THE GOOD SCHOOLMASTER.

JOHN CLARKE, the subject of this Memoir,

derived no distinction from the splendor of hereditary descent. Born at Kirby-Misperton, otherwise called Kirby Over-Car, in the North Riding of Yorkshire, May 3, 1706, he discovered in his earliest years the strongest propensities to literature. He was the son of an honest and industrious mechanic, whose extreme anxiety to give him a liberal education deserves every encomium. The rector of his parish, quick to discern and willing to encourage merit, placed him in the school of Thornton, a village in the neighbourhood, whence he subsequently obtained a small Exhibition to assist him at the University.

Having been thoroughly grounded in the elementary parts of learning, he was removed, first to the school of Wakefield in the West-Riding of Yorkshire, and next to that of Kirkleatham in

* Mr. Peter Dubordieu, a French refugee, educated in ClareHall, Cambridge, B. A. 1692; M. A. 1697. He published a Treatise on the Thebæan Legion.'

Cleveland. The celebrity of Thomas Clark successively master of both those schools, is too well known to be here recorded. To his care the sons of the principal gentry in the county of York were entrusted. From the instructions of this eminent preceptor, young Clarke acquired the most solid advantages; an improved taste, a chastised judgement, and a regulated method of study. He was admitted, in 1723, a sizar of Trinity College, Cambridge; took his first degree in 1726, was elected Fellow of his College, October 1, 1729, and proceeded Master of Arts in 1730.

The annual stipend of a Fellowship was, in those days, much inferior to it's present high value. A young man, who had not to boast of the emoluments of an enlarged patrimony, was under the necessity of forming an immediate intercourse with the world, merely to insure to himself a comfortable subsistence. However grateful to a studious mind the life of an academician might be, he was frequently obliged to abandon the agreeable prospect before him, and adapting himself to the exigencies of society, to become the architect of his own fortune. John Clarke left the University with regret. During his residence

* Formerly of Jesus College, Cambridge, B. A. 1696; M. A. 1700. At his instance a room was built, contiguous to the school at Wakefield, for the reception of books.

there, he had distinguished himself by the propriety of his moral conduct, and his rapid proficiency in classic erudition. He had richly improved the golden opportunity of searching into all the storehouses of ancient learning. Though he possessed not the singular and almost incredible industry of a Castell*, who declared 'that to be an idle day in which he did not employ sixteen or eighteen hours in the pursuit of his biblical studies,' yet his application was truly exemplary. He seems to have had the observation of Horace perpetually before

him ;

The youth, who hopes th' Olympic Prize to gain,
All arts must try, and every toil sustain †.

(Francis.)

He had repeatedly read the best Latin and Greek authors with a nice and critical discernment. With the incomparable beauties of the three tragedians of Greece he was intimately acquainted. He had indeed attentively examined, and no one

* Dr. Edmund Castell, Arabic Professor in the University of Cambridge. See the Dedication of his incomparable Lexicon to Charles II. Memoirs of him are given by Mr. Nichols, in his very interesting Literary Anecdotes,' IV. 22.

+ Qui studet optatam cursu contingere metam,
Multa tulit fecitque puer.

(Hor.)

knew better how how

to explain, what they

taught

In chorus or iambic, teachers best

Of moral prudence, with delight received

In brief sententious precepts.

(Milton's P. R. IV. 264.)

Nor had he neglected the cultivation of his own language, in which he always expressed his ideas in a polished, flowing, and perspicuous stile.

Fully accomplished for the purpose, he undertook the important province of educating youth. His first appointment was at Shipton*, near York, to a school endowed with a yearly stipend of forty pounds. Being now in holy orders, he was presented to the perpetual curacy of NunMonkton, the annual income of which did not at that time exceed sixteen pounds. While he remained in this situation, he married Mrs. Meek, a widow lady and mother of three sons and one daughter, the care of whose education devolved upon him. In 1735, the Mayor and Aldermen of Beverley, in the East-Riding of Yorkshire, nominated him to their grammar-school. All his scholars followed him from Shipton to Beverley, and many accompanied him on his subsequent removal.

* Mrs. Anne Middleton, of the city of York, endowed this school by her will, dated August 24, 1655.

In 1751, he was solicited to accept the mastership of the school at Wakefield, then vacated by the promotion of the Rev. Benjamin Wilson, one of the first Greek scholars of the age, to the vicarage of that town. Of this school it has been remarked, that it is "as famous as any whatsoever in these kingdoms, except those of Westminster, Winchester, and Eaton." It is justly

celebrated for the education of BENTLEY* and

* Dr. Richard Bentley, Master of Trinity College, Cambridge, was born in 1661-2, of very creditable parents, at Oulton, in the parish of Rothwell (otherwise Wrothwell) near Wakefield. He was educated under Mr. John Baskerville, who was elected May 1, 1672, Master of the Free Grammar-School founded by Queen Elizabeth at Wakefield. I have visited the house, where he was born: it is a decent dwelling, healthfully situated, having a small estate attached to it, which had been in his name and family for many years. Wherever learning is respected, the name of Bentley will gain applause. Mr. Toup, the father of Greek literature in the eighteenth century, acknowledged that he learned more from Dr. Bentley, than from all the critics of all the ages before.'

The reader, who admires the beauties of classical composition, cannot fail of deriving singular pleasure from the perusal of the following lines written by Dr. Bentley. The Allocutio ad Sepulcrum,' and the little Poem addressed to Lord Halifax, who in the early period of his life had been Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge, are held in high estimation. They are not generally known; and, therefore, I deem no apology necessary for presenting them anew to the public. The Verses on the death of Prince George of Denmark, which will recall to the reader's mind the lines upon Charles I. ascribed to the Marquis of Montrose, are extracted from the Epicedium Cantabrigiense, &c. 1708.

AD