more interesting and impressive paper cannot be found in the series to which it belongs. The expansion of the mental faculties in a future state, though it be an idea over which some obscurity must necessarily hang, is too accordant with our wishes, our hopes, and our religion, to be dismissed for any length of time. There is every reason, indeed, to suppose, that the happiness of an immaterial existence will depend upon the perpetual and illimitable progression of intellect; and the paper of Mr. Grove is, in every respect, well calculated to give force and colour to the exhilarating prospect.

9. JOHN BYROM, the younger son of Mr. Edward Byrom, a linen-draper, was born at Kersall, near Manchester, in the year 1691. After the usual grammatical education in his native place, he was sent to Merchant Taylor's School in London, where he distinguished himself by his attention to, and proficiency in, classical literature. So much greater progress indeed had he made than was usual, that, at the age of sixteen, he was thought sufficiently qualified for the University of Cambridge; where, on the 6th of July, 1708, he was admitted a Pensioner of Trinity College.

At this seat of the Muses, Mr. Byrom culti

vated with assiduity a taste for elegant letters, and especially for poetry, to which, even in his earliest he had shown a marked propenyears, sity. Having taken the usual degrees in Arts, he was, in 1714, elected a Fellow of his College, with the Master of which, the celebrated Dr. Richard Bentley, he had greatly ingratiated himself by the sweetness of his disposition, and the regularity of his conduct.

In the August of the year of his election to the Fellowship, he commenced a writer in the Spectator; and in the October following published in that work his first and best poetical effort, a pastoral under the title of Colin to Phabe. It has been said on good authority, that the Phoebe of this pastoral was Joanna, the daughter of Dr. Bentley, and that it was written, not so much from affection to the daughter, as with the aim of securing the interest of the Doctor in promoting the author's views with regard to the fellowship, for which, at the period of its composition, he was a candidate.

The popularity which this poem has enjoyed for a series of ninety years, must be considered as an indication of no inconsiderable merit; the versification is easy and flowing; and the imagery in the seventh and eighth stanzas may be termed elegantly rural; but there is a fault in

this piece, which, if it were ever intended for a serious composition, completely destroys the effect. A ludicrous air pervades the whole, arising sometimes from the puerility of the expres sion, and sometimes from the inanity of the sentiment. Since the publication of the Bath Guide by Anstey, this association may have been rendered stronger by the parody, in that humorous work, of the first two lines of Byrom's poem :

My time, O ye Muses, was happily spent,
When Phoebe went with me wherever I went.

BYROM.

My time, my dear mother's, been wretchedly spent,
With a gripe or a hiccup wherever I went.

ANSTEY.

A serious indisposition induced Mr. Byrom, in 1716, to visit Montpelier; and during his residence upon the continent, he imbibed not only a taste for the philosophical reveries of Malebranche, but became a convert to the wild enthusiasm of Mademoiselle Bourignon; attachments which convey no favourable idea of the strength and solidity of his judgment.

On the recovery of his health, he returned to England, and, as his pecuniary circumstances were not such as to support him in an independent style, he adopted the resolution of practising in London as a physician; a scheme which, al.

though soon laid aside, and he took no degree in medicine, procured for him, through life, the appellation of Doctor.

It was the seducing passion of love which annihilated his professional views; for, shortly after he had settled in town, the two daughters of his uncle, Mr. Joseph Byrom, of Manchester, visited London upon some business of their father's, and our poet became ardently attached to the younger of the sisters, Miss Elizabeth Byrom. He immediately avowed his affection, and, following her on her return to Manchester, so assiduously prosecuted his suit, that, notwithstanding the opposition of her parents, who, on account of Mr. Byrom's narrow circumstances, were averse to the connection, he obtained her hand. The conduct of his uncle, who was in very opulent circumstances, and who might, without inconvenience to himself, have placed them at ease with regard to fortune, was such, however, as is but too often experienced from men who place no value upon any thing but the accumulation of money. Regardless of the worth and accomplishments of his son-in-law, he refused to give him any support; and Mr. Byrom, having soon exhausted what little property he possessed, was compelled to seek subsistence from the exertion of an art which he had cultivated during his re

sidence at Cambridge. This was the invention of a new and more perfect species of Short-hand, which he first taught with such success at Manchester, that he was induced to try his abilities upon a larger theatre; and, revisiting London, met with so much encouragement, and acquired so many pupils, several of which were of the first rank in society, that he procured a very comfortable revenue. In the mean time Mrs. Byrom continued to reside at Manchester; and, as her husband was engaged in the metropolis only for the winter season, she had the pleasure of his society during the summer months, and usually gave him an annual addition to his family.

Our author's fame was not, however, established without a contest. At the time when he fixed in London, a Mr. Weston had acquired considerable celebrity in the same art; and, as Mr. Byrom had taken the liberty of pointing out the defects of his method, he received from his competitor a challenge to a trial of skill. This was accepted, and, Mr. Byrom proving decidedly the victor, the number of his pupils rapidly increased, and among them he had the honour of including the celebrated Earl of Chesterfield.

It was during the time our poet exercised his useful art in town, that he became acquainted with Dr. Byfield, a man of wit and genius, but