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him in 1769, he being then in the fourth year of his course-so that our intercourse, before most friendly, and then renewed with additional advantage, lasted but a short time at either place, but was kept up by personal visits and epistolary correspondence, without interruption, or a single interval of coolness, during the remainder of his natural and intellectual life."

My correspondent's testimony to the good conduct of Mr. French's pupils is highly creditable to the attention and vigilance of that gentleman, and to the moral discipline maintained in his seminary. "I think I can say," continues Mr. Smith," that I never heard an oath, or a flagrantly indecent expression, uttered by any boy during the five years of my continuance at Ware. I cannot refrain from adding my testimony, also, to the almost singular purity of conduct, as I fear, of the students at Daventry, especially considering their period of life, from sixteen to twenty-one." It also appears at a subsequent period, when Mr. Belsham had entered on the office of the Christian ministry, and was invited to take charge of the congregation at Ware, that he retained a lively sense of the advantages he had enjoyed under the instruction of his kind preceptor. In his reply to Mr. French, through whom the application was made, he says, "I thank you, my dear Sir, for all the early attention and tenderness I experienced from you and Mrs. French, of which I shall ever retain a grateful remembrance, dum memor ipse mei, dum spiritus hos regit artus."

It must have been here, and at home, during the short vacations of Midsummer and Christmas, un

der the discipline and guidance of his parents, and more particularly under the watchful care and instruction of his excellent mother, that he was trained to that deep reverence of God, that habitual piety, and that watchfulness over his conduct and disposition, of which so many proofs are found in every page of his diary, even in the earliest parts of it.

The following letter, addressed by the Rev. James Belsham to his son, is evidence of his parental affection and solicitude, and also shews, that the pupil's time, under Mr. French's direction, was judiciously and properly employed.

"MY DEAR TOMMY,

*

"We were all very much pleased with your maps. I shewed them to several of our acquaintance, particularly Baron Mounteney, who spoke much in commendation of your industry, and care, and taste. I was lately in the county of Wexford. I went in a noddy to bring back the Doctor (King) from Mr. Tottenham's. We breakfasted at a pretty market town, called Gorey, between Arklow and Wexford. You have not got that town in your map. But Bonus Bernardus non videt omnia, as the Proverbia say. When you make so good a breakfast as I did there, you will remember to put it into your next Map of Ireland. I breakfasted also at Arklow, which stands by the sea-side, but they seem to import nothing but ale; for it is a miserable town, and half the houses are ale-houses.

Editor of Select Orations of Demosthenes, and afterwards one of the Barons of the Exchequer, in Ireland. For some account of him see Nichol's Literary Anecdotes of the 18th Century, Vol. II. p. 192.

[AN.ET.17. "I am engaged in a course of study, and seldom go out but for an hour or two in the evening. I heartily wish you and your brothers may make progress in every thing that is good. I hope you, and they, and your sisters, will be obedient to your grandpapa and dear mamma, and love and help one another all you can. You are growing up into a censorious world; your faults will be observed. I pray God, you and your brothers and sisters may be happy. My best love to your dear mamma. hope you will all find in me, in every possible circumstance, a tender and affectionate father and true friend.

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Dublin, July 7, 1764.”

"JAMES BELSHAM.

I

In August, 1766, Mr. Belsham went to Daventry, and was admitted into the Dissenting Academy, then under the superintendence of Dr. Ashworth, the successor of the pious and learned Doddridge, and remained there as a student till the year 1771. From this time, and during the whole of after life, he kept an exact and almost an uninterrupted account of the manner in which he passed his timeof his religious exercises-of his feelings and state of mind, when engaged in them-of his conduct and disposition-and of the most remarkable occurrences of his life. In these notices there is, of course, great sameness and repetition, often as to the words in which they are recorded; but they serve to shew the strict watchfulness which he maintained over himself-his own sense of his errors and failings, particularly of that warmth and

hastiness of temper to which he was subject-his strong desire of attaining a religious character, and of preserving and strengthening the good impressions which had been made upon his mind, often accompanied by expressions of unworthiness, which can only be attributed to the peculiar tenets in which he had been educated, and to the false views which he had taken of the condition of Man, and of the terms of acceptance with God, founded upon those Calvinistic notions, which he had imbibed from his infancy, and which, as they maintained an influence and predominance in his mind through a great portion of life, served greatly to depress his feelings, and to produce a sense of wretchedness and misery, which, at times, he could scarcely bear. Of this there will be sufficient evidence in the copious extracts from his diary, which will be presented to the reader.

The time which Mr. Belsham spent at Daventry, both as a student and as Assistant Tutor, previously to his settlement with any congregation in the capacity of a minister, was an important period of his life. Here, doubtless, he laid the foundation of that knowledge which he afterwards acquired, and of those habits of application and diligence for which he was so remarkable; and here, as already observed, he cultivated and exercised that self-examination and watchfulness, which contributed so much to the formation and improvement of his character.

The following memorandum is copied from a paper without a date, on one part of which is inscribed a kind of diagram, exhibiting the occupations of the day and of the week. It is evident, however, that it must have been written some time in the

autumn of 1766, when Mr. Belsham had entered the seventeenth year of his age; and it shews that his mind was deeply imbued with religious principles, though mixed with sentiments of that dark and melancholy kind, which gave a mournful character to his thoughts and expressions, and greatly embittered the period which is usually the most cheerful, the most animated, and the most active, portion of humanlife.

After stating that he came from Welford to Daventry to meet his father, and that through the mercy of God he had arrived in safety, he observes:

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My temper of mind, I hope, has been in some measure serious to-day. In the morning private devotions I was very short, and, I fear, not so earnest as I ought to be; in family devotions much distracted; in the evening sermon I hope I was pretty much affected, as also in private devotions, especially in the evening; but in family prayers I have been thoughtless indeed; I hardly had my attention fixed for one minute all the while, and through the day I have had very few heart-affecting thoughts of God. I am, indeed, all over corrupt. Alas! what will become of me? O that I could but serve God with diligence and fervency, with zeal and alacrity! but my convictions soon wear off, and I fear my conscience is seared with a red hot iron."-" My state of mind through this week has been variable. Sometimes I am, at least I think myself to be, pretty deeply affected with divine things, but at other times I am quite hardened. Sometimes I have some hope that God will adopt me, notwithstanding my unworthiness-at other