Samuel was his mother's darling; she indulged
all his whims, consulted his appetite, and provided hot suppers for him
almost from his cradle. He was her only son, and was at this time very
fair and well-favoured. Providence, however, foreseeing that at all events
vanity was to be a large ingredient in Parr's composition, sent him,
in its mercy, a fit of small-pox; and, with the same intent, perhaps,
deprived him of a parent, who was killing her son's character by kindness.
Parr never was a boy, says, somewhere, his friend and school-fellow, Dr.
Bennet. When he was about nine years old, Dr. Allen saw him sitting on the
churchyard gate at Harrow, with great gravity, whilst his school-fellows
were all at play. "Sam. why don't you play with the others?" cried Allen.
"Do not you know, sir," said he, with vast solemnity, "that I am to be a
parson?" And Parr himself used to tell of Sir W. Jones, another of his
school-fellows, that as they were one day walking together near Harrow,
Jones suddenly stopped short, and, looking hard at him, cried out, "Parr,
if you should have the good luck to live forty years, you may stand a
chance of overtaking your face." Between Bennet, Parr, and Jones, the
closest intimacy was formed; and though occasionally tried, it continued
to the last. Sir W. Jones, indeed, was soon carried, by the tide of
events, far away from the other two, and Dr.
Pages:
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50