LIFE OF LANGHORNE. 



He was born at Kirkby-Steplien, Westmorland, in March, 1735^ 

 and was only four years old at the death of his father, when his 

 mother, being in circumstances far from affluent, gave him the first 

 rudiments of education, which he afterwards completed at Appleby. 

 His progress in classical learning is a striking instance, to the many 

 on record, of what is to be effected by perseverance and a desire 

 for study ; he having been able, at the early age of thirteen, to read 

 and construe the Greek Testament. 



At the age of eighteen, having acquired a perfect knowledge of 

 ancient literature, and his circumstances being inadequate to his 

 expectations, he engaged himself as a private tutor in a family near 

 Ripon, where he wrote "Studley Park, an Elegy written amongst 

 the Ruins of Pontefract Castle, and an Ode to the River Eden," 

 all of which being considered by their author as nothing more than 

 juvenile efforts, were despised by him, though they really possess a 

 considerable portion of merit. Studley Park was written in praise 

 of a beautiful spot, and perhaps with a hope of finding a patron in 

 its possessor, in which, however, having failed, he did not retain the 

 poem in his collection; but it is now before the public, and by no 

 means diminishes the reputation he has gained. 



He afterwards became an assistant at the free-school in Wake- 

 field, where he soon acquired deacon's orders, and gained much 

 popularity as a preacher. In 1759, he was engaged as a preceptor 

 to the sons of R. Cracroft, Esq. of Hackthorn, Lincolnshire, and 

 here he soon gave a proof of the liberality of his heart, by publish- 

 iiio; a volume of poems for the benefit of a reduced gentleman in 

 distress. In the preface to this volume he feelingly observes, "If 

 any one, into whose hands this work shall fall, should be dissatisfied 

 with his purchase, let him remember that it is published for the relief 

 of a gentleman in distress; and that he has not thrown away five 

 shillings in the purchase of a worthless book, but contributed so much 

 to the assistance of indigent merit. I had rather have my readers 

 feel that pleasure which arises from the sense of having done one 

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