publication of such attempts. For "all that is good in the modern composition of ancient Greek is good for nothing; for, unless such composition be a cento, it can never certainly be correct; and if it be a cento, where is its value?"

* vi. The learned Pig.-April, 1785, pp. 289, 90.

*vii. Short notes appended to Le Clerc and BENTLEY'S letters.-April, 1786, pp. 255, 7, 60.

viii. Nota breves ↑ ad Xenophontis Anabasin; 4to et 8vo, 1786, pp.xli-lix. ; et "Lectori, si quis erit, S." Notæ, quibus litera W. adscripta est, viro eruditissimo, Gualtero Whiter, Aula Clar. Cantab. haud ita pridem Socio, et Etymologici conditori acerrimo, debentur. VIVUS VA

LEAT FELIX PERFICIAT.

*ix. Three panegyrical Epistles, Hawkins v. Johnson.— Gent. Mag. for Aug. 1787, pp. 651-4. Sept. pp. 751 -3. Oct. pp. 847-9.

Since whatever is connected with the name of Johnson is interesting to Englishmen, these critical effusions of R. P., drawn up under the roof of his friend and defender at Greenwich, and abounding in that raciness and force of pleasantry so peculiarly his own, have found a place in the Appendix.

† A copy of these notes enriched with MS. additions is amongst the reserved books which belonged to R. P. On this account it did not become me to reprint the Cambridge impression.

x. Notæ

x. Notæ breves ad Toupii emendationes in Suidam A. R. P. C. S. S. T. C. S. [i. e. A Ricardo Porsono Collegii Sacro-Sanctæ Trinitatis Cantabrigia Socio.]; Pp. 431-506. Dabam Londini 1 Julii 1787. Prodierunt Oxon. 1790+.

[In indice rerum et verborum memorabilium comparent addenda et corrigenda ad notas uncinis inclusa.]

xi. Beza's MS. and Dr. Kipling-Strictures on Mr. Travis. Gent. Mag. Oct. 1788, pp. 875-877.

xii. Case re-stated between Mr. Travis and the writers he opposes.-Dec. 1788, pp. 1063, 4.

*xiii. Review of Mr. Robertson's "Parian Chronicle:" Lond. 1788. Month. Rev. Jany 1789, pp. 690-97.

xiv. On the authenticity of 1 John, v. 7. G. M. Feb. 1789, pp. 101-105.

Having been informed that about this time a letter con

The delay attending this new edition of Toup's notes is alluded to in the justly celebrated Rev. of Glasse's Greek translation of Samson Agonistes; speaking of a canon, which subsequent inquiries must for ever tend to elucidate and confirm, the sagacious critic adds, this “remark would have been unnecessary, if the notes on the new edition of Toup on Suidas had appeared from the Oxford Press.❞ Month. Rev. Sept. 1789. p. 244. See also the same on vv, 255, 346. R. P. ad Or. 1623. As these notes operate powerfully on the sale of Toup, I was induced not to republish them.

taining strictures upon the "Essay on the transfiguration of Christ," 1788, had been addressed to the Right Reverend and learned author, by "a Mr. Porson," and also inserted in one of our Monthly Miscellanies, I ventured to mention the matter to my friend, and added that diligent inquiries had been made after this article, but to no purpose. R. P. recollected the fact, but did not appear to me to own himself to be the author of the remarks: he intimated that the letter alluded to was written by a friend ; and that the good Bishop admitted that it contained the fortiter in re, but lamented a scantiness of the suaviter in modo.

xv. A doubtful text of Scripture in the Complutensian edition. G. M. April, pp. 297-300.

xvi. Character of R. Stephens as an editor of the N. T. -May, pp. 386-88., and June, pp. 512-18.

xvii. Ideal MSS. quoted by Mr. Travis.-Aug. 1789, pp. 690-97.

*xviii. Reproof valiant to Mr. Travis's Reply churlish. Feby 1790, pp. 128-133.

This letter has been reprinted in the Appendix, pp. 352 -368.; and the seven letters preceding it, emended and enlarged, form the five first of the following collection. The short account of Beza's MS.† and of the commencement-speech was, for obvious reasons, omitted.

† See pp. 292-96.

xix. Letters to Mr. Archdeacon Travis, in answer to his defence of the three heavenly witnesses, 1 John, v. 7. By R. PORSON. 8vo. pp. i-xxxix. pp. 1-406. Lond. 1790.

"I consider Mr. Porson's answer to Archdeacon Travis, as the most acute and accurate piece of criticism which has appeared since the days of Bentley. His strictures are founded in argument, enriched with learning, and enlivened with wit; and his adversary neither deserves nor finds any quarter at his hands." Gibbon's Miscell. vol. I. 159, 60. See also G. Steevens on Shakspere, III, 68. This is the meed of well-earned fame; it is, however, doubted whether this could have been extorted from Mr. Gibbon's candour, if he had not felt himself defended by accident in this reply. Of Dr. Bentley's "Remarks upon Collins," which from "the many just observations they contain, the ready and clear solution they give of several difficulties of great moment, and the spirit of sound criticism and true learning which pervades the whole," are entitled to a place on the same shelf as R. P.'s letters, Mr. Gibbon very coolly observes, they are "full of learning and scurrility" with as little precision might a reader say, The history of the decline and fall of the Roman Empire abounds in eloquence and indecency. Indeed, the sly way of insinuating objections in the room of fair reasoning, when Christianity is concerned, and the confounding of the different ages and merits of the ancient Fathers render the

* The late deeply regretted Bishop of London's pref. to Enchir Theol. pp. ix, x.

+ Misc. II. 123.

caution

caution once given by a great statesman, 66 never to believe Mr. Gibbon when he speaks about priests," necessary to all his readers. I will add another remark of that great orator and acute discerner of literary merit: "Gibbon," says Mr. Fox, "has quoted many books as authority, of which he had only read the preface. He produced a singular instance of this, where Gibbon had quoted a passage as being in the third book of a writer, whose work is divided into two books only. Gibbon was led into this error by the translator of the preface of the book quoted, who, in transcribing the passage, had made the same mistake.” In this quotation I am obliged to trust to memory. As to his style, much as he sometimes admired it, R. P. was wont to remark that it would be a good exercise for a schoolboy to translate occasionally a page of Gibbon into English.

I have collated the first five letters in this volume (pp. 1-132.) with those seven which first appeared in the Gentleman's Magazine and were addressed to Mr. Urban. It would have been a waste of time and paper to record the ¡mprovements made by R. P. in his revision of this collection: suffice it to state, that wherever Mr. Urban's printers have been more watchful than those employed by Mr. Egerton, I have not been negligent of their fame. I have also verified some of the references made by R. P., and have added a few extracts from Dr. BENTLEY.

PREF. iii. 1. 6. " restored" [but not correctly] "by-"

*

viii. n. In the year 1716-17 Dr. BENTLEY, being candidate for the Regius Professorship of Divinity in the University of Cambridge, read this probationary lecture, which R. P. had perused.

- 1. 16. "volume" p. 544. 4to ed.