Are there not in yon midnight sky

Planets, whose ruling sway
From our birth shape our destiny ;—
Some that with darkling ray
In one fix'd mournful aspect shine?
Such natal star I feel is mine.

And once my horoscope was read,-
They said that I should have
A brightness o'er my pathway shed,
And then an early grave;

Feelings worn with a sense their own,
As chords burst by their own sweet tone.
I have one wish, 'tis wild and vain,
Yet still that wish will be,
That I might rest in yon wide main,
My tomb the mighty sea;
As if at once my spirit went
To blend with the vast element.
One day I saw a grave just made,

How drear, how dark, how cold:
There when the coffin had been laid,
They trampled down the mould:
A week more 'twas a step and seat
For heartless rest, and careless feet.
Be my death-pillow, where the rock
Admits no mortal tread-
No carved epitaph to mock

The now unconscious dead;

Or be my grave the billows deep,

Where the sun shines and the winds sweep.

L.E. L.

RECOLLECTIONS OF DR. PARR, BY A PUPIL.-NO. III.

On one occasion, I recollect the Doctor's making the pupils get up at two o'clock in the morning, during a tremendous thunderstorm. We found our preceptor in the library, smoking with philosophical tranquillity, the windows and door being open. He was dressed in a suit of rusty black, with a large glazed cocked-hat over his nightcap. After desiring us to sit down, he gave us a most interesting account of the facts and discoveries connected with electricity, Dr. Franklin's invention of conductors, &c. interspersed with amusing anecdotes, having reference to the same subject. All this time, Parr went on smoking at intervals, with perfect composure, whilst the rain fell down in torrents, which, with the awful claps of thunder, and vivid flashes of lightning, produced a very striking effect upon our minds. It was like listening to a disquisition upon lava, near the crater of Mount Vesuvius.

Nothing could exceed my preceptor's benevolent zeal on occasions where his services as a clergyman were required by the sick, the oppressed, or the unfortunate, or by the criminal sentenced to forfeit his life to the laws of his country. In one instance of this latter description, having reason to suppose the evidence defective, his exertions were most active and unremitting to obtain a respite, which he effected through the late Duke of Portland, to whom he addressed a

very eloquent letter on the subject: and he had ultimately the satisfaction of procuring, through the same channel, a full pardon for the unfortunate man, whose innocence was proved satisfactorily; and of which the Doctor was so convinced, that he took him into his service until he had obtained another situation. It is gratifying to add, that the man's subsequent conduct was such as to justify the exertions which were made in his favour.

Of a similar description was the conduct of Parr, when his friend Mr. Oliver, an apothecary at Stafford, was tried for the murder of a gentleman who was proprietor of a pottery in that neighbourhood, and whose consent Mr. Oliver had obtained to marry his daughter. Having subsequently refused to fulfil his promise, and having forbidden the visits of Mr. Oliver, the latter was so exasperated by the disappointment of his hopes, that he called upon the father of the lady, and upon hearing him repeat his refusal, shot him on the spot. The only ground of defence on the trial was the insanity of the prisoner, of which the Doctor was so firmly convinced, that he strained every nerve in his favour. But all his exertions were fruitless. The murder, indeed, was effected with much deliberation, and after previously purchasing a mould wherewith to cast the bullets. This circumstance was fatal. During the interval between the sentence passed on Mr. Oliver and his execution, Parr visited him daily in his cell, and remained with him during the whole of the night preceding the awful catastrophe, pouring balm into the wounds of his friend's afflicted mind, and preparing him by prayer and exhortation for another world. This was a subject to which the Doctor could never allude without visible emotion.

A day or two after my first arrival at Hatton, the Doctor took me into the library, and with the utmost gravity of countenance, said to me, "An impression prevails among my servants, that my wine-cellar is haunted by a ghost. Now, I do not pretend to say whether there is any foundation for the idea or not. But I do know, that it protects my wine; and therefore I must insist upon your never alluding to it with any levity:"-then, after a pause, he emphatically added, " If you do, you must take the consequences.-You understand me.'

When I commenced my vocation of Amanuensis, the Doctor gave me some instructions as to the mode of fulfilling my duty. Among other things, he desired me always to spell honour, favour, &c. with the u-saying, "None of your coxcomical abbreviations.' In dictating, it was always his wish that I should put him in mind of any too frequent repetitions of the same word, or other instances of what might appear to me faults in composition, which he would instantly correct, at the same time thanking me for my suggestion. He once introduced me to a lady into whose house he had brought me as a guest, in the following manner. "Allow me, Madam, to introduce to you an old pupil, whom I have often flogged, and who is, I assure you, all the better for it."

Dr. Parr used to express his sentiments of his three favourite divines, Hooker, Barrow, and Jeremy Taylor, as follows:

Ώκηρον μὲν σεβω-θαυμαζω δε βαῤῥονον—και φιλῶ Ταίλωρον. Parr's correspondence was so extensive, that the expense of postage would have been very serious, if the letters received by him had not

been franked, as was almost invariably the case, for which purpose several of his parliamentary friends volunteered their services. His own letters to individuals in London were always inclosed in an envelope to a peer or member of parliament.

Although it is undoubtedly true that the Doctor attributed "The Pursuits of Literature" to Matthias, yet I have heard him say, " Rennell, Sir, had a finger in the pie," alluding to Dr. Rennell, who, as my preceptor thought, entertained hostile sentiments towards him. I recollect, many years ago, going with Parr and Sir James Mackintosh to the Temple Church, to hear Dr. Rennell, who was master of the Temple, preach. He took for his text, "Ye men of Athens, I see that in all things ye are too superstitious," which he made the groundwork of a violent philippic against the Roman Catholicks, endeavouring to prove that their doctrines and principles necessarily made them atheists. Never shall I forget the indignant gestures of Parr, who sat with Sir James Mackintosh and myself in a pew near the pulpit. "Good God," he exclaimed, 66 was there ever before an instance of a clergyman delivering from the pulpit a discourse, the object of which is to show, that the whole of Christendom was for upwards of fourteen centuries under the dominion of atheism?"

Dr. Rennell preached five sermons on the abovementioned text. The four first were a continued climax of severity against the papists; and it was therefore thought that the fifth and last would be the ne plus ultra of vituperation. Under this impression, the Temple church, on the day of its being preached, was thronged by visitors from all parts of the metropolis, including a considerable number of Roman Catholics. After the preliminary prayer, the expectations of the congregation were raised to the highest pitch. But greatly were they disappointed; for the sermon in question was a mere milk and water affair in comparison with those which preceded it, the severity of which Dr. Rennell endeavoured to soften down as much as possible. Some persons said at the time that this was in consequence of a hint from a distinguished member of the cabinet. Speaking of a volume of Dr. Rennell's sermons, Parr said, "There is only one that I like. It is on gambling. That, Sir, is very fine indeed. Rennell never wrote so well, either before or since."

Having asked the Doctor his opinion of a Latin translation by Mr. Daniel French, the barrister, of the first book of Telemachus, which I had put into his hands a few days previously, Parr said: "Sir, it is a noble translation, quite Ciceronian, and worthy of a work of Fenelon. Why does not Mr. French continue it?" This was very high praise from my preceptor, who was extremely fastidious as to modern Latin. Having inquired of Parr what he thought of Milton's "Paradise Regained," he replied, "I recollect one very fine passage." He then repeated the following description of the banquet prepared by Satan for our Saviour in the wilderness.

"He spake no dream, for as his words had end,
Our Saviour lifting up his eyes, beheld

In ample space under the broadest shade

A table richly spread in regal mode,

With dishes piled, and meats of noblest sort
And savour, beasts of chase, or fowl of game
In pastry built, or from the spit, or boil'd,
Gris-amber-steam'd; all fish from sea or shore,

Freshet, or purling brook, of shell or fin,
And exquisitest name, for which was drain'd
Pontus, and Lucrine Bay, and Africk coast.
Alas! how simple to these cates compared,
Was that crude apple that diverted Eve!
And, at a stately sideboard, by the wine
That fragrant smell diffused, in order stood
Tall stripling youths rich clad, of fairer hue
Than Ganymed or Hylas; distant more
Under the trees now tripp'd, now solemn stood
Nymphs of Diana's train, and Naiades
With fruits and flowers from Amalthea's horn,
And ladies of th' Hesperides, that seem'd
Fairer than feign'd of old, or fabled since
Of fairy damsels met in forests wide
By knights of Logres, or of Lyones,
Lancelot, or Pelleas, or Pellenore:

And all the while harmonious airs were heard

Of chiming strings, or charming pipes; and winds
Of gentlest gale Arabian odours fann'd

From their soft wings, and Flora's earliest smells."

"These lines," said the Doctor, "are perhaps equal to any thing in Paradise Lost. But in Paradise Regained there are very few fine passages."

Parr often received presents from his friends of game, poultry, &c. On one occasion I recollect the arrival of a turkey and chine at Hatton, without any intimation from what quarter they came. The Doctor, after thinking a little while, settled it in his own mind that they were a present from one of his friends, who resided in the county from whence the parcel had been sent; and under that impression, wrote a letter to him, in which were these words :-"We feasted yesterday on your turkey and chine, which were both excellent; and we drank the health of the donor in a bumper." A few days afterwards Parr received another similar present from the individual above alluded to, with a letter to the following effect :-" My dear Doctor, the turkey. and chine you mention did not come from me. I hope those which I now send will prove equally good."

The Doctor's pipes were generally presents from his friends. Mr. Peregrine Dealtry, in particular, used often to supply him. Once he received, at Hatton, a box of very handsome pipes, with a plume of feathers on the bowl, which, to the best of my recollection, were a present from the Prince of Wales. The Earl of Abingdon gave him a superb Turkish pipe. Trivial as the circumstance may be thought, I will just mention, that the Doctor, when smoking, always held the bowl of the pipe with his finger and thumb, although the heat would not have been endurable by a person unaccustomed to that habit.

There are many portraits of Dr. Parr. That which, in my opinion, by far the most resembles him, is one of which there is a mezzotinto engraving by Say. In that portrait you have the exact character of his countenance. Romney's and several others are flattering likenesses.

My preceptor entertained an unfeigned esteem for Dr. Cyril Jackson, the late Dean of Christchurch, who, during the period of his presiding over that college, was sometimes called the King of Oxford; and, with reference to whom, the nolo episcopari was literally his maxim.

Parr, in speaking of him, said,-"Sir, he made his brother a bishop: but he has himself refused two bishopricks, and the archbishoprick of York." On some public occasion, the Dean preached what the Doctor thought an ultra-tory sermon, before a congregation including many Whigs of high rank. This displeased Parr, who said," If I had been near my friend Cyril, I would have whispered in his ear,—

"Non sat divisa sunt, Dave, temporibus tibi."

?"

Parr told me, that he once met in the streets the late Archbishop of Narbonne, of whom he said,-" He was dressed in a suit of purple. His port and figure were majestic. Sir, I was awed. He ought to have been Pope." This leads me to remark, that I have heard Dr. Parr specify some of our prelates, who, as he said, looked grand in pontificalibus. He mentioned in particular Archbishop Moore, and Bishops Hurd, Watson, and Bathurst, and added, laughingly, "I think I look as well as any of them in mine. What do you think, To say the truth, the Doctor's appearance with the sash, the cassock, and the grand wig, had a very imposing effect; and it delighted him not a little to be told that this was the case. Upon one occasion, when sitting after dinner with Parr and two or three very intimate friends, the grand peruke having been adverted to, a wish was expressed to have it sent for from the barber's, who lived in the neighbourhood. This proposal being good-humouredly acquiesced in by the Doctor, we all tried it on successively. When it was put on the head of a near relative of mine, Parr immediately exclaimed," Sir, you look like an archbishop!" and every one present agreed in the same opinion.

Doctor, on the au-
The two first are
The last relates to

I will now relate three anecdotes concerning the thority of Mr. J. Clayton Jennyns,† the barrister. highly characteristic of Parr's manner in society. a practical joke played upon him by a gentleman, with whom he was on a footing of the greatest intimacy for many years.

Mr. J. once met my preceptor at the house of the late Dr. Disney. After dinner, perceiving that the Doctor was not disposed to talk, and that the conversation flagged, Mr. J. (having previously whispered to a friend that he would bring Parr out) availed himself of the first opportunity of opposing, with an appearance of warmth, some opinion which the Doctor had just been expressing. Before Mr. J. had uttered many words, Parr interrupted him, saying in a loud voice,

*Great uncle to the present Viscount Dillon, who is the lineal descendant of the well-known Sir Henry Lee, and proprietor of his mansion and estate of Ditchley. The writer of this article hopes that Lord Dillon, in his retirement at Florence, will steal an hour from his metaphysical lucubrations, to be devoted to the perusal of these "Recollections" of one, who sincerely hopes to see him shortly residing at his mansion of Ditchley, which, with his illustrious ancestor, have recently been immortalized by the pen of the author of Woodstock. The last sentence brings to my mind another able Penn, whom Lord Dillon will be glad to see at Ditchley, and whose knowledge on genealogical subjects, would qualify him for the office of Garter King at Arms.

+ Late Fiscal at Demerara and Essequibo. Mr. Jennyns is the author of several very able legal treatises, the object of which is to mitigate the severity of our penal code, and which were often spoken of in terms of high praise by the late Earl Stanhope.