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L I u i v A i . i
-i 742552 V;
''ERJITY OF TORONTO
A NEW AND GENERAL
BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY.
JLrfANGUET (HUBERT), a native of France, and minister
of state to Augustus elector of Saxony, was born at Vi-
teaux in 1518; and, having passed through his studies at
home, went to Italy in 1547, to complete his knowledge
in the civil law, of which he commenced doctor at Padua.
Thence going to Bologna, he met with one of Melancthon's
works, which raised in him a desire to be acquainted with
that eminent reformer; accordingly he made a tour into
Germany, on purpose to visit him at Wittenberg in Saxony,
. where he arrived in 1549, and shortly after embraced the
protestant religion. From this time there commenced a
strict friendship between him and Melancthon, so that
they became inseparable companions; and Melancthon,
finding Languet well acquainted with the political interest
of princes, and with the history of illustrious men, was
wonderfully delighted with his conversation, and his ex-
tensive fund of information, in all which he was not only
minutely correct as to facts, but intelligent and judicious
in his remarks and conjectures.
This connexion with Melancthon did not, however, ex-
tinguish the inclination which Languet had to travel. In
1551, he took up a resolution to visit some part of Europe
every year, for which he set apart the autumn season, re-
turning to pass the winter at Wittenberg. In the course
of these travels, he made the tour of Rome in 1555, and
that of Livonia and Laponia in 1558. During this last tour,
he became known to Gustavus king of Sweden, who con-
ceived a great affection for him, and engaged him to go
into France, in order to bring him thence some of the best
scholars and artists : for which purpose his majesty gave
VOL. XX. B
2 LANGUET.
him a letter of credit, dated Sept. 1, 1557. Two years
after, Languet attended Adolphus count of Nassau and
prince of Orange, into Italy ; and at his return passed
through Paris, to visit the celebrated Turnebus ; but it was
a great deduction from the pleasure of this interview, that
he heard at this time of the death of his friend Melancthon.
In 1565, Augustus elector of Saxony invited him to his
court, and appointed him envoy to that of France the same
year, after which he sent him as his deputy to the diet of
the empire, which was called by the emperor Maximilian
in 1568, at Augsburg. Thence the same master dispatched
him to Heidelberg, to negotiate some business with the
elector palatine ; and from Heidelberg he went to Cologne,
where he acquired the esteem and confidence of Charlotte
de Bourbon, princess of Orange. The elector of Saxony
sent him also to the diet of Spires; and in 1570 to Stetin,
in quality of plenipotentiary, for mediating a peace be-
tween the Swedes and the Muscovites, who had chosen
this elector for their mediator. This prince the same year
sent Languet a second time into France, to Charles IX.
and the queen-mother Catharine of Medicis, in the exe-
cution of which commission he made a remarkably bold
speech to the French monarch, in the name of the pro-
testant princes in Germany. He was at Paris upon the
memorable bloody feast of St. Bartholomew, in 1572, when
he saved the life of Andrew Wechelius, the famous printer,
in whose house he lodged ; and he was also very instru-
mental in procuring the escape of Philip de Mornay count
de Plessis ; but, trusting too much to the respect due to
his character of envoy, was obliged for his own safety to
the good offices of John de Morvillier, who had been
keeper of the seals. Upon his recal from Paris, he re-
ceived orders to go to Vienna, where he was in 1574 ; and
in 1575 he was appointed one the principal arbitrators
for determining of the disputes, which had lasted for thirty
years, between the houses of Longueville and Baden, con-
cerning the succession of Rothelin.
At length, in the controversy which arose in Saxony
between the Lutherans and Zuinglians, respecting the
eucharist, Languet was suspected to favour the latter, and
in consequence was obliged to beg leave of the elector,
being then one of his chief ministers, to retire ; which was
granted, with a liberty to go where he pleased. He chose
Prague for the place of his residence,, where he was in
LANGUET. 3
1577; and in, this situation applied himself to John Casi-
mir, count Palatine, and attended him to Ghent, in Flan-
ders, the inhabitants of which city had chosen the count
for their governor. On his quitting the government, Lan-
guet accepted an invitation from William prince of Orange,
and remained with him until the bad state of his health
obliged him to go in 1579 to the wells of Baden ; and there
he became acquainted with Thuanus, who was much struck
with his conversation, probity, and judgment, not only in
the sciences, but in public affairs. Thuanus tells us that
Languet was so well acquainted with the affairs of Ger-
many, that he could instruct the Germans themselves in
the affairs of their own country. After Thuanus had left
that place, they appear to have corresponded, and Thuanus
speaks of some memoirs then in his possession, which Lan-
guet sent to him, containing an account of the present
state of Germany, of the right of the diets, of the number
of the circles, andi-of the order or rank of the different
councils of that country.
Languet returned to Antwerp in 1580 ; and in 1581 the
prince of Orange sent him to France to negociate a recon-
ciliation between Charlotte of Bourbon, his consort, and
her brother Louis, duke of Montpensier ; which he ef-
fected. He died at Antwerp, Sept. 20, 1581, and was
interred with great funeral solemnity, the prince of Orange
going at the head of the train. During his illness he was
visited by madam Du Plessis, who, though sick herself,
attended him to his last moment. His dying words were,
that " the only thing which grieved him was, that he had
not been able to see mons. Du Plessis again before he
died, to whom he would have left his very heart, had it
been in his power : that he had wished to live to see the
world reformed ; but, since it became daily worse, he had no
longer any business in it : that the princes of these times were
strange men : that virtue had much to suffer, and little to
get : that he pitied mons. Du Plessis very much, to whose
share a great part of the misfortunes of the time would fall,
and who would see many unhappy days ; but that he must
take courage, for God would assist him. For the rest, he
begged one thing of him in his last farewell, namely, that
he would mention something of their friendship in the first
book he should publish." This request was performed by
Du Plessis, soon after, in a short preface to his treatise
•' Of the Truth of the Christian religion j1' where he makes
B 2
4 LANGUET.
' % %
v
the following eloge of this friend in a few comprehensive
words : " Is fuit qualis multi videri volunt : is vixit qualiter
optimi raori cupiunt."
Of this eminent statesman we have some works not
wholly unknown in this country. The first mentioned is a
history in Latin of the siege of Gotha, which Schardius
has inserted in his History of Germany during the reign of
Ferdinand I. but without mentioning Languet's name. 2.
" Epistolae ad principem suum Auguscum Saxonise dueem,"
Halle, 1 6D9, 4to. 3. " Epistolu; Political et historical ad Phi-
lippum Sydnaeum," 12mo. Of this collection of letters to
our sir Philip Sydney, the late lord Hailes published a correct
edition in 1775, 8vo. They are 91 in number, dated from
1573 to 1580, and are remarkable for purity of language
and excellence of sentiment. 4. " Kpistolae ad Joachim
Camerarium, &c." and other learned men, 12 mo. Carp-
zovius published a new edition of these at Leipsic, with
additions. 5. " Hist, descriptio snscejHflR a Caesarea ma-
jestate executionU Augusto Saxoniae-iduce contra S. Ro-
mani imperil rebelles," &0. 1568, 4to. 6. " Vindiciae contra
Tyrannos, sive de principis in populum, populique in prin-
cipem legitima potestate," 1579, I2mo. This bears the
name of Stephanus Junius Brutus, and the place Edin-
burgh, but the place was Basil, and it never was doubted
that Languet was the author of this spirited attack on ty-
ranny. It was often reprinted and translated into French.
There are are a few other tracts attributed to Languet,
but upon more questionable authority.1
LANGUET (JOHN BAPTIST JOSEPH), great grand ne-
phew of the preceding, doctor of the Sorboime, the ce-
lebrated vicar of St. Sulpice, at .Paris, and a man of
extraordinary benevolence, was born at Dijon, June C,
1675. His father was Denis Languet, procurator-general
of that city. After having made some progress in his
studies at Dijon, he continued them at Paris, and resided
in the seminary of St. Sulpice. He was received in the
Sorbonne, Dec. 31, 1698, and took his degree with ap-
plause. He was ordained priest at Vienne, in Dauphiny ;
after which he returned to Paris, and took the degree of
doctor Jan. 15, 1703. He attached himself from that
time to the community of St. Sulpice; and la Chetardie,
who was vicar there, chose him for bis curate. Languet
1 GCD. Diet— Nicerbn, vol. J1L— Moreri.— -Saxii Onomtft.
LANGUET. 5
continued in that office near ten years, and sold his patri-
mony to relieve the poor. During this period, St. Valier,
bishop of Quebec, being prisoner in England, requested
of the king, that Languet might be bis assistant in North
America. Languet was about to accept of the place,
prompted to it by his zeal for the conversion of infidels ;
but his patrons and friends advised him to decline the
voyage, as his constitution was by no means strong. He
succeeded la Chetardie, as vicar of St. Sulpice, in June
1714.
His parish-church being out of repair, and scarce fit to
hold 1200 or 1500 persons out of a parish which contained
125,000 inhabitants, he conceived a design to build a
church in some degree proportionable to them ; and un-
dertook this great work without any greater fund to begin
with than the sum of one hundred crowns, which had been,
left him for this design by a pious and benevolent lad'T,
He laid out this money in stones, which he caused to be
carried through all the streets, to shew his design to the
public. He soon obtained considerable donations from all
parts ; and the duke of Orleans, regent of the kingdom,
granted him a lottery. That prince likewise laid the first
stone of the porch in 1718; and Languet spared neither
labour nor expence during his life, to make the church
one of the finest in the kingdom, both for architecture and
ornaments. It was consecrated in 1745, with so much
splendour, that Frederic II. of Prussia \vrote the vicar a
congratulatory letter, in which he not only praises the
building, but even the piety of the founder, a quality
which Frederic knew how to notice when it served to
point a compliment.
Another work, which does no less honour to Languet,
is the house de Venfans Jtsus. The nature of this estab-
lishment, as originally constituted, will best evince his
piety and talents. It consisted of two parts; the first com-
posed of thirty-five poor ladies, descended from families
illustrious from 1535 to the present time; the second, of
more than four hundred poor women and children of town
and country. Those young ladies whose ancestors had
been in the king's service, were preferred to all others,
and an education given them suited to the dignity of their
birth. They were employed, by turns, in inspecting the
bake-house, the poultry-yard, the dairies, the laundries,
the gardens, the laboratory, the linen- warehouses, the
6 LANGUET.
spinning-rooms, and other places belonging to the house.
By these means they became good housewives, and able
to relieve their poor relations in the country ; and it was
also part of the duty to succour by a thousand little kind
offices, the poor women and girls who worked there, and
to acquire those habits of condescension and benevolence
which are of great service to society.
Languet used besides to grant great sums of money to
such ladies as were examples of ceconomy, virtue, and
piety, in those religious houses which he superintended.
The poor women and children who formed the second part,
were provided with food every day, and work at the spin-
ning-wheel. They made a great quantity of linen and
cotton. Different rooms were assigned to them, and they
were arranged under different classes. In each room were
two ladies of the society of St. Thomas, of Ville N'euve,
q£ which Languet was superior-general. These ladies
were placed there to oversee the work, and to give such
instructions as they thought proper. The women and the
girls who found employment in this house, had in a former
period of their lives been licentious and dissolute, but
were generally reformed by the example of virtue before
their eyes, and by the salutary advice given to them, and
had the amount of their work paid them in money when
they left the house. By these means they became indus-
trious and exemplary, and were restored to the community.
There were in the house de retifans Jesus, in 1741, more
than 14-00 women, and girls of this sort ; and the vicar of
St. Sulpice employed all the means in his power to make
their situation agreeable. Although the 'land to the house
measured only 17 arpens (about 100 perches square, each
perch 18 feet), it had a large dairy, which gave milk to
2000 children belonging to the parish, a menagery, poultry
of all sorts, a bake-house, spinning-rooms, a very neat
and well cultivated garden, and a magnificent laboratory,
where all sorts of medicines were made. The order and
ceconomy observed in this house in the education, instruc-
tion, and employment of so many people, were so admi-
rable, and gave so great an idea of the vicar of St. Sul-
pice, that cardinal Fleury proposed to make him superin-
tenilant- general of all the hospitals in the kingdom ; but
Langut-t used to answer him with a smile, " I have always
said, ui) lord, that it was the bounty of your highness led
me to the hospital." The expence of this establishment
LANGUET. 7
was immense. He spent his revenue on it; an inheritance
which came to him by the death of the baron of Montigni,
his brother, and the estate of the abbe de Barnay, granted
him by the king.
Languet was not less to be esteemed for his beneficence
and his zeal in aiding the poor of every sort. Never man
took more pains than he did in procuring donations and
legacies, which he distributed with admirable prudence
and discretion. He inquired with care if the legacies which
were left him were to the disadvantage of the poor rela-
tions of the testator ; if he found that to be the case, he
restored to them not only the legacy, but gave them, when
wanting, a large sum of his own. Madame de Camois, as
illustrious for the benevolence of her disposition as for her
rank in life, having left him by her last will a legacy of
more than 600,000 livres, he only took 30,000 livres for
the poor, and returned the remaining sum to her relations.
It is said from good authority, that he disbursed near a
million of livres in charities every year. He always chose
noble families reduced to poverty, before all others ; and
there were some families of distinction in his parish, to
each of whom he distributed 30,000 livres per annum.
Always willing to serve mankind, he gave liberally, and
often before any application was made to him. When
there was a general dearth in 1725, he sold, in order to
relieve the poor, his household goods, his pictures, and
some scarce and curious pieces of furniture, which he had
procured with difficulty. From that time he had only
three pieces of plate, no tapestry, and but a mean serge
bed, which madam e de Camois had lent him, having be-
fore sold all the presents she had made him at different
periods. His charity was not confined to his own parish.
At the time that the plague raged at Marseilles, he sent
large sums into Provence to assist the distressed. He in-
terested himself with great zeal in the promotion of arts
and commerce, and in whatever concerned the glory of
the nation. In times of public calamity, as conflagrations,
&c. his prudence and assiduity have been much admired.
He understood well the different dispositions of men. He
knew how to employ every one according to his talent or
capacity. In the most intricate and perplexed affairs he
decided with a sagacity and judgment that surprized every
one. Languet refused the bishopric of Couserans anid
that of Poictiers, and aeveral others which were offered
8 LANpUET.
him by Louis XTV. and Louis XV. under the ministry of
the duke of Orleans and cardinal Fleury. He resigned hia
vicarage to Mons. 1'Abbe* du Lau, in 1748, but continued
to preach every Sunday, according to his custom, in his
own parish church ; and continued also to support the house
de rev fans Jesus till his death, which happened Oct. 11,
1750, in his seventy-fifth year,- at the abbey de Bernay,
to which place he went to make some charitable establish-
ments. His piety and continued application to works of
beneficence did not hinder him from being lively and
chearful ; and he delighted his friends by the agreeable
repartees and sensible remarks he made in conversation.1
LANGUET (JOHN JOSEPH), brother of the preceding,
a doctor of the Sorbonne, and bishop of Soisson, to which
see he was promoted in 1715, and afterwards archbishop
of>>ens, was distinguished for his polemical writings, and
published numerous pieces in defence of the bull Unige-
nitus, in which he was much assisted by M. Tournely,
professor at the Sorbonne ; and this celebrated doctor
dying 1729, the appellants then said that Pere de Tour-
nemine directed his pen. M. Languet was appointed
archbishop of Sens, 1731. He was very zealous against
the miracles attributed by the appellants to M. Paris,
and against the famous convulsions. He died May 3,
1753, at Sens, in the midst of his curates, whom he then
kept in retirement. M. Languet was a member of the
French academy, superior of the royal society of Navarre,
and counsellor of state. His works are, three " Adver-
tisements" to the appellants ; several " Pastoral Letters,
Instructions, Mandates, Letters," to different persons, and
other writings in favour of the bull Unigenitus, and against
the Anti-Constitutionarians, the miracles ascribed to M.
Paris, and the convulsions, which were impostures then
obtruded on the credulity of the French, but which he
proved to have neither certainty nor evidence. All the
above have been translated into Latin, and printed at Sens,
1753, 2 vols. fol. ; but this edition of M. Lang.uet's " Po-
lemical Works," was suppressed by a decree of council.
He published also a translation of the Psalms, 12mo; a
refutation of Dom. Claudius de Vert's treatise " On the
Church Ceremonies," 12mo. Several books of devotion ;
and " The Life of Mary Alacoque," which made much
» Mortri.— Dirt. H*U— Dodsley's Annual Register for 1763.
LANGUET. 9
»
noise, and is by no means worthy of this celebrated arch-
bishop, on account of its romantic and fabulous style, the
inaccurate expressions, indecencies, dangerous principles,
and scandalous maxims which it contains. Languet is es-
teemed by the catholics as among the divines who wrote
best against the Anti-constitutionarians, and is only charge-
able with not having always distinguished between dogmas
and opinions, and with not unfrequently advancing as ar-
ticles of faith, sentiments which are opposed by orthodox
and very learned divines.1
LANIERE (NICHOLAS), an artist of various talents in
the seventeenth century, was born in Italy, and appears
to have come over to England in the time of James I. He
had a great share in the purchases of pictures made for
the royal collection. He drew for Charles I. a picture of
Mary, Christ, and Joseph ; his own portrait done by him-
self with a pallet and pencils in his hand, and musical
notes on a scrip of paper, is in the music-school at Oxford.
He also employed himself in etching, but his fame was
most considerable as a musician. It is mentioned in the
folio edition of Ben Jonson's works, printed 1640, that in
1617, his whole masque, which was performed at the
house of lord Hay, for the entertainment of the French
ambassador, was set to music after the Italian manner,
stilo recitativo, by Nic. Laniere, who was not only ordered
to set the music, but to paint the scenes. This short
piece being wholly in rhyme, though without variation in
the measure, to distinguish airs from recitation, as it was
all in musical declamation, may be safely pronounced the
first attempt at an opera in the Italian manner, after the
invention of recitative. In the same year, the masque
called " The Vision of Delight," was presented' at court
during Christmas by the same author; and in it, says Dr.
Burney, we have all the characteristics of a genuine opera,
or musical drama of modern times complete : splendid
scenes and machinery ; poetry ; musical recitation ; air ;
chorus ; and dancing. Though the music of this masque
is not to be found, yet of Laniere's " Musica narrativa'*
we have several examples, printed by Playford in the col-
lections of the time ; particularly the " Ayres and Dia-
logues," 1653, and the second part of the " Musical
Companion," which appeared in 1667; and in which his
* .
» Diet, Hist.
10 L A N I E R E.
music to the dialogues is infinitely superior to the rest j
there is melody, measure, and meaning in it. His reci-
tative is more like that of his countrymen at present, than
any contemporary Englishman's. However, these dia-
logues were composed before the laws and phraseology of-
recitative were settled, even in Italy. His cantata of
" Hero and Leander" was much celebrated during these
times, and the recitative regarded as a model of true Italian
musical declamation. Laniere died at the age of seventy-
eight, and was buried in St. Martin's in the Fields, Nov.
4, 1646.1
JLANINI (BERNARDINO), an historical painter, was a
native of Vercelli) a pupil of Gaudenzio Ferrari, and imi-
tated the style of that master in his first works to a degree
of illusion. As he advanced in practice he cast a bolder
eye on nature, and by equal vigour of conception and
execution, proved to the first artists of Milan, that, like
Ferrari, he was born for grand subjects ; such is that of
5. Catarina, near S. Celso : the face and attitude of the
heroine anticipate the graces of Guido ; the colour of the
whole approaches the tones of Titian, the glory of the
angels rivals Gaudenzio; a less neglected style of drapery
would have left little to wish for. Among his copious
works at Milan, and in its districts, the dome of Novara
claims distinguished notice. There he painted those
Sybils, and that semblance of nn Eternal Father, so much
admired/ by Lomazzo ; and near them certain subjects
from the life of Mary, which even now, in a ruined state
of colour, enchant by spirit and evidence of design. His
versatile talent indulged sometimes in imitations of Lio-
uardo da Vinci; and at the Basilica of St. Ambrogio, the
figure of Christ between two Angels, in form, expression,
and effect, fully proves with what felicity he penetrated
the principles of that genius.
He had two brothers unknown beyond Vercelli ; GAU-
DENZIO, of whom some sainted subject is said to exist in
the sacristy of the Barnabites ; and GIROLAMO LAMM, of
whom Lanzi mentions a Christ taken from the Cross, in
some private collection. They approach Bernardino in
their style of faces, and the former even in strength of co-
lour ; but they remain far behind him in design. This
artist died about 1578.8
i Walpole's Anecdotes.-Dr. Burney in Rces's Cyclopedia.
- PilkiDgton, last edit, by Fusdi.
LANSBERG. 11
LANSBERG (PHILIP), a mathematician, was born in
Zealand, in 1561, and was a preacher at Antwerp, in
1586, and afterwards for several years; Vossius mentions
that he was minister at Goese in Zealand, twenty-nine
years ; and being then discharged of his functions, on ac-
count of his old age, he retired to Middleburgh, where
he died in 1632. His works were principally the following:
1. " Six Books of sacred Chronology," printed in 1626.
2. " Essays on the Restitution of Astronomy," printed at
Middleburgh, 1629. 3. " Four Books of Geometrical
Triangles," printed in 1631. 4. " Of Measuring the
Heavens," in three books, in the same year. 5. " An
Account of the diurnal and annual Motion of the Earth
and of the true Situation of the visible celestial Bodies.'*
In this work he declares himself openly for Copernicus's
System, and even pretends to improve it. He composed
this work in Dutch, and it was translated into Latin by
M .-minus Hortensius, and printed at Middleburgh, 1630.
Fromond, a doctor of Louvain, wrote an answer to it, and
endeavoured to prove the earth stood still ; and his son
published an answer not only to Fromond, but to Morin,
regius professor at Paris, and to Peter Bartholinus, which
is entitled " A Defence of the Account," &c. This occa-
sioned a controversy, but of no long duration.1
LANZI (LEWIS), an able Italian antiquary, was born
June 13, 1732, at Monte-del-Ceirao, near Macerata, and
was educated in the schools of the Jesuits, where he was
distinguished for the rapid progress he made in theology,
philosophy, rhetoric, and poetry. After being admitted
into the order of the Jesuits, he taught rhetoric in various
academies in Italy with great success. When the order of
the Jesuits was suppressed, he was appointed sub-director
of the gallery of Florence, by Peter Leopold, grand duke
of Tuscany; and that noble collection was considerably
improved and enriched by his care. His first work was a
" Guide" to this gallery, which he printed in 1782, and
which both in matter and style is far superior to perform-
ances of that kind. In 1789 he published his " Essay on
the Tuscan Language," 3 vols. 8vo, which gave him a re-
putation over all Europe, and was followed by his elabo-
rate " History of Painting m Italy," the best edition of
which is that printed at Bassano, in 1809, 6 vols. 8vo.
» Gen, Diet,— Moreri.— Martin's liiog. Philosophica.
12 L A N Z I.
*Iis next publication, much admired by foreign antiquaries,
was his " Dissertations on the Vases commonly called
Etruscan." In 1 808 appeared his translation of «' Hesiod,'*
4to, of which a very high character has been given. He
died March 31, 1810, at Florence, a period so recent as
to prevent our discovering any more particular memoirs of
him than the above.1
LANZONI»(JosEPH), a physician, was born at Ferrara,
October 26th, 1663, and after a careful education under the
bestmasters, distinguished himself particularly in the schools
of philosophy and of medicine, and graduated in both these
sciences in 1683. In the following year he was appointed
ordinary professor, and displayed talents which <J'd honour
to the university of Ferrara, during the long period in
which he filled that office. He died in February, 1730.
Lanzoni acquired a high reputation by the success of
his practice, and obtained the confidence and esteem of
many illustrious personages. His attachment to study in-
creased with his years ; and every moment in which he was
not employed in the duties of his profession, was devoted
to literature, philosophy, or antiquarian research. His
character as a physician and philosopher, indeed, ranked
so high, that if any question upon these subjects was agi-
tated in Italy, the decision was commonly referred to him.
He was distinguished likewise by his genius in Latin and
Italian poetry ; and he was the restorer and secretary of
the academy of Ferrara, and a member of many of the
learned societies of his time. He left a considerable
number of works, a collection of which was printed at
Lausanne, in 1738, in 3 vols. 4to, with an account of
his life, under the title of " Josephi Lanzoni, Philo-
sophise et Medicinae Doctoris, in Patria Universitate Lec-
toris primarii, &c. Opera omnia Medico-physica et PhU
lologica."9
LAPIDE, (CORNELIUS A). See PIERRE.
LARCHER (PETER HENRY), an eminent French scholar
and translator, was born at Dijon, Oct. 12, 1726, of an-
cestors who were mostly lawyers, connected with some of
the first names in, the parliament of Burgundy, and related
to the family of^ossuet. His father was a counsellor in
the office of finance, who- died while his son was an infant,
leaving him to the care of his mother. It was her inteution
> Diet. Hi,t. Supplement. * Moreri.-Rm', Cyclop., from Eloy.
LARCHER. 13
to bring him up with a view to the magistracy, but youn<^
Larcher was too much enamoured of polite literature to
accede to this plan. Having therefore finished his studies
among the Jesuits at Pont-a-Mousson, he went to Paris
and entered himself of the college of Laon, where he knew
V~y O .
he should be at liberty to pursue his own method of study.
He was then about eighteen years of age. His mother allowed
him only 500 livres a year, yet with that scanty allowance
he contrived to buy books, and when it was increased to
700, he fancied himself independent. He gave an early
proof of his love and care for valuable books, when at the
royal college. While studying Greek under John Cap-
peronnier, he became quite indignant at having every day
placed in his hands, at the risk of spoiling it, a fine copy
of Duker's Thucydides, on large paper. He had, indeed,
from his infancy, the genuine spirit of a collector, which
became an unconquerable passion in his more mature years.
A few months before his death he refused to purchase the
new editions of Photius and Zonaras, because he was too
old, as he said, to make use of them, but at the same time
he could not resist giving an enormous price for what
seemed of less utility, the princeps editio of Pliny the na-
turalist. It is probable tkat during his first years at Paris,
he had made a considerable collection of books, for, when
at that time he intended, unknown to his family, to visit
England for the purpose of forming an acquaintance with
the literati there, and of learning English, to which he was
remarkably partial, he sold his books to defray theexpence
of his journey. In this elopement, for such it was, he was
assisted by father Patouillet, who undertook to receive and
forward his letters to his mother, which he was to date from
Paris, and make her and his friends believe that he was
still at the college of Laon.
It does not appear that Larcher published any thing be-
fore his translation of the " Electra" of Euripides, which
appeared in 1750; for the " Calendrier perpetuel" of 1747,
although attributed to him, was certainly not his. The
" Electra," as well as many other of his publications, ap-
peared without his name, which, indeed, he appended
onJy to his " Memoire sur Venus," his " Xenophon,"
" Herodotus," and " Dissertations acaderaiques." The
" Electra" had not much success, and was never reprinted,
unless by a bookseller, who blunderingly inserted it among
a collection of acting plays.
14 LARCHER.
In 1751 Larcher is supposed to have contributed to a
literary journal called " Lettres d'une Societe;" and after-
wards, in the " Melange litteraire," he published a transla-
tion of Pope's essay on Pastoral Poetry. He was also a
contributor to other literary journals, but his biographer
has not been able to specify his articles with certainty,
unless those in the " Collection Academique" for 1755,
where his articles are marked with an A. and in which he
translated the Philosophical Transactions of London. He
translated also the " Martinus Scribleru.s" from Pope's
works, and Swift's ironical piece on the abolition of Chris-
tianity. Having while in England become acquainted with
sir John Pringle, he published a translation of hi* work
" On the Diseases of the Army," of which an enlarged
edition appeared in 1771.
In 1757 he revised the text of Hudibras, which accom-
panies the French translation, and wrote some notes to it.
But these performances did not divert him from his Greek
studies, and his translation of " Chereas and Calliroe,"
which appeared in 1758, was considered in France as the
production of one who would prove an honour to the class
of Greek scholars in France. This was reprinted in the
*' Bibliotheque des Romans Greo/' for which also Larcher
wrote " Critical Remarks on the ^Ethiopics of Heiiodorus,"
but for some reason these never appeared in that work.
In 1767 the quarrel took place between him and Voltaire.
Larcher, although intimate with some of those writers who
called themselves philosophers, and even favourable to
some of their theories, was shocked at the impiety of Vol-
taire's extremes; and when the " Philosophy of History"
appeared, was induced by some ecclesiastics to undertake
a refutation, which was published under the title of " Sup.
plement a la Philosophic de I'Histoire," a work which Vol-
taire himself allowed to be full of erudition. He could not,
however, conceal his chagrin, and endeavoured to answer
Larcher in his " Defense de mon oncle," in which he
treats his antagonist with unpardonable contempt and
abuse. Larcher rejoined in " Reponse a la Defense de
mon oncle." Both these pamphlets added much to his
reputation ; and although Voltaire, whose resentments were
implacable, continued to treat Larcher with abuse in his
writings, the latter made no reply, content with the ap-
plause of the really learned, particularly Brunck and La
Harpe, which last, although at that time the warmest of
L A R C H E R. 15
Voltaire's" admirers, disapproved of his treatment of such a
man as Lurcher ; and in this opinion he was joined even
by D'Alembert.
His reputation as a translator from the Greek being now
acknowledged, some booksellers in Paris who were in pos-
session of a manuscript translation of Herodotus left by
the abbe" Bellanger without revision, applied to Larcher to
prepare it for the press ; and he, thinking he had only to
correct a few slips of the pen, or at most to add a few
notes, readily undertook the task, but before he had pro-
ceeded far, the many imperfections, and the style of Bel-
langer, appeared to be such, that he conceived it would
be easier to make an entire new translation. He did not,
however, consider this as a trifling undertaking, but pre-
pared himself by profound consideration of the text of his
author, which he collated with the MS copies in the
royal library, and read with equal care every contempo-
rary writer from whom he might derive information to il-
lustrate Herodotus. While engaged in these studies, Paw
published his " Recherches philosophiques sur les Egyptiens
et les Chinois," and Larcher borrowed a little time to pub-
lish an acute review of that author's paradoxes in the
" Journal des Savans" for 1774. The year following, while
interrupted by sickness from his inquiries into Herodotus,
he published his very learned " Memoire sur Venus," to
which the academy of inscriptions awarded their prize.
During another interruption of the Herodotus, incident to
itself, he wrote and published his translation of Xenophon,
which added much to the reputation he had already ac-
quired, and although his style is not very happily adapted
to transfuse the spirit of Xenophon, yet it produced the
following high compliment from Wyttenbach (Bibl. Critica)
" Larcherus is est quern non dubitemus omnium, qui nos-
tra aetate veteres scrintores in linguas vertunt recentiores,
antiquitatis linguaeque Grace* scientissimum vocare." Lar-
cher's critical remarks in this translation are very valuable,
particularly his observations on the pronunciation of the
Greek. The reputation of his " Memoire sur Venus," and
his "Xenophon," procured him to be elected into the
Academy of inscriptions, on May 10, 1778. To the me-
moirs of this society he contributed many essays on classi-
cal antiquities, which are inserted in vols. 43, 45, 46, 47,
and 48 ; and these probably, which he thought a duty to
the academy, interrupted his labours on Herodotus, not
1C LARCHER.
did it issue from the press until 1786. The style of this
translation is liable to some objections, but in other re-
spects, his profound and learned researches into points of
geography and chronology, and the general merit and im-
portance of his comments, gratified the expectations of
every scholar in Europe. It was translated into Latin by
Borheck, into German by Degan, and his notes have ap-
peared in all the principal languages of Europe. We may
here conclude this part of our subject by noticing his new
and very much improved edition of " Herodotus," pub-
lished in 1802, 9 vols. 8vo. The particulars which dis-
tinguish this edition are, a correction of those passages
in which he was not satisfied with having expressed the
exact sense ; a greater degree of precision and more com-
pression of style ; a reformation of such notes as wanted
exactness; with the addition of several that were judged
necessary to illustrate various points of antiquity, and ren-
der the historian better understood. We have already
hinted that Larcher was at one time not unfriendly to the
infidel principles of some of the French encyclopedists.
It is with the greater pleasure that we can now add what
he says on this subject in his apology for further alterations.
" At length," he says, " being intimately convinced of all
the truths taught by the Christian religion, I have re-
trenched or reformed all the notes that could offend it.
From some of them conclusions have been drawn which I
disapprove, and which were far from my thoughts ; others
of them contain things, which I must, to discharge my
conscience, confess freely, that more mature examination
and deeper researches have demonstrated to have been
built on slight or absolutely false foundations. The truth
cannot but be a gainer by this avowal : to it alone have I
consecrated all my studies : I have been anxious to return
to it from the moment I was persuaded I could seize it with
advantage. May this homage, which I render it in all the
sincerity of my heart, be the means of procuring me abso-
lution for all the errors I have hazarded or sought to pro-
pagate."— In this vast accumulation of ancient learning,
the English reader will find many severe strictures on
Bruce, which he may not think compatible with the ge-
neral opinion now entertained both in France and England
on the merits of that traveller.
During the revolutionary storm Larcher lived in privacy,
employed on his studies, and especially on the second
LARCHER. It
edition of his " Herodotus," and was but little disturbed.
He was indeed carried before the revolutionary committee^
and his papers very much perplexed those gentlemen, who
knew little of Greek or Latin. For one night a sentinel
was placed at his door, who was set asleep by a bottle of
wine, and next morning Larcher gave him a small assig-
nat, and he came back no more. When the republican
government became a little more quiet, and affected to
encourage men of letters, Larcher received, by a decree,
the sum of 3000 livres. He was afterwards, notwithstand-
ing his opinions were not the fashion of the day, elected
into the Institute ; and when it was divided into four classes,
and by that change he became again, in some degree, a
member of the Academy of inscriptions, he published four
dissertations of the critical kind in their memoirs. The
last honour paid to him was by appointing him professor of
Greek in the imperial university, as it was then called ; but
he was now too tar advanced for active services, and died
after a short illness, in his eighty-sixth year, Dec. 22,
1812, regretted as one of the most eminent scholars and
amiable men of his time. His fine library was sold by
auction in Nov. 1814. '
LARDNER (NATHANIEL), a very learned dissenting cler-
gyman, was born at Hawkhurst, in Kent, June 6, 1684.
He was educated for some time at a dissenter's academy
in London, by the Rev. Dr. Oldfield, whence he went to
Utrecht, and studied under Grsevius and Burman, and
made all the improvement which might be expected under
such masters. From Utrecht Mr. Lardner went to Leyden,
whence, after a short stay, he came to England, and em-
ployed himself in diligent preparation for the sacred pro-
fession. He did not, however, preach his first sermon till
he was twenty-five years of age. In 1713 he was invited
to reside in the house of lady Treby, widow of the lord
chief justice of common pleas, as domestic chaplain to the
lady, and tutor to her youngest son. He accompanied bis
pupil to France, the Netherlands, and United Provinces,
and continued in the family till the death of lady Treby.
It reflects no honour upon the dissenters that such a man
should be so long neglected; but, in 1723, be was en-
gaged with other ministers to carry on a course of lectures
at the Old Jewry. The gentlemen who conducted these
* Life prefixed to the catalogue of bis library, probably by on* of the De BuiVs.
VOL. XX. 0
18
LARDNER.
lectures preached a course of sermons on the evidences of
natural and revealed religion. The proof of the credibility
of ihe gospel history was assigned to Mr Lardner, and he
delivered three sermons on this subject, which probably
laid the foundation of his great work, as from this period
he was diligently engaged in writing the first part of the
Credibility. In 1727 he published, in two volumes oct.ivo,
the first part of " The Credibility of the Gospel History j
or the facts occasionally mentioned in the New Testament,
confirmed by passages of ancient authors who were con-
temporary with our Saviour, or his apostles, or lived near
their time." It is unnecessary to say how well these vo-
lumes were received by the learned world, without any
distinction of sect or party. Notwithstanding, however,
Jiis great merit, Mr. Lardner WHS forty-five years of age
before he obtained a settlement among the dissenters; but,
in 1729, he was invited by the congregation of Crutcbed-
friars to be assistant to their minister. At this period the
enthusiasm of Mr. Woolston introduced an important con-
(roversy. In various absurd publications he treated the
miracles of our Saviour with extreme licentiousness. These
Mr. Lardner confuted with the happiest success, in a work
which he at this time published, and which was entitled
"A Vindication of three of our Saviour's Miracles." About
the same time also he found leisure to write other occasional
pieces, the principal of which was his " Letter on the Logos.1'
In 1733, appeared the first volume of the second part of the
" Credibility of the Gospel-history," which, besides being
universally well received at home, was so much approved
abroad, that it was translated by two learned foreigners ;
by Mr. Cornelius Westerbaen into Low Dutch, and by Mr.
J. Christopher Wolff into Latin. The second volume of
the second part of this work appeared in 1736 ; and the
farther Mr. Lardner proceeded in his design, the more he
advanced in esteem and reputation among learned men of
all denominations. In 1737 he published his " Counsels
of Prudence" for the use of young people, on account of
which he received a complimentary letter from Dr. Seeker,
bishop of Oxford. The third and fourth volumes of the
second part of the " Credibility," no less curious than the
preceding, were published in 17:i8 and 174O. The fifth
volume in 1743. To be circumstantial in the account of
all the writings which this eminent man produced would
greatly exceed -our limits. They were all considered as of
LARDNER. 1$
distinguished usefulness and merit. We may in particular
notice the " Supplement to the Credibility," which has
a place in the collection of treatises published by Dr. Wat-
son, bishop of Llandaff. Notwithstanding Dr. Lardner's
life and pen were so long and so usefully devoted to the
public, he never rfceived any adequate recompence. The
college of Aberdeen conferred on him the degree of doc-
tor of divinity, and the diploma had the unanimous signa-
ture of the professors. But his salary as a preacher was
inconsiderable, and his works often published to his loss
instead of gain Dr. Lardner lived to a very advanced age,
and, with the exception of his hearing, retained the use of
his faculties to the last, in a remarkably perfect degree.
In 1768 he fell into a gradual decline, which carried him
oil in a few weeks, at Hawkhurst, his native place, at the
age of eighty -five. He had, previously to his last illness,
parted with the copy-right of his great work for the mi-
serable sum of 150/. but he hoped if the booksellers had
the whole interest of his labours, they would then do their
utmost to promote the sale of a work that could not fail to
be useful in promoting the interests of his fellow creatures,
by promulgating the great truths of Christianity. After
the death of Dr. Lardner, some of his posthumous pieces
made their appearance ; of these the first consist of eight
sermons, and brief memoirs of the author. In 1776 waa
published a short letter which the doctor bad written in
1762, " Upon the Personality of the Spirit." It was part
of his design, with regard to " The Credibility of the Gos-
pel History," to give an account of the heretics of the first
two centuries. In 1780 Mr. Hogg, of Exeter, published
another of Dr. Lardner' s pieces, upon which he had be-
stowed much labour, though it was not left in a perfect
state; this was " The History of the Heretics of the first
two centuries after Christ, containing an account of their
time, opinions, and testimonies to the books of the New
Testament; to which are prefixed general observations
concerning Heretics." The last of Dr. Lardner's pieces
was given to the world by the late Rev. Mr. Wicbe, then
of Muidstone, in Kent, and is entitled " Two schemes of a
Trinity considered, and the Divine Unity asserted;" it
consists of lour discourses; the first represents the com*
nionly received opinion of the Trinity; the second de-
scribes the Arian scheme ; the third treats of the Nazarene
doctrine ; and the fourth explains the text according to
C 2
20
L A R D N E R.
that doctrine. This work may perhaps be regarded as
Supplementary to a piece which he wrote in early life, and
which he published in 1759, without his name, entitled " A
Letter written in the year 1730, concerning the question,
Whether the Logos supplied the place of the Human Soul
in the person of Jesus Christ :" in this piece his aim was to
prove that Jesus Christ was, in the proper and natural
meaning of the word, a man, appointed, anointed, beloved,
honoured, and exalted by God, above all other beings.
Dr. Lardner, it is generally known, had adopted the So-
cinian tenets.
For the many testimonies given of Dr. Lardner's cha-
racter, the reader must be referred to the very elaborate
and curious life written by Dr. Kippis, and prefixed to a
complete edition of his works, published in 1788, in eleven
very large volumes, by the late J.Johnson. This edition,
on which uncommon care was bestowed, has of late become
very scarce and dear, and another has just been under-
taken, to be printed in a 4to size. '
LAKREY (ISAAC DE), a French historian, was born Sep-
tember 7, 1638, at Montivilliers, of noble parents, who
were Protestants. After having practised as an attorney
some time in his native country, he went to Holland, wan
appointed historiographer to the States General, and set-
tled afterwards at Berlin, where he had a pension from the
elector of Brandenburg. He died March 17,1719, aged
eighty. His principal works are, the " History of Augus-
tus," 1690, 12mo; "The History of Eleanor, queen of
France, and afterwards of England," 1691, 8vo; " A His-
tory of England," 1697 to 1713, 4 vols. fol. the most va-
lued of all Larrey's works on account of the portraits, but
its reputation has sunk in other respects since the publica-
tion of the history written by Rapin. He wrote also the
history, or rather romance of " the Seven Sages," the most
complete edition of which is that of the Hague, 1721, 2
vols. 8vo ; and " The History of France, under Louis XIV.'*
3 vols. 4to, and 9 vols. 12mo, a work not in much estima-
tion, but it was not entirely his. The third volume 4to was
the production of la Martiniere. *
LARROQUE (MATTHEW DE), in Latin Larroquanus,
whom Bayle styles one of the most illustrious ministers the
1 Life by Kippis, as above.
Niceron, vol. I. aud X.-Bibl. Gernuoique, VOI. I.— Morcri.— Di«U Hill.
LARROQUE. 21
reformed ever had in France, was born at Leirac, a small
city of Guienne, near Agen, in 1619. He was hardly past
his youth when he lost his father and mother, who were
persons of rank and character. This misfortune was soon
ifol lowed by the loss of his whole patrimony, although by
what means is not known ; but the effect was to animate
him more strongly to his studies, and to add to polite li-
terature, which he had already learned, the knowledge of
philosophy, and above all, that of divinity. He made a
considerable progress in these sciences, and was admitted
a minister with great applause. Two years after he had
been admitted in his office he was obliged to go to Paris to
answer the cavils of those who intended to ruin his church,
in which, although he was not successful, he met with
such circumstances as proved favourable to him. He
preached sometimes at Charenton, and was so well liked
by the duchess de la Tremouille, that she appointed him
minister of the church of Vitre, in Britany, and gave him
afterwards a great many proofs of her esteem; nor was he
less respected by the prince and princess of Tarente, and
the duchess of Weimar. He served that church about
twenty-seven years, and studied the ancient fathers with
the utmost application. He gave very soon public proofs
of the progress he had made in that study, for the answer
he published to the motives which an opponent had alledged
for his conversion to popery, abounded with passages
quoted from the fathers, and the works which he published
afterwards raised his reputation greatly. There was an
intimate friendship between him and Messieurs Daille, fa-
ther and son, which was kept up by a constant literary cor-
respondence ; and the journey he took to Paris procured
him the acquaintance of several illustrious men of letters.
The church of Charenton wished to have invited him in
1669, but his enemies had so prepossessed the court against
him, that his majesty sent a prohibition to that church not
to think of calling him, notwithstanding the deputy general
of the reformed had offered to answer for MODS, de Lar-
roque's good behaviour. He was afterwards chosen to be
both minister and professor of divinity at Saumur. The
former he accepted, but refused the professorship of di-
vinity, as it might interfere with the study of church his-
tory, to ttfhich he was very partial. The intendant of the
province, however, forbad him to go to Saumur; and al-
though the church complained of this unjust prohibition,
22 LARROQUE.
and pethioned very zealousVy for the necessary permission,
which she obtained, Larroquc did not think it proper to
enter upon an employment against the will of the intend,
ant. He continued therefore still at Vnre. where b« did
not suffer his pen to be idle. Three of tlie most consi-
derable churches of the kingdom chme. him at once, the
church of Moutauban* that of Bou.deaux, and ihut of Roan.
He accepted the invitation of Roan, and ih< re died, Jan.
31, 1684, having gained the reputation not only of a
learned man, but also of an honest man, and a faithful
pastor.
His principal works are, a " Histoire de I'Kucharistie,"
Elzevir, 1669, 4to, and 1671, 8vo; An answer to M. Bos-
suet's treatise " De la Communion sou* les deux esperei}**
" An An wer to the motives of the minister iMartin's Con-
version ;" "An Answer to the office of the Holy Sacra-
ment of Port Royal ;" two Latin dissertations, ** De V"ho-
tino et Liberio ;" " Considerations servant de repnnse a ce
que M. David a ecrit contre la dissertation de Photin," 4to ;
" Observations," in Latin, in support of Daille"s opinion,
that the epistles of St. Ignatius are spurious, against Pear-
son and Beveridge ; " Conformity de» EglUes reformers de
France avec les anciens;" *' Considerations sur la nature
de I'Eglise, etsur quelques-unes de &es propricteX" 12mo;
a treatise in French on the Regal and Sacred Observations,
in Latin, with " A Dissertation on the Thundering Legion."
These two last works were published by his son.1
LARROQUE (DANIEL de), son of the preceding, was
born at Vitre\ He retired 1681, to London, on the revo-
cation of the edict of Nantes, and afterwards to Copen-
hagen, where his father's friends promised him a settle*
ment, but finding them unsuccessful, he went into Holland,
where he remained till 1690, and then going into France,
abjured the protestant religion, and turned Roman catholic.
He usual jy resided at Paris, but having written the preface
to a satirical piece, in which great liberties were taken with
Louis XIV. on account of the famine in 1693, he was ar-
resied and sent to the Chatelet, and then removed to the
castle of Saumnr, where he remained rive years. At the
end of that time, however, he regained his liberty by the
abbess of Fontevraud's solicitations, and got a place in i\J.
de Torcy's office, minister and secretary of state. When
» . * Gen. Diot.— Niceron, TO!. XXI.
LAUKOQUE. • S3
the regency commenced, Larroque was appointed secre-
tary to the interior council, and on the suppression of that
council, had a pension of 4000 livres till his death, Sep-
tember 5, 1731, when he was about seventy. He left se-
veral works, but much inferior to hi* father's : the .princi-
pal are, " La Vie de I'ltnposteur Mahomet," 12mo, trans-
Lt'-d from the English of Dr. Prideaux ; " Les ve>4tables
Motifs de la Conversion de M. (le Bouthilier de Ranc6)
1'Abbe de la Trappe," with some reflections on his life and
writings, 1685, L2mo, a satirical work. " Nouvelles Ac-
cusations con t re Van lias, ou Kemarqnes critiques contre
une Partie de son Histoire de PHe>esie," 8vo; «' La Vie
de Frai>9ois Kiuies de Mexerai," 12mo, a satirical romance j
a translation of Kc hard's Roman History, revised and pub-
lished by the abbe Desfontaines. Larroque also assisted,
during some months, in the " Nouveiles de la Repubiique
des Lettres," while Bayle was ill. The " Advice to the
Refugees" is also attributed to him, which was believed to
have been written by Bayle, besause the latter would never
betray Larroque, wiio, it is supposed, was the real author
of it, causing rather to suffer the persecution which this
publication raised against him, than prove false to his friend,
who had enjoined him secrecy.1
LASCA. See GUAZZ1NI.
LASCARIS (CONSTANTINE), a learned Greek, descend-
ed from the imperial family of that name, was born at Con-
stantinople, but became a refugee when it was taken, by
the Turks in 1454, and went to Italy, where he was most
amicably received by duke Francis ISforza of Milan, who
placed his own daughter, a child of ten years of age, under
the cure of Lascaris for instruction in the Greek language,
and it is said to have been for her use he composed his
Greek grammar. From Milan he went to Rome, about
14(i.'i, or pernaps later, and from, thence, at the invitation
of king Ferdinand, to Naples, where he opened a public
school for Greek and rhetoric. Having spent some years
in this employment, he was desirous ot repose, and em-
barked with the intention of settling at a town of Greece ;
but having touched at Messina, he was urged by such ad-
vantageous oilers to make it his residence, that he com-
plied, and passed there the remainder of nis days. Here
lie received the honour of citizenship, which he merited
1 Moreri. — Diet. Hist, de L'Advocat.
2* L A S C A R I S.
by his virtues as well as his learning, and by the influx of
scholars which his reputation drew thither. He lived to a
very advanced age, and is supposed to have died about the
end of the fifteenth century. He bequeathed his library
to the city of Messina. His Greek grammar was printed
at Milan in 1476, reprinted in 1480, and was, according
to Zeno, " prima Graeco-Latina praelorum foetura," the first
Greek and Latin book that issued from the Italian press.
A better edition of it was given in 1495, by Aldus, from a
copy corrected by the author, and with which the printer
was furnished by Bembo and Gabrielli. This was the first
essay of the Aldine press. Bembo and Gabrielli had been
the scholars of Lascaris, although in his old age, as they did
not set out for Messina until 1493. A copy of this Greek
grammar of the first edition is now of immense value.
Erasmus considered it as the best Greek grammar then
extant, excepting that of Theodore Gaza. Lascaris was
author likewise of two tracts on the Sicilian and Calabrian
Greek writers, and some other pieces, which remain in
manuscript.1
LASCARIS (JOHN, or JOHN ANDREW), called Rhynda-
cenus, as Constantine was called Byzantinus, was a learned
Greek of the same family with the preceding, who came
either from Greece or Sicily to Italy, on the ruin of his
country. He was indebted to cardinal Bessarion for his
education at Padua, where he obtained a high reputation
for his knowledge in the learned languages, and received
the patronage of Lorenzo de Medici, who sent him into
Greece with recommendatory letters to the sultan Baiazet
in order to collect ancient manuscripts : for this purpose he
took two journeys, in the latter of which he appears to
have been very successful. After the expulsion of the
Medic, family from Florence, in UD4, he was carried to
France by Charles VIII. alter which he was patronized by
LouisXII. who sent him, in 1503, as his ambassador to
Venice, in which oroce he remained till 1508. He ioined
the pursuit of literature with his public employmen, and
held a correspondence with many learned men. After the
termination of hi. embassy, he" remained some yea .a'
Venice, as an mstructor in the Greek language. On the
daction of pope Leo X. to the popedom in 185 1 3, he set
L A S C A R I >S. 25
dut for Rome, where, at bis instigation, Leo founded a
college for noble Grecian youths at Rome, at the head of
which he placed the author of the plan, and likewise
made him superintendant of the Greek press ; his abilities
as a corrector and editor, had been already sufficiently
evinced by his magnificent edition of the Greek "Antho-
logia," printed in capital letters at Florence in 1494, and
by that of " Callimachus," printed in the same form. Mait-
taire thinks he was also editor of four of the tragedies of
" Euripides," of the " Gnorase Monastichoi," and the
" Argonautics" of Apollonius Rhodius. He now printed
the Greek " Scholia" on Homer, in 1517; and in 1518
the " Scholia" on Sophocles. Having in this last-men-
tioned year quitted Rome for France, whither he was in-
vited by Francis I. he was employed by that monarch
in forming the royal library. He was also sent as his
ambassador to Venice, with a view of procuring Greek
youths for the purpose of founding a college at Paris simi-
lar to that of Rome. After the accomplishment of other
important missions, he died at Rome in 1535, at an ad-
vanced age. He translated into the Latin language, a
work extracted from Polybius, on the military constitutions
of the Romans ; and composed epigrams in Greek and
Latin; this rare volume is entitled " Lascaris Rhydaceni
epigrammata, Gr. Lat. edente Jac. Tossano," printed at
Paris, 1527, 8vo. There is another Paris edition of 1544,
4to. Mr. Dibdin has given an ample and interesting ac-
count of his " Anthologia" from lord Spencer's splendid
vellum copy.1
LASENA, or LASCENA (PETER), a learned Italian,
was born at Naples, Sept. 25, 1590. In compliance with
his father, he first cultivated and practised the law ; but
afterwards followed the bent of his inclination to polite
literature ; applying himself diligently to acquire the
Greek language, in which his education had been defec-
tive. He also learnt French and Spanish. From Naples
he removed to Rome ; where he was no sooner settled,
than he obtained the protection of cardinal Francis Bar*
berini, besides other prelates ; he also procured the friend-
ship of Lucas Holstenius, Leo Allatius, and other persons
of rank in the republic of letters. He made use of the
I Ilotiius de Gracii illuitribus.— Grciiwell's Politian. — Rotcoe's Leo. — Bibl.
Spenceriaoa, vol. 11.
26 L A S E N A.
repose he enjoyed in this situation to put the last hand to
some works which he had begun at Naples ; but his conti-
nual intense application, and too great abstinence (for he
made but one meal in twenty- four hours), threw him into
a fever, of which he died, Sept. 30, 1636. At his death,
he lefc to cardinal barbermi two Latin discourses, which
he oad pronounced before tb^ Greek academy of the monks
of St. Basil, " De Lingua Heiiemstica," in which he dis-
cussed, with great learning, a point upon that subject,
which then divided the literary world. He also left to car-
dinal Brancaccio his book entitled " Dell' antico Gimusio
Napolitano," which was afterwards published in 1688, 4to.
It contains a description of the sports, shows, spectacles,
and combats, which were formerly exhibited to the people
of Naples. He was the author likewise of " Nepenthes
Homeri, sen de abojendo luctu," Ltigd. 1624, 8vo; and
" Cleombrotus, sive de iis qui in aquis pereunt," Home.
1637, Svo.»
LASCO. See ALASCO.
LASSALA (MANUEL), a Spanish Ex-jesnit, was born
at Valemia in 1729, and died in 1798, at Bologna, to which
he had retired on the expulsion of bis ord-r. Our autho-
rity gives little of his personal history. He owed his cele-
brity to his knowledge of the ancient languages, and of
poetry and history, which he taught in the university of
Vtlentia. His works are in Spanish, Italian, and Latin ;
in the Spanish he wrote, 1. " An essay on general History,
ancient and modern," Valentia, 1755, 3 vols. 4to, said to
be the best abridgment of the kind which the Spaniards
have; at the end he gives the lives of the Spanish poets.
2. " Account of the Castillian poets," ibid. 1757, 4to. He
wrote also tragedies; 1. « Joseph," acted and printed at
Valentia in 1762. 2. « Don Sancho Abarva," ibid. 1765,
i Italian, and such pure and elegant Italian a> to astonish
the critics of Italy. He wrote three tragedies; 1 « Iphi-
gemainAnlis." -2. « Ormisinda." 3. « Lucia Miranda."
Latin, he exhibited his talents for poetry, and is hit/hly
commended for the classical purity of style of his « Rhe-
nus, Bologua, 1781 ; the subject, the inundations of the
Hhine: and his « De serificio civium bologmensium libel-
lu. singular!, ,," ib. 1782, composed in honour of a fete given
by the merchants of Italy. He also made a good transit
1 Nicrron, vol. XV.— Saxii Onoomticou.
L A S S O N E. , 27
tion from the Arabic into Hebrew of " Lokman's Fables,'*
Bologna, 1781, 4to.1
LASSONE (JOSEPH MARIA FRANCIS DE), an eminent
French physician, was born at Carpentras, on the 3d of
July, 1717. He was removed for education to Paris, but
in his early years he was less remarkable for his perseve-
rance in study, than for a propensity which he shewed for
the gay pleasures of youth ; yet even then he raised the
hopes of his friends by some ingenious performances, which
merited acadttnic honours. At length he applied with se-
riousness to study, and devoted himself wholly to the pur-
suits of anatomy, in which he made such rapid progress,
that, at the age of twenty -five, he was received into the
academy of sciences as associate-anatomist. An extraor-.
dinary event, however, put a period to his anatomical pur-
suits. In selecting among some dead bodies a proper sub-
ject for dissection, he fancied he perceived in one of them
some very doubtful signs of death, and endeavoured to
re-animate it : his efforts were for a long time vain ; but
iiis first persuasion induced him to persist, and he ultimately
succeeded in bringing his patient to life, who proved to be
a poor peasant. This circumstance impressed so deep a
sense of horror on tiu mind of the anatomist, that he de-
clined these pursuits in future. Natural history succeeded
the study of anatomy, and mineralogy becoming a favourite
object of his pursuit, he published his observations on the
crystallized tree-stones of Fotuainbleau ; but chemistry
finally became the beloved occupation of M. de Lassone.
His numerous memoirs, which were read before the royal
academy of sciences, presented a valuable train of new
observations, useful both to the progress of that study, and
to the art of compounding remedies; and in every part of
these he evinced the sagacity of an attentive observer, and
of an ingenious experimentalist. After having practised
medicine for a long time in the hospitals and cloisters, he
was sent lor to court ; and held the office of first physician
at Versailles. He lived in friendship with Fontenelle,
Winalow, D'Alembert, Buffon, and other scientific cha-
racters ; and the affability of his manners, and his ardent
zeal tor the advancement of knowledge, among the young
scholars, whose industry he encouraged, and whose repu-
tation was become one of his most satisfactory enjoyments,
1 Diet. FH*t. Supplement.
28 L A S S O N E.
gained him general respect. When from a natural deli-
cacy of constitution, M. cle Lassone began to experience
the inconveniences of a premature old age, he became
sorrowful and fond of solitude ; yet, reconciled to his situa-
tion, he calmly observed his death approaching, and ex-
pired on Dec. 8, 1788. Lassone, at the time of his death,
held the appointment of first physician to Louis XVI. and
his queen ; he was counsellor of state, doctor-regent of
the faculty of medicine at Paris, and pensionary-veteran
of the academy of sciences, member of the academy of
medicine at Madrid, and honorary associate of the college
of medicine at Nancy.1
LA88US (OfiLANDUS), or, as he is called by the Ita-
lians, Orlando di Lasso, an eminent musician, was a na-
tive of Mons, in Hainault, born in J520, and not only
spent many years of his life in Italy, but had his musical
education there, having been carried thither surreptitiously,'
when a child, on account of his fine voice. The historian
Thuanus, who has given Orlando a place among the illus-
trious men of his time, tells us that it was a common prac-
tice for young singers to be forced away from their parents,
and detained in the service of princes ; and that Orlando
was carried to Milan, Naples, and Sicily, by Ferdinand
Gonzago. Afterwards, when he was grown up, and had
probably lost his voice, he went to Rome, where he tauo-ht
music during two years; at the expiration of which, be
travelled through different parts of Italy and France with
Julius Caesar Brancatius, and at length, returning to Flan-
Jers resided many years at Antwerp, till being invited,
by the duke of Bavaria, to Munich, he settled at that court!
and married. He had afterwards an invitation, accom-
R? Ti ,-the Promise of great emoluments, from
Charles IX. king of France, to take upon him the office
f master and director of his band ; an honour which he
accepted but was stopped on the road to Paris by the
to Munich31 7Thu death" AftCr this event he retu™d
to Munich, whither he was recalled by William, the soi
he hSac.CCheSlSir ??' f^"*"' l° <h" ™* office wh^
cou t tl 1- 7'e,r hlS father' Orla^o continued at this
l e ln 1593' at upwards of se™' «*«
l gfeat' that il ^s said of
Orlandus Lassus, qui recreat orbem."
1 Hntcbingon's Medical Biograpby.-Ree.'. Cyck>p«dU.
L A S S U S. 29
As he lived to a considerable age, and never seems to
have checked the fertility of his genius by indolence, his
compositions exceed, in number, even those of Palestrina.
There is a complete catalogue of them in Draudius,
amounting to upwards of fifty different works, consisting
of masses, magnificats, passiones, motets, and psalms :
with Latin, Italian, German, and French songs, printed in
Italy, Germany, France, and the Netherlands. He ex-
celled in modulation, of which he gave many new speci-
mens, and was a great master of harmony.1
LATCH (JOHN), an English lawyer, was a native of
Somersetshire, and educated at Oxford, in St. John's col-
lege, as Wood was informed, where, he adds, he made
considerable proficiency in literature. Afterwards he re-
moved to the Middle Temple, but being of a delicate
habit, does not appear to have practised as a barrister.
Some years before his death, he had embraced the Roman
catholic religion, influenced by the artifices of a priest or
Jesuit who prevailed on him to leave his estate to the so-
ciety of Jesuits. He died at Hayes in Middlesex, in Au-
gust 1655. He was the reporter of certain " Cases in the
first three years of K. Car. I." which were published in
French, by Edward Walpole, 1662, folio.*
LATIMER (HUGH), bishop of Worcester, one of the
first reformers of the church of England, was descendet!
of honest parents at Thurcaston in Leicestershire ; where
his father, though he had no land of his own, rented a
small farm, and by frugality and industry, brought up a
family of six daughters besides this son. In one of bis
court sermons, in Edward's time, Latimer, inveighing
against the nobility and gentry, and speaking of the mo-
deration of landlords a few years before, and the plenty in
which their tenants lived, tells his audience, in his familiar
way, that, " upon a farm of four pounds a year, at the
utmost, his father tilled as much ground as kept half a
dozen men ; that he had it stocked with a hundred sheep
and thirty cows ; that he found the king a man and horse,
himself remembering to have buckled on his father's har-
ness when he went to Blackheath ; that he gave his
daughters five pounds a-piece at marriage; that he lived
hospitably among his neighbours, and was not backward in
1 Burney's Hist, of Music, and in Rees's Cyclopaedia.
* Ath. Ox. vol. II. — Bridgman's Legal Biblrogimphy.
30 LATIMER.
bis alms to the poor." He was born in the farm-house
about 1470; and, being put to a grammar-school, he took
learning so well, that it was determined to breed him to
the church. With this view, he was sent to Cambridge.
Fuller and others say to Christ's college, which must be a
tradition, as the records of that college do not reach his
time. At the usual time, he took the degrees in arts;
and, entering into priest's orders, behaved with remarka-
able zeal and warmth in defence of popery, the established
religion. He read the schoolmen and the Scriptures with
equal reverence, and held Thomas a Becket and the apos-
tles in equal honour. He was consequently, a zealous op-
ponent of the opinions which had lately discovered them-
selves in England ; heard the teachers of them with Uipb
indignation, and inveighed publicly and privately again*
the reformers. If any read lectures in the schools, Latuner
was sure to be there to drive out the scholars, and could
nut endure Stafford, the divinity-lecturer, who, however,
is said to have been partly an instrument of his conversion.
When Latimer commenced bachelor of divinity, he gave
an open testimony of ins dislike to their proceedings in an
oration against Melancthon, whom he treated most severely
i for his impious, as he called them, innovations in religion.
His zeal was so much taken notice of in the univeriiity,
that he was elected cross-bearer in all public processions;
an employment which he accepted with reverence, and
discharged with solemnity.
Among those in Cambridge who favoured the reforma-
tion, the most considerable was Thomas Bilncy, a clergy-
man of a most holy life, who began to see popery in a very
disagreeable light, and made no scruple to own it. Biiney
was an intimate, and conceived a very favourable opinion,
of Latimer ; and, as opportunities offered, used to suggest
to him many things about corruptions in religion, till be
gradually divested him of his prejudices, brought him to
think with moderation, and even to distrust what he had
so earnestly embraced. Latimer no sooner ceased from
being a zealous papist, than he became (such was his con-
stitutional warmth) a zealous protesiunt ; active in support-
ing the reformed doctrine, and assiduous to make converts
both in town and university. He preached in public, ex-
horted in private, and everywhere pressed the necessity
of a holy life, in opposition to ritual observances. A be-
haviour of this kind was immediately taken notice of: Cam-
L A T I M E R. 31
bridge, no less than the rest of the kingdom, was entirely
popish, and every new opinion was watched with jealousy.
Latimer soon perceived bow obnoxious he had made him-
self; and the first remarkable opposition he met with from
the popish party, was occasioned by a course of sermons
he preached, during the Christmas holidays, before the
university; in which he spoke his sentiments with great
freedom upon many opinions and usages maintained and
practised in the Romish church, and particularly insisted
upon the great abuse of locking up the Scriptures in an
unknown tongue. Few of the tenets of popery were then
questioned in England, but such as tended to a relaxation
of morals; transubstantiation, and other points rather spe-
culative, still held their dominion ; Lattmer therefore
chiefly dwelt upon those of immoral tendency. He shewed
what true religion was, that it was seated in the heart ;
and that, in comparison with it, external appointments
were of no value. Having a remarkable address in adapt-
ing himself to the capacities of the people, and being con-
sidered as a preacher of eminence, the orthodox clergy
thought it high time to oppose him openly. This task was
undertaken by Dr. Buckingham, prior of the Black-friars,
who appeared in the pulpit a few Sundays after ; and, with
great pomp and prolixity, shewed the dangerous tendency
of Latimer' s opinions ; particularly inveighing against his
heretical notions of having the Scriptures in English, lay-
ing open the bad effects of such an innovation. " If that
heresy," said he, " prevail, we should soon see an end of
every thing useful among us. The ploughman, reading
that if he put his hand to the plough, and should happen
to look back, he was unfit for the kingdom of heaven,
would soon lay aside his labour ; the baker likewise read-
ing, that a little leaven will corrupt his lump, would give
us a very insipid bread ; the simple man also finding him-
self commanded to pluck out his eyes, in a few years we
should have the nation full of blind heg jars." Latimer
could not help listening with a secret pleasure to this in-
genious reasoning; perhaps he had acted as prudently, if
he had considered the prior's arguments as unanswerable;
but he could not resist the vivacity of his temper, which
strongly inclined him to expose this solemn trirler. The
whole university met together on MI ml ay, wnen it was
known Mr. Latimer would preach. That vein of plea-
santry and humour which run through all his .words and
33 L A T I M E R.
notions, would here, it was imagined, have its full scope j
and, to say the truth, the preacher was not a little conscious
of his own superiority: to complete the scene, just before
the sermon began, prior Buckingham himself entered the
church with his cowl about his shoulders, and seated him-
self, with an air of importance, before the pulpit. Lati-
mer, with great gravity, recapitulated the learned doctor's
arguments, placed them in the strongest light, and then
rallied them with such a flow of wit, and at the same timt
with so much good humour, that, without the appearance
of ill-nature, he made his adversary in the highest degree
ridiculous. He then, with great address, appealed to the
people; descanted upon the low esteem in which their
guides had always held their understandings ; expressed
the utmost offence at their being treated with such con-
tempt, arid wished his honest countrymen might only have
the use of the Scripture till they shewed themselves such
absurd interpreters. He concluded his discourse with a
few observations upon scripture metaphors. A figurative
manner of speech, he said, was common in all languages:
representations of this kind were in daily use, and generally
understood. Thus, for instance, continued he (address*
ing himself to that part of the audience where the prior
was seated), when we see a fox painted preaching in a
friar's hood, nobody imagines that a fox is meant, but
that craft aud hypocrisy are described, which are so often
found disguised in that garb. But it is probable that La-
timer thought this levity unbecoming ; for when one Vene-
tus, a foreigner, not long after, attacked him again upon
the same subject, and in a manner the most scurrilous and
provoking, we find him using a graver strain. Whether
he ridiculed, however, or reasoned, with so much of the
spirit of true oratory, considering the times, were his ha-
rangues animated, that they seldom failed of their intended
effect ; his raillery shut up the prior within his monastery ;
and his arguments drove Venctus from the university.
These advantages increased the credit of the protestant
party in Cambridge, of which Bilney and Latimer were
the leaders ; and great was the alarm of the popish clergy,
of which some were the heads of colleges, and senior part
of the university. Frequent convocations were held, tutors
were admonished to have a strict eye over their pupils, and
academical censures of all kinds were inflicted. But aca-
demical censures were found insufficient. Latimer conti-
LATIMER. 33
nued to preach, and heresy to spread. The heads of the
popish party applied to the bishop of Ely, Dr. West, as
their diocesan ; but that prelate was not a man for their
purpose ; he was a papist indeed, but moderate, tie, how-
ever, came to Cambridge, examined the state of religion,
and, at their intreaty, preached against the heretics ; but
he would do nothing farther ; only indeed he silenced Mr.
Latimer, which, as he had preached himself, was an in-
stance of his prudence. But this gave no check to the
reformers ; for there happened at this time to be a pro-
testant prior in Cambridge, Dr. Barnes, of the Austin-
friars, who, having a monastery exempt from episcopal
jurisdiction, and being a great admirer of Latimer, boldly
licensed him to preach there. Hither his party followed
him ; and, the late opposition having greatly excited the
curiosity of the people, the friars' chapel was soon inca-
pable of containing the crowds that attended. Among
others, it is remarkable, that the bishop of Ely was often one
of his hearers, and had the ingenuousness to declare, that
Latimer was one of the best preachers he had ever heard.
The credit to his cause which Latimer had thus gained in
the pulpit, he maintained by the piety of his life. Bilney
and he did not satisfy themselves with acting unexception-
ably, but were daily giving instances of goodness, which
malice could not scandalize, nor envy misrepresent. They
were always together concerting their schemes. The place
where they used to walk, was long afterwards known by
the name of the Heretics' Hill. Cambridge at that time
was full of their good actions ; their charities to the poor,
and friendly visits to the sick and unhappy, were then
common topics. But these served only to increase the
heat of persecution from their adversaries. Impotent
themselves, and finding their diocesan either unable or
unwilling to work their purposes, they determined upon
an appeal to the higher powers ; and heavy complaints were
carried to court of the increase of heresy, not without for-
mal depositions against the principal abettors of it.
The principal persons at this time concerned in eccle-
siastical affairs were cardinal Wolsey, Warham archbishop
of Canterbury, and Tunstal bishop of London ; and as
Henry VIII. was now in the expectation of having the bu-
siness of his divorce ended in a regular way at Rome, he
was careful to observe all forms of civility with the pope.
The cardinal therefor* erected a court, consisting of bishops,
VOL. XX. D
34 L A T I M E R.
divines, and canonists, to put the laws in execution against
heresy: of this court Tunstal was made president; and
Bilney, Latimer, and one or two more, were called before
him. Bilney was considered as the heresiarch, and against
him chiefly the rigour of the court was levelled ; and they
succeeded so far that he was prevailed upon to recant :
accordingly he bore his faggot, and was dismissed. As
for Latimer, and the rest, they had easier terms : Tunstal
omitted no opportunities of shewing mercy; and the here-
tics, upon their dismission, returned to Cambridge, where
they were received with open arms by tlicir friends. Amidst
this mutual joy, Bilney alone seemed unaffected : he
shunned the sight of hi* acquaintance, and received their
congratulations with confusion and blushes. In short, he
was struck with remorse for what he bad done, grew me-
lancholy, and, after leading an ascetic life for three years,
resolved to expiate his abjuration by death. In this reso-
lution he went to Norfolk, the place of his nativity ; and,
preaching publicly against popery, he was apprehended
by order of the bishop of Norwich, and, after lying a while
in the county gaol, was executed in that city.
His sufferings, far from shocking the reformation at
Cambridge, inspired the leaders of it with new courage.
Latimer began now to exert himself more than he bad yet
done ; and succeeded to that credit with his party, which
Bilney had so long supported. Among other iustances of
his zeal and resolution in this cause, he gave one very re-
markable : he had the courage to write to the king against
a proclamation then just published, forbidding the use of
the Bible in English, and other books on religious subjects.
He had preached before his majesty once or twice at
Windsor, and had been noticed by him in a more affable
manner than that monarch usually indulged towards his
subjects. But, whatever hopes of preferment his sove-
reign's favour might have raised in him, he chose to put
all to the hazard rather than omit what he thought his duty.
He was generally considered as one of the most eminent
who favoured protestantism, and therefore thought it be-
came him to be one of the most forward in opposing
aopery. His letter is the picture of an honest and sincere
eart : tt was chiefly intended to point out to the king the
d intention of the bishops in procuring the proclamation,
I concludes in these terms : « Accept, gracious »ove-
•eign, without displeasure, what I have written ; I thought
L A T I M E R. 35
it my duty to mention these things to your majesty. No
personal quarrel, as God shall judge me, have I with any
man ; I wanted only to induce your majesty to consider
well what kind of persons you have about you, and the ends
for which they counsel. Indeed, great prince, many of
them, or they are much slandered, nave very private ends.
God grant your majesty may see through all the designs
of evil men, and be in all things equal to the high office
with which you are intrusted. Wherefore, gracious king,
remember yourself, have pity upon your own soul, and
think that the day is at hand, when you shall give account
of your office, and of the blood that hath been shed by
your sword : in the which day, that your grace may stand
stedfastly, and not be ashamed, but be clear and ready in
your reckoning, and have your pardon sealed with the
blood of our Saviour Christ, which alone serveth at that
day, is my daily prayer to him who suffered death for our
sins. The spirit of God preserve you!"
Though the influence of the popish party then prevailed
so far that this letter produced no effect, yet the king, no
way displeased, received it, not only with temper, but
with condescension, graciously thanking him for his well-
intended advice. The king, capricious and tyrannical as
he was, shewed, in many instances, that he loved sincerity
and openness; and Larimer's plain and simple manner had
before made a favourable impression upon him, which this
letter contributed not a little to strengthen ; and the part
he acted in promoting the establishment of the king's su-
premacy, in 1535, riveted him in the royal favour. Dr.
Butts, the king's physician, being sent to Cambridge on that
occasion, began immediately to pay his court to the pro-
testant party, from whom the king expected most unani-
mity in his favour. Among the first, he made his applica-
tion to Latimer, as a person most likely to serve him ;
begging that he would^collect the opinions of his friends in
the case, and do his utmost to bring over those of most
eminence, who were still inclined to the papacy. Latimer,
being a thorough friend to the cause he was to solicit, un-
dertook it with his usual zeal, and discharged himself so
much to the satisfaction of the doctor, that, when that
gentleman returned to court, he took Latimer along with
him, with a design, no doubt, to procure him some favour
suitable to his merit.
D 2
36 L A T I M E R.
About this time a person was rising into power, who be-
came his chief friend and patron : The lord Cromwell, who,
being a friend to the Reformation, encouraged of course
such churchmen as inclined towards it. Among these was
Latimer, for whom his patron soon obtained West Kington,
a benefice in Wiltshire, whither he resolved, as soon as
possible, to repair, and keep a constant residence. His friend
Dr. Butts, surprized at this resolution, did what he could
to dissuade him from it : " You are deserting," said he,
"the fairest opportunities of making your fortune: the prime
minister intends this only as an earnest of his future fa-
vours, and will certainly in time do great things for you :
but it is the manner of courts to consider them as provided
for, who seem to be satisfied ; and, take my word for it, an
absent claimant stands but a poor chance among rivals who
have the advantage of being present.1' Thus the old
courtier advised. But these arguments had no weight. He
wag heartily tired of the court, where he saw much debau-
chery and irreligion, without being able to oppose them ;
and, leaving the palace therefore, entered immediately
upon the duties of his parish. Nor was he satisfied within
those limits; he extended his labours throughout the
county, where he observed the pastoral care most ne-
glected, having for that purpose obtained a general licence
from the university of Cambridge. As his manner of
preaching was very popular in those times, the pulpits every
where were gladly opened for him ; and at Bristol, where
he often preached, he was countenanced by the magis-
trates. But this reputation was too much for the popish
clergy to sulVcr, and their opposition first broke out at
Bristol. The mayor had appointed him to preach there on
Easter-day. Public notice had been given, and all people
were pleased ; when, suddenly, came an order from the
bishop, prohibiting any one to preach there without his
licence. The clergy of the place waited upon Latimer, in-
formed him of the bishop's order ; and, knowing he had no
such licence, were extremely sorry that they were thus
deprived of the pleasure of hearing him. Latimer received
their compliment with a smile; for he had been apprized
of the affair, and knew that these very persons had written
to the bishop against him. Their opposition became after-
wards more public and avowed ; the pulpits were used to
spread invectives against him ; and such liberties were
L A T I M E R. 37
taken with his character, that he thought it necessary to
justify himself. Accordingly, he called upon his maligners
to accuse him publicly before the mayor of Bristol ; and,
with all men of candour, he was justified ; for, when the
parties were convened, and the accusers produced, no-
thing appeared against him ; but the whole accusation
was left to rest upon the uncertain evidence of hearsay
information.
His enemies, however, were not thus silenced. The party
against him became daily stronger, and more inflamed. It
consisted in general of the country priests in those parts,
headed by some divines of more eminence. These persons,
after mature deliberation, drew up articles against him, ex-
tracted chiefly from his sermons ; in which he was charged
with speaking lightly of the worship of saints ; with saying
there was no material fire in hell ; and that he would rather
be in purgatory than in Lollard's tower. This charge being
laid before Stokesley bishop of London, that prelate cited
Latimer to appear before him ; and, when he appealed to
his own ordinary, a citation was obtained out of the arch-
bishop's court, where Stokesley and other bishops were
commissioned to examine him. An archiepiscopal citation
brought him at once to a compliance. His friends would
have had him fly for it; but their persuasions were in vain.
He set out for London in the depth of winter, and under
a severe fit of the stone and cholic ; but he was more dis-
tressed at the thoughts of leaving his parish exposed to
the popish clergy, who would not fail to undo in his ab-
sence what he had hitherto done. On his arrival at Lon-
don, he found a court of bishops and canonists ready to
receive him ; where, instead of being examined, as he ex-
pected, about his sermons, a paper was put into his hands,
which he was ordered to subscribe, declaring his belief in
the efficacy of masses for the souls in purgatory, of prayers
to the dead saints, of pilgrimages to their sepulchres and
reliques, the pope's power to forgive sins, the doctrine of
merit, the seven sacraments, and the worship of images ;
and, when he refused to sign it, the archbishop with a
frown begged he would consider what he did. " We intend
not," says he, " Mr. Latimer, to be hard upon you ; we
dismiss you for the present ; take a copy of the articles,
examine them carefully ; and God grant that, at our next
meeting, we may find each other in a better temper !"
At the next and several succeeding meet ings the same scene
38 L A T I M E R.
was acted over again. He continued inflexible, and they
continued to distress him. Three times every week they
regularly sent for him, with a view either to draw some-
thing from him by captious questions, or to teaze him at
length into compliance. Of one of these examinations he
gives the following account: "1 was brought out," says
he, " to be examined in the same chamber as before ; but
at this time it was somewhat altered : for, whereas before
there was a fire in the chimney, now the fire was taken
away, and an arras hanged over the chimney, and the table
stood near the chimney's end. There was, among these
bishops that examined me, one with whom 1 have been
very familiar, and whom I took for my great friend, an
aged man ; and he sat next the table-end. Then, among
other questions, he put forth one, a very subtle and crafty
one ; and when I should make answer, * I pray you, Mr.
Latimer,' said he, * speak out, I am very thick of hearing,
and there be many that sit far off.' I marvelled at this,
that I was bidden to speak out, and began to misdeem,
and gave an ear to the chimney ; and there I heard a pen
plainly scratching behind the cloth. They had appointed
one there to write all my answers, that I should not start
from them. God was my good Lord, and gave me an-
swers ; I could never else have escaped them." At length
be was tired out with such usage ; and when he was next
summoned, instead of going himself, he sent a letter to
the archbishop, in which, with great freedom, he tells him,
that " the treatment he had of late met with, had fretted
him into such a disorder as rendered him unlit to attend
that day , that, in the mean time, he could not help taking
this opportunity to expostulate with his grace for detaining
him so long from the discharge of his duty ; that it seemed
to him most unaccountable, that they, who never preached
themselves, should hinder others; that, us for their exa-
mination of him, he really could not imagine what they
aimed at; they pretended one thing in the beginning,
and another in the progress ; that, if his sermons were
what gaveofTence, which he persuaded himself were neither
contrary to the truth, nor to any canon of the church, he
was ready to answer whatever might be thought exception-
able in them ; that he wished a little more regard might
be had to the judgment of the people; and that a distinc-
tion might be made between the ordinances of God and
man; that if some abuses in religion did prevail, as was
L A T I M E R. 39
then commonly supposed, he thought preaching was the
best mean's to discountenance them ; that he wished all
pastors might be obliged to perform their duty : but that,
however, liberty might be given to those who were willing;
that, as for the articles proposed to him, he begged to be
excused from subscribing them ; while he lived, he never
would abet superstition : and that, lastly, he hoped the
archbishop would excuse what he had written ; he knew
his duty to his superiors, and would practise it : but, in
that case, he thought a stronger obligation laid upon
him."
What particular effect this letter produced, we are not
informed. The bishops, however, continued their prose-
cution, till their schemes were frustrated by an unexpected
hand ; for the king, being informed, most probably by
lord Cromwell's means, of Latimer's ill-usage, interposed
in his behalf, and rescued him out of their hands. A figure
of so much simplicity, and such an apostolic appearance as
his at court, did not fail to strike Anne Boleyn, who men-
tioned him to her friends, as a person, in her opinion,
well qualified to forward the Reformation, the principles
of which she had imbibed from her youth. Cromwell
raised our preacher still higher in her esteem ; and they
both joined in an earnest recommendation of him for a
bishopric to the king, who did not want much solicitation
in his favour. It happened, that the sees of Worcester
and Salisbury were at that time vacant, by the deprivation
of Ghinuccii and Campegio, two Italian bishops, who fell
under the king's displeasure, upon his rupture with Rome.
The former of these was o He red to Latimer ; and, as this
promotion came unexpectedly to him, he looked upon it
as the work of Providence, and accepted it without much
persuasion. Indeed, he bad met with such usage already,
as a private clergyman, and saw before him so hazardous a
prospect iu his old station, that he thought it necessary,
both for his own safety, and for the sake of being of more
service to the world, to shroud himself under a little more
temporal power. All historians mention him as a person re-
markably zealous in the discharge of his new office; and
tell us, that, in overlooking the clergy of his diocese,
he was uncommonly active, warm, and resolute, and pre-
sided in his ecclesiastical court in the same spirit. In
visiting he was frequent and observant: in ordaining strict
and wary : in preaching indefatigable : in reproving and
40 L A T I M E R.
I
exhorting severe and persuasive. Thus far he could act
with authority ; but in other things he found himself under
difficulties. The popish ceremonies gave him great offence:
et he neither durst, in times so dangerous and unsettled,
ay them entirely aside ; nor, on the other hand, was he
willing entirely to retain them. In this dilemma his address
was admirable : he inquired into their origin ; and when he
found any of them derived from a good meaning, he incul-
cated their original, though itself a corruption, in the room
of a more corrupt practice. Thus he put the people in
mind, when holy bread and water were distributed, that
these elements, which had long been thought endowed with
a kind of magical influence, were nothing more than appen-
dages to the two sacraments of the Lord's-supper and bap-
tism : the former, he said, reminded us of Christ's death ;
and the latter was only a simple representation of being pu-
rified from sin. By thus reducing popery to its principles,
he improved, in some measure, a bad stock, by lopping
from it a few fruitless excrescences.
While his endeavours to reform were thus confined to
his diocese, he was called upon to exert them in a more
public 'manner, by a summons to parliament and convoca-
tion in 1536. This session was thought a crisis by the
Protestant party, at the head of which stood the lord
Cromwell, whose favour with the king was now in its me-
ridian. Next to him in power was Cranmer archbishop
of Canterbury, after whom the bishop of Worcester was
the most considerable man of the party ; to whom were
added the bishops of Ely, Rochester, Hereford, Salisbury,
and St. David's. On the other hand, the popish party was
headed by Lee archbishop of York, Gardiner, Stokesley,
and Tunstal, bishops of Winchester, London, and Dur-
ham. The convocation was opened as usual by a sermon,
or rather an oration, spoken, at the appointment of Cran-
mer, by the bishop of Worcester, whose eloquence was at
this time everywhere famous. Many warm debates passed
in this assembly ; the result of which was, that four sacra-
ments out of the seven were concluded to be insignificant :
but, as the bishop of Worcester made no figure in them,
for debating was not his talent, it is beside our purpose to
enter into a detail of what was done in it. Many altera-
tions were made in favour of the reformation ; and, a few
months after, the Bible was translated into English, and
recommended to general perusal in October 1537.
L A T I M E R. 41
In the mean time the bishop of Worcester, highly satis-
fied with the prospect of the times, repaired to his diocese,
having made a longer stay in London than was absolutely
necessary. He had no talents for state affairs, and there-
fore meddled not with them. It is upon that account that
bishop Burnet speaks very slightingly of his public charac-
ter at this time, but it is certain that Larimer never desired
to appear in any public character at all. His whole am-
bition was to discharge the pastoral functions of a bishop,
neither aiming to display the abilities of a statesman, nor
those of a courtier. How very unqualified he was to sup-
port the latter of these characters, will sufficiently appear
from the following story. It was the custom in those days
for the bishops to make presents to the king on New-year's-
day, and many of them would present very liberally, pro- .
portioning their gifts to their expectations. Among the
rest, the bishop of Worcester, being at this time in town,
waited upon the king with his offering ; but instead of a
purse of gold, which was the common oblation, he pre-
sented a New Testament, with a leaf doubled down, in a
very conspicuous manner, to this passage, " Whoremon-
gers and adulterers God will judge."
Henry VIII. made so little use of his judgment, that his
whole reign was one continued rotation of violent passions,
which rendered him a mere machine in the hands of his
ministers ; and he among them who could make the most
artful address to the passion of the day, carried his point.
Gardiner, bishop of Winchester, was just returned from
Germany, having successfully negotiated some commis-
sions which the king had greatly at heart ; and, in 1539,
a parliament was called, to confirm the seizure and sur-
rendry of the monasteries, when that subtle minister took
his opportunity, and succeeded in prevailing upon his ma-
jesty to do something, towards restoring the old religion,
as being most advantageous for his views in the present
situation of Europe. In this state of affairs, Latimer re-
ceived his summons to parliament, and, soon after his ar-
rival in town, he was accused of preaching a seditious
sermon. The sermon was preached at court, and the
preacher, according to his custom, had been unquestion-
ably severe enough against whatever he observed amiss.
The king had called together several bishops, with a view
to consult them upon some points of religion. When they
had all given their opinions, and were about to be dis-
42 L A T I M E R.
missed, the bishop of Winchester (for it was most probably
be) kneeled down and accused the bishop of Worcester as
above-mentioned. The bishop being called upon by the
king with some sternness, to vindicate himself, was so far
from denying or even palliating what he said, that he
boldly justified it; and turning to the king, with that
noble unconcern which a good conscience inspires, made
this answer : " I never thought myself worthy, nor I never
sued to be a preacher before your grace ; but I was called to
it, and would be willing, if you mislike it, to give place
to my betters ; for I grant there may be a great many more
worthy of the room than I am. And if it be your grace's
pleasure to allow them for preachers, I could be content to
bear their books after them. But if your grace allow me
for a preacher, I would desire you to give me leave to dis-
charge my conscience, and to frame my doctrine according
to my audience. I bad been a very dolt indeed, to have
preached so at the borders of your realm, as I preach be-
fore your grace." This answer baffled his accuser's malice,
the severity of the king's conscience changed into a gra-
cious smile, and the bishop was dismissed with that oblig-
ing freedom which this monarch never used but to those
whom he esteemed. In this parliament passed the famous
act, as it was called, of the six articles*, which was no
sooner published than it gave an universal alarm to all the
favourers of the reformation ; and, as the bishop of Wor-
cester could not give his vote for the act, he thought it
wrong to hold any office. He therefore resigned his bi-
shopric t, and retired into the country; where he resided
during the heat of that persecution which followed upon
this act, and thought of nothing for the remainder of his
days but a sequestered life. He knew the storm which was
up could not soon be appeased, and he had no inclination
to trust himself in it. But, in the midtt of his security,
an unhappy accident carried him again into the tempestu-
* These articles were, 1. In the sa- f It is related of him, that when he
crament of the altar, after the conse- came from the parliament-house to his
cration there remains no substance of lodgings, he threw off his robe* ; and,
bread and wine, but the natural body leaping up, declared to those about
and blood of Christ. 2. Vows of chas- him, that he found himself lighter than
tity ought to be observed. 3. The use ever he found himself before. The
of private masses ought to be continued, story is not unlikely, as it is much in
4. Communion in both kinds is not ne- character: a vein of pleasantry and
cessary. b. I'rii-sts must not marry, good humour accompanying the mo«'
6. Auricular confession is to be re- serious actions of his life,
uiued in the church.
LATIMER. 43
ous weather that was abroad : he received a bruise by the
fall of a tree, and the contusion was so dangerous, that he
was obliged to seek out for better assistance than the coun-
try afforded. With this view he repaired to London,
where he had the misfortune to see the fall of his patron,
the lord Cromwell ; a loss of which he was soon made sen-
sible. Gardiner's emissaries quickly found him out; and
something, that somebody had somewhere heard him say
against the six articles, being alleged against him, he was
sent tp the Tower, where, without any judicial examina-
tion, he suffered, through one pretence or another, a
cruel imprisonment for the remaining six years of king
Henry's reign.
Immediately upon the accession of Edward VI. he and
all others who were imprisoned in the same cause, were
set at liberty ; and Latimer, whose old friends were now
in power, was received by them with every mark of affec-
tion. He would have found no difficulty in dispossessing
Heath, in every respect an insignificant man, who had
succeeded to his bishopric : but he had other sentiments,
and would neither make suit himself, nor suffer his friends
to make any, for his restoration. However, this was done
by the parliament, who, after settling the national con-
cerns, sent up an address to the protector to restore him :
and the protector was very well inclined, and proposed
the resumption to Latimer as a point which he had very
much at heart; but LatinYer persevered in the negative,
alleging his great age, and the claim he had from thence
to a private life. Having thus rid himself of all incum-
brance, he accepted an invitation from Cranmer, and took
up his residence at Lambeth, where he led a very retired
life, being chiefly employed in hearing the complaints and
redressing the injuries, of the poor people. And, indeed,
his character for services of this kind was so universally
known, that strangers from every part of England would
resort to him, so that he had as crowded a levee as a mi-
nister of state. In these employments he spent more than
two years, interfering as little as possible in any public
transaction ; only he assisted the archbishop in composing
the homilies, which were set forth by authority in the first
year of king Edward ; he was also appointed to preach the
Lent sermons before his majesty, which office he performed
during the first three years of his reign*. As to his ser-
* We are informed by Dr. Heylin, that the pulpit was removed out of the .
that such crowds went to hear Latimer, Royal chapel imo the Privy -garden.
44 LATIMER.
mons, which are still extant, they are, indeed, far enough
from being exact pieces of composition : yet, his simpli-
city and familiarity, his humour and gihing drollery, were
well adapted to the times; and his oratory, according to
the mode of eloquence at that day, was exceedingly popu-
lar. His action and manner of preaching too were very
affecting, for he spoke immediately from his heart His
abilities, however, as an orator, made only the inferior
part of his character as a preacher. What particularly re-
commends him is, that noble and apostolic zeal whi^h he
exerts in the cause of truth.
But in the discharge of this duty a slander passed upon
bim, which, being recorded by a low historian of those
days, has found its way into ours. It is even recorded as
credible by Milton, who suffered his zeal against episco-
pacy, in more instances than this, to bias his veracity, or
at best to impose upon his understanding. It is said that
after the lord high admiral's attainder and execution, which
happened about this time, he publicly defended his death
in a sermon before the king ; that he aspersed his charac-
ter ; and that he did it merely to pay a servile compliment
to the protector. The first part of this charge is true; but
the second and third are false. As to his aspersing the ad-
miral's character, his character was so bad, there was no
room for aspersion ; his treasonable practices too were no-
torious, and though the proceeding against him by a bill
in parliament, according to the custom of these times, may
be deemed inequitable, yet he paid no more than a due
forfeit to the laxvs of his country. However, his death oc-
casioned great clamour, and was made use of by the lords
of the opposition (for he left a very dissatisfied party be-
hind him), as an handle to raise a popular odium against
the protector, for whom Latimer had always a high esteem.
He was mortified therefore to see so invidious and base an
opposition thwarting the schemes of so public-spirited a
man ; and endeavoured to lessen the odium, by shewing
the admiral's character in its true light, from some anec-
dotes not commonly known. This notice of lord Seymour,
which was in Latimer' s fourth sermon before king Edward,
is to be found only in the earlier editions.
Upon the revolution which happened at court after the
death of the duke of Somerset, Latimer seems to have retired
into the country, and made use of the king's licence as a
general preacher in those parts where he thought his labours
LATIMER. 45
might be most serviceable. He was thus employed during
the remainder of that reign, and continued in the same course,
for a short time, in the beginning of the next ; but, as soon as
the introduction of popery was resolved on, the first step to-
wards it was the prohibition of all preaching throughout the
kingdom, and a licensing only of such as were known to be
popishly inclined : accordingly, a strict inquiry was made
after the more forward and popular preachers; and many
of them were taken into custody. The bishop of Win-
chester, who was now prime minister, having proscribed
Latimer from the first, sent a message to cite him before
the council. He had notice of this design some hours be-
fore the messenger's arrival, but made no use of the intel-
ligence. The messenger found him equipped for his jour-
ney ; at which expressing surprize, Latimer told him that
he was as ready to attend him to London, thus called upon to
answer for his faith, as he ever was to take any journey in
his life ; and that he doubted not but God, who had en- -
abled him to stand before two princes, would enable him to
stand before a third. The messenger, then acquainting
him that he had no orders to seize his person, delivered a
letter, and departed. Latimer, however, opening the letter,
and finding it contain a citation from the council, resolved
to obey it. He set out therefore immediately ; and, as he
passed through Smithfield, where heretics were usually
burnt, he said cheerfully, " This place hath long groaned
for me." The next morning he waited upon the council,
who, having loaded him with many severe reproaches, sent
him to the Tower. This was his second visit to this prison,
but now he met with harsher treatment, and had more fre-
quent occasion to exercise his resignation, which virtue no
man possessed in a larger measure ; nor did the usual cheer-
fulness of his disposition forsake him. A servant leaving
his apartment one day, Latimer called after him, and bid
him tell his master, that unless he took better care of him,
he would certainly escape him. Upon this message the
lieutenant, with some discomposure of countenance, came
to Latimer, and desired an explanation. " Why, you ex-
pect, I suppose, sir," replied Latimerj " that I should be
burnt ; but if you do not allow me a little fire this frosty
weather, I can tell you, I shall first be starved." Cran-
mer and Ridley were also prisoners in the same cause with
Latimer ; and when it was resolved to have a public dis-
putation at Oxford, between the most eminent of the popish
46 L A T I M E R.
and protestant divines, these three were appointed to ma-
nage the dispute on the part of the protestants. Accord-
ingly they were taken out of the Tower, and sent to Oxford,
where they were closely confined in the common prison,
and might easily imagine how free the disputation was
likely to be, when they found themselves denied the use
even of books, and pen and ink.
Fox has preserved a conference, afterwards put into
writing, which was held at this time between Ridley and
Latimer, and which sets our author's temper in a strong
light. The two bishops are represented sitting in their
prison, ruminating upon the solemn preparations then
making for their trial, of which, probably, they were now
first informed. " The time," said Ridley, " is now come ;
we are now called npon, either to deny our faith, or to
suffer death in its defence. You, Mr. Latimer, are an old
soldier of Christ, and have frequently withstood the fear of
death ; whereas I am raw in the service, and unexpe-
rienced." With this preface he introduces a request that
Latimer, whom he calls " his father," would hear him
propose such arguments as he thinks it most likely his ad-
versaries would urge against him, and assist him in pro-
viding proper answers to them. To this Latimer, in his
usual strain of good humour, replied that " he fancied the
good bishop was treating him as he remembered Mr. Bil-
ney used formerly to do ; who, when he wanted to teach
him, would always do it under colour of being taught him-
self. But in the present case," said he, " my lord, I am
determined to give them very little trouble : I shall just
offer them a plain account of my faith, and shall say very
little more ; for I know any thing more will be to no
purpose: they talk of a free disputation, but I am well
assured their grand argument will be, as it once was their
forefathers, * We have a law, and by our law ye ought to
die.' Bishop Ridley having afterwards desired his prayers,
that he might trust wholly upon God : " Of my prayers,"
replied the old bishop, " you may be well assured ; nor
do J doubt but I shall have yours in return, and indeed
prayer and patience should he our great resources. For
myself, had I the learning of St. Paul, I should think it
ill laid out upon an elaborate defence ; yet our case, my
lord, admits of comfort. Our enemies can do no more
than God permits ; and God is faithful, who will not suf-
fer us to be tempted above our strength. Be at a point
L A T I M E R. 47
with them ; stand to that, and let them say and do what
they please. To use many words would be vain ; yet it is
requisite to give a reasonable account of your faith, if they
will quietly hear you. For other things, in a wicked judg-
ment-hall, a man may keep silence after the example of
Christ," &c. Agreeably to this fortitude, Latimer con-
ducted himself throughout the dispute, answering their
questions as far as civility required ; and in these answers
it is observable he managed the argument much better than
either Ridley or Cranmer; who, when they were pressed
in defence of transubstantiation, with some passages from
the fathers, instead of disavowing an insufficient authority,
weakly defended a good cause by evasions and distinctions,
after the manner of schoolmen. Whereas, when the same
proofs were multiplied upon Latimer, he told them plainly
that " such proofs had no weight with him ; that the fa-
thers, no doubt, were often deceived; and that he never
depended upon them but when they depended upon Scrip-
ture." " Then you are not of St. Chrysostom's faith,"
replied they, " nor of St. Austin's ?" " I have told you,"
says Latimer, " I am not, except they bring Scripture
for what they say." The dispute being ended, sentence
was passed upon him ; and he and Ridley were burnt at
Oxford, on Oct. 16, 1555. When they were brought to
the fire, on a spot of ground on the north side of Baliol-
college, and, after a suitable sermon, were told by an
officer that they might now make ready for the stake, they
supported each other's constancy by mutual exhortations.
Latimer, when tied to the stake, called to his companion,
" Be of good cheer, brother; we shall this day kindle such
a torch in England, as I trust in God shall never be ex-
tinguished."— The executioners had been so merciful (for
that clemency may more naturally be ascribed to them than
to the religious zealots) as to tie bags of gunpowder about
these prelates, in order to put a speedy period to their
tortures. The explosion killed Latimer immediately ; but
Ridley continued alive during some time, in the midst of
the flames. — Such was the life of Hugh Latimer, one of
the leaders of that glorious army of martyrs, who intro-
duced the reformation in England. He was not esteemed
a very learned man, for he cultivated only useful learning;
and that, he thought, lay in a very narrow compass. He
never engaged in worldly affairs, thinking that a clergy-
man ought to employ himself in his profession only ; and
48 L A T I M E R.
his talents, temper, and disposition, were admirably
adapted to render the most important services to the re-
formation.
Latimer's " Sermons'* appear to have been printed se-
parately at first ; but a collection was published in 1549,
Svo, and a larger afterwards in 4to, has often been re-
printed. They contain in a quaint and familiar style,
more ample materials for a history of the manners and
morals of the time, than any volume we are acquainted
with of that period ; and the number of anecdotes he
brought forward to illustrate his subjects, must have con-
tributed greatly to his popularity.1
LATIMElt (WILLIAM), one of the revivers of classical
learning in England, was educated at Oxford, and became
fellow of All-Souls' college, in 1489. Afterwards travelling
into Italy, which was then the resort of those who wished
to extend their studies, he remained for some time afc
Padua, where he improved himself very much, especially
in the Greek language. On his return to England, he
was incorporated M. A. at Oxford, Nov. 18, 1513. Soon
afterwards he became tutor to Reginald Pole, afterwards
the celebrated cardinal, by whose interest, it is thought,
he obtained the rectories of Saintbury and Weston-under-
Edge, in Gloucestershire, and a prebend of Salisbury.
He had also the honour of being one of those who taught
Erasmus Greek at Oxford, and assisted him in the second
edition of his New Testament. He died very old, about
Sept. 1545 ; and was buried in the chancel of his church
at Saintbury. He was reckoned one of the greatest men
of his age, and with Colet, Lily, and Grocyn, contributed
much to establish a taste for the Greek language. Eras-
mus styles him an excellent divine, conspicuous for in-
tegrity and modesty ; and Leland celebrates his eloquence,
judgment, piety, and generosity. Of his writings there is
nothing extant, but a few letters to Erasmus.9
LATINI (BRUNETTO), an eminent grammarian of Flo-
rence, in the thirteenth century, was of a noble family in
that city, and during the party contests between the
Guelphs and Ghibelins, took part with the former. When
the Ghibelins had obtained assistance from Mainfroy, king
* Life by Gilpin, and by Fox, in Wordsworth's Eccl. Biography, to which we
irfer on account of the valuable notei.— Bumet's Hist, of the Reformation.—
Collier's Ch. Hist
8 Ath. Ox. vol. I.— Jortin's Erasmus.— Knight's ditto.
LATIN.!. 49
of-Sicily, the Guelphs sent Bninetto to obtain similar aid
from Alphonso king of Castillo; but on his return, hearing
that the Ghibelins had defeated his party and got posses-
sion of Florence, he fled to France, where he resided
several years. At length he was enabled to return to his
own country, in which he was appointed to some honour-
able offices. He died in 1294. The historian Villani at-
tributes to him the merit of having first introduced a de-
gree of refinement among his countrymen, and of having
reformed their language, and the general conduct of public
affairs. The work which has contributed most to his ce-
lebrity, was one which he entitled " Tresor," and wrote
when in France, and in the French language, which he
says he chose because it was the most agreeable language
and the most common in Europe. This work is a kind of
abridgment of the Bible, of Pliny the naturalist, Solinus,
and other writers who have treated on different sciences,
and may be called an Encyclopaedia of the knowledge of
his time. It was translated into Italian about the same
period, and this translation only was printed; but there
are about a dozen transcripts of the original in the royal
library at Paris, and there is a fine MS. of it in the Vati-
can, bound in crimson velvet, with manuscript notes, by
Petrarch. After his return to Florence, Latini wrote his
u Tesoretto," or little treasure, which, however, is not
as some have reported, an abridgment of the " Tresor,"
but a collection of moral precepts in verse. He also
translated into the Italian language part of Cicero '* de Iri-
ventione." His greatest honour seems to have been that
he was the tutor of Dante, not however in poetry, for his
" Tesoretto" affords no ground to consider him as a master
of that art.1
LATIN US (LATINIUS), one of the most learned critics
of the sixteenth century, was born about 1513, at Viterbo.
He acquired an extensive knowledge of the belles lettres
and sciences, and was chosen with the other learned men,
in 1573, to correct Gratian's "Decretal," in which great
work he took much pains. He died January 21, 1593, at
Rome. Latinus left notes on Tertullian, and a very learned
book, entitled " Bibliotheca sacra et profana, sive Observa-
tiones,correctiones, conjecturae et variaeLectiones," 1 6 77,fol.8
> Tirahoschi — Crescembini. — Ginjjaent Hist. Lit. D'ltalie.
3 Saxii Onoraust. — Diet. Hist.
VOL. XX. E
50 L A T O M E.
LATOME, or LATOMUS (JAMES), a learned scholastib
divine of the sixteenth century, a native of Gambron, in
Hainault, doctor of Louvain, and canon of St. Peter's in
the same city, wrote against Luther, and was esteemed by
his party one of the best controversialists of his time. He
died 1544. All his works were collected and published,
1550, fol. by his nephew, James Latomus, who died 1596.
They are in Latin, and consist of " Treatises on the
Church," the " Pope's Primacy," aud " Auricular Con-
fession ;" a*' Defence of the Articles of Louvain ;" a tract
" On the study of Divinity, and of the three Languages,"
in which he defends scholastic divinity. Erasmus having
refuted this work, Latomus answered him by an Apology.
He wrote Latin with facility, but without elegance, 'and
neither understood Greek nor Hebrew. Luther's confu-
tation of Latomus's defence of the articles of Louvain is
accounted one of the ablest productions of that eminent
reformer.1
L' ATTAIGNANT.— See ATTAIGNANT.
LAUD (WILLIAM), archbishop of Canterbury, was son
of William Laud, a clothier of Heading, in Berkshire, by
Lucy his wife, widow of John Robinson, of the same place,
and sister to sir William Webbe, afterwards lord-mayor of
London, in 1591. His father died in 1594, leaving his
son, after his mother's decease, the house which he inha-
bited in Broad-street, and two others in Swallowfield ;
1200/. in money, and the stock in trade. The widow was
to have the interest of half the estate during her life. She
died in 1600. These circumstances, although in them-
selves of little importance, it is necessary to mention as a
contradiction to the assertion of Prynne, that he was of
poor and obscure parents, which was repeated by lord
Say, in the house of peers. He was born at Reading,
Oct. 7, 1573, and educated at thex free-school there, till
July 1589 ; when, removing to St. John's college, in Ox-
ford, he became a scholar of the house in 1590, and fellow
in 159S. He took the degree of A. B. in 1594, and that
of master in 1598. He was this year chosen grammar-
lecturer; and being ordained priest in 1601, read, the
following year, a divinity-lecture in his college, which
was then supported by Mrs. Maye. In some of these
chapel exercises he maintained against the puritans, the
1 Dup'm.— Moicri.
LAUD. 51
perpetual visibility of the church of Rome till the reforma-
tion ; by which he incurred the displeasure of Dr. Abbot,
then vice-chancellor of the university, who maintained that
the visibility of the church of Christ might be deduced
through other channels to. the time of that reformation.
In 1603, Laud was one of the proctors; and the same
year became- chaplain to Charles Blonnt, earl of Devon-
shire, whom he inconsiderately married, Dec. 26, 1605, to
Penelope, then wife of Robert lord Rich; an affair that
exposed him afterwards to much censure, and created him
great uneasiness; in reality, it made so deep an impres-
sion upon him, that he ever after kept that day as a day of
fasting and humiliation*.
He proceeded B. D. July 6, 1604. In his exercise for
this degree, he maintained these two points : the neces-
sity of baptism ; and that t^£re could be no true church
without diocesan bishops. These were levelled also against
the puritans, and he was rallied by the divinity-professor.
He likewise gave farther offence to the Calvinists, by a
sermon preached before the university in 1606; and we
are told it was made heresy for any to be seen in his com-
pany, and a misprision of heresy to give him a civil salu-
tation ; his learning, parts, and principles, however, pro-
cured him some friends. His first preferment was the vi-
carage of Stanford, in Northamptonshire, in 1607; and
in 1608 he obtained the advowson of North Kilworth, in
Leicestershire. He was no sooner invested in these livings,
but he put the parsonage- houses in good repair, and gave
twelve poor people a constant allowance out of them,
which was his constant practice in all his subsequent pre-
ferments. This same year he commenced D. D. and was
made chaplain to Neile, bishop of Rochester ; and preached
his first sermon before king James, at Theobalds, Sept.
17, 1609. In order to be near his patron, he exchanged
North Kilworth for the rectory of West Tilbury, in Essex,
into which he was inducted in 1609. The following year,
the bishop gave him the living of Cuckstone, in Kent, on
which he resigned his fellowship, left Oxford, and settled
at Cuckstone ; but the un-healthiness of that place having
thrown him into an ague, he exchanged it soon after for
Norton, a benefice of less value, but in a better air.
* She was divorced by the eeclesi- in the opinion, that in case of a di-
astical judge for adultery ; and Laud vorce, both the innocent and guilty
yielded to the instances of his patron may lawfully re-marry.
K 2
52 LAUD,
In Deo. 1610, Dr. Bnckeridge, president of St. John's,
being promoted to the see of Rochester, Abbot, newly
made archbishop of Canterbury, who had disliked Laud's
principles at Oxford, complained of him to the lord-chan-
cellor Ellesmere, chancellor of the university ; alledging
that he was cordially addicted to popery. The complaint
was supposed to be made, in order to prevent his suc-
ceeding Buckeridge in the presidentship of his college ;
and the lord-chancellor carrying it to the king, all his
credit, interest, and advancement, would probably have
been destroyed thereby, had not his firm friend bishop
Neile contradicted the reports to his discredit. He was
therefore elected president May 10, 1611, though then
sick in London, and unable either to make interest in per-
son or by writing to his friends ; and the king not only
con finned his election, after a hearing of three hours at
Tichbonrn, but as a farther token of his favour, made him
one of his chaplains, upon the recommendation of bishop
Neile. Laud having thus attained a footing at court, flat-
tered himself with hopes of great and immediate prefer-
ment; but abp. Abbot always opposing applications in his
behalf, after three years fruitless waiting, he was upon
the point of leaving the court, and retiring wholly to his
college, when his friend and patron Neile, newly trans-
lated to Lincoln, prevailed with him to stay one year
longer, and in the mean time gave him the prebend of Bug-
den, in the church of Lincoln, in 16 14; and the archdea-
conry of Huntingdon the following year.
Upon the lord-chancellor Kllesmere's decline, in 1610,
Laud s interest began to rise at court, so that, in Novem-
ber that year, the king gave him the deanery of Glouces-
ter ; and as a farther instance of his heing in favour, he
was selected to attend the king in his journey to Scotland,
in 1617. Some royal directions were by his procurement
sent to Oxford, for the better government of the univer-
sity, before he set out on that journey, the design of
which was to bring the church of Scotland to an uniformity
with that of England ; a favourite scheme of Laud and
other divines : but the Scotch were resolute in their ad-
herence to the presbyterian form of church government,
and the only fruit of this expensive journey was, that the
king found his commands nugatory, and his authority con-
temned.
LAUD. *3
«
Laud, however, seems to have advanced in favour with
his majesty, for on his return from Scotland, Aug. 2, 1617,
he was inducted to the rectory of Ibstock, in Leicester-
shire; and Jan. 22, 1620-1, installed into a prebend of
Westminster. About the same time, there was a general
expectation at court, that the deanery of that church would
have been conferred upon him ; but Dr. Williams, then
dean, wanting to keep it in commendam with the bishopric
.of Lincoln, to which he was promoted^ procured that Laud
should be promoted to the bishopric of St. David's. The
day before his consecration, he resigned the presidentship
of St. John's, in obedience to the college-statute ; but was
permitted to keep his prebend of Westminster in corri-
mendam, through the lord-keeper Williams's interest,
who, about a year after, gave him a living of about 120/.
a year, in the diocese of St. David's, to help his revenue ;
and in January 1620, the king gave him also the rectory
of Creeke, in Northamptonshire. The preachers of those
times introducing in their sermons discussions on the doc-
trines of predestination and election, and even the royal
prerogative, the king published, August 1622, directions
concerning preachers and preaching, in which L;iud was
said to have a hand, and which, being aimed at the pu-
ritans and lecturers, occasioned great clamour among
them, and was one of the first causes of Laud's unpopu-
larity. This year also, our prelate held his famous con-
ference with Fisher the Jesuit, before the marquis of
Buckingham and his mother, in order to confirm them
both in the protestant religion, in which they were then
wavering. The conference was printed in 1624, and pro-
duced an intimate acquaintance between him and the mar-
quis, whose special favourite he became at this time, and
,to whom he is charged with making himself too subser-
vient ; the proof of which is said to be, that Buckingham
left him his agent at court, when he went with the prince
to Madrid, and frequently corresponded with him.
About Oct. 1623, the lord-keeper Williams's jealousy
of Laud, as a rival in the duke of Buckingham's favour,
and other misunderstandings or misrepresentations on both
sides, occasioned such animosity between these two pre-
lates as was attended with the worst consequences. Arch-
bishop Abbot also, resolving to depress Laud as long as he
could, left him out of the high commission, of which he com-
plained to the duke of Buckingham, Nov. 1C24, and then
54 LAUD.
was put into the commission. Yet he was not so attached
to Buckingham, as not to oppose the design, formed by
that nobleman, of appropriating the endowment of the
Charter-house to the maintenance of an army, under pre-
tence of its being for the king's advantage and the ease of
the subject. In December this year, he presented to the
duke a tract, drawn up at his request, under ten heads,
concerning doctrinal puritanism. He corresponded also
with him, during his absence in France, respecting Charles
the First's marriage with the princess Henrietta-Maria ;
and that prince, soon after his accession to the throne,,
wanting to regulate the number of his chaplains, and to
know the principles and qualifications of the most eminent
divines in his kingdom, our bishop was ordered to draw a
list of them, which he distinguished by the letter O for
orthodox, and P for puritans. At Charles's coronation,
Feb. 2, 1625-6, he officiated as dean of Westminster, in
the room of Williams, then in disgrace ; and has been
charged, although unjustly, with altering the coronation-
oath*. In 1626 he was translated from St. David's to
Bath and Wells ; and in 1628 to London. The king having
appointed him dean of his chapel-royal, in 1626, and
taken him into the privy-council in 1627, he was likewise
in the commission for exercising archiepiscopal jurisdiction
during Abbot's sequestration. In the third parliament of
king Charles, which met March' 17, 1627, he was voted
a favourer of the Arminians, and one justly suspected to
be unsound in his opinions that >vay ; accordingly, his
name was inserted as such in the Commons' remonstrance ;
and, because he was thought to be the writer of the king's
speeches, and of the duke of Buckingham's answer to his
impeachment, &c. these suspicions so exposed him to po-
pular rage, that his life was threatened f. About the same
* The alteration was taid to be James I. and king Charles compared,
this : in that part where the king swears which were found to agree.
•' to maintain the law*," he" added
" so far forth a* it stands with the pre- f A paper was found in the dean's
rogative;" or, as it appears in Whar- yard of St. Paul's to tuigeffect: "Laud,
ton's preface, " saving the king's pre- look to thyself; be assured thy life is
rogalive royal." This accusation was sought. As thou art the fountain of
renewed by lord chief baron Atkynr, all wickednes.*, repent thee of thy mon-
in his speech to the lord mayor, Dot. strous sins before thou be taken out of
1693, with a hint that archbisiop San- the world, &c. And assure thyself
croft had struck out much more from neither God cor the world can cndurt
the coronation-oath of James II. Laud such a rile counsellor, or such a whis-
vindicated himself at his triaJ, by liar- perer;" or to thii effect. Laud's
ing the books of the coronation of king Diary, p. 44.
LAUD. 55
time, he was put into an ungracious office ; namely, in a
commission for raising money by impositions, which the
Commons called excises ; but it seems never to have been
executed.
Amidst all these employments, his care was often exerted
towards the place of his education, the university of Ox-
ford. In order to rectify the factious and tumultuary man-
ner of electing proctors, he fixed them to the several col-
leges by rotation, and caused to be put into order the jar-
ring and imperfect statutes of that university, which had
lain confused some hundreds of years. In April 1630 he
was elected their chancellor ; and he made it his business,
thy rest of his life, to adorn the university with buildings,
and to enrich it with books and MSS. In the first design
he began with his own 'college, St. John's, where he built
the inner quadrangle (except part of the south side of it,
which was the old library) in a solid and elegant manner :
the first stone of this design was laid in 1631. He also
erected that elegant pile of building at the west-end of the
divinity-schooL known by the name of the convocation-
house below, and Selclen's library above * ; and gave
the university, at several' times, 1300 MSS. in Hebrew,
Syriac, Chaldee, Egyptian, Ethiopian, Armenian, Arabic,
Persian, Turkish, Russian, Chinese, Japanese, Greek, La-
tin, Italian, French, Saxon, English, and Irish ; an inva-
luable collection, procured at a prodigious expence.
After the duke of Buckingham's murder, Laud became
chief favourite to Charles I. which augmented indeed his
power and interest, but at the same time increased that
envy and jealousy, already too strong, which at length
proved fatal to him. Upon the decline of archbishop Ab-
bot's health and favour at court, Laud's concurrence in the
very severe prosecutions carried on in the high-commission
and star-chamber courts, against preachers and writers,
did him great prejudice with most people. Among these,
however, it has been remarked that his prosecution of the
king's printers, for leaving out the word " not," in the
seventh commandment, cpuld be liable to no just ob-
jection. On May 13, 1633, he left London to attend
* He bait also projected to cleartlie vocations and congregations, the lower
jtreatstjuare betweenSt. Mafy'schurch for a walk or place of conference, &c.
au(i ihf schools, where now stands tbe But, tjie owners of the houses not being
RadcliilV-library. His design was to willing to part with them, the design
rai-i- A (air and spacious room upon was frutt rated, Heylin, p. 379.
pillars, the upper part to serve for Con-
3tJ LA U D.
the king, who was about to set out for his coronation in
Scotland, and was sworn a privy-counsellor of that king-
dom, June 15, and, on the 26th, came back to Fulham.
During his stay in Scotland he formed a resolution of
bringing that cnurch to a conformity with the church of
Englan I ; but the king committed the framing of a liturgy
to a select number of Scottish bishops, who, inserting se-
veral variations from the English liturgy, were opposed
strenuously but unsuccessfully, by Laud. Having endea-
voured to supplant Abbot, " whom," as Fuller observes
in his Church History, " he could not be contented to
succeed," upon his death in August this year,' he was
appointed his successor. That very morning, August 4,
there came one to him at Greenwich, with a serious offer
(and an avowed ability to perform it) of a cardinal's hat ;
which offer was repeated on the 17th ; but his answer both
times was, " that somewhat dwelt within him which would
not suffer that till Home were other than it is." On Sept.
14 he was elected chancellor of the university of Dublin.
One of his first acts, after his advancement to the arch-
bishopric, was an injunction, October 18, pursuant to the
king's letter, that no clergyman should be ordained priest
without a title. At the same time came out the king's de-
claration about lawful sports on Sundays, which Laud was
charged with having revived and enlarged ; and that, with
the vexatious persecutions of such clergymen as refused to
read it in their churches, brought a great odium upon him.
It was in vain that he pleaded precedents in foreign
churches ; and perhaps no act of this unhappy reign gave a
more violent shock to the loyalty of the people, which
Laud, unfortunately, seldom consulted. Soon after he yet
farther interfered with popular prejudices." During a me-
tropoliticul visitation, by his vicar-general, among other
regulations, the church-wardens in every parish were en-
joined to remove the communion-table from the middle to
the east end of the chancel, altar-wise, the ground being
raised for that purpose, and to fence it in with decent rails,
to avoid profaneness ; and the refusers were prosecuted in
the high-commission or star-chamber courts. In this visi-
tation, the Dutch and Walloon congregations were sum-
moned to appear; and such as were born in England en-
joined to repair to the several parish-churches where they
inhabited, to hear divine service and sermons, and perform
all duties and payments required on that behalf; and those
L A U D. 57
of them, ministers and others, that were aliens born, to use
the English liturgy translated into French or Dutch ; but
many of these, rather than comply, chose to leave the king-
dom, to the great detriment of our manufactures.
* O .
In 1634 our archbishop did the poor Irish clergy a very
important service, by obtaining for them, from the king, a
grant of all the impropriations then remaining in the crown.
He also improved and settled the revenues of the London
clergy in a better manner than before. On Feb. 5, 1634-5,
he was put into the great committee of trade, and the
king's revenue, and appointed one of the commissioners of
the treasury, March the 4th, upon the death of Weston
earl of Portland. Besides this, he was, tvVo days after,
called into the foreign committee, and had likewise the
sole disposal of whatsoever concerned the church ; but he
fell into warm disputes with the lord^Cottington, chancellor
of the exchequer, who took all opportunities of imposing
upon him *. After having continued for a year commis-
sioner of the treasury, and acquainted himself with the
mysteries of it, he procured the lord-treasurer's staff" for
Dr. William Juxon, who had through his interest been
successively advanced to the presidentship of St. John's
college, deanery of Worcester, clerkship of his majesty's
closet, and bishopric of London, as already noticed in our
life of Juxon. For some years Laud had set his heart
upon getting the English liturgy introduced into Scotland;
and some of the Scottish bishops hud, under his direction,
prepared both that book and a collection of canons for
public service; the canons were published in 1635, but
the liturgy came not in use till 1637. On the day it was
first read at St. Giles's church, in Edinburgh, it occasioned
a most violent tumult among the people, encouraged by
the nobility, who were losers by the restitution of episco-
pacy, and by the ministers, who lost their clerical govern-
ment. Laud, having been the great promoter of that
affair, was reviled for it in the most abusive manner, and
both he and the book were charged with downright popery.
The extremely severe prosecution carried on about the
same time in the star-chamber, chiefly through his insti*
* As Cottington was the most artful of Richmond park, and which they
cuurtier that perhaps any time has both agreed to dissuade his Majesty
produced, Laud's open honesty was from attempt in;?, may i>e seen in C!a-
«n easy prey to him. An instance of retxlou's Hist, of the Rebellion.
Uiij, with regard to the first enclosing
Sf LAUD.
gallon, against Prynne, Bastwick, and Burton, did him
also infinite prejudice, and exposed him to numberless
libels and reflections; though he endeavoured to vindicate
his conduct in a speech delivered at their censure, June
14, 1637, which was published by the king's command.
Another rigorous prosecution, carried on with his concur-
rence, in the star-chamber, was against bishop Williams,
an account of which may be seen in his article, as also of
Lambert Osbaldiston, master of Westminster school.
In order to prevent the printing and publishing of what
he thought improper books, a decree was passed in the
star-chamber, July 1 1, 1637, to regulate the trade of print-
ing, by which it was enjoined that the master-printers
should be reduced to a certain number, and that none of
them should print any books till they were licensed either
by the archbishop, or, the bishop of London, or some of
their chaplains, or by the chancellors or vice-chancellors
of the two universities. Accused as he frequently was, of
popery, he fell under the queen's displeasure this year,
by speaking, with his usual warmth, to the king at the
council- table against the increase of papists, their frequent
resort to Somerset house, and their insufferable misde-
meanors in perverting his majesty's subjects to popery.
On Jan. 3i, 1638-9, he wrote a circular letter to his suf-
fragan bishops, exhorting them and their clergy to contri-
bute liberally towards raising the army against the Scots,
For this he was called an incendiary : but he declares, on
the contrary, that he laboured for peace so long, till he
received a great check ; and that, at court his counsels
alone prevailed for peace and forbearance. lu 1639 he
employed one Mr. Petley to translate the liturgy into
Greek; and, at his recommendation, Dr. Joseph Hall,
bishop of Exeter, composed his learned treatise of ** Epis-
copacy by Divine Right asserted." On Dec. U, the same
year, he was one of the three privy-counsellors who ad-
vised the king to call a parliament in cas< of the Scot-
tish rebellion; at which time a resolution was adopted
to assist the king in extraordinary ways, if the parliament
should prove peevish and refuse supplies. A new parlia-
ment being summoned, met April 13, 1649, and the con-
vocation the day following; but the Commons beginning
with complaints against the archbishop, and insisting upon
a redress of grievances before they granted any supply,
the parliament was unhappily dissolved, May 5. The con-
L A U D. 59
vocation, however, continued sitting; and certain canons
were made in it, which gave great offence. On Laud many
laid the blame and odium of the parliament's dissolution ;
and that noted enthusiast, John Lilburne, caused a paper
to be posted, May 3, upon the Old Exchange, animating
the apprentices to sack his house at Lambeth the Monday
following. On that day above 5000 of them assembled in
a riotous and tumultuous manner; but the archbishop, re-
ceiving previous notice, secured the palace as well as he
could, and retired to his chamber at Whitehall, where he
remained some days ; and one of the ringleaders was
hanged, drawn, and quartered, on the 21st. In August
following, a libel was found in Covent-garden, exciting
the apprentices and soldiers to fall upon him in the king's
absence, upon his second expedition into Scotland. The
parliament that met Nov. 3, 1640, not being better disposed
towards him, but, for the most part, bent upon his ruin,
several angry speeches were made against him in the House
of commons.
It can be no wonder that his ruin should appear certain,
considering his many and powerful enemies ; almost the
whole body of the puritans ; many of the English nobility
and others; and the bulk of the Scotch nation. The pu-
ritans considered him as the sole author of the innovations
and of the persecutions against them ; the nobility could
not brook his warm and imperious manner, and his grasp-
ing at the office of prime minister ; and the Scots were
excited to rebellion, by the restoring of episcopal govern-
ment, and the introduction ol the English service-book
among them. In this state of general discontent, he was
not only examined, Dec. 4, on the earl of Strafford's case,
but, when the Commons came to debate upon the late
canons and convocation, he was represented as the author
of them*; and a committee was appointed to inquire into
* Upon the attack made upon him tilye sorrye for it, and hope that error
tor these canons, he wrote the follow- shall not be made a cryme. We heare,
ing letter to Selden, an active man in tliat ship-monye is layd aside, as a
the Commons against him : " To my thinge lhat will dye of itself; and I
much honored friend Mr. Selden these, am glad it will have soe quiett a death.
Sal. in Christo. Worthy sir, 1 under- Maye not these unfortunate canons be
stand that the by*ines< about the late suffered to dye as quyetlye, without
canons will be handled againe in your blemisliinge the church, which hath so
House tomorrowe. I shall never aske manye enemies both at home and
any unworthie (hinge of you ; but gire abroad? and if thiss naay be, 1 heare
me leave ti> sayc as followes : If wee promise you, I will presentlye humblye
have erred in anye point of legalitye beseeche his mojeslye for a licence to
unknowne unto us, wee shall be bar- review tbe canons and abrogat them ;
60 LAUD.
all his actions, and prepare a charge against him on the
16th. The same morning, in the House of Lords, he was
named as an incendiary, in an accusation from the Scottish
commissioners ; and, two days after, an impeachment of
high-treason was carried up to the lords by Denzil Holies^
desiring he might be forthwith sequestered from parlia-
ment, and committed, and the Commons would, in a con-
venient time, resort to them with particular articles. Soon
after, the Scotch commissioners presented also to the up-
per House the charge against him, tending to prove liim
an incendiary, and he was immediately committed to the
custody of the black rod. After ten weeks, sir Henry
Vane, junior, brought up, Feb. 26, fourteen articles against
him, which they desired time to prove in particular, and,
in the mean time, that he be kept safe. Accordingly, the
black rod conveyed him to the Tower, March 1, 1640-1,
amidst the insults and reproaches of the mob.
His enemies, of which the number was great, began
then to give full vent to their passions and prejudices, and
to endeavour to ruin his reputation.' In March and April,
the House of Commons ordered him, jointly with all those
that had passed sentence in the Star-chamber against Bur-
ton, Bastwick, and Prynne, to make satisfaction and repa-
ration for the damages they had sustained by their sentence
and imprisonment ; and be was fined 20,000/. for his act-
ing in the late convocation. He was also condemned by
the House of Lords to pay 500/. to sir Robert Howard for
false imprisonment. This person was living in open adul-
tery with lady Purbeck ; and both were imprisoned by an
order of the high commission court, at the king's particular
command. On June 25, 1641, he resigned his chancellor-
ship of the university of Oxford ; and, in October, the
House of Lords sequestered his jurisdiction, putting it into
asraringe myestlf that all my brethren wright these lyne* to you, to lett you
will joyue with me to preserve the pub- know our meaninge and desyres. And
lick peace, rather than that act of ours 1 shall take it tor a i;ieat kindness to
should be thougi,' a publiek grievance, me, and a great service to the church,
And upon mye ntdnt with you, 1 had if by your means the flouse will be
moved for tki»» lifrnce at the verye satisfied with thiss, winch is heare
lirst situnge ol i .;-•. parliament, but offered, of abrogating*; ihe rations.
that both uiyesi If and others did feare To <iod's blessed protection 1 leave
the House of Commons would lake of- you, aud rest
fence at it (a* they did at the last) and Your loving poore frend,
sayde, v*ee did it oa purpose to pro- Lambeth, Nov. '2D, 1640. W. CANT.
vent ihf'm. I understand you meane " I mean to move the king this*
to spvak of thiss business in the House daye for a license as is within meu-
tomorrowe, and that hath made me tioned."
LAUD. 61
the hands of his inferior officers ; and enjoined, that he
should give no benefice without first having the House's
approbation of the person nominated by him. On Jan. 2O,
1641-2, they ordered his armoury at Lambeth-palace, which
had cost him above 300/. and which they represented as
sufficient for 2000 men, to be taken away by the sheriffs
of London. Before the end of the year, all the rents and
profits of the archbishopric were sequestered by the lords
for the use of the commonwealth ; and his house was plunv
dered of what money it afforded by two members of the
House of Commons ; and such was their wanton severity,
that when he petitioned the parliament afterwards for a
maintenance, he could not obtain any, nor even the least
part of above two hundred pounds worth of his own wood
and coal at Lambeth, for his necessary use in the Tower.
On April 25, 1643, a motion was made in the House of
Commons, at the instance of Hugh Peters and others of
that stamp, to send or transport him to New England ; but
that motion was rejected. On May 9, his goods and books
in Lambeth-house were seized, and the goods sold for
scarce the third part of their value, and all this before he
had been brought to any trial, the issue of which alone
could justify such proceedings. Seven days after, there
came out an ordinance of parliament, enjoining him to
give no benefice without leave and order of both Houses.
On May 31, W. Prynne, by a warrant from the close
committee, came and searched his room, while he was in
bed, and even rifled his pockets; taking away his diary >
private devotions, and twenty-one bundles of papers, which
he had prepared for his own defence. Prynne promised a
faithful restitution of them within three or four days ; but
he never returned quite three bundles of the papers. In
the mean time, the archbishop not complying exactly with
the ordinance above-mentioned, all the temporalities of
his archbishopric were sequestered to the parliament June
10, and he was suspended from his office and benefice,
and from all jurisdiction whatsoever.
On Oct. 24J an order was brought to the archbishop,
from the Lords, with ten additional articles of impeachment
from the Commons, adding to the charge of treason " other
high crimes and misdemeanours." He petitioned for his.
papers, but the committee of sequestrations would not
grant them, nor permit any copies but at his own expence;
and as to any allowance for the charges of his trial, it was
62 LAUD.
insultingly said by Mr.Glyn, " that he might plead inform*
pauperis.^ At length Mr. Dell, his secretary, was ap-
pointed his solicitor, and Mr. Herne, of Lincoln's-inn, his
counsel ; and two more servants were sent to him, for his
assistance. After nearly three years' imprisonment, on
Nov. 13 the archbishop was brought to the bar of the
House of Lords, and put in his answer in writing, in this
form, " all advantages of law against this impeachment
saved and reserved to this defendant, he pleads, not guilty,
to all and every part of the impeachment, in manner and
form as it is changed in the articles ;" and to this answer
he then set his hand. He then petitioned that his counsel
might be heard, and might advise him, both with regard
to law and fact; which was allowed in things not charged
as treason. On Jan. 8, there was an order for the arch-
bishop's appearance ; but, at his request, it was postponed
to the 16th ; when the committee began with the former
general articles, to which the archbishop had put in no
answer, nor even joined issue : therefore he was peremp-
torily commanded to put in his answer both to the original
and additional articles, in writing ; which he did, plead-
ing, in general, not guilty.
On Tuesday, March 12, 1643-4, the trial was opened in
form ; the original and additional articles of impeachment
were read, and, after that, the archbishop's answer, plea,
and demurrer to them. He requested that the charge and
evidence to all the articles might be given together; and
the articles of misdemeanour separated from those of trea-
son ; to which the celebrated lawyer, Maynard, answered,
that, in the earl of Strafford's trial, he was put to answer
every day the particular evidence given that day ; that they
were now only to try matters of fact, not of law, and that
all the articles collectively, not any one separately, made
up the charge of treason. Serjeant Wilde then made a
long speech, upon the charge of high treason, insisting
chiefly upon the archbishop's attachment to popery, and
his intention to introduce it into England ; concluding with
these words, that " Naaman was a great man, but he was
a leper," and that the archbishop's leprosy had so infected
all, " as there remained no other cure but the sword of
justice." The archbishop replied to the several charges,
and mentioned various persons whom he had brought back
from the Romish religion, particularly sir William Webbe,
his kinsman, and two of his daughters ; his son lui took
LAUD. 63
from him ; and, his father being utterly decayed, bred
him at his own charge, and educated him in the protestant
religion. The trial lasted above twenty days, and on Sept.
2, 1644, the archbishop made a recapitulation of the whole
cause; but, as soon as he came into the House, he saw
every lord present with a new thin book in folio, in a blue
cover; which was his " Diary," which Prynne, as already
mentioned, had robbed him of, and printed with notes of
his own, to disgrace the archbishop. On Sept. 11, Mr.
Brown delivered, in the House of Lords, a summary of
the whole charge, with a few observations on the arch-
bishop's answer. The queries of his counsel on the law of
treason was referred to a committee ; which ordered his
counsel to be heard on Oct. 1 1, when Mr. Herne delivered
his argument with great firmness and resolution. The lord
chancellor Finch told archbishop Sancroft that the argu-
ment was sir Matthew Hale's, afterwards lord chief justice ;
and that being then a young lawyer, he, Mr. Finch, stood
behind Mr. Herne, at the bar of the house, and took notes
of it, which he intended to publish in his reports. With
this argument, the substance of which may be seen in our
authorities, the trial ended for that day ; but, after this, a
petition was sent about London, " for bringing delinquents
to justice ;" and many of the preachers exhorted the people
-to sign it ; so that with a multitude of hands, it was deli-
vered to the House of Commons, on Oct. 8. The arch-
bishop was summoned on Nov. 2, to the House of Com-
mons, to hear the whole charges, and to make his defence,
which he did at large, Nov. 1 1. On the following Wed-
nesday Mr. Brown replied ; and after the archbishop was
dismissed, the House called for the ordinance, and without
hearing his counsel, voted him guilty of high treason.
After various delays, the Lords had a conference with the
Commons, on Dec. 24, in which they declared, " that they
had diligently weighed all things charged against the arch-
bishop, but could not, by any one of them, or all, find
him guilty of treason." The judges had unanimously made
the same declaration. At the second conference, on Jan.
2, 1644-5, the reasons of the Commons for the attainder
of the archbishop were communicated to the Lords, who
in a very thin house, passed the ordinance that he should
suffer death by hanging, which was fixed for Friday the
10th. He pleaded the king's pardon, under the great seal,
which was over-ruled, and rejected, without being read,
and the only favour granted, and that after delay and with
reluctance, was, that his sentence should be changed to
beheading.
The archbishop continued a journal of all the circum-
stances of his trial and imprisonment to January 3 ; but on
hearing that the bill of attainder had passed the Lords, be
broke off his history, and prepared himself for death. He
received the notice with great composure, and passed the
time between his sentence and execution, in prayer and
devout exercises. He slept soundly the night before his
death, till the time came when his servants were appointed
to attend his rising; then he applied himself to his private
prayers, and so continued until sir John Pennington,
lieutenant of the Tower, came to conduct him to the
scaffold, which he ascended with a cheerful countenance,
and was beheaded Jan. 10, 1644-5, about 12 o'clock at
noon. His body was buried in the church of All-hallows,
Barking; but was removed to St. John's college in 1663,
where it was placed in a vault in the chapel.
By his will, dated Jan. 13, 1643, he bequeathed the
bulk of his property to charitable or liberal purposes: to St.
John's college, all his chapel plate and furniture, what books
they had not in their library, and 500/. to purchase lands,
the rent to be divided between every scholar and fellow on
Oct. 17, every year. We have already mentioned that he
built the inner quadrangle of St. John's; he also obtained
from king Charles, the vicarage of St. Laurence for this
college, with other valuable preferments. He founded
an Arabic lecture which began to be read Aug. 10, 1636,
by the celebrated Pococke, whose successors have been
all scholars of eminence, Drs. Hyde, Wallis, Hunt, and
the late Dr. Joseph White. To the bishopric of Oxford,
Laud added the impropriation of the vicarage of Cuddes-
den. In his uative town of Reading he founded an excel-
lent school. o.\
His character has been variously represented, and indeed
enters more or less into every controversy respecting the
unhappy reign in which he flourished. He was a man of
strict integrity, sincere, and zealous ; but, in many re-
spects, was indiscreet and obstinate, eagerly pursuing
matters that were either inconsiderable or mischievous. The
rigorous prosecutions in the Star-chamber and High-com-
mission courts were generally imputed to tyim : and he
formed the airy project of uniting the three kingdoms in an
LAUD. 65
uniformity of religion ; and the passing of some ceremonies
in this last affair brought upon him the odious imputation
of popery, and of being popishly affected, without a,ny
good grounds. He was more given to interfere in matters
of state than his predecessors; and this at a time when a
jealousy of the power of the clergy was increasing. Hav-
ing naturally a great warmth of temper, which betrayed
itself in harsh language, he was ill fitted to contend with
the party now so powerful that it may even be doubted
whether a conciliating temper would have had much ef-
fect in preventing their purposes against the church and
state. Mr. Gilpiu's comparison between him and his great
predecessor Cranmer appears to us worthy of consideration.
" Both," says that elegant writer, " were good men, fypth
were equally zealous for religion, and both were engaged
in the work of reformation. I mean not to enter into the
affair of introducing episcopacy in Scotland ; nor to throw
any favourable light on the ecclesiastical views of those
times. I am at present only considering the measures
which the two archbishops took in forwarding their respec-
tive plans. While Cranmer pursued his with that caution
and temper, which we have just been examining; Laud,
in the violence of his integrity (for he was certainl^ a
well-meaning man), making allowances neither for men nor
opinions, was determined to carry all. before him. The
consequence was, that he did nothing which he attempted;
while Cranmer did every thing. And it is probable that if
Henry had chosen such an instrument as Laud, he would
have miscarried in his point : while Charles with such a
primate as Cranmer, would either have been successful in
his schemes, or at least have avoided the fatal consequences
that ensued." But, whatever Laud's faults, itcannot.be
denied that he was condemned to death by an ordinance of
parliament, in defiance of the statute of treasons, of the law
of the land, and by a stretch of prerogative greater than
any one of the sovereign whom that parliament opposed.
The few productions we have of archbishop Laud show
that his time was more occupied in active life, than in
studious retirement, and demonstrate but little of that
learning which was very justly attributed to him. These
are, 1. " Seven Sermons preached and printed on several
Occasions," reprinted in 1651, 8vo. 2. " Short Annota-
tions upon the Life and Death of the most august King
James,1* drawn up at the desire of George duke ut Bucks.
VOJL. XX. F
6« LAUD.
3. « Answer to the Remonstrance made by the House
of Commons in 1628." 4. " His Diary by Wharton in
1694 ; with six other pieces, and several letters, especially
one to sir Kenelm Digby, on his embracing Popery."
5. " The second volume of the Remains of Archbishop
Laud, written by himself," &c. 1700, fol. 6. " Officium
Quotidianum ; or, a Manual of private Devotions,*' 1650,
8vo. 7. "A Summary of Devotions," 1667, 12mo. There
are about 18 letters of his to Gerard John Vossius, printed
by Colomesius in his edition of " Vossii Epistol." Lond.
1690, fol. Some other letters of his are published at the
end of Usher's life by Dr. Parr, 1686, fol. And a few
more by Dr. Twells, in his " Life of Dr. Pocock," pre-
fixed to that author's theological works, 1645, in 2 vols.
>tio.'
' LAUDER (WILLIAM), a native of Scotland, the author
of a remarkable forgery, was educated at the university of
Edinburgh, where he finished his studies with great repu-
tation, and acquired a considerable knowledge of the
Ilatin tongue. He afterwards taught with success the
Latin tongue to some students who were recommended to
him by the professors. In 1734, Mr. professor Watt fall-
ing ill of that sickness of which he died, Lauder taught for
him the Latin class, in the college of Edinburgh, and
tried, without success, to be appointed professor in his
room. He failed also in his application for the office of
librarian. In Feb. 1739, he stood candidate, with eight
others, for the place of one of the masters of the high
•chool ; but, though the palm of literature was assigned by
the judges to Lauder, the patrons of the school preferred
one of his opponents. In the same year he published at
Edinburgh an edition of "Johnston's Psalms," or rather a
collection of Sacred Latin poetry, in 2 vols. but his hopes
of profit from this were disappointed. In 1742, although
he was recommended by Mr. Patrick Cuming and Mr.
Colin Maclaurin, professors of church history and mathe-
matics, to the mastership of the grammar-school at Dun-
dee, then vacant, we find him, the same year, in London,
contriving to ruin the reputation of Milton ; an attempt
which ended in the destruction of his own. His reason for
the attack has been referred to the virulence of violent
> Wbarton's Troubles and Trial of Laud.— Prynne's and Heylin'i Lire*.—
Life in Coates't Hut. of Reading— Biog. Brit. kc. kc.
L A U D E R. 67
party-spirit, which triumphed over every principle of
honour and honesty. He began first to retail part of his
design in "The Gentleman's Magazine," in 1747; and,
finding that his forgeries were not detected, was encou-
raged in 1751 to collect them, with additions, into a vo-
lume, entitled " An Essay on Milton's Use and Imitation
of the Moderns in his Paradise Lost," 8vo. The fidelity
of his quotations had been doubted by several people ; and
the falsehood of them was soon after demonstrated by Dr.
Douglas, late bishop of Salisbury, in a pamphlet, entitled
" Milton vindicated from the Charge of Plagiarism brought
against him by Lauder, and Lauder himself convicted of
forgeries and gross impositions on the public. In a letter
humbly addressed to the right honourable the earl of Bath,"
1751, 8vo. The appearance of this detection overwhelmed
Lauder with confusion. He subscribed a confession, dic-
tated by Dr. Johnson, on whom he had imposed, in which
he ingenuously acknowledged his offence, which he pro-
fessed to have been occasioned by the injury he had re-
ceived from the disappointment of his expectations of profit
from the publication of " Johnston's Psalms." This mis-
fortune he ascribed to a couplet in Mr. Pope's Dunciad,
book iv. ver. iii. and thence originated his rancour against
Milton. He afterwards imputed his conduct to other mo-
tives, abused the few friends who continued to countenance
him ; and, finding that his own character was not to be
retrieved, quitted the kingdom, and went to Barbadoes,
where he was for some time master of the free-school in
Bridgetown, but was discharged for misconduct, and passed
the remainder of his life in universal contempt. " He
died," says Mr. Nichols, "sometime about the year 1771,
as my friend Mr. Reed was informed by the gentleman
who read the funeral-service over him." It may be added,
that notwithstanding Lauder's pretended regret for his at-
tack on Milton, he returned to the charge in 1754, and
published a pamphlet entitled " The Grand Impostor de-
tected, or Milton convicted of forgery against Charles I."
which was reviewed in the Gent. Mag. of that year, pro-
bably by Johnson.1
LAUNAY (FRANCIS DE), an able French lawyer, was
born August 6, 1612, at Angers. He was received advo-
1 Nichols's Bowyer. — Chalmers's Life of Ruddiinau, p. 146. — Hawkins and
BosweU's Lives of Johnson. — Gent. Mag ; see Index.
.F 2
C6$ LA UN AY.
cate at Paris 1638, became eminent afterwards at the bar,
and was the first professor of French law at the college of
Cambray, that chair being newly founded 1680. He died
July 9, 1693, aged 81. His works are, " Commentaries
on Anthony Loisel's Instituts Couturaiers," 1688, 8vo;
" Traite1 du Droit de Chasse," 1681, 12mo ; " RSmarques
*ur i'lnstitution du Droit Remain, et du Droit Francois,"
1686, 4to, and other valuable works.1
LAUNAY (PETER DE), a learned and judicious pro-
testant writer, was born 157S, at Blois, descended from
one of the most respectable families in that city. At the
age of forty, he resigned a post in the exchequer, the
title of king's secretary, and all prospects of advancement,
that he might devote himself entirely to the sacred writings ;
and from that time till he was eighty-nine, rose constantly
at four in the morning, to read and meditate on Scripture.
The French protestants placed an extraordinary confidence
in him. He was deputed to all the synods of his province,
and to almost every national synod held in his time, and
died in 1662, greatly lamented. His works are, " Para-
phrases" on all St. Paul's Epistles, on Daniel, Ecclesiastes,
the Proverbs, and Revelations; and " Remarks on the
Bible, or an Explanation of the difficult words, phrases,
and metaphors, in the Holy Scriptures,*' Geneva, 1667,
4to. These two works are much valued. He wrote also
a treatise " De la Sainte C6ne," and another, " Sur le
Mille'narisme."*
LAUNOI (JOHN DE), or LAUNOIUS, a very learned man
and voluminous writer, was born about 1601, and took a
doctor of divinity's degree in 1636. He made a journey
to Rome, for the sake of enlarging his ideas and know-
ledge ; and there procured the esteem and friendship of
Leo Allatius and Holsten. Upon his return to Paris, he
shut himself up, entering upon an extensive course of
reading, and making collections upon all subjects. He
held at his house every Monday a meeting where the
learned conversed on many topics, but particularly on the
discipline of the church, and the rights of the Gallican
church ; and they cordially agreed in condemning such
legends as the apostolate of St. Dionysius the Areopagite
into France, the voyage of Lazarus and Mary Magdalen
into Provence, and a multitude of other traditions. Lau-
1 Moreri. — Kicrron, voL XV. — D«t. Hkf.
> Diet. Hi*.
L A U N O I.
•oi was such an enemy to legendary saints, that Voltaire
records a curate of St. Eustachius, as saying, " I always
make the most profound obeisance to Mr. Launoi, for fear
he should take from me my St. Eustachius." He died at
cardinal d'Estr^es's hotel, March 10, 1678, aged 75, and
was buried at the convent of the Minimes de la Place
Ro'iale, to whom he left two hundred crowns in gold, all
the rituals which he had collected, and half his books ; be-
queathing the remainder to the seminary at Laon. Few
men were so industrious and so disinterested, as M. de
Launoi, who persisted in refusing all the benefices which
were offered him, and lived in a plain, frugal manner,
contented with his books and his private fortune, though
the latter was but moderate. He was an enemy to vice
and ambition, charitable, benevolent, a kind friend, ever
consistent in his conduct, and submitted to be excluded
from the faculty of theology at Paris, rather than sign the
censure of M. Arnauld, though he differed in opinion from
that celebrated doctor on the subject of Grace.
His works were collected by the abbe Granet, and pub-
lished in 1731, 10 vols. folio; his "Letters" had been
printed before at Cambridge, 1689, fol. The principal of
the other works contained in this edition are, the famous
treatise " De varia Aristotelis fortuna," and " Hist, du Col-
lege de Navarre," containing some curious and interesting
particulars and inquiries on several points of history and
ecclesiastical discipline. All M. de Launoy's works discover
great reading, and extensive knowledge of ecclesiastical
affairs. He forcibly defends the liberties of the Gallican
church, and shews much penetration and skill in criti-
cism. His style is neither flowery nor polished, nor is his
reasoning always just: but he fully compensates for these
defects by the variety of his subjects, and the depth of his
learning. l
LAURA. See PETRARCH.
LAURIERE (EusEBitis JAMES DE), a celebrated lawyer,
and learned advocate of the parliament of Paris, was born
July 31, 1659, and was the son of James de Lauriere, a
surgeon. He attended but little to the bar, his life being
almost wholly spent in study, in the course of which he ex-
plored, with indefatigable pains, every part of the French
law, both ancient and modern, formed friendships with
, Tol. XXXII.— Gen. I>iut.~Saxii Ononaaitieon.
?a LAURIERE.
men of learning, and was esteemed by all the most able
magistrates. He died at Paris, January 9, 1728, aged 69,
leaving many valuable works, some of which he wrote ill
conjunction with Claude Berroyer, another eminent advo-
cate of Paris. The principal are, 1. " De 1'origine du Droit
d'Amortissement," 1692, 12mo; 2. " Texte des Cou-
tumes de la Pre*v6te* et Vicomte* de Paris, avec des Notes,"
12mo; 3. " Bibltotheque des Coutumes," 4to ; 4. M.
Loisel's " Instituts Coutumiers," with notes, Paris, 1710,
2 vols. 12mo, a very valuable edition ; 5. " Traite* des In-
stitutions et des Substitutions contractuelles," 2 vols. 12mo.
6. The first and second volumes of the collection of " Or-
dinances" of the French kings, which valuable and very
interesting work has been continued by M. Secousse, a
member of the academy of inscriptions and belles-lettres,
and M. de Villeraut, to 1 1 vols. fol. ; 7. " Le Glossaire
du Droit Fran$ois," 1704, 4to, &c.'
LAVATER (JOHN CASPAR), the celebrated physiogno-
mist, was born at Zurich, Nov. 15, 1741. He was from
his earliest years of a gentle, timid disposition, but rest-
less in the pursuit of knowledge. At school he was per-
petually varying his studies by attempting mechanical ope-
rations, and often showed indications of genius and inven-
tion in his amusements. When he reached the upper
classes of school, his diligence in study was encouraged by
the advice of Bodmer and Breitenger, and quickened by a
wish to emulate some school -fellows of superior talent.
His turn of thinking was original, liberal, and manly. As
he grew up he wrote some essays on subjects of morals and
religion, which gained him the hearts of his countrymen.
Having gone through the usual course of reading and in-
struction for the ecclesiastical profession, he was admitted
into orders in May 1761, and two years afterwards he tra-
velled with the brothers Hess, two amiable friends, of whom
death deprived him, and, with Henry Fuseli, our cele-
brated painter. They went over Prussia, under the tuition
of professor Sulzer, and Lavater made a considerable stay
with Spalding, then curate of Barth in Pomeranian Prus-
sia, and afterwards counsellor of the grand consistory. On
his return to Zurich he became a very eloquent and much
admired preacher, and proved himself the father of his flock
by the most benevolent attention to their wants bodily and
l Chaufepie.— Niceron, vol. XXXVII.— Diet. Hist,
LAVATER. 71
mental. After having been for some years deacon of th«
Orphans' church, he was in 1774 appointed first pastor. In
1778 the parishioners of the church of St. Peter, the only
persons in the canton of Zurich who have a right to chuse
their own minister, made choice of Lavater as deacon;
and, in 1786, as first pastor. Here he remained, intenton
the duties of his office, and on his physiognomical studies
until Zurich was stormed in 1797. On this occasion he was
wounded by a Swiss soldier, on whom he had conferred
important benefits ; from the effects of this he never reco-
vered, although he lived in full possession of his faculties
till Jan. 2, 1801, when he expired in the sixtieth year of
his age. His principal works are, 1. " Swiss Songs," which
he composed at the desire of the Helvetic society, aud
which were sung in that society, and in other cantons. 2.
Three collections of " Spiritual Songs, or Hymns,'* and
two volumes of " Odes," in blank verse. 3. " Jesus Mes-
siah, or the Evangelists and Acts of the Apostles," 4 vols. a
poetical history of our Saviour, ornamented with 72 en-
gravings from his designs, executed by Chodoweiki, Lips,
£c. 4. " A Look into Eternity," which being severely
criticised by Gothe, Lavater, who loved truth in every
shape, instead of being offended at the liberties he took,
sought out the author, and became his friend and corre-
spondent. 5. " The secret Journal of a Self-Observer,"
which was published here in 1795. In this Lavater un-
veils his secret conduct, and displays the motions of his
heart*. It may justly be said that every good heart is
generally in unison with him, but it is impossible not to
differ from many of his opinions, and not to perceive in
them an uncommon degree of extravagance and enthu-
siasm. We learn from his Journal, however, and indeed
from all his works, that a warm desire to promote the ho-
nour of God, and the good of his fellow creatures, was the
principal feature in his character, and the leading motive
of all he did. Next to these were an indefatigable placa-
bility, and an inexhaustible love for his enemies.
But his physiognomical work is that which procured him
most reputation in Europe. Accident is said to have led
him to the study of physiognomy ; standing one day at a
window with Dr. Zimmerman, he was led to make such
* Many of his opinions and singu- " Aphorisms," a translation of which
laritits are also perceivable in his was published by Mr. Fuieli in 1788.
72 L A V A T E It
remarks on the singular countenance of a soldier that wms
passing by, as induced Zimmerman to urge him to pursue
and methodize his ideas. He accordingly considered the
subject more seriously, and acquired not only a fondness
fof it, but a steady conviction of the reality of the physio-
gnomical science, and of the vast importance of the disco-
veries he had made in it. In 1776, he published the first
fruits of his labaurs in a quarto volume, entitled " Frag-
ments," in which he took a wide range of inquiry, and
carried his ideas of physiognomy beyond the observation
of those parts of the countenance which exhibit to a com-
mon eye the impressions of mental qualities and affections,
and maintained, as a leading position, *' that the powers
and faculties of the mind have representative signs in the
solid parts of the countenance." Two more volumes ap-
peared in succession, which presented a most extraordinary
assemblage of curious observations, subtle and refined rea-
soning, delicate feeling, and philanthropical and pious
sentiment, together with a large admixture of paradox,
mysticism, whim, and extravagance. The whole is illus-
trated with a great number of engravings ; many of which
are highly finished and singularly expressive. The work
was soon translated into the French and English languages,
and for a time became the favourite topic of literary dis-
cussion, but has now ceased to maintain much interest
Lavater, we are told, was not only nn enthusiast in this
art, but was so far carried away by his imagination, as to
believe in the continuation of miracles, and the power of
casting out spirits to these days ; opinions which he did not
scruple to make public, and maintain with all boldness.1
LAVINGTON (GEORGE), an English prelate, and very
eminent scholar, was descended from a family long settled
in; Wiltshire, and was born at the parsonage- house of Mil-
denhall, in the above county, and baptised Jan. 18, 1683,
bis grandfather, Constable, being then rector of that pa-
rish. Joseph, father to bishop Lavington, is supposed to
have exchanged his original benefice of Broad Hinton, in
Wiltshire, for Newton Longville, in Bucks, a living and
a manor belonging to New college, in Oxford. Trans-
planted thither, and introduced to the acquaintance of
several members of that society, he was encouraged to
..', . *";, a *.ll»:-«,4. V
„ M.?i*ter>» Portraits dec homines illustrci de la Suiuc .— Recs'i CyclopswlU.
— Saxii Onomasticoa.
LAVINGTON. 75
educate the eldest of his numerous children, George, the
subject of this article, at Wykeham's foundation, near
Winchester, from whence he succeeded to a fellowship of
New college, early in the reign of queen Anne. George,
while yet a schoolboy, had produced a Greek translation
of Virgil's eclogues, in the style and dialect of Theocritus,
which is still preserved at Winchester in manuscript. At
the university he was distinguished by his wit and learning,
and equally so by a marked attachment to the protestant
succession, at a period when a zeal of that kind could pro-
mise him neither preferment nor popularity. But if some
of his contemporaries thought his ardour in a good cause
excessive, still their affection and esteem for him remained
undiminished by any difference of political sentiment. In
1717, he was presented by his college to their rectory of
Hayford Warren, in the diocese of Oxford. Before this
his talents and principles had recommended him to the
notice of many eminent persons in church and state.
Among others Talbot, then bishop of Oxford, intended
him for the benefice of Hook Norton, to which his suc-
cessor, bishop Potter, collated him. Earl Coningsby not
only appointed him his own domestic chaplain, but intro-
duced him in the same capacity to the court of king George
I. In this reign he was preferred to a stall in the cathe-
dral church of Worcester, which he always esteemed as
one of the happiest events of his life, since it laid the
foundation of that close intimacy which ever after subsisted
between him and the learned Dr. Francis Hare, the dean.
No sooner was Dr. Hare removed to St. Paul's, than he
exerted all his influence to draw his friend to the capital
after him ; and his endeavours were so successful that Dr.
Lavington was appointed in 1732, to be a canon residen-
tiary of that church, and in consequence of this station,
obtained successively the rectories of St. Mary Aldermary,
and St. Michael Bassishaw. In both parishes he was es-
teemed a minister attentive to his duty, and an instructive
and awakening preacher. He would probably never have
thought of any other advancement, if the death of Dr. Stil-
lingfleet, dean of Worcester, in 1746, had not recalled to
his memory the pleasing ideas of many years spent in that
city, in the prime of life. His friends, however, had
higher views for him ; and, therefore, on the death of
bishop Clagget, lord chancellor Hardwick, and the duke
of Newcastle, recommended him to the king, to till the
74 LAVINGTON.
vacancy, without his solicitation or knowledge. From this
time he resided at Exeter among his clergy, a faithful and
vigilant pastor, and died universally lamented, Sept. 13,
1762; crowning a life that had been devoted to God's
honour and service, by a pious act of resignation to his
will ; for the last words pronounced by his faultering tongue,
were Ao£<* iu 0sa> — " Glory to God." He married Francis
Maria, daughter of Lave, of Corf Mullion, Dorset, who
had taken refuge in this kingdom from the popish perse-
cution in France. She survived the bishop little more
than one year, after an union of forty years. Their only
daughter is the wife of the rev. N. Nutcombe, of Nutcombe,
in Devonshire, and chancellor of the cathedral at Exeter.
Bishop Lavington published only a few occasional sermons,
except his " Enthusiasm of the Methodists and Papists
compared," three parts*; which involved him in a tem-
porary controvery with Messrs. Whitfield and Wesley.1
LAVOISIER (ANTHONY LAWRENCE), a distinguished
chemical philosopher, was born at Paris, on the 13th of
August, 1743. His father, a man of opulence, sparing no
expence on his education, he displayed very early proofs
of the extent and success of his studies, especially in the
circle of the physical sciences. In 1764, when the French
government proposed a prize question, relative to the best
method of lighting the streets of a large city, Lavoisier
presented a dissertation on the subject, which was highly
approved, printed at the expence of the academy of
sciences, and obtained for him the present of a gold medal
from the king, which was delivered to him by the presi-
dent of the academy, at a public sitting, in April 1766.
Two years afterwards, he was admitted a member of that
learned body, of which he was constantly one of the most
active and useful associates. About the same time, he
was occupied in experimental researches on a variety of
subjects ; such as the analysis of the gypsum found in the
• " The bishop of Exeter's book but, as the mysteries, if they had ever
against the Methodists is, I think, on been good, were not, in the bishop's
the whole, composed well enough opinion, bad enough for this purpose,
(though it be a bad copy of Stilting- he therefore endeavours to show against
fleet's famous book of the " Fanaticism me, that they were abominations even
of the Church of Rome)" to do the exe- from the beginning. As this contra,
eution he intended. In pushing the diets all antiquity so evidently, I
Methodists, to make them like every thought it would be ridiculous in me
thi»g that is bad, he compares their to take any notice of him."— Warbur-
faaaticism t» the ancient mysteries; ton's Letters to Hurd, p. 86, 4t« tdiu
1 Polwbele's Hist of Devonshire, vol. L p. 313.
LAVOISIER. 75
neighbourhood of Paris; the crystallization of salt; the
properties of water ; and in exploring the phsenomena of
thunder, and of the aurora borealis : and he distinguished
himself by several dissertations on these and other topics,
practical and speculative, which appeared in different pe-
riodical works. In the Memoirs of the Academy for 1770
were published his observations on the nature of water,
and on the experiments which had been supposed to prove
the possibility of its conversion into earth. He proved, by
a careful repetition of these experiments, that the earthy
deposit, left after repeated distillations of water, proceeded
solely from an abrasion of the vessels employed. Lavoisier
performed several journeys into various parts of France, in
company with M. Guettard ; in the course of which he
collected a store of materials for a lithological and minera-
logical history of that kingdom, which he ingeniously ar-
ranged in the form of a chart. These materials were the
basis of a great work on the revolutions of the globe, and
on the formation of the strata of the earth : two interesting
sketches of which were printed in the Memoirs of the Aca-
demy for 1772 and 1787.
Between these two periods, Lavoisier, struck with the
discoveries that had been made by Dr. Black, and pursued
by Dr. Priestley, respecting the properties of certain
aeriform substances, gases, or factitious airs, entered into
the same field of research, and published the result of his
experiments in 1774, in his " Opuscules Chymiques,"
which contained not only a clear and elegant view of all
that had hitherto been done, in regard to gaseous or ae'rU
form fluids, but also several original experiments, re-
markable for their ingenuity and accuracy.
The existence of a gaseous body, in a fixed or solid
state, in the mild alkalies and alkaline earths, which, when
expelled from these substances, assumed an aerial form,
and left them in a caustic state, as well as its production
during the combustion of fuel, had been demonstrated by
Dr. Black; and Bergman had shown that this air possessed
acid properties. Dr. Priestley had also submitted it to
various experiments in 1767, but the honour of ascertain-
ing the real constituent parts of this acid gas, or fixa^le
air, was reserved for Lavoisier. He now turned his ex-
perimental researches to the subject of the calcination of
metals. It had already been shewn by Rey and Homberg,
that metals acquire an augmentation of weight during cal-
76 LAVOISIER.
cination ; but they differed in the causes of this augmen-
tation. Lavoisier, who published the result of his expe-
riments on the subject in 1774, demonstrated that a given
quantity of air was requisite for the calcination of a given
quantity of tin ; that a part of the air is absorbed during
this process, by which not only the bulk, but the weight
of the air is diminished ; that the weight of the tin is
increased during the same process; and lastly, that the
weight acquired by the tin is exactly equal to that which
is lost by the air.
Thus, by a fe\v simple, accurate, and well-chosen ex-
periments, Lavoisier had apparently arrived at the legi-
timate inference, that during the process of the formation
of acids, whether with carbonaceous matter, sulphur, or
phosphorus, and also during that of the calcination of me-
tals, an absorption and fixation of air take place ; and thus
he gained a glimpse of principles, in the view of which hit
singular sagacity in devising experiments, and his accu-
racy in executing them, would in all probability have alone
conducted him to those brilliant results to which Dr.
Priestley so materially contributed. The synthetic proofs
only of this union of air with the base bad been as yet as-
certained ; but Dr. Priestley first furnished the analytic
proof, by dissevering the combination ; a discovery which
at once advanced the nascent theory of Lavoisier, and, in
his hands, became the source of more than one important
conclusion. In August 1774, Dr. Priestley discovered that
by heating certain metallic calces, especially the calcined
mercury (the precipitate per sc, as it was then called) a
quantity of air was separated, while the mercury resumed
its metallic form ; and this air, which he found was much
purer than that of the atmosphere, he called, from the
theory of the time, dephlogisticated air. Having communi-
cated this discovery to Lavoisier, the latter published a
memoir in 1775, in which he shewed, in conformity with
the experiments of Dr. Priestley, that the mercurial pre-
cipitate per set by being heated in a retort, gives out a
highly respirable air (called since oxygeri]^ and is itself re-
duced to the metallic state ; that combustible bodies burn
in this air with increased brilliancy ; and that the same
mercurial calx, if heated with charcoal, gives out not the
pure air, but fixed air ; whence he concluded that fixed air
is composed of charcoal and the pure air. It has, therefore,
since been called carbonic acid.
L A V O I S I E'R. 77
A second very important consequence of Dr. Priestley's
discovery of the pure or vital air, was the analysis of the
air of the. atmosphere, which was accomplished by Lavoisier
in the following manner. He included some mercury in a
close vessel, together with a known quantity of atmospheric
air, and kept it for some days in a boiling state ; by de-
grees a small quantity of the red calx was formed upon the
surface of the metal ; and when this ceased to be produced
the contents of the vessel were examined. The air was
found to be diminished both in bulk and weight, and to
have been rendered altogether incapable of supporting
combustion or animal life ; part of the mercury was found
converted into the red calx, or precipitate per se ; and,
which was extremely satisfactory, the united weight of the
mercury and the precipitate exceeded the weight of the
original mercury, by precisely the same amount as the air
had lost. To complete the demonstration, the precipitate
was then heated, according to Dr. Priestley's first expe-
riment, and decomposed into fluid mercury and an air
which had all the properties of vital air; and this air, when
mixed with the unrespirable residue of the original air of
the receiver, composed an elastic fluid possessing the same
properties a» atmospherical air. The vital air was after-
wards made the subject of various experiments in respect
to the calcination of metals, to the combustion and conver-
sion of sulphur and phosphorus into acids, &c. in which
processes it was found to be the chief agent. Hence it
was named by Lavoisier oxygen (or generator of acids), and
the unrespirable residue of the atmosphere was called azot
(i. e. incapable of supporting life).
The new theory thus acquired farther support and con-
•istency ; oxygen appeared to be one of the most active
and important agents of chemistry and of nature ; combus-
tion, acidification, and calcination (or, as it was now called,
oxydatioriy the calces being also termed oxyds^ i. e. some-
thing approaching to, or resembling acids), were proved
to be processes strikingly analogous to each other; all ac-
cording in these points, that they produced a decomposi-
tion of the atmospheric air, and a fixation of the oxygenous
portion in the substance acidified or calcined.
Time alone seemed now requisite to establish these doc-
trines, by exemplifying them in other departments of che-
mical research. In 1777 six memoirs were communicated
feo the Academy of sciences by Lavoisier, in which his
78 LAVOISIER.
former experiments were confirmed, and new advances
were made to a considerable extent. Our countrymen,
Black and Crawford, in their researches respecting latent
heat, and the different capacities of bodies under different
circumstances, had laid a solid foundation, on which the
doctrines of combustion, resulting from the foregoing ex-
periments, might be perfected, and the cause of the light
and heat connected with it might be explained. The first
mentioned philosopher, Dr. Black, had shewn, that a solid,
when it is made to assume a liquid form, and a liquid,
when it assumes the form of vapour, absorbs or combines
with, and renders latent, a large portion of heat, which is
again parted with, becomes free and cognizable by the
sense of feeling, and by the thermometer, when the va-
pour is again condensed into a liquid, and the liquid be-
comes solid. In like manner, it was now said by Lavoisier,
during the process of combustion, the oxygen, which was
previously in a gaseous state, is suddenly combined with
the substance burnt into a liquid or solid. Hence all the
latent heat, which was essential to its gaseous state, being
instantaneously liberated in large quantity, produces flame,
which is nothing more than very condensed free heat.
About the same time, the analogy of the operation and
necessity of oxygen in the function of respiration, with the
preceding hypothesis of combustion, was pointed out by
Lavoisier. In the process of respiration, it was found that,
although atmospheric air is inhaled, carbonic acid and azot
are expired. This animal operation, said Lavoisier, is a
species of slow combustion : the oxygen of the air unites
with the superfluous carbon of the venous blood, and pro-
duces carbonic acid, while the latent or combined caloric
(the matter of heat) is set free, and thus supplies the ani-
mal heat. Ingenious and beautiful, however, as this ex-
tension of the analogy appeared, the subject of animal
temperature is still under many obscurities and difficulties.
The phenomena of chemistry, however, were now ex-
plicable upon principles more simple, consistent, and sa-
tisfactory than by the aid of any former theory ; and the
Lavoisierian doctrines were everywhere gaining ground.
But there yet remained a formidable objection £o them,
which was derived from a circumstance attending the so-
lution of metals in acids ; to wit, the production of a con-
siderable quantity of inflammable air. If sulphuric acid
(formerly called vitriolic acid, or oil of vitriol) consists only
LAVOISIER. 79
••of sulphur and oxygen, it was said, how does it happen,
that wheti these two substances, with a little water, come
in contact, they should produce a large quantity of inflam-
mable air during their re-action ? This objection was un-
answerable, and appeared to be fatal to the whole theory :
but it was most opportunely converted into an argument
in its favour, by the great discovery of the decomposition
of water, made by Mr. Cavendish ; who resolved that ele-
ment, as it was formerly esteemed, into oxygen and inflam-
mable air. The latter has since, therefore, been called
hydrogen, or generator of water. This experiment was
repeated with full success by Lavoisier and his associates in
1783 ; and the discovery was farther established by a suc-
cessful experiment of the same chemists, carried on upon
a grand scale, in which, by combining the oxygen with
hydrogen, they produced water, and thus adding synthesis
to analysis, brought the fact to demonstration.
This new view of chemical phenomena, together with
the immense accession of new compounds and substances,
which the labours of modern experimentalists had brought
to light, appeared to demand a correspondent alteration in
the nomenclature. Accordingly, a committee of some of
the ablest of the French chemists, of whom Lavoisier was
the most conspicuous, undertook the arduous task, and
produced a regular system of nomenclature, derived from
the Greek language, which, although far from being fault-
less, and notwithstanding much opposition with which it
was at first treated, has become the universal language of
chemical science, and has been adopted even in pharmacy
and medicine. His work, entitled " Elemens de Chymie,"
which was published in 178y, was a model of scientific
composition.
We have hitherto viewed M. Lavoisier principally a* a
chemical philosopher, in which character he has founded
his great claims to the respect and admiration of posterity.
But the other arts and sciences are indebted to him for
considerable services which he rendered them, both in a
public and private capacity. In France, more than in any
other country, men of science have been consulted in mat-
ters of public concern ; and the reputation of Lavoisier
caused him to be applied to, in 1776, to superintend the
manufacture of gunpowder, by the minister Turgot. By
the application of his chemical knowledge to this rnanufac-
SO LAVOISIER.
ture, he was enabled to increase the explosive force T>f the
powder by one- fourth ; and while he suppressed the trou-
blesome regulations for the collection of its materials from
private houses, previously adopted, he quintupled the pro-
duce. The academy of sciences received many service*
from his hands. In addition to the communication of forty
papers, relative to many of the most important subjects of
philosophical chemistry, which were printed in the twenty
volumes of Memoirs, from 1772 to 1793, he most actively
promoted all its useful plans and researches, being a mem-
ber of its board of consultation, and, when appointed to
the office of treasurer, he introduced order into its ac-
counts, and economy into its expenditure. When the new
system of measures was proposed, he contributed some
new and accurate experiments on the expansion of metals.
The national convention consulted him with advantage con-
cerning the best method of manufacturing assignats, and
of securing them against forgery. Agriculture early en-
gaged his attention, and he allotted a considerable tract of
land on his estate in the Vendome, for the purpose of ex-
perimental farming. The committee' of the constituent
assembly of 1791, appointed to form an improved system
of taxation, claimed the assistance of his extensive know-
ledge ; and he drew up, for their information, an extract
of a large work on the different productions of the country
and their consumption, for which he had been long col-
lecting materials. This was printed by order of the assem-
bly, .under the title of " Richesses Territoriales de la
France," and was esteemed the most valuable memoir on
the subject. In the same year, he wa§ appointed one of
the commissioners of the national treasury ; and he intro-
duced into that department such order and regularity, that
the proportion between the income and the expenditure,
in all the branches of government, could be seen at a single
view every evening. This spirit of systematic and lucid
arrangement was, indeed, the quality by which he was
peculiarly distinguished, and its happy influence appeared
in every subject which occupied his attention.
TUe private life of this distinguished person was equally
estimable with his public and philosophical character. H»
was extremely liberal in his patronage of the arts, and en-
couraged young men of talents in the pursuit of science.
His house became a vast laboratory, where philosophical
experiments were incessantly carrying on, and where h«
LAVOISIER. 81
held conversaziones twice a week, to which he invited every
literary character that v. >i •» celebrated in geometrical,
physical, and chemical studies ; in theso i"struciiv." dis-
cussions, the opinions of the most eniiueiK >ati in Eu-
rope were canvassed ; passages the most striking an ' novel,
out of foreign writers, \\ere recited and animadverted on ;
and theories were compared with experiments. Her"e
learned men of all nations tound easy admission ; Priestley,
Fontana, Blagden, Ingenhousz, Landriani, Jacquin, Watt,
Bolton, and other illustrious physiologists and chemists of
England, Germany, and Italy, found themselves mixed
in the same company with Laplace, Lagrange, Borda,
Cousin, Meunier, Vandermonde, Monge, Guyton, and
Berthollet. In his manners M. Lavoisier was mild, affable,
and obliging; a faithful friend and husband, a kind rela-
tion, and charitable to the poor upon his estates; in a
word equally claiming esteem for his moral qualities, as for
those of his understanding.
The time was arrived, however, when distinction even
by his talents and worth was so far from securing public
respect, amid the tumults of the revolution, that it became
a source of danger, and, when joined with wealth, was
almost certainly fatal. All those especially who had held
any situation under the old administration, particularly in
the financial departments, were sacrificed, during the mur-
derous reign of Robespierre, to the popular odium. La-
voisier was seized and thrown into prison, upon some
charges fabricated against himself and twenty-seven other
farmers-general. During his confinement he foresaw that
he should be stripped of all his property ; but consoled
himself with the expectation that he would be able to main-
tain himself by the practice of pharmacy. But a more se-
vere fate awaited him : he was capitally condemned, and
dragged to the guillotine, on the 8th of May, 1794.
The name of Lavoisier will always be ranked among the
most illustrious chemists of the present age, when it is con-
sidered what an extensive and beneficial influence his la-
bours have had over the whole science. It has been said,
indeed, that if he be estimated on the score of his actual
discoveries, not only Scheele and Priestley, and Caven-
dish, but many more, will stand before him. But he pos-
sessed in a high degree that rare talent of discernment, by
which he detected analogies, which others overlooked,
even in their own discoveries, and a sagacity in devising
VOL. XX. G
82 LAVOISIER.
and an accuracy in completing his experiments, for the
purpose of elucidating every suggestion which he thus ac-
quired, such as few philosophers have possessed. No one
who did so much, probably ever made so few unsuccessful
or random experiments. It was the singular perspicuity,
simplicity, and order to which he reduced the phenomena
of chemistry, that claimed for his theory the general re-
ception which it met with, and occasioned the abandon-
ment of those doctrines which prejudice and habit con-
spired to support. Subsequent discoveries, however, and
more especially those numerous facts which the genius of
sir Humphrey Davy has lately brought to light, through
the medium of that most powerful agent of decomposition,
galvanism, have rendered several modifications of the La-
voisierian theory necessary, and bid fair to produce a more
general revolution in the language and doctrines of che-
mistry.
M. Lavoisier married, in 1771, the daughter of a farmer-
general, a lady of pleasing manners and considerable ta-
lents, who partook of her husband's zeal for philosophical
inquiry, and cultivated chemistry with much success. She
engraved with her own hand the copper-plates for his last
work. Mad. Lavoisier afterwards gave her hand to another
eminent philosopher, count llumtbrd, who, in 1814, left
her a widow a second time.1
LAW (EDMUND), bishop of Carlisle* was born in the
parish of Cartmel in Lancashire, in 1703. His father, who
was a clergyman, held a small chapel in that neighbour-
hood, but the family had been situated at Askham, in the
county of Westmoreland. He was educated for some time
at Cartmel school, afterwards at the free grammar-school
at Kendal ; from which he went, very well instructed in
the learning of grammar-schools, to St. John's college,
Cambridge. He took his bachelor's degree in 1723, and
soon after 'was elected fellow of Christ's-college in that
university, where he took his master's degree in 1727.
During bis residence here, he became known to the pub-
lic by a translation of archbishop King's (see WILLIAM
KING) "Essay upon the Origin of Evil," with copious
notes ; in which many metaphysical subjects, curious and
interesting in their own nature, are treated of with great
> Efcge by Lalande in tb* Mag. Eocyclopedique-but chiefly w the words of
th« account giren in Reel's Cyclopedia.
LAW. 83
ingenuity, learning, and novelty. To this work was pre-
fixed, under the name of a " Preliminary Dissertation," a
very valuable piece written by Mr. Gay of Sidney-college.
Our bishop always spoke of this gentleman in terms of the
greatest respect. " In the Bible, and in the writings of
Locke, no man," he used to say, " was so well versed."
Mr. Law also, whilst at Christ's-college, undertook and
went through a very laborious part, in preparing for the
press, an edition of " Stephens's Thesaurus." His ac-
quaintance, during his first residence in the university,
was principally with Dr. Waterland, the learned master of
Magdalen-college ; Dr. Jortin, a name known to every
scholar ; and Dr. Taylor, the editor of Demosthenes.
In 1737 he was presented by the university to the living
of Graystock, in the county of Cumberland, a rectory of
about 300/. a year. The advowson of this benefice be-
longed to the family of Howards of Graystock, but devolved
to the university for this turn, by virtue of an act of par-
liament, which transfers to these two bodies the nomina-
tion to such benefices as appertain, at the time of the va-
cancy, to the patronage of a Roman catholic. The right,
however, of the university was contested, and it was not
until after a lawsuit of two years continuance, that Mr.
Law was settled in his living. Soon after this he married
Mary, the daughter of John Christian, esq. of Unerigg, in
the county of Cumberland ; a lady, whose character is re-
membered with tenderness and esteem by all who knew
her. In 1743 he was promoted by sir George Fleming,
bishop of Carlisle, to the archdeaconry of that diocese;
and in 1746 went from Graystock to settle at Salkeld, a
pleasant village upon the banks of the river Eden, the rec-
tory of which is annexed to the archdeaconry ; but he was
not one of those who lose and forget themselves in the
country. During his residence at Salkeld, he published
" Considerations on the Theory of Religion ;" to which
were subjoined, " Reflections on the Life and Character
of Christ;" and an appendix concerning the use of the
words soul and spirit in the Holy Scripture, and the state
of the dead there described.
Dr. Keene held at this time with the bishopric of Ches-
ter, the mastership of Peter-house, in Cambridge. De-
siring to leave the university, he procured Dr. Law to be
elected to succeed him in that station. This took place
in 1756, in which year Dr. Law resigned his archdeaconry
« 2
84 LAW.
in favour of Mr. Eyre, a brother-in-law of Dr. Keene.
Two years before this (the list of graduates says 1749) he
had proceeded to his degree of D. D., in his public exer-
cise for which, he defended the doctrine of what is usually
called the " sleep of the soul," a tenet to which we shall
have occasion to revert hereafter. About 1760 he was
appointed head librarian of the university ; a situation
which, as it procured an easy and quick access to books,
was peculiarly agreeable to his taste and habits. Some
time after this he was appointed casuistical professor. In
1762 he suffered an irreparable loss by the death of his
wife ; a loss in itself every way afflicting, and rendered
more so by the situation of his family, which then con-
sisted of eleven children, many of them very young.
Some years afterwards he received several preferments,
which were rather honourable expressions of regard from
his friends, than of much advantage to his fortune. By
Dr. Cornwallis, then bishop of Lichfield, afterwards arch-
bishop of Canterbury, xvho had been his pupil at Christ-
college, he was appointed to the archdeaconry of Stafford-
shire, and to a prebend in the church of Lichfield. By
his old acquaintance Dr. Green, bishop of Lincoln, he
was made a prebendary of that church. But in 1767, by
the intervention of the duke of Newcastle, to whose in-
terest, in the memorable contest for the high stewardship
of the university, he had adhered in opposition to some
temptations, he obtained a stall in the church of Durham.
The year after this, the duke of Grafton, who had a short
time before been elected chancellor of the university, re-
commended the master of Peterhouse to his majesty for
the bishopric of Carlisle. This recommendation was made,
not only without solicitation on his part, or that of his friends,
but without his knowledge, until the duke's intention in
his favour was signified to him by the archbishop.
In or about 1777, our bishop gave to the public a hand-
some edition, in 3 vols. 4to, of the works of Mr. Locke,
with a life of the author, and a preface. Mr. Locke's
writings and character he held in the highest esteem, and
seems to have drawn from them many of his own principles ;
he was a disciple of that school. About the same time
he published a tract which engaged some attention in the
controversy concerning subscription ; and he published
new editions of his two principal works, with considerable
additions, and some alterations. Besides the works al-
LAW. 8*
ready mentioned, he published, in 1734 or 1735, a very
ingenious " Inquiry into the Ideas of Space, Time," &c.
in which he combats the opinions of Dr. Clarke and his
adherents on these subjects.
Dr. Law held the see of Carlisle almost nineteen years;
during which time he twice only omitted spending the
summer months in his diocese at the bishop's residence at
Hose Castle ; a situation with which he was much pleased,
not only on account of the natural beauty of the place, but
because it restored him to the country, in which he had
spent the best part of his life. In 1787 he paid this visit
in a state of great weakness and exhaustion ; and died at
Rose about a month after his arrival there, on Aug. 14,
and in the eighty-fourth year of his age.
The life of Dr. Law was a life of incessant reading: and
O
thought, almost entirely directed to metaphysical and re-
ligious inquiries ; but the tenet by which his name and
writings are principally distinguished, is, " that Jesus
Christ, at his second coming, will, by an act of his power,
restore to life and consciousness the dead of the human
species ; who by their own nature, and without this inter-
position, would remain in the state of insensibility to
which the death brought upon mankind by the sin of Adam
had reduced them." He interpreted literally that saying
of St. Paul, I. Cor. xv. 21. " As by man came death, by
man came also the resurrection of the dead." This opi-
nion, Dr. Paley says, had no other effect upon his own
mind, than to increase his reverence for Christianity, and
for its divine founder. He retained it, as he did his other
speculative opinions, without laying, as many are wont to
do, an extravagant stress upon their importance, and with-
out pretending to more certainty than the subject allowed
of. No man formed his own conclusions with more free-
dom, or treated those of others with greater candour and
equity. He never quarrelled with any person for differing
from him, or considered that difference as a sufficient
reason for questioning any man's sincerity, or judging
meanly of his understanding. He was zealously attached
to religious liberty, because he thought that it leads to
truth ; yet from his heart he loved peace. But he did
not perceive any repugnancy in these two things. There
was nothing in his elevation to his bishopric which he
spoke of with more pleasure, than its being a proof that
decent freedom of inquiry was not discouraged.
86 LAW.
He was a man of great softness of manners, and of the
mildest and most tranquil disposition. His voice was never
raised above its ordinary pitch. His countenance seemed
never to have been ruffled ; it preserved the same kind
and composed aspect, truly indicating the calmness and
benignity of his temper. He had an utter dislike of large
and mixed companies. Next to his books, his chief satis-
faction was in the serious conrersation of a literary com-
panion, or in the company of a few friends. In this sort
of society he would open his rnind with great unreserved-
ness, and with a peculiar turn and sprightliness of expres-
sion. His person was low, but well formed ; his complexion
fair and delicate. Except occasional interruptions by the
gout, he had for the greatest part of his life enjoyed good
health ; and when not confined by that distemper, was full
of motion and activity. About nine years before his death,
he'was greatly enfeebled by a severe attack of the gout,
and in a short time after that, lost the use of one of his
legs. Notwithstanding his fondness for exercise, he re-
signed himself to this change, not only without complaint,
but without any sensible diminution of his cheerfulness
and good humour. His fault was the general fault of re-
tired and studious characters, too great a degree of inac-
tion and facility in his public station. The modestj, or
rather bashfulness of his nature, together with an extreme
unwillingness to give pain, rendered him sometimes less
firm and efficient in the administration of authority than
was requisite. But it is the condition of human nature.
There is an opposition between some virtues, which sel-
dom permits them to subsist together in perfection. Bishop
Law was interred in the cathedral of Carlisle, in which a
handsome monument is erected to his memory. Of his
family, his second son, JOHN, bishop of Elphin, died in
1810 ; and his fourth son, EDWARD, is now lord Ellenbo-
rough, chief-justice of the king's-bench.1
LAW (JOHN), usually known by the name of the pro-
jector, was born at Edinburgh, in April 1671 ; and on the
death of his father, who was a goldsmith or banker, in-
herited a considerable estate, called Lauriston. He is
said to have made some progress in polite literature, but
bis more favourite study was that of financial matters,
'Life by Dr. Paley, written for Hutchinson'i Hiit. of Durham, and whick
we hare not altered, although we are not of opinion that Dr. L«w'» tenets were
4il of the mere speculative and harmless kind.
LAW. 87
banks, taxes, &c. ; and he was at the same time a man of
pleasure, and distinguished by the appellation of Beau
Law. Having visited London in 1694, his wit and accom-
plishments procured him admission into the first circles,
and he became noted for his gallant attentions to the ladies.
One of his intrigues having involved him in a quarrel with
a Mr. Wilson, a duel took place, and Mr. Law killed his
antagonist. He was then apprehended, and committed to
the king's-bench prison, from which he made his escape,
and is supposed to have retired to the continent*. In 1700,
however, he returned to Edinburgh, as he appears in that
year to have written his " Proposals and reasons for con-
stituting a Council of Trade," which, although it met with
no encouragement from the supremo judicature of the
kingdom, procured him the patronage of some noblemen,
under which he was induced in 1705, to publish another
plan for removing the difficulties the kingdom was then,
exposed to by the great scarcity of money, and the insol-
vency of the bank. The object of his plan was to issue
notes, which were to be lent on landed property, upon
the principle, that being so secured, they would be equal
in value to gold and silver money of the same denomina-
tion, and even preferred to those metals, as not being
liable to fall in value like them. This plausible scheme
being also rejected as an improper expedient, Mr. La\v
now abandoned his native country, and went to Holland,
on purpose to improve himself in that great school of
banking and finance. He aftewards resided at Brussels,
where his profound skill in calculation is said to have con-
tributed to his extraordinary success at play.
On his arrival at Paris, his mind was occupied with
higher objects, and he now presented to the comptroller-
general of the finances under Louis XIV. a plan which was
approved by that minister, but is said to have been rejec-
ted by the king because " he would have nothing to do with
a heretic." After, however, a short residence in Sardinia,
where he in vain wanted to persuade Victor Amadeus to
adopt one of his plans for aggrandizing his territories, he
returned to Paris on the death of Louis XIV. and was
* A reward of 501. wa* offered in in his fare, big high nose, speech
the London Gazette of Jan. 3—7, broad and loud." Nichols's Leicea-
1694-5, in which he is described as tershire, vol. III. in which are some
aged twenty-six, " a black lean man, curious particulars of Mr. Law.
about six feet high, large pock-holes
85 LAW.
more favourably received. He gained the confidence of
the regent to such a degree, that he not only admitted
him to all his convivial parties, but nominated him one of
his counsellors of state. France was at this time burthened
with an immense debt, which Law proposed to liquidate,
by establishing a bank for issuing notes secured on landed
property, and on all the royal revenues, unalienably en-
gaged for that purpose. This scheme was approved of,
but the conjuncture being thought unfavourable, he could
only obtain letters patent, dated May 30, 1716, for es-
tablishing a private bank at Paris, along with his brother
and some other associates. This scheme promised suc-
cess, and the bank had acquired great credit, when it was
dissolved in December 1718, by an arbitrary arret of the
regent, who, observing the great advantages arising from
it, and perceiving also that the people were growing fond
of paper money, resolved to take it into the hands of go-
vernment.
Mr. Law, however, was named director-general of this
royal bunk, and branches of it were established at Lyons,
Rochelle, Tours, Orleans, and Amiens. In 1720, he be-
gan to develope his grand project, so well known to all
Europe, under the name of the Mississippi scheme. This
scheme was no less than the vesting the whole privileges,
effects, and possessions of all the foreign trading compa-
nies, the great farms, the profits of the mint, the general
receipt of the king's revenue, and the management and
property of the bank, in one great company, who thus
having in their hands all the trade, taxes, and royal re-
venues, might be enabled to multiply the notes of the
bank to any extent they pleased, doubling or even trebling
at will the circulating cash of the kingdom ; and by the
greatness of their funds, possessed of a power to carry the
foreign trade, and the culture of the colonies, to a height
altogether impracticable by any other means. This mon-
strous and impracticable monopoly was approved of by the
regent, who issued letters patent for erecting the " Com-
pany of the West," to which he granted at the same time,
the whole province of Louisiana, or the country on the
river Missisippi, from which the scheme took its name.
Tiiat part of America having been represented as a region
abounding in gold and silver, and possessing a fertile and
luxurious soil, the actions or shares were bought up with
L A W. 89
great avidity ; and such was the rage for speculation, that
the unimproved parts of the colony were actually sold for
30,000 livres the square league.
The " Company of the West," of which Law was of
course director-general, in pursuance of his scheme, un-
dertook the farm of tobacco at an advanced rent of upwards
of two millions of livres ; they soon after engrossed the
charter and effects of the Senegal company, and in May
1719, actually procured the grant of an exclusive trade to
the East Indies, China, and the South-sea^, with all the
possessions and effects of the China and India companies,
which were now dissolved on the condition of liquidating
their debts. The price of actions soon rose from 550 to 1000
livres each. On July 25th, the mint was made over to
this company, which now assumed the name of " The
Company of the Indies" for a consideration of fifty mil-
lions of livres, and on Aug. 27, following, they also obtained
a lease of the farms, for which they agreed to pay three
millions and a half of livres advanced rent. Having
o
thus concentered within themselves, not only the whole
foreign trade and possessions of France, but the collection
and management of the royal revenues, they promised an
annual dividend of 200 livres per share, in consequence
of which the price of actions rose to 5000 livres, and
a rage for the purchase of their stock seems to have infa-
tuated all ranks in the kingdom. The whole nation,
clergy, laity, peers, and plebeians, statesmen, and princes,
nay even ladies, who had, or could procure money for
that purpose, turned stock-jobbers, outbidding each other
with such avidity, that in November 1719, after some
fluctuations, the price of actions rose to above 10,OOO
livres, more than sixty times the sum they originally
sold for.
Our projector had now arrived at an unexampled pitch
of power and wealth ; he possessed the ear of the duke of
Orleans ; he was almost adored by the people, and was
constantly surrounded by princes, dukes, and prelates,
who courted his friendship, and even seemed ambitious of
his patronage. Such was the immensity of his property,
that he bought no less than fourteen estates vyith titles an-
nexed to them, among which was the marquisate of Rosny,
that had belonged to the great duke of Sully, the minister
and friend of Henry IV. About this period too, a free
90 LAW.
pardon* for the murder of Mr. Wilson was conveyed to
him from England, while Edinburgh, proud of having
produced so great a man, transmitted the freedom of the
city in a gold box.
The only obstacle to his advancement to the highest
offices in the state being soon after removed by his abju-
ration of the protestant religion, he was declared comp-
troller-general of the finances on Jan. 18, 1720. But
after having raised himself to such an envied situation, he
at length fell a sacrifice to the intrigues of the other mi-
nisters, who, playing upon the fears of the regent, induced
him to issue an arret on May 21, 1720, which, contrary
to sound policy, and even to the most solemn stipulations,
reduced the value of the company's bank notes one half,
and fixed their actions or shares, at 5000 livres. By this
fatal step, which seems to have been taken in opposition
to the opinion and advice of the comptroller-general, the
whole paper fabrick was destroyed, and this immense spe-
culation turned out to be a mere bubble. The conster-
nation of the populace was soon converted into rage; troops
were obliged to be stationed in all parts of the capital to
prevent mischief; and such was the depreciation of this
boasted paper money, that 100 livres were given for a
single louis-d'or. Law with some difficulty made his
escape to Brussels, and of all his wealth and property, re-
tained only the salary of his office, through the friendship
of the duke of Orleans.
After waiting for some time, in expectation of being re-
called to France, he travelled through part of Europe, and
at length, in consequence of an invitation from the British
ministry, arrived in England in Oct. 1721, was presented
to the king, George I. and afterwards hired a house in
Conduit-street, Hanover-square, where he was daily vi-
sited by people of the first quality and distinction. In
1722 he repaired once more to the continent, and con-
cluded the chequered course of his life at Venice, in March
1729, in the fifty-eighth year of his age. He was at this
time in a state little removed from indigence. Various
opinions have been entertained respecting the merit of his
* It is said in the work quoted in what improbable ; but we ought p«r-
the preceding note, that he found haps, to recollect that there was a
means to pacify the surviving relations time, a short one, indeed, when Mr.
of Mr. Wilson, by the payment ot not Law could command greater sums,
less than 100,000/. This appears some.
LAW. 91
project, but it seems generally agreed that if it had not
been violently interrupted by the regent's arret, it was too
insecure in its principles to have been permanent. His
family estate of Lauriston is still in the possession of his
descendants, one of whom, the eldest sou of John Law de
Lauriston, governor of Pondicherry, was one of the offi-
cers who perished in the unfortunate voyage of De la Pe-
rouse, and was succeeded as the head of the family, by
general Lauriston, known in this country as the bearer of
the ratification of the preliminaries of the short-lived peace
between Great Britain and France in 1802.1
LAW (WILLIAM), the author of many pious works of
great popularity, was born at KingVcliffe, in Northamp-
tonshire, in 1686, and was the second son of Thomas Law,
a grocer. It is supposed that he received his early edu-
cation at Oakham or Uppingham, in Rutlandshire, whence
on June 7, 1705, he entered of Emmanuel college, Cam-
bridge. In 1708 he commenced B. A. ; in 1711, was
elected fellow of his college; and in 1712 took his degree
of M. A. Soon after the accession of his majesty George I.
being called upon to take the oaths prescribed by act of
parliament, and to sign the declaration, he refused, and
in consequence vacated his fellowship in 1716. He was
after this considered as a nonjuror. It appears that he had
for some time officiated as a curate in London, but had
no ecclesiastical preferment. Soon after his resignation of
his fellowship he went to reside at Putney, as tutor to Ed-
ward Gibbon, father to the eminent historian. When at
home, notwithstanding his refusing the oaths, he continued
to frequent his parish-church, and join in communion with
his fellow parishioners. In 1727 he founded an alms-house
at Cliffe, for the reception and maintenance of two old
women, either unmarried and helpless, or widows ; and a
school for the instruction and clothing of fourteen girls.
It is thought that the money thus applied was the gift of
an unknown benefactor, and given to him in the following
manner. While he was standing at the door of a shop in
London, a person unknown to him asked whether his name
was William Law, and whether he was of King's-cliffe ;
and after having received a satisfactory answer, delivered
a sealed paper, directed to the Rev. William Law, which
» Hist, of the Parish of Cramond, 1794, 4to. — Private Life of Louis XV.
translated by Justamond. — Voltaire's S.ecle de Louis XV.— Diet Hist.—
Nichols's Leicestershire, vol. III.
9$ LA W.
contained a bank note for 1000/. But as tlifre is no proof
that this was given to him in trust tor the purpose, he is
fully entitled to the merit of having employed it in the ser-
vice of the poor ; and such beneficence was perfectly con-
sistent with his general character.
At what time Mr. Law quitted Mr. Gibbon's house at
Putney, his biographer has not discovered, but it appears
that some time before 1740, he was instrumental in bring-
ing about an intimacy between Mrs. Hester Gibbon, his
pupil's sister, and Mrs. Elizabeth Hntcheson, widow of
Archibald Hutcheson, esq. of the Middle Temple. Mr.
Hutcheson, when near his decease, recommended to his
wife a. retired life, and told her he knew no person whose
society would be so likely to prove profitable and agree-
able to her as that of Mr. Law, of whose writings he highly
approved. Mrs. Hutcheson, whose maiden name was Law-
rence, had been the wife of colonel Robert Steward ; and
when she went to reside in Northamptonshire, was in pos-
session of a large income, from the produce of an estate
which was in her own power, and of a life interest in pro-
perty settled on her in marriage, or devised to her by Mr.
Hutcheson. These two ladies, Mrs. Hutcheson and Mrs.
H. Gibbon, appear lo have been of congenial sentiments,
and now formed a plan of living together in the country,
far from that circle of society generally called the world ;
and of taking Mr. Law as their chaplain, instructor, and
almoner. With this view they took a house at Thrapston,
in Northamptonshire; but that situation not proving agree-
able to them, the two ladies enabled Mr. Law, about 1740,
to prepare a roomy house near the church at King's-cliffe,
and in that part of the town called "The Hall-yard."
This house was then possessed by Mr. Law, and was the
only property devised to him by his father. Here the
whole income of these two ladies,' after deducting the fru-
gal expences of their household, was expended in acts of
charity to the poor and the sick, and in donations of greater
amount to distressed persons of a somewhat higher class.
And after twenty years residence, Mr. Law died in this
house April 9, 17fil.
By some persons now or lately living at Cliffo, who
knew Mr. Law, it is reported that he was by nature of an
active and cheerful disposition, very warm-hearted, unaf-
fected, and affable, but not to appearance so remarkable
lor meekness " as some others of the most revered mem-
LAW. 95
bers of the Christian church are reported to have been."
He was in stature rather over than under the middle size;
not corpulent, but stout made, with broad shoulders ; his
visage was round, his eyes grey, his features well-propor-
tioned, and not large, his complexion ruddy, and his coun-
tenance open and agreeable. He was naturally more in-
clined to be merry than sad. In his habits he was very re-
gular and temperate ; he rose early, breakfasted in his
bed-room on one cup of chocolate ; joined his family in
prayer at nine o'clock, and again, soon after noon, at dinner.
When the daily provision for the poor was not made punc-
tually at the usual hour, he expressed his displeasure
sharply, but seldom on any other occasion. He did not
join Mrs. Gibbon and Mrs. Hutcheson at the tea-table, but
sometimes ate a few raisins standing while they sat. At an
early supper, after an hour's walk in his field, or elsewhere,
he ate something, and drank one or two glasses of wine ;
then joined in prayer with the ladies and their servants,
attended to the reading of some portion of scripture, and
at nine o'clock retired.
We know not where a more just character of this singu-
lar man can be found than in the " Miscellaneous Works"
of Gibbon, the historian, who has for once praised a
churchman and a man of piety, not only without irony^
but with affection. " In our family," says Gibbon, " he
left the reputation of a worthy and pious man, who be-
lieved all that he professed, and practised all that he en-
joined. The character of a non juror, which he maintained
to the last, is a sufficient evidence of his principles in
church and state ; and the sacrifice of interest to conscience
will be always respectable. His theological writings, which
our domestic connection has tempted me to peruse, pre-
serve an imperfect sort of life, and I can pronounce with
more confidence and knowledge on the merits of the au-
thor. His last compositions are darkly tinctured by the
incomprehensible visions of Jacob Behmen ; and his dis-
course? on the absolute unlawfulness of stage-entertain-
ments is sometimes quoted for a ridiculous intemperance
of sentiment and language. — But these sallies of religious
phrensy must not extinguish the praise which is due to
Mr. William Law as a wit and a scholar. His argument
on topics of less absurdity is specious and acute, his
manner is lively, his style forcible and clear; and, had
not his vigorous mind been clouded by enthusiasm, he
94 LA W.
might be ranked with the most agreeable and ingeniotfs
writers of the times. While the Bangorian controversy
was a fashionable theme, he entered the lists on the sub-
ject of Christ's kingdom, and the authority of the priest-
hood ; against the « Plain account of the sacrament of the
Lord's Supper' he resumed the combat with bishop Hoadly,
the object of Whig idolatry and Tory abhorrence ; and at
every weapon of attack and defence, the nonjuror, on the
ground which is common to both, approves himself at least
equal to the prelate. On the appearance of the * Fable of
the Bees,' he drew his pen against the licentious doctrine
that private vices are public benefits, and morality as well
as religion must join in his applause. Mr. Law's master-
work, the * Serious Call,' is still read as a popular and
powerful book of devotion. His precepts are rigid, but
they are founded on the gospel; his satire is sharp, but it
is drawn from the knowledge of human life ; and many of
his portraits are not unworthy of the pen of La Bruyere *.
If he finds a spark of piety in his reader's mind, be will
soon kindle it to a flame ; and a philosopher must allow
that he exposes, with equal severity and truth, the strange
contradiction between the faith and practice of the Chris-
tian world."
As a theologian, Law held certain tenets peculiar to
himself which, either from being misunderstood, or mis-
represented, subjected him at different times, to two very
opposite imputations, that of being a Socinian and that of
being a Methodist. What, however, was really erroneous
in his opinions has been ably pointed out by bishop Home
in a small tract, printed with his life, entitled " Cautions
to the readers of Mr. Law." It was in his latter days that
Mr. Law became most confused in his ideas, from having
bewildered his imagination with the reveries of Jacob
Ben men, for whose sake he learned German that he might
read his works, and whom he pronounces " the strongest,
the plainest, the most open, intelligible, awakening, con-
vincing writer, that ever was." Although it is as a devo-
tional writer that he is now best known, and there can be no
* The late writer of Mr. Law's Life racten, Dr. Warton speaks as highly
is of opinion that Mr. Gibbom was as Mr. Gibbon. «« There are some fe-
wrong in supposing that " Miranda," male characters sketched, with exqui-
in the «« Serious Call," was intended site delicacy aad deep knowledge of
for his aunt, she being very young at nature, in a book where one would not
her father's house when the work was expect to find them, ID Law'* «• Cbriv
written. Of his power of drawing cha- tiao Perfection."
LAW. 95
doubt that his " Serious call*," and " Christian perfec-
tion" have been singularly useful, it is as a controversial
writer, that he ought to be more highly praised. His let-
ters to bishop Hoadly are among the finest specimens of
controversial writing in our language, with respect to style,
wit, and argument.
Mr. Law's works amount to nine vols. 8vo, and consist of,
1 . " A Serious Call to a devout and holy life." 2. " A
practical Treatise on Christian Perfection." 3. " Three
Letters to the Bishop of Bangor." 4. " Remarks upon a
late Book, entitled, The Fable of the Bees ; or private
vices public benefits." 5. " The absolute Unlawfulness
of Stage Entertainments fully demonstrated." 6. " The
Case of Reason, or Natural Religion, fairly and fully
stated." 7. " An earnest and serious answer to Dr.
Trapp's Discourse of the folly, sin, and danger, of being
righteous over much." 8. " The Grounds and Reasons of
Christian Regeneration." 9. " A Demonstration of the
gross and fundamental errors of a late book, called, A plain
account of the nature and end of the Sacramentof the Lord's
Supper." 10. " An Appeal to all that doubt or disbelieve
the Jruths of the Gospel." 11." The Spirit of Prayer ;
or, the Soul rising out of the vanity of Time into riches of
Eternity. In two Parts." 12. " The Spirit of Love, in
two Parts." 13. " The Way to Divine Knowledge ; being
several Dialogues between Humanus, Academicus, Rusti-
cus, and Theophilus." 14. "A short but sufficient Con-
futation of the rev. Dr. Warburton's projected Defence (as
he calls it) of Christianity, in his Divine Legation of Moses.
In a Letter to the right rev. the Lord Bishop of London."
15. " Of Justification by Faith and Works; a Dialogue
between a Methodist and a Churchman," 8vo. 16. "A
Collection of Letters on the most interesting and impor-
tant subjects, and on several occasions." 17. " An hum-
ble, earnest, and affectionate Address to the Clergy."1
LA WES (HENRY), an English musician, was the son of
Thomas Lawes, a vicar- choral of the church of Salisbury,
* " When at Oxford," says Dr. I found Law quite an over-match for
Johnson, " 1 took up ' Law's Serious me ; and this was the first occasion of
Call to a Holy Life,' expecting.to find my thinking in earnest of religion,
it a dull book (as such books generally after 1 became capable of rational in-
are), and perhaps to laugh at it. But quiry."
1 Short Account of the Life and Writings of Mr. Law, by Richard Tighe,
1813, 8vo.— Gibbon's Miscellaneous Works, TO!. I. pp. 14, 142.— Jones's Life
«f Bishop Home, pp. 73, 198,— .Gwt. Mag, vol. LXX. — Nichols's Bovyer.
96 LAWES.
and born there about 1600. He was a disciple of Cope-
rario. In 1625, he became a gentleman of the chapel
royal ; and was afterwards appointed one of the private
music to Charles f. In 1653, were published his " Ayres
and Dialogues," &c. folio, with a preface by himself, and
commendatory verses by the poet Waller, Edward and
John Phillips, nephews of Milton, and others. In the pre-
face, speaking of the Italians, he acknowledges them in
general to be the greatest masters of music ; yet contends,
that this nation has produced as able musicians as any in
Europe. He censures the fondness of his age for songs in
a language which the hearers do not understand ; and, to
ridicule it, mentions a song of his own composition, printed
at the end of the book, which is nothing but an index, con-
taining the initial words of some old Italian songs or ma-
drigals : and this index, which read together made a strange
medley of nonsense, he says, he set to a varied air, and
gave out that it came from Italy, by which it passed for an
Italian song. In the title-page of this book is a very fine
engraving of the author's head by Faithorne.
Twenty years before, in 1633, Lawes had been chosen
to assist in composing the airs, lessons, and songs of a
masque, presented at Whitehall on Candlemas-night, be-
fore the king and queen, by the gentlemen of the four inns
of court, under the direction of Noy the attorney- general,
Hyde afterwards earl of Clarendon, Selden, Whitelock,
and others. Whitelock has given an account of it in his
" Memorials," &c. Lawes also composed tunes to Mr.
George Sandys's " Paraphrase on the Psalms," published
in 1638 : and Milton's " Comus" was originally set by him,
and published in 1637, with a dedication to lord Brady,
sou and heir of the earl of Bridgewater. It was repre-
sented in 1634, at Ludlow-castle, Lawes himself perform-
ing in it the character of the attendant spirit. The music to
" Comus" was never printed ; and there is nothing in any
of the printed copies of the poem, or in the many accounts
of Milton, to ascertain the form in which it was composed.
Lawes taught music to the family of the earl of Bridge-
water : he was intimate with Milton, as may be conjectured
from that sonnet of the latter, " Harry, whose tuneful and
well-measured song." — Peck says, that Milton wrote his
masque of " Comus" at the request of Lawes, who engaged
to set it to music. Most of the songs of Waller are set by
Lawes; and Waller has acknowledged his obligation to
LAWES. 97
him for one in particular, which he had set in 1635, in a
poem, wherein he celebrates his skill as a musician. Fen-
ton, in a note on this poem, says, that the best poets of
that age were ambitious of having their verses set by this
incomparable artist; who introduced a softer mixture of
Italian airs than before had been practised in our nation.
Dr. Burney entertains another kind of suspicion. " Whe-
ther," says this historian, " Milton chose Lawes, or Lawes
Milton for a colleague in Comus, it equally manifests the
high rank in which he stood with the greatest poets of his
time. It would be illiberal to cherish such an idea ; but
it does sometimes seem as if the twin-sisters, Poetry and
Music, were mutually jealous of each other's glory : * the
less interesting my sister's offspring may be,' says Poetry,
* the more admiration will my own obtain.' Upon asking
some years ago, why a certain great prince continued to
honour with such peculiar marks of favour, an old per-
former on the flute, when he had so many musicians of
superior abilities about him ? We were answered, * be-
cause he plays worse than himself.' And who knows whe-
ther Milton and Waller were not secretly influenced by
some such consideration ? and were not more pleased with
Lawes for not pretending to embellish or enforce the sen-
timents of their songs, but setting them to sounds less
captivating than the sense."
He continued in the service of Charles I. no longer than
till the breaking out of the civil wars ; yet retained his
place in the royal chapel, end composed the anthem for
the coronation of Charles II. He died Oct. 21, 1662, and
was buried in Westminster-abbey. " If," says Hawkins,
"we were to judge of the merit of Lawes as a musician
from the numerous testimonies of authors in his favour, we
should rank him among the first that this country has pro-
duced ; but, setting these aside, his title to fame will ap»
pear to be but ill-grounded. Notwithstanding he was a
servant of the church, he contributed nothing to the in-
crease of its stores: his talent lay chiefly in the composi-
tion of songs for a single voice, and in these the great and
almost only excellence is the exact correspondence be-
tween the accent of the music and the quantities of the
verse ; and, if the poems of Milton and Waller in his com-
mendation be attended to, it will be found that his care in
this particular is his chief praise." '
1 Hawkins's and Bumey's Hist, of Music.— Wartou's Milton, p. 345 et seqq.
VOL. XX. ' H
S9 L A W E S.
LAWES (WILLIAM), brother to the preceding, w»
placed early in life under Coperario, for his musical edu-
cation, at the expence of the earl of Hertford. His first
preferment was in the choir of Chichester, but he was
soon called to London, where, in 1602, he was sworn a
gentleman of the chapel royal ; which place, however, he
resigned in 1611, and became one of the private, or cham-
ber-musicians, to Charles, then prince and afterwards king.
Fuller says, " he was respected and beloved of all such
persons as cast any looks towards virtue and honour :" and
he seems well entitled to this praise. He manifested his
gratitude and loyalty to his royal master by taking up arms
in his cause against the parliament. And though, to
exempt him from danger, lord Gerrard, the king's gene-
ral, made him a commissary in the royal army, yet the
activity of his spirit disdaining this intended security, at
the siege of Chester, 1645, he lost his life by an accidental
shot. The king is said, by Fuller, to have been so affected
at his loss, that though he was already in mourning for his
kinsman lord Bernard Stuart, killed at the same siege, his
majesty put " on particular mourning for his dear servant
William Lawes, whom he commonly called the father of
music."
His chief compositions were fantasias for viols, and songs
and symphonies for masques ; but his brother Henry, in
the preface to the " Choice Psalmes" for three voices,
which they published jointly, boasts that " he composed
more than thirty several sorts of music for voices and in-
struments, and that there was not any instrument in use in
his time but he composed for it as aptly as if he had only
studied that." In Dr. Aldrich's collection, Christ church,.
Oxon, there is a work of his called Mr. William Lawes'*
Great Consort, " wherein are ,six setts of musicke, six
books." His " Royal Consort" for two treble viols, two
viol da gambas, and a thorough-base, which was always
mentioned with reverence by his admirers in the seven-
teenth century, is, says Dr. Burney, one of the most dry,
aukward, and unmeaning compositions we ever remember
to have had the trouble of scoring. It must, however, have
been produced early in his life, as there are no bars, and
the passages are chiefly such as were used in queen Eliza-
beth's time. In the music-school at Oxford are two large
manuscript volumes of his works in score, for various in-.
struments; one of which includes his original composition!
L A W E S. 99
for masques, performed before the king, and at the inns
of court.
His anthem for four voices, in Dr. Boyce's second vo-
lume, is the best and most solid composition of this author ;
though it is thin and confused in many places, with little
melody. He must have been considerably older than his
brother Henry, though they frequently composed in con-
junction ; but we are unable to clear up this point of pri-
mogeniture. Several of the songs of William Lawes occur
in the collections of the time, particularly in John Play-
ford's Musical Companion, part the second, consisting of
dialogues, glees, ballads, and airs, the words of which are
in general coarse and licentious. The dialogue part, which
he furnished to this book, is a species of recitative, wholly
without accompaniment : and the duet at last, which is
called a chorus, is insipid in melody, and ordinary in coun-
terpoint. His boasted canons, published by his brother
Henry at the end of their psalms, as proofs of his great
abilities in harmony, when scored, appear so far from
finished compositions, that there is not one of them totally
free from objections, or that -bears the stamp of a great
master.1
LAWRENCE (THOMAS), an eminent physician, the son
of captain Thomas Lawrence of the royal navy, and grand-
son of Dr. Thomas Lawrence, first physician to queen
Anne, was born May 25, 1711, in the parish of St. Mar-
garet, Westminster. His mother was Elizabeth, daughter
of Mr. Gabriel Soulden, merchant of Kinsale in Ireland,
and widow of colonel Piers. His father's residence being
at Southampton, he was placed under the care of the rev.
Mr. Kingsman, master of the free-school at that place, but
had previously received some education at Dublin, where
his father was in 1715. In 1727 he was entered as a com-
moner of Trinity college, Oxford, under the tuition of the
rev. George Huddesford, afterwards president of that col-
lege ; and here he pursued his studies until some time in
1734. He then removed to London, and took a lodging
in the city for the convenience of attending St. Thomas's
hospital, and became a pupil of Dr. Nicholls, who was at
that time reading anatomical lectures, with uncommon
celebrity. Mr. Lawrence made a suitable progress under
so able an instructor, and at those lectures formed many of
i Buraey in Rees's Cyclopaedia.— H»wkin».
H 2
100 LAWRENCE.
the friendships which he most valued during the remainder
of his life; among others he became here first acquainted
with Dr. Bathurst, who introduced him to the friendship of
Dr. Johnson.
In 1740 he took his degree of M. D. at Oxford, and was,
upon the resignation of Dr. Nicholls, chosen anatomical
reader in that university, where he read lectures for some
years, as he did also in London, having quitted his lodg-
ings in the city for a house in Lincoln's inn-fields, which
had been before occupied by Dr. Nicholh, and was vacated
by him upon his marriage with the daughter of Dr. Mead.
On May 25, 1744, Dr. Lawrence was married to Frances,
daughter of Dr. Chauncy, a physician at Derby, and took
a house in Essex- street, in the Strand, where he continued
to read his anatomical lectures till 1750, after which he
laid them aside. He now devoted himself to his practice,
which became very considerable, and which he obtained
solely by the reputation of his skill and integrity, for he
laboured under the disadvantage of frequent fits of deaf-
ness, and knew no art of success but that of deserving it.
In the same year (1744), he was chosen fellow of the royal
college of physicians in London, where he read suc-
cessively all the lectures instituted in that society with
great reputation, both for his professional knowledge, and
for the purity and elegance of his Latin ; nor did he con-
fine himself to the oral instruction of his contemporaries,
for in 1756 he published a medical disputation " De Hy-
drope," and in 1759, " De Natura Musculorum prelec-
tiones tres ;" and when the College published the works of
Dr. Harvey in 1766, Dr. Lawrence wrote the life which is
prefixed to that edition, for which he had a compliment of
100 guineas. In 1751) he was chosen elect, and in 1767
president of the college, to which office he was re-elected
for the seven succeeding years.
- About 1773, Dr. Lawrence's health began to decline,
and he first perceived symptoms of that disorder on the
breast which is called angina pectoris, and which continued
to afflict him to the end of his life. Yet he remitted little
of his attention, either to study or business ; he still con-
tinued his custom of rising early, that h« might secure
leisure for study ; and his old friend and instructor, Dr.
Nicholls, dying in the beginning of 1778, he paid a tri-
bute, of friendship and gratitude to his memory by writing
an account of his life, in Latin, which was printed for pri-
LAWRENCE. 101
vate distribution in 1780, 4to. The death of his friend
was soon followed by a nearer loss, in Jan. 1780, that of
his wife, with whom he had lived with great happiness for
above thirty-five years; and from this time his health and
spirits declining more rapidly, his family prevailed on him
to retire from business and London ; he accordingly re-
moved with his family to Canterbury, in 1782, and died
there June 6, 1783.
By his wife he had six sons and three daughters. The
deatii of one of his sons in India, in 1783, gave occasion
to a very elegant Latin ode by Dr. Johnson. Another of
his sons was the late sir Soulden Lawrence, one of the
judges of the king's bench ; and Elizabeth, widow of George
Gipps, esq. M. P. for Canterbury, is now, we believe, the
only survivor of Dr. Lawrence's family.1
LAZIUS (WOLFGANG), physician and historian to the
emperor Ferdinand I. was born at Vienna in 1504, and
there taught the belles lettres and physic for some years
with great reputation. He died in 1555. His numerous
works shew him to have been indefatigable in his re-
searches, but not so judicious in digesting his materials.
The principal are, 1. " Commentariorum Reipublicse Ro-
manae in exteris Provinciis bello acquisitis constitutae,"
Libri XII. 1598, fol. 2. " De Gentium migrationibus,"
1572, fol. in which he examines particularly the migrations
of the northern people, which weakened and divided the
Roman empire. 3. " Geographia Pannonise," in Ortelius."
4. " De rebus Viennensibus," 1546. 5. " In Genealogiam
Austriacam Commentarii," 1564, fol. &c. The greatest
part of this author's works were collected and printed at
Francfort, 1698, 2 vols. fol.*
LEAKE (RICHARD), master-gunner of England, was born
at Harwich, in 1629, and being bred to the sea-service,
distinguished himself by his skill and bravery in many
actions. At the restoration he was made master-gunner
of the Princess, a frigate of fifty guns; and in the first
Dutch war exhibited his skill and bravery in two very
extraordinary actions, in one against fifteen sail of Dutch
men of war, and another in 1667, against two Danish ships
in the Baltic, in which, the principal officers being killed,
1 Gent. Mag. vol. LVII. — Censura Literaria, vol. I. — Hawkins and Boswell's
Livei of Johnson.
2 Nicoron, vol. XXXI. — Moreri. — Bullart'a Academic des Sciences.
Ouomast.
102 L E A K E.
the command devolved on him, though only master-gun-
ner. In 1669 he was promoted to be gunner of the Royal
Prince, a tirst-rate man of war. In 1673 he was engaged
with his two sons Henry and John, against Van Trump.
His ship was the Royal Prince, a first-rate man of war, all
the masts of which were shot away, four hundred of her
men killed or disabled, and most of her upper tier of guns
dismounted. Whilst she was thus a wreck, a large Dutch
ship of war came down upon her, with two fire-ships, mean-
ing to burn or carry her off. Captain, afterwards sir George
Rooke, thinking her condition hopeless, ordered the men
to save their lives, and strike the colours. Mr. Leake,
hearing this, ordered the lieutenant off the quarter-deck,
and took the command upon himself, saying, " the Royal
Prince shall never be given up while I am alive to defend
her." The chief- gunner's gallantry communicated itself
to all around ; the crew returned with spirit to their guns,
and, under the direction of Mr. Leake and his two sons,
compelled the Dutchman to sheer off, and sunk both the
fire-ships. Leake afterwards brought the Royal Prince safe
to Chatham ; but the joy of his victory was damped by the
loss of his son Henry, who was killed by his side. He was
afterwards made master- gunner of England, and store-
keeper of the ordnance at Woolwich. He had a particular
genius for every thing which related to the management of
artillery, and was the first who contrived to fire otf a mortar
by the blast of a piece, which has been used ever since.
He was also very skilful in the composition of fire-works,
which he often and successfully exhibited for the amuse-
ment of the king, and his brother, the duke of York. He
died in 1686, leaving a son, who is the subject of our next
article '
LEAKE (Sir JOHN), a brave and successful English ad-
miral, son of the preceding, was born in 1656, at Rother-
hithe, in Surrey. His father instructed him both in ma-
thematici ami gunnery, with a view to the navy, and en-
tered him early into that service as a midshipman ; in which
station he distinguished himself, under his father, at the
above-mentioned engagement between sir Edward Spragge
and Van Trump, in 1673, beingt'nen no more than seven-
teen years old. Upon the conclusion of that war soon
after, hfc engaged in the merchants' service, and had the
» Biog. Brit.
L E A K E. 103
Command of a ship two or three voyages up the Mediter-
ranean ; but his inclination lying to the navy, he did not
long remain unemployed in it. He had indeed refused a
lieutenant's commission ; but this was done with a view to
the place of master-gunner, which was then of much
greater esteem than it is at present. When his father was
advanced, not long after, to the command of a yacht, he
gladly accepted the offer of succeeding him in the post of
gunner to the Neptune, a second-rate man of war. This
happened about 1675; and, the times being peaceable,
he remained in this post without any promotion till 1688.
James II. having then resolved to fit out a strong fleet, to
prevent the invasion from Holland, Leake had the com-
mand of the Firedrake fireship, and distinguished himself
by several important services ; particularly, by the relief
of Londonderry in Ireland, which was chiefly effected by
his means. He was in the Firedrake in the fleet under
lord Dartmouth, when the prince of Orange landed ; after
which he joined the rest of the protestant officers in an
address to the prince. The importance of rescuing Lon-
dondefry from the hands of king James raised him in the
navy ; and, after some removes, he had the command
given him of the Eagle, a third-rate of 70 guns. In 1692,
the distinguished figure he made in the famous battle off
La Hogue procured him the particular friendship of Mr.
(afterwards admiral) Churchill, brother to the duke of
Marlborough ; and he continued to behave on all occasions
with great reputation till the end of the war ; when, upon
concluding the peace of Ryswick, his ship was paid off,
Dec. 5, 1697. In 1696, on the death of his father, his
friends had procured for him his father's places of master-
gunner in England, and store- keeper of Woolwich, but
these he declined, being ambitious of a commissioner's
place in the navy ; and perhaps he might have obtained it,
had not admiral Churchill prevailed with him not to think
of quitting the sea, and procured him a commission for a
third-rate of 70 g'jns in May 1699. Afterwards, upon the
prospect of a new war, he was removed to the Britannia,
the finest first-rate in the navy, of which he was appointed,
Jan. 1701, first captain of three under the earl of Pem-
broke, newly made lord high admiral of England. This
was the highest station he could have as a captain, and
higher than any private captain ever obtained either before
or since. JBut, upon the earl's removal, to make way for
104 L E A K E.
prince George of Denmark, soon after queen Anne's ac-
cession to the throne, Leake's commission under him be-
coming void, May 27, 1702, he accepted of the Associa-
tion, a second-rate, till an opportunity offered for his far-
ther promotion. Accordingly, upon the declaration of war
against France, he received a commission, June the 24th
that year, from prince George, appointing him commander
in chief of the ships designed against Newfoundland. He
arrived there with his squadron in August, and, destroying
the French trade and settlements, restored the English to
the possession of the whole island. This gave him an op-
portunity of enriching himself by the sale of the captures,
at the same time that it gained him the favour of the nation,
by doing it a signal service, without any great danger of
not succeeding; for, in truth, all the real fame he ac-
quired on this occasion arose from his extraordinary dis-
patch and diligence in the execution.
Upon his return home, he was appointed rear-admiral of
the Blue, and vice-admiral of the same squadron ; but de-
clined the honour of knighthood, which, however, he ac-
cepted the following year, when he was engaged with ad-
miral Rooke in taking Gibraltar. Soon after this he par-
ticularly distinguished himself in the general engagement
off Malaga ; and, being left with a winter-guard at Lisbon
for those parts, he relieved Gibraltar in 1705, which the
French had besieged by sea, and the Spaniards by land,
and reduced to the last extremity. He arrived Oct. 29,
and so opportunely for the besieged, that two days would,
in all probability, have decided their fate ; but this was
prevented by sir John's seasonable arrival. In Feb. 1705,
he received a commission, appointing him vice-admiral of
the white, and, in March, relieved Gibraltar a second time.
On March 6 he set sail for that place; and, on the 10th,
attacked five ships of the French fleet coming out of the
Bay, of whom two were taken, two more run ashore, and
were destroyed ; and baron Pointi died soon after of the
wounds he received in the battle. The rest of the French
fleet, having intelligence of sir John's coming, had left
the Bay the day before his arrival there. He had no sooner
anchored, but he received the letter inserted below from
the prince of Hesse * : his highness also presented him
* *' fir, I expected with great im- and good SUCCPM at this your second
patience this jfood opportunity to ex- appearing off this place, which I hope
press my hearty joy for your great hath beeu the first stroke towards our
L E A K E.
with a gold cup on the occasion. This blow struck a panic
along the whole coast, of which sir John received the
following account, in a letter from Mr. Hill, envoy to the
court of Savoy : " I can tell you," says he, " your late
success against Mr. Pointi put all the French coast into a
great consternation, as if you were come to scour the whole
Mediterranean. All the ships of war that were in the road
of Toulon were hauled into the harbour; and nothing Hurst
look out for some days." In short, the effect at Gibraltar
was, that the enemy, in a few days, entirely raised the siege,
and marched off, leaving only a detachment at some distance
to observe the garrison ; so that this important place was
secured from any farther attempts of the enemy. There
are but few instances in which the sea and land officers
agreed so well together in an expedition, and sacrificed all
private views and passions to a disinterested regard for the
public good.
The same year, 1705, sir John was engaged in the re-
duction of Barcelona ; after which, being left at the head
of a squadron in the Mediterranean, he concerted an ex-
pedition to surprize the Spanish galleons in the bay of
Cadiz ; but this proved unsuccessful, by the management
of the confederates. In 1706, he relieved Barcelona, re-
duced to the last extremity, and thereby occasioned the
siege to be raised by king Philip. This was so great a
deliverance of his competitor, king Charles, afterwards
emperor of Germany, that he annually commemorated it,
ky a public thanksgiving on the 26ih of May, as long as
he lived. The raising of the siege was attended with a total
eclipse of the sun, which did not a liitle increase the ene-
my's consternation, as if the heavens concurred to defeat
the designs of the French, whose monarch had assumed
the sun for his device; in allusion to which, the reverse of
the medal struck by queen Anne on this occasion, repre-
sented the sun in eclipse over the city and harbour of Bar-
celona. Presently after this success at Barcelona, sir Juhn
reduced the city of Carthagena, whence, proceeding to
those of Alicant and Joyce, they both submitted to him;
relief; the enemy, since five days, consequences of it : and F :n p.Tticu'ar
having begun to withdraw their heavy cannot express mv hr.? r v th-uiks a»«l
cannon, being the effects only to be obligations I lie tinder. I am, with
ascribed to your conduct and care, great sincerity au<! r^pec:, &c.
'Tis only to you ihe public owes, and George, Prince of Hesse.'*
will owe, so many great and happy
106 L E A K E.
and he concluded the campaign of that year with the re-
duction of the city and island of Majorca. Upon his re-
tnrrt home, prince George of Denmark presented him with
a diamond-ring of four hundred pounds value ; and he had
the honour of receiving a gratuity of a thousand pounds
from the queen, as a reward for his services. Upon the
unfortunate death of sir Cloudesly Shovel, 1707, he was
advanced to be admiral of the white, and commander in
chief of her majesty's 'fleet. In this command he returned
to the Mediterranean, and, surprizing a convoy of the
enemy's corn, sent it to Barcelona, and saved that city
and the confederate army from the danger of famine, in
1708. Soon after this, convoying the new queen of Spain
to her consort, king Charles, he was presented by her
majesty with a diamond -ring of three hundred pounds va-
lue. From this service he proceeded to the island of Sar-
dinia, which being presently reduced by him to the obe-
dience of king Charles, that of Minorca was soon after sur-
rendered to the fleet and land-forces.
Having brought the campaign to so happy a conclusion,
he returned home; where, during his absence, he had been
appointed one of the council to the lord-high-admiral, and
'was likewise elected member of parliament both for Har-
wich and Rochester, for the latter of which he made his
choice. In December the same year, he was made a se-
cond time admiral of the fleet. In May 1709, he was con-
stituted rear-admiral of Great -Britain, and appointed one
of the lords of the admiralty in December. Upon the
change of the ministry in 1710, lord Orford resigning the
place of first commissioner of the admiralty, sir John
Leake was appointed to succeed him ; but he declined that
post, as too hazardous, on account of the divisions at that
juncture. In 1710, he was chosen a second time member
of parliament for Rochester, and made admiral of the fleet
the third time in 1711, and again in 1712, when he con-
ducted the English forces to take possession of Dunkirk.
Before the expiration of the year, the commission of ad-
miral of the fleet was given to him a fifth time. He was
also chosen for Rochester a third time. Upon her majesty's
decease, 'Aug. l, 1714, his post of rear-admiral was de-
termined ; and he was superseded as admiral of the fleet
by Matthew Aylmer, esq. Nov. 5. In the universal change
that was made in every public department, upon the acces-
sion of George I. admiral Leake could not expect to b«
L E A K E. io?
excepted. After this he lived privately ; and, building a
little box at Greenwich, spent part of his time there, re-
treating sometimes to a country-house he had at Bedding-
ton in Surrey. When a young man, be had married a
daughter of captain Richard Hill of Yarmouth ; by whom
he had one son, an only child, whose misconduct had given
him a great deal of uneasiness. In Aug. 1719, he was
seized with an apoplectic disorder ; but it went off without
any visible ill consequence. Upon thedeath of hisson, which
happened in March following, after a lingering incurable
disorder, he discovered more than ordinary affliction ; nor
was he himself ever well after ; for he died in his house at
Greenwich, Aug. 1, 1720, in his sixty-fifth year. By his
will, he devised his estate to trustees for the use of his son
during life : and upon his death without issue, to captain
Martin, who married his wife's sister, and his heirs.1
LEAKE (STEPHEN MARTIN), a herald and antiquary,
Son of captain Stephen Martin, mentioned in the preceding
article, was born April 5, 1702. He was educated at the
school of Mr. Michael Maittaire, and was admitted of the
Middle-temple. In 1724 he was appointed a deputy*
lieutenant of the Tower-hamlets; in which station he after-
wards distinguished himself by his exertions during the
rebellion in 1745. On the revival of the order of the Bath
in 1725, he was one of the esquires of the earl of Sussex,
deputy earl-marshal. He was elected F. A. S. March 2,
1726-7. In the same year he was created Lancaster he-
rald, in the room of Mr. Hesketh ; in 1729 constituted
Norroy ; in 1741 Clarenceux ; and by patent dated De-
cember 19, 1754, appointed garter. In all his situations
in the college Mr. Leake was a constant advocate for the
rights and privileges of the office. He obtained, after
much solicitation, a letter in 1731, from the duke of Nor-
folk to the earl of Sussex, his deputy earl -marshal, re-
questing him to sign a warrant for Mr. Leake's obtaining
a commission of visitation, which letter, however, was not
attended with success. In the same year he promoted a
prosecution against one Shiets, a painter, wh > pretended
to keep an om'ce of arms in Dean's-court. The court of
chivalry was opened with great solemnity in the painted-
chamber, on March 3, 1731-2, in relation to which he had
taken a principal part. In 1733, he appointed Francis Bas-
» Biof. Brit.
108 L E A K E.
sano, of Chester, his deputy, as Norroy, for Chester and
North Wales ; and about the same time asserted his right,
as Norroy, to grant arms in North Wales, which right was
claimed by Mr. Longville, who had been constituted
Gloucester King at Arms partium Walii<t, annexed to that
of Bath King at Arms, at the revival of that order. He
drew up a petition in January 1737-8, which was presented
to the king in council, for a new charter, with the sole
power of painting arms, &c. which petition was referred
to the attorney and solicitor general ; but they making
their report favourable to the painters, it did not succeed.
He printed, in 1744, " Reasons for granting Commissions
to the Provincial Kings at Arms for visiting their Pro-
vinces." Dr. Cromwell Mortimer having, in 1747, pro-
posed to establish a registry for dissenters in the college
of arms, he had many meetings with the heads of the seve-
ral denominations, and also of the Jews, and drew up ar-
ticles of agreement, which were approved by all parties :
proposals were printed and dispersed, a seal made to affix
to certificates, and the registry was opened on February
20, 1747-8; but it did not succeed, owing to a misun-
derstanding between the ministers and the deputies of the
congregations. A bill having been brought in by Mr.
Potter, in the session of parliament in the year 1763, for
taking the number of the people, with their marriages and
births, he solicited a claim in favour of the college : but
the bill did not pass. In 1755-6, he made an abstract of
the register- books belonging to the order of the garter,
which being translated into Latin, was deposited in the re-
gister's office of the order.
In 1726, he published his "Nummi Britan. Historia, or
Historical Account of English Money." A new edition,
with large additions, was printed in 1745, dedicated to the
duke of Suffolk. It is much to Mr. Leake's honour, that
he was the first writer upon the English coinage. From
affectionate gratitude to admiral sir John Leake, and at the
particular desire of his father, he had written a history of
the life of that admiral, prepared from a great collection
ofr books and papers relating to the subject which were in
his possession. This he published in 1750, in large octavo.
Fifty copies only were printed, to be given to his friends :
this book is therefore very scarce and difficult to be ob-
tained. Bowyer, in 1766, printed for him fifty copies of
the Statutes of the Order of St. George, to enable him to
L E A K E. 109
supply each knight at his installation with one, as he was
required to do officially. Ever attentive to promote science,
he was constantly adding to the knowledge of arms, de-
cents, honors, precedency, the history of the college, and
of the several persons who had been officers of arms, and
every other subject in any manner connected with his of-
fice. He also wrote several original essays on some of
those subjects. These multifarious collections are con-
tained in upward of fifty volumes, all in his own hand-
writing ; which MS., with many others, he bequeathed to
his son, John-Martin Leake, esq. He married Ann,
youngest daughter, and at length sole- heiress of Fletcher
Pervall, esq. of Downton, in the parish and county of
Radnor, by Ann his wife, daughter of Samuel Hoole of
London, by whom he had nine children, six sons and three
daughters ; all of whom survived him. He died at his
seat at Mile-end at Middlesex, March 24, 1773, in the
seventieth year of his age, and was buried in the chancel
of Thorpe Soken church in Essex, of which parish he was
long impropriator, and owner of the seat of Thorpe-hall,
and the estate belonging to it, inheriting them from his
father. *
LEAKE (JOHN), an English physician and writer, was
the son of a clergyman who was curate of Ainstable in
Cumberland. He was educated partly at Croglin, and
partly at the grammar-school at Bishop Auckland. He
then went to London, intending to engage in the military
profession : but finding some promises, with which he had
been flattered, were not likely soon to be realized, he
turned his attention to medicine. After attending the hos-
pitals, and being admitted a member of the corporation of
surgeons, an opportunity presented itself of improving
himself in foreign schools ; he embarked for Lisbon, and
afterwards visited Italy. On his return, he established
himself as a surgeon and accoucheur in the neighbourhood
of Piccadilly ; and about that time published " A Disserta-
tion on the Properties and Efficacy of the Lisbon Diet-
drink," which he professed to administer with success in
many desperate cases of scrophula, scurvy, &c. Where
he obtained his doctor's diploma is not known ; but he be-
came ere long a licentiate of the College of Physicians,
and removed to Craven-street, where he began to lecture
» Noble's' Hist, of the College of Arms.
110 L E A K E.
on the obstetric art, and invited the faculty to attend. ID
1765 he purchased a piece of ground on a building lease,
and afterwards published the plan for the institution of the
Westminster Lying-in- Hospital : and as soon as the build-
ing was raised, he voluntarily, and without any considera-
tion, assigned over to the governors all his right in the
premises, in favour of the hospital. He enjoyed a con-
siderable share of reputation and practice as an accoucheur,
anJ as a lecturer ; and was esteemed a polite and accom-
plished man. He added nothing, however, in the way of
improvement, to his profession, and his writings are not
characterize. 1 by any extraordinary acuteness, or depth of
research; but are plain, correct, and practical. He was
attacked, in the summer of 1792, with a disorder of the
chest, with which he had been previously affected, and was
found dead in his bed on the 8th of August of that year.
He published, in 1773, a volume of " Practical Observa-
tions on Child-bed Fever;" and, in 1774, " A Lecture
introductory to the Theory and Practice of Midwifery, in-
cluding the history, nature, and tendency of that science,"
&c. This was afterwards considerably altered and en-
larged, and published in two volumes, under the title of
" Medical Instructions towards the prevention and cure of
various Diseases incident to Women," &c. The work
passed through seven or eight editions, and was translated
into the French and German languages. In the beginning
of 1792, ^a short time before his death, he published "A
practical Essay on the Diseases of the Viscera, particularly
those of the Stomach and Bowels."1
LEAPOR (MARY), a young lady of considerable poeti-
cal talent, was born Feb. 26, 1722. Her father, at this-
time was gardener to judge Blencowe, at Marston St.
Lawrence, in Northamptonshire. She was brought up
under the care of a pious and sensible mother, who died a
few years before her. The little education which she re-
ceived, consisted wholly in being taught to read and write,
and it is said that she was for some time cook-maid in a
gentleman's family : with all these disadvantages, however,
she began at a very early age to compose verses, at first
with the approbation of her parents, who afterwards, ima-
gining an attention to poetry would be prejudicial to her,
» Hutchinson'i Biog. Medica.— Hutchituon's History of Cumberland.— Oeot.
JVlag. LXlI.
L E A P O R. Ill
endeavoured by every possible means to discountenance
such pursuits. These, however, were ineffectual, and she
was at last left to follow her inclination. She died the
12th of November, 1746, at Brackley ; and after her
death two volumes of her Poems were printed in 8vo, in.
1748 and 1751, by subscription, the proposals for which
were drawn up by Mr. Garrick. Mr. Hawkins Browne was
editor of the second volume. Our late amiable poet and
critic, Cowper, had a high opinion of Mrs. Leapor's
poetry.1
LEAVER. See LEVER.
LEBEUF (JOHN), a French historian and antiquary, was
born at Auxerre in 1687, and became a member of the
academy of belles lettres and inscriptions of Paris in 1750.
He died in 1760, aged 73. Among his productions are,
1. " Recueil de divers Merits servant a Pe'claircissement de
1'histoire fie France," 1738, 2 vols. 12mo. 2. " Disser-
tations sur 1'histoire eccle"siastique et civile de Paris ;" to
which are added several matters that elucidate the history
of France; 3 vols. 12mo. 3. " Trait6 historique et pra-
tique sur le chant ecciesiastique," 1741, 8vo. This was
dedicated to Vintiniille, archbishop of Paris, who had em-
ployed him in composing a chant for his new breviary and
missal. 4. " M6moires sur 1'Histoire d'Anxerre," 1743,
2 vols. 4to. 5. " Histoire de la ville et de tout le diocese
de Paris," 15 vols. I2mo. 6. Several dissertations dis-
persed in the journals, and in the memoirs of the academy
of which he was member. The learned are indebted to
him likewise for the discovery of a number of original
pieces, which he found in various libraries, where they
had long remained unknown. He was a man of extensive
learning and laborious research ; and undertook several
journeys through the different provinces of France for the
purpose of investigating the remains of antiquity. In such
matters he was an enthusiast, and so engaged in them, as to
know very little of the world, being content with the very
small competency on which he lived.8
LE BLANC (JOHN BERNARD LE), historiographer of
buildings of the academy della Crusca, and of that of the
Arcades at Rome, was born at Dijon, in 1707, of poor
parents, but he went early to Paris, where his talents pro-
1 Biog. Dram. — Hayley's Life of Cowper, vol. III. p. 296. — Gent Mag. vol.
TJV. « Moreri.—Dict. Hist.
112 L E B L A N C.
cured him friends and patrons. He then came to London,
and met with the same advantage. In 1746 Maupertuis
offered him, on the part of the king of Prussia, a place
suitable to a man of letters, at the court of Berlin ; but
he preferred mediocrity at home to flattering hopes held
out to him from abroad. He died in 1781. His tragedy
of " Abensa'ide," the subject of which is very interesting,
was well received at first, notwithstanding the harshness of
the versification ; but it did not support this success when
revived on the stage in 1743. What most brought tha
abb£ Le Blanc into repute was the collection of his letters
on the English, 1758, 3 vols. 12mo, in which are many
judicious reflections ; but he is heavy, formal, fruitful in
vulgar notions, and trivial in his erudition, and the praises
he bestows on the great men, or the literati, to whom he
addresses his letters, are deficient in ease and delicacy.
The letters of abbe Le Blanc cannot bear a comparison with
the " London" of Grosley, who is a far more agreeable
writer, if not a more accurate observer.1
LE BLOND. See BLOND.
LE BRIXA. See ANTONIUS NEBRISSENSIS.
LE CAT. See CAT.
LECCHI (JOHN ANTHONY), a learned Italian mathe.
matician, was born at Milan, Nov. 17, 1702. He was
educated among the Jesuits, and entered into their order in
1718. He afterwards taught the belles-lettres at Vercelli
and Pavia, and was appointed rhetoric- professor in the uni-
versity of Brera, in Milan. In 1733 the senate of Milan
appointed him professor of mathematics at Pavia, and af-
terwards removed him to the same office at Milan, the du-
ties of which he executed with reputation for twenty years.
In F75J) his fame procured him an invitation to Vienna
from the empress Maria Teresa, who honoured him with
her esteem, and appointed him mathematician to the court,
with a pension of 500 florins. What rendered him most
celebrated, was the skill he displayed as superintendant
and chief director of the processes for measuring the bed
of the Reno and other less considerable rivers belonging
to Bologna, Ferrara, and Ravenna. On this he was 'em-
ployed for six years, under Clement XIII. ; and Clement
XIV. ordered that these experiments should be continued
upon Leccln's plans. He died August 24, 1776, aged
1 Diet Hist.
L E C C H I. 113
seventy-three years. Fabroni, who has given an excellent
personal character of Lecchi, and celebrates his skill in
hydraulics, has, contrary to his usual practice, mentioned
his works only in a general way ; and for the following list
we have therefore been obliged to have recourse to a less
accurate authority: 1. " Theoria lucis," Milan, 1739.
2. „" Arithmetica universalis Jsaaci Newton, sive de com-
positione, et resolutione arithmetica perpetuis commentariis
illustrata et aucta," Milan, 1752, 3 vols. 8vo. 3. " Ele-
menta geometrise theoricx et practices," ibid. 1753, 2 vols.
8vo. 4. " Elementa Trigonometric," &c. ibid. 1756. 5.
" De sectionibus conicis," ibid. 1758. 6. " Idrostatica
csaaiinata," &c. ibid. 1765, 4 to. 7. " Relazione della
visita alle terre dannegiate dalle acque di Bologna, Fer-
rara, e Ravenna," &c. Rome, 17G7, 4to. 8. " Memorie
idrostatico-storiche delle operazioni esequite nella inal-
veazione del Reno di Bologna, e degli altri minori torrenti
per la linea di primaro al mare dalP anno 1765 al 1772,'*
Modena, 1775, 2 vols. 4to. 9. " Trattato de' canali na-
vigabili," Milan, 1776, 4to.'
LE CENE (CHARLLS), a learned protestant divine, was
born about the end of 1646, at Caen, in Normandy, where
he was first 'educated. He afterwards went through a
course of theological studies at Sedan. Returning thence
in 1669, he was very honourably received by the learned
of his native country, which he again left, in order to at-
tend the lectures of the divinity-professors at Geneva.
Here he remained until Nov. 1670, and after a residence
of some time at Sanmur, came back in March 1672 to
Caen, with the wannest recommendations from the various
professors under whom he had studied. He then became
pastor a*t Honfleur, where lie married a lady of fortune,
which joined to his own, enabled him to prosecute his
studies without anxiety. It appears to be about this time
that he conceived the design of translating the Bible into
French, on which he was more or less engaged for a great
many years. He continued his functions, however, as a
minister, until the revocation of the edict of Nantes, in
1685, which annihilated the protestant churches in France.
On this event he came over, accompanied by many of
his brethren, to England, and wajs so fortunate as to bring
with him the greater part of his valuable library, and pro-
' Fabroni Vita} Italorum, vol. XV III.— Diet, Hist,
VOL. XX. I
114 L E C E N £.
pertj enough to enable him to relieve many of his suffering
companions. He might probably have received some
church-preferment in this country, had he not objected to
re-ordination. He died at London, in 1703. He wrote
some controversial pieces, but the chief object of his la-
bours was to make a good translation of the Bible, which
was published by his son at Amsterdam, in 2 vols. fol. • It
contains some valuable preliminary dissertations. He had
in 1696 announced his intention in a volume entitled
"Projet d'une nouvelle version Francois de la Bible," from
which a high opinion was formed of his undertaking. This
projet was published in English, under the title of " An
Essay for a new translation of the Bible/' and so well re-
ceived, that a second edition appeared in 1717. The
translation itself, however, although ably executed, did
not answer the expectation of the public, which was prin-
cipally owing to the author's introducing certain whims
and fancies of his own, and taking unnecessary liberties
with the text.1
LEDERLIN (JOHN HENRY), an eminent Hebrew and
Greek scholar and critic, was the son of a poor mechanic at
Strasburgh, where he was born July 18, 1672. His parents
were so unable to give him education, that he must have
been obliged to work at his father's trade, had he not
found an early patron in Froereisen, a learned townsman,
who placed him at ten years old in the public school, at
his own expence. Lederlin's extraordinary proficiency
rewarded this generous friend, whom, however, he had
the misfortune to lose by death in 1690. This would have
been irreparable, if his talents had not already recom-
mended him to other patrons, and his school education
being finished, he was enabled to pursue his studies at the
university with great reputation. He received his master's
degree in 1692, and at the persuasion of Boeder the me-
dical professor, Obrecht, and others, he opened a school
for the Hebrew and Greek, of which languages, he was in
1703, constituted professor, and was for many years one
of the greatest ornaments of the university of Strasburgh.
He died Sept. 3, 1737, leaving various monuments of
learning and critical skill. Among those, we may enu-
merate, i. his edition of Julius Pollux's " Onomasticon,"
1706, 2 vols. fol. 2. His " Homer's Iliad," Amst. 1707,
! Diet. Hut. in Cene.— -Work* of the Learned for 1741.
L E D E R L I N. 115
8 vols. 12mo, Gr. & Lat. Lederlin edited only a part of
this edition, which on his death, Mr. Dibdin says, was
completed by Bergler. But in this case there must have
been an edition posterior to 1737, when Lederlin died.
3. " Vigerus de praecipuis Grsecae dictionis idiotismis,"
Strasburgb, 1709, 8vo. 4. " Brissonii de regio Persa-
rum principatu," ibid. 1710. 5. " ^Eliani varise historiae,"
ibid. 1713, 8vo, which Harles says is superior to Scheffer*s
edition, but must yield to that of Perizonius. He pub-
lished also some critical dissertations on parts of the Greek
Testament, on which he was accustomed to lecture.1
LE DRAN (HENRY FRANCIS), an eminent French sur-
geon, was born at Paris in 1685, and received his educa-
tion under his father, Henry Le Dran, who had acquired
considerable reputation as an operator, particularly in can-
cers of the breast. Under his auspices our young surgeon
turned his thoughts principally to the operation of litho-
tomy, which he performed in the lateral method, as prac-
tised by Cheselden, and was enabled to make some valuable
improvements in the art. These he communicated to the
public in his " Paralele des differentes manieres de tirer la
Pierre hors de la Vessie," printed in 1730, 8vo, to which
he added a supplement in 1756, containing the result of
his later practice. The work was well received, has been
frequently reprinted, and translated into most of the mo-
dern languages. He published also, 2. " Observations de
Chirurgie, auxquelles on a joint plusieurs reflections en fa-
veur des Etudiens," Paris, 1731, 2 vols. 12mo. 3. " Traite"
ou reflections tiroes de la pratique sur les playes d'Armes a
feu," Paris, 1737, I2mo. 4. " Traite" des Operations de
Chirurgie," Paris, 1743, 12mo. To the translation of this
work into English, by Gataker, Cheselden made some va-
luable additions. 5. " Consultations sur la plupart des
Maladies qui sont du report de la Chirurgie," 1765, Svo ;
a work well calculated for the instruction of students in
surgery. The author also sent several observations of
considerable merit to the academy of surgeons, which are
published in their memoirs. He died, at a very advanced
age, in 1770.*
LEDYARD (JOHN), a native of America, of a very
enterprising turn, was born at Groton in Connecticut.
1 Harles de Vitw Philologorura. — Saxii Onomast. — Dibdin's Classics.
* Diet. Hist.— Haller Bibl. AnaU— Rees's Cyclopadia.
116 L E D Y A R D.
Having lost his father in his infancy, he was taken undef
the care of a relation, who sent him to a grammar-school,
and he studied for some time at Dartmouth college, in
New Hampshire. Here it appears to have been his in-
tention to apply to theological studies, l>ut the friend who
sent him to college being dead, he \vas obliged to quit it,
and by means of a canoe of Ins own const ruction, he found
his way to Hartford, and thence to New York, where he
went on board ship as a common sailor, and in this capacity
arrived at London in 1771. When at college, there were
several young Indians there for their education, with whom
he used to associate, and learned their manners ; and hear-
ing of capt. Cook's intentions 10 sail on his third voyage,
Ledyard engaged himself with him in the situation of a
corporal of marines ; and on his return from that memora-
ble voyage, during which his curiosity \vas rather excited
than gratified, feeling an anxious desire of penetrating
from the north-western coast of America, which Cook had
partly explored, to the eastern coast, with which he him-
self was perfectly familiar, he determined to traverse the
vast continent from the Pacific to the Atlantic ocean. His
first plan for the purpose was that of embarking in a vessel,
which was then preparing to sail, on a voyage of commer-
cial adventure, to Nootka sound, on the western coast of
America ; and with this view he expended in sea-stores
the greatest part of the money with which he had been
supplied by the liberality of sir .Joseph Banks, who has
eminently distinguished himself in this way on other occa-
sions for the promotion of every kind of useful science.
But this scheme was frustrated by the rapacity of a custom-
house officer ; and therefore Mr. Ledyard determined to
travel over land to Kamtschatka, from whence the passage
is extremely short to the opposite coast of America. Ac-
cordingly, with no more than ten guineas in his purse,
which was all that he had left, he crossed the British chan-
nel to Ostend, towards the close of 1786, and by the way
of Denmark and the Sound, proceeded to the capital of
Sweden. As it was winter, he attempted to traverse the
gulf of Bothnia on the ice, in order to reach Kamtschatka
by the shortest course; but finding, when he came to the
middle of the sea, that the water was not frozen, he re*
turned to Stockholm, and taking his course northward,
walked to the Arctic circle, and passing round the head of
the gulf, descended on its eastern side to Petersburg,
L E D Y A R D. 117
where he arrived in the beginning of March 1787. Here
fae was noticed as a person of an extraordinary character ;
and though he had neither stockings nor shoes, nor means
to provide himself with any, he received and accepted an,
invitation to dine with the Portuguese ambassador. From
him he obtained twenty guineas for a bill, which he took
the liberty, without being previously authorized, to draw
on sir Joseph Banks, concluding, from his well-known dis-
position, that he would not be unwilling to pay it. By the
interest of the ambassador, as we may conceive to have
been probably the case, he obtained permission to accom-
pany a detachment of stores, winch the empress had or-
dered to be sent to Yakutz, for the use of Mr. Billings, an
Englishman, at that time in her service. Thus accommo-
dated, he left Petersburg on the 2 1st of May, and tra-
velling eastward through Siberia, reached Irkutsk in Au-
gust ; and from thence he proceeded to Yakutz, where he
•was kindly received by Mr. Billings, whom he recollected
on board captain Cook's ship, in the situation of the astro-
nomer's servant, but who was now entrusted by the empress
in accomplishing her schemes of discovery. He returned
to Irkutsk, where he spent part of the winter; and in the
spring proceeded to Oczakow, on the coast of the Kamt-
schatkan sea, intending, in the spring, to have passed over
to that peninsula, and to have embarked on the eastern
side in one of the Russian vessels that trade to the western
shores of America ; but, finding that the navigation was
completely obstructed, he returned to Yakutz, in order
to wait for the termination of the winter. But whilst he
was amusing himself with these prospects, an express ar-
rived, in January 1788, from the empress, and he was
seized, for reasons that have not been explained, by two
Russian soldiers, who conveyed him in a sledge through
the deserts of Northern Tartary to Moscow, without his
clothes, money, and papers. From Moscow he was re-
moved to the city of Moialoff, in White Russia, and from
thence to the town of Tolochin, on the frontiers of the
Polish dominions. As his conductors parted with him, they
informed him, that if he returned to Russia he would be
hanged, but that if he chose to go back to England, they
wished him a pleasant journey. Distressed by poverty,
covered with rags, infested with the usual accompani-
ments of such clothing, harassed with continual hardships,
/exhausted by disease, without friend&» without credit,
US L E D Y A R D.
unknown, and reduced to the most wretched state, he found
his way to Konigsberg. In this hour of deep distress, he
resolved once more to have recourse to his former bene-
factor, and fortunately found a person who was willing to
take his draft for five guineas on the president of the royal
society. With this assistance he arrived in England, and
immediately waited on sir Joseph Banks. Sir Joseph,
knowing his disposition, and conceiving, as we may well
imagine, that he would be gratified by the information,
told him, that he could recommend him, as he believed, to
an adventure almost as perilous as that from which he had
just returned ; and then communicated to him the wishes
of the Association for discovering the Inland Countries of
Africa. Mr. Ledyard replied, that he had always deter-
mined to traverse the continent of Africa, as soon as he
had explored the interior of North America, and with a
letter of introduction by sir Joseph Banks, he waited on
Henry Beaufoy, esq. an active member of the fore-men-
tioned association. Mr. Beaufoy spread before him a map
of Africa, and tracing a line from Cairo to Sennar, and
from thence westward in the latitude and supposed direc-
tion of the Niger, informed him that this was the route by
which he was anxious that Africa might, if possible, be
explored. Mr. Ledyard expressed great pleasure in the
hope of being employed in this adventure. Being asked
when he would set out ? " To-morrow morning" was his
answer. The committee of the society assigned to him,
at his own desire, as an enterprise of obvious peril and of
difficult success, the task of traversing from east to west,
in the latitude attributed to the Niger, the widest part of
the continent of Africa. On the 30th of June 1788, Mr.
Ledyard left London ; and after a journey of thirty-six
days, seven of which were consumed at Paris, and two at
Marseilles, he arrived in the city of Alexandria. On die
14th of August, at midnight, he left Alexandria, and sail-
ing up the Nile, arrived at Cairo on the 19th. From Cairo
he communicated to the committee of the society all the
information which he was able to collect during his stay
there : and they were thus sufficiently apprized of the
ardent spirit of inquiry, the unwearied attention, the per-
severing research, and the laborious, indefatigable, anxious
zeal, with which he pursued the object of his mission. The
next dispatch which they were led to expect, was to be
dated at Sennar ; the terms of his passage had been set-
L E D Y A R D. 119
tied, and the day of his departure was appointed. The
committee, however, after having expected with impa-
tience the description of his journey, received with great
concern and grievous disappointment, by letters from
Egypt, the melancholy tidings of his death. By a bilious
complaint, occasioned probably by vexatious delay at
Cairo, and by too free an use of the acid of vitriol and
tartar emetic, the termination of his life was hastened. He
was decently interred in the neighbourhood of such of the
English as had ended their days in the capital of Egypt,
Mr. Ledyard, as to his person, scarcely exceeded the
middle size, but he manifested very remarkable activity
and strength : and as to his manners, though they were
unpolished, they were neither uncivil nor unpleasing.
" Little attentive to difference of rank," says his bio-
grapher, " he seemed to consider all men as his equals,
and as such he respected them. His genius, though un-
cultivated and irregular, was original and comprehensive.
Ardent in his wishes, yet calm in his deliberations ; daring
in his purposes, but guarded in his measures; impatient of
controul, yet capable of strong endurance ; adventurous
beyond the conception of ordinary men, yet wary and con-
siderate, and attentive to all precautions, he appeared to
be formed by nature for achievements of hardihood and
peril.'* "
LEE (EDWARD), archbishop of York, was born in 1482,
and was the son of Richard Lee, of Lee Magna in Kent,
esq. and grandson of sir Richard Lee, km. twice lord-
mayor of London. He was partly educated in both uni-
versities, being admitted of Magdalen college, Oxford,
about 1499, where he took his degrees in arts, and then
removed to Cambridge, and completed his studies. He
was accounted a man of great learning and talents, which
recommended him to the court of Henry VIII. in which,
among others, he acquired the esteem of sir Thomas More.
The king likewise conceived so high an opinion of his po-
litical abilities, that he sent him on several embassies to the
continent. In 1529 he was made chancellor of Sarum, and
in 1531 was incorporated in the degree of D. D. at Oxford,
which he had previously taken at some foreign university.
The same year he was consecrated archbishop of York, but
1 Proceedings of the Association for promoting the discovery of the interior
parts of Africa, 1790.
120 LEE.
enjoyed this high station a very short time, dying at York,
Sept. 13, 1544. He wasburiedin the cathedral. He lived
to witness the dawn of the reformation, but adhered to the
popish system in all its plenitude, except, says his popish
biographer, that he " was carried away with the stream as
to the article of the king's supremacy." He was a zealous
opponent of Luther, and had a controversy with Erasmus,
respecting his annotations on the New Testament. This
somewhat displeased sir Thomas More, who was greatly
attached to Erasmus, but it did not lessen his friendship
for Lee Wood says, " he was a very great divine, and
very well seen in all kinds of learning, famous as well for
his wisdom as virtue, and holiness of life ; a continual
preacher of the gospel, a man very liberal to the poor, and
exceedingly beloved by all sorts of men." His works
were, 1. " Comment, in universum PentateuHium," MS.
2. " Apologia contra quorundam calumnias,11 Lovan, 152O,
4to. 3. " Index annotationum prioris libri," ibid. 1520.
4. " Epistola nuncupatoriaad Desid. Erasmum," ibid. 1520.
3. " Annot. lib. duo in annotationes Novi Test. Erasmi."
6. " Epistola apologetica, qua respondet D. Erasmi epis-
tolis." 7. " Epistolae sexcenta;.' 8. " Epiceuia clarorum
virorum." The two last articles are in MS. or partially
printed. Some of his MSS. are in the Harleian, and some
in the Cotton library." l
LEE (NATHANIEL), an English dramatic poet, was the
son of Dr. Richard Lee, who had the living of Hatfield, in
Hertfordshire, where he died in 1684. He was bred at
Westminster-school under Dr. Busby, whence he removed
to Trinity-college, in Cambridge, and became scholar upon
that foundation in 1668. .He proceeded B. A. the same
year; but, not succeeding to a fellowship, quitted the
university, and came to London, where be made an un-
successful attempt to become an actor in 1672. The part
he performed was Duncan in sir William Davenant's altera-
tion of Macbeth. Cibber says that Lee " was so pathetic
a reader of his own scenes, that I have been informed by
an actor who was present, that while Lee was reading to
major Mohun at a rehearsal, Mohun, in the warmth of his
admiration, threw down his part, and said, Unless I were
able to play it as well as you read it, to what purpose,
- L E E. 121
should I undertake it! And yet (continues the laureat)
this very author, whose elocution raised such admiration
in so capital an actor, when he attempted to he an actor
himself, soon quitted the stage in an honest despair of ever
making any profitable figure there." Failing, therefore, in
this design, he had recourse to his pen for support ; and
composed a tragedy, called *' Nero Emperor of Rome,'*
in 1675 ; which being well received, he produced nine
plays, besides two in conjunction with Dryden, between,
that period and 1684, when his habits of dissipation, aided
probably by a hereditary taint, brought on insanity, and
in November he was taken into Bedlam, where he con-
tinued four years under care of the physicians. In April
1688, he was discharged, being so much recovered as to
be able to return to his occupation of writing for the stage ;
and he produced two plays afterwards, " The Princess of
Cleve," in 1689, and «« The Massacre of Paris,'* in 1690,
but, notwithstanding the profits arising from these per-
formances, he was this year reduced to so low an ebb, that
a weekly stipend of ten shillings from the theatre royal was
his chief dependence. Nor was he so free from his
phrenzy as not to suffer some temporary relapses; and
perhaps his untimely end might be occasioned by one. He
died in 1691 or 1692, in consequence of a drunken frolic,
by night, in the street; and was interred in the parish of
Clement Danes, near Temple-Bar. He is the author of
eleven plays, all acted with applause, and printed as soon
as finished, with dedications of most of them to the earls of
Dorset, Mulgrave, Pembroke, the duchesses of Ports-
mouth and Richmond, as his patrons. Addison declares,
that among our modern English poets there was none better
turned for tragedy than Lee, if, instead of favouring his
impetuosity of genius, he had restrained and kept it within
proper bounds. His thoughts are wonderfully suited to
tragedy, but frequently lost in such a cloud of words, that
it is hard to see the beauty of them. There is infinite
fire in bis works, but so involved in smoke, that it does
not appear in half its lustre. He frequently succeeds in
the passionate parts of the tragedy, but more particularly
where he slackens his efforts, and eases the style of those
epithets and metaphors with which he so much abounds.
His " Rival Queens" and " Theodosius" still keep pos-
session of the stage. None ever felt the passion of love
pore truly j nor could any one describe it with more ten-
122 LEE.
derness ; and for this reason he has been compared to Ovid
among the ancients, and to Otway among the moderns.
Dryden prefixed a copy of commendatory verses to the
" Rival Queens ;" and Lee joined with that laureat in
writing the tragedies of "The duke of Guise" and "CEdi-
pus." Notwithstanding Lee's imprudence and eccen-
tricities, no man could be more respected by his contem-
poraries. In Spence's " Anecdotes1' we are told that ViU
liers, duke of Buckingham, brought him up to town, where
he never did any thing for him ; and this is said to have
contributed to bring on insanity. '
LEE (SAMUEL), an English nonconformist divine, was
the son of an eminent citizen of London, from whom he
inherited some property, and was born in 1625. He was
educated under Dr. Gale at St. Paul's school, and after-
wards entered a commoner of Magdalen-bail about the
year 1647. The following year he was created M. A.
by the parliamentary visitors, and was made fellow of
Wad ham college. In the latter end of 1650 he was elected
by his society one of the proctors, although he was not
of sufficient standing as master ; but this the visitors, with
whom he appears to have been a favourite, dispensed with.
About that time he became a frequent preacher in or near
Oxford, and was preferred by Cromwell to the living of St.
Botolph's, Bishopsgate- street, but ejected by the rump par-
liament. Afterwards he was chosen lecturer of Great St.
Helen's church in Bishopsgate-street According to Wood,
he was not in possession of either of these preferments at
the restoration, but Calamy says he was ejected from St.
Botolph's. His friend Dr. Wilkins, of Wadham college,
afterwards bishop of Chester, urged him much to conform,
but he was inflexible. He then lived for some time on an
estate he had near Bisseter in Oxfordshire, and preached
occasionally. About 1678 be removed to Newingtoii
Green near London, where he was for many years minis*
ter of a congregation of independents. In 1686, being
dissatisfied with the times, he went over to New England,
and became pastor of a church at Bristol. The revolution
in 1688 affording brighter prospects, he determined to
revisit his own country, but in his passage home, with his
family, the ship was captured by a French privateer, and
carried into St. Malo, where he died a few weeks after, in
1 Gibber's Lives.— Btog. Dram.— Censur* Lit, v»l. I,— Spence's Anecdotes, MS.
LEE. 123
Nov. 1691. His death is said to have been hastened by
his losses in this capture, and especially by his being kept
in confinement while his wife and children were permitted
to go to England. He was at one time a great dabbler in
astrology, but, disapproving of this study afterwards, he is
said to have burnt many books and manuscripts which he
had collected on that subject. It was probably when ad-
dicted to astrology, that he informed his wife of his having
seen a star, which, according to all the rules of astrology,
predicted that he should be taken captive. Mr. Lee's
other studies were more creditable. He was a very con-
siderable scholar ; understood the learned languages well,
and spoke Latin fluently and eloquently. He was also a
good antiquary. He wrote " Chronicon Castrense," a
chronology of all the rulers and governors of Cheshire and
Chester, which is added to King's " Vale Royal." Wood
suspects that he was of the family of Lee in Cheshire. His
other works are : 1. " Orbis Miraculum ; or the Temple of
Solomon portrayed by Scripture light," Lond. 1659, folio.
2. "Contemplations on Mortality, &c." ibid. 1669, 8vo.
3. " Dissertation" on the probable conversion and restora-
tion of the Jews, printed with Giles Fletcher's " Israel
Redux." 4. "The Joy of Faith," 1689, 8vo. He pub-
lished also various sermons preached on public occasions,
or prescribed subjects; and had a considerable hand in
Helvicus's "Theatrum Historicum," the edition of 1662.1
LEECHMAN (WILLIAM), a learned Scotch divine, was
born at Dolphinston, in Lanerkshire, in 1706. He re-
ceived his academical education at the university of Edin-
burgh, where he distinguished himself by his great pro-
ficiency in different branches of learning. He began his
theological studies in 1724, and in 1727 he undertook the
education of a young gentleman at Caldwell, in Renfrew-
shire, where he resided in the summer months, but during
the remainder of the year he lived at Glasgow, and was
honoured with the friendship of professors Hutcheson and
Dunlop. About the beginning of 1731 he was licensed as
a preacher, but it was not till 1736 that he was ordained
minister of Beith, on which charge he continued seven
years. In 1740 he was elected moderator of a meeting of
the synod at Irvine, and opened the assembly at Glasgow
1 Ath. Ox. TO), II.— Calamy.— Diet. Hist. Supplement.— NeaPs History of
Hew England.
124 L E E C H M A N.
en the 7th of April 1741, with a sermon to the clergy "On
the temper, character, and duty, of a minister of the gos-
pel," which has passed through many editions, and is still
in high reputation. In 1743 he published a much longer
discourse on u The nature, reasonableness, and advan-
tages of Prayer ; with an attempt to answer the objections
against it." This, likewise, added much to his reputation,
and has been frequently reprinted. He was shortly after
elected to the professorship of theology at the university of
Glasgow ; an honour which he obtained only by the cast-
ing vote of the president, owing to some suspicions enter-
tained of the orthodoxy of his sentiments, founded on his
sermon on prayer, in which he v.a:, thought to have laid
too little stress on the atonement and intercession of Christ.
A prosecution for heresy was the consequence, which was
ultimately decided in his favour by the synod, the members
of which almost unanimously determined, that there was
no reason to charge him with any unsoundness in the pas-
sages of the sermon complained against. After this the
prejudices against him appear to have subsided, and his
character became very generally and highly respected,
even by some who had thought it their duty to promote the
prosecution. Soon after he h id been established in the
professorship, he took the degree of doctor in divinity ; and
continued in the theological chair seventeen years, vindi-
cating and establishing the grand truths of natural and re-
vealed religion, in answer to the principal objections made
to them by Mr. Hume, lord Bolingbroke, and other scep-
tical writers. He had, in his lectures, a remarkable talent
of selecting what was most important and striking on every
subject that he handled : his arguments were solid, found-
ed on indisputable facts ; and they were urged with a de-
gree of warmth which carried his auditors along with him ;
for they were addressed equally to the judgment and the
heart. Dr. Leechman's fame extended far and wide, the
divinity-hall at Glasgow was crowded, in his time, with a
greater number of scholars than any other in Scotland :
and his numerous scholars, however they might differ in
their sentiments on speculative theology and church go-
vernment, were all cordially united in their affection and
veneration for their master. In 1761, Dr. Leechman was
raised to the office of principal of the university of Glas-
gow by a presentation from the king. He had previously
to this been in a very bad state of health, and this change
t E JE C H M A N. 125
in his avocations was probably the means of prolonging his
life ; yet, though released from the more fatiguing part of
his duties, he gave a lecture, for some time, once a vveek,
to the students in divinity, and weekly lectures to the
whole university. Dr. keechman's faculties remained in
full vigour amidst the increasing infirmities of oKl age, and
his taste for knowledge continued as acute as ever. In
September and October 1785, he experienced two /violent
paralytic strokes, from which he partially recovered ; but
a third attack carried him off on the 3d of December, 1785,
when he was almost eighty years of age. Dr. Leechman
committed nothing to the press, except nine sermons,
which went through several editions during his life-time.
These were republished, with others, forming together two
volumes, in 1789. To the first of these volumes is pre-
fixed an account of the author, by Dr. Wodrovv, from which
the preceding particulars are taken.1
LEGER (ANTHONY), a learned Protestant divine, was
born in 1594, at Ville Seiche, in the valley of St. Martin
in Piedmont. Going to Constantinople as chaplain to the
ambassador from the States-general, he formed a friend-
ship in that city with the famous Cyrillus Lucar, and ob-
tained from him a confession of the faith of the Greek and
Eastern churches. On his return to the Vallies he was ap-
pointed minister there ; but being condemned to death by
the duke of Savoy, took refuge in Geneva, where he was
made professor of divinity, and died in 1661. He left an
edition of the New Testament in the original Greek, and
vulgar Greek, 2 vols. 4to. His son, ANTHONY LEGER,
born 1652, at Geneva, was a celebrated preacher, and
five volumes of liis sermons have been published since his
death, which happened at Geneva, in 1719.9
LEGER (JOHN), a learned protestant divine, born in 1615,
at Ville-Seiche, in the valley of St. Martin, in Piedmont,
was nephew of Anthony Leger the elder. He was mi-
nister of several churches, particularly that at St. Jean,
and escaped from the massacre of the Waldenses in 1655.
Having been deputed to several protestant powers in 1661,
the court of Turin ordered his house at St. Jean to be
razed to the ground, and declared him guilty of high trea-
son. He became pastor afterwards of the Walloon church
at Leyden, in which city he was living in 1665, and there
\ Life M aboY«. s Moreri,— Diet. Hist.
L E G G E.
published bis " Hist, des Eglises Evangeliques des Vallees
de Piemont," fol. The year of his death is unknown.1
LEGGE (GEORGE), baron of Dartmouth, an eminent
naval commander, was the eldest son of colonel William
Legge, groom of the bed-chamber to king Charles I. and
brought up under the brave admiral sir Edward Spragge.
He entered the navy at seventeen years of age, and, before
he was twenty, his gallant behaviour recommended him so
effectually to king Charles II. that in 1667, he promoted
him to the command of the Pembroke. In 1671, he wa*
appointed captain of the Fairfax, and the next year re-
moved to the Royal Catharine, in which ship he obtained
high reputation, by beating off the Dutch after they had
boarded her, though the ship seemed on the point of sink-
ing ; and then finding the means of stopping her leaks, he
carried her safe into port. In 1673, he was made governor
of Portsmouth, master of the horse, and gentleman to the
duke of York. Several other posts were successively
conferred upon him, and in December 1682, he was created
baron of Dartmouth. The port of Tangier having been at-
tended with great expence to keep the fortifications in re*
pair, and to maintain in it a numerous garrison to protect
it from the Moors, who watched every opportunity of seizing
it, the king determined to demolish the fortifications, and
bring the garrison to England ; but the difficulty was to
perform it without the Moors having any suspicion of the
design. Lord Dartmouth was appointed to manage this
difficult affair, and, for that purpose, was, in 1683, made
governor of Tangier, general of his majesty's forces in
Africa, and admiral of the fleet. At his arrival he prepared
every thing necessary for putting his design in execution,
blew up all the fortifications, and returned to England with
the garrison ; soon after which, the king made him a pre-
sent of ten thousand pounds. When James II. ascended
the throne, his lordship was created master of the horse,
general of the ordnance, constable of the tower of London,
captain of an independent company of foot, and one of the
privy-council. That monarch placed the highest confidence
in his friendship ; and, on his being thoroughly convinced
that the prince of Orange intended to land in England, he
appointed him commander of the fleet ; and, had he not
been prevented by the wind and other accidents from com-
I Moreri.— Diet. HUt.
L E G G E. 127
ing up with the prince of Orange, a bloody engagement
would doubtless have ensued.
After the prince landed, lord Dartmouth returned to
Spithead, in November, with forty-three ships of war, the
rest of the fleet being put into other ports. Yet, notwith-
standing he brought the fleet safe -home, and had acted
by order of king James when in power, he was deprived
of all his employments at the revolution ; and in 1691
committed prisoner to the Tower of London, where, after
three months imprisonment, he died suddenly of an apo-
plexy, Oct. 25 of that year, in the forty-fourth year of his
age. When he was dead, lord Lucas, who was constable
of the Tower, made some difficulty of permitting his body
to be removed without order ; on which, application being
made to king William, he was pleased to direct that the
same respect should be paid at his funeral, that would
haVe been due to him if he had died possessed of all his
employments in that place ; and accordingly, the Tower-
guns were fired when he was carried out to be interred
near his father, in the vault of the church in the Minories,
where a monument of white marble is erected to his me-
mory. '
LEGLEUS, GILBERTUS. See GILBERTUS ANOLICUS.
LEIBNITZ (GODFREY WILLIAM DE), a very eminent
mathematician and philosopher, was born at Leipsic, July
4, 1646. His fathe^ Frederic Leibnitz, was professor of
moral philosophy, and secretary to that university ; but
did not survive the birth of his son above six years. His
mother put him under messieurs Homschucius and Bachu-
chius, to teach him Greek and Latin ; and he made so
quick a progress as to surpass the expectations of his
master; and not content with their tasks, when at home,
where there was a well-chosen library left by his father,
he read with attention the ancient authors, and "especially
Livy. The poets also had a share in his studies, particu-
larly Virgil, many of whose verses he could repeat in his
old age, with fluency and accuracy. He had himself also
a talent for versifying, and is said to have composed in one
day's time, a poem of three hundred lines, without an
elision. This early and assiduous attention to classical
learning laid the foundation of that correct and elegant
taste which appears in all his writings. At the age of
» Collins*! Peerage, by Sir E. Brydge*.
128 LEIBNITZ.
fifteen, he became a student in the university of Leipsic,
and to polite literature joining philosophy and the mathe-
matics, he studied the former under James Thomasius,
and the latter under John Kuhnius, at Leipsic. He after-
wards went to Jena, where he heard the lectures of pro-
fessor Bohnius upon polite learning and history, and
those of Falcknerius in the law. At his return to Leipsic,
in 1663, he maintained, under Thomasius, a thesis, " De
Principiis Individuationis." In 1664, he was admitted
M. A. ; and observing how useful philosophy might be in
illustrating the law, he maintained several philosophical
questions taken out of the " Corpus Juris." At the same
time he applied himself particularly to the study of the
Greek philosophers, and engaged in the task of reconciling
Plato with Aristotle ; as he afterwards attempted a like
reconciliation between Aristotle and Des Cartes. He was
so intent on these studies, that he spent whole days in me-
ditating upon them, in a forest near Leipsic.
His views being at this time chiefly fixed upon the law,
he commenced bachelor in that faculty in 1665, and the
year after supplicated for his doctor's degree; but was
denied, as not being of sufficient standing, that is, not
quite twenty ; but the real cause of the demur was his
rejecting the principles of Aristotle and the schoolmen,
against the received doctrine of that time. Resenting the
affront, he went to Altorf, where he maintained a thesis,
" De Casibus perplexis," with so much reputation, that
he not only obtained his doctor's degree, but had an offer
of being made professor of law extraordinary. This, how-
ever, was declined; and he went from Altorf to Nurem-
berg, to visit the learned in that university. He had
heard of some literati there who were engaged in the pur-
suit of the philosopher's stone; and his curiosity was raised
to be initiated into their mysteries. For this purpose he
drew up a letter full of abstruse terms, extracted out of
books of chemistry; and, unintelligible as it was to him-
self, addressed it to the director of that society, desiring
to be admitted a member. They were satisfied of his me-
rit, from the proofs given in his letter ; and not only ad-
mitted him into their laboratory, but even requested him
to accept the secretaryship, with a stipend. His office
was, to register their processes and experiments, and to
extract from the books of the best chemists such things as
might be of use to them in their pursuits.
LEIBNITZ. 129
About this time, baron Boinebourg, first minister of the
elector of Mentz, passing through Nuremberg, met Leib-
nitz at a common entertainment ; and conceived so great
an opinion of his parts and learning from his conversation,
that he advised him to apply himself wholly to law and his-
tory; giving him at the same time the strongest assurances,
that he would engage the elector, John Philip of Schon-
born, to send for him to his court. Leibnitz accepted the
kindness, promising to do his utmost to render himself
worthy of such a patronage ; and, to be more within the
reach of its happy effects, he repaired to Francfort upon
the Maine, in the neighbourhood of Mentz. In 1668,
John Casimir, king of Poland, resigning his crown, the
elector palatine, among others, became a competitor for
that dignity ; and, while baron Boinebourg went into Po-
land to manage the elector's interests, Leibnitz wrote a
treatise to shew that the Polonnois could not make choice
of a better person for their king. With this piece the
elector palatine was extremely pleased, and invited our
author to his court. But baron Boinebourg, resolving to
provide for him at the court of Mentz, would not suffer him
to accept this last offer from the palatine ; and immediately
obtained for him the post of counsellor of the chamber of
review to the elector of Mentz. Baron Boinebourg had
some connexions at the French court ; and as his son, who
was at Paris, was not of years to be trusted with the ma-
nagement of his affairs, he begged Mr. Leibnitz to under-
take that charge.
Leibnitz, charmed with this opportunity of shewing bit
gratitude to so zealous a patron, set out for Paris in 1672.
He also proposed several other advantages to himself in this
tour, and his views were not disappointed. He saw all the
literati in that metropolis, made an acquaintance with the
greatest part of them, and, besides, applied himself with
vigour to the mathematics, in which study he had not yet
made any considerable progress. He tells us himself, that
he owed his advancement in it principally to the works of
Pascal, Gregory, St. Vincent, and above all, to the ex-
cellent treatise of Huygens " De Horologio oscillatorio."
In this course, having observed the imperfection of Pascal's
arithmetical machine, which, however, Pascal did not live
to finish, he invented a new one, as he called it ; the use
of which he explained to Mr. Colbert, who was extremely
pleased with it ; and, the invention being approved like-
VOL. XX. K
130
LEIBNITZ.
wise by the Academy of sciences, he was offered a seat
there as pensionary member. With sucli encouragement
he might have settled very advantageously at Paris if he
would have turned Roman catholic ; but he chose to ad-
here to the Lutheran religion, in which he was born. In
1673, he lost his patron, M. de Boim-bourg; and, being
at liberty by his death, took a tour to England, where he
became acquainted with Oldenburg, the secretary, and
John Collins, fellow of the royal society, from whom he
received some hints of the invention of the method of
fluxions, which had been discovered in 1664 or 1665, by
Mr. (afterwards) sir Isaac Newton *.
While he was in England he received an account of the
death of the elector of Mentz, by which he lost his pen-
sion. He then returned to France, whence be wrote to the
duke of Brunswick Lunenburg, to inform him of his cir-
cumstances. That prince sent him a very gracious answer,
assuring him of his favour, and, for the present, appointed
him counsellor of his court, with a salary ; but gave him
leave to stay at Paris, in order to complete his arithmetical
machine, which, however, was not completed until after
his death. In 1674 be went again to England, whence he
passed, through Holland, to Hanover, and from his first
* The right to this invention is so
interesting to our coontry, -that we
must not omit this occasion of atsert-
ing it The state ef the dispute between
the competitors, Leibnitz and Newton,
is as follows : Newton discovered it in
1665 aud 1666, and communicated it
to Dr. Barrow in 1669. Leibnitz said
he had some glimpses of it in 167'2,
before he had seen any hint of New-
ton's prior discovery, which was com-
municated by Mr. Collins to several
foreigners in 16" 3 ; in the beginning of
which year Leibnitz was in England,
and commenced an acquaintance with
Collins, but at that time only claimed
the invention of another differential
method, properly so called, which in-
deed was Newton's invention ; men-
tioning no other till June 1617: and
this was a year after a letter of New-
ton's, containing a sufficient descrip-
tion of the nature of the method, had
been sent to Paris, to be communi-
cated to him. However, nothing of it
wa« printed by sir Isaac; which being
observed by the other, he first printed
it, under the name of the Differential,
and sometime* the Infinitesimal me-
thod, in the " Acta Tniditonim I.ipsiar,
for the yearlr>84." And, as be still per-
sisted in his claim to the invention, sir
Isaac, at the request of George I. gave
his majesty an account of the whole
affair, and sent Leibnitz a defiance in
express terras, to prore his assertion.
This was answered by Leibnitz, in a
letter which he sent by Mr. Kemond,
at Paris, to be communicated to sir
haac, after he had shewn it in France:
declaring that he took this method in
order to have indifferent and intelligent
witnesses. That method being dis-
liked by sir haac, who thought that
London, as well as Paris might fur-
nish such witnesses, be resolved to
carry the dispute no farther; and,
when Leibnitz's letter came from
France, he refuted it, by remarks which
be communicated only to some of his
friends ; but, as soon as he heard of
Leibuiu's death, which happened six
months after, be published Leibnitz'*
letter, with his own remarks, by way
of supplement to RalpUon's " History
of Fluxions."
LEIBNITZ.
arrival there made it his business to enrich the library of
that prince with the best books of all kinds. That duke
dying in 1679, his successor, Ernest Augustus, then bishop
of Osnabrug, afterwards George I. extended the same pa-
tronage to Leibnitz, and directed him to write the history
of the house of Brunswick. Leibnitz undertook the task ;
and, travelling through Germany and Italy to collect ma-
terials, returned to Hanover in 1690, with an ample store.
While he was in Italy he met with a singular instance of
bigotry, which, but for his happy presence of mind, might
have proved fatal. Passing in a small bark from Venice
to Mesola, a storm arose, during which the pilot, imagin-
ing he was not understood by a German, whom being a
heretic he looked on as the cause of the tempest, proposed
to strip him of his cloaths and money, and throw him over-
board. Leibnitz hearing this, without discovering the least
emotion, pulled out a set of beads, and turned them over
with a seeming devotion. The artifice succeeded ; one of
the sailors observing to the pilot, that, since the man was
no heretic, it would be of no use to drown him. In 1700
he was admitted a member of the royal academy of sciences
at Paris. The same year the elector of Brandenburg, af-
terwards king of Prussia, founded an academy at Berlin,
by the advice of Leibnitz, who was appointed perpetual
president of it ; and, though his other affairs did not per-
mit him to reside constantly upon the spot, yet he made
ample amends by the treasures with which he enriched
their memoirs, in several dissertations upon geometry, po-
lite learning, natural philosophy, and physic. He also
projected to establish at Dresden another academy like
that at Berlin. He communicated his design to the king
of Poland in 1703, who was inclined to promote it ; but the
troubles which arose shortly after in that kingdom, hin-
dered it from being carried into execution.
Besides these projects to promote learning, there is
another still behind of a more extensive view, both in its
nature and use ; he set himself to invent a language so
easy and so perspicuous, as to become the common lan-
guage of all nations of the world. This is what is called
" The Universal Language," and the design occupied the
thoughts of our philosopher a long time. The thing had
been attempted before by d'Algarme, and Dr. Wilkins,
bishop of Chester; but Leibnitz did not approve of their
method, and therefore attempted a new one. His pre-
K 2
132 LEIBNITZ.
decessors in his opinion had not reached the point ; they
might indeed enable nations who did not understand each
othe,r, to correspond easily together ; but they had not at-
tained the true real characters, which would be the beat
instruments of the human mind, and extremely assist both
the reason and memory. These characters, he thought,
ought to resemble as much as possible those of algebra,
which are simple and expressive, and never superfluous
and equivocal, but whose varieties are grounded on rea-
son. In order to hasten the execution of this vast project,
he employed a young person to put into a regular order the
definitions of all things whatsoever ; but, though he la-
boured in it from 1703, yet his life did not prove sufficient
to complete it*. In the meantime, his name became fa-
mous over Europe ; and his merit was rewarded by other
princes, besides the elector of Hanover. In 1711, he was
made aulic counsellor to the emperor ; and the czar of
Moscovy appointed him privy-counsellor of justice, with
a pension of a thousand ducats f. Leibnitz undertook at
the same time to establish an academy of sciences at Vi-
enna; but that project miscarried ; a disappointment which
some have ascribed to the plague. However that be, it is
certain he only had the honour of attempting it, and the
emperor rewarded him for it with a pension of 2000
florins, promising him to double the sum, if he would
come and reside at Vienna, which his death prevented.
In the mean time, the History of Brunswick being inter*
rupted by other works which he wrote occasionally, he
found at his return to Hanover, in 1714, that the elector
had appointed Mr. Eckard for his colleague in that history.
The elector was then raised to the throne of Great Britain ;
and soon after his arrival, the electoral princess, then
princess of Wales, and afterwards queen Caroline, en-
gaged Leibnitz in a dispute with Dr. Samuel Clarke upon
the subject of free-will, the reality of space, and other
philosophical subjects. This controversy was carried on
by letters which passed through her royal' high ness's bands,
and ended only with the death of Leibnitz, Nov. 14, 1716,
occasioned by the gout and stone, at the age of seventy.
* He speaks in some places of an " Recueil de Literature." printed at
alphabet of human thoughts, which Amsterdam, in 1740, which also says
tie was contriving, which, it is very that Leibnitz refused the place of
probable, had some relation to his keeper of Hie Vatican library, offertJ
universal language. him by cardinal Casanata, while hf
f The particulars we have ia the was at Rome.
LEIBNITZ. 133
Leibnitz was in person of a middle stature, and of a thin
habit. He had a studious air, and a sweet aspect, though
short-sighted. He was indefatigably industrious, and so
continued to the end of his life. He ate and drank little.
Hunger alone marked the time of his meals, and his diet
was plain and strong. He loved travelling, and different
climates never affected his health. In order to impress
upon his memory what he had a mind to remember, he
wrote it down, and never read it afterwards. His temper
was naturally choleric, but on most occasions he had th«
art to restrain it. As he had the honour of passing for
one of the greatest men in Europe, he was sufficiency
sensible of it. He was solicitous in procuring the favour
of princes, which he turned to his own advantage, as well
as to the service of learning. He was affable and polite in
conversation, and averse to disputes. He was thought to
love money, and is said to have left sixty thousand crowns,
yet no more than fifteen or twenty thousand out at interest;
the rest being found in crown-pieces and other specie,
hoarded in corn-sacks. He always professed himself a Lu-
theran, but never joined in public worship ; and in his
last sickness, being desired by his coachman, who was his
favourite servant, to send for a minister, he would not
hear of it, saying he had no occasion for one. He was
never married, and never attempted it but once, when he
was about fifty years old; and the lady desiring time to
consider of it, gave him an opportunity of doing the same ;
which produced this conclusion, " that marriage was a
good thing, but a wise man ought to consider of it all his
life." Mr. Lcefler, son of his sister, was his sole heir,
whose wife died suddenly with joy at the sight of so much
money left them by their uncle. It is said he had a na-
tural son in his youth, who afterwards lived with him, was
serviceable to him in many ways, and had a considerable
share in his confidence. He went by the name of William
Dinninger, and extremely resembled .his father.
The following particulars relating to M. Leibnitz are
extracted from the works of the abbe Conti, as given in
the Gazette Litteraire for 1765 :
" This great man," says the abbe", " owed his death to
a medicine given him by a Jesuit at Vienna, which he
took from a desire to obtain a too speedy cure for the
gout. This removed the disorder suddenly from his foot
to his stomach, and killed him. At the time of his death,
134 LEIBNITZ.
he was sitting on the side of his bed, with an ink-stand and
Barclay's Argenis beside him. They say that he was con-
tinually reading this book, the style of which pleased him
exceedingly ; and that it was from this taste he intended
to form his history.
" He left behind him twelve or thirteen thousand crowns
in specie, and a bag full of gold medals. Among his
papers was found a manuscript on the Cartesian method,
which has not yet appeared ; a political tract of Bud£, the
letters of pope Sylvester II. and Spinoza's letters. His
own manuscripts were in great disorder. There were
found many papers filled with his thoughts, and with ban
mots either his own, or collected by him. Leibnitz had
passed part of his life with almost all the sovereigns of
Europe, and expressed himself with much spirit and ele-
gance. He left behind him poems, epigrams, and love-
letters. He was connected with the learned of all coun-
tries ; and carefully preserved all the letters he wrote and
received. M. Eckard says, there were found in his letters
the history of the inventions, discoveries, and literary
disputes during the space of forty years. He applied him-
self to every thing ; having left behind him a book of ety-
mologies in the German language, and he laboured at an
universal language to the time of his death. He loved
chemistry j and to acquire the secrets of that art, he con-
trived a language chiefly composed of foreign words, which
procured him the acquaintance of several chemists.
" He read all books without exception ; the more odd
and whimsical the title was, the more curious he was to
examine the contents. He found a romance written in
German by Mr. Eckard: this romance contained the his-
tory of a father, who having consulted an astrologer about
the future destiny of his son, learnt that to preserve him
trom death, there was no other method than to make hinv
pass for the son of a hangman. Leibnitz found this ro-
mance so excellent that he read it through at one sitting.
"The first time he visited Hanover, he never went out
of his study. He never spoke of the sacred Scriptures
without reverence ; they are full, he would say, of lessons
useful to mankind. He was unwilling to engage in religi-
ous disputes, but when his own principles were attacked,
he defended himself with much warmth. He was fond of
the Estern manners, had a great esteem for the Arabic
and Chinese languages, and recommended the study of
LEIBNITZ.
them. He formed a project for making a voyage to China,
and the Czar promised to fit him out ; but on reflexion, he
found himself too far advanced in life to undertake it He
collected many Chinese books in which were contained the
antiquities of that empire."
Leibnitz was author of a great multitude of writings j
several of which were published separately, and many
others in the memoirs of different academies. He invented
a binary arithmetic, and many other ingenious matters.
His claim to the invention of Fluxions, we have already
noticed. Hanschius collected, with great care, every thing
that Leibnitz had said, in different passages of his works,
upon the principles of philosophy; and formed of them a
complete system, under the title of *' G. G. Leibnitzii
Principia Philosophise more geometrico demonstrate," &c.
1728, 4to. There cam*- out a collection of our author's
letters in 1734 and 1735, entitled, " E pis tolas ad diversos
theologici, juridici, medici, philosophic!, mathematici, his-
torici, & philologici argument! e MSS. auctores^ cum an-
notationibus suis priuium divulgavit Christian Cortholtus,"
and another collection of his letters was published in 1805
at Hanover, by M. Feder, under the title of " Commercii
epistolici Leibnitziani typis nondum vulgati selecta speci-
mina," 8vo. Of his collected works, the best edition, dis-
tributed into classes by M. Dutens, was published at Ge-
neva in six large volumes 4to, in 1768, entitled, " Gotho-
fredi Guillelmi Leibnitzii Opera omnia," &c.
As Leibnitz was long the successful teacher of a new
system of philosophy, it may be now necessary to give
some account of it, which was formed partly in emenda-
tion of the Cartesian, and partly in opposition to the New-
tonian philosophy. In this philosophy, the author retained
the Cartesian subtile matter, with the vortices and univer-
sal plenum ; and he represented the universe as a machine
that should proceed for ever, by the laws of mechanism, in
the most perfect state, by an absolute inviolable necessity.
After Newton's philosophy was published, in 1687, Leib-
nitz printed an essay on the celestial motions in the Act.
Erud. 1689, where he admits the circulation of the ether
with Des Cartes, and of gravity with Newton; though he
has not reconciled these principles, nor shewn how gravity
arose from the impulse of this ether, nor how to account
for the planetary revolutions in their respective orbits. His
system is also defective, as it does not reconcile the circu-
136 LEIBNITZ.
lation of the ether with the free motions of the comets irt
all directions, or with the obliquity of the planes of the
planetary orbits ; nor does it resolve other objections to
which the hypothesis of the vortices and plenum is liable.
Soon after the period just mentioned, the dispute com-»
menced concerning the invention of the method of fluxions,
which led Mr. Leibnitz to take a very decided part in op-
position to the philosophy of Newton. From the goodness
and wisdom of the Deity, and his principle of a sufficient
reason, he concluded, that the universe was a perfect work,
or the best that could possibly have been made ; and that
other things, which are evil or incommodious, were per-
mitted as necessary consequences of what was best : that
the material system, considered as a perfect machine, can
never fall into disorder, or require to be set right ; and to
suppose that God interposes in it, is to lessen the skill of
the author, and the perfection of his work. He expressly
charges an impious tendency on the philosophy of Newton,
because he asserts, that the fabric of the universe and
course of nature could not continue for ever in its present
state, but in process of time would require to be re-esta-
blished or renewed by the hand of its first framer. The
perfection of the universe, in consequence of which it is
capable of continuing for ever by mechanical laws in its
present state, led Mr. Leibnitz to distinguish between the
quantity of motion and the force of bodies ; and, whilst he
owns in opposition to Des Cartes, that the former varies,
to maintain that the quantity of force is for ever the same
in the universe ; and to measure the forces of bodies by the
squares of their velocities.
Mr. Leibnitz proposes two principles as the foundation
of all our knowledge ; the first, that it is impossible for a
thing to be, and not to be, at the same time, which, he says
is the foundation of speculative truth ; and secondly, that
nothing is without a sufficient reason why it should be so,
rather than otherwise ; and by this principle he says we
make a transition from abstracted truths to natural philo-
sophy. Hence he concludes that the mind is naturally
determined, in its volitions and elections, by the greatest
apparent good, and that it is impossible to make a choice
between things perfectly like, which he calls indiscerni-
lles; from whence he infers, that two things perfectly like
could not have been produced even by the Deity himself:
and one reason why be rejects a vacuum, is because the
LEIBNITZ. 137
parts of it must be supposed perfectly like to each other.
For the same reason too, he rejects atoms, and all similar
parts of matter, to each of which, though divisible ad iiifi-
nitum, he ascribes a monad, or active kind of principle,
endued with perception and appetite. The essence of sub-
stance he places in action or activity, or, as he expresses
it, in something that is between acting and the faculty of
acting. He affirms that absolute rest is impossible, and
holds that motion, or a sort of nisus, is essential to all ma-
terial substances. Each monad he describes as represen-
tative of the whole universe from its point of sight ; and
yet he tells us, in one of his letters, that matter is not a
substance, but a substantial urn, or phenomene bienfondc.
From this metaphysical theory, which must be confessed
too hypothetical to afford satisfaction, Leibnitz deduced
many dogmas respecting the divine nature and operations,
the nature of human actions, good and evil, natural and
moral, and other subjects which he treats with great sub-
tlety, and in a connected train of reasoning.
The translator of Mosheim's Ecclesiastical History ob-
serves, that the progress of Arminianism has declined in
Germany and several parts of Switzerland, in consequence
of the influence of the Leibnitzian and Wolfian philosophy.
Leibnitz and Wolf, by attacking that liberty of indif-
ference, which is supposed to imply the power of acting
not only without, but against motives, struck, he says, at
the very foundation of the Arminian system. He adds,
that the greatest possible perfection of the universe, con-
sidered as the ultimate end of creating goodness, removes
from the doctrine of predestination those arbitrary proce-
dures and narrow views, with which the Calvinists are sup-
posed to have loaded it, and gives it a new, a more pleas-
ing, and a more philosophical aspect. As the Leibnitzians
laid down this great end as the supreme object of God's
universal dominion, and the scope to which all his dispen-
sations are directed, so they concluded, that, if this end
was proposed, it must be accomplished. Hence the doc-
trine of necessity, to fulfil the purposes of a predestination
founded in wisdom and goodness ; a necessity, physical
and mechanical, in the motions of material and inanimate
things ; but a necessity, moral and spiritual, in the volun-
tary determinations of intelligent beings, in consequence
of prepollent motives, which produce their effects with
certainty, though these effects be contingent, and by no
138 LEIBNITZ.
means the offspring of an absolute and essentially immuta-
ble fatality. Tbese principles, says the same writer, are
evidently applicable to the main doctrines of Calvinism ;
by them predestination is confirmed, though modified with
respect to its reasons and its end ; by them irre>'.st.ble grace
(irresistible in a moral sense) is maintained upon the hypo-
thesis oi prepollent motives and a moral necessity ; the
perseverance of the saints is also explicable upon the same
system, by a series of moral causes producing a series of
moral effects. But Maclaine adds, that the Leibnitzian
system has scarcely been embraced by any of the English
Calvmists, because, as he supposes, they adhere firmly to
their theology, and blend no pnilosophical principles with
their system.
Gibbon has drawn the character of Leibnitz with great
force and precision, as a man whose genius and studies
have ranked his name with the first philosophic names of
his age and country ; but he thinks his reputation, per-
haps, would have been more pure and permanent, if he
had not ambitiously grasped the whole circle of human
science. As a theologian, says Gibbon (who is not, per-
haps, the most impartial judge of this subject), he succes-
sively contended with the sceptics, who believe too little,
and with the papists who believe too much ; and with the
heretics, who believe otherwise than is inculcated by the
Lutheran confession of Augsburgh. Yet the philosopher
betrayed his love of union and toleration ,* his faith in re-
velation was accused, while he proved the Trinity by the
principles of logic ; and in the defence of the attributes
and providence of the Deity, he was suspected of a secret
correspondence with his adversary Bayle. The metaphy-
sician expatiated in the fields of air; his pre-established
harmony of the soul and body might have provoked the
jealousy of Plato; and his optimism, the best of all possi-
ble worlds, seems an idea too vast for a mortal mind. He
was a physician, in the large and genuine sense of the
word ; like his brethren, he amused him with creating a
globe ; and his Protog<eaJ or primitive earth, has not been
useless to the last hypothesis of Button, which prefers the
agency of fire to that of water. " I am not worthy," adds
Gibbon, " to praise the mathematician ; but his name is
mingled in all the problems and discoveries of the time* ;
the masters of the art were his rivals or disciples ; and if
he borrowed from sir Isaac Newton, the sublime method of
LEIBNITZ. 139
fluxions, Leibnitz was at least the Prometheus who impart-
ed to mankind the sacred fire which he had stolen from the
gods. His curiosity extended to every branch of che-
mistry, mechanics, and the arts ; and the thirst of know-
ledge was always accompanied with the spirit of improve-
ment. The vigour of his youth had been exercised in the
schools of jurisprudence ; and while he taught, he aspired
to reform the laws of nature and nations, of Rome and
Germany. The annals of Brunswick, and of the empire,
of the ancient and modern world, were presented to the
mind of the historian ; and he could turn from the solution
of a problem, to the dusty parchments and barbarous style
of the records of the middle age. His genius was more
nobly directed to investigate the origin of languages and
nations ; nor could he assume the character of a gram-
marian, without forming the project of an universal idiom
and alphabet. These various studies were often interrupted
by the occasional politics of the times ; and his pen was
always ready in the cause of the princes and patrons to
whose service he was attached ; many hours were consumed
in a learned correspondence with all Europe ; and the phi-
losopher amused his leisure in the composition of French
and Latin poetry. Such an example may display the ex-
te^nt and powers of the human understanding, but even his
powers were dissipated by the multiplicity of his pursuits.
He attempted more than he could finish ; he designed more
than he could execute : his imagination was too easily sa-
tisfied with a bold and rapid glance on the subject, which
he was impatient to leave; and Leibnitz may be compared
to those heroes, whose empire has been lost in the ambi-
tion of universal conquest."1
LEIGH (CHARLES), a naturalist and physician of the
seventeenth century, was born at Grange, in Lancashire.
He entered in 1679, of Brazen-nose college, Oxford, and
took a bachelor's degree in arts, whence he removed to
Cambridge, and proceeding in the faculty of medicine,
afterwards practised in London with considerable reputa-
tion. He was admitted a member of the royal society in
May 1685. He left the following works: "The Natural
History of the Counties of Lancashire, Cheshire, and Der-
byshire, &c." London, 1700, folio, with plates. Into this
? G«n. Diet. — Eloge by Fontenelle.— Brucker. — Mutton's Dictionary. — Gib-
boa's Miscellaneous Works.— Diet Hist,— Saxii Onomast.
140 LEIGH.
is incorporated the best part of the following publication :
" Phtbisiologia Lancastrieusis, cum tentamine philoso-
phico de Miueralibus Aquis in eodem comitatu observatis,"
London, 1694, 8vo. " Exercitationes quinque de Aquis
Mineralibus, Thermis calidis, Morbis acutis, Morbis inter-
mittentibus, Hydrope," ibid. 1697. " History of Virginia,"
drawn up from observations made during a residence in
that country, London, 1705, I2mo. Of bis " Natural His-
tory of Lancashire," bishop Nicolson speaks with great,
and, as Mr. Gough thinks, deserved contempt. The coini
described in this book were left to Mr. Prescot of Catherine*
hall, Cambridge. The time of his death is not mentioned
in any of the accounts we have seen of him.1
LEIGH (EDWARD), a learned theological writer of the
seventeenth century, the son of Henry Leigh, esq. was
born at Shawell in Leicestershire, March 24, 1602-3. He
had his grammatical learning under a Mr. Lee of Wai-
shall in Staffordshire ; and when removed td Oxford, be-
came a commoner of Magdalen-hall, in 1616, under Mr.
William Pemble, a very celebrated tutor of that society.
After completing his degrees in arts in 1623, he removed
to the Middle Temple for the study of the law. During
the violence of the plague in 1625, he took that opportu-
nity to visit France ; and on his return to the Temple",
added to his law studies those of divinity and history, in
both which he attained a great stock of knowledge. He
\vas in fact a sort of lay divine, and superior to many of the
profession. About 1636, we find him representing the
borough of Stafford in parliament, when some of the mem-
bers of that, which was called the Long parliament, had
withdrawn to the king at Oxford. Mr. Leigh's sentiments
inclining him to remain and to support the measures of the
party in opposition to the court, he was afterwards ap-
pointed to a seat in the assembly of divines, and certainly
sat with no little propriety in one respect, being as ably
skilled in matters of divinity and ecclesiastical history as
most of them. He was also a colonel of a regiment in the
parliamentary service, and custos rotulorum for the county
of Stafford. He was not, however, prepared to approve of
all the proceedings of the parliament and army ; and hav-
ing, in Dec. 1648, voted that his majesty's concessions were
satisfactory, he and some others, who held the same opi-
> Ath. Ox. TO!. II.— Gough'8 Topogrtpky.— Pulteney'i Sketches of Botany.
L E I G H. ." 141
nion, were turned out of parliament. From that time he
appears to have retired from public life, and to have em-
ployed his time in study. He died June 2, 1671, at Rus-
hall Hall in Staffordshire, and was buried in the chancel of
that church. His works, which afford abundant proofs of
his learning and industry, are, 1. " Select and choice Ob-
servations concerning the first twelve Cssars," Oxon, 1 635,
8vo. Additions were made to this work both by himself and
his son Henry, who published an enlarged edition in 1657,
8vo, with the title of " Analecta Ccesarum Romanorum."
Two other editions, with farther improvements and plates
of coins, &c. appeared in 1664 and 1670, 8vo. 2. " Trea-
tise of Divine promises," Lond. 1633, often reprinted, and
\vas the model of Clarke's " Scripture Promises," and other
collections of the same kind. 3. " Critica Sacra, or the
Hebrew words of the Old, and of the Greek of the New
Testament," Lond. 1639, and 1646, 4to, afterwards en-
larged with a supplement, to 2 vols. folio. This was one
of the books on which the late learned Mr. Bowyer bestow-
ed great pains, and had filled it with critical notes. 4.
" A Treatise of Divinity," ibid. 1648, 1651, 8vo. 5. "The
Saint's encouragement in evil times ; or observations con-
cerning the martyrs in general," ibid. 1648, 8vo. 6. " An-
notations on all the New Testament," ibid. 1650, folio.
7. " A philological Commentary ; or, an illustration of
the most obvious and useful words in the Law, &c." ibid.
1652, &c. 8. "A System or Body of Divinity," 1654,
and 1662, folio. 9. " Treatise of Religion and Learning,"
ibid. 1656, folio, which not succeeding, was republished
in 1663, with only the new title of " Fcelix consortium, or
a fit conjuncture of Religion and Learning." H). " Choice
French Proverbs," ibid. 1657, 1664, 8vo. 11. "Annota-
tions on the five poetical books of the Old Testament, viz.
Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Canticles," ibid.
1657, folio. 12. " Second considerations of the high court
of Chancery," 1658, 4to. 13. "England described," 1659,
&vo, mostly from Caraden*. 14. " Choice observation* on
all the kings of England, from the Saxons to the death of
Charles I." 1661, 8vo. 15. "Three Diatribes, or Dis-
courses, of traveJ, money, and measuring, &c." 1671, 8vo;
in another edition it is called the " Gentleman's Guide."
16. " Two Sermons," on the magistrate's authority, by
Christ. Cartwright, B. D. To these sir Edward prefixed a
preface in vindication of his own character for appearing
142 LEIGH.
in the assembly of divines. — This gentleman is by some
.writers called Sir Edward Leigh, but not so by Wood, nor
can we find any information respecting his being knighted.
In all his works, that we have seen, he is styled Edward
Leigh, Esq.1
LEIGHTON (ALEXANDER), a Scotch divine, was born
at Edinburgh, in 1563, and educated in the university of
that city, under the direction of the pious and learned
Mr. Rollock. In 1603 he took the degree of M. A. and
was appointed professor of moral philosophy in his own
college, a place which he enjoyed till the laureation of his
class, in 1613. At that time he came to London, and
procured a lectureship, which he enjoyed till 1629, when
he wrote two books, the one entitled " Zion's Plea,*' and
the other, " The Looking-glass of the Holy War." In
the former of these books, he spoke not only with free-
dom, but with rudeness and indecency against bishops,
calling them "men of blood," and saying that we do not read
of a greater persecution and higher indignities done towards
God's people in any nation than in this, since the death of
queen Elizabeth. He called the prelacy of the church
anti-christian, and declaimed vehemently against the ca-
nons and ceremonies. He styled the queen a daughter of
Heth, and concluded with expressing his pity that so in-
genuous and tractable a king should be so monstrously
abused by the bishops, to the undoing of himself and his
subjects. This brought him under the vengeance of the
star-chamber, and a more cruel sentence was probably
never pronounced or executed. After receiving sentence,
he made his escape, but was soon re-taken and brought
back to London. Historians have recorded the manner of
his shocking punishment in these words : " He was se-
verely whipped before he was put in the pillory. 2. Being
set in the pillory, he had one of his ears cut off. 3. One
side of his nose slit. 4. Branded on the cheek with a red
hot iron with the letters S S (a sower of sedition). On
that day seven-night, his sores upon his back, ear, nose,
and face, being not yet cured, he was whipped again at
the pillory in Cheapside, and had the remainder of his sen-
tence executed upon him, by cutting off the other ear,
slitting ^the other side of his nose, and branding the other
cheek.'* This happened in 1630. Granger has recovewd
1 Ath.Or.Tol. II.— Fuller's Wonkier— Nichols's Bowy«r.
LEIGHTON. 143
a memoir of him by which it appears that he practised as
a physician in the reign of James I. and that he was inter-
dicted the practice of physic by the college of physicians,
as a disqualified person. He alleclged in bar to this pro-
hibition, that he had taken his doctor's degree at Leyden,
under professor Heurnius. It was then objected to him,
that he had taken priest's orders, and being asked why he
did not adhere to the profession to which he had been or-
dained, he excepted against the ceremonies, but owned
himself to be a clergyman. Still persisting to practise in
London, or within seven miles of that city, he was cen-
sured " tanquam infamis" he having before been sentenced
in the star-chamber to lose his ears. But in this account:
there is some inaccuracy. He did not lose his ears until
1630, and then underwent his long imprisonment*.
Be this as it may, after eleven years imprisonment in
the Fleet, he was set at liberty by the parliament, 1640,
and appointed keeper of Lambeth-palace, which at that
time was made use of as a state-prison. There he re-
mained till 1644, when he died rather insane of mind from
the hardships he had suffered. He has no works extant,
except those already mentioned. He was the father of
archbishop Leighton, the subject of the next article.1
LEIGHTON (ROBERT), some .time bishop of Dunblane,
and afterwards archbishop of Glasgow, son to the pre-
ceding, was born at London in 1613, but educated at the
university of Edinburgh, where his talents were not more
conspicuous than his piety and humble temper. He after-
wards spent some time in France, particularly at Doway,
where some of his relations lived. Our accounts, however,
of his early years, are very imperfect. All we know with
certainty of the period before us is, that when he had
reached his thirtieth year, in 1643, he was settled in Scot-
land, according to the presbyterian form, as minister of
the parish of Newbottle, near Edinburgh. Here he
* It was when Dr. Leighton received popularity. The sentence itself, how-
sentence that archbishop Laud, then ever, could not fail to make a deep
in court, is said to have takem off his impression on the minds of a people
cap, and returned thanks to God. already taught to be dissatisfied with
This story has-been repeated in all the the government, aud to thirst for that
histories of the time, and whether vengeance which fell upon Sti afford,
true or not, must have, if only a cur- Laud, and lastly on the king himself,
rent report, added heavily to bis un-
1 Brook's LivM »f the Puritans.— •Rusaworth and Nalson's Collections. —
Grander.
144 L E I G H T O N.
remained several years, and was most assiduous in dis-
charging the various duties of his office. He did not, how-
ever, conceive it to be any part of that o,rrice to add to
the distractions of that unhappy period, by making the
pulpit the vehicle of political opinions. His object was
to exhort his parishioners to live in charity, and not to
trouble themselves with religious and political disputes.
But such was not the common practice ; and it being the
custom of the presbytery to inquire of the several brethren,
twice a year, " whether they had preached to the times ?"
"For God's sake," answered Leighton, " when all my
brethren preach to the times, suffer one poor priest to
preach about eternity." Such moderation could not fail
to give offence ; and finding his labours of no service, he
retired to a life of privacy. His mind was not, however,
indifferent to what was passing in the political world, and
he was one of those who dreaded the downfall of the mo-
narchy, and the subsequent evils of a republican tyranny,
and having probably declared his sentiments on these sub-
jects, he was solicited by his friends, and particularly by
his brother, sir Elisha Leighton, to change his connexions.
For this he was denounced by the presbycerians as an apos-
tate, and welcomed by the episcopalians as a convert. In
his first outset, however, it is denied that he was a thorough
presbyterian, or in his second, entirely an episcopalian ;
arid it is certain that his becoming the latter could not bo
imputed to motives of ambition or interest, for episcopacy
was at this time the profession of the minority, and ex-
tremely unpopular. His design, however, of retiring to
a life of privacy, was prevented by a circumstance which
proved the high opinion entertained of his integrity, learn •
ing, and piety. The office of principal in the university
of Edinburgh becoming vacant soon after Leighton's re-
signation of his ministerial charge, the magistrates, who
had the gift of presentation, unanimously chose him to
fill the chair, and pressed his acceptance of it by urging
that he might thereby be of great service to the church,
without taking any part in public measures. Such a mo-
tive to a man of his moderation, was irresistible ; and ac-
cordingly be accepted the offer, and executed the duties
of his office for ten years with great reputation. It was
the custom then for the principal to lecture to the students
of theology in the Latin tongue ; and Leighton's lectures
delivered at this period, which are extant both in Latin
LEIGHTON. 145
and English, are very striking proofs of the ability and as*
siduity with which he discharged this part of his duty.
After the death of the king, Dr. Leighton sometimes
visited London during the vacations, but was disgusted
with the proceedings there, and particularly conceived a
dislike to the conduct of the independents as well as to
their form of church-government. He made several ex-
cursions, likewise, to Flanders, that he might observe the
actual state of the Romish church on the spot, and carried
on a correspondence with some of his relations at Doway,
who were in popish orders ; but with the exception of
some Jansenists, of whom he entertained a favourable
opinion, his general aversion to popish divines and po-
pery appears to have been increased by his experience
abroad.
When Charles II. after the restoration determined to
establish episcopacy in Scotland, Dr. Leighton was per-
suaded to accept a bishopric. This his presbyter! an
biographers seem to consfder as a part of his conduct
which is not to be reconciled with his general character
for wisdom and caution. They deduce, however, from
the following circumstances, that he did not enter cordially
into the plan, and was even somewhat averse to it. " He
chose the most obscure and least lucrative see, that of
Dunblane ; he disapproved of the feasting at the time of
consecration, and plainly testified against it; he objected
to the title of Lord ; he refused to accompany the other
Scotch bishops in their pompous entry into Edinburgh.
He hastened to Dunblane; did not accept of the invitation
to parliament, and almost the only time he took his seat
there WHS for the purpose of urging lenity toward the pres-
byterians ; he detested all violent measures ; .persecuted
uo man, upbraided no man; had little correspondence
with his brethren, and incurred their deep resentment by
his reserve and strictness ; acknowledged that Providence
frowned both ou the scheme and the instruments ; and
confined himself to his diocese."
All this might be true, and yet not interfere with the
conclusion, that Dr. Leighton saw nothing in the charac-
ter and olrice of a bishop which could hinder the success
of tbe gospel ; on the contrary, bishop as he was, for
which these biographers cannot forgive him, he exhibited
such an example of pious diligence as could not be ex-
ceeded by the divines of any church ; and although during
VOL. XX. L
146 L E I G H T O N.
his holding this sec, the presbyterians were persecuted
with the greatest severity in other dioceses, not one indi-
vidual was molested in Dunblane on account of his religious
principles. But as he had no power beyond his own bound-
aries, anil could not approve the conduct of Sharp ami others
of his brethren, he certainly became in time dissatisfied
with bis situation, and it is possible he might be so with
himself for accepting it. In an address to his clergy, in
1665, not four years after bis settlement at Dunblane, he
intimated to them that it was his intention to resign, as-
signing as a reason, that he was weary of contentions.
Before taking this step, however, he had the courage to
try the effect of a fair representation of the state of matters
to the king, and notwithstanding his natural diffidence,
went to London, and being graciously received by Charles,
detailed to him the violent and cruel proceedings in Scot-
land ; protested against any concurrence in such measures;
declared that being a bishop he was in some degree ac-
cessary to the rigorous deeds of others in supporting epis-
copacy, and requested permission to resign bis bishopric.
The king heard him with attention, and with apparent sor-
row for the state of Scotland ; assured him that lenient
measures should be adopted, but positively refused to ac-
cept his resignation. Leigbton appears to have credited
his majesty's professions, and returned home in hopes that
the violence of persecution was over ; but, finding himself
disappointed, he made a second attempt in 1667, and was
more urgent with the king than before, although still with-
out effect.
It may seem strange that Leighton, who was so disgusted
with the proceedings of his brethren as now to think it a
misfortune to belong to the order, and who had so earnestly
tendered his resignation, should at no great distance of
time (in 1670) be persuaded to remove from his sequestered
diocese of Dunblane, to the more important province of
Glasgow. This, however, may be accounted for to his
honour, and not to the discredit of the court which urged
him to accept the archbishopric. The motive of the king
and his ministers was, that Leighton was the only man
qualified to allay the discontents which prevailed in the
west of Scotland ; and Leighton now thought he might
have an opportunity to bring forward a scheme of accom-
modation between the Episcopalians and Presbyterians,
which had been for years the object of his study, and the
L E I G H T O N. 147
of his heart. The king had examined this scheme,
and promised his aid. It had all the features of mode-
ration ; and if moderation had been the characteristic of
either party, might have been successful. Leighton wished
that each party, for the sake of peace, should abate some-
what of its opinions, as to the mode of church-government
and worship ; that the power of the bishops should be re-
duced considerably, and that few of the ceremonies of
public worship should be retained ; that the bishop should
only be perpetual moderator, or president in clerical as-
«emblies ; and should have no negative voice ; and that
every question should be determined by the majority of
presbyters. Both parties, however, were too much exas-
perated, and too jealous of each other to yield a single
point, and the scheme came to nothing, for which various
reasons may be seen in the history of the times. The
only circumstance not so well accounted for, is that
Charles II. and his ministers should still persist in retaining
a man in the high office of bishop, whose plans they dis-
liked, and who formed a striking contrast to his brethren
whom they supported.
Disappointed in his scheme of comprehension, arch-
bishop Leighton endeavoured to execute his office with his
usual care, doing all in his power to reform the clergy, to
promote piety among the people, to suppress violence, and
to soothe the minds of the presbyterians. For this last
purpose he held conferences with them at Glasgow, Paisley,
and Edinburgh, on their principles, and on his scheme of
accommodation, but without effect. The parties could not
be brought to mutual indulgence, and far less to religious
concord. Finding his new situation therefore more and
more disagreeable, he again determined to resign his dig-
nity, and went to London for that purpose in the summer
of 1673. The king, although he still refused to accept his
resignation, gave a written engagement to allow him to
retire, after the trial of another year ; and that time being
expired, and all hope of uniting the different parties having
vanished, his resignation was accepted. He now retired
to Broadhurst, in Sussex, where his sister resided, the wi-
dow of Edward Lightmaker, esq. and here he lived in
great privacy, dividing his time between study, devotion,
and acts of benevolence, with occasional preaching. In,
1679 he very unexpectedly received a letter, written in
the king's own hand, requesting him to go to Scotland and
L 2
L E I G H T O N.
promote concord among the contending parties, but it doe*
not appear that he complied with his majesty's pleasure.
It is certain that he never again visited Scotland, nor inter-
meddled with ecclesiastical affairs, but remained quietly in
his retirement until near his death. This event, however,
did not take place at Broadhurst. Although he had en-
joyed this retirement almost without interruption for ten
years, he was unexpectedly brought to London to see his
friends. The reason of this visit is not very clearly ex-
plained, nor is it of great importance, but it appears that
he had been accustomed to express a wish that he might
die from home, and at an inn ; and this wish was gratified,
for be died at the Bell-inn, in Warwick-lane, far apart
from his relations, whose concern, he thought, might dis-
compose his mind. He was confined to his room about a
week, and to his bed only three days. Bishop Burnet, and
other friends, attended him constantly during this illness,
and witnessed his tranquil departure. He expired Feb. 1,
1 684, in the seventy-first year of his age. By his express
desire, his remains were conveyed to Broadhurst, and in-
terred in the church ; and a monument of plain marble,
inscribed with his name, office, and age, was erected at
the ex pence of his sister.
Archbishop Leighton is celebrated by all who have writ-
ten his life, or incidentally noticed him, as a striking ex-
ample of unfeigned piety, extensive learning, and un-
bounded liberality. Every period of his life was marked
with substantial, prudent, unostentatious charity ; and that
be might be enabled to employ his wealth in this way,
he practised the arts of frugality in his own concerns. He
enjoyed some property from his futher, but his income as
bishop of Dunblane was only 200/., and as archbishop of
Glasgow about 400/. ; yet, besides his gifts of charity du-
ring his life, he founded an exhibition in the college of
Edinburgh at the expence of I50/. and three more in the
college of Glasgow, at the expence of 400/. ; and gave
300/. for the maintenance of four paupers in St. Nicholas's
hospital. He also bequeathed at last the whole of his
remaining property to charitable purposes. His library
and MSS. he left to the see of Dunblane. His love for
retirement we have often mentioned ; he carried it perhaps
to an excess, and it certainly unfitted him for the more
active duties of his high station. Although a prelate, he
nnver seemed to have considered himself as more than a
L E I G H T O N. U9
i » • '
parish priest, and his diocese a large parish. He was not
made for the times in which he lived, as a public character.
They were too violent for his gentle spirit, and impressed
him with a melancholy that checked the natural cheerful-
ness of his temper and conversation* As a preacher, he
was admired beyond all his contemporaries, and his works
have not yet lost their popularity. Some of them, as his
" Commentary on St. Peter," have been often reprinted,
but the most complete edition, including many pieces ne-
ver before published, is that which appeared in 1808, in 6
vols. 8vo, with a life of the author by the Rev. G. Jer-
ment. Of this last we have availed ourselves in the pre-
ceding sketch, but must refer to it for a more ample ac-
count of the character and actions of this revered prelate. 1
LELAND, or LAYLONDE (JOHN), an eminent English
antiquary, was born in London, in the beginning ol the
sixteenth century, but in what parish or year is uncertain.
He was bred at St. Paul's school, under the famous William
Lilly. Having lost both his parents in his infancy, he
found a foster-father in one Mr. Thomas Myles, who both
maintained him at school, and sent him thence to Christ's
college, in Cambridge. Of this society, it is said, he be-
came fellow ; yet, it is certain that he afterwards removed
to Oxford, and spent several years in All Souls college,
where he prosecuted his studies with great assiduity, not
only in the Greek and Latin tongues, but in the Saxon
and Welch, the ancient languages of his country. For
farther improvement he travelled to Paris, where he had
the conversation and instruction of Budaeus, Faber, Paulus
yEmilius, Ruellius, and Francis Sylvius; by whose assist-
ance he not only perfected himself in the Latin and -Greek
tongues, but learned French, Italian, and Spanish. He
also improved hia natural diposition to poetry, On his
return home he entered into holy orders, and being esteemed
an accomplished scholar, king Henry VIII. made him one
of his chaplains, gave him the rectory of Popeling, Po-
pering, or Pepling, in the marches of Calais, appointed
him his library- keeper, and by a commission dated 1533,
dignified him with the title of his antiquary. By this com-
mission his majesty laid his commands on him to make
search after " England's antiquities, and peruse the libra-
ries of all cathedrals, abbies, priories, colleges, &c. and
.
1 Life, as above. — Burnet'* Own Tinaas. — Laiug'g Hist, of Scotland^ &e.
150 L E L A N D.
places where records, writings, and secrets of antiquity
were reposited." For this purpose he had an honourable
stipend allotted him, and obtained, in 1536, a dispensa-
tion for non-residence upon his living at Popeling. Being
now at full liberty, he spent above six years in travelling
about England and Wales, and collecting materials for the
history and antiquities of the nation. He entered upon
his journey with the greatest eagerness; and, in the exe-
cution of his design was so inquisitive, that, not content
with what the libraries of the respective houses afforded,
nor with what was recorded in the windows and other mo-
numents belonging to cathedrals and monasteries, &c. he
wandered from place to place where he thought there were
any footsteps of Roman, Saxon, or Danish buildings, and
took particular notice of all the tumuli, coins, inscriptions,
&c. In short, he travelled every where, both by the sea-
coasts and the midland parts, sparing neither pains nor
cost ; insomuch that there was scarcely either cape or bay,
haven, creek, or pier, river, or confluence of rivers,
breaches, washes, lakes, meres, fenny waters, mountains,
valleys, moors, heaths, forests, chaces, woods, cities, bo-
roughs, castles, principal manor- places, monasteries, and
colleges, which he had not seen, and noted, as he says, a
whole world of things very memorable.
Leland not only sought out and rescued antique monu-
ment* of literature from the destructive hands of time, by
a faithful copy and register of them, but likewise saved
many from being despoiled by the hands of men. In those
days the English were very indifferent and negligent in this
particular : they took little heed and less care about these
precious monuments of learning ; which, being perceived
by foreigners, especially in Germany, young students were
frequently sent thence, who cut them out of the books in
the libraries ; and, then, returning home, published therti
at the press of Frobenius, and other printers. This pil-
ferage, together with the havock made of them at the dis-
solution of the monasteries, was observed by our antiquary
with great regret ; and he wrote a letter to Cromwell, then
secretary of state, begging his assistance to bring to light
many ancient authors buried in dust, and sending them to
the king's library. His majesty was truly sensible of the
indefatigable industry and labour of his antiquary, and on
his return from his travels in 1542, presented him to the
rich rectory of Basely, in Oxfordshire, and the year fol-
L E L A N D. 151
lowing gave him, by the name of John Leland, scholar,
and king's chaplain, a canonry of King's college, now
Christ Church, in Oxford ; and, about the same time, the
prebend of East and West Knowle, in the church of
Sarum. In 1545 he lost the canonry of Christ Church,
upon the surrendry of that college to the king, and had
no pension allowed him in the lieu of it, as other canons
had, yet as he is said to have been " otherwise prov ided
for," it was probably at this time that the prebend of East
and West Knowle was given him. In 1545, having digested
into four books that part of his collections which contains
an account of the illustrious writers in the realm, with their
lives and monuments of literature, he presented it to his
majesty, under the title of " A Newe Year's Gifte ;" with
a scheme of what he intended to do farther *. For that
purpose he retired to a house of his own, in the parish of
St Michael le Querne, London ; where he spent near six
years in digesting and bringing into form and order, the
immense collections he had with so great assiduity amassed
together. It appears by a letter of his published by
Hearne, that he was desirous of procuring an able assistant,
but we are not informed whether he succeeded. It is cer-
tain that some assistance was necessary ; for though he was
a person of a clear judgment, and of great insight, to dis-
cern the difference *' between substantial and superstitious
learning," notwithstanding these and other natural endow-
ments of his mind, it is no wonder this double labour, this
augaean task, to realize these undigested heaps, should
overpower the strength of his constitution, and the spirits
submit to what nature could no longer support. This was
the fate of Leland ; and by this unfortunate event an end
was put to his labours, " a fatal stop to the satisfaction he
was anxious to give to his king and country."
Jtjng Henry died Jan. 28, 1547, and probably the great
concerns of state had for some time slackened the attention
of the court to his labours. Bayle suggests that the court
did not pay Leland his stipend, and gives this as a plausible
reason for his misfortune ; but as we are told by his con-
temporary, bishop Bale, who had a better opportunity to
* This was, to gire a map of Eng- books as there are shires in England
land on a siver plate ; a description of and Wales, viz. fifty ; a survey of the
the same within twelvemonths; where- Tlritish is!e«, in six books; aud. finally,
in would be restored the ancient names • an account of the nobility of England,
of places in Britain ; with the antiqui- in three books,
ties or civil history of it ; in as many
152 L E L A N D.
know his history, that he was a man entirely abstracted from
the world, pecuniary considerations could scarce be the
object of his views. However, to whatever primary or se-
condary cause ins disorder may be assigned, he fell into a
deep melancholy, and, in a short time alter, was totally
deprived of his senses.
His distemper being made known to Edward VI. his ma-
jesty, by letters patents, dated March 5, 1550, granted
the custody of him, by the name of John Lay I on d, junior,
of St. Micuael's parish in le Q aerne, clerk, to his hrother
John Laylond, senior , and, tor his maintenance, to receive
the profits of Hasely, Popeling, and his Salisbury prebend
above-mentioned. In this distraction he continued) with*
out ever recovering his senses, two years, when tue disor-
der put a period to his life, April 18, 1552. He was in-
terred in the church of St. Michael le Querne, which stood
at the west end of Cheapside, between the conduit there
and Paternoster- row ; but, being burnt in the gri-at tire of
1666, the site of it was laid out to enlarge the street.
This event, as his illness before had, was deemed a na-
tional misfortune, greatly lamented by contemporaries,
and by succeeding ages. On his demise, Leland's papers
were sought after by persons of the lirst rank and learning
in the kingdom. King Edward, aware of their value, com-
mitted them to the custody of sir John Cheke, his tutor,
who probably would have made some important use of them
had he not been hindered by the confusions which followed
the death of his sovereign. Sir John, being then obliged
to go abroad, left four folio volumes of Leland's collections
to Humphrey Purefoy, esq. and these descended to Burton,
the author of the History of Leicestershire, who obtained
possession also of eight other volumes of Leland's MSS.
called his " Itinerary," all which he deposited, in 1632,
in the Bodleian library. The only other portion of Le-
land's MSS. is in the Cottonian collection. Of all these,
Holinshed, Drayton, Camden, Dugdale, Stowe, Lam-
bard, Battely, Wood, &c. &c. have made much use in
their historical researches ; but we cannot too deeply re-
gret that the author did not live to execute his own plans.
His collections were in truth but labores incepti, begun, not
completed. In that light he mentions them himself in an
address to archbishop Cranmer, intreating the favour of
that prelate's protection of his indigested papers. Yet in
this imperfect state they have been justly deemed a national
L E L A N D. 153
treasure, have always been consulted by our best anti-
quaries, and their authority is cited as equal, if not su-
perior to any, in points that concern antiquities. Dr. Tan-
ner had once formed a plan for publishing Leland's papers,
but various avocations prevented him : at length Hearne
undertook the task, and produced those two invaluable
collections, the " Itinerary," and " Collectanea," both too
well known to require a more minute description. To
these may be added a work not so well edited, " Com-
mentarii tie scriptoribus Britannicis," Oxon. 1709, 2 vols.
8vo. .(See AMTHONY HALL.) Some unpublished MSS. still
remain, and it appears that Leland had prepared a large
work entitled ** De Antiquitate Britannica, sive, Historia
Civilis." It also appears that he had made large collec-
tions towards the antiquities of London, but these have
long been lost to the public, as well as his quadrate table
on silver, mentioned in the preceding note, and the " De-
scription of England," which he said would be published
in twelve months. l
LELAND (JOHN), an eminent writer in defence of
Christianity, was born at Wigan, in Lancashire, Oct. 18,
1691. Soon after, his father, who had lived in good re-
pute for many years, being involved in pecuniary diffi-
culties, gave up his effects to his creditors, and removed to
Dublin. Finding here an opportunity for settling in busi-
ness, he sent over for his wife and family of three sons,
and was enabled to support them in a decent manner.
John, the subject of this memoir, was his second son, and
when in his sixth year, which was before they left Eng-
land, as our account states, he met with a singular misfor-
tune. He was seized with the small pox, which proved of so
malignant a kind that his life was despaired of; and when,
contrary to all expectation, he recovered, he was found
to be deprived of his understanding and memory, which
last retained no traces of what he had been taught. In this
state he remained a year, when his faculties returned ; but
having still no remembrance of the past, he began anew
to learn his letters, and in this his second education, made
so quick a progress, and gave such proofs of superior me-
mory and understanding, that his parents resolved to breed
him up to one of the learned professions. In this, from
* Lives of Leland, Hearne, and Wood, 1772, 2 vols. Svo, edited by Mr. Hud-
desford, keeper of the Ashmolean library.
•
154 L E L A N D.
their situation in life, they probably had not much choice,
from the great expenses necessary to law or physic ; and
this, with their religious principles, induced them to de-
cide in favour of divinity. He was therefore educated for
the ministry among the dissenters ; and having first ex-
hibited his talents to advantage in a congregation of dis-
senters in New- row, Dublin, was, in a few months, in-
vited to become joint-pastor with the Rev. Mr. Weld, to
which office he was ordained in 1716. As he entered upon
this station from the best and purest motives, he discharged
the duties of it with the utmost fidelity ; and, by indefa-
tigable application to his studies, he made at the same
time such improvements in every branch of useful know-
ledge, that he soon acquired a distinguished reputation in
the learned world. In 1730 Tindal published his "Chris-
tianity as old as the Creation," and although several excel-
lent answers appeared to that impious work, Mr. Leland
was of opinion that much remained to be said, in order to
expose its fallacious reasonings and inconsistencies. Ac-
cordingly he first appeared as an author in 1733, by pub-
lishing "An Answer to a late book entitled ' Christianity
as old as the Creation, &c.'" in 2 vols. In 1737 he em-
barked in a controversy with another of the same class of
writers, Dr. Morgan, by publishing " The Divine Autho-
rity of the Old and New Testament asserted against the
unjust aspersions and false reasonings of a Book entitled
* The Moral Philosopher.' " The learning and abilities
displayed by Mr. Leland in these publications, and the
service which he rendered by them to the Christian cause,
procured him many marks of respect and esteem from per-
sons of the highest rank in the established church, as well
as from the most eminent of his dissenting brethren ; and
from the university of Aberdeen he received, in the most
honourable manner, the degree of D. D. In 1742 Dr.
Leland published an answer to a pamphlet entitled " Chris-
tianity not founded on Argument;" and in 1753 he dis-
tinguished himself still further as an advocate in behalf of
Christianity, by publishing " Reflections on the late lord
Bolingbroke's Letters on the study and use of History ;
especially so far as they relate to Christianity and the Holy
Scriptures." It is said to have been with some reluctance
that he was persuaded to exert himself upon this occasion ;
for although, as he himself observes, no man needs make
an apology for using his best endeavours in defence of
L £ L A N D.
Christianity when it is openly attacked, yet he was appre-
hensive that his engaging again in this cause, after having
done so on some former occasions, might have an appear-
ance of too much forwardness. But these apprehensions
gave way to the judgment and advice of his friend, the late
Dr. Thomas Wilson, rector of St. Stephen's, Walbrook; and
in complying with his recommendation, he performed an
acceptable service to the Christian world, and added not a
little to the reputation he had already acquired.
Dr. Leland being now justly considered a master in this
branch of controversy, at the desire of some valuable friends
he sent to the press, in 1754, " A View of the principal
Deistical Writers that have appeared in England, in the
last and present century, with observations upon them,
&c. In several letters to a friend." This friend was Dr.
Wilson, to whom the letters were sent by the author, in
the form in which they appear. When the work was ready
for the press, the copy was so little esteemed that no book-
seller would give more than 50/. for it; on which Dr. Wil-
son generously printed a numerous edition at his own
risque, and the subsequent editions sold with great rapidity
and profit. The design of this work was to give some idea
of the productions of the deistical writers, and of the seve-
ral schemes which they have advanced, as far as the cause
of revealed religion is concerned. He afterwards published
a supplement relating to the works of Mr. Hume and lord
Bolingbroke, and this was followed by a third volume, com-
prehending the author's additions and illustrations, with a
new edition of " Reflections upon lord Bolingbroke's Let-
ters," &c. The whole of this work is now comprised in
two volumes ; it secured the author general public appro-
bation, and encouraged him to continue his exertions to a
very advanced age. Accordingly, when he was upward*
of seventy years old, he published, in 2 vols. 4to, " The
advantage and necessity of the Christian Revelation, shewn
from the state of religion in the ancient heathen world,
especially with respect to the knowledge and worship of
the one true God; a rule of moral duty, and a state of
t'uture rewards and punishments," &c. This work was af-
terwards reprinted in two volumes, 8vo. Dr. Leland died
in'his seventy-fifth year, on the 16th of January 1766; he
was distinguished by considerable abilities, and very exten-
sive learning; he had a memory so tenacious, that he was
often called " the walking library." After his death a collec-
156 L E L AN D.
tion of his sermons was published in four volumes octavo,
with a preface containing some account of the life, charac-
ter, and writings of the author, by the Rev. Dr. Isaac
Weld, who preached his funeral sermon at the meeting in
Eustace-street, Dublin, of which Dr. Leland had for ma-jy
years been the pastor. The extensive circulation 01 luticiel
writings about twenty years ago, induced the Rev. Dr.
W. L. Brown, principal of Marishal college, Aberdeen, to
superintend a new edition of the " View of the Deistieal
writers," 1798, 2 vols. 8vo, to which he added an excel-
lent •* View of the Present Times, with regard to religion
and morals, and other important subjects." '
LELAND (THOMAS), a learned uivine and translator,
the son of a citizen of Dublin, was born in that city in 1722.
The first rudiments of classical education he received at
the seuool kept by the celebrated Dr. Sheridan, whose ta-
lents and success in forming excellent scholars, were then
well known. In 17^7 he entered a pensioner in Trinity
college; and in 1741 was elected a scholar ; commenced
bachelor of arts in 1742, and was a candidate for a fellow-
ship in 1745, in which he failed at this time, but succeeded
the following year by the unanimous voice of the electors,
On bein^ thus placed in a state of independence, he did
not resign himself to ease and indolence, but was conspi-
cuous for the same ardent love of knowledge which ap-
peared in the commencement of his studies, and was pre-
dominant throughout his whole life. In 1748 he entered
into holy orders, and from a deep sense of the importance
of his profession, drew up a discourse " On the helps and
impediments to the acquisition of knowledge in religious
and moral subjects," wtiich was much admired at that time,
but no copy is now to be found In 1754, in conjunction
with Dr. John Stokes, he published, at the desire of the
university, an edition of the " Orations of Demosthenes,"
with a Latin version and notes, which we do not find men-
tioned by any of our classical bibliographers, except Har-
wood, who says it is in 2 vols. 12mo. In I76o Dr. Leiand
published the first volume of his English " Translation of
Demosthenes," 4to, with notes critical and historical ; the
second volume of which appeared in 1761, and the third in
1770. This raised his reputation very high as a classical
• Weld's preface, as above, and funeral sermon.— Life, in British Biogr*.
gjraphy, vol.X,
L E L A N D.
scholar and critic, and public expectation was farther gra-
tified in 1758 by his '* History of the Life and Reign of
Philip king of Macedon, the father of Alexander," 2 vols.
4to. His attention to the orations of Demosthenes and
-lEschmes, and to Grecian politics, eminently qualified
him for treating the life of Philip with copiousness and ac-
curacy. After this he proceeded with translations of ^Es-
chines, and the other orations of Demosthenes. In 1762,
he is supposed to have written, although he never formally
avowed it, the ingenious historical romance of " Long-
sword, earl or Salisbury."
In 1763, he was appointed by the board of senior fellows
of Trinity college, professor of oratory. His course of
study, and the labour he had bestowed on his translations,
had furnished turn with a perspicuous and energetic style,
which he displayed both in the professor's chair and in the
pulpit, being the most admired preacher of his time in
Dublin ; nor was he less esteemed for his talents as a con-
troversial writer, of which he now afforded a specimen.
Bishop Warburton having noticed in his " Doctrine of
Grace," the argument used by infidel writers against the
divine inspiration of the New Testament, from its want of
purity, elegance, &c. opposed this opinion by some of his
own which appeared equally untenable; namely, 1. That
the evangelists and apostles, writing in a language, the
knowledge of which had been miraculously infused, could
be masters of the words only, and not of the idioms ; and
therefore must write barbarously. 2. That eloquence was
not any real quality ; but something merely fantastical
and arbitrary, an accidental abuse of human speech. 3.
That it had no end but to deceive by the appearance of
vehement inward persuasion, and to pervert the judgment
by inflaming the passions ; and that being a deviation from,
the principles of logic and metaphysics, it was frequently
vicious. Dr. Leland quickly perceived the danger of these
positions, and in 1764 published " A Dissertation on the
principles of human Eloquence ; with particular regard to
the style and composition of the New Testament ; in which
the observations on this subject by the lord bishop of Glou-
cester, in his discourse on the Doctrine of Grace, are dis-
tinctly considered ; being the substance of several lectures
read in the oratory school of Trinity college, Dublin," 4to.
In this he refuted Warburton's positions in a candid and
liberal manner, but was attempted to be answered by Dr.
158 L E L A N D.
Hurd (without his name), in a manner grossly illiberal
and unmanly, from which Dr. Hurd could derive no othe*
advantage than that of flattering Warburton ; and from
the manner in which he notices his controversial tracts
(See HURD, vol. XVIII. p. 342) in the latter part of his
life, it would appear that he was himself of this opinion.
Dr. Leland published a reply to Dr. Hurd, in which, by
still preserving the dignity of the literary character, he
gained, in manners as well as argument, a complete vic-
tory over his antagonist.
In 1765, through the suggestion of Dr. Leland, the uni-
versity of Dublin bestowed on Dr. Johnson their highest
honour, by creating him doctor of laws, a favour which he
acknowledged in a letter to Dr. Leland, which may be
seen in the last edition of Boswell's Life. In 1768, Dr.
Leland \vas appointed chaplain to lord Townsend, lord lieu-
tenant of Ireland ; and his friends entertained hopes that
his merits would have raised him to the episcopal bench ;
but he obtained only in that year the prebend of Kath-
michael, in the cathedral church of St. Patrick, Dublin,
united with the vicarage of Bray, both of small value, but
tenable with his fellowship. In 1773, appeared his " His-
tory of Ireland, from the invasion of Henry II. with a pre-
liminary discourse on the ancient state of that kingdom,"
3 vols. 4to. The merit of this work has been disputed by
critics. It may be pronounced, however, an elegant sketch
of Irish history, and calculated for common use ; but he
appears to have taken no pains to consult original materials,
and therefore has brought very little accession to our know-
ledge of Irish affairs.
Dr. Lclund's other publications in his life-time were
only a few occasional sermons, of greater merit as to man-
ner and matter than the three volumes of sermons printed
after his death, which have the disadvantage of not being
prepared for the press. He died in 1785. His fame rests
on his " Life of Philip," his " Demosthenes," and his "Dis-
sertation upon Eloquence." The " Life of Philip," says
an eminent living scholar, " contains many curious re-
searches into the principles of government established
among the leading states of Greece ; many sagacious re*
marks on their intestine discords ; many exact descriptions
of their most celebrated characters; together with an ex-
tensive and correct view of those subtle intrigues, and those
ambitious projects, by which Philip, at a favourable crisis.
L E L A N D. 159
gradually obtained an unexampled and fatal mastery over
the Grecian republics. In the translation of " Demos-
thenes," Leland unites the man of taste and the man of
learning; and shews himself to have possessed, not only
a competent knowledge of the Greek language, but that
clearness in his own conceptions, and that animation in
his feelings, which enabled him to catch the real meaning,
and to preserve the genuine spirit of the most perfect
orator that Athens ever produced. Through the " Disser-
tation upon Eloquence," and the " Defence" of it, we see
great accuracy of erudition ; great perspicuity and strength
of style; and above all, a stoutness of judgment, which,
in traversing the open and spacious walks of literature, dis-
dained to be led captive." *
Le LONG. See LONG.
LELY (SiR PETER), a most capital painter of the reign
of Charles II. was born at Soest, in Westphalia, in 1617.
His family name was Vander Vaas ; but from the circum-
stance of his father, who was a captain of foot, being born
in a perfumer's shop, whose sign was a lily, and receiving
the appellation of captain Du Lys, or Lely, our artist ob-
tained it as a proper name. He was first instructed in the
art by Peter Grebber, at Haerlem ; and having acquired a
very considerable degree of skill in execution, he came
to England in 1641, and commenced portrait-painter.
After the restoration he was appointed state-painter to
Charles II. and continued to hold that office with great re-
putation till his death, which happened in 1680. He was
seized by an apoplexy while painting a portrait of the
duchess of Somerset, and died instantly, at the age of
sixty-three.
Though Lely's talents, as an artist, do not entitle him
to hold a rank equal to that filled by his great predecessor,
Vandyke, yet they justly claim very great respect and ad-
miration. He fell short of Vandyke in two very essential
parts of portraiture, viz. taste and expression. It is in
parts only that he wrought with taste : in the ringlets of the
hair, for instance ; seldom in the actions of his figures,
and scarcely ever in the tout- ensemble of his pictures. As
to the expression of his portraits, it is almost entirely
1 Life prefixed to his "Sermons." — Europ. Mag. for August 1 799.— Nichols's
Bowycr. — Warburton's Letters to Hurd.— Eoiwdl't Life of Johuson,
160 L E L Y.
described, at least in those of his females, by what the poet
Las said, that he
" — on animated canvas stole
The sleepy eye that spoke the melting soul."
The consrquen.ee is, that individual expression, the very
essence of portrait-painting, is lost sight of; anil a cerium
air of general resemblance is seen in them all. Yet Lely's
pictures, by the mastery of his execution, and his skill of
imitation, where he pleased to employ it, will ever com-
mand admiration. He possessed the art of Hatiery more
than most artists ; and no doubt by that secured the appro-
bation of his contemporaries, and consequently great prac-
tice. He acquired a very considerable fortune, of which
he employed a large portion to furnish himself with a col-
lection of pictures and drawings. These, at his death,
xvere sold by auction, and were so numerous, that forty
days were consumed in the sale ; and the product amounted
to 26,000/. ; besides which, he left an estate he had pur-
chased, of 9()0l. per annum. Among his more celebrated
pictures in this country, are the series of beauties at Wind-
sor; a remarkable picture of Charles I. and heads of the
duke of York, and lady Elizabeth, at Sion-house ; several
portraits in the gallery at Althorp ; the duke of Devon-
shire's, lord Pomfret's, &c. '
LEMERY (NICOLAS), a celebrated chemist, was born
Nov. 17, 1645, at Rouen in Normandy, of which parlia-
ment his father was a proctor, and of the reformed reli-
gion. Having received a suitable education at the place of
his birth, he was put apprentice to an apothecary, who was
a relation ; but, finding in a short lime that his master
knew little of chemistry, he left him in 1666, and went u>
improve himself in that art at Paris, where he applied to
Mr. Glazer, then demonstrator of chemistry in the royal
gardens ; but as Mr. Glazer was one of those professors
who are full of obscure ideas, and was also tar Ironi being
communicative, Lemery stayed with him only two months,
and then proceeded to travel through France in quest of some
better masters. In this resolution he went to Montpelier,
where he continued three years with Mr. Vernant, an apothe-
cary, who gave him an opportunity ot performing several che-
mical operations, and of reading lectures also to some of
his scholars. By these means he made such advances iu
1 Walpole'* Anecdotes. — Decbamps and D'Arjeniille.— Pilkiujtyn.
L E M E R Y. 161
chemistry, that in a little time he drew all the professors
of physic, as well as other curious persons at Montpelier,
to hear him ; having always some new discoveries, which
raised his reputation so high, that he practised physic in.
that university without a doctor's degree.
In 1672, having made the tour of France, he returned
to Paris, where he commenced an acquaintance with Mr.
Marty n, apothecary to monsieur the prince ; and mak-
ing use of the laboratory which this apothecary bad in the
hotel de Conde, he performed several courses of chemistry,
which brought him into the knowledge and esteem of the
prince. At length he provided himself with a laboratory
of his own, and might have been made a doctor of physic,
but his attachment to chemistry induced him to remain an
apothecary, and his lectures were frequented by so great
a number of scholars, that he had scarce room to perform
his operations. Chemistry was then coming into great
vogue in that metropolis; and Lemery contributed greatly
to its advancement, by treating it in a simple and perspi-
cuous manner, divesting it of the jargon of mysticism in
which it had been hitherto obscured, and, by the dexterity
of his experiments, exhibiting the facts which it discloses
to the comprehension ofc every understanding. By these
means he established such a character for superior che-
mical skill, as enabled him to make a fortune by the sale of
his preparations, which were in great request both in Paris
and the provinces. One article in particular was the source
of great profit, namely, the oxyd, or, as it was then called,
the magistery of bismuth, and known as a cosmetic by the
name of Spanish white, which no other person in Paris
knew how to prepare. In 1675 he published his " Coura
de Chymie," which was received with general approbation
and applause, and passed through numerous editions : in-
deed seldom has a work on a subject of science been so po-
pular. It sold, says Fontenelle, like a novel or a satire; netf
editions followed year after year ; and it was translated into
Latin, and into various modern languages. Its chief value
consisted in the clearness and accuracy with which the pro-
cesses and operations were detailed : the science was not
yet sufficiently advanced for a rational theory of them.
Indeed he seems to have worked rather with the view of
directing apothecaries how to multiply their preparations,
than as a philosophical chemist ; and his materials are not
arranged in the most favourable manner for the instruction
VOL. XXr M
162 L E M E R Y.
of beginners "in the science. Nor did he divulge the whole
of his pharmaceutical knowledge in this treatise ; he kept
the preparation of several of his chemical remedies secret,
in order to obtain the greater profit by their sale.
In 1681 his tranquillity began to be disturbed on account
of his religion ; and he received orders to quit his employ.
At this time the elector of Brandenburgh, by Mr. Span-
heini, his envoy in France, made him a proposal to go to
Berlin, with a promise of founding a professorship in che-
mistry for him there ; but the trouble of transporting hu
family to such a distance, added to the hopes of some ex-
ception that would be obtained in his favour, hindered him
from accepting that offer, and he was indulged to read
some courses after the time limited by the order was ex-
pired; but at length, this not being suffered, he came to
England in 1G83, where Charles II. gave him great encou-
ragement. Yet, as the face of the public affairs here ap-
peared not more promising of quiet than in France, he re-
solved to return thither, though without being able to
determine what course he should then take.
In this dilemma, imagining that the title of doctor of
physic might procure him some tranquillity, he took that
degree at Caen about the end o/ the year ; and, repair-
ing to Paris, had a great deal of business for a while,
but the edict of Nantz being revoked in 1685, he was for-
bid to practise his profession, as well as other protestants.
He read, however, two courses of chemistry afterwards,
under some powerful protections ; and having no longer
courage to support his religious principles, entered into
the Romish church, in the beginning of 1686. This change
procured him a full right to practise physic, and having
obtained the king's letters for holding his course of che-
mistry, and for the sale of his medicines, although not now
an apothecary, what uith his pupils, his patients, and the
sale of his chemical secrets, he made considerable gains.
, Upon the revival of the royal academy of sciences, in
1699, he was made associate chemist, and at the end of
the year became a pensionary. In 1707 he began to feel
the infirmities of age, and had a slight attack of apoplexy,
which not being so severe as to hinder him from going
abroad, he attended the academy for a considerable time,
but at length being confined to his house, he resigned his
pensionary's place. Another stroke of apoplexy in 1715,
after seven days, put a period to his life June 19, at 4ie
L E M E R Y. 163
age of seventy. His principal works are, 1. The " Cours
cle Chymie" before mentioned. 2. " An universal Phar-
macopeia." 3. " Diet. Universel des Drogues simples,'*
a very useful work. 4. " A Treatise of Antimony ; con-
taining the chemical analysis of that mineral," which in-
volved him in a controversy with an anonymous critic, irv
which he was not very successful. l
LEMERY (Louis), son of the preceding, was born at
Paris in January 1677, and was intended lor the profession
of the law; but he had imbibed from the pursuits of his
father so great a taste for those sciences, that he entered
the faculty of medicine of his native city, and received the
degree of doctor in 1698. Two years afterwards he was
admitted into the academy of sciences, and in 1708 h«
delivered lectures on chemistry in the royal garden. In
1710 he was appointed physician to the Hotel-Dieu, a post
which he occupied during the remainder of his life. In
1712 he obtained the rank of associate in the academy, and
succeeded his father as pensionary in 1715. He purchased
the office of king's physician in 1722 ; and in that capacity
he accompanied the infanta of Spain on her return from
France, whither she had gone with the view of being mar-
ried to Louis XV. Soon after his return to Paris 'he was
honoured by the queen of Spain with the title of her con-
sulting physician. In 1731 he was appointed professor of
chemistry in the royal garden, in the place of Geoffroy.
At a subsequent period he became particularly attached to
the establishment of the duchess of Brunswick, whom he
frequently visited in the palace of Luxembourg; and he
likewise obtained the patronage of the princess of Conti,
in whose hotel he regularly passed a part of every day, and
there composed several of the chemical papers which he
read before the academy of sciences. These papers treat
of the subjects of iron, of nitre, and some other salts, of
vegetable and animal analyses, of the origin and formation
of monsters, &c. He died on June 9, 1743, and the loss
of him was much regretted ; for to the mild and polished
manners of the gentleman, he united great sincerity and
constancy in his attachments, and sentiments of liberality
and generosity in all his proceedings.
In addition to the papers published in the Memoirs of
the academy, he left the following works : 1. " Trait£ des
1 Niceron, roll. IV, and X. — Moreri.— $*es'« Cyclopaedia,
M 2
164 L E M E R Y,
Alimens," Paris, 1702, which was frequently reprinted,
and greatly augmented by Bruhier, in the edition of 1755,
2 vols. 12mo. 2. " Dissertation sur le Nourriture des Os,"
Paris, 1704, 12tno. He likewise published three letter*
on the generation of worms in the human body, in oppo-
sition to the treatise of Andry, with whom a sharp contro-
versy was carried on upon this topic. '
LE MOINE. See MOINE.
LE MONNIER. See MONNIER.
LEMOS (THOMAS DE), a celebrated Spanish Dominican,
was born about 1550, of an illustrious family at Rivadavia,
in Gallicia. He defended so forcibly the doctrine of the
Thomists, on grace, in opposition to the opinions of Mo-
lina, that he was sent with Alvarez, by the general chap-
ter of his order, held at Naples, 1600, to support this doc-
trine against the Jesuits at Rome, and excited the famous
disputes held in the congregations de Auxiliis, assembled
in that city under pope Clement VIII. and Paul V. in
which he had the principal part. This made him so cele-
brated, that the king of Spain offered him a bishopric ; but
he refused it, being contented with a pension, and died at
Rome, August 23, 1625* , aged eighty-four, in the convent
de la Minerve. He lost his sight three years before.
Many of his writings on the subject of grace remain, com-
posed during the congregation de Auxiliis; and a very
minute journal of what passed there, printed at Kheims,
under the name of Louvain, 1702, fol. He also compiled
a large work, entitled " Panoplia Gratise," 2 vols. fol.
printed at Beziers, under the name of Leige, 1676.*
LENFANT (JAMES), a learned French writer in the
eighteenth century, was born at Bazoches, in Beausse,
April 13, 1661. He was son of Paul Lenfant, minister at
Chatillon, who died at Marbourg, in June 1686. He studied
divinity at Saumur, where he lodged at the house of James
Cappel, professor of Hebrew, by whom he was always
1 highly esteemed ; and afterwards went to Geneva, to con-
tinue his studies there. Leaving Geneva towards the end
of 1683, he went to Heidelberg, where he was ordained
in August, 1684. He discharged the duties of his function
there with great reputation as chaplain of the electress
dowager of Palatine, and pastor in ordinary to the French
church. The descent of the French into the Palatinate,
» Moreri.— Bees'* Cyclopedia. » Moreri.— Diet. Hist.
L E N F A N T. 165
however, obliged him to depart from Heidelberg in 1688.
Two letters which he had written against the Jesuits, and
which are jnserted at the end of his " Preservatif," renr
dered it somewhat hazardous to continue at the mercy of
a society whose power was then in its plenitude. He left
the Palatinate, therefore, in October 1688, with the conr
sent of his church and superiors, and arrived at Berlin in
November following. Though the French church of Ber-
lin had already a sufficient number of ministers, the elector
Frederic, afterwards king of Prussia, appointed Mr. Len-
fant one of them, who began his functions on Easter-day,
March the 21st, 1689, and continued them thirty-nine
years and four months, and during this time added greatly
to his reputation by his writings. His merit was so fully
acknowledged, as to be rewarded with every mark of dis-
tinction suitable to his profession. He was preacher to the
queen of Prussia, Charlotta-Sophia, who was eminent for
her sense and extensive knowledge, and after her death he
became chaplain to the king of Prussia. He was coun-
sellor of the superior consistory, and member of the French
council, which were formed to direct the general affairs of
that nation. In 1710 he was chosen a member of the so-
ciety for propagating the gospel established in England ;
and March the 2d, 1724, was elected member of the aca-
demy of sciences at Berlin. In 1707 he took a journey to
Holland and England, where he had the honour to preach
before queen Anne ; and if he had thought proper to leave
his church at Berlin, for which he had a great respect, he
.might have had a settlement at London, with the rank of
chaplain to her majesty. In 1712, he went to Helmstad ;
in 1715 to Leipsic ; and in 1725, to Breslaw, to search
for rare books and manuscripts necessary for the histories
which he was writing. In those excursions he was ho-
noured with several valuable materials from the electress
of Brunswic-Lunebourg, princess Palatine ; the princess
of Wales, afterwards Caroline queen of Great Britain ;
the count de Fleming ; mons. Daguesseau, chancellor of
France; and a great number of learned men, both pro-
testants and papists, among the latter of whom was the abbe
Bignon. It is not certain whether he first formed the .de-
sign of the " Bibliotheque Germanique," which began
in 1720 ; or whether it was suggested to him by one of the
society of learned men, which took the name of Anony-
mous j but they ordinarily met at his house, and he was a
166 LENFANT.
frequent contributor to that journal. When the king of
Poland was at Berlin, in the end of May and beginning of
June 1728, Mr. Lenfant, we are told, dreamt that he was
ordered to preach. He excused himself that he was not
prepared ; and not knowing what subject he should pitch
•upon, was directed to preach upon these words, Isaiah
XxxtiiL 1. "Set thine house in order, for thou shalt die,
and not live." He related this dream to some of his
friends, and although not a credulous man, it is thought
to have made some impression on him, for he applied with
additional vigour to finish his " History of the War of the
Hussites and the Council of Basil." On Sunday July the
25tn following, he had preached in his turn at his church ;
but on Thursday, July the 29th, he had a slight attack
of the palsy, which was followed by one more violent, of
which he died on the 7th of the next month, in his sixty-
eighthyear. He was interred at Berlin, at the foot of the pul-
pit of the French church, where he ordinarily preached since
1715, when his Prussian majesty appointed particular mi-
nisters to every church, which before were served by the
same ministers in their turns. His stature was a little be-
low the common height. His eye was very lively anil pe-
netrating. He did not talk much, but always well. When-
ever any dispute arose in conversation, he spoke without
any heat; a proper and delicate irony was the only weapon
he made use of on such occasions. He loved company,
and passed but few days without seeing some of his friends.
He was a sincere friend, and remarkable for a disinterested
and generous disposition. In preaching, his voice was
good ; his pronunciation distinct and varied ; his style
clear, grave, and elegant without affectation ; and he en-
tered into the true sense of a text with great force. His
publications were numerous in divinity, ecclesiastical his-
tory, criticism, and polite literature. Those which are
held in the highest estimation, are his Histories of the
Councils of Pisa, Constance, and Basil, each in 2 vols.
4to. These are written with great ability and impartiality,
and they abound with interesting facts and curious re-
searches. Lenfant, in conjunction with M. Beausobre,
published " The New Testament, translated from the ori-
ginal Greek into French," in $ vols. 4to, with notes, and
a general preface, or introduction to the reading of the
Holy Scriptures, useful for students in divinity. He is
known also by his " De iuquirenda Veritate," which is a
L E N F A N T. 167
translation of Malebranche's " Search after Truth ;"
" The History of Pope Joan ;" " Poggiana ; or, the life,
character,- opinions, £c. of Poggio the Florentine, with
the History of the Republic of Florence," and the above-
mentioned " History of the Wars of the Hussites," Utrecht,
1731, 2 vols. in 4to, dedicated by his widow to the prince
royal of Prussia. This was the last work in which our
author was engaged. He had revised the copy of the first
volume, and was reading over that of the second, when he
was seized with the apoplexy. But for this it appears to
'have been his intention to continue his History to about
1460. To this History is added monsieur Beausobre's
"Dissertation upon the Adamites of Bohemia."1
LENG (JOHN), a learned English prelate, was born at
Norwich in 1665, and educated at St. Paul's school, Lon-
don, whence he removed to Catherine-hall, Cambridge ;
and took his degrees of A. B. in 1636, A.M. 1690, and
B. D. 1698. He was, in 1708, presented to the rectory of
Beddington in Surrey, by sir Nicholas Carew, bart. who
had been his pupil ; and he was appointed chaplain to king
George I. who also promoted him to the see of Norwich
in 1723. He died Oct. 26, 1727, of the small-pox, whick
he caught at the coronation of George II. He lies buried
in the church of St. Margaret, Westminster, where is a
monument to his memory. Richardson, in his continuation
of Godwin, calls him a man of the first-rate genius and
abilities. In 1695, he published two of the comedies of
Aristophanes, the " Plutus" and " Nubes," Gr. & Lat.
8vo, with notes; and in 1719 preached the sermons at
Boyle's lecture, which are printed, as are a set of his ser-
mons preached at Tunbridge, and a few others upon occa-
sional subjects. He was editor also of one of the most
magnificent and correct editions of "Terence," that printed
at Cambridge in 1701, 4to. For this he consulted thirteen
manuscripts, and many ancient editions, and enriched the
work with critical notes, and a dissertation " De ratione
et licentia metri Terentiani." It was reprinted at Cam-
bridge, in octavo, 1701 and 1723, which last Dr. Harwood
thinks the best editon. Dr. Leng corrected and revised
the sixth edition of sir Roger L'Estrange's translation of
Cicero de Officiis, an employment which we are surprized
he should have undertaken, who could with more ease and
elegance have given a new one.3
1 Bibl. Germanique, vol. XVI. and XXI. — Nieeron, vo\f. IX. and X. — Ceo.
Diet, * Nichols's Bewyer. — Ly«mi'» Euvirona,
16S L E N G L E T.
LENGLET DU FRESNOY (NICHOLAS), a roluminoui
French writer, was born October 5, 1674, at Beauvais.
He entered the Sorbonne, as a student, under M. Pirot, a
celebrated doctor of that house j but, being convicted of
having privately obtained from this gentleman's bureau,
some papers relative to what was then transacting in the
6orbonne, respecting Maria d'Agreda's " Mystical city of
God," and having published, 1696, a " Letter addressed
to Messieurs the Syndics and doctors in divinity of the
faculty of Paris," concerning this censure, M. Pirot ex-
pelled him. Lenglet then went to the seminary of St.
Magloire, entered into sacred orders, and took his licen-
tiate's degree, 1703. He was sent to Lisle, 1705, by M.
Torcey, minister for foreign affairs, as first secretary for
the Latin and French languages, and with a charge to
watch that the elector of Cologn's ministers, who were
then at Lisle, migbt do nothing against the king's interest;
and was also entrusted by the elector with the foreign
correspondence of Brussels and Holland. When Lisle was
taken in 1708, Lenglet obtained a safeguard for the elec-
tor of Cologn's furniture and property from prince Eugene.
Having made himself known to that prince through M.
Hoendorf, he desired the latter to tell his highness, that he
would give up the memoirs of the Intendants for fifty pis-
toles, which the prince sent him ; but be wrote to M. Hoen-
dorf eight days after, to say that the papers had been seized
at his house by the minister's order, and kept the money.
He discovered a conspiracy formed by a captain at the
gates of Mons, who had promised not only to deliver up
that city, but also the electors of Cologn and Bavaria, who
had retired thither, for a hundred thousand piastres. Len-
glet was arrested at the Hague fur his " Memoirs sur la
Collation des Canonicals de Tournay," which he had pub-
lished there, to exclude the disciples of Jansenius from
this collation ; but he obtained his liberty six weeks after,
at prince Eugene's solicitation. After his return to France,
the prince de Cellemare's conspiracy, which cardinal Al-
btjroni had planned, being discovered in Dec. 1718, be was
chosen to find out the number and designs of the conspi-
rators, which he did, after receiving a promise that none
of those so discovered should be sentenced to death ; this
promise the court kept, and gave Lenglet a pension. In
1721, he went to Vienna, pretending to solicit the removal
of M. Ernest, whom the Dutch had made dean of Tournay;
LENGLET. 169
but having no orders from France for the journey, was ar-
rested at Strasburgh on his returii, and confined six months
in prison. This disgrace the abbe Lenglet attributed to
the celebrated Rousseau, whom he had seen at Vienna, and
from whom he had received every possible service in that
city ; and thence originated his aversion to him, and the
satire which he wrote against him, under the title of " Eloge
historique de Rousseau, par Brossette," which that friend
of Rousseau's disavowed, and the latter found means to
have suppressed in Holland, where it had been printed,
in 1731. Lenglet refused to attach himself to cardinal
Passionei, who wished to have him at Rome, and, indeed,
he was so far from deriving any advantage from the favour-
able circumstances he found himself in, or from the power-
ful patrons which he had acquired by his talents and ser-
vices, that his life was one continued series of adventures
and misfortunes. His passion was to write, think, act, and
live, with a kind of cynical freedom ; and though badly
lodged, clothed, and fed, he was still satisfied, while at
liberty to say and write what he pleased ; which liberty,
however, he carried to so great an extreme, and so strangely
abused, that he was sent to the bastille ten or twelve times.
Lenglet bore all this without murmuring, and no sooner
found himself out of prison, than he laboured to deserve a
fresh confinement. The bastille was become so familiar to
him, that when Tapin (one of the life guards) who usually
conducted him thither, entered his chamber, he did not
wait to hear his commission, but began himself by saying,
" Ah ! M. Tapin, good morning !" then turning to the
woman who waited upon him, cried, " Bring my little
bundle of linen and snuff directly," and followed M. Tapin
with the utmost cheerfulness. This spirit of freedom and
independence, and this rage for writing, never left him ;
he chose rather to work and live alone in a kind of garret,
than reside with a rich sister, who was fond of him, and
offered him a convenient apartment at her house in Paris,
with the use of her table and servants. Lenglet would
have enjoyed greater plenty in this situation, but every
thing would have fatigued him, and he would have thought
regularity in meals quite a slavery. Some have supposed
that he studied chymistry, and endeavoured to discover the
philosopher's stone, to which operations he desired no wit-
nesses. He owed his death to a melancholy accident ; for
going home about six in the evening, Jan. 15, 1755, after
170 L E N G L E T.
having dined with his sister, he fell asleep, while reading a
new book which had been sent him, and fell into the tire.
The neighbours went to his assistance, but too late, his head
being almost entirely burnt. He had attained the age of
eighty-two. The abbe Lenglet's works are numerous ; their
subjects extremely various, and many of them very extrava-
gant. Those which are most likely to live are his, " M6-
thode pour etudier PHistoire, av*c un Catalogue des prin-
cipaux Historiens," 12 vols. ; " Methode pour Etudier la
Geographic," with maps; " Histoire de la Philosophic
Hermetique," and " Tablettes Chronologiques de T His-
toire Universelle," 1744-, two vols. An enlarged edition
of this work was published in 1777. His " Chronological
Tables" were published in English, in Svo. It is a work of
great accuracy, and of some whim, for he lays down a
calculation according to which a reader may go through an
entire course of universal history, sacred and profane, in
the space of ten years and six months at the rate of six
hours per day. '
LENNARD (SAMPSON), an English writer, was related
to Sampson Lennard, who married Margaret baroness
Dacre, and of whom honourable mention is made in Cam-
den's Britannia. In early life he followed the profession of
arms, and was attached to sir Philip Sidney, with whom
he fought at the battle of Zutphen. He was afterwards
distinguished as a man of letters, and published various
translations from the Latin and French, particularly Per-
rin's " History of the Waldenses ;" Du Plessis Mornay's
«« History of Papacie ;" and Charron " On Wisdom." He
was of some note as a topographer, and of considerable
eminence as a herald, having been, in the latter part of
his life, a member of the college of arms. Some of his
heraldical compilations, which are justly esteemed, (see
" Catalogue of the Harleian MSS.") are among the manu-
scripts in the British Museum. He died in August 1633,
and was buried at St. Bennet's, Paul's Wharf. Mr. Gran-
ger received this brief memoir of Lennard, from Thomas
the late lord Dacre.*
LENNOX (CHARLOTTE), a lady long distinguished for
her genius and literary merit, and highly respected by
Johnson and Richardson, was born in 1720. Her father,
colonel James Ramsay, was a field-officer, and lieutenant*
1 Moreri. — Diet. Hi»t. — Niceron, rol. XVII, in art. Dufresnoy.
8 (ji'angcr.— Noble's College of Arais,
LENNOX. 171
governor of New- York, who sent her over, at the age of
fifteen, to. England, to an opulent aunt, but whom, on ner
arrival, she found incurably insane. The father died soon
after, leaving his widow (who died at New York in Aug.
1765), and this daughter, without any provision. Who
Mr. Lennox was, or when she married, we have not been
able to learn, and> indeed, very little is known of her
early history by her few surviving friends, who became ac-
quainted with her only in her Tatter days. We are told,
that from the death of her father she supported herself
by her literary talents, which she always employed use-
fully.
She published, in 1751, "The Memoirs of Harriot
Stuart," and, in 1752, «' The Female Quixote." In the
latter of these novels, the character of Arabella is the
counter-part of Don Quixote ; and the work was very
favourably received. Dr. Johnson wrote the dedication to
the earl of Middlesex. In the following year she published
" Shakespeare illustrated," in 2 vols. J2mo, to wnich she
afterwards added a third. This work consists of the novels
and histories on which the plays of Shakspeare are founded,
collected and translated from the original authors : to which
are added critical notes, censuring the liberties which
' O
Shakspeare has generally taken with the stones on which
his plays are founded. In 1756, Mrs. Lennox published,
"The Memoirs of the Countess of Berci, taken from the
French," 2 vols. 12mo; and, " Sully's Memoirs," trans-
lated, 3 vols. 4to ; which have since been frequently re-
printed in 8vo, and are executed with no small ability.
In 1757, she translated " The Memoirs of Madame Main-
tenon." In 1758, she produced " Philander, a Dramatic
Pastoral," and " Henrietta," a novel of considerable merit,
2 vols. I2mo; and, in 1760, with the assistance of the
earl of Cork and Orrery, and Dr. Johnson, she publish-
ed a translation of " Father Brumoy's Greek Theatre," 3
vols. 4to ; the merit of which varies materially in different
parts of the work. In 1760-1, she published a kind of
Magazine, under the name of the " Ladies Museum,'*
which extended to two volumes, octavo, and seems to have
been rather an undertaking of necessity than choice. Two
years after, she published " Sophia, a Novel," 2 vols.
12mo, which is inferior to her earlier performances; and,
after an interval of seven years, she brought out, at Co-
vent-garden theatre, "The Sisters, a Comedy," taken
172 LENNOX.
from her novel of Henrietta, which was condemned on the
first night of its appearance. In 1773, she furnished Drury-
lane theatre with a comedy, entitled, " Old City Man-
ners." Her last performance, not inferior to any of her
former in that species of composition, was " Euphemia, a
Novel, 17yO," 4 vols. 12mo. In 1775, we find Dr. John-
son assisting her in drawing up proposals for an edition of
her works, in 3 vols. 4to ; but it does not appear to have
been published. Dr. Johnson had such an opinion of Mrs.
Lennox that, on one occasion, not long before his death,
be went so far as to pronounce her superior to Mrs. Car-
ter, miss Hannah Moore, and miss Burney. Sir John
Hawkins has given a ludicrous account of the doctor's ce-
lebration of the birth of Mrs. Lennox's first literary child,
•' The Life of Harriot Stuart." This, however, was cer-
tainly not her first production, for in 1747, she published
" Poems on several occasions," printed for Sam. Paterson.
She was then Miss Ramsay.
It is to be regretted, that the latter days of this ingenious
lady were clouded by penury and sickness; calamities which
were in a considerable degree alleviated by the kindness of
some friends, who revered alike her literary and her moral
character. Among these it would be unjust not to mention
the names of the right hon. George Rose, and the rev. W.
Beloe. But the most elVectual aid she received was from
The Literary Fund society, in consequence of which her
only son was, a few years since, enabled to fit himself out
for an employment in the Anglo-American States ; and from
the same source the means of decent subsistence were, for
the last twelvemonth of her life, alVorded to the mother. She
died Jan. 4, 1804. l
LEO I. (Sr.) surnamed THE GREAT, a doctor of the church,
and one of the most eminent popes who have tilled the Ro-
man see, was born in Tuscany, or rather at Rome. He made
himself very useful to the church under pope St. Celestine,
and Sixtus III. and was concerned in all important affairs
while but a deacon. The Roman clergy recalled him from
Gaul, whither he was gone to reconcile Albums and ,/Eetius,
generals of the army, and raised him to the papal chair Sept.
1,440. He condemned the Manicheans, in a council held at
Rome in the year 444, and completely extirpated the re-
mains of the Pelagian heresy in Italy : " Let those Pelagi-
* Nichols's Bowyer.— Boswell's aud Hawkins's Life of Johnson. — BiOgraphica I
MSS. by the late I§aac Reed.
LEO. 175
ans," said he, " who return to the church, declare by a clear
and public profession, that they condemn the authors of their
heresy, that they detest that part of their doctrine which
the universal church has beheld with horror, and that they
receive all such decrees of the councils as have been passed
for exterminating the Pelagian heresy, and are confirmed
by the authority of the apostolical see, acknowledging by
a clear and full declaration, signed by their hand, that they
admit these decrees, and approve them in every thing,"
Leo also condemned the Priscillianists, and annulled all
the proceedings in the council of Ephesus, which was
called " the band of Ephesian robbers," in the year 449.
He presided by his legates at the general council of Chal-
cedon, in the year 451, but opposed the canon made there
in favour of the church of Constantinople, which gave it
the second rank, to the prejudice of that at Alexandria.
The letter which Leo had written to Flavian us on the mys-
tery of the Incarnation, was received with acclamations in
this council, and the errors of Eutyches and Dioscorus
condemned. The following year he went to meet Attila,
king of the Huns, who was advancing to Rome, and ad-
dressed him with so much eloquence that he was prevailed
upon to return home. Genseric having taken Rome, in
the year 455, Leo obtained from that barbarous prince, that
his soldiers should not set fire to the city, and saved the
three grand churches (which Constantine had enriched with
magnificent gifts) from being plundered. He was a strict
observer of ecclesiastical discipline. He died November 3,
in the year 461, at Rome. Never has the Romish church
appeared with more true grandeur, or less pomp, than in
this pontiff's time ; no pope was ever more honoured, es-
teemed, and respected ; no pope ever displayed more hu-
mility, wisdom, mildness, and charity. Leo left ninety-six:
" Sermons," on the principal festivals throughout the year,
and one hundred and forty-one Letters, which may be
found in the library of the fathers. The best edition of
bis works is that by Pere Quesnel, Lyons, 1700, fol. They
have been printed at Rome, by father Cacciaci, 3 vols.
fol. and at Venice, by Messrs. Ballarimi, 3 vols. fol. ; but
these editions have not sunk the credit of Quesnel's. ( P.
Maimbourg has written a history of his pontificate, 4to, or
2 vols. 12mo. '
LEO X. was a pontiff whose history is so connected with
that of literature and the reformation, that more notice
1 Cave, vol. I.— Milner's Church Hist. vol. II. p. 539.— Diet. Hist.
L E O.
of him becomes necessary than we usually allot to his
brethren, although scarce any abridgment of his life will
be thought satisfactory, after the very luminous and in-
teresting work of Mr. Roscoe. Leo was born at Florence
in December 1475, the second son of Lorenzo de Medici,
the Magnificent, and was christened John. Being ori-
ginally destined by his father for the church, he was pro-
rooted before he knew what it meant, received the tonsure
at the age of seven years, two rich abbacies, and before
he ceased to he a boy, received other preferments to the
number of twenty-nine, and thus early imbibed a taste for
aggrandizement which never left him. Upon the acces-
sion of Innocent VIII. to the pontificate, John, then thir-
teen years of age only, was nominated to the dignity of
cardinal. Having now secured his promotion, his father
began to think of his education, and when he was nomi-
nated to the cardinalate, it was made a condition that he
should spend three years at the university of Pisa, in pro-
fessional studies, before he was invested formally with the
purple. In 145>2 this solemn act took place, and he im-
mediately went to reside at Rome as one of the sacred
college. His father soon after died, and was succeeded
in his honours in the Florentine republic by his eldest son
Peter. The young cardinal's opposition to the election of
pope Alexander VI. rendered it expedient for him to with-
draw to Florence, and at the invasion of Italy by Charles
VIII. he and the whole family were obliged to take refuge
in Bologna. About 15CO he again fixed his residence at
Rome, where he resided during the remainder of Alexan-
der's pontificate, and likewise in the early part of that of
Julius II. cultivating polite literature, and the pleasures of
elegant society, and indulging his taste for the fine arts,
for music, and the chase, to which latter amusement he
was much addicted. In 1505 he began to take an active
part in public affairs, and was appointed by Julius to the
government of Perugia. By his firm adherence to the
interest of the pope, the cardinal acquired the most un-
limited confidence of his holiness, and was entrusted with
the supreme direction of the papal army in the Holj
League against the French in 15 11, with the title of le-
gate of Bologna. At the bloody battle of Ravenna, in
J512, he was made prisoner, and wos conveyed to Milan,
but afterwards effected his escape. About this time he
contributed to the restoration of his family at Florence, by
overthrowing the popular "constitution of that republic,
LEO. 175
and there he remained until the death of Julius II. in 1513,
when he was elected pope in his stead, in the thirty-eighth
year of his age. He assumed the name of Leo X. and
ascended the throne with greater manifestations of good-
will, both from Italians and foreigners, than most of his
predecessors had enjoyed. One of his first acts was to in-
terpose in favour of some conspirators against the house of
Medici, at Florence, and he treated with great kindness
the family of Sodorini, which had long been at the head
of the opposite party in that republic. He exhibited hi*
taste for literature by the appointment of two of the most
elegant scholars of the age, Bembo and Sadoleti, to the
«ffice of papal secretaries. With regard to foreign politics,
he pursued the system of his predecessor, in attempting
to free Italy from the dominion of foreign powers : and
in order to counteract the antipapal council of Pisa, which
was assembled at Lyons, he renewed the meetings of
the council of Lateran, which Julius II. had begun, and
he had the good fortune to terminate a division which
threatened a schism in the church. Lewis XII. who had
incurred ecclesiastical censure, made a formal submission,
and received absolution. Having secured external tran-
quillity, Leo did not delay to consult the interests of litera-
ture by an ample patronage of learned studies. He re-
stored to its former splendour the Roman gymnasium or
university, which he effected by new grants of its revenues
and privileges, and by filling its professorships with eminent
men invited from all quarters. The study of the Greek
language was a very particular object of his encourage-
ment. Under the direction of Lascaris a college of noble
Grecian youths was founded at Rome for the purpose of
editing Greek authors ; and a Greek press was established
iu that city. Public notice was circulated throughout Eu-
rope, that all persons who possessed MSS. of ancient au-
thors would be liberally rewarded on bringing or sending
them to the pope. Leo founded the first professorship in
Italy of the Syriac and Chaldaic languages in the university
of Bologna. With regard to the politics of the times, the
pope had two leading objects in view, viz. the maintenance
of that balance of power which might protect Italy from
the over-bearing influence of any foreign potentate ; and
the aggrandizement of the house of Medici. When Fran-
cis I. succeeded to the throne of France, it was soon ap-
parent that there would necessarily be a new war in the
north of Italy.' Leo attempted to remain neuter, winch.
176 LEO.
being found to be impracticable, he joined the emperor,
the Swiss, and other sovereigns against the French king
and the state of Venice. The rapid successes of the French
arms soon brought him to hesitate, and after the Swiss
army had been defeated, the pope thought it expedient to
abandon his allies, and form an union with the king of
France. These two sovereigns, in the close of 1515, had
an interview at Bologna, when the famous Pragmatic
Sanction was abolished, and a concordat established in it»
stead. The death of Leo's brother left his nephew Lo-
renzo the principal object of that passion for aggrandizing
his family, which this pontiff felt full as strongly as any
one of his predecessors, and to gratify which he scrupled
no acts of injustice and tyranny. In 1516 he issued a mo-
nitory against the duke of Urbino, and upon his non-ap-
pearance, an excommunication, and then seized his whole
territory, with which, together with the ducal title, he
invested his nephew. In the same year a general pacifica-
tion took place, though all the efforts of the pope were
made to prevent it. In 1517 the expelled duke of Urbino
collected an army, and, by rapid movements, completely
regained his capital and dominions. Leo, excessively cha-
grined at this event, would gladly have engaged a crusade
of all Christian princes against him. By an application,
which nothing could justify, of the treasures of the church,
he raised a considerable army, under the command of his
nephew, and compelled the duke to resign his dominion,
upon what were called honourable terms. The violation of
the safe conduct, granted by Lorenzo to the duke's secre-
tary, who was seized at Rome, and put to torture, in order
to oblige him to reveal his master's secrets, imprints on the
memory of Leo X. an indelible stain. In the same year
his life was endangered by a conspiracy formed against
him, in which the chief actor was cardinal Petrucci. The
plan failed, and the cardinal, being decoyed to Rome,
from whence he had escaped, was put to dt-ath ; and his
agents, as many as were discovered, were executed with
horrid tortures. The conduct of Leo on this occasion was
little honourable to his fortitude or clemency, and it was
believed that several persons suffered as guilty who were
wholly innocent of the crimes laid to their charge. To
secure himself for the future, the pope, by a great stretch
of his high authority, created in one day thirty-one nevr
cardinals, many of them his relations and friends, who had
not even risen in the.church to the dignity of. the episcopal
LEO. 177
office ; but many persons also, who, from their talents and
virtues, were well worthy of his choice. He bestowed
upon them rich benefices and preferments, as well in the
remote parts of Christendom, as in Italy, and thus formed
a numerous and splendid court attached to his person, and
adding to the pomp and grandeur of the capital. During
the pontificate of Leo X. the reformation under Luther
took its rise, humanly speaking, from the following circum-
stances. The unbounded profusion of this pope had ren-
dered it necessary to devise means for replenishing his ex-
hausted treasury; and one of those which occurred was the
sale of indulgences, which were sold in Germany with
such ridiculous parade of their efficacy, as to rouse the
spirit of Luther, who warmly protested against this abuse
in his discourses, and in a letter addressed to the elector
of Mentz. He likewise published a set of propositions, in
which he called in question the authority of the pope to
remit sins, and made some very severe strictures on this
method of raising money. His remonstrances produced
considerable effect, and several of his cloth undertook to
refute him. Leo probably regarded theological quarrels
with contempt, and from his pontifical throne looked down
upon the efforts of a German doctor with scorn ; even
when his interference was deemed necessary, he was in-
clined to lenient measures. At length, at the express de-
sire of the emperor Maximilian, he summoned Luther to
appear before the court of Rome. Permission was, how-
ever, granted for the cardinal of Gaeta to hear his defence at
Augsburg. Nothing satisfactory was determined, and th*
pope, in 1518, published a bull, asserting his authority to
grant indulgences, which would avail both the living, and
the dead in purgatory. Upon this, the reformer appealed
to a general council, and thus open war was declared, in
which the abettors of Luther appeared with a strength
little calculated upon by the court of Rome. The senti-
ments of the Christian world were not at all favourable to
that court. " The scandal," says the biographer, " in-
curred by the infamy of Alexander VI., and the violence
of Julius II., was not much alleviated in the reign of a
pontiff who was characterized by an inordinate love of
pomp and pleasure, and whose classical taste even caused
him to be regarded by many as more of a heathen than a
Christian."
The warlike disposition of Selim. the reigning Turkish
VOL. XX. N
178 L E O,
emperor, excited great alarms in Europe, and gave occa-
sion to Leo to attempt a revival of the ancient crusades, by
means of an alliance between all Christian princes ; he pro-
bably hoped, by this show of zeal for the Christian cause,
that he should recover some of his lost credit as head of
the church. He had, likewise, another object in view,
viz. that of recruiting his finances, by the contributions
which his emissaries levied upon the devotees in different
countries. By the death of Maximilian in 1519, a compe-
tition for the imperial crown between Charles V. and Fran-
cis 1. took place. Leo was decidedly against the claims of
both the rival candidates, and attempted to raise a com-
petitor in one of the German princes, but he was unable
to resist the fortune of Charles. At this period he incurred
a very severe domestic misfortune in the death of his ne-
phew Lorenzo, who left an infant daughter, afterwards the
celebrated Catherine de Medicis, the queen and regent of
France. The death of Lorenzo led to the immediate an-
nexation of the duchy of Urbino, with its dependencies,
to the Roman see, and to the appointment of Julius, Leo's
cousin, to the supreme direction of the state of Florence.
The issue of his contest with Luther will occur hereafter
in our account of that reformer. It may here, however,
be noticed that Leo conferred on Henry VIII. of England,
the title ot " Defender of the Faith," for his appearance on
the side of the church as a controversial writer. The tran-
quil state of Italy, at this period, allowed the pope to
indulge his taste for magnificence in shows and spectacles.
His private hours were chiefly devoted to indolence, or to
amusements, frequently of a kind little suited to the dig-
nity of his high station. He was not, however, so much
absorbed in them as to neglect the aggrandizement of his
family and see. Several cities and districts in the vicinity
of the papal territories, and to which the church had
claims, had been seized by powerful citizens, or military
adventurers ; some of these the pope summoned to his
court to answer for their conduct ; which not being able to
do, he caused them to be put to death. Having next set
his heart on the possession of the territory of Ferrara, he
had recourse to treachery, and is thought to have even
meditated the assassination of the duke, but his plot being
discovered by the treachery of one whom he had bribed,
he was disappointed in his plans. Another of his designs
was the expulsion of the French from Italy,* and he had
L E O. 179.
made some progress in this when he was seized with an
illness which put an end to his life in a few days. He died
Dec. 1, 1521, in the forty-sixth year of his age.
From the preceding circumstances, gleaned from Mr. Ros-
coe's elaborate account of Leo, a judgment may be formed
of his character, in which, although some things may have
been exaggerated by the enemies of the Romish church,
enough remains uncontested to prove that he had many of
the worst vices, and, when it became necessary to his ag-
grandizement, practised the worst crimes of his prede-
cessors. His biographer, by embodying the history of li-
terature and the arts in the life of Leo, one of the most
pleasing and truly valuable parts of the work, has, we
think, failed, in attributing much of their advancement to
Leo. And indeed it has been too much a fashion to speak
of the " age of Leo" as of a glorious period which his
patronage created. Too much stress, perhaps, is fre-
quently laid on patronage ; and we ought to hesitate in
declaring how much it has produced, when we consider
how much in all ages has been produced without it. But
Leo's patronage was not general, for it excluded Ariosto
and Erasmus, two of the greatest men of the age ; nor was
it judicious in selection, for he bestowed it on such worth-
less characters as Aretin and Niso, not to speak of a num-
ber of less known characters, whose merit rises no higher
than that of being able to write amorous Italian sonnets,
and panegyrical Latin verses. With respect to the arts, it
has been justly remarked, that when he ascended the throne
they were at their meridian. He found greater talents than
he employed, and greater works commenced than he com-
pleted. Leonard Da Vinci, Michael Angelo, and Raf-
faello, performed their greatest works before the accession
of Leo X.; Bramante, the architect of St. Peter's, died in
the second year of his pontificate ; and Da Vinci and Mi-
chael Angelo shared none of his favours. It is from his
attachment to Raflfaello that he derives his strongest claims
as a patron of art ; yet a part of his conduct to this great
artist makes us question whether Leo had a refined taste.
Raffaello made thirteen cartoons of religious subjects to
complete the decoration of the hall of Constantine, and
had sent them into Flanders, to be returned in worsted
copies, without any care to preserve the originals, nor any
inquiry made concerning them after the subjects were ma-
nufactured into tapestry. By accident, seven of these are
N 2
180 L E 0.
yet to be seen in this country, and may enable us to esti-
mate the taste of the pontiff who could so easily forget
them. Yet Leo must not be deprived of the merit that
justly belongs to him. He drew together the learned men
of his time, and formed eminent schools, and he did much
in promoting the art of printing, then of incalculable im-
portance to literature. In these respects, and upon ac-
count of the share he had in precipitating the reformation,
his short pontificate of eight years and eight months must
be allowed to form one of the most interesting periods in
papal history, and worthy of the illustration it has received."
LEO VI. emperor of the East, surnamed The Wise, and
the Philosopher, succeeded his father Basilius the Mace-
donian, March I, 886. He drove Photius from the see of
Constantinople, fought with success against the Hunga-
rians and Bulgarians, and died June 11, 911, leaving one
son> Constantine Porphyrogeneta. This emperor was sur-
named The Philosopher, from his attachment to learning,
and not from his manners, which were very irregular. He
was fond of writing sermons, and there are several of his
composing in the library of the fathers. The following works
are also attributed to him ; a treatise on Tactics, a useful
work for those who would acquire a knowledge of the lower
empire ; it was printed in German by Bourscheid, at Vi-
enna, and in French by M. de Maiserrti, 1770, 2 vols. 8vo ;
" Novelise Constitutiones," in which several of the novels
introduced by Justinian are abolished; " Opus Basilicon,1*
where all the laws contained in Justinian's works are new
modelled. This system of law was adopted by the Greeks
afterwards. In Constantine Manasses, printed at the Louvre,
may be found " Leonis sapientis oracula." *
LEO (Jons), a skilful geographer, born at Grenada,
retired into Africa when his native place was taken in 1492,
whence he had the surname of A fricanus. After having
travelled a considerable time in Europe, Asia, and Africa,
he was taken at sea by some pirates, and abjured the Ma-
hometan religion under pope Leo X. He died about 1526.
He wrote a " Description of Africa," in Arabic, which he
afterwards translated into Italian. Marmol has translated
this work, almost entirely, without mentioning it. There
is a Latin translation by John Florian, not very accurate,
1 Roscoe's Life.— Abridgement in Reei'i Cyclopaedia.— Duppa'i Life of Mi-
chad Angelo, p. 60 et seqq.
* Viet Hist.— Universal Hist
L E O. Ul
and a French one by John Temporal, Lyons, 1556, fol.
John Leo. also left the " Lives of the Arabian Philoso-
phers," which was printed by Hottinger in Latin, at Zurich,
1664, and is in torn. 13 of the Bibliotheca of Fabricius,
from a copy which Cavalcanti sent from Florence. l
LEO D'ORVIETTO, or LEO URBEVETANUS, a
native of that city, is said by some to have been a Francis*
can, and by others a Dominican. He left a " Chronicle"
of the popes, which ends in 1314, and one of the " Em-
perors," ending 1 308, published by father Lamy, at Flo-
rence, 1737, 2 vols. 8vo. These chronicles are useful for
the history of those times, to those who can distinguish the
fabulous parts. 8
LEO of MODENA, whose proper name was R. Jehu-
dah Arie, was born at Modena about 1574 •, was for a con-
siderable time chief of the synagogue, and esteemed a
good poet both in Hebrew and Italian. He was author of
a valuable work on the ceremonies and customs of the
Jews, which is held in estimation by the learned of all
nations. It is entitled " Istoria de Riti Hebraici vita et
Osservanze de gli Hebre'i di questi Tempi ;" the best edition
of which is that of Venice, 1638. It was translated into the
French language in 1674, by Richard Simon, with supple-
ments relating to the sects of the Karaites^and Samaritans.
He intended to have given an Italian translation of the Old
Testament, but the inquisition laid its commands on him
to desist. His Hebrew and Italian dictionary, entitled
" The Mouth of the Lion," was published at Venice in
1612, and was afterwards reprinted in an enlarged form at
Padua, in 1640. Leo died at Venice in 1654. 3
LEO DE ST. JOHN, a French monk, was born at Rennes
in the year 1600. Before he entered into the religious pro-
fession his name was John Mace. He was nominated to
all the honourable and confidential posts of his order, and
for his eloquence had the honour of preachjng before
Louis XIII. and Louis XIV. His early patrons were popes
Leo XI. and Alexander VIII. ; and in France cardinal
Richelieu was his friend. He died in 1671, leaving behind
him numerous works, the principal of which are, " Stu-*
dium Sapientise Universalis," 3 vols. fol. ; A " History of
the Carmelites ;" " Lives of different Romish Saints ;" and
l Moreri. — Diet. Hist. — Saxii Onoaust. a Moreri. — Diet. Hist.
' Moreri. — Diet. Hist.
182 LEONARD.
" Journal of what took place during the last Sickness, and
at the Death of cardinal Richelieu." '
LEONARD of Pisa, an Italian mathematician, who flou-
rished at the commencement of the thirteenth century, \vas
the first person who brought into Europe the knowledge of
the Arabic cyphers and algebra. He travelled into the
East for instruction, and being at Bugia, a town in Africa,
was taught the Arabic method of keeping accounts, and
finding it more convenient and preferable to the European
method, he drew up a treatise for the purpose of intro-
ducing it into Italy, where it was cultivated with success,
and became speedily known to all mathematicians From
Italy the knowledge of the Arabic cyphers and algebra was
afterwards communicated to the other countries of Europe.
He was author of a treatise on surveying, .preserved in the
Magliabecchi library at Florence.*
LEONARDO (Leo), principal organist of the chapel
royaj at Naples, was not only admired and respected by
his contemporaries, but his memory still continues to be
held in reverence by every professor that is acquainted
with his \vorks. He was born in 1689. The first opera of
his composition is thought to be " Sofonisba," which was
pei formed in Naples in 1718, and the last, " Siface," iu
Bologna, 1737. Between these he produced three operas
for Venice, and four for Rome. Leo likewise set the
" Olimpiade" of Metastasio. " Dirti ben mio vovice" was
in extreme high favour, as set by Leo, about the middle
of the last century, in England, where it was sure to be
heard at every musical performance, both public and pri-
vate. Leo likewise set Metastasio' s oratorio of " St. Elena
al Calvario," in which there are some very fine airs. His
celebrated " Miserere," in eight real parts, though imper-
fectly performed in London at the Pantheon, for Ansani's
benefit, 1781, convinced real judges that it was of the
highest class of choral compositions.
The purity of his harmony, and elegant simplicity of his
melody, are no less remarkable in such of these dramas as
Dr. Burney examined, than the judicious arrangement of
the parts. But the masses and motets, which are carefully
preserved by the curious, and still performed in the
churches at Naples, have all the choral learning of the
sixteenth century. There are likewise extant, trios, for
two violins and a base, superior in correctness of counter-
' Diet Hist. * DUt. HUt.— Thomson's History of the Royal Society.
LEONARDO. 183
• -•
point and elegance of design to any similar productions of
the same 'period. This complete musician is equally cele-
brated as an instructor and composer ; and the " Solfeggi,"
which he composed for the use of the vocal students, in the
conservatorio over which he presided at Naples, are still
eagerly sought and studied, not only in Italy, but in every
part of Europe, where singing is regularly taught. This
great musician died about 1742. His death was unhappily
precipitated by an accident which at first was thought
trivial; for, having a tumour, commonly called a bur, on
his right cheek, which growing, in process of time, to a
considerable magnitude, he was advised to have it taken
off; but whether from the unskilfulness of the operator, or
a bad habit of body, a mortification ensued, which cost him
his life. '
LEONICENUS (NICHOLAS), an eminent Italian phy-,
sician, was born in one of the Venetian states in 1428. He :
was professor of medicine at Ferrara during upwards of,
sixty years, and was the first person who undertook to
translate the works of Galen into Latin. His attachment,
to literary pursuits alienated him from practice; and in
excuse he used to say, " I do more service to the public
than if I visited the sick, by instructing those who are
to cure them." Extending his attention also to the belles
lettres, he wrote some poetry, and translated into Italian
the history of Dion Cassius, and the dialogues of Lucian.
Until the age of thirty, Leonicenus was tormented with
frequent attacks of epilepsy, which reduced him at times
to melancholy and despair. This disease, however, after-
wards left him, and, by means of great regularity and tem-
perance, he attained the age of ninety-six years, and died
in 1524, possessed of all his faculties. To one who in«
quired, with astonishment, by what secret he had preserved
this entire possession of his faculties, together with an erect
body and vigorous health, at so great an age, he replied,
that it was the effect of innocence of manners, tranquillity
of mind, and frugality in diet. The duke and senate of.
Ferrara erected a monument to his memory. He left se-
veral works, most of which have been several times re-
printed, but are not now in request, except perhaps his
examination of the errors of Pliny, &c. " Plinii et aliorurn
plurimum auctorum qui de simplicibus medicaminibui
1 Barney's Hist, of Music, vol. IV. — aud the same in Rees's Cyclepadia.
184 LEONICENU8.
£0
scripserunt, crrores notati," Bude, 1532, folio, which in-
volved him in a controversy, sustained with his usual
tranquillity ; and bis " Liber de Epidemia quam Itali mor-
bum Gallicum vocant," Venice, 1497, 4to, a book of great
rarity. He was the first in Italy who treated of this dis-
order1. There is an edition of all his works, printed at
Bale, 1533, fol.1
LEONICO. See TOMEO.
LEONTIUS PILATUS. See PILATUS.
LEOWITZ (CYPRIAN), a celebrated astronomer in the
sixteenth century, was born in Bohemia, and was appointed
mathematician to Otho Henry, elector palatine. He ac-
quired a high reputation by his astronomical productions,
of which the principal were, " Ephemerides ab anno 1556
ad ann. 1606;" '* Expedita Ratio constituendi Tin-mat is
coelestis ;" " Loca stellarum fixarum ab anno Dom. 1549
usque in ann. 2029 ;" and " De Eclipsibus Liber.*' Ty-
cho Brain- paid him a visit in 1569, when they had several
conversations on their favourite subjects. Notwithstanding
the great learning of Leowitz, he was weak enough to be-
come the dupe of judicial astrology. He died in Swabia
1574. He 'jad predicted that the world would come to an
end in 1584; and of this prophecy many priests and
preachers took advantage as the important period ap-
proached, and enriched themselves at the expence of the
fears of their people.*
LE POIS. See POIS.
LE QUIEN. See QU1EN.
LERMONT (THOMAS), a poet of Scotland, who flou-
rished in the thirteenth century, is familiarly known by
the name of Thomas the Rhymer. The history of bis life
is involved in much obscurity. Wbat has been unravelled
may be seen in our authority. He was a prophet as well
as a poet. His merit in the former character may be dis-
puted, but of his poetical talents, Mr. Walter Scott ha*
enabled the public to judge, by giving an excellent edition
of his metrical romance of «* Sir Tristrem," published in
1804, and very ably illustrated with notes, &c. by Mr.
Scott, who has in this work shown that the most arduous
labours of the antiquary are not incompatible with the
genius and spirit of the poet.'
I Gen. Diet. — Moreri.— R«»'» C'yclop»cli«. — Suit Onoraait.
* Moreri.— (Jen. DicU > Mr. Scotl's edition.
L E S B O N A X. 185
LE ROY. See ROY.
LESBONAX, a native of Mitylene, who flourished in
the first century of the Christian aera, was a disciple of
Timocrates, afterwards became a teacher of philosophy
in his native city, and obtained a great number of scho-
lars. He was author of many books of philosophy, and
Photius says he had read sixteen orations written by
him. Two of these were first published by Aldus, in
his edition of the ancient orators, in 1513 ; afterwards
by Henry Stephens, with the orations of JEschines, Lysias,
and others ; and in 1619, by Gruter. Lesbonax is said.
to have been the author of a treatise " De Figuris
Grammaticis," printed with Ammonius, Leyden, 1739,
4to. He left a son named Potamon, an eminent rhe-
torician at Rome, in the reign of the emperor Tiberius.
So sensible were the magistrates of Mitylene of his
merits, and of the utility of his labours, that they caused
a medal to be struck in his honour : one of which was
discovered in the south of France about 1740, and an
engraving of it, with a learned dissertation, published in
the year 174-4, by M. Gary, of the Academy of Marseilles,
but there seems some reason to think that Lesbonax the
philosopher, and Lesbonax the grammarian, were different
persons.1
LESCAILLE (JAMES), a celebrated Dutch printer, was
born in 1610 of an illustrious family at Geneva, which re-
moved to Holland, where his press became famous for the
number of beautiful and accurate editions which issued
from it. He was also esteemed an excellent poet; and his
daughter, Catherine Lescaille, who died June 8, 171 1, was
so much admired for her poetical talents, as to be called
the Dutch Sappho, and the tenth Muse. A collection of
her Poems was printed in 1728, with the following trage-
dies: Genseric, Wenceslaus, Herod and Mariamne, Her-
cules and Deianira, Nicomedes, Ariadne, Cassandra, &c.
which, although they are not written according to the or-
dinary rules of the drama, frequently discover marks of
superior genius. James Lescaille was honoured with the
poetic crown by the emperor Leopold in 1663, and died
in 1677.'
LESCHASSIER (JAMES), an able lawyer, and celer
brated advocate of the parliament of Paris, was born in
1 Idorcri.— Suit Ononagt. >• Moreri — Diet. Hitt.
186 L E S C H A S S I E R.
•j
that city in 1550, of a reputable family. When Henry IV.
to whom he had remained faithful during the fury of the
League, wanted to support the annuities charged on the
H6tel de Ville, Leschassier had influence enough to dis-
suade him from his design by two very able petitions. He
was consulted by the Venetian republic, in 1605, respect-
ing their disputes with pope Paul V. and replied by his
" Consultatio Parisini cujusdam," printed in 1606, 4to,
\vhich proves him to have been a learned and judicious
canonist. He died April 28, 1625, at Paris, aged seventy-
five. The most complete edition of his works is that of
Paris, 1652, 4to, which contains several curious and inte-
resting particulars concerning the liberties of the Galilean
church, and other affairs of great importance.1
LESD1GUIKRES (FRANCIS DE BONNE, DUKE DE), peer,
marechal, and constable of France, governor of Dauphiny,
and one of the greatest generals of his age, was born April
1, 1543, at St. Bonnet de Chamsaut, in Dauphiny, of a
noble and ancient family. He was among the chiefs of the
protestants, for whom he took several places, and when
Henry IV. ascended the throne, received fresh marks of
his esteem, being appointed lieutenant-general of his
forces in Piedmont, Savoy, and Dauphiny. Lesdiguieres
defeated the duke of Savoy at the battle of Esparon, April
15, 1591, and in several other engagements; and when
the king blamed him for having suffered that prince to build
Fort Barreaux, he replied, " Let the duke of Savoy be at
that expence ; your majesty wants a fortress opposite to
Montmelian, and when it is built and stored, we will take
it.'* He kept his word, and conquered Savoy. This brave
man received the marechal's staff in 1607, and his estate
of Lesdiguieres was made a dukedom, as a reward for his
services. At length he abjured protestantism at Grenoble,
and was afterwards presented by his son-in-law, the mare-
dial de Crequi, with letters, in which the king appointed
him constable, July 24, 1622. He commanded the troops
in Italy in 1625, and died at Valence in Dauphiny, Sept.
28, 1626, aged eighty-four. His secretary, Lewis Videl,
has written his life, or rather his eulogy, 1638, folio. There
were, however, many defects in his moral character, and
his apostacy is said to have been founded in avarice.*
cu
i Moreri.-— Niceron. vol. XXXIII.— Saxii Onomasticon. .
,* aiomL— Diet. Hift. * ' -
LESLEY. 187
LESLEY (JOHN), the celebrated bishop of Ross in Scot-
land, was descended from a very ancient family, and bora
in 1527. He had his education in the university of Aber-
deen ; and, in 1547, was made canon of the cathedral-
church of Aberdeen and Murray. After this, he travelled
into France ; and pursued his studies in the universities of
Thoulouse, Poictiers, and Paris, at which place he took the
degree 01 doctor of laws. He continued abroad till 1554,
when he was commanded home by the queen-regent, and
made official and vicar-general of the diocese of Aberdeen ;
and, entering into the priesthood, became parson of Une,
or Oyne. About this time the doctrines of the reformation
having reached Scotland, were zealously opposed by our
author ; and, a solemn dispute being held between the pro-
testants and papists in 1560, at Edinburgh, Lesley was a
principal champion on the side of the latter, and had Knox
for one of his antagonists. This, however, was so far from
putting an end to the divisions, that they daily increased ;
which occasioning many disturbances and commotions, both
parties agreed to send deputations, inviting home the
queen, who was then absent in France. It was a matter of
importance to be expeditious in this race of politic cour-
tesy ; and Lesley, who was employed by the Roman catho-
lics, made such dispatch, that he arrived several days be-
fore lord James Stuart, who was sent by the protestants, to
Vitri, where queen Mary was then lamenting the death of
her husband, the king of France. Having delivered to her
his credentials, he told her majesty of lord James Stuart's
(who was her natural brother) coming from the protestants
in Scotland, and of his designs against the Roman catholic.
religion ; and advised her to detain him in France by some
honourable employment till she could settle her affairs at
home ; thus infusing suspicions of her protestant subjects
into the queen's mind, with a view that she should throw
herself entirely into the hands of those who were of her own
religion. The queen, however, not at all distrusting the
nobility, who had sent lord James, desired Lesley to wait,
till she could consult with her friends upon the methods
most proper for her to take. At first, the court of France
opposed her return home ; but, finding her much inclined
to it, they ordered a fleet to attend her; and Lesley em-
barked with her at Calais for Scotland, Aug. 19, 1561.
Soon after his arrival, he was appointed one of the se-
nators of the college of justice, and sworn into the privy-
188 L E S L E Y.
council. In 1564, the abbey of Lundores was conferred
upon him ; and, upon the death of Sinclair bishop of Ross,
he was promoted to that see. This advancement was no
more than he merited from the head of the Roman church
in Scotland, in whose defence he was always an active and
able disputant with the reformed party. His learning was
not inferior to his other attainments ; nor was his attention
so entirely absorbed in ecclesiastical matters, as to prevent
his introducing some important improvements in the civil
state of the kingdom. To this end, having observed that
all the ancient laws were growing obsolete, for want of
being collected into a body, he represented this matter to
the queen, and prevailed with her majesty to appoint
proper persons for the work. Accordingly, a commission
was made out, granting to Lesley, and fifteen others, privy-
counsellors and advocates in the law, authority to print the
same. Thus it is to the care principally of the bishop of
Ross, that the Scots owe the first impression of their laws
at Edinburgh, in 1566, commonly called the black acts of
parliament, from their being printed in the black Saxon
character. Upon the queen's flying into England from her
protestant subjects, who had taken up arms against her,,
queen Elizabeth appointed commissioners at York to exa-
mine the case between her and them, and bishop Lesley
was one of those chosen by Mary, in 1568, to defend her
cause, which he did with great vigour and strength of rea-
soning ; and, when this method proved ineffectual, appeared
afterwards in the character of ambassador at the English
court, to complain of the injustice done to his queen.
Finding no notice taken of his public solicitations, he be-
gan to form schemes to procure her escape privately, and
at the same time seems to have been concerned with fo-
reign courts in conspiracies against queen Elizabeth. With
a view, however, to serve queen Mary, he hit upon the
unfortunate expedient of negotiating her marriage with the
duke of Norfolk ; which being discovered, the duke was
convicted of treason, and executed. Lesley being exa-
mined upon it, pleaded the privileges of an ambassador ;
alleging, that he had done nothing but what his place and
duty demanded for procuring the liberty of his princess;
and that he came into England with sufficient warrant and
authority, which he had produced, and which had been
admitted. It was answered, that the privileges of ambas-
LESLEY. 189
jadors could not protect those who offended against the
majesty of the princes to whom they were sent ; and that
they werfe to be considered in no other light than as ene-
mies who practised rebellion against the state. To this
our prelate replied, that he had neither raised nor prac-
tised rebellion ; but, perceiving the adversaries of queen
Mary countenanced, and her deprived of all hope of liberty,
he could not abandon his sovereign in her afflictions, but
do his best to procure her freedom ; and that it would
never be found that the privileges of ambassadors were
violated, via juris, by course of law, but only via facti,
by way of fact, which seldom had good success.
At length, after several debates, five civilians, Lewis,
Dale, Drury, Aubry, and Jones, were appointed to eja-
mine the bishop of Ross's case, and to give in answers to
the following queries. 1. Whether an ambassador, who
raises rebellion against the prince to whom he is sent,
should enjoy the privileges of an ambassador, and not ra-
ther be liable to punishment as an enemy ? To this it was
answered, that such an ambassador, by the laws of nations,
and the civil law of the Romans, has forfeited the privi-
leges of an ambassador, and is liable to punishment. 2.
Whether the minister or agent of a prince deposed from
his public authority, and in whose stead another is substi-
tuted, may enjoy the privileges of an ambassador ? To this
it was answered, if such a prince be lawfully deposed, his
agent cannot challenge the privileges of an ambassador,
since none but absolute princes, and such as enjoy a royal
prerogative, can constitute ambassadors. 3. Whether a
prince, who comes into another prince's country, and is
there kept prisoner, can have his agent, and whether that
agent can be reputed an ambassador ? To this it was an-
swered, if such a prince have not lost his sovereignty, he
may have an agent; but whether that agent may be re-
puted an ambassador, dependeth upon the authority of his
commission. 4. Whether if a prince declare to such an
agent, and his prince in custody, that he shall no longer
be reputed an ambassador, that agent may, by law, chal-
lenge the privileges of an ambassador ? To this it was an-
swered, that a prince may forbid an ambassador to enter
into his kingdom, and may command him to depart the
kingdom, if he keep himself not within the bounds pre-
scribed to an ambassador; yet in the mean while he is to
enjoy the privileges of an ambassador
190 LESLEY.
Queen Elizabeth and her cdunsel being satisfied with
these answers of the civilians, sent bishop Lesley prisoner
to the isle of Ely, and afterwards to the Tower of London ;
but at length he was set at liberty in 1573, and being ba-
nished England, he retired to the Netherlands. The two
following years he employed in soliciting the kings of
France and Spain, and all the German princes, to interest
themselves in the deliverance of his mistress. Finding them
tardy in their proceedings, he went to Rome, to solicit the
pope's interference with them, but all his efforts being
fruitless, he had recourse to his pen, and published several
pieces to promote the same design. In 1579, he was
made suffragan and vicar-general of the archbishopric of
Rouen in Normandy, and, in his visitation of that diocese,
was apprehended and thrown into prison, and obliged to
pay three thousand pistoles for his ransom, to prevent his
being given op to queen Elizabeth. He then remained
unmolested under the protection of Henry III. of France ;
but, upon the accession of Henry IV. a protestant, who
was supported in his claim to that crown by queen Eliza-
beth, he was apprehended, in his visitation through his
diocese, in 1590 ; and, being thrown into prison, was again
obliged to pay three thousand pistoles, to save himself from
being given up to Elizabeth. In 1593, he was declared
bishop of Constance, with licence to hold the bishopric of
Ross, till he should obtain peaceable possession of the
church of Constance and its revenues. Some time after
this, he went and resided at Brussels ; and when no hopes
remained of his returning to his bishopric of Ross, by the
establishment of the reformation under king James, he re-
tired into a monastery at Guirtenburg, about two miles
from Brussels, where he passed the remainder of his days,
died May 31, 1596, and lies buried there under a mo-
nument erected to his memory by his nephew and heir,
John Lesley.
His character is represented much to his advantage, by
several writers, both at home and abroad ; and all parties
agree in speaking of him as a man of great learning, an
able statesman, and a zealons churchman. His fidelity to his
queen was certainly honourable in its motive, although it
is impossible to defend all bis proceedings. Dodd informs
us that when at Paris he laid the foundation of three col-
leges for the education of popish missionaries ; one for his
countrymen at Paris, which was completed ; another at
LESLEY.
Home, which fell into the hands of the Jesuits ; and a third
at Doway, the superior of which, for some years, was a
Scotch Jesuit.
Bishop Lesley's writings are, 1. " Afflicti Aninw Conso-
lationes, & tranquilli Animi Conservatio," Paris, 1574, 8vo.
2. " De Origine, Moribus, & Rebus gestis Scotorum,"
Romae, 1578, 4to. It consists of ten books, of which the
three last, making half the volume, are dedicated to queen
Mary ; to whom they had been presented in English, seven
years before the first publication in Latin. There are se-
parate copies of them in several libraries. See Catalog,
MSS. Oxon. This valuable history is carried down to the
queen's return from France in 1561. He seems unwilling
to divulge what he knew of some transactions after that
period. " Some things," says he, " savoured so much of
ingratitude and perfidy, that, although it were very proper
they should be known, yet it were improper for me to re-
cord them, because often, with the danger of my life, I
endeavoured to put a stop to them ; and I ought to do all
that is in me, not to let them be known unto strangers.'*
With this work are published, 3. "Paraenesis ad Nobilitatem
Populumque Scotorum :" and, 4. " Regionum & Insularum
Scotiae Descriptio." 5." " Defence of the Honour of Mary
Queen of Scotland ; with a Declaration of her right, title,
and interest, to the crown of England," Liege, 1571, 8vo,
which was immediately suppressed. 6. " A Treatise, shew-
ing, that the Regimen of Women is conformable to the
Law of God and Nature." These two last are ascribed, by
Parsons the Jesuit, to Morgan Philips, but Camden asserts
them to be our author's, Annal. Eliz. sub. ann. 1569. 7.
" DeTitulo & Jure Marias Scotorum Reginae, quo Anglias
Successionem Jure sibi vindicat," Rheims, 1580, 4to. 8.
There is a MS. upon the same subject in French, entitled
" Remonstrance au Pape," &c. Cotton library, Titus, cxii.
1. and F. 3. 14. 9. " An Account of his Embassage in.
England, from 1568 to 1572," MS. in the advocates' li-
brary in Scotland. Catal. of Oxford MSS. 10. " An Apo-
logy for the Bishop of Ross, as to what is laid to his Charge
concerning the Duke of Norfolk," MS. in the library of
the lord Longueville. 11. " Several Letters in the hands
of Dr. George Mackenzie," who wrote his life.1
1 Life by Mackenzie, vol. IF. — Spotfwood's and Robertson's History.—
La'utg's History,— Dodd's Church History. — Strype's Life of Griudal, p. 1>0.
19* L E S L I £
LESLIE (Dr. JOHN), bishop of Cloghcr in Ireland, was
descended from an ancient family, and born at Balquhaine,
in the north of Scotland. The first part of his education
was at Aberdeen, whence he removed to Oxford. After-
wards he travelled into Spain, Italy, Germany, and France :
he spoke French, Spanish, and Italian, with the same pro-
priety and fluency as the natives ; and was so great a mas-
ter of the Latin, that it was said of him, when in Spain,
Solus Lcsleius Latine loquitur. He continued twenty-two
years abroad ; and, during that time, was at the siege of
Kochelle, and the expedition to the isle of Rhee, with the
duke of Buckingham. He was all along conversant in
courts, and at home was happy in that of Charles I. who
admitted him into his privy. council both in Scotland and
Ireland ; in which stations he was continued by Charles II.
After the restoration. His chief preferment in the church
of Scotland was the bishopric of the Orkneys, whence be
was translated to Raphoe in Ireland, in 1633; and, the
same year, sworn a privy-counsellor in that kingdom. He
built a stately palace in his diocese, in the form and strength
of a castle, one of the finest episcopal palaces in Ireland,
and proved to be useful afterwards in the rebellion of 1641,
by preserving a good part of that country. The good
bishop exerted himself, as much as he could, in defence
of the royal cause, and endured a siege in his castle of
Raphoe, before he would surrender it to Oliver Cromwell,
being the last which held out in that country. He then
retired to Dublin, where he always used the liturgy of the
church of Ireland in his family, and even had frequent
confirmations and ordinations. After the restoration, he
came over to England; and, in 1661, was translated to
the see of Clogher. He died in 1671, aged above 100
years, having been above 50 years a bishop ; and was then
consequently the oldest bishop in the world.1
LESLIE (CHARLES), the second son of the preceding,
and a very distinguished writer, was born in Ireland, we
know not in what year ; and admitted a fellow-commoner
in Dublin college in 1664, where he continued till he
commenced M. A. In 1671; on the death of his father,
he came to England and entered himself in the Temple
at London, where he studied the law for some years j but
1 Harris's edition of Ware. — Atb. Ox. — Biog. Brit.
LESLIE. 193
afterwards relinquished it, and applied himself to divinity.
In 1680 he was admitted into holy orders; and in 1687
became chancellor of the cathedral-church or diocese of
Connor. About this time he rendered himself particularly
obnoxious to the Popish party in Ireland, by his zealous
opposition to them, which was thus called forth. Roger
Boyle, bishop of Clogher, dying in 1687, Patrick Tyrrel
was made titular popish bishop, and had the revenues of
the see assigned him by king James. He set up a convent
of friars in Monaghan ; and, fixing his habitation there,
held a public visitation of his clergy with great solemnity ;
when, some subtle logicians attending him, he ventured
to challenge the protestant clergy to a public disputation.
Leslie accepted the challenge, and disputed to the satis-
faction of the protestants; though it happened, as it gene-
rally does at such contests, that both sides claimed the vic-
tory. He afterwards held another public disputation with
two celebrated popish divines in the church of Tynan, in
the diocese of Armagh, before a very numerous assembly
of persons of both religions ; the issue of which was, that
Mr. John Stewart, a popish gentleman, solemnly renounced
the errors of the church of Rome.
As the papists had got possession of an episcopal see,
they engrossed other offices too ; and a popish high-sheriff
was appointed for the county of Monaghan. This pro-
ceeding alarmed the gentlemen in that country ; who, de-
pending much on Leslie's knowledge as a justice of peace,
repaired to him, then confined by the gout to his house.
He told them, that it would be as illegal in them to per-
mit the sheriff to act, as it would be in him to attempt it.
But they insisted that himself should appear in person on
the bench, at the approaching quarter-sessions, and all
promised to act as he did ; so he was carried there with
much difficulty, and in great pain. Upon the question,
whether the sheriff was legally qualified, the latter replied,
" That he was of the king's own religion, and it was his
majesty's will that he should be sheriff." Leslie then ob-
served, " That they were not inquiring into his majesty's
religion, but whether he (the pretended sheriff) had qua-
lified himself according to law, for acting as a proper offi-
cer ; that the law was the king's will, and nothing else
to be deemed such ; that his subjects had no other way of
knowing his will but as it is revealed to them in his laws;
and it must always be thought to continue so, till the carv*
VOL. XX. O
LESLIE.
trary is notified to them in the same authentic manner."
This argument was so convincing, that the bench unani-
mously agreed to commit the sheriff for his intrusion and
arrogant contempt of the court. Leslie also committed
gome officers of that tumultuous army which the lord Tyr-
connel raised, for robbing the country.
In this spirited conduct Leslie acted like a sound divine
and an upright magistrate; but, while he thought himself
authorized to resist the illegal mandates of his sovereign,
be never approved of carrying these principles of resist-
ance so far as to deprive the king of the supreme power ;
and persevering steadily in that opinion, he continued,
after the revolution, in allegiance to king James. In con-
sequence, refusing .to take the new oaths appointed upon
that change, he lost all his preferments ; and in 1689,
when the troubles began to arise in Ireland, withdrew, with
his family, into England. Here he employed his time in
writing a great many political pieces in support of the cause
he had embraced ; and being confessedly a person of ex-
traordinary wit and learning, he became a very formidable
champion of the nonjurors. His first piece in this cause
was an answer to Abp. King's " State of the Protestants in
Ireland, under the late King James's Government," in
which he shewed himself as averse from the principles and
practices of the Irish and other Papists, as he was from
those of the author whom he refuted. Neither did his
sufferings make him forget his duty to the church of Eng-
land ; in defence of which he shewed himself a strenuous
champion against the quakers, many of whom were con-
verted by him. But, as these converts were desirous of
returning to presbytery, whence they had last sprung, he
was obliged to treat the subject of church government in
defence of episcopacy. He likewise employed his pen in
the general cause of the Christian religion, against Jews,
Deists, and Socinians. In the mean time, however, these
writings, and his frequent visits to the courts of St. Ger-
main's and Bar le Due, rendered him obnoxious to the
government; but he became more so upon the publica-
tion of the " Hereditary Right of the Crown of England
asserted ;" of which he was the reputed author. Finding
himself, on this account, under a necessity of leaving the
kingdom, he repaired to the Pretender at Bar le Due ;
where he was allowed to officiate, in a private chapel, after
the rites of the Church of England ; and it is said he took
LESLIE.
much pains to convert the Pretender to the Protestant re-
ligion, but in vain *. However, to promote the said Preten-
der's interest, when some hopes of his restoration were
entertained by his party in England, he wrote a letter from
Bar le Due, dated April 23, 1714, which was printed and
dispersed among his adherents, in which, after giving a
flattering description of the Pretender's person and cha-
racter, his graceful mien, magnanimity of spirit, devotion
free from bigotry, application to business, ready appre-
hension, sound judgment, and affability, so that none con-
versed with him without being charmed with his good
sense and temper; he concludes with a proposal, " on
condition of his being restored to his crown, that, for the
security of the church of England as by law established,
he would so far wave his prerogative, in the nomination of
bishops, deans, and all other ecclesiastical preferments in
the gift of the crown, that five bishops should be appointed,
of which the archbishop of Canterbury for the time being
always to be one, who, upon any vacancy, might name
three persons to him, from whom he would chuse." Many
other proposals of the like nature were made soon after,
and several projects were concerted not only in England,
but an actual insurrection begun in Scotland by his party,
in 1715, all which ended in the crushing and dispersing
* These last positions have been ter of one of those gentlemen, a lady
contested in some respects by an able of the strictest veracil y j and from her
writer, who thus expresses his opinion : he received many anecdotes of Leslie
" That he (Leslie) repaired to Bar le and his associates, which, as he did
Due, and endeavoured to convert to the not then foresee that he should have the
churchof England him whom he consider- present occasion for them, he has suf-
ed astherightful sovereignof England, fered to slip from his memory. That
is indeed true; but we have reason to lady is still alive, and we have reason
believe that this was not in consequence to believe is in possession of many let*
of his being obliged to leave the king- ters by Leslie, written in confidence
dom. There is, in the first place, to her grandfather, both from Bar le
some grounds to believe, that 'The Due, and from St. Germain's j and by
Hereditary Right of the Crown of Eng- the account which she gave of these
land asserted' was not written by him; letters, Leslie appears to have con-
and there is still in existence undoubt- sidered his prince as a weak and in-
ed evidence, that in consequence of corrigible bigot, though in every thing
his great fame as a polemic, he was but religion an amiable and aecoin-
sent to Bar le Due for the express pur- plished man." Dr. Gleig's Supple-
pose of endeavouring to convert the nient to ttie Encyclopaedia Britannica.
son of James II. by some gentlemen To this we may add, that the real au-
of fortune in England, who wished to thor of the " Hereditary Right," &c.
see that prince on the throne of his an- wastheRev.Mr. Harbin, alsoa nonjuror,
cestors. The writer of this article had according to a MS note of the late Mr.
the honour sixteen or seventeen years Whiston's in his copy of the first edi-
ugo, to be known to the grand -daugh- tion of this Dictionary.
O 2
196 L E S L I E,
of the rebels, and in the Pretender's being obliged tp
leave the French dominions.
In this exigence he withdrew to Italy, whither Leslie
attended him, notwithstanding the ill-usage he met with
at that court. The Pretender had given him a promise
that he should celebrate the church of England service in,
his family ; and that he would hear what he should repre-
sent to him on the subject of religion. But the Chevalier
was far from keeping the word Jic had given, and on the
faith of which our divine had come over ; for, though he
allowed him, for form's sake, to celebrate the church of
England service in his family, yet he never was present
there ; and not only refused to hear Leslie himself, but
sheltered the ignorance of his priests, or the badness of
his cause, or both, behind his authority, and absolutely
forbad all discourse concerning religion. However, Leslie
put up with every thing, in dutiful submission to his
avowed sovereign, till 1721, when he returned to Eng-
land, resolving, whatever the consequences might be, to
die in his own country. Some of his friends, acquainting
lord Sunderland with his purpose, implored his protection
for the good old man, which his lordship readily and ge-
nerously promised ; and when a member of the House of
commons officiously waited on lord Sunderland with the
news that Mr. Leslie had arrived, he met with such a re-
ception from his lordship as his illiberal errand deserved.
Our author then went over to Ireland, where he died
April 13,' 1722, at his own house at Glaslough, in the
county of Monaghan.
As to his character, Bayle styles him " a man of merit
and learning," and tells .us, that he was the first who wrote
in Great Britain against the errors of madam Bourignon.
His books, adds he, are much esteemed, and especially
his treatise of " The Snake in the Grass." Salmon ob-
serves, that his works must transmit him to posterity as a
man thoroughly learned and truly pious. Mr. Harris,
the continuator of Ware, informs us that Leslie made se-
veral converts from popery; and says, that notwithstanding
his mistaken opinions about government, and a few other
matters, he deserves the highest praise for defending the
Christian religion against Deists, Jews, Quakers, and for
admirably well supporting the doctrines of the church of
England against those of Rome. The author of the " Free-
holder's Journal/' immediately after the death of Mr,
LESLIE. 197
Leslie, observed, that when the popish emissaries were
most active in poisoning the minds of the people, Mr.
Leslie was equally vigilant in exposing, both in public
and private, the errors and absurdities ot the Romish doc-
trines. Yet, upon the abdication of king James, he re-
signed his livings, followed his fortunes, and adhered
firmly to his interests ; and, after his demise, to those of
the Pretender. Notwithstanding his well-known attach-
ment to the Jacobite interest, and, his frequent visits to
the court of St. Germain's, he was not much molested by
the government till a little before Sacheverell's trial, when
he attacked Bp. Burnet rather warmly, in a pamphlet
called " The good Old Cause, or Lying in Truth," in
which he endeavoured to prove, from the bishop's former
works, the truth of that doctrine for which the doctor was
prosecuted by the Commons, and violently inveighed against
the bishop himself.
Besides the political tracts which he scattered, Mr. Leslie
left two volumes, in folio, of theological works, in which
he has discussed nearly all the controversies which now
disturb the peace of the Christian church. Consummate
learning, attended by the lowest humility, the strictest
piety without the least tincture of moroseness, a conver-
sation to the last degree lively and spirited, and yet to the
last degree innocent, made him the delight of mankind,
and leaves what Dr. Hickes says of him unquestionable,
that he made more converts to the church of England
than any other man of our times.
"A charge, however," says the writer whom we have
already quoted in the preceding note, "has been lately
brought against him of such a nature, as, if well founded,
must detract, not only from his literary fame, but also
from his integrity. * The short and easy Method with the
Deists" is unquestionably his most valuable, and, appa-
rently, his most original work ; yet this tract is published
in French among the works of the abbe St. Real, who died
in 1692 ; and therefore it has been said, that unless it was
published in English prior to that period, Charles Leslie
must be considered as a shameless plagiary."
In answer to this Dr. Gleig observes, that " The Eng-
lish work was certainly not published prior to the death of
the abbe St. Real ; for the first edition bears date July 1 7th,
1697 ; and yet many reasons conspire to convince us, that
eur countryman was no plagiary. There is, indeed, a
pinking similarity between the English and the French works $
151 LESLIE.
bujt this is no complete proof that the one was copied from
the other.'* Dr. Gleig, after stating some remarkable in-
?tances of a similar coincidence, asks, " After these in-
stances of apparent plagiarism, whsch we know to be only
apparent, has any man a right to say that Charles Leslie
and the abbe" St. Re"al might not have treated their sub-
ject in the way that they have done, without either borrowing
from the other ?" And adds :
" But this is not all that we have to urge on the subject
If there be plagiarism in the case, and the identity of titles
looks very like it, it is infinitely more probable that the
editor of St. Real's works stole from Leslie, than that
Leslie stole from St. Re"al, unless it can be proved that the
works of the abbe*, and this work in particular, were pub-
lished before 1697. At that period the English language
was very little read or understood on the continent ; whilst
in Britain the French language was by scholars as gene-
rally understood as at the present. Hence it is, that so
many Frenchmen, and indeed foreigners of different nations,
thought themselves safe in pilfering science from the
British philosophers ; whilst there is not, that we know,
one well-authenticated instance of a British philosopher
appropriating to himself the discoveries of a foreigner.
If, then, such men as Leibnitz, John Bernouilli, and Des
Cartes, trusting to the improbability of detection, conde-
scended to pilfer the discoveries of Hooke, Newton, and
Harriot, is it improbable that the editor of the works of
St. Real should claim to his friend a celebrated tract, of
which he knew the real author to be obnoxious to the go-
vernment of his own country, and therefore not likely to
have powerful friends to maintain his right?
" But farther, Burnet bishop of Sarum was an excel-
lent scholar, and well-readj as every one knows, in the
works of foreign divines. Is it conceivable, that this pre-
late, when smarting under the lash of Leslie, would have
let slip so good an opportunity of covering with disgrace
his most formidable antagonist, had he known that anta-
gonist to be guilty of plagiarism from the writings of the
abbe" St. Re"al ? Let it be granted, however, that Burnet
was a stranger to these writings and to this plagiarism ; it
can hardly be supposed that Le Clerc was a stranger to
them likewise. Yet this author, when, for reasons best
known to himself, he chose (1706) to depreciate the argu-
ment of the " Short Method," and to traduce its author
LESLIE. 199
as ignorant of ancient history, and as having brought for-j
ward his four marks for no other purpose than to put the
deceitful traditions of popery on the same footing with the
most authentic doctrines of the gospel, does not so much
as insinuate that he borrowed these marks from a popish
abbe, though such a charge, could he have established it,
would have served his purpose more than all his rude
railings and invective. But there was no room for such a
charge. In the second volume of the works of St. Real,
published in 1757, there is indeed a tract entitled " Me-
thode courte et aisee pour combattre les Deistes," and
there can be little doubt but that the publisher wished it to be
considered as the work of his countryman. Unfortunately,
however, for his design, a catalogue of the abbe's works
is given in the first volume ; and in that catalogue the
* Methode courte et aisee' is not mentioned."
His works may be divided into political and theological.
Of the former, he wrote, I. " Answer to the State of the
Protestants of Ireland," &c. already mentioned. 2. " Cas-
sandra, cpjreerning the new Associations," &c. 1703, 4to.
3. " Rehearsals;" at first a weekly paper, published after-
wards twice a week in a half-sheet, by way of dialogue on
the affairs of the times ; begun in 1704, and continued for
six or seven years. 4. "The Wolf stripped of his Shepherd's
Cloathing, in answer to * Moderation a Virtue,'" 1704, 4to.
The pamphlet it answers was written by James Owen. 5.
" The Bishop of Sarum's [Burnet's] proper Defence, from
a Speech said to be spoken by him against occasional Con-
formity," 1704, 4to. 6. " The new Association of those
called Moderate Churchmen," &c. occasioned by a
pamphlet entitled " The Danger of Priestcraft," 1705,
4to. 7. "The new Association," part II. 1705, 4to. 8.
" The principles of Dissenters concerning Toleration,
and occasional Conformity," 1705, 4to. 9. "A Warning
for the Church of England," 1706, 4to. Some have
doubted whether these two pieces were his. 10. "The
good Old Cause, or lying in truth ; being a second Defence
of the bishop of Sarum from a second Speech," &c. 1710.
For this a warrant was issued out against Leslie. 11. "A
Letter to the Bishop of Sarum, in answer to his Sermon
after the Queen's Death, in Defence of the Revolution,"
1715. 12. "Salt for the Leech." 13. "The Anatomy
of a Jacobite." 14. " Gallienus redivivus." 15. " De-
lenda Carthago." 16. « A Letter to Mr. William Moly-
200 LESLIE.
neux, on his Case of Ireland's being bound by the Eng-
lish Acts of Parliament." 17. "A Letter to Julian John*
son." 18. Several Tracts against Dr. Higden and Mr,
Hoadly.
His theological tracts are, first, against the Quakers;
as, 1. «' The Snake in the Grass," &c. 1697, 8vo. 2. " A
Discourse proving the Divine Institution of Water Bap-
tism," &c. ibid. 4to. 3. " Some seasonable Reflections
upon the Quakers' solemn Protestation against George
Keith," &c. 1697. 4. " Satan disrobed from his Disguise
of Light," 1698, 4to. 5. " A Defence of a book entitled
'The Snake in the Grass,' 1700," 8vo. 6. «; A Reply
to a book entitled " Angnis rlagellatus, or a Switch for
the Snake — being the last part of the Snake in the Grass,'*
1702, 8vo. 7. " Primitive Heresy revived in the Faith and
Practice of the Quakers," 1698, 4to. 8. "The present;
State of Quakerism in England," 1701. 9. " Essay con-
cerning the Divine Right of Tythes," 1700, 8vo.
II. Against the Presbyterians : 10. " A Discourse, shevr-
ing who they are that are now qualified to administer Bap-
tism," &c. 11. "The History of Sin and Heresy," &c.
1698, 8vo.
III. Against the Deists : 12. " A short and easy Method
with the Deists," &c. 1694, 8vo. 13. "A Vindication of the
short and easy Method." 14. t( The Truth of Christianity
demonstrated, in a Dialogue between a Christian and a
Deist," 1711, 8vo.
IV. Against the Jews: 15. "A short and easy Method
with the Jews.*' This is dated at the end, " Good-Friday,'*
1689 ; and the fourth edition was published in 1715.
V. Against the Socinians: 16. " The Socinian Contro-
versy discussed," &c. 1608. 17. " An Answer to Remarks
on the first Dialogue against the Socinians." 18. A Reply
to the Vindication of the Remarks." 19. " An Answer to
the Examination of the last Dialogue," &c. 20. " A Sup-
plement in answer to Mr. Clendon's * Tractatus philoso-
phico-theologicus de Persona'," &c. 21. "The Charge
of Socinianism against Dr. Tillotson considered, &c. by
a true Son of the Church."
VI. Against the Papists : 22. " Of private Judgment
and Authority in Matters of Faith." 23. " The Case stated
between the Church of Rome and the Church of England,"
&c. 1713. 24. " The true notion of the Catholic Church,
in answer to the Bishop of Meaux's Letter to Mr. Nelson,"
Ice.
LESLIE. 201
Besicks these, be published the four following tracts.
25. " A Sermon preached in Chester, against Marriages
in different Communions," 1702, 8vo. This sermon oc-
casioned Mr. Dod well's discourse upon the same subject.
26. " A Dissertation concerning the Use and Authority of
Ecclesiastical History." 27. " The Case of the Regal and
the Pontificate." 2f8. " A Supplement, in answer to a
book entitled t The regal Supremacy in Ecclesiastical
Affairs asserted'," &c. These two last pieces were occa-
sioned by the dispute about the rights of convocation, be-
tween Wake, &c. on one side, and Atterbury and his
friends, among whom was Leslie, on the other. All his
theological pieces, except that against Tillotson, were
collected and published by himself in two vols. fol. 1721. l
LESSING (GoTTHOLD EPHRAIM), a distinguished Ger-
man writer, was born at Kamenz, in Pomerania, in 1729.
His father, who was a man of talents and learning, had
destined himself to an academical life, but was called to
take charge of a congregation at Kamenz, the place of his
nativity. Here he was in correspondence with the most
famous preachers of his time, published some works of his
own, and translated several treatises of AbjJ. Tillotson. He
also left behind him a manuscript refutation of some preju-
dices against the reformation. There can be no doubt but
the example and cares of so learned and thoughtful a
father had no inconsiderable influence on the early turn
which Lessing shewed for literature. When, in his sixth
year, his father chose to have his picture drawn, in which
he was to be represented sitting under a tree playing with
a bird, young Lessing shewed his utter dislike to the plan,
and said, " if I am to be painted, let me be drawn with a
great heap of books about me, otherwise I had rather not
be painted at all ;" which was accordingly done. He
passed five entire years at the high-school at Meissen, to
which, by his own account, he was indebted for whatever
learning and solidity of thinking he possessed. Though
the Latin poetry belongs to the officiis perfectis of a scholar
in this academy, and the German poetry to the imperfectis,
yet he pursued the latter much more than the former, and
celebrated the battle of Kesseldorf in German verse, at
the request of his father. Professor Klemtn particularly
encouraged him to the-study of mathematics and philoso-
\ Biog. Brijt. — Burnet's Own Times. — Birch's Tillotson. — Ware's Ireland by
Harris.r-Jones'8 Life of bishop Home, p, 69.— Encyclop. Brit, Supplement,
202 L E S S I N G.
phy ; while Grabner, the rector of the academy, wrote to
his father concerning them : " He is a colt that requires a
double allowance of provender. The lessons that are
found too difficult for others, are but child's play to him. —
We shall hardly be sufficient for him much longer." Being
removed to Leipsic, he soon displayed his inclination to
write for the stage, and likewise made great proficiency in
the bodily exercises of horsemanship, fencing, dancing,
and leaping. Mr. Weisse was his first and principal friend at
this place; and their friendship was only dissolved by
death. Lessing frequented the college-exercises but little,
and that irregularly : none of the professors gave him satis-
faction, excepting Ernesti, whose lectures he sometimes
attended ; but he was himself an extensive reader, and
was especially partial to the writings of Wolff in German.
He kept up a great intimacy with Naumann, the author of
" Nimrod," on account of his possessing many singular
qualities, which were always more agreeable to Lessing,
than the common dull monotony of character, even though
mingled with some weaknesses and defects. Under Kast-
ner he exercised himself in disputation ; and here began
his close connection with Mylius, whose works he after-,
wards published. His intercourse with this free-thinker,
and with the company of comedians, however, gave great
uneasiness to his parents. His first literary productions
appeared in a Hamburgh newspaper. In company with
M. Weisse, he translated " Hannibal," the only tragedy
of Marivaux, into rhyming Alexandrines. His comedy of
the " Young Scholar," which he had begun while a school-
boy, was finished at Leipsic, from an actual event that
happened to a young scholar disappointed in his hopes of
the prize from the academy at Berlin. His father about
this time thought proper to recall him home for a time, in
order to wean him from the bad company he was thought
to frequent. In this interval, he composed a number of
Anacreontics on love and wine. One day, his pious sister
coming into his room, in his absence, saw these sonnets,
read them over, and, not a little angry that her brother
could so employ his time, threw them into the fire. A
trifling burst of resentment was all he felt on the occasion.
He took a handful of snow, and threw it into her bosom,
in order to cool her zeal. — He now went back to Leipzig ;
which place he soon after quitted, going by Wittenberg to
Berlin. This gave his father fresh uneasiness ; and pro-
L E S S I N a 203
duced those justificatory letters of his son, which at least
display the frankness of his character. At Berlin, in con-
junction with Mylius, he compiled the celebrated " Sketch
of the History and Progress of the Drama." The father of
a writer who had been sharply criticised in this work, made
complaint of it to Lessing's father. To this person he wrote
in answer : " The critique is mine, and I only lament that
I did not make it more severe. Should Gr. complain of
the injustice of my judgment, I give him full liberty to re-
taliate, as he pleases on my works." One of his first ac-
quaintances in Berlin was a certain Richier de Louvain,
who, in 1750, from a French teacher, was become secretary
to Voltaire, with whom he brought our author acquainted.
— From Berlin he went to Wittenberg, where he plied his
studies with great diligence, and took the degree of master,
but remained only one year, and then returned to Berlin.
At Berlin he undertook the literary article for the periodi-
cal publication of Voss, in which employment he both
wrote and translated a great variety of pieces, and formed
several plans which were never executed. Among others,
he agreed with Mendelsohn to write a journal, under the
title of " The best from bad Books :" with the motto taken
from St. Ambrose, " Legimus aliqua ne legantur." " We
read some books to save others the trouble." Jn 1755, he
went back to Leipzic, and thence set out upon a journey, in
company with a young man of the name of Winkler: but
this was soon interrupted, and brought op a law-suit, in
which Lessing came off conqueror. He now, in order to
please his sister, translated " Law's serious Call," which
was finished and published by Mr. Weisse. At the begin-
ning of 1759, Lessing went again to Berlin, where he very
much addicted himself to gaming. This has been attri-
buted to his situation at Breslaw, where he was in the
seven years war for some time in quality of secretary to
general Tauenzien. Even the care for his health was con-
ducive to it. " Were I able to play calmly," said he, " I
would not play at all ; but it is not without reason that I
play with eagerness. The vehement agitation sets my
clogged machine in motion, by forcing the fluids into cir-
culation ; it frees me from a bodily torment, to which I
am often subject." His intimate friends among the learned
at Breslaw were Arletius and Klose. Here he was attacked
by a violent fever. Though he suffered much from the
disease, yet be declared that his greatest torment arose
204 L E S S I N G:
from the conversations of his physician, old Dr. Morgan-
besser, which he could scarcely endure when he was well.
When the fever was at its height, he lay perfectly quiet,
with great significance in his looks. This so much struck
his friend standing by- the bed, that he familiarly asked
him what he was thinking of? " I am curious to know
what will pass in my mind when I am in the act of dying."
Being told that was impossible, he abruptly replied : " You
want to cheat me." On the day of his reception into the
order of free-masons at Hamburgh, one of his friends, a
zealous free-mason, took him aside into an adjoining room,
and asked him, " Is it not true, now, that you find no-
thing among us against the government, religion, or mo-
rals ?" " Yes,'* answered Lessmg, with great vivacity,
" would to heaven I had ! I should then at least have found
something !" The extent of his genius must be gathered
from his numerous writings. Mendelsohn said of him in
a letter to his brother, shortly after his death, that he
was advanced at least a century before the age in which
he lived.
lu 1762, he accompanied his general to the siege of
Schweidnitz ; but after the peace, he was introduced to
the king of Prussia, and then resumed his literary occupa-
tions at Berlin. Though he produced many works, yet
they were not the source of much profit, and, in 1769, his
circumstances were so narrow, that he was obliged to sell
his library for support. At this critical juncture he met
with a generous patron in Leopold, heir-apparent to the
duke of Brunswick, through whose means he was appointed
librarian at Wolfenbuttle. One of the fruits of this very
desirable situation was a periodical publication, entitled
" Contributions to Literary History," containing notices
and extracts of the most remarkable MSS. The " Contri-
butions" were made the vehicle of " Fragments of an
anonymous Writer discovered in the Library at Wolfen-
buttle," which consisted of direct attacks upon the Christian
revelation. They occasioned a great commotion among
the German theologians, and would not have been printed
but for the interference of prince Leopold with the licen-
sers of the press. In 1778 they were suppressed. Lessing,
from his rising fame, and connection with prince Leopold,
with whom he went on a tour to Italy, was so distinguished
among the German literati, that several potentates of that
country made him offers. of an advantageous settlement.
L E S S I N G. 205
Nothing, however, could lead him to break his connection
with his liberal patron the prince of Brunswick, who, by
his accession in 1730 to the sovereignty, was enabled to
augment his favours towards him. His latter publications
were " Nathan the Wise j" a second part of the same
drama, entitled " The Monk of Lebanon ;" and " A Dis-
sertation on the Education of the Human Race." He died
at Hamburgh in the month of February, 1781. Lessing
had more genius than learning, and his fame, therefore,
even in his own country, rests on his plays, fables, songs,
and epigrams. His life jtvas published at Berlin in 1793,
and is more replete with anecdote than instruction, as may
be gathered from the few circumstances we have detailed.
He was a decided deist, and his morals corresponded.1
L'ESTRANGE (Sm ROGER), was descended from an
ancient and reputable family, seated at Hunstanton-hall,
Norfolk; where he was born Dec. 17, 1616. He was the
youngest son of sir Hamond L'Estrange, knt. a zealous
roya\ist during the disputes between king Charles and his
parliament ; who, having his estate sequestered, retired to
Lynn, of which town he was made governor. The son had
a liberal education, which was completed probably at Cam-
bridge; and adopted his father's principles with uncom-
mon zeal, and in 1639, when about two-and- twenty, at-
tended king Charles upon his expedition to Scotland, his
attachment to whom some years after neatly cost him his
life. In 1644, soon, after the earl of Manchester had re-
duced the town of Lynn in Norfolk, Mr. L'Estrange,
thinking he had sorpe interest in the place, as his father
had been governor of it, formed a plan for surprizing it,
and received a commission from the king, constituting him
governor of the town in case of success: but, being seized,
in consequence of the treachery of two of his associates,
Leman and Hager, and his majesty's commission found
upon him, he was carried first to Lynn, thence to London,
and there transmitted to the city court-martial for his trial ;
where, after suffering all manner of indignities, he was, as
Whitlocke says, condemned to die as a spy, coming from
the king's quarters without drum, trumpet, or pass.
His sentence being passed, he *was cast into Newgate ;
whence he dispatched a petitionary appeal to the lords,
the time appointed for his execution being the Thursday
1 Life as aboTe. — Diet. Hist.
206 L ' E S T R A N G E.
following ; but with great difficulty he got a reprieve for
fourteen days, and, after that, a prolongation for a farther
hearing. In this condition he lay almost four years a
prisoner, in continual fear of being executed. He pub-
lished in the mean time, "An Appeal from the Court-
martial to the Parliament :" and about the time of the
Kentish insurrection, in 1648, he escaped out of the
prison, with the keeper's privity, and went into Kent. He
retired into the house of Mr. Hales, a young gentleman,
heir to a great estate in that county, and spirited him to
undertake an insurrection ; which miscarrying, L'Estrange
with much difficulty was enabled to reach the continent,
where he continued till 1653. Upon the long parliament's
being dissolved by Cromwell, he returned into England,
and immediately dispatched a paper to the council at
Whitehall to this effect ; " that, finding himself within the
act of indemnity, he thought it convenient to give them
notice of his return." On his being summoned to that
board, he was told by one of the commissioners, that his
case was not comprehended in the act of indemnity, and
he therefore formed the bold resolution of applying in
person to Cromwell himself, which he effected in the
Cockpit*; and, shortly after, received his discharge by
the following order, dated October 3 1 , 1653: "Ordered,
that Mr. Roger L1 Estrange be dismissed from his farther
attendance upon the council, he giving in two thousand
pounds security to appear when he shall be summoned
so to do, and to act nothing prejudicial to the common-
wealth. Ex. John Thurloe, secretary."
This appearance at the court of Cromwell was much
censured, after the restoration, by some of the royal party,
who also objected to him, that he had once been heard
playing in a concert where the usurper was present, and,
therefore, they nick-named him " Oliver's Fidler." He
was charged also with having bribed some of the protector's
people, but he positively disavows it ; averring, he never
spoke to Thurloe but once in his life about his discharge ;
and that, though during the dependency of that affair he
might well be seen at Whitehall, yet he never spoke to
Cromwell on any other business, or had the least com-
* Cromwell then talked to him of peaceable intentions ;" and adding,
the restlessness of hit party : telling that " rigour was not at all his inclina-
him, " that they would do well to give tion, but that he was but one man, and
some testimony of their quiet and could do little by himself."
L ' E S T R A N G E. 207
merce of any kind with him*. From this to the time of
the restoration, he seems to have lived free from any dis-
turbance from the then governing powers ; and perhaps
the obscurity into which he had fallen made him be over-
looked by Charles II. and his ministry, on that prince's
recovering his throne. He did not, however, so under-
value his own sufferings and merits, as to put up quietly
with this usage, and therefore addressed a warm expostu-
lation to the earl of Clarendon, in the dedication to that
minister of his " Memento," published in 1662; where
he joins himself with other neglected cavaliers, vvho had
suffered for their attachment to the royal family during the
civil wars and the succeeding usurpation, at the same tima
acknowledging the personal obligations he had received from
Clarendon. For some time his remonstrances appear to
have produced little effect, but at length he was made
licenser of the press, a profitable post, which he enjoyed
till the eve of the revolution. This, however, was all the
recompence he ever received, except being in the com-
mission of the peace, after more than twenty years, as he
says, spent in serving the royal cause, near six of them in
gaols, and almost four under a sentence of death in New-
gate. It is true, he hints at greater things promised him ;
and, in these hopes, exerted his talents, on behalf of the
crown, in publishing several pieces. In 1663, for a far-
ther support, he set up a paper, called " The Public In-
telligencer, and the News ;'f the first of which came out
the 1st of August, and continued to be published twice a
week, till January 19, 1665; when he laid it down, on
the design then concerted of publishing the " London Ga-
zette," the first of which papers made its appearance on.
Saturday Feb. 4. f
* As to the affair of the concert, comes Cromwell, who found them play-
which seems to have been thought an ing:," and as far as sir Roger remein-
affair of greater importance than it de- bered, left them so. — Sir Roger's family,
serves, he informs us that, while the according to Dr. Burney, were always
question of his indemnity was depend- great patrons of music and musicians ;
ing, being one day in St. James's park, and Cromwell we know would some-
he heard an organ touched in a low times forgive a royalist, if he was a
room belonging to one Mr. Hitickson j good performer; and robbed Magdalen
that he went in, and found a private college of its organ from pure love of
company of five or six persons, who the art.
desired him to take up a viol and bear f- This paper succeeded " The Par-
a part, that he did so, not much, as liauientary Intelligencer" and " Mer-
lie allows, to the reputation of his skill ; curius Publicus," published in defence
that by and by, " without the least of the government, against the " Mer- .
colour of a design or expectation, in curius Politicus." L'Ustrange desist-
208 L » E S T R A N 0 E.
After the dissolution of Charles's second parliament, in
1679, he set up a paper, called "The Observator;" the
design of which was to vindicate the measures of the court,
and the character of the king, from the charge of being
popislily affected. With the same spirit he exerted him-
self in 1681, in ridiculing the popish plot ; which he did
with such vehemence, that it raised him many enemies,
who endeavoured, notwithstanding his known loyalty, to
render him obnoxious to the government. But he ap-
peared with no less vehemence against the fanatic plot in
1682; and, in 1683, was particularly employed by the
court to publish Dr. Tillotson's papers exhorting lord Rus-
sel to avow the doctrine of non-resistance, a little before
his execution. In this manner he weathered all the storms
raised against him during that reign, and, in the next, un-
rewarded with the honour of knighthood, accompanied
with this declaration, " that it was in consideration of his
eminent services and unshaken loyalty to the crown, in all
extremities ; and as a mark of the singular satisfaction of
his majesty, in his present as well as his past services.'*
In 1687, he was obliged to lay down his " Observator,"
now swelled to three volumes ; as he could not agree with
the toleration proposed by his majesty, though, in all other
respects, he had gone the utmost lengths. He had even
written strenuously in defence of the dispensing power,
claimed by thatinfatuated prince; and this was probably one
reason, why some accused him of having become a prose-
lyte to the church of Home, an accusation which gave him
much uneasiness, and which was heightened by his daugh-
ter's defection to that church. To clear himself from this
aspersion, he drew up a formal declaration, directed to his
kinsman, sir Nicolas L'Estrange, on the truth of which he
received the sacrament at the time of publishing the same,
which is supposed to be in 1690 *. By this declaration we
cA, because, in November preceding, paper ever since. Heath's Chronicle;
the Oxford Gazette began to be pub- and Athen. Oxon.
lished twice a week, in a folio half- * The letter runs in these terms:
sheet ; the fir-si of which came out No- " Sir, the late departure of my daugh-
vetnber 7, U'G5, the king aud queen, ter, from the church of England t» the
with the court, being then at Oxford ; church of Rome, wounds the very
but, upon the r> moval of the court to heart of me; for I do solemnly protest,
London, they were called " The Lon- as in presence of God Almighty, that I
don Gazette," the fust of which was pub- knew nothing of it: and, fur your far-
Fished in February following, on a Sa- ther satisfaction, t take the liberty to
turday, the Oxford one having been assure you, upon the faith of a man of
published on a Tuesday; and these honour and conscience, that as C was
have been the days of publishing that bern and brought up in the couimwBiow
L ' E S T R A N G E. 209
find he was married ; his lady's name was Anne Doleman ;
but what issue he had by her, besides the just- mentioned
daughter, has not come to our knowledge. After the re-
volution, he seems to have been left out of the commission
of the peace ; and, it is said, queen Mary shewed her con-
tempt of him by the following anagram she made upon his
name, " Lying- Strange Roger:" and it is certain he met
with some trouble, for the remainder of his life, on account
of his being a disaffected person.
Among others who attacked the character of sir Roger,
was the noted Miles Prance, who was convicted of perjury
in the affair of the murder of sir Edmundbury Godfrey.
Echard, in his History of England, gives us an anecdote of
these two worthies which seems characteristic of both par-
ties. Echard says that Dr. Sharp told him, when arch-
bishop of York, that while he was rector of St. Giles's in
the Fields, L'Estrange, the famous Richard Baxter, and
Miles Prance, on a certain sacrament-day, all approached
the communion-table; L'Estrange at one end, Prance at
the other, and Baxter in the middle ; that these two by
their situation, were administered to before L'Estrange, who,
when it came to his turn, taking the bread in his hand,
asked the doctor if he knew who that man (pointing to
Prance) on the other side of the rails was, to which the
doctor answering in the negative, L'Estrange replied,
" That is Miles Prance, and I here challenge him, and
solemnly declare before God and this congregation, that
what that man has sworn or published concerning me is
totally and absolutely false ; and may this sacrament be
my damnation if all this declaration be not true." Echard
adds, " Prance was silent, Mr. Baxter took special notice
of it, and Dr. Sharp declared he would have refused
Prance the sacrament had the challenge been made in time."
Sir Roger L'Estrange died Sept. 11, 1704, in the eighty-
eighth year of his age, during the latter part of which his
faculties were impaired. His corpse was interred in the
church of St. Giles's in the Fields, where there is an inscrip-
of the church of England, so I have seech you, of this paper in my justifi-
been true to it ever since, with a firm cation, which I deliver as a sacred
resolution, with God's assistance, to truth. So help me God,
continue in the same to my life's end. " Roger L'Estrange.
Now, in case it should please God in " Signed in the presence of us,
fiis providence to suffer this scandal to ^. " John L'Estrange,
be revived upon my memory when I " Richard Sure,
ajn dead and gone, make use, I be- " To Sir Mcholas L'Estrange, bart."
VOL. XX. P
210 L'E S T R A N G E.
tion to his memory. He was author of many political tract*,
and translated several works from the Greek, Latin, and
Spanish. Among his political effusions are, " Roger L'Es-
trange's Apology ;" " Truth and Loyalty vindicated," £c<
" The Memento ;" " The Reformed Catholic ;" " The
free-born Subject ;" "Answer to the Appeal," &c.; " Sea-
sonable Memorial ;" " Cit and Bumpkin," in two parts ;
"Farther Discovery;" "Case put;" "Narrative of the
Plot;" "Holy Cheat;" "Toleration discussed;" " Dis-
covery on Discovery;" " L'Estrange's Appeal,'' &c. ;
" Collections in defence of the King ;" ** Relapsed Apos-
tate ;" " Apology for Protestants ;" " Richard against Bax-
ter;" "Tyranny and Popery;" " Growth of Knavery ;'*
" L' Estrange no Papist," &c. ; "The Shammer shammed ;**
" Account cleared ;" " Reformation reformed ;" " Dis-
senters Sayings," two parts ; " Notes on College, i. e»
Stephen College;" the " Protestant Joiner;" "Zekieland
Ephraim ;" " Papist in Masquerade ;" " Answer to the
Second Character of a Popish Successor ;" " Considera-
tions on lord RussePs Speech." All these were printed in
4to. " History of the Plot ;" " Caveat to the Cavaliers;"
" Plea for the Caveat and its Author." These were in folio.
— His translations were, "Josephus's Works," his best
performance : " Cicero's Offices ;" " Seneca's Morals ;'*
" Erasmus's Colloquies ;" " ^Esop's Fables ;" " Quevedo's
Visions ;" " Bona's Guide to Eternity ;" and " Five Let-
ters from a Nun to a Cavalier." Besides these, he wrote
several news-papers, and occasional pieces.
Mr. Granger has very justly remarked that L' Estrange
was one of the great corruptors of the English language,
and he might have added, exhibits one of the worst models
of political controversy. He had, however, often to con-
tend with men whose language was equally vulgar and in-
temperate ; and having at all times more zeal than judg-
ment, we can but just discover real talents in a vast mass
of declamation, which few will now have patience to ex-
amine. His newspapers, and some of his political pieces,
may yet be consulted with advantage for the information
they contain, and the many traits of characters and man-
ners which they exhibit ; but a cautious reader will find it
often necessary to verify his reports by contemporary evi-
dence. Coarse, virulent, and abusive writers have some-
times been thought necessary to the support of political
parties, and the present age is not without them ; but such
L'E S T R A N G & 211
men leave no impression of respect on the minds even of
those who employ them, and are generally condemned as
the mercenary tools of a party. In the character of sir
Roger L' Estrange we see not much to distinguish him from
this class of writers, except that he sometimes discovers a
portion of ease, elegance, and perspicuity, and might
probably have displayed these qualities more frequently
had he not written more from passion than reflection. It
may be added too, that he was more consistent than some
of his successors ; and being the first who regularly " en-
listed himself under the banners of a party for pay, he
fought for the cause through right and wrong for upwards
of forty campaigns." This intrepidity gained him the
esteem of Cromwell himself, and the papers which he wrote
even just before the revolution, with almost a rope about
his neck, have the same character of perseverance.
He had a brother, HAMMOND L'EsTRANGE, who wrote a
learned work entitled " The Alliance of Divine Offices,"
and a " Life of Charles I." Of him we find no memoirs
worth transcribing. — In 1760 sir Henry L' Estrange, barL
of Hunstanton, died, and with him the title became extinct.1,
LETHIEULLIER (SMART, esq.) gentleman-commoner
of Trinity college, Oxford, was the second son of John
Lethieullier, esq. of Aldersbrook, in Essex, where he had
a noble collection of MSS. choice books, medals, and na-,
tural curiosities, which he had collected in his travels
through France, Italy, and Germany. His father dying
Jan. 1, 1736-7, and his elder brother being dead before,
he became heir to the paternal estates, which were very
considerable. He was elected F. S. A. in July 1724. He
married, Feb. 6, 1725-6, Margaret, daughter of William
Sloper, esq. of Woodhay, in Berkshire ; but died Aug.
27, 1760, aged fifty-nine, without issue. He was suc-
ceeded in his estates, to which he had added the manor
of Birch- hall in They don Bois, by Mary, only daughter
of his next brother Charles Lethieullier, LL.D. fellow of
All Souls college, F. A. S. and counsellor at law, who died
the year before him. He was an excellent scholar, a
polite gentleman, and universally esteemed by all the
learned men of his time. Some papers of his are printed
in Phil. Trans. No. 497, and Archseologia, I. p. 26, 57, 73,
75 ; II. 291. His library was sold by auction, 1760.
1 Biog. Brit — Gen. Diet.— Gibber's Lives. — Nichols's Bowyer. — Nichols's
Po«tns.~ Granger.— Echard's Hist, of England.-— Literary Magazine for 1758.
P 2
212 L E T H I E U L L I E R.
The following eloge was written by the late Mr. Collin-
son immediately after the death of Mr. Lethieullier : " He
was descended from an ancient family from France in time
of persecution, and a gentleman every way eminent for his
excellent endowments. His desire to improve in the civil
and natural history of his country led him to visit all parts
of it ; the itineraries in his library, and the discoveries he
made relating to its antiquities, with drawings of every
thing remarkable, are evidences of his great application to
rescue so many ancient remains from mouldering into obli-
vion. His happy turn of mind was not confined solely to
antiquities, but in these journeys he was indefatigable in
collecting all the variety of English fossils, with a view to
investigate their origin : this great collection, which excels
most others, is deposited in two large cabinets, disposed
under their proper classes. The most rare are elegantly
drawn, and described in a folio book, with his observations
on them. As the variety of ancient marbles had engaged
his attention, and he found so little said of them with re-
spect to their natural history, it was one of his motives, iti
visiting Italy, to furnish himself with such materials as he
was able to procure from books, and learned men, relating
to them. He collected specimens of the most curious, and
had drawings, finely painted, of the most remarkable mo-
numents of the ancient marbles; they are bound up in a
folio volume, with all the observations he could gather re-
lating to their natural history and antiquity. His cabinet
of medals, his collection of antiquities of various kinds,
and most elegant books of the finest engravings, are 'in-
stances of the fine taste with which he has enriched his
library and cabinet with the spoils of Italy. This short but
imperfect memoir is candidly offered as a tribute due to a
Jong friendship. It is wished it may excite an abler pen
'to do more justice to the memory of this great and good
man. But it is humbly hoped that these hints will be ac-
cepted not only as a testimony of respect, but may also
inform an inquisitive genius in these branches of science
where he may be assisted with such valuable materials for
the prosecution of his future studies."
His cousin, Colonel WILLIAM LETHIEULLIER, who was
also F. A. S. travelled into Egypt, and brought over a very
perfect mummy, now in the British museum, with most of
the colonel's collections, the rest having been in Mr.
Smart Lethieullier' s hands. A committee of the trustees
L E T H IE 0 L L I E R. 213
waited on the colonel's executors, Feb. 23, 1756, tore-
turn thanks for the valuable legacy of a fine mummy, and
a curious collection of English antiquities. On this occa-
sion Pitt Lethieullier; esq. nephew to the colonel, pre-
sented them with several antiquities, which he himself had
collected during his residence at Grand Cairo. '
LETI (GREGORY), a voluminous writer of history, was
born at Milan, May 29, 1630, of a family once of consider-
able distinction at Bologna. He was intended for the
church, but was induced to make open profession of the
protestant religion at Lausanne in 1657. This so pleased
Guerin, an eminent physician, with whom he lodged, that
he gave him his daughter for a wife ; and Leti, settling at
Geneva in 1660, passed nearly twenty years in that city
employed on many of his publications. In 1674, the free-
dom of the city was presented to him, which had never
before been granted to any stranger. Five years after he
went to France, and in 1680, to England, where he was
very graciously received by Charles II. ; received a large
present in money, and was promised the place of histo-
riographer. On this he wrote his "Teatro Britannico," a
history of England ; but, this work displeasing the court,
he was ordered to quit the kingdom. Leti then went to
Amsterdam, had the office of historiographer in that city,
and died suddenly June 9, 1701, aged seventy-one. He
was an indefatigable writer, and tells us in his " Belgic
Theatre," that three days in the week he spent twelve hours
in writing, and six hours the other three days ; whence the
number of his works is prodigious. The greatest part are
written in Italian ; among which are, " The Nepotism of
Rome," 2 vols. 12mo; " The Universal Monarchy of Louis
XIV." 2 vols. 12mo; "The Life of Pope Sixtus V." in
Italian, Amsterdam, 1721, 3 vols. 12mo, plates; in French,
4to, or 2 vols. 12mo ; and in English by Farneworth. " The
Life of Philip 1 1. king of Spain," 6 vols. 12mo; "Of Charles
V.". Amsterdam, 1730, 4 vols. 12mo; "Of Queen Eliza-
beth," Amsterdam, 1741, 2 vols. I2mo, plates; " History
of Cromwell," 1703, 2 vols. 12mo, plates; " Life of Gi-
ron, duke d'Ossone," 3 vols. 12mo ; "The French Theatre,*'
7 vols. 4to, a bad work ; " The Belgic Theatre," 2 vols.
4to, equally bad ; " The British Theatre, or History of
} Nichols's Bowyer.— Lysons's Environs, vol. IV.
214 LET I.
England,11 Amsterdam, 1684, 5 vols. 12mo ; in which there
is a capital portrait of queen Elizabeth. It was for this
work that he was sent out of England. " L'ltalia regnante,"
4 vols. 12mo; "History of the Roman Empire in Germany,"
4 vols. 4to; "The Cardinalism of the Holy Church," 3
vols. 12mo, a violent satire; " History of Geneva," 5 vols.
12mo; " The just balance in which are weighed all the
maxims of Rome, and the actions of the living cardinals,"
4 vols. 12mo; " The Historical Ceremonial," 6 vols. 12mo;
" Political Dialogues on the means used by the Italian Re-
publics for their preservation," 2 vols. 12mo ; " An Abridg-
ment of Patriotic virtues," 2 vols. 8vo ; " Fame jealous of
Fortune ; a panegyric on Louis XIV," 4to ; " A Poem on
the enterprize of the Prince of Orange in England," 1695,
folio; "An Eulogy on Hunting," I2mo; " Letters," 1 vol.
12mo; "The Itinerary of the Court of Rome," 3 vols.
STO ; " History of the House of Saxony," 4 vols. 4to ;
" History of the House of Brandenburg," 4 vols. 4to ; "The
slaughter of the Innocent reformed," 4to ; " The Ruins of
the Apostolical See," 1 672, 1 2mo, &c. Although M. le Clerc,
his son-in-law, has mentioned him with high encomiums,
we know few writers of history who are less to be depended
on, having debased all his productions with fable. It is
impossible to give credit to him unless his facts can be sup-
ported by other authority. He, on some occasions, assumes
all the dignity of conceited ignorance, and relates his fic-
tions with all the confidence of a vain man, who thinks he
cannot be contradicted. His aim indeed was to please ra-
ther than instruct, and he has, with his anecdotes, fre-
quently amused and misled his readers. We know few
more amusing works than his " Life of pope Sixtus V."
Granger, whose character of him we have partly adopted,
relates that Leti being one day at Charles II.'s levee, the
king said to him, " Leti, I hear you are writing the history
of the court of England." " Sir," said be, '* I have been
for some time preparing materials for such a history."
" Take care," said the king, " that your work give no of-
fence." " Sir," replied Leti, " I will do what 1 can ; but
if a man were as wise as Solomon, he would scarce be able
to avoid giving some offence." " Why then," rejoined the
king, " be as wise as Solomon, write proverbs, not
tories." '
1 MorerL— • Niceron, rob. II. and X.«— Gen. Diet.— Granger, vol. IV.
L E U C I P P U S. ,215
LEUCIPPUS, a philosopher of considerable eminence
in the fifth century B. C. the first propagator of the sys-
tem of atoms, is said by Diogenes Laertius, who has writ-
ten his life, to have been a native of Elea. He was a dis-
ciple of Zeno the Eleatic philosopher. Dissatisfied with
the attempts of former philosophers to account for the na-
ture and origin of the universe metaphysically, Leucippus,
and his follower Democritus, determined to restore the
alliance between reason and the senses, which metaphy-
sical subtleties had dissolved, by introducing the doctrine
of indivisible atoms, possessing within themselves a prin-
ciple of motion; and although several other philosophers,
before their time, had considered matter as divisible into
indefinitely small particles, Leucippus and Democritus
were the first who taught, that these particles were origi-
nally destitute of all qualities except figure and motion, and
therefore may justly be reckoned the authors of the atomic
system of philosophy. They looked upon the qualities,
which preceding philosophers had ascribed to matter, as
the mere creatures of abstraction ; and they determined to
admit nothing into their system, which they could not esta-
blish upon the sure testimony of the senses. They were
also of opinion, that both the Eleatic philosophers, and
those of other sects, had unnecessarily encumbered their
respective systems, by assigning some external or internal
cause of motion, of a nature not to be discovered by the
senses. They therefore resolved to reject all metaphysical
principles, and, in their explanation of the phenomena of
nature, to proceed upon no other ground than the sensi-
ble and mechanical properties of bodies. By the help of
the internal principle of motion, which they attributed to
the indivisible particles of matter, they made a feeble and
fanciful effort to account for the production of all natural
bodies from physical causes, without the intervention of
Deity. But, whether they meant entirely to discard the
notion of a divine nature from the universe, is uncertain.
This first idea of the atomic system was improved by De-
mocritus, and afterwards carried to all the perfection which
a system so fundamentally defective would admit of, by
Epicurus. The following summary of the doctrine of Leu-
cippus will exhibit the infant state of the atomic philosophy,
and at the same time sufficiently expose its absurdity.
The universe, which is infinite, is in part a. plenum, and
in part a vacuum. The plenum contains innumerable cor-
LEUCIPPUS.
puscles or atoms, of various figures, which falling into the
vacuum, struck against each other; and hence arose a
variety of curvilinear motions, which continued till, at
length, atoms of similar forms met together, and bodies
were produced. The primary atoms being specifically of
equal weight, and not being able, on account of their mul-
titude, to move in circles, the smaller rose to the exterior
parts of the vacuum, whilst the larger, entangling them-
selves, formed a spherical shell, which revolved about its
centre, and which included within itself all kinds of bodies.
This central mass was gradually increased by a perpetual
accession of particles from the surrounding shell, till at
last the earth was formed. In the mean time, the spheri-
cal shell was continually supplied with new bodies, which,
in its revolution, is gathered up from without Of the
particles thus collected in the spherical shell, some in their
combination formed humid masses, which, by their circular
motion, gradually became dry, and were at length ignited,
and became stars. The sun was formed in the same man-
ner, in the exterior surface of the shell; and the moon, in
its interior surface. In this manner the world was formed ;
and by an inversion of the process, it will at length be
dissolved.1
LEUNCLAVIUS, or LEONCLAVIUS (JOHN), a na-
tive of Amelbrun in Westphalia, descended from a noble
family, was born about 1533. He visited almost all the
European courts, and, during his stay in Turkey, collected
such excellent materials for an Ottoman history, that the
public are indebted to him for their best information re-
specting that empire. His knowledge of law, as well as of
the learned languages, enabled him also to succeed in
translating the "Abridgment of the Basilica," 1596, 2
vols. folio. He was indeed one of the most celebrated
translator* which Germany has produced. He died June
1593, at Vienna, aged sixty. His works are, " The Mus-
sulman History," 1591, folio, Latin ; "Annals of the Otto-
man Sultans," folio, which he translated into Latin, from
the translation made of it, by John Gaudier, otherwise
Spiegel, from Turkish into German. The supplement to
these Annals he continued to 1588, under the title of
Pandects Turcice." These two works may be found at
the end of Chalcondyles, printed at the Louvre. He wrote
» DM*. Laertius.— Stanley'! Hi»t.— Brucker Gen. Diet
L E U N C L A V I U S. 217
also '* Commentatio de Moscorum bellis adversus finitimos
gestisj" in the collection of Polish historians by Pistorius,
Basil, 1581, 3 vols. folio ; and Latin translations of Xeno-
phon, Zozimus, Constantine Manasses, Michael Glycas,
&C.1
LEUSDEN (JOHN), an eminent oriental and classical
scholar, was born at Utrecht, April 26, 1624, of reputable
parents, who died when he was very young. He studied
at the schools and university of Utrecht, and took his de-
gree of master of arts in 1647. To his philosophical course,
he then added the study of theology, and particularly the
oriental languages, in which he made great proficiency.
In 1649, he was admitted among the number of candidates
for the ministry, and then went to Amsterdam to acquire
a more perfect knowledge of the Hebrew, and of the
Jewish customs, availing himself of the instructions of two
learned Jews, one of whom, being an Arabian, gave him a
favourable opportunity of adding that language to his stock.
On his return to Utrecht in January 1650, he was licensed
to teach the oriental languages, an honour which induced
him to return once more to Amsterdam, to study the Tal-
mud and the Rabbins. In July of the same year, the cu-
rators of the university of Utrecht appointed him professor
extraordinary of Hebrew. He was required to give only
two lectures per week, which, however, he increased to
three, and included the oriental languages and theology ;
and when he received a call to a congregation in Flanders,
the curators of the university, unwilling to part with a man
of such ability, promoted him to the chair of professor in
ordinary, which he filled with great reputation. In 1658
he travelled through the Palatinate and the neighbourhood,
and afterwards visited France and England. On his return
he married, and had a numerous family. Three of his
sons attained considerable eminence, Rodolph as a phy-
sician, John William as a counsellor and burgomaster, and
James as a divine. After long enjoying a good state of
health, the result of temperance and exercise, he was at-
tacked by the nephritic colic, which, afte'r tormenting him
for some weeks, occasioned his death, Sept. 30, 1699, in
his seventy-fifth year. He was a man of a frank, liberal
temper, and benevolent ; he was very kind to foreign
> Niceron, rol. £XVI. — Diet. Hist.— Saxii Oooinastieon. — IJaillet Jugemens
dei Savans.
218 L E U S D E N.
students, particularly those from Hungary, and used to be
called the Father of the Hungarians. His manner of teach-
ing was clear and methodical; and by that, and a strict dis-
cipline, he produced many eminent scholars.
Leusden, as far as we know, published very little that
was original ; but as a critical editor, he is entitled to high
commendation for skill and accuracy, and many of his
publications are well known in this country. Among these
we may notice, 1. " Philologus Hebraeus," Utrecht, 1652,
4to, twice reprinted. 2. " Jonas illustratus Heb. dial,
et Latin." &c. ibid. 1656, 1692, 8vo. 3. " Joel ex-
plicatus per paraplirasim Chaldaicam," ibid. 1657, 8vo.
The book of Obadiah is added to this. 4. " Philologus
Hebraeo-mixtus, una cum spicilegio Philologico," con-
taining various critical dissertations, ibid. 1663, Leyden,
1682, and 1699, 4to. 5. " Onomasticum Sacrum," au
explanation of all the names in the Old and New Testa-
ment, ibid. 1665, and 1684, Svo. Crenius notices a sin-
gular mistake of his, making Bernice the name of a man.
6. " Psalterium Hebrseum," Amst. 1666, Svo. 7. " Biblia
Hebraea," Amst. 1667, 2 vols. Svo. 8. " Clavis Grxca
Nov. Test." 1672, Svo. 9. " Nov. Test. Gracum,"
Utrecht, 1675, 12mo, repeatedly printed, and well known
in this country. 10. " Versio Septuaginta Interpretum,'*
Amst. 1683. 11. "Lexicon novum Hebroeo-Latinum," in
the manner of Schrevelius, Utrecht, 1687, 8vo. 12, An
edition of " Pool's Synopsis," ibid. 5 vols. fol. ; an edition
of Bochart's works, and another of Lightfoot's.1
LEUWENHOEK (ANTHONY), a celebrated Dutch phi*
losopher, was born at Delft, in 1632 ; and acquired a great
reputation throughout all Europe, by his experiments and
discoveries in natural history, by means of the microscope.
He particularly excelled in making glasses for microscopes
and spectacles ; and he was a member of most of the li-
terary societies of Europe ; to whom he sent many me-
moirs. Those in the Philosophical Transactions, and in
the Paris Memoirs, extend through many volumes; the
former were extracted and published at Leyden in 1722.
He died in 1723, at ninety -one years of age. His Select
Works have lately been translated into English from the
Dutch and Latin editions published by the author, by Mr.
Samuel Boole, 1798 — 1800, 3 parts 4to.'
' Barman Traject. Erudit.— Chaiifepie.— Niceron, vol XXIX.— Sttii On 00ft.
* Haller Bibl. Med.— Button's Dictionary.
LEVER. 219
LEVER (SiR ASHTON), the founder of a valuable mu-
seum, was the son of sir D'Arcy Lever of Alkington, near
Manchester. He finished his education at Corpus Christi
college, Oxford ; and on leaving the university went to
reside with his mother, and afterwards settled at his fa-
mily-seat, which he rendered famous by the best aviary in
the kingdom. He next extended his views to all branches of
natural history, and became at length possessed of one of
the finest museums in the world, sparing no expence in
procuring specimens from the most distant regions. This
was removed to London about 1775, and opened for the
public in Leicester-house, Leicester-square ; but for want
of suitable patronage, sir Ashton was in 1785 obliged to
dispose of it by way of lottery, to his very great loss. It
fell to the lot of a Mr. Parkinson, who built rooms on the
Surrey side of Black-friars bridge for its reception, and
did every thing in his power to render it interesting to the
public, but after some years, was obliged to dispose of it
by auction, when the whole of the articles were dispersed.
Sir Ashton died in 1788, of an apoplectic attack while sit-
ting with the other magistrates at Manchester.1
LEVER (THOMAS), a celebrated divine of the sixteenth
centuty, was born at Little Lever, in Lancashire, and
educated at Cambridge, where after taking his degrees,
he was chosen fellow, and then master of St. John's col-
lege. He was ordained both deacon and priest in 1550,
by bishop Ridley, and became a most eloquent and po-
pular preacher in the reign of king Edward. He is, in-
deed, on his monument called by way of distinction,
" preacher to king Edward." Under his mastership St.
John's college greatly flourished, and in it the reforma-
tion gained so much ground, that on the commencement
of the Marian persecution, he and twenty-four of the fel-
lows resigned their preferments. Mr. Lever went abroad,
and resided with the other exiles for religion at Francfort,
where he in vain endeavoured to compose the differences
which arose among them respecting church discipline and
the habits. He resided also for some time in Switzerland,
at a place called Arrow, where he was pastor to a congre-
gation of English exiles. Here he became so much a fa-
vourer of Calvin's opinions, as to be considered, on his
return to England, as one of the chiefs of the party who
opposed the English church-establishment. The indiscreet
1 Gent, and Europ. Mag. for 1788.
220 LEVER.
conduct of some of them soon made the whole obnoxious
to government; and uniformity being strictly pressed, Mr.
Lever suffered among others, being convened before the
archbishop of Ydrk, and deprived of his ecclesiastical pre-
ferments. Many of the cooler churchmen thought him
hardly dealt with, as he was a moderate man, and not for-
ward in opposing the received opinions, Bernard Gilpin,
his intimate friend, was among those who pitied, and ex-
pressed his usual regard for him. • His preferments were
a prebend of Durham, and the mastership of Sherburn
hospital ; Strype mentions the archdeaconry of Coventry,
but is not clear in his account of the matter. He appears
to have been allowed to retain the mastership of the hos-
pital, where he died in July 1577, and was buried in its
chapel. Baker in his MS collections gives a very high
character of him as a preacher. " In the days of king
Edward, when others were striving for preferment, no man
was more vehement, or more galling in his sermons, against
the waste of church revenues, and other prevailing cor-
ruptions of the court ; which occasioned bishop Ridley to
rank him with Latimer and Knox. He was a man of as
much natural probity and blunt native honesty as his col-
lege ever bred ; a man without guile and artifice ; who
never made suit to any patron, or for any preferment; one
that had the spirit of Hugh Latimer. No one can read
his sermons without imagining he has something before
him of Latimer or Luther. Though bis sermons are bold
and daring, and full of rebuke, it was his preaching that
got him his preferment. His rebuking the courtiers made
them afraid of him, and procured him reverence from the
king. He was one of the best masters of feis college, as
well as one of the best men the college ever bred." He
was succeeded in the mastership of his hospital by his bro-
ther Ralph, whom some rank as a puritan, although his
title seems doubtful. He was however, of less reputation
than his brother. Mr. Thomas Lever's printed works are
a few " Sermons," which, like Latimer's, contain many par-
ticulars of the manners of the times ; and three treatises
" The right way from the danger of sin and vengeance in
this wicked world," 1575 ; a "Commentary on the Lord's
Prayer ;" and " The Path-way to Christ." '
l Strype's Cranmer, p. 163. 360. — Parker, 211, 243, 275— and Grindal,
170.— Gilpin's Life of Gilpin, p. 142.— Fuller's Worthies.— Brook's Lives of
the Puritans.— Harwood's Alumni Etoneuses, p. 173.
I.EVESQUE.
LEVESQUE (PETER CHARLES), a learned French wri-
ter, who spent a long life in the study of history and ge-
neral literature, was born at Paris, March 28, 1736. Of
his private life we have no account ; and our authority
apologizes for this by assuring us that it contained none of
those incidents that are interesting in biography, and that
he was known only by his numerous publications. He
was, however, in the course of his life, professor of morals
and history in the college of France, a member of the old
academy 'of inscriptions and belles-lettres, a member of the
institute of the class of ancient history, and a knight of the
legion of honour. He died at Paris, March 12, 1812,
leaving the following proofs of his talents and industry.
1. " Le reves d'Aristobule, philosophe Grec, suivis d'un
abrege de la vie de Formose, philosophe Francais," Paris,,
1761, 12mo. 2. " Choix-de poesies de Petrarque," trans-
lated from the Italian, 1774, 8vo, reprinted in 1787, 2
vols. 12 mo. This translation is faithful, but wants the
spirit and graces of the original. 3. " L'homme moral,'*
Amst.' 1775, a work which has been often reprinted, and is
said to have been written at Petersburgh, for the use of
the Russian youth. Its object seems to be to take a sur-
vey of man in the savage and social state, and during all
the modifications of the latter ; and its contents are a se-
ries of remarks on all subjects connected with happiness,
not always profound, but often striking, lively, and agree-
able. From its being printed oftener in Holland than in
France, it is probable that this work, as well as the follow-
ing, was written with more freedom of sentiment than was
then agreeable. 4. " L'homme pensant, ou Essai sur
1'histoire de 1'esprit humain," Amst. 1779, 12mo. 5.
" Histoire de Russie," Paris, 1785, 5 vols. 12mo. This
is esteemed a very accurate sketch of Russian history ;
and was followed by a sequel, 6. " Histoire des differens
peuples soumis a la domination des Russes," 2 vols. Both
were reprinted in 1800, with a continuation to the end of
the reign of Catherine, 8 vols. 8vo. In this last, he offers
a very able vindication of the conduct of that empress in
the early part of her reign. 7. " Eloge historique de
rabb6Mably," Paris, 1787, 8vo. This obtained the prize
of the academy of inscriptions and belles lettres. 8. " La
France sous les cinq premier Valois," Paris, 1788, 4 vols.
12mo. 9. " Dictionnaire des arts, de peinture, sculpture,
et gravure," Paris, 1792, 5 vols. 8vo. He compiled this
222 L E V E S Q U E.
dictionary in conjunction with Watelet, to whom our au-
thority attributes the principal merit of it. 10. A trans-
lation, highly praised, of " Thucydides," Paris, 1795, 4
vols. 4to. Levesque also contributed various essays to the
memoirs of the institute, and wrote many of the articles in
that collection of the ancient moralists which was published
by Didot and Debure. Not long before his death he pub-
lished " L'etude de 1'histoire de la Grece," 4 vols. 8vo;
not, as is said, a learned work, but a popular introduction
to the knowledge of Grecian history.1
LEVI (DAVID), a learned Jew, and zealous defender
of the opinions of that people, was born in London in
174O, and after a regular apprenticeship to a shoemaker,
settled in that business ; but, not succeeding in it, com-
menced hat-dresser; and in this new profession, though
surrounded with domestic cares, still finding time for
study, produced a volume on the " Rites and Ceremonies
of the Jews," 1783, 8vo. He next published " Lingua
Sacra,'* 3 vols. 8vo, containing an Hebrew Grammar with
points, clearly explained in English, and a complete He-
brew-English Dictionary, which came out in numbers,
1785 — 1789. This performance, though by no means the
most perfect of its kind that might be produced, is a great
instance of industry and perseverance in a person who was
confined all the time to a mechanical business to supply
domestic wants. In 1787 he published his first " Letters
to Dr. Priestley," in answer to his " Letters addressed to
the Jews," inviting them to an amicable discussion of the
evidences of Christianity; in which he says, " I am not
ashamed to tell you that I am a Jew by choice, and not
because I was born a Jew ; far from it ; for I am clearly of
opinion that every person endowed with ratiocination ought
to have a clear idea of the truth of revelation, and a just
ground of his faith, as far as human evidence can go.'*
In 1789 he published his second " Letters to Dr. Priest-
ley," and also " Letters to Dr. Cooper, of Great Yar-
mouth," in answer to his one great argument in favour of
Christianity from a single prophecy ; 2. to Mr. Bicheno ;
3. to Dr. Krauter; 4. to Mr. Swain; 5. to Anti-Socinus,
alias Anselm Bailey; occasioned by their Remarks on his
first Letters to Dr. Priestley. In this year he published the
" Pentateuch, in Hebrew and English," with a translation
1 Diet Hist Supplcoicnt.
L E V I. 223
of the notes of Lion Socsmaan, and the 613 precepts con-
tained in the law, according to Maimonides. At the end
of the same year, at the earnest request of the most con-
siderable of the Portuguese Jews, he undertook to trans-
late their prayers from Hebrew into English ; which he
accomplished in four years (though confined to his bed by
illness twenty-seven weeks), the last of six volumes ap-
pearing in 1793. The first volume of his " Dissertations
on the Prophecies" was also published in 1793 ; and in
1794 his Translation of the Service for the two first Nights
of the Passover, as observed by all the Jews at this day,
in Hebrew and English. In 1795 he published " Letters
to Nathaniel Brassey Halhed, M. P. in answer to his Tes-
timony of the Authenticity of the Prophecies of Richard
Brothers, and his pretended mission to recall the Jews."
A second volume of his " Dissertations on the Prophecies"
appeared in 1796, which he intended to complete in six
volumes; and of which, in May 1797, more than half of
the third volume was printed. In the beginning of 1797
he published a " Defence of the Old Testament," in a se-
ries of letters addressed to Thomas Paine, in answer to
his Age of Reason, part II. For the German Jews he
translated their Festival Prayers, as he had done those of
the Portuguese, in 6 vols. 8vo ; a labour of four years.
By all the synagogues in London Mr. Levi was regularly
employed to translate the prayers composed on any par-
ticular occasion, as those used during the king's illness in
1788, and the thanksgiving in 1789; with various others
for the use of the several synagogues. He wrote also a
sacred ode in Hebrew, 1795, on the king's escape from
assassination. On Nov. 14, 1798, he had a violent stroke
of the palsy, which nearly deprived him of the use of his
right hand. He died in July 1799, in the fifty-ninth year
of his age, and was interred in the Jews' burial-ground
near Bethnal-green, with a Hebrew epitaph, of which the
following is a translation — " And David reposed with his
fathers, and was buried. Here lieth a correct and proper
person, of perfect carriage, who served the Lord all his
days, turned away from evil, and was supported by his
own industry all the days of his life ; Rabbi David the son
of Mordecai the Levjte, of blessed memory, who departed
for the rtext world on the Sabbath night, 3d of Ab., and
was buried with good reputation on Monday the fourth ;
the days of bis life were 59 years. May his soul be en-
224 L E V R E T.
veloped with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Mayest tbon
come to the grave at full age." '
LEVRET (ANDREW), an eminent French surgeon and
accoucheur, was born in 1703, and was admitted a member
of the royal academy of surgery at Paris in February 1742.
He obtained a hiu;h and extensive reputation in his depart-
ment of the art by the improvements which he made in
some of the instruments necessary to be employed in cer-
tain difficult cases (especially the forceps), and by the pro-
digious number of pupils whom he instructed. He was
employed and honoured with official appointments by all
the female branches of the royal family. He published
several works, which underwent various editions and trans-
lations. 1 . " Observations sur les causes et les accidens
deplusieurs accouchemens laborieux," Paris, 1747. To the
fourth edition, in 1770, were added, " Observations on the
lever of Roonhuysen." 2. " Observations sur la cure radi-
cale de plusieurs polypes de la matrice, de la gorge, et du
nez, opere"e par de nouveaux nioyens," ibid. 1749, &c.
3. " Suite des observations sur les causes et les accidens
de plusieurs accouchemens laborieux," ibid. 1751. 4.
" Explication de plusieurs figures sur le mechanisme de la
grossesse, et de Paccouchement," ibid. 1752. 5. "L'Art
des accouchemens d6montr6 par des principes de physique
et de mechanique," ibid. 1753, &c. 6. " Essai sur Tabus
des regies generales, et centre les prejuges qui s'opposent
aux progres de Tart des accouchemens," ibid. 1766. This
author died Jan. 22, 1780.*
LEWIS (JoHN), a learned English divine and anti-
quary, was the eldest son of John Lewis, wine-cooper, in
the parish of St Nicholas, Bristol, where he was born,*
Aug. 29, 1675. His father dying while he was in his in-
fancy, he was committed to the care of his maternal
grandfather John Eyre, merchant of Poole in Dorsetshire,
who instilled into his infant mind the first principles of re-
ligion. Losing this relation, however, before he was se-
ven years old, he was taken into the house of the rev. Sa-
muel Conant, rector of Liichet Matravers (an intimate ac-
quaintance of his grandfather Eyre), and educated along
with a nephew whom Mr. Conant was preparing for a pub-
lic school. This was an assistance peculiarly acceptably
» Europ. Mag. 1799.— Gent. Mag. 1801.— Lysons's Eaviroos, SuppL vol.
* Diet. Hist,— R«es's Cyclopedia, from Eloy.
LEWIS. 225
to V r. Lewis';? mother, who appears to have been left in
circumstances which were not adequate to a liberal educa-
tion. After remaining with Mr. Conant two years, he was
placed under the instruction of the learned Mr. John Moyle,
at the grammar-school of Winborne, in 1687, upon whose
decease the year following, he was removed to Poole, but
reaped little benefit there, until he was put under the care
of Mr. John Russel, who was encouraged to establish a
grammar-school there. Mr. Russel, finding him to be a
youth of talents and industry, employed him as his assis-
tant : and after his removal to Wapping in London, conr
tinued his favours to him, placing him at the free-school
of Ratcliffe-cross, belonging to the Coopers' company*
Two years after, when he was about sixteen years old,
Mr. Daniel Wigfall, a merchant, took him into his family
as tutor to his sons, and after continuing here until 1694,
he went to Oxford, and was admitted batteler of Exeter-
college : but his scanty fortune not allowing him to reside
constantly, he was recommended to Mr. William Churcheyr
then minister at Poole, to be assistant in the free-school of
that town. By this gentleman's indulgence in allowing^
him to keep his terms in the university, he proceeded A. B.
in 1697, when he returned to Mr. Russel at Wapping,
and was ordained deacon by bishop Compton soon after.
In April following he took upon him the cure of Acryse in
Kent, and lived at the same time in the family of Philip
Papillon, esq. to whom his behaviour rendered him so ac-
ceptable, that although he had left the parish, and was
then chaplain to Paul Foley, esq. upon the recommenda-
tion of Dr. Barton, prebendary of Westminster, yet, upon
the death of the incumbent, he procured him a presenta-
tion from the lord chancellor Somers, upon which he was
instituted Sept. 4, 1699. He now applied himself to re-,
pair a dilapidated parsonage-house, as well as to discharge
his pastoral duties with all diligence, particularly that of
catechising the young, which he looked upon as a very im-
portant part of his ministry. While here, he soon afte*
met with a singular instance of unfair dealing. Being ap-
pointed to preach at the archdeacon's visitation at Canter-
bury in 1701, his sermon (on 2 Cor. vi. 4.) was lent to
William Brockman, esq. upon his earnest request, wb.o
printed it under the title of a " Summary," &c. with a
preface calculated to injure him.
VOL. XX. Q
LEWIS.
He found a kinder friend, however, in archbishop Teni-
son, who had heard a good character of him, and granted
him the sequestration of the little rectory of Hawkinge,
near Dover, in 1702, telling him at the same time, that
he hoped he should live to consider him farther. It was at
that time his acquaintance began with Mr. Johnson of Mar-
gate, who recommended him for his successor in that la-
borious cure ; but his old friend and patron Mr. Papillon
being unwilling to part with him, he excused himself to
the archbishop at that time: afterwards, upon Mr. War-
ren's resignation, he accepted it in 1705. On his be-
coming a member of the society for promoting Christian
knowledge, he was desired to draw up a short and plain
exposition of the Church Catechism, fit for the children
educated in charity-schools ; and this, which he executed
to the entire satisfaction of the society, has passed through
many editions. In 1706, archbishop Tenison collated him
to the fectory of Saltwood with the chapel of Hythe, and
the desolate rectory of Eastbridge ; but, being here dis-
turbed by a dispute with a neighbouring 'squire, his pa-
tron removed him to the vicarage of Mynstre, on the ces-
sion of Dr. Green, in March 1708, where he rebuilt the
house, in a more elegant and commodious manner.
In his " Apology for the Clergy of the Church of Eng-
land," published in 1711, he attacked the veracity of the
historian of the nonconformists, by asserting, "that Mr.
Calamy was too much biassed to have any thing he said con-
cerning the party he espoused believed on his bare word.'*
This harsh opinion naturally provoked Calamy to make
some very severe reflections on him, both in the preface
to the second edition of " Baxter's Life abridged," in
1714, and in his " Continuation," in 1727 ; against which
Mr. Lewis had drawn up a vindication ; but, Mr. Calamy's
death intervening, he would not war with the dead, and de-
sisted from publishing it.
In May 1712, he was appointed to preach at the arch-
bishop's visitation, and took his subject from Isa. xi. 9.
but such was the violence of party spirit at that time, that
both he and his sermon were roughly treated by some of
the audience. It was this year that he commenced M. A.
as a member of Corpus Christi college, Cambridge. Not
long after he incurred the displeasure of his friend Mr!
Johnsou by writing against his " Unbloody Sacrifice," and
LEWIS. 227
was treated by him with more contempt than he deserved.
Archbishop Tenison, however, and Dr. Bradford approved
Of his pamphlet, and Dr. Waterland considered it as con-
taining much in a little, and as being close, clear, and ju-
dicious. His sermon preached at Canterbury cathedral on
January 30, 1717, being severely reflected upon, he printed
it in his own defence, and it was so highly approved by
archbishop Wake that he rewarded him with the master-
ship of Eastbridge- hospital soon after. From that time he
was continually employed on his various publications and
correspondence with the literary men of his time. He died
Jan. 16, 1746, and, at his own desire, was buried in the
chancel of his church at Mynstre (where he had been vicat
upwards of thirty-seven years), under a plain black marble
with an inscription.
Archbishop Wake's character of him was that of vir so-
brius, et bonus pradicator : and a considerable dignitary in
the church used to say, that he looked upon his life to have
been spent in the service of learning and virtue, and thought
the world to be more concerned for its continuance than
himself: that it would be happy for us if there were many
more of the profession like him, &c. It was his misfor-
tune, however, to live in a time of much party violence, and
being a moderate man, he met with ill usage from both
parties, particularly from the clergy of his own diocese.
His only object was the security of our church-establish-
ment as settled at the Revolution. He was so diligent a
preacher, that we are told he composed more than a thou-
sand sermons. He was always of opinion that a clergyman
should compose his own sermons, and therefore ordered
his executor to destroy his stock, lest they should con-
tribute to the indolence of others. Having no family, for
his wife died young without issue, he expended a great
deal of money on his library and the repairs of his dilapi-
dated parsonage-houses ; and was, at the same time, a libe-
ral benefactor to the poor. His chief, and indeed only,
failing was a warmth of temper, which sometimes hurried
him on to say what was inconsistent with his character and
interest, and to resent imaginary injuries. Of all this, how-
ever, he was sensible, and deeply regretted it. Hearne
and Mr. Lewis Vvere, it appears, accustomed to speak,
disrespectfully of each other's labours, but posterity has
done justice to both. The political prejudices of antiquariss
are of very little consequence.
Q 2
228 LEWIS.
Mr. Lewis's works are, 1> " The Church Catechism efc-
plained," already mentioned, 1700, 12mo. 2. «• A short
Defence of Infant Baptism," 170O, 8vo. 3. "A serious
Address to the Anabaptists," a single sheet, 1701, with a
second in 1702. 4. " A Companion for the afflicted,'*
1706. 5. " Presbyters not always an authoritative part of
provincial synods," 1710, 4to. 6. " An apologetical Vin-
dication of the present Bishops," 1711. 7. " The Apology
for the Church of England, in an examination of the rights
of the Christian church," published about this time, or
perhaps in 1714. 8. "The poor Vicar's plea against- his
glebe being assessed to the Church," 1712. 9. " A Guide
to young Communicants," 1715. 10. "A Vindication of
the Bishop of Norwich" (Trimnell), 1714. 11. "The
agreement of the Lutheran churches with the church of
England, and an answer to some exceptions to it," 1715.
12. "Two Letters in defence of the English liturgy and
reformation," 1716. 13. " Bishop Feme's Church of Eng-
land man's reasons for not making the decisions of eccle-
siastical synods the rule of his faith," 1717, 8vo. 14. "An
Exposition of the xxxivth article of Religion," 1717.
1 5. " Short Remarks on the prolocutor's answer, &c." 1 6.
"The History, &c. of John Wicliffe, D. D." 1720, 8vo.
17. "The case of observing such Fasts and Festivals as are
appointed by the king's authority, considered,** 1721. 18.
" A Letter of thanks to the earl of Nottingham, &c." 1721.
19. "The History and Antiquities of the Isle of Thanet in
Kent," 1723, 4 to, and again, with additions, in 1736. 20.
" A Specimen of Errors in the second volume of Mr. Col-
lier's Ecclesiastical History, being a Vindication of Bur-net's
History of the Reformation," 1724, 8vo. 21." History and
Antiquities of the abbey church of Faversham, &c." 1727,
$to. 22. " The New Testament, &c. translated out of the
Latin vulgate by John WicklifFe; to which is prefixed, an
History of the several Translations of the Holy Bible," &c.
1731, folio. Of this only 160 copies were printed by sub-
scription, and the copies unsubscribed for were advertised
the same year at I/. 1*. each. Of the " New Testament"
the rev. H. Baber, of the British Museum, has lately printed
an edition, with valuable preliminary matter, in 4to. 23.
'* The History of the Translations, &c." reprinted sepa-
rately in 1739, 8vo. 24. "The Life of Caxton," 1737,
8vo. For an account of this work we may refer to Dibdiu's
new edition of Ames. 25. " A brief History of the Rise
LEWIS.
and Progress of Anabaptism, to which is prefixed a defence
of Dr. Wicliffe from the false charge of his denying In-
fant-baptism," 1738. 26. " A Dissertation on the anti-
quity and use of Seals in England," 1710. 27. " A Vindi-
cation of the ancient Britons, &c. from being Anabaptists,
with a letter of M. Bucer to bishop Hooper on ceremonies,"
1741. 28. "A Defence of the Communion office and Ca-
techism of the church of England from the charge of fa-
vouring transubstantiation," 1742. 29. "The Life of Rey-
nold Pecock, bishop of St. Asaph and Chichester," 1744,
8vo. Mr. Lewis published also one or two occasional ser-
mons, and an edition of Roper's Life of sir Thomas More.
After his death, according to the account of him in the'
Biog. Britannica (which is unpardonably superficial, as
Masters's History of Bene't College had appeared some
years before), was published " A brief discovery of some
of the arts of the popish protestant Missioners in England,"
1750, 8vo. But there are other curious tracts which Mr.
Lewis sent for publication to the Gentleman's Magazine,
and which, for reasons stated in vol. X. of that work, were
printed in " The Miscellaneous Correspondence," 1742 —
1748, a scarce and valuable volume, very little known to
the possessors of the Magazine, no set of which can be
complete without it. Of these productions of Mr. Lewis,
we can ascertain, on the authority of Mr. Cave, the follow-
ing : an account of William Longbeard, and of John Smith,
the first English anabaptist ; the principles of Dr. Hickes,
and Mr. Johnson ; and an account of the oaths exacted by
the Popes. Mr. Lewis left a great many manuscripts, some
of which are still in public or private libraries, and are
specified in our authorities,1
LEY, or LEIGH (SiR JAMES), an eminent lawyer in
the early part of the seventeenth century, was the sixth
and youngest son of Henry Ley, esq. of Tesfont Evias, in
Wiltshire, and was born about 1552. In 1569 he entered
of Brazen-nose college, Oxford, whence he removed to
Lincoln's-inn, studied the law, and was appointed Lent
reader in 1601, after which his learning and abilities raised
him to the highest rank of his profession. In 1603, he
was made serjeant at law, and the year following chief jus-
tice of the king's bench in Ireland ; on the ancient history
l Masters's Hist, of C. C. C. C. — Biog. Brit. — Dibdiu's Typographical Anti-
quities, vol. I. — and Bibliomania. — Gent. Mag. vol. I. p, ^5i), ami vol. XVII
pp. 41, 47.— ResUtuta, pp. 69, 73.— Nichols's Bowycr,
*30 LEY.
/
of which country he appears to have bestowed some atten-
tion, and collected with a view to publication, " The An.-
nals of John Clynne, a Friar Minor of Kilkenny," who lived
in the reign of Edward III. ; the " Annals of the Priory of
St. John of Kilkenny," and the " Annals of Multiferman,
Rosse, and Clonmell." All these he had caused to be trans-
cribed, but his professional engagements prevented his
preparing them for the press. They afterwards fell into
the hands of Henry earl of Bath. Extracts from them are
in Dublin college library.
In 1609, being then a knight, sir James was made the
king's attorney in the court of wards. In 1620 he was
created a baronet; in 1621, chief justice of the court of
king's bench, England; and in 1625, lord high treasurer.
From this office he was removed, under pretence of his
great age, to make room for sir Richard VVeston. Lord
Clarendon seems to intimate that his disability as well as
age might be the cause, and that upon these accounts
there was little reverence shewn towards him. This, how*
ever, is scarcely reconcileable with the honours bestowed
on him immediately afterwards, for he was not only created
baron Ley, »nd earl of Marlborongh, but soon after made
president of the council. Lloyd says he had better abi-
lities for a judge than a statesman. He died at Lincoln's-
inn, March 14, 1628, and was buried in the church at
Westbury, where a sumptuous monument was erected to
his memory. We have noticed his attention to Irish his-
tory while in that country. Lloyd has given us another
trait of his character while there, which is highly honour-
able to him. " Here he practised the charge kin<j James
gave him at his going over (yea, what his own tender con-
science gave himself), namely, not to build his estate upon
the ruins of a miserable nation, hut aiming, by the impar-
tial execution of justice, not to enrich himself, but civilize
the people. But the wise king would no longer lose him
out of his own land, and therefore recalled him home about
the time when his father's inheritance, by the death of
his five elder brethren, descended upon him."
He wrote, or compiled, " Reports of Cases in the courts
at Westminster in the reigns of king James and king
Charles, with two tables ; to which is added a treatise of
Wards and Liveries," 1659, folio. The *' Treatise of
Wards" had been published separately in 1612, I2mo.
L E Y* j 231
Among Hearne's " Collection of curious Discourses," are
some by sir James Leigh.1
LEY (JOHN), a voluminous polemic in the seventeenth
century, was born at Warwick, Feb. 4, 1583, and edur
cated at Christ church, Oxford. After his admission into
holy orders he was presented to the vicarage of Great Bud-
worth in Cheshire, where he continued a constant preacher
for several years. He was afterwards made prebendary
and subdean of Chester, and had a weekly lecture at St.
Peter's church. He was also once or twice a member of
the convocation. On the commencement of the rebellion,
he espoused the cause of the parliament, took the coven-
ant, was chosen one of the assembly of divines, appointed
Latin examiner of young preachers, and. by his writings,
encouraged all the opinions and prejudices of his party,
with whom his learning gave him considerable weight. He
accepted of various livings under the republican govern-
ment, the last of which was that of Solihull, in Warwick-
shire, which he resigned on being disabled by breaking of
a blood-vessel, and retired to Sutton Colfield? in the same
county, where he died May 16, 1662. His works, of which
Wood enumerates about thirty articles, relate mostly to
the controversies of the times, except his sermons; and his
share in the " Assembly's Annotations on the Bible," tp
which he contributed the annotations on the Pentateuch
and the four Evangelists.8
LEYBOURN (WILLIAM), who was originally a printer
in London, published several of the mathematical works of
Samuel Foster, astronomical professor in Gresham college.
He afterwards became an eminent author himself, and
appears to have been the most universal mathematician of
his time. He published many mathematical treatises in
the seventeenth century. Among these his " Cursus Ma-
thematicus" was esteemed the best system of the kind ex-
tant. His " Panarithmologia ; or, Trader's sure Guide,"
being tables ready cast up, was long in use. It was formed
upon a plan of his own, and has been adopted by Mr.
Bareme in France. The seventh edition was published in
1741. We have no account of his birth or death. 3
LEYDECKER (MELCHIOR), an eminent protestant di-
vine, was born January 25, 1652, at Middleburg. He
1 Ath. Ox. vol. I. — Lloyd's State Worthies. — Ware's Ireland, by Harris.—-
Park's edition of lord Oiford.
* Ath. Ox. vol. II. » Granger.
232 LEYDECKER;
acquired great skill in controversy and ecclesiastical anti-
quity, and wrote much against the Socinians and other sec-
taries. He was one of Frederic Spanheim's friends, and
appointed professor of divinity at Utrecht, 1678. He died
January 6, 1721, aged sixty-nine. The following are the
principal among his numerous Latin works : 1. a treatise
"On the Hebrew Republic," Amsterdam, 17 14 and 1716, 2
vols. fol. a very valuable work for the history of Judaism.
2. " Fax veritatis," Ludg. Batav. 1677, 8vo. 3. " A Con-
tinuation of the Ecclesiastical History began by Hornius,**
Francfort, 1704, 8vo. 4. «« History of the African Church,'*
curious, and full of interesting inquiries. 5. " Synopsis
controversiarum de fredere." 6. A " Commentary in the
Heidelburg Catechism." 7. A " Dissertation against Bec-
ker's World bewitched." 8. " An Analysis of Scripture,"
with the "Art of Preaching." 9. A " History of Jansenism,**
Utrecht, 1695, 8vo. What Leydecker says in this work
against the sovereignty of kings, has been refuted by P.
Quesnel, in his " Sovereignty of Kings defended," Paris,
J704, 12mo. '
LKYDEN VAN. See JACOBS, LUCAS.
LHUYD (EDWARD), an eminent antiquary, born about
1670, was a native of South Wales, and the son of Charles
Lhuyd, esq. of Lhanvorde. In 1687 he commenced his
academical studies at Jesus college, Oxford, where he was
created M. A. July 21, 1701. He studied natural history
under Dr. Plot, whom he succeeded as keeper of the Ash-
molean museum in 1690. He bad the use of all Vaughan's
collections, and, with incessant labour and great exactness,
employed a considerable part of his life in searching into
the Welsh antiquities, had perused or collected a great
deal of ancient and valuable matter from their MSS. trans-
cribed all the old charters of their monasteries that he
could meet with, travelled several times over Wales, Corn-
wall, Scotland, Ireland, Armoric Bretagne, countries in-
habited by the same people, compared their antiquities,
and made observations on the whole. In March 1708-9,
be was elected, by the university of Oxford, esquire beadle
of divinity, a place of considerable profit, which, however,
he enjoyed but a few months. He died July 1709, an
event which prevented the completion of many admirable
designs. For want of proper encouragement, he did very
I Buroutn TrajecC ErudiU
L M U Y D. 233
little towards understanding the British bards, having seert
but one of those of the sixth century, and not being able
to procure access to two of the principal libraries in the
country. He communicated, however, many observations
to bishop Gibson, whose edition of the Britannia he re-
vised ; and published " Archasologia Britannica, giving
some account additional to what has been hitherto pub-
lished of the languages, histories, and customs, of the
original inhabitants of Great Britain, from collections and
observations in travels through Wales, Cornwall, Bas Bre-
tagne, Ireland, and Scotland, Vol, I. Glossography *."
Oxford, 1707, fol. He published also " Lithophylacii Bri-
tannici Iconographia," 1699, 8vo. This work, which is a
methodical catalogue of the figured fossils of the Ashmo-
leau museum, consisting of 1766 articles, was printed at
the expence of sir Isaac Newton, sir Hans Sloane, and a
few other of his learned friends. As only 120 copies were
printed, a new edition of it was published in 17 60 by
Mr. Huddesford, to which were annexed several letters
from Lhuyd to his learned friends, on the subject of fossils,
and a" prselectio" on the same subject.
fie left in MS. a Scottish or Irish-English dictionary,
proposed to be published in 1732 by subscription, by Mr.
David Malcolme, a minister of the church of Scotland, with
additions ; as also the elements of the said language, with
necessary and useful information for propagating more
effectually the English language, and for promoting the
knowledge of the ancient Scottish or Irish, and many
branches of useful and curious learning. Lhuyd, at the
end of his preface to the " Archaeologia," promises an his-
torical dictionary of British persons and places mentioned
in ancient records It seems to have been ready for press,
though he could not fix the time of publication. His col-
lections for a second volume, which was to give an account
of the antiquities, monuments, &c. in the principality of
Wales, were numerous and well-chosen j but, on account
* His " Glossography" is divided Davies's Dictionary." 6. " A Cornish
ioto ten titles : 1. " The Comparative Grammar." 7. " MSS. Britannicorum
Etymology." 2. " The Comparative Cataiogus." 8. " A British Etymo-
Vocabulary of the Original Languages logicon, by Mr. Parry, with an Ap-
of Britaiu and Ireland." 3. " An Ar- peudix." 9. " A brief Introduction to
morick Grammar, translated out of the Irish or ancient Scottish Lan-
Frencb, by Mr. Williams, the sub-li- guages." 10. " An Irish English Die-
brarian of the Museum." 4. " An tit»i>ary." And lastly, " A Catalogue
Armorick English Vocabulary." 5. uf Irish Manuscripts."
" Some Welsh Words omitted in Dr.
23* L H U Y D.
of a quarrel between him and Dr. Wynne, then fellow,
afterwards principal of the college, and bishop of St. Asaph,
the latter refused to buy them, and they were purchased
by sir Thomas Seabright, of Beachwood, in Hertfordshire,
whose grandson dispersed them by auction in 1807. Of
the sale and the chief articles, an account was given by
Mr. Gough in the Gentleman's Magazine for May of that
year. Carte made extracts from Mr. Lhuyd's MSS. about or
before 1736; but these were chiefly historical. Many of
his letters to Lister, and other learned contemporaries,
were given by Dr. Fothergill to the university of Oxford^
and are now in the Ashmolean museum. Lhuyd undertook
more for illustrating this part of the kingdom than any
one man besides ever did, or than any one man can be
equal to.
To this account of so eminent an antiquary we shall sub-
join some loose memoranda by the rev. Mr. Jones, a cu-
rious collector of anecdotes, and curate to Dr. Young at
Welwyn :
'* He was certainly a very extraordinary man, both for
natural abilities, and sedulous and successful application,
He deserved more encouragement.
" This little story of him was told me lately by a very
knowing person, who had it from good hands; viz. ' That
during his travels in Bretagny, in the time of our wars
with France, he was taken up for a spy, confined for a few
days to prison, and all his papers seized. The papers
being examined by the priests and Jesuits, and found to
be to them unintelligible, raised die greater suspicion.
But the principal managers against him, receiving assur-
ances, by letters from learned and respectable men in
England, that he was only pursuing inquiries relating to
the antiquities of Britain, and had not the least concern
with state-affairs, honourably dismissed him.' I wish I had
more little anecdotes of this kind to add, relating to that
truly great man. He would have done wonders if he bad
lived to complete his designs; and posterity would have
wondered, and thanked him.
" I remember I was told formerly at Oxford, by a gen-
tleman that knew and honoured him, ' that his death was
in all probability hastened, partly by his immoderate ap-
plication to researches into antiquity, and more so by his
chusing, for some time before his decease, to lie in a
room at the Museum, which, if not very damp, was at
LHUYD. 235
least not well-aired, nor could be.' This, it seemjs, was
then the current opinion ; for he was naturally, as I have
heard, of a very robust constitution. It would probably
have been better, if he could have contented himself with,
a chamber or two in his college, though only a sojourner
there, and paying rent. He well deserved to have lived
rent-free in any part of Great Britain ; though I do not;
know that his college denied him this piece of small respect
so evidently due to nis great merit.
" The ingenious and learned Mr. Thomas Richards (for-
merly a member of that college, and afterwards the most
worthy rector of Lhanvyllin in North Wales) told me, in
1756, " that, in a year or two after his admission into the
university, a consultation was held by the fellows of
Jesus- college, about a proper person of that college, or
any other native of Wales, (though of another college,) to
answer the celebrated * Muscipula,' then lately published
by the ingenious Mr. Holdsworth, of Magdalen-college, at
the request, and by the direction, of Dr. Sacheverell.
Those who knew, and had often observed, the collegiate
exercises of Mr. Richards, were pleased to propose him,
though of so low standing, as the fittest person that they
could think of for such an undertaking. Mr. Lhuyd, being
present, asked, ' Has he the caput poeticum ?' They assuring
him that he usually wrote in a strong Virgilian verse,
' Theji,' said Mr. Lhuyd, * I will give him a plan,' which
was that of the * Hoglandia,' since published and well
known. Mr. Richards, as he told me (and a friend of his
said the same), retired with leave, for about a week, out
of college, taking lodgings at St. Thomas's, and completed
the poem. When finished, and corrected by Mr. Lhuyd,
and Mr. Anthony Alsop, of Christ-church, Mr. Lhuyd
drew up a preface, or dedication, in very elegant Latin,
but in terms by much too severe, which made Mr. Richards
very uneasy, for he must obey. Before the poem was
sent to the press, Mr. Lhuyd died ; Richards was then at
liberty. He consulted with his friend Mr. Alsop (who was
greatly offended with Dr. S.'s haughty carriage), and both
together drew up the dedication as it now stands.
" A friend of Mr. Richards informed me, * that, upon
the publication of the * Muscipula,' Dr. 8. gave a cppy of
it to Mr. Lhuyd, with these haughty words : * Here, Mr.
Lhuyd, I give you a poem of banter upon your country;
and 1 defy all your countrymen to answer it.' This pro-
voked the old Cambrian,' &c.
236 L'H U Y D.
" He had prepared many other valuable materials, but
did not live to finish and publish them. His apparatus, in
rough draughts, are now in the possession of the family of
the Seabrights at Beach-wood, in the county of Hertford.
1 wish they were bestowed upon the British Museum in
London, or the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford, of which
latter the said Mr. Lhuyd was keeper.
" In some blank leaves of my printed copy of the afore-
»aid Archaeologia, I have minuted down some particular
anecdotes relating to this extraordinary person. The said
copy I intend to bestow for the use of the public academy
at Caermarthen, in South Wales, to be preserved in the
library there, amongst my other poor donations to that se-
minary of useful learning and religion.
" The story of SacheverelPs indecent affront to Mr.
Lhuyd is there set forth more at length, from an authentic
account, which I had from a person who well knew the
whole.
" At evenings, after his hard study in the day-time, he
used to refresh himself among men of learning and inquiry,
and more particularly Cambro-Britons, in friendly conver-
sations upon subjects of British antiquity ; communicating
his extensive knowledge therein, with much good humour,
freedom, and cheerfulness, and, at the same time, receiv-
ing from them farther and more particular informations,
subservient to his great and laudable designs. This, I
have been informed by good hands, was his general man-
ner. His travels furnished him with many more materials
for his work, and he knew how to make the best use of
them all.
" In the Ashmolean Museum at Oxford, is a Latin cata-
logue of the curiosities there, in his own hand-writing;
and the statutes of that place were drawn up by him under
the directions of the trustees thereof.
," There are many valuable MSS. of his still remaining
in private hands. See the anecdotes before mentioned,
prefixed to my printed copy of the Archaeologia.
" The remaining printed copies of the same book lay
mouldering in the aforesaid Museum at Oxford. I wish
they were purchased by some worthy antiquary, and dis-
persed." *
1 Biog. Brit. — Cough'* Topography, vol. II. — Owen's Brkish Remain*,
Svo.— I'uliuiuy'!, Skttcbea uf Botany.— Geut. Mag. vol. LXXVU. i>. 419,
L H U t D. 237
LHtJYD, LHWYD, or LHOYD (HUMPHREY), ^learned
English antiquary in the sixteenth century, was son and
heir of Mr. Robert Lhwyd alias Rossenhall of Denbigh in
Denbighshire, by Joan his wife, daughter of Lewis Pigott.
He was born at Denbigh, and was educated in the univer-
sity of Oxford ; but in what college is not known. It is
certain, however, that after he had taken the degree of
bachelor of arts, which was in 1547, he was commoner of
Brasen-nose college; and in 1551 took the degree of
master of arts as a member of that college ; at which time
he studied physic. Afterwards retiring to his own country,
he lived mostly within the walls of Denbigh castle, but,
Granger thinks, never practised as a physician, employing
his time chiefly in his antiquarian researches. He died
about 1570, and was interred near the church of Whit-
church near Denbigh ; where a monument was erected to
him. He had married Barbara daughter of George Lmn-
ley, and sister of John lord Lumley, by whom he had issue
Splendian and John, who both died without issue, Henry,
who lived at Cheam in Surrey, and Jane the wife of Rob.
Coytmore. Camden gives him a very great character, as
one of the best antiquaries of his time ; and be is by
Daines Barrington esteemed very accurate in what relates
to the history of Wales. He had a taste for the arts, par-
ticularly music, and executed the map of England for the
" Theatrum Orbis." He collected a great number of cu-
rious and useful books for his brother-in-law lord Lumley,
which were purchased by James I. and became the founda-
tion of the royal library. They are now a very valuable
part of the British Museum.
His writings are, 1. "An Almanack and Kalendar; con-
taining the day, hour, and minute, of the change of the
moon for ever," &c. 8vo. 2. " Commentarioli Britannicae
Descriptionis Fragmentuni. Colon. Agrip." 1572: of which
a new edition was published by Mr. Moses Williams, under
the title of " Humfredi Lhwyd, Armigeri, Britannicie De-
scriptionis Comrnentariolum: necnon de Monfi Insula, &
Britannica Arce sive Armamentario Romano Disceptatio
Epistolaris. Accedunt^raa Cambro-Britannicae. Accurante
Mose Gulielmo, A.M. R. S. Soc." Lond. 1731, 4to. Thi?
was translated into English by Tho. Twyne, who entitled
it, " The Breviary of Britain,'' Lond. 1753, 8vo. 3. " De
JVionfi Druidum Insula, Antiquitati sine restitutfi ;" in a
letter to Abraham Ortelius, April 5, 1568. 4. " De
238 L H U Y D.
mentario Romano." These two last are printed at the end
of " Historic Britannicae Defensio ; written by sir John
Price," Lond. 1573, 4to. 5. " Chronicon Wallisr, a Rege
Cadtvalladero, usque ad Ann. Dom. 1294," MS. in the
Cottontail library. 6. " The History of Cambria, now called
:Wa!es, from Caradoc of Lancarvan, the Registers of Con-
^ray and Stratflnr ; with a Continuation, chiefly extracted
from Mat. Paris, Nic. Trivet, &c." He died before this
was quite finished; but sir Henry Sidney, lord -president
of Wales, having procured a copy of it, employed Dr.
David Powel to prepare it for the press, who published
it under this title : "The Historic of Cambria, now called
Wales ; a part of the most famous yland of Britaine ; writ-
ten in the Brytish language above two hundred years past;
translated into English by H. Lloyd, gent, corrected, aug-
mented, and continued out of Records and best approved
Authors," Lond. 1584, 4to. Our author translated also,
7. " The Treasure of Health ; containing many profitable
Medicines, written by Peter Hispanus." To which were
added, " The Causes and Signs of every Disease, with
the Aphorisms of Hippocrates,'* Lond. 1585. And 8.
"The Judgment of Urines," Lond. 1551, 8vo.'
LIBANIUS, a celebrated sophist of antiquity, was born
of an ancient and noble family at Antioch, on the Orontes,
in the year 3 1 4. Suidas calls his father " Phasganius ;" but
this was the name of one of his uncles; the other, who was
the elder, was named Panolbius. His great-grandfather,
who excelled in the art of divination, had published some
pieces in Latin, which occasioned his being supposed by
some, but falsely, to be an Italian. His maternal and pa-
ternal grandfathers were eminent in rank and in eloquence;
the latter, with his brother Brasidas, was put to death by
the order of Dioclesian, in the year 303, after the tumult
of the tyrant Eugenius. Libanius, the second of his fa-
ther's three sons, in the fifteenth year of his age, wishing
to devote himself entirely to literature, complains that he
met with some " shadoxvs of sophists." Then, assisted
by a proper master, he began to read the ancient writers
at Antioch ; and thence, with Jasion, a Cappadocian, went
to Athens, and residing there for more than four years,
became intimately acquainted with Crispinus of Heraclea,
1 Ath. Ox. vol. I.— (ico. Diet. — Granger. — Oldy»'« British Librarian.— Bar-
xington on the Statutes, p. 559.
L I B A N I U S. 239
who, he says, " enriched him afterwards with books at
Nicomedia, and went, but seldom, to the schools of Dio-
phantus." At Constantinople he ingratiated himself with
Nicocles of Lacedosmon (a grammarian, who was master
to the emperor Julian), and the sophist Bermarchius. Re-
turning to Athens, and soliciting the office of a professor,
which the proconsul had before intended for him when he
was twenty- five years of age, a certain Cappadocian hap-
pened to be preferred to him. But being encouraged by
Dionysius, a Sicilian who had been prefect of Syria, some
specimens of his eloquence, that were published at Con-
stantinople, made him so generally known and applauded,
that he collected more than eighty disciples, the two so-
phists, who then filled the chair there, raging in vain, and
Bermarchius ineffectually opposing him in rival orations,
and, when he could not excel him, having recourse to the
frigid calumny of magic. At length, about the year 346,
. being expelled the city by his competitors, the prefect
Limenius concurring, he repaired to Nice, and soon after
to Nicomedia, the Athens of Bithynia, where his excel-
lence in speaking began to be more and more approved bv
all ; and Julian, if not a hearer, was a reader and admirer
of his orations. In the dame'city, he says, " he was par-
ticularly delighted with the friendship of Aristaenetus ;" and
the five years which he passed there, he styles " the spring
or any thing else that can be conceived pleasanter than
spring, of his whole life." Being invited again to Con-
stantinople, and afterwards returning to Nicomedia, being
also tired of Constantinople, where he found Phoenix and
Xenobius, rival sophists, though he was patronised by
Strategius, who succeeded Domitian as prefect of the East,
not daring on account of his rivals to occupy the Athenian
chair, he obtained permission from Gallus Cassar to visit
for four months, his native city Antioch, where, after Gal-
lus was killed, in the year 354, he fixed his residence for
the remainder of his life, and initiated many in the sacred
rites of eloquence. He was also much beloved by the em-
peror Julian, who heard his discourses with pleasure, re-
ceived him with kindness, and imitated him in his writings.
Honoured by that prince with the rank of quaestor, and
with several epistles of which six only are extant, the' last
written by the emperor during' his fatal expedition against
the Persians, he the more lamented his death in the flower
of Ms age, as from him he had promised himself a certain
240 L I B A N I U S.
and lasting support both in the worship of idols and in his
own studies. There was afterwards a report, that Liba-
IHUS, with the younger Jamblichus, the master of Proclus,
inquired by divination who would be the successor of Va-
lens, and ia consequence with difficulty escaped his cru-
elty, Irenaeus attesting the innocence of Libanius. In like
manner he happily escaped another calumny, by the favour
of duke Lupicinus, when he was accused by his enemy
Fidelis, or Fidustius, of having written an eulogium on the
tyrant Procopius. He was not, however, totally neglected
by Valens, whom he not only celebrated in an oration,
but obtained from him a confirmation of the law against
entirely, excluding illegitimate children from the inherit-
ance of their paternal estates, which he solicited from the
emperor, no doubt for a private reason, since, as Eunapius
informs us, he kept a mistress, and was never married.
The remainder of his life he passed as before mentioned,
at Antioch, to an advanced age, amidst various wrongs
and oppressions from his rivals and the times, which he
copiously relates in bis life, though, tired of the manners
of that city, be had thoughts, in his old age, of changing
his abode, as he tells Eusebius. He continued there, how-
ever, and on various occasions was very serviceable to the
city, either by appeasing seditions, and calming the dis-
turbed minds of the citizens, or by reconciling to them
the emperors Julian and Theodosius. That Libanius lived
even to the reign of Arcadius, that is, beyond the seven-
tieth year of his age, the learned collect from his oration
ou Lucian, and the testimony of Cedrenus ; and of the
same opinion is Godfrey Olearius, a man not more re-
spectable for his exquisite knowledge of sacred and polite
literature than for bis judgment and probity, in his' MS
prelections, in which, when he was professor of both lan-
guages in the university of his own country, he has given
an account of the life of this sophist.
The writings of Libanius are numerous, and he com-
posed and delivered various orations, as welt demonstrative
as deliberative, and also many fictitious declamations and
disputations. Of these Frederic Morell published as many
as he could collect in 2 vols. folio, in Greek and Latin.
In the first vol. Paris, 1606, are XIII " Exercises" (Pro-
gymnasmala) ; XLIV " Declamations;" and in "Moral
Dissertations :" and in the second vol. Paris, 1627, are the
" Life of Libanius," and xxxvi other orations, most of
L 1 B A N 1 U &
them long and on serious subjects. This edition of Morcll
having long been discovered to be very erroneous, the
learned Reiske undertook a new edition, collated with six
MSS. which he did not live to complete, but which was
at last published by his widow in 1791 — 1797, 4 vols. 8vo.
Of the productions of Libanius, Gibbon says that they
are, for the most part, the vain and idle compositions of
an orator who cultivated the science of words ; the produc-
tions of a recluse student, whose mind, regardless of his
contemporaries, was incessantly fixed on the Trojan war
and the Athenian commonwealth.
Besides what are contained in the above volumes, and
his epistles, published by Wolff, Amst. 1738, fol. ten other
works of this sophist have been separately published, most
of them orations; and in the " Excerpta Rhetorum" of Leo
Allatius, Greek and Latin, Rom. 1641, Svo, are xxxix
" Narrations,'* vn te Descriptions," and vn more " Ex-
ercises of Libanius, with translations by Allatius.'* His
unpublished works are, 1. Many hundred " Epistles" yet
concealed in various libraries, a mode of writing in which,
it appears he excelled, by the testimony even of the
ancients, particularly Eunapius and Photius ; and of
that the perusal of them will easily convince the intelligent
reader ; for they abound with Attic wit and humour, and
every where recommend themselves by their pointed con*
ciseness no less than by the*: elegance and learning*.
2. Several " Orations" in a MS. of the Barberini library,
correctly written on vellum. 3. " Various Declamations,"
in the above MS. and also in the Vatican library. And
that there are are many MS epistles, orations, and decla-
mations of Libauius, in the imperial library at Vienna,
Nesselius has observed, affirming also, that several Greek
scholia are frequently inserted in the margin. Though so
many of the writings of this sophist are preserved, there is
no doubt that many both of his " Epistles" and " Orations"
have been lost.*
* Dr. Bentley, however, (Disserta- judgment Of Libanius as a writer is,
tion upon Phalaris, p. 487,) observes, that, " while he affects to be very Dice
that «' you feel, by the emptiness and and curious, he destroys the simplicity
deadness of them, that you converse and elegance of language, and become*
with some dreaming pedant, with bis obscure." Cod. xr.
elbow upon the desk." Photius's
» Select Works of Julian, by Mr. Duncombe, 1784, vol. II. p. 216.— Gib-
bon's Hist. — Hayley's Life of Cowper, preface, p. xxxiii* 8yo edit,— Lardaer's >
Works.— Cave, vol. I,— SaxirOnoinast.
VOL. XX. R
349 L I B A V I U S.
LIBAVIUS (ANDREW), a physician and chemist, born
at Hall, in Saxony, was professor of history and poetry at
Jena, in 1588, but removed to Rothenburg, on the Tauber,
in 1591, and to Coburg, in Franconia, in 1605, where he
was appointed principal of the college of Casimir, at that
place. He died at Coburg in 1616. Libavius obtained a
considerable reputation in his time by his chemical works,
having pursued that science upon better principles than
most of his contemporaries, although he did not altogether
escape the delusions of alchemy. Although he employed
many chemical preparations in medicine, he avoided the
violence of Paracelsus and his disciples, against whom he
frequently defends the doctrines of the Galenical school.
He left bis name long attached, in the laboratories, to a
particular preparation of tin with muriatic acid, which was
called " the fuming liquor of Libavius." It is unnecessary to
enumerate the titles of his many works, which have now
become obsolete, and are almost forgotten. His last work,
published at Francfort in 1615, under the title of " Exa-
rnen Philosophise Novae, quae veteri abrogandac opponitur,"
folio, is remarkable for the first mention of the transfusion
of blood from the vessels of one living animal to those of
another, of which he speaks with great confidence, and
which once excited great expectations, which have con-
fessedly been disappointed. '
LICETUS (FORTUNIUS), a celebrated physician and
philosopher, was born at Rapallo, in the state of Genoa,
Oct. 3, 1577, where his father was also a physician. After
completing his education at Bologna, in 15J9, he obtained
the professorship of philosophy at Pisa, which he filled with
so. much reputation that he was invited to the same chair in
the university of Padua in 1609, and occupied it until
1636. He removed at that time to Bologna, in conse-
quence of failing to obtain the professorship of medicine,
when vacant by the death of Cremonini. But the Venetian
states very soon acknowledged the loss which the university
of Padua had sustained by the retirement of Licetus ; and
the same vacancy occurring in 1645, he was induced, by
the pressing invitations which were made to him, to re-
turn to Padua, and held that professorship till his death in
1657. He was a very copious writer, having published
upwards of fifty treatises upon medical, moral, philosophi-
* Reel's Cyclopedia, from Elqy and Hallcr.
L"I C E T U.S.
cal, antiquarian, and historical subjects ; but they are no
longer sufficiently interesting to require a detail of their
titles, as, notwithstanding his erudition, he displays little
acuteness in research or originality of conception. His
treatise " De Monstrorum Causis, Natur&, et Differentiis,"
which is best known, is replete with instances of credulity,
and with the fables and superstitions of his predecessors,
and contains a classification of the monsters which had
been previously described, without any correction from his
own observations. The best edition is that of Gerard Bla*
sius, in 1668.1
LID DEL (DUNCAN), professor of mathematics, and of
medicine, in the university of Helmstadt, the son of John
Liddel, a reputable citizen of Aberdeen, was born there
in 1561, and educated in the languages and philosophy at
the schools and university of Aberdeen. In 1579, having
a great desire to visit foreign countries, he went from Scot-
land to Dantzic, and thence through Poland to Francfort
on the Oder, where John Craig, afterwards first physician
to James VI. king of Scotland, then taught logic and ma-
thematics. By his liberal assistance Mr. Liddei was en-
abled to continue at the university of Francfort for three
years, during which he applied himself very diligently to
mathematics • and philosophy under Craig and the other
professors, and also entered upon the study of physic. In
1582, Dr. Craig being about to return to Scotland, sent
Liddel to prosecute his studies at Wratislow, or Breslaw,
in Silesia, recommending him to the care of that celebrated
statesman, Andreas Dudithius ; and during his residence at
Breslaw, Liddel made uncommon progress in his favourite
study of mathematics, under Paul Wittichius, an eminent
professor.
In 1584 Liddel returned to Francfort, and again applied
to physic, and at the same time instructed some pupils in
various branches of mathematics and philosophy. In 1587,
being obliged to leave Francfort on account of the plague,
he retired to the university of Rostock, where his talents
attracted the esteem of Brucseus, and Caselius, which last
observes, that, as far as he knew, Liddel was the first per-
son in Germany who explained the motions of the heavenly
bodies according to the three different hypotheses of Pto-
lemy, Copernicus, and Tycho Brahe. With these learned
1 Chaufepie.~Niceron,, vol. XXVII. — Moreri,— Rees's Cyclopaedia.— Saxii
Onomasticon,
R 2
£44 L I D D E L.
men he lived more like a companion than a pupil; and
Brucxus, himself an excellent mathematician, acknow-
ledged that he was instructed by Licldel in the more per-
fect knowledge of the Copernican system, and other astro-
nomical questions. It was probably during his residence
here that Licldel became acquainted with Tycho Brahe. In
1590, having taken his master's degree at Rostock, he
returned once more to Francfort; but, hearing of the in-
creasing reputation of the new university at Helmstadt,
where his friend Caselius had accepted the chair of philo-
sophy, he removed thither, and in 1591 was appointed to
the first or lower professorship of mathematics, and in 1594
to the second and more dignified mathematical chair, which
he filled with great reputation to himself and to the univer-
sity. In 1596 he obtained the degree of doctor of medi-
cine, aitd both taught and practised physic, and was em-
ployed as first physician at the court of Brunswick. His
reputation being now at its height, he was several times
chosen dean of the faculties, both of philosophy and phy-
sic, and in 1604, pro-rector of the university, the year
before he resigned his mathematical professorship.
In 1607, having a strong inclination to pass the re-
mainder of his days in his native country, which he had
frequently visited during his residence at Helmstadt, ha
took a final leave of that city, and after travelling for some
time through Germany and Italy, at length settled in Scot-
land. The first account we have of him after his return
relates to his giving some lands, purchased by him near
Aberdeen, to the university there for the education and
support of six poor scholars. This occurred in 1612, and
the following year he gave a sum to found a professorship
of mathematics, and bequeathed his whole collection of
books and mathematical instruments to Marischal college,
directing a small sum to be expended annually in adding to
the collection, and another to be distributed among the
poor. This appears to have been the last act of his life,
for he died Dec. 17th of that year, 1613, in the fifty-
second year of his age, and was buried in the West church
of Aberdeen, where the magistrates placed in memory of
him a large tablet of brass, upon which is engraved a figure
of the deceased in his professor's gown and cap, surrounded
by books and instruments, and accompanied by a suitable
inscription'. An engraved portrait, taken from this plate
at the expeiice of the late sir David Dairy mple, lord Hailes,
LIDDEL. 245
is prefixed to the life of Dr. Liddel, drawn up by professor
Stuart, of Aberdeen, and published in 1790, 4to. To this
we are indebted for the present sketch.
Dr. Liddel's works are, 1. " Disputationum Medicina*
lium," 1605, 4 vols. 4to, consisting of theses maintained
by himself and his pupils at Helmstadt from 1592 to 1606.
The copy in the library at Aberdeen is full of MS notes
in his own hand. Manget mentions what appears to be a
new edition, or a new arangement, of these theses, pub-
lished at Helmstadt in 1720, 4to, under the title of " Uni-
versae Medicinae compendium." 2. " Ars Medica, suc-
cincte et perspicue explicata," Hamburgh, 1607, 8vo, re-
printed at Lyons, 1624, by Serranus ; and again at Ham-
burgh, 1628, by Frobenius, who acknowledges his obliga-
tions to Dr. Patrick Dun, principal of the Marischal College
of Aberdeen, for the use of a copy corrected and enlarged
by the author. 3. " De Febribus libri tres," Hamburgh,
1610, 12mo, republished by Serranus, along with the
" Ars Medica." 4. " Tractatus de dente aureo," &c. ibid.
1628, 12mo, in answer to Horstius's ridiculous account of
a boy who had a golden tooth. (See JAMES HORSTIUS). He
appears to have undertaken this work out of regard to the
reputation of the university of Helmstadt, which, Horstius
being one of the professors, he thought might be affected
by this imposture. 5. " Artis conservandi Sanitatem, li-
bri duo, a C. D. doctore Liddelio defuncto delineati, ope-
ra et studio D. Patricii Dunaei, M. D. &c." Aberdeen, 1631,
12mo. In the preface to this work Dr. Dun, who had
studied physic at Helmstadt under Dr. Liddel, says, that
having found the MS. among his papers, he thought it a
duty he owed to the public and his old master, to complete
and publish it. All these writings received the distinguished
approbation of his colleagues and contemporaries, and have
been mentioned with respect by succeeding authors. l
LIEBERKUHN (JOHN-NATHANIEL), a Prusian anato-
mist, was bnrn at Berlin in 1711. His inclinations led him
early to cultivate philosophy and anatomy : but it was not
until he was about his twenty-fifth year that he was per-
mitted entirely to indulge them. His acquisitions before
that period had, indeed, been considerable ; and after it
he pursued his studies at Hall, Jena, Leyden, Paris, and
London. In 1740, he was elected a member of the royal
i A Sketch of the Life of Dr. Duncan Liddel, Ab«r. 1790, 4to
246 L I E B E R K U H N.
society of London, and of other learned societies on the
continent. He returned to Berlin in that year, by the ex-
press command of the king of Prussia, and became cele-
brated for his anatomical researches, and a fine museum of
anatomical preparations which he accumulated. He died
at Berlin of a peripneumony, in 1756. The only works he
left were reprinted at London, in 1782, by John Sheldon,
esq. lecturer on anatomy, 4to, under the title of " Disser-
tationes quatuor.*' The first is the author's thesis on the
structure of the valve of the colon, and the use of the pro-
cessus vermicularis ; the second, on the structure and ac-
tion of the villi of the small intestines of the human body :
the third, on the proper methods of discovering the struc-
ture of the viscera : the fourth, on the anatomical micro-
scope. It is said that his eye-sight had almost the power
of a microscope, and that he could perceive with the naked
eye objects to which other men were obliged to apply mi-
croscopes and magnifiers. This account may perhaps
have been a little exaggerated, but we cannot doubt that
a description of his anatomical microscope will affect every
humane mind with horror. To it belongs an apparatus
for the purpose of crucifying living animals, and fixing
them and their bowels in such a manner, with pointed
hooks, as that they cannot move, in the midst of their pro-
tracted tortures, so as to disturb the operator, after he has
opened their bellies, and dragged out their intestines, for
his deliberate inspection. We have no words to express
our detestation of such cruelty, nor, we trust, are any
necessary.1
LflEUTAUD (JOSEPH), a celebrated physician and ana-
tomist, was born at Aix, in Provence, June 21, 1703. His
family, long established at Aix, had produced many distin-
guished officers, ecclesiastics, lawyers, &c. He was at
first intended by his parents for the church j but the re-
putation of his maternal uncle Garidel, the professor of
medicine at Aix, gave him a bias to the study of medi-
cine, and particularly botany, in which his researches and
skill soon occasioned him to be promoted to the chairs of
botany and anatomy at Aix, which bis uncle had long
filled. His lectures on anatomy were much attended, and
by an audience comprising many persons not engaged in
* Diet Hist — Sheldoo'i edition. — Month. Rev. TO!. LX VIII, — Lounger's
Common-Place Book, T«l. IV.
L I E U T A U D. 247
the study of medicine, and among others, the marquis
d'Argens, the intimate friend of the king. M. Lieutaud
published, in 1742, a syllabus of anatomy for the use of
his pupils, entitled " Essais auatomiques, contenant 1'His-
toire exacte de toutes les parties qui composent le corps
humaine •;" it was several times reprinted, with improve-
ments, and in 1777 was edited by M. Portal, in 2 volumes.
He communicated also several papers on morbid anatomy,
and on physiology, to the academy of sciences, of which
he was elected a corresponding member. In 1749, how-
ever, he quitted his post at Aix, and went to Versailles,
at the instance of the celebrated Senac, who then held the
highest appointment at court, and who obtained for Lieu-
taud the appointment of physician to the royal infirmary.
•This act of friendship is said to have originated from the
private communication of some errors, which Lieutaud
had detected in a work of M. Senac, and which he did not
deem it proper to publish. At Versailles he continued his
anatomical investigations with unabated zeal, and was soon
after his arrival elected assistant anatomist to the royal
academy, to which he continued to present many valuable
memoirs. He also printed a volume entitled " Elementa
Physiologice," &c. Paris, 1749, which had been composed
for the use of his class at Aix. In 1755, he was nominated
physician to the royal family; and twenty years afterwards,
he obtained the place of first physician to the king, Louis
XVI. In 1759 he published a system of the practice of
medicine, under the title of *' Precis de la Medicine pra-
tique," which underwent several editions, with great aug-
mentations, the best of which is that of Paris, 1770, in
2 vols. 4to. In 1766, he published a "Precis de la Ma-
tiere medicale," in 8vo, afterwards reprinted in 2 vols.
But his most important work, which still ranks high in the
estimation of physicians, is that which treats of the seats
and causes of diseases, ascertained by his innumerable dis-
sections. It was entitled " Historia Anatomico-medica,
sistens numerosissima cadaverum humanorum extispicia,"
Paris, 1767, in 2 vols. 4to. M. Lieutaud died Septem-
ber 6, 1780, after an illness of five days.1
LIEVENS (JAN, or JOHN), a historical painter of great
merit, was born in 1607, at Ley den, and placed under
the care of Joris Van Schooten, and afterwards of Peter
I Eloges des Academkyeus, vol. II,— Rees's Cyclopaedia, from Eloy.
948 L I E V E N S.
Lastman. Portrait was perhaps that branch of the art in
which he uniformly excelled, yet some of his historical pieces
are deserving of the highest praise. His," Resurrection of
Lazarus" is a work, Mr. Fuseli says, which, in sublimity
of conception, leaves all attempts of other masters on the
same subject far behind. His " Contiqence of Scipio," is
also celebrated in very high terms. Another of his per-
formances, applauded by the poets as well as the artists of
his time, is his " Student in his library," the figures as
large as life. This was purchased by the prince of Orange,
and presented by him to Charles I. It was the means of
procuring him a favourable reception at the English court,
where he painted the portraits of the royal family and
many of the nobility. After residing in England for three
years, he went to Antwerp, and was incessantly employed.
The time of his death is not specified.1
LIGHTFOOT (JOHN), a learned English divine, was
born on the 19th or 29th of March, 1602, at Stoke upon
Trent, in Staffordshire. His father was Thomas Light foot,
vicar of Uttoxeter in that county *. After having finished
his studies at a school kept by Mr. Whitehead on Morton-
green, near Congleton in Cheshire, he was removed in
1617, to Cambridge, and put under the tuition of Mr,
William Chappel, then fellow of Christ's college there,
and afterwards bishop of Cork in Ireland, who was also the
tutor of Henry More, Milion, &c. At college he applied
himself to eloquence, and succeeded so well as to be
thought the best orator of the undergraduates in the uni»
versity. He also made an extraordinary proficiency in the
Latin and Greek ; but neglected the Hebrew, and even
lost that knowledge he brought of it from school. His
taste for the Oriental languages was not yet excited ; and,
as for logic, the study of it, as managed at that time
* Mr. Thomas Lightfoot was born died January the 24tb, 1636, at the age
at a little village called Shelton, in the of seventy-one. Mr. Thomas Light-
parish of Stoke upon Trent in Stafford- foot had by her five sens, the second
shire. He was in holy orders six and of whom was John our author. The
fifty years, and was thirty-six vicar of eldest was Thomas, who was brought
Uttoxeter. He died July the 21st, up to trade. The third, Peter, was a
1658, in the eighty-first year of his physician, and practised at Uttoxeter.
age. He married Mrs. Klizabeth Hag- The fourth was Josiah, who succeeded
rial, a gentlewoman of very good fa- his brother, Dr. John Lightfoot-, irt the
Wily; three of which family were made living of Ashley in Staftbidshire. The
(mights by queen Elizabeth for their youngest was Samuel, wLo was like*
valour hi the wars in I.elaud. She ivi»c a clergyman.
• t I G H T F O O T. 24.0
among the academics, was too contentious for his quiet
and meek disposition.
As soon as he had taken the degree of B. A. he left the
university, and became assistant to his former master, Mr.
Wbitehead, who then kept a school at Repton, in Derby-
shire. After he had supplied this place a year or two, he
entered into orders, and became curate of Norton under
Hales, in Shropshire. This curacy gave an occasion of
awakening his genius for the Hebrew tongue. Norton,
lies near Bellaport, then the seat of sir Rowland Cotton,
who was his constant hearer, made him his chaplain, and
took him into his house. This gentleman being a perfect
master of the Hebrew language, engaged Lightfoot in that
study ; who, by conversing with his patron, soon became
sensible, that, without that knowledge, it was impossible
to attain an accurate understanding of the Scriptures. He
therefore applied himself to it with extraordinary vigour
and success ; and his patron removing, with his family, to
reside in London, at the request of sir Allan Cotton, his
uncle, who was lord-mayor of that city, he followed his
preceptor thither. He had not been long in London be-
fore he conceived the design of going abroad for farther
improvement ; and with that view he went into Stafford-
shire, and took leave of his father and mother. Passing,
however, through Stone in that county, he found the place
destitute of a minister ; and the pressing instances of the
parishioners prevailed upon him to undertake that cure.
He now laid aside all thoughts of going abroad, and hav-
ing in 1628 become possessed of the living, he married
the daughter of William Crompton, of Stone-park, esq.
After a time, his excessive attachment to rabbinical learn-
ing occasioned another removal to London, for the sake of
Sion-college-library, which he knew was well stocked with
books of that kind. He therefore quitted his charge at
Stone, and removed with his family to Hornsey, near
London, where he gave the public a specimen of his ad-?
vancement in those studies, by his " Erubhirn, or Miscel-
lanies Christian and Judaical," in 1629. He was now only
27 years of age, and appears to have been well acquainted
with the Latin and the Greek fathers, as well as with Plu-
tarch, Plato, and Homer, and seems also to have had
some skill in the modern languages. Tiiese first fruits of
his studies were dedicated to sir Rowland Cotton ; who,
250 L I G H T F O O T.
in 1631, presented him to the rectory of Ashley, in Staf-
fordshire.
Thinking himself now fixed for life, he built a study in
the garden, retired from the noise of the house ; and ap-
plied himself for twelve years with indefatigable diligence
in searching the Scriptures. Thus employed, the day*
passed very agreeably ; and he continued quiet and unmo-
lested till the great change which happened in the public
affairs, brought him into a share of the administration re-
lating to the church; for he was nominated a member of
the memorable assembly of divines, for settling a new
form of ecclesiastical polity. This appointment was purely
the effect of his distinguished merit ; and he accepted it
purely with a view to serve his country as far as lay in his
power ; but, although he contended on some points with
many of the most able innovators in that assembly, it can-
not be denied that he had a favourable opinion of the Pres-
byterian form of church- government. The necessity for
residing in London, in consequence of this appointment,
induced him to resign his rectory ; and, having obtained
the presentation for a younger brother, he set out for
London in 1642. He had now satisfied himself in clearing
up many of the abstrusest passages in the Bible, and had
provided the chief materials, as well as formed the plan,
of his " Harmony ;" and an opportunity of inspecting it
at the press was, no doubt, an additional motive. for his
going to the capital. Here, however, he had not beert
long, before he was chosen minister of St. Bartholomew's,
behind the Royal Exchange. He lived at this time at the
upper end of Moore-lane, whence he dedicated to his
parishioners of St. Bartholomew, his " Handful of Glean-
ings out of the Book of Exodus." The assembly of divines
meeting in lf>43, our author gave his attendance diligently
there, and made a distinguished figure in their debates ;
where he used great freedom, and gave signal proofs of
his courage as well as learning, in opposing many of those
tenets which the divines were endeavouring to establish.
His learning recommended him to the parliament, whose
visitors, having ejected Dr. William Spurstow from the
mastership of Catharine-hall in Cambridge, put Lightfoot
in bis room this year, 1643 ; and he was also presented to
the living of Much-Mundeii, in Hertfordshire, void by the
death of Dr. Samuel Ward, Margaret- professor of divinity
in that university, before the expiration of this year. In
LIGHTFOOT. 251
the mean time he had taken his turn with other favourites
in preaching before the House of Commons, most of which
sermons were printed; and in them we see him warmly
pressing the speedy settlement of the church in the Pres-
byterian form, w^ich he cordially believed to be according
to the pattern in the Mount. His leisure hours he em-
ployed in preparing and publishing the several branches of
his "Harmony;" all which, although decidedly proving
the usefulness of human learning to true religion, occa-
sioned to him great difficulties and discouragements, chiefly
owing to the vulgar prejudices of the illiterate part of the
revolutionists, which threatened even the destruction of
the universities. In 1655, he entered upon the office of
vice-chancellor of Cambridge, to which he was chosen that
year, having taken the degree .of doctor of divinity in
1652. He performed all the regular exercises for his de-
gree with great applause*, and executed the vice-chan-
cellor's office with exemplary diligence and fidelity ; and,
particularly at the commencement, supplied the place of
professor of divinity, then undisposed of, at an act which
was kept for a doctor's degree in that profession f. At the
same time he was engaged, with others, in completing the
celebrated Polyglott Bible, then in the press ; which being
encouraged by Oliver Cromwell, he expressed his joy at
this high patronage, in his speech at the commencement.
He also took occasion to commiserate the oppressed state
of the clergy of the church of England, and to extol their
learning, zeal, and confidence, in God.
At the restoration, he offered to resign the mastership
of Catharine-hall to Dr. Spurstow, who declining it, ano-
ther person t would have been preferred by the crown, in
which the right of presentation lay. But, as what Light-
foot had done had been rather in compliance with the ne-
cessity of the times than from any zeal or spirit .of oppo-
sition to the king and government, Sheldon, abp. of Can-
terbury, readily and heartily engaged to serve him, though
personally unknown ; and procured him a confirmation
* His thesis was upon this question : nor extraordinary gifts, in the church.
" Post Canonetn Scripture consigna- •(• The questions were, 1. " Whether
turn non sunt novae Revelationes ex- the state of innocency was a state of
pectande." He has written much, in immortality ?" 2. " Whether eternal
various parts of his works, upon this life js promised in the Old Testament?"
subject. It was his opinion, that, after Both which be maintained in the affir-
the closing of the canon of Scripture, mature,
there was neither prophecy, miracles,
252 L I G H T F O O T.
from the crown, both of his place, and of his living.
Soon after this, he was appointed one of the assistants
at the conference upon the liturgy, which was held
in the beginning of 1661, but attended only once or
twice, being more intent on completing his " Harmony ;"
and, being of a strong and healthy constitution, and re-
markably temperate, he prosecuted his studies with un-
abated vigour to the last, and continued to publish, not-
withstanding the many difficulties he met with from the
expence of it *. Not long, however, before he died, some
booksellers got a promise from him to collect and metho-
dize his works, in order to print them; but the fulfilment
was prevented by his death, which happened at Ely Dec.
6, 1675. He was interred at Great Munden, in Hert-
fordshire.
As to his rabbinical learning, he was excelled by none,
and had few equals ; and foreigners who came to England
for assistance in their rabbinical studies, usually paid their
court to him, as one of the most eminent scholars in that
branch. Among these were Frederic Miege and Theo-
dore Haak, who were peculiarly recommended also to Dr.
Pocock, with whom our author had a correspondence ; as
also Dr. Marshal of Lincoln-college, in Oxford ; Samuel
Clarke, keeper of the Bodleian library ; Dr. Bernard, of
St. John's; and the famous Buxtorf ; were all correspond-
ents of his. Castell acknowledges his obligations to him,
when he had little encouragement elsewhere. It is true,
he is charged with maintaining some peculiar opinions t ;
of which he says, " Innocua, ut spero, semper proponens;'*
yet he bore the reputation of one of the most ingenious as
well as learned of our English commentators, and has been
of great service to his successors. He bequeathed his
whole library of rabhinical works, oriental books, &c. to
Harvard college, iu America, where the whole were burnt
in 1769.
* In a letter to Buxtorf, he declares, f The principal of these are perhapi
'• that he could scarce find any book- his belief, that the smallest points in
sellers in England who would venture the Hebrew text were of divine institu-
to print his works, and that be was tiou ; that the keys were given to Peter
obliged to print some of them at his alone, exclusive of the other apostles ;
own expence ;" and Frederic Miegc, in that the power of binding and loosing
a letter, informed him, " that there related not to discipline, hut to doc-
Was not a bookseller in Germany, w.ho trine. Add to these, his mean opinion
would freely undertake the impression of the Septuagint rrrrion; ami the
of his Commentary upon the first Epis- utter rejection of the Jews, wktdi ue
tie to the Corinthians." See the~«> let- maintained, contrary to the cinumou
t rs in his works, vol. III. at the cud. opinion of divines.
LIGHTFOOT. 253
The doctor was twice married ; his first wife, already
mentioned, brought him four sons and two daughters.
His eldest son, JOHN, who was chaplain to Bryan Walton,
bishop of Chester, died soon after that prelate. His se-
cond was ANASTASIUS, who had also these additions to that
name, Cotton us Jackson us, in memory of sir Rowland
Cotton and sir John Jackson, two dear friends of our au-
thor ; he was minister of Thundridge, in Hertfordshire,
and died there, leaving one son. His third son was ANAS-
TASIUS too, but without any addition ; he was brought up
to trade in London. His fourth son was THOMAS, who
died young. His daughters was Joice and Sarah, the for-
mer of whom was married to Mr. John Duckfield, rector
of Aspeden, in Hertfordshire, into whose hands fell the
doctor's papers, which he communicated to Mr. Strype.
The other married Mr. Coclough, a Staffordshire gentle-
man. This lady died in 1656, and was interred in the church
of Munden, in Hertfordshire. The doctor's second wife was
relict of Mr. Austin Brograve, uncle of sir Thomas Bro-
grave, bart. of Hertfordshire, a gentleman well versed in
rabbinical learning, and a particular acquaintance of our
author. He had no issue by her. She also died before
him, and was buried in Munden church.
Df. Lightfoot was comely in his person, of 'full pro-
portion, and of a ruddy complexion. "He was exceeding
temperate in his diet. He ordinarily resided among his
parishioners at Munden, with whom he lived in great har-
mony and affection, and in a hospitable and charitable
manner. He never left them any longer than to perform,
the necessary residence at Cambridge and Ely; and during
that absence would frequently say " he longed to be with
his russet coats." He was a constant preacher ; and Mun-
derr being a large parish, and the parsonage-house a mile
from the church, and as he attended there every Sunday,
read prayers and preached morning and afternoon, he fre-
quently continued all day in the church, not taking any
refreshment till the evening service was over. He was
easy of access, grave, but yet affable and communicative.
His countenance was expressive of his disposition, which
was uncommonly mild and tender.
Dr. Lightfoot's works were collected and published first
in 1684, in 2 vols. folio. The second edition was printed
at Amsterdam, 1686, in 2 vols. folio, containing all his
Latin writings, with a Latin translation of those which he
L I G H T F O O T.
wrote in English. At the end of both these editions there
is a list of such pieces as he left unfinished. It is the chief
of these, in Latin, which make up the third volume, added
to the former two, in a third edition of his works, by John
Leusden, at Utrecht, in 1699, fol. They were commu-
nicated by Mr. Strype, who in 1700 published another
collection of these papers, under the title of " Some ge-
nuine Remains of the late pious and learned Dr. John
Lightfoot." This contains some curious particulars of his
life.1
LIGHTFOOT (JoflN), a distinguished botanist* was
born at Newent, in the forest of Dean, Gloucestershire,
Dec. 9, 1735. His father, Stephen Lightfoot, was a re-
putable yeoman or gentleman farmer, who died in 1769,
with a very amiable character, expressed on a small marble
monument in the parish church of Newent His son was
educated at St. Crypt's school,Jat Gloucester ; from whence
he became an exhibitioner in Pembroke-college, Oxford ;
where he continued his studies with much reputation, and
took his master's degree in July 1766. He was first ap-
pointed curate at Colnbrook, and afterwards at Uxbridgef
which he retained to his dying day.
His first patron was the honourable Mr. Lane, son to the
late lord Bingley. Lord chancellor Northington presented
him to the living of Shelden, in Hants, which he resigned
on taking the rectory of Gotham, co. Nottingham. He
had also Sutton in Lownd, in the same county ; to both of
which he was presented by his grace the duke of Portland.
His ecclesiastical preferments amounted to above 500/. a
year. He was also domestic chaplain to his illustrious pa-
troness the late duchess dowager of Portland, and by her
liberality enjoyed during her grace's life, an annuity of a
hundred a year. During her grace's summer residence at
Bulstrode, he performed duty in the family twice a week,
and at other times was of very considerable use to her
grace in arranging her magnificent collection of natural
history, particularly the shells and the botanical part. He
also drew up the catalogue of her museum for sale. He
was an excellent scholar in many branches of literature,
but, next to the study of his profession, he addicted him-
self chiefly to botany and conchy I iology, excelling in both,
1 Life prefixed to bis Works, and Strype's preface. — MS ooU respecting bis
library in Mr. Gougb's copy of the Biegrapbia Britannia,
L I G H T F O O T. 255
but particularly in botany, and he was equally versed in
the knowledge of foreign as of British botany.
In 1772, the late Mr. Pennant invited Mr. Lightfoot to
be the companion of his second tour to Scotland and the
Hebrides, advising him to undertake the compilation, as
he himself modestly calls it, of a " Flora Scotica," which
Mr. Pennant offered to publish at his own expence. Mr.
Lightfoot gladly complied, and besides the knowledge ac-
quired by his own observations, was ably assisted by the
collections and communications of Dr. Hope, professor of
botany at Edinburgh, the rev. Dr. John Stuart of Luss;
the rev. Dr. Burgess of Kirkmichael, in Dumfriesshire, and
of other gentlemen in England. The " Flora Scotica"
was published in 1775, 2 vols. 8vo. The plan and exe-
cution of it appeared calculated to render it one of the
most popular Flora's, but for a long time it did not pay its
expences, which certainly did not arise from any want of
merit ; for its only great and radical fault was not known,
or at least scarcely considered such till lately. The fault
we mean, is the compiling descriptions from foreign au-
thors, without mentioning whence they are taken ; so that
a student can never be certain of their just application, but
on the contrary, often finds them erroneous or unsuitable*
without knowing why. Even in the last class, on which
Mr. Lightfoot bestowed so much pains, the synonyms of
Linnaeus and Dillenius often disagree, though in many
cases such contrarieties are properly indicated, so as to
throw original light on the subject.
Mr. Lightfoot was for some years a fellow of the royal
society, and was one of the original fellows of the Linnaean
society, the formation of which he contemplated with great
pleasure, though his death happened before he could at-
tend any of its public meetings. Having married the
daughter of Mr. William Burton Raynes, an opulent mil-
ler at Uxbridge, he resided in that town, and died there
suddenly, Feb. 18, 1788, aged fifty-three, leaving a wi-
dow, two sons, and three daughters. Mrs. Lightfoot was
married in 1802 to John Springett Harvey, esq. barrister at
law. He was buried in Cowley church, where his grave
remained, for some time at least, without any memorial.
He is supposed never to have recovered from a disappoint-
ment respecting a living which his patron, the late duke
of Portland, solicited from lord chancellor Thurlow, but
which the latter did not think fit to bestow.
256 L I G H T F O O T.
Mr. Lightfoot had in the course of his botanical studies^
collected an excellent British herbarium, consisting of
abundant specimens, generally gathered wild, and in many
cases important for the illustration of his work. He had
also amassed from sir Joseph Banks and other friends/ a
number of exotic plants. The whole was bought after his
death, for 100 guineas, by his majesty, as a present to the
queen, and deposited at Frogmore, the price being fixed
by an intelligent friend of the family.1
LILBURNE (JoH^j), a remarkable English enthusiast,
was descended from an ancient family in the county of
Durham, where his father, Richard Lilburne, was possessed
of a handsome estate*, especially at Thickney-Purchar-
den, the seat of the family upon which he resided, and
Lad this son, who was born in 1613. Being a younger
child, he was designed for a trade ; and was put appren-
tice at twelve years of age, to a wholesale clothier in Lon-
don, who, as well as his father, was disaffected to the
hierarchy. The youth, we are told, had a prompt genius
and a forward temper above his years, which shewed itself
conspicuously, not long after, in a complaint to the city-
chamberlain of his master's ill-usage ; by which, having
obtained more liberty, he purchased a multitude of books
favourable to his notions of politics and religion; and
having his imagination warmed with a sense of suffering
and resentment, he became at length so considerable
among his party, as to be consulted upon the boldest of
their undertakings against the hierarchy, while yet an ap-
prentice.
The consequence he attained flattered his vanity, and he
could no longer think of following his trade. In 1636,
being introduced by the teacher of his congregation, to
Dr. Bastwick, then a star-chamber prisoner in the Gate-
house for sedition, Bastwick easily prevailed with him to
carry a piece he had lately written against the bishops, to
Holland, and get it printed there. Lilburne, having dis-
* It is worth police that he was the when the trial was put off by the
last person who joined itsue in the an- judge* ; till at last it was ordered, at
cient custom of a trial by battle. It the king's instance, by parliament, that
was with one Ralph Auxton, for lands a bill should be brought in to take
of the value of 200/. per ann. The away that trial, in 1641. Rushworth's
two champions appeared in the court, " Collections," vol. I.
armed cap-a-pie, with sand l>ag«, &c.
1 Life by Pennant — and by Sir James Smith in the CyclopxJia.— Gent Mag.
LVIU. and LXXU.
LILBUKNE. / . _ 257
patched this important affair, returned to England in a few
months with the pamphlet, Bastwick's " Merry Liturgy,"
as it was called, and a cargo of other pieces of a similar
kind. These he dispersed with much privacy, until, being
betrayed by his associate, he was apprehended ; and, after
examination before the council-board and high commission
court, to whose rales he refused to conform, he was found
guilty of printing and publishing several seditious books, par-
ticularly " News from Ipswich," a production of Prynne's.
Lilburne was condemned Feb. 1637, to be whipped at the
cart's tail from the Fleet-prison to Old Palace Yard, West-
minster; then set upon the pillory there for two hours;
afterwards to be carried back to the Fleet, there to remain
till he conformed to the rules of the court ; also to pay a
fine of 500/. to the king ; and, lastly, to give security for
his good behaviour. He underwent this sentence with an
undismayed obstinacy, uttering many bold speeches against
the bishops, and dispersing many pamphlets from the pil-
lory, where, after the star-chamber then sitting had or-
dered him to be gagged, he stamped with his feet. The
spirit he shewed upon this occasion procured him the nick-
name of " Free-born John" among the friends to the go-
vernment, and among his own party the title of Saint. In
prison he was loaded with double irons on his arms and
legs, and put into one of the closest wards ; but, being
suspected to have occasioned a fire which broke out near
that ward, he was removed into a better, at the earnest so-
licitation both of the neighbours and prisoners. The first
nse he made of his present more convenient situation, was
to publish a piece of his own writing, entitled " The
Christian Man's Trial," in 4to, " Nine arguments against
episcopacy," and several " Epistles to the Wardens of the
Fleet."
He wrote several other pamphlets, before the long par-
liament granted him the liberties of the Fleet, Nov. 164O,
which indulgence he likewise abused by appearing on
May 3, 1641, at the head of a savage mob, who clamoured
for justice against the earl of Stratford. Next day he was
seized and arraigned at the bar of the House of Lords, for
an assault upon colonel Lunsford, the governor of the
Tower ; but the temper of the times being now in his fa-
vour, he was dismissed, and the same day a vote passed in
the House of Commons, declaring his former sentence ille-
gal and tyrannical, and that he ought to have reparation
VOL. XX. S
2.58 L I L B U R N E.1
for his sufferings and losses. This reparation was effec-
tual, although slow. It was not until April 7, 1646, that a
decree of the House of Lords passed for giving him two thou-
sand pounds out of the estates of lord Cottington, sir Banks
Windehank, and James Ingram, warden of the Fleet ; and it
was two years after before he received the money, in con-
sequence of a petition to the House of Commons, when he
obtained an ordinance for 3000/. worth of the delinquents'
lands, to be sold to him at twelve years purchase. This
ordinance included a grant for some part of the seques-
tered estates of sir Henry Bellingnam and Mr. Bowes, in
the counties of Durham or Northumberland, from which
he received about 1400/. ; and Cromwell, soon after his
return from Ireland, in May 1650, procured him a grant
of lands for the remainder. This extraordinary delay was
occasioned entirely by himself.
When the parliament had voted an army to oppose the
king, Lilburne entered as a volunteer, was a captain of
foot at the battle of Edge-hill, and fought well in the en-
gagement at Brentford, Nov. 12, 1612, but being taken
prisoner, was carried to Oxford, and would have been
tried and executed for high treason, bad not his parlia-
mentary friends threatened retaliation. After this, as he
himself informs us, he was exchanged very honourably
above his rank, and rewarded with a purse of 300/. by the
earl of Essex. Yet, when that general began to press the
Scots' covenant upon his followers, Lilburne quarrelled
with him, and by Cromwell's interest was made a major
of foot, Oct. 1643, in the new-raised army under the earl
of Manchester. In this station he behaved very well, and
narrowly escaped with his life at raising the siege of New-
ark by prince Rupert ; but at the same time he quarrelled
with his colonel (King), and accused him of several mis-
demeanours, to the earl, who immediately promoted him
to be lieutenant-colonel of his own regiment of dragoons.
This post Lilburne sustained with signal bravery at the
battle of Marston-moor, in July; yet he had before that
quarrelled with the earl for not bringing colonel King to
a trial by a court* martial ; and upon Cromwell's accusing
his lordship to the House of Commons, Nov. 1644, Lil-
burne appeared before, the committee in support of that
charge. Nor did he rest until he had procured an impeach-
ment to be exhibited in the House of Commons in August
this year, against colonel King for high crimes and mis-
L I L B U R N E.. 259
demeanours. Little attention being paid to this, he first
offered a petition to the House, to bring the colonel
to his trial, and still receiving no satisfaction, he pub-
lished a coarse attack upon the earl of Manchester, in
1646. Being called before the House of Lords, where
that nobleman was speaker, on account of this publication,
he not only refused to answer the interrogatories, but pro-
tested against their jurisdiction over him in the present
case ; on which he was first committed to Newgate, and
then to the Tower. He then appealed to the House of
Commons ; and upon their deferring to take his case into
consideration, he charged that House, in print, not only
with having done nothing of late years for the gene-
ral good, but also with having made many ordinances no-
toriously unjust and oppressive. This pamphlet, which
was called " The Oppressed man's oppression," being
seized, he printed another, entitled " The Resolved
man's resolution," in which he maintained " that the
present parliament ought to be pulled down, and a new
one called, to bring them to a strict account, as the
only means of saving the laws and liberties of England
from utter destruction," This not availing, he applied to
the agitators in the army ; and at length, having obtained •
liberty every day to go, without his keeper, to attend the
committee appointed about his business, and to return
every night to the Tower, he made use of that indulgence
to engage in some seditious practices. For this he was re-
committed to the Tower, and ordered to be tried ; but,
upon the parliament's apprehensions from the Cavaliers,
on prince Charles's appearing with a fleet in the Downs,
he procured a petition, signed by seven or eight thousand
persons, to be presented to the House, which made an or-
der, in August 1648, to discharge him from imprisonment*,
and to make him satisfaction for his sufferings. This was
Dot compassed, however, without a series of conflicts and
quarrels with Cromwell ; who, returning from Ireland in
* See the trial, which was printed power of the law, as well as fact. In
by him under the name of " Theodo- the same print, over his head, appear
rus Verax," to which he prefixed, by the two faces of a medal, upon one of
way of triumph, a print of himself at which were inscribed the names of the
full length, standing at the bar with jury, and on the other these words :
Coke's Institutes in his hand, the book " John Lilburne saved by the power of
that he made use of to prove that flat- the Lord, and the integrity of his jury,
tering doctrine, which he applied with who are judges of law as well as fact,
singular address to the jury, that in October 26, 1649."
them alone was inherent tUe judicial
S 2
260 LILBURNE.
May 1650, and finding Lilburne in a peaceable disposi-
tion witli regard to the parliament, procured him the re-
mainder of his grant for reparations above-mentioned.
This was gratefully acknowledged by his antagonist, who,
however, did not continue long in that humour; for, having
undertaken a dispute in law, in which his uncle George
Lilburne happened to be engaged, he petitioned the par-
liament on that occasion with his usual boldness in 1651 ;
and this assembly fined him in the sum of 7000/. to the
state, and banished him the kingdom. Before this, how-
ever, could be carried into execution, he went in Jan.
1651-2, to Amsterdam; where, having printed an apology
for himself, he sent a copy of it, with a letter, to Cromwell,
charging him as the principal promoter of the act of his
banishment. He had also several conferences with some
of the royalists, to whom he engaged to restore Charles II.
by his interest with the people, for the small sum of 10,000/.
but no notice was taken of a design which, had it been
plausible, could never have been confided to such a man.
He then remained in exile, without hopes of re-visiting
England, till the dissolution of the long parliament ; on
which event, not being able to obtain a pass, he returned
without one, in June 1657 ; and being seized and tried at
the Old Bailey, he was a second time acquitted by his jury.
Cromwell, incensed by this contempt of his power, which
was now become despotic, had him curried to Portsmouth,
in order for transportation ; but the tyrant's wrath was
averted, probably by Lilburne* s brother Robert, one of his
major-generals, * upon whose bail for his behaviour he was
suffered to return. After this, he settled at Khham, in
Kent, where he passed the short remainder of his days in
tranquillity, giving, however, another proof of his versatile
principles, by joining the quakers, among whom he
preached, in and about Eltham, till bis death, Aug. 29,
1657, in his forty- ninth year. He was interred in the
then new burial place in Moor-fields, near the place now
called Old Bedlam ; four thousand persons attending his
burial.
Wood characterizes him as a person " from his youth
much addicted to contention, novelties, opposition of go-
vernment, and to violent and bitter expressions ;" " the
idol of the factious people;" " naturally a great trouble-
world in all the variety of governments, a hodge-podge of
religion, the chief ring-leader of the levellers, a great
L I L B U R N E. 261
proposal-maker, and a modeller of state, and publisher of
several seditious pamphlets, and of so quarrelsome a dis-
position, that it was appositely said of him (by judge Jen-
kins), * that, if there was none living but he, John would
be against Lilburne, and Ltlburne against John.' ' Lord
Clarendon instances him " as an evidence of the temper of
the nation ; and how far the spirits at that time (in 1653)
were from paying a submission to that power, when no-
body had the courage to lift up their hands against it."
Hume says that he was " the most turbulent, but the most
upright and courageous of human kind;" and more recent
biographers have given him credit for the consistency of
his principles. We doubt, however, whether this consis-
tency will bear a very close examination : it is true that lie
uniformly inveighed against tyranny, whether that of a
king, a protector, or a parliament; but such was his selfish
love of liberty, that he included under the name of ty-
ranny, every species of tribunal which did not acquit men.
of his turbulent disposition, and it would not be easy from
his writings to make out any regular form of government,
or system of political principles, likely to prove either
permanent or beneficial. In these, however, may be found
the models of all those wild schemes which men of similar-
tempers have from time to time obtruded upon public at-
tention. As matters of curiosity, therefore, we shall add
a list of his principal publications: i. " A.Salva Liber-
tate." 2. " The Outcry of the young men and the ap-
prentices of London ; or an inquisition after the loss of
the fundamental Laws and Liberties of England," &c.
London, 1645, August 1, in 4to. 3. " Preparation to an
Hue and Cry after sir Arthur Haselrig." 4. " A Letter to
a Friend," dated the 20th of July, 1645, in 4to. 5. " A
Letter to William Prynne, esq." dated the 7th of January,
1645. This was written upon occasion of Mr. Prynne's
" Truth triumphing over Falshood, Antiquity over No-
velty." 6. " London's Liberty in Chains discovered," &c.
London, 1646, in 4to. 7. " The free man's freedom vin-
dicated ; or a true relation of the cause and manner of
Lieutenant-Colonel John Lilburne's present Imprisonment
in Newgate," &c. London, 1646. 8. " Charters of Lon-
don, or the second part of London's Liberty in Chains
discovered," &c. London, 1646, 28 ]}ecemb. 9. "Two
Letters from the Tower of London to Colonel Henry Mar-
tin, a member of the House of Commons, upon the 13th
262 . L I L B U R N E.
and 15th of September 1647." 10. "Other Letters of
great concern," London, 1647. 1 1. " The resolved man's
resolution to maintain with the last drop of his blood his
civil liberties and freedoms granted unto him by the great,
just, and truest declared Laws of England," &c. London,
1647, in 4to. 12. " His grand plea against the present
tyrannical House of Lords, which he delivered before an
open Committee of the House of Commons, 20 Octob.
1647," printed in 1647, in 4to. 13. " His additional Plea
directed to Mr. John Maynard, Chairman of the Commit-
tee," 1647, in 4to. 14. " The Outcries of oppressed
Commons, directed to all the rational and understanding in
the kingdom of England and dominion of Wales," &c.
Febr. 1647, in 4to. Richard Overton, another Leveller,
then in Newgate, had an hand in this pamphlet. 15. "Jo-
nah's Cry out of the Whale's Belly, in certain Epistles
unto Lieutenant General Cromwell and Mr. John Good-
win, complaining of the tyranny of the Houses of Lords
and Commons at Westminster," &c. 16. " An Impeach-
ment of High Treason against Oliver Cromwell and his
son-in-law Henry Ireton, esquires, late Members of the
forcibly dissolved House of Commons, presented to pub-
lick view by Lieutenant. Colonel John Lilburne, close pri-
soner in the Tower of London, for his zeal, true and zea-
lous affection to the liberties of this nation," London,
1649, in 4to. 17. "The legal fundamental Liberties of
the People of England revived, asserted, and vindicated,'*
&c. London, 1649. 18. "Two Petitions presented to the
supreme authority of the nation from thousands of the
lords, owners, and commoners of Lincolnshire," &c. Lon-
don, 1650, in 4to. In a paper which he delivered to the
House of Commons, Feb. 26, 1648-9, with the hands of
many levellers to it, in the name of " Addresses to the
Supreme Authority of England," and in " The Agreement
of the people," published May 1, 1649, and written by
him and his associates Walwyn, Prince, and Overton, are
their proposals for a democratic form of government.1
L1LLO (GEORGE), a celebrated dramatic writer, was by
profession a jeweller, and was born in the neighbourhood
of Moorgate in London, Feb. 4, 1693, where he pursued
his occupation for many years with the fairest and most
unblemished character. He was strongly attached to the
1 BiOg. Brit.
L I* L L O. 263
Muses, .and seems to have laid it down as a maxim, that
the devotion paid to them ought always to tend to the pro-
motion of virtue and mortality. In pursuance of this aim,
Lillo was happy in the choice of his subjects, and showed
great power of affecting the heart, and of rendering the
distresses of common and domestic life equally interesting
to the audiences as those of kings and heroes. His
"George Barnwell," " Fatal Curiosity," and " Arden of
Feversham," are all planned on common and well-known
stories ; yet they have perhaps more frequently drawn tears
from an audience than more pompous tragedies, particu-
larly the first of them. Nor was his management of his
subjects less happy than his choice of them. If there is
any fault to be objected to his style, it is that sometimes
he affects an elevation rather above the simplicity of his
subject, and the supposed rank of his characters ; but tra-
gedy seldom admits an adherence to the language of com-
mon life, and sometimes it is found that even the most
humble characters in real life, when under peculiar circum-
stances of distress, or the influence of any violent passion,
will employ an aptness of expression and power of lan-
guage, not only greatly superior to themselves, but even
to tire general language and conversation of persons of much
higher rank in life, and of minds more cultivated.
In the prologue to " Elmerick," which was not acted till
after the author's death, it is said, that, when he wrote that
play, he " was depressed by want," and afflicteJ by dis-
ease ; but in the former particular there appears to be
evidently a mistake, as he died possessed of an estate of
60/. a year, besides other effects to a considerable value.
The late editor of his works (Mr. T. Davies) in two vo-
lumes, 1775, 12mo, relates the following story, which, how-
ever, we cannot think adapted to convey any favourable im-
pression of the person of whom it is told : " Towards the
latter part of his life, Mr. Lillo, whether from judgment or
humour, determined to put the sincerity of his friends,
who professed a very high regard for him, to a trial. In
order to carry on this design, he put in practice an odd
kind of stratagem : ha asked one of his intimate ac-
quaintance to lend him a considerable sum of money, and
for this he declared he would give no bond, rior any
other security, except a note of hand ; the person to
whom he applied, not liking the terms, civilly refused
him. Soon after, Lillo met his nephew, Mr. Underwood^
264 LILLO.
with whom he had been at variance some time. He put
the same question to him, desiring him to lend him money
upon the same terms. His nephew, either from a saga-
cious apprehension of his uncle's real intention, or from
generosity of spirit, immediately offered to comply with
his request. Lillo was so well pleased with this ready com-
pliance of Mr. Underwood, that he immediately declared
that he was fully satisfied with the love and regard that his
nephew bore him ; he was convinced that his friendship
was entirely disinterested ; and assured him, that he should
reap the benefit such generous behaviour deserved. In
consequence of this promise, he bequeathed him the bulk
of his fortune." The same writer says, that Lillo in his
person was lusty, but not tall ; of a pleasing aspect, though
unhappily deprived of the sight of one eye.
Lillo died Sept. 3, 1739, in the forty -seventh year of his
age ; and, a few months after his death, Henry Fielding
printed the following character of him in " The Cham-
pion :" " He had a perfect knowledge of human nature,
though his contempt of all base means of application, which
are the necessary steps to great acquaintance, restrained
his conversation within narrow bounds. He had the spirit
of an old Roman, joined to the innocence of a primitive
Christian : he was content with his little state of life, in
which his excellent temper of mind gave him an happiness
beyond the power of riches ; and it was necessary for his
friends to have a sharp insight into his want of their ser-
vices, as well as good inclination or abilities to serve him.
In short, he was one of the best of men, and those who
knew him best will most regret his loss.1'1
LILLY, or LYLLY (JOHN), another dramatic writer, of
lesi fame and merit, was born in the Wilds of Kent, about
1553, according to the computation of Wood, who says,
" he became a student in Magdalen-college in the begin-
ning of 1 569, aged sixteen or thereabouts, and was after-
wards one of the demies or clerks of that house." He
took the degree of B.A.April 27, 1573, and of M. A. in 1575.
On some disgust, he removed to Cambridge; and thence
went to court, where he was taken notice of by queen Eli-
zabeth, and hoped to have been preferred to the post of
master of the revels, but after many years of anxious attend-
ance, was disappointed, and was forced to write to the
» Life prefixed to his Works.— Biog. Draaa. — Gibber's Lives, rel. V.
LILLY. 265
queen fot some little grant to support him in his old age. Of
his two letters, or petitions, to her, many copies are pre-
served in manuscript. In what year he died is unknown ; but
Wood says, he was alive in 1597. His attachment to the dra-
matic Muses produced nine dramatic pieces, none of which,
however, have preserved their reputation in our times. Even
Phillips, in his " Theatrum," calls them " old-fashioned
tragedies and comedies." Besides these, Lilly has been
celebrated for his attempt, which was a very unhappy one,
to reform and purify the English language. For this pur-
pose he wrote a book entitled " Euphues," which met with
a degree of success very unusual, and certainly not less
unmerited, being almost immediately and universally fol-
lowed ; at least, if we may give credit to the words of Mr.
Blount, who published six of Lilly's plays together, in one
volume in twelves. In a preface to that book he says,
" our nation are in his debt for a new English, which he
taught them : * Euphues and his England ' began first
that language ; all our ladies were his scholars ; and that
beauty at court, which could not parley Euphuisme, that
is to say, who was unable to converse in that pure and re-
formed English, which he had formed his work to be the
standard of, was as little regarded as she which now there
speaks not French."
According to Mr. Blount, Lilly was deserving of the
highest encomiums. He styles him, in his title-page,
" the only rare poet of that time, the witty, comical, faceti-
ously quick and unparalleled John Lilly ;" and in his epis-
tle dedicatory, says, " that hep sate at Apollo's table ; that
Apollo gave him a wreath of his own bayes without snatch-
ing, and the lyre he played on had no borrowed strings."
If, indeed, what has been said with regard to his reforma-
tion of the English language had been true, he certainly
would have had a claim to the highest hor ours from his
countrymen ; but those eulogiums are far from well
founded, since his injudicious attempts at improvement
produced only the most ridiculous affectation. The style
of his Euphues exhibits the absurdest excess of pedantry,
to which nothing but the most deplorable bad taste could
have given even a temporary approbation. Lilly was the
author of a famous pamphlet against Martin Mar-prelate
and his party, well known to collectors, entitled " Pap
with a Hatchet, alias a fig for my godson, &c." published
about 1589, and attributed to Nashe, but was certainly
266 LILLY.
Lilly's. His prose work, or rather his two prose works
intended to reform the English language, were entitled
" Euphues and his England," Lond. 1580, and " Euphues,
the Anatomy of Wit," 1581. Some differences of opinion
as to the times of publishing these, may be found in our
authorities.1
LILLY (WILLIAM), a famous English astrologer, was
born at Diseworth in Leicestershire, in 1602, and was put
to school at Ashby-de-la-Zouch, in the same county ; but,
his father Dot being in circumstances to give him a liberal
education, as he intended at Cambridge, he was obliged to
quit the school, after learning writing and arithmetic. Be-
ing (hen, as his biographers inform us, of a forward tem-
per, and endued with shrewd wit, he resolved to push his
fortune in London, where he arrived in 1620; and where
his immediate necessities obliged him to article himself as a
servant to a mantua-maker, in the parish of St. Clement
Danes. In 1624, he was assistant to a tradesman in the
Strand ; who, not being able to write, employed him
(among other domestic offices) as his book-keeper. He
had not been above three years in this place, when, his
master dying, he addressed and married his mistress, with
a fortune of 1000/. In 1632, he turned his mind to astro-
logy ; and applied to one Evans, a worthless Welsh cler-
gyman, who, after practising that craft many years in Lei-
cestershire, had come to London, and, at this time, resided
in Gunpowder-alley. Here Lilly became his pupil, and
made such a quick progress, that he understood, in the
cant of his brethren, how "to set a figure" perfectly in
seven or eight weeks ; and, continuing his application with
the utmost assiduity, 'gave the public a specimen of his at-
tainments and skill, by intimating that the king had chosen
an unlucky horoscope for the coronation in Scotland, 1633.
In 1634, having procured a manuscript, with some alter-
ations, of the " Ars Notoria" of Cornelius Agrippa, he
became so infatuated by the doctrine of the magical circle,
and the invocation of spirits, as not only to make use of a
form of prayer prescribed there to the angel Salmonaeus,
and to fancy himself a favourite of great power and inte-
rest with that uncreated phantom, but even to claim a
knowledge of, and a familiar acquaintance with, the parti-
1 Ath. Oth. voL I. — Biog. Brit — Warton'n Hist of Poetry. — Phillips'! Thea-
trum Poetarum, edit. 1800, by Sir E. Bridges.— Ceusura LJtertria, rol. 1.—
Kll'n's Specimens, vol. II.
LILLY. 267
eular guardian angels of England, by name Salmael and
Malchidael. After this he treated the more common mys-
tery of recovering stolen goods, &c. with great contempt,
claiming a supernatural sight, and the gift of prophetical
predictions, and seems to have known well how to profit
by the credulity of the times. Such indeed was his fame, as
to produce the following notable story. When one Ramsay,
the king's clock maker, being informed that there was a great
treasure buried in the cloister of Westminster-abbey, ob-
tained the dean's (Dr. Williams, bishop of Lincoln), leave
to search for it with the divining or Mosaical* rods, he ap-
plied to Lilly for his assistance. Lilly, with one Scot,
who pretended to the use of the said rods, attended by
Ramsay and above thirty persons more, went into the
cloister by night, and, observing the rods to tumble over
one another on the West side of the cloister, concluded the
treasure lay hid under that spot; but, the ground being'
dug to the depth of six feet, and nothing found but a
coffin, which was not heavy enough for their purpose,
they proceeded, without opening it, into the abbey. Here
they were alarmed by a storm, which suddenly rose,
and increased to such a height, that they were afraid the
West end of the church would have been blown down
upon them ; the rods moved not at all ; the candles and
torches, all but one, were extinguished, or burned very
dimly. Scot was amazed, looked pale, and knew not what
to think or do; until Lilly gave directions to dismiss the
chcinons, which when done, all was quiet again, and each
man returned home. Lilly, however, took care not to ex-
pose his skill again in this manner, though he was cunning
enough to ascribe the miscarriage, not to any defect in the
art itself, but to the number of people who were present
at the operation and derided it ; shrewdly laying it down
for a rule, that secrecy and intelligent operators, with a
strong confidence and knowledge of what they are doing,
are necessary requisites to succeed in this work.
In the mean time he buried his first wife, purchased a
moiety of thirteen houses in the Strand, and married a se-
cond wife, who, joining to an extravagant temper a ter-
magant spirit, which all his art could not lay, made him
both poor and miserable. With this lady he was obliged
to retire in 1637, to Hersham in Surrey, where he con-
tinued till Sept. 1641 ; and now seeing a prospect of advan-
tage from the growing confusion of the times, and the
2«8 LILLY.
prevalence of enthusiasm and credulity of all kinds, he re-
turned to London. Here having purchased several curious
books in his art, which were found in pulling down the
house of another astrologer, he perused them with inces-
sant diligence, and, in 1644, published his " Merlinus
Anglicus Junior," and several other astrological books.
He had contracted an intimacy, the preceding year, with
Bulstrode Whitelocke, esq. who was afterwards his friend
and patron ; and, in 1645, devoted himself entirely to the
interests of the parliament, after the battle of Naseby,
though he had before rather inclined to the king's party.
In 1647, upon the breaking out of the quarrel between
the parliament and army, whose head quarters were at
Windsor, he was sent for, together with Booker, another
astrologer, by Fairfax, the general, who addressed him in
these terms : " That God had blessed the army with many
signal victories, and yet their work was not finished ; that
he hoped God would go along with them, until this work
was done ; that they sought not themselves, but the wel-
fare and tranquillity of the good people, and the whole
nation ; and, for that end, were resolved to sacrifice both
their own lives and fortunes ; that he hoped the art, which
they (Lilly and Booker) studied, was lawful and agreeable
to God's word; that he understood it not, but did not
doubt they both feared God, and therefore had a good
opinion of them." To this speech Lilly returned the fol-
lowing answer : " My lord, I am glad to see you here at
this time : certainly both the people of God, and all others
of this nation, are very sensible of God's mercy, love, and
favour unto them, in directing fhe parliament to nominate
and elect you general of their armies, a person so religious,
so valiant. The several unexpected victories obtained
under your excellency's conduct will eternize the same
unto all posterity. We are confident of God's going along
with you and your army, until the great work, for which
he ordained you both, is fully perfected ; which we hope
will be the conquering and subversion of yours and the
parliament's enemies ; and then a quiet settlement, and
firm peace over all the nation, unto God's glory, and
full satisfaction of tender consciences. Sir, as for our-
selves, we trust in God, and, as Christians, believe in
him ; we do not study any art, but what is lawful and con-
sonant to the scriptures, fathers, and antiquity ! which we
humbly desire you to believe."
L I L L Y. 269
This audience, in November, seems to have been oc-
casioned by a suspicion of his attachment to the royal
party, of which he had afforded some ground, by receiving
an application from the king, then in custody of the army
at Hampton-court; for, in August preceding, when hi*
majesty had framed thoughts of escaping from the soldiery,
and hiding himself somewhere near the city, he sent, as
Lilly tells us, Mrs. Whorwood, to know in what quarter
of the nation he might be safely concealed, till he thought
proper to discover himself. Lilly, having erected a figure,
said, the king might be safely concealed in some part of
Essex about twenty miles from London, where the lady
happened to have a house fit for his majesty's reception,
and went away next morning to acquaint him with it. But
the king was gone away in the night Westward, and sur-
rendered himself at length to Hammond, in the Isle of
Wight ; and thus the project was rendered abortive. He
was again applied to by the same lady, in 1648, for the
same purpose, while the king was at Carisbrook- castle;
whence having laid a design to escape by sawing the iron
bars of his chamber-window, Mrs. Whorwood came to our
author, and acquainted him with it. Lilly procured a
proper saw, made by one Farmor, an ingenious locksmith,
in Bow-lane, Cheapside, and furnished her with aquafortis
besides ; by which means his majesty had nearly succeed-
ed, but his heart failing, he proceeded no farther. About
September, the same lady came a third time to Lilly, on
the same errand. The parliament-commissioners were now
appointed to treat with his majesty ; on which, our astro-
loger, after perusing his figure, told the lady the commis-
sioners would be there such a day, appointed the day and
hour when to receive them, and directed, as soon as the
propositions were read, to sign them, and make haste with
all speed to come up with the commissioners to London,
the army being then far distant from London, and the city
enraged stoutly against them. The king is said to have
promised he would do so, but was diverted from it by lord
Say.
All this while our astrologer continued true to his own
interest, by serving that of the parliament party, from
whom he received this year, 1648, fifty pounds in cash,
and an order from the council of state for a pension of 100/.
perann. which was granted to him for furnishing them with
a perfect knowledge of the chief concernments of France.
270 L I L L Y.
This he obtained by means of a secular priest, with whom
he had been formerly acquainted, and who now was con-
fessor to one of the French secretaries. Lilly received the
pension two years, when he threw it up, with the employ-
ment, in disgust on some account or other. He read pub-
lic lectures upon astrology, in 1 648 and 1649, for the im-
provement of young students in that art ; and succeeded
so well both as a practitioner and teacher, that we find
him, in 1651 and 1652, laying out near 20001. for lands
and a house at Hersham. During the siege of Colchester,
he and Booker were sent for thither, to encourage the
soldiers, which they did by assuring them that the town
would soon be taken, which proved true, and was perhaps
not difficult to be foreseen. In 1650 he published that the
parliament should not continue, but a new government
arise, agreeably thereto ; and in the almanack for 1653, he
also asserted, that the parliament stood upon a ticklish
foundation, and that the commonalty and soldiery would
join together against them. On this he was called before
the committee of plundered ministers ; but, receiving no-
tice before the arrival of the messenger, he applied to
speaker Lenthal, always his friend, who pointed out the
offensive passages, which he immediately altered ; and at-
tended the committee next morning with six copies printed,
which six alone he acknowledged to be his. By this trick
he escaped after having been only detained thirteen days
in custody of the serjeant at arms. This year he was en-
gaged in a dispute with Mr. Thomas Gataker, and, before
the expiration of the year, he lost his second wife, to his
great joy, and married a third in October following. In
1655 he was indicted at Hicks's-hall, for giving judgment
upon stolen goods, but acquitted: and, in 1659, he re-
ceived, from the king of Sweden, a present of a gold
chain and medal, worth above 50/. on account of his hav-
ing mentioned that monarch with great respect in his
almanacks of 1657 and 1658.
After the restoration, in 1660, being taken into custody,
and examined by a committee of the House of Commons,
touching the execution of Charles I, he declared, that
Robert Spavin, then secretary to Cromwell, dining with
him soon after the fact, assured him it was done by cornet
Joyce. This year, he sued out his pardon under the
broad-seal of England, and continued in London till 1665;
when, on the appearance of the plague, he retired to his
LILLY. 271
estate at Hersham. Here he applied himself to the study
of physic, having, by means of his friend Elias Ashmole,
procured from archbishop Sheldon a licence to practise it ;
and, from Oct. 1670, he exercised both the faculties of
physic and astrology, till his death, which was occasioned by
a paralytic stroke, in 1681, at Hersham. He was interred
in the chancel of the church at Walton, and a black mar-
ble stone, with a Latin inscription, was placed over his
grave soon after by Mr. Ashmole, at whose request also
Dr. Smalridge, bishop of Bristol, then a scholar at West-
minster-school, wrote a Latin and English elegy on his
death, both which are annexed to the history of our au-
thor's life and times, from which this memoir is extracted.
Lilly, a little before his death, adopted one Henry Cor
ley, a tailor, for his son, by the name of Merlin Junior,
and made him a present of the copyright, or good-will of
his almanack, which had been printed six and thirty years
successively ; and Coley carried it on for some time. Lilly
bequeathed his estate at Hersham to one of the sons of his
friend and patron Bulstrode Whitelock ; and his magical
utensils came all into the hands of Dr. Case, his successor,
of facetious memory.
Lilly was author of many works. His " Observations on
the Life and Death of Charles late King of England," if
we overlook the astrological nonsense, may be read with
as much satisfaction as more celebrated histories, Lilly
being not only very well informed, but strictly impartial.
This work, with the Lives of Lilly and Ashmole, written
by themselves, were published in one volume, 8vo, in 1774.
His other works were principally as follow : 1. " Merlinus
Anglicus Junior." 2. " Supernatural Sight." 3. " The
white King's Prophecy." 4. " England's prophetical Mer-
lin ;" all printed in 1644. 5. "The starry Messenger,"
1645. 6. "Collection of Prophecies," 1646. 7. "A
Comment on the white King's Prophecy," ib. 8. " The
Nativities of archbishop Laud, and Thomas earl Straf-
ford," ib. 9. "Christian Astrology," 1647; upon this
piece he read his lectures in 1648, before- mentioned. 10.
" The third Book of Nativities," ib. 11." The World's
Catastrophe," ib. 12. "The Prophecies of Ambrose Mer-
lin, with a Key," ib. 13. " Trithemius, or the Govern-
ment of the World by presiding Angels." See Cornelius
Agrippa's book with the same title. These three last were
printed together in one volume ; the two first being trans-
272 LILLY.
lated into English by Elias Ashmole, esq. 14. "A Trea-
tise of the three Suns seen in the Winter of 1647," printed
in 1648. 15. "Monarchy or no Monarchy," 1651. 16.
" Observations on the Life and Death of Charles, late
King of England," ib. and again in 1615, with the title of
Mr. William Lilly's " True History of King James and
King Charles 1.'* &c. 17. "-Annus Tenebrosus ; or, the
black Year." This drew him into the dispute with Gataker,
which our author carried on in his almanack in 16.54. '
LILY, or LILYE (WILLIAM), an eminent English gram-
marian, was born at Odiham, in Hampshire, about 1468.
After a good foundation of school-learning, he was sent to
Magdalen -college, Oxford, and admitted a demy there at
the age of eighteen. Having taken the degree of B. A. he
quitted the university, and went, for religion's sake, to
Jerusalem, as Pits, and after him Wood, Tanner, and
others have asserted ; but Bale, from whom Pits copied,
gives no such reason for Lily's journey. It is indeed most
probable, that he travelled eastward with an intention to
acquire some knowledge of the Greek language, especially
as he continued five years in the island of Rhodes with no
other design. At Rhodes he found several learned men
who had taken refuge there, under the protection of the
knights, after the taking of Constantinople ; and here he
became acquainted with the domestic life and familiar
conversation of the Greeks. He went thence to Rome ;
and improved himself farther in the Latin and Greek
tongues under John Sulpitius and Pomponius Sabinus. On
his arival in England, in 1509, he settled in London, and
taught a private grammar-school, being the first teacher of
Greek in the metropolis. In this he had so much success
and reputation, that he was appointed first-master of St.
Paul's school. by the founder, Dr. Culet, in 1510. This
laborious and useful employment he filled for the space of
twelve years; and in that time educated a great many
youths, some of whom proved the greatest men in the na-
tion, as Thomas Lupset, sir Anthony Denny, sir William
Paget, sir Edward North, John Leland, &c. He died of
the plague at London in February 1523, aged 54, and was
buried in the north yard of St. Paul's. He is highly praised
by Erasmus for his uncommon knowledge in the languages,
and admirable skill in the instruction of youth. He was
l Life by himself.— Biof. L'rit.— Atb. Ox. vol. I.
LILY. 27$
very intimate with sir Thomas More, to whose Latin trans-
lations of several Greek epigrams are prefixed some done
by Lily, printed with this title, " Progymnasmata Thorns
Mori & Gulielmi Lilii, Sodalium," Basil, 1518, by Fro-
benius; and again in 1673, ibid. Lily, by his wife Agnes,
had two sons; and a daughter, who was married to 'his
usher John Rightwise, who succeeded his, father-in-law in.
the mastership of St. Paul's school, and died in 1532.
Lily's works are, 1. " Brevissima institutio, seu ratio
grammatices cognoscendi," Lond. 151 3; reprinted often,
and used at this day, and commonly called " Lily's Gram-
mar." The English rudiments were written by Dr. Colet,
and the preface to the first edition, by cardinal Wolsey.
The English syntax was written by Lily ; also the rules
for the genders of nouns, beginning with Propria quse ma-
ribus ; and those for the preter-perfect tenses and supines,
beginning with " As, in prsesenti." The Latin syntax was
chiefly the work of Erasmus. See Ward's preface to his
edition of Lily's grammar, 1732. 2. " In senigmatica Bossi
Antibossicon prrmum, secundum, tertium, ad G. Horman-
num," Lond. 1521, 4to. 3. " Poemata varia," printed
with the former. 4. " Apologia ad R. Whyttingtonum."
5. " Apologia ad Joan. Skeltonum," in answer to some
invectives of that poet. 6. " De laudibus Deipari Virginis."
7. " Super Philippi archiducis appulsu." 8. " De Caroli
quinti Caesaris adventu panegyricum." Some other pieces
are attributed to him on doubtful authority.
Lily had two sons, George and Peter. GEORGE was
born in London, and bred at Magdalen-college, in Ox-
ford ; but, leaving the university without a degree, went
to Rome, where he was received into the patronage df
cardinal Pole, and became eminent for several branches of
learning. Upon his return, he was made canon of St.
Paul's, and afterwards prebendary of Canterbury. He
published the first exact map of Britain, and died in 1559.
He wrote " An^lorum Regum Chronices Epitome," Venice,
1548, Francf. 1565, Basil, 1577. To which are added,
" Lancastrian & Eboracensis [Famil.] de Regno Conten-
tiones, & Regum Anglise genealogia ;" " Elogia Virorum
illustrium, 1559," 8vo; " Catalogus, sive Series Pontifi-
cum Romanorum;" besides the "Life of Bishop Fisher,"
MS. in the library of the Royal Society. PETER, his
second son, was a dignitary in the church, of Canterbury,
and father of another Peter Lily, D. D, This other was
VOL. XX. T
.274 LILY.
some time fellow of Jesus-college in Cambridge ; after-
wards a brother of the Savoy- hospital in the Strand, Lon-
don ; prebendary of St. Paul's; and archdeacon of Taun-
ton. He died in 1614, leaving a widow, who published
sooie of his sermons.1
LIMBORCH (Pinup), a celebrated professor of divi-
nity in Holland, of the Arminian persuasion, was of a good
family, originally of Maestricht, and born at Amsterdam,
June 19, 1633. He passed the first years of his life in his
father's house, going thence d'aily to school; and then,
attending the public lectures, became the disciple of Gas-
par Barlaeus in ethics, of Gerard John Vossius in history,
and of Arnold Sanguerd in philosophy. This foundation
being laid, he applied himself to divinity under Stephen
Curcellseus, who succeeded Simon Episcopius in that chair,
among the remonstrants. From Amsterdam he went to
Utrecht, and frequented the lectures of Gilbert Voetius,
and other divines of the reformed religion. In May 1654,
he returned to Amsterdam, and made his first probation-
sermon there in Oct. following. He passed an examination
in divinity in August 1655 ; and was admitted to preach
publicly, as a probationer, which he did first at Haerlem.
The same year he was invited to be stated minister of Alc-
maer, but declined it, not thinking himself yet qualified
for that important task. In 1657 he published a course of
sermons in Dutch, by Episcopius, his greut uncle by the
mother's side, and the same year was invited to be minister
of the remonstrants at Gouda, where there was a numerous
congregation of that sect. He accepted this vocation, and
exercised the ministerial function in that town till he was
called to Amsterdam.
Having inherited the papers of Episcopius, he found
Among them a great number of letters relating to the affairs
of the remonstrants ; and, communicating these to Hart-
soeker, minister of the remonstrants at Rotterdam, they
joined in disposing them into a proper order, and then
published them under the title of " Epistolae praestantium
et eruditoruin Virorum, &c." at Amsterdam, in 1660, 8vo.
These being well received by the public, Limborch col-
lected more letters, and published a second edition, cor-
rected and enlarged, iu 1684, fol. After which, the copy
1 Pits, Bale, and Tanner. — Biog. Brit. — Ath. Ox. vol. I. new edition.—
Warton's History of Poetry.— Fuller's Worthies.— Knight's Life of Colet.—
JorUu's Erasmus.
L I M B O R C Hi 275
feomlng into another bookseller's hands, a third edition
came out, 1704, at Amsterdam, in folio, with an appen-
dix, by Limborch, of twenty letters more ; the whole con-
taining a complete series of every thing which relates to
the history of Arminianism, from the time of Arminius to
the synod of Dort, a«d afterwards. In 1661 our author
published a little piece in Dutch, by way of dialogue upon
the subject of toleration in religion. Curcellseus having
printed, in 1650, the first volume of Episcopius's works,
which had beea communicated to hi<n by Francis Lim-
borch, our author's father, the second volume was pro-
cured by Philip the son in 1661 ; to which he added a pre-
face in defence of Episcopius and the remonstrants. In
1667 he became minister at Amsterdam, where Pontanus,
the professor of divinity, whose talent lay chiefly in preach-
ing, appointed Limborch his deputy ; first for a year, and
then resigned the chair absolutely to him in 1668. From
this time he turned all his studies that way, and acquired a
great reputation, not only among those of his own party at
home, but among foreigners too, to which his mild and
modest temper contributed not a little. Soon after, he
published, iu Flemish, several sermons of Episcopius, which
had never been printed before.
In 1660 he had married; and, his wife being dead, in
1674 he engaged in a second marriage, and had two chil-
dren. The ensuing year he procured an edition of all the
works of his master Curcellseus, several of which had never
appeared before. But, as neither Episcopius nor Curcel-
lseus had leisure to finish a complete system of the remon-
strant theology, Limborch resolved to undertake the task,
and to compose one which should be entirely complete ;
some disorders, however, and several avocations, hindered
him from finishing it before 1684, and it did not come out
till 1686. This was the first system of divinity, according
to the doctrine of the remonstrants, that had appeared in
print. The work was undertaken at their request, received
with all eagerness by them, and passed through four edi-
tions*. The same year, 1686, he had a dispute, at first
* The title of the first edition is, PrscdestinationeTractatusposthumus."
" Theologia Christiana ad Praxim Pie- This posthumous piece wan printed
tatis ac Promotionem pacis Christians separately the same year atAmster-
unice directa, Amst. 1686,"4to; the dam, 8vo, in Low Dutch or Flemish,
fourth,17 15, fol. to which is added, "Re- with a long preface in defence of the
latio bisterica de Origine et Progressu remonstrants, against a piece in Low
Controversiarum in Fcederato Belgio de Dutch, under the title of the " Com-
T 2
LIMBORCH.
viva voce, and afterwards in writing, with Isaac Orobio, -a
Jew of Seville in Spain, who had made his escape out of
the inquisition, and retired to Amsterdam, where he prac-
tised physic with great reputation. This dispute produced
a piece by our author, entitled " Collatio arnica de Ve-
ritate Religionis Christiana cum erudito Judaso." " A
friendly conference with a learned Jew concerning the
Truth of the Christian Religion." In it he shewed, that a
Jew can bring no argument of any force in favour of Ju-
daism which may not be made to militate strongly in favour
of Christianity. Orobio, however, contended that every
man ought to continue in the religion, be what it would,
which he professed, since it was easier to disprove the
truth of another religion than it was to prove his own;
and upon this principle he averred, that, if it had been his
lot to be born of parents who worshiped the sun, he saw
no reason why he should renounce their religion and em-
brace another. To this piece against Orobio, Limborch
added a small tract against Uriel Acosta, a Portuguese
deist, in which Limborch answers very solidly his argu-
ments, to shew that there is no true religion besides the
religion of nature. (See ACOSTA.) Shortly after, Limborch
published a little piece of Episcopius, in Flemish, contain-
ing an account of a dispute between that remonstrant and
one William Borne, a Romish priest, shewing, that the
Roman church is not exempt from errors, and is not the
sovereign judge of controversies. In 1692 the book of
sentences passed in the inquisition at Thoulouse, in France,
coming into the hands of a friend, and containing all the
sentences passed in that court from 1307 to 1323, Lim-
borch resolved to publish it, as it furnished him with an
occasion of adding the history of that dreadful tribunal,
drawn from the writings of the inquisitors themselves *. In
1693 our author had the care of a new edition, in one large
folio volume, of the sermons of Episcopius, in Dutch ; to
bats of Sion, by James Fruitier." There the translator has prefixed a large in-
is a long extract of the " Theologia (reduction concerning the rise and pro-
Christiana," by Le Clerc, in Bibl. gress of persecution, an4 the real and
Univ. torn. II. p. 21, et seq. pretended causes of it. In this edition,
* The title i», " Historia Inquisi- Mr. Chandler had the assistance of
tionis, cui subjungitur Liber Senten- some papers of our author communi-
tiarum Inqumtiouis Tholosanas ab An- cated to him by Anthony Colling, esq.
no 1307 ad 13-23, Araste!. 1692," fol. and the corrections and additions of
It was translated into English by Mr. Francis Limborch, a relation of our
Sam. Chandler, and printed at Lon- author. See Chandler's preface,
don, 1731, in £ vols. 4to; to which
L I M B O R C H. 377
which he. added, not only a preface, but also a very long
history of the life of Episcopius, in the same language*
this has been since translated into Latin, and printed in
8vo at Amsterdam, 1701. (See EPISCOPIUS.)
In 1694 a young gentlewoman at Amsterdam, of twenty*
two years of age, took a fancy to learn Hebrew of a Jew ;
and was by frequent conversations with her tutor, induced
to quit the Christian religion for Judaism. As soon as her
mother understood this, she employed several divines, but
in vain; because they undertook to prove Christianity from
the Old Testament, omitting the authority of the New ;
to which she, returning the common answers she had
learned from the Jews, received no reply that gave her
satisfaction. While the young lady was in the midst of
this perplexity, Dr. Veen, a physician, happened to be
sent for to the house ; and, hearing her mother speak,
with great concern, of the doubts which disturbed her
daughter, he mentioned Limborch's dispute with Orobio.
She immediately applied to Limborch, in hopes that he
would be able to remove her scruples, and bring her back
to the Christian religion. Limborch accordingly used the
same train of argument which he had pursued with Orobio,
and quickly recovered her to her former faith. In 1698 he
was accused of a calumny, in a book concerning the Xo'yog
in St. John's gospel, by Vander Waeyen, professor of di-
vinity at Franecker, because he had said, that Francis
Burman, a divine and professor at Leyden, had, in his
" Theologia Christiana," merely transcribed Spinoza with-
out any judgment. Limborch, producing passages from
both, endeavoured to prove that he had said nothing which
was not strictly true ; but when this was printed at Amster-
dam in 1699, the two Burmans, one professor of history
and eloquence at Utrecht, and the other minister at Am-
sterdam, published a book in viiulication of their father's
memory, entitled " Burmannorum Pietas," "The Piety
of the Burmans ;" to which Limborch made no reply. la
1700 he published, in Dutch, at Amsterdam, a book of
piety, containing instructions for dying persons, or means
of preparing for death ; with a discourse upon the death
of John Owens, minister of the remonstrants at Gouda.
At the same time he began a -commentary upon the Acts of
the Apostles, and upon the Epistles to th.e Romans and
Hebrews, which was published in 1711.
Having pursued the strictest temperance through life,
278 L I M B O R C H.
he preserved the vigour of his mind, and health of his
body, to a considerable age, but in the autumn of 171 1
he was seized with the St. Anthony's fire ; which, growing
more violent in the winter, carried him oft, April SO, 1713.
His funeral oration was spoken by John Le Clerc, who
gives him the following character : " Mr, Limborch had
many friends among the learned, both at home and abroad,
especially in England, where he was much esteemed, par-
ticularly by archbishop Tillotson, to whom his history of
the inquisition was dedicated, and Mr. Locke. With Mr,
Locke he first became acquainted in Holland, and after->
wards held a correspondence by letters, in which, among
other things, he has explained the nature of human liberty,
a subject not exactly understood by Mr. Locke. He was
of an open sincere carriage, which was so well tempered
with humanity and discretion as to give no offence. In
his instructions, when professor, he observed the greatest
perspicuity and the justest order, to which his memory,
which retained whatever he had written, almost to a word,
contributed very much; and, though a long course of teach-
ing had given him an authority with those about him, and
his advanced age had added a reverence to him, yet he
was never displeased with others for differing from him,
but would both censure, and be censured, without chagrin.
Though he never proposed the understanding of languages
as the end of his studies, yet he had made large advances
in them, and read over many of the ancient and modern
writers, and would have excelled in this part of literature,
if he bad not preferred that which was more important.
He bad all the qualifications suitable to the character of a
divine. Above all things, he had a love for truth, and
pursued the search of it, by reading the Scriptures with
the best commentators. As a preacher, his sermons were
methodical and solid, rather than eloquent. If he had
applied himself to the mathematics he would undoubtedly
have excelled therein ; but he had no particular fondness
for that study, though he was an absolute master of arith-
metic. He was so perfectly acquainted with the history of
his own country, especially for 150 years, that he even
retained the most minute circumstance?, and the very time
of each transaction ; so that scarce any one could deceive
him in that particular. In his manner he was grave with-
put pride or sullenness, affable without affectation, plea*
sant an.d facetious, upon occasion, without sinking into a,
LI M B O R C H. 1279
vulgar lowness, or degenerating into malice or ill-nature;
By these qualifications he was agreeable to all who con-
versed with him ; and his behaviour towards his neighbours
was such, that all who knew him, or had any dealings with
him, ever commended it."
LINACRE, or LYNACER (THOMAS), one of the most
eminent physicians and scholars of his age, descended from
the Linacres of Li nacre-hall in the parish of Chesterfield,
Derbyshire, was born at Canterbury about 1460. Having
completed his school-education, under William de Sellingj
a very eminent master, in his native city, he entered at
Oxford, and was chosen fellow of All Souls' college in
1484. Being desirous of farther advancement in learning,
he accompanied De Selling into Italy, "whither the latter
was sent on an embassy to the court of Rome by Henry VII.
De Selling left him at Bologna, with strong recommenda-
tions to Politian, one of the most elegant Latinists in
Europe ; and removing thence to Florence, Linacre ac-
quired the favour of that munificent patron of literature,
Lorenzo de Medicis, who granted him the privilege of at-
tending the same preceptors with his own sons ; an oppor-
tunity, by which he knew how to profit ; and under Deme-
trius Chalcondylas, who had fled from Constantinople when
it was taken by the Turks, he acquired a perfect know-
ledge of the Greek language. He then went to Rome, and
studied medicine and natural philosophy under Hermolaus
Barbaras. He applied particularly to the works of Aris-
totle and Galen, and is said to have been the first English-
man who made himself master of those writers by perusing
them in the original Greek. He also translated and pub-
lished several of Galen's tracts into most elegant Latin,
and along with Grocyn and William Latimer, undertook a
translation of Aristotle, which, however, they left imper-
fect. On his return to England, he was incorporated M. D.
at Oxford, which degree he had taken at Padua, gave tem-
porary lectures on physic, and taught the Greek language
in that university. His reputation soon became so high,
that king Henry VII. called him to court, and entrusted
him with the care both of the health and education of his
son, prince Arthur. He is said also to have instructed
princess Catherine in the Italian language. He wa$ made
1 Life, hy Le Clerc in Bib). Choisie, .vol. XXIV. — Gen. Diet. — Moreri. —
Niceron, vol. Xl.-r^axii Onomast.— Chandler's Preface to the History of the
Inquisition.
LINACRE.
successively physician to the kings Henry VII., Henry VIII.,
and Edward VI., and to the princess Mary.
In the reign of Henry VIII. indeed, he appears to have
Stood above all rivalship at the head of his profession ; and
he evinced his attachment to its interests, as well as to the
public good, by various acts ; but especially by founding
two lectures on physic in the university of Oxford, and
one in that of Cambridge. That at Oxford was left to
Merton college, and the Cambridge lecture was given to
St. John's, at which college it is said by Wood and Knight
that Linacre studied for some time. The endowment of
both is the manor of Tracys, or Tracies, in Kent ; but al-
though he bequeathed these at his death in 1524, and the
lectures were actually read even in his life-time, they were
not established until December 1549, by Tuustall, bishop
of Durham. Linacre also may be reputed the founder of
^he royal college of physicians in London. Regretting
that there was no proper check upon illiterate monks and
empirics, licences being easily obtained by improper per-
sons, when the bishops were authorised to examine and
license practitioners in an art of which they could not be
competent judges, Linacre obtained letters patent in 1518
from Henry VIII. constituting a corporate body of regu-
larly bred physicians in London, in whom was vested the
sole right of examining and admitting persons to practise
within the city, and seven miles round it ; and also of
licensing practitioners throughout the whole kingdom, ex-
£ ept such as were graduates of Oxford or Cambridge, who
by virtue of their degrees were independent of the college,
except within London and its precincts. The college had
likewise authority given to it to examine prescriptions and
drugs in apothecaries' shops. Linacre was the first presi-
dent of the new college, and continued in the office during
the remaining seven years of his life; and, at his death, he
bequeathed to the college his house in Knight-rider-street,
in which its meetings were held.
After receiving all these honours, as attestations and re-
yards of superior merit in his profession, he resolved to
change it for that of divinity. To this study he applied
himself in the latter part of his life*; and, entering into
* Sir Jfehn Cheke, in censuring thi» reading the 5th, 6th, and 7th chapters
change, observes, that be did n >t be- of St. Matthew, he threw the book
gin this -tuily till he was broken by away with violence, and swore, that
age and infiumities; and that, upon this was either not the Gospel, or we
t I N A C R E. 281
the priesthood, obtained the rectory of Mersham, October
1509 ; but, resigning it within a month, he was installed
into the prebend of Eaton in the church of Wells, and
afterwards, in 1518, into another of York; he was alsa
precentor in the latter church, but resigned it in half a
year. He had other preferments in the church, some of
which he received from archbishop Warham, as he grate-
fully acknowledges in a letter to that prelate. Dr. Knight
informs us, that he was a prebendary of St. Stepiien's,
Westminster; and bishop Tanner writes, that he was also
rector of Wigan, in Lancashire. He died of tne stone, in
great pain and torment, Oct. 20, 1524, and was buried in
St. Paul's cathedral ; where a handsome monument was
afterwards erected to his memory by his admirer and suc-
cessor in fame, Dr. Caius.
In his literary character, Linacre stands eminently dis-
tinguished ; as he was one of the first, in conjunction
with Colet, Lily, Grocyn, and Latimer, who revived, or
rather introduced, classical learning in this island. Trans-
lations from the Greek authors into Latin were the chief
occupations of the literati of those times; and Linacre,
as we have already observed, conferred a benefit on his
profession, by translating several of the most valuable
pieces of Galen. These were the treatises, " De Sanitate
tuenda," in six books, which was printed at Cambridge in
1517, and dedicated to king Henry VIII. ; " De Morbis
curandis," in fourteen books, printed at Paris in 1526;
three books " De Temperamentis," and one " De inae-
quali Temperie," first printed at Cambridge in 1521, and
inscribed to pope Leo X. A* copy of this on vellum, which
Linacre presented to Henry VIII. is now in the Bodleian.
There is another edition, without date or printer's name.
" De naturalibus Facaltatibus," three books, together with
one book " De Pulsuum Usu," without date, but they were
reprinted by Colinaeus in 1528, as well as his posthumous
translation of the four books " De Morborum Symptomati-
bus." In these versions Linacre exhibited a Latin style so
pure and elegant, as ranked him, among the finest writers
of his age. In the polish of his style be was rather fasti-
dious, and his friend Erasmus describes him as " Vir non
were not Christians. Cheke, " De as appears from his projecting the col-
Pronunc. Graecac Linguae." However, lege of physicians, and being president
be still bad bis thoughts upon ph>«ic, there till his death.
682 L I N A C R E.
exacti tantum, sed severi judicii ;'' and Huet, in his learned
treatise " De claris Interpretatoribus," gives him the pra?se
of extraordinary elegance and chasteness of style, but in-
timates that he occasionally sacrifices fidelity to these qua-
lities.
It was, indeed, on his reputation as a philologist, that
he seems chiefly to have valued himself. His first essay
was a translation of " Proclus on the Sphere," dedicated
to his pupil, prince Arthur ; and he also wrote a smal
book of the rudiments of the Latin grammar, in English,
for the use of the princess Mary, which was afterwards
translated into Latin by the celebrated Buchanan. But
the work which appears to have engaged a very large por-
tion of his time, and was universally acknowledged to be
a work of the most profound erudition, was a larger gram-
matical treatise, entitled " De emendata structura Latini
Sermonis, libri sex." This work, which was not printed
till after his death, in December 1524, when it appeared
with a recommendatory letter from the learned Melanc-
thon, was received with much applause by men of erudi-
tion, and passed through several editions. The original is
\«ry scarce; but from the translation of it, by Buchanan,
it appears to be little more than the present accidence
taught in schools, and still retaining the title of " Rudi-
ments, &c." His friend Erasmus, indeed, in his " Moriae
Encomium," bestowed some good-natured raillery upon the
author, for having tortured himself for twenty years by the
subtleties of grammar, and, after forsaking other more im-
portant objects, thought himself happy in living long
enough to establish certain rules for distinguishing the
eight parts of speech.
In his professional character, Linacre acquired universal
reputation, among his countrymen and contemporaries, for
skill and practical ability, as well as for his learning; and
he was equally the subject of applause and estimation
es an upright and humane physician, a steady and affec-
tionate friend, and a munificent patron of letters. It
were sufficient of itself to justify this eulogium, to men-
tion that he was the intimate friend of Erasmus. That
great and worthy roan frequently takes occasion to express
his affection and esteem for his character and abilities j
and writing to an acquaintance, when seized with an ill-
ness at Paris, he pathetically laments his absence from
L"I NACRE. 233
Linacre, from whose skill and kindness he might receive
equal relief*.'
LINDEN. See VANDER LINDEN.
LINDSAY (JOHN), a learned divine, of St. MaryVhall
at Oxford, officiated for many years as minister of the
nonjuring society in Trinity-chapel, Aldersgate-street, and
is said to have been, their last minister. He was also for
some time a corrector of the press to Mr. Bowyer the
printer. He finished along and useful life, June 21, 1768,
at the age of eighty-two ; and was buried in Islington
church-yard. Mr. Lindsay published "The Short History
of the Regal Succession," &c. with " Remarks on Whiston's
Scripture Politics," &c. 1720, Svo ; which occurs in the
Bodleian Catalogue. His valuable translation of Mason's
^ Vindication of the Church of England," 1726, (reprinted
in 1728,) has a large and elaborate preface, containing " a
full and particular Series of the Succession of our Bishops,
through the several Reigns since the Reformation," &c.
He dates the second edition from " Islington, 13 Dec.
1727." In 1747, he published, in the same size, " Two
Sermons preached at Court in 1620, by Francis Mason;1*
which he recommends, " as well for their own intrinsic
value, as to make up a complete Collection of that learned
Author's Works." He had a nephew, who died curate of
Waltham abbey, Sept. 17, 1779.2
LINDSAY, or LYNDSAY (SiR DAVID), an ancient
Scotch poet, descended from a noble family, was born in
1490, at Garmylton in Hadingtonshire, and received his
early education probably at the neighbouring school of
* The following epitaph, written by Medicinae studiosis Qxonia: publicas
Gains, will be acceptable to the learned lectiones duas, Cantabiiglce uuatn, in
reader, from the elegance of its com- perpetuum stabilivit. In hac urbe Col-
position: legium Medicorum fieri sua industria
" Thomas Lynacrus, Regis Henrici curavit, cujus et Praesidena proximus
VIII. medicus ; vir et Graced et Latine, electus est. Fraudes dolosque mirfc
atque inremedica longe eruditissimus. perosus ; fidusamicis; omnibus juxta
Multos Delate sua languentes, et qui charus : aliquot annoa antequam obi-
jam animam desponderant, vita? resti- erat Presbyter factus ; plenus annis,
tuit. Multa Galeni opera in Latinam ex hac- vita migravit, multum deside-
linguam, mira et singulari facundia, ratua, anno 1524, die 21 Octobris. Vi-
vertit. Egregium opus de emendata vit post funera virtus. Thomae Lina-
structura Latini sermonis, amicorum cro elarissirno Medico, Johannes Caius
rogatu, paulo ante mortem edidit. posuit, anno 1557."
1 Ath. Ox. wol, I. new edit.— Biog. Brit. — Fuller's Worthies.— Freind's Hist,
of Physic. -y-Wopd's Annals by Gutch.«— Aikin's Biog. Memoirs of Medicine.— «
Rees's Cyclopedia.
2 Nichols's Bowyer, in which is a 'portion of his correspondence with Dr.
£achary Qrey.
284 LINDSAY.
Coupar. In 1505 he was sent to the university of St. An-
drew's, which he is supposed to have left in 1509. He
then entered into the service of the court, where, in 1512,
he was an attendant, or page of honour to James V. then
an infant. In this situation he continued until 1524, when,
by the intrigues of the queen mother, the young king was
deprived of his servants, Bellenden, Lindsay, and others,
for whom he seems always to have entertained a just re-
gard, and whom he dismissed with a pension, the payment
of which his majesty was studious to enforce, while his
means were few, and his power was little. From 1524 to
1528, Lindsay was a witness of the confusions and oppres-
sions arising from the domination of the Douglasses over
both the prince and his people. From that thraldom the
king, at the age of sixteen, made his escape, by his own
address and vigour, in July of 1528, after every other
exertion had failed. Lindsay had now liberty and spirits
to support him in the cultivation of his muse, and about
the end of the year just mentioned, produced his " Dreme."
In the following year he presented his " Complaynt" to
the king, and in 1 530 he was inaugurated lion king of arms,
and incidentally became a knight. In December of this
year he published his satire on the clergy, called " The
Complaynt of the Papingo."
Sir David was soon employed in discharging the proper
functions of lion herald. In April 1531, he was sent with
Campbel and Panter, to Antwerp, to renew the ancient
treaty of commerce with the Netherlands, and they were
so well received by the emperor Charles V. as to insure
the success of their mission. Lindsay returned to Scotland
in the latter end of 1531, and not long after married. This
marriage does not appear to have been either fruitful or
happy. Sir David left no issue, and he every where speaks
with a sort of Turkish contempt of women. He was now
occupied upon a poem, which displays much of that senti-
ment, a drama of a very singular kind, which he called,
what he intended it to be, " A Satyre of the three Estatis."
Some of his biographers have affected to consider him as
the first dramatist of his country. But moralities existed in
Scotland before he was born ; and were very common in
his time. In 1536, probably, he produced his "Answer
to the King's Flyting," and his '«• Complaynt of Basche,"
which shew the gloominess of his temperament.
In the mean time he was sent as lion king, with sir John
LINDSAY. 285
Campbel of Laudon, in 1535, to the emperor, to demand
in marriage one of the princesses of his house. The king,
however, not being satisfied with the portraits of the prin-
cesses presented to him, or perhaps, as Mr. Chalmers
thinks, being attracted by a more useful connection with
France, sent Lindsay, in 1536, to that country to demand
in marriage a daughter of the house of Vendome ; but the
king himself, arriving the year following, made choice of
Magdalene of France, who died in about two months after
her marriage ; and this lamentable event occasioned Lind-
say's next poem, the " Deploratioun of the Deith of quene
Magdalene." The king, however, married again in 1538,
and Lindsay's talents were called forth in the rejoicings
and ceremonies consequent to that event, and afterwards
on the birth of a prince. During the remainder of the
reign of James V. he appears to have retained his majesty's
favour, and to have been frequently employed in his cha-
racter of herald ; but few of these incidents seem of suffi-
cient importance to be detached from his biographer's nar-
rative. During the regency, he appears to have espoused
the cause of the reformers, and after the assassination of
cardinal Beaton, wrote his " Tragedie of the late Cardinal,'*
to strengthen the prejudices of the public against that ec-
clesiastic.
In 1548 he was sent, as lion herald, to Christian, king
of Denmark, to solicit ships, for protecting the Scottish
coasts against the English, and to negociate a free trade,
particularly in grain : the latter purpose only was accom-
plished, but at Copenhagen, Lindsay had an opportunity
of becoming acquainted with the literati of Denmark. He
at length returned to his usual occupations, and was pro-
bably no more employed in such distant embassies. About
this time he published the most pleasing of all his poems,
" The Historic and Testament of Squire Meldrum." In
1553 he finished his last and greatest work, "The Mo-
narchic." When he died, seems a matter of great uncer-
tainty. His latest and best-informed biographer is inclined
to place his death in or about 1557 ; but others say that
he lived till 1567. It is rather singular that a man of so
much celebrity, a great public officer, one of the reformers,
or who at least contributed to the reformation, and the
most popular poet of his time, should have died in such
obscurity, without even a tradition as to when or where he
was buried. Little of his personal character can now be
£86 L I N D S A Y.
known, but what is to be gleaned from his writings. Hfc
entered with great zeal into the religious disputes of his
time, but is supposed to lean rather to the Lutheran than
Calvinistic principles of reformation ; his satires, however,
were powerfully assisting in exposing the vices of the
clergy, and produced a lasting etiect on the minds of the
people. We shall not enter very minutely into his cha-
racter as a poet. In his works, says Mr. Ellis, we do not
often find either the splendid diction of Dun bar, or the
prolific imagination of Gawin Douglas. Perhaps, indeed,
the " Dream" is his only composition which can be cited
as uniformly poetical ; but his various learning, his goad
sense, his perfect knowledge of courts, and of the world,
the facility of his versification, and above all, his peculiar
talent of adapting himself to readers of all denominations,
will continue to secure to him a considerable share of that
popularity, for which he was originally indebted to the
opinions he professed, no less than to his poetical merit.
The most ample information respecting Lindsay, his per-
sonal history, and works, may be found in the very accu-
rate edition of the latter published in 1H06, by George
Chalmers, esq. in 3 vols. Svo. It has been justly remarked
that if the learned editor had executed no more than the
glossary prefixed to this edition, he would have been amply
entitled to the gratitude both of English and Scotch scho-
lars. A more elaborate, learned, and satisfactory produc-
tion of the kind has certainly not appeared since that of
Ruddiman.1
LINDSEY (THEOPHILUS), a Socinian writer, was born
at Middle wich, in Cheshire, June 20th, 1723, old style.
His father, Mr. Robert Lindsey, was an opulent proprietor
of the salt-works in that neighbourhood ; his mother's name
was Spencer, a younger branch of the Spencer family, in
the county of Buckingham. Theophilus was the second of
three children, and so named after his godfather, Theo-
philus earl of Huntingdon. He received the rudiments of
grammar-learning at Middlewich, and from his early at-
tachment to books, and the habitual seriousness of his mind,
he was intended by his mother for the church. He lost
1 Life prefixed to Mr. Chalmers's edition. — Ellis's Specimens. — Warton's
Hist, of Poetry. — Brit Crit. vol. XXIX. — Robert Lindsay of Pitscottie, who was
* contemporary of sir David, is the reputed author or editor of what has been
hitherto published as a " History of Scotland from 1456 10 1565, &c." Of this
a recent and very correct edition has been published by John Graham Dalyell,
esq. F. S. A. E. in 2 Tols. 8vo, with iu proper title of "The Chronicles of Scot-
land."
L I N D S E Y. 287
seme time by a change of schools, until he was put under
the care of Mr. Barnard of the free- school of Leeds, under
whom he made a rapid progress in classical learning. At
the age of eighteen he was admitted of St. John's college,
Cambridge, where, by exemplary diligence and moral
conduct, he obtained the entire approbation of his tutors.
As soon as be had finished his studies at college, taken
his first degree, and had been admitted to deacon's orders,
he was nominated by sir George Wheler to a chapel in
Spital-square London. Soon after this, he was, by the
recommendation of the earl of Huntingdon, appointed do-
mestic chaplain to Algernon duke of Somerset. The duke,
from a great regard for his merit, determined to procure
him a high rank in the church, but an early death deprived
Mr. Lindsey of his illustrious patron. la 1754, be accom-
panied the present duke of Northumberland to the con-
tinent, and on bis return he supplied, for some time, the
temporary vacancy of a good living in the north of Eng-
land, called Kirkby-Wisk: here he became acquainted
with Mr. archdeacon Blackburne, and in 1760 married his
daughter-in-law. From Kirkby Mr. Lindsey went to Pid-
dletown, in Dorsetshire,' having been presented to the
living of that place by the earl of Huntingdon : this,
through the interest of the same patron, he exchanged, in
1764, for the vicarage of Catterick, in Yorkshire. Here
he resided nearly ten years, an exemplary pattern of a pri-
mitive and conscientous pastor, highly respected and be-
loved by the people committed to his charge. Besides his
various and important duties as a parish clergyman, Mr.
Lindsey was ever alive, and heartily active, in every cause
in which a deviation from the formularies and obligations
of the church was considered as necessary. With this
view, in 1771 he zealously co-operated with Mr. arch-
deacon Blackburne, Dr. John Jebb, Mr. Wyvil, and others,
in endeavouring to obtain relief in matters of subscription
to the thirty-nine articles. Mr. Lindsey had, probably,
for some years, entertained doubts with respect to the
doctrine of the Trinity, and other leading topics of the
established faith; and these pressed so heavy upon him
that he could no longer endure to remain in a church,
partaking of its emoluments, which he could not deserve,
and preaching its doctrines, which he could not believe.
He therefore, in November 1773, wrote to the prelate of
his diocese, informing him of his iateiuion to quit the
L I N D S E Y.
church, and signifying, that in a few days he should trans-
mit to him his deed of resignation. The bishop endea-
voured to persuade him to remain at his post, but he had
made up his mind that duty required the sacrifice, and he
was resolved to bear the consequences. When the act was
done, he said he felt himself delivered from a load which
had long lain heavy upon him, and at times nearly over-
whelmed him. Previously to his quitting Catterick, Mr.
Lindsey delivered a farewell address to his parishioners,
in which he stated his motives for quitting them in a sim-
ple and very affecting manner, pointing out the reasons
why he could no longer conduct, nor join in their worship,
without the guilt of continual insincerity before God, and
endangering the loss of his favour for ever. He left Cat-
terick about the middle of December, and after visiting
some friends in different parts of the country, he arrived
in London in January 1774, where he met with friends,
who zealously patronized the idea which he entertained
of opening a place of worship, devoted entirely to unU
tarian principles. A large room was at first fitted up for
the purpose in Essex-street in the Strand, which was
opened April 17, 1774. The service of the place was
conducted according to the plan of a liturgy which had
been altered from that used in the established church by
the celebrated Dr. Samuel Clarke, whose conscience was
not quite so delicate as that of Mr. Lindsey. Mr. Lindsey
published the sermon which he preached on the opening of
his chapel, to which was added an account of the liturgy
made use of. Abont the same time he published his-
" Apology," of which several editions were called for in
the course of a few years. This WAS followed by a still
larger volume, entitled " A Sequel to the Apology," which
was intended as a reply to his various opponents^ and like-
wise to vindicate and establish the leading doctrines which
he professed, and on account of which he had given up
his preferment in the church. This work was published in
1776; and in 1778 he was enabled, by the assistance of
his friends, to build the chapel of Essex-street, and to pur-
chase the ground on which it stands. Till the summer of
1793, Mr. Lindsey, with the aid of his friend the Kev. Dr.
Disney, conducted the services of the place, upon strict
unitanan principles, to a numerous congregation. He
then resigned the whole into the hands of his coadjutor,
notwithstanding the, earnest wishes of his hearers that he
LINDSEY. 289
should still continue a part of the services, Though he
had quitted the duties of the pulpit, he continued to labour
in the cause, by his publications, till he had attained his 80th,
year. In 1802, he published his last work, entitled " Con-
versations on the Divine Government, shewing that every
thing is from God, and for good to all." The professed
object of this piece is to vindicate the Creator from those
gloomy notions which are too often attached to his provi-
dence, and to shew that the government of the world is
the wisest that could have been adopted, and that afflic-
tions and apparent evils are permitted for the general
good. From this principle Mr. Lindsey derived consola-
tion through life, and upon it he acted in every difficult
and trying scene. On his death-bed he spoke of his suf-
ferings with perfect patience and meekness, and when
reminded, by a friend, that he doubtless was enabled
to bear them with so much fortitude in the recollection
of his favourite maxim, that " Whatever is, is right ;w
*' No," said he with an animation that lighted up his coun-
tenance, " Whatever is, is best." This was the last sen-
tence which he was able distinctly to articulate : he died
Novembers, 1808. Besides the works already referred
to, he published two dissertations : 1. On the preface to
St. John's Gospel j 2. On praying to Christ : " An Histo-
rical View of the State of the Unitarian Doctrine and Wor-
ship from the Reformation to our own Times ;" and seve-
ral other pieces. Among controversial writers Mr. Lindsey
takes a place ; as his " Vindiciae Priestleianae," and his
" Examination of Mr. Robinson's Plea for the Divinity of
Christ," will shew. Two volumes of his Sermons have been
published since his death.
Mr. Lindsey was a man of mild and amiable manners,
and very highly respected by every person who knew him.
As a writer on the side of unitarianism, it cannot be said
that he brought many accessions of new matter and argu-
ment, but his honourable conduct in the resignation of his
preferment rendered him peculiarly an ornament to the
sect he joined, and the loss of such a man might be justly
regretted by the church he left. *
LINGLEBACH (JOHN), a Dutch painter, or at least
one who painted much in the Dutch manner, was born at
Athenaeum, Tol. V. — Rees's Cyclopaedia. — Memoirs by Mr. Behhaoi,
, 8vo.
VOL. XX, U
L I;N G L E B AC H.
Frankfort on the Maine, in 1625, and learned his art fa
Holland, but afterwards went to Koine, where he stu-
diously observed every thing that was curious in art or na-
ture, and continued at Rome till he was twenty-five years
of age. His usual subjects are fairs, mountebanks, sea-
prospects, naval engagements, and landscapes. His land-
scapes are enriched with antiquities, ruins, animals, and
elegant figures ; his sea-fights are full of expression, ex»
citing pity and terror ; and all his objects are well-de-
signed, His skies are generally light, and thinly clouded,
and his management of the aerial perspective is extremely
judicious; his keeping is usually good; his distances of a
clear bluish tint ; and the whole together is masterly, pro-
ducing an agreeable effect. In painting figures or ani-
mals, he had uncommon readiness, and on that account
he was employed by several eminent artists to adorn their
landscapes with those objects ; and whatever he inserted in
the works of other masters, was always well adapted to the
scene and the subject. His pencil is free, his touch clean
and light, and his compositions are in general esteem. It
pay be observed, that he was particularly fond of intro-
ducing into most of his compositions, pieces of architec-
ture, the remains of elegant buildings, or the gates of the
sea-port towns of Italy ; embellished with statues, placed
sometimes on the pediments and cornices, and sometime*
in niches. He also excelled in representing Italian fairs
and markets, inserting in those subjects abundance of
figures, well grouped and designed, in attitudes suitable
to their different characters and occupations; and although
)ie often repeated the same subjects, yet the liveliness of
liis imagination, and the readiness of his invention, always
enabled him to give them a remarkable variety. He died
in 1687.1
L1NGUET (SiMON NICHOLAS HENRY), a French advo-
cate and political writer, was born at Rheims, July 14,
,t!736. His father was one of the professors of the college
of Beauvais, at Paris, and had his son educated under him,
vwho made such proficiency in his studies as to gain the
three chief prizes of" the college in 1751. This early ce-
Jebrity was noticed by the duke de Deux- Pont, then at
Paris, who took him with him to the country ; but Linguet
'soon left this nobleman for the service of the prince de
.Beavau, who employed him as his aide-de-camp in the war
1 Argcuville, vol. III. — Pilkinstou.
LI N G U E T.
•in Portugal, on account of his skill in mathematics.
During his residence in that country, Linguet learned the
language so far as to be able to translate some Portuguese
dramas into French. Returning to France in 1762, he was
admitted to the bar, where his character was very various ;
but amongst the reports both of enemies and friends, it
appears that of an hundred and thirty causes, he lost only
nine, and was allowed to shine both in oiatory and compo*-
sidon. He had the art, however, of making enemies by
the occasional liberties he took with characters ; and at
one time twenty-four of his brethren at the bar, whether
from jealousy or a better reason, determined that they
would take no brief in any cause in which he was con-
cerned, and the parliament of Paris approved this so far
as to interdict him from pleading. We are not sufficiently
acquainted with the circumstances of the case to be able to
form an opinion on the justice of this harsh measure. It
appears, however, to have thrown Linguet out of his pro-
fession, and he then began to employ his pen on his nu^
merous political writings ; but these, while they added to
his reputation as a lively writer, added likewise to the
number of his enemies. The most pointed satire levelled
at him was the " Theory of Paradox," generally attributed
to the abbe Morellet, who collected all the absurd para-
doxes to be found in Linguet's productions, which it must
be allowed are sufficiently numerous, and deserve the cas-
tigation he received. Linguet endeavoured to reply, but
the laugh was against him, and all the wits of Paris en-
joyed his mortification. His "Journal," likewise, in which
most of his effusions appeared, was suppressed by the mi-
nister of state, Maurepas ; and Linguet, thinking his per-
sonal liberty was now in danger, came to London ; but the
English not receiving him as he expected, he went to
Brussels, and in consequence of an application to the count
de Vergennes, was allowed to return to France. He had not
been here long, before, fresh complaints having been made
of his conduct, he was, Sept. 27, 1780, sent to the Bastille,
where he remained twenty months. Of his imprisonment
and the causes he published a very interesting account,
which was translated into English, and printed here in
1783. He was, after being released, exiled to Rethel,
but in a short time returned to England. He had been
exiled on two other occasions, once to Chartres, and the
other to Nogent-le-Kotrou. At this last place, he seduced
u 2
«92 L I N G U E T.
a madame But£, the wife of a manufacturer, who accom-
panied him to England. From England he went again to
Brussels, and resumed his journal, or " Annales politiques,"
in which he endeavoured to pay his court to the emperor
Joseph, who was so much pleased with a paper he had
written on his favourite project of opening the Scheldt,
that he invited him to Vienna, and made him a present of
1000 ducats. Linguet, however, soon forfeited the empe-
ror's favour, by taking part with Varider Noot and the other
insurgents of Brabant. Obliged, therefore, to quit the
Netherlands, he came to Paris in 1791, and appeared at
the bar of the constituent assembly as advocate for the co-
lonial assembly of St. Domingo and the cause of the blacks.
In February 1792, he appeared in the legislative assembly
to denounce Bertrand de Moleville, the minister of the
marine; but his manner was so absurd, that notwithstand-
ing the unpopularity of that statesman, the assembly treated
it with contempt, and Linguet indignantly tore in pieces
his memorial, which he had been desired to leave on the
table. During the reign of terror, he withdrew into the
country, but was discovered and brought before the revo-
lutionary tribunal, and condemned to death June 27, 1794,
for having in his works paid court to the despots of Vienna
and London. At the age of fifty-seven he went with se-
renity and courage to meet his fate. It is not very easy
to form an opinion of Linguet's real character. His
being interrupted in his profession seems to have thrown
him upon the public, whose prejudices he alternately
opposed and flattered. His works abound in contradic-
tions, but upon the whole it may be inferred that he was a
lover of liberty, and no inconsiderable promoter of those
opinions which precipitated the revolution. That he was
not one of the ferocious sect, appears from his escape, and
his death. His works are very numerous. The principal
are, 1. "Voyage au labyrinthe du jardin du roi," Hague,
(Paris,) 1755, 12mo. 2. " Histoire du siecle d'Alex-
andre," Paris, 1762, 12mo. 3. " Projet d'un canal et
d'un pont sur les cotes de Picardie," 1764, 8vo. 4.
"Le Fanatisme de Philosophes," 1764, 8vo. 5. " Ne-
cessit6 d'une reforme dans 1'administration de la justice
et des lois civiles de France," Amst. 1764, 8vo. 6. "La
Dime royale," 1764, reprinted in 1787. 7. " Histoire
des Revolutions de 1'empire Remain," 1766, 2 vols. 12mo.
Thig is one of his paradoxical works, in which tyranny and
L I N G U E T.
slavery are represented in the most favourable light. 8.
"Theorie des Lois," 1767, 2 vols. 8vo, reprinted in 1774.
9. " Histoire impartiale des Jesuites," 1768, 8vo. 10.
" Hardion's Universal History," vols. 19th and 20th. 11.
" Theatre Espagnole," 1770, 4 vols. 12mo. 12. " Theorie
du Libelle," Amst. (Paris), 1775, 12mo, an a,nswer to the
abbe Morellet. 13. " Du plusheureux gouvernment," &c.
1774, 2 vols. 12mo. 14. " Essai philosophique sur le
Monachisme," 1777, 8vo. Besides these he wrote several
pieces on the revolution in Brabant, and a collection of
law cases.1
LINLEY (JOHN), an eminent mnsic professor and or-
ganist, long resident at Bath, where he had served an ap-
prenticeship under Chilcot, the organist of that city, was a
studious man, equally versed in the theory and practice
of his art. Having a large family of children, in whom he
found the seeds of genius had been planted by nature, and
the gift of voice, in order to cultivate this, he pointed
his studies to singing, and became the best singing-master
of his time, if we may judge by the specimens of "his
success in his own family. He was not only a masterly
player on the organ and harpsichord, but a good composer,
as his elegies and several compositions for Drury-lane
theatre evinced. His son Thomas, who was placed under
Nardini at Florence, the celebrated disciple of Tartini,
was a fine performer on the violin, with a talent for com-
position, which, if he had lived to develope, would have
given longevity to his fame. Being at Grimsthorpe, in
Lincolnshire, at the seat of the duke of Ancaster, where
he often amused himself in rowing, fishing, and sailing in a
boat on a piece of water, in a squall of wind, or by some ac-
cident, the boat was overset, and this amiable and promising
youth was drowned at an early age, to the great affliction
of his family and friends, particularly his matchless sister,
Mrs. Sheridan, whom this calamity rendered miserable for
a long time ; during which, her affection and grief ap-
peared in verses of the most sweet and affecting kind on
the sorrowful event. The beauty, talents, and mental
endowments of this " Sancta Caecilia rediviva," will be
remembered to the last hour of all who heard, or even saw
and conversed with her. The tone of her voice and ex-
pressive manner of singing were as enchanting as her
1 Diet. Hist,— Biographic Moderne.
294 .L 1 N L E Y. •
countenance and conversation. In her singing, with a
mellifluous-toned voice, a perfect shake and intonation,
she was possessed of the double power of delighting an
audience equally in pathetic strains and songs of brilliant
execution, which is allowed to very tew singers. When
she had heard the Agujari and the Danzi, afterwards ma-
dame le Brim, she astonished all hearers by performing
their bravura airs, extending the natural compass of her
voice a fourth above the highest note of the harpsichord,
before additional keys were in fashion. Mrs. Sheridan
died at Bristol in 1792.
Mrs. Tickel, her sister, was but little inferior to her in
beauty and talents ; and Mr. Linley's other daughters con-
tinued to excite the admiration of all who knew them, in
a manner worthy of the family from which they sprang.
Mr. Lin ley, the father of this nest of nightingales, from
being assistant manager of Drury-lane theatre, lived to
become joint patentee, and for some time sole acting ma-1
nager ; in which capacity he gave satisfaction, and escaped
cell sure, public and private, by his probity and steady
conduct, more than is often allowed to the governor of such
a numerous and froward family. This worthy and ingeni-
ous man died November 1795.'
LINNAEUS (CHARLES), afterwards VON LINNE', the most
eminent of modern naturalists, was born at Rashult, in
the province of Smaland, in Sweden, May 13th, 1707.
His father, Nicholas Linnaeus, was assistant minister of the
parish of Stenbrohult, to which the hamlet of Rashult be-
longs, and became in process of time its pastor or rector ;
having married Christina Broderson, the daughter of his
predecessor. The subject of our memoir was their first-born
child. 1 he family of Linnaeus had been peasants, but some
of them, early in the seventeenth century, had followed
literary pursuits. In the beginning of that century regular
and hereditary surnames were first adopted in Sweden, on
which occasion literary men often chose one of Latin or
Greek derivation and structure, retaining the termination
proper to the learned languages. A remarkable Linden-
tree, Tdia Europ<eat growing near the place of their resi-
dence, is reported to have given origin to the names of
Lindelius and Tiliander, in some branches of this family ;
but the above-mentioned Nicholas, is said to have firsX
!*, by Or. Burney.
. L I N N & U S; 295-
taken that of Linnaeus, by which his son became so exlen--"
sively known. Of the taste which laid the foundation of
his happiness, as well as his celebrity, this worthy father
was the primary cause. Residing in a delightful spot, on;
the banks of a fine lake, surrounded by hills and valleys,
woods and cultivated ground, his garden and his fields
yielded him both amusement and profit, and his infant son
imbibed, under his auspices, that pure and ardent love of
nature for its own sake, with that habitual exercise of the
mind in observation and activity, which ever after marked
his character, and which were enhanced by a rectitude of
principle, an elevation of devotional taste, a warmth of-
feeling, and an amiableness of manners, rarely united in
those who so transcendantly excel in any branch of phi-
losophy or science, because the cultivation of the heart
does by no means so constantly as it ought keep pace with
that of the understanding. The maternal uncle of Nicholas
Linnaeus, Sueno Tiliander, who had educated him with
his own children, was also fond of plants and of gardening,
so that these tastes were in some measure hereditary. From
his tutor he learned to avoid the error of the desultory*
speculators of nature ; and his memory, like his powers of
perception, was naturally good, and his sight was always-
remarkably acute. He does not appear, however, to have
been very happy under this tutor, and at seven years of
age grammar had but an unequal contest with botany, in
the mind of the young student. Nor was he much more
fortunate when removed, in 1717, to the grammar-school
of Wexio, the master of which, as his disgusted pupil
relates, " preferred stripes and punishments to admo-
nitions and encouragements." In 1722 he was admitted
to a higher form in the school, and his drier studies
were now allowed to be intermixed and sweetened with
the recreations of botany. In 1724, being seventeen
years of age, he was removed to the superior seminary or:
Gymnasium, and his destination was fixed for the church;'
but, having no taste for Greek or Hebrew, ethics, meta-
physics, or theology, he devoted himself with success to*
mathematics, natural philosophy, .and a scientific pursuit
of his darling botany. The " Chloris Gothica" of Brome-'
lius, and " Hortus Upsaliensis" of Rudbeck, which made
a part of his little library, were calculated rather to fire
than to satisfy his curiosity ; while his Palmberg and Til-'
might mak,e him sensible how much still remained to
L I N N JE V S.
be done. His own copies of these books, used with the ut-
most care and neatness, are now in sir James Smith's library.
Linnaeus' s literary reputation, therefore, made so little pro-
gress, that his tutors havino pronounced him a dunce, he
would probably have been put to some handicraft trade,
had not Dr. Hothmann, the lecturer on natural philosophy,
taken him into his own house, with a view to the studv of
physic, and given him a private course of instruction in
physiology. He first suggested to Linnueus the true prin-
ciples upon which botany ought to be studied, founded on
the parts of fructification, and put the system of Tourne-
fort into his hands, in the knowledge of which he made a
rapid progress.
In 1727 Linnaeus was matriculated at the university of
Lund, and devoted himself to the study of medicine. He
lodged at the house of a physician, Dr. Stobaeus, and
haying accesfs to a library and museum of natural history,
was indefatigable in his application, and Stobaeus being infirm
in health and spirits, Linnaeus was allowed occasionally to
relieve him from the labours of his profession, and soon bo-
tame a great favourite. In the ensuing summer he passed
the vacation under his paternal roof, and meeting there
with his former patron Rothmann, by his advice he quitted
Lund for Upsal, as a superior school of medicine and bo-
tany. But in this situation, owing to bis father's poverty,
he was reduced to great necessity, and although he came
well recommended, could only obtain a royal scholarship,
which was so insufficient for his maintenance, that he often
wanted the necessaries of life. He nevertheless studied
with great perseverance, and at last, in 1729, obtained a
liberal patron in Dr. Olaus Celsius, professor of divinity,
who met him by chance in that academic garden, the fame
of which he was destined to immortalize. Dr. Celsius
discovering his merit, took him under his protection, and
soon recommended him to pupils, by which measure his
finances were improved.
While under the roof of Dr. Celsius, he met with a re-
view of Vaillant's treatise on the sexes of plants, which
first led him to consider the importance and various forma-
tion of the stamens and pistils, and thence to form a new
scheme of arrangement founded on those essential organs.
He drew up an essay in opposition to the librarian of the
university, who had published a work " De nuptiis plan-
turum i" and this performance being approved both by
L I N N JE U S. 291
Celsius and Rudbeck, led the way to his being appointed
in 1730 to lecture in the botanic garden, as an assistant
to Rudbeck. He was also taken into Rudbeck's house as
tutor to his younger children, and ms leisure time was em-
ployed on some of those botanical works which he after-
wards published in Holland during his stay there.
The frequent conversations of Rudbeck, concerning the
natural history of Lapland, and the curiosities he had seen
there, excited an irresistible desire in Linnaeus to visit the
same country. To this he was perhaps the more imme-
diately prompted by some little circumstances which made
his residence at Upsal uncomfortable. These were, the
jealousy of Dr. Rosen, who was ambitious of succeeding
Rudbeck whenever his professorships should become va-
cant, and who by his success as the only practising phy-
sician at Upsal, was likely to prove a formidable rival ; as
well as some domestic chagrin, which he thus relates :
" The faithless wife of the librarian Norrelius lived at this
time in Rudbeck's bouse, and by her Linnaeus was made
so odious to his patroness, that he could no longer stay
there." In the end of 1731, he retired to his native place,
and soon received, from the academy of sciences at Upsal,
an appointment to travel through Lapland, under the
royal authority, and at the expence of the academy. He
accordingly set out from Upsal, May 12th, on this expe-
dition ; and after visiting the Lapland Alps on foot, and
descending to the coast of Norway, of which he has given
a most picturesque and striking description, returned by
Tornea, and the east side of the Bothnian gulph, to Abo,
and so to Upsal, which he reached on the 10th of October,
having performed a journey of near 4000 English miles.
The particulars of his interesting expedition have lately
been given to the public, in an English translation of the
original journey written on the spot, illustrated with
wooden cuts from his own sketches, making two octavo
volumes.
Having learned the art of assaying metals during ten days'
residence at the mines of Biorknas, near Calix, in the course
of his tour, he next year gave a private course of lectures
on that subject, which had never been taught at Upsal be-
fore. The jealousy of Rosen, however, still pursued him ;
and this rival descended so low as to procure, partly by in-
treaties, partly by threats, the loan of his manuscript lec-
ture* OQ botany, which Linnaeus detected him in surrepti-
298 L I N N & U g.
•tiously copying. Rosen had taken by the hand a young-
inan named Wallerius, who afterwards became a distin-
guished mineralogist, and for whom he now procured, in
opposition to Linnaeus, the new place of adjunct, or assist-
ant, in the medical faculty at Lund. But the basest action
of Rosen, and which proved envy to be the sole source of his
conduct, was, he obtained, through the archbishop's means,
an order from the chancellor to prevent all private medical
lectures in the university. Linnaeus, deprived of his only
means of subsistence, is said to have been so exasperated
as to have drawn his sword upon Rosen, an affront with
which the latter chose to put up ; and Linnaeus, after hav-
ing for some time indulged feelings of passionate resent-
ment, entirely subdued these; and Rosen, towards the close
of his life, was glad of the medical aid of the man he had
in vain endeavoured to crush.
Disappointed in his views of medical advancement, Lin-
naeus turned his thoughts more immediately to the subject
of mineralogy. In the end of 1733, he had visited some
of the principal mines of Sweden, and had been introduced
to baron Reuterholm, governor of the province of Dalarne,
or Dalecarlia, resident at Fahlun, at whose persuasion and
expence he travelled through the pastern part of Dale-
carlia, accompanied by seven of his ablest pupils, a journal
of which tour exists in his library. At Fahlun he gave a
course of lectures on the art of assaying, which was nume-
rously attended ; and here he first became acquainted with
Browallius, then chaplain to the governor, afterwards bishop
of Abo, who advised him to take his doctor's degree, in
order to pursue the practice of physic, and further recom-
mended him to aim at some advantageous matrimonial con-
nection. In pursuit of the first part of this advice, Lin-
naeus, having scraped together about 15/. sterling, now
entered on his travels, with a view of obtaining his degree
at the cheapest university he could find, and of seeing as
much of the learned world as his chances and means might
enable him to do. In the beginning of 1735 he set out,
and after a short stay at Hamburgh and Amsterdam, he
proceeded to Harderwyck, where, having offered himself
*s a candidate, and undergone the requisite examinations,
ce obtained his degree June 23. On this occasion he pub-
lished and defended a thesis, entitled " Hypothesis nova
de-'l'ebriuin Intermittentiuui Causa," in the dedication of*
vxiai.eh, to la's " Alir.cenaios et Patrcmes," it is reaiarlcublo
L I ft N M U S.
that, among the names of Rudbeck, Rothmann, StobacusV
Moraius, &c. we find that of Rosen. The hypothesis here
advanced, most correctly so denominated, is truly Boer-
haavian. Intermitting fevers are supposed to be owing to
fine particles of clay, taken in with the food, and lodged
in the terminations of the arterial system, where they cause
the symptoms of the disorder in question.
In Holland Linnaeus became acquainted with Dr. John
Frederick Gronovius, who assisted him in publishing the
first edition of the celebrated " Systema Naturie," consist-
ing of eight large sheets, in the form of tables ; which
edition is now a great bibliothecal curiosity. He also pro-
cured access to the illustrious Boerhaave, who encouraged
him to remain in Holland ; but this advice could scarcely
have been followed, had he not met with a patron in Bur-
mann, of Amsterdam, who was then preparing his " The-
saurus Zeylanicus," and who received Linnaeus into his
house as his guest for some months, during which period
he printed his " Fundamenta Botanica," a small 8vo, which
contains the very essence of botany, and has never been
superseded or refuted. After he had been a few months
under Burmann's roof, he was introduced by Boerhaave toi
Mr. George Clifford, an opulent banker, who had a capital
garden at Hartecamp, and invited Linnaeus to superintend
it. This situation, which he accepted, appears to have
been in all respects agreeable and profitable to his studies,
and here he wrote and printed his " Flora Lapponica." In
1736, after having written his " Musa Cliffortiana," Lin-
naeus was sent by Mr. Clifford to England, and was intro-
duced to the lovers and teachers of natural science at Ox-
ford and London, Shaw, Martyn, Miller, and Collinson,
&c. They admired his genius, and valued his friendship,
and supplied him with books and plants, both for his own
herbarium, and the garden of his patron at Hartecamp.
On his return to Holland, lie continued the impression
of his " Genera Plantarum," which appeared in 1737. In
Oct. 1736, he was made a member of the imperial academy
Nature Curiosorum, by the title, according to the cdslom
of that body, of " Dioscorides Secundus.'* He printed
also in 1737, the "Viridarium Cliffortianum," an 8 vd cata-
logue of his friend's garden, disposed according to his own
sexual system, of which he published, later in the same
year, at Leyden, an exemplitication under the title of
" JYkthodus SexuaUs," in which all' the known genera of
300 L I N N >E U S.
plants are so arranged by name only. This year also he
produced his magnificent " Hortus Cliffortianus," folio.
This splendid volume, which was printed by Mr. Clifford
only for private distribution, was begun and finished in
nine months. In the same year Linn&us wrote and pub-
lished his " Critica Botanica," a sequel to part of the
" Fundamenta ;" but these labours, and perhaps the air of
Holland not agreeing with his health, he left the hospitable
roof of Mr. Clifford, and for a while assisted professor
Adrian Van Royen at Ley den in the garden there, and
about the same time printed the " Classes Plantarum," a
view of all the botanical systems ever known. Here also
be published his friend Artedi's " Ichthyologia." (See
AtTEDT).
Linnaeus remained at Leyden till the spring of 1738,
when he had an interesting interview with the great Boer-
haave, then on his death-bed. Linnaeus's departure, how-
ever, from Leyden, was prevented by a very formidable
intermittent fever. The skill of Van Swieten, and the
renewed attentions of the amiable Clifford, who received
him again under his roof with the most liberal and indul-
gent kindness, after some weeks restored him so far, that
be was able, though still weak, to set out on his journey,
carrying with him an introductory letter from Van Royen
to Anthony de Jussieu, the physician, who made him ac-
quainted with his brother, the famous Bernard de Jussieu.
He inspected the botanic garden, the herbariums of Tourne-
fort, Vaillant, the Jussieus, &c. ; visited the neighbour-
hood of Fontainbleau, formed an acquaintance with Reau-
mur and other distinguished naturalists, and was admitted
a corresponding member of the academy of sciences.
How he conversed with Reaumur and others, who knew
no language but their own, and how he contracted so close
a friendship with Mr. Collinson at London, it is not easy to
conceive. He confesses a peculiar inaptitude, and cer-
tainly a blatneable indifference, for the learning of lan-
guages, declaring in his diary that in all his travels he
learnt " neither English, French, German, Laplandish, nor
even Dutch, though he stayed in Holland three whole years.
Nevertheless, he found his way every where, well and hap-
pily." By the journal of his Lapland tour, and other ma-
nuscripts, it appears that Latin was sufficiently familiar to
him ; and as some fastidious critics have censured the style
of the " Amojniuues Academicae," it is fair to remark that
L I N N JE U S. 301
the essays which compose those volumes are chiefly written
by the pupils whose inaugural dissertations they were, and
are therefore improperly quoted as the works of our author.
After leaving Paris, Linnaeus took his passage at Rouen
for Sweden, and landed at Helsingborg, from whence be
proceeded to Fahlun, visiting his father for a few days in
his way. His reception from the lady of his choice, the
daughter of Dr. Moraeus, a physician of the place, was
favourable, and they were formally betrothed to each other,
but it was necessary that some prospect of an advantageous
establishment should be discovered. The scientific merits
of Lmnseus were not overlooked, as he was unanimously
chosen a member of the Upsal academy, the only one then
in Sweden ; yet the homage he had so lately received
abroad, seems to have made him a little unreasonable on
this head, and he declares that he would certainly have
quitted his native country, " had he not been in love." To
this all-powerful deity, therefore, and not to his merits, or
to the wisdom of his countrymen in discerning them, was
Sweden, in the first instance, indebted for the possession
of her Linnaeus. After passing the winter of 1738 in Stock-
holm, he began to make his way in medical practice, so
that by the following March he had considerable employ-
ment. At this time a plan was formed for establishing a
literary society at Stockholm, which afterwards rose to
great eminence. Triewald, Hopken, and Alstroem (whose
family was ennobled by the name of Alstroemer), were, with
Linnaeus, the first members : and the infant society, being
incorporated by royal authority, was augmented with all
the most learned men of the country.
A most flattering mark of public approbation was, soon
after, conferred on Linnaeus, without any solicitation.
Count Tessin, marshal of the Diet, which was then sitting,
gave him an annual pension of 200 ducats from the board
of mines, on condition of his giving public lectures on
botany and mineralogy at Stockholm. The same nobleman
also obtained for him the appointment of physician to the
navy, and received him into his house. His practice novr
increased greatly among the nobility, and he found himself
in so prosperous a condition that he would no longer delay
his marriage, which took place at Fahlun, June 26, 1739.
After a month he returned to Stockholm. He was, by?lot,
the first president of the new academy ; and as that office
was to be but of three months' duration, after the Frenaji
302 L I N N & U S.
plan, he resigned it in September, and on that occasion
delivered an oration in Swedish, on the wonderful economy
of insects, which was printed in the Transactions ; and a
Latin version of it may be found in the " Amoenitates Acade-
niicae," v. 2. His example was followed by all the succeed-
ing presidents. 7iKj
The death of professor Rudbeck in 1740, gave Linnaeus
.a hope of succeeding to the botanical chair at Upsal, one
of the greatest objects of his ambition. The prior claims of
his former rival, Rosen, on account of his standing in the
university, could not, however, be set aside. Wallerius also
rose up in opposition to the claims of Linnaeus. It hap-
pened, however, that Roberg resigned the professorship of
physic about this time, and by the exertions of count Tes-
sin, a compromise took place. Rosen obtained the pro-
fessorship of botany, and 'Linnaeus that of medicine, and
these two afterwards divided their official duties between
them, so as best to suit the talents of each.
In 1741 LinniLus received an order to travel through
^iland, Gothland, &c. for the purpose of investigating the
natural history and produce of those countries. On this
Jhe spent four months, accompanied by six of his pupils,
and published an account of it at Stockholm in 1745. Be-
fore he began his lectures at Upsal, to which place he re-
moved in the autumn, he delivered a Latin oration " On
the benefit of travelling in one's own country," which is
translated by Mr. Stillingfleet in his miscellaneous tracts.
In 1742 he undertook the reform of the Upsal garden,
which in the following year was put in a state to receive
those many exotics which his extensive foreign correspond-
ence procured. In 1745 he published his " Flora Suecica,
and in 1746 his " Fauna Suecica ;" the second editions of
which valuable works were enriched with many additions.
His reputation was now followed by corresponding ho-
nours. He was chosen a member of the academy at Mont-
pellier, and secretary to the Upsal academy ; a medal of
him was struck in 1746, and soon after he received the
rank and title of Archiater from the king, and was the only
Swede chosen into the new-modelled academy of Berlin.
He also acquired about this time, what be perhaps valued as
highly as these honours, the herbarium made by Hermann
in Ceylon, now in the possession of sir Joseph Banks.
From this originated Linnrcus's " Flora Zeylanica," Stock-
holm, 1747. In 174U appeared his " Materia Medica,"
L I N N ^E U S. 303
Written in. the same systematic and didactic style as-tlle?
rest of his works. Of this numerous editions have heeti
published on the continent, but none with any additions
or corrections from the author himself, though he left ber
hind him copious manuscript notes on the subject. In the
same year he had a violent attack of the gout, which en->
dangered his life ; and such was his anxiety to promote
science, that he dictated from his bed-side, the manuscript
of his " Philosophia Botanica," which afterwards received
his own corrections, and was published in 1751.
About this period the queen of Sweden, Louisa Ulrica,
having a taste for natural history, which her- royal consort,
king Adolphus Frederick, also patronized, shewed much
favour to Linnaeus. He was employed in arranging her
collection of insects and shells, in the country palace of
Drotningholm, or Ulricksdahl, and was frequently honoured
with the company and conversation of their majesties,
during his attendance there. The queen interested her-
self in the education of his son, and promised to send him
to travel through Europe at her own expence. She also
listened very graciously to any recommendation or petition,
of Linnaeus, in the service of science. Linnaeus devoted
some of his leisure time in winter, to the arragement of his
friend count Tessin's collection of fossils, at Stockholm, of
which an account in Latin and Swedish, making a small
folio, with plates, came out in 1753. The result of his,
labours at Drotningholm was not given to the public t\\l-
1764, when his " Museum Reginse" appeared, in 8Vo, be-,
ing a sort of Prodromus of an intended more splendid work,,
that was never executed. His most magnificent publica-
tion appeared in 1754, being a large folio, entitled '< Mu-
seum Regis Adolphi Frederici," comprehending descripr:
tions of the rarer quadrupeds, birds, serpents, fishes, &c..
of the king's museum, in Latin and Swedish, with plates,
and an excellent preface, which was translated by Dr. (novv;
sir James) Smith, and first printed in 1786; appearing,
again, in a volume of " Tracts relating to Natural History,'*
in 1798. In the mean time, Linnaeus was preparing a
lasting monument of his own talents and application, the
" Species Plantarum," of which the first editiqn was
primed in 1753, the second in 1762, each in two volumes
S.vo. The work is too well known to need any description,
and must ever be memorable for the adaptation of specific,-
<5>ras they were at first called, trivial, names. This coa-,
SO* L I N N IE V S.
trivance, which Linnaeus first used in his " Pan Sueciciw,"
a dissertation printed in 1749, extended to minerals in his
" Museum Tessinianum," and subsequently to all the de-
partments of zoology, has perhaps rendered his works more
popular than any one of their merits besides. His specific
differences were intended to be used as names ; but their
unavoidable length rendering this impracticable, and the
application of numeral figures to each species, in Haller's
manner, being still more burthensome to the memory, all
natural science would have been ruined for want of a com-
mon language, were it not for this simple and happy in-
vention. By this means we speak of every natural pro-
duction in two words, its generic and its specific name. No
ambiguous comparisons or references are wanted, no pre-
supposition of any thing already known. The philosophi-
cal tribe of naturalists, for so they are called by themselves
and their admirers, do not therefore depreciate Linnaeus,
when they call him a nomenclator. Whatever may have
been thought of the Linneean trivial names at their first
appearance, they are now in universal use, and their prin-
ciple has been, with the greatest advantage, extended to
chemistry, of which the celebrated Bergman, the friend
of Linnaeus, originally set the example.
These Herculean literary labours, combined with the
practice of physic, were more than the bodily constitution
of Linnaeus could support. He was attacked with the stone,
and had also, from time-to time, returns of gout, but he
considered the wood strawberry as a specific for both dis-
orders, and they never greatly interfered with his comfort
or his duties. On the 27th of April, 1753, he received,
from the hand of his sovereign, the order of the Polar Star,
an honour which had never before been conferred for lite-
rary merit. A still more remarkable compliment was paid
him not long after by the king of Spain, who invited him
to settle at Madrid, with the offer of nobility, the free ex-
ercise of his religion, and a splendid botanical appoint-
ment. This proposal, however, he declined, from an at-
tachment to his own country, and in November 1756, he
was raised to the rank of Swedish nobility, and took the
name of Von Linne".
The " Systema Naturae" had already gone through nine
editions in different countries. Its author had, for several
years, a more ample edition of the animal department io
contemplation, on the plan of his " Species Plantarum,"
L I N N & U S. . 305
and this constituted the first volume of the tenth edition,
published in 1758. The second volume, which came out
the following year, was an epitome of the vegetable king-
dom. This same work appeared still more enlarged, in a
twelfth edition, in 1766 : to this the mineral kingdom was
added in a third volume on the same plan with the first.
We can readily pardon the self-complacency of its author,
when, in his diary written for the use of his friend Me-
nander, he calls the " Systema Naturae" " a work to which
natural history never had a fellow." We may venture to
predict, says his learned biographer, that as this was the
first performance of the kind, it will certainly be the last;
the science of natural history is now become so vast, that
no man can ever take the lead again as an universal natu-
ralist.
The emoluments of Linnaeus by his various publications
were not great, as he is reported to have sold the copyright
of most of them for a ducat (about nine and sixpence) a
printed sheet. His different appointments, however, for
he soon laid aside the general practice of physic, had
raised him to a considerable degree of opulence. In 1758
he purchased the estates of Hammarley and Sofja, for
above 2330/. sterling, and having chosen the former for
his country residence, he received the visits of distin-
guished foreigners, and admitted his favourite pupils, to
several of whom he gave private courses of lectures, and
completely laid aside the state of the nobleman and pro-
fessor while he discoursed with them on his favourite topics.
In 1760 he wrote a prize dissertation on the " sexes of
plants," which was published in English in 1786 by Dr.
(now sir James) Smith, the possessor of his library. Lin-
naeus's patent of nobility did not receive his majesty's sign
manual till 1761, though it was antedated 1757. It was
* O
confirmed by the Diet in 1762, and he then took a coat of
arms expressive of the sciences which he cultivated. He
became also about the same time one of the eight foreign
members of the French academy of sciences, an honour
never before conferred on a Swede.
In 1763, he was permitted to avail himself of the assist-
ance of his son, now twenty-one years of age, in the bo-
tanical professorship, and the young man was thus trained
up for his future successor. In 1764, the sixth edition, by
far the most complete, of the " Genera Plantarum," was
published, and he never prepared another. It was intended
VOL. XX. X
306 L I N N JE, U S.
as a companion to the " Species Plantarum," but wai
greatly superseded by the more concise and commodious
short characters of genera, given in the vegetable part of
the " Systema Naturae," published with the title of " Sys-
tema Vegetabilium," edition 1 3th, in 1774, and reprinted
with additions in 1734.
Although, as a physician, Linmrus appears to advan-
tage in his "Clavis Medicinae" and his "Genera Mor-
borum," his abilities are more striking in his classification
of natural objects. He excelled in a happy perception of
such technical characters as brought together things most
naturally allied. His lectures on the natural order of plants
were published long after his death in 1792, at Hamburgh,
and evince his deep consideration of a subject then in the
infancy of cultivation. In the zoological department, his
classification of birds and insects is the most original as
well as the best of the whole. The arrangement of fishes
was an original idea of Linnseus; and in the arrangement of
shells, he has succeeded at least as well as any of his fel-
low-labourers : though we are, says his biographer, by no
means inclined to justify some of his terms, which are bor-
rowed from an anatomical analogy, not only false in itself,
but totally exceptionable. This leads us to consider a
charge, often brought against this great man, of pruriency
of phraseology in many parts of his works. The most at-
tentive contemplation of his writings has satisfied us that
in such instances he meant purely to be anatomical and
physiological ; and if his fondness for philosophical analo-
gies sometimes led him astray, it was not in pursuit of any
thing to contaminate his own mind, much less that of others.
That the mind of Linnaeus was simple and chaste, as his
morals were confessedly pure, is evinced by his Lapland
Tour, written only for his own use, but which is now, as
we have already mentioned, before the public. This is
such a picture of his heart as will ever render any justifi-
cation of his moral character, and any elaborate display of
his religious principles or feelings, alike superfluous. His
apparent vanity, as displayed in his diary, .published in
Dr. Maton's valuable edition of Dr. Pulteney's " View of
his Writings," is perhaps far less justifiable. All we can
say for him is, tbat this paper was drawn up for the use of
his intimate friend Menander, as materials from which his
life was to be written. If it be unbecoming, and indeed
highly ridiculous in many instances, for a man to speak as
L I N N M U S. 307
•he does of himself, the justice and accuracy of his asser-
tions, had they come from any other person, could in no
case be disputed.
As the habits of Linnaeus were temperate and regular,
he retained his health and vigour in tolerable perfection,
notwithstanding the immense labours of his mind, till be-
yond his sixtieth year, when his memory began in some
degree to fail him. In 1774, at the age of sixty-seven,
an attack of apoplexy greatly impaired his constitution.
Two years afterwards a second attack rendered him para-
lytic on the right side, and materially affected his faculties.
The immediate cause of his death, which happened Ja*
nuary 10th, 1778, in the seventy-first year of his age, was
an ukeration of the bladder. His remains were deposited
in a vault near the west end of the cathedral of Upsal, where
a monument of Swedish porphyry was erected by his pupils.
His obsequies were performed, in the most respectful man-
ner, by the whole university, the pall being supported by
sixteen doctors of physic, all of whom had been his pupils.
A general mourning took place on the occasion at Upsal.
His sovereign, Gustavus III. commanded a medal to be
struck, expressive of the public loss, and honoured the
academy of sciences at Stockholm with his presence, when
the eulogy of this celebrated man was pronounced there by
his intimate friend Back. A still higher compliment was
paid to his memory by the king in a speech from the
throne, wherein his majesty publicly celebrated the talents
of his deceased subject, and lamented the loss which his
country had so recently sustained. Various testimonies of
respect were given to the merits of Linnaeus in the different
parts of Europe, even where rival systems or interests had
heretofore triumphed at his expence. The celebrated
Condorcet delivered an oration in his praise to the Pa-
risian academy of sciences, which is printed in its memoirs.
We cannot wonder that his memory was cherished in Eng-
land, where he had long had numerous correspondents,
and where two of his most distinguished pupils, Solander
and Dryander, have, in their own talents and character,
conferred singular honour upon their preceptor. Ten years
after his decease a new society of naturalists, distinguished
by his name, was founded in London, and has since been
incorporated by royal charter, whose publications, in ten
quarto volumes of Transactions, sufficiently evince that its
members are not idle venerators of the name they bear.
x 2
30* L I N N M U S.
This name, in imitation of them, has been adopted by
several similar institutions in other parts of the world.
The appellation of Limuean Society was, with the more
propriety, chosen by this British institution, on account of
the museum of Linnaeus having fallen into the hands of sir
James Smith, its original projector, and hitherto only pre-
sident. This treasure, comprehending the library, her-
barium, insects, shells, and all other natural curiosities,
with all the manuscripts and whole correspondence of the
illustrious Swede, were obtained by private purchase from
his widow, after the death of his son in 1783. The autho-
rity which such an acquisition gave to the labours of the
infant society, as well as to all botanical and zoological
publications, the authors of which have ever been allowed
freely to consult it, will readily be perceived. Nothing
perhaps could have more contributed to raise up, or to
improve, a taste for natural science, in any country.
Linnaeus had by his wife Sarah Elizabeth, who survived
to extreme old age, two sons and four daughters. His
eldest son Charles succeeded him in the botanical profes-
sorship. The younger, John, died March 7, 1757, in the
third year of his age. His eldest daughter, Elizabeth
Christina, is recorded as having discovered a luminous
property in the flowers of the nasturtium, tropaeolum ma-
jus, which are sometimes seen to flash like sparks of fire in
the evening of a warm summer's day. Of the other daugh-
ters we know nothing materially worthy of record. '
LINN^US, or VON LINNE' (CHARLES), the oldest,
and only surviving son of the preceding, was born January
20, 1741, at the House of his maternal grandfather, at
Fahlun. His father was anxiously desirous of his excelling
in natural history, more particularly botany; and com-
mitted him, when about the age of nine or ten, t» the
more particular care of some of his own most favourite
pupils. By them he was taught the names of the plants in
the Upsal garden, and such of the principles of natural
science as were suited to his period of life, as well as to
converse habitually in Latin. He appears to have given
satisfaction to his father, who procured for him, at the
age of eighteen, the appointment of Demonstrator in the
botanic garden, an office then first contrived on purpose
for him. Having learned to draw from nature, he became
1 Life, by the President of the Linmeau society, in Rees's Cyclopedia, which
fHi» rsedes the necessity of any other references*
L I N N & U S. 309
an author at the age of twenty-one, publishing in 1762 his
first " Decas Plantarum Rariorum Horti Upsaliensis," the
plates of which, in outline only, were drawn by his own
hand, and are sufficiently faithful and useful, if not orna-
mental, while the descriptions are full and scientific. In
1763 another " Decas," or collection of ten species, came
out on the same plan, but, for whatever reason, he printed
no more numbers under this title. In 1767, however, he
published at Leipsic ten more plates and descriptions, like
the above, entitled " Plantarum Rariorum Horti Upsa-
liensis Fasciculus Primus," but no second fasciculus ap-
peared. In 1763 he was nominated adjunct professor of
botany, with a promise, hitherto unexampled, that after
his father's death he should succeed to all his academical
functions. In 1765 he took his degree of doctor of physic,
and began to give lectures.
His progress would probably have been happy, if not
brilliant, but for the conduct of his unnatural mother, who,
not content with dishonouring her husband's bed, and
making his home as uncomfortable as she could, by the
meanest parsimony and disgusting petty tyranny, conceived
a hatred for her only son, which she displayed by every
affront and persecution that her situation gave her the
means of inflicting on his susceptible and naturally amiable
mind. According to Fabricius, she forced her husband,
who by such a concession surely partook largely of her
guilt and meanness, to procure the nomination of his pupil
Solander to be his future successor, in preference to his
own son ; and it was a part of her plan that he should marry
her eldest daughter. Solander, however, disdained both
the usurpation and the bait, refusing to leave England ;
and the misguided father recovered his senses and autho-
rity, causing his son, as we have said above, to receive this
truly honourable distinction. The mind and spirit of the
young man nevertheless still drooped ; and even when he had
attained his thirtieth year, he would gladly have escaped
from his miseries and his hopes together. The authority
of the king was obliged to be exerted, at his father's soli-
citation, to prevent his going into the army. This mea-
sure of the parent was happily followed up by kindness
and encouragement in his botanical pursuits, to which
treatment the son was ever sensible, and he revived from
his despondency before his father's death, which happened
when he was thirty-seven years of age.
310 L I N N JE U S.
Though obliged by his mother to purchase, at her own
price, the library, manuscripts, herbarium, &c. which he
ought by every title to have inherited, he rose above every
impediment, and betook himself to the useful application
of the means now in his hands, for his own reputation and
advancement. His father had already prepared great part
of a third botanical appendix, or " Mantissa ;" from the
communications of Mutis, Kcenig, Sparmann, Forster, Pal-
las, and others. Hence originated the " Supplementum
Plantarum," printed at Brunswick, under the care of Ehr-
hart in 1781. The ingenious editor inserted his own new
characters of some genera of mosses ; which Hedwig has
since confirmed, except that some of the names have been
justly rejected. This sheet was, in an evil hour, sup-
pressed by the mandate of Linnaeus from London, where,
at that period, the subject of generic characters of mosses
was neither studied nor understood, whatever superior
knowledge was dispjayed concerning their species. The
plants of the " Supplementum1' are admitted into the
fourteenth edition of the " Systema Vegetabilium" by
Murray, and figures of some of the most curious have been
published by sir J. Smith, in his " Plantarum Icones ex
Herbario Linnaeano." Three botanical dissertations also
appeared under the presidency of the younger Linnaeus,
on grasses, on lavandula, and the celebrated Methodus
inuscorum, which last was the work, and the inaugural
thesis, of the present professor Swartz of Stockholm.
These form a sequel to the 186 similar essays, which most
of them compose the seven volumes of the Amcenitates
Academicae, the rest being published by Schreber in three
additional ones.
The subject of our memoir had always felt a strong
desire to visit the chief countries of learned and civilized
Europe. For this purpose he was obliged to pawn his ju-
venile herbarium, made from the Upsal garden, to his
friend Alstroemer, for the loan of about fifty or sixty
pounds. He arrived at London in May 1781, and was
received with enthusiasm by the surviving friends and cor-
respondents of his father, and was in a manner domesti-
cated under the roof of sir Joseph Banks, whose friend-
ship, kindness, and liberality could not be exceeded ;
neither could they have been by any one more gratefully
received. Here the ardent Swedish visitor had every as-
sistance for the preparation of several works on which he
L I N N & U & 311
was intent, as a system of the mammalia, a botanical
treatise on the lily and and palm tribes, ard new editions
of several of his father's standard books. None of these,
however, have yet been printed. An attack of thfe jaun-
dice rendered half his stay in England uncomfortable as
well as useless to him. He proceeded to Paris in the latter
end of August 1781, accompanied by the amiable and
celebrated Broussonet, with whom he became acquainted
at London. His reception in France was not less flattering
than what he had experienced in England. The next
place in which he made any stay was Hamburgh, where
several of his own friends were already settled ; and from
hence he returned by Copenhagen and Stockholm, visiting
his friend Fabricius at Kiel, and his patron baron Alstroe-
mer at Gottenburgh, finally arriving at Upsalin Feb. 1783.
But his career was cut short by a bilious fever, followed by
apoplexy, Nov. 1, 1783, in the forty-second year of his
age. He died very much respected and lamented. His
museum and library reverted to his mother and sisters, as
he had never been married, and were purchased by sif
James Smith.1
LIOTARD (JOHN STEPHEN), a painter, called from his
dress " the Turk," was born at Geneva, in 17O2. He
went to Paris to study in 1725, and thence accompanied
the marquis de Puisieux to Rome, where the earls of
Sandwich and Besborough engaged him to accompany
them to Constantinople. There he became acquainted
with sir Everard Fawkener, our ambassador, who persuaded
him to come to England, where he remained two years.
He painted admirably in miniature, and in enamel, though
he seldom practised the last, but he is best known by his
crayons. The earls of Harrington and Besborough have
some of his most capital works. His portraits, however,
were so exact as to displease those who sat to him, for he
never could conceive the absence of any imperfection or
mark in the face that presented itself. Such a man could
not be long a favourite, and therefore, according to lord
Orford, although he had great business the first year, he
had very little the second, and went abroad. It is said that
he owed much of his encouragement to his making himself
conspicuous by adopting the manners and habits of the
1 Rees's Cyclopedia— Funeral oration for him in Trapp's edition of Stotrtr's
Life of Linnaeus.
312 L I O T A R D.
Levant He came to England again in 1772, and brought
a collection of pictures of different masters, which he sold
by auction ; and some pieces of glass painted by himself
with surprizing effect of light and shade, but more curious
than useful, as it was necessary to darken the room before
they could be seen to advantage. He staid two years like-
wise on this visit. He went to the continent afterwards,
but we find no account of his death. He carried his love
of truth with him on all occasions ; and we are told that at
Venice and Milan, and probably elsewhere, all but first-
rate beauties were afraid to sit to him, and he would have
starved if he had not so often found customers who were of
opinion that they belonged to that class. l
LIPENIUS (MARTIN), a learned German divine, was
born Nov. 1 1, 1630, at Goritz in Brandenburgh, and stu-
died at the schools of Brandenburgh and Ruppin, whence
he \vent to Stetin, and made great progress in his studies
under Micrelius and other eminent professors of that col-
lege. In 1651 he studied philosophy and divinity at Wit-
temberg, and after two years residence was admitted to
the degree of master of arts. He had now some advan-
tageous offers of settlement in other places, but he could
not bring himself to quit an university where he was so
likely to add to his stores of knowledge. At length, how-
ever, in 1659, he accepted the office of corrector at Halle,
which he retained until 1672, when he was appointed rec-
tor and professor in the Caroline college at Stetin. This
he quitted in 1676, and accepted the office of corrector at
Lubeck, where he died, Nov. 6, 1692, worn out, as Ni-
ceron informs us, by labour, chagrin, and disease. His
works are very numerous, consisting of disputations, 'eloges,
and other academical productions ; but he is now princi-
pally known by his " Bibliotheca realis Theologica," Franc-
fort, 1685, 2 vols. ; "Biblioth. Juridica," ib. 1679; "BibK
Philosophica," ibid. 1682; and " Biblioth. Medica," ibid.
1679, making in all six folio volumes, containing an ac-
count of works published in each of these departments.
The " Bibl. Juridica" was reprinted at Leipsic in 1757,
2 vols. and corrections and a supplement were published
by Aug. Fr. Scott, in 1775 ; another supplement was pub-
lished by Senkenberg in 1789, making in all four volumes
' Walpole's Anecdotes,— Diet. Hist.
L I P P I. 313
folio. Morhoff speaks favourably of the original work, and
the " Bibl. Juridica" is doubtless greatly improved. '
LIPPI (FRA. FILIPPO), an eminent historical painter,
was born at Florence, probably about the beginning of the
fifteenth century, as he was a scholar of, and of course
nearly contemporary with, Massaccio. At the age of six-
teen, being entered a noviciate in the convent of Carme-
lites at Florence, he had there an opportunity of seeing
that extraordinary artist at work upon the astonishing fres-
coes with which he adorned the chapel of Brancacci, in the
church there ; and being eager to embrace the art, such
was his success, that after the death of his master, it was
said by common consent, that the soul of Massaccio still
abode with Fra. Filippo. He now forsook the habit of his
convent, and devoted himself entirely to painting ; but his
studies were for a time disturbed by his being unfortunately
taken, while out on a party of pleasure, by some Moors,
and carried prisoner to Barbary ; where he remained in
slavery eighteen months. But having drawn, with a piece
of charcoal, the portrait of his master upon a wall, the
latter was so affected by the novelty of the performance,
and its exact resemblance, that, after exacting a few more
specimens of his art, he generously restored him to his
liberty. On his return home he painted some works for
Alphonso, king of Calabria.! He employed himself also in
Padua ; but it was in his native city of Florence that his
principal works were performed. He was employed by
the grand duke Cosmo di Medici, who presented his pic-
tures to his friends ; and one to pope Eugenius IV. He
was also employed to adorn the palaces of the republic, the
churches, and many of the houses of the principal citizens;
among whom his talents were held in high estimation. He
was the first of the Florentine painters who attempted to
design figures as large as life, and the first who remarkably
diversified the draperies, and who gave his figures the air
of antiques. It is to be lamented that such a man should
at last perish by the consequences of a guilty amour he
indulged in at Spoleto ; where he was employed at the
cathedral to paint the chapel of the blessed virgin. This
is differently told by different writers, some saying that he
seduced a nun who sat to him for a model of the virgin,
and others that the object of his passion was a married
1 Niceron, vol. XIX.— Morhoff Polyhirt.— .Saxii Onomast,
314 L I P P I.
woman. In either case, it is certain that he was poisoned by
the relations of the lady whose favours he was supposed to
enjoy. Lorenzo di Medici erected a marble tomb in the
cathedral to his memory, which Politian adorned with a
Latin epitaph. His son LIPPI FILIPPO, was renowned for
excellent imitations of architectural ornaments. He died
in 1505, at the age of forty-five. There was also a Floren-
tine painter, LORENZO LIPPI, born in 1606, and likewise
a great musician and a poet. In the latter character he
published " II Malmantile racquistato," which is consi-
dered as a classical work in the Tuscan language. He died
in 1664. *
LIPPOMANI (LEWIS), a Venetian, distinguished him-
self much at the council of Trent, where he strongly op-
posed the plurality of benefices, and was one of the three
presidents of that council under pope Julius III. Paul
IV. sent him into Poland as nuncio in 1556, and afterwards
appointed him his secretary. The sanctity of Lippomani's
life gained him no less esteem than his doctrine ; he was
bishop of Mondonedo, then of Verona, and afterwards of
Bergamo, and acquitted himself honourably in various
nunciatures, but was justly accused of great cruelties to-
wards the Jews and protestants when in Poland. He died
in 1559. His works are, a compilation of " Lives of the
Saints," in 8 vols. but little valued ; and " Catena in Ge-
nesim, in Exoiiuni, etin aliquot Psalmos," 3 vols. fol. &c.*
LIPSIUS (JUSTUS), a very learned critic, was born at
Isch, a country-seat of his father, between Brussels and
Louvain, Oct. 18, 1547. He was descended from ances-
tors who had been ranked among the principal inhabitants
of Brussels. At six years of age he was sent to the public
school at Brussels, and soon gave proofs of uncommon
parts. He tells as himself in one of his letters, that he
acquired the French language, without the assistance of a
master, so perfectly as to be able to write it before he was
eight years old, From Brussels he was sent, at ten years
old, to Aeth ; and, two years after, to Cologne, where at
the Jesuits' college he prosecuted his literary and philoso-
phical studies. Among the ancients, he learned the pre-
cepts of morality from Epictetus and Seneca, and the
maxims of civil prudence from Tacitus. At sixteen, he
1 Pilkington. — Vasari. — Roscoe's Lorenzo. — Bullart'a Academic des Sciences,
vol. I. 2 Gen. Diet. — Moreri.— Saxii Onomast.
L I P S I U S. 315
was sent to the university of Louvain ; and having now
acquired a knowledge of the learned languages, applied
himself to the civil law ; but his principal delight .was in
belles lettres and ancient literature ; and, therefore, losing
his parents, and becoming his own master before he was
eighteen, he projected a journey to Italy, for the sake of
cultivating them. Before, however, he set out, he pub*
lished three books of various readings, " Variarum Lec-
tionum Libri tres," which laid the foundation of his literary
fame ; and his dedication of them to cardinal Perenettus,
a great patron of learned men, served to introduce him to
the cardinal, on his arrival in 1567, at Rome, where he
lived two years with him,, was nominated his secretary,
and treated with the utmost kindness and generosity. His
time he used to employ in the Vatican, the Farnesian, the
Sfortian, and other principal libraries, which were open to
him, and where he carefully collated the manuscripts of
ancient authors, of Seneca, Tacitus, Plautus, Propertius,
&c. His leisure hours he spent in inspecting the most re-
markable antiquities, or in cultivating the acquaintance
of the literati then residing at Rome, Antonius Muretus,
Paulus Manutius, Fulvius Ursinus, Hieronymus Mercuri-
alis, Carolus Sigonius, Petrus Victorius, and others, from
whose conversation he could not fail to reap advantage and
encouragement in his studies*
In 1569 he returned to Louvain, and spent one year in
habits of dissipation, very unsuitable to his character, and
defensible only as he says by pleading the heat of youth.
Sensible of his folly, he resolved upon a journey to Vienna;
but stopping at Dole, an university in the Franche Comt6,
he relapsed into an excess which produced a fit of illness.
On his recovery he pursued his journey to Vienna, and
there fell into the acquaintance of Busbequius, and other
learned men, who used many arguments to induce him to
settle there ; but the love of his own native soil prevailed,
and he directed his course through Bohemia, Misnia, and
Thuringia, in order to arrive at it. But being informed
of the dangerous state of the Low Countries from the
war, and that his own patrimony was laid waste by soldiers,
he stopped at the university of Jena, where he was invested
with the professorship of eloquence, and became a disciple
of Luther. This latter circumstance obliging him to leave
Jena, he arrived at Cologne, where he married a widow in
1 574-, by whom he had no children. During his stay at
316 L I P S I U 3.
Cologne, he wrote his " Antiquae Lectiones," which chiefly
consist of emendations of Plautus; he also began there hf»
notes upon Cornelius Tacitus, which were afterwards so-
universally applauded by the learned.
He then retired to his own native seat at Isch, in-
tending to devote himself entirely to letters; but the war,
which was still raging, disturbed his plans, and he was
obliged to go to Louvain, where he resumed the study of
the civil law, though with no intent to practise. At Lou-
vain he published his " Epistolicae Quaestiones,*' and some
other things ; but, being again obliged to quit his resi-
dence, went to Holland, and spent thirteen years at
Leyden, during which time he composed and published,
what he calls, his best works. These are, " Electorum
Libri duo ;" " Satyra Menippaea ;" " SaturnalSum Libri
duo ;" " Commentarii pleni in Cornelium Taciturn ;" " De
Constanti& Libri duo;" " De Amphitheatre Libri duo;"
" Ad Valerium Maximum Notae ;" " Epistolarum Centuriae
duae ;'* " Epistolica Institutio ;" " De recta Pronunciatione
Linguae Latinas ;" " Animadversiones in Senecos Tragoe-
dias ;" " Animadversiones in Velleium Paterculum ;" «' Po-
liticorum Libri sex ;" " De una Religione Liber.'* These
he call his best works, because they were written, he says,
in the very vigour of his age, and when he was quite at
leisure; "in flore aevi, & ingenii in alto otio;" and he
adds too, that his health continued good till the latter
part of his life ; " nee valetudo, nisi sub extremos annos,
titubavit." The intolerant principles, however, which he
divulged here, raised so much indignation against him that
he was obliged to retire suddenly and privately from Ley-
den, in 1590; and, after some stay at Spa, went and
settled at Louvain, where he taught polite literature, as
he had done at Leyden, with the greatest credit and repu-
tation. He spent the remainder of his life at Louvain,
though he bad received powerful solicitations, and the
offers of vast advantages, if he would have removed else-
where. Pope Clement V11I. Henry IV. of France, and
Philip II. of Spain, applied to him by advantageous pro-
posals. Several cardinals would gladly have taken him
under their protection and patronage ; and all the learned
in foreign countries honoured him in the highest degree.
The very learned Spaniard, Arias Montanus, who, at the
command of Philip II. superintended the reprinting the
Complutensian edition of the Bible at Plantin's press.
L I P S I U S. 317
had such a regard for him, that he treated him as a son
rather than a friend, and not only admitted him into all
his concerns, but even offered to leave him all he had.
Lipsius, nevertheless, continued at Louvain, and, among
others, wrote the following works : " De Cruce Libri tres;"
" De Militia Romana Libri quinque ;" " Poliorceticon
Libri quinque ;"" De Magnitudine llomana Libri qua-
tuor ;" " Dissertatiuncula & Commentarius in Plinii Pane-
gyricum;" " Manuductio ad Stoicam Philosophiam," &c.
All his works have been collected and printed together, in
folio, more than once. The best edition is that of Vesel,
1675, 4 vols. fol. usually bound in eight. His critical
notes upon ancient authors are to be found in the best
editions of each respective author; and several of his
other pieces have, for their peculiar utility, been reprinted
separately.
Lipsius died at Louvain, March 23, 1606, in his 59th
year, and left, says Joseph Scaliger, the learned world
and his friends to lament the loss of him. Lipsius is said
to have been so mean in his countenance, his dress, and
his conversation, that those who had accustomed them-
selves to judge of great men by their outward appearance,
asked, after having seen Lipsius, whether that was really
lie. But the greatest blot in his character was his incon-
stancy with regard to religion. He was educated a Roman
Catholic, but professed the Lutheran religion while he
was professor at Jena. Afterwards returning to Brabant,
he appeared again a Roman Catholic; but when he ac-
cepted a professor's chair in the university of Leyden, he
published what was called Calvinism. At last, he removed
from Leyden, and went again into the Low Countries,
where he adopted the extreme bigotry of the Roman com-
munion. This is obvious from his credulous and absurd
accounts of the holy virgins, in his " Diva Virgo H alien-
sis,1' &c. and " Diva Schemiensis," &c. in both which he
admits the most trifling stories, and the most uncertain
traditions. Some of his friends endeavoured to represent
how greatly all this would diminish the reputation he had
acquired; but he was deaf to their expostulations. He
even went so far as to dedicate a silver pen to the Holy
Virgin of Hall ; and on this occasion wrote some verses
which are very remarkable, both on account of the
elogies he bestows on himself, and of the extravagant
worship he pays to the Virgin. By his last will, he
left his gown, lined with fur, to the image of the same
318 L I P S I U S.
lady. With these superstitions he joined an inconsistency
of a more serious nature; for when, as we have already
noticed, he lived at Leyden in an outward profession of
the reformed religion, he gave his public approbation of
the persecuting principles which were exerted, throughout
all Europe, against the professors of it, maintaining that no
state ought to suffer a plurality of religions, nor shew any
mercy towards those who disturbed the established worship,
but pursue them with fire and sword, it being better that
one member should perish rather than the whole body ;
" dementias non hie locus ; ure, seca, ut membrorum
potius aliquod quam totum corpus corrumpatur." When
attacked for these principles and expressions, he endea-
voured to explain them in a very evasive manner, pretend-
ing that the words ure and seca were only terms bor-
rowed from chirurgery, not literally, to signify fire and
sword, but only some effectual remedy. All these evasions
are to be met with in his treatise *f De una Religione,"
the worst of his writings. His works in general turn upon
subjects of antiquity and criticism. In his early pieces he
imitated, with tolerable success, the style of Cicero ; but
afterwards chose rather to adopt the concise and pointed
manner of Seneca and Tacitus. For this corruption of taste
he was severely censured by Scioppius and Henry Ste-
phens ; but his example was followed by several contem-
porary writers. On this innovation Huet justly remarks,
that although the abrupt and antithetical style may ob-
tain the applauses of unskilful youth, or an illiterate mul-
tude, it cannot be pleasing to ears which have been long
inured to genuine Ciceronian eloquence.
Captivated, says Brucker, with the appearance of supe-
rior wisdom and virtue which he observed in the ancient
school of Zeno, Lipsius sought for consolation from the
precepts of the Stoic philosophy, and attempted to recon-
cile its doctrines with those of Christianity. But he was
imposed upon by the vaunting language of this school
concerning fate and providence ; and explains its tenets in
a manner which cannot be reconciled with the history and
general system of Stoicism. In order to revive an atten-
tion to the doctrines of this ancient sect, he wrote two
treatises, " Manuductio ad Philosophiam Stoicam," An
Introduction to the Stoic Philosophy ; and " Uisserta-
tiones de Physiologia Stoiea," Dissertations on Stoic Phy-
siology ; to which he intended to have added a treatise on
• '•
L I P S I U S.
the moral doctrine of the stoics, but was prevented by
death. His edition of Seneca is enriched with many valu-
able notes, but he was too much biassed by his partiality
for stoicism to perceive the feeble and unsound parts of
the system, and gave too easy credit to the arrogant claims
of this school, to be a judicious and useful interpreter of
its doctrine. *
LISLE (CLAUDE DE), historiographer and censor royal,
and the first of a family of men of considerable eminence
in France, was born Nov. 5, 1644, at Vaucouleurs. He
gave private lectures on history and geography at Paris,
and had not only the principal lords of the court among his
pupils, but the duke of Orleans, afterwards regent of
France, who always retained a particular value for him,
and gave him frequent proofs of his esteem. He died at
Paris, May 2, 1720, aged 76, leaving twelve children, of
whom three sons will form the subject of the ensuing arti-
cles. His works are, "Relation historique du Roiaume de
Siam," 1684, 12mo; " An Abridgement of the Universal
History," 1731, 7 vols. 12mo-, and a Genealogical and
Historical Atlas, on engraved plates.2
LISLE (WILLIAM DE), son to the preceding, and a very
learned French geographer, was born at Paris Feb. 2$,
1675. His father being much occupied in the same way,
young Lisle began at nine years of age to draw maps, and
soon made a great progress in this art. In 1690 he first
distinguished himself by executing a map of the world,
and other pieces, which procured him a place in the aca-
demy of sciences, 1702. He was afterwards appointed
geographer to the king, with a pension, and had the
honour of instructing the king himself in geography, for
whose particular use he drew up several works. De Lisle's
reputation was so great, that scarcely any history or travels
came out without the embellishment of his maps. Nor was
his name less celebrated abroad than in his own country.
Many sovereigns in vain attempted to draw him out of
France. The Czar Peter, when at Paris on his travels,
paid him a visit, to communicate to him some remarks
upon Muscovy ; but especially, says Fontenelle, to learn
from him, better than he could anywhere else, the extent
1 Lipsii Vita a Mirao, Antw. 1608.— Melchior Adam. — Gen. Diet. — Moreri
•— Niceron, vol. XXIV. — Bibl. Belg. — Blount's Censura. — Brueker.— Bufiart's
Academie des Sciences, vol. II. — Saxii Onomast.
» Moreri.— Diet. Hwt.
320 LISLE.
and situation of his own dominions. De Lisle died of an
apoplexy Jan. 25, 1726, at 51 years of age. Besides the
excellent maps he published, he wrote many pieces in the
Memoirs of the Academy of Sciences.1
LISLE (LEWIS DE), brother of the preceding, and an
astronomer, promoted the interests of science, by some
very hazardous journeys and voyages. In 1726 he went to
Russia with his brother Joseph, who had been appointed
astronomer to the academy of sciences at Petersburg.
Lewis, at this time, made excursions beyond the utmost
boundaries of the immense Russian empire. He took
several journeys to the coasts of the Icy sea, to Lapland,
and the government of Archangel, to determine the situa-
tion of the principal places by astronomical observations.
He afterwards traversed a great part of Siberia, with M.
Muller and M. Gmelin, professors of the academy at Pe-
tersburg. In 1741 he proceeded alone to Kamtschatka,
and thence to Cape Beering, to examine the unknown
northern coasts of America, and the seas between them
and the Atlantic continent. He died in the same year.
On account of his great merit he obtained a seat in the
academy of sciences, and was the author of some papers in
the " Memoirs" of that learned body, and of the academy
of sciences at Petersburg.*
LISLE (JOSEPH NICHOLAS DE), younger brother of the
preceding, was born at Paris April 4, 1688, and at first
educated under his paternal roof. He then pursued his
studies at the Mazarine-college, where the eclipse of the sun
in 1706 seems to have directed his attention to astronomy,
for which he soon displayed so much genius, as to be ad-
mitted into the academy of sciences, to the memoirs of
which he contributed many valuable papers. In 1715 he
calculated the tables of the moon according to the theory
of sir Isaac Newton. He also, in the course of his pur-
suits, made many observations on the spots of the sun, and
from them formed a theory to determine the sun's rotation
on his axis. In 1720 he delivered a proposal to the aca-
demy for ascertaining in France the figure of the earth, and
some years afterwards this was carried into execution. In
1724 he paid a visit to England, where he became ac-
quainted with Newton and Halley, who shewed him every
mark of respect, and Halley in particular highly gratified
' Niceron, vols. I. and X.— Diet. Hist.— Button's Die*. 2 Moierh
LISLE. 321
him by a present of a copy of his astronomical tables of
the sun, moon, and planets, which he had printed in
1719, but which were not published for many years after.
In. 1726 he was appointed astronomer royal in the imperial
academy of sciences at Petersburg, where for twenty- one
years he resided in the observatory-house built by Peter
the Great, incessantly occupied in the improvement of
astronomy and geography. During this period he pub-
lished " Memoirs illustrative of the History of Astronomy,"
2 vols. 4to ; and an atlas of Russia, first published in the
Russian language, and afterwards in Latin. He constructed
also a thermometer, differently graduated from those in
use, the degrees beginning at the heat of boiling water,
and thence increasing to 150, which was the freezing point.
In 1747, after much ill-treatment on the part of the Rus-
sian government, he obtained his dismission, and arrived
in Paris in September of the same year. He was then ap-
pointed professor of the mathematics at the college royal,
in which situation he lived to render the greatest service to
the interests of science, by training up some learned pu-
pils, among whom was the celebrated M. de la Lande. In
1743, his pupil, M. Monnier, took a voyage to Scotland to
observe an annular eclipse of the sun, and on this subject
De Lisle published a large advertisement, which was reck-
oned a complete treatise on annular eclipses. He after-
wards entered more fully on the consideration of the theory
of eclipses, and he communicated a part of his researches
on the subject to the academy in 1749. He was so expert
in calculations, that he made many founded on the obser-
vations of Greenwich, Berlin, Scotland, and Sweden. In
1750 and 1753 he published " New charts of the Disco-
veries of admiral de Fonte, or Fuente, made in 1640, and
those of other navigators, Spanish, Portuguese, English,
Dutch, French, and Russian, in the Northern seas, with,
explications." In 1753 appeared his map of the world, in
which he represented the effect of the parallaxes of Mer-
cury in different countries, in order to point out the proper
places for making such observations on the then expected
transit, as should furnish a method of determining the dis-
tance of the sun, in a manner similar to that applied by
Halley to the transit of Venus. Another work of his, pub-
lished in the Transactions of the Academy, was on the
comet of 1758, which was visible several months; but he was
principally attentive to the one predicted by Di% Halley,
VOL. XX. Y
322 L I S L £T.
forty years before, which was first seen in January 1 759,
He gave an account of his observations on that comet irr
the first volume of the " Mercure," for July of that year.
He was afterwards assiduously engaged on the transit of
Venus, expected in 1761, in order to correct the error of
Halley, and thus prevent persons from undertaking long
voyages unnecessarily for the sake of observing it. He
had, some years previously to this, been appointed astro-
nomical geographer to the marine, and his business was to
collect and arrange the plans and journals of naval captains,
and to extract from them whatever might be found bene-
ficial to the king's service in this department. His majesty
now purchased, with a pension- for life, all M. de Lisle's
rich astronomical and geographical collections, which were
added to the MSS. in the depot. In 1758, JDeginning to
decline, he withdrew as much as he could from public life,
leaving the care of his observations to M. Messier, while
M. de la Lamle was appointed his coadjutor at the college
royal. He went to reside at the abbey of St. Genevieve,
where he spent his time partly in devotional exercises, and
partly in study, devoting the greatest part of his income
to- acts of benevolence and charity. He died on the 1 1th
of July 1768, in the eighty-first year of his age. As a
man of science his merits are very great, and in private
life he was distinguished by unaffected piety, pure morals,
undeviating integrity, and most amiable manners. '
LISLE. See ROME' DE.
LISLE (WILLIAM), an English antiquary, was educated
at Eton school, and admitted to King's -college, Cam-
bridge, in 1584, where he took his degree of M. A. and
became fellow, but quitted his fellowship on succeeding to
an estate at Wilbraham, in Cambridgeshire. He was af-
terwards appointed one of the esquires extraordinary of
the king's body, and died in 1637. No farther particulars
of his life are upon record. He published " A Saxon trea-
tise concerning the Old and New Testament ; written
about the time of king Edgar, (700 years ago) by >Elfri-
cus Abbas, thought to be the same that was afterwards arch-
bishop of Canterbury," 1623, 4to. (See jELFRic). This was
published by Mr. Lisle from a MS. in sir Robert Cotton's
library. The copy before us has only this " Treatise,'*
1 Eloge by Lalande, io the Necrologie des Homines Celebres, for 1770.—
Rees's Cyclopedia.
LISLE. 323
but the volume is incomplete without " A Testimony of
Antiquity, shewing the ancient faith in the church of Eng-
land, touching the sacrament of the body and blood of our
Lord ;" the " Words of CEilfric abbot of St. Alban's, &c.
taken out of his epistles written to Wulfsine, bishop of
Scyrburne ;" and " The Lord's prayer, the creed, and
ten commandments, in the Saxon and English tongue."
The work is dedicated to prince Charles, afterwards
Charles I. in a long copy of verses, " by way of eclogue,
imitating the fourth of Virgile." To this is added a still
longer preface, or address to the reader, containing some
curious remarks on a variety of topics relating to Saxon
literature, the Bible, the English language, &c. Mr. Lisle
also published Du Bartas's " Ark, Babylon, Colonies,
and Columns," in French and English, 1637, 4to ; and
" The Fair ./Ethiopian," 1631, 4to, a long poem of very
indifferent merit. His reputation was founded on his skill
in the Saxon tongue.1
LISTER (MARTIN), an English physician and natural
philosopher, was born at Radcliffe, in Buckinghamshire,
about 1638, and educated under his great uncle sir Martin
Lister, knt. physician in ordinary to Charles I. and pre-
sident of the college of physicians, one of a Yorkshire fa-
mily which produced a considerable number of medical
practitioners of reputation. Our author was sent to St.
John's college, in Cambridge, where he took his first de-
gree in arts in 1653 ; and was made fellow of his college
by a mandate from Charles II. after his restoration in
1660. He proceeded M. A. in 1662; and, applying him-
self closely to physic, travelled into France in 1668, for
further improvement. Returning home, he settled in
1670 at York, where he followed his profession many years
with good repute, and took every opportunity which his
business would permit, of prosecuting researches into the
natural history and antiquities of the country ; with which
view he travelled into several parts of England, especially
in the North.
As this study introduced him to the acquaintance of Mr.
Lloyd, keeper of the Ashmolean museum at Oxford, he
enriched that collection with several altars, coins, and other
antiquities, together with a great number of valuable na-
tural curiosities. He also sent several observations and
1 Ath. Ox. vol. I. — Harnood's Alumni Etcnenses,— Censura Literaria, vol. L
Y 2
324 L I S T E R.
experiments, in various branches of natural philosophy, to
the same friend ; who communicating some of ihem to the
royal society, our author was recommended, and elected
a fellow. In 1684, resolving by the advice of his friends
to remove to London, he was created doctor of physic, by
diploma, at Oxford ; the chancellor himself recommending
him as a person of exemplary loyalty, of high esteem
among the most eminent of his profession, of singular merit
to that university in particular, by having enriched their
museum and library with presents of valuable books, both
printed and manuscript, and of general merit to the lite-
rary world by several learned books which he published.
Soon after this, he was elected fellow of the college of
physicians.
In 1685 he published his " Historia sive Synopsis Con-
chyliorum," . 2 vols. fol. containing very accurate figures
of all the shells known in his time, amounting to upwards
of a thousand ; and what renders the book a singular cu-
riosity is, that they were all drawn by his two daughters,
Susanna and Anne. The copper-plates of this work be-
coming the property of the university of Oxford, a new
edition was published there in 1770, under the care of
Huddesford, keeper of the Ashmolean museum. This
edition wants two or three of the plates belonging to the
original ; but to make up for this deficiency, two or three
new plates have been added, and notwithstanding the pro-
gress which the study has since made, the work still re-
tains its value, and is indispensable to the student of^con-
chology.
In 1698, he attended the earl of Portland in his embassy
from king William to the court of France ; and having
the pleasure to see his " Synopsis Conchyliorum" in the
king's library, he presented that monarch with a second
edition of the treatise, much improved, in 1699, nq£ long
after his return from Paris. Of this journey he published an
account, with observations on the state and curiosities of that
metropolis ; which, containing some things of a trifling na-
ture, was pleasantly ridiculed by Dr. Wm. King, in another,
entitled " A Journey to London." In 1709, upon the in-
disposition of Dr. Hannes, he was made second physician in
ordinary to queen Anne; in which post he continued to
his death, Feb. 2, 1711-12. He was buried in Clapham-
church, near the body of his wife Hannah, who died in
1695, leaving six children. One of his daughters, who
LISTER. 325
died in 1758, was the wife of the rev. Owen Evans, of
St. Martin's, Canterbury. Besides the books already
mentioned, he published, 1. " Historiae Animalium Angliae
tres Tractatus," &c. 1678. 2. " John Goedertius of In-
sects," &c. 1682, 4to. 3. The same book in Latin. 4.
" De Fontibus medicalibus AnglitE," Ebor. 1682. There
is an account of most of these in Phil. Trans. Nos. 139,
143, 144, and 166. 5. " Exercitatio anatomica, in qua
de Cochleis agitur," &c. 1694, 8vo. 6. " Cochlearum &
Limacum Exercitatio anatomica; accedit de Variolis Exer-
citatio," 1695, 2 vols. 8vo. 7. " Conchy liorum Bivalvium
utriusque Aquae Exercitatio anatom. tertia," &c. 1696,
4to. 8. " Exercitationes medicinales," &c. 1697, 8vo.
In his medical writings he is rather too much attached to
hypotheses, and preserves too great a reverence for an-
cient and now untenable doctrines ; but his reputation is
well founded on his researches in natural history and com-
parative anatomy.1
LITHGOW (WILLIAM), a Scotchman, born the latter
end of the fifteenth century, whose sufferings by imprison-
ment and torture at Malaga, and whose travels on foot
over Europe, Asia, and Africa, seem to raise him almost
to the rank of a martyr and a hero, published a well-known
account of his peregrinations and adventures. The first
edition of this was printed in 1614, 4to, and reprinted in
the next reign, with additions, and a dedication to Charles J.
Though the author deals much in the marvellous, the ac-
counts of the strange cruelties, of whioh he tells us he was
the subject, have, however, an air of truth. Soon after
his arrival in England from Malaga, he was carried to
Theobalds on a feather-bed, that king James might be an
eye-witness of his martyred anatomy, by which he means
his wretched body, mangled and reduced to a skeleton.
The whole court crowded to see him ; and his majesty or*
dered him to be taken care of; and he was twice sent to
Bath at his expence. By the king's command, he applied
to Gondamor, the Spanish ambassador, for the recovery of
money and other things of value which the governor of
Malaga had taken from him, and for a thousand pounds
for his support ; but, although promised a full reparation
for the damages he had sustained, that minister never per-
formed his promise. When he was upon the point of
1 Ath. Ox. vol. I. and II. — Bioc;. Brit. — Granger, and Granger's Letters, p.
140, and 400.— Thomson's Hist, of the Royal Society, — Lysons's Environs, vol. I.
S2S L I T H G O W.
leaving England, Lithgow upbraided him with the breach
of his word, in the presence-chamber, before several gen-
tlemen of the court. This occasioned their fighting upon
the spot ; and the ambassador, as the traveller oddly ex-
pressed it, " had his fistula contrabanded with his fist ;"
but the unfortunate Lithgow, although generally com-
mended for his spirited behaviour, was sent to the Mar-
shalsea, where he continued a prisoner nine months. At
the conclusion of the 8vo edition of his travels, he informs
us, that " in his three voyages his painful feet have traced
over, besides passages of seas and rivers, thirty-six thou-
sand and odd miles, which draweth near to twice the circum-
ference of the whole earth." Here the marvellous seems
to rise to the incredible ; and to set him in point of vera-
city below Coryat, whom it is nevertheless certain that he
far outwalked. His description of Ireland is whimsical
and curious. This, together with the narrative of his
sufferings, is reprinted in Morgan's " Phcenix Britanni-
cus." He published also an account of the siege of Breda,
1637, of which the reader will find a notice in the " Re-
stituta." '
LITTLETON (ADAM), a learned scholar, was descended
from the Westcot family of Mounslow, in Worcestershire,
and born Nov. 8, 1627, at Hales-Owen, in Shropshire, of
which place his father, Thomas, was vicar. He was educated
under Dr. Busby, at Westminster-school, and in 1644 was
chosen student of Christ-church, Oxford, but was ejected by
the parliament visitors in Nov. 1648. This ejection, how-
ever, does not seem to have extended so far as in other cases,
for we find that, soon after, he became usher of Westmin-
ster-school ; and in 1658 was made second master, having
for some time in the interim taught school in other places.
In July 1670, being then chaplain in ordinary to the king,
he accumulated his degrees in divinity, which were con-
ferred upon him without taking any in arts, as a mark of
respect due to his extraordinary merit. This indeed had
been amply attested to the university by letters from
Henchman, bishop of London, recommending him as a
man eminently learned, of singular humanity and sweet-
ness of manners, blameless and religious life, and of
genius and ready faculty in preaching. In Sept. 1674, he
was inducted into the rectory of Chelsea, was made a pre-
» Granger.— Restituta, No. II. p. 134.
LITTLETON. 827
bendary of Westminster, and afterwards sub -dean. In
1685 he was licensed to the church of St. Botolph Alders-
gate, which he held about four years, and then resigned
it, possibly on account of some decay in his constitution.
He died June 30, 1694, aged sixty-seven years, and
was buried on the north side of the chancel of Chelsea
church, where there is a handsome monument, with an
epitaph to his memory. He was an excellent philologist
and grammarian, particularly in the Latin, as appears from
his Dictionary of that language ; he appears also to have
studied the Greek with equal minuteness, a Lexicon of
which he 'had long been compiling, and left unfinished at
his death. He was also well skilled in the Oriental lan-
guages and in rabbinical learning ; in prosecution of
which he exhausted great part of his fortune in purchasing
' books and manuscripts from all parts of Europe, Asia, and
Africa. The consequence of this improvidence, we are
sorry, however, to add, was his dying insolvent, and leav-
ing his widow in very distressed circumstances. Some
time before his death, he made a small essay towards fa-
cilitating the knowledge of the Hebrew, Chaldee, and
Arabic tongues, which he intended to have brought into
a narrower compass. He was versed also in the abstruse
parts of the mathematics, and wrote a great many pieces
concerning mystical numeration, which came into the
hands of his brother-in-law Dr. Hockin. In private life
he was extremely charitable, easy of access, communica-
tive, affable, facetious in conversation, free from passion,
of a strong constitution, and a venerable countenance.
Besides his " Latin Dictionary," which appeared first in
1678, 4to, and was often reprinted, but is now superseded
by Ainsworth's, he published, 1. " Tragicomcedia Oxo-
niensis," a Latin poem on the Parliament-Visitors," 1648,
a single sheet, 4to, which, however, was afterwards attri-
buted to a Mr. John Carrick, a student of Christ-churdi.
2. " Pasor metricus, sive voces omnes Nov. Test, primo-
genias hexametris versibus compreherusae," 1658, 4to,
Greek and Latin. 3. " Diatriba in octo Tractatus distri-
buta," &c. printed with the former. 4. " Elementa Re-
ligionis, sive quatuor Capita catechetica totidem Linguis
descripta, in usum Scholarum," 1658, Svo, to which h
added, 5. " Complicatio Radicum in primaeva Hebrseorurh
Lingua." 6. " Solomon's Gate, or an entrance into the
Church," &c. 1662, Svo. Perhaps this title was taken
328 LITTLETON.
from the north gate of Westminster-abbey, so called
7. "Sixty-one Sermons," 1680, fol. 8. "A Sermon at
a solemn meeting of the natives of the city and county of
Worcester, in Bow-church, London, 24th of June, 1680,"
4to. 9. " Preface to Cicero's Works," Lond. 1681, 2
vols.'fol. 10. " A Translation of ' Selden's Jani Anglo-
rum Facies Altera,' with Notes," which for some unkuown
reason he published under the name of Redman Westcote,
1683, fol. With this were printed three other tracts of
Selden, viz. his " Treatise of the Judicature of Parlia-
ments," &c. " Of the original of Ecclesiastical Jurisdic-
tion of Testaments." <* Of the Disposition of Intestates*
Goods." 11. " The Life of Themistocles," from the
Greek, in the first vol. of Plutarch's Lives, by several
hands, 1687, 8vo. He also published " Dissertatio episto-
laris de Juramento Medicorum qui OPKO2 HUIOKPATOTS
dicitur," &c. ; also A Latin Inscription, in prose and verse,
intended for the monument of the fire of London, in Sept.
1666. This is printed at the end of his Dictionary ; with
an elegant epistle to Dr. Baldwin Hamey, M. D.1
LITTLETON (EDWARD), LL. D. an English divine
and poet, was educated upon the royal foundation at Eton-
school, where, under the care of that learned and excellent
master, Dr. Snape, his school-exercises were much ad-
mired, and when his turn came, he was elected to King's
college, Cambridge, in 1716, with equal applause. Here he
took his degrees of A. B. 1720, A.M. 1724, and LL.D. 1728.
Having some talent for poetry, he had not been long at
the university, before he diverted a school-fellow, whom
he had left at Eton, with a humourous poem on the subject
of his various studies, and the progress he had made in,
academical learning, which was followed by his more cele-
brated one {< on a spider." Dr. Morell, the editor of his
*l Discourses," and his biographer, procured a genuine
copy of them, as transcribed by a gentleman then at Eton
school from the author's ovvn writing, with such remains
as could be found of a Pastoral Elegy, written about the
same time by Mr. Littleton, on the death of R. Banks,
scholar of the same college. The two former are now cor-
rectly printed in the edition of Dodsley's Poems of 1782,
edited by Isaac Reed. Dr. Morell found also a poetical
1 A'h. Ox. vol. II. — Bio;;. Brit. — Preface to Ainsworth's.
soi|s'» Environ*, vol. I{.
LITTLETON.
epistle sent from school to Penyston Powney, esq. ; but
as this was scarcely intelligible to any but those who were
then at Eton, he has not printed it. In 1720 Mr. Little-
ton was recalled to Eton as an assistant in the school ; in
which office he was honoured and beloved by his pupils,
and so esteemed by the provost and fellows, that on the
death of the rev. Mr. Malcher, in 1727, they elected him
a fellow, and presented him to the living of Mapledurham,
in Oxfordshire. He then married a very amiable woman,
Frances, one of the daughters of Barnham Goode, who
was under-master of Eton school. In June 1730, he was
appointed chaplain in ordinary to their majesties. Though
an admired preacher and an excellent scholar, he seems to
have been little ambitious of appearing in print. He died
of a fever in 1734, and was buried in his own parish church
of Mapledurham, leaving behind him a widow and three
daughters ; for whose benefit, under the favour and en-
couragement of queen Caroline, his " Discourses" were
first printed by Dr. Morell, with an account of the author,
from which the above particulars are taken. Dr. Burton,
Mr. Littleton's successor in the living of Mapledurham,
afterwards married his widow, as we have noticed in his
Jife.1 -.;.'•
LITTLETON or LYTTLETON (THOMAS), a cele-
brated English judge, descended of an ancient family, was
the eldest son of Thomas Westcote, of the county of De-.
von, esq. by Elizabeth, daughter and sole-heir of Thomas
Littleton or Lyttleton, of Frankley in Worcestershire, in
compliance with whom she consented that the issue, or at
least the eldest son, of that marriage should take the name
of Lyttleton, and bear the arms of that family. He was
born about the beginning of the fifteenth century at Frank-
ley. Having laid a proper foundation of learning at one
of the universities, he removed to the Inner-Temple; and,
applying himself to the law, became very eminent in that
profession. The first notice we have of his distinguishing
himself is from his learned lectures on the statute of West-*
minster, " de donis conditionalibus," " of conditional
gifts." He was afterwards made, by Henry VI. steward
or judge of the court of the palace, or marshalsea of the
king's household, and, in May 1455, king's serjeant, in
1 Life by Morell, prefixed to the "Discourses," 1*736, 2 vols. 8vo. — Life of
Pr. John Buiton, vol. V1J. p. 424.— Dodsley's Poems, voJ. VI.
S30 LITTLETON.
which capacity he went the Northern circuit as a judge of
the assize. Upon the revolution of the crown, from the
house of Lancaster to that of York) in the time of Edward
IV. our judge, who was now made sheriff of Worcester-
shire, received a pardon from that prince; was continued
in his post of king's serjeant, and also in that of justice of
assi/r for the same circuit. This pardon passed in 1462,
the second year of Edward IV.; and, in 1466, he was ap-
pointed one of the judges of the court of Common Pleas.
The same year, he obtained a writ to the commissioners of
the customs of London, Bristol, and Kingston-upon-Hull,
enjoining them to pay him a hundred and ten marks annu-
ally, for the better support of his dignity ; a hundred and
six shillings and eleven pence farthing, to furnish him
whh a furred robe ; and six shillings and six-pence more,
for another robe called Li num. In 1473, we find him re-
siding near St. Sepulchre's church, London, in a capital
mansion, the property of the abbot of Leicester, which he
held on lease at the yearly rent of 1 <'>.-•. In 1475 he was
created, among others, knight of the Hath, to grace the
solemnity of conferring that order upon the king's eldest
son, then prince of Wales, afterwards Edward V. He
continued to enjoy the esteem of his sovereign and the na-
tion, on account of his profound knowledge of the laws of
England, till his death, Aug. 23, 1481, the day after the
date of his will. He was then said to be of a good old
age, but its precise length has not been ascertained. He
was honourably interred in the cathedral church of Wor-
cester, where a marble tomb, with his statue, was erected
to his memory ; his picture was also placed in the church
of Frankley ; and another in that of Hides-Owen, where
his descendants purchased a good estate. He married,
and had three sons, William, Richard, and Thomas.
Kichard, bred to the law, became eminent in thut profes-
sion ; and it was for his use that our judge drew up his
celebrated treatise on tenures or titles, which will pro-
bably hand his name down to the latest posterity. The
judge's third son, Thomas, was knighted by Henry VII.
for taking Lambert Simnel, the pretended earl of War-
wick. His eldest son and successor, sir William Littleton,
after living many years in great splendour, at Frankley,
died in 1508 ; and from this branch the late celebrated lord
Lyttelton of Frankley co. Worcester, who was created a
baron of Great Britain, Nov. 1756, derived his pedigree ;
LITTLETON. ' .-• 331
but who, owing to the alteration in the spelling of the
name (which, however, appears unnecessary) will occur in
a future part of this work.
The memory of judge Littleton is preserved by his
" Tenures ;'* and the various editions through which his
book has passed are the best evidence of its worth. Dr.
Middleton supposes the first edition to have been that
printed in French by Lettou and Machlima, near the
church of All-Saints, or All-Hallows, in London, without
date : and he thinks that it was put to press by the author
himself in 1481, the year he died; but lord Coke sup-
poses the French edition in folio, printed without date, at
Rouen, by W. Le Tailleur, for R. Pinson, to have been
the first. The point however has not yet been settled ;
and perhaps cannot now be settled with precision. The
various opinions on the subject may be found in our au-
thorities. That it was often reprinted is a matter of less
doubt: the editions from 1539 to 1639 only, amount to
twenty-four. The original composition of this celebrated
work is justly esteemed as the principal pillar on which
the superstructure of the law of real property in this
kingdom is supported ; and the valuable " Commen-
tary" of lord Coke has uniformly been considered, by the
most eminent lawyers, as the result and repository of ail his
learning on the subjects there treated. Of this work a re-
publication was made in folio, 1738, which, independent
of the valuable annotations of lord Hale and lord chancellor
Nottingham, has been greatly improved by the learning
and indefatigable labours of Mr. Hargrave and Mr. Butler.
There was a book written in the reign of Edward III.
which is called " OKI Tenures," to distinguish it from
Littleton's book. It gives an account of the various tenures
by which land was holdeu, the nature of estates, and some
other incidents relating to landed property. It is a very
scanty tract, but has the merit of having led the way to
Littleton's famous work. '
LITTLETON, orLYTTELTON (£DWAUD), lord keeper
of the great seal of England in the reign of Charles I. was
descended, by a collateral branch, from the preceding
judge Littleton, being grandson of John Littleton, parson
of Mouuslow in Shropshire, and son of sir Edward Little-
1 Biog. Brit.^-Dibdin's Typographical Antiquities.— Bridgmau's Legal Biblio-
graphy.— Reeves's Hist, of English Laws.
332 LITTLETON.
ton of Henley in that county, one of the justices of the
inarches, and judge of North Wales. He was born in
1589, and admitted a gentleman commoner of Christ-
church, Oxford, in 1606, where he took the degree of
bachelor of arts in 1609. Some time after, being de-
f o
signed for the law by his father, he removed to the Inner-
Temple, and soon became eminent in his profession. In
1628, we find him in parliament; and on the 6th of May
he was appointed, together with sir Edward Coke and sir
Dudley Digges, to carry up the petition of right to the
house of lords. He had also the management of the charge
made against the duke of Buckingham, concerning king
James's death ; on which occasion he behaved himself
with universal applause, although he had to consult both
the jealousy of the people and the honour of the court.
His first preferment in the law was the appointment to
succeed his father as a Welch judge; after which he was
elected recorder of London, and about the same time
counsel for the university of Oxford. In 1632, he was
chosen summer-reader of the Inner-Temple, and in 1634,
appointed solicitor-general, and received the honour of
knighthood in 1635. In 163U, he was constituted lord
chief-justice of the common-pleas ; and, in 1640, on the
flight of lord-keeper Finch from the resentment of the
parliament, the great seal was put into his custody, with the
same title. In February following, he was created a peer
of England, by the title of lord Littleton, baron of Moun-
slow in Shropshire.
In this station he preserved the esteem of both parties
for some time, and the two houses of parliament agreed to
return their thanks by him to the king, for passing the
triennial bill, and that of the subsidies; but, as he concur-
red in the votes for raising an army, and seizing the mili-
tia, in March 1641, measures very hostile to the royal
cause, the king sent an order from York to lord Falkland,
to demand the seal from him, and to consult about a suc-
cessor with Hyde, afterwards earl of Clarendon ; but this
last step prevented the former order from being put into
execution. Hyde, who always entertained a great regard
for the keeper, had, upon his late behaviour, paid him a
visit at Exeter-house, on which occasion the keeper freely
disclosed his mind, lamenting that he had been removed
from the common-pleas, of which court he was acquainted
with the business aud the persons with whom he had to
LITTLETON. 333
deal, to an higher office, which involved him with another
sort of men, and in affairs to which he was a stranger; and
this without his having one friend among them, to whom
he could confide any difficulty that occurred to him. Ad-
verting likewise to the unhappy state of the king's affairs,
he said that the party in hostility to the court " would
never have done what they had already, unless they had
been determined to do more : that he foresaw it would not
be long before a war would break out, and of what impor-
tance it was, in that season, that the great seal should be
with his majesty ; that the prospect of this necessity had
made him comply to a certain degree with that party ; that
there had lately been a consultation, whether, in case the
king might send for him, or the great seal be taken from
him, it were advisable to keep it in some secure place,
where the keeper should receive it upon occasion, they
having no mind to disoblige him : that the knowledge of
this had induced him to vote as he did in the late debates;
and by that compliance, which he knew would give the
king a bad impression of him, he had gained so much cre-
dit with them, that he should be able to preserve the
seal in his own hands till his majesty should demand it, and
then he would be ready to wait on the king with it, declar-
ing that no man should be more willing to perish with
and for his majesty than himself." Mr. Hyde acquainted
lord Falkland with this conference; and, being confident
that the lord-keeper would keep his promise, recommended
to advise his majesty to write a kind invitation to the keeper
to come to York, and bring the seal with him, rather than,
think of giving it to any other person. The advice was
embraced by the king, who, though he still had his doubts
of Littleton's sincerity, was influenced by the reasons as-
signed ; and accordingly the seal was sent to York on the
f2d, and followed by the keeper on the 23d of May, 1642.
But, notwithstanding this piece of service and eminent
proof of his loyalty, at the risk of his life, he could never
totally regain the king's confidence, or the esteem of the
court-party. He continued, however, to enjoy his post,
in which he attended his majesty to Oxford, was there
created doctor of laws, and made one of the king's privy-
council, and colonel of a regiment of foot in the same
service, some time before his death, which happened Aug.
27, 1645, at Oxford. His body was interred in the cathe-
dral of Christ church ; uu which Qccasioa a funeral oration
334 LITTLETON.
was pronounced by the celebrated Dr. Hammond, then
orator to the university. In May 1683, a monument was
erected there to his memory, by his only daughter and
heiress, the lady Anne Lyttelton, widow of sir Thomas
Lyttelton ; and the same year came out his " Reports," in
folio*, which, however, Mr. Stevens, in his introduction
to lord Bacon's Letters, edition 1702, p. 21, thinks were
not composed by him, many of the cases being the same
verbatim as in Hetley's reports. Lord Clarendon says of
sir Edward Littleton, that " he was a man of great reputa-
tion in the profession of the law, for learning, and all other
advantages which attend the most eminent men. He was
of a very good extraction in Shropshire, and inherited a
fair fortune and inheritance from his father. He was a
handsome and a proper man, of a very graceful presence,
and notorious courage, which in his youth he had mani-
fested with his sword. He had taken great pains in the
hardest and most knotty part of the law, as well as that
which was most customary ; and was not only ready and
expert in the books, but exceedingly versed in records,
in studying and examining whereof he had kept Mr. Selden
company, with whom he had great friendship, and who had
much assisted him : so that he was looked upon as the best
antiquary of his profession, who gave himself up to prac-
tice ; and, upon the mere strength of his abilities, he had
raised himself into the first of the practisers of the common
law courts, and was chosen recorder of London before he
was called to the bench, and grew presently into the
highest practice in all the other courts, as well as those of
the law." Whitelocke also observes, that he was a man of
courage, and of excellent parts and learning. But we fear
he cannot be altogether acquitted of unsteadiness in some
parts of his conduct, although it must at the same time be
owned that when he found he could no longer retain the
seal with credit, he delivered it, with his own hands, to
his unhappy sovereign, and died firmly attached to his
cause. ,
He was twice married ; first to Anne, daughter of Johiv
Lyttelton, by whom he had a son and two daughters, who
* Beside* these, we have some book, entitled " The Sovereign's Pre-
spetches in parliament, and several ar- rogative and Subject's Privileges dis-
guments and discourses, published in cussed," 1657, folio; and "A Speech in
Rushworth, vol. I. and appendix ; and the House of Commons at the passing
by themselves in 1642, 4to, and in a of two bills," 1641, 4to.
LITTLETON. 325
all died infants. His second wife was the lady Sidney
Calverley,- relict of sir George Calverley of Cheshire, and
daughter of sir William Jones, judge of the king's-bench,
by whom he had the above-mentioned Anna, whose son
Edward died in 1664, and lies interred in the Temple
church. In the south window of the Inner Temple hall,
is a fine shield of the keeper's arms, with fifteen quar-
terings, distinguished by a crescent within a mullet, which
shews him to have been a second son of the third house.1
LITTLETON. See LYTTELTON.
LIVINGSTON (JOHN), a rigid but pious presbyter of
the church of Scotland, was born in 1603. In 1617, he
was sent to the college of Glasgow, where he remained
until he passed M. A. in 1621. After this, he exercised
the ministry in various places, as occasion oflered, till
1628, when he was, by the sentence of the general as-
sembly, sent to Ancrum in Teviot-dale. He was twice
suspended by bishop Down, and was one of those who
tendered the covenant to king 'Charles II. a little before
he landed in Scotland. In 1663, as he would not sub-
scribe or take the oath of allegiance, he was banished out
of the kingdom, and retired into Holland, where he
preached to the Scots' congregation at Rotterdam till his
death, Aug. 9, 1672, His works are " Letters from Leith,
1663, to his Parishioners at Ancrum;" " Memorable Cha-
racteristics of Divine Providence;" and a " Latin Transla-
tion of the Old Testament," not published.2
LIVIUS (TiTus), the most celebrated of the Roman
historians, was born at Patavium, or Padua, and descended
from an illustrious family, which had given several consuls
to Rome. Few circumstances of his life are known, as
none of the ancients have left any thing about it ; and so
reserved has he been with regard to himself, that we should
be at a loss to determine the time when his history was
written, if it were not for one passage which seems to
prove that he was employed on it about the year of Rome
730. He was then at Rome, where he long resided ; and
some have supposed that he was known to Augustus before,
by certain dialogues, which he had dedicated to him.
Seneca, without noticing the dedication, mentions these
1 Biog. Brit.— Lloyd's State Worthies.— Lloyd's Memoirs, fol. 582.— Ath.
Ox. vol. II. — Bridgman's Legal Bibliography.— Park's edition of the Royal and
Noble Authors.
2 Biog. Scoticana,— Life of, 1754, 12mo,
336 L I V I U S
dialogues, whjch he calls historical and philosophical ; and
also some books, written purposely on the subject of phi*
losophy. All this appears doubtful, but there is reason
to think that he began his history as soon as he was settled
at Rome; and he seems to have devoted himself entirely
to it. The tumults and distractions of that city frequently
obliged him to retire to Naples, not only that he might be
less interrupted in his historical labours, but enjoy that
tranquillity which he could not have at Rome. He appears
to have been much dissatisfied with the manners of his
age, and tells us, that " he should reap this reward of his
labour, in composing the Roman history, that it would
take his attention from the present numerous evils, at least
while he was employed upon the first and earliest ages."
It is said that he used to read parts of his history, while
he was composing it, to Maecenas and Augustus; and that
JLivia conceived so high an opinion of him, as to intend to
commit to him the education of young Claudius the bro-
ther of Germanicus, but his death prevented his enjoying
this honour. On the demise of- Augustus, he returned to
Padua, where he was received with all imaginable honour
and respect; and there died, A. D. 17, at the age of se-
venty, or seventy-six.
Scarcely any man was ever more honoured, both in his
life-time and after his death, than this historian. Pliny
the younger relates that a gentleman travelled from Cades,
the extreme part of Spain, to see Livy ; and, though Rome
abounded with more stupendous and curious spectacles than
any city in the world, immediately returned ; because, after
having seen Livy, he thought nothing worthy of his notice.
To the following story, however, we cannot so easily
give credit. A monument was erected to this historian in
the temple of Juno, where the monastery of St. Justina was
afterwards founded. There, in 1413, was discovered the
following epitaph upon Livy : " Ossa Titi Livii Patavini,
omnium mortalium judicio digni, cujus prope invicto Ca-
lamo invicti Populi Romani Res gestaa conscriberentur."
In 1451, we are told that Alphonsus, king of Arragon, sent
his ambassador, Anthony Panormita, to desire of the citi-
zens of Padua the bone of that arm with which this their
famous countryman had written his history ; and, obtaining
it, caused it to be conveyed to Naples with the greatest
ceremony, as a most invaluable relic. He is said to have
been assisted in his recovery from an ill state of health, by
L I V 1 U S. 337
the pleasure he found in reading this history ; and there-
fore, out of gratitude, was induced to pay extraordinary
honours to the memory of the writer."
This ridiculous story, which has been repeated in the
•former editions of this Dictionary, as well as in other ac-
counts of Livy, took its rise from the ignorance or knavery
of those who reported it; and having been refuted by Gu-
dius, and more fully by Morhof (" De Livii Patav." cap.
iii.), ought long ago to have been displaced. The epitaph
at Padua was, when written without the contractions, " Vi-
vus fecit Titus Livius, Livice Titi filise quartae, libertus
Halys, concordialis Patavi, sibi et suis omnibus;" i. e. This
monument was erected by himself and his family by Titus
Livius Halys, the freedman of Livia, a daughter of one
Titus Livius, who probably lived many ages after the his-
torian. Halys was his name, while he continued in servi-
tude, and Titus Livius the name of his patron or master,
which he assumed, as was usual in those cases, when he
received his freedom. He had perhaps borne some office
in the temple of Concordia at Padua, which might possi-
bly have stood in the place where the epitaph was disco-
vered, and hence the title Concordialis. But the monks of
the fifteenth century, who valued themselves on having
discovered the bones of the celebrated historian, attended
only to the name of Titus Livius ; never reflecting, that
this was a common name, and might have belonged to
twenty others; that in the Augustan age, dead bodies were
usually burnt, and not buried within the walls of cities ;
and that, admitting Livy had been buried, it was very im-
probable that any of his bones should have remained un-
consumed in the ground above 1400 years.
The History of Livy, like other great works of antiquity,
is transmitted down to us exceedingly mutilated and im-
perfect. Its books were originally an hundred and forty-
two, of which are extant only thirty-five. The epitomes
of it, from which we learn their number, all remain, ex-
cept those of the 136th and 1 37th books. They have been
divided into decades, which some think was done by Livy
himself, because there is a preface to every decade ; while
others suppose it to be a modern contrivance, since no-
thing about it can be gathered from the ancients. The first
decade, beginning with the foundation of Rome, is extant,
and treats of the affairs of 460 years. The second decade
is lost, the years of which are seventy-five. The third
VOL. XX. Z
338 L I V I U S.
decade is extant, and contains the second Punic war, in*
eluding eighteen years. It is reckoned the most excellent
part of the history, as giving an account of a very long and
sharp war, in which the Romans gained so many advan-
tages, that no arms could afterwards withstand them. The
fourth decade contains the Macedonian war against Philip,
and the Asiatic war against Antiochus, which takes up the
space of about twenty -three years. The first five books of
the fifth decade were found, at Worms, by Simon Gry-
naeus, in 1431, but are very defective; and the remainder
of Livy's history, which reacheth to the death of Drusus
in Germany, in the year 746, together with the second
decade, are supplied by Freinsheuiius. Many discoveries
have been reported of the lost books of Livy, but these
have generally proved forgeries. The last, by Joseph
Vella, was very recently exposed, by Dr. Hager in Bet-
ter's Berlin Journal.
The encomiums bestowed upon Livy, by both ancients
and moderns, are great and numerous. Quinctiliau speaks
of him in the highest terms, and thinks that Herodotus
need not take it ill to have Livy equalled with him. In
general, probity, candour, and impartiality, are what have
distinguished Livy above all historians. Neither com-
plaisance to the times, nor his particular connexions with
the emperor, could restrain him from speaking so well of
Pompey, as to make Augustus call him a Pompeian. This
we learn from Cremutius Cortlus, in Tacitus, who relates
also, much to the emperor's honour, that this gave no in-
terruption to their friendship. Livy, however, has not
escaped censure as a writer. In the age in which he lived,
Asinius Pollio charged him with Patavinity, a- word va-
riously explained by writers, but generally supposed to
relate to his style. The most common opinion is, that
Pollio, accustomed to the delicacy of the language spoken
in the court of Augustus, could not bear with certain pro-
vincial idioms, which Livy, as a Paduan, used in various
places of his history. Pignorius is of a different opinion,
and considers Patavinity as relating to the orthography of
certain words, in which Livy used one letter for another,,
according to the custom of his country, writing " sibe"
and " quase" for "sibi" and "quasi ;" which he attempt*
to prove by several ancient inscriptions. Chevreau main-
tains, that it does not concern the style, but the principles
of the historian : the Paduans, he says, preserved a long
L I V I U S. 339
and constant inclination for a republic, and were therefore
attached to Pompey ; while Pollio, being of Caesar's party,
was naturally led to attribute to Livy the sentiments of his
countrymen, on account of his speaking well of Pompey*
It seems remarkable that there should exist such difference
of opinion, when Quinctilian, who must be supposed to
know the true import of this Patavinity, has referred it
entirely to the language of our author. MorhofPs elabo-
rate treatise, however, is highly creditable to his critical
skill. The merit of Livy's history is so well known, as to
render it unnecessary to accumulate the encomiums which
modern scholars have bestowed on him. With these the
school -boy is soon made acquainted, and they meet the
advanced scholar in all his researches. His history was
first printed at Rome, about 1469, by Sweynheym and
Pannartz, in folio. Of this rare edition, lord Spencer is
in possession of a fine copy ; but the exquisite copy on
vellum, formerly in the imperial library at Vienna, now
belongs to James Edwards, esq. of Harrow; and is perhaps
the most magnificent volume of an ancient classic in the
world. Of modern printing the best editions are, that of
Gronovius, " cum Notis variorum & suis, Lugd. Bat.
1679," 3 vols. Svo; that of Le Clerc, at " Amsterdam,
1709," 10 vols. I2mo ; that of Crevier, at " Paris, 1735,"
6 vols. <Ko ; of Prakenborch, Auist. 1738, 7 vols. 4to ; of
Ruddiman, Edinburgh, 1751, 4 vols. 12mo; of Homer,
Lond. 1794, 8 vols. 8vo ; and that of Oxford, 1800, 6 vols.
Svo. Livy has been translated into every language. The
last English translation was that of George Baker, A. M.
6 vols. Svo, published in 1797, which was preceded by
tbat of Philemon Holland, in 1600; that of Bohun, in
1686 ; and a third, usually called Hay's translation, though,
no such name appears, printed in 1744, 6 vols. 8vo.'
LLOYD (DAVID), a loyal biographer and historian of
the seventeenth century, the son of Hugh Lloyd, was
born at Pant Mawr, in the parish of Trawsvinydd, in Me-
rionethshire, Sept. 28, 1625. He was educated in gram-
mar learning at the free-school at Ruthen in Denbighshire,
and in 1652 became a servitor of Oriel college, Oxford, at
which time, and after, he performed the office of janitor.
He took one degree in arts, and by the favour of the
1 G«n. Diet. art. Porcius and Panormita. — Vossius de Hist. Lat. — Seneca:
Epist. — Suetonius in vita Claudii.— Plinii Epist. — Qitintiliau Inst. Orat. — Ta-
citi Anneles IV. 34. — Saxii Onomast. — Itibdin's Classics, and Bi
7, 2
340 L L O 'Y D.
warden and society of Merton college, was presented to itie
rectory of Ibston near Watlington in Oxfordshire, in May
1658. Next year be took his master's degree, and after
a short time, resigned Ibston, and went to London, where
he was appointed reader of the Charter-house. Afterwards
he retired to Wales, and became chaplain to Dr. Isaac Bar-
row, bishop of St. Asaph, who, besides several preferments
in his diocese, gave him a canonry in the church of St.
Asaph, in August 1670. On Aug. 14, 1671, be was made
vicar of Abergeley, and on the same day, as is supposed,
prebend of Vaynol in the church of St. Asaph, at which
time he resigned his canonry. He afterwards exchanged
Abergeley for the vicarage of Northop in Flintshire, where
he settled and taught the free-school, until his health be-
gan to decay. He then returned, probably to try the ef-
fect of his native air, to Pant Mawr, where he died Feb.. 16,
1691, and was buried there.
Mr. Lloyd, even by Wood's account, left an excellent
character behind him : " he was a very industrious and
zealous person, charitable to the poor, and ready to do
good offices in his neighbourhood ; he commonly read the
service every day in his church at Northop, when he was
at home, and usually gave money to such poor children as
would come to him to be catechised." As an author, how-
ever, Wood appears to have been a little jealous of Lloyd ;
speaks of him as being " a conceited and confident per-
*on ;" who " took too much upon him to transmit to pos-
terity the memoirs of great personages ;" by which " he
obtained among knowing men not only the character of a
most impudent plagiary, but a false writer, and a mere
scribbler, especially upon the publication of his * Memoirs,'
wherein are almost as many errors as lines." " At length,"
adds Wood, . " having been sufficiently admonished of his
said errors, and brought into trouble for some extrava-
gancies in his books, he left off writing, retired to Wales,
and there gave himself up to the gaining of riches." That
all this is not true, modern inquirers of reputation, who
have repeatedly referred to Lloyd, seem to be convinced :
he is in truth a compiler, like others of his contemporaries ;
but, although he must rank greatly under, he certainly be-
longs to the same class with Fuller and Wood himself. la
his style he partakes more of the former than the latter, and
having titled the subject of his pen ** Worthies," he is,
s, a little too anxious to support their claim, and
LLOYD. 341
regardless- of those circumstances which form ajust, if not a
perfect, character. Lloyd has preserved many minutiae of
eminent men, not to be found, or not easily, to be found,
elsewhere. These remarks apply to his two principal works,
so often quoted by modern biographers, " The Statesmen
and favourites of England since the Reformation, &c."
166.5, 8vo, reprinted in 1670; and his " Memoirs of the
Lives, &c." of persons who suffered for their loyalty during
the rebellion, Lond. 1668, folio. This last is the more va-
luable of the two, and is so far from deserving the charac-
ter Wood has given, of containing as " many errors as
lines," that, while we admit it is not free from errors, we
have found it in general corroborated by contemporary
writers, and even by Wood himself. Of the first of these
works, an edition was published by Charles Whitworth,
esq. in 1766, 2 vols. 8vo, with additions from other writers,
with a view to restore the light and shade of character.
" Mr. Lloyd," says an anonymous critic, " is professedly
the white-washer of every character and personage that
falls under his brush, particularly of the loyalists of Charles
I. and II. ; but his editor has seamed it with some sable
strokes, some drawn from lord Herbert, and some from his
own stores, which are supplied from Rapin, and other re-
publican writers of little credit and less abilities. The true
merit of Lloyd is, that notwithstanding the sameness of
most of his characters, he serves them up to his readers so
differently dressed, that each seems to be a new dish, and
to have a peculiar relish."
Lloyd's other publications were: 1. "Modern Policy
compleated, or the public actions and councils, '&c. of Ge-
neral Monk," Lond. 1660, 8vo. 2. "The Pourtraictuue
of his sacred Majesty Charles II. &c." ibid. 1660, 8vo. 3.
"The Countess of Bridgwater's Ghost, &c." Lond. 1663,
a character of this amiable lady, published, as Wood al-
lows, " to make her a pattern for other women to imitate;"
but we can scarcely credit what he adds, that " the earl
being much displeased that the memory of his lady should
be perpetuated under such a title, and by such an obscure
person, who did not do her the right that was <Jue, he
brought him into trouble, and caused him to suffer six
months imprisonment /" We have not seen this work ; but
had it been a libel instead of a panegyric, which last ap-
pears to have been the author's honest intention, it could
not have been punished with more severity. 4. " Of Plots,
34f LLOYD.
&c." Lond. 1664, 4to, published under the name of Oli-
ver Foulis. 5. " The Worthies of the World, &c." an
abridgment of Plutarch, ibid. 1665, 8vo. 6. " Dying and
Dead men's Living Words ; or a fair warning to a careless
world," 1665, and 1682, 12mo. 7. "Wonders no mira-
cles ; or Mr. Valentine Greatrack's Gift of Healing exa-
mined, &c." ibid. 1665, 4to. 8. ** Exposition of the Ca-
techism and Liturgy, &c." 9. " A Treatise on Modera-
tion," 1674.1
LLOYD (NICHOLAS), a learned English writer in the
seventeenth century, was son of Mr. George Lloyd, minis-
ter of Wonson or Wonsington near Winchester, and grand-
son of Mr. David Lloyd, vicar of Lockford near Stock-
bridge in Hampshire. He was born at Hoi ton in Flint-
shire in 1634, and educated at Wykeham's school near
Winchester, and admitted a scholar of Wadham college,
Oxford, from Hart-hall, October 20, 1653. He afterwards
became a fellow of Wadham, and July 6, 16.58, took the
degree of roaster of arts. In 1665, when Dr. Blandford,
warden of that college, became bishop of Oxford, our
author was appointed chaplain to him, being about that
time rector of St. Martin's church in Oxford, and continued
with the bishop till he was translated to the see of Worces-
ter in 1671. The year following, the rectory of St. Mary
Newington, in Surrey, falling void, the bishop of Wor-
cester presented Mr. Lloyd to it, who kept it to his death,
which happened Nov. 27, 1680. He was interred in the
chancel of the church there, leaving behind him the charac-
ter of an harmless quiet man, and an excellent philologist.
His " Dictionarium Historicum," &c. although now obso-
lete, was once reckoned a valuable work. The first edition
was published at Oxford in 1670, folio. The second edi-
tion was printed at London in 1686, folio, under the f«M-
lowing title : " Dictionarium Historicum, geographicum,
poeticum, gentium, hominum, deorum gentilium, regio-
num, insularum, locorum, civitatum, aequorum, fluviorum,
sinuum, portuum, promontoriorum, ac montium, antiqua
recentioraque, ad sacras & profanas historias, poetarum-
que fabulas intelligendas nccessaria, Nomina, quo decet
erdine, complectens & illustrans. Opus admodum utile &
apprime necessarium ; a Carolo Stephano inchoatum ; ad
incudem vero revocatum, innumerisque pene locis auctum
> Atb. Ox. vol. II.— Wbitworth's preface.— Cens. Literaria, vol. III.
L L O Y 0. 343
& emaculatum per NicolaumV.Lloydium, Collegii Wad-
hami in celeberrima Academia Oxoniensi Socium. Editio
novissima." He left several unpublished MSS. consisting
principally of commentaries and translations. He had a
younger brother, John, somewhat of a poet, who appears
to have shared the friendship and esteem of Addison.1
LLOYD "(ROBERT), a modern poet, was born in West-
minster in 1733. His father, Dr. Pierson Lloyd, was se-
cond master of Westminster-school, afterwards chancellor
of York, and portionist of Waddesdon in Bucks. His
learning, judgment, and moderation, endeared him to all
who partook of his instructions during a course of almost
fifty years spent in the service of the public at Westmin-
ster-school. He had a pension from his majesty of 500/.
conferred upon him in his old age, which was ordered to
be paid without deduction, and which he enjoyed until his
death, Jan. 5, 1781.
Robert was educated at Westminster-school, where un-
fortunately he had for his associates Churchill, Thornton,
Column, and some others, to whose example his erroneous
life may be ascribed. In 1751, he stood first on the list of
Westminster scholars who went to Trinity college, Cam-
bridge, at the same time that his school-fellow Colman ob-
tained the same rank among those sent to Oxford. In
1755, he took the degree of bachelor, and in 1761 that of
master of arts. While at the university, he wrote several
pf his smaller pieces, and acquired the reputation of a
lively and promising genius. But his conduct was marked
by so many irregularities, as to induce his father to wish
him more immediately under his eye ; and with the hope
of reclaiming him to sobriety and study, he procured him
the place of usher at Westminster-school. • His education
had amply qualified him for the employment, but his in-
clination led him to a renewed connection with such com-
panions as deemed themselves exempt from the duties and
decencies of moral life.
At what time he quitted the school, we are not told. In
1760 and 1761, he superintended the poetical department
of a short-lived periodical publication, entitled the " Li-
brary," of which the late Dr. Kippis was the editor. In
1760 he published the first of his productions which
1 Ath. Ox. vol. II.— Aubrey's Surrey, vol. V. p. 140.— Gent. Mag. vol. LXI.
34* LLOYD.
attracted much notice, " The Actor." It was recommended
by an easy and harmonious versification, and by the libe-
rality of his censures, which were levelled at certain im-
proprieties common to actors in general. By this poem,
Churchill is said to have been stimulated to write his *' Ros-
ciad," in which he descended from general to personal
criticism. The subjects, however, were so alike, that
Lloyd was for some time supposed to be the author of the
" llosciad," which he took an early opportunity to deny,
and not only acknowledged his inferiority, but attached
himself more closely than ever to the fame and fortunes of
Churchill. In the same year, he attempted a small piece
of the musical kind, called " The Tears and Triumphs of
Parnassus/' and the following season had another little
opera performed at Drury-lane theatre, in honour of their
present majesties' nuptials, entitled " Arcadia; or, The
Shepherd's Wedding." The profit arising from these
pieces was not great, but probably enough to induce him
to become an author by profession, although no man ever
ventured on that mode of life with fewer qualifications.
His poetical productions were of such a trifling cast as
to bring him very small supplies, and he had neither taste
nor industry for literary employment.
In 1762, he attempted to establish a periodical work,
" The St. James's Magazine," which was to be the depo-
sitory of his own efVusions, aided by the contributions of
his friends. The latter, however, came in tardily;
Churchill, from whom he had great expectations, contri-
buted nothing, although such of his poems as he published
during the sale of the magazine, were liberally praised.
Thornton gave a very few prose essays, and poetical pieces
were furnished by Denis and Emily, two versifiers of for-
gotten reputation. Lloyd himself had none of the steady
industry which a periodical work requires, and his maga-
zine was often made up, partly from books, and partly
from the St. James's Chronicle, of which Colman and
Thornton were proprietors, and regular contributors. Lloyd
also translated some of Marmontel's tales for the Magazine,
and part of a French play, in order to fix upon Murphy the
charge of plagiarism. This magazine, after existing about
a year, was dropped for want of encouragement, as far as
Lloyd was concerned ; but was continued for some time
longer by Dr. Kenrick. Lloyd's imprudence and necessi-
ties were now beyond relief or forbearance, and his ere-
LLOYD. 345
tlitors confined him within the Fleet prison, where he af-
forded a melancholy instance of the unstable friendship of
wits. Dr. Kenrick informs us that " even Thornton, though
his bosom friend from their infancy, refused to be his se-
curity for the liberty of the rules ; a circumstance which,
giving rise to some ill-natured altercation, induced this
quondam friend to become an inveterate enemy, in the qua-
lity of his most inexorable creditor." It was probably
during his imprisonment, that he published a very indiffe-
rent translation of Klopstock's " Death of Adam." After
that, his " Capricious Lovers," a comic opera, was acted
for a few nights at Drury-lane theatre. This is an adapta-
tion of Favart's Ninette a la Cour to the English stage, but
Lloyd had no original powers in dramatic composition.
Churchill and Wilkes are said to have afforded him a
weekly stipend from the commencement of his imprison-
ment until his final release. How this was paid we know-
not. Wilkes had been long out of the kingdom, and
Churchill, who left Lloyd in a jail when he went to France,
bequeathed him a ring only as a remembrance*. It is
more probable that his father assisted him on this occasion,
although it might not be in his power to pay his debts. He
had in vain tried every means to reclaim him from idle-
ness and intemperance, and had long borne " the drain or
burthen" which he was to his family. The known abili-
ties of this unhappy son, " rendered this blow the more
grievous to so good a father," who is characterized by
bishop Newton as a man that " with all his troubles and
disappointments, with all the sickness and distress in his
family, still preserved his calm, placid countenance, his
easy cheerful temper, and was at all times an agreeable
friend and companion, in all events a true Christian phi-
losopher."
Deserted by his associates, Lloyd became careless of his
health, and fled for temporary relief to the exhilarating
glass, which brought on fits of despondency. His recol-
lections must indeed have been truly painful, when he re-
membered for what and for whom he had given up the
fairer prospects of his youth. He appears to have been
wholly undeserving the neglect of those with whom he
* Among other expedients for his this and other circumstances, it may
relief, Churrhill promoted, with con- be conjectured, that Lloyd's imprison-
sjderable success, a subscription for ment commenced in the latter end of
ap edition of his collected poems. Frqm 1763.
346 LLOYD.
loved to associate. In his friendships he was warm, con-
stant, and grateful, *' more sinned against than sinning ;"
and it would be difficult to find an apology for the con-
duct of those prosperous friends to whose reputation he
had contributed in no inconsiderable degree by his writings.
Among these, however, Hogarth appears to have been
unjustly ranked. An irreconcileable quarrel had long sub-
sisted between this artist and Churchill's friends; and, much
decayed in health, Hogarth languished for some time at
Chiswick, where he died nearly two months before Lloyd.
The news of Churchill's death being announced some-
what abruptly to Lloyd, while he was sitting at dinner, he
was seized with a sudden sickness, and saying " I shall
follow poor Charles," took to his bed, from which he never
rose. He died December 1$, 1764, and his remains were
deposited, without ceremonyt on the 1 9th, in the church-
yard of St. Bride's parish. Ten years afterwards his poeti-
cal works were published in two handsome volumes, by
Dr. Kenrick, who prefixed some memoirs, written in a
negligent manner, and without a single date of birth,
death, events, or publications. His poems have been added
to the works of the " English Poets," although he cer-
tainly merits no very distinguished rank. His chief ex-
cellence was the facility with which he wrote a number of
smooth and pleasing lines, tinctured with gay humour, on
any topic which presented itself. But he has no where
attempted, or afforded m much reason to think that by
any diligence or effort he could have attained, the higher
species of his art. He has neither originality of thought,
»or elegance of expression. It has been observed that
those poets who have been degraded by the licentiousness
of their lives, have rarely surpassed the excellence, of what-
ever degree, which first brought them into notice. Lloyd,
however, had not the excuse which has been advanced in
some recent instances. He was neither spoiled by patro-
nage, nor flattered into indolence by injudicious praise
and extravagant hopes. The friends of his youth were
those of his mature years ; and of the few whom he lost, he
had only the melancholy recollection that some of them
had quitted him from shame, and some from ingratitude.
The " Actor" was his most favoured piece, and which*
he never surpassed ; but it sunk before the " Rosciad."
The rest of his poems are effusions addressed to friends on
subjects which relate principally to himself, and with a
distinction which friends only would think valuable.
LLOYD. 347
Mr. Wilkes's character of Lloyd represents him as " mild
and affable in private life, of gentle manners, and very
engaging in conversation. He was an excellent scholar,
and an easy natural poet. His peculiar excellence was the
dressing up an old thought in a new, neat, and trim man-
tier. He was contented to scamper round the foot of
Parnassus on his little Welsh poney, which seems never to
have tired. He left the fury of the winged steed and the
daring heights of the sacred mountain to the sublime ge-
nius of his friend Churchill." Although Lloyd followed
Churchill in some of his prejudices, and learned to rail at
colleges, and at men of prudence, we find him generally
good-tempered and playful. His satire is seldom bitter,
and probably was not much felt. Having consented to
yield the palm to Churchill, the world took him at his
word, and his enemies, if he had any, must have been,
those v/ho were very easily provoked. !
LLOYD (WILLIAM), a very learned English bishop, was
originally of Welsh extraction, being grandson of David
Lloyd of Henblas, in the isle of Anglesey. He was born
at Tilehurst, in Berkshire, in 1627, of which place his
father, Mr. Richard Lloyd, was then vicar, and also rector
of Sunning, in the same county. Having been carefully
instructed by his father in the rudiments of grammar and
classical learning, he understood Greek and Latin, and
something of Hebrew, at eleven years of age ; and was
entered, in 1638, a student of Oriel college, in Oxford,
whence, the following year, he was elected to a scholarship
of Jesus college. In 1642 he proceeded B. A. and left the
university, then garrisoned for the use of the king; but,
after the surrender of it to the parliament, he returned,
was chosen fellow of his college, and commenced M. A. in
1646. In 1649 he was ordained deacon by Dr. Skinner,
bishop of Oxford, and afterwards became tutor to the chil-
dren of sir William Backhouse, of Swallowfield, in Berk-
shire. In 1654, upon the ejection of Dr. Pordage by the
Presbyterian committee, he was presented to the rectory
of Bradfield, in the same county, by Elias Ashmole, esq.
patron of that living in right of his wife ; but this right
being disputed by Mr. Fowler and Mr. Ford, two ministers
at Reading, who endeavoured to bring in Dr. Temple,
pretending the advowson was in sir Humphrey Forster, he
1 Johnson and Chalmers'* English Poets, 1810. — Bishop Newton's Life, p,
16, 17, &e.
348 LLOYD.
chose to resign his presentation to Mr. Ashmole, rather
than involve himself in a contest. In 1656 he was ordained
priest hy Dr. Brownrig, bishop of Exeter, and the same
year went to Wadham college, in Oxford, as governor to
John Backhouse, esq. a gentleman-commoner, with whom
he continued till 1659. In Sept. 1660, he was incor*
porated M. A. at Cambridge ; and, about the same time,
made a prebendary of Rippon, in Yorkshire. In 1666 he
was appointed king's chaplain ; and, in 1667, was collated
to a prebend of Salisbury, having proceeded D. D. at Ox-
ford in the act preceding. In 1668 he was presented by
the crown to the vicarage of St. Mary's in Reading ; and,
the same year, was installed archdeacon of Merioneth, in
the church of Bangor, of which he was made dean in 1672.
This year he obtained also a prebend in the church of St.
Paul, London. In 1674 he became residentiary<of Salis-
bury ; and, in 1676, he succeeded Dr. Lamplugh, promoted
to the see of Exeter, in the vicarage of St. Martin's in the
Fields, Westminster; upon which occasion he resigned
his prebend of St. Paul's.
Our author had shown his zeal in several tracts against
popery; and in the same spirit he published in 1677, " Con-
siderations touching the true way to suppress Popery in
this kingdom," &c. with an historical account of the re-
formation here in England; but having proposed to tole-
rate such papists as denied the pope's infallibility, and his
power to depose kings, excluding the rest, a method which
had been put in practice both by queen Elizabeth and king
James with good success, he was suspected of complying
with the court measures. This suspicion increasing upon
his being promoted to the bishopric of St. Asaph, in 1680,
he thought it necessary to vindicate himself by shewing,
that at the very time he made the above proposal, the pa-
pists themselves were in great apprehension of the thing,
as being the most likely to blast their hopes, and to pre-
serve the nation from that ruin which they were then
bringing upon it*.
* Coleman at that time wrote to the those that require it, on conditions
pope's internuncio thus: "There is prejudicial to the authority of the pope,
but one thing to be feared (whereof! and so to persecute the rest of them with
have a great apprehension) that ran more appearance of justice, and ruin
hinder the success of our designs; which the one half of them more easily than
is, a division among the catholics them- the whole body at once." And car-
selves; by propositions to the parlia- dinal Howard delivered it as their
ment to accord their conjunction to judgment at Rome. «' Division of Ca-
LLOYD. 349
All suspicion, however, of his principles vanished in
James IPs reign, when the nation saw him one of the six
prefates, who, with archbishop Sancroft, were committed
to the Tower in June 1688, for resisting his majesty's
order to distribute and publish in all their churches the
royal declaration for liberty of conscience ; and about the
end of the same year, having concurred heartily in there-
volution, he was made lord almoner to king William III. In
1692 he was translated to the see of Litchfield and Coven-
try, and thence to Worcester in 1699. He continued in
the office of lord almoner till 1702, when, together with
his son, having too warmly interested himself in the elec-
tion for the county of Worcester, a complaint was made to
the House of Commons, and a resolution passed of address-
ing the queen " to remove William lord bishop of Wor-
cester from being lord almoner to her majesty ; and that
Mr. Attorney General do prosecute Mr. Lloyd, the lord
bishop of Worcester's son, for his said offence, after his
privilege as a member of the lower house of convocation
is out." In consequence of this vote, an address Was pre-
sented to the queen, with which her majesty complied,
and dismissed the bishop from his office.
. Bishop Lloyd lived to the age of ninety-one ; but in the
latter part of his life seems to have fallen into some im-
tyecility of mind ; as appears from the account given by
Swift of the good old prelate's going to queen Anne, " to
prove to her majesty, out of Daniel, and the Revelations,
that four years hence there would be a war of religion, that
the king of France would be a protestant, and that the pope-
dom should be destroyed." He died at Hartlebury- castle,
August 30, 1717, and was buried in the church of Flad-
bury, near Kvesham, in Worcestershire, of which his son
was rector ; where a monument is erected to his memory
with a long inscription, setting him forth " as an excellent
pattern of virtue and learning, of quick invention, firm
memory, exquisite judgment, great candour, piety, and
gravity ; a faithful historian, accurate chronologer, and
skilled in the holy scriptures to a miracle ; very cha-
ritable, and diligent in a careful discharge of his episcopal
tholics," says he, " will be the easiest sion, in a poem called " Faction dis-
way for protestants to destroy them." played," supposed to be written by
— Collection of letters set out by order the late W. Shippen, esq. many years
of the House of Commons. There is a a remarkable member of the House of
virulent satire upon him on this ucea- Commons.
350 LLOYD.
office." Bishop Burnet speaks of our author with the
greatest warmth of friendship, and in the highest style of
panegyric. In reality he was indebted to Dr. Lloyd for a
great part of his own fame, having undertaken his " His*
tory of the Reformation" by his persuasion, and being
furnished by him with a large share of the materials; he
likewise revised every sheet of the whole work during the
printing. The world is likewise indebted to Lloyd for that
stupendous work, Pool's " Synopsis," which was under-
taken by his advice, as appears by a letter of that prelate
addressed to Mr. Henry Dodwell, and communicated to
Mr. Granger by his son, the late Dr. Dodwell, archdeacon
of Berks. Bishop VVilkins, in his preface to " An Essay to-
wards a real character and a philosophical language," ac-
knowledges himself obliged to " the continual assistance of
his most learned and worthy friend Dr. William Lloyd," and
expresses the highest opinion of his " great industry, and
accurate judgment in philological and philosophical mat-
ters." But no written authority seems to represent bishop
Lloyd's temper and character in a more amiable light than
the interesting account of his conduct towards the dis-
senters of his diocese, as given in the life of the Rev.
Philip Henry, to which, from its length, we must refer.
It occurs in p. 1 1 8 of the edition 1712.
Besides the " Considerations," &c. mentioned above,
he wrote, 1. "The late Apology in behalf of Papists, re-
printed and answered, in behalf of the Royalists," 1667,
4to. 2. " A seasonable Discourse, shewing the necessity
of maintaining the Established Religion in opposition to
Popery," 1672, 4to, which passed through five editions in
the following year. 3. "A reasonable Defence of the Sea-
sonable Discourse," &c. 1673, 4to, in answer to the earl
of Castlemain's observations on the preceding article. 4.
" The difference between the Church and the Court of
Rome considered," 1673, 4to. All the preceding were
published without the author's name, nor were they at first
acknowledged by, though generally attributed to him.
They were reprinted in 1689, 4to. 5. "An Alarm for
Sinners," 1679, 4to. This was published by our author
when dean of Bangor, from an original copy containing
the confession, prayers, letters, and last words of Robert
Foulks, vicar of Stanton-Lucy, in Shropshire, who was
executed at Tyburn, in 1678, for the murder of a natural
child; and whom Dr. Lloyd and Dr. Buraet attended
LLOYD. 351
during his imprisonment. 6. Various occasional Sermons,
printed separately. 7. " An historical account of Church
Government,'* 1684, 8vo. 8. " A Letter to Dr. William
Sherlock, in vindication of that part of Josephus's History,
which gives an account of Jaddua the high priest's sub-
mitting to Alexander the Great," 1691, 4to. 9. " A Dis-
course of God's ways of disposing Kingdoms," 1691, 4to.
10. "The Pretences of the French Invasion examined,"
&c. 1692, 4to. 11. "A Dissertation upon Daniel's 70
Weeks," the substance of which is inserted in the chrono-
logy of sir Isaac Newton. 12. An exposition of the same
subject, left printed imperfect, and not published. 13.
*' A Letter upon the same subject, printed in the ' Life of
Dr. Humphrey Prideaux,' p. 288, edit. 1758," 8vo. 14. " A
System of Chronology," left imperfect, but out of it his
chaplain, Benjamin Marshall, composed his " Chronologi-
cal Tables," printed at Oxford, 1712, 1713. 15. " A Har-
mony of the Gospels," partly printed in 4to, but left im-
perfect. 16. " A Chronological account of the Life of
Pythagoras," &c. 1699. 17. He is supposed to have had
a hand in a book published by his son at Oxford, 1700, in
folio, entitled " Series Chronologica Olympiadum," &c.
He wrote also some " Explications of some of the Prophe-
cies in the Revelations," and added the chronological dates
at the head of the several columns, with an index to the
Bible, and many of the references and parallel places, first
printed iu the fine edition of the Bible published in folio,
under the direction of archbishop Tenison, in J 701. He
left a Bible interlined with notes in shorthand, which was
in the possession of Mr. Marshall, his chaplain, who mar-
ried a relation, and would have published these notes had
he met with encouragement, as Whiston informs us, who
always, even in bis index, calls Dr. Lloyd " the great
bishop," and in speaking of Wasse says, ** one more
learned than any bishop in England since bishop Lloyd." *
LOBB (THEOPHILUS), a physician of considerable repu-
tation, was the son of Stephen Lobb, a dissenting minister,
and grandson of Richard Lobb, esq. M. P. for St. Michael
in Cornwall. He jvas born Aug. 17, 1678, and educated
for the ministry among the dissenters, which he exchanged
for the study of medicine, and having obtained a diploma
' Biog. Brit. — Atb. Ox. vol. II. — Burnet's Own Times— Whiston'i Life,—
Caates'a Hist, of Reading .—Antbouj Wo*4's Life, edit, 1772, p, 13$,
352 LOB B.
from Scotland, practised in London, and left several works
on medical topics. He died May 19, 1763, in the eighty-
fifth year of his age. The following are the titles of his
publications: "Treatise of the Small-pox," London, 1731,
1748, 8vo, which was translated into French in J749.
" Rational method of curing Fevers, deduced from the
structure of the human body," ibid. 1734,, 8vo, in this
work he adopted the doctrines of Boerhaave. "Medical
Practice in curing Fevers," ibid. 1735, 8vo; " A practical
treatise on painful Distempers, with some effectual me-
thods of curing them," ibid. 1739; " A Treatise on Sol-
vents of the Stone, and on curing the Stone and the Gout
by Aliments," ibid. 1739, which passed through several
editions, and was translated into Latin and French. The
author considered the matter of urinary calculi and of gout
as of an alkaline nature, and vegetable acids as the remedy.
" Letters concerning the Plague and other contagious Dis-
tempers," ibid. 1745; "A Compendium of the Practice
of Physic," ibid. 1747. Besides these works, he was the
author of several papers printed in the Gentleman's Ma-
gazine; of a sermon preached by him at the ordination of
the Rev. John Greene ; and of some pious tracts. * ; .«/-.
LOfiElRA (VASQUES), a native of Porto, in Portugal,
who lived towards the end of the thirteenth century, is the
supposed author of the celebrated romance of Amadis de
Gaul. Very little is known of his life, and his romance is
fallen into deserved oblivion. *
LOBEL, or L'OBEL (MATTHIAS DE), a botanist, was
born in 1538, at Lisle, in Flanders, where his father prac-
tised in the law. He bad an early taste for plants, and
had good opportunities of advancing his knowledge at
Montpelier, where he studied physic under the learned
Rondeletius, as well as by making some botanical excur-
sions over the south of France. At Narbonne he became
acquainted with Pena, afterwards his fellow^labourer in
the " Adversaria," the first edition of which was published,
at London, in 1510, small folio, and dedicated to queen
Elizabeth. The few cuts dispersed through this volume
are mostly original, but inferior in style and accuracy, as
well as in size, to those of Clusius, with whom he was con-
temporary. Before the publication of the " Adversaria,"
our author had extended his travels to .Switzerland, the
» Life, by John Greene, 1767, 12mo. 9 Antonio, Bilil. Hist.— Marchand.
LOBE L. 353
Tyrol, some parts of Germany, and Italy; had settled as a
physician -at Antwerp, afterwards at Delft ; and had been
appointed physician to the illustrious William prince of
Orange, and to the States of Holland. Dr. Pulteney has
not been able to ascertain the time of Lobel's removal to
England, but justly concludes it to have been before 1570,
or most probably some years earlier. The aim of the au-
thors of the " Adversaria" was to investigate the botany
and materia medica of the ancients, and especially of Dios-
corides. It was reprinted at Antwerp in 1576, the dedi-
cation being, of course, there suppressed, and new title-
pages were printed to help the sale of the original in 1571
and 1572. Some copies of the Antwerp impression appear
to have been made up into a new edition at London in
1605, with an ample Pharmacopeia, and an appendix.
This volume is dedicated to Edward lord Zouch, whom
Lobel had attended on his embassy to Denmark in 1592,
and he calls himself, in the title, botanist to king James I.
Dr. Pulteney observes, after Haller, that this work exhibits
some traces of a natural distribution of plants, but without
any remarks, and with little precision. His work is much
more valuable for the accounts of new plants discovered
by himself in England or elsewhere, although Ray accuses
him of having made several mistakes, from having trusted
too much to his memory.
The " Stirpium Historia" of this author, a volume in
small folio similar to his " Adversaria," which was pub-
lished at Antwerp in 1576, is much less copious in matter,
the pages being mostly occupied with wooden cuts, which
are those of Clusius, borrowed for the present occasion by
the printer, Plantin. An impression of these cuts, of an
oblong shape, was struck off, with names' only, in 1581,
and another in 1591. Linnaeus possessed both. This pub-
lication is in very general use, and well known by the title
of Lobel's " Icones." It is, when complete, accompanied
by an index in seven languages. Lobel seems to have had
a very large work in contemplation, which he intended to
call " Stirpium Illustratio.nes." A fragment of it was pub-
lished in quarto, without plates, by Dr. W. How, in 1655,
making 170 pages, besides a caustic preface of the author,
aimed chiefly at Gerarde, as the notes by Dr. How are
against Parkinson ; but Dr. Pulteney blames Lobel for this
gross abuse of Gerarde after his death, though he had for-
merly on every occasion extolled him. In other respects
VOL. XX. A A
LOBE k
the botanical contents of this fragment are very honourable
to Lobel. He laboured to an advanced age in the pursuit
of hi* favourite study, and procured from his correspond-
ents (abroad many new plants for the gardens of his
friends. He had the superintendance of a garden at Hack-
ney, cultivated at the expence of lord Zouch ; and appears
to have resided, in the decline of life, at Highgate, where
he had a daughter, married to a Mr. James Coel. His
wife is recorded as having assisted him in his botanical re-
searches. He died in 1616, aged seventy-eight.1
LQBINEAU (Guv ALEXIS), a Benedictine of the con-
gregation de St. Maur, was born 1663, at Rennes. He
entered his order in 1683, devoted his whole life to the
study of histpry, and died a,t an abbey near St. Malo, June
3, 1727, aged sixty-one. His principal work is a " History
of Bretany," in 2 vols* fol. but the second only, which con-
tains the titles, is valued. The abb6 Vertot, andtheabb^
Claudius Moulinet, sieur des Thuilleries, have violently
attacked that part of this history, in which his partiality to
his own country has led him to disregard the rights of Nor-
mandy. Lobineau also translated a " History of the two
Conquests of Spain by the Moors," &c. from the Spanish
of Miguel de Luna, a work of no authority. He was
more usefully employed in completing and publishing the
'* History of the City of Paris," 5 vols. fol. which Felibien
had begun and made a considerable progress in before his
death. The last three volumes contain many curious and
interesting pieces; and an excellent dissertation is prefixed
to the first volume, on the origin of the Hotel de Ville,
and the corps municipal, by M. le Hoi, senior master £j»d
warden of the goldsmiths, and controller of the rents of the
Hotel de Ville. A satirical work, entitled " Les Avantures
de Pomponius, chevalier Romain," 12mo, has been attri-
buted to Dom. Lobiweau, but without sufficient authority. 3
LOBKOWITZ. See CARAMUEL.
LOBO (JEROME), a Jesuit missionary, born at Lisbon in
15y3, entered among the Jesuits in his sixteenth year, and
in 1622 he went out as one of their missionaries to the Best
Indies. He was at Goa when the reigning emperor of Abys-
sinia became a convert to the church of Rome, and many of
his subjects followed his example. The missionaries already
1 Pulteney's -Sketches.— Rees'i Cyclopatclia.
* Moreri. — Diet. Hist. — Saxii Onomast.
L O B O. 353
in the country being desirous of coadjutors to extend their
religion, Lobo was deputed to go to Abyssinia, where he
resided some years, subject to much danger and many
hardships and sufferings ; arid on his return he was ship,
wrecked, and narrowly escaped destruction. He after-
wards promoted the interest of the Abyssinian mission at
Madrid and Rome ; and, notwithstanding his former dan-
gers and hardships, took a second voyage to the Indies*
He returned to Lisbon in 1658, and was made rector of
the college of Coimbra, where he died in 1678, at the age
of eighty-four. He was author of "An Historical Account
of Abyssinia," containing much curious and valuable in*
formation, which was translated from the Portuguese lan-
guage into the French by the abb6 le Grand, with addi-
tions. An abridgment of this, in 1735, constituted the
first publication of Dr. Samuel Johnson. *
LOCK (MATTHEW), an eminent English musical com*
poser in the time of Charles II. was a native of Exeter,
and became a chorister in the cathedral of that city. He
had afterwards instructions in music from Edward Gibbons;
and had so much distinguished himself as a professor of
abilities, that we are told he was appointed to compose
the music for the public entry of the king at the resto-
ration.
He seems first to have appeared as an author in 1657,
during the interregnum, by the publication of his " little
consort of three parts for viols or violins, consisting of pa-
vans, ayres, corants, sarabands, in two several varieties, the
first twenty of which are for two trebles and a base." Some
of his compositions appear in the second part of John Play-
ford's continuation of Hilton's " Catch that catch can," in
1667; and among them the most pleasing of Lock's com-
positions, " Never trouble thyself about times or their
turnings," a glee for three voices. He was the first Who
attempted dramatic music for the English stage, if we ex-
cept the masques that were performed at court, and at the
houses of the nobility, in the time of Charles I. and during
the reign of Charles II. When musical dramas were first
attempted, which Dryden calls heroic plays and dramatic
operas, Lock was employed to set most of them, particu-
larly the semi-operas, as they were called, the Tempest,
Macbeth,] and Psyche, translated from the French of
1 Morcri. — Dr. Johnson^s Life by Sir John Hawkins, and BoswoJI.
A A 2
356 L O C K.
Moliere, by Shadwell. The Tempest and Psyche were print-
ed in 1675, and dedicated to James duke of Monmouth.
There is a preface of some length by Lock, which, like
his music, is rough and nervous, exactly corresponding
with the idea which is generated of his private character,
by the perusal of his controversy with Salmon, and the
sight of his picture in the musicrschool at Oxford. It is
written with that natural petulance which probably gave
birth to most of the quarrels in which he was involved. It
includes, however, a short history of these early attempts
at dramatic music on our stage, in which, as in the roost
successful representations of this kind in later times, the
chief part of the dialogue was spoken, and recitative, or
musical declamation, which seems to be the true criterion
and characteristic of Italian operas, but seldom used, unless
merely to introduce some particular airs and choruses. Upon
examining this music, it appears to have been very much
composed on Lulli's model. The melody is neither reci-
tative nor air, but partaking of both, with a change of
measure as frequent as in any old French opera which we
ever saw.
Lock had genius and abilities in harmony sufficient to
have surpassed his model, or to have cast .his movements
in a mould of his own making ; but such was the passion
af Charles II. and consequently of his court, at this time,
for every thing French, that in all probability Lock was
instructed to imitate Cambert and Lulli. His music for
the witches in Macbeth, which, when produced in 1674,
was as smooth and airy as any of the time, has now ob-
tained by age, that wild and savage cast which is admirably
suited to the characters that are supposed to perform it.
In the third introductory music to the Tempest, which
is called a curtain tune, probably from the curtain being
first drawn up during the performance of this species of
overture, he has, for the first time that is come to on*
knowledge, introduced the use of crescendo (louder by de-
grees), with diminuendo and lentandoy under the words soft
and slmo by degrees. No other instruments are mentioned
in the score of his opera of Psyche, than violins for the
ritornels ; and yet, so slow was the progress of that in-
strument during the last century, that in a general cata-
logue of music in 1701, scarce any compositions appear to
have been printed for its use.
LOCK; 357
This musician was of so irascible a disposition, that he
seems never to have been without a quarrel or two on his
hands. For his furious attack on Salmon, for proposing to
reduce all the clefs in music to one, he had a quarrel with
the gentlemen of the chapel royal, early in Charles II.'s
reign. Being composer in ordinary to the king, he pro-
duced for the chapel royal a morning-service, in which he
set the prayer after each of the ten commandments to dif-
ferent music from that to which the singers had been long
accustomed, which was deemed an unpardonable innova-
tion, and on the first day of April, 1666, at the perfor-
mance of it before the king, there was a disturbance and
an obstruction for some time to the performance. To con-
vince the public that it was not from the meanness or in-
accuracy of the composition that this impediment to its
performance happened, Lock thought it necessary to print
the whole service ; and it came abroad in score on a single
sheet, with a long and laboured vindication, by way of
preface, under the following title, " Modern church mu-
sick pre-accused, censured, and obstructed in its perform-
ance before his majesty." Lock was long suspected of
being a Roman catholic, and it is probable that this new
service, by leaning a little more towards the mass than
the service of the1 protestant cathedral, may have given of-
fence to some zealous members of the church of England.
The public were indebted to Lock for the first rules
that were ever published in England, for a basso continuo,
or thorough base; these rules he gave the world, in a book
entitled " Melothesia," London, 1673, oblong 4to. It is
dedicated to Roger L'Estrange, esq. afterwards sir Roger
L'Estrange, himself a good musician, and an encourager of
its professors. It contains, besides the thorough-bass
rules, some lessons for the harpsichord and organ, by
Lock himself, and others. He was author likewise of se-
veral songs printed in " The Treasury of Music," " The
Theatre of Music," and other collections of songs. In
the 4atter of these is a dialogue, " When death shall part
us from these kids," which, with Dr. Blow's " Go, per-
jured man," was ranked among the best vocal compo-
sitions of the time.
It is presumed that when he was appointed composer in
ordinary to the king, he was professionally a member of
the church of England ; but it is certain that he went
over to the Romish communion afterwards, and became
858 LOCKE.
organist to queen Catherine of Portugal, the consort of
Charles II. and died a papist in 1677.1
LOCKE (JOHN), one of the greatest philosophers this
country has produced, was the son of John Locke, of
Pensford, a market-town in Somersetshire, five miles from
Bristol, by Anne his wife, daughter of Edmund Keen, or
Ken, of Wrington, tanner. His father, who was first a
clerk only to a neighbouring justice of the peace, Francis
Baber, of Chew Magna, was advanced by col. Alexander
Pophara, whose seat was near Pensford, to be a captain
in the parliament's service. After the restoration, he
practised as an attorney, and was clerk of the sewers in
Somersetshire *. Although our philosopher's age is not
to be found in the registers of Wrington, which is the
parish church of Pensford, it has been ascertained that he
\vasborn there Aug. 29, 1632. By the interest of col,
Popham, he was admitted a scholar at Westminster, whence
in 1652 he was elected to Christ church, Oxford. Here
he took the degree of B. A. in 1655, and that of M. A. in
1658; but although he made a considerable progress in
the usual course of studies at that time, he often said that
what he learned was of little use to enlighten and enlarge
his mind. The first books which gave him a relish for the
study of philosophy, were the writings of Des Cartes,
whom he always found perspicuous, although he did not
always approve of his sentiments.
After taking his degrees in arts, he applied for some
time to the study of physic, not so much, we are told,
with a view to public practice, as for the benefit of his
own constitution, which was but weak. But he must have
made his skill more generally known than this amounts to,
for we find that among the learned in his faculty who had
a good opinion of his medical knowledge, the celebrated
Dr. Sydenham, in his work on acute diseases, gives him
the following high encomium : " You know," says he,
" how much my method has been approved of by a person
who has examined it to the bottom, End who is our com-
mon friend ; I mean Mr. John Locke, who, if we consider
* /But an intelligent writer, who ap- minority, and the other our celebrated
pears to have had access to the best metaphysician. See Gent. Mag. vol.
authorities, asserts that Mr. Locke's LX1I. See also a letter on the same
father was killed at Bristol in 1645, subject, in vol. LX1X. p. Ul.
leaving two sons, one who died in his
1 Buruey and Hawkins's Hist, of Music, aud Barney ia the Cyclopaedia.
LOCKE. 359
his genius, and penetrating and exact judgment, or the
purity of his morals, has scarce^ any superior, and few
equals now living." Hence he was often saluted by his
acquaintance with the title, though he never took the
degree, of doctor, which we think would have been the
case had he intended medicine as a profession, or had not
been diverted from it by other studies and avocations f.
In 1664, sir William Swan being appointed envoy from
the English court to the elector of Brandenburgh, and
some other German princes, Mr. Locke attended him as
his secretary, but returned to England within the year,
and applied himself again with great vigour to his studies,
and particularly to that of natural philosophy. While at
Oxford, in 1666, he became acquainted with lord Ashley,
afterwards earl of Shaftesbury, and that in the character
of a medical practitioner. Lord Ashley by a fall had hurt
his breast in such a manner, that there was an abscess
formed in it, arid being advised to drink the mineral waters
at Astrop, wrote to Dr. Thomas, a physician at Oxford, to
procure a quantity of those waters, which might be ready
on his arrival. Dr. Thomas, being obliged to be absent
from Oxford at that time, desired his friend Mr. Locke to
execute this commissibn. By some accident or neglect,
the waters were not ready the day after lord Ashley's
arrival, and Mr. Locke thought it his duty to wait on
his lordship to make an apology, which he received with
his usual civility, and was so pleased with Locke's con-
versation as to detain him to supper, and engaged him to
dine with him next day, that he might have the more of
his company. And when his lordship left Oxford to go to
Surinirig-hill, where he drank the waters, he made Mr.
Locke promise to come thither, as he did in the sum-
mer of 1667. Lord Ashley afterwards returned, and
obliged him to promise that he would come and lodge at
hi£ house. Mr. Locke accordingly went thither, and
though not a regular practitioner, his lordship confided
entirely in his advice, with regard to the operation, which
was to be performed by opening the abscess in his breast,
and which saved his life, though it never closed.
After this cure, his lordship, by frequent conversations,
discovered qualities in Locke, which made him regard his
* In 1674 he took the degree of ba- in order to preserye Ms station hi
chelor of medicine, probably, as Uinttsd Christ-church,
at in bishop Fell's letter hereafter given,
360 LOCKE.
medical skill as the least of his merits ; and foreseeing the
bent of his talents, advised him to apply himself to the
study of political and religious topics, on which his lord-
ship seems often to have consulted him. By his acquaint-
ance with this nobleman, he was introduced to some per-
sons of eminence, such as Villiers duke of Buckingham,
lord Halifax, and other noblemen of wit and parts, who
were all charmed with his conversation, and more so, it
appears, than he was sometimes with theirs. One day,
three or four of these lords having met at lord Ashley's
when Mr. Locke was there, after some compliments, cards
were brought in, before scarce any conversation had passed
between them. Mr. Locke looked upon them for some
time while they were at play, and taking his pocket book
began to write with great attention. One of the lords
asked him what he was writing : " My lord," said he, " I
am endeavouring to profit as far as I am able, in your com-
pany ; for having waited with impatience for the honour of
being in an assembly of the greatest geniuses of this age,
and at last having obtained the good fortune, I thought I
could not do better than write down your conversation ;
and indeed I have set down the substance of what has
been said for this hour or two." This rebuke appears to
have been taken in good part ; the company quitted their
play, and passed the rest of their time in a. manner more
suitable to the rational character.
In 1668, he attended the earl and countess of Northum-
berland into France ; but the earl's death did not allow
him to remain long in that country. On his return, Mr.
Locke lived, as before, at lord Ashley's, who was then
chancellor of the exchequer, but made frequent visits to
Oxford, in the prosecution of his studies, as well as for
change of air, which appeared to be necessary to his health.
While he was at lord Ashley's, he had the care of the edu-
cation of that nobleman's eldest son, who was then about
sixteen years of age. This province he executed with
great care, and to the full satisfaction of his noble patron.
The young lord being of a weakly constitution, his father
wished to see him married, lest the family should be ex-
tinct by his death ; and as he thought him too young to
make a proper choice for himself, he not only consulted
Mr. Locke on the subject, but even requested he would
make a suitable choice for the youth. This was an affair
of some delicacy, and no small risk; for, although lord.
LOCKE. 361
Ashley did not regard fortune, yet he conditioned for a
lady of a good family, an agreeable temper, and a fine
person ; of good education, and of good understanding,
and whose conduct would be different from that of the ge-
nerality of court-ladies. In all these respects Mr.Xocke
had the happiness to succeed, and the marriage was fruit-
ful. The eldest son, afterwards the author of the " Cha-
racteristics," was committed to the care of Mr. Locke in
his education*, and his pupil, when lord Shaftesbury,
always spoke of Mr. Locke with the highest esteem, and
manifested on all occasions a grateful sense of his obligar
tions to him, but there are some passages in his works, in
which he speaks of Mr. Locke's philosophy with great se-
verity. It will not, however, be thought a very serious
objection to Mr. Locke, that his philosophy did not give
entire satisfaction to lord Shaftesbury.
In 1670, and the year following, our author began to
form the plan of his celebrated " Essay on Human Under-
standing," at the earnest request of Mr. Tyrrell, Dr. Tho-
mas, and some other friends, who met frequently in his
chamber to converse together on philosophical subjects ;
but his employments and avocations prevented him from
finishing it then. In 1668 he had been elected a fellow
of the royal society, and appears to have been now looked
up to as a man of superior talents, and an authority in
those pursuits to which he more particularly addicted him-
self. In 1672, his patron Lord Ashley, being created earl
of Shaftesburj', and lord high chancellor of England, ap-
pointed Mr. Locke secretary of the presentations to bene-
fices; which place he held until 1673, when his lordship
resigned the great seal. As he had been the confidant of
this statesman in his most secret affairs, he now assisted
his lordship in publishing some treatises, which were de-
signed to excite the people to watch the Roman catholics,
and to oppose the arbitrary measures of the court.
In 1675, Mr. Locke travelled into France on account of
his health, and at Montpelier became first acquainted with
Mr. Herbert, afterwards earl of Pembroke, to whom he
dedicated his " Essay on Human Understanding." From
Montpelier he went to Paris, where he was introduced to
various men of letters. In 1679 he was recalled to Lon~
don, on the earl of Shaftesbury's having regained his
* So in the Life of Mr. Locke ; but see Lord Shaftesbury's Life, vol. X, p. 220.
362 LOCKE.
favour at court and been made president of the council, but
this was of short duration. The earl lost his place in a few
months, for refusing to comply with the designs of the
Court, which aimed at the establishment of popery and
arbitrary power; attd having incurred the implacable hatred
of the duke of York, on account of his supporting the ex-
clusion-bill, he was, in 1681, committed to the lower,
and although acquitted upon trial, thought it most safe to
retire to Holland, where he died in 1683. Mr. Locke, also
thinking himself not quite secure in England, followed his
lordship to Holland, and was introduced to many of the
learned men of Amsterdam, particularly 1 anborrh, and
Le Clerc, whose intimacy and friendship he preserved
throughout life.
During his residence in Holland, he was accused at
court of having written certain tracts against the govern-
ment of his country, which were afterwards discovered to
be the production of another person ; and upon that sus-
picion he was deprived of his studentship of Christ-church.
This part of Mr. Locke's history requires some detail.
The writer of his life in the Biographia Britannica (Nicoll)
says that " being observed to join in company with several
English malcontents at the Hague, this conduct was com-
municated by our resident there to the earl of Sunderland,
then secretary of state ; who acquainting the king there-
with, his majesty ordered the proper methods to be taken
for expelling him from the college, and application to be
made for that purpose to bishop Fell, the dean ; in obe-
dience to this command, the necessary information was given
by bis lordship, who at the same time wrote to our author, to
appear and answer for himself on the first of January ensuing,
:>ui immediately receiving an express command to turn him
out, was obliged to comply therewith, and, accordingly,
Air. Locke was removed from his student's place on the
] 5th of Nov. 1684." This account, however, is not cor-
rect. All that lord Sunderland did, was to impart his ma-
jesty's displeasure to the dean, and to request his opinion
as to the proper method of removing Mr. Locke. The
dean's answer, dated Nov. 8, contains the following par-
ticulars of Mr. Locke, and of his own advice and proceed-
ings against him. " 1 have," says the dean, " for divers
years had an eye upon him ; but so close has his guard
been on himself, that after several stric^ inquiries, I may
confidently affirm there is not any r»ar. in .the college,
LOCKE. 363
however familiar with him, who had heard him speak a
word either against or so much as concerning the govern-
ment ; and although very frequently, both in public and
private, discourses have been purposely introduced to the
disparagement of his master, the earl of Shaftesbury, his
party and designs, he never could be provoked to take
any notice, or discover in word or look the least concern.
So that I believe there is not a man in the world so much
master of taciturnity and passion. He has here a physi-
cian's place (he had taken the degree of B. M. in 1674)
which frees him from the exercise of the college, and the
obligations which others have to residence in it; and he is
now abroad for want of health."
Thus far we might suppose the dean had advanced
enough in behalf of the innocence of Mr. Locke. What
follows, however, will be read with regret, that so good a
man as bishop Fell should have given such advice. — " Not-
withstanding this, I have summoned him to return home,
which is done with this prospect, that if he comes not
back, he will be liable to expulsion for contumacy ; and
if he does, he will be answerable to the law for that which
he shall be found to have done amiss. It being probable
that, though he may have been thus cautious here, where
he knew himself suspected, he has laid himself more open
at London, where a general liberty of speaking was used,
and where the execrable designs against his majesty and
government were managed and pursued. If he don't r^-
turn by the first of January, which is the time limited to
him, I shall be enabled of course to proceed against him
to expulsion. But if this method seems not effectual or
speedy enough, and his majesty, our founder and visitor,
shall please to command his immediate remove, upon the
receipt thereof, directed to the dean and chapter, it shall
accordingly be executed." In consequence of this, a war-
rant came down to the dean and chapter, dated Nov. 12,
in these words : " Whereas we have received information
of the factious and disloyal behaviour of Locke, one of the
students of that our college; we have thought fit hereby to
signify our will and pleasure to you, that you forthwith
remove him from his student's place, and deprive him of
all rights and advantages thereunto belonging, for which
this shall be your warrant," &c. And thus, on the 16th
following, one of the greatest men of his time was, ex-
pelled the college at the command of Charles II. without,
364 LOCKE.
as far as ia known, any form of trial or inquiry. After the
death of Charles II. William Penn, the celebrated quaker,
who had known Mr. Locke at the university, used his in-
terest with king James to procure a pardon for him) an J
would have obtained it, if Mr. Locke had not said, that he
had no occasion for a pardon, since he had not been guilty
of any crime.
In 1685, when the duke of Monmouth was making pre-
parations in Holland for his unfortunate enterprize, the
English envoy at the Hague had orders to demand Mr.
Locke and eighty-three other persons to be delivered up
by the States- General. M. Le Clerc observes, that Mr.
Locke had no correspondence with the duke of Monmouth,
having no great opinion of his undertaking. Besides, iiis
natural temper was timorous, not resolute, and he was far
from being fond of commotions. It was proper, however,
now to conceal himself, which his friends at Amsterdam
enabled him to do, at the house of a Mr. Veen. In the
mean time Limborch took care that his letters should be
delivered to him, and was entrusted with his will, to be
sent to certain relations whom he named, in case of his
death. So highly was be respected, that one of the ma-
gistrates declared that although they could not protect him,
if the king of England should demand him, yet he should
not be betrayed, and his landlord should have timely no-
tice. In 1686 he began to appear again in public, when
it was sufficiently known that he had no share in the duke
of Monmouth's invasion.
During this concealment Mr. Locke wrote his " Letter
on Toleration," in Latin, which was printed at Gouda,
J689, under the title " Epistola de Tolerantia, ad claris-
simum virum T. A. R. P. T. o. L. A. (i. e. Theologiae apud re-
monstrautes professorem, tyrannidis osorem, Limburgium
Amstelodamensem) scripta a. P. A. p. o. I. L. A. (i. e. Pacis
amico, persecutions osore, Joanne Lockio Anglo). This
letter was translated into English by Mr. Popple (who
was nephew to Andrew Marvell, and author of the "Ra-
tional Catechism,") and printed twice in London, 1689,
4to, and 16l>0, 12mo. It involved Mr. Locke in a contro-
versy with the rev. Jonas Proast, M. A. of Queen's-college,
Oxford ; and some pamphlets passed between them, to the
last of which, published by Mr. Proast, a short time before
Mr. Locke's death, the latter left a reply unfinished, which
was published in his posthumous works. While at Am-
LOCKE. 3C5
sterdam, Mr. Locke formed a weekly assembly, consisting
of Limborch, Le Clerc, and others, for conversation upon
important subjects, and had drawn up in Latin rules to be
observed by them ; but those conferences were much in-
terrupted by the frequent changes he was obliged to make
of his places of residence.
After being employed for some years on his great work,
the "Essay concerning Human Understanding," he finished
it in Holland about the end of 1687. He made an abridg-
ment of it himself, which his friend Le Clerc translated
into French, and inserted in the " Bibliotheque Univer-
selle" for January, 1688. This abridgment created a very
general wish for the publication of the whole. About the
same time, Le Clerc informs us, he made several extracts
of books, as that of Boyle on " Specific Medicines,'* which
is inserted in the second volume of the " Bibl. Univer-
selle," and some others in the following volumes.
The revolution of 1688 at length restored Mr. Locke to
England, to which he returned in the fleet which conveyed
the princess of Orange. He now endeavoured to obtain
his studentship of Christ-church, not that he had any de-
sign to return to college, but only that this would amount
to a public testimony of his having been unjustly deprived
of it. But when he found that the society could not be
prevailed on to dispossess the person who had been elected
in his room, and that they would only admit him a super-
numerary student, he desisted from his claim.
He was now at full liberty to pursue his speculations,
and, accordingly, in 1689, published his celebrated " Es-
say on Human Understanding," and the same year his
" Two Treatises on Government," in which he fully vin-
dicated the principles upon which the revolution was
founded. His writings had now procured him such high
reputation, and he had merited so much of the new go-
vernment, that it would have been easy for him to have
obtained a very considerable place ; but he contented him-
self with that of commissioner of appeals, worth about 200/.
per annum. He was offered to go abroad in a public cha-
racter, and it was left to his choice whether he would be
envoy at the court of the emperor, the elector of Branden-
burgh, or any other, where he thought the air most suita-
ble to him, but he declined it on account of his bad health.
About this time Mr. Locke's attention was directed to
the state of the coin, which had been so much clipped,
366 LOCKE.
as to want above a third of its real value ; and although his
sentiments on the subject were at first disregarded, the
parliament at length was obliged to take the matter into
consideration, aud to assist the members in forming a right
opinion on the matter, aud introduce a proper remedy.
Mr. Locke, therefore, published " Some considerations of
the consequence of the lowering of the interest, and rais-
ing the value of money," and shortly followed it by two
more on the same subject, in answer to objections. These
writings extended his acquaintance among men of rank in
the political world, with some of whom he used to associate
on the most familiar terms. He had weekly interviews
with the earl of Pembroke, then lord keeper of the privy
seal; and when the air of London began to affect his
lungs, he went for some days to the earl of Peterborough's
seat at Parsons' Green, near Fulham, where he always met
with the most friendly reception: but was obliged after-
wards entirely to leave London*, at least during the whole
of the winter season.
Having paid frequent visits to sir Francis Masham, at
Oates, in Essex, he found the air so good for his constitu-
tion, and the society so delightful, that he was easily pre-
vailed upon to become one of the family, and to settle
there during his life. The air used to restore him in a
few hours after his return at any time from the town,
although quite spent and unable to support himself. Be-
sides this advantage here, he found in lady Masham, the
daughter of Dr. Cudworth, a friend and companion exactly
to his heart's wish ; a lady of contemplative and studious
complexion, and particularly inured, from her infancy, to
speculations in theology, metaphysics, and morality. She
was also so much devoted to Mr. Locke, that, to engage
Uis residence there, she provided an apartment for him, of
which he was wholly master; and took care that he should
live in the family with as much ease as if the whole house
had been his own. He had too the additional satisfaction
of seeing this lady breed up her only son exactly upon the
plan which be had laid down for the best method of edu-
cation; and, what pleased him still more, the success of
it was such as seemed to give a sanction to his judgment in
the choice of that method, which he published in 1693,
under the title of " Thoughts concerning the Education of
Children," and afterwards improved considerably.'
In 1695 be published his treatise of "The reasonable-
LOCKE. 367
ness of Christianity, as delivered in the Scriptures," writ-
ten, it is said, in order to promote the scheme which king
William III. had much at heart, of a comprehension with
the dissenters. In this his argument is to prove, " that
the Christian religion, as delivered in the Scriptures, free
from all corrupt mixtures, is the most reasonable institu-
tion in the world;" and we allow that it would certainly
appear so if men were agreed as to what are " corrupt
mixtures," which, it is well known, some writers have ex-
tended to those articles of belief which others not only
find in the Scriptures, but consider as fundamental. On
the appearance of this work, Mr. Locke found an opponent
in Dr. John Edwards (see JOHN EDWARDS), who considered
his principles as verging towards Socinianism : and a de-
fender ifi Mr. Samuel Bold. Mr. Locke also replied to
Edwards.
Some time before this, Toland published his "Chris-
tianity not. mysterious," in which he endeavoured to prove,
that there is nothing in the Christian religion contrary to
or above reason; and in explaining some of his notions,
used several arguments drawn from Locke's " Essay on
Human Understanding." Some Socinians,also about this
time published several treatises, in which they affirmed,
that there was nothing in the Christian religion but what
was rational and intelligible ; and Mr. Locke having
asserted in his writings that revelation delivers nothing
contrary to reason ; all this induced Dr. Stillingfleet, the
learned bishop of Worcester, to publish a treatise, in
which he vindicated the doctrine of the Trinity against
Toland and the Socinians, and likewise opposed some of
Mr. Locke's principles, as favourable to the above-men-
tioned writings. This produced a controversy, in the
course of which our author endeavoured to show the per-
fect agreement of his principles with the Christian religion,
and that he had advanced nothing which had the least ten-
dency to scepticism, which the bishop had charged him
with. But Stillingfleet dying some time after, the dispute
ended, and ended as such disputes have frequently done,
each party claiming the victory. On whichever side it
lay, we may be permitted to add, that some of Mr. Locke's
biographers have spoken of Stillingfleet's writings with un-
pardonable arrogance and contempt.
In 1695, Mr. Locke was appointed one of the commis-
sioners of trade and plantations, a place wprth 1000/. per
368 L O C K E.
I
annum. The duties of this post he discharged with great
ability and diligence until 1700, when the increase of his
asthmatic disorder, obliged him to resign it. On this oc-
casion he acquainted no person with his intention, until he
had given up his commission into the king's hand. His
majesty, who knew his worth, was very unwilling to part
with him, and said he would be well pleased with his con-
tinuance in office, although he should give little or no at-
tendance, and certainly would not wish him to remain in
towji one day to the detriment of his health. But Mr.
Locke told the king that he could not in conscience hold
a place to which such a salary was annexed, without dis-
charging the duties of it ; and therefore he begged leave
to resign it, which was accepted.
From this time, which was the year 1 700, he lived alto-
gether at Oates, and applied himself, without interruption,
entirely to the study of the holy scriptures ; and in this
employment he found so much pleasure, that he regretted
his not having devoted more of his time to it in the former
part of his life. On one occasion, in answer to a young
gentleman, who asked what was the shortest and surest
way for a person to attain a true knowledge of the Chris-
tian religion ? he replied, " Let him study the holy scrip-
ture, especially the New Testament. It has God for its
author ; salvation for its end ; and truth, without any mix-
ture of error, for its matter." In 1703 he suffered much
from his asthmatic disorder, but the pangs of bodily com-
plaint were alleviated by the kind attentions of lady
Masham : still he foresaw that his dissolution was not far
distant, and he could anticipate it without dread, and
speak of it with perfect calmness and composure. After
receiving the sacrament at home, in company with some
friends, he told the minister, " that he was in perfect
charity with all men, and in a sincere communion with the
church of Christ, by what name soever it might be distin-
guished." He lived some months after this, which he
spent in acts of piety and devotion : when he was meditat-
ing on the wisdom and goodness of the Creator, he could
not forbear crying out, *' Oh the depth of the riches of the
goodness and knowledge of God :" what he felt himself on
this subject he was anxious to infuse into the hearts of
others. On the day previously to uis departure he said,
" he had lived long enough, and was thankful that he had
enjoyed a happy life ; but that, after all, he looked upon
LOCKE, 369
this life to be nothing but vanity," or, as he expresses a
similar sentiment, in a letter which he left behind him for
his friend Mr. Anthony Collins, one that " affords no solid
satisfaction but in the consciousness of doing well, and in
the hopes of another life." He had no rest that night,
and begged in the morning to be carried into his study,;
where, being placed in an easy chair, he had a refreshing
sleep for a considerable time. He then requested lady
Masham to read aloud some of the psalms, to which he
appeared exceedingly attentive, till feeling, probably, the
approach of the last messenger, he begged her to desist,
and in a few minutes expired, on the 28th of October 1704,
in the 73d year of his age.
To this account we may add an extract from an unpub-
lished letter of lady Masham's to Mr. Laughton, obligingly
communicated by Mr. Ellis of the British Museum.
" You will not perhaps dislike to know that the last
scene of Mr. Locke's life was no less admirable than any
thing else in him. All the faculties of his mind were per-
fect to the last ; but his weakness, of which only he died,
made such gradual and visible advances, that few people,
I think, do so sensibly see death approach them as he did.
During all which time, no one could observe the least
alteration in his humour: always chearful, civil, conversi-
ble, tojthe last day ; thoughtful of all the concerns of his
friends, and omitting no tit occasion of giving Christian
advice to all about him. In short, his death was like his
life, truly pious, yet natural, easy, and unaffected; nor
can time, I think, ever produce a more eminent example
of reason and religion than he was, living and flying.—
Oates, Nov. 8, 1704."
Mr. Locke, says his latest biographer, had great know-
ledge of the world, and was prudent without cunning,
easy, affable, and condescending without any mean com-
plaisance. If there was any thing he could not bear, it
was ill manners, and a rude behaviour. This was ever un-
grateful to him, unless, when he perceived that it pro-
ceeded from ignorance; but when it was the effect of
pride, ill- nature, or brutality, he detested it. He looked
on civility not only as a duty of humanity, but Christianity;
and he thought that it ought to be more pressed and urged
upon men than it commonly is. He recommended on this
occasion a treatise in the moral essays written by the gen-
tlemen of the Port Roval, *-' concerning the means of pre-
YOL. XX. B B
370 LOCKE.
serving peace among men," and was a great admirer of
Dr. Whichcote's Sermons on the subject. He was exact
to his word, and religiously performed whatever he pro-
mised. He was very scrupulous of giving recommenda-
tions of persons whom he did not well know, and would
by no means commend those whom he thought not to de-
serve it. If he was told that his recommendation had not
produced the effect expected, he would say, " the reason
was because he never deceived any person by saying more
than he knew ; that he never passed his word for any but
such as he believed would answer the character he gave of
them ; and that if he should do otherwise, his recommen-
dations would be worth nothing."
He was naturally very active, and employed himself as
much as his health would permit. Sometimes he diverted
himself by working in the garden, which he well under-
stood. He loved walking, but not being able to walk
much, tlH-ough the disorder of his lungs, he used to ride
out after dinner ; and when he could not bear a horse, he
went in a chaise. He always chose to have company with
him, though it were but a child, for he took pleasure in
talking with children of a good education. His bad health
was a disturbance to none but himself; and any person
migiit be with hirn without any other concern than that of
seeing him suffer. He did not differ from others in his
diet, except that he drank water only, which he thought
was the means of lengthening his life. To this he also at-
tributed the preservation of his sight in a great measure,
for he could read by candle-light all sorts of books to the
last, if they were not of a very small print, without the
use of spectacles. He had no other distemper but his
asthma, except a deafness for about six months, which he-
lamented in a letter to one of his friends, telling him " he
thought it better to be blind than deaf, as it deprived him
of all conversation." Many, interesting particulars of Mr.
Locke's private life may be seen in Coste's character of
him, printed in the ninth volume of the last edition of his
works.
This edition contains, principally, the following trea-
tises, to which we have here appended the years of their
first publication : 1. " Three Letters upon Toleration;'*
the first, printed at London in 168y, was in Latin. 2. " A
Register of the Changes of the Air observed at Oxford,"
inserted in Mr. Boyle's " General History of the Air,"
LOCK E. 371
1692, 8ro. 3. " New Method for a Common-place Book,"
1686. 4. " Essay concerning Human Understanding,"
1690, fol. 5. " Two Treatises of Civil Government," &c.
1690, 8vo ; again in 1694, and in 1698. A French trans-
lation at Amsterdam, and then at Geneva, in 1722. 6.
" Some Considerations of the Consequences of lowering
the Interest, and raising the Value, of Money," 1691, 8vo,
and again in 1695. 7. Some observations on a printed
paper, entitled, " For coining silver Money in England," .
&c. " Farther Observations concerning the raising the
Value of Money," &c. 9. "Some Thoughts concerning
Education," &c. 1693, 8vo, and again in 1694 and
1698 ; again after his death, with great additions ; and in
French, entitled, " De 1' Education des Enfans," Amster.
1695. 10. "The Reasonableness of Christianity," &c.
1695, 8vo. 11. "Vindication of the Reasonableness,"
&c. 1696, 8vo. 12. " A second Vindication," &c. 1696,
8vo. 13. "A Letter to the Bishop of Worcester," 1697,
8vo. 14. " Reply to the Bishop of Worcester," &c. 1697,
4to. 15. " Reply, in answer to the Bishop's second Let*
ter," 1698. 16. Posthumous Works of Mr. John Locke,
viz. " Of the Conduct of the Understanding;" " An Ex-
amination of Malebranche's Opinion," &.c. " A Dis-
course of Miracles ;" " Part of a fourth Letter for Tolera-
tion ;" " Memoirs relating to the Life of Anthony first
earl of Shaftesbury," &c. &c. He deft behind him several
MSS. from which his executors, sir Peter King aud An-
thony Collins, esq. published, in 1705, his paraphrase ajid
notes upon St. Paul's epistle to the Galatians, which were
soon followed by those upon ithe Corintbians, Romans, and.
Ephesians, with an essay prefixed, " F,or the understand-
ing of St. Paul's epistles, by consulting St. Paul himself."
In the following year the posthumous works of Mr. Locke
were published, comprising a treatise " On the Conduct
of the Understanding," intended as a supplement to the
"Essay:" "An Examination of Malebranche's Opinion
of seeing all Things in God." In 1708, some familiar
letters between Mr. Locke and several of his friends were
published. All the works of this great man have been
collected, and frequently reprinted in different sizes ; in
three vols. folio, in four vols. quarto, by bishop Law,, and
lately in nine vols. Svo.
Of all Mr. Locke's works, his " Essay on Human Under-
standing," is that which has contributed most to his fame,
c B 2
572 LOCKE.
and the reputation which it had from the beginning, and
which it has gradually acquired abroad, is a sufficient testi-
mony of its merit. There is perhaps no book of the meta-
physical kind that has been so generally read by those who
understand the language, or that is more adapted to teach
men to think with precision, and to inspire them with that
candour and love of truth, which is the genuine spirit of
philosophy. He gave, Dr. Reid thinks, the first example
in the English language of writing on such abstract sub-
jects, with a remarkable degree of simplicity and perspi-
cuity ; and in this he has been happily imitated by others
that came after him. No author has. more successfully
pointed out the danger of ambiguous words, and the im-
portance of having distinct and determinate notions in
judging and reasoning. His observations on the various
powers of the human understanding, on the use and abuse
of words, and on the extent and limits of human know-
ledge, are drawn from attentive reflection on the opera-
tions of his own mind, the true source of all real know-
ledge on those subjects ; and show an uncommon degree of
penetration and judgment Such is the opinion of the
learned and candid Dr. Reid, who says, " I mention these
things that when I have occasion to differ from him, I
may not be thought insensible of the merit of an author
whom 1 highly respect, and to whom I owe my first lights
in those studies, as well as my attachment to them." Dr.
Reid has ably pointed out what he thought defective in
Locke's system, which indeed has been more or less the
subject of discussion in every work on metaphysics during
the last century. The late Mr. Home Tooke, in his " Di-
versions of Purley," differs from all others in advancing
one of those singular opinions which are peculiar to that
gentleman. He calls Locke's Essay, merely " a gramma-
tical treatise, or a treatise on words, or on language ;"
and says, that " it was a lucky mistake which Mr. Locke
made when he called his book an Essay on the Human
Understanding. For some part of the inestimable benefit
of that book has, merely on account of its title, reached
to thousands more than, I fear, it would have done, had
he called it a Grammatical Essay. The human mind, or
the human understanding, appears to be a grand and noble
theme, and all men, even the most insufficient, conceive
ttut to be a proper object for their contemplation, while
LOCKER. 373
inquiries into the nature of language are supposed to be
beneath the concern of their exalted understanding." 1
LOCKER (JOHN, esq. F. S. A.) son of Stephen Loc-
ker, esq. or Lockier (for that was the family name in the
reign of Charles II. as appears by the signature pf one of
their ancestors to a lease in that reign), was of a gentle-
man's family in Middlesex, where they possessed a consi-
derable property, which, it is said, they lost, as many
others did, by their loyalty. He was bred at Merchant-
Taylors' school, whence he went to Merton-college, Ox-
ford; after which he travelled abroad with his friend Mr.
Twisleton, who was probably of the same college. He was
entered at Gray's Inn, where he studied the law in the
same chambers formerly occupied by his admired lord
Bacon ; and having been called to the bar, was afterwards
clerk of the companies of leather-sellers and clock-makers,
and a commissioner of bankrupts. He married (the fami-
lies being before related) miss Elizabeth Stillingfleet, who
was remarkable for her many excellent qualities as well as
personal charms. She was grand-daughter to the eminent
bishop of Worcester by his lordship's first wife, and sister
to Benjamin Stillingfleet, esq. much distinguished by his
ingenious writings and worthy character. By this lady,
who died August 12, 1759, he had nine children. Mr.
Locker is noticed by Dr. Johnson *, in his Life of Addison,
as eminent for curiosity and literature ; as he is by Dr.
Ward, in his Lives of the Gresham Professors, as a gen-
tleman much esteemed for his knowledge of polite litera-
ture. He was remarkable for his skill in the Greek lan-
guage ; and attained the modern, which he could write very
well, in a very extraordinary manner. Coming home late
one evening, he was addressed in that language by a poor
Greek, from the Archipelago, who had lost his way in the
streets of London. Mr. Locker took him home, where he
was maintained, for some time, by the kindness of himself
and Dr. Mead ; and, by this accidental circumstance, Mr.
Locker acquired his knowledge of modern Greek. He al-
most adored lord Bacon ; and had collected from original
manuscripts and other papers, many curious things of his
lordship's not mentioned by others, which it was his inten-
* To whom Mr. Locker communi- son, with an intention of making an
rated a collection of examples selected English dictionary,
by. Addison from the writings of Tillot-
1 Principally from the Life prefixed to Locke's Works.
374 LOCKE R.
tion to publish, but his death prevented it ; however, this
fell into such good hands, that the public are now in pos-
session of them, as is mentioned in the last edition of lord
Bacon's works, by Dr. Birch and Mr. Mallet, 1765. Mr.
Locker also wrote the preface to Voltaire's Life of Charles
XI 1. of Sweden, and translated the two first books; and
Dr. Jebb the rest. He died, very much regretted, in May
1760, not quite a year after the loss of his amiable lady,
which it was thought accelerated his own death. They both
were buried in St. Helen's church, Bishopsgate-street,
London. Their son WILLIAM, bred to the naval service, but
a man of some literary talents, died lieutenant-governor
of Greenwich-hospital, on December 26, 1800, at the age
of seventy. Some particulars of him are to be found in our
authority. !
LOCKMAN (JOHN), a man of much literary industry,
and known for half a century as a translator, was born in
1698. Of his early history we find no particulars recorded.
He appears to have been acquainted with Pope, and to
have been respected by that poet, doubtless, on account
of his amiable and inoffensive character, which procured
him, among the wits of that time, the name of the Lamb.
The only time he ever deviated from the gentleness of this
animal was when Cooke, the translator of Hesiod, abused
his poetry to his face. On this provocation Mr. Lockman
proved his relationship to the genus irritabile, by retort-
ing, with a quickness not usual to him, ** It may be so ;
but thank God ! my name is not at full length in the Dun-
ciad." Mr. Lockrnan's poetical talents were certainly not
very extensive, as the greatest part of his effusions are
only a few songs, odas, &c. written on temporary sub-
jects, and set to music for Vauxhall and other places of
public entertainment. Mr. Reed, however, found two
pieces of the dramatic kind, both of them designed to be
fcct to music ; but only the second of them, he thinks, was
ever performed, viz. 1. " Rosalinda, a musical drama,
1740," 4to. 2. "David's Lamentations, an oratorio;"
which we believe were not successful.
In 1762, he issued proposals for a complete edition of
his poems, to be printed, by subscription, in two volumes
4to. He frequently went to court to present his poems to
the royal family ; and after he became secretary to the Bri-
I Nichols's Dowytr.
L O C K M A N. 375
tish herring-fishery, tendered to the same illustrious per-
sonages presents of pickled herrings, &o. all which, both
poems and herrings, he took care to inform the public
" were most graciously received." He was employed in
compiling some of the lives in the " General Dictionary,
including Bayle ;" and translated various works from the
French. In all his employments he maintained an amiable
and unblemished character, and died much lamented at his
house in Brownlow-street, Long Acre, of a paralytic stroke,
Feb. 2, 1 77 1.1
LOCKYER (NICHOLAS), a non-conformist divine, the
son of William Lockyer of Glastonbury in Somersetshire,
was born in that county in 1612, and in 162.9 studied in
New-Inn hall, Oxford, where he took the degree of ba-
chelor of arts. He afterwards went into holy orders, and
had a cure, but siding with the presbyterian party, became
a leading man in their committees, and other measures for
reforming the church. He obtained, by the same interest,
a fellowship of Eton* college, and in 1658 was made provost,
but was ejected at the Restoration. He passed the remain-
der of his life at Woodford in Essex, where, as Wood
says, he died " a wealthy man," March 13, 1684-5; and
was buried in St. Mary's-church, Whitechapel. His works,
of which Wood has given a very copious list, consist of
sermons, and tracts of practical piety. Calamy, who gives
but a slight account of him, says, that " his writings shew
him to have been very zealous and affectionate ; earnestly
bent upon the conversion of souls. 2
LODGE (THOMAS, M. D.), a dramatic poet, descended
from a family which had its residence in Lincolnshire ; but
whether the doctor himself was born there, seems not very
easy to be ascertained. Langbaine and Jacob, and, after
them, Wincop and Chetwood, who, in the general, are
little more than copiers, say that he was educated at Cam-
bridge, but Wood informs us, that it was at Oxford, where
he made his first appearance about 1573, and was after-
wards a scholar under the learned Dr. Hobye, of Trinity-
college. Here he made very considerable advances in
learning, dedicating his leisure time to the reading the
poets of antiquity ; and, having himself a turn to poetry,
especially of the satirical kind, he became known by
1 Biog. Dram. — Geat. Mag. vol. LXII. p. 314. — Nichols's Bovryer. — Btis-
well's Life of Johnson.
- Ath. Ox. vol. II. — Calamy.— HavwooJ's Alumni Etonenses.
376 L O D G E.
various compositions of that nature, which obtained him no1
inconsiderable reputation as a wit and poet. Mr. Lodge,
however, sensible how seldom the study of poetry yields a
competent provision to its professors, after having taken
one degree in arts, applied himself, with great assiduity,
to the more profitable study of physic, and for further
improvement went abroad. After staying a sufficient
time at Avignon to be entitled to the degree of doctor in
that university, he returned, and, in the latter end of queen
Elizabeth's reign, was incorporated in the university of
Cambridge. He afterwards settled in London, where, by
his skill and interest with the Roman Catholic party, in
which persuasion, it is said, he was brought up, he attained
great practice. In what year Dr. Lodge was born does not
evidently appear; but be died in 1625, and had tributes
paid to his memory by many of his contemporary poets,
who have characterized him as a man of very considerable
genius.
His dramatic works are, 1. " Wounds of Civil War, a
tragedy, 1594," 4to. 2. " Looking-Glass for London and
England, a tragi-comedy, 1598:" (assisted by Robert
Green.) Winstanly has named four more dramatic pieces
besides the first of the two above named, which he asserts
to have been written by this author, in conjunction with
Robert Green, 1. " Lady Alimony," a comedy. 2. ** Laws
of Nature,*' a comedy. 3. " Liberalitie and Prodigalitie,"
a comedy. 4. " Luminalia." But the first three of these,
though they might be brought to agree in point of time, yet
are all printed anonymously ; and, as to the last, it was
written on a particular occasion, and that not till two years
after Dr. Lodge's death, and full thirty -five after that of
Robert Green.
His other writings were, 1. " Alarm against the Usurers,
containing tried experiences against worldly abuses," Lond.
1584. 2. " History of Tribonius and Prisseria, with Truth's
Complaint over England." 3. " Euphues Golden Legacy."
4. " Treatise of the Plague, containing the nature, signs,
and accidents of the same," Lond. 1603, 4to. 5. " Coun-
tess of Lincoln's Nursery," Oxford, 1622, 4 to. 6. "Trea-
tise in defence of Plays." 7. " Catharos Diogenes in his
singularitie, &c." Lond. 1591, 4to. Of this satire the
reader may see an account in the Bibliographer. 8. " The
Divel conjured," ibid. 1 596, 4to. noticed in the " Resti-
tuta." He translated also into English Josephus's Works,
LODGE. 377
Lond. 1602, 1609, 1620, &c. fol. ; and Seneca's Works,
" both moral and natural," ibid. 1614, 1620, &c. fol.1'
LODGE (WILLIAM), a spirited and tasteful engraver of
the seventeenth century, was the son of a merchant at
Leeds, where he was born July 4, 1649, and inherited an
estate of 300/. a year. From school he was sent to Jesus
college, Cambridge, and thence to Lincoln's-inn, where
his studies appear to have ended. He afterwards went
abroad with Thomas lord Bellassis, in his embassy to Ve-
nice, and meeting with Barri's " Viaggio Pittoresco," he
translated it, and added heads of the painters of his own
engraving, and a map of Italy. This was printed in 1679,
8vo. While on his travels, he drew various views, which
he afterwards etched. Returning to England, he assisted
Dr. Lister of York, in drawing various subjects of natural
history, inserted in the Philosophical Transactions. He
died at Leeds, in August 1689, and was buried in Harwood
church. Besides the portraits above mentioned, there are
several views by this artist, etched in a slight but spirited
style, from his own designs, which he made both at home
and abroad. They bear the marks of genius and a good
taste,8
LOFTUS (DUDLEY), a very learned oriental scholar,
was the second son of sir Adam Loftus, and great grandson
of Dr. Adam Loftus, who was archbishop of Armagh, then
of Dublin, and one of the lords justices, and lord chancellor
of Ireland. He was born in 1618, at Rathfarnam, near
Dublin, a stately castle built by his ancestor the arch-
bishop, and was educated in Trinity college, where he
was admitted fellow- commoner in 1635. About the time
he took his first degree in arts, the extraordinary profici-
ency he had made in languages attracted the notice of
arciibishop Usher, who earnestly advised his father to send
him to Oxford, where he might improve his oriental learn-
ing, a matter which that worthy prelate considered as
highly important in the investigation of the history and
principles of the Christian religion. Mr. Loftus was ac-
cordingly sent by his father to Oxford, and entered of
University college, where he was incorporated B. A. in
November 1639, About this time he commenced the
1 Ath. Ox. vol. I.— Gibber's Lives. — Biog. Dram,— Phillips's Theatrum by
•ir E. Brytlges. — Warton's History. — Ellis's Specimens.— -Bibliographer, yoJ. I.
— Restituta, vol. I.
9 Walpole's Anecdotes. — Strutt's Dictionary.
378 L O F T U S.
study of the law, with a view to take his bachelor's degree
in that faculty, but at the persuasion of his friends in Uni-
versity college, took his degree of master of arts in 1641,
and then returned to Ireland at the moment the rebellion
broke out. His father, who was at that time vice-trea-
surer, and one of the privy council, procured a garrison to
be placed in his castle of Rathfarnam, and gave the com-
mand of it to his son Dudley, who displayed his skill
and courage, by defending the city from the incursions of
the Irish inhabiting the neighbouring mountains. He was
afterwards made one of the masters in chancery, vicar-
general of Ireland, and judge of the prerogative court and
faculties, all which offices he held to the time of his death.
He was also a doctor of the civil law, and esteemed the
most learned of any of his countrymen in that faculty.
Towards the latter part of his life, his talents and memory
were very much impaired, and when about seventy-six
years of age, he married a second wife, but died the year
following, in June 1695, and was buried in St. Patrick's
church, Dublin.
Mr. Loftus's greatest excellence lay in the knowledge
of various languages, especially the oriental ; and it is
said, that when only twenty years of age, he was able to
translate as many languages into English. Among arch-
bishop Usher's letters is one from him to that prelate, which,
although short, shews his avidity to search out oriental
books and MSS. ; as well as his high respect and gratitude
to Usher, who first directed his attention to the treasures of
the Bodleian library. Yet his character in other respects
floes not correspond with his parts or learning. He was
accounted, says Harris, an improvident and unwise man,
and his many levities and want of conduct gave the world
too much reason to think so. The same biographer men-
tions " a great, but free-spoken prelate," who said of Mr.
Loftus, that " he never knew so much learning in the
keeping of a fool."
His learning, indeed, and his industry appear very evi-
dent by his many writings. Besides the vEthiopic New
Testament which he translated into Latin, at the request of
Usher and Selden, for the Polyglot, and which procured
him from Walton the character of " vir doctissimus, tain
generis prosapia, quam linguaruoi orientalium scientia,
nobilis," he published, 1. " Logica Armeniaca in Latinam
traducta," Dublin, 1657, 12mo. 2. " Introductio in totam
L O F T U S. 379
Aristotelis Philosophiam," ibid. 1657, 12mo. 3. "The
Proceedings observed in order to, and in the consecration
of, the twelve Bishops in St. Patrick's Church in Dublin,
Jan. 27, 1660," Lond. 1661, 4to. 4. " Liber Psalmorum
Davidis ex Armeniaco idiotnate in Latinum traductus,"
Dublin, 1661, 12mo. 5. " Oratio funebris habita post
exuvias nuperi Rev. jbatris Joan. (Bramhall) archiepiscopi
Armacbani," ibid. 1663, 4to. 6. " The Speech of James
duke of Ormond, made in a parliament at Dublin, Sept.
17, 1662, translated into the Italian," ibid. 1664. 7.
" Reductio litium de libero arbitrio, proedestinatione, et
reprobatione ad arbitrium boni viri," ibid. 1670, 4to. 8.
" A, Book demonstrating that it was inconsistent with the
English government, that the Irish rebels should be ad-
mitted to their former condition with impunity, by topics
drawn from principles of law, policy, and conscience,"
published under the name of Philo-Britannicus. 9. " Let-
tera esortatoria di mettere opera a fare sincera penitenza
mandata alia signora F. M. L. P. &c." 1667, 4to. This
piece was written on account of a lady of Irish birth, with
whom he was criminally connected, and whom he wished
to pass for an Italian, as she was educated in Italy. Her
name was Francisca Maria Lucretia Plunket. It was to
her he wrote this exhortatory letter, which was followed
soon after by, 10. " The Vindication of an injured lady,
F. M. Lucretia Plunket, one of the ladies of the privy
chamber to the queen mother of England," Lond. 1667,
J-to. i I . Two pamphlets of the " Case of Ware and Shir-
ley," a gentleman who married an heiress against her
will. 12. "A Speech delivered at the Visitation held in
the diocese of Clogher, se.de vacant e, Sept. 27, 1671,"
Dublin, 1671, 4to. 13. "The first marriage of Katherine
Fitzgerald (now lady Decies), &c. asserted," Lond. 1677,
4to. Readers of the present times will be surprised to be
told, that this pamphlet relates to the marriage of lord
Decies, aged eight years, to Katherine Fitz-gerald, aged
twelve and a half. The little lady in about twenty months
took another husband, Edward Villiers, esq. Mr. Loftus's
opinion was, that the first marriage was legal. His argu-
ment was answered by Robert Thomson, LL. D. in a
pamphlet under the tide of " Sponsa nondum uxor," Lond.
1678, 4to. 14. " Several Chapters of Dionysius Syrus's
Comment on St. John the Evangelist, concerning the Life
and Death of our Saviour," Dublin, 4 to. 15. " The Com-
380 L O F T U S.
mentary on the Four Evangelists, by Dionysius Syrus, out
of the Syriac tongue." 16. " Commentary on St. Paul's
Epistles, by Moses Bar-Cepha, out of the Syriac." 17.
" Exposition of Dionysius Syrus, on St. Mark," Dublin,
1676, 4to, according to Harris, but by the Bodleian cata-
logue it would appear that most, if not all, the four pre-
ceding articles were published together in 1672. 18.
" History of the Eastern and Western Churches, by Gre-
gory Maphrino, translated into Latin from the Syriac."
19. " Commentary on tiie general Epistles, and Acts of
the Apostles, by Gregory Maphrino." 20 " Praxis cul-
tusdivini juxta ritus primoevorum Christianorum," contain-
ing various ancient liturgies, &c. Dublin, 1693, 4to. 21.
"A clear and learned Explication of the History of our
Blessed Saviour, taken out of above thirty Greek, Syriac,
and other oriental authors, by way of Catena, by Diony-
sius Syrus, translated into English," Dublin, 1695, 4to.
Harris mentions a few other translations from the Arme-
nian, Arabic, and Syriac, but without date or place, and
which probably were printed with some of the preceding.1
LOGAN (JAMES), a polite scholar, and magistrate of
some eminence in America, was born in Scotland about
1674. He was one of the people called Quakers, and ac-
companied William Penn in his last voyage to Pennsyl-
vania. For many years of his life he was employed in
public business, and rose to the offices of chief justice
and governor of the province : but he felt always an ar-
dour of study, and by husbanding his leisure hours, found
time to write several treatises in Latin, of which one on
the generation of plants, was translated into English by
Dr. Fothergill. When advanced in years, he withdrew
from the tumult of public business to the solitude of his
country-seat, near Germantown, where he corresponded
with the most distinguished literary characters of Europe.
He also made a version of " Cicero de Senectute," which
was published with notes by the celebrated Dr. Franklin.
Mr. Logan died in 1751, at the age of seventy-seven, leav-
ing his library, which he had been fifty years in collecting,
to the people of Pennsylvania. The following extract
from his will affords a pleasing idea of his literary enthu-
siasm : " In my library, which I have left to the city of
1 Ath. Ox. rol II.— Harris's edition of Ware's Ireland.— Lodge's Peerage of
Ireland, art. Loftus.
LOGAN. 381
Philadelphia, for the advancement and facilitating of clas-
sical learning, are above an hundred volumes of authors in
folio, all in Greek, with mostly their versions. All the
Roman classics without exception. All the whole Greek
mathematicians, viz. Archimedes, Euclid, Ptolemy, both
his Geography, and Almagest, which I had in Greek (with
Theon's commentary in folio, above 700 pages) from my
learned friend Fabricius, who published 14 volumes of his
' Bibliotheque Grecque,' in 4to, in which, after he had
finished his account of Ptolemy, on my inquiring of him
at Hamburgh in * how I should find it, having long
sought for it in vain in England ; he sent it me out of his
own library, telling me it was so scarce, that neither prayers
nor price could purchase it. Besides there are many of
the most valuable Latin authors, and a great number of
modern mathematicians, with all the three editions of
Newton, Dr. Wall is, Halley, &C."1
LOGAN (JOHN), a Scotch divine and poet, was born
about the beginning of 1747-8, at Soutra, in the parish of
Fala, on the southern extremity of Mid- Lothian, where his
father rented a small farm. He appears to have been
taught the first rudiments of learning at the school of Mus-
selburgh, near Edinburgh ; and here, as well as at home,
was zealously instructed in the principles of the Calvinistic
system of religion, as professed by the seceders, a species
of dissenters from the established church of Scotland. In
1762, he entered on the usual courses of study at the uni-
versity of Edinburgh, where he made uncommon profi-
ciency in the learned languages, but discovered no great
inclination for mathematics, or metaphysics, although he
took care not to be so deficient in these branches as to in-
cur any censure, or create any hindrance to his acade-
mical progress. His turn being originally to works of ima-
gination, he found much that was congenial in a course of
lectures then read by professor John Stevenson, on Aris-
totle's Art of Poetry, and on Longinus; and while these
directed his taste, he employed his leisure hours in ac-
quiring a more perfect knowledge of Homer, whose beau-
ties he relished with poetical enthusiasm. The writings of
Milton, and other eminent poets of the English series, be-
came likewise his favourite studies, and the discovery of
* The date here in Davis's Travels in America, 1803, 8?o, ft om which tbis
account is taken, is 1772, which must be wrong.
1 Davis s Travels.
382 LOGAN.
Ossian's poems, which took place when he was at college,
opened new sources of admiration ;ind improvement.
At what time he began to imitate his favourite models, is
doubtful, but as an inclination to write poetry is generally
precipitate, it is probable that he had produced many of
his lesser pieces while at the university ; and he had the
advice and encouragement of Dr. John Main of Athelstone-
ford, a clergyman of classical taste, in pursuing a track
which genius seemed to have pointed out. He had also
acquired the friendship and patronage of lord Elibank, and
of the celebrated Dr. Blair, who regarded him as a youth
of promising talents, and unusual acumen in matters of
criticism. By the recommendation of Dr. Blair, he was,
in 1763, received into the family of Sinclair, as private
tutor to the present baronet of Ulbster, the editor of those
statistical reports which have done so much honour to the
clerical character of Scotland. Here, however, Logan did
not remain long, but returned to Edinburgh to attend the-
divinity lectures, with a view of entering into the church.
Either by reading, or by the. company he kept, he had
already overcome the scruples which inclined his parents
to dissent, and determined to take orders in the esta-
blishment.
ID 1770, he published a volume under the title of
" Poems on several occasions, by Michael Bruce," a youth
who died at the age of twenty-one, after exhibiting con-
siderable talents for poetry. In this volume, however,
Logan chose to insert several pieces of his own, without
specifying them, a circumstance which has since given
rise to a controversy between the respective friends of
Bruce and Logan, in 1770, after going through the usual
probationary periods, Logan was admitted a preacher, and
in 1773 was invited to the pastoral charge at South Leith,
which he accepted. His poems, which had been hitherto
circulated only in private, or perhaps occasionally inserted
in the literary journals, pointed him out -as a proper person
to assist in a scheme for revising the psalmody of the church.
For this purpose he was, in 1775, appointed one of the
, committee ordered by the General Assembly (the highest
ecclesiastical authority iu Scotland), and took a very acthv
part in their proceedings, not only revising and improving
some of the old versions, but adding others of his own com-
position. This collection of " Translations and Para-
phrases" was published in 17S1, under the sanction of the
iGeneral Assembly.
L O G A N. 383
About two years before this publication appeared, he
had prepared a course of lectures on the philosophy of
history, and had on this occasion consulted Drs. Robertson,
Blair, Carlisle, and other eminent men connected with the
university of Edinburgh, who seemed liberally inclined to
promote his success. The first request, however, which
he had to make, happened not to be within their power.
He desired the use of a room in the college for the delivery
of his lectures, but by the statutes no indulgence of that
kind could be granted to persons teaching or lecturing on
subjects for which regular professors were already ap-
pointed. He then hired a chapel, in \\hich he delivered
his first course of lectures in 1779 SO, and his auditors, if
not very numerous, were of that kind whose report was of
great consequence to his fame. In his second course, he
had a larger auditory, and attracted so much notice, that
he entertained very sanguine hopes of being promoted to
the professorship of history, which became vacant about
this time.
Here, however, an obstacle presented itself, which he
had not foreseen, and which his friends could not remove.
It had been the invariable practice of the patrons to pre-
sent to this office a member of the faculty of advocates,
and in the present instance their choice fell upon Mr. Fra-
zerTytler, the late lord Woodhouselee, a gentleman whose
talents (had talents been the criterion) must have excluded
all competition. Whether owing to this appointment, or
to the decay of public curiosity, Logan's lectures were no
longer encouraged ; but in 1781, he published an analysis
of them, entitled " Elements of the Philosophy of History,"
and soon after one entire lecture in the form of an "Essay-
on the Manners of Asia." Both were favourably received,
yet without those decisive proofs of encouragement which
could justify his publishing the whole course, as he pro-
bably intended. In the same year appeared his volume of
" Poems," which were so eagerly bought up, that a second
edition became necessary within a few months. Such po-
pularity induced him to complete a tragedy which he had
been for some time preparing, entitled " Kunamede," and
founded upon the history of tbe great charter. This tra-
gedy was accepted by the manager of Covent-garden
theatre, but was interdicted by the licenser of the stage as
containing political allusions that were improper, tt was
printed, however, in 1783, and afterwards acted on the
38* LOGAN.
%
Edinburgh theatre, but met with no extraordinary applause
either in the closet or on the stage. In this attempt, in-
deed, the author seems to have mistaken his talents. In
Scotland, his biographer informs us, he had to encounter
the general prejudices of that country against the inter-
ference of the clergy in theatrical concerns.
These disappointments, we are told, " preyed with pun-
gent keenness upon a mind uncommonly susceptible. His
temper," it is added, " was still further fretted by the um-
brage which some of his parish had unjustly taken at his
engaging in studies foreign to his profession, and which
others, with more reason, had conceived, on account of
certain deviations from the propriety and decorum of his
clerical character; though not a few of them were suffi-
ciently liberal in their allowances for irregularities which
could only be attributed to inequality of spirits and irri-
tability of nerves." This vindication is specious, but will
not bear examination. There could surely be no great
injustice in complaining of studies which diverted him from
his profession — a profession which he had voluntarily cho-
sen, and in which he was liberally settled ; or of irregula-
rities which unfitted him to perform its duties, and obliged
him at last to compound for his inability or neglect by re-
tiring upon a small annuity. Yet such was the case ; and
with this annuity, or with the promise of it, he came to
London in 1786, and for some time subsisted by furnish-
ing articles for the " English Review," and perhaps other
periodical publications. He wrote also a pamphlet, en-
titled " A Review of the Principal Charges against Mr.
Hastings," which was a very able and eloquent vindication
of that gentleman ; and probably appeared in that light to
the public at large, for the publisher, against whom the
friends of the impeachment directed a prosecution, was
acquitted by the verdict of a jury. This last consequence,
Logan did not live to witness. His health had been for
some time broken, and he died at his apartments in Marl-
borough-street, Dec. 28, 1738, in the fortieth year of his
age.
Notwithstanding his failings, it is with pleasure we copy
the following passage from the Life prefixed to the late;
edition of his poems. — " The end of Logan was truly
Christian. When he became too weak to hold a book, he
employed his time in hearing such young persons as visited
him read the Scriptures. His conversation turned chiefly
LOGAN. 335
on serious subjects, and was most affecting and instructive.
He foresaw and prepared for the approach of death, gave
directions about his funeral with the utmost composure,
and dictated a distinct and judicious will, appointing Dr.
Donald Grant, and his ancient and steady friend Dr. Ro-
bertson, his executors, and bequeathing to them his pro-
perty, books, and MSS. to be converted into money, for
the payment of legacies to those relations and friends who
had the strongest claims upon his affectionate remembrance
in his dying moments."
Dr. Robertson accordingly prepared a volume of his Ser-
mons, which was published in 1790, and a second in the
following year. They are in general elegant and perspi-
cuous, but occasionally burst into passages of the decla-
matory kind, which, however, are perhaps not unsuitable
to the warmth of pulpit oratory. They have been uncom-
monly successful, the fifth edition having made its appear-
ance in 1807. He left several other manuscripts, which
were once intended for publication. Among these are his
Lectures on History, and three or four tragedies. In
1805 a new edition of his poems was published at Edin-
burgh and London, to which a life is prefixed by an ano-
nymous writer. From this the facts contained in the pre-
sent more succinct sketch have been borrowed. Logan
deserves a very high rank among our minor poets. The
chief character of his poetry is the pathetic, and it will
not, perhaps, be easy to produce any pieces from the
whole range of English poetry more exquisitely tender
and pathetic than " The Braes of Yarrow," *f The Ode
on the Death of a Young Lady," or " A Visit to the
Country in Autumn." " The Lovers" seems to as-
sume a higher character ; the opening lines, spoken by
Harrietj rise to sublimity by noble gradations of terror,
and an accumulation of images, which are, with peculiar
felicity, made to vanish on the appearance of her lover.
In the whole of Logan's poems are passages of true poetic
spirit and sensibility. With a fancy so various and regu-
lated, it is to be regretted he did not more frequently cul-
tivate his talents. The episode of " Levina," among the
pieces attributed to him, indicates powers that might have
appeared to advantage in a regular poem of narration
and description. His sacred pieces are allowed to be of
the inferior kind, but they are inferior only as they are ixot
original ; he strives to throw an air of modern elegance
VOL. XIX. C c
S86 LOGAN.
over the simple language of the East, consecrated by use
and devotional spirit ; and he fails where Watts and others
have failed before him, and where Cowper only has escaped
without injury to his general character.1
LOGGAN (DAVID), a very useful, if not an eminent
engraver, was a native of Dantzic, and born probably in
1635. He is said to have received some instructions from
Simon Pass, in Denmark. Passing through Holland, he
studied under Hondius, and came to England before the
restoration. Being at Oxford, and making a drawing for
himself of All-souls college, he was taken notice of, and
invited to undertake plates of all the colleges and public
buildings of that university, which he executed, and by
which he first distinguished himself. He afterwards per-
formed the same for Cambridge, where he is said to have
hurt his eye-sight in delineating the fine chapel of King's
college. He also engraved on eleven folio plates, the aca-
demical habits of Oxford, from the doctor to the lowest
servant. At Oxford he was much caressed, obtained a li-
cence for vending his " Oxonia Illustrata," for fifteen
years, and on July 9, 1672, was matriculated as university-
engraver, by the name of " David Loggan, Gedanensis."
He was the most considerable engraver of heads in his
time, but their merit as work* of art has not been rated
very high. His " Oxonia" and " Cantabrigia illustrata,"
however, will perpetuate his name, and his correctness may
still be traced in those colleges which have not undergone
alterations. He married a Mrs. Jordan, of a good family
near Witney, in Oxfordshire, and left at least one son,
who was fellow of Magdalen-college, Oxford, and B. D.
in 1707. Loggan died in Leicester-fields, where he had
resided in the latter part of his days, either in 1693 or
1700, for Vertue gives both dates in different places.8
LOKMAN (surnamed the WISE), sometimes called
Abre Anam, or father of Anam, was a philosopher of great
account among the Easterns, but his personal history is
involved in much obscurity, and what we have is probably
fabulous. Some say he was an Abyssinian of Ethiopia or
Nubia, and was sold as a slave among the Israelites, in
the reigns of David and Solomon. According to the Ara-
bians, he was tlje son of Baura, son or grandson of a sister
* Life as above. — Johnson and Chalmers's English Poets, 1810.
* Walpole'g Eugrarers. — Strutt's Dictionary.
LOKMAN. 387
or aunt of Job. Some say he worked as a carpenter, others
as a tailor, while a third sort will have him to be a shep-
herd ; however that be, he was certainly an extraordinary
person, endowed with great wisdom and eloquence, and
we have an account of the particular manner in which he
received these divine gifts; being one day asleep about
noon, the angels saluted Lokman without making them-
selves visible, in these terms : " We are the messengers
of God, thy creator and ours ; and he has sent us to de-
clare to thee that he will make thee a monarch, and his
vice-gerent upon earth." Lokman replied, " If it is by
an absolute command of God that I am to become such a
one as you say, his will be done in all things ; and I hope
if this should happen, that he will bestow on me all the
grace necessary for enabling me to execute his commands
faithfully ; however, if he would grant me the liberty to
chuse my condition of life, I had rather continue in my
present state, and be kept from offending him ; otherwise,
all the grandeur and splendours of the world would be
troublesome to me." This answer, we are told, was so
pleasing to God, that he immediately bestowed on him the
gift of wisdom in an eminent degree ; and he was able to
instruct all men, by a multitude of maxims, sentences,
and parables, amounting to ten thousand in number, every
one of which his admirers reckon greater than the whole
world in value.
This story is evidently of the same cast with that of So-
lomon, and was perhaps taken from it; but Lokman him-
self gives a different account of his perfections. Being
seated in the midst of a number of people who were listen-
ing to him, a man of eminence among the Jews, seeing so
great a crowd of auditors round him, asked him, " Whe-
ther he was not the black slave who a little before looked
after the sheep of a person he named ?" To which Lokman
assenting; " How has it been possible," continued the Jew,
" for thee to attain so exalted a pitch of wisdom and vir-
tue ?" Lokman replied, " It was by the following means :
by always speaking the truth, by keeping my word In-
violably, and by never intermeddling in affairs that did
not concern me." Accordingly, we find inscribed to him
this apophthegm : " Be a learned man, disciple of the
learned, or an auditor of the learned ; at least be a lover
of knowledge, and desirous of improvement." Lokman,,
it is said, hud not only consummate knowledge, but was
C C 2
388 L O K M A N.
equally good and virtuous ; and so many admirable quali-
fies could not always be held in slavery. His master
giving him a bitter melon to eat, Lokman ate it all ; when
his master, surprised at his exact obedience, says, " Hovr
was it possible for you to eat so nauseous a fruit ?" Lok-
man replied, " I have received so many favours from you,
that it is no wonder I should once in my life eat a bitter
melon from your hand." This generous answer struck the
master to such a degree, that he immediately gave him his
liberty.
It is said that he lived three hundred years, and died in
the age of the prophet Jonas. He was buried not far from
Jerusalem ; and his sepulchre was to be seen not above a
century ago, at Ramlah, a small town not far from Jeru-
salem, his remains being deposited near those of the se-
venty prophets who were starved to death by the Jews,
and all died in one day. He was of the Jewish religion,
and some time served in the troops of king David, with
whom he had been conversant in Palestine, and was greatly
esteemed by that monarch. The relics of his fables were
published by Erpenius in Arabic and Latin, with his Ara-
bic Grammar, at Leyden, 1636, 4to, and 1656, 4to, and
Tannaquil Faber gave an edition of them in elegant Latin
verse. Galland translated them into French, with those
of Pilpay, in 1714, 2 vols. 12mo; and a new volume was
translated into the same language by M. Cardonne, in
1778. There is a more recent French edition by Marcel,
in 1799, 4to. The work seems rather a collection of an-
cient fables than the production of any one writer. From
the similarity of many of them to those of JEsop, some
have inferred that Lokman and ^Esop were different names
for the same person ; but Brucker thinks it more likely
that the compiler of these fables had seen those of ./Esop,
and chose to insert some of them in his collection. Who-
ever was the writer, the fables afford no inelegant specv-
men of the moral doctrine of the Arabians.1
LOLME. See DE LOLME.
LOMBARD (PETER), well known by the title of Master
or" the Sentences, was born at Novara, in Lombardy, whence
he took his surname. He was educated at Bologna, and
Rheims, under St. Bernard, and afterwards removed to
Paris, where, as one of the professors in that university,
1 D'Herbclot BiM. Orientate.— Gen. Diet.— Brucker.
LOMBARD. 389
he distinguished himself so much, that the canonry of
Chartres was conferred upon him. He was some time
tutor to Philip, son of king Lewis le Gros, and brother of
Lewis the young ; and was so much esteemed by him,
that upon the vacancy of the bishopric of Paris, that noble
personage, being intended for the see, declined it for the
sake of Lombard, who was accordingly promoted to it
about 1160, and died in 1164. He was interred in the
church of Marcellus, in the suburb of that name, where
his epitaph is still to be seen. His work of the Sentences,
divided into four books, contains an illustration of the doc-
trines of the church, in a collection of sentences or pas-
sages taken from the fathers. This was so favourably re-
ceived, that in a short time it was the only work taught in
the schools, and the author was, by way of eminence,
called the " Master of the Sentences," and was accounted
the chief of the scholastic divines. His work was first
printed at Venice, 1477, fol. and innumerable commenta-
ries have been written on it. In our own universities the
being admitted " to read the Sentences" was, as may be
frequently seen in Wood's Athenae, a mark of great pro-
gress in study, for a greater veneration was paid to Lom-
bard's work than to the Scriptures. Bacon, in a letter to
Clement IV. mentions this preference as an absurdity.
" The bachelor," says he, " who reads the Scriptures,
gives place to the reader of the * Sentences,' who every-
where is honoured and preferred. The reader of the Sen-
tences has his choice of the most eligible time, and holds
a call and society with the religious ; but the biblical
reader has neither ; and must beg for such an hour as the
reader of the Sentences is pleased to assign him. He who
reads the Lombardine thesis, may anywhere dispute and
be esteemed a master ; but he who reads the text of Scrip-
ture is admitted to no such honour : the absurdity of this
conduct is evident," &C.1
LOMENIE (HENRY LEWIS DE, COUNT DE BRIENNE),
was born in 1635, the son of that count de Brienne who
was ambassador in England in 1624. He had the rever-
sion of the secretary of state's office which his father held,
and was made counsellor of state in 1651, when a boy of
sixteen, with permission to exercise this office when he
should attain the age of twenty- five. During this interval,
1 Dupin. — Mosheim.— Brucker.
390 L O M E N I E.
be travelled over Italy, Germany, and the north, to ac-
quire a knowledge of the countries he was afterward to
treat with, and on his return, although only twenty-three
years old, the king permitted him to act as secretary of
state; but after his wife's death, in 1665, Louis XIV.
obliged him to resign his post. M. de Lomenie then re-
tired to the fathers of the oratory, and was sub-deacon,
but left them, and went to the court of Christian Louis,
duke of Mecklenburgh, in 1672. His residence at that
court was the origin of all the troubles which he brought
upon himself ; for, having entertained a criminal passion
for the princess of Mecklenburg, he had the audacity to
acquaint her with it. She complained of this affront to
Louis XIV. who ordered him to return to Paris, and con-
fined him in the abbey of St. Germain-des-Prez, then at
St. Benolt-sur- Loire, afterwards at St. Lazare, and lastly,
at the abbey of St. Severin, at Chateau Landon, where he
died, April 17, 1698. He left an account of his travels,
in Latin, .entitled " Itinerarinm," 8vo, written with elegance
and perspicuity. 2. " Recueil de Poesies diverses et Chre"-
tiennes," Paris, 1671, 3 vols. 12mo. 3. " Remarques
sur les Regies de la Poe"sie Franchise," which are at the
end of the " Nouvelle Methode Latine" of Port Royal,
the seventh edition, 8vo. M. de Chalons has borrowed,
without any acknowledgment, almost the whole of these
remarks, in his treatise " Des Regies de la Po6sie Fransoise."
Lomenie also published a translation of the " Institutions
of Thanlerus," 8vo and 12mo, &c. and left in MS. me-
moirs of his life, and some poems. It appears from his
works, that he possessed wit and genius, but that a capri-
cious, fickle, and inconstant disposition, joined to a de-
praved fancy, rendered them useless to him, a»d in some
measure to the world.1
LOMMIUS (JODOCUS or VAN Low), a medical writer
of reputation, was born at Buren, in Guelderland, about
the commencement of the sixteenth century, and after a
liberal education, studied medicine principally at Paris,
and practised for a considerable time at Tournay, to which
city he was pensionary physician in 1557 ; he removed to
Brussels at an advanced period of life, about 1560, and
was living in this city in 1562, beyond which period there
is no record of him. He left three small works, in*very
' Moreri.— Diet. Hist.— Bib). Anc. et Moderne, vol. XIII.
L O M M I U S. 391
elegant Latki, viz. " Commentarii de Sanitate tuenda in
primum librum C. Celsi," Louvain, 1558, 12mo. This is
an ample commentaryt upon Celsus, taken entirely from
the ancients. " Observationum Medicinalium Libri tres,"
Antwerp, 1560. This work has passed through many
editions : it consists of histories of disease, related with the
simple perspicuity of Celsus, and containing many useful
and valuable observations on the diagnostics, prognostics,
and cure. " De curandis Febribus continuis Liber," Ant-
werp, 1563. This little treatise, like the foregoing, has
been several times printed and translated. These works
were published together at Amsterdam, in 1745, in 3 vols.
12mo, under the title of" Opera omnia."1
LOMONOZOF, a celebrated Russian poet, the great
refiner of his native tongue, was the son of a person who
trafficked in fish at Kolmogori : he was born in 1711, and
was fortunately taught to read ; a rare instance for a per-
son of so low a station in Russia. His natural genius for
poetry was first kindled by the perusal of a metrical trans-
lation of the Song of Solomon, by Polotski, whose rude
compositions, perhaps scarcely superior to our version of
the Psalms by Sternhold and Hopkins, inspired him with
such an irresistible passion for the muses, that he fled
from his father, who was desirous of compelling him to
marry, and took refuge in the Kaikonospaski monastery at
Moscow ; there he had an opportunity of indulging his
taste for letters, and of studying the Greek and Latin lan-
guages. In this seminary he made so considerable a pro-
gress in polite literature, as to be noticed and employed
by the Imperial academy of sciences. In 1736 he was
sent at the expence of that society, to the university of
Marburgh in Hesse Cassel, where he became a scholar of
the celebrated Christian Wolf, under whom he studied
universal grammar, rhetoric, and philosophy. He con-
tinued at Marburgh four years, during which time he ap-
plied himself with indefatigable diligence to chemistry,
which he afterwards pursued with still greater success,
under the famous Henckel, at Freyberg, in Saxony. In
1741 he returned into Russia; was chosen in 1742 adjunct
to the Imperial academy ; and in the ensuing year, member
of that society, and professor of chemistry. In 1760 he
was appointed inspector of the seminary, then annexed
1 Haller Bifol. MeJ. — Rees's Cyclopcedia, from Eloy.
393 L O M O N O Z O F.
to the academy ; in 1764 he was gratified by the late em-
press Catherine with the title of counsellor of state ; and
died April 4 that year, in the fifty-fourth year of his age.
Lomonozof excelled in various kinds of composition; but
his chief merit, by which he bears the first rank among the
Russian writers, is derived from his poetical compositions,
the finest of which are his odes. The first was written in
1739, while he studied in Germany, upon the taking of
Kotschin, a fortress of Crim Tartary, by marshal Munich.
The odes of Lomonozof are greatly admired for originality
of invention, sublimity of sentiment, and energy of lan-
guage ; and compensate for the turgid style, which in
some instances have been imputed to them, by that spirit
and fire which are the principal characteristics in this spe-
cies of composition. Pindar was his great model ; and if
we may give credit to Levesque, a gentleman well versed
in the Russian tongue, he has succeeded in this daring at-
tempt to imitate the Theban bard, without incurring the
censure of Horace : " Pindarum quisquis studet emulari,"
&c. In this, as well as several other species of composi-
tion, he enriched his native language with various kinds of
metre, and seems to have merited the appellation be-
stowed upon him, of the Father of Russian Poetry. A
brief recapitulation of the principal works of Lomonozof,
which were printed in 3 vols. 8vo, will serve to shew the
versatility of his genius, and his extensive knowledge in
various branches of literature.
The first volume, beside a preface on the advantages
derived to the Russian tongue from the ecclesiastical wri-
tings, contains ten sacred and nineteen panegyric odes,
and several occasional pieces of poetry. The second com-
prises " An Essay in Prose, on the Rules for Russian
Poetry;" "Translation of a German Ode;" "Idylls;"
*«Tamiraand Seiim, a Tragedy;" " Demopboon, a Tra-
gedy ;" " Poetical Epistle on the Utility of Glass ;" two
cantos of an epic poem entitled " Peter the Great;" " A
Congratulatory Copy of Verses ;" " An Ode ;" " Trans-
lation of Baptist Rousseau's Ode, ' Sur le Bonheur ;'"
" Heads of a Course of Lectures on Natural Philosophy ;"
" Certain Passages translated in verse and prose, according
to the original from Cicero, Erasmus, Lucian, ^Elian,
Ammianus Marcellinus, Quintus Curtius, Homer, Virgil,
Martial, Ovid, Horace, and Seneca ;" which Russian
translations were brought as examples in his lectures upon.
L O M O N O Z O F. 393
Rhetoric ; lastly, " Description of the Comet which ap-
peared in 1744." The third volume consists chiefly of
" Speeches and Treatises read before the Academy j"
" Panegyric on the Empress Elizabeth ;" "On Peter the
Great;" " Treatise on the Advantages of Chemistry;"
" On the Phenomena of the Air occasioned by the Elec-
trical Fire ;" with a Latin translation of the same ; " On
the Origin of Light, as a new theory of Colours ;" " Me-
thods to determine with precision the Course of a Vessel;"
" On the Origin of Metals by the Means of Earthquakes ;"
" Latin Dissertation on Solidity and Fluidity;" •'* On the
Transit of Venus, in 1761," with a German translation.
Besides these various subjects, Lomonozof made no in-
considerable figure in history, having published two small
works relative to that of his own country. The first, styled
" Annals of the Russian Sovereigns," is a short chrono-
logy °f the Russian monarchs ; and the second is the
" Ancient History of Russia, from the Origin of that Na-
tion to the Death of the Great Duke Yaroslaf I. in 1504 ;"
a performance of great merit, as it illustrates the most dif-
ficult and obscure period in the annals of this country.1
LONG (JAMES LE), an eminent French historian and
bibliographer, was born at Paris, April 19, 1665. His
mother dying while he was very young, his father married
again, and entrusted his education to one of his relations,
a priest, who was director of the religious at Estampes.
After he had been taught grammar and Latin for two or
three years under this ecclesiastic, his father sent him to
Malta, with a view to procure him admission among the
clerks of the order of St. John of Jerusalem. He had
scarcely arrived here when the plague broke out, to which
he incautiously exposed himself; but although he escaped
the contagion, he fancied that the air of Malta did not
agree with him, and obtained leave of his superiors to re-
turn to Paris, where he might prosecute his studies in the
classics, philosophy, and divinity. As he had not taken
the vows in the order of St. John, he had no sooner com-
pleted his studies at home, than he entered into the con-
gregation of the oratory. His year of probation being
passed, he was sent to the college of Jully, where he
taught mathematics, and went afterwards to the seminary
of Notre Dame des Vertus, where he employed his leisure
i Coxe's Travels through Russia, vol. II. p. 197.
394 L O N G.
time in study, particularly of philosophy, which brought
him acquainted with father Malbranche. On his return
to Paris he was appointed to the care of the library belong-
ing to the fathers of the oratory, a place for which he was
admirably qualified, as he was not only acquainted with
Latin, Greek, Hebrew, and the Chaldean, but with the
Italian, Spanish, Portuguese and English languages, and
had a very extensive knowledge of literary history, of books,
editions, and printing. The continual pains, however,
which he bestowed on this library, and on his own publica-
tions, undermined his constitution, which was originally
delicate, and brought on a complaint in the chest, which
proved fatal, Aug. 13, 1721, in the fifty. sixth year of his
life. His time for many years had been divided between
devotion and study ; he allowed very little to sleep, and
less to the table. Although a man of extensive knowledge,
and often consulted, he was equally modest and unaffected.
In all his researches he shewed much acuteness and judg-
ment, but the course of his studies had alienated him from
works of taste and imagination, for which he had little re-
lish. His principal object was the ascertaining of truth in
matters of literary history; and the recovery of dates and
other minutiae, on which he was frequently obliged to
bestow the time that seemed disproportionate, was to him
a matter of great importance, nor was he to be diverted
from such accuracy by his friend Malbranche, who did not
think philosophy concerned in such matters. " Truth,"
said Le Long, " is so valuable, that we ought not to
neglect it even in trifles." His works are, 1. " Methode
Hebraique du P. Renou," 1708, 8vo. 2. " Bibliotheca
Sacra, sive syllabus omnium ferme Sacrse Scripture ecli-
tionum ac versionum," Paris, 1709, 8vo, 2 vols. Of this
a very much enlarged edition was published at Paris in
1723, 2 vols. fol. by Desmolets. Another edition was be-
gun by Masch in 1778, and between that and 1790, 5 vols.
4to were published, but the plan is yet unfinished. 3.
"Discours historique sur les principales Editions des Bibles
Polyglottes," Paris, 1713, 8vo, a very curious work. 4.
" Histoire des demelez du pape Boniface VIII. avec Phi-
lippe Le Bel, roi de France," 1718, 12mo, a posthumous
work of M. Baillet, to which Le Long added some docu-
ments illustrating that period of French history. 5. " Bib-
liotheque Historique de France," 1719, fol. a work of vast
labour and research, and perhaps the greatest of all his
LONG. 395
undertakings. It has since been enlarged by Ferret de
Fontette and others, to 5 vols. fol. 1768—78, and is the
most comprehensive collection of the kind in any language.
The only other publication of M. Le Long was a letter to
M. Martin, minister of Utrecht, with whom he had a short
controversy respecting the disputed text in 1 John, v. 7.1
LONG (EDWARD), author of a valuable History of Ja-
maica, was the fourth son of Samuel Long, esq. of Long-
ville, in the island of Jamaica, and Tredudwell in the
county of Cornwall, by his wife Mary, second daughter of
Bartholomew Tate, of Delapre in the county of Northamp-
ton, esq. He was born Aug. 23, 1734, at Rosilian, in the
parish of St. Blaize, in Cornwall. He was placed first at
Bury school, under Dr. Kinnesman, and was removed
thence about 1746, probably on account of his father's
residence in the country, to a school at Liskeard, in Corn-
wall, under the management of the Rev. Mr. Haydon. In
1752 he left this place, and after two years private instruc-
tion in London, he was entered at Gray's Inn, and fixed
with Mr. Wflmot. His father dying, in 1757, in Jamaica,
he resolved to embark for that Island ; but, not having
completed his terms, he obtained an ex gratia call to the
bar before he sailed. On his arrival in Jamaica, he at first
filled the post of private secretary to his brother-in-law,
sir Henry Moore, bart. then lieutenant-governor of the
island ; and was afterwards appointed judge of the vice-ad-
miralty court. On Aug. 12, 1758, he married Mary, se-
cond daughter, and at length sole heiress, of Thomas
Beckford, esq. Mr. Long's ill health compelled him to
leave the island in 1769 ; and he never returned to it, but
passed the remainder of his life in retirement, devoting his
leisure to literary pursuits, and particularly to the com7
pletion of his " History of Jamaica," which was published
in 1774, 3 vols. 4to. His high station in the island afforded
him every opportunity of procuring authentic materials,
which he digested with ingenuity and candour, although
perhaps a little too hastily. He saw its imperfections,
however, and had been making preparations for a new
edition at the time of his death. In 1797 he resigned bis
office of judge of the vice-admiralty court ; and died March
13, 1813, at the house of his son-in-law, Henry Howard
Molyneux, esq. M. P. of Arundel Park, Sussex, and was
buried in the chancel of Slindon church in that county.
1 Niccron, vol. I. and X. — Moreri. — Diet. Hist. — Saxii Oaomaat.
396 L O N G.
Besides his " History of Jamaica," Mr. Long contri-
buted to public information or amusement by a variety of
lesser productions. Early in life he wrote some essays in
"The Prater, by Nicholas Babble, esq." 1756. 2. " The
Antigallican, or the History and Adventures of Harry Cob-
ham, esq." 1757, 12mo. 3. "The Trial of farmer Car-
ter's Dog Porter, for murder," 1771, 8vo. 4. " Reflec-
tions on the Negro Cause," 1772, 8vo. 5. " The Senti-
mental Exhibition, or Portraits and Sketches of the Times,"
1774, 8vo. 6. " Letters on the Colonies," 1775, 8vo. 7.
" English Humanity no Paradox," 1778, 8vo. 8. A pamph-
let on "The Sugar Trade, 1782, 8vo. He was likewise
editor of " Memoirs of the Reign of Bossa Ahaclee, king
of Dahomy, with a short account of the African slave
trade, by Robert Norris," 1789,v8vo. '
LONG (ROGER), an English divine and astronomer, was
born about 1680, and was educated at Pembroke hall,
Cambridge, of which he was A. B. in 1700, A.M. 1704,
and S. T. P. in 1728. In 1733 he was elected master of
Pembroke hall, and in 1749 Lowndes's professor of astro-
nomy. He is chiefly known as an author by a " Treatise
on Astronomy," in two volumes 4to ; the first of which was
published in 1742, and the second in 1764. He, was the
inventor of a curious astronomical machine, erected in a
room at Pembroke hail, of which he has himself given the
following description : " I have, in a room lately built in
Pembroke hall, erected a sphere of 18 feet diameter,
wherein above thirty persons may sit conveniently ; the
entrance into it is over the south pole by six steps ; the
frame of the sphere consists of a number of iron meridians,
not complete semi-circles, the northern ends of which are
screwed to a large plate of brass, with a hole in the centre
of it; through this hole, from a beam in the cieling, comes
the north pole, a round iron rod, about three inches long,
and supports the upper parts of the sphere to its prope*
elvation for the latitude of Cambridge ; the lower part of
the sphere, so much of it as is invisible in England, is cut
off; and the lower or southern ends of the meridians, or
truncated semi-circles, terminate on, and are screwed down
to, a strong circle of oak, of about thirteen feet diameter,
which, when the sphere is put into motion, runs upon
large rollers of lignum vitae, in the manner that the tops of
> Gent. Mag- vol. LXXX1II,
LONG. 397
some wind-mills are made to turn round. Upon the iron
meridians is fixed a zodiac of tin painted blue, whereon
the ecliptic and heliocentric orbits of the planets are
drawn, and the constellations and stars traced ; the great
and little Bear and Draco are already painted in their
places round the north pole ; the rest of the constellations
are proposed to follow ; the whole is turned with a small
winch, with as little labour as it takes to wind up a jack,
though the weight of the iron, tin^ and wooden circle, is
about a thousand pounds. When it is made use of, a
planetarium will be placed in the middle thereof. The
whole, with the floor, is well-supported by a frame of large
timber." Thus far Dr. Long, before this curious piece of
mechanism was perfected. Since the above was written,
the sphere has been completely finished ; all the constel-
lations and stars of the northern hemisphere, visible at
Cambridge, are painted in their proper places upon plates
of iron joined together, which form one concave surface.
Dr. Long died Dec. 16, 1770, aged ninety-one, being
at that time master of Pembroke college, and rector of
Bradwell juxtaMare, in Essex, leaving 600/. to his college.
Besides his astronomical work,- he published in 1731,
under the name of Dicaiophilus Cantabrigiensis, " The
Rights of Churches and Colleges defended ; in answer to a
pamphlet called * An Enquiry into the customary estates
and tenant-rights of those who hold lands of church and
other foundations, by the term of three lives, &c. by
Everard Fleetwood, esq. ;' with remarks upon some other
pieces on the same subject," 8vo. The author of this
pamphlet, to which our author replied, was not Fleetwood,
which was an assumed name, but Samuel Burroughs, esq. a
master in chancery. Dr. Long published also a " Com-
mencement-Sermon, 1728 ;" and an answer to Dr. Gally's
pamphlet " On Greek Accents." We shall subjoin a few
traits of him, as delineated in 1769, by Mr. Jones: " He
is now in the eighty-eighth year of his age, and, for his
years, vegete and active. lie was lately (in October) put
in nomination for the office of vice-chancellor. He exe-
cuted that trust before ; I think in the year 1737. A very
ingenious person, and sometimes very facetious. At the
public commencement in the year 1713, Dr. Greene
(master of Bene't college, and afterwards bishop of Ely)
being then vice-chancellor, Mr. Long was pitched upon for
the tripos-performance ; it was witty and humourous, and
398 L O N G.
has passed through divers editions. Some that remem-
bered the delivery of it told me, that, in addressing ttye
vice chancellor (whom the university-wags usually styled
Miss Greene), the tripos -orator, being a native of Norfolk,
and assuming the Norfolk dialect, instead of saying, Do-
mine vice.-cancellariey did very archly pronounce the words
thus, Doming vice-cancellaria, ; which occasioned a general
smile in that great auditory. His friend the late Mr. Bon-
foy of Ripton told me this little incident: * That he and
Dr. Long walking together in Cambridge, in a dusky even-
ing, and coming to a short post fixed in the pavement,
which Mr. B. in the midst of chat and inattention, took to
be a boy standing in his way, he said in a hurry, * Gel
out of my way, boy.' 'That boy, sir,' said the doctor
very calmly and slily, * is a post-boy, who turns out of his
way for nobody.'
" I could recollect several other ingenious repartees if
there were occasion. One thing is remarkable. He never
was a hale and hearty man ; always of a tender and delicate
constitution, yet took cane of it. His common drink, water.
He always dines with the fellows in the hall. Of late
years, he has left off eating flesh-meats; in the room
thereof, puddings, vegetables, &c. Sometimes a glass or
two of wine." '
LONG (THOMAS), a learned divine of the church of
England, was born at Exeter in 1621, and became a ser-
vitor of Exeter college, Oxford, in 1638. In 1642 he took
the degree of B. A. but soon after .left the university, and
obtained the vicarage of St. Lawrence Clist, near Exeter.
After the restoration he was, per literas regias, created
B. D. and made prebendary of Exeter, which he held
until the revolution, when refusing to take the oaths to the
new government, he was ejected. He died in 1700. Wood
characterizes him as " well read in the fathers, Jewish and
other ancient writings," and he appears also to have made
himself master of all the controversies of his time in which
subjects of political or ecclesiastical government were con-
cerned, and took a very active part against the various
classes of separatists, particularly those whose causa Mr.
Baxter pleaded.
His principal work^ are, 1. " An Exercitation concern-
1 Nichols's Bowycr.— Gept. Mag. LI. p. 530; and L1II. p. 923.— Cole's MS
Athena; in Jjrit. Mus.
LONG. £99
ing the use of the Lord's Prayer in the public worship of
God," Lond. 1658, 8vo, partly in answer to some senti-
ments advanced by the celebrated Dr. John Owen in his
" Vindicise Evangelicae." 2. " Calvinus redivivus, or Con-
formity to the Church of England, in doctrine, govern-
ment, and worship, persuaded by Mr. Calvin," ibid. 1673,
8vo. 3. " History of the Donatists," ibid. 1677, 8vo. 4.
" The Character of a Separatist ; or sensuality the ground
of separation," ibid. 1677, 8vo. 5." Mr. Hales's Treatise
of Schism examined and censured," ibid. 1678, 8vo, occa-
sioned by the publication of that treatise among Hales's
" Posthumous Miscellanies." 6. " The Nonconformist's
Plea for Peace impleaded, in answer to several late writ-
ings of Mr. Baxter, and others," &c. ibid. 1680, 8vo. 7.
" Unreasonableness of Separation," &c. begun by Stilling-
fleet, with remarks on the life and actions of Baxter," ibid.
1681, 4to and 8vo. 8. " No Protestant, but the Dissen-
ters' Plot, discovered and defeated ;. being an answer to
the late writings of several eminent dissenters," ibid. 1682,
8vo. 9. " Vindication of the Primitive Christians in point
of obedience to their prince, against the calumnies of a
book entitled * The Life of Julian the Apostate,' " ibid.
1683, 8vo. 10. " History of all the popish and fanatical
Plots, &c. against the established government in Church
and State," &c. ibid. 1684, 8vo. 11. "The Letter for
Toleration decyphered," &c. ibid, 1689, in answer to
Locke. 12. " Vox Cleri; or the sense of the Clergy con-
cerning the making of alterations in the Liturgy," ibid.
1690. 13. " An Answer to a Socinian Treatise, called the
Naked Gospel," ibid. 1691. 14. " Dr. Walker's true, mo-
dest, and faithful account of the author of Eikon Basilike,*'
&c. proving this work to have come from the pen of Charles
I. 15. Several single Sermons.1
LONGEPIERRE (HILARY BERNARD DE), a Greek scho-
lar and- critic, was born at Dijon Oct. 18, 1659. By much
study he made himself master of the beauties of the Greek
tongue, a merit not common in his time; and has left us
poetical translations of Anacreon, Sappho, Bion, and Mos-
chus, with notes. He wrote several tragedies in imitation
of the Greek poets ; and he copied them chiefly in thisj
that, in subjects of terror and cruelty, he never introduced
love. ,. But he also copied them in common-place prolixity
i Ath. Ox. vol. H.
400 LONGEPIERRE.
and want of action and plot ; while he could never equal
the beauty of their diction. Of those tragedies in the
Grecian taste h« never brought but two upon the stage,
viz. the " Medea" and " Electra." He died March 30,
1721. >
LONGINUS (DlONYSius CASSIUS), the author of an ad-
mired work " On the Sublime," was a Grecian, and pro-
bably an Athenian, though some authors fancy him a Sy-
rian. He was born in the third century. His father's
name is entirely unknown ; by his mother Frontonis he
was allied to Plutarch. We know nothing of the employ-
ment of his parents, their station in life, or the begin-
ning of his education ; but from a fragment of his it ap-
pears, that his youth was spent in travelling with them,
which gave him an opportunity to increase his knowledge
and improve his mind. Wherever men of learning were
to be found, he was present, and lost no opportunity of
forming a familiarity and intimacy with them. Ammonius
and Origen, philosophers of great reputation in that age,
were two of those whom he visited, and heard with the
greatest attention. The travels of Longinus ended with
his arrival at Athens, where he fixed his residence. Here
he pursued the studies of humanity and philosophy with
the greatest application. Here also he published hit
" Treatise on the Sublime," which raised his reputation to
such a height, as no critic either before or since could
ever reach. His contemporaries there had so great an
opinion of his judgment and taste, that they appointed
him sovereign judge of all authors; and every thing was
received or rejected by the public according to the deci-
sion of Longinus.
His stay at Athens seems to have been of long continu-
ance ; and, whilst he taught there, he had, amongst others,
the famous Porphyry for his pupil. The system of philo-
sophy, which he adopted, was the academic; for whose
founder (Plato) he had so great a veneration, that he cele-
brated the anniversary of his birth with the highest solem-
nity. But it was his lot to be drawn from the contempla-
tive shades of Athens, to mix in more active scenes : — to
train up young princes to virtue and glory ; to guide the
busy and ambitious passions of the great to noble ends ;
to struggle for, and, at last, to die in, the cause of liberty.
1 Moreri.— Bajllct.— Diet. Hist.
L O N G 1 N U S. 401
Zenobia, queen of the East, prevailed upon him to under-
take the education of her sons. He quickly gained an un-
common share in her esteem; and in his conversation she
spent the vacant hours of her life, modelling her senti-
ments by his instructions, and steering herself by his coun-
sels in the whole series of her conduct. Zenobia was at
war with the emperor Aurelian, was defeated by him near
Antioch, and was compelled to retire to her fortified capi-
tal, Palmyra. The emperor sent her a written summons
to surrender ; to which she returned an answer drawn up
by Longinus, which raised his highest indignation. The
emperor exerted every effort, and the Palmyrians were at
length obliged to open their gates, and receive the con-
queror. The queen and Longinus endeavoured to fly into
Persia, but were overtaken and made prisoners as they
were crossing the Euphrates. When the captive qoeen
was brought before the emperor, her spirits sunk; she
laid the blame of her conduct on her counsellors, and fixed
the odium of the affronting letter on its true author. This
was no sooner heard, than Aurelian, who was hero enough
to conquer, but not to forgive, poured all his vengeance
on the head of Longinus. He was carried away to imme-
diate execution, amidst the generous condolence of those
who knew his merit. He pitied Zenobia, and comforted
his friends. He looked upon death as a blessing, since it
rescued his body from slavery, and gave his soul the most
desirable freedom. " This world," said he, with his ex-
piring breath, " is nothing but a prison ; happy therefore
he, who gets soonest out of it, and gains his liberty.'*
His death took place in the year 273.
The writings of Longinus were numerous, some on phi-
losophical, but the greatest part on critical, subjects. Dr.
Pearce has collected the titles of twenty-five treatises,
none of which, except that on " the Sublime," has escaped
the depredations of time and the barbarians. On this mu-
tilated and imperfect piece has the fame of Longinus been
erected. The learned and judicious have bestowed extra-
ordinary commendation upon it. Its general title is '* The
Golden Treatise." Pope is more than usually happy in
characterizing Longinus :
" Thee, great Longinus ! all the Nine inspire,
And fill their critic with a poet's fire ;
An ardent ju<Jg«, Who, zealous in his trust,
With warmth gives sentence, and is always just j
VOL. XX. D D
402 L O N G I N U S.
Whose own example strengthens all his laws,
And is himself the great Sublime he draws."
But this last line, so often quoted, forms the great ob-
jection which modern critics have advanced against this
celebrated treatise, viz. his exemplifying rather than ex-
plaining the sublime. His taste and sensibility were ex-
quisite, but his observations are too general, and his me-
thod too loose. The precision of the true philosophical
critic, says Warton, is lost in the declamation of the florid
rhetorician. Instead of shewing for what reason a senti-
ment or image is sublime, and discovering the secret
power by which they affect a reader with pleasure, he is
ever intent on producing something sublime himself. It
has likewise been objected, that although he defines the
sublime with precision, he frequently departs from his own
rule, and includes whatever, in any composition, pleases
highly. Some, therefore, of his instances of the sublime
are mere elegancies, without the most distant relation to
sublimity. His work, however, in other respects, is one
of the most valuable relics of antiquity, and is admirably
calculated to give excellent general ideas of beauty in writ-
ing. Brurker remarks that Longinus must have seen the
Jewish scriptur.es, as he quotes a passage from the writings
of Moses, as an example of the sublime (Gen. i. 3) " And
God said, Let there be light, and there was light."
The first edition of Longinus was that of Robertelli,
printed at Basil, in 1554, 4to, with a preface by the prin-
ter, Oporinus. The best editions since, are those of Tol-
lius, Utrecht, 1694, 4to, Gr. Lat. and French; of Hud-
son, Oxon. 1710, 1718, and 1730, 8vo ; of Pearce, Lond.
1724, 4to and 8vo, often reprinted; and the very cele-
brated edition of Toup, Oxford, 1778, 4to and 8vo, which
reflects the highest honour on the learning and judgment
of that excellent scholar. There is an accurate Oxford
edition of 1806, formed on the basis of Toup, in 8vo. *
LONGLAND, or LANGLAND (JOHN), a learned pre-
late, was born in 1473 at Henley in Oxfordshire, and edu-
cated at Magdalen -college, Oxford, where he was much
esteemed as a man of eloquence, and of a regular life.
His character is recorded in the East window of the foun-
der's chamber over the great gate of this college, in these
lines:
1 Preface to Smith's English Translation.— S*gtii Onomast.— Wartcn's Es**y
on Pope.— Blair's Lectures, &c.
L O N G L A W D. 403
" Longlandi fiierat mater domus ista, fuitque
Longlandus domui non mediocre decus."
After becoming a fellow of his college, he was in 1505
chosen principal of Magdalen-hall, which he resigned in
1507. In 1510 he was admitted to the reading of the
sentences, and took his degree of B. D. and that of D. D.
in the following year. In 1514 he was promoted to be
dean of Salisbury, and in 1519 had the additional prefer-
ment of a canonry of Windsor. At this time he was in
such favour with Henry VIII. as to be appointed his con-
fessor, and upon the death of Atwater, bishop of Lincoln,
he was by papal provision advanced to this see in 1520,
and was consecrated May 3, 1521. In the same year
(1520) we find him at Oxford assisting in drawing up
the privileges for . the new statutes of the university. In
1523 he was at the same place as one of those whom.
Wolsey consulted in the establishment of his new col-
lege; and when the foundation was laid on July 15,
1525, Longland preached a sermon, which, with two
others on the same occasion, he dedicated to archbishop
Warham. He was afterwards employed at Oxford by the
king, to gain over the learned men of the university fo
sanction his memorable divorce. It is said, indeed, that
when Henry's scruples, or, as we agree with the catholic
historian, his pretended scruples, began to be started, bi-
shop Longland was the first that suggested the measure of
a divorce. The excuse made for him is, that he was him-
self over-persuaded to what was not consistent with his
usual character by Wolsey, who thought that Longland's
authority would add great weight to the cause ; and it is
said that he expressed to his chancellor, Dr. Draycot, his
sorrow for being concerned in that affair. In 1533 he was
chosen chancellor of the university of Oxford, to which he
proved in many respects a liberal benefactor, and to poor
students a generous patron. The libraries of Brazenose,
Magdalen, and Oriel colleges, he enriched with many va-
luable books; and in 1540 he recovered the salary of the
lady Margaret professorship, which had almost been lost,
owing to the abbey from which it issued being dissolved.
It must not be disguised, however, that he was inflexible
in his pursuit and persecution of what he termed heresy.
In 1531, we find him giving a commission to the infamous
Dr. London, warden of New college, and others,, to search
for certain heretical books commonly sold at St. Frides-
DD 2
404 LONGLAND.
wyde's fair near Oxford. He died May 7, 1547, at Woo-
burn in Bedfordshire, where his bowels were interred ;
while his heart was carried to Lincoln cathedral, and his
body deposited in Eton-college chapel, where it is thought
he once had some preferment. He built a curious chapel
in Lincoln cathedral in the east part, in imitation of bishop
Russel's chapel, with a tomb, &c. He also gave the se-
cond bell at Wooburn church, and built almshouses at
Henley, his birth-place.
Hia works are: 1. " Conciones Tres," printed by Pyn-
son, fol. dedicated to archbishop Warhatn. 2. " Quinque
sermones, sextis quadragesimis feriis, coram Hen. VIII."
anno 1517, printed also by Pynson, Lond. 1528. 3. " Ex-
positio concionalis Psalmi Sexti," 1518. 4. " Expositio
cone, secundi psalmi pcenitentialis, coram rege," 1519.
5. " Conciones expositive in tertium psalm, pcenit." (3.
44 Conciones in 50 psalm, pcenit. coram rege," 1521, 1522.
Most of these sermons were preached in English, but
translated into Latin by Thomas Key, of All Souls college,
and printed by Robert Redman in 1532, fol. 7. "Ser-
mon before the King on Good-Friday/' Lond. 1538, men-
tioned by Fox.1
LONGLAND, or LANGELANDE (ROBERT), the re-
puted author of "The Visions of Pierce Plowman," is
considered as one of our most ancient English poets, and
one of the first disciples of Wickliff. He was a secular
priest, born at Mortimer's Cleobury, in Shropshire, and
was a fellow of Oriel college, Oxford. According to Bale,
he completed his work in 1369, when John Chichester was
mayor of London. It is divided into twenty parts (passus,
as he styles them), and consists of many distinct visions,
which have no mutual dependance upon each other, but
form a satire on almost every occupation of lite, particu-
larly on the Romish clergy, in censuring whom his master
Wickliff had led the way. The piece abounds with hu-
mour, spirit, and imagination ; all which are drest to great
disadvantage in a very uncouth versification and obsolete
language. It is written without rhyme, an ornament which
the poet has endeavoured to supply, by making every
verse to consist of words beginning with the same letter.
This practice has contributed not a little to render his
* Ath. Ox. vol. I. — Wood's Annals. — Dodd's Church History — Wartcn'i
lint, of Poetry. — Willis's Cathedrals. — Peck'* Desiderata, vol. II.
L O N G L A N D. '405
poem obscure and perplexed, exclusive of its obsolete
style ; for, to introduce his alliteration, he must have been
often necessarily compelled to depart from the natural and
obvious way of expressing himself. Dr. Hickes observes,
that this alliterative versification was drawn by Langelande
from the practice of the Saxon poets, and that these vi-
sions abound with many Saxonisms. As he did not follow
the example of Gower and Chaucer, who sought to re-
form the roughness of their native tongue, by naturalizing
many new words from the Latin, French, and Italian, and
who introduced the seven-lined stanza from Petrarch and
Dante into our poetry, the inquirer into the original of
our language will find in him a greater fund of materials
to elucidate the progress of the Saxon tongue.
In the introduction to the vision, the poet (shadowed
by the name and character of Peter or Pierse, a plowman)
represents himself as weary of wandering, on a May-morn-
ing, and at last laid down to sleep by the side of a brook ;
where, in a vision, he sees a stately tower upon a hill,
with a dungeon, and dark dismal ditches belonging to it,
and a very dee.p dale under the hill. Before the tower a
large field or plain is supposed, filled with men of every
rank or occupation, all being respectively engaged in their
several pursuits ; when suddenly a beautiful lady appears
to him, and unravels to him the mystery of what he had
seen. Before every vision the manner and circumstances
of his falling asleep are distinctly described ; before one
of them in particular, P. Plowman is supposed, with equal
humour and satire, to fall asleep while he is bidding his
beads. In the course of the poem, the satire is carried on
by means of several allegorical personages, such as Avarice,
Simony, Conscience, Sloth, &c. Selden mentions this
author with honour; and by Hickes he is frequently styled,
" Celeberrimus il-le Satyrographus, morum vindex acerri-
mus," Sue. Chaucer, in the ** Plowman's Tale," seems to
have copied from our author. Spenser, in his Pastorals,
seems to have attempted an imitation of his visions ; and
Milton is considered as under some obligations to him.
The memory of this satire has been of late years revived
by Percy, Warton, and Ellis, in whose works more ample
information may be found than it is necessary to admit in
a work professedly biographical. Perhaps indeed it does
not belong to our department, since some of the most pro-
found of our poetical critics have considered it as anony-
406 L O N G L A N D.
mous; Mr Tycwhitt remarks that in the best MSS. the au-
thor is called William, without any surname, and the
name of Robert Longland, or Langlande, rests upon the
authority only of Crowley, its earliest editor. Three of
Crowley's editions were published in 1550, doubtless owing
to its justifying the Reformation then begun under king
Edward, by exposing the abuses of the Romish church.
There is also an edition printed in 1561, by Owen Rogers,
to which is sometimes annexed a poem of nearly the same
tendency, and written in the same metre, called " Pierce
the Plowman's Crede," the first edition of which, how-
ever, was printed by Wolfe in 1553. Of both these works,
new editions have recently been announced.1
LONGOLIUS. See LONGUE1L.
LONGOMONTANUS (CHRISTIAN), an eminent astro-
nomer, was born at Longomontum, a town in Denmark,
whence he took his name, in 1562. Vossius, by mistake,
calls him Christopher. He was the son of Severinus, a
poor labourer, and was obliged to divide his time between
following the plow and attending to the lessons which the
minister of the parish gave him, by which he profited so
much as to acquire considerable knowledge, especially in
the mathematics. At length, when he was fifteen, he
stole from his family, and went to Wiburg, where there
was a college, in which he spent eleven years, supporting
himself by his talents : and on his removing thence to
Copenhagen, the professors of this university soon con-
ceived a high esteem for him, and recommended him
to Tycho Brahe, who received him very kindly. He lived
eight years with this eminent astronomer, and assisted him
so much in his observations and calculations, that Tycho
conceived a very particular affection for him, and having
left his native country to settle in Germany, he was desir-
ous of having the company of Longomontanus, who ac-
cordingly attended him. Afterwards being, in 1600, de-
sirous of a professor's chair in Denmark, Tycho generously
consented to give up his assistant and friend, with the
highest testimonies of his merit, and supplied him plenti-
fully with money for his journey. On his return to Den-
mark, he deviated from his road, in order to view the
places whence Copernicus had made his astronomical ob-
) Warton's Hist, of Poetry.— Percy's Reliques. — Eil is's Specimens. — Cooper's
Muses' Library, &c.
LONGOMONTANUS. 407
servations; and passed so much time in this journey, that
it was not till 1605 that he was nominated to the professor-
ship of mathematics in the university of Copenhagen. In
this situation he continued till his death, in 1647, when
he was eighty-five years old. He married, and had chil-
dren ; but the whole of his family died before him. He
was the author of several works, iu mathematics and astro-
nomy. His "Astronomia Danica," first printed in 1611,
4to, and afterwards at Amsterdam, 1640, in folio, is tbe
most distinguished. He amused himself with endeavouring
to square the circle, and pretended that he had made the
discovery of it; but our countryman Dr. John Pell attacked
him warmly on the subject, and proved that he was mis-
taken. It is remarkable, that, obscure as his village and
father might be, he dignified and perpetuated both ; for
he took his name from his village, and, in the title-page
of his works, wrote himself " Christianus Longomontanus
Severini films." '
LONGUEIL (CHRISTOPHER DE) or LONGOLIUS, a
very elegant scholar, was born in 1490, at Mechlin, al-
though some have called him a Parisian, and Erasmus
makes him a native of Schoohhoven in Holland. He was
the natural son of Antony de Longueil, bishop of Leon,
who being on some occasion in the Netherlands, had an
intrigue with a female of Mechlin, of which this son was
the issue. He remained with his mother until eight or
aine years old ; when he was brought to Paris for educa-
tion, in the course of which he fur exceeded his fellow-
scholars, and was able at a very early age to read and un-
derstand the most difficult authors. He had also an extra-
ordinary memory, although he did not trust entirely to it,
but made extracts from whatever he read, and showed
great discrimination in the selection of these. His taste
led him chiefly to the study of the belles lettres, but his
friends wished to direct his attention to the bar, and ac-
cordingly he went to Valence in Dauphiny, where he
studied civil law under professor Philip Decius, for six
y«ars, and returning then to Paris, made so distinguished
a figure at the bar, that in less than two years, he was ap-
pointed counsellor of the parliament of Paris, according to
his biographer, cardinal Pole, but this has been questioned
on account of its never having been customary to appoint
* Gen. Diet.— Ilutton's Dictionary. — Martin's Biog. Philosophica. — Moreri.
408 L O N G U E I L.
persons so young to that office ; Pole has likewise made
another mistake, about which there can be less doubt, in
asserting that the king of Spain, Philip, appointed Lon-
gueil bis secretary of state, for Philip died in 1506, when
our author was only sixteen years of age.
In the mean time, it is certain that his attachment to
other studies soon diverted him from his law practice. He
appears in particular to have considered Pliny as an author
meriting his most assiduous application, and whose works
would furnish him with employment for many years. With
this view he not only studied Pliny's " Natural History,"
with the greatest care, as well as every author who had
treated on the same subject, but determined also to travel
in pursuit of farther information, as well as to inspect the
productions of nature, wherever found. But before this
it became necessary for him to learn Greek, with which
he had hitherto been unacquainted, and he is said to have
made such progress, as to be able, within a year, to read
the best Greek authors, on whom he found employment
for about five years. Besides selecting from these works
whatever might serve to illustrate his favourite Pliny, he
now determined to commence his travels, and accordingly
went to England, Germany, and Italy, and would have
travelled to the East had not the war with the Turks pre-
vented him. In England, in which he appears to have
been in 1518, he became very intimate with Pace and Li-
nacre. He encountered many dangers, however, in his
continental tour. As he was travelling, with two friends,
through Switzerland, the natives of that country, who,
after the battle of Marignan, regarded the French with
horror, conceived that Longueil and his party were spies,
and pursued them as far as the banks of the Rhone. One
was killed, the other made his escape by swimming ; but
Longueil, being wounded in the arm, was taken prisoner,
and treated with great severity for about a month, at the
end of which he was released by the interposition of the
bishop of Sion, who furnished him with money and a horse,
to convey him to France. At Rome he was afterwards ho-
noured with the rank of citizen, and received with kind-
ness by Leo X. who had a great opinion of his talents and
eloquence, made him his secretary, and employed him to
write against Luther. He visited France once more after
this, but the rec<*ption he met with in Italy determined
him to settle there, at Padua, where he resided, first with
LONGUEIL. 40'J
Stephen Sauli, a noble Genoese, and on his departure,
with Reginald Pole, afterwards the celebrated cardinal, to
whom we are indebted for a life of Longueil. Here he
died Sept. 11, 1522, in the thirty-third year of his age,
and was interred in the church of the Franciscans, in the
habit of that order, as he had desired. He was honoured
with a Latin epitaph by Bembo, who was one of his princi-
pal friends, and recommended to him the writings of
Cicero, as a model of style. Longueil became so capti-
vated with Cicero, as to be justly censured by Erasmus on
this account. Longueil, however, was not to be diverted
by this, but declared himself so dissatisfied with what he
ha4 written before he knew the beauties of Cicero's style,
*s to order all his MSS. written previous to that period, to
be destroyed. We have, therefore, but little of Longueil
left. Among the MSS. destroyed was probably his com-
mentary on Pliny, which some think was published, but
this is very doubtful. We can with more certainty attri-
bute to him, 1. " Oratio de laudibus D. Ludovici Franco-
rum regis, &c." Paris, 1510, 4to. Some remarks on the
court of Rome in this harangue occasioned its being
omitted in the collection of his works, but Du Chesne
printed it in the fifth volume of his collection of French
historians. 2. " Christ. Longolii, civis Roman ae perduel-
lionis rei defensiones duae," Venice, 8vo. This is a vindi-
cation of himself against a charge preferred against him,
when at Rome, that he had advanced sentiments dishonour-
able to the character of the Romans in the preceding ora-
tion. 3. " Ad Lutheranos jam damnatos Oratio," Cologn,
1529, 8vo. It appears from his letters that he had been,
requested both to write for and against Luther, that he
was long in great perplexity on the subject, but that at
length Leo X. prevailed with him to write the above. These
last two pieces with his letters, &c. have been often re-
printed, under the title of " Christ. Longolii Orationes,
Epistolcc, et Vita, necnon Bembi et Sadoleti epistolse,"
the first edition, at Paris, 1533, 8vo. There are many cu-
rious particulars of literary history and character scattered
through this correspondence. The life prefixed is now
known to have been written by Pole, who was his most
intimate friend and admirer, and to whom he bequeathed
his library.1
1 Life prefixed to his works. — Nicefon, vol. XVII. — Bnllart's Acad<*mir <1<»s
S<-ionres, vol II.— Philips'* Life of Cardinal Pole. — Pole's Life of Longueil w
uvited in Uates's Vitaj scleclorura.— -Eraimi Ciceronianiu.
4JO L O N G U E I L.
LONGUEIL (GILBERT, or GISBERT DE),E skilful physi-
cian of the sixteenth century, was bom in 1507, at Utrecht,
and died in 1543, at Cologn, aged thirty-six. He was phy-
sician to Herman, archbishop of that city, and left the fol-
lowing works, "Lexicon Graeco-Latinum," 1533, Svo; "Re-
marks in Latin on Ovid's Metamorphoses, Plautus, Corne-
lius Nepos, the Rhetoric of Herennius, and on Laurentius
Valla," in several volumes Svo ; an edition in Greek and
Latin of the " Life of Apollonius Tyaneus," by Philostra-
tus, Svo, and a Latin translation of Plutarch's seven
" Gpuscula," Svo ; Notes on Cicero's familiar Epistles, and
a second edition of the Council of Nice, &c.'
LONGUERUE (LEWIS DUFOUR DE), son of Peter Du-
four, seigneur de Longuerue, a Norman gentleman, king's
lieutenant of Charleville, in which city he was born, 1652,
discovered such uncommon genius for learning «t four
years old, that Louis XIV. passing through Charleville, and
hearing him mentioned, desired to see him. His tutor
was the celebrated Richelet ; and Peter d'Ablancourt, who
was related to him, superintended his education and stu-
dies. He was taught both the oriental and European lan-
guages, and acquired an extensive knowledge of history,
antiquities, the sacred writings, the holy fathers, &c. To
an uncommon memory he joined very considerable critical
talents. He held two abbeys, that of Sept- Fontaines in the
diocese of Rheims, and of Jard in the diocese of Sens. He
died November 22, 1733, at Paris, aged eighty-two. Hi«
works are, 1. A Dissertation in Latin, on Tatian, in the
edition of that author, published at Oxford, 1 700, Svo ;
2. " La Description Historique de la France," Paris, 1719,
folio. Tins work bis countrymen think unworthy of the
abbe" de Longuerue, from the changes which have been
made in it, and the hurry in which it was printed. The
original maps, which have been altered, may be found in
some copies. 3. " Annales Arsacidarum," Strasburg,
1732. 4. " Dissertation on Transubstantiation," which
passed under the name of his friend the minister Allix, be-
cause unfavourable to the catholic faith. He wrote also
Remarks on the Life of Cardinal Wolsey, and left nume-
rous works in MSS. on different subjects in several volumes,
folio. There is a collection of bis bon mots among the
« Ana." «
' Moreri. — Burman Trajcct. erudit.— Diet. His*.
* Life prefixed to the Looguerana. — Moreri.— Diet. Hiit,
LONGUEVAL. 411
LONGUEVAL (JAMES), a learned French ecclesiastical
historian, was born at Santerre in Picardy in 1680, and
was educated at Amiens and Paris. In 1699 he entered
into the society of the Jesuits at Paris, and devoted him-
self with great ardour to writing a " History of the Galli-
can Church.* Of this he published the first eight volumes,
and had nearly completed the ninth and tenth, when he
died of an apoplexy, January 14, 1735, aged fifty-four.
Besides this history, which is his principal work, and has
been continued by the fathers Fontenai, Brumoy, and Ber-
thier, to J 8 vols. 4to, he left a treatise " On Schism," 1718,
12mo; a "Dissertation on Miracles," 4to, and some other
works, which all display great genius, and are written with
much spirit, and in pure language. The first eight vo-
lumes of the " History of the Gallican Church," contain
learned remarks on the religion of the ancient Gauls, en
the ancient geography of Gaul, on the religion of the
French, and on many other important subjects.1
LONGUS was an ancient Greek author, probably of
the fifth century, who seems to have written after Helio-
dorus, and, in some places, to have imitated him. He is
called a sophist ; but we have no remains of his except
four books of " Pastorals upon the Loves of Daphnis and
Cloe." Huet speaks advantageously of this work, and had
proposed, when he was young, to have made a translation
of it ; but he also takes notice of several defects in it, and,
doubtless, its obscenities made him lay aside his purpose
of translating it. None of the ancient writers mention,
Longus. There is a good edition of the original by Petrus
Moll, a professor of the Greek language at Franeker, 166O,
in 4to, but Villoison's, Gr. and Lat. Paris, 1778, '2 vols. 8va,
is the best. It was translated into English by George
Thorney, and printed at London in 1657. The last edition
of the English version, of which there have been four, is
inscribed to James Craggs, esq. secretary of state. The
French, with whom this work has always been a favourite,
have many translations of it. That by Amyot has passed
through many editions; the most elegant of which is that
of 1718, 12mo, with 29 plates, drawn by the regent, Phi-
lip duke of Orleans, and engraved by Benoft Audran ; the
29th is not his engraving, and is seldom found in the edi-
tion of 1718, the reason of which, some say, was, that only
1 Moreri.— Diet. Hist.
412 L O N G U S.
25O copies were taken, which the prince disposed of as
presents; but Brunei thinks it is too common for so small
an impression. Next to this edition, that of 1745, 8vo, is
preferred, with the same plates retouched.1
LORKNZIN1, or LAURENTINI (FRANCIS MARIA), an
eminent Italian poet, was born at Home, Oct. 12, 1680.
He was in his twenty-second year received into the society
of the Jesuits, among whom he hid been educated, but
owing to bad health, was obliged to quit them, and after
much consideration, -anti a conflict with his taste, which was
decide.ily for polite literature, he studied and practised the
law for some time, until iiis inclination for more favourite
studies returning, he entered, in 1705, intu the academy
of the Arcadi, the chief object of which was the reforma-
tion of the bad taste which had infected Italian poetry.
He is said to have excelled in melo-dramas, or pieces on
religious subjects, adapted to being sung, written in the
Latin language ; and has been denominated the Michael
Angelo of Italian poets, on account of the boldness and
energy of his expressions. In 1728, on the death of Cres-
cembini, he xvas chosen president of the academy, and be-
sides founding five academical colonies in the neighbouring
towns, instituted a private weekly meeting of the Arcadi,
at which the plays of Plautus or Terence, in the original
language, were performed by youths trained for the pur-
pose But the want of a regular profession, and his con-
stant attendance to these pursuits, often deranged his
finances; and he appears not to have acquired permanent
patronage until cardinal Borghese enrolled him among his
noble domestics, and paid him liberally. In 1741, he took
up his residence in the Borghese palace, where he died in
June 1743. His Italian poems, which are much admired,
have been printed at Milan, Venice, Florence, Naples, &c.
and in many of the collections. His Latin " Sacred Dramas"
were separately published at Rome ; and his other Latin
poetry, among those ot the academicians ofr the Arcadi.8
LOR1T (HEMRY), commonly called Glareanus, from
Claris, a town in Switzerland, where he was born in 1488,
was educated at Cologne, Basil, and Paris, and in the
course of his studies acquired the friendship of some emi-
nent scholars, particularly Erasmus. He had a strong turn
to music, and made it a great part ol his study. After
• Gen. Dia.— Moreri.— Saxii Onoraast. « Fabroni Vil« luloiutn.
L O R I T. 415
having contributed to the advancement of letters, both by
discourse and writing, he died in 1563, aged seventy- five.
He composed the following works : I. ".Isagoge in Arith-
meticam/' 2. " Descriptio. de Situ Helvetia & vicinis
Gentibus." 3. " De quatuor Helvetiorum Fcedere Pane-
gyricon." 4. " Isagoge in Musicatn." 5. " De Geogra-
phia Liber." 6. " Judicium in Terentii Carmina." 7.
" In Horatium Annotationes." 8. " Annotationes in Ovi-
dii Metamorphoses." 9. " Annotationes in Ciceronis Li-
brum de Senectute." 10. " Annotationes in Sallustii, quae
adhuc extant, Historiarum Fragmenta." 11. " Commen-
tariusin Arithmeticam & Musicam Boethii." 12. "Anno-
tationes in Johannis Csesarii Dialecticam." 13. "Anno-
tationes in Ccesaris Cotnmentaria." 14. "Annotationes in
Titum Liviurn." 15. " Annotationes & Cbronologia in
totam Historiam Romanam." 16. " Annotationes in Dio-
nysiurn Halicarnasseum." 17. " Elegiarum Libri duo." 18.
" De Arte Musica." 19. " De Ponderibus ac Mensuris."
20. "Annotationes in Valerium, Suetonium, & Lucanum."
21. "Annotationes in Eutropium." 22. " Epistola ad
Johannem Hervagium." 23. " Scholia in J£\n Donati
Methodum." 24. " Brevis Isagoge de Katione Syllabarum
& de Figuris quibus Poetae utuntur." 25. " De Asse Li-
bellus." »
LORME (PHILIBERT DE), master of the works to the
French kin;', was born at Lyons about the beginning of
the sixteenth century. At fourteen, he went into Italy, to
study the beauties of antiquity. There he became ac-
quainted with Cervius, afterwards pope Marceilus II. who
had a good taste for the polite arts, and, conceiving a great
esteem for Lorme, communicated to him every thing that
he knew. Enriched with the spoils of antiquity, he re-
turned to Lyons in 1536, and banished thence the Gothic
taste. At length, going to Paris, to work for the cardinal
de Bellay, he was soon employed in the court of Henry II.
He made the Horse-shoe, a fortification at Fontainbleau,
built the stately chateau ot? Anet and Meudon ; the palace
of the Thuilleries, and repaired and ornamented several of
the royal houses, as Villiers, Colerets, St. Germain then
called the castle of the Muette, the Louvre, &c. These
services were recompensed above his expectations. He
was made almoner and counsellor to the king, and had
> Mwreri.— Diet. Hjst.
414 LORME.
i
the abbies of St. Eloy and St. Serge of Angers conferred
upon him.
Ronsard, the poet, out of envy, published a satire, or
satirical sonnet, against him, under the title of " LaTruelle
crosse'e," the Trowel crosier'd. De Lorme revenged him-
self, by causing the garden-door of the Thuilleries, of
which he was governor, to be shut against the poet; and
Ronsard, with a pencil, wrote upon the gate these three
words : " Fort, reverent, habe." De Lorme, who under-
stood little Latin, complained of this inscription, as levelled
at him, to queen Catharine de Medicis, who, inquiring
into the matter, was told by Ronsard, that, by a harmless
irony, he had made that inscription for the architect when
read in French ; but that it suited him still better in Latin,
these being the first words abbreviated of a Latin epigram
of Ausonius, which begins thus : " Fortunam reverenter
habe." Ronsard added that he only meant that De Lorme
should reflect on his primitive grovelling fortune, and not
to shut the gate against the Muses. De Lorme died in
1557; leaving several books of architecture, greatly es-
teemed. These are, 1. " Nouvelles Inventions pour bien
bastir & a petit frais," Paris, 1561, folio, fifty-seven leaves.
2. " Ten Books of Architecture," 1568, folio.1
LORRAIN (ROBERT LE), an eminent sculptor, was born
at Paris in November 1666. From his infancy he made so
rapid a progress in the art of designing, that, at eighteen,
the celebrated Girardon intrusted him with the care of
teaching his children, and of correcting the designs of his
disciples. He committed to him also, in conjunction with
Noulisson, the execution of the famous tomb of cardinal
Richelieu in the Sorbonne, and of his own tomb at St.
Landres, in Paris. On his return from Rome, he finished
several pieces at Marseilles, which had been left imperfect
by the death of M. Pu-get. He was received into the aca-
demy of sculpture, Oct. 1701, when he composed his
Galatea for his chef d'ceuvre, a work universally esteemed.
Lorrain afterwards made a Bacchus for the gardens at Ver-
sailles, a fawn for those at Marli, and several bronzes;
among others, an Andromeda, &c. The academy elected
him professor May 29, 1717 ; and he died their governor
Jtne 1, 1743, aged 77.
The pieces in the episcopal palace of Saverne, which
1 Gen. Diet— >lor«i.
L O R R A I N. 415
are ail of his composition, are much admired. He was
a learned designer, with a great deal of genius, and suc-
ceeded in his heads, especially those of the young nymphs,
with so much truth, and a delicacy so admirable, that his
chisel seemed to be directed by Corregio or Parmegiano.1
LORRIS (WILLIAM DE), a French poet, who flourished
about the middle of the thirteenth century, was the author
of the " Roman de la Rose," a poem much in request in
the middle ages, and known in this country by Chaucer's
translation. It was left unfinished by Lorris, and was
completed in the next century by John de Meuu. The part
by Lorris, though the shortest, is by much -the most poeti-
cal, abounding in rich and elegant description, and in lively
portraiture of allegorical personages. The early French
editions of this poem are of great rarity and value, and are
enumerated by Brunei, and other bibliographers. Of the
author nothing is known. 2
LORRY (ANNE-CHARLES), a learned French physician,
was born at Crosny, near Paris, in 1725. In 1748, he was
admitted doctor of the faculty of medicine at Paris, and
became doctor-regent of the faculty. He was author of
several works, some of which still maintain their value.
His first publication was entitled " Essai sur 1' Usage des
Alimens, pour servir de Commentaire aux livres diete"-
tiques d'Hippocrate," Paris, 1753, 12mo; the second
part of which appeared in 1757. His next publication was
an edition of the Aphorisms of Hippocrates, Greek and
Latin, in 1759. Afterwards he produced a treatise "De
Melancholia et Morbis Melancholicis," -ibid. 1765, in two
volumes 8vo, and edited Dr. Astruc's " Memoires pour ser-
vir a 1'Histoire de la Faculte de Medecine dp Montpeliier,"
ibid, 1767, 4to ; and " Sanctorii de Medicina Statica,"
with a commentary, 1770, in 12mo. His last work, which
combined the merits of much erudition and accurate obser-
vation, with great clearness of arrangement and perspicuity
of language, was " Tractatus de Morbis Cutanais," Paris,
1777, in 4to. Dr. Lorry also edited a Latin edition of
the works of Mead, and a French one of Barker's disser-
tation on the conformity of the doctrines of ancient and
modern medicine. He died at the baths of Bourbonne,
in 1783. '
1 Moreri. — D'Argenvillc
8 Warton's Hist, of Poetry.—Tyrwhitt's Chaucer— Brunei's Manuel du Li-
braire. » Rees's Cyclopaedia from Eloy.
4J6 L OR T.
LOftT (MrcHAEL), a learned and amiable clergyman,
and some time Greek professor of the university of Cam-
bridge, was descended from an ancient family in Pem-
brokeshire, and was the son of major Lort, of the Welsh
fusileers, who was killed at the battle of Fontenoy, in 1745.
He was born in 1725, and was admitted of Trinity-college,
Cambridge, in 1743, from whence he removed into the
family of Dr. Mead, to whom he was librarian until the
death of that celebrated physician, in 1754; and while in
that situation probably acquired the taste for literary history
and curiosities which enabled him to accumulate a very
valuable library, as well as to assist many of his contempo-
raries in their researches into biography and antiquities.
In the mean time he kept bis terms at college ; and pro-
ceeded A. B. in 1746 ; was elected fellow of his college in
1749 ; and took his degree of M. A. in 1750. In 1755 he
was elected a fellow of the society of antiquaries, and was
many years a vice-president, until his resignation in 1788.
During this time he made some communications to the
" Archxologia," vols. IV. and V. In 1759, on the resig-
nation of Dr. Francklin, he was appointed Greek professor
at Cambridge, and in 1761 he took the decree of B. D.
and was appointed chaplain to Dr. Terrick, then bishop of
Peterborough. In January 1771 he was collated by Dr.
Cornwallis, archbishop of Canterbury, to the rectory of St.
Matthew, Friday-street, on which he resigned his Greek
professorship; and in August 1779 he was appointed chap-
lain to the archbishop, and in the same year commenced
D.D. In April 1780, the archbishop gave him a prebend
of St. Pau Ps (his grace's option) and he continued at Lam-
beth till 1783, when he married Susanna Norfolk, one of
the two daughters of alderman Norfolk, of Cambridge. On
the death of Dr. Ducarel, in 1785, he was appointed by
archbishop Moore, librarian to the archiepiscopal library at
Lambeth. He was also for some years librarian to the
duke of Devonshire. In April 1789, he was presented by
Dr. Porteus, bishop of London, to the sinecure rectory Jqf
Fulham, in Middlesex ; and in the same year was insti-
tuted to the rectory of Mile-end, near Colchester. He
died Nov. 5, 1790, at his house in Savile-row ; his death
was occasioned by a fall from a chaise while riding near
Colchester, which injured his kidnies, and was followed
by a paralytic stroke. He was buried at bis church in Fri-
day-street, of which he had been rector nineteen years. A
LOR T, 417
monumental tablet was put up to his memory, which also
records the death of his widow, about fifteen months after-
wards. They had no issue.
Dr. Lort was well known to the learned of this and other
countries, as a man of extensive literary information, and
a collector of curious and valuable books, at a time when
such articles were less known and in less request than at
present. He was very generally and deservedly esteemed
by his numerous acquaintance. An artless simplicity
formed the basis of his character, united to much kindness
and liberality. With talents and learning that might have
appeared to great advantage from the press, Dr. Lort was
rather anxious to assist the labours of others than ambitious
of appearing as the author of separate publications. Except
a few occasional sermons, a poem on the peace of Aix-la-
Ghapelle among the Cambridge congratulations, and some
anonymous contributions to the Gentleman's Magazine,
and other literary journals and newspapers, we can only
mention, as an original work, " A Short Commentary on
the Lord's Prayer; in which an allusion to the principal
circumstances of our Lord's temptation is attempted to be
shewn ;" printed in 8vo, 1790. In this ingenious tract, he
adopts the translation taken by Dr. Doddridge from the
fathers, and given in his " Family Expositor." Mr. Ni-
chols has printed, from the pen of Dr. Lort, a curious
" Inquiry into the author, or rather who was not the author,
of The Whole Duty of Man." The same gentleman ac-
knowledges his obligations to Dr. Lort for assistance in
some of his valuable labours. To Grander also Dr. Lort
o
communicated much information. Biography had beeu
always his study, and most of his books were filled with
notes, corrections, and references of the biographical
kind. He had likewise compiled many MS lives, which
were dispersed at his death. Of some of these the editor
of this Dictionary has been enabled to avail himself. His
library was not remarkable for external splendour, but it
contained a great number of rare and valuable articles, and
formed a sale of twenty-five days, at Messrs. Leigh and
Sotheby's, in 1791. The produce was 1269/1; and his
prints sold for 40 1/.1
LOTICH (PETER), surnamed SECUNDUS, a distinguished
modern Latin poet, was nephew to a celebrated abbot of
the monastery of Solitaire, in the county of Hanau, in
1 Nichols's Bowyer. — Nichols's Poems. — Gent. Mag. LX. XXI. — Lysoni's
Environs, vol. II.— Granger's Letters by Malrolin, p. 192.
VOL. XX. E K
418 L O T I C H.
Germany, who in 1543 established the protestant religion
in his society, and died in 1567. He was born Nov. 2,
1528, at Solitaire, received the early part of his education
at a convent in his native place, and pursued his tnaturer
studies at Francfort, Marpurg, and Wittemburg, at which last
place he contracted an intimacy with Melancthon and Ca-
merarius. During the war in Saxony in 1 546, when Melanc-
thon and his colleagues were obliged to leave Wittemburg,
Lotich being in great perplexity what to do, at length
entered, among the troops of John Frederic, elector of
Saxony, with some of his fellow-students; but in 1548 we
find him again at Erfurtb, and afterwards at Wittemburg,
pursuing his studies. In 1550 he visited France with some
young persons to whom he was governor, and he continued
there nearly four years. He afterwards went to Italy,
where he had nearly been destroyed by poison prepared
for another purpose : he recovered from the effects of it,
but was subject to frequent relapses, one of which carried
him off in the year 1560. He had taken his degree
of doctor of physic at Padua, and in 1557 was chosen pro-
fessor in that science at Heidelberg. In this situation he
was honoured with the friendship of the elector-palatine,
and by the excellence of his disposition, and the singular
frankness and sincerity of his character, rendered himself
universally beloved. A collection of his Latin poems was
published in 1561, the year after his decease, with a de-
dicatory epistle by Joachim Camerarius, who praises him
as the best poet of his age. This has been often reprinted,
but a complete and correct edition of all his works was
published at Amsterdam in 1754, 2 vols. 4to, by Peter
I3urman, nephew of the celebrated writer of those names.
Lotich had a younger brother Christian, likewise a poet,
and educated by his uncle, the abbot. A collection of his
poems was published in 1620, along with those of his
relation John- Peter Lotich, a physician of eminence, and
grandson of the above- mentioned Christian, who exercised
his profession at Minden and at Hesse, and became
professor of medicine at Rintlen in Westphalia. He
died very much regretted in 1652. His principal works
are, " Conciliorum et Observationum Medicinalium ;"
"Latin Poems;'* " A Commentary on Petronius," and
" A History of the Emperors Ferdinand II. and III." in
four volumes, is attributed to him. '
» qeo. Diet.— Niceron, vol. XXVI.— dhaufepie.— Month. Rev. vol.XVI.
k O U B E R E. 419
LOUBERE (SiMON DE LA), a French poet, was born in
1642, of a respectable family at Toulouse. He was ori-
ginally secretary of the embassy to M. de St. Remain, am-
bassador in Switzerland, and went to Sram, 1687, as envoy
extraordinary from the French king. On his return to
France, he was entrusted with a secret commission in SpaVi
and Portugal, s-trpposed to have had for its object the de-
tachment of those two courts from the alliance which had
produced the revolution in England ; but his design trans-
piring, he was arrested at Madrid, and with difficulty ob-
tained his liberty. M. dela Loubere attached himself after-
wards to the chancellor de Pontchartrain, and travelled
with his son. He was admitted into the French academy
in 1693, and that of the belles lettres in 1694 ; and retired
at last to Toulouse, where he married at sixty, established
the Floral Games, and died March 26, 1729, aged eighty-
seven. His works are, Songs, Vaudevilles, Madrigals,
Sonnets, Odes, and other poetical pieces ; an account of
his voyage to Siam, 2 vols. 12rno, and a treatise " de la
Resolution des Equations," 1729, 4 to. &c. Of his voyage
to Siam, there is an English translation, published in 1693,
folio. It is the only one of his productions now in request.
There is reason to think he was not much admired by
some of the academicians. It being by means of M. de
Pontchartrain that he was admitted into the French aca-
demy, Fontaine said,
" C'est un impot que Pontchartrain
Vent mettre sur 1' Academic."1
LOUIS (ANTHONY), an eminent French surgeon, was
born at Metz, February 13, J723. He attained to great
reputation in his profession, and was honoured with the nu-
merous appointments of secretary of the royal academy of
surgery at Paris, consulting surgeon to the king's forces,
surgeon-major to the hospital La Charite", doctor in surgery
of the faculty of Halle, in Saxony, honorary member of the
royal college of physicians of Nancy, and member of many
of the learned societies, not only in France, but in foreign
countries. He died, May 20, 1792, and desired to be in-
terred among the poor in the burial-ground of the hospital
de la Salpetriere. In addition to the surgical part of the
" Encyclopedic," which M. Louis wrote, and to several
interesting papers presented to the academy of surgery, he
» Niceron, vol. XXVI.— Chaufepie.— Diet Hist.
EE 2
420 LOUIS.
was author pf a great number of works on medical, chirnr-
gical, and anatomical subjects, the principal of which we
shall mention : 1. " Observations sur P Electrical,'* &c.
Paris, 1741, I2mo. 2. " Essai sur la Nature de PAme, oft
1'on tache d'expliquer son union avec le corps," ibid. 1746,
12mo. 3. " Cours de Chirurgie pratique sur les plaies
d'armes a feu," ibid. 1746, 4to. 4. " Observations et lle-
marques sur les eHets du virus cancereux,'' &c. ibid. 1748.
4. *' Posiiiones Anatomico-chirurgicae de capite ejusque
vulneribus," ibid. 1749. 6. " Lettre sur la certitude des
signes de la mort, avec des observations et des experiences
sur les noyes," ibid. 1749, 12mo. In this he fell into the
mistake of attributing the death of persons drowned to the
entrance of water into the lungs. 7. " Experiences sur la
Lithotomie," 1757. 8. " Memoire sur une question ana-
tomique, relatif a la jurisprudence," &.c. 1763. This me-
moir, written after the shocking affair of Calas, was in-
tended to establish the distinction of the appearances after
voluntary death by hanging, and after murder by that mode;
and although he has not resolved the difficulty, the per-
formance is ingenious, and the advice given to surgeons
excellent. 9. " Memoire sur la l£gitimite des naissances
pr^tendues tardives," 1764, in 8vo ; to which he published
a supplement in the same year. 10. " Recueil d'Obser-
vations d'Anatomie et de Chirurgie, pour servir de base
a la Theorie des lesions de la t^te par contrecoup," 1766.
11. " Histoire de PAcademie Royale de Chirurgie depuis
son dtablissement jusqu'en 1743," printed in the fourth
volume of the memoirs. His last publication was a transla-
tion of M. Astruc's work " De Morbis Venereis," into
French. In addition to these works, M. Louis also trans-
lated Boerhaave's Aphorisms of Surgery, with Van Swie-
ten's Commentary ; and wrote several eulogies on deceased
members of the academy of surgery, and various contro-
versial tracts, especially concerning the disputes between
the physicians and surgeons of Paris, in 1748, &.C.1
LOUVET (PETER), an able advocate in the seventeenth
century, and master of requests to queen Margaret, was
born at Reinville, a village two leagues from Beauvais. He
died in 1646. His works are, I. " L'Histoire et les Anti-
qnit&j de Beauvuis," vol. I. 1609, and 1631, 8vo ; vol. II.
Rouen, 1614, 8vo. The first treats of the ecclesiastical
1 Diet. Hist.— Rccs's Cyclopaedia, from Eloy.
L O U V E T, , 421
affairs of Beauvais ; the second, of the civil affairs. 2.
" Nomenclatura et Chronologia rerum Ecclesiasticarum
Dioecesis Bellovacensis," Paris, 1618, 8vo. 3. " Hist, des
Antiquity's du Diocese de Beauvais," Beauvais, lh.3.5, 8vo.
4. " Anciennes Remarques sur la Noblesse Beaiuoisme, et
de plusieurs Families de France," 1 63 1, and 164O, 8vo.
This work is very scarce ; it is in alphabetical order, but
has only been printed from A to M inclusively, with one
leaf of N. Father Triboulet, prior of the Dominicans at
Beauvais, and afterwards procurator- general of' his order,
being authorised to establish a college in the Dominican
convent of Beauvais, and to enforce the observance of the
rules and statutes of reformation respecting studies there,
was imprisoned by his brethren. On this occasion Louvet
published, " Abre"g6 d: s Constitutions et Reglemens
pour les Etu;les et Reformes du Convent des Jacobins de
Beauvais," and addressed it to tht- king, in 1618, by an
epistle dedicatory, in which he petitioned that Triboulet
might be set at liberty. — There was another French histo-
rian of the same names, who was horn at Beauvais. His
father was a native of Amien>? and riot related to the pre-
ceding. He studied physic at Montpellier ; also the belles
lettre- anil geography ; taught rhetoric with reputation in
Provence during a considerable time ; and geography at
Montpellier; and published several works from 1657 to
1680, respecting the history of Languedoc, Provence, &c.
under the following titles: 1. " Remarques sur 1'Histoire
de Langnedoc," 4to 2."Abreg6 de I'Histoire d'Aquitaine,
Guienne, et Gascogne, jusqu'a present," foourdeaux, 1659,
4to. 3 " La France dans sa Splendeur," 2 vols. I2mo.
4. " Ahrege* de I'Histoire de Provence," 2 vols. 12mo, with
additions to the same history in 2 vols. folio. 5. " Projet
de I'Histoire du Pays de beanjolots," 8vo. 6. " Hist, des
Troubles de Provence deputs 1481 jusqu'en 159S," 2 vols.
I2mo. 7. " Le Mercure Hollandois. ou Ifs Conquetes du
Roi, lepuis !n7J, jusqira la fin de 1679," 10 vols I2mo.
This last may be useful, and is the best of Peter Louvet's
works ; but HOIK of the rest are much esteemed.1
LOVb, (CHRISTOPHER), a presbyterian divine of consi-
derable tame in the time of Cromw< II, was born at Cardiff
in Glamorganshire, in 1618. In his earlier days he was of
a dissipated turn; and his religious education, at least,
1 Moreri.— Diet. Hist.
422 LOVE.
must have been neglected by his parents, if what his bio-
grapher says be true, that he was fifteen years of age be-
fore he ever heard a sermon. The effect of this sermon,
however, preached by Mr. Erbery, was such that he be-
came not only reformed, but so strict and precise in his
religious duties, as to give offence to his father, who at
length placed him as an apprentice in London. His son,
who was averse to this measure, earnestly intreated that
he might be sent to the university; to which having ob-
tained a very reluctant consent, he became a servitor of
New Inn, Oxford, in 1635. Here, however, as his father
denied him a proper support, he subsisted by the help of
the above-mentioned Mr. Erbery, and such supplies as his
mother could afford. After taking a bachelor's degree in
arts, he went into holy orders, and preached frequently at
St. Peter in the Bayley, but his principles were so unac-
ceptable, that after he had taken his master's degree, and
had refused to subscribe the canons enjoined by archbishop
Laud, relative to the prelates and the Book of Common
Prayer, he was expelled the congregation of masters.
On leaving Oxford, he went to London, where his fixed
aversion to the hierarchy prevented his promotion to any
living, and procured his being silenced, on which he went
to Scotland to obtain presbyterian ordination ; but, accord-
ing to the laws of that church, he could not be ordained
without settling there. On his return to England, he
preached occasionally at various places, always intro-
ducing sentiments of the bitterest hostility to the church of
England. At length, when his wishes were accomplished,
by the establishment of the presbyterian government in
England, he was ordained, according to their method, in
Aldermanbury church, London, in January 1644. Next
year he gave proof that he had as little prudence as mode-
ration, by going to Uxbridge, when the commissioners
for the treaty of peace were there, and preaching a ser-
mon, in which he inveighed with great violence against his
majesty's commissioners, who complained of the insult to
those of the parliament. He was, in consequence, sent for
to London, and although acquitted by order of the House
of Commons, yet, according to Neal, was confined to his
house during the treaty, and then discharged. That lan-
guage must have been very gross which induced the par-
liament to act thus towards one of their greatest favourites.
He was next appointed one of the Assembly of Divines,
LOVE. 42$ ,
and minister of St. Lawrence Jury, and is said also to have
been chosen minister of St. Anne's, Aldersgate-street. He
was one of the London ministers who signed a declaration
against the king's death. He was afterwards engaged in a
plot, which cost him his life, and was known at the time by
the name of Love's plot, either because he was a principal
agent, or a principal sufferer. Mr. Love, we have already
noticed, was a presbyterian, and when he found that the
independents were gaining the ascendancy, he united with
various gentlemen and ministers of his own way of think-
ing to assist the Scotch (before whom Charles II. had taken
the covenant, and by whom he had been crowned,) in
their endeavours to advance that sovereign to the crown of
England. Cromwell, howev&r, was too watchful for the
success of such a design in London ; and the chief conspi-
rators being apprehended, Mr. Love and a Mr. Gibbons
were tried and executed, the rest escaping by interest, or
servile submission. Mr. Love appears on his trial to have
used every means to defeat its purpose, and was certainly
more tenacious of life, than might have been expected
from the boldness of his former professions. Great inter-
cessions were made to the parliament for a pardon : his
wife presented one petition, and himself four ; several
parishes also, and a great number of his brethren inter-
ceded with great fervour ; but all that could be obtained
was the respite of a month. It is said that the affairs of
the commonwealth being now at a crisis, and Charles II.
having entered England with 16,000 Scots, it was thought
necessary to strike terror in the presbyterian party, by
making an example of one of their favourite ministers.
Some historians say that Cromwell, then in the north, sent
a letter of reprieve and pardon for Mr. Love, but that the
post-boy was stopped on the road by some persons belong-
ing to the late king's army, who opened the mail, and
finding this letter, tore it in pieces, exclaiming that " he
who had been so great a firebrand at Uxbridge, was not
fit to live." Whatever truth may be in this, he was exe-
cuted, by beheading, on Tower-hill, Aug. 22, 1651. He
was accompanied at his death by the three eminent non-
conformists, Simeon Ashe, Edmund Calamy, and Dr. Man-
ton. The latter preached a funeral sermon for him, in
which, while he avoids any particular notice of the cause
of his death, he considers him, as the whole of his party
did, in the light of a saint and martyr. The piety of hi*
L O V E.
life, indeed, ereated a sympathy in his favour which did
no little harm to the power of Cromwell. Thousands be-
gan to see that the tyranny of the republic would equal all
they had been taught to hate in the mo larchv. Tne go-
vernment, we are told, expressed some displeasure at Dr.
Manton's intention of preaching a funeral sermon, and their
creatures among the soldiers threatened violence, but he
persisted in his resolution, and not only preached, but
printed the sermon. The loyalists, on the other hand,
considered Love's death as an instance of retributive jus-
tice. Clarendon says that he " was guilty of as much trea-
son as the pulpit could contain ;" and his biographers have
so weakly defended the violence of his conduct during the
early period of the rebellion, as to leave this fact almost
indisputable. His works consist of sermons and pious
tracts, on various subjects, mostly printed after his death,
and included in three volumes, 8vo. They were all ac-
companied by prefaces from bis brethren, of high com-
mendation.1
LOVK (JAMES), an actor and dramatic writer, assumed
this name (from his wife's, De L'Amour) when he first at-
tached himself to the stage. He was one of the sons of
Mr. Dance the city surveyor, whose memory will be trans-
mitted to posterity on account of the clumsy edifice which
he erected for the residence of the city's chief magistrate.
Our author received, it is said, his education at West-
minster school, whence he removed to Cambridge, which,
it is believed, he lett without taking any degree. About
that time a severe poetical satire against sir Robert Wai-
pole, then minister, appeared under the title of " Are
these ihintrs so ?" which, though written by Mr. Miller,
was ascribed to Pope. To this Mr Love immediately
wrote a reply called " Yes, they are, what then ?" which
proved so satisfactory to U a pole that he made him a
handsom- present, and gave him expectations ot prefer-
ment. E <ited with this distinction, with the vanity of a
young atiiuor, and the credulity of a young man, he con-
sidered his fortune as established, and, neglecting every
other pursuit, became an attendant at the minister's levees,
where he contracted habits of indolence and expence,
without obtaining any advantage. The stage now offered
i Neat's Puritans^— Brook's Lives of the Puritans. — Crosby's History of tbe
Bjptists.— MS Life in Ayscough's Catalogue io the British Mnyim.
LOVE.
itself as an asylum from the difficulties he had involved
himself in, and, therefore, changing his name to Love, he
made !«is first essays ID strolling companies. He afterwards
performed l>o>h at Dublin and Edinburgh, and at the lat-
ter place resided some years as manager. At length he
received, in 1762, an invitation to Drury-lane theatre,
where he continued during the remainder of his life. In
1765, with the assistance of his brother, he erected a new
theatre at Richmond, and obtained a licence for perform-
ing in it ; but did not receive any benefit from it, as the
success by no means answered his expectations. He
died about the beginning of 1774. He neither as an actor
or author attained any great degree ot excellence. His
performance of Falstaff was by much the best, but the
little reputation which he acquired by it was entirely
eclipsed by the superiority of gen ;iis which his successor,
Mr. Henderson, di-splayed in the representation of the
same character As an author, he has given the world
"Pamela, a Comedy," 1742, and some other dramatic
pieces, enumerated in the ** Biographia Dramatica." '
LOVELACE (RICHARD), an elegant poet of the seven-
teenth century, was the eldest son of sir William Lovelace^
of Woolwich, in Kent, and was born in that county about
1618. He received his grammar-learning at the Charter-
house; and, in 1634, bt came a gentleman-commoner of
Gloucester hall, Oxford, being then, as Wood observes,
" accounted the most amiable and beautiful person that
eye ever beheld ; a person also of innate modesty, virtue,
and courtly tieponmerit, which made him then, and espe-
cially after, when he retired to die great city, much ad-
mired and adored by the female sex." In 1636 he was
created M. A. and, leaving the university, retired, as Wood
phmses it, in great splen .lour to the court; where being
taken into the favour of lord Goring he became a soldier,
and was fir.it an ensign, and aiterwards a captain. On the
pacification at Berwick he returned to his native country,
and took possession of his estate, worth about five hundred
pounds per annum ; and, about the same time, was deputed
by the county to deliver the Kentish petition to the House
of Commons, which Diving offence, he was ordered into
custody, and confined in the Gate-house, whence he was
released on giving bail of 40,000*. not to go beyond the
1 Biog. Dram.
426 LOVELACE.
lines of communication without a pass from tbe Speaker.
During the time of his confinement to London he lived
beyond the income of his estate, chiefly to support the
credit of the royal cause; and, in 1646, he formed a regi-
ment for the service of the French king, was colonel of it,
and wounded at Dunkirk. ' In 1648 he returned to Eng-
land with his brother, and was again committed prisoner to
Peter-house in London, where he remained till after tlie
king's death. At that period he was set at liberty, but,
" having then consumed all his estate be grew very me-
lancholy, which at length brought him into a consump-
tion, became very poor in body and purse, was the object
of charity, went in ragged cloaths (whereas when he was
in his glory he wore cloaths of gold and silver), and mostly
lodged in obscure and dirty places, more befitting the worst
of beggars and poorest of servants." He died in a very
poor lodging in Gunpowder-alley, near Shoe-lane, in 1658,
and was buried at the west end of St. Bride's church, tyis
pieces, which are light and easy, had been models in
their way, were their simplicity but equal to their spirit ;
but they were the offspring of gallantry and amusement,
and, seldom received a requisite degree of polish. Under
the name of Lucasta, which is the title to his poems, con-
tained in two volumes (the latter published by his brother
Dudley Posthumus Lovelace, in 1659), he compliments
a Miss Lucy Sacheverel, a lady, according to Wood, of
great beauty and fortune, whom he was accustomed to call
*' Lux Casta." On the report of Lovelace's death of his
wounds, at Dunkirk, she married. Winstanly has, and
not improperly, compared him to sir Philip Sidney. He
wrote also two plays, "The Scholar," a comedy, and "The
Soldier," a tragedy. '
LOVIBOND (EDWARD), a modern poet whose personal
history has been neglected, was, according to the preface
to his poems, "a gentleman of fortune, who passed the
greater part of his years in the neighbourhood of Hamp-
ton, in Middlesex, where he lived greatly beloved by those
who best knew him. He was an admirable scholar, of very
amiable manners, and of universal benevolence, of which
all his writings bear strong testimony. The little pieces
which compose (his works) were chiefly written on such
1 Life, in Gent Mag. vols. LXI. and LXft. — 3iog. Dram.— Ellis's Specimens.
— Headley's Beauties, &c.
LOVIBOND. 427
incidents as occasionally arose in those societies of inti-
mate acquaintance which he most frequented. After his
death, which happened in 1775, his poems being dispersed
in the hands of different friends, to whom they had been
given by himself, many people expressed to his only bro-
ther, Anthony, Lovibond Collins, esq. a wish to have them
collected together, and preserved. This gentleman, equally
zealous for the reputation of a brother he affectionately
loved, hath put into the editor's hands those pieces he hath
selected for that purpose."
Of a man of so many virtues, and so greatly beloved,
the public might reasonably have expected a more detailed
account. — His father, we are told, was a director of the
East India company, and died in 1737, leaving him pro-
bably that fortune on which he was enabled to pass his days
in the quiet enjoyment of the pleasures of rural life. He
died September 27, 1775, at his house at Hampton, but
the register of that parish is silent on his interment. We
have been informed also that he was married, and not very
happily.
When the " World" was conducted by Edward Moore,
and his many noble and learned contributors, Mr. Lovibond
furnished five papers; of which Nos. 93 and 94- contain
some just remarks on the danger of extremes, and the im-
pediments to conversation. In Nos. 132 and 134 he op-
poses the common erroneous notions on the subject of Pro-
vidence with considerable force of argument, and con-
cludes with some ironical remarks, not ill applied. In No.
82 he first published " The Tears of Old May Day," the
most favourite of all his poems. The thoughts are pecu-
liarly ingenious and happy, yet it may be questioned
whether it is not exceeded by his " Mulberry Tree," in
which the distinguishing features of Johnson's and Garrick's
characters are admirably hit off — the frivolous enthusiasm
of the one, and the solid and sturdy veneration of the other
for our immortal bard, are depicted with exquisite humour.
Julia's printed letter appears to haVe been a favourite with
the author. There are some bursts of genuine passion,
and some tenderness displayed occasionally, but it wants
simplicity. It was probably suggested by Pope's Eloisa,
and must suffer in proportion as it reminds us of that in-
imitable effort. His " Lines on Rural Sports" are both
poetical and moral, and contain some interesting.pictures
sweetly persuasive to a humane treatment of the brute
428 L O V I B O N D.
creation. His love verses, some of which are demi-platonic,
are tender and sprightly. The Miss K — P— < was Miss
Kitty Phillips, a relation of the family, now ennobled by
the title of MilforJ. The " Tale of the Hitchin Convent ;"
the " Lines to a young Lady,'* a very good actress; the
" Verses to Mr. Woodeson," and those on converting that
gentleman's house into a poor-house, are all distinguished
by original turns of thought. His pieces were generally
circulated in private, as he had not the ambition of an
author, and was contented to please those whom he in-
tended to please; yet he never attempted, any subject
which he did not illustrate by novelty of manner, and upon
the whole may be considered as among the most successful
of that class who are rather amateurs, than professional
poets. '
LOW (GEORGE), a clergyman of Scotland, and an in-
genious natural historian, was born at Edzal in Forfarshire,
iu 1746. He was educated at the colleges of Aberdeen
and St. Andrew's, and afterwards was tutor in the family of
Graham, at Stromness in Orkney. During his residence
at this place, Mr. (now sir Joseph) Banks and Dr. Soiander
arrived at the island on their return from the last voyage
of discovery, in which capt. Cook lost his life ; and Mr.
Low, having early acquired a taste for natural history, was
much noticed by those distinguished philosophers, and
was requested to accompany them in their excursions
through the Orkneys, and also to the Shetland islands,
which he accordingly lid.
In 1774- he was ordained minister of Birsay and Haray,
a parish in Pomona, or main-land of Orkney, and from
this time devoted himself to the duties of his charge, which
he continued to fulfil for the remainder of his lite. He
employed his leisure chiefly in the study of nature, and his
success was highly creditable, considering the many dis-
advantage-; of a remote situation. Sir Joseph Banks, with
his accrstouied zeal for the promotion of science, intro-
duced him to Mr. Pennant, by whose advice he engaged
to un n nake a " Fauna Orcadensis," and a " Flora Orca-
densi.s," ti.e Hrst of which was published in 1813, 4to,
from a MS. in the possession of Wilua.ii Eli'ord l.eacb,
M» D. F. L. S. &c. ; but the " Flora" iias not been disco-
vered. A tour through the islands of Orkney and Shetland,
' Johnson and Chalmcrs'i Poets, 1810.
LOW. . ;
Containing hints relating to their ancient, modern, and
natural history, was also prepared by Mr. Low for the
press, and previous to his decease, he made a translation
of Torfeus's "-History of Orkney." The MSS. of the
" Fauna," the tour and the translation just mentioned,
with his zoological collections, came into the possession of
Mr. George Paton, an eminent antiquary of Edinburgh,
after whose decease they were purchased by different per-
sons. Mr. Low died in 1795. His " Fauna" forms a very
interesting and valuable addition to the natural history of
the British islands.1
LOWE (PETER), a surgeon of the sixteenth century,
was born in Scotland. In a work entitled " A Discourse
on the whole Art of Chirurgery," published at Glasgow in
1612, he acquaints his readers, that he had practised
twenty- two years in France and Flanders; that he had
been two years surgeon- major to the Spanish regiment at
Paris ; and had then followed his master, the king of
France (Henry IV.) six years in his wars. In the title-
page of his book, he calls himself doctor in the faculty of
surgery at Paris, and ordinary surgeon to the king of
France and Navarre. It does not appear how long he had
resided at Glasgow ; but he mentions that, fourteen years
before the publication of his book, he had complained of
the ignorant persons who intruded into the practice of
surgery, and that in consequence the king (of Scotland)
granted him a privilege, under his privy seal, of examin-
ing all practitioners in surgery in the western parts of
Scotland. He refers to a former work of his own, entitled
" The Poor Man's Guide," and speaks of an intended pub-
lication concerning the diseases of women. He died iu
1612. The " Discourse on Chirurgery" appears to have
been in esteem, as it reached a fourth edition in 1654,
but it is founded more on authority than observation.
Ames mentions another work of his with the title " An
easy, certain, and perfect method to cure and prevent the
Spanish Sickness ; by Peter Lowe, doctor in the Facultie of
Chirurgerie at Paris, chirurgeon to Henry IV " London,
1596, 4to.s
LOWER (RICHARD), an eminent physician and anato-
mist, was born at Tremere, in Cornwall, about 1631. He
1 Advertisement by Mr. Leach, prefixed to the " Fauna."
8 Aikin's Biog. Memoirs of Medicine.— 'Rees's Cyclopaedia.
430 LOWER.
was descended from a good family, and received a liberal
education, being admitted as king's scholar at Westminster
school, and thence elected to Christ-church college, Ox-
ford, in 1649, where he took the degree of M. A. in 1655,
and then studied medicine. The celebrated Dr. Willis,
who employed him as coadjutor in his dissections, found
him so able an assistant, that he afterwards became his
steady friend and patron, and introduced him into prac-
tice. In 1665, Lower took the degree of M. D. ; and in
the same year published a defence of Dr. Willis's work on
fevers, entitled " Diatribae Thomae Willisii M. D. et Prof.
Oxon. de Febribus Vindicatio adversus Edm. de Meara
Ormondiensem Hibern. M. D." 8vo, a work of consider-
able learning and force of argument, but not without some
fallacies, as he afterwards himself admitted. But his most
important work was, his " Tractatus de Corde, item de
motu et calore Sanguinis, et Chyli in eum transitu," which
was first printed in London in 1669. In this work the
structure of the heart, the origin and course of its fibres,
and the nature of its action, were pointed out with much
accuracy and ingenuity. He likewise demonstrated the
dependance of its motions upon the nervous influence, re-
ferred the red colour of the arterial blood to the action of
the air upon it in the lungs, and calculated the force of
the circulation, and the quantity and velocity of the blood
passing through it. The work excited particular notice,
in consequence of the chapter on the transfusion of blood
from the vessels of one living animal to those of another,
which the author had first performed experimentally at
Oxford, in February 1665, and subsequently practised
upon an insane person before the royal society. Lower
claims the merit of originality in this matter; but the ex-
periment had certainly been suggested long before by IA-
bavius (see LIBAVIUS), and experience having soon decided,
that the operation was attended with pernicious conse-
quences, it was justly exploded. Lower had removed to
London soon after the commencement of these experi-
ments, and in 1667 had been a fellow of the royal society,
and of the college of physicians. The reputation acquired
by his publications brought him into extensive practice ;
and after the death of Dr.- Willis,. he was considered as
one of the ablest physicians in London. But his attach-
ment to the Whig party, at the time of the Popish plot,
brought bun iufao discredit at court, so that his practice
LOWER. 431
dedlned considerably before his death, Jan 17, 1690-91.
He was buried at St. Tudy, near his native place, in
Cornwall, where he had purchased an estate. Tn addition
to the writings above-mentioned, he communicated some
papers containing accounts of anatomical experiments to
the royal society; a small tract on catarrh, which was
added, as a new chapter, to the edition of the treatise de
Corde of 1680; and a letter on the state of medicine in
England. He is said to have been the first discoverer of
Astrop Wells.1
LOWER (SiR WILLIAM, KNT.), was a noted cavalier in
the reign of king Charles I. He was born at a place called
Tremare in Cornwall. During the heat of the civil wars
he took refuge in Holland, where, being strongly attached
to t|ie Muses, he had an opportunity of enjoying their so-
ciety, and pursuing his study in peace and privacy. He
died in 1662. He was a very great admirer of the French
poets, particularly Corneille and Quinault, on whose works
he has built the plans of four out of the six plays which he
wrote. The titles of his dramatic works are, 1. "Phoenix
in her Flames." 2. " Polyeuctes ; or, The Martyr." 3.
" Horatius." 4. " Inchanted Lovers." 5. " Noble In-
gratitude." 6. " Amorous Phantasm." All those, except
the first, were written during the usurpation. He trans-
lated from the French the first and third volumes of " The
Innocent Lady, or Illustrious Innocents." But the most
considerable of his translations, was " A Relation in form
of a Journal of the voyage and residence of Charles II. in
Holland from May 25, to June 2, 1660," fol. finely printed,
with good engravings of the ceremonies, and several copies
of bad verses by the translator.8
LOWMAN (MosEs), a learned dissenting clergyman,
was born in 1680. He was originally destined for the law,
and in 1697 entered as a student in the Middle-Temple,
but in about two years he changed his purpose and deter-
mined to study divinity. With this view he went over to
Holland in 1699, where he studied partly at Utrecht and
partly at Leyden. In 1710, after being admitted to the
ministry among the dissenters, he settled with the congre-
gation at Claphana, as assistant to Mr. Grace, whom he
succeeded as their pastor, and was ordained in 1714. In
i Biog. Brit.— Ath. Ox. vpl. II.— Rees's Cyclopedia.
* Ath. Ox. vol. II. — Biog. Dratn. — Cele's MS Athenaa in Brit. Mus.
L 0 W M A N.
this situation he continued to his death, preaching twice each
Sunday until within a few weeks of that event. He distin-
guished himself, from the period of his academical studies,
in metaphysics and divinity : and, to the close of his life,
he was an indefatigable reader, and acquired an extraordi-
nary stock of useful knowledge, particularly in Jewish
learning and antiquities, to which last he was much devo-
ted. The result of this application appeared in the learned
works he published, and which constituted his chief fame ;
for as a pulpit orator, it does not appear that he was much
admired. Dr. Chandler, who preached his funeral sermon,
gives him a very high personal character. He died May 3,
1752, in the seventy-third year of his age.
His pen was first employed, in 1716, in a kind of peri-
odical work, called the " Occasional Papers," which now
form three volumes, Svo, and in which he wrote, No. I.
(vol. H.) " On Orthodoxy ;" and No. VI. " On the danger
of the Chqrcb." His colleagues in this paper were Mr.
Simon Brown, Dr. Grosvenor, Dr. Evans, and others. The
subjects are in general on points in controversy with the
church. In 1718, he wrote a treatise against Collins, the
title of which, says his biographer, is forgotten, but it is
mentioned by the accurate Leland, as " The Argument
from prophecy, in proof that Jesus is the Messiah, vindi-
cated, in some considerations on the prophecies cf the Old
Testament, as the grounds and reasons of the Christian re-
ligion." It was not printed, however, until 1733. In
1735, he was one of the preachers at Salttr's-H ill, against
popery : the subject of his sermon, " The Principles of
Popery schismatical." He had published before this, two
occasional sermons. Another of his pamphlets, entitled
"An Argument to prove the Unity and Perfections of
God d prioi'i," uas more admired for its novelty and in»-
genuity than usefulness : but the works of Mr. Lowman
on which his reputation is most securely founded, are, 1.
"A Dissertation on the Civil Government of the Hebrews,"
in answer to Morgan's " Moral Philosopher." This, whicU
appeared in 1740, was esteemed a very j-udicious perfor-
mance, and was highly approved of by bishop Sherlock and'
other clergymen of the established church. The second edi-
tion, in 1745, has an appendix. 2. " A rationale of the Ritual
of the Hebrew Worship: in which the design anil usefulness
of that ritual are explained and vindicated from objections/1
1748. 3. " A Paraphrase and Notes upon the Revelation
•LOWTH. 433
of St. John," 4to, twice, and 8vo, lately. 4. " Three
(posthumous) Tracts," on the Schechina, the Logos, &c. l
LOWTH (WILLIAM), a distinguished divine, was the
son of William Lowth, apothecary and citizen of London,
and was born in the parish of St. Martin's Ludgate, Sept.H,
1661. His grandfather Mr. Simon Lowth, rector of Tyle-
hurst in Berks, took great care of his education, a«d ini-
tiated him early in letters. He was afterwards sent to
Merchant-Taylors' school, where he made so great a pro-
gress that he was elected thence into St. John's-college in
Oxford in 1675, before he was fourteen. Here he regu-
larly took the degrees of master of arts, and bachelor ra
divinity. His eminent worth and learning recommended
him to Dr. Mew, bishop of Winchester, who made him his
chaplain, and in 1696 conferred upon him a prebend in
the cathedral-church of Winchester, and in J699 presented
him to the rectory of Buriton, with the chapel of Peters-
field, Hants. His studies were strictly confined within
his own province, and solely applied to the duties of his
function j yet, that he might acquit himself the better, he
acquired an uncommon share of critical learning. There
is scarcely any ancient author, Greek or Latin, profane or
ecclesiastical, especially the latter, whose works he had
not read with accuracy, constantly accompanying his read-
ing with critical and philological remarks. Of his collec-
tions in this way, he was, upon all occasions, very com-
municative. His valuable notes on " Clemens Alexan-
drinus" are to be met with in Potter's edition of that fa*
ther; and his remarks on "Josephus," communicated to
Hudson for his edition, are acknowledged in his preface ;
as also those larger and more numerous annotations 011
the " Ecclesiastical Historians," inserted in Reading's edi-
tion of them at Cambridge. The author also of the " Bib-
Jiotheca Biblica" was indebted to him for the same kind
of assistance. Chandler, late bishop of Durham, while en-
gaged in his defence of Christianity from the prophecies
o£ the Old Testament, against Collins's discourse of the
" Grounds and Reasons of the Christian Religion," and in
his vindication of the "Defence," in answer to "The Scheme
of Literal Prophecy considered," held a constant corre-
spondence with him, and consulted him upon many difficul-
ties that occurred in the course of that work. But the most
1 Chandler's Funeraf Sermon.-— Prot. Dissenter's Magazine, vo)s,.I. and I/.
VOL. XX. F t
434 L O W T H.
valuable part of his character was that which least ap-
peared in the eyes of the world, the private and retired
part, that of the good Christian, and the useful parish-
priest. His piety, his diligence, his hospitality, and bene-
ficence, rendered his life highly exemplary, and greatly
enforced his public exhortations. He married Margaret
daughter of Robert Pitt, esq. of Blandford, by whom he
had three daughters and two sons, one of whom was the
learned subject of our next article. He died May 17, 1732,
and was buried, by his own orders, in the church-yard at
Buriton, near the South side of the chancel; and on the in-
side wall is a plain monument with an inscription.
He published, 1. "A Vindication of the Divine Autho-
rity, and Inspiration of the Old and New Testament, 1692,"
12mo. And a second edition with " amendments, and a new
preface, wherein the antiquity of the Pentateuch is asserted,
and vindicated from some late objections, 16i»y." 2. "Di-
rections for the profitable reading of the Holy Scriptures;
together with some observations for confirming their Di-
ving Authority, and illustrating the difficulties thereof,
1708," 12mo. This useful tract has gone through several
editions. 3. " Two Sermons preached in the cathedral
church of Winchester, at the assizes in 1714, entitled
" Religion the distinguishing Character of Human Nature,
on Job xxviii. 28," and, "The Wisdom of acknowledging
Divine Revelation, on Matt. xi. 10." 4. "A Commentary
on the Prophet Isaiah, 1714." 5. " On Jeremiah, 1718."
6. "On Ezekiel, 1723." 7. "On Daniel and the Minor
Prophets, 1726." These, originally published in 4to, were
afterwards republished together, with additions, in one vol.
folio, as a continuation of bishop Patrick's " Commentary
on the other parts of the Old Testament, in which form
it has had several editions. 8. " The Characters of an
Apostolical Church fulfilled in the Church of England, and
our obligations to continue in the Communion of it." 9. "A
.Sermon preached in the Church of PetersfieM, in the
county of Southampton, 1752." This drew him unwill-
ingly into some controversy with John Norman, a dissen-
ter, of Portsmouth ; but he soon dropped it, thinking him
an unfair adversary, for his more useful studies and duties.1
LOWTH (ROBERT), a very learned and eminent pre-
late, and second son to the preceding, was born Nov. 27,
, Brit, communicated by his Son, afterwards bishop of Londoq,
L O W " T H. 435
1710. He received his education at Winchester-school,
und while there gave the first specimen of his" great abili-
ties, in a poem, entitled " The Genealogy of Christ, as it
is represented on the East window of Winchester-college
chap-el," since inserted in Pearch's Collection of Poems.
He also, as an exercise, in 1729, wrote another poem, en-
titled " Catharine Hill," the place where the Winchester
scholars are allowed to play on holidays. From Winchester
he was elected to New-college, Oxford, in 1730, where he
took his degree of M. A. June 8, 1737. At Oxford he
was not more distinguished for proficiency in his studies,
than for the excellence of his taste, and the politeness of
his manners : and being now more immediately under
Wykeham's roof, he conceived the design, which he after-
wards so ably accomplished, of investigating the history
of his college, and writing the life of that wise and munifi-
cent founder. The first distinction he obtained in the uni-
versity was the office of professor of poetry, which was
conferred upon him in 1741, on the resignation of his
friend Mr. Spence. In performing the duties of this office
he struck out a new path, by giving a course of lectureg
on Hebrew poetry, which have since added so much to hii
reputation.
In 1746, Mr. Lowth published "An Ode to the people
of Great Britain, in imitation of the sixth ode of the third
book of Horace;" a spirited performance, severely re-
proving the vices of the times. This was afterwards in-
serted in Dodsley Collection, vol. III. and was followed by
his "Judgment of Hercules," in his friend Mr. Spence's
" Poly metis *." His first preferment in the church was
to the rectory of Ovington, in Hampshire, which he re-
ceived from bishop Hoadly. In 1748, he accompanied Mr:
Legge, afterwards chancellor of the Exchequer, to Ber-
lin, who went to that court in a public character ; and with
whom, from his earliest years, Mr. Lowth lived on terms
of the mosc intimate and uninterrupted friendship. In tha
following year he became acquainted with the duke of
Devonshire, in consequence of his attending his brothers
* Shenstone in 1740 published his other, got into a bookseller's hand,
" Judgment of Hercules." Dr. Lowth, ami was surreptitiously printed. "Re-
when young, had written a poem on the collection of Particulars in the Life of
same subject. On seeing Shenstone's Shenstone," by Mr. Greaves, who adds;
advertisement, therefore, he immedi- " Dr. Lowth's poem is written in a more
aiely s«t out for London, supposing chaste, Mr. Shenstone's in a more florid
tkat his werk had, by som* moan* or style."
F F 2
436 L O W T B.
lord George and lord Frederic Cavendish, on their travels,
and especially at Turin, which place was their principal
residence during th*. ir absence from this country. The
duke was so amply satisfied with the conduct of Mr. Lowth,
as the travelling tutor of his brothers, that he afterwards
proved his steady friend and patron. In 1750, bishop
Hoadly conferred on him the archdeaconry of Winches-
ter, and in 1753, the rectory of East Wooclhay, in Hamp-
shire.
ID this last mentioned year he published bis Poetry-
lectures, under the title of " De Sacra Poesi Hebraeorum
Praelectiones academicc," 4to, of which he gave the pub-
lic an enlarged edition in 1763, 2 vols. 8vo. The second
volume consists of additions made by the celebrated Mi-
chaelis. To this work, as we have already noticed, the
duties of his professoiship gave occasion ; and tne choice
of his subject, which lay out of the beaten paths ol criticism,
and which was highly interesting, not only in a literary, but
a religious view, afforded ample scope for the poetical,
critical, and theological talents of the author. In these
prelections, the true spirit and distinguishing character of
the poetry of the Old Testament are more thoroughly en-
tered into, and developed more perfectly, than ever had
been done before Select parts of this poetry are expressed
in Latin composition with the greatest elegance ami force;
the general criticism which pervades the whole work is
such as might be expected from a writer of acknowledged
poetical genius and literary judgment ; and the particular
criticism applied to those passages of the original Hebrew,
which he has occasion to introduce, in order either to ex-
press the sense, or correct the words of k, is a pattern for
that kind of sacred literature : nor are the theological sub-
jects which occur in the course of the work, and are ne-
cessarily connected with it, treated with less ability. To
the " Prelections" is subjoined a " Short Confutation of
bishop Hare's system of Hebrew Metre," in which he
shows it to be founded on laUe reasoning, on apetitio prin-
cigiiy that would equally prove a different and contrary
system true This produced the fir>t and most creditable
controversy in which Mr Lowth was engaged. The Harian
metre was defended by Dr. Thomas Edwards, of Cambridge,
(see his life,) who published a Latin letter to Mr. Lowth,
to which the latter replied in a " Larger Confutation," ad-
dressed to Dr. Edwards in 1766. This "Larger Confuta-
L O W T H.
437
tion," which from the subject may be supposed dry and
uninteresting to the majority of readers, is yet, as a piece
of reasoning, extremely curious; for" there never was a
fallacy more accurately investigated, or a system more
complete!) refuted, than that of bisnop Hare.
In July 1754-, probably as a reward for the distinguished
ability displayed in his " Praelectiones," he received the
degree of D. D. conferred by the university in the most
honourable manner in their power, by diploma; and in
1755 he went t > Irela d as first chaplain to Uie marquis of
Harrington (afterwards duke of Devonshire, and then)
lord lieutenant. In consequence of this appointment he
had the offer of the bishopric of Limeric, but this * he
exchanged with Dr Lesl.e, prebendary of Durham, and
rector of Sedgefiild, near that place, for these prefer-
ments, which were accordingly given to him by Dr. Tre-
vor, bishop of Durham, who was not a little pleased to
rank among his clergy a gentleman of such rare ac-
complishments.
In 1758 he published that admirable specimen of recon-
dite biography, his " Life of William of Wykeham," 8vo,
founder of Winchester and New colleges. It is collected
from authentic evidences, and affords the most certain in-
formation of the manners of the times, and of many of the
public transactions in which Wykeham was concerned, with
such an account of the origin and foundation of his college,
as was scarcely to be supposed recoverable at so remote a
period. This work has gone through three editions. In
the dedication to bishop Hoadly, Dr. Lowth gives the
sanction of his approbation to a decision which Hoadly, as
visitor, had recently made respecting the wardenship of
Winchester college. This produced a sarcastic address to
him, which he replied to in a pamphlet entitled " An
Answer to an anonymous Letter to Dr. Lowth concerning
the late Election of a Warden of Winchester college.'*
This was written in his usual masterly manner.
The next work of importance with which he favoured
* On one occasion our author hap-
pened to meet with the celebrated Rer.
Philip Skelton, in London. Mr. Lowth
was then, he said, a tall, thin, re-
markably grave man. When he per-
ceived Mr. Skelton was a clergyman
from Ireland, he told him he could hare
been highly promoted iu the Irish
church, but he refused it, as be did
not wish to lire in that country. — Skel-
tou, with all the world, bad a high
opinion of that learned and ingenious
prelate, and said " Lowth ou the Pro-
phecies of Isaiah is t he best book in
the world nextt* the Bible."— ffurdy's
Life of Skelton, p. 94.
438 L O..W, T H.
the public was his " Short Introduction to English Gram-
mar," first published in 1762, and which has since gone
through numerous editions. It was originally designed only
for domestic use ; but its utility in recommending a greater
attention to grammatical form and accuracy in our lan-
guage than had hitherto been observed in it, and the many
judicious remarks which occur, fully justified the publica-
tion, as well as the favourable reception it has met with.
In 1765 Dr. Lowih was elected a fellow of the royal
societies of London and Gottingen ; and in the same year
was involved in a controversy with bishop Warburton. On
this subject we shall be brief, but we cannot altogether
agree with former biographers of Lowth and Warburton, in
considering them as equally blameable, and that the con-
test reflected equal disgrace on both. In all contests the
provoking party has more to answer for than the provoked.
We lament that it was possible for Warburton to discover
in the amiable mind of Lowth that irritability which has in
some measure tainted the controversy on the part of the
latter ; and \ve lament that Lowth was not superior to the
coarse attack of his antagonist; but all must allow that the
attack was coarse, insolently contemptuous, and almost in-
tolerable to any man who valued his own character. Lowth
bad advanced in his Prelections an opinion respecting the
Book of Job, which Warburton considered as aimed at his
own peculiar opinions. This produced a private corre-
spondence between them in 1756, and after some explana-
tions the parties seem to have retired well satisfied with
each other. This, however, was not the case with War-
burton, who at the end of the last volume of a new edition
of his " Divine Legation," added "An appendix concerning
the .Book of Job,'* in which he treated Dr. Lowth with
every expression of sneer and contempt, and in language
most grossly illiberal and insolent. This provocation must
account for the memorable letter Dr. Lowth published
entitled " A Letter to the right rev. author of the Divine
Legation of Moses demonstrated, in answer to the Appen-
dix to the fifth volume of that work; with an appendix,
containing a former literary correspondence. By a laic
professor in the university of Oxford," 8vo. Few pamph-
lets of the controversial kind were ever written with more
ability, or more deeply interested the public than this.
What we regret is the strong tendency to personal satire ;
but the public at the time found an apology even for that
L O W
in the overbearing character of Warburton, and the con-
temptuous manner in which he, and his under-writers, as
Hard and others were called, chose to treat a man in all
respects their equal at least. It was, therefore, we think,
with great justice, that one of the monthly critics intro-
duced an account of this memorable letter, by observing,
tbat "when a person of gentle and amiable manners, of
unblemished character, and eminent abilities, is calum-
niated and treated in the most injurious manner by a
haughty and over-bearing colossus, it must give pleasure
to every generous mind to see a person vindicating himself
with manly freedom, resenting the insult with proper spirit,
attacking the imperious aggressor in his turn, and taking
ample vengeance for the injury done him. Such is the
pleasure which every impartial reader, every true repub-
lican in literature, will receive from the publication of the
letter now before us." *
This was followed by " Remarks on Dr. Lowth's Letter
to the bishop of Gloucester," anonymous, but now known
to have been written by Mr. Towne, archdeacon of Stow
in Lincolnshire ; to which is annexed " The second epis-
tolary Correspondence" between Warburton and Lowth,
in which Warburton accuses Lowth of a breach of confi-
dence in publishing the former correspondence. A more
petty controversy arose from Dr. Lowth's letter, between
him and Dr. Brown, author of " Essays on the Character-
istics," who fancied that Lowth had glanced at him as one
of the servile admirers of Warburton. He therefore ad-
dressed " A Letter to the Rev. Dr. Lowth," which was
answered in " A Letter to the Rev. Dr. Brown," written in
a polite and dispassionate manner. It was followed by
two anonymous addresses to Dr. Brown, censuring him for
having introduced himself and his writings into a dispute
which had nothing to do with either f.
* " The real merit of Warburton was is seldom candid or impartial. A late
degraded by the pride and presump- professor of Oxford (Dr. Lowth) in a
tion with which he pronounced his in- pointed and polished epistle (Aug. 31,
fallible decrees. In his polemic writ- 1 765) defended himself, and attacked
ings he lashed his antagonists without the bishop ; and whatsoever might be
mercy or moderation ; and his servile the merits of an insignificant contro-
flatterers exalted the master-critic far versy, his victory was clearly esta-
above Aristotle and Longinus, as- blished by the silent confession of War-
saulted every modern dissenter who burton and his slaves."— Gibbon's Me-
refused to consult the oracle, and to enoirs, 4to, p. 136.
adore the idol. In a* land of liberty, f We have not thought it necessary
such despotism must provoke a general to notice all the petty antagonists of Dr.
opposition, and the zeal of opposition Lowth ; ampng these was Richard Cum-
LOWTH.
In June 17 66 Dr. Lowth was promote* to the see of St.
David's, and about four mouths after was translated to that
of Oxford. In this high office he remained till 1777, when
he succeeded Dr. Terrick in the see of London. In 1778
he published the last of his literary labours, entitled " Isaiah :
ft new Translation, with a preliminary dissertation, and
notes, critical, philological, and explanatory,1' His de-
sign in this work was not only to give an exact and faith-
ful representation of the words and sense of the prophet,
by adhering closely to the letter of the text, and treading
as nearly as may be in his footsteps ; but to imitate the
air and manner of the author, to express the form and
fashion of the composition, and to give the English reader
some notion of the peculiar turn and cast of the original.
For this he was eminently qualified, by his critical know-
ledge of the original language, by his understanding more
perfectly than any other writer of his time the character
and spirit of its poetry, and by his general erudition, both
Hterary and theological. In the preliminary dissertation
the form and construction of the poetical compositions of
the Old Testament are examined more particularly, and
at large, than even in the " Prelections" themselves ; and
such principles of criticism are established as must be the
foundation of all improved translations of the different,
and especially of the poetical books of the Old Testament.
In this instance the translation of the evangelical prophet,
who is almost always sublime or elegant, yet often obscure
notwithstanding all the aids of criticism, was executed in a
manner adequate to the superior qualifications of the
learned prelate who undertook it ; and marked out the way
for other attempts of a like kind, at a time when the hopes
of an improved version was cherished by many, and when
sacred criticism was cultivated with ardour. In our ac-
count of Michael Dodson we have mentioned an attempt
to censure some part of this admired translation, which
was ably repelled by the bishop's relative, Dr. Sturges.
When archbishop Cornwallis died, the king made an
offer of the archiepiscopal see to Dr. Lowth ; but this dig-
nity he declined. He was now advanced in life, and was
b*rl»nd, who wrote a pamphlet after- ours could go beyond it. For other
wards in defence of his relation Bent- forgotten pamphlets respecting Dr.
ley ; of which he give*, in his own life, Lowth'* writings, see the Index to the
so good an account, that were we di»- Monthly Review, or Gentleman'* Ma-
to flatter him, no language of giuuut.
L O W T H. 441
tormented by a cruel and painful disorder, the stone, and
had recently experienced some severe strokes of domestic
calamity. Mary, his eldest daughter, of whom he was
passionately fond, died in 1768, aged thirteen. On her
mausoleum the doctor placed the following exquisitely
beautiful and pathetic epitaph :
Cara, vale, ingenio praestans, pietate, pudore,
Et plusquani natae nomine, cara, vale !
Cara Maria, vale ! at veniet felicius aevum,
Quando iterum tecuin, sim modo dignus, era.
Cara rcdi , laeta turn dicam voce, paternos
Eja age in amplexus, cara Maria, redi.
Which has been thus translated by Mr. Buncombe:
Dearer than daughter, parallel'd by few
In genius, goodness, modesty, — adieu !
Adieu ! Maria — till that day more blest,
When, if deserving, I with thee shall rest.
Come, then thy sire will cry, in joyful strain,
O ! come to my paternal arms again.
His second daughter, Frances, died as she was presiding
at the tea-table, in July 1783 ; she was going to place a
cup of coffee on the salver. " Take this," said she, " to
the bishop of Bristol ;" immediately the cup and her hand
fell together upon the salver, and she instantly expired.
His eldest son also, of whom he was led to form the highest
expectations, was hurried to the grave in the bloom of
youth. Amid these scenes of distress, the venerable bishop,
animated by the hopes which the religion of Jesus alone
inspires, viewed, with pious resignation, the king of terrors
snatching his dear and amiable children from his fond
embrace, and at length met the stroke with fortitude,
and left this world in full and certain hope of a better. He
died Nov. 3, 1787, aged seventy-seven, and was buried at
Fulham.
Dr. Lowth married, in 1752, Mary, the daughter of
Lawrence Jackson, of Christ Church, in the county of
Southampton, esq. by whom he had two sons and five
daughters, of whom two only, a son and daughter, survived
him. Mrs. Lowth died March 14, 1803.
Several occasional discourses, which the bishop was by
his station at different times called upon to deliver, were of
course published, and are all worthy of his pen. That
" On the Kingdom of God," preached at a visitation at
Durham, was most admired for liberality of sentiment, and
442 L O W T If.
went through several editions. Some of his poetical effu-
sions have been already mentioned, and others appear in
podsley's and Nichols's Collections, the Gentleman's Ma-
gazine, &c. With such various abilities, equally applicable
either to elegant literature or professional studies, bishop
Lowth possessed a mind that felt its own strength, ami
decided on whatever came before it with promptitude and
firmness ; a mind fitted fur the high station in which he
\vus placed. He had a temper, which, in private and do-
mestic life, endeared him in the greatest degree to those
who were most nearly connected with him, and towards
others produced an habitual complacency and agreeable-
ness of manners ; but which, as we have seen, was sus-
ceptible of considerable warmth, when it was roused by
unjust provocation or improper conduct. '
LOWTH (SIMON), an English clergyman, was born iir
Northamptonshire about 1630, and is supposed to have
b«en the son of Simon Lowth, a native of Thurcaston in
Leicestershire, who was rector of Dingley in that county in
1631, and was afterwards ejected by the usurping powers.
This, his son, was educated at Clare Hall, Cambridge,
where be took his master's degree in 1660. He was after-
V .
wards rector of St. Michael Harbledown in 1670, and vicar
of St. Co.Miius and Damian on the Blean in 1679, both in,
Kent. On Nov. 12, 1688, king James nominated him,
and he was instituted by bishop Sprat, to the deanery of
Rochester, on the death of Dr. Castillon, but never ob-
tained possession, owing to the following circumstances.
The mandate of installation bad issued in course, the
bishop not having allowed himself time to examine whether
the king's presentee was legally qualified ; which happened
not to be the case, Mr. Lowth being only a master of arts,
and the statute requiring that the dean should be at least
a bachelor of divinity. The bishop in a day or two disco-
vering that he had been too precipitate, dispatched letters
to the chapter clerk, and one of the prebendaries, earnestly
soliciting that Mr. Lowth might not be installed ; and af-
terwards in form revoked the institution till he should have
taken the proper degree. On Nov. 27 Mr. Lowth attended
the chapter, and produced his instruments, but the pre-
bendaries present refused to obey them. He was admitt«4
to the degree of D.D.Jan. 18 following, and on March
1 Annual Register (Dodsley's) for 1TS8.— G. nt. Mag. LV1I. and LV III, Ice. &c.
L O W T-R 443
19 again claimed instalment, but did not obtain possession,
for which, in August of this year, another reason appeared,
viz. his refusing to take the oaths of allegiance ; in conse-
quence of which he was first suspended from his function,
and afterwards deprived of both his livings in Kent. He
lived very long after this, probably in London, as his death
is recorded to have happened there on July 3, 1720, when
he was buried in the new cemetery belonging to the parish
of St. George the Martyr, Queen Square. He published,
1. " Letters between Dr. Gilbert Burnet and Mr. Simon.
Lowth," 1684, 4to, respecting some opinions of the for-
mer in his " History of the Reformation." 2. " The subject
of Church Power, in whom it resides," &c. 1685, 8vo. 3.
" A Letter to Edward Stillingfleet, D. D. in answer to the
Dedicatory Epistle before, his ordination-sermon, preache4
at St. Peter's Cornhill, March 15, 1684, with reflections.
on some of Dr. Burnet's letters on the same subject," 1687,
4to, and 8vo. This was answered by Dr. Stillingfleet in
a short letter to the bishop of London, *' an honour," bishop
Nicolson says, " which he (Lowth) had no right to expect;'^
Lowth had submitted this letter both to Stillingfleet and
Tillotson, who was then dean of Canterbury, but, accord-
ing to Birch, ** the latter did not think proper to take the
least public notice of so confused and unintelligible, a.
writer." Dr. Hickes, however, a suffering nonjuror likjs.
himself, calls Lowfeh " a very orthodox and learned divine,'*:,
and his book an excellent one. His only other publication,
was " Historical Collections concerning Deposing of Biv
shops," 1696, 4to. From the sameness of name we should
suppose him related to the subjects of the two preceding
articles, but have not discovered any authority for more,
than a conjecture on the subject. Vt^,,
LOYOLA (lONAJius OF), the founder of the order of
Jesuits, was born in 1491, of a considerable family, at the
castle of Loyola, in the province of Guipuscoa in Spain.
He was educated in the court of Ferdinand and Isabella,
and entered very early into the military profession. He
was addicted to all the excesses too common in that line of
life, but was at the same time a good officer, and one who
sought occasions to distinguish himself. His valour was
conspicuous at Pampeluna in 1521, when it was besiege,d
by the French, and there he had his leg broken by a can-
» Nicolson's Letters, vol. I.' p. 74.-BircU>s Life'of Tiliotsoi. '
444 LOYOLA.
non-shot. During the confinement occasioned by this
wound, he formed a resolution of renouncing the world,
of travelling to JtTUS;de : , and dedicating his life to the
service ol Go.,. He is said to h ive imbibed his ardour of
zeal by reading the Irgends of the saints, as Don Quixote
began his errantry l<\ reading tiie olu romance*; though
some have denied that Loyola knew the use of letters.
But whether he re;.<i, or had these things read to him, he
certainly conceived an ardour of religious activity, which
has not otten bem equalled.
He had no sooner been restored to health than he went
to bang up his arms over the altar of the blessed virgin at
Montst rrat, to whom he devoted his services on March
24, 1522; for he carried the laws of chivalry to his reli-
gious observances. In his way he disputed with a Moor on
the perpetual virginity of the blessed virgin, and after his
antagonist left him, was seized with such a fit of enthu-
siasm as to pursue the Moor in order to put him to death,
but could not find him. Having watched all night at
Montserrat, sometimes standing, and sometimes kneeling,
and having devoted himself most earnestly to the virgin^,
he set out before day-b eak in a pilgrim's habit to Manresa.
Here he took his lodging among the poor of the town hos-
pital, and he practised mortifications of every kind for
above a year. He suffered his hair and nails to grow ;
begged from door to door; fasted six days in the week ;
whipped himself thrice a day ; was seven hours every day
in vocal prayer ; lay without any bedding upon the ground,
and all to prepare himself for his adventures to Jerusalem.
It was here also that he wrote his book of " Spiritual Ex-
ercises," in Spanish ; a Latin translation of which, by
Andrew Frusius, he published at Rome in 1548, when it
was favoured with the approbation of pope Paul III. As
it has been commonly reported that Loyola could not read,
which, however, we think improbable, as he was of a
good family, educated at court, and an officer in the
army, Allegambe, in his lives of the Jesuits, gives the
following solution : " Lewis de Ponte, a person of un-
doubted credit, relates how faithful tradition had handed it
down to father Lainez, general of the Jesuits, that these
exercises were revealed to our holy father (Ignatius of
Loyola) by God himself; and that Gabriel the archangel
had declared to a certain person, in the name of the
blessed virgin, how she had been their patroness, their
LOYOLA. 4
founder, and helper ; had prompted Loyola to begin this
work, and had dictated to him what he should write."
Perhaps the truth was, that Loyola either took his materials
from other works, or was assisted in composing his book,
by some other person.
Having embarked at Barcelona, in order to go to Jeru-
salem, he arrived at Cajeta in five days ; but, as he would
not proceed in his enterprise till he had received the pope's
benediction, he went to Rome on Palm-Sunday, in 15£3 ;
and after paying his respects to Hadrian VI. departed foe
Venice. He embarked there on the 14th of July, 1523,
arrived at Joppa the last of August, and at Jerusalem the
4th of September. Having gratified his devout curiosity
in that country, he returned to Venice, where he embarked
for Genoa ; and from thence came to Barcelona, where he
stopped, as at the most convenient place with respect to
the design he had of studying the Latin tongue. The mi-
raculous adventures, the e^tatic visions, which he bad
during this voyage, were innumerable ; and it would be
endless to transcribe, from his historians, on these occasions.
Bishop Stillingfleet has drawn a good proof from them, that
the institution of the Jesuits, as well as other monks, is
founded originally in fanaticism. Loyola began to learn
the rudiments of grammar in 1524, and soon came to read
the " Enchiridion militis Christiani" of Erasmus; a work
of great purity of style and morals ; but Loyola soon laid
it aside, and applied himself to the stiuly of. Thomas a
Kempis. It was, he thought, like so much ice, which
abated the fervour of his devotion, and cooled the fire of
divine love in him ; for which reason he took an aversion
to it, and would never read the writings of Erasmus, nor
even suffer his disciples to read them.
Loyola was thought in two years to have made a progress
sufficient for being admitted to the lectures of philosophy;
upon which he went to Alcala de Henares, in 1526. His
mendicant life, his apparatus, and that of four companions,
who had already espoused his fortune, together with 'the
instructions he gave to those who flocked about him,
brought him at length under the cognizance of the inquisi-
tion. Inquiries were made concerning his life and doc-
trines ; and it being observed, that a widow with her daugh-
ter had undertaken a pilgrimage on foot, as beggars, under
his direction, he was thrown into prison. He obtained his
release upon promising not to vent feis opinions for four
446 LOYOLA.
years ; but, this restraint not suiting at all with his design,
he determined not to comply with it ; and, therefore, goin;j
to Salamanca, he continued to discourse on religious mat-
ters, as before. He was thrown again into prison, and was
not discharged till he had made some promises, as at Alcala
de He-nates. He then resolved to go to Paris, where he
arrived in Feb. 1528, with a firm resolution to pursue hi*
studies vigorously ; but the wretched circumstances to
which he was reduced, being forced to beg about the
streets, and to retire to St. James's hospital, were great
obstacles to his design ; not to mention, that he was then
impeached before the inquisition. Notwithstanding these
difficulties, he went through a course of philosophy and
divinity, and prevailed over a certain number of companions,
who bound themselves by a vow to enter upon his new way
of life. They did this in the church of iMontmartre, on
the 15th of August, 1534 ; and renewed thc'ir vow twice in
the same place, and on the same day, with the same cere-
monies. At first they were but seven in number, including
Loyola ; but were at last increased to ten. They agreed,
that Loyola should return to Spain to settle some affairs,
that afterwards he-should proceed to Venice, ;>nd that they
should all set out from Paris, Jan. 25, 1537, to meet him.
Ribadeneira says that Loyola came a-begging to England
in 1531, and found his account in it.
He went to Spain in 1535, preached repentance there,
and drew together a prodigious crowd of auditors. He
exclaimed, among other things, against the licentious livcsT
of the priests. After transacting the affairs which his asso-
ciates had recommended to his care, he went by sea to
Genoa; am! travelled from thence to Venice, where they
met him, Jan. 8, 1537. This was somewhat sooner than
the time agreed on ; yet he was there before them, and
had employed his time in making converts ; and what was
of much greater consequence to the forwarding his grand
scheme, he had got acquainted with John Peter Caraffa,
who was afterwards pope, by the name of Paul III. As
they had bound themselves by a vow to travel to Jerusa-
lem, they prepared for that expedition ; but were first de-
termined to pay their respects to the pope, and obtain bis
benediction and leave.- Accordingly they went to Rome,
and were gratified in their desires. Having returned to
Venice, in order to embark, they found no opportunity ;
the .war with thp- grand seignior having put an entire stop
LOYOLA. 447
to the peregrination of pilgrims by sfca. They resolved,
however, not to be idle, and therefore dispersed theiriselvei
among the towns in the Venetian territories. It was re-
solved at length, that Loyola and two others, Faber arid
Laynez, should go to Rome, and represent to the pope the
intentions of the whole company ; and that the rest, in the
mean time, should be distributed into the most famous uni-
versities of Italy, to insinuate piety among the young stq-
dents, and to increase their own number with such as God
should call in to them. But, before they separated, they
established a way of life, to which they were all to conform ;
and bound themselves to observe these following rules:
" First, that they should lodge in hospitals, and live only
upon alms. Secondly, that they should be superiors by
turns, each in his week, lest their fervour should carry them
too far, if they did not prescribe limits to one another for
their penances and labour. Thirdly, that they should
preach in all public places, and every other place where
they could be permitted to do it ; should set forth in their
sermons the beauty and rewards of virtue, with the de-
formity and punishments of sin, and this in a plain, evan-
gelical manner, without the vain ornaments of eloquence.
Fourthly, that they should teach children the Christian
doctrine, and the principles of good manners : and, Fifthly,
that they should take no money for executing their func-
tions; but do all for the glory of God, and nothing else."
They all consented to these articles; but, as they were often
asked, who they were, and what was their institute, Igna-
tius declared to them in precise terms what they were to
answer: he told them that being united to fight against
heresies and vices, under the standard of Jesus Christ, the
only name which answered their design was, " The Society
of Jesus."
Ignatius, Faber, and Laynez, came to Rome about the
end of 1537, and at their first arrival had an audience of
his holiness Paul III. They offered him their service ; and
Loyola undertook, under his apostolical authority, the re-
formation of manners, by means of his spiritual exercises,
and of Christian instructions. Being dismissed for the
present, with* some degree of encouragement, Loyola pro-
posed soon after to his companions the founding of a new
order; and, after conferring with Faber and Laynez about
it, sent for the rest of his companions, who were dispersed
through Italy, The general scheme being agreed on, he
448 LOYOLA.
next conferred with his companions about his institute ;
and at several assemblies it was resolved, that to the vows
of poverty and chastity, which they had already taken, they
should add that of obedience ; that they should elect a
superior general, whom they must obey as God himself;
that this superior should be perpetual, and his authority
absolute ; that wheresoever they should he sent, they
should instantly and cheerfully go, even without any viati-
cum, and living upon alms, if it should be so required;
that the professed of their society should possess nothing,
either in particular or in common ; but that in the univer-
sities they might have colleges with revenues and rents, for
the subsistence of the students. A persecution in the mean
time was raised against Loyola at Rome, who, however,
went on with his great work, in spite of all opposition.
Some of his companions were employed upon great occa-
sions by the pope ; and two of them, Simon Kodriguez and
Francis Xavier, were sent to the Indies, with no less than
the title of " Apostles of the new world."
Loyola had already presented the pope with the plan of
bis new society ; and he now continued his application with
more waruuh than ever, that it might be approved by the
holy see. Accordingly Paul III. confirmed it in 1540, on
condition that their number should never exceed three-
score ; and again in 1543, without any restrictions. Loyola
was created general of this new order in 1541, and made
Rome his head- quarters, while his companions- dispersed
themselves over the whole earth. He employed himself iu
several occupations, as the conversion of the Jews, the re-
forming of lewd women, and the assisting of orphans. Rome
was at that time full of Jews, who were, many of them,
ready to embrace Christianity, if they had not feared po-
verty ; upon which, Paul III. at Loyola's request, enacted,
that they should preserve all their possessions ; and that if
any of them, who might be well born, should turn Chris-
tians, contrary to their parents' consent, the whole sub-
stance of the family should devolve to them. Julius HI.
and Paul IV. added a new ordinance, namely, that all the
synagogues in Italy should be taxed every year at a certain.
sum, to be applied to the maintenance of the proselytes.
There was at that time a convent of Magdalenes, into
which such dissolute women as were desirous of leaving
their infamous course of life, were admitted, provided they
would oblige themselves to lead a conventual life for the
LOYOLA. 449
rest of their days, and take all the vows of their order. But
Loyola, thinking this condition, and some others, too severe,
founded a new community of this kind of penitents, into
which maids and married women might be indifferently ad-
mitted. It was called " The community of the grace of
the blessed Virgin." He caused apartments to be built in
St. Mary's church; and he frequently conducted them thi-
ther himself. He was sometimes told, that he lost his time,
for that such women were never heartily converted ; to
which he replied, " If I should hinder them but one night
from offending God, I should think' my time and labour
well employed."
Calumny levelled all her artillery at him from every
quarter ; notwithstanding which, he employed his utmost
endeavours to heighten the glory of his order, and settle it
on a firm foundation. Some women would have submitted
to his discipline ; but the great trouble, which the spiritual
direction of three of that sex had given him, obliged him
to free his society for ever from that perplexing task. Hav-
ing got his order confirmed by pope Julius III. in 1550, he
would have resigned his employment of general ; but, the
Jesuits not permitting him, he continued in it till his death,
which happened July 31, 1556, in his sixty-sixth year. He
died thirty- five years after what has been called his conver-
sion, a,nd sixteen after his society was founded, and had
lived to see his followers spread over the face of the whole
earth, and giving laws, under him, to almost all nations.
He was of a middle stature, rather low than tall ; of a brown
complexion, bald-headed, his eyes deep set and full of fire,
his forehead large, and his nose aquiline. He halted a
little, in consequence of the wound he received at the siege
of Pampeluna ; but he managed himself so well in walk-
ing, that it was hardly perceived. It was not pretended
at first, that Loyola wrought any miracles ; but when his
canonization began to be talked of, his miracles became
innumerable, and were confirmed by all sorts of witnesses.
Paul V. beatified him in 1609 ; Gregory XV. inserted him
in the catalogue of saints in 1622; Innocent X. and Cle-
ment IX. increased the honours that were paid him.
But whatever honours might be paid to Loyola, nothing
can be more surprising in his history, than the prodigious
power which his order acquired, in so few years, in the old
world, as well as in America, and the rapidity with whic,
it multiplied after it was once established. In 1545, t
VOL. XX. G G
450 LOYOLA.
suits were but eighty in all; in 1545, they had ten houses;
in 1549, they had two provinces, one in Spain, another in
Portugal, and twenty-two houses. In 1556, when Loyola
died, they had twelve great provinces; in 1608, Riba-
cleneira reckons twenty-nine provinces, two vice-provinces,
twenty-one professed houses, 293 colleges, thirty-three
houses of probation, ninety-three other residences, and
1Q>5 81 Jesuits. But in the last catalogue, which was
printed at Rome in 1679, they reckoned thirty-five pro-
vinces, two vice-provinces, thirty-three professed houses,
*78 colleges, forty-eight houses of probation, eighty-eight
seminaries, 160 residences, 106 missions, and in all 17,655
Jesuits, of whom 787O were priest*. What contributed
chiefly to the prodigious increase of this order, in so short
a time, wafr the great encouragement they received from
the popes, as well as from the kings of Spain and Portugal,
on account of the service it was supposed they might ren-
der to these several powers. Various sects of religion
were at that time combining against popery ; in Germany
especially, where Lutheranism was prevailing. The Je-
suits were thought a proper order to oppose these incur-
sions ; and so far might be useful to the pope. The
Spaniard found his account in sending them to the Indies,
where, by planting Christianity, and inculcating good man-
ners, they might reduce barbarous nations into a more
nvili/ed form, and by such means make them better sub-
jects; and the Jesuits were not unlikely to succeed in
these employments, whether we consider their manners,
discipline, or policy. They carried a great appearance of
holiness, and observed a regularity of conduct in their lives
and conversations, which gave them great influence over
the people ; who, on this account, and especially as they
took upon them the education of youth without pay or
reward, conceived the highest opinion of, and reverence
for them. Their policy, too, within themselves, was wisely
contrived, and firmly established. They admitted none
into their society thai were not perfectly qualified in every
respect. Their discipline was rigid, their government ab-
solute, their obedience most submissive and implicit.
They experienced, however, from time to time, the
strorigest opposition in several countries; in Spain, and
particularly in France. No society ever had so many
enemies as the Jesuits have had ; the very books which
have been written against them, would form a considerable
LOYOLA. 451
library. Nor has this opposition been without the justest
foundation. However serviceable they were to the see of
Rome, to which they were always most devoutly attached,
they were very pernicious in other countries, by propa-
gating doctrines which have exposed sovereign princes to
slaughter, and states to revolutions ; and by corrupting
religion and morality by mental reserves and logical dis-
tinctions to such a degree, that, according to them, the
vilest and most profligate wretches in the world might do
what they pleased, yet not offend against their rules; and
for this they have often been thoroughly exposed, espe-
cially in the " Provincial Letters" of M. Pascal. They
also became merchants, thinking by their riches to make
dependents in every court, and, by that means to have
absolute sway; while the individuals who, without gaining
any particular advantage, laboured to aggrandize the body,
were the victims of the infatuation of their superiors. The
king of Portugal, persuaded that they instigated the as-
sassins who attempted his life in 1758, drove them from
his dominions in 1759. The king of France, considering
this institution, which had been only tolerated in that
kingdom, as being incompatible with its laws, suppressed
it in 1763 ; and the king of Spain, for reasons which he
concealed, for fear of raising troubles in his dominions,
drove them out in 1767. The king of Naples, the duke
of Parma, and the grand master of Malta followed his
example in 1768; and pope Clement XIV. obliged to yield
to the united power of the house of Bourbon, issued a bull
for their final suppression, dated July 21, 1773. !
LUBBERT (SIBRAND), a learned protestant divine, was
born at Langoworde, in Friesland, about 1556, and studied
at Bremen, Wittemberg, and Geneva, where he diligently
attended the lectures of Beza, Casaubon, and Francis Por-
tus. At Newstadt also he heard the lectures of the learned
Zachary Ursinus, who had so high an opinion of him as to
recommend him as his own successor in the chair of logic ;
but this honour he declined. Soon after he became pastor
of a congregation at Embden, the duties of which office he
discharged with singular fidelity and zeal. In 1584 he was
appointed preacher to the governor and deputies of the
states of Friesland, and professor of divinity in the new
» Gen. Diet.— Life, by Bonhours— and by Ribadeneira.— Dupi ft.— Robert-
jon's Charles V.— Mosheim.— Butler's Lives of the Saints.
Q G 2
451 L U B B E ft t.
liniversity of Franeker, which offices he filled with reputa-
tion nearly forty years, and was in that time often em-
ployed in very important affairs. He died at Franeker,
Jan. 21, 1625, at the age of sixty-nine. He was author of
many learned pieces against Bellannin, Socinus, Arminius,
Vorstius, Grotius, and the other defenders of the cause of
the remonstrants. One of his hest'vvorks is that " De Papa
Romano," 159*', 8vo. '
LUBIENIETSKI (.STANISLAUS), in Latin Lubieniecius,
a celebrated Socinian divine, 'was descended from a very
noble family, related to ihe house of Sobieski, and born at
Racow in that kingdom, in 16123. His father, a minister,
bred him up with great care under his own eye ; and, even
while he was a school -boy, brought him into the diet of
Poland, in order to introduce him to the acquaintance of
the grandees, and instruct him in knowledge suitable to
his birth, fn 1644 he sent him to Thorn in Saxony, where,
young as he was, he joined the two Socinian deputies at the
conference then held in that city, for the re-union of dif-
ferent religions among the reformed, drew up a diary of the
conference, and ihen attended a young nobleman as tra-
velling tutor through Holland and France, where he ac-
quired the esteem of several learned men, with whom lie
conferred on subjects of religion, and on the death of his
father, in 1648, he returned to Poland.
In 1652 he married the daughter of a fcealous Socinian,
and was appointed ro:idjntor to John Ciachovuis, minister
of Siedlieski ; and the synod of Czarcow having admitted
him into the ministry, he was appointed pastor of that
tliurch ; but, on the Swedish invasion in 1655, he retired
to Cracow with his family, where he employed himself in
offices of devotion with the Hungarian Unitarians, who
were come thither with prince Ragotski. At the same
time he insinuated himself much into the king of Sweden's
favour ; and the city reverting again to the dominion of
Poland in 1657, he followed the Swedish garrison, with a
view to obtain of that prinpe, that the Unitarians, who had
put themselves under his protection, might be compre-
hended in the general amnesty, by the treaty of peace with
Poland. On his arrival at Wolgast in October this year,
he was well received by the Swedish monarch, and con-
versed intimately upon his religion with some Swedish
» Gen. Diet.— Morcri.— Uuriguy's Life of Grotius.— Saxii Onomatt.
L U B I E N I E T S K I. 453
lords ; but when the peace was concluded at Oliva, he was
disappointed in his object, and the Unitarians were ex-
cepted out of the general amnesty granted to all other
dissenters from popery.
On this, instead of returning into Poland, he embarked
for Copenhagen, in order to seek a settlement there for
his exiled brethren, and arrived in that city in Nov. 1-660,
where he made himself very acceptable to the Daijish no*
bility. He had an extensive epistolary correspondence,
which furnished him with many particulars from foreign
countries. With this news he entertained the nobility ;
and, when it was read to the king (Frederic III.) he was so
delighted with it, that he created a new place for him, that
of secretary for transcribing these news-letters for his ma-
jesty's use, and he was promised an annual pension for it.
The king, who never received him at court, but often heard
him discourse on religious subjects, engaged his confessor
in a controversy with Lubienietski in the royal presence.
But this giving umbrage to the Lutheran divines, Frederick
found it necessary to tell him privately that all he could
grant him was to connive at his followers settling at Altena.
On this he returned, in 1661, to Stetin, in Pomerania,
but his principles being equally obnoxious there, he was
obliged to go to Hamburgh, whither he sent his family the
next year, 1 662. He had now three, several conferences
with queen Christina, upon points of Socinianism, in the
presence of some princes; and the king endeavoured to
persuade the magistrates to suffer him to live quietly, but
his intercession did not prove sufficient ; and being several
times commanded to retire, he went to the king at Copen-
hagen, in 1667.
His next remove was to Fredericksburg, where he ob-
tained leave to settle with his banished brethren, aad a
promise not to be disturbed in the private exercises of
their religion. He acquainted the brethren with this news,
and spared no pains nor cost, even to the impairing of his
own estate, that he might settle them there ; he also sup-
ported them at his own expence. But neither did they
enjoy this happiness long. The duke of Holstein-Gottorp,
without whose knowledge the above permission had been
granted, at the persuasion of John Reinboht, one of his
chaplains, and the Lutheran superintendant, banished them
both from that city, and from all his dominions. In this
exigence he returned to Hamburgh, by the advice of his
454 LUBIENIETSK1.
friends, \vho had also procured him the title of secretary
to the king of Poland, in hopes to oblige the magistrates
to let him live quietly in that city -, the king of Denmark
likewise interceded again for him, all which prevailed for
a considerable time, but at last the magistrates sent him
positive orders to remove. Before, however, he could
obey this order, he had poison given him in his meat, of
which he died May 18, 1675, having lamented in verse
the fate of his two daughters, who fell a sacrifice to the
same poison two days before *. His body was buried at
Altena, against all the opposition that the Lutheran mi-
nisters could make. He had obtained a retreat for his
banished brethren at Manheim, in the Palatinate, that
elector being a prince of latitudinarian principles in mat-
ters of religion.
Lubienietski was composing his History of the Reforma-
tion of Poland at the time of his death, and nil that was
found among his manuscripts WHS printed in Holland, in
1685, 8vo, with an account of his life prefixed, whence
the materials of this memoir are taken. He wrote several
books, the greater part of which, however, have not been
printed : the titles of them may be seen in " Bibliotheca
Antitrinitariorum," p. 165. The most considerable of those
which have been published is his *' Theatrum Cometicum,"
printed at Amsterdam, 1667, folio. This contains, among
other things, the " History of Comets from the flood to
1665,** an elaborate work, containing a minute historical
account of every single comet that had been seen or re-
corded. On the subject of comets, it appears he had cor-
responded with the most celebrated astronomers in Europe.
They who had the care of the impression committed so
many rogueries, that he was obliged to take a journey to
Holland on the occasion.
The Socinians, who look upon him as a saint, if not a
martyr, pretend that he was favoured with a very remarkable
revelation during the siege of Stetin ; and the following
story is told in his life : "Two powerful reasons ei aged
Lubienietski to pray that God would be pleased to cause
this iiege to be raised : his wife and children were in the
town; and there was a Swedish count, who promised that
* His wife also, who had eaten but by hi* maid servant, suborned for th»
very little of the meat, very narrowly purpose. Hist. Reform. Polon. lib. iii.
escaped death. Bibl. Aut. to!. 6. It cap. 17. P- 278.
it _aid ihe poisou *at p
LUBIENIETSKI. 455
be would turn Socinian, in case Lubienietski could by his
prayers prevent the taking of it. This minister, animated
by the private interest of his family, and by the hopes of
gaining an illustrious proselyte to his religion, continued
three weeks fasting and praying ; after which he went to
meet the count, and assured him that the town would not
be taken. The count, and the persons about him, treated
this as the effect of a delirium ; arid were the more con-
firmed in that opinion, as Lubienietski fell sick the mo-
ment he left them. But they were all extremely surprised,
when, at the end of six days, there came news that the
siege was raised ; since it was impossible that any person
shouid have acquainted Lubienietski with that good news,
when he first told it. However, when the count was called
upon to perform his promise, he answered, « That he had
applied to God in order to know whether he should do well
to embrace that minister's religion, and that God had con-
firmed him in the Augsburg confession.' " !
LUB1N (AUGUSTIN), an Augustine friar, and geogra-
pher to the French king, was born at Paris, Jan. 2y, 1624,
took the monk's habit early, passed through all the offices
of his order, became provincial-general of the province of
France, and at last assistant- general of the Augustine
monks of France at Rome. He applied himself particu-
larly to the subject of the benefices of France, and of the
abbies of Italy, and acquired that exact knowledge which
enabled him to compose, both in France and at Rome,
«' The Geographical Mercury ;" " Notes upon the Roman
Martyrology, describing the places marked in it;" "A
history of the French Abbeys ;" " The present state of the
Abbeys of Italy ;" " Orbis Augustinianus, or an account
of all the houses of his order;" with a great number of
maps and designs, engraved by himself, a very curious
work in oblong quarto. He also wrote notes upon " Plu-
tarch's Lives -," and we have geographical tables of his,
printed with the French translation of Plutarch by the
abbe* Tallemant. He also prepared for the press notes to
archbishop " Usher's Chronology;" "A Description of Lap-
land ;" and several other works ; especially " A Geogra-
phy of all the places mentioned in the Bible," which is
prefixed to " Usher's Annalsi" He likewise wrote notes
upon. " Stephanas de urbibus." He died in the convent of
•Ojen. DicL—Moreri.— Button's Diet.
456 L U B I N.
the Augustine fathers in St. Germain, at Paris, March
17, 1695, aged seventy-one. *
LUBIN (EILHARD), on«; of the most learned protestants
of his time, was born at Westersted, in the county of Old-
enburg, March 24, 1556, of which place his father was
minister, who sent him first to Leipsic, where he prose-
cuted his studies with great success, and for further im-
provement went thence to Cologne. After thus he visited
the several universities of Helmstadt, Strasburg, Jena,
Marpurg, and, last of all, Rostock, where he was made
professor of poetry in 1595. Having there read lectures
with great applause for ten years, he was advanced to the
divinity chair in the same university, in 1605. In 1620
he was seized with a tertian ague, under which he laboured
for ten months before it put a period to his life in June
162 1. He has the character of having been a good Greek
scholar, and was well skilled in the Latin language, in
which he made good verses, and he had much reputation
as an orator, a mathematician, and a divine. He published
several books, namely, 1. " Antiquarius, sive priscorum
et minus usitatorum vocabulorucn brevis et dilucida inter-
pretatio." 2. " Clavis Graecae linguae." 3. " Anacreon,
Juvenal, and Persius, with notes." 4. " Horace and Ju-
venal, with a paraphrase." 5. " The Anthologia, with a
Latin version," 1604, 4to. 6. " Epistolae veterum Grseco-
rum, Greece et Latine, cum methodo conscribendarum
epistolarum." 7. " Commentaiies upon some of the Epistles
of St. Paul." 8. " Monotessaion,sive historia evangelica,"
&c. &c. i. e. a harmony of the four Evangelists. 9. " Non-
ni Dionysiaca," in Greek and Latin, at Francfort, 1605,
8vo. 1O. " Latin Poems," inserted in the third volume of
" Deliciae ^oetarum Germanorum."
But that which attracted most attention, though not very
deservedly, was his, 11. " Phosphorus, de prima causa et
natura mali, tractatus hypermetaphysicus," &c. printed at
Rostock in 1596, and reprinted there in 8vo and 12mo,
in 1600. " Phosphorus ; or an hypermetaphysical treatise
concerning the origin and nature of Sin." In this piece he
established two co-eternal principles (not matter and a va-
cuum, or void, as Epicurus did, but) God and the nihilum,
or nothing. God, he supposed, is the good principle, and
nothing the evil principle. He added, that sin was nothing
' Niceron, vol. XXXI.— MererL
L U B I N. 457
else but a tendency towards nothing ; and that sin had
been necessary in order to make known the nature of good ;
and he applied to this nothing all that Aristotle says of the
first matter. This being answered by Grawer in his " Anti-
Lubinus," in 1608, 4to, the author published a reply,
entitled, 12. " Apologeticus quo Alb. Graw. calumniis re-
spondetur, &c." printed at Rostock, and reprinted there
in 1605. To this also Grawer published an answer, in an
appendix to his "Anti-Lubinus." Lubin likewise pub-
lished the next year, 13. "Tractatus de causa peccati, ad
theologos Augustinae confessionis in Germania." But, not-
withstanding all these works, posterity has justly considered
him as better acquainted with polite literature than with
divinity. l
LUCA (JOHN BAPTIST), a learned cardinal, was born in
^1617, of an obscure family at Venozza in the Basilicate,
and raised himself by his learning and merit. He died
February 5, 1683, aged sixty-six. He left Notes on the
Council of Trent, in Latin ; a curious " Account of the
Court of Rome," in Italian, Rome, 1680, 4to ; and an ela-
borate work on the ecclesiastical law, entitled " Theatrum
justitiae et veritatis." The best edition of this last is that
printed at Rome, 2L vols. fol. bound in 12.*
LUC AN (MARCUS ANN^EUS), a celebrated Roman poet,
was a native of Cordova, in Spain, where he was born
Nov. lh> in the year 37. His father Annseus Mela, a Ro-
man knight, a man of distinguished merit and interest in
his country, was the youngest brother of Seneca the phi-
losopher; and his mother, Acilia, was daughter of Acilius
Lucanus, an eminent orator, from which our author took
his name. When only eight months old he was carried to
Rome and carefully educated under the ablest masters in
grammar and rhetoric, a circumstance which renders it
singular that critics have endeavoured to impute the de-
fects in his style to his being a Spaniard ; but it is certain
that his whole education was Roman. His first masters
were Palaemon, the grammarian, and Flavius Virginius,
the rhetorician. He then studied under Cornutus, from
whom he imbibed the sentiments of the stoic school, and
probably derived the lofty and free strain by which he is
so much distinguished. It is said he completed his edu-
cation at Athens. Seneca, then tutor to the emperor Nero,
i Gen. Diet.— Moreri Saxii Onomast. < Moreri.— Diet. Hist.
458 L U C A N.
obtained for him the office of quaestor : he was soon after
admitted to the college of augurs, and considered to be in
the full career of honour and opulence. He gave proofs
of poetical talents at a very early age, and acquired repu-
tation by several compositions; a circumstance peculiarly
unfortunate for him, as it clashed with the vanity of the
emperor, who valued himself on his powers as a poet and
musician. On one occasion Lucan was so imprudent as to
recite one of his own pieces, in competition with Nero;
and as the judges honestly decided in favour of Lucan,
Nero forbad him to repeat any more of his verses in public,
and treated him with so much indignity that Lucan no
more looked up to him with the respect due to a patron
and a sovereign, but took a part in the conspiracy of Piso
and others against the tyrant ; which being discovered, he
was apprehended among the other conspirators. Tacitus
and other authors have accused him of endeavouring to
free himself from punishment by accusing his own mother,
and involving her in the crime of which he was guilty.
Mr. Hayley has endeavoured to rescue his name from so
terrible a charge ; and it is more likely that it was a ca-
lumny raised by Nero's party to ruin his reputation.
Be this as it may, his confessions were of ,no avail,
and no favour was granted him but the choice of the
death he would die ; and he chose the same which had
terminated the life of his uncle Seneca. His veins were
accordingly opened ; and when he found himself growing
cold and faint through loss of blood, he repeated some of
his own lines, describing a wounded soldier sinking in a
similar manner. He died in the year 65, and in the twenty-
seventh year of his age. Of the various poems of Lucan,
none but his Pharsalia remain, which is an account of the
civil wars between Caesar and Pompey, but is come down
to us in an unfinished state. Its title to the name of au
epic poem has been disputed by those critics, who, from
the examples of Homer and Virgil, have maintained that
machinery, or the intervention of supernatural agency, is
essential to that species of composition. Others, however,
have thought it rather too fastidious to refuse the epic
name to a poem because not exactly conformable to those
celebrated examples. Blair objects, tliat although Lucan's
subject is abundantly heroic, he cannot be reckoned happy
in the choice of it, because it has two defects, the one its
being too near the times in which he lived, which deprived
him of the assistance of fiction and machinery ; the other*
LUCAN. 459
that civil wars, especially when as fierce and cruel as those
of the Romans, present too many shocking objects to be
fit for epic poetry, gallant and honourable achievements
being a more proper theme for the epic muse. But Lu-
can's genius seems to delight in savage scenes, and he
even goes out of his way to introduce a long episode of
Marius and Sylla's proscriptions, which abounds with all
the forms of atrocious cruelty. On the merits of the poetry
itself there are various opinions. Considered as a school
book, Dr. Warton has classed it with Statins, Claudian,
and Seneca the tragedian, authors into whose works no
youth of genius should ever be suffered to look, because,
by their forced conceits, by their violent metaphors, by
their swelling epithets, by their want of a just decorum,
they have a strong tendency to dazzle and to mislead in-
experienced minds, and tastes unformed, from the true
relish of possibility, propriety, simplicity and nature. On
the other hand it has been said, that although Lucan cer-
tainly possesses neither the fire of Homer, nor the melo-
dious numbers of Virgil, yet if he had lived to a maturer
age, his judgment as well as his genius would have been
improved, and he might have claimed a more exalted rank
among the poets of the Augustan age. His expressions
are bold and animated ; his poetry entertaining ; and it has
been asserted that he was never perused without the
warmest emotions, by any whose minds were in unison
with his own.
Lucan first appeared from the press of Sweynheym and
Pannartz, in 1469, a folio, of which only 275 copies were
printed, and not above three have been seen in this coun-
try, one at Dr. Askew's sale, one is in lord Spencer's col-
lection, and a third in the Bodleian. The best editions of
more modern times are: that of Grotius, Antwerp, 1614,
8vo, reprinted 1619 and 1626; the Variorum, Leyden,
1658, 8vo; that of Oudendorp, Leyden,' 1728, 4 to ; of
Burmann, ibid. 1740, 4to; of Bentley, at the Strawberry-
hill press, 1760, 4to ; and that by Didot, Paris, 1795,
fol. edited by Renouard, a superb as well as accurate edi-
tion. We have three English translations by Gorges, May,
and Rowe, all of indifferent merit, but the classical scholar
will be better pleased to hear that there are in the British
Museum, no less than five editions of this poet enriched
with the MS notes of the celebrated Bentley. \
. » Cruaiui'R Lives of the Pgets.— Dibdia's Clawics.— Wafrton's Essay,— Blair'«
{.educes. — Saxii Onomast.
460 LUCAS.
LUCAS (FRANCIS), surnamed BRUGENSIS, from being a
native of that city, was a doctor of Louvain, and dean of
the church of St. Omer. He studied under Arias Mon-
tanus, and acquired an extensive knowledge of the Greek,
Hebrew, Chaldee, and Syriac languages. He has left,
1. " Critical notes on the Holy Scriptures," Antwerp,
3 vols. 4to, which are commended by Simon, in his Criti-
cal History. 2. Latin commentaries on the New Testa-
ment, in 3 vols. folio. 3. Concordances of the Bible, pub-
lished at Cologne in 8vo, by Egmond, in 1684, which are
convenient in size, and printed with correctness and beauty.
He died Feb. 19, 1619.1
LUCAS (PAUL), a French traveller, was the son of a
merchant at Rouen, and born there in 1664. From his
youth he felt a strong inclination for travelling, which he
gratified by several voyages to the Levant, Egypt, Turkey,
and other countries. He brought home a great number of
medals and other curiosities for the king's cabinet, who
made him his antiquary in 1714, and ordered him to write
the history of his travels. Louis XV. sent him again to
the Levant in 1723, whence he brought abundance of
curiosities for the king's library ; particularly medals and
manuscripts. His passion for travelling reviving again in
1736, he went to Madrid; and died there in 1737, after
an illness of eight months. His travels, which were edited
by Baudelot de Dairval, Fourmont, and Banier, are not
ill written, and sufficiently amusing; yet not of the first
authority, being supposed to contain some exaggerated,
and some false representations. They consist of 7 vols.
12mo, published in 1699 — 1714.*
LUCAS VAN LEYDEN. See JACOBS.
LUCAS (RICHARD), a learned English divine, of Welch
extraction, was son of Mr. Richard Lucas of Presteign in
Radnorshire, and born in that county in 1648. After a
proper foundation of school learning, he was sent to Ox-
ford, and entered of Jesus college, in 1664. Having taken
both his degrees in arts, he entered into holy orders about
1672, and was for some time master of the free-school at
Abergavenny ; but being much esteemed for his talents in
the pulpit, he was chosen vicar of St. Stephen's, Coieman-
street, London, and lecturer of St. Olave, Southwark, in,
1683. He took the degree of doctor in divinity afterwards,
> Moreri.— Diet HiiU « Moreri.— Diet. Hist,— Saxii Onomast.
L ,U CAS.
and was installed prebendary of Westminster in 1696.
His sight began to tail him in his youth, but he lost it
totally about this time. He died in June 1715, and was
interred in Westminster-abbey; but no stone or monu-
ment marks his grave. He was greatly esteemed for his
piety and learning, and his writings will preserve his fame.
He wrote " Practical Christianity ;" " An Enquiry after
Happiness;" "The Morality of the Gospel;" " Christian
Thoughts for. every Day of the Week;" "A Guide to
Heaven;" "The Duty of Servants;" and several other
" Sermons," in five volumes. He also wrote a Latin trans-
lation of the " Whole Duty of Man," which was published
in 1680. He left a son of his own name, who was bred at
Sydney-college, Cambridge, where he took his master of
arts degree, and published some of his father's sermons.
Of Dr. Lucas, Mr. Orton has given the following cha-
racter from Dr. Doddridge's MSS. " His style is very
peculiar; sometimes exceedingly fine, nearly approaching
conversation ; sometimes grand and sublime ; generally
very expressive. His method not clear, but thoughts ex-
cellent; many taken from attentive observation of life; he
wrote as entirely devoted to God, and superior to the
world. His < Practical Christianity' most valuable ; and
' Enquiry after Happiness,' especially the second volume
of it." Orton speaks of his reading the latter work for a
fifth or sixth time. The " Practical Christianity" is
earnestly recommended by sir Richard Steele in No. 63 of
"The Guardian."1
LUCIAN, a Greek author, was born at Samosata, the
capital of Comagene; the time of his birth is uncertain,
though generally fixed in the reign of the emperor Trajan ;
but Mr. Moyle, who has taken some pains to adjust the
age of Lucian, fixes the fortieth year of his age to the
164th year of Christ, and the fourth of Marcus Antoninus ;
and consequently, his birth to the 124th year of Christ,
and the eighth of Adrian. His birth was mean ; and his
father, not being able to give him any learning, resolved
to breed him a sculptor, and in that view put him appren-
tice to his brother-in-law; but, taking a dislike to the busi-
ness, he applied himself to the study of polite learning
and philosophy ; being encouraged by a dream, which he
relates in the beginning of his works, and which evidently
» Ath. Ox. roi. II.— Biog. Brit. Supplement.—Orton's Letters, 2 vols. 1805.
LUCIAN.
the product of his inclination to letters. He tells us
f, that he studied the law, and practised some
time as an advocate ; but disliking the wrangling oratory of
the bar, he threw off his gown, and took up that of a
rhetorician. In this character he settled first at Antioch ;
and passing thence into Ionia in Greece, he travelled into
Gaul and Italy, and returned at length into his own coun-
try by the way of Macedonia. He lived four and twenty
years after the death of Trajan, and even to the time of
Marcus Aurelius, who made him register of Alexandria in
Egypt*. He tells us himself, that when he entered upon
this office, he was in extreme old age, and had one leg in
Charon's boat. Suidas asserts that he was torn to pieces
by dogs. He died, however, in the year 2 1 4, aged 90.
As Lucian made a figure in various employments, bis
works exhibit him sometimes as a rhetorician and panegyrist;
in others he is distinguished chiefly as a pleader ; in a few
he assumes a more serious tone, and reasons on the subject
before him in a vein of manly sense, united to deep obser-
vation and knowledge of mankind. Of far the greater
part of his " Dialogues/' however, the leading and pro-
minent feature is ridicule, in dispensing which he is so
often guilty of obscenity and impiety, that moralists in all
ages have united in condemning him. In this country he
has, notwithstanding, found many translators, Spence,
Mayne, Hickes, Carr, and Francklin, who have doubtless
bespoke attention to his wit by omitting the objectionable
passages. The best editions of the original, which was
first printed in 1496, at Florence, are those of Bourdelot,
Paris, 1615, folio; of Grevius, Amst 1687, 2 vols. 8vo;
of Hemsterhusius, ibid. 1743, 4 vols. 4 to, edit. opt. which
has been followed by all subsequent editors.1
LUCIFER, bishop of Cagliari, the metropolis of Sar-
dinia, is known in ecclesiastical history as the author of a
schism, the occasion of which was, that Lucifer would not
allow the decree made in the council of Alexandria, A. D.
• Valerius's nofes on Marcellinus, praefectus augnstalis, or governor of
p. 398 ; and on Eusebius, p. 147 ; his Egypt; but this last mu«t be a mistake,
word in Latin is " hypomnematogra- since Lucian himself, in his " Apologia
phu.<." This however is not absolutely pro mereede coiiductis," says, that the
certain ; some say he was an assessor, post he was then in was a step to the
others a procurator; and Mr. Dodwell, government of a province,
in. his lectures, will have him to be
» Vossius.— Moreri.— Brucker.— Cut. Rev. vol. I. p. 419,— Lardner's Works,
— Saxji OnomasU
LUCIFER. 4G3
3G2, for receiving the apostate Arian bishops. This he
opposed so resolutely, that, rather than yield, he chose to
separate himself from the communion of the rest, and to
form a new schism, which bore his name, and -soon gained
a considerable footing, especially in the West; several
persons no less distinguished for piety than learning, and
among the rest Gregory, the famous bishop of Elvira,
having adopted his rigid sentiments. As Lucifer is ho-
noured by the church of Rome as a saint, where his festi-
val is kept on the 20th of May, Baronius pretends that he
abandoned his schism, and returned to the communion of
the church, before his death. But his contemporary,
Ruffinus, who probably knew him, assures us, that he died
in the schism which he had formed, A D. 370. His works
are written in a harsh and barbarous style. According to
Lardner, they consist very much of passages of the Old
and New Testament, cited one after another, which he
quotes with marks of the greatest respect. He farther
adds, that the works of this prelate have not yet been pub-
lished with all the advantage that might be wished. The
titles of these works are, " Ad Constantinum Imperatorem,
lib. ii. ;" " De Regibus Apostaticis ;" " De non conveni-
endo cum Hereticis ;" " De non parcendo Delinquentibus
in Deum ;" " Quod moriendurn sit pro Filio Dei ;" and
" Epistola brevis ad Florentium." They were collected
together, and published at Paris by John Till, bishop of
Meaux, in 1568, and at Venice about 1780, in fol. with
additions. l
LUCILIUS (CAius), an ancient Latin poet, and a Ro-
man knight, was born at Suessa, in the county of the A«-
runci, about the year 148 B. C. He served under Scipio
Africanus in the war with the Numantines, and was very
much esteemed by him and Laelius. He wrote thirty books
of " Satires," in which he lashed several persons of quality
by name, and with great severity ; and if he was not the
inventor of that kind of poem, he certainly was the first
considerable satirist among the Romans. Horace says,
" Quid, cum est Lucilius ausus
Primus in hunc operis componere carmina morem ?"
He died at Naples about the year 103 B. C.
There is nothing extant of all his works, but some frag-
ments of his " Satires/' which were first collected by
1 Mbsheim,— Lardner's Works.
L U C I L I U S.
Francis Dousa, Ltyden, 1593, 4to, reprinted by the Vul-
pii, 1713, 8vo. They have also been printed with the frag-
ments of Ennius, Accius, Puhlius Syrus, &C.1
LUCIIETIUS (Tirus CARUS), a celebrated Roman poet
and philosopher, born about the year 96 B. C. was sent at
an early age to Athens, where, under Zeno and Pheodrus,
he imbibed the philosophical tenets of Epicurus and Em-
pedocles, and afterwards explained and elucidated them in
his celebrated work, entitled " De Rerum Natura." In
inis poem the writer has not only controverted all the po-
pular notions of heathenism, but even those points which
are fundamental in every system of religious faith, the
existence of a first cause, by whose power all things were
and are created, and by whose providence they are sup-
ported and governed. His merits, however, as a poet,
have procured him in all ages, the warmest admirers; and
undoubtedly where the subject admits of elevated senti-
ment and descriptive beauty, no Roman poet has taken a
loftier flight, or exhibited more spirit and sublimity ; the
same animated strain is supported almost throughout entire
books. His poem was written and finished while he la-
boured under a violent delirium, occasioned by a philtre,
which the jealousy of his mistress or his wife had admi-
nistered. The morality of Lucretius is generally pure,
but many of his descriptions are grossly licentious. The
best editions are those of Creech, Oxon. 1695, 8vo; of
Havercamp, Lugd. Bat. 1725, 4to, and of the celebrated
Gilbert Wakefield, Lond. 3 vols. 4to, which last is exceed-
ingly rare, on account of the v fire which destroyed the
greater part of the impression. Mr. Good, the author of
the best translation of Lucretius, published in 1805, has
reprinted Waketield's text, and has given, besides elaborate
annotations, a critical account of the principal editions and
translations of his author, a history of the poet, a vindica-
tion of his character and philosophy, and a comparative
statement of the rival systems of philosophy that flourished
in the time of Lucretius, to whom Mr. Good traces the in-
ductive method of the illustrious Bucon, part of the su-
blime physics of sir Isaac Newton, and various chemical
discoveries of our own days, perhaps a little too fancifully,
but with great ingenuity and display of recondite learning.2
1 Vossii Poet. Lat. — Saxii Onomast. — Gen. Diet.
* Qood'f Lucretius, as above.
L U D L O W. 465
LUDLOW (EDMUND), one of the chiefs of the repub-
lican party during the civil wars, was descended of an
ancient and good family, originally of Shropshire, and
thence removed into Wiltshire, in which county he wag
born, at Maiden- Bradley, about 1620. After a proper
foundation in grammar, he was sent to Trinity-college in
Oxford, where he took the degree of batchelor of arts in
1636, but removed to the Temple, to study the law, as a
qualification for serving his country in parliament, his an-
cestors having frequently represented the county of Wilt-
shire. His father, sir Henry Ludlow, who was a member
of the long parliament and an enemy to the measures of
the court, encouraged his son to engage as a volunteer in
the earl of Essex's life-guard. In this station he appeared
against the king, at the battle of Edge-hill, in '1642 ; and,
having raised a troop of horse the next summer, 1643, he
joined sir Edward Hungerford in besieging Wardour-castle.
This being taken, he was made governor of it ; but being
retaken the following year, 1644, by the king's forces, he
was carried prisoner to Oxford. After remaining here
some time, he was released by exchange, went to London,
and was appointed high-sheriff of Wiltshire by the parlia-
ment. He then appears to have declined a command under
the earl of Essex, but accepted the post of major in sir
Arthur Haslerig's regiment of horse, in the army of sir
William Waller, and marched to form the blockade of
Oxford. From Oxford, however, he was immediately sent,
with a commission from sir William, to raise and command
a regiment of horse, and was so successful as to be able to
join Waller with about five hundred horse, and was en-
gaged in the second battle fought at Newbury. Upon new
modelling the army, he was dismissed with Waller, and
was not employed again in any post, civil or military, till
1645, when be was chosen in parliament for Wiltshire in
the room of his father, who died in 1643.
Soon after the death of the earl of Essex, Sept. 1646,
Ludlow had reason to suspect, from, a conversation with
Cromwell, who expressed a dislike to the parliament and
extolled the army, that his ambition would lead him to
destroy the civil authority, and establish his own; and
therefore he gave a flat negative to the vote for returning
Cromwell thanks, on his shooting ' Arnell, the agitator, and
thereby quelling that factioti in the army. In the same
spirit of what has been called pure rep;ublicanism, he joined
VOL. XX. HH
L U D L O W.
in the vote for not addressing the king, and in the decla-
ration for bringing him to a trial : and soon alter, in a
conference with Cromwell and the leaders of the army, he
harangued upon the necessity and justice of the king's
execution, and, after that, the establishment of an equal
commonwealth, in which he differed from another pure
republican, Lilburne, who was for new-modelling the par-
liament first, and then, as a natural consequence, putting
the king to death. Ludlow induced the Wiltshire people
to agree to the raising of two regiments of foot, and one
of horse, against the Scots, when they were preparing to
release the king from Carisbrook- castle. After which, he
went to Fairfax, at the siege of Colchester, and prevailed
with him to oppose entering into any treaty with the king;
and when the House of Commons, on his majesty's answer
from Newport, voted that his concessions were ground for
a future settlement, Ludlow not only expressed his dis-
satisfaction, but had a principal share both in forming and
executing the scheme of forcibly excluding all that party
from the house by colonel Pride, in 1648. Agreeably to
all these proceedings, he sat upon the bench at the trial
and condemnation of the king, concurred in the vote that
the House of Peers was useless and dangerous, and be-
came a member of the council of state.
When Cromwell succeeded Fairfax, as captain-general
of the army, and lord-lieutenant of Ireland, he, as an art-
ful stroke of policy, nominated Ludlow lieutenant-general
of horse in that krngdom, which being confirmed by the
parliament, Ludlow went thither, and discharged the office
with diligence and success, till the death of Ireton, lord-
deputy, Nov. 1651, whom, in his " Memoirs," he laments
as a staunch republican. He now acted as general, by an
appointment from the parliament commissioners, but with-
out that title, which Cromwell, of whose ambitious views
be constantly expressed a jealousy, as constantly found
one pretext or other to keep from being conferred on him ;
and in the following year, 1652, Fleetwood went thither
with the chief command. Soon after this, the rebellion
being suppressed, a considerable part of the army was
disbanded, the pay of the general and other officers re-
duced, and necessary steps taken for satisfying the arrears
due to them, which Ludlow says fell heavier upon him
than others, as in supporting the dignity of the station he
had spent upwards of 4500/. in the four years of his service
here, out of his own estate, over and above his pay.
L U D L O W. 467
At home, in the mean time, Cromwell was become so*
vereign, under the title of protector. This being esteemed
by Ludlow an usurpation, he endeavoured by every means
in his power to hinder the proclamation from being read in
Ireland ; and being defeated in that attempt, he dispersed
a paper against Cromwell, called "The Memento:" for
which he was dismissed from his post in the army, and
ordered not to go to London by Fleetwood, now deputy of
Ireland. Soon after, being less narrowly watched by
Henry Cromwell, who succeeded in that office, he found
means to escape and cross the water to Beaumaris ; but was
there seized and detained till he subscribed an engage-
ment, never to act against the government then established.
But this subscription being made with some reserve, he
was pressed, on his arrival in London, Dec. 1655, to make
it absolute ; which he refused to do, and endeavoured to
draw major-general Harrison, and Hugh Peters, into the
same opinion. Cromwell, therefore, after trying in vain,
in a private conference, to prevail upon him to subscribe,
sent him an order from the council of state, to give se-
curity in the sum of 5000/. not to act against the new go-
vernment, within three days, on pain of being taken into
custody. Not obeying the order, he was apprehended by
the president's warrant; but the security being given by
his brother Thomas Ludlow, though, as he says, without
his consent, he went into Essex, where he continued till
Oliver died. He was then returned in the new parliament
called upon Richard's accession to the protectorate; and,
either from connivance or cowardice on the part of the
government, was suffered to sit in the house without tak-
ing the oath required of every member, not to act or con-
trive any thing against the protector. He was afterwards
very active in procuring the restoration of the Rump par-
liament; in which, with the rest, he took possession of
his seat again, and the same day was appointed one of the
committee of safety. Soon after this, he obtained a regi-
ment, by the interest of sir Arthur Haslerig ; and in a lit-
tle time was nominated one of the council of state, every
member of which took an oath to be true and faithful to the
commonwealth, in opposition to Charles Stuart, or any
single person. He was likewise appointed by parliament
one of the commissioners for naming and approving officers
in the army.
But the Wallingford-house party, to remove Jiim out of
• H H 2
*6§ L U D L O XVI
the way, recommended him to the parliament, for the
post of commander in chief of the forces in Ireland, in the
room of Henry Cromwell, and he accordingly arrived, with
that command, at Dublin, in August 1659; but in September,
receiving Lambert's petition to parliament, for settling the
government under a representative and select senate, he
procured a counter petition to be signed by the officers of
the army near Dublin, declaring their resolution of- adher-
ing closely to the parliament ; and soon after, with the
Consent of Fieetwood, set out for England. On his arrival
at Beaumaris, hearing that the army had turned the par-
liament oat of the house, and resumed the supreme power,
he hesitated tor some time about proceeding on his jour-
ney, but at length resolved upon it ; and on his arrival at
Chester, finding an addition made to the army's scheme of
government, by which all the officers were to receive new
commissions from Fleetwood, and that a committee of
safety was appointed, consisting of twenty-one members,
of which he was one, and that he was also continued one
of the committee for nomination of officers, he set out for
London the next day, and arrived there Oct. 29, 1659.
The Wallingford-house p;irty prevailing to have a new par-
liament called, Ludlow opposed it with great fervour, in
defence of the Hump, and proposed to qualify the power
of the army by a council of twenty-one under the deno-
mination of the Conservators of liberty; but being defeated
in this, by the influence of the Wallingford-house party,
he resolved to return to his post in Ireland, and had the
satisfaction to know, before he left London, that it was at
last carried to restore the old parliament, which was done
two or three- days after. In Ireland, however, he was far
from being well received. Dublin was barred against him,
and landing at Duncannon, he was blockaded there by a
party of horse, pursuant to an order of the council of offi-
cers, who likewise charged him with several crimes and
misdemeanors against the army. He wrote an answer to
this charge ; but, before he sent it away, received an ac-
count, that the parliament had confirmed the proceedings
of the council of officers at Dublin against him ; and, about
a week after, he received a letter from them, signed Wil-
liam Lenthall, recalling him home.
Upon this, he embarked for England; and in the way,
at Mi.lford-Comb, found by the public news, that sir Charles
Coote had exhibited a charge of high treason against him.
L U D L O W. 469
On his arrival at London, he took his place in the house ;
and, obtaining a copy of his charge, moved to be heard in
his defence, but the approach of general Monk gave a new
turn to public affairs. Ludlow, who waited upon him,
was so far deceived as to believe that Monk was inclined
to a republic. On learning Monlc's real design, however,
he first applied to sir Arthur Haslerig, to draw their scat-
tered forces together to oppose Monk ; and that proposal
not being listened to, he endeavoured, with the other re-
publicans, to prevent the dissolution of ihe Rump, by or-
dering writs to be issued to fill up the vacant seats ; but
the speaker refused to sign the warrants. He also pressed
very earnestly to be heard concerning the charge of high
treason, lodged against him from Ireland, to no purpose ;
so that when the members secluded in 164<8 returned to
the house, with Monk's approbation, he withdrew himself
from it, until being elected for the borough of Hindon,
(part of his own estate) in the convention parliament, which
met the 24th of April, 1660, he took his seat in the House
of Commons in pursuance of an order he had received, tQ
attend his duty there. He now also sent orders to collect
his rents, and dispose of his effects in Ireland ; but was
prevented by sir Charles Coote, who seized both, the stock
alone amounting to 1500/. ; and on the vote in parliament,
to apprehend all who had signed the warrant for the king's
execution, he escaped by shifting his abode very fre-
quently. During his recess, the House was busy in pre-
paring the bill of indemnity, in which he was, more than
once, very near being inserted as one of the seven ex-
cepted persons ; and a proclamation being issued soon after
the king's return, for all the late king's judges to surren-
der themselves in fourteen days time, on pain of being
left out of the said act of indemnity, he consulted with his
friends,, whether he should not surrender himself according
to the proclamation. Several of these, and even sir Har-
bottle Grimston, the speaker, advised him to surrender,
and engaged for his safety ; but he chose to follow the
more solid and friendly opinion of lord Ossory, son to the
marquis of Ormond, and determined to quit England. He
instantly took leave of his friends, and went over London
bridge in a coach, to St. George's church, in the borough
of Southwark ; where he took horse, and travelling all night,
arrived at Lewes, in Sussex, by break of day the next
morning. Soon after, he went on board a small open vessel
470 L U D L O W.
prepared for him; but the weather being very bad, he
quitted that, and took shelter in a larger, which had
been got ready for him, but struck upon the sands in going
down the river, and lay then a-ground. He was hardly got
a-board this, when some persons came to search that
which he had quitted, without suspecting any body to be in
the boat which lay a-shore, so that they did not examine it,
by which means he escaped ; and waiting a day and a night
for the storm to abate (during which the master of the ves-
sel asked him, whether he had heard that lieutenant-gene-
ral Ludlow was confined among the rest ot the king's judges),
the next morning he put to sea, and landed at Dieppe that
evening, before the gates were shut.
Soon after his departure, a proclamation was published,
for apprehending and securing him, with a reward of 300/. ;
one of these coming to his hands, in a packet of letters, in
which his friends earnestly desired he would remove to
some place more distant from England, he went first to
Geneva ; and after a short stay there, passing to Lausanne,
settled at last at Vevay *, in Switzerland, though not with-
out several attempts made to destroy him, or deliver him
to Charles II. There he continued under the protection
of those States till the Revolution in 1688, in which some
thought he might have been usefully employed to recover
Ireland from the Papists. With this design he came to
England, and appeared so openly at London, that an ad-
dress was presented by king William, from the House of
Commons, Nov. 7, 1689, that his majesty would be pleased
to put out a proclamation for the apprehending of colonel
Ludlow, attainted for the murder of Charles I. upon which
he returned to Vevay, where he died in 1693, in his
73d year. Some of his last words were wishes for the
prosperity, peace, and glory of his country. His body
was interred in the best church of the town, in which his
lady erected a monument of her conjugal affection to his
memory.
The friends of Ludlow have endeavoured to exalt his
character by contrasting him with his antagonist Cromwell ;
and undoubtedly, in point of honesty, he has the advantage.
" Ludlow," it has been said, " was sincerely and steadily
* Mr. Addison was shewn his house, Addison, " is a piece of ver*e in Ovid,
over the door of which he read this in- as the last is a cant of bis owu." Tra/.
scription, " Omne sol urn forti patria, vcls, ice.
quia patm/' " The fcrst part," wys»
L U D L O W. 471
& republican ; Cromwell not attached to any kind of go-
vernment, but of all kinds liked that the least. Ludlow
spoke his mind plainly, and was never taken for any other
than he professed himself to be; Cromwell valued himself
upon acting a part, or rather several parts, and all of them
equally well: and when he performed that of a Common-
wealth's-man, he performed it so admirably, that though
Ludlow knew him to be a player by profession, yet he now
thought he had thrown off the mask, and appeared what he
really was. Ludlow was entirely devoted to the parliament,
and would have implicitly obeyed their orders upon any
occasion whatsoever, especially after it was reduced to the
Rump; Cromwell never undertook any business for them,
but with a view to his own interest." Warburton says of
Ludlow, " he was a furious, mad, but I think apparently
honest, republican and independent." After his death, came
out the " Memoirs of Edmund Ludlow, esq." &c. Switzer-
land, printed at Vevay, in the canton of Bern, 1698, in
2 vols. 8vo, and there was a third volume, with a collection
of original papers, published in 1691), 8vo. The same year
a French translation of the first two volumes was printed in
the same size at Amsterdam. Another edition of the whole
was printed in folio, at London, 1751. The first edition was
attacked in 1698, in a pamphlet, entitled, " A modest vin-
dication of Oliver Cromwell ;" the author of which pub-
lished another piece, entitled, " Regicides not Saints,"
and, in 1691, " A letter from major-general Ludlow to
E. S. (Edward Seymour), &c. Amsterdam." Mr. Wood
observes, this was printed at London, and was written by
way of preface of a larger work to come, to justify the
murder of king Charles I. not by Ludlow, but by some
malevolent person in England : in answer to which, there
came out, " The Plagiary exposed, &c." Lond. 1691, 4to,
said to be written by Butler, the author of Hudibras. l
LUDOLPH (JOB), a learned orientalist, was born at Er-
furt in Thuringia, June 15, 1624, of one of the best fami-
lies in the city, then in reduced circumstances. He began
his studies at home, under very insufficient masters, and
having acquired some knowledge of the Greek and Latin
languages, applied himself to the French, Italian, and
Spanish, and afterwards to those of the East. He also
made some progress in physic and law, but without any
view to a profession. In 1645 he went to Leyden, a
» Biog. Brit.— Wood's Fasti, vol. I.
472 L U D O L P H.
studied the languages under Erpenius, Golius, and other:
eminent teachers, and likewise maintained some disputa-
tions in law. Alter residing here ahove a year, he was ap-
pointed (ravdUiilg tutor to a young man of family, with
whom he a em to trance, and at Caen contracted a friend-
ship witu Bochart, and tan^- «t him the elements of the
Ethiopia language. He afterwards went with his pupil to
England ; but the rebellion being at its height at this time,
he soon returned to Holland The baron de Uosenhahn,
ambassador from Christina queen of Sweden at the court
of France, happened to have in his retinue a brother of Lu-
dolf, who recommended our author to that nobleman so
effectually, that he sent for him from Holland to Paris, to
be preceptor to his two sons. Soon after, in 1619, he sent.
him to Ho. lie, to search for papers and memoirs, which
John Magnus, archbishop of Upsal, was said to have con-
veyed formerly to Rome, and which Christina was desirous
to recover. Ludolph performed this journey in company
with two Polish gentlemen, of whom he learned their lan-
guage. At Home he found no manuscripts relating to
Sweden ; but this journey was not useless to himself, for
by his conversation with four Abyssinians, then at Rome,
be perfected himself in the knowledge of the Ethiopic lan-
guage. Immediately after his return to Paris he was ob-
liged to go to Sweden with the ambassador, where he found
a great many learned men at queen Christina's court, and
had an opportunity of learning there the Portuguese, Mos-
covite, an. I Finland languages. In 1652, Ernest duke of
Saxe-Gotba sent for him to his court, and made him his
Aulic-coun*ellor, and governor to the princes his sons, and
employed him in various political affairs and negotiations.
In 1678 he desired leave to retire, resolving upon a private
life, and went to Fraucfort, where he had a commission
from the dukes of Saxony to act in their names in the con-
ferences held there in 1681 and 1682, in order to settle a
pacification between the emperor, the empire, and France.
The elector palatine likewise gave him the direction of
some of his revenues ; and the electors of Saxony honoured
him with the titles of their counsellor and resident. But
Abyssinia was the chief object of the attention of our author,
who concerted measures to form an alliance between that
remote nation and the powers of Europe. He had addressed
himself for that purpose, iu 1679, to the court of Vienna,
who referred him to the English and Dutch, as more capa-
LUDOLPH. 473
ble of contributing to that great design. He vyent, there- i
fore, to England in 168,'i, but did not find any disposition
there to execute his scheme for establishing a commerce
with the Abyssinians, and although he found rather more
encouragement in Holland, the scheme was defeated by
the Abyssinians themselves. In 1684, Ludolph returned
to Francfort, having passed through France, and began to
apply himself vigorously to the writing of his " History of
Ethiopia." In 1690 he was appointed president of an
academy of history, which was' established in that city. He
lived several years after, and died April 8, 1704, agfcd almost
eighty years.
He understood twenty-five languages : Hebrew, and that,
of the Rabbins ; the Samaritan, Chaldee, Syriac, Arabic,
learned, literal, and vulgar; Greek, learned and vulgar;1
Ethiopic, learned and vulgar, Called Amharic ; Coptic, Per-
sian, Latin, French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, German,
Flemish, English, Polish, Sclavonic, and the ancient lan-
guage of Sclavonia, and of the Finnes. He was equally
esteemed for his manners as for his talents; and was very
communicative ; hardy and indefatigable in business, and
so much inured to study, that he had always a book open
before him at his ordinary repasts. He left a son, Chris-
tian Ludolph, who was the only child he had, and was
counsellor and secretary to the duke of Saxe-Eysenach. '
His works are: 1. " Schola Latinitatis, &c." Gothae,
1672, 8vo. 2. " Historia Kthiopica, &<•." Franc. 1681,
folio. 3. " Epistola Ethiopice scripta," 1685, in folio.
This was the letter he wrote to persuade the Abyssinians-
to an alliance with the princes of Europe. 4. " De bello
Turcico feliciter conficiendo, &c." Franc. 1686. 4to. 5.
" Remarque* sur les pensees enjouez & serieux, &c."'
Leipsic, 1689, 8vo. 6. " Epistolse Samaritans Sichetnita-
rum ad Jobum Ludolphum, &c." Leipsic, 1688, 4to. 7,
" Specimen commentarii in historian! Ethiopicam," 1687.
8. " Comaientarins in historiam Ethiopicam, &c." Franc.
1691, folio. 9. "Appendix ad hist. Ethiopicam illiusque
commentarium, &c." ibid. 1693, folio. 10. " Jugerrtent
d'un anonyme sur une lettre a un ami touchant une systeme
d'etymologie Hebraique." II. " Dissertatio de locustis,
&c." Franc. 1694, folio. 12. " Grammatica Amharicae
liiifmse qua; est vernacula Habessinorum," ibid. 1698, fojio.
13.°" Lexicon Amharico-Latinnm, &c." ibid. 1698, folio.
J4. « Lexicon Ethiopico-Latinum, ibid, editio secunda,"
474 L U I) O L P H.
1699, folio. 15. " Gratnmatica linguae Ethiopian,
secunda," ibid. 1702, folio. 16. " Psalterium Davidis,
Ethiopice & Latine, &c." ibid. 1701, 4to. J7. " Theatre
historique de ce que s'est pass6 en Europe, pendant le xvii
si6cle," in German, "avec des figures de Remain de Hoog,"
ibid. 2 vols. folio. 1 8. " Confessio fidei Claudii Regis
Ethiopicse," &c. in 4to.'
LUDOLPH (HENRY WILLIAM), also a native of Erfurt,
and born in 1655, was son to George Henry Ludolpb, a
counsellor of that city, and nephew to the preceding Job
Ludolpb, who had some share in the care of his education,
and* the regulation of his studies. He thus became quali-
fied for the post he afterwards enjoyed, of secretary to Mr.
Lenthe, envoy from Christian V. king of Denmark, to the
court of Great Britain. This gentleman, for his faithful-
ness and ability, recommended him afterwards to prince
George of Denmark, and in 1680 he became his secretary,
which office he enjoyed for some years, until, being inca-
pacitated by illness, he was discharged, with a handsome
pension. After his recovery, he took a resolution to visit
some foreign countries, particularly Russia, which then
was hardly known to travellers ; and, as he had some
knowledge of the Russian language before be left England,
he easily became acquainted with the principal men of that
country. He also met with some Jews there, with whom
he frequently conversed, and became so great a master of
the Hebrew tongue, that he could talk with them in that
language ; and he gave such uncommon proofs of his know-
ledge, that the Russian priests took him for a conjuror.
He also understood music, and had the honour to play
before the czar at Moscow, who expressed the utmost
surprise and delight at his performance. Ludolph re-
turned to London in 1694, when he was cut for the stone.
As soon as his health would permit, in gratitude for the
civilities he had received in Russia, he undertook to write
a grammar of their language ; by which the natives might
be taught their own tongue in a regular form. This book
was printed by the university press at Oxford, and pub-
lished in 1696. This essay, as he says in his preface, he
hoped might be of use to traders and travellers ; as it was
an introduction to the knowledge of a language, which was
spoken through a vast tract of country, from Archangel as
» Gco. Diet— Niceron, vol. 111.— Moreri. — Saxil Ononwst.
L U D O L P H. 475
far as Astracan, and from Ingermania as far as the confines
of China.
Ludolph did not here conclude his travels. He had a
great desire to go into the East, and to inform himself of
the state. of the Christian church in the Levant. He began
this journey in March 1698, and in November following
arrived at Smyrna. Hence he travelled to Jaffa, from Jaffa
to Jerusalem, from Jerusalem to Cairo ; and made many-
useful observations relating to the productions of nature
and art, and the government and religion of the countries
through which he passed. The conversation he had with
the commander of a Turkish ship in his passage to Alex-
andria is not the least remarkable thing in his travels.
While he was on board, he was reading our Saviour's ser-
mon on the mount in the New Testament in Arabic, which
was printed in that language at the charge of Mr. Boyle.
The captain, having listened some time, asked, " what
book that was r" to which Ludolph answering, " that it was
the system of the Christian religion," he replied, "that
could not possibly be, since they practised quite the con-
trary." To this Ludolph rejoined, " that he was mistaken ;
and that he did not wonder at it, as the Turks had little
opportunity of conversing with any other than sailors and
merchants, few of whom they reckoned to be good Chris-
tians," £c. The Turk seemed to be very-well satisfied,
and afterwards was extremely kind to him.
The deplorable state of Christianity, in the countries
through which he travelled, undoubtedly moved him to
undertake after his return the impression of the New Tes-
tament in vulgar Greek, with the ancient Greek in tbie
opposite column, and to make a charitable present of it to
the Greek church. He printed it from a copy in two vo-
lumes which had been published several years* before in
Holland. These two volumes were by the industry of Lu-
dolph, and the generous contributions of the bishop of
Worcester, and their friends, printed in one volume, 12mo,
in London ; and afterwards distributed among the Greeks
by Ludolph, by means of his friendship and correspondence
with some of the best-disposed among them. He often
expressed his wishes, that the Protestant powers in Europe
would settle a sort of college at Jerusalem ; and in some
degree imitate the great zeal of the papists, who spare nei-
ther cost nor pains to propagate their religion everywhere.
He wished also, that such men as were designed for that
476 L U D O L P H.
college, might be acquainted with the vulgar Greek, Ara-
bic, and Turkish languages, and might by universal love
and charity be qualified to propagate genuine Christianity:
" for many," says he, " propagate their own particular
systems, and take this to be the gospel of Christ."
In 1709, when a vast number of Palatines came over
into England, Ludolph was appointed one of the commis-
sioners by her majesty to manage the charities of her sub-
jects to these unhappy strangers, and to find out ways to
employ them to the best advantage. He died Jan. 25,
1710, aged 54.
His works, besides the Russian grammar already men-
tioned, are, 1. " Meditations on Retirement from the
World." 2. Also " upon divers Subjects tending to pro-
mote the inward Life of Faith," &c. 3. " Considerations
on the Interest of the Church Universal." 4. " A. Propo-
sal for promoting the Cause of Religion in the Churches of
the Levant." 5. " Reflections on the present State of the
Christian Church." 6. " A Homily of Macarius, done
out of Greek." Some of these were printed singly, and all
of them together in London, 1712, under the title of his
" Remains," with his funeral sermon, by Mr. Boehm, chap-
lain to the late prince George of Denmark.1
LUDWIG (CHRISTIAN THEOPHILUS), a botanical writer,
was born in Silesia in 1709,. and educated for the medical
profession. Having a strong bias towards natural history,
he was appointed to accompany Hebenstreit in his expedi-
tion to the north of Africa, and soon after his return in
1733, became professor of medicine at Leipsic. In 1737
be published a " Programma" in support of the doctrine
of the sexes of plants, from his own observations upon the
date palm, but two years afterwards advanced some objec-
tions to the Linnaean system of arrangement by the organs
of impregnation, under the title of " Observationes in Me-
tbodum Plantarum Sexualem Cel. Linnaei," in which he
very unjustly attempts to deprive him of the merit of ori-
ginality, by insinuating that this system had been " indi-
cated by others ;" without saying by whom. In other dis-
sertations he betrays an uncommon propensity to find fault
with Linnaeus ; but, as his late biographer observes, such
critics are useful to science, as they promote inquiry and
1 Lives and Characters of the most illustrious Persons British and Foreign>
who died in 1710, Lond. 8vo.
L U D- W I G. 477
examination ; and it must be allowed that Lud wig justly
blames Linnaeus for confounding the bulbous Fumari<e a$
one species, and he may also be correct in s6me other fe-
marks. The late lord Bute has well observed, that Lud-
wig, like Haller, was only a Linnasan in disguise, having
frequently applied principles in unison with his, if not
imbibed from, him, to build systems, and to exercise criti-
cism, against him.
Ludwig published in 1737 his " DefinitionesPlantarum,"
in 8vo, for the use of his pupils. In this the genera of
plants are arranged in a method supposed to be natural,
founded ou the corolla in the first place, the subordinate
characters being taken from the fruit. The generic dis-
tinctions are derived from the herbage, flower, smell, taste,
colour, or any thing that came in the author's way ; cer-
tainly with no advantage whatever over the laws and prac-
tice of Linnaeus, but rather evincing, at every step, the
superiority of the latter to the vague scheme of his oppo-
nent. In another little volume of Ludwig, the " A^ho-
rismi Botanici," published in 1738, the assertion of his
being "a Linnsean in disguise" is strongly justified. In
vain does the writer try to forget the " Philosophia Bota-
nica," and to seek originality, at any rate, by wandering
from its light. In vain does he extol the system of Rivi-
nus in preference to all others. He is brought back by
his own judgment, in spite of himself, at every step ; and
as he could never give the least degree of popularity to the
system he extolled, the slightest study of his works will
show it to have been a mill-stone about his own neck.
Boehmer gave a new and improved edition of the " Defi-
nitiones Plantarum" in 1760. Whether any use is made
of this work at present, among the various botanical schools
on the continent, we have never heard, but we believe it
has fallen into oblivion.
In 1742, and again in 1757, our author published his
" Institutiones Historico-Physicse Regni Vegetabilis," in
8vo. In this work, which shews him still in pursuit of no-
velty rather than of truth, even the disguise of a Linnjean
is almost laid aside, a system of arrangement being pro-
posed in which the stamens and styles make an essential,
if not a leading, feature. The favourite old system of
.vinus still takes precedence, though it serves only as
additional impediment in the way of natural affinities, which
defect is in some measure concealed by the primary cha-
478 • L U D W I G.
racters not being strictly followed. This volume may
therefore be considered as a tacit tribute of respect to the
illustrious Swede, arising from its author's progress in
judgment and experience. He had no motive to withhold
this tribute, as Linnaeus never resented nor repelled hi>
attacks. Ludwig began, in 1760, to publish impressions,
chiefly of medicinal plants, taken from the dried specimen
with printer's ink, or with smoked paper, in folio, under
the title of " Ectypa Vegetabilium," which he continued
from time to time. Such impressions give undoubtedly a
correct outline, at least if the plant be fully displayed, but
the rest is a mass of confusion ; especially as the more ele-
vated parts, which should be light, are necessarily the
darkest. He wrote also occasionally on medico-botanical
subjects, as on the effects of extract of Stramonium, and
of the Belladonna, or deadly nightshade, in the epilepsy.
His opinion seems not to have been favourable to cither.
He died at Leipsic in 1773, aged sixty-four. He left a
son named CHRISTIAN FREDERICK, born in 1751, who be-
came professor of natural history in the same university,
and is the author of various tracts on botany, anatomy, and
physiology.1
LUGO (JOHN), a Spanish Jesuit and cardinal, was born
Nov. 28, 1533, at Madrid. His talents began to appear so
early, that it is said he was able, at three years of age, to
read not only printed books, but manuscripts. He main-
tained theses at fourteen, and was sent to study the taw,
soon after, at Salamanca ; where he entered into the order
«f the Jesuits in 1603, against his father's wish. After
finishing his course of philosophy among the Jesuits of
Pampeluna, and of divinity at Salamanca, he was sent to
Seville by his superiors, on his father's death, to take pos-
session of his patrimony, which was very considerable, and
Which he divided among the Jesuits of Salamanca. He
O
then taught philosophy five years ; after which, he was
professor of divinity at Valladolid. The success with which
he filled this chair, convinced his superiors that he was
worthy of one more eminent : accordingly he received
orders, in the fifth year of his professorship, to go to Rome,
to teach divinity there. He set out in March 1621, and
arrived at Rome in June the same year, having met with
Bjanv dangers in travelling through the provinces of France.
* Reel's Cyclopedia, by Sir J. Smith.
LUGO. 479
He taught divinity at Rome for twenty years, and attended
wholly to that employ, without making his court to the
cardinals, or visiting any ambassadors.
The publication of his works was in consequence of an
order which his vow of obedience would not suffer him to
refuse : he published accordingly, seven large volumes in
folio *, the fourth of which he dedicated to Urban VIII.
Upon this occasion he went for the first time to pay his
respects to the pope, by whom he was very graciously re-
ceived ; and from that time so highly respected, that Ur-
ban made him a cardinal, in Dec. 1643, without any pre-
vious notice or solicitation. To this promotion, however,
he is said to have shown the greatest repugnance, and
would not permit the Jesuits' college to discover any signs
of joy, or grant the scholars a holiday. He looked upon
the coach, which cardinal Barberifli sent him, as his coffin;
and when he was in the pope's palace, he told the officers
who were going to put on his cardinal's robes, that he was
resolved to represent first to his holiness, that the vows he
had made as a Jesuit would not permit him to accept of a
cardinal's hat. He was answered, that the pope had dis-
pensed with those vows. " Dispensations," replied he,
" leave a man to his natural liberty ; and, if I am permitted
to enjoy mine, I will never accept of the purple." Being
introduced to the pope, he asked whether his holiness, by
virtue of holy obedience, commanded him to accept the
dignity •' to which the pontiff answering, that he did ;
Lugo acquiesced, and bowed his head to receive the hat.
Yet he constantly kept a Jesuit near his person, to be a
perpetual witness of his actions. He continued to dress
and undress himself; he would not suffer any hangings to
be put up in his palace; and established so excellent an
order in it, that it was considered as an useful seminary.
He died Aug. 20, 1660, leaving his whole estate to the
Jesuits' college at Rome ; and was interred, by his own
* The first, which treats " De incar- called an excellent piece by Maim-
nalione dominica," was printed at Ly- botug, in " Methode pacifique," p. 60,
ons, in 1633 and 1653. The second, edit. 3, 1682. The seventh, which)*
" De sacramentis in genere & de ven. a collection " Rtsponsorum mora-
«ucharisti« sacrarmnto & sacrificio," lium," ibid. 1651, and 1660. He also
ibid. 1636. The third, " De virtiDe wrote notes " In privilegia vivo vocts
& sacramento pceaitentisc," ibid. 1638, oraculo concessa societati," Rome,
1644, and 1651. The fourth a-nl fifth, 1645, 12mo. And he translated out »f
"Deju-tilia & jure," ibid. 1642, arxl Italian into Spanish, " The Life of the
1652. The sixth, " De rirtute divinse blessed Louij de Qonzagas"
fidei," ibid. 164€, and 1656- This is
4SO LUG O.
directions, at the feet of Ignatius Loyola, the founder of
the order.
Wiiil- h»- was cardinal, he was very charitable ; and be-
stow- < tlu> Jesuits' bark, which then sold for its weight in
gold, v^ry liberally to persons afflicted with agues. He
was iiic first that brought this febrifuge specific into France
in 165O, when it was called cardinal de Lugo's powder.
He was undeniably a learned man, and had all that subtlety
of genius which is the characteristic quality of the Spanish
divines; and is said to be the first that discovered the phi-
losophical sin, and the justice of punishing it eternally.
His solution of this difficulty is somewhat extraordinary ;
for, having asserted that the savages might be ignorant of
God inculpably, he observes that the Deity gave them,
before their death, so much knowledge of himself as was
necessary to be capable of sinning theologically, and pro-
longed their life till they had committed such sin, and
thereby justly incurred eternal damnation. Among his
other scholastic absurdities he has also the reputation of
inventing the doctrine of inflated points, in order to remove
the difficulties in accounting for the infinite divisibility of
quantity, and the existence of mathematical points. It
was a received opinion, that a rarefied body takes up a
greater space than before, without acquiring; any new mat-
ter; our cardinal applied this to a corpuscle, or atom, with-
out parts or extension, which he supposes may swell itself
in such a manner as to fill several parts of space.1
LUGO (FRANCIS), elder brother of the preceding, was
born at Madrid in 1580, and became a Jesuit at Salamanca
•in 1600, where he first employed himst-lf in teaching the
rudiments of grammar : but he afterwards was professor of
philosophy, and was sent to the Indies. There he filled
the divinity-chair in the town of Mexico, and also in Santa
Fe. These posts, however, not being agreeable to tfhe
Retirement in which he desired to live, he returned to
Spain. In the voyage he lost the best part of his com-
mentaries upon the " Summit" of T. Aquinas, and nar-
rowly escaped being taken prisoner by the Dutch. He
was afterwards deputed to Rome by the province of Castile,
to assist at the eighth general assembly of the Jesuits ; and,
upon the conclusion of it, he was detained there by two
..employments, that of censor of the books published by the
1 fien. Diet.— Moreri.
LUGO.
481
Jesuits, and that of Theologue general. But finding him-
selt to be courted more and more, from the time that his
brother was made a cardinal, he went back into Spain
where he was appointed rector of two colleges, or of a
college or school consisting of two divisions, °as is that of
Westminster. He died in 1652, after writing several books,
the chief of which are, 1. « Commentarii in primam partem
S. Thomae de Deo, trinitate, & angelis," Lyons, 1647, 2
vok. folio. 2. " De sacramentis in genere, &c." Venice,
1652, 4to. 3. " Discursus praevius ad theologiam mora-
lem, &c." Madrid, 1643, 4to. 4. " Quasstiones morales
de sacramentis," Grenada, 1644, 4to.'
LUISINO, or LUISINI (FRANCIS), of Udina in the Ve-
netian territory, was an eminent scholar in the sixteenth
century. He was born in 1523, and was remarkable for
the integrity of his life, part of which was employed in
teaching Greek and Latin at Reggio : he was afterwards
secretary to the duke of Parma, and died in 1568, at the
age of forty-five. He wrote, 1. " Parergon libri tres," in-
serted in the third volume of Gruter's " Fax Critica ;" and
consisting of illustrations of various obscure passages in
ancient authors. 2. A Latin commentary on Horace's Art
of Poetry, published in 4to, at Venice, in 1544. 3. A
treatise " de componendis Animi affectibus," Bale, 1562,
in 8vo.2
LUISINUS (Louis), a physician, probably a relation of
the preceding, was also born at Udina, and was not less
distinguished by his acquisitions in literature, than by his
medical skill. He was author of the following works :
" Aphorismi Hippocratis hexametro carmine conscripti,"
Venice, 1552; " De compescendis animi affectibus per
moralem philosophiam et medendi artem, Tractatus in tres
Libros divisus," Basle, 1562; " Aphrodisiacus, sive de
Lue Venerea, in duos Tomos bipartitus, continens .omnia
quaecumque hactenus de hac re sunt ab omnibus Medicis
conscripta," Venice, 1566, folio. The first volume con-
tained an account of the prinled treatises on the lues up to
that year ; the second, published the year following, com-
prehended principally the manuscript works on the sub-
ject, which had not then been committed to the press.3
LUITPRANDUS, a celebrated Lombard historian of the
tenth century, was born at Pavia. He was bred in the
1 Moreri. — Gen. Diet. 2 Saxii Onomast.
3 Rees's Cyclopedia from Eloy.
VOL. XX. 1 1
482 LUITPRANDUS.
court of Hugo king of Italy, and was afterwards secretary
to J3erengarius II. by whom, in the year 948, he was sent
ambassador to Cpnstantine Porphyrogenitus. After hav-
ing long served Berengarius, he was disgraced, merely, as
k is said, because he censured some of the proceedings
with which the latter years of that prince were dishonoured.
His goods were confiscated, ancj he fled for refuge to Otho
emperor of Germany. Otho amply avenged his cause by
driving Berengarius from the throne ; and in the year 963,
advanced Luitprandus to the bishopric of Cremona. In
the year y6S he sent him ambassador to the emperor Nice-
phorus Phocas That emperor had taken great offence
that Otho had assumed the style of Roman emperor, and
Luitprandus, who undertook boldly to justify his master,
irritated him so much, that he received very harsh treat*
jnent, and was even thrown for a time .into prison, nor wa»
he suffered to return into Italy till the expiration of the
year. The precise time of his death is not known. He
wrote the history of his own times in six books ; the best
edition of which is that of Antwerp, in folio, published in
1640 His *>tyle is harsh, but he throws great light on the
history oi tlie lower empire. He is among the " Scriptores
return luili-arum," published by Mnratori. Luitprandus
was one of the bishops who subscribed the condemnation of
pope John XII. ; and in the last six chapters of his book, he
gives a distinct account of all ilie transactions of that synod,
which was held at Rome by the bishops of Italy. The
lives of the popes, and the chronicle of the Goths, ha>e
been falsriy ascribed to hjm.1
LULLI (JoiiN BAPTIST), superintendant of music to
Louis XIV. was born at Florence in 1634, of obsctjre pa-
rents; but an ecclesiastic, discovering his propensity to
music, taught him the practice of the guitar. At ten years
of qge he was sent to Pqris, in order to be a page of Mad.
de Moiitpensier, a uiec.« of Louis XIV. but the lady not
liking his appearance, which was mean and unprqmisiiagy
he was renuAed into the kitchen as her under-seullian.
This degradation, however, did not a Beet his spirit, for he
used, at l.is leisure, to scrape upon a scurvy w<IUle; and,
being heard by some person who, had discernment, was
mentioned to his mistress as a person of both ulents and a
hand for music. She then employed a master to teavb him
the violin j and in a few months he became so good a pro-
1 Morcri.— Saxii Onomast.
LULL I.
ficient, that he was removed from the kitchen to the cham-
ber, and ranked among the musicians.
Being for some offence dismissed from the princess's
service, he got himself entered among the king's violins ;
and in a little time became able to compose. Some of his
airs being noticed by the king, he called for the author;
and was so struck with his performance of them on thte
violin, of which Lulli was now become A master, that in
1660 he created a new band, called " Les Petits Violons^"
and placed him at the head of it. He was afterwards ap-
pointed sup-intenaant de la musique de l(i chambre du Roy ;
and upon this associated himself with Quinault, who was
appointed to write the operas ; and being now become
composer and joint director of the opera, he not only de-
tached himsek' from the former band, and instituted one of
his own, but, what is more extraordinary, neglected the
violin so much, that he had not even one in his house, and
never played upon it afterwards^ except to very few, and
in private. On the other hand, to the guitar, a trifling
instrument, he retained throughout life such a propensity,
that for his amusement he resorted to it voluntarily ; and to
perform on it even before strangers, needed no incentive.
The reason of this seeming perverseness of temper has
been thus assigned : " The guitar is an instrument of small
estimation among persons skilled in music, the power of
performing on it being attained without much difficulty ;
and, so far as regards the reputation of the performer^ it is
of small moment whether he plays very well on it or not t
but the performance on the violin is a delicate and an ar-
duous energy ; which Lulli knowing, set too high a value
on the reputation he had acquired when in constant prac-
tice, to risk the losing of it."
In 1686, the king was seized with ah indisposition Whieh
threatened his life ; but, recovering from itj Lulli was re-
quired to compose a " Te Denm" upon the occasion, and
produce I orie not mdre remarkable tor its excellence* than
for the unhappy accident which attended the performance
of it. He had neglected nothing in the compositiort df
the tnusic» and the preparations for the execution of it;
and, the better to demonstrate his zeal, lie1 himself beat the
time ; but with the care he used for this purpose, he gave
himself in the heat of action, a blow upon- the end of his
foot; nnd this ending ill a gangrene, which baffled all the
* > his surgeons, put an end to his life, March 22, 1687.
I 1 2
484 L U L L I.
The following story is related of this musician in his
last illness. Some years before, he had been closely en-
gaged in composing for the opera ; from which his con-
fessor took occasion to insinuate, that unless, as a testi-
mony of sincere repentance, he would throw the last of his
compositions into the fire, he must expect no absolution.
He consented : but one of the young princes coming to
see him, when he was grown better, and supposed to be
out of danger, " What, Baptiste," says the prince, *' have
you thrown your opera into the fire ? You were a fool for
giving credit thus to a dreaming Jansenist, and burning
good music." " Hush, my lord," answered Lulli, " I
knew very well what I was about ; I have a fair copy of
it." Unhappily this ill-timed pleasantry was followed by
a relapse : the gangrene increased, and the prospect of
inevitable death threw him into such pangs of remorse,
that he submitted to be laid upon an heap of ashes, with a
cord about his neck. In this situation he expressed a deep
sense of his late transgression ; and, being replaced in his
bed, he, further to expiate his offence, sung to an air of
his own composing, the following words : llfaut mourir,
pccheur, ilfaut mourir. Lulli is considered as the person
who brought French music to perfection, and his great
operas and other pieces were long held in the highest
estimation. He was no less remarkable for his humourous
talents, than for bis musical genius; and even Moliere, who
was fond of his company, would often say, " Now, Lulli,
make us laugh."
Lulli, says Dr. Burney, was a fortunate man to arrive in
a country where music had been so little cultivated, that
he never had any rival, nor was there throughout the whole
kingdom of France an individual who had the courage to
doubt of his infallibility in his art. He was fortunate in
so magnificent a patron, and still more fortunate in a lyric
poet, who could interest an audience by all the powers of
poetry, by the contexture of his fables, and variety and
force of his characters. Lulli was rough, rude, and coarse
in his manners, but without malice. His greatest frailties
were the love of wine and money. There was found in his
coffer 630,000 livres in gold, an exorbitant sum for the
time in which he lived.1
» Hawkins aad Burney's Hist, of Music.— Moreri. — Perrault Les Houomes
lllustrei.
L U L L Y.
485
LULLIER, CLAUDE EMANUEL. See CHAPELLE.
LULLY (RAIMOND), was a native of Majorca, born in
1236. He was considered in his own time as a prodigy of
learning and sagacity, and honoured with the title of Doc-
tor illuminatus. His logic, and his art of memory, have
been particularly celebrated, but are not found to deserve
the commendations they once received. After applying
most diligently to almost all sciences, he lost his life in
the character of a missionary. Having gone thither to
preach the truths of the Gospel, he suffered great hardships
in Africa, and died on his passage home, in March 1315,
at the age of eighty. His body was carried to Majorca,
where he was honoured as a martyr. His works were
published collectively, within these few years, at Mentz ;
and treat of theology, morals, physic, chemistry, natural
philosophy, law, &c. in a truly barbarous style, with much
erudition and subtlety, but very little of sound judgment.
There are few instances of a great fame so completely ex-
tinct as that of Raimond Lully. His art of memory, in-
deed, for which he was most celebrated, is a most ridicu-
lous invention, wholly unworthy of notice, except, says
Brucker, as a specimen of the artifice with which men,
who have more ingenuity than honesty, frequently impose
upon vulgar weakness and credulity.1
LUPSET (THOMAS), an eminent scholar, was the son
of William Lupset, goldsmith and citizen of London. He
was born in the parish of St. Mildred's, Bread-street, in
1498, and was educated at St. Paul's school under the
celebrated Lily. After this he is supposed to have stu-
died some time at Pembroke-hall, Cambridge, whence he
went to Paris, and took his bachelor's degree in arts. On
his return to England, he settled, about 1519, in Corpus
Christi college, Oxford, and succeeded John Clement in
the place of lecturer in rhetoric, founded by cardinal Wol-
sey ; and such appears to have been his reputation, that the
university publicly thanked the cardinal for his recommen-
dation of so able a man. In 1521 he proceeded M. A.
When Richard Pace was sent agent to Italy, Lupset ac-
companied him as his secretary, and in the course of his
travels became acquainted with many of the most learned
men of the time, particularly Pole, afterwards cardinal,
sir Thomas More, and Erasmus. After returning to Eng-
• Morefi.— Bullart's Academic des Sciences, vol. II.— Saxii Onomast.
L U F S E T.
land, He was sent t(* France by cardinal Wolsey, as tutor
to his natural son Thomas Winter. In 1529 he was pre-
sented to the living of St. Martin's Ludgate, and in 153O
was. made prebend of Salisbury. He died in the flower of
his age, Dec. 27, 1532, having scarcely completed his
thirty-sixth year. He was reputed a man of very general
learning, and of great piety, modesty, and candour, in
all which respects Lelaiul and sir Thomas More have cele-
brated bis praises. Wood says that he left a wife named
Alice, and thai she died in 1545. ; but this Alice appears to
have been his mother. Lupset, being in priest's orders,
and a prebendary of Salisbury, could not have been mar-
ried. Wood likewise doubts his having studied at Cam-
bridge, because Dr. Caius, who mentions this circumstance,
does not give his authority ; but Caius was his contempo-
rary at that university, and is, therefore sufficient authority
for the fact. Of his works, die following have been printed :
1. « A Treatise of Charity," 1546, 8vo. a. "An Exhorta-
tion to young Men," 1 540, 8v«u 3. V A. treatise teaching
how to die well," 153A- 4. ** Epistolie varive," dated from
Corpus Clvci&ti college, and printed in '* Kpist. aliquot e*u-
ditonuu virorum," Basil, 152O. He also translated into
English a homily of St. Chrysostqm's, another of St. Cy-
prian's, Picus of Mirandula's Rules for a godly life, and the
Councils of Isidorus, all printed at London in 1560, 8vo.
1'its mentions other works by him, but of doubtful autho-
rity. '
LLUr^TQN (DONAJJD), whom Granger, by mistake, calls
Dr. Lupton, was one of tlte earliest publishers of biogra-
phical collections in English, but with his own history we
are almost totally unacquainted. We can only gather from
one of his dedications that he had served in the army sev.e-v
ral years, and from the contents of his two principal pub-
lications, that he was a man of piety, and an admirer of the
characters of those eminent fathers and divines who made
the greatest figure in the church from the earliest period*
to the reformation. The first of these is entitled " The
History of the Moderne Protestant Divines, &c. faithfully
translated out of Latin," Loud. 1637, a small 12mo. This
is dedicated to sir Paul Pindar, sir John Wolsten holme,
gir Abraham Dawes, sir John Jacob, "farmers of the cus-
* Alh. Ox. vol.1. — Knighl's Life of Coiet, j>. 259. — Tanner. — DodJ's Ctiureh
Hist. vol. 1.
L U P T O N. 487
lorn- house." It contains twenty-two foreign lives, and
twenty-three English, translated from Holland's "Heroo-
logia, and Verheiden's " Effigies," with each an engraved
head dopied, in small, from those in Holland and Verhei-
den. Mr. Churton has made particular mention of this
curious and very scarce volume in the preface to his ela-
borate life of dean Newell, and an account has since been
published in the Bibliographer. The other biographical
collection said to be by Lupton is a 4to volume, entitled
" The Glory of their Times, or the Lives of the Primitive
Fathers," &c. London, printed by J. Okes, 1640. This
contains forty four lives, with heads of the same scale as.
the other, but of less value, as being mostly imaginary.
We know not on what authority this work is attributed to
Lupton, >as there is no mention of his name in any part of
the copy now before us, and the preface, or address to
the reader, is signed Typographies. From internal evidence,
however, we should be inclined to think it was his compila-
tion. Lupton's other productions werte, " London and the
countrey carbonadoed and quartered into several chafac-
ters," 1632, 8vo ; " ObjectorUm reductio; or daily em-
ployment for the soule," 1634, 8vo ; " Emblems of Rari-
ties; or choice Observations out of worthy Histories, &c."
1636, l&tTio; and " England's command of the Seas; or
the English Seas guarded," 1653, ^mo.1
LUPUS, or WOLF (CHRISTIAN), a learned Roman
catholic writer, was born at Ypres, June 12, 1612, and at
the early age of fifteen, joined the society of the hermits
«f St. Augustine. Having afterwards studied at Cologne,
he was sent to Louvain to teach philosophy ; in which he
acquired soch celebrity, as to secure the particular esteem
of the learned Fabio Chigi, then the papal nuncio in Ger-
many, afterwards pope Alexander VII. In 1655, Lupus
was one of the deputies sent to Rome by the university of
Louvain, on some matters of importance with the papal
court; and on his return was appointed professor of divinity
•At Louvain. Pope Clement IX. would willingly have made
him a bishop ; and from Innocent XL and the grand duke
of Tuscany, lie received repeated marks of esteem :
latter was desirotts of settling upon him a considerable pen-
sion, that he might attach him to his court. He died July
10, 16-81, at the age of seventy. Of his numerous
J Grader.— Bibliographer, vol. I. and II.
488 LUPUS.
works the principal are, " Commentaries on the History
and Canons of the Councils," 1665, and 1673, 5 vols. 4to ;
a " Treatise on Appeals to the Holy See," according to
the Ultramontane opinions, 4to ; a " Treatise on Contri-
tion," I2mo; a collection of " Letters and Memorials re-
specting the Councils of Ephesus and Chalcedon," 2 vols.
4to ; a great number of " Dissertations" on various sub-
jects; a " Commentary on Tertullian's Prescriptions;"
" The Life and Letters of St. Thomas of Canterbury," &c.
All the above were republished at Venice in 12 volumes,
folio, the first of which appeared in 1724.'
LUSSAN (MARGARET DE), a female writer, very much ad-
mired in France for the romances which she produced, was
the daughter of a coachman belonging to cardinal Fleury,
and was born about 1682. Some have said that she was
the daughter of prince Thomas of Savoy, the prince de
Carignano's elder brother, because prince Eugene shewed
her much kindness. She had, however, an education much
above her birth, which enabled her to compose the various
works which she has left us. M. Huet, to whom she acci-
dentally became known, advised her to write romances, in
which she succeeded tolerably well with the help of M. Ig-
natius Lewis de la Serro, sieur de Langlade (author of nine
or ten operas,) who was her intimate friend, after having
been her lover. This gentleman inherited an income of
25,000 livres, which he consumed by gaming, and died in
1756. Mademoiselle de Lussan was more admired for her
mental than for her personal qualities, for she squinted, and
bad a very brown skin, with a masculine voice and gait ;
but she was gay, lively, extremely humane, constant in her
friendships, liable to anger, but never to hatred. She
died in 1758, aged seventy-five, in consequence of bathing
during an indigestion. Her works are, " La Comtesse de
Gondez," 2 vols. 12mo ; " Anecdotes de Philippe Auguste,"
6 vols. 12m<>, attributed to the abb£ de Boismorand. "Me-
moires de Charles VII." 12mo ; " Anecdotes" of Francis I.
3 vols. 12mo ; of Henry II. 2 vols. 12mo ; of Mary of Eng-
land, 12mo; " La Vie de Crillon," 2 vols. 12mo. She
published also under her name a " History of Charles VI."
9 vols. 12mo ; of Louis XI. 6 vols. and " L'Hist. de la der-
niere Revolution de Naples," 4 vols. but these three were
written by M. Baudot de Juilly, as we have mentioned in
1 Niccron, vol. VIJ.— Diet Hist.
LUPUS. 483
his life. Mademoiselle de Lussan gave this gentleman half
of what she gained from these works, and half of her pen-
sion of 2000 livres. *
LUTHER (MARTIN), an illustrious German divine and
reformer of the church, was the son of John Letter, or
Lauther, which our reformer changed to Luther, and of
Margaret Lindeman, and born at Isleben, a town of Saxony,
in the county of Mansfelt, November 10, 1483. His fa-
ther's extraction and condition were originally but mean,
and his occupation that of a miner ; it is probable, however,
that by his application and industry he improved the cir-
cumstances of his family, for we find him afterwards raised
to the magistracy of a considerable rank and dignity in his
province. Luther was initiated very early into letters;
and, having learned the rudiments of grammar while he
continued at home with his parents, was, at the age of
thirteen, sent to a school at Magdeburg. Here, however,
he remained only one year, for the circumstances of his
parents were at that time so very low, and so insufficient to
maintain him, that he was forced, as Melchior Adam re-
lates, " Mendicato vivere pane," to beg his bread for sup-
port. From Magdeburg he was removed to a school at
Eysenach, a city of Thuringia, for the sake of being among
his mother's relations ; for his mother was descended from
an ancient and reputable family in that town. Here he
applied himself diligently to study for four years ; and
began to discover all that force and strength of parts, that
acuteness and penetration, that warm and rapid eloquence,
which afterwards produced such wonderful effects.
In 1501 he was sent to the university of Erfurt, where
he went through the usual courses of logic and philosophy.
But Luther did not find his account in these studies ; did
not feel that use and satisfaction arising from such verbose
and thorny science* as logic and philosophy then were,
which he ' wanted and wished to feel. He very wisely,
therefore, applied himself to read the best ancient writers,
such as Cicero, Virgil, Livy, &c. and from them laid in
such a fund of good sense as enabled him to see through
the defects in the systems of the schools, as well as the
superstitions and errors of the church. He took a master s
degree in the university when he was twenty ; and
read lectures upon Aristotle's physics, ethics, and other
» Diet. Hist.
L U T H E It.
parts of philosophy. Afterwards, at the instigation of his
parents, he studied the civil law, with a view of advancing
himself to the bar ; but was diverted from this pursuit by
an event whicli he considered as admonitory, and which,
by wonderful gradations, ted to his future eminence. Walk-
ing out into the fields one day, he \\as struck with light-
ning, so as to fall to the ground, while a companion was
killed by his side ; and this affected him so sensibly, that,
without communicating his purpose to any of his friends,
lie withdrew himself from the world, and retired into the
onlcr of the hermits of St. Augustine.
Here he employed himself in reading St. Augustine and
the schoolmen ; but, in turning over the books of the li-
brary, he found a copy of the Latin Bible, which he had
uever seen before. This raised his curiosity to a high de-
gree; he read it over with great avidity, and was amazed
to find what a small portion of the scriptures was allowed to
reach the ears of the people. He made his profession in
the monastery of Erfurt, after he had been a novice one
year ; and took priest's orders, and celebrated his first mass
in 1507. The year after he wa» removed from the convent
of Erfurt to tlie university of Wittemberg ; which being
just founded, nothing was thought more likely to bring it
into immediate credit than the authority and presence of a
man so celebrated for his great parts and learning as
Luther. Here he read public lectures in philosophy for
three years, not in that servile, dull, mechanical way in
which lectures were usually read, but with so much active
spirit and force of genius, as to make it presaged that a
revolution might one day happen in the schools under his
direction and management.
In 1512 seven convents of his order having a quarrel
with their vicar-general, Luther was chosen to go to Rome
to maintain their cause. He was indeed a proper person
for such employments ; for he was a man of a most firm
and steady temper, with a share of natural courage which
nothing could subdue. At Rome he saw the pope and the
court, and had an opportunity of observing also the man-
ners of the clergy, whose hasty, superficial, and impious
way of celebrating mass he has severely noted. " I per-
formed mass," says he, " at Home ; I saw it also per-
formed by others, but in such a manner that I never think
of it without the utmost horror." He often spoke after-
wards with great pleasure of his journey to Rome j and
LUTHER.
491
to say that he " wonld not bnt have made it for a
thousand florins,'* As soon as he had adjusted the dispute
which was the business of his journey, he returned to
Wittemberg, and was created doctor of divinity, at the
expence ot Frederic, elector of Saxony, who had often
heard him preach, was perfectly acquainted with his merit,
and reverenced him highly. Luther, it appears, at first
declined the honour of this degree on account of his being,
in his own opinion, too young, for he was only in his
thirtieth year; but it was told him that "he must suffer
himself to be dignified, for that God intended to bring
about great things in the church by his means ;" which,
though it was certainly said in jest, proved at length a
very serious truth.
He continued in the university of Wittemberg, where,
as professor of divinity, he employed himself in the busi-
ness of his calling. The university, as we have observed,
had been lately founded by Frederic, elector of Saxony,
who was one of the richest and most powerful princes at
that time in Germany, as well as one of the most magni-
ficent and bountiful ; and who brought a great many
learned men thither, by large pensions and other encou-
ragements, and amongst the rest Luther. Here then he
feegan in the most earnest manner to read lectures upon
the sacred books : he explained the epistle to the Romans,
and the Psalms, which he cleared up and illustrated in a
manner so entirely new, and so different from what had
been pursued by former commentators, that " there seemed,
after a long and dark night, a new day to arise, in the
judgment of all pious and prudent men." He settled the
precise difference between the law and gospel, which be-
fore had been confounded; refuted many errors, commonly
received both in "he church and the schools; and brought
many necessary truths to light, which might have bee»
vainly sought in Scotus and Aquinas. The better to qua-
lify himself for the task he had undertaken, lie applied
himself attentively to the Greek and-Hebrew ^ languages;
to which, we are told, he was particularly excited by the
writings of Erasmus; who, though he always remained in
appearanc; a papist, or at least had notning decided in
hi* character, yet contributed miu-h to th<- impelling of
monkish ignorance, and overthrowing the kingdom of dark-
ness. In the mean time, Luther, while he was active in
propagating truth and instruction by his lectures and ser-
492 LUTHER.
mons, maintained an exemplary severity in his life and
conversation, and was a most rigid observer of that discipline
which he enjoined to others. This gained him vast credit
and authority, and made all he delivered, however new or
unusual, more readily accepted by. those who heard him.
In this manner was he employed when the general in-
dulgences were published in 1517. Leo X. who succeeded
Julius II. in March 1513, formed a design of building the
magnificent church of St. Peter's at Rome, which was,
indeed, begun by Julius II. but still required very large
sums to be finished. The treasure of the apostolic cham-
ber was much exhausted, and the pope himself, though of
a rich and powerful family, yet was far from being able to
do it at his own proper charge, on account of the excessive
debts he had contracted before his advancement to the
popedom. There was nothing new in the method of rais-
ing money by indulgences. This had been formerly on
several occasions practised by the court of Rome ; and
none had been found more effectual. Leo, therefore, in
1517, published general indulgences throughout all Eu-
rope, in favour of those who would contribute any sum to
the building of St. Peter's; and appointed persons in dif-
ferent countries to preach up these indulgences, and to
receive money for them. Albert of Brandenburg, arch-
bishop of Mentz and Magdeburg, who was soon after made
a cardinal, had a commission for Germany ; and Luther
assures us that he was to have half the money that was to
be raised, which does not seem improbable, for Albert's
court was at that time very luxurious and splendid ; and he
had borrowed 30,000 florins of that opulent family the Fug-
gers of Augsburg, to pay the pope for the bulls of his arch-
bishopric, which sum he was bound to repay. Be this
however as it will, Albert gave out this commission to John
Tetzel, orTecelius, a Dominican friar, and others of his
order. These indulgences were immediately exposed to
sale ; and Tetzel boasted of " having so large a commis-
sion from the pope, that though a man should have de-
flowered the virgin Mary, yet for money he might be par-
doned." He added further, that " he did not only give
pardon for sins past, but for sins to come." A book came
out also at the same time, under the sanction of the arch-
bishop, in which orders were given to the commissioners
and collectors to enforce and press the power of indul-
gences. These persons performed their offices with great
LUTHER.
493
zeal indeed, but not with sufficient judgment and policy.
They over-acted their parts, so that the people, to whom
they were become very troublesome, saw through the
cheat ;' being at length convinced, that under a pretence
of indulgences they only meant to plunder the Germans ;
and that, far from being solicitous about saving the souls
of others, their only view was to enrich themselves.
These strange proceedings gave great offence at Wit-
temberg, and particularly inflamed the pious zeal of Lu-
ther, who, being naturally warm and active, and in the.
present case unable to repress his indignation, was deter-
mined to declare against them, whatever might be the con-
sequence*. Upon the eve of All Saints, therefore, in
1517, he publicly fixed up, at the church next to the
castle of that town, a thesis upon indulgences ; in the be-
ginning of which he challenged any one to oppose it, either
by writing or disputation. This thesis contained ninety-
five propositions ; in which, however, he did not directly
oppose indulgences in themselves, nor the power of the
church to grant them, but only maintained, " That the
pope could release no punishments but what he inflicted,
and indulgences could be nothing but a relaxation of eccle-
* It has been said by F. Paul, in his century before Luther, viz. from 1450
History of the Council of Trent, and to 1517, the name of an Austin friar
after him by Mr. Hume, in his History employed in this service occurs but
of England, as well as by others, that once. To these facts it may be added,
the Austin friars had been usually em- that it is far from being probable that
ployed in preaching indulgences in Luther would have been solicitous
Saxony ; and that Luther was prompt- about obtaining for himself or his order,
ed at first to oppose Tetzel and his a commission of this kind, at a time
associates, and to deny indulgences, when the preaching of indulgences
by a desire of taking revenge for this was become very unpopular ; when all
injury offered to his order. Such was the princes of Europe, and many
the representation of Bossuet ; and bishops, as well as other learned men,
other writers, misled by his authority, abhorred the traffic ; and even the
have circulated a similar opinion. It Franciscans and Dominicans, towards
is proper, therefore, to observe, that the/conclusion of the fifteenth century,
the publication of indulgences in Ger- opposed it publicly, both in their dis-
many was not usually committed to courses and writings : nor wag this
the Augustins : from 1229 that lucra- commission given to the Dominicans
live commission was principally in- in general, but solely to Tetzel. Fi-
trusted with the Dominicans ; and they nally, Luther was never accused of
had been employed in the same office opposing the publication of indulgences
a short time before the present period: from resentment or envy, either in the
the promulgation of them, at three edicts of tke pontiffs of his time, or in
different periods under Julius II. was the reproaches of his contemporary
granted to the Franciscans, and the writers, who defended the cause of
guardian of the "Franciscans was joined Rome from J517 to 1546, and who
in the trust with Albert on this occa- were far from being sparing of tbeir
sion, though he refused to accept it ; inrectives and calumnies. See on this
aad it is remarkable, that for half a subject Mosheim, and Robertson.
LUTHER.
siastical penalties ; that they affected only the living ; that
the dead were not subject to canonical penances, and so
could receive no benefit by indulgences ; and that such as
were in purgatory could not by them be delivered from the
punishment of their sins ; that indeed the pope did root
grant indulgences to the souls of the dead, by virtue of ihe
power of the ke\s, but by way of suffrage ; that indul-
gences seldom remit all punishment ; that those who be-
lieve they shall be saved by indulgences only, shall be
damned with their masters ; that contrition can procure
remission of the fault and punishment without indulgences,
but that indulgences can do nothing without contrition ;
that, however, the pope's indulgence ia not to be con-
temned, because it is the declaration of a pardon obtained
of God, but only to be preached up with caution, lest the
people should think it preferable to good works ; that
Christians should be instructed, how much better it is to
abound in works of mercy and charity to the poor, than to
purchase a pardon; and that it is a matter ot indifference
either to buy, or not to buy, an indulgence; that indul-
gences are not to be trusted to ; that it is hard to say what
that treasure of the church is, which is said to be the foun-
dation of indulgences; that it is not the merits of Christ
or his saints, because they produce grace in the inner
man, and crucify the outward man, without the pope's inter-
posing ; thai this treasure can be nothing but the power of
the keys, or the gospel of the glory and grace of God ;
that indulgences cannot remit the most venial sin in respect
of the guilt ; that they remit nothing to them who by a
sincere contrition have a right to a perfect remission ; and
that Christians are to be exhorted to seek pardon of their
sins by the pains and labour of penance, rather than to get
them discharged without reason."
This is the doctrine of Luther's thesis ; in which, if he
does not attack indulgences directly, he certainly repre-
sents them as useless and ineffectual. He also condemns
in it several propositions which he attributes to his adver-
saries, and inveighs against several abuses of which lie
affirms them guilty, as for example, " The reserving eccle-
siastical penances for purgatory, or commuting them into
the pains of purgatory ; teaching that indulgences free men
from all the guilt and punishment of sin ; preaching that
the soul, which they please to release cut of purgatory,
flies immediately to heaven when the money is cast into
LUTHER. 495
the chest; maintaining, that these indulgences are an
inestimable gift, by which man is reconciled to God ; ex-
acting from the poor, contrary to the pope's intentions ;
causing the preaching the word of God to cease in other
churches that they may have a greater concourse of people
in those where indulgences are preached ; advancing thi«
scandalous assertion, that the pope's indulgences hare
such a virtue, as to be able to absolve a man though he
has ravished the mother of God, which is a thing im-
possible ; publishing, that the cross with the arms of the
pope, is equal to the cross of Christ, &c. Such positions
as these," says he, " have made people ask, and justly,
why the pope, out of charity, does not deliver all souls tfut
of purgatory, since he can deliver so great a number for
a little money, given for the building of a church ? Whv
he suffers prayers and anniversaries for the dead, which
are certainly delivered out of purgatory by indulgences ?
Why the pope, who is richer than several Croesuses, can-
not build the church of St. Peter with his own money, but
at the expence of the poor r" &c. In thus attacking indul-
gences, and the commissioners appointed to publish them,
Luther seemed to attack Albert, the archbishop of Ment7,
under whose name and authority they were published. Of
this he was himself aware ; and, therefore, the very eve
on which he fixed up his thesis, he wrote a letter to him,
in $vhich, after humbly representing to him the grievances
just recited, he besought him to remedy and correct them ;
and concluded with imploring pardon for the freedom he
had taken, protesting that what he did was out of duty,
and with a faithful and submissive temper of mind.
Luther's propositions concerning indulgences were no
sooner published, than Tetzel, the Dominican friar and
commissioner for selling them, maintained and published
at Franc fort, a thesis containing a set of propositions di-
rectly contrary to them. He also stirred up the clergy of
his order against Luther ; anathematized him from the
pulpit as a most damnable heretic ; and burnt his thesis
publicly at Francfort. Eight hundred copies of Tetzel's
thesis were also burnt in return by some persons at Wit-
temberg ; but Luther himself disowned having had any
hand in that procedure, and in a letter to Jodocus, a pro-
fessor at Isenac, who had formerly been his master, asked
him " If he thought Luther ao void of common sense as to
do a. thing of that kind iu a place where he had not any
496 LUTHER.
jurisdiction, and against a divine of so great authority as
Tetzel ?" Luther, indeed, although he perceived that his
propositions were very well liked, and entertained as per-
fectly sound and orthodox, yet behaved himself at first
with great calmness and submission. He proposed them
to be discussed only in the way of disputation, till the
church should determine what was to be thought of indul-
gences. He wrote to Jerom of Brandenburg, under whose
jurisdiction he was, and submitted what he had written to
that bishop's judgment. He entreated him either to scratch
out with his pen, or commit to the flames, whatever should
teem to him unsound ; to which, however, the bishop re-
plied, that he only begged him to defer the publication
of his propositions ; and added, that be wished no dis-
course had been started about indulgences. Luther com-
plied with the bishop's request ; and declared that " it gave
him more pleasure to be obedient, than it would to work
miracles, if he was ever so able." And so much justice
must be done to Luther, even by those who are not of his
party, as to acknowledge that he was willing to be silent,
and to say nothing more of indulgences, provided the same
conditions might be imposed upon his adversaries.
But the spirit of peace deserted the church for a season ;
and a quarrel begun by two private monks, ended as we
shall see, in a mighty revolution. Luther was now at-
tacked by adversaries innumerable from all sides; three of
the principal of whom were, John Eckius, divinity -professor
and vice-chancellor of the university of IngoUtadt, who
wrote notes upon his thesis, which Luther answered by
other notes ; Sylvester Prierius, or Prierio, a Dominican,
and master of the holy palace ; and one Jacob Hugos tra-
ins a friar- preacher, who singled out some of his proposi-
tions, and advised the pope to condemn and burn him, if
he would not immediately retract them. Luther contented
himself with publishing a kind of manifesto against Hogo-
stratus, in which be reproaches him with cruelty and igno-
rance ; but as Prierius had drawn up bis animadversions
in the form of a dialogue, to which was prefixed a dedica-
tion to the pope ; and built all he had advanced against
Luther upon the principles of Thomas Aquinas, Luther,
in an epistle to the reader, opposed Holy Scripture to the
authority of this saint ; and declared, among other things,
that "if the pope and the cardinals were, like this Domi-
nican, to set up any authority against that of Scripture, it
LUTHER. 497
could no longer be doubted that Rome was itself the very
seat of antichrist ; and then happy would Bohemia and all
other countries be, who should separate themselves from it
as soon as possible."
In 1518, Luther, though dissuaded from it by his
friends, yet, to shew his obedience to authority, went to
the monastery of St. Augustine at Heidelberg/ while the
chapter was held ; and here maintained, April 26, a dispute
concerning " justification by faith," which Bucer, who
was present, took down in writing, and afterwards com-
municated to Beatus Rhenanus, not without the highest
commendations. Luther has given an account of this dis-
pute, and says, that "the doctors there opposed him with
such moderation and good manners, that he could not but
think the better of them for it. And although the doctrine
he maintained was perfectly new to them, yet they all ac-
quitted themselves very acutely, except one of the juniors,
who created much mirth and laughter by observing, that
if the country peopl9 were to hear what strange positions
were admitted, they would certainly stone the whole as-
sembly."
In the mean time, the zeal of his adversaries grew every
day more active against him ; and he was at length accused
to Leo X. as an heretic. As soon as he returned therefore
from Heidelberg, he wrote a letter to that pope, in the most
submissive terms ; and sent him at the same time an explica-
tion of his propositions about indulgences. He tells his ho-
liness in this letter, that " he was greatly troubled at being
represented to him as a person who opposed the authority
and power of the keys and pope ; that this accusation ama-
zed him, but that he trusted to his own innocency." Then
he sets forth the matter of fact, and says, that the " preach-
ers of the jubilee thought all things lawful for them under
the pope's name, and taught heretical and impious propo-
sitions, to the scandal and contempt of the ecclesiastical
power, and as if the decretals against the abuses of col-
lectors did not concern them ; that they had published
books, in which they taught the same impieties and here-
sies, not to mention their avarice and exactions ; that they
had found out no other way to quiet the offence their il!
conduct had given, than by terrifying men with the name
of pope, and by threatening with fire, as heretics, all those
who did not approve and submit to their exorbitances ;
that being animated with a zeal for Jesus Christ, and
VOL. XX. K K
408 L U T H E R.
pushed on by the heat of youth, he had given notice of
these abuses to the superior powers; whose not regarding
it had induced him to oppose them with lenity, by pub-
lishing a position which he invited the most learned to dis-
pute with him. This," says he, " is the flame which they
say has set the whole world on fire. Is it that I have not
a right, as a doctor of divinity, to dispute in the public
schools upon these matters? These theses were made only
for my own country ; and I am surprised to see them
spread into all parts of the world. They were rather dis-
putable points than decisions ; some of them obscure, and
in need of being cleared. What shall I do? I cannot,
draw them back, and yet I see I am made odious. It is a
trouble to me to appear in public, yet I am constrained
to do it. It is to appease my adversaries, and give satis-
faction to several persons, that I have published explica-
tions of the disputes I have engaged in ; which I now do
under your holiness's protection, that it may be known how
sincerely I honour the power of the keys, and with what
injustice my adversaries have represented me. If I were
such a one as they give out, the elector of Saxony woirld
not have tolerated me in his university thus long." He
concludes in the following words : " I cast myself, holy
father, at your feet, with all I am and have. Give me
life, or put me to death ; confirm or revoke, approve or
disapprove, as you please. I own your voice as that of
Jesus Christ, who rules and speaks by you ; and if I have
deserved death I refuse not to die." This letter is dated
on Trinity Sunday, 1518, and was accompanied with a,
protestation, in which he declared, that " he did not pre-
tend to advance or defend any thing contrary to the Holy
Scripture, or to the doctrine of the fathers, received and
observed by the church of Rome, or to the canons and de-
cretals of the popes ; nevertheless, he thought lie had the
liberty, either to approve or disapprove the opinions of St.
Thomas, Bonaventure, and other schoolmen and canonists,
which are not grounded upon any text."
The emperor Maximilian was equally solicitous with the
pope, about putting a stop to the propagation of Luther's
opinions in Saxony; since the great number of his followers,
and the resolution with which he defended them, made it evi-
dent beyond dispute that if he were not immediately checked
lie would become troublesome both to the church and em-
pire. Maximilian therefore applied to Leo in u letter
LUTHER. 499
dated Aug. 5, 1518, and begged him to forbid by bis au-
thority, these useless, rash, and dangerous disputes; as-
suring him also that he would strictly execute in the em-
pire whatever his holiness should enjoin. The pope on
his part ordered Jerom de Genutiis, bishop of Ascula, or
Ascoli, auditor of the apostolic chamber, to cite Luther to
appear at Rome within sijcty days, that he might give an
account of his doctrine to the auditor and master of the
palace, to whom he had committed the judgment of tha^
cause. He wrote at the same time to Frederick the elector
of Saxony, to pray him not to protect Luther ; and let
him .know that he had cited him, and had given cardinal
Gajetan, his legate in Germany, the necessary instructions
upon that occasion. He exhorts the elector to put Luther
into the hands of this legate, that he might be carried to
Rome ; assuring him that, if he were innocent, he would
send him back absolved, and if he were guilty, would
pardon him upon his repentance. This letter to Frederic
was dated Aug. 23, 1518, and it was by no means unne-
cessary ; for though Luther had nothing to trust to at first
but his own personal qualities, his parts, his learning, and
his courage, yet he was afterwards countenanced and sup-
ported by this elector, a prince of great personal worth.
At the same time also the pope sent a brief to cardinal Ca-
jetan, in which he ordered him to bring Luther before him
as soon as possible ; and to hinder the princes from being
any impediment to the execution of this order, he de-
nounced the punishments of excommunication, interdic-
tion, and privation of goods against all who should re-
ceive Luther, and give him protection ; and promised a
plenary indulgence to those who should assist in delivering
him up.
In the mean time Luther, as so»n as he understood what
was transacting about him at Rome, used all imaginable
means to prevent his being carried thither, and to obtain a
hearing of his cause in Germany. The university of Wit-
temberg interceded for him, and wrote a letter to the
pope, to excuse him from going to Rome, because his
health would not permit it ; and assured his holiness that he
had asserted nothing contrary to the doctrine of the church,
and that all they could charge him with was his laying-
down some propositions in disputation too freely, though
without any view of deciding upon them. The elector
also was against Luther's going to Rome, and desired of
K K 2
500 LUTHER.
cardinal Cajetan, that be might be heard before him, as
his legate in Germany. Upon these addresses, the pope
consented that the cause should be tried before cardinal
Cajetan, to whom he had given power to decide it. Lu-
ther, therefore, set off immediately for Augsburg, poor,
and on foot, as he says in his narrative, and carried with
him letters from the elector*. He arrived here in October
1518, and upon an assurance of his safety, was admitted
into the cardinal's presence. The legate told him that he
did not intend to enter into any dispute with him, but
should only propound three things to him, on the pope's
behalf; and he did admonish him, "First, to become a
sound member of the church, and to recant his errors ;
secondly, to promise that he would not teach such perni-
cious doctrines for the future ; and thirdly, to take care
that the peace of the church was not broken by his means."
Luther beseeched the legate to acquaint him what his er-
rors were, who alleged to him a decretal of Clement VI.
in which " the merits of Jesus Christ are affirmed to be a
treasure of indulgences," which he the said Luther-denied;
and objected to him also his teaching, that " faith was ne-
cessary for all who should receive the sacrament, so as to
obtain any benefit by it." Luther replied, that " he had
read the decretal of Clement, which the legate alleged ;
but did humbly conceive that it was not of sufficient au-
thority to retract any opinion which he believed to be con-
formable to Holy Scripture." The legate had then re-
course to the authority of the pope, who, he said, "could
only decide upon the sense of Scripture ;" upon which
Luther desired time to deliberate upon what the legate had
proposed to him, and so the dispute ended for that day.
The next day, which was Oct. 12r Luther returned to a
second conference with the legate, accompanied with four
counsellors of the empire, and a notary ; and brought with
« On the eve of his departure on your part properly, as you have al-
tliis expedition, so hazardous to him- ways done ; and teach the youth irv-
self and so important in its conse- trusted to your care. I go, for you,
quences to the world, he wrote a short and for them, to be sacrificed if it
letter to his intimate friend Melauc- should so please God. I rather choose
thon, which strongly marks the intre- to perish, and, what is more afflicting,
pidity of his character. " I know no- to be for ever deprived even of your
thing new or extraordinary here," says society, than to retract what I have
he, " except that I am become the already justly asserted, or to be the
subject of conversation throughout the means of affording the stupid adversa-
whole city, and that every one wishes ries of all liberal studies an opportu-
to see the man who is to be the victim nily of accomplishing their purpose."
of such a conflagration. You will act Rescue's Leo.
LUTHER.
501
him a protestation, in which he declared that " he ho-
noured and would obey the holy church of Rome in all
things ; that if he had said or done any thing contrary to
its decisions, he desired it might be looked upon as never
said or done ;" and for the three propositions made to him
by the legate, he declared, " That, having sought only the
truth, he had committed no fault, and could not retract
errors of which he had not been convinced, nor even heard;
that he was firmly persuaded of his having advanced no-
thing contrary to Scripture and the doctrines of the fathers;
that, nevertheless, being a man, and subject to error, he
would submit himself to the lawful determination of the
church ; and that he offered, further, to give reasons in
this place, and elsewhere, of what he had asserted, answer
the objections, and hear the opinions of the doctors of the
famous universities of Basil, Friburg, Louvain," &c. The
legate only repeated what he had said the day before about
the authority of the pope, and exhorted Luther again to
retract. Luther answered nothing, but presented a writing
to the legate, which, he said, contained all he had to an-
swer. The legate received the writing, but paid no regard
to it ; he pressed Luther to retract, threatening him with
the censures of the church, if he did not ; and commanded
him not to appear any more ; in his presence, unless he
brought his recantation with him. Luther was now con-
vinced that he had more to fear from the cardinal's power
than from disputations of any kind ; and therefore, appre-
hensive of being seized if he did not submit, withdrew
from Augsburg upon the 20th. But, before his departure,
he published a formal appeal to the pope, in which he de-
clared, that " though he had submitted to be tried by car-
dinal Cajetan, as his legate, yet he had been so borne
down and injured by him, that he was constrained at length
to appeal to the judgment of his holiness." He wrote like-
wise a letter to the cardinal, and told him that " he did
not think himself bound to continue any longer at Augs-
burg ; that he would retire after he had made his appeal ;
that he would always submit himself to the judgment of
the church ; but for his censures, that as he had not de-
served, so he did not value them."
Though Luther was a man of invincible courage, jet
he was animated in some measure to these firm and vigo-
rous proceedings by an assurance of protection from Fre-
deric of Saxony ; being persuaded, as he says in his letter
502 LUTHER.
to the legate, that an appeal would be more agreeable to
that elector, than a recantation. On this account, the
first thing which the legate did, after Luther's departure,
was to send an account to the elector of what had passed
at Augsburg. He complained that Luther left him with-
out taking leave, and without his knowledge; and although
he had given him hopes that he would retract and submit,
yet had retired without affording him the least satisfaction.
He acquainted the elector that Luther had advanced and
maintained several propositions of a most damnable nature,
and contrary to the doctrine of the holy see. He prays
him to discharge his conscience, and to keep unspotted
the honour of his illustrious house, by either sending him
to Rome, or banishing him from his dominions. He as-
sured him that this matter could not continue long as it
was at present, but would soon be prosecuted at Rome ;
and that, to get it out of his own hands, he had written
to the pope about it. When this letter, Oct. 25, 1518,
was delivered to the elector, he communicated it to Luther,
who immediately drew up a defence of himself against it.
In this defence he offers to the elector to leave his country,
if his highness thought proper, that he might be more at
liberty to defend himself against the papal authority, with-
out bringing any inconveniences upon his highness by that
means. But his friends advised him very wisely to remain
in Saxony ; and the university of Whtemberg presented
an address to the elector, praying him to afford Luther so
much favour and protection, that he might not be obliged
to recant his opinions, till it was made appear that they
ought to be condemned. But this address was needless ;
the elector was resolved not to desert Luther, and told the
legate in an answer, Dec. the 1 8th, that he " hoped he
would have dealt with Luther in another manner, and not
have obliged him to recant before his cause was heard
and judged; and that there were several men in his own
and in mher universities, who did not think Luther's doc-
trine either impious or heretical ; that if he had believed
it such, there would have been no need of admonishing
him not to tolerate it ; that Luther not being convicted of
heresy, he could not banish him from his states, nor send
him to Rome; and that, since Luther offered to submit
himself to the judgment of the universities, he thought
they ought to hear him, or at least shew him the error*
which he taught in his writings." Luther, seeing himself
LUTHER.
thus supported, continued to teach the same doctrines at
Wittemberg, and sent a challenge to all the inquisitors to
come and dispute with him ; offering them not only a safe
conduct from his prince, but assuring them also of good
entertainment, and that their charges should be borne so
long as they remained in Wittemberg.
While these things passed in Germany, Leo attempted
to put an end to these disputes about indulgences, by a de-
cision of his own; and for that purpose, November the
9th, published a brief, directed to cardinal Cajetari, foi
which he declared, that " the pope, the successor of St.
Peter, and vicar of Jesus Christ upon earth, hath power to
pardon, by virtue of the keys, the guilt apcl punishment
of sin, the guilt by the sacrament of penance, and the
temporal punishments due for actual sins by indulgences;
that these indulgences are taken from the overplus of the
merits of Jesus Christ and his saints, a treasure at the pope's
own disposal, as well by way of absolution as suffrage; and
that the dead and the living, who properly and truly ob-
tain these indulgences, are immediately freed from the
punishment due to their actual sins, according to the di-
vine justice, which allows these indulgences to be granted
and obtained." This brief ordains, that " all the world
shall hold and preach this doctrine, under the pain of ex-
communication reserved to the pope ; and enjoins cardinal
Cajetan to send it to all the archbishops and bishops of
Germany, and c:iuse it to be put into execution by them."
Luther knew very well that after this judgment made by
the pope, he could not possibly escape being proceeded
against, and condemned at Rome ; and therefore, upon
the 28th of the same month, published a new appeal from
the pope to a general council, in which he asserts the su-
perior authority of the latter over the former. The pope,
foreseeing that he should not easily manage Luther so long-
as the elector of Saxony continued to support and protect
him, sent the elector a golden rose, such an one as he
used to bless every year, and send to several princes, as
marks of his particular favour to them. Miltitius, or Mil-
titz, his chamberlain, who was a German, was intrusted
with this commission ; by whom the pope sent also letters
in Jan. 1519, to the elector's counsellor and secretary, in
which he prayed those ministers to use all possible interest
with their master, that he would stop the progress of Lu-
ther's errors, and imitate therein the piety of his ancestors.
504
It appears by Sectendorf 's account of Miltitz's negotiation,
that Frederick had long solicited for this bauble from the
pope; and that three or four years before, when his elec-
toral highness was a bigot to the court of Rome, it had
probably been a most welcome present. Bat it was now
too late : Luther's contests with the see of Rome had
opened the elector's eyes, and enlarged his mind ; and
therefore, when Miltitz delivered his letters, and discharged
his commission, he was received but coldly by the elector,
who valued not the consecrated rose, nor would receive it
publicly and in form, but only privately, and by his proc-
tor ; and to the remonstrances of Miltitz respecting Lu-
ther, answered that he would not act as a judge, nor op-
press a man whom he had hitherto considered as innocent.
It is thought that the death of the emperor Maximilian,
who expired on the 12th of this month, greatly altered the
face of affairs, and made the elector more able to deter-
mine Luther's fate. Miltitz thought it best, therefore, to
try what could be done by fair and gentle means, and to
that end came to a conference with Luther. He poured
forth many commendations upon him, and earnestly in-
treated him that he would himself appease that tempest
which could not but be destructive to the church. He
blamed at the same time the behaviour and conduct of
Tetzel ; whom he called before him, and reproved with so
much sharpness, that he died of melancholy a short time
after. Luther, amazed at all this civil treatment, which
he had never before experienced, commended Miltitz
highly, owned that, if they had behaved to him so at lirst,
all the troubles occasioned by these disputes, had been
avoided ; and did not forgt-t to cast the blame upon Albert
archbishop of Mentz, who had increased these troubles by
his severity. Miltitz also made some concessions ; as, that
the people had been seduced by false opinions about in-
dulgences, that Tetzel had given the occasion, that the
archbishop had employed Tetzel to get money, that Tetzel
had exceeded the bounds of his commission, &c. This
mildness and seeming candour on the part of Miltitz gained
so wonderfully upon Luther, that he wrote a most sub-
missive letter to the pope, on March 13, 1519. Miltitz,
however, taking for granted that they would not be con-
tented at Rome with this letter of Luther's, written, as it
was, in general terms only, proposed to refer the matter
to some othec judgment ; and it was agreed between them
LUTHER. 505
that the elector of Triers should be the judge, and Cob-
lentz the place of conference ; but this came to nothing ;
for Luther afterwards gave some reasons for not going to
Coblentz, and the pope would not refer the matter to the
elector of Triers.
During all these treaties, the doctrine of Luther spread,
and prevailed ; and he himself received great encourage-
ment at home and abroad. The Bohemians about this time
sent him a book of the celebrated John Huss, who had fallen
a martyr in the work of reformation ; and also letters, in
which they exhorted him to constancy and perseverance,
owning, that the divinity which he taught was the pure,
sound, and orthodox divinity. Many great and learned
men had joined themselves to him : among the rest Philip
Melancthon, whom Frederic had invited to the university
of Wittemberg in August 1518, and Andrew Carolosta-
dius, archdeacon of that town, who was a great linguist.
They desired, if possible, to draw over Erasmus to their
party ; and to that end we find Melancthon thus express-
ing himself in a letter to that great man, dated Leipsic,
Jan. 5, 1519: "Martin Luther, who has a very great
esteem for you, wishes of all things that you would
thoroughly approve of him ;" and Luther himself wrote to
Erasmus, in very respectful and even flattering terms. The
elector of Saxony was desirous also to know Erasmus's opi-
nion of Luther, and might probably think, that as Erasmus
had most of the monks for his enemies, and some of those
who were warmest against Luther, he might easily be pre-
vailed on to come over to their party. It would, indeed, have,
been a considerable object, if they could have gained this
point ; for the reputation of Erasmus was so great, that if he
had once declared for Luther, almost all Germany would
have declared along with him.
But Erasmus, whatever he might think of Luther's opi-
nions, had neither his impetuosity,' nor his courage. He
contented himself, therefore, with acting and speaking in
his usual strain of moderation, and wrote a letter to the
elector Frederic, in which he declared " his dislike of the
'arts which were employed to make Luther odious ; that he
did not know Luther, and so could neither approve nor
condemn his writings, because indeed he had not read
them ; that however he condemned the railing at him with
so much violence, because he had submitted himself to the
judgment of those whose office it was to determine, and
506 LUTHER.
man had endeavoured to convince him of his error ; that ,
his antagonists seemed rather to seek his death, than his
salvation ; that they mistook the matter in supposing, that
all error is heresy ; that there are errors in all the writings
of both ancients and moderns ; that divines are of different
opinions ; that it is more prudent to use moderate, than
violent means ; that the elector ought to protect innocency,
and that this was the intent of Leo X." Erasmus wrote
also a friendly letter in answer to Luther's, and told him,
that " his books had raised such an uproar at Louvain, as
it was not possible for him to describe ; that he could not
have believed divines could have been such madmen, if he
had not been present, and seen them with his eyes ; that,
by defending him, he had rendered himself suspected ; that
many abused him as the leader of this faction, so they call
it ; that there were many in England, and some at Louvain,
no inconsiderable persons, who highly approved his opi-
nions ; that, for his own part, he endeavoured to carry
himself as evenly as he could with all parties, that he might
more effectually serve the interests of learning and reli-
gion ; that, however, he thought more might be done by
civil and modest means than by intemperate heat and passion;
that it would be better to inveigh against those who abuse
the pope's authority, than against the popes themselves ;
that new opinions should rather be promoted in the way of
proposing doubts and difficulties, than by affirming and de-
ciding peremptorily ; that nothing should be delivered with
faction and arrogance ; but that the mind, in these cases,
should be kept entirely free from anger, hatred, and vain-
glory. I say not this," says Erasmus, "as if you wanted
any admonitions of this kind, bat only that you may not
want them hereafter, any more than you do at present."
When this letter was written, Erasmus and Luther ha<i
never seen each other : it is dated from Louvain, May 30,
151 y ; and it is hardly possible to read it without suspect-
ing, that Erasmus was entirely in Luther's sentiments, if he
had possessed the courage to declare it. He concludes in
these words, which seem to imply as much : " I have dipped
into your commentaries upon the Psalms; they please
me prodigiously, and I hope will be read with great advan-
tage. There is a prior of the monastery of Antwerp, who
says he was formerly your pupil, and loves you most af-
fectionately. He is a truly Christian man, and almost the
only one of his society who preaches Christ, the rest being
L U T H E R. 50t
attentive either to the fabulous traditions of men, or to their
own profit. I have written to Melarrcthon. The Lord Jesus
pour upon you his spirit, that you may abound more and
more every day, to his glory in the service of the church.
Farewell."
In 1519 Luther had a famous dispute at Leipsic with
John Eckius. Eckius, as we have observed, wrote notes
upon Luther's theses, which Luther first, and afterwards
Carolostadius, answered. The dispute thus depending, a
conference was proposed at Leipsic, with the consent of
George duke of Saxony, who was cousin-german to Fre-
deric the elector; and accordingly Luther went thither at
the end of June, accompanied by Carolostadius and Me-
lancthon. Melchior Adam relates that Luther could not
obtain leave to dispute for some time, but was only a spec-
tator of what passed between Carolostadius and Eckius,
till Eckius got at last a protection for him from the duke.
It is certain, however, that they disputed upon the most
delicate points ; upon purgatory, upon indulgences; and
especially upon the authority of the pope. Luther ob-
jected to this last, as being an invidjous and unnecessary
subject ; and that he would not have meddled with it, if
Eckius had not put it among the propositions which they
were to argue. Eckius answered, and it must be owned
with some reason, that Luther had first given occasion to
that question, by touching upon it himself, and teaching
several things contrary to the authority of the holy see. In
this dispute, after many texts of scripture, and many pas-
sages from the fathers, had been cited and canvassed by
both sides, they came to settle the sense of the famous
words, " Thou art Peter, and upon this rock will I build
my church." Luther asserted, That by rock is to be un-
derstood either power or faith : if power, then our Saviour
hath added to no purpose, " and I will give thee the keys,
&c." if faith, as it ought, then it is also common to all
other churches, and not peculiar to that of Rome. Eckius
replied, That these words settled a supremacy upon St.
Peter; that they ought to be understood of his person, ac-
cording to the explication of the fathers ; that the contrary
opinion was one of the errors of Wicklitf and John Hass,
which were condemned ; and that he followed the opinion
of the Bohemians. Luther was not to be silenced with this,
but said, That although all the fathers had understood that
passage of St. Peter in the sense of Eckius, yet he would
508 L U T H E R.
oppose them with the authority of St. Paul and St. Peter
himself; who say, that Jesus Christ is the only foundation
and corner-stone of his church ; and as to his following the
opinion of the Bohemians, in' maintaining a proposition
condemned with John Huss, that " the dignity of the pope
was established by the emperor," though he did not, he
said, approve of the schism of the Bohemians, yet he
should make no scruple to affirm, that, among the articles
condemned with John Huss, there were some very sound
and orthodox. This dispute ended at length like all others,
the parties not the least nearer in opinions, but more at
enmity wilh each other's persons. It seems, however,
granted on all sides, that while Eckius made the best pos-
sible defence for his party, Luther did not acquire in this
dispute that success and applause which he expected ;
and it is agreed also, that he made a concession to Eckius,
which he afterwards retracted, that the pope was head of
the church by human though not by divine right; which
made George duke of Saxony say, after the dispute was
over, " Sive Jure divino, siye hurnano sit papa, est tamen
papa :" " Whether he be pope by divine right or human,
he is nevertheless pope/'
This same year 1519, Luther's books concerning indul-
gences were formally censured by the divines of Louvain
and Cologne. The former having consulted with the car-
dinal of Tortosa, afterwards Adrian VI. passed their cen-
sure on the 7th of November ; and the censure of the lak-
ter, which was made at the request of the divines of Lou-
vain, was dated on the 30th of August. Luther wrote im-
mediately against these censures, and declared that be
valued them not : that several great and good men, such
as Occam, Picus Mirandula, Laurentius Valla, and others,
had been condemned in the same unjust manner; nay, he
would venture to add to the list, Jerom of Prague and John
Huss. He charged those universities with rashness, in
being the first that declared against him ; and accused
them of want of proper respect and deference to the holy
see, in condemning a book presented to the pope, on
which judgment had not yet been passed. About the end
of this year, Luther published a book, in which be con-
tended for the communion being celebrated in both kinds.
This was condemned by the bishop of Misnia, Jan. 24,
1520. Lnther, seeing himself so beset with adversaries',
wrote a letter to the new emperor, Charles V. of Spain,
LUTHER. » 509
who was not yet come into Germany, and another to the
elector of Mentz ; in both which he humhly implores pro-
tection, till he should be able to give an account of him-
self and his opinions ; adding, that he did not desire to be
defended, if he were convicted of impiety or heresy, but
only that he might not be condemned without a hearing.
The former of these letters is dated Jan. 15, 1520; the
latter, Feb. 4. The elector Frederic fell about this time
into a dangerous illness, which threw the whole party into
great consternation, and occasioned some apprehensions at
Wittemberg : but of this he happily recovered.
While Luther was labouring to excuse himself to the
emperor and the bishops of Germany, Eckius had gone to
Rome, to solicit his condemnation : which, it may easily
be conceived, was not now very difficult to be obtained, as
he and his whole party were had in abhorrence, and the
elector Frederic wajs out of favour, on account of the pro-
tection which he afforded Luther. The elector excused
himself to the pope, in a letter dated April 1 ; which the
pope answered, and sent him at the same time a copy of a
bull, in which he was required " either to oblige Luther
to retract his errors, or to imprison him for the disposal of
the pope." This peremptory proceeding alarmed at first
the court of the elector, and man}' German nobles who
were of Luther's party, but their final resolution was, to
protect and defend him. In the mean time, though
Luther's condemnation was determined at Rome, Miltitz
did not cease to treat in Germany, and to propose means
of accommodation. To this end he applied to the chapter
of the Augustine friars there, and prayed them to interpose
their authority, and to beg of Luther that he would endea-
vour to conciliate the pope by a letter, full of submission
and respect. Luther consented to write, and his letter
bears date April the 6th ; but matters had been carried too
far on both sides, ever to admit of a reconciliation. The
mischief Luther had done, and continued to do, to the
papal authority, was irreparable ; and the rough usage and
persecutions he had received from the pope's party had
now inflamed his active spirit to that degree, that it was
not possible to appease it, but by measures which the
pope and the court of Rome could never be expected to
adopt. At all events, the letter he wrote at this juncture
could not be attended with any healing ednsequences ; the
style and sentiments were too irritating for a less degree of
510 LUTHER.
pride than that which presided at Rome. In this epistle
Luther says, " that among the monsters of the age, with
whom be had been engaged for three years past, he had often
called to mind the blessed father Leo : that now he began
to triumph over his enemies, and to despise them : that,
though he had been obliged to appeal from his holiness to
a general council, yet he had no aversion to him : that he
had always wished and prayed for all sorts of blessings
upon his person and see : that his design was only to de-
fend the truth : that he had never spoken dishonourably of
his holiness, but had called him a Daniel in the midst of
Babylon, to denote the innocence and purity he had pre-
served among so many corrupt men : that the court of
Rome was visibly more corrupt than either Babylon or
Sodom ; and that his holiness was as a lamb among wolves,
a Daniel among lions, and an Ezekiel ampng scorpions :
that there were not above three or four cardinals of any
learning or piety : that it was against these disorders of
the court of Rome he was obliged to appear : that cardinal
Cajftan, who was ordered by his holiness to treat with
him, bad shewn no inclinations to peace : that his nun-
cio JVliltitz had indeed come to two conferences with
him, and that he had promised JVliltitz to be silent, and
submit to the decision of the archbishop of Triers; but
that the dispute at Leipsic had hindered the execution of
this project, and put things into greater confusion : that
Milt it/ hud applied a third time to the chapter of his order,
at whose instigation he had written to his holiness : and
that he now threw himself at his feet, praying him to im-
pose silence upon his enemies : but that, as for a recanta-
tion on his part, be must not insist upon it, unless he
would increase the troubles; nor prescribe him rules for
the interpretation of the word of God, because it ought
not to be limited. Then he admonishes the pope not to
suffer himself to be seduced, by his flatterers, into a per-
suasion that he can command and require all things, that
he is above a council and the universal church, that he
alone has a right to interpret scripture ; but to believe
those rather who debase, than those who exalt him."
The continual importunities of Luther's adversaries with
Leo caused him at length to publish a formal condemna-
tion of him, in a bull dated June 15, 1520. In the be-
ginning of this bujl, the pope directs his bpeech to Jesus
Christ, to St. Peler, St. Paul, and all the saints, invoking
LUTHER. 5H
their aid, in the most solemn expressions against the new
errors and heresies, and for the preservation of the faith,
peace, and unity of the church. Then he expresses hi?
great grief for the late propagation of these errors in Ger-
many; errors, either already condemned by the coun-
cils and constitutions of the pope, or new propositions
heretical, false, scandalous, apt to offend and seduce the
faithful. Then, after enumerating forty-one propositions
collected from Luther's writings, he does, by the advice of
his cardinals, and after mature deliberation, condemn them
as respectively heretical ; and forbids all Christians, under
the pain of excommunication, and deprivation of all their
dignities, which they should incur ipso facto, to hold, de-
fend, or preach any of these propositions^ or to suffer
others to preach them. As to Luther, after accusing him
of disobedience and obstinacy, because he had appealed
from his citation to a council, though he thought he might
at that instant condemn him as a notorious heretic, yet be
gave him sixty days to consider ; assuring him, that if in
that time he would revoke his errors, and return to his
duty, and give him real proofs that he did so by public
acts, and by burning his books, he should find in him a
true paternal affection : otherwise he declares, that he
should incur the punishment due to heretics.
Luther, now perceiving that all hopes of an accommo-
dation were at an end, no longer observed tbe least reserve
or moderation. Hitherto he had treated his adversaries
with some degree of ceremony, paid them some regard ;
and, not being openly separated from the church, did not
quite abandon the discipline of it. But now he kept no
measures with them, broke off all his engagements to the
church, and publicly declared, that he would no longer
communicate in it. The first step he took, after the pub-
lication of the pope's bull, was to write against it; which
he did in very severe terms, calling it, u The execrable
bull of antichrist." He published likewise a book called
" The Captivity of Babylon :" in which he begins with a
protestation, " That he became every day more knowing:
that be was ashamed and repented of what he had written
about indulgences two years before, when he was a slave
to the superstitions of Rome : that he did not indeed then
reject indulgences, but had since discovered, tliat they
are nothing but impostures, fit to raise money, and to de-
stroy the faith : that he was then content with denying the
512 LUTHER.
papacy to be jure divino, but had lately been convinced
that it was the kingdom of Babylon : that he then wished a
general council would settle the communion in both kinds,
but npw plainly saw, that it was commanded by scripture :
that he did absolutely deny the seven sacraments, owning
no more than three, baptism, penance, and the Lord's
supper," &c. About the same time also, he published
another treatise in the German language, to make the
court of Rome odious to the Germans ; in which " he gives
a history of the wars raised by the popes against the em-
perors, and represents the miseries Germany had suffered
by them. He strives to engage the emperor and princes of
Germany to espouse his party against the pope,' by main-
taining, that they had the same power over the clergy as
they had over the laity, and that there was no appeal from
their jurisdiction. He advised the whole nation to shake
off the pope's power ; and proposes a reformation, by
which he subjects the pope and bishops to the power of
the emperor, &c." Lastly, that he might not be wanting
in any thing which should testify his abhorrence of the pro-
ceedings in the court of Rome, Luther determined to treat
the pope's bull and decretals in the same manner as they
had ordered his writings to be treated : and therefore, call-
ing the students at Wittemberg together, he flung them
into a fire prepared for that purpose ; saying, " Because
thou hast troubled the holy one of God, let eternal fire
trouble thee." This ceremony was performed, Dec. 10,
1520.
The bull of Luther's condemnation was carried into Ger-
many, and published there by Eckius, who had solicited
it at Rome ; and who, together with Jerom Aleander, a
person eminent for his learning and eloquence, was in-
trusted by the pope with the execution of it. In the mean
time, Charles V. of Spain, after he had adjusted the affairs
of the Low Countries, went into Germany, and was
crowned emperor, Oct. the 21st, at Aix-la-Chapelle. The
plague preventing his remaining long in that city, he went
to Cologne, and appointed a diet at Worms, to meet Jan.
the 6tb, 1521. Frederic, elector of Saxony, could not be
present at the coronation, but was left sick at Cologne,
where Aleander, who accompanied the emperor, presented
him with a brief, which the pope had sent by him, and by
which his holiness gave him notice of the decree he had
made against the errors of Luther. Aleander told the
LUTHER. 5,3
elector, that the pope had intrusted himself and Eckius
with the affair of Luther, which was of the utmost conse-
quence to the whole Christian world, and, it' there were
not a speedy stop put to it, would undo the empire: that
he did not doubt, but that the elector woifld imitate the
emperor, and other princes of the empire, who had re-
ceived the pope's judgment respectfully. He informed his
highness also, that he had two things to request of him in
the name ot the pope : " First, That he would cause all
Luther's books to be burnt; and, secondly, that he would
either put Luther to death, or imprison him, or send him
to the pope." The pope sent also a brief to the univer-
sity of Wittemberg, to exhort them to put his bull in exe-
cution against Luther ; but neither the elector nor the
university paid any regard to his briefs. Luther, at the
same time, renewed his appeal to a future council, in terms
very severe upon the pope, calling him tyrant, heretic,
apostate, antichrist, and blasphemer; and in it prays the
emperor, electors, princes, and lords of the empire, to
favour his appeal, nor suffer the execution of the bull, till
he should be lawfully summoned, heard, and convicted,
before impartial judges. This appeal is dated Nov. 17.
Erasmus, indeed, and other German divines, were of opi-
nion that things ought not to be carried to this extremity,
foreseeing, that the fire which consumed Luther's books
would soon put all Germany into a flame. They proposed,
therefore, to agree upon arbitrators, or to refer the whole
cause to the first general council. But these pacific pro-
posals came too late; and Eckius and Aleander pressed
the matter so vigorously both to the emperor and the other
German princes, that Luther's books were burnt in several
cities of Germany. Aleander also earnestly importuned
the emperor for an edict against Luther; but he found
many and great obstacles. Luther's party was very power-
ful ; and Charles V. was not willing to give so public an
offence to the elector of Saxony, who had lately refused
the empire, that he might have it.
To overcome these difficulties, Aleander gained a new
bull from Rome, which declared, that Luther had incurred,
by obstinacy, the penalty denounced in the first. He also
wrote to the court of Rome for the assistance of money
and friends, to be used at the diet of Worms: and, be-
cause the Lutherans insisted that the contest was chiefly
about the jurisdiction of the pope, and the abuses of the
VOL. XX. L L
L U T HER.
court of Rome, and that they were only persecuted for the
sake of delivering up Germany to the tyranny of that court;
he undertook t.> shew, That Luther had broached many
errors relating to the mysteries of religion, and revived the
heresies of Wickliff and John Huss. The diet of Worms
was held in the beginning of 1 521 ; where Aleandtrr, in
the absence of Luther, employed his eloquence and in-
terest so successfully, that the emperor and princes of the
empire were about to execute the pope's bull against
Luther with severity, and without delay The only way
wfhich the elector of Saxony and Luther's friends could
invent to ward off the blow, was to say, " That it was not
evident, that the propositions objected tp were his ; that
his adversaries might attribute them to him falsely , that
the books from which they were taken might be forged ;
and, above all, that it was not just to condemn him with-
out summoning and hearing him." The emperor, there-
fore, with the consent of the princes of the diet, sent
Sturmius, an orh'cer, from Worms to Wittemberg, to con-
duct Luther safely to the diet. Sturmius carried w.th him
a ** safe-conduct" to Luther, signed by the emperor and
princes of the diet; and also a letter from the emperor,
dated March 21, 1521, and directed "To the honourable,
beloved, devout doctor, Martin Luther, of the order of St.
Augustine;" in which he summoned him to appear at the
diet, and assured him, that he need not fear any violence
or ill treatment. Nevertheless, Luther's friends were much
against his going ; some telling him, that, by burning his
books, he might easily know what censure would be passed
on himself; others reminding him of the treatment they
had, upon a like occasion, shewn to John Huss. But
Luther despised all dangers; and, in a strain which is ex-
tremely characteristic of him, declared, that " If he knew
there were as many devils at Worms as tiles upon the
houses, he would go."
He arrived accordingly at Worms April 16, where a
prodigious multitude of people were assembled, for the
sake of seeing a man of whom so much had no.w been
heard. When he appeared before the diet, he had two
questions put to him by John Eckius : " First, whether h$
owned those books for his that went under his name; and,
secondly, Whether he intended to retract or defend what
was contained in them." These queries produced an alter-
cation, which lasted some days; but which ended at length
LUTHER, 515
in this single and peremptory declaration of Luther, that
" unless he was convinced by texts of scripture or evident
reason (for he did not think himself obliged to submit to
the pope or his councils), he neither could nor would re-
tract any thing, because it was not lawful for him to act
against nis conscience." This being Luther's final resolu-
tion, the emperor declared to the diet, That he was deter-
mined to proceed against him as a notorious heretic; but
that he intended, nevertheless, he should return to Wit-
temberg, according to the conditions laid down in his
" safe-conduct." Luther left Worms April the 26th, coft*
ducted by Sturmius, who had brought him ; and being ar-
rived at Friburg, he wrote letters to the emperor and
princes of the diet, to commend his cause to them, and to
excuse himself for not submitting to a recantation. These
letters wt re conveyed by Sturmius, whom he sent back,
on pretence that he was then out of danger ; but in reality,
as it is supposed, that Sturmius might not be present at
the execution of a scheme which had been concerted befofe
Luther set out from Worms; for, the elector of Satfony,
foreseeing that the emperor was going to make a bloody
edict against Luther, and finding it impossible to support
and protect him any longer without involving himself in
difficulties, resolved to have him taken away, and con-
cealed. This was proposed to Luther, and accordingly
when he went from Eysenac, May the 3d, through a wood,
in his way to Wittemberg, he was suddenly set upon by
some horsemen in disguise, deputed for that purpose, who
pretended to take him by force, and carried him secretly
into the castle of Wittemberg. Melchior Adam relates,
that there were only eight nobles privy to this expedition,
which was executed with so much address and fidelity, that
no man knew what was become of him, or where he was.
This contrivance produced two advantages to Luther : as,
first, it caused people to believe that he was taken away by
the intrigues of his enemies, which made them « dious, and
exasperated men's minds against them ; and, secondly, it
secured him against the pr isecution which the pope and
the empe or were making against him.
Before the diet of Worms was dissolved, Charles V.
caused an edict to be drawn up, which was da< d ihe 8th
of May, and solemnly published on the 2oth in ihc assem-
bly of the electors and princes held in his palace. In this
edict, after declaring it to be the duty of an emperor, not
LL 2
516 LUTHER.
only to defend the limits of the empire, but to maintain
religion and the true faith, and to extinguish heresies in
their original, he commands, That Martin Luther be,
agreeably to the sentence of the pope, henceforward looked
upon as a member separated from the church, a schis-
matic, and au obstinate and notorious heretic. He forbids
all persons, under the penalty of high treason, loss of
goods, and being put under the ban of the empire, to re-
ceive or defend, maintain or protect him, either in con-
versation or in writing ; and he orders, that, after the
twenty-one days allowed in his safe-conduct, he should
be proceeded against according to the form of the ban
of the empire, in what place soever he should be : or,
at least, that he should be seized and imprisoned, till his
imperial majesty's pleasure should be further known. The
same punishments are denounced against all the accom-
plices, adherents, followers, or favourers of Luther ; and
also all persons are forbidden to print, sell, buy, or read
any of bis books : and, because there had been published
several books concerning the same doctrines, without his
name, and several pictures dispersed that were injurious to
the pope, cardinal, and bishops, he commands the magis-
trates to seize and burn them, uod to punish the authors
and printers of those pictures and libels. Lastly, it forbids
in general the printing of any book concerning matters of
faith, which hath not the approbation of the ordinary, and
some neighbouring university.
While the bull of Leo X. executed by Charles V. was
thundering throughout the empire, Luthef was safely shut
up in bis castle, which he afterwards called his Hermitage,
and his Patmos. Here he held a constant correspondence
with his friends at \Vittemberg, and was employed in com-
posing books in favour of his own cause, and against his
adversaries. He did not however so closely confine him-
self, but that he frequently made excursions into the
neighbourhood, though always under some disguise or
other. One day he assumed the title and appearance of a
nobleman : but it may be supposed that he did not act his
part very gracefully ; for a gentleman who attended him
under that character, to an inn upon the road, was, it
seems, so fearful of a discovery, that he thought it neces-
sary to caution him against that absence of mind peculiar
to literary men ; bidding him " keep close to his sword,
without taking the least notice of books, if by chance any
LUTHER. 5*7
shpuld fall in his way." He used sometimes even to go
orit a hunting with* those few who were in his secret ;
which, however, we may imagine, he did more for health
than for pleasure, as indeed may be collected from his
own curious account of it. " I was," says he, " lately
two days a hunting, in which amusement I found both
pleasure and pain. We killed a brace of hares, and took
some unhappy partridges; a very pretty employment,
truly, for an idle man ! However, I could not forbear
theologizing amidst dogs and nets; for, thought I to my-
self, do not we, in hunting innocent animals to death with
dogs, very much resemble the devil, who, by cra-fty wiles
and the instruments of wicked priests, is perpetually seek-
ing whom he may devour? Again: We happened to
take a leveret alive, which I put into my pocket, with an
intent to preserve it ; yet we were not gone far, before
the dogs seized upon it, as it was in my pocket, and wor-
ried it. Just so the pope and the devil rage furiously to
destroy the souls that I have saved, in spite of all my en-
deavours to prevent them. In short, I am tired of hunt-
ing these little innocent beasts ; and had rather be em-
ployed, as I have been for some time, in spearing bears,
wolves, tigers, and foxes ; that is, in opposing and con-
founding wicked and impious divines, who resemble those
savage animals in their qualities."
Weary at length of his retirement, he appeared publicly
again at Wittemberg, March 6, 1522, after he had been
absent about ten months. He appeared indeed without
the elector's leave, but immediately wrote him a letter, to
prevent his being offended. The diet of Charles V. severe
as it was, had given little or no check to Luther's doctrine;
for the emperor was no sooner gone into Flanders, than
his edict was neglected and despised, and the doctrine
seemed to spread even faster than before. Carolostadius,
in Luther's absence, had acted with even more vigour than
his leader, and had attempted to abolish the use of mass,
to remove images out of the churches, to set aside auri-
cular confession, invocation of saints, the abstaining from
meats ; had allowed the monks to leave their monasteries,
to neglect their vows and to marry, and thus had quite
changed the doctrine and discipline of the church at Wit-
temberg : all which, though not against Luther's senti-
ments, was yet blamed by him, as being rashly and nn-
hcasoruibly done. The reformation was .still confined to
L U T H £ R.
Germany ; it had not extended to France; and Henry V11I.
of England made the most rigorous acts to prevent its en-
tering his realm ; and to shew bis zeal for the holy see,
wrote a treatise " Of the seven Sacraments," against Lu-
ther's book " Ot the captivity of Babylon ;" winch he pre-
sented to Leo X. in Oct. 1521. The pope received it
favourably, and complimented Henry with the title of
" Defender of the Faith." Luther, however, paid no
regard to his dignity, but treated both his person and
performance in the most contemptuous manner. Henry
complained of this rude usage to the princes of Saxony ;
and Fisher, bishop of Rochester, replied, in hehall'
of Henry's treatise : but neither the king's complaint,
nor the bishop's reply, were attended with any visible
effects.
Luther now made open war with the pope and bishops ;
and, that he might make the people despise their authority
as much us possible, he wrote one book against the pope'5;
bull, and another against the order falsely culled " the
order of bishops.'* The same year, 1522, he wrote a loi-
ter, July the 29tn, to the assembly of the States of Bo-
hemia, in which he assured them, that he was labouring to
establish their doctrine in Germany, and exhorted them
not to return to the communion of the church of Rome ;
and he published also this year, a translation of the " New
Testament" in the German tongue, which was afterwards
corrected by himself and Melancthon. This translation
having been printed several times, and in general circula-
tion, Ferdinand, archduke of Austria, the emperor's bro-
ther, made a very severe edict, to suppress its publication,
and forbade all the subjects of his imperial majesty to have
any copies of it, or of Luther's other books. Some other
princes followed his example, which provoked Luther to
write a treatise " Of the secular power," in which he ac-
cuses them of tyranny and impiety. The diet of the em-
pire was held at Nuremberg, at the end of the year; to
which Adrian VI. sent his brier', dated Nov. the 25th; for
Leo X, died Dec. 2, 1521, and Adrian bad been elected
pope the 9th of Jan. following. In this brief, among other
things, he informs the diet, that he had heard, with ^rief,
that Martin Luther, after the sentence of Leo X. which
was ordered to be executed by the edict of Worms, con-
tinued to teach the same errors, and daily to publish books
full of heresies : that it appeared strange to him, that so
L U T H E R. 519
large and so religious a nation could be seduced by a
wretched apostate friar : that nothing, however, could be
more pernicious to Christendom : and that, therefore, he
e.thorts them to use their utmost endeavours to make Lu-
ther, and the authors of these tumults, return to their
duty; or, if they refuse and continue obstinate, to pro-
ceed against them according to the laws of the empire, and
the severity of the last edict.
The resolution of this diet was published in the form of
an edict, March 6, 1523 j but it had no effect in checking
the Lutherans, who still went on in the same triumphant
wanner. This year Luther wrote a great many tracts :
among the rest, one upon the dignity and office of the su-
preme magistrate ; with which Frederic elector of Saxony
is said to have been highly pleased. He sent, about the
same time, a writing in the German language to the Wal-
denses, or Picards, in Bohemia and Moravia, who had ap-
plied to him " about worshipping the body of' Christ in the
eucharist." He wrote also another book, which he dedi-
cated to the senate and people of Prague, " concerning
the institution of ministers of the church." He drew up a
form of saying mass. He wrote a piece entitled " AD
Example of Popish Doctrine and Divinity ;:' which Dn-
pin calls a satire against nuns, and those who profess a
monastic life. He wrote also against the vows of virginity,
in his preface to his commentary on 1 Cor. vii.: and his ex-
hortations here were, it seems, followed with effects ; for,
soon after, nine nuns eloped from a nunnery, and were
brought to Wittemberg. Whatever offence this proceed-
ing might give to the papists, it was highly extolled by
Luther ; who, in a book written in the German language,
compares the deliverance of these nuns from the slavery of
a monastic life, to that of the souls which .Jesus Christ has;
delivered by his death. This year he had occasion to la-
ment the death of two of his followers, who were burnt ar
Brussels, and were the first who suffered martyrdom for
.his doctrine. He wrote also a consolatory epistle to thre*
noble ladies at Misnia, who were banished from the duke
of Saxony's court at Friburg, for reading his books.
In the beginning of 1524, Clement VII. sent a legate
into Germany to the diet which was to be held at Nurem-
berg. This pope had succeeded Adrian, who died in Oct.
1523, and had, a little before his death, canonized Benno,
who Was bishop of Meissen in the time , of Gregory VII.
520 LUTHER.
and one of the most zealous defenders of the holy se«.
Luther, imagining that this was done directly to oppose
him, drew up a piece with this title, " Against the new
Idol and Devil set up at Meissen ;" in which he treats the
memory of Gregory with great freedom, and does not spare
even Adrian. Clement VII.'s legate, therefore, represent-
ed to the diet at Nuremberg the necessity of enforcing the
execution of the edict of Worms, which had been strangely
neglected by the princes of the empire; but, notwithstand-
ing the legate's solicitations, which were very pressing, the
decrees of that diet were thought so ineffectual, that they
were condemned at Rome, and rejected by the emperor.
It was in this year that the dispute between Luther and
Erasmus began about free-will. Erasmus had been much
courted by the papists to write against Luther ; but had
hitherto avoided the task, by saying, " that Luther was
too great a man for him to write against, and that he had
learned more from one short page of Luther, than from all
the large books of Thomas Aquinas." Besides, Erasmus
was all along of opinion, that writing would not be found
an effectual way to end the differences, and establish the
peace of the church. Tired out, however, at length with
the importunities of the pope and the catholic princes, and
desirous at the same time to clear himself from the suspicion
of favouring a cause which he would not seem to favour,
he resolved to write against Luther, though, as he tells
Melancthon, it was with some reluctance ; and he chose
free-will for the subject. His book was entitled " A dia-
triba, or Conference about Free-will," and was wriuen
with much moderation, and without personal reflections.
He tells Luther in the preface, " that lie ought not to take
his differing from him in opinion ill, because he had allowed
himself the liberty of differing from the judgment ot popes,
councils, universities and doctors of the church." Luther
was some time before he answered Erasmus's book, but
at last published a treatise " De servo arbitrio, or, Of the
Servitude of Man's Will ;" and though Melancthon had
promised Krasmus, that Luther should answer him with
civility and moderation, yet Luther had so little regard to
Melancthon's promise, that he never wrote any thing more
severe. He accused Erasmus of being carelrsn about reli-
gion, and little solicitous what became of it, provided the
world continued in peace ; and that his notions were rather
philosophical than Christian. Erasmus immediately re-
LUTHER. 521
plied to Luther,- in a piece called " Hyperaspistes ;". in
the first part of which he answers his arguments, and in the
second his personal reflections.
In October 1524, Luther threw off the monastic habit ;
which, though not premeditated and designed, was yet a
very proper preparative to a step he took the year after;
we mean, his marriage with Catherine de Bore. Cathe-
rine cie Bore was a gentleman's daughter, who had been a
nun, and was one of those whom we mentioned as escaping
from tue nunnery in 1523. Luther had a design to marry
her to Glacius, a minister of Ortamuncien ; but she did not
like Glacius, and Luther married her himself, June 13,
1525. This conduct of his was blamed not only by the
catholics, but, as Melancthon says, by those of his own
party. He was even for some time ashamed of it himself;
aud owns, " that his marriage had made him so despicable,
that he hoped his humiliation would rejoice the angels,
and vex the devils." Melancthon found him so afflicted
with what he had done, that he wrote some letters of con-
solation to him : he adds, however, that " this accident
may possibly not be without its use, as it tends to humble
him a little : for it is dangerous," says he, " not only for a
priest, but for any man, to be too much elated and puffed
up ; great success giving occasion to the sin of a high
mind, not only, as the orator says, in fools, but sometimes
even in wise men." It was not so much the marriage, as
the circumstances of the time, and the precipitation with
which it was done, that occasioned the censures passed
upon Luther. He married very suddenly, and at a time
when Germany was groaning under the miseries of war,
which was said at least to be owing to Lutheranism. It
was thought also an indecent thing in a man of forty-two
years of age, who was then, as he declared, restoring the
gospel and reforming mankind, to involve himself in mar-
riage with a woman of six and twenty, upon any pretext.
But Luther, as soon as he had recovered himself a little
from this abashment, assumed his former air of intrepidity,
and boldly supported what he had done with reasons. " I
took a wife," says he, " in obedience to my father's com-
mands, and hastened the consummation, in or 1 r to pre-
vent impediments, and stop the tongues of slanderers." It
appears from his own confessions, that, .this reformer was
very fond of Mrs. de Bore, and used to call her his Cathe-
rine; which occasioned some slanderous reflections : and
522 t U T H E ft.
therefore, says he, " I married of a sudden, not only that J
might not be obliged to hear the clamours which I knew
would be raised against me, but to stop the mouths of those
who reproached me with Catherine de Bore." Luther
also gives us to understand, that he did it partly as concur-
ring with his grand scheme of opposing the catholics.
" See," says he, " because they are thus mad, I have so
prepared myself, that, before I die, I may be found by
God in the state in which I was created, and, if possible,
retain nothing of my former popish life. Therefore let
them rave yet more, and this will be their last farewell ;
for my mind presages, that I shall soon be called by God
unto his grace: therefore, at my father's commands, I have
taken a xtife." In another letter he speaks thus : " 1 hope
I shall live a little longer, and I would not deny this last
obedience to my father, who required it in hopes of issue,
and also to confirm the doctrines I have taught."
Luther, notwithstanding, was not himself altogether sa-
tisfied with these reasons. He did not think the step he
bad taken could be sufficiently justified upon the principles
of human prudence ; and therefore we find him, in other
places, endeavouring to account for it from a supernatural
impulse. " The wise men amongst us are greatly pro-
yoked," says he; " they are forced to own the thing to be
of God, but the disguise of the persons under which it is
transacted, namely, of the young woman and myself,
makes them think and say every thing that is wicked."
And elsewhere : "The Lord brought me suddenly, when
I was thinking of other matters, to a marriage with Cathe-
rine (le Bore, the nun." His party seem also to have fa-
voured ihis supposition. Thus says Melancthon : " As for
the* unreasonableness and want of consideration in this
marriage, on which account our adversaries will chiefly
slander us, we must take heed lest that disturb us : for
perhaps there is some secret, or something divine couched
under it, concerning which it does not become us to in-
quire too curiously ; nor ought we to regard the scoffs of
those who exercise neither piety towards God, nor virtue
towards men." Bnt whether there was any thing divine in
it or not, Luther found himself extremely happy in his
new state, and especially after his wife had brought him a
son. " My rib Kate," says he in the joy of his heart, " de-
sires her compliments to you, and thanks you for the fa-
vour of your kind letter. She is very well, through God's
L U T H E H. 525
mercy. She is obedient and complying with me in all
things, and mare agreeable, I thank Gad, than I could
have expected ; so tuat I would not change my p iverty for
the wealth of Croesus." He was heard to say, Seckeiulorf
tells us, " that he would n6t exchange his wile for the
kingdom of France, nor for the riches of the Venetians,
and that for three reasons: first, because she had been
given him by God, at the time when he implored the as-
sistance of the Holy Ghost in finding a good wife : secondly,
because, though she was not without faults, yet she had
fewer than other women : and, thirdly, because she reli-
giously observed the conjugal fidelity she owed him.**
T.here was at first a report, that Catherine de Bore was
brought to bed soon after her marriage with Luther; but
Erasmus, who wrote that news to one of his friends, ac-
knowledged the falsehood of it a little after, in one of his
letters, dated the 13th of March, 1526 : " Luther's mar-
riage is certain ; the report of his wife's being so speedily
brougiit to bed is false ; but I hear she is now with child.
If the common story be true, that antichrist shall be born
of a monk and a nun, as some pretended, how many thou-
sands of antichrists are there in the world already ? I was
in hopes that a wife would have made Luther a little
tamer: but he, contrary to all expectation, has published,
indeed, a most elaborate, but as virulent a book against
me, as ever he wrote. What will become of the pacific
Erasmus, to be obliged to descend upon the stage, at a
time of life when gladiators are usually dismissed from the
service; and not only to fight, but to fight with beasts!"
In the mean time the disturbances in Germany increased
everyday; and the war with the Turks, which brought
the empire into danger, forced Charles V. at length to call
a diet at Spires by his letters, May 24, 1525. After he
had given the reasons why the diet was not held the year
before, as it was appointed, he said, " That it was not be-
cause he thought that the imperial diets ought not to meddle
with matters of religion j for he acknowledged, that, on
the contrary, it was his duty to protect the Christian reli-
gion, to maintain the rights settled by their ancestors, and
to prevent novelties and pernicious doctrines from arising
and spreading ; but that, being certified that th<- edict of
Worms was not executed in some parts of Germany, that
there had been commotions and rebellions in some places,
that the princes and members of the empire had ihajjy
524 LUTHER.
quarrels among themselves, that the Turk was ready to
break in upon the territories of the empire, and that there
were many disorders which needed a reformation, he had
therefore appointed an imperial diet to meet at Augsburg
upon the 1st of October." Few of the princes, however,
being able to meet at Augsburg, on account of the popular
tumults which prevailed, the diet was prorogued, and fixed
again at Spires, where it was held in June 1526. The
emperor was not present in person: but Ferdinand his
brother, and six other deputies, acted in his name. The
elector of Saxony, and the landgrave of Hesse, who were
of Luther's party, came to it. At the opening of it, upon
the 25th, the emperor's deputies proposed such things as
were to be the subject of consultation, and said, " That it
was the emperor's design, that the members of this diet
should prescribe the means of securing the Christian reli-
gion, and the ancient discipline of the church derived to
us by tradition ; the punishments they should suffer, who
did any thing contrary ; and how the popish princes might
assist each other best, in executing the edict of Worms."
The deputies nominated to debate this matter, were, among
others, the landgrave of Hesse, Sturmius deputy of Stras-
burg, and Cressy deputy of Nuremberg, who embraced
Luther's doctrine ; so that they could form no resolution
conformable to the edict of Worms, but disputes ensued,
and things were likely to end in a rupture. The elector
of Saxony, landgrave of Hesse, and their party, were
ready to withdraw ; but Ferdinand, and the emperor's de-
puties, foreseeing that if the diet broke up with these ani-
mosities, and came to no conclusion, all Germany would
be in danger of falling into quarrels, took pains to pacify
them, and brought them at last to make the following reso-
lution : viz. "That it being necessary, for the wel fart- m
religion and the public peace, to call a national council in
Germany, or a general one in Christendom, which should
be opened within a year, deputies should be sent to the
emperor, to desire him to return to Germany as soon a*
he could, and to hold a council ; and that, in the mean
time, the princes and states should so demean themselves
concerning the edict of Worms, as to be able to give an
account of their carriage to God and the emperor."
Before this resolution of the diet appeared, the elector
of Saxony, and landgrave of Hesse, proposed to the depu-
ties of Strasbiirji arid Nuremberg, to nuke .1 league in the
O O ' O
LUTHER. 525
defence of those who should follow the new doctrine, and
to bring the cities of Francfort and Ulm into it ; but the
deputies could then give no other answer, than that they
would consult their cities about it. Affairs were now in
great confusion in Germany ; and they were not less so
in Italy ; for a quarrel arose between the pope and the
emperor, during which Rome was twice taken, and the
pope imprisoned. While the princes were thus employed
in quarrelling with each other, Luther persisted in carrying
on the work of the Reformation, as well by opposing the
papists, as by combating the anabaptists and other fanatical
sects ; which, having taken the advantage of his contest
^with the church of. Rome, had sprung up and established
themselves in several places. In 1527, Luther was sud-
denly seized with a coagulation of the blood about the
heart, which had like to have put an end to his life ; but
recovering from this, he was attacked a second time with a
spiritual temptation, which he calls, " Colaphum Satanae,
— a blow of Satan." He seemed, as he tells us, to perceive
at his left ear a prodigious beating, as it were of the waves
of the sea, and this not only wiihin, but also without his
head ; and so violent withal, that he thought every moment
he was going to expire. Afterwards, when he felt it only
in the inner part of his head, he grew almost senseless,
was all over chilly, and not able to speak : but, recovering
himself a little, he applied himself to prayer, made a con-
fession of his faith, and lamented grievously his unworthi-
ness of martyrdom, which he had so often and so ardently
desired. In this situation, he made a will, for he had a
son, and his wife was again with child, in which he recom-
manded his family to the care of heaven : " Lord God,"
says he, " I thank thee, that thou wouldst have me poor
upon earth, and a beggar. I have neither house, nor land,
nor possessions, nor money, to leave. Thou hast given me
a wife and children ; take them, I beseech tliee, under thy
care, and preserve them, as thou hast preserved me." He
was, however, permitted to recover from this terrible con-
dition ; but he often spoke of it afterwards to his friends
as one of the severest bufferings he had ever received from
Satan. Perhaps our medical readers will be disposed to
consider it in a very different light.
The troubles of Germany still continuing, the emperor
was forced to call a diet at Spires in 1529, to require the
assistance of the princes of the empire against the Turks,
526 LUTHER.
who had taken Buda, and to Bud out some means of allay*
ing the contests about religion, which increased daily. In
this diet were long and violent debates, utter winch the
decree of the former diet oi Spues was again agreed to, in
which it was ordered, that concerning me execution of
the edict of Worms, the princes of the empire should act
in such a manner, as that they might give a good account
of their management to God and tiie emperor, but, be-
cause some had taken occasion from these general terms,
to maintain all sorts of new doctrines, they made a new
decree in this diet, to explain that of the former ; by which
it was appointed, ** That in those places where the edict
of Worms had hitherto been observed, they should still
keep to the execution of it, nil a council should be called
by the emperor; that those, who had taken up new opi-
nions, and could not be brought to quit them without the
hazard of some sedition, should be quiet for the future,
and not admit of any alterations till the meeting of the
council ; that the new doctrine about the eucharist, which
had been started of late, should not be entertained ; that
the mass should not be left off, nor the celebration of it
be hindered, even in those places where the reformed doc-
trine prevailed ; that the anabaptists should be proscribed ;
that the ministers of the word of God should preach it
according to the interpretation of the church, and should
abstain from speaking of any other doctrines, till the coun-
cil should meet ; that all the provinces of the empire should
live in peace, and not commit acts of hostility upon one
another, under a pretence of religion ; and that one prince
should not protect the subjects of another."
The elector John of Saxony (for Frederic was dead), the
elector of Brandenburg, Ernest and Francis .dukes of Lu-
nenburg, the landgrave of Hesse, and the prince of An-
halt, protested against this decree of the diet. Their rea-
sons were, 4t Ttiat they ought not to do any thing to in-
fringe upon the determination of the former diet, which
had granted liberty in religion, till the holding of the
council ; that that resolution, having been taken by the
unanimous consent of all the members of the empire, could
not be repealed but by the like consent ; that, in the diet
of Nuremberg, the original cause of all the differences in
religion was searched into, and that, to allay them, they
had offered to the pope eighty articles, to which his holi-
ness had given no answer; that the effect of their consul-
LUTHER, 52?
tations had always been, that the best way to end disputes
and reform abuses was to hold a council ; that they could
not suffer opinions to be forced from them, which th^y
judged true and agreeable to the word of God, before the
council was held ; that their ministers had proved, by in-
vincible arguments taken out of Scripture, that the popish
mass was contrary to the institution of Jesus Christ, and
the practice of the apostles, so that they could not agree
to what uas ordered in the diet ; that they knew the judg-
ment of their churches concerning the presence of the body
and blood of Christ in the eucharist ; but that they ought
not to make a decree against those who were of a contrary
opinion, because they were neither summoned nor heard :
that they could indeed venture to approve of the clause
about preaching the gospel according to the interpretation
received in the church, since that did not determine the
matter, it being yet in dispute what was the true church;
that there was nothing more certain than the word of Go4
itself, which explains itself, and therefore they would take
care, that nothing else should be taught but the Old and
New Testament in their purity ; that they are the only in-
fallible rule, and that all human traditions are uncertain;
that the decree of the former diet was made for the pre-
servation of peace, but that this last would infallibly beget
wars and troubles. For these reasons they could not ap-
prove of the decree of the diet, but yet would do nothing
that should be blame- worthy, till a council, either general
or national, should be held." Fourteen cities, viz. Stras-
burg, Nuremberg, Ulm, Constance, Retlingen, Wind-
sheim, Memmingen, Lindow, Ketnpten, Hailbron, Isny,
Weissemburg, Nortlingen, S. Gal, joined in this protes-
tation, which was put into writing, and published the 19th
of April, 1529, by an instrument, in which they appealed
from all that should be done, to the emperor, a future
council, either general or national, or to unsuspected
judges ; and accordingly they appointed deputies to send
to the emperor, to* petition that this decree might be re-
voked. This was the famous protestation, which gave the
name of Protestants to the reformers in Germany.
After this, the protestant princes laboured to make a
firm league among themselves, and with the free cities,
that they might be able to defend each other against the
emperor, and the catholic princes. This league had been
several times proposed before; but, after the protestation
just related, they judged it necessary not to delay it any
longer, and so drew up a form of it at Nuremberg. The
deputies of the princes and cities being met at Swaback,
the affair was there proposed ; but the deputies of the
elector of Saxony alledging, that since this league was
made for the security of the true Christian doctrine, they
ought all unanimously to agree about this doctrine ; they
ordered, therefore, that a summary of their doctrine, con-
tained in several heads, should be read, that it might be
received, and approved unanimously by the whole assem-
bly. The deputies of the protestaius at the diet of Spires
soon after, viz. Sept. 12, waited upon the emperor at Pla-
centia, where he stayed a little, as he returned from his
coronation at Bologna ; and assured him, that " their mas-
ters had opposed the decree of that diet for no other rea-
son, but because they foresaw it would occasion many
troubles ; that they implored his imperial majesty not to
think ill of them, and to believe, that they would bear their
part in the war against the Turks, and other charges of
the empire, according to their duty ; that they begged his
protection, and a favourable answer to the memorial they
had presented him." The emperor, content with their sub-
mjssion, promised them an answer, when he had commu-
nicated it to his council : and Oct. 13, sent them word in
writing, that " the decree of the diet seemed to prevent
all innovations, and preserve the peace of the empire ;
that the elector of Saxony, and his allies, ought to approve
of it ; that he desired a council as much as they, though
that would not have been necessary, if the edict of Worms
had been duly executed ; that what had been once enacted ,
by the major part of the members of the diet could not be
disannulled by the opposition of some of them ; that he
had written to the elector of Saxony and others, to receive
and execute the decree of the diet ; and hoped they would
the sooner submit to his order, because an union and
peace were necessary at this time, when the Turk was in
Germany."
The deputies having received this answer, drew up an
act of appeal, and caused it to be presented to the em-
peror ; which enraged him so extremely, that he confined
them to their lodgings, and forbade them to write into
Germany upon pain of death. One of the deputies, who
happened to be absent when this order was given, wrote
immediately to the senate of Nuremberg an account of
L U T ITE R. 529
what had passed ; and this was transmitted to the elector
of Saxony, the landgrave of Hesse, and other confederates,
who met at Smalkald in November. Here it was first of
all proposed, to agree upon a confession of faith ; which
accordingly was prepared, and afterwards offered at the
diet of Augsburg, in June 1530. The emperor would not
suffer it to be read in a full diet, but only in a special as-
sembly of the princes and other members of the empire ;
after which the assembly was dismissed, that they might
consult what resolutions should be formed. Some thought
that the edict of Worms should be put in execution ;
others were for referring the matter to the decision of a
certain number of honest, learned, and indifferent persons;
a third party were for having it confuted by the catholic
divines, and the confutation to be read in a full diet be-
fore the protestants ; and these prevailed. The protestants
afterwards presented an apology for their confession ; but
the emperor would not receive it ; they were, however,
both made public. This confession of faith, which was
afterwards called "The confession of Augsburg," was drawn
up by Melancthon, the most moderate of all Luther's fol-
lowers, as was also the apology. He revised and corrected
it several times, and, as Dupin tells us, could hardly please
Luther at last. Maimbourg says, however, that Luther
was exceedingly pleased with it, when Melancthon sent
him a copy of it ; and Seckendorf allows that Luther was
very glad of the opportunity which was offered of letting
the world know what he and his followers taught. It was
signed by the elector of Saxony, the marquis of Branden-
burg, Ernest and Francis dukes of Brunswick and Lurten-
burg, the landgrave of Hesse, the princes of Anhalt, and
the deputies of the cities of Nuremberg and Retlingen.
Luther had now nothing else to do but to sit down and
contemplate the mighty work he had finished ; and the
remainder of his life was spent in exhorting princes, states,
and universities, to confirm the reformation which had
been brought about through him, and in publishing from
time to time such writings as might encourage, direct, and
aid them. The emperor threatened temporal punishments
with armies, and the pope eternal with bulls and anathe-
mas; but Luther cared for none of their threats. His
friend and coadjutor Melancthon was not so indifferent,
owing to the moderation and diffidence of his temper; and
hence we find many of Luther's letters, written on purpose
VOL. XX. M M
530 L U T H E R.
to comfort him under his anxieties. " I am," says he, in
one of these letters, " much weaker than you in private
conflicts, if I may call those conflicts private which I have
with the devil ; but you are much weaker than me in pub-
lic. You are all diffidence in the public cause; I, on the
contrary, am very sanguine, because I am confident it is a
just and a true cause, the cause of God and of Christ,
which need not look pale and tremble; whereas the case
is very different with me in my private conflicts, who am a
very miserable sinner, and therefore have great reason to
look pale and tremble. Upon this account it is, that I
can be almost an indifferent spectator amidst all the noisy
threats and bullyings of the papists; for if we fall, the
kingdom of Christ falls with us ; and, if it should fall, I
had rather fall with Christ, than stand with Caesar." So
again a little farther: "You, JNlelancthon, cannot bear
these disorders, and labour to have things transacted by
reason, and agreeable to that spirit of calmness and mo-
deration which your philosophy dictates. You might as
well attempt to be mad with reason. Do not you see that
the matter is entirely out of your power and management,
and that even Christ himself forbids your measures to take
place ?" This letter was written in 1530.
In 1533 Luther wrote a consolatory epistle to the citi-
zens of Oschatz, who had suffered some hardships for ad-
hering to the Augsburg confession of faith ; in which,
among other things, he says, " The devil is the host, and
the world is his inn, so that wherever you come, you shall
be sure to find this ugly host.'1 He had also about this
time a warm controversy with George duke of Saxony, who
had such an aversion to Luther's doctrine, that he obliged his
subjects to take an oath that they would never embrace it.
Sixty or seventy citizens of Leipsic, however, were found
to have deviated a little from the catholic doctrine, in some
point or other, and they were known previously to have
consulted Luther about it ; on which George complained
t) tlie elector John, that, Luther had not only abused his
person, but also preached up rebellion among his subjects.
The elector ordered Luther to be acquainted with this, and
to be told at tl»e same time, that if be did not clear himself
of the charge, he could not possibly escape punishment.
Luther, however, easily refuted the accusation, by proving
that he had been so fur from stirring up his subjects against
him on the score of religion, that, on the contrary, he had
LUTHER.
exhorted them rather to undergo the greatest hardships,
and even to suffer themselves to be banished. ^0
In 1534 the Bible translated by him into German was
first printed, as the old privilege, dated "at Bibliopolis,
under the elector's own hand, shews, and was published
the year after. He also published this year a book " against
masses and the consecration of priests," in which he relates
a conference he had with the devil upon those points ; for
it is remarkable in Luther's whole history, that he never
had any conflicts of any kind within, which he did not
attribute to the personal agency of the devil. In Feb.
1537, an assembly was held at Smalkald about matters of
religion, to which Luther and Melancthoii were called. At
this meeting Luther was seized with so dangerous an ill-
ness, that there was no hope of his recovery. He was
afflicted with the stone, and had a stoppage of urine for
eleven days. In this condition he insisted on travelling,
notwithstanding all his friends could do to prevent him :
his resolution, however, was attended with a good effect,
for the night after his departure he began to be better. As
he was carried along he made his will, in which he be-
queathed his detestation of popery to his friends and
brethren ; agreeably to what he often used to say, " Pestis
cram vivus, moriens ero mors tua, papa ;" that is, " I was
the plague of popery in my life, and shall be its destruc-
tion in my death."
This year the court of Rome, finding it impossible to
deal with the protestants by force, began to have recourse
to stratagem. They affected therefore to think, that
though Luther had indeed carried things to a violent ex-
treme, yet what he had pleaded in defence of these mea-
sures was not entirely without foundation. They talked
with a seeming shew of moderation; and Pius 111. who
succeeded Clement VII. proposed a reformation first among
themselves, and even went so far as to fix a place for a
council to meet at for that purpose. But Luther treated
this farce as it deserved to be treated ; unmasked and de-
tected it immediately ; and, to ridicule it the more strongly,
caused a picture to be drawn, in which was represented the
pope seated on high upon a throne, some cardinals about
him with fox's tails, and seeming to evacuate upwards and
downwards, " sursum deorsum repurgare," as Melchior
Adam expresses it. This was fixed against the title-page,
to let the readers see at once the scope and design of the
M M 2
532 L U T H E K.
book ; which was, to expose that cunning and artifice with
which those subtle politicians affected to cleanse and purify
themselves from their errors and superstitions. Luther pub-
lished about the same time " A Confutation of the pre-
tended grant of Constanline to Sylvester bishop of Rome,"
and also " Some letters of John Huss," written from his
prison at Constance to the Bohemians.
In this manner he was employed till his death, which
happened in 1546. That year, accompanied by Melanc-
thon, he paid a visit to his own country, which he had not
seen for many years, and returned again in safety. But
soon after he was called thither again by the earls of Mans-
felt, to compose some differences which had arisen about
their boundaries. He had not been used to such matters ;
but because he was born at Isleben, a town in the territory
of Mansfelt, he was willing to do his country what service
he could, even in this way. Preaching his last sermon,
therefore, at Wittemberg, Jan. 17, he set off the 23d;
and at Hall in Saxony lodged with Justus Jonas, with
whom he stayed three days, because the waters were out.
The 28th he passed over the river with his three sons, and
Jonas ; and being in some danger, he said to the doctor,
" Do not you think it would rejoice the deril exceedingly,
if I and you, and my three sons, should be drowned ?"
When he entered the territories of the earl of Mansfelt, he
was received by 100 horsemen or more, and conducted in
a very honourable manner ; but was at the same time so
very ill that it was feared he would die. He said that these
fits of sickness often came upon him when he had any great
business to undertake : of this, however, he did not re-
cover, but died Feb. 18, in his sixty-third year. A little
before he expired he admonished those that were about
him to pray to God for the propagation of the gospel ;
" because," said he, " the council of Trent, which had sat
once or twice, and the pope, will devise strange things
against it." Soon after, his body was put into a leaden
coffin, and carried with funeral pomp to the church at
Isleben, when Jonas preached a sermon upon the occasion.
The earls of Mansfelt desired that his body should be in-
terred in their territories ; but the elector of Saxony in-
»tsted upon his being brought back to Wittemberg, which
was accordingly done ; and there he was buried with the
greatest pomp that perhaps ever happened to any private
mail. Princes, earls, nobles, aad students without num-
LUTHER. 533
ber, attended the procession ; and Melancthon made his
funeral oration.
A thousand falsehoods were invented by the papists
about his death. Some said that he died suddenly ; others,
that he killed himself; others, that the devil strangled
him ; others, that his corpse stunk so abominably that they
were forced to leave it in the way as it was carried to be
interred. Similar slanders were even invented about his
death, while he was yet alive ; for a pamphlet was pub-
lished at Naples, and in other places of Italy, the .year
before, wherein was given the following account : "Lu-
ther, being dangerously sick, desired to communicate, and
died as soon as he had received the viaticum. As he was
dying, he desired his body might be laid upon the altar,
to be adored ; but that request being neglected, he was
buried. When, lo ! at his interment there arose a furious
tempest, as if the world was at an end ; and the terror was
universal. Some, in lifting their hands up to heaven, per-
ceived th,at the host, which the deceased had presumed to
take, was suspended in the air ; upon which it was gathered
up with great veneration, and laid in a sacred place, and
the tempest ceased for the present ; but it arose the night
following with greater fury, and filled the whole town with
consternation; and the next day Luther's sepulchre was
found open and empty, and a sulphureous stench pro-
ceeded from it, which nobody could bear. The assist-
ants fell sick of it, and many of them repented, and re-
turned to the catholic church." We have related this as a
specimen of the innumerable falsehoods that the papists
have invented about Luther ; in which, as Bayle observes
very truly, they have shewn no regard either to probability,
or to the rules of the art of slandering, but have assumed all
the confidence of those who fully believe that the public will
blindly and implicitly receive their stories, be they ever so
absurd and incredible. Luther, however, to give the most
effectual refutation of this account of his death, published
an advertisement of his being alive; and wrote a book at
the same time to prove that " Papacy was founded by the
devil." Amidst all this malice of the papists towards Lu-
ther, we must not forget a generous action of the emperor
Charles V. which is an exception to it. While Charles's
troops quartered at Wittemberg in 1547, which was one
year after Luther's death, a soldier gave Luther's effigies,
in the church of the castle, two stabs with his dagger ; and
534 * LUTHER.
the Spaniards earnestly desired that his tomb might be
pulled down, and his bones dug up and burnt : but the
emperor wisely answered, " I have nothing farther to do
with Luther; he has henceforth another judge, whose ju-
risdiction it is not lawful fur me to usurp. Know, that I
make not war with the dead, but with the living, who still
make war with me." He would not therefore suffer his
tomb to be demolished ; and he forbad any attempt of that
nature upon pain of death.
After this long, but we trust, not uninteresting account
of the great founder of the Reformation, we shall select
only, on the part of the Roman catholics, the opinion of
father Simon, respecting his talents as an interpreter of
scripture, for this is a part of his character which must
appear very important, as he was the first who boldly un-
dertook to reform an overgrown system of idolatry and
superstition by the pure word of God. " Luther," says this
critical author, " was the first protestant who ventured to
translate the dible into the vulgar tongue from the Hebrew-
text, although he understood Hebrew but very indif-
ferently. As he was of a free and bold spirit, he accuses
St. Jerom of ignorance in the Hebrew tongue ; but he had
more reason to accuse himself of this fault, and for having
so precipitately undertaken a work of this nature, which
required more time than he employed about it. Thus we
find that he was obliged to review his translation, and make
a second edition; but, notwithstanding this review, the
most learned protestants of that time could not approve of
either the one or the other, and several of them took the
liberty to mark the faults, which were very numerous."
In another place he speaks of him not as a translator, but
as a commentator, in the following manner: " Luther, the
German protestant's patriarch, was not satisfied with mak-
ing a translation of the whole Bible, both from the Hebrew
and Greek, into his mother tongue, but thought he ought
to explain the word of God according to his own method,
for the better fixing of their minds whom he had drawn to
his party. But this patriarch could succeed no better in his
commentaries upon the Bible than in his translation. He
made both the one and the other with too little considera-
tion ; and he very often consults only his own prejudices.
That he might be thought a learned man, he spends time to
no purpose in confuting of other people's opinions, which
he fancies ridiculous. He mixes very improperly theologi-
LUTHER. 535
cal questions and several other things with his commen-
taries, so that they may rather be called lectures, and
disputes in divinity, than real commentaries. This may
be seen in his exposition on Genesis, where there are
many idle digressions. He thought, that by reading of
morality, and bawling against those who were not of nis
opinion, he might very much illustrate the word of God;
yet one may easily see by his own books, that he was a
turbulent and passionate man, who had only a little flashy
wit and quickness of invention. There is nothing great or
learned in his commentaries upon the Bible ; every thing
low and mean : and as he had studied divinity, he has
rather composed a rhapsody of theological questions, than
a commentary upon the scripture text : to which we may
add, that he wanted understanding, and usually followed
his senses instead of his reason."
This is the language of those in the church of Rome
who speak of Luther with any degree of moderation ; for
the generality allow him neither parts nor learning, nor
any attainment intellectual or moral. They tell you that
he was not only no divine, but even an outrageous enemy
and calumniator of all kinds of science ; and that he com-
mitted gross, stupid, and abominable errors against the
principles of divinity and philosophy. They accuse him
of having confessed, that after struggling for ten years to-
gether with his conscience, he at last became a perfect
master of it, and fell into Atheism ; and add, that he fre-
quently said he would renounce his portion in heaven, pro-
vided God would allow him a pleasant life for 100 years
upon earth. And, lest we should wonder that so monstrous
and much unheard-of impiety should be found in a mere
human creature, they make no scruple to say that an In-
cubus begat him. These, and many more such scandalous
imputations, Bayle has been at the pains to collect, and
has treated them with all the contempt and just indigna-
tion they deserve.
On the protestant side, the character given of Luther
by Dr. Robertson, seems, on the whole, the most just and
impartial that has yet appeared. " As he was raised by
Providence," says this excellent historian, " to be the au-
thor of one of the greatest and most interesting revolutions
recorded in history, there is not any person, perhaps,
whose character has been drawn with such opposite colours.
In his own age, one party, struck with horror aud inflamed
LUTHER.
with rage, when they saw with what a daring hand he over-
turned everything which they held to be sacred, or valued
as beneficial, imputed to him not only the defects and
vices of a man, but the qualities of a demon. The other,
warmed with the admiration and gratitude which they thought
he merited, as the restorer of light and liberty to the
Christian church, ascribed to hiui perfections above the
condition of humanity, and viewed all his actions with a
veneration bordering on that which should be paid only to
those who are guided by the immediate inspiration of hea-
ven. It is his own conduct, not the undistinguishing cen-
sure or the extravagant praise of his contemporaries, that
ought to regulate the opinions of the present age concern-
ing him. Zeal for what he regarded as truth ; undaunted
intrepidity to maintain his own system ; abilities, both na-
tural and acquired, to defend his principles ; and unwearied
industry in propagating them ; are virtues which shine so
conspicuously in every part of his behaviour, that even his
enemies must allow him to have possessed them in an emi-
nent degree. To these may be added, with equal justice,
such purity and even austerity of manners, as became one
who assumed the character of a reformer; such sanctity of
life as suited the doctrine which he delivered ; and such
perfect disinterestedness, as affords no slight presumption
of his sincerity. Superior to all selfish considerations, a
stranger to the elegancies of life, and despising its plea-
sures, he left the honours and emoluments of the church
to his disciples, remaining satisfied himself in his original
state of professor in the university, and pastor of the town
of Wittemberg, with the moderate appointments annexed
to these offices. His extraordinary qualities were allayed
by no inconsiderable mixture of human frailties and human
passions. These, however, were of such a nature, that
they cannot be imputed to malevolence or corruption of
heart, but seem to have taken their rise from the same
source with many of bis virtues. His mind, forcible and
vehement in all its operations, roused by great objects, or
agitated by violent passions, broke out, on many occasions,
with an impetuosity which astonishes men of feebler
spirits, or such as are placed in a more tranquil situation.
By carrying some praise-worthy dispositions to excess, he
bordered sometimes on what was culpable, and was often
betrayed into actions which exposed him to censure. His
confidence that his own opinions were well-founded, ap-
LUTHER. 537
preached to arrogance ; his courage in asserting them, to
rashness ; his firmness in adhering to them, to obstinacy ;
and his zeal in confuting his adversaries, to rage and scur-
rility. Accustomed himself to consider every thing as sub-
ordinate to truth, he expected the same deference for it
from other men ; and, without making any allowances for
their timidity or prejudices, he poured forth against such
as disappointed him in this particular, a torrent of invective
mingled with contempt. Regardless of any distinction of
rank or character when his doctrines were attacked, he
chastised all his adversaries indiscriminately, with the same
rough hand : neither the royal dignity of Henry VIII, nor
the eminent learning and abilities of Erasmus, screened
them from the same gross abuse with which he treated
Tetzel or Eckius.
" But these indecencies of which Luther was guilty,
must not be imputed wholly to the violence of his temper.
They ought to be charged in part on the manners of the
age. Among a rude people, unacquainted with those
maxims, which, by putting constraint on the passions of
individuals, have polished society, and rendered it agree-
able, disputes of every kind were managed with heat, and
strong emotions were uttered in their natural language
without reserve or delicacy. At the same time, the works
of learned men were all composed in Latin ; and they were
not only authorized, by the example of eminent writers in
that language, to use their antagonists with the most illibe-
ral scurrility ; but, in a dead tongue, indecencies of every
kind appear less shocking than in a living language, whose
idioms and phrases seem gross, because they are familiar.
" In passing judgment upou the characters of men, we
ought to try them by the principles and maxims of their
own age, not by those of another. For, although virtue
and vice are at all times the same, manners and customs
vary continually. Some parts of Luther's behaviour
which to us appear most culpable, gave no disgust to his
contemporaries. It was even by some of those qualities
which we are now apt to blame, that he was fitted for ac-
complishing the great work he undertook. To rouse man-
kind, when sunk in ignorance or superstition, and to en-
counter the rage of bigotry armed with power, required
the utmost vehemence of zeal, as well as a temper daring
to excess. A gentle call would neither have reached, nor
have excited those to whom it was addressed. A spirit
S33 LUTHER.
more amiable, but less vigorous than Luther's, would have
shrunk back from the dangers which he braved and sur-
mounted. Toward the close of Luther's life, though with-
out any perceptible diminution of his zeal or abilities, the
infirmities of his temper increased upon him, so that he
grew daily more peevish, more irascible, and more impa-
tient of contradiction. Having lived to be a witness of
his own amazing success; to see a great part of Europe
embrace his doctrines; and to shake the foundation of the
papal throne, before which the mightiest monarchs had
trembled, he discovered, on some occasions, symptoms of
vanity and self- applause. He must have been, indeed,
more than man, if, upon contemplating all that he actually
accomplished, he had never felt any sentiments of this
kind rising in his breast."
His works were collected after his death, and printed at
Wittemberg in seven volumes folio. Catherine de Bore
survived her husband a few years, and continued the first
year of her widowhood at Wittemberg, though Luther had
advised her to seek another place of residence. She went
from thence in 1.547, when the town was surrendered to
the emperor Charles V. Before her departure, she had
received a present of fifty crowns from Christian III. king
of Denmark ; and the elector of Saxony, and the counts
of Mansfelt, gave her good tokens of their liberality. Wich
these additions to what Luther had left her, she was ena-
bled to maintain herself and her family handsomely. She
returned to Wittemberg, when the town was restored to
the elector, where she lived a very devout and pious life,
till the plague obliged her to leave it again in 1552. She
sold what she had at Wittemberg, and retired to Torgau,
with a resolution to end her life there. An unfortunate mis-
chance betel her in her journey thither, which proved fatal
to her. The horses growing unruly,, and attempting to
run away, she leaped out of the vehicle, and had a fall,
of which she died about a quarter of a year after, at Tor-
gau, Dec. 20, 1552. She was buried there in the great
church, where her tomb and epitaph are still to be seen ;
and the university of Wittemberg, which was then at Tor-
gau because the plague raged at Wittemberg, made a
public jjiograinma concerning the funeral pomp.
Lutheiams«i has undergone some alteration since the
time of its founder. Luther rejected the epistle of St.
James, as inconsistent with the doctrine of St. Pa.u)l, in
LUTHER. 539
relation to justification ; he also set aside the Apocalypse ;
both which are now received as canonical in the Lutheran
church. Luther reduced the numher of sacraments to two,
viz. baptism, and the eucharist; but he believed the im-
panation, or consubstantiation : that is, that the matter of
the bread and wine remain with the body and blood of
Christ ; and it is in this article, that the main difference
between the Lutheran and English churches consists. Lu-
ther maintained the mass to be no sacrifice; he exploded
the adoration of the host, auricular confession, meritorious
works, indulgences, purgatories, the worship of images,
&c. which had been introduced in the corrupt times of the
Romish church. He also opposed the doctrine of free-will;
maintained predestination ; asserted that we are necessi-
tated in all we do; that all our actions done in a state of
sin, and even the virtues themselves of heathens, are crimes;
that we are justified only by the merits and satisfaction of
Christ. He also opposed the fastings in the Roman church,
monastical vows, the celibacy of the clergy, &C.1
LUTTI (BENEDICT), an Italian artist, was born at Flo-
rence, in 1666. He was the disciple of Dominico Gab-
biani, and at twenty-four his merit was judged equal to
that of his master. He afterwards studied at Rome, under
the patronage of the grand duke, and hoped to have pro-
fited by the instructions of Giro Ferri ; but on his arrival
he had to regret the death of that master. He now, how-
ever, pursued his studies with such success, that his works
became much valued in England, France, and Germany.
The emperor knighted him, and the elector of Mentz
sent with his patent of knighthood, a cross set with dia-
monds Lutti was never satisfied with his own perform-
ances, and though he often retouched his pictures, yet
they never appeared laboured ; he always changed for the
better, and his last thought was the best. There were
' O
three much-admired public works of his at Rome, viz. a
Magdalene in the church of St. Catharine of Siena, at
Monte Magna Napoli ; the prophet Isaiah, in an oval, St.
John de Lateran ; and St. Anthony of Padua, in the church
of the Holy Apostles ; and at the palace Albani was a mi-
racle of St. Pioj which some reckon his master-piece. Fu-
seli speaks of his " Cain, flying from his murdered bro-
1 Melehior Adam. — Seckendorff's Hist, of Lutheranism. — Dupin.— Gen. Diet.
— Robertson's History of Charles V. — Roscoe's Life of Leo,— Mosheim and
Milner's Church History, &c. &c.
340 L U T T I.
ther," he says has something of the sublimity and
the pati it strike in the Pietro Martyre of Titian ; and
his " Ps^ ,ei" in the gallery of the capitol, breathes re-
finement of taste and elegance. His death is said to have
been hastened by a fit of chagrin, owing to his not having
been able to finish a picture of St. Eusebius, bishop of
Vercelli, designed for Turin, for which he had received a
large earnest, and promised to get it ready at a set time.
But several disputes happening between him and those
who bespoke the picture, brought on a fit of sickness, of
which he died at Rome, in 1 724, aged fifty-eight, and the
picture was afterwards finished by Pietro Bianchi, one of his
disciples. Lutti is blamed for not having placed his figures
advantageously, but in such a manner as to throw a part
of the arms and legs out of the cloth. This fault he pos-
sesses in common with Paul Veronese and Rubens, who,
to give more dignity and grandeur to the subject they
treated, have introduced into the fore-ground of their
pictures, groups of persons on horseback, tops of heads,
and arms and legs, of which no other part of the body ap-
pears.
Lutti was lively in conversation ; he had a politeness in
his behaviour, which, as it prompted him to treat every
body with proper civility, so it also procured him a return
of esteem and respect. He spoke well in general of all
his contemporary painters, but contracted no particular
acquaintance with any, though be was principal of the aca-
demy of St. Luke ; nor did he court the protection of the
great, whom he never visited, and who very seldom visited
him ; convinced that the true protection of a painter is his
own merit. \
» IVArgenTiUe, vol. I.— Strutt, and Pilkingtoo.
INDEX
TO THB
TWENTIETH VOLUME.
Those marked thus * are new.
Those marked f are re-written, with additions.
Page
, Hubert 1
John Bap- Jos.. . 4
John Joseph. ... 8
t
fLaniere, Nicholas 9
*Lanini, Bernardino 10
fLansberg, Philip 11
*Lanzi, Lewis ib.
*Lanzoni, Joseph 12
*Larcher, Peter Henry ib.
Lardner, Nath 17
fLarrey, Isaac de 2O
fLarroque, Matthew de ib.
f Daniel de 22
fLascaris, Constantine 23
f John 24
Lasena, Peter 25
*Lassala, Manuel 26
*Lassone, J. M. F. de 27
*Lassus Orlandus 28
*Latch, John 29
Latimer, Hugh ib.
* -. William 48
*Latini, Brunetto ib.
*Latinus, Latinius 49
*Latome, James 50
Laud, William ib.
Lauder, William 66
•j-Launay, Francis de 67
* Peter de 68
Launoi, John de 68
*Lauriere, Euseb. James de 69
*Lavater, John Caspar 7O
*Lavington, George 72
*Lavoisier, Ant. Law 74
*Law, Edmund 82
* John 86
* William 91
Lawes, Henry 95
f William 98
*Lawrence, Thomas 99
*Lazius, Wolfgang 101
Leake, Richard ib.
Sir John 1O2
f Stephen Martin . . . , 107
* — — John, M.D 109
fLeapor, Mary 1 1O
Lebeuf, John Ill
Leblanc, John Bernard le . ib.
*Lecchi, John Anthony .... 112
*Le Cene, Charles 113
*Lederlin, John Henry .... 114
*Le Dran, Henry Francis . 115
fLedyardj John ib.
*Lee, Edward 119
Nathaniel ISO
* Samuel 122
*Leechman, William 123
*Leger, Ant 125
542
INDEX.
Page
*Leger, John 125
Legge, George 126
Leibnitz, Godfrey William 127
fLeigh, Charles 139
t Edward 14O
fLeighton, Alexander 142
f Robert 143
Lcland, John 149
t John, Rev 153
* Thomas 156
/, Sir Peter 169
Lemery, Nicholas 160
f Louis 163
*Lemos, Thomas de 164
fLenfant, James 164
*Leng, John 167
fLenglet du Fresnoy, Nich. 168
Lennard, Sampson 17O
* Lennox, Charlotte ib.
fLeo! 172
t X 173
f VI. Emperor 18O
* John ib.
* D'Orvietto 181
•f of Modena ib.
* de St. John ib.
*Leonard of Pisa 182
*Leonardo, Leo ib.
f Leonicenus, Nich 163
•j-Leowitz, Cyprian 184
*Lermont, Thomas ib.
fLesbonax 185
•fLescaille, James and Cath. ib.
*Leschassier, James ib.
"Lesdiguieres, Francis .... 186
Lesley, John, Bp. of Ross. . 187
Leslie, John, Bp. of Clogherl92
Charles ib.
Leasing, Gotthold Ephraim201
L'Estrange, Sir Roger .... 205
Lethieullier, Smart 211
fLeti, Gregory 213
•j-Leucippus 215
fLeunclavius, John 216
fLeusden, John 217
fLeuwenhoek, Anthony. . . . 218
fLever, Sir Ashton 219
* Thomas ib.
*Leves<iue, Peter Charles . . 221
*Levi, David 222
*Levret, Andrew 224
*Lewia, John ib.
Page
•j-Ley, or Leigh, Sir James . . 229
* John 231
Leybourn, William ib.
*Leydecker, Melchior ib.
Lhuyd, Edward 232
•f Humphrey 237
Libanius 238
*Libavius, Andrew 24.2
•f Licet us, Fortunius ib.
*Liddel, Duncan 243
*Lieberkuhn, John Nathan. 245
fLieutaud 246
*Lievens, Jan 247
Lightfoot, John 248
* John, botanist . 254
Lilburne, John 256
LiUo, George 262
Lilly, John 264
William 266
Lily, or Lilye, William 272
Limborch, Philip 274
fUnJcre, Thomas 279
Lindsay, John 283
f Sir David ib.
*Lindsey, Theophilus 286
fLinglebach, John 289
*Linguet, Simon Nich. Hen.290
*Lindley, John 393
t Linnaeus, Charles 294
* Charles, son .... 308
f Liotard, John Stephen .... 311
*Lipenius, Martin 312
*Lippi, Filippo t . 313
*Lippomani, Lewis 314
f Lipsius, Justus ib.
*Lisle, Claude de 319
William de ib.
Lewis de 320
Joseph Nicholas de . . ib.
* William, antiquary . . 322
Lister, Martin . 323
Lithgow, William 325
Littleton, Adam 326
Edward 328
Thomas 329
Edward, judge . 331
Livingston, John 335
fLivius, Titus ib.
*Lloyd, David 339
•* Nicholas 342
f Robert 343
William 347
INDEX.
543
Page
*Lobb, Theophilus 351
*Lobeira, Vasques 352
*Lobel, Matthias de ib.
fLobineau, Guy Alexis 354
•f-Lobo, Jerome ib.
*Lock, Matthew 355
fLocke, John 353
Locker, John 373
fLockman, John 374
fLockyer, Nicholas 375
Lodge, Thomas ib.
* William 377
*Loftus, Dudley ib.
*Logan, James 38O
* John 381
*Loggan, David 386
Lokman ib.
Lombard, Peter 388
fLomenie, Henry Lewis de . 389
•f-Lommius, Jodocus ....... 390
Lomonozof 391
fLong, James le 393
* Edward 395
Roger 396
* Thomas 393
fLongepierre, H. B. de . . . . 399
Longinus, Dion. Cassius . . 400
*Longland, John 402
Robert 4O4
Longomontanus, Christ. . . 405
fLongueil, Christopher de . . 407
f Gilbert de 410
fLonguerue, Lew.Dufourde410
*Longueval, James 411
Longus ib.
*Lorenzini, Francis Maria . 412
Lorit, Henry ib.
Lorme, Philibert de 413
Lorraine, Robert le 414
Lorris, William de 415
fLorry, Anne Charles ib.
*Lort, Michael 416
*Lotich, Peter 417
*Loubere, Simon de la . . . . 419
*Louis, Anthony ib.
Page
*Louvet, Peter 420
fLove, Christopher 421
James 424
Lovelace, Richard 425
*Lovibond, Edward ...... 426
*Low, George 428
fLowe, Peter 429
fLower, Richard ib.
f Sir William 431
*Lowman, Moses ib.
Lowth, William 433
t Robert 434
* Simon 442
Loyola, Ignatius of 434
*Lubbert, Sibrand 451
Lubienietski, Stanislaus . . 452
Lubin, Augustin 455
Eilhard 456
*Luca, John Baptist 457
fLucan ib.
Lucas, Francis 460
Paul ib,
Richard ib.
Lucian 461
Lucifer 462
Lucilius, Caius 463
f Lucretius 464
Ludlow, Edmund 465
fLudolph, Job 471
Henry William . . 474
*Ludwig, Christ. Theophilus476
Lugo, John 478
Francis ...... 480
Luisino, Francis 481
fLuisinus, Francis ib.
Luitprandus ib.
Lulli, John Baptist 482
Lully, Raimond 485
*Lupset, Thomas ib.
*Lupton, Donald 486
*Lupus, Christian 487
Lussan, Margaret de 488
Luther, Martin 489
Lutti, Benedict 539
END OF THE TWENTIETH VOLUME.
IVmted by Nichols, Son, and Bentlev,
Ked Lion- passage, Fleet-street, London.
BINDING DEFT. FEB 20 1961
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