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PARRY, SIR WILLIAM EDWARD. 



PARRY, SIR WILLIAM EDWARD. 



C78 



beautiful outline as well in form as execution, particularly in the 

 extremities, for, fays Pliny, when compared with himself, the inter- 

 mediate parts were inferior. 



One of the most celebrated works of Parrhasius was his allegorical 

 figure of the Athenian people, or Demos. Pliny says that it represented 

 and expressed equally, all the good and bad qualities of the Athenians, 

 at the same time ; one might trace the changeable, the irritable, the 

 kind, the unjust, the forgiving, the vain-glorious, the proud, the 

 humble, the fierce, and the timid. How all these contrasting and 

 counteracting qualities could have been represented at tho same 

 time, it ia difficult to conceive ; if we are to suppose it to have been 

 a single figure, it is very certain that it could not have been such as 

 Pliny has described it (xxxv. 10-36), for, except by symbols, it is 

 totally incompatible with the means of art. 



Parrhasius painted a Theseus, which, after the general spoliation of 

 Greece, was placed in the Capitol at Rome. It was probably for this 

 picture that he was made a citizen of Athens. When Euphranor 

 remarked that the Theseus of Parrhasiua had fed upon roses, and his 

 own upon beef, he seems to have alluded particularly to the style of 

 design, and not, as one might suppose, to the colour ; for, as Winckel- 

 mann has observed, the word used by Plutarch (ykcupvpus, ' elegantly,') 

 relates expressly to form. ('De Glor. Ath.,' 2.) According to the 

 taste of Euphranor, the figure of Parrhasius was too elegant, too 

 delicate, too effeminate for heroic beauty. 



Pliny enumerates many other works by Parrhasius; a naval com- 

 mander in his armour ; a Meleager, Hercules, and Perseus, upon the 

 same tablet; Ulysses feigning insanity; Castor and Pollux; Bacchus 

 and Virtue ; a Cretan nurse with an infant in her arms ; a priest 

 officiating, with an attendant youth bearing incense ; two youthful 

 boys, in which were admirably depicted the innocent simplicity of the 

 age, and its happy security from all care ; a Pbiliscus ; a Telephus ; 

 an Achilles ; an Agamemnon ; an -Knean ; and two famous pictures 

 of Hoplites, or heavy-armed warriors, one in action, the other in 

 repose, admirably painted. 



I'arrhanius amused himself also with painting small libidinous pieces. 

 The Archigallus mentioned by Pliny was most probably of this descrip- 

 tion, both from the particular favour of Tiberius with which it was 

 honoured, and the peculiar nature of the rights of Cjbele, whose 

 chief priest was the Archigallus. To this class we may add the picture 

 of Meleager and Atalanta, mentioned by Suetonius. ('Tib.,' c. 44.) 

 This picture was bequeathed to Tiberius on the conditions that if he 

 should be offended with the subject, he should receive in its stead 

 1,000,000 sesterces ('(iecies H-S,' about 8500J.). The emperor not 

 only preferred the picture to the money, but had it fixed up in his 

 own chamber, where the Archigallus was also preserved, and which 

 was valued at H-S.LX. or 60,000 sesterces (about 5001.). These pro- 

 ductions entitle Parrhauus to the epithet of Pornograph, and prove 

 that this style of painting was in fashion long before the decline of 

 Grecian art. 



Plutarch instances Parrhasius' s picture of Ulysses feigning insanity 

 as an improper subject for the pencil, yet reconciled to our taste 

 through the spirit of the conception and the truth of the execution. 

 (' De Aud. Poet.') Parrhasius painted a Hercules, which he affirmed 

 was a fac simile of the god as he had frequently appeared to 'him in 

 his dreams. (/Vthenacus, xii. 544.) He painted also a Philoctetes. 

 (' AnthoL Gr.,' iv. 8, 26.) Pliny mentions a contest between Parrhasius 

 and Timanthee of Cythnos, in which the former was beaten : the sub- 

 ject of the picture was the contest of Ulysses and Ajax. The proud 

 painter, indignant at the decision of the judges, is said to have 

 remarked that the unfortunate son of Telamon was for a second time, 

 in the same cause, defeated by an unworthy rival. (Athen. xii. 543.) 

 Pliny records also a trial of skill between Parrhasius and Zeuxis, in 

 which the latter allowed his grapes to have been surpassed by the 

 drapery of the former. " This contest," says Fuseli, " if not a frolic, 

 was an effort of puerile dexterity." 



The story told by Seneca of Parrhasius having crucified an old Olyn- 

 thian captive when about to paint a Prometheus chained, that he 

 might seize from nature the true expression of bodily agony, cannot 

 relate to this Parrhasius, and is probably a fiction ; it is nowhere to 

 be found but in the ' Controversies ' (v. 10) of the preceptor of Nero. 

 Olynthus was taken by Philip in the second year of the 108th Olympiad, 

 or B.C. 347, which is nearly half a century later than the latest accounts 

 we have of I'arrhasiua. Socrates died in the 95th Olympiad, and 

 Farrhasius must therefore have been already celebrated before that 

 time, from his dialogue with that philosopher upon the principles of 

 art as preserved by Xenophon. ('Mem.,' iii. 10.) He is even men- 

 tioned by Pausanias (x. 28) in the 84th Olympiad, when he is said to 

 have painted a battle of the Lapithao and Centaurs on the shield of the 

 Minerva of Phidias at Athens. Supposing such to bo the case (for 

 although improbable it is still not impossible), Parrhasius, if living, 

 mast have been at least 120 years of age when Philip took Olynthus. 



PARRY, Sill WILLIAM EDWARD, KNT., Rear-Admiral of the 

 White, was born December 19, 1790, at Bath, in Somersetshire. 

 Ills father wax Caleb Hillier Parry, M.D., a physician of some celebrity. 

 Hii mother was the daughter of John liigby, Esq., of Lancaster. 



Edward Parry, aa he was always called when a boy (and generally 

 known afterward! as Sir Edward Parry), was educated in the grammar- 

 school of the city of Bath, where he attained a knowledge by no means 



contemptible of the Latin and Greek languages. His parents intended 

 him for the medical profession, but in 1803 Miss Cornwallis, a near 

 relative of Admiral the Hon. William Cornwallis, then in command of 

 the Channel fleet off Brest, induced them to change their purpose. She 

 thought he had the qualities suitable for a naval officer, and that her 

 influence would suffice to float him off comfortably. As he had no 

 objection to make trial of a sailor's life, in June 1803, through the 

 kindness of Admiral Cornwallis, he was appointed a first-class volunteer 

 on board the Ville-de-Paris, 110 guns, then about to go out as flag-ship 

 to the Channel fleet. Young Parry took a liking to his profession, 

 and studied French and mathematics under the chaplain of the 

 Ville-de-Paris, which continued to cruise in the Channel, off Brest 

 and Ushant. In the early part of 1806 he left the Ville-de-Paris to 

 go on board the Tribune frigate, as a midshipman. The Tribune was 

 employed about two years in cruising off the French coast ; but in the 

 spring of 1808 Captain Baker was promoted from the Tribune to the 

 Vanguard, 74, which belonged to the Baltic fleet, and Parry went with 

 him. The Vanguard returned to the Downs iu December 1809, and 

 Parry obtained his commission as lieutenant, January 6, 1810. Early 

 in February the same year he proceeded to Sheerness to join the 

 Alexandria frigate, which was about to sail on service in the Baltic, 

 and was afterwards employed iu the northern seas in protecting the 

 Spitzbergen whale-fishery. During that period Lieutenant Parry was 

 a good deal employed in making astronomical observations, and in 

 improving the Admiralty charts of those seas. In January 1813 he 

 left the Alexandria, and proceeded to Halifax in Nova Scotia, to join 

 the La Hogue, 74. Great Britain was then at war with the United 

 States, and Lieutenant Parry having joined the La Hogue in the 

 summer of 1813, in the spring of 1814 was engaged in a successful 

 boat-expedition, which ascended the river Connecticut as far as Petti- 

 pague Point, and destroyed several privateers and other vessels, in all 

 27, valued at 50,000, with the loss of only two men killed. 



After the peace of 1814 the La Hogue returned to England, but 

 Lieutenant Parry, in hopes of preferment, remained on the North 

 American station in the Maidstone frigate, and afterwards in the 

 Ardent, 64, the Carron, 20, and the Niger, 36. He continued on the 

 North American station without preferment till March 1817, when he 

 was summoned home in consequence of his father having suffered a 

 severe attack of paralysis. While on the North American station iu the 

 La Hogue he drew up a little work for the use of the junior officers of 

 the fleet on that station, and distributed it in manuscript. It was 

 afterwards printed, under the title of ' Nautical Astronomy by Night, 

 comprehending Practical Directions for knowiug and observing the 

 Principal Fixed Stars of the NorthernHemisphere ; to which is prefixed 

 a Short Account of the most interesting Phenomena in the Science of 

 Astronomy ; the whole illustrated by several Engravings," 4to. 



Lieutenant Parry was desirous of joining the expedition to the river 

 Congo hi Africa, but owing to his having been detained at the Bermudas, 

 he did not reach England till the end of 1817, when it was too late. 

 Meantime, in consequence of a report that the Arctic seas were then 

 much less encumbered with ice than usual, the Admiralty had fitted 

 out two expeditions for those seas, one under Captain Buchan and 

 Lieutenant Franklin, to proceed by Spitzbergen to the North Pole; 

 the other under Commander John Ross for the purpose of exploring 

 Baffin's Bay, and ascertaining the probabilities of a North* West Passage 

 from the Atlantic to the Pacific. Parry having heard of these expedi- 

 tions, wrote to request employment, obsernm; that he was " ready for 

 hot or cold, Africa or the Arctic regions." When he arrived in London, 

 he was introduced to Mr. Barrow, secretary to the Admiralty, who 

 soon afterwards appointed him to the command of the Alexander, 

 under the orders of Captain Ross in the Isabella. The Isabella, 

 followed by the Alexander, left the Thames at the end of April 1818. 

 On the 19th of August the two ships were off Smith's Sound at the 

 northern extremity of Baffin's Bay. They then turned southwards, 

 sailing along the western coast, passed the mouth of Jones's Sound, 

 and on the 30th reached the wide opening of Lancaster Sound. The 

 water was deep and free from ice, and on the following day both ships 

 under a press of sail were steering westwards up Lancaster Sound. 

 Parry was full of expectation, as were all the crew on board the 

 Alexander, when suddenly the Isabella tacked, turned her head east- 

 wards, and rejoined the Alexander. Both vessels then retraced their 

 course, and Lancaster Sound was left behind. Commander Ross had 

 imagined that he saw high laud, which he named the Croker Mountains, 

 barring the passage to the westward. The two vessels entered the 

 Thames on their return in November of the same year. 



Lieutenant Parry's opinion that them was on open passage up 

 Lancaster Sound, and that the Croker Mountains were all a mistake, 

 though privately expressed, was soon known at the Admiralty. He 

 had interviews with Mr. Barrow, and was introduced to Lord Melville ; 

 and a second expedition for the discovery of a North- West Passage 

 having been resolved upon, the Hecla and Griper were taken into 

 dock at Deptford to be repaired and strengthened for service iu the 

 Arctic seas. Parry was appointed to the commouil of the Hecla and 

 of the expedition, Lieutenant Liddon being placed un'ler Ms orders in, 

 the Griper. The expedition left the Thames on the llth of May 1819, 

 and having sailed up the eastern side of Davis's Strait and Baffin's Bay, 

 on the 21st of July they were in 73 N. lat., nearly opposite to the 

 entrance of Lancaster Sound, but with extensive masses of ico to tho 



