Fox, Lord Holland, Windham, and Coke of Norfolk; to Sir Francis Burdett, to Bentham, and to Mackintosh. He was specially attached to Sir S. Romilly, to whom he bequeathed and afterwards insisted upon presenting, a quantity of plate. He knew Dugald Stewart and William Roscoe, and offered literary help to them, as to many others. He was a friend of Copleston and Martin Routh; of Porson and Burney; and of the schoolmasters Kennedy of Birmingham, Butler of Shrewsbury, and Raine of the Charterhouse. He knew Rogers and Moore, and met Byron. Among literary men who have warmly acknowledged his kindness to them were Landor and the first Lord Lytton. He knew many members of the peerage, from the Duke of Sussex downwards, and a great number of less conspicuous persons are represented in his published correspondence. From the fault, perhaps, of the editor, this is disappointing, as most of it turns upon small personal matters, or minute criticisms of his inscriptions, and so forth. Parr was a warm friend, and, though easily offended, was free from vindictiveness. He was on friendly terms with Mathias, who had satirised him very bitterly in the ‘Pursuits of Literature’ (third canto). Tiresome as his writing has become, there is a warmheartedness and generous feeling about the old pedant which explains his friendships and may still justify some affection.
Parr's works are:
- ‘Two Sermons at Norwich,’ 1780.
- ‘Sermon on the late Fast, by “Phileleutherus Norfolciensis,”’ 1781; at Norwich Cathedral, 1783?
- ‘Discourse on Education, and on the Plan pursued in Charity Schools,’ London, 1786.
- ‘Præfatio ad Bellendenum de Statu,’ 1787; 2nd edit. 1788 (translation [by William Beloe], 1788).
- Preface and dedication to ‘Tracts by Warburton and a Warburtonian, not admitted into their respective Works,’ 1879 (anon.).
- ‘Letter from Irenopolis to the Inhabitants of Eleutheropolis,’ Birmingham, 1792.
- ‘Sequel to the Printed Paper lately circulated in Warwickshire by the Rev. Charles Curtis,’ 1792 (refers to quarrel arising out of the Birmingham riots).
- ‘Remarks on the Statement of Dr. C. Combe, by an occasional Writer in the “British Critic,”’ 1795.
- Spital sermon, with notes, 1801.
- Fast sermon at Hatton, 1803.
- Fast sermon at Hatton, 1808.
- ‘Characters of the late Charles James Fox, selected and partly written by Philopatris Varvicensis,’ 2 vols. London, 1809.
- ‘A Letter to … Dr. Milner, occasioned by some Passages in his … “End of Religious Controversy,”’ edited by J. Lynes, and appeared posthumously in 1825.
- ‘Sermons preached on Several Occasions,’ 4 vols. 1831.
His works were collected in eight volumes 8vo in 1828. They include a large mass of correspondence in the most chaotic state and without an index.
Parr edited, with notes, four ‘Sermons’—two by Dr. John Taylor (1745 and 1757), one by Bishop Lowth (1758), and one by Bishop Hayter (1740), London, 1822. He prepared for the press ‘Metaphysical Tracts,’ containing two tracts by Arthur Collier, one by David Hartley, one by Abraham Tucker, and an ‘Enquiry into the Origin of Human Appetites and Affections,’ 1747, of uncertain authorship. This was published in 1837.
A book called ‘Aphorisms, Opinions, and Reflections of the late Dr. S. Parr,’ 1826, is a series of extracts from printed works. ‘Bibliotheca Parriana,’ a catalogue of his library, with various annotations upon the books, was compiled by H. G. Bohn, and published in 1827. A few copies contained leaves afterwards cancelled by order of his executors (see Lowndes, Manual). ‘Parriana, or Notices of the Revd. Samuel Parr, collected … and in part written by E. H. Barker,’ appeared in 2 vols. in 1828–9. The first volume contains newspaper and magazine notices, with reminiscences from various friends; the second is a collection of very miscellaneous materials bearing upon Parr's controversies.
Parr sent a learned essay to Dugald Stewart upon the origin of the word ‘sublimis.’ As it would have filled 250 octavo pages, Stewart printed an abstract, which will be found in his ‘Works,’ v. 455–65.
