SKETCH OF THE LIFE OF DR.

PERCIVAL a.

THOMAS PERCIVAL was born at Warrington in Lancashire, Sept. 29, 1740. When only three years old, he had the misfortune to lose both his parents; and the care of his early education devolved upon his eldest sister. When of proper age, he was placed at a private academy in the neighbourhood of his native town; to the free grammar-school of which he was subsequently removed.

In 1757 his name was enrolled as the first student at the Warrington academy, then just instituted under the superintendence of Dr. Aikin. After having acquired a high reputation for diligence in classical and theological studies, he proceeded in 1761 to Edinburgh, where he applied himself with great assiduity to medical pursuits, He would, it appears, have gone either to Oxford or Cambridge, but for his scruples about subscription to the Thirty-nine Articles. Whilst in Edin

a Taken, with a few alterations, from "the Georgian Era," vol. ii.

burgh he became acquainted with Mr. Hume and Dr. Robertson; and during a visit to London contracted a close intimacy with Lord Willoughby de Parham, who made him his constant companion, and became his warmest friend and patron. He was indebted to this nobleman for an early introduction to the most eminent literary characters of the day; and through his recommendation became a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1765.

In the same year he took his degree of M.D. at Leyden, and afterwards visited Paris and Hamburgh. He then returned to Warrington; at which place, after a residence of a few months, he married the daughter of Nathaniel Bassnett Esq. In 1767 he settled at Manchester, where he passed the remainder of his life.

Dr. Percival held a distinguished rank both as a literary character, and a physician. In the latter capacity he displayed quick penetration, discriminating judgement, patient attention, and above all, says Abp. Magee, a deep sense of responsibility. As an author he obtained considerable reputation in the philosophical and religious world, particularly by his "Essays, Medical and Experimental," and his last work entitled, "Medical Ethics," in which, it is said, while delineating the requisites and quali

fications of the medical practitioner, he has unconsciously displayed the most exact portraiture of himself. His other more important productions include "A Father's Instructions;" "Moral and Literary Dissertations," (which have rarely been surpassed by any didactic composition of a similar extent, for genuine feeling, refined taste, purity of style or aptness of illustration;) and several papers published in the Transactions of the Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society, of which he was an original member, and continued the president from its first foundation to the end of his life. He was the first who attempted to establish public lectures on mathematics, commerce, and the fine arts, in that town. In addition to his other honours he was a fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, and a member of several foreign Societies. His correspondence was extensive, and embraced a variety of subjects: among his epistolary friends, were Archdeacon Paley, Dr. Priestley, Dr. Franklin, Dr. Beattie, and Hannah More. In one of his letters to the first of these celebrated characters, he avows himself a dissenter; but he rarely alludes to the fact elsewhere, and he is known to have entertained a sincere respect for the Church of England, of which his eldest son was a minister. He died at Manchester Aug. 30, 1804, in the

sixty-fourth year of his age. A Latin epitaph by the Rev. Dr. Parr is inscribed on his tomb in the church at Warrington; and over the president's chair, in the hall of the Manchester Philosophical Society, a mural tablet has been erected to his memory. His works were collected and published in 4 vols. 8vo., 1807, with a biographical memoir by his son Dr. Edward Percival, of Bath.