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Untitled Article
o < Js of his life an occasional contributor to the Gentleman ' s Magazine , and Morning Chronicle . In very few instances , it is probable , since the revival of literature , have all the
circumstances requisite to the formation of an accomplished critic and scholar been so happily combined , as in that of the late Professor Porson . Sagacity , learning , and judgment were united in him in such just proportions , that it would be difficult to say which of
them formed the " predominnnt feature of his intellectual character . He was gifted by nature with a memory in the highest degree ready and tenacious . To study an author , was with him to imprint his contents , and in many instances even his words indelibly on his recollection . Yet his
meinory , extraordinary as it was , was subordinate to the other faculties of his mind * and does not appear in any degree to have checked their ' growth , or impeded their exercise . He possessed that power of determined
undeviatinoattention , which is the fundamental principle of all considerable attaiuments , and to which even Newton ascribed the great philosophical discoveries by which his name is immortalized . His
mode of study" was , we believe , exceedingly systematic and persevering . With such an application of such talents , it is not surprizing that he gained an extent of knowledge , which it has
fallen to the lot of few to possess . His judgment was not less conspicuous . His erudition is never displayed at the expense of good b . ense and just taste . It is always em [) loved to illustrate , and no further than it- does illustrate ^
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the topic * which he treats . A quick and just feeling of proprie-. ty ^ both in sentiment and expression , marks his critical decisions . He had nc-t oniy judgment to ar > . preciate , but sagacity to discover and has , in many instances , detected errors before unsuspected , thrown iio ; ht on obscurity which
mr seemed impenetrable , and discerned relations and connexions in objects between which no common principle had been before observed . He examined subjects with that sober judgment and cautious distrust , which an ancient poet has described as the u joints of the mind , " seats of its strength , and principles of its motion , and which rarely suffered a difficulty or error to escape his notice .
His extent of philological learning was complete . It has been the fault of many critics , that while they have excelled in some departments of their art , they have treated others with an undue neglect , and have thence exposed themselves to errors which persons of very inferior attainments have been able with ease to
correct . Mr . Porson ' s practice was the reverse of this . In every species of knowledge requisite for the critic he was accomplished . His attention had been closely directed to the minute delicacies of language ,, which are constantly preserved by good writers , but escape the notice of less accurate
observers ; to the peculiarities of expression or sentiment characteristic of different ages or tastes ; to the various structures of verse employed by the ancient poets ( in which he discovered laws before unnoticed ) without a knowledge of which hofh learning and sagacity would be fruitlessly eih-
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53 S Literary Memoir of the late Professor Porso ?? *
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Oct. 2, 1808, page 538, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2397/page/14/
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