewing.
- Ais desire to edit Æschylus. - His Proposals ill received by the
Syndics of the University Press. -- Is much discouraged. - Never
visited the Continent . . . . . . . Page 30
CHAP. IV.
Porson's Review of Brunck's Aristophanes ; of Weston's Hermesianax;
of Huntingford's “Apology for his Monostrophics.” — Remarks on
Dawes. — The Learned Pig." - Letters to the “ Gentleman's
Magazine" on Hawkins's "Life of Johnson." - Notice of Robertson's
Essay on the Parian Chronicle. --Letter on Heyne's application for
Bentley's Homeric MSS. . . . . . . . . 41
CHAP. V.
Porson resolves not to enter the Church. - In consequence is obliged to
l'esign his Fellowship. -- Meets with Travis's “Letters to Gibbon on
1 John v. 7." — Porson's "Letters to Travis” in the “Gentleman's
Magazine." - View of the Controversy. - Editions of the New Testa-
ment by Erasmus, Robert Stephens, Beza, and others. --Luther and
Travis's show of Arguments. - Replies to them. — Tertullian,
Cyprian, Jerome. — The Vulgate. — Jerome's “Prologue to the
Canonical Epistles." — Lawentius Valla's Manuscripts. —- Modern
Versions. — Origin of the Text; probably from St. Augustine. —
Porson's Conclusion.--General Character of the Style of the Letters 55
CHAP, VI.
Contemporary Criticism on the “ Letters to Travis.” – Parr, Burney. -
Porson's sarcastic manner of Writing: -- Anecdote of Bishop Watson.
- Porson loses a great Patroness. — Bishop Burgess's Attacks on
Porson's book after his Death. -- Vindicated by Dr. Turton, Bishop of
Ely. - Instances of Travis's Ignorance and Obtuseness. — Porson's
Critique on Gibbon. —- Gibbon's Opinion of the " Letters." — Porson's
Interview with Gibbon.- A Remark of Fox on Gibbon's Quotations 78
Porson's Notes on Toup's Emendations of Suidas. — His Preface to that
Publication, showing the nature of his Criticism. -- Porson with Parr
at Hatton. -- Insulted by Mrs. Parr. — Porson's Resignation of his
Fellowship. - His Dialogue with Postlethwaite, the Master of Trinity
CONTENTS.
xi
College. — His want of Money, and resolute Frugality. – A Subscrip-.
tion to purchase an Annuity for him. — Particulars respecting it. —A
List of some of the Subscribers . . . . . Page 89
CHAP. VIII.
Porson a Candidate for the Greek Professorship. --- His Letter to Postle-
thwaite on the occasion. — Is elected. — His inaugural Lecture on:
Euripides. — Is gratified by the Distinction of the Appointment. —
Intends to read Lectures, but finds no Encouragement from the Uni-
versity Authorities . . . . . . . . . 102
CHAP. IX.
Porson's Review of Edwards's Edition of the Treatise on Education attri-
buted to Plutarch. — Remarks on Correction of Texts by Editors. —
An acute Emendation. - London Edition of Heyne's Virgil ; Porson
had little concern with it. — Pair's Panegyric on Porson. -- Re-
view of Payne Kuight on the Greek Alphabet. - Considerations on
Verbal and other Criticism
; . . 113
CHAP. X. .
Porson's Intentions regarding Æschylus. -- Projected Edition by the
· London Publishers. -- An Edition of Æschylus surreptitiously printed
at Glasgow from Porson's Corrections.-Porson's Sagacity and Caution
exhibited in the Emendations . . . .
. . 122
CHAP. XI.
Porson's intimacy with Perry, of the “Morning Chronicle." — His
Marriage with Perry's Sister. — His Mode of spending the Wedding-
day and the following Night. — Effect of his Marriage on his Habits.
- Perry's Influence with him. -- His ill Health. - His Transcript of
Photius destroyed by the burning of Perry's House. — He makes
another. - His personal Appearance in Middle Life. . 125
CHAP. XII.
Greek version of “Three Children Sliding on the Ice.” – Porson in-
spects Ireland's "Shakspeare's Papers.”—Account of Ireland's Forgery.
- Ireland's Arts of Concealment. -- Success increases his Boldness. --
xii
CONTENTS.
Transcribes Lear. – Determines on forging a whole Play. - Many
deceived by the appearance of the Papers; Sir Frederick Eden ; James
Boswell; Dr. Parr;. Dr. Joseph Warton. — Shakspeare's pretended
Will.- Names attached to Parr's Certificate of Genuineness. — Notice
of the Papers in the “ Bibliotheca Parriana.” – Mr. E. H. Barker's
attempted Defence of Parr. — Sheridan's Opinion of Shakspeare. -
“ Vortigern and Rowena” brought on the Stage. — Catastrophe. —
Young Ireland's Profits. ~ Malone's Criticism. -- George Chalmers's
" Apology for the Believers.” – Conclusion of the Affair . Page 133
CHAP. XIII.
.
Porson publishes the Hecuba without his Name. – Nature of the Anno-
tations. — Gilbert Wakefield's Wrath against the Editor. — Wake-
field's “Diatribe Extemporalis.” — His Reasons for his Displeasure.
-- His Vanity and Presumption.— Critical Niceties.-Notice of Wake-
field and Porson in the “Monthly Review." -- Wakefield's awkward
attempts at Emendation, and other Errors . . . . 154
CHAP. XIV.
-
Hermann, in ignorance of Porson's strength, publishes a rival Edition of
the “Hecuba.” — His Remarks on Porson and Wakefield. — His
Notions about the admissibility of Anapæsts into Tragic Trimeter
Iambics. — Elmsley's Remark on the Subject. — Porson's "Pause."
Hermann attempts to account for the Necessity of it. – Elmsley agrees
with Hermann. – Hermann's Reasons apparently fanciful. --- Porson
displeased at Hermann's disrespectful Strictures. — How they after-
wards regarded each other. - Remarks on Hermann in the “Quarterly
Review." - Hermann's contemptuous mention of Heath and Bentley.
- Letters to Porson from Hermann and Heyne . . . 167
CHAP. XV.
Publication of the Orestes. — Allusions to Wakefield in the Notes ; to
Invernizius, Ammon, and Reiske. — Some Remarks on a Passage in
Homer . . . . . . . . . . . 184
CHAP. XVI.
Porson's Contributions to the “Morning Chronicle." - Remarks in the
“ Pursuits of Literature.” — Humorous Translations of Three Odes of
Horace, in reference to the Politics of the Day. – Some additional
Observations . . . . . . . . . . 191
CONTENTS.
Xll
CHAP. XVII.
Occasion of the Publication of the “Orgies of Bacchus." -- Frend's Pam-
phlet published at Cambridge. — Frend accused of attacking the
Church. - Is tried in the Vice-Chancellor's Court, Dr. Kipling
being Prosecutor. — Frend's Disingenuousness. — Character of Dr.
Kipling as a Scholar. - His Publication of the “Codex Bezæ.” —
Verses on his bad Latin. — Event of Frend's Trial. — Extracts from
the “Orgies of Bacchus." - Other Contributions of Porson to the
6 Morning Chronicle." - "Hymn by a New-made Peer." – "Miseries
of Kingship.”—“On the Duties of Gentlemen-soldiers." - A Hundred
Epigrams written by Porson in one Night . . . Page 198
CHAP. XVIII.
Publication of the Phoenissæ.--Observations on the Notes to the Play.--
Review of Pybus's “Sovereign” in the " Monthly Review.” – Rhymes
on Pybus and others. — Greek Translation of a Nursery Rhyme. —
Porson receives a Letter and some Books from Gail. —A Second
Letter intimating that the first has not been acknowledged : 218
CHAP. XIX.
Porson collates a Manuscript for the Grenville Homer. - His Assiduity,
- Letters from Villoison requesting a Copy of the Homer, and acknow-
ledging the Receipt of it. — Publication of the Medea. — Porson's
Opinions on Greek Accentuation. — Wakefield's Hostility to Accents.
-Brunck's and Elmsley's Notions respecting them. — Porson's Long
Note on Verses 139, 140, of the Medea. His Criticisms in it. - Severe
Exposure of Hermann. - Other Notes. - Copy sent to Villoison.-
Villoison's Letter of Thanks . . . . . . : 225
CHAP. XX.
Letter to Dr. Davy. - New Edition of the Hecuba ; Supplement to the
Preface. — Wakefield noticed in the Annotations. - Remarks on
Wakefield's Literary Career. — His School Days. —- His College Dis-
tinctions.-- Is elected to a Fellowship. — His “ Silva Critica."--His
Rage for Emendation. - One Instance in a Letter to Fox. -- Other
Examples. – Review of his Lucretius in the “ British Critic,” partly
the Work of Porson.-- Wakefield's political Follies. Porson pre-
sented by Eichstädt with his “ Diodorus Siculus" and " Lucretius ;"
Eichstädt's Letters to Porson . . . . . . i 237
XIV
CONTENTS.
CHAP. XXI.
Porson supposed to have prepared an Edition of the Hippolytus. - Why
he discontinued Euipides. -- His Letter to the “Monthly Review"
signed J. N. Dawes. - Porson's Inscription for a Fragment of a Statue
of Ceres. -- His Labours on the Rosetta Stone. --- Letter of Porson to
Dalzel. — Sent to the “Museum Criticum,” with Remarks, by Tate.
- Dalzel replies to Porson. — Question as to the Authorship of the
“Six More Letters to Granville Sharp.” — Object of the Letters. --
Porson receives an Epistle from Tittmann of Leipsic : Page 254
CHAP. XXII.
Porson's Habits. -- Lord Byron's Account of him at College. - Porson
in London Society. --- A Letter of his to Surgeon Joy. — His Dress and
Appearance. - Various Anecdotes. -- His Visit to the Assembly
Rooms at Bath. - His favourite Beverages. - His capacity for Drink-
ing and Sitting up at Night. - Encounter with Horne Tooke. —
Anecdote of Tooke and Boswell. — Porson's Potation at Hoppner the
Painter's. — His Unwillingness to retire at Night from his Friends'
Houses. -- Fond of Smoking. --- Could observe Abstinence : 271
CHAP. XXIII.
Poison's wonderful Memory. — Its Stores always ready for Use. ---
Display of it at a Friend's House in the Country. -- Instance of it
given by Coxe. — His Repetition of Pope's “ Eloisa." --- Whether he
was the Author of “ Eloisa in Dishabille." -- His owu Remarks on
the Question. — “ Epistle from Queen Oberea to Sir Joseph Banks."
- Porson able to repeat the whole of "Roderick Random.” - His
Recollection of the Names in a Novel. - Other Proofs of his
Memory. — His Vauxhall Songs at an Evening Party. - Was not vain
of his Powers. — Wished for the Art of forgetting . . . 286
CHAP. XXIV.
Poi'son's aversion to Assuniption and Pretence. - His Dislike of Parr. -
Causes of it. - Literary Character of Parr. — Porson’s Repartees on
the “Origin of Evil” and on Metaphysics. - Lines ou Parr's Preface
to Bellendenus. — Porson and Jacob Bryant. — Porson's Estimate of
Bishop Burgess. --- His Feelings towards Paley and Mackintosh. - His
Detestation of Bishop Tomline. -- His Remark on Southey's Poetry.
- His Contempt for Wilkes. - His Esteem for Dr. Davy; Letter to
him. — His Estimation of Horne Tooke, Tyrwhitt, Pearson, Coray,
Kidd, Malone, Dr. Raine. - Letter from Kidd to Porson 299
CONTENTS.
Yo
CHAP. XXV.
Establishment of the London Institution. — Porson chosen Librarian. --
His failing Health. - Ready to communicate Information in the
Library, but negligent in his Attendance. — Becomes unfitted for all
regular Study. - His Weakness; he faints in the Strand. — Is
brought Home. -- His Meeting with Dr. Adam Clarke. -- Dr. Clarke's
Account of his Illness. — Conversation about a Stone from Eleusis. —
Porson's Sufferings from Paralysis. — His Difficulty in Speaking: -
Continued Suffering. --- Mr. Noris's Account of his Condition. -- Dr.
Babington and Mr. Upton visit him, — His Death. - His Body opened;
Report of its State. — His Funeral at Trinity College, Cambridge. —
Inscription on the Coffin. -- Tributes to his Memory. - The “ Porson
Prize” and “Porson Scholarship.” - His Library. - His Papers. —
Adversaria. - Aristophanica. – Photius. - Lectiones Platonicæ. —
Emendations of Suidas . . . . . . . Page 315
CHAP. XXVI.
Porson's Reading: -- His favourite Authors, in Greek and in Latin. —
His Estimate of Modern Greek and Latin Poetry. -- His Reading in
French. — His liking for Swift, Junius, Milton. - Criticisms. - His
Notions of Johnson's Treatment of Milton. — His Love of Shakspeare
and Pope. --- Emendations of Shakspeare. - Favourite Passages. -
Extract from Barrow. - Thomas Gordon's Tracts. -- Their possible
Influence on his Style. — Specimen of them . . . . 340
CHAP. XXVII.
Porson's moral and critical Honesty. --- His Head and Heart. — Wake-
field's Character of him. - How much Regard to be paid to it. -
His willingness to communicate Information. — His fondness for Beauty
of Penmanship. — His Conduct towards his Relatives. - His Aversion
to Writing: -- Little Imagination or Power of Production. —- The
· better qualified for Criticism. -- His Judgment, Sagacity, and Caution.
-His excellent Emendations.---Compared with Bentley's.--Examples.
--Style of his Notes. -- Bentley less trustworthy as a Corrector than
Porson. - Feelings of each with regard to Authorship. — Porson's
Services to Learning. - Value of Classical Studies . . , 356
CHAP. XXVIII.
Porson's Independence of Spirit. -- His Dislike to be exhibited. — His
Intolerance of Admonition ; Conduct to Sir George Baker. - Sometimes
xvi
CONTENTS.
wayward and capricious. - Not easily provoked. — Porson and Mr.
Isaac Disraeli. – A Letter describing what Porson was in the latter
Part of his Life: ---Conclusion . . . . . . Page 378°
APPENDIX.
Porson's Family. — Oration on the Character of Charles II. - Porson's
Charades.- Catechism for the Use of the Swinish Multitude. -- The
Salt-box. ---Lines on Dr. Jowett. -- Porson in the Stage-coach. - Di,
do, dum. — A mathematical Proposition: -- An Equation.- Additional
Anecdotes . . . . . . . . . . 389
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
.
Portrait . . . . .
Facsimile of a Letter . . . .
„ „ Porson's Greek Verses
.
.
.
To facė Title-page
„ Page 134
260
.
ERRATA.
Page 99, 1st column, 11th line from bottom, for: "Sir John H. Aubyn," rend“ Sir John
St. Aubya."
„ „ 2nd column, 9th line from bottom, for “ C. S. Foss," read" E. S. Foss."
, 100, 2nd column, 3rd line from top, for “ Lutmore," read" Luxmoor."
, 191, for “ 1798" in head line, read“ 1794."
THE LIFE
OF
RICHARD PORSON.
CHAPTER I.
NYT
REMARKS ON BIOGRAPHY.-- ITS ATTRACTIONS.---- CONSIDERATIONS ON IN-
TELLECTUAL EXCELLENCE.- BIRTH OF PORSON. —- CHARACTER OF HIS
PARENTS. --- HIS EDUCATION BY HIS FATHER, AND AT A VILLAGE
SCHOOL. — HIS MANIFESTATIONS OF TALENT, AND FONDNESS FOR
READING. - SPECIMEN OF HIS EARLY ATTEMPTS IN POETRY. HIS
ABILITIES BECOME KNOWN TO MR. HEWITT AND MR. NORRIS. — HE IS
SENT TO CAMBRIDGE TO BE EXAMINED BY THE GREEK PROFESSOR AND
OTHERS. — THEIR REPORT OF HIM. --MR. NORRIS RESOLVES TO RAISE
A FUND FOR HIS EDUCATION. IT IS PROPOSED TO PLACE HIM AT
THE CHARTERHOUSE, BUT HE IS EVENTUALLY SENT TO ETON.
THE charms of fiction are much less forcible than those
of truth. Histories of imaginary personages, however
strikingly represented, are much less interesting than
those of eminent characters that really existed. The
man who read Robinson Crusoe as a true tale found
much fewer attractions in it when he was told that it!
was an invention. :
The desire to know how our fellow-creatures, espe-
cially the most distinguished of them, have lived, is
the cause that biography gains so much attention,
B
LIFE OF RICHARD PORSON.
[Ch. I.
Whoever relates the life, or any considerable portion
of the life, of any remarkable person, has the satisfac-
tion of expecting that his narrative, unless given in an
absolutely repulsive style, will attract some share of
regard.
But the pleasure which the biographer thus derives
from his occupation is often somewhat diminished by
the consciousness that, to satisfy those who seek his
pages, he must tell the whole truth concerning the
person of whom he writes, and that much of the truth
cannot always be told without reluctance. No human
character is perfect; and those who speak of the best
of men have frequently to notice in them errors and
deficiencies which they cannot but lament. Yet, unless
the biographer offers a mere apology for a life, or
produces a simple éloge after the fashion of the French,
he must tell alike the evil and the good, and must
adhere to the maxim, ne quid falsi dicere audeat,
ne quid veri non audeat; he must, while he asserts
nothing that is false, admit everything that is true;
he must set forth whatever tends justly and fully to
characterise the subject of his narrative.
The higher that subject rises in intellectual excellence,
or in any particular department of it, the greater will
sometimes be the failings or irregularities that the
writer of his life will have to disclose. “Nature, appa-
rently,” said Styan Thirlby, as we are told by Mr.
Nichols, in his “Literary Anecdotes," “ intended a kind
of parity among her sons; but sometimes she deviates
a little from her general purpose, and sends into the
world a man of powers superior to the rest, of
quicker intuition and wider comprehension ; this man
muda-11
teru
CH. I.]
INTRODUCTORY REMARKS.
has all other men for his enemies, and would not be
suffered to live his natural time, but that his excel-
lences are balanced by his failings. He that by
intellectual exaltation thus towers above his contem-
poraries, is drunken, or lazy, or capricious; or, by
some defect or other, is hindered from exerting his
sovereignty of mind; he is thus kept upon the level,
and thus preserved from the destruction which would
be the natural consequence of universal hatred.”
Whether the mass of mankind would ever rise to
destroy a fellow-creature possessed of unrivalled intel-
lectual powers, may be doubted; for it might be
expected that such a being would act so as to secure
the approbation and esteem of at least a majority of
those around him ; but it is certain that men dis-
tinguished by eminent mental abilities are often drawn
down, whether by the influence of others, or by their
own imprudence and misconduct, to a condition far
below that of many others who are too much their
inferiors in mind to be able even to estimate their
merits. It is not necessary to recur to the lives of
Edmund Smith, or Samuel Boyse, or Edgar Poe,
for examples of such degradation ; for almost every
man, whether high or low, whether of little education
or of much, has seen something of the kind among his
own connexions or acquaintance. Those who con- :
template the lives and fortunes of mankind, too often, -
as they increase their knowledge, increase their sorrow.
If they discover great merits in eminent characters,
they find them, perhaps, the more they search, obscured
by such defects as they could at one time have scarcely
imagined. They find gold, but gold mingled with clay. "
B 2
LIFE OF RICHARD PORSON.
[Ch. I.
Ta
It might seem, indeed, that superior qualities of any
kind are often bestowed upon their possessors only
to their harm. Intellectual greatness is envied ; the
possessors of it are frequently denied, or unwillingly
allowed, any other merit; and the virtues of inde-
pendence of spirit, integrity, and honourable ambition,
appear, in many cases, to obstruct the worldly progress
of those who possess them in a high degree, while those
who have but a small, or inconsiderable portion of
them, make their way easily in the world, and rise
unimpeded to offices of profit and distinction. Even
if we look only to peace and quiet of life, it might
seem that the less highly endowed have the advantage.
It might seem that honour, with its frequent attendant
disquiet, is ill gained by the sacrifice of tranquillity and
ease. It might seem that those who are content to
pursue the humble path of life, who feel and acknow-
ledge the inferiority of their mental endowments, who
seek no high position, and court no public applause,
but who are satisfied to float along the stream of
existence without trouble or exertion, pass their days
far more happily than those who are incited from
within to pursue honour and renown. It might be
questioned whether he who remarked the antipathy of
quick bosoms to quiet, had, in reality, more enjoyment
of his existence than the tradesman who passes his forty
or fifty years in sluggish quietude, who has no higher
ambition than to pay his way, and who seeks no
greater gratification than that of eating and drinking,
or the leisure of a few days, which he knows not how
to turn to account. If it be said that the higher mind
has the advantage in variety of thought, and frequently
1759.)
PORSON'S BIRTH.
e CON
of action, it may be questioned whether the course
of life which resembles the smoothly-flowing river, is
not preferable to that which may be compared to the
swiftly-rushing flood, agitated and broken with rocks,
trunks of trees, and other obstacles.
The man whose life we propose to relate was
eminently distinguished for tenacity of memory, quick-
ness of perspicacity, and accuracy of judgment; and we
shall see how much these qualities appear to have con- ::
tributed to his comfort.
RICHARD PORSON was born at the village of East
Ruston, near North Walsham, in Norfolk, on Christmas
Day 1759. His father, Huggin Porson, was a weaver,
and clerk of the parish. Anne, his mother, was the
daughter of Thomas Palmer, a shoemaker, of the
neighbouring parish of Bacton. He was the second
of a family of four, the others being a sister, the
eldest, and two brothers, all possessed of considerable
ability. Neither of his parents had had any education,
beyond what might be gained at a village school; but
his father was a man of great sense and strong memory, X
and appears to have attained a considerable knowledge
of arithmetic, for he taught his son, while he was yet a
child, to work sums in the common rules of arithmetic
by memory only; and before he was nine years old
enabled him, with the aid of an old book on arithmetic,
to extract the cube root in that way. Being of a steady
and sedate character, he bred up all his children in
habits of frugality and order. His mother had a taste,
limited as was her education, for poetry, and was
familiar with the plays of Shakspeare, of which she
could repeat many of the more popular and striking
B3
LIFE OF RICHARD PORSON.
[Ch. I.
WI
passages; an accomplishment which she had gained by
having had access to the library of the vicar, Mr.
Hewitt, where she had been at service. He surprised
her, one day, reading Congreve's “Mourning Bride,"
and finding, on questioning her, that she understood
what she read, kindly gave her permission to read any
book in his library. She is also said to have been of a
gay and lively temper, such as cheered and relieved the
gravity and seriousness of her husband. Porson him-
self always spoke highly of her.
His father taught him to write at the same time that
he taught him to read. He traced the form of a letter
with chalk on a board, or with a stick in sand, and
the child was made at once to remember the figure,
and to imitate it. Thus he was enabled to form letters
almost as soon as he could speak, and grew so fond of
the occupation, that he was ready to cover every sur-
face within his reach with characters, which he de-
lineated with great neatness and accuracy.*
He was not, however, confined till the age of nine to
his father's tuition, for he was sent when he was but
six years old to the village school of Bacton, kept by a
man named Woodrow, who had also an appointment
under the Excise Office, and who may consequently be
supposed to have been a fair arithmetician. Woodrow
used to speak with admiration of the proofs of ability
which Porson's childhood manifested. Porson is said
to have remained, however, only three or four months
with this teacher, as, being but weak and tender, he
suffered greatly from the rudeness of the bigger boys.
SIY
* Gent. Mag. Oct. 1808.
1768.]
HIS EDUCATION IN CHILDHOOD.
His health had been affected at the age of four by the
hooping-cough, and he is said to have been, even from
infancy, a bad sleeper.
Whatever he did, even as a child, he appears to have
been anxious to do well. His mother often employed
him in spinning, and he would always produce, from
the same quantity of wool, more yarn, and of a better
quality, than his sister or his brothers. While he was
spinning, he kept a book open before him, in which he
read, as well as he could, during his occupation.
In his ninth year he was put to another school, in
the adjoining parish of Happisburgh, of a rather better
character, the master of which, Mr. Summers, was able
to ground him in Latin. When Porson first went to
this place of instruction, he wrote with a pen but im-
perfectly; but in three months he became the best
writer in the school, and in six months is said to have
known as much of arithmetic as his master. He very
early fixed his thoughts on the structure of language,
and when he had once learned the English grammar
he was never known to make a grammatical error; nor
did he ever seem to forget what he had once read. His
love of algebra he caught from a book on the science
at his father's; and he was greatly attracted by loga-
rithms. In studying Euclid with Mr. Summers, he did
not proceed with the same deliberation as his school-
fellows, but everything seemed to come into his mind
by intuition. “On his daily return to school," said
Mr. Summers, “it was evident that he had been think-
ing, when he was not asleep, of his studies; for he
generally came armed with some algebraic or mathe-
matical problem solved in his own way:" à process
B4
LIFE OF RICHARD PORSON.
[Ch. I.
which he adopted, to Mr. Summers's admiration, with:
the forty-seventh proposition of Euclid's first book.
“ His temper,” Mr. Summers used to say, “was quiet
and sedate; he was reckoned unsocial among his
school-fellows, because out of school hours he preferred
his book to joining with them in their play ;” though
he is reported to have excelled at marbles and trap-
ball.*
His father still contributed to his improvement as
much as he could; he obliged him to repeat at home
every evening all the English lessons that he had
learned at school during the day, requiring him to say
them, not in a lax and desultory manner, but with the
same exactness and in the same order as they had
been learned. The boy profited wonderfully under
this discipline, and while the tenacity of his memory
was increased, began to show great force and compre-
hension of intellect, and an extraordinary inclination
for reading all kinds of books. But to gratify this
propensity he had to borrow from the neighbours, for
his father's shelf contained but very few volumes, the
chief of which were Jewell's “ Apology," Greenwood's
“ England,” some books of arithmetic, eight or ten
volumes of the “Universal Magazine,” and an odd
volume of “ Chambers's Cyclopædia.”
It was not to be expected that the clerk would
notice such remarkable abilities in his son without
* Letter of The Rev. W. Gunn to Dawson Turner; Barker's
Parriana, vol. ii. p. 734.
† Gent. Mag. Oct. 1808.
| Rev. H. R. Luard, Cambridge Essays, 1857.
1771.]
EARLY INDICATIONS OF ABILITY.
speaking of him to the clergyman, The Rev. Charles
Hewitt, curate of the united parishes of Bacton and
East Ruston, being a man of much kindness, and
being engaged in educating his own family, offered, on
finding that the father had made no exaggerated repre-
sentation of the boy's capacity, to take him under his
care, and to give him instruction gratuitously with his
own sons. This offer the clerk was but too happy to ac-
cept, and accordingly, after young Porson had been with
Mr. Summers three years, he came under the tuition of
Mr. Hewitt, by whom he was instructed, to some con-
siderable extent, in Latin, and with whom he continued
also about three years. As Mr. Hewitt's residence was
four miles from East Ruston, the boy used to trudge
thither every Monday morning, with a stock of some
kind of humble provision for the week, which he
spent at the vicarage, and returned to his father's on
Saturday afternoon.
He seems to have shown some inclination to com-
position at this period, but not much. “Proofs of a
serious turn of thought in his early years are still ex-
tant,” says Mr. Kidd ; “ they are in the shape of hymns
and grave reflections, but in no respect remarkable
except in tracing out the adorable nature of the First
Cause."
We have made inquiry for some of these pieces, and
have been presented by Mr. Siday Hawes, the son of
Porson's sister, now residing at Hayes, near Horsham,
with the only copy in his possession, written when
Porson was about twelve years old. The handwriting
is beautiful as copper-plate.
10
[CH, I.
LIFE OF RICHARD PORSON.
On a Moonlight Night.
Who can the beauties of the night describe,
When the bright moon, and all the starry tribe,
Emit their splendor, and, when day is gone.
Those brilliant orbs succeed it one by one?
Who can consider this but for an hour,
And not b' astonish'd at th' Almighty pow'r?
With how much regularity they're made,
And with such beauty as will never fade !
Then cease, proud man, thy own vain works to prize;
Consider what is placed in the skies :
If thou thy study unto this should'st turn,
A lesson of humility thou'dst learn.
R. Porson excogitavit, Anno Domini Jes. 1771.
1
These lines, proceeding from a boy of that age, of no
great reading, indicate some, if not very much, power
of thought, and certainly show an ear for the Popian
couplet.
At nine years of age he had written some verses on
the loss of the Peggy, a seventy-four gun ship, lost
off Happisburgh in 1768. When Mr. Hewitt gave him
a fable of Phædrus to translate into prose, he would
sometimes, in preference, turn it into verse.
Mr. Hewitt seems to have had many good qualifica- .
tions for the office of an instructor. He succeeded in
educating, on an income, from three small charges, not
exceeding two hundred pounds a year, five sons for
the university, four of whom became fellows of their
respective colleges, and the fifth was expected to obtain
a fellowship, but died soon after he had taken his
degree. * To effect so much with such small means, it
UIC
* Letter of The Rev. W. Gunn to Dawson Turner; Barker's
Parriana, vol. ii. p. 736.
1773.]
EXAMINED AT CAMBRIDGE.
vas
ins
may well be supposed that Mr. Hewitt was very
economical, and it is yet related, among the people of
that neighbourhood, that he has been seen roasting a
turnip, like Curius Dentatus, for his supper, and rocking
a cradle and reading a book at the same time.
Being desirous to advance young Porson in life, Mr.
Hewitt spoke of him in high terms to Mr. Norris, a
wealthy and benevolent gentleman of Witton Park,
in an adjoining parish, who afterwards founded the
Norrisian Professorship of Divinity at Cambridge. Mr.
Norris expressed his willingness to assist the boy, if his
abilities should be found correspondent to Mr. Hewitt's
representations, and requested a friend of his, the Rev.
Thomas Carthew, incumbent of Woodbridge in Suffolk,
to examine him. Mr. Carthew, not being a regularly
bred scholar, as he was some years a solicitor before he
took orders, declined to undertake the responsibility of
pronouncing on Porson's merits, but being acquainted
with the Rev. James Lambert, who had been recently
appointed Greek professor at Cambridge, asked him to
make a thorough investigation of the boy's qualifica-
tions. Lambert assented, with conditional offers of
further service, and Carthew, in acknowledgment,
wrote him a very sensible letter, which well deserves
to be made public.
Woodbridge, Feb. 26th, 1773.
“ DEAR SIR,
“Your interesting yourself so kindly on behalf of the
poor lad whose genius you heard me commend, is not only
an act of benevolence towards him, but also a very obliging
civility to me, and as such I shall ever acknowledge it.
“Immediately on the receipt of your letter I wrote to the
lad's friends, and last night I received an answer from my
12
[CH. I.
LIFE OF RICHARD PORSON.
Just low like thi Tesson
friend Mr. Norris, wherein he expresses his sense of the
generosity of your conduct, and directs me to inform you
that, after full consideration, he has judged it expedient to
send the boy immediately to Cambridge, in order that his
abilities may be put to the test by the Professor himself, for,
he observes, that these luminaries, like the phenomena in the
sky, very often shine only just long enough to excite atten-
tion and surprise, and then drop at once into obscurity. If,
on examination, his genius shall be found by you to be
answerable to those high presages which the partiality of his
present instructor has conceived of him, so as to be worthy
of a successful recommendation to the Charterhouse, Mr.
Norris will be responsible for his expenses there; but if you
should think his talents have been overrated, which is not
improbable, as his poverty and mean birth may have en-
couraged a favourable prejudice, Mr. Norris will then direct
his kindness towards him on a more humble plan, and
more suitable to his rank.
“I apprehend the lad will be with you nearly as soon as
this letter.
“I am, dear Sir, with all possible esteem and respect,
“Your most obedient servant,
- THOMAS CARTREW."
P.S. “You will find the lad rather an unwinning cub than
otherwise, but you will, I doubt not, make allowance for the
awkwardness of his manners.”
About the same time Mr. Hewitt wrote to Lambert,
relating what Porson had read with him while under
his tuition.
“SIR,
“As I have had the orderly and good boy under my care
for almost two years, I think it proper to tell you how he has
been employed during that time. He had read some of
Corderius' - Colloquies' when he first came, and having two
little boys of my own who were reading Erasmus, I put him
1773.]
HIS EARLY ATTAINMENTS.
13
to them, the greatest part of whose Colloquies' they read
together, and translated into English, which last task the boy
performed in about half the time they could. I ordered
him to lay by his Erasmus, and endeavour to turn his English
into Latin, which he did so accurately that he varied but
little from his author either in order or words. He is now
doing the same by Cæsar's Commentaries. When he first
began Ovid, I expected some little trouble in teaching him to
scan, but, to my great surprise, found none, and I do not
remember that he ever read six lines false as to quantity
through his whole · Metamorphoses.' He has read all Terence,
the - Eclogues,' and Georgics' of Virgil, and is got into the
Æneid.'
“Perhaps you may wonder that I have said nothing of
Greek hitherto, but my method (perhaps a wrong one) is to
have lads pretty well versed in Latin first, and, as my own
boys are by no means equal to him, I was obliged to defer it
the longer. I have not time to attend to the boy by him-
self, otherwise I doubt not but he might have made a con-
siderable progress in that language. What I do for him is
gratis, otherwise I should think myself guilty of injustice.
They are now getting the Greek verbs, and will begin the
Greek Testament shortly. This boy and one of my own
generally employ an hour or two every day in mathematics,
in which science Porson had made such proficiency before
he came to me as to be able to solve questions out of the
Ladies' Diary,' to the great astonishment of a very able
mathematician in these parts. To say anything more about
the lad is needless, as you will try him yourself, and I heartily
wish you may find him worthy of your recommendation,
and your success herein will be a great pleasure and satis-
faction to, .
“Sir, your most obedient and very humble servant,
“T. HEWITT,
“Of Bacton, near North Walsham, Norfolk."
Before this letter was written, a translation of a
stanza of Beattie's “Minstrel,” done by Porson, had been
14
[Ch. I.
LIFE OF RICHARD PORSON.
sent to Lambert, as an indication of what might be
expected from him with further cultivation.
Lambert, being unwilling to take the whole weight
of the affair on himself, called to his assistance Mr.
Postlethwaite and Mr. Collier, head tutors of Trinity
College, and Mr. Attwood, assistant tutor, esteemed an
eminent mathematician. Each of these three gentlemen
testified strongly to Porson's abilities, and Lambert
transmitted their reports, through Mr. Carthew, to Mr.
Norris. The whole account of the circumstances at-
tendant on this examination of Porson, is recorded in a
paper in Lambert's handwriting, preserved, with Hewitt
and Carthew's letters, in the library of Trinity College,
Cambridge. The paper was written to confute a notion
of Beloe's, that Porson's journey to Cambridge at this
time, though often mentioned by his family, had in
reality never taken place, as it was utterly improbable
that a mere boy would be sent to be examined by a
Greek professor. Lambert concludes the document
thus: “Porson returned home; but how long he re-
mained under Mr. Hewitt's charge, by what means his
patronage became afterwards so extensive, or in what
manner he accumulated that stupendous mass of know-
ledge in a language of which in the beginning of 1773
he was only studying the verbs, I cannot say.” Lam-
bert ceased to reside in college soon after, and heard
nothing more of Porson till he had grown up and
become distinguished.
He continued under Mr. Hewitts tuition for some-
thing more than another year, during which time he
seems to have advanced into Livy, Cicero, and Horace,
and to have read some portion of Homer.
1774.]
SENT TO ETON.
15
It being determined to send him to the Charter-
house, Lambert kindly introduced him to the Marquis
of Granby, who was then an undergraduate of the
college, and who immediately wrote to the Duke of
Rutland and the Earl of Mansfield, to engage their in-
terest for him at that seminary, of which they were
governors. But their nominations for the next vacancy
had been long pre-engaged, and some other plan of
education was to be sought for him.
Mr. Norris still held to his resolution of serving him,
and determined on raising a fund, by contributing
largely himself, and by procuring such subscriptions
as he could, for educating him at a first-rate school, and
for afterwards maintaining him at the University. This
scheme succeeded beyond Mr. Norris's expectations, for
many persons of eminence interested themselves about
a youth of such ability, and gave liberal donations.
Among the contributors were Bishop Bagot, another
bishop whose name is now unknown, Sir George Baker,
Dr. Poynter, Dr. Hammond, a prebendary of Norwich,
and Mrs. Mary Turner, a grand-daughter of Sir George
Turner, and relative of Mr. Norris. This lady took a
great liking to Porson, paid him constant attention, and
gave him permission, when he should return from
school for the holidays, to pass them at her house.
The treasurer of the fund was Sir George Baker,
then president of the College of Physicians, and emi-
nently distinguished for his learning and classical taste.
It was perhaps by his recommendation that the school
chosen for Porson was that of Eton, at which he was
entered in the month of August 1774, when he was in
his fifteenth year.
16
[C. II.
LIFE OF RICHARD PORSON.
CHAP. II.
PORSON AT ETON.-- DR. GOODALL'S ACCOUNT OF HIM.-- WHAT HE KNEW
WHEN HE WENT TO ETON, AND WHAT HE LEARNED THERE. —— HIS
MEMORY. — HIS DISLIKE OF COMPOSITION. - ANECDOTES. — DEATH OF
MR. NORRIS.--PORSON LIBERALLY PATRONISED BY SIR GEORGE BAKER.
- HIS ILLNESS AT ETON. - NOTICE OF HIS DRAMA, “OUT OF THE
FRYING-PAN INTO THE FIRE," WRITTEN AND ACTED AT ETON. – A
SPECIMEN OF HIS SCHOOL VERSES. — HIS MIND TURNED TO CRITICAL
RESEARCH.-HIS ESTIMATION OF DAWES AND BENTLEY.
OF Porson's career at Eton we have no detailed account,
but we may gather some information about it from the
various notices of him. Two sources from which we
learn something of it are Beloe's “ Sexagenarian," and
a paper in the “Gentleman's Magazine” for October
1808. “In that great seminary,” says the writer in
the Magazine, “he almost from the commencement of
his career displayed such a superiority of intellect, such
facility of acquirement, such quickness of perception,
and such a talent of bringing forward to his purpose all
that he had ever read, that the upper boys took him into
their society, and promoted the cultivation of his mind
by their lessons, as well, probably, as imposing upon
him the performance of their own exercises. He was
courted by them as the never-failing resource in every
difficulty; and in all the playful excursions of the
imagination, in their frolics as well as in their serious
tasks, Porson was their constant adviser and support.
He used to dwell on this lively part of his youth with
peculiar complacency; and we have heard him repeat
1774.]
HIS QUALIFICATIONS FOR ETON.
17
a drama which he wrote for exhibition in their long
chamber, and other compositions, both of seriousness
and drollery, with a zest that the recollection of his
enjoyment at the time never failed to revive in him.”
Beloe says that he wrote two dramatic pieces, and
acted in them himself; but that nothing more is remem-
bered of them than that the one, which was entitled
“Out of the Frying-pan into the Fire," was more in-
genious and elaborate than the other, which was
founded on some petty affair that occurred in the school.
In other respects Beloe's account differs from that of
the other writer. Many of Porson's schoolfellows at
Eton, he observes, were living at the time that “The
Sexagenarian” was written, who all declare, without
variation, that when Porson went to Eton he was not
particularly distinguished above other boys either for
knowledge or disposition to acquire it.
Dr. Goodall, when Provost of Eton, being called
upon, after Porson's death, to give evidence on the
state of education in the country, before a Committee
of the House of Commons, and being asked, among
other questions, “if he was acquainted with what had
happened to the late Professor Porson, to prevent his
election to King's College," made the following state-
ment:-
66. Every account that I have read about him, in relation to
that circumstance, is incorrect. When he came to the school
he was placed rather higher, by the reputation of his abilities,
than perhaps he ought to have been in consequence of his
actual attainments. With respect to prosody, he knew but
little; and as to Greek he had made comparatively but little
progress when he came to Eton. The very ingenious and
learned editor of one account of him has been misinformed
18
[Cå. II.
LIFE OF RICHARD PORSON.
-
in most particulars; and many of the incidents which he
relates, I can venture from my own knowledge to assert, are
distorted or exaggerated. Even Porson’s compositions, at an
early period, though eminently correct, fell far short of ex-
cellence; still we all looked up to him in consequence of his
great abilities and variety of information, though much of
that information was confined to the knowledge of his school-
fellows, and could not easily fall under the notice of his instruc-
tors. He always undervalued school exercises, and generally
wrote his exercises fair at once, without study. I should
be sorry to detract from the merit of an individual whom I
loved, esteemed, and admired; but I speak of him when he
had only given the promise of his future excellence; and, in
point of school exercises, I think he was very inferior to more
than one of his contemporaries: I would name the present
Marquis Wellesley as infinitely superior to him in compo-
sition.
“On being asked whether he wrote the same beautiful
hand as he did afterwards, Dr. Goodall replied he did, nor was
there any doubt of his general scholarship.
“ To a question whether he made great progress during the
time he was at Eton, or after he left, Dr. Goodall said he was
advanced as far as he could be with propriety, but there were
certainly some there who would not have been afraid to chal-
lenge Porson as a schoolboy, though they would have shunned
all idea of competition with him at Cambridge. The first
book that Porson ever studied, as he often told me, was
• Chambers's Cyclopædia;' he read the whole of that dic-
tionary through, and in a great degree made himself master
of the algebraic part of that work entirely by the force of his
understanding..
“ Dr. Goodall was then asked if he considered there was
any ground for complaint on the part of Porson in not having
been sent to Cambridge; to which he answered, 'No; he was
placed as high in the school as he well could be: as a proof,
however, of his merits, when he left Eton contributions were
readily supplied by Etonians in aid of Sir George Baker's
proposal to secure the funds for his maintenance at the
University.""
1774-8.]
HIS EARLY VERSIFICATION.
19
Another account says that Dr. Goodall remarked
that Porson, as a boy, showed but little taste in his
compositions, and was fond of mixing, especially in his
verses, Greek with Latin, as - Ingemuere too..”
According to the “Short Account of Porson," he
himself used to say that he added little to his acquire-
ments at Eton except facility in Latin versification, as
he had read with Mr. Hewitt, before he went thither,
almost all that was required from him in the school, and
had learned many portions of Horace, Virgil, Homer,
Cicero, and Livy, by heart. He was unwilling to own
that he was, on the whole, greatly indebted to Eton,
but he must, as the writer remarks, have been “much
obliged to the collision of a public school for the rapi-
dity with which he increased his knowledge, and the
correction of himself by the mistakes of others. Mag-
nos enim viros 1200 schola, sed contubernium facit.”
Mr. Kidd says that Porson, when he entered Eton,
was a wholly ignorant of quantity;" and that “after he
had toiled up the arduous path to literary eminence, he
was often twitted by his quondam schoolfellows with
those violations of quantity which are common in first
attempts at Latin verse.” “Our Greek Professor," he
adds, “always felt sore upon this point. One of his best
friends and greatest admirers has preserved a copy of
verses, which indeed evince the rapid progress of his
mind, but would not do honour to his memory.” .
That he could repeat by heart almost all the books
read at Eton, before he became an Etonian, he himself
told Mr. Maltby, and said that almost the only thing he
recollected with pleasure during his Eton course was the
02
20
[CH. II.
LIFE OF RICHARD PORSON.
rat-hunting with which the boys amused themselves in
the Long Hall.
He continued, however, to be fond of reading.
Jonathan Raine, a brother of Dr. Matthew Raine, Por-
son's firm friend throughout life, was one of his school-
fellows at Eton, and was possessed of a Shakspeare
which Porson, having none of his own, was ever eager
to borrow. When Raine, who kept it locked up, was
reluctant to lend it, Porson would take his knife out of
his pocket, and say, “Come now, give us your key,
or I shall pick the lock.” .
One remarkable instance which he gave of the power
of his memory at Eton is recorded. He was going up
one day with the rest of his form, to say a lesson in
Horace, but, not being able to find his book at the time,
took one which was thrust into his hand by another
boy. He was called upon to construe, and went on
with great accuracy, but the master observed that he
did not seem to be looking on that part of the page in
which the lesson was. He therefore took the book
from his hand to examine it, and found it to be an
English translation of Ovid's Metamorphoses. Porson
was good-humouredly desired to continue his con-
struing, and finished the lesson without erring in a
single word.
He was so disinclined to composition when he was
at Eton, that he would, to save himself the trouble
of writing an exercise, borrow that of any other boy,
and transcribe it with all its faults. Yet he was ready
to assist others with advice, and to correct their errors.*
Mr. Barker tells a story of Porson's boyhood, for the
* Kidd, Tracts, p. Ixix.
1774-8.]
ANECDOTES.
truth of which he must himself be left responsible.
When Colonel Disney was a Westminster boy, he was
in the habit of meeting Porson at his master's house.
When they were alone together in the evening, Porson
asked Disney if he knew his way to the ale-cellar.
Disney replied that he did, but that he was engaged in
doing his Greek verses. “Never mind,” said Porson ;
“I will look to them ; take the largest jug you can find,
and fill it with beer.” This Disney did, and on his re-
turn found his Greek verses finished. This occurred
more than once, and Disney was always on such occa-
sions at the head of his class. He told Porson not to
let the handwriting be too good.* How Porson found
opportunities of being with Disney at Westminster when
it was not vacation time, is not explained.
There was a boy named Murphitt at Eton, of a
somewhat ungainly figure, with whom he used to spar.
He observed that Murphitt need never be in want of a
corkscrew, as he had only to swallow a tenpenny nail,
and the sinuosities of his frame, as it passed through,
would twist it into an excellent shape for a cork-
extractor. Murphitt was afterwards vicar of Kendal.
His propensity to satirical composition began to
show itself at Eton. One of his schoolfellows was
Charles Simeon, whom he afterwards called a “COX-
comb in religion,” but who was then a coxcomb in dress.
Porson, disliking his vanity and conceit, wrote some
verses addressed “to the ugliest boy in Dr. Davies's
dominions," and threw them over a wall where they
* Barker's Lit. Anecd. vol. ii. p. 17.
† Ib. vol. i. pp. 23, 189.
1. c 3
22
[CH. II.
LIFE OF RICHARD PORSON.
were sure to be found. A good-natured friend soon
handed them to Simeon, who was much stung by them,
and used every possible means to discover the author,
examining the handwriting of all the boys in his form,
and soliciting the assistance of the monitors; but his
efforts were fruitless, for Porson had written them with
his left hand, so as to defy detection.*
When he had been about three years at Eton, his
patron, Mr. Norris, died; and Porson is said to have
shown much concern at his loss. The suddenness of
his death, it is supposed, prevented Mr. Norris from
making any provision for him. But Sir George Baker
still determined to protect him; he received him into
his house in the following vacation; he continued
to collect sums, whether as subscriptions or donations,
for his maintenance, and at last secured enough to
purchase for him an annuity of eighty pounds a year,
for a few years, in the short annuities, an income
which was sufficient to enable him to remain at Eton.
Mrs. Mary Townshend and Lady Middleton are men-
tioned as two of the contributors to Sir George Baker's
fund.
About the time of Mr. Norris's death, Porson's life
appears to have been in danger from the formation of
an imposthume on the lungs, and though his lungs were
relieved by a copious discharge, yet he recovered his
strength but slowly, and is considered to have escaped
from consumption only to be troubled, during much of
his life, with asthma.f
* Barker's Parriana, vol. ii. p. 700.
† Monthly Magazine, Nov. 1808.
1774-8.]
HIS DRAMA WRITTEN AT ETON.
23
The drama which he wrote at Eton, entitled “ Out
of the Frying-pan into the Fire,” is preserved in the
library of Trinity College, Cambridge, to which it was
presented in 1850 by Bishop Maltby, into whose hands
it had passed. We have perused it, and found it,
as might be expected, but a schoolboy performance;
but, as the youthful production of one afterwards so
famous, the reader may not be displeased if we give a
short notice of it. It is in three acts, and may be
called an opera, for it consists chiefly of songs. The
subject is the old story of Friar Bacon's attempt to
build a wall of brass round Britain to defend it from
its enemies. But, in Porson's play, the business is
taken, we know not why, out of the hands of Friar
Bacon, and put into those of Doctor Faustus. Lucifer
and Satan, also, two of the characters, are made distinct
personages. The dramatis personce, and the names of
the boys who acted them, are these :
· Dr. FAUSTUS . . . . Mr. Stephenson.
SATAN, 7 two devils, familiars S Mr. Chafie.
LUCIFER, S of Dr. Faustus l Mr. Goodall.
VULCAN, a god turned smith . Mr. Moore.
PUNCH, servant to Dr. Faustus .. The Author.
JOAN, his wife . . . . Mrs. Smith, the real wife
of Hob Smith.
The piece opens thus :-
SCENE --A garden.
Dr. Faustus discovered.
INCANTATION.
Now pale Cynthia's borrowed light
Faintly gilds the glimpse of night,
And the hour-announcing clock
Twelve times sounds with iron stroke.
C4
[Ch. II.
Now the ghosts with sullen stalk
Round the dreary churchyard walk,
Till the harbinger of day
Chases them from earth away.
I alone, while others sleep,
Watchful to this garden creep,
And, to conjure up my slave,
Thus in air my rod I wave.
Twice I turn to th' eastern sky;
Twice the western world I spy;
Twice the south whence Auster blows;
Twice the north which Sol ne'er knows.
Next, these flowers of deadly juice,
Which my fertile lands produce,
On the ground, in order meet,
Thus I strew beneath my feet.
He then invokes “Satan, and Lucifer his partner," to
assist him in building a brazen wall “round Britannia’s
chosen land.” The two immediately appear in thunder
and lightning, and “ dance the hay,” to the tune of
“Deil tak the wars,” to which Faustus sings a song.
They then “ dance again," while Faustus sings another
song, to the air of “Fill your glasses, banish grief,” as
follows:
Wheresoe'er materials lie,
On the earth or in the sea,
Or i' th' middle air or sky,
You must seek them out for me.
To the furthest regions haste
Ere a single hour be past;
Haste and quickly bring whate'er
Will be necessary here.
Satan replies,
Whatever you think, Dr. Faustus, expedient,
To fetch or to carry you'll find me obedient;
Pray tell your intent, and if I do but swerve in't,
As you will you shall punish your most humble servant.
1774-8.]
HIS DRAMA.
25
Lucifer expresses himself to the same effect. Satan
then proposes to call in Vulcan, to make sa head all of
brass,” which may give directions how to build the
brazen wall; telling Faustus,
As soon as it speaks, which it will when you roast it,
With questions in plenty at pleasure accost it.
But he cautions him to be careful of making any
mistake. Satan and Lucifer then depart to find Vulcan,
who comes in by chance, while Dr. Faustus is waiting
for him, singing,
Whoe'er wants to buy, to my office repair,
And I'll furnish you quickly with all kinds of ware,
Whether hammer, or chisel, or gimlet, or axe,
Or tenpenny nails, or the smallest of tacks.
The Doctor signifying his wish to have the head,
Vulcan promises to make it in an hour and a quarter,
and takes his leave. Faustus sends his servant Punch
to fetch the head, and, as he is not over expeditious in
going, threatens to whip him, and sings,
If a servant you have, he's the plague of your life,
For with him you've nought but contention and strife;
Of the orders you give him he's never observant :
Oh! what a plague is an impudent servant,
Vexing, perplexing,
Staying, delaying,—
Oh! what a plague is an impudent servant !
This Punch parodies thus :
If a master you have, he's the plague of your life,
For with him you have nought but contention and strife ;
Go as fast as you can, he would have you go faster :
Oh! what a plague is a whimsical master,
Ordering and bothering,
Stripping and whipping,
Oh! what a plague is a whimsical master !
LIFE OF RICHARD PORSON.
[CH. II.
Thus ends the first Act..
In the second Act Joan enters, singing. Vulcan
comes to her with the head of brass, and Joan observes,
I think that it looks rather frightful and horrid :
What hideous eyes, what a terrible forehead !
Punch joins them, and the whole act is composed of ..
their talk and songs.
The third Act discovers Punch and Joan sitting half
asleep, with bottle and tumblers beside them, and
the head in a huge frying-pan on the fire; Dr. Faustus
having charged them to watch the roasting of it, and
to let him know when it should speak. They talk and
sing, and the head says, “ Time is,” of which they take no
notice; soon after the head says, “ Time was," and, in
a little while, exclaims, “ Time is gone,” and falls into
the fire and bursts. In comes Faustus to ask if it has
not spoken. Seeing it broken, he laments, and upbraids
Punch and his wife for their carelessness, who endea-
vour to excuse themselves, but are at last driven off by
Satan and Lucifer to Tartarus. Faustus mourns, in a
parody on Wolsey's speech, that “his shoot has been
nipp'd when he thought his greatness was a ripening,"
but adds that, though Britain must still continue open
to our foes, yet
Still beneath our arms the foe shall fall,
And England's valour be its brazen wall.
Three copies of school-Latin verses, written by
Porson when he was at Eton, are in the library of
Trinity College, having been presented to it in 1851
by T. L'Estrange Ewen, Esq., of Dedham, Essex. One
is in iambic verse, a translation of a passage of Pope's
1774-8.]
· HIS SCHOOL EXERCISES."
“ Essay on Criticism,” extending to thirty-three lines ;
another consists of thirty-six hexameters from “ The
Dying Indian,” in Dodsley's Collection; and the third
of thirty hexameters and pentameters on the Progress
of Pastoral Poetry. We have extracted a few lines
from the first as a specimen :
Natura solers ipsa legibus suis
Sese coercet, ut tenetur ordine
A se reperto, se regens, Licentia.
Sedem superbo Græcia in cacumine
Sibi vindicat, natosque demonstrans suos
Queis laureorum palma cingit tempora,
Nos et decora tendere ad certamina
Jubet triumphi, nos et æquali gradu
Hortatur exercere munus ingenî.
Pope's lines are,
6 Nature, like liberty, is but restrain'd
By the same laws which first herself ordain'd.
Hear how learn'd Greece her useful rules indites,
When to repress, and when indulge our flights ;
High on Parnassus' top her sons she show'd,
And pointed out those arduous paths they trod;
Held from afar aloft, th' immortal prize,
And urged the rest by equal steps to rise."
To turn “liberty” into licentia, and to make licence
se coercere et regere ordine a se reperto, is extremely
boyish. But there are some good lines here and there.
They are written in a small neat hand, on both sides of
the paper, and “Porson” is carefully printed in italics at
the top, on the left hand.
His mind was first inclined to critical researches, as
he himself used to relate, by reading Toup's “ Longinus,”
28
[Cu. II.
LIFE OF RICHARD PORSON.
with a copy of which he was presented by Dr. Davies
as a reward for a good exercise. Some time after-
wards he read Bentley on Phalaris, and Dawes's “Mis-
cellanea Critica," and these writers he used to call his
great masters in the art of criticism.
For Bentley he preserved through life an unbounded
veneration. He calls his work on Phalaris, immortalis
illa de Phalaridis Epistolis Dissertatio, and omitted no
opportunity of praising him. When, in after life, he
had made many emendations in Aristophanes, and
Bentley’s copy of that poet was shown him, containing
a number of his corrections in the margin, he is said
to have shed tears of joy at finding a large portion of
Bentley's conjectures exactly coincide with his own.*
He once spoke to some scholars at the Gray's Inn
Coffee-House, on Bentley's literary character, with
such warmth of eulogy that a North Briton, who was
present, asked him if Bentley was not a Scotchman.
“No," replied Porson, “ Bentley was a Greek scholar.”+
This story is told in more ways than one, but Porson's
stress must have been upon the word “Greek.”
Bentley was, indeed, a mighty man in the province
of literature to which he devoted himself. Notwith-
standing all the slashing with his desperate hook, he
still showed himself, except in his attempts on Milton
and in some of his later pamphlets, a sound and perspi-
cacious critic. Pope would have gained himself more
credit by praising than by satirising him. He is said
to have been in doubt, when he was writing the
ore
* Rev. H. R. Luard, Cambridge Essays, 1857.
† Kidd, Tracts, p. lxxxviii.; Barker's Lit. An. vol. ii. p. 10.
1774-8.]
BENTLEY.
29
“Dunciad,” whether he should extol or depreciate
Handel, till some musician, whose opinion he asked,
assured him that Handel was a great man. It may
well be wished that some scholar had had the power to
give him a similar impression of Bentley.
30
[CA. III.
LIFE OF RICHARD PORSON,
CHAP. III.
PORSON ENTERED AT TRINITY COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE.- BEGINS TO SHOW
HIS ABILITIES IN CRITICISM. — GAINS THE CRAVEN SCHOLARSHIP. -
HIS GREEK IAMBICS ON THE OCCASION. HE TAKES HIS DEGREE AND
IS ELECTED FELLOW. --HIS HABITS. -HIS LITERARY PROJECTS.-- HIS
FIRST ESSAY IN REVIEWING. HIS DESIRE TO EDIT ASCHYLUS. HIS
PROPOSALS ILL RECEIVED BY THE SYNDICS OF THE UNIVERSITY
PRESS.--IS MUCH DISCOURAGED.--NEVER VISITED THE CONTINENT.
PORSON was too old when he went to Eton, as may
have been inferred from Dr. Goodall's evidence before
the House of Commons, to have any chance of going to
Cambridge as a King's scholar. After having remained
at Eton four years, he was entered at Trinity College
in October 1778, when he was nearly eighteen years
of age.
Concerning his course of life as an undergraduate at
Cambridge, little is told. He was at first, however, so
much influenced by the genius loci that he applied him-
self to mathematics, but soon relinquished the study
for others more agreeable to his inclination. His read-
ing would appear to have been very miscellaneous.
Whether the perusal of Chambers's Dictionary, of which
Dr. Goodall spoke, and which is also mentioned by
Beloe, took place before he went to Cambridge, or
afterwards, is uncertain ; but it would seem more pro-
bable that the achievement was performed at Cam-
bridge. He was said by his old master, Mr. Summers,
IUL
1778.]
EARLY CRITICISM.
.
31
to have been well-conducted, and to have incurred no
punishment, during the whole of his undergraduate-
ship.*
He impressed the scholars of the University with
strong notions of his aptitude for attaining distinction
in classical pursuits.
Two emendations which he made about two years
after he entered Cambridge, his earliest attempts of the
kind on record, deserve to be noticed. In the first
Idyl of Theocritus, ver. 66, we still read,
Ilã Tók' ap 106' őka Aágvis éráketo ;
Porson altered it to
Ilã tók' ap 106'
;
In Virgil, Æn. j. 702, the common reading is
Immanisque Gela, fluvii cognomine dicta,
for which Porson proposed to read
Immanisque Gela, fluvio cognomine dicta,
which Kidd calls an admirable emendation, and which,
though it may at first startle a young reader, is sup-
ported by Æn. vi. 38, gaudet cognomine terrâ. These
criticisms of Porson were communicated to Kidd by
Dr. Goodall.
One fellow-collegian with whom he was very inti-
mate was Walter Whiter, afterwards rector of Hard-
ingham, and well known to classical scholars. He
would go into Whiter's rooms, open whatever book
Whiter would allow him to take, and, with any pen
* Notes and Queries, 1st series, vol. iii. p. 28.
32
[CA. III.
LIFE OF RICHARD PORSON.
SOI
that he could find on the table, write notes on the
margin in the neatest of hands. Mr. Whiter's nephew
possesses a copy of Athenæus that belonged to his
uncle, in which are many annotations written by Por-
son with the greatest distinctness, though the paper is
porous.
He was elected scholar of his College in 1780, and
gained the Craven University Scholarship, without dif-
ficulty, in December 1781. A translation of an epitaph
into Greek iambics, which he performed at the examina-
tion for the Craven scholarship, is preserved. It is said to
have been completed in less than an hour, with the help
only of Morell's Thesaurus, according to Dr. Thomas
Young, but, according to others, without any help from
books at all. Who was the author of the English lines
is not known. The Reverend William Collier, Senior
Fellow of Trinity College, set the verses, and told Mr.
Kidd that he took them from a magazine of the day.
Kidd says that he searched most of the magazines for
them, but to no purpose; and Porson himself expressed
a suspicion that they were Mr. Collier's own.
“ Stranger, whoe'er thou art that view'st this tomb,
Know that here lies, in the cold arms of death,
The young Alexis. Gentle was his soul
As softest music; to the charms of love
Not cold, nor to the social charities
Of mild humanity. In yonder grove
He woo'd the willing muse. Simplicity
Stood by and smiled. Here every night they come,
And, with the virtues and the graces, tune
The note of woe, weeping their favourite
Slain in his bloom, in the fair prime of life.
“Would he had lived !" Alas ! in vain that wish
Escapes thee. Never, stranger, shalt thou see
The youth. He's dead. The virtuous soonest die."
1781.]
CRAVEN SCHOLARSHIP.
33
Ω ΞΕΙΝΕ, τουτον όστις εισορας ταφον,
Ισθ' ως οδ' ενδον σωμ’ Αλεξιδος νεου
(Ψυχρoν παραγκαλισμα ταρταρου) στεγει
Μολπης γλυκυτατης αιμυλωτερου φρενας"
Ουδ' ήν αθαλπτος Κυπριδος τερπνο βελει,
Ουδ' αυ παρωσε τον φιλανθρωπον τροπον,
Αρθμον θ' εταιρων· αλλ' εκειν' αλσος κατα
Εκουσαν εζητησε Μουσαν· Χρηστοτης τ'
Εγελα παραστάσ'· αιν έκαστης ενθασε
Νυκτος παρουσάιν, αι ' ρεται τε και καλαι
Χαριτες συνωμιλησαν· ειτα τον φιλον
Ποθουσ' εραστην δυσθρον μελωδια,
“Ον άρτι θαλλοντ’ ηρινω καιρο βιου
Εδρεψατ’ Αιδης. EΙΘ' ΕΤ' ΕΝ ΖΩΟΙΣΙΝ ΗΝ.
Ευχη ματην αρ', ω Ξεν', ήδε το στομα
Πεφευγεν' ου γαρ μηποτ' εισοψει νεον·
Τεθνηχ’ ο δη-ταχιστα πασχουσ’ οι 'γαθοι.
We give them without accents, just as they are printed
by Mr. Kidd, but the last line, as Dr. Young has ob-
served, should undoubtedly be written
Τεθνης και δη ταχιστα πασχουσ’ οι 'γαθοι.
S01
Sec
In the first line he uses unjustifiably the Ionic form
ξείνος. The ninth line shows that he had either not
then discovered what he afterwards called the pause,
or disregarded it. Young remarked that there are
some inaccuracies in the use of the tenses, but there
seems to be nothing in this respect that is indefensible.
When the iambics were shown, several years after-
wards, to Parr, he said, “ You do not, Mr. Porson,
consider these as faultless ?” Porson answered, eva-
sively, that for every single fault that Parr could point
out, he himself would find seven.
He took his degree in 1782 as third senior optime,
the number of wranglers being eighteen. Soon after-
D
34
[Cr. III.
LIFE OF RICHARD PORSON.
wards he obtained the first Chancellor's medal, Sparke,
subsequently Bishop of Ely, being awarded the second.
On the first of October, in the same year, he was elected
to a fellowship in his College, being chosen, in viola-
tion of the custom then prevailing, while he was still a
junior bachelor, a relaxation being made in his favour
on account of his eminent abilities.* Since 1677, when
Newton was elected fellow, junior bachelors had not
been allowed, with three exceptions, to be candidates for
fellowships till 1818, when ConnopThirlwall was chosen;
the three exceptions being Richard Bentley, the son of
the critic; Rogerson Cotter, and Thomas Robinson, the
author of “ Female Scripture Characters.”* At pre-
sent, and since 1830, all bachelors without distinction
are admitted to the fellowship examinations. The
emolument of Porson's fellowship did not exceed 1001.
per annum.
At what time of his life he first began to pay those
ardent devotions to Bacchus for which he was after-
wards so remarkable, is not, we believe, stated in print.
He probably first indulged in them, like Addison, as a
lene tormentum ingenio, a pleasant excitement to his
faculties, and was unable to restrain himself from fre-
quent repetitions of the gratification. Indeed, when a
remark was once made to him, in a subsequent period
of his life, by a gentleman at a dinner party, as they
were sitting over their wine, and as Porson was be-
ginning to talk, that he had been “exceedingly shy
during dinner,” he rejoined, with an arch look, that
.* Monthly Magazine, Nov. 1808.
† Monk's Bentley, vol. ii. p. 348. Rev. H. R. Luard, Cambr.
Essays, 1857.
1782.]
AN UNTRUE STORY.
35
“ Addison had never been himself till the second
bottle.”* The writer in the “Gentleman's Magazine,"
whom we have already cited, suggests that he may
have found wine or spirits a relief to his asthma, and
that this may have been the origin of his attachment to
the cups which, unlike Bishop Berkeley's tar-water,
cheer, but inebriate.
Mr. William Maltby, who, being Porson's intimate
friend, has bespattered him with ungracious anecdote
more than any other person that has written of him,
relates that “during the earlier part of his career, he
accepted the situation of tutor to a young gentleman in
the Isle of Wight, but was soon forced to relinquish the
office, from having been found drunk in a ditch or a
turnip-field.”of Mr. Maltby, before publishing this,
should have considered whether there was a time at
which it could have occurred. Ponendæque domo qua-
renda est area primum. It did not happen before
Porson went to Eton, and from Eton he went directly
to Cambridge, where he seems to have resided pretty
constantly till he got his fellowship in his twenty-third
year; after which event it surely did not take place.
He might indeed have entered into a short engagement
of the kind during one of the vacations, but, if he did.
it is strange that there is no allusion to it in any other
writer of him. Mr. Siday Hawes, Porson's nephew, has
expressed to us a firm belief that Porson never was
a private tutor, nor ever in the Isle of Wight. The
interval between his election to his fellowship and the
* Stephens's Memoirs of Horne Tooke, vol. ii. p. 315.
† Rogers's Table Talk, "Porsoniana,” p. 300.
D 2
36
[Co. III.
LIFE OF RICHARD PORSON.
We
easo
time when he took his M.A. degree in 1785, he seems
to have 6 assiduously employed,” according to Mr.
Kidd, “in highly useful but ungainful pursuits. It
was a season which he recollected with pleasure,
and would, at times, fondly wish to live over again
Pieriosqiie dies et amantes carmina noctes."
As he became distinguished, his company was much
sought, especially by the young men of his college.
But he did not conduct himself in such a way, in the
convivial hours which he spent among them, as to se-
cure from them much personal deference, however they
might admire the powers of his mind. Familiarity
seems to have produced its proverbial effect in his case
as in others. In his disputes with the young fellows he
was fond of threatening to punish their insolence by
splitting their heads with the poker. One evening an
undergraduate distinguished for pugilism, with whom
he had a dispute, seeing Porson catch hold of the
poker, seized the tongs, observing that he could play
at that game as well as Porson. Porson, looking in his
face, said in a sneering tone, “ If I should crack your
skull, I believe I should find it empty.” “And if I
should crack yours," replied the other, “I believe I
should find it full of maggots.” This was a retort such
as Porson liked, and he immediately laid down the
poker with a smile, and repeated a chapter of “Roderick
Random” suitable to the occasion. The author of the
“ Short Account of Porson” says that this cured him of
using the poker ; but he is mistaken, for we shall find
him brandishing it again hereafter.
Sir Egerton Brydges *, who was at Cambridge at this
* Autobiography, vol. i. p. 58.
1783.]
CRITICISM IN MATY'S REVIEW.
37
AULISK.
eve
time, speaks of Porson's roughness, and thought him
vain and arrogant; but Sir Egerton admits that he was
in his company only once or twice, and he assuredly
never penetrated Porson's husk.
In 1782 he made some proposals to republish
Budæus's “ Commentaries on the Greek Language,”
with notes; a book which, as Kidd thinks, would have
been better for our public schools than Vigerus. But
the design was never executed.
In March 1783 he appears to have first published an
essay in criticism, a review of the first volume of Schutz's
Æschylus, in “Maty's Review ;" a publication which
was started the year before by Maty, a fellow of Trinity,
Porson's senior by a few years, and which Porson con-
tinued to support till it fell to the ground in 1787.
The paper occupies only a few pages. Porson's pro-
pensity to sarcastic remark is just shown in it. Speak-
ing of Schutz having separated two excursus on the
“Septem contra Thebas” from the main body of his
commentary, he says that he is at a loss to know why
he has done so, for “they would have been as easily
read, or turned over without reading, if they had been
inserted in their proper order.”
About this period, having read with great pleasure
Ruhnken’s preface to the second volume of Hesychius,
and his historical disquisition on the Greek orators,
he wrote to Ruhnken, saying that he was contemplating
an edition of Aschylus, and requesting to be favoured
with any fragments of that author that had occurred to
Ruhnken in his body of inedited Lexicons and Gram-
marians ; a source from which Brunck had drawn many
valuable glosses for his - Lexicon Sophocleum."
D 3
38
[CH. III.
LIFE OF RICHARD PORSON..
That Ruhnken might not be ignorant of his qualifica-
tions for editing Æschylus, he sent him specimens of
two or three emendations. Ruhnken was pleased with
the letter, and after showing it to Wyttenbach, who was
much struck with the ability that it displayed, sent him
a reply addressed “ Viro præstantissimo Ricardo Por-
sono," and consisting of eight leaves of foolscap crowded
with fragments of Æschylus extracted from the trea-
sures of his library. This manuscript afterwards pe-
rished by fire.
At this time Porson's attention was closely fixed
upon Æschylus ; and Maty, doubtless with Porson's
permission, announced in his “Review” for March and
October, 1783, that “a scholar of Cambridge was pre-
paring a new edition of Stanley's Æschylus, to which
he proposed to add his own notes, and would be glad of
any communications on the subject either from English-
men or foreigners.” It happened at the same time, too,
that the Syndics of the University Press had in con-
templation a reprint of Stanley's edition, with addi-
tional notes from his manuscripts, of which he had left
eight large folio volumes. Porson, being consulted
about the publication, offered to undertake the editor-
ship of it, if he were allowed to conduct it according to
his own notions of an editor's duty. But on being told
that he must preserve Stanley's text unaltered, and
must admit all Pauw's annotations, however valueless,
he declined to execute the work on those conditions.
In one of his conferences with the Syndics, he urged
upon them the necessity of obtaining the various read-
ings of the Medicean manuscript at Florence, which
Professor Salvini had inspected for Dr. Askew, and
1783.]
DESIRE TO EDIT ÆSCHYLUS.
39
offered to undertake a journey thither for the purpose
of collating it, at an expense to the University not
greater than that for which the task could have been
performed by a person on the spot; but the proposal
was rejected, and one of the Syndics, speaking
strongly against it, asked why Mr. Porson could not
collect his manuscripts at home? The name of this
learned objector has not been recorded, but Kidd
seems to have known who he was, for he calls him “a
grave man, and most wonderful scholar, then perching
on the pinnacle of power ;” and another of the op-
posers he designates as “a genuine critic, well known
in the Primrose Path as well as in the Fosse and the
Watling Street.” Porson afterwards alluded to this
display of ignorance in a note to his “ Letters to
Travis : " “I have heard of a learned Doctor in our
University who confounded the collection with the col-
lation of manuscripts."*
This repulse is said to have dispirited Porson so
much as to have had an ill effect on his whole critical
career. Had he been now fairly started with Æschy-
lus, he might, on its completion, have been animated
by success to proceed to other works, and have accom-
plished those great undertakings which men who could
fairly estimate his powers expected from him. But
this discouragement seems to have weakened his exer-
tions, to have turned his thoughts from great enter-
prises, and to have caused him to waste much time in
comparatively trifling occupations.
The only excuse to be made for the Syndics is that
* Letters to Travis, p. 57; Kidd, Tracts, p. xxxvi.
D4
40
[CA. III.
LIFE OF RICHARD PORSON.
Porson was then untried as an editor, and that his
success may have seemed doubtful. But they ought to
have had Greek learning enough among them to know
the value of Stanley's text, and to suppose that a man
who had given such proofs of scholarship as Porson,
was likely to do it little harm by a few alterations, in
which his own reputation would be concerned.
Some verses, which have been much circulated, have
given rise to the belief that Porson actually visited the
continent:-
“I went to Strasburg, where I got drunk
With that most learn'd professor Brunck:
I went to Wortz, where I got more drunken
With that more learn'd professor Ruhnken.”
By whom these verses were written is not certainly
known, but it is believed among scholars that they
came from Porson himself, who, for the sake of the
rhymes, described, as having really occurred, that
which he thought might have occurred if he had met
with those continental professors.
1783.]
REVIEWS BRUNCK'S ARISTOPHANES.
41
CHAP. IV.
1
PORSON'S REVIEW OF BRUNCK'S ARISTOPIIANES; OF WESTON'S HER-
MESIANAX; OF IUNTINGFORD'S "APOLOGY FOR HIS MONOSTROPHICS."
--- REMARKS ON DAWES. -- THE “ LEARNED PIG.” — LETTERS TO THE
" GENTLEMAN'S MAGAZINE" ON HAWKINS'S “ LIFE OF JOHNSON.” —
NOTICE OF ROBERTSON'S ESSAY ON THE PARIAN CHRONICLE LETTER
ON HEYNE'S APPLICATION FOR BENTLEY'S HOMERIC MSS.
In the same year, 1783, Porson wrote another article
for “Maty's Review," a critique on Brunck's Aristo-
phanes. It contains great commendations of Brunck
as an editor, and some very acute emendations of pas-
sages that had perplexed or escaped Brunck. Some
introductory remarks on the writings and character of
Aristophanes, setting forth his principal merits and de-
fects, are well worthy of extraction:-
“ Before I give an account of the editor's merits, it may
not be improper to say a word of the excellences and defects
of the author; especially as some modern critics have thought
proper, not only to greet him with the title of a scurrilous
and indecent buffoon, but to wonder how such monstrous
farces could be endured by the chaste ears of an Attic
audience. That many should have been greatly exasperated
with Aristophanes for publicly exhibiting Socrates on the
stage, and making him speak and act in a manner most
inconsistent with his known character, is not surprising; but
as the accusation urged by some against the poet, of being
instrumental to Socrates's death, has been substantially re-
futed by many critics, so the present editor has very judi-
ciously observed, with regard to the other part of the charge,
that Socrates is not so much the object of ridicule in the
LIFE OF RICHARD PORSON.
[CH. Y.
comedy of the Clouds' as the philosophers in general, who,
of whatever benefit the lessons and example of Socrates
himself might be to the state, were, from their idle lives,
their minute, ridiculous, and sometimes impious disquisi-
tions, highly prejudicial to their disciples, and, by conse-
quence, to the public. If, says Mr. Brunck, Aristophanes
had really in the smallest degree contributed to the death
of Socrates, it is not credible that Plato would have intro-
duced them in his "Symposium,' sitting together at the same
table; it is not credible that he would have been so great an
admirer of him as to write an epigram in his praise, contain-
ing a most extravagant compliment. Missa igitur hcec facia-
mus. Of the indecency which abounds in Aristophanes,
unjustifiable as it certainly is, it may, however, be observed
that different ages differ extremely in their ideas of this
offence. Among the ancients plain speaking was the fashion ;
nor was the ceremonious delicacy introduced which has taught
men to abuse each other with the utmost politeness, and
express the most indecent ideas in the most modest lan-
guage. The ancients had little of this. They were accus-
tomed to call a spade a spade; to give everything its proper
name. There is another sort of indecency, which is in-
finitely more dangerous; which corrupts the heart without
offending the ear. I believe there is no man of sound judg-
ment who would not rather let his son read Aristophanes
than Congreve or Vanbrugh. In all Aristophanes's indecency
there is nothing that can allure, but much that must deter.
He never dresses up the most detestable vices in an amiable
light, but generally, by describing them in their native
colours, makes the reader disgusted with them. His abuse
of the most eminent citizens may be accounted for upon
similar principles. Besides, in a republic, freedom of speech
was deemed an essential privilege of a citizen. Demosthenes
treats his adversaries with such language as would, in our
days, be accounted scurrilous enough; but it passed in those
days without any notice or reprehension. The world is since
greatly altered for the better. We have, indeed, retained
the matter, but judiciously altered the manner.
1783.]
CHARACTER OF ARISTOPHANES.
43.
“ In the management of his plots too, it must be owned,
Aristophanes is sometimes faulty. It ought, however, to be
observed that his contemporary comic poets did not pique
themselves upon the artful management of the plot. Aris-
tophanes has, therefore, the usual failing of dramatic writers,
to introduce speeches, and even scenes, not much conducing
to the business of the drama. But if the only use of the
plot be, as the great Bayes has decided, to bring in good
things, our poet will stand totally clear on this head of the
charge, and the 'Knights 'may be mentioned as an honourable
exception even to this censure, as the design of the play, to
expose Cleon, and to turn him out of his place, is admirably
supported from beginning to end.
“ To sum up Aristophanes's character: if we consider his
just and severe ridicule of the Athenian foibles ; his detesta-
tion of the expensive and ruinous war in which Greece was
engaged; his pointed invectives against the factious and in-
terested demagogues, by whom the populace was deluded,
"who bawld for freedom in their senseless mood;' his con-
tempt of the useless and frivolous inquiries of the sophists;
his wit and versatility of style; the astonishing playfulness,
originality, and fertility of his imagination; the great har-
mony of versification whenever the subject required it, and
his most refined elegance of language, -- in spite of Dr.
Beattie's dictum, we shall look over his blemishes, and allow
that, with all his faults, he might be a very good citizen, and
was certainly an excellent poet."
I acc
Brunck excuses himself for having left some faulty
readings in the text “ on account of the great hurry,"
he says, “ in which he was obliged to write his notes."
“I am aware,” he observes, “ partem haud minimam
istarum fabularum à me descriptam iterum fuisse, dum
in Museo meo vel ludebat filius meus, quo animum meum
nihil magis advertit oblectatque, vel confabulabantur
boni quidam viri, qui quot fere diebus horisque matu-
44
[CH. IV.
LIFE OF RICHARD PORSON.
2.Ve
ann
tinis ad me visere solent." Upon this Porson exclaims,
“ Tantamne rem tam negligenter ? I think in such a
case I should have sent Master Brunck out of the
room. Pugh! says Mr. Brunck (or, I suppose, would
say, if he read Shakspeare), · He talks to me that never
had a son. But, to be serious, what right has any man
to publish a work of this kind in a hurry? Mr.
Brunck, I believe, is not in that unfortunate situation
which some learned men have experienced, to be ob-
liged to publish as fast as the avarice or tyranny of
booksellers required.”
This article, though of considerable length, was
written in one night and part of the following day. *
In 1784 he reviewed, in the same publication, an
edition of Hermesianax, an elegiac poet of whom only
fragments remain, by the Rev. Stephen Weston, Fellow
of Exeter College, Oxford. He gives Mr. Weston
some praise and not much blame, except for his Latin
metrical version, which, he says, one so little able to
rival Grotius should not have attempted. Whether
the review led to any personal communication between
Porson and Mr. Weston, I do not know; but Mr.
Weston is generally thought to have written the “Short
Account of Mr. Richard Porson,” published by Bald-
win in 1808, soon after Porson's death; a meagre pam-
phlet, filled with matters which the writer might have
learned without ever having seen Porson. This pro-
duction was re-issued in 1814, with an addition, of a
similar character, called “ Tepáxn, or Scraps from Por-
son's Rich Feast," which there seems to be better
* Kidd, Tracts, p. xxxix.
1784.]
HUNTINGFORD'S “MONOSTROPHICS.”
45
45
ground for attributing to Weston. Kidd was told that
the “Short Account” had proceeded from a dignitary
of the church. *
Shortly after, in the same Review, appeared a brief
notice of George Isaac Huntingford's “ Apology for his
Monostrophics." It is well known that Huntingford
published, when he had just ceased to be an under-
graduate, a volume of Greek verses under the title of
56 Monostrophica,” in which Dr. Charles Burney, in the
pages of the “ Monthly Review,” exposed several
metrical errors, one of which was the shortening of the
first syllable of xūdos. In reply to Burney's strictures
Huntingford printed his “Apology for the Mono-
strophics published in 1782,” to which he had the
hardihood to add “A Second Collection of Mono-
strophics.” In this “ Apology” he tries to defend his
use of xūdos, which Dawes, as Burney had observed, had
pronounced to have the first syllable always long, by
the authority of two Greek epigrammatists in the
Anthologia, who had shortened the second syllable in
Oouxvõions, saying, “ the mere ipse dixit of the pedantic
Dawes must give place to two poetical authorities.”
Porson was enraged at this contemptuous mention of
Dawes, whom he held in high esteem, and resolved not
to spare Mr. Huntingford, whose second “Monostro-
phics ” he perceived to be as vulnerable as his first.
He makes Mr. Huntingford a present of a third
example of Bouxŭdions from the same source, and
then says:-
“But wherever the word kūdos, or its derivatives, occur
in ancient Greek poetry (and they occur very frequently),
* Kidd, Tracts, p. lxvi.
46
[CH. IV.
LIFE OF RICHARD PORSON.
they have the v invariably long. In what licences three
epigrammatists, who wrote long after the purity and perfec-
tion of the Greek language was entirely lost, may indulge
themselves, is of no consequence; and, as for Thomas Scholas-
ticus, his taste may be guessed from his joining Thucydides
and Demosthenes in the same encomium with Aristides, a
decision almost as judicious as would be that critic's who
should rank Valckenaer and Dawes in the same class with
Barnes and Pauw," (as Huntingford had done in the preface
to his “ Apology.") - If Mr. Huntingford believes," continues
Porson, “ that every licence which the later epigrammatists
take may be allowed in a modern poet, he will find it diffi-
cult to commit any errors in quantity, as there is scarcely a
violation of metre which may not be defended by the example
of one or other of these poetasters. When an imitator of
the ancients unites in his own compositions all the different
dialects and metres which the Greek language admitted
through the space of a thousand years, it is not easy to
decide what system of prosody or style he may have formed
for his own use. What would Mr. Huntingford think of a
foreigner who, by way of writing English monostrophics,
should studiously collect and mingle the phraseology, diction,
and prosody of Chaucer, Shakspeare, Milton, and Pope, et
tum mirificè speraret se esse locutum? In my judgment,
therefore, Dawes's observation has not been materially hurt
by what Mr. Huntingford has advanced. Dawes does not
say that there is no example to be found of the licence
that Mr. Huntingford defends, but that whoever takes such
a licence is ignorant of quantity; as ignorant, I may add, as
he would be who should make étapau (New Monostroph. p.
20) an anapæst, YUTTOV (p. 30), or yuxos (p. 36) an iambus,
or ei ou (p. 38) a spondee. Part of Mr. Huntingford's civility
to Dawes has been already quoted. The paragraph con-
cludes with saying that he is positive, hasty, and wrong, in
more passages than in one. Without entering on a long
defence of Dawes, I shall venture to urge one plea in his
favour. He wrote, in his youth, some Greek verses full of
mistakes in syntax and dialect, though faultless, I believe, in
TO
WULUI
1785.]
MODERN GREEK AND LATIN VERSE.
point of metre. But afterwards, becoming sensible of his
error, he quitted what he esteemed so idle and unprofitable
a study, and chose rather to read good Greek than to write
bad. An example of candour and prudence well worthy to
be imitated !”
.
“If the character of Dawes as a critic," says Mr.
Kidd *, “had been treated with due respect, this article
would not have been thought of.” “Porson,” he adds,
“considered the making of Greek verses as wholesome
exercise ; it requires extensive reading and a retentive
memory, and produces a facility in the application of
those nice discriminations of style adopted by the
Homeric, tragic, and comic poets, which have been
pointed out by master-artists ;" but he “ did not en-
courage the publication of such attempts ;” since “ all
that is good in the modern composition of ancient Greek
is good for nothing; for, unless such composition be
a cento, it can never certainly be correct: and if it be
a cento, where is its value ?"
For modern Latin verses, too, as well as Greek,
Porson, according to Mr. Maltby, always expressed
contempt. When the first portion of the "Musæ Eton-
enses” was published, he exclaimed that it was “trash,
fit only to be put behind the fire." of In passing this
judgment he regarded it with the eye of a utilitarian,
as adding nothing to the stock of human knowledge,
but presenting only well-known thoughts in varieties of
old phraseology.
In 1785, nothing is recorded as having proceeded
from his pen but the following jeu d'esprit on an
* Tracts, p. xli.
+ Rogers's Table Talk, "Porsoniana,” p. 236.
48
[Cm. IV.
LIFE OF RICHARD PORSON.
animal that was attracting much attention at the
time.
THE LEARNED PIG.
This gentleman, professing himself to be extremely learned,
will have no objection to find his merits set forth in a Greek
quotation :-
Πρης οδ' εισιδέειν και μείλιχος, ουδέ τι χοίροις
"Αλλοισι προσέoικε νόος δε οι ήύτε φωτός
Αίσιμος αμφιθέει, μούνης δ' επιδεύεται αυδής,
which, no manner of doubt, he will immediately translate
for the benefit of the dilettanti who visit him.
But, as the pig's Greek might possibly want rubbing
up, from his having kept company so long with ladies,
Porson gives in a note the following translation, which
he attributes to the chien savant :
A gentle pig this same, a pig of parts,
And learn'd as F.R.S. or graduate in arts;
His ancestors, 'tis true, could only squeak,
But this has been at school, and in a month will speak.
“ The well-earned admiration this pig meets with from a
sensible and discerning public,” proceeds Porson, “puts one
in mind of a pleasant story told by Lucian at the beginning
of the first Prometheus. One of the Ptolemies was, it seems,
very desirous of gratifying the Egyptians with the sight of
something new; for this purpose he introduced into the
public games he was exhibiting, a black camel from Bactria,
splendidly caparisoned, and a man half black and half white;
but, far from giving the monsters the applause they deserved,
the Egyptians, who, as our sneering author says, were a
people who did not like things because they were new and
Uncommon, but rather delighted in fitness and propriety,
were frightened at the camel, and fairly bissed the man.
The consequence of this uncourteous reception was, that the
camel (who was a camel of spirit, and very worthy to wear a
1787.]
LETTERS ON HAWKINS'S JOHNSON.
49
bridle from the stable of Cambyses, as we are told she did)
died of grief. The man's fate was, if possible, harder; for
he was given to an opera singer, who had sung well at a
great supper, at which Theocritus and the members of the
tragic Pleiades were present."
In 1786, he published, in “ Maty's Review," some
letters of Le Clerc and Bentley, transcribed from the
manuscripts in the library of Dr. Askew. He appended
a few notes.
In the same year, to oblige Nicholson the Cambridge
bookseller, he added some notes to an edition of Hut-
chinson’s Xenophon's Anabasis, which was then about
to be published. In a short note prefixed, he tells the
reader that whoever will consult the manuscripts and old
editions, may find plenty of various readings to improve
the text of Hutchinson, who consulted but one manu-
script, and that not of the highest character. What has
since been done in this way by Kühner leaves little to
be desired.
In 1787 appeared Sir John Hawkins's “Life of
Johnson ;” and Porson, disgusted with the tone of
vanity and pretension pervading the book, addressed
to the “Gentleman's Magazine," in August and the
two following months of that year, three epistles of
ironical panegyric on it, in which he exposes, with
great truth and pleasantry, Sir John's blunders, igno-
rance, and folly. These letters are, indeed, the finest
specimens of Porson's satirical humour that ever ap-
peared. He commences thus:
“ MR. URBAN,
“Have you read that divine book, the Life of
Samuel Johnson, LL.D., by Sir John Hawkins Knt.'? Have
LIFE OF RICHARD PORSON.
[Cu. IV.
SY
UU
you done anything but read it since it was first published ?
For my own part, I scruple not to declare that I could not
rest till I had read it quite through, notes, digressions, index
and all; then I could not rest till I had gone over it a second
time. I begin to think that increase of appetite grows by
what it feeds on; for I have been reading it ever since. I
am now in the midst of the sixteenth perusal ; and still I
discover new beauties. I can think of nothing else; I can
talk of nothing else. In short, my mind is become tumid,
and longs to be delivered of those many and great concep-
tions with which it has laboured since I have been through
a course of this most perfect exemplar of biography. The
compass of learning, the extent and accuracy of information,
the judicious criticisms, the moral reflections, the various
opinions, legal and political, to say nothing of that excess of
candour and charity that breathe throughout the work, make
together such a collection of sweets that the sense aches at
them. To crown all, the language is refined to a degree of
immaculate purity, and displays the whole force of turgid
eloquence. Johnson, to be sure, was thought to have a
knack at life-writing; but who, in his senses, would compare
him to our Knight? Sir Thomas Urquhart, in the account
of Crichton (which the Knight has given us, p. 304, because
it is so intimately connected with Johnson's life) honder-
sponders it pretty well; but even he must yield the palm.
Read Hawkins once, and you can read no more,
For all books else appear so mean, so poor,
Johnson's a dunce; but still persist to read,
And Hawkins will be all the books you need.
« Of the Knight's learning, which some profane critics have
been hardy enough to question, no Zoilus will dare to doubt:
in future, when he learns from the Life of Johnson,' p. 4,
that struma signifies the king's evil; and, from a long Latin
note, that other people have been afflicted with it besides
the doctor. But the passages quoted from Latin authors
are numerous, though, it must be owned, very happily
1787.]
SIR JOHN HAWKINS'S CONCEIT.
51
applied ; p. 19, from Erasmus's Colloquies,' to prove that
dutiful children wait upon their parents ; p. 312, from Arch-
bishop Peccham; p. 347, a new quotation from Ovid; p. 470,
we are informed, to our unspeakable comfort, that to appose
means to put questions; and this is cleared up beyond a
doubt by seven lines from Ingulphus. . . . . Besides
these damning proofs, the work abounds in such flowers as
these: Temp. Car. I. Temp. Car. II. Dictamen. Verbu-
tin et literatin. Sui generis. Notanda. Vide supra in
Not. Ex relatione Peter Flood. Excemplars. Quoad the
person. Evidentia rei. Ex cathedrî. Testamentary dis-
positions in extremis. Inops consilii. I should be glad,
after this, to see the pretch that will dispute Sir John's
Latin. As for his Greek, the proofs are not indeed so many,
but equally strong;
And when one's proofs are aptly chosen,
Three are as valid as three dozen.
p. 318, 562, myops, or near-sighted persons. Seized with a
paralysis; p. 461, Núš ydp špxetai. The meaning is, says Sir
John, for the right cometh. And so it is, Mr. Urban."
1
Hawkins gives a description of a watch which John-
son bought for seventeen guineas. Porson affects to
find the history of the watch broken off abruptly, and
to have accidentally picked up a leaf which appears to
have originally filled the chasm of which every reader
must be sensible.
Fragment.
.... “And here, touching this watch, already by me
mentioned, I insert a notable instance of the craft and selfish-
ness of the Doctor's negro servant. A few days after that
whereon Dr. Johnson died, this artful fellow came to me, and
surrendered the watch, saying, at the same time, that his
master had delivered it to him a day or two before his de-
mise, with such demeanour and gestures, that he did verily
I 2
52
[Ca. IV.
LIFE OF RICHARD PORSON.
believe that it was his intention that he, namely Frank, should,
keep the same. Myself knowing that no sort of credit was
due to a black domestic and favourite servant, and withal
considering that the wearing thereof would be more proper
for myself, and that I had got nothing by my trust of
executor save sundry old books, and coach hire for journeys
during the discharge of the said office; and further reflecting
on what I have occasion elsewhere to mention, viz., that
since the abolishing general warrants, temp. Geo. III., no
good articles in this branch can be had any longer in
England, I took the watch from him, intending to have it
appraised by my own jeweller, a very honest and expert
artificer, and, in so doing, to have bought it as cheap as I
could for myself, let it cost what it would. Upon my signify-
ing this my intention to Frank, the impudent negro said,
"he plainly saw there was no good intended for him,' and in
anger left me. He then posted to my colleagues, the other
executors; and there being in the people of this country a
general propensity to humanity, notwithstanding all my
exertions to counteract the same both in writing and other-
wise,--this being the case, I say, he had found means to pre-
possess them so entirely in his favour, that they snubbed me,
and insisted with me that I should make restitution. Finally,
though perhaps I should not have been amenable to any
known judicature by keeping the watch, I consented, being
compelled thereto, to let this worthless fellow retain that
testimony of his master's ill-directed benevolence in ex-
tremis." . .
This is an excellent imitation, with scarcely a tinge
of caricature, of Sir John's style. But all the three
letters are equally effective throughout. They were
written at the house of Dr. Burney of Greenwich, with
whom he had now become acquainted.
On the publications of Boswell, Mrs. Thrale, and Sir
John Hawkins, concerning Johnson, Porson wrote
these lines :
1789.]
HEYNE'S APPLICATION FOR BENTLEY'S MSS.
53
Lexiphanem fatis functum, quà femina, quà vir
Certant indignis dedecorare modis :
Hic quantum in Scotos fuerit testatus amorem
Enarrat, fatuos vendidit illa sales.
Fabellas, Eques, ede tuas, seu musice mavis,
Si famæ Herois vis superesse nihil.
Thus Englished, as we believe, by Beloe:
At Johnson's death both sexes join
His character to undermine,
Proclaim his courtesy to Scots,
And print his stupid anecdotes.
'Tis now thy turn, musician knight :
Publish, and damn his fame outright.*
In January 1789, he published a notice in the
“ Monthly Review” of the Rev. J. Robertson's “Dis-
sertation on the Parian Chronicle," defending it against
the suspicions which Robertson expressed of its authen-
ticity. He observes that though Mr. Robertson ap-
pears at first in the modest character of a doubter, he
at length assumes too much of the dogmatist, and that
the marble may very well be allowed to be genuine
till arguments more probable than his are brought
against it. He, however, praises Mr. Robertson's taste,
learning, and candour, and says that his book may be
read with much pleasure even by those who are adverse
to his notions.
In 1789, Professor Heyne, who was making pre-
parations for his edition of Homer, wrote to Cambridge
for the loan of such of Bentley's papers as contained
remarks on Homer. When the authorities came to
take this request into consideration, they felt desirous to
.
* Sexagenarian, vol. ii. p. 306.
I
3
54
[CH. IV.
LIFE OF RICHARD PORSON.
know, before they granted it, whether Porson was
disposed to make use of the papers, and commissioned
Professor Hailstone, it appears, to ascertain Porson's
inclinations regarding the matter. Porson replied to
Hailstone thus:
Eton, Nov. 1789.
“ DEAR HAILSTONE,
“I have received yours, and, after desiring you to
thank the Seniors for the honour they have done me, shall
answer you with all possible conciseness, that I have no
design of making any use of Bentley's papers respecting
Homer, and that, generally speaking, I think there will be
no harm in letting Professor Heyne have a copy of his notes
and emendations ; for that, I should imagine, to be more
proper than to let the manuscript travel so far. But there
is another question which perhaps ought to be asked, whe-
ther these notes, as being hasty and negligent, written prin-
cipally for private use, &c. &c., always answer to the known
character of their author, and whether for that reason they
ought to be published at all? I must confess myself unable
to solve this question, having only had a cursory and super-
ficial view of the papers, though I recollect approving very
much of some things in them. But as I make no doubt that
there are many of less or no value, if it should be thought
advisable to grant the Professor's request, it ought perhaps to
be made a condition that he should preserve and publish
nothing of Bentley's but what was agreeable to his known
abilities and worthy of his acumen. And this irresolute
resolution is all that I am able to resolve upon at present.
“R. PORSON.”
1789.]
DECLINES TO ENTER THE CHURCH.
55
CHAP. V.
PORSON RESOLVES NOT TO ENTER THE CHURCH.-- IN CONSEQUENCE IS
OBLIGED TO RESIGN HIS FELLOWSHIP. - MEETS WITH TRAVIS'S
“ LETTERS TO GIBBON ON I JOHN V. 7." — PORSON'S “ LETTERS TO
TRAVIS” IN THE “ GENTLEMAN'S MAGAZINE.” — VIEW OF THE CON-
TROVERSY.-EDITIONS OF THE NEW TESTAMENT BY ERASMUS, ROBERT
STEPHENS, BEZA, AND OTHERS.--LUTHER AND THE REFORMERS. HOW
PORSON'S THOUGHTS WERE TURNED TO THE SUBJECT.-TRAVIS'S SHOW
OF ARGUMENTS.-REPLIES TO THEM.—TERTULLIAN, CYPRIAN, JEROME.
- THE VULGATE. — JEROME'S * “ PROLOGUE TO THE CANONICAL
EPISTLES.” — LAURENTIUS VALLA'S MANUSCRIPTS.--MODERN VERSIONS.
-ORIGIN OF THE TEXT; PROBABLY FROM ST. AUGUSTINE.-PORSON'S
CONCLUSION.- GENERAL CHARACTER OF THE STYLE OF THE LETTERS.
PORSON'S fellowship was held under the obligation of
resigning it at the end of ten years, unless he should
enter into Orders. He in consequence devoted himself,
according to his biographer in the “ Gentleman's Maga-
zine,” to a large course of theological reading, that he
might ascertain whether he could, with satisfaction to
himself, subscribe to the Articles of the Church. He
did not come to a determination on the subject, we are
told, without many painful days and months of study.
“ His heart and mind,” says the writer, “were deeply
penetrated by the purest sentiments of religion; and it
was a memorable and most estimable feature of his
character, that in no moment the most unguarded, in
that ardour of discussion which alone crew him into
indulgence, was he ever known to utter a single ex-
pression of discontent at the Establishment, of derision
E
4
56
[Ch. V.
LIFE OF RICHARD PORSON.
SULT
at those who thought differently from himself, much
less of profanation or impiety." But the result of his
reading was, that he resolved not to go into the Church.
He therefore, “ as early as 1788, made up his mind to
surrender his fellowship, though, with an enfeebled con-
stitution, he had nothing to depend upon but acquire-
ments that are very unprofitable to their owner.”
In speaking to Mr. Maltby of his theological studies,
“I found,” said he, “that I should require about fifty
years' reading to make myself thoroughly acquainted
with divinity,—to satisfy my mind on all points_and
therefore I gave it up. There are fellows who go into
a pulpit assuming everything, and knowing nothing;
but I would not do so."* If Porson had entered a
pulpit, his audience would at least have heard from him
sense of some kind, not visionary conceitedness, such as
proceeded from his schoolfellow, Simeon. But how, if
he had taken charge of a parish, he would have been
regarded by his parishioners, may be doubtful, for, as
the shepherd told Don Quixote, “ that clergyman must
be over and above good, who obliges his parishioners to
speak well of him, especially in country towns.”
But to resign a Trinity fellowship, from difficulties
as to creed, at a time when most of the clergy had
laxer notions in regard to doctrines than they appear
to have at present, and had certainly less show of
strictness in their lives, manifested great conscientious-
ness and honesty.
Among the volumes with which he met in the course
of his theological reading was that of Archdeacon
an)
* Rogers's Table Talk, “Porsoniana," p. 309.
1789.]
TRAVIS'S “ LETTERS TO GIBBON."
57
Travis's “ Letters to Gibbon” on the disputed text of
1 John v. 7 ; a work which he determined to assail.
The genuineness of this text had ceased to be main-
tained among scholars, except by a very few; and
Gibbon had observed, in a note on the third volume of
his “ History," that “the three witnesses have been
established in our Greek Testaments by the prudence
of Erasmus, the honest bigotry of the Complutensian
editors, the typographical fraud or error of Robert
Stephens in the placing a crotchet, and the deliberate
falsehood or strange misrepresentation of Theodore
Beza.” This dictum of Gibbon Mr. Travis took upon
himself to overthrow, and in consequence addressed to
the historian those five Letters which appear to the
unexamining reader to present many satisfactory argu-
ments, but which, when subjected to the critical per-
spicuity of a Porson, are found to contain little of
solidity beneath their speciousness.
Porson's strictures appeared in the form of Letters in
the “Gentleman's Magazine,” in 1788 and 1789, and
the whole was published in a volume by Egerton,
whom Beloe calls “ the black-letter bookseller,” in 1790.
It is not our purpose to weary our readers with a
recapitulation of all the arguments that have been
made on every point in this controversy, but it is
hardly fitting to write a Life of Porson without at-
tempting to show what he had to overthrow in the
contest, and how he made his attacks.
Before entering upon the summary that follows, it
will be better for the reader to peruse the beginning of
the fifth chapter of St. John's first epistle, with the
omission of the seventh verse and the words in earth”
58
[Ca. V..
LIFE OF RICHARD PORSON.
in the eighth, and he will see that the sense and scope
of the passage are quite complete without those inser-
tions. The question respecting their genuineness is
merely a question of criticism; the Christian religion
will stand equally sure, whatever be the opinion of
Christians concerning them.
Erasmus, in 1516, published the “Editio Princeps ”
of the Greek Testament from Greek manuscripts. But
as the five Greek manuscripts which he consulted did
not contain 1 John v. 7, he omitted the verse. For this
omission he was attacked by the Papists, and after-
wards by some of the Protestants, who supposed that,
as it was in their Latin copies, it was also in the Greek. ·
He was importuned to insert it in the second edition,
which appeared in 1519, but refused: “I give you,”
said he, “a Greek Testament; I cannot print the First
Epistle of Saint John differently from what I find it in
the Greek; but if you, on examining your manuscripts,
show me one that has the verse, I will insert it.”
advocates of the verse sought for a long time in vain ;
but at length it was announced that a manuscript con-
taining it had been found in England. A transcript of
it having been forwarded to him, he adhered to his
word, and inserted it, though with a remark that he
suspected interpolation from the Latin, in his third
edition in 1522. Where this manuscript was, the
researches of later days were long unable to discover,
but it was at last found, after a “profound sleep,” as
Porson says, “ of two centuries,” in the library of
Trinity College, Dublin.
In the same year, 1522, though bearing the date of
1514, was published the Complutensian edition of the
1789.]
6 LETTERS TO TRAVIS.”
59
US
ve.
Greek Testament, in which the verse was given. Stu-
nica, or Astuniga, a learned Spaniard, one of the Com-
plutensian editors, fell into controversy with Erasmus
about his suspicions, which he still continued to express,
of the genuineness of the verse, and Erasmus said, as
he had said before, “ Produce your manuscripts con-
taining it;" but the Complutensian editors could not
allege that it was in any of their manuscripts, and could
indeed offer nothing in its support but the Latin
Vulgate and the tradition of the Church.
In this dispute, Luther, with many other promoters
of the Reformation, took the side of Erasmus. Luther,
in his translation of the New Testament, omitted the
verse; and in his preface to the last edition, published
in 1546, earnestly desired that no alterations should be
made in his version. His request, however, has not been
regarded, for in the German Bibles of the present day,
the text of which is still called Luther's, the verse ap-
pears in exactly the same form as in our English Bibles.
Colinæus, in his edition of 1534, omitted the verse,
on the authority of manuscripts.
In 1546, 1549, and 1550, Robert Stephens published
three editions of the Greek Testament, the text of
which was formed, as he represents, from a collation of
sixteen exemplaria ; the first being the edition of Com-
plutum, which, he says, as its text was settled by the
most ancient manuscripts, may well be allowed the
authority of a manuscript; the second, a very old
manuscript in Italy, which had been collated for him
by some friends; eight others, which he had borrowed
from the French king's library; and the remaining
six, quce undique corrogare licuit, such as he could
60
[Cu. V.
LIFE OF RICHARD PORSON.
ve
ANN
anywhere procure. In the last edition, which is of
a larger form than either of the two preceding, he
noted deficiencies in manuscripts by an obelus and
a semicircle, the obelus being prefixed, and the semi-
circle subjoined, to any word or passage that is
wanting in any manuscript or manuscripts of which the
designation is given in the margin. In the seventh
verse of the fifth chapter of St. John's first epistle, the
words ĉy tô oupavcổ were thus marked as absent from
seven manuscripts, giving the reader to understand
that the rest of the verse was found entire in those and
all the other manuscripts.
This seems to have been understood by Beza, who,
in a note on the verse in his edition of the Greek
Testament published in 1556, says that it appears the
verse ought to be retained, because of its satisfactory
correspondence with the eighth verse. “It is not
indeed acknowledged,” he observes, “by the Syriac
version, or by the old Latin interpreter, or by Nazianzen
in his fifth oration on Theology, or by Athanasius, or
by Didymus, or by Chrysostom, or by Hilarius, or by
Cyril, or by Augustin, or by Bede; but it was recog-
nised by St. Jerome, and by Erasmus from a British
manuscript, and it is found in the Complutensian
edition and in some of the old copies (libris) of Ste-
phens.” “Not that all copies represent it alike," he
adds, “ for the British manuscript reads rathp, rózos,
Hai TtyEŪud, without any articles. But in our copies
the articles are inserted; (In nostris verò leguntur
articuli ;) and the epithet holy is added to the word
spirit, to distinguish it from the spirit mentioned in the
following verse, the spirit which is on earth.” What
copies those were that he called “ours," the reader is
1789.]
VIEW OF THE CONTROVERSY
61
left in doubt; Travis says that they were Stephens's
were, they were not in Beza's possession, or at least all of
them, when he published his Greek Testament, for Ste-
phens had sent back, as early as 1552*, the eight manu-
scripts which he had borrowed from the King's Library.
In 1670 Christopher Sandius, a Socinian of Prussia,
published a denial of the genuineness of the verse; and
soon afterwards M. Simon, in his “ Critical History of
the New Testament,” took the same side. About the
year 1700, Sir Isaac Newton wrote a dissertation on the
verse, “ in which," says Porson, “he collected, arranged,
and strengthened Simon's arguments, and gave a clear,
exact, and comprehensive view of the whole question.
This dissertation, which was not published till 1754,
and then imperfectly, has been lately restored,” he adds,
“ by Dr. Horsley in the last edition of Newton's works
from an original manuscript.” Sir Isaac's disquisition,
indeed, for lucidity and calm strength of argument,
deserves the highest praise that can be bestowed upon it.
Next appeared Mill's edition of the Greek Testament,
who, after producing far more evidence against the
verse than in its favour, chose nevertheless to patronise
it. About the same time appeared a dissertation from
Abbé L. Roger, Dean of Bourges, who maintained the
authenticity of the verse, but acknowledged, with M.
Simon, that the semicircle in Stephens's edition, which
follows êv to oupavợ in the seventh verse, ought to have
been placed after šv tý zin in the eighth.
Next came upon the stage Emlyn, an English dissen-
ter, author of a “Full Enquiry," unfavourable to the
* Porson, Letters, p. 76.
62
[C. V.
LIFE OF RICHARD PORSON.
Tror 1
I,
V
vèrse, and Martin, pastor of the French church at the
Hague, who maintained its genuineness against Emlyn.
Emlyn published an “Answer” and a “ Reply,” but
Martin retorted with reiterated assertions that Stephens's
semicircle was in the right place, since Stephens was a
printer of such accuracy, that he could neither have
committed himself, nor have allowed any of his sub-
ordinates to commit, a single error in a work of such
importance.
In 1734 appeared the edition of Bengelius, who, in
his note on the verse, admits that it is found in no
genuine manuscript, and supposes that the Compluten-
sian editors took it from the Latin version. Yet he
does not admit that the verse is spurious, but conceives,
on what ground it is difficult to discover, that the.
Fathers of the Church thought the verse of so sublime
and mysterious a character as to require to be with-
drawn, by the secret discipline of the Church, from
the copies of the Scriptures in public use, and that thus
it was gradually lost.
Wetstein and Griesbach, in their editions, gave sum-
maries of the arguments on both sides; and Griesbach
was decidedly adverse to the genuineness of the verse.
On the whole the opinions against it greatly predomi-
nated, when Gibbon was considered to have expressed,
in a few words, the judgment of the learned on the sub-
ject, in the passage which we have quoted.
“I had read," says Porson, “though without examining
every minute particle of their reasoning, Mill, Wetstein, and
Newton, and I was fully satisfied of the spuriousness of the
verse from my general recollection of their arguments. But
I must thus far confess my obligations to Mr. Travis, that
1789.]
TRAVIS'S SHOW OF ARGUMENT.
63
the appearance of his book induced me to reconsider the
subject with a little more attention. In the course of this
inquiry, I found such astonishing instances of error, such
intrepid assertions contrary to fact, that I almost doubted
whether I were awake while I read them. But at last I dis-
covered that Mr. Travis was a stranger to all criticism, sacred
and profane; and that he had read scarcely anything even on
the subject of the contested verse, except Martin's publica-
tions. This discovery opened my eyes, and made me see why
Mr. Travis was, as Professor Michaelis rightly says, half a
century behindhand in his information."
Mr. Travis took Martin for his guide. He first
mentions many writers, of greater or less authority,
posterior to the fifth century, that cite or allude to the
verse, as Thomas Aquinas, Duns Scotus, Euthymius
Zygabenus in his “Panoplia Dogmatica," Walafrid
Strabo in his 6 Glossa Ordinaria,” and others whom it
is superfluous to name. He notices also that as early
as A. D. 484, the assembly of African bishops, convened
at Carthage by the Vandal King Hunneric, who was an
Arian, but who professed to offer his opponents an
opportunity of defending their tenets, alleged it in a
written vindication of their belief; and that the re-
visers of the Bible under the commission of Charle-
magne, the chief of whom was Alcuin, exhibited it in
their text. But his chief allegations in support of its
authenticity are that it is contained in the old Italic
version, or Itala vetus, and in that of St. Jerome,
published at the beginning of the fifth century; that
there is an allusion to it in St. Jerome's Prologue to
the Seven Canonical Epistles; that it is cited still
earlier, by Cyprian and Tertullian; and that it was
found in seven Greek manuscripts collected by Lauren-
64
[Ch. V.
LIFE OF RICIIARD PORSON.
l's
tius Valla, who flourished about a hundred years
before Erasmus
Let us consider first Mr. Travis's assertion that the
verse is contained in the old Italian version. This is an
affirmation without proof; for Mr. Travis admits, as he
must necessarily admit, that there is not a single manu-
script of the old Italian version known to be extant.
“Why, then," says Porson *, “must this version be
pressed into the service ? Because it is cited by the
writers who lived before Jerome. This version, there-
fore, ultimately resolves itself into the authority of
those writers.” And among those writers the only ones
that are cited in its favour are Tertullian and Cyprian.
To what do Tertullian's words amount? They are
these : “ He (the Paraclete) shall take (says the Son) of
mine (John xvi. 14), as I myself of the Father's. Thus
the connexion of the Father in the Son, and of the Son
in the Paraclete, makes three [Persons] cohering one
with the other, which three are one [being, unum], and
one [person, unus], as it is written, I and my Father are
one (John x. 30).”+
es
“ As often as I read this sentence,” adds Porson, “so often
am I astonished that the words tres unum sunt should ever
be urged as a quotation. On the contrary, it appears to me
demonstrable, that, instead of being a quotation, they are
the words of Tertullian himself, and expressly distinguished
from the words of Scripture. Tertullian does not declare
them to be a quotation. ... If the three heavenly
witnesses were in his copy of the New Testament, why does
he never appeal to them in the rest of this treatise, particu-
larly in his twenty-second chapter, where he insists, at length,
* Porson, Letters, p. 137.
† Ibid., p. 240.
1789.]
CYPRIAN.
65
on the expression Ego et Pater unum sumus, which he
quotes five times in the whole book ? ... If Tertullian
had two texts before him, one asserting the unity of two of
the divine persons, the other the unity of all the three, he
must have been strangely forgetful, or something worse, to
reason so much upon his weaker authority, and so little upon
his stronger."*
US.
We then come to Cyprian. We find that he is re-
presented by Mr. Travis as alluding to the verse in two
of his writings, his treatise De Unitate Ecclesiæ, and his
Epistle to Jubaianus. It will be necessary to give the
passages from each in full, for they are so similar, as to
any deduction that can be formed from them, that, as
Porson says, if Cyprian does not appear to quote 1 John
v. 7, in one of them, neither will he appear to have
quoted him in the other.
"
LU
“ Dicit Dominus, Ego et Pater unum sumus. Et iterum
de Patre et Filio et Spiritu Sancto scriptum est, Et hi tres
unun sunt. Et quisquam credit hanc unitatem de divinâ
firmitate venientem, sacramentis cælestibus cohærentem,
scindi in ecclesiâ posse, et voluntatum collidentium divortio
separari? Hanc unitatem qui non tenet, Dei legem non tenet;
non tenet Patris et Filii fidem ; et veritatem non tenet ad salu-
tem.”-Cyprianus de Unitate Ecclesice, (edit. Oxon.) p. 109.
.“ Si peccatorum remissam consecutus est, et templum Dei
factus est, quæso cujus Dei? Si Creatoris, non potuit qui
in eum non credidit; si Christi, nec hujus fieri potest tem-
plum, qui negat Deum Christum ; si Spiritus Sancti, cùm
tres unum sunt, quomodo Spiritus Sanctus placatus esse ei
potest, qui aut Patris aut Filii inimicus est ?”– Cyprian.
Epist. ad Jubaianum, lxxiii. p. 203.
“I allow," says Porson, “that by saying of the Father,
Son, and Holy Ghost, it is written, And these (or the) three
11
* Porson, Letters, pp. 240m-242.
66
[CH. V.
LIFE OF RICHARD PORSON.
are one, Cyprian affirms the words which follow “it is
written' to be extant in Scripture. But, he asks, if the
entire seventh verse existed in Cyprian's copy as we have it
at present, why would he not quote it ? ”
OT
The old Italic version, therefore, being found desti-
tute of support from Tertullian and Cyprian, to whom
Mr. Travis trusted to uphold it, we proceed to consider
what dependance is to be placed on that of St. Jerome,
commonly called the Vulgate, which is supposed to be
a recension of the old Italic version, and in which, as
we have it at present, the text of the Three Heavenly
Witnesses is found. “In examining the manuscripts of
this recension, we have to ascertain," observes Porson,
“whether it appears scrupulously to follow the Greek,
especially in guarding against interpolations ; whether
all the manuscripts of it agree in retaining 1 John v. 7;
whether all that exhibit the seventh and eighth verses
exhibit them in the same condition, without any im-
portant alterations, omissions, or additions; and whether.
the oldest and best manuscripts have the verse from the
hand of the first writer without erasure, interlineations,
or marginal insertions; for, unless these questions be
answered in the affirmative, the main prop of the verse
is but ‘in a lame and tottering condition.”” “But who-
ever has inquired," he adds, “with the least share
of diligence, into the state of the Latin manuscripts,
knows that not one of these questions can be answered
in the affirmative.”
Porson then remarks on the variations in fifty manu-
scripts which he had the patience, he says, to consult,
thirty-two of which omit the final clause of the eighth
verse, one omits the final clause of the seventh, nine
1789.]
ALCUIN.
change the order of the verses, and almost all exhibit
redundancies, deficiencies, or consarcinations, such as
prove that there could have been no common standard
of certainty as to that part of the Epistle.
But there was a revision of the Vulgate, as has been
already observed, at the command of Charlemagne, and
under the direction of Alcuin, in whose Correctorium,
the result of the united labours of the commission, pre-
sented to Charlemagne, “the Testimony of the Three
Heavenly Witnesses,” says Mr. Travis, “is read without
the smallest impeachment of its authenticity.” This
Correctorium, he adds, “ was extant at Rome in the
time of Baronius,” who calls it “à treasure of inesti-
mable value.” Mr. Travis also supposes that Alcuin
and his assistants would not have attempted to settle
the text without referring to Greek manuscripts, the
oldest that they could procure, some of which, in
all probability, would be as old as the days of the
apostles.
“But,” retorts Porson, “you cannot prove that Alcuin
ever saw a Greek manuscript, much less that he collated
any for the use of his edition. The knowledge of Greek
was so scarce a commodity in those days that the contrary
supposition, which is expressly affirmed by Vallarsius, in
Bianchini's “Vindicia Veteris Vulgatæ,' p. 328, is much the
more probable of the two. It was labour and honour enough
for Alcuin to collate the copies of the Vulgate. . . . But you
will be delighted, Sir, I doubt not, to hear that this treasure
of inestimable value is still in being. Bianchini has given a
specimen of the character in his “ Evangeliarium Quadruplex,'
from which it appears, as far as I can judge, to be less
ancient than he would make it.”
Porson intimates that this copy of the Correctorium
68
[CH. V.
LIFE OF RICHARD PORSON.
may not have been Alcuin's, or written in his age, but a
subsequent transcript.
“ In these matters,” however, he proceeds,“ most editors are
naturally apt to be a little partial. When you say that 1 John
v. 7 is found in this famous manuscript without the smallest
impeachment of its authenticity, what do you mean by the
smallest impeachment? Would you have the writer of the
manuscript inform his readers, by a marginal note, that he
had inserted a spurious verse in his edition ? An editor
would hardly be mad enough to become such a felo de se.
“But I shall advance one step farther, and maintain that
this manuscript, upon which so much stress is laid, is at least
as much against the verse as in its favour. For how is the
verse read in the manuscript ? Not in the text, but in the
margin, are added these words: SICUT tres sunt qui testi-
monium dant in coelo, Pater, Verbum, et Spiritus Sanctus,
et tres unum sunt. The text has only these words, quonian
tres sunt qui testimonium dant, spiritus, aqua, et sanguis,
et tres ununi sunt. Between sunt and qui the same hand
has interlined in terra. (Vitali in Bianchini Evang. Quadr.
Part I. p. 567.) Now, Sir, this is so far from being a small
impeachment of your favourite verse, that it is a direct and
violent attack upon it; for it plainly says that the Latin
manuscripts varied ; and it more than hints that the older
surviving manuscripts were without the addition of the
heavenly witnesses. If, then, this manuscript was only a
copy of Alcuin's autograph, Alcuin might be unacquainted
with this verse, though without its aid he believed the doc-
trine which it is supposed to contain, as appears from his trea-
tise on the Trinity."*
11
Thus we see that there is little support for this verse
in Jerome's Vulgate. But there remains to be examined
what is called Jerome's Prologue to the Canonical Epis-
tles. “At the request or command of Pope Damasus,"
* Porson, Letters, p. 145, seqr.
1789.]
JEROME.
69.
says Porson, “ Jerome revised the Latin translation, and
corrected it upon the faith of the Greek manuscripts.
Did he therefore replace the three heavenly witnesses
at this revision or not? If he did, why did he not then
write his preface to inform the world of his recovered
reading? But, after Damasus was dead, Eustochium,
it seems, a young lady, at once devout, handsome, and
learned, requests him once more to revise the Catholic
Epistles, and correct them from the Greek. Jerome
undertakes the task, and, having completed it, advertises
her, in this Prologue, that other inaccurate translators had
omitted the testimony of the three heavenly witnesses,
the strongest proof of the Catholic faith. Such a story
as this carries its own condemnation upon its forehead.
It has therefore been given up by most of the defenders
of the verse; by Mill, by Abbé Roger, by Maffei, Val-
larsius, Vitali, Twells, Bengelius." Porson then proceeds
to observe that in many manuscripts of Jerome his name
is not prefixed to the Prologue; that he himself collated
thirty-four which omit the name, and six which omit
the Prologue altogether; that he found, indeed, among
all that he consulted, only eight that at once retained
IT
·
CU
consequently the Prologue, “ by being often absent,
and often anonymous, betrays marks of a late birth and
dishonourable extraction.” “The style alone,” too, he
adds, “would determine it not to be Jerome's," for
“ Jerome's language is always spirited and perspicuous,
couth jargon.” Nor is the reasoning and connexion
less unlike the manner of Jerome.“ The author does
not positively assert that he has restored the verse upon
F 3
70
[Ch. V.
LIFE OF RICHARD PORSON.
the authority of Greek manuscripts, but, in order to
possess the reader with that belief, envelopes his mean-
ing in a cloud of words. . . . If Jerome himself had
told us such a piece of news as is hinted in' the Pro-
logue, he would have spoken out and told it plainly,
whether it were true or false. If it were true, an af-
fected obscurity would be as needless as it was contrary
to his manner. If it were false, he would have affirmed
it no less boldly, and called God to witness no less so-
lemnly, than when he attested the miracle of his being
whipped by angels for reading profane authors.”
Jerome's Prologue being thus set aside, we have now
only to glance at one other alleged authority, the
manuscripts of Valla. Mr. Travis positively asserted
that 1 John v. 76 was found in all Valla's manuscripts,
and was commented upon by him.” The whole of
Valla's words on the first fifteen verses of the chapter
are, “ Et hi tres unum sunt. Græcè est, Et hi tres in unum
sunt, els tò &v siol."* These words Mr. Travis wished
to represent as a comment on the seventh verse, but
Porson asserts that the seventh verse is not thus read in
any manuscript, and that the note must consequently
be on the eighth verse ; as was indeed acknowledged by
Martin, who “ only argues that Valla had the seventh
verse in his Greek copies, because Valla is quite silent.”
If Valla, asks Porson, had seven manuscripts containing
the verse, how is it that none of these manuscripts
have appeared since Valla's time? “ All the rest of the
Greek manuscripts, which, if I have counted right,
* Porson, p. 25; Vindication of Porson, p. 109.
† Porson, Letters, p. 27.
1789.]
THE DUBLIN MANUSCRIPT.
71
amount to ninety-seven ancient and modern, oriental
and occidental, good, bad, and indifferent, do with one
consent wholly omit the seventh verse, and the words &v
tñ rſ of the eighth. “ You have said, I know," continues
Porson, addressing Mr. Travis, « that the words šv
y seem to have been omitted in a few copies only;
but this is a little pious fraud, which is very excusable
when it tends to promote the cause of truth and the
glory of God. If you think this charge of fraud too
severe, I shall be very happy to seize the slightest
probabilities that may acquit you of so odious an
imputation, and shall acquiesce in the milder accusation
of shameful and enormous ignorance. But be this
assertion of yours owing to fraud or to ignorance, I defy
you to specify a single Greek manuscript that omits the
seventh verse, and retains these words (év tñ yn 7."* The
truth is, that no Greek manuscript has been found
containing the seventh verse, except a Berlin forgery,
and the codex Britannicus which came to light in the
time of Erasmus, and which is the same that is now
called codex Dubliniensis. This manuscript, in Porson's
opinion, “ was probably written about the year 1520,
and interpolated in this place for the purpose of
deceiving Erasmus. This hypothesis,” he continues,
“ will explain how it so suddenly appeared when it was
wanted, and how it disappeared as suddenly after having
achieved the glorious exploit for which it was destined.”+
Similar opinions regarding the manuscript had been
expressed by Michaelis, Griesbach, Wetstein, Marsh,
Mill, and Bengelius. Dr. Adam Clarke, however, who
III
An
UU
VIN
* Porson, Letters, p. 26.
† Ibid. p. 117.
72
[Cu. V.
LIFE OF RICHARD PORSON.
examined the Dublin manuscript, thinks that it is as old
as the thirteenth century*, and, if so, it was not, as he
observes, written with an intention to deceive; certainly
not to deceive Erasmus. But is not a manuscript,
which differs in this passage from other manuscripts,
greatly to be suspected ? If corrupted, may not the cor-
ruption have been made to seem older than it really was?
As to the versions of the New Testament, Porson
employs two letters in showing that there is no authority'
for the genuineness of the verse in the Syriac, Coptic,
Arabic, Æthiopic, Armenian, or Slavonic versions. .
The last letter mentions the host of Greek and Latin
writers who might have quoted the verse if it had been
in their copies of St. John's Epistle, but in whose works
it is not found.
Porson's judgment, therefore, is, that “ the only
genuine words of 1 John v. 7, 8, are these ; "Oto
τρείς εισιν οι μαρτυρούντες, το πνεύμα, και το ύδωρ, και το
aſud, xai oi tpsīs eis tò év gior. This is the reading," he
states, “ of all the Greek manuscripts, above a hundred
and ten; of near thirty of the oldest Latin ; of the two
Syriac versions ; of the Coptic, Arabic, Æthiopic and
Slavonic.”
As to the introduction of the spurious words into the
text, Porson supposes that Tertullian, in imitation of the
phrase, I and my Father are one, had said of the three
Persons of the Trinity, which Three are One ; that
Cyprian, adopting this application of the words from
Tertullian, said boldly, of the Father, Son, and Holy
Ghost, it is written, And these Three are (ne; that in the
* Vindication of Porson, pp. 8, 9.
1789.]
AUGUSTIN.
73
course of two centuries, when this interpretation had
been expressly maintained by Augustin and others, a
marginal note of this sort, Sicut tres sunt qui testimonium
dant in Cælo, Pater, &c., crept into the text of a few
copies ; that such a copy was used by the author of
the Confession which Victor, the historian of the
Council convened by Hunneric, has preserved ; and
that such another was used by the historian of the
books de Trinitate.*
The origin of the text is also attributed to Augustin
by a writer in the “ Quarterly Review” for December
1825 :
6 Augustin, who died about the year 430, had taught the
African church with an authority only inferior to that of the
Apostles, that the Homoüsian doctrine of the Trinity was con-
tained in the words of St. John: Tres sunt qui testimonium
cant, spiritus, et aqua, et sanguis; et hi tres unum sunt. It
is not improbable that, as a security for the faith, this dogma
of the great teacher was recorded in the margins of the Latin
manuscripts of the New Testament; and thus it may have
glided into the text. At all events these African bishops, or
the compiler of the Confession, discovered what had escaped
all the acuteness and all the researches of preceding times.
To silence their opponents at once; to render their opinions
clearer than the day, as they expressed it, they adduced as the
words of St. John, the disputed verse. Perhaps this was not so
bold a measure as it may at first sight appear; the judges of
the correctness of the quotation were a set of fierce and
intolerant barbarians, so ignorant that in all probability not
an individual among them understood a word of Greek; and
few perhaps could read a Latin manuscript. Nescio Latine,
said the patriarch Cyrila himself; an assertion which, although
not literally true, is a sufficient indication that neither he nor
his assessors were great clerks.
CU
* Porson, Letters, p. 339.
† Vol. xxxiü. p. 84.
LIFE OF RICHARD PORSON.
[Ch. V.
“ Et ut adhuc luce clarius unius Divinitatis esse cum
Patria et Filio, Spiritum sanctum doceamus, Joannis Evan-
gelistæ testimonio comprobatur; ait namque, Tres sunt qui
testimoniun perhibent in coelo, Pater, Verbum, et Spiritus
Sanctus; et hi tres unum sunt. Such is the passage in the
African Confession, as it appears in the printed editions of
Victor Vitensis. It is easy to conceive the mode in which
these words may have been derived into the text from Au-
gustine's interpretation of the eighth verse; it is not easy to
conceive that they could have existed, as Scripture, unquoted,
till the close of the fifth century, and then be, all at once,
advanced as an argument to make everything luce clarius.
Perhaps it may be objected that Augustine enumerates Pater,
Filius, et Spiritus Sanctus, as the witnesses, while the Con-
fession mentions Pater, Verbum, et Spiritus Sanctus. This
apparent discrepancy may be removed. There are in the
Colbertine Library, at Paris, three manuscripts of Victor
Vitensis, which Mr. Butler, whose attention has been drawn
ות
IU
a
the thirteenth century reads Verbum in this place, and a
manuscript of the fifteenth century reads Filius. The oldest
of the three, a manuscript of the tenth century, reads Filius,
with this note in the margin, In Epistolâ Beati Joannis
ita legendum. It is probable, therefore, that Filius is the
true reading in the Confession, that is, the original reading,
and that Verbum was an after thought. That word would
the only apostle who has written distinctly of the Logos.
Moreover there is an expression in Augustine, which might
suggest the substitution of Verbum for Filius. To show that
by the Blood we are to understand the Son, he observes,
Nomine autem sanguinis Filium significatum accipiamus ;
quia Verbum caro factum est. On the whole, therefore, it
is probable that the verse originated in the interpretation of
St. Augustine. It seems to have existed for some time on the
margins of the Latin copies, in a kind of intermediate state,
as something better than a mere dictum of Augustine, and
yet not absolutely Scripture itself. By degrees it was received
C
1789.]
CONCLUSION (
CONCLUSION OF “ LETTERS TO TRAVIS.”
LETTERS
TRAVIS.
75
75
into the text, where it appears in by far the greater number
of Latin manuscripts now in our hands. When, to use
Newton's expression, 'the ignorant ages came on,' all further
inquiry was at an end, and when the verse was fairly estab-
lished in the text, it gained the protection of the Romish
church ; and thus, at the period of the Reformation, few
doubts were entertained on the subject. Such, in brief, is
its history from the Council of Hanneric to the time of
Erasmus.”
Porson's conclusion of his Letters is this:
“ In short, if this verse be really genuine, notwithstanding
its absence from all the visible Greek manuscripts except
two;" (that of Dublin, and the forged one found at Berlin ;]
“one of which awkwardly translates the verse from the Latin,
and the other transcribes it from a printed book;” the
Berlin manuscript coincides exactly with the Complutensiap
edition ;7 “notwithstanding its absence from all the versions
except the Vulgate, even from many of the best and oldest
manuscripts of the Vulgate; notwithstanding the deep and
dead silence of all the Greek writers down to the thirteenth,
and of most of the Latins down to the middle of the eighth
century; if, in spite of all these objections, it be still genuine,
no part of Scripture whatsoever can be proved either spurious
or genuine; and Satan has been permitted for many centuries
miraculously to banish the finest passage in the New Testa-
ment," as Martin calls it, “ from the eyes and memories of
almost all the Christian authors, translators, and transcri-
bers."
"At last, Sir, I see land. I have so clearly explained my
sentiments concerning the authority of the disputed verse,
and the merits of your book, in the progress of these Letters,
that it will be needless to add anything upon either of these
topics. As I was persuaded that Mr. Gibbon would never
condescend to answer you, I have been bold enough to trouble
you with my objections to your facts and arguments. The
proofs of the spuriousness of 1 John v. 7, that I have enu-
merated, are, in my opinion, inore than sufficient to convince
I CU
76
[Ca. V.
LIFE OF RICHARD PORSON.
any reasonable man. But whatever success I may have had
in the main question, there is another point which I have
proved to demonstration, that Mr. Travis is radically ignorant
of the subject which he has undertaken to demonstrate. You
may therefore reply, Sir, or not, as shall seem good to you.
If you think proper not to expose yourself again, which, to
speak as a friend, I should think your wisest plan, I shall
attribute your silence to a consciousness of your own weak-
ness. You will call it contempt of your adversary, and I
cannot deny the retaliation to be fair enough, considering
with how small respect I have treated an author, who has
vindicated the authenticity of that important passage
(1 John v. 7) in a superior way, so as to lecive no room for.
future doubt or cavil.” [These words are from a pamphlet
called “ An Apology for the Liturgy and Clergy of the Church
of England.”] “But if you reply, I shall not think myself
bound to continue the debate, unless both your matter and
style much excel your letters to Mr. Gibbon, and still more
that crambe recocta which you called a defence of Stephens
and Beza,” published in the “ Gentleman's Magazine,” for
March, 1790. “Such replies will carry their own refutation
and others it would be folly to expect to satisfy. I shall
therefore be perfectly silent, unless you can disprove the
charges that I have brought against you, of ignorance and
misrepresentation. In case of conviction, I dare not promise
authors and lovers), but I promise to try. If you confess the
charges, and yet maintain that the errors you have committed
are venial and consistent with a knowledge of the subject, I
shall excuse myself from the controversy, and consider you as
degraded from that rank of literature which entitles one writer
to challenge another.”
What is most displeasing in these Letters is the ex-
cessive virulence of their style. There appears in page
after page too much railing at Mr. Travis's ignorance
and presumption. The epistles would have been in-
1
1789.]
PORSON'S STYLE.
finitely more agreeable to the reader if Porson had
treated Travis as he treated Sir John Hawkins, or as
Bentley treated Boyle, exhibiting the ease and good
humour with which a higher mind can expose the
folly and weakness of a lower; an exercise of which
the finest specimen in our language is Johnson's critique
on Jonas Hanway's “Eight Days' Journey.” As it is,
the Letters were not improperly said, by Dr. Rennell,
to be “such a book as the devil would write, if he
could hold a pen."*
* Rogers's Table Talk, “ Porsoniana," p. 307.
LIFE OF RICHARD PORSON.
[CH. VI.
CHAP. VI.
CONTEMPORARY CRITICISM ON THE “LETTERS TO TRAVIS.” -- PANR,
BÜRNEY.— PORSON'S SARCASTIC MANNER or WRITING.—ANECDOTE OF
BISHOP WATSON. — PORSON LOSES A GREAT PATRONESS. — BISHOP
BURGESS'S ATTACKS ON PORSON'S BOOK AFTER HIS DEATH. — VINDI-
CATED BY DR. TURTON, BISHOP OF ELY. --- INSTANCES OF TRAVIS'S
IGNORANCE AND OBTUSENESS. —- PORSON'S CRITIQUE ON GIBBON. —
GIBBON'S OPINION OF THE “LETTERS." - PORSON'S INTERVIEW WITH
GIBBON.- REMARK OF FOX ON GIBBON'S QUOTATIONS.
man
1
TRAVIS'S attack upon Gibbon has been characterised as
violent. But it is mildness itself when compared with
Porson's attack upon Travis. He said that, facit indig-
natio versum, he was stimulated by indignation to over-
come his dislike of writing, and that “he could not
treat the subject in any other manner if he treated it
at all. To peruse such a mass of sophistry,” he ob-
served, “ and to write remarks upon it, without some-
times giving way to laughter, and sometimes to indig-
nation, was, to me at least, impossible.... I am
persuaded that every attentive reader, who believes in
right in the statement of my facts, and the tenor of my
argument, will allow that even harsher expressions
would in such a case be justified. Besides, I confess
I never much admired that mock politeness which
expresses a strong charge in a long-winded periphrasis
of half a dozen lines, when the complete sense might
be conveyed in as many words.”
* Letters to Travis, Preface, p. xxii.
1790.]
STYLE OF THE “ LETTERS TO TRAVIS.”
79
“ The Travisian examination,” wrote Burney to Parr,
“ is most excellent, and shows the clear acuteness of
Porson's mind in as strong a point of view as it ex-
hibits his wit and severity. But I feel little inclination
to mercy, when ignorance, aided by a desire of mis-
representation, is chastised.” *
“Travis,” said Parr, “ 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.”
One peculiarity in the style of these Letters is the
vein of irony and banter which everywhere pervades
them; the effect of which is such that readers, unless
they be thoroughly acquainted with the point under
consideration, are often in danger of being puzzled to
know whether Porson is in jest or in earnest. Even Dr.
Turton, afterwards his vindicator, who understood him
in general well enough, is utterly mystified and deluded
by the phrases which he uses concerning Gregory of
Nazianzum. He speaks of himself as “having been
always extremely fond of Gregory," and being desi-
rous “to bring off," on one occasion, “his favourite
Gregory with the least possible loss of honour; ”S ex-
pressions which led Dr. Turton, and many others,
seriously to believe that Porson had the highest esteem
and liking for Gregory. But the truth is, that all
these remarks are merely sarcastic allusions to a story
which, as Mr. Kidd says ll, was well known to every
for
* Parr's Works, vol. vii. p. 409.
† Bibliotheca Parriana, p. 601.
§ Ib. p. 272.
| Letters, p. 223.
| Tracts, p. lv.
us
80
[Cu. VI.
LIFE OF RICHARD PORSON.
.
DO
member of Cambridge University. What the story
was, Mr. Kidd does not tell us; but Barker* learned
from Parr that it was a story about Bishop Watson.
The Bishop, while he was divinity professor, happened,
as he was taking a ride a few days before he had to
deliver a Latin oration to the University, to meet with
a learned friend, who began to talk to him on the
subject of his intended speech, and told him that there
was a notable passage in Gregory Nazianzen, which he
might introduce with effect. “Is there ?” said Watson.
“But I never read a page of him.” “Well,” said the
other, “ I will send you the volume with the passage
marked in it.” This promise was performed, and
the professor, having got the passage by heart, pro-
nounced it ore rotundo in his oration, adding Hæc ex
Gregorio illo Nazianzeno, quem semper in deliciis
habui. Parr used to repeat this anecdote as an in-
stance of charlatanerie in one whom he pronounced a
man of some ability, but of little learning. Watson's
religious sincerity, it may be observed, has, notwith-
standing his “ Apology," come to be pretty generally
disbelieved. Southey said his conversation was such
as to prove that “the articles of his faith were not all
to be found among the nine and thirty, nor all the
nine and thirty to be found among his ;” † and still
stronger testimony to the nature of his belief may be
seen in De Quincey's “ Selections, Grave and Gay.” I
The Bishop seems, according to these authorities, to
have grown weary of professing the faith of which the
profession had made him a bishop.
* Barker's Parriana, vol. ii. p. 713.
f Letters by Warter, vol. i. p. 391.
I Vol. ii. p. 215.
1790.]
MRS. TURNER OFFENDED.
Another peculiarity in the style of the Letters is the
constant introduction of phrases from eminent English
authors, but especially from Shakspeare, with whom he
gave his readers credit for being as intimate as him-
self. As he remembered so much of what he read,
other men's expressions were perpetually rising in his
mind, and he could draw language from the pages of
others more readily than from his own thought. Kidd
has given references to several of his allusions, but
many of them still remain to be detected.
The publication of the book brought upon him a
great pecuniary loss. Mrs. Turner, who had so liberally
subscribed to the fund for sending him to college, and
who had still continued his friend, being a lady of
very pious disposition, was extremely desirous that he
should take orders, and was greatly distressed when
she heard of his decision rather to resign his fellowship
than to subscribe to the Thirty-nine Articles; but
when the “ Letters to Travis ” appeared, she was.
entirely alienated from him, for she thought that he
had treated a dignitary of the church with too little
reverence, and her attorney, through whose hands her
money passed, and who found his letters to Porson
sometimes slighted*, represented the work to her,
officiously if not malignantly, as a fierce assault upon
Christianity, and as intended to shake the foundations
of all evangelical religion. Possessed with these no-
tions, of which she was unable to see the falsehood,
Mrs. Turner was induced to alter her will, in which
SO
* Sexagenarian, vol. i. p. 222.
LIFE OF RICHARD PORSON.
[CH. VI.
she had assigned Porson a large sum of money, and to
bequeath him a legacy of only thirty pounds.*
Porson is said, however, to have always expressed
himself favourable to the doctrines of the Church of
England. “When a friend in the course of conversa-
tion,” says a writer in the Quarterly Review, “ asked
him what he thought of the evidence afforded by the
New Testament in favour of the Socinian doctrines, his ·
answer was short and decisive: 'If the New Testament
is to determine the question, and words have any mean-
ing, the Socinians are wrong.'” †
After Porson's death, some publications in defence of
Mr. Travis, and intended to invalidate what Porson had
established, appeared from the pen of Dr. Burgess, Bi-
shop of Salisbury, under the titles of " A Vindication of
1 John v. 7,” and “ A Letter to the Clergy of the Dio-
cese of St. David's," in which the Bishop insinuated
that Porson's sagacity of conjecture on the text of Greek
poets, and on Greek metres and idioms, were of little
use on the subject of The Three Heavenly Witnesses,
and that he had brought no objection to the passage
which had not been previously noticed by Newton,
Whiston, Evelyn, or Benson. But the merit of Porson,
when fairly stated, was that he triumphantly established
all the objections to the text, whether those of others
or his own, by exact critical research, and sound argu-
ment based upon it. His memory found an able
defender in Dr. Turton, the present Bishop of Ely, who
published, in 1827, an octavo volume entitled, “ A Vin-
Co
* Sexagenarian, vol. i. p. 210.
† Quart. Rev. vol. xxxiii. p. 99.
1790.]
BISHOP TURTON'S “VINDICATION."
83
dication of the Literary Character of the late Professor
Porson from the Animadversions of Dr. Burgess, Lord
Bishop of Salisbury, by Crito Cantabrigiensis," with the
motto, from the Ajax of Sophocles,
äv&pa d', où dikalov, ki dávol,
BláTTELV TÒV čolov, oud' tàv uloõv kupñs.
In this publication Dr. Turton exposes much unjust
treatment of Porson's arguments, in Dr. Burgess's para-
graphs, by misrepresentation or imperfect or unfair
quotation. Passages taken from the pages of Porson
are brought together or separated to suit Burgess's
purpose, and words or sentences are omitted that are
necessary to show Porson's sense. How well qualified
Mr. Travis was to defend the Three Heavenly Wit-
nesses, and how deserving of defence from Bishop Bur-
gess, is shown by Dr. Turton by one ludicrous example :
“ To the phrase óta újsīs oi axoroubńcauté's Mos šv
Tỹ To/YYEVENạ (Matthew xix. 28), Robert Stephens
annexed this note in the margin: pò TOū, ły tŷ Taniy-
yevería, diaotorové zouor rò y. 8. c. S. 16. And Mr.
Travis positively understood Stephens to affirm that these
manuscripts presented the words διαστολήν έχουσι as
part of the text!”* This blunder did not escape the
eye of Porson, though he has not noticed it in print;
for he mentions it in a letter to Mr. J. Pope, preserved
among his manuscripts in the library of Trinity College,
Cambridge.
Another absurdity may be worth notice. Martin, in
defending the spurious text, had, in speaking of St.
UN
* Travis's Letters to Gibbon, p. 225, 3rd ed. Vindication of
Porson, p. 338.
G 2
8+
[Cr. VI.
LIFE OF RICHARD PORSON.
Mark's Gospel in the Dublin manuscript, mistaken the
date of the Gospel for the date of the manuscript itself,
and had thus, as Wetstein expresses it, turned years into
centuries, and St. Mark into a transcriber; a blunder
which Travis, in his first edition, faithfully copied.
Becoming aware of his error, however, he expunged
Martin's words in his second edition, and said, in a note,
that he had omitted them because they may be applied
to the time when the Gospel was originally written; a
kind of half-retractation which showed at once his want
of candour and his want of perspicacity; for, if he pre-
tended to the name of critic, he ought, especially when
admonished, to have been able to see, and willing to
acknowledge, that Martin's words could refer to no
other time.
Porson sold the book to Egerton for thirty pounds,
and told Dr. Maltby that he was glad to find that he
had lost sixteen by the publication of it.* Why he was
glad at Egerton's loss, I do not know. Perhaps he
thought that the bookseller had made but a mean offer.
He also told Dr. Maltby that he was occupied two years
in the composition of the Letters; that he once thought,
of writing an appendix to them ; but that, on the whole,
he looked back with regret on the time which he had
devoted to the study of theology. According to Kidd f,
he wrote seven of the Letters to Travis at Eton, in a
fortnight, from memoranda, when he was on a visit to
Dr. Goodall.
In the preface appeared the famous character of
Gibbon's History and its style; a passage which, though
W
* Barker's Literary Anecdotes, vol. ii. p. 32.
† Tracts, p. lvi.
1790.]
GIBBON'S STYLE.
85
it has been reprinted more than once, may very well be
transcribed again.
“ An impartial judge, I think, must allow that Mr. Gibbon's
History is one of the ablest performances of its kind that has
ever appeared. His industry is indefatigable; his accuracy
scrupulous; his reading, which indeed is sometimes ostenta-
tiously displayed, immense; his attention always awake; his
memory retentive; his style emphatic and expressive; his
periods harmonious. His reflections are often just and pro-
found; he pleads eloquently for the rights of mankind, and
the duty of toleration; nor does his humanity ever slumber
except when women are ravished*, or the Christians per-
secuted.
“ Though his style is in general correct and elegant, he
sometimes draws out the thread of his verbosity finer than
the staple of his argument. In endeavouring to avoid
vulgar terms he too frequently dignifies trifles, and clothes
common thoughts in a splendid dress that would be rich
enough for the noblest ideas. In short, we are too often
reminded of that great man, Mr. Prig, the auctioneer, whose
manner was so inimitably fine that he had as much to say
upon a ribbon as a Raphael.
“Sometimes, in his anxiety to vary his phrase, he becomes
obscure; and, instead of calling his personages by their names,
defines them by their birth, alliance, office, or other circum-
stances of their history. Thus an honest gentleman is often
described by a circumlocution, lest the same word should be
twice repeated in the same page. Sometimes epithets are
added which the tenor of the sentence renders unnecessary.
Sometimes, in his attempts at elegance, he loses sight of
English, and sometimes of sense.
“A less pardonable fault is the rage for indecency which
pervades the whole work, but especially the last volumes.
And, to the honour of his consistency, this is the same man
who is so prudish that he dares not call Belisarius a cuckold,
* Chap. lvii. note 54.
† See the whole of chap. xvi.
| Love's Labour Lost.
$ Foote's “ Minor.”
G 3
86
[Cm. VI.
LIFE OF RICHARD PORSON.
DU
because it is too bad a word for a decent historian to use.
If the history were anonymous, I should guess that these dis-
graceful obscenities were written by some débauché, who,
having from age, or accident, or excess, survived the practice
of lust, still indulged himself in the luxury of speculation;
and exposed the impotent imbecility, after he had lost the
vigour of the passions.*
"But these few faults make no considerable abatement in
my general esteem. Notwithstanding all its particular defects,
I greatly admire the whole; as I should admire a beautiful
face in the author, though it were tarnished with a few
freckles; or as I should admire an elegant person and address,
though they were blemished with a little affectation.”
Notwithstanding the severity of this critique, Gibbon
spoke highly of the “ Letters.” He said, in his usual
studied style, that he considered them “as the most
acute and accurate piece of criticism since the days of
Bentley. Mr. Porson's strictures are founded in argu-
ment, enriched with learning, and enlivened with wit;
and his adversary neither deserves nor finds any quarter
at his hands." of With these sentiments, he sought an
interview with Porson, which was brought about, ac-
cording to Beloe, by means of Peter Elmsley. “Por-
son,” says Mr. Maltby ], "called upon the great historian,
who received him with all kindness and respect. In
the course of conversation, Gibbon said,
66 Mr. Porson, I feel truly indebted to you for the
Letters to Travis, though I must think that occasionally,
while praising me, you have mingled a little acid with
the sweet. If ever you should take the trouble to read
my History over again, I should be much obliged and
+ Gibbon's Miscell. vol. i. p. 159.
I Rogers's Table-Talk, “Porsoniana," p. 306.
* Junius.
1790.]
PORSON AND GIBBON.
87
honoured by any remarks which might suggest them-
selves to you.' Porson was highly flattered by Gibbon's
having requested this interview, and loved to talk of it.
He thought the Decline and Fall beyond all comparison
the greatest literary production of the eighteenth
century, and was in the habit of repeating long
passages from it. Yet I have heard him say that there
could not be a better exercise for a school-boy than to
turn a page of it into English.” No intimacy or corre-
spondence appears to have resulted from the interview.
Porson, as Beloe observes, was little disposed to pay
court even to the highest : and Gibbon, who then stood
high in literary fame, made no further advances to
Porson.
Porson complained, too, that Gibbon was not so
ready as he ought to have been to take advantage of
suggestions that were made for giving correctness to his
pages. “ A candid acknowledgment of error,” says he*,
“ does not seem to be Mr. Gibbon's shining virtue. He
promised, if I understood him rightly, that in a future
edition he would expunge the words of Armenia, or
make an equivalent alteration. A new edition has
appeared; but I have looked in vain to find a correction
of the passage. I am almost persuaded that the
misrepresentation of Gennadius was not wilful, but that
Mr. Gibbon, transcribing the Greek from the margin
of Petavius, wrote by mistake αιδούμαι for: αιδούνται.
This error has now been so long published that it is
scarcely possible to suppose him ignorant of the charge.
Tey
* Preface to Letters to Travis, p. xxxi.
† Gibbon's Vindication, p. 75. History, chap. xy. near note 178.
G 4
88
[CH. VI.
LIFE OF RICHARD PORSON.
He has had an opportunity of confessing and correcting
the mistake. Yet still it keeps its place in the octavo
edition.”
Charles Fox used to remark, that Gibbon had quoted
many books as authorities, of which he had read only
the preface. One instance of this which he produced
was a note in which “ Gibbon had quoted a passage as
being in the third book of a writer, whose work is
divided into two books only. Gibbon was led into this
error," he said, “ by the translator of the preface of the
book quoted, who, in transcribing the passage, had
made the same mistake.”*
* Kidd's Tracts, p. xlvi.
1790.]
NOTES ON TOUP.
89
CHAP. VII.
PORSON'S NOTES ON TOUP'S EMENDATIONS OF SUIDAS. -- HIS PREFACE
TO THAT PUBLICATION, SHOWING THE NATURE OF HIS CRITICISM. —
PORSON WITH PARR AT HATTON.--INSULTED BY DIRS. PARR.-PORSON'S
RESIGNATION OF HIS FELLOWSHIP. HIS DIALOGUE WITH POSTLE-
THWAITE, THE MASTER OF TRINITY COLLEGE.--HIS WANT OF MONEY,
AND RESOLUTE FRUGALITY. — A SUBSCRIPTION TO PURCHASE AN
ANNUITY FOR HIM.—PARTICULARS RESPECTING IT.--A LIST OF SOME
OF THE SUBSCRIBERS.
IN 1790 appeared from the Oxford press a reprint of
Toup's Emendationes in Suidam, a republication which
had been commenced or projected in 1787, when
Porson had offered to append to it some short annota-
tions of his own. The proposal being accepted, he
introduced them with a preface, which tells us his
reasons, not only for the purport of these animadversions,
but for the nature of his criticism in general. The
notes, which first gave the world full demonstration of
Porson's perspicacity in the elegant niceties of the
Greek language, and his intimate knowledge of the
dramatic poets and their metres, would have been
included by Kidd among his - Tracts and Criticisms,”
but that the sale of the Toup would probably thus
have been injured. The preface, which throws SO
much light on Porson's critical character and notions,
we subjoin in an English dress.
30
[C11. VII.
LIFE OF RICHARD PORSON.
“Having lately heard that Toup's ‘Emendations to Suidas'
would shortly issue from the Oxford press, I took the liberty
of acquainting the learned gentlemen, who had undertaken
the charge of editing them, that I had read that excellent
work with some considerable attention, and would make them
a present of some annotations, which I had written here and
there on the margin, if they should think them worthy of
appearing as an appendix to Toup's volumes. These annota-
tions, gentle reader, are in consequence set before you; and,
whatever may be thought of them, it is my earnest wish, not
to say hope, that the perusal of them may not be altogether
unprofitable to you.
“But there are two points on which I much desire to ask
your indulgence. The one is, my assumption of the cha-
racter of a censor, and my practice of blaming Toup oftener
in which Toup's emendations have been anticipated.
“ As to the first point, I have but spoken as I thought,
and as I felt obliged to speak; for I have not written with
juvenile presumption, nor with the view of gaining praise
by detracting from greater men than myself; but, to say the
truth, I have never admired the practice of those critics who
exclaim pulchre, bene, rectè, excellent, just, incontrovert-
ible,' at every second or third word. Had I not, indeed, had
the highest respect for Toup's abilities and learning, I should
his writings. But I consider it to be the part of an editor
or commentator to correct the errors and supply the defi-
ciencies of his author. I have hardly ever, therefore, ex-
pressed mere assent to Toup's remarks, except when it seemed
possible to support them by new arguments, or when they
seemed to have been unreasonably assailed by other critics.
“ As to the second point, I trust that no one will do me
such injustice as to think that whenever I notice Toup's
agreement with other writers, I wish to fix on him, even in
the slightest degree, a suspicion of plagiarism. When I see
that two writers express the same thought, I do not conse-
quently suppose that one must of necessity have borrowed
1790-1.]
PORSON AT HATTON.
from the other, but that the two, considering the subject
rightly and reasonably, and influenced by the force of truth,
have been led to the same conclusion; for all of us, says
Bentley, make many remarks without being aware that they
have been already made by others*; an observation of which
I request I may have the benefit, if I shall be found to have
said, in these annotations, anything that has been said
before.
“London, July 1, 1787."
The winter of 1790-1, Porson spent with Dr. Parr at
Hatton, and his habits and mode of life are thus
described by Dr. Johnstone, who was there some weeks
with him.
« Mr. Richard Porson remained at Hatton in the winter,
1790–1, collecting materials for future works, and enriching
his mind with the stores of Parr's library, and of his conver-
sation. He rose late, seldom walked out, and was employed
in the library till dinner, reading and taking notes from
books, but chiefly the latter. His notes were made in a
small distinct text, of the most exquisitely neat writing I
have ever beheld. He was very silent, and, except to Parr,
whom he often consulted, and to whose opinions he seemed
to defer, he seldom spoke a word. His manners in a morn-
ing, indeed, were rather sullen, and his countenance gloomy.
After dinner he began to relax, but was always under re-
straint with Parr and the ladies.
“ At night, when he could collect the young men of the
family together, and especially if Parr was absent from home,
he was in his glory. The charms of his society were then
irresistible. Many a midnight hour did I spend with him,
*listening with delight while he poured out torrents of various
literature, the best sentences of the best writers, and some-
letters of Richardson, whole scenes of Foote; favourite pieces
* Emendat. in Cic. Tusc. Quæst. iv. 21.
92
[CH. VII.
LIFE OF RICHARD PORSON.
from the periodical press, and, among them, I have heard
recited the “ Orgies of Bacchus.'
“ His abode in the house became at last so tiresome to
Mrs. Parr, that she insulted him in a manner which I shall
not record. From this time the visits of Porson were not
repeated at Hatton; and though there was no open breach of
friendship on his part, there was no continuance of kindness,
notwithstanding Dr. Parr's strenuous endeavours to secure
his comforts and independence.”*
UU
As Dr. Johnstone does not choose to describe Mrs.
Parr's insult, we may suppose that it was of a very
gross character. She may indeed have fancied that she
had reason for offering such an insult. But there are
women who imagine that they may say, without censure,
the most disagreeable things to any man, however great
or good, of whom they conceive a dislike, or wish to be
rid. As they are safe from personal chastisement, they
venture to utter all the bitterness that may arise in their
minds. Nothing is more disgraceful to the female sex
than these cowardly attacks on men, often of great
ability and merit, whom they know to be restrained by
good sense, and gentlemanly forbearance towards the
sex, from retaliation. No man can know, who has not
experienced, how much mischief may be produced
by the impertinent intrusions of a wife between her
husband and his friends. Mrs. Parr was a woman of
violent and overbearing temper, presumptuous and in-
considerate, and having little respect or kindness for
any human being.
Mr. Maltby believed that Porson's offence was, in the
words of Horace, Comminxit lectum potus, and that
WALLS.
* Parr's Works, vol. i. p. 379.
1791.]
INTERVIEW WITH POSTLETHWAITE.
93
10
11
Mrs. Parr, in consequence, made some allusion in his
hearing to the duties of college scouts.*
As Porson had resolved on not entering into orders,
it became necessary for him, in June 1791, to resign
his fellowship. The Master of Trinity College, at that
time, was Dr. Postlethwaite, probably the same gentle-
man that had assisted Lambert in examining him.
Postlethwaite, from some cause, was now ill disposed
towards him, and used his influence, it appears, to pre-
vent him from being elected to a lay fellowship, which
he wished to secure for John Heys, his nephew. At
this manifestation of injustice Porson was highly in-
dignant, and spoke of it with no small asperity.
Postlethwaite having occasion to come to London
this year, to attend the examinations at Westminster
School, Porson called upon him ; and the following
dialogue, which Mr. Maltby took down from Porson's
dictation, was held between them :-Porson. “I am
come, Sir, to inform you that my fellowship will be-
come vacant in a few weeks, in order that you may
appoint my successor.”-Postlethwaite. “ But, Mr. Por-
son, you do not mean to leave us?” — Porson. “ It is
not I who leave you, but you who dismiss me. You
have done me every injury in your power. But I am
not come to explain or expostulate.” — Postlethwaite.
“I did not know, Mr. Porson, that you were so re-
solved.”—Porson. “You could not conceive, Sir, that
I should have applied for a lay fellowship to the detri-
ment of some more scrupulous man, if it had been my
intention to take orders.”
* ft.
* Barker's Lit. Anecdotes, vol. ii. p. 14.
† Parr's Works, vol. vii. p. 414.
Rogers's Table-Talk, “ Porsoniana,” p. 312.
94
.
LIFE OF RICHARD PORSON.
TT
(CA. VIIIt has been supposed that the words, “ in order that
you may appoint my successor,” could not have been
used by Porson. If they were used, they must have
been uttered sarcastically, in allusion to the appoint-
ment of Heys by Postlethwaite's means.
A letter from Postlethwaite to Porson, apologising
for giving the lay fellowship to another, had contained
a recommendation that he should take orders ; an
admonition which Porson, perhaps not unjustly, con-
sidered as an insult.* Kidd said that Postlethwaite's ob-
ject was to compel Porson to enter the Church, thinking
that he would be compliant enough to do so rather
than resign his fellowship, if a lay fellowship were
refused him.t
According to Beloe, Porson spent with him the
evening of the day on which his fellowship expired,
when he expressed great anguish, even to shedding tears,
at the gloom of his prospects, and the difficulty of
deciding how he should shape his course of life. AC-
cording to Kidd, though the occasion was “heart-
rending,” he observed, with his usual good humour
(for nothing could depress him), that he found him-
self a gentleman in London with sixpence in his
pocket.
This, after a while, must have become literally true,
for he lived, he said, at this period of his life for six
weeks on a guinea, which, at sixpence a day, would
leave him with sixpence only on the last day. He
used to dine on milk, or bread and cheese and porter. I
Other accounts say that he lived only three weeks on
♡
* Sexagenarian, vol. i. p. 215.
† Barker's Lit. Anecdotes, vol. ii. p. 9.
Ibid. p. 11.
1792.]
SUBSCRIPTION TO PURCHASE ANNUITY.
95
the guinea. But he told his nephew, Mr. Hawes, that
he lived at least a month on the sum, taking only two
extremely frugal meals in the twenty-four hours.
During this period of forced economy he would
sometimes walk, as he was possessed of great bodily
strength, the whole distance between Cambridge and
London in a day.
About this time a subscription was proposed, by
certain scholars and literary men, to purchase an
annuity for Porson. Among the chief promoters of
the scheme were Dr. Raine of the Charter House, and
the Rev. J. Cleaver Banks, both of whom thought,
with many others, that Porson justly conceived him-
self ill-treated by Postlethwaite. The project will be
understood from the following letter from Cleaver
Banks to Dr. Burney, dated June 17th, 1792 ; a letter
which has never before appeared in print :
neV
“DEAR SIR,
“I am exceedingly glad to hear that our plan goes
on so prosperously, and should feel inexpressible pleasure if
I could flatter myself that my exertions might promote the
success of our cause beyond the contribution of a very few
friends added to my own.
"I explained to Raine my reasons for a particular dis-
crimination in the applications I should make; which chiefly
arose from my desire of secrecy, my dread of a repulse, and
my knowledge of our worthy friend's delicacy. I have con-
sequently hitherto been scrupulous in my choice of confidants,
and have only written to Mr. Harper of Brazennose, and
mentioned four other names; from whom I have no appre-
hension of a repulse. At the same time I told him that if
he should happen to know any other men who were likely to
contribute, or would at least keep the matter to themselves,
he might apply; but enjoined the strictest privacy. I shall
96
[CH. VII.
LIFE OF RICHARD PORSON.
write by this post to Dr. Routh, and shall be very cautious in
any future application, unless you should think such nicety
unnecessary; of which I should be glad to be informed either
by letter or by personal intercourse. I wish you could
contrive to meet us at Charter House Square on Tuesday
se’nnight. If you can, I will trouble you to acquaint me
without delay. In the meantime if you can suggest to me
any way by which I may render myself serviceable, you may
command my warmest zeal and attention. Raine likewise
knows my reasons for withholding the matter from my rela-
tions. They are numerous, and would, I dare say, have
seconded such a plan for the benefit of any friend to the
establishment; but in this instance I cordially lament that
their religion has restrained their benevolence. I wish I had
an opportunity of communicating to you more fully the cir-
cumstances which have led me to this opinion. At present
I must content myself with what I have already said, by
assuring you that
“I am your faithful and sincere humble servant,
“ JOHN CLEAVER BANKS.”
In the same month Raine wrote this to Parr:
“ You will be at no loss to see the immediate propriety of
the subscribers being as few in number as possible. . . . But
we do not mean to limit ourselves in the subscription for
which we apply precisely to ten guineas. Our wish is to see
how much may be raised by this mode of procedure, and only
to have recourse to less sums when we find it necessary. An
obvious caution, therefore, presents itself to those who in-
terest themselves in tbe business; and that is, not to apply to
such persons as it may be a matter of consequence to whether
they give ten guineas or five, but wait till the necessity of the
case makes it expedient to accept such donations. Our
subscription is at present in a very flourishing state, and,
with your exertions, now amounts to nearly, if not quite, a
thousand pounds. Do not therefore, my good Sir, despair of
our efforts, and let us not value our friend's necessity too
cheap yet, for every additional name, you know, adds to the
TA
1792.]
PORSON'S ANNUITY.
obligation, and multiplies the difficulty which you suggest.
Besides, no man ought to have it to say that he conferred a
favour on R. P. which cost him less than ten guineas. I am
still, therefore, of opinion that we should adhere, for the pre-
sent, to ten, and that the well-wishers of the cause should be
desired, for the present, to suspend such applications as only
give hopes of five, or, in short, of any sum less than ten.
You may be assured that we feel much obliged by your
strenuous endeavours and services in the cause. Mr. Wind-
ham has already been a liberal contributor, and I hope that
his great neighbour, Mr. Coke, will not be less so. By 10
means apply to the Master of St. John's, nor to the Master of
Trinity, directly or indirectly; for it was stated to P. that this
subscription was a tribute of literary men to literature, which
had been deserted by the university, or rather its own college.
And it would not, I think, be proper to lay him under obli-
gation to the man by whom he conceives himself, and justly
conceives himself, to have been injured. It is our wish to
- keep this matter off paper as much as possible, for fear of a .
Lord Orford or a babbling Boswell, who should hereafter, on
finding a record of the circumstances, think it fit and charit-
able to intimate it to the world. Names also should be kept
as much as possible out of sight for two reasons; first, that
the donor may have the merit of a purely gratuitous act of
munificence, and, secondly, that P. may not know to whom
he is obliged.
“And here I am led to reply to an objection of yours to
our keeping the names from P. If the subscribers are pre-
viously told that their names are not to be mentioned, they
must necessarily take for granted, supposing them to fall
into company or connection with P., that he is totally
ignorant of his obligation to them; and, therefore, any offence
arising from his singularities is not aggravated by the reflec-
tion of being committed against a benefactor, as he does not
know the person to be his benefactor. If ever he knows of
any individual's kindness to him, it must be from the indi-
vidual himself, and the bare mention of the circumstance
from such an one at once cancels the obligation. Supposing
IL
98
[C1. VII.
LIFE OF RICHARD PORSON.
that P. should, on seeing the list of subscribers, find names
to which he would not, in his own person, have owed
obligations, with what vexation must he reflect that the
officiousness of his friends had subjected him to the bounty
of one to whom he would on no account have been obliged !
I cannot readily estimate the extent of his mortification.
Por me occidistis amici, might he exclaim, and I should dread
the idea of realising the quotation. Whatever may be his
peculiarities, the relative situation of the parties will be the
same as if no favour had been conferred, P. being kept igno-
rant; and the party conferring the favour can expect no
sacrifice of feeling, when he knows that P. is not conscious of
having been obliged. Weighing, then, the ill-consequence.
to himself of communicating the names to P. against the
accidental inconvenience that may arrive from the display of
his singularities before or towards any of his benefactors, I
find the former to preponderate excessively in my mind; for
I should be sorry to see the expansive force of his under-
standing weakened by the heavy load which would be laid
upon it by being presented with a long list of subscribers.”
To these observations he adds the following, two
days afterwards, in a letter to the same correspondent:-
66 Thus far had I written on Saturday, under the expectation
of seeing Dr. Burney to dinner, who was called another way;
for which I should not have forgiven him, had he not in-
formed me that it was the cause which he found himself
likely to support by accepting another invitation. The sub-
scription still thrives; we are 1100l. strong, and to-morrow I
have the promise of 451. more, so that I adhere to my first
opinion, and I doubt not but that this statement will make a
convert of you."
Cleaver Banks, in a letter to Parr, says that, being at
Windsor, he took occasion to call on Dr. Goodall, and
learned from him that Porson had many zealous friends
at Eton, “who,” he states, “ are warmly disposed to
countenance our plan with all its imperfections.
1792.]
SUBSCRIBERS TO THE ANNUITY.
99
Goodall,” he adds, “as well as many other of his
acquaintance, seemed to think we had been too indis-
regulated by the known dispositions and wishes of the
object and friends of this contribution.”*
“Many thanks are due to you,” he says, in the same
worthy friend, which I am persuaded no one has more
at heart than yourself. We have received the most
believe, if we were to count up the sums already
secured, they would exceed 15001. When they verge
upon 20001. we shall stop.”
. By the kindness of a learned friend, I have been
furnished with the following list of subscribers to the
fund, from a manuscript in the hand of Dr. Raine.
Notwithstanding what Raine says about “a Lord Orford
or a babbling Boswell,” it is thought not improper, after
such a lapse of time, to publish it; for why should not
the names of those who were thus liberal receive public
honour ?
£ s. d.
£ s. d.
R. Griffiths
25 00G. Nicol . . 25 00
Sir John . Aubyn . 10 00 R. Brocklesby . . 10 10 0
J. Horne Tooke · 10 10 0 J. Cleaver Banks . 50 00
B. Langton
10 10 0 E. S. Foss . . 10 10 0
W. Parsons . . 10 10 0 | R. Carr . . . 25 00
M. Raine . . 50 00G. Tierney ... 25 00
J. Perry . . 25 00 T. Thompson . . 100 00
J. Gray . . 25 001 S. Parr .
• 15 00
G. T. Huntingford . 10 10 0 Archd. Pott . . 10 10 0
Wm. Gillies. 25 00 Rev. — Gray . . 10 10 0
S. Berdmore . . 10 10 0 -- Mellish
. 10 10 0
C. Burney . . 50 00 W. Seward . . 10 10 0
di G. Nicocklesby is
* Parr's Works, vol. i. p. 381.
H
2
100
[Ch. VII.
LIFE OF RICHARD PORSON.
·
£ S. d.
Earl Spencer . . 25 001 Jacob Bryant .
Rt. Hon. W. Windham 25 00 Provost of Eton
S. Whitebread, Jun. 50 00 - Luynore .
W. H. Lambton
. 50 00
.
B. Barnard . . 10 10 0 1 - Johnson .
J. Atherton . . 10 10 0 John Bellamy ;
R. Spencer
10 10 0 Earl Fitzwilliam
T. Burgess . . 5000S. Shore. ..
- Deves . . 10 10 0 | Thos. Rogers.
- Wills . . . 10 10 0 | P. Benfield .
Rev. Dr. Routh 10 100 G. Rowes .
Sir J. Dundas . 50 00 A. Pigott
L. Dundas
50 00T. H. Stone .
- Goodall . : 50 00 R. Wingfield .
H. Dampier
25 00 - Dodd. .
Rev. J. Smith . . 10 10 0 Dr. Vincent .
Wm. Bosville . . 10 10 0 | Wm. Morgan.
Bishop of Cork . 10 10 0 | S. Sharpe .
Robt. Adair . . 10 10 0 Thos. W. Coke
C. Cracherode . .
Rev. R. King .
To these were afterwards added,
£ $. d.
. 10 00
. 26 50
. 20 00
. 20 00
. 10 10 0
. 10 10 0
. 105 00
. 20 00
. 10 10 0
. 10 10 0
. 10 10 0
10 10 0
10 10 0
: 25 00
10 10 0
. 10 10 0
. 10 10 0
. 10 10 0
. 50 00
. 10 10 0
·
·
·
O
·
£ s. d.
£ $. d.
Friends of Mr. Dam-
Lord Ferrers . . 10 10 0
pier . . . 42 00 Dr. Barrington, Bp. of
Mr. Hawksworth . 5000 Durham . . 50 00
Mr. Wentworth : 50 00 | Mr. J. Hayes . . 10 00
These sums amount in all to 1,6607. 58. But other
contributions, of which the donors are not known,
appear to have raised the whole subscription to nearly
the sum mentioned by Banks.
The amount of the annuity secured for Porson was
about 1001. a year.* Dr. Burney, writing to Parr on
the 15th of December in this year, alludes to the affair
as “ a gloriously terminated undertaking." of
* Encyclop. Brit.; art. "Porson.”
† Parr's Works, vol. vii. p. 413.
1792.]
TYRWHITT'S INTENTION.
101
In what mode, or with what ceremony, the contri-
bution was offered to Porson is nowhere mentioned ;
but he consented to accept it, only on condition that he
should receive but the interest of the sum during his
life, and that the principal, being placed in the hands
of trustees, should be returned to the contributors at
his death.
It is said that this subscription would have been
unnecessary, but for the somewhat sudden death of
Tyrwhitt, in 1786, who, with that generosity for which
he was distinguished no less than for his learning and
understanding, had promised to make an ample pro-
vision for Porson. * Such an act would not have been
surprising in one who was always doing good, and who
gave away in one year, in charitable donations, not less
than two thousand pounds.
Ul
VC
* Rev. H. R. Luard, Cambridge Essays, 1857.
H
3
102
[CH. VIII.
LIFE OF RICHARD PORSON.
CHAP. VIII.
PORSON A CANDIDATE FOR THE GREEK PROFESSORSHIP.-HIS LETTER TO
POSTLETHWAITE ON THE OCCASION. — IS ELECTED. - HIS INAUGURAL
LECTURE ON EURIPIDES.-IS GRATIFIED BY THE DISTINCTION OF THE
APPOINTMENT. — INTENDS TO READ LECTURES, BUT FINDS NO EN-
COURAGEMENT FROM THE UNIVERSITY AUTHORITIES.
It was on the 21st of June, 1792, that Porson resigned
his fellowship. Soon after, the professorship of Greek
became vacant by the resignation of Cooke, which had
been expected to take place some years before ; and
Postlethwaite, as if to make some atonement for his
previous conduct, wrote to Porson, even before the
vacancy occurred*, to inform him that it was likely to
happen, and observing that he would doubtless offer
himself a candidate for the office. Porson, supposing
that subscription to the Thirty-nine Articles would be
required for the tenure of the professorship, as for that
of the fellowship, replied to Postlethwaite, on the 6th
of October, 1792, in the following manner :
“SIR,—When I first received the favour of your letter, I
must own that I felt rather vexation and chagrin than hope
and satisfaction. I had looked upon myself so completely in
the light of an outcast from Alina Mater, that I had made up
my mind to have no further connection with the place. The
prospect you held out to me gave me more uneasiness than
* Parr's Works, vol. i. p. 385.
1792.]
LETTER TO POSTLETHWAITE.
103
pleasure. When I was younger than I now am, and my dis-
position more sanguine than it is at present, I was in daily
expectation of Mr. Cooke's resignation, and I flattered myself
with the hope of succeeding to the honour he was going to
quit. As hope and ambition are great castle-builders, I had
laid a scheme, partly, as I was willing to think, for the joint
credit, partly for the mutual advantage, of myself and the
University. I had projected a plan of reading lectures, and
I persuaded myself that I should easily obtain a grace per-
mitting me to exact a certain sum from every person who
attended. But seven years' waiting will tire out the most
patient temper; and all my ambition of this sort was long
ago laid asleep. The sudden news of the vacant professorship
put me in mind of poor Jacob, who, having served seven
years in hopes of being rewarded with Rachel, awoke, and
behold it was Leah.
“Such, Sir, I confess, were the first ideas that took posses-
sion of my mind. But after a little reflection, I resolved to
refer a matter of this importance to my friends. This cir-
cumstance has caused the delay, for which I ought before
now to have apologised. My friends unanimously exhorted
me to embrace the good fortune which they conceived to
be within my grasp. Their advice, therefore, joined to the
expectation I had entertained of doing some small good by
my exertions in the employment, together with the pardon-
able vanity which the honour annexed to the office inspired,
determined me; and I was on the point of troubling you, Sir,
and the other electors, with notice of my intentions to profess
myself a candidate, when an objection, which bad escaped
me in the hurry of my thoughts, now occurred to my re-
collection.
“The same reason which hindered me from keeping my
fellowship by the method you obligingly pointed out to me,
would, I am greatly afraid, prevent me from being Greek
Professor. Whatever concern this may give me for myself,
it gives me none for the public. I trust there are at least
twenty or thirty in the University equally able and willing
to undertake the office; possessed, many, of talents superior
C
II 4
104
[CH. VIII.
TA
LIFE OF RICHARD PORSON.
to mine, and all of a more complying conscience. This I
speak upon the supposition that the next Greek professor
will be compelled to read lectures; but if the place remains
increased. And though it were even granted that my in-
dustry and attention might possibly produce some benefit to
the interests of learning and the credit of the University, that
trifling gain would be as much exceeded by keeping the pro-
fessorship a sinecure, and bestowing it on a sound believer,
as temporal considerations are outweighed by spiritual.
Having only a strong persuasion, not an absolute certainty,
that such a subscription is required of the professor elect, if
I am mistaken I hereby offer myself as a candidate; but if
I am right in my opinion, I shall beg of you to order my
name to be erased from the boards, and I shall esteem it a
favour conferred on, Sir,
“Your obliged humble servant,
“R. PORSON.
"Essex Court, Temple, 6th October, 1792,"
Postlethwaite immediately replied that no subscription
would be required. “ Dr. P.," writes Cleaver Banks to
Parr, “ has acquainted Porson that his suspicions were
unfounded, and that the day appointed for his examina-
tion is Tuesday, if any one will have the courage to
attempt it, to use the doctor's words. The offer looks
very much like an atonement for past injuries, and I
am afraid the doctor would have us constrain it into a
compensation.” Porson, when his scruples were proved
groundless, offered himself a candidate, . and Cleaver
Banks accompanied him on the occasion to Cambridge.
He was elected on the 1st of November, 1792, by the
unanimous votes of the seven electors.
From every candidate for the Greek Professorship
is required a praelectio, or lecture, on some subject of
1792.]
ELECTION TO GREEK PROFESSORSHIP.
105
Greek literature, to be read publicly in the schools.
Porson took for the subject of his the character of
Euripides, which he sketched with admirable discern-
ment, giving at the same time a full and clear view of
the comparative merits of the other two great tragic poets
of Greece. This lecture is printed in his “ Adversaria,"
filling thirty large octavo pages, and containing many
quotations; yet the composition of it occupied him only
two days. * When a friend expressed his surprise that
he could have produced it in so short a time, he replied
that the subject of it had long employed his thoughts, f
It is hoped that no apology is necessary for offering the
reader a specimen of it in English.
C
“ Before the time when Euripides arrived at manhood,
Æschylus had elevated tragedy from the meanness of the
cart of Thespis, and had equipped her with her mask and
robe of dignity; and Sophocles, having received her in this
condition from the hand of Æschylus, had embellished and
adorned her with such additional decoration, that no room
seemed left for any succeeding poet to obtain further honour
from the stage. Euripides, having imbibed, from his tenderest
years, the precepts of philosophy, was unwilling to waste
eloquence on the pursuit of public honours, and yet, being
warned by the fate of his master, Anaxagoras, was afraid to
åpply his philosophy to eradicate from the public mind the
superstitions too deeply implanted in it. That he might
not, however, pass his life in inglorious obscurity, and that
he might devote his powers of language and thought, as far
as circumstances would permit, to the advantage of his
fellow-creatures, he applied himself to the composition of
tragedies; a pursuit which he cultivated with such diligence
and success as to dispute the preeminence in it, in the judg-
ment of many, even with Sophocles himself. Trusting, there-
* Præf. in Advers. p. xii.
† Museum Criticum, vol. i. p. 119.
106
[CHAP. VIII.
LIFE OF RICHARD PORSON.
fore, to the protection of the theatre, and guarded and de-
fended as it were by its shield, he instilled correctly into the
minds of his countrymen that which it was not safe for him
to express undisguisedly. The false notions of mankind in
regard to religion, which had been consecrated by the pro-
found veneration of ages, which had been established by
length of time, and which he clearly perceived that his coun-
trymen would have thought it infidelity to assail, he pro-
ceeded to weaken and undermine by means of characters
which he brought upon the stage. Nor did he show greater
indulgence to other prejudices with which he saw most of
mankind overclouded, and under the influence of which they
were driven
' Errare, atque viam palantes quærere vite,'
To stray, and, wandering, seek the path of life.'
Hence, though he was by no means without reputation and
honour among his countrymen, yet he received, during the
whole of his life, no extraordinary favour from the multitude.
Euripides, indeed, like many other great men, had to mourn
over fame inadequate to his merits; for of seventy or more
plays which he produced, fifteen only were awarded the prize.
But the more unjustly his excellences, when his plays were
offered for representation, were undervalued by the people,
the more sincerely was he honoured by those who were better
able to judge, and to whom poetry and philosophy were
objects of esteem and delight. One of these, himself equiva-
than Euripides, looked up to him as a inaster, and, disre-
garding for the most part the plays of other dramatic poets,
was a constant and attentive spectator of those of Euripides.
“By the unanimous consent of posterity, however, the
name of Euripides deserves to be enrolled among those of the
very greatest tragic poets; and even if we admit that he was
inferior to Æschylus and Sophocles, we must allow that it
was no small glory to have stood against rivals of such dignity
and power.
1792.]
LECTURE ON EURIPIDES.
107
“For my own part, if I may speak freely what I think, I
consider that those who set Æschylus above Sophocles and
Euripides are in error; an error which, if it deserve pardon,
must yet require correction. Their mistake is certainly ex-
cusable, as it proceeds from a superabundance of regard, and
honourable esteem, for the father of tragedy. All the dramas
of Æschylus are distinguished by a grandiloquent, but rude,
majesty; and every one of them, if we contemplate it from
beginning to end, falls in some degree short, we shall find,
of the highest excellence. But such is the nature of the
human mind, that, with a pardonable partiality, it exalts the
merits of those who have originated any noble invention to
an undue height, while their faults are either overlooked, or
excused, or justified. We forgive them much for the sake of
their excellences, but their greatest excellence generally is that
they light the way for others to illustrate and improve what
they have invented. Æschylus, if for nothing else, would be
worthy of immortality for this, that he excited Sophocles and
Euripides to produce the most faultless examples of tragic
poetry; for they, without his guidance, would neřer have been
the great scenic poets that they were. In making comparisons
of this kind we must always bear in mind which author was
first in order of time. Æschylus may have been the greater
poet; but Sophocles and Euripides produced better plays.
It is glory enough for Æschylus to be called the father and
king of tragedy; glory of which he himself was so far from
being vain that, with admirable modesty, he wished nothing
more to be engraved on his tomb than that he was present
and bore himself bravely at the battle of Marathon.
66 But if we would compare Sophocles and Euripides one
with the other, we must proceed with greater caution, and
shall find it more difficult to make an exact distinction
between them; for each is remarkable for his own peculiar
excellences. If Euripides has faults from which Sophocles
is free, he makes amends for them by eminent good qualities.
Sophocles offers no scene, and introduces no person, that does
not contribute to the progress of his drama; his chorus chants
· 108
[CH. VIII.
LIFE OF RICHARD PORSON.
nothing between the acts that does not, conformably with
the precept of Horace, promote the plot, and suit with the
subject; and his heroes are either exhibited for our imita-
tion, as lovers of piety and justice, or subjected to punishment
before our eyes as characters of an opposite kind. But we
must admit that Euripides is frequently regardless of such
proprieties ; he attaches to the arguments of his plays episodes
that have scarcely the slightest connexion with them; he
frequently assigns to his chorus strains that are quite foreign
to the purpose; he puts into the mouths of his characters many
impious and immoral sentiments; and he cuts off a great part
of the pleasure, which the spectator or reader would other-
wise enjoy from his stories, by narrating in the introduction
what is to occur in the sequel, so that hope and fear, if not
entirely excluded, are in a great degree weakened. Yet of
these faults there are some that easily admit of excuse. That
he foretels the events which are to happen in the course of
the play, is to be imputed to his desire of perspicuity; nor is
it improbable that other tragic poets of that age, for the want
of a proper introduction to their plays, were sometimes im-
perfectly understood by the audience, and that Euripides,
through fear of this inconvenience, erred on the other side,
and became too studious of clearness; for that he adopted
this practice, not without thought, but with deliberation, not
by chance, but with design, is evident from the fact that he
brought on the stage no play without such an introduction;
and though he was satirised for this practice by the comic
poets, he was so obstinately attached to it that it was impos-
sible to make him relinquish it.
“But there are other merits besides perspicuity, in which
Euripides may justly be thought to have the superiority over
Sophocles. His language pleases us by its natural simplicity
and plainness; though I cannot deny that, from his constant
preference of common words, he sometimes descends too much
towards the humble and ordinary style. Sophocles, on the
contrary, while he is anxious to avoid vulgar phraseology,
and plebeian modes of expression, is somewhat too prone to
1792.]
MERITS OF EURIPIDES AND SOPHOCLES.
109
TITI
indulge in forced metaphors, harsh inversions of language,
and other faults of that nature, which render his verses, at
times, too obscure to be pleasing. When we read Euripides
we are delighted, and our thoughts and feelings are free from.
restraint; when we peruse Sophocles we seem to engage in
severe literary study. The choruses too of Sophocles, though
much easier to be understood than those of Æschylus, are by
no means free from obscurity. ... But the practice of
Euripides, in using fewer tumid expressions and sesquipeda-
lian words than Sophocles, may, I think, be readily excused,
or rather defended; for by this means assuredly he approaches
nearer to the truth of nature, and the usage of real life. If
we could imagine a style formed of the excellences of both
these poets; a style which should retain nothing of the pro-
saic phraseology of Euripides, and nothing of the stiffness of
Sophocles, we should have perhaps such a style as would
approach the perfection of tragic language. Meanwhile I
admit that I receive greater pleasure from the natural grace
and unaffected simplicity of Euripides than from the studied
dignity and artificial accuracy of Sophocles. Sophocles, per-
haps, has written better tragedies, but Euripides more pleasing
poems. We approve Sophocles more than Euripides, but
love Euripides more than Sophocles. Sophocles we praise,
but Euripides we read.”
In the conclusion of this passage Porson seems to
have had in his mind the admirable judgment of
Johnson on Dryden and Pitt as translators of Virgil.
“ If the two versions are compared, perhaps the result
would be that Dryden leads the reader forward by bis general
vigour and sprightliness, and Pitt often stops him to contem-
plate the excellence of a single couplet; that Dryden's faults
are forgotten in the hurry of delight, and that Pitt's beauties
are neglected in the languor of a cold and listless perusal;
that Pitt pleases the critics, and Dryden the people; that
Pitt is quoted, and Dryden read."*
* Life of Pitt.
110
[C1. VIII.
LIFE OF RICHARD PORSON.
The manuscript of this lecture, written in Porson's
own neat hand, the only copy that he ever wrote, is
now in the library of Trinity College.
For some time previous to his election to the pro-
fessorship, his health had not been good. 6 Porson,”
writes Burney to Parr in December, “is in much better
health than he has been for several months. His fancy,
memory, taste, and philological powers are in as high
vigour as ever ; though in a conversation lately, on the
subject of the Greek Professorship, he complained of
the difficulty of recalling the mind to a pursuit from
which it has been torn ; and how hard a task it was,
when a man's spirit had once been broken, to renovate
it.”* This statement seems to show that Beloe's assertion
of Porson's despondency on the loss of his fellowship
is nearer to the truth than Kidd's affirmation of his
equanimity.
Parr, in his reply to Burney, says, “Why does Porson
talk about resuming studies which, in fact, have never
been interrupted ? and what is there in his professor-
ship to call into action a sixth part of what he has read,
or a third part of what he remembers ? If the Duke
of Brunswick, at the head of his Huns and Vandals, .
were to burn every book of every library in Cambridge,
Porson, being, as Longinus was said to be, a living
library, would make the University hear without books
more than they are likely to read with books. Again,
injured as he has been, and persecuted, he ought not to
let his spirits sink. His very enemies have never dared
to quit their ranks as his admirers, and his friends
* Parr's Works, vol. vii. p. 413.
1792.]
HIS DESIRE TO GIVE LECTURES.
111
deserve to be weighed rather than to be numbered.
Come, come, he will now have the cŭpold of life, and to
this stoical abundance of the Tà few let him add
the Epicurean cúbupíd, and then he will have no
reason to complain of the ràow. Tell me, not in
the professorship. The Cantab ó Deiva preferred his
relation to Porson, and perhaps he might not wish
Porson to interfere in college affairs as a fellow ; but
when these two points (the annuity and the professor-
ship) are secured, he will find himself no longer disposed
to do evil, or prevented from doing good. Undoubtedly
he [ó osīva, Postlethwaite] is a man of sense, and, as
times go, of virtue; and though I never can approve,
nor suffer others to extenuate, his conduct, I hope to
retain some esteem for the man himself.º*
“ The distinction of this appointment was grateful
to Porson,” says his biographer in the Gentleinan’s
Magazine. “ The salary is but 401. a year. It was
his wish, however, to have made it an active and
an annual course of lectures in the college, if rooms had
been assigned him for the purpose. These lectures, as
he designed, and had in truth made preparations for
them, would have been invaluable ; for he would have
found occasion to elucidate the languages in general,
and to have displayed their relations, their differences,
their near and remote connexions, their changes, their
structure, their principles of etymology, and their causes
of corruption. If any one man was qualified for this
* Parr's Works, vol. vii. p. 414.
112
[CH. VIII.
LIFE OF RICHARD PORSON.
gigantic task, it was Mr. Professor Porson; but his
wishes were counteracted.” How many languages the
writer thinks that Porson would have thus illustrated, in
“ this gigantic task,” I know not; but he seems to have
thought him much nearer to omniscience in language
than he really was. Porson could have told much about
etymology, but his encomiast appears to have fancied
that he could have told everything.
That he intended to give lectures when he entered
on the professorship, he assured Mr. Maltby, who after-
wards asked him why he had not given them. Porson
replied, “Because I have thought better on it; what-
ever originality my lectures might have had, people
would have cried out, We knew all this before.” This
was probably only a jocular reason; among the real
causes want of rooms might have had some influence,
and Porson's own indolence, and reluctance to begin,
had probably more. Lectures would doubtless have
greatly increased the income of his professorship, but
would have infinitely increased its labour.
It is no great honour to so wealthy a country as this,
that it should provide for the Greek professor of one
of its greatest universities, a man whom it necessarily
acknowledges among the most eminent of its scholars,
no larger an annual income than 401. At that sum
the salary still stands; but there has recently been
attached to the office a canonry at Ely of 6001. a year,
from a desire, apparently, that the professor should
not again be a layman.
rea
CE
C
1793.]
REVIEWING.
113
CHAP. IX.
PORSON'S REVIEW OF EDWARDS'S EDITION OF THE TREATISE ON EDUCA-
TION ATTRIBUTED TO PLUTARCH.-REMARKS ON CORRECTION OF TEXTS
BY EDITORS. AN ACUTE EMENDATION.-LONDON EDITION OF HEYNE'S
VIRGIL; PORSON HAD LITTLE CONCERN WITH IT. PARR'S PANEGYRIC
ON PORSON. — REVIEW OF PAYNE KNIGHT ON THE GREEK ALPHABET.
CONSIDERATIONS ON VERBAL AND OTHER CRITICISM.
LLL
NOTHING more appeared from Porson's pen till July
1793, when he published in the “ Monthly Review” a
notice of Dr. Edwards's edition of the Treatise on Edu-
cation attributed to Plutarch; a work which Muretus
suspected, and which Wyttenbach pronounced, to be
spurious. Dr. Edwards, however, without noticing these
adverse opinions, published it as the genuine production
of Plutarch.
The notes to this edition were partly in English and
partly in Latin. On this mixture of languages Porson
says, “ This is a practice which we shall never fail to
reprehend. When an editor produces any observations
which merit the notice of the learned (and every editor
ought to believe at least as much), let him converse in
the common language of the learned; but when an
author writes on a subject of learning chiefly for the
benefit of his countrymen, let him compose wholly in
his mother tongue. Perhaps Dr. Edwards was induced
to write his notes in this piebald and patchwork man-
114
[CH. IX.
T
LIFE OF RICHARD PORSON.
ner by the example of his father's Theocritus; but it is
a fault that we neither can nor will excuse in any of
the family. Fallit te incautum pietas tua."
He accuses Dr. Edwards of being somewhat too timid
in admitting into the text certain readings which he
acknowledges would be improvements; and adds the
following remarks, well worthy of transcription, on the
duty of an editor.
“It may naturally be asked, Who shall decide which reading
is indubitably certain ? This decision must be in a great
measure left to the discretion of the editor. "What ! are we
to give to every man, who sets up for a critic, an unlimited
right of correcting ancient books at his pleasure ?' Not at
his pleasure, but in conformity to certain laws well known
and established by the general consent of the learned. He
may transgress or misapply these laws, but without disowning
their authority. No critic in his senses ever yet declared his
resolution to put into the text what he at the time thought a
wrong reading; and if a man, after perusing the works of his
author perhaps ten times as often as the generality of readers,
after diligently comparing manuscripts and editions, after
examining what others have written relative to him pro-
fessedly or incidentally, after a constant perusal of other
authors with a special view to the elucidation of his own; —
if, after all this, he must not be trusted with a discretionary
power over the text, he never could be qualified to be an
editor at all. Whatever editor (one, we mean, who aspires to
that title) republishes a book from an old edition, when the
text might be improved from subsequent discoveries, while
he hopes to show his modesty and religion, only exposes his
indolence, his ignorance, or his superstition. Dr. Edwards,
after having, in his note on p. 3, approved an emendation by
Casaubon, υπειπόντες for επειπόντες, rejects it in his Addenda
with this grave remark: 'I grow daily more and more sen-
sible of the great caution which is requisite in adopting
emendations. This emendation has at least the warrant of
1793.]
AN EXCELLENT EMENDATION.
115
a manuscript. Now, if ẮTTELTTÓVTES had been the common
reading, which makes very good sense, and a manuscript gave
ÚTTELTTÓVTES, the same remark, inverted, would be equally
just. The truth is, sometimes two readings have such equal
claims, that it is very difficult to give a decisive preference to
either. In this case, what blame can an editor deservedly
incur, who inserts one in the text, if he faithfully informs us
of the other ?"
This review presents us with one of Porson's admi-
rable emendations. Not far from the beginning of the
treatise, the author, speaking of parents committing
their boys to incompetent teachers, says, as the text
stands in Dr. Edwards's edition, 'Eviote yap cidótes,
αισθομένοις μάλλον αυτοίς τούτο λεγόντων, την ενίων των
παιδευτών απειρίαν άμα και μούχηρίαν, όμως τούτοις έπι-
τρέπουσι τους παίδας. For αισθομένοις some manuscripts
have aiodouévwv, of which Dr. Edwards, in his note on
the passage, expresses approbation, and “which," says
Porson, “he might more pardonably have admitted
into the text than have left nonsense in its place. One
manuscript,” he continues, “gives aio hóuevou áraw,
whence Brunck reads, with the slight addition of a
letter, eiðótes y aio lóusvou drawv:—this, however, has
not the good luck to please Dr. Edwards : Friget
Brunckii emendatio. In spite of this censure, we must
own that we think the correction true, as far as it goes,
but perhaps it conveys not the whole truth. The right
reading seems to be Evios Yae Eldores auroi, ở ai đó-
Leevou crawy TOŨTO asybytov.” Some praise is due to
Brunck, who saw part of what was required, but Por-
son has the merit of having seen the whole.
In the same year came forth a London edition of
10
.
I
2
116
[CH. IX.
LIFE OF RICHARD PORSON.
0
Heyne's Virgil in four volumes octavo, published by
Messrs. Payne and Co., for which Porson, it appears, had
undertaken to correct the press. This duty had at first
been assumed, as Kidd tells us *, by “ a very learned and
perspicacious scholar," but, after the third or fourth
sheet of the index, with which the printers began, was
finished, “ the office devolved” upon Porson. In regard
to this work he has been accused of great negligence;
the author of the “Short Account of Porson” says that
Steevens detected four hundred and eighty errors in it;
Gilbert Wakefield told Foxt that the same critic had
discovered nine hundred; and Steevens himself, if Kidd
is not mistaken, was heard to say in an auction-room
that he “had reckoned up six hundred errors, more or
less." One of the errors was gravibus for gruibus. All
these faults were said to have arisen from Porson's per-
functory discharge of his duty. But the truth seems to
be that Porson, whether from disgust at the drudgery,
or from thinking he might trust the ordinary reader for
the press, suffered the correction of the sheets to go
altogether out of his hands. According to a writer in
the “Museum Criticum,”the blame,' on Porson's decla-
ration, lay wholly with the booksellers, who, after they
had obtained permission to use his name, paid, he said,
no attention to his corrections.
It was while these rumours of Porson's carelessness
were afloat, that Parr threw out the following remarks
in his “ Answer to Combe's Statement.” “Mr. Porson,
the republisher of Heyne’s Virgil, is a giant in literature,
* Tracts, p. lxv.
I Vol. i. p. 395.
† Corresp. with Fox, p. 66.
1793.]
PARR'S PRAISE OF PORSON.
117
a prodigy in intellect, a critic whose mighty achieve-
ments leave imitation panting at a distance behind them,
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 better
adapted to little minds. But I should expect to see
the indignant shades of Bentley, Hemsterhuis, and
Valckenaer rise from their 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 splendour of this great man's
excellences. I know that his character towers far
above the reach of such puny objectors. I think that
his claims to public veneration are too vast to be
measured by their short and crooked rules, too massy
to be lifted by their feeble efforts, and even too sacred
to be touched by their unhallowed hands.” *
The conclusion of this passage is stupendously
grandiose, but there were doubtless a large number
times, who well deserved censure or ridicule for their
* Parr's Works, vol. iii. p. 518.
I 3
118
LIFE OF RICHARD PORSON. [Cu. IX.
attention to one class of errors only, and who might
justly be noted as finical and half-learned gossips. All
such small-minded critics are ready in every age to
assail, with their puny remarks, the fame of any great
man, as the Lilliputians shot their tiny arrows at the
huge body of Gulliver. Porson had perhaps been
negligent, but he was not to be sunk into nothingness
because he had not corrected the press with the diligence
of a Cruden. If we may believe Beloe, indeed, the
the text do not exceed twenty in all the four volumes. *
A brief notice was prefixed, headed “ Corrector
Lectori,” in which Porson stated that he had undertaken,
not the duty of editing the work, but merely that of
correcting the press ; that he had added nothing of his
own, except a few conjectures of the learned with
which Heyne seemed not to have met ; that though he
had been anxious that the edition should be as free from
errors as possible, he feared that more would be found
than his readers or himself would approve; and that
a short preface had been received from Heyne, which
the printers had carefully laid by, intending to prefix it
to the work when completed, but which, when they
sought for it, they were nowhere able to find.
In January and April 1794, Porson published in the
“ Monthly Review” a critique on Payne Knights “ Ana-
lytical Essay on the Greek Alphabet.” Knight's book
contains much that is fanciful in regard to the gradual
formation of the Greek alphabet, and especially with
regard to the digamma, of which he allowed himself a
* Sexagenarian, vol. i. p. 222.
1794.]
CRITIQUE ON PAYNE KNIGHT.
CRI?
119
בוורן
more liberal use than any preceding critic had ventured
to make. He also proposes a system of metrical quantity,
founded chiefly on the practice of Homer, whose works,
he says, “ are composed of materials so pure and simple,
and executed with such precision and regularity, that we
can still trace the minutest touches of the master's hand,
and ascertain, with almost mathematical certainty, the
principles upon which he wrought.” On this passage Por-
son very justly observes that “ Homer's poetry, however
exalted and embellished by learning and genius, must
partake of that rudeness and simplicity which are always
incident to the infancy of language and of society;"
and intimates that “the champions for Homer, who
attribute to him all possible perfection, who find in him
not only all other arts and sciences, but also a philoso-
phical grammar, and a philosophical system of metre,"
attribute to him much more than they can substantiate,
except to their own imaginations. The character of
the book Porson sums up as follows:- The author is
a man of reading, learning, and inquiry. His taste and
knowledge seem to predominate rather in the antiqua-
rian's province, as it is generally called ; but, when he
traces the history of language and the etymology of
words, he gives too much scope to conjecture and ima-
gination. In the execution of his plan he unnecessarily
contracts his foundation by building only on the ground-
work of Homer; and, while he denies that particular
changes of sounds and words can take place except in
one certain prescribed mode, he allows too little to the
changes, caprices, conveniences, &c., which produce the
fluctuations. We have, however, perused his essay
generally with entertainment, sometimes with instruc-
I 4
120
[CH. Ix.
LIFE OF RICHARD PORSON.
tion and approbation; and Mr. Knight may deserve, at
least, this praise, that the errors in his research are
sometimes more to the purpose than the successful
inquiries of others.”
The book contains a remark on the faculties and at-
tainments requisite for verbal criticism, which Porson
was very glad to quote, as a support to his own pur-
suits, at the head of his article :
“I cannot but think that the judgment of the public, upon
the respective merits of the different classes of critics, is pe-
culiarly partial and unjust.
“ Those among them who assume the office of pointing out
the beauties, and detecting the faults, of literary composition,
are placed with the orator and the historian in the highest
ranks; while those who undertake the more laborious task
of washing away the rust and canker of time, and bringing
back those forms and colours which are the subject of criti-
cism to their original purity and brightness, are degraded,
with the index-maker and antiquary, among the pioneers of
literature, whose business it is to clear the way for those who
are capable of more splendid and honourable enterprises.
“ But, nevertheless, if we examine the effects produced by
these two classes of critics, we shall find that the first have
been of no use whatever, and that the last have rendered the
most important services to mankind. All persons of taste
and understanding know, from their own feelings, when to
approve and disapprove, and therefore stand in no need of
instruction from the critic; and as for those who are destitute
of such faculties, they can never be taught to use them; for
no one can be taught to exert faculties which he does not
possess. Every dunce may indeed be taught to repeat the
jargon of criticism, which of all jargons is the worst, as it joins
the tedious formality of methodical reasoning to the trite
frivolity of common-place observation. But, whatever may
be the taste and discernment of a reader, or the genius and
ability of a writer, neither the one nor the other can appear
1794.]
DIFFERENT KINDS OF CRITICISM.
121
121
while the text remains deformed by the corruptions of blun-
dering transcribers, and obscured by the glosses of ignorant
grammarians. It is then that the aid of the verbal critic is
required; and though his minute labour, in dissecting syl-
lables, and analysing letters, may appear contemptible in its
operation, it will be found important in its effect."
The usefulness of verbal criticism, judiciously applied,
will not be questioned; but that elegant criticism,
which dwells on the beauties and defects of composi-
tion, and compares the merits of different authors, works,
and passages, is utterly useless, will not so readily be
admitted. The criticisms of Addison, Johnson, or War-
ton, which instruct or please us, cannot be regarded as
utterly valueless productions. Nor is verbal criticism
to be set above all other criticism simply because of its
usefulness ; for the performances of mankind do not
rise in estimation merely in proportion to their utility;
else the labours of the agriculturist would exalt him
high above all other human agents.
122
[CA. X.
LIFE OF RICHARD PORSON.
CHAP. X.
PORSON'S INTENTIONS REGARDING ÆSCHYLUS. --- PROJECTED EDITION BY
THE LONDON PUBLISHERS. -- AN EDITION OF ÆSCHYLUS SURREPTI-
TIOUSLY PRINTED AT GLASGOW FROM PORSON'S CORRECTIONS. —
PORSON'S SAGACITY AND CAUTION EXHIBITED IN THE EMENDATIONS.
SOME time before this period, Porson had projected an
edition of Æschylus, to contain the fragments, and to
be accompanied with the scholia and notes*; and, says
the “Short Account of Porson,” she sent his Æschylus
to be printed at Glasgow in octavo.” What he sent
was a copy of Pauw's Æschylus t, in which, according
to Dr. Young I, he had made more than two hun-
dred corrections. The text of the seven plays thus
corrected was printed by Foulis at Glasgow, as early as
1794, in two volumes octavo, for the London book-
sellers, who expected, apparently on Porson’s promise,
that he would add notes and the fragments, but, having
waited for these accompaniments more than ten years,
they at last allowed the volumes, at the instance of
Porson's friends, to go forth in 1806 without them.
This text, says Kidd $, was the substratum of Porson's
projected edition ; “it was given to the world with his
knowledge, and, after unceasing importunity, with a
sort of half-faced consent." After it was published, he
* Monthly Review, Feb. 1796.
† Museum Criticum, vol. i. p. 110.
Encyclop. Brit., art. “Porson.”
§ Tracts, p. lxix.
1795.]
SURREPTITIOUS EDITION OF ÆSCHYLUS.
123
wa
frequently and earnestly, according to the same autho-
rity, conversed about his intended preface to it; he.
had arranged the materials in his mind, and Kidd heard
him twice detail the substance of them; and when he
was entreated to prepare them for publication, he would
promise to try, but added that he hated and abhorred
composition.
In the mean time, with the date 1795, there had
come forth a folio edition, presenting nearly the same
text, at Glasgow, from the same printers, said to have
been surreptitiously printed from the corrections for the
other edition. According to a note on the Pursuits of
Literature *, its origin was as follows: “Mr. Porson,
the Greek Professor at Cambridge, lent his manuscript
corrections and conjectures on the text of Æschylus to
a friend in Scotland ; for he once had an intention of
publishing that tragedian. His corrected text fell into
the hands of the Scotch printer Foulis, and, without
the Professor's leave or even knowledge, he published
a magnificent edition of Æschylus from it without
notes.” Dibdin says that it was printed with the same
types as the famous Glasgow Homer, and that there
were only fifty-two copies struck off in all, and only
eleven on the largest paper. He speaks with rapture
of a large-paper copy, illustrated with Flaxman's de-
signs, which he saw in the library at Althorp.
The account of the affair given by Hellenophilus,
supposed to be Dr. Maltby, in Aikin’s Athenæum, is
that Porson concluded a treaty with Messrs. Elmsley
and Payne, in consequence of which a new, but most
improved edition, was to be printed at Glasgow. After
* Part II. p. 42.
le
ICC
124
[CH. X.
LIFE OF RICHARD PORSON.
10
น
the proofs of the first five or six plays had been regu-
larly sent to the Professor, they suddenly stopped, and
some time after it was discovered that the Scotch printer
had used the paper for the folio edition. Nor was it
known for a considerable time that the smaller edition
was in existence, till at length the English booksellers
discovered the fraud.” “A method was pursued by:
Porson in this edition,” observes the writer, “ which we
earnestly recommend to the imitation of every critic.
Where the text appeared faulty, and no emendation
offered itself with sufficient authority to warrant its ad-
mission into the text, he marked the suspected place
with an obelus. Of passages thus pointed out, both as
a warning to inexperienced readers, and a guide to
future critics, there are about one hundred and fifty;
so that, unfortunate as this edition has been, the text is
still improved in a greater number of instances than
those in which it continues to be defective. And in
regard to the remaining corruptions, we have little
doubt but Mr. Porson's acuteness would have pointed
out a probable remedy in most of the cases, had the
work gone on to its end, without the occurrence of that
calamitous fraud, which cannot be too much reprobated
or deplored."
“Porson,” says a writer in the “Museum Criticum,'*
“never openly acknowledged this edition, but there
were too many marks of the master's hand for it to be
mistaken. It is not to be supposed however that the
text of this edition is that which the Professor would
have given to the public, had he openly undertaken to
edit Æschylus.”
* Vol. i. p. 111.
1795.]
PORSON'S MARRIAGE.
125
CHAP. XI.
OL
PORSON'S INTIMACY WITH PERRY, OF THE “MORNING CHRONICLE." -
HIS MARRIAGE WITH PERRY'S SISTER. — HIS MODE OF SPENDING THE
WEDDING-DAY AND THE FOLLOWING NIGHT.--EFFECT OF HIS MARRIAGE
ON HIS HABITS.-- PERRY'S INFLUENCE WITH HIM.--HIS ILL HEALTH.
— HIS TRANSCRIPT OF PHOTIUS DESTROYED BY THE BURNING OF
PERRY'S HOUSE.—HE MAKES ANOTHER. HIS PERSONAL APPEARANCE
IN MIDDLE LIFE.
PORSON had for some time been intimate with Perry, the
well-known editor of the “Morning Chronicle." In
November 1795, he married Mrs. Lunan, Perry's sister.
She survived the marriage about a year and a half,
dying of a decline in April 1797.*
Of the way in which the marriage came about, the
only account that we have is given in the “ Personal
Memoirs" of Pryse Lockhart Gordont, a Scotch soldier
of fortune, whose brother George, a mercantile agent,
was very intimate with Perry, who was also a Scotch-
man. It had been expected at one time, that Porson
would marry Dr. Raine's sister, but the doctor having
shown himself unfavourable to the match, it had not
afterwards been thought, by any of Porson's friends,
that he was at all likely to marry, for he appeared to
be a confirmed convivial bachelor.
But one night, while he was smoking his pipe with
.
* Sexagenarian, vol. i. p. 207.
† Vol. i. p. 280, seqq.
126
(CA. XI.
LIFE OF RICHARD PORSON.
211
George Gordon at the Cider Cellar, he suddenly said,
“ Friend George, do you not think the widow Lunan
an agreeable sort of personage as times go ?” Gordon
said something in the affirmative. 6 In that case,"
.continued Porson, “ you must meet me to-morrow
morning at St. Martin's-in-the-Fields at eight o'clock;"
and, without saying more, paid his reckoning and
retired.
George Gordon was somewhat astonished, but, know-
ing that Porson was likely to mean what he said, deter-
mined to comply with the invitation, and repaired to the
church at the hour specified, where he found Porson with
Mrs. Lunan and a female friend, and the parson waiting
to begin the ceremony. When service was ended, the
parties separated, the bride and her friend retiring by
one door, and Porson and George Gordon by another.
Pryse Gordon is however mistaken about the church
at which the marriage took place, for the register of
St. Martin's-in-the-Fields has been searched in vain for
a record of it.
Gordon, on inquiry, found that it was some time
since Porson had proposed, but that Mrs. Lunan, as
he wished the ceremony to be performed without her
brother's knowledge, had been unwilling to listen, and
that it was only on finding that she must either yield
to Porson's obstinacy on the point, or reject him
altogether, that she was induced to give her consent.
Gordon urged him to declare his marriage to Perry,
but he declined, and they parted.
He was determined, however, that Perry should not
be kept in ignorance of the affair, especially as he
himself had taken part in it, and was preparing to go
LUL
1795.]
HIS WEDDING-DAY.
127
012
to the “Morning Chronicle” Office to give intimation
of what had happened, when Porson returned, and said,
“Friend George, I shall for once take advice, which,
as you know, I seldom do, and hold out the olive-
branch, provided you will accompany me to the Court
of Lancaster; for you are a good peace-maker.” Lan-
caster Court, in the Strand, was Perry's place of resi-
dence, and hence Porson often called him “My Lord of
Lancaster.” Gordon agreed, and, as they found Perry at
home, Porson made him such a speech as inclined him,
though he was somewhat hurt at the secresy, to reconcilia-
tion, when a dinner was provided, as Pryse Gordon states,
and an apartment selected for the newly-married couple.
How long the Professor sat after the dinner, we are
not told; but, if Beloe may be believed, he soon sought
other company. “What shall we call it,” says he*,
56 waywardness, inconsiderateness, or ungraciousness ?
but it is a well-known fact that he spent the day” ſit
could only have been the evening of the day] “of his
marriage with a very learned friend, now a judge,
without either communicating the circumstance of his
change of condition, or attempting to stir till the hour
prescribed by the family obliged him to depart.”
On leaving this friend's house, he adjourned, as a
surgeon named Moore, an acquaintance of Barker's,
asserted, to the Cider Cellar, where he stayed till eight
the next morning. +
If this be true, it is perhaps greater neglect than was
ever before shown to a wife on the day of her marriage.
was
m2
* Sexagenarian, vol. i. p. 229.
† Barker's Lit. Anecdotes, vol. i. p. 24.
128
[CH. XI.
LIFE OF RICHARD PORSON.
·
Budæus, it is true, was said to have studied on his
wedding-day as on other days ; Stothard went from the
church to his easel; and John Kemble, after performing
at the theatre, required to be reminded to fetch his wife
home. But there are few instances, we believe, of the
bridegroom having deliberately absented himself from
the bride through the marriage night, for the mere
sake of indulgence with his boon companions.
“One forenoon,” says Maltby*, “I met Porson in
Covent Garden, dressed in a pea-green coat. He had
been married that morning, as I afterwards learned from
Raine, for he himself said nothing about it. He was
carrying a copy of Le Moyen de Parvenir, which he had
just purchased off a stall; and, holding it up, he called
out jokingly, “These are the sort of books to buy.? ”
Mrs. Porson's first husband, a Scotchman, was a
bookbinder, who had lived in Shire Lane, and with
whom Perry had for some time been a lodger †; but,
proving a worthless fellow, she had been divorced from
him by the Scotch law, and he was still alive, and had
married again, when Porson took her. She had had
two or more children by Lunan, whom her brother
had taken under his charge and sent to school. At
the time that Porson became acquainted with her, she
was living with Perry as his housekeeper. “She was
amiable and good-tempered,” says Colonel Gordon,
“and the Professor treated her with all the kindness
of which he was capable.”
By the testimony of Kidd f, the death of Porson's
1201
* ttt
* Rogers's Table-Talk, "Porsoniana," p. 305.
† John Taylor's “Records of My Life," vol. i. p. 241.
I Tracts, p. XV.
1796.]
TRANSCRIPT OF PHOTIUS.
129
e
wife was an event deeply to be regretted, since, during
the short period of his marriage, “he evidently became
more attentive to times and seasons, and might have
been won by domestic comforts from the habit of tip-
pling, which was doubtless as much a disease as the
gout, and must have tended to impair a constitution
naturally vigorous.”
That he was not, with all his eccentricities, an ill
husband, may be inferred from the fact that Perry, his
brother-in-law, continued to be his firm friend, and to
pay him the greatest attention, to the end of his life.
Perry indeed is said to have had greater influence with
him than any other person ; for he would listen to remon-
strances from Perry which he would not have endured
from any one else ; and he was sometimes induced, by
Perry's intervention, to accept favours or attentions
which the independence of his spirit would otherwise
have spurned.
From the time of his wife's death, according to the
memoir in the “Gentleman's Magazine,” his asthma,
with which he had been afflicted ever since he had the
imposthume on his lungs, in the early part of his life,
greatly increased, so as to prevent him from close or
long-continued application to any kind of study. This
malady, the writer suggests, may possibly have been
aggravated by his sedentary habits.
While he was on a visit to Perry at Merton, a fire broke
out in the house, which destroyed a performance on
which he had bestowed the labour of at least ten months.
He had borrowed the manuscript of the Greek Lexicon
compiled by Photius, the patriarch of Constantinople,
froin the library of Trinity College, Cambridge, engaging
11
UILE
130
[CH. XI.
LIFE OF RICHARD PORSON.
LI
13
?
to make a complete copy of it. This manuscript is known
as the Codex Galeanus, from having been presented to
Trinity College by the learned Gale; and, from its
evident antiquity, may reasonably be supposed to be a
transcript extremely valuable. Porson carried it with
him wherever he went. On the morning of the day
on which the fire occurred, he set out from Merton on
a ride to London, taking with him the manuscript, but
leaving the transcript, which he had just finished, be-
hind him. As he was on the road, he felt, he thought,
some apprehensions of approaching evil, and stopped
three or four times on the way, deliberating whether
he should return for his books and papers. . Once he
actually turned back his horse's head; but at last,
trusting that his fears were idle, he resolved on con-
tinuing his journey. The following night, during his
absence, the fire broke out, and the copy was destroyed.
Dr. Raine was the first to inform him of his loss; and
Porson, on hearing the news, inquired if any lives had
been lost. Dr. Raine replied in the negative. “Then,"
rejoined Porson, “I will tell you what I have lost;
twenty years of my life;" repeating, at the same time,
the stanza of Gray,
“To each his sufferings; all are men,
Condemn'd alike to groan,
The tender for another's pain,
The unfeeling for his own."*
How he meant these lines to be applied, we are left to
conjecture. Among the effects destroyed at the same
time were a copy of Kuster's Aristophanes, the margins
* Kidd, Tracts, p. xxxix.
1796.]
PORSON'S PERSONAL APPEARANCE.
131
of which were filled with notes and emendations, the
letter of Ruhnken to which we have previously al-
luded, and many other literary treasures.
With the resolution of Bishop Cooper, who, when
his wife, in a fit of rage, set fire to the manuscript of his
Thesaurus on which he had spent eight years' labour,
sat calmly down to write it over again, Porson devoted
himself to make a second transcript of Photius equally
accurate with the first. How long he took to his task
is not related. The manuscript, a handsome quarto
volume, he deposited in the library of his College. It
was not printed till 1822, fourteen years after his death,
when it came forth in quarto and octavo. Meanwhile,
in 1808, an edition had been published, perhaps chiefly
with a desire to anticipate Porson, by Hermann, but
from very incorrect copies, and consequently with
numerous blunders, and with a kind of sneer in the
preface at those who would prefer to see it printed
from the “Codex Galeanus.” The edition has been
reviewed, with no injustice perhaps to Hermann, but
with some rather flippant censures on Photius himself,
in the “ Edinburgh Review,"* in an article åttributed
to the late Bishop Blomfield.
Porson's personal appearance, at the time of his
marriage, was, when he was well dressed, very com-
manding. “His very look,” says Mr. John Symmons,
“ impressed me with the idea of his being an extraor-
dinary man; what is called, I believe, by artists, in the
Hercules, the repose of strength,' appeared in his
whole figure and face." of “His head,” says Pryse
* July 1813.
† Barker's Parriana, vol. i. p. 552.
K 2
132
[CH. XI.
LIFE OF RICHARD PORSON. ·
Gordon*, “was remarkably fine; an expansive fore-
head, over which was smoothly combed (when in
dress) his shining brown hair. His nose was Roman,
with a keen and penetrating eye, shaded with long
lashes. His mouth was full of expression; and alto-
gether his countenance indicated deep thought. His
stature was nearly six feet.” Mr. Maltby, who became
acquainted with him when he was under thirty, spoke
of him as having been then a handsome man.† His
ordinary dress, especially when alone, and engaged in
study, was careless and slovenly, but, on important
occasions, when he put on his blue coat, white waist-
coat, black satin breeches, silk stockings, and ruffled
shirt, “he looked,” says Mr. Gordon, “ quite the
gentleman.”
This description of Porson is supported by the por-
traits of him that are to be seen at Cambridge; one by
Kirkby, a painter of some note in his day, in the dining-
room of the Master's lodge at Trinity College; and
another by Hoppner in the public library; of which
an engraving is prefixed to this work. The marble
bust of him, by Chantrey, in the chapel of Trinity
College, is thought not to do him justice; a plaster
bust, which was made from a cast taken immediately
after his death, and of which an engraving by Fittler
is given in the Adversaria, is considered to be a much
better representation of him.
There was also a portrait of him at the Cider Cellars
in Maiden Lane; but we believe it has been removed,
and we know neither its author nor its merits.
I
* Personal Memoirs, vol. i. p. 288.
† Barker's Lit. Anecd. vol. ii. pp. 24, 186.
1796.]
NURSERY SONG INTO GREEK.
133
CHAP. XII.
GREEK VERSION OF “ THREE CHILDREN SLIDING ON THE ICE.”—PORSON
INSPECTS IRELAND'S “SHAKSPEARE PAPERS.”--ACCOUNT OF IRELAND'S
FORGERY. - IRELAND'S ARTS OF CONCEALMENT. - SUCCESS INCREASES
HIS BOLDNESS. — TRANSCRIBES LEAR. — DETERMINES ON FORGING A
WHOLE PLAY. - MANY DECEIVED BY THE APPEARANCE OF THE
PAPERS; SIR FREDERICK EDEN; JAMES BOSWELL; DR. PARR; DR.
JOSEPH WARTON.-SHAKSPEARE'S PRETENDED WILL.-NAMES ATTACHED
TO PARR'S CERTIFICATE OF GENUINENESS. — NOTICE OF THE PAPERS
IN THE “ BIBLIOTHECA PARRIANA.” --MR. E. H. BARKER'S ATTEMPTED
DEFENCE OF PARR.-SHERIDAN'S OPINION OF SHAKSPEARE." VORTI-
GERN AND ROWENA” BROUGHT ON THE STAGE. - CATASTROPHE. —
YOUNG IRELAND'S PROFITS.—MALONE'S CRITICISM.- GEORGE CHALMERS'S
"APOLOGY FOR THE BELIEVERS.”—CONCLUSION OF THE AFFAIR.
IN 1796 Porson published in the “ Morning Chronicle"
a Greek version of the nursery song of “Three Children
sliding on the Ice," with a short addition. It was pre-
faced by the following letter to the Editor.
1
66 SIR,
“As a learned friend of mine was rummaging an old
trunk the other day, he discovered a false bottom, which on
examination proved to be full of old parchments. But what
was his joy and surprise when he discovered that the contents
were neither more nor less than some of the lost tragedies of
Sophocles ! As the writing is difficult, and the traces of the
letters somewhat faded, he proceeds slowly in the task of
deciphering. When he has finished, the entire tragedies will
be given to the public. In the mean time I send you the
following fragment, which my friend communicated to me,
and which all critics will concur with me, I doubt not, in
K 3
134
[CH. ΧΙ.
LIFE OF RICHARD PORSON.
determining to be the genuine production of that ancient
dramatist. His characteristics are simplicity and sententious-
ness. For instance, what can be more simple and sententious
than the opening of the “Trachiniæ'? It is an old saying that
has appeared among mankind, that you cannot be certain of
the life of mortals, before one dies, whether it be good or
evil. These qualities, too, are conspicuous in the following
iambics, which contain a seasonable caution to parents against
rashly trusting children out of their sight. Though your
paper is chiefly occupied in plain English, you sometimes
gratify your learned readers with a little Greek; you may
therefore give them this, if you think that it will gratify
them. For the benefit of those whose Greek is rather rusty
with disuse, I have added a Latin version, which, I hope, is
as pure and perspicuous as Latin versions of Greek tragedies
commonly are.
«I am, Sir, &c.,
«S. ENGLAND.”.
ΚΡΥΣΤΑΛΛΟΠΗΚΤΟΥΣ τρίπτυχοι κόροι ροές
"Ωρα θέρους ψαίροντες εντάρσοις ποσί,
Δίναις έπιπτον, οία δή πίπτειν φιλεϊ,
*Απαντες· είτ' έφευγον οι λελειμμένοι.
"Αλλ' είπερ ήσαν εγκεκλεισμένοι μοχλοίς,
*Η ποσίν, ολισθάνοντες έν ξηρό πέδω,
Χρυσών αν ήθέλησα περιδόσθαι σταθμών,
Eί μή μέρος τι των νέων εσώζετο.
*Αλλ', ώ τοκείς, όσοις μεν όντα τυγχάνει,
"Οσοις δε μή, βλαστήματ’ ευτέκνου σποράς,
"Ην ευτυχείς εύχησθε τας θυράζ’ οδούς
Τοίς παισίν, εν σφάς εν δόμοις φυλάσσετε.
Glacie-durata triplices pueri fluenta
Tempestate æstatis radentes pulchras-plantas-habentibus pedibus,
In vortices ceciderunt, ut sanè accidere solet,
Omnes : deinde effugerunt reliqui.
Sin autem inclusi essent vectibus,
Aut pedibus labantes in arido campo,
Auri ponderis sponsione libenter contenderem
Partem aliquam juvenum servari potuisse.
Dear Perry,
I same the Master of Emanuel this morning. I told
him the needful. He said he should be in town to-morrow, and
should we'the bursar , Mr Smithies, but probably net M Nicholls.
Perhaps you could find out Me Smitties; and have some discourow with
him. of not, you must manage with Mr. Nicholls, I suppose, as well.
so you can. For the Verrin, I mean the paper in which a letter appear.
ed to the Editor of the M. c. containing Greek verses, Kprotahonna-
Tovs "Tp1'attu Xou kópor poa's ffe. with a Latin version. The letter is signed
Sam. England ; the time just after Irelandó humbing was exploded. I
am, with remembrancev to all friends,
2 June 1801
Yours sincerely,
Irin. Coll.
es
sincerely,
R. Porson
From
the original, in, the possession
of the Rev. II. R. Luard, Trin. coll. Cambridor.
1796.]
IRELAND'S “SHAKSPEARE PAPERS.
135
At, О parentes, tum vos, quibus esse contigit,
Tum vos, quibus non contigit, germina pulchros-filios-procreantis
segetis,
Si felices optatis extra-domos itiones
Pueris vestris, bene eos intra domos servate.
Three children sliding on the ice
All on a summer's day,
It so fell out they all fell in :
The rest they ran away.
But had they stay'd within the house,
Or play'd on solid ground,
I'd wager seas and hills of gold,
They had not then been drown'd.
So, parents, that no children have,
And eke ye that have some,
If you would know they're safe abroad,
Keep them lock'd up at home.
The signature “S. England” was used in sarcastic
allusion to Samuel Ireland, who was then publishing the
forged papers attributed to Shakspeare, which his son,
William Henry Ireland, pretended to have discovered
in a chest at the house of a gentleman in the country.
When these papers were exposed to the view of the
public, Porson, among others, went to look at them.
Being asked by Ireland, the father, to set his name to
a declaration of his belief in their genuineness, he re-
plied that he would rather be excused, as he was slow
to subscribe to articles of faith. His caution, in this af-
fair, stands in such felicitous contrast to the precipitancy
of many of his contemporaries, that we cannot but feel
inclined to fix our attention for a while on the subject.
Though there are many detached notices, and a frag-
mentary confession of the younger Ireland, concerning
this imposture, a remarkable event in literary history,
there has been hitherto, we believe, no clear and direct
к
4
136
[Ch. XII:
LIFE OF RICHARD PORSON.
account of its origin and progress. Porson's judgment,
as directed to the papers, is so admirably manifested,
and so advantageously compared with that of Parr and
others, that we are led to bestow our attention on the ..
subject at such length as may seem to require some
apology.
William Henry Ireland, the son of Samuel Ireland,
an artist, having received a fair education, first at three
schools in England, and afterwards, for three years, at
the College of Eu in Normandy, had been articled, at
the age of sixteen, to a solicitor in New Inn. From his
father he derived a taste for old books, and paid more
attention to booksellers' shops and stalls than to his
legal studies; and as his father used to extol Shakspeare
as a demigod, and frequently to express his wonder
that no relic of his handwriting was to be found, ex-
cept the signature to his will in the Commons, and his
name attached to the mortgage-deed in the possession
of Garrick, he was led to repeated perusals of Shak-
speare's plays, and to conceive that if some apparently
old' writing could be produced as Shakspeare's, it might
perhaps occasion some diversion by deceiving credulous
searchers after the antique. .
As his occupation often engaged him in the perusal
of old deeds, he at length began to imagine the possi-
bility of executing such a project. Securing some old
paper, and getting from the journeyman of a book-
binder named Laurie a liquid to imitate faded ink,
which was used in marbling the covers of books, and
which, being held to the fire, became brown, he forged,
as his first attempt, a letter of presentation to Queen
Elizabeth, pretended to be written by the author of a
1796.]
IRELAND'S STRATAGEMS.
137
thin pamphlet which he had picked up at a book-stall.
This he showed to his father, who had no doubt of its
genuineness.
Elated with his success in this attempt, he proceeded==--
to the production of his Shakspeare papers. He in-
vented a story, which he told his father and others,
that he had formed an acquaintance with a gentleman
in the country, who, learning his fondness for old writ-
ings, had invited him to his house, and offered him the
liberty of turning over a chest-full of old deeds, which
he had inherited from his father, an eminent lawyer ;
that he had been unwilling, for some time, to accept the
invitation, lest the search should cause him only disap-
pointment or ridicule; but that at length resolving to
go, he was reproached for not coming sooner, and
found a great quantity of papers tied up in bundles.
Among these was the pretended lease of two houses
from Shakspeare and Hemynge to Michael Fraser, which
the gentleman gave him on condition that he should
receive a copy of it, and promised him, at the same
time, whatever else he should find worthy of notice.
Hearing it questioned whether Shakspeare had been a
Catholic or a Protestant, he wrote a “Profession of
Faith” for Shakspeare to prove him a Protestant; and
then, to prove him, he says, a good-natured man, he
wrote a letter for him, short but pleasant, to one Richard
Cowley.
Other documents came forth in quick succession;
a letter from Queen Elizabeth to Shakspeare ; a note
of hand and some theatrical receipts; a letter and
some verses to Anne Hathaway; a letter to Lord
Southampton and another from him ; agreements with
11
21
138
(Ch. XII.
LIFE OF RICHARD PORSON.
John Lowine and Henry Condell ; and, what was the
most audacious of all the inventions, a deed of gift of
certain plays in manuscript to one William Henry
Ireland, for having saved Shakspeare's life when he was
almost drowned through falling into the Thames. He
was induced to forge this instrument by the remark
that, if a descendant of Shakspeare should come for-
Ward, he might claim the papers, and said that the
gentleman had observed that they formerly belonged
to a Mr. Ireland, one of Ireland's own family, and were
consequently Mr. Samuel Ireland's rightful property.
For these writings he procured fly-leaves of old books,
and other discoloured papers, from a bookseller named
Verey in St. Martin's Lane. He used to lay before him,
when writing, a deed of the time of James I., and cut
off seals from old deeds to affix to his productions.
A young man of his acquaintance, named Montague
Talbot, also articled to an attorney, suspected that all
these documents were forgeries, and charged young
Ireland with the execution of them. This charge hè
positively denied; but Montague, still retaining his
suspicions, burst suddenly one day into Ireland's room,
and surprised him in the act of forging. Ireland then
entreated that he would not betray him, alleging his
fear of his father's anger, when he should find that he
had been deceived ; and the two young fellows seem
then to have acted in concert, the one continuing to
forge writings, and the other furthering the deception
among his friends and connexions.
Having heard some critics observe, that if a manu-
script of one of Shakspeare's plays could be found, in
his own handwriting, it would show whether he wrote
1796.]
66 VORTIGERN AND ROWENA."
139
all the mean language and ribaldry that had been
attributed to him in print, he determined on transcribing
the whole tragedy of “King Lear," substituting what he
thought better language, in certain passages, for such as
appeared low and poor. Thus, for the couplet,
“I have a journey shortly, Sir, to go;
My master calls, and I must not say, No!”
he gave Kent the words,
" Thanks, Sir, but I go to that unknown land
That chains each pilgrim fast within its soil,
By living men most shunned, most dreaded ;
Still my good master this same journey took ;
He calls me; I'm content, and straight obey.
Then farewell, world; the busy scene is done;
Kent liv'd most true; Kent dies most like a man.”
Such alterations led his father, and some others who
inspected the manuscript, to suppose that Shakspeare's
lines had been transformed, in many places, for the
worse, by the players...
Growing still bolder, he conceived himself able to
invent a whole play for Shakspeare, and, for the subject
of it, fixed on the story of Vortigern and Rowena, which
he found in a copy of Holinshed in his father's library.
A part of this drama he at first produced in his own
hand, and, being asked for the original, said that his
friend in the country would not allow him to have it
till he had made a transcript of the whole ; thus he
gained time to write the entire play in an imitation of
old hand. At the time of its production, in 1796, he
was nineteen years of age.
His friend Talbot, in the mean time, had deserted
the law, gone off to Ireland, and turned actor; and,
140
[CH. XII.
LIFE OF RICHARD PORSON.
hearing of the noise that the fictitious documents were
making, wrote from Dublin to inquire particulars about
them. Young Ireland replied, but not so as to satisfy
Talbot, who was displeased that so much had been
done without his knowledge; and Ireland appears to
have afterwards acted wholly by himself..
The father now determined on publishing the papers,
that the world might not be deprived, as he said, of so
inestimable a treasure. The son told him that his friend
in the country would not sanction the publication,
and that he must therefore undertake it, if he under-
took it at all, on his own risk; a risk which the father
professed himself quite willing to incur.
But before printing the manuscripts, he resolved
on exhibiting them at his house to such as chose to
inspect them : and they were examined by a great
number both of the learned and the unlearned. Sir
Frederick Eden was the first to pronounce the lease to
be a genuine lease, to Mr. Ireland's great joy, for if this
were genuine, why should the other papers be sus-
pected ? Among the earliest visitors was Mr. James
Boswell, who, when the papers were laid before him,
proceeded to peruse the fair copies made from the dis-
guised handwriting, in order to judge of the style, and
then to consider the external appearance of the manu-
scripts, that he might form his opinion of their
antiquity. As his examination was somewhat pro-
tracted, he became thirsty, and asked for a tumbler of
warm brandy and water. Having nearly finished it, he
expressed himself, with great earnestness and fluency,
convinced, both by internal and external proofs, of the
genuineness of the manuscripts, which he could not but
we
IS-
1796.]
PARR AND WARTON.
141
i
regard with delight and reverence. Then, rising from
his chair, he observed that he might well die contented,
since he had lived to see that day; and immediately
afterwards, kneeling down before the papers, with his
glass of brandy and water in his hand, and kissing the
volume, he exclaimed, “ I now kiss the invaluable
relics of our bard, and thank God that I have lived to
witness their discovery.". Before he left the house, he
gave Mr. Ireland a certificate expressing his belief in
their authenticity.
Next day came Dr. Parr, who, after examining the
papers, and being shown what Boswell had written the
day before, remarked that it was too feebly expressed
for the importance of the subject, and requested to be
allowed to dictate the following form of certificate, to
which he immediately subscribed his own name :
.“We, whose names are hereunto subscribed, have,
in the presence and by the favour of Mr. Ireland,
inspected the Shakspeare papers, and are convinced of
their authenticity.”
Whether it was on this or on a previous occasion is
not clear from young Ireland's confessions, but it would
seem rather to have been some time before, that Dr.
Parr came to see the papers in company with Dr.
Joseph Warton, both of whom examined them, and
put various questions both to the father and the son
respecting the discovery of them, and the concealment
of the gentleman's name in whose possession they had
been found. The son having replied to their interroga-
tories, one of them, he says, he is not sure which, said,
“Well, young man, the public will have just cause to
admire you for the research you have made, which will
142
[Ch. XII.
LIFE OF RICHARD PORSON.
afford so much gratification to the literary world.” The
“ Profession of Faith ” was then read aloud by the
father, both the doctors paying profound attention to
every syllable of it. When it was ended, Dr. Parr
exclaimed, addressing himself to the father, “Sir, we
have many fine passages in our Church-service, and our
Litany abounds with beauties; but here, Sir, is a man
who has distanced us all!” The son, on hearing
this extravagant encomium, could hardly refrain from
smiling, but felt his vanity, at the same time, wonder-
fully swollen.
It may be well to show, as a specimen of these pro-
ductions, what sort of composition it was that called
forth so strong a eulogy from Dr. Parr. The spelling
is modernised.
“I, being now of sound mind, do hope that this my wish
will at my death be acceded to. As I now live in London,
and as my soul may perchance soon quit this poor body, it is
my desire that in such case I may be carried to my native place,
and that my body be there quietly interred with as little
pomp as can be; and I do now, in these my serious moments,
make this my profession of faith, and which I do most
solemnly believe.. I do first look to our loving and great
God, and to His glorious Son Jesus. I do also believe that
this my weak and frail body will return to dust, but for my
soul let God judge that as to Himself shall seem meet. O
omnipotent and great God, I am full of sin ; I do not think
myself worthy of Thy grace, and yet will I hope; for even
the poor prisoner, when bound with galling irons, even he
will hope for pity, and when the tears of sweet repentance
bathe his wretched pillow, he then looks and hopes for par-
don. Then rouse, my soul, and let hope, that sweet cherisher
of all, afford thee comfort also. O man, what art thou ?
Why considerest thou thyself thus greatly? Where are thy
1796.]
SHAKSPEARE'S - PROFESSION OF FAITH.”
143
great, thy boasted attributes ? Buried, lost for ever, in cold
death. O man, why atteinptest thou to search the greatness
of the Almighty? Thou dost but lose thy labour. More thou
attemptest, more art thou lost, till thy poor weak thoughts
are elevated to the summit, and thence, as snow from the
leafless tree, drop and distil themselves till they are no more.
O God, man as I am, frail by nature, full of sin, yet, great
God, receive me to Thy bosom, where all is sweet content and
happiness; all is bliss; where discontent is never heard, but
where one bond of friendship unites all men. Forgive, O
Lord, all our sins, and with Thy great goodness take us all
to Thy breast. O cherish us like the sweet chicken that
under the covert of her spreading wings receives her little
brood, and, hovering o'er them, keeps them harmless and in
- WM. SHAKSPEARE.”
It was this weak whining rhapsody, declaring a belief
that the body will return to dust, as if its fate had ever
been doubtful ; expressing a trust that all may hope for
forgiveness in another world because malefactors hope
for forgiveness in this ; speaking of man's thoughts
being elevated to the summit, and then dropping and
distilling till they are no more ; and signifying that all
men are united in one bond of friendship in a future
state : it was such stuff as this that Parr pronounced, in
the presence of Warton, to be superior to the finest
passages of the Church-service! Well might young
Ireland, boy as he was, be scarcely able to restrain his
laughter. Well may we wonder that such trash could
ever be believed to have proceeded from him who wrote
the soliloquy of Hamlet.
The certificate which Parr wrote, afterwards appeared
with the following names attached to it :
10U
L.
144
[Ch. XII.
LIFE OF RICHARD PORSON.
Samuel Parr.
John Teddell.
Thomas Burgess.
John Byng
James Brindley.
Herbert Croft.
Somerset.
Isaac Heard, Garter King at
Arms.
F. Webb.
R. Valpy.
James Boswell.
Lauderdale.
Rev. J. Scott. w
Kinnaird.
John Pinkerton.
Thomas Hunt.
Henry James Pye.
Rev. N. Thornbury.
John Hewlett, Translator of
Old Records, Common
Pleas Office, Temple.
Mat. Wyatt.
John Frank Newton.
It is observable that Dr. Warton's name does not appear
in this list. Boswell, we may suppose, affixed his at a
subsequent visit.
Parr, in his notice of the volume containing the forged
papers in his “Bibliotheca Parriana," calls it “a great and
impudent forgery,” and says that he is “ almost ashamed
to insert this worthless and infamously trickish book”
in his catalogue ; adding, “ Ireland told a lie when he
imputed to me the words which Joseph Warton used
the very morning I called on Ireland, and was inclined
to admit the possibility of genuineness in his papers. In
my subsequent conversation I told him my change of
opinion. But I thought it not worth while to dispute
in print with a detected impostor.” To what words
does Parr allude? If he means those about the research
affording gratification to the literary world, Ireland says
that he is uncertain by which of the two they were
uttered ; and they are, by whomsoever uttered, of little
importance. But if he means those about the superiority
of the “ Profession of Faith” to the Litany, he surely
would not have maintained that it was Warton who
spurted forth that Johnsonian phraseology. If the
1796.]
PORSON AND PARR.
145
Ul
words were spoken at all, they must certainly have
been spoken by Parr. But even if Parr would have
affirmed that they were Warton's, he does not attempt
to deny that he himself proposed the form of certificate,
and set his hand to it.
Mr. E. H. Barker makes an effort to excuse Dr..
Parr's hasty decision by the following peculiar argu-
mentation. « The question was one,” he says, “on
which Porson was better qualified to give an opinion
than Parr, for he was more accustomed to examine
old manuscripts; and, though Parr was a great ad-
mirer of Shakspeare, yet Porson was much better ac-
quainted with his acknowledged works: now, if Porson
entertained any opinion in favour of the genuineness and
authenticity of the papers, Parr may be excused for
entertaining a stronger opinion in their favour.” Yes
Mr. Barker, if Porson did entertain any opinion of their
genuineness, a defender of Parr may build as much
reasoning upon that opinion of Porson's as he can ; but
it will be difficult to show that Porson ever even in-
clined to such opinion. What young Ireland says,
who was doubtless ready to swell the number of the
deceived as much as possible, is, that Porson, after in-
specting the manuscripts, appeared so perfectly well
satisfied respecting them, that Mr. Ireland, his father,
ss was emboldened to ask him whether he would be
unwilling to write his name among the list of believers
in their authenticity," when Porson very drily made the
reply that we have already mentioned. Young Ireland
does not say that Porson uttered a single word relating
to the papers, but merely that he appeared satisfied
respecting them, and the satisfaction which he felt was,
146
[CH. XII.
LIFE OF RICHARD PORSON.
it seems, that they were spurious. Mr. Barker's rea-
soning would seem also to intimate that Porson in-
spected the papers before Parr, and that Parr, suppos-
ing Porson's opinion of them to be favourable, did not
hesitate to express an opinion of them still more favour-
able; but that Porson's inspection of them preceded
Parr's is nowhere told or intimated.
It was determined to bring “ Vortigern and Rowena”
on the stage. Sheridan, after much reluctance and
hesitation, agreed that it should be acted at Drury
Lane, and Kemble, who had never believed in the
authenticity of the papers, consented to take the prin-
cipal part. The terms were, that Sheridan should
pay down 3001. for the manuscript, and that the profits
of the performance for the first sixty nights should be
equally divided between Mr. Samuel Ireland, as trustee
for his son, and Sheridan. The transaction led to long
conversations between Samuel Ireland and Sheridan,
in which Ireland omitted no opportunity of extolling
Shakspeare's transcendent genius; and Sheridan one
day remarked that, however high Shakspeare might
stand in general estimation, he had not, for his part,
so lofty an opinion of him, though he allowed him
“ brilliancy of ideas and penetration of mind.”
Shortly before the agreement was signed, Sheridan
and Richardson went to Mr. Ireland's to inspect the
fair copy of the play which had been made from the
manuscript in the disguised hand. Sheridan, after
perusing some portion, came to a line which, as young
Ireland expresses it, “was not strictly poetic;" when,
turning to Ireland the father, he exclaimed, “ This is
rather strange ; for, though you are acquainted with
1796.]
IRELAND'S PLAY REPRESENTED.
147
TOTO
my opinion as to Shakspeare, yet, be it as it may, he
always wrote poetry.” After reading a few pages
further, he said, “ There are certainly some bold ideas,
but they are crude and undigested; one would be led
to think that Shakspeare must have been very young
when he wrote the play. As to doubting whether it
be really his or not, who can possibly look at the
papers, and not believe them ancient?” Another ac-
count says that Sheridan observed that Shakspeare
must have been drunk when he wrote the play.
On the first night of the representation, Malone cir-
culated a handbill, stating that he had never believed
in the authenticity of the play, and that he was en-
gaged in writing a work which would prove the whole
of it a forgery. Samuel Ireland circulated another
handbill, declaring that he knew what Malone was
doing, and requesting every one to suspend his judg-
ment till the play should be brought on the stage.
There was a vast conflux of persons to witness the
exhibition. Sir James Bland Burgess wrote the pro-
logue, in which he said,
Y
" The favour'd relics of your Shakspeare's hand
Unrivall’d and inimitable stand."
And Mr. Merry had prepared an epilogue, which was
to be spoken by Mrs. Jordan.
The piece proceeded, with some slight interruptions,
until Kemble, in delivering a passage about death,
came to the line,
“And when this solemn mockery is o'er,95
which he delivered with more than necessary slowness,
L 2
148
[CH. XII.
LIFE OF RICHARD PORSON..
and which seemed to be the signal for a general tumult
of opposition among the unbelievers. Kemble waited
till the noise had subsided, and then repeated the
line in a similar manner, which was but a signal for a
renewal of the tumult. Efforts were made to continue
the representation, and the play was forced to its ter-
mination amid such storms of hisses and outcries as
fairly overpowered all attempts at applause from the
believers, Mrs. Jordan being hardly allowed to speak
her epilogue. Kemble was thought, of course, to have
desired the condemnation of the piece; and Sheridan
expressed much dissatisfaction with Kemble's acting on
the occasion, observing that, as a servant of the theatre,
he ought to have done his best for its interests, whether
he believed in the genuineness of the manuscripts or
not.
After the night's performance was at an end, Sheri-
dan and Samuel Ireland divided between them 206l.,
and the father handed to the son thirty pounds out of
The son had also sixty pounds out of the
three hundred, clearing in all ninety pounds by his in-
ventions. Whether the father put the rest in his pocket,
or whether it went to pay expenses that had been in-
curred, nobody has related.
Barker, a bookseller of Russell Street, who after-
wards published the play, said that if Ireland the father
had brought him the manuscript ten days before the
representation, he would have given him a thousand
guineas for it; but, after the failure, it had very little
sale; it appeared too late.
The volume in which Malone had threatened to prove
the spuriousness of the papers made its appearance in
1796.]
MALONE'S 6 INQUIRY."
149
CL
1796. The first point which he attacked was the spell-
ing. There was, throughout all the performances, a
prodigious affectation of antiquated orthography, ex-
hibiting clusters of consonants, and tails attached
to words, such as had never before met the public
eye. “I have perused some thousand deeds and other
manuscripts,” said Malone, “ but never till now saw and
written with a final e, or for changed into forre, or from
into fromme, or as into asse, or one into oune, or Master
into Masterre. I have seen,” says he, “ Leicester written
Leycestre, but never Leycesterre.” We find also expenne-
ces, receyvedde, knottedde, thysse, nygheste, bllossoms,
blloons; and Shakspeare's mistress is called Dearesste
Anna Hathierrewaye. But, in spelling, Ireland was not
consistent with himself; sometimes he forgets to write
forre in his peculiar way, and gives it in its present
form; the same is the case with receyvedde, and also
with shyllynge; and this is sometimes written, not thysse,
but thys. As to the pretended handwriting of Queen
Elizabeth, it was totally different from her genuine
hand, with the exception of the signature, which was a
clumsy and imperfect imitation of it. Arabic numerals
are used in specifying sums of money, whereas they
used to be noted thus :—xxli. vs. viüd. Shakspeare is
made to live at “the Blackfryers” before he had it.
Malone, in the course of his Shakspeare researches, had
disinterred, in the year 1790, the name of William Ire-
land, who probably gave designation to Ireland's Yard,
and young Ireland, seizing upon it, gave, as a contem-
porary name, William Henry Ireland, which is of itself,
as Malone observes, sufficient to make the “deede of
guyft” as he writes it, a felo de se, for second baptismal
V
ווווו
LULU
L 3
150
[Cu. XII.
LIFE OF RICHARD PORSON.
names had not then come into use. In this document,
SE
TI
service." (the preservation of his life when drown-
ing,] “I doe herebye give hym as folowythe!!!,” when
no punctuation at all is employed in deeds, and the
tripling of notes of admiration is an invention long
subsequent to Shakspeare's time, first used perhaps by
advertisers, and having in all probability never before
had the honour of appearing in a legal instrument.
Let us extract, though we have perhaps already given
enough, one more example of absurdity, with Malone's
comment on it, as a specimen brick of his book. The
verses to Queen Elizabeth contain the following lines :
My gracious mistress still is in my sight.
Her full perfections how shall I displaye?
No words the bright idea can portraye.
*
So when some lowly swain essayes to prove
His humble duty and obsequious love,
The practised accents in his throat are lost,
And his best purpose by his virtue crost.
So, the dumb bard, the spangled courtier cries,
And, round me speechless, all St. James's flies;
Each titled dame deserts her rolls and tea,
And all the Maids of Honour crye, Te! He!".
.
The reader will observe that the affectation of antiquated
spelling is here almost wholly laid aside, though this
may be attributed to the transcriber. Malone comments
thus :
- In the original there is a note, mentioning that this
unfortunate miscarriage happened to our poet at a breakfast
given by the queen to a select number of courtiers of both
sexes.... If the simile, 'So when a lowly swain,' should
1796.]
IRELAND'S ABSURDITIES.
151
be said to smell too strongly of one of our poet's plays, and
to be faulty in another respect, as being little more than
a comparison of a thing with itself, the answer, I suppose,
would be that Shakspeare, when he wrote these lines, had
probably recently composed his “Midsummer Night's Dream;'
and as to the other point, that Addison's celebrated simile
of the angel was equally faulty; neither was the time of
Elizabeth an age of such nicety of criticism as the present.
“On my objecting to the word idea in the fourth line, my
friend," a gentleman who had procured a copy of these verses
for Malone from the unknown in the country, as they are
not among the printed specimens, and who expressed himself
quite convinced of their authenticity, “my friend told me he
had himself made the same objection to the gentleman who
had communicated these verses; on which he said he had
made a mistake, and that he had a better copy at home,
without that word; but as I would not venture to alter any-
thing that even pretended to be the composition of our im-
mortal bard, I have adhered to the first copy. My friend
scrupled a little at the mention of St. James's, but there he
was certainly in an error ; for Queen Elizabeth sometimes
resided at that palace. The last line but two is more diffi-
cult to be got over; but those who may think those verses
genuine may very consistently maintain either that Shak-
speare foresaw in this, as in many other instances that might
be produced from the “Miscellaneous Papers,' what would be
written in the eighteenth century, or, which is full as pro-
bable, that the ingenious author of the - Epistle to Sir Wil-
liam Chambers' had a peep some years ago at this curious
relique in the dark repository where it has been preserved,
and stole from it one of his best lines.
“ Other objections were made by my friend to the omission
of the good chine and sirloin and manchet of Queen Eliza-
beth's days, and introducing our fragrant Chinese beverage,
with its proper accompaniment, in their room; and also to
the allusion to balloons and the earthquake at Lisbon, in a
subsequent part of these verses, which he had heard, though
he had not obtained a copy of them ; but the good believer told
rt
L 4
152
[Ca. XII.
LIFE OF RICHARD PORSON.
him that, a committee having been appointed to consider of
these matters (consisting of Messrs. B. C. D. E. O. P. Q. and
R.), these objections were overruled, and unanimously voted
of no weight whatsoever." *
rese
er
Some critics thought that the extraordinary deviations
from probability in the papers tended to prove their
genuineness, as a forger would have kept nearer to the
appearance of truth.
Malone deserves great credit for his perspicacity and
research in the exposure of the forgeries, but his
attempts at wit and merriment, in his exultation over
the vanquished, are often heavy and pointless.
But Malone was not to enjoy an unquestioned triumph.
In the following year, 1797, George Chalmers, with the
assistance of we know not whom, put forth his “Apology
for the Believers in the Shakspeare Papers," a weighty
octavo of more than six hundred pages, which is not so
much a defence of those who had looked favourably on
the papers, as an attack upon Malone for having spoken
scornfully of them. If Tomline’s Life of Pitt, as
Macaulay declares, enjoys the reputation of being the
worst biography in the English language, Chalmers's
Apology may well be allowed the honour of being
the dullest book of criticism in the English language.
Chalmers shook one or two of Malone's absolute
assertions, and dug up an exceptional ande and forre,
but did the case of the believers, on the whole, very
little good. Porson was fond of joking on those who,
though forced to acknowledge that Shakspeare did not
write the papers, yet wanted to prove that he might
* Malone’s Inquiry, p. 100.
1797.]
CHALMERS'S - APOLOGY."
153
have written them. Even Wakefield* launched a happy
couplet at Chalmers in his “ Imitation of the First Satire
of Juvenal :"
“See Chalmers urge with persevering page
To doubt and dulness a discerning age;"
while the author of the “ Pursuits of Literature”
applied to him Pope's lines,
“So, forced from wind-guns, lead itself can fly,
And pond'rous slugs cut swiftly through the sky.”
But the application is suitable only in part. Chalmers's
pages were leaden enough, but no impulse gave them
a rapid flight.
An anonymous writer, about the same time, shot
forth this squib:
. “ Chalmers, in every page thy readers trace
The heavy influence of thy leaden mace :
They all exclaim, when once thy book is read,
His ink is opium, and his pen is lead.” †
Mason closed the controversy with the following
lines in the “Morning Herald :"
“Four forgers, born in one prolific age,
Much critical acumen did engage ;
The first was soon by doughty Douglas scared,
Though Johnson would have screen'd him, had he dared ;
The next had all the cunning of a Scot;
The third invention, genius, nay, what not?
Fraud, now exhausted, only could dispense
To her fourth son their threefold impudence.”
The first three were Lauder, Macpherson, and Chatterton.
* Memoirs, vol. ii. p. 425.
† Spirit of the Public Journals for 1800.
154
[Ch. XIII.
LIFE OF RICHARD PORSON.
CHAP. XIII.
PORSON PUBLISHES THE HECUBA WITHOUT HIS NAME. - NATURE OF
THE ANNOTATIONS. — GILBERT WAKEFIELD'S WRATH AGAINST THE
EDITOR. — WAKEFIELD'S “DIATRIBE EXTEMPORALIS.” — HIS REASONS
FOR HIS DISPLEASURE. HIS VANITY AND PRESUMPTION.- CRITICAL
NICETIES. — NOTICE OF WAKEFIELD AND PORSON IN THE MONTHLY
REVIEW.”— WAKEFIELD'S AWKWARD ATTEMPTS AT EMENDATION, AND
OTHER ERRORS.
IN 1797 came forth Porson's first edition of a Greek
play, the Hecuba of Euripides, in duodecimo, without
his name, though, to most of those who took interest in
classical publications, it was well known that it was his.
A short preface was prefixed, in which Porson observed
that nothing recondite, or of deep research, was to be
expected in the notes, as the edition was intended for the
use of tiros; that the text, if not everywhere correct,
was at least, he hoped, nearer to correctness than it had
previously been brought; that wherever the common
reading had been altered, the reason for the alteration
had been assigned ; and that no citation of the play by
any ancient author, presenting a variety of reading, had,
as far as the editor's memory served him, been omitted.
Some remarks on the iambic trimeter were added, in
which it was said that the tragic poets never admitted
an anapæst beyond the first place, or a dactyl beyond
· the third, except in the case of a proper name.
TTS
1797.]
.
THE HECUBA PUBLISHED.
155
The preface then concluded as follows :-
“The duty of explaining and illustrating I have forborne
to take upon myself, partly lest what was intended to be but
a pamphlet should swell into a volume. Imitations of Euri-
pides by Latin writers I have, however, as they arose to my
recollection, cited in the margin. The few passages where I
have assumed the duty of the interpreter are such as allowed
me to unite with it that of the critic. But if I shall be
thought to have been, on any point, too sparing of anno-
tation, I will endeavour, in the plays that are to follow, to
avoid that fault; for the reader is to understand that the
other plays of Euripides will soon be published in the usual
order, if I shall find that the present specimen is not dis-
approved by the literary world; and, should I bring my work
to a conclusion, I intend to add some remarks on the different
metres of the tragic poets."
The preceding editors, Aldus, Barnes, King, Musgrave,
and Beck, were duly consulted, and three new colla-
tions of manuscripts were given, two in the library of
the Royal Society, and a third in the British Museum.
Among those who were not quite certain that the
new edition was Porson's, was Gilbert Wakefield, with
whom Porson maintained some intimacy, and who had
previously published the five parts of his Silva Critica,
and his Tragoediarum Delectus, in both of which pub-
lications he had proposed some emendations of the
Hecuba. Feeling persuaded however that Porson was
the editor, and finding that he himself was not men-
tioned in the preface or annotations, he hastened, in
great agitation, to the shop of Evans, the publisher, and
asked him who the editor was. “Can you have any
doubt?” replied Evans; “Mr. Porson, of course.” “But,”
said Wakefield, “I want proof, positive proof.” “ Well,
156
[C11. XIII.
LIFE OF RICHARD PORSON.
CU
then,” replied Evans, “I saw Mr. Porson present a large-
paper copy to Mr. Cracherode, and heard him acknow-
ledge himself the editor.” Wakefield, having thus got
sufficient evidence, went home and wrote In Euripidis
Hecubam Londini nuper publicatam Diatribe Extempo-
ralis ; an effusion compounded of praise and censure,
of complaint and apology.
« A few days before the appearance of this produc-
tion,” says Kidd, “ Porson had met Wakefield at Payne's
shop, from whence, conversing amicably on literary
matters, they sauntered down to Egerton's, and after-
wards parted in a friendly manner at Charing Cross. A
few days afterwards, Porson left town for the country-
house of a friend, where he was told that Wakefield
was coming out with something against him. He
was surprised, but, on receiving a copy of the perform-
ance, observed that it was as unskilful as it was rash,
and that a column in a morning paper would be suffi-
cient to show its want of solidity. But, added he, “if
he goes on thus, he will tempt me to examine his Silva
Critica. I hope we shall not meet; for a violent quar-
rel would be the consequence.""*
On the eve of the publication of the Diatribe, Porson
is said to have been at a club to which he belonged,
consisting of seven members and a president; when, in
the course of the evening, the president proposed that
each of the members should toast a friend, accompany-
ing his name with a suitable quotation from Shakspeare.
When Porson's turn came, he said, “I'll give you my
VE
* Rogers's Table Talk, “Porsoniana," p. 320. Kidd, Tracts, p.
lxxi.
1797.]
WAKEFIELD'S “ DIATRIBE."
157
friend Gilbert Wakefield. “What's Hecuba to him, or
he to Hecuba ? ?>
Wakefield's great reason for sending forth this pam-
phlet was, as he pretends, to remind the learned of that
kindness and courtesy which they ought to observe in
their conduct one towards another.
“ The intercourse of scholars with scholars," he says, “in
which they have constant opportunities of praising, advising,
assisting, and recommending one another, conducting them-
selves, not as detractors from others' merits, but as sharers
and competitors in the same honourable labours, has always
appeared to me one of the most grateful consolations of the
unhappy lot of man. For my own part, whatever others
may think, if I should become insensible to the incitements
of honourable fame,
6. Quæ carmine gratior aurem
Occupat humanam,'
I should consider that I lost by such privation one of the
noblest feelings of our common nature; nor would I object
to be pronounced by all upright and liberal-minded men, in
the words of Nestor,
Aøpórwp, ádépilotos, ávéorius,
unfit to share the same social rites, the same laws, and the
same hearths with those around me. I would ask, therefore,
those whose minds are of the higher order, and who are actuated
by such kindly feelings as liberal studies ought to cherish,
to tell me candidly whether a man, who has always been
praised, honoured, and treated as a friend by me, is not alto-
gether inexcusable, when, in writing on similar topics with
myself, and seeing a favourable opportunity for commending
me, he not only did not embrace it (for of that I should not
have complained), but let it pass with such utter disregard as
not obscurely to insinuate, but plainly to declare to all that
read his pages, that he thinks my services to Greek literature
utterly valueless, and considers me totally unworthy to have
158
[CH. XIII.
LIFE OF RICHARD PORSON.
my name enrolled among those of the learned. If I had left
this insult, which, though silent, is more expressive than
words, unresented, I might well be thought, through con-
temptible stolidity, ignorant of what is due to a high-minded
man, and chargeable with the basest insensibility to ill treat-
ment. But I am not deficient either in feeling or under-
standing; and this edition of the Hecuba provokes me boldly
to display the inscription on my standard, Spectemur agendo,
which (having all my life laboured under many disadvantages,
and not having enjoyed, what I should have considered the
greatest happiness, an education at Eton,) I should before
have been afraid to hold up to view."
The allusion to education at Eton was intended as
something like a sneer at Porson. Porson, in regard to
his silence concerning Wakefield, told Burney that he
had forborne to mention him from kindness, as he could
have noticed him only with the severest censure.
Another reason which Wakefield gave for publishing
the Diatribe was a desire that the relics of antiquity
might be put in a more correct state, aliquanto castiga-
tiora, into the hands of studious youth, for whom he
sarcastically observes that Porson professed to write.
He therefore proceeds to correct Porson's corrections,
or to make remarks on passages which he thought that
Porson should have altered. We shall produce a few
of his animadversions ; the futility of many of them
will be evident to those who know but little Greek ;
and the mere English reader may wish to know some-
thing of the controversy.
His first assault is on Porson's patronage of the.
paragogic y, inserted when the next word begins with a
consonant. Thus he would read, at the end of an iambic
verse,
--- 'ipncē kakās, for eipnikev,
TS
1797.1
WAKEFIED'S CRITICAL NOTIONS.
TMTM
159
LI
JO
and, at the beginning,
Zevs ülesē ue, instead of @legev,
asserting that it is manifest, both from manuscripts, and
from the earliest editors, that such a use of this letter
was unknown to the ancient Greeks, and had its origin
from modern transcribers. On this point he entered
also in his correspondence with Fox, and, as Fox de-
sired full information concerning it, Wakefield enlarged
upon it in the following argumentation :
" It is not for us, at this time of day, to lay down the laws
of Greek composition and versification, but to inquire into
the actual practice of the ancients. Now it is most certain
that the old editions and old scholiasts so generally omit the
v where modern editors interpolate the letter, as to induce a
most probable conviction that it was universally omitted by
the ancients; and the few present exceptions are the officious
insertions of transcribers and publishers, who would be wise
above what was written,' and modelled the manuscripts by
their own preconceptions of propriety. Whereas, from the
current persuasion among modern scholars of the necessity of
support to these short syllables by the application of con-
sonants, it is perfectly inconceivable that they should have
left the syllables in question unsustained, had they found the
v in their copies. Nay, it cannot be doubted but modern
editors, like Porson, would invariably supply the v in all
those places where early editors were contented to omit it in
obedience to their authorities; and, if the early editions were
lost, all traces of the old practice, as it should seem to be,
would presently be obliterated beyond recovery."*
Again :
" It is universally allowed that the early editors adhered
* Wakefield's Correspondence with Fox, p. 98.
160
(Ch. XIII.
LIFE OF RICHARD PORSON. .
more closely to their manuscripts. In their editions the
final v is commonly omitted. In such works as scholia, of
which few copies were circulated, that v is always omitted.
Good reasons may be assigned for the occasional insertion,
but none possibly for the omission. Owners of manuscripts
have perpetually corrected them, as we see at this day, accord-
ing to their own fancy; and if Porson, for example, had them
all, he would put in the v throughout; and these manuscripts
might go down as vouchers for the practice of antiquity.
Very little learning would suffice to induce men .to insert v,
from an appearance of vicious quantity; so that a very old
manuscript now might abound in that insertion, though its
prototype were without it; and so on. But the acknowledged
omission in innumerable instances even now, and that obvious
reason for its insertion in the rest, when no possible solution
can be given for the regular omission, induce, to my appre-
hension, a probability of the highest kind, that the ancients
never used it at all. More might be said, but this is the sub-
stance of the argument.”*
Fox, who was not qualified by profundity of research
to judge for himself on the matter, listened to Wake-
field's representations, and believed that Porson, who
adhered to his own practice, with regard to the v, in
the plays which he published subsequently, persisted
in it only from obstinate opposition to Wakefield.
Porson, in a note on the sixty-fourth verse of the
Orestes,
Παρθένον, έμή τε μητρί παρέδωκεν τρέφειν,
disposed of the subject, and of Wakefield, but without
naming him, thus :
6 When a word ends in a short vowel, and the next word
begins with two such consonants as would allow it to remain
* Wakefield's Correspondence with Fox, p. 114.
1797.]
WAKEFIELD'S VIOLENCE.
161
short, I scarcely think that any indisputable examples can be
found of the final vowel being lengthened. Whoever should
appeal to the authority of manuscripts in such cases would
be extremely foolish, for the authority of manuscripts on the
point is valueless ; and I have only to entreat that nobody
may abuse their testimony to overthrow my rule ; for manu-
scripts neither agree with one another as to the practice, nor
is the same manuscript always consistent with itself through-
out.”
In a note, too, on the Grenville Homer, for which
he afterwards collated the Harleian manuscript of the
Odyssey, he observes that “ that manuscript observes
no certain rule either as to adding or as to inserting
the final v. It often adds it at the end of a verse, when
the next verse begins with a consonant; it often inserts
it at a cæsura, when a liquid or two consonants follow;
and it often omits it when the metre seems to demand
its insertion.*
Wakefield then attacks Porson about the word óirtós,
which Porson made a dissyllable, but observed that it had
always before been given as a trisyllable. This assertion,
says Wakefield, is in falsissimis habendum, one of the
greatest of falsehoods, for I myself edited it as a dis-
syllable in Herc. Fur. 194, so that I am almost tempted
to address the present editor in the following words
of Homer, nor should I, I think, incur the reader's
censure by doing so:
censil
’Arpeidn, uij teúde', Étlotájevog oáøn eineTv.
Atrides, lie not, when thou know'st the truth."
This savage language Porson noticed, when he edited
the Medea, as follows, in his note on ver. 634. “ Barnes
* Note on Odyss. i. 54.
M
162
[CH. XIII.
LIFE OF RICHARD PORSON.
T
observed, in his annotation on this verse, that ôïotÒS
must be scanned as a dissyllable, and makes a similar
remark on Androm. 1134; but in Herc. Fur. 196,
having then grown bolder, he actually prints oictos
instead of oio TÓS. When, therefore, I said in the pre-
face to the Hecuba that the word “had always before
been edited óirtós,' I made a mistake, or, if you had
rather, gentle reader, I TOLD A LIE, having been de-
ceived by Musgrave's edition.” Many young students,
who knew nothing of Wakefield's “ Diatribe,” must
have wondered why Porson thus expressed himself.
On verse 154, where Hecuba speaks of Polyxena
being stained with a stream of blood εκ χρυσοφόρου
despăs, “ from her gold-bearing neek," and where Por-
son observes, “it was customary among the ancients
for virgins to wear a great deal of gold,” Wakefield
cries “ Nugce! how could Polyxena, a captive, have a
great deal of gold?” and exults greatly in an emenda-
tion which he proposes, εκ χρυσοφόβου δειρής, intending
16
alteration Dr. Burney, in his critique on Wakefield and
Porson in the “ Monthly Review,” justly made the fol-
lowing strong objections: 1. The compound xpuoosóbos
2. If it were found, it would signify qui aurum timet,
as ůdpo$óbos signifies qui aquam timet. 3. Or, if it had
authority, and could signify golden-haired, it would not
be applied to a mortal, for golden hair was attributed
only to the deities, while the epithet Earbos was applied
to that of mortals. 4. But if it could justly be applied
to a mortal, would Euripides have thought it a proper
epithet for the neck of Polyxena ? 5. That the cap-
1797.]
VISIONARY CRITICISM.
-
163
tives had no valuable ornaments is refuted by a sub-
sequent passage of the play, where Hecuba proposes
to collect from the captives such valuables as they had
concealed from their captors, to deck Polyxena’s dead
body. So numerous, in many cases, are the objections
which he who would alter the text of an author has to
anticipate.
We must notice another of Wakefield's flights. On
the passage,
τι νέον
Kapúšao' oikwv '', ūot' öpvev
Daußei rõdégéttažas;
he offers these strictures : -
66 Awake, ye learned men, who have polished Euripides
for us, and tell us, I pray, what sort of phrase is this,
ÈKTTKO O ELV očkov Tiva; They are silent, having nothing to
say. But perhaps, O most sagacious and accomplished editor,
that friend of yours, who recently, with such deceit and want
of firmness, attacked me from under cover in the review of
the Glasgow ' Æschylus,'
Τυφλοίς ορώντας ουτάσας τοξεύμασι,
(me, a humble individual, who have the greatest difficulty in
these hard times, to scrape together a maintenance for myself
and my family,) will vouchsafe us information on the subject,
and throw light upon these and other astonishing matters !
Meanwhile I would say, and affirm with the utmost boldness,
that this phrase is to be regarded as the merest and lowest
barbarism, in support of which opinion the reader may con-
sult my notes on Herc. Fur. 976, 987, and Ion. 1299. The
word, indeed, must either be taken for ¿éttajas, from 7táw,
TTTMt, volo, or we must write, FETTOaoas, from toléW,
terreo. Choose which you please.”
M 2
164
[Cu. XIII.
On this passage Dr. Burney remarks :
. “To whom Mr. Wakefield refers, and applies his quotation
from the “Hercules Furens,' it would be presumption in us
to attempt to determine. Let the galld jade wince; our
withers are unwrung. Mr. Wakefield cannot allude to the
Monthly Reviewer's critique on the Glasgow • Æschylus,
which should have been Mr. Porson's edition. Some critic
has probably brought forward Schutz's remarks on Mr. Wake-
field's Eumenides, and has been comparing the three editions
and the Monthly Reviewer's strictures together. To some such
animadversions this passage may perchance relate, though they
have not reached us. ... Our article, if we be not grossly
misinformed, has been commended by liberal scholars, on
account of the temperate observations which it contained.
The person to whom Mr. Wakefield alludes may possibly
reply; but, at all events, it is our duty to mention the passage
and the note."
It is then observed that εξέπταξας, from έκπτήσσω,
is sufficiently defended by Hom. Il. Ę. 40 :
“Ο δε ξύμβλητο γεραιός
Νέστωρ, πτηξε δε θυμόν ένα στίθεσσιν 'Αχαιών,
and by various other instances of neuter verbs used in
an active signification.
In commenting on ver. 323,
Τυμβόν δε βουλοίμην αν αξιούμενον
Τον εμόν οράσθαι,
he makes a curious blunder. He denies that a Eloûtban
can be used absolutely, or without its genitive case,
and therefore proposes to read τιμών for τον εμόν: or,
he adds, if γόνιμος might be used for γενναίος, noble,
we might read yóvopov, which, as to its letters, has a
greater resemblance to Tòv Suóv. He first says that
1797.]
ABSURD ALTERATIONS OF TEXT.
165
LUT
å Erollo «. cannot be used without its case, and then,
by suggesting róvquov, proposes to use it without its
case.
In ver. 490, Hecuba is represented as lying with
her back, vữTO, on the ground. Would she lie so
indecently? says Wakefield. No: read ypõta, with
her body on the ground. In ver. 500, she is repre-
sented as defiling her head, zápx, with dust. Would
she defile her head only? asks Wakefield. No: read
xpód, and make her defile her whole body. In ver.
164, the chorus is said to report rýpata, woes. No,
says Wakefield, alter it to pýuata : people report words,
not woes. In ver. 508, Porson, with other editors,
leaves os, thee, to be understood. Oh no! exclaims
Wakefield, such negligence is highly criminal. Ought
the lines of so correct a poet as Euripides to be put
thus carelessly into the hands of studious youth ? Attach
the pronoun to the beginning of the verse :
L''Ayapéjvovos répWavtos, À yúval, péta,
a position and elision of which the merest schoolboy
can see the inelegance. In the first edition of the
“ Diatribe,” indeed, the line was presented thus
'Ayapéuvovos réuxavtos o’, yúval, péra,
with a spondee in the fourth place; but afterwards a
correction was made with a pen, and at last the page
was cancelled, with some others* One page was sup-
pressed because selexi had been put for selegi ; and
another to alter ad hoc scopulum to ad hunc scopulum.
In the earlier pages•of the “ Diatribe”, on ver. 32, he
V
* Monthly Review, vol. xxviii. pp. 204, 442.
M 3
166
[Cu. XIII.
LIFE OF RICHARD PORSON.
blunders, in his hurry, into writing tpitałow ripégav and
τρίτον ημερών.
We may now have done with this effusion of Wake-
field's. About fifty alterations of the “Hecuba” are
proposed in it, by not one of which would the text be
improved. Wakefield said that his surprise at not being
noticed by Porson in his Hecuba was the greater, as he
had been noticed by him in the Appendix to Toupii
Emendationes in Suidam. The notice was merely that
Wakefield, in his Silva Critica, had hit upon a similar
emendation of a word in Suidas with himself.* We
have searched the Silva Critica for the readings which
Wakefield had proposed before Porson published his
Hecuba. They are five, and are, the reader may be
assured, of the same character, trifling and venture-
some, as those in the “ Diatribe.”
* Append. ad Toup. Emend. in Suid. tom. iv. p. 473.
1797.]
HERMANN'S “HECUBA.”
167
CHAP. XIV.
HERMANN, IN IGNORANCE OF PORSON'S STRENGTH, PUBLISHES A RIVAL
EDITION OF THE “ HECUBA."--- HIS REMARKS ON PORSON AND WAKE-
FIELD. —- HIS NOTIONS ABOUT THE ADMISSIBILITY OF ANAPÆSTS INTO
TRAGIC TRIMETER IAMBICS.--ELMSLEY'S REMARK ON THE SUBJECT. -
PORSON'S “PAUSE." - HERMANN ATTEMPTS TO ACCOUNT FOR THE
NECESSITY OF IT. --- ELMSLEY AGREES WITH HERMANN. — HERMANN'S
REASONS APPARENTLY FANCIFUL.-PORSON DISPLEASED AT HERMANN'S
DISRESPECTFUL STRICTURES. - HOW THEY AFTERWARDS REGARDED
EACH OTHER.—REMARKS ON HERMANN IN THE “ QUARTERLY REVIEW."
- HERMANN'S CONTEMPTUOUS MENTION OF HEATH AND BENTLEY.--
LETTERS TO PORSON FROM HERMANN AND HEYNE.
AN
UC
Son
I
But a more considerable antagonist than Wakefield was
rising against Porson on the other side of the Channel ;
a man, says Kidd, neque meo judicio stultus et suo valde
sapiens. Gottfried Hermann, then a very young member
of the University of Leipsic, had published, in 1789,
a treatise on the metres of the Greek and Latin poets,
and was preparing to put forth an edition of the “Nubes”
of Aristophanes, which appeared in 1799. Meeting
with Porson's edition of the “Hecuba,” he could not but
see that it had much merit, but observing that Porson,
in his preface, had proposed his dicta regarding the
metres without much proof, and seeing that many of
them were contrary to his own notions of what was
allowable, he resolved, in entire ignorance of Porson's
full strength, to publish a rival edition and preface, in
which he might pronounce his opinions, as a superior
on an inferior, regarding Porson's emendations and me-
MA
168
[Cu. XIV.
LIFE OF RICHARD PORSON.
trical tenets. He accordingly mingled with his praise,
in his prolegomena and annotations, an abundant quan-
tity of censure. It will be well to quote the com-
mencement of his preface :
“Porson, although he warned his readers to expect from
his edition nothing recondite, or of deep research, has yet
done such service to Euripides as no one, who is not either
unjust, or unskilled in Greek literature, will deny to be
eminently worthy of a great critic. But there is one point,
and one only indeed, in which he has disappointed the ex-
pectation which rumour had excited regarding his publica-
tion. He was said to have made many observations relating
to the science of metres ; a subject which it was the more
desirable to illustrate, as the text of Euripides, in this respect
especially, is somewhat more difficult of emendation than
that of the other tragic writers; but though some remarks,
indeed, on this department of classical learning, have been
offered by Porson, yet he has chosen to state them arbitrarily
and oracularly, rather than with the fulness of explanation
which it is the duty of a critic to give. The consequence of
this method seems likely to be, that the greater number of
those who read the 'Hecuba' of Porson, considering his cha-
racter and authority as sufficient supports for his assertions,
will be more ready, at least in this department of learning,
to yield an implicit assent to his notions than to examine
with care what he has somewhat too obscurely delivered.
Whatever Porson, therefore, appears to me to bave erred in
asserting, I have taken upon myself to notice, not, however,
for the purpose of censuring him, but for the benefit of
those who take an interest in these studies. Nothing abso-
lutely perfect in any respect has ever been produced, we must
remember, by any individual of the human race. It is but
right, therefore, that we should criticise the performances of
others with freedom, nor should we, if we receive censure, be
uneasy under it. I do not plead my own cause, but that of
“I have thought proper, too, to take some notice of the
1797.]
HIERMANN'S STRICTURES.
169
conjectures of Wakefield, whom Porson has suddenly found,
though not an equal, yet a determined, adversary; and who,
as he exhibits not less rashness and presumption than ability,
and not more exact knowledge of Greek than of Latin, is,
though deserving of some consideration, yet quite unworthy
to carry such authority as he has gained among my country-
men, who are apt to be too favourable judges of foreigners.”
After some remarks on Porson's spelling of certain
words, and his adherence to Dawes's canon respecting
the unlawfulness of omitting the augment in Attic
Greek, a canon which Hermann labours to impugn
dictum regarding the inadmissibility of anapæsts into
any place of a tragic senarius except the first, and of
dactyls into any except the first and third, unless when
proper names, which could not be subjected to this
rule, were used. He fixes, first of all, on a passage of
the preface which must be acknowledged to be indeed
vulnerable. Porson says, “So far is it impossible, in
my opinion, for an anapast to constitute the second or
fourth foot, that it cannot even constitute the third or
the fifth. Whoever admits that this is true with regard
to the third foot, will admit à fortiori, as logicians say,
that it is true with regard to the fifth ; for a dactyl,
which is very often used in the third foot, is never seen
in the fifth ; and therefore the anapæst, if it is excluded
from the third, will be excluded from the fifth.” This
reasoning is not sound, because there might not be the
same objection to placing the long syllable of the ana-
rea
syllables of the dactyl before it. Porson, indeed, only
showed that the anapæst was not used in the fifth foot,
170
[Cm. XIV.
LIFE OF RICHARD PORSON.
.
(or in any foot but the first, except in the case of a
proper name,) not that it could not be used ; and all
who have since written on the subject have shown no
more. Hermann next, in the course of his dissertation,
proceeds to argue that an anapæst would be less toler-
able in the third place than in the fifth, but a school-
boy may see that what he advances for argument on
this point is mere fancy.
His conclusion is, that an anapæst may be admitted
indiscriminately into any place of a trimeter iambic;
nihil interesse quâ in sede trimetri anapastus occurrat,
excepting of course the last; “ and therefore,” he adds,
“if all senariż that present an anapast in the third place
are corrupt, it will not from thence be deducible that
all those require correction which present anapæsts in
other positions. If indeed we resolve to eject the ana-
pæst altogether, we must inquire whether it is to be
ejected for causes inherent in its own nature, or for
causes external to its nature. As to its nature, it must
be allowed that though it is not altogether adapted to
the gravity of the tragic trimeter, yet that it is not
altogether at variance with it, since it is admitted with
such frequency in the case of proper names. We must
suppose, accordingly, that it was not admitted except
under the strong obligation of necessity, as when the
poets were compelled to use words for which they could
not substitute others; of which kind of words there
might not only be proper names, but other words, that
could not conveniently be changed, and in the use of
such words who would be offended at the introduction
of an anapast ?"* We need not follow Hermann's rea-
* Præf. in IIec. p. xlviii.
T
CUS
na
2-
1797.]
PORSON'S ACUTENESS.
171
SO1
SON
OL
21
112
soning any further. If Porson did not prove that an
anapæst could not be used in a tragic senarius elsewhere
than in the first foot, he at least made all scholars believe
that it was not elsewhere used. “Should any scholar
of the nineteenth century," says Elmsley, “ venture to
maintain the admissibility of an anapæst, not included
in a proper name, into any place of a Greek tragic sena-
rius except the first foot, he would assuredly be ranked
with those persons, if any such persons remain, who
deny the motion of the earth, or the circulation of the
blood. Before the appearance of the Preface to the
Hecuba, critics were divided into two sects upon this
subject; the more rigid of which' excluded anapæsts
from all the even places, whereas the other admitted
them promiscuously into any place except the last.
Mr. Porson, p. 6, with his usual strictness in attributing
the merit of discoveries and improvements to the right
owners, mentions an obscure hint of the true doctrine,
which is contained in the preface to Morell's Thesaurus
Græcce Poëseos.”* But that hint fell without effect on
all Morell's successors until Porson.
In his note on ver. 343 Porson obscurely indicates
his knowledge of that kind of cæsura of the fifth foot
which he afterwards called the pause, to distinguish it,
as he afterwards said, from the other cæsuras, because
a verse which is without any of the other cæsuras is of
necessity ill-modulated, but a verse may not strike the
car as ill-modulated which wants the pause. The
verse is,
Κρύπτοντα χείρα, και πρόσωπον έμπαλιν,
OWY
Oll.
ise
* Edinb. Rev. vol. xix. p. 65.
172
[Co. XIV.
LIFE OF RICHARD PORSON.
and the note,
“ Aldus reads Točutraliv, but several manuscripts, as well
as Eustathius on Il. A. p. 129, 14=97, 31, have šumadiv,
which makes indeed no difference as to the sense, but a very
great difference as to the metre. What I mean will perhaps
be better understood, if I assert that there occur in the Tragic
poets very few verses resembling the first verse of the “Ion,'
"Atlas ó xałkéolor vÓTous oủpavóv."
20
VU
The rule regarding the pause he afterwards expressed
thus : If a senarius end in a word which forms a cretic,
and a word of more than one syllable precede the cretic,
the fifth foot ought to be an iambus, the variations and
exceptions, which we need not notice here, being sub-
joined. Porson discovered that the tragic poets ob-
served this rule, but did not pretend to suggest any
reason for their observation of it. Hermann, in his
edition of the “Hecuba," said that the reason was as
follows:
“The reason why such a position of the words, zaléocou
VÁTois oúpavov, must displease the ear, is this. Since at the end
of a verse, when the lungs of an actor are almost exhausted,
a gentler flow of pronunciation is required, all harsher sounds
offend the ear, and offend it the more the greater the difficulty
of uttering them, such a collocation of the words as disjoins
the latter portion of the verse by too lengthened a sound
from the former, and thus hinders and retards the easy flow
of the numbers, is carefully avoided."
This solution of the difficulty receives great approba-
tion from Elmsley. “It is by no means necessary,"
says he, “ to have enacted the part of Mercury in the
"Ion’ of Euripides, in order to be sensible of the relief
which is afforded to the exhausted lungs of a corpu-
1797.]
ELMSLEY'S CRITICISM ON HERMANN.
173
UU
lent performer by that variation of the verse in ques-
tion, "Armas ó vÚTois xarxéoio w oúpavóv. . . . Upon the
whole it is not without reason that Mr. Hermann exults
in the following terms over the inaptitude of his rival
to investigate the causes of those facts which he himself
had sufficient sagacity to discover. Id sponte animad-
vertisset vir doctissimus, si non satis haberet observare,
sed in caussas etiam earum rerum quas observaret in-
quirendum putârit. This the learned critic would
readily have discovered, if he had not been content
merely to observe, but had thought proper to inquire
into the causes of what he observed."*
But it will surely not appear to every one that this
suggestion of Hermann's deserves all the commendation
which Elmsley was so ready to bestow upon it. It
supposes that an actor, when he began to pronounce a
speech, took in just sufficient breath to carry him
through the first verse; that when he reached the end
of the verse his lungs were exhausted and emptied;
that, consequently, he paused at the end of it, and in-
haled another supply of breath to carry him through
the second verse ; and proceeded thus, pausing at the
end of every verse for breath, through a whole speech,
however long it might be. But doubtless pauses were
made by actors, not at the end of every verse for breath,
but in accordance with the requirements of the sense.
The arrangement of the words in vútois oúpavóv offended
the ears of an audience because it violated a recognised
principle of the iambic metre, not because the lungs of
a corpulent performer would find a difficulty in pro-
* Edinb. Review, vol. xix. p. 82.
174
[CH. XIV.
LIFE LIN
OF RICHARD PORSON.
nouncing it; for performers in general are not cor-
pulent, and we may consider that the lungs even of a
corpulent one would have been able to utter a verse
without beginning to feel exhaustion at the commence-
ment of the fifth foot. How did actors utter other
verses of which the fifth foot was a spondee?
Porson considered himself so disrespectfully treated
in Hermann's preface and notes to the “ Hecuba," that
he chose to regard him, ever after, as a personal enemy.
He used to allude to Wakefield and Hermann together,
and appears to have been provoked at nothing, in the
whole course of his literary career, so much as at their
animadversions on his critical dogmata. He would
speak of them as four-footed animals, and say that
whatever he wrote in future should be written in such
a manner that they should not reach it with their paws,
though they stood on their hind legs to get at it.*
Hermann's criticisms drew from Porson the Supple-
ment to his Preface, in which he amply vindicated all
the metrical canons and opinions which he had before
delivered, and vindicated them at the expense of
Hermann, for though he is not named in the Supple-
ment, yet almost every line of it, as Elmsley observes,
contains an allusion to some blunder committed by
Hermann either in his “ Treatise on Metres,” or in his
edition of the “ Hecuba.” “Whoever wishes thoroughly
to understand," he adds, “ the preface to Mr. Porson's
edition of the · Hecuba,' ought“ to devote his days and
nights' to the study of Mr. Hermann's edition of the
same tragedy. Those persons who possess both editions
11
CUIIII
* Short Account of Porson, p. 6.
1797.]
HERMANN ON GREEK METRES.
175
will do well in binding them in one volume; adding,
if they think proper, the Diatribe Extemporalis of the
vehement and injudicious Wakefield, and the excellent
strictures on Mr. Porson's · Hecuba’ and Mr. Wake-
field's “Diatribe,' which appeared in the “Monthly
Review' for 1799, and which are well known to be
written by a gentleman to whom Greek literature,"
Mr. Elmsley is pleased to say, “is more indebted than
to any other living scholar.º*
Hermann, on the publication of the Supplement, could
not but feel convinced how imprudent and presumptuous
he had been, and how much he had been mistaken in
his estimate of the powers of him whose hostility he had
provoked. He became sensible of his errors, and re-
pented them, and made his book on Greek and Latin
metres a very different work from what it was at its
first appearance. Of the first edition Elmsley remarked
that it was “a book of which too much ill cannot easily
be said, and which contains a smaller quantity of useful
and solid information, in proportion to its bulk, than
any elementary treatise, on any subject, which we
remember to have seen.” It was afterwards transformed
into the Treatise so well known to scholars, which, though
containing much that is visionary and fanciful, is yet
admitted to be well worthy of perusal by all who are in
pursuit of metrical knowledge.
« The generous Hermann,” according to Kidd t,
“ was wont to do justice” to the Supplement to the
the Preface, for its exactness of research and clearness
of induction, “ in his lecture-room.” Yet he is said, on
.
So
* Edinb. Review, vol. xix. p. 65.
† Tracts, p. lxxiii.
176
[Cu. XIV.
LIFE OF RICHARD PORSON.
eius
the same authority, to have had in contemplation a
defence of the anapæst in the third place. The truth
is, it would appear, that Hermann regarded Porson and
his work, throughout the rest of his life, with mingled
feelings of admiration and dislike. He could not but
admit that Porson had immeasurably the advantage on
the point on which he had been excited to vindicate
himself, but he could but retain a sense of dissatisfac-
tion at having been himself worsted in the encounter
which he had provoked. Dr. Blomfield, in his strictures
on Valpy's reprint of Stephens's “ Thesaurus ” in the
6 Quarterly Review," * took occasion to observe that
“ Hermann and his school never miss an opportunity of
lavishing their censure on Porson, and on those English
scholars whom they facetiously enough term Porson's
disciples; while, on the other hand, it is a sufficient title
to their esteem to flatter the German critics at the .
expense of the English.” Mr. Edmund Henry Barker,
who was one of the chief editors of the “Thesaurus,” and
who had procured, it seems, a panegyrical epistle from
Hermann to prefix to it, resented Dr. Blomfield's censure
of that critic and his followers, in a pamphlet entitled
“ Aristarchus Anti-Blomfieldianus," a pamphlet which
called forth, in the pages of the “ Quarterly,” another
article on the “Thesaurus” and on Hermann's “ cham-
pion," written, not wholly, but probably in part, by
Dr. Blomfield himself, and containing the following
remarks, which it will not be unsuitable to our pur-
pose to transcribe, that it may be seen what was the
opinion of the learned world, in regard to Hermann, at
the time when they were written :
* Vol. xxii. p. 340.
1797.]
:
HERMANN'S PRESUMPTION. -
177
“ Instead of defending Hermann," says the article, “ Mr.
Barker justifies our assertion by quoting at length several
passages from his writings, in which he has spoken most
slightingly and most unjustly of the scholars of this country,
for the undisguised reason of their attachment to the name
and the example of the late Professor Porson. As to the
quarrel between Porson and Hermann (whom Mr. Barker
styles “these modern Goliahs'), it is perfectly well known to
have originated in the attempt made by the latter to decry
the edition of the Hecuba at the first publication; an attempt
which was as conspicuous for the bad feeling which dictated,
as for the utter failure which attended it; but which must
always be regarded by scholars with some satisfaction, as
being the means of calling forth from Porson that fund of
accurate and clear observation which distinguishes the second
edition of his Hecuba, and has given us more insight into
the poetry of the scenic writers of Greece than all the volumes
which ever preceded it. Porson unquestionably resented
what he considered a rude, presumptuous, and unprovoked
attack from the German, whose errors and whose ignorance
he exposes in the happiest and most complete manner, with-
out condescending to name him; but, in a note upon a
verse of the Medea, he inflicts a severe chastisement by
holding up to derision some of Hermann's blunders in caustic
and taunting language; which, however it might have been
deserved, we think that he would have better consulted his
own dignity by suppressing. Hermann, who was then a
young man, and had aspired to notice in a controversy with
an adversary whose strength he had miscalculated, was deeply
chagrined by his failure; and, we are sorry to say, appears
never to have been able to lay aside his feelings towards
Porson, which had their origin twenty-five years ago. Though
he has subsequently profited as much, perhaps, as any one
living, by the writings of Porson, though he has established
a fame not only incomparably superior to that of which his
early productions gave promise, but which is likely to be
solid and durable, yet he cannot refrain from incessant
attempts to pick faults in the criticisms of Porson, and from
178
[Ch. XIV.
LIFE OF RICHARD PORSON.
as
.
almost indiscriminate censure of all who look up to him as
à guide. For this conduct he has neither provocation nor
excuse; all Mr. Barker's research in reviews and other
English publications has not succeeded in establishing the
least proof of ill-will towards Hermann. The nature, indeed,
of his philology, being too much founded on vague theory,
and his habit of dogmatising on the obscurest topics of
ancient metre, naturally occasion the frequent dissent of
other scholars, and, it may be added, lead to a perpetual fluc-
tuation in his own judgment; but, far from his being the
object of personal dislike or jealousy, we see him everywhere
noticed with the honour and deference due to an ingenious,
learned, and most industrious scholar, who has contributed
greatly to enlarge our knowledge of Greek literature.
" In almost all Professor Hermann's writings there are
proofs of a warm and irritable temper, and of a readiness to
take offence at the most trivial expressions; a foible which
is the more to be regretted, as he appears to be a man of an
honourable mind, and is certainly an object of great attach-
ment, and even veneration, to the scholars who are his
intimates. The feelings entertained by Hermann towards
Porson are discovered from the writings of his pupils, par-
ticularly of Seidler and of Reisig, even more plainly than from
his own. That they study to flatter the prejudices of their
master by the condemnation of Porson, is too palpable in
everything which they have written. The professor himself
has lately made an ingenuous confession that he is disposed
to disapprove the criticisms of our countryman Mr. Elmsley,
(a gentleman who, by the by, is greatly his superior in every
line of scholarship,) because he finds them commended by
those who most respect the authority of Porson! This, we
think, is quite conclusive; and while we repeat our high
opinion of Professor Hermann's genius, learning, and in-
dustry, we must refuse the least credit to his judgment of
contemporary scholars."*
Parr was greatly offended at the disrespectful men-
* Quart. Rev. vol. xxiv. p. 392.
1797.]
HERMANN WRITES TO PORSON.
179
U
U12)
tion made of Heath in Hermann's notes on the Hecuba*,
and in his Observationes Criticæ.f “No.man,” said he,
“ admires more sincerely than I do the genius and learn-
ing of Hermann. But I can never read without indig-
nation the arrogant and contemptuous terms in which he
speaks of the late Mr. Heath, a man whose good sense,
good manners, and most meritorious labours ought to
have protected him from such indignities." All English
scholars were moved with indignation or pity at the
foolish remark concerning Bentley on the 325th verse
of the Nubes : Bentleius, summus alioqui criticus, sed
nullius auctoritatis in Aristophane, ad quem minimè
imbutus Attici sermonis cognitione accessit. On the
whole it was considered that the castigations which
Hermann received from Porson, severe as they were,
were not at all heavier than his arrogance and audacity
had merited.
On the 28th of November in the preceding year,
1796, Hermann sent Porson a copy of his Treatise De
Metris, with a Latin letter, in which he praises Porson's
Æschylus, and says that he is contemplating an edition
of Plautus, and requests his good offices to procure him
access to the manuscripts of that author in the libraries
of Great Britain. He had ventured on this application,
he says, at the desire of Heyne, who had promised
to second it; a promise which Heyne did not fail to
perform. The reader shall see both Hermann's letter
and Heyne's in such an English dress as I can give
them.
* Ver. 1002.
† P. 59.
| Memoirs of Wakefield, vol. ii. p. 439.
C
N 2
LIFE OF RICHARD PORSON.
[CH. XIV.
“ To the much-celebrated RICHARD PORSON,
GODFREY HERMANN wishes the greatest health.
“My friend Heyne has given me an excellent proof of his
kindness in not only assuring me that you, a gentleman so
well known to fame, would not fail to regard me with favour,
but in not hesitating to induce you, by his own recommenda-
tion, to receive with indulgence the letter which I now
address to you. By this encouragement he has freed me
from great anxiety and apprehension; for though I had no
greater object of desire than that gentlemen of distinguished
merit in Great Britain should be willing to aid my literary
endeavours by their authority, yet I was extremely fearful,
either that I should find no means of access to them, or such
only as I should not be able to adopt without great pre-
sumption. Nor do I now, indeed, feel altogether free from
timidity on this account; though my fears have been much
allayed by the report of your kindness, which is said to be
extremely great; by the knowledge of your love of learning
and eminent literary merits, of which an illustrious specimen
has lately appeared in your edition of Æschylus; and by
your manifest zeal and readiness to serve all by whom learn-
ing is assiduously cultivated. I thought, too, that I might
more reasonably rest my hopes on your indulgence, if I should
submit to your exact and severe judgment some of the fruits
of my labours. I have therefore sent you a book which I
have written on the metres of the Greek and Latin poets ;
though I am aware that, should it secure me any regard,
such regard must be attributable, not so much to what I
good-will and consideration of the reader.
.
sentence in its favour will be one of the greatest honours,
and your support of it one of the greatest pleasures, that can
happen to me in the whole course of my studies, especially
of those studies to which I have now devoted myself; for,
having felt, some years ago, from the example of Richard
Bentley, an extraordinary desire to edit Plautus, I was led,
1797.]
HERMANN'S LETTER.
181
some time afterwards, to contemplate that object the more
eagerly, by observing that the method which that great man,
formerly the ornament of his country, had adopted in editing
Terence, had been abandoned by alimost all other scholars.
My desire, however, remained unaccomplished, as I gave
precedence to Frederic Augustus Wolf, who entertained the
same purpose, and than whom no more learned editor of
Plautus could have been found. But when Wolf himself,
after I had published my book on metres, gave up Plautus
to me of his own accord, he inspired me with so much new
ardour, while other learned friends also encouraged me, that
there is no object which I would less willingly relinquish
than that of giving a new edition of Plautus.
“ Yet I have still one cause for great care and anxiety, since
the manuscripts of Plautus, without which it is certain that
no new light can be thrown on his text, are not only very
few, but also, from the distance of the places in which they
are kept, very difficult to be collated. But the excellence of
the readings which Bentley has produced, on several occa-
sions, from the manuscripts preserved throughout Great
Britain, has fixed my hopes and expectations chiefly on them.
If perchance Bentley, as he once thought of editing Plautus,
made any collection of those readings, such a collection, both
for its greater compendiousness, and because it is likely that
the readings have been illustrated by the conjectures of their
eminent possessor, would be not less acceptable to me than
a collation of the manuscripts themselves. Should this re-
quest from me, therefore, or your regard for Heyne, have so
much influence with you as to render you not unwilling to
procure me, by your recommendation and authority, access
to those manuscripts, there would certainly be no favour
which I should account either a more fruitful cause for re-
joicing, or a more worthy subject for gratitude.
“ Leipsic, Nov. 28th, 1796."
Heyne's letter, in support of this request, was written
on the 21st of the following December :
N 3
182
[Ch. XIV.
LIFE OF RICHARD PORSON:
- To the highly-famed MR. PORSON,
. C. G. HEYNE wishes the greatest health.
“ As it is inconsistent alike with my disposition and prac-
tice to decline to do any service or kindness requested of me,
especially when such request proceeds from a highly deserving
person, you will, I hope, excuse me if I seem rather obtru-
sively to trespass on your occupation or your leisure. You
have received from one of the most learned of my country-
men a book on the metres of the ancients, with a letter which
he wrote to accompany it. That gentleman is deceived in
supposing that I have so much influence with you as to pre-
vail on you to grant to my entreaties what he so anxiously
desires. He will more easily obtain his object by addressing
himself to your kindness, provided there be but a possibility
of accomplishing that which he has in view.
“ You will see by the book that the learned writer has
attached himself with great devotion to Plautus, and is eager
to bring to effect what many, and especially the great Bentley,
have conceived or attempted in regard to that author. As
Bentley's papers are deposited somewhere with you, he is
very anxious to be allowed the privilege of inspecting them.
As to the attainment of his object, I know not whether you
have any friendship or connexion with those gentlemen from
whom permission for that purpose is to be obtained; but I
am sure that you will not be wanting in inclination or zeal
for the promotion of literature, and especially for the further-
ance of a design to settle the text of Plautus, an author whose
metres scarcely one mind in a century has sufficient learn-
ing, power, or will, to restore.
“So much for Hermann. For myself, be assured that I
have availed myself, with so much the more eagerness, of
this opportunity of addressing you by letter, as my sincere
regard for you, and my high admiration of your recondite
learning and exquisite judgment, are perpetually growing
stronger ; and to express these feelings to you, though but
by a word or two, seemed to be to lighten myself of a great
burden. Such indeed is human nature, that we delight to
1797.]
HEYNE WRITES TO PORSON.
183
open our thoughts to any one to whom we are drawn by
strong affection. It shall be my constant object to prove
myself not unworthy of your kindness.
“Gottingen, Dec. 21st, 1796."
Whether Porson returned any answer to these letters
is not known. It is not likely that he answered
Hermann; but, with all his dislike to letter-writing, he
may have favoured Heyne with a reply.
N
4
184
[CA. XV.
LIFE OF RICHARD PORSON.
CHAP. XV.
PUBLICATION OF THE ORESTES. ALLUSIONS TO WAKEFIELD IN THE NOTES ;
TO INVERNIZIUS, AMBON, AND REISKE. - SOME REMARKS ON A PAS-
SAGE IN HOJER.
In the following year, 1798, appeared the Orestes.
Wakefield, at the end of his Diatribe, had recommended
Porson, if he continued to edit Euripides, not to make
his notes so dry and formal, but to render them more
entertaining by the interspersion of amoenitates and
lepores, and disquisitions on any matters that might
in fact, such annotations as Wakefield himself attached
to his Lucretius, where everything suitable or unsuitable
is seized upon for discussion, and the tail of a comment
has no more relation to the head of it than the tail of a'
fish to the head of a woman. Porson gave a hint or
two, in his notes on the Orestes, that he remembered
this advice, but was little induced to follow it. Having
occasion, in his remarks on the fifth verse, to speak of
the discrepancies of the poets as to the punishment of
Tantalus, he concludes with saying, “I know not, gentle
reader, whether you have found your patience exhausted
in reading this note; I have entirely exhausted mine
in writing it. But if you are not yet satisfied with
these criticas delicice, these delicacies of criticism, read
1798.]
WAKEFIELD..
185
what Guellius and Cerdanus have collected,” &c. In
remarking, ver. 631, on oiyn rózou zpelo o wv, that one
manuscript has xpslooov, which perhaps some commen-
tator, paulo calidior, may add to his store of such ex-
pressions, defending its elegance by the recondite Dulce
satis humor, he makes an evident allusion to Wakefield,
who was calidus enough, and who was fond of loading
his pages with such illustrations. And when he pub-
lished the Medea, he observed that he had intimated,
in his note on the fifth verse of the Orestes, that he
could have written long, nay very long, notes, having
no connexion with his subjects; but that he had hitherto
so endeavoured to use his power as not to abuse it.”
There are other allusions to Wakefield in the notes on
the Orestes. Speaking of neuter verbs which assume an
active signification, he mentions èxTTÝO O ELV and psiv, in
Hec. 181, 532, as examples of this assumption, and says
that it would be the act of a madman to disturb the
reading in those passages ; but Wakefield had sought
to disturb it in both passages. Another allusion to him
is made, in reference to the same subject, on verse 1428,
where it is said that trapã Tóồa, in Hec. 53, is a much
better reading than περα πoδί, which Wakefield had
wished to introduce. In ver. 435 of the Hecuba, Wake-
field had taken under his patronage, in his Diatribe, a
conjecture of Jacobs, oupa for ő voua, on which Porson,
at ver. 1081 of the Orestes, comments thus:
on
“ As either of these two words is easily changed for the
other by transcribers, it is sometimes difficult to determine,
when manuscripts differ, which is the proper word; but,
when manuscripts agree, I would make no alteration. I,
therefore, in my note on Hec. 436. TPOOELTTEîv ydp gòv ovou?

SY
WIFT
**
Nr.
UN
tes.
**
186
[Cn. XV.
LIFE OF RICHARD PORSON.
Erti uoi, omitted to notice the conjecture of Frederic
Jacobs, öppa for ovoja, as a useless alteration; but, as another
opportunity of adverting to it now offers, I will give it a
brief consideration. First, I would ask, what is wrong in
the common reading? Is it wrong to say 7T POCELTTEC Övoja ?
If so, why? “Because, it may be answered, “it occurs
nowhere else. Whether it occurs anywhere else or not, I
do not know; but why do you not produce passages where
your zT POOELTTEîv õppa occurs ? If you answer that this ex-
pression is nowhere to be found, I ask you again how it is
reasonable to eject an expression of which there is one
example in order to substitute another of which there is no
example? However, to say the truth, Tpooavdav õpija seems
to present itself in Æschylus, Choeph. ver. 236; though
there indeed Valckenaer reads όνομα: while concerning όμμα-
Tos, in the 415th verse of the Phænissæ, which is his own
conjecture, he does not speak decidedly. To me it appears
that in all these passages the received reading should be
retained. Jacobs is a man not deficient either in ability or
learning, but he often abuses both these qualifications to
disturb sound readings. ... Why, when the ignorance
and audacity of transcribers have introduced so many solecisms
and barbarisms, which nobody need hesitate to attack,
"Bella geri placuit nullos habitura triumphos ?'
why should he engage in enterprises that can bring him no
honour ?"
Jacobs and Wakefield are not the only commentators
that are attacked in the notes on the Orestes. Out of
the various readings in verse 245, “ may be con-
structed,” says Porson, “ this line :
Και μη μόνον φρόνει, αλλά και πράσσε τάδε,
a.
a most elegant line, which Le Clerc, Reiske, and Triller
would adopt, I am sure, if they were alive; and which
1798.]
GERMAN CRITICS.
187
1
I have no doubt will be adopted by Invernizius and
Ammonius, Graiæ gentis decora, those living ornaments
of Greek learning.” Ammonius or Ammon had published
an edition of the Hecuba in 1789. On ver. 1235, he
again takes occasion, in noticing a verse of Aristophanes,
to censure Invernizius, who, he says, has there intro-
duced a bad reading from the excellent Ravenna manu-
script, from which a man of but moderate sense and
learning could not have failed to extract the right read-
ing. “For the information of tiros,” he adds, “I will show
how the present corruption was caused. A transcriber,
after writing the line, found that he had accidentally
omitted two letters, which letters he put in the margin,
with a mark that they were to be inserted. A succeeding
transcriber, observing the letters and the mark, was
desirous to obey the admonition of his predecessor, but,
being made of the same clay as Invernizius, could not
see the right place for them, and put them in one which
they ought not to have occupied.” On ver. 273, he
makes another hit at Reiske, who, attempting to amend
the verse, (the end of which, by some failure in the
utterance of the actor, had been pronounced yanño opo
instead of yarnu spô, I see a weasel instead of I see a
calm, and had consequently afforded a fertile subject
for jest to the comic writers,) observes that Euripides
might have escaped ridicule by writing εκ κυμάτων γαρ
opio yanajumu ailis aở. “Yes," says Porson, alluding to
the words of Juvenal about Cicero, “he certainly might
have despised all the stings of Aristophanes, Sannyrio,
and Strattis, if he had constructed all his lines on such
a model.”
Wakefield, on reviewing this play in the “ British
188
[Cu. XV.
LIFE OF RICHARD PORSON.
Critic," * was at first completely deceived by Porson's
irony, and took it for sober remark :
« 'Εκ κυμάτων γάρ ορώ γαλήνην αύθις αύ·
Behold,” says he,“ in opposition to his own statutes, an
anapæst, sanctioned by our metrical lawgiver, in the
third foot :
Quæ nemora, aut qui vos saltus habuere, puellæ
Pierides,
that ye should abandon the Professor to this dereliction
of his own rules, and such failure of recollection ?
Besides, the inadvertency of the tragedian should be
called, in strictness of speech, an ambiguity, and is
denominated a solecism, we apprehend, with inaccuracy
not pardonable in an instructor of such eminence.” But
after he had written this he began to feel misgivings
that Porson might be playing the deceiver, and, to save
himself from utter vilification, added, “ After all, how-
ever, this may be no more than a piece of affected
jocularity in the Professor to entrap the uninitiated in
the mysteries of his witticisms.”
On ver. 412 Porson remarks that Reiske, quod cum
risu mirere, was the first that gave it metrical harmony;
an effect which the reader is to understand that Reiske
produced by chance.
In his note on the ellipsis in the 664th verse, Taúrns
izvoõuai oe, he turns aside to make a comment on the
283rd verse of the first book of the Iliad, alooou!
’Axiññjë ushflev xómov: a comment which we will
translate.
* Nov. 1800.
Commc
ve
T
n
1798.]
ABSURD CRITICISM.
189
“ Rollin* remarked (being perhaps instructed by Jean
Boivin t) that riooouar never governs a dative, and that con-
sequently this passage of the Iliad ought to be rendered, I
entreat you to lay aside your anger towards Achilles. Not
that Rollin was the first to make this remark, for Henry
Stephens had given nearly the true sense in his Thesaurus;
but, when Rollin had made it, Bellenger started up to con-
tradict it; and, in the supplement to the 'Essais de Critique
de M. Vander Meulen' (the name under which Bellenger
himself wrote), Amst. 1741, pp. 92-101, says that all inter-
preters had given the passage a different signification. He
seems to have thought that if all interpreters go wrong, it is
our business to perpetuate their errors, and transmit them to
posterity! But he next accuses Rollin of plagiarism from
Stephens. If he thought this accusation just, he ought at
the same time to have acquitted Rollin of having introduced
a new interpretation. But afterwards, in order to prove that
riooouamay govern a dative, he cites a verse from Phavo-
rinus, where that verb is followed by a genitive, étè or mpòs
being understood: liooouai Zinvos 'Onourriou no è éjLOTOS,
a defective line of Homer, from which Bellenger argues thus :
If ríocouai governs a genitive, with ĚTÈ or após understood,
it may also govern a dative, since šti or pòs governs also a
dative. An egregious specimen of argumentation! And how
astonishing that he should have adduced so lame a verse with-
out remark; that one pretending to be a critic should not have
remembered even the well-known words of Homer! In this
note I acknowledge that I have deviated from my proper
course; but I have done so for two reasons; the first is, be-
cause the true sense of this passage of Homer is not generally
known, and a new one, but false, has recently been devised by
certain Scotchmen; the second, that I might show, by a
striking example, into what monstrous blunders learned men
may fall, and what absurdities they may blurt forth, if they
* Manière d'Enseigner, tom. i. p. 191, éd. Amst. 1745.
† See Academiæ Inscriptionum Monument. tom. ii. p. 23; or
Brunck ad Aristoph. Ran. 851.
190
LIFE OF RICHARD PORSON.
once venture, under the influence of anger, hatred, envy, or
any ill-feeling, to pass censure upon subjects which they
cannot or will not understand."
The hint about writing under the influence of ill-
feeling was probably directed as much against the living
Wakefield as against the deceased Bellenger. Who the
s certain Scotchmen” are, that had interpreted this
passage of Homer falsely, we do not know ; for Dunbar,
in his Analecta Minora, Professor Young, and Mon-
boddo in his “ Origin and Progress of Language,"*
seem all to have understood it rightly.
For his note on 1121,
"Qor' tidakpūoal y' čvdo@ev kexapuévny,
« Κεχαρμένη Αld. κεχαρμένην plures ΜSS. Utrumque probum,”
the German editors, Matthæi and Schafer, have pro-
nounced him guilty of a solecism, in sanctioning the
nominative, in such a phrase, before the infinitive.
“We will utter lamentations to Helen,” says Pylades, in
the preceding lines. “ So that she may make a show of
shedding tears," rejoins Orestes, “ while she rejoices in
her heart.” Scholefield endeavours to defend Porson,
by understanding xai aŭtà aio hńo etal, MOTE AUTÒ éxda-
xpūras, “ and she will see us lamenting, so that she may
shed tears," &c. But this attempt at extrication, it is to
be feared, will satisfy but few. How Porson himself
would have vindicated the nominative must be left to
conjecture.
no
2011
* Vol. ii. p. 158.
1798.]
PORSON AND PERRY.
191
191
CHAP. XVI.
PORSON'S CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE “MORNING CHRONICLE.” — REMARKS
IN THE "PURSUITS OF LITERATURE.” — HUMOROUS TRANSLATIONS OF
THREE ODES OF HORACE, IN REFERENCE TO THE POLITICS OF THE
DAY.-SOME ADDITIONAL OBSERVATIONS.
We have noticed these two plays, the Hecuba and
Orestes, together ; but previously to the publication of
the Orestes, we must observe, there had appeared, in
the “Morning Chronicle,” several squibs from Porson's
pen, the chief of which were burlesque - Imitations of
Horace," and some humorous papers on “The Orgies
of Bacchus.” After his marriage he had become still
more intimate with Perry than he had previously been ;
Perry, valuing his intellectual powers, contributed in
various ways to his comfort; and Porson, in requital,
furnished him with numerous paragraphs, chiefly of a
jocose and satirical kind, for his paper. Some have
considered that he gave up large portions of his time to
Perry, and that the columns of the “Morning Chronicle"
received numbers of contributions or corrections from
him; but more has perhaps been supposed, in regard
to this point, than was really the case. The strongest
foundation for this supposition is found in the
6 Pursuits of Literature,”* where Porson is charged
* Dialogue iv. p. 387.
192
[Cu. XVI
LIFE OF RICHARD PORSON.
1
with giving up to Perry what he owed to the world,
and is exhorted to “write no more in Mr. Perry's
little democratic closet fitted up for the wits at the
“Morning Chronicle' Office. It is beneath you," adds
the author ; “I speak seriously. I know your abi-
lities. It may do well enough for Joseph Richard-
son, Esq., author of the comedy of The Fugitive, if a
certain political dramatist's (Sheridan's) compotations
will leave him any abilities at all, which I begin to
doubt.”
The “ Imitations of Horace," consisting of whimsical
translations of three entire odes, and some fragments,
with remarks in prose, have been reprinted in the
“Spirit of the Public Journals” for 1797, and in the
fourth volume of the “ Classical Journal.” But they
are so little known to the public in general, that we
consider no apology necessary for introducing two
of the odes, and some of the prose, here. They are
excellent specimens of the dry sarcastic humour which
Porson could so happily display. It is hardly necessary
to observe that Pitt, the war with France, and the sup-
posed danger of the country from the spread of French
revolutionary principles, were the constant subjects of
attack with Perry and his writers. We have altered
two coarse expressions, in the passages italicised, a
liberty for which we think that Porson would not have
blamed us.
HORACE, Carm. lib. i. od. 14, translated.
The poet makes a voyage to Britain in pursuance of his
promise, lib. iii. od. 4, ver. 33, Visam Britannos hospitibus
feros, “I will visit the Britons inhospitable to strangers.”
The vessel in which he sailed was called the “ Britannia,”
1794.]
IMITATIONS OF HORACE.
193
whether from the place of its destination, or from the circum-
stance of being built of British wood, I cannot determine;
but, I believe, for both reasons. After a tedious voyage, at
last he arrived safe at Portsmouth. The ship was grievously
shattered; but the captain determined to go out again imme-
diately, before she was well refitted, and while the weather
was very unpromising. Several of the crew were heard to
mutter, in consequence of this proceeding; upon which the
captain, by advice of the pilot, put them in irons. But the
most curious incident was (if we may believe Quintilian) that
Horace was indicted for a libel, as if, under the allegory of
a ship, he had intended to paint the dangers and distresses
of the commonwealth. Whoever peruses my version will see
how groundless and absurd this accusation was. The reader
need only keep in mind that the poet, more safe at shore,
makes this pathetic address to the vessel in which his life
and fortunes were so lately risked.
TO THE GOOD SHIP BRITANNIA.
Britannia, while fresh storms are brewing,
I wonder what the deuce you're doing !
Put back to harbour, might and main,
Nor venture out to sea again :
Your hull's too tender long to last;
You're fain to try a jury-mast;
Your tackle's old, your timber's crazy,
The winds are high, the weather's hazy;
Your anchor's lost; you've sprung a leak;
Hark, how the ropes and cordage creak!
A rag of canvas scarce remains;
Your pilot idly beats his brains,
A cub that knows not stem from stern,
Too high ť obey, too proud to learn.
In vain you worry Heav'n with prayers;
Think you that Heav'n one farthing cares
Whether a sailor prays or swears?
In vain you sport your threadbare joke,
And call yourself " Old Heart of Oak;"
No seaman that can box his compass
Trusts to your daubs, or titles pompous.
194
[CH. XVI.
LIFE OF RICHARD PORSON.
Take heed lest Boreas play the mocker,
And cry, “ This snug in Davy's locker."
Though while on board so sick I fell,
At shore, old girl, I wish you well,
Beware of shoals, of wind and weather,
And try to keep your planks together,
Or else the rav'nous sea will gorge,
And lodge you next the Royal George.
To this soon after succeeded the following:
MR. EDITOR,
Understanding that my last translation of an “Ode
of Horace ” did not displease the best judges, I have taken
the liberty to send you a second attempt, which I sub-
mit to your candour. It may seem matter of wonder to you,
as it does to me, that neither Quintilian, nor Will Baxter,
nor any other hunter of allegories, should find out the real
drift of this Ode, which is so very easy to be discovered.
The case, in short, is as follows: -- Augustus, in the midst of
peace and tranquillity, felt, or feigned, an alarm, on account
of some books written by persons suspected of an attachment
to the party of Cato and Brutus, and recommending re-
publican principles. Now, Horace having been a colonel in
Brutus's army, and being rather too free in expressing his
religious sentiments, naturally passed for an atheist and a re-
publican. Augustus published an edict to tell his subjects
how happy they all were, in spite of the suggestions of mal-
contents; commanding them to stick close to their old
religions; and threatening that whoever was not active in
assisting the government should be treated as an enemy to
.church and state. Upon this occasion Horace read, or affected
to read, for I will not take my oath to his sincerity, a recan-
tation. In one part of the Ode he says, “ Jupiter, who
generally thunders and lightens in cloudy weather, now has
driven his chariot through the serene air.” This is so plain
an emblem of Augustus fulminating his censures in a time of
profound tranquillity, that it needs no further comment. Our
author refers to this circumstance again, in the fifth Ode of
the third Book, Calo tonantem credidimus Jovem regnare;
n
1794.]
IMITATIONS OF HORACE.
195
præsens divus habebitur Augustus : “ We have believed that
Jupiter reigns thundering from heaven; Augustus shall be
esteemed a present god.” In another place he expressly
auribus ista servas : “You joke,” says he, “and reserve your
verses for the ear of Jove.” For all sovereigns, while they
are in power, are compared to the sovereign of the gods,
however weak, wicked, or worthless they may be:
“Nihil est quod credere de se
Non possit, cum laudatur Dîs æqua potestas.”
I must not forget to add that this edict of the emperor was
followed by numerous addresses from large bodies of the men
who were once called Romans, allowing the reality of the
plots, lamenting the decay of piety, and promising to resist
all innovation, and to defend his sacred Cæsarean majesty
with their lives and fortunes.
HORACE, book i. ode 34.
Till now I held free-thinking notions,
Gave little heed to my devotions,
Scarce went to church four times a year,
But now I'm quite an alter'd man;
I quit the course I lately ran,
And, giving heterodoxy o'er,
Unlearn my irreligious lore.
Yet, lest you entertain a doubt,
I'll tell you how it came about.
Jove seldom lets his lightnings fly,
Except when clouds obscure the sky,
As well you know; but, t'other morning,
He thunder'd without previous warning,
And flash'd in such a perfect calm,
It gave me a religious qualm.
Nor me alone; the frightful sound
Reach'd to the country's utmost bound,
And every river in the nation
From concave shores made replication.*
* Shakspeare, J. Cæs. act I. sc. 1.
02
196
[CH, XVI.
LIFE OF RICHARD PORSON.
The brutish clods, in shape of cits,
Were almost frighten'd into fits.
Henceforth I bow to every altar,
And wish all infidels a halter.
I see what pow'r you gods can show,
Change low with high, and high with low;
Pull down the lofty from his place,
And in his stead exalt the base :
Thus Fortune's gifts some lose, some gain,
While mortals gaze and guess in vain.
The next specimen was offered as that of an intended
translation of Horace, prefaced by some remarks.
MR. EDITOR,
that I have seen appeared to do the author justice. There
is in Horace a grace, a delicacy, a liveliness, a fulness
of expression, and a harmony of versification, that at once
captivate the ear and the heart. I need not explain to you
how far short of these excellences our translators in general
have fallen. Having myself studied this poet with uncommon
attention, I have, with all my might, endeavoured to preserve
these qualities in my version, of which I send you the
enclosed Ode as a specimen. If you judge it to have less
merit than the partial parent believes, you will still allow it,
I hope, to soar above the common flights of modern poetry.
It is not heavy as lead, like Mr. — ; nor dull as ditchwater,
like Anna Matilda; nor mad as a March hare, like our pre-
sent excellent laureate; nor stupid, — but I should never
make an end if I went on with my comparisons. If this
sample takes, I mean to publish a translation of the whole
hot-pressed, not to exceed two volumes quarto. A great
number of engravings will be added by the most eminent
artists. The obscenities will be left out of the common
copies, but printed separately for the use of the curious and
critical readers. The passages that have an improper political
tendency will be carefully omitted; such as,-
1794.]
IMITATIONS OF HORACE.
197
“Sed magis
Pugnas et exactos tyrannos
Densum humeris bibit aure vulgus."
.“ The clustering mob is more delighted to hear of battles
and the expulsion of tyrants."
Or that address to Fortune:
“Purpurei metuunt tyranni,
Injurioso ne pede proruas
Ad arma cessantes, ad arma,
Concitet, imperiumque frangat.”
- Purple tyrants dread thee, O Fortune, lest thou shouldst
kick down the standing pillar [of existing circumstances];
lest the thronging populace should summon the loiterers to
arms, to arms, and demolish the empire.”
But these passages, thank God, are very few, and shall be
studiously suppressed. Luckily, Horace is full of loyal
effusions, which I shall endeavour to render with spirit as
well as fidelity. What, for instance, can be more applicable
than the following passage to the present holy war?
6 Diu
Latèque victrices catervæ,
Consiliis juvenis repressæ,
Sensere quid mens rite, quid indoles,
Nutrita faustis sub penetralibus,
Posset, quid Augusti paternus
In pueros animus Nerones.”
“ The armies, so long and so far victorious, were checked
by the conduct of a young prince, and became sensible what
could be done by a mind and a disposition duly nurtured
under an auspicious roof; what could be achieved by the
paternal affection of Augustus for the young Neros.”
The specimen Ode, being of a somewhat gross cha-
racter, we shall not republish.
03
198
[CH. XVII.
LIFE OF RICHARD PORSON.
CHAP. XVII.
OCCASION OF THE PUBLICATION OF THE “ORGIES OF BACCHUS."
FREND'S PAMPHLET PUBLISHED AT CAMBRIDGE. FREND ACCUSED OF
ATTACKING THE CHURCH. —-IS TRIED IN THE VICE-CHANCELLOR'S
COURT, DR. KIPLING BEING PROSECUTOR. — FREND'S DISINGENUOUSNESS.
- CHARACTER OF DR. KIPLING AS A SCHOLAR. -- HIS PUBLICATION OF
THE “CODEX BEZÆ." --- VERSES ON HIS BAD LATIN. — EVENT OF
FREND'S TRIAL. — EXTRACTS FROM THE “ORGIES OF BACCHUS.” —
OTHER CONTRIBUTIONS OF PORSON TO THE MORNING CHRONICLE.”_
“ HYMN BY A NEW-BLADE PEER."--"MISERIES OF KINGSHIP."-"ON
THE DUTIES OF GENTLEMEN-SOLDIERS.” - A HUNDRED EPIGRAMS
WRITTEN BY PORSON IN ONE NIGHT.
VI
THE circumstances that occasioned the publication of
the “ Orgies of Bacchus " in the “ Morning Chronicle”
deserve some notice.
In the year 1793, when the French Revolution was
spreading its influence, Mr. William Frend, a fellow
and tutor of Jesus College, Cambridge, published a
pamphlet entitled “ Peace and Union recommended to
the Associated Bodies of Republicans and Anti-Re-
publicans.” Shortly after its appearance, a deputation
of twenty-seven members of the University, afterwards
nicknamed “The Cube," two of whom were Dr. Kip-
ling and Dr. Jowett, waited upon the Vice-Chancellor,
Isaac Milner, and represented that the pamphlet was
written to injure the Church, as it spoke disrespectfully
of ecclesiastical ranks and dignities, declared that the
Liturgy was far from purity, and pronounced the wor-
UCU
1794.]
FREND'S PAMPHLET.
199
sses
ship of the great body of the Christians to be idola-
trous. The Vice-Chancellor, after some deliberation,
consented to proceed against Frend, and cited him
before his court, consisting of himself and ten assessors,
among whom were Farmer, the writer on Shakspeare,
and Postlethwaite, Porson's old enemy. Kipling was
promoter or prosecutor, and Frend was accused under
the statute De Concionibus, made for the protection of
the established religion. One of the strongest passages
of the pamphlet brought against him was a paragraph
in which he recommended the Dissenters to wait for a
change of religion for relief from persecution, adding,
“The most improbable tales were in early times in-
vented of the Christians; their meetings were burnt
down, and their persons were assaulted. Is it to be
wondered at that the same practices should, by the
enlightened infidel, the interested churchman, and the
ignorant populace, be in our days both repeated and
applauded? The same passions will everywhere pro-
duce on certain minds the same effect ; and the priest,
in every age, whether he celebrates the orgies of Bac-
chus or solemnises the Eucharist, will, should either
his victims or his allowance fail, oppose in either case
every truth which threatens to undermine his altars or
weaken his sacerdotal authority.” Another was a pas-
sage in which he expressed objections to all ecclesias-
tical courts, dignities, and vestments, as contrary to the
spirit of Christianity, observing that the laity sat tamely,
“like brute beasts,” under clerical usurpation; that a
man could not pledge his faith to a woman without
the interference of the priest ; that his offspring must
be sprinkled by priestly hands; and that he could not
04
200
[Cm. XVII.
LIFE OF RICHARD PORSON.
be carried to his long home without “ a spiritual incan-
tation;" practices which were highly advantageous to
the clerical community, but of no benefit to the morals
of the public.
The trial lasted eight days, much time being lost in
proving the pamphlet to be Frend's; a point which, as
his name was in the title-page, it would have been but
ingenuous in him to have admitted. But, observing
that there was a volume of sermons in circulation which
had Dr. White's name, of Oxford, on the title-page, but
which were “in reality the production of a dissenting
minister, and a member of Cambridge University,” he
threw on his adversaries the burden of proving the
pamphlet to be his, and took advantage of the delay
and discussion to annoy them, especially Kipling, with
unpleasant remarks.
Kipling, unhappily for his peace, was extremely vul-
nerable. He had printed, some years before, a selection
from Smith's Optics, with a preface, in which was this
ridiculous passage : “The following treatise contains
many inaccuracies, and even some errors, of which the
editor was fully sensible before he sent it to the press,
but was restrained from correcting them by the dread
of reprehension.” Surely he would not have been
blamed for correcting errors, whether Smith's or his
own, where accuracy was so necessary. He had also
published, just before Frend's trial, a fac-simile of the
Cambridge manuscript of the New Testament called
Beza's, Codex (as he called it) Theodori Bezce Cantabri-
giensis ; an undertaking which Porson thought utterly
useless, as the manuscript was in no respect valuable,
and a chapter or two of it would have amply satisfied
1794..]
KIPLING'S PROSECUTION OF FREND.
201
UU
the curious as a specimen; and, while the work was in
progress, he had made, in a letter to the “ Gentleman's
Magazine,"* the following uncomplimentary remarks
on the editor : “I must own that if I could once per-
ceive the use of such a work, I should readily grant
that the University has pitched upon the fittest person
in the world to be the editor. Dr. Kipling (quem ho-
noris causâ nomino) is, without any question, furnished
with every accomplishment to get honour for the Uni-
versity, and money for himself. He has, from his earliest
youth, applied himself diligently to all sorts of critical
learning, but most diligently to sacred criticism, and,
from a long acquaintance with manuscripts, aided by
natural sagacity, has become such an adept in Greek
palæography as few know, and few would believe. It
does not come within the plan of my present letter to
say anything of his professorial and oratorical talents ;
but I may venture to affirm without flattery (for I abhor
it), that I never yet heard Dr. Kipling in the schools
or the senate-house, that I had not the most lively re-
membrance of his principal, Dr. Watson.” Kipling had
frequently acted as deputy of Dr. Watson when Regius
Professor.
The ambiguity in the title of the Codex was a fa-
vourite object of attack with all who were adverse to
Kipling; an ambiguity which did not escape Porson
when he reviewed it in the “British Critic." "I do not
pretend,” said Frend in his defence before the Vice-
Chancellor, “to a deep knowledge of the Latin lan-
guage, but I have been told by better critics than
* Oct. 1788, p. 876.
202
[Ch. XVII.
LIFE OF RICHARD PORSON.
ven
myself that it should be interpreted The book of Theo-
dore Beza, a Cambridge man ; but if any twenty-seven
members of the University should take a dislike to any
passage in the book, and cite Beza before the court as
a Cambridge man, the return would be non est in-
ventus.” There was also in the preface some bad
Latinity, and Frend in consequence charged Kipling
with “ inability to speak or write a single sentence of
pure Latin.” One blunder was paginibus, on which
somebody, perhaps Porson, made this epigram, in the
style of the Epistolae obscurorum Viroruin :
Paginibus nostris dicitis mihi menda quod insunt;
At non in recto vos puto esse, viri.
Nam, primum, jurat (cetera ut testimonia omitto)
Milnerus, quod sum doctus ego et sapiens.
Classicus haud es, aiunt. Quid si non sum ? in sacrosanctâ
Non ullo tergum verto theologiâ.
The last two words in italics exemplify some of the
Doctor's other inaccuracies. Kipling had “the pagi-
nibus sheet," as it was called, reprinted in the copies
that had not been issued, but in a large number the
blunder necessarily remained. The publication cost
the University nearly two thousand pounds, and Kip-
ling is supposed to have cleared at least six hundred
guineas.
As to the observations regarding the clergy in Frend's
pamphlet, Frend sought to justify them by saying that
he designed them to bear chiefly, not on the Church of
England, but on the papists ; and declared that all he
had said would have been thought innocent, but that
one of the twenty-seven, “a gentleman famous for his
eloquence,” happened to light upon the words “ Orgies
1794.]
LETTERS OF 6 MYTHOLOGUS.”
203
-
of Bacchus,” when, like the man in Gil Blas, who was
written down a Jew on all kinds of frivolous pretences,
the author was marked as guilty of impiety.
The event of the trial was, that, as Frend refused to
admit that he had offended against the statute, and to
retract, he was sentenced to be expelled from the Uni-
versity. He appealed ; and a court of five delegates,
of whom two were Dr. Barlow Seale and Dr. John Hey,
were appointed to reconsider the proceedings; but the
result was that the Vice-Chancellor's sentence was con-
firmed. *
It was while the public press was making observa-
tions on these proceedings that Porson published his
6 Orgies of Bacchus” in the “ Morning Chronicle,” in
three letters addressed to the editor, and signed “My-
thologus." The object of these jesting effusions is to
remark how many points of resemblance may be found,
if any one is disposed to find them, between the actions
of Bacchus, as related by poets and mythologists, and
those of the Messiah. Porson draws a picture, and
leaves the reader to consider whether he has not seen
another picture containing objects similarly disposed ;
and the reader, struck with the comparison, will, ac-
cording to his feeling or judgment, either tolerate or
condemn. Mr. Maltby, whose opinion however we need
not adopt, pronounced that the letters could do nobody
any harm. We shall offer a few specimens of them,
leaving those who wish to see the whole to consult
56 The Spirit of the Public Journals” for 1797.
* Trial of Frend, by J. Beverley, Camb. 1793; Account of the
Proceedings against the Author of a Pamphlet, &c., Camb. 1793 ;
Sequel, Lond. 1795 ; Spirit of the Public Journals for 1797, p. 274.
204
[CH. XVII.
LIFE OF RICHARD PORSON..
The papers commence thus :
To the Editor of the “ Morning Chronicle."
ORGIES OF BACCHUS.
Part I.
SIR,
I learn from your paper that an expression in Mr.
Frend's pamphlet, “ The Orgies of Bacchus,” has been much
bandied about. As I apprehend that many of your readers may
be in as great doubt as I was concerning these same Orgies of
Bacchus, I have had recourse to my two excellent friends, the
Rev. Thomas Kipling, would-be Professor of Divinity to his
Majesty, and Thomas Taylor, self-created Polytheist of Great
Britain. These two amazing men, quos longè sequor et ve-
stigia semper adoro, have kindly condescended to chalk out
the plan of the following dissertation, and to furnish me with
several valuable hints for its conduct. Let me here indulge
myself in giving a short character of these two worthies.
The ore, by the mere force of genius, without the slightest
tincture of learning, has sounded all the depths and shoals
of Christian theology; the other, without staying even to
learn the inflexions of Greek words, has plunged to the very
bottom of pagan philosophy, taught by the heavenly muse to
venture down the dark descent, and up to reascend, though
hard and rare. But to business.
A friend of ours has converted a portion of what
follows into Latin. We give a specimen of his trans-
lation:
Rumores hic illic sparsi sunt, Bacchum ab Ægypto oriun-
dum fuisse ; quibus nihil auctoritatis tribuo. Originem autem
habuere ex eo quod Apollodorus narrat, Bacchum nempe in
Ægypto aliquamdiù commoratum esse. Vulgò creditur
filius fuisse Jovis, deorum hominumque regis, et Semeles,
mulieris Thebanæ. Hoc, quanquam à discipulis ejus et co-
mitibus affirmatum, negatum est à profanis aut derisum; inter
1794.]
LETTERS OF “MYTHOLOGUS."
205
quos erant quidam ex ipsius cognatis, qui dictitabant Bac-
chum non magis à Jove genitum fuisse quàm semetipsos;
Semelen autem, à mortali viro gravidam factam, Jovem in-
fantis patrem dedecori suo prætexuisse. Hanc injuriam
Bacchus ipse quàm gravissimè queritur, et minatur se in pec-
cantes acerrimè vindicaturum; “cujus rei causâ,” inquit,
“mortalem speciem indutus sum, et formam propriam in
hominis naturam mutavi,” sive, ut aliàs loquitur, “Meipsum
ex deo in formam verti humanam.”
E numero illorum, qui hæc credere omnino nolebant, erant
Alcathoë ejusque sorores, quæ Bacchum filium fuisse Jovis
negabant, quasque minimè pudebat operari cùm sacerdos
omnes festum celebrare jussisset. Ovidius, qui non ut hi-
storicus loquitur, sed in narrationibus poeticè luxuriatur, re-
fert, more suo, årinyopik@s, has miseras sorores in vesperti
liones mutatas esse; alii aiunt in noctuas et vespertiliones
(vide Antonium Liberalem, fab. x.); sed utramlibet harum
sententiarum accipiamus, res æquè manifesta est; hæ enim
puellæ, quòd quæ sentiebant eloqui ausæ essent, ab ebriis
comessatoribus, qui se Bacchantes vocabant, adeò crudeliter
tractatæ sunt, ut ab ore hominum secedere, et in antris aliis-
que latebris lucem vitare, cogerentur.
Sed ne hæc quidem linguas scurrarum obstrinxerunt,
Pentheus novum hunc deum, utpote falsum, ridebat; et con-
sobrinum suum divinitus ortum esse negabat. Exitum
hominis tam increduli facilè conjicias; secta enim Bacchan-
tum, dum infirma erat, ab aliis vexata est; sed, cùm valu-
isset, alios vexabat; quod maximè secundum naturam est.
Etenim Tiresias, augur iste, (qui, liceat obiter dicere, cæcus
erat ut talpa,) hoc ipsum juveni prædixerat:
Quem nisi templorum fueris dignatus honore,
Mille lacer spargêre locis; et sanguine silvas
Fædabis, matremque tuam, matrisque sorores.
Cadmus etiam avus nepoti prudentissima consilia suaserat;
sed ille, obstinato animo, deterrendus non erat. Argumenta
autem senis sagacissimi, quibus homines religioni interdum
morigerari jubebat, audire quàm maximè juvabit : « Si hic
206
[CH. XVII.
LIFE OF RICHARD PORSON.
non est deus, uti vobis non videtur esse, deus tamen à vobis
vocetur, et splendidè mendaces sitis; partim in Semeles
honorem, ut dicatur deum peperisse ; partim in nostrum, ut
ille decori omnibus sit nostratibus.” Sed hæc omnia nihil
Pentheum movebant. Quandocunque żydovo lao mòs animum
humanum occupat, is omnem misericordiam, omnesque inter
cognatos caritates, exstinguit. Pentheus ergo membratim
dilaceratus est (uti Tiresias prædixerat, cujus verba forsan
eventûs causam dedêre) à turbâ mulierum Bacchantum; et
mater Penthei ipsius, sororesque matris, dilacerationi adfu-
erunt.
The first letter concludes thus :
Here, Sir, I finish my scrap of mythology. In these
ticklish times, when to look or think awry is a most unpar-
donable crime, which can be expiated only by fine, banish-
ment, or durance, we are not yet, I trust, prohibited from
the discussion of philological questions. Talk of religion, it
is odds but you have infidel, blasphemer, atheist, or schis-
matic, thundered in your ears; touch upon politics, you will
be in luck if you are only charged with a tendency to treason.
To wish that things may be better, is to assert, by innuendo,
that they are bad; and whoever dares to disapprove of the
present war is a deviser of sedition, and ought to have his
right hand struck off, pursuant to an Act of Parliament
made in the reign of Edward I., a statute not yet repealed.*
Nor is the innocence of your intention any safeguard. It is
not the publication that shows the character of the author,
but the character of the author that shows the tendency of the
publication. I have therefore endeavoured to steer clear of
all these rocks. I have sent you a simple recital of an
ancient fable, and, if it be received with approbation, shall
perhaps from time to time transmit similar communications.
If my paper is dull, it is at the same time perfectly harmless;
if it is not recommended by the elegances of composition, it
is at least free from the contagion of pernicious opinions; and
* An infamous paragraph to this purpose lately appeared in one
of the public papers,
1 794.]
LETTERS OF “MYTHOLOGUS.”
:
207
though it may fail of conveying amusement or instruction, it
cannot possibly give offence or scandal.
MYTHOLOGUS.
The second letter commences thus:
Part II.
SIR,
Perhaps you may remember, or perhaps you may have
forgotten, that some time ago I sent you a short account of
the Orgies of Bacchus. I chose this subject for two reasons;
first, because it had of late been frequently mentioned; se-
condly, because I thought it totally unconnected with any
public question, religious or political. But I begin now to
perceive that I reckoned without my host. The principle
noscitur à socio has been applied to my innocent lucubration
with a vengeance. Though I knew that the “ Morning Chro-
nicle” was by many reputed a seditious jacobinical paper, I
never dreamed that this character pervaded the whole of the
work, but that it affected such parts only as might seem to
animadvert on the supposed defects or abuses of the consti-
tution; supposed, I repeat; for I believe that there are no
real defects or abuses. I and Mr. Dymock defy to equal
combat all malcontents who find flaws in the British Govern-
ment and the British king's title. Yet all this availeth me
nothing, so long as I have sent an article to that factious
journal the “Morning Chronicle.” Who can touch pitch,
and not be defiled ? Accordingly the defenders of liberty
and property of their own, I mean) took the alarm. Mr.
Chairman Reeves found out that the dissertation aforesaid
did, by dangerous insinuations, hint doubts concerning the
Prince of Wales's hereditary right to the crown, and even
glanced here and there at Cæsar himself. Is not this a brave
fellow to see through a mill-stone? If these charges could
be made good by evidence, I dare say this champion of the
best possible system of government would shower down his
tender mercies plentifully upon the offender's head. But my
lord chief justice of Newfoundland's reasoning is so humorous
and diverting, that I shall give you a taste of it for your en-
tertainment. I had observed from the legend that « Bacchus
208
[CH. XVII.
LIFE OF RICHARD PORSON.
was the son of Jupiter, king of gods and men.” “Here," says
this able expounder, “ Jupiter plainly signifies his most gra-
cious Majesty George the Third (whom God long preserve!);
for mark the next words, “king of gods and men. Can any
good subject doubt that by 'king of gods and men,' this
rascal means the supreme in church and state, the legal title
of the kings of England ? But, as if this were not enough,
the libeller proceeds, and adds by a mortal female. Here
he drops the mask, and discloses jacobinical sentiments in all
their virulence. Here that horrid and diabolical position
stares you full in the face, with all its native ugliness, That a
queen, heaven bless us! is no more than a woman, — a
mortal female. Here is no need of innuendos, implications,
parallels, constructions, double meanings, &c., engines which
we lawyers are sometimes obliged, in default of evidence, to'
employ for the public good. Here is treason in terms. Oho!
Mr. Mythologus, you must not think of insulting with impu-
nity whatever is great and venerable."
.
After some further remarks on Bacchus, he concludes.
as follows:
I have now, I trust, completely vindicated myself from the
charge of disloyalty to the heir apparent; and I beg leave to
add a few words on the subject of innuendos. If we go on as
we have begun, it will be impossible for a man to write or
speak without incurring the danger of a prosecution either
for a private or public libel. I was amusing myself lately
with writing a set of fables, partly translated and partly
original. While the rough copy of some of these fables lay
on my table, who should come into my garret, before I had
time to lock up my papers, but a member of the Crown and
Anchor Association? You know the custom of that gang;
they immediately lay hands on all the letters and papers they
see, in order to get some information for the bloodhounds of
the law. My friend, therefore, without ceremony, began
reading, first to himself, and then aloud, “The dying lion
then said, “The insults of the noble beasts I could bear; but
1794.]
LETTERS OF “MYTHOLOGUS.”
209
it embitters my last moments to think that I must patiently
submit to be kicked by the heel of an ass.?” “This is ve-
nomous enough,” quoth my friend ; “ but it is no business of
mine; let Dr. Kipling take it up if he pleases.” “Dr. Kip-
ling!” hastily interrupted I. “Ay, Dr. Kipling," answered
he; “who can mistake it? Mr. Frend, for he is plainly
typified by the dying lion, would have been easy if any
decent man had been his prosecutor; but he laments
that he is expelled at the instance of such an animal as Dr.
Kipling."
The third letter has this conclusion :
It is now time to take leave of Bacchus and his Orgies.
However, by divine permission, and the aid of Tooke's Pan-
theon, I can send you, if you want them, some similar stories,
full as authentic, and I hope as diverting, as the Arabian
nights; at least they have one quality in common,—they are
Oriental tales. Whenever you can spare a column from reli-
gion, politics, the national delt, the king's bathing, and other
matters in which the salvation of the public is concerned, I
may perhaps trouble you with an explication of some other
points of pagan theology, as they were (I will not say believed
or understood, but) professed by the ancients.
MYTHOLOGUS.
No other papers of the kind were, however, made
public.
Kidd says that Porson's mind, when he wrote these
papers, must have been overclouded. For this remark
there is no foundation Porson's powers, when they
were published, were in full vigour and energy; and
they were written, or at least much of the portion of
them relating to Bacchus, as early, according to Dr.
Johnstone's testimony, as 1790.
The “ Hymn to the Creator, by a new-made Peer,"
a contribution to the “ Morning Chronicle” of the same
210
LIFE OF RICHARD PORSON. [Cu. XVII.
period, is supposed to be Porson's. We give the first
six stanzas of it.
Hail, gracious Sire, to thee belong
My morning pray’r, my evening song;
My heart and soul are thine :
Inspire me, while I chant thy praise
In zealous though in feeble lays,
And show thy power divine.
As dull as peasant, ox, or ass,
Unworthy note and name,
Methought thy fiat reached mine ear,
“Let Mr. Scrub become a peer,"
And Scrub a peer became.
Of such a change in Nature's laws
What pow'r could be th' efficient cause,
Inferior to a god ?
All public virtue, private worth,
Conspicuous talents, splendid birth,
Attend the sovereign's nod.
I'm now a member of that court
That settles, in the last resort,
The business of the nation;
Where, since I'm kick’d upstairs by thee,
I'll clearly prove my pedigree
As old, as the creation.
But not omnipotence alone
Adorns the owner of a throne;
Of justice, when he hangs poor knaves,
Of mercy, when rich rogues he saves,
He's rightly called the fountain.
In part of payment for thy favours,
I'll tender thee my best endeavours,
If haply thou shalt need 'em ;
1794.]
“ MISERIES OF KINGSHIP.".
211
Nor shall I grudge thy shirt to air,
For all the bed-room lords declare
Thy service perfect freedom.*
We have also little doubt that the “ Miseries of King-
ship,” a translation from Maphæus, which appeared in
the “Morning Chronicle” about the same time, was the
production of Porson. The words in italics are substi-
tutes for others of too little delicacy in the original.
MR. EDITOR,
Having lately seen an extract on the Miseries of King-
ship, from Maphæus's additional canto to the Æneid, by one
of your contemporaries, who, I dare say, thought he had
found a mare's nest of recondite literature, I send you the
whole passage, with the translation, which, I hope you will
think with me, conveys the true spirit of the original.
Tunc sic illacrymans rex alto corde Latinus
Verba dabat: Quantos humana negotia motus,
Alternasque vices miscent! Quo turbine fertur
Vita hominum! O fragilis damnosa superbia sceptri !
O furor! O nimium dominandi innata cupido,
Mortalis què cæca vehis ? Quò, gloria, tantis
Inflatos transfers animos quæsita periclis?
Quot tecum insidias, quot mortes, quanta malorum
Magnorum tormenta geris! Quot tela, quot enses
Ante oculos (si cernis) habes! Heu dulce venenum,
Et mundi lethalis honos! Heu tristia regni
Munera, quæ haud parvo constent, et grandia rerum
Pondera, quæ nunquam placidam permittere pacem,
Nec requiem conferre queant! Heu sortis acerbæ
Et miseræ regale decus, magnoque timori
Latinus then, with leaking eyes,
Proceeded thus to sermonise :
* Spirit of the Public Journals for 1797, p. 250.
P 2
212
[CH. XVII.
LIFE OF RICHARD PORSON.
What clouds of ills, with whirlwinds surly,
Make human life a hurly-burly!
One while we're raised to highest pitch,
Now headlong thrown into a ditch !
Confound a sceptre! He who takes it,
A million to a farthing breaks it.
Unhappy Love-rule, murd'rous hag,
Whither dost thou blind mortals drag ?
'Tis thou to battle eggest kings,
As well as louts to wrestling rings;
What slaughters, blood, and wounds, and quarrels,
These heroes undertake for laurels !
Fantastic plant, that's chiefly found
To flourish in romantic ground;
In short, this glory, that men greet,
Is but a vapour and a cheat.
Nor need folks envy us, God knows,
Our drums, and trumpets, and fine clothes;
We've cause sufficient to abhor 'em,
We pay so cursed dearly for 'em :
Abroad we must not walk alone,
Or else we're pinn'd within the throne;
While our state-nurses guard us there,
As children in the baby's chair,
And fill our heads with ghosts and sprites,
That will not let us sleep a-nights.
Such is our envied royal lot,
The blessed bargain kings have got.*
The style of a letter - On the Duties of Gentlemen-
Soldiers,” inserted in the same paper, manifestly indi-
cates it to be Porson's.
To all the British Dealers in Blood and Slaughter who
· are under the rank of Ensign.
[Dr. Gisborne having published a book intituled “The
Duties of Gentlemen,” this letter was to supply bis omission
of the duties of gentlemen-soldiers.]
* Spirit of the Public Journals for 1797, p. 403.
1794.]
“DUTIES OF GENTLEMEN-SOLDIERS."
213
SOLDIERS, GENTLEMEN, HEROES,
For such you are, whatever was your former station or em-
ployment in life. He who was yesterday the ninth part of a
man, by becoming a soldier to-day has multiplied his exist-
ence by at least three times three. Yet, hard fate! the
integer of to-day is much more liable to be destroyed than
the paltry fraction of yesterday. But what is that to your
employers, you know? The more danger, the more honour;
needs must when the devil drives. If you were till now the
veriest wretches in nature; if you had been just excused
from hanging, on condition you should enter into the army;
if you had your choice from a justice of peace, whether you
would be tried for felony or go for a soldier, and, in conse-
quence of this obliging offer, freely chose to enlist; if your
ankles were still galled with the irons of the prison; if, after
a short confinement for perjury, you had gone into court
again, in order to swear away an innocent man's life; in
short, if you were the lowest, basest, most despicable of man-
kind, in your former occupation, you are now become, by a
wonderful transformation, Gentlemen and Men of Honour.
But, that I may proceed with all possible method and clear-
ness in my discourse, I shall first give you a definition of that
most important and distinguished character, a soldier. A
soldier, then, is a Yahoo, hired to kill in cold blood as many
of his own species as he possibly can, who never did him any
injury. From this definition necessarily flows a high sense
of dignity. Your honour is your most precious possession,
and of that it becomes you to be chary. You are the dis-
posers of the world ; the umpires of all differences; the de-
fenders of the Defender of the Faith. But why do I say de-
fenders of the Defender of the Faith? You are the de-
fenders of the faith itself. It rests upon you to reinstate the
empire of God, of religion, and of humanity, by means which
God and Nature (and, I may add, the King of Corsica) have
put into your hands. ..If you will promote this
godly work with all your might, though your sins were deeper
than scarlet, yet shall they become whiter than snow; in
short, you have nothing to do but to submit your lives to the
P 3
214
[Cr. XVII.
LIFE OF RICHARD PORSON.
disposal of the king and his officers, and your souls to your
chaplain. After having made these trifling sacrifices, your
way will be perfectly smooth and pleasant. If you survive,
as you have a chance at least of one in twenty, you will come
back laden with laurels to your native country, and there
enjoy in full perfection all the blessings of civil government,
which is the next best thing to military. If you die upon the
spot, you fall a martyr to the glorious cause of God, of
Christianity, of liberty, of property, of subordinate order-
liness, and of orderly subordination. Nor need you be
afraid of death, for I can assure you in verbo sacerdotis, i.e.
on the word of a priest, that whoever dies in this contest
shall instantly depart to Paradise, if ever thief from the
gallows went thither. ....
And now for a few hints touching your general behaviour.
1. Be fluent in your oaths and curses upon all occasions.
It will show a confidence in the goodness of your cause, and
make people believe that you must be hand and glove with
the person for whom you fight, when you use his name so
familiarly, and appeal to him as an old acquaintance upon
the most trivial occasions.
2. The Defenders of Religion must show that it never has
any influence upon their practice. It is your duty, therefore,
to be, what the canting methodistical people call, a profligate.
What made the Christians victorious when they went to wrest
the sepulchre of our Saviour from the idolatrous Turks, but a
proper allowance of oaths and licentiousness? It is no sin in
a holy warfare, or, if it were, it is the least of the seven
deadly.
3. Keep up your spirits now and then with a cordial sup
of liquor. You cannot imagine how this prescription will
clear up your thoughts, and dissolve all scruples, if you ever
had any, concerning the justice of the war. The liberal
allowance which you receive, and the exactness with which it
is paid, will amply furnish you with the means of procuring
these cordials; and they will produce another good effect:
they will recall your courage when it begins to ebb, and ooze,
as it were, through the palms of your hands.
1794.]
A CENTURY OF EPIGRAMS IN A NIGHT.
215
For valour the stronger grows,
The stronger the liquor we're drinking;
And how can we feel our woes,
When we've lost the power of thinking ?
4. As you are men of nice honour, and it is a proverb that
nothing is more delicate than a soldier's honour, I propose it
as a case of conscience whether you should not tilt, as well as
your officers, when an affront is offered you. For instance,
if another soldier should call you a gaol-bird, and the truth of
the fact be notorious, it appears to me that you ought to con-
vince him of his mistake by running him through the body,
or lodging a ball in his carcase. But perhaps your worthy
superiors may deem this an infringement of their prerogatives.
I speak therefore under correction.
5. Notwithstanding what I have said concerning the lawful-
ness, nay the duty, of drinking a drop of liquor now and then,
I do not mean you should guzzle away all that large stock of
money which is granted you by the bounty of the king and his
Parliament. I would wish you to lay by a shilling or so of
each day's pay; you who have wives and children, for the
support of your wives and children ; you who have poor rela-
tions, for the maintenance of your relations; and you who
have neither, that, in your old age, if you should outlive the
war, and return to your native country, you may purchase a
snug annuity, and live in comfort upon the property you have
acquired by valour.
I am, Soldiers, Gentlemen, and Heroes,
Your loving brother,
A JOHNIAN PRIEST.
It was in the “Morning Chronicle, too, that the
hundred and one epigrams appeared, which Porson is
said to have written in one night, about Pitt and
Dundas going drunk to the House of Commons, on the
evening when a message was to be delivered from his
Majesty relative to war with France. The story is to be
found in the effusion of frothy narrative called Warner's
216
[Co. XVII.
'LIFE OF RICHARD PORSON.
“ Literary Recollections,"* where it is said to have been
told by Perry to John Pearson, Esq., afterwards advo-
cate-general of Bengal. When the Minister and his friend
appeared before the House, Pitt tried to speak, but,
showing himself unable, was kindly pulled down into
his seat by those about him ; Dundas, who was equally
unfitted for eloquence, had sense enough left to sit
silent. Perry witnessed the scene, and, on his return
from the House, gave a description of it to Porson, who,
being vastly amused, called for pen and ink, and,
musing over his pipe and tankard, produced the one
hundred and one pieces of verse before the day dawned.
There is, alas ! not one that can be called good among
them; sunt quædam mediocria, sunt mala plura. The
point of most of them lies in puns, and of course in bad
puns, for who could excogitate a hundred good puns,
supposing that there ever were such things, in one
night? The first epigram is,
That Ça Ira in England will prevail,
All sober men deny with heart and hand;
To talk of going's sure a pretty tale,
When e'en our rulers can't so much as stand.
The following perhaps deserve preference over their
fellows:
Your gentle brains with full libations drench;
You've then Pitt's title to the Treasury Bench.
Your foe in war to overrate,
A maxim is of ancient date :
Then sure 'twas right, in time of trouble,
That our good rulers should see double.
* Vol. ii. p. 6.
1794.]
EPIGRAMS.
217
The mob are beasts, exclaims the Knight of Daggers :
What creature's he that's troubled with the staggers ?
When Billy found he scarce could stand,
“Help, help!” he cried, and stretched his hand,
To faithful Henry calling:
Quoth Hal, “ My friend, I'm sorry fort;
'Tis not my practice to support
A minister that's falling."
“Who's up?" inquired Burke of a friend at the door :
Oh! no one," says Paddy; "though Pitt's on the floor."
218
[Cu. XVIII.
LIFE OF RICHARD PORSON.
CHAP. XVIII.
PUBLICATION OF THE PICENISSÆ. - OBSERVATIONS ON THIE NOTES TO
THE PLAY. — REVIEW OF PYBUS'S “SOVEREIGN" IN TIIE“ MONTIILY
REVIEW.” — RHYDIES ON PYBUS AND OTHERS. -- GREEK TRANSLATION
OF A NURSERY RIYME. - PORSON RECEIVES A LETTER AND SOME
BOOKS FROM GAIL.-A SECOND LETTER INTIMATING THAT THE FIRST
IIAS NOT BEEN ACKNOWLEDGED.
IN 1799 came out the Phønissæ. In the notes to this
play Porson abstains from any allusions to Wakefield
or Hermann, with the exception of one slight touch on
Wakefield, and two animadversions on the lovers of
anapæsts. The censure of Wakefield, whom he does
not name, is given on ver. 1521, for having unadvisedly
altered τόνδε λόγον to τoυσδε λόγους, in the 548th verse
of the Alcestis, on the faith of an unsound passage in
Hesychius.
On ver. 1354, which, in Aldus's edition, commences
with Στείχοντος, ός ημίν, but in all the manuscripts
Ereixovtos os nãy, he exclaims, “ How savagely would
the patrons of anapæsts have exulted over their enemies,
if all the manuscripts had agreed with the edition of
Aldus, or if the edition of Aldus had been the only
surviving copy of the Phænissæ !” On ver. 1371, which
ends with tépuov? 'Ioxáoto, Biou, but which Grotius had
edited τέρμ’ Ιοκάστη, του βίου, he observes, « If any one
prefer Grotius's reading, I shall utter no heavier impre-
cation on him than that he may read in Orest. 590,
'Επεί γαρ εξέπνευσ’ 'Αγαμέμνων τον βίον.”
1800.]
PYBUS'S “SOVEREIGN."
219
In 1800 nothing is known, we believe, to have been
given to the public from the pen of Porson, except a
review of Pybus's “ Sovereign," a poem addressed to
the Emperor of Russia. Mr. Kidd calls this “ a truly
neat specimen of playful criticism,” and says that when
Porson first opened the Laureate's splendid volume, he
exclaimed, in the hearing of several friends,
I sing a song of sixpence,
A pocket-full of rye,
Four-and-twenty blackbirds
Baked in a pie :
When the pie was open'd
The birds began to sing :
And was not this a dainty dish
To set before a king ?
The review is as follows. It appeared in the
6 Monthly Review” for December 1800.
The Sovereign. Addressed to His Imperial Majesty
Paul, Emperor of all the Russias. BY CHARLES
SMALL PYBUS, M.P., one of the Lords Commis-
sioners of the Treasury. Folio, pp. 60. Price
11. 18., or, with a Portrait, 11. 11s. 6d. White, 1800.
The inventive genius of modern times appears with peculiar
lustre in that new species of the sublime, of which the mag-
nificent poem before us is an astonishing example. The
gigantic types, the folio wove paper, and the awe-inspiring
portrait, like the
Vultus instantis tyranni,
have superseded the old rules of Longinus, and have forced
admiration from the appalled beholder, even before he reads.
Mr. Pybus is certainly “as tall a poet of his hands” as any
wight that has issued from the press within our memory; and
he may vie for title-page, print, and margin, with the first of
220
[Cu. XVIII.
LIFE OF RICHARD PORSON.
our bards. When, however, we have bestowed this praise on
his work, we have exhausted every source of panegyric; for
his verses are formed only to be viewed, not to be perused;
his poetry is so like a picture, according to the Horatian pre-
cept, that it will not bear the near approach of the eye.
The happy alliteration resulting from the title, A Poem to
Paul by the poet Pybus, reminds us of the Latin work
entitled Pugna Porcorum, per Publium Porcium, Poetam.
Though this work is addressed to the Emperor Paul, it is,
with inimitable dexterity, dedicated to our own king. This
is a flight of courtly wit, which perhaps will never again be
attempted; and the amazing resemblance which Mr. Pybus
has asserted between the illustrious personages, to one of
whom he addresses his address to the other, will be ranked
by posterity among the most unexpected discoveries of the
present age.
To compress the shining lines of Mr. Pybus into our
narrow and unadorned pages, is, like translating Virgil, to
lose all the beauty of the original. But we shall endeavour
to gratify our friends in the country with a specimen of this
state-performance, in the address to Peter I. and his ill-fated
descendant:
“ Illustrious shade! Oh! could thy soul infuse
Its faint resemblance in the anxious Muse,
Then, in sublimer song, her voice should raise
Strains less unequal to our hero's praise.
But what at last avails the poet's fire ?
Vain are his honours, and his boasted lyre ;
Vain is the laurel that adorns his brow;
Vain are his numbers ; nor can all bestow,
But from their deathless theme alone receive,
The fame not e'en Mæonides could give.
Since then establish'd glory thus defies
The power of poesy that never dies,
How much more vain are offerings alone,
Composed of perishable brass and stone,
Though quarries were consumed and millions spent,
When the whole empire forms one monument.
1800.]
PYBUS'S “SOVEREIGN.”
221
“And thou, ill-fated prince, whom discord gave
An early victim to misfortune's grave,
Whate'er thy frailties were (and who has none ?),
Amply thy greater virtues shall atone,
Whose heralds on the wings of mercy cross'd
The trackless deserts of Siberian frost.
Thee coward cruelty in horrors dight,
And mean suspicion that avoids the light,
And persecution with tormenting flame,
Shall ever execrate, and hate thy name;
While freedom's gratitude and pity's tear
Shall drop a tribute on thy mournful bier.
But Heaven will'd! Nor let thy realms deplore
The mix'd event, that left one Peter more."
This other Peter, it seems, means the late empress; who,
by a poetical licence, which can only be derived from royal
authority, is here invested with the name of her husband.
Perhaps Mr. Pybus had been thinking of a passage in Shaks-
peare:
“And if his name be George, I'll call him Peter."
In truth, the author seems liable to mistakes of this kind;
for we observe that some of his couplets terminate with words
which have not even so much affinity with each other as that
which subsisted between Peter and Catharine :
“Rhymes, like Scotch cousins, in such order placed,
The first scarce claims acquaintance with the last.”
Considered in its political relations, Mr. Pybus's work is
not less unfortunate than in its literary station. After the
high and splendid hopes of curbing France, which are held
out in the poem, comes a dolorous prose epilogue, to inform
is that the glory of Europe is blasted, and that the Emperor
has withdrawn his troops ! Subsequent occurrences have
lamentably deepened the gloom of this disappointment; and
we sincerely condole with Mr. Pybus on the ungracious
return which this northern Mecænas has made to the British
treasury, both for its solid pudding and its empty praise.
222
[CH. XVIII.
LIFE OF RICHARD PORSON.
A note adds, “ The Imperial Balancer seems to have placed
both [our pudding and our praise] in one scale, and to have
counterpoised them with some other commodity, which has
made our offerings kick the beam."
Porson used afterwards to repeat, very frequently, the
following lines, which are universally supposed to have
been his own composition :
Poetis nos lætanur tribus,
Pye, Petro Pindar, Parvo Pybus :
Si ulteriùs ire pergis,
Adde his Sir James Bland Burgess.
Which may be thus imitated :
Three bards to praise them fain would bribe us,
Pye, Peter Pindar, Charles Small Pybus :
Three only? Lo, a fourth that urges
His claim for praise, Sir James Bland Burgess.
The nursery lines, which Porson uttered when he
opened Pybus's book, have been thus attempted in
Greek, we know not by whom :
Τετρώβολόν τι μέλπω,
Κριθών τε πλήρη σάκκον,
Και κοττύλους δις δώδεκ'
Στέγους δ' αναπτυχθέντος
*Opvibes éxeQúvery,
Εί προσφέροιτ' άνακτι.*
In 1799 and 1800 Porson received from Gail, the
French translator and editor of Xenophon, the two
following letters, with presents of some of his works.
* Barker's Literary Anecdotes, vol. ii. p. 189.
1800.]
LETTERS FROM GAIL.
223
“ GAIL to the illustrious Mr. PORSON.
“SIR,
“ M. Vellimenot the younger, a banker of Paris, ought,
at his last trip to London, to bave sent you, from me, my
Treatise on Hunting, translated from the Greek of Xenophon.'
In the apprehension that he may not have caused it to reach
you safely, I address to you a second copy of it on vellum
paper, accompanied with my “Greek Roots' and my “Poetic
Anthology. Would you have the goodness, if I may venture to
ask, to announce these three works, or to get them announced,
in one of the most respectable of your journals? May I re-
quest you especially, also, to cast your eye on two historical
dissertations, which I think curious, and particularly on that
relating to Hipparchus, Anacreon, &c. (p. 39 of my Antho-
logy), the true sense of which the critics who have preceded
me appear not to have caught? I would also have you look
at that on Epicharmus (p. 23 of the Anthology), and on my
observations on M. Sturz's Lexicon Xenophonteum in the
preface to the Anthology.
“I shall be flattered by having your opinion on these three
articles; the rest would not recompense you for the trouble
of perusal.
“Will you pardon me if I request you to read also my
critical observations on Xenophon's object in his Symposium ?
" I send you a leaf of the Décade Philosophique, year X.,
third quarter, in which these observations have been in-
serted.
“I am working constantly at Xenophon. The six manu-
scripts of the Hellenica have occupied much time, and re-
quired incredible patience; but I have found valuable various
readings, which have made me excellent amends. In another
month I shall put forth a humble specimen of it, which will
be inserted in my magazine by M. Millier.
“May my researches be thought useful! May Mr. Porson
say, when he reads them, that the author has not wholly
wasted his time!
“ GAIL, Professor of the Greek language
in the College of France.
~ 15 Prair, an x. (1799)."
224
(Ch. XVIII.
LIFE OF RICHARD PORSON.
“Gail to the illustrious Mr. PoRSON.
56 SIR,
6 One of your countrymen, the amiable and learned Dr.
Jones, is now at my house. He is willing to take charge of
some works which I had last year the honour of sending you
through the agency of Eisch the bookseller, but which pro-
bably never reached you.
“ These books are, 1. My “Greek Poetical Anthology.'
The rest of the Greek course is not worth offering you.
2. My Theocritus in duodecimo; I do not offer you the fine
edition in quarto, because I am not the proprietor of it. It
has been printed at the expense of a banker of this country.
3. My Cynegetics. 4. A Letter to M. Schneider. 5. An ex-
tract from La Déccide Philosophique.
"If I were not afraid, Sir, of trespassing on your time,
I would ask you to favour me with your opinion, first,
on the extract from Lu Décade, p. 281, which you will find
in the parcel ; an extract entitled Short Analysis of the
Banquet of Xenophon ;' secondly, on my dissertation relating
to Anacreon, Hipparchus, &c., p. 39 of my • Poetical Antho-
logy;' thirdly, on my exposition regarding Epicharmus, p. 43
of the same work.
6 This is a great deal to ask of you, Sir; it is perhaps
to be extremely troublesome. But I presume upon your in-
these two dissertations, I think a Socratic irony is apparent,
and, if I am right, I have made an historical discovery. But
I ought to distrust my own way of looking on these matters,
as it differs from that of the greatest critics and historians
both of our own and of other countries.
" To read and examine these three short pieces will not
require more than an hour. I ask this of you, and entreat it
you are able to send me your opinion.
." I beg the illustrious Mr. Porson to accept the tribute of
my sincere and profound respect.
“GAIL, Professor of Greek Literature in
the College of France."
[No date.]
1802.]
TIIE GRENVILLE HOMER.
225
226
CHAP. XIX.
ATT T
PORSON COLLATES A MANUSCRIPT FOR TIIE GRENVILLE IIOMER. —IIIS
ASSIDUITY. - LETTERS FROM VILLOISON REQUESTING A COPY OF TIIL
TIOMER, AND ACKNOWLEDGING TIE RECEIPT OF IT. - PUBLICATION
OF TIIE DEDEA. — PORSON'S OPINIONS ON GREEK ACCENTUATION.
-- VAKEFIELD'S HOSTILITY TO ACCENTS. — BRUNCK'S AND ELMSLEY'S
NOTIONS RESPECTING TIEM. —PORSON'S LONG NOTE ON VERSES 139,
140, OF TIIE MEDEA. ---IIIS CRITICISDIS IN IT. - SEVERE EXPO-
SURE OF TIERMANN. - OTIIER NOTES. - COPY SENT TO VILLOISON.
VILLOISON'S LETTER OF TIIANKS.
TA
WHILE Porson was engaged about Euripides, the
splendid edition of Homer, known as the “ Grenville
Homer,” was being printed at the Clarendon Press, as
Kidd says, “ for the three noble brothers ;” and those
who had the superintendence of it, being desirous that
there should be appended to it a collation of the
Harleian manuscript of the Odyssey (which had been
previously collated, but very negligently, by Thomas
Bentley), made application for that purpose to Porson,
who readily undertook the work, and devoted himself
to it with more than ordinary diligence. He was then
living in Essex Court in the Temple, where he would,
on many occasions, shut himself up for two or three
days together ; but, while he was employed on the
even to his most intimate friends. “One morning,"
says Mr. Maltby, “ I went to call upon him there; and,
having inquired at his barber's close by if Mr. Porson
226
[Cu. XIX.
LIFE OF RICIIARD PORSON.
was at home, was answered, 'Yes ; but he has seen no
one for two days. I, however, proceeded to his
chamber, and knocked at the door more than once. He
would not open it, and I came downstairs. As I was
re-crossing the court, Porson, who had perceived that I
was the visitor, opened the window, and stopped me.”
His remuneration for the collation was fifty pounds, and
a large-paper copy. “I thought the payment too small,”
observes Maltby, 6 but Burney considered it as suffi-
cient.”* This collation has been reprinted in the
“ Classical Journal.” A few critical remarks are scat-
tered through it. The passage regarding the final v
we have already extracted. He concludes, after making
some final corrections, with this paragraph :
“Thus I have at last, I hope, left no important error in
this collation ; that there are no omissions, I will not assert.
If any one, however, shall take upon himself to supply my
deficiencies, and to correct, at the same time, such mistakes as
I have committed, let him be assured that he will do what is
acceptable to the republic of letters as well as to myself.
Whether he do it tenderly or harshly, will have no effect on
me, if he but do it accurately; but it may possibly have a
good effect on himself, if he be anxious to show that he under-
took the task rather from a desire to be of service to letters
than to depress a rival."
The appearance of the Grenville Homer occasioned
Porson to receive the following application from Vil-
loison :
66 SIR,
“I beg you to have the goodness to excuse the forward-
ness of a foreigner who has not the happiness of being known
to you, but who has the highest admiration for your rare and
* Rogers's Table Talk, “ Porsoniana,” p. 311.
1802.]
LETTER FROM VILLOISON.
227
profound knowledge, your åxxivoia and eủotoxía, and who
knows that you are the κριτικής κοίρανος τέχνης, and the
most learned and most justly celebrated Hellenist of the
country in which Greek learning is most cultivated.
“I have the honour, Sir, to be a member of your Royal
Society of London, and of the Society of Antiquaries of the
same city; and I have been all my life employed on Homer,
and have published the Lexicon Homericum, composed by
Apollonius the Sophist, with my own Latin translation and
notes. I have also put forth, at Venice, an edition of the
Iliad, with the scholia, never before edited, of the most skilful
grammarians of the Alexandrian school, and with the critical
marks. Mons. Heyne, my learned friend, and confrère at
the University of Gottingen, has done me the honour of ac-
quainting me by letter that he has extracted a portion of
these notes, as my friend Mr. Wolff had already done in his
edition.
“On these grounds, Sir, I should very much wish to be
able to obtain a copy of the beautiful edition of Homer which
Lord Buckingham and Mr. Grenville are publishing at Cam-
bridge, and which, if our journals may be trusted, is now to
be distributed among amateurs.
“I have not the advantage of being known to Lord Buck-
ingham or to Mr. Grenville. May I flatter myself that you,
Sir, who certainly have the management of this valuable
edition, would have the goodness to do a stranger so im-
portant a service as to mention him to these noble Mæcenases,
and induce them to put me on the list of those for whom
they intend copies of this excellent and superb edition ?
“For this kindness, Sir, I should feel so much the more
under obligation to you, as it would be impossible for me to
procure this book, even if it were obtainable in the way of
trade ; for my fortune has been totally ruined by the Revolu-
tion, which has robbed me of a very considerable inheritance,
and, what I regret much more, has left me no time to devote
myself, as I should wish to do exclusively, to Greek litera-
ture, and to the composition of a work on ancient and
Q 2
228
[CA. XIX.
LIFE OF RICHARD PORSON.
modern Greece, the object of nine years' travels in Greece,
Italy, and Germany, and of twenty years of research.
“I am waiting; Sir, with the greatest impatience, for the
publication of your Æschylus and your Euripides, Phidiaca
opera ; and I request you, if you do me the honour to reply,
and to mention me to my Lord Buckingham and Mr. Gren-
ville, to have the goodness to write to me in Latin, French,
or Italian, as I confess, to my shame, that I am unfortunate
enough not to understand English.
“Forgive my indiscretion, or rather my temerity, and be-
lieve that I shall always think myself too happy in having
embraced this opportunity of signifying to a learned critic of
your distinguished merit the respect and admiration with
which I have the honour to be,
- Sir,
“ Your very humble and very obedient servant,
“D’ANSSE DE VILLOISON,
“ of the Institute of France, of the Royal and
Antiquarian Societies of London, &c. &c.
« Paris, Rue de Bièvre, No. 22,
July 9, 1802."
Porson was successful in obtaining him a copy of the
Homer, which he acknowledged as follows:
“ Paris, Rue de Bièvre, No. 22,
Oct. 15, 1802.
66 SIR,
“I have received, with the most lively feelings of
gratitude, the handsome present which you have made me of
your noble and excellent edition of Homer. It is a master-
piece, Sir, of typography and accuracy; and your notes,
abounding with proofs of sagacity, give it a value which no-
thing can equal. In your opinions, concisely expressed, but
βεβρεγμένοις εν νώ, on the various readings of your manu-
script, we recognise, at every word, x Övugos léovta. I am
extremely flattered by owing this superb gift to the recom-
mendation of a gentleman of your rare learning and merit,
1802.]
THE MEDEA PUBLISHED.
229
the worthy successor of Bentley and Toup, who have trans-
mitted to you the sceptre of criticism.
“I delayed to send you my thanks, Sir, until I had studied
your learned annotations, and until an opportunity occurred
of sending, by a traveller who was to set out immediately, a
letter which I have had some time written. But the traveller
has put off his journey, and I cannot longer withhold from
myself the pleasure of requesting you to present my tribute
of respect and thankfulness to those generous noblemen who
make so honourable a use of their wealth and knowledge, and
of entreating you to believe that no one has the honour to be.
with more gratitude, attachment, and admiration,
“Sir,
“ Your very humble and very obedient servant,
“D’ANSSE DE VILLOISON.
“A Monsieur Monsieur Porson,
Professeur de Littérature Grecque
dans l'Université de Cambridge."
U
Previously to the receipt of these letters had come
forth the Medea, printed at the Cambridge University
Press at the expense of the syndics. In the notes to
this play, to which Porson set his name, he troubled
his adversaries with a little more attention than he had
paid them in the notes to the Orestes. In his comment
on the first verse, after alluding to the mistakes often
made by editors, and the old grammarians, in regard to
accents, he proceeds to say, “ Here is a rather long note,
and on a subject, as some may think, of no great im-
portance; and I might have diminished my labour,
and perhaps consulted my quiet, by forbearing to offer
these remarks, for I see that by some writers, very ex-
cellent men no doubt, but not over learned, and some-
what ill-tempered, the whole doctrine of accents is
regarded as utterly valueless. But such persons are
Q3
230
[CH. XIX.
LIFE OF RICHARD PORSON.
DI U
11
too old, I conceive, to be untaught anything wrong, or
to learn anything right, by my instructions. It is to
you YOUNG MEN, however, whom alone I consider under
my charge, that I now address myself. I have occa-
sionally touched on this subject before, as on the 632nd
verse of the Orestes, and elsewhere, and shall touch on
it again wherever it may be necessary. If any one of
YOU, then, desires to gain an accurate knowledge of the
Greek language, let him devote himself, without delay,
to acquire a competent understanding of Greek accen-
tuation, and persevere in the study, undeterred by the
babble of railers and the laughter of fools ; for than
foolish laughter nothing is more foolish. One remark
only, for the sake of admonition, I shall add at present.
Whoever, without a knowledge of this subject, takes
upon himself the office of collating manuscripts, will
assuredly disappoint the literary world of much of that
benefit which might justly be expected from his labours.
Whoever is unacquainted with this science, is, while he
ingenuously confesses his deficiency, blamable only for
his ignorance; but he who, not content with merely
avowing his want of knowledge, presumes to excuse it
by affecting contempt for the study, is deserving of
greater censure.”
These observations, especially those relating to the
“ very excellent men, not over learned, and somewhat
ill-tempered," quidam viri, sed nec satis eruditi et paullo
iracundiores, are directed chiefly against Wakefield,
who had published his Greek plays, and a small edition
of Bion and Moschus, without accents, and had, in the
preface to the latter work, offered, in his bold and wordy
style, the following defence of his practice :
uuu
C
1802.]
WAKEFIELD ON GREEK ACCENTS.
231
“ If any one expresses surprise or indignation that I have
discarded all the accents, grave, acute, and circumflex, as they
are called, and thinks that he sees in them advantages which
compensate for the trouble that they give the printer, I am
not at all afraid to enter into a discussion with him on the
subject. Let those who patronise accents, however, consider
whether they are not catching at vain praise for possessing
empty and useless knowledge, and giving importance to trifles
that they may not be thought to have spent long study on
trifles; for, to borrow the words of a sensible rhetorician, it is
not easy to alter notions which have been infused into us in
boyhood (and especially those which flatter us with the ap-
pearance of learning), since every man had rather have
learned formerly than learn now. From the defences of
Foster and Primatt, ingenious and learned as they are, I col-
lect nothing but that the controversy about accents is, if we
look to solid utility, a mere question for grammarians, to
whom, as they labour thus superfluously, we cannot give a
better answer than the lines of Catullus:
Turpe est difficiles habere nugas,
Et stultus labor est ineptiarum.'
“How deeply must you be concerned, 0 ye learned pro-
fessors, that the Latin tongue is destitute of these delights,
which to you are sweeter than honey or the honeycomb !”
It may be observed that Brunck had the same notion
in regard to the uselessness of accents as Wakefield, for
he would willingly, he said, discard them all, except
such as denoted different significations of the same
word.* Nor was Elmsley much more favourable to
them, for he observed that to bestow extreme attention
upon Greek accents is but lost labour, since they have
no parentage but that of the Alexandrian grammarians,
a set of men who were born to obscure the ancient
Greek language rather than illustrate it.f
* Ad Eur. Bacch. 344. † Ad Eur. Heracl. 403.
11
Q4
232
(Ch. XIX.
LIFE OF RICHARD PORSON.
Porson's note on verses 139, 140, of the Medea, is
one of the wonders of verbal criticism. He observes
that the lines on which he is commenting are cited by
the scholiast on Æschylus, but in such a way that they
had previously escaped notice; and then proceeds to
advert to various other quotations from poets which
had experienced similar fortune, continuing latent in
the text of authors or commentators, when editors
ought to have detected them. “But," he remarks,
“before I animadvert on the oversights of others, it
will be well for me, perhaps, to correct my own errors,
lest I be attacked with the old proverb, “How is it, ill-
conditioned man, that you look so keenly on other peo-
ple's faults, and turn your glance away from your own ?""
He then observes that, in a note on the fourth verse of
the Orestes, he had made a mistake, in saying that Bent-
ley had commenced a verse with zal instead of ws: that
he had arranged four verses of the same play in a
wrong order; and that in one of them, the 676th, he
had given Tapà instead of apos, not without judgment,
as he thinks, but certainly without having given due
notice of the change. “If a Le Clerc or a Pauw, how-
ever, had detected such an inadvertence, with what
gentle words would he have addressed me! But let
those men, et ceteræ ejusmodi quisquiliæ, rest in peace.
It is the reputation only
Præclarorum hominum ac primorum signiferumque
that I have determined to assail in this note.” He then
proceeds to point out various verses in Plutarch, Athe-
næus, Stobæus, and some of the scholiasts, which had
been passed over unheeded by Bentley, Wyttenbach,
1802.]
HERMANN ATTACKED.
233
and other eminent discerning spirits ; and concludes with
saying that he might have produced more examples,
but that what he has given may suffice for a specimen,
and will at least, he hopes, not be displeasing to his
readers; “for," he continues, " though we very un-
willingly allow our neighbour acuteness of judgment,
or happiness of conception, yet I trust that credit for
this labour, which depends only on industry and pa-
tience, or at best on a little tenacity of memory, will
readily be granted me.”
In alluding to the fourth verse of the Philoctetes, he
would remark, he says, that the word Neottóheue in it
is to be taken as the first pæon, “if he thought any one
of his pupils so dull and stupid as to be unable to see it
for himself ;” a shaft which is supposed to be shot at
Hermann.
Whether such a string of observations, which occupy,
in the form of a note, the best part of eight pages, are
properly appended to the lines of the Medea, may be
questioned. Doubtless some readers, who are not
writers of notes, will think that a fitter place might have
been found for them, and that a commentator should
not be privileged to transfer whatever he pleases from
his memory or his commonplace book to the margin of
his author. But if the criticism be misplaced, its saga-
city is not the less worthy of admiration.
But Hermann was to receive a heavier castigation in
a subsequent annotation. Whatever remarks or allu-
sions Porson had hitherto made in reference to him, he
had not yet mentioned his name ; but now, in his note
on ver. 675, after observing that the Attic writers, he
thought, never allowed themselves to use ys after tol,
LIFE OF RICHARD PORSON.
[CH. XIX.
unless with a word between them, and noticing two
exceptional passages requiring emendation, he says,
6 These passages I would willingly submit to the correction
of Godfrey Hermann, if I thought that he could as easily
make corrupt places sound as he makes sound places corrupt.
For who besides Hermann, in the fourth place of an iambic
trimeter, ever — I will not say overlooked a dactyl (for of
oversights we are all guilty), but — thrust in a dactyl by
altering the text, as he has done in the 870th verse of the
Nubes ? Who besides Hermann, for the excellent word
χυτρεούν, ever substituted χυτρούν, a word which is not Greelk,
which is supported by no authority, and which is ruinous to
the metre? But this Hermann has done in the 1476th verse
of the Nubes; and his object, in doing so, was to throw oblo-
quy on Dawes, Cui si 120n aliqua nocuisset, mortuus esset.
These achievements, however, are nothing to his triumphant
exploits with the innocent name of Hercules ; for though, in
his opinion, xutpoûv is a proof of the lengthening of such
syllables among the writers of comedy, nothing, he thinks, is
more rare than the lengthening of such syllables among the
writers of tragedy. We may therefore imagine Hermann
speaking thus with himself: "We Germans, who understand
the quantity of syllables much better than the English, will
correct all the passages of Euripides in which 'Hpakkens
occurs with the second syllable long. Six passages accord-
ingly, which were suffering from this disease, he proceeded
to cure, if to cure is to assert disease where it is not, in order
to show your own skill in manipulation. These passages are
in the Heraclidæ, the Ion, and the Hercules Furens ; nor do
I doubt that he would cure, with equal success, ten other
passages, which I will cite that he may try his hand upon
them.”
Porson then enumerates ten places in which 'Hpamaéns
occurs with the second syllable incontrovertibly long,
but observes that Hermann will not be deterred by the
fear of hiatus, or any other absurdity, from altering
1802.]
NOTES ON THE MEDEA.
235
less
them, since anything is to be endured rather than that
'Hpazéns should lengthen its second syllable. How-
ever justly Hermann deserved this exposure, it may be
thought that Porson would better have consulted his
own dignity by leaving him still unnamed.
In his note on ver. 750 he apologises for having
cited the 79th verse of the Hecuba as the 80th, and the
626th verse of the Orestes as the 633rd, and expresses
his surprise that the keen research of his critics had
allowed such mistakes to pass uncensured. “But," he
adds, “ if any one shall hereafter animadvert on these
mistakes, and prepare to let loose the whole fierceness
of his anger upon them, let him, before he scorches me
with his fury, consult my Addenda and Corrigenda."
And, on observing that the conjunction te might be left
out of verse 750, he says, “ Lest any one should charge
me, on this account, with too great love of change, and
with altering good readings only for the sake of altera-
tion, know, excellent youths, that the conjunction is
not found in the edition of Lascaris.” The words in
italics are a quotation from some criticism, but whose
we have not discovered.
In the 935th verse, the right reading, for the termi-
nation of the line, is extpadão i oñ xepí, but Beck, fol-
lowing Aldus, had edited éxtpadão iv. Porson gives
this note: “Beck, who, with Aldus, reads extpaPão IV,
gravely remarks, “Brunck has éxtpadãos.' I there-
fore remark, with equal gravity, Lascaris has extpa-
cool."
Porson sent Villoison a copy of his Medea, for which
he thanked him in the same terms as for his other
present :
236
[CA. XIX.
LIFE OF RICIIARD PORSON.
66 SIR,
K
'
“I avail myself, with much eagerness, of an opportu-
nity that occurs of repeating my obligations to you for your
beautiful edition of Homer, and of thanking you for your
excellent edition of the Medea of Euripides. While you are
at least equal to Bentley and Toup in profound knowledge of
the Greek language, and in critical perspicacity, you are infi-
nitely their superior in the knowledge of metre, without
which it is impossible to touch a single Greek verse. It is in-
cumbent on you to handle this important subject thoroughly,
and set forth the doctrine of metre, which is as yet a secret
confined to you alone, in a separate methodical and didactic
treatise, written in Latin, for the use of all Europe. You
would thus perform a signal service to Greek literature, a
service which you only are able to perform. I cannot too
strongly request it of you for my own sake.
“ I see by your Medea that you are going to give us a new
edition of the Hecuba, which I do not yet possess, any more
than your Orestes and your Phenissæ. I have the strongest
desire to study these excellent works.
“I hope that you have received a letter which I had the
honour to address to you some time ago at Cambridge, where
I supposed that you were residing, to thank you for your
Homer. I beg you to believe that no one can have the
honour to be with more grateful feelings,
“Sir,
56 Your very humble and very obedient servant,
- D’ANSSE DE VILLOISON.
“ Paris, Rue de Bièvre, No. 22,
Oct. 24, 1802."
1802.]
LETTER TO DR. DAVY.
237
CHAP. XX.
LETTER TO DR. DAVY. — NEW EDITION OF TIIE NIECUBA; SUPPLEMENT
TO TIIE PREFACE. -- WAKEFIELD NOTICED IN THE ANNOTATIONS. --
REMARKS ON WAKEFIELD'S LITERARY CAREER. HIS SCHOOL DAYS. --
IIIS COLLEGE DISTINCTIONS. IS ELECTED TO A FELLOWSHIP. IIIS
“SILVA CRITICA." - IIS RAGE FOR EMENDATION. - ONE INSTANCE
IN A LETTER TO FOX. ---- OTHER EXAMPLES. ---- REVIEW OF IIIS LU-
CRETIUS IN TIIE “ BRITISII CRITIC," PARTLY TIE WORK OF PORSON.
- WAKEFIELD'S POLITICAL FOLLIES. — PORSON PRESENTED BY EICII-
STADT WITII HIS “DIODORUS SICULUS” AND “LUCRETIUS ; " EICII-
STADT'S LETTERS TO PORSON.
In the early part of the year 1802, we find Porson ad-
dressing the following letter to his friend Dr. Davy,
enclosing proposals for a charitable subscription. For
whose benefit it was intended we do not know.
DEAR DOCTOR,
I cannot tell whether you are acquainted or not with
the object of the foregoing subscription. He was once of
Emmanuel, but choosing rather to trust his wits for a main-
tenance than the bounty of Holy Mother Church, you see
to what it has brought him. In the mean tinie, if you have
“a hand open as day for melting charity," you may contribute
what you see reasonable, and apply to any well-disposed
persons, that may fall in your way, for similar exertions of
benevolence. The amount of the subscription at present is,
I understand, between 400l. and 500l.; so there will be some-
thing to purchase an annuity for the poor poet, after paying
his debts, and to give him food, which is necessary, in lieu of
fame, which is not necessary. God forbid it should! How
238
[Cn. XX.
LIFE OF RICHARD PORSON.
many of us would then be in want of necessaries! We have
been rather in expectation of you here in town this Christmas,
but, I suppose, diseases, and consequently deaths, have been
so rife, that you have had no leisure for jaunting or merry-
making. I have got a copy of Coray's Hippocrates de Aëribus,
A quis, et Locis, which, if you come shortly to town, you may
take with you; if not, I shall send it by. Hole, when he passes
this way in his return to Cambridge. I have been at death's
door myself, but with a due neglect of the faculty, and plen-
tiful use of my old remedy (powder of post), I am pretty well
recovered, and am in any way but in medicine,
Dear Doctor,
Your humble servant to command,
R. PORSON.
Strand, No. 145 (Mr. Perry's),
1st Feb. 1802.
Having recovered, as he says, he proceeded to pub-
lish a new edition of the Hecuba at Cambridge, in
which the famous supplement to the preface made its
first appearance. In his additions to the notes he twice
bestows his attention on Wakefield. In the first pas-
sage, the 153rd verse, on which Wakefield, in making
his foolish alteration of χρυσοφόρου into χρυσοφόβου, had
cited a passage of Lycophronis, preserved in Athenæus,
speaking rather against the alteration than for it, Porson
very quietly quotes the passage, observing that he owes
his knowledge of it to the fourteenth page of Gilbert
Wakefield's Diatribe Externporalis in Hecubam: a happy
mode of showing how little he regarded Wakefield's
attack, and how willing he was that all his readers
should see what had been put forth against him. In
the other passage, the 1164th verse, he treats the author
of the Diatribe in a different way. Wakefield had
sneered at Porson for calling the first syllable of deì the
1802.]
CIIARACTER OF WAKEFIELD.
239
11
wa
penultimate. “Whoever heard,” says he, 6 of the pe-
nultimate of a dissyllable?” Porson remarks, “Pierson
on Moris, p. 231, rightly states that the penultima of
dei is common; and that no scurra or sycophanta, no
babbler or railer, may insult the shade of Pierson for
using the expression penultimate of a dissyllable, I will
here adduce two passages from two Latin grammarians.”
He then transcribes passages from Valerius Probus and
Priscian, in which the word penultima is used in the
same way as Pierson had used it.
What Wakefield was, both as a man and a scholar,
has become tolerably apparent. In his boyhood he had
received a good education, both from his father, who
was a clergyman of some ability, and from Mr. Woodde-
son, master, for nearly forty years, of the grammar-
school of Kingston-on-Thames, under whom Steevens,
Gibbon, Hayley, and Lovibond were educated. Of
Wooddeson's general tuition he spoke with approval,
but not of his instruction in writing Latin, which he did
not train his pupils to compose well, and which Wake-
field, from the ill effects of early habit, says that he
never wrote without hesitation and difficulty. At about
seventeen he was sent, on a scholarship, to Jesus College,
Cambridge, where his father had been educated. The
mathematical and logical studies of the University he
did not like, but, though compelling himself to give
some attention to Euclid and algebra, devoted the chief
portion of his time to classical reading. In the third
year of his residence, he wrote for all Browne's three
medals, for the epigrams and the Greek and Latin ode,
but was in every case unsuccessful. His epigrams and
Greek ode he allows to have been justly rejected ; but
240
[Co. XX.
LIFE OF RICHARD PORSON.
accuses Dr. Cooke, who was then provost of King's, and
whose judgment, as he had been head-master of Eton,
was much regarded in such matters, of having set aside
his Latin ode in favour of his own son's, which, he says,
the friends of both parties afterwards acknowledged to be
the inferior, and which he insinuates that the father had
seen and corrected before it was sent in. Of the truth
of this charge we cannot judge, unless we could bring
both compositions to light; and both have probably
long ago perished. Soon after, he commenced the
study of Hebrew, reading it without points, of which
he says that no words can sufficiently condemn the ob-
structions and inutility. When he took his degree, he
had attained such proficiency in mathematics as to be
second wrangler, and was consequently entitled to com-
pete for the Chancellor's medals, of which he gained the
second, Foster, afterwards master of Norwich school,
being awarded the first. He was then elected to a
fellowship, and in the same year published a small col-
lection of Latin poems, partly original and partly trans-
lated. In the two following years he gained two prizes,
offered to bachelors, for Latin prose, but stood on each
occasion only second.
His fellowship, after holding it three years, he vacated
by marriage; and, having been ordained, he devoted
himself for some time to theological studies, but, con-
ceiving a dislike for the forms of the Church of Eng-
land, went over to the dissenters, and returned with
great ardour to his classical pursuits, the results of
which appeared in the five parts of his Silva Critica,
which, Vertumnis, quotquot sunt, natus iniquis, he pub-
lished when he was between thirty and forty. The
• 1802.]
WAKEFIELD'S CRITICISM.
241
great characteristic of these miscellaneous criticisms is
an extravagant, and even insane, desire to make changes,
which their author calls emendations, in the texts of
writers. The volumes never obtained much regard,
and have of late lain almost wholly unheeded ; nor
shall we disturb them to search for more examples of
the writer's pruriency for verbal alteration than those
which we have already extracted. Sufficient instances
of it may be found elsewhere; in his Virgil, his Horace
his Greek plays, and his Lucretius. Whatever book h
took up, indeed, he appears to have felt himself com-
pelled to propose new readings for its pages. Whatever
expression he saw susceptible of a plausible alteration,
he could not be content to leave unmolested. He could
not allow what was good to be genuine or endura-
ble, if he himself could excogitate something that he
this propensity in his letters to Fox. He is reading
with one of his children the lines of Ovid's Tristia,
Parve, nec invideo, sine me, liber, ibis in urbem;
Hei mihi! quò domino non licet ire tuo.
Vade, sed incultus, qualem decet exulis esse :
Inſelix, habitum temporis hujus habe;
and thinks that he perceives - something awkward and
obscure in the construction” of the third verse. Surely,
he says, we ought to read in cultu. Fox, in his reply,
says, “I showed your proposed alteration in the Tristia
to a very good judge, who approved of it very much. I
confess, myself, that I like the old reading best, and
think it more in Ovid's manner ; but this perhaps is
mere fancy.” The person to whom Fox showed the
242
[CH. XX.
LIFE OF RICHARD PORSON.
V
alteration must have been one of Wakefield's own cha-
racter; a man ready to pull to pieces, and to change
round for square or square for round ; but Fox's good
sense inclined him to rest very well satisfied with what
had satisfied others. Wakefield rejoins thus : “ In read-
ing the passage, I was struck with an instantaneous
repugnance of feeling to the connection of qualem with
the participle incultus ; and I am very much inclined
to think (for confidence on these points, of all others, is
most inexcusable and absurd), that no similar instance
will easily be discovered.” Strange delusion! Whoever
should seek for instances might find plenty of them;
and it is surprising that Wakefield should not have re-
collected the common passage,
Te re-
conm
Facies non omnibus una,
Nec diversa tamen, qualem decet esse sororum,
where the position of diversa with qualem is exactly the
same as that of incultus with qualem.
In editing Virgil he comes to
Certent et cycnis ululæ ; sit Tityrus Orpheus,
which is very good sense ; and alters it to
Cantent et cycnis ulula,
which is mere absurdity.
In editing the Odes of Horace, he alters
O bcate Sexti
O bea te, Sexti,
committing a false quantity that would disgrace a
schoolboy.
1802.]
WAKEFIELD'S EMENDATIONS.
243
In the Epodes, he is caught by the difficulty in
Fugit juventas; et verecundus color
Reliquit ossa pelle amicta lurida,
but refuses to accept Bentley's conjecture of
Reliquit ora,
and will have us read
Fugit juventas; et verecundus color
Reliquit; ossa pelle amicta lurida,
telling us that it is easy to understand me and sunt.
Most readers, we fear, will think it not at all easy, but
will be likely to consider the ellipsis very forced.
In the “ Art of Poetry," the lines,
Liber et ingenuus, præsertim census equestrem
Summam nummorum, vitioque remotus ab omni,
had satisfied all critics till Wakefield fell upon them.
Even Bentley had left them undisturbed. But Gilbert
tells us that Horace must have written vincloque instead
of vitioque. We think that if Horace had written vinclo,
he would have used some other word than remotus
with it.
His Lucretius, which he published, to his credit, in
a handsome form, and, to his sorrow, with loss to his
purse, he disgraced, not only by this absurd rage for
conjecture, but by railing at Lambinus and others, far
better men than himself, as has been remarked in the
preface to the most recent English translation of that
author. But there was another point on which he ex-
posed himself to censure; he made a great show of
having consulted manuscripts for various readings, but
did not always find in the manuscripts exactly what he
LI
R 2
244
[Cn. XX.
LIFE OF RICHARD PORSON.
said that he found. This is shown in a review of the
edition in the “ British Critic” for May 1801, of which
the chief part is understood to have been written by
Porson, and of which we must take due notice. It
commences thus:
56 Miror equidem coleoque, eò decidisse rem literariam, ut
à multis libri è chartis et typis magis quàm exc argumento
cestimentur.
666 We see with grief and astonishment the state of letters
so fallen, that, by niultitudes, books are valued rather for the
type and paper than for the value of the contents.'
“ It will readily be granted, by men of sense and judgment,
that an edition of a classical author is by no means to be
estimated from the beauty of the type, the fineness of the
paper, or the elegant proportions and arrangements of the
page. If these matters could afford foundation for a reason-
able judgment, there could be no possible doubt about the
praises due to the present work. In its external form, the
book speaks abundantly for itself, nor can many editions of
the classics vie with it in that respect; such only excepted
as exhibit merely a beautiful text, without any apparatus of
notes.
“The notes of Mr. W. are indeed very numerous and
various; philological, critical, illustrative, political; such as
he always pours forth with a facility which judgment some-
times limps after in vain. A reader, however, must be more
than usually morose, who is not pleased with the strong and
lively relish which this annotator exhibits for the poetical
beauties of his author, and those of all the ancient classics;
though, it is true, he sometimes rather overwhelms than
illustrates Lucretius by these incursions.
“ But very distinct from the talent or feeling last men-
tioned is the power of reading with precision, and collating
with accuracy, a variety of ancient MSS.; and on the degree
of success with which this difficult task has been performed,
must ultimately depend the characteristic value of the present
(
1802.]
CO
WAKEFIELD'S LUCRETIUS.
245
these means, being particularly promised in the title-page
and preface.”
The reviewer then proceeds to remark that,
6 with every allowance made for a labour in which the
acutest eye will sometimes be deceived, and the most de-
termined sagacity will sometimes remit its attention, Mr.
Wakefield cannot receive the palm of a skilful or scrupu-
lously accurate collator.”
He observes that Mr. Wakefield had examined five
manuscripts, one in the Public Library at Cambridge,
one belonging to Edward Poore, Esq., and three Har-
leian manuscripts in the British Museum; that the first
two of these were not within the reviewer's reach, but
that he had examined the three Harleian manuscripts,
taking the first two hundred and fifty lines of the first
book, and a passage at hazard from the third book.
After a few preliminary remarks on these collations, he
says, on ver. 78,
6 Mr. W. has published, “Irritat animi virtutem, effringere
ut arta;' and adds this note : ‘Hanc constitutionem versûs,
quam ex auctoritate librorum dederim, proprium acumen
ingenii priùs expediverat. Verborum ordinem præbent G. B.
L. M. A. II. E? (the three last being the Harleian MSS.).
Solus E. conjecturam firmat, effringere scribens pro con-
fringere; quam tamen necessariam reddidit codicum modo
memoratorum ratio. In P. V. ed. (plurimis veteribus edi-
tionibus) A. II. E. ordo est verborum Iritât virtuten animi.
12. irritant.
- The third sentence of this note forgets the second. If
A. II. &. and other MSS. give the order of words which
Mr. W. has preferred, that is to say, Irritât animi virtuten,
how can the same A. II. £. give this other order, Irritât
virtutem animi? Our collation furnishes the following
R 3
246
(Ca. XX.
LIFE OF RICHARD PORSON.
account of the MSS., and we can fully assert its correctness,
if the printer does but well and duly perform his part:
“ A. Irritāt animi virtutē: effringere et arcta.
65 II. Irritat ý tutē āi cõfingere ut arcta.
"E. Irritat āi virtutē ëffrīges ut arcta.
The two points over the ë in ëffringere refer the reader to
the margin, in which it is written cöfrīgere.
- In the sequel of the note, and in three sets of addenda,
Mr. W. pours forth an army of examples to prove the fre-
quent use of the word effringere. Nonius, in the word cu-
piret, x. 16., quotes the passage with perfringere, which,
though much rarer than effringere, is good Latin. Accord-
ing therefore to the critical canon, which directs the more
recondite reading to be preferred, perfringere would stand a
good chance of success. But this canon has too often, and
especially of late years, been pushed beyond all reason and
modesty. “Priscianus vulgatis consentit' (x. p. 879, 15),
says Mr. W., but there Aldus gives effringere. Towards
the end of the note Mr. W. says, 'Porro, pro ut, A. et, et in
versu sequente cuperet G. B. L., caperet II.
“Here is an error, either of the editor or printer, for neither
II. nor any one of the Museum MSS. gives caperet. In A. it
is plainly cupiret; in II. and E. as plainly aperiret. It
appears then that Mr. W., in his assertions concerning these
three MSS., has been oftener in the wrong than in the right."
V. 156. Versus 156, 157, 158 desunt in II.,' says Mr.
W. Verse 156 is not omitted in II., but only 157, 158. The
verses follow in this order : 154, 155, 159, 156, 160. In the
159th verse Mr. W. has noticed that II. gives divinum for
divom ; but he should also have remarked that it gives quo-
cumque for quo quæque.”
In regard to the collation of the passage in B. III.
the reviewer says,
66 V. 1006. Mr. W. conjectures Quem volucris, lacerat.
This very reading, totidem apicibus, is in II. This is there-
fore an error of omission.
“V. 1068. •E: ita conjeceram legendum, et ita scribitur
-
1802.]
WAKEFIELD'S LUCRETIUS.
247
V
in Vind. L. M. 0. 1. Cæteri libri, ut evulgari solet, habent
Et. Quoque noscere: P. II. cognoscere, ut communes editi.'
All the three Harleian MSS. with one accord give E ; two
of them, II. and E., quoque noscere. This therefore is an
error of commission.”
The conclusion of the article, whether wholly from
Porson's hand or not, is as follows:
“In thus examining the present edition of Lucretius, ve
feel a strong confidence that we shall not be suspected of
being actuated by any resentment against a person who must
himself feel the chief evils of a restless, impatient, intole-
rant mind. We think it, indeed, most lamentable, that a
man, whose proper occupations are study and polite literature,
should be so little able to command himself, as to fall into
extravagances of political conduct, injurious ultimately to
himself and family. Too many instances of this spirit appear,
completely out of their place, in this edition of Lucretius; in
the form of political verses, allusions to the glories of France,
and aspirations after similar changes here, with prophetic
intimations of their approach. In such a farrago, abuse of us
and our work, as supporting all that Mr. W. wishes to see
overthrown, is virtually the highest compliment; and though
we owe no gratitude to the intentions of the author, we cannot
but approve the tendency of his conduct towards us.
“We see, however, in his pages, not the slightest tincture
of the character which he has, very early in his preface, be-
stowed upon himself, si quis unquam, diffidens mei. A most
extravagant self-confidence, on the contrary, is everywhere
conspicuous, except in a few of these prefatory flourishes; and
though his maturer judgment has enabled him to see in his
own Silva Critica, 'plurima quæ sint juveniliter temeraria,
út poodióvvoa prorsus, et homine critico indigna,' yet the very
same character, unimproved, will be found to prevail in his
critical conjectures, scattered abundantly throughout the
notes to this work, and readily accessible by means of his
critical index. No author escapes his rage for correction; and
Horace and Virgil, in particular, would have as little know-
R 4
248
[CH. XX.
LIFE OF RICHARD PORSON.
ledge of their own works, were they presented to them re-
formed à la Wakefield, as we should of the British constitu-
tion, were it given to his emendation. We can, however,
pity while we censure; and most sincerely wish that, with a
more temperate mind, even in literature, he would give him-
self exclusively, and without mixture, to those studies in
which, with all his failings, he has certainly made a profi-
ciency not common among the scholars of this country.”
By his political follies Wakefield brought on himself
a hard, but not unmerited, fate. He could see nothing
right in the administration of his country. He went
to the House of Commons to hear Mr. Pitt speak, and
thought him a monster, dire as any that had ever issued
from the Stygian flood, because he had not proved
himself the reformer that he had promised to be. He
adopted the vilest jacobinical notions, which he pro-
mulgated in English tracts, in his Latin prefaces and
notes to his editions of the classics, and in every other
method within his reach. His “Reply to the Bishop
of Llandaff's Address to the People of Great Britain”
contained such vehement abuse of the civil authorities,
and such treasonable expressions of hope that the
French would invade and conquer England, that the
ministry, who would have been weak to let it pass,
commenced a prosecution against the author, the ter-
mination of which was a sentence to two years' im-
prisonment in Dorchester gaol; a punishment which his
sedition fully deserved, though the gaoler seems to have
been permitted to treat him too tyrannically during
his confinement. Shortly after his release he died of a
fever, contracted by taking long walks, of which he had
been extremely fond before his incarceration, but for
which restraint and inaction had unfitted him. He is
1802.]
EICHSTÄDT'S LETTER TO PORSON.
249
to be pitied for his want of judgment and self-control,
both as a scholar and a politician. Parr observed that
he“ united the simplicity of a child with the fortitude
of a martyr ;" * that is, in plainer phrase, he combined
great folly with great obstinacy.
In March 1801, Eichstädt despatched to Porson the
first volume of his Diodorus Siculus, accompanied
with the following highly complimentary letter. But, as
the dificulty of transmission from the continent to
England was at that time very great, the parcel was
stopped at Hamburg. In May he sent it off again,
attaching to his letter a postscript.
“ To the most celebrated RICHARD PORSON,
HENR. CAROLUS ABR. EICHSTÄDT, Professor at
Jend, wishes health.
“ Some time ago, when I was engaged in giving instruction
at the University of Leipsic, I happened to form an intimate
acquaintance with a very excellent man, Mr. Herbert Marsh,
who, though he was distinguished by eminent merit of his
own, both for talents and learning, seemed to me, neverthe-
less, to have still greater recommendation to notice from en-
joying the friendship and regard of a gentleman so highly
honoured as yourself. He spoke to me so frequently of your
kindness, and in such handsome terms, that having long
known and admired your extensive and exquisite learning,
which is aided by eminent acuteness of judgment, I began, as
I contemplated your excellent qualities of mind, even to con-
ceive an affection for you. That feeling was strengthened by
time, and, from your notes on Euripides, giving proofs alike
of perspicacity and elegance, gradually assumed such force,
that I often felt in my mind the most ardent desire to testify
publicly my respect for you. Modesty caused long hesitation;
* Stephens's Memoirs of Horne Tooke, vol. i. p. 316.
LIFE OF RICIIARD PORSON.
[Cı. XX.
but my good feeling towards you at length prevailed, and
gained such influence over me, that I resolved not only to
send you my Diodorus Siculus, which I have lately proceeded
to publish, but even to place it under your protection by a
public dedication. If you regard this determination of mine
as I should wish, I shall be extremely delighted, and, as I
have written with truth at the end of my preface to
Diodorus, shall consider it the commencement of a favourable
judgment from the world; or, if my hopes of praise be dis-
appointed, you will nevertheless not wholly despise the affec-
tionate expressions of a mind deeply devoted to you.
“But while I am speaking of my preface, let me say, most
excellent Porson, how much I should wish to ask another
tuous. There are illustrations, doubtless, either discoverable
in the libraries of your happy Britain, or the produce of your
own admirable genius, with which my edition of Diodorus
might be greatly improved. If your kindness would oblige
me with any portion of these, I should then, believe me, con-
sider that I had done something useful in undertaking the
duty of an editor.
“This request, if I were not afraid of transgressing all
bounds of modesty, I would gladly extend to Lucretius, of
whom, at the will and pleasure of a bookseller, I have lately
commenced an edition, which is to be such as to present all
that is good in Wakefield's, with some additional annotations
of my own, if I can produce any. Wakefield's edition, in-
deed, has long been scarce among us, both because of Bent-
ley's great name being connected with it, and because it is
sold at a price too heavy for German poverty. A man of
such knowledge as you, Sir, will easily be able to produce
abundance of matter to throw new light on Lucretius, and to
rectify the learning of your countryman, which has rather
been poured out rashly than drawn forth considerately. But
that my edition of that author should be graced with such
adornment, I venture rather to wish, than to hope or to re-
quest of you; for I know that Porsoniana cannot worthily be
attached to anything inferior to Toupiana. Farewell, illus-
1802.]
EICHSTÄDT TO PORSON.
251
trious Sir, and may you long enjoy with happiness the glory
which your merits have secured you.
“Jena, March 1, 1801.”
1
66 To the honourable and most learned Professor of
the Greek Language, Mr. RICHARD PORSON, at Cam-
bridge.
“POSTSCRIPT. ---- It happens, with very unlucky omen, most
excellent Porson, that the letter which I sent you two months
ago, with a copy of Diodorus, has been sent back to me from
Hamburg; for some obstruction, I know not what, in the
public mode of conveyance, has prevented it from finding
its way into Great Britain. I have therefore sought for
another method of transmitting my communications to you,
and the opportunity of Leipsic fair has presented one. May
Apollo grant that the little offering which you should long
ago have received may not be returned to me a second time!
This delay, however, though for other reasons very disagree-
able to me, is attended with this advantage, that, as the first
volume of my Lucretius has in the mean time issued from the
press, I have been enabled to add it, without hesitation, to
the Diodorus; for I hoped that if my plan of editing Lucre-
tius should not be wholly disapproved by you, you would feel
more inclined to grant the favour which I asked of you some-
what too boldly in the preceding letter. Receive, therefore,
with favourable regard, that which I offer you with hopeful
anticipations, and bestow your good wishes on me and my
attempts.
“ Jena, May 23, 1801.
"Joined a Book signated M. R. P.,
Cambridge.
Tree.
Hamburg."
But Eichstädt had the same cause for complaint as
most of those who wrote letters to Porson. He waited
more than a year without receiving any notice that his
books had reached the end of their journey, and in
252
[Ch. XX.
LIFE OF RICHARD PORSON.
June 1802 addressed another letter to the silent Pro-
fessor.
To the most learned and celebrated Mr. RICHARD PORSON,
HENR. CAROL. ABR. EICHSTÄDT, Professor at Jena, wishes
the greatest health.
“ It is almost a year, most excellent Porson, since I sent
you a letter accompanied with the first volumes of Diodorus.
and Lucretius, which, through my efforts, such as they were,
had made their way into the world. To Diodorus I had pre-
fixed your own honoured name, as a pooWTTOV TnNavyés, that
I might testify, at least by a respectful preface, that esteem
for you which I had no other means of expressing. I prefixed
the names also of Coray, Wolff, and Wyttenbach, who, with
yourself, so eminently adorn and support the cause of learn-
ing, that no age, in my opinion, has ever seen a more illus-
trious quatuorvirate of critics. Those three great men
accepted my tribute of good-will in such a spirit as I desired,
and viewed my work with such favour that they not only
forgave the presumption of the dedicator, but contributed
their efforts to illustrate the writer whom I had dedicated to
them. From you, most honoured Porson, I have received no
answer, whether because my offerings are thought unworthy
of your acceptance, or whether (as I would rather suppose)
because my letter and books have not found their way into
your hands; for the parcel of books, after having been de-
tained a long time at Hamburg, was at length sent back to
me with a note from the prefect of public transport at Ham-
burg, signifying that it could not be transmitted unless it
bore the name of some Hamburg merchant, to whose charge
it must be intrusted. I accordingly sent off the books a
second time, addressed to Bohn, a Hamburg bookseller, by
whom they were consigned to Geisweiler, a bookseller of
London, who was then returning from Leipsic, and to whom
they were intrusted on the express condition that they should
be conveyed to you by his agency. I am therefore extremely
desirous to know whether Geisweiler kept his promise, and
1802.]
EICHSTÄDT'S “ DIODORUS SICULUS.”
253
took care that what was consigned to him, not without expense,
was faithfully delivered.
“ The second volume of my Diodorus has been recently
published. I have a copy set apart for you, but keep it at
home, through fear of trusting it to the hazards of travelling.
I accordingly request you, most excellent Porson, unless my
efforts find no favour with you, to let me know, as soon as
possible, by what means this volume may be sent to London,
and to whom it should be addressed. For, the more desirous
I am to make my respect and esteem known to you, the more
anxiously must I take care that my letters and books, the
object. Farewell, most worthy of men, and look on me with
favour.
“Jena, June 1, 1802.”
Whether Porson ever had the grace to acknowledge
the receipt of the books, is unknown.
254
[Ch. XXI.
LIFE OF RICHARD PORSON.
CHAP. XXI.
7A
PORSON SUPPOSED TO HAVE PREPARED AN EDITION OF THE HIPPOLY-
TUS. --- WHY HE DISCONTINUED EURIPIDES. -- HIS LETTER TO THE
“ MONTHLY REVIEW" SIGNED J. N. DAWES. — PORSON'S INSCRIPTION
FOR A FRAGMENT OF A STATUE OF CERES. --HIS LABOURS ON THE
ROSETTA STONE. - LETTER OF PORSON TO DALZEL. — SENT TO THE
“MUSEUM CRITICUM,” WITH REMARKS, BY TATE. - DALZEL REPLIES
TO PORSON.- QUESTION AS TO THE AUTHORSHIP OF THE “SIX MORE
LETTERS TO GRANVILLE SHARP."-OBJECT OF THE LETTERS.PORSON
RECEIVES AN EPISTLE FROM TITTMANN OF LEIPSIC.
WITH the last edition of the Hecuba, the published
labours of Porson on Euripides terminated. It has been
stated in print that he left a transcript of the Hippolytus
ready for the press, but, if he did so, it has never had
the fortune to meet the eye of the public.
Maltby understood from Dr. Raine that such a tran-
script had been prepared, but it was not to be found
among Porson's papers, he said, at his death. The
doctor seems to have had a strong impression that it
had been stolen, and to have intimated to Maltby
whom he suspected ; and Barker, from a conversation
that he had with Maltby on the subject, concluded
that either Upcott or Savage, the sub-librarian of the
London Institution, was the object of Raine's suspicion.*
Monk, when he published the play, had a portion of it,
* Barker's Lit. Anecdotes, vol. i. p. 63.
NITT
1803.]
PORSON'S INACTIVITY.
255
from ver. 176 to 266, corrected and written out in
Porson's hand, and had heard Porson say that he felt
no doubt of having restored that passage to the state in
which it had come from Euripides himself.* No other
portion is mentioned as having fallen into Monk's hands.
Some notes were also left by Porson on the two
Iphigenias and the Supplices, but these had been made
when he was very young, and required careful revision.
Many of them are given in the Glasgow “ Variorum”
edition. Why he did not continue his attention to
Euripides, and endeavour, as he expressed it, to com-
plete the web which he had begun to weave, is a question
that has often been asked. The true answer to it, we
fear, is that he was fast falling, deeper and deeper, into
habits which unfitted him for steady perseverance in
any kind of mental labour, so that his days were either
wasted in indolence, or employed only in desultory
efforts that ended in little or nothing. A man who, in
health that had long been far from good, spent his even-
ings, and perhaps his nights, in convivial indulgence,
would be but ill fitted for toilsome research and calm
disquisition. If he was naturally indolent, too, and
averse to write, when he was in full vigour, and his
head clear, how much more would this be the case
when he was debilitated and overclouded!
About this period, or not long before, he was offered
by the London booksellers 30001. for an edition of
Aristophanes, which, with his knowledge of that author,
he might have completed, in Dr. Raine's opinion, in six
months; but the money proved no inducement to him
to commence it.
* Monk's Pref. to the Hippol.
256
[Ca. XXI.
LIFE OF RICHARD PORSON.
During the six years, however, that elapsed between
the appearance of the second edition of his Hecuba
and his death, he was not wholly idle, but made exer-
tions, from time to time, to do something. In October
1802, having observed that he had made a mistake in
his note on the 782nd verse of the Hecuba by pro-
posing to read, at the end of Androm. 1116, ÉTUXE 8 cv
Šv u trúcous, without noticing that the commencement
was súbdito Poißw, he wrote the following letter on the
subject to the editor of the “ Monthly Review;" in-
tending subsequently to translate it into Latin, and
incorporate it in a body of addenda to the play," which,"
in Mr. Kidd's phrase, “ were appropriated to high
matter seasoned with a little wholesome chastisement.”
This intention, however, he left wholly unexecuted.
- SIR,
“I agree with Mr. Cogan, that the passages of Euri-
pides and Sophocles sufficiently defend one another, and prove,
at least in poetry, the legitimate use of the verb tuyxávelv,
without the participle óv.
“ My friend, Mr. C. Falconer, jun., pointed out to me an-
other mistake in Mr. Porson's note, which Mr. Cogan has
omitted to correct, either through forbearance or oversight.
If in Euripides, Androm. 1116, we read [sv_acto Qolßo] ŠTUXE
8'ÖV Šv trúpous, there will be an hiatus valde deflendus, which
Mr. Porson will, I dare say, retract, when it is mentioned to
him. I draw this conclusion from two of his own notes, one
upon the 571st verse of the Hecuba, where he quotes with
approbation my namesake's (Dawes, Misc. Crit. pp. 216, 217)
censure of a similar mistake of King's; the other on Orestes,
v. 792, where Mr. Porson proposes a conjecture to remedy
the same fault in a comic poet.
“ While I am on this subject of the hiatus, it may not be
improper to rescue another passage from the attacks of critics.
Machon (Athenæus xiii. p. 580 D.) tells us that Gnathæna,,
1803.]
:
GREEK CRITICISM.
257
seeing a young butcher, said to him, Melpá Klov o karós, onoí,
@s lotns, opáoov; “My pretty lad, tell me how you sell
(your meat).' Your readers, Sir, who recollect Shallow's
questions, “ How a good yoke of bullocks at Stamford fair ?'
How a score of 'ewes now?'* will readily agree that três
lotns is at least good English. But Lennep, in a note upon
Phalaris, p. 95, 1, will not allow it to be good Greek; so cor-
rects it to mógov lotns, and falls into the error I have just
exposed. Mr. Jacobs, in a note upon the Anthology, approves
of Lennep's correction. Let us try to defend the vulgar
reading by a quotation from Aristophanes, Eq. 478, lôs
Qův ó tupòs šv BowTois óvios; but, see what a general preju-
dice has taken place in behalf of πόσου against poor πώς!
Gerard Horreus would read πόσου δ' δ τυρός. This conjecture
Pierson (on Moeris, p. 424) refutes by producing Acharn. 768,
Tí 8 arro, Meryapoê Tôs ó Oitos óvios; to which when your
readers have added a fragment of Strattis (apud Polluc. iv.
169), Tà 8 ảºur juZU Ts #TóÀOUP; TETTdpool Apaxuốn
μάλιστα τον κόφινον, they will consent to let Machon and
Aristophanes enjoy their old reading.
“I am, Sir, &c.
“ JOHN Nic. Dawes. †
“ Oct. 11. 1802.”
ow, they
reading ana, si
In July 1803, a fragment of a statue of Ceres, which
had been brought from Eleusis, was to be placed in the
vestibule of the Cambridge University Library, and
Porson was requested to write the inscription for it :
SIMULACHRI . CERERIS . FRAGMENTUM
ELEUSINE . DEPORTATUM .
POSUERUNT
EDVARDUS . DANIEL . CLARKE . ET
JOANNES . MARTEN , CRIPPS
JESU . COLLEGII . ALUMNI
A. D. M.DCCO
† Kidd, Tracts, pp. 151--153.
* Shaksp. 2 Hen. IV. 3, 2.
† Kidd, Tracts, p. lxxvii.
us
258
[CH. XXI.
LIFE OF RICHARD PORSON.
LV
Some time previously, the famous Rosetta stone, a
block of black marble, engraven with three inscrip-
tions, in hieroglyphics, in the Coptic or native language
of Egypt, and in Greek, all of the same import, setting
forth the services which Ptolemy the Fifth had done to
his country, and decreeing, in the name of the priests
assembled at Memphis, various honours to be paid to
him, had been brought to England, and deposited in
the British Museum ; and Porson, fixing his attention
on the Greek, the last twenty-six lines of which are
considerably mutilated, restored it, in a great measure,
by conjecture, and gave a translation of it. These
results of his critical skill he presented, in January
1803, to the Antiquarian Society, who printed them,
but not till several years after his death, in the sixteenth
volume of their Transactions.* While he was exercising
his sagacity on the stone, he visited the Museum so
often, to read and consider it, that he got from the
officials the name of “ Judge Blackstone." of
In the “ Monthly Review” for September 1801,
James Tate, then a very young man, had made some
remarks on Porson's Preface to the “Hecuba," and
particularly on the subject of the pause. Having a
great respect for Porson, he was pleased to find some of
his observations supported in the Supplement to the
Preface, which appeared in 1802; and Dalzel, to whom
he was known, admitted a paper of his, on Greek
metres, into the Preface to his “Analecta.” Dalzel soon
after wrote to Porson, and observed, in his letter, that
he did not suppose Porson looked much into Reviews,
* Museum Criticum, vol. ii. pp. 159, 329.
† Short Account of Porson, 19. 18.
1803.]
LETTER TO DALZEL.
259
or he would probably have taken some notice of Tate's
paper.
These observations drew from Porson the following
letter, which, passing into the hands of Tate, was by
him sent to the “ Museum Criticum.”
R. PORSON to A. DALZEL.
“ Essex Court, No. 5, Sep. 3, 1803.
“ DEAR SIR,
“Our friend Mr. Laing being in town, and on the eve
of his departure for the north, I could not find in my heart
to take leave of him without troubling him to bear this
trifling token of my esteem, public and private, for Mr.
Dalzel.
“It is unpleasant enough at any rate to be engaged in con-
troversy ; unpleasant with an enemy; but still more un-
pleasant with a friend. A few minutes' conversation would
generally decide a question better than volumes of dispute.
I shall therefore be very concise, and only take the liberty
of mentioning a very few points in which you seem to have
either misconceived, or not fully conceived my meaning.
“You suppose me not to have seen (p. 164) the “Monthly
Review for Sep. 1801. It is of no consequence whether I
saw it or not. The Canon concerning the fifth foot of a
Senarian was already published in the first edition of Hecuba.'
“A gentleman who sent me some anonymous remarks on
the Hecuba' dated June 7th, 1798, has these words on v. 347.
“Nobody seemed to know the meaning of this note, till an
imperfect account in the ‘Monthly Review' (a short time since)
appeared written, as it is said, by Dr Burney. It was men-
tioned to me three years ago by Dr. Goodall. This last
sentence is capable of two interpretations. 1. The editor of
* Hecuba' needed not to produce this observation as a discovery
of his own, since it was already taught by an eminent scholar
at our most famous school. 2. The editor of “ Hecuba’ stole
this observation from Dr. Goodall, and published it as his own.
“If our friends can indulge themselves in such candid in-
s 2
260
(CH. XXI.
LIFE OF RICHARD PORSON.
nuendoes, what are we to expect from our rivals and ene-
mies? Godfrey Herman's note upon this passage is a model
of learning and liberality. He is exceedingly angry that I
made the remark at all. He is also very angry that I had
any remark to make upon iambic verses after his elaborate
treatise concerning metres. He is still more angry that I
wrapped up my Canon in studied obscurity. The fact, he
grants, is true; but, if I had given my mind to it, could I
not have discovered the reason of the fact ? for if the editor
pretends that he passed by the reason, on account of its ex-
treme easiness, Mr. Herman is resolved not to believe him.
“Now,' quoth he, what the editor reprehends in this verse,
if we retain to’unale, cannot be any thing else than the
spondee in the fifth place. And then he goes on to say,
that a spondee in the fifth place has nothing in it reprehen-
sible.* I will consent to be called as ignorant of metre and
harmony as Leclerc, Reiske, and Herman, if I ever said or
thought any thing like the proposition that Mr. Herman has
fathered upon me. I must have been an accurate reader of
Euripides, to have disapproved of a Spondee in the fifth place
of a trimeter iambic, when, of the fifty-eight verses that
begin the . Hecuba, twenty-seven, at the lowest reckoning,
would oppose my Canon. To the candid observations of
Godfrey Herman, I shall only answer by a quotation from
Valckenaer's dissertation on the unpublished Scholia upon
Homer (post Ursini Virgilium cum Græcis collatum, Llo-
vardiæ, 1747, p. 147). "Quum illud-monuerat Canterus,
biennio post, invidus sæpe virtutis alienæ obtrectator, Henr.
Stephanus, ita libello renovato præfatus est, ut cupidè velit
videri non ignoravisse quod Canterus detexerat.'
It may perhaps divert you to insert an epigram, made by
an Etonian, a friend of mine, upon the said Herman, in
imitation of Phocylides's sawſ, (Strabo, X. p. 487, ed. Par.)
Nýjüdes ŁOTÈ Métpwv, Ū Teúroves• Otxo uèv, os & vý.
Távtes, at Any "EPMANNO2. ó g"EPMANNOX ogóðpa Tɛútwy.
* Vide Hecubam Hermanni, p. 108, quam totam perlegas velim.
† Kai Tóðɛ owkvlídew. Aéploi kakoí• oux o uèv, os 8 oő.
Πάντες, πλήν Προκλέους και Προκλέης Λέριος.
Νήιδες έστεμέτρωμ, 3 Τεύτομεσ, ουχόμεν, δεδού.
Πάμτεο, πλην εβMA NNOc· ο δερμασμος σφόδρα Τεύτωμ.
και τόδε Φωκυλίδεω - Λέριοι
The Germans in Greek
Κακοι, ουχό μεμ, δεδού:
παντες, πλην Προκλέους και
Are sadly to seek;
Προκλέης Λέριος.
Not five ciz fivescore,
But ninety fire noore:
AU, save only Herman,
* Or « he is a”
And Herman's a German.
6 μέτρικοο, όσοφος, άτοπα γέγραφε περί μέτρων.
Ο μετρικος άμετρος, όσοφος άσοφος έγένετο,
J'romy The original in the possesswn of the Rev. 1 R. Luard, linn
Colt, Cambridge
1803.]
ANIMADVERSIONS ON HERMANN.
261
which I thus endeavoured to do into English; .
"The Germans in Greek
Are sadly to seek ;
Not five in five score,
But ninety-five more:
All; save only HERMAN,
And HERMAN's a German.'
“It is a known principle in iambic verse, that the iambic
may be resolved into a tribrach, in any place but the last.
As Mr. Herman has not given any striking instances of this
resolution in his incomparable treatise, I shall try to supply
the defect:
'O MerpikÒS, ó copos, ärota yéypape zepi uétpww.
Ο μετρικός άμετρος, ο σοφός άσοφος εγένετο.
“But to return. You say (p. 164) that I have not tried to
correct the middle example,
"Atlas ó xalkéolol várois oupavóv.
What? I who had said in my preface, ed. 1, p. XV. - Tu-
tissima proinde corrigendi ratio est, vocularum, si opus est,
transpositio.”—I could not change the situation of vátors and
xalkéoloc? Surely we wanted no Herman nor Tate to rise
from the dead, and tell us this. I rank Herman among the
dead, upon the strength of Aristophanes's authority:
Νυνί δε δημαγωγεί
'Εν τοις άνω νεκροίσι:
KảUTLy Tu TpõTa Tĩg #KEũ uoxompiac. (Ran. 422.)
“ But this fruitful article of transposition we will put off,
if you, Sir, have no objection, to the postscript, and we will
go on with the paremiac anapæst. The anapæstic verses
in which four short syllables meet are so few, that I thought
it would be an impertinent digression to mention them; but
I was partly induced to quote the Medea 1085, by having
seen Mr. Tate's new-fangled Canon before its publication.
At that time he seems not to have been aware of a prior ex-
ception in the same play, 114. But be that as it may, his
8 3
262
[CHAP. XXI.
LIFE OF RICHARD PORSON.
emendations are both wrong, for this plain reason, that they
utterly demolish the emphasis. One of John Milton's
answerers had reproached him with the heinous crime of
being low of stature. Milton in reply says, that to be sure
small. Where, however, adds he, would be the harm, if I
were diminutive? Which idea he expresses in these words,
* But what if I were little ?' Now it is impossible that
Milton could arrange these words in this order. He wrote,
he could not help writing, ‘But what, if little I were ?' On
this head see more in the postscript.
"I could easily amend (that is to say, new write) all the
parcemiacs that begin with a dactyl, because they are so very
scarce; but let it be considered that the proportion of pare-
miacs to other anapæsts is scarcely one in ten, and therefore,
a priori, those which begin with a dactyl must be rare indeed.
If we had only Sophocles's tragedies left us, I am doubtful
whether we should have above one clear exception (Ed.
C. 177),
Ω γέρον, άκοντά τις άξει,
for the verse that follows a little after,
Βήματος έξω πόδα κλίνης,
may be easily eluded by aid of the Scholiast, kivons. But
the whole quantity of anapæsts in Sophocles is so small, that
it would be idle to frame a Canon upon such precarious
foundations. When I said that transposition was a very safe
remedy, I did not mean that people might transpose as they
liked. Dawes lays down a rule, which, if he had been con-
tent with calling it general instead of universal, is perfectly
right, that a syllable is long, in which the middle consonants
B, Y, d, and liquids, except p, meet. But several passages, as
well as the following, contradict this rule. (Ed. T. 717,
traidòs dè Braotas - Elect. 440, maoûv Braots. These
passages may be reduced to Dawes's Canon by transposition;
but they will lose all their energy by the reduction. See
1
1803.]
PORSON'S CRITICS.
263
D
6V. 389. If I may believe Messrs. Dalzel and Tate, I have
here forgotten my own rule, in not finding fault with cobaí.
- Certainly, if no stronger objections against Dawes's Canon
can be produced, it will suffer no material hurt. In Soph.
Electr. 399, Triclinius altered Tiuwpoúmevou into the feminine.
In Eurip. Hippol. 350, Brunck has rightly edited Keypruévou
from his membranæ. Tepúkajev oodaí is not I Medea
am expert, but, We women are expert.' — Euripides, the
woman-hater, could not miss the opportunity of libelling
the sex. Ion. 629."Ooas opayàs dr, pappákov te Davao iuwv
Tuvaĉkes zůpov åvopáow diaptopás. There is a stronger ob-
jection against Dawes's rule in Hippol. 1120, than can be
brought, I believe, from any other quarter.
“But my friends have a very funny way of reasoning upon
these subjects. “Mr. Porson says, that the Attic tragic poets
seldom suffer such verses as, "Atlas ó xarkéolor vÓTOLS
oúpavov-Ergo, he does not know of such verses as 'Apibuapdos
Sápdeolv, METÓTWV owopóvwv, aluatomoÙS škBaráv, &c.'*
“Mr. Porson says that the tragic poets would not write such
a verse as ’ATào tí taût ódýpouai tà d' v moon–Ergo, he
did not remember, Eion de tolv tploaOrlou špus Kakń. *
*H Kdpi ảo TapeƠ Komºus xong Lô cuôn, c.”
“ Another learned gentleman sends me some anonymous
criticisms upon the “Hecuba,' and on v. 639-640 says, “Per-
haps the learned Professor did not know that this passage is
quoted by Eustathius (Il. r. p. 301, 16). Perhaps the
learned Professor knew that not only that passage was quoted
by Eustathius, but also another from the same play, 446,
which has escaped the notice of the Monthly Reviewer,
p. 332. This question may however be decided by any
person, who will take the trouble of consulting the appendix
to Toup, ed. Oxon. vol. IV. p. 504, compared with Brunck's
Soph. Fragment. Helen.
“ And now, Sir, I release you from a long and tedious letter.
Notwithstanding the appearance of dissent my letter wears,
* British Critic, vol. x. Dec. 1797, p. 615.
of Ibid. p. 616.
s
4
264
[C1. XXI.
LIFE OF RICHARD PORSON.
be assured that there are very few men, for whom I enter-
tain a greater respect and affection, than Mr. Dalzel ; and I
trust he will believe me, when I affirm that I am his
obliged humble servant,
“R. PORSON.
“P.S. Mr. Gilbert Wakefield, ó makapítns, found a MS. in
the British Museum, containing an unedited hymn (as he
believed) of Proclus, which he therefore communicated with
the public in his Silva Critica, P. IV. p. 252, and printed
the four first verses thus:
Υμνος κοινος
Κλυτε, θεοι, ιερης σοφιης οιηκας εχοντες:
Οι ψυχαις μεροπων αναγωγιον άψαμενοι φως,
Ελκτης αθανατων, σκοτιον κευθμωνα λιπουσαις,
Υμων αρρητησι καθηραμεναις τελετησι.
Annotatiunculæ quædam (a G. W. sc.):
vers. 2. av@pwowy --MS. Possis ayopwv, sed illud his Scripto-
ribus usitatius.
vers. 3. Elktņstrahentibus bibentibus --- immortalia. 'EXKUTIS
Yuxas-lovoas-kaonpauleras. - MS.
“ First and foremost, Mr. W. it seems, did not know that
this hymn was already extant in all the printed copies of
Proclus (vide Brunck. Analect. II. p. 443).
“Secondly, he might, even without the help of the editions,
have corrected the hiatus, by reading cocins lepns, if he had
an ear.
“ Thirdly, he confesses to have made four conjectural emen-
“Now, Sir, you may perhaps have some difficulty in believ-
ing that I have consulted this self-same individual MS., and
B a
that in the first verse it is thus written, ispais codins, by which
marks, very common in MSS., the scribe corrected his own
error.
“But if you believe this, I hardly expect you to believe that,
instead of ελκυτης, the MS. has έλκετ' ες αθανάτων εις plain as
1803.]
ON TRANSPOSITION OF WORDS.
265
I have written it, and just as the printed books have it,
except that they less elegantly give ådavátovs. Something
too much of this.
“ There is a passage of Sophocles three times quoted by
Plutarch, and always in a different order, but so as in the
three variations to remain a Senarian. Now the fragment
consists of five words, and the sense is this: '(The physicians)
wash away bitter bile with bitter drugs. The five words,
you know, will admit of one hundred and twenty permuta-
tions, and, what is extremely odd, these words will admit
twenty transpositions, and still constitute a trimeter iambic.
“Now, as Sophocles certainly wrote these words in one
order, and no more, the problem is, so to construct the verse
as Sophocles wrote it. I shall first set down the words them-
selves in the English order, and then the different positions
in which the words can be put, still retaining the iambic
metre.
a
€
κλύζουσι πικράν χολήν πικρούς φαρμάκοις.
αβεγώ
βγαδε
αβεδα
βγαεδ
αδεβγ
γβαδε
αδεγβ
δβαεγ Ρlut. 1.
δγαβε
αεβδη
δγαεβ
γδαβε
γδαεβ Pluit. 2.
αεδβη
αεδγβ
αεβγό
αεγβδ
qeyd13
66 The Scrap annexed you will understand, by comparing
Euripides Iph. in Aul. Scen. 1, with Stobæus Serm. 103, in
any edition but Grotius's.
FThe Scrap so annexed was a highly finished and exquisite
copy of four different MSS. of Iph. Aul. vv. 29–33, illus-
trating what he calls the 'fruitful article of transposition,
and his own inimitable calligraphy, at one and the same
time.-J. T.]”
266
[Ch. XXI.
LIFE OF RICHARD PORSON.
ev
16U
ry
1
In transmitting this letter to the “Museum Criticum,"
Tate observed that his canon, as Porson called it, re-
specting the parcemiac anapæst, was so far from being
6 new-fangled,” that it had been mentioned as well
known by Bentley in his “Emendations on Menander,"*
anapæstos ubique terminari versu parcemiaco, qui pos-
terius colon est hexametri. “ Verum Bernardus," he
adds, “non vidit omnia.” He admits, however, that
the canon was “ unquestionably wrong, unless he had
been content with calling it general instead of uni-
versal.”
Dalzel, in reply to Porson's epistle, which he calls
yauxút izpos, wrote another of ten pagest, in which he
addresses Porson with the greatest courtesy, saying that
he had intended no innuendo against him, but had, on
the contrary, spoken of him with the highest praise in
the second edition of the “ Analecta ;” that, in noticing
that he had not tried to correct the middle example,
secundum non moratur, he meant only that he had left
it as an easy matter for any ordinary scholar. He then
tells a story of Reid, who, when a young man, travelling
through Cambridge, sought an introduction to Bentley,
who accosted him with “What, has my fame reached
even your ultima Thule?” assuring Porson that not
only had his fame reached Scotland, but that his name
was had in honour by all who had any tincture of Greek
literature. Of Wakefield he remarks that he could
never bring himself to think him a critic of any judg-
ment,” and that Porson has shown him to be altogether
sublestâ fide. In regard to the passage of Sophocles,
he very judiciously remarks, that to know the proper
* No. XCI. † MSS. in the Library of Trin. Coll. Camb.
T
1803.]
.
BLUNT'S LETTERS TO SHARP.
267
1
collocation of words in Greek and Latin is extremely
difficult; that the order of the words in even the best
modern writers of Latin, such as More, Erasmus, and
Muretus, would not always have pleased an ancient ear;
and that the words in the line of Sophocles could hardly
be arranged in any order that would appear to be ne-
cessarily the order in which Sophocles put them. He
then concludes by lamenting that the public inclination
is running so much towards chemistry, mineralogy,
and such sciences, observing that there is some danger
of our philosophers being reduced, when they meet
with a piece of Greek, to say, like the monks of old,
“Græcum est, non possum legere,” but that he who,
like Porson, is instrumental in preventing this kind of
ignorance, is doing the greatest service to letters.
It was in 1803, also, that “ Six More Letters to
Granville Sharp, Esq., on his Remarks upon the Uses
of the Article in the Greek Testament, by Gregory
Blunt, Esq.," appeared; a pamphlet of about two hun-
dred pages, which has been often said to have proceeded
from the same hand that produced the Letters to Travis.
The writer of the “Short Account of Porson” thought
the style so like the Professor's that he felt “ constrained
to say either Blunt writes like Porson, or Porson like
Blunt: 'H Aouampos 'Epaonicel, ♡ "Epaoros Loubnpiçer;"
either Luther Erasmizes or Erasmus Lutherizes. Mr.
Maltby had heard them asked for at a bookseller's shop
as “Porson’s Remarks on Sharp.” But the truth is,
that he who seeks in these Letters for Porson's vigour,
spirit, humour, and learning, as exhibited in the assault
on Travis, will assuredly seek in vain; and he had little
cause, as Mr. Kidd remarks, to thank such of his friends
1
268
[Cv. XXI.
LIFE OF RICHARD PORSON
as paid him the compliment of pronouncing him the
author. That he was not the author he assured Dr.
Wordsworth, who mentions the fact in his preface to
“ Who wrote EIKIN BALIAIKH ?” But she used
to praise the work,” according to Mr. Maltby, “and
recommend it to his friends."
The chief design of these letters was to expose the
fallacy of a proposition maintained by Granville Sharp,
that “when, in Greek, th
nouns of the same case, if the article is prefixed to the
first of them, and is not repeated before the second, the
second always relates to the same person that is ex-
pressed by the first.” The writer who assumes the
name of Blunt replies that, as the force and usage of the
article in Greek are much the same as they are in
modern languages, Mr. Sharp's rule might be tried in
English as well as in Greek; and that, unless mystery
and obscurity had influenced his choice, he might have
confined his examples within the pale of his own tongue,
and thus have not only enabled every reader to judge
of a question to which every person of common sense,
though destitute of a knowledge of Greek, is competent,
but might also, perhaps, have seen his own way more
Clearly before him. Thus he might have taken from
St. Peter the phrase “the shepherd and bishop of your
souls,” and might have said that as the second noun has
no article before it, it evidently refers to the same
person as the first; and might also have observed how
different is the expression in Ezekiel, “ the fatherless
and the widow," where, as both nouns have articles,
each denotes a different person. But some malicious
questioner, adds Blunt, might ask Mr. Sharp whether
1803.)
AUTHORSHIP OF BLUNT'S LETTERS.
269
he had no recollection of ever having seen such ex-
pressions as “the king and queen, the master and mis-
tress, the son and daughter,” and others of the same
kind. Or what would Mr. Sharp say, if one of those
carnal spirits who are for “proving all things ” should
bring against him, from the book of Deuteronomy, the
words “ the judgment of the fatherless and widow ?”
His airy castle would be gone for ever, for one such
puff would give it at once to the winds.
This will hardly serve for a confutation of Sharp's
notions about the use of the article in Greek ; for the
usage of the Greek article is less lax than that of the
English. Indeed the author of the Letters rather at-
tempts to play round the head of the question than to
by banter than to direct decisive attacks upon Sharp's
position. When Porson, however, was asked his opinion
of Sharp's rule, he intimated distrust of it, and assigned
such reasons for his distrust as appeared decisive to
those that could judge of them.*
These Letters were called “Six More Letters to
Granville Sharp," because “Six Letters ” to him, in
favour of his theory, had previously been published by
Dr. Wordsworth. Porson was perhaps the more ready
to countenance the “ Six More Letters” against the
theory, as Bishop Burgess, whose scholarship he de-
spised, had given it his support.
As to the authorship of these Letters, one of Dr. Dis-
ney's daughters has been heard to express her belief
that they were written by an intimate friend of her
father's, Mr. Thomas Pearne, Fellow and Tutor of St.
* Kidd, Tracts, p. 301.
270
[Co. XXI.
LIFE OF RICHARD PORSON.
Peter's College, Cambridge, a Unitarian, and good
classical scholar. Dr. Disney himself knew who wrote
them, but would not tell ; but his daughter felt sure
that she was right in her opinion as to the author.
In March 1804, Porson received a letter from Titt-
mann, Professor of Philosophy at Leipsic, and afterwards
cditor of Zonaras's Lexicon, stating that he designed to
publish the Lexicon called Euväyóyn reféwv xpnosuwy,
and soliciting Porson's assistance in finding a publisher,
as well as any corrections or suggestions which he
might be kind enough to supply, for the improvement
of the work itself.* What was the result of the appli-
cation we do not know. This is the last communication
among Porson's papers from any Continental scholar.
* Porson's MSS. in the Library of Trin. Coll. Camb.
1805.]
LORD BYRON ON PORSON.
271
CHAP. XXII.
V
1
PORSON'S HABITS. -- LORD BYRON'S ACCOUNT OF HIM AT COLLEGE. -
PORSON IN LONDON SOCIETY.-A LETTER OF HIS TO SURGEON JOY.
HIS DRESS AND APPEARANCE. – VARIOUS ANECDOTES. —HIS VISIT TO
THE ASSEMBLY ROOMS AT BATH.--HIS FAVOURITE BEVERAGES. HIS
CAPACITY FOR DRINKING AND SITTING UP AT NIGHT. -ENCOUNTER
WITH HORNE TOOKE.—ANECDOTE OF TOOKE AND BOSWELL.--POŘSON'S
POTATION AT HOPPNER THE PAINTER'S. HIS UNWILLINGNESS TO
RETIRE AT NIGHT FROM HIS FRIENDS' HOUSES. -- FOND OF SMOKING.
COULD OBSERVE ABSTINENCE.
L1
OR
D
Or Porson's habits at Cambridge something has been
seen in the earlier part of our biography. We are sorry
to find Lord Byron, at a later period, 1805, receiving
a still darker impression of them. It may be necessary
to make allowance, perhaps, for something of fastidi-
ousness of taste in his lordship, but, with all reasonable
abatement, there must be some truth in what he tells
of the Professor. It is sad that such things should be
said, and sad that they cannot be fairly refuted. We
notice the passage with unwillingness, but we might be
accused of unjustifiable silence if we forbore to notice it.
It is to be found in a letter to Mr. Murray, written in
1818, after a perusal of the “Sexagenarian.”*
His lordship says that he remembers to have seen
Porson at Cambridge, though not frequently; that in
the hall, where he himself dined at the Vice-Master's
table, and Porson at the Dean's, he always appeared
* Moore's Byron, vol. iv. p. 94, ed. 1832.
LU
een
272
[Cn. XXII.
LIFE OF RICIIARD PORSON.
T001
sober in his demeanour, nor was he ever guilty, as far as
his lordship knew, of any excess or outrage in public ;
but that in an evening, with a party of undergraduates,
his behaviour would often be of a different character,
as he would, in fits of intoxication, get into violent
disputes with the young men, and revile them for not
knowing what he thought they might be expected to
know. Lord Byron had seen him, he says, take up a
poker to one of them, using language corresponding in
violence to the action, and once saw him go away in
à rage because none of them knew the name of the
“ Cobbler of Messina,” insulting their ignorance with
the strongest terms of reprobation. In this condition
his lordship used to see him, though but on a few
occasions, at William Bankes's (the Italian discoverer's)
rooms, where he would pour forth whole pages of
various languages, and distinguish himself especially by
copious floods of Greek.
Such is the description which Lord Byron gives of
Porson's evening displays. We have seen him brandish-
ing the poker at an earlier period of his life; but to the
character of the language used with the act there is no
testimony but his lordship's own opinion. As the Pro-
fessor, however, never injured any one with the poker,
we may suppose that the gesture and the words were
alike intended to be harmless.
Concerning the Professor's behaviour in London
society abundance of anecdotes are told. To what we
have to say on this subject, the following letter, written
some time after 1804, and addressed to an eminent
surgeon, Mr. Joy, with whom Porson had long been
intimate, may serve as an appropriate introduction.
CH. XXII.]
PORSON'S APPEARANCE.
273
DEAR SIR,
I should be very happy to obey your obliging summons;
I should equally approve of the commons, the company,
and the conversation ; but, for some time past, my face, or
rather my nose, whether from good living or bad humours,
has been growing into a great resemblance of honest Bar-
dolph's, or, to keep still on the list of honest fellows, of honest
Richard Brinsley's. I have therefore put myself under a
regimen of abstinence till my poor nose recovers its quondan
colour and compass ; after which I shall be happy to attend
your parties on the shortest notice. Thank you for returning
Mr. Ireland's, whom you justly call an amiable youth, and I
think you might have added a modest. Witness a publica-
tion of his that appeared in 1804, entitled Rhapsodies, by
W. H. Ireland, author of the Shakspearian MSS., &c.,
where he thus addresses his book ;
“As on thy title-page, poor little book,
Full oft I cast a sad and pensive look,
I shake my head, and pity thee;
For I, alas! no brazen front possess,
Nor do I every potent art profess,
To send thee forth from censure free." *
Though I cannot help looking upon him as too modest in
the fourth verse; he certainly underrates the amount and
extent of his possessions. He is by no means poor in his
own brass. I was going to conclude with “And now to
dinner with what appetite you may,” but first I bethought
me of a question: Do you see uothing extraordinary in this
note? nothing, perhaps you will say. Why then be amazed ;
for it is written with a pen from the wing of an eagle. Ay,
and of an Irish eagle too, dear Joy. So no more at present,
but rests yours sincerely,
R. PORSON.
In relation to his appearance, and especially that of
his nose, he would relate, with much good humour, the
11
1110
* Barker's Parriana, vol. i. p. 418.
274
[Cu. XXII.
LIFE OF RICIIARD PORSON.
One
following anecdote. He went to call on one of the
judges with whom he was intimate, when a gentleman,
who did not know Porson, was waiting impatiently for
the barber. Porson, who was negligently dressed, and
had besides a patch of brown paper soaked in vinegar
on his inflamed nose, being shown into the room where
the gentleman was sitting, he started up suddenly, and
rushing towards Porson, exclaimed, “ Are you the bar-
ber?” “No, sir," replied Porson, “but I am a cunning
shaver, very much at your service.”
Mr. Maltby says, “ He was generally ill-dressed and
dirty. But I never saw him such a figure as he was
one day at Leigh and Sotheby's auction-room; he evi-
dently had been rolling in the kennel ; and, on inquiry,
I found that he was just come from a party (at Robert
Heathcote's, I believe), with whom he had been sitting
up drinking for two nights.”*
“Banks," says the same authority, “once invited
Porson (about a year before his death) to dine with
him at an hotel at the west end of London ; but the
dinner passed away without the expected guest having
made his appearance. Afterwards, on Banks's asking
him why he had not kept his engagement, Porson re-
plied (without entering into further particulars) that he
had come;' and Banks could only conjecture that the
waiters, seeing Porson's shabby dress, and not knowing
who he was, had offered him some insult, which had
made him indignantly return home.pro
He went one evening to a ball at the assembly-rooms
at Bath, escorted by Dr. Davis, a physician of the place,
te-
* Rogers's Tablc-Talk, "Porsoniana,” p. 305.
† Ibid. p. 321.
Cu. XXII.] PORSON IN THE ROOMS AT BATH.
275
IT
1
who introduced him to the Rev. Richard Warner. *
When Porson separated from Warner, King, the master
of the ceremonies, stepped forward and said, “ Pray,
Mr. Warner, who is that man you have been speaking
to? I can't say I much like his appearance.” “To
own the truth," says Warner, “Porson, with lank un-
combed locks, a loose neckcloth, and wrinkled stockings,
exhibited a striking contrast to the gorgeous crowd
around. I replied, however,” he continues, “Who is
that gentleman, Mr. King ? The greatest man that
has visited your rooms since their first erection. It is
the celebrated Porson; the most profound scholar in
Europe; who has more Greek under that mop of hair
than can be found in all the heads in the room, ay, if
we even include those of the orchestra.” “Indeed,"
said the dancing-master, and went off to attend to his
dancing, having no more conception of what is con-
tained in the head of a scholar than the cat that looks
at a king has of the value of the jewels in his crown.
Dr. Raine said that he had known him to be so very
Clirty at times that he has been refused admittance by
servants at the houses of his friends.
He was in this plight, on one occasion, in the “Morn-
ing Chronicle” office, when a schoolmaster came to
speak to Perry about some passage in a Greek author.
When the schoolmaster had expressed his notions of it,
Porson, who overheard it, said, “ You are wrong, sir."
The schoolmaster, being startled, and glancing at Por-
son's mean appearance, asked Perry who he was. Perry
told him, when, without venturing to defend his opi-
* Warner's Lit. Recollections, vol. ii. p. 6.
† Barker's Lit. Anecd. vol. ii. p. 14.
1 2
276
VO
LIFE OF RICHARD PORSON[C. XXII.
.
11
nion, he took his hat and walked off in reverential
silence.*
He once walked out of town with Beloe to Highgate ;
and, as they were returning, they were overtaken by a
violent shower of rain, and both drenched to the skin.
As soon as they arrived at Beloe's residence, warm and
dry clothes were prepared for them, but Porson obsti-
nately refused to make any change in his dress. He
drank three glasses of brandy, but sat in his wet gar-
ments the whole evening. “The exhalation, of course,"
says Beloe, “was not the most agreeable; but he did
not apparently suffer any subsequent inconvenience.” to
The redness of his nose, to which he alludes in the
letter above, proceeded greatly from his indulgence in
port, which he preferred to every other wine, as well
at dinner as after it. I Of liquors his favourite was
brandy, the drink of heroes. Mrs. Parr said that more
brandy was drunk during three weeks that Porson
spent at Hatton than during all the time that she had
kept house before. $
For tea and coffee he had no liking. At breakfast
his favourite beverage was porter. One Sunday morn-
ing, when he was at Eton, he met Dr. Goodall, the
provost, going to church, and asked him where Mrs.
Goodall was? “At breakfast,” replied the Doctor.
“ Very well, then,” rejoined Porson, “ I'll go and break-
fast with her.” He accordingly presented himself at
Mrs. Goodall's table, and being asked what he chose to
* Barker's Lit. Anecd. vol. ii. p. 18.
† Sexagenarian, vol. i. p. 225.
$ Rogers's Table Talk, “Porsoniana," p. 301.
§ Barker's Parriana, vol. i. p. 542.
Ch. XXII.]
COMPOTATIONS.
277
take, answered “Porter.” Porter was in consequence
sent for, pot after pot, and the sixth pot was just being
carried into the house, when Dr. Goodall returned from
church.*
Mr. Upcott used to say that he was often to be seen
at breakfast with a pot of porter and bread and cheese ;
and, in the latter part of his life, in the dirtiest attire,
and with black patches on his nose.
Of his capacities of drinking, and of sitting up at
nights, extraordinary stories are told. He appears to
have been, like Dr. Johnson, a bad sleeper, and to
having been the readier, on that account, to consort
with those who were willing to sit late. He had mani-
fested his love of late hours even in his boyhood, at a
visit to Mr. Norris, who, having invited him to spend an
afternoon with him, expected him to take his leave in
the evening, but finding him, after a hint or two as to
the time, unwilling to move, was at last obliged to have
him put to bed in the house. “In the former period of
his early residence in the metropolis,” says Beloe, “the
absence of sleep hardly seemed to annoy him. The first
evening which he spent with Horne Tooke, he never
thought of retiring till the harbinger of day gave warn-
ing to depart. Horne Tooke, on another occasion,
contrived to find out the opportunity of requesting his
company when he knew that he had been sitting up the
whole of the night before. This, however, made no
difference ; Porson sat up the second night also till the
hour of sunrise."
*
t
* Rogers's Table Talk, " Porsoniana," p. 301.
† Barker's Lit. Anecd. vol. ii. p. 5.
I Sexagenarian, vol. i. p. 229.
tt
T3
278
[CH. XXII.
LIFE OF RICHARD PORSON.
of Mr. Maltby, assume a still more formidable aspect.
6 Horne Tooke told me,” he states, “that he once asked
Porson to dine with him in Richmond Buildings; and,
as he knew that Porson had not been in bed for the
three preceding nights, he expected to get rid of him at
an early hour. Porson, however, kept Tooke up the
whole night; and in the morning the latter, in perfect
despair, said, “Mr. Porson, I am engaged to meet a friend
at breakfast at a coffee-house in Leicester Square.' "Oh,
replied Porson, 'I will go with you;' and he accord-
ingly did so. Soon after they had reached the coffee-
house, Tooke contrived to slip out, and, running home,
ordered his servant not to let Mr. Porson in, even if he
should attempt to batter down the door. “A man,'
observed Tooke, “who could sit up four nights succes-
sively, could sit up forty.'»*
Porson called one day on Horne Tooke at Wimble-
don, and accepted an invitation to stay to dine. Some
dispute and ill-feeling arose between them at table, and
Porson, after dinner, being called upon for a toast, said
“I will give you the man who is just the reverse of John
Horne Tooke.” This provoked recrimination from
Tooke, and Porson was at last so exasperated that he
threatened to “kick and cuff” his host. Tooke, as
Mr. Stephens f relates the affair, “after exhibiting his
own brawny chest, sinewy arms, and muscular legs, to
the best possible advantage, endeavoured to evince the
prudence of deciding the question as to strength by re-
curring to a different species of combat. Accordingly,
* Rogers’s Table Talk, “Porsoniana,” p. 301.
† Memoirs of Horne Tooke, vol. ii. p. 315.
Cır. XXII.]
IIORNE TOOKE.
279
setting aside the port and sherry, then before them, he
ordered a couple of quarts of brandy; and by the time
the second bottle was half-emptied, the Greek fell van-
quished under the table. On this, the victor at this
new species of Olympic game, taking hold of his anta-
gonist's limbs in succession, exclaimed, This is the foot
that was to have kicked, and the hand that was to have
cuffed me;' and then, drinking one glass more to the
speedy recovery of his prostrate adversary, ordered
that great care should be taken of Mr. Professor Por-
son;' after which he withdrew to the adjacent apart-
ment, where tea and coffee had been prepared, with
the same seeming calmness as if nothing had occurred.
I should not have mentioned this scene,” adds Stephens,
s but that it is well known to all Mr. Tooke's friends,
and almost to every one that ever visited Wimbledon.”
How many times in his life Horne Tooke offered
such challenges, I cannot say; but he had previously
proposed one of the same kind to James Boswell, with
whom, on some occasion, he had had some serious
altercation. Boswell, happening to meet him, not long
after, at a gentleman's house, expressed his willingness
to be reconciled to him, but only on condition that
between the toasts given after dinner they should each
drink a bottle of wine. Horne Tooke refused to assent.
unless for wine should be substituted brandy. Boswell
agreed, but, by the time he had swallowed a quart, fell
sprawling under the table.*
“I had once the pleasure of dining in company with
Porson,” says one of Dr. Parr's old pupils, in a letter to
E. H. Barker, “ in Benet-Combination, wlien I was a
UL
* Stephens's Mem. of Horne Tooke, vol. ii. p. 439.
T4
280
[CH. XXII.
LIFE OF RICHARD PORSON.
fellow. This most extraordinary man, who could in-
struct and delight the most cultivated minds, could also
make himself a very nuisance by certain degrading
habits. After dinner he took a small book out of his
pocket, containing some of his writing (in which he was
exquisitely skilled), and it was handed round the table
for us to look at. In the evening he entertained us
with an account of some Greek manuscripts, till they
got him down to the card-table, which soon almost
neutralised this great man. Owing to his habits, it was
almost as much desired to be rid of him at a seasonable
hour, as to enjoy his earlier conversation. One of the
company, now a bishop, undertook as a great favour-to
carry him off in good time; without this precaution he
would have stayed till the morning. As I had never
been in his company before, I pleaded that he might
be allowed to stay and to drench himself with water,
which he would do, when nothing else was before him.
I offered, for one, to sit up, not to talk with him, but
to hear him talk, and was very sorry that I had none to
second me.” *
“When Porson dined with me,” said Rogers, “I used
to keep him within bounds ; but I frequently met
him at various houses where he got completely drunk.
He would not scruple to return to the dining-room
after the company had left it, pour into a tumbler the
drops remaining in the wine-glasses, and drink off the
omnium gatherum.” Maltby, who was present when
Rogers said this, added that he had seen Porson do so.
He would drink liquids of all kinds. “Horne Tooke
* Barker's Parriana, vol. i. p. 266.
† Rogers's Table Talk, p. 221.
CH. XXII.]
EXTRAORDINARY DRINKS.
281
used to say," as Mr. Maltby* tells us, “ that · Porson
would drink ink rather than not drink at all.' Indeed,”
adds Mr. Maltby, “he would drink anything. He was
sitting with a gentleman after dinner, in the chambers
of a mutual friend, a Templar, who was then ill and
conſined to bed. A servant came into the room, sent
thither by his master, for a bottle of embrocation which
was on the chimney-piece. “I drank it an hour ago,'
said Porson.”
“When Hoppner the painter was residing in a cot-
tage a few miles from London, Porson, one afternoon,
unexpectedly arrived there. Hoppner said that he
could not offer him dinner, as Mrs. Hoppner had gone
to town, and had carried with her the key of the closet
which contained the wine. Porson, however, declared
that he would be content with a mutton-chop, and beer
from the next ale-house ; and accordingly stayed to
dine. During the evening Porson said "I am quite
certain that Mrs. Hoppner keeps some nice bottle for
her private drinking, in her own bed-room ; so, pray,
try if you can lay your hands on it.' His host assured
him that Mrs. Hoppner had no such secret stores; but
Porson insisting that a search should be made, a bottle
was at last discovered in the lady's apartment, to the
surprise of Hoppner, and the joy of Porson, who soon
finished its contents, pronouncing it to be the best gin
he had tasted for a long time. Next day Hoppner,
somewhat out of temper, informed his wife that Porson
had drunk every drop of her concealed dram. “Drunk
every drop of it !' cried she. “My God, it was spirits
of wine for the lamp!'”
* Rogers’s Table Talk, “Porsoniana,” p. 302.
282
[CH. XXII.
LIFE OF RICHARD PORSON.
Another of Maltby's anecdotes * respecting Porson's
drinking, is this : “Gurney (the Baron) had chambers
in Essex Court, Temple, under Porson's. One night,
or rather morning, Gurney was awakened by a tremen-
dous thump in the chambers above. Porson had just
come home dead drunk, and had fallen on the floor.
Having extinguished his candle in the fall, he presently
staggered down stairs to relight it; and Gurney heard
him keep dodging and poking with the candle at the
staircase lamp for about five minutes, and all the while
very lustily cursing the nature of things.”
This story reminds us of Daniel Heinsius reeling
home, and repeating, as he went up the stone staircase
to his rooms,
case
.
“ Sta pes, sta bone pes; sta pes, ne labere, mî pes;
Sta pes, aut lapides hi mihi lectus erunt."
“ Stand, stand, my trusty feet; firm be your tread;
Stand firm, or else these stones must be my bed.”
“Porson frequently spent his evenings,” says Beloet,
with the present venerable Dean of Westminster, with
Dr. Wingfield, with the late Bennet Langton, and with
another friend in Westminster, with respect to whom
the following line used to be facetiously applied from
Homer :
"'Pixe tocòs tetayòlv årò Bílov beoteciono "-
meaning Beloe himself. “ Yet he hardly ever failed
passing some hours afterwards at the Cider Cellar in
Maiden Lane.
66 The above individuals being all of them very rcgu-
* Rogers's Table Talk, “ Porsoniana," p. 304.
† Sexagenarian, vol. i. p. 228.
Ca. XXII.]
LATE HOURS.
283
lar in their hours, used to give him to understand that
he was not to stay after eleven o'clock, with the excep-
tion of Bennet Langton, who suffered him to remain
till twelve, corrupted in this instance, perhaps, by Dr.
Johnson. But so precise was Porson in this particular,
that although he never attempted to exceed the hour
limited, he would never stir before. On one occasion,
when, from some incidental circumstance, the lady of
the house gave a gentle hint that she wished him to
retire a little earlier, he looked at the clock, and ob-
served, with some quickness, that it wanted a quarter
of an hour of eleven.”
“ A brother of Bishop Maltby,” relates Mr. Maltby,
“invited Porson and myself to spend the evening at his
house, and secretly requested me to take Porson away,
if possible, before the morning hours. Accordingly at
twelve o'clock I held up my watch to Porson, saying,
"I think it is now full time for us to go home;' and
the host, of course, not pressing us to remain longer,
away we went. When we got into the street, Porson's
indignation burst forth : “I hate,' he said, “to be turned
out of doors like a dog.""*
He was greatly pleased with the encomium pro-
nounced upon him by one of his companions at the
Cider Cellar: “Dick can beat us all; he can drink all
night, and spout all day.”
In 1798 Dr. Burney was meditating an edition of
Terentianus Maurus, and mentioned, in a letter to Parr,
his desire that Porson might consult some books for
him. Parr replies, “The books may be consulted, and
* Rogers's Table Talk, “Porsoniana,” p. 304.
† Short Account of Porson, p. 10.
284
[Cu. XXII.
LIFE OF RICIIARD PORSON.
Porson shall do it, and he will do it. I know his price
when he bargains with me; two bottles instead of one,
six pipes instead of two, burgundy instead of claret,
liberty to sit till five in the morning instead of sneaking
into bed at one; these are his terms."*
Porson," writes Maltby t, “ was fond of smoking
and said that when smoking began to go out of fashion,
learning began to go out of fashion also.” Had he lived
to the present day, he might have seen smoking revived
more than ever, but chiefly among those who have
little pretensions to learning.
Whatever was the extent of Porson's potations in
company, he was never accused of drinking to intem-
perance in solitude; and he could, when he thought
proper, observe total abstinence, for a considerable time,
from wine and spirituous liquors.
In his eating, as to the quality of his food, he was
easily satisfied. He went once to the Bodleian to col-
late a manuscript, and, as the work would occupy him
several days, Routh, the President of Magdalen, who
was leaving home for the long vacation, said to him,
at his departure, “Make my house your home, Mr.
Porson, during my absence, for my servants will have
orders to be quite at your command, and to procure
you whatever you please.” When he returned, he
asked for the account of what the Professor had had
during his stay. The servant brought the bill, and the
Doctor, glancing at it, observed a fowl entered in it
every day. “What !” said he, “ did you provide for
Mr. Porson no better than this, but oblige him to dine
* Parr's Works, vol. i. p. 730.
† Rogers's Table Talk, “Porsoniana," p. 305.
re
Ch. XXII.]
REFLECTIONS.
285
every day on fowl ?” “No, sir,” replied the servant,
“but we asked the gentleman the first day what he
would have for dinner, and, as he did not seem to know
very well what to order, we suggested a fowl. When
we went to him about dinner any day afterwards, he
always said “The same as yesterday,' and this was the
only answer we could get from him.".
Dr. Raine used to say that he found Porson quite
manageable in his house; and Dr. Maltby said the same
of him.*
In noticing these habits of Porson, we must remem-
ber that to drink to excess was one of the vices of the
day in which he lived; when a capacity for three
bottles was thought a necessary qualification for society;
when noblemen and gentlemen fell senseless under the
dinner-table, and were carried to bed by their servants ;
and when Pitt and Dundas, on whom Porson made
his epigrams, rose reeling from a carouse to join the
Senate. Yet, whatever allowances may be made on
account of the time, we must still admit that Porson's
drinking was enormous. It should, however, be con-
sidered that he suffered from sleeplessness, which led
him frequently to protract his sittings ; and it may,
perhaps, be said that a craving for drink, which he
seems to have felt from an early period of life, was
with him a disease.
* Barker's Lit. Anecd. vol. ii. p. 13.
286
[Cf. XXIII.
LIFE OF RICHARD PORSON.
CHAP. XXIII.
PORSON'S WONDERFUL MEMORY. — ITS STORES ALWAYS READY FOR USE.
_DISPLAY OF IT AT A FRIEND'S HOUSE IN THE COUNTRY.—INSTANCE
OF IT GIVEN BY COXE. — HIS REPETITION OF POPE'S “ELOISA.” —
WHETHER HE WAS THE AUTHOR OF “ELOISA IN DISHABILLE." --HIS
OWN REMARKS ON THE QUESTION. -- "EPISTLE FROM QUEEN OBERCA
TO SIR JOSEPH BANKS." - PORSON ABLE TO REPEAT THE WHOLE OF
“RODERICK RANDOM.” — HIS RECOLLECTION OF THE NAMES IN A
NOVEL.--OTHER PROOFS OF HIS MEMORY. HIS VAUXHALL SONGS AT
AN EVENING PARTY.-WAS NOT VAIN OF HIS POWERS.—WISHED FOR
THE ART OF FORGETTING.
OF his memory, and its wonderful tenacity, innumerable
stories are told. But what was most remarkable in re-
gard to it, was, not so much its retentiveness, as its
power of producing at all times, and in all circum-
stances, the stores which it contained. “Other scholars
may perhaps be quoted,” says the author of the “ Short
Account of Porson," " who have not fallen very short of
him in this particular," the ability to retain ; “scarce
any, however, can be found, who have possessed the
extraordinary talent of retaining everything they had
ever read, and carrying it about with them, and bring-
ing it out, à point nommé, in all states and conditions,
whether sick or sorry, as Porson showed in numberless
instances that he could do, almost even to his latest
breath.” Whenever he fell into excess, he adds, “his
mind was less clouded, and his recollection more perfect,
than any other man’s in the same circumstances.” Quic-
Cu. XXIII.]
PORSON'S MEMORY.
:
287
quid legisset mente repositum servare, et in loco meditatè
et lucidè proferre, Porsoni fere proprium fuit.*
“Upon one occasion,” says the “Short Account,"
“ the Professor having spent an evening at a friend's
house, a little way out of town, where he arrived com-
pletely wet through, was brought the next morning to
visit his friend's neighbour, who had a learned library,
and a house full of books ; and, after apologising for
his dress and his shoes, which were not his own, but
supplied, with the rest of his clothes, by his companion,
and quoting Horace in two places for the awkwardness
or inconvenience of a shoe too tight or too loose, and
Theophrastus and Theocritus, he provoked one of the
company to observe, that the way to make the greatest
expedition was to run, as the French and Dutch and
Scotch women do, with their slippers in their hands,
when they are pressed for time; and cited Æschylus,
where it is said, in the Prometheus, 'I hurried out of
the carriage without sandals. Upon which the Pro-
fessor started up upon his feet, and fired, as a strict
sportsman does, who hears a strange gun in the preserve
which he keeps for his own shooting. No sooner were
the three words pronounced, than he gave Stanley's
comment and parallel passages upon them; for such
was the local mechanism of his memory, that, mention
a line in any classic, and he would not only tell which
side of the page it was on, but the previous and subse-
quent clause. But to proceed; he quoted a similar
passage from Bion, which consisting of a broken line,
a whole verse, and a broken one, he made the most of
them, and thundered them out with a menacing gesture,
Ele
CON
* Præf. in Adversaria.
288
[CH. XXIII.
LIFE OF RICHARD PORSON.
and a strong emphasis on the last words without
sandals. The person who had innocently begun this
capping match, and had never seen Porson before in a
room, was struck with the earnestness of his manner,
and apparent displeasure, and determined neither to
as he did ; he, therefore, too, stood on his legs, and
roared out, in the words of the next quotation in Stan-
ley from Theocritus, 'Arise, nor stay to put your sandals
on your feet.' The Professor was startled at finding his
opponent on the same ground with himself, and so near
at his heels; but doubting if it were not by mere ac-
cident, he took the next passage from Horace that
followed in the commentator, to which he added the
remark of Stanley that concludes his note; namely, that
water-nymphs went unshod, for that reason Homer
gives Thetis the epithet of silver-footed. Here the Pro-
fessor had as usual the last word, for he was in the
habit of seeing everybody and everything out.”
When Coxe was at Cambridge, preparing his “North-
ern Travels ” for the press, he formed an acquaintance
with Porson, who was then residing on his fellowship
at Trinity, and gives the following instance of his me-
mory. “ Taking tea one afternoon in his company at
Dockerell's coffee-house, I read a pamphlet written by
Ritson against Tom Warton. I was pleased with the
work, and after I had read it I gave it to Porson, who
began it, and I left him perusing it. On the ensuing
day he drank tea with me, with several other friends,
and the conversation happened to turn upon Ritson's
pamphlet. I alluded to one particular part about
Shakspeare which had greatly interested me, adding, to
CH. XXIII.]
REPETITIONS FROM POPE.
289
those who had not read it, “I wish I could convey to
you a specific idea of the remainder.' Porson repeated
a page and a half word for word. I expressed my sur-
prise, and said, “I suppose you studied the whole
evening at the coffee-house, and got it by heart?' 'Not
at all; I do assure you that I only read it once." "*
He is said to have repeated at times, in company, the
greater part of the “ Rape of the Lock,” with the various
readings of the several editions, and a number of anno-
tations, all delivered with such accuracy, that a person
who heard it observed : “Had it been taken down as it
caine from his mouth, and printed, it would have
formed the best edition of that poem ever published.Ӡ
Another poem of Pope's that he was fond of repeat-
ing was the “ Eloisa ;” a repetition which Boaden once
witnessed, and of which he gives the following account
in his “Memoirs of Kemble.” I “I was dining with
him at the house of a mutual friend, when, over wine,
a very dull man became outrageous in the praise of
Pope's 'Eloisa to Abelard. The Professor began upon
the poem, and recited it, with some occasional accom-
paniments of imitations by two moderns, in Ovidian
Latin ; and, as a perpetual or running commentary, he
repeated the Macaronic version, called “ Eloisa in Dis-
habille,' which has stolen into print, and been attributed
to Porson, as he assured me, erroneously. Our wise
friend lost all patience at this outrage. “He would not
endure such a profanation of the work of an exalted
genius. He would have satisfaction for the buffoon
travesty of his favourite poem.' The man's head was
* Life and Posthumous Works of Archdeacon Coxe.
† Barker's Parriana, vol. i. p. 553.
Vol. ii. p. 337.
U
290
(Ch. XXIII.
LIFE OF RICHARD PORSON.
wrong; but, taking him aside, I did at last hit upon an
argument that charmed away his anger. I asked him
how he could think it possible for the Professor to
undervalue the poem ? and what proof he could give
of his own veneration for it, equivalent to the commit-
ting it so accurately to memory, together with three
rival versions of such different complexions? Goodman
Dull then really laughed away his folly, and returned
to table quite reconciled to his master.”
We may here consider what has been said as to the
authorship of the “ Eloisa in Dishabille.” It was gene-
rally thought to be Porson's own, from his frequent
repetition of it, and from his silence as to any other
parentage; but the writer of the “Short Account of
Porson ” was “inclined to think that the fondness of the
Professor for the dirty brat was the fondness of adop-
tion, and that it was really written by a Mr. Coffin of
Exeter, a friend of Porson's. His grounds for this opi-
nion the writer does not state, nor do we know where
to find any particulars concerning Mr. Coffin, to indicate
whether he were likely to be the author or not. On a
fly-leaf of a copy of “My Pocket Book," a satire by:
Dubois on Sir John Carr's “ Travels,” which was pub-
lished in 1807, and is now in the library of the London
Institution, Porson has written some remarks as to the
allegation that he was the author : “Such is the pre-
sent eagerness of the public for anecdote, that, let an
anonymous author tell the most scandalous and impro-
bable falsehood of a known character, there will be no
lack of readers to swallow it. In pages xii. and xiii. of
the preface to this book the author charges the present
Greek Professor of Cambridge with writing a parody
Cu. XXIII.]
ELOISA.
291
on Pope's 'Eloisa. This statement is certainly false;
for the parody in question was printed for Faulder in
1780, as appears from the “Critical Review' for Decem-
ber 1780, and from the “Monthly Review' for February
1781. If therefore Mr. Porson wrote that parody, he
must have written it when he was an undergraduate,
many years before he became Greek Professor. But if
the author should say that he only meant that the per-
son who wrote the parody is now the Greek Professor,
I shall pass over the clumsiness of the expression, and
only desire him to produce his proofs of the latter fact.
This I know, that I have several times heard Mr. P.
seriously disown all share whatever in the composition
of that parody, and all knowledge of its author.” If
Porson meant this as a denial that he was the author, a
denial might have been made with less circumlocution.
He made a denial of the authorship, however, to
Boaden, and he made denials to others. But Johnson
said that if a man were asked whether he were the
author of a book which he had written, but did not
wish to acknowledge, he might justifiably assert that
he was not the author ; for if he made no reply to the
question, it must be considered as an admission of the
authorship. In this persuasion Mathias denied the au-
thorship of the “ Pursuits of Literature," and Sir Walter
Scott denied for a time the authorship of the “ Waver-
ley Novels.” Little more need be said upon the question.
The production is no credit to its author. No one can
have much pleasure in seeing the delicate lines of Pope
degraded into shamelessness. The versification is
smooth doggrel, and the few notes at the foot of the
pages are trifling and nauseous.
CUU
1
-
U2
292
[Cu. XXIII.
LIFE OF RICHARD PORSON.
If Porson denied that he knew who the author was,
it is not probable that it was written by his friend
Coffin, for such a denial would then have been a need-
less falsehood. But the denial of “all knowledge of the
author” may have been made in some mystifying phrase,
Coffin, or whoever wrote the thing, being perhaps
already dead. John Taylor thought that “the warmth
and frequency of Porson's obtrusive recitations evidently
manifested parental dotage.”* If Porson really wrote
it, he must have written it when he was not more than
twenty, and may have afterwards wished to be thought
guiltless of its production. Moore, however, in his
“ Life of Byron,” says that it was written by John
Matthews, Esq., the father of Byron's friend, Charles
Skinner Matthews ; but that Porson 6 printed an edi-
tion ” of it.
Another poem, of a somewhat similar character,
« An Epistle from Oberea, Queen of Otaheite, to Joseph
Banks, Esq., translated by T. Q. Z., Esq., professor
of the Otaheite language in Dublin, and all languages
of the undiscovered islands in the South-Sea,” has been
also confidently said to have been written by Porson.
But Mr. Kidd declares that it has been improperly
attributed to him; and, as the first edition of it appeared
in 1774, when Porson was fourteen years of age, we
may very well accept Mr. Kidd's declaration. The
design of it was to ridicule certain highly descriptive
passages in Hawkesworth’s “ Voyages," and it was
written, if Mr. Kidd † be not mistaken, “by a late
Member of Parliament well known in the walks of wit.”
This Member of Parliament, it appears i, was Sir John
* Records of My Life, vol. i. p. 240.
į Barker's Lit. Anecd. vol. ii. p. 9.
† Tracts, p. lxiii.
CH. XXIII.]
EPISTLE OF OBEREA.
293
Courtney ; and when Kidd remarked to Porson that
Courtney was the author, Porson made no denial. The
versification is excellent, and, as Porson is said to have
been extremely fond of repeating passages from it, the
reader may not object to see a specimen of what he
repeated. It commences as follows. “ Opano,” we
should observe, was the form into which the Otaheitans
metamorphosed Sir Joseph Banks's name.
“Read, or oh! say, does some more amorous fair
Prevent Opano, and engage his care ?
I, Oberea, from the Southern main,
Of slighted vows, of injur'd faith, complain.
Though now some European maid you woo,
Of waist inore taper, and of whiter hue,
Yet oft with me you deign'd the night to pass
Beneath yon bread-tree on the bending grass :
Oft in the rocking boat we fondly lay,
Nor fear'd the drizzly wind, or briny spray.
Who led thee through the wood's impervious shade,
Pierc'd the thick covert, and explor’d the glade;
Taught thee each plant that sips the morning dew,
And brought the latent minerals to thy view ?
Still to those glades, those coverts, I repair,
Trace every alley,— but thou art not there.
Nor herb, nor salutary plant I find,
To cool the burning fever of my mind.
Ah! I remember on the river's side,
Whose babbling waters 'twixt the mountains glide,
A bread-tree stands, on which, with sharpen'd stone
To thy dear name I deign’d unite my own.
Grow, bread-tree, grow, nor envious hand remove .
The sculptur'd symbols of my constant love.”.
“Whatsoever,” says the “Short Account of Porson*,
“ Whatsoever at any time pleased the Professor's fancy,
he for the most part charged his memory with, and
* Page 22.
U 3
294
[CH. XXIII.
LIFE OF RICHARD PORSON.
brought it out for the amusement of his company,
whether in the shape of an Oration of Longolius on
St. Louis, or Davis's Latin Hudibras, or the Pleader's
Guide."
“ Nothing," says the writer of the “ Scraps from
Porson's Rich Feast,” “ came amiss to his memory ; he
would set a child right in his twopenny fable-book,
repeat the whole of the moral tale of the Dean of
Badajos, or a page of Athenæus on cups, or Eustathius
on Homer.”
Dr. Dauney of Aberdeen told Mr. Maltby that,
“ during a visit to London, he heard Porsón declare
that he could repeat Smollett's “Roderick Random’
from beginning to end :” and Mr. Richard Heber assured
Maltby that “soon after the appearance of the · Essay
on Irish Bulls,' Porson used, when somewhat tipsy, to
recite whole pages of it verbatim with great delight.” *
He said that he would undertake to learn by heart a
copy of the “Morning Chronicle” in a week. f
Pryse Lockhart Gordon, in his “ Personal Memoirs,"
says that Porson, having been invited to dine with him,
and having come, by mistake, on Thursday instead of
Friday, was kept to dinner on the Thursday, and, testi-
fying no desire to go to bed when his host retired, was
left with two bottles of wine before him, and an Italian
novel, which he sat up all night reading, and of which,
at a dinner party the following day, he gave a trans-
lation from memory, and though there were forty names
mentioned in the story, he had forgotten only one of
them. This slight failure in his recollection, however,
* Rogers's Table Talk, “Porsoniana," p. 310.
f Barker's Lit. Anecd. vol ii. p. 24. # Vol. i. p. 265.
IS-
I
11
Cu. XXIII.]
TENACITY OF MEMORY.
295
W
:
annoyed him so much that he started up, and paced
round the room for about ten minutes, when, stopping
suddenly, he exclaimed : “ Eureka! The Count's name
is Don Francesco Averrani.” If this account is quite
accurate, it shows that Porson was better acquainted
with the Italian than was supposed by Mr. Maltby, who
thought that he knew little or nothing of the language.*
. On one occasion, when Porson, Reed, and some other
of the literati, with John Kemble, were assembled at Dr.
Burney's at Hammersmith, and were examining some
old newspapers in which the execution of Charles I.
was detailed, they observed some particulars stated in
them which they doubted whether Hume or Rapin had
mentioned. Reed, who, being versed in old literature,
was consulted as the oracle on the point, could not
recollect ; but Porson repeated a long passage from
Rapin in which the circumstances were fully noticed.
Archdeacon Burney, who favoured me with this
anecdote, told me, at the same time, that he had often,
when a boy, taken down Humphry Clinker, or Foote's
plays, from his father's shelves, and heard Porson repeat
whole pages of them walking about the room.
Basil Montague related that Porson, in his presence,
and that of some other persons, read a page or two of a
book, and then repeated what he had read from memory.
“That is very well,” said one of the company, “but
could the Professor repeat it backwards ?” Porson
immediately began to repeat it backwards, and failed
only in two words.†
Priestley, the bookseller, used to relate that Porson
* Rogers's Table Talk, “Porsoniana," p. 329.
4 Barker's Lit. Anecd. vol. ii. p. 18.
U 4
296
[CH. XXIII.
LIFE OF RICHARD PORSON.
1112
was once in his shop, when a gentleman came in, and
asked for a particular edition of Demosthenes, of which
Priestley was not in possession. The gentleman being
somewhat disappointed, Porson, whose attention was
directed towards him, asked him whether he wished
to consult any passage in Demosthenes. The gentle-
man replied in the affirmative, and specified the
passage. Porson then asked Priestley for a copy of the
Aldine edition, and, having received it, and turned
over a few leaves, put his finger on the passage,
“showing,” said Priestley, “not only his knowledge of
the author, but his familiarity with the position of the
passage in that particular edition.”*
A similar anecdote used to be told by Mr. Cogan.
One day Porson called on a friend who happened to be
reading Thucydides, and who asked leave to consult
him on the meaning of a word. Porson, on hearing the
word, did not look at the book, but at once repeated
the passage. His friend asked how he knew that it was
that passage. “Because," replied Porson, “the word
occurs, only twice in Thucydides, once on the right
hand page, in the edition which you are using, and
once on the left. I observed on which side you
looked, and accordingly knew to which passage you
referred.”
“I once took him,” relates Rogers, “ to an evening
party at William Spencer's, where he was introduced
to several women of fashion, Lady Crewe, &c., who
were very anxious to see the great Grecian. How do
you suppose he entertained them ? Chiefly by reciting
an immense quantity of old forgotten Vauxhall songs.
* Barker's Lit. Anecd. vol. ii. p. 19.
† Ibid. p. 23.
Cur. XXIII.]
MEMORY.
297
He was far from sober, and at last talked so oddly that
they all retired from him except Lady Crewe, who boldly
kept her ground. I recollect her saying to him, “ Mr.
Porson, that joke you have borrowed from ‘Joe Miller,'”
and his rather angry reply, “ Madam, it is not in ‘Joe
Miller ;' you will not find it either in the preface or in
the body of the work, no, nor in the index.” I brought
him home as far as Piccadilly, where, I am sorry to say,
I left him sick in the middle of the street.” * .
A writer in the “ Public Ledger" said that he had
often seen him standing at night, in the midst of a
number of people, pouring forth, with dignified deport-
ment, and sonorous utterance, a number of lines of
Homer, apparently for no other purpose than to
excite the wonder of his audience at what few or none
of them could understand.*
Yet, like many other great men, who have excelled
in some particular faculty of the mind, he was far from
being vain of his peculiar excellence. Sir Isaac Newton
claimed no other merit from his vast calculations than
that of persevering labour, and of keeping his subject
constantly before him till it was worked out; and
Porson would say that his memory was no better than
other men might make theirs. He would sometimes
argue that all men are born with abilities nearly equal.
“ Any one,” he would say, “ might become quite as
good a critic as I am, if he would only take the trouble
to make himself so. I have made myself what I am
by intense labour ; sometimes, in order to impress a
е
* Rogers's Table Talk, p. 222.
† Public Ledger, Sept. 29, 1808.
Barker's Lit. Anecd. vol. ij.
p. 24.
298
[CH. XXIII.
LIFE OF RICHARD PORSON.
thing upon my memory, I have rcad it a dozen times,
and transcribed it six.” *
A remark which he made to Mrs. Edwards, however,
a friend of Dr. Parr's, intimates that he was quite
conscious of the natural goodness of his memory. He
told her that “his memory was a source of misery to
him, as he could never forget anything, even what he
wished not to remember." op Themistocles is not the
only one that has longed for the art of forgetting.
* Rogers's Table Talk, “Porsoniana," p. 310. Barker's Lit.
Anecd. vol. ii. p. 25. Hellenophilus (Bp. Maltby) in Aikin's Athe-
næum, Nov. 1808.
† Field's Memoirs of Parr, vol. i, p. 456.
ČH. XXIV.]
DISLIKE OF PRETENSION.
299
299
CHAP. XXIV.
PORSON'S A VERSION TO ASSUMPTION AND PRETENCE. — HIS DISLIKE OF
PARR.-- CAUSES OF IT. LITERARY CHARACTER OF PARR.- PORSON'S
REPARTEES ON THE “ ORIGIN OF EVIL” AND ON METAPHYSICS. — LINES
ON PARR'S PREFACE TO BELLENDENUS.-PORSON AND JACOB BRYANT,
--PORSON'S ESTIMATE OF BISHOP BURGESS.— HIS FEELINGS TOWARDS
PALEY AND MACKINTOSH. — HIS DETESTATION OF BISHOP TOMLINE.
HIS REMARK ON SOUTHEY'S POETRY.-HIS CONTEMPT FOR VILKES.
HIS ESTEEM FOR DR. DAVY; LETTER TO HIM. -- HIS ESTIMATION OF
HORNÉ TOOKE, TYRWHITT, PEARSON, CORAY, KIDD, MALONE, DR. RAINE.
-LETTER FROM KIDD TO PORSON.
“ IF,” says the “Short Account of Porson,” 6 a man
declared himself to be, or insinuated that he was, or
thought that he ought to be considered as, a hidalgo
in literature, sese aliquem credens, he was sure to be
attended to by the Professor in his own way; and if he
quoted the text of Homer, the Professor would give
him the scholiast on that text. Græculus, who had been
very free in his publications with professors in general,
once observed to Mr. Porson, rather too familiarly, in
regard to a vulgar saying, 'It is all the same in Greek,
Mr. Professor.' The Professor replied, gravely, “ You
can't tell that, Sir. At another time the same person
insisted upon it, that the Greek was an easy language.
The Professor said, “Not to you, Sir.""
This dislike of assumption may account perhaps, in
some degree, for Porson’s want of cordiality for Parr.
He would observe to his intimate friends that he had
300
[C#. XXIV.:
LIFE OF RICHARD PORSON.
no very high opinion of Parr's intellectual powers;
but he might have continued, we may suppose, on
fair terms with him, as he continued with others of far
less ability, had he not been alienated, apparently, by
Parr's overbearingness in conversation, pretension to
supremacy in literature, and overwhelming torrents of
verbosity. As early as the time when Porson looked
to the sheets of Heyne's Virgil, and when Parr, in his
“Remarks on Combe's Statement," called him “a giant
in literature,” Porson drew back, in stately attitude, and
said: “How should he be able to take measure of a
giant?” Or, according to other accounts : “ A man must
be a giant himself to tell whether another is a giant.” *
Let us contemplate, for a moment, Parr's literary
character. He certainly was a man of learning and
talent, but was as far from being a man of genius as
any man of learning and talent ever was. He has
not left on paper a single thought that can be called
original. He has produced abundance of declamation,
but declamation composed of material from other
writers. An author he can scarcely be called. . If we
compare a page of Addison, or Locke, or Bacon, with
a page of Parr, we see the difference between the pro-
ductions of a writer who thinks for himself, and those
of a writer who draws his supplies from the fountains
of others. No man can say that he has gathered
nutriment for his mind, or added to his intellectual
stores, from the writings of Parr. Nor was his language
more original than his matter; if he praised Burke, or
abused Pitt, he delivered his praises or abuse in the
* Rogers's Table Talk, “Porsoniana," p. 318.
Cu. XXIV.]
LITERARY CHARACTER OF PARR.
301
phrase of Cicero or Johnson. His Preface to Bellen-
denus is but a cento, and his English efforts are of a
similar nature. His sentences are full of sound, and
sometimes of fury, but the effect is altogether dispro-
portionate to the rage and noise.
It has been regretted that he gave up his time to
sermons and pamphlets, instead of devoting it to larger
works. But if he had taken longer performances in
hand, it appears far from certain that he would have
carried any one of them to a successful conclusion. His
ardour was excited only by fits, sufficing for the com-
position of a pamphlet, and for additions and improve-
ments to it, but not burning long enough for the pro-
duction of a work of magnitude. He wanted the power
of what Garrick called concoction. He collected a shelf
full of books for a life of Johnson, but either never
commenced it or commenced it to no purpose.
Even in classical reading, to which he was devoted
apparently more than to anything else, he has gained
himself no permanent reputation. Of all the books
through which he roamed, he fixed on no one to edit,
is an original illustration of a single passage attached
to the name of Parr.
Let it be carefully remembered, however, that, when
we speak in depreciation of Parr, we refer only to his
literary character. As a man, considered apart from
his writings and his talk, he was noble-minded and
generous, and always ready, with perhaps some few
whimsical exceptions, to do a service to any of his
fellow-creatures to the utmost of his power. He gave
his contribution to the fund for Porson's annuity at a
time of his life when he could very ill afford it. Porson
120
20
302
[Cu. XXIV.
LIFE OF RICHARD PORSON.
himself remarked to Kidd that Parr was an excellent-
hearted creature.
For Parr's literary character, then, it cannot be sur-
prising that Porson, who could see very acutely into
mankind, should feel no very great reverence, but should
regard him very much as sounding brass. One thing
in Parr's conversation which particularly offended Porson
was his proneness to disquisition and declamation on
the origin of evil. Once, in a large company, Parr said
to Porson: “Pray what do you think, Mr. Porson, about
the introduction of moral and physical evil into the
world ?” Porson, after a moment's pause, answered,
with great dryness and solemnity of manner : “ Why,
Doctor, I think we should have done very well without
them."*
This reminds us of Dr. Johnson's retort to Boswell,
“What have you to do with liberty and necessity ? Or
what more than to hold your tongue about them ?”
On another occasion, Parr said to Porson: “Mr.
Porson, with all your learning, I do not think that you
know much of metaphysics. “Not of your metaphysics,
Doctor," was the reply. Mr. Maltby, who knew Parr,
as well as Porson, intimately, says that Parr was evidently
afraid of Porson’s intellectual powers.
· When Parr was uttering his effusions against the
Rev. Charles Curtis and others, and the public prints
were filled with paragraphs about them, Porson wrote
the following lines, in allusion to the preface to Bellen-
denus :
.
* Barker's Parriana, vol. i. p. 543. Warner's Literary Recol-
lections, vol. ii. p. 6.
+ Rogers's Table Talk, “Porsoniana," p. 318.
Ch. XXIV.]
JACOB BRYANT.
303
“Perturbed spirits, spare your ink,
And beat your stupid brains no longer,
Then to oblivion soon will sink.
Your persecuted preface-monger."
Which somebody has thus turned into Latin :
“ Turbata corda, jam papyro parcite,
· Nigroque latici; ne cerebrum tundite :
Præfationis scriptor iste sic statim
Oblivionis in nigros cadet sinus."
1
The reader who objects to corda tundentia cerebrum
may also object to “spirits beating their brains.”
Nothwithstanding the efforts which Parr made to
secure Porson's pension, says Johnstone, “ Porson
privately sneered and jeered, and once lampooned him
under the name of Dr. Bellenden.”
Dr. Parr was not the only scholar of that day on
whom Porson looked with aversion, or something like
contempt. One whom he particularly disliked was
Jacob Bryant. In the earlier part of his life, when he
was meditating an edition of Æschylus, he had been
introduced to Bryant by Coxe, and Bryant had exerted
himself to procure subscriptions for the work. His
efforts, however, were but little seconded by Porson,
who was not much disposed to solicit assistance of any
kind from any man. In this respect, as well as in some
others, it was truly said of him by his fellow-collegian
Walter Whiter, that “ he would never do the thing that
he was wanted to do.” “I have tried a great deal to
serve him,” wrote Bryant to a friend, in a fit of vexation,
“ on account of his uncommon learning, but cannot
obtain the least encouragement. He cannot carry on
the scheme he has formed without assicuity and solici-
C
304
[CH. XXIV.
LIFE OF RICHARD PORSON.
tation, and a proper respect to those from whom there
is any expectation. But he visits nobody, and omits
every necessary regard. A handsome gratuity from me
shall certainly be ready when demanded, but I find a
total disinclination in others.”*
Bryant afterwards “ used to abuse Porson,” says Mr. .
Maltbyt, “ behind his back," as “they thought very dif-
ferently, not only on the subject of Troy, but on most
other subjects. One day, when he was violently attack-
ing his character, the Bishop of Salisbury, Dr. Douglas,
said to him : 'Mr. Bryant, you are speaking of a great
man; and you should remember, Sir, that even the
greatest men are not without their failings.' Cleaver
Banks, who was present on that occasion, remarked to
me: 'I shall always think well of the Bishop for his
generous defence of our friend.'”
Cleaver Banks tells the story himself, in a letter to
Parr, thus: “I was exceedingly pleased with an instance
of candour and liberality, which, as times go, are
articles of rare occurrence in Bishops. Jacob Bryant
takes every opportunity of showing his resentment
against Porson, and was one day proceeding in his usual
invectives, when the present Bishop of Salisbury checked
him with a severe rebuke for his want of charity. Such
things are not to be expected from Bishops now-a-
days.” I
The scholarship of Bishop Burgess he regarded with
much contempt, which he took little care to conceal.
During a visit to Oxford he gave strong offence to a
ne
* Life and Posth. Works of Coxe; Quart. Rev. vol. 1. p. 110.
* Rogers's Table Talk, “ Porsoniana," p. 309.
I Parr's Works, vol. i. p. 381.
Cu. XXIV.]
CRITICAL OPINIONS.
305
I
1772
IU
party, with whom he was at supper, by speaking of
Burgess with great disrespect. Holmes, the professor
of poetry, was one of the number, and as he happened
somehow to excite Porson's displeasure, Porson took
up an oyster, which was gaping, and said Quid dignum
tanto feret hic professor hiatu ? *
Paley he disliked, not perhaps for his want of classical
scholarship, of which he might be said, however, to
be almost destitute, but for his political opinions. It
was once arranged by Maltby that he should meet
Paley at a dinner which took place at the house of
Dr. Davy, at Cambridge. Paley arrived first, and
when Porson, who had never before seen him, came
in, he seated himself in an arm-chair, and, looking
very hard at Paley, said, “ I am entitled to this chair,
as being president of a society for the discovery of truth,
of which I happen at present to be the only member.|
For Mackintosh also he had no liking. They differed
in politics, and on other subjects their reading had but
little in common. I
Tomline, the Bishop of Lincoln, he regarded with
thorough detestation. “ Meeting me,” says Maltby,
“ one day at a book sale, Porson said, “That — , the
Bishop of Lincoln, has just passed me in the street, and
he shrunk from my eye like a wild animal. What do
you think he has had the impudence to assert ? Not
long ago, he came to me, and, after informing me that
Lord Elgin was appointed ambassador to the Porte, he
asked me if I knew any one who was competent to
* Rogers's Table Talk, “ Porsoniana," p. 324.
† Ibid. p. 308.
* Ibid. p. 322.
306
[CH. XXIV.
LIFE OF RICHARD PORSON.
n
C122
examine the Greek manuscripts at Constantinople. I
replied, that I did not; and he now tells everybody
that I refused the proposal of government that I should
go out to examine those manuscripts." I do not believe."
adds Maltby, “that Porson would have gone to Con-
stantinople, if he had had the offer. He hated moving, .
and would not even accompany me to Paris. When I
was going thither, he charged me with a message to
Villoison.” *
Tomline's name was originally Pretyman, and he
changed it in consequence of having been left a con-
siderable estate by a gentleman named Tomline, to
whom he was in no way related, on condition that he
should take the name of the testator. It was said that
Tomline had seen him only once. When this was
mentioned to Porson, he observed that “there would
have been no such legacy if Tomline had seen him
twice.” †
Of Southey's epics, with their boasted freedom from
“ lion, tiger, bear, and boar similes," and with the
absence indeed of almost all that renders true poetry
what it is, Porson at once saw the value. “Mr. Southey,"
said he, 6 is indeed a wonderful writer ; his works will
be read when Homer and Virgil are forgotten.” To
this remark Lord Byron is accused of having added
6 but not till then," and thus to have spoiled it. Mr.
Kidd gives a specimen of similar apparent eulogy on
Cumberland's tragedy of the “ Carmelite;" “ the beau-
ties of which,” said some critic, “ will be admired
and felt when those of Shakspeare, Dryden, Otway,
* Rogers's Table Talk, “ Porsoniana,” p. 323.
.
f Ibid.
CH. XXIV.]
HAYLEY. AND MISS SEWARD.
307
Southerne, and Rowe, shall be no longer held in esti-
mation.” *
Of a volume of poems not remarkable for originality
or elegance, he observed that they had in them much
of Horace and much of Virgil, but nothing Horatian
and nothing Virgilian.
The extravagant phrases in which Hayley and Miss
Seward complimented each other, frequently called
forth satirical remarks from Porson. One day he
wrote for them the following dialogue :
Miss SEWARD loquitur.
Tuneful poet, Britain's glory,
Mr. Hayley, that is you.
HAYLEY respondet.
Ma'am, you carry all before you,
Trust me, Lichfield Swan, you do.
Miss SEWARD.
Ode, didactic, epic, sonnet,
Mr. Hayley, you're divine.
HAYLEY.
Ma'am, I'll take my oath upon it,
You yourself are all the Nine.t
It should be recorded that he had no liking for Wilkes.
Being present at a book sale, when Wilkes's “ Characters
of Theophrastus” was put up, he observed that Wilkes,
a sponsor for “Characters," had no character himself. $
But to such English scholars, or men of letters, as he
* Kidd, Tracts, p. lv.
of Sexagenarian, vol. ii. p. 314.
I Barker's Lit. Anecd. vol. ii. p. 11.
x 2
308
[Ch. XXIV.
LIFE OF RICHARD PORSON.
1
1
UT
Inn
really esteemed, he was by no means a niggard of praise.
One of those whom he most delighted to honour was
Dr. Martin Davy, the Master of Gonville and". Caius
College, Cambridge, whom, in presenting to him a cor-
rected fragment of a comic writer cited in the LXIVth
Oration of Dion Chrysostom, he calls acerrimum.
Graecarum literarum cultorem, patronum, vindicem,
Cantabrigiæ nostræ decus et delicias, adding tà jepa
έοντα πράγματα δεροίσιν ανθρώποισι δείκνυται.
When Davy was elected Master of his College, Porson
wrote him the following letter of congratulation :
ULUI
Dear DOCTOR,
: I heartily congratulate you, and your friends, and
the College, and the University, on your well-deserved pro-
motion. ZnÔ të OGŮ mèv 'Exnád', 'Enrádos dé oε. I shall
not trespass upon your time with a long letter, occupied as I
take it for granted you must be with the circumstances
attendant on your elevation, and with the swarms of ad-
dresses that invade you from all quarters. Neither shall I
amuse myself with foretelling the future glories of your reign.
I never but once ventured on a similar prediction, and then
my success was such as completely discouraged me from
setting up for a prophet again. But a passage from Cicero
had long been rusting in my mind, which passage I had
almost despaired of introducing, when lo! the occasion which
the gods durst hardly have promised to my wishes, revolving
time threw in my way. Est tibi gravis adversaria consti-
tuta et parata, incredibilis quædam expectatio : quam tu
unâ re facillimè vinces, si hoc statueris, Quarum laudum
gloriam aclamâris, quibus artibus ece laudes comparantur,
in iis esse laborandum.
In
I have been lately studying anatomy. The last subject I
cut up was human nature; and I discovered that all the wars,
and murders, and bloodshed, and quarrels, and cruelties, that
CH. XXIV.]
DR. DAVY. HORNE TOOKE.
309
are incident to sickly mortals, mortalibus ægris, arise from
their follies, and vices, and crimes; and if the doctors
would undertake to purge and correct the humours which
feed those follies, pamper those vices, and engender those
crimes, the fee must be large indeed that I should grudge
them:
Ei d' ’Aokinaládais toūtó y' towke Deòs,
Ιάσθαι κακότητα και ατηράς φρένας ανδρών,
Πολλους αν μισθούς και μεγάλους έφερον.
But I am committing the very fault I promised to avoid. I
wish you long life and health to wear your new dignity to
the mutual satisfaction of yourself and the public; and I
remain,
Dear Doctor,
Your faithful friend and humble Servant,
R. PORSON.*
Essex Court, No. 5, June 3, 1803.
--
-
Horne Tooke was another for whose mental powers
and acquirements he had a high esteem. He used
to observe that he had learned many valuable things
from Tooke, but that he would not always take his
assertions on trust. Horne Tooke, on the other hand,
had a great opinion, and perhaps some dread, of Por-
son's intellectual force; for when disputes rose high
between them over their cups, Porson would sometimes
insult Tooke with the utmost violence and rudeness.
Tooke is reported to have said that he feared Porson in
conversation, because he would often remain silent for
a time, and then pounce upon him with his terrible
memory.
Tyrwhitt he thought an admirable critic; and for
* Kidd, Tracts, p. 330. Parr's Works, vol. i. p. 544.
† See above, p. 278.
X
3
310
[CH. XXIV.
LIFE OF RICHARD PORSON.
DLL
Markland he had such respect that he went to see the
house near Dorking where he spent the latter years of
his life. *
Of Bishop Pearson he said that she would have been
a first rate critic in Greek, equal even to Bentley, if he
had not muddled his brains with divinity.” if.
Coray's scholarship he used to extol, and especially
commended his edition of Hippocrates's “ Treatise on
Airs, Waters, and Places,” in Greek and French. He
also liked Larcher's Translation of Herodotus, as well
as Larcher's other productions. I
Elmsley he appears to have esteemed, until he found
him too ready to make use of other men's emendations
of authors without acknowledgment. In a critique on
Schweighæuser's Athenæus, in the “ Edinburgh Review,”
Elmsley inserted, as original, some restorations of pas-
sages that had defied the sagacity of that editor as well
as his predecessors. When Porson saw the corrections,
he at once recognised them as his own, but was un-
able to guess how the reviewer, whoever he was, had
got hold of them, till he was reminded that he had
some time before met Elmsley at a dinner party, where
he had poured forth his emendations of Athenæus with
great liberality. Another story says that he met
Elmsley by chance in an umbrella shop, and, falling
into conversation with him about Athenæus, told him
of some emendations of which Elmsley took advantage.
* Rogers's Table Talk, “Porsoniana," p. 325.
† Ibid. p. 326. Barker's Lit. Anecd. vol. ii. p. 24."
| Rogers's Table Talk, “ Porsoniana," p. 326.
§ Quart. Rev. vol. v. p. 207. Church of England Quart. Rev.
vol. v. p. 413.
311
COL
ance
CH. XXIV.]
ELMSLEY.
Both accounts may be true. But after the appearance
of that review Porson would never open his mouth
about Greek to Elmsley.
Dobree used to call Elmsley αρχικλεπτίστατος, the
most thievish of thieves; and a story is told in the
“ Church of England Quarterly Review,"* which, if true,
amply justifies the application of the epithet. When the
authorities of Trinity College, Cambridge, after Porson's
death, had selected that portion of his books which
they were desirous to purchase, they were placed under
the care of Mackinlay the bookseller, with strict injunc-
tions that nobody should have access to them. But
Elmsley's uncle had been Mackinlay's partner, and
Elmsley, being consequently well known to the servants
found entrance, by their means, to the literary treasures,
and employed part of a Saturday, and the whole of a
Sunday, during Mackinlay's absence, in transcribing
what was likely to be useful to him as the editor of
Aristophanes. Unhappily for the success of his schemes,
however, many of the emendations, which he passed off
as his own in his edition of the “ Acharnenses," had
been communicated by Porson to some of his friends ;
and such wonderful coincidences led to a questioning
of Mackinlay, who, on examining his cook, found that
she had admitted Elmsley on the Saturday, and prepared
his meals for him on the Sunday. Elmsley, in dread of
exposure, attempted to suppress his “Acharnenses ;" but
found, to his dismay, that it had been reprinted at Leipsic.
Such is the tale told by the reviewer ; ceterum fides ejus
rei penes auctores erit. Elmsley was a sound Greek
scholar, but may have been too fond of purloining.
-
-
CC
* Vol. v. p. 413.
X 4
312
[CH. XXIV.
.
LIFE OF RICHARD PORSON.
Kidd he called “ a very pretty scholar;" and Kidd
worshipped him as a deity. "It was amusing,” says
Mr. Maltby, “to see Kidd in Porson's company; he
bowed down before Porson with the veneration due to
some being of a superior nature, and seemed absolutely
to swallow every word that dropped from his mouth."*
: One letter from Kidd to Porson, preserved among
Porson's papers, at Cambridge, will show in what style
Kidd used to write to him. It accompanied a list of
some of Bentley's emendations of Aristophanes, com-
pared with those of Porson's on the same passages. It
is in a clear neat hand, an accomplishment in which he
seems to have been desirous to imitate his master.
"DEAR SIR,
« Vouchsafe to accept a transcript of certain emenda-
tions from the pen of Bentley, which furnish additional
evidence in favour of those restorations with which every
scholar is acquainted. The inclosed collation of a MS. of
three tragedies of Æschylus was found in a copy of Aristo-
phanes, ed. 1. Bas. which belonged formerly to Matth. Raper;
it is not of much value, but it may lead to inquiry about
the MS.
“On Thursday next at about eleven o'clock permit me to.
submit to you materials for an edition of Dawes's Miscellanea
Critica. Mr. Heber's copy of Dawes's proposals for pub-
lishing a Greek translation of the first book of Milton's
Paradise Lost with a specimen is mislaid ; to wait for it any
longer would not, I fear, be prudent; I cannot, however,
but regret the absence of that paper, since appearing with
the M. C., it would evince the rapid progress as well as real
candour of Dawes's mind. The remarks upon Askew's pro-
jected edition of Æschylus, which were inserted in a weekly
* Rogers's Table Talk, “ Porsoniana,” p. 325.
CH. XXIV.]
KIDD. MALONE.
313
VI
paper published at Newcastle-upon-Tyne, are irretrievably
lost; the copies of those fragments, which the late Mr. Brand
had preserved, did not turn up at the sale of his library;
they were announced at the end of a pamphlet entitled
Tittle-tattle-Mongers,' printed at Newcastle, 1747. "Speed-
ily will be published: Philonoi Antipolypragmonis epi-
stola ad juvenen araçovoyavvoorúapov Antonium Askew,
M.B., Coll. Emman. apud Cantabrigienses non ita priden
Pseudo-Socio-Commensalem, Æschyli editionis promisso-
rem. In quo ó dɛīva obiter, festivum caput, ex suis virtu-
tibus ornatur.'
“I am, dear Sir,
Your very obliged
and most obedient humble Servant,
Tho. Kidd.
“ 3 Hoxton Square, 11th June 1808.”
Malone's diligence and accuracy as a critic Porson
greatly admired, and said that he thought the Essay on
the Three Parts of Henry VI., the object of which was
to prove that those plays were not original compositions
of Shakspeare, but had merely received an infusion of
his spirit after they were written, was “one of the most
convincing pieces of criticism that he ever read.” *
For Dr. Raine, master of the Charter House School,
who had been his fellow collegian, he had always a
high esteem ; and with him, Dr. Davy, Cleaver Banks,
and William Maltby, he seems to have held closer inter-
course than with any other persons.
To such intimate friends he sometimes expressed his
regret that he had not, instead of devoting himself to
learning, gone out to the wilds of America, and settled
ULU
* Nichols's Illustr. of Lit. History, vol. v. p. 455. Prior's Life
of Malone, p. 131.
314
[CH. XXIV.
LIFE OF RICHARD PORSON.
there. At other times he would wish that he had been
brought up as a farmer, or to some kind of business.
As he was once speaking thus, Maltby said to him,
66 What would you then have done without books ?”
He replied, “I should have done without them.”*
* Rogers's Table Talk, “Porsoniana," p. 309.
1806.]
LONDON INSTITUTION ESTABLISHED.
315
CHAP. XXV.
ESTABLISHMENT OF THE LONDON INSTITUTION.- PORSON CHOSEN LIBRA-
RIAN.—HIS FAILING HEALTH.—READY TO COMMUNICATE INFORMATION
IN THE LIBRARY, BUT NEGLIGENT IN HIS ATTENDANCE. - BECOMES
UNFITTED FOR ALL REGULAR STUDY.--HIS WEAKNESS; HE FAINTS IN
THE STRAND. -- IS BROUGHT HOME. — HIS MEETING WITH DR. ADAM
CLARKE. — DR. CLARKE'S ACCOUNT OF HIS ILLNESS. --- CONVERSATION
ABOUT A STONE FROM ELEUSIS. PORSON'S SUFFERINGS FROM PARA-
LYSIS. — HIS DIFFICULTY IN SPEAKING. — CONTINUED SUFFERING. -
MR. NORRIS'S ACCOUNT OF HIS CONDITION. DR. BABINGTON AND MR.
UPTON VISIT HIM.-HIS DEATH.-HIS BODY OPENED; REPORT OF ITS
STATE. HIS FUNERAL AT TRINITY COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE.- INSCRIP-
TION ON THE COFFIN. - TRIBUTES TO HIS MEMORY. --- THE “ PORSON
· PRIZE” AND “PORSON SCHOLARSHIP."- HIS LIBRARY.-- HIS PAPERS.
ADVERSARIA.--ARISTOPHANICA.PHOTIUS.— LECTIONES PLATONICÆ.
-EMENDATIONS OF SUIDAS.
IN 1806 was established, by a Company of Shareholders,
the London Institution, in the Old Jewry; and Porson
was thought the most eligible man to be its Principal
Librarian. He was accordingly appointed to that office
by a unanimous resolution of the Governors, and the
announcement of his election was made to him by
“ Conversation Sharp," one of their number. Professor
Young of Glasgow, writing to Burney about that time,
says, “ Of Devil Dick you will say nothing. I see by the
newspapers they have given him a post; a handsome
salary, I hope; a suite of chambers, coal and candle, &c.
Porter and cider, I trust, are among the et ceteras."
His emoluments were 2001. a year and a suite of rooms.
316
[CH. XXV.
LIFE OF RICHARD PORSON.
Tel
The Library of the Institution is large and valuable,
and Porson's handwriting is to be seen in a few of the
books. We have already mentioned what he has
written in “ My Pocket Book ;" some critical remarks
written in Anderson's “British Poets ” will be found
below; and there were some notes in a copy of
Simplicius's “Commentary on Epictetus." All these are
printed by Kidd in his “ Tracts and Criticisms.” A
remark on a fly-leaf of Walter Moyle's Works, regarding
a printer's blunder, Proandcopius Agathias, for Procopius
and Agathias, has not escaped Mr. Barker. There is
also a copy of the Aldine Herodotus, in which Por-
son has marked the chapters in the margin in Arabic
numerals, with such nicety and regularity that the eye
of the reader, unless upon the closest examination,
takes them for print. For most courteous assistance
in inspecting these volumes I am much indebted to
Mr. Thomson, the present excellent librarian of the
Institution.
But the Porson of that day was no longer the Porson
of the time when he edited the Hecuba and the Orestes.
His asthma had increased ; the paroxysms of it, as early
as 1804, had grown so violent that his friends were
often afraid he would expire in their presence *; his
habits had originated other diseases; and he was in a
condition rather to rest than to act. He used « to
attend in his place,” however, according to Dr. Thomas
Young, “when the reading-room was open, and to
communicate very readily all the literary information
that was required by those who consulted him respect-
* Sexagenarian, vol. i. p. 220.
1806-1808.]
PORSON AS LIBRARIAN.
317
ing the object of their researches.” Many resorted to
his rooms to confer with him on matters of literature,
both ancient and modern, and whatever he knew he was
ready, when he was in sufficient health, and his faculties
were unclouded, to tell. But of his general mode of
discharging the duties of his office, Mr. Maltby, who
had ample means of knowing, gives a very unfavourable
account. His attendance was irregular ; he made no
efforts, such as had been expected from him, to purchase
books to augment the library; and he was often
hardly to be supposed that he would have been suffered
to continue in his office. “I once read a letter,” says
Mr. Maltby, “which he received from the Directors of
the Institution, and which contained, among other severe
things, this cutting remark, 'We only know you are our
librarian by seeing your name attached to the receipts
for your salary.' His intimate friend Dr. Raine was one
of those who signed that letter; and Raine, speaking of it
to me, said, 'Porson well deserved it.”»* He became dis-
satisfied with the Directors, and used to call them “mer-
cantile and mean beyond merchandise and meanness.”
During the two years that he held this appointment,
he made occasional visits to Cambridge and Eton, but
seems to have applied himself to no regular study or
occupation. His last visit to Norfolk was made in:
1806, when he is said to have carried with him for
perusal a manuscript of some portion of Plato, which
he had borrowed from Dr. E. D. Clarke.
* Rogers's Table Talk, “ Porsoniana,” p. 337.
318
[CH. XXV.
LIFE OF RICHARD PORSON.
In the early part of 1808 his memory had begun to
fail; and later in the year symptoms of intermittent
fever appeared. In September he complained of being
quite out of order, and feeling as if he had the ague.
On the morning of Monday the 19th of that month,
he left the Institution to call on his brother-in-law, Mr.
Perry, in the Strand, and reached his house about half
past one, but, not finding him at home, proceeded along
the Strand towards Charing Cross, and at the corner of
Northumberland Street was seized with an apoplectic
fit, which deprived him of speech and of the power of
For our knowledge of what befel him on that
in en
Under Librarian of the London Institution, who was
then editing a periodical publication called “ The
Librarian,” in which he inserted an account of the com-
mencement of Porson's illness. The work reached only
two volumes, and is now scarce.
As none of those who gathered round Porson, when
he fell senseless, knew who he was, and as nothing was
found upon him to indicate his residence, he was con-
veyed to the workhouse in Castle Street, St. Martin's
Lane, where medical assistance was immediately given,
and he was partially restored to consciousness. But as
he was still unable to speak, and was unknown there
also, it was thought proper to insert an advertisement
describing his person, in the public papers, that his
friends might be apprised of his condition. On the
following morning, accordingly, a notice appeared in
the “ British Press," in which he was described as “ a
tall man, apparently about forty-five years of age,
1808.]
PORSON'S ILLNESS.
319
COV
dressed in a blue coat and black breeches, and having in
his pocket a gold watch, a trifling quantity of silver,
and a memorandum-book, the leaves of which were
filled chiefly with Greek lines written in pencil, and
partly effaced ; two or three lines of Latin, and an
algebraical calculation; the Greek extracts being prin-
cipally from ancient medical works.”
This account was seen by Mr. Savage, who, knowing
that Porson had not slept at home the preceding night,
had no doubt that he was the person described in the
advertisement. He therefore hastened to the work-
house in Castle Street, where he found Porson, still
extremely feeble, but sufficiently recovered to be able
to walk. After asking a few questions, Mr. Savage
proposed to call a coach, but Porson would not allow
Mr. Savage to leave him for a moment, saying that he
would rather walk and take one in the street. They
therefore proceeded through the King's Mews to Charing
Cross, and, getting into a vehicle, drove from thence
towards the Old Jewry.
On the way, he spoke of his sudden attack in the
street, and congratulated himself on having fallen into
the hands of honest people, who had left him his gold
watch, and everything else about him, in safety. He
also adverted to the fire that had destroyed Covent
Garden Theatre a few hours before, of which he had
heard from those about him in the morning, and seemed
much concerned at the account that Mr. Savage gave
him of the loss of lives and property with which the
catastrophe had been attended. He conversed, indeed,
during the whole of the journey, in his usual pleasant
and instructive manner, giving no indication that his
DC
1212
320
[Cu. XXV. .
LIFE OF RICHARD PORSON.
mental faculties had suffered any serious injury from
his apoplectic seizure. On coming in sight of St. Paul's,
he began to speak of Sir Christopher Wren, lamenting
the treatment that he had received in the latter part of
his life, and observing that “ even in our days we were
too apt to neglect modest unassuming merit.”
About a quarter past nine they reached the house of
the Institution, when, on getting out of the coach, his
bodily debility was very observable, but he was able to
walk, with some effort, to his room, where he took a
slight breakfast, consisting of two cups of green tea,
which he always preferred, and two small slices of toast.
Soon afterwards he went down into the Library, and
happened to be met by Dr. Adam Clarke, who published
an account of the meeting, as well as of Porson's “last
illness and death,” and from whose narration it will be
proper to give some considerable extracts.
“ That his prodigious memory had failed a little for some
months before," he observes, “I had myself noticed, and
spoken of it with regret to some of my friends; but neither
then, nor at the time of which I am now writing, could any
other symptom of mental decay be discovered. What follows
will probably appear a sufficient proof that he was not only
in possession of his ordinary faculties, but that his critical
powers were vigorous, and capable of embracing and discern-
ing the nicest distinctions.
“Having that morning occasion to call at the Institution,
to consult an edition of a work to which the course of my
reading had obliged me to refer, on returning from one of
the inner rooms, I found, that, since my entrance, Mr. Por-
son had walked into that room through which I had just
before passed. I went up to him, shook hands, and, seeing
him look extremely ill, and not knowing what had happened,
I expressed both my surprise and regret. He then drew near
NT
1808.]
DR. CLARKE'S ACCOUNT OF HIS ILLNESS.
321
01
to the window, and began in a low, trena ulous, interrupted
voice, to account for his present appearance; but his speech
was so much affected, that I found it difficult to understand
what he said. He proceeded however to give me, as well
as he could, an account of his late seizure, and two or three
times, with particular emphasis, said, 'I have just escaped
death.
“When he had finished his account of the fit into which
he had lately fallen, and on which he seemed unwilling to
dwell, except merely to satisfy my inquiries, he suddenly
turned the conversation by saying, “Dr. Clarke, you once
promised, but probably you have forgotten, to let me see
the stone with the Greek inscription, which was brought
from Eleusis.' I replied, “I have not, Sir, forgotten my
promise, but I am now getting a fac simile of the stone and
inscription engraved, and hope soon to have the pleasure
of presenting you with an accurate copy. To which he
answered, 'I thank you, but I should rather see the stone
itself. I said, “Then, Sir, you shall see it. When will you
be most at leisure, and I shall wait upon you at the Insti-
tution, and bring the stone with me? Will to-morrow do?'
After considering a little, he said, “On Thursday morning,
about eleven o'clock, for at that time of the day I am
generally in the library in my official capacity. This time
was accordingly fixed, though from his present appearance
I had small hopes of being gratified with that luminous
criticism with which, I well knew, he could illustrate and
dignify even this small relic of Grecian antiquity.
“It may be necessary here to state that, about twelve
months ago, when this stone came into my possession, I took
a copy one morning of the inscription to the Institution to
show it to the Professor. He was not up, but one of the
sub-librarians carried it up to his room. Having examined
it, he expressed himself much pleased with it, observing that
it afforded a very fair specimen of the Greek character after
the time that Greece fell under the power of the Romans ;
‘for it was evident,' he said, “ that the inscription was not
prior to that period. Some days afterwards, I met him in
PY CU
322
[CH. XXV.
LIFE OF RICHARD PORSON.
»
the library of the Institution, and he surprised me by saying,
'I can show you a printed copy of the inscription on your
stone. He then led me up stairs to his study, and, taking
down Meursius's Theseus, showed me in the tract de Pagis
Atticis, at the end, the very inscription, which had been
taken down from the stone, then at Eleusis, by Dr. Spon,
in 1676. From this time he wished particularly to see it,
as by it the existence of the village Besa, and the proper
method of writing it with a single s, to distinguish it from a
village called Bissa, in Locris, was confirmed; and he con-
sidered the character to be curious."
The stone exhibited the inscription TIBEPIOE
ΚΛΑΥΔΙΟΣ ΘΕΟΦΙΛΟΣ ΤΙΒΕΡΙΟΥ ΚΛΑΔΙΟΥ
ΘΕΜΙΣΤΟΚΛΕΟΣ ΒΗΣΑΙΕΩΣ. It was found in
the kitchen of an old house in North Green, Worship
Street, by a young man surveying the premises, who,
noticing the letters on it, procured it from the tenant,
- and presented it to Dr. Clarke. The Doctor supposes
that it was brought from Eleusis by Sir George
Wheeler, who accompanied Spon in his travels through
Greece, and that it passed from him to John Kemp, a
great antiquary, at whose death it was sold, among
other curiosities, by auction.
“ After having fixed Thursday morning," proceeds Dr.
Clarke, “ to wait on him with the stone, I approached the
table, and took up the quarto edition of Dr. Shaw's Travels,
and, unfolding the plate containing the Lithostroton Pala-
strinum, (a copy of a mosaic pavement, found at Palæstrini,
now Preneste, in Italy,) said, 'I wish just to look at the title
of this plate, as I have got a copy of it, collated with that
in Montfaucon, engraved for a work which I am just now
about to publish. Whether this part of Dr. Shaw's work
had ever attracted his notice before, I cannot tell; but seeing
several words in the uncial Greek character interspersed
1808.]
INTERVIEW WITH DR. CLARKE.
323
through the plate, he appeared particularly struck with an
animal of the lutra species, there denominated ENHTAPIE,
where the n evidently serves as an aspirate to the v, and im-
mediately observed, “If this be authentic, here is an addi-
tional proof that the n was anciently used and pronounced
as we do our aspirated H.' I replied, it certainly was; and
as to the authenticity of the Prenestine Pavement, I believed
it could not reasonably be called in question.
“He seemed to wish to converse further on the subject,
though his speech was greatly affected, so that he was a long
time before he could complete a sentence, not only because
of the paralytic affection of all the organs of speech, but also
through extreme debility, and the dryness of the tongue and
fauces, his lips being parched so as almost to resemble a
cinder. Though I wished to hear his remarks, yet feeling a
desire to save him from the great pain he appeared to have
in speaking, I would have withdrawn, but felt reluctant on
account of his appearing pleased with my visit. I endea-
voured therefore to change the conversation, in order to
divert him as much as possible from feeling the necessity of
any mental exertion; and, taking occasion from the remark
he had made on the power of the n in the ENHTAPIE, I
observed that I had noticed a very curious peculiarity in the
formation of an omega on my Eleusinian stone; it resembles,
said I, a kappa lying on its left perpendicular limb, with a
semicircle drawn between the two arms on the left, thus, V,
making the form with my pen on a piece of paper. I then
asked him if he had ever noticed this form of the omega in
any ancient inscription. He said, “No, but it may serve to
form a system from;' and then began to relate with con-
siderable pleasantry the story of the critic, who, having
found some peculiarity in writing one of the tenses of the
verb ypáow, made an entire new person of it. I said
I wish the system-makers, especially in literature, would
have done, as they are continually perplexing and retarding
science, and embarrassing one another. To this he answered,
Your wish is the wish of all, and yet each in his turn will
Y 2
324
[CH. XXV.
LIFE OF RICHARD PORSON.
produce his system; but you recollect those lines in the
Greek Anthology,
Ουκ έστι γήμας όστις ου χειμάζεται,
Λέγουσι πάντες, και γαμούσιν ειδότες.
As soon as he had repeated these lines, which he did, con-
sidering his circumstances, with a readiness that surprised
me, he proceeded, as was his general custom, when he quoted
any author in the learned languages, to give a translation of
what he had quoted. This was a peculiar delicacy in his
character. He could not bear to see a man confounded,
unless he knew him to be a pedant; and therefore, though
he might presume that the person to whom he spoke under-
stood the language, yet, because it might possibly be other-
wise, and the man feel embarrassed on the occasion, he
always paid him the compliment of being acquainted with
the subject, and saved him, if ignorant, from confusion, by
translating it. This however, in the above case, cost him
extreme pain, as he was some minutes in expressing its
meaning, which astonished me the more, because, notwith-
standing his debility, and the paralysis under which the organs
of speech laboured, he had so shortly before quoted the
original in a few seconds, and with comparatively little
hesitation. The truth is, so imbued was his mind with
Grecian literature, that he thought, as well as spoke, in
that language, and found it much more easy at this time,
from the power of habit and association, to pronounce Greek
than to pronounce his mother-tongue.
“ Seeing him so. very ill and weak, I thought it best to
withdraw, and, having shook hands with him, (which, alas !
was the last time that I was to have that satisfaction,) and,
with a pained heart, earnestly wished him a speedy restora-
tion to health, I walked out of the room, promising to visit
him, if possible, on Thursday morning, with the Greek in-
scription. He accompanied me to the head of the great
staircase, making some remarks on his indisposition, which I
did not distinctly hear; and then, leaning over the balus-
1808.]
INCREASING DEBILITY.
325
trade, he continued speaking to me till I was more than
halfway down stairs. When nearly at the bottom, I looked
np, and saw him still leaning over the balustrade; I stopped
a moment, as if to take a last view of a man to whose erudi-
tion and astonishing critical acumen my mind had ever
bowed down with becoming reverence, and then said, “Sir, I
am truly sorry to see you so low. To which he answered,
• I have had a narrow escape from death. And then leaving
the stair-head, he returned towards the library. This was
the last conversation he was ever capable of holding on any
subject. On matters of religion, except in a critical way,
he was, I believe, never forward to converse. I should have
been glad to have known his views at this solemn time; but
as there were some gentlemen present when we met in the
library, the place and time were improper."
What occurred at the Institution, after Dr. Clarke's
departure, must be sought in the narrative of Mr.
Savage. “On Dr. Clarke taking leave of him, the Pro-
fessor soon afterwards went up stairs into his own room,
and, stopping a short time, came down again, apparently
going out; when Mrs. Savage observed to him that
she thought from his indisposition he would consult his
own ease and quiet by remaining at home, and that
she could provide him for dinner anything that he
should prefer ; with this he seemingly acquiesced ; but,
as I was led to believe, the Professor fancied himself to
be under some restraint, and, to convince himself of
the contrary, walked out, and soon after went into the
African, or Cole's Coffee-house, in St. Michael's Alley,
Cornhill.”
On entering this house, he was so greatly exhausted,
as we find on recurring to Dr. Clarke's narrative, that
he must have fallen, had he not caught hold of the
Y 3
326
[Ca. XXV.
LIFE OF RICHARD PORSON.
brass rod of one of the boxes, when he was noticed by
a gentleman, Mr. J. P. Leigh, with whom he had fre-
quently dined at the same place, and who communicated
to Dr. Clarke what happened on the occasion.
.
6 A chair being given him, he sat down and stared around
with a vacant and ghastly countenance; Mr. Leigh, address-
ing him, asked how he was, but he did not recollect him,
and gave no answer. He then invited him to have dinner,
but this he refused. He asked him to have a glass of wine;
this he also declined; but on Mr. Leigh's assuring him that
it would serve to revive him, he smiled, and said, Do you
think it will ? ” and then drank about one half of it, giving
back the glass to Mr. Leigh again, which he appeared scarcely
able to hold. Previously to this, from his coming into the
Coffee-house, his head lay down on his breast, and he was
continually muttering something, but in so low and indistinct
a tone as not to be audible; but after taking the wine he
seemed a little revived, and was able to hold his head more
erect. Mr. Leigh then pressed him much to have some
dinner, but he declined it, shaking his head. As be appeared
to be much exhausted, and very cold, Mr. Leigh ordered a
jelly to be put in a wine-glass of warm water, with a very
little brandy in it, and begged him to drink it; he refused
at first, but on Mr. Leigh’s entreaties, and assuring him it
would do him much good, he took the tumbler, drank about
two spoonfuls of it, and returned the glass. He seemed now
considerably roused, but would make no answer to several
questions addressed to him by Mr. Leigh, except these words,
which he repeated probably twenty times : “The gentleman
said it was a ludicrous piece of business, and I think so too.'
These words he uttered in so low a tone, that Mr. Leigh was
obliged to put his ear nearly to his mouth in order to hear
them. “Not thinking,' says Mr. Leigh, that a Coffee-house
was a proper place to witness the wreck of so great a mind,
I ordered a coach to be brought to take him to the Institu-
tion. He refused for some time to go into the coach, but
DU
1808.]
CONVERSATION IN THE LIBRARY.
327
at last was helped in by the landlord, and the waiter accom-
panied him home. When they came to the Old Jewry, the
waiter asked him where they should stop. He then put his
head out of the window, and waved with his hand when they
came opposite to the door of the Institution. The waiter
says that, previous to this, he appeared quite senseless all
the way, and did not utter a word. How quick the transi-
tion from the highest degrees of intellect to the lowest ap-
prehensions of sense! On what a precarious tenure does
frail humanity hold even its choicest and most necessary
gifts !"
Another account, in the 66 Gentleman's Magazine,"
states that on his return to the London Institution on
the morning of the Tuesday, he entered, after taking
his slight breakfast, into conversation with some gentle-
men there, and remarked that “the keeper of the
workhouse was a wag, and had endeavoured to pose
him with his wit.” “They observed,” continues the
statement, “ much incoherence, both in his manner and
matter, and, fearing that he was labouring under some
fatal disorder, they thought it right to recommend him
to prepare his will. He at first seemed reluctant, but
afterwards assented to the propriety of it, and entered
into general conversation on the moral obligation of
disposing of our property after death ; adding that the
subject had often been treated in a legal way, but
scarcely ever in the manner he wished, except in a
work entitled "Symbolæography;' and he afterwards
left the room and brought one of his Catalogues, in
which that book was described. He remained in con-
versation in this way during five hours, sometimes in
the full exercise of his powers, at others wild and
wandering.”
328
[Ca. XXV.
LIFE OF RICHARD PORSON.
le
“Symbolæography' is a work published by William
West, a lawyer, in 1590, containing forms of all kinds
of legal instruments. It passed through fifteen editions,
according to Watt's “ Bibliotheca Britannica,” but is
now little valued.
This conversation about the book might have taken
place on some previous morning, but could not have
occurred on the morning of the Tuesday after he came
from the workhouse, for it is evident from the narratives
of Mr. Savage and Dr. Clarke that he was at that time
far too weak to hold such discourse.
The account proceeds to say that after taking leave
of the gentlemen, with whom he had been discoursing
on wills, he went to Cole's Coffee-house, and, having
talked some time to a friend there, suddenly left the
place, and took his way to Cornhill, “ where, looking
up at the vane and clock of the Exchange, which had
been under repair, a number of persons assembled
round him, surprised at his fixed attention, the motive
of which he did not explain. The porter of the London
Institution, happening to observe him in this situation,
conducted him back to Cole’s, where, on taking two
glasses of wine, the paroxysm and insensibility re-
turned ; and he was carried home in a coach to the
Old Jewry.”
When he was brought into the Institution, Mr.
Savage went immediately for Mr. Norris, a surgeon,
who lived near, and was one of Porson's intimate
friends. Mr. Norris afterwards wrote an account of
his attendance on Porson, in which he states that he
had seen him on the preceding Friday, when “his
countenance was pale, his skin hot, his pulse quick and
LU
1808.]
EXHAUSTION AND DEATH.
329
feeble, and his tongue white," and he complained of
having been ill for some time of ague and fever, but
thought himself then growing better. “I told him,"
says Mr. Norris, “ that I supposed his reason for using
the term ague was his having had cold fits succeeded
by heat (to which he assented); that these symptoms
were common to almost all fevers, however excited ;
that he was at that moment very seriously ill from a
cause entirely different from what he imagined ; and I
concluded by begging him to send for my friend Mr.
Upton, who was just at hand, or for some physician of
his own acquaintance. To this however he would not
consent, as he said he was now better, but I so far
prevailed as to obtain his promise to do what I desired
the next morning, if he should not continue to improve.
To a message which I sent the next day, he returned
for an answer that he was better.”
When Mr. Norris saw him on the Tuesday, in com-
pliance with Mr. Savage's summons, he found him
“ sitting up, and staring about him, as if surprised.
The only answer I could obtain,” he says, “ to any
question, was, 'Well! How! What!' and he appeared
to be utterly incapable of reasoning, or of comprehend-
ing what was said to him.
6 In this state he was put to bed, and I sent imme-
diate notice of his situation to his brother-in-law Mr.
Perry, who soon arrived, and who continued to the last
to pay him the kindest attention, with the most affec-
tionate solicitude.”
After specifying the medicines given, which afforded
relief for a time, Mr. Norris proceeds to say that “Dr.
Babington and Mr. Upton now saw him, when stupor
14
330
[CH. XXV.
LIFE OF RICHARD PORSON.
.
L
:
1
had again returned, accompanied by general debility.
Blisters and sinapisms were applied, which procured
transient relief, and it was endeavoured to support his
strength by wine and cordial medicines, of which, how-
ever, very little was swallowed. He continued, with a
few slight and short appearances of amendment, to
grow weaker until Sunday night, when he died ; having
gradually lost the power of speech and sight, so that
some time before his death his eyes were perfectly in-
sensible to the light of a candle.
Dr. Clarke saw him once during his illness, on Friday
the 23rd, when he appeared more collected in mind
than he had been since the Tuesday evening. “I went
into his room," says he," and drawing close to his bed-
side, asked him how he did. He fixed his eyes on me
at first with a wild and vacant stare, and seemed to
labour to recollect me. At last he recognised me, but
was too much exhausted to speak, though he appeared
comparatively sensible.”
He expired on the night of the 25th of September
1808, exactly as the clock struck twelve, with a deep
groan, but without any struggle, in the forty-ninth year
of his age.
His friends thought it proper that the body should
be opened ; an operation which was accordingly per-
formed on the following Tuesday, in the presence of
Dr. Babington, Sir William Blizard, Mr. Thomas Bli-
zard, Mr. Upton, and Mr. Norris. Their report was as
follows:
“ The body was emaciated.
“ The dura mater did not exhibit any unusual appearance.
1808.]
CAUSE OF DEATH.
331
66 Under the tunica arachnoides a clear fluid was seen to
be generally diffused over the surface of the brain; and upon
separating the pia mater, lymph, to the quantity of about
an ounce, issued from between the convolutions of the brain.
6 The brain was of an unusually firm texture; its cortical
part was of a lighter colour, and its medullary part less
white, than is common.
“The ventricles did not seem to contain more than one
ounce of lymph; but upon removing the whole of the brain,
at least an ounce and a half more lymph remained at the
basis of the skull.
“ The abdominal viscera did not present anything particu-
larly worthy of notice. The substance of the intestines,
indeed, was unusually thick, as was that of the bladder ;
there was an adhesion of the omentum to the liver, and
several more between it and the diaphragm; and on its peri-
toneal covering there was a small ossification. The pylorus
was very narrow, but without disease. To none of these
circumstances do we attach any consequence, as they do not
appear to have had any share in producing death.
“ The heart was sound, and the pericardium contained
the usual quantity of lymph.
“ The left lung had many adhesions to the pleura, and
bore visible marks of former inflammation. The right lung
was in a perfectly sound state.
“From a due consideration of these circumstances, and
of the symptoms observed during the short period of his
confinement, as well as what we know of his sedentary mode
of living, we are of opinion that the effused lymph in and
upon the brain, which we believe to have been the effect of
recent inflammation, was the immediate cause of his death.
It may also be observed that his health had been in a declin-
ing state during some months, so as to have been visible to
his friends.
"It is very clear that during the indisposition which he
called ague and fever, a slow inflammatory action was going
on within the head, the result of which was the effusion
above noticed. The first effect of compression from this
332
[CH. XXV.
LIFE OF RICHARD PORSON.
cause that was noticed was on Monday the 19th of Sep-
tember, on which day he walked from the Old Jewry to the
west end of the town, when he fell in the street."
The adhesions of the left lung to the pleura, says Dr.
Clarke, are supposed to have been the effect of the
illness which he had when a boy at Eton. ·- The
healthy state of the viscera,” observes the Doctor, “ may
be attributed to his general abstinence from ardent
spirits, which, I am assured by one of his intimate
friends, he very rarely drank, and scarcely ever to
excess.” For this notion it is to be feared that there
was too little ground; though he may have been more
abstinent from spirituous liquors during the later part
of his life than he had been for some time previous.
As to the skull, which some reports stated to be un-
commonly thick and others uncommonly thin, it was,
in reality, much like those of other men.
The “ algebraical calculation” found in his memo-
randum-book, is supposed to have been the following
equation, which he had presented, but a short time be-
fore, to Mr. Charles Butler, having copied it from a
memorandum-book which he carried about him, at Mr.
Butler's request :
xy + zu = 444
X2 + yu = 180
xu + yz = 156
xyzu = 5184
In the conversation which he held with Mr. Butler
on that occasion, he intimated that he meditated a new
edition of the Arithmetica of Diophantus, as well as
some addition to the Letters on 1 John v. 7, as some
thought that the argument for the authenticity of the
1808.].
FUNERAL.
333
text, drawn from the Confession of Faith presented by
the African clergy to Hunneric King of the Ostrogoths,
had not been satisfactorily answered. The solution to
the equation is u=36, x= 3, y=4, 2=12.
On the Monday after his death, October 3, his
remains were removed from the London Institution, to
be deposited in the chapel of Trinity College, Cam-
bridge. The hearse was followed, as it left London,
by four mourning coaches and six private carriages, in
which were many of Porson's relatives and intimate
friends, and was received at the gate of Trinity College,
in due form, at half past two, on Tuesday afternoon.
From hence the coffin was removed to the hall, where,
according to the ancient usage, when distinguished
respect is paid to a deceased member of the College,
the body lay in state till five o'clock. At that hour
Dr. Mansel, the Master of the College, who was then
Bishop of Bristol, the Vice-Master, the senior and
junior fellows, and many others desirous to show
honour to the dead, advanced into the hall, and walked
in procession round the coffin, the pall being borne
by the eight senior fellows, among whom were two of
his own standing, Hailstone and Raine, and his old
examiner Lambert, and having attached to it several
copies of verses in Greek and English, celebrating, as
was then common in the universities at the funerals of
eminent men, the abilities and merits of the deceased.
The service at the grave was read by the Bishop of
Bristol. His remains repose at the foot of the statue
of Newton, in the same chapel with those of Bentley.
His epitaph there is his name alone, inscribed on a
plain slab.
334
[Cu. XXV.
LIFE HARD
LIFE .
PORSON.
ΟOF RICHARD On a brass plate on the coffin were engraved the
following words :
RICARDUS . PORSON
APUD . CANTABRIGIENSES
LINGUÆ . GRÆCÆ . PROFESSOR
ET
COLL. TRIN. S.S. ET . IND. OLIM . SOCIUS
APUD , LONDINENSES
INSTITUTIONIS . LITTERARIÆ
BIBLIOTHECARIUS , PRINCEPS
NATUS . VIII. CAL. JAN. MDCCLIX.
OBIIT. VII. CAL. OCT. MDCCCVIII. *
Of the Greek verses affixed to the pall, one copy,
written by Mr. George Burges, has been preserved in
the « Classical Journal.”
Ει μεν τα θνητών πράγμαθ', όστις εύ ποίη,
Δύναμιν έχοι τιν' ώστε σωθήναι θανείν,
Πόρσων αν έζη δη πολύν βίου χρόνον:
Νύν δ', ει καλώς τις είτε μη καλώς πονεί,
Ουδέν τι μάλλόν έστιν αποφυγή μόρου:
Ουκούν εγείρων θρήνον οίκτρον επί τάφω
Τοιούδε φώτος ούκ έπαιδεσθήσομαι:
"Αλλοι γάρ ώσπερ δένδρ' αχρεί, όδε δ' έπεσεν
Υπερτενής ως δρύς, αγάλμαθ’ Ελλάδος.
'Αλλ' ηδόνη τις εστί τoίσδε γ' εν κακοίς
Τα τούδε γάρ πάντ’ άνδρός ου τεθνήξεται:
"Εχει μεν "Αδης σώμα, περιμένει δ' έτι
Ψυχή τις ουσ' άφθαρτος εν τοις γράμμασιν.
2
Another copy of Greek verses on Porson, which, as
Dr. Young has observed, declines Ilópowy with a long
0, and Νεύτων with a short, is preserved in the same
journal, but whether it is a relic of the offerings at the
* Kidd, Tracts, p. xxiv.
* Vol. 1. p. 81.
1808.]
FUNERAL.
335
funeral, or was composed since, or who was the author
of it, I know not.
Α. Τίς ποτ' ανήρ περίσημος, ον ενθάδε τύμβος εέργει,
Η παρά Βεντλείο Νεύτονος εισί ταφαί ;
Β. ΤΩ ξειν', αιδεσθείς όνομα κλυτον άνδρός άκουσον,
'Ατθίσιν δς Μούσαις λαμπρόν έτειλε φάος.
Το δε θεαι κατέδειξαν, αμειβόμεναι χάριν ανδρος,
Οϊ' εν Αθηναίοις θείον άγoντo χορόν.
'Εκ τώνδ' ούν μελέων τε θέσιν θεσμόν τε κοτόρνου
Ευρών οψιγόνοις γνωστόν έθηκεν ιδείν.
Πόρσωνος δ' όνομ' εστί· τρίτος δ' επί τoίσιν απελθών
Ούς είπας δόξης ίσον ανείλε μέρος.
The last of the Cantabrigian heroes whose funerals
were honoured with verses is said to have been the
Professor of Mineralogy, Dr. E. D. Clarke, who was
buried at Jesus College in 1821.
Beloe and Pryse Gordon have related that Porson,
to the surprise of his friends, left at his death nearly
20001. of his own property in the funds, to which
his relatives became heirs; and Gordon blames him
for having left no tokens of his good-will to his wife's
orphans, or to. Perry, who had cherished him like a
brother for twenty years. But both these writers,
though they may be thought to have had ample means
of informing themselves, were yet mistaken, for though
Porson did surprise his friends by leaving money in the
funds, the sum was only 8881. 17s. 7d. The 20001.
which led Gordon and Beloe into error, was the money,
amounting to nearly that sum, which had been sub-
scribed for his annuity, and which, as the contributors,
or their heirs, declined to receive any of it back, was
ultimately devoted to founding the Porson Prize and
the Porson Scholarship.
336
[CH. XXV..
LIFE OF RICHARD PORSON.
But out of this fund, first of all, certain expenses
were to be paid; the expenses of Porson's funeral; of
a bust by Chantrey, which is now in the library of
Trinity College, Cambridge; and of engraving the
portrait by. Hoppner, an impression of which, executed
by Sharpe, was sent to each of the subscribers to the
fund, or their executors. After this deduction, enough
was left to purchase Bank annuities to a considerable
amount.
In 1816 it was proposed to the University of Cam-
bridge, by the Rev. Dr. Burney and the Rev. J. Cleaver
Banks, who, at the time of Porson's death, were the only
surviving trustees of the fund, that, as the contributors
had left to the trustees to apply the fund to whatever pur-
poses they should think fit, so much of it should be trans-
ferred into the names of the Vice-chancellor, Masters,
and Scholars of the University, as would produce the
yearly sum of twenty pounds, for the foundation of an
annual prize, to be called the Porson University Prize,
consisting of a Greek book or books, to be given for the
translation of a passage from Shakspeare, Ben Jonson,
Massinger, or Beaumont and Fletcher, into Greek
iambics. This proposal the authorities readily ac-
cepted, and the Vice-chancellor, the Greek Professor,
and the Public Orator, with four Heads of colleges,
were appointed examiners for the prize.
After this endowment was made, it was thought
proper that the rest of the fund should be left to
accumulate at compound interest, being invested in the
names of the Chancellor, Masters, and Scholars of the
University, until it should reach such a sum as would
be sufficient to found a handsome scholarship, and
Cu. XXV.] VALUE OF HIS PROPERTY AT HIS DEATH. 337
accordingly, in 1848, an agreement was made, between
the executors of Dr. Burney and Cleaver Banks, and
the authorities of the University, that as soon as the
annual interest of the money invested should amount
to 651. such scholarship, to be called the Porson Uni-
versity Scholarship, should be founded, the examiners
for it being the same as for the Porson University Prize.
In 1854 the sum amounted to 22501. 3 per cent
consols; and on March 24th, 1855, Mr. Herbert Snow,
of St. John's College, was elected the first Porson
scholar.
Of Porson's library, between two and three hundred
of the most valuable volumes, and those most enriched
with notes, with the whole of his papers, were purchased,
at the suggestion of Dr. Raine, by Trinity College, Cam-
bridge, for a thousand guineas. * The rest were sold by
auction, but none fetched very large prices, except the
Grenville Homer, which brought eighty-three guineas.t
The produce of the whole was however 10321. 17s. 3d.
The value of all that he left was,
£ s. d.
Library sold to Cambridge -
- 1050 0 0
1032 17 3
Copyright of plays to Wilkie and Robinson - - 200 0 0
8881. 17s. 7d. in 5 per cents, at 97 -
862 37
Furniture and effects, after deducting all expenses 211 14 10
£3356 15 8
This sum, as he died intestate, was equally divided
between his sister, Mrs. Hawes, and the three children
of his brother Henry, Julius, Frederick, and a daughter.
* Museum Criticum, vol. i. p. 116.
† Classical Journal, vol. i. p. 385.
338
[CH. XXV.
LIFE OF RICHARD PORSON.
All these have since died, the last in 1814, so that the
name is extinct. Mr. Siday Hawes, Porson's brother-
in-law, administered to the estate, and hence was
erroneously reported to have inherited the property.
How Porson, with his habits and means, could have
observed sufficient economy to save so much, is won-
derful. He bought many books; his annual income
from his fellowship during the ten years that he held
it was not more than 1001., and he had certainly saved
nothing when he resigned it; his annuity from the
subscription was of about the same amount; the value
of his professorship was only 401. a year; and though
his salary at the London Institution was 2001. a year,
he held the appointment there not more than two
years. His friends might therefore well be astonished
at finding that he had the greater part of nine hundred
pounds in the funds at his death.
As to Perry's conduct towards Porson, Porson's
surviving connexions do not represent it to have been
quite so disinterested as it has generally been con-
sidered. He contrived to get into his hands 6001. of
Porson's money, which he declined, with mean excuses,
to restore to Porson's relatives, till a threat of legal
proceedings alarmed him.
From the papers, and the margins of the books,
were collected by Monk and Blomfield those annota-
tions on the tragic and other poets which were published
in 1812, under the title of Porson's Adversaria ; and,
as the notes on Aristophanes were extremely numerous,
a separate collection was made of them by Dobree,
entitled Aristophanica. The difficulty of arranging
these observations was very great, for none of the
were
CH. XXV.]
HIS MANUSCRIPTS.
339
manuscripts were left in a state for publication; some
of the remarks were written in copy-books, in so
small a hand that one page would contain forty or fifty
complete notes; some were on detached scraps of
paper ; and all had been noted down at different
periods of his life, on the suggestion of the moment,
and left to be put in order when time should serve.*
How well the editors performed their task the public
has long known.
The notes on Pausanias were printed at the end of
Gaisford's Lectiones Platonicæ in 1820; the Photius
was published by Dobree in 1822; and the emenda-
tions of Suidas were appended to Gaisford's edition of
that lexicographer in 1834. Some annotations on
the Greek historians, the lexicographers, particularly
Hesychius, and on some of the Latin authors, still
remain unpublished.
* Mus. Crit. vol. i. p. 116. Month. Rev. Dec. 1817, p. 421.
z
2
340
[CH. XXVI.
LIFE OF RICHARD PORSON.
CHAP. XXVI.
PORSON'S READING. — HIS FAVOURITE AUTHORS, IN GREEK AND IN
LATIN.--HIS ESTIMATE OF MODERN GREEK AND LATIN POETRY.-HIS
READING IN FRENCH. — HIS LIKING FOR SWIFT, JUNIUS, MILTON. –
CRITICISMS. — HIS NOTIONS OF JOHNSON'S TREATMENT OF MILTON.
--- HIS LOVE OF SHAKSPEARE AND POPE. — EMENDATIONS OF SHAK-
SPEARE. FAVOURITE PASSAGES. — EXTRACT FROM BARROW. -- THO-
MAS GORDON'S TRACTS. — THEIR POSSIBLE INFLUENCE ON HIS STYLE.
SPECIMEN OF THEM.
PORSON'S reading extended to all kinds of books in
Greek, Latin, French, and English, beyond which
tongues he seems to have attempted few or no linguistic
conquests. These are the four languages which he
intimates that he can speak in the macaronic doggrel en-
titled Oracula Echûs de Bello et Statu Nationis, printed
in Beloe's “Sexagenarian.”* His favourite authors
in Greek were the tragic poets and Aristophanes, and
perhaps, next to these, Athenæus. He was fond of
reading the Greek physicians, one of whose folios,
especially Galen's, he sometimes put under his pillow
at night; not, as he used to observe, because he ex-
pected medicinal virtue from it, but because his asthma
required that his head should be kept high. Of
Thucydides he confessed, according to Mr. Maltby, that
he knew comparatively little, and that, when he read
him, he was obliged to mark with a pencil, in almost
* Vol i. p. 249.
† Short Account of Porson, p. 11.
CH. XXVI.]
HIS READING.
341
every page, passages which he did not understand. Be-
ing once asked whether he had read all Plutarch, he
replied, “ He is too much for me." To Plato he seems
to have given great attention, and sent Thomas Taylor,
when he was employed about his · translation, seve-
ral corrections of the Greek text, which Taylor, from
his superficial acquaintance with the Greek language,
either undervalued, or knew not how to use. * As to
Aristophanes, Dr. Burney said that no man had ever un-
derstood him so well at thirty years of age as Porson."
Lucian, though his matter might have been thought
attractive to Porson, he appears to have read but little,
disliking his Greek as not being of the golden age.
On Athenæus he bestowed such critical care that the
editors of his Adversaria affirm that more errors were
removed from the text by the single hand of Porson
than by the whole series of critics that preceded him. I
“ Every scholar knows,” says the reviewer of his
Adversaria in the “Monthly Review," $ “the miserably
corrupt state in which so many valuable fragments of
the Greek dramatic writers have been preserved to us
in the text of Athenæus ; and we also know how
greatly the learning and industry of Casaubon have
contributed to illustrate the meaning of the author and
improve the text, though still leaving innumerable
passages in utter obscurity, and frequently confounding
the verses of the poets with the prose text in which
they are quoted. Infinite as are the merits of Casaubon
in illustrating things, it must be acknowledged that, in
* Rogers's Table Talk, “Porsoniana," p. 327.
† Barker's Literary Anecdotes, vol. ii. p. 188.
# Præf. in Adversar. p. xiii.
§ Dec. 1817, p. 426.
2 3
342
[CH. XXVI.
LIFE OF RICHARD PORSON.
the less highly valuable, but not unimportant depart-
ment of arranging words and syllables, he was not,
and, from the state of Greek literature in the age in
which he lived, he could not, be always equally success-
ful; nor has the late German editor (Schweighæuser)
succeeded much better in the task. It was reserved
for the accurate and accomplished scholar, whose lucu-
brations are now before us, to pour a flood of light on
the almost impenetrable obscurities of a text so often
corrupt in itself, and sometimes still more vitiated by
the attempts of preceding commentators to improve it
By the peculiar penetration of his mind, the accuracy
of his ear, and the felicity of his conjectures, we find
verse detected in its latent prosaic garb, and prose
degraded from its poetic stilts ; order rising from con-
fusion; and metre and harmony resulting from intricate
and apparently hopeless corruption.” Porson had
meditated an entire edition of Athenæus * but the
project, like many of his other designs, was doomed
not to be accomplished.
Of the Latin authors, it is not apparent in which he
delighted most, unless it were Cicero, whose Tusculan
Disputations he sometimes quoted, especially the senti-
ment of Epicharnus from the first book,
LO
Emori nolo, sed me esse mortuum nihil æstimo."
'Από μου θανείν ή, θνήσκειν δ' ού μοι διαφέρει.
Nor did he forget to couple with it Juvenal's lines,
“Esse aliquos manes, et subterranea regna,
Et contum, et Stygio ranas in gurgite nigras,
* Adversaria, pp. 83-87.
CH. XXVI.]
HIS CRITICAL OPINIONS.
343
Atque unâ transire vadum tot millia cymbâ,
Nec pueri credunt, nisi qui nondum ære lavantur."
rynin
LULU
Of all the Latin dictionaries, extant in his time, he
gave the preference to Gesner's Thesaurus. As to Greek
Lexicons, he set a high value on that of Scapula, which
he recommended a gentleman, who wished to com-
mence Greek at the age of forty, and asked him what
books he should use, to read through from the first
page to the last. * He valued the Geneva edition most,
and said that there were words in it not to be found in
Stephens's Thesaurus.fi
For all modern Latin and Greek poetry he expressed
supreme contempt, and said of the Musc Etonenses,
when the publication came out, that it was “all trash,
fit only to be put behind the fire.” This judgment he
passed as a utilitarian, considering that it added nothing
to the stock of human knowledge, presenting only well-
known thoughts in a garb emulating that of antiquity.
In French he read a great number of books, and
said that if he had a son, he would “ endeavour to
make him familiar with French and English authors
rather than with the classics, as Greek and Latin are
only luxuries.” |
Many English authors he had read with very great
attention. Swift was a great favourite with him. He
could repeat large quantities of Swift's verses, and
pointed out a remarkable correspondence of a passage
in the “ Tale of a Tub," which he was very fond of
* foto
* Rogers's Table Talk, “Porsoniana," p. 329.
† Kidd, Tracts, p. 403.
| Rogers's Table Talk, “Porsoniana," p. 329.
24
344
[CH. XXVI.
LIFE OF RICHARD PORSON.
window
.
.
reading, with another in “ Gulliver's Travels;" a cor-
respondence which none of Swift's critics had noticed.
In the Introduction to the “ Tale of a Tub," it is said,
“Fourscore and eleven pamphlets have Iwrit under three
reigns, and for the service of six and thirty factions.”
In “Gulliver's Travels,” not far from the beginning, it is
said, “ On each side of the gate was a small window
not above six inches from the ground; into that on the
left side the king's smiths conveyed fourscore and
eleven chains, like those that hang to a lady's watch
in Europe, and almost as large, which were locked to
my left leg with six and thirty padlocks.” “From the
curious coincidence of the numbers in these two
passages," says Dobree, “ Professor Porson inferred that
both were written by the same person, that is, that
Swift was the author of the Tale of a Tub. "*
He was very fond of repeating a defence of a passage
of Boyle against Bentley, which Bentley had charged
with a ludicrous mistake, when it contained none :
“ To show Stobæus's approbation of Phalaris's Epistles,”
says Bentley ř, “I had observed that he quoted three of
them, under the title of Phalaris. The gentleman adds
one more; and I should thank him for his liberality, had
not any one of those three I mentioned been sufficient for
my purpose; but where he says, “It is Tit. 218, and again
in the collection of Antonius and Maximus, and that I over-
looked it,' for that I must beg his pardon; for I could
hardly overlook the 218th title of Stobæus, when there are
but 121 in all. It is not title 218th but page 218th; and
not of Stobæus, but of Antonius that is printed at the end
of him; but the title of Stobæus, that the Examiner would
cite, is 84. How far óthe assistant that consulted books
* Kidd, Tracts, p. 316.
† Dissert. on Phalaris, p. 15.
Co. XXVI.]
EMENDATIONS.
345
for the Examiner may be chargeable with this mistake, or
how far it goes towards a discovery that Mr. B. himself
never looked into Stobæus, I leave for others to determine.”
“Mr. Boyle and his assistants are so often in the wrong,
in the right. Boyle used the Frankfort edition of Stobæus,
folio, 1581, in which the collections of Stobæus, Antonius,
and Maximus are blended together, so that the title of
Stobæus, where the quotation from Phalaris occurs, is in
other editions the 84th, but in the Frankfort the 218th.
The singular coincidence of the number 218 led Bentley
into this mistake."*
Junius was an author that he often read, and of whose
letters he carried many portions in his memory. On one
passage he proposed an excellent emendation. ' “ Your
zeal in the cause of an unfortunate prince was expressed
with sincerity of wine, and some of the solemnities of
religion.” Before “ the sincerity” Porson supposed
that the word all had dropped out, being necessary to
complete the antithesis to “some of the solemnities.” +
Respecting Dryden, as given in Anderson's edition of
the British Poets, he had written, on a blank leaf of a
volume of that publication, now in the Library of the
London Institution, the following remarks. “ The editor
has with singular good faith suppressed above seven
hundred of Dryden's verses, to wit, the twenty-seventh
idyllium of Theocritus, with the translations from the
third and fourth books of Lucretius. If the indecency
of some passages was the cause of their suppression,
* Kidd, Tracts, p. 314.
† Ibid. p. 208.
346
[Cu. XXVI.
LIFE OF RICHARD PORSON.
uud
Ciu
-
why were not the verses against the love of life, and
the fear of death, retained ? Dr. Anderson has also
omitted near two octavo pages of preface; but, to be
consistent, he should have cancelled the paragraph in
which mention is made of that part of the third book.
However, to make Dryden some amends for depriving
him of his own, he has given him two poems that are
not his : Tarquin and Tullia, and Suum Cuique. Suum
Cuique was written by some staunch Jacobite, but I
know not whom ; "Tarquin and Tullia' was written by
Arthur Mainwaring, who afterwards turned Whig, and
expiated his youthful heresy in “The Medley.'-See
Malone's “ Life of Dryden,' p. 546.
“ The accuracy of the editor is equal to his good
faith. P. 679, Horace de Arte Amandi, for Ovid."*
He liked Milton. In the passage of the second book
of “ Paradise Lost” describing the opening of the
infernal gates he has restored to Milton an expression
which had unjustly been taken from him. The phrase
on their hinges grate harsh thunder was generally sup-
posed, on the authority of Johnson in his “Miscellaneous
Observations on Macbeth,” to have been copied from
the “Romance of Don Bellianis," where the gates of a
castle are mentioned as “grating harsh thunder on their
brazen hinges ;” but Porson discovered that there were
two editions of “Don Bellianis," one published before
the “ Paradise Lost," and the other after it ; that the
second contained that phrase, but not the first; and that
consequently Milton did not borrow from the author of
the romance, but the author of the romance from
Milton.
* Kidd, Tracts, p. 326.
use
IN
Cu. XXVI.]
JOHNSON AND MILTON.
347
He said that if he lived, he would write an essay to
show the world how unjustly Milton had been treated
by Johnson.*
This referred to Lauder's charge of plagiarism against
Milton, to which Johnson is generally thought to have
listened with too great willingness, and in which Porson
thought that he could prove him guilty of criminal
participation. He told Holt White that he intended
to publish something on the subject, and that he was
only waiting to procure a pamphlet bearing on the
controversy. Two of the arguments which he meant
to use Holt White thought decisive of the question.
First, That, as Johnson was always eager for inquiry on
every subject connected with literature, and always
ready to find cause for depreciating Milton, it is strange
that he should not have desired the satisfaction of
seeing with his own eyes the passages which Lau-
der declared Milton to have copied. Secondly, That
Johnson has preserved, throughout his biography of
Milton, a deep silence on the story of Lauder and his
falsified quotations.f
Numberless portions of Shakspeare's language he had
always ready for application, as may be seen in his
"Letters on Hawkins's Johnson," and his “Letters to
Travis.” He did not class himself, doubtless, with those
who worship Shakspeare as a god, but he must have
been greatly fascinated with much of his phraseology.
He was fond of asserting, however, that the fine passage
in the “ Tempest” about the cloud-capp'd towers, the
* Rogers's Table Talk," Porsoniana," p. 329.
# Holt White's Review of Johnson's Criticism
Prose, p. 30.
on Milton's
348
LIFE OF RICHARD PORSON. [CH. XXVI.
gorgeous palaces, &c., is excelled by some lines in Sir
Alexander (afterwards Lord) Sterling's tragedy of
“Darius,” of which he called Shakspeare's verses an
imitation:
“Let greatness of her glassy sceptres vaunt,
Not sceptres, no, but reeds, soon bruised, soon broken ;
And let this worldly pomp our wits enchant;-
All fades, and scarcely leaves behind a token.
These golden palaces, these gorgeous halls,
With furniture superficiously fair ;
Those stately courts, those sky-encountring walls,
Vanish, all; like vapour in the air.”*
“Darius” was first published in 1603; the “ Tempest”.
in 1623; and it would appear, from the resemblance in
the thought, and in some of the words, that Shakspeare
must have seen Lord Sterling's verses. But if Porson
thought that Shakspeare falls below Sterling in power
and grandeur, few will be found to concur in his
notion.
He added one note to the mass of published com-
ment on Shakspeare. In most copies of “ Othello” I
we read,
“ Be not you known of 't --_."
But the oldest reading is,
« Be not acknown of ’t,"
that is, Be not acknowledged of it, do not appear in-
formed or aware of it; a reading which is confirmed,
* Moore's Diary, vol. ii.
† Malone's Supplement to Shakspeare, vol. i. p. 367.
Act iii. sc. 3.
CH. XXVI.]
EMENDATIONS OF SHAKSPEARE.
349
as Malone observed, by a passage in “ Cornelia,” a
Tragedy by Thomas Kyd, 1594 :
“Our friends' misfortunes doth increase our own,
But ours of others will not be acknown.”
ame
That is, acknowledged, felt. Porson added another
instance, still more apt, from the “ Life of Ariosto” sub-
joined to Sir John Harrington's translation of “Orlando,"
p. 418, edit. 1607 : “ Some say he was married to her
privilie, but durst not be acknowne of it." Malone's
book was printed in 1780, when Porson was but twenty-
one years of age.
From a few unpublished notes of his on the same
author, preserved in the library of his college, a friend
has selected for us the following as worthy of being
made known.
On the words “ To fall and blast her pride," “ King
Lear,” act ii. sc. 4, he observes that the whole passage
should be read thus :
“ You nimble lightnings, dart your blinding flames
Into her scornful eyes; infect her beauty !
You fen-suck'd fogs, drawn by the powerful sun,
To-fall and blast her pride !"
-
To-fall being taken as one word ; as in the “ Merry
Wives of Windsor,” act iv. sc. 4:
“ Then let them all encircle him about,
And, fairy-like, to-pinch the unclean knight."
And in 5 2 Henry VI.," act v. sc. 2:
“Now let the general trumpet blow his blast,-
Particularities and petty sounds
To-cease."
350
[CH. XXVI.
LIFE OF RICHARD PORSON.
And in “ Hamlet,” act i. sc. 4:
“That you, at such times seeing me never shall
. to-note
That you know aught of me."
In “ Macbeth," act i. sc. 3,
“If you can look into the seeds of time,
And say which grain will grow, and which will not,"
he reads rot instead of not.
In “Love's Labour's Lost,” act üi. sub fin., instead of
“A whitely wanton with a velvet brow,"
“A whiteless wanton.”
With the line in "A Midsummer Night's Dream,"
act i. sc. 1,
“To you your father should be as a god,"
he compares
Νόμιζε σαυτό τους γονείς είναι θεούς.
Auctor apud Grot. in Excerptis, p. 929.
On “ King Lear,” act iv. sc. 4,
“I pray you, father, being weak, seem so,"
he cites from Euripides, Troad. ver. 729,
Μηδε σθένοντα μηδεν ισχύειν δόκει.
But of all English authors he seems to have had the
greatest liking for Pope. He admired, with all the
world, Pope's vigour of thought and accuracy and
beauty of language. Mr. Maltby has seen the tears
CH. XXVI.]
POPE. FOOTE
MIDDLETON.
351
roll down his cheeks while he was repeating Pope's
6 Epistle to the Earl of Oxford,” prefixed to Parnell's
Poems. Walking with Maltby and Rogers over Pope's
Villa at Twickenham, he exclaimed, “Oh, how I
should like to pass the remainder of my days in a
house which was the abode of a man so deservedly
celebrated !”*
Foote's plays he liked, and would recite whole scenes
from the “ Mayor of Garrat.” Moore's “ Fables for the
Female Sex” was also a favourite book with him.
Smollett's “ Roderick Random” he could repeat, as we
have seen, from beginning to end.
He was fond of reciting, it has been often said t, the
following passage from Middleton's “ Free Inquiry.”
"I persuade myself that the life and faculties of man, at
the best but short and limited, cannot be employed more
rationally or laudably than in the search of knowledge; and
especially of that sort which relates to our duty, and con-
duces to our happiness. In these inquiries, therefore, when-
ever I perceive any glimmering of truth before me, I readily
pursue and endeavour to trace it to its source, without any
reserve or caution of pushing the discovery too far, or open-
ing too great a glare of it to the public. I look upon the
discovery of anything which is true as a valuable acquisition
to society; which cannot possibly hurt or obstruct the good
effect of any other truth whatsoever; for they all partake
of one common essence, and necessarily coincide with each
other; and like the drops of rain, which fall separately into
the river, mix themselves at once with the stream, and
strengthen the general current.”
UU.
The subjoined passage from
Lewis's “ Historical
* Rogers’s Table Talk, “Porsoniana,” p. 313.
† Memoirs of Holcroſt, vol. ii. p. 240.
352
[CH. XXVI.
LIFE OF RICHARD PORSON.
Essay on the Consecration of Churches,»* he had
honoured with several references : :
“ He alone, who is the only and best Son of the best and
greatest Father, in compliance with His Father's love to
mankind, most willingly clothed Himself with our nature,
who were buried in corruption, and like a careful physician,
1
wounds, lightly stroketh the sores, and from other many
calamities attracteth grievances upon Himself,) He Himself
hath saved us."
ULUD
The references indicating that the words in the paren-
thesis owe their origin to Hippocrates, and that they
are cited by Plutarch, by Lucian, by Eusebius, by
Gregory Nazianzen, by Tzetzes in his Chiliads, and by
Simplicius on Epictetus.
An extract, given below, from Barrow's “ Second
Sermon on Evil Speaking,” containing remarks on face-
tiousness, from which Sheridan is said to have taken
hints for Puff's descant on puffing in “ The Critic,"
Porson had copied into a blank book, as Mr. Boaden
tells ust, with one line at the top of each page, intending
to exemplify and illustrate every one of its positions
from ancient and modern literature :
“ It is indeed a thing so versatile and multiform, that it
seemeth no less hard to settle a clear and certain notion
thereof, than to make a portrait of Proteus, or to define
the figure of the fleeting air. Sometimes it lieth in pat
allusion to a known story, or in seasonable application of a
trivial saying, or in forging an apposite tale; sometimes it
playeth in words and phrases, taking advantage from the
* P. 41.
| Memoirs of Kemble, vol. i. p. 67.
† Kidd, Tracts, p. 317.
CH. XXVI.]
THOMAS GORDON.
353
ambiguity of their sense, or the affinity of their sound;
sometimes it is wrapped in a dress of humorous expression;
sometimes it lurketh under an odd similitude; sometimes it
is lodged in a sly question, in a smart answer, in a quirkish
reason, in a shrewd imitation, in cunningly diverting or
cleverly retorting an objection; sometimes it is couched in
a bold scheme of speech, in a tart irony, in a lusty hyper-
bole, in a startling metaphor, in a plausible reconciling of
contradictions, or in acute nonsense; sometimes a scenical
representation of persons or things, a counterfeit speech, a
mimical look or gesture passeth for it; sometimes an af-
fected simplicity, sometimes a presumptuous bluntness gives
it being; often it consisteth in one knows not what, and
springeth up one can hardly tell how. Its ways are unac-
countable and inexplicable, being answerable to the number-
less rovings of fancy and windings of language. It raiseth
admiration as signifying a nimble sagacity of apprehension,
a special felicity of invention, a vivacity of spirit, and reach
of wit more than vulgar: it procureth delight by gratifying
curiosity with its rareness, or semblance of difficulty; by
directing the mind from its road of serious thoughts; by
instilling gaiety and airiness of spirit; by provoking to such
dispositions of spirit, in the way of emulation or complai-
sance; and by seasoning matters, otherwise distasteful or
insipid, with an unusual and thence grateful fancy."
LI
-
-
How copiously Porson could have illustrated cach of
these phrases, is easily imagined.
Two of the books which he was fond of carrying
about him were “The Pillars of Priestcraft and Ortho-
doxy Shaken,” and “ A Cordial for Low Spirits,” col-
lections of Humorous Political Tracts written wholly or
chiefly by Thomas Gordon, the translator of Tacitus,
and professedly edited by Richard Barrow, Esq. As
these effusions seem to have had some influence in the
formation of that sarcastic style which Porson adopted in
A A
SO
354
[Cu. XXVI.
LIFE OF RICHARD PORSON.
1
his “ Letters to Travis,” and his papers in the “Morning
Chronicle,” we shall give a few extracts as specimens of
their quality. One of the pamphlets is called “ An
Apology for the Danger of the Church, proving that
the Church is, and ought to be, always in Danger, and
that it would be dangerous for her to be out of Danger.”
Specifying who are friends of the Church, the writer
says,
6 The Lord Syntax is past forty, and has all the rules of
grammar by heart, but, notwithstanding this great accom-
plishment, the caul is not yet taken off his face, and he is
still a minor. But, being a babe in common sense, he is
consequently a resolute high churchman.
" Lord Gemini does likewise demand honourable mention
on this occasion. Nature was very negligent when she
made this great man, for he is an unfinished piece of brown
earth, and his mind, if he has one, tallies exactly with his
outside. He cannot shut his mouth, nor hold his tongue.
However, half made as he is, he is full of bright zeal; and
when he is in the house, he seems to mean several speeches
for the church, but no mortal is so well bred as to hear him:
and yet his mouth, as I said, being always ready open, he
proceeds eternally.
“I confess that Earl Talman, though he is a churchman,
wants two essential qualifications for that character. He
has sense, and he is never drunk. But, quoth Cato, who
had not a due respect for priesthood and tyranny, Solus
Caesar ad evertendam rempublicam sobrius accessit. To be
just to Earl Talman, I grant he was twice a whig upon
valuable considerations, and once out of a pique. But at
present he is a great churchman, because he has not a proper
reason to be otherwise.”
“A traitorous enemy to the church hath been the weather.
... There has not been å blast of wind, or a shower of
rain these five years, but what has been drawn, head over
Cu. XXVI.]
55 CORDIAL FOR LOW SPIRITS.”
355
heels, into the party and interest of the church. It thundered
for the church, and snowed for the church, and froze for the
church. And yet the whigs, who have got all the money in the
nation, have so brib'd the elements, that they have quite forsook
the Catholic cause. We had last summer very hot weather,
which, in the opinion of all the orthodox, boded nothing
less to the nation than a general famine and pestilence, for
the martyrdom of the blessed martyr, and the keeping out
of the pretender. But these pestilential friends of the
church, though earnestly wished for, and positively foretold,
have not done the church the least service, by laying waste
their native country. How often was the king's army to
have been frozen up in Scotland, during the late rebellion !
And most of the parsons in the kingdom had pawned their
word and faith upon it. But, in the issue, neither the frost
nor the snow help'd the church and the pretender.
“In last autumn, word was brought to the parson of a
certain parish, that such a boy was just then killed with
thunder and lightning. “Is he?' says the parson. It is
what I always foretold, that that boy would come to a dismal
end, for he went constantly to a fanatical conventicle, and
neither I nor his schoolmaster could dissuade him from it.'
· Ay, but Sir,' replied the messenger, who brought the
Doctor these glad tidings, Gaffer Pitchfork is murdered
too with thick same toady clap of thunder, and you do know,
Sir, he was a main man for the church, and fought bravely for
putting up the May-pole. At this the Doctor scratched his
head, and said, “It is appointed unto all men once to die.?"
A A 2
356
[Cu. XXVII.
356
LIFE OF RICHARD PORSON.
CHAP. XXVII.
PORSON'S MORAL AND CRITICAL HONESTY.-HIS HEAD AND HEART.-WAKE-
FIELD'S CHARACTER OF HIM.-HOW MUCH REGARD TO BE PAID TO IT.-
HIS WILLINGNESS TO COMMUNICATE INFORMATION.--HIS FONDNESS FOR
BEAUTY OF PENMANSHIP.--HIS CONDUCT TOWARDS HIS RELATIVES.-HIS
AVERSION TO WRITING.--LITTLE IMAGINATION OR POWER OF PRODUC-
TION. THE BETTER QUALIFIED FOR CRITICISM.--HIS JUDGMENT, SAGA-
CITY, AND CAUTION.--HIS EXCELLENT EMENDATIONS.- COMPARED WITH
BENTLEY'S.--EXAMPLES. -- STYLE OF HIS NOTES.-BENTLEY LESS TRUST-
WORTHY AS A CORRECTOR TIIAN PORSON.-FEELINGS OF EACH WITH
REGARD TO AUTHORSHIP.-PORSON'S SERVICES TO LEARNING.-VALUE
OF CLASSICAL STUDIES.
TYY
1
THE great feature in Porson's character was honesty ;
honesty in all his doings, as a critic and as a man. He
was once, however it happened, arrested for debt, but
took extreme care never to incur that disaster a second
time.*
As a critic, he used to say, “whatever you quote or
collate, do it fairly and accurately, whether it be Joe
Miller, or Tom Thumb, or The Three Children Sliding
on the Ice;" † and his practice was in conformity with
his precept. As a man, he appears to have wronged no
one in any way, at any time of his life. He was “ true
and just in all his dealings," if we except, perhaps, too
little attention to his duties at the London Institution,
* Barker's Lit. Anecdotes, vol. ii. p. 25.
† Short Account of Porson, p. 11.
CH. XXVII.]
PORSON'S HONESTY.
357
though, in making this exception, we must consider the
state of his health when he was appointed; and he
injured none by unmerited censure, but was as free as
even Turner the painter himself from seeking to raise
his own reputation by depreciating that of others. He
blamed no efforts in literature, but such as it would
have been folly to praise ; and would probably have
said nothing against Hermann or Wakefield, had not
their presumption prompted them to aggression on
him.
“ He is not only a matchless scholar,” said Parr*, who
thought more highly of Porson than Porson thought of
him, “but an honest, a very honest man.” “I think
him," he observes, in another place, “a sincere and
well-principled man; with all his oddities, and all his
fastidiousness, he is quite exempt from base and ran-
corous malignity; he shows, without concern, what
may be the weaker parts of his character to vulgar
minds; and he leaves men of wisdom and genius to
discover, and to feel, and to admire, the brighter
qualities of his head and his heart.” of “ There is one
quality of the mind,” says Bishop Turton, “in which it
may be confidently affirmed that Mr. Porson had no
superior ; I mean, the most pure and inflexible love of
truth. Under the influence of this principle, he was
cautious, and patient, and persevering in his researches;
and scrupulously accurate in stating facts as he found
them. All who were intimate with him bear witness
to this noble part of his character; and his works
confirm the testimony of his friends."
1
* Works, vol. vii. p. 403.
ť Ibid. p. 407.
| Vindication of Porson's Lit. Character, p. 348.
AA 3
358
[CH. XXVII.
LIFE OF RICHARD PORSON.
Kindliness of feeling he has been less readily allowed,
his head being considered to have predominated over
his heart. Pryse Gordon even says that he had no
heart. The following elaborate character of him, by
Wakefield *, though doubtless darkened by prejudice,
has been thought, by a writer in the “ Quarterly
Review," to contain in it a large portion of truth ;
"I have been furnished with many opportunities of ob-
serving Porson, by a near inspection. He has been at my
house several times, and once for an entire summer's day.
Our intercourse would have been frequent, but for three
reasons: 1. His extreme irregularity, and inattention to
times and seasons, which did not at all comport with the
methodical arrangement of my time and family. 2. His
gross addiction to that lowest and least excusable of all
sensualities, immoderate drinking. And, 3. The uninterest-
ing insipidity of his society; as it is impossible to engage
his mind on any topic of mutual inquiry, to procure his
opinion on any author or any passage of an author, or to
elicit any conversation of any kind to compensate for the
time and attendance of his company. And as for Homer,
Virgil, and Horace, I never could hear of the least critical
effort on them in his life. He is, in general, devoid of all
human affections; but such as are of a misanthropic quality;
nor do I think that any man exists for whom his propen-
sities rise to the lowest pitch of affection and esteem. He
much resembles Proteus in Lycophron :
ç yéws ån éxOeral,
Kai dakpv.
though, I believe, he has satirical verses in his treasury for
Dr. Bellenden, as he calls him (Parr), and all his most inti-
mate associates. But in his knowledge of the Greek trage-
dies, and Aristophanes; in his judgment of manuscripts and
* Correspondence with Fox, p. 99.
Ch. XXVII.] WAKEFIELD'S CHARACTER OF PORSON.
359
all that relates to the metrical properties of dramatic and
lyric versification, with whatever is connected with this
species of reading, none of his contemporaries must pretend
to equal him. His grammatical knowledge also, and his
acquaintance with the ancient Lexicographers and Etymolo-
gists, is most accurate and profound; and his intimacy with
Shakspeare, Ben Jonson, and other dramatic writers, is
probably unequalled. He is, in short, a most extraordinary
person in every view, but unamiable; and has been debarred
of a comprehensive intercourse with Greek and Roman
authors by his excesses, which have made those acquirements
impossible to him, from the want of that time which must
necessarily be expended in laborious reading, and for which
no genius can be made a substitute. No man has ever paid
a more voluntary and respectful homage to his talents, at
all times, both publicly and privately, in writings and con-
versation, than myself; and I will be content to forfeit the
esteem and affection of all mankind, whenever the least par-
ticle of envy and malignity is found to mingle itself with my
opinions. My first reverence is to virtue ; my second only,
to talents and erudition; where both unite, that man is
estimable indeed to me, and shall receive the full tribute of
honour and affection."
12
The charge of being “misanthropic, and devoid of
all human affections," is ridiculed by Beloe, as utterly
groundless, being refuted by abundance of passages in
Porson's life. A man could not be inhuman or un-
feeling, he observes, who was so fond of society, and
who was so often drawn by his love of company into
excesses. By his friend George Dyer, the writer of
the notice of him in the “ Public Characters,” it is said
that “to the credit of his heart, he can discuss a subject
that respects the interests of the poor, and the cause of
benevolence, as readily as he can a question relative to
the harmony of language, the authority of manuscripts,
A A 4
360
11
.
[CH. XXVII.
.
..
LIFE OF RICHARD PORSON192
1
and the niceties of Greek criticism.” By Mr. Kidd he
is said to have “possessed a heart filled with sen-
sibility,” and to have been in company the gentlest
being that he ever met. But a writer in the “ Monthly
Review*, who had often been in company with Porson,
remarks, that, though he could be mild and civil, he
could also be otherwise; that, if he was the gentlest
being that Kidd ever met, a sad inference must be
drawn as to the rest of Kidd's society; and that Kidd
himself may be congratulated on having always escaped
the Professor's grasp, which may be supposed less
“gentle” than that of the Russian bear or Hyrcan
tiger. As to his kindness, the same writer says that.
“as far as we know and have heard, he said and did
no more kind things than men less gifted than he was
with the power and opportunity of doing them.” All
these opinions have doubtless something of truth and
justice in them; Porson varied, like other men, at
different times, and with different people ; he could be
kind and open; he could be reserved and severe. “He
felt towards others,” said Dr. Maltby, “more bene-
volence than he expressed.”
That his society was insipid, or that it was impossible
“to engage his mind on any topic of mutual inquiry,”
or to elicit his opinion on a passage of an author, can
be understood only of his behaviour in company with
Wakefield. · He did not care to communicate his
opinions to Wakefield, lest Wakefield should turn them
to his own purposes, or misrepresent what he could
not understand. That he was ready to afford his aid
to those who consulted him in literary difficulties, we
* Jan. 1818.
Cu. XXVII.]
REMARKS ON WAKEFIELD.
361
a
have already seen instances. “His mode of commu-
nication, liberal in the extreme," says the writer of
the “Short Account of Porson,”* was truly amiable,
as he told you all you wanted to know in a plain and
direct manner, without any attempt to display his own
superiority, but merely to inform you. Whereas great
scholars are sometimes apt to be brilliant themselves,
and leave you unenlightened.” .
That his reading was not so comprehensive as it
might have been with other habits, and that he effected
so much less for classical literature than he might have
effected, must always be a subject of regret to scholars.
“Were we to estimate what he might have done,” says
the writer of the “ Short Account," “ had he taken all
his advantages, in twenty years, allowing his powers to
have been perfected at the age of thirty-one, of which
we have abundant proof, our loss is incalculable, since
I am convinced that he could have gone through all
the plays of Euripides, published his Aristophanes,
Athenæus, and Photius, and elucidated his Æschylus,
in the time; and all without any violent exertions on
his part, since, like Menander, though he had not
written a line, he had it all in his head.” When we
contemplate how much such men as Heyne and Ernesti
achieved, we cannot but lament that Porson, with
superior powers, accomplished so much less.
· One mode in which he wasted much time, was in
the practice of mere penmanship. He excelled, as all
men know, in writing with neatness and beauty. He
wrote notes on the margins of books with such studied
accuracy that they rivalled print. He used to say that
* Page 10
ni
362
[Co. XXVII.
LIFE OF RICHARD PORSON.
Dr. Young had the advantage in a command of hand,”.
but that he preferred the shape of his own letters to
that of Dr. Young's.* 6. His rage for calligraphy was
such," says Mr. Maltby, “that he once offered to letter
the backs of some of Mr. Richard Heber's vellum-
bound classics. “No," said Heber, “I won't let you
do that; but I shall be most thankful if you will write
into an Athenæus some of those excellent emendations
which I have heard from you in conversation.”* Porson
having consented, Heber sent him an interleaved copy
of Casaubon's edition, which had belonged to Brunck,
and in which Porson inserted the notes that were after-
wards published in his Adversaria. The Athenæus is
now in the library of the Rev. Alexander Dyce.
Wakefield's charge of want of feeling in Porson, has
been thought to be somewhat substantiated by his
conduct towards his relatives. When he went from
Eton to Cambridge, he suffered a long time to elapse
before he resumed any intercourse with his family.
Having a great dislike to writing letters, he maintained
little correspondence with them; and his silence gave
them great offence. He was generous to the utmost of
his means to the orphan children of his brother Henry;
but his presents were accompanied with no epistles ;
not only his own relations, but their neighbours in that
part of Norfolk, censured him for this apparent insen-
sibility. Yet of his father, if he paid him no open at-
tention, he always thought with due respect. When he
married, he was anxious that his father should approve
11
* Encycl. Britann. art. “Porson."
f Barker's Lit. Anecd. vol. ii. p. 56. Rogers's Table Talk, “ Por-
soniana, p. 311.
C11. XXVII.]
HIS CONSIDERATION FOR OTHERS.
363
of the match. When his father was ill, and his sister,
whom he had not seen for twenty-two years, wrote to
inform him that the old man was in danger, Porson
immediately set off into Norfolk, and resided with his
sister for seven weeks, till their father recovered. Two
years afterwards, when he was seized with his last
illness, Porson, on receiving notice of it, went down
and stayed with him till he died. *
When he was in Norfolk with his sister, he went
regularly to church, except when the violence of his
asthma prevented him. During his first visit, he ac-
companied Mr. Hawes, his brother-in-law, to the church
of Horstead ; when they found that preparations were
made for administering the Sacrament. As they were
leaving the church after the sermon, Porson stopped
suddenly, and asked Mr. Hawes if he thought that
there would be any impropriety in his receiving the
Sacrament. Mr. Hawes replying in the negative, they
turned back, and partook of the Communion together.
This is mentioned by Beloe as an example of his
readiness to accommodate himself to the ways and
habits of the people with whom he happened to be
associated. We consider that it was so; and his abs-
temiousness during his residence with his sister, is to
be regarded as another instance of the same disposi-
tion. While he lived in her house, he abstained wholly
from spirits, and never drank more than two glasses of
wine after dinner. He conversed without restraint
with the family, and accompanied them in their walks.
But the truth is, that, when a man of reading and
* Sexagenarian, vol. i. p. 214.
† Ibid. p. 220.
364
[CH. XXVII.
LIFE OF RICHARD PORSON.
thought, sprung from a humble family, is once detached
from it, and transplanted into a more cultivated and
intellectual society, he can in general feel but little
inclination to return to it, except for very short periods,
and at long intervals. He finds himself in his proper
place in his new condition, and cannot, without uneasi-
ness, be long kept away from it. Besides, whatever
honour or regard he obtains elsewhere, he will find little,
though he may be a nine days' object of remark, in his
own country. His visits will be like that of Lady
Staunton to the wife of Butler, of which both were glad
to see the termination. His daily studies, too, demand
his daily attention, for no man can pursue literature
with success, unless he give his mind and his time
constantly to it. Pope said that he who would cul-
tivate poetry, must leave father and mother, and cleave
to it as his own flesh; and the same may be said of
any other intellectual pursuit.
Porson's dislike to writing, not only epistolary, but
of all kinds, has been previously noticed. His slow-
ness in writing was proportioned to his aversion to it.
He never attained anything like ease in composition,
but, to whatever subject he applied his thoughts,
always felt embarrassment in expressing himself.
« Upon one occasion,” says Beloe, “he undertook to
write a dozen lines on a subject which he had much
turned in his mind, and with which he was exceedingly
familiar. But the number of erasures and interlinea-
tions was so great as to render it hardly legible; yet,
when completed, it was, and is, a memorial of his saga-
city, acuteness, and erudition.” *
* Sexagenarian, vol. i. p. 218.
v1.4
Cm. XXVII.]
ON THE DEATH OF RAPHAEL.
365
These remarks refer, we believe, to the following
expression of opinion on the causes which apparently
brought on the premature death of Raphael. Mr.
Duppa, wishing to insert this opinion, in a Latin dress,
in his Life of Michael Angelo, requested Porson to
translate it for him; a request with which Porson
readily complied, on condition that he should be
allowed to correct the press, as he “ cared not to be
answerable for any nonsense but his own." *
DE OBITU RAPHAELIS.
Cùm minùs robustâ valetudine uteretur Raphael, effusiùs
quàm vires suæ ferebant, veneri operam dedisse videtur,
unde calorem et debilitatem consequi nihil mirum. Medici
(pluralem enim Vasari numerum adhibet, alii unum modò
memorant) existimationi suæ et quæstui fortasse metuentes,
si tanto viro mortem accelerâsse crederentur, hanc excusa-
tionem prætexebant, se a Raphaële, quâ erat verecundiâ,
veram febris causam celatos esse, caloremque ex aliâ et ordi-
nariâ causâ ortum putantes, sanguinem misisse, et és ábal-
pérews curâsse, aliter facturos, si sibi rem candidè, ut erat,
parrâsset. Quicquid est hujus, ex ambiguo sermonis usu
gravis error prognatus est et vulgares libros pervagatus,
Raphaëlem scilicet non, quod verum esse jam vidimus, ex
nimiâ veneris indulgentiâ, sed ex turpis morbi contagione
mortem obiisse.
Nor did he speak, in general, with greater facility
than he wrote. “His elocution,” says the same autho-
rity, was “ perplexed and embarrassed, except where he
was exceedingly intimate;” though “whatever he said
was manifestly founded on judgment, sense, and know-
ledge.”
Of that intellectual fermentation and excitement,
* Kidd, Tracts, p. 327.
366
[CH. XXVII.
LIFE OF RICHARD PORSON.
which are perpetually engendering thoughts in the
mind, and urging them forth into utterance, he felt but
little. Nature has not given all things to all men.
The greatest commanders in the domain of thought
have made but moderate excursions into the regions of
language; and he who had extended his knowledge
over forty languages is said, perhaps with truth, to
have produced nothing like an original thought in any
one of them.
“Where beams of warm imagination play,
The memory's soft traces melt away;”.
and when the memory keeps the mind full of extra-
neous matter, the imagination has no room to disport,
and produce its creations. What Porson wrote with
the greatest facility, was the ludicrous. Walpole said
of Gray, that he wrote nothing with ease but pieces of
humour; and the same may apparently be said of
Porson.
But his want of imagination only qualified him the
better, perhaps, for those occupations to which he
devoted himself. His thoughts being enticed but little
into the regions of fancy, were the more easily fixed
on the subject which he had before him. He was at
liberty to give his attention undisturbed to the author
whom he was perusing; to weigh his sense, and con-
sider the soundness or corruption of his language.
His memory could bring its stores to work in tran-
quillity, and his judgment apply its sagacity without
interruption. Of such calm exercise of his faculties,
we see the fruits in his emendations. No one, since
men began to distinguish wrong from right, and sense
1orte
Cu. XXVII.]
:
HAPPY EMENDATIONS.
367
ECE
S
from nonsense, in written pages, has brought to the
critical art greater power of discernment, or a happier
facility in substituting soundness for corruption. His
corrections are of that character which insures the
reader's instant acquiescence. He was slow to alter,
but, when he made an alteration, made it with unques-
tionable success.
“The justness of a happy restoration,” said Johnson,
in reference to attempted emendations of Shakspeare,
“strikes at once.” This is the case with Porson's re-
stitutions in the Greek writers; we feel that the text
has received either that which the author wrote, or
something with which the author might very well
have been satisfied.
One of the most felicitous corrections that cri-
ticism has ever produced, is that of Bentley on the
Scholiast of Homer, by the addition of half a letter.
On Odyss. xi. 546, there occurs in the Scholia this
passage :-- AixuanÓTOUS Tõv Tpów dyarov èpútnoev
από όποτέρου των Τρώων μάλλον ελυπήθησαν· ειπόντων
È Oducoéd, 4.7.1. “ Agamemnon, to ascertain whether
Ajax or Ulysses had the better title to the armour of
Achilles, brought forward the Trojan captives, and
asked them from which of the Trojans they had suf-
fered the greater harm; and, as they replied “ Ulysses,”
he gave the armour to him.” The words tõv Tpów,
Barnes could think of no better way of correcting
than by turning them into αυτών οι Τρώες : at which
Bentley sneered, and by altering T into H, making it
ÉTOTÉPOU Tūv 'Hpówv, “ from which of the two heroes,”
restored soundness to the passage at once.
Porson produced one admirable emendation without
368
[Ch. XXVII.
LIFE OF RICHARD PORSON.
IT
1 . 1
the change of any part of a letter. In the 218th verse
of the Eumenides of Æschylus, finding, in Aldus's
edition, the words, "Oprous to-, he altered them to
"Opxou 'oti, making the passage stand thus :
Ευνή γάρ ανδρί και γυναικί μορσίμη
"Όρκου 'στι μείζων τη δίκη φρουρουμένη,
a reading which editors have joyfully adopted. By
the alteration only of one letter, he has in several
instances produced the happiest effects. Vide quid
faciat unius litterulce mutatio, he exclaims, on altering
olévely into rTÉVELV, in the 293rd verse of the Medea
Another happy effect, produced by the addition of a
single letter, is exhibited in the 1393rd verse of the
same play, ubvs xai rupaox' for uéve xai gñpas, a cor-
rection by which the sense and the metre are aided at
the same time. In the Republic of Plato*, he finds
πάσας δε διεξόδους διεξελθών αποστραφήναι λογιζόμενος,
which had satisfied all preceding critics, but which he,
with a change of one letter in the last word, improves
into muy sólsvos, making the passage to signify “pur-
suing every means of evasion by writhing himself in
all directions.” In the Philoctetes of Sophocles, he
lights on rai ooŨ 8° fywys laupáoas éxw táðs, and
observing that it is adverse to a rule which he has dis-
covered for himself (that when the speaker suddenly
turns his discourse from one person to another, as is
the case here, he expresses the name or other noun
first, the pronoun next, and the particle next), he trans-
forms it into maſ, coû děywys, u.1.2.
Another happy emendation or two may properly
* Book ii. c. 14.
CH. XXVII.]
EXCELLENT EMENDATIONS.
369
erse
be noticed. In the Hercules Furens, verse 310, he
finds
“Ο χρή γάρ ουδείς μη θεών θήσει ποτέ.
“This," he says, “nobody, I suppose, understands,"
and metamorphoses it, by a very slight change, into
excellent sense,
“Ο χρή γάρ ουδείς μη χρεών θήσει ποτέ. *
In Hesychius he meets with the mass of corruption,
Πολυβοτραφεί. τω αναθρέψαντι Πόλυβον νάματι, and,
with the aid of a suggestion from a manuscript, 110-
λυβοονάμα, gives it the sensible form of Πολύβω τροφεί.
το αναθρέψαντι, Πολύβω όνομα.ή.
A scholion on a verse of the Phænissæ,
πολλοίς δ' επήει δάκρυα της τύχης όση,
which is now thought spurious, but which the scholiast
had not rejected, he inds standing thus : λείπει γαρ το
ένεκεν της τύχης η δίκη ήν, and corrects it to λείπει
γαρ το ένεκεν. ένεκεν της τύχης, ήλίκη ήν.
On a line of Statius,
"Matremque recens circumvolat umbra,"
the scholiast has “Et hoc poeticè, ut Euripides, Syrseen
opersu.” This no man had attempted to correct or
explain. Porson finds no difficulty; he remembers
that it is a reference to Pheniss. 668, [ποτωμένην]
ψυχήν υπέρ σου.
A longer specimen of the acuteness of his criticism
* Ad Phæniss. ver. 5.
† Ib. ver. 45.
Β Β
| Ib. ver. 1386.
370
[CH. XXVII.
LIFE OF RICHARD PORSON.
may be seen in Kidd's Tracts; an admirable recon-
struction of a passage of Dion Chrysostom's LXIVth
Oration, where the words of a comic poet are mixed
with prose. It is an effort of excogitation, superior,
indeed, but of a similar character, to those displayed
in the note on the 139th verse of the Medea.
In one alteration only is he found to have erred. In
the 937th verse of the Medea he found Oůx oid av ei
meio aspet, and, thinking the position of the åv offensive,
ejected it, and wrote our oid õp ei meio aiji. But Elmsley
has justified the common reading by two exactly
similar passages, one in Euripides himself, and another
in Plato, and has well observed that in such phrases
the optative could not be used without av.*
In the 1095th verse of the Hecuba,
ει δε μή Φρυγών
Πύργους πεσόντας ησμεν Ελλήνων δορί,
Φόβον παρέσχεν ου μέσως όδε κτύπος,
W
?
he very properly introduced öv, reading trapéox' av,
with Heath, Brunck, Markland, and three manuscripts.
Hermann, merely for the purpose, apparently, of
differing from Porson, omitted the av, asserting that it
was unnecessary ; but who would now support this
assertion ?
Nor has Porson given, like many other critics, other
men's emendations as his own. Only in one instance
has he thus transgressed, having been detected by Mr.
Burges in appropriating, unconsciously, a conjecture of
Markland's.
Nor should the style of his notes be left without its
. * Eurip. Med. 937, Museum Criticum, vol. ij. p. 31.
CH. XXVII.]
. PORSON'S LATIN STYLE.
371
commendation. It is clear, plain, and unaffected; and
is free, as has been well observed, from those trite phrases
and expressions of which the constant recurrence offends
and wearies the reader in the majority of Latin anno-
tations. He drew from his own mind, and expressed
himself in his own way.
The faults that have been found with his style are,
that it wants ease; that it is too dry and stiff to be
pleasing ; and that the thoughts seem to have been con-
ceived in English, and translated, not always without
difficulty, into Latin. A critic, who carefully noted the
minutiæ of Porson's phraseology, adduced from the
Prælectio in Euripidem the expressions studio perspi-
cuitatis, “ the study of perspicuity,” gradus probabili-
tatis, “ the degree of probability,” calumnias professi
inimici, “ the calumnies of a professed enemy," in
historiæ circumstantiis, “in the circumstances of history,"
as examples of such English Latinity; expressions which,
though they may be justified by the authority of Cicero
or Quintilian, partake so much of the idiom of English
as to give a modern air to that which ought to exhibit
the obvious guise of antiquity. These blemishes, how-
ever, as he observes, are merely nævi in corpore egregio,
and are to be noticed only lest they should give authority
to a mode of writing which ought to be avoided. *
The emendations of Bentley, notwithstanding the
master stroke which has just been cited, do not in general
make the same impression on the reader with those of
Porson. Porson appears to alter the text because
alteration was evidently necessary; Bentley, because he
* Monthly Review, Dec. 1817, p. 423.
B
2
B
372
[Cu. XXVII.
LIFE OF RICHARD PORSON.
himself thought that it was necessary. Porson, as a
corrector, offers good wine that needs no bush; Bentley
is a host that must often use argument to recommend
his fare. As Porson's touches remind us of Johnson's
remark about a just restoration, Bentley's recal his saying
about doubtful alterations, for we cannot help “suspect-
ing that the reading is right which requires many words
to prove it wrong, and that the emendation is wrong,
which cannot without so much labour appear to be
right.” Thus in one of his earliest emendations of
Horace, strictis for sectis, in virginum strictis in juvenes
unguibus acrium, we can hardly, though the alteration
is good, forbear from fancying, as we read his note in
its justification, that he upholds it rather to show his
own ingenuity than with a conviction that it was neces-
sary to the text of his author; and our minds can
scarcely be cleared from a doubt that sectis may be
the right reading. This is still more forcibly the case,
when we contemplate one of his more venturous emen-
dations, such as
Ut silvis folia privos mutantur in annos,
instead of
Ut silvæ foliis pronos mutantur in annos,
for though we can scarcely feel satisfied with foliis
mutantur, yet we are impressed with the persuasion,
when we see Bentley's vindication of the changes which
he has made, that he had the ostentation of his own
acuteness in view, more than the sincere infusion of
soundness into Horace's line. Such a notion never
takes possession of us as we contemplate Porson's cor-
rections; we feel that what he has done proceeded from
CH. XXVII.) NOT INCLINED TO ORIGINAL COMPOSITION. 373
an honest desire to serve his author ; that no sophistry
is needed to advocate his treatment of the text. We
are often pleased with Bentley's notes on his corrections,
but are always pleased with Porson's corrections for
themselves.
Bentley was often presumptuous and rash ; Porson
was to all critics an example of caution. Priusquam
incipias consulto opus, and nihil contemnendum est
neque in bello, neque in re criticâ, were his maxims.
Before he operated on a passage himself, he took care
to ascertain what others had done. He consulted not
only commentaries, but translations, and, according to
Mr. Maltby, “never wrote a note on any passage of an
ancient author without carefully looking how it had
been rendered by the different translators."*
He was not insensible to the honours of authorship,
but never felt in himself the ability to attain them.
Once, when he was asked why he had produced so little
original matter, he answered, " I doubt if I could pro-
duce any original work that would command the atten-
tion of posterity. I can be known only by my notes; and
I am quite satisfied if, three hundred years hence, it
shall be said that one Porson lived towards the close of
the eighteenth century, who did a good deal for the text
of Euripides." op
Bentley had much the same feeling with regard to
original composition. He had no hope of attaining
permanent reputation by it, and said that he thought it
safer for him to try for distinction by getting on the
shoulders of the ancients.
† Ibid. p. 334.
* Rogers's Table Talk, “Porsoniana," p. 326.
BB 3
· 374
(Ch. XXVII.
.
LIFE OF RICHARD PORSON.
But while we allow Porson greater nicety and hap-
piness of correction, we must, on deliberation, concede
to Bentley the larger range of reading and of thought.
Porson was one, in Parr's phrase, “ to whom the hat of
Bentley would have vailed ;” but Bentley would have
felt called to do him homage only for his sagacity in
emendation, and perhaps for somewhat greater nicety
of ear in respect to Greek metre. Bentley could collect
his materials in equal profusion with Porson, and could
animate them with something more of spirit.
As to the works of each, it is idle to make a com-
parison between them. Bentley, we must acknowledge,
wrote more than Porson, and had written more, even
at the age at which Porson died. But Bentley's man-
ner of life was different from Porson's; Bentley lived
in such a way as to secure and cherish health and
strength, mental and bodily ; Porson indulged in such
lax habits as render it wonderful how any vigorous
tone of mind could be so long maintained throughout
them. What more he might have done, had his
practice been different, it is superfluous to inquire; we
see what he has done, and allow it its excellence; we
see that Bentley's mind produced a larger offspring, and
inust admit that its aggregate value must be greater,
though no equal quantity of it be comparable to the
quantity that has proceeded from Porson.
Some who compare Porson with the continental
scholars, such as Wyttenbach, Heyne, or Valckenaer,
who have edited large and numerous volumes, are apt
to consider that he must be far inferior to them,
because he has published less. But the merit of a
critic, like that of a painter, is to be judged, not from
10
CUI
CH. XXVII.]
GEBM AN
GERMAN AND ENGLISH CRITICISM.
AND ENGLIS)
SM.
375
375
the number, but the excellence of his productions.
Ponderanda, non numeranda. A limner may cover
many thousand feet of canvas, and a commentator
many thousand pages of paper, without proving their
superiority over those of far less extensive performance
If we examine what these voluminous annotators have
written, we shall find that a large portion of it is illus-
tration ; Heyne, for instance, in his Apollodorus, is not
content with affixing critical notes to the text, but
adds a whole volume of expository observations, three
or four times the bulk of Apollodorus's own matter.
From this department of the critic Porson generally
held aloof; not because he could not have engaged in
it with success, for how ably he could have fulfilled its
duties he has shown on several occasions, but because,
from dislike of labour, he was little inclined to do that
which inferior minds, devoted to patient- research,
could do with ease. A German is far more willing to
write about it and about it than an Englishman; a
German is profuse of words, of which an Englishman
is sparing. In comparing the merit of commentaries
we must ascertain where most proofs of sagacity appear.
Had he lived somewhat later, when comparative
philology had begun to be more studied, he might
have engaged in that branch of research, and, if he had
devoted himself heartily to it, would doubtless have
pursued it with great success.
As far as his labour, however, extended, he is to be
praised for bestowing it on that which he knew that
he could do well. Quam quisque nôrit artem, in hac
se exerceat. It has been said that he might probably
have obtained greater honour, and done more good,
BD 4
37.6
LIFE OF RICHARD' PORSON.. [CH. XXVII.
by directing his talents and industry to law or to
statesmanship; but whether he would have attained
great success in such pursuits with his habits of life,
must be considered as extremely doubtful. If he
cannot be ranked among the greatest benefactors of
mankind, he must certainly be allowed to have done
much good to his country by the promotion of its
classical learning. That the advancement and main-
society, will be admitted by all who can judge how
much advantage the man who possesses some ac-
quaintance, however little, with Latin and Greek, has
over the man who is destitute of it. So many words
in our own language are derived from the languages of
antiquity, that he who is utterly ignorant of those
tongues cannot be said to understand his own. Nor
are classical studies to be stigmatised as the mere
study of words, to the disregard of things; for if words
are the signs of things, no one can think of words with-
out being led at the same time to think of things. We
therefore do wisely in maintaining and encouraging
the study of the classics, as much as is practicable,
throughout the nation, believing that it is the best
possible basis for a sound and liberal education. We
are somewhat too negligent, perhaps, as to the nature
of some portions of the books that we put into the
hands of boys; we think too little of Quintilian's
Horatium in quibusdam nolim interpretari; we might
certainly be more careful to expurgate, and thus give
less ground of objection to such critics as the Abbé
Gaume. Perhaps, also, we give rather too much
e
Cu. XXVII.]
.
CLASSICAL STUDIES.
377
attention to Greek plays, to the scanning of choruses,
and the fabrication of Greek iambics, when the perusal
of parts of Aristotle and Plato might be attended with
more benefit to the mind of youth. But verse and
prose composition, in both languages, and especially
in Latin, ought to be diligently cultivated, as leading
to a better understanding of the languages themselves,
and to a nice discrimination of the sense of words in
general.
378
SO
[CH. XXVIII.
LIFE OF RICHARD PORSON.
CHAP. XXVIII.
TO
PORSON'S INDEPENDENCE OF SPIRIT. -HIS DISLIKE TO BE EXHIBITED. —
'HIS INTOLERANCE OF ADMONITION; CONDUCT TO SIR GEORGE BAKER.
—SOMETIDIES WAYWARD AND CAPRICIOUS. —NOT EASILY PROVOKED. —
PORSON AND DR. ISAAC DISRAELI. A LETTER DESCRIBING WHAT
PORSON WAS IN THE LATTER PART OF HIS LIFE. - CONCLUSION.
1
A NATURAL concomitant of Porson's honesty was a
sturdy independence of spirit. He yielded submission
to no man. He would accept no favours but such as
friend might reasonably receive from friend; and, as he
was unwilling to bestow praise, except such as merit
demanded, he was reluctant to receive praise to which
he did not conceive himself fully entitled.
“Of every thing mean, base, insolent, treacherous, or
selfish, whether practised towards others or towards
himself,” says Dr. Maltby, “he had a quick discern-
ment, and a most rooted abhorrence; and the terms of
bitter contempt, or of severe indignation, in which he
expressed himself upon such occasions, may have given
rise to opinions concerning the real bent of his feel-
ings, which those, who had frequent opportunities of
observing him, can safely pronounce to be unfounded."*
“Never did he swerve,” adds the same authority,
“ from his undeviating attachment to truth, nor ever
was he known to betray a secret.”
Lore
er
* Hellenophilus, Aikin's Athenæum, Nov. 1808.
CH. XXVIII.]
INDEPENDENCE OF SPIRIT.
PIN
NCC
PIRIT.
379
Was
A man of such high spirit had, as might be ex-
pected, a great dislike to being invited by his ac-
quaintance merely for show. He was once dining with
Mackintosh, who expressed a wish that he should
accompany him on the following day to a dinner at
Holland House, to meet Fox. Porson made some
reply that sounded like consent, and Mackintosh, meet-
ing Mr. Maltby the next morning, told him that Porson
was going to Lord Holland's. Maltby coming in
contact with Porson shortly after, observed to him, “I
hear that you are to dine at Holland House to-day.”
“Who told you so ?” “Mackintosh.” “But I cer-
tainly shall not go," rejoined Porson ; “ they invite me
merely out of curiosity, and, after they have satisfied it,
would like to kick me down stairs.” “But,” said
Maltby, “Fox is coming expressly from St. Ann's Hill
to be introduced to you.” The attraction, however,
was ineffective; Porson persisted in staying away; and
Lord Holland told Rogers, many years afterwards, that
Fox had been greatly disappointed at not meeting
Porson on that occasion.*
It was this kind of feeling that prompted his extra-
ordinary reception of two visitors at Cambridge. Two
gentlemen called upon him one day at his rooms, and
said that they had come to see him. Porson made no
reply, but rang his bell and ordered a pair of candles.
When they were brought, he said, “Now then, gentle-
men, you will be able to see me better.” It has been
stated in a recent version of this anecdote f, that one
Barker's Lit.
* Rogers's Table Talk, “Porsoniana," p. 322.
Anecd. vol. ii. p. 13.
† Notes and Queries, Feb. 11, 1860.
380
[CH. XXVIII.
LIFE OF RICHARD PORSON.
.
of these visitors was Mr. Summers, his old school-
master ; but this is utterly improbable, for Porson
always spoke of Mr. Summers with regard, as he
appears, indeed, to have spoken of all from whom he
had received any real kindness. Mr. Summers used to
say, that Porson “ had been too hardly censured by
the world ; that his nature was not unkind;” but that
“ he was too often accosted from motives of curiosity,
which could not escape his penetration; and at times,
perhaps, when his mind was alienated from the com-
mon forms of life,” as was frequently the case, “ by
some deep subject” that occupied his thoughts.*
Another story is, that two farmers from East Ruston,
passing through Cambridge, called at his rooms, and,
when he came in, told him that they did not like to
leave the town “without seeing Mr. Porson.” “Well,
now then, gentlemen,” rejoined Porson, “you have
seen me; I wish you good morning;” and walked off.
A man of such a temper was not likely to be
very tolerant of admonition. We have seen how
much he had been befriended by Sir George Baker ;
Sir George's house was always open to him, and his
assistance and encouragement always ready to promote
any design that he might take in hand. All this kind-
ness and attention Porson fully acknowledged; yet,
after visiting him regularly for some years, he suddenly
ceased to visit him at all. For this withdrawal Sir
George expressed himself quite unable to account ;
there had been no quarrel, and Porson had given him
no cause to speak of him otherwise than with kind-
* Letter of Rev. W. Gunn to Dawson Tuner, Barker's Parriana,
vol. ii. p. 736.
CH. XXVIII.]
CAPRICE.
381
IL
ness. But it is supposed by Mr. Maltby that some
words of remonstrance, which fell from Sir George
respecting Porson's irregularities, were the cause of his
change of conduct.
Such absolute independence was not unfrequently
attended with waywardness and caprice. He would
show likings and dislikings without much apparent
reason. He was kind to children, says Beloe, but
would be at no pains to conceal his partiality, if he
felt any, where there were several in one family. “In
one, which he often visited, there was a little girl of
whom he was exceedingly fond; he often brought
her trifling presents, wrote in her books, and distin-
guished her on every occasion, but she had a brother,
to whom, for no assignable reason, he never spoke, nor
would in any respect notice.” *
The little girl, going one day into the kitchen to
deliver a message to a servant, took Porson by the
hand, and led him in with her. A young woman,
whose name was Susan, and who was much regarded
by the family, was ironing linen. The child asked
Porson to make some verses upon her; and, on his
return to the sitting-room, he said,
When lovely Susan irons smocks,
No damsel e'er looked neater,
Her eyes are brighter than her box,
And burn me like a heater.f
When contradicted in argument, he was, if the
“ Sexagenarian" may be credited, not easily provoked
to asperity of language. “By precept,” said Bishop
* Sexagenarian, vol. i. p. 217.
Ť Ibid. vol. ii. p. 313.
382
[Cu. XXVIII.
LIFE OF RICHARD PORSON.
Maltby, “as well as by xample, he discountenanced all
violent emotions of the mind, and particularly anger." *
But Beloe mentions one occasion in which he was
moved, and, as it appeared, with justice, to express
himself with great exasperation. “A person of some
literary pretensions, but who either did not know
Porson's value, or neglected to show the estimate of
it which it merited, at a dinner-party, harassed, teazed,
and tormented him, till at length he could endure it
no longer, and, rising from his chair, exclaimed with
vehemence, 'It is not in the power of thought to con-
ceive, or words to express, the contempt I have for
you, Mr. * * *,»
This scene is represented, in a key to the “Sexage-
narian," published in “Notes and Queries," of to have
occurred at the house of Mr. Hill in Henrietta Street,
Covent Garden, in the presence of Mr. Morris, Mr.
Kemble, Mr. Dubois, Mr. Fillingham, and Mr. Perry;
and the offender is said to have been Mr. Isaac Disraeli,
who, in return for Porson's expressions of severity,
retorted on the Professor in an ill-natured note in his
that Disraeli, on some occasion when Porson had fallen
intoxicated under the table, had started up and made
a sarcastic speech over him; and that Porson, hearing
of this insult, took an opportunity of retorting upon
Disraeli, and concluded an address to him with the
same words that Beloe has given. That Mr. Disraeli
* Aikin's Athenæum, vol. iv. Oct. 1808.
† April 21, 1860.
I Vol. i. p. 14.
Cu. XXVIII.]
PORSON AND ISAAC DISRAELI.
383
was the author of the novel of “ Flim-Flams,” published
anonymously in three volumes by Murray, in 1805, a
production filled with pointless attempts at satirical
description and dialogue, and abortive efforts at wit,
and written altogether in a style and manner utterly at
variance with Disraeli's acknowledged works, it seems
extremely difficult to believe; but he is universally said
to have been concerned in its composition. The attack
on Porson, however, is made, not in a note, but in the
text, where the Professor, Dr. Parr, Mr. Godwin, and
Mr. Malthus, under the names of Pours-on, Græculus,
Caconous, and Toomany, are represented as meeting,
with some other public characters, at a large dinner-
party, given by “My Uncle," who, by a remark about
a Greek word in Athenæus, sets the Doctor and the
Professor at strife, when, after much discussion and
quotation, the Professor is made to catch at the word
tatyras used by the Doctor, and, uttering “a shrill
whew!” to say, “You dare not tell us that tatyras is
the true word for pheasant; Ptolemy Euergetus reads
tetarton, others tatyron.” “You lie, and you know you
lie,” retorts the Doctor; when the Professor empties
his wine-glass on the Doctor's wig, and the Doctor
hurls back his wig, saturated with wine, in the Pro-
fessor's face. The Professor then challenges the Doctor
to drink brandy with him in a pair of shoes; and the
Doctor retorts by offering to drink brandy with the
Professor in a pair of boots; a pair of new boots are
accordingly sent for, and the operation commences, the
Professor singing Greek epigrams, and the Doctor
spouting passages from Lysias ; but, amidst a great
hubbub with which the party closes, the two com-
384
[CH. XXVIII.
LIFE OF RICHARD PÒRSON.
batants are left sitting, each with his boot before him,
and the match undecided.
From the universally received character of Isaac
Disraeli, he would seem as little likely to have given
the offence as to have written the novel. “The philo-
sophic sweetness of his disposition,” says his son, “ the
serenity of his lot, and the elevating nature of his
pursuits, combined to enable him to pass through life
without an evil act, almost without an evil thought.”*
The novel is the offspring of injudicious satire, ill-
natured, but weak, and casting disgrace, not on those
who are caricatured in its pages, but on him or them
that gave it being.
I have been assured, on trustworthy authority, that
what was done or said with reference to Porson, in
his state of insensibility, was in reality harmless and
exaggeration; and I have been given to understand,
on the same authority, that the passage of the novel,
in which Porson is introduced, was probably written
by Dubois.
For Fitzgerald, the “small beer poet," who had one
evening bawled his creaking couplets at a dinner of
the Literary Fund Society, Porson, who was present,
showed his want of respect in a somewhat Johnsonian
manner. A gentleman brought Fitzgerald up to
Porson to introduce him. “Sir," said he, “I have the
honour to present to you Mr. Fitzgerald.” Porson was
silent. “Sir,” recommenced that gentleman, “I have
the honour to present to you Mr. Fitzgerald, who
* Memoir prefixed to Routledge's cdition of Disraeli's Works, 1860.
CH. XXVIII.)
ANECDOTES......
· 385
Id
LO
recited the verses you have just heard.” Porson was
silent. “Sir,” persisted the gentleman, “I have the
honour to present to you Mr. Fitzgerald, who himself
composed the verses which you have just heard.”
“Sir,” said Porson, very gently, “I am quite deaf.” *
To a lady who annoyed him with impertinent ques-
tions at a dinner, asking him the Greek for a knife, a
fork, and other matters, he made a more playful retort,
replying to her last interrogatory, “ To me, madam,
it is heautontimoroumenos, to you heauteentimorou-
menee.”
To a gentleman, who, at the close of a fierce dispute
with Porson, exclaimed, “My opinion of you is most
contemptible, Sir ;” he retorted, “I never knew an
opinion of yours that was not contemptible.”
The following letter f to Mr. Upcott, from the Rev.
T. Smart Hughes, detailing an interview which he had
had with Porson in 1807, shows exactly what Porson
was in the latter part of his life. Mr. Hughes's tutor,
who is mentioned in it, was the Rev. J. D. Hustler, a
fellow of Trinity College. $
“MY DEAR SIR,
“I wish it was in my power to give you a more
detailed account of my interview with your celebrated pre-
decessor than my memory will now permit. It was the only
one I ever had with him. It occurred when I was an under-
graduate; and I unfortunately made no notes of it at the
time, being then busily engaged in reading for my degree,
which occupied almost all my thoughts. This interview
* Butler's Reminiscences, p. 169.
† Notes and Queries, 2nd S. vol. iii. p. 62.
| Rer. H. R. Luard, Cambridge Essays, 1857.
сс .
386
[Ca. XXVIII.
LIFE OF RICHARD PORSON.
took place in the rooms of my private tutor, between whom
and Porson a great intimacy subsisted.
“ After about an hour spent in various subjects of con-
versation, during which the Professor recited a great many
beautiful passages from [his] authors in Greek, Latin, French,
and English, my tutor, seeing the visitation that was evi-
dently intended for him, feigned an excuse for going into
the town, and left Porson and myself together. I ought to
have observed that he had already produced one bottle of
sherry to moisten the Professor's throat, and that he left out
another, in case it should be required. Porson's spirits being
by this time elevated by the juice of the grape, and being
pleased with a well-timed compliment which I had the good
luck to address to him, he became very communicative;
said he was glad that we had met together; desired me
to take up my pen and paper, and directed me to write
down, from his dictation, many curious algebraical problems,
with their solutions; gave me several ingenious methods of
summing series; and ran through a great variety of the
properties of numbers.
“ After almost an hour's occupation in this manner, he
said, 'Lay aside your pen, and listen to the history of a
man of letters, - how he became a sordid miser from a
thoughtless prodigal, a ... from a ... and a
misanthrope from a morbid excess of sensibility. (I forget
the intermediate step in the climax.) He then commenced
a narrative of his own life, from his entrance at Eton school,
through all the most remarkable periods, to the day of our
conversation. I was particularly amused with the account
of his school anecdotes, the tricks he used to play upon his
master and schoolfellows, and the little dramatic pieces
which he wrote for private representation. From these he
passed to his academical pursuits and studies, his election
to the Greek professorship, and his ejection from his fellow-
ship through the influence of Dr. Postlethwaite, who, though
he had promised it to Porson, exerted it for a relation of his
own. “I was then,' said the Professor, “almost destitute in
the wide world, with less than 401. a year for my support,
.
CH. XXVIII.]
PORSON IN HIS LATER YEARS.
387 :
and without a profession, for I never could bring myself to
subscribe Articles of Faith. I used often to lie awake
through the whole night, and wish for a large pearl.'
“He then gave me a history of his life in London, when
he took chambers in the Temple, and read at times im-
moderately hard. He very much interested me by a curious
interview which he had with a girl of the town, who came
into his chambers by mistake, and who showed so much
cleverness and ability in a long conversation with him, that
he declared she might with proper cultivation have become
another Aspasia. He also recited to me, word for word, the
speech with which he accosted Dr. Postlethwaite when he
called at his chambers, and which he had long prepared
against such an occurrence. At the end of this oration the
Doctor said not a word, but burst into tears and left the
room. Porson also burst into tears when he finished the
recital of it to me.
“In this manner five hours passed away; at the end of
which the Professor, who had finished the second bottle of
my friend's sherry, began to clip the king's English, to cry
like a child at the close of his periods, and in other respects
to show marks of extreme debility. At length he rose from
his chair, staggered to the door, and made his way down
stairs without taking the slightest notice of his companion.
I retired to my college ; and next morning was informed by
my friend that he had been out upon a search, the previous
evening, for the Greek Professor, whom he discovered near
the outskirts of the town, leaning upon the arm of a dirty
bargeman, and amusing him by the most humorous and
laughable anecdotes. I never even saw Porson after this
day, but I shall never cease to regret that I did not commit
his history to writing whilst it was fresh in my memory.
“I am, my dear Sir, with great regard,
6.Yours sincerely,
“T. S. HUGHES.
“Cambridge, Oct. 1826."
Great as were Porson's deviations from the eveni
tenour of sobriety, great as were his disagreements with
C C 2
388
[CH. XXVIII.
LIFE OF RICHARD . PORSON.
the social habits of the generality of mankind, great
also must have been his merit, which, with such aber-
rations and eccentricities, secured him, not only the
praise, but the regard, of all men of learning and
intellect that had intercourse with him. Whoever
knew Richard Porson, felt that he knew a man of high
and noble mind, who, with all his irregularities, and all
his inclination to sarcasm and jest, had a sincere love of
truth and honesty, and who, with an utter contempt for
pretence and presumption, was ever ready to do justice
to genuine worth.
His life is an example, and an admonition, how much
a man may injure himself by indulgence in one un-
happy propensity, and how much an elevated mind
may suffer by long association with those of an inferior
order. A Porson cannot day after day descend to the
level of a Hewardine, without finding it difficult at
length to recover his original position above it.
APPENDIX
391
APPENDIX.
w
Porson's Family.
THAT we might not interrupt the narrative of Porson's
biography, we have said but little in it of his family, think-
ing it sufficient to add some notice of it here.
He had, as we have said, two brothers and a sister, the sister
older, and the brothers younger, than himself. The second
brother's name was Henry, who seems to have shown no incli-
nation for literature, but being, in his boyhood, ready at ac-
counts, was sent to Norwich to qualify himself for an exciseman,
in which character he lived for about a year at Debenham in
Suffolk, where he married the daughter of a farmer, and then
took a farm for himself near Colchester. While he was here,
the accounts of the corporation of Norwich were found to be
in disorder, and Henry Porson, being known to some of the
aldermen as a good arithmetician, was sent for to examine
the books, and make a report upon them; an undertaking
which he executed with great success. He died of consump-
tion at the early age of thirty-three.
Thomas, the other brother, eleven years younger than
Richard, was thought to have possessed great qualifications for
becoming a scholar. He received the same educational advan-
tages, under Mr. Summers and Mr. Hewitt, as Richard. He
became assistant to the Rev. Mr. Hepworth, who had a school
at Wymondham, in Norfolk, and was afterwards master of the
grammar school at. North Walsham. On parting from Mr.
Hepworth, he set up a boarding-school for himself at Faken-
ham, also in Norfolk, where he married, and, being con-
C C4
392
APPENDIX.
.
sidered to possess extraordinary talent, was likely to succeed,
but died in his twenty-fourth year. Dr. Davy, indeed, the
Master of Caius, who knew the brothers well, was of opinion
that Thomas was fully equal in ability to Richard. If
Thomas, then, had lived to enlarge his reading like Richard,
what might not have been done for Greek literature by two
Porsons, especially if Thomas had been more inclined to
steady work than Richard ?
The sister was about four years older than Porson, and
married Mr. Siday Hawes, a brewer, at Coltishall, in Norfolk.
She had, says Beloe *, a strong personal resemblance to
Richard, particularly in the lower features of her face, her
tone of voice, and peculiarity of smile. In an account of
Porson, which appeared in the “ Morning Chronicle” the day
after his death, she was described as “amiable and accom-
plished.” When this eulogy was communicated to her, she
expressed herself to this effect: “I wish it had been sup-
pressed. The editor, I have no doubt, had the most obliging
intentions in the world, when he represented me as an amiable
and accomplished woman; but I really have no taste for such
flattery. He must have known, from my situation in early
life, that it was impossible I could possess any accomplish-
ments. I wish not to be brought before the public; my only
ambition is, at the close of life, to have deserved the cha-
racter of having been a good wife to my husband, and a
good mother to my children.” These sentiments, as Beloe
observes, show that she had much congeniality of feeling
with her brother, than whom no man had more dislike,
during his whole life, to compliment and adulation. She had
the wonderful Porson memory. When she was married, the
clergyman, on concluding the ceremony, said to her, “ Mrs.
Hawes, you have given away a great name to-day.”
Her eldest son, Mr. Siday Hawes, was for some time a
member of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, but being,
like his uncle, reluctant to subscribe to the Articles of the
Church of England, withdrew from collegiate life, and en-
* Sexagenarian, vol. i. p. 202.
ORATION ON CHARLES II.
393
gaged in more active occupation. After having resided in
South and North America, he now lives on his property as
an agriculturist, at Hayes, near Horsham, in Sussex.
Porson's mother died in 1783, and his father in 1806.
Oration on the Character of Charles II.
SA Latin oration on the character of Charles II. is given by
Beloe in his “ Sexagenarian” as one of the earliest specimens
to be found of Porson's Latinity. It “was probably de-
livered,” he says, “in the Chapel of Trinity College, at the
time when it is dated,” namely, May 29, 1784, when Porson
was in his twenty-fourth year. We cannot learn, nor do we
suppose, that it was ever delivered; but it was perhaps written
by Porson, with a view to delivery on some occasion, for some
other person; and it contains so much strong satire and
invective, of that kind which Porson could so easily use, and
built on so large a foundation of truth, that we have thought
the reader would not be displeased to see an English version
of it.]
Though the opinions of private individuals respecting the
merits of Charles II. are, in the present day, many and
various, yet, if we look back to the testimony of the church,
and of the whole nation, in his own time, we shall esteem
this day not only as deserving to be marked with white, but
as worthy of being celebrated every year by a solemn thanks-
giving. And since no law or custom takes deeper root, or
continues longer in force, than that which protects itself
under the name of religion, it may be no unsuitable employ-
ment of the present occasion to examine and contemplate,
with some closeness of attention, Charles's character and
disposition, and to inquire, calmly and dispassionately, how
much he contributed to the good of his country; by what
virtues, public and private, he was distinguished; by what
services he promoted liberty and religion ; and how meri-
394
APPENDIX.
toriously, in a word, he fulfilled the duties of a sovereign
and of a man.
If there ever was a king that commenced his reign with the
best and happiest possible omens, that king must assuredly
have been Charles II. ; so strong and so unanimous was the
consent of the whole nation to exalt him to the throne of his
ancestors. And as the quarrels of lovers, according to the
proverb, are the renewing of love, the people, whatever
offences they had committed against his father, or of what-
ever deficiencies in duty they had been guilty towards him,
endeavoured to atone or compensate for all by the extra-
ordinary affection which they displayed' towards the son.
They who had groaned, for so many years, under the rule of
a cruel and suspicious tyrant, consoled themselves with the
expectation of happier fortune when the rightful prince
should be recalled from his exile; and thought it better,
even if they were to experience the rule of a tyrant again,
to submit to one to whom arbitrary power seemed in some
degree to belong by the law of hereditary succession. As
soon as Cromwell therefore was dead, all sects and factions
prepared with the utmost eagerness to restore the king.
They hoped, doubtless, that the new sovereign would bear in
mind, with feelings of gratitude, how much he owed to the
favour of his country, and would some day show, as well by
actions as by words, his sensibility of the obligation; that,
being admonished by the unhappy fortune and premature
death of his father, he would, when he took the helm of
government, avoid, by cautious and prudent steering, the
rocks and shoals on which his parent had struck; that he
would neither curtail the rights and liberties of the people,
nor extend the limits of his own prerogative beyond the sanc-
tions of divine and human law; and that, having long and
bitterly contended with adversity, he would enjoy prosperity
without vain or intemperate exultation.
It was in reliance on these expectations, apparently, that
they pronounced his right to the throne established in per-
petuity, and appropriated, for the supply of his regal ex-
penses, such a portion of the revenue as would suffice, not
ORATION ON CHARLES II.
395
merely for maintaining, but for exhibiting in full splendour,
the pomp and dignity of a powerful prince. Nor did they.
fail to contribute largely from their own private resources,
giving, by this means, the most noble proofs of strong affec-
tion for their sovereign, and not making the slightest mention
of any conditions to be imposed on him. So eagerly did
they hasten to show their zeal and obedience, that they forgot
alike what they owed to the memory of their ancestors, to
themselves, and to posterity; and that nothing might be
wanting to testify their obedience and submission to the
voice of their king, those who had the chief share in the
glory of his restoration, took upon themselves, in the name
of the whole nation, the guilt of the murder of the Blessed
Martyr, as they called him, and besought the clemency of
their sovereign to pardon the crime which they had com-
mitted. Yet the sovereign did not so far yield to clemency
as to deem all deserving of forgiveness, but tempered his
natural inclination to mercy by just severity, and sentenced
such of his father's judges as had consented to his death from
principle, and because they thought it for the good of the
state, to suffer the severest punishment; while to those who
had voted for his decapitation from the pressure of the time,
and who, he thought, might afterwards prove subservient
agents in his own schemes, he vouchsafed, by a prudent and
generous sentence, a full and complete pardon. But for my
own part, to say what I think freely and without disguise, it
must be acknowledged, I consider, by those whose feelings
do not mislead their judgment, that Charles offended alike
against kingly dignity and sound policy, in not consigning
all past transgressions to oblivion. Or even if the favourers
of the Stuarts should deny this, they will surely not deny
(for they neither can nor dare) that, of the punishments
which the law inflicts upon rebels, the severer portion, as
being of a nature at variance with the laws of humanity,
ought to have been remitted.
Although the people, as we have already observed, had
granted what was enough, and more than enough, for the
expense of a properly conducted royal household;. yet,
396
APPENDIX.
that they might give the richest proof of love for their
new king, they proceeded to vote extraordinary supplies, to
fill, not only his coffers, but those of his brother. Lest any-
thing should be wanting, too, to indicate their feelings as
fond subjects, they abrogated, by a resolution not less ridi-
culous than foolish, whatever acts the Parliament of Crom-
well had passed during the preceding twenty years. If the
historians of that period are to be trusted, however, these
extravagances may be in some degree excused, as having
been committed, for the most part, by men of easy principles
and morals, careless and half-intoxicated; though the laxity,
which admitted such characters into all but the highest
council of the nation, appears not altogether deserving of
praise.
. There is also another matter, not indeed to be too much
regarded, and yet not wholly to be neglected; I mean a
certain thirst and eagerness for bloodshed, by which Charles
was strongly influenced through the whole course of his
reign ; yet we can scarcely conceive it was from innate
cruelty, in a prince of such a character, that so many inno-
cent men were put to death in violation of divine and human
laws, and in violation even at times of his own promises; it
seems more probable that such spectacles were to this king a
source of jest and amusement. Nor should I greatly wonder,
indeed, if Charles, who had often witnessed, when in France,
how easily the king of that country condemned his subjects
to death, exile, or confiscation of property, and whom the
people of England greeted with no less flattery than the
French paid to Louis, wished to exercise in this respect the
same arbitrary power as the King of France. Assuredly,
unless we allow some force to these palliations, we must
admit that there are scarce any acts related in all history,
concerning the worst and most odious of tyrants, which are
more opposed to humanity, or more at variance with all
lenity and prudence, to say nothing of regard for law, than
those proceedings of the reign of Charles. Among the noble-
men brought to the bar in his days, the most eminent were
Vane, Russell, and Sidney, whose unjust and cruel deaths
ORATION ON CHARLES II.
:
397
will stamp eternal infamy on Charles's memory. If we look
on acts of such atrocity with the indignation that they
deserve, we shall imagine ourselves reading the crimes of
another Tiberius or Nero.
But if we had no cause to complain of the administration
of the government at home, the disgrace of the wars which
Charles undertook, and the treaties which he concluded, is
such as was scarcely incurred by King John when he begged
the Pope to restore him his crown. By sending an army
against the Dutch, from whom he had experienced the most
noble hospitality, he met with the just punishment of avarice
and ingratitude; for, as the Dutch proved victorious, Charles
was forced to make peace on the most unfavourable terms.
What induced him to engage in war was, if we speak the
truth, the desire of gain, a desire which in the end was not
ungratified; for though he got nothing from the States of
Holland but ignominy, he had the art to convert to his own
use the money which the liberality of his subjects had voted
for the expenses of the war. Many of his faults, too, which,
if committed by any other prince, would have been called
crimes, are designated by a lighter name from being com-
pared with his greater and more flagrant offences; among
which the shameful resignation to the enemy of Dunkirk and
Tangier, two of the greatest fortresses and defences of the
empire, justly holds a prominent position. But all his base-
nesses are crowned by his compact with Louis, by which he
submitted to become a pensioner of France.
It is well enough known in the present day that Charles
had attached himself to the same religious faith as his brother
James, the faith of Rome, which, when opportunity should
serve, he had determined, with the aid of the King of
France, to disseminate through Great Britain, substituting
the doctrines of the Pope for those of the Reformers, and
overthrowing at the same time the whole constitution, and
establishing tyranny in the place of civil liberty. But he
pursued that object so timidly and coldly, he concealed his
intentions with such cunning (shall I say?) or malice, that
many of the Catholics suffered the severest punishments
398
APPENDIX.
.
under the sanction of a king who had embraced the same
faith with themselves.
These examples of the public virtues of Charles we have
selected from an infinite number. Let us see if his conduct
as a man made amends for his deficiencies as a ruler. His
father, whatever were the errors of his government, atoned
for them in some degree by his private virtues. But in this
respect he left a son sadly degenerate and dissimilar; a son
who visited no country in Europe but to bring away from it
new follies and new vices. His grandfather James used to
be called by his flatterers a second Solomon. That which was
wanting to complete the likeness to Solomon in the grand-
father was supplied by the grandson, for no one that counts
the number of Solomon's concubines and Charles's, will deny
that Charles resembled Solomon in this particular. With
women of loose character, and men equally depraved, he
amused his leisure in every kind of luxury and licentious-
ness. What sort of man he really was, was shown, as some
one has not unhappily remarked, by the words which he
uttered at the point of death, when he spoke, not of his
country, nor of any of his friends or relatives, but of a
harlot.
But perhaps it will be said he devoted his resources to
supply the wants of the followers and supporters of his father
and himself, and seized with eagerness opportunities of testi-
fying how grateful he felt towards all who had assisted him,
whether in adversity or prosperity, with their money, swords,
or publications. Nothing was ever further from his thoughts ;
the most faithful advocates of kingly power he either neg-
lected, like Cowley and Butler, or drove, like Clarendon,
from their country, exposed to all the perils and sufferings of
exile.
Those who strain every nerve to free the memory of
Charles in some degree, by fair means or by foul, from the
infamy that hangs over it, enlarge on his affability and suavity
of manner, and tell, with delight, how witty and full of
humour he was at the festal board. Witty and full of humour
doubtless he was, if we take scurrility and buffoonery for wit
CHARADES.
399
1
and humour; for those he had in the greatest abundance,
since he made no attempt at wit but to offend modesty, and
thought nothing a jest that was not directed against religion.
Through the whole of this prince's reign, indeed, there was
not the slightest regard paid to modesty, chastity, sincerity,
temperance, or piety; nor was there any shorter or surer
road to the favour of the king than by becoming notorious for
buffoonery, irreligion, drunkenness, and prodigality. To em-
brace his history in a few words, he was, before he obtained
the crown, a beggar; when he had obtained it, he was not a
king; he had neither dignity, nor wisdom, nor courage; he
had no sense either of friendship or of honour; he was
neither affectionate to his brother, nor true to his wife; he
lived an atheist, and died a papist. Such was Charles the
Second.
“ Manibus date lilia plenis;
Purpureos spargam flores, animamque tyranni
His saltem accumulem donis."
Porson's Charades.
Porson had, as Beloe observes, “a great talent for splendid
trifles." He exercised this talent, at times, in making cha-
rades to amuse ladies with whom he was intimate, and whom
he wished to please, for he was not equally ready to please
all. Some of these were written for Mrs. Gordon and Mrs.
Perry, others for Miss Raine and Mrs. Goodall. One of the
best, on the word Cornix, was composed for Mrs. Clarke, on
a small piece of vellum shaped like a heart. It was first
printed in the “ Gentleman's Magazine,” for Sept. 1808, sent
by a correspondent who signs himself “ W. P.”
Te PRIMUM incauto nimiùm, propiùsque tuenti,
Laura mihi furtim surripuisse queror.
Nec tamen hoc furtum tibi condonare recusem,
Si pretium tali solvere merce velis.
400.
APPENDIX.
Sed quo plus candoris habent tibi colla SECUNDÓ, !
Hoc tibi plus PRIMUM frigoris intus habet.
Sæpe sinistra cavâ cantavit ab ilice TOTUM
Omina, et audaces spes vetat esse ratas.
The correspondent adds this, his own, translation :
" Whilst thoughtless, all too near, I gaz'd on thee,
Laura, you stole my heart; for this I grieve;
Yet to forgive 's not difficult in me,
Would you an equal pledge but deign to leave.
But as the snow thy whiter neck transcends,
Thy heart, still colder, harbours no amends.
These, a dissyllable in Latin, hold
Many quite purpose-stay'd by left-hand croaks
(Of raven, rook, and crow, the same is told,).
Foreboding nought but harm from hollow blasted oaks."
The following are given in the “ Sexagenarian," and in
Barker's “ Literary Anecdotes."
If Nature and Fortune had placed me with you
On my first, we my second might hope to obtain ;
I might marry you, were I my third, it is true,
But the marriage would only embitter my pain.
[Parson.]
My first is the lot that is destin'd by fate,
For my second to meet with in every state;
My third is by many philosophers reckon'd
To bring very often my first to my second.
[Woman.]
My first, though your house, nay your life, he defends,
You ungratefully name like the wretch you despise;
My second, I speak it with grief, comprehends
All the brave, and the good, and the learn'd, and the wise.
Of my third I have little or nothing to say
Except that it tolls the departure of day.
[Curfew.]
The child of a peasant, Rose thought it no shame
To toil at my first all the day;
When her father grew rich, and a farmer became,
My first to my second gave way.
CHARADES.
401
Then she married a merchant, who brought her to town :
To this eminent station preferrd,
Of my first and my second unmindful she's grown,
And gives all her time to my third.
[Spinnet.]
My first is the nymph I adore,
The sum of her charms is my second,
I was going to call it my third,
But I counted a million and more,
Till I found they could never be reckon'd;
So I quickly rejected the word.
[Thousand. 7
My first in ghosts, 'tis said, abounds,
And, wheresoe'er she walks her rounds,
My second never fails to go,
Yet oft attends her mortal foe.
If with my third you quench your thirst,
You sink for ever in my first.
[Nightshade.]
My first is expressive of no disrespect,
Yet I never shall call you it while you are by;
If my second you still are resolv'd to reject,
As dead as my third I shall speedily lie.
[Herring. ]
My first of unity's a sign ;
My second ere we knew to plant,
We used upon my third to dine,
“ If all be true the poets chant."
. [Acorn.]
Your cat does my first in your ear;
O that I were admitted as near !
For my second I've held you, my fair,
So long that I almost despair.
But my prey if at last I o'ertake,
What a glorious third I shall make!
[Purchase.]
My first with more than quaker's pride,
At your most solemn duty,
You keep, nor deign to lay aside,
E’en though it veils your beauty :
D D
402
APPENDIX.
My second, on your cheek or lip,
May kindle Cupid's fire,
While from your eye, or nose's tip,
It ne'er provokes desire.
But if my third you entertain
For your unhappy poet, .
In mercy, Chloe, spare his pain,
Nor ever let him know it.
[Hatred.]
There are a few riddles, also, given as Porson's, by Beloe,
in his “Sexagenarian;" but whether rightly attributed to him
or not, it is not worth while to inquire. They are such as any
one might make with a very little trouble.
Catechism for the use of the Swinish Multitude.
Of this composition some extracts are given by Beloe in
the “ Sexagenarian,"* and have been reprinted in the Facetice
Cantabrigienses. Porson never denied that he was the
author of it; he allowed Maltby to make a transcript from a
copy in his own hand. It was printed with Porson's know-
ledge, and Carlile of Fleet Street republished it. The origin
of it was the term “Swinish Multitude," applied by Burke to
the common people, in his “Reflections on the French
Revolution." The art with which Porson has introduced the
common sayings about pigs is highly worthy of notice.
Q. What is your name?
A. Hog or Swine.
Q. Did God make you a Hog?
A. No. God made me man in his own image; the Right
Honourable SUBLIME BEAUTIFUL made me a Swine.
Q. How did he make you a Swine?
A. By muttering obscure and uncouth spells. He is a
dealer in the black art.
* Vol. ii. p. 322.
CATECHISM FOR THE SWINISH MULTITUDE.
403
Q. Who feeds you?
A. Our drivers, the only real men in this COUNTRY.
Q. How many hogs are you in all ?
A. Seven or eight millions.
Q. How many drivers ?
A. Two or three hundred thousand.
Q. With what do they feed you ?
A. Generally with husks, swill, draff, malt, grains, and
and, when they have too much buttermilk themselves, they
give us some.
Q. What are your occupations ?
A. To be yoked to the plough; to do all hard work; for
which purpose we still, as you see, retain enough of our
original form, speech, and reason to carry our drivers on our
shoulders, or to draw them in carriages.
Q. Are your drivers independent of each other ?
A. No; our immediate drivers are driven by a smaller
last you come to the Chief Hog Driver.
Q. Has your Chief Driver any marks of his office ?
A. A brass helmet on his head, and an iron poker in his
hand.
Q. By what title does he wear his helmet ?
A. In contempt of the choice of the hogs.
Q. Do the drivers wear badges of distinction ?
A. Many; some have particular frocks and slops; others
garter below the knee; some have a red rag across their
jackets; and some carry sticks and poles.
Q. How do they look in their trappings?
A. Like a sow on a side-saddle.
Q. What is the use of that iron ring in your snout?
A. To hinder us from rooting in our drivers' gardens.
Q. What is the use of that wooden yoke on your neck ?
A. To keep us from breaking through our drivers' fences;
but both ring and yoke are principally intended to diminish
our strength and spirits, and to prevent our resistance, if at
D D 2
404
APPENDIX.
any time we fancy we have too little victuals or too much
whipping.
Q. What is the use of those whips and cudgels that some
of your drivers bear ?
A. To beat us when we grunt too loud for the slumbers of
the Upper Driver.
Q. Do your drivers ever meet to transact business ?
A. Yes; formerly their meetings continued only three
weeks, but of late they have been prolonged to sevenr.
Q. What do they do at these meetings ?
A. They sell us.
Q. You seem to me too lean to be very profitable.
A. The greatest profit to our drivers lies in our work;
besides, most of them agree, at the meeting, that we enjoy an
unexampled degree of fatness, plumpness, and sleekness ;
and that methods should be taken rather to starve than to
pamper us, lest we should grow fat and kick,
Q. Where do they meet ?
A. In a rotten house. The nominal president is the Chief
Hog Driver, otherwise called Father of the Hogs; but the
true president, otherwise the Step-father of the hogs, is the
governor of the sub-meeting. Everything is done by the
latter, and attributed to the former. The latter raises the
price of pork at his pleasure.
Q. Truly the gentleman seems to have brought his hogs to
a fine market. But you mentioned the sub-meeting ?
A. Yes; there is also an upper-meeting.
Q. Are the members of it skilful in pork ?
A. They are born (or created) skilful in all branches of
butchery.
Q. Of whom consists the sub-meeting ? .
A. Of middle drivers chosen by us, and sent on behalf of
the poor herd of swine; to take care that they be not starved
to death, but only kept as lean as possible; to see that no
undue cruelty is used, but only that they be whipped within
an inch of their lives.
Q. Do you choose and send agents that can make no
better terms for you than these ?
A. We did not choose and send them.
.
1
CATECHISM FOR THE SWINISH MULTITUDE.
405
11
Q. Why you said even now that they were chosen and
sent by you.
A. They are chosen and not chosen.
Q. A paradox! Try to explain.
A. You know that the country is parcelled out into
farms, some overstocked with hogs, and some almost empty.
Some of these hogs have a bit of potato ground allowed
them by their drivers, and others have none. Now only the
potato'd hogs are allowed to nominate an agent for the
meeting. A few of the farms send each one or two agents,
and consequently all the agents may be sent by a very few
hogs.
Q. When the herd is small, the driver will make himself
agent by threatening to starve you, or will otherwise win you
to his purpose; but how do they manage you when you are
numerous ?
A. They praise our beauty, good sense, good nature,
gentleness, and great superiority to all other hogs; they kiss
the old sows and the young pigs; they give us our belly-full
of new beer, till we are as drunk as David's sow, and wallow
in the mire. In this condition they make us choose them,
while we really know nothing at all of the matter.
Q. Do they promise beforehand to take care of you ?
A. Yes; and forget to perform it afterwards.
Q. But you choose another agent when one has betrayed
you.
A. Very often we cannot. Nay, one of the drivers the
other day told the hogs on his farm that he had bought
them, and would sell them.
Q. What is the advantage of being an agent ?
A. Some court the office merely for the honour, but all
the knowing ones are hired by the governors to say none of
them are hired, and that they are all chosen by the free sense
of the swinish multitude.
Q. How many are hired ?
A. A majority.
Q. How much is reckoned decent wages ?
A. Nothing under the price of several hundred hogs.
D D 3
406
APPENDIX.
: Q. Do they ever graciously condescend to inform you of
their resolutions ?
A. They write copies of them and send them about.
Q. Gratis, of course ?
A. No; but they will let us have a copy for a few dozens
of potatoes.
Q. The resolutions, however, are easy to read ?
A. Scarcely one of us in twenty can read at all, for we are
told by our drivers that we ought to be ignorant.
Q. Are they sincere in this ?
A. Very sincere; for they are constantly rewarded in pro-
portion to their own ignorance. But, alas ! if we could read,
it would be nothing, for the resolutions are not written in
English.
Q. No; they are written, I know, in Hog Latin, but that
I took for granted you understand.
A. Shameful aspersion on the hogs! The most inarticu-
late grunting of our tribe is sense and harmony compared to
such jargon.
Q. Do not your drivers, then, appoint interpreters for
you?
A. Yes; that they would call in their own case buying a
pig in a poke.
Q. What are the interpreters called ?
A. The BLACK LETTER SISTERHOOD.
Q. Why do you give the office to women?
A. Because they have a fluent tongue and a knack of
scolding.
Q. How are they dressed ?
A. In gowns and false hair.
Q. What are the principal orders ?
A. Three: Writers, Talkers, and Hearers, which last are
also called Deciders.
Q. What is their general business ?
A. To discuss the mutual quarrels of the hogs, and to
punish their affronts to any or all of the drivers.
Q. How can one hog affront all the drivers ?
A. By speaking the truth.
11
CATECHISM FOR THE SWINISH MULTITUDE.
407
Q. What is the truth ?
A. What is that to you?
Q. If two hogs quarrel, how do they apply to the sister-
hood ?
A. Each hog goes separately to a Writer.
Q. What does the Writer?
A. She goes to a Talker.
Q. What does the Talker.
A. She goes to a Hearer or Decider.
Q. What does the Hearer decide ?
A. What she pleases.
Q. If a hog is decided to be in the right, what is the con-
sequence ?
A. He is almost ruined.
Q. If in the wrong, what?
A. He is quite ruined.
Q. What is the true reason of this practice ?
A. The ease and interest of the sisterhood. If it were
otherwise, they would have more work and less wages.
Q. What is the pretended reason ?
A. That they are afraid we should never have done quar-
relling, if they could easily settle our disputes.
Q. That is, they pull out your tusks that you may not bite
each other. Is not this reason mockery as well as oppres-
sion ?
A. No; they tell us that what has been done ought to be
done again.
Q. Do none of the drivers take compassion on you, when
they see you thus grunt and sweat under a weary life?
A. Several agents in the sub-meeting have proposed
schemes for our relief, but have always been overpowered by
a great majority.
Q. Could that majority give any reasons for their be-
haviour ?
A. Nine.
Q. Name the first.
A. They said, for their parts, they were very well con-
tented as they were.
Ꭰ Ꭰ 4
408
APPENDIX.
VIC
Q. The second ?
A. They believed the present system of hog driving would
last out their time.
Q. The third ?
A. The Chief Hog Driver had published an advertisement
against giving the hogs any relief.
Q. The fourth ?
A. The hogs were very desirous to have some relief.
Q. The fifth ?
A. The hogs were in perfect tranquillity at present.
Q. The sixth ?
A. The hogs were in a violent ferment at present.
Q. The seventh ?
A. The hogs were too good to need relief.
Q. The eighth ?
A. The hogs were too bad to deserve relief.
Q. The ninth ?
A. If they gave us what was right, they could not help
giving us what was wrong.
Q. How do you look when you hear such a mass of lies
and nonsense ?
A. We stare like stuck pigs.
Q. But you are vastly superior in numbers and strength;
how are you kept quiet under such complicated injuries ?
1
Q. By what force ?
A. By twenty thousand hogs in armour. .
Q. By what art ?
A. By sowing the seeds of discord among us.
Q. Whom do they employ to sow the seeds of discord ?
A. The ministers of peace.
A. They tell the simpler hogs that their brethren mean to
cut the throats of their drivers, and then to turn drivers
themselves.
Q. How do these hogs treat the obnoxious swine ?
A. They burn down their sties, and eat up their meal and
potatoes.
CATECHISM FOR THE SWINISH MULTITUDE.
409
Q. Have the ministers of peace, as you call them, any
other employment ?
A. Yes; they tell us from time to time that unless we be-
lieve all that they say, and do all that our drivers bid us, we
shall infallibly go to the devil.
Q. How are these peace-makers rewarded ?
A. With our potatoes.
Q. What with all ?
A. Ten per cent. only.
Q. Then you have still ninety left in the hundred ?
A. No; we have but forty left.
Q. What becomes of the odd fifty ?
A. The drivers take them partly as a small recompence
for their trouble in protecting us, and partly to make money
of them, for the prosecution of lawsuits with the neighbouring
farmers.
2. Do they not reserve for their own use ten times as
many as they want?
A. They eat till they are full, and pelt each other with the
remainder.
Q. You talk very sensibly for a hog. Whence had you
your information ?
A. From a learned pig.
Q. Are there many learned pigs in the country?
A. Many, and the number daily increases.
Q. What say they of the treatment which you suffer?
A. That it is shameful and ought instantly to be redressed.
Q. What do the drivers say to these pigs ?
A. That the devil is in them.
Q. It is a devil of their own conjuring: but what do the
drivers do to these pigs ?
A. They knock them down.
Q. Do all the learned pigs make the same complaint ?
A. All; for the instant a pig defends the contrary opinion,
he resumes bis old form, and becomes a real master and tor-
mentor-general of innocent animals.
410
.
APPENDIX.
Q. Are there any other methods of recovering the human
shape ?
A. None, but a promise to treat the herd we have left
with exemplary severity.
Q. Who disenchants you?
A. The governor of the sub-meeting must always consent,
but the ceremonies of transformation vary.
Q. Give me an instance of a ceremony.
A. The hog that is going to be disenchanted, grovels
before the Chief Driver, who holds an iron skewer over him,
and gives him a smart blow on the shoulder, to remind him
at once of his former subjection and future submission. Im-
mediately he starts up, like the devil from Ithuriel's spear,
in his proper shape, and ever after goes about with a nick-
name. He then beats his hogs without mercy, and, when
they implore his compassion, and beg him to recollect that
he was once their fellow-swine, he denies that he ever was a
hog.
Q. What are the rights of a hog?
A. To be whipt and bled by men.
Q. What are the duties of a man?
A. To whip and bleed hogs.
Q. Do they ever whip and bleed you to death ?
A. Not always; the common method is to bleed us by
intervals.
Q. How many ounces do they take at a time?
A. That depends upon the state of the patient. As soon
as he faints, they bind up the wound; but they open his
veins afresh when he has a little recovered his loss; hence
comes the proverb to bleed like a pig.
Q. What is the liberty of a hog?
A. To choose between half starving and whole starving.
Q. What is the property of a hog?
A. A wooden trough ; food and drink just enough to keep
in life; and a truss of musty straw, on which ten or a dozen
of us pig together.
· Q. What dish is most delicious to a driver's palate ?
A. A hog's pudding.
THE SALT-BOX.
411
Q. What music is sweetest to a driver's ear?
A. Our shrieks in bleeding.
Q. What is a driver's favourite diversion ?
A. To set his dogs upon us.
Q. What is the general wish of the hogs at present?
A. To save their bacon.
Chorus of Hogs. Amen.
The Salt-Box,
A satire on the mode of examination at Oxford, has been
commonly attributed to Porson, and is so much in his manner,
that there can hardly be a doubt of its being his.
LE
METAPHYSICS.
Professor.—What is a salt-box?
Student. It is a box made to contain salt.
Professor.—How is it divided ?
Student.—Into a salt-box and a box of salt.
Professor.–Very well; show the distinction.
Student.--A salt-box may be where there is no salt; but
salt is absolutely necessary to the existence of a box of salt.
Professor.—Are not salt-boxes otherwise divided ?
Student.—Yes, by a partition.
Professor.—What is the use of this division ?
Student.-To separate the coarse from the fine.
Professor. How! Think a little.
Student.—To separate the fine from the coarse.
Professor.—To be sure: to separate the fine from the
coarse. But are not salt-boxes otherwise distinguished ?
Student.— Yes, into possible, probable, and positive.
Professor.—Define these several kinds of salt-boxes.
Student.-A possible salt-box is a salt-box yet unsold, in
the joiner's hands.
412
APPENDIX.
Professor'. — Why so ?
Student. Because it hath not yet become a salt-box,
having never had any salt in it, and it may probably be
applied to some other use.
Professor.-Very true; for a salt-box which never had,
hath not now, and perhaps may never have, any salt in it,
can only be termed a possible salt-box. What is a probable
salt-box?
Student.--It is a salt-box in the hands of one going to
buy salt, and who has sixpence in his pocket to pay the
shopkeeper; and a positive salt-box is one which hath
actually and bona fide got salt in it.
Professor.-Very good; and what other divisions of the
salt-box do you recollect ?
Student. They are divided into substantive and pendent.
A substantive salt-box is that which stands by itself on a
table or dresser; and the pendent is that which hangs against
the wall.
Professor.- What is the idea of a salt-box?
Student. It is that image which the mind conceives of a
salt-box, when no salt-box is present.
Professor.-—What is the abstract idea of a salt-box?
Student. It is the idea of a salt-box abstracted from
the idea of a box, or of salt, or of a salt-box, or of a box of
salt.
Professor.–Very right: by this you may acquire a proper
knowledge of a salt-box: but tell me, is the idea of a salt-
box a salt idea?
Student.-Not unless the idea hath the idea of salt con-
tained in it.
Professor.—True: and therefore an abstract idea cannot
be either salt 09 fresh, round or square, long or short: and
this shows the difference of a salt idea, and an idea of salt.
Is an aptitude to hold salt an essential or an accidental
property of a salt-box?
Student.-It is essential: but if there should be a crack
in the bottom of the box, the aptitude to spill salt would be
termed an accidental property of that box.
I
THE SALT-BOX.
413
Professor.–Very well, very well indeed. What is the
salt called with respect to the box ?
Student. It is called its contents.
Professor.- Why so ?
Student.—Because the cook is content, quoad hoc, to find
plenty of salt in the box.
Professor.--You are very right. Now let us proceed to-
LOGIC.
Professor.—How many modes are there in a salt-box?
Student.—Three: bottom, top, and sides.
Professor.—How many modes are there in salt-boxes ?
Student.Four: the formal, the substantive, the acci-
dental, and the topsy-turvy.
Professor.--Define these several modes.
Student. The formal respects the figure or shape of the
box, such as a circle, a square, ap oblong, &c.; the sub-
stantive respects the work of the joiner; and the accidental
respects the string by which the box is hung against the
wall.
Professor.- Very well: what are the consequences of the
accidental mode?
Student. If the string should break, the box would fall,
and the salt be spilt, the salt-box broken, and the cook in
a passion; and this is the accidental mode and its conse-
quences.
Professor.—How do you distinguish between the bottom
and the top of a salt-box?
Student.The top of a salt-box is that part which is
uppermost, and the bottom is that which is the lowest in all
positions.
Professor.—You should rather say the uppermost part
is the top, and the lowest part the bottom. How is it, then,
if the bottom should be uppermost?
Student. The top would then be lowermost, so that the
bottom would become the top, and the top the bottom; and
this is called the topsy-turvy mode, and is nearly allied to
the accidental, and frequently arises from it.
414
APPENDIX.
Professor.–Very good: but are not salt-boxes sometimes
single, and sometimes double ?
Student.--Yes.
Professor.--Well, then, mention the several combinations
of salt-boxes, with respect to the having salt or not.
Second Professor.—Hold! hold! you are going too far.
Governors of the Institution. We can't allow further time
for logic; proceed, if you please, to-
NATURAL PHILOSOPHY.
Professor.—What is a salt-box?
Student.--It is a combination of matter, fitted, framed,
and joined, by the hands of a workman, in the form of a box,
and adapted for the purpose of receiving and containing salt.
Professor.–Very good. What are the mechanical powers
engaged in the construction of a salt-box?
Student.--The axe, the saw, the plane, and the hammer.
Professor.—How are these powers applied to the purpose
intended ?
Student. The axe to fell the trees, the saw to split the
timber, the-
Professor.—Consider! It is the property of the mallet.
and wedge to split.
Student.--The saw to slit the timber, and the plane to
smooth and thin the boards.
Professor.—How! Take time, take time.
Student.—To thin and smooth the boards.
Professor.-To be sure: the boards are first thinned and
then smoothed. Go on.
Student. The plane to thin and smooth, and the hammer
to drive the nails.
Professor.--Or rather tacks. Have not some philosophers
considered glue as one of the mechanical powers ?
Student.--Yes; and it is still so considered: but it is
called an inverse mechanical power; because, whereas it is
the property of direct mechanical powers to generate motion,
glue, on the contrary, prevents motion, by keeping the parts
to which it is applied fixed to each other.
LUS
DR. JOWETT'S LITTLE GARDEN.
415
Professor.- Very true. What is the mechanical law of
the saw ?
Student.—The power is to resist as the number of teeth
and force impressed, multiplied by the number of strokes
in a given time.
Professor.—Is the saw only used in slitting timber into
boards?
Student.—Yes; it is also used in cutting boards into
lengths.
Professor.—Not lengths. A thing cannot be said to be
cut into lengths.
Student.—Shortnesses.
Professor.—Very right. What are the mechanical laws of
the hammer?
Governor.- We have just received intelligence that dinner
is nearly ready; and as the medical class is yet to be ex-
amined, let the medical gentlemen come forward.
Porson has always had the credit of being the author of
the following verses on Dr. Jowett, Fellow of St. John's, who,
having a taste for horticulture, was permitted by the head of
his College to turn a strip of vacant ground into a garden.
Some jokes being passed on its diminutiveness, he turned it
into a plot of gravel.
A little garden little Jowett made,
And fenced it with a little palisade;
Because this garden made a little talk,
He changed it to a little gravel walk :
And now, if more you'd know of little Jowett,
A little time, it will a little show it.
In “ Blackwood's Magazine” the lines were given in a
· briefer form :
416
APPENDIX.
A little garden little Jowett made,
And fenced it with a little palisade;
A little taste hath little Doctor Jowett;
This little garden doth a little show it.
With this Latin version:
Exiguum hunc hortum fecit Jowettulus iste
Exiguus, vallo et muniit exiguo :
Exiguo hoc horto forsan Jowettulus iste
Exiguus mentem prodidit exiguam.
Many sayings have been attributed to Porson that are not
his. We have seen the punning observation on Brutus
ascribed to him; when it is certainly not his. In Charles
Phillips's “ Recollections of Curran and his Contemporaries,"
it is attributed, with as little ground, we believe, to Curran.
The application of Horace's quos et aquce subeunt et aurce to
a pair of breeches, was long circulated as his, when it was
Glasse’s. In Barker's “ Literary Anecdotes,” * it is said that
Porson, hearing a child of Major Revell repeat Cowley's trans-
lation of an ode of Anacreon, took her on his knee, and re-
peated to her the ode in Greek, German, French, and Italian,
and, according to Mr. Maltby, very little with Italian.
The following story of Porson, which has been often
printed, rests wholly upon the authority of the Rev. Charles
Caleb Colton, who published it in his “ Lacon.” Whether
what he tells really occurred, or whether it is wholly or partly
invention, we do not know.
“ Porson was once travelling in a stage-coach, when a
young Oxonian, fresh from College, was amusing the ladies
with a variety of talk, and, amongst other things, with a
quotation, as he said, from Sophocles. A Greek quotation,
and in a coach too, roused our slumbering Professor from a
kind of dog-sleep in a snug corner of the vehicle. Shaking
.
* Vol. ii. p. 22.
ANECDOTES.
417
his ears, and rubbing his eyes, “I think, young gentleman,
said he, “you favoured us just now with a quotation from
Sophocles; I do not happen to recollect it there. "Oh,
Sir,' replied our tiro, the quotation is word for word as I
have repeated it, and in Sophocles too; but I suspect, Sir,
that it is some time since you were at college.' The Professor,
applying his hand to his great-coat, and taking out a small
pocket-edition of Sophocles, quietly asked him if he would
be kind enough to show him the passage in question, in that
little book. After rummaging the pages for some time, he
replied, 'On second thoughts, I now recollect that the pas-
sage is in Euripides.' Then perhaps, Sir,' said the Professor,
putting his hand into his pocket, and handing him a similar
edition of Euripides, you will be so good as to find it for
me in that little book. The young Oxonian returned to his
task, but with no better success. The tittering of the ladies
informed him that he had got into a hobble. At last, "Bless
me, Sir,' said he, “how dull I am! I recollect now, yes, I
perfectly remember that the passage is in Æschylus. The
inexorable Professor returned again to his inexhaustible
pocket, and was in the act of handing him an Æschylus,
when our astonished freshman vociferated: “Stop the coach!
Holloah, coachman, let me out, I say, instantly, let me out!
There's a fellow here has got the whole Bodleian library in
his pocket; let me out, I say, let me out; he must be Porson
or the devil !'"
The play upon the Latin gerunds di -do -dum, one of the
neatest plays on words that was ever made, has never been
assigned to any one but Porson. It is said to have been pro-
duced in a company who were making puns or rhymes on
words. Porson said that he would make, some say a rhyme,
others a pun, on anything. Some one said that he had better
try one on the Latin gerunds. He immediately replied,
E E
418
APPENDIX.
When Dido found Æneas would not come,
She mourn'd in silence, and was Di -do -dum.*
The following playful epitaph has, we believe, never ap-
peared in print:
Here lies a Doctor of Divinity ;
He was a Fellow too of Trinity:
He knew as much about Divinity,
As other Fellows do of Trinity.
In illustration of Porson's mathematical qualifications, the
following communication was made to the “Classical
Journal.”
“ It is well known that Porson's proficiency in Algebra was
very considerable; and that the solving of such problems as
are commonly heard of by the appellation of Diophantine,
was to him a source of particular entertainment. It is even
said that some of these were found upon his person at bis
death. His celebrated equation given in the former part of
your journal, is in every one's hands. It has, however, been
urged that his knowledge of geometry was only superficial.
But this, it should seem, is little better than mere idle
report; as is sufficiently evident from the nature of the
annexed problem, composed by him, en capricieux, as a sort
of challenge to the then fellows of Trinity College.
V. L.
"Canıbridge, October, 1814.
“ PROBLEM.--In Euclid, I. 47, the point in which the
straight lines CF, BK, intersect, is in AL, the perpendicular
drawn from the right angle to the base, BC.
R. P.
* Barker's Lit. Anecd. vol. i. p. 90. Facetiæ Cantabrigienses, p. 95.
† Vol. x. p. 401.
PORSON'S MATHEMATICS.
419
“ If not, let CF, BK, intersect in any paint P, which is not
in. AL; that is, let the points r, s, not coincide. Produce BC

both ways, and from F and K let fall the perpendiculars
FM, KN.

“ Then because (Eucl. I. 29 and VI. 8, or I. 13 and 32) the
triangle BFM is similar to the triangle ABL, and that BF
is equal to AB, ::. BM = AL. Similarly, CN = AL, ..
E
E 2
420
APPENDIX.
BM = CN, and therefore the whole MC = the whole BN.
Also FM = BL, and KN = LC. Then
T
FM : MC :: sL : LC, and
BN : NK :: BL : Lr
.. FM : NK :: SL.BL : LC.Lr
. FM . NK
:: BL · LC *
::: sL : Lr, that is, (since
FM = BL, and NK = LC,)
1:1:: sL : Lr,
i, SL = Lr
the less = the greater, which is absurd. Therefore and s
cannot but coincide; that is, the lines must cut in AL. And
a similar proof may be applied, if the point of intersection be
taken anywhere else out of the right line AL. Q. E. D.”
Beloe has preserved an equation composed by Porson in
Greek.*
Τις ο αριθμός, ου τενομένου εις δύο ανίσους μερίδας, ή της μεί-
ζονος μερίδος δύναμις μετά της ελάττονος μεταλαμβανομένη ίση
έσεται τη της ελάττονος δυνάμει μετά της μείζονος μεταλαμβανομένη.
Required the number, which being divided into two un-
equal parts, the square of the greater added to the less shall
be equal to the square of the less added to the greater. Let
# be the number, and y one of the parts. Then x - y = the
other part.
.. (æ — y)2 + y = y2 + (o — y),
Or, x2 – 2 x y + y2 = y2 + 2 – Y,
a 2 - 2 x y = x — 2 y,
* (x – 2y) = (x-2y),
i. X = 1.
showing that practically there are no positive values of the
two parts.
* Sexagenarian, vol. ii. p. 309.
ANECDOTES.
421
Since the pages relating to Porson's early years were
printed off, we have been favoured with the following anec-
dote by the Rev. John Gunn, of Irstead, near Norfolk.
During Porson's boyhood, a proposal was made at a vestry-
meeting to take down the north side of East Ruston Church,
and build the brick wall which is now standing on the north
side of the nave. But before any resolution was passed, it was
desirable to know how many bricks would be required for the
purpose; and none of the parishioners present could make a
calculation. At last one of them said, “ Send for young
Porson,” who, when he was found, soon told them the re-
quisite number.
Of his mode of examining, when he took part in the
University examinations, we can give one anecdote. When
Blomfield, afterwards Bishop of London, was candidate, with
several others, for the Craven Scholarship, Porson desired them
to be at his rooms by a certain hour in the forenoon. On
assembling, they had to wait some time for the Professor, who
was then greatly sunk in health, being within a year of his
death, and found, though the morning was cold, no fire
lighted ; nor were any other preparations made for their recep-
tion. On Porson's appearance, however, the deficiencies were
soon supplied, and he proceeded to dictate to them several
corrupt verses, which they were to show their skill in cor-
recting. Blomfield was able to correct six of the number,
and was declared the successful candidate.
As an instance of his critical perspicacity, it may be
mentioned that he was of opinion, as he often told Mr. Kidd,
that the account of the woman taken in adultery, in the
seventh and eighth chapters of St. John's Gospel, must be a
pure interpolation; an opinion happily supported by the
recently discovered Codex Sinaiticus, a manuscript which
is considered to be as old as the fourth century, and in which
that passage is not found. This manuscript, also, it may be
Е
Е
3
422
APPENDIX.
added, wants the text of the Three Heavenly Witnesses, which
Porson so triumphantly proved spurious.
In regard to his fondness for nice penmanship, it may be
remarked, in addition to what has been already said, that he
often wasted time, not only in writing with superfluous care,
but in producing extremely small writing. Mr. Norgate, the
publisher, brother-in-law to Mr. Siday Hawes, has a specimen
of his minute writing, comprising, in a circle of an inch and
a half in diameter, the Greek verses on music from the Medea
of Euripides, with Johnson's translation of them for Burney's
History of Music, in all more than 220 words, with a con-
siderable space left blank in the centre. It is written on
vellum, a portion of a leaf which fell from the Photius which
he copied.
In p. 54, where Heyne's application to Cambridge for the
loan of Bentley's manuscripts on Homer is mentioned, it
might have been added that the request of Heyne was
readily granted, and that the Gottingen professor, in his
edition of Homer, acknowledged himself greatly indebted to
Bentley's labours, of the merits of which he spoke in the
highest terms.
INDEX.
Accents, Greek, advantage of a know-| forgeries, 145. His “ Aristarchus
ledge of, 229, 230. Remarks on them Anti-Blomfieldianus," 176.
by Wakefield, Brunck, and Elmsley, Burrow's “ Sermon on Evil-speaking,"
231.
passage from, Porson's intention to
“ Adversaria," Porson's, 338.
illustrate, 352.
Æschylus, Porson's desire to edit, 38, | Beloe, Rev. W., denied that Porson was
39. Compared with Euripides and So sent to Cambridge to be examined,
phocles, 105–109. Porson's pro 14. His account of Porson's life at
jected edition of, 122-124.
Eton, 17. His association with
Alcuin, his revision of St. Jerome's ver Porson, 282. His mistake as to
sion of the New Testament, 67.
Porson's property, 335.
Ammonius censured, 187.
Bengelius, bis strange argument in sup-
Aristophanes, Porson's character of, port of 1 John v. 7, 62.
41–43. Did not contribute to the Bentley, Dr. Richard, Porson's venera-
death of Socrates, ib. Porson solicited tion for him, 28. His merits, ib.
to edit, 255. Porson's knowledge of A metrical canon of his, 266. Visited
him, 340, 341. “ Aristophanica," by Reid, ib. His emendations, 367,
Porson's, 338.
371. Compared with Porson, 374.
Askew, Dr. his library, 38, 49. Satirised Beza, his New Testament retains 1 John
by Dawes, 313.
v. 7, 69.
Athenaus, Porson's labours on, 341, 362. Bingraphy, remarks on, 145.
Meditated an edition of, 342.
Blomfield, Bishop, his remarks on Valpy's
Attwood, Mr. assists in examining Por “ Stephens's Thesaurus," 176. On
son at Cambridge, 14.
Hermann and his school, 177, 178.
Augustin, St., was probably the cause of Publishes Porson's “ Adversaria” with
the " Three Heavenly Witnesses” Monk, 338.
being introduced into St. John's text, “ Blunt's, Gregory, Letters to Sharp,”
73–75.
267.
Boaden witnesses Porson's repetitions,
Babington, Dr., attends on Porson, 289.
329, seqq.
Boswell, Porson's lines on his Life of
Baker, Sir George, contributes to a fund Johnson, 53. Kneels, with his glass
for Porson's support at Eton, 15. of brandy and water in his hand,
Continues his kindness to Porson before the Shakspeare papers, 140,
after Mr. Norris's death, 22. Por 141. His drinking bout with Horne
son's capriciousness towards lim, Tooke, 279.
380.
Boyle, a passage of his book against
Banks, Rev. J. Cleaver, promotes the Bentley defended, 344.
subscription for Porson's annuity, 95. Brunck's “ Aristophanes,” Porson's rea
His letter to Burney, ib. Pleased view of, 41. Brunck's opinion on
when Porson was defended, 304. Greek accents, 231.
Porson's intimacy with, 313. Trus. Bryant, Jacob, disliked by Porson, whom
tee of the annuity fund, -336.
he foolishly abuses, 303, 304.
Barker, E. H., attempts to defend Brydges, Sir Egerton, his account of
Parr's belief in Ireland's Shakspeare | Porson at Cambridge, 36, 37.
EE 4
424
INDEX.
ib.
Budæus's Commentaries on the Greek . Porson as a boy at Cambridge, 14.
Language, Porson inclined to pub Is one of his examiners for the Craven
lish, 37.
scholarship, 32.
Burges, George, his Greek verses on Colton, Rev. C. C., his story of Porson,
Porson, 334.
416.
Burgess, Bishop, attacked Porson after Complutensian edition of the Greek Tes.
his death on the « Letters to Travis," tament, 59, 60.
82. Answered by Bishop Turton, Coxe, Archdeacon, gives an instance of
ib. His patronage of a notion of Porson's memory, 288. Introduced
Granville Sharp's, 269. His classical Porson to Jacob Bryant, 303.
scholarship despised by Porson, 304. Cooke, Greek professor at Cambridge,
Burgess, Sir James Bland, writes a pro 102. Had been head master at Eton,
logue to Ireland's “ Vortigern,” 147. 240.
Burney, Dr. Charles, his review of Courtney, Sir John, wrote the “ Epistle
Huntingford's “ Monostrophica,” 45. of Oberea to Sir Joseph Banks,”
His opinion of the “ Letters to 292.
Travis,” 79. Promotes the subscrip Criticism, elegant, 120, 121. Verbal,
tion for Porson's annuity, 95, 98,
100. Trustee of the annuity fund, Cyprian, no authority in favour of
336.
1 John v. 7, 65.
Butler, Charles, Porson's conversation
with, 332.
Dalzel, Andrew, Porson's letter to, 259
Byron, Lord, bis account of Porson's —265. Dalzel's reply, 266.
habits at Cambridge, 271, 272. His Davies, Dr., head master of Eton, pre.
addition to a remark of Porson's sents Porson with Toup's Longinus,
about Southey, 306.
28.
Davy, Dr. Martin, letter of Porson to
Carthew, Rev. T., requested to examine him, 237. Another, 308. Porson's
Porson, 11. His letter to Professor esteem for him, ib.
Lambert, ib.
Duwes, author of the “ Miscellanea
Casaubon, merits of his Athenæus, 341. Critica," Porson's esteem for, 28, 45.
« Catechism for Swinish Multitude," 402. Disrespectfully mentioned by Hunta
Ceres, fragment of a statue of, Porson's ingford, 45. Satirises Askew, 313.
inscription for, 257.
Dawes, J. N., a letter of Porson's with
Chalmers, George, bis dull « Apology that signature, 256, 257.
for the Believers ” in the Shakspeare Disney, Colonel, intimate with Porson,
papers, 152, 153.
21.
Chantrey's bust of Porson, 336.
Disraeli, Isaac, offends Porson, 382.
Charades, some of Porson's, 399.
Concerned in the novel of “ Flim-
Charles II., Porson's oration on, 393. Flams,” 383. His character, 384.
Cicero, Porson's liking for, 342.
Dobree, P. P., publishes Porson's " Aris-
Clarke, Dr. Adann, his opinion of the tophanica,” and “ Photius,” 338, 339.
age of the Dublin MS. of the New Don Bellianis, the romance of, 346.
Testament, 71. His account of Por Douglus, Bishop of Salisbury, defends
son's last illness and death, 320, segg. Porson against Jacob Bryant, 304.
Exhibits a stone from Eleusis to Dryden, Anderson's edition of, 346.
Porson, 321, 322.
Dublin manuscript of the New Testa-
Clarke, Dr. E. D., honoured with verses ment, 58.
at his funeral, 335.
Dubois' concerned in the novel of
Classical literature, advantages of an ac “ Flim-Flams,” 384.
quaintance with, 267, 376.
Dyer, George, wrote notice of Porson in
Codex Sinaiticus, 421.
the “ Public Characters,” 359.
Coray, Porson's respect for his scholar.
ship, 310.
Ediior, duty of an, 114.
Coffin, Mr., said to be the author of Edwards, Dr., his edition of Plutarch
* Eloisa in Dishabille,” 290.
on Education reviewed, 113.
Coli: æus's Greek Testament omitted Egerton, the "black-letter bookseller,"
1 John v. 7, 59.
publishes Porson's - Letters to Tra-
Collier, Rev. Mr., assists in examining vis," 58, 84.
INDEX.
425
Eichstädt sends his “ Diodorus Sicu
·lus” and “ Lucretius” to Porson
with letters, 249-253.
Eleusis, fragment of a statue of Ceres
from, 257, Inscribed stone from,
321, 322.
Elmsley, his notice of Porson's “ He-
cuba," 171, 172. His estimation of
Greek accents, 231. Why distrusted
by Porson, 310. Story of a clandes.
tine proceeding of his, 311.
“ Eloisa and Abelard,” Porson's repeti-
tions of, 289.
“ Eloisa in Dishabille," whether Porson
was the author of it, 289-292.
Emendations, specimens of Porson's,
31, 115, 367, seqq.
Emlyn, a Dissenter, unfavourable to
1 John v. 7,61.
Epigrams, a hundred and one written by
Porson in a night, 215–217.
“ Epistle of Oberea to Sir Joseph
Banks,” not written by Porson, 292.
Specimen of it, 293.
Erasmus, his Greek Testament, the
“editio princeps," does not contain
1 John v. 7, 58. He inserted it in
his third edition, ib.
Euripides compared with Sophiccles and
Æschylus, 135—109. Porson's edi-
tion of the “ Hecuba," 154. Of the
6 Orestes,"184. Of the “ Phoenissæ,"
218. Of the “Medea," 229. “Hip-
polytus,” whether prepared for the
press, 254. His notes on the “ Iphi-
genias” and the - Supplices," 255.
Lexicon to Trinity College, Cam-
bridge, 130.
is Gentlemen Soldiers, Duties of," 212_
215.
Gibbon, Travis's Letters to, 57--76.
Porson's remarks on Gibbon's His-
tory and its style, 84–86. Gibbon's
character of the “ Letters to Travis,"
86. His interview with Porson, 86,
87. Gibbon not always ready to
acknowledge his errors, 87. His
quotations not always to be trusted,
88. Where educated, 239.
Goodall, Dr., Provost of Eton, his ac-
count of Porson's school-days, 17.
Supports the subscription for Porson's
annuity, 98, 99. Porson's breakfast
at his house, 276.
Gordon, Pryse Lockhart, his account of
Porson's marriage, 125. Gives an
instance of Porson's memory, 294.
His mistake as to Porson's property,
335.
Gordon, George, present at Porson's
marriage, 126.
Gordon, Thomas, his Political Tracts
may have influenced Porson's style,
353. Specimen of them, 354.
Greek Professorship at Cambridge, its
value, 112.
Griesbach adverse to 1 John, v. 7, 62.
Farmer, Dr. Richard, takes part in the
prosecution of Frend, 199.
Fitzgerald, “ the small-beer poet," 384.
Foote, Porson's recitations from, 295,
351.
Fox, Charles, a remark of his on Gib-
- bon's quotations, 88. Wakefield's
observations to him on Porson's
“ Hecuba," 159, 160. Dislikes an
emendation of Wakefield's, 241. Dis-
appointed at not meeting Porson,
378.
Trend, his pamphlet " On Peace and
Union,” 198. Occasions the publica-
tion of the “ Orgies of Bacchus," ib.
Quotations from his pamphlet, 199.
Sentenced to be expelled from the
university, 203.
H, sometimes a mere aspirate in Greek,
329.
Hailstone, Professor, Porson's letter to,
concerning Bentley's Notes on Ho-
mer, 54. Present at Porson's funeral,
333.
Hawes, Siday, Porson's brother-in-law,
337, 363.
Hawes, Mrs., Porson's sister, her cha-
racter, 392.
Hawkins, Sir John, his Life of Johnson,
49. Porson's satirical Letters on, 49
-52. Lines on, 53.
Hayley satirised by Porson, 307. Where
educated, 239.
Hebrew points condemned by Wakefield,
240.
Heber, Richard, his library, 362.
Heinsius, Daniel, his verses under in-
toxication, 282.
Hermann attacks Porson's “ Hecuba,"
167. Is made sensible of his mistake,
and improves his book on metres,
175. Remarks on Hermann and
other German critics, 176–179. Cen-
sured for his contemptuous mention
of Heath and Bentley, 179. His
Guil, editor of Xenophon, his letters to
Porson, 223, 224.
Gale-presents a manuscript of Photius's
426
INDEX.
.
letter to Porson on a contemplated, Jowett, Dr., joins in the prosecution of
edition of Plautus, 179-181. At Frend, 198. His little garden, 415.
tacked in the notes to the - Medea," Joy, Surgeon, Porson's letter to, 273.
233-235. Porson's remarks on him, " Junius," a favourite with Porson, 345.
260, 261. An alteration of his, 370.
Hermesianar, Weston's, Porson's review
of, 44.
Kemble, John, acts in Ireland's “ Vor-
and East Ruston, finds Porson's
tigern," 147, 148.
mother reading Congreve, 6. Takes
Kidd, Rev. T., his remark about Porson
Porson under his tuition, 9. His
at Eton, 19. An observation of his
qualifications for an instructor, 10,
on the “ Orgies of Bacchus," 209.
11. Speaks of Porson to Mr. Nor-
Porson's esteem for his scholarship,
ris, 11. His letter to Professor
312. Letter from him to Porson, ib.
Hewitt, 12,
Kipling, Dr., prosecutes Frend, 198.
Hey, Dr. John, a delegate to reconsider
His publication of Smith's “ Optics”
Frend's sentence, 203.
and Beza's Codex, 200. Porson's
Heyne, Professor, requests the loan of
satirical notices of him, 201, 204, 209.
Bentley's papers on Homer, 53, 422.
His bad Latin, 202.
His Virgil reprinted in London, 115.
Kirkby, his portrait of Porson, 132.
His letter to Porson on behalf of
Knight, Payne, character of his “ Essay
Hermann, 182.
on the Greek Alphabet,” 118-121.
Homer, absurd to attribute to him all
Lambert, Rev. James, Professor of Greek
of, 161, 225.
at Cambridge, examines Porson, 14.
Horace, Porson's burlesque “ Imita-
His account of the examination, ib.
tions " of, 191-- 197.
His willingness to serve Porson, 15.
Hoppner, his portrait of Porson, 132,
Present at Porson's funeral, 333.
Engraved by Sharpe, 336. .
Langton, Bennet, tolerates Porson's late
Hughes, Rev. T. s., letter from, con-
habits, 283.
cerning Porson, 385.
Leigh, Mr. J., his attention to Porson in
Huntingford's " Apology for his Mono-
his illness, 326.
strophics " severely criticised by Por Lewis, “ On the Consecration of Chur-
son, 45-47.
ches,” passage from, illustrated by
Hutchinson's Xenophon, Porson's notes
Porson, 352.
to, 49.
London Institution, its establishment,
“ Hymn by a new-made Peer,” 209, 210.
315. Its Library, 316.
Luther's New Testament omitted 1 John
Invernizius censured, 187.
v. 7, 59.
Ireland, Samuel, exhibits his son's forged
Shakspeare papers, 140.
Mackintosh, Sir James, disliked by Por-
forgeries, 135—153. His profits, 144. son, 305.
“ Italic Version" of the New Testa- | Malone, Edmund, not deceived by Ire-
ment does not support I John, v. 7, land's forgeries, 147. His volume
63, 64.
exposing them, 144–152. Com-
mended by Porson, 313.
Jacobs, Frederic, 185, 186.
Maltby, Bishop, his praise of Porson's
Jerome, St., his version of the New Tes obeli in Eschylus, 124. His praise of
tament, 66. Revision of it by Alcuin, Porson's honesty, 378.
67. No support in it for 1 John, Maltby, Mr. William, his anecdotes of
Porson ; one of them, at least, un-
logue to the Canonical Epistles," 68– founded, 35. Porson's intimacy with,
70. That “ Prologue” probably not
313.
his, ib.
Mansel, Bishop, reads the service at Por-
Johnson, Dr., his silence about Lauder in sun's funeral, 333.
his Life of Milton, 347.
Marsh, Bishop, intimate with Porson in
Johnstone, Dr., mects Porson at Hatton,
91, 92,
Martin, a Frenchman, defends 1 John
INDEX.
427
v. 7, against Emlyn, 62, Followed
by Travis, 63.
Mason's epigram on Ireland's forgeries,
. 153.
Matthæi, a censure of his on Porson,
190.
Matthews, John, said to be the author of
« Eloisa in Dishabille," 292.
Maty's Review, Porson's contributions to
it, 37, 41, 44, 49.
Merry's epilogue to Ireland's “ Vorti-
gern," 147.
Middleton's “ Free Inquiry," passage
from, repeated by Porson, 351.
Mill, in his Greek Testament, strangely
retains 1 John v. 7, 61.
Milner, Isaac, presides at the trial of
Frend, 198, 199.
Milton, remarks on a phrase of, 262.
Did not borrow a phrase from Don
Bellianis, 346. Lauder's charges
against, 347.
“ Miseries of Kingship," 211.
Monk, Bishop, his edition of the Hip-
polytus, 254, 255. Edits Porson's
- Adversaria” with Blomfield, 338.
6 Monthly Review,'' Porson's contribu-
tions to, 118.
Moore, Thomas, asserts that John Mat-
thews wrote “ Eloisa in Dishabille,"
292.
“ Morning Chronicle," Porson's contri-
butions to, 133, 191.
Murphitt, a schoolfellow of Porson's, 21.
“ Musæ Etonenses,” undervalued by Por-
son, 343.
Wakefield, 249. His remark on
Porson's babits, 284. His literary
character considered, 300, 301. His
liberality, 301. Porson's lines on
him, 203. His commendation of
Porson's honesty, 357.
Parr, Mrs., insults Porson, 92, 93.
Pausanias, Porson's notes on, 339.
Pearne, Thomus, the real author of
- Blunt's Letters to Sharp,” 269.
Pearson, Bishop, Porson's respect for his
scholarship, 310.
Perry, James, Porson's acquaintance with,
125. His sister married to Porson,
ib. Remarks on his conduct to Por-
son, 338.
Photius's Lexicon, Porson's transcript of,
destroyed by fire, 129, 140. Makes
a second transcript, 131. Edited by
Dobree, 339. Hermann's edition of
Photius, 131.
Pierson on Moris, cited, 239.
Plutarch, the “ Treatise on Education"
not lis, 113. Review of Edwards's
edition of it, ib.
Pope, Porson's estimation of his writings,
350.
Porson, Richard, his birth, 5. His edu-
cation at bome, 5, 6. Is sent to a
village school at Bacton, and to ano-
ther at Happisburgh, 6, 7. His abi-
lities and rapid progress, ib. His
father cultivates his memory, 8. Books
that he read in his boyhood, ib. Is
taken under the tuition of the Rev.
C. Hewitt, 9. His early attempts at
composition, 9, 10. Is taken under
the patronage of Mr. Norris, 11. Is
sent to Cambridge to be examined,
14. Testimonies to his abilities, ib.
Disappointed of admission to the
Charterhouse, 15. A fund is raised
to send him to Eton, ib. His career
there, 16. Dr. Goodall's account of
his qualifications, progress, and com-
positions, 17—19. His own account
of what he learned at Eton, 19. His
memory; his aversion to compo-
sition, 20, 304, 373. His early pro-
pensity to satire, 21. Death of Mr.
Norris, 22. Is protected by Sir
George Baker, ib. His life in danger
from an imposthume on the lungs, ib.
His drama written and acted at Eton,
23. Specimen of his school verses,
26,27. How his mind was turned to
criticism, 27, 28. Is superannuated
for a King's scholarship, but is sent
to Trinity College, Cambridge, at
Newton, Sir Isaac, his dissertation against
1 John v, 7, 61.
Norris, Mr., of Witton Park, becomes
Porson's patron, 15. Sends him to
Cambridge to be examined. 14. Con-
tributes largely to his support at
Eton, 15. His death, 22.
Norris, Mr.,' Porson's surgeon, 328,
seqq.
• Orgies of Bacchus," 198–209.
Paley, disliked by Porson, 305.
Parr, Dr, bis remark on Porson's Col-
lege Greek iambics, 33. His opinion
of the “ Letters to Travis,” 79. Pro-
motes the subscription for Porson's
annuity, 96, 99. His panegyric on
Porson, 116, 117. Convinced of the
authenticity of Ireland's Shakspeare
papers, 141, 145. His opinion of
Hermann, 179. His character of
428
INDEX.
eighteen, 30. His studiousness and
regularity of life there, 30, 31, 36.
His earliest emendations, 31. Elected
scholar of Trinity, 32. Gains the
Craven scholarship, ib. His Greek
iambics on the occasion, 32, 33. Takes
his degree, 33. . Obtains the first
Chancellor's medal, and is elected to a
fellowship, 34. Troubled with asthma,
to which wine or spirits may have
been a relief, 35. Maltby tells an
unfounded anecdote of him, 35. His
familiarity with the undergraduates,
36. His first essay in periodical cri-
ticism, 37. His desire to edit Æschy-
lus; unreasonableness of the syndics,
and ignorance of one of them, 38, 39.
Porson's disappointment, and the pos-
sible effect of it, 39. His verses oną
visit to the continent, 40. His review
of Brunck's Aristophanes, 41. His
character of Aristophanes, 41-43.
His review of Weston's Hermesianax,
44. Of Huntingford's Greek verses,
45-47. His jeu d'esprit on 6 The
learned Pig," 48. Publishes some
letters of Le Clerc and Bentley, 49.
His letters on Sir John Hawkins's
“ Johnson," 49—52. His lines on
Hawkins, Mrs. Thrale, and Boswell,
53. His review of Robertson's “ Pa-
rian Chronicle," 53. Declines to use
Bentley's papers on Homer, 51. Re-
solves to resign his fellowship rather
than enter the Church, 55. His
“ Letters to Travis;” summary of the
controversy regarding 1 John v. 7,
57–77. Offensive style of the Let-
ters, 76, 77. Porson's defence of his
style, 78. His irony, 79, 80. The
- Letters” offend Mrs. Turner, who
diminishes her bequest to him, 81.
Porson said to be favourable to the
Church of England, S2. Wrote seven
of the “ Letters” at Eton, 84. His
character of Gibbon's History, and its
style, 84–86. His interview with
Gibbon, 86, 87. His notes to Toup's
"s Emendations of Suidas" and preface
to them, 89-91. He spends some
weeks with Parr at Hatton, 91, 92.
Resigns his fellowship, 93. Unjustly
treated by Postlethwaite; their inter-
view, 93, 94. His feelings on giving
up his fellowship, and necessary eco-
nomy, 94, 95. A subscription to
secure him an annuity, 95. List of
many of the subscribers, 99, 100. Con-
ditions on which he accepted the an-
nuity, 101. Becomes a candidate for
the Greek professorship, and is unani-
mously elected, 102–104. His in-
augural lecture, 104-110. Not in
good health at the time, 110. His
salary, and desire to be efficient, 111,
112. Reviews Edwards's “ Plutarch
on Education," 113-115. An ad-
mirable emendation, 115. (See Emend-
ations. ] Superintends an edition of
Heyne's Virgil, 115-118. Reviews
Payne Knight “ On the Greek Al-
phabet,” 118—121. Projects an edi.
tion of Æschylus ; mystery respecting
it, 122-124. . His marriage, 125.
How he spent the marriage night,
127, 128. Deterioration of his habits
on the death of his wife, 128, 129.
Increase of his asthma, 129. His
transcript of Photius, and some other
papers, destroyed by fire, 129–131.
His second transcript, 131. His per-
sonal appearance, 131, 132. Portraits
of him, 132. Not deceived by Ire-
land's forgeries, 135, 145. Publishes
the “Hecuba," 154. Why he forbore
to mention Wakefield. 158. Con-
demnation of one of Wakefield's no.
tions, 160, 161. Attacked by Her-
mann, whom he chastises, 167–179.
6 Supplement to the Preface to the
Hecuba," 174. Publishes the “ Ores-
tes;" his notice of Wakefield and
others, 184-190. His humorous
contributions to the “Morning Chro-
nicle," 191–217. “Imitations of
Horace,” 191-197. “ Orgies of
Bacchus,” 198–209. Other articles,
210-217. Publishes the “ Phe-
nissæ ;" allusion to Wakefield, 218.
Review of Pybus's “ Sovereign," 219
-222. Letters from Gail, 223, 224.
Collates a manuscript of the Odyssey
for the Grenville Homer, 225. Let-
ters from Villoison, 226-229, 236.
Publishes the “ Medea;” his notes on
Hermann and others, 229-235. New
edition of the “ Hecuba," 238. Cri.
ticism on Wakefield's “ Lucretius,"
244-247. Whether he left a copy of
the “ Hippolytus” ready for the press,
254, 255. His mental inactivity,
255. Solicited to edit Aristophanes,
ib. Corrects a mistake in a note on
the “ Hecuba," 256. His restoration
of the inscription on the Rosetta
stone, 258. Long letter to Dalzel,
259–265. Not the author of "Blunt's
Letters to Sharp," 267-269. Re-
INDEX.
429
ceives a letter from Tittmann, 270. I Promotes the subscription for his an-
His habits in society, 271-285. nuity, 95. His letter to Parr on the
Always a bad sleeper, 277. His subject, 96-98. Objected to Por-
hand-writing, 280, 361, 422. Could son's marriage with his sister. Por-
be temperate, 284, 363. Some apo son's intimacy with, 313, Dissatis-
logy for his drinking, 285. His me fied with Porson as librarian to the
mory, 286298. Whether he was London Institution, 317. Present
the author of “ Eloisa in Dishabille," at Porson's funeral, 333. Causes
290—292. Not the author of “ Obe some of Porson's books to be bought
rea's Epistle to Sir Joseph Banks," by Trinity College, Cambridge, 337.
292. Had no great cordiality for “ Rape of the Lock," Porson's repetitions
Parr, 299. Disliked Jacob Bryant, of, 289.
303. Wished at times that he had Raphael, Porson on the death of, 365.
not pursued learning, 314. Appointed Reid visits Bentley at Cambridge, 268.
Librarian to the London Institution, Reiske censured, 186, 187.
315. His hand-writing in the books Religion, Porson not forward to con-
there, 316. How he discharged the verse on, 325.
duties of bis office, 317. His declin Rennell, Dr., his character of the“ Letters
ing health and last illness, 318—330. to Travis,” 77.
His consideration for the unlearned, Robertson, his “ Dissertation on the
324. His death, 330. Appearance Parian Chronicle” reviewed by Por-
of the body after death, 330--332. son, 53.
His funeral, 333. “Porson Prize," Rollin on a passage of Homer, 189.
and “ Porson Scholarship,” 335-337. Rosetta stone, Porson corrects the Greek
His library, how disposed of, 337. inscription on, 258..
What property he left, 337. Post Ruhnken, Porson writes to him, 37.
humous publications from his manu His reply, 38.
scripts, 338, 339. His undervaluation
of modern Greek and Latin poetry, “ Sult-box, The,” 411.
343. His honesty, 356, seqq. Whe Sandius, Christopher, denies the genuine-
ther he wanted kindliness of feeling, ness of 1 John v. 7, 61.
358. His Latin style, 371. Com Savage, his “ Librarian,” 318. His ac-
pared with Bentley, 374. His critical count of Porson's last illness, 318,
excellence, 375. His independence seqq.
of spirit, 378. How he appeared in Schæfer, a censure of his on Porson,
the latter part of his life, 385, seqq. 190.
His oration on Charles II., 393. Scholefield attempts to defend Porson,
« Catechism for Swinish Multitude," 190.
402. His knowledge of mathematics, Schutz's “ Æschylus," reviewed by Por-
418.
Porson, Henry, the Professor's brother, « Scraps from Porson's Rich Feast" at-
391.
tributed to Stephen Weston, 44.
Porson, Huggin, the Professor's father, 5. Seale, Dr. Barlow, a delegate to recon.
Porson, Thomas, the Professor's bro sider Frend's sentence, 203.
ther, his abilities, 391.
Seward, Miss, Porson's lines on, 307.
Porson Prize, 336.
Shakspeare, Porson's knowledge of, 347.
Porson Scholarship, 336, 337.
Imitated a passage of Lord Sterling,
Postlethwaite, Rev. T., assists in examin · 348. Porson's emendations of, 349.
ing Porson at Cambridge, 14. As Sharp, Granville, “ Letters of Gregory
Master of Trinity College, treats Por Blunt"to, 267. Authorship of them,
son unjustly, 93, 94, 386. Intimates 269. Notion of Sharp's about the
to him that the Greek professorship is Greek article, 268.
vacant; Porson's reply, 102-104, Sheridan, his opinion of Shakspeare,
387. Takes part in the prosecution 146.
of Frend, 199.
“ Short account of Richard Porson " at-
tributed to Stephen Weston, 44.
Raine, Jonathan, Porson's schoolfellow Simeon, Rev. C., a schoolfellow of Porson
at Eton, 20.
at Eton, and a coxcomb in dress,
Raine, Dr., a true friend to Porson, 20., 21,
son, 37.
30
INDEX.
Simon in his “ Critical History of the
New Testament," rejects 1 John v.
7, 61.
Smollett's “ Roderic Random," Porson
could repeat, 351.
Sophocles compared with Euripides and
Æschylus, 105-109.
Southey, Porson's remark on his epics,
306.
Stanley's Æschylus, proposal to edit,
38, 39.
Steevens, his remarks on Porson's edition
of Heyne's Virgil, 116. Where edu-
cated, 239.
Stephens, Robert, retained i John v. 7
in his New Testament, 57, 61.
Suidas, Porson's emendations of, 339.
Summers, Mr. Porson's schoolmaster, 7.
His praise of Porson, 380.
Swift, a favourite with Porson, 343.
Probably the author of the “ Tale of
a Tub," 344.
“ Symboloeography," a book on legal in-
struments, 327.
Talbot, Montague, an accomplice of Ire-
land in his forgeries, 138, 139.
Tate, James, his paper on Greek metres,
258. Sends a letter of Porson's to the
« Museum Criticum," 259.
Taylor, Thomas, his imperfect knowledge
of Greek, 204.
Tertullian, no authority in favour of
1 John v. 7, 64.
Theocritus, an emendation of, 31.
Thirlby, Dr. Styan, his remark on men
of genius, 2.
Thrale, Mrs., Porson's lines on her
publications about Johnson, 53.
“ Three Children sliding on the Ice,"
Greek version of, 134.
Tittmann, Professor, his letter to Porson,
270.
Tomline, Bishop, detested by Porson,
blunder of his, 83. Another absur-
dity, 83, 84.
Turner, Mrs. Mury, her liking for Por-
son, and contribution to his support,
15. Offended at the “Letters to
Travis," and leaves Porson but a
small legacy, 81, 82.
Turton, Bishop, his vindication of Por-
son's literary character, 79. Exposes
Dr. Burgess's misrepresentations of
Porson, 83. His praise of Porson's
honesty, 357.
Tyrwhitt, his sudden death prevents him
from providing for Porson, 101. His
benevolence, ib. Esteemed by Porson,
309.
Upton, Mr., surgeon, 329.
Valla, Laurentius, collected manuscripts
305, 306.
Tooke, Horne, Porson's compotations
with, 277, 278. Porson's estimate of
him, 309.
Toup's “ Emendations of Suidas,” Por-
son's notes to, 89–91.
Transpositio of words, Porson's remarks
on, 261, 265. Dalzel's observations,
267.
Travis's “ Letters to Gibbon” attacked
by Porson, 57. Account of Porson's
“ Letters to Travis," 57-77. Tra-
vis's arguments in defence of 1 John
v. 7, 63, 64. Travis's ignorance
and conceit, 75, 76. A ludicrous
of the New Testament, 63, 70. None
of them support 1 John v. 7, 70, 71.
Verses, Modern Greek and Latin, Porson's
opinion of, 47.
Victor Vitensis, historian of the council
convened by Hunneric, 73, 74.
Villoison, his application to Porson for
a copy of the Grenville Homer, 226
--229. His labours, 227. Thanks
Porson for his " Medea,” 236.
Virgil, an emendation of, 31. Dryden
and Pitt's translations of, 109. Heyne's
edition reprinted in London, 115.
Wakefield, Gilbert, his couplet on George
Chalmers. Indignant at not being
noticed in Porson's notes on the
6 Hecuba," 155. Publishes his • Dia-
tribe" on that play, 156. His fool-
ish objections to Porson's readings,
158, 160. His absurd violence, 161.
His frivolous criticisms, 162–165.
His blunders, 165, 166. Deceived
by Porson's sarcasms, 188. Allusion
to him in the Phænissæ, 218. His
opinion of Greek accents censured
by Porson, 230, 231. Cited con-
temptuously in a new edition of the
“Hecuba,” 238. Sketch of his literary
career, 239, scqq. Specimens of his
absurd emendations, 241--243. Cha-
racter of his “Lucretius," 243—247.
His absurd political notions, 248.
His untrustworthiness as a critic,
264, 266. His character of Porson,
358. Considerations on it, 359.
Warner, Rev. Richard, accompanies
Porson to the rooms at Bath, 275.
Character of his “ Literary Recollec-
tions," 215.
INDEX.
431
Wurton, Dr. Joseph, inspects the Shake.
speare papers with Parr, 141, 144.
Watson, Bishop, his quotation from
Gregory Nazianzen, 79. His sincerity
Wilkes disliked by Porson, 307.
Woodrow, Mr. Porson's first school-
master, 6.
Wordsworth, Dr., his “ Six Letters to
Granville Sharp,” 269.
Wyttenbach, struck with Porson's ability,
38.
Xenophon's “ Anabasis,” Porson's notes
on, 49.
Young, Dr. Thomas, his Greek penman-
ship, 362.
Zonaras's Lexicon, edited by Tittmann,
to be doubted, 80.
Weston, Rev. Stephen, his Hermesianax
reviewed by Porson, 44. Reputed
author of the “Short Account of
Porson," and of “Scraps from Por- |
son's Rich Feast," ib. -
Wetstein sums up the arguments for
and against i John v. 7, 62.
Whiter, Rev. Walter, a fellow collegian
270.
about Porson, 303.
THE END.
LONDON
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