PARRIANA:

OR NOTICES

OF THE

REV. SAMUEL PARR, LL.D.

I.

Letter from Jeremy Bentham, Esq. to John Bowring, Esq., respecting John Lind, the celebrated Writer,* the Rev. Dr. Nathaniel Forster, of Colchester, and the Rev. Dr. Samuel Parr,

TO JOHN BOWRING, Esq.

Queen's Square, Westminster, Jan. 30, 1827.

MY DEAR SIR,

Your friend, Mr. Barker's commands have been noted by me, and what follows is the fruit of my obedience.

John Lind and [Nathaniel] Forster: yes, both of them were friends of my youth, though Fors

* [It is somewhat remarkable that no literary or biographical notices of John Lind have been published in any Memoir, Magazine, or Dictionary, though he was certainly entitled to such distinction. E. H. B.]

VOL. II.

B

ter's christian name is not now remembered by me; Lind a most intimate one.

As to Lind, the origin of my acquaintance with him was this: his father was by parentage, if not by birth, a Scotchman; he was a clergyman, and had a living in Colchester. He was a spendthrift: by I know not what accident my father became acquainted with him. By my father's advice, a female relation of his bought an annuity of the reverend divine; and in process of time, his property and income found its way into the hands of a set of creditors, of whom that same relation of my father's was one. Lind, the son, was a commoner at Baliol-College, Oxford; when he had taken his B. A. degree, he took orders. Soon after, a Mr. Murray, (I forget of what family, but I believe of some one of the noble families of that name,) set out on his embassy for Constantinople: Lind, by what means I either never knew or have forgotten, became known to him, and went with him in the capacity of chaplain. I was at that time living in chambers in Lincoln's Inn, where a little before his departure, I received a short visit from him. His father's income being at that time in my father's hands, as trustee for his creditors, my father advanced to the son the sum of £30., to contribute to his equipment. We heard no more from him, or of him, for I forget how many years. Mr.

Barker knows, I suppose, which is more than I do, (for I question whether I have now a copy of the work,) in what year those same Letters* he mentions, on the partition of Poland, came out. In that same year, (1773,) as will appear in the title-page of the book, he returned to England

*[Letters concerning the Present State of Poland; with an Appendix, containing the Manifestoes of the Courts of Vienna, Petersburgh, and Berlin, and other Authentic Papers. The Second Edition. London, printed for T. Payne, near the Mews-Gate, 1773. 8vo. pp. 393.

I will give two quotations from the book as specimens:"ADVERTISEMENT. The Letters here offered a second time to the public are written on a subject, which deservedly engages the attention of Europe.

under the

"The author waited long-perhaps too long hope, that an abler pen would have taken up this important cause; but, as no champion seemed willing to step forth in defence of the injured and oppressed, he ventured on the task : a love of justice, and respect for an amiable character, pity for a suffering people, indignation at the most atrocious acts of cruelty and perfidy urged him to it, and will, he hopes, justify a severity and warmth of expression, in few cases allowable.

"In such a cause the writer persuaded himself, that he should find an advocate in the bosom of every British reader, who would soften the rigor of criticism: nor have his expectations been deceived: the indulgence, with which the public has read the Letters; the favourable manner, in which they have been recommended to its notice; and the terms of approbation expressed by those, whose opinion would stamp a value on any work, but which cannot be repeated without running the risk of having the language of gratitude mistaken for that of vanity, all have served to convince the writer, that the humanity and

with the title of Privy Counsellor to his Polish Majesty, Governor of an Institution founded by the virtuous and unhappy Monarch for the education of 400 cadets, and the office, or rather the private trust, of Governor to his nephew, Prince Stanislaus Poniatowski, in whose company he

generosity of the British nation feel themselves interested in the cause he pleads.

"Some few additions are made to this second edition. And the editor hopes the errors of the press will be fewer the impossibility he is under of correcting the proofs must plead bis excuse for those, that may still be found.

In

"London, April 19, 1773."

p. 303. Mr. Lind writes thus:

"The balance of power has sometimes armed Europe, when it was really in no danger; but now the northern Powers seem leagued against the southern, no one seems alarmed.

"You in England are very apt to say, ' We are an island, and what have we to do with the affairs of the continent?' True, sir, if you have enough of primitive simplicity and selfdenial to give up your wealth, the conveniencies and luxuries of life, and live contented on the produce of your own farms, then you have nothing to do with them; but, if you cannot do this, then you must maintain your commerce, to which you owe the value of your lands, your wealth, and your importance in Europe; and therefore, whenever the transactions on the continent affect your commerce so materially, as the present designs do, you are as much concerned in them, as the Powers on the continent themselves.

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Besides, in the present moment, should fair proposals be refused, so great are the efforts to be made, and so extensive the operations, that your naval force alone will be exerted: the efforts by land might, and would be made by France. For

came.

On his arrival, after paying his devoirs and debt to my father, he called upon me at Lincoln's Inn, and we soon became intimate. The reverend divine, with the black garb and clerical wig, was now transformed into the man of fashion, with his velvet, satin-lined coat, embroidered however uncouth it may sound, your uniting with France alone will probably stem the torrent. And however unnatural that alliance may seem, it is not more so than the northern alliance, nor than your late alliance with Prussia.

"The idea, true in general, but surely subject to restrictions, that the interests of England and France are incompatible, militates strongly against such an union: that union may however, on some occasions, be necessary: it was necessary, when the insatiable ambition and formidable power of Charles V., Philip II. and Ferdinand II. engaged the attention and solicitude of all Europe; yet neither of these Princes seems to have had the bold adventurous ambition, which distinguishes her Russian Majesty; or the deep spirit of intrigue, which characterizes the King of Prussia. If, under these circumstances, an union with France was thought not only allowable, but necessary, why not allowable, why not necessary now, when the same circumstances recur?

"I remember a passage of your lord Bolingbroke, with which I shall close this long letter, leaving you to apply it. The ' precise point,' says he,' at which the scales of power turn, like that of the solstice in either tropic, is imperceptible to common observation; and in one case, as in the other, some progress must be made in the new direction, before the change ' is perceived. They, who are most concerned to watch the ' variations of this balance, misjudge often: - they continue 'to dread a power no longer able to hurt them; or they con

tinue to have no apprehensions of a power, that daily grows