et 
1808.] 
even for ascholarship at one of the great 
public seminaries, and at this eventful 
crisis of his life the least stoppage in 
the career of education might have 
proved fatal! To supply, however, all 
the deficiencies arising from penury, and 
want of patronage, a generous stranger 
stepped in, and like a guardian angel 
held forth his protecting hand. This was 
the late Mr. Norris, who, distrusting 
common report, insisted on a rigorous 
‘examination, which the pupil stood un- 
appalled,’ and behaved so as to obtain 
great credit to himself. On this, the 
gentleman just alluded to, chiefly from 
his own purse, in part with the as- 
sistance of others, purchased to the 
amount of 80]. per annum in the short 
annuities, knowing that in respect to the, 
duration of this fund, a portion of time 
would still elapse, fully sufficient for the 
completion of Mr. Porson’s education ; 
it was also imagined, perhaps, that an 
annual supply, determinable after a cer- 
tain interval, would serve as a stimulus 
to industry. 
Be this as it may, in the month of 
August, 1774, while still in his fifteenth 
year, and with a temporary provision of 
fourscore pounds a year, the subject of 
this memoir repaired to Eton. There, on 
the classic banks of the Thames, he was 
accustomed to’ mingle amusement with 
study, and frolic. with the most serious 
occupations. There, too, honours awaited 
him that must have been peculiarly dear 
to a school-boy; and he was accustomed, 
indeed, at a latter period of life, to de- 
clare with a countenance animated by 
a recollection, perhaps, of the happiest 
hours of his existence, that he was no- 
ticed by, and even adopted as the com- 
panion of the young men of the upper 
form, for whose amusement he wooed 
the Muses, and composed a drama to be 
acted in theirlong chamber. 
At this seemingly fortunate juncture,’ 
however, two events of an untoward na- 
ture occurred ; the one prejudicial to 
his fortune, the other to his health; the 
first was the sudden death of Mr. Norris, 
his benefactor; the second, an impost- 
hume formed upon his lungs. The for- 
mer of these was in its nature irremedia- 
ble : from the latter he found relief bya 
critical discharge, yet he recovered his 
health slowly ; and if he escaped from a 
consumption, it was but to be subject 
during a large portion of his life to an 
. asthma, 
At the end of a period of nearly three 
years Mr. Porson removed ta ‘Trinity 
Memoirs of Professor Porson. 
349, 
College, Cambridge, towards the close of 
1777 ; and his fame having already pre- 
ceded him, he was received as a person 
ef superior powers and endowments, 
Here again his memory. assisted him in 
such a manner, that, hike the admirable 
Crichton, of whom. we have heard so 
much, and know so little, he soon obtain= 
ed an astonishing proficiency in every 
branch of learning. 
Attracted partly by accident, and 
partly by the genius of the University, 
be began to cultivate sedulously his 
taste for the mathematics, for which 
his mind was admirably «fitted. He 
is supposed to have been stimulated 
solely by the prospect of a scholarship, 
the emoluments of which would have 
been not a little acceptable perhaps, 
considering his scanty means. But our 
student at length betook himself irrevo- 
cably, and with all the intenseness of 
study peculiar to himself at that period, 
to classical learning, a pursuit in which 
he soon shone with unrivalled lustre, so 
as not only to eclipse all his competitors, 
but reflect great honour beth on his col- 
lege and the University, the honours of 
which now awaited him, 
In 1781, we find the name of Richard 
Porson, of Trinity College, inscribed as 
one of those who had obtained a *Craven . 
scholarship, he having been elected by 
the Vice-Chancellor, the five Regii Pro- 
fessors, and the Orator. In 1782, he re- 
ceived one of the two gold medals con- 
ferred annually on those who acquit 
themselves best in classical learning. In 
the course of the second year, but a little 
anterior in point of time, he was one of 
the Senior Optimes, and had also taken 
a degree as Bachelor of Arts. In 4735, 
he obtained the degree of M. A. and be- 
gan already to be considered as an emi- 
nent literary character, in consequence 
of his learned notes and annotations to 
a Greek writer, who will be mentioned 
hereafter. 
Anterior to this, while a Junior Bache- 
lor, he had been chosen a fellow of his 
college in express opposition to the usual 
custom that then prevailed, which is sup- 
posed to have been departed from on this 
occasion, out of respect tu his transcend. 
ent talents. and acquirements. This dis- 
tinction, the emoluments attendant on 
which did not exceed 1001. per annum, 
* The amount is only 251. per annum, 
and the restriction, in respect to residence, 
is so severe, that an absence of more than 
three months precludes the continuance of it. 
was 
