A friend of yours, a Dr. Tuthill, applied to me the other day to preach a sermon for the Westminster Hospital; and called to my mind a fact I had forgotten, that I had given a promise two years ago, in consequence of your having expressed a wish to that effect, an argument to which I yielded without hesitation. I once heard Archbishop Newcombe preach a sermon on Whitsunday, not a bad one by any means; but I observed great caution about the personality. God bless you; and remember me to Mr. Bartlam and Mrs. Parr. Yours very truly, WM. CLOYNE. Lord Erskine to Dr. Parr. MY DEAR SIR, I have a thousand thanks to send you for your kind and friendly letter. The approbation of such an excellent judge of every accomplishment is a great prize; and I hope to be a candidate for it to better effect in a few months, when Gurney publishes the proceedings of which you have as yet but an imperfect sketch. Let me also thank Mrs. Parr for her partial judgment, and I hope that in a few months she will be a complete convert to reform of Parliament. God knows, the news of to-day might work a conversion of itself. All is lost in Flanders; and you may expect to hear in a few days complete and total rout and overthrow. I hope we shall meet soon in London. In the mean time, believe me to be, with great truth and esteem, your much obliged and very faithful servant, T. ERSKINE. I beg my best compliments to Mrs. Parr. P.S. Our friend Sheridan has been a constant attendant on the trial, and gave most important evidence for Hardy. MY DEAR SIR, London, Dec. 31, 1795. I had the pleasure of your kind letter on my return to London from Norfolk. If our proposed Association is followed up may make a mighty revolution in public sentiment; but perhaps it may call for more activity in many quarters than it may receive; great exertions, and funds to second them, with discipline supported by self-interest, are fearful odds against voluntary assemblies of men with different views and various opinions. But if it does not succeed, certainly nothing will or can. I went to-day to Ireland's from curiosity, having heard from several quarters that the new Shakspeare was a forgery, and having seen an advertisement from Malone upon the subject. All I can say is, that I am glad I am not the man who has undertaken to prove Mr. Malone's proposition; for I think I never saw such a body of evidence in my life to support the authenticity of any matter which rests upon high authority. I am quite sure a man would be laughed out of an English court of justice who attempted to maintain Malone's opinion in the teeth of every rule of probability acknowledged for ages as the standard for investigating truth. I beg my best compliments to Mrs. Parr. I ever am, dear Sir, most sincerely, yours, T. ERSKINE. Buchan Hill, near Crawley, Sussex, Dec. 7, 1821. I cannot express to you, my dear Doctor Parr, how grieved I was that I had not the good fortune to be at home when you were so kind as to call upon me in London; more especially as I have heard since that you may not perhaps be expected again very soon; but if that should be so, I shall not fail to come to see you some day when the summer comes round. What dreadful times we live in for the cause of freedom in our country and in Europe, but the world is in quick progression, and we shall repent it hereafter, when it is too late. I had my Romance of Armata handsomely bound to give you, but I am not sure that you had it: let me know; as it embodies all my political opinions upon the events of our own times. I am amusing myself here with planting, and now and then go to London or to Brighton for a few days, as my stick happens to fall-when I take the chance of its falling to the north or to the south. If I were Alexander I should not so set up my stick at Petersburgh, but would march in an instant to the south. The day before yesterday (the 5th of December), was the birth-day of a little son of mine, whom I named Hampden, after that truly great man; and having given some of my best old wine to my workmen and servants to drink his health, which they drank in chorus, I transcribe a Sonnet I wrote on the occasion, which ought not to meet with the eye of so fine a scholar, but your partiality for the author and for the cause of liberty, will blot out all faults. Thy infant years, dear child, had passed unknown, Nor wine had flowed throughout thy natal day, In the great cause of law and liberty. Like Hampden urge their justice in the field. Believe me to be always yours affectionately, ERSKINE. P. S. About a month ago I paid a visit to our friend Burdett at Ramsbury, who gave a ball to all his tenants. I wish all the landholders in England and in Ireland would follow his example. I spent two days most pleasantly-a finer family was never seen. Remember me most kindly, when you see them, to my good friends at Guy's Cliff. MY DEAR DR. PARR, No. 18, York Buildings, New Road, I was delighted at the Greek Committee last Saturday, to hear your name announced with pleasure to all as a member. We are going to call a public meeting. I gave you, long ago, when you were in town, my letter to Liverpool on the subject of the Greeks, but I believe it was the second edition, and therefore you may not have seen the Preface to the 3d edition, or the Postscript to the Greek Com mittee in the 4th edition, published the other day. I have marked the concluding sentence of the Postscript; I could not help thinking of you when I was writing it, and I make myself sure that you will like it. Yours ever most faithfully and sincerely, ERSKINE. P. S. The Preface to the 3d edition and the beginning of the Postscript are in one cover, and the remainder in the other. You will see by the pages how to marshal them. Lord Holland, to Dr. Parr. DEAR SIR, Brompton Park, Feb. 7, 1797. Though I should undoubtedly seize any opportunity, with eagerness, of recalling myself to your recollection, yet I should feel some apology necessary for so abrupt a renewal of your acquaintance, were it not attended with what I conceive to be a real curiosity, no less than an ancient Greek book, which I am in hopes you never read. In the ruins of Herculaneum were found several hundred ancient manuscripts in scrolls, but so burnt that, to the eye of an inobservant person, they seem little more than ashes. An ingenious man invented a method of unrolling the scrolls, and at the same time preserving the letters. When at Portici I saw the process, which, however, I cannot accurately describe, and I feel it less incumbent upon me to attempt it, because I have been assured that the whole of the mechanical part of the business (to use my friend Canning's expression) was executed by the Nuns; and that the man I saw employed in unrolling the volumes and fixing the letters, was placed there for the amusement of strangers. It would be too ridiculous for me to give any opinion of the author at any rate, and still more so as I must confess that I never read above two of the columns. However, you will believe me sincere, when I lament that so much labour has been employed in unrolling column after column, upon music, when, had they bestowed it upon the title pages of all the volumes, they might, ere this, have not only discovered, but made considerable progress in, the works of some of the most interesting authors of antiquity. It is not impossible, or even improbable, that many of the historians and poets mentioned with commendation by the ancients, or, perhaps, even the remaining works of authors now known and admired, may be among the volumes in the Museum of Portici; and if they pursue their present plan, a century may elapse before they ascertain the names of all the authors in the library. Had they began by making a catalogue of the manuscripts, we should at least have known what we had to expect. Not knowing your direction I have sent the book to Bartlam, who will no doubt take the first opportunity of conveying it to you. I shall be proud to hear that you have done me the honour of accepting it, and that you consider it as a slight token of the great respect and admiration with which I am, Dear Sir, ever yours, HOLLAND. MY LORD, Dr. Parr, to Lord Holland. Arundel Castle, Oct. 7, 1806. The Bishop of St. Asaph is dead, and if your revered uncle were living, I should not hesitate a moment in requesting his aid. Will your Lordship acquit me of presumption in looking up to you as the representative of his friendship to me? The See of Asaph is rarely given, in the first instance, to any person who is not previously on the bench. Will you pardon me for entreating you so far to interpose in my favour, that I may not be wholly overlooked in the Ecclesiastical arrangements which will be made on the appointment of a successor to Bishop Horsley? I leave Arundel to-morrow, and shall be in Thornhaugh-street. I attend the funeral on Friday. Once more, my Lord, I entreat your forgiveness for the liberty I take, and to which I am encouraged by my habitual and well-founded confidence in your candour, and perhaps I may add, your personal good will to myself. I have the honour to be, my Lord, your Lordship's most respectful and obedient servant, S. PARR. |