Leaving Harrow in the autumn of 1765, Dr. Parr proceeded to Cambridge; and, according to the plan proposed and approved, entered himself of Emanuel College.
This college was at that time placed under the superintendence of Dr. William Richardson,1 who is described as a man of kind temper and agreeable manners; but rigidly exact in enforcing the regulations of academical order and discipline. Although not, as commonly supposed, a Jacobite, he was a decided and vehement Tory; and exerted himself, with all the zeal of a partisan, to maintain and to diffuse his own principles in his college and the university. It is curious to remark, in this
1 “Godwini de Præsulibus Angliæ Com. &c. This beautifully printed work of Goodwin contains many valuable additions and improvements. It was conducted by the late Dr. Richardson, master of Emanuel, in my time; and is dedicated to his patron, Abp. Potter, who encouraged, and, I believe, assisted him in his very useful work. S. P.”—Bibl. Parr. p. 402. |
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Such was the master of Emanuel, at the time Dr. Parr became a member of it: of which the tutors, at the same time, were, Mr. Hubbard and Dr. Farmer; the former a man of considerable, and the latter of high, repute. Of their merits, and of his own obligations to them, Dr. Parr thus speaks: “My tutors were eminently able, and to me uniformly kind.”2 In his catalogue of distinguished academics, who have done honour to the universities to which they belonged, he introduces the name of Mr. Hubbard, whom he calls “his venerable tutor:”1 and he has offered to Dr. Farmer other testimonies of his esteem and gratitude on various occasions. To both some respectful notice is due, in a work dedicated to the honourable remembrance of a pupil, whom their instructions have contributed to form to all that greatness of character, as a man and a scholar, which he afterwards attained.
The Rev. Henry Hubbard, M. A., was born at Ipswich, 1708, of humble parents; and, after the usual preparatory education, was entered of Clare
1 Nichols’s Liter. Anec. vol. ii. p. 619. 2 Spital Serm. p. 125. and p. 110. |
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1 “In this college he was happy in receiving the countenance, and in being permitted to attend the lectures, of that excellent tutor, Mr. Henry Hubbard, although he had been admitted under another person.”—Bp. Hurd’s Notes of Occurrences in his own Life. 2 “Harry Hubbard is to be buried on Thursday next, in the chapel-vestry. He has left 800l. in legacies, and 8000l. to the college; the largest fortune, I ever heard of, acquired by the fellow of a college.”—Letter from Mr. Tyson to Mr. Gough: Nichols’s Anec. vol. viii. p. 360. |
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During his long residence in his college, he gained for himself so high a place in the good opinion of the whole society, that on the death of Dr. Richardson, in 1775, he was unanimously chosen to succeed him. But he declined the honour in a respectful address, modestly pleading his inability, and urging the growing infirmities of age. This pleasing and gratifying incident of his life he survived three years; and, on the 23d of Jan. 1778, peacefully expired. He published only a single sermon,1 preached in behalf of the widows of indigent clergy, in his native town, Ipswich, 1750.2
The second tutor, the Rev. Rich. Farmer, D.D., was of higher fame, and more splendid fortunes. He was born at Leicester, where his father was a hosier; and having received the earlier part of his education at the grammar-school of that town, he entered himself a pensioner of Emanuel College in 1752. In 1765, he was appointed the classical tutor; and in 1775 was chosen master of the same college. He was afterwards advanced to the office of principal librarian, and was twice elected vice-chancellor of the university.
Dr. Farmer was greatly distinguished by all those amiable qualities, which form the agreeable man and the delightful companion. He was sincere, frank, kind, generous, cheerful, and social. As a tutor, though his qualifications were such as
1 “My venerable tutor, Harry Hubbard’s sermon, was much and justly admired. S. P.” 2 Nichols’s Anec. vol. ii. p. 619. |
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As to his literary attainments, he held in no regard the mathematics, though the prevailing study of the university; and even in classical learning, to which he was much devoted, he gained the character of a good, rather than a great scholar. He owed his celebrity chiefly to his knowledge of old English literature, especially that part which is connected with the English drama; and as a writer, his reputation entirely depends upon one small but admirable work, entitled “An Essay on the Learning of Shakespeare:” which, by the confession of all, is a masterly performance; and completely settles a question, till then so frequently and so keenly agitated among men of letters.
Dr. Farmer was no proficient in theological
learn-
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In his public principles, Dr. Farmer was a Tory of a high tone and temper. Ardently devoted to “the powers that be,” immovably attached to the existing order of things, he constantly opposed every scheme, and even every hint of reform, either in church or state, however reasonable or moderate. With the same pertinacity, he resisted some new academical regulations, which were proposed in his time; and yet so evidently wise and salutary were they, that, in despite of old and stubborn prejudices, they have since been in part adopted.
The qualities which Dr. Farmer
possessed were, it need not be said, of brightest lustre in the eyes of a Tory ministry,
like that of Lord North and of Mr. Pitt; and high preferment followed of course. The
career of his professional honours may thus be slightly traced. He was appointed in 1769, a
Whitehall preacher—in 1780, a prebendary of Lichfield—1782, a prebendary of Canterbury—in
1790, a residentiary of St. Paul’s; and, besides all these
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Early in 1797, Dr. Farmer was seized with an illness, which proved long and painful; and which, to the grief of the whole university, and of a wide social circle, terminated fatally on the 8th of Sept. in the same year. He was buried in the chapel of his college, near the altar, in a spot chosen by himself; and against the wall of the adjoining cloisters is a monumental tablet, of which the inscription in Latin is candidly, as well as pleasingly and forcibly written by Dr. Parr.1 By the same pen, also, is traced the following delineation of his character, in which its amiable and respectable qualities are brought, by a few masterly strokes, finely and strikingly to view, whilst the defects, which shaded them, are lightly touched with the hand of tenderness and delicacy:—
“Of any undue partiality towards the master of Emanuel College, I shall not be suspected by those persons who know how little his sentiments accord with my own upon many ecclesiastical and many political matters. From rooted principle and ancient habit, he is a Tory—I am a Whig; and we have both of us too much confidence in each other, and too much respect for ourselves, to dissemble what we think, upon any grounds, to any extent. Let me then do him the justice, which, amidst all
1 App. No. II. |
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Such were the tutors of Emanuel College: under whose direction Dr. Parr entered on his academic course, with a mind confident of its own powers, well-disciplined by previous culture, and
1 Remarks on Combe’s Statement, p. 25. |
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Amidst the high resolves which Dr. Parr had thus formed, and the ardent hopes which he had thus ventured to cherish—grievous to relate!—his pecuniary resources failed him, and he was reduced to the hard necessity of withdrawing himself from all the delights, and depriving himself of all the advantages of academic life. The circumstance is feelingly deplored by himself, in the following passage: “I was compelled to leave Cambridge, not by the want of a proper education, for I had ar-
1 “Scheibleri Metaphysica, &c. A favourite book. I first met with it in the public library at Cambridge. I diligently read it at the university, and at Hatton. S. P.”—“Vossii Aristarchus. This book Dr. Parr read at college; and there is no book to which he is more indebted for his knowledge of the Latin language.”—“Sophoclis Tragcediæ. Interleaved in 4 vols, completely filled with Ms. notes, probably written by Dr. Parr when at college.”—Bibl. Parr. pp. 209. 453. 701. |
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When Dr. Parr went to Cambridge, he was in his eighteenth year; and the whole time of his continuance there scarcely exceeded twelve or fourteen months. Yet at that early age, and in that short space, his genius and his learning shone out so conspicuously, as to attract the notice, and excite the admiration, not only of those of his own college, but also of many of the most distinguished
1 Spital Serm. p. 125. |
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One of the most intimate of all his associates was his former schoolfellow, Dr. Bennet, who had entered of the same college, about the same time; and whose tastes, opinions and pursuits were much in harmony with his own. At every interval of leisure, it was their great delight to meet and converse on literary and other subjects: often visiting at each other’s rooms; and, almost every day, pacing together the college-walks, or wandering through the neighbouring fields. To this early and beloved friend Dr. Parr unbosomed all his most secret thoughts, and especially those anxieties, which soon began to press heavily on his mind about the means of present or future support.
Towards the end of January, 1766, only a few months after Dr. Parr had left Harrow, and had removed to Cambridge, his
father died suddenly; and he was summoned home to
discharge the melancholy duty of following the remains of his last surviving parent to the
grave. After a short absence he returned to Cambridge, finding himself
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And what was then to be done? The college to which he belonged offered him no chance of a fellowship: he had no friend, no patron, from whose resources he might be permitted to draw; and, rather than adopt the only remaining expedient of incurring debts which he could not speedily repay, he determined to leave Cambridge,1—a resolution the more painful, because he could entertain little or no hope of returning to it. He kept his name, however, on the college boards, with an intention, which subsequent events frustrated, of performing the usual exercises for a bachelorship in divinity—a degree which, by the customs of this university, is always granted to non-resident members, who have been in holy orders for ten years. The custom is peculiar to Cambridge; and seems liable, it must be owned, to some abuse, by too easily allowing to persons,
1 “On balancing his accounts, he found, to his extreme surprise, that he had 3l. 17s. over and above the full payment of his debts; and such had been the economy of his expenditure, that, he said, had he previously known of any such sum, he should have remained longer at Cambridge.”—Memorabilia of Dr. Parr. Lond. Mag. April, 1825. |
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The following sketch of the literary pursuits at Cambridge was given by Dr. Parr, in answer to the well-known remarks of Mr. Gibbon on the state of learning in the two universities; and it refers, no doubt, in some degree, to the time of his own residence there, though still more expressly to a period somewhat later.
Having mentioned the names, and appealed to the public services of those
eminent professors, Dr. Halifax, Dr. Rutherford, Dr.
Waring, Dr. Watson, all men of his
own time, he thus proceeds:—“Whatever lectures may, or may not have been given by
other professors, I am convinced that Mr.
Gibbon, if he had visited Cambridge, would have been surprised to find, and
ready, I trust, he would have been to embrace, many opportunities for congratulating
other men upon the enjoyment of those advantages, which, during his own time, may not
have been in his own college accessible to himself. He would have seen many elegant
scholars, and many deep mathematicians among the tutors: he would have seen the most
generous emulation, and the most indefatigable diligence in the younger members of the
university: he would have seen plans of study recommended for their use—exercises
prescribed for the display of their ingenuity, or the exertions of their
industry—rewards proposed for their merits, in mathematics, in poesy, in prose, in
Greek composition, in Latin and in English. In almost every college he would have seen
young
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This is a great, and many will think a flattering account of Cambridge literature. Indeed, in perusing it, a little allowance ought, in fairness, to be made for the natural warmth of disputation, and the common effect of unjust depreciation on the one side, in producing exaggeration on the other. It appears from a paper in the “Idler,” referring to about the same period of time, that Dr. Johnson, another competent judge, was far from entertaining so favourable an idea of the state of learning in the two universities; though he repels the imputation of wishing to decry them. For, not to insist on the “Journal” there given2 of a fellow of a college “steeped in port and ignorance,”—an individual, it is apprehended, of a large species, and a portrait drawn, it is
1 Spital Serm. p. 124. 2 No. 33, written by the Rev. T. Warton. |
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1 See the “Wealth of Nations.” 2 See his “Letter to Lord North,” and his “Remarks on the State of the Two Universities,” in Treatise on Education, vol. ii. 3 Jebb’s Works, vol. ii. p. 255. 4 Mr. Gibbon had said of Oxford, “She will as cheerfully renounce me for a son, as I am willing to disclaim her for a mother.” Of Cambridge, Dr. Parr re-echoes, “Never shall I have the presumption to disclaim her as a mother; and never may she have just occasion to renounce me as a son.”—Spital Serm. p. 125. |
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What kind and gratifying attentions Dr. Parr himself had received, and what agreeable and friendly connexions he had formed at Cambridge:—what high expectations of important advantages, from along residence in it, once delighted him:—and what sad and severe regret was excited in his mind, when he found himself obliged so soon to retire from it, may be inferred from the following passage:—
“Upon the access, with which I was honoured, at a very early period, to the presence of men, high in academical rank, and conspicuous for literary excellence, often have I reflected with the pleasure and the pride of an ancient writer,1 who has more than once recorded his own intimacy with the poets and the statesmen of the Augustan age. The unreserved conversation of scholars, the disinterested offices of friendship, the use of valuable books, and the example of good men, are endearments by which Cambridge will keep a strong hold upon my esteem, my respect, and my gratitude, to the latest moment of my life.”2
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1 See Horace, Sat. x. lib. 1. Sat. i. lib. 2. Epist. xx. lib. 1. 2 Spital Serm. p. 125. |
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