ATTERBURY, Francis,-bishop of Rochester, was born on the sixth of March, 1662. He was, from early youth, distinguished by his fine talents, great learning, and aspiring mind. In 1713, he was advanced, by queen Ann, to the episcopal dignity. On the accession of king George the First, he gave strong proofs of disaffection to the government. In 1722, he was committed to the Tower, on suspicion of being concerned in a plot in favour of the pretender; and in the following year, he was deprived, by a special act of parliament, of all his offices, benefices, and dignities, and was banished the realm. He spent the remainder of his days in exile; and died, at Paris, on the fifteenth of February, 1732.

The character of Atterbury, both in a moral and a political point of view, has been variously represented; but it is universally agreed that he was a man of uncommon abilities, a fine writer, and an eloquent preacher.—His works are, chiefly, Sermons in four volumes octavo, and controversial pieces. His letters, published in the Episto lary Correspondence of Mr. Pope, are remarkable for their ease and elegance; and they exhibit him, in a pleasing light, both as a writer and as a man.

BARKER, John,-a dissenting minister in London, and author of two volumes of sermons. The rev. Mr. Stedman, editor of "Letters to and from Dr. Doddridge," says that he had endeavoured, but in vain, to procure some biographical information respecting Mr. Barker.His pious and beautiful letter to Dr. Doddridge, which is inserted in this volume, was written during the last illness of that excellent man. He shed tears on the perusal of it; and was deeply affected with the friendship which it expressed, and with the divine consolations which it administered.

BEATTIE, James,-an eminent poet and moral philosopher, was born on the twenty fifth of October, 1735,

at Lawrencekirk, in the county of Kincardine, in Scotland. His parents kept a small retail shop in his native village : they were poor, but honest and respectable. He received his early education at the parish school of Lawrencekirk; and, by means of a bursary, he was enabled to pursue a course of academical studies in Marischal college, Aber deen. When he left the university, he was appointed parochial schoolmaster at Fordoun, a small village near Lawrencekirk. He continued there about five years; and then went to Aberdeen, where he spent the remainder of his life. On the eighth of October, 1760, he was installed professor of moral philosophy and logic in Marischal qollege; and, during a long course of years, he was indefatigable in the discharge of all the duties of that important and honourable office. By the gentlest means, he pre served the most exact discipline. He took particular pains deeply to impress the precepts of morality and religion on the minds of the young men committed to his charge. His mild manner, his amiable disposition, and his fine talents, rendered him the object of their mingled love, respect, and admiration,

In 1770, he published his first work, (except some juve nile poems,) his celebrated " Essay on the nature and immutability of Truth, in opposition to Sophistry and Scepticism;" and, soon after, his beautiful poem of “The Minstrel" appeared. In testimony of high approbation of these works, particularly of the "Essay on Truth," he received, in 1773, the honorary degree of doctor of laws from the University of Oxford, and a pension of two hundred pounds a year from the king.

In the latter years of his life, Dr. Beattie experienced great afflictions, which he endured with Christian patience and resignation. His wife had sunk into a state of incurable derangement, which wholly deprived him of her, society and assistance: his own health was very infirm: and he lost his two sons, the darling objects of his affection; the elder at twenty two, and the younger at seven

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teen years of age*. The death of the latter of them, Montagu Beattie, who was his last surviving child, took place in 1796: it seemed almost to overwhelm him; and, from that time, his health and faculties declined so rapidly, that he became incapable of all application to study or business. After repeated paralytic attacks, he had a severe stroke on the fifth of October, 1802, which deprived him altogether of the power of motion. He languished till the eighteenth of August, 1803, when it pleased the Almighty to remove him from this world, in the sixty eighth year of his age, without any pain or apparent struggle.

Virtuous tenderness of heart, and acute sensibility, were distinguishing traits in the character of Dr. Beattie. His gratitude for favours received, seemed to know no bounds. His piety was ardent. He discharged, in the most affectionate, conscientious, and exemplary manner, all the relative duties of a son, a brother, a husband, a father, and a friend.

The works of Dr. Beattie, besides those already mentioned, are: "Miscellaneous Poems;" "An Essay on Poetry;" "Dissertations Moral and Critical ;” “Evidences of Christianity," a popular and highly useful little treatise; and "Elements of Moral Science."-A considerable collection of his familiar letters is contained in his Life, published by his friend and executer, sir William Forbes, in two volumes quarto; from which the preceding account is extracted.

BOYSE, Samuel,—an ingenious poet, was born at Dublin, in the year 1708. He was the son of a respectable dissenting minister. He received a liberal education; his talents for poetry procured him, in early life, considerable patronage; and he had many opportunities of

Of these two promising young men an account is given in True Stories, or, Interesting Anecdotes of young Persons.”

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advancing himself in the world: but through his indo lence, extravagance, and dissolute conduct, he sunk into contempt, indigence, and wretchedness."

The best of his performances is his poem entitled' Deity." Pope being asked, on the first publication of it, if he were not the author, said, he was not; but that there were many lines in it, of which he should not have been ashamed. Hervey, in his Meditations, calls it " a very beautiful, sublime, and instructive poem." And in his Letters, he says: "It is a noble piece, quite poetical, truly evangelical, and admirably fitted to alarm and com fort the heart, to delight and improve."

Hearing of the author's distress, this pious and benevolent man sent him a present of two guineas, accompanied by some admonition and advice. Of his kindness, Boyse expressed a very grateful sense, in the elegant and pathe tic letter, inserted in this volume; which shows that, in his last moments, he was not devoid of real piety. Indeed, he often appeared seriously disposed to religion; he fre quently talked upon that subject; and probably he suffered very severely from remorse of conscience. The early im pressions of a good education, were never entirely obliterated from his mind; and his whole life was a continued struggle between his will and his reason. After a lingering illness, he died, in May, 1749, in obscure lodgings in London, in the forty first year of his age; and he was buried at the expense of the parish.

This relation" (to use the forcible language of Dr. Johnson on a similar occasion) "will not be wholly without its use, if it remind those, who, in confidence of superior capacities or attainments, disregard the common maxims of life, that nothing can supply the want of prudence ; and that negligence and irregularity, long continued, will make knowledge useless, wit ridiculous, and genius contemptible."

CARTER, Elizabeth, he learned translator of Epictetus, and the author of several very pleasing little poems on moral and religious subjects, was born at Deal, on the sixteenth of December, 1717. She was the eldest daughter of the Rev. Nicholas Carter, D. D. perpetual, curate of the chapel in that town. Her early childhood afforded but little promise of those extraordinary attainments by which she was afterwards so eminently distinguished. She acquired the rudiments of learning with great labour and difficulty. But she had an earnest desire to be a scholar; and by the able instructions and assistance of her father, and her own indefatigable application and perseverance, she accomplished her purpose. Dr. Johnson speaking of a celebrated scholar, said be understood Greek better than any person whom he had ever known, except Elizabeth Carter.-To relieve her father,, she voluntarily took upon herself the sole care of educating her youngest brother, by her father's second marriage; and she discharged the office with maternal tenderness, unwearied diligence, and the most satisfactory result, In the year 1756, her pupil, who was designed for the church, was entered at Cambridge, a pensioner of Benet College; having undergone the previous examination with great credit both to himself and his sister. About the same time, she completed her translation of the works of Epictetus, from the original Greek.

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Mrs. Carter, both during her father's life and after his death, resided chiefly at Deal; but she usually spent a considerable part of the year in London, where she was much noticed, and her society courted, by the most distinguished persons of her time. The Pulteney family were particularly attached to her, and entertained a high respect for her talents and virtues. Knowing that her fortune was not adequate to her merit, her, in 1767, an annuity for her life, of one hundred pounds a year. Mrs. Montagu, in 1775, becoming, by the death of her husband, mistress of a large fortune, did

they settled upon