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P E 
its principal matters. In the year 1771, he was entered 
of Marefchal College, Aberdeen ; and was afterwards 
placed under Dr. Arthur Dingwall Fordyce, advocate, 
to qualify him for the profettion of the Scots law. When 
his term had expired, his genius led him toattociate with 
the a&ors in a company which vifited Aberdeen; and, 
being at that time a good dancer, he was feduced by 
Digges, Mills, and others of the company, to engage 
himfelf in their purfuits. He accordingly appeared on 
the ftage at Montrofe, Arbroath, Dundee, and Perth, 
and, according to Mr. Holcroft, at Newcaftle upon Tyne, 
where Mr. H. was of the fame company. His perform¬ 
ances confifted of Sempronius, and Come fecond-rate 
characters, and of a hornpipe between the a£ts; but 
on the company’s return to Edinburgh, Digges the mana¬ 
ger candidly told Pirie (Anglice Perry) that his brogue 
was an infuperable bar to his fuccefs on the ftage. He 
continued fome time at Edinburgh, in the hope of ob¬ 
taining a fituation in fome profelfional gentleman’s cham¬ 
bers, where he might at once purfue his ftudies and ob¬ 
tain a livelihood ; but, after many ineffectual attempts to 
gain employment, he came to England, and was for two 
years engaged in Manchefter, as clerk to Mr. Dinwiddie, 
a refpeCtable manufacturer. In this fituation he cultiva¬ 
ted his mind by the ftudy of the belt authors, and gained 
the friendlhip and protection of the principal gentlemen 
of the town by the talents he difplayed in a fociety which 
was then eftablilhed by them for philofophical and moral 
difcuftions, and by feveral literary eftays which obtained 
their approbation. In the beginning of 1777, became 
to London, bringing with him recommendations from 
the principal manufacturers to their correfpondents, but 
they all failed of procuring him any fuitable introduc¬ 
tion : it was, however, the accidental effeCt of one of 
them that threw him into the line of life which, from 
that period, he perfevered in with fuch invariable con- 
Itancy. The General Advertifer being then a new con¬ 
cern, it was the practice of the proprietors to exhibit the 
whole contents of it upon boards at the Ihop-window. 
Mr. Perry, being unemployed, amufed himfelf with wri¬ 
ting effays and fcraps of poetry for this paper, which he 
flung into the letter-box of the printing-houfe, and which 
were always inferted. Calling one day at the ftiop of 
Mefl'rs. RichardfonandUrquhart, bookfellers, to whom he 
had letters of recommendation, he found the latter bufily 
engaged in reading, and apparently enjoying, an article 
in the General Advertifer. After Mr. Urquhart had 
finilhed the perufal, Mr. Perry put the ufual queftion to 
him, whether he had heard of any fituation that would 
fuit him; to which he replied in the negative; at the 
fame time, holding out the paper, hefaid, “ If you could 
write fuch articles as this, I could give you immediate 
employment.” It happened to be a humourous eilay, 
written by Perry himfelf. This he inftantly intimated 
to Mr. Urquhart, and gave him another article in the 
lame hand-writing, which he had propofed to drop into 
the letter-box. Mr. Urquhart exprefled great fatisfaCtion 
at the difcovery, and informed him that he was one of 
the principal proprietors of the paper : that they wanted 
juft fuch a perfon ; and, as there was to be a meeting of 
the proprietors that fame evening, he would propofe Mr. 
Perry as a writer. He did fo, and the next day he was 
engaged at a falary of one guinea per week, and an addi¬ 
tional half-guinea for afliftance to the London Evening 
Poft, then printed by the fame perfon. 
Such was the incident that threw Mr. Perry into the 
profettion of a journalift. He was moft attiduous in his 
exertions for the General Advertifer; and, during the 
memorable trials of admirals Keppell and Pallifer, he, for 
fix weeks together, by his individual efforts, fent up daily 
from Portfmouth eight columns of the trials, taken by 
him in court; which, from the intereft they excited, 
raifed the paper to a fale of feveral thoufands per day. 
At this time Mr. Perry wrote and publilhed feveral po¬ 
litical pamphlets and poems; and in 1782 he formed the 
R R Y. 
plan, and was the firft editor, of the European Magazine, 
upon the defign of combining, in one monthly publica¬ 
tion, the ufual mifcellaneous contents of fuch a work, 
with a review'of new books. He conducted it, however, 
only for the firft twelve months, as, on the death of a 
Mr. Wall, he was chofen by the proprietors of the Ga¬ 
zetteer to be the editor of that paper, the proprietors of 
which confifted of the principal bookfellers in London, 
Payne, White, Nicol, Lockyer Davies, and Paul Vaillant; 
with fir N. Conant, Mr. Elmfley, See. Mr. Perry under¬ 
took the editorftiip of the paper at a falary of four gui¬ 
neas per week, on the exprefs condition that he was to 
be left to the freeexercife of his political opinions, which 
were thofe of Mr. Fox. 
On his commencing editor of the Gazetteer, he fug- 
gefted to the proprietors the plan of employing feveral 
reporters to facilitate the publication of the debates in 
parliament. Up to that time each paper had but one re¬ 
porter in each houfe of parliament; and the predecelfor 
of Mr. Perry in the Gazetteer, had been in the habit of 
fpinning out the reports of debates for weeks, and even 
months, after the fefiion had doled ; while Mr. Wood- 
fall, in the Morning Chronicle, ufed to bring out his 
hafty fketch of the debate in the evening of the follow¬ 
ing day. Mr. Perry’s plan was adopted ; and, by a fuccef- 
fion of reporters, the Gazetteer was publilhed in the 
morning with as long a debate as Mr. Woodfall brought 
out in the evening, and fometimes at midnight. 
It happened that, in the years 1780, 1781, and 1782, 
there were numerous debating focieties in every part of 
the metropolis, where many perfons that have fince been 
confpicuous in parliament, in the pulpit, and on the 
bench, diftinguilhed themfelves as public fpeakers. Mr. 
Perry was a Ipeaker in thefe focieties, and is mentioned 
with great praifein theHiftoryof the Weftminfter Forum. 
Mr. Pitt ufed to attend tliele focieties, although he never 
fpoke at any of them ; and it is not perhaps generally 
known, that the Lyceum was fitted up, and received that 
title, exprefsly for a fuperior fchool of oratory, by John 
Sheridan, elq. a barrifter, with the view of enabling 
fuch young gentlemen as were defignedfor the fenateand 
bar, to praCtife public fpeaking before a genteel auditory. 
It was opened for a few nights at five (hillings as the 
price of admittance. Mr. Pitt and feveral of his friends 
frequented it; but the enterprife fell to the ground. It is 
pofitively ftated, that afterwards, when Mr. Pitt came to 
be chancellor of the exchequer, having had frequent op¬ 
portunities of witnefling Mr. Perry’s talent in public 
fpeaking, and particularly in reply, he caufed a propofal 
to be made to Him of coming into parliament, which 
would have probably led on to high fortune. Mr. Perry, 
however, thought proper to rejeCt it, as he did afterwards 
an offer of the fame kind from the earl of Shelburne; 
and he uniformly maintained the principles with which 
he firft fet out in his political courle. 
Mr. Perry was for feveral years editor of Debrett’s Par¬ 
liamentary Debates, to the exclufion of advertifements 
and other extraneous matter. This work had fallen 
into difrepute, and the proprietors fet it up to public fale. 
In the mean while, Mr. Woodfall undertook another pa¬ 
per, under the title of the Diary, and Mr. Perry bought 
the Morning Chronicle. He announced himfelf, in con¬ 
junction with his friend Mr.Gray, (who died foon after,) 
as joint proprietor and editor, and declared he would be 
refponfible for its contents. From that time to the pre- 
lent day it has continued to be the organ of genuine 
Whig principles: and it is but juftice alfo to remark, what 
is truly creditable to Mr. Perry, that he never buffered his 
paper to be degraded by private perfonalities or fcandal, 
and that he never was fufpeCted of venality. Twice in 
the courfe of forty years he was profecuted by ex-officio 
informations: the firft time for the refolutions of the 
Derby meeting; the fecond time fora paragraph copied 
from the Examiner, the fubftance of which was, that 
his prefent majefty (then prince of Wales) would have 
a noble 
