A Short Biographical Dictionary of English Literature/Parr, Dr. Samuel

by John William Cousin

Parr, Dr. Samuel (1747-1825). -- Scholar, s. of an apothecary at Harrow, where and at Camb. he was ed. He was successively an assistant-master at Harrow and headmaster of schools at Colchester and Norwich, and having taken orders, finally settled down at Hatton, Warwickshire, where he took private pupils. He was undoubtedly a great Latinist, but he has left no work to account for the immense reputation for ability which he enjoyed during his life. His chief power appears to have been in conversation, in which he was bold, arrogant, and epigrammatic. He was nicknamed "the Whig Johnson," but fell very far short of his model. His writings, including correspondence, were pub. in 8 vols.