Num colet Henricus teneram siue labe puellam?
Ellam—num magnum credet amare? mare—
An mihi tam chari thalami fas dicere civis?
Si vis—at Musæ si faveant? aveant—
Num candor, doctrina, boni cultura sodalis,
Et probitans illi est unica Thais? ais.
C. Barlæus.
This Caspar, or Gaspar Barlæus was a very learned physician of Antwerp, of whom Vossius says, “Dubium Poeta melior an Philosophus.” Many of his works are extant, and highly esteemed. But, to return to our subject.
Let not such of ⸺’s surviving friends as may peruse this article take offence, when it is asserted that he was not the most profound of scholars, nor was his taste the finest and most accurate in the world; but he was certainly an excellent teacher, and many very eminent scholars have been produced under his guidance. He was far from deficient in judgment, was possessed of excellent common sense, and was wise enough to turn his familiar and intimate connection with Porson to excellent use. Many a lecture on the Greek dramas has smacked sensibly of the Professor. It is not known that he ever wrote any thing by which (the sermon above-mentioned excepted) his intellectual powers, or acquired attainments, can be brought to the test. The oration which follows in the Appendix was undoubtedly of his composition. As one of Porson’s has been exhibited, composed by him in very early youth, it should be noticed that the oration subjoined was produced not a great while before ⸺ changed this state for a better.