left unfinished a work on the Evidences of Christianity. The character of A., if somewhat cool and unimpassioned, was pure, magnanimous, and kind. The charm of his manners and conversation made him one of the most popular and admired men of his day; and while he laid his friends under obligations for substantial favours, he showed the greatest forbearance towards his few enemies. His style in his essays is remarkable for its ease, clearness, and grace, and for an inimitable and sunny humour which never soils and never hurts. The motive power of these writings has been called "an enthusiasm for conduct." Their effect was to raise the whole standard of manners and expression both in life and in literature. The only flaw in his character was a tendency to convivial excess, which must be judged in view of the laxer manners of his time. When allowance has been made for this, he remains one of the most admirable characters and writers in English literature. SUMMARY.--_B._ Amesbury, _ed._ Charterhouse and Oxford; received travelling pension, 1699; _Campaign_ (1704) leads to political office; goes to Ireland, 1708; assists Steele in _Tatler_, 1709; _Spectator_ started, 1711; marries Lady Warwick, 1716; Secretary of State, 1716-18; _d._ 1719. Lives in _Biographica Britannica_, _Dict. of Nat. Biog._, _Johnson's Lives of Poets_, and by Lucy Aikin, Macaulay's _Essay_, Drake's _Essays Illustrative of Tatler, Guardian, and Spectator_; Pope's and Swift's Correspondence, etc. The best edition of the books is that in _Bohn's British Classics_ (6 vols., 1856); others are Tickell's (4 vols., 1721); _Baskerville_ edit. (4 vols., 1761); Hurd's (6 vols., 1811); Greene's (1856); Dent's _Spectator_ (1907). ADOLPHUS, JOHN (1768-1845).--Historian, studied law and was called to the Bar in 1807. He wrote _Biographical Memoirs of the French Revolution_ (1799) and _History of England from_ 1760-1783 (1802), and other historical and biographical works.