Page:Cousins's Short Biographical Dictionary of English Literature.djvu/308

 296 Dictionary of English Literature PARKMAN, FRANCIS (1823-1893). Historian, s. of a

Unitarian minister in Boston, Massachusetts, graduated at Harvard, and qualified as a lawyer, but never practised, and though hampered by a state of health which forbade continuous application, and by partial blindness, devoted himself to the writing of the history of the conflict between France and England in North America. This he did in a succession of works The Conspiracy of Pontiac (1851), The Pioneers of France in the New World (1865), The Jesuits in North America (1867), La Salle and the Discovery of the Great West (1869), The Old Regime in Canada (1874), Count Frontenac and New France (1877), Montcalm and Wolfe (1884), and A Half Century of Conflict (1892). In these the style, at first somewhat turgid, gradually im proved, and became clear and forcible, while retaining its original vividness. P. spared no labour in collecting and sifting his material, much of which was gathered in the course of visits to the places which were the scenes of his narrative, and his books are the most valuable contribution in existence to the history of the struggle for Canada and the other French settlements in North America. He also wrote two novels, which had little success, and a book upon rose-culture.

PARNELL, THOMAS (1679-1718). Poet, b. and ed. ,ini

Dublin, took orders in 1700, and was Vicar of Finglas and Arch deacon of Clogher. The death of his young wife in 1706 drove him into intemperate habits. He was a friend of Swift and Pope, a contributor to the Spectator, and aided Pope in his translation of the Iliad. He wrote various isolated poems showing a fine descriptive touch, of which the most important are The Hermit, The Night Piece, and The Hymn to Contentment. P. was a scholar, and had considerable social gifts. His Life was written by Goldsmith.

PARR, DR. SAMUEL (1747-1825). Scholar, s. of an

apothecary at Harrow, where and at Camb. he was ed. He was suc cessively an assistant-master at Harrow and head-master 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, ill which he was bold, arrogant, and epigrammatic. He was nick named " the Whig Johnson," but fell very far short of his model. His writings, including correspondence, were pub. in 8 vols.

PATER, WALTER HORATIO (1839-1894). Essayist and

critic, s. of Richard G. P., of American birth and Dutch extraction, a benevolent physician, b. at Shadwell, and ed. at the King's School, Canterbury, and at Queen's Coll., Oxf., after leaving which he made various tours in Germany and Italy where, especially in the latter, his nature, keenly sensitive to every form of beauty, received in delible impressions. In 1864 he was elected a Fellow of Brasenose, and in its ancient and austere precincts found his principal home. As a tutor, though conscientious, he was not eminently successful; nevertheless his lectures, on which he bestowed much pains, had a