Thomas Holcroft, an English miscellaneous writer of considerable reputation, was born in Orange court, Leicesterfields, December 22, 1744. His father was a shoemaker in low circumstances, and the son, early in life, was employed in the stables of the honorable Mr. Vernon. He also worked at his father’s business of shoemaking, but being fond of reading, and his fellow-workmen sneering at his efforts to acquire knowledge, he left the trade, and opened a school in London. This not proving successful, he tried his fortune on the stage, but after much suffering, being often almost reduced to starvation, he abandoned the stage as an actor. In the midst of his distresses, however, he retained his love of books, and had made himself extensively acquainted with English literature. He then turned dramatic writer, in which he was more fortunate, some of his plays being very popular at the time. Besides these productions, he wrote several novels, and translated a number of works from the French and German languages. At the commencement of the French revolution, he espoused the cause of the republicans, and was committed for high treason; but when Hardy, Tooke, and Thelwall, were acquitted, he was discharged, without trial. His last speculation was a publication of his travels in Germany and France, in two volumes quarto. Many of his works exhibit high talents, and have an established popularity in England. He died in 1809. REV. WILLIAM CAREY, D. D. This eminent Christian missionary, and distinguished oriental scholar, was born at Paulerspury, Northamptonshire, England, in 1761. He followed the business of shoemaking in early life, during which time, he learned several languages, studying with his books by his side while at work. A gentleman in New York, has preserved in his library, among the works of Dr. Carey, a pair of shoes made by him. Dr. Carey commenced preaching as a baptist minister in 1783; in 1793 he embarked as a missionary to India, and in 1799, he took up his residence at the Danish settlement of Serampore, which became celebrated for being the seat of this mission which was sustained by Carey, Ward, and Marshman. Dr. Carey’s philological labors in preparing grammars and dictionaries of different languages, and in making versions of the Scriptures, were immense. He lived to see the sacred Text, chiefly by his instrumentality, translated into the vernacular dialects of more than forty different tribes, and thus made accessible to nearly two hundred millions of human beings. In addition to his extensive philological learning, Dr. Carey was well versed in natural history and botany, and made valuable communications to the Asiatic society, of which he was for twenty-eight years a member. He died at Serampore, in Hindostan, June 9, 1834, in his seventy-third year. GEORGE FOX.