18-2t).] Recellectiom of Dr. Parr. 'Zr> 



ficate of Leo the Tenth. It was on occasion of one of those works that 

 he said he wrote to Mr. Roscoe a letter of ten pages " full of criticism."* 

 Another occasion of displaying his magnanimity was in the case of 

 the late Lord Byron, whose introduction to him took place, according to 

 the description of a celebrated living poet, in the following manner. 



• Dr. Parr, all heartiness and classical enthusiasm, advanced with ex- 

 tended hand to greet the young nobleman, whom he considered as 

 promising to be an equal honour to the cause of literature, learning, and 

 liberal sentiment. Lord Byron, instead of meeting his advances, drew 

 up stiffly, p?(< out his foot, as if describing an unapproachable circle, and 

 made no movement to receive the Doctor s proffered hand. The had 

 taste (to say ho more) of this behaviour in a young man, to the venera- 

 ble representative of the wit and learning of half a century, can only be 

 defended upon the plea of that morbid eccentricity, wliich at moments 

 transformed his Lordship from one of the most fascinating into one of 

 the most repulsive of men. Such was his reception of the advances of 

 the venerable Chancellor, when he went to take his seat in the House of 

 Peers, as related by Mr. Dallas. Be that as it may, Dr. Parr never suf- 

 ed this incident to bias his judgment in deciding upon his Lordship's 

 literary merits, to which (as far as mere genius goes) he was ever ready to 

 pay the tribute of the most unqualified praise ; and that not when he was 

 the loadstone of popular attractions, but in his exile, in his unpopularity. 

 The generous spirit of Parr seemed to rise at the slightest appearance of 

 persecution : I have heard him sa}', " Campbell is a poet : Byron, with 

 all his vices, is a poet ; but (as if recollecting himself) he is unamiable." 

 Such was the gentle censure that memory extorted from Dr. Parr If 



Excepting that of Byron, Moore, and Campbell, Dr. Parr thought 

 little of the poetry of the present day : although he was the enthusiast 

 of that of an age gone b}', that of Pope, Young, Gray, Goldsmith, 

 Thomson, Beattie ; and used to say jocosely to the ladies, " The great 

 mischief Walter Scott does is to you women ; he has destroyed your 

 taste for poetry, exquisite, pure, moral poetry." Another time he said, 

 turning to a lady in company, " It is you women who have spoiled him, 

 and made him what he is.f His poetry is already forgotten. There was 

 that Marmion, about which such a fuss was made" — Here the lady in- 

 terposed in praise of the favourite poem of her favourite bard. " Nay, 

 nay," interrupted the Doctor, with affected ferocity, but real good-humour, 

 " If once you begin to cant about Walter Scott, I have done." He 

 observed that he had at once renounted the grander resources of poetic 

 liarmony, by chusing the octave measure. TTie purity of Dr. Pair's 



* If there is error in any of these statements,- the author begs the subjects of them 

 to correct them, but with candour ; as they are repeated verbatim from the Doctor's 

 own mouth. 



f One who had so frequently the advantage of hearing him, cannot be suspected of 

 having so little profited by that living lesson of liberality, as to intend by this anecdote 

 to cast additional shadow on the memory of an unfortunate nobleman, whose faults, 

 it is humbly hoped, were partly expiated by his toils and sufferings, and of whose 

 glorious end it might with trutJi be said, that " nothing in his life became him like the 

 leaving it." When, in the course of these scattered recollections, Misname, or that of 

 other distinguished persons occur with praise or blame, it must always be kept in mind 

 that they are mentioned chiefly with reference to Dr. Parr, and in order to illustrate 

 some of his sentiments or opinions. 



i Admitting this, perhaps it will be remarked the ladies have not much to reproach 

 themselves. 



M. M. Am' Series.— YoL. I. No. \. E 



