the drawings by Hodges, and it obtained considerable success at the time.-But to enumerate the various subjects in which Mr. Becket volunteered the services of his ever-active and enterprising mind, would far exceed the limits to which the Editor is restricted in this brief notice. He was, for nearly ten years, one of the principal writers in the British and Monthly Reviews; and, as a critic, was well known for the candour, taste, and discrimination, with which he exercised his pen in that dangerous and difficult art. His own account of his connexion with the proprietor of the "Monthly Review," and the miserable pittance which he received

*To the Prince of Orange and the then Stadtholder, he has done ample justice; and what was there said of the prince, may be now observed of the king of Holland. 1776 to 1786.

This gentleman was afterwards appointed to a governorship in India, and, in proof of his regard, offered to take Mr. Becket out with him. This flattering invitation, however, our author was not at liberty to accept; and the governor quitted England without any further opportunity of serving him.

by way of remuneration, are too remarkable to be lost sight of in this place, and may be here annexed as an affecting instance of heartless oppression on one hand, and of magnanimous endurance on the other. Mr. Becket, it appears, had not taken the precaution to have a written agreement with the proprietor of that Review, but continued his labours for several years without the offer of, or request for, a settlement; the consequence of which was, a final misunderstanding between himself and the publisher.* In other quarters, however, his talents were

* The annexed is Mr. Becket's own account of his ill-requited labours, as written down at the time:

"For two hundred and eighty articles in the Monthly Review (the number of volumes read for that purpose five hundred and ninety) and being the labour of between four and five years, I, A. Becket, am rewarded by R. Griffiths with the sum of forty-five pounds, no agreement being made. N. B. This is at the rate of about three shillings per article. Thus, for wading through Camden's Britannia, 5 vols. folio-for composing six pages for the Review, and extracting seven more; the whole being the labour of between two and three months-I receive three shillings. For reading the Life of Frederick, King of Prussia,' 2 vols. 8vo., of fourteen hundred pages, and for writing eleven pages, three shillings. For drawing up an account of the 'Temporal Government of the Pope's State,' twelve pages, three shillings and so on; three shillings per article for criticisms to the number of seventy, and making from two to six pages each in the Review.

"If Mr. Griffiths should observe on this, that he has allowed me the same for the smaller articles as for the larger ones, I beg leave to reply, that three shillings per article in the Monthly Review,' is very wretched pay, even for those which may be called small, since I had two, three, and sometimes four and five volumes to peruse of every separate work; the entire number of volumes being four hundred and sixty; with one hundred and thirty to read for the larger articles; in all five hundred and ninety volumes. But if this be really hard upon a man whose income is very small, what shall be said with regard to the seventy other and larger articles? I have not words to express my feelings on the matter.

"A. BECKET. "N.B. The clear profit arising to R. G., from the sale of the 'Monthly Review,' was two thousand pounds per annum."

It may also be added, that all the articles contributed by Mr. Becket were acknowledged as well calculated to support and extend the reputation of the Review in question.

now first printed from the MSS., all the pieces of which the following volumes are composed, were printed separately many years ago, and have all passed successively into new editions.* It has not been thought necessary, in the present, to arrange the subjects in the same order in which they originally appeared; nor is it at all necessary for the due appreciation of these by the reader, that they should here be submitted to the test of editorial criticism. To certain objections which were made by former reviewers, the author has already replied with great ability; and as these objections were only started against the measure, and not the matter or the moral, employed by him in the dramas of "Socrates"

"Affectation"-a Comedy, which was very highly commended in the former editions, and considered as eminently well adapted for representation on the stage-is printed from the second edition; "Socrates" from the second; "Lucianus" from the second; "A Trip to Holland" the same; and his truly philanthropic "Plan" from the second edition, a large impression of which was exhausted in a very short time.

and "The Genii,"* such objections will scarcely discourage any one who reads for improvement. The sentiments in these poems are often so striking and original, that the reflecting reader will hardly attend to the minor considerations of the poet's art, in the metrical neglect of which Mr. Becket adduces even Milton himself as an example. His object has been rather to affect the heart by the force of highly moral sentiments, than to fascinate the ear by the undulation of rich and elaborate sounds.

But it is no business of the Editor's to offer an apology for what the author himself has never viewed as an offence to the dramatic art. The thoughts, like gems in a very common setting, are often carelessly, but never, I think, obscurely expressed. The measure, though fully justified by the authority of the ancients, may occasionally appear harsh and deficient in rhythm; but this, it is hoped, will be found amply compensated by the fine moral and philanthropic spirit which pervades the text.

It has been our author's greatest ambition through life to render men wiser and happier by every topic on which he has employed his pen; and if by this he has neither amassed riches nor fame, he has the consolation to think that he has sacrificed neither principle nor character for their attainment. He has pursued a calm and undeviating tenor, exposing himself to many privations for the sake of others; sacrificing his private interests to the advancement of public good; and humbly devoting his best energies to the cause of humanity.†

In both of these, the reader may remark many brilliant thoughts, though expressed with little attention to effect.

As an instance we need only refer to his "Plan, &c." and "Dialogues."

reputation, with what complacence might we not imagine our great poet to contemplate the labours of Mr. Becket." This work may be justly considered as the most arduous of all Mr. Becket's undertakings; and it has elicited from the most competent judges many testimonies highly gratifying to the annotator's genius and perseverance, and honourable to their own candour and liberality. It is a monument at once sacred to the memory of Shakspeare, and highly creditable to our author, who has done more than any other to exhibit the illustrious poet in all his original vigour and purity.

We are now briefly to touch upon that epoch in Mr. Becket's life which was to draw a veil between him and the face of external nature, by depriving him of the

*This work will be found more fully noticed at the end of Vol. II. Quarterly Review.