HARRIS, JAMES, born July 20, 1709, was the eldest son of James Harris, Esq., of Salisbury, by the Lady Elia. Ashley Cooper, sister of Lord Shaftesbury, the author of the ' Characteristics.' lie was edu cated at the grammar•sehool in his native place, and passed thence to Wadham College, Oxford. In his twenty-fifth year he lost his father, and thereby became independent in fortune, and able to devote his time to studies more congenial to his taste than the law, in which he had been engaged. For fourteen years of his life he did little else than study the Greek and Latin authors with the greatest diligence, and his works show how deeply imbued be was with their spirit. In 1745 he married the daughter of John Clarke, Esq., of Sandford, near Bridgewater, by whom be bad five children. In 1761 lie was returned for Christchurch, which seat he retained till his death. In 1782 he was sppointed to tho post of a lord of the Admiralty, and next year to that of a lord of the Treasury, which be held for two years, when his went out of In 1774 he became secretary and comp. to the queen. lie died in 1780.
Harris is beat known by his ' Hermes, or a Philosophical Inquiry concerning Language and Universal Grammar,' a work which Lowth, with abuudaut extravagance, characterised as one of the moat beautiful pieces of analysis which had appeared since the days of Aristotle.
The real merit of this work of Barrie is perhaps best expressed in the following few words from the first ecntenee of his sensible preface: "The chief end proposed by the author of this treatise in making it public has been to excite his readers to curiosity and inquiry." A careful perurol of the treatise cannot fail to make a man think more accurately, though he may, as he ought to do, reject some of the writer's premises, and consequently many of his conclusions.
Harris's Berme' was published in 1751. Some years before, he bad written three treatises, on Art, on Music, Painting, and Poetry, and on Happiness ; and in 1775 he published his 'Philosophical Arrangemeute,' a part of a large work on the Aristotelian Logic. His last work is called 'Philological Enquiries '• ' it does not however answer to its title, as it is in fact a history of literature subjoined to dissertations on criticism. It is considerably interlarded with quota tions from the authors of antiquity, but not nearly to such an extent as his other works.
His private character appears to have been excellent, and his eon's plataimsune, EARL OF] admiration for him proves that his moral uature was so perfect as to secure the respect of those who had the best opportunity of judging it.