6 LIFE OF 



cester, which he held till his death ; though, after his marriage, 

 he resided at Wormesley Grange, near Hereford. He was a 

 man of great simplicity and kindness of character, combined 

 with superior ability, and his views on many subjects appear to 

 have been in advance of the period in which he lived ; he was 

 greatly beloved and respected by his neighbours, by whom his 

 remarks and axioms were long remembered, and quoted to his 

 children. 



He died November 3rd, 1764, and was interred at Wormesley. 

 He left two sons and two daughters : the eldest, Mr. Payne 

 Knight, was born February 3rd, 1/50 ; Thomas Andrew, the 

 youngest son, was born at Wormesley Grange on the 12th of 

 August, 1 759, and was therefore only five years old at the period 

 of his father's death. 



The early education of both these brothers was much neg- 

 lected, particularly that of the eldest, who never was at a public 

 school, or at either of the Universities ; and the eminence to 

 which he attained as a scholar, adds another to the many 

 instances on record, of the manner in which an energetic mind 

 will press forward in pursuit of knowledge in spite of disadvan- 

 tages and difficulties. Mr. Payne Knight did not begin the 

 study of the Greek language till he was eighteen, and his atten- 

 tion was then chiefly directed to those subjects which illustrate 

 Greek 'sculptures and coins, viz., Mythology and the Archaic 

 Greek language, and the earliest productions of his pen were 

 devoted to elucidate some obscure points of Greek mythology. 

 He visited Italy before he was of age, and there acquired that 

 taste for the fine arts, and especially for the productions of the 

 Greek sculptor, which led to his forming the magnificent col- 

 lection of ancient bronzes and coins bequeathed by his will to 

 the British Museum*. The only one of Mr. P. Knight's 

 works which has much interest for the general reader is " An 

 Analytical Inquiry into the Principles of Taste," first published 

 in 1805. and which has passed through several editions. In 

 1809 the Dilettanti Society published a splendid work entitled 



* The value of this collection was estimated at 50,000^. 



