Porson was born at Earl Ruston, in Norfolk, on Christmas day, 1759. His
father was parish-clerk to Mr. H. who was also Minister of B. Mr. H.
was a most amiable and truly benevolent man; and beyond all doubt was
the first encourager of Porson’s early disposition to learning, and
the individual also, to whose exertions he owed the opportunities he
afterwards enjoyed, and so well improved. Porson had certainly, when
quite a child, the practice of making letters on any sandy or moist
surface, upon which they could be conspicuously formed. His relations
were wont to draw inferences very favourable to his intellect, from this
circumstance; but after all, this is a very common practice, indeed much
too frequent to be considered as any indication of a prodigy. Mr. W.
who was mentioned in the preceding chapter, noticed in him very soon an
extraordinary quickness with regard to figures—this was much more to the
purpose—and this he ever retained.
Porson’s father and mother were both totally destitute of any education,
except so far as being able to read and write. The father was a man
of exceedingly strong sense, very silent and very thoughtful, and was
accustomed with great regularity, to exercise Porson’s memory. To what
an extraordinary degree of perfection, exercise finally brought this
faculty in the Professor, must be in the recollection of many; yet,
strange to say, he who wrote this sketch of his friend, has repeatedly
heard him assert, that he had not naturally a good memory, but that what
he had obtained in this respect, was the effect of discipline only. His
recollection was really wonderful. He has been known to challenge any
one to repeat a line or phrase from any of the Greek dramatic writers,
and would instantly go on with the context. The Letters of Junius, the
Mayor of Garratt, and many favourite compositions, he would repeat _usque
ad fastidium_. But, to return; the solidity and seriousness of Porson’s
father, seem to have been well relieved by the cheerful and sprightly
temper of his mother, who was very lively and very light-hearted. She
had also a taste for poetry, very seldom met with in the wife of a
cottager; she was familiar with the writings of Shakspeare, and could
repeat many of his favourite and popular passages.
It is stated by the writer in the Athenæum, who calls himself
Hellenophilus, that Mr. Summers, to whom afterwards Porson went to
school, was a plain man, who professed nothing beyond English and the
common rudiments of Latin. This is not quite correct. Mr. Summers was,
and it is presumed is, a very respectable scholar. He was living when
this was first written, and was master of the Free School at Happesburg,
in Norfolk.
Another inaccuracy in that account must also be corrected. It is there
stated, that at nine years of age, Porson, and his youngest brother
Thomas, were sent to the village school, kept by this Mr. Summers. But at
this period, his brother Thomas was not born. It is further remarked in
that publication, that the Rev. Mr. H. heard of Porson’s extraordinary
propensity for study.—Of course, the writer could not possibly have known
that Porson’s father was Mr. H.’s parish-clerk.
There is still another error in that memoir, of no immediate consequence
with regard to Porson, but somewhat unaccountable, considering the
quarter from which it proceeded. It is stated in the Athenæum, for Nov.
p. 430, that Porson married Mrs. Lunan, the sister of Mr. Perry, Editor
of the Morning Chronicle, in 1795, and that she died of a decline in
1797. Whereas, the fact is, that Porson married Mrs. Lunan, in Nov. 1795,
and the lady died some time in the April following. The rest of the
memoir is generally unexceptionable. With respect to the eulogium passed
at the conclusion of the article in the Morning Chronicle, these are
the sentiments _ipsissimis fere verbis_, of Mrs. H. as expressed to an
enquiring friend.
“I wish it had been suppressed. The Editor, I have no doubt, had the most
obliging intentions in the world, when he represented me as an amiable,
and accomplished woman; but I really have no taste for such flattery. He
must have known, from my situation in early life, that it was impossible
I should possess any accomplishments. I wish not to be brought before the
public; my only ambition is, at the close of life _to have deserved_ the
character of having been a good wife to my husband, and a good mother to
my children.”
It is impossible to record these sentiments, without admiration of their
good sense, modesty, and merit. It is with great satisfaction we are
enabled to subjoin, that this lady’s husband is a brewer at Coltishall
in Norfolk, extremely respectable, and in flourishing circumstances.
The sentiments of Mrs. H. as above expressed, demonstrate great
congeniality of feeling with her brother. No man was ever less assailable
by flattery, or disliked it more; nor could any one be possibly more
averse than he was to be pointed out—_digito prætereuntium_.—But let us
proceed.
At the age of nine, Porson was placed under the care of the
above-mentioned Mr. Summers, by whom he was well grounded in Latin. He
remained with him three years. At twelve, he was taken under the care
of Mr. H. who was then employed in the education of his own children;
with him he also continued three years. By him he was introduced to Mr.
Norris, of Witton, the adjoining parish to Bacton; and this gentleman
became his professed patron. First by his example, and afterwards by
his strenuous recommendation, a subscription was set on foot for the
general purposes of educating Porson, and of maintaining him at the
university. The individuals who interested themselves about him, were
highly respectable, both with regard to their rank, their character,
and their number. Among them was Bishop Bagot, one other Bishop, whose
name has escaped, Sir George Baker, Dr. Poynter, Dr. Hammond Prebendary
of Norwich, &c. Sir George Baker was the Treasurer. But there was a
lady among them, whose zeal and anxiety concerning Porson, surpassed
perhaps that of her gentlemen coadjutors. This was Mrs. Mary Turner, the
grand-daughter of Sir Charles Turner; she was related to Mr. Norris, by
whom Porson was introduced and recommended to her. She afterwards became
his principal protector. Her house was always open to him, and whenever
he returned from Eton, to pass his holidays in Norfolk, he enjoyed at
Mrs. Turner’s house the most constant and unrestrained hospitality.
She was afterwards entirely alienated from him; for which the following
reasons have been alledged. She was very piously disposed, and was
exceedingly anxious that Porson should go into the church. The decision
to which he came, of not subscribing to the articles, and consequently
of resigning his Fellowship, was to her utterly incomprehensible, and
exceedingly shocked and distressed her. But the publication of his
Letters to Travis gave the _coup de grace_ to our unlucky friend. Some
officious person represented this work to the old lady, as a calumnious
attack upon Christianity, and as malignantly intended to call in question
the truth of the Gospel.—It could only be the work of an apostate, an
infidel, an abandoned reprobate. These circumstances prevailed upon Mrs.
Turner to alter her will, in which she had left him a very considerable
sum of money.—He had only a legacy of 30_l._ We must now go back to our
chronological order.
Amicus dulcis ut æquum est
Quum mea compenset vitiis bona; pluribus hisce
Si modo plura mihi bona sunt, inclinet, amari
Si volet—hac lege in trutina ponetur eadem.