“On being asked whether he wrote the same beautiful hand as he did afterwards, Dr. Goodall replied he did, nor was there any doubt of his general scholarship.
“To a question whether he made great progress during the time he was at Eton, or after he left? Dr. Goodall said he was advanced as far as he could be with propriety, but there were certainly some there who would not have been afraid to challenge Porson as a school-boy, though they would have shunned all idea of competition with him at Cambridge. The first book that Porson ever studied, as he often told me, was Chambers’s Cyclopædia; he read the whole of that dictionary through, and in a great degree made himself master of the algebraic part of that work entirely by the force of his understanding.
“Dr. Goodall was then asked if he considered there was any ground for complaint on the part of Porson, in not having been sent to Cambridge, to which he answered no; he was placed as high in the school as he well could be; as a proof however of his merits, when he left Eton, contributions were readily supplied by Etonians in aid of Sir George Baker’s proposal, to secure the funds for his maintenance at the university.”
In the year 1793, Mr. Porson was elected professor of Greek in the University of Cambridge, that office being then vacant by the death of professor Cooke. The following letter relating to this election from Mr. Porson to the Rev. Dr. Postlethwayte, master of Trinity College, is now first printed:—
“Essex Court, Temple, 6th October, 1792.
“Sir,—When I first received the favour of your letter I must own that I felt rather vexation and chagrin than hope and satisfaction. I had looked upon myself so completely in the light of an outcast from Alma Mater, that I had made up my mind to have no farther connection with the place. The prospect you held out to me gave me more uneasiness than pleasure. When I was younger than I now am, and my disposition more sanguine than it is at present, I was in daily expectation of Mr. Cooke’s resignation, and I flattered myself with the hope of succeeding to the honour he was going to quit. As hope and ambition are great castle-builders, I had laid a scheme, partly as I was willing to think, for the joint credit, partly for the mutual advantage, of myself and the university. I had projected a plan of reading lectures, and I persuaded myself that I should easily obtain a grace, permitting me to exact a certain sum from every person who attended. But seven years’ waiting will tire out the most patient temper, and all my ambition of this sort was long ago laid asleep. The sudden news of the vacant professorship put me in mind of poor Jacob, who having served seven years in hopes of being rewarded with Rachel, awoke, and behold it was Leah.
“Such, sir, I confess were the first ideas that took possession of my mind. But after a little reflection, I resolved to refer a matter of this importance to my friends. This circumstance has caused the delay, for which I ought before now to have apologized. My friends unanimously exhorted me to embrace the good fortune which they conceived to be within my grasp. Their advice, therefore, joined to the expectation I had entertained of doing some small good by my exertions in the employment, together with the pardonable vanity which the honour annexed to the office inspired, determined me; and I was on the point of troubling you, sir, and the other electors with notice of my intentions to profess myself a candidate, when an objection which had escaped me in the hurry of my thoughts, now occurred to my recollection.
“The same reason which hindered me from keeping my fellowship by the method you obligingly pointed out to me, would, I am greatly afraid, prevent me from being Greek professor. Whatever concern this may give me for myself, it gives me none for the public. I trust there are at least twenty or thirty in the university, equally able and willing to undertake the office; possessed, many of talents superior to mine, and all of a more complying conscience. This I speak upon the supposition that the next Greek professor will be compelled to read lectures; but if the place remains a sinecure, the number of qualified persons will be greatly increased. And though it was even granted that my industry and attention might possibly produce some benefit to the interests of learning and the credit of the university, that trifling gain would be as much exceeded by keeping the professorship a sinecure, and bestowing it on a sound believer, as temporal considerations are outweighed by spiritual. Having only a strong persuasion, not an absolute certainty, that such a subscription is required of the professor elect; if I am mistaken, I hereby offer myself as a candidate, but if I am right in my opinion, I shall beg of you to order my name to be erased from the boards, and I shall esteem it a favour conferred on, Sir,
Your obliged humble servant,
R. PORSON.”