MARTIN LUTHER.

THIS eminent reformer and illustrious divine was born at Eisleben, in Saxony, in the year 1483. He studied at Erfurth, being designed for a civilian; but an awful catastrophe made such an impression on his mind, that he resolved to retire from the world. As he was walking in the fields with a fellow student, they were struck by lightning; Luther to the ground, and his companion dead by his side. He entered into the order of Augustin Monks, at Erfurth; and, from this place, removed to Wittemberg, being appointed by the Elector of Saxony professor of theology and philosophy, in the university just founded there by that prince.

In 1512 he was sent to Rome, to plead the cause of some convents of his order, who had quarrelled with their vicar-general. This gave him an opportunity of observing the intrigues of the pontifical court, and the debauched lives of the dignitaries of the church; and, probably, excited his disgust to the Romish ecclesiastical government. Upon his return to Wittemberg, it was remarked, that he grew unusually pensive, and more austere in his life and manners. He began to read and expound the sacred writings in lectures and sermons, and threw new lights on obscure passages. The minds of his auditors being thus prepared, a favourable opportunity soon offered for carrying into execution his grand plan of reformation. In 1517, Pope Leo X. published his indulgencies. Al- . bert, Archbishop of Mentz and Magdeburgh, was commissioner for Germany, and was to have half the sum raised in that country; Tecelius, a Dominican friar, was deputed to collect, with others of his order, for Saxony, and he carried his zeal so far as to declare his commission to be so extensive, that no crime could be too great to be pardoned, as, by virtue of these indulgencies, not only past but future crimes were to be absolved. Against these infamous proceedings Luther openly preached, with wonderful success; and, being commanded to appear before the Diet of Worms, he presented himself there, notwithstanding the very terrible and recent example of John Huss, and behaved with dignity, simplicity, and firmness. Far from setting Rome at open defiance, he wrote submissively to the Pope, and exhibited no other appearance of superiority but that of his immense knowledge, beyond that of Cajetan, and the other theologians deputed to convert him. Afterwards, harassed with insults and outrages, and excommunicated by the Pope, he publicly threw the bull of anathema into the fire. One of his principal objects was to overturn the scholastic divinity, by banishing Aristotle from the domains of theology, and by demonstrating how much the first had been misunderstood, and the latter corrupted. In every encounter, he overwhelmed his opponents with his arguments and his wit, and covered their science with confusion and ridicule. When provoked, he was irritable, and carried his resentment to an unwarrantable length, in several instances. He was certainly courageous and disinterested; and, though he might have obtained a rich share of the possessions of the clergy, he lived and died in a state bordering on poverty, and left to his wife and children only the esteem due to his name.

This great character expired in the year 1546, in the 63rd year of his age, and was buried, with much funeral pomp, at Wittemberg, on the Elbe, in Upper Saxony; and subscriptions were raised on the continent, a few years since, for erecting a splendid monument to his memory. Whilst Luther was engaged in his opposition to the Romish church, he asserted the right of private judgment in matters of faith; but, it must be acknowledged, that no sooner had he freed his followers from the chains of papal domination, than he forged others, in many respects, equally intolerable.

LORD LYTTLETON.

THE illustrious statesman, historian, and poet, the great and good George Lord Lyttleton, was born in the year 1709: he was the son of Sir Thomas Lyttleton, of Hagley, in Worcestershire, and was early an elegant writer both in prose and verse. He was initiated in classical learning in Eton school, where he attained to such eminence, that his exercises were recommended by the masters as models to the scholars in the same class. His "Soliloquy on a Beauty in the Country," and his verses on "Good Humour," were written at school. From Eton he went to Christ-church, Oxford, where he retained the reputation for superior talents he had acquired at Eton, and displayed his abilities to the public in a poem on Blenheim, written in 1727. He did not stay long at Oxford, for in 1728 he began his travels, and visited France and Italy, residing some time at Luneville, as appears by his letters to his father. At Paris, he employed much of his time in the cultivation of his poetical talents, and wrote a very manly and correct epistle to Dr. Ayscough, who had been his tutor at Oxford. During his absence he also wrote a poetical epistle to Pope from Rome; and, when he came back to England, in 1730, he addressed an epistle to Lord Hervey, from Hagley, in Worcestershire. Soon after his return he obtained a seat in parliament, and distinguished himself amongst the most strenuous opposers of Sir Robert Walpole, though his father enjoyed a lucrative employment under government. He opposed the standing army and the excise; he supported the motion for petitioning the King to remove Walpole, and was on all occasions an able coadjutor in every measure of opposition to Walpole's unpopular administration. In 1737, he published his "Persian Letters," in imitation of those of Montesquieu; and in the same year, when the Prince of Wales quitted St. James's, and kept a separate court, he became secretary to his royal highness, and had an augmentation to his salary of 240l. per annum.

Having the confidence of the prince, he advised him to patronize men of literature. Mallet was accordingly made under secretary with 2004., and Thompson had a pension of 100% a year. In 1741, he married Miss Lucy Fortesque, sister to Lord Fortesque of Devonshire; with this accomplished lady, by whom he had a son and two daughters, he lived in the greatest degree of connubial felicity; but, after about five years, she died in child-bed, and he perpetuated her memory, and solaced his own grief, by writing a Monody that will be read as long as conjugal affection and a taste for poetry exist in this country: she was buried at Over Arley, in Staffordshire; but a very elegant monument is erected to her memory in the chancel of the church at Hagley. He afterwards sought happiness in a second marriage with the daughter of Sir Robert Rich, but was not equally successful.

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In 1744, on the retreat of Sir Robert Walpole, he became one of the lords of the treasury, and was from that time engaged in supporting the ministry. In 1747, he published his celebrated Observations on the Conversion of St. Paul; "a treatise," says Dr. Johnson, "to which infidelity has never been able to fabricate a specious answer.' In 1751, his father died when he inherited a baronet's title, with a considerable estate, which, if he did not augment, he certainly improved by expensive buildings and rural decorations. In 1755, he became chancellor of the exchequer; in 1756, he published his celebrated Dialogues of the Dead; and in 1757, was created a peer. His last literary work was the famous history of Henry the Second, which had employed much of his time during a period of twenty years. He died at Hagley, where the following inscription is cut on the side of his lady's monument: "This unadorned stone was placed here by the particular desire and express directions of the right honourable George Lord Lyttleton; who died August 22, 1773, aged 64."