PAR 
PAR 
The mountain, towards Turco Cori, appears like a cairn, 
compoled of hills inftead of Hones. The detached form 
of the ten principal peaks probably gave rife to the fable 
of the Mufes and Apollo having made it their feat: and 
the folemnity produced on the mind, by the impreffion 
of the furrounding fcenery, tended, no doubt, to lan&ion 
the fiction.” Galt's Voyages and Travels, 4-to. 1812. 
The Corycian cave, in particular, has been defcribed 
by other travellers, but no-where more perfpicuoufly, or 
with more felicity, than by Mr. Raikes. “ The narrow 
and low entrance of the cave, fpread at once into a cham¬ 
ber 330 feet long, by nearly 200 wide; the ftalaClites 
from the top hung in the molt graceful forms, the whole 
length of the roof, and fell, like drapery, down the fides. 
The depth of the folds was fo valt, and the malles thus 
fufpended in the air was fo great, that the relief and full- 
nefs of thefe natural hangings were as complete as the 
fancy could have wilhed. They were not like concre¬ 
tions or incrultations, mere coverings of the rock ; they 
w'ere the gradual growth of ages, difpofed in the moil 
fimple and majeflic forms, and fo rich and large as to 
accord with the lize and loftinefs of the cavern. The 
ftalagmites below and on the fides of the chamber were 
Hill more fantaftic in their forms than the pendants 
above, and Itruck the eye with the fancied refemblance 
of vaft human figures. At the end of this great vault, 
a narrow paflage leads down a wet Hope of rock; with 
fome difficulty, from the flippery nature of the ground 
on which I trod, I went a confiderable way on, until I 
came to a place where the defcent grew very deep, and, 
my light being nearly exhaufted, it feemed belt to return. 
On my way back, I found, half buried in the clay, on 
one fide of the paflage, a fmall antique patera, of the 
common black-and-red w'are. The incruftation of the 
grotto had begun to appear; but it was unbroken, and 
I was interefted in finding this fimple relic of the homage 
once paid to the Corycian nymphs by the ancient inha¬ 
bitants of the country. The ftalagmitic formations on 
the entrance of this fecond paflage are wild as imagina¬ 
tion can conceive, and of the molt brilliant whitenefs. 
It would not require a fancy, lively, like that of the an¬ 
cient Greeks, to affign this beautiful grotto as a refidence 
to the nymphs. The ftillnefs which reigns through it, 
only broken by the gentle found of the water, which 
drops from the point of the HalaClites, the xtvxowa. 
of the grotto of the nymphs in the Odyfiey, the dim 
light admitted by its narrow entrance, and refle&ed by 
the white ribs of the roof, with all the miraculous deco¬ 
rations of the interior, would imprefs the moll infenfible 
with feelings of awe, and lead him to attribute the in¬ 
fluence of the fcene to the prefence of fome fupernatural 
being.” Walpole's Memoirs relating to Turkey, 4to. 1819. 
Parnassus was alfo a town of Afia, in Galatia, upon 
the route from Cafarea to Ancyra, between Afpona and 
Nyfla, according to the Itinerary of Antonine. 
PARN'DORF, a town of the duchy of Wurzburg: 
three miles fouth-well of Koniglhofen in der Grabfeld. 
PARNE', a town of France, in the department of the 
Mayenne : fix miles fouth-ealt of Laval. 
PARCEL, a town of Hindooftan, in Dowlatabad : 
fifteen miles fouth-well of Amednagur. 
PAR'NEL, f. [diminutive of petronella,lta\.~\ A punk; 
a flut. Obfolete. 
PAR'NELL (Thomas), a pleafing Englilh poet, was 
defeended from an ancient family in Chelhire. His fa¬ 
ther, who had followed the parliamentary caufe in the 
civil wars of Charles I. upon the Refloration went to Ire¬ 
land, where he purchaled an eftate. His eldell Ion, 
Thomas, was born at Dublin in 1679, and received his 
fchool-education in that city, whence,at theageof thirteen, 
he was transferred to the college. Of his progrefs in that 
feminary, nothing particular is recorded ; but his wri- 
. tings fufficiently Ihow that he laid in a refpeClable llore 
of claffical learning. He was admitted to the degree of 
M. A. in 1700, took deacon’s orders in the fame year, 
Vol. XVIII. No. 1270. 
633 
and was ordained prieft three years afterwards. In 1705 
he was prefented to the archdeaconry of Clogher, and 
about the fame time married a lady of great beauty and 
merit. He now began to make thofe frequent excurfions 
to England, in which the moll defirable part of his life 
was thenceforth palfed. His focial- qualities caufed him 
to be univerfally well received ; but his firft connexions 
were principally with the Whigs, at that time in power; 
and he was familiar with their moft diftinguilhed men of 
letters, as Addifon, Congreve, and Steele. Towards the 
latter part of queen Anne’s reign, when the Tories were 
triumphant, Parnell, influenced, it is thought, by Swift, 
their zealous partilan, deferted his former friends, and 
joined in clofe union with that celebrated wit, and his 
aflbeiates, Pope, Gay, and Arbuthnot. Swift introduced 
him to lord-treafurer Harley ; and, with the di&atorial 
air he was fond of afluming, infilled upon the treafurer’s 
going with his ftaff in his hand into the anti-chamber, 
where Parnell was waiting, to welcome him. Yet Parnell 
could never claim any high rank in literature ; nor was 
there much to be expe&ed from his political fervices. 
Though his biographer, Goldfmitb, is difpofed to throw 
all pcffible luftre on his chara&er, he cannot raifeit high¬ 
er than that of a benevolent good-natured man, pleafant 
in company when in fpirits, much attached to his parti¬ 
cular friends, and fo much addicted to fociety that he 
preferred what was indifferent to folitude. “ Every year,” 
it is faid, “as foon as he had collected the rents of his 
eftate, and the revenue of his benefices, he came over to 
England, and fpent fome months, living in an elegant 
ftyle, and rather impairing than improving his fortune.” 
He was at one time an alliduous preacher in the London 
pulpits, with a view of riling to notice ; but the change 
of the miniftry at queen Anne’s death, deftroyed his bril¬ 
liant profpe&s in the church, and limited his future ad¬ 
vancement to the favour of private friends. By means 
of Swift’s recommendation to archbilhop King, he ob¬ 
tained a prebend, and the valuable living of Finglafs. 
His domellic happinefs received a fevere Ihock in 1712, 
by the death of ids beloved wife. The lofs is faid to have 
had fuch an effect upon his fpirits, as to lead him into 
thofe habits of intemperance in wine which Ihortened 
his life ; and Goldfmith indulgently reprefents him as 
“ in fome nreafure a martyr to conjugal fidelity ;” but it 
can fcarcely be doubted that his mode of life had already 
formed in him that convivial difpofition which is with fo 
much difficulty kept within bounds. After his wife’s 
death, company grew ftill more neceflary to him; and, 
when condemned to a retreat into the wilds of Ireland, 
he could not refrain from frequenting the fociety he found 
there, whilll it was the objett of his contempt and ridi¬ 
cule in his letters to his Englilh friends. He died at 
Chefter, on his way to Ireland, in July 1717, in the 
thirty-eighth year of his age; and was buried, without 
any monumental record, in Trinity-church in that city. 
Parnell was the author of feveral pieces, both in profe 
and verfe. He wrote the Life of Homer prefixed to 
Pope’s Iliad, which, however, on account of the ftiffnefs 
of the ftyle, coll that poet much labour in the correction. 
He like wife wrote a Life of Zoilus, meant as a fatire 
againll Theobald and Dennis 5 and fome papers in the 
Spectator and Guardian. None of thefe are mailer- 
pieces, but they difplay learning and imagination. It is 
as a poet that he is now exclufively known and valued. 
After his death, Pope made a feleCtion of fuch of his 
compoiitions as he thought worth preferving, and pub- 
lilhed them in one volume 8vo. 1721. They have ever 
fince formed a part of the body of approved Englilh 
poetry, and have been often reprinted. The charaCter- 
illics of thefe pieces are eafe, fprightlinefs, fancy, clear- 
nefs of language, and melody of verification. Though 
not ranking among the noblelt or moll finilhed produc¬ 
tions of the Britilh mufe, they claim a place among the 
moll pleafing. Their fentiments are elegant, and their 
morality pure. Several of them are tranflations or imita- 
7 Y tions 
