162 - A Tribute to the Memory of [Sept. 



Having, a few years afterwards, married the daughter of a 

 clergyman of the establishment, they sought the means of sup- 

 port by jointly engaging in the education of females, and for 

 many years conducted a respectable boarding school, first at 

 Wrexham, in North Wales, and afterwards in Manchester. 



It was at the former place that Mr. Henry was born, on 

 Oct. 26, O. S. 1734. For some years, he remained under the 

 tuition of his mother, who was admirably fitted for the task, and 

 of whom he was always accustomed to speak with the warmest 

 affection and gratitude. At a proper age, he was sent to the 

 Grammar School of Wrexham, at that time in considerable 

 repute. There he was fortunate in having, for his first classical 

 instructor, the Rev. Mr. Lewis, whose virtues are the subject of 

 an elegant Latin epitaph, copied by Mr. Pennant into his Tour 

 through Wales.* At this school, Mr. Henry remained for . ! 

 several years, and made such proficiency in his classical studies 

 as to have attained the foremost station, with the exception 

 only of Mr. Price, who was afterwards well known as the Keeper 

 of the Bodleian Library in the University of Oxford. 



The inclination of Mr. Henry, from early life, led him to the 

 church ; and it was determined that, on leaving school, he 

 should remove to Oxford. Even the day of his departure was 

 fixed, and a horse was provided for the journey. But as the 

 time drew near, his parents, who had a numerous family, and 

 were far from being in affluent circumstances, shrunk from the 

 prospect of expenses that were unavoidable, and the uncertainty 

 of eventual success. While they were thus hesitating, Mr. 

 Jones, an eminent apothecary of Wrexham, decided the point, 

 by proposing to take Mr. Henry as an apprentice ; and to this 

 measure, though deeply feeling the disappointment of long 

 indulged hopes, he could not deny the reasonableness of assent- 

 ing:. With Mr. Jones he continued, till that gentleman died 

 suddenly from an attack of gout, when he was articled for the 

 remainder of the term to a member of the same profession at 

 Knutsford, in Cheshire. 



In neither of these situations did Mr. Henry enjoy an}' extra- 

 ordinary opportunities of improvement. The only book which 

 he remembered to have been put into his hands by either of his 

 masters was the Latin edition of Boerhaave's Chemistiy, in two 

 vols, quarto, a work, which, whatever may have been its merits, 

 was certainly not calculated to present that science to a beginner 

 under a fascinating aspect. His reading was, therefore, entirely 

 self directed ; and, by means of such books as chance threw into 

 his way, he acquired a share of knowledge creditable both to his 

 abilities and his industry. 



At the expiration of his apprenticeship, he engaged himself as 

 principal assistant to Mr. Malbon, who then took the lead as an 



* Page 293. 



