PORSON, RICHARD. 



ponsox, RICHARD. 



H 



symbolical ciutom of selling the goods of King Poreena, which 

 eontiiraed down to UM time of Livy (ii. 14). 



Porsena WM prolwbly a fabuloai hero of the F.truicans, belonging 

 to n age much anterior to any of which we have historical records. 

 The Unman legends however have interwoven his name with the war 

 gainst the Etruscan*, which the Tarquina are said to have caused 

 soon after their expulsion. How little Porsena belongs to real history 

 may be ooncludrd from the fabulous account of his monument, a 

 buikling at inconceivable as any described in the ' Arabian Nights.' 



(Niebuhr, Hat. of Rome, L note 405, compared with p. 551.) 



PORSON, RICHARD, an eminent Gnek scholar and critic, was 

 born oo Christmas-day 17(9, and died on the 25th of September 1SOS. 

 His parents were people in humble life at East Huston in Norfolk, 

 where bis father was pariah clerk. The father was a man of excellent 

 ease and average attainment* ; he not only taught liis children to 

 read and write, but he early taught them those habits of industry, 

 frugality, and order which they retained through life. But the great 

 mental powers which showed themselves in two of the sons, Richard 

 and Thomas, they derived from their mother : such at least was the 

 opinion of the Rev. Mr. Hewitt. From childhood, whatever Richard 

 did was done in a superior manner. Before he was sent to school his 

 mother employed him in spinning, and from the same quantity of 

 wool he always produced more yarn and of a bettor quality than 

 either his sister or brothers. Whilst he was spinning he constantly 

 bad a book lying open before him, in which he read most attentively ; 

 and before he could write he hod taught himself from an old book as 

 far as the cube root in arithmetic. At nine years of age Richard 

 Person was sent to a day -school at Happesbnrgh, kept by a Mr. Sum- 

 mers, a good arithmetician and excellent writing-master; and to him 

 he was indebted for the beautiful handwriting which in after years 

 enriched both his own books and those of his friends with characteristic 

 annotations, which ndded to the value of every book which passed 

 through his bands. From Mr. Summers, Person also learned the 

 rudiments of Latin, and during the three years that he was his pupil, 

 he had ev>ry evening on his return home to repeat to his father liin 

 lessons of the day, and this in the moat exact manner. When Richard 

 was twelve years of age the Rev. Charles Hewitt, vicar of E;tM, 

 Rust on and Hacton, generously offered to teach him gratuitously with 

 his own son*. Mr. Hewitt lived at Bacton, and the Persons at Huston, 

 four miles off; to every Monday morning, Richard, carrying with him 

 his humble provision for the week, trudged off to Mr. Hewitt's to 

 read, and returned home on the Saturday afternoon. Some years 

 after, bis brothers Henry and Thomas, the latter eleven years younger 

 than Richard, received the same gratuitous instruction from Mr. 

 Hewitt ; and here it may be recorded that in the opinion of the late 

 Dr. I'avy, master of Cams, who was intin.ately acquainted with both 

 the brothers, Thomas Parson was fully equal to Richard in ability ; 

 he kept a classical school at Fakenham, but died at the age of 

 twenty-four. 



By Mr. Hewitt, Richard was introduced to Mr. Norris of Witton, a 

 neighbouring country gentleman, who was so much struck with the 

 lad's fupcrior mind and attainments that he induced his friends to join 

 him in a subscription for the purpose of sending him to Etou, where 

 in 1 774 he was placed on the foundation. The death of his patron, 

 Mr. Norris, which occurred whilst Person was at Eton, did not affect 

 his prospect* ; for by the kindness of Sir George Baker, an eminent 

 physician, and some other fiknds of his late benefactor, he was 

 enabled to remain at Eton, and was afterwards sent to Cambridge. 

 Towards the end of 1777 be was admitted undergraduate of Trinity 

 College. In 1781 he was elected to a university scholarship on Lord 

 Craven's foundation, and on his taking his degree the following yiar 

 be was third f-enior optime and senior medalist. In October 1782 he 

 was elected a Fellow of his college, being one of the first who over 

 obtained that distinction in the year of his 11.A. degree. In 1785 he 

 took the degree of M.A. ; and in 1790 he was made Regius Professor 

 of Greek in the University of Cambridge by the unanimous votes of 

 the electors. The salary to this office was only 4W. a year, but the 

 appointment was gratifying to him, and it was his wish to make it 

 something better than a sinecure, by giving an annual course of 

 lectures in the college, if rooms bad been assigned to him for the 

 purpose; bat in this he was thwarted. Some scruples that he felt 

 with regard to subscribing to the Thirty-nine Articles deterred him 

 from taking orders; and, according to the rules of the college, he 

 vacated his fellowship in 1791, the master and fellows refusing to give 

 him a lay-fellowship. 



Porson struggltd with poverty repeatedly during his life, and 

 endured great privations, especially after being made Greek professor. 

 He was a man of great bodily strength and has often been known to 

 walk from Cambridge to London, 52 miles, in one day, to attend his 

 club in the evening, as he could not afford to pay the coach fare, 

 having only his profesorship of 40t a year to live on. He told the 

 writer of this memoir that daring these dnys of forced economy be 

 1 vi lived in London one calender month for a guinea, taking only two 

 meals a day, and tho-e of the most frugal kind. 



Porson had for several years been an occasional contributor to 

 'Maty's Review/ the ' Monthly Review,' and the ' Gentleman's Maga- 

 zine,' but he had not come before the public in his own name as an 

 author till soiuo l.-tu-rs upon the contested verso, 1 John chap, v., 



verse 7, called forth the admirable ' Letters to Archdeacon Travis ' in 

 1700. In that work it is difficult to say whether argument or wit, 

 vivacity of manner, or patience of research, be most conspicuous 

 when the hich im|x>rtanoe of the subject is considered, reoonn 

 as it is not only by the qualities above mentioned, but by an exquinitu 

 specimen of English composition, the comparative neglect which it 

 has met with from the author's countrymen is not a little i-urprWnc. 



In 1792 n number of Person's friends and admirers, amongst whom 

 were Mr. Coke of Holkham, Dr. Parr, Dr. I. and Dr. M. Raiue, the 

 Rev. Mr. Cracherode, and several other perrons of high character, 

 subscribed a sum of about 2000(. which was vested for bis benefit in 

 the fund". After Person's death the surviving trustees transferred 

 to the university 4 OO/. of this money, upon trust, the interest of 

 is applied to the purpose of giving an annual prize, called the Porson 

 Prize. Let the undergraduate who gains that prize, duly estimate 

 the encouragement given to learning in the case of the conscientious 

 Person ! 



In November 1795 Poison married Mrs. Lnnon, the sister of Mr. 

 Perry, editor of the Morning Chronicle. This lady died in less than 

 six months after her marriage. 



On the establishment of the London Institution Porson was appoint c 1 

 head librarian with a salary of 2002. a year, and he was thus place. 1 

 for the first time in his life in comfortable circumstances. Hit 

 character has been traduced as being an habitual drunkard, bnt he was 

 not so that at times he drank even to intoxication cannot however 

 lie denied. Like Johnson, he could practise abstinence more easily 

 than temperance. He lived in days when the leading statesmen and 

 politicians were not ashamed of being seen under the influence of 

 wine : but they were orthodox men ; and though Porson has been 

 vilified for his occasional intemperance, it may without much hesita- 

 tion be affirmed that it was his reforming principles in Church and 

 State that brought much of the obloquy upon him. 



For many years before his death Person suffered FO severely from 

 spasmodic asthma as to interrupt him in every study to which In- 

 applied himself; yet, notwithstanding this, few men aecu 

 themselves to such patient and continued toil. He had undertaken to 

 make out, and copy the almost obliterated manuscript of the 1. 

 of Photiu*, ami this he had just completed, when the copy which had 

 cost him ten months' labour was burnt in Mr. Perry's house at 

 Merton. The original, being a unique, and intrusted to him by his 

 college, he carried with him wherever ho went, and fortunately he 

 was absent from Merton. when the fire took place. Uuruflled by the, 

 loss, he sat down without s> murmur and made a second copy as 

 beautiful as the first. 



On the 19th of September 1803 Porson was reized with an apoplectic 

 fit while walking in the Strand ; he recovered sufficiently to be removed 

 to his rooms in the Old Jewry the next morning, but in the course of 

 the day another fit deprived him of consciousness, and after lin 

 till Sunday the 25th he expired. Jlis remains wore conveyed to 

 Cambridge, and interred in the ante-chapel of Trinity College, where 

 a monument to bis memory is erected. The bust by Chantrey has no 

 resemblance to Port-on, but a cast of his head and face taken after his 

 death by Qanganelli is most accurate, and from this many busts have 

 been made. 



Richard Person was one of the profoundest Greek scholars and the 

 greatest verbal critic that any age or country has produced. Ho 

 possessed every quality which is necessary to the formation of a 

 scholar a stupendous memory, unwearied application, great acutonesa, 

 strong sound sense, and a lively perception both of the beautiful and 

 the ludicrous. Resides these qualifications he enjoyed the rare faculty 

 of conjecturing from the imperfect data of corrupt readings the very 

 words of the author whoso text he sought to restore; in this last 

 particular we know of no one, with the single exception of Bentley, 

 who can be named in comparison with him, and in some points we 

 should not hesitate to place Porson before that great ArisUrchus of 

 criticism. 



It is a great mistake to suppose that Person's reading was confined 

 to the Greek poets; we doubt if there were any classical author whom 

 he bad not read, and we are confident that he WHS familiar with thu 

 whole mass of Greek literature. We have looked through the editions 

 of Greek books that belonged to him, which are now in the ha 

 different individuals or in public libraries, and there is not one which 

 does not bear some traces of his careful and critical poriiFiil. 1 ' 

 besides an excellent French scholar, and was thoroughly ncqi. 

 with the French literature of the middle ages. His knowledge of 

 English literature was immense ; and so extraordinary was his memory 

 that he could repeat whole pages, not only of poetry but of prose, in 

 the most accurate and beautiful manner. Ho was fond of the ; 

 of young people, to whom he talked freely, mixing instruction with 

 wit and humour ; but he had no liking for mere learned pedants, and 

 could not be mode to talk before them. Porson published very little, 

 but that little was of surpassing excellence : for a correct account of 

 his literary labours the reader is referred to ' Tracts and Miscellaneous 

 Criticisms of thn late Richard Porson,' by the Rev. Thomas Kidil, 

 London, IMS. Person's edition of the Lexicon of Photius, and his 

 'Adversaria,' wire published after bis death. The greatest coin 

 that can bo made against Porson if, that with such va*t capabilities' 

 he did so little. A very large sum was offered him for :r 



