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 literature, 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 following 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 manuscripts at Cambridge have been carefully consulted, and several letters extracted from them which have 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 communications, 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. 66 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 numerous 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 fragments called "Barker's Literary Anecdotes." To Barker it may be observed, every one who writes of Po must be in some degree indebted, for though he 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 Irstead, 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., Lauderdale House, Highgate. Dates, in the following narrative, are carefully given, as well as references to authorities wherever they appeared necessary; and nothing is stated, whether 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 complain if, in the life of the great champion in the contest, 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. STOCKWELL: J. S. W. CONTENTS. Remarks on Biography. Its Attractions. lectual Excellence. - Birth of Porson. 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. 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 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 |