for seven more as a journeyman. In the course of this protracted estrangement from literature, he almost completely forgot whatever scholarship he had at one time possessed. Having, however, been attacked by a lingering fever and ague, and obliged to discontinue working at his trade, he took to reading by way of amusing his leisure; and it was in the course of his perusal of a work of controversial divinity, that, like Hill, he met with some Hebrew quotations, which are said to have first inspired him with the resolution of endeavouring to recover his school-learning. Accordingly, by labouring hard for some time, he at last succeeded in enabling himself again to read Latin with tolerable facility: upon this he immediately proceeded to the study of Hebrew, and soon made considerable progress in that tongue also, by the aid of a dictionary, in which the words were rendered in Latin. While he was thus engaged, his health gradually improved, and he was enabled to return to his business; but he did not, for all that, neglect his studies. After working all day, his general practice was to sit up reading for a great part of the night, deeming himself far more than compensated for his labours and privations, by obtaining, even at this sacrifice, a few hours every week for the pursuits he loved; and in this manner, within seven years, he had actually made himself master of the Latin, Greek, Hebrew, Chaldee, Syriac, Arabic, and Persian languages. Yet his extraordinary attainments seem not to have been generally known till a fortunate accident introduced him to the notice of Dean Prideaux, a distinguished proficient in Oriental learning. The Dean, who also resided in Norwich, was one day shown some Arabic manuscripts in a bookseller's shop, which, upon inspecting them, he wished to purchase; but the bookseller would not dispose of them for the price he offered. Some days afterwards, regretting that he had not secured the manuscripts, he returned to the bookseller, intending to give him what he asked, when, upon making inquiry after them, he learned to his consternation that they had been sold to a tailor! Never doubting that they were destined for the scissors, if not already in shreds, he requested that the tailor, who was no other than Wild, might be instantly sent for, that they might yet, if it were possible, be saved. Upon Wild making his appearance, the Dean had the gratification of learning, in answer to his first question, that the parchments were still uninjured; but he was very much surprised when, upon expressing his wish to purchase them, Wild refused to part with them. "What can you mean to make of them?" asked the Dean. Wild told him he intended to read them; and the Dean found, upon examining him, that this was no vain boast: the manuscripts were produced, and Wild read and translated a part of them in his presence. Dr. Prideaux soon after exerted himself to raise a small subscription for this poor and meritorious scholar, by which means he was sent to Oxford, not to be entered at the University, but

that he might have access to the libraries, and find a more appropriate occupation for his talents in teaching those Oriental tongues with which he had in so wonderful a manner contrived to make himself acquainted. He came to Oxford about the year 1718, and resided in that city, where he went by the name of the Arabian Tailor, for two or three years, having been partly employed in teaching, and partly in making transcripts and translations from Oriental manuscripts in the Bodleian library. Nothing more is known of him, except that in 1720 he removed to London, where he was patronized by the celebrated Dr. Mead. The period of his death has not been ascertained; but in 1734 there appeared a translation by him of an Arabic production, entitled "Mahomet's Journey to Heaven," which is supposed, however, to have been a posthumous publication. There is a letter from Dr. Turner respecting Wild among the "Letters by Eminent Persons," published some years ago by Dr. Bliss, from which it would appear, that, in pursuing his solitary studies, he had to struggle with severe penury, as well as with other disadvantages. The letter is dated 1714, while Wild was still in Norwich; and the writer, after mentioning his extensive acquisitions, adds, "But he is very poor, and his landlord lately seized a Polyglot Bible (which he had made shift to purchase) for rent.”

We may here mention the unhappy EUGENE ARAM, who was tried and convicted in 1759 for a murder committed fourteen years beforethe strange circumstances that led to the discovery of which, after so long a concealment, form one of the most arresting chapters in the history of human guilt. This man, whose lot it was to come to so miserable an end, strikingly exemplified, in the previous part of his life, what resolution and perseverance may accomplish in the work of self-education. Aram, who was born in Yorkshire in the year 1704, only learned to read a little English in the school of his native village, and never afterwards had the benefit of any further instruction; yet, by his own exertions, he first qualified himself to teach all the more common branches of education, including arithmetic and mathematics, and then proceeded, with an industry that has scarcely been surpassed, to make his way to the highest departments of learning. In a letter written to a clerical friend from York Castle, after his conviction, in which he gives an account of his life, he says, referring to the period when he was first engaged in thus at the same time teaching others and himself:“Perceiving the deficiency in my education, and sensible of my want of the learned languages, and prompted by an irresistible covetousness of 'knowledge, I commenced a series of studies in that way, and undertook the tediousness, intricacies, and the labours of grammar. I selected Lily from the rest, all which I got and repeated by heart. The task of repeating it all every day was impossible while I attended the school; so I divided it into portions, by which method it was pronounced thrice

every week; and this I performed for years. Next I became acquainted with Camden's Greek Grammar, which I also repeated in the same manner, memoriter. Thus instructed, I entered upon the Latin classics, whose allurements repaid my assiduities and my labours. I remember to have at first hung over five lines for a whole day; and never, in all the painful course of my reading, left any one passage but I did, or thought I did, perfectly comprehend it. After I had accurately perused every one of the Latin classics, historians, and poets, I went through the Greek Testament, first parsing every word as I proceeded: next I ventured upon Hesiod, Homer, Theocritus, Herodotus, Thucydides, and all the Greek tragedians. A tedious labour was this; but my former acquaintance with history lessened it extremely, because it threw a light upon many passages which, without that assistance, must have appeared obscure." There was scarcely any part of literature, indeed, with which Aram was not profoundly conversant. History, antiquities, heraldry, botany, had all been elaborately and extensively studied by him but his favourite pursuit was the investigation and comparison of languages, with a view to the determination of their origin and connection. For this purpose, in addition to the Greek, Latin, and French, he had studied with great attention several of the Oriental tongues, and all the remaining dialects of the Celtic. He had meditated, indeed, the compilation of a Dictionary of the Celtic, Hebrew, Greek, Latin, and English, in which different languages he is said to have left behind him a list of about three thousand words, which he considered them to possess in common. Some of his observations upon this subject have been printed, and are creditable both to his ingenuity and good sense. The address, we may add, which he delivered on his trial in his own defence, is an extraordinary specimen of the curious learning with which his mind seems to have been stored. But he is a mournful example of high mental powers brought low by ill-regulated passions, and of the vanity and worthlessness even of talents and knowledge, when separated from moral principle.*

There is an English translation of the Scriptures, in two volumes folio, which was published at London in 1765, and which, although not distinguished by much elegance, is held in considerable esteem for its general accuracy and closeness to the original. This was the work of a person of the name of ANTHONY PURVER, who, at the time when it appeared, was a schoolmaster at Andover, but had been almost entirely self-educated. Having been born (about the year 1702) in low life, he had been originally apprenticed to a shoemaker, by whom, however, he was employed as a shepherd, an occupation which, as in the case of Hill,

The story of Eugene Aram has now been rendered familiar to all by having engaged the pen of a distinguished novelist. Aram's

trial is in Howell's "State Trials;" but the

particulars given above are mostly from his life in the second edition of the "Biographia Britannica."

afforded him considerable leisure for reading and study. In the course of time he acquired, with scarcely any assistance, a very considerable knowledge of Latin, Greek, and Hebrew. It was the accidental perusal of a book, in which some errors were pointed out in the common translation of the Bible, that first awakened in him a desire to make himself acquainted with the two sacred tongues. Purver, who died in 1777, was a Quaker; and his version of the Scriptures, which was the labour of thirty years of his life, was published at the expense of the eminent Dr. Fothergill, who was himself also a member of that religious body.

About thirty years ago there appeared in the newspapers an account of a scholar in humble life, who died some time before in London, and whose attainments seem to have been as extensive, and as entirely the result of his own exertions in quest of knowledge, as those of any one of the individuals we have yet mentioned. JOSEPH PENDRELL had received at school nothing more than the ordinary education in English reading and writing, and at an early age was apprenticed by his father to a shoemaker, which business he followed until his death. He had when young a great taste for books; but was first led to the more learned studies in which he eventually made so much progress, by the following accident:-Stopping at a book stall one day, he laid hold of a book of arithmetic marked fourpence; he purchased it, and availed himself of his leisure hours at home in making himself master of the subject. At the end of the volume he found a short introduction to mathematics. This stimulated him to make further purchases of scientific works; and in this way he gradually proceeded from the elements to the highest departments of mathematical learning. When a journeyman, he saved every penny he could in order to purchase books. Finding there were many valuable writers on his favourite subject in French, he determined to study that language; for which purpose he procured a grammar, a book of exercises, and a dictionary; and he persevered until he was able to read the French writers with ease. In the same manner he proceeded to acquire the Latin and Greek languages, of the latter of which he made himself master so far as to have little difficulty in reading the Septuagint, or any other common prose work. He had formed a large collection of classical books, many of which he purchased at the auctionrooms, in King-street, Covent-garden, formerly belonging to Paterson, the celebrated book auctioneer (see p. 128), in whose time they formed a favourite resort of literary men. Pendrell did not, however, avail himself of any opportunity of becoming known to the literary characters he was accustomed to meet here. On the contrary, he always shunned notice, and made it a practice invariably to conceal his name when a lot

* Dr. Fothergill gave Purver 1000%. for the manuscript of his translation (an attempt had before been made to publish it in numbers), and also carried it, at his own expense,

through the press.

Purver afterwards revised the work for a second edition, which, however, has never appeared.-See Chalmers's "Biographical Dictionary."

was knocked down to him. He had often in these rooms got into talk with the learned Bishop Lowth, when they chanced to meet before the sale began. The Bishop was much pleased with his conversation, and one day asked Paterson who he was, on which Paterson took the first opportunity to inquire his name, acquainting him, at the same time, who the person was that felt interested in his favour. The poor shoemaker, however, from extreme diffidence, declined telling Paterson his name, although the introduction to the Bishop, of which an opportunity was thus given him, might probably have drawn him from obscurity, and led to some improvement of his humble circumstances. Pendrell's knowledge of mathematical science is described as having been profound and extensive, embracing fortification, navigation, astronomy, and all the different departments of natural philosophy; and he is stated to have been also very well acquainted with most of our English writers in poetry and the belles lettres. He resided for several years before his death in Gray's-buildings, Duke-street, Manchester-square, and attained the age of seventy-five. It is supposed that this modest, self-taught scholar was descended from, or at least of the same family with, the Pendrell who concealed Charles II. after the battle of Worcester.

CHAPTER XXI.

DR. ALEXANDER MURRAY.

WITH the exception of Magliabecchi, the names we have as yet mentioned under our present head have been those of persons whose acquirements, although most honourable to themselves, and well entitled to our admiration when the circumstances in which they were made are considered, have yet hardly been such as to secure for their possessors any permanent place in the annals of the learned. They are remembered not so much on account of what they accomplished as on account of the disadvantages under which they accomplished it. But he whom we are now to introduce, while the narrative of his progress from obscurity to distinction presents to us as praiseworthy a struggle with adverse circumstances as is anywhere else recorded, had taken his rank, even before his premature death, among the scholars of his time ; and, although suddenly arrested when in the full speed of his career, has bequeathed something of himself in his works to posterity. We speak of the late DR. ALEXANDER MURRAY, the celebrated Orientalist; nor are there many more interesting histories than his in the whole range of literary biography. Happily the earlier portion of it, with