VOL. II.

1829.

LONDON:

JOHN BOHN, HENRIETTA-STREET, COVENT-GARDEN.

Printed by F. Skill, Swaffham.

1. "Why should I deny myself the satisfaction I must feel in saying of him here, what of such a man I could say everywhere, with equal justice and equal triumph? The friendship of this excellent person, believe me, readers, will ever be ranked by me among the sweetest consolations, and the proudest ornaments of my life?" Dr. PARK'S Works 3, 285.

2. "The esteem, the affection, the reverence, which I feel for so profound a scholar, - and so honest a man, as Dr." (PARR) "make me wholly indifferent to the praise and censure of those, who vilify, without reading, his writings, or read them without finding some incentive to study, some proficiency in knowledge, or some improvement in virtue." Dr. PARR'S Preface to the Two Tracts of a Warburtonian p. 196.

3. "But you owe to me some recompence for the heavy disappointment I have experienced from the delay of the publication of Wray; and that recompence is, though it should produce more delay, that you should confer upon my ambition the honour of accompanying Dr. PARR in the same volume. I will bribe you, if I can; though I have been imprudent enough to think our friendship ensured your coincidence in all my wishes, that are ingenuous-and I think, if I know myself, the ambition, to which I allude, is that of being accredited as an admirer of Genius and Virtue. My wish to accompany Dr. PARK, and you may tell him so, arises from the enthusiasm, which I entertain for his powerful intellect, for his classical taste, for his depth of learning, and for his eloquence." Mr JUSTICE HARDINGE's Memoirs of Dr. SNEYD DAVIES p. 263.

4. And now, Sir, I am upon this great subject of writing lives, let me also give my opinion, which is, that, if the lives of great and good men were wrote by their most intimate friends, that were persons of unblemished reputation, that would not write their own fancies and inventions for truth, but would take on them the fatigue of searching of books, papers, and letters, which concerns the person, whose life they intend to write, and report matters of fact faithfully, it would be a very useful and acceptable work; for examples of heroick piety and virtue, are more pleasant and prevalent with mankind than just precepts and commands," A Letter from MOSES PITT to the Author of a Book intituled Some Discourses upon Dr. BURNET, (now Lord Bishop of Salisbury,) and Dr. TILLOTSON, (late Lord Archbishop of Canterbury,) occasioned by the late Funeral Sermon of the former upon the latter. Lond. 1695. 4to. p. 21.

5. "The conversations of scholars have been collected in ages of literature. That they have not been formed with that care, and that selection they merited, has been the only cause of their having fallen into disrepute. With such substitutes we are enabled, in no ordinary degree, to realize the society of those, who are no more; and to become more real contemporaries with thegreat men of another age, than were even their contemporaries themselves. Are we not all desirous of joining the society of eminent men? It is a wish of even the illiterate. But the sensibility of genius shrinks tremblingly from the contact of the vulgar, and the arrogance of learning will not descend to their level. They prefer a contemplative silence, rather than incur the chance of being insulted by their admiration. Few, therefore, can be admitted to their conversations. Yet, when a man of genius displays conversible talents, his conversations are frequently more animated, more versatile, and, I must add, more genuine than his compositions. Such literary conversations may be compared to waters, which flow from their source; but literary writings resemble more frequently an ornamented fountain, whose waters are forced to elevate themselves in artificial irregularities, and sparkling tortuosities. These collections are productive of utility. A man of letters learns from a little conversation, which has been fortuitously preserved, a casual hint, which was gathered, as it fell, and an observation, which its author might never have an occasion to insert in his works, numberless mysteries in the art of literary composition, and those minute circumstances, which familiarize us to the genius of one, whom we admire, and whom sometimes we aspire to imitate." A Dissertation on Anecdotes, by the Author of Curiosities of Literature,' Lond. 1793. 8vo. p. 50.

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ADDENDA,

Respecting Warburton, Hurd, and Parr.

Bishop Bennet thus addresses Dr. Parr, Emmanuel College, Febr. 15, 1789.:-" I have bought your book with eagerness, examined it with attention, and shall bind it with elegance; and though I have received so many personal favours from Dr. HURD, that I shall ever, as a man, esteem and respect him, yet as a writer, his sneers have ever displeased me, and I am not sorry to see them attacked. Let me add, however, that he seems to think poorly of them himself by the neglect he has shewn to them, which is a sort of virtual retraction," [the publication of his Correspondence with WARBURTON under his own imprimatur proves that he had never virtually retracted them,-the sin of sneering was habitual, and he lived and died in the sin,]" and ought in part to have disarmed the severity of your censure. I will first tell you what I think wrong: I doubt if the offence given to you by Hurd could justify your attack. I know you will tell me,

When sense or virtue an affront endures,

· Th' affront is mine, my friend, and should be yours;'

and that the poisoned arrows he shot from his dark corner at
JORTIN and LELAND, justify your knocking him down with your
Herculean club. But I suspect you have been misled by idle,
perhaps untrue reports, that HURD may have spoken lightly of
your own performances. If such is the case indeed," [and it was
the case," and the facts can be proved, I think you are fully
authorized to take your revenge. This rests on a ground you
know, and I do not, and therefore I say no more of it. Johnson
shall speak for me- -Respect is due to high place, tenderness to
living reputation,' etc. etc." [Yes, but HURD had shewn neither
towards JORTIN and LELAND, and therefore could claim neither;
PARR did not attack the Bishop, but the Scholar, and there is no
high place among Scholars, who form a Republic.] "I do not like
the phrase prodigality of cruelty: what is prodigal cruelty? But I
suppose you have either authority for the phrase, or concealed
allusion in it. There looks somewhat of an inaccuracy in this
sentence, Their titles indeed sometimes crept into the corner of
a catalogue, and sometimes were caught skulking upon the shelf
of a collector,'" [p. 145.] "You mean the pamphlets them-
selves were caught skulking. One can hardly say the titles were
caught upon a shelf, and yet I believe it will do on a more diligent
examination; but there is something in the sentence I do not quite