advancing himself in the world: but through his indolence, 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 comfort 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 pathetic 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 frequently talked on that subject; and probably he suffered very severely from remorse of conscience. The early impressions 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."

Q 2

CARTER, Elizabeth,-the 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 he 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.

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, they settled upon 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

honour both to herself and to her friend, by conferring upon her, in the most delicate manner, a similar testimony of esteem and regard.

Mrs. Carter lived to a very advanced age. Her health and bodily strength visibly declined some years before she died; but she retained the calm, and almost unimpaired possession of all her mental powers, till within a few hours of her close. She went to London a short time before her decease; and died there, on the nineteenth of February, 1806, in the eighty ninth year of her age. She expired without a struggle or a groan.

Mrs. Carter was good and pious from her childhood; and as she advanced in years, her goodness and piety increased. She never allowed her literary pursuits, nor the flattering distinctions which they procured her, to interfere, in the smallest degree, with the regular and conscientious discharge of all her religious and domestic duties. Though remarkably humble, and, in early life, diffident, she took great pleasure in promoting the moral and intellectual improvement of her relatives and friends; and, indeed, of all persons with whom she was connected. When dining at the tables of the great, she always endeavoured, as far as she could without violating the established forms of society, to give the conversation such a turn, as might be useful to the servants who were in attendance; and thus indirectly and in the most gentle and winning manner, often impressed upon their minds truths of the greatest consequence. They listened to her discourse with the utmost earnestness; and in all the families where she was accustomed to visit frequently, they showed her a marked and zealous attention. A lady of high rank, with whom she was intimately acquainted, used to say, that she attributed, in a very considerable degree, the general good conduct of her servants, of whom she had a large number, to their hearing so frequently the conversation of Mrs. Carter.

In the following striking admonition to young ladies,

Mrs. Hannah More has paid a just and noble tribute to the great worth of Mrs. Carter, and of another lady, scarcely less celebrated, whose early removal has given peculiar interest to her example. "Against learning, against talents of any kind, nothing can steady the head, unless we fortify the heart with real Christianity. In raising the moral edifice, we must sink deep in proportion as we build high. We must widen the foundation, if we extend the superstructure. Religion alone can counteract the aspirings of genius, can regulate the pride of talents. And let such women.as are disposed to be vain of their comparatively petty attainments, look up with admiration to those contemporary shining examples, the venerable Elizabeth Carter, and the blooming Elizabeth Smith. I knew them both; and to know was to revere them. In them, let our young ladies contemplate profound and various learning, chastised by true Christian humility; and in them, venerate acquirements, which would have been distinguished in a University, meekly softened, and beautifully shaded, by the gentle exertion of every domestic virtue, the unaffected exercise of every feminine employment."

CHATHAM, William Pitt,-earl of, a most eminent English statesman and orator, and father of the late Mr. Pitt, was born in 1708, and died in 1778.

His letters addressed to his nephew, chiefly during his residence at Cambridge, were published by lord Gren ville, with the concurrence and approbation of Mr. Pitt. *They are few in number," says the noble editor, "and they contain only such detached observations, on the extensive subjects to which they relate, as occasion might happen to suggest, in the course of familiar correspondence. Yet imperfect as these remains are, they exhibit a great orator, statesman, and patriot, in one of the most interesting relations of private society. Not, in the cabinet or the senate, enforcing by a vigorous and command

ing eloquence, those councils to which his country owed her preeminence and glory; but implanting, with parental kindness, in the mind of an ingenuous youth, seeds of wisdom and virtue, which ripened into full maturity in the character of a most accomplished man; directing him to the acquisition of knowledge, as the instrument of action teaching him by the cultivation of his reason, to establish and strengthen in his heart the principles of moral rectitude; and, above all, exhorting him to regulate the whole conduct of his life by the predominant influence of gratitude and obedience to God, as the only sure groundwork of every human duty."

COTTON, Nathaniel,-a distinguished poet and physician. The time and place of his birth are unknown. He resided at St. Albans; where, in the latter part of his life, he opened a house for the reception of lunatics. Cowper, the poet, at an early period of the fatal malady, that in some degree afflicted him through life, was committed to his care, and experienced from him the most kind and judicious treatment. Dr. Cotton died at St. Albans, in an advanced age, on the second of August, 1788.

"His moral and intellectual character," (says Dr. Anderson in his Complete Edition of the British poets,) appears to have been, in the highest degree, amiable and respectable. His poetical compositions are distinguished by a refined elegance of sentiment, and by simplicity of expression. His thoughts are always just, and pure. Under his direction, poetry may be truly said to be subservient to religious and moral instruction. His Visions in Verse,' the most popular of his productions, are written in the measure of Gay's Fables; but in forcibleness of moral and poetical spirit, are unquestionably superior to them. His 'Fables' approach nearer to the manner of Gay. They have great merit of the moral kind; and they are peculiarly adapted, as well as the Visions, for the entertain