The epistolary correspondence of Hughes in the Tatler is chiefly employed in aiding the attack of Steele, on the formidable body of gamesters and sharpers, which at that time infested almost every part of the metropolis. N° 113, which includes the Inventory of a Beau, is rich in humour, and in its style a very happy imitation of the Addisonian manner.

In the Spectator, twelve letters, eleven entire numbers, and part of the first of N° 230, were, there is every reason to believe, the composition of Hughes. Of the eleven numbers written by Hughes in the Spectator, three belong to the province of criticism, six to that of ethics, and two are devoted to religious subjects.

The ethical and religious papers of Hughes are some of the most valuable in the Spectator, and display no small share of acute reasoning, of lively imagination, and knowledge of human life. N° 91 is a spirited and entertaining paper on the ridiculous rivalship of a mother and daughter, under the names of Flavia and Honoria. No 224 contains an elegant and wellwritten essay on the Universality of Ambition, the conclusion of which should be impressed upon the minds of every parent and tutor.

Of our author's ability in the combination and conduct of incident, the Picture of Distress in No 375, in the story of Amanda, presents a very happy instance; its best eulogium is, that it is impossible to read it without tears. The observations on Conjugal Love, in No 525, and on the Dignity of Human Nature, in No 587, are worthy of our elegant moralist.

In N° 467, Hughes is supposed to have paid a tribute of gratitude and respect to his illustrious friend and patron, Lord Cowper; for whom the character of MANILIUS, from a strong resemblance to that accomplished nobleman in its leading feature, appears to have been designed. The Essays on the Immortality of the Soul, and on Divine Providence, in Nos 210 and 237, exhibit the piety of Hughes in a pleasing light. In the paper on Providence, in particular, he has arranged the arguments for the constant superintendence of the Deity with great perspicuity and force: and he has happily illustrated his reflections by an apologue founded on a Jewish tradition.

All the periodical Essays of Hughes are written in a style which is, in general, easy, correct, and elegant: they occasionally exhibit wit and humour; and they uniformly tend to

inculcate the best precepts moral, prudential, and religious.

He appears to have been universally regretted as an honest and amiable man, and held an enviable rank among the wits of his time. Such was his acknowledged judgment, that ADDISON requested he would complete his Cato for the stage; and although this task was afterwards performed by ADDISON himself, yet it was by the persuasion of HUGHES that this celebrated play was finished and acted. He died February 17, 1719-20, the same day on which his play of the Siege of Damascus was first represented.

ALEXANDER POPE has been mentioned among the contributors to the Spectator, yet one article only, and that a very trifling one, in No 527, a short letter with a few verses, is all that can with certainty be ascribed to him. His "Messiah" was published in N° 378, and the annotators deduce that he wrote N° 408, from its being agreeable to his train of thought. His contributions to the Guardian are more important, and will be noticed in the Preface to that paper.

No 586 and 593, on dreaming, and which have been the foundation of many succeeding

essays on the same subject, were written by Mr. JOHN BYROM, whose facetious talents were well suited to this species of composition. Some verses in N° 603, beginning "My time, O ye Muses, &c." are ascribed to him. The annotators give to Mr. Byrom also No 587, but perhaps not correctly. They with greater justice give him credit for No 597, although even that appears doubtful. This ingenious writer was a younger son of Edward Byrom, of Kersal, in Lancashire, and born at Manchester, 1691. He was educated first in his native town, and afterwards at Merchant-Tailors' School in London, whence he was admitted a pensioner of Trinity College, Cambridge, under the celebrated Mr. Baker, July 6, 1708. His first productions were the papers in the Spectator we have enumerated. He died on the 28th of September, 1763, leaving behind him the character of a man of piety, wit, and learning. The general tenour of his life was innocent and inoffensive, and it appears that the great truths of Christianity had, from his earliest years, made a deep impression on his mind.

Four papers in the Spectator were the production of Mr. HENRY GROVE, a non-conformist divine, who was born at Taunton, in So

mersetshire, in 1683. After receiving a liberal education at London he entered upon the ministerial office, and in 1706 became a tutor in the academy at Taunton, which flourished greatly under his management. He died at Taunton in 1738. Besides some excellent

Sermons, he wrote N° 588, 601, 626, and 685, of the Spectator; an Essay on the Immateriality of the Soul; Essay on the Terms of Christian Communion; the Evidence of our Saviour's Resurrection considered; Thoughts concerning the Proof of a Future State; a Discourse on the Nature and Design of the Lord's Supper, &c.

In the list of contributors to the Spectator, given by STEELE, the name of Mr. HENRY MARTYN is found, but no part of his share can be ascertained, except the letter to the king of France, in N° 180. N° 200, on the same subject, is thought by the annotators to be his, and they have the same suspicion of N° 232. Of this gentleman the only account extant is in Ward's Lives of the Professors of Gresham College. He was, according to his biographer, the eldest son "of Edward Martyn of Upham, in the parish of Alborn, in Wiltshire, Esq. and Elizabeth, daughter of Mr. William Eyre, mas