patriots." “ Young and inexperienced,” adds he, “ dazzled with the name of liberty, confounded by subtleties of argument, which, if I could not accurately analyse, I was still unable to confute; and lastly, with the prospect placed before me, of ease and independence, can it excite surprise, that I should get entangled in a net, of which the meshes were at the same time so fine as to elude detection, and too strong to allow of escape ?" It soon became obvious, however, that “ease and inde . pendence" were not to be obtained by the countenance of men, who possessed no influence in the state, and were generally in open hostility to His Majesty's ministers. The revolution that took place in 1789, in a neighbouring kingdom, of course alarmed the members of the cabinet, as well as the bishops, the grandees, and the great landholders. The press was at that critical moment, and had long been, chiefly under the direction of the Dissenters, who either affected or possessed great liberality in respect to every thing connected both with religion and politics. It was deemed necessary, therefore, either to cry or write these down, and at the same time to raise up in their stead a new class of authors, addicted to “ Church and King doctrines,” as was the phrase of that day. Mr. Beloe was bold, ardent, and enthusiastic. He had a numerous and encreasing family; he was possessed neither of hereditary nor of acquired fortune; and he had chiefly lived for some years antecedent by the produce of his pen. He and another respectable clergyman * accordingly are said to have undertaken a Review, devoted to the interests of the party then in power. This is termed by the former in his last work his Opus Magnum, and indeed it produced the patronage and countenance of many great personages, both in Church and State. “ There was a time in England," observes he," and a dire time it was, when the contagion of the French revolution had so infected our purer atmosphere, that the dis * The Rev. Archdeacon Nares, said to be the original Editor of the British Critic." loyal, ill-designing, and more profligate part of the community dared to use the language of violence, and of menace, to overawe and intimidate those whose sentiments they knew to be adverse to their own; who had the presumption to prophesy, that · Church and State prejudices were coming to a speedy issue in this country;' who had the insolence to use all their efforts to check and suppress the circulation of what the honest advocates of truth and order wrote and published in vindication of their sentiments; and even proceeded so far as to hold out threats to the individuals themselves, whom they affected, with equal absurdity and impertinence, to denominate 6 Alarmists.' “ A sevenfold shield was wanted, beneath the protection of which the poisonous and insidious darts of the assailants might be repelled, and the weapons of those who fought for the good old cause might be wielded with boldness and due effect. “ Before this, the channels of communication with the public were pre-occupied by a faction; the pure streams of truth were either obstructed in their progress, or contaminated in the very source; the representations exhibited of things as they actually were, by the faithful pencils of loyalty and true patriotism, were misrepresented, defaced, defamed, and treated with every mark of ignominy. This powerful shield was at length produced; it was formed with no ordinary skill and labour, and proved of no common strength. From this auspicious moment, matters began to assume a very different aspect. Religion and loyalty were enabled to defy, and to rise victorious over infidelity and anarchy. The strong clear voice of truth was heard, and virtue triumphed. “ The subject is seducing; and memory lingers with pride and fondness on the eventful period. Public gratitude followed the manifestation of public benefit. The individuals who most distinguished themselves in the effectual extension of this shield, as well as by the ardour, and fortitude, and dexterity with which they used the weapons entrusted to them by their country, were not suffered to go without their reward. But the most grateful of all distinctions were the praises of such men as the venerable Archbishop Moore; the protection, and countenance, and friendship of a Pitt, of Bishops Barrington, Porteus, Tomline; the courtesies of a Windham; and the friendship of a Loughborough.” The last of these great personages is represented as wholly unlike his predecessor Thurlow; “ on the contrary, his manners,” we are told, “were conciliating and agreeable, and there was a kindness in his manner of granting a favour, which greatly enhanced its value. He would often say, when he gave away preferment, and more particularly to those whose merit was their only recommendation to him, “Go to my secretary, and desire him to prepare the presentation for my fiat immediately; or I shall have some Duke or great man make application, whom I shall not be able to refuse.” Mr. Beloe appears to have enjoyed the confidence of this nobleman while Chancellor, and to have been accustomed occasionally to read to him. He praises His Lordship for his acuteness, sagacity, and all the best powers of intellect. was also a most polished gentleman ; he bore his high honours without insolence, and without oppressing his inferiors by an affected condescension, conciliating all who approached him by his affability and graciousness of manner.” But it may not be here improper to return to and trace the particulars of that literary career, which led to such powerful connections. It has been already stated, that Mr. Beloe had long kept up an intercourse with booksellers, by means of whom his productions first found their way to the press, and then to the public. His earliest connection was with a shopkeeper of this description at Norwich, whom he represents as a “facetious, jolly, honest sort of body;" and to him his first work was consigned. After manifold discussions, doubts, and difficulties, as the author had no money, and the bookseller no inclination to incur any great risk, it was agreed, that in case of loss, the young clergyman should pay the moiety of it by such instalments as his means might permit. 66 Who shall attempt,” observes the man of letters, “ to describe the 66. He ; exultation and self-complacency which followed the definitive arrangement, concerning a brochure of less than fifty pages? Who but he, who inflamed by the ambition of authorship, practises for the first time of his life the mysterious characters of the Printer, (the deles, the stets, the transfers, N. P. bring down, &c.) and for the first time contemplates the harbinger of that awful charta ycleped a proof in the hand of the deyil?" It may be questioned, whether when our great and venerable painter West rushing from the forests of his native America, to enjoy the splendid glories of the Vatican, first beheld the Belvidere Apollo with greater enthusiasm, than Mr. B. experienced when anxiously expecting his approach, he ran to meet the devil at his door. Alas! he little knew the sea of troubles into which he was about rashly to plunge. His imagination did not present to him any thing to “grieve his heart,' like the apparitions which disturbed Macbeth, in long succession; "a crabbed publisher, a mean bookseller, a fraudulent bookseller, a sneaking bookseller, or, what is as troublesome as any of the rest, a corcomb bookseller," &c. “He never anticipated those "solemn and afflicting' moments of care and anguish, when the repose and indulgence necessary after severe intellectual fatigue were to be hastily and abruptly interrupted by the appearance of a terrific spectre, begrimed by the Printer's ink, and vociferating the words so torturing to an author's ear, more copy !!” At length his first work made its appearance, and after panting for many weeks with expectation, he found the following short decision on its merits, in the latter part of the monthly catalogue of one of these “ Lunar Oracles,” called Reviews : “ This is a work not entirely without merit, but it is evidently the production of a youthful author, who will write better : when he shall have read more.” In a very short time the prudent bookseller produced the account, and after charging for advertisements, paper, print ing, and cancels, the author obtained the nett sum of thirteen shillings and eight-pence! On his coming to town, Mr. Beloe commenced a correspondence with the Gentleman's Magazine; and appears to have obtained a handsome set of books from Mr. Urban, as a present for a prose essay that appeared in that journal. But there is reason to believe that he first cultivated poetry; and soon after leaving college, printed an Ode to Miss Boscawen. At a very early period of his life, he also translated a Ballad from the Spanish into Latin hexameters and pentameters, of which the following is an English version : "For me my fair a wreath has wove, "Whose rival flowers in union meet, "Oft as she kissed the gift of love, "Her breath gave sweetness to the sweet. "A bee beneath a damask rose "Had crept the liquid dew to sip, "But lesser sweets the thief foregoes, "And fixes on Louisa's lip. "Then tasting all the bloom of spring, "Waked by the ripening breath of May, This last is from the pen cf David Garrick; and it would have been highly desirable to have inserted the Latin translation, could it have been readily obtained. At the commencement of the French Revolution, our author was not backward, as has been already hinted, to render himself serviceable in the "good old cause," as he was accustomed to term it. He accordingly composed a work entitled "Brief Memoirs of the chief of the French Regicides," for the materials of which he had obtained access to a variety of curious and perhaps authentic documents. But his bookseller became alarmed at the title-page; and it was therefore changed into "Brief |