Works. Atterbury's chief publications were: The Voice of the People no Voice of God; Rights, Powers, and Privileges of an English Convocation; Sermons, Discourses, and Correspondence. He translated Dryden's Absalom and Achitophel into Latin verse. His Sermons and his Letters give him his best claim to a place in literature. "His sermons, it must be confessed, are clear, forcible, and, though never sublime, occasionally eloquent and pathetic; and his letters, on which his fame as a writer must principally depend, are superior even to those of Pope."— Georgian Era.

Bishop Berkeley.

George Berkeley, D. D., 1684-1753, Bishop of Cloyne, was highly distinguished as a philanthropist and a philosophical writer.

Career. Berkeley was a native of Ireland and a graduate of Trinity College, Dublin; and the associate of Pope, Swift, Addison, Steele, Atterbury, and Arbuthnot. Among his philanthropic schemes was one for the conversion of the American savages, and as preparatory to this, the founding of a University in the Bermudas. He obtained a Parliamentary grant of £20,000 for this purpose, and several large private subscriptions. A charter was granted, providing for the appointment of a President and nine Fellows. The Queen offered Berkeley a Bishopric, if he would remain at home, but he preferred the headship of his new College, and sailed for America. He remained in Newport, R. I., for two years, waiting for the arrival of the money promised by the Government. Finding that it was not likely to come at all, he returned to England, leaving behind him in the new world pleasant memories of his sojourn. He preached much during his stay at Newport. To the libraries of Harvard and Yale he gave important donations of books; and to the former, for the establishment of scholarships in Latin and Greek, the farm of Whitehall which he had bought near Newport, and which has since become very valuable. The Berkleian scholars of Yale form a noble list of more than two hundred names, nearly one hundred of them ministers of the gospel, among them President Wheelock, the founder of Dartmouth.

Works. Berkeley's writings were numerous. The works of greatest note were those in which he published his leading philosophical idea, denying the existence of matter. This idea was first set forth in the New Theory of Vision, and then more fully in The Principles of Human Knowledge. Berkeley's theory was of course an easy subject for ridicule.

"When Bishop Berkeley said there was no matter,'

And proved it, 't was no matter what he said."- Byron.

An advocate of Berkeley's theory having been in conversation with Dr. Johnson,

and being about to take his leave, Johnson said, "Pray, sir, don't leave us: we may perhaps forget to think of you, and then you will cease to exist."

Notwithstanding these squibs, the Bishop's essays made a profound impression, and modified perceptibly the current of metaphysical opinion, though his views did not meet general acceptance.

Another work of his, The Minute Philosopher, written during his residence at Newport, is a defence of religion against the various forms of infidelity, and is highly spoken of. The Analyst also is a work of the same kind, but addressed particularly to mathematicians. The Bishop published also several essays on the use of Tar Water, and had a renowned controversy on the subject.

The Estimate of Him.- Berkeley is spoken of in terms of unwonted commendation, not only by the distinguished men of his own day, who seem to have been charmed by the benevolence and genial warmth of his private character, but by astute critics, such as Dugald Stewart and Sir James Mackintosh. "So much understanding, so much knowledge, so much innocence, and such humility, I did not think had been the portion of any but angels, till I saw this gentleman."-Atterbury. "Of the exquisite grace and beauty of his diction, no man accustomed to English composition can need be informed. His works are, beyond dispute, the finest models of philosophical style since Cicero."— Mackintosh.

No single writing of Berkeley's is so well known as the brief poem which he wrote under the enthusiasm excited by the prospect of his going to the new world to found his University. The last stanza seems to have been prophetic:

Westward the course of empire takes its way;

The four first acts already past,

A fifth shall close the drama with the day;
Time's noblest offspring is the last.

LORD JOHN SOMERS, 1650–1716, was a conspicuous lawyer and statesman of the age of the English Revolution.

Career.-Somers studied at Oxford, was admitted to the bar, and was one of the counsel for the famous seven bishops, in 1681. In 1692 he became Attorney-General, and in 1697 was made Lord Chancellor, and raised to the peerage. He was afterwards deprived of his Chancellorship and impeached, but was acquitted. Somers was chairman of the committee that drafted the celebrated Declaration of Right, in 1689.

Works.-The works that Somers has left are scarcely proportionate to his great fame as a jurist. His speeches were never preserved. The most important of his published works are A Brief History of the Succession of the Crown, and The Security of Englishmen's Lives, a treatise on grand juries. Besides his graver works, Somers is the author of the translation of Dido's Epistle to Æneas, and of Plutarch's Alcibiades, in Tonson's English versions of Ovid and Plutarch. The Declaration of Right is conjectured to have emanated wholly from him, and also King William's last Speech to Parliament.

WILLIAM PULTENEY, Earl of Bath, 1682-1764, was a statesman of considerable note in the time of Walpole and Bolingbroke.

Pulteney wrote a number of political pamphlets, partly on the National Debt and the Sinking Fund, and partly on the partisanships of the day. He was remarkable for his Parliamentary eloquence, and, like most English statesmen, prided himself on his knowledge of the classics.

"While Sir Robert Walpole was prime minister, a question arose one day in the House between him and Pulteney, Earl of Bath. It related to a passage in Horace, on which they wagered a guinea. The bet was won by Pulteney; and the identical guinea may still be seen in the British Museum, with the following note in the winner's own hand: This guinea I desire may be kept as an heirloom. It was won of Sir Robert Walpole, in the House of Commons, he asserting the verse in Horace to be " Nulli pallescere culpa," whereas I laid the wager of a guinea that it was " Nulla pallescere culpa." He sent for the book, and, being convinced that he had lost, gave me this guinea. I told him I could take the money without a blush on my side, but believed it was the only money he ever gave in the House where the giver and receiver ought not to blush. This guinea, I hope, will prove to my posterity the use of knowing Latin and encourage them in their learning.'"- Brougham.

Bentley.

Richard Bentley, D. D., 1661-1742, Master of Trinity College, and Regius Professor of Divinity, Cambridge, is probably the greatest classical critic that England has yet produced. He is often called The British Aristarchus.

Bentley's chief work was his Dissertation upon the Epistles of Phalaris, in which he undertook to prove that those and certain other oft quoted ancient documents were modern forgeries. The discussion excited a furious controversy, in which nearly all the great scholars and wits of the nation were enrolled against him,-Boyle, Atterbury, Conyers Middleton, Pope, Swift, and the whole posse of scholars hailing from Oxford, to which rival University Boyle, his nominal antagonist, belonged. Bentley held his ground single-handed against them all, and in the course of the argument displayed such amazing resources of learning, and such critical acumen, as raised him to the highest pinnacle of fame as a classical scholar and a critic.

Two other works of Bentley's which also gained him great applause, and for which his critical learning and abilities were well adapted, were his Editions of Horace and Terence. He began also a new critical edition of Homer, but did not live to complete it. His design was to restore to the text the old Greek Digamma, a letter which has been dropped in all modern editions of the poet.

Merits as a Critic. Bentley was the most skilful of all critics in the matter of conjectural emendation. He was bold even to audacity in this respect, and yet his most important emendations have stood the test of scrutiny, and have for the most part become a part of the received text of the authors so amended. He was not always so

fortunate, however. He attempted in this way the emendation of Paradise Lost, under the idea that those who transcribed the poem for the blind poet had mistaken his words. His attempt thus to improve the text of Milton was a signal and almost ridiculous failure.

Bentley published also numerous Sermons and some other works; but his Dissertations on the Epistles of Phalaris and his Editions of Horace and Terence form the enduring monument of his fame.

HON. CHARLES BOYLE, 1676-1731, Earl of Orrery, and nephew of the celebrated philosopher, Robert Boyle, was himself a man of distinguished abilities, and was held in high estimation by the dignitaries at Oxford, and by Swift, Atterbury, Pope, and others.

Boyle published an edition of the Epistles of Phalaris, and in an evil hour was tempted into a controversy with Bentley, in regard to their authenticity. Atterbury helped him in his defence, writing, it is supposed, the greater part of it, and all of that set joined in the hue and cry against the merciless critic. But jibes and sarcasms were no protection against the "swashing blows" delivered by Bentley. Besides his part in this celebrated controversy, Boyle wrote As you Find it, a Comedy; and some other pieces.

JOHN BOYLE, 1707-1762, Earl of Cork and Orrery, and son of Charles Boyle, like his father, and like most of that noble family for several generations, gained for himself a name in the republic of letters. His chief publications were Poems to the Memory of the Duke of Buckingham; Imitations of the Odes of Horace; Translations of Pliny's Letters; Memoirs of Robert Cary, Earl of Monmouth; Letters from Italy; Remarks on the Life and Writings of Dr. Jonathan Swift. The publication last named led to some controversy. The Earl had been very intimate with Swift, and in this work, written after Swift's death, made some revelations in regard to Swift which were censured as dishonorable and as a breach of confidence. Dr. Johnson, however, defends the Earl, and contends that the publication was due to the truth of history.

Conyers Middleton, 1683-1750, was a voluminous writer, belonging to what may be called the quarrelsome class.

Middleton studied at Cambridge, and took orders in the Church of England. In calling him quarrelsome, it is not meant to affirm that there was anything malicious in his disposition, but the fact was, he never seemed so well suited as when he had put forward in a dogmatic and irritating manner some disputed point and thereby provoked violent contradiction.

Literary Quarrels.—Early in life Middleton had a quarrel, ending in a lawsuit, with the renowned Bentley, concerning excessive fees demanded by the latter. Middleton became involved in a controversy with Bishop Pearce over some remarks of Middleton's upon Waterland's Vindication of Scripture, which controversy nearly cost him his place as Librarian at Cambridge, on the ground of his unorthodox opinions. His celebrated treatise, Free Inquiry into the Miraculous Powers of the Christian Church, was the cause of an angry dispute, and no sooner had this in a manner subsided than Middleton started a fresh commotion by his attack upon Bishop Sherlock's theory of the chain of prophecy running through the Old Testament. Of Mid

dleton's controversial writings as a whole, it may be said that they probably had no definite aim, as they certainly have not had any definite result.

His Life of Cicero.-The author's fame rests chiefly upon his Life of Cicero, which was, until the appearance of Forsyth's Cicero, the standard work upon the subject. Middleton's Cicero is an able and well-written biography, although open to criticism. The style is easy and vigorous, but disfigured here and there by the use of slang phrases. The chief objection to the conception of the work is that it extols Cicero unduly.

De Foe.

Daniel De Foe, 1661-1731, was the author of the worldrenowned Robinson Crusoe.

Career. De Foe was the son of a butcher, James Foe, the prefix being assumed by Daniel. He was educated among the dissenters, and was expected to become a minister, but he did not carry out the plans of his friends. He was for a time a soldier; he was a political negotiator; he engaged in several kinds of trade. But his chief occupation was that of authorship.

The complete edition of

The amount that he wrote was enormous. his works, by Walter Scott, was in 20 vols., 12mo. A large part of his writings was on political subjects. He entered freely into the discussion of public affairs, and not always on the winning side. The ups and downs of his own life were numerous and great:

"No man hath tasted differing fortunes more;

And thirteen times I have been rich and poor.

I have seen the rough side of life, as well as the smooth; and have, in less than half a year, tasted the difference between the closet of a King and the dungeon at Newgate."

A Piece of Irony. - One of De Foe's publications was the Shortest Way with the Dissenters. "In this playful piece of irony, the author gravely proposed, as the easiest and speediest way of ridding the land of Dissenters, to hang their ministers and banish the people. Both Churchmen and Dissenters viewed the whole matter in a serious light; and while many of the former applauded the author as a staunch and worthy Churchman, as many of the latter, filled with apprehensions dire, began to prepare for Tyburn and Smithfield." The House of Commons declared the book a libel, and ordered it to be burnt by the hangman, and the author to stand in the pillory. To this Pope refers:

"Earless on high stood unabashed De Foe." - -The Dunciad. De Foe took the matter very coolly, and wrote an ode to the Pillory,

"A hieroglyphic state-machine
Condemned to punish fancy in."

Works.-De Foe's works number more than two hundred; all of them were on subjects of popular interest, and were at the time much read. He is now known, however, almost exclusively as a novelist, and most of all by his one novel, The Adven