Steele, in N° 69, had given rise. The two former, which are signed Benjamin Beadlestaff, possess some humour; the latter is of no value.

24. JOHN HENLEY, notoriously known to common fame, under the appellation of Orator Henley, was the son of the Rev. Simon Henley, Vicar of Melton Mowbray, in Leicestershire, and was born in that parish on the 3d of August, 1692.

In the early part of his life he gave the promise of being an useful and ornamental member of society; he was diligent and successful in the acquisition of literature; and having attained more grammatical knowledge than is customary for a youth of seventeen, adding to the classical languages an acquaintance with Hebrew, he was removed to St. John's College, Cambridge. Here he prosecuted his studies with equal zeal and attachment; and having taken his degree of Batchelor of Arts, he was requested by the trustees of the school at Melton at first to assist in, and afterwards to assume the whole charge of that establishment. This he conducted with so much ability, as to raise it from a declining to a very flourishing state.

Shortly after his entrance upon the direction of this school, he was ordained a deacon by Dr. Wake, Bishop of Lincoln; he then took his de

gree of M. A. and in due time was admitted to priest's orders, and officiated as the curate of his native town. His life had hitherto been industrious and respectable; but he now, unhappily for himself, became inflamed with the ambition of figuring as a preacher in London. He procured many letters of recommendation; and succeeded so far as to gain the patronage of the Earl of Macclesfield, who presented him with a benefice in the country worth 807. per annum. Not chusing, however, to reside upon this preferment, he obtained a lectureship in the city, and acquired, and maintained for some time, great popularity as a preacher. He assisted Dr. Burscough, afterwards Bishop of Limerick, in the duties of the pulpit, and received a scarf from Lord Molesworth as his chaplain.

He now flattered himself with a permanent establishment in the metropolis, and used every effort to realize his wishes. He was disappoint ed, however, in all his expectations; and, determined not to revisit the country, he declared that he thought it "as lawful to take a licence from the King and Parliament at one place, as another; at Hicks's-Hall as at Doctor's Commons ;" he relinquished, therefore, his benefice and lectureship, and set up an oratory in Clare

market, Butcher-row. Here on Sundays he preached upon theological subjects; and on the Wednesdays, as he affirmed, upon all other sciences.

These discourses soon degenerated into ribaldry and abuse, and at length into downright blasphemy and buffoonery. His auditors paid a shilling each; and as they chiefly consisted of ignorant mechanics, and sometimes of the very refuse of society, he had occasionally recourse to expedients of a very singular cast in order to replenish his finances. He once, it is said, collected an amazing number of shoemakers, by promising to teach them the art of making a pair of excellent shoes in a few minutes; when behold! this wonderful abridgment of labour was effected by cutting off the tops of ready-made boots!

To this disgraceful mode of earning his bread, our orator added another, nearly as despicable; that of writing for any political party that was weak enough to employ him. In the pursuit of this traffic, he was the author of a periodical paper entitled the Hyp-Doctor; for which, though possessing not the smallest merit, he was paid 1007. per annum.

Having at length completely succeeded in ren

dering himself an object of contempt, this singular character paid the debt of nature on October the 14th, 1756.

The literary abilities of Henley, of which so much had been expected from the unwearied industry of his youth, proved of a very inferior order. On his first arrival in town, he had procured employment from the booksellers; he translated the Epistles of Pliny, several of the productions of the Abbe Vertot, and the Italian Travels of Montfaucon. At Melton, likewise, he had written a poem entitled Esther, and commenced a work which he termed Universal Grammar, of which it is related that he had finish. ed ten languages with prefatory dissertations. Whilst at St. John's College, Cambridge, he became a correspondent in the Spectator, and two letters are attributed to him, on good authority; one in N° 396, on Punning, signed Peter de Quir, and another in N° 518, on Physiognomy, signed Tom Tweer. They are neither of them such as merit much notice; the first indeed may be pronounced little short of nonsense, but the second is seasoned with a portion of wit and humour.

25. SHEPHEARD, MISS. This lady and the subject of the next article were collateral descen

dants of Sir Fleetwood Shepheard.* To Miss Shepheard we are indebted for two letters in the Spectator; the first, subscribed Parthenia, in N° 140, is written to request advice and direction on reading, and the choice of authors; and the second, with the signature of Leonora, in N° 163, relates a severe disappointment in love, which, there is reason to believe, really occurred to the amiable writer of this epistle. They both impart a very pleasing idea of her talents and character; and the latter has the additional merit of eliciting from Addison in the succeeding number, the pathetic narrative of Theodosius and Constantia, intended by its author as a consolatory lesson for his afflicted correspondent.

26. PERRY, MRS. the sister of Miss Shepheard, has contributed one short letter to the Spectator, in N°92, for the purpose of reminding Addison of a promise which he had made in N° 37, of recommending a select library for the improvement of the fair sex. The answer, to which this letter has given birth, occupying the remainder of N° 92, is full of that exquisite humour and pleasantry so remarkably the characteristic of the author of Cato.

* Spectator, vol. ii. p. 449-note.