In English, as Much as to Say
A little garden little Jowett had,
And fenced it with a little palisade:
Because this garden made a little talk,
He changed it to a little gravel walk:
And if you’ld know the taste of little Jowett,
This little garden doth a little show it.
BISHOPS BLOMFIELD AND MONK,
Who had the honour to edit his Adversaria, can both, it is said, bear witness to the fact, that Porson was unlike many pedants who make a display of their brilliant parts to surprise rather than enlighten; he was liberal in the extreme, and truly amiable in communicating his knowledge to young men of talent and industry, and would tell them all they wanted to know in a plain and direct manner, without any attempt to display his superiority. All, however, agree that the time for profiting by Porson’s learning was inter bibendum, for then, as Chaucer says of the Sompnour—
“When he well dronkin had with wine,
Then would he speak ne word but Latine.”
More than one distinguished judge of his merits