The matter over-and, pray Sir, what was't? I did throw up, and told my neighbour so, Mr. Byrom continued to live happy and re spectable in the bosom of domestic peace and comfort, until, in the seventy-second year of his age, and on the 28th of September, 1763, he submitted, after an illness borne with great fortitude and resignation, to the stroke of death. In all the relations of life Mr. Byrom supported a character of great innocence, integrity, and virtue; his talents were very respectable, and his industry was great; he possessed a heart alive to the finest feelings of humanity, and was a sincere and devotional believer in the records and doctrines of christianity. The contributions of Mr. Byrom to the Spectator took place at an early period of his life; yet are they such as reflect great honour on his literary acquirements, and are justly considered as ornaments to the work in which they are included. Four papers in the eighth volume have been attributed to him by the annotators, but of these only two can be considered as certainly of his production. These are Nos. 586 and 593; in the last of which he himself affirms, " that he has * Byrom's Miscellaneous Poems, vol. i. p. 49–51. no manner of title to the vision which succeeded his first letter;" an avowal, however, which the annotators seem to have little regarded, as they still persist in giving our author credit for the composition of N° 587. For the conjectural ascription of N° 597, they have no other authority than what similarity of subject can afford; the paper appearing to have been formed on some hints in Mr. Byrom's first communication. The two authentic papers of our ingenious essayist are on Dreaming, a subject which, in the hands of various writers, has been productive of much pleasing illustration. He takes it for granted, that "dreams are certainly the result of our waking thoughts; and our daily hopes and fears are what give the mind such nimble relishes of pleasure, and such severe touches of pain, in its midnight rambles." His object, therefore, is to point out the best method of rendering the workings of fancy in sleep grateful to the mind, and consequently friendly to health and happiness. Temperance in the indulgence of our appetites, and the habitual practice of virtue, he justly contends, are the only means which are adapted to the attainment of so desirable a result. The state of the mind during sleep and dreaming, has been the theme of much controversy among physiologists and metaphysicians; but the VOL. III. best deduced opinions tend strongly to confirm the rationality of the means on which Mr. Byrom depends for success. Whether with Dr. Darwin we assert that "the power of volition is totally suspended in sleep;" or with Dugald Stewart, that "the influence of the will over the faculties both of mind and body is then interrupted *;" it will follow, that the associations or trains of ideas which occur in dreaming, being under little or no subjection to the influence of volition, (although in frightful dreams the will is sometimes painfully but unavailingly exerted,) must take their tone and complexion either from the mental associations of our waking hours, or from the sensations and irritations of the corporeal frame. It is obvious therefore, that if such be the passive state of the mind in our dreams, and that we cannot voluntarily adopt or reject a train of thought, of what importance it may be both to health and peace of mind, that the associations of our waking hours, and the state of our bodily organs, be such as shall not, during the time which nature has allotted to repose, give rise to scenes of guilt, of misery, and of terror. The couch of the vicious and luxurious is often haunted with spectres of every dreadful * Vide Zoonomia, vol. i. and Dugald Stewart's Elements of the Philosophy of the Human Mind, p. 577. pure form and hue, while the temperate and the Dulcis et alta quies, placidæque simillima morti. Or are transported into regions of ever-varying beauty and enjoyment, into -a world of gayer tinct and grace, O'er which are shadowy cast Elysian gleams THOMSON. 10. ZACHARY PEARCE, D. D. bishop of Rochester, and a critic of considerable celebrity, was born in High Holborn, London, in 1690. His father, who had acquired great wealth as a distiller, educated him at Westminster-school, where he was chosen one of the King's scholars, and, in 1710, elected to Trinity College, Cambridge. It was during the early part of his residence at the university, that he contributed to the periodical collections of Steele and Addison; to the Guardian in 1713, and to the eighth volume of the Spectator in 1714. The production, however, which first made him known to the public, and which procured him very powerful patronage, was an edition of Cicero de Oratore, printed in 1716, and dedicated, at the request of a friend, to Lord Chief Justice Parker. With this tribute of respect his lordship was so much pleased, that, by a strong recommendation to Dr. Bentley, then master of Trinity, he procured him a fellowship. Our author, in 1717, entered into holy orders, and received an invitation from Lord Parker, now chancellor, to reside with him as his domestic chaplain. About two years after his acceptance of this situation, he became rector of Stapleford Abbots, in Essex, and, in 1720, of St. Bartholomew behind the Royal Exchange. He this year published, “An Account of Trinity College, Cambridge; in 1721, Epistolæ duæ de Editione N. T. a Bentleio suscepta, de corruptis Epistolarum N. T. Locis, &c.; and, in 1722, A Letter to the Clergy of the Church of England, on occasion of the Bishop of Rochester's Commitment to the Tower. Through the interest of his generous patron, now Earl of Macclesfield, he was presented, in 1723, to St. Martin's in the Fields, and the subsequent year, he dedicated to his lordship his valuable edition of Longinus. It was in 1724, likewise, that he received the degree of Doctor of Divinity from Archbishop Wake. An event now occurred, which for some time suspended our author's hopes and views of pre |