In the month of March, 1794, an event, distressing to Dr. Parr, happened in his own family, at Hatton. This was the death, after a few days’ illness, of one of his pupils, John, the son of John Smitheman, Esq. of West Coppice, in Shropshire. An interesting account of the piety and the sensibility, which Dr. Parr discovered, on that affecting occasion, was given by the Rev. Mr. Morley, then of Hampton Lucy, in a letter to a friend, from which the following are extracts:—
“Visiting him at Hatton, in obedience to a summons which I
received,” says Mr. Morley, “I
found him in the greatest distress. Such, indeed, was the bitterness of his grief, that you
would have thought a darling child of his own had died. The day was spent most sorrowfully;
and the next morning, after a messenger had been sent to convey the melancholy tidings to
the unexpecting parents, the doctor went in search of comfort to his friend and neighbour
Lord Dormer. Returning home in the evening, and
entering the library,
| LIFE OF DR. PARR. | 369 |
The remains of the deceased were interred within the chancel of Hatton Church, and the last offices of humanity and religion were performed with striking and mournful solemnity. The funeral discourse, dictated by Dr. Parr, was delivered by Mr. Morley; and deep was the impression which it fixed on all who heard it. A mural monument was afterwards placed near the grave of the much-lamented youth, of which the inscription was writ-
1 Public Characters, 1810. |
| 370 | MEMOIRS OF THE |
Some time before this melancholy event, the learned world had to lament the loss of one of its most laborious and useful members, and Dr. Parr of one of his most respected and beloved friends, in the death of the Rev. Henry Homer, his able and diligent coadjutor in the publication of Bellendenus; whom he estimated highly as a scholar, and of whom, as a friend, he declared that, with the exception of Sir William Jones, and two persons not named, “he possessed more of his confidence than any other human being.”2 Mr. Homer was a man of pure integrity of heart, and of undeviating rectitude of conduct; and he has entitled himself to a high place in the records of honourable fame, by his firm and unshaken adherence to the dictates of conscience, in resigning his fellowship, and relinquishing all his prospects of rising in a church, to the religious dogmas of which he entertained serious and insurmountable objections. A very pleasing delineation of his moral and literary character, taken from the scattered notices of him, which occur in “Dr. Parr’s Reply to Combe,” will be found in a future page.
About the same period died at Bath, the amiable and excellent Dr. Horne, Bishop of Norwich, to whose mild virtues and respectable talents Dr. Parr has borne his testimony in the following beautiful passage:
“Of such a prelate as Dr. George Horne, who
1 Gent. Mag. April, 1794. 2 Reply to Combe, p. 79. |
| LIFE OF DR. PARR. | 371 |
Nearly about the same time, that church was deprived of another of its most distinguished mem-
1 Sequel, p. 107. |
| 372 | MEMOIRS OF THE |
“No man living is, in my opinion, more able than Dr. Balguy to unfold with precision the character of
Bishop Warburton, or to state with impartiality
the merits of those controversies in which he was engaged. But bodily infirmities have
already deprived the English church of this great
| LIFE OF DR. PARR. | 373 |
Early in the year 1797, the attention of Dr. Parr, in consequence of the representations of some common friend, was drawn to the melancholy case of Mr. Oliver, a surgeon of great respectability at Burslem, in Staffordshire; who appears to have been remarkably distinguished by serious religious principle and correct moral conduct, by mild and benevolent dispositions, and pleasing and engaging manners. This unfortunate gentleman had paid his addresses to Miss Wood, the daughter of a considerable potter, in that neighbourhood; and his proposals were favourably received by herself, and were approved, at first, by her father and her friends. Afterwards, however, Mr. Wood thought proper, for reasons which do not appear, to withdraw his consent, and to forbid all further intercourse between the parties. The disappoint-
1 Preface to Tracts of Warburton, &c. p. 183. |
| 374 | MEMOIRS OF THE |
On the morning of the day, which he had fixed for the last of his life, he
went to the house of Mr. Wood, with two loaded
pistols concealed about his person; and having obtained an interview with that gentleman,
in the presence of his clerk, Mr. Bathwell, he inveighed, in strong
terms, against the wrong and the cruelty of first encouraging, and then, for no just cause,
rejecting his proposals to his daughter. He was heard with indifference, or with contempt;
when—continuing his remonstrance with increasing warmth—he vehemently declared that his
life was become insupportable; and finally protested that he was determined to die, and to
die at that very instant, in that very house. In a moment, eagerly and hurriedly, he drew
out one of his pistols; and presented it, with the butt-end, to Mr.
Wood, passionately imploring death at his hands. Mr.
Wood, perhaps, considering the whole as an attempt to terrify him, pushed
away the pistol, with some expressions, either of cutting reproach, or of sneering insult.
All this was more than Mr. Oliver, in the
high-wrought, half-frensied state of his mind, could bear. He was stung, as he himself
said, almost to madness; and, in the moment of extreme irritation, reversed his pistol,
| LIFE OF DR. PARR. | 375 |
He was committed, for trial, to Stafford jail. There, in consequence of his own earnest solicitation, he was visited by Dr. Parr; to whom he disclosed all the circumstances of his case, with an urgent request that the whole might be put into the form of a defence, to be read at his trial. The request, with every assurance of compassionate concern, was granted.
Dr. Parr, on his return to Hatton, summoned to his
aid the present writer, as his amanuensis; and for the greater part of two days, and almost
the whole of the intervening night, they were occupied in arranging and preparing the
proposed defence. He who now records the affecting story, well remembers Dr.
Parr’s distressful feelings on the occasion, and his devoted attention
to the task, in which he had so benevolently engaged. All the powers of his mind seemed to
be stretched in full and vigorous action. In the midst of his labours, as if to excite
himself to the greatest exertion, he often exclaimed, “Ah! let us do our
best!”—“It is a work of justice, as well as of
compassion.”—
| 376 | MEMOIRS OF THE |
The defence, thus anxiously prepared, was, however, not called for. Though
a strong case of gross provocation was fairly made out, yet, on careful reconsideration,
under legal advice, it was thought, that resting as it did, almost entirely on the
statement of the accused, unsupported by other evidence, it would fail of producing the
intended effect. It was finally determined, therefore, to change the ground of defence into
a plea of insanity; for which, it was believed, that sufficient evidence would be found, in
the fact of hereditary mental malady, and in the deranged state of the prisoner’s
mind, during his confinement, and some time before it, as attested by the evidence of his
servants, several of his friends and neighbours,
| LIFE OF DR. PARR. | 377 |
Dr. Parr arrived at Stafford a day or two before the commencement of the trial; and passed almost all his time in visiting, advising, and consoling the unhappy man; and, when every hope of life was extinguished, he exerted all his remaining efforts in administering to him the supports of friendly sympathy and of religious consolation. He passed with him almost the whole of his last day, and nearly the whole of his last night.
His behaviour, as Dr. Parr often related, was, to an astonishing degree, calm, collected, and even cheerful; except when, indeed, his unfortunate attachment was alluded to, either by himself or others; for then, he was greatly agitated—his countenance was convulsed—and his whole appearance completely maniacal. But at other times, he had generally the look, and even the smile of complacency, and seemed not to feel the least wish for life, nor the least dread of death. He acknowledged the criminality of the act, as the effect of sudden and ungovernable passion; but utterly and steadily repelled the imputation of every thing like preconceived malice, or premeditated design. Having retired for a few hours, long after midnight, Dr. Parr returned once more to his unhappy charge, early on the morning of execu-
1 See the “Trial,” published at Stafford. |
| 378 | MEMOIRS OF THE |
The year 1797 was remarkable, in the history of literature, for a most extraordinary imposition upon the curiosity and credulity of the nation; in which Dr. Parr, himself deceived, was made the instrument of deceiving others. This was the daring and infamous attempt of the two Irelands, father and son, to pass upon the world some forged writings of their own, for the genuine manuscripts of the incomparable Shakspeare. Amongst these, was a tragedy, called “Vortigern and Rowena,” which so far imposed upon Mr. Sheridan, then manager of Drury Lane Theatre, that he agreed to purchase it for a very considerable sum. But, on the very first night of representation, it received its sentence of condemnation, and the whole imposture was soon afterwards detected, to the full satisfaction of the public, by Mr. Malone, in an admirable work, full of deep research and of just criticism, entitled, “Enquiry into the authenticity of the pretended Shakspeare Papers,” &c.
Like many persons of unquestionable sagacity and judgment, Dr. Parr was too easily induced to give credence to the
solemn affirmation of the two bold literary forgerers; and was even prevailed upon to draw
up a full and formal attestation to the
| LIFE OF DR. PARR. | 379 |
Among the forged papers is one, entitled “Shakspeare’s Profession of Faith;” in which some striking and
beautiful expressions do certainly occur; though hardly enough to justify the encomium
pronounced upon it by the late Dr. Joseph Warton;
who, on perusing it, exclaimed, “there are many beauties in the liturgy of our
church; but this composition far surpasses them all!” These words Mr. Ireland, it seems, had reported as uttered by
Dr. Parr: to which circumstance Dr.
Parr alludes in the following note, annexed to his copy of
“Ireland’s great and impudent forgery, called
‘Shakspeare’s
Miscellaneous Papers,’ &c.”—“I am almost ashamed to
insert this worthless and infamously trickish book. Ireland told a
lie, when he imputed to me the words which Joseph Warton uttered,
the very morning when 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.
| 380 | MEMOIRS OF THE |
Sustaining a distinguished character as a public man, warm in his attachment, firm in his adherence to the principles of those, who usually stood opposed to the measures of administration, Dr. Parr found himself, as might have been expected, shut out from the great preferments and the high dignities of the church; the honours and emoluments of which have been so notoriously employed as instruments of promoting state purposes, rather than those connected with learning or religion. But that he should never have been called by any of his ecclesiastical superiors to the honourable office of preaching at any of their visitations; or, that he should never have been raised to the rank of a magistrate, to which clergymen of far inferior consideration have so often been elevated: these are instances of studied neglect, which may surely be considered as violating the fair claims of common civilities, or as transgressing the due bounds of political decorum.
Amidst this too general neglect of learning and worth, it is pleasing to
mention one public mark of respect which Dr. Parr
received from an enlightened and patriotic senator, Harvey
Christian Combe, Esq., then Lord Mayor of London; by whom he was nominated
to preach the annual charity sermon at Christ Church, commonly called the Spital Sermon. On
this occasion a large concourse of people, amongst whom were many distinguished literary
characters, assembled. “Before the service began,” says one of his
friends, “I went into the vestry,
| LIFE OF DR. PARR. | 381 |
This sermon was afterwards published by request. The subject is benevolence, considered under the amiable form of the private and partial affections, and as it assumes the grander form of universal philanthropy. Being a subject to which
1 “Apropos of the Spital Sermon. It gave birth to a tolerably facetious remark of Harvey Combe, albeit unused to the facetious mood. As they were coming out of church, after the delivery of that long discourse, ‘Well,’ says Parr to Combe, ‘how did you like it?’ always anxious for well-merited praise, from whatever quarter it proceeded. ‘Let me have the suffrage of your strong and honest understanding.’ ‘Why, Doctor,’ returned the alderman, ‘there were four things in your sermon that I did not like to hear.’ ‘State them,’ replied Parr eagerly.’ ‘Why, to speak frankly then,’ said Combe, ‘they were the quarters of the church clock, which struck four times before you had finished it.’ The joke was good-humouredly received.”—New Month. Mag. Nov. 1826. 2 New Month. Mag. Aug. 1826. |
| 382 | MEMOIRS OF THE |
1 “The Education Sermon is I think superior to his famous Spital Sermon: certainly its manner is less controversial, which is some advantage; for where Parr had any doctrine to refute, he was a stanch polemic, full as anxious to get the victory as to discover the truth.”—New Month. Mag. Nov. 1826. |
| LIFE OF DR. PARR. | 383 |
Considering the fame of Dr. Parr as a scholar, and his powers as a preacher, it may seem strange that the influence of his name, and the aid of his services should not have been oftener employed in support of those charitable institutions, which have always owed so much to the zeal and the eloquence of the Christian advocate; and which, by their number and their importance, reflect, in so high a degree, honour on this country. It should appear, however, from a letter 1 addressed to Dr. Hawes, who had applied to him, in the name of the Royal Humane Society of London, to preach their annual sermon, that he was not much disposed to listen favourably to such applications. Of this letter the following are extracts:—
“Indeed, Sir, I am not holding the jargon of trite and hollow profession, when I express to you my grateful sense of the honour which the steward
| 384 | MEMOIRS OF THE |
| ≪ PREV | NEXT ≫ |
