AUTHORS. 



DR. SAMUEL PARR. 



It may very reasonably "be ques- 

 tioned whether the services which 

 Dr. Parr has done to the world 

 have been adequate to his ability 

 or his knowledge. Much is to be 

 allowed, however, for that want of 

 leisure and opportunity which every 

 man of letters must feel whose con- 

 stant and necessary occupation is 

 the instruction of youth. To the 

 character of a profound scholar, 

 though the printed testimonies he 

 has afforded us may have been slen- 

 der, none shall dare to dispute his 

 claim ; and were our remaining pos- 

 sessions of Greek and Latin authors 

 to share the fate of the celebrated 

 Alexandrian Library, we believe 

 that this gigantic proficient could 

 afford us, from recollection, a very 

 tolerable idea of Grecian and Ro- 

 man literature. Of the English 

 style of Dr. Parr it has been said 

 that it unites the strength of John- 

 son with the richness of Burke. 

 (Literary Memoirs, 1798.) 



x 



AINSWORTH'S DICTIONARY. 

 When Mr. Ainsworth was en- 

 gaged in the laborious work of his 



Dictionary of the Latin language, 

 his wife made heavy complaints at 

 enjoying so . little of his society. 

 When he had reached the letter S 

 of his work, the patience of his help- 

 meet was completely exhausted ; 

 and, in a fit of ill-nature, she re- 

 venged herself for the loss of his 

 company, by committing the whole 

 manuscript to the flames ! Such an 

 accident would have deterred most 

 men from prosecuting the under- 

 taking ; but the persevering indus- 

 try of Ainsworth repaired the loss 

 of nis manuscript by the most assi- 

 duous application. 



LADY M. WORTLEY MONTAGU. 



When I was young I was a vast 

 admirer of Ovid's Metamorphoses, 

 and that was one of the chief rea- 

 sons that set me upon the thoughts 

 of stealing the Latin language. Mr. 

 Wortley was the only person to 

 whom I communicated my design ; 

 and he encouraged me in it. I used 

 to study five or six hours a-day for 

 two years in my father's library, 

 and so got that language, whilst 

 everybody thought I was reading 

 nothing but novels and romances. 

 (Lady Mary Wortley Montagu.) 



WIT AND HUMOUR 



THOMAS CAMPBELL. UNIVERSITY 

 SPREE. 



A respectable apothecary named 

 Fife had a shop in the Trongate of 

 Glasgow (when Campbell, at the 

 age of seventeen, was attending the 

 University of that city in 1795), 

 with this notice in his window, 

 printed in large letters, "Ears 

 pierced by A. Fife;" meaning the 

 operation to which young ladies 

 submit for the sake of wearing ear- 

 rings. Mr. Fife's next door neigh- 

 bour was a citizen of the name of 

 Drum, a spirit-dealer, whose win- 

 dows exhibited various samples of 

 the liquors which he sold. The 

 worthy shopkeepers having become 



alienated by jealousy in trade, 

 Thomas Campbell and two trusty 

 college chums fell upon the fol- 

 lowing expedient for reconciling 

 them. During the darkness of night, 

 long before the streets of Glasgow 

 were lighted with gas. Campbell 

 and his two associates having pro- 

 cured a long fir-deal, had it ex- 

 tended from window to window of 

 the two contiguous shops, with this 

 inscription from Othello, which it 

 fell to the youthful poet, as his 

 share of the practical joke, to paint 

 in flaming capitals : 

 "THE SPIRIT-STIRRING DRUST, THE 



EAR-PIERCING FIFE." 

 Hitherto (observes Campbell's bio 



