gether in old men and old women,-ruffian robbers, and midnight assassins, perhaps Opie had no equal among his contemporaries. He also was one of those artists who were employed to embody the thoughts of our great dramatic bard, and he accordingly painted several pictures for the Shakspeare Gallery.'

When the Royal institution was formed, it became necessary that an artist should be found out who could deliver lectures on the subject of painting, and Mr Opie was accordingly selected for that purpose. It must be fairly owned, however, that nature had not rendered him eloquent; that he was destitute of those graces which are calculated to please a polite auditory, and that as a public orator he possessed no other qualification except the power of instructing those to whom he addressed himself. No sooner did the professorship of painting in the royal academy become vacant, than Opie started as a candidate for the prize; he, however, resigned his claims in favour of Mr Fuseli: but, on the appointment of the latter to the office of keeper of the academy, he renewed his pretensions, and was elected without any difficulty. The lectures delivered by him at Somerset-House rather added to than detracted from his reputation; and he is allowed to have been far more successful there than in Albemarle-street.

'The Life of Reynolds,' published in Dr Wolcott's edition of Pilkington's Dictionary, was the first specimen of his literary abilities. In this he displayed a profound knowledge of the subject,-a quick and powerful perception of distinctive character,—and a mastery of language little to be expected from a youth who was supposed to have been destitute of learning. He next published a Letter in the Morning Chronicle, in which he proposed a distinct plan for the formation of a National Gallery, tending at once to exalt the arts of this country, and immortalize its glories.

While enjoying great domestic happiness, and high reputation in his art, he was suddenly seized with a mortal disease, which baffled all the skill of his physicians. He expired on Thursday, April 9th, 1807, in the forty-sixth year of his age. His form was rather slender than athletic, and his visage cast in one of the coarse moulds of nature; at the same time it must be allowed that his eye partook of penetration. His manners, however, in general were destitute of that urbanity which recommends a man to the favour of society, while his address was awkward and uncouth, and his conversation abrupt; there was yet good sense in it, however, and an acuteness of observation that displayed more than an ordinary intellect. West says of him : "He painted what he saw in the most masterly manner, and he varied little from it. He rather bent his subject to the figure, than the figure to his subject. That may be said of Opie, which can only be truly said of the highest geniuses, that he saw Nature in one point more distinctly and forcibly than any painter that ever lived. The truth of colour, as conveyed to the eye through the atmosphere, by which the distance of every object is ascertained,

The writer of the above memoir in the 'Monthly Magazine' here gives the following catalogue of Mr Opie's paintings:-1. The death of David Rizzio; 2. The Murder of James I. king of Scotland; 3. The Presentation in the Temple; 4. Jephtha's Vow; 5. Arthur; 6. Juliet in the Garden; 7. Escape of Gil Blas; 8. Musidora; 9. A Beggar, in possession of Dr Wolcott. In the exhibition of 1806, he had eight portraits; in that of 1807, six; in neither of these appeared any other subject whatsoever.

was never better expressed than by him. He resigned himself unwillingly to fancy; yet examples are not wanting, both in historical subjects and in portraits, in which he added to the subject before him with felicity. His pictures possessed, in an eminent degree, what painters call breadth. They were deficient in some of the more refined distinctions which mark the highly-polished works of Raffaelle, Titian, and Reynolds; but they displayed so invariable an appearance of truth, as seemed sufficient to make a full apology, if it had been wanted, for the absence of all the rest."

Esaac Reed.

BORN A. D. 1741.-DIED A. D. 1807.

ISAAC REED was born on the 1st of January, 1741, in Stewart-street, Old Artillery Ground, London. His father, though engaged in the humble occupation of a baker, was a man of education and abilities superior to his apparent condition. Being of a constitution exceedingly delicate, Isaac, during his earliest years, remained with his parents, from whom he was at length removed to an academy at Streatham.

In the year 1757 he became an articled clerk to Messrs Perrot and Hodgson, then eminent attorneys in London. When his clerkship was concluded, he engaged himself as assistant to Mr Hoskins, of Lincoln'sinn, barrister and conveyancer. In this situation he remained for about a year, when he took chambers in Grays-inn, and began to practise as a conveyancer on his own account. Independently, however, of his application to the laborious duties of his profession, previous to this period he had acquired a decided taste for old English literature, and an intimate acquaintance with old English authors. Retired and simple in his manners, strict and unbending in his integrity, and without any prepossession for the law, of which he has been heard to say "the practice was intolerable," he soon sacrificed, without reluctance, his expectations of professional advancement, and gave his chief attention to pursuits more agreeable to his accustomed habits, and better suited to his peculiar turn of mind.

So early as the year 1768 he collected into one volume the poetical works of Lady Mary Wortley Montague. In 1778 he printed a few copies of Middleton's curious unpublished play, called The Witch, a Tragi-Comedie,' which were only circulated privately among his friends. In the same year appeared a sixth volume of Dr Young's works. In 1773 he collected and published the Cambridge Seatonian Prize Poems,' from their institution in 1750. From 1773 to about 1780 he was a valuable and constant contributor to the Westminster Magazine,' more particularly in the biographical department. He was also an occasional contributor to the Gentleman's Magazine;' but in later years, The European Magazine,' of which he was editor and a proprietor till the close of 1806, was honoured with his immediate and particular care and superintendence. In 1775 appeared Pearch's Collection of Poems,' 4 vols., which has been erroneously ascribed to George Keate, Esq., but was edited by Reed; and, in 1777, an account of the 'Life and Writings of the late Rev. Dr Dodd.' The 'Biographia Dramatica,' 2

vols. 8vo, founded upon Baker's Companion to the Play-house,' was a favourite work of Mr Reed's, and may be considered as one of his most original productions. Since its publication, in 1782, he continually interested himself in arranging and collecting materials for an improved edition; but finding himself unequal to continue his exertions, the property of this work was transferred to Messrs Longman and Rees; and, on Mr Reed's strongest recommendation, the completion of it was undertaken by Mr Stephen Jones. In 1780 appeared an improved edition of 'Dodsley's Old Plays,' in 12 vols.; the original title-pages of which were found among Mr Reed's papers, having been cancelled, on account of the publishers having inserted the name of the editor,-a circumstance always highly repugnant to his feelings. In 1782 he edited a new edition of Dodsley's Collection of Poems,' with biographical notes, 6 vols. 8vo. To these we may add two supplemental volumes to Dr Johnson's works, 1788; a select collection of fugitive pieces of wit and humour, in prose and verse, under the title of the Repository,' 4 vols. 8vo, 1777-1783; the 'Life of Goldsmith,' prefixed to the second volume of his Essays, collected and published in 3 vols., by Mr Wright, 1798; and a concise delineation of his friend, Dr Farmer, communicated to William Seward, Esq., and printed in his Biographiana.

To the generality of readers, however, the name of Reed is most familiar as an annotator on Shakspeare. The first edition of Shakspeare in which he was engaged was that of 1785, in 10 vols. This he undertook at the particular request of his friend Steevens, with whom Mr Reed was joint-editor in the subsequent edition of 1793, in 15 vols. Mr Steevens, feeling himself deeply indebted for Mr Reed's persevering attention and valuable assistance, bequeathed to him his own corrected copy of Shakspeare, from which was published, in 1803, Reed's last splendid edition of Shakspeare, in 21 vols., 8vo. To this edition his name was formally prefixed.

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These, though no inconsiderable proofs of his industry and zeal, are far from comprising the sum total of his labours; indeed, they give a very inadequate idea of his literary usefulness. Mr Nichols in particular, one of his earliest friends, and editor of Dr King's works, and the supplement to Swift in 1776, and of Anecdotes of Mr Bowyer,' in 1782, gratefully acknowledges the assistance he derived at that early period, in those publications, from the judicious observations of Mr Reed. So ample, indeed, was his collection of scarce books, so thoroughly was he conversant in their contents, and withal, so liberal and generous in communicating literary information and assistance to others, that, to use the words of one of the most amiable of his eulogists, "his friends were at a loss which to admire most, his power, or his inclination to assist them."

Notice in European Magazine.

Richard Porson.

BORN A. D. 1759.-died A. D. 1808.

RICHARD PORSON, a native of Norfolk, was born at East Ruston, in that county, on the 25th of December, 1759. He was the eldest son of the parish-clerk.

His father-like many others who have received an early education themselves-determined that this blessing should not be withheld from his children, who consisted of a daughter and three sons. Without possessing himself any literary acquirements, by a system of education at once simple, rational, and judicious, he laid the foundation for those upon which the genius of his son afterwards erected so elegant a superstructure. As soon as young Porson could speak, he could, according to his father's method-which seems to have been an anticipation of Dr Bell's-trace his letters; and this exercise delighting his fancy, infused into his mind an ardour for imitating whatsoever came within the scope of his observation; so that the walls of the house were covered with characters, which, from the neatness and fidelity of their delineation, attracted much notice. The period of life from nine to twelve years was passed by young Porson under the superintendence of Mr Summers, a village schoolmaster, whose humble powers as a teacher did not extend beyond his native language, writing, arithmetic, and the rudiments of Latin, but here again paternal interposition came in aid of the scanty means afforded for instruction; for the boy was accustomed every evening to repeat to his father the labours of the day in the exact order in which they had occurred, so as at once to strengthen both his memory and his judgment.

The attention to study, which had marked the character of Richard,— his various acquirements, and his wonderful memory,-had, we may suppose, become the theme of the village. Through the medium of report, they were heard of by the Rev. Mr Hewitt, the clergyman; who immediately took the subject of this memoir and his brother Thomas under his care. The progress of both boys was great; but that of Richard so extraordinary, that his improvement became a topic of conversation far beyond the limits of the district. In consequence of this celebrity, Mr Norris, a gentleman equally opulent and liberal, became the patron of our literary candidate, but first subjected him to an examination and scrutiny so severe, that a youth of ordinary talents would have shrunk appalled from the scholastic ordeal. Mr Norris, in the month of August, 1774, sent him to Eton. Although he did not enter that celebrated seminary until he was in his fifteenth year, yet he had some peculiar advantages, and from the first hour displayed such a superiority of intellect, such quickness of perception and readiness of acquirement, that the upper boys took him at once into their society. The youth whose talents were so extremely useful was speedily courted by his school-fellows; to him they applied as to a never-failing resource, in every question of difficulty; and in all the playful excursions of the imagination,-in their frolics of fancy as well as in their more serious pursuits of erudition, he was their constant adviser and oracle.

Mr

Porson used in after life to dwell on these happy years of his youth with peculiar satisfaction. His literary talents are said to have taken a dramatic turn; and he would sometimes repeat a piece which he had composed for exhibition in the Long-chamber, and other compositions both of gravity and humour, with that kind of enthusiasm which the recollection of his academic pleasures never failed to excite.' At this early age, however, his constitution received a severe shock: an imposthume formed in his lungs, and symptoms threatened a consumption, but although the disease weakened his frame, he ultimately recovered. The death of Mr Norris was to him a severe blow; for though, by the kindness of some persons of great eminence and liberality he was continued at Eton, yet he still most poignantly felt and lamented the loss of his first patron.

The exact period when Porson left Eton has not been ascertained. He was entered at Trinity college, Cambridge, the latter end of the year 1777. His literary character had flown before him to the university; consequently of his talents great expectations were formed; he was regarded as a youth whose genius and learning were destined to continue and extend the fame of that celebrated society in whose records his name was enrolled; nor did he in the slightest degree disappoint those expectations. In every branch of study his course was so rapid as to astonish every observer. In 1781 we find the name of Richard Porson, of Trinity college, inscribed as one of those who had obtained a Craven scholarship, having been elected by the Vice-chancellor, the five Regii professors, and the orator. In 1782 he received one of the two gold medals conferred annually on those who acquit themselves best in classical learning. In the course of the second year, but a little anterior in point of time, he was one of the Senior Optimes, and had also taken the degree of B. A. In 1785 he obtained the degree of M. A., and began to be considered as an eminent literary character, in consequence of his learned notes and annotations to a Greek writer, who will be mentioned hereafter. Anterior to this, while a junior bachelor, he had been chosen a fellow of his college in express opposition to the usual custom, which is supposed to have been departed from on this occasion out of respect to his transcendent talents and acquirements.

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The following are the earliest literary labours of Mr Porson :-In the third volume of Maty's Review,' he published a critique on Schutz's Eschylus, dated from Trinity college, May 29th, 1783. Brunck's Aristophanes he criticised in vol. iv. Hermesianax, by Weston, vol. v. Huntingford's Apology for his Monostrophies, vol. vi. He also furnished Maty with a transcript of the letters of Bentley and Le Clerc, vol. ix. He was likewise an occasional contributor to the 'Monthly Magazine,' and, it is believed, to other publications. The account of 'Robertson's Parian Chronicle,' in the Monthly Review,' vol. lxxix.,

It was while at Eton that young Porson gave his celebrated answer to the question proposed for the subject of a Latin theme :

Cæsare occiso, an Brutus beneficit aut maleficit?

A game being proposed he joined the scholars in their youthful sports; and was so engrossed by them, that he entirely forgot the theme. When the time, however, arrived for handing up his production, he snatched a pen, and hastily scrawling Nec bene fecit, nec male fecit, sed interfecit,

presented it to the master.