a vivid description by the 22-year-old Frances (Fanny) Burney survives: "I had the satisfaction to sit next to Mr. Harris, who is very chearful [sic] and communicative, and his conversation instructive and agreeable." His daughter Louisa ("a modest, reserved, and sensible girl") was asked to sing, and Harris accompanied her. Works Interested in the Greek and Latin classics, Harris sought out manuscripts and printed editions that influenced his writings, as did the works of the 3rd Earl of Shaftesbury, his uncle. Harris published in 1744 Three Treatises — on art; on music, painting and poetry; and on happiness. In 1751 appeared the work by which he became best known, Hermes, a philosophical inquiry concerning universal grammar. In the direction of prescriptive grammar, it influenced Robert Lowth's English grammar of 1762. Harris also published Philosophical Arrangements and Philological Inquiries. His works were collected and published in 1801, by his son James who prefixed a brief biography. Hampshire Record Office holds Harris's papers. Letters from his wife Elizabeth are also extant. Family Harris married Elizabeth, daughter of John Clarke of Sandford, Somerset, in 1745. They had two sons and three daughters. James Harris, 1st Earl of Malmesbury, the diplomat, was his elder son. References Further reading Donald Burrows and Rosemary Dunhill, Music and Theatre in Handel's World: The Family Papers of James Harris 1732–1780, Oxford University Press, US, 2002 Clive T. Probyn, The Sociable Humanist: The Life and Works of James Harris, 1709–1780, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1991 The Works of James Harris, Esq. 2 vols, London: F. Wingrave, 1801 (facsimile ed., Bristol: Thoemmes Press, 2003) External links James Harris at Eighteenth-Century Poetry Archive (ECPA) Attribution: 1709 births 1780 deaths People from Salisbury People educated at Salisbury Cathedral School Alumni of Wadham College, Oxford Linguists of English Members of the Parliament of Great Britain for English constituencies British MPs 1761–1768 British MPs 1768–1774 British MPs 1774–1780 British MPs 1780–1784 Fellows of the Royal Society Lords of the Admiralty