Towards the end of the year 1811, an event took place, deeply
lamented by Dr. Parr, and by all the friends and
patrons of public education, in the death of the Rev. Matthew
Raine, D.D., for twenty years head-master of the Charter-house School. With
ample stores of sound and elegant literature, he united unwearied diligence in
communicating instruction to his pupils; and with the authority of a master blended the
benignity of a parent. As a man, a Christian, a clergyman, and an Englishman, piety,
integrity, benevolence, mildness of temper, and gentleness of manner, zeal tempered by
candour in the pursuit and profession of religious truth, and the most devoted attachment
to the pure principles of the British constitution, conspired to form in him a character of
high and attractive excellence. Having announced his intention of retiring from the
station, which he had so long held, honourably to himself and beneficially to others, he
was presented to the living of Halling-
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During the Christmas of 1809, Dr. Raine, accompanied by his brother, Jonathan Raine, Esq. M.P. for Newport, and by some other friends, passed three or four weeks at Leamington Spa, distant about five miles from Hatton. This visit afforded opportunities for several agreeable interviews between himself and Dr. Parr, by whom he had been long known and greatly esteemed. Alas! too soon after this pleasing intercourse, Dr. Parr was called to perform the melancholy task of expressing the high sense he entertained of his various merits, in the form of an inscription for a monumental tablet—consecrated to the memory of their beloved and honoured tutor by his grateful pupils, and erected in the chapel of the Charterhouse.1
The great public institutions for education in this country, over one of which Dr. Raine had so long presided, were always the objects of much anxious attention to Dr. Parr; and he watched their flourishing or declining state, with strong emotions of joy or sorrow. Even amidst the solemnities of his last will, his mind once more recurs to the subject which had so often occupied his thoughts; and having respectfully named the most distinguished preceptors of his time to the number
1 See App. No. II. |
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As the character of every seminary must depend principally upon that of the
masters, it was always a source of great satisfaction to Dr.
Parr, to observe that those at the head of the public schools, during his
time, were in general some of the ablest and most learned men to be found in the kingdom.
“It was consoling,” he often said, “to reflect that private
interest and court favour, which have intruded, with unhallowed step, almost every
where else, have not yet presumed to enter within the precincts of our public
seminaries; and that personal and literary merit has generally prevailed in the
election of those, to whom the interests of learning for generations to come are
committed.” He thought that these schools still maintained undiminished their
long-established reputation; and still largely contributed to the diffusion of classical
literature, in its purest and best form, among the professional and superior orders of the
community. He would often remark, with exulting pleasure, that there is now even more Greek
learning in this country than formerly; and that many Greek scholars have appeared in later
times, who, in his youthful days, would have been regarded as prodigies. Adverting to the
comparative state of ancient and modern literature, as con-
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“As to the merits of men, ingenious, learned, eminently great, or exemplarily good, who in past ages have gone forth from learned retreats into the wide circle of society, pleni sunt omnes libri, plena exemplorum vetustas. But even in later times, the torpor of old age has not crept upon them; the sorceries of indolence have not enfeebled them; the poison of luxury has not corrupted them; the foul mists of barbarism have not gathered over them; the baleful light of superstition has not glimmered round them; the portentous meteors of infidelity have not glared upon them. No! for among those who have issued from our schools and universities, I recollect with triumph the names of many, who, during my lifetime have been distinguished by classical, oriental, theological or mathematical knowledge, by professional skill or parliamentary abilities. Their pursuits, indeed, are not similar; nor their talents equal. Some instruct, and others please. Some excel in solidity of judgment, and others in splendour of imagination. Some are known by their eloquence; others, by their writings: and few, perhaps, have been content to exercise their powers only in academical contests or literary conversations. But they have all obtained distinction among their contemporaries; and many of them will attract the admiration of posterity.”1
Speaking of the public schools, and distributing to each the praise, which, in his opinion, belonged
1 Spital Sermon, p. 109. |
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“When I reflect upon the comprehensive plan of education for young persons, adopted in this school; upon the salutary discipline established among them; upon the various kinds of knowledge in which they are instructed; upon the many excellent teachers that have been set over them; upon the many industrious and prosperous tradesmen, the many courageous defenders of their country, the many luminaries of learning and religion, that have come from this seminary; I am persuaded that no school or college in this kingdom is entitled to higher praise, on the ground of accommodation to the real interests of society.”1
During the course of 1814, it was again the lot of Dr. Parr to see the diminished circle of old and intimate friends still diminishing. Among those admitted to his confidence, few obtained a larger share than Dr. White, canon of Christ’s Church, Oxford, Regius professor of Hebrew, and Laudian
1 Spital Sermon, p. 17. |
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Of his literary labours, the following account is given by Dr. Parr, in one of his publications:—“Dr. White is the author of a very judicious sermon on the
Septuagint. He published an inaugural speech; which, in point of composition, far excels
that which is usually found in the Clavis
Pentateuch of Dr. Robertson. He
translated and edited in 2 vols. 4to. the Syriac Version of part of the New Testament,
which belonged to Dr. Gloucester Ridley. He long ago
completed, and might with very little exertion publish, what Pocock Jun. left unfinished in the translation of Adollatiph’s Egyptian History. He has lately done signal service to young
clergymen, by an edition of the
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But after the “Bampton lectures,” last mentioned, had obtained, for their reputed author, universal admiration and applause, by the depth of learning, the strength of reasoning, and the power of eloquence, which they display, at the end of the fourth year, as the reader probably knows, it was discovered, to the general astonishment, that many of the discourses were the production of another person—Mr. Badcock, a dissenting clergyman, who soon afterwards conformed to the Established Church; and that Dr. Parr had also contributed, to the same work, much valuable assistance. The evidence was clear and decisive; and the learned professor was reduced to the mortifying necessity of acknowledging the fact.
If, however, the confession2 thus extorted is to be received as a declaration of the whole truth; it must still be allowed, in favour of Dr. White, that even after the deduction of all that belongs to another, enough remains to establish for him a claim to high literary merit. But it was impossible that he could hope to escape censure, for the
1 Spital Sermon, p. 123. 2 A statement of Dr. White’s obligations to the Rev. Samuel Badcock and the Rev. Samuel Parr, LL.D. |
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In the “Bibliotheca Parriana”1 appears the following entry:—“The Bampton lectures, 1784, with the original autographs of Joseph White, Samuel Parr, Henry Richards, afterwards head of Exeter College, and John Parsons, afterwards head of Baliol College, and Bishop of Peterborough, when by appointment they met at Hatton-parsonage, 9th June, 1789, for the purpose of ascertaining what share Dr. Parr had in corrections, substitutions, and additions of the aforesaid sermons.”—From this examination it appeared, that the share of the work which belongs to Dr. Parr consists in the verbal correction and improvement of the whole, in the composition of the greatest part of the tenth lecture, and in the addition of many notes.
But though, by this discreditable affair, a shade was thrown over the fair fame of Dr. White; yet his attainments as an oriental scholar, and his abilities as a Christian advocate, were universally acknowledged; and the preferment which he soon afterwards obtained, was the subject of sincere congratulation among the friends of learning, and the wellwishers to the best interests of the church. He was made prebendary of Gloucester cathedral, and was subsequently presented to the valuable living of Melton in Suffolk. He retired to this
1 Page 84. |
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In the succeeding month of the same year Dr. Parr sustained another severe loss, in the death of Peregrine Dealtry, Esq. of Bradenham, near High Wycombe. Of this awfully sudden event, he thus communicates the intelligence to his friend Mr. Parkes:—“Dear Sir,—With anguish I have to inform you that my old and dear friend Mr. Dealtry was, on Thursday last, found dead in his bed, at Ryde in the Isle of Wight. Mr. Willes was with him the day before he died, and most wisely and kindly wrote to me. This disaster will damp the joy I look for, in accompanying another valuable friend, upon an important errand. But in this school of adversity, I have been long practised; and have learned to submit to the will of Heaven. I wish you all well, till I return; which will not be till the beginning of October. My head is confused, and my heart aches. I am truly yours.—S. P.”
Mr. Dealtry, son of Dr. Dealtry, formerly an eminent physician at York, was distinguished by a most upright and honourable mind, and by all those qualities which form the character of the worthy and the useful country gentleman. He was the early pupil, and the constant friend of Dr. Parr, who paid a tribute of respectful and affectionate regard to his memory, in a biographical Memoir, which will be found in a subsequent part of this volume.
It was at a period, somewhat earlier, that Dr.
Parr was summoned to the melancholy task of
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Among the eminent persons, in the higher orders of the community, with whose kind and friendly regards Dr. Parr was favoured, he had the honour to rank the late Duke of Norfolk; and it was with the deepest concern that he received information, in September 1815, of the serious illness which, early in the ensuing December, terminated in the death of this truly patriotic nobleman. In parliamentary conduct, first as Earl of Surrey in the Lower House, and afterwards as Duke of Norfolk, in the Upper, he well sustained the character of an enlightened and upright senator, uniformly actuated, at once, by that high independence of spi-
1 App. No. II. 2 “Sullivan’s Lectures on the Constitution and Laws of England, &c.
Joannis Baynes, Coll. Trin. Cant. Socii. Prid. Non. Maii, 1783.”—Bibl. Parr, p. 420. |
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As the opinions of the late Duke of
Norfolk, on all the subjects most interesting to men and to Englishmen,
closely agreed with those of Dr. Parr, their
interviews were always agreeable; and occasionally, for several weeks together,
Dr. Parr was the delighted visitor and the welcome guest, at one
or other of the duke’s magnificent seats, and especially at the grand baronial
residence of his ancestors, Arundel Castle. Being without issue, the late duke was
succeeded by his brother the present duke, for whose
intelligence and integrity Dr. Parr entertained high respect; and to
whom he was indebted for many kind and gratifying attentions. It scarcely need be added
that, in such a mind as Dr. Parr’s, the sentiments of respect
inspired by excellence of general character were confirmed, and if possible increased, by
that conscientious adherence to the religion of his ancestors, which places the present
Duke of Norfolk—the premier Duke and
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That sympathetic concern, which Dr. Parr always felt for the distresses of others, was, early in 1815, painfully excited, by the truly afflicting case of Mr. W. Lunn, a man of considerable worth, and a bookseller of high respectability in Soho Square, London. By a concurrence of unfortunate events, the affairs of his trade—that of a dealer in classical books, on a new and extensive system—were thrown into such a state of embarrassment, as, to his terrified apprehension, admitted of no possible relief; and from the pangs of disappointment and dread of disgrace, he sought refuge in a voluntary death. Impressed with great esteem for the character, and with deep commiseration for the fate, of an upright and honourable man, Dr. Parr took upon himself the task of relating, in a biographical memoir, the principal events of Mr. Lunn’s active and useful life, and the deplorable circumstances which led to his untimely death. This memoir, which will be found in a future page, was prefixed to a new catalogue of the remaining book-stock, with the benevolent view of promoting its sale, for the benefit of the widow and her two daughters, who were left without any other resources. It is a most pathetic appeal to all the just and generous feelings of the British public, especially to those of the learned world; and there is reason to hope it was attended with much good effect. How heart-moving is the representation in the following passage!
“Disappointed in his expectations—alarmed at
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“Happily for the human race, all the extenuations which accompany
such cases are reserved
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