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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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capability of and sympathy far " others woe , " which she ever felt a disposition to relieve , often regf et £ ng that her scanty fn £ an $ prevented the exercise of a pleasing t benevolence to its utmost ^ extent . As a wife , while an opportunity
was afforded for discharging the duties of that relation , she conducted herself with prudence and fidelity , ~—But for Hiaternai fondness if she has ever been equalled , it is impossible she should be exseeded . A surviving son « and only child , considers it his duty to make this grateful acknowledgment to her memory , while he entreats the candid reader ' s
permission to indulge in the following apostrophe to departed worth , as expressive of the undissembled feelings of his heart . Long as life ' s power maintains its seat , ' Affection shall thy name repeat * Fbr none on earth more dear can be , Than thou my mother wast to me .
T . C . A . Sept . 25 th . PROFESSOR PORSON , at the house of the . London . Institution , aged 48 . , Richard Porson was born at EastRuston , in Norfolk , on Christmas-day , 1759 . ^* father was the parish-clerk , who himself , without the advantages of early education , laid the basis of his son ' s unparalleled acquirements . From the earliest dawn of intellect , Mr .
Porson began the task of fixing the attention of his children , three ' son 9 and a daughter , and he had taught Richard , his eldest ton , all the common rules of arithmetic , without the use of a Jjook or 6 late , pen or pencil , up to the cube-root , before he ^ vas nine years of apce . By thia early ha-Jri . t he acquired such a talent of close and intense thinking , and sucn a power of arranging every operation that occupied his
thoughts , a 9 in process of time to render the mbst' difficult problems , which to others required-the assistance of written figures , easy to his retentive memory . m was initiated in , letters by a process equally efficacious . His father taugjit him to read and write at the same time . He drew the form of the letter either with
chalk on a board , or with the finf « r in sanc (; and Kichard / was' made at once to understand and imitatfe'the impression . As soon as he could speak he could tVace the letters ; and this exercise flighting hi * fancy , an ardour of imitating whatcvet ^ was put MWe him vrjis
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excited to suck a degree , tftatJKe ^ 1 ? of the hoi ^ ^ ere ' co ^ re ^ d ^ jra ' jfli ^ l ^^ ters which , attracted notice , frph ^ ikeif neatness and fidelity of delineation , y At nine years of age lie was , $ ejnt to the village school kept by , a Mf . oii mti ^^ who professed nothing b eypn ^ , ^ i ^^^^ writing and arithmetic , —but 1 ie tivv : ^ 4 good accountant and an exce ^ efci ^
jwjqi-. ing-master , and perfected ^ isppgif 1 i that 4 < 4 ightful talent of , / iyritmg ^ l # w ^ hich he , so peculiarly excelled ,,, jrtc qontinued under Mr . Sulnniefs for threq years ; and every evening duf $ n 4 ^ - ^ 9 $ time he had to repeat by heart t ^> lus fa- » ther , the lessons and tasfes of the' dfft thus the process of recollection was cherished and strengthened so as to , ] becom ^
a quality of his mind . , > ' J The Rev . Mr . Hewitt hearin g of hii extraordinary propensity to study , kind ^ ly instructed "him and his btrotber ^ inrthc classics . . The progress of both was gfeSt r but that of Richardwas most extraordina * ry . When he had reached his fourteenth year , his attainment ^ had re a ^ Keci the :
notice of all the gentlemen in , the vicinity . Among others he was , mentioned as a prodigy to the late Mr . Norris , an opulent and liberal man , who sent himI to Eton in 1774 . Here he displayed sucfh a superiority of intellect and such extensive acquirements , that the upper boys took nina into their society . In their frolics as well as in their serious
' tasks , Porson was the constant adviser and support . On this lively part of M ^ youth , he used to dwell with peculiar complacency . He suffered a great loss by the death of Mr . Norris . He was however continued at Eton through the kindness of some eminent and liberal persons . Ii | * 777 » tae was entered of Trinity College ,
and his character having gone before him , he was from the first regarded as a youtri whose extraordinary endowments would keep up , and extepd the-reputation of that society , nor did he disappoint the hopes which he had excited . He first applied to mathematics , in which from his early Zeroises he was so well-calculated to shine , and then by the
prospect of a scholarship sat down to the classic * . He got the medal of course , and was elected a Fellow in 178 X . In 1785 , he took his degree of Master of Arts , but before the period had elapsed when he must either enter into orders or resign his fellowship , he determined t #
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Obituary . > ^ i 5 jr $
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Professor Porsert . ' - ' - ¦ * *'> ¦>'• ¦* - ¦
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Oct. 2, 1808, page 573, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2397/page/49/
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