at Christmas 1812, with his two surviving daughters, when a solemn reconciliation took place. Unfortunately, it was followed by a fresh quarrel, and the granddaughters were taken away by their father. On 17 Dec. 1816, however, Parr made a second marriage with Mary Eyre, sister of his old friend James Eyre, for whom he had obtained the living of Winterbourne (see above). The second marriage was successful; Parr was more comfortable than he had ever been; his granddaughters, whose father had again married, came to live with him, and ultimately inherited most of his property. The eldest, Caroline Sobieski, married the Rev. John Lynes in September 1822. The younger, Augusta Eliza, was unmarried at his death. His income was improved on the purchase of some prebendal estates by the Regent's Park, and he was able in his last years to set up a coach-and-four.
Parr's last public activity was on occasion of the Queen Caroline business in 1820. He wrote a solemn protest in the parish prayer-book at Hatton against the omission of her name from the liturgy. He visited her on her return to England, was appointed her first chaplain, recommended the appointment of his friend Robert Fellowes [q. v.] as her secretary, and was consulted by Fellowes upon the various answers to addresses, although he did not himself write anything.
Parr's health had hitherto been unusually strong. He tells Bentham, however, of a very dangerous illness in 1803 (Bentham, Works, x. 403). In 1820 he had a serious illness, in spite of which he was present at a ‘sumptuous dinner’ upon his birthday. After recovering he indulged too carelessly at the table, declaring that his stomach had ‘never complained for seventy-three years.’ He nevertheless retained much vigour, but caught cold at the funeral of a parishioner on 17 Jan. 1825. Erysipelas set in; and, after a long illness, borne with patience, he died at Hatton on 6 March 1825. He was buried in the chancel; the service was read by Rann Kennedy [q. v.], and a sermon preached by Samuel Butler [q. v.], afterwards bishop of Lichfield. A mural monument to himself and his wife, with a simple inscription of his own composition, was erected in the church.
Field says (ii. 150) that eight or ten portraits and three or four busts of Parr were in existence. An engraving of a bust by George Clarke (1824) is prefixed to vol. i. of his collected works; and of portraits by George Dawe [q. v.], with his pipe (1814), and by John James Halls [q. v.] (1813), to vols. ii. and vii. of the same. The portrait by Dawe (with the pipe obliterated) is now at St. John's College, Cambridge. A portrait by Romney is at Emmanuel College (sent by Parr in exchange for a copy in 1811; see Works, vii. 450). There is a portrait by J. Lonsdale in the Fitzwilliam Museum. An engraving after Opie is given in the ‘European Magazine,’ and a characteristic drawing of Parr, with an after-dinner pipe, in the ‘Aphorisms,’ &c. Parr is described by Field as of ‘about the middle height, square and athletic, and not much inclined to corpulence.’ De Quincey describes him as ‘a little man,’ apparently in disappointment at not finding a Dr. Johnson. In his youth, as his sister informed Johnstone, he used to show his strength by slaughtering oxen, though he was conspicuous for kindness to animals. He was, however, clumsy, and cared for no exercise except bell-ringing; and neither for gardening nor country sports. His portraits show a massive head, with coarse features and huge, bushy eyebrows. According to De Quincey, he boasted of ‘inflicting his eye’ upon persons whom he desired to awe. His voice was fine, and he was an impressive reader, but had an unfortunate lisp. His handwriting was so bad that when he wrote to ask for two ‘lobsters’ his friend read the words two ‘eggs.’ He rose early, and dressed in uncouth garments in the morning, but often appeared in full-dress black velvet and his famous wig in the evening. He was very sociable, and loved his dinner as well as Johnson. He smoked all day, and told with pride how the prince regent joined him in a pipe at Carlton House; and he used to make the youngest lady present give him a light till his friends persuaded him to give up the practice (Field, ii. 115–16). Parr's library, consisting of about ten thousand volumes, was sold by auction at Evans's in 1828.
Parr was regarded as the whig Johnson. They had some acquaintance, as appears by references in Parr's correspondence with Charles Burney and Langton; but the only recorded meeting seems to be that described by Langton in Boswell (ed. Birkbeck Hill, iv. 15), when Johnson called him emphatically a ‘fair man.’ Field (i. 161) says that they discussed the freedom of the press, and that Parr stamped to show that he would not give Johnson even the ‘advantage of a stamp.’ An argument about the origin of evil is mentioned in ‘Parriana.’ Though Parr found no adequate Boswell, his talk was apparently very inferior to that of his model. His best known speech was addressed to Mackintosh, who had said that it was impossible to conceive a greater scoundrel than O'Coighley, the Irish conspirator. ‘It is possible,’ said Parr, ‘he was an Irishman—he
