of fire, and children of the sun,' the latter of whom was afterwards comptroller of the exchequer, and died in 1818." Others were Headley, Beloe, Dr. Maltby, the learned but indiscreet Gerald, &c. &c.

The advantages of the Stanmore establishment were not, however, equal to the Doctor's expectations. His expences were excessive, his profits therefore inconsiderable, his labours most oppressive, and he found the impossibility of supporting his situation against the influence and credit of a great publichool, and the well-founded reputation of his competitor, Dr. Heath. He therefore, in 1776, was induced to accept the mastership of Colchester school, and thither a considerable part of his Stanmore scholars followed him. He was ordained priest in 1777, and held the cures of the parishes of Trinity and the Highe, Colchester. In 1778, he obtained the mastership of Norwich school, where Mr. Beloe was for three years his under-master, and the Rev. T. Munro his scholar; and in 1779, he undertook the care of two curacies at Norwich; these he resigned in 1780, in which year he received his first ecclesiastical preferment, the rectory of Asterby, in Lincolnshire. In the summer of this year he commenced his career as an author, by the publication of "Two Sermons on Education."

In 1781, he was admitted to the degree of LL. D. at Cambridge, but without any particular mark of distinction. It is not a little singular, that throughout the whole period of his connection with the University, from the time of his being matriculated up to the completion of his graduation, he never once came forward as a candidate for the peculiar honours of his Alma Mater. Among the various anecdotes and traditions of Dr. Parr, it has been said, that at a subsequent period he astonished the sophs, tutors, professors, and heads of houses, by preaching to them a sermon in Greek; and a comparison has been gravely instituted between this learned effusion and the Greek discourse delivered at Paris in 1687, by M. Lancelot, to the fraternity of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem, on the day when that society celebrated the anni

versary of their foundation, in the monastery of the Cordeliers. There is certainly nothing in the difficulty of the undertaking which should render this tale incredible. There are many men in the present day who could perform it with ease; and as for Dr. Parr himself, he frequently conversed in Greek with some of his erudite friends, when they chose to keep their conversation to themselves. However, we have no doubt that the whole foundation of the story is this: - Dr. Parr preached the commencement sermon when Dr. Davy was vice-chancellor. He preached in English; but, being before a learned audience, he felt himself justified in making a liberal use of quotations from Greek authors, in the original language, instead of translating them.

In the summer of 1781, appeared "A Discourse on the late Fast, by Phileleutherus Norfolciencis," 4to. This sermon has been considered the best of Dr. Parr's productions, and had a corresponding success; for though anonymously published, the whole impression, consisting of four hundred and fifty copies, was sold in two months; and it is at present a work of most extraordinary rarity. In the spring of 1783, Lady Trafford, whose son he had educated, presented him with the perpetual curacy of Hatton, then worth about 807. per annum; and in April 1783, he removed to that seat of hospitality, where he spent the remainder of his days; retiring, while yet in the enjoyment of youth and strength, from the fatigue of public teaching, and devoting his leisure to the private tuition of a limited number of pupils. After this preferment he resigned Asterby. In the same year, he obtained from Bishop Lowth, through the extraordinary merit of his first sermon, supported by the interest of the present Earl of a Dartmouth's grandfather, the prebend of Wenlock Barns, in the Cathedral of St. Paul. In 1785, he resumed his former subject, in "A Discourse on Education, and on the Plans pursued in Charity Schools," and about a thousand copies were sold in a very short time. This quarto volume is an able and masterly argument for popular education and improvement, and had the distinguished merit of being one of

the first publications which concentrated public attention on the all-important subject of the moral and intellectual instruction of the people.

In 1787, Dr. Parr assisted the Rev. Henry Homer in a new edition of the three books of Bellendenus, * a learned Scotsman, Humanity Professor at Paris, in 1602, and Master of of Requests to James I. These he respectively dedicated to Mr. Burke, Lord North, and Mr. Fox. + He prefixed a Latin preface, with characters of those distinguished statesmen, the style of which is, perhaps, the most successful of all modern imitations of Cicero. How far the preface was appropriate may be doubted. Bellendenus had intended a large work, "De Tribus Luminibus Romanorum," the "Three Lights of Rome," Cicero, Seneca, and the elder Pliny; whence Dr.Parr conceived the idea of delineating the characters of the then three most eminent senators of Great Britain. But however great the inappropriateness of the modern appendage to Bellendenus may have been, and however Dr. Parr might have› more appositely employed his critical talents, certain it is, that. the taste and character of the composition, and the singular discrimination in the portraits, created an extraordinary sensation in the literary and political world. A translation (by Mr. Beloe) was published in octavo in 1788, but without the author's approbation. Dr. Parr had thenceforth fully committed himself on the side of the popular party. This naturally terminated all hope of church preferment from the Court; and such was the low state of Dr. Parr's pecuniary resources, that a subscription was made by the leading Whigs of the day, about the same period as that for Mr. Fox, and a well-merited annuity of 300l. was purchased for Dr. Parr's life.

* I. "De Statu prisci orbis in Religione, Re Politica, et Literis." II. "Ciceronis Princeps; sive, de Statu Principis et Imperii." III. "Ciceronis" Consul, Senator, Senatusque Romanus; sive de Statu Reip. et Urbis imperantis Orbis.'

+ Dramatis Persona. Doron, Marquis of Lansdowne; Novius, Lord Thurlow ; Miso-Themistocles, Duke of Richmond; Thrasybulus, Mr. Dundas ; Clodius, Mr. W.

In 1789, appeared "Tracts by Warburton and a Warburtonian, not admitted into the Collection of their respective Works." Although it was thought that personal feelings towards Bishop Hurd gave origin to this volume, yet it was allowed on all hands, to contain some admirable critical remarks. It produced a reply, entitled, "A Letter to Dr. Parr, occasioned by his Republication," &c.

In 1790, Dr. Parr exchanged the curacy of Hatton (though he still continued to reside there as deputy-curate) for the rectory of Waddenhoe, in Northamptonshire. In the same year he became acquainted with Dr. Priestley. For this intimacy he thus apologizes:- "I am at a loss to see why a clergyman of the church of England should shun the presence of a dissenting minister, merely because they do not agree on doctrinal points which have long divided the Christian world: and, indeed, I have always found, that when men of sense and virtue mingle in conversation, the harsh and confused suspicions which they entertained of each other, give way to more just and more candid sentiments."

In 1790, also, Dr. Parr was involved in the controversy on the real authorship of the Bampton Lectures preached by Dr. White. This controversy produced a pamphlet by Dr. White, entitled "A Statement of Dr. White's Literary Obligations to the late Rev. Mr. Samuel Badcock, and the Rev. Samuel Parr, LL.D.," Oxford, 1790.

In 1791 happened the riots in Birmingham, when the library and philosophical apparatus of Dr.Priestley were burnt; and the mob hearing that Dr. Parr had been visiting Dr. Priestley, made known their determination to proceed to Hatton, and burn Dr. Parr's house and library. For three days and nights Dr. Parr and his family were agitated with consternation and dismay, but happily, before the mob could accomplish their purpose, the military put an end to their horrible proceedings. In that unexampled period of national excitement, when political and religious prejudices raged together, Dr. Parr acted a manly, a decided, and a most honourable part. Undismayed by the dangers of the attempt,

and the unpromising consequences to his worldly interests, he ardently strove to conciliate the divided parties of his countrymen. It is well known, that the pretext for these outrages was a meeting held by the dissenters on the 14th of July, 1791, in celebration of the French Revolution. In consequence of a report that a party remained stubborn enough to meditate another commemoration upon the ensuing anniversary of that event, a step that might have brought destruction upon themselves and the whole town, the Doctor, in one day, began and finished his "Letter from Irenopolis to the Inhabitants of Eleutheropolis; or a serious Address to the Dissenters of Birmingham, by a Member of the Established Church." This extraordinary pamphlet produced an advertisement from the Dissenters, in which they disclaimed all intention of meeting again upon that occasion. Though consisting of only forty pages, it is among the most eloquent of Dr. Parr's publications. Like most of his productions, it was written on the spur of the occasion. The following sentiments which he expresses with regard to Dr. Priestley, are highly honourable to both parties :

"I should not think well of your sensibility, if you were indifferent to the loss of so excellent a preacher as Dr.Priestley. But I shall think very ill of your moderation if you make that loss a pretext for perpetuating disputes, which, if my arguments or my prayers could prevail, would speedily have an end.

"Upon the theological disputes in which the Doctor has been engaged with some clergymen of your town, I forbear to give any opinion; yet, while I disclaim all allusion to local events, I will make you a concession which you have my leave to apply to persons of higher rank as ecclesiastics, and of greater celebrity as scholars, than your town can supply. I confess, with sorrow, that in too many instances such modes of defence have been used against this formidable heresiarch, as would hardly be justifiable in the support of revelation itself against the arrogance of a Bolingbroke, the buffoonery of a Mandeville, and the levity of a Voltaire. But the cause