239
such articles as this," pointing to that which he had
just been reading, "you would find immediate em-
ployment." Mr. Perry glanced at the article which
had so strongly attracted the attention of his friend,
and discovered that it was one of his own. He
instantly communicated the information to Mr.
Urquhart; and at the same time pulled from his
pocket another article in manuscript, which he had
intended to put into the box, as usual, before re-
turning home. Pleased with the discovery Mr.
Urquhart immediately said that he would propose
him as a stipendiary writer for the paper, at a meet-
ing of the proprietors which was to take place that
very evening. The result was that on the next day
he was employed at the rate of a guinea a week,
with an additional half-guinea for assistance to the
London Evening Post, printed by the same person.
On receiving these appointments Mr. Perry de-
voted himself with great assiduity to the discharge
of their duties, and made efforts before unknown in
the newspaper establishments of London. On the
memorable trials of Admirals Keppel and Palliser,
he, by his own individual exertions, transmitted daily
from Portsmouth eight columns of a report of pro-
ceedings taken in court, an achievement which had
the effect of adding several thousands to the daily
impression of the paper. Even while thus laboriously
engaged Mr. Perry wrote and published several
political pamphlets and poems on the leading topics
of the day, all possessed of much merit, though of
only transient interest.
In 1782 Mr. Perry commenced a periodical pub-
lication, entitled the European Magazine. This
work, which was on a plan then new, comprising
a miscellany on popular subjects and reviews of new
books, appeared monthly, and from the ability with
which it was conducted added greatly to the reputa-
tion and popularity of its editor. Having conducted
this journal for twelve months, Mr. Perry was, at
the end of that period, chosen by the proprietors of
the Gazetteer to be editor of that paper, in which
shares were held by some of the principal booksellers
in London, at a salary of four guineas per week; but
under an express condition, made by himself, that
he should be in no way constrained in his political
opinions and sentiments, .which were those of Mr.
Fox, of whom he was a devoted admirer. While
acting as editor of the Gazetteer Mr. Perry effected
a great improvement in the reporting department,
by employing a series of reporters who should relieve
each other by turns, and thus supply a constant and
uninterrupted succession of matter. By this means
he was enabled to give in the morning all the de-
bates which had taken place on the preceding night,
a point on which his predecessor in the editorship
of the Gazetteer had frequently been in arrears for
months, and in every case for several weeks.
One of Mr. Perry's favourite recreations was that
of attending and taking part in the discussions of
debating societies. In these humble but not ineffi-
cient schools of oratory, he always took a warm and
active interest, and himself acquired a habit of speak-
ing with singular fluency and force; a talent which
procured him the notice of Pitt, who, then a very
young man, was in the practice of frequenting a
society in which Mr. Perry was a very frequent
speaker, and who is said to have been so impressed
with his abilities as an orator, as to have caused an
offer of a seat in parliament to be conveyed to him,
after he had himself attained the dignity of chan-
cellor of the exchequer. A similar offer was after-
wards made to Mr. Perry by Lord Shelburne, but
his political principles prevented his accepting either
of these flattering proposals.
Mr. Perry edited for several years Debrett's Par-
liamentary Debates, and afterwards, in conjunction
with a Mr. Gray, bought the Morning Chronicle
from Mr. Woodfall, a paper which he continued to
conduct with great ability and independence of spirit
and principle till his death, which took place at
Brighton, after a painful and protracted illness, on
the 6th December, 1821, in the sixty-fifth year of
his age.
PHILLIP, JOHN, R.A. This admired painter,
who achieved so high a reputation in modern art,
was of very humble origin, his father, Peter Phillip,
being nothing more than a working shoemaker,
who had previously served as a soldier. John, the
eldest of a family of five boys, only one of whom
survived him, was born at Skene Square, in the city
of Aberdeen, on the 19th April, 1817. From the
poverty of his father's household it was necessary
that he should contribute something towards the
family maintenance; and accordingly, instead of
continuing to enjoy the easy life of a school-boy
at the Lancastrian school, which he had attended
until he was eleven years old, he was employed as
an errand-boy to a tinsmith in Hutcheson Street.
Even in this occupation, however, and at so early
an age, he gave indications of his favourite bent;
and he was wont, when he became an admired
artist, to speak of his boyish apprenticeship to art in
the tinsmith's shop. A part of his master's occupation
was to paint with a thick coating the pails and water-
ing-cans which he fabricated. With the coarse pig-
ments used for such a purpose, John Phillip began not
only to draw but to paint pictures, such as fancy or
the surrounding objects might suggest. After having
in this way attempted the rudiments of form and
colour, and when he had reached his thirteenth year,
better help was provided for him by William Mercer,
a prolific, if not a distinguished, portrait-painter at
Mounthooly, with whom he accidentally became ac-
quainted. Mercer supplied him with a few instructions
and some better colours, and these Phillip used to
such purpose that the teacher began to fear that his
pupil would soon eclipse him. By this time Phillip
had become known to a small circle in Aberdeen by
his emblematic paintings on aprons and other insignia
used in trades' processions. The procession at Aber-
deen in consequence of the passing of the reform
bill—perhaps the most gorgeous spectacle young
Phillip had ever witnessed—seems to have called
forth his ambition in this direction. His success in
this department encouraged him to attempt a portrait
of his grandmother, of whom he is said to have pro-
duced a striking likeness.
The first rise of the embryo artist from this lowly
commencement was to the shop of Mr. Spark, a
house-painter and glazier at Wallace Nuik, Nether-
kirk-gate, where his chief duties consisted in pre-
paring the materials for his master's trade, and
making himself "generally useful." Here he had
better opportunities for pursuing his beloved occupa-
tion, his workshop being a dim cellar lighted by a
little square window with a hinged shutter; and in
this humble locality, situated at the top of the brae,
next Wallace Tower, young Phillip dreamed glorious
dreams of beauty, and endeavoured to embody his
conceptions in painting, the pleasure of the occupa-
tion being enhanced by that which usually accom-
panies a draught of "stolen waters." For Mr. Spark
was not an exacting master; and if he saw that work
was going on under his eye, he concluded that it was
equally brisk in his absence. Of this confidence
young Phillip availed himself with the mischievous
glee and cunning of boyhood. While Spark was