350 
was not long enjoyed by him, It is or- 
dained by the statutes, that at the expi- 
ration of seven years the fortunate can- 
didate must either enter into holy orders, \ 
or resign; but like some other great men, 
after the most deliberate investigation, he 
could not bring his mind to consent to 
subscription to the thirty-nine articles of 
the church of England. Accordingly, after 
long and painful deliberation, he deter- 
mined to sacrifice his interest to consci- 
entious scruples ; this was accordingly 
accomplished in 1791, and when it is 
considered that his fortune was'in a great 
measure still to seek, it must be allowed to 
be an act equally noble and exemplary. A 
Tay fellowship might still have been held, 
without any impeachment of his inte- 
grity, but we have been told, “ that thie 
disingenuous. conduct of an individual 
withheld him from that resource.” 
On this, with an impaired constitution, 
and a mind assailed, and perhaps a little 
ruffled by repeated mortifications, he 
took, as he imagined, an eternal farewell 
of his Alma Mater, and reluctantly re- 
paired to the capital, where he still leda 
Kind of college life, being, for the most 
part, entirely secluded from the bustle of 
the world, spending the whole of his time, 
artly in his own study, and partly in the 
renee of his friends. 
In 1792, he was, however, recalled to 
Cambridge in the mosthonourable manner, 
By the demise of Mr. W. Cooke, M.A. 
of King’s College, who had held it during 
twelve years, the Greek professorship be- 
came vacant, and the learned candidate, 
after delivering a thesis on Euripides, was 
unanimously chosen by the seven elec- 
tors.*. It appears that this, instead of be- 
ing, agcording to the design of the foun- 
der, anjeffieient office, is a mere sine- 
cure, and seems intended to remain so; 
for Mr. Porson would have delivered an 
annual course of lectures in the College, 
had rooms been allowed for that pur- 
pose! 
. Three years after this, he determined to 
settle in life, and accordingly, in 1795, 
married Mrs. Lunan, formerly Miss Perry, 
a lady born in Aberdeen, and sister to the 
editor and proprietor of the Morning 
Chronicle, which paper Mr. Porson is sup- 
eet kis AS RE BATE 5 OER Ee 
* Doctors of all faculties are excluded from 
this office, which is more honourable than 
profitable, being 401. per annum nominally, 
but in truth only 521. It was founded by 
Henry VIII. in 1540 5 the names of Franklin 
and Lort are to be found among Mr, Porson’s 
predecessors. 
Memoirs of Professor Porson. 
posed to have occasionally enriched with 
the lucubrations of his leisure hours. 
After passing many years in a seden- 
tary kind of life, but little favourable to 
his health, sometimes at his chambers in, 
Cambridge, and sometimes in town, the. 
professor was at length elected principal 
librarian of the London Institution, a 
choice which reflects great honour on the 
liberality and discernment of the mana- 
gers. From that time he resided chiefly 
at their house in the city, and indeed 
died there. . 
After this narrative of the life of Mr. 
Porson, which has been purposely kept 
unbroken, we shall attempt a summary 
of his literary labours. These actually 
commenced at an early period, but were 
first made known to the public while he 
was still an under-graduate, in 1785, by 
the republication of Xenophon’s Anaba- 
sis, originally edited by Hutchinson at 
Oxford. To this work, by turns under- 
taken by members of the two rival uni- 
versities, the attention of the learned 
world was of course turned, and he added 
notes, but without affixing his name to 
them: they relate chiefly to MSS. of 
which Hutchinson was either ignorant, 
or negligent.* Those marked W. have 
been assigned to Mr. Whiter, the author. 
of the Etymologicum Magnum. 
In 1790, a new edition of the very 
Jearned work, entitled “ Emendationes 
in Suidam et Hesychium, & alios Lexico- 
graphos Grecos,” was published at the 
Clarendon press. ‘To this the professor 
subjoined some critical notes, which were 
termed “ Note breves, ad Toupii Emen- 
dationes in Suidam,” and “ Note in Cu- 
ras novissimas.” ‘These were never pub- 
licly acknowledged, any further than by 
the initialst of the learned Grecian. 
In the course of the same year, in 
which Mr. Porson thus stood forward as 
an editor, he distinguished himself by his 
celebrated controversial work, which was 
the first that extended his reputation be- 
yond the bounds cf his own and the sis- 
ter Universities, and spread his fame not 
only throughout Great Britain, but also 
over the continent of Europe. It will be 
easily supposed that we now allude to the 
“Letters to Mr. Archdeacon Travis, in 
answer to his Defence of the Three hea- 
* They are introduced by a remarkable 
preface, beginning ‘ Lectori, si quis erit.” 
¢ A.R.P.C.S.S.T.C.S. [A. Ricar- 
do Porson, Collegii Sacro Sancts Trinitatis, 
Cantabrigie, Socio.], 
venly 
[Nov. Ty 7 
( 
