This lady’s name is H⸺, and her residence is at C⸺, in N⸺. She is probably some four or five years younger than her brother, to whom she bears a strong personal resemblance, more particularly in the lower features of her face, her tone of voice, and peculiarity of smile. After her return from the funeral, she communicated to the editor, the substance of what appeared in that paper on the day following. Its accuracy will hardly be called in question; yet all that she had to tell, must necessarily, as far as her actual knowledge went, be confined to Porson’s boyish days, for after he went to Eton, he had but little intercourse with his family. Neither was she circumstantially correct, as she subsequently acknowledged, on being desired to call to mind whether her brother did not imbibe his very first rudiments from a person of the name of W⸺, who kept the village school at B⸺, in N⸺, where Porson’s father and mother lived. She remembered the fact, but observed, that W. was a plain ignorant shopkeeper, to whom her brother was sent when a child about six years of age, but that he did not continue long with him, it being soon discovered that the pupil could read as fluently as his master. This may or may not have been the truth. That Mr. W⸺ was a plain shopkeeper, and that he kept the village school, cannot be denied; but that he was so ignorant, as the lady’s remark seemed to intimate, may fairly be questioned. He was well known to the writer of this narrative, who had frequently conversed with him on the subject of Porson. He spoke in the highest terms of his early proofs of capacity, and was not a little proud of having been accessory to the formation of the base of that monument, which afterwards lifted its proud eminence so high.
Mr. W⸺ had a respectable appointment under the Excise Office, another proof, if one were wanting, that he could not be so exceedingly ignorant. He was also greatly respected by ⸺, the squire of the parish, who was subsequently the patron of Porson, as well as by ⸺, the clergyman, who was Porson’s earliest friend. Thus much for honest Mr. W⸺. Paullo majora canamus.
Nam et in ratione conviviorum quamvis a plerisque cibis singuli temperemus, totam tamen cœnam laudare omnes solemus: nec ea quæ stomachus noster recusat, adimunt gratiam illis, quibus capitur.
CHAPTER XXXIV.
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.