Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 04.djvu/152

 Belfrage English. He entered the Theological Hall of his church at Selkirk (under George Lawson) in the autumn of 1789, i.e. in his fifteenth year. His attendance was only required there for about eight weeks in the summer, and Belfrage managed, therefore, to carry on his studies in the winter at the university till his nineteenth year. On 16 May 1793 he appeared for examination before his presbytery, and received license on 1 July. His father's congregation at once invited him to be colleague with his father on 31 Aug. 1793. He was also invited to congregations in Saltcoats and Lochwinnoch. The synod, or supreme ecclesiastical court, assigned him to Falkirk, in accordance with his own wish. He was ordained on 18 June 1794. The congregation was a large and influential one, its first minister having been Henry, son of Ralph Erskine, one of the fathers of the Secession. He devoted himself energetically to his pulpit and pastoral work; he was the main founder in 1812 of a charity school or ragged school which still exists, and of a Sunday school.

Belfrage began in 1814 a series of religious publications. A first series of 'Sacramental Addresses' appeared in 1812, and a second in 1821; and 'Practical Discourses intended to promote the Happiness and Improvement of the Young' in 1817 (2nd ed. 1827). Other of Belfrage's works were: 'Sketches of Life and Character from Scripture and from Observation' (1822); 'Monitor to Families, or Discourses on some of the Duties and Scenes of Domestic Life' (1823); 'A Guide to the Lord's Table' (1823); 'Discourses to the Aged' (1826); 'Counsels for the Sanctuary and for Civil Life' (1829); 'Memoirs of Dr. Waugh,' with Dr. Hay (1830); 'A Portrait of John the Baptist' (1830); 'Practical Exposition of the Assembly's Shorter Catechism' (1822, and 2 vols. 1834); 'Select Essays' (1833). He left behind him various manuscripts ready for the press. His 'Exposition of the Assembly's Shorter Catechism' is still in use in Scotland and our colonies and in the United States.

Belfrage married, in September 1828, Margaret Gardiner, youngest daughter of Richard Gardiner, comptroller of the Customs, Edinburgh. In 1824 the university of St. Andrews conferred upon him the honorary degree of D.D., the more exceptional at that time, as it was obtained through a clergyman of the Established Church (Sir Henry Moncrieff-Wellwood, Bart.). He died 16 Sept. 1835. In 1837 was published 'Life and Correspondence of the Rev. Henry Belfrage, D.D., by the Rev. John McKerrow and Rev. John Macfarlane, with an Appendix on his Works' (8vo)—an authority on Scottish ecclesiastical history and our main source for this notice.

[McKerrow and Macfarlane's Life of Belfrage; McKerrow's History of Secession Church; Lives of the Erskines, George Lawson, and other Secession divines; local inquiries.]

 BELHAVEN,. [See .]

 BELKNAP. [See .]

 BELL, ALEXANDER MONTGOMERIE (1808–1866), writer on law, was the son of John Bell, a manufacturer of Paisley, and was born there 4 Dec. 1809. He studied at Paisley grammar school and at the university of Glasgow. In 1835 he was admitted a member of the Society of Writers to the Signet, and in 1856 was appointed professor of conveyancing in the university of Edinburgh. In this chair he distinguished himself by the thoroughness and clearness of his expositions of the law of conveyancing, and by the mastery which he showed over some of the more difficult departments, ignorance of which had been a fruitful source of litigation. Bell died 19 Jan. 1806, and at his own suggestion his lectures were afterwards published. They still form the standard treatise on the subject, a third edition having been issued. According to the 'Journal of Jurisprudence' (August 1867), the book 'is by far the most trustworthy and useful guide in the ordinary business of the lawyer's office which has yet been produced.' 'In these volumes,' said the 'Glasgow Herald' (4 May 1867), 'the student will find Scottish conveyancing treated with singular clearness and fulness, or rather exhaustiveness, and those in practice will find information sufficient to guide them, and to guide them in safety, along the thorniest and most perplexing paths of every department of the art.'

During the greater part of his professional life Bell was a partner in the firm of Dundas & Wilson, C.S., and was engaged mostly in dealing with matters of conveyancing, for which the large business of that firm furnished unequalled opportunities. Combining much research and thoughtful study with the practical administration of conveyancing, he came to be regarded as facile princeps in the department. Personally, he was of quiet retiring habits and sincerely religious temperament. In a minute entered on his death in the records of the Society of Writers to the Signet, he was spoken of as one 'who by his talents, assiduity, and great practical knowledge was well qualified to discharge the important duties devolved upon him [as