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 30l. 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