quirements seemed to promise him the highest distinction and worldly

success.

Dr. Sumner soon recalled him to Harrow, where he was appointed first assistant in January, 1767. At Christmas, 1769, he was ordained on the curacies of Wilsdon and Kingsbury, Middlesex, which he resigned at Easter, 1770. In 1771, he was created M.A. per literas Regias; and in the same year, on the death of Dr. Sumner, he became a candidate for the head-mastership of Harrow, with the late master's strong recommendation. Although sanguine hopes were entertained by his friends of his success, his youth and other influence prevailed against his nomination, to the great disappointment of the scholars, by whom he was sincerely beloved. The election fell upon Dr. Heath.

The dissatisfaction of the school was manifested in Dr. Parr's favour by some overt acts of insubordination. These he was unjustly accused of having fomented; and the most violent clamours were raised against him, and circulated in the public papers. Ultimately he resigned the place of assistant, and established a private academy at Stanmore, with forty-five boys, of whom all but one followed him from Harrow. It then became desirable, and even necessary, that he should be married: he, therefore, espoused Jane, daughter of Zachariah Marsengale, esq., of Carleton, Yorkshire, and niece to Thomas Mauleverer, esq., of Arncliffe, in that county. Dr. Parr married Miss Marsengale, because he wanted a housekeeper; Miss Marsengale married Dr. Parr, because she wanted a house. She was an only child, bred up by

three maiden aunts, as she said of herself, "in rigidity and frigidity," and she always described Dr. Parr as "born in a whirlwind, and bred a tyrant." Such discordant elements were not likely to produce harmony. The lady lost few opportunities of annoying her spouse; an object, which a strong understanding and caustic powers of language afforded her more than ordinary facilities of accomplishing; and she always preferred exposing his foibles and ridiculing his peculiarities in the presence of others. His mind and temper were kept in continual irritation; and he was driven to the resources of visiting, and to the excitement of that table talk which unfortunately superseded efforts of more lasting character. lasting character. Porson used to say," Parr would have been a great man but for three things,— his trade, his wife, and his politics!" By this his first wife, who died at Teignmouth, April 16, 1810 (and was buried at Hatton), Dr. Parr had several children, who died in their infancy; and two daughters who grew up. Of these, the younger, Catharine, died unmarried; the elder, Sarah, was united in 1797, to John, the eldest son of colonel Wynne, of Plasnwydd, near Denbigh, and died at Hatton, in 1810, having given birth to three daughters, two of whom, Caroline and Augusta, are now living, the former being the wife of the rev. John Lynes, rector of Elmley Lovett, Worcestershire; one of the doctor's ex

ecutors.

The period of Dr. Parr's continuance at Stanmore, was five years. The advantages of his establishment there had not, however, been equal to his expectations. His expenses were excess

ive, his profits therefore inconsiderable, his labours most oppressive, and he found the impossibility of supporting his situation against the influence and credit of a great public school, and the well-founded reputation of his competitor, Dr. Heath. He therefore, in 1776, was induced to accept the mastership of Colchester school, and thither a considerable part of his Stanmore scholars followed him. He was ordained priest in 1777, and held the cures of the parishes of Trinity and the Highe, Colchester. In 1778, he obtained the mastership of Norwich school, where Mr. Beloe was for three years his under-master, and the rev. T. Munro his scholar; and in 1779, he undertook the care of two curacies at Norwich. These he resigned in 1780, in which year he received his first ecclesiastical preferment, the rectory of Asterby, in Lincolnshire. In the summer of this year he commenced his career as an author, by the publication of "Two Sermons on Education." In 1781, he was admitted to the degree of LL.D. at Cambridge, but without any particular mark of distinction.

In the summer of the same year, appeared "A Discourse on the late Fast, by Phileleutherus Norfolciencis," 4to. This sermon has been considered the best of Dr. Parr's productions, and had a corresponding success; for though anonymously published, the whole impression, consisting of four hundred and fifty copies, was sold in two months; and it is at present a work of most extraordinary rarity. In the spring of 1783, lady Trafford, whose son he had educated, presented him with the perpetual curacy of Hatton, then worth about 801. per annum; and in April

1783, he removed to that seat of hospitality, where he spent the remainder of his days; retiring, while yet in the enjoyment of youth and strength, from the fatigue of public teaching, and devoting his leisure to the private tuition of a limited number of pupils. After this preferment he resigned Asterby. In the same year, he obtained from bishop Lowth, through the extraordinary merit of his first sermon, supported by the interest of the present earl of Dartmouth's grandfather, the prebend of Wenlock Barns, in the Cathedral of St. Paul. In 1785, he resumed his former subject, in "A Discourse on Education, and on the Plans pursued in Charity Schools," and about a thousand copies were sold in a very short time.

In 1787, Dr. Parr assisted the rev. Henry Homer in a new edition of the three books of Bellendenus,* a learned Scotsman, Humanity Professor at Paris, in 1602, and Master of Requests to James 1. These he respectively dedicated to Mr. Burke, lord North, and Mr. Fox.t He prefixed a Latin preface, with characters of those distinguished statesmen, the style of which is, perhaps, the most successful of all modern imitations of Cicero. How far the preface was appropriate may be doubted. Bellendenus had intended a large work, "De Tribus Luminibus

*I. "De Statu prisci orbis in ReII. ligione, Re Politica, et Literis." "Ciceronis Princeps; sive, de Statu Principis et Imperii." III. "Ciceronis

Consul, Senator, Senatusque Romanus ; sive de Statu Reip. et Urbis imperantis Orbis."

+ Dramatis Persona. Doran, marquis Miso-Themistocles, duke of Richmond; of Lansdowne; Novius, lord Thurlow; Thrasybulus, Mr. Dundas; Clodius, Mr. W.

Romanorum," the "Three Lights of Rome," Cicero, Seneca, and the elder Pliny; whence Dr. Parr conceived the idea of delineating the characters of the then three most eminent senators of Great Britain. The taste and character of the composition, and the singular discrimination in the portraits, created an extraordinary sensation in the literary and political world. A translation (by Mr. Beloe) was published in octavo in 1788, but without the author's approbation. Dr. Parr had thenceforth fully committed himself on the side of the popular party. This naturally terminated all hope of church preferment from the Court; and such was the low state of Dr. Parr's pecuniary resources, that a subscription was made by the leading whigs of the day, about the same period as that for Mr. Fox, and an annuity of 300l. was purchased for Dr. Parr's life.

In 1789, appeared "Tracts by Warburton and a Warburtonian, not admitted into the Collection of their respective Works." Although it was thought that personal feelings towards bishop Hurd gave origin to this volume, yet it was allowed on all hands, to contain some admirable critical remarks. It produced a reply, entitled, "A Letter to Dr. Parr, occasioned by his Republication," &c.

In 1790, Dr. Parr exchanged the curacy of Hatton (though he still continued to reside there as deputy curate) for the rectory of Waddenhoe, in Northamptonshire. In the same year he became acquainted with Dr. Priestley.

In 1790, also, Dr. Parr was involved in the controversy on the real authorship of the Bampton Lectures preached by Dr. White. This controversy produced a pam

phlet by Dr. White, entitled "A Statement of Dr. White's Literary Obligations to the late rev. Mr. Samuel Badcock, and the rev. Samuel Parr, LL. D.," Oxford, 1790.

In 1791 happened the riots in Birmingham, when the library and philosophical apparatus of Dr. Priestley were burnt. The mob, hearing that Dr. Parr had been visiting Dr. Priestley, made known their determination to proceed to Hatton, and burn Dr. Parr's house and library. For three days and nights Dr. Parr and his family were agitated with consternation and dismay, but happily, before the mob could accomplish their purpose, the military put an end to their proceedings. In that unexampled period of national excitement, when political and religious prejudices raged together, Dr. Parr acted a manly and decided part. Undismayed by the dangers of the attempt, and the unpromising consequences to his worldly interests, he ardently strove to conciliate the divided parties of his countrymen. It is well known, that the pretext for these outrages was a meeting held by the dissenters on the 14th of July, 1791, in celebration of the French revolution. In consequence of a report that a party remained stubborn enough to meditate another commemoration upon the ensuing anniversary of that event, a step that might have brought destruction upon themselves and the whole town, the doctor, in one day, began and finished his "Letter from Irenopolis to the Inhabitants of Eleutheropolis; or a serious Address to the Dissenters of Birmingham, by a Member of the Established Church." This pamphlet produced an advertisement from the dissenters, in which they dis

entirely my own does not exceed six or seven. In almost all these critiques, my intention was to commend rather than to blame, and the only one in which I ever blamed with severity, related to a classical work, the editor of which deserved reproof for the following reasons. He clothed bad criticisms in bad Latinity. He had not availed himself of that information, which preceding editions would have supplied to any intelligent editor. From the stores of other critics he collected very little, and from his own he produced yet less that was valuable. But he had indulged himself in rude and petulant objections against Dr. Bentley; and for this chiefly I censured him. Here ends the catalogue of my crimes hitherto committed in reviews; and, as I now have somewhat more leisure than I formerly enjoyed, it is possible that I may now and then add to their number. But I assure Dr. Combe and the public, that whensoever I take upon myself to deal rigorously with any writer, I shall not shrink from the strictest responsibility. My contributions to works of this kind are occasional, and, therefore, I have no right to the benefit of that secrecy which it may be wise and honourable for the regular conductors of reviews to preserve. Of the share which I have already taken, and may hereafter take, in these periodical publications, I never can be ashamed. I might plead the example of many scholars both at home and abroad, far superior to myself in vigour of intellect, and extent of erudition. But I wish rather to insist upon the utility of the works themselves, and upon the opportunities which they furnish to men of learning, for rendering some occasional service to the general cause of litera

:

ture. There is no one review in this country but what is conducted with a considerable degree of ability and though I decline the task of deciding upon their comparative excellence, I have no hesitation in saying, that all of them deserve encouragement from learned men. They much oftener assist than retard the circulation of books they much oftener extend than check the reputation of good books-they rarely prostitute commendation upon such as are notoriously bad. For my part, I am disposed to view with a favourable eye the different opinions and propensities which may be traced in the minds of the different writers. By such collisions of sentiment truth is brought into fuller view, and a reader finds himself impelled, by the very strongest curiosity, to examine the reasons upon which men of talents nearly equal have founded decisions totally opposite. By posterity, too, reviews will be considered as useful repositories of the most splendid passages in the most celebrated works. They will show the progress of a country, or an age, in taste and arts, in refinement of manners, and in the cultivation of science.

They mark the gradations of language itself and the progressive or retrograde motions of the public mind upon the most interesting subjects in ethics, in politics, and in religion."

In the same year, Mr. Beloe published a translation of "Aulus Gellius," the very learned and judicious preface to which was written by Dr. Parr.

On Easter Tuesday, in the year 1800, Dr. Parr preached his justly celebrated Spital sermon at Christchurch, Newgate-street, before Harvey Christian Coombe, esq.