.*»«, -.**• * .'*
V?; Q:i(Vy
»..'.
rhomlnll ,Tiii2t"
-DeKa sculp.
Agea 48.
J'uJ.h..-h.^.1 Uv . ,, V-, A''./^,y/„/, A,.,^,,//.^^.'/;;.^.,
«l^j;t-*-i'
THE
LIFE ,
' M!CROFOR»V\tD BY
PRBbRVATiaN
SERVICES
DATE. SEPl 8J992
OF
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D.
MASTER OF TRINITY COLLEGE,
AND REGIUS PROFESSOR OF DIVINITY IN THE UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE :
WITH AN
ACCOUNT OF HIS WRITINGS,
AND
ANECDOTES OF MANY DISTINGUISHED CHARACTERS
DURING THE
PERIOD IN WHICH HE FLOURISHED.
BY
JAMES HENRY MONK, D.D.
LORD BISHOP OF GLOUCESTER.
SECOND EDITION, REVISED Sf CORRECTED.
IN TWO VOLUMES.
VOL. I.
LONDON:
PRINTED FOR J. G. & F. RIVINGTON,
ST. PAUL'S CHURCH YARD, AND WATERLOO PLACE, PALL MALL;
& J. & J. J. DEIGHTON, CAMBRIDGE.
MDCCCXXXni.
c.
9' A'
LONDON:
aiLBERT AND RIVINGTON, PRINTERS,
ST. John's sqvare.
TO THK
RIGHT HONOURABLE AND RIGHT REVEREND
CHARLES-JAMES,
LORD BISHOP OF LONDON.
MY LORD,
There are several reasons
which induce me to take the liberty of prefixing
your name to this publication. In the first
place, there is no one to whom an account of
the life and writings of a distinguished scholar
can be inscribed with more propriety than to
your Lordship, who have obtained the same
rank in literature at the present day as was
enjoyed during his life- time by Dr. Bentley.
And if, in the perusal of the following Memoirs,
any reader should remark, that great learning
is not always accompanied by the graces of
personal character, the mention of your Lord-
ship's name will remind him that the defect
cannot be attributed to the nature of such
studies, and that similar excellence in classical
pursuits may be made subservient to religious
knowledge and the cultivation of all moral and
Christian virtues. Again, it is natural that every
scholar should express joy at seeing your Lord-
A 2
iv DEDICATION.
ship's well-merited elevation to the high station
which your learning adorns ; and still more, that
a churchman should declare his satisfaction at
so important a diocese being filled by a Prelate,
whose zeal, piety, and virtues peculiarly qualify
him for its important functions ; while they,
who have had the happiness of observing all
the steps of your progress from a curacy to the
See of London, and witnessing your exemplary
discharge of the duties of each successive
station, must feel uncommon delight at seeing
their anticipations of your future distinction
fulfilled in your Lordship's exaltation to a post
in which you possess such extensive means of
encouraging similar conduct in others, by the
influence of precept and example. Lastly, I
cannot forbear seizing the opportunity now af-
forded me of publicly mentioning the great and
constant friendship with which your Lordship
has honoured me for more than twenty years,
and which I shall always consider as one of the
most gratifying distinctions of my life.
I have the honour to be, with every senti-
ment of respect and attachment,
My Lord,
Your very faithful and affectionate servant,
J. H. MONK.
PREFACE.
In submitting to the Public the following Memoirs
of Dr. Bentley's life, I wish to explain, as briefly as
possible, my views in undertaking this work, and the
materials which I have possessed for its execution.
My desire to see a distinct account of this illus-
trious scholar originated a long time ago, several
years, indeed, before the idea occurred to me of
becoming his biographer myself. In the course of
my classical reading, I had frequently remarked how
much the writings of Dr. Bentley were influenced by
the circumstances of his personal history. And while
resident at Cambridge, in the society of which he
had been the Head, I was continually struck with the
manner in which the history of both College and
University was connected, and sometimes identified,
with the singular particulars of his life for above
forty years. But all the narratives of his story,
which are to be found in print, were taken from the
account given in the Biographia Britannica : although
that article appeared in 1748, within six years after
Dr. Bentley's death, the writer, who is stated to
have been the Rev. Mr. Hinton, had little knowledge
vi PREFACE.
of the principal facts of his life, and sought no
opportunities of consulting those who were better
informed respecting them : his stock of materials
consisted of a few of the numerous pamphlets written
on the occasions of the quarrel with the University and
the dispute in Trinity College ; but the information
which he collected from them was not sufficient to
give him a distinct idea of those transactions, and
his narrative is of course confused and unsatisfactory :
all the events of the last twenty years of Dr. Bent-
ley's life are despatched in a few lines, and those
few very erroneous.
A second edition of the BiograpJiia was published
by ^Kippis about thirty years after the first ; but the
article upon Bentley was reprinted with almost all
its mistakes : certain additions, indeed, were ap-
pended to it, the greater part of which, coming from
a very partial cpiarter, were not calculated to give a
more correct view of the life or character of this
distinguished personage. Several attempts have been
subsequently made, in different periodical works and
compilations, to digest that confused heap of mate-
rials into a regular shape ; some of those articles,
having been written by scholars, exhibit a much
more correct view of Bentley 's publications and lite-
rary merits ; but for his personal history, they have
done little more than retail the narrative of Mr.
Hinton, with all its errors and misconceptions : in
the meantime, it has been generally remarked, that
a satisfactory Memoir of Bentley 's life was a desi-
deratum in English literature.
PREFACE. vii
Perceiving that it was impracticable for any one
to give a faithful or distinct account of his career,
without a full examination of the records, registers,
and correspondence found in the archives of the
University, and of Trinity College, I long wished
that some person who had leisure for such a work,
and whose station gave him access to those deposi-
tories, would elucidate this curious period of acade-
mical history : and it was only from despair of seeing
the task accomplished by other hands, that I resolved
to undertake it myself.
My object in this work may be considered three-
fold : first, to give a full and impartial view of Bent-
ley's life and character ; secondly, a sketch of lite-
rary history during the period in which he flourished ;
and, thirdly, an account of what is worthy of notice
in the annals of the College and University, for the
first forty years of the eighteenth century. It hap-
pens that these three subjects naturally combine and
blend themselves into the same narrative.
In the detail of events, it has been my constant
study to represent every transaction in its true co-
lours, and to give a candid and unbiassed view of the
conduct of every person concerned. Having spared
no pains in investigating the truth, by reference to
authentic documents, and by comparison of opposite-
accounts from different parties, I am in hopes that I
have generally succeeded in giving a faithful repre-
sentation of the facts : but while I endeavour to do
justice to Dr. Bentley, it is frequently necessary to
exhibit his conduct in an unfavourable light, and such
viii PREFACE.
as reflects no credit upon his character, station, or pro-
fession. In so doing I shall of course expose myself
to the censure of persons, who condemn all attempts
to record the errors and frailties of illustrious cha-
racters, and would wish biography to be employed
upon those subjects only which can be proposed as
models for imitation. Anticipating objections of this
nature, I may as well make my reply to them at
once. In the first place, I cannot acknowledge the
justice or expediency of confining biography within
the limits just mentioned ; since I deem the disco-
very of truth paramount to all other considerations,
and think that an important and useful moral may
be drawn from the failings of persons gifted with
high intellectual endowments. But waiving this
question, it is right to state, that my publication is
not the means of first bringing to light the defects in
Dr. Bentley's character. The numerous pamphlets
which treat of his behaviour at different periods of
his life, are in greater request than any other tracts
that I am acquainted with : many of these pieces,
particularly the effusions of Conyers Middleton, which
have been reprinted among his works, represent his
conduct in the worst and most flagrant colours, and
abound with exaggerations and misstatements pro-
duced by temporary excitement and virulent hos-
tility. The present narrative, while it disguises
nothing, will be the means of vindicating Bentley
from unjust aspersions, and of giving a distinct and
fair view of his conduct, instead of representations
distorted and overcharged by personal animosity.
Soon after I had formed the design of this work,
PREFACE. ix
two unexpected and important sources of information
presented themselves. In the first place, a collection
of Bentley's correspondence with the greatest scholars
of his time, for about half a century, was discovered
in Trinity Lodge, at the death of the late Master,
along with several other papers of great importance
in his history. Secondly, the manuscripts of Dr.
Colbatch and others of Bentley's prosecutors, having
been carefully preserved by two or three successive
possessors, at length fell into the hands of an attorney
at Cambridge, and on his death were sold by his son
alongwith his books to a small second-hand book-shop :
at that moment, when in the last stage of its journey
to the grocer's or pastry-cook's, the whole collection
was accidentally seen and rescued from its fate by
two members of Trinity College. This large mass of
papers comprehends the correspondence of Colbatch
with many distinguished characters, of which the
letters of Conyers Middleton relative to his quarrels
with Bentley form an interesting part ; and the
various controversies which agitated the University
of Cambridge and Trinity College for nearly thirty
years, are here elucidated by the most satisfactory
authorities — the records of different courts, briefs for
counsel, and the evidence of witnesses on the op-
posite sides. Without the last-mentioned documents,
it would have been impossible to have given a dis-
tinct or connected account of those extraordinary and
complicated transactions.
Of my other unpublished sources of information
the principal are, the documents, relative both to
X PREFACE.
business and literature, preserved in the Archives,
the Library, and the Master's Lodge of Trinity Col-
lege, and the registers and public records belonging
to the University. I have also examined and gleaned
much information from Mr. William Cole's volumi-
nous manuscripts, from the Harleian papers, and
other materials in the British Museum ; from the
collections of Hearne and Go ugh the antiquaries,
and from the Ballard papers in the Bodleian Library
at Oxford ; a considerable correspondence between
Archbishop Wake and Dr. Bentley, preserved in the
Archiepiscopal Library at Lambeth : and a great
variety of letters and other original documents, which
have been communicated to me by different private
hands. Next to the first-named great collections of
original papers, I have derived the most assistance
from three manuscript journals kept by Dr. Col-
batch, Dr. Rud, and Mr. Attwood, who detailed
from day to day with great exactness events in which
Dr. Bentley was concerned during several interesting
periods of his life.
I have of course been careful to investigate and
draw from the works of Bentley and his contempo-
raries, as well as from every subsequent publication,
whatever authentic anecdotes or hints I could dis-
cover which might be of use in his biography. In
tlie latter class of publications, I feel that it is a just
tribute to acknowledge the frequent assistance which
I have found in Mr. Nichols's volumes of Literary
Anecdotes and Illustrations of Literature. I have
examined every one of the numerous pamphlets re-
PREFACE. xi
lative to Bentley's literary works and his personal
controversies which are any where recorded to have
appeared, besides several others which have escaped
the notice of bibliographers and collectors.
In taking this work in hand, I had little suspicion
of its extent, or the time required for its completion :
of the labour which it has cost me, I shall say
nothing ; since this can only be appreciated by such
readers as may have employed themselves in similar
undertakings : from them I shall probably have
credit for an endeavour to give a faithful represen-
tation of incidents long past ; and they, perhaps, will
be most disposed to treat with indulgence the faults
and imperfections of the book.
My special acknowledgments are due to the Master
and Fellows of Trinity College, for their kindness
and confidence shown in the unreserved communi-
cation of all the documents in their possession ; to
Mr. William Hustler, the Registrary, for greatly
facilitating my researches in the Archives of the
University; to the Rev, Dr. Bliss, and the gentle-
men who have the care of the Bodleian Library, for
their kind assistance in furthering my enquiries in
that noble repository; and to the Rev. Dr. D'Ovly,
Librarian of the Archbishop of Canterbury, for similar
aid in the Manuscript Library of Lambeth Palace.
To many gentlemen I am indebted for memoranda,
original letters, and other documents which have
contributed to this narrative ; of whom I would par-
xii PREFACE.
ticularly mention Mr. John Blayds, of Oulton, for
information respecting Bentley's family and early
years ; the Very Rev. Dr. Wood, Dean of Ely, for
the particulars of him while a member of St. John's
College ; to the Rev. Dr. Tournay, Warden of
Wadham College, for notices respecting his residence
at Oxford ; to Mr. Upcott, Librarian of the London
Institution, for copies of a valuable correspondence of
Bentley with his distinguished friend Evelyn ; to the
Rev. Dr. Burney, for the communication of many
detached papers respecting Bentley, collected by 'his
learned father ; to Mr. James Rimington, for a
large mass of papers belonging to Dr. Colbatch ;
and to the late Mr. Bentley Warren, for the
communication of many interesting particulars which
he had learned from his uncle. Dr. Richard Bent-
ley, of Nailstone in Leicestershire, the nephew and
executor of our hero. There are many other persons,
who have kindly supplied me with detached mate-
rials, to whom my obligations are expressed in the
notes. If I have in any instance neglected to make
this acknowledgment, I trust that the omission will
be attributed to oversight and accident.
One more remark is necessary, before this volume
leaves mv hands. As I have been oblio-ed to relate
the particulars of several sharp controversies and
stormy disputes, it has happened that the conduct of
some personages concerned is represented in un-
favourable colours. In so doing I have had no
object in view except the establishment of truth ;
and as more than a century has now passed away
PREFACE. xiii
since the transactions alluded to took place, I trust
that the parties may be considered as being fairly
the subjects of history. Should there, however, be
any part of my book which occasions pain or dis-
pleasure to the descendants of persons who figure in
the narrative, I can only say that I shall be sincerely
concerned at such a result, as being entirely contrary
both to my feelings and intentions.
Deanery, Peterborough,
April, 1830.
CONTENTS
OF
VOL. I.
CHAPTER I.
PAGE
Bentley's origin — Family — Grandfather, Richard WiUie — Education in child-
hood — ^Wakefield School — His instnictors — His father's death — His grand-
father's bequest — Sent to St. John's College, Cambridge — College
studies — Bentley's verses — Mathematical pursuits — Newton's lectures —
Bentley's contemporaries — Richard Johnson — William Wotton, a juvenile
prodigy — Degree of B.A. — Fellowship at St. John's College — Bentley
master of Spalding School — Tutor to the son of Dr. Stillingfleet — His
Hebrew studies — Classical pursuits - - - - - 1 •
CHAPTER n.
Dean Stillingfleet made Bishop of Worcester — Bentley goes with his pupil to
Wadham College, Oxford — His acquaintance at Oxford j Mill, Bernard,
Hody — His literary employments — Hephaestion — Lucretius — Bentley
ordained deacon — Made chaplain to the Bishop of Worcester — Employed
to purchase the Vossian hbrary — Designs to collect the fragments of all
the Greek poets — Bishop Lloyd — Suggestion of publishing the Greek
lexicographers— Bentley's corrections of Hesychius — ^Verwey's edition —
Chronicle of Malela — Gregory — Chilmead — Pubhcation of Malela — Prole-
gomena by Hody — Bentley undertakes to write an Appendix — Account of
the Chronicle — Epistola ad MiUium — Correspondence with Bernard — Con-
troversy withHody— Reception of Bentley's first publication — Its contents —
Its style — Bentley occupied in theology — Resumes classical studies —
Undertakes Manilius - - - - -*- -18
CHAPTER HI.
Hon. Robert Boyle — His lectureship — Bentley appointed first lecturer — Con-
futation of Atheism — Mr. Evelyn — The principles of Hobbes — Newton's
discoveries — Bentley first makes them generally known — Consults Newton
himself — Bentley's style — Merits of the lectures — Bentley's first opponent —
xvi CONTENTS.
PAG p.
Bishop Kidder succeeds — Bentley made Prebendary of Worcester — Excites
envy — His haughtiness of manner — Correspondence with Graevius — A tract
of Rubenius — Graevius's edition of CaUimachus — Bentley undertakes the
Fragments — Joshua Barnes — Epistles of Euripides — Bentley's opinion of
them — Barnes's behaviour - - - - - - 37
CHAPTER IV.
Bentley made keeper of the King's hbrary — Second course of Boyle's Lectures —
Commences printing an edition of Philostratus — Abandons it to Olearius —
Graevius's dedication to Bentley — Controversy on ancient and modem
learning — Sir WilUam Temple — Wotton's Reflections — Temple's opinion
of iEsop and Phalaris — Bentley promises to confute him — Dr. Aldrich,
Dean of Christ Church — Hon. Charles Boyle — Undertakes to pubUsh Pha-
laris — Bennett, the bookseller, applies to Bentley for a manuscript — Causes
a quarrel — Boyle makes a reflection upon Bentley — Rejects his explanation —
Archbishop Tenison — Lambeth degree — Evelyn — Pepys — Bentley chaplain
to the King — Rector of Hartlebury — Apartments in St. James's palace —
Earl of Marlborough — State of the Library — Cambridge University press
renovated by Bentley's agency — Takes the degree of D.D. — His public
act — Commencement sermon - - - - - -55
CHAPTER V.
PubUcation of CaUimachus — Additions by Spanheim and Bentley — Boyle's
Lectures — Bentley's first Dissertation on Phalaris — Reply to Sir W.
Temple — Literary forgeries — Opinions respecting the Epistles — Bentley
proves them spurious — from Chronology — from their language — from their
matter — from their late discovery — Replies to Mr. Boyle— Censures his
edition — Other spurious Epistles — Reply to Barnes — ^Esop's Fables —
Their history — Babrius — Maximus Planudes — Sensation produced by the
Dissertation — The confederacy — Atterbury, Smalridge, R. Frehid, J.
Freind, Alsop — Atterbury the chief author — Sir William Temple's morti-
fication — His rejoinder — Swift's Tale of a Tub — Ridicules Wotton and
Bentley - ....-_. yg
CHAPTER VI.
Proposed new library — Bentley's club — Alsop's pubhcation of vEsop — Boyle's
Examination of Bentley's Dissertation — Dr. AViUiam King — Sir Edward
Sherburn's frivolous complaint — Absurd charges against Bentley — Merits
of the Christ Church book — Instances of its mistakes — Examination of
jEsop — Witty proof that the Dissertation was not written by Bentley —
Charge of plagiarism— Affronting Inde.x — Causes of the great popularity
of Boyle's book — Temple's reception of the book — Boyle's own sentiments —
CONTENTS. xvii
PAGE
Outcry against Bentley — Keill — Milner— Garth — Aldrich — Caricature —
Rymer's Essay — Swift's Battle of the Books — Bentley's behaviour —
Bentley i^repares a reply — Dodwell's Chronology — Bentley's enlarged
Dissertation on Phalaris — Attractive nature of the work — Defence against
the accusation of pedantry — Retorts Boyle's raillery — Short Account of
Dr. Bentley's Humanity and Justice — Refutation of this pamphlet —
Another anonymous tract — Bishoj) Lloyd's publication — Death of Bishop
StiUingfleet — His library — Bentley's complete victory - - - 95
CHAPTER VII.
Bentley made Master of Trinity College, Cambridge — History of the College —
Its great fame and prosperity — Its decline — The probable causes — Bentley's
appointment unpopular — The Duke of Gloucester — Bentley's first step upon
his admission — Repairs of the Master's Lodge — Bentley elected Vice-
chancellor — His marriage — Vindicates the rights of the University — A
Greek Archbishop created D.D. — Address to the King — Ludolf Kvister —
His edition of Suidas — Bentley made Archdeacon of Ely — Member of
Convocation — University Press — General election — Bentley undertakes to
publish Horace — Death of Grsevius — Elections in Trinity CoUege — The
Master's regulations — Measures of discipline — Care of the College library —
Graduates in Divinity — Dissention among the Fellows — Declamations —
Offence given by the Master — Expensive repairs — New staircase — College
Preachers — Sequel of the Phalaris controversy — Publications of Atterbury —
Dodwell— Swift— Wotton - - - - - - 139
CHAPTER Vlll.
Queen Anne visits Cambridge — Sike, the oriental scholar — Elected Hebrew
Professor — Dr. Brookbank — Cottonian library — Verses on the death of
Prince George of Denmark — Bentley prints the text of Horace — Baron
Spanheim — Kuster's Suidas — Jubilee at Frankfort on the Oder — Kuster
quits Berlin, and returns to Utrecht — Undertakes an edition of Aristo-
phanes — Bentley's Critical Epistles to Kuster — to Hemsterhuis — His
children — He takes pupils as boarders in the Lodge — Roger Cotes — Bentley
builds an Observatorj' — Founds a school of natural philosophy — Whiston —
Vigani, Professor of Chemistry — Bentley prepares a chemical laboratory —
College bowling-green — Bentley's plan for a new interior of the chapel —
Bernard Smith, the organ builder — Subscription — The work superintended
by Professor Cotes — Distress of the Fellows — The Master's measures of
retrenchment and reformation — College festivals — College offices — Pan-
doxator's Dividend — First deviation from the rule of merit in elections to
fellowships — Expulsion of two Fellows — Wyvill — Breval — Bentley dis-
communes some Fellows — Attempts to take away the Combination Room —
Is a candidate for the Bishoprick of Chichester — John Davies — Bentley's
Emendations on Cicero's Tusculans — James Gronovius — Peter Needham's
a
xviii CONTENTS.
PAGE
Edition of Hierocles — Assistance received from Bentley — Second edition of
Sir Isaac Newton's Principia - - - - - -183
CHAPTER IX.
A party among the junior Fellows in favour of the Master — History of the
College dividends — Bentley issues proposals for a new scheme of dividends
— Change in the Master's proportion — Scheme of composition for cus-
tomary allowances — Objections of the Fellows to the proposals — The
Master's design for improving the College preferment — The proposals
rejected by the Seniors — Mr. Miller, a lay-fellow, encourages their resist-
ance — Violent behaviour of the Master — The Fellows resolve to complain
to the Visitor — Dr. Colbatch — Bentley deprives Miller of his fellowship —
The Seniors reinstate him — Half the Fellows petition the Bishop of Ely
on the statute for the removal of the Master — Bentley publishes a letter to
the Bishop — Defence of himself, and abuse of his prosecutors — Rephes by
MUler, Blomer, Wliite, Paris, Partridge — Mr. Ashenhurst prosecuted for
libelling the Queen — Scandal occasioned by these feuds — Dr. King's
Horace in Trinity College — Bentley again wiites to the Bishop of Ely —
Le Clerc pubhshes the fragments of Menander and Philemon — Bentley
writes a censure of this book, imder the title of Phileleutherus Lipsiensis —
Sends it to Utrecht to be published by Peter Burman — Correspondence
with Le Clerc — Gronovius pubhshes a book against both Bentley and Le
Clerc — Bergler's review — De Pauw, Philargyrius Cantabrigiensis — Le
Clerc's defence - - - - - - -231
CHAPTER X.
Great political changes in 1710 — Vacancies of senior-fellowships in Trinity
College — Fifty-four articles of accusation presented against Dr. Bentley —
Account of Laughton, the Proctor — He disturbs a party of the representa-
tives and their friends at the Rose tavern — Politics at Cambridge — General
election — Expulsion of Professor Whiston — Barnes's edition of Homer —
His quarrel with Bentley — His death and character — Bentley makes
interest with the Queen for protection against his prosecutors — The Bishop
of Ely requires his answer to the articles — Bentley presents a petition and
com})laint to the crown— Question of the Visitor of Trinity College —
Government stops the i)roceedings of the Bishop — Opinion of the Attorney
and Solicitor General — Bentle.y throws himself on the protection of the
Lord Treasurer — His change of party — Questions submitted to the Queen's
counsel — Extraordinary efibrts of Bentley to finish his Horace — Dedication
to the Earl of Oxford — Preface — Theory of the ' Tempora Horatiana' —
Excellences and faults of Bentley's Horace — Numerous ])ubhcations ridi-
culing the book — John Ker's attack on his Latinity — Le Clerc's Review of
his Horace — Atterbury's compliments of the work — Another edition at
Amsterdam - - - - - - - -281
CONTENTS. xix
CHAPTER XL
PAGE
Opinions of the Crown Lawyers respecting the Visitor of Trinity College —
Bentley's prosecutors in private communication with the Lord Treasurer —
His design to compose the differences — Suicide of Professor Sike — Election
of Hebrew and Greek Professors — Dr. Stubbe turned out of the Vice-
mastership — Queen's prohibition taken oflF from the Bishop of Ely —
Bentley presents to the Queen an Address from the University of Cam-
bridge — Vote of the Senate directed against Bentley — Language held by
his friends in his favour — Clarke — Jurin — Cotes — Publication of Newton's
Principia — Thomas Bentley's Horace — Collins' Discourse of Freethinking —
Replies by Hoadly, Wliiston, Swift, Berkely, Ibbot — Bentley's Remarks
on Free-thinking — Dr. Hare publishes the Clergyman's Thanks to Phi-
leleutherus — Second Part of Bentley's Remarks — Disgraceful behaviour of
Collins — Bentley gives offence to Lord Bolingbroke — He replies to the
Articles of Accusation — Attempts to terminate the proceedings — The Bi-
shop's Assessors — Trial at Ely House — The Bishop's opinion unfavourable
to the Master — Sentence of Deprivation prepared — Death of Bishop Moore
— Death of Queen Anne - _ _ . _ - 325
CHAPTER XH.
Bentley's reconciliation with his Fellows— Fleetwood, Bishop of Ely — Fresh
attempt to vacate MiUer's fellowship — Miller's petition to the King —
Articles of accusation against the Master — Bishop Fleetwood refuses to
take cognizance of them — Bentley's Charge to his Archdeaconry — Sherlock
and Waterland — Vote of the Senate against Bentley rescinded — Thanks of
the University voted to him — State of politics at Cambridge — King's
present of the late Bishop Moore's library to the University — ' University
Loyalty considered ' — Bentley's Sermon on Popery — Attack upon the
Sermon — Reply — Account of Dr. Colbatch — Bentley offers liim the Vice-
mastership — ^The Master's disposal of College livings — Further measures
against Miller — College leases — Colbatch applies to the Bishop of Ely —
Archbishop Wake interests himself in favour of the Fellows — They petition
the King — Bentley's scheme of publishing the Greek Testament — Death
of Cotes — Robert Smith — History and death of Kuster — Biel — Correspond-
ence on Hesychius— Project of editions to be published by Bentley, ' in
usmn Principis Frederici ' — Schism in the Wlaig ministry — Bentley turns
out MiUer by constables — Quarrels with Colbatch — Fellowship election —
Petition read in Council — Miller's book on the University of Cambridge —
' Humble and Serious Representation on the State of Trinity College ' —
Bentley carries an address to the King — Waterland — Election of Vice-
chancellor — Bentley's Visitation Charge - _ . . 3G(5
THE HOUSE IN WHICH BENTLEY WAS BORN.
LIFE
OF
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D.
CHAPTER I.
Bentley's origin — Family — Grandfather, Richard Willie — Education in
childhood — Wakefield School — His instructors — His father's death —
His grandfather's bequest — Sent to St. John's College, Cambridge —
College studies — Bentley's verses — Mathematical pursuits — Newton's
lectures — Bentley's contemporaries — Richard Johnson — William Wotton,
a juvenile prodigy— Degree of B. A.— Fellowship at St. John's College —
Bentley master of Spalding School— Tutor to the son of Dr. StiUingfleet
— His Hebrew studies — Classical pursuits.
Richard Bentley was a native of Oulton in the chap. i.
parish of Rothwell, a village not far from Wakefield, Bemiey-s
in the West Riding of Yorkshire. In certain biogra- ''"^'"•
phical narratives which appeared a few years after his
death we find him described as a person of very low
extraction, ' the son either of a tanner or a black-
smith ^' On the other hand, the late Mr. Richard
Cumberland, his grandson, not only contradicts this
statement, but Intimates that he was sprung from a
family of rank and consideration, and shows great
anxiety to establish this point ; as if he deemed it
more honourable to his ancestor to have been born
of gentle blood, than to have raised himself from
' Biographia Britannica, vol. ii. p. 7^"^, first edition, 1/48.
VOL. I. B
LIFE OP
CHAP. I.
Family.
Grandfa-
ther, Rich-
ard Willie.
obscurity by the force of genius and merit ^, But the
fact is, that Bentley's progenitors were of that respect-
able class which has supplied every profession with
many of its brightest ornaments, the higher descrip-
tion of English yeomen : they had been settled for
some generations at Heptonstall, a village about eight
miles from Halifax, where they possessed property,
which appears to have suffered in the civil wars be-
tween the King and the Parliament ^ His grand-
father, James Bentley, a captain in the Royal army,
was taken by the enemy, and died a prisoner in
Pontefract Castle ; Cumberland adds, that ' his
house was plundered, and his estate confiscated.'
His father, Thomas Bentley, possessed a small estate,
probably by inheritance, at Woodlesford, one of the
five townships of which the parish of Rothwell con-
sists : indeed, from the occurrence of the name of
Bentley in the parish registers in the reign of Eli-
zabeth, I am led to suppose that this had been the
original residence of the family. In the year 1661
he married Sarah, daughter of Richard Willie, a
stone-mason at Oulton ; and the first offspring of their
union was the illustrious subject of these memoirs.
Bentley was born on the 27tli of January, 1661-62,
in a house belonging to his grandfather, in compli-
ment to whom he received the name of Richard. Mr.
2 In Kippis's edition of the Biographia Britannica, the article upon
Bentley received many additions and alterations, which were avowedly from
the hand of Cumberland.
^ The family was very numerous, and spread into several branches. In
the register of baptisms in the chapelry of Heptonstall, which consists of
four townships, no less than forty-two persons of the name of Bentley are
found between the years 1599 and I66O. Tlie Christian names of most
frequent occurrence are, Michael, James, and Thomas. For partictdars
respecting the family at Heptonstall, I am indebted to the obliging enquiries
of the Rev. Joseph Charnock, who occupies a house belonging to the family,
and some closes adjoining, which in the records of the parish are called
* Bentley's Land.'
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 3
Willie appears to have been a person of more consi- chap. r.
deration than his trade of ' mason' might imply ; ^^^"^ -
according to the authority just cited, he too had been
a cavalier, and had held a major's commission in the
Royal army'*. This however is certain, that in the
education and welfare of his grandson he took a great
and effectual interest.
It is a circumstance not unworthy of record, that Education
the most celebrated scholar of modern times received hood.
the first rudiments of his classical education from a
female : it was his mother, w^ho is represented to have
been a woman of exceedingly good understanding, by
whom Bentley was taught the Latin Accidence ^ He
was first sent to a day-school in the neighbouring
hamlet of Methley ^ ; afterwards to the Grammar
School of Wakefield, a seminary of considerable re-
putation. Of Bentley's school studies and school wakefieid
friendships no particulars have been recorded: by^^°°'
Cumberland we are only told, that ' he went through
the school with singular reputation, for his proficiency,
as well as for his regularity.' Even the name of the
master who had the honour of so illustrious a pupil,
has been hitherto unknown. I find that Mr. Jeremiah
Boulton was master of Wakefield School until April,
1672, when he obtained the living of Ack worth, and
was succeeded by Mr. John Baskervile. Of the latter Hi^nstruc-
gentleman, to whom, of course, the principal credit
of Bentley's education must belong, I know no more
than that he was of Emmanuel College, Cambridge,
* Biographia Britannica. It is necessary to obsetr^e, that Cumberland
is inaccurate in several of the particulars which he gives of Bentley : he is
even mistaken in the name of his grandfather, whom he repeatedly calls
Willis.
^ Biographia Britannica.
" Tins and some other particvdars I learnt from Mrs. Hopkins, a lady
related to the Bentley family, who died a few years ago at a very ad^^anced
age.
B 2
tors.
4 LIFE OF
CHAP. I. and presided in the school till his death in 1681.
^^^^- Not to name the school or the masters of men illus-
trious for literature, has been justly called ' a kind of
historical fraud, by which honest fame is injuriously
diminished ^' This remark is peculiarly applicable
to cases like the present, where the eminence of the
party rests so materially upon classical scholarship,
and where the bias of his taste and genius probably
received its direction from his early instructors. For
the place of his education Bentley testified throughout
life the greatest attachment, and extended to persons
coming from that seminary his encouragement and
patronage. It niay here be mentioned, that to this
school belongs the singular distinction of having pro-
duced two scholars who held the office of Regius
Professor of Divinity in their respective Universities
at the same time. John Potter, afterwards Arch-
bishop of Canterbury, who filled the theological chair
at Oxford, when Bentley was chosen to the same post
at Cambridge, was sent from Wakefield to University
Colle2:e.
At the time of Bentley 's birth, his father was con-
siderably advanced in life, while his mother's age was
only nineteen. They had four children younger than
himself, of whom only two, Ann and Joseph, survived
His father's their iufaucy. When he was thirteen years old, his
1675.' ''" father died, leaving his property at Woodlesford to
his eldest son James, the offspring, as it appears, of a
former marriage. Richard was committed to the care
of his grandfather Willie, who determined upon send-
ing him to the University. This design he put in
execution the following year, choosing that early
period either on account of the youth's uncommon
proficiency, or for the better chance of witnessing
' Dr. SamuelJohnson's Life of Addison.
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 5
himself the completion of his education. His par- chap. i.
tiality for his grandson appears in a bequest of some ^^^^'
property, consisting of seven acres of land, the house His grand-
in which Bentley was born, and other buildings ; one- quest.
third to his daughter, and the remaining two-thirds,
with the reversion of the whole, to her eldest son
Richard ^.
Our vouno; scholar was admitted at Cambridge a May 24,
subsizar of St. John's College, at that time the largest Bemiey
in the University, under the tuition of the Rev. Joseph johnsCoi-
Johnston ; and in the entry of his admission he is 1^?^' <^*™-
"^ . , bridge.
stated, either by design or accident, to be a year older
than he actually was ^ The master of the College
was Dr. Francis Turner, afterwards Bishop of Ely,
and one of the seven prelates who signalized them-
selves by their resistance to the attempts of James II.
against the Church. The University was at this time
crowded with students to a degree, of which there has
since been hardly any example : at his matriculation, juiy 6,
Bentley's name appears the last of twenty-six sizars of
St, John's College, who had all commenced their re-
sidence in the same term.
Of Bentley's studies at the University, I am able to CoUegestu-
communicate little more than what may be inferred
from the attainments which he subsequently exhi-
bited. He here, doubtless, laid the foundation of his
8 For particulars relative to the Oulton property, Bentley's family, and
other matters connected with the place of his natiAaty, I am indebted to my
friend, John Blayds, esq. who is possessed of the property in question, and
has kindly examined and transcribed the different deeds alluded to, as well
as the parish registers.
'■> Extract from the Admission Book of St. John's College : " Richardus
Bentley de Oulton, fihus Thomae B. defuncti, annos natus 15 et quod
excurrit, Uteris institutus infra Wakefield, admissus est subsizator pro M'ro
Johnston tutore et fidejussore ejus, Maii 24, ann. 1676." Bentley's tutor,
when he took his degree of B.A. in 1664, spelled his name Johnson. The
reader of these memoirs wiU perhaps be struck with the coincidence which
associates so many persons of the name of Johnson with Bentley's history.
6 LIFE OF
CHAP. I. accurate and extensive knowledge of the classics, and
167C. attained that nice perception of their poetical mea-
~' sures, for which he stands unrivalled. Upon the
latter point, indeed, where he had scarcely any ex-
ample to follow, and where he claims the merit of a
discoverer, we are told by himself, in his Dissertation
on the Metres of Terence^ that he had adopted some
of his metrical opinions at this early age '^ The
academical prizes which now serve as a stimulus to
the genius and exertions of students, and are the means
of recording their early merits, had at that time no
existence : indeed, the value of this powerful engine
of emulation seems not to have been understood until
long after the period of which we are writing. But
the collision of talent, inevitable in so large a society,
could not have failed to operate with full force upon
the youthful ardour of such a mind as Bentley's.
Bentiey's I am uot awarc that any of his Latin verses, Avritten
at this period, have been preserved : but we have
little cause to regret their loss, as he was not en-
dowed with a poetical vein, and it is evident, from his
subsequent productions of that kind, that he never
acquired facility or elegance in their composition ; an
accomplishment, indeed, hardly to be expected from
a boy who quits school at the age of fourteen. The
only specimen which I possess of his college exercises,
is an English ode " On the Papists' Conspiracy by
Gunpowder," written in stanzas of ten lines : it is
principally curious, as showing that a taste still pre-
vailed for the forced conceits and far-fetched quibbles
which mark the poetical school of Cowley. The
following is a specimen of the style in which he com-
bines his wit and learning :
10 " Quare ego jam ab adolescentia in omnibus lambicis praeter Tetra-
metnim Catalecticum, de quo postea dicam, aliain uiilii scansionis ration em
institui, per cnrodiav scilicet rpoxaiVfyv," &c. De Metris Terentianis, p. iv.
verses.
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 7
" Such, devilish deeds to Angli done] CHAP. 1.
Such black designs on Albion! I6i6.
Transmarine fruit : sure 't could not grow —
From soil quite contrary, and people too.
He that its history doth tell,
Must not have goose but Harpy's quill;
No Heliconian aid must wish.
But th' iron whip of Nemesis ;
"»v 'Tis that must now make Pegasus to go,
And scorn St. Peter's church at Rome below.
The Roman Pontiff he calls,
" For mathematics much renown' d ;
That fame's his due; for he hath found
The point of Archimede, he 'th hurl'd
Religion upside down, and mov'd the world."
And he thus compares the operations of the Papists
with the persecutions of the Christians under Nero :
" 'Tis true, the Christians they did tear.
Sewed in the skins of wolf and bear ;
But now ye butcher all the rest.
Like wolves in shape of Christians drest.
We do not wish that you should bear
Our kings in splendid triumph here,
Elijah-like, the skies to pass :
No Phaethon in Britain was.
Our sins are not so foul as to requne
Tlie Roman purgatory fire.
To make the senate -house a pile.
And senate a burnt off' ring for the isle."
The studies of the schools consisted of logic, ethics,
natural philosophy, and the mathematics : the latter
branch of knowledge, which was destined subse-
quently to take the lead, and almost to swallow up
the rest, had then but recently become an object of
much attention. That Bentley cultivated mathe- carpSts"
8
LIFE OF
Newton's
lectures.
CHAP. I. matical science with effect, may be inferred from the
^^^' close and logical character of his style, as well as
from his constantly recommending and patronizing
such studies in others. The true system of the uni-
verse, and the proper methods of philosophical inves-
tigation, had not yet become public by the writings
of Newton : but the light of the Newtonian discoveries
was partially revealed to Cambridge before the rest of
the world, by the lectures of the philosopher himself,
delivered in his character of Lucasian Professor.
These Bentley had an opportunity of attending ; and
that he did not neglect it, I am induced to believe
by his selection of the Newtonian discoveries as a pro-
minent subject of his Boyle's Lectures, and his fami-
liarity with the train of reasoning by which they are
established.
Among the students of the same year with Bentley,
I find some names of no small celebrity: Samuel
Garth of St. Peter's College, well known as a phy-
sician, a poet, and a philanthropist ; John Dennis of
Caius, a name familiar in the literary history of his
time, whose acuteness as a critic made him formidable
to Addison and Pope. Richard Johnson, of the same
college as Bentley, was also his contemporary ; and I
conjecture him to be the person afterwards master of
Nottingham School, and author of Grammatical Com-
mentaries, Nodes JVottinghamiccE, and Aristarchus
Anti-Bentleianus. This identity, which there seems
little reason to doubt, may help to account for the
personal rancour displayed against Bentley in the
latter production ; which is inexplicable but upon the
supposition of some previous intercourse. Johnson's
spleen might have been the offspring of a feud begun
at the University, or of mortification at the neglect of
old acquaintance by his more fortunate fellow-col-
Bentley's
contempo
raries.
Richard
Johnson.
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 9
legian". Of his contemporaries I am aware of only chap. i.
one with whom Bentley maintained a friendship in ^^7^-
after life : this was William Wotton, the able anta-
gonist of Sir W. Temple, in the controversy ' On
ancient and modern Learning.' As their combined
efforts on that occasion have associated together the
names of Wotton and Bentley, it is right to take some wiuiam
notice of the former, who, when he entered the Uni- j^"^"","' ^
versity, was a child, and presents the best authen- P'o^igy.
ticated instance of a juvenile prodigy that I have ever
found upon record ^^. It is certified by the testimony
not of one but many persons of sense and learning,
that at six years of age he was able to read and
translate Latin, Greek, and Hebrew ; to which, at
seven, he added some knowledge of the Arabic and
Syriac. On his admission at Catherine Hall in his
tenth year, the master. Dr. Eachard, the antagonist
of Hobbes, recorded, ' Gulielmus Wotton, infra decern
annas, nee Hammondo nee Grot'io secundus' His sur-
prising proficiency during his academical career is
testified by some of the best scholars of that day.
Dr. Paman the Public Orator, Dr. Duport the Dean
of Peterborough, and Dr. Lynnet of Trinity College.
When he proceeded Bachelor of Arts, he was ac-
" Johnson, in his ' Grammatical Commentaries,' styles himself M.A.
and Mr. GUbert Wakefield, who gives some account of him in the Memoirs
of his own life, says, that ' he could not find out which University had the
honour of his education.' Bentley's contemporary, Richard Johnson, is
the only graduate of the name, either at Oxford or Cambridge, who could
be the Nottingham schoolmaster. He proceeded indeed no further than
his degree of B.A. But there have been many instances of persons who,
having only taken that first degree, afterwards intimated their academical
education by assuming the title of M.A. to which they had no claim,- pro-
bably from a dislike of the juvenile notion connected with the term ' Bachelor
of Arts.'
12 I am aware of the prodigies recorded of John Philip Barretier, whose
life is given by Dr. Sam. Johnson. See Johnson's Works, vol. xii. p. 149.
But the wonderful parts of that narrative rest upon the sole authority of the
youth's father.
10 LIFE OF
CHAP. I. quainted with twelve languages ; and as there was
^^7^-^Q- no precedent for granting that degree to a bo}^ of
thirteen, Dr. Humphrey Gower, one of the Caput,
thought fit to put upon record a notice of his profi
ciency in every species of literature, as a justification
of the University. These testimonies, after making
every abatement for the language of admiration, leave
the fact little less than miraculous : and it is right to
add, that Wotton maintained in after life a reputation
much higher than is generally the case with persons
famed for precocious intellect in childhood ^^
Nov. 4, As Bentlev did not eniov an exhibition from his
school, his finances were probably slender ; but when
he had been above two years at college, he was made
scholar on the foundation of Dr. Dowman, there being
perhaps no claimant from Pocklington School, for
which that endowment is destined : at the expiration
of the year he succeeded to one of the Yorkshire
scholarships founded by Sir Marmaduke Constable.
ieioSo ^fter the regular period of residence and study.
Degree of Bcntlcy commcnccd Bachelor of Arts, in company
with a greater number of students than have ever
since taken their degree at the same time, till the last
two or three years. On this occasion, so important
in an academical life, his name appears sixth in the
First Tripos, or list of honours. But a custom ex-
isted for the Vice-chancellor and two Proctors seve-
rally to nominate one student to a place among the
honours, as a compliment ; and the names of these
honorary ' Senior Optimes' were registered imme-
diately after that of the first man in the year. This
practice, though invidious as a distinction, and in-
13 The numerous and incontrovertible testimonies of the amazing profi-
ciency of Wotton's childhood may be seen in Nichols' hiterary Anecdotes,
vol. iv. p. 253—259.
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. II
effectual as an honour, was suffered to continue, until chap. t.
the Senate-house examination had assumed its present ^^^^-^^-
form and importance ; nor was it totally abolished
till within the last forty years. Bentley's place,
therefore, corresponded with that of third Wrangler
at the present period. It is right, however, to notice,
that the disposition of these honours in former days,
considered as a criterion of merit, hardly admits of a
comparison with that of later times. The care taken
in ascertaining the proficiency of the young men was
inadequate ; and consequently little value seems to
have been attached to such distinctions, which we
scarcely ever find mentioned before the middle of the
last century. The very year in which Bentley gra- I680.
duated, witnessed the first of the improvements that
have progressively raised the philosophical system of
Cambridge to its present eminence — I mean, the
annual appointment of two persons accomplished in
scientific knowledge, to preside as Moderators in the
Sophs' Schools ; a duty previously performed by the
Proctors, who from the accidental mode of their no-
mination, must sometimes have been deficient in the
requisite qualifications. Four years afterwards a i684.
further improvement was made, by associating these
persons with the examiners for degrees ^'^.
Bentley had now completed his education with such Fellowships
■,(,.. n •^ ^ at St. John's
a share 01 credit as never tails to secure employment coiiege.
and mainten^xice for a scholar: he was, however,
excluded from a fellowship in his college, by that
unfortunate provision in the statutes of St. John's,
which confined the number of fellows born in each
county to two; a restriction not removed till the reign
of his present majesty : there being at that time two
fellowships held by Yorkshiremen, it followed that he
" From the Registers of the University.
12
LIFE OF
CHAP. I.
1681-82.
March,
1681-82.
Bentley
Master of
Spalding
School.
was not admissible. For the two years succeeding
his Bachelor's degree, I am unable to trace any notice
or biographical anecdote respecting him : he probably
continued to reside at Cambridge, in the further pro-
secution of his studies. A fellowship, founded by
Sir Marmaduke Constable, then becoming vacant,
Bentley was a candidate ^^ : but as persons in priest's
orders are alone eligible to this foundation, and as he
wanted four years of the canonical age, his motive in
coming forward on this occasion must have been a
desire to distinguish himself by his performance in the
examination. St. John's College has at all times
been laudably noted for attention to the interests of
its deserving members ; a spirit which was now exhi-
bited in favour of Bentley. The head-mastership of
the Grammar School of Spalding in Lincolnshire
being vacant, and the nomination having lapsed to
the college, he was appointed to that office. The
commission of so important a trust to a youth who had
just completed his twentieth year, is not only a testi-
mony of his scholarship, but implies an opinion of the
steadiness and discretion of his character. As soon
as he was of age, he disposed of his interest in the
Oulton property to his brother James ; and we are
told that he devoted the money arising from the sale
to the purchase of a collection of books, an article
indispensable in his present situation "^.
The office of a country schoolmaster generally fixes
the destiny of its possessor for life, and forces him to
be contented with the humble but honourable fame to
be acquired in the discharge of its duties. Bentley 's
lot designed him for a different sphere : he did not
preside over the school more than a twelvemonth, too
short a period to afford means of estimating his merits
'■' Cumberland, Biographia Brilannica, vol. ii. j). 242.
Ibid.
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 13
as an instructor, and scarcely sufficient to place his chap. i.
name upon record in that capacity. Not only were ^^^^•^^-
his early biographers ignorant of the fact of his having
been master of Spalding School, but during his life-
time it was not generally known : many of his anta-
gonists accuse him of writing in the style of a peda-
gogue, without seeming to be aware that he had once
actually sustained that character ^^
In the accounts of the school I observe, that before
the year 1722 the master had no proper dwelling-
house ^^ This deficiency of accommodation at Spald-
ing might have been one reason which induced
Bentley to accept the office of domestic tutor to the
son of Dr. Edward Stillingfleet, Dean of St. Paul's. 1682-83.
Accordingly he bade adieu to Spalding, (where he s^'n of or.''^
was succeeded by Mr. Walter Johnson), and became stiiiingfleet.
an inmate in the family of that illustrious divine. For
this appointment likewise he was indebted to St.
John's college, of which the Dean had been a fellow.
To a young man of talents and merit, hardly any
situation could have been more beneficial : he here
enjoyed the use of one of the best private libraries in
the world ; was in the habit of conversing with many
leading characters in the Church and State, who
visited his patron ; and, above all, had the oppor-
tunity of profiting by the daily society of the Dean,
who was a person of unbounded learning, and who
had great insight into the characters and capacities
of others ; while his amiable disposition, and the re-
collection of having himself in early life filled a similar
situation in two gentlemen's families, insured his
'^ See a letter upon the subject from Mr. J. Rowning to Mr. Wm.
Greaves of Fulboume, given in Nichols' Account of the Spalding Society. —
Ldterary Anecdotes, vol. vi. p. 1 0.
'* Nichols' Literary Anecdotes, vol. vi. p. 55.
14 LIFE OF
CHAP. I. liberal and considerate treatment of the tutor of his
1683. gon '\
July, 1683. Bentley took his degree of Master of Arts at the
regular period, after which his connection with the
University of Caml^ridge ceased for some years ; the
Dean, in whose family he lived, being Rector of St.
Andrew's Holborn, resided principally in London.
Here he prosecuted his studies with all the advan-
tages of books and literary society, and amassed and
digested that prodigious fund of knowledge, which
displays itself in his earliest publications. We know
that he made theology a primary object, and judged
that an acquaintance with the oriental languages was
the best foundation for a thorough understanding of
the Scriptures. In a tract, written when nearly three-
score, he records with visible satisfaction his laborious
His Hebrew method of acquii'iug the Hebrew. " He wrote," he
tells us, " before he was twenty-four years of age, a
sort oi Hexapla; a thick volume in quarto, in the first
column of which he inserted every word of the Hebrew
Bible alphabetically ; and in five other columns, all
the various interpretations of those words in the Chal-
dee, Syriac, Vulgate, Latin, Septuagint, and Aquila,
Symmachus, and Theodotian, that occur in the whole
Bible. This he made for his own use, to know the
Hebrew, not from the late rabbins, but from the
ancient versions ; when, bating Arabic, Persic, and
Ethiopic, he read over the whole Polyglot." At the
same time he mentions having written another volume
in quarto of various lections and emendations of the
Hebrew Text, drawn t)ut of the ancient versions ;
' which, though done in these green years, would make
a second part to the famous Capellus's Critica Sacra '^•'.'
"' Life of Stillinrjjleet, p. 3,
*" Dr. Bentley'' s Proposah for printin() a new Edition of the Greek Testa-
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. "^ 15
Bentley, while under the protection of his patron, chap. i.
paid much attention to the criticism of the New Testa- ^^^^-
ment ; a subject which he resumed with so much
energy at a more advanced age. But his favourite
objects of pursuit at this as well as every other period
of life, were the classical authors ; and those he studied
in a manner at once so accurate and so comprehensive,
as to lay a foundation for the most solid fame which
has ever yet been built upon this department of lite-
rature. It may be remarked, that a scholar at that
time possessed neither the aids nor the encourage-
ments which are now presented to smooth the paths of
literature. The grammars of the Latin and Greek Ian- classical
guages were imperfectly and erroneously taught ; and p"""^""®-
the critical scholar must have felt severely the ab-
sence of sufficient indexes, particularly of the vo-
luminous scholiasts, grammarians, and later writers
of Greece, in the examination of which no inconsider-
able portion of a life might be consumed. Bentley,
relying upon his own exertions, and the resources of
his own mind, pursued an original path of criticism,
in which the intuitive and subtile quickness of his •
genius qualified him to excel. In the faculty of me-
mory, so important for such pursuits, he has himself
candidly declared, that he was not particularly gifted^^
Consequently he practised throughout life the pre-
caution of noting in the margin of his books the sug-
gestions and conjectures which rushed into his mind
during their perusal. To this habit of laying up
materials in store, we may partly attribute the sur-
ment, and St. Hierom's Latin Version, 1721, p. 35. I am not aware what
has become of these two manuscript volumes, or whether they have been
preserved.
2' Dissertation on Phalaris, p. 421. "I will freely own therefore to
Mr. B. that my memory, which is none of the best, deceived me here."
IG LIFE OF
CHAP. I. prising rapidity with which some of his most important
^fi«^- works were completed. He was also at the trouble
of constructino; for his own use mdexes of authors
quoted by the principal scholiasts, by Eustathius, and
other ancient commentators, of a nature similar to
those afterwards published by Fabricius, in his Bibli-
othcca GrcBca; w^hich latter are the joint produce of the
labour of various hands.
There is no doubt that from the first Bentley looked
forward to the clerical profession as his designation ;
yet he did not enter into holy orders till some years
after the usual age. For this delay we shall be at no
loss to account, if we recollect that he completed his
1685. twenty-third year at the very period of the accession
of James the Second to the throne ; and that this
Prince's whole reign consisted of unceasing attempts
to introduce Popery, and to overthrow the Church of
England, b)^ measures which amounted to a perse-
cution of its members. Dr. Stillino-fleet was at that
time Prolocutor of the Lower House of Convocation,
and took a great share in the councils of those illus-
trious fathers of the Church, to w^hose spirit and firm-
ness its preservation at that alarming crisis is, under
Divine Providence, mainly attributable. It was dur-
ing the same period that some of his most important
controversies were carried on ; and in them, Bentley
was believed to have been employed by him as a
transcriber : that, however, was a mistake, though it
is not unlikely that he assisted his patron's researches.
Subsequently, in the controversy upon Phalaris, the
Boylean party endeavoured to affront him with say-
ing, ' How unnatural a step it is for an amanuensis
to start up Professor of Divinity :' when, in reply, after
exposing the folly and rudeness of such an attack, he
adds, that ' he should never account it any disgrace
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 17
to have served Bishop Stillingfleet in any capacity of chap. i.
a scholar ; but that he was never amanuensis to his ^^^'^'
lordship, nor to any one else ; neither did his lordship
ever make use of any amanuensis : so little regard had
Mr. Boyle either to decency or truth ^^'
^^ Preface to Dissertation on Phalaris, p. Ixxviii.
VOL. I.
18 LIFE OF
CHAPTER II.
Dean Stillingfleet made Bishop of Worcester — Bentley goes tvith Ms pupil to
Wadham College, Oxford — His acquaintance at Oxford; Mill, Bernard,
Hody — His literary employments — Hephcestion — Lucretius — Bentley or-
dained deacon — Made chaplain to the Bishop of Worcester — Employed
to purchase the Vossian library — Designs to collect the fragments of all
the Greek poets — Bishop Lloyd — Suggestion of publishing the Greek
lexicographers — Bentley's corrections of Hesychius — Verwey's edition —
Chronicle of Malela — Gregory — Chilmead — Publication of Malela —
Prolegomena by Hody — Bentley undertakes to write an Appendix — Ac-
count of the Chronicle — Epistola adMillium — Correspondence with Ber-
nard — Controversy with Hody — Reception of Bentley' s first publication
— Its contents — Its style — Bentley occupied in theology — Resumes clas-
sical studies — Undertakes Manilius.
CHAP. II. When the deliverance of the Nation and the Church
^^'^^- had been effected by the Revolution, it was the first
care of King William's government to fill the vacant
bishopricks with divines most distinguished for ability
and piety. In pursuance of this determination, Dean
Stillingfleet, who was considered the ablest champion
of the Establishment, was shortly after consecrated
Bishop of Worcester.
It was about the same time that Bentley's pupil,
James Stillingfleet, being of a proper age for the
University, his father determined that he should be
accom])anicd by his private tutor to Wadham College,
Oxford. Cumberland asserts, that on this occasion
tlie Bishop gave to Bentley the absolute choice be-
tween Oxford and Cambridge ; and that he was in-
duced to prefer the former by his desire to consult the
manuscripts of the Bodleian Library ^ There can be
no doul)t, that an aspiring scholar would rejoice in
' Biogrnphia Britannica, vol. ii. p. 242.
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. J9
the opportunity of examining the stores of learning chap. ii.
deposited in that noble collection : but that the Bi- ^^^^-
shop, who had sent his eldest son to his own college
at Cambridge, should have been determined in the
choice of an university for his second son by the pri-
vate wish of his tutor, is, to say the least, highly im-
probable, and not to be credited upon an authority so
frequently mistaken. What might be the real mo-
tives, is immaterial ; it is sufficient to state, that at
the beginning of 1689 Bentley attended his pupil to
Wadham College, of which he became himself a July 4.
member, and in the course of that year was incor-
porated Master of Arts, as holding the same degree
in the sister University.
Bentley resided at Oxford under very auspicious His ac-
. P , . . • 1 1 T-» • 1 quaintance
cnxumstances : from his connection with the Bishop at Oxford.
of Worcester, he obtained the acquaintance of several
persons most distinguished in the University for station
and ability, with whom his own merits presently
placed him on a footing of intimacy. Among these
we must particularly notice Dr. John Mill, Principal
of St. Edmund's Hall, the well-known editor of the
New Testament ; Dr. Edward Bernard, celebrated
for his researches in science, as well as in antiquities
and chronology ; and Mr. Humphrey Hody, tutor of
Wadham, afterwards Professor of Greek, whose Dis-
sertation against Aristeas's account of the Septuagint
Translators, written while a young man, had pro-
cured him an eminent and deserved reputation.
Bentley lost no time in availing himself of the ma- His literary
nuscript treasures of the Bodleian Library, to which ^elu!
his own character or the interest of his friends pro-
cured him an unreserved access : these were intended
to be the materials for publications, which he medi-
c 2
20 LIFE OF
CHAP. II. tated in widely different departments of literature.
ifi8Q- We find him, with all the ardour of a young and
sanguine scholar, at the same time designing to give
the w^orld new editions of Greek grammarians and of
Latin poets. He collated three manuscripts of He-
phsestion, found in the Baroccian collection, writing
in the margin of his copy some notes of his own on
that author, naturally the favourite of a metrical
scholar'. He was also in correspondence with his
friend William Wotton, then resident at St. John's
College, Cambridge, (of which he was become a fel-
low) who transmitted to him collations and extracts
from the libraries of his own University, as contribu-
tions to his various designs. One of Wotton's letters,
which is preserved, begins with accurate specimens
of the celebrated Beza manuscript of the Gospels,
probably intended for the use of Dr. Mill, and then
gives a careful collation from a copy of Macrobius in
Lucretius. Beuc't CoUcgc, of all the passages of Lucretius
quoted by that writer : from which we may infer,
that Bentley was at this time meditating an edition
of the Epicurean poet. Wotton's letter concludes
with an anticipation of what the public might expect
from the labours of his friend : "I should now,"
says he, " congratulate myself and the world upon
the ha])py prospect of all those new discoveries we
arc like to have from you, when once you are well
settled at Oxford. You know I write what I think ;
and therefore I hope you will make use of me, as
* This vohimc, Tumebus's edition, (which contains also Bentley's Colla-
tions of the MS. of IlephcTstion in Bishop Moore's lil)rary, and of that he-
lonfjiriff to Caius College) is now deposited in the library of Trinity College,
Cainlirid^re. Its contents have been published by Professor Gaisford, in
his excellent edition of Hephppstion.
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 21
often as you think I can be in the least serviceable to chap. u.
you. I am your's afFectionately, W. W.^" i689-90.
In the following year Bentley was ordained deacon March i6.
by the Bishop of London, Dr. Henry Compton* ; deacon.
and shortly afterwards received the appointment of
chaplain to his patron, the Bishop of Worcester, who chaplain to
had already bestowed the same distinction upon Hody, of Worces-
the College tutor of his son.
About this time Bentley was employed by certain Employed
/^p . to purchase
leadmg Heads at Oxford to negotiate the purchase of thevossian
the books of Dr. Isaac Voss, Canon of Windsor, ' "'^'
(better known by his classical name of Vossius), who
was then lately dead. This library, the joint collec-
tion of himself and his learned father, Gerard John
Vossius, abounded in scarce volumes both printed and
manuscript, and was believed to be the best in exist-
ence belonging to any private individual. Bentley,
who was going to town, had a private commission to
propose to Adrian Beverland, the executor, a sum of
money for this valuable library on behalf of the Uni-
versity ; but accompanied with a caution to obtain it
as much below the maximum as possible. During
the progress of the negotiation, his brother, Matthew
Voss, declared that the books could not be sold with-
out his concurrence, and that Oxford should have
them 500/. cheaper than the booksellers. Either in
consequence of this hint, or from finding that a larger
sum had been mentioned than the University could
afford, or was likely to approve, the proposed terms
were lowered by the Heads ; whereupon the treaty
was broken off, and the precious collection disposed of
3 This letter is the earliest of a collection found in Trinity Lodge, July
1820.
* From Baker's MSS. in the British Museum, extracted in Gentleman's
Magazine, Nov. 1779-
22 LIFE OF
CHAP. II. to the University of Leyden. Three letters from
icao. Bentley to Bernard relating to this affair have been
preserved, and testify his zeal to secure a treasure,
the loss of which the scholars of this country have
never ceased to deplore. There appears to have been
some deception or collusion practised by Matthew
Voss or by Beverland. Bentley 's adversaries in the
Phalaris Controversy just glance at this affair, for the
purpose of hinting that the failure was owing to his
mismanagement ; an unfounded and ungrateful in-
sinuation, which the letters just mentioned sufficiently
contradict \
Designs to Tlic woi'k wliich Bentley had designed to be the
the Frag- fouudation of liis fame, was a complete collection of
Greek"* ^^^® Fragments of the Greek Poets^ : an undertaking,
poets. the magnitude and difficulty of which those only can
appreciate, who have ever endeavoured to collect the
quotations of any one poet, scattered through the
whole range of classical authors, as well as gramma-
rians, scholiasts, and lexicographers. Some idea
may be formed of the extent of this task, as well as
of Bentley 's qualifications for it, from the collection
which he has actually made of the fragments of the
single author, Calliinachus. That his design was
abandoned has always been a subject of regret among
scholars : nevertheless he had reasons for relinquish-
ing it, the validity of whicli it is impossible to deny.
Sucli a work, however desirable, would not have been
attended with advantages commensurate with the ne-
* T\\e three letters from Bentley to Dr. Bernard in relation to the Vos-
sian library (without date) are among the papers of the latter in the Bod-
leian. Tliey were printed by Dr. C'harles Burney, but not in their right
order, 'i'hcy will be found properly arranged in the Museum Criticum,
vol. ii. p. !i35.
« Epislola ad MilUum, p. 20.
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 23
cessary labour and research : since no degree of dlli- chap. ii.
gence could have ensured the same attention to all ^^^^-
the poets in this multifarious assemblage, some in-
equality must have been observable in the perform-
ance : and the object itself would be better answered
by several editors, each peculiarly versed in his own
author, annexing to the entire works of the poets the
broken and scattered fragments of those which have
perished.
Of the many distinguished friends to whose inti-
macy Bentley was introduced, no one took more in-
terest in his literary career than Dr. William Lloyd, Bishop
Bishop of St. Asaph, the most learned of those seven °^
prelates who had signalized themselves in the late
reign, under the persecution of their infatuated mo-
narch. His intercourse with Stillingfleet had given
him opportunities of discovering the genius and ac-
quirements of his chaplain, and he discerned the line
in which they might be made peculiarl}^ beneficial to
literature. It appears to have been by his advice that Suggests to
Bentley undertook the gigantic task of publishing pubUsh^aU
the Greek lexicooTaphers. The plan proposed was, *'^'' 9'''^^'^
~ 1 111 ' Lexicogra-
to print the three principal, Hesychius, Suidas, and pliers.
the Etymologicon Magnum, in three columns on the
same page, after the manner of Walton's Polyglot.
It was calculated that they would fill three volumes
in folio, and that Julius Pollux, (who could not be
reduced to alphabetical order,) along with Erotianus,
Phrynichus, &c. and an appendix from manuscripts,
would make a fourth ^ This project met with great
encouragement; but upon his mentioning it in a letter
to Dr. Bernard, that friend intimated some doubt of
its propriety. Bentley's design of publishing Hesy-
^ Bentley's letter to Bernard. Museum Criticum, vol. ii. p. 538.
24 LIFE OF
CHAP. II. chius was long and fondly cherished, but we hear no
. ^^^^- further mention of the triumvirate : we may there-
fore conclude that he speedily abandoned the plan, on
account of its inconvenience : the method pursued in
the three principal lexicons is so dissimilar, that they
could not be printed in the same page without awk-
wardness ; nor could the notes upon them be com-
bined in the same series, without a degree of embar-
rassment not compensated by any advantage to the
reader.
Bentiey's The Lcxicou of Hesychius was that which had prin-
ofHesy- cipall)^ employed the sagacity and learning of our
'''""*■ critic. He it was who first discovered the two prin-
cipal sources of error, which had so corrupted the
text of this most important glossary of the Greek
language, as to render it comparatively useless : first,
that transcribers had been in the habit of taking up
words found in the margin of their copy, and jum-
bling them into the explanation given of other words;
and, secondly, a neglect of alphabetical order. By
attention to these and other particulars, he had been
enabled to effect above five thousand corrections in
Verwcy's Hesvchius^. Au cditiou of that lexicon had been
edition. '' . • 1 TT
above ten years in preparation at the Hague, by John
Verwey, a schoolmaster, who disguised his cacopho-
nous name by the classical title of ' Phorbeeus;' and
for his use the remarks of the learned were put in
requisition from all quarters ; Joseph Hill, a noncon-
formist minister of an English congregation at the
Hague, better known as the publisher of Schreve-
lius's Lexicon, supplied him with materials, and came
to England to procure assistance for the work. Bent-
ley's learning being already matter of notoriety, he
* Episi. ad Mill. p. 39.
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 25
was applied to by this person for contributions to He- chap. ii.
sychius ; but he naturally preferred to publish him- ^^^^-
self the fruit of his labours. Besides, a printed spe-
cimen of Verwey's work had shown that he was des-
titute of every qualification, except diligence, for his
undertaking''. The projected work was rendered
abortive in the following year by the death of the
editor.
While Bentley was employed upon this and other
works of magnitude, his attention was by mere acci-
dent drawn to the subject which actually established
his unrivalled fame as a Greek critic. Amono- the
manuscripts of Francis Barocci, which enrich the
Bodleian library, was found the copy of a Greek his-
torical work, compiled in the beginning of the ninth
century, by Joannes Malela Antiochenus^^ . This is one chronicle of
of the numerous chronicles drawn up by Christian '^^^•'^•a-
writers, of events from Adam to their own time ; the
real value of which consists in their being taken from
older writings that have perished, and from their
being the sources whence Suidas and other lexico-
graphers drew their information upon chronology and
history '\ Accordingly, references had been made
to this author by Usher, Selden, Pearson, Lloyd, and
other learned men, who had access to this the sole
existing copy of the work ; while notes had been
" See Bentley's and Bernard's letters, Mus. Crit. vol. ii. p. 538. ; also
Alberti's notice of this undertaking, in his Frcefatio ad Hesychium, sect. ii.
p. xxiv.
'" The beginning and the end of this manuscript being torn out, the
author of the work would not have been known, had not Gregory dis-
covered a passage in it, which is quoted in another old work as from
Joannes Malela. See Hody, Prolegom. § xhii.
" Full accounts of these Chronica may be found in Cave's Historia
Liferaria, and in Fabricius's Bibliotheca Grceca, vol. vii.
26
LIFE OF
CHAP. II. written upon it and an edition undertaken by John
1^90- Gregory, a man of prodigious learning, in the time
Gregory, of Charles I., before the civil troubles interrupted
such pursuits, and involved all the king's friends in
common ruin. After him the manuscript was taken
chiimead. up by Eduiuud Chilmead, of Christ Church, the
compiler of the catalogue of manuscripts in the Bod-
leian : he translated the book into Latin, and wrote
a commentary upon it ; but when it was just ready
for the press, he also was expelled the University in
1648 by the prevailing Parliamentary party. Chil-
mead, happening to be an excellent musician, was
enabled to procure bread by performing at a weekly
concert in London till his death. But the Chronicler
of Antioch remained unprinted till the time of which
, we are speaking, when the curators of the Sheldon
press complied with the wishes of the learned, among
whom the study of ancient chronology had become
Publication fashionable, and committed him to the press, along
with Chilmeads notes and translation, under the
superintendence of Dr. Mill. When it was partly
printed, they applied to Hody to write the Prolego-
mena ; a task wliich he performed in an able and satis-
factory style. He first establishes that the author is
not the person generally quoted as Joannes Antioche-
nus, but is distinguished from him by the surname
of Maliia; the confusion having arisen from their
being both of Antioch, and both writers of chronicles
from Adam to their own time. He next investioates
the age of this writer, who from the manuscript end-
ing with the thirty-fifth year of Justinian, A.D. 560,
had been supposed by Bishop Lloyd and others to
have lived in the reign of that Emperor : Hody
proves, by an ingenious argument from internal evi-
of Malula.
ProIcp;o-
niena l)y
Hody.
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 27
dence, that he must have belonged to a later period, chap. ii.
when the Greek language was still more degenerate ^^^^-
than in the time of Justinian.
Before the Proleqomena were printed, Bentlev hap- Bemiey un-
dertakes to
pening to express to Dr. Mill some curiosity about write an
the yet unpublished Malela, he was indulged with a^^^'^""'''
sight of the sheets from the press, upon condition of
writing down his remarks to be printed as an ap-
pendix to the book. Finding, however, that the
author was unspeakably dull, and his information
continually erroneous, he repented, and wished to
give up the undertaking ; but Mill was too anxious
for the credit of the publication, and the fame which
he foresaw it would procure to his young friend, to
release him from his promise '^. It was, besides, the
desire of Bishop Lloyd, who took a constant interest
in whatever concerned the advancement of know-
ledge, that Bentley should publish his remarks on
Malela ^'\ This was undertaken in the latter part of
1690, when our critic was upon the point of quitting
Oxford, and resuming his residence with the Bishop's
family in Park-street, Westminster: he accordingly
transcribed and carried with him such parts of the
work as supplied suitable topics for a dissertation.
The first pag^es of the Chronicle being^ lost, it com- Account of
^ ~ . . the Chroni-
mences in the midst of the fabulous line of ^Egyptian cie.
kings; the death of Vulcan, and the succession of his
son Sol. The early part consists of a laboured at-
tempt to reconcile mythology with history ; to accom-
plish which the narratives of the poets are reduced to
the plainest and dullest annals : it then passes rapidly
over the authentic part of history, till it reaches the
12 Epistola ad Millium, p. 1.
13 Dissertation on Phalaris, Pref. p. Ixxxviii.
28 LIFE OF
CHAP. II. Christian Emperors, when it becomes diffuse, witliout
^^^^- the recommendation of accuracy.
Such was the author who was destined to be the
vehicle for first establishing Bentley's unrivalled re-
putation. The passages selected to be the subjects
of his remarks consisted either of verses reduced by
the compiler to his own prose, which Bentley re-
stores with equal learning and cleverness ; or of allu-
sions to the poets, particularly the Attic dramatists.
In his commentary upon these extracts, he displays a
very wide extent of reading, not only in the classical
authors, but in the literature of later ages; and shows
that he had well examined and sifted the various
writers whom he makes subservient to his criticism.
Miinum''^ Having thrown his remarks into the appropriate
form of an Epistle to Dr. Mill, he transmitted them
to the Oxford press, and requested his friend Dr. Ber-
nard to read the proof sheets, and communicate to
Correspond- him his rcmarks and strictures. The correspondence
Bernard.' upou this subjcct has bccu preserved by Bernard, and
is on every account curious and characteristic. Ber-
nard, whose regard for Bentley is very conspicuous,
picks out a few points in the Essay, upon which he
animadverts with the spirit of a friend, and the au-
thority of a veteran scholar : Bentley defends and
justifies his opinions with the confidence of a person
thoroughly master of his subject, who feels himself in
a condition rather to impart than to ask instruction.
The doctor, far from being offended at this freedom
of dissent, shows increased admiration of his friend's
erudition and sagacity, particularly upon questions of
orthography and metre; and, before the close of the
discussion, declares his conviction that he is the only
person living competent to restore the remains of the
Greek poets from the depredations of time ; a com-
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 29
pliment which Bentley, though he affects to consider chap. ii.
it spoken in jest, evidently resolves to merit'*. ^^^^'
The Epistle was shown, at the author's request, to
the celebrated Henry Dodwell, one of the greatest
living authorities upon questions of ancient chrono-
logy, with Avhom he appears to have lived, while at
Oxford, on terms of intimacy and friendship '^ In
April 1691 it was ready for publication '", but its ap-
pearance was delayed till June by a whimsical occur-
rence, which gave to Bentley 's first public exhibition
a controversial character. Happening to pass through
Oxford about this time with the Bishop's family on
their way to Worcester, he was taken to task by Hody, controversy
his brother chaplain, tor terming their author Malelas,
whereas all the learned had hitherto designated him
by the name of Malela. Bentley, considering this
censure as a challenge, adds to his Epistle a full and
satisfactory examination of the whole question of the
proper orthography of Greek words when latinized,
and fairly shows, that though the names of slaves
and others adopted by the vulgar, received the Latin
termination, as, Marsya, Sosia, Demea &c., yet the
practice of the best authors of Rome was to retain
the Greek orthography in words of similar ending, as
Pythago7'as, Leonidas, Anaxagoras, Perdiccas, and,
consequently, that all analogy was in favour of ]\£a-
lelas '^ Hereupon Hody shifted his ground, and de-
clared that all this learning was expended in vain,
since the nominative was not o MaXtAac, but o MaXcXa,
" Museum Criticum, vol. ii. p. 540, 544. '^ Ibid. p. 542, 543
" Correspondence of Bentley and Bernard. Also a manuscript letter of
Dr Mill.
" The real doubt respecting the orthography of the name is of a different
kind. It is in one place called Malelas, in another, Malalas. See Epist.
ad Mill. p. 77—84.
30 LIFE OF
CHAP. II. which, like other barbarous names, was retained in
ig9^- the Greek undeclined. Bentley immediately wrote
a refutation of this new position, which is, in fact,
the least tenable of the two, and which he shows to
be contrary both to analogy and authority. His dis-
quisitions upon such dry philological questions are
expressed in a sprightly and amusing style. Hody,
much nettled at this state of the contest, before the
publication of the book, was in time to prefix four
closely-printed pages in favour of Malela ; which,
however, tend only to establish the opposite opinion,
by showing the insufiiciency of the best arguments
that could be produced against it. This piece of
learning concludes with a singular prayer against
arrogance, or bitterness of style ; evidently designed
to fix these charges upon his antagonist ^''. This
being the first occasion on which we find Bentley
accused of presumption, it is my duty to declare his
vindication. That he chose to maintain his point,
instead of deferring to the practice of others, when
convinced that the truth was on his side, resembles
neither pedantry nor presumption ; and in his manner
of doing this, I observe nothing which ought to have
given offence to his friend, whom he mentions in
another part of the Epistle in terms of handsome com-
mendation. The truth appears to be, that Hody felt
piqued at his brother chaplain interfering at all with
a matter which he conceived to belong to himself;
and was severely mortified when he found that he
had drawn upon himself an antagonist, whose powers
he had so greatly underrated. There is too much
reason to believe, that the offence given by this trivial
cause was never afterwards healed.
" This effusion, the solemnity of wliich was not well suited to the occa-
sion, was afterwards copied in ' Hoyle's Examination,' p. 288.
1
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 31
Malelas had been long and anxiously expected by chap. ti.
the learned ; and his appearance interested them, not ^^'^^^
from his own merits, which were slender, but from Reception of
those of the Appendix. The various and accurate first pubii-
learning, and the astonishing sagacity displayed in '^^''°"'
the Epistle to Mill, attracted the attention of every
person capable of judging upon such subjects. The
originality of Bentley's style, the boldness of his opi-
nions, and his secure reliance upon unfailing stores of
learning, all marked him out as a scholar to be ranked
with Scaliger, Casaubon, and Gataker. Notwith-
standing the reluctance with which the pretensions of
a new author are usually admitted, and the small
number of persons to whom such writings were likely
to recommend themselves, we find that the fame of our
critic was at once established : in particular, among
foreign scholars, the sensation produced b}^ this essay
of a young and unknown writer, seems to have been
unexampled; and Grsevius and Spanheim, the chiefs
of the learned world, pronounced him ' the rising con-
stellation' of literature, and anticipated the brilliancy
of his course ^^.
The learning of this essay seems like the flowing of
an inexhaustible stream. Of the many topics which its contents.
claim attention, we may particularly notice, that the
true nature of the compilation of Hesychius, and the
methods by which its errors might be corrected, were
" " Richardus Bentleius, novum sed splendidissimum Britanniae lu-
men," Gresvius Frmf. ad Callimachum. " No\'um idemque jam lucidum
litteratae Britanniae sidus Richardus Bentleius." Spanheim in Julian, (p.
19), " Et novissime etiam in eruditissima ad Jo. Millium Epistolapost Jo.
Malelam edita, luculenter adductis plurimis earn in rem exemplis adseruit
oriens no\'um litteratae Britanniae sidus Richardus Bentleius." Spanheim
in Callim. p. 455. " Quod statuit in Epistola Malelae addita Vir emditis-
simus, et a quo magntun praeclaris doctrinarum studiis incrementum licet
augurari." Ibid. p. 605.
32 LIFE OF
CHAP. II. here first made known ; and that to scholars following
^^^^- the path pointed out by Bentley, the main improve-
ments in his Lexicon from that day to the present
must be attributed^". Among other incidental re-
marks upon ancient metre, there is found the rule
relative to the connection of verses in an anapaestic
system, commonly called the Synaphea: this law,
though preserved by all the Greek dramatic writers,
as well as by the old Latin tragedians, had been dis-
regarded, or rather was not known, by Scaliger, Gro-
tius, Buchanan, and other modern writers of anapaests,
who fancied that a short syllable might be made long
by its position at the end of any line, and assumed
this privilege with as little hesitation as if they had
been writing; hexameters. For our more correct no-
tions of this measure we are unquestionably indebted
to Bentley ^\ There is also displayed an accurate
and intimate acquaintance with the characters and
plots of the lost dramas, the periods of their perform-
ance, and whatever else can be gathered respecting
the history of the Greek stage from scattered frag-
ments of the ancient DidascalicE still in existence ; a
curious as well as intricate topic, which Bentley treats
with a masterly hand. After this specimen, it is per-
fectly astonishing to find his adversaries in the Pha-
laris controversy attacking him on a ground with
which he had shown himself so peculiarly ac-
quainted.
Its style. The style of the Epistle is animated and lively,
and implies the gratification felt by a writer engaged
2" Epist. ad Mill. p. 33.
=" Epist. ad Mill. p. 26. The rule of the Synaphea had been hinted by
Terentianus Maurus, p. 58, 1. 10; but Bentley's remarks were clearly
drawn from his own readinjr and observation. Dawes very unjustly
accuses him of plagiarism in this respect. Miscellanea Critica, p. 29, 30.
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 33
•
in a field where his resources are abundant, and chap. ii.
where he is sure to instruct and interest his reader. '^^^'
A person who opens it with the expectation of a dry
disquisition upon certain abstruse topics, is agreeably
surprised by meeting with information not less enter-
taining than profound, and is irresistibly carried on
by the spirited character of the remarks. The dic-
tion, indeed, though clear and luminous, is not free
from the redundancy and flippancy of a young writer;
and the expressions are now and then somewhat boast-
ful; a fault which would be readily pardoned, did it
not too frequently occur in his subsequent produc-
tions. In the conclusion Bentley takes occasion to
notice the critical edition of the New Testament, the
great work on which Dr. Mill had been many years
labouring, and on which he was destined to labour
many more ; giving at the same time a remarkable
specimen of his own acuteness in sacred criticism ^^
His opinion of what might be expected from the pro-
jected edition proved exceedingly gratifying to Mill,
who, in a letter which is preserved, shows that he
valued this praise not as the compliment of a partial
friend, but as the testimony of one to whose judgment
the world was sure to pay attention ^^.
Such was the production which established the
fame of Bentley, at the age of twenty-nine, in the
highest rank of literary eminence ; and from that mo-
ment the eyes of every scholar in Europe were fixed
22 Epist. ad Mill. p. 96.
'^^ This letter, dated March 31, I691, is in the collection belonging to
Trinity College. It begins thus : " Dear Sir, — I received your last pa-
pers, wherein you are infinitely too kind in your character of our present
work, and that which we design. I promise you to alter nothing ; bvit
I shall have much ado to be as good as my word; this discourse of yovirs
wLU raise the expectation of the world so much, that I shall not be able, I
doubt, in any tolerable degree to answer it. But I submit, and am highly
sensible of the great honour you do me herein : I will endeavour to alter
nothing."
VOL. I. D
34 LIFE OF
CHAP. ir. upon his operations. Great as is the number of per-
^^^^- sons who have since appeared with success in this
' department, it would not be easy to name a critical
essay, which for accuracy, ingenuity, and original
learning-, can take place of the ' Appendix to Malelas.'
June 1691. At thc time of his introduction to the world as an
fup"edi°'" author, Bentley was at Worcester, engaged in the
theology, sty^jy of thcology. Hc had resolved, as soon as he
had finished his Epistle to Mill, to devote himself
exclusively to such pursuits as became the chaplain
of a learned prelate, and to abandon classical books
for a season : such at least was the purpose which he
avowed to Dr. Bernard, and it drew from his cor-
respondent an expostulation, and advice that he should
combine with theology those critical pursuits in which
he was so peculiarly qualified to excel ^*. Whether
Bentley was ever serious in his design of relinquish-
ing his favourite authors, may fairly be doubted. At
all events, he was speedily summoned back to them
by the general voice of the learned world, which,
while it applauded the first specimen of his talents,
Resumes Called for tlicir fresh exertion. Accordingly we find
studies*' ^^^ preparing for the press new editions of Philos-
Undertakes tratus, of Hcsychius, and of Manilius : to undertake
to publish , . r> 1 Trr-
Manilius. at tlic samc time three authors oi such dinerent de-
scriptions, and requiring in the editor such different
qualifications, is a proof of the fertility of his learn-
ing and the energy of his mind. Manilius, a poet
for whom he had always felt a partiality, was to have
appeared the foremost''''. A readiness was shown in
2' See Bentley's and Bernard's Correspondence. — Museum Criticum, vol.
ii. Epist. X. p. 546.
"He had expressed somewhere in company a A-ery strong opinion in
favour of ManiUus; saying, that Ovid and Manilius were the only poets
that had wit among the ancients. His antagonists in the Phalaris contro-
versy had licard of this conversation, and thus sneer at the comparison :
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 35
all quarters to further and assist his schemes. Sir chap. ii.
Edward Sherburn, an old cavalier, who had formerly ^^^^'
translated the first book of Manilius, and written a
commentary upon it, lent him some scarce editions,
as well as a box containing collections relative to this
poet, formerly belonging to Gaspar Gevartius, which
he had some time before purchased at Antwerp ^^.
He obtained the collation of a Leipsic manuscript,
made by John Feller. His friend Dr. Bernard lent
him a manuscript of his own, and applied to Span-
heim to procure a collation of one which had be-
longed to Isaac Vossius, and which, with the rest of
his library, had gone to Leyden ^^ But Bentley was
" He forgets, I believe, when and where a certain critic of our times
maintained that Ovid and Manilius were the only two poets that had wit
among the ancients. 'Tis just as if I should say, that Sir W. Temple and
Dr. Bentley are the two best bred writers livnng ; or, to put it in the doc-
tor's more learned and polite way, that Nireus and Thersites were the two
most ybrmose men that repaired to the siege of Ilium." Boyle's Examination,
p. 28. Bentley says in his Reply, " I am not at all concerned to justify
this criticism, for I know not that ever I said so. But however, not to
desert Manihus, for whom I have an esteem, I see no reason at all why he
that said this should be ashamed of it. Wlien the Examiner reads Ma-
nUius (for by his censure one would guess he yet had not) he will find in
the best editions what Scahger says of him : ' A most ingenious poet, a
most elegant writer, that could manage an obscure and knotty subject with
that clearness and smoothness of style ; equal to Ovid in sweetness, and
superior in majesty.' Thus we see one of the greatest scholars among all
the moderns, and a very great poet himself, thought Manilius a very witty
one ; and just as that ' certain critic' did, has joined him with Ovid."
Dissert, on Phal. p. 8.
2s Epist. ad Grcevium, p. 2. Letter to Bernard, Mus. Crit. vol. ii. p.
556. Pref. to Dissert, on Phal. p. xliv. Before Bentley received Sir Ed-
ward's collection, he had collated an old Italian edition, without date of
place or year, which is in the Arundel library, given to the Royal Society.
This collation, as far as the middle of the second book, he entered in the
margin of his copy of the Aldine Manihus ; a book which was obligingly
sent for my inspection by its possessor, the late Joseph Cradock, Esq. of
Gumley Hall, Leicestershire. Bentley says at the beginning, " Collatus
cum editione vetusta, et (ut opinor) omnium principe, in 4to. ex Bibliotheca
Arundehana :" bvit he adds in a later hand, " Sed postea habui duas
vetustiores."
*^ Letter to Bernard, Mus. Crit. a-o1. ii. p. 555. " I cannot express my
D 2
36 LIFE OF
CHAP. II. diverted from these occupations to establish a repu-
^^^^- tation in a different field.
thankfulness to you, that you •nill so much engage yourself for me as to
ask that favour of Mr. Spanheim. I could have washed you would have
made use of Gronovius, who is used to such things ; the other, they say,
is a very high and proud sort of a blade." This extract is rather curious :
Bentley, we shall soon find, had reason to alter his opinion both of Grono-
vius and of Spanheim.
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 37
CHAPTER m.
How. Robert Boyle — His lectureship — Bentley appointed first lecturer — Con-
futation of Atheism — Mr. Evelyn — ^e principles ofHobbes — Newton's
discoveries — Bentley first makes them generally known — Consults Newton
himself — Bentley's style — Merits of the lectures — Bentley' s first oppo-
nent — Bishop Kidder succeeds — Bentley made Prebendary of Worcester
— Excites envy — His haughtiness of manner — Correspondence with
Gr(evius — A tract of Rubenius — Grcevius's edition of Callimachus —
Bentley undertakes the Fragments — Joshua Barnes — Epistles of Euri-
pides — Bentley's opinion of them — Barnes's behaviour.
The Honourable Robert Boyle, youngest son of chap. hi.
Richard, first Earl of Cork, died on the 30th of ^^^^-
December 1691. This personage, belonging to a Hon. Robert
family remarkably prolific in talent, though his four
brothers enjoyed separate peerages, has himself en-
nobled his name by honours still more splendid and
durable. His works on natural and experimental
philosophy, particularly on hydrostatics and pneu-
matics, and his own improvements of the air pump,
have placed his name in a rank second only to that
of Newton : as a chemist, he takes the lead of all his
contemporaries ; and in his theological writings, he
has so blended philosophy with religion as to exhibit
to the world the true value of scientific pursuits. The
merits of this extraordinary character, and the extent
of his researches in most departments of human know-
ledge, are detailed by Bishop Burnet in a funeral
sermon : from this eulogy it appears, that Mr. Boyle
had been in the habit of expending no less than a
thousand pounds every year in works of charity and
beneficence, particularly in the propagation of Christ-
ianity. Wishing that in his death he might promote
38 LIFE OF
CHAP. III. the same cause to which he had devoted his Ufe, he
^^^^- bequeathed by his will a salary of fifty pounds a year,
His lecture- to fouud a Iccturcship for the defence of religion
*^'^' against infidels. The lecturer was to be annually
chosen, and to deliver eight discourses in the year in
one of the churches of the metropolis \
The care of this trust was bequeathed by Mr. Boyle
to four of his particular friends, Dr. Thomas Tenison,
then newly advanced to the bishoprick of Lincoln, Sir
Henry Ashurst, Sir John Rotheram, and Mr. John
Evelyn, the accomplished author of the Sylva. The
Feb. 13. trustees forthwith nominated Mr. Bentley as lecturer
Bentley ap- p , ^ • . ^ i • i 1 i
pointed fir.t Tor tlic first year ; an appointment which he owed
ec urer. ppJncipally to the high opinion entertained of him by
Bishop Tenison ^ We can hardly conceive a greater
compliment to the merits of a young man, only in
deacon's orders, than the selection of him from the
whole clerical profession, to be the first champion in
such a cause, and that too upon an institution to which
the celebrity of the founder was in itself sufficient to
draw the eyes of the public. At several different
periods of his life, he mentions this distinction, in such
terms as show, that he considered it the greatest of the
honours with which he was ever invested ^.
The manner in which the lecturer discharged his
office must have surpassed even the expectation of his
Confutation patrous. Tlic subjcct of liis discourses was, ' a Con-
' futation of Atheism.' It may be observed, that the
doctrines of Spinoza and Hobbes had made consider-
1 See the bequest in the Dedication prefi.\ed to Bentley's Boyle's
Lectures.
^ Evelyn's Mem. ii. p. 31. " We made choice of one Mr. Bentley, chap-
lain to the Bishop of Worcester."
^ In his letter to Grajvius, May 15, 1694. Pref. to Dissert, on Fhalaris,
1G99, p. l.xx.xiv. Proposals for an Edition of the Neio Testament, in 1720.
Reply to the Articles of Accusation brought against him before the Bishop
of Ely, in 1733.
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 39
able progress in that age among the higher classes of chap. hi.
society, and were particularly dangerous from the ^^^^'
insidious way in which they undermined all belief in
natural and revealed religion. Both these writers
professed indeed to acknowledge the existence of a
God ; but by denying the Divine providence in the
government of the world, and by representing the
existence of the universe as the result of necessity,
they conducted their disciples to the very depths of
atheism. The metaphysical subtilty of their reason-
ings, the assumption of a calm and philosophical tone
of inquiry, and the apparent novelty of their dogmas,
combined to mislead the unwary. The positions of
Hobbes had been ably combated by Cudworth in his
' Intellectual System,' and by Cumberland in his
book ' Z)e Legibus Naturce ;' but these works were
not sufficiently popular to resist an evil, which had
spread so far as to become seriously alarming.
In his first lecture, delivered at St. Martin's Church, March 7.
Bentley exposes ' the folly of atheism, even with
respect to the present life :' and in those which follow,
he successively confutes the atheists from a consider-
ation of ' the faculties of the soul,' 'the structure of
human bodies,' and 'the origin and frame of the
world,'
The reader of these discourses is informed and
delighted by the variety of knowledge which they
contain, and their close and convincing train of
reasoning. The success with which Bentley unmasks
the tenets of the atheist, grapples with his arguments,
and exposes his fallacies, has never been surpassed,
and scarcely equalled, in the wars of controversy. He
steadily follows up his antagonist, and never fails to
dislodge him from his positions. Various as are the
topics which come under discussion, he appears at
home in all, and displays a familiarity with meta-
40 LIFE OF
CHAP. HI. physics, natural history, and philosophy, altogether
^^^^- wonderful in a person coming fresh from the field of
classical criticism. His ancient learning is introduced
in a happy and agreeable manner, when he compares
the theories of modern sceptics with those of the
heathen philosophers. The followers of Hobbes hav-
ing had recourse to metaphysical refinements, in
order to deprive the Divine nature of its essential
attributes, as well as to establish theories of mate-
rialism, Bentley encounters them on their own
ground ; and by examining the question according to
the system recently promulgated by Locke in his
' Essay on the Human Understanding,' exposes the
inconsistencies of which they are guilty, when they
represent an infinite and eternal Godhead as a cor-
poreal essence, and give to mere matter the faculty
of thinking. He agrees with that philosopher in
holding, that the notion of a Deity is not innate, and
seeks the proofs of his existence and attributes from
the operations of the human mind, the organization of
animal nature, and the structure of the inanimate
creation ; and, while he continually reduces his
opponents to an absurdity, he establishes his own
positions with the closeness and severity of mathe-
matical demonstration.
April 4. Mr. Evelyn, being present at the delivery of the
second of these sermons, formed a most exalted
opinion of the powers of the lecturer, whose acquain-
tance he forthwith cultivated, and continued to be his
intimate correspondent for several years *. On his
motion, Bentley was desired by the trustees to print
the lectures. When the three first had aj)peared, his
friend Dr. Bernard suggested the expediency of reply-
« Evehjii's Memoirs, vol. ii. j). 32. Tire second lecture was preached at
Row Church.
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 41
ing- to the particular objections brought against the chap. hi.
Christian revelation, and especially those of the Jews : ^^^^-
to which Bentley answered, " I cannot think I should
do well to balk the proofs of a Deity, to attack either
Theists or Jews. The Jews do us little hurt ; and
perhaps to bring their objections into the pulpit and
the vulgar language, out of their present obscurity,
would not do well ; and few would care to read or
hear such discourses :" adding, that ' of all the parts
of his task,' (then probably expected to continue for
three years) ' this should be the last that he would
meddle with.' So much was he impressed with the
necessity of overturning the system of Hobbes, of The prind-
which ' the taverns and coffee-houses, nay. West- Hobbes.
minster Hall, and the very churches, were full.' He
was convinced, from personal observation, that ' not
one Eno'lish infidel in a hundred was other than a
Hobbist ;' and that they all well knew that his theory
of a corporeal God was a pretence to elude the penal-
ties of the law, or, to use Bentley 's own expression,
* a mere sham to get his book printed ^ ;' for in those
days, it seems, religion could not be made the object
of open attacks and insults with impunity. Bentley
was in fact meditating that most important discussion
which concludes his course of lectures, the demon-
stration of a Divine providence, from the physical
constitution of the universe, as demonstrated by New- ^j^^'^^^J^g
ton. The Principia had now been published about
six years ; but the sublime discoveries of that work
were yet little known, owing not merely to the obsta-
cles which oppose the reception of novelty, but to the
difficulty of comprehending the proofs whereby they
are established. There has been preserved among
Bentley's papers a manuscript in Newton's own hand,
5 Letter to Dr. Bernard, of May 28. Museum Criticum, vol. ii. p. 557-
42 LIFE OF
CHAP. III. containing directions respecting the books to be read
^^^^- as a preparation for the perusal of his Principia.
Bentley, for whose use they appear to have been
drawn up, having a mind well adapted for mathe-
matical reasoning, not only made himself master of
the system, but was able to discern the purpose which
it might serve in demonstrating the providence and
benevolence of the Creator. Atheistical writers had
propounded theories, in which the creation of the
world out of chaos, and the subsequent maintenance
of our System, were explained by what they termed
'natural causes.' Such schemes, which excluded all
immediate agency of the Divine will, had been nu-
merous ; but the fact was that they all contradicted
the laws of nature upon which they pretended to be
founded, as completely as was done by the Epicurean
hypothesis of atoms descending down an infinite space
by an inherent principle of gravitation tending not
towards other matter, but towards a vacuum, and
verging from the perpendicular. The erroneous but
prevalent system of Des Cartes, which supposed the
planets to be carried round the sun by the force of
vortices, afforded too great a handle for atheistical
reasoners, not to be pressed into their service. But
our incomparable philosopher had now demonstrated
the falsehood of the Cartesian notions, and established
the general law of gravity, and whatever relates to the
motions, bulks, and densities of the planets, by proofs
Bentley first never to bc shaken. To Bentley belongs the un-
gcne'raiiy''™ doubtcd mcrit of having been the first to lay open
kiiovvu. these discoveries in a popular form, and to explain
their irresistible force in the proof of a Deity. This
constitutes the subject of his seventh and eighth
sermons ; pieces admirable for the clearness with
which the whole question is developed, as well as for
the logical precision of their arguments. Among
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 43
other topics, he shows how contradictory to the prin- chap. iir.
ciples of philosophy is the notion of matter contained ^^^'^'
in the Solar System having been once diffused over a
chaotic space, and afterwards combined into the large
bodies of the sun, planets, and secondaries, by the
force of mutual gravitation ; and he explains that the
planets could never have obtained the transverse mo-
tion, which causes them to revolve round the sun in
orbits nearly circular, from the agency of any cause
except the arm of an almighty Creator. From these
and other subjects of physical astronomy, as well as
from the discoveries of Boyle, the founder of the
lecture, respecting the nature and properties of the
atmosphere, a conviction is irresistibly impressed upon
the mind of the wisdom and benevolence of the Deity.
We are assured that the effect of these discourses was
such, that atheism was deserted as untenable ground ;
or, to use his own expression, the atheists were ' silent
since that time, and sheltered themselves under
deism ^.'
Before he committed to the press his essays upon Consults
^ J. Newton
topics of a nature so difficult and so novel, Bentley himself.
had the precaution to consult Mr. Newton himself
respecting the use to which he had turned his disco-
veries. He addressed, accordingly, certain queries
to the philosopher, then residing in Trinity College,
Cambridge, which gave rise to a curious and im-
portant correspondence. Newton's four letters on this
occasion have long been before the public ^ : they
* Preface to the ' Present State of Trinity College, in Cambridge,' p. i.
See also Whiston's Memoirs of his own Life, vol. i. p. 105.
'■ They were given by Dr. Richard Bentley, the nephew and executor,
to Cumberland, whUe a student at Trinity College ; and were printed by
him, in a separate pamphlet, in 1/56. Tliis pubhcation was reviewed by
Dx- Samuel Johnson, in the Literary Magazine, vol. i. p. 89- See John-
son's Works, vol. ii. p. 328. Tlie original letters are preserved in Trinity
College, to which society they were given by Cumberland, a short time
before his death.
44 LIFE OF
CHAP. III. commence with two remarkable declarations, the ob-
^^^^^' ject which he had in view while writing his immortal
work, and a disavowal of that intuitive genius for
which the world gave him credit: he says, "When
I wrote m}^ treatise about our System, I had an eye
upon such principles as might work with considering
men for the belief of a Deity, and nothing can rejoice
me more than to find it useful for that purpose. But
if I have done the public any service this way, it is
due to nothing but industry and patient thought."
The matter of Bentley's inquiries relative to the Solar
System, is repeatedly discussed by Newton in a man-
ner which speaks the candid as well as powerful
character of his mind. Upon most points of consul-
tation he confirms Bentley's views, and supplies him
with additional arguments : some of his opinions he
corrects and modifies ^ ; and in one or two cases it
appears that he had not himself considered all the
deductions to be drawn from his own discoveries, and
that the questions proposed were new to him ; whence
Dr. Samuel Johnson, in a cursory review of these four
letters, takes occasion to remark, ' how even the
mind of Newton gains ground gradually upon dark-
ness.' In the publication of his essays Bentley of
course availed himself of all the suggestions of his
illustrious correspondent : his reasonings and con-
clusions therefore appear with the highest of all human
' This is ])articularly the case respecting the idea of gravity being
essential and inherent in matter ; a position which the atheists maintained,
and which Bontlcy had in the first instance conceded ; bnt upon Neulon's
begging, in his second letter, that ' he would not ascribe that notion to
him ; for the cause of gravity was what he did not pretend to know, and
therefore would take more time to consider of it ;' Bentley was led, by
reflection, to bring arguments against the theory of ' innate gravity ;' and
then shows, that even were this principle allowed to be essential to matter,
yet the creation could neither have been originally formed, nor afterwards
maintained, by its mere agency, without the i)rovidence of a Divine Being. —
p. 2-16, dth edit.
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 45
sanctions ; and this department of natural theology chap. hi.
has perhaps never yet been so satisfactorily illns- _ ^^^^-
trated ^
Some notice must be taken of the style of these Bemiey's
. style.
compositions, which is remarkable not only for its
force and nervousness, but for a certain epigrammatic
and witty turn which gives it a peculiar character and
effect. We find it recorded as the opinion of Dr.
Johnson, that Bentley, in the composition of his ser-
mons, ' had his eye upon the writings of Dr. South '".'
I confess myself unable to discover marks of imita-
tion, or indeed of resemblance, further than any two
bold and strong writers may be termed similar. The
style is original, and is the same as distinguished
Bentley 's writings at every period of his life ; it drew
its character from nothing but from his own mind, and
like that was manly, bold, and uncompromising. It
certainly wants the polish which it would have re-
ceived had he begun to write about twenty years later,
when the harmony of a period was more cultivated in
English composition ; but his words and phrases are
so expressive and appropriate, that the reader would
be unwilling to change them for any refinements of
diction. He wrote as he thought, in a pointed and
logical tone, and as one who studies only his matter,
while he relies upon the clearness of his conceptions
for appropriate expressions. The consequence is that
every sentence has its weight, and impresses itself
upon the mind and memory of the reader. In respect
to the pointed wit and sarcasm, and the occasional
9 The original of the first of these letters, dated Dec. 10, I692, is in-
dorsed with the following note, in Bentley's hand : — " Mr. Newton's
answer to some queries sent by me, after I had preach't my two last ser-
mons : all his answers are agreeable to what I had deliA'ered before in the
pulpit ; but of some incidental things I do i-n-Extiv." — R. B.
'" This is upon the authority of Seward's Anecdotes, vol. ii.
46
LIFE OF
CHAP. III. playfulness which appears in these as well as his
^^^^- other writings, and which is said to have perv aded his
conversation, it may be objected, that such pleasantry
was ill suited to sermons : it should, however, be
recollected, that these compositions, although deli-
vered from the pulpit, were not the instructions of the
Sabbath, but popular lectures, of which the doctrines
of revealed religion formed no part ; while the arro-
gance and ignorance of which he convicts the atheist-
ical pretenders, must be allowed to be legitimate
objects of scorn and contempt.
Meritsofthe Such was the auspicious commencement of Boyle s
lectures. Lectuve, au institution to which we owe some of the
ablest theological pieces in our language ; among
them we may mention Clarke's ' Discourse on the
Being and Attributes of God,' Newton's ' Disserta-
tion on the Prophecies,' and Van Mildert's ' Histo-
rical Account of Infidelity :' but though Bentley has
had these divines among his successors, as well as
Gastrell, Bradford, Blackall, and Jortin, yet the repu-
tation of the first essay has been eclipsed by none.
The applause with which it was received was loud and
universal. One solitary attempt was made to resist
his reasoning on the immateriality of the soul, in a
pamphlet by Mr. Henry Layton ; a feeble piece,
which attracted no attention at the time, and deserves
our notice only as being the first of the innumerable
tracts published against Bentley in the course of his
Bentley's
first oppo
nent.
career
11
" 'Y\\Q title is, Observations upon a Sermon intituled 'A Confutation of
Atheism from the Faculties of the Soul,' alias, ' flatter and Motion cannot
think j' preached April 4, 1692: by way of Refutation: small 4to. A
manuscript note, in the copy in the Bodleian Library, says, "The author
of these tracts, and some others, particularly one called ' Observations upon
Dr. Nichol's Book, &c. is Henry Layton, of Rawdon in Yorkshire, Esq.'
Bentley had little to fear from a writer who expressed himself thus : " That
all were the works of God, I am ready to grant and maintain, as well as
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 47
As Boyle's bequest allowed the same lecturer to chap. hi.
be reappointed, it was natural to expect that Bentley '
would have preached the following year ; but the fact Bishop
is, that Dr. Kidder, Bishop of Bath and Wells, sue- succeeds.
ceeded ; being appointed at the urgent instance of
Sir John Rotheram, who prevailed upon the other
trustees, although with much reluctance, to comply '^.
Evelyn appears to have been concerned at this step,
which he considered unjust towards the person who
had so admirably fulfilled the views of the founder :
Bentley himself, however, did not evince any chagrin
or dissatisfaction.
Before his year's task was completed, he had re- October 8,
ceived, as the solid reward of his labours, a prebend pj^ebendary
in Worcester cathedral. We learn from Burnet that ?^ ^°'''^^^"
ter.
King William at this period left the church patronage
to the disposal of Queen Mary ^^ ; and as she was in
the habit of consulting Bishop Stillingfleet upon all
ecclesiastical subjects, he probably had not much
difficulty in procuring for his chaplain a stall in his
own diocese. This preferment must have been highly
gratifying to our young divine (who had just taken
priest's orders) not only as securing a liberal inde-
pendence, the first wish of a scholar, but because it
retained him in the society of his patron : his time of
residence was fixed for the months when the Bishop
was at Worcester.
The great reputation which he had now achieved Excites
envy.
was not unattended with its usual consequences, envy
and detraction. Of this we find an instance as early
as the present period. He had, it seems, obtained
he ; but in his design to prove God's providence and creation by the imma-
teriahty of human souls, I judge he hath taken the \vrong sow by the
ear."
'2 Evelyn's Memoirs, vol. ii. p. 35. Dec. 14, 1692.
13 Burnet's Hist, of his own Times.
48 LIFE OF
CHAP. III. some credit by deciphering a difficult Carthaginian
^"^^' inscription. Adrian Beverland, who has been al-
ready mentioned as the executor of Isaac Vossius
and the friend of Bernard, suspected that he had
copied it from some papers of his, and communi-
cated this belief, among others, to Bentley's brother-
chaplain Hody. The subject is not worth investi-
gating ; for Beverland soon discovered that he had
been doing injustice to Bentley, and that the suspi-
cion was utterly unfounded : he desires therefore,
in a letter to Dr. Charlett the Master of University
College ^^ that this may be explained to Hody and his
friends ; among whom he specifies Creech, the well
known editor of Lucretius '^ The envy produced by
Bentley's endowments was increased by a certain
His haugh- haughtincss discoverable in his conversation and
demeanour. There is a traditional anecdote, current
during his life time, which, whatever be its founda-
tion, shows the opinion prevalent upon this subject.
It is that a nobleman dining at his patron's, and hap-
pening to sit next to Bentley, was so much struck
with his information and powers of argument that he
remarked to the Bishop after dinner, ' my Lord, that
chaplain of your's is certainly a very extraordinary
man :' ' Yes,' said Stillingfleet, ' had he but the
gift of humility, he would be the most extraordinary
man in Europe '^'
" This letter, dated London, Sept. 1692, is in the Bodleian.
>5 Creech had been of Wadham College, and was then fellow of All
Souls. He i)ublished an English translation of Manilivis in I696, and
was prevented from giving an edition of that poet by its having been
undertaken by Bentley.
" This anecdote is told by Mr. John Nichols, (Gentleman's Magazine,
Nov. 1779,) on the authority of Dr. Owen. A rather difterent version of
it is found in a pamphlet written against Bentley in 1721, by some bitter
enemy : " Pray, Master, tell him of another great Bishop, who made this
shrewd obsen-ation ujion a certain forward young man, that he might in
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 49
It was in the summer of 1692, that Bentley com- chap. iii.
menced a correspondence with John George Graevius ^"^^'
of Utrecht, the most distinguished scholar of his time, Correspon-
1., . , ' ^ f 1 • , • • .'ll- dence with
winch continued with little intermission until liis Greevius.
death. All their letters are preserved, and are highly
interesting from the characters of the writers, the
pleasing style of their Latinity, and their free opinions
upon the literary topics of the day. The correspon-
dence originated thus : Bentley in examining Gevar-
tius's packet of papers relative to Manilius, lent to
him by Sir Edward Sherburn, discovered some mat-
ters which interested him, particularly a dissertation
de Vita Fl. Tlieodori Mallii Consulis from the pen of
Albertus Rubenius, and two letters from Grcevius to Aibertus
the same person. This Rubenius was a man of great
learning and no inconsiderable rank, being a mem-
ber of the Council of Government in the Spanish
Netherlands. Grgevius when a young man had en-
joyed his intimacy, and received from him on his
death-bed the charge of giving to the world his trea-
tise dc lie Vestiaria, which he accordingly published
from the scattered papers of his friend. The occa-
sion of the other essay appears to have been this :
Gevartius, one of his intimates, had projected an
edition of Manilius, a poet whose age is in some un-
certainty, owing to the total silence of all ancient
writers respecting him : the prevailing opinion was
that of Scaliger and Salmasius, which placed him in
the time of Augustus ; and this the internal evidence
appears to confirm : others, among whom we may
mention Faber and Vossius, brought him down as low
as the reign of the Emperor Theodosius. Gevart
fancied that he had identified the individual, and
that Manilius the poet was no other than Fl. Mallius
time become a great man, if God gave him the grace of humihty." Letter
to the Reverend Master of Trinity {'allege in Cambridge, 1721, p. 13
VOL. I. E
50
LIFE OF
CHAP. III. Theodoms, who was Consul 400 years after the Au-
^^^^ gustan period, and is the subject of a panegyrical
poem of Claudian. This notion, being repugnant to
all just criticism, and grounded upon the slender cir-
cumstance of Claudian recording the writings of his
hero upon the Stoical hypothesis of the creation,
(while no mention occurs of the two characteristic
features of Manilius, his poetry, and his astrology)
made but few^ converts : it was maintained however
with obstinacy by Gevart ; who, having in vain re-
commended it in his publications, resumed the argu-
ment in his inedited papers, intended as notes to an
edition of Manilius which he did not live to publish.
Rubenius, in order to divert his friend from an hypo-
thesis which procured him no credit, wrote the treatise
de MalUo, which remained unknown among Gevart's
papers till it was discovered by Bentley, who was ac-
cidently enabled to detect its author ^^ Grsevius
having been the editor of his other writings, Bentley
suggested that this also should be offered to him for
publication : accordingly, with the permission of Sir
Edward Sherburn, he imparted the matter to him ;
inquiring at the same time whether an opinion ex-
pressed in his two letters just mentioned, which
seemed favourable to Gevart's notion of the age of
Manilius, was sincere ; whether he still continued in
the same mind ; and, if so, by what arguments he
could maintain such an hypothesis. I have been thus
minute in explaining the commencement of this cor-
respondence, from the necessity which there will
shortly be of recalling the reader's attention to it, as
being made the ground of an unjust aspersion upon
Bentley's character. Grsevius in his reply explained
'" This treatise had no name affixed to it : but Bentley found a letter in
the same handwriting, signed A. R. the contents of which showed that the
writer was Albertus Rubenius. Preface to Dissert, on Phal. p. xiv.
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 51
that the opinion about Manilius was one expressed by chap. iir.
him in his youth too hastily, upon hearing some ar- ^^^^-
guments of Gevart's which pleased him at the mo-
ment ; that he had since not only discarded that
theory, but had lately condemned it in an academical
speech. The dissertation of Rubenius he gladly and
thankfully undertook to publish. But the reader of
his letters is most struck with the cordial joy felt by
Graevius at opening an intercourse with a scholar, of
whom he had conceived so exalted an opinion. He
had just been perusing the Epistle to Mill with ex-
treme admiration, and perceived at once that the
author was destined to hold the very highest place
among the learned of his age. This he always ex-
pressed as his deliberate judgment ; and, regarding
the cause of classical learning with parental fondness,
he was overjoyed to find one who promised to be such
a powerful supporter. Graevius 's age was double
that of Bentley : the intercourse, which began with
topics of learning, ripened in its progress into the
cordiality of friendship : and the zealous, candid,
and warm-hearted disposition of the veteran scholar
displayed in his correspondence attracts as much
reo^ard as his learnino;.
Bentley transmitted to Utrecht the essay of Rube- •'^"•
. . . . 1692-93.
nius, and along with it a copy of Stephens' edition of
Cicero's Philosophical works, containing in the mar-
gin various readings from an ancient manuscript.
This belonged to Dr. John Moore, Bishop of Nor-
wich, who had offered through Bentley to send a
copy of the various readings to Graevius, then em-
ployed on an edition of Cicero ; and, upon his em-
bracing the offer, permitted him to have the volume
itself; promising him, at the same time, some other
suhsidia for the work, which his noble library supplied.
This prelate, who will hereafter engage much of our
E 2
52 LIFE OF
CHAi>. Ill attention, had not only made that extensive and va-
^^^^- luable collection of books, which now forms so con-
siderable a part of the University Library at Cam-
bridge, but with a truly liberal spirit was always
ready to give the use of them to scholars. He seems
early to have patronized and encouraged the subject
of these memoirs, and to have allowed him the free
use of his library.
Graevius's Au cditiou of Callimaclius had been undertaken
edition of ^, . , , C j.
caiiima- by GrsBvms s only son, a young man ot great pro-
*■''""■ mise, who had begun to print it when he was carried
off by a consumption. This work his father deter-
mined to complete : a full commentary upon the poet
had been promised for the edition by Baron Span-
heim : and Bentley was desired in Greevius's first let-
ter to add his contributions : a request to which he
acceded promptly and handsomely, sending at the
same time two or three specimens of his corrections :
he undertook also to give a new collection of the
Bentley un- Frao;ments of Callimachus arranged under proper
dertakes the .'^ , .. , iiTi ii-
Fragments, licads, and comprisHig above double tlie number dis-
covered by all preceding editors ; a bold promise, but
one which was more than realized in the performance.
Joshua He was engaged about this time in a correspon-
dence with a scholar of a very opposite character,
Mr. Joshua Barnes of Emmanuel College, Cam-
bridge. This personage, whose peculiarities have
occasioned his name to be seldom mentioned without
a smile, had been pursuing his course for many years
in different walks of literature with great perseverance
and incredible want of judgment : as a poet, histo-
rian, orator, and critic, he is equally unfortunate, and
equally satisfied with his own performances. He was
then employed upon his edition of Euripides, a work
for which he certainly wanted most of the essential
qualifications ; but for the demerits of which he has
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 53
received harsher treatment than he deserves from chap. hi.
recent scholars, who have forgotten how little had ^^^^-
been done before his time towards the correction and
illustration of that tragedian. Hearing that Bentley
considered as spurious the six Epistles attributed to Epistles of
Euripides, he wrote to ask him the grounds of that "'^'^^ ^^'
opinion. Bentley 's answer, while it avowed his own
belief that they were nothing but the fabrications of
some sophist, expressed his despair of bringing any
arguments to convince those who did not discover it
themselves; and he begs therefore that Barnes, ' when
he confutes the opinion of Meursius' against them, as
he threatened, ' would not name him ; for he did not
pretend to assert, but only to believe, that they were
fabrications.' He mentions in a lively and playful
strain a few particulars of the internal evidence,
which will make most readers of his opinion : for Bemiey's
instance, the poet's writing to Archelaus, refusing a "P'^ion of
large sum of money, and begging instead the lives
and liberty of some noble persons condemned to die :
his letter to Sophocles, his rival, who was then serv-
ing as a general upon an expedition, condoling with
him upon the loss of some plays by shipwreck! " Our
sham author," says Bentley, "had forgot Sophocles 's
errand ; that he was now the general, and not the
poet ; and that if he had had some plays beforehand,
he would not have carried them to the war." Again,
Sophocles is made to entrust the inspection of his
domestic affairs, during his absence from Athens, to
his rival ; and Euripides, after his own emigration to
Macedonia, writes to Cephisophon, the very person
whose intimacy with his wife had produced the ridi-
cule and vexations which drove him from liis country;
the subject of the letter is to beg, that he will 'jus-
tify his leaving Athens' against the calumnies of his
enemies ; and he refuses the oft'er of some money,
54 LIFE OF
CHAP. III. saying, that he could not desire riches now that his
^^^^- dear mother (Clito the herb-woman) was dead ! !
These arguments, irresistible as they may appear,
produced no effect in shaking the opinion of Barnes
in favour of the pretended epistles. But such was
Barnes's the discourtcsy and even rudeness of his behaviour,
behaviour, ^j^^^ j f^^j almost ashamcd to record it. Instead of
expressing either publicly or privately his thanks for
the information he had received, or taking any other
notice of it, he published the epistles as an integral
part of the tragedian's works ; and having made a
sort of reply to Bentley's objections, declared, that to
doubt their being the genuine work of Euripides was
a proof of impudence or want of judgment, perfrictce
frontis, autjudicii imminutP^. Those who have adopt-
ed an idea that Bentley's style was usually arrogant
or contemptuous, may suppose that his letter had
contained some offence of this sort : but the orio;inal
happens to be preserved, and has lately come to light''';
its character is the very reverse of offensive ; it is
courteous, good-humoured, and even flattering to
Barnes. For the behaviour of the latter I should
wish to discover some excuse, but am unable to give
any better account of it than that his prejudices in
favour of the exiled King might possibly make him
regard with contempt the opinions and scholarship of
a person patronised by the Deliverer's government.
'' See Barnes' Vita Euripidis, § 28, and his preliminary remarks on the
Epistles, vol. ii. p. 523, ed. iGQi; in Beck's reprint of Barnes, vol. ii. p. 498.
'" 'riiis Epistle had come into the possession of Holmes, Esq. by
whom it was presented to the British Museum in the year 1820. It is now
printed in the Museum Criticum, vol. ii. p. 405.
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 55
CHAPTER IV.
Bentley made Keeper of the King's library — Second course of Boyle's Lec-
tures — Commences j)rinting an edition of Philosiratus — Abandons it to
Oleariiis — Grcevius's dedication to Bentley — Controversy on ancient and
modern learning — Sir William Temj)le — JVotton's Reflections — Te7nj)le's
opinion of jEsop and Phalaris — Bentley promises to confute him — Dr.
Aldrich, Dean of Christ Church — Hon. Charles Boyle — Undertakes to
publish Phalaris — Bennett, the bookseller, applies to Bentley for a ma-
nuscript — Causes a quarrel — Boyle makes a reflection upon Bentley —
Rejects his explanation — Archbishop Tenison — Lambeth degree — Evelyn
— Pepys — Bentley chaplain to the King — Rector of Hartlebury — Apart-
ments in St. James's palace — Earl of Marlborough — State of the Library
— Cambridge University Press renovated by Bentley's agency — Takes
the degree of D.D. — His Public Act — Commencement sermon.
Upon the death of Henry de Justel, Keeper of the chap. iv.
Royal library at St. James's, it was the particular J^^^^"^^'
wish of Bishop Stillino fleet and Bentley's other friends, Bemiey
• • p^i'ii'i made
that he should fill that situation, for which his know- keeper of
ledge of books eminently qualified him ; and to effect library"^ ^
this object, the greatest difficulties were overcome.
Mr. Edmund Gibson, afterwards Bishop of London,
was a candidate, supported by the interest of Arch-
bishop Sharpe : the place was actually given to Mr.
Thynne ; but with this gentleman a compromise was
effected > Bentley engaging to pay him 130/. out of
the salary, which was 200Z. a year, during his life-
time \ This transaction, which seems to have been
no secret at the time, will account for a delay in fill-
ing the vacancy. Justel died in September 1693;
Bentley had his appointment under the King's sign
manual on the 23d of December : but his patent,
1 These circumstances I discover from two manuscript letters in the
Bodleian, one from Gibson, the other from Hopkins, prebendary of Wor-
cester, both addressed to Dr. Charlett.
56 LIFE OF
CHAP. IV. constitiitino- him for life Keeper of all the King's
=_ libraries in England, was dated on the 6th of April
following : during this interval Queen Mary, who
took the sole interest in such matters, directed a cata-
logue of the library to be made by Postlethwaite and
Wright, the respective masters of St. Paul's and St.
James's schools*.
His second In the mean time Bentley was summoned by the
Bo"yi'e^'siec- trustccs of Boylc's Lccturc, to preach the course for
ture. tj^g year 1694 ^ His subject was a defence of Christ- -
ianity against the objections of infidels *. That the
eiulit sermons delivered on this occasion have never
been published, is a matter of serious regret : nor is
it a little surprising that he should have failed to give
them to the world, after the favourable reception and
increasing reputation of his former series ; particu-
larly when we find their publication continually so-
licited for more than three years, by Mr. Evelyn, as
well as by Bishop Tenison. This prelate, who was
shortly advanced to the primacy, and whose coun-
tenance and support was important to all Bentley's
views in life, appears to have been displeased by the
omission ; for which, indeed, we hear no apology,
except want of leisure to revise the discourses for the
2 Tliese matters are detailed in the Preface to Dissert, on PhaL p. xiv. — xix.
3 There is a mistake in the Ust of Boyle's Lecturers, given in Nichols'
Literary Anecdotes, vol. vi. p. 453 ; and in Bishop Van Mildert's preface
to his Historical Account of Infidelity; where the Lecturer for 1694 is
stated to have been Bishop Kidder.
* Evelyn, Mem. vol. ii. p. 39, says, that he was to pursue his former
subject upon atheism. But Bentley, in his letter to Grae^ius, of May 25,
IC94, distinctly says, that his second course of lectures was against the
enemies of Christianity. Evelyn's words deserve to be cited. " Dec. 3,
1693. Mr. Bentley preached at the Tabernacle, near Golden Square. I
gave my voice for him to proceed in his former subject the following year
in Mr. Boyle's lecture, in which he had been interrupted by the impor-
tunity of Sir J. Rotheram, that the Bishop of Chichester Iread Bath and
^Yells] might be chosen, the year before, to the great dissatisfaction of the
Bishop of Lincoln and myself. We chose Mr. Bentley again."
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 57
press ^ As this was no formidable task, I can only chap. iv.
account for the failure, by supposing that there were ^^^^'
some additional topics which he wished to introduce,
but was prevented from investigating by a succession
of ^other occupations, until the proper season for print-
ing had too long elapsed. In whose possession the
copies are I have never been able to discover.
The projected editions of Philostratus and Manilius
were now in a state of readiness for the printer; but
the increased expense of paper and printing in Eng-
land, the consequence of war and new taxes, deterred
him from publishing books, which from their nature
could only meet with a limited sale at home, and for
the exportation of which the circumstances of the
times were unfavourable '^. Accordingly, he designed commences
to print his Philostratus at Leipsic, and sent thither gdidon^o?"
the early part of his text and notes for that purpose. PhUostra-
But when he received the first sheet as a specimen,
he was disgusted with the meanness of the printing,
and resolved that his labours should not come forth
to the world in so unseemly a dress ^ Indeed, it
may be remarked that Bentley always placed a high
value upon typographical elegance, and was more
fastidious upon this head, than might have been ex-
•'5 He says to Evelyn, in a letter of Feb. 22, 1694 — 9.5: " I suppose
nothing will reinstate me fuUy in his Grace of Canterbury's favour, but
publishing my sermons ; which I could not yet do, for the bustle and dis-
traction that new housekeeping and furnishing brings along with it : but I
hope in a week more to haA'e a day or two of leisure to look on them ; and
if I once begin, 'twill be a short business." He tells Graexius, in Nov.
1695, that they are actually in the press. As late as Jan. 12, 1696 — 97,
he renews his promise to Evelyn : " I am now upon a job for our friend
Mr. Wotton [the Dissertation on Phalaris and ^"Esop] ; then I proceed to
pay my debts to you by printing my sermons." The copies of these ser-
mons are said, in Kippis's Biographia Britannica, to be in existence : this
was in 1778, in the life-time of Dr. R. Bentley, of Nailstone, who inherited
his uncle's papers.
« Pref. to Dissert, on Phal. p. Ixiii.
' Letter to Greevius, of May 15, 1694.
58
LIFE OF
CHAP. IV. pected from one who so well understood the Intrinsic
1694. merits of a book. After some time he abandoned
Abandons it altogether the view of this publication, as Professor
tooiearius. w^^lf remarks, ' to the joy of Olearius of Leipsic, and
of nobody else.' To this German, who undertook to
publish the two Philostrati, he sent part of his ap-
paratus, the collation of a manuscript belonging to
New College De Vitis Sophistarum, and that of a
Baroccian manuscript, both which he had made dur-
ino- his residence at Oxford. The edition of Olearius,
which appeared in 1709, contains Bentley's notes as
far as p. 11, taken from the first sheet just mentioned,
which had been circulated as a specimen ^
In the early part of 1694 the tract of Rubenius,
already mentioned, was published by Graevius, who
Graevius's prcfixcd to it an epistle of dedication to Bentley, as
foBentie". ^hc pcrsou to whom the world was indebted for its
discovery, accompanied with an account of the author
and his work. In this epistle the literary patriarch
pronounced publicly the same exalted opinion of his
new friend's learning and genius, which he had be-
fore expressed in private; and speaking in the name
of all scholars with whom he was acquainted, he de-
clared the expectations raised by his first performance
to be such as surpassed all example and belief.
In the midst of these honours and encouragements,
Bentley became accidentally involved in that dispute
wliich constitutes so peculiar a feature in his bio-
controversy graphy, tlic coutrovcrsy on the letters of Phalaris.
and Modern As this piccc of literary story is connected with the
Learning. q^^gg^iQ^ thcu agitated upon the comparative merits
of ancient and modern learning, it may not be dis-
agreeable to the reader to have a short account of a
* See Olearius Pre/, ad PhUostr. p. x. xi. Also Fabriciiis Bibl. Gr, torn.
V. p. 555.
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 59
discussion, which for several years occupied so large chap. iv.
a share of public attention. ^^'^•*-
This dispute concerning the rival pretensions of the
ancients and moderns, had its origin in France, where
about the year 1688, the lively and witty Fontenelle,
the author of the ' Plurality of Worlds,' affixed to his
Pastoral Poetry a dissertation, in which he claimed
for the moderns a general superiority over the illus-
trious names of antiquity, making his principal stand
upon the ground least favourable to his own clients,
that of genius. The same hypothesis found other
advocates among the French savans, particularly Per-
rault, who in his ' Parallel between the Ancients and
Moderns,' bribed the assent and applause of his
countrymen, by matching some individual French-
man against each of the most illustrious ancients ^.
These extravagances were not likely to be long un-
resisted. Sir William Temple, illustrious as a states- sirwiiuam
man, and likewise the most popular writer of that ^'""^ ^'
age, who had long retired from public business to the
enjoyment of literary ease, came forward as the in-
dignant champion of the ancients. In his ' Essay on
Ancient and Modern Learning,' which first appeared
in 1692, he not only combats the positions of Fon-
tenelle and Perrault, whom he charges with ' suffi-
ciency, the worst composition out of the pride and
ignorance of mankind,' but flies himself into the op-
posite extreme, and boldly maintains the intellectual
superiority of former times in every department ; not
merely in the results of genius and taste, but in the
state of philosophy and knowledge, whether physical,
moral, or mechanical. Sir William's style of writing
is elegant and polished, and his conceptions are neatly
' For instance, Balsac was opposed to Cicero ; Boileau to Horace ;
Voiture to Pliny ; and Corneille to yEschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides
combined.
GO LIFE OF
CHAP. IV. expressed; but at the present day, when the voice of
1694. fashion no longer influences our judgment, and his
productions are made to rest upon their own merits,
we cannot avoid remarking, that neither his reason-
ing is strict, nor his views profound ; and that he is
far too dogmatical and uncompromising to be a safe
guide for the opinions of others. Moreover, in the
Essay of which we are speaking, he shows great cre-
dulity upon certain obscure topics of history; his
grounds are frequently insecure, and there appears a
determination to regard only one side of the question,
which savours more of a school declamation, than of a
calm and philosophical inquiry. The piece, however,
was read and admired, and being translated into
French, turned the tide of opinion in the Academy
against the moderns ; it was applauded by Boileau
and Racine, and forced Perrault himself into a formal
recantation of his heresy ^^ Notwithstanding this
triumph, the manner in which Temple had disposed
of the question by no means satisfied reflecting per-
sons. He had displayed a disposition to undervalue
the labours and discoveries of the moderns, particu-
larly the philosophers, which outraged every fair
principle of comparison; in some material depart-
ments of knowledge, his own information was too
superficial to allow his judgment to have much
weight ; and, in contrast to his French antagonists,
he showed a disinclination to admit the merits of his
own countrymen ; some of the most illustrious of
whom, as Shakspeare, Milton, and Newton, he did
not condescend to name. Besides, the only point
which his arguments, if sound, tended to establish,
'" Sir "William refers to these circumstances with great satisfaction in
the Ai)i)cn(lix to his Essay, entitled, ' Some Thouf/hts upon reviewing the
Essay on Ancient and Modern Learning.' Temple's Works, Vol. III.
p. 437.
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 61
was the uncomfortable doctrine of the degeneracy of chap. iv.
the human species. In this state of things, Bentley's '^^^-
early friend, Wotton, who was now chaplain to the
Earl of Nottingham, wrote a book entitled ' Reflec- wotton's
tions upon Ancient and Modern Learning,' which ex- ^^fl'^'^''""^-
amines and weighs the arguments of the rival advo-
cates, and undertakes to limit the departments where
superiority may respectively be claimed. W.ptton
executed his work ably and judiciously : wide as the
proposed range is, his inquiry proceeds with calmness
and caution into every part, and evinces not only
more candour, but a more extensive acquaintance
with the topics under discussion, than had previously
been exhibited in this controversy. This must have
made his ' Reflections' very edifying, after the loose
and declamatory tracts which preceded them, and
even now renders their perusal interesting and useful.
Though professing the character of an umpire, he
more frequently resists the arguments of Sir W. Tem- .
pie; and this he does in the most efficacious manner,
by destroying the premises upon which they are built,
by giving a just view of the authorities for the alleged
vast acquisitions of the ancient sages, and showing
how ill they will bear the test of investigation. Of
Fontenelle his opinion is, that he injured his own
cause by an injudicious mode of treating it. A ma-
terial object kept in view by Wotton is, to uphold the
honour of the Royal Society, of whom Sir William
thought very slightingly, and contemptuously styled,
from the original place of their meeting, the ' Men of
Gresham^\'
'1 The following extract from a letter of Evelyn to his friend Pepys,
dated July 7, 1694, shows his opinion of Wotton and his performance;
" if some kind genius had not in pity directed the most learned Mr. Wotton
to give me a ^dsit, and an inestimable present too, his Reflections on the
Ancient and Modern Learning ; which, in recognition of yours, I should
62 LIFE OF
CHAP. IV. Among other arguments for the decay of human
^^^*- wit and learning, the Baronet had ventured an asser-
Tempie's tiou, ' that the oldest books extant were still the best
Tsopand in their kind;' and adduced as his instances, what
Phaiaris. j^e believcd to be the most ancient prose books writ-
ten by profane authors, the Fables of iEsop and the
Epistles of Phaiaris. This monstrous preference was,
unhappily for his credit and peace of mind, main-
tained in the following eloquent and elaborate pas-
sage :
" As the first (-^sop) has been agreed by all ages since, for the
greatest master in his kind, and all others of that sort have been but
imitations of his original; so I think the Epistles of Phaiaris to have
more race, more spirit, more force of wit and genius, than any others
I have ever seen, either ancient or modern. I know several learned
men (or that usually pass for such, under the name of critics) have
not esteemed them genuine, and Politian with some others have attri-
buted them to Lucian : but I think he must have little skill in painting,
that cannot find out this to be an original ; such diversity of passions
upon such variety of actions and passages of life and government,
such freedom of thought, such boldness of expression, such bounty to
his friends, such scorn of his enemies, such honour of learned men,
such esteem of good, such knowledge of life, such contempt of death,
with such fierceness of nature and cruelty of revenge, could never be
represented but by him that possessed them; and I esteem Lucian to
have been no more capable of writing than of acting what Phaiaris
did. In all one writ, you find the scholar or the sophist; and in all
the other, the tyrant and the commander." Temple s Works, Vol.
TIL p. 463.
Bentiey While Wottou was employed upon his publication,
tlTconfutr Bentiey happening to converse with him upon Tem-
Tempie. pj^'g gggay^ told him that the two works which this
have sent you, but that I was confident you must ere this have seen it,
and been entertained with as much delight and satisfaction as an uni-
versally learned, and indeed extraordinary person, is able to give the most
refined taste. This is he whom I have sometimes mentioned to you, for
one of the miracles of this age, for his early and vast comprehension. Set
him down, then, in your Albo, among the Gales and the Bentleys, as you
will certainly do as soon as you know him." Pepys's Correspondence,
p. 137.
1
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 63
veteran had pronounced the oldest and the best in chap. iv.
the world, were in truth neither old nor good ; that ^^^*'
he could prove the present collection of iEsopian
fables not to be ^sop's ; and that the Epistles upon
which such extravagant praises were heaped, were
not the production of Phalaris, but an impudent and
clumsy forgery of later times. Wotton immediately
engaged his friend in a promise to write the argu-
ments for this opinion, to be published in his book
then in the press. Bentley's sentiments about the
Epistles of Phalaris had been deliberately formed, as
appears from his having avowed them in his Ap-
pendix to Malelas, and in his correspondence with
Joshua Barnes ; but his promise to Wotton was not
executed at that time : independently of a disposition
to procrastinate, he was then occupied with his se-
cond course of Boyle's lectures, and his mind was
given to other literary objects : he M^as besides under
the necessity of leaving London and his books in the
month of May, to keep his residence at Worcester :
and thus Wotton's publication appeared without any
notice of the Tyrant or the Fabulist. The circum-
stance which first drew our critic into this memorable
controversy was purely accidental, and distinct from
his friend's undertaking.
The glowing panegyric bestowed upon Phalaris by
the most popular writer of the day, naturally excited
in the public a wish to become better acquainted with
his inimitable Epistles ; for it happened that those
compositions, now pronounced superior to every thing
of the kind, either ancient or modern, were known
but to very few even among the readers of the
classics, and were confined to the small circle of
critical scholars. Dr. Aldrich, the Dean of Christ d.. Aidiich,
Church, a learned and excellent man, who in zeal chrilt°^
for the honour of his college yields to none of the c^"'"'^*^-
64 LIFE OF
CHAP. IV. eminent characters who have presided over that so-
^^^'^^ ciety, made it a practice to employ some of his best
scholars in preparing new editions of classical works ;
and he used to present a copy of one of these publi-
cations as a new-year's gift to every young man in
his college. This mode of encouraging youthful
merit, however well intended, cannot be considered
judicious ; and it was soon afterwards discontinued.
To fix the whole attention of students upon a single
piece during a great part of that season in which
they ought to be acquiring an enlarged knowledge of
the ancient writers, was by no means beneficial to his
young editors ; and to expose to criticism the prema-
ture efforts of undergraduates, whose age made it
hardly possible for them to possess knowledge or judg-
ment adequate to their editorial task, was unfair both
to themselves and to the society. Nevertheless, such
a public distinction unavoidably became an object of
ambition. The book selected at this time for the
Christ Church publication was the highly praised
Hon. chas. Phalaris ; and the Honourable Charles Boyle was
fixed upon as its editor. This gentleman, brother to
the Earl of Orrery, had carried with him to college a
creditaljle share of classical knowledge, and much
taste for those pursuits, for which he acknowledged
himself indebted to his late tutor Dr. Gale, the Dean
of York '^ His attention to study and his pleasing
'2 " I am glad of this opportunity of mentioning the worthy Dean of
York, and of paying my public acknowledgments to him for the particular
kindness and favours I received from him while I was under his care. The
foundation of all the little knowledge I have in these matters was laid by
him, which I gratefully o^vn." Boyle's Examination, p. 59.
It may be considered among the curious anomalies which occur in Bent-
ley's life, that in his great controversy with the distinguished wits of Ox-
ford, his professed antagonist was one who had derived his instructions
from the late Greek Professor of the sister University ; and that Sir W.
Temple, on whose behalf the O.xonian war against Bentley was a\'owedly
carried on, was not only himself a Cambridge man, who had once been
Boyle
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 65
behaviour rendered him a favourite with the society, chap. iv.
and particularly with its Head, who had lately dedi- ^^^^-
cated to him a system of Logic drawn up for his par-
ticular use. On his first admission at Christ Church,
he was under the tuition of the celebrated Atterbury.
The union of high birth and academical merit natu-
rally caused him to be regarded as an honour to his
college, and interested all its members in his favour.
It was about the middle of 1693, that Mr. Boyle Undertakes
turned his attention to the Epistles of Phalaris, as- phaiaris'. *
sisted by Mr. John Freind, one of the junior students,
afterwards the celebrated physician, who officiated as
' director of his studies,' or, in modern phrase, as his
private tutor. For the service of the projected edi-
tion it was desirable to have the collation of such
manuscript copies as were accessible ; and one of
these, of no great age or value, belonged to the li-
brary at St. James's. Accordingly Mr. Boyle wrote
to his bookseller, Thomas Bennett, whose sign was Bennett the
the Half Moon in St. Paul's Church Yard, simply
directing him ' to get this manuscript collated.' From
his inexperience, he was not aware that in all libraries
a nice and necessary caution is observed regarding
their manuscript treasures, and that commissions of
such a nature are not usually entrusted to a book-
seller. The conduct of this Bennett produced such
singular consequences, and involved in literary and
personal discussions so many eminent characters, that
we are under the necessity of examining it with mi-
nute accuracy. To Mr. Boyle's request he paid no
attention for some time; and when renewed applica-
tions roused him to exertion, such was his ignorance,
Representative in Parliament for that University, but the very work con-
taining his sentiments respecting Phalaris and iEsop, the origin of the
dispute, was dedicated by him * Alma Matri Cantabrigiensi.'
VOL. I. F
66 LIFE OF
CHAP. IV. that he sent a collator with a printed Plialaris to Sion
^^^'^- College, imagining, as it seems, that and the King's
Applies to library to be the same '^. His next step was to ask
a mlnu-°' the assistancc of Mr. Bentley, who occasionally visited
*"'^'' his shop, judging him likely to have interest to pro-
cure a loan of the manuscript ; but so little zeal did
he show to oblige his Christ Church customer, that
he did not go to solicit the favour, but only men-
tioned it when he casually saw him. To the first
request, which seems to have been in the beginning
of 1694, Bentley answered at once, that he should be
happy in an opportunity of obliging Mr. Boyle, a
young man related to the illustrious founder of his
lecture, and ' that he would help him to the book.'
This was some time before he had the custody of the
library ; but it was afterwards noticed, that he might
have made interest with the persons employed upon
the catalogue, whom he sometimes accompanied and
assisted in their work. However it was not reason-
able to expect any uncommon exertions to serve a
gentleman who seemed himself to consider the matter
too trifling for any application to him, either by letter
Occasions a or through a friend. But the real cause of offence
was a conversation between him and the bookseller,
upon the latter asking confidentially his opinion of
the work on which Mr. Boyle was employed : Bentley
told him that ' he need not be afraid of undertakino-
it, since the great names of those that recommended
it would ensure its sale ; but that the book was a
spurious one, and unworthy of a new edition.' Ben-
nett receiving from Oxford fresh applications for the
collation, in order to excuse himself, laid the blame
'3 Account f?iven by (Jibson, the collator, copied in a letter from the
Rev. Edm. (iibson, afterwards Bishop of London, his relation, to Dr. Char-
lett, among the Ballard manuscripts in the Bodleian.
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 67
upon the new librarian, whom he asserted that he had chap. iv.
long solicited in vain, and who had besides spoken with ^^'^^-
disparagement and contempt both of the book and its
editors. This representation, being implicitly believed
by Boyle and his friends, convinced them that Bentley
was behaving uncourteously, from hostility to a work
which he was known to consider as not being the
genuine production of the tyrant whose name it bore.
What ensued, confirmed them in this opinion. After May, 1694.
another and more urgent letter, the bookseller, though
he still gave himself no trouble respecting the object,
happening to meet Bentley in the street, renewed his
request for the manuscript ; and was answered that
* he should have it as soon as he sent for it to his
lodgings :' it was, in fact, delivered to his messenger
on the same day, along with an injunction that no
time should be lost in making the collation, as he was
shortly going out of town, and must replace the book
in the library before his departure'^. As he granted
this favour the very first time that it was asked after
he had the custody of the library, nothing but a mis-
representation of facts could have led people to charge
him with uncourteous or disobliging conduct. The
time of his leaving London to keep his residence at
Worcester was approaching, and as he was to set off
early on a Monday morning, he applied to Bennett
the preceding Saturday, for the restoration of the
book ; which had been put into his hand from five to
nine days before. The shortest of these periods was
more than sufl&cient for the completion of the task;
but it was not until almost the last moment that this
trust-worthy agent sent the book to Gibson, a person
who obtained his livelihood as a corrector of the press,
" Tliis is positively denied by Bennett : but the fact is indisputably
proved to be as Bentley stated it, by the letter of Gibson, the collator, men-
tioned in a preceding note.
F 2
68 LIFE OF
CHAP. IV. with orders to collate it with despatch. He had not
^^'^^' advanced further than twenty pages, when a message
arrived from the bookseller that it must be imme-
diately returned, ' as the library-keeper waited for it
in the shop :' his solicitation for longer time obtained
only a permission to keep it till the evening; to a fur-
ther delay Bentle}^ refused to consent, not choosing
to risk its safety during his absence from town. There
still, however, remained sufficient time for a compe-
tent person to have finished the collation : but at nine
o'clock that evening when the manuscript was re-
turned, only forty of the 148 epistles were despatched.
It was the care of Bennett to give his employer such a
representation of this matter, as should confirm his sus-
picion of some discourtesy personally directed against
himself. Mr. Boyle had already expressed his belief
of this being the fact : and to create such a quarrel
as should preclude explanation between the parties,
appeared the best mode of concealing his own neglect
of the commission. Besides, the numerous inqui-
ries made upon the subject soon discovered to this
sagacious tradesman his interest in siding with a
powerful literary party ^^
Such is the state of the facts, as it appears from a
careful examination of the many tedious discussions
respecting this much talked of but trivial affair, which
has, by a strange accident, found a place in our lite-
rary history. To Bentley, had the transaction been
fairly stated, not a shadow of blame could be attach-
ed; and Boyle was censurable only for giving implicit
credit to the representations of his agent. To have
gratuitously affronted a promising young scholar, of
'* This detail is drawn from the following publications, ' Boyle's Exami-
nation,' ji. 2 — 22. ' Boii/ey's Dissertation,' Pref. p. i.— xxxvii. ' Short
Account of Dr. Beniley's Justice and Humanity,' lyc. and ' Answer to a lute
Book written against the very learned Dr. Bentley.'
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 69
a name and family which he held in veneration, was chap.iv.
inconsistent with Bentley's character : he would rather ^^^'^-
have rejoiced in an opportunity of obliging him, and,
if properly applied to, would undoubtedly have made
the collation himself. But a notion prevailed at
Christ Church that an aftront was intended both for
Phalaris and his patrons ; and this it was determined
to resent. Possibly, the Tory politics prevalent in
that society might have had their share in hurrying
on a quarrel with a scholar in the opposite interest.
No more was said upon the subject till the appear- Jan. i,
ance of Boyle's Phalaris, when in the preface there Boyie's re'-
was found the followins: sentence : ' collatas etlam ^*''^''°" ^
O upon Bent-
curavi usque ad Epist. XL. cum MSto. in Bibliotheca '^y-
Regia, cujus mild copiam ulteriorem Bihliothecarius,
PRO siNGULARi SUA HUMANiTATE, negavit.' Of this
volume about a hundred copies were given to the
young men of Christ Church, and many others were
dispersed as presents : one of these Bentley saw for
the first time on the 26th of January. Surprised by
the reflection upon his character, he wrote instantly
to Boyle, explaining the real state of the case, and
assuring him that his suspicions of intended discour-
tesy were unfounded, and the very reverse of the
truth. He expected that, upon this assurance, the
offensive leaf would have been cancelled, apprehend-
ing that the copies were not yet in the hands of the
booksellers. This, it seems, was a mistake ; for the
book, though not advertised, had really been pub-
lished. There were, however, other modes, by which
the offence might have been honourably retracted,
and all further misunderstanding prevented. But
after two days' consideration, it was determined to
reject the pacific overture ; and Boyle coolly replied, Rejects his
' that what Mr. Bentley had said in his own behalf '"'p''"'''""-
might be true, but that the bookseller had represented
70 LIFE OF
CHAP. IV. the matter quite otherwise, and to him he was advised
^J^^to prefer his complaint. He added, that if this
account had been received before, he should have
considered of it ; but that after the publication, it
was too late to interpose ; and Mr. Bentley might
seek his redress in any method he pleased,' It is
hardly possible to justify the conduct of Boyle and
his advisers, in first resenting a supposed affront upon
ex parte evidence, and in afterwards rejecting an
explanation, offered in conciliatory terms, by a gentle-
man and a scholar. Bentley was now urged by his
friends publicly to vindicate himself from the calumny;
but good sense withheld him at the time. He knew
how averse the world is to listen to complaints of a
private description ; and he was aware that Mr.
Boyle's quarrel would be embraced by one of the
most numerous and distinguished societies in the
world, which it was neither his wish nor his interest
to offend. He preferred, therefore, to wait till they
should of their own accord make him amends, or till
a suitable opportunity should occur of laying his jus-
tification before the public.
Bentley had returned to town, after four months'
absence at Worcester, to complete his second course
of Boyle's lectures. Shortly afterwards, on the death
of Archbishop Tillotson, it was in contemplation to
elevate his patron Stillingfleet to Lambeth: this ap-
pointment was greatly wished by Queen Mary, and
Avould have been highly agreeable to the Church ; but
it was prevented by the Bishop's precarious health,
which made him unequal to the duties of the pri-
macy '^ He liad long been afflicted by the gout,
which now attacked his stomach, and three months
afterwards occasioned serious apprehensions for his
"' Burners Hist of his oivn Times, vol. ii. p. 136.
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 71
life'^ Accordingly Tenison, the Bishop of Lincoln, chap. iv.
was translated to Canterbury. ^^^^-
Evelyn, whose regard for Bentley showed itself in Archbp.
constant and zealous endeavours to promote his inter- ^ '^"'''°"-
ests, immediately applied to the new Archbishop, his degree.
particular friend, to confer on their Boyle's lecturer
the degree of Doctor of Divinity. For some reason
which is not explained, the primate was averse to
grant this point, even in favour of a person of such
claims, supported by solicitations from such a quarter.
The request, indeed, did not meet with a refusal ;
but Bentley, perceiving both from letters and conver-
sation his disinclination to comply, forbore to extort
the reluctant concession of a title, which he would be
able shortly to obtain in the regular way from his
own University '^ He was at this time assisting
Evelyn in the revision of his valuable work, the Evelyn.
' Numismata, or a Discourse on Medals, ancient and
modern ; ' to which many improvements and additions
were made at his suggestion *^ Among the distin-
guished persons to whose acquaintance this valuable
friend had introduced him, was Mr. Pepys, formerly Pepys.
Secretary of the Admiralty, and President of the
Royal Society, a name well known both to the history
and literature of our country. Bentley, however,
seems not to have obtained a very high station in his
good graces : Mr. Pepys, after reading the attack
upon him in the preface to Phalaris, expresses himself
thus in a letter to Dr. Charlett : " I suspect Mr. ja„. lo,
Boyle is in the right; for our friend's learning (which i^"-'-^^-
1 have a great value for) wants a little filing ; and I
'^ Bentley's Letter to Evelyn, Feb. 109-4-95.
'** Ibid. Jan. 29, 1694-95.
'^ Ibid. Feb. 15, 1 694-95.
7-2 LIFE OF
CHAP. IV. cloubt not but a few such strokes as this will do it and
1C95. himgood^"."
The Bishop of Worcester recovered from his alarm-
ing fit of the gout, but was subject during the
remainder of his life to severe attacks of the same
Benticy disordcr. Meanwhile Bentley continued to expe-
theKing. rience proofs of his approbation and kindness; through
HaruJbiin-. his interest he was made chaplain in ordinar}^ to the
King ; and the rectory of Hartlebury, in Worcester-
shire, the place of the episcopal residence, was given
to him to hold until his old pupil James Stillingfleet
should be in full orders : this preferment, to which
he was instituted Sept. 4, 1695, he retained three
years ^'. It was about this period that he was elected
a fellow of the Royal Society.
iciJG. At the beginning of the following year Bentley
transferred his abode from the Bishop's house in Park-
street, Westminster, to the librarian's lodgings in St.
Apartments James's palacc, which he fitted up, and commenced
James's Pa- housekeeping. His apartments, which were very
agreeable to his taste, looked into the Park, and ad-
Feb. joined those of the Princess Anne of Denmark. Being
£,.,,, "^f" desirous of adding to them some small rooms over-
TouT' h^^dj Lord Marlborough, who was his neighbour,
undertook to intercede in his behalf : but the result
of his negociation was, that he obtained them for
himself. At this Bentley rejoiced, conceiving that
the great captain, having now become his debtor,
would use his powerful interest to procure him a new
ground-room to be built in the Park^^ His desire
2" Among the Ballard paj)ers in the Bodleian. A letter from Edmimd
Gibson (afterwards Bishop of London) to Dr. Charlett, March 19, 1G93-94,
in the same collection, says : " Carr}4ng your service to Mr. Pepys got
me a very good dinner there, in comi)any with Dr. Gale and Mr. Bentley."
■■" Communicated by the present Bishoj) of Worcester.
" < )n this subject he reasons thus, in a letter to Evelyn, Feb. 22, 1G95-96 :
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 73
was to obtain such an addition to the librarian's apart- chap. iv.
ments, as would enable him to arrange and exhibit ^ ^^^-
the curious part of the library in a becomino; manner: state of the
•/ ~ library.
for the room in which the books were then placed
being inadequate, they were scattered about in extreme
confusion, to the disgrace of the palace, and the mor-
tification of the librarian. Indeed he confessed he
was absolutely ashamed to show the library in its
present state ^^ This appears to have been his motive
for opposing the publication of the list of its manu-
scripts in the Catalogus Lihrorum Manuscriptorum
Magnce Brltaniiice et HibernicB, the great work then
printing at Oxford. Queen Mary was solicited by
the Archbishop of Canterbury and others to suffer
those of the royal library to be included in this
national work : for so completely did she occupy the
literary department of monarchy, that during her
life-time it was generally called 'the Queen's library.'
But Bentley having convinced her that the publication
was not advisable at that time, she withheld her con-
sent. The lamented death of this princess took away Dec 26,
his best chance of compassing the different schemes ^^^'
which he meditated in favour of the library.
We find Bentley 's intercourse with Cambridge re- Cambridge
newed at this time in a mode peculiarly honourable press!"^ "^
to himself, and beneficial to the community. The
renovation of the University Press, which had con-
" As for the closets, to be a little paradoxical, I will tell you the good
news, that I have utterly lost them : because by the loss of them my Lord
Marlborough thinks himself obliged (for he has them, and yet was our
solicitor to the princess) to obtain for me a new ground-room to be built
into the Park contiguous to my lodgings. This will certainly be done,
because at the same time he enlarges his closets, by raising a second story
over this designed ground-room."
^^ Preface to Dissert, on Phal. p. Ixv. This confusion in the library is
the subject of a hit at Bentley, in Swift's Bailie of the Books.
74 LIFE OF
CHAP. IV. tinued in decay since the Usurpation, was projected
^^^^' by him, and mainly accomplished through his agency.
Renovated Ncw building^s, ucw prcsscs, and new types, were all
byBentley's . , f ' . -^ . •, in i . i . r,
agency. rcquisitc : the University itseli being destitute oi
funds, a subscription for these purposes was procured
principally by his exertions ; and the deficiency was
made up by the Senate borrowing a thousand pounds.
The task of ordering types of every description was
absolutely committed to his discretion by a grace
couched in very complimentary terms ; and the power
of attorney given him on this occasion is the most
unlimited that I ever recollect to have seen '*. The
commission was executed with promptitude and judg-
ment : he procured to be cast in Holland those beau-
tiful types which appear in Talbot's Horace, Kuster's
Suidas, Taylor's Demosthenes, &c. That this estab-
lishment owed its renovation to his exertions, is one of
the praises due to Bentley, from which envy has never
ventured to derogate.
Takes the i^ j^jy iQQQ Bentlcv was crcatcd Doctor of Divinity
degree oi "^ . \ _ ^ «'
D.D. at Cambridge. As his exercise for this degree, he
His public ^^^^ appointed to keep the ' Public Act' at the
^*^'- Commencement "^ ; a theological disputation which
formerly constituted the principal object of interest at
that solemnity : the attention now engaged by the
prize compositions of the students, used then to be
directed to the skill and readiness with which the
theologian overthrew the studied subtilties of his
opponents. The three subjects defended by Bentley
on this occasion were : 1 . The Mosaic account of the
creation and the deluge ; 2. The proof of divine
authority by the miracles recorded in Scripture;
2< From the original documents preserved in the Registrary's office j and
the Grace-Book of the time.
2^ From the Grace -Book.
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 75
3. The identity of the Christian and Platonic chap. iv.
Trinity ^^ The respondent at this Public Act had the — ^^^^—
honour of entertaining the University and its visitors
not only with his acuteness and learning, but also
with a public breakfast of appropriate magnificence.
It being found, however, that persons best qualified to
do honour to this public solemnity were sometimes
deterred by its costly accompaniment, a sumptuary
law was passed about this time, prohibiting the enter-
tainment for the future. Our new Doctor was likewise
appointed to preach before the University on the
Commencement Sunday. His discourse was a de- Commence-
fence of revelation against the deists, and a proof that mon.
the Author of our Religion was the Messiah ; a sub-
ject which he treated with his characteristic ability,
perspicuity, and closeness of reasoning. It was printed
at the time ; and being added, many years afterwards,
to an edition of his Boyle's Lectures, continues to be
read and valued as one of the most powerful vindica-
tions of Christianity from the cavils of infidels".
28 Tlie questions were thus worded : "An historia Mosaica de creatione
et diluvio contineat quidquam rationi contrarium ? 2. An miracula in S.
Scripiura memorata arguant divinam auctoritatem ? -.An Trinitas Chris-
tiana et Platonica sit eadem?" This is mentioned as a piece of hterary news,
in a letter from Edmund Gibson to Dr. Charlett, preserved in the
Bodleian.
^^ ITie title is, ' Of Revelation and the Messias ; a Sermon preached at
the Pubhc Commencement at Cambridge, July 5th, I696.'
76 LIFE OF
CHAPTER V.
Publication of CalUmachis — Additions by Spanheim and Bentley — Boyle's
Lectures — Bentley's first Dissertation on Phalaris — Reply to Sir W.
Temple — Literary forgeries — Opinions respecting the Epistles — Bentley
proves them spurious— from Chronology— from their language— from
their matter— from their late discovery — Replies to Mr. Boyle — Cen-
sures his edition — Other spurious Epistles — Reply to Barnes — jEsop's
Fables — Their history — Babrius — Maximus Ilanudes — Sensation pro-
duced by the Dissertation — The confederacy — Atterbury, Smalridge,
R. Freind, J. Freind, Alsop — Atterbury the chief Author — Sir William
Temple's mortification — His rejoinder — Swift's Tale of a Tub — Ridi-
cules Wotton and Bentley.
CHAP. V. Dr. Bentley's notes and emendations upon Calli-
^^^^- machus, and his collection of the fragments of that
Publication poet, were drawn up, after repeated interruptions, and
ciius.' "^ transmitted to Greevius for publication during the year
1696 : the last batch of fragments he sent to Utrecht
on his return to town from Worcester, where he had
been passing two months with the Bishop. Graevius's
Callimachus appeared in the August of the following
year, and presented two extraordinary specimens of
Greek erudition ; differing from one another, but each
constituting a monument to the fame of its author :
the collection of fragments by our critic, and the
Additions diffuse commentary by Ezechiel Spanheim. The in-
iltim and cxhaustiblc stores of knowledge in mythology, anti-
Bcntiey. quitics, aud philology, which the latter exhibits, are
an object of admiration ; and though he overlays the
poet with his learning, yet his commentary will always
be valued as a mine of information upon every subject
of which it treats. The merits of Bentley's perform-
ance were different : above four hundred fragments
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 77
raked together from the whole range of ancient litera- chap. v.
ture, digested in order, amended and illustrated with ^^^^'
a critical skill which had no example, presented a still
greater novelty. There existed no collection of Greek
fragments, which he could have taken for his model ;
and Valckenaer, one of the greatest scholars who have
trodden in his footsteps, speaking of this collection,
says, ' qua nihil in hoc genere prcBstantius prodiit aut
magis elahoratum^ .'
In the mean time the fame of Bentley's ' Refutation
of Atheism' increased both in this country and abroad :
a Latin version of the lectures by Dan, Ernest Jablonski
was published at Berlin ; and they were translated
into Dutch at the instance of Grsevius, who was no less
delighted with them than with the critical works of
his correspondent. It had been designed' that Bentley
should have continued Boyle's lecturer for the third i^oyie's
Lectures,
time in the year 1695. But he declined it, having
resolved to devote his time to the concerns of the
Royal library : he recommended, however, his friend
Wotton as his substitute : but this arrangement was
altered in favour of Dr. John Williams ^ The ever-
active friendship of Evelyn made him take measures
that Bentley should preach the following year the
lecture which he had so auspiciously commenced ;
and he believed he had obtained the consent of Arch-
bishop Tenison ; but for some reason his Grace's
support was given to Mr. Francis Gastrell, the preacher
of Lincoln's Inn, who became lecturer to the great
mortification of Evelyn. Bentley expresses to him
his own feelings on this occasion in different terms : Jan. 12,
"The person," says he, "that has the lecture, is '^'^'"
very well qualified for the performance, and has de-
1 Diatribe, p. 4. A. He thinks that Bentley's model was the collection
of Latin Fragments by Columna, Doiiza, Scaliger, Rutgersius, &c.
^ See Evelyn's Letter to Pepys. Pepys' Correspondence, vol. ii. p. 141.
78
LIFE OF
CHAP. V.
1697.
Bentley's
FirstDisser
tation on
Phalaris.
sired it a long time. Pray be not concerned therefore
for me, as if this was a disappointment ; for I speak
seriously, I am glad to be excused : this year I shall
find myself other work sufficient."
The fact is, that a second edition of the ' Reflec-
tions on Ancient and Modern Learning' being now
called for, Wotton claimed his friend's promise that
he would demonstrate Phalaris's Epistles and iEsop's
Fables to be spurious productions. Bentley desired
to excuse himself, alleging that circumstances were
altered since the promise was made ; as the treatment
which he had received in the preface to the Oxford
Phalaris would make it impossible for him to write
his dissertation without noticing the calumny pro-
pagated against him in that work. This excuse not
appearing sufficient, his friend exacted the perform-
ance of the engagement ^ This is his own account,
which we find unequivocally corroborated by Wotton.
It cannot however be supposed that Bentley's consent
was very reluctant ; or that he did not secretly rejoice
in this fair opportunity of clearing himself from an
unpleasant imputation. Far from seeing any dispo-
sition on the part of Boyle and his friends to retract
the offence, he found that their story had been indus-
triously circulated for two years, with all the additions
and exau'fferations with which rumour seldom fails to
decorate such an anecdote, and that it was becoming
seriously prejudicial to his character. Accordingly
he undertook a dissertation, in the form of Letters to
Mr. Wotton, of which the main object was to demon-
strate that the author of ' Phalaris's Epistles' was not
the Sicilian tyrant, but some sophist of a recent age ;
reserving to the conclusion his remarks on Boyle's
edition and the personal reflection upon himself.
^ Preface to Dissprtatioii on Phalaris, p. xi. xii.
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 79
This essay, though afterwards eclipsed by the en- chap. v.
larged dissertation, is no less amusing than learned : ^^^7-
it was indeed a somewhat hasty production : yet so
clearly were the arguments digested in the writer's
mind, and so abundant were his sources of proof, that
it contains a fair and satisfactory view of the whole
question in all its bearings. Prefixed is the ill-fated
paragraph of Sir William Temple, the great advocate Reply to sir
of Phalaris and ^Esop, which gave occasion to the ' ^'"^^*
discussion. With the controversy in which Wotton
was engaged he disclaims any interference ; observing
that ' it was a subject so nice and delicate, and of so
mixed and diffused a nature, that he was content to
make the best use he could of both ancients and
moderns, without venturing with him upon the hazard
of a wrong comparison, or the envy of a ,^Tue one*.'
Respecting the Baronet's remark, ' that some of the
oldest books are the best in their kinds,' he says, that
the same had been ' observed even by some of the
ancients ; but then the authors that they gave this
honour to were Homer and Archilochus : but the
choice of Phalaris and ^sop, as they are now extant,
for the two great inimitable originals, is a piece of
criticism of a peculiar complexion, and must proceed
from a singularity of palate and judgment \'
After giving some account of the fashion once pre- Literary
valent, to publish compositions under the names of °*^^^"^*'
illustrious men of yore, which, having been encouraged
by the kings of Pergamus and Alexandria offering
large sums for writings bearing great names, was after-
wards adopted without intention of fraud by the race
of Sophists, ' the task of whose schools it was, to
compose rtOoTroiiag, to make speeches, or write letters
* Dissertation on the Epistles of Phalaris, first edition, p. 6.
5 Ibid. p. 7.
1
80 LIFE OF
CHAP. V. in the name of some hero, or great commander or
^^'^^' philosopher,' Bentley proceeds to the Epistles of Pha-
laris. Of these compositions no mention can be found
in any writer earlier than the tenth century ; and
respecting the real author of them opinions have been
Opinions yaHous. That thev were an imposture was early
respecting '' ^ ^ pi • •
theEpisties. suspcctcd ; and Angelo Politian, one of the luminaries
of the court of Lorenzo de Medici, pronounced the
fabricator to be no other than Lucian : this notion,
which is demonstrably erroneous, prevailed among
the learned for some time. The great Erasmus had
not only avowed his opinion that they were suppo-
sititious, but thought, like Bentley, that they were
sorry specimens of declamation ^ On the other hand,
some very learned persons had believed them the
genuine production of the tyrant of Agrigentum :
Selden had drawn from them arguments in chrono-
logy, and Dodwell was at that very time applying
them to the same purpose. This was a sufficient
answer to those who contended that the discussion of
their authenticity was trivial and useless. To unmask
an imposture which was thus introducing material
errors into our notions of ancient history, cannot be
deemed an unimportant service to the cause of let-
ters.
Bentley Bcntlcy bcgius his argument against the pretended
spuHous. Phalaris with proofs taken from chronology : he next
considers the language, then the matter of the Epistles,
" Erasmi Lib. I. Epist. I " Porro Epistolae quas nobis reliquit nescio
quis Bruti nomine, nomine Phalaridis, nomine Senecae, et Pauli, quid aliud
censeri posstmt, quam Declamatiimculae?" Of this great opinion in his
favour Bentley was probably not aware, as he does not refer to it in his
first Dissertation : but he afterwards adduces it in his reply to Boyle, who
had charged him at a ventine ' with being the first man who had ever
pretended to des[)ise Phalaris; and with having an opinion contrary to the
sense of all mankind that had ever written before him.' — Boyle^s Examina-
tion, p. 27. Bentley's Disscriatiov, p. 6.
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 81
and concludes with the argument of their late appear- chap. v.
ance in the world. Upon the first point alone, which ,^i2L^
he justly regarded as the most satisfactory method of F'o"» cin-o-
detecting an imposture, his proofs seem more than
sufficient to procure an unanimous condemnation of
the fraud. Having assumed the age of Phalaris to
be in the 57th Olympiad, or about 550 years before
Christ, the latest period that history will allow, and
therefore the most favourable to his pretended writings,
he proceeds to prove that one Sicilian city, Phintia,
mentioned in the Epistles, was not named or built till
nearly three centuries after his time ; that another,
AlaBsa, was first founded above 140 years later; that
the ' Thericlean cups,' ten pair of which are included
in a magnificent present sent by the pretended Phalaris
to a physician who had cured him of a dangerous
illness, derived their name from Thericles, a Corin-
thian potter, who was contemporary with Aristophanes
the comedian, and therefore above 120 years later
than the death of the real tyrant of Agrigentum.
The author speaks in one place of ' Zancle,' and in
others of ' Messana ; ' whereas they were one and the
same city, which, by the concurrent testimony of
historians, had received the latter name from the
exiled Messenians of the Peloponnesus above 60 years
after the latest date of Phalaris's death : he makes
use of a quaint phrase, ' to extirpate like a pine tree,'
the original of which belonged to Croesus the Lydian
monarch, whose reign did not begin till some years
after the Sicilian was murdered : he mentions ' Tau-
romenium,' a name given to the city of Naxos many
generations after the time of Phalaris : this pretended
prince quotes a celebrated expression. ' words are the
shadoivs of tilings,' which Plutarch and Diogenes
Laertius attribute to Democritus the laughing philo-
sopher of Abdera, who was more than a century later
VOL. I. G
language.
82 * LIFE OF
CHAP. V. than his days : the author of the Epistles shows some
^^^^- acquaintance with verses of Pindar and Callimachus,
poets of after times ; and not only refers to a passage
from an Athenian drama, but actually mentions
' tragedies,' the invention and name of which per-
formance had not its origin till some years after the
tyrant had expiated his crimes and cruelties in his
own brazen bull.
From their Haviiig established these pretty formidable objec-
tions to Phalaris's claim of authorship, he proceeds to
the language of the Epistles, which is Attic, and
therefore not likely to come from the prince of Agri-
gentum, a Doric colony, whose broad and harsh
dialect differed in every thing from the refinements of
Atticism. And, even admitting some childish argu-
ments that had been suggested by Joshua Barnes, for
Phalaris speaking the language of Athens, yet the
style and idiom of his pretended compositions bore a
character later by some centuries than the tyrant, who
was contemporary with Solon, and consequently older
than any Athenian writings which exist. Besides,
Bentley urged that the sums of money, which the
mock prince distributes with boundless profusion in
his presents and purchases, were all of the Athenian
standard ; since the Sicilian talent was but a two-
thousandth part of the Attic, comprising only three
doiarii, while the latter was equivalent to six thousand;
the autlior's ignorance of which fact plainly betrayed
the forgery.
From their Having destroyed the credit of these reputed speci-
mens of antiquity by such overwhelming arguments
from fact, he ventures upon the most tender part of
the question, their subjects and business. Respecting
the force of wit and spirit, and the lively painting of
humour, which Sir W. Temple fancied he discovered
in them, he waives all discussion; but proves by many
matter.
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 83
examples the want of sense and judgment which chap. v.
they exhibit, and detects the inaccurate and clumsy ^^^^'
learning, and depravation of taste, which marked the
scholastic exercises of the later sophists. Having
quoted the glowing character of the Epistles drawn
by the Baronet, I shall now give the reader the sum-
mary of the Doctor's opinion, in a paragraph contain-
ing the particular expressions for which his style of
writing was most keenly attacked :
" It would be endless to prosecute this part, and show all the silli-
ness and impertinency in the matter of the Epistles. For, take them
in the whole bulk, if a great person would give me leave, I should
say, they are a fardle of common-places, without life or spirit from
action and circumstance. Do but cast your eye upon Cicero's letters,
or any statesman's, as Phalaris was : what lively characters of men
there ! what descriptions of place ! what notifications of time ! what
particularity of circumstances ! what multiplicity di designs and
events ! When you return to these again, you feel, by the emptiness
and deadness of them, that you converse with some di*eaming pedant
imth. his elbow on his desk ; not with an active, ambitious tyrant,
with h'^ hand on his sword, commanding a million of subjects. All
that takes or affects vou is a stiffness and stateliness and operoseness
of style ; but as that is improper and unbecoming in all epistles, so
especially it is quite aliene from the character of Phalaris, a man of
business and despatch ''."
One point only remained, the late discovery of these From their
Epistles. Supposing Sir William Temple's opinion very. '^^°'
of their age to be correct, they must have remained
concealed above a thousand years, (a period not of
darkness and ignorance, but one in which literature
flourished more than any in the history of the world),
unknown to all the writers of antiquity, many of whom
would have been greatly interested by such curious
documents. This view of the question, exhibiting so
many enormous absurdities, Bentley treats with a
^ Dissertation upon Phalaris, &c p. 62.
G 2
84 LIFE OF
CHAP. V. liveliness and jocularity, which must have been highly
- ^^^^' unpalatable to the advocates of the ancient Agri-
gentine.
Replies to Having dismissed Phalaris, he proceeds to discuss
the edition which contained the attack upon himself :
"I must now beg the favour," he says, "of one word with our
late editors of this author. They have told the world in their preface
that (among other specimens of their diligence) they collated the
King's MS. as far as the xl. epistle ; and would have done so through-
out, but that the library keeper, out of his singular humanity, denied
them the further use of it. Tliis was meant as a lash for me, who had
the honour then and since to serve his Majesty in that office. I must
own, 'twas very well resolved of them, to make the preface and the
book all of a piece ; for they have acted in this calumny both the in-
justice of the tyrant, and the forgery of the sophist. For my own part,
I should never have honour'd it with a refutation in print, but have
given it the neglect that is due to weak detraction, had I not been
engaged to my friend to write this censure upon Phalaris ; where to
omit to take notice of that slander, would be tacitly to own it ^"
He then tells the story of the bookseller and the
manuscript, and his correspondence with Boyle, though
in less detail than he afterwards found necessary ; and
contrives in the following manner to introduce his
strictures upon the literary merits of the new edition :
" Pro singular i sua hinnanitate ! I could produce several letters
from learned professors abroad, whose books our editors may in time
be fit to read ; wherein these verv same words are said of me can-
didly and seriously. For I endeavour to oblige even foreigners bv all
courtesie and humanity ; much more would I encourage and assist
any useful designs at home. And I heartily wish, that I could do
any service to that young gentleman of great hopes, whose name is
set to the edition. I can do him no greater at present, than to
remove some blemishes from the book that is ascribed to him, which
I desire may be taken aright ; to be no disparagement to himself, but
a reproof only to his teachers ®."
Censures fjg ^heu brink's forward some specimens of false
his edition. , ~ , ^
translation, and mistaken readings, to which he gives
' Dissertation upon Phalaris, &c. p. 66. " Ibid. p. 68.
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 85
no quarter, but lashes with a severity unusual at that chap. v.
time in classical criticism. Sucli a book as the Pha- ^^^^'
laris was beneath this species of chastisement: this
part of his essay does not appear well suited to the
rest, but is rather a discredit and blemish to the
whole performance. Nevertheless it occasioned his
adversaries all the mortification which he thought
they deserved. It ends with the following defiance :
" Let this serve for a short specimen of their care and skill in
using of manuscripts. I have many more instances ready at hand;
but their humanity, I hope, will pardon me, if I don't produce them
now, nor now proceed, as I once thought, to weed all their book for
them. My time does not lie upon my hands; and this tract must be
only a short appendix to the book of my fi-iend; but it's likely here-
after, if, in their way of speaking, they mightily exhort me to it, I
may be at their service; if not in this, yet in another language; to
carry the fame and gloiy of our editors, whither silch editions as
theirs s^Mom go, to foreign universities."
Having overthrown the claim of Phalaris to a place other spuri-
aniong royal or noble authors, Bentley examines cer- °"^^p'^'^*-
tain other reputed pieces of antiquity, the Letters of
Themistocles, of Socrates, and of Euripides ; all which
he shows not to be productions of the mighty cha-
racters whose names they bear, but forgeries of some
sophists many centuries later. His arguments, like
those upon Phalaris, are taken from the contradic-
tions to history and chronology, the extravagant mat-
ter as well as tasteless language of these impostures ;
all which he exposes with a happy mixture of accu-
rate learning and playful humour. It is right to
notice the manner in which he treats Joshua Barnes,
whose insufferable behaviour respecting the Epistles
of Euripides has been mentioned in our third chapter.
Instead of resenting such conduct, he repeats calmly
and good-humouredly the arguments of his private
letter, enlarged and enforced by several others ; and
86 LIFE OF
CHAP. V. of Barnes himself, who had since become Professor of
^^97- Greek at Cambridge, he speaks in terms not of dis-
Repiy to pleasure but of compliment.
^sop's Fa- There still remained the ^Esopian Fables, the other
bies. great object of Sir W. Temple's admiration ; and to
dispossess the old Phrygian fabulist of the credit, or
rather discredit, of having written the present collec-
tion, was no difficult task. This section of Bentley's
performance exhibits little novelty or research, and
bears greater marks of haste than any other part of
the Dissertation. It is probable that the printer was
too urgent, or his friend Wotton too impatient for the
publication of the book, to allow more time for the
Their his- Appendix. The history of the Fables, though not
'°'^^" generally known, had in fact been told before, and
Bentley only contributed greater precision and accu-
racy, together with a few additional circumstances.
Whether iEsop himself left any thing in writing, or
whether his Fables were preserved by oral tradition,
is a point which admits of dispute. From Plato we
learn, that Socrates amused himself when in prison,
with putting into verse some of these apologues which
he happened to recollect. The first collection which
we hear of was made by Demetrius Phalereus, the
peripatetic philosopher of Athens, who wrote and de-
claimed about a century later than Socrates. After
him, the Fables were put into verse by some one
whose name is lost ; fragments of this collection have
been preserved, and are principally in elegiac mea-
Babiius. sure. The present collection originated with Babrius,
a Greek poet, whose age is uncertain, but whom
Bentley considers to be in the latest class of good
writers : he composed ^sopian Fables in scazon or
choliambic verse, of which specimens are quoted by
Maximus Suidas and others. Maximus Planudes, the same who
translated Ovid's Metamorphoses, Caesar's Commen-
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 87
taries, and other Latin books into Greek, amused chap. v.
himself with the edifying task of putting Babrius into ^^^'^•
very dull prose ^"l and this notable performance is
the very book which is the delight of our nurseries,
and which Sir W. Temple extolled above all other
prose writings, as being at once the oldest and the
best in the world. Babrius, however, was not so
completely transprosed, but that many traces of his
verse, and indeed whole choliambic lines remain;
some of which Bentley pointed out, and observed that
they were quoted elsewhere as from Babrius. This
discovery had been before made by Neveletus, who
printed 136 of the Fables, from a manuscript in the
Heidelberg library, in the year 1610. Planudes, who
was himself a monk, makes jSlsop speak in one place
of the monastic order, and in another gir-es a quota-
tion from the book of Job '^ The subject, however,
far from being exhausted, was but slightly touched
by Bentley, and has received much greater light
from writers who have had the advantage of older
copies ; in which the verses of Babrius may be ex-
tracted from their mutilated and disguised form, and
exhibit not indeed ' the oldest prose writer in ex-
istence,' but in his stead a terse, elegant, and pleas-
ing poet, who lived many centuries nearer our own
times '^ To this Planudes belongs also, as Bentley
10 There is reason, however, to believe he was not the person who ori-
ginated this work. See Museum Criticum, vol. i. p. 410.
'^ Dissertation upon the Fables of ^sojj, p. 141.
'2 Tyrwhitt wrote a Dissertation de Babrio, Fabularum jEsopicarum
Scriptorej with some additional Fables, from a manuscript in the Bodleian.
This tract, which first appeared in 1775, was reprinted at Leipsic in 1810,
by Francis de Furia, in a thick volume containing the Fables from an an-
cient Florentine manuscript. The most satisfactory account of the history
of the iEsopian Fables will be found in an article of the Museum Criticum,
vol. i. p. 407, for which we are indebted to the present Bishop of London,
who has most ingeniously restored several complete fables to the choliambic
verses~of Babrius.
88
LIFE OF
CHAP. V.
1697.
May.
Sensation
produced by
the Disser-
tation.
The confe-
deracy.
Atterbury,
Smalridge.
believed, the Life of ^sop, a narrative filled with
unfounded and absurd fictions : among them is the
account of the old fabulist's personal deformity; which
story, though as generally believed as the fact that he
was a Phrygian and a slave to whom the Athenians
erected a statue, is nevertheless not only without au-
thority, but contrary to every fair and probable sup-
position ^^.
On the publication of this joint work, the sensation
in the literary and academical circles was great be-
yond example ^*. In the large and distinguished
society of Christ Church, a perfect ferment was pro-
duced by Bentley's attack upon Boyle's Phalaris,
which was considered an affront to the Dean under
whose auspices it was published, and the college for
whose use it was designed : and the mention of ' the
editors,' ' the translators,' &c. in the plural number,
seemed a reflection upon the whole society, as if they
were answerable for the faults of a juvenile publica-
tion. It was resolved accordingly that the audacious
ofl"ender should experience the full resentment of the
body whom he had provoked, and the task of inflict-
ing this public chastisement devolved upon the ablest
scholars and wits of the college. The leaders of the
confederacy were Francis Atterbury and George Smal-
ridge, both of them in process of time members of the
episcopal bench ; the first of whom has associated his
name with the political history of this country in a
degree which has seldom been the lot of a church-
man. Each was nearly of the same age as Bentley^'^;
and they were regarded as the rising lights of the
University of Oxford. A share in the association for
" Bmtley's Dissertation on the Fables of ^sop, § ix. p. 148.
" Bentley's Dissertation was sold separately to the purchasers of the
first edition of the ' Reflections on Ancient and Modern Learning.'
Atterbury was born in 1662; Smalridge in 1663.
15
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 89
the demolition of our critic is claimed for Robert chap. v.
Freind, afterwards head-master of Westminster school, ^^^^'
his brother John Freind, and Anthony Alsop, all ^- Freind,
students of Christ Church ; and the work was under- Aisop.
taken with the encouragement, but not with the as-
sistance, of the Dean. Mr. Boyle, in whose name
and behalf the controversy was carried on, seems to
have had but a small share in the actual operations :
having now quitted academical pursuits, and entered
upon the theatre of active life, he was content that his
college friends should fight the battle under his
colours '^ It w^as resolved to attack every part of
Bentley's book ; to cavil at all his arguments, and to
cojitend that, whatever were the merits of Phalaris
and iEfcjp, his dissertation had failed to prove either
of them spurious. But as they were likely to obtain
little triumph in matters of erudition, they determined
to hold up every particular of Bentley's character and
conduct to ridicule and odium ; to dispute his ho-
nesty and veracity as well as his learning ; and by
representing him as a model of pedantry, conceit, and
ill-manners, to raise such an outcry as should drive
him off the literary stage for ever. Accordingly,
every circumstance that could be discovered respect-
ing his life and conversation, every trivial anecdote,
however unconnected with the controversy, was caught
up and made a topic either of censure or ridicule.
In short, the obnoxious scholar, whose only strength
they supposed to be his learning, was to be borne
down by the weight of a combined attack upon his
literary, moral, and personal character.
16 Warburton says, upon the authority of Pope, that Boyle supphed
only a detail of the transactions with the bookseller ; and that even this
was corrected. Warburton's Letters to Hurd, p. 1 1 . I am disposed, how-
ever, to believe that Boyle had a somewhat greater share in the book than
is here represented: I shall give my reasons in a subsequent note for ques-
tioning altogether the authority of Pope's account.
90
LIFE OF
CHAP. V. The principal share in the undertaking fell to the
1697- lot of Atterbury : this fact was suspected at the time,
Atterbury and has been since placed beyond all doubt by the
luthdr!'^ publication of a letter of his to Boyle, in which he
mentions, that ' in writing more than half the book,
in reviewing a good part of the rest, and in transcrib-
ing the whole, half a year of his life had passed
away.' The main part of the discussion upon Pha-
laris is from his pen : that upon iEsop was believed to
be written by John Freind ; he was probably assisted
in it by Alsop, who was at that very time engaged
on an edition of the Fables. But the respective shares
cannot be fixed with certainty ; nor is this a matter
of importance, since Atterbury has, by his own con-
fession, made himself responsible for the faults of the
whole. In point of classical learning, the joint stock
of the confederacy bore no proportion to that of Bent-
ley : their acquaintance with several of the books
upon which they comment appears only to have
begun upon this occasion, and sometimes they are
indebted for their knowledge of them to their adver-
sary : compared with his boundless erudition, their
learning was that of schoolboys, and not always suf-
ficient to preserve them from distressing mistakes.
But profound literature was at that period confined to
few, while wit and raillery found numerous and eager
readers. It may be doubted whether Busby himself,
by whom every one of the confederated band had
been educated, possessed knowledge which would
have qualified him to enter the lists in such a contro-
versy. Besides, they had undertaken to maintain an
untenable position: for, although opinions might differ
upon some parts of Bentley's performance, yet the
assertion that all his arguments had failed to invali-
date the credit of Phalaris's Epistles, was one which
committed their characters both for scholarship and
tion.
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 91
judgment. Nevertheless the confidence of wit and chap. v.
talent, joined with great esprit de corps, carried them ^^^"^^
forward ; and high were their anticipations of ven-
geance to be executed upon the presumptuous critic '^
There was another individual in whom Bentley's
Dissertation excited a still deeper feeling of resent-
ment. Sir William Temple had already been severely sir wniiam
chagrined at the favourable reception of Wotton's monifica-
Reflections, the work of a young and unknown author,
who presumed to question the decisions of his estab-
lished judgment ; but his mortification was increased
ten-fold by Bentley's Appendix, which did, it must
be confessed, place him in an uncomfortable predica-
ment. He now saw it demonstrated by arguments
not one of which he could refute, that the two pro-
ductions believed by him to be the oldest, and pro-
nounced to be the finest in existence, were the fabri-
cations of some comparatively recent hand, and that
they belonged to an age, in which both learning and
taste had degenerated. The Baronet therefore stood
in the situation of a celebrated connoisseur, who learns
that the pictures which he has commended as master-
pieces of Raphael or Titian, are the productions of
some common sign-painter ; or in that of an anti-
quary, who after having published his conviction of
the inimitable merit of an antique gem, finds evidence
brought to prove it the performance of an ordinary
modern workman. A person so circumstanced might
indeed change his ground, and maintain that the
forgery did really surpass in merit all the most famous
originals. But Sir William had not left himself even
this desperate resource : his argument for the supe-
riority of the most ancient writings over those of all
succeeding ages, was made to depend upon the anti-
" Their feelings may be seen in a letter from Smalridge ; Nichols' lllust.
of Lit. vol. iii. p. 268.
92 LIFE OF
CHAP. V. quity of these very productions ; whereby he had cut
^^^7- off his own retreat, and in a two-fold manner staked
his credit upon this questionable ground. His first
step was to write a reply to both Wotton and Bentley,
couched in language of indignation and contempt.
This piece was left unfinished, and printed after his
death ; his reputation however would have been better
consulted by its suppression. It breathes an angry
and resentful spirit, ill becoming a dignified and phi-
losophic old age. His adversaries he compares with
' young barbarous Goths and Vandals, breaking or
defacing the admirable statues of those ancient heroes,'
His rejoin- Scc.^^ The Dart which is finished of Sir William's
der. , ^
rejoinder concerns the publication of Wotton, to whose
arguments however he can hardly be said to reply ;
he does little more than repeat his own declamatory
account of the immense advances made in science,
philosophy, and literature by the ancient sages of
Egypt, Assyria, Greece, and Sicily, without advert-
ing to the questionable nature of the testimonies upon
which those pretensions rest. Before he arrived at
Bentley "s Appendix, he discovered that this was
already taken in hand by Boyle and his friends, who
were preparing an ample punishment for his temerity;
and to them he was content to leave the cause of his
ancient Sicilian and Phrygian authors.
It was at this time that Jonathan Swift inserted his
Swift's Tale first attack upon our critic in the ' Tale of a Tub. '
The greater part of tliis celebrated piece of liumour
had been composed, as the author informs us, in the
preceding year. The first design of the ' Tale ' was
only to ridicule the corruptions and extravagancies of
certain religious sects ; which part of his perform-
ance, while it displays an original genius, and a
** * Some thoughts upon reviewng the Essay,' &c. Temple's IVorks,
vol.iii. p. 471.
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 93
peculiar turn of humour, has given well grounded chap. v.
offence to many by the indecorous and licentious ^^^^-
manner in which it treats the most solemn allusions.
The sections containing his ridicule of criticism and
of whatever else he disapproved in literature, were
written upon the appearance of Wotton's and Bentley's
joint publication. Swift was at this time living under
the protection of Sir WilHam Temple, at Moor Park,
and regarded his patron with the utmost attachment
and veneration. Perceiving the uneasiness of the
Baronet at the awkward situation in which this con-
troversy had placed him, he determined to avenge his
cause by those weapons, against which no learning
and no genius is entirely proof. Accordingly he
pfratified his patron by exhibiting his adversaries in Ridicules
r , . 1 1 1 . • • 1 1 1 1 • VVotton and
ludicrous colours, and at the same time indulged his Bemiey.
own propensity of treating with contempt those
branches of knowledge with which he was ill ac-
quainted. He took the same opportunity of venting
private spleen against some other writers ; but by
placing at their head John Dryden, his distant rela-
tion, who had spoken in disparagement of some speci-
mens of his poetry, he blunted his satire against the
rest, and conferred upon them no small honour, by
grouping them in such glorious company ^^
The third section of Swift's book, intitled ' A
Digression concerning Critics,' is almost entirely
levelled against Bentley ; it represents him as a
model of the ' true critic;' a character pourtrayed in
a mixture of irony and invective, as remarkable for
the broadness of the humour, as for its being totally
inapplicable to the Dissertation upon Phalaris. The
1' The origin of this pique is well known : some juvenile odes of Swift
having been shown to the veteran bard for his opinion of their merits,
Dryden said upon inspecting them, * Cousin Swift, you will never make a
poet.'
94 LIFE OF
CHAP. V. following specimens will be sufficient to justify this
^^^'^- remark :
" The third and noblest sort is that of the true critic, whose
original is the most ancient of all. Eveiy true critic is a hero bom,
descending in a direct line from a celestial stem by Momus and
Hybris, who begat Zoilus, who begat Tigellius, who begat Etcsetera
the elder ; who begat Bentley, and R)Tner, and Wotton, and Perrault,
and Dennis ; who begat Etcsetera the younger." " Now, from
this heavenly descent of criticism, and the close analogy it bears to
heroic virtue, it is easy to assign the proper employment of a true
ancient genuine critic ; which is, to travel through this vast world of
writings; to pursue and hunt those monstrous faults bred within
them ; to drag out the lurking errors, like Cacus from his den ; to
multiply them like Hydra's heads ; and rake them together like
Augeas's dung: or else drive away a sort of dangerous fowl, who
have a perverse inclination to plunder the best branches of the ti'ee
of knowledge, like those Stjonphalian birds that eat up the fruit."
In the fifth section he returns to the charge :
" When I consider how exceedingly our illustrious moderns have
eclipsed the weak glimmering lights of the ancients, and turned
them out of the road of all fashionable commerce, to a degree, that
our choice town wits, of most refined accomplishments, are in grave
dispute, whether there have been ever any ancients or not ; in
which point, we are likely to receive wonderful satisfaction, from the
most useful labours and lucubrations of that worthy modern. Dr.
Bentley:" adding this note : " The learned person, here meant by
our author, has been endeavouring to annihilate so many ancient
writers, that, until he is pleased to stop his hand, it will be dangerous
to affirm, whether there have been imy ancients in the world^"."
This celebrated piece succeeded at the time in
. obliging and gratifying Sir William Temple, and in
exciting a high opinion of Swift's talents among
private friends to whom the manuscript was shown :
but for some reason or other several years passed
before it was given to the public.
>" In another section Swift calls Dr. Bentley, * that great rectifier of
saddles.'
1
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 95
CHAPTER VI.
Proposed new library — Bentley^s club — Alsop's publication of^Esop — Boyle's
Examination of Bentley's Dissertation — Dr. William King — Sir Ed-
ward Sherburn's frivolous complaint — Absurd charges against Bentley —
Merits of the Christ Church book — Instances of its mistakes — Examina-
tion of uEsop — Witty proof that the Dissertation was not written by
Bentley — Charge of plagiarism — Affronting Index — Causes of the great
popularity of Boyle's book — Temple's reception of the book — Boyle's
own sentiments — Outcry against Bentley — Keill — Milner — Garth —
Aldrich — Caricature— Rymer's Essay — Swift's Battle of the Books —
Bentley's behaviour — Bentley prepares a reply — Dodwell's Chronology —
Bentley's enlarged Dissertation on Phalaris — Attractive nature of the
work — Defence against the accusation of pedantry — Retorts Boyle's
raillery — Short Account of Dr. Bentley's Humanity and Justice — Refu-
tation of this pamphlet — Another anonymous tract — Bishop Lloyd's
publication — Death of Bishop Stillingfleet — His Library — Bentley's
complete victory.
While the storm was gathering from various quarters, chap. vi.
Bentley's mind was directed to an object of a different ^^^7-
description, the erection of a new royal library, which Proposed
might be worthy of the nation, and of the noble col- "^"^ ' '^'^'
lection of books entrusted to his charge. It had
formerly been intended to convey the books to the
Roman Catholic chapel at Whitehall, a fine room
which the abdication of James II. had left unem-
ployed ; but this scheme was defeated by the fire
which destroyed the Palace and most of the adjoining
buildings. The design upon wliich Bentley had
fixed his heart has been already mentioned, the build-
ing a room of appropriate size and magnificence in
St. James's Park : for this work the sanction of the
Lords of the Treasury had actually been obtained;
but it was foimd that an Act of Parliament was requi-
site, to procure which every exertion was made by
himself and his friends. In promoting this as well
96 LIFE OF
CHAP. VI. as his other views, we find Mr. Evelyn the foremost ;
^^^^- but the violence of party disputes at that moment,
and the financial embarrassments of the country,
proved obstacles too great for all his zeal to over-
come \
Bentiey's About the samc time Bentley formed a club, or
'''"^' evening meeting of a few friends, who happened to be
amono' the greatest intellectual characters that the
history of mankind can produce : this society, which
met once or twice a week in the librarian's apartments
in St. James's, consisted at its foundation of Sir
Christopher Wren, Mr. John Evelyn, Mr. Isaac New-
ton, Mr. John Locke, and Dr. Richard Bentley :
names sufficient in themselves to render illustrious the
age in which they lived, and the country which gave
them births
1698. The attack from Christ Church commenced with
itcatS/of " the new year. The honour of leading the assault
^'°P' was given to Alsop, who published a selection of
^sop's Fables, as the Dean's present to his students.
In the preface he treats Bentley in a manner which
betokened what might be shortly expected ; terming
him Richardum quendam Bentleiiim, viruin in volvendis
lexicis satis d'digentem ; and describes his supposed
refusal of the manuscript to Boyle, by giving the fable
of the ' Dog in the manger' in neat latinity ; where
' Evelyn's Letter to Bentley, of Dec. 25, 1698. Evelyn^s Memoirs, vol. ii.
p. 284. Also Bentiey's manuscript letters to Evelyn, Oct. 21, 1697, and
Feb. 27, 1698. In the latter he says, " I did receive your very kind letter
about your conversation with Mr. Edwards, and give you a thousand thanks
for the favour ; but I fear the quarrels of the House of Commons, the
unfortunate burning of Whitehall, the public necessities, and the general
decay of honour and \-irtue, will scarce permit our bill to be brought in,
at least not in this session. But, however, we are resolved not to despair,
till we are actually defeated. You know my useful motto, Possunt quia
posse videntur."
2 The foundation of this society is mentioned in a manuscript letter of
Bentley to Evelyn, Oct. 21, 1697-
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 97
the ironical words singularis humanitas, fix the allu- chap.vi.
sioii upon the offending librarian ^ ^^^^'
At leno^th appeared the performance of the con- March.
PI,. i-i • -IP ^1 Boyle'sexa-
lederate wits, which was to extinguisn tor ever tne mination of
fame and pretensions of our critic : it was a book of oL'serta-
about 300 pages, entitled ' Dr. Bentleifs Dissertations "°"-
on the JEpistles of Phalar'is and the Fables of ^sop,
examined by the Honourable Charles Boijle, Esq.' with
a motto sufficiently menacing :
Remember Milo's end,
Wedg'd in that timber which he strove to rend.
This work, which once enjoyed an extravagant
popularity, is now little known, except through the
fame of him whom it was intended to crush ; since
few will take the trouble of readins; a controversial
piece so immeasurably inferior to its opponent. But
if we consider that the view of each several question
which it discussed is the wrong one, it is impossible
to deny to its arguments the praise of address and
ingenuity. Bentley declared that the only merit of
^ Fabularum y^sopicarum Delectus. Oxonise, 1698. The fable deserves
to be given at length.
" CANIS IN PRiESEPI.
Bos post laboris taedia reversus domum,
Pro more stabulum ingreditur, ut famem levet ;
Praesepe sed prius occupaverat canis,
Ringensque frendensque arcet a faeno bovem :
Hunc ille morosum atque inhospitum vocat,
Et fastuosum mentis ingenium exprobrat :
Canis hisce graviter percitiis conviciis,
Tvine, inquit, audes me vocare inhospitum ?
Me nempe summis quem ferunt praeconiis
Gentes tibi ignotae ? Exteri si quid sciant,
Humanitate supero quemlibet canem.
Hunc intumentem rursus ita bos e.xcipit,
Haec singularis an tua est humanitas,
Mihi id roganti denegare pabulum,
Gustare tu quod ipse nee vis, nee potes ?"
VOL. I. H
98 LIFE OF
CHAP. VI. the book was ' banter and grimace :' but this is not a
^^^s- fair statement ; no where could we find a specimen
of more cleverness and adroitness shown in encoun-
tering logic and erudition with the weapons of so-
phistry. Against every part of the Dissertation in-
genious cavils are raised, of a nature quite sufficient
to delude the half-learned among its readers: the
style is elegant and scholar-like, and a vein of well-
sustained humour and lively raillery runs through
the w^hole performance.
Regarded in another point of view, this book de-
serves severe reprehension : the spirit of hostility and
persecution which it breathes is so bitter and so dis-
proportioned to the alleged offence, that every candid
mind feels disgusted. Not content with denying
Bentley all credit for ability or learning, his oppo-
nents were resolved to dispute his honour and veracity
in every action and word, and to represent him as a
person unfit for the society of gentlemen. The object
constantly kept in view is not the pursuit of truth or
detection of error, but the ruin of an individual's cha-
racter; and to accomplish this no methods are thought
unfair or degrading.
The facts adduced to the disparagement of Bent-
ley's reputation, even admitting the statement of the
accusers, would not justify the shocking reflections
cast upon him. The affair of the bookseller and the
manuscript is related upon Rennet's authority, in
exaggerated terms. But, after hearing Boyle's own
account, every candid person must condemn him for
commencing a rpiarrel in resentment of a supposed
slight, before he had taken any measure to ascertain
that it was intended as such. His friends felt this to
be the weak part of his cause ; and accordingly they
laboured to prove, upon certain other testimony, that
their adversary's general behaviour was uncourteous.
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 99
Dr. William King, a civilian, well known as a witty chap. vi.
writer both in prose and verse, happened to be in __i69a,_
Bennet's shop during one of the conversations about Dr. wiiiiam
the manuscript ; being- an old Westminster and Christ ^'""'
Church man, and a friend of Atterbur}^ he readily
furnished some recollections of the brusque language
which he had overheard. The foundation of his tale
was this: Bentley, immediately upon his appointment
to the librar}^ had exerted himself to recover from the
booksellers a copy of all their respective publications,
to which the King's library was entitled, as well as
the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge, but which
they had of late failed to deliver. Among the rest he
called upon Bennet for his share ; Mdio thereupon
complained of the hardship of the demand, questioned
the right of Parliament to give awa}^ his property,
and talked of the booksellers being a rich body, with
a common purse, and able to resist and litigate the
question. Bentley checked his talk by explaining
the advantages derived by publishers from the ex-
istence of such libraries, to which therefore it was
equitable that they should contribute, and mentioned
as an instance the manuscript of which he was at
that moment soliciting the use ; telling him in jest
that he ought to make a present of a book to the
library in return, since the value of the manu-cript
after its collation would be diminished ; and to make
him comprehend this, he said, ' it would then be-
come like a squeezed orange.' Dr. King, who over-
heard this discourse, could recollect no particular
except Dr. Bentley 's remark, ' that the manuscript
when collated would be worth nothing for the future:'
he testified indeed that there was ' pride and inso-
lence' in his discourse, but suppressed the cause which
had excited it; wishing it to be inferred by the
H 2
100
LIFE OF
CHAP. VI.
1608.
Sir Edward
Sherburn's
frivolous
complaint.
Absurd
charges
against
Bentley.
reader, that it was Mr. Boyle, and not the bookseller,
for whom the rebuke was intended*.
The next accusation is still more unjustifiable. It
has been mentioned that Bentley, having discovered
among certain papers lent to him by Sir Edward
Sherburn, a manuscript tract of Rubenius, had with
the permission of the owner, transmitted it to Grsevius
for publication, stating at the same time through whose
means it came into his hands. Graevius, when he
made his public acknowledgment to our critic, omitted
to name Sir Edward Sherburn, either from inadver-
tence, or not deeming the mention of him material.
The knight, who was struggling with the joint evils of
old age and poverty, had been heard to make some
querulous remarks about what he considered a slight :
this was eagerly caught at by the Boylean party, who
procured from Sir Edward a declaration that ' Dr.
Bentley had ungratefully robbed him of the honour of
that publication ^' This assertion, unjustifiable even
upon his own view of the matter, was now made
public, along with an insinuation that he had sup-
pressed the name of Sir Edward, and thereby surrep-
titiously obtained the noble panegyric bestowed upon
him by Greevius ; as if that compliment had been any
thing but the spontaneous testimony of a scholar to
his learning and genius. With the controversy in
hand this story had not the remotest connexion : it is
painful to reflect to what disgraceful lengths even
enlightened minds may be carried by indulging in the
animosities of party.
The other stories are nearly of the same character.
The Doctor is accused of refusing the use of the library
to foreigners of distinction ; whereas every testimony
^ Boyle, p. 8. Beutley's Dissertation, Preface, p. xxxi.
"' Boyle, p. 15.
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 101
which has come to us proves the reverse. The only chap. vi.
instance relied upon by his enemies is that of one _^^^^'
Fosse, a Dane, who complained that he could not get
a sight of the famous Alexandrian manuscript. This
person had made the modest request that he might
have that invaluable document, the treasure and glory
of the library, given to him to collate at his lodgings ;
a work of at least six months' constant labour. Bent-
ley observes in his reply, that ' it was pretty hard to
keep one's countenance at so senseless a proposal ;
however, he gave him a civil answer why he thought
the favour could not be allowed him :' nor indeed is
he charged with want of civility in the refusal ^.
Such tales as these it is humiliating even to narrate :
but upon no better grounds did Bentley's enemies rest
their general accusation of his rude manners ; and
this they endeavoured to confirm by quotations from
his writings in which he had differed in opinion from
some great men, as Scaliger and Casaubon. )Still
more stress was laid upon his presuming to contradict
the two]^ living worthies, Sir William Temple and Pro-
fessor Barnes. This attempt was preposterous, and
never was failure more complete : in no one of the
instances alleged is the language in which he ex-
presses dissent either contemptuous or disrespectful ;
while it happens that in each case Bentley's judgment
is clearly and unquestionably correct.
With regard to the learning displayed in ' Boyle's Merits of
Examination,' the reader will be disappointed who ch„rch"'
expects to find either much information or much accu- ^°"'''
racy ; but he will be amused with the clever and
dexterous management in which the arguments of the
adversary are eluded, and the several questions made
to wear a new complexion. This is particularly exem-
6 Boyle, p. 14. Bentley's Dissei-tatiou, p. Ixiv. A Short Review of the
Controversy, SiC. p. 24.
102 hlYE OF
CHAP. VI. plified in the discussion upon 'Sicilian money,' in
^^^^- which part of the work we are told that even learned
readers, and amona; them some of Bentlev's friends,
thought that the Christ Church party had triumphed.
Upon the whole, great address is shown in pressing
their plausible arguments, and in gliding hastily over
the weakest parts of the question. But if we compare
their performance with Bentley's reply, it will seem as
if his adversaries were impelled by a sort of fatality to
afford him fresh opportunity of triumph, and to make
their own discomfiture needlessly severe. In one
place they travel far out of their way, to dispute the
law laid down by Bentley in his ' Epistle to Mill' re-
specting the quantity of the final syllable in anapeestic
verses ; but the instances which they fancy to be
exceptions to this rule do in fact confirm what they
were intended to overthrow. This feat, while it gave
their antagonist an occasion of establishing his point
more completely, exhibited a ridiculous failure on their
part, which in a critical work it would not be easy to
parallel. Their censures relative to the ' Greek
Drama,' and the ' Age of Tragedy,' were peculiarly
adapted to call forth Bentley's knowledge on those
Instances of subjects. Ill supposing the o-orv^tK?) Troir](TiQ to have
'""" '^ ^'' consisted of 'lampoons,' they confounded the name
with that of the Roman Satira, the oflspring of Italy :
a blunder for which Dr. Busby's scholars ought to
have blushed ^ In many parts of the Examination
the confederate critics seem to have parted with their
lexicons and grammars too soon ; as for instance in
asserting that the Ionic was the dialect of Lesbos, the
country of Sappho and Alca^us, they betray ignorance
of history and grammar which is hardly credible ^
To complete their mishaps, it is frequently found that
" Boyle's Examination, p. ]8().
* Il)i(l. p. 41.
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 103
in their sallies of ridicule the whole pith of the jest chap. vi.
depends upon some blunder of their own : so difficult ^^^"-
is it to be witty and wise at the same time. Of this
the following passage from Boyle's book affords a
tolerable specimen :
" The veiy spirit of Athenseus is got into him, who undertook to
disprove some of the most remarkable particulars of Socrates' life,
recorded in Xenophon and Plato, by the very same negative way of
arguing that Dr. Bentley makes use of against Phalaris and -/Esop;
the silence and pretermission of authors; nay, and expresses himself
in the same mannerly way too, calling Plato, the best bred man in
the world, dog and liar, covertly indeed ; whereas Dr. Bentley has
bestowed much the same titles on those he disputes against, bluntly
and openly. But the impartial Casaubon takes the part of those
great men against his author, reproves his rudeness, and confutes his
reasonings, and shows him to be, as confident clowns generally are,
all over mistaken. The men of letters, I hope, will excuse this free-
dom; no man is readier than I am to value Athenaeus for what he
ought to be valued, the fragments and remains of antiquity, which
he has preserved ; but to see him insolently trampling on great
names, is what I cannot bear without indignation." Boyle s Exami-
nation, p. 238.
Unhappily for this indignant vindicator of Plato
and good breeding against Atheneeus and clownish-
ness, he mistook the whole drift of the context and
expressions : the words o /cvwv ovroq are applied by
Athenseus not to Plato, but to Antisthenes, who had
given the same account as Plato of certain prizes said
to have been obtained by Socrates ; and whom, as the
founder of the sect of Cynics, he designates kuwv, the
title assumed by those philosophers themselves ^ Nor
is he more fortunate in his complaint of the Doctor's
application of a Greek proverb, ' Leucon carries one
thing, his ass another,' which Mr. Boyle fancies is
' calling him a downright ass '".'
9 Atheneeus, lib. v. p. 210. B. Bentley' s Dissertation, Pref. p. xcix.
■' Boyle's Examination, p. 11. To this Bentley rephed, " And by the
104 LIFE OF
CHAP. VI. Of such mistakes there is more than a proportionate
^^^Q- share in the part of the ' Examination' devoted to the
Examina- Fables of iEsop ; which is palpably written by a dif-
l°sop.^ ferent hand from the rest; and of which Bentley
observes, that ' the style is something worse than that
of the Defence of Phalaris, and the learning a good
deal worse.' Upon the genuineness of the Fables
themselves hardly any stand is made, and the con-
test is maintained rather against the critic than the
criticism ; but in saucy and affronting raillery this
department of the work is not in the least behind its
companions.
Witty proof Another part of ' Boyle's Examination' consists of
DitseVta- an attempt to show, that by the same sort of argu-
tionwas ments as those adduced ag-ainst Phalaris's claim to
not written &
by Bentley. the Epistlcs, it might bc proved that the Dissertation
itself was not written by Dr. Bentley. This jeu
help," he says, " of a Greek proverb, I call him downright ass." After
I had censured a passage of Mr. B.'s translation that has no affinity with
the original, " This puts me in mind," said I, " of the old Greek proverb,
' that Leucon carries one thing, and his ass quite another.' Where the
ass is manifestly spoken of the sophist, whom I had before represented as
' an ass under a lion's skin.' And if Mr. B. has such a dearness for his
Phalaris, that he \\dll change i)laces with him there, how can I hel]} it ? I
can only protest that I put him in Leucon's place ; and if he will needs
compliment himself out of it, I must leave the two friends to the pleasure
of their mutual civilities." Pref. to Dissert, on Phal. p. Lxxv. lliis
proverb seems to have been a luckless one for the Boyleans ; as in another
part of their book (p. 49) they accuse Bentley of comparing Mr. Boyle to
* Jjucian^s ass;' and by this sujiijlemental blunder, gave a proof that these
two parts must have been written by different hands. " ITien he mentions
some coarse compliments upon himself, which I have already accounted
for : only here he says, I compare him with Lncian's ass ; which, were it
true, would be no coarse compliment, but a very obliging one. For
Lucian's ass was a very intelligent and ingenious ass, and had more sense
than any of his riders : he was no other than Lucian himself in the shape
of an ass, and had a better talent at kicking and bantering than ever the
Examiner will have, though it seems to be his chief one. Let the reader
too observe by the way, that Mr. B. in this place has it ' Lucian's ass ;'
but in another he cites it truly, ' Leucon's ass ;' and yet we are told the
very same hand wrote Ijulh passages." Pref. to Dissert, on Phal. p. Ixxxiii.
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 105
cVesprit was, I am inclined to believe, the production chap. vi.
of Smalridge : it is highly humorous ; and as the ^^^^-
chief merit of the book consists in its pleasantry, this
part fairW deserves the palm. It supposes some critic
to argue at the distance of several centuries, ' should
it be then in existence,' that the Dissertation on Pha-
laris cannot be the production of Dr. Bentley, the
library keeper to the King : the author dexterously
contrives to adopt every word and phrase of the
Doctor's charged as being pedantic or ill-mannered :
from the gravity with which Bentley's own language
is copied, and he is thus made to argue against him-
self, the perusal of this parody becomes irresistibly
laughable '^
Bentley had brought this whole storm upon his
head, by censuring the faults of Boyle's Phalaris as
discreditable to his instructors. His criticisms are of
course disputed ; but the defence set up for some
grievous instances of false translation by Mr. Boyle
only involves that editor in still greater difficulties.
The reprisals which the Doctor's adversaries found
themselves able to make were few, and not very
important : in confining the ancient usage of the verbs
ZiwKij) and 7rf)oSiSa>^u too narrowly, he had certainly
spoken in haste, and without due examination ; this
is in truth the only triumph which he afforded to the
advocates of Phalaris.
" Boyle, p. 184— 201 . In attributing this part of the book to Smabidge,
I follow the authority of Dr. Salter, who had conversed with Bentley him-
self on the subject of this pubhcation. Warburton says, that it was written
by ' Dr. King of the Commons ;' and this he asserts upon the authority
of Pope, ' who had been let into the secret concerning the Oxford perform-
ance.' Letters to Hard, p. 10. But in the first place. Pope was at the
time only ten years old ; and though he was afterwards intimate with
Atterbury, yet he was not likely ever to have discussed with him a subject,
which supplied only mortifying recollections. In the next place, the tone
of the parody is somewhat diflerent, and the taste unlike that of King's
banter.
106 LIFE OF
CHAP. VI. The whole book is drawn up upon a plan of offensive
^^^^- warfare; but the only point calculated to make a
Charge of scrlous iniprcssiou upon Bentley's character is a charge
plagiarism. ^^ plagiarism in two instances. It had been alleged
by Professor Barnes as an apology for Phalaris, a
Dorian prince, writing in the Attic dialect, that other
Greeks of Dorian colonies, and among them Ocellus
of Lucania, had done the very same ^^ Bentley de-
molished this argument, by proving from extracts
existing in Stobseus, that this Pythagorean did in
reality compose his treatise ' on the Universe' in
Doric, from which it had been translated into the
common dialect. This discovery Bentley had given
as his own; but his adversaries found that it had
been already made by Vizzanius, in the preface to an
edition of Ocellus, about fifty years before. The
other instance was his observation of the verses of
Babrius, still found lurking in the ^sopian Fables ;
which circumstance had been previously discovered
and published by Neveletus. These were adduced
as cases of gross plagiarism on the part of Bentley,
and he was assailed with every opprobrious taunt
which could be devised against a literary plunderer.
This was evidently considered by the Christ Church
wits as the surest and most annoying of their weapons :
but for the complete success of their cause, they re-
lied upon the numbers, the celebrity, and the in-
fluence of their college ; a fact which they unwisely
reveal, when in the gaiety of anticipated triumph
they thus wind up their long tirade :
^•' " Monendus autem est lector, Phalardis Epistolas nihilo secius
genuinas esse, quod earum auctor esset Agrigenti tjTannus : is enira Asty-
pala natus erat, una ex Cycladibus, ubi Atheniensium erat colonia : sed
nee ipse Diodorus Siculus, nee Empedocles Agrigentinus, nee Ocellus
Lucanus, Dorice sed Attice fere scripserunt." Barnes, Argum, Eurip.
Epistol.
1
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 107
" Especially he should take care, when the angi'y fit is upon him, CHAP. VI.
not to vent it upon great bodies of learned men. A single writer 1098.
may be trampled upon now and then, and receive con-ection ft-om his =
hand without endeavouring to return it ; but among numbers there
will always be found some who have ability, and inclination, and
leisure enough to do themselves and their friends right upon the
injurer, though he were a champion of ten times as much strength
and prowess as Dr. Bentley thinks himself to be. Besides, single
adversaries die, and drop off; but Societies are immortal ; their
resentments are sometimes delivered down from hand to hand ; and
when once they have begun with a man, there is no knowing when
they will leave him.
" 'Twere well too, if he would think it a point of prudence to
observe some measures of decency towards the dead as well as the
living; and not give himself that insufi'erable liberty of attacking
their reputation and their works, in hopes that nobody will be
generous enough to stand up in their behalf, and speak for those who
cannot speak for themselves. He has defied Phalaris, and used liim
very coarsely, under the assurance, as he tells us, that ' he is out of
his reach:' many of Phalaris's enemies thought the same thing, and
repented of their vain confidence afterwards in his Bull. Dr. Bentley
is perhaps by this time, or will suddenly be satisfied, that he also has
presumed a little too much upon his distance : but 'twill be too late
to repent, when he begins to bellow."
As a parting favour, they attached to the second Affronting
edition of their book ' A short account of Dr. Bentley
by way of Index,' for the pleasure of repeating once
more their principal affronts; such as, ' his charges
against the Sophists returned upon himself, for forging
history' — ' for solecisms' — ' for egregious dulness' —
' for pedantry' — ' for declaiming' — ' his familiar ac-
quaintance with books that he never saw' — ' his dog-
matical air' — ' his modesty and decency in contra-
dicting great men, Casaubon, Erasmus, Scaliger, Sir
W. Temple, Mr. Barnes, every body.'
The uncommonly favourable reception of this motley Causes of
production, generally called ' Boyle against Bentley,' popukrky
has long been regarded as a paradox in literary history. Jq^I"/'^^
The work, had it been viewed upon its bare merits,
must have been pronounced a total failure ; for allow-
108 LIFE OF
CHAP. VI. iiig the utmost credit to the exceptions against Bent-
^^'^^- ley's Dissertation, yet every impartial scholar must
have admitted, that the main effect of his arguments
continued unimpaired : and whatever foundation there
might be for the complaint against his personal con-
duct, yet the retaliation was such as neither his al-
leged incivility could justify, nor the wit and humour
of the performance render tolerable. Nevertheless,
all accounts agree in stating the applause which the
book met with to have been loud and universal : and
the general interest excited by this controversy, pro-
perly a business of dry learning, appears to us almost
incredible. This state of public feeling is attributable
in some deg-ree to the vein of wit and satire which
pervades the Christ Church performance, but still
more to extraneous causes. The numbers and ability
of the members of that distinguished society, who
appear to have felt as one man in this common cause,
had a powerful influence over public opinion. Again,
the extreme popularity of Sir W. Temple, who was
represented as rudely attacked, and the interest ex-
cited in behalf of Mr, Boyle, a young scholar of
noble birth, who appeared in the field of controversy
as the champion of an accomplished veteran, disposed
people at all hazards to favour his cause. Added to
this, an opinion which had been industriously circu-
lated of Bentley's incivilit}'^, and a certain haughty
carriage which undoubtedly belonged to him, gave a
violent prejudice to the public mind. Severe and
accurate erudition being rare in those days, people
were so far deluded as to believe that on most, if not
all points, Boyle was successful : we learn from Bent-
ley himself, that the book was at first generally re-
garded as unanswerable ; and this even among his
own friends. Nobody suspected that he would ven-
ture to reply ; still less that he could ever again hold
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 109
up his head in the republic of learning: the blow was chap. vi.
thought to be fatal ; and many persons, as usual, ^^^^-
eagerly joined the cry against the devoted critic. Sir Temple's
W. Temple, though he could hardly flatter himself [hrbook."
that the Christ Church work had established his own
sentiments respecting Phalaris and j^sop, yet believed
that it had succeeded in destroying the reputation of
Bentley, against whom he had conceived an unwar-
rantable resentment, grounded not upon any personal
offence, but upon the powerful case which he had
made out against his positions. He lost no time in March so.
pronouncing a judgment upon Boyle's publication, in
which he says, ' the compass and application of so
much learning, the strength and pertinence of his
arguments, the candour of his relations, in return to
such foul-mouthed raillery, the pleasant turns of wit,
and the easiness of style, are in my opinion as extra-
ordinary as the contrary of these all appear to be in
what the Doctor and his friend have written.' In
conclusion, this enemy of railing and abuse excuses
his not having taken up the controversy himself, by
declaring that he ' had no mind to enter the lists with
such a mean, dull, unmannerly pedant ^^.'
To the G^eneral applause which hailed this publica- Boyie'sown
tion, there seems to have been one exception ; and
that was no other than Mr. Boyle himself, in whose
name it appeared, and for whom the honour of the
achievement was designed. This gentleman, while
his friends were so zealously fighting under his colours,
was himself attending his parliamentary duties in Ire-
land : although he left his cause in their hands, yet
he had, it seems, certain apprehensions and mis-
givings about the manner in which they were con-
" The extracts from this letter of Sir WiUiam's, perhaps addressed to
Atterbiiry, are given in the Short Account of Dr. Bentley's Humanity and
Justice, &c. p. 140.
sentiments.
110 LIFE OF
CHAP. VI. ducting it; and during the progress of the work,
^^^^- expressed in his letters ' hopes that it would do no
harm.' The popularity of the book causing a new
edition to be immediately called for, he took that
opportunity of inserting some improvements and some
corrections, for which he was indebted to another
friend, whom I apprehend to have been his former
tutor. Dr. Gale the Dean of York ^^ These were
transmitted toAtterbury, theleader of the confederacy,
whose proud spirit immediately took fire : considering
this as a proof of distrust, and ingratitude to one who
had by his own labour procured so much reputation
for his pupil, he returned the papers to Boyle with a
letter of indignant complaint, reproaching him for his
thankless behaviour, and declining all further inter-
ference in the controversy ^^
Outcry Notwithstanding this dissension at the head-quarters
against n i • • i i • i i • •
Bentiey. 01 his cnemics, the clamour against our devoted critic
continued loud and incessant ; nor was it confined to
one description of persons ; all who wished to attract
attention by declaiming upon a popular topic joined
in the cry. We find philosophers and wits, poets and
critics, divines and physicians, gray-beards and strip-
lings, Oxford men and Cambridge men, combining
to hunt down the enemy of Temple and Boyle. John
Kciii. Keill, of Baliol College, a mathematician of high
reputation, was at this time publishing his first work,
an ' Examination of Burnet's Theory of the Earth;'
and, from no assignable motive except a wish to in-
" Wotton, in the Appendix to his Reflections on Ancient and Modern
Learning, 3d edit. 1705, mentions the belief that Dr. Gale had some con-
cern in Boyle's Examination. The Dean himself says, in a letter to Mr.
Pepys, of March IS, 1G9S-99: "The quarrel between Mr. Boyle and
Dr. Bentiey I abominated from the first. I like it not better now : so
much as I have read of the book (i. e. Bcntlcy against Boyle) gives me the
same idea that you have of it." Pepys's Correspondence, p. 164.
" This letter will be found in Atferbury's Correspondence, vol. ii. p. 21.
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. Ill
gratiate himself with the enemies of Bentley, he ran- chap. vi.
sacked the philosophical part of his ' Lectures on ^^^^-
Atheism' for some opportunity of cavil. In his astro-
nomy he could find but two flaws; and these he went
far out of his way to mention with indecent asperity ^^.
The first was, a remark that ' though the axis of the
earth had been perpendicular to the plane of the
ecliptic, yet, take the whole year about, we should
have had the same measure of heat as we have now;'
where Keill chose to understand ' lue as signifying
the inhabitants of the temperate zone, instead of the
whole earth; in which latter sense the assertion is
correctly true. The other observation was certainly
an error ; that ' the moon does not wheel about her
own centre;' but it was an error which had been
committed by every astronomer before Newton, who
first discovered that the moon does revolve about her
axis, and this is mentioned in an incidental sentence
of the Principia, which Bentley had either overlooked
or forgotten. Keill concludes his ill-natured attack
upon a writer who had deserved so well of the cause
in which he was himself labouring, with this pitiful
sneer : ' It were to be wished that great critics would
confine their labours to their lexicons, and not venture
to guess in those parts of learning which are capable
of demonstration :' speaking as if he thought that a
person's classical attainments did in themselves dis-
qualify him for other and more severe studies.
John Milner, a veteran schoolmaster at Leeds, Miiner.
engaged in the dispute on Phalaris, in a book called
' A View of the Dissertation,' &c. ; and took part
'« Examination of Dr. Burnet's Theory, &c. p. 70. Bentley, in the next
edition of his Boyle's Lectures, altered we, in the first passage, into ' the
whole earth,' and omitted the second altogether. Keill's malevolent
remarks met with a merited rebuke from Wotton, in the third edition of
his Reflections, p. 478, and I have never seen his conduct in this matter
mentioned in any terms but those of reprobation.
112 LIFE OF
CHAP. VI. against our critic; but in so doing he gave Bentley
^^^^- an occasion to correct two or three mistakes or mis-
apprehensions, the only fresh contribution which he
brought to this controversy '^
Garth. Di*. Garth, his contemporary at Cambridge, who
was related to the Boyles, published about this time
his well-known poem, ' The Dispensary,' and pro-
nounced his judgment upon the merits of the two
combatants in this simile :
" So diamonds take a lustre from their foil,
And to a Bentley 'tis we owe a Boyle :"
a couplet which is, perhaps, more frequently quoted
than any other in the poem, and always to the dis-
paragement of the author's judgment. In a collec-
tion of Latin verses printed at Oxford, called Examen
Poeticum Duplex, Bentley is held up as an object of
ridicule by two different hands, one of whom was
Akirich. asserted to be ' Dean Aldrich himself, or a brother
Caricature. Doctor of Diviuity '^. At Cambridge a caricature
was exhibited of Phalaris putting the unfortunate
critic into his brazen bull ; and as it was thought that
a member of St. John's College could not properly
make his exit without a pun, he was represented as
saying, ' I had rather be roasted than Boyled '^.'
Though there already existed literary journals in
England, they had not yet assumed the character or
functions of our modern Reviews. The same office,
however, was performed by pamphlets. One of these
Rymcr's spccdily cauic forth, termed ' An Essay concerning
ssay. Critical and Curious Learning, in which are contained
'' Bentley replies to him, Dissert, on Phal. p. 214, 215. terming him
' an unknown author, who has mixed himself in this controversy.'
"* Essay on Critical and Curious Learning, p. 70. Of the other poem,
all the wit is contained in the following hne : ' Anglo- Gra?co-Latino-cre-
pundia Bcntloiana.'
'" BuihjcW s Lives of the Boiiles, p. 193.
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 113
some short reflections on the controversie betwixt Sir chap. vi.
W. Temple and Mr. Wotton, and that betwixt Dr. ^^^"-
Bentley and Mr. Boyl.' The author was Thomas
Rymer, who is now best known as a laborious anti-
quary, the principal compiler of the numerous and
ponderous volumes of the Fcedera, but who seems to
have enjoyed at that time no inconsiderable reputation
as a critic. This article displays its impartiality by
dispensing censures upon all parties concerned with
the tone and authority assumed by a fastidious re-
viewer : except indeed that Sir W. Temple is declared
a perfect and faultless writer ; and to take any excep-
tion to his decisions is pronounced the height of pre-
sumption. Rymer condemns our critic for having
resented Boyle's reflection at all, for having used
rudeness in the manner of doing so, and, lastly, for
contesting such an unimportant question as that re-
specting Phalaris and J^sop. The only real charge,
that of rudeness, is not substantiated ; and in regard
to his last censure nothing can be more unphilosophical
than his reasoning. He contends that all inquiries of
a ' curious' nature, carried beyond a supposed point
of utility (which never can be ascertained), are wrong-
in themselves, because they are fruitless. To this
doctrine nobody who is acquainted with the progress
of human knowledge can ever subscribe. Such pur-
suits, if they have no important results, are at least
innocent, and are the amusements of a liberal mind.
But it is well known that some of the greatest advances
in science and literature have been made by following
up such ' curious' investigations as did not at first
promise any great reward to the inquirer. Upon the
confederacy who, under the name of Mr. Boyle, had
clubbed their forces for the purpose of writing down
an individual, Rymer bestows a full measure of cen-
sure. They are condemned for the rancour of their
VOL. I. I
114 LIFE OF
CHAP. VI. language, and for tlieir arrogant pretensions grounded
^^^^- upon the celebrity of their college. He adds some
reflections upon the supercilious air of superiority
assumed by Christ Church men of that day towards
the rest of the University ; which was encouraged by
their Dean, upon W'hom he is particularly severe^".
This provocation called forth an immediate and angry
reply from the college ; the author of wdiich abuses
Rymer and Bentley in alternate sentences, directing
his principal complaint, just as his precursors had
done, against the ill-breeding of his adversaries ^^
Of all the attacks upon Bentley written at this
period, the only one which continues to be known by
Swift's its own merits, is Swift's ' Battle of the Books,' apiece
the'yooks, exhibiting perhaps more than any of his writings the
orijxinal vein of humour which distino-uishes its author.
Like its predecessor, ' the Tale of a Tub,' it was com-
posed to soothe the mortified feelings of his patron,
~^ Sir W. Temple, by sacrificing to eternal ridicule the
objects of his resentment : and it continues to be read
and laughed over by thousands, Avho would have
turned a deaf ear to the eloquence of the English
Memmius, and all the combined wit and learning of
Christ Church. The idea of this piece, as well as the
20 Essay on Critical and Curious Learning, p. 63. " If I may be per-
mitted to suggest my owti opinion, I fancy this book was written (as most
pul)lic compositions in that college are) by a select club, lliere is such a
profusion of wit all along, and such A-ariety of points and raillery, that
every man seems to have thrown in a repartee or so in his turn, and the
most ingenious Dr. Aldrich no doubt was at the head of them, and smoaked
and punned ])lcntifully on this occasion. It brings the old character of
Christ Church very fresh into my mind ; which you may remember dis-
tinguished itself from the rest of the University, not by its extraordinary
learning, but its abominable arrogance, — ^I'he Dean, instead of checking
this intolerable temjjer, encourages and ])r()motes it by his own worthy
example. It is not long since he published a small Compendium of Logic,
for the use of Mr. Boyle," &c.
2' " An Answer to a late Pamphlet called an Essay concerning Critical
and Curious Learning." London. 1698. 8vo.
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. Ii5
arrangement of the combat, was borrowed from a chap. vr.
French poem by Coiitray, called ' Histoire Poetique ^^^^'
de la Guerre nouvellcment declaree entre les anciens et
les modernes ,-' but the humour, the spirit, and the
satire are sustained in a manner peculiar to Swift ;
who displays here the same talent as in his Gulliver,
of reconciling the reader to the most monstrous fictions,
and of giving almost an air of probability to the wildest
offsprings of an all-licenced fancy. In so professed a
satire, the reader hardly expects to find the semblance
of fairness in estimatino- the relative streno-th of the
parties who are brought into deadly strife in St.
James's Library. But it has been remarked that in
some cases, Swift is guilty of less injustice to English-
men than Sir W. Temple, who committed his high
reputation by a serious and studied estimate of the
comparative claims of ancient and modern writers to
the gratitude of mankind. Shakspeare and Newton,
the two great glories of our island, pass alike unno-
ticed by the statesman and the wit ; except that each
indulges a sneer at the philosopher, along with the rest
of the Royal Society : but of Milton a distinguished
notice is taken by Swift : and while Sir William chose
to be totally ignorant that such a philosopher as Lord
Bacon had ever existed, and declared that ' he knew
of no new philosophers, that had made their entries
upon that noble stage for fifteen hundred years, unless
Des Cartes and Hobbes should pretend to it,' the
' Battle of the Books' assigns to Bacon the foremost
place among the opposers of Aristotle.
In the combat and the parley between Virgil and
Dryden, Swift takes a fresh occasion to discharge his
spleen against his illustrious kinsman. But it is upon
Wotton and Bentley, particularly the latter, that the
full vehemence of his unbridled satire is let loose.
The greater part of the ridicule thrown upon our
I 2
116 LIFE OF
CHAP. VI. critic, whose leading demerits are represented to be
^^^^- dulness and hatred of the ancients, is so remarkably
inapplicable, that no degree of humour less than
Swift's could make it palatable :
" The guardian of the regal library, a person of great valour, but
chiefly renowTied for his humanit}', had been a fierce champion for
the moderns; and, in an engagement upon Parnassus, had vowed,
with his own hands, to knock down two of the ancient chiefs, who
guarded a small pass on the superior rock; but, endeavouring to
chmb up, was cruelly obstructed by his own unhappy weight, and
tendency towards his centre."
This mock-heroic combat concludes with the ' Epi-
sode of Bentley and Wotton,' which has succeeded as
completely as the author could have wished among
the lovers of broad humour, and has immortalized the
supposed triumph of Boyle over the two friends.
Bentley meanwhile remained calm under this mer-
ciless storm, relying upon the goodness of his cause,
and a conviction that the public judgment, however
strangely it may be perverted for a time, will at length
come to a just decision upon every question. War-
burton tells an anecdote upon the authority of Dr. S.
(whom I apprehend to be Smalbroke, Bishop of
Lichfield and Coventry) who meeting Bentley at this
period, and telling him not to be discouraged at the
Bentiey's ruu made against him, was answered, " Lideed I am
in no pain about the matter, for it is a maxim with me
that no man was ever written out of reputation but by
himself ^^" He had now, however, to experience the
most painful of all circumstances attending popular
'- This anecdote is told by Warburton in a note on Pope's Imitation of
Horace's Epistle to Augustus, v. 104. Its pul)lication was in 1749, which
ena])les me to fix the teller of the anecdote, whom he terms Dr. S. a learned
prelate now living. Warburton, however, is mistaken in sapng that it was
after ' the publication of that noble piece of criticism, the answer to the
O.xford writers.' At that time both speeches would have been inapplicable.
sentiments.
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 117
outcry, the desertion or coldness of friends, whose chap. vi.
regards were influenced by fashion. That he felt ^^^^'
uneasiness at this situation may well be believed ;
indeed he confesses as much in one of his letters to
Grgevius ; but instead of expressing this to the world,
he applied himself to write such an answer as should
effectually turn the tide of popular opinion, and make
the weapons of his enemies recoil upon their own
heads. His sentiments at this time are expressed in April 21.
a letter to his unshaken friend Evelyn, who appears
to have stood up alone as his defender, and to have
recommended people to wait and hear the other side,
before they pronounced his condemnation. He feels
gratefully this proof of Evelyn's friendship ; and
assures him that he shall very shortly be able to
refute all the charges and all the cavils of his enemies,
so fully ' both in points of learning and points of
fact, that they themselves would feel ashamed.'
Though this was only three or four weeks after the
appearance of their book, his answer was almost
ready, and he intended it to be at the press within a
few days.
That Bentley did not immediately reply to his
adversaries must be regarded as fortunate, not only
for himself, but for the whole learned world. Al-
though there is no doubt but that such a publication
as he meditated would have put him in possession of
the victory and settled the whole controversy, so per-
fectly was he master of all parts of the question, yet a
hasty performance could not have supplied us with
such a valuable treasure of wit and learning as ap-
peared at the beginning of the following year: a
piece which, by the concurring testimony of all scho-
lars, has never been rivalled. The Boyleans had
pursued a course calculated to display their adversary
to the greatest advantage, and to raise to the highest
118 LIFE OF
CHAP. VI. pinnacle the reputation which they designed to over-
^^^^' turn. In their efforts to confute his reasonings about
Phalaris they had introduced a variety of new topics,
which the writers from whence they drew their know-
ledge had treated either erroneousl}^ or slightly. This
imposed upon Bentley the necessity of explaining and
elucidating them ; in doing which he was able to
develope stores of learning more abundant than either
his friends hoped, or his enemies apprehended. It
was fully believed that his first Dissertation had been
the elaborate result of more than two years' attention
to the subject; that his bolt was now shot, and his
learning and objections exhausted. So far was this
from being the case, that it had in fact been a hasty
sketch, the sheets of which were sent to the press as
fast as they were written. When the famous Reply
appeared, the public found to their astonishment, that
the former piece had consisted only of the sprinklings
of immense stores of knowledge, which might almost
be said, like his talents, to expand with the occasion
that called them forth.
Bentley Bcforc lic Submitted his case to the world, Bentley
reply. was carcful to arm himself with a full refutation of
those charges upon his personal behaviour which,
futile and despicable as they now sound, had pro-
duced a great impression to his disadvantage. The
j)rincipal part of the bookseller's accusations he was
enabled to refute by the very same description of
arguments which he had so successfully used against
the genuineness of Phalaris, a comparison of dates.
To disprove the calumny that he had disguised the
name of Sir Edward Sherburn as the proprietor of
Rubenius's tract in order to obtain the dedication of
GraBvius for himself, he applied to his venerable cor-
respondent for a copy of the communication in which
he had introduced the subject. Graivius transcribed
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 119
that part of his letter, by which it appeared that the chap. vi.
charge of his enemies was as unfounded as it was i^os^
illiberal, and that he had explained the whole cir-
cumstance, with due mention of the knioht's name :
whose merit in the discovery, to say the truth,
amounted to little or nothing. Grsevius laid the
blame upon his own neglig-ence, as the means of
drawing unmerited slander upon his friend ; of the
defence set up for Phalaris and yEsop he spoke with
indignation and contempt ; and of the controversy
itself he expressed himself in such terms as gave a
fair prognostication of what would be the opinion
of scholars, when party prejudice had ceased to
operate.
The chronology of early Grecian history is involved Dodweii's
in great and perplexing obscurity ; so contradictory ^'"■''"°^''sy-
are the statements of the writers from whom this in-
formation must be sought. Such investigations de-
mand a sound and discriminating judgment, as well
as extensive and accurate learning. I apprehend
that before this period Bentley had not bestowed
more than an ordinary share of attention upon this
pursuit. But the questions of the age of Phalaris, of
Pythagoras, and of other worthies who lived in the
early periods of history, being closely connected with
the work on which he was embarked, he now exerted
all his acuteness in unravelling and clearing the sub-
ject. Dodweii's work De Cyclis Veterum being then
in the press, Bentley w^as indulged by the author
with a sight of that part which concerned his in-
quiry. It had been composed before Bentley 's first
Dissertation had dispossessed Phalaris of his claim
to the Epistles ; and Dodwell, led by the vulgar
error to believe in their authenticity, had unhappily
availed himself of their contents to determine certain
dates ; a step which might have been seriously pre-
1
120 LIFE OF
CHAP. VI. judicial to historical knowledge, but for the timely
^^^^' interposition of our critic. This field of chronology
has exercised the learning and sagacity of more
heroes of literature than perhaps any other ; it brings
Bentley into immediate comparison with Scaliger,
Usher, Lloyd, and Dodwell; and we shall only ob-
serve, that the reader of Bentley 's dissertation on the
age of Phalaris, and of Pythagoras, will find no in-
feriority to any of the great persons whose names
have just been mentioned.
1G99. The Doctor found his book swell to a scale far
Bentlev's ■, ii* ••ii* ii* i
enlarged bcyoud iiis origmal design ; and his remarks upon
don"'* Phalaris alone having extended to above 600 pages,
he gave the volume to the world at the beginning of
the year 1699. His reply to the Examiner's stric-
tures respecting iEsop's Fables he reserved for a
second part, for fear either of delaying his reply till
the public interest had subsided, or of making the
book too laro'e for o-eneral circulation.
As the new work comprised the greater part of the
former Dissertation, its title was, A Dissertation upon
the Epistles of Phalaris : with an Answer to the Ob-
jections of the Hon. Charles Boyle. By Richard
Bentley, D.D. Chaplain in Ordinary and Library
Keeper to his Majesty. Its motto was from Horace :
" Mordear opprobriis falsis, mutemve colores?
Falsus honor juvat, et mendax Infamia terret
Quern nisi mendacem et mendosum }"
The appearance of this work is to be considered an
epoch not only in the life of Bentley, but in the
history of literature. The victory obtained over his
opponents, although the most complete that can be
imagined, constitutes but a small part of the merits
of this performance. Such is the author's address
that, while every page is professedly controversial.
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 121
there is embodied in the work a quantity of accurate chap. vi.
information relative to history, chronology, antiquities, ^^^^'
philology, and criticism, which it would be difficult
to match in any other volume. The cavils of the
Boyleans had fortunately touched upon so many
topics, as to draw from their adversary a mass of
learning, none of which is misplaced or superfluous :
he contrives, with admirable judgment, to give the
reader all the information which can be desired upon
each question, while he never loses sight of his main
object. Profound and various as are the sources of
his learning, every thing is so well arranged, and
placed in so clear a view, that the student who is
only in the elementary parts of classical literature
may peruse the book with profit and pleasure, while
the most learned reader cannot fail to find his know-
ledge enlarged. Nor is this merely the language of
those who are partial to the author ; the eminently
learned Dodwell, who had no peculiar motive to be
pleased with a work by which he was himself a con-
siderable sufferer, and who as a non-juror was pre-
judiced against Bentley's party, is recorded to have
avowed, ' that he had never learned so much from
any book in his life^^'
This learned volume owes much of its attraction to Attractive
nature of
the work.
23 This is told by Dr. Salter, in a note affixed to Bowyer's edition of the
Dissertation, p. 449. He says in the same place that DodweU, 'in a letter
to Bentley which he had seen, reproves him with some severity as guilty
of unpardonable aifectation in pretending a contempt of his adversaries.'
If this be true, DodweU did not regard the controversy fairly. Consider-
ing their pretensions and their performances, Bentley gives them at least
as much credit as was their due. The compliment of Grsevius is not very
unlike that of Dodwell : in his Letter of May 3, 1699, he says to Bentley,
" Pro tua quam mild misisti Apologia maximas tibi ago gratias : nihil vul-
gar e mild de ilia sposponderam j sedvicit opinionem meam doctrine varietate
et copia, quce supra hujus argumenti, in quo elaborasti, mediocritatem assur-
git," ^-c. Oct. 9. " Quam multa didicerim ex hoc libro pulcherrimo et
varia doctrina recondita referto, malo apud alios, quam apud te."
122 LIFE OF
CHAP. VI. the strain of luimour, which makes the perusal highly
1699. entertaining. The advocates of Phalaris, having
chosen to rely upon wit and raillery, were now made
to feel in their turn the consequences of the warfare
which they had adopted. In holding up his enemies
to laughter, Bentley's address is no less conspicuous
than his wit: he says in the preface, " I have
endeavoured to take Mr. Boyle's advice, and to avoid
all ridicule where it was possible to avoid it : and if
ever ' that odd work of his' has irresistibly moved
me to a little jest and laughter, I am content that
what is the greatest virtue of his book should be
counted the greatest fault of mine'^\'' He generally
succeeds in exposing the poverty of the jest attempted
by the Boyleans ; and, having convicted them of
some gross mistake committed in their eagerness to
be witty, he effectually turns the laugh against them-
selves. And although he recurs perpetually to the
same method, and that too with the keenest irony,
yet the occasions are so well chosen, that we are
neither sated nor offended by the repetition : so
careful is he that the provocation shall have pro-
ceeded from his adversaries. Moreover, by always
stopping short of the point to which strict justice
would have allowed retaliation, he contrives to en-
gage the reader's good-will in his favour. In this
part of his controversial tactics, as well as in the
whole of the argument, he owes much of his success
to his strong sense, and to that acute logic which we
have more than once had occasion to notice. The
talent exhibited in reducing to an absurdity all the
erroneous positions of his adversaries, is scarcely to
be paralleled. Even Bishop Warburton, who was
not well disposed to Bentley's reputation, admits that
^* Preface to Dissert, on Phal. p. xlii.
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 123
'he beat the Oxford men at their own weapons.' chap. vi.
Such is the lively interest which his unabated strain *^^^'
of humour confers on the book, that a person who
looks into any part of it finds himself almost irre-
sistibly carried forward. It has been a matter of my
own observation for many years, that young men
who have consulted the Dissertation with no other
view than to obtain information respecting the history
of tragedy, the Attic dialect, or some other subject
connected with their studies, have unexpectedly felt
such interest in the train of argument, as to read the
whole work with appetite and delight.
So well sustained is the learning, the wit, and the
spirit of this production, that it is not possible to
select particular parts as objects of admiration, with-
out committing a sort of injustice to the rest. And
the book itself will continue to be in the hands of all
educated persons, as long as literature maintains its
hold in society.
The preface contains his defence against the charges
made upon his personal character : his vindication is
in every instance satisfactory and triumphant. The
affair of the manuscript, and the paltry insinuation
respecting Sir Edward Sherburn, are treated with
such clearness, and such temper, that even the
authors of the calumnies must have felt ashamed of
their injustice. To the complaint that he had spoken
roughly and injuriously of Mr. Boyle in his first
Dissertation, he replies by showing that he was not
the aggressor, but the injured party, and that it was
scarcely possible, while vindicating his own character,
to have spoken with less severity of him by whom it
had been assailed. To the charge of plagiarism, for
having taken his remark upon the language of Ocellus
Lucanus without acknowledgment from Vizzanius, he
124 LIFE OF
CHAP. VI. replies that at the time of writing he had not seen
^^^^- that edition.
Defence Upon the peculiarities of Bentley's style of writing
elation of his adversaries had insisted, as if they actually look
pedantry, ^^p^j^ ^j^jg ^g ^ point in tlicir own favour. They con-
sider it one of the marks of a j)edant ' to use a Greek
or Latin word, when there is an English one that
signifies the very same thing.' The Doctor's justifi-
cation will perhaps not carry perfect satisfaction to
the reader's mind : however, as there are occasions
for finding fault with this practice throughout all his
writings, it is but fair to quote his own apology.
" Now, if this be one of Mr. Boyle's marks, himself is a pedant,
by his own confession : for, in this very sentence of his, signify is a
Latin word, and there is an English one tliat means the very same
thing. "We shall do the Examiner therefore no injuiy in calling him
pedant, upon this article. But if such a general censure, as this for-
ward author here passes, had been always fastened upon those that
enrich our language fi-om the Latin and Greek stores, what a fine
condition had our language been in ! It is well known, it has scarce
any words, besides monosyllables, of its native growth ; and were all
the rest imported and introduced by pedants ? — The words in my
book, which he excepts against, are ' commentitious, repudiate, con-
cede, aliene, vernacular, timid, negoce, putid,' and ' idiom ;' every
one of wliicli were in print, before I used them, and most of them
before I was bom. And are they not all regularly formed, and kept
to the true and genuine sense that they have in the original ? ^Vhy
may we not say ' negoce' from negotium; as well as * commerce'
from commercium, and ' palace' irova pulatium? Has not the French
nation been before-hand with us in espousing it ? and have not we
' negotiate' and ' negotiation,' words that grow upon the same root,
in the commonest use? and why may not I say ' aliene,' as weU as
the learned Sir Henry Sjjelman, who used it eighty years since, and
yet was never thought a pedant ? But he says ' My words will be
hissed off the stage, as soon as they come on.' If so, they would
have been hissed off long before I had come on. But the Examiner
might have remembered, before he talked thus at large, who it was
that distinguished his style with ' ignore' and ' recognosce,' and
other words of that sort ; which no bodv has vet thought fit to follow
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 125
him in. For his argument, if it proved any thing, wonld prove per- CHAP. VI.
haps too "touch ; and bring the glor\' of his own family into the tribe 1699.
of pedants. Though I must ft-eely declare, I would rather use, not """""^""^
my own words only, but even these too, (if I did it sparingly, and
but once or twice at most in clii pages :) than that single word of
the Examiner's ' cotemporary ;' which is a downright barbarism.
For the Latins never use co for con except before a vowel ; as ' co-
equal, co-eternal;' but, before a consonant, they either retain the N;
as ' contemporary, constitution:' or melt it into another letter; as
' collection, comprehension.' So that the Examiner's 'cotemporary'
is a word of his own coposition, for which the learned world will
cogratulate Kim." Pref. p. Ixxxiv.
Bentley's vindication of himself against another
charge of pedantry, that of writing proper names,
such as Delphi, correctly, and deserting vulgar errors,
is more completely successful : and from that day,
Mr. Boyle's Delphos has been classed with the rwump-
shnus of the Romish priest ; nor has any writer been
since found to uphold gross barbarisms upon the au-
thority of ' common custom.'
The argument of his opponents ' that Dr. Bentley Retorts
cannot be the author of the Dissertation,' he calls ramnV
' an insipid banter, which seems rather to have been
written in a tavern than a study :' an unfair character
of thatjezz d^esprit ;. but his retaliation is surprisingly
caustic :
" If another should answer him in his own way, and pretend to
prove, ' that Mr. Boyle is not the author of the Examination,' from
the variety of styles in it, from its contradictions to his edition of
Phalaris, from its contradictions to itself, from its contradictions to
Mr. Boyle's character, and to his title of Honourable, and from
several other topics ; it would be taken perhaps for no raillery, but
too serious a repartee ; or at least might pass for a true jest, though
intended only for a merry one." Dissert. Pref. p. cviii.
Of the Index, which concludes his antagonist's book,
the Doctor takes this notice :
126 LIFE OF
CHAP. VI. " Mr. Boyle thought fit, in his second edition, to rake up all his
1699. afironts upon me together, under the title of ' A short account of
■==== Pr, Bentley, by way of Index.' And in an imperfect imitation of so
great an example, I had drawn up ' an account,' not of Mr. Boyle,
but ' of his performance, by way of Synopsis.' But, when I saw
such a multitude of errors concentered together, the sight was so
deformed and disagreeable, ' miseranda vel hosti,' that no resentment
could prevail with me to return him his own compliment." P. cxii.
The introduction to the original Dissertation was
omitted in the second edition, and gave place to one
better suiting the present state of the controversy.
Our critic cancelled likewise the last section, in
which the affair of the manuscript had been dis-
cussed, and the faults of Boyle's edition of Phalaris
exposed. The former point is more fully handled in
the preface ; and perhaps he felt ashamed of per-
petuating in a work of profound learning a critique
upon the venial errors of a youthful editor. Bentley
being at this time in expectation of a continuance of
the controversy, intended to translate his whole pub-
lication into Latin, and was enlarging it by a reply
to the Examination of i^sop, and his discourse upon
the other spurious Epistles. But his adversaries were
content with the present display of his wit and learn-
ing, and forebore to call upon him for any further
satisfaction. Thus it happened that the most valuable
of all critical essays remained long inaccessible except
to natives of this country, and the few continental
scholars who understood the English language. Nor
was it till after nearly eighty years, when a Latin
version of the Dissertation, made by Lennep, was
published along with his edition of Phalaris, that
foreigners became possessed of this literary treasure
25
25 Phalaridis Epistola;. Quas Latinas fecit, et, interpositis Caroli Boyle
Notis, Commentariis illustravit Joannes Daniel a Lennep. Groningae, 1777-
This edition was published after the death of Lennep by his friend Valcke-
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 127
Sir William Temple was spared the mortification chap. vi.
of beholding the result of a controversy, upon which ^^^^'
he had so imprudently staked his credit for taste and
discernment. He died a few weeks before the ap-
pearance of the Dissertation, which was to annihilate
for ever the pretensions of his Sicilian hero to the
fame of authorship. His Christ Church allies did
not feel easy under the report that a reply from Dr.
Bentley was in preparation, and they seem to have
thought in earnest of executing the threat denounced
in the gaiety of their hearts, that if the Doctor were
not quiet, ' they would put forth a book against him
every month as long as he lived,' Just at the time
of the appearance of Bentley against Boyle, (for so
the incomparable Reply was generally styled), they
had one of these attacks ready for publication ; a
piece of abuse, the subject of which was quite foreign
to the controversy. It is called A Short Account of ' ^^onkc-.
Dr. Bentley s Humanity and Justice to those Authors Bemie^y-s ^'
Humanity
naer, who prefixed a preface and some notes of his own. The reader may
Hke to see his observations upon the controversy, as they proceed from a
scholar whose name ranks in a class next to I3entley's : " Bentleius in
Dissertatione de Phalaridis, Themistoclis, Socratis, Euripidis ahonimque
Epistohs, et de Fabuhs iEsopi, in Responsione quoque, qua Dissertationem
suam \'indicat a censura Caroli Boyle, sic evicit has Epistolas sub nomine
Phalaridis a recentiore sojihista fuisse confictas, ut ea res amphus in con-
troversiam cadere non possit." VaM. Prcef. in Phal. Epist. p. v. " Anghci
Codicis M.S. ex Bibl. Regia Cottoniana qui htem Boyleum inter et Bent-
leium, utroque indignam, sed nobis utiUssimam et posteritati, peperit, col-
lationem accuratissimam ad Ed. Boyleanam in gratiam Lennepii ab amico
clariss. D. Ruhnkenio rogatus instituit vvc humanissimus Henricus Gaily,
S. T. P. Canonicus Norwicensis et Glocestriensis : qui, dum fuit in vivis,
Magnae Britannise Regi erat a sacris." Ibid. p. vi. " De his Epistohs, a
docto sophista, horaine, meo quidem judicio, in Itaha nato, cui hngua
Graeca non erat vemacula (vid. a me notata in p. 200), scriptis paene nimis
est sevemm magni Bentleii, sed ab editore Boyleo irritati, judicium."
Ibid. p. viii. The passage to which Valckenaer refers as one proof among
a number, of the author of Phalaris's epistles having been a person whose
mother tongue was the Latin, is, t<.Tiivai Swdfiivog ti)v (jttjfiijv, a Latin
not a Greek phrase. Virgil: " sed famum extendere factis Hoc virtutis
opus."
128 LIFE OF
CHAP. VI. who have written before Mm, &c. &c. A bad and
^^^^- rancorous feeling pervades this anonymous rhapsody.
After a vapid declamation upon Bentley's want of
veracity, manners, and learning, his ' singular hu-
manity,' and other topics borrowed from Boyle's book,
there follows a prancing attack upon the arrogance
shown in his first work, the Epistle to Mill, eight
years before ; wherein he had questioned the judg-
ment of certain great writers, as Gerard Vossius^ Leo
Allatius, Scaliger, and Grotius, and had even ven-
tured to correct Casaubon, and other masters of learn-
ing. A charge of such a nature only proves the
want of learning in the person who makes it. We
next find a heavy complaint of his having dared to
dispute the accuracy of certain quotations found in
the fathers, and other ecclesiastical writers. Then
Alleged comes the main accusation, that Bentley had stolen a
from'st'an- gTcat part of liis Celebrated collection of the Frag-
'^y* ments of Callimachus from certain manuscript papers
left by Thomas Stanley, the editor of ^schylus.
The charge of plagiarism is one to which critical
scholars are, from the nature of their pursuits, con-
stantly exposed; since no care can secure them from
sometimes publishing remarks and conjectures, with-
out being aware that they have already been made
by others. Every candid person is slow to believe
that such coincidences are the result of any thing
but accident ; and theft would be equally dishonour-
able and foolish, in a case where detection is sure,
sooner or later, to ensue : yet it is by these insinua-
tions that the characters of illustrious scholars have
not unfrequently been assailed by the envious and
malignant. The present accusation happened to
carry its refutation along with it ; since it appeared
that Stanley's collection, which was among the papers
lent to our critic by Sir Edward Sherburn, was
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 129
merely taken from Atlienaeiis, Suidas, the Etymologiis chap.vi.
Magnus, Harpocration, and other grammarians, with *^^^-
whom Bentley had shown himself to be peculiarly
conversant ; and whom, as is proved by his collection
of those very fragments, he had examined and sifted
with more diligence than Stanley ; a fact virtually
admitted by the accuser himself. No person of com-
mon learning or common candour can read the evi-
dence for this charge without pronouncing it to be
frivolous and malicious : nor is there the least reason
to suspect that Bentley, supposing him to have ex-
amined Stanley's papers, was indebted to them for a
single fragment, or a single correction. But the
charge was urged with rancour ; and his enemies
hoped to give it the colour and air of truth, by
declaring that the original manuscript of Stanley
was left at Bonnet's shop, for the examination of the
curious. Just as this new engine for the Doctor's
destruction was ready to discharge its fire, the Reply
to Boyle came forth, and at once reversed the situation
of the parties. The Boyleans were now the persons
accused; they stood arraigned for language and con-
duct which, to a certain degree, militated against
gentlemanly and liberal principles ; their arguments
were shown to be feeble and unsound ; they were
proved to be woefully deficient in the particular
learning requisite for their undertaking ; and what
was most unexpected and most galling, they found
the weapons of satire and raillery, their main reliance,
retorted with success upon themselves. All that they
could do was to annex to the forthcoming publication
an appendix as large as the book itself, contesting, in
the name and on behalf of Bennet, Dr. Bentley 's
narrative of the King's manuscript. This wearisome
and revolting detail does not materially impugn the
Doctor's statement ; while it shows the anxiety of his
VOL. I. K
130 LIFE OF
CHAP. VI. opponents to shift the dispute to a ground, on which
^^^^- they thought a better stand might be made than on
questions of learning. The bookseller eagerly caught
at the opportunity of making himself a prominent
figure in an affair, which brought him notoriety and
Dr. King, customcrs. Dr. King, (who was perhaps the writer
of Bennet's Vindication), introduces himself into the
appendix in a very ludicrous plight. His wretched
tale of overhearing one day some of Bentley's dis-
course, had been treated in the latter's preface with
merited contempt ; and the tale-bearer himself, who
was best known as the author of the ' Journey to
London,' a parody on Dr. Lister's ' Journey to Paris,'
was made to feel in his turn the smart of ridicule :
" But let ns hear," says Bentley, " the Doctor's testimony ; the
air and spirit of it is so extraordinary, the virulency and insolence
so far above the common pitch, that it puts one in mind of Rupilius
King, a great ancestor of the Doctor's, commended to posterity by
Horace, under this honourable character :
" Proscripti Regis Rupili pus atque venenum:"
The filth and venom of Rupilius King.
And if the Doctor do not inherit the estate of Rupilius, yet the whole
world must allow that he is heir of his virtues, as his own writings
will vouch for him, his deposition here against me, his buffoonery
upon the learned Dr. Lister, and some other monuments of his
learning and his morals." P. xxviii. And again : " But we must
not expect from the Doctor that he should know the worth of books ;
for he is better skilled in his catalogue of his ales, his hmntie-dumtie,
hiig-matee, three-threads, and the rest of that glorious list, than in the
catalogues of MSS." P. xxxiii.
These and some other hits came home to the civilian,
who, like other jesters, could not endure to have the
laugh turned against himself; and in his reply, while
he strives to be witty, he only shows that he is im-
moderately angry ^^
*" Short Account of Dr. Bentleifs Humanity and Justice, S,-c. p. 135.
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. ]31
This book appears to have been on every accoimt chap.vi.
unworthy of a reply : but a reply it immediately met ^'^^^-
with. Bentley had now placed himself on such an Refutation
eminence, that people were no longer afraid to be pLilpUet.
seen combating in his cause. The advocate who on
this occasion volunteered his services, is said to have
been Mr. Solomon Whateley, of Magdalene College,
Oxford, the same who had lately translated the Epistles
of Phalaris into English". His defence is insufferably
long-winded and tedious, and although the argu-
ments are correct, yet the author's plan of spreadhig
over more than two hundred pages a trivial and
unfruitful question, is sufficient to surfeit the most
determined lover of controversy. Bentley 's book Another
called forth another pamphlet, entitled ' A Letter to trac't.^"'""^
the Reverend Dr. Bentley upon the Controversie be-
tween him and Mr. Boyle,' written in a moderate
tone, and complimentary to our critic, but exhorting
him not to continue the dispute, as it was unsuitable
for a divine, and as Mr. Boyle was a gentleman of
merit, and, moreover, related to the great philosopher.
To give a specimen of this author's ratiocination; he
contends, that injury is done to literature by proving
books not to proceed from the great men to whom
they are attributed, since the value of the work is
frequently estimated by the name which it bears : an
argument which tells in an exactly opposite direction
to that which he designed. Of this tract the only
remarkable circumstance is, that it has, I believe,
escaped the notice of all persons who have given a
history, or a list of the pieces produced by this me-
morable controversy.
2' The title is, An Answer to a late Book written against the Learned and
Reverend Dr. B. relating to some MS. Notes on Callimachus, together with
an Examination of Mr. Bennet's Appendix to the said Book. London, 8vo.
1699.
K 2
132 LIFE OF
CHAP. VI. About the same time there appeared another letter
^^^^- addressed to our critic, of a very different character.
Bishop At the conclusion of his arguments respecting the age
pilbikation of Phalaris and of Pythagoras, wherein he combated
ofp''thJ^'' the opinions of Dodwell, Bentley had expressed a
goras. wish to rcfcr those nice questions to the judgment of
Bishop Lloyd, whom he considered the highest au-
thority upon subjects of that nature. The appeal
was immediately attended to ; and the learned pre-
late published a full statement of all particulars which
he deemed well authenticated, respecting the lives of
' Pythagoras and other famous men his contempo-
raries;' along with their dates and the reasons for his
reliance upon each. To this chronological detail he
prefixed an essay in the form of a dedicatory ' Epistle
to the Rev. Dr. Bentley :' an honour which must be
considered not the least of the rewards obtained by
the Dissertation on Phalaris.
Respecting Pythagoras, the Bishop observes:
" Of those many eminent writers that have employed their pens
on this subject, there are three that have given us his history at
large, Diogenes Laertius, Poi-[)h\T\% and Jamblichus. These three
have, I believe, culled out all that was remarkable in any of the rest:
and the two last were his great admirers, who would not omit any
thing that might make for his glory ^*."
He then gives a full and clear account of Porphyry
and Jamblichus, as well as their monstrous and fabu-
lous narratives respecting Pythagoras. Those writers
were determined enemies of Christianity, and laboured
to discredit tlie history of our Saviour's life, by pub-
lishing extravagant details of the life of that philo-
2« Chronological Account of the Life of Pythagoras mid of other famous
men his Contemporaries. With an Epistle to the Rev. Dr. Beiitley about
Porphyry's and Jamblichus's Lives of Pythagoras. By the Right Reverend
Father in God William, Lord Bishop of Coventry and Lichfield, p. iv.
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 133
sopher, and representing it as no less miraculous than chap. vr.
the Gospel history ; in hopes that men, not examining ^^^^-
the different nature of the evidence on which the two
narratives rested, might regard them both as equally
incredible. He explains also the similar attempt
made by Philostratus in his life of Apollonius of
Tyana. Bishop Lloyd's essay is mcU executed, and
exhibits so much learning applied to an important
purpose, that it seems a matter of regret that it should
not be more generally known.
Bentley's first patron, the excellent and accom- Death of
plished Bishop Stillingfleet, had been for a long time li.iglket.
in a precarious state from an inveterate gout ; which ^^^""^'^ ^^•
now fixed upon his stomach, and put a period to his
existence. As he had maintained a long and painful
conflict with this disease, it is hardly necessary to
refute the assertion of Whiston, that his end was
hastened by mortification at the ill success of his last
controversy with Locke : nor should I have mentioned
it at all, had he not quoted Bentley as his authority ^^;
whereas a letter, still in existence, shows that the
latter attributed his patron's danger to its real cause ^'^.
Indeed, without assigning to him wilful misrepre-
sentation, it is proper to caution the reader against
giving credit to Winston's narratives. Not only the
inaccuracy of his memory, but the mist of prejudice
through which he regarded every person and every
topic, may be observed in all his gossiping anec-
dotes. He perpetually confounds both dates and per-
sons ; and generally appears to substitute for the
sentiments of others his own interpretation of what he
had heard : accordingly, few of his stories will bear
•^ "NVhiston ; Memoirs of his Life, vol.i. p. 251.
^^ Bentley in a letter to his brother, James Bentley, written in February,
1699, says, " The Bishop of Worcester, my old patron, who is now at
London, lies very sick, and I fear he will hardly recover."
134 LIFE OF
CHAP. VI. the test of examination. In the controversy with
^^^9- Locke, the Bishop of Worcester had certainly been
hasty in attributing to that philosopher opinions which
could not fairly be inferred from his writings ; and,
consequently, his success was not that which had
attended his other performances. But it is impossible
to imagine that any chagrin at Locke's vindication of
himself could have affected so philosophical and re-
ligious a mind as that of Stillingfleet.
Bentley was proud of expressing the veneration
with which he regarded his patron : having occasion
to mention him immediately before the Bishop's death,
he uses these remarkable expressions :
" I shall always esteem it both my honour and happiness to have
spent fourteen years of my life in his family and acquaintance, whom
even envy itself will allow to be the glory of oui' church and nation ;
who by his vast and comprehensive genius, is as great in all parts of
learning, as the greatest next himself are in any." Pref. to Dissert.
p. Ixxviii.
Tlie remains of the deceased Bishop being con-
veyed to Worcester and interred in the Cathedral, a
monument was erected over them by his son, James
Stillingfleet, who was then Prebendary, and after-
inscription wards Dean of that Church : the inscription, which
nume'nt! ° "^'^^ Written by Dr. Bentley, continues to be admired
for its eloquence and propriety, among the ornaments
of that venerable structure ^\
His library. It was Bciitlcy's first object to secure the valuable
library of the Bishop, with the riches of wdiich he
was so well acquainted, as an accession to that under
his own care : accordingly we find solicitations made
for its purchase by the Crown ; and, connected with
this proposal, Bentley 's old scheme was revived, of
procuring an apartment to be built for the library in
^' The reader \vill not be displeased to see this monumental eulogium :
[H. S. E.
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 135
St. James's Park. His ever-active friend Evelyn chap. vi.
again endeavoured to interest the Archbishop of Can- ^^^^-
terbury in favour of the measure ^^ But this scheme
not appearing likely to succeed, he had recourse to a
different expedient, and recommended the purchase
of the library for the Royal Society : here also the
assistance of the King's bounty was requisite : and
when we consider how many great and distinguished
persons were interested in effecting this object, and
particularly that the Lord Chancellor Somers was
then President of the Society, we are apt to wonder
that it should not have succeeded ^^ But it seems
H. s. E.
EDVARDUS STILLINGFLEET, S. T. P.
EX DECANO ECCLESI^ PAULINA EPISCOPUS VIGORNIENSIS,
JAM TIBI, QUICUNQUE H^C LEGES,
NISI ET EUROP.E ET LITERATI ORBIS HOSPES ES,
IPSE PER SE NOTUS :
DUM REBUS MORTALIBUS INTERFUIT,
ET SANCTITATE MORUM, ET ORIS STATUR^QUE DIGNITATE,
ET CONSUMMATE EHUDITIONIS LAUBE,
UNDIQUE VENERANDUS.
CUI IN HUMANIORIBUS LITERIS CRITICI, IN DIVINIS THEOLOGI,
IN RECONDITA HISTORIA ANTIQUARII, IN SCIENTIIS PHILOSOPHI,
IN LEGUM PERITIA JURISCONSULTI, IN CIVILI PRUDENTIA POLITICI,
IN ELOQUENTIA UNIVERSI
FASCES ULTRO SUBMISERUNT.
MAJOR UNUS IN HIS OMNIBUS, QUAM ALII IN SINGULIS.
UT BIBLIOTHECAM SUAM, CUI PAREM ORBIS VIX HABUIT,
INTRA PECTUS OMNIS DOCTRINoE CAPAX
GESTASSE INTEGRAM VISUS SIT;
QVM TAMEN NULLOS LIBROS NOVERAT MELIORES,
QUAM QUOS IPSE MULTOS SCRIPSIT EDIDITQUE,
ECCLESIE ANGLICANS DEFENSOR SEMPER INVICTUS.
" Evelyn's Memoirs, April 29, 1699. " I dined with the Archbishop,
but my business was to get him to persuade the King to purchase the late
Bishop of Worcester's library ; and build a place for his o^vn library at
St. James's, in the Park, the present one being too small."
^^ Bentley, in a note to Evelyn, of May 3, 1G99, thus opens to him the
topic : " I come now to wait upon you with a request that you woidd meet
136 LIFE OF
CHAP. VI. that, in spite of such powerful interest, the claims of
^^^^- economy were more listened to than those of litera-
ture; and Bentley had the mortification to see this
noble collection carried out of the island. It was
bought by the private purse of a liberal and spirited
Irish prelate, Dr. Narcissus Marsh, then newly ap-
pointed to the archbishoprick of Dublin ; who de-
voted his purchase to the purpose of founding a public
library in that metropolis ^*.
Bentiey's Bcutley was uow left to enjoy the triumph of his
vkTory!'' learning and sagacity, to which even the most averse
were compelled to pay homage : and what was a still
more important result of his book, he had silenced
and put to shame the slanderous attacks made upon
his character. Upon the various matters of this
celebrated controversy, his victory was complete and
final, and he was left in undisputed possession of the
field. A declaration was indeed made by his adver-
saries of their intention to publish a complete reply
to his book; but this was an empty vaunt ; they felt
their inability to renew the conflict upon questions of
learning ; and it was the course of prudence not to
recall public attention to the dispute. It may be
remarked, that no one of the Boylean confederacy
ever again appeared before the world as a critic.
Atterbury, their leader, immediately afterwards found
business of a different character, a defence of the
rights of the Convocation, in w^hich he acquitted
Sir Robert Southron, Sir Christopher Wren, and other friends, at Pontac's
to day at dinner ; to make an act of council at Gresham College, to desire
our president, and the late president, to obtain a public library for the
Royal Society. I beg of you not to fail us before two o'clock there."
The result of this meeting is mentioned in Evelyn's Memoirs, May 3, 1699:
" At a meeting of the Royal Society I was nominated to be of the com-
mittee to wait n\um the Lord Chancellor to move the King to purchase the
IJishop of Worcester's library."
=" See a letter of Archbishop Marsh, dated May 4, 1700. Letters of
Eminent Perso7is, vol. i. p. 103.
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 137
himself with signal ability: though encountered by chap. vi.
such opponents as Wake, Kennett, and Gibson, his ^^^^-
superiors in antiquarian learning, he established his re-
putation as a spirited and powerful controversialist, and
was from that time looked upon as the ablest champion
of the High Church party in the kingdom.
Of all Bentley's enemies. Dr. King appears to King's Dia-
have been most severely galled by the chastisement Dfad^"
which he experienced, and laboured to revenge him-
self, by turning the critic into ridicule, in his ten
' Dialogues of the Dead;' which, by his own con-
fession, he ' wrote to divert his spleen.' The subject
of all these performances is Bentley and the con-
troversy. His banter, though occasionally humour-
ous, is upon the whole tiresome and palling ; and
the work produces the same effect as the travesty of
a poem, in showing the high opinion really entertained
of the original. Dr. King styles our critic Benti-
voglio, a nick-name which we find adhering to him
afterwards as long as he lived ^\
33 The following passage of a dialogue between Lilly and Helvicus is a
favourable specimen of the civilian's banter : —
" Helv. Why in such a passion, brother Lilly?
" Lilly. Brother Lilly! — You make very free with me. I am none of
your brother ! The great Bentivoglio may indeed call me brother, since
the publication of his eternal labours. He equals the Chronological Tables
that I yearly published ; and then he is so exact a man at the original of a
Sicilian city, that, amidst never so great variety of authors, he can tell you
the man who laid the first stone of it. There was not a potter in Athens^
or a brazier in Corinth, but he knows when he set up, and who took out a
statute of bankrupt against him.
" Helv. AVhy this is great learning indeed !
" Lilly. AVhy so it is. Sir. Do you know whether Thericles made
glass or earthenware, or what Olympiad he lived in?
" Helv. Truly, not I ! But do the fortunes of Greece depend upon it?
" Lilly. Thus you would encourage ignorance! My brother Benti-
vogho and I have studied many years upon things of less importance, some
of which I shaU name to you; as, that carp and hops came into England
the same year with heresy; — that the first weathercock was set up, on the
tomb of Zethys and Calais, sons of Boreas, in the time of the Argonautic
expedition; — that Mrs. Turner brought up the fashion of yeUow starch; —
138 LIFE OF
CHAP. VI. The prejudices excited by party and fashion are
^*^^^- never easily overcome. Of this fact there appears a
remarkable instance in the popular opinion prevalent
in England for at least fifty years, that the contro-
versy on Phalaris was one upon which great learning
and wit had been bestowed, but which after all left
the point in dispute undecided. Among persons
whose judgment upon such questions could be of any
value, the case was different : by them the triumph of
Dr. Bentley was deemed as complete, as his learning,
wit, and ingenuity were admirable : and it was not
long before he experienced a signal proof of the im-
pression created in his favour.
tliat the Sybarites first laid rose-cakes and lavender among their linen ; —
that Sardanapalus was the inventor of cushions, which never before this
last century have been improved into easy chairs, by the metamorphosis of
cast mantuas and petticoats, to the ruin of chamber-maids. — And yet we
thought our time well spent, I must tell you.
" Helv. Are any of these things in Usher's 'Annals,' or Simpson's
' Chronicon?'
" Lilly. Perhaps not. But we stand upon their shoulders, and there-
fore see things with greater exactness. Perhaps never man came to the
same pitch of clironology as the much esteemed Bentivoglio. He has
gotten the true standard by which to judge of the Grecian time : ' He
knows the age of any Greek word unless it be in the Greek Testament:'
and can teU you the time a man lived in, by reading a page of his book, as
easily as I could have told an oyster- woman's fortune when my hand was
crost with a piece of sUver.
" Helv. This is admirable! Why then, it seems, words have their
chronology, and ])hrases their rise and fall, as well as the Four Monarchies.
" Lilly. Very right; let Bentivoglio but get a sentence of Greek in
his mouth, and turn it once or twice upon his tongue; and he as well
knows the growth of it, as a \antner does Burgundy from Madeira." —
King's Works, Dialogue VH. vol. i. p. iGl.
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 139
CHAPTER Vn.
Bentley made Master of Trinity College, Cambridge — History of the College
— Its great fame and prosperity — Its decline — The probable causes —
Bentley's appointment unpoptdar — The Duke of Gloucester — Bentley's
first step upon his admission — Repairs of the Master's Lodge — Bentley
elected Vice-Chancellor — His Marriage — Vindicates the rights of the
University — A Greek Archbishop created D.D. — Address to the King —
Ludolf Kuster — His edition of Suidas — Bentley made Archdeacon of Ely
— Member of Convocation — University Press — General Election —
Bentley undertakes to jmblish Horace — Death of Grcevius — Elections in
Trinity College — The Master's regulations — Measures of discipline —
Care of the College Library — Graduates in Divinity — Dissention among
the Fellows — Declamations — Offence given by the Master — Expensive
repairs — New Staircase — College Preachers — Sequel of the Phalaris
controversy — Publications of Atterbury — Dodwell — Swift — Wotton.
We have already noticed that during the life-time ofcHAP.vii.
Queen Mary, the Church preferment in the gift of the ^'^^^'
Crown was generally left to her disposal. Soon after
the loss of his Queen, King William was induced to
appoint a Commission, consisting of the six most dis-
tino-uished prelates on the Bench, who were to recom- April 7,
1 POP
mend fit persons to supply all vacant bishopricks,
deaneries, and other preferments, as well as headships
and professorships of the two Universities, in the
Royal patronage. The persons invested with this
trust were the Archbishops Tenison and Sharp,
Bishops Lloyd of Coventry and Lichfield, Burnet of
Sarum, Stillingfleet of Worcester, and Patrick of
Ely ; after Stillingfleet's death, another Commission
was issued, substituting in his place Moore the Bishop
of Norwich ^ Upon the vacancy of the deanery of
1 Tlie copy of this Commission, dated May 9, 1699, is given at length
in Le Neve's Lives of the Protestant Archbishops, p. 247- No Commission
of this nature has been issued by any monarch since King William.
the College.
140 LIFE OF
cHAP.vii. Durham in the latter part of 1699, Dr. John Montague,
^^700- the Master of Trinity College, Cambridge, was pro-
Bentiey moted to that dignity ; and the Commissioners una-
Mast^erof nimously recommended Dr. Bentley to the vacant
coUe'e headship of Trinity College.
Cambridge. There could scarcely be a better testimony of the
opinion entertained of our hero by the heads of the
Church, than the important and dignified charge thus
confided to his administration. And it might be sup-
posed that no appointment could be more agreeable
to the feelings and taste of a scholar ; not merely on
account of high rank and influence in a learned body,
but from the opportunity which it conferred of pro-
moting literature by the encouragement of merit and
of talents.
History of Tlic Collcgc ovcr whicli Beutlcy was called to
preside may be considered as the first-fruits of the
Reformation. It was founded by King Henry the
Eighth about one month before his death, and en-
dowed with revenues taken from the dissolved monas-
teries. Its earlier years were somewhat clouded by
the struggles between the popish and reformed
Churches ; but upon the accession of Elizabeth the
foundation was completed and placed upon its present
liberal footing ; giving ample encouragement to the
pursuit both of ornamental and useful knowledge,
and opening the emoluments of the college as re-
wards to the merit of the students in the most un-
its great restricted manner. Accordingly we find that Trinity
College rose at once from the infancy to the maturity
of its fame: and from that epoch to the civil troubles
in the reign of Charles the First, a period of little
more than eighty years, it flourished in a manner
unexampled in the history of academical institutions.
The illustrious names of Lord Bacon and Sir Edward
Coke stand at the head of a list of its members dis-
fame and
prosperity
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 141
tinguished in the theatre of public life. During the chap.vii.
reigns of Elizabeth and James the First, a period ^^oo.
when extraordinary attention was shown to merit in
ecclesiastical appointments, a greater number of
Bishops proceeded from this, than from any other
society ; and it was observed about the beginning of
the 17th century, that Trinity College might claim
at the same time the two Archbishops of Canterbury
and York, and no less than seven other principal
prelates on the English Bench ^. So greatly did
theological learning flourish here, that when the pre-
sent Translation of the Bible was executed by order
of James the First, no less than six of the translators
were found among the resident Fellows of this College^,
In elegant literature it claims an equal celebrity ;
having, in addition to many of the Elizabethan poets,
produced those two constellations of wit and learning,
John Donne and Abraham Cowley "* ; while it boasts,
2 Tlie following is an extract from a Memorial of Dr. Ne\dle, Master of
Trinity, in the reign of King James I.
" Within the suggestor's remembrance, besides Doctors in all faculties,
to the number of at least 60, Deans to the number of 1 1 , Public Professors
to the number of 10, the two Archbishops of Canterbury and York, the
Most Rev. Fathers ^\Tiitgift and Hutton, and seven other princij^al Pre-
lates, viz. Fletcher of London, StiU of Bath and Wells, Babington of
Worcester, Redman of Norwich, Rudd of St. DaAid's, Bennet of Here-
ford, and Goldsborough of Gloucester; all of them, simul et semel, Bishops
of this kingdom, since and under the reign of our now most gracious
Sovereign (except London and Norwich, who died not long before) are
such an instance, as we think no other College can afford the Uke ; and not
one of them chosen out of Westminster School." — Carter's Hist, of Cam-
bridge, p. 349.
3 Tlie fellows of Trinity College employed in the Translation of the
Bible were, 1. Edward Lively, Professor of Hebrew. 2. Jeremiah Rad-
clifFe. 3. Thomas Harrison. 4. John Overall, Professor of Divinity.
5. John Layfield. 6. William Dakins. Dr. John Richardson, Master of
the College, was also one of the translators ; but he was not appointed
Master till the work was completed.
* The fact of Cowley being of this College, his biographer Dr. Samuel
Johnson chooses to omit : he was elected FeUow in 1640, being then a
junior Bachelor; in 1643 he was ejected by the Puritans for refusing the
Covenant : but he recovered his fellowship after the Restoration.
142 LIFE OF
CHAP.vii. in the next generation, the still more illustrious name
^'^^ of Dryden. So high was its reputation during the
period of which we are speaking, that Fellows of this
society were chosen to fill the headships of the ma-
jority of other Colleges in the University \
Its decline. Tlic civil troublcs, and the intolerance of the Pu-
ritans, brought ruin and confusion upon this as well
as other societies : all the Royalist Fellows were ex-
pelled, along with Dr. Thomas Comber, the Master,
one of the most exemplary characters that ever pre-
sided over a college. The Restoration did not bring
back the prosperity or the spirit that had been
banished by the evil times ; nor could the society
recover the paramount station which it had so long
maintained. There were, indeed, some circumstances
peculiarly auspicious to Trinity College. Dr. John
Pearson and Dr. Isaac Barrow, two of the brightest
characters which grace the period of Charles the
Second, were successively Masters. In the mean-
time, the fabric nearly attained to the state in which
it continued till the year 1824 ; the beautiful qua-
drangle, half of which had been built in the master-
ship of Dr. Thomas Nevile, the Dean of Peterborough,
and in a great degree at his own cost, was now com-
pleted by the munificence of two restored Fellows,
Sir Thomas Sclater, and Dr. Humphrey Babington ;
s William Glynne, was made President of Queen's College ; Matthew
Hutton, Master of Pembroke HaU ; Nicholas She])pard, Master of St.
John's CoUege ; Thomas Legge, Master of Caius ; WiUiam ^\^lJtaker,
Master of St. John's; John Copcot, Master of Corpus Christi; John
Overall, Master of Catherine Hall ; Francis Aldrich, Master of Sidney
College ; Robert Scott, Master of Clare Hall. Two other Fellows of
Trinity of this period, James Duport and Francis Wilsford were after the
Restoration made Masters of Magdalene and Corpus Christi. To this list
of Fellows of Trinity, who became Heads of other Colleges, may be
added Walter Travers, Provost of Trinity College, Dublin; Matthew
Sutcliffe, Founder and Head of Chelsea College ; and Charles Chauncy,
Head of Harvard College, in New England.
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 143
and the noble library, an edifice unrivalled for mag- chap.vii.
nificence and convenience, was erected by a subscrip- ^^oo-
tion of the members, under the auspices of Dr. Barrow.
Above all, the presence and example of Sir Isaac
Newton might have been expected to sustain the
spirit of a college, the scene of all his great dis-
coveries, of which he continued many years a resident
Fellow. In spite of these advantages, the house was
observed to decline in numbers and celebrity in the
latter years of the seventeenth century ; and it hap-
pened at the crisis of which we are speaking, that the
list of its Fellows was more destitute of distinguished
names than at any preceding or any subsequent
period.
To what such a state of things was owing, must The proba-
not be hastily pronounced. The reason assigned by ^'^ *'''"''''■
Bentley for the decline of the Society was the disuse
of theological degrees among the Fellows ; a cause
insufficient of itself to produce such an effect. The
following facts may account for it more satisfactorily :
first, the acknowledged relaxation of discipline under
the two last Masters, Dr. North and Dr. Montague,
had produced its never-failing consequences, in im-
pairing both decorum and literature : secondly, that
distinguishing principle of Trinity College, admission
to the founder's bounty upon the score of merit alone,
had experienced an interruption in the times of civil
discord, when Fellows were appointed by the nomi-
nation of parliamentary commissioners, and subse-
quently of the Protector. After the Restoration,
Charles the Second being probably urged to assume
the same patronage as had been exercised by the
Usurper, frequently sent Royal mandates for elec-
tions to fellowships ; which, though plainly contrary
to their statutes, the Society were constrained to obey.
In the short reign of James the Second this exercise
1
144 LIFE OF
CHAP.vii. of arbitrary power was carried still further, every
^'^^^- vacancy among the fellowships being filled by man-
datory letters from the King. Although the College
was delivered by the Revolution from future invasions
of its privileges, yet some of the intruded Fellows
having obtained office by their seniority, and not
being indebted to industry or learning for their own
preferment, wanted both ability and disposition to
encourage those qualifications in others. A third
cause of the depressed and languid state of Trinity
College, may be found in the prevalent distaste for
the old system of academical study ; people had
begun to neglect and despise the learning of the
schoolmen, before a more vigorous and manly system
of instruction had been substituted. This happened
to be the intermediate state of torpor ; and the Col-
lege disputations, exercises in which members of all
ages used to display their ingenuity, were now much
neglected, being frequently performed by deputy, and
disposed of in a superficial and unedifying manner.
Bcntiey's For tlicsc cvils uo better remedy could have been
me'nTuii- dcvlscd tliau the appointment of a Master possessed
popular. Qf talents, energy, and reputation ; and this was the
sole motive for the arrangement which placed Bentley
at the head of Trinity College. The measure was so
well intended, and so honourable to its authors, that
it is painful to find it not productive of all the good
eflTects which they contemplated. But in making this
selection some material circumstances appear to have
been overlooked. Bentley had no previous connection
with the College which he was sent to govern ; he
was himself educated in another and a rival society;
and, not having resided at Cambridge since he reached
manhood, he was unacquainted with the business as
well as feelings of the place, and destitute of all the
peculiar information which the Head of a College
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 145
ought to possess. Far from cherishing that attach- chap.vii.
ment to his society which is generally observed to ^^"^-
overcome all other feelings among the governors of
our colleges, Bentley regarded with contempt the
Fellows over whom he was to preside ; and the pre-
ferment itself he seems to have valued chiefly on
account of its income, and as a step in the ladder of
advancement. On the other hand, his appointment
was unpopular in the Society, to whom he was known
only by his reputation as a critic and controversialist,
and who were chao-rined at not seeino; one of their
own College placed at their head ^ Besides over-
looking these circumstances, his patrons were not
aware that there were certain defects in his character,
which made him a person not to be safely trusted
with authority. Hitherto the reader has seen him
pass clear and unsullied through no common ordeal,
and put to shame the attacks of jealous and envious
adversaries : in the remainder of his history there will
be found much to regret, and much to condemn.
At the time of his appointment it was intended that The Duke
the Duke of Gloucester, son of the Princess Anne, °er.
and Heir Apparent to the throne, should be educated
at Trinity College, under the immediate care of the
new Master. Great were the hopes entertained of
this amiable young prince by all parties in the nation :
but it happened in this, as in many similar instances,
that the expectations of the English people, when
most strongly excited, were destined to be disap-
•^ Dr. Gale, the Dean of York, formerly Fellow of Trinity College, and
Greek Professor of the University, had aspired to succeed Dr. Montague
in the mastership, as appears from a letter of his to his friend Mr. Pepys.
March 18, I698 : " I am told Dr. Montague will be Bishop of Worcester:
when that shall happen, might not a friend of yours hope to be removed
southward to Trin. Coll. ?" Pepys' s Correspondence, vol. ii. p. 164.
VOL. I. L
146
LIFE OF
Dr. Bentley
installed
Master.
cHAP.vii. pointed by the premature death of their beloved
^700- object \
On the first of February, 1699—1700, Dr. Bentley
was installed Master ; having first taken the oath to
preserve unbroken the statutes of the College, and to
consult the common benefit rather than his private
interests. Tradition says that, being congratulated
upon a promotion so little to have been expected by
a member of St. John's, he replied, in the words of
the Psalmist, " By the help of my God, I have leaped
over the wall ^"
His first step on entering into the office was of a
very inauspicious description. A dividend from the
surplus money had been fixed, in December 1699, to
be paid, agreeably to the custom of the College, to
the Master and Fellows, for the year ending at
Michaelmas, The Master's share, amounting to 170/.,
was clearly due to Dr. Montague, whose resignation
took place in November ; but by some accident it
had not yet been disbursed to him. Bentley, imme-
diately upon his admission, claimed this sum, as
being profits accruing during the vacancy, and there-
fore payable to the new Master ; and by dint of ter-
rifying the bursar, or treasurer, who declined paying
it, with a threat to bring him before the Archbishop
Bentley's
first step
upon his
admission
^ William, Duke of Gloucester, died July 29, IJOO. For an account
of this young prince, see Bishop Burnet's History of his own Times, vol. ii.
p. 245.
* Another traditionary anecdote, presented in Dr. Bentley's family, is
this : " Bishop StiUingfleet said, We must send Bentley to rule the turbu-
lent Fellows of Trinity College : if any body can do it, he is the person ;
for I am sure that he has rided my family ever since he entered it." The
truth of this story is overset by a reference to dates. StiUingfleet was
dead many months before the vacancy ; and the ' turbulence ' of the
Fellows has an evident allusion to transactions which occurred several
years later. It is allowed on all hands that, before Bentle)'^s appointment,
the Society had been perfectly tranquil.
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 147
of Canterbury, he actually obtained the money. In chap.vii.
making this claim he was misled by a reference to '^OQ-
the case of parochial preferment, where the successor
is always entitled to the arrears during the vacancy.
But in the present instance, the sums from whence
the dividend was made, had all been received in
Dr. Montague's time. Besides, a case precisely
similar had occurred in Trinity College little more
than twenty years before, when Dr. North gave up
the dividend to the executors of his predecessor, Dr.
Barrow; and a College order was made to regulate
and decide such questions for the future. Bentley
at the same time demanded and enforced payment of
other dues, amounting to 110/. which had become
payable at St. Thomas's-day preceding. For this
claim he had stronger grounds ; though, to say the
least, it was injudicious to assert it against the opi-
nions and feelings of the Society : but to the dividend
he had not the shadow of a right ; and his predecessor
declared his intention of commencin«: a suit aofainst
the College, if it was withheld from him. Bentley
throughout life was too obstinate in maintaining a
point to which he had once committed himself. The
matter remained in controversy about two years, when Apni ic,
a compromise was effected. The Dean of Durham
allowed the 170/. to remain in Bentley 's hands, as a
gift to the College, to be expended in purchasing
furniture for the Master's lodge : and the thanks of
the Society were given to him for this benefaction,
and entered in the register by the Master's hand.
Through this handsome conduct of the Dean the
dispute was amicably settled : an impression, how-
ever, was produced not favourable to the new Master;
and unfortunately his subsequent conduct had no
tendency to remove the prejudice thus excited against
him.
L 2
148 LIFE OF
cHAP.vii. The Master's lodge, a spacious and noble habita-
^'^^'^' tion, was in want of considerable repair, no material
Repairs of work havine" been bestowed upon it for about sixty
tli6 Ma.st8r*s o i «/
lodge. years. The state of the floors and ceilings made it
expedient that there should be no longer delay; and
it was natural that a new Head should, at his first
coming, wish his house to be suitably repaired and
ornamented. Bentley applied for this purpose to the
eight Senior Fellows, a body to whom, in conjunction
with the Master, the government of the College and
the disposal of its revenues are entrusted. To induce
them to consent to a thorough reparation of the lodge
at the College expense, he urged the propriety of its
being fitted up previously to the coming of the Duke
of Gloucester, their future sovereign. The cost, lie
said, would not exceed 300/. ; and declared that he
would himself contribute 100/. towards it. The Se-
niors readily and handsomely assented ; making no
difficulty or demur upon any point, except that some
thought it wrong to permit a charge required for the
credit and dignity of the whole Society, to fall even
in part upon the private purse of the Master. An
. order was accordingly entered in the College register^
by Dr. Bentley, and subscribed at his request by the
whole meeting, directing in general terms that the
lodge should be ' repaired and finished with new
ceiling, wainscot, flooring, and other convenient im-
provements,' but without naming any limit to the
9 April 11, 1700. " Agreed then by the Master and Seniors, that the
Master's Lodge be repaired and finished with new ceihng, wainscot, floor-
ing, and other convenient improvements ; towards which expense the
Master will contribute de propria the sum of one hundred pounds sterhng.
R. Bentley, Mag. Collegii.
Thos. Bainbriggs, D.D. Edw. Chester.
Will. Corker. Geo. Modd.
John Ekins. Edw. Bathurst.
W. Stubbe, D.D. Nat. Rashleigh."
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 149
expense, or specifying what ' other improvements' chap.vii.
were deemed 'convenient.' I am thus particular in ^^^^-
the detail of this transaction, as it afterwards became
the subject of a serious charge against the Master,
that he had artfully worded the order in such general
terms as left the extent of the work to his own dis-
cretion, and that he had, contrary to the practice,
induced the Seniors, by the subscription of their
names, to commit themselves for the payment of the
expense. The latter step however he probably adopted
from the custom of his Chapter at Worcester ; and in
an undertaking of magnitude it seems no more than
a measure of prudence. The cost of the whole work,
exceeding 1600Z., caused excessive dissatisfaction and
clamour : but it does not appear to have been executed
with extravagance ; nor can we, after a careful ex-
amination, see reason for believing that Bentley was
actuated by bad faith. That he had ever said the
expense would not exceed 300/. he denied, and com-
mented on the improbability and absurdity of the
assertion ; but as the evidence of several persons
proves that he did actually name that sum to the
Meeting, it is to be concluded that he was speaking
only of a part of the work. Some of the Seniors
must have possessed sufficient knowledge of such
matters to be aware that a thorough repair of so large
a building could not be effected at so small a cost. It
does not appear that any scruple was made at the
outset of the undertaking, or that workmen were
called upon for an estimate of the expense. In short,
the confidence reposed in the Master's discretion was
absolute and unlimited.
As the lodge is now nearly in the state into which
it was brought by these repairs, we have clear evi-
dence that no inappropriate or extravagant alterations
were admitted. In all the rooms wainscot was sub-
150 LIFE OF
cHAP.vii. stituted for the antiquated and decaying tapestry.
^'^Q^- Here Bentley complied with the fashion of the day'";
as he did likewise in the introduction of marble
chimney-pieces and sash-windows. In the last par-
ticular only there seems to have been just ground for
complaint ; since these windows not only occasioned
a great cost, but were a blemish to the Gothic cha-
racter of the noble quadrangle. He alleged in defence
of this alteration, for which his taste as well as eco-
nomy were impeached, that there w^as already a want
of uniformity in the court, no two sides being exactly
alike, and that sash windows were desirable, as giving
greater light to rooms which were not less than twenty-
five feet in depth.
Nov. 4. In the first year of his mastership. Dr. Bentley
Bentley bccame Vicc Chancellor, being chosen agreeably to
chancdTor *^^ custom of tlic Univcrsity, as the senior in degree
among the Heads of Colleges who had not already
served that office. This choice of the chief magistrate
according to his standing, not as a Head, but as a
graduate, is so palpably inconvenient, that it is asto-
nishing the practice should have been so long con-
tinued. It occasionally happens, as in the present
instance, that a person who has not resided in the
University for many years, and has little or no know-
ledge of its business and customs, immediately upon
being appointed to preside over a College, finds him-
self invested with the government of the whole body,
and the management of its revenues, business, and
discipline ; and, ere he has become properly ac-
quainted with the duties of his station, his term of
office has expired. Owing probably to his inex-
perience in University business, very few matters of
importance were transacted during the year of Bent-
'" Only the dining-room was wainscoted with oak.
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 151
ley's Vice-chancellorship. I find him charged with chap.vii.
not exercising- the hospitalities expected from his high ^'^^^'
office " ; a circumstance which, if true, must be
attributed to the state of his lodge, which continued
during the whole year in the hands of workmen.
Bentley was indeed a good deal absent from the Bentiey's
University this year, from causes of another kind. ™^"'^^^'
He had long cherished an attachment for Mrs. Joanna
Bernard, a lady who had been a visitor in Bishop
Stillingfleet's family. She was daughter of Sir John
Bernard, of Brampton, in Huntingdonshire. Being J^"- ^'
now raised to a station of dignity and consequence,
he succeeded in obtaining the object of his aftections,
and was united to her at Windsor '^ ; having pre-
viously obtained a Royal dispensation under the Great
Seal for the violation of Queen Elizabeth's statutes,
which enjoin celibacy to the Master as well as the
Fellows of Trinity Colleo;e. This marriao^e appears character
JO on of Mrs.
to have been eminently happy : the lady who con- Bentiey.
tinned the partaker of his joys and sorrows for nearly
forty years is described as possessing the most amiable
and valuable qualities. She had a cultivated mind,
and was sincerely benevolent and religious. Whiston
relates that Bentley during his courtship was in
danger of losing her, from insinuating doubts of the
authority of the book of Daniel ; a story exceedingly
improbable, which, if it ever had any foundation, has
been distorted from the truth, according to the prac-
" A MS. letter in the Bodleian, from Mr. Wm. Bishop, dated Chelsea,
July 10, 1701, makes a bitter mention of this supposed parsimony of the
Vice Chancellor.
^2 Memorandum from Bentiey's Ephemeris for the year 1701. " Jan.i.
I married Mrs. Joanna Bernard, daughter of Sir John Bei-nard, Baronet —
Dr. Richardson, Fellow of Eton College, and Master of Peterhouse, mari'ied
us at Windsor in the CoUege Chapel." — " Jan. 6. I brought [my wife to
St. James's."
152 LIFE OF
CHAP.vii. tice of that hearsay narrator '\ The alliance with
^^^^- Mrs. Bentley, whose family connections were nu-
merous and distinguished, was the means of securing
him powerful protection at critical periods of his life ;
while the excellence of her disposition tended to soften
the animosity of his opponents. We find her men-
tioned with applause and sympathy in publications
written for the purpose of injuring the character and
fortunes of her husband ^*.
Vindicates In tlic coursc of Beutlcy's year of office, he had
of the^uni- an opportunity of displaying his spirit and decision in
sept.'4, upholding the rights of the University against the
^'^*^^- mayor and corporation of Cambridge, who had given
permission and encouragement to players to perform
at Sturbridge fair, without the sanction of the Vice
Chancellor, and in defiance of his authority. His
vindication of these privileges granted by Charters
and Acts of Parliament was essential to the discipline
of the place; and we may judge from the practice of
subsequent times, that the prompt interference of
Dr. Bentley on this occasion was productive of per-
manent good effects '^.
A Greek ^ Greek Prelate, Neophytos, Archbishop of Philip-
Archbishop .... . .
createdD.D. popoli, visitiug England at this time, came to Cam-
bridge, and was presented to a degree of Doctor in
Sept. 11. Divinity by the University. On this occasion the
Vice Chancellor, with great good-nature and pro-
's lVTiisto7i^s Memoirs, vol. i. p. 95.
" See two pamphlets written against Dr. Bentley, True State of Trinity
College. 1710. p. 17- and A True and Impartial Account, &c. 1711. p. 28.
'5 The Grace of the Senate bespeaks the decisive temper of the Vice
Chancellor. It enacts that the j)rivileges of the University shall be
defended and vindicated at the public charge : and in the meantime, to
prevent a breach of discipline, it confers the authority of Proctors during
the time of the fair on no less than 62 Masters of Arts ; and decrees that
whoever disobeys them shall ipso facto incur the penalty of expulsion ! !
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 153
priety, directed that he should be presented by the chap.vii.
Greek Professor, Joshua Barnes ; who was thus grati- ^'^"^-
jfied with the opportunity of delivering a Greek oration,
a copy of which is still preserved.
Before the end of his year of office, Bentley had an Address to
occasion of declaring his political sentiments, and oct. 14. '
those of the University, in an address presented to
King William upon Louis the Fourteenth's acknowledg-
ing the son of James II. as king of England. The
address itself is given in a note, as being the undoubted
composition of the Vice Chancellor, and expressing
his opinion on public affairs in clear and uncom-
promising terms ^^
Of Bentley's operations at this period, the matter University
most interesting to posterity is the influence exerted
by him over the press of the University. We have
seen that to his zeal and services five years before this
16 « May it please your Majesty,
" We your Majesty's most loyal and dutyful subjects the Chancellor,
Masters, and Scholars of your University of Cambridge, having a just
detestation of the indignity offered to your Sacred Majesty, by the French
King, in setting up a pretended Prince of Wales, as king of these realms,
humbly crave leave on this occasion to assure your Majesty, that from our
hearts we own and assert your most just and rightful title to the Crowns
of these Kingdoms, and will contribute our utmost to its defence, with aU
the cheerfulness and affection, that becomes our duty to the best of Kings,
and our gratitude to our happy deliverer.
" We can never forget the once deplorable state of the Church and
Nation, under the fatal influence of Popish and arbitrary power ; when all
our prayers and addresses to Heaven were for your Majesty's speedy
arrival to rescue us from the imminent dangers of idolatry and slavery.
And we are daily sensible, that we entirely owe the safety of our religion
and Uberties to you'- auspicious Government. Neither can we doubt but
God will still support and enable you, not only to maintain your own Crown
and dignity at home, but defend your injured neighbours abroad, and
secure the threatened hberty of Europe.
" May the same good Providence, that has hitherto protected you from
so many secret and open attempts, preserve and prolong your sacred hfe,
assist and prosper you in all your great and good designs, direct your
subjects in Parliament to the wisest and best counsels, and continue these
nations under the happy establishment of a Protestant successor."
154 LIFE OF
CHAP. VII. establishment was indebted for its new types, and
^^^^' was restored to a condition worthy of the place. Al-
ready some handsome editions of Latin Classics had
been printed with those types, and dedicated to the
use of the young Duke of Gloucester. Terence had
been edited by Leng of Catharine Hall, afterwards
Bishop of Norwich ; Horace by Talbot, the Hebrew
Professor ; Catullus, TibuUus, and Propertius by the
Hon. Arthur Annesley, Representative for the Uni-
versity ; and Virgil by J. Laughton of Trinity.
Bentley, on succeeding to office, resolved to extend
the sphere of its utility. Among the many foreigners
introduced to his acquaintance by his correspondent
Ludoif Graevius, was the distin2:uished Ludolf Kuster, a
Kuster. ' . * , '
Westphalian, who had lately been appointed by the
King of Prussia professor of an academy at Berlin,
and obtained permission of travelling to foreign uni-
versities. He had already made himself known as
a Greek scholar by the press under the title of
Neocorus^\ Bentley received him with cordiality
and kindness, and induced him to make Cambridge
his residence, where he might pursue his studies with
the advantage of its libraries and learned society.
His edition Kustcr having, when at Paris, made collations of
three manuscripts of Suidas, undertook a new edition
of that Lexicon, to be printed at the Cambridge press :
this was done at the persuasion of Bentley, who also
engaged the University to bear the expense and risk
of the publication. He lent to the editor a body of
notes and corrections of Suidas, made by his illus-
trious predecessor Bishop Pearson, and preserved in
Trinity library ; he added some emendations of his
own, and assisted him with his advice throughout the
work. Kuster's ardour and perseverance in this
'' The word Kuste (being German for Sexton) was properly rendered
in Greek ])y 'StioKopog.
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 155
undertaking were extraordinary ; and such was his chap.vii.
eagerness to accomplish it, in order to resume his ^^^^'
duties at Berlin, that he did not allow himself suffi-
cient time for a performance of so great extent and
importance. Scarcely four years elapsed from his
taking the work in hand to the publication of the three
massy folios ; a period inadequate even to collect and
digest the materials, particularly as the innumerable
Greek fragments cited by Suidas from all descriptions
of writers, many of them corrupt, require a cautious
and deliberate judgment. But while we regret the
haste in which it was executed, we must allow it to
be a noble performance; and the experience of 120
years has proved its value and utility. Though the
precipitation of the editor has left much for succeeding
scholars to accomplish, yet every one capable of
appreciating what was done, will confess his obligation
to Bentley, as the means of this edition being given
to the public.
The Doctor continued for several years to interest
himself in the affairs of the University press, being
generally a member of the Syndicates, or commit-
tees, appointed to investigate and conduct parti-
cular matters relative to that concern. Much difficulty
seems to have been experienced in securing an
adequate extent of premises for the operations of
printing, and for warehouses ; an object of magnitude
and importance, which it has been left to our own
times to accomplish. It is to be remarked, however,
that this establishment, although endowed with privi-
leges intended to make it an advantage as well as an
honour to the University, continued for a long time the
occasion of pecuniary loss. The cause, as far as it can
now be understood, appears to have been the want of
a permanent committee of management ; a measure
which, however obvious, was not adopted till many
156 LIFE OF
cHAP.vii. years afterwards. In the meantime, the receipt and
' disbursement of large sums of money, as well as the
necessary negotiations with persons of business, were
entrusted to the individuals holding the annual office
of Vice Chancellor, who generally possessed no pre-
vious acquaintance with the concern ; a system which
inevitably led to injurious and almost ruinous conse-
quences ^^
June 1701. On the death of Dr. Saywell, Master of Jesus
mIdeXch- College and Archdeacon of Ely, Bentley was collated
deacon of ^^ ^jjg vacaut arclidcaconry ; a dignity which besides
its rank in the Church, was endowed with the two
livings of Haddenham and Wilburton ^^. He had the
honour of receiving this preferment from Bishop
Patrick, one of the most learned and exemplary pre-
lates that ever graced the Bench. The archdeaconry
Becomes a Conferred a seat in the Lower House of Convocation :
co^nvoca-"^ as tlic oppositiou Carried on by the majority of that
house against the Bishops was just then at its height,
it seems probable that a wish to call into action on the
other side such talents and spirit as Bentley's might
have occasioned this appointment. He was regular
in his attendance at the Synod, as long as it was per-
mitted to meet and deliberate ; and he took a share
in the debates. Of this fact I find several proofs :
nor is there any doubt but that he sided with the
court party, who were at that time the minority in
»8 The University does not appear to have been awakened to a right
view of this matter till 1737> when a Grace was passed, constituting a
Syndicate with plenary power over the affairs of the press for three years.
The preamble of this Grace observes: " Cum Prelum Academicum, in
usum et commoditatem Academiae olim destinatum, per quadraginta retro
annos ita negligenter fuerit administratum, ut Academiam oneraverit
sumptu, ultra bis miUe et trecentas libras," &c. The present permanent
Syndicate of the Press was not established till the year 1782.
''' MS. note in Dr. Bentley's Ephemeris for 1701. " June 24. I was
admitted Archdeacon in Ely cathedral by Dr. Fern." It may be observed,
that he had resigned his stall at Worcester in May, 1700.
tion.
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 157
the Lower House : but I am not able to mention any chap.vil
particular instances in which he was distinguished -as ^ ^^^^'
a member of Convocation.
At the General Election in November 1701, Dr. General
Bentley had the satisfaction of assisting in the return
of his illustrious friend Sir Isaac Newton as one of the
Members for the University : the other successful
candidate was Mr. Henry Boyle, afterwards Lord
Carleton ; so that on this occasion Trinity College had
the honour of supplying the University with both its
Representatives.
It was not until the following summer that Dr.
Bentley found that leisure for study, which was to be
expected as the peculiar advantage of an academical
station. The last two years and a half I believe to
have been the only period of his life in which he was
abstracted from his favourite employment, the critical
examination of ancient writers^''. He now formed the
resolution of devoting his literary powers to prepare
editions of classical books for the use of the students
of his college, and of selecting those authors which
were most likely to prove a relief to his own mind
when fatigued with cares and business ; particularly
such as would bear the interruption of other avocations
without injury to the plan of his edition. Accordingly,
he determined to commence his scheme with an edi-
2" In his letter to Grae\'ius, Aug. 20, 1702, Bentley thus expresses him-
self: " Cum memoria repeto, Vir amicissime, quantum jam temporis
effluxit, ex quo literas de communibus studiis vel ad te misi vel ad ullos
eruditorum, quos mare a Britannia nostra separat ; non possum non dam-
nare fatum meum, et annorum duorum et amplius quasi jacturam plorare.
Sic enim meae se res habuerunt, postquam ex jucundissimo otio protractus
sum ad splendidam banc sane et satis opulentam sortem, sed obsessam
infinitis negotiis per caput et circa latera quotidie salientibus. Quod ergo
interrogas, Quid moliar, quemve authorem, Hesychium, Maniliumve,
notis meis iUuStratum edere parem, scias me toto hoc biennio vix unum et
alterum diem vacavisse humanioribus literis : tantum abest, ut dignum
aliquid tuis oculis jam a me sit expectandum."
158 LIFE OF
CHAP. VII. tion of Horace ; a choice which peculiarly accorded
^^^^- with his views ; since such are the charms of this poet,
Bentiey that Honc Can be a more agreeable solace of vacant
to publish hours ; and so delightful are his writings both to the
Au^!T702. y^^^^^g ^^^^ the old, the serious and the gay, that no
classical book is so universally read and remembered.
As his justly celebrated edition was nearly ten years
in preparation, we shall defer our remarks upon its
merits for the present. One observation however the
first mention of this undertaking inevitably suggests :
it is greatly to be regretted, that Bentiey should have
devoted so large a portion of the best years of his life
to a Latin, rather than to a Greek poet : his know-
ledge and perception of the latter language was incom-
parably better than of the former ; and he might have
been employed more usefully to literature, and more
honourably to himself, in correcting real errors in
Greek poetry, with a felicity which no one else could
attain, than in suggesting alterations of a Latin author,
and defending them by learning and ingenuity, which
oftener produce admiration than conviction.
Renews his The Doctor uow rcsumed his correspondence with
dence'with GrflBvius, to wliom he communicated his design, along
Graevius. ^{{[^ tlircc or four emcndations of Horace, respecting
which he asked for his friend's opinion. The literary
veteran was delighted at this renewal of intercourse
with a person whom he so greatly admired : he sent
for his use a manuscript of Horace, and gave, what
Bentiey valued still more, his full approbation of the
proposed corrections. The concluding part of their
correspondence is interesting and affecting. We see
the old scholar still zealous in the interests of literature
amidst the calamities of life and the infirmities of old
age. He had just buried his wife, with whom he had
lived happily for forty-four years ; and he began to
feel the distressing symptoms of dizziness or swimming
1
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 159
in the head : yet he occupied himself in preparing a chap.vii.
corrected and enlarged edition of Gruter's Inscriptions, ^^^^'
and in the very different task of writing the memoirs
of King William. The interest which he took in the
proceedings of the whole literary world continued to
his latest hour. Two or three weeks after Bentley
had received his last letter, he learned from Peter
Burman, Grgevius's friend and colleague at Utrecht,
that he had been seized by apoplexy, while on his Death of
way from his own house to Burman's, where he was
engaged to dine, and in a few hours was deprived of
existence ^^
We must now advert to some parts of Bentley 's Elections to
administration of Trinity College, which occurred in amUd^ioiar-
the first five years of his mastership. The conduct of ^'^j^^^^jIj^""
elections to fellowships and scholarships vitally con-
cerning the prosperity of his society, he lost no time
in making them the subject of his particular attention.
Hitherto the examinations had taken place in the
chapel viva voce, before the Master and eight Seniors,
who are the electors : Bentley being of opinion that The
this oral test was not satisfactory in an enquiry so gJiations!^"
extensive and profound, ordered that the candidates
should be examined by each of the electors at his
own apartments, whereby an opportunity was given
21 Tlie letters of eac 1 were carefully preserved by his correspondent.
Those of Bentley were obtained, along with an immense assortment of
letters to Graevius, by Dr. Mead, at whose sale they were disposed of, and
came into the possession of the late Mr. George Stevens : by him they
were sent as a present to Dr. C. Burney ; who having procured Grae-\aus's
letters from Mr. Cumberland, printed the correspondence in that sump-
tuous volume, called Richardi Bentleii Epistolw, of which it forms the
most valuable half. There are, however, three of Graevius's letters in the
collection belonging to Trinity College, which have not been printed, and
which were probably overlooked when those papers were ransacked for his
correspondence. Gras\'ius's last letter is one of those omitted : it is that
from which an extract was given by Bentley in his note on Horace,
Cann. I. 23. 5. and its contents are on other accounts highly interesting.
ships,
160 LIFE OF
CHAP. VII. for the performance of written exercises, and time
^'^^^- allowed to weigh and compare the respective merits
of the young men with suitable deliberation. This
method of separate examination, although liable to
some considerable objections, which were felt both in
Bentley's time and subsequently, continued to be the
practice of Trinity College for ninety years ^^ The
Master at the same time put a stop to an unwarrant-
able custom, which obliged the candidates to keep
open hospitality at a tavern during the four days of 4
examination : the expense of these entertainments
used to be defrayed by the persons elected ; nor could
it have been inconsiderable, if, as he tells us, the
reckoning for a single evening amounted to six
pounds ".
Scholar- A practicc had long; existed of holdino; the elections
to scholarships but once in two years ; and on those
occasions only the sophs and junior sophs were ad-
mitted as candidates. Though this could hardly be
said to be in express contradiction to the statutes, yet
it was certainly not agreeable to their spirit and
intent, inasmuch as it withheld longer than was
necessary the encouragement given by the foundation
to industry and good conduct. Accordingly the Mas-
ter conferred a benefit upon the rising generation by
ordaining that the elections should take place every
year, and that freshmen, as well as under-graduates
of higher standing, might become candidates ". In
22 The present admirable system of examination was not adopted till the
year 1789, when Dr. Thomas Postlethwaite became Master.
23 Bentley's Letter to the Bishop of Ely, p. 14. Miller's Remarks, p. 39.
Blomer's Full View, p. 60. Similar entertainments used to be given at
taking degrees.
2* Bentley's Letter to the Bishop of Ely, p. 13. Bentley, however, was
not justified in attributing this abuse to a wish of saving the allowances
due to the few scholarships which were annually kept vacant ; a sum too
paltry to have been any consideration with the Masters or Seniors. A
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 161
order to accelerate the succession to scholarships, he chap.vii.
adopted a plan of erasing from the list, previously to ^^^J^Ji^
each election, the names of those who, having taken
the degree of Bachelor of Arts, did not design to
return to the College ; considering that to them a
scholarship, the allowances of which are paid only to
residents, must have ceased to have any value. This
last measure, though proceeding from the best inten-
tion, was one of questionable propriety, and did in
fact lead him to inflict an injury upon at least one
meritorious young man, Luke Thompson, a Bachelor
of Arts, and then a student in the Temple, whose
name he cut out from the list of scholars in 1703,
with the presumed consent of his tutor : this gentle-
man had designed to sit for a fellowship the following
year ; but, as scholars only can be elected fellows, he
was excluded from all access to that object. Bentley,
to whom both his person and his name were un-
known, acted in this instance entirely from error ;
and although borne out by the strict letter of a statute,
which allows to the scholars only forty-two days'
absence in the year, he found sufficient cause to
regret his precipitancy, when it was subsequently
charo;ed ag-ainst him as an act of malversation.
In these, as well as many other measures of dis- The Master
cipline, the Master proceeded upon his own authority own autho-
and responsibility, without asking the approbation of "'^'
the eight Seniors, his statutable counsellors. In thus
deviating from the practice of his predecessors, he too
plainly showed a disposition to engross to himself all
power, and appropriate all credit in the College
government. There is no reason to suppose that the
Seniority, which he acknowdedges to have been re-
more probable cause might have been found in the disposition likely to
exist in old men, to relieve themselves from the fatigue of examining a
large body of students, in the alternate years.
VOL, I. M
162 LIFE OF
CHAP.vir. spectably composed, would have withheld its assent
^^'^"- from any measures of a beneficial tendency ; and
their experience might have saved him from such
errors as he incurred on the following occasion. One
Expels a of the studcuts haviug been detected by the Proctor
at a house of ill-fame, for the second time, was
brought before the Master ; who, judging that the
case called for severe punishment, immediately pro-
nounced on his own authority the sentence of ex-
pulsion. Here was a positive violation of the statutes,
which ordain that no member of the College shall be
expelled except, after a full hearing of the case, by
the voices of the Master and at least five of the eight
senior Fellows. Bentley, in thus acting without the
concurrence of the Seniority, followed a solitary pre-
cedent which he found for monarchical power. This
was an order on a similar occasion, entered in the
Conclusion Book, by his great predecessor Bishop
Pearson. It is however curious to observe, that had
he exercised upon this College register the same cri-
tical sagacity with which he perused ancient writers,
Bentley would have been led to suspect that the
authority which he made his model was in fact
nothing more than a slip of the writer's pen -\ At
all events, the illegal act of a former Master, however
2'> Bentley's entry is as follows. " Dec. 24, 1701. Ordered by the
Master, that Hanson the subsizar be expelled the College, for his foul and
scandalous, and repeated offence. R. Bentley, Mag. CoU."
The example which he followed was an order, Jan. 23, 1664-65.
" Ordered by the Master, that Young the scholar be expelled the Col-
lege for his foule and scandalous offence. Jo. Pearson."
But the entry, which immediately follows, made at the same time, is
this : " Agreed then also, that Edward Botany be appointed the third
cook. J. P."
As the words, ' agreed then also,' show that the former order was made
at a meeting of the Seniors, it appears in the highest degree probable, that
Pearson intended to write, ' Ordered hy the Master and Seniors,' but
omitted the two last words by accident.
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 163
great his fame, could not justify so palpable a viola- chap.vii.
tion of the statutes. With respect to his severity in ^'^^^i
this instance, it is but justice to Bentley, who was
not ordinarily harsh towards juvenile delinquencies,
to observe that the character of the young man was
such as made him unfit to remain longer in the Col-
lege. It appears that at the time of his repeated
immoralities, he was a frequenter of a Presbyterian
meeting-house, and was himself meditating the pro-
fession of a dissenting preacher.
In the first year of his mastership, Dr. Bentley improves
turned his attention to the important object of sup- ^^ ' '^'^'
plying the newly erected library with books, and
making it as beneficial as possible to the Society.
For this purpose he obtained a College order, that ^^"S"^' 19,
the students should be admitted, upon liberal con-
ditions, to the use of the library; and in consideration
of this great privilege, every one was to pay at his
admission a small sum for the purchase of books.
He also set apart two classes for the use of the under-
graduates and bachelors. The last measure seems to
have been attended with more inconvenience than
advantage, and I find no subsequent mention of such
an arrangement : but the discontinuance of the pay-
ments upon admission, is a matter seriously to be
regretted. Had the regulation been observed from
that time to the present, so great is the number of
students who have been admitted into Trinity College,
that the library would probably at this day have
ranked as high, in regard to useful books, as any
collection in the world "^
The Master's efforts to improve the Collee-e library offends the
•■■ o .; Senior Fel-
Senior Fel-
lows.
^° The sums to be paid were thus fixed : for a nobleman or fellow com-
moner, twenty shillings ; a pensioner, ten shillings ; a sizar, five shillings.
The alteration in the price of books woidd at this time render it necessary
that the payments should be three or four times as great.
M 2
164 LIFE OF
cHAP.vii. gave occasion to the first misunderstanding between
^^*^^- himself and his Seniority. Dr. John Hacket, Bishop
of Lichfield and Coventry, a prelate noted both for his
spirited defence of the dignitaries of the Church be-
fore the Long Parliament, and for his splendid muni-
ficence after the Restoration, was in the year 1667 a
noble benefactor to Trinity College. To this Society,
of which he had formerly been a Fellow, his attach-
ment in old age returned with renewed ardour. The
old part of the fabrick, called ' Gerard's' or ' Garret's
Bishop Hostel,' being; in a ruinous state, he ^ave 1200Z. for
Racket's •' o ' o ^
Benefac- thc purposc of rebuilding it ; with a provision that the
rents of the chambers should be for ever appropriated
to the improvement of the library. Not long after-
wards the new library was erected at a cost of above
18,000/. ; but when it was finished, considerable sums
being still requisite for the book-cases and internal
fitting up of this magnificent room, it was resolved
that the charge should be repaid to the college stock
by the rents of the ' Bishop's Hostel,' amounting to
about 501. a year. This arrangement was not incon-
sistent with the terms of the donation, which specified
as its object not only the purchase of books, but the
desks and fabrick of the librar}^, and it was made with
the knowledge and approbation of Sir Andrew Hacket,
the Bishop's heir. Dr. Bentley, on discovering this
practice, insisted that all these sums, which he con-
tended had been " interverted' from the library,
should immediately be restored, and devoted to the
Dec. 22, purchase of books ; with an assertion, that the Col-
''^'' lege had been ' robbing the library,' and ' putting
the money in their own pockets.' He carried his
point, and succeeded in expending the whole sum,
about 360/., in books : but the Seniors, who had them-
selves been liberal subscribers, and had made great
personal sacrifices to complete the structure, were
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 165
deeply hurt at the imputation cast upon them ; and ciiap.vii.
the uneasy feelings excited on this occasion, appear ^^'^'^'
never afterwards to have subsided ^^
The next subject of College legislation was pro- Pnviieges
ductive of great dissention in the Society, as will ates in di-
easily be believed, when it is understood how the ^'"''^"
interests of many of its members were affected by the
decision. The Fellows of Trinity are not compelled
by Queen Elizabeth's statutes to take any degree
higher than that of Master of Arts : there are, how-
ever, some provisions intended as an irresistible in-
ducement to the superior degrees of Bachelor and
Doctor of Divinity ; the statutes assign increased
stipends to those who have obtained such rank, and
confer upon the Doctors in particular some material
privileges, such as a preference to the highest College
offices, the right of sole occupation of a set of cham-
bers, (while other Fellows are to have pensioners
living with them), and a permission, withheld from
the rest, to occupy a house in the town. At the
same time it is specially enacted, that admission into
the number of the eight Seniors is not to be affected
by those degrees, but determined by priority of stand-
ing alone; whereby the oldest and most experienced
are always associated in the government of the Col-
lege. In the lapse of years the privileges just men-
tioned had ceased to be a sufficient temptation to
encounter the trouble and expense of the higher
degrees. The increase of the College buildings had
accommodated almost every member, as well as the
Doctors, with a set of rooms to himself; and the
surplus of revenue above the original rental, oc-
casioned by the altered value of money, had pro-
duced a dividend which constituted the greater part
"^ Letter to the Bishop of Ely, p. 14. Miller's Remarks, p. 40.
IQQ LIFE OF
CHAP.vii. of a Fellow's income, and left the statutable stipends
1702. objects of inferior consideration. There are however
two chapters in the statutes, upon which graduates in
divinity still claimed substantial privileges. In ap-
pointing the distribution of chambers, there is this
direction: Seniorem s^cvnbvm svvm. gradvm juniori,
tarn inter socios qiiam inter discipidos, semper prceferen-
dum statuimus : and with respect to a vacant college-
living, it is said, volumus illius prcesentationem socio
SECUNDUM GRADUM suuM maxiine seniori, sive domi sive
ahsens fuerit, omnino conferri. At first sight, both
these passages appear to give the preference to the
senior graduates, in terms too precise to admit of a
dispute ; particularly as the ordinary meaning of the
word gradus in the statutes is an ' academical degree.'
The opponents of this interpretation are, however,
able to take fair ground, from the insertion of the
words in the first extract, tam inter socios quam iyiter
discipidos : about half the discipidi, or scholars, being
under-graduates, the word gradus, as it applies to
them, must mean standing, or degree of admission ;
thence they contend, that it has the same meaning
with respect to the Fellows : and as there is a manifest
parallelism between the two passages, they argue that
the word should, in the case of livings also, be in-
terpreted as meaning no other seniority than that of
admission. To overturn this objection, several strong
arguments have been brought ; but the subject is of
too local a nature to pursue further. I shall only
remark that no person, unbiassed by interest or pre-
judice, can deny that there is some ambiguity in the
terms of the enactment. It is the misfortune of this
question hardly ever to have been discussed except
in times of irritation, and by interested judges; other-
wise the real cause of the uncertainty might have
been detected and acknowledo-ed : I conceive it to
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 167
have been this — The Commissioners of Queen Eliza- chap.vii.
beth, in revising the statutes from a former draught, ^^^^-
made an alteration in these two particulars, without
noticing that, in order to preserve consistency, a
change of some other words became requisite. Their
inadvertency has left a bone of contention, which has
proved no inconsiderable evil to Trinity College. It
is indeed provided, that whatever ambiguities may be
found in the statutes shall be decided by the inter-
pretation of the Master and eight Senior Fellows.
But the latter are generally too much parties in this
cause to give an unbiassed judgment: and it has in
fact happened that the interpretation of one board has
been rescinded by their successors. In 1612 six of
the Seniors decided for preoption of livings and
chambers by standing; but in 1639 the majority
declared in favour of degrees. Nay, in the master-
ship of Dr. Pearson there are two orders made by the
same Seniority, within two years, which imply oppo-
site opinions upon this question. Both parties ap-
pealed to the practice of their predecessors; which
had, in truth, been various and unsettled, and sup-
plied authorities to each. The prevailing usage, how-
ever, had been this: the Fellows postponed their
degree of Bachelor of Divinity till some one among
their juniors w^as on the point of proceeding to that
rank ; wdiereupon those who were not already B. D.
took the degree, in order to preserve their rights
unimpaired. It is obvious that w^ere all to graduate
according to their standing, the priority of choice
would practically be the same, whichever interpreta-
tion be given to the words of the statutes. But there
was alw^ays an inducement to delay. The College
offices of junior bursar and steward, are confined to
Masters of Arts ; and it was the practice for the Fel-
lows to hold them in rotation for three years. The
168 LIFE OF
cHAP.vii. University offices of proctor and taxor are similarly
^70^- restricted ; and thus it sometimes happened that per-
sons, in hopes of filling all those posts, remained
Masters of Arts till an age at which the taking new
detrrees was irksome and inconvenient. At the time
of which we are speaking, an unusually long interval
had elapsed since any of the Fellows had graduated
in theology : at length, in 1701, Colbatch and Hutch-
inson became Bachelors of Divinity ; and, in imitation
of them, the next year four others applied for the same
degree. The discussion of the disputed statutes was
now revived, and much heat and disturbance ensued.
The question being referred to Dr. Bentley, he de-
clared his judgment decidedly in favour of the gra-
duates ; and proposed to settle the point for ever by a
formal and statutable interpretation. But here new
difficulties arose : five of the eight Seniors happened
to be only Masters of Arts ; and feeling that such a
decision would have the effect of giving all their
juniors a claim to rooms and livings before themselves,
they stoutly resisted the Master's arguments and per-
suasions, though urged with all his ability at several
Decision in succcssive meetings. At length, upon the candidates
the°Gradu- for the dcgrcc pledging themselves not to use their
3'*^i702"^ privileges to the prejudice of those five individuals,
they consented to an interpretation, declaring the
meaning of the two statutes to be, that ' all Bachelors
of Divinity have the preoption both of chambers and
livings before Masters of Arts; and that one Bachelor
of Divinity is to be preferred to another, according to
the seniority of his degree in the University.' In
exerting himself to establish this point, Bentley 's
motive was to raise the character of his Society, to
engage the juniors in the studies requisite to appear
with credit in their theological disputations, and to
obtain for the elder members the consideration be-
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 169
lonoins: to the rank and title of Doctor, His measure chap.vii.
had the effect of causing the Fellows to proceed to ^702.
their degrees in divinity, with few exceptions, for
nearly seventy years : after which the practice was
again discontinued. But for the reasons already ex-
plained, the statute itself remains a subject for dissen-
tion, which no domestic resolution will ever be able to
remove. It can only be taken away by a judicial
decision, or by the easier and more eligible method
of procuring a new statute in a Letter from the
Crown ^^.
28 An apology is due to the generality of readers for having dwelt so
much upon a local topic, interesting only to Fellows of Trinity College :
while to them the matter is so important, that they may perhaps wish my
account had been stiU more detailed. For the tranquillity of the Society
I hope the question may never more be in dispute, and that the knot may
be cut by one of the two methods recommended in the text. Should it
however again come into discussion, it may be of some use to caution
the disputants not to rely upon assertions to be found in the only pub-
lished arguments on this case — those in Bentley's Letter to the Bishop of Ely,
p. 15 ; and in Miller s Remarks, p. 45 — 49. Strange as it may seem, both
these pamphlets contain several misstatements of the facts relating to this
question. First, Bentley gives not the statute itself, bvit his own interpre-
tation of it : and in a note, pretending to cite the actual Latin words, he
omits that member of the sentence, upon which the objection was founded.
Some of his statements about the practice of the College are inaccurate :
for instance, in his 76th page, he says, that from the Restoration till his
becoming Master, but three Fellows had taken any degree higher than
M.A. ; whereas the number who had taken higher degrees in that time was
above twenty. He assigns the cessation of the custom of graduating to
the times of the Commonwealth ; whereas it had continued with consider-
able regularity for fifteen years after the Restoration. He is likewise mis-
taken in attributing the recommencement of the practice to his own
encouragement in 1702. The four Fellows who then came forward (and
who were not in fact B.D. till the next year) did so in imitation of two who
had actually graduated in 1701 : a fact of which he seems not to have
been aware. As to Miller, he takes up the question so entirely as an
advocate, resolved to keep out of sight aU that could be said against him,
that it may be doubted whether or not he was sincere in the opinion which
he upheld. He confutes the mistakes of his antagonist ; but gives in his
turn, a still more uncandid statement. He suppresses the fact that gradus
does in a great majority of places in the statutes, clearly mean an acade-
mical degree .• he deliberately strives to confound different topics, by adduc-
ing as a case in point the statute for admission into the Seniority : the
170 LIFE OF
CHAP.vii. Some other particulars of Bentley's government
^7^^- must now be noticed, to enable the reader to under-
Latin De- stand the real nature of the charges which he will find
camaions. |jj.Q^gj^|. agaiust him. The statutes of Trinity College
direct that the Latin declamations of the students
shall be delivered on Saturday evenings ' after sup-
per :' they also enjoin that, for the encouragement of
diligence in the declaimers, all the society shall be
present at these exercises. The hour of supper was
six, and after that meal all who chose used to adjourn
to Chapel to hear the declamations. But it was found
in practice that the audience was far from comprising
the whole College ; and the sizars, who sup after the
fellows, were by this arrangement excluded from an
opportunity of hearing these performances. To cor-
rect this evil the Master proposed that they should be
delivered immediately after evening service, whereby
a full attendance would always be secured ; alleging
that such a deviation from the letter of the statute was
necessary to secure its essential object ; or, to use his
own expression, that ' it must be broken in order to
July 24, be kept.' This alteration was accordingly voted,
though not without considerable opposition on the
part of some Seniors, who urged the indecency of
declamations after the manner of Quintilian being-
addressed to an assembly habited in surplices, the
universal dress on a Saturday evening ; an objection
which, notwithstanding the reconciling power of cus-
tom, cannot be denied to have considerable weight.
Perhaps, if it was judged indispensable that the statute
should ' be broken in order to be kept,' it might have
practice he asserts to have been for eighty years before Bentley, against
giving any ])reference to degrees ; though hving witnesses could have told
him the contrary : and after having searched the Conclusion Book for this
and other purposes, he quotes the two old orders which make against the
claim of the graduates, but suppresses the two which are in their favour.
1703.
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 171
been a better mode of breaking it, to have fixed the chap.vii.
exercises for some other evening in the week^^ ^"^^^^
In some subsequent ordinances, Bentley was accused
not only of affecting arbitrary power, but of endeavour-
ing to gain popularity among the students while he
mortified the fellows. In the year 1704 he issued a Sept. so,
'' 1704.
decree, that the head-lecturer and four sublecturers
should be subjected to the statutable mulcts of eight-
pence, and of four-pence, in case of neglecting their
duty of lecturing and examining daily in the Hall.
These lectures, being for the most part confined by
the statutes to diff'erent works of Aristotle, had, it
seems, been for some time generally omitted ; and
their place was found to be more usefully supplied by
the lectures of the Tutors. It must be confessed that
the revival of an obsolete and trivial fine was not the
best method of enforcing attention to the duties of
education.
At the same time the Master decreed that the penalty Absence
of three half-pence for absence from Chapel, which '°""' ^^^'
the statutes impose upon the fellows as well as other
members of the college, should be exacted as far as
concerned the lower half of the sixty fellows. This
distinction, which appears rather arbitrary, was
grounded upon an University statute, whereby per-
sons above forty years of age are exempted from the
29 It is fair to quote part of the College order made on this subject.
After a preamble explaining the inconvenience which it was proposed to
remedy, it proceeds thus :
" And it being morally certain, that if the declamations were delayed
'till after the scholars in waiting and poor scholars have supped, there
would still be fewer auditors at the said declamations, especially in the
time of winter ;
" Resolved and agreed by the Master and Seniors, in pursuance of the
primai-y intention of the said statute, which desires the whole College to
be there present, that from henceforth the declamations be performed
immediately after Evening Prayer, before their departure out of Chapel.
R. Bentley."
172 LIFE OF
CHAP. VI I. severity of collegiate rules ; and he assumed that
^^"'^- the last thirty might always be considered nondum
quadragenariL The measure itself was nugatory ;
since a more regular attendance could never be
enforced by the infliction of so paltry a fine. The
only good which this mass of small penalties could
produce, was a more liberal remuneration to the two
College deans for the execution of their invidious but
important office.
Absence Shortly aftcrwards there issued an edict from the
from grace. ]y[j^g|.gj.^ wliich was dccmed a still greater stretch of
his prerogative, and was accompanied with insinua-
tions yet more offensive to the Fellows. A pecuniary
mulct is fixed by the statutes for any person leaving
his table in Hall before grace : hence had grown a
custom which Bentley with justice styled ' unwar-
rantable.' The fellows, whom long association and
friendship had linked together as one family, found
much of their comforts arising from the society in the
Hall, and sat longer over their repasts than the young
men, who, as soon as they had despatched their meals,
were in haste to go to their avocations, their parties,
or amusements. This had induced a s^eneral custom
of permitting the absence of all the students from
grace, while to satisfy the letter of the law, they were
fined the sum of two-pence weekly ; a mulct, which
was indiscriminately imposed upon all students,
whether present or absent. This, being an unde-
niable abuse, called for a remedy ; nor was there any
reason why it should not have been removed by a
Oct. u, regular order of the Master and Seniors. But Bent-
ley, thinking it a fair opportunity of displaying the
strength of his prerogative, and of humbling the
fellows, sent forth a mandate, granting a general leave
to every member of the College to quit the Hall before
grace at his own discretion, without mulct or punish-
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 173
ment : and stated as the ground of this decree, ' the chap.vii.
unreasonable delays at meals at some of the fellows' _J2^_
tables.' This exercise of power he justified by an
expression of the statutes, to which he gave a rather
wide interpretation ^^ The deans, however, con-
sidering it an illegal proceeding, made some show of
resistance, and attempted to fine a student who
quitted the Hall : but they soon found that the decrees
of the Master of Trinity were neither to be disobeyed
nor questioned.
Conformably to the original observance of Friday, Suppers on
there was no supper allowed in the Hall on that day. ^"'^^y-
Bentley, finding that this rule only led to the forma-
tion of parties at taverns on Friday evenings, with a
view to remedy the evil ordered that meat suppers
should thenceforward be provided in the Hall, and
treated with infinite contempt some objections urged
by the more scrupulous against this innovation.
From his first coming to the College, the Master Noblemen
determined to break certain customary privileges of comJoneTs.
the noblemen and fellow-commoners, which were in
reality as pernicious to themselves as disgraceful to
the society. With this view he ordained that their
attendance at Chapel should be noted as well as that
of the other students, and that they should deliver
declamations in their turns. For the last resolution
3" The 17th chajjter of the statutes ordains that grace shall be said
before dinner and supper : Quod quidem a Magistro vel Vice-Magistro, vel,
illis absentibus, a Socio maxime seniore qui in Aula sit, semper fieri volumus.
Afterwards it says. Quod si quispiam Sociorum aut Discipulorum aut Pen-
sionariorum a mensa ante gratias actas discedat, nisi petita a Magistro, vel
eo qui primarium locum tenet, facultate, prandii vel ccence pretio a Decano
seniore, si adsit, veljuniore, cum alter abfuerit, mulctetur. Tlie words nisi
petita a Magistro, &c. were made the ground of giving a general permis-
sion unasked. But by others it was considered as the intent of the statute,
that leave should be asked of the person who was presiding in the Hall ;
which the Master of the College had long ceased to do, except upon
festivals and extraordinary days.
174 LIFE OF
CHAP.vii. not only Trinity College, but the nation, is indebted
1704. ^Q j^jjjj . gince it has happened, in a great number of
instances, that young men of birth and family, who
have afterwards become the most shining senators
and statesmen, have first had their emulation excited
and their talents developed by these collegiate ex-
ercises.
Causes of Tlic tcst of tlic propriety of Dr. Bentley's ordinances,
unpopu- in the first years of his mastership, is, that they have
^^"'^' been maintained, with a very slight exception, from
that time to the present. The only valid objection
against them appears to have been the assumption of
monarchical authority by which they were enacted.
There were, however, not wanting other causes which
rendered the Master unpopular among his Fellows.
He suffered from a comparison with his predecessor,
Dr. Montague, who by associating intimately among
them and exercising a liberal hospitality, as well as
by his indulgent manners, had secured the love and
affection of the College. Bentley, though fond of the
society of a small circle, had no taste for the large
scale of hospitality incumbent upon the Head of such
a foundation, and thereby incurred the imputation of
Expenses of penuriousness. But the subject of loudest complaint
theTodge. ^^ this time, was the great and unlooked-for expense
of the reparations in the lodge. The Seniors, who
had been led to expect that these works were to cost
the College about 200/, when they saw them threat-
ening to reach five times that amount, refused to
Dec. 24, sanction further expenditure. At length, the Master
^ obtained with great difficulty an order for the bursar
to defray the workmen's bills already incurred,
amounting to between 7 and 800Z ; but not until the
Seniors had been reminded, that there was a necessity
for this being done, and that they had, by subscribing
the original order for the work, made themselves per-
1
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 17.5
sonally responsible for the payment ^^ At the same chap.vii.
time, they voted 150/. more for finishing it, besides ^^^'^-
the lOOZ. to be given by the Master. But they soon
found that the cost still to be incurred reached a con-
siderable multiple of that sum. Much money was
expended in fitting up a large room formerly ap-
propriated to the performance of comedies. These
exhibitions, which are prescribed by the statutes, and
were regularly practised till the time of the civil wars.
King James I. in his frequent visits to Cambridge had
been fond of witnessing. The room appeared to have
been originally part of the master's premises, since it
could only be approached by passing through the
house : as the performances had been long disused,
and it was devoted to no other public object, Bentley
considered himself justified in reuniting it to the
lodge. But in the college the matter was not
regarded in the same light ; and this apartment had
certainly not been in contemplation when the order
was passed for fitting up the lodge ; accordingly much
dissatisfaction ensued. At length however the work
was supposed to be complete, and all the accounts
had been paid, when Bentley unexpectedly applied
for leave to erect a new and handsome staircase. To Newstair-
this fresh application the Senior Fellows unanimously '^'^^^'
refused their assent, representing the great extent of
the charges already incurred, as well as the goodness
and sufficiency of the old one, whose width admitted
four persons abreast. This it was which led to the
first open rupture in the College : Bentley, irritated
at his repulse, immediately ordered the old staircase
31 It was in reference to this matter that Bentley was reported to have
boasted, ' that he had choused the old gentlemen.' The story is every
way improbable and unworthy of credit : had there been any evidence for
so disgraceful an expression, it would certainly have been brought forward :
as it amounted to an acknowledgment of the whole charge made against
him.
176 LIFE OF
CHAP.vii. to be pulled down, and the new one to be built upon
_^^ the projected plan. Mr. Spencer, the bursar, whose
Dispute be- officc espcciallj directed him to take care of the Col-
maTter'and lege property, went to the lodge, accompanied by
the seniors. Q^her Scuiors, and forbade the workmen to proceed.
The Doctor, when informed of this interference of the
bursar, treated it with much contempt, saying that
' he would send him into the country to feed his
turkeys,' and in defiance of all remonstrance, he
finished the present very handsome and appropriate
staircase, which cannot be denied to reflect credit
upon his taste. In this proceeding, however, he had
made himself liable to defray the expense from his
own pocket ; and so he was informed by the Seniors,
when he asked them, two or three times, to sanction
the payment from the public stock. Hereupon he
reminded them of certain powers vested in their
Head, which, although disused, might at his pleasure
be exerted for the annoyance of the fellows. It is
ordered that no member whatever shall go out of the
College, though for a short period, without leave first
given by the Master or his deputy, and even then the
time of his absence is limited to 62 days, except per-
mission for a longer time has been obtained from the
Master and Seniors ; and sundry penalties, both vex-
atious and severe, are attached to the breach of this
statute. Experience, however, having shown that the
non-residence of a part of the fellows was beneficial
to the College as well as to the country at large, these
strict injunctions had long been neglected ; and the
form itself of soliciting leave of absence, an indulgence
never likely to be refused, had been altogether omitted
with the connivance and possibly at the wish of the
governors. Dr. Bentley now hinted to the fellows
not only his undoubted power to withhold his consent
in future to their leaving College, but the penalties
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 177
which the greater part of the society had already CHAP.vir.
incurred ; at the same time styhng this prerogative ^^"'^-
his rusty sword. The following scene is recorded as
having taken place in the presence of many witnesses.
One evening in coming out of the chapel, the Master
accosted the Seniors in the great quadrangle with
much urbanity, and finding them in perfect good
humour, touched upon the subject of the staircase ;
when, contrary to his expectations, they all decidedly
refused to have any thing to do with it. Irritated at
this disappointment, his colour and his voice altered,
and he demanded, in menacing accents, whether
* they had forgotten his rusty sword ^^'
The method by which it is alleged that he finally CoUege
carried his point was even more censurable than the ThlpT. ""
violence of his previous behaviour. Finding his
threats ineffectual, he determined to give an actual
specimen of the weight of his prerogative. Of the
fellows of Trinity, those only who are College preach-
ers, are allowed to hold Church preferment. These
College preacherships were originally twelve in num-
ber, but were increased by King James I. to sixteen.
At this period there were four vacancies, and four of
the fellows whose standing gave them a claim to
succeed, having performed the requisite exercises,
were candidates. One of these gentlemen, Mr.
Michael Hutchinson, had recently been presented to
a Stall in Lichfield Cathedral, which of course he
could not hold along with his fellowship, unless
appointed a College preacher. Bentley, availing
himself of this circumstance, declared that he would
not consent to any election until the expense of the
staircase was defrayed, and plainly told Hutchinson
and the others that their only chance of the appoint-
'-' The True State of Trinity College, I/IO, p. 52,
VOL. I. N
178 LIFE OF
CHAP.vii. ment would be by persuading the Seniority to allow
^'^^^- the charge on the public account. This stratagem
succeeded : the Seniors, teazed by importunities,
willing to effect a pacification even by a great sacrifice,
and seeing no other method of saving one of their
brethren from the loss of his preferment, which was
on the point of lapsing, did at length, after a resistance
of two years, concede the point, and sanctioned the
Dec. 20, payment of 350Z. for the staircase : whereupon the
College preachers were appointed, and harmony was
for a season restored to the society ^^.
Sequel of Wc must now quit the politics of Trinity College,
comroveisy. to rccord the sequel of the controversy on Phalaris.
It was no secret that Atterbury was the principal
author of ' Boyle against Bentley,' the book which
had procured such triumph and distinction to the
person whom it was intended to annihilate. In the
Atterbury. coursc of his disputc upou the rights of Convocation,
Atterbury was taunted with the defeat which he and
his party had sustained from the pen of Dr. Bentley,
and with having left their adversary in possession of
the field. Upon this provocation there appeared a
small anonymous book, entitled ' A Short Review of
the Controversy between Mr. Boyle and Dr. Bentley,'
the author of which, I have no hesitation in believing,
from the style as well as other evidence, to be Atter-
bury himself^*. The professed objects of the piece
33 The Seniors at the time of making this concession, stipulated that
an inventory of the furniture to be purchased with the 270/. in the Master's
hands (viz. his own contribution of 100/., and Dr. Montague's donation of
170/.) should be entered in the junior bursar's books, as goods belonging
to the lodge : an agreement which Bentley neglected to fidfil, and thereby
incurred much gratuitous odium.
3'' The title of this book is almost long enough for a table of its contents.
' A Short Review of the Controversy between Mr. Boyle and Dr. Bentley :
ivith suitable reflections upon it. And the Doctor's advantageous character
of himself at full length. Recommended to the serious pervsal of such as
propose to be considered for their fairness, modesty, and good-temper in
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 179
are, to apologize for Mr. Boyle, and to decry the chap.vii.
presumption and ill-manners of his opponent : but ^^^^-
from all questions of learning, the only objects in the
controversy worth attention, it carefully abstains, and
thereby conveys a tacit but perfect confession of Bent-
ley's triumph. Though the style is caustic and
polished, yet its general effect is feeble ; being little
more than a repetition of the criminating charges of
Boyle's book, subdued and diluted by an unwilling
moderation. Notwithstanding the popularity of At-
terbury, this tract produced little or no sensation : in
fact, it appears shortly after its birth to have sunk
into oblivion. Among all the accounts of the Phalaris
controversy, I do not find any mention of this ' Short
Review;' nor could the author or his friends be
solicitous to claim a work which the public showed
no inclination to notice.
I observed in the last chapter, that when Bentley Dodweii's
disputed the opinion of Dodwell upon the age ofiogy!"°
Phalaris and of Pythagoras, he appealed to the judg-
ment of that master of chronological learning. Bishop
Lloyd, who immediately published a tract confirming
for the most part our critic's views upon the question.
It was not till after five years, that Dodwell found
leisure to publish an elaborate reply. About this
work the most remarkable circumstance is, that its
learned and candid author acknowledges the errors
which he had committed respecting Phalaris, and
u-riting. London, 1701.' In a manuscript letter from Dr. Wake to Dr.
Charlett, dated March 14, 1700-1701, the anticipation of this book is
clearly alluded to : Wake, having mentioned Atterbury's late work written
in reply to himself, ' The Rights, Powers, and Privileges of an English
Convocation, stated and vindicated,' adds, " Dr. Bentley is next to be
brought upon the stage. The book, I am told, is ready, but the market
must not be overstocked ; and 'tis reasonable that the world should recover
breath, and have a new appetite to laugh, before it comes abroad. Some
men, I am told, wonder at my impudence that I have not yet hanged
myself."
N 2 -t-
180 LIFE OF
cHAP.VTi. rather corrects than defends his former opinions. He
^^^^' places Pythagoras later than either Bentley or Lloyd
had done, and upon this point adduces a powerful
mass of authority : at the same time he confesses the
great difficulty of the subject ; the oldest historians
having neglected to distinguish the accounts resting
on certain authority from those which they derived
only from tradition. This able tract, though not
written in an elegant style, is a model of controversial
candour and good-manners. Dodwell treats his two
adversaries with the respect and consideration which
their learning deserved ; but he discovers the feelings
of the nonjuror, when in speaking of Lloyd, now
Bishop of Worcester, his old patron and friend, he
terms him Episcopus olhn Asaphensis ; that he might
not acknowledge the validity of his translation by
King William. The book itself is one of great value;
being the most elaborate attempt ever made to ap-
proximate to truth respecting the history and bio-
graphy of that remote age ^\
Swift's About the same time Swift's two famous produc-
li'sbTd.''" tions, ' The Tale of a Tub' and ' Battle of the
Books,' were ushered into the world. They appeared
^^ The title of the work Exercitationes duce. Prima de ^tate Phalaridis ;
Secunda, De ^tate Pythagorce Philosophi. Ab Henrico Dodwell, A.M.
Dubhniensi. Londini, 1/04. The spirit in which it is WTitten maybe
judged by the following extract from the discussion on the age of Pytha-
goras : ' Nos hie Natalem uno anno seriorem quam in prsedicta Disserta-
tione (soil. De Cyclis Veterum) posuimus, de quo infra plura. Antiquior
placet amico summo CI. Lloydio Episcopo ohm Asaphensi, et eruditissimo
Bentleio. Natum illi censent 01)Tnp. xliii|. \\i annum aetatis xviii. Olymp.
xlviii. inchoarit, quae ilium a?tas excluserit a Pugilatu Puerorum. Pugilem
enim Pythagoram eundem existimant cum Philosopho. Discrepamus ergo
spatio integro novem Olympiadum, annorumque proinde xxxvi. De quo
S[)atio ambigitur, antiquioremne justo Pythagoram fecerint celeberrimi
Adversarii, an nos potius justo seriorem. Nostras ergo dissentiendi rationes,
qua par est nominum tantorum observantia proponemus ; nee aliter quam
qua salva veritate licebit, tuebimur atque vindicabimus. Sic enim Chris-
tiani hominis officiis, et bono Reipubl. literariae publico, optime consultu-
ros arl)itraraur.' DodwelU Exercitationes Duce, j). 90.
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 181
anonymously, after having been for several years chap.vii.
handed about in manuscript : the reason for this long ^^^'^'
delay in the publication it is not easy to determine ;
it has indeed been remarked that a degree of mystery
almost always attended the productions of Swift.
Both pieces were immediately read with great in-
terest and avidity ; three editions were called for in
1704, and a fourth, with the author's corrections,
appeared in the following year. But how great
soever was the amusement which it aftbrded to the
laughers, the ' Tale of a Tub' occasioned much
scandal and disgust, from the irreverent levity of the
allegory in which the history of the Christian Church
is disguised. Though there was no doubt of the
author's design to uphold the Church of England, yet
many of its zealous and conscientious members were
justly offended at the method to which he had re-
course for this purpose ; among them was Queen
Anne, who in consequence of this work steadily re-
sisted the promotion of its author to a dignity in the
English Church. So resolute was she in her refusal,
that a few years afterwards her minister, Harley, who
admitted Swift to his confidential intimacy, while in
the plenitude of influence, and all-powerful upon
other matters, was unable to advance him to a place
on the episcopal bench.
In the following year Wotton printed a third edition wotton's
of his ' Reflections upon Ancient and Modern Learn- '^'■'^*^"*=^-
ing;' in which appeared Bentley's Dissertation upon
the spurious Epistles of Euripides, Themistocles, and
Socrates, and the Fables of Jisop; that upon Phalaris
was omitted, being superseded by the larger work.
As an appendix, Wotton wrote an able defence of
himself and Bentley against the attacks of Swift,
without spleen or ill-humour, but not without severity.
At the same time he exposed, fairly enough, the real
182 " LIFE OF
CHAP. VI I. allusions contained in the ' Tale of a Tub.' Dr.
^'^^'^- Swift, in liis edition of 1709, bethought himself of
this pleasant conceit: he extracted passages from
Wotton's appendix, and affixed them as explanatory
notes to the text ; thereby making his adversary the
commentator on his ' Tale:' a character which Wotton
sustains very respectably; his notes have been at-
tached to every subsequent edition, and prove in sober
sadness very useful to the reader
36
3s Bennet, the bookseller, the prime mover of the famous dispute upon
Phalaris, died in 1706 : and it is a curious fact that he gave occasion by
his death to another controversy of some celebrity. His funeral Sermon
was preached at St. Paul's by his patron Atterbury, and contained a lavish
eulogium on his character, which is said not to have been well deserved.
In discoursing on his text, 1 Cor. xv. 19. " If in this life only we have hope
in Christ, we are of all men most miserable :" the Doctor maintained that
' were there no life after this, men would be more miserable than beasts ;'
and ' the best men would be most miserable.' Immediately on the pub-
lication of this discourse, the celebrated Hoadly printed a letter to Atter-
bury, calling in question these positions : which the preacher defended in
a preface to the second edition of the Sermon : and was again attacked in
a rejoinder by Hoadly, who on this occasion first distinguished himself in
the field of controversy, and seems to have had the advantage over his
antagonist.
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 183
CHAPTER Vni.
Queen Anne visits Cambridge — Sike, the oriental scholar — Elected Hebrew
Professor — Dr. Brookbank — Cottonian library — Verses on the death of
Prince George of Denmark — Bentley i^rints the text of Horace — Baron
Spanheim — Kuster's Suidas — Jubilee at Frankfort on the Oder — Kuster
quits Berlin, and returns to Utrecht — Undertakes an edition of Aris-
tophanes — Bentley's Critical Epistles to Kuster — to Hemstcrhuis — His
children — He takes pupils as boarders in the lodge — Roger Cotes —
Bentley builds an Observatory — Founds a school of natural philosophy —
Whiston — Vigani, Professor of Chemistry — Bentley prepares a chemical
laboratory — College bowling-green — Bentley'' s jjlan for a new interior of
the Chapel — Bernard Smith the Organ builder — Subscription — The work
superintended by Professor Cotes — Distress of the Fellows — ^fhe
Master's measures of Retrenchment and Reformation — College festivals —
College ojjices — Pandoxator's Dividend — First deviation from the rule of
merit in elections to Fellowships — Expulsion of two Fellows — Wyvill —
Brcval — Bentley discommunes some Felloios — Attempts to take away the
Combination Room — Is a candidate for the Bishoprick of Chichester —
John Davies — Bentley's Emendations on Cicero's Tusculans — James
Gronovius — Peter Needhain's Edition of Hicrocles — Assistance received
from Bentley — Second Edition of Sir I. Newton's Principia.
Not long- after his lodge had been completely refitted chap.
and furnished, Dr. Bentley enjoyed the honour of
receiving in it no less a guest than his Sovereign.
Queen Anne, who was passing the month of April ^^^ts cam-^
1705 at the Royal residence at Newmarket, went i^''dge.
over on the 16th, accompanied by her husband and
her whole Court, to visit the University of Cambridge.
Alighting at the Regent Walk, before the Schools,
she was received by the Duke of Somerset the Chan-
cellor, at the head of the University, and addressed in
a speech by Dr. Ayloffe, the Public Orator. From
thence her Majesty went in procession to the Regent
House, where agreeably to ancient custom was held
the congregation of the Senate, termed Rey'ia Comitia,
VII [.
1705.
184 LIFE OF
VIII
1705.
CHAP, at which the University conferred degrees upon all
persons nominated by the Royal command ; the pre-
sence of the Sovereign dispensing with statutable
qualifications and exercises K Afterwards the Queen
held a court at Trinity Lodge, where she rendered
Confers this day memorable by conferring knighthood upon
knighthood , •^^ • p i i • o • t tvt ^ 2
on Sir Isaac tlic iiiost lUustrious ot hcr suDjccts, oir Isaac iNewton ^.
DhTerinthe^ sumptuous diuiier was then given to the royal
Sr^^ visitor and her suite in the Hall of Trinity College,
which had been newly fitted up and decorated.
Whoever is acquainted with the large sums which
Alma Matei- has since expended on public objects,
will be surprised to learn that she was then so poor,
as to be compelled to borrow 500/. for the purpose of
this entertainment ^ The royal party, after attending
evening service at the magnificent chapel of King's
College, took leave of the University, and returned
the same nig-ht to Newmarket.
sike, the Bentley, from his first comino- to Trinity Colleo'e,
oriental . , ■^ \ . *..*^f..
scholar. Hvcd principally in a select knot of intimate friends,
with whom his intercourse was constant and familiar.
For two of these, Ludolph Kuster and Henry Sike, he
procured on the day of the Queen's visit the degree
of Doctor of Laws in the University ; an academical
rank which circumstances rendered peculiarly desira-
' Among the personages of the Queen's suite who received the degree
of LL.D. were the Lords Sunderland, Orford, Wharton, and Harvey.
There were created at the same time thirteen Doctors of Divinity, among
whom occur the well-known names of Robert Mosse, William Fleetwood,
Samuel Bradford, and Andrew Snape ; and three Doctors of Physic, one
of whom was her Majesty's physician, the celehrated Dr. Arbutlmot.
2 The two persons who had the honour of receiving knighthood along
with Sir Isaac Newton, were Sir John Ellys, Master of Caius College, the
Vice Chancellor, and Sir James Montagu, the University Counsel, after-
wards Lord Chief Baron of the Exchequer. Oldmixon's Hist, of the
Stuarts, vol. ii. p. 355.
3 Grace Book, April 2, 1705. From some expressions in the contro-
versial pamphlets in 1710, I infer that the expense of this academical
banquet was not less than one thousand pounds.
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 185
ble to them both. Of Kuster's history we have already chap.
. VIII.
spoken : Sike was a native of Bremen, and, like the j-^^'
other, a scholar of fortune : having obtained great =^=
distinction for his knowledge of oriental literature at
the University of Utrecht, he published a version of
one of the Apocryphal Gospels from the Arabic, and
engaged, jointly with Kuster, in the composition of
the literary journal called Bibliotheca Novorum
Librorum. His merits being made known at Cam-
bridge by his friend and colleague, Bentley formed
the idea of bringing him over, and raising him to the
station of Hebrew Professor, a post in which a vacancy
was shortly expected. This scheme was in agitation
as early as 1702, and gave great satisfaction to the
venerable Grsevius, by whom, as well as the other
scholars of Utrecht, Sike was highly esteemed for his
learnino; and character *. There were however certain
difficulties in the way of the project, which it required
all Bentle3^''s address to overcome. The statute of
foundation for the Hebrew professorship requires that
the candidates must present themselves in person to be
examined by the electors, and that they must have
the degree of Doctor or Bachelor of Divinity, or, at
the least, of Master of Arts. It is indeed specified,
that if a majority of the electors should deem an
absent person most deserving, the election shall be
postponed to give him an opportunity of appearing.
The vacancy having taken place by the resignation Feb. 3,
of Mr. Talbot, the Master of Trinity, being one of the ^'^^■^•
seven electors, availed himself of this clause, and
* Graevius says, in his last letter to Bentley, Dec. 1702 : " Audio vos
cogitare de provnncia literas orientales docendi Sickio nostro mandanda :
quod si feceritis, optime consiiletis studiosis harum deliciarum. Non
destituet vestram expectationem. Doctrinam ejus nosti : doctrinae re-
spondent mores ac vivendi ratio, quam A'obis ceque probabit ac erudi-
tionem."
186 LIFE OF
CHAP, induced a majority to declare the election postponed
j-Qg till Sike should appear : in the meantime Mr. Bouquet,
" Fellow of Trinity College, was named to fill the office
and receive the salary ^ By this contrivance the time
of election was made to depend upon Sike's conve-
nience ; and since a meeting for the purpose could
not take place without Bentley's concurrence, it was
in effect postponed until they were certain of success.
April 24, Accordingly, Sike having become a member of the
E^eftedne- Uuivcrsity at the Royal Commencement, and the
brew Pro- opportunity being found favourable, he was chosen
Regius Professor of Hebrew ^. Bentley not only
assigned him good chambers in Trinity, but recom-
mended all oriental students to his instructions ; and,
to render his situation still more advantageous, ad-
mitted pupils under him as one of the public tutors of
the College.
Dr. John Among; the few with whom Bentlev lived in close
intimacy was Dr. John Brookbank, a civilian. Fellow
of Trinity Hall, and the Official of his archdeaconry.
This gentleman is extolled as often as he is named,
for the suavity of his manners and the friendliness of
his disposition. His character and consideration in
the University must have been great, as I find that in
the year 1692 he was a candidate to represent it in
Parliament ; although unsuccessful, he had a respect-
^ The resolution made on that day is still extant in the Registry Office,
drawn up by Bentley's hand, and states, that the electors were unanimous
in considering Sike dignissimus, though not unanimous in judging him
capable of being elected. It is sid3scril)ed by the seven electors, at the
head of whom is Sir William Dawes, afterwards Archbishop of York; who
was then Deputy Vice-Chancellor.
« In the register of this election, Sike is specified to be ' Master of Arts
in the University of Utrecht, and Doctor of Laws in our own.' It seems
extraordinary that he did not receive at the Royal visit the degree of M.A.
which would have been a qualification more consistent with the statutes
tiian that of LL.D.
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 187
VIII.
1705.
able poll, ill which there appear many of the first chap.
names in the University ; and, above all, he was
honoured by the vote of Sir Isaac Newton ^
At this period of his life Dr. Bentley used to pass
several months of the year in London, attending- his
various duties of chaplain to the Queen, librarian,
and member of the Convocation. Parliament having Cottonian
purchased the invaluable manuscript library collected
by Sir Robert Cotton, along with the house on the
banks of the Thames which bears his name, it was
placed under the care of the Royal library-keeper. Apartments
and apartments were fitted up for him in Cotton House.""
House, better and more commodious than those which
he occupied at St. James's. We now find him mixing
in the highest circles, and his society courted by the
most eminent characters in the Church and in the
State. The ascendancy of his talents was generally
acknowledged, and public rumour marked him out as
a probable aspirant to the episcopal dignity. Though
on familiar terms with many of the great, our critic
does not appear to have attached himself to any one
in particular : however, an opinion was raised that
Lord Halifax was his professed patron, from a copy of
Latin verses, in the Threnodia of the University of verses on
Cambridge composed on the death of Prince George Iwr^^' "^
of Denmark. It has seldom happened that these S'^'"'-^ ?'
. . -^ Denmark.
official expressions of academical feeling have pro- noa
cured any literary honour to their authors ; and
Bentley 's verses on this occasion, we must confess, do
little credit either to his judgment or delicacy. They
are divided into three addresses ; the first to the
widowed Queen, the second to the Tomb, and the
third to Charles Montague, Baron Halifax ! the
7 John Brookbank was originally a member of Trinity College, where
he proceeded to the degree of B.A. in 1674-5, and of M.A. in 1G78.
Being afterwards FeUow of Trinity Hall, he became LL.D. in 1692.
188
LIFE OF
CHAP.
VIII.
I7O6.
Bentley
prints the
text of Ho-
race.
topics of the last being his promised edition of Horace,
and the noble statesman's own vein of poetry. This
led to a general expectation, that the forthcoming
Horace was to have been dedicated to that nobleman ;
a choice natural enough, from his having been
formerly a Fellow of Trinity College distinguished for
the elegance of his scholarship, and now the professed
Maecenas of the age ^
In the meantime the text of Bentley 's Horace was
committed to the University press. By a letter to
Professor Sike, who was then at Oxford examining
oriental manuscripts, it appears that in August 1706
he was diligently employed in correcting the sheets,
and hoped to have the publication ready in the
ensuing spring ^ But the method which he adopted.
* As some readers may be curious to see a specimen of this poetical
luctus, I shall treat them with the last of Bentley's three eftusions.
" Carole, si tibi adhuc Collegi cura vetusti ;
Quod tamen assidue nascitur, usque no\aim ;
Si placuit nostro nitidus jam pumice Flaccus,
Quodque sibi vates dixerat, usque recens ;
Gratia si veteris tibi pectore vi\^t amici :
Unam fer multis officiosus opem.
Sume, precor, citharam nimium nimiumque tacentem ;
Verbaque cum plectro fortiajunge gravi :
Eflfer, age, Heroem, stellantique insere Olpnjjo :
Dircaeusque iterum nubila tranet olor,
Nos etenim viles, corvi picaeque, poetee
Vix pennas madida (turpe) levamus humo."
A former copy of the Doctor's elegiacs, on the death of the Duke of
Gloucester, received a burlesque translation from Lord Jefteries, son of
the infamous Chancellor, llie above lines were honoured with a similar
translation by some other hand.
" In this letter there is something too curious not to be quoted.
"Sir, Trinity College, Aug. 16, 1706.
" I received your kind letter, and am glad to hear you have met with
such reception at Oxford, and particularly that you have employed your
time so well in searching into the oriental manuscripts there. I hope in
time the public will have a testimonial of your labours by something in
print. The old Arabic Poems, and the Proverbs, will certamly be worth
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 189
though intended for expedition, was ill calculated to chap.
• • • VIII
accelerate its appearance. The text being printed off ^-^g
before the notes were written, it became necessary ■■-
that the daring emendations introduced into Horace's
verses should be defended by arguments, which put
into requisition all his learning and all his subtilty.
Had the notes been printed at the same time with the
text, it is more than probable that many of the boldest
alterations would have been withheld. Bentley found
also that little progress could be made except in his
long vacations. Great were the expectations excited
by this undertaking ; but among continental scholars,
by whom his peculiar strength was better understood
than by himself, it appears to have been regretted
that he was not occupied upon some Greek author;
and particularly there was an earnest and universal
wish that he would give the world his promised
Hesychius.
Of all the distinguished personages with whom Baron Eze-
Bentley associated and corresponded, no one had a |^g'4_ ''^""
greater regard for him than the celebrated Ezechiel
your editing, and bring a great honour to you, as well as benefit to
learning. I send you here inclosed a letter, which came hither from Dr.
Kuster ; I presumed to open it, to see if there was any thing relating to
me that required a present answer. I do not wonder that some of the
Oxford men do talk so wildly about my Horace ; but their tongues are
better than their pens ; and I am assured none of them will write against
my notes. They have had enough of me, and hereafter will let me alone.
Perhaps some little bantering book may come out incognito in English;
but that none dare write in Latin, and set his true name to it, I am
morally certain. However, if any one should do so, he has my free leave.
Quisque suo periculo.
'AWovg iK^vdpiK', avo S'"'EKTopog iffX*" X^'^P"'?'
I have printed three new sheets in it this last fortnight, and I hope shall
go on to finish by next spring. You seem to have promised my notes to
Dr. Kuster upon Hesychius absolvitely ; whereas you know I did it con-
ditionally, provided he would print it at Cambridge. Your friends here
are all well ; I wish you much happiness till I see you.
R. Bentley."
190 LIFE OF
CHAP. Spanheim, who was now become a Baron of the
jyQg Empire, and passed the last eight or nine years of
==== his life as ambassador of the Kins; of Prussia at the
British court. This extraordinary man at the verge
of fourscore continued to unite diplomatic activity
with intense application to study. Perhaps it would
be hardly possible to find so remarkable an instance
of the characters of the man of business, and the man
of study, combined in the same individual. Being
a counsellor upon whose political sagacity and address
his sovereign principally relied, he was deeply occu-
pied in those measures which exalted Prussia to the
rank of one of the leading powers of Europe, and he
was at the same time closely engaged in publishing
his laborious and abstruse work on Ancient Coins.
His letters to our critic, several of which are preserved,
testify high personal esteem, as well as admiration for
his genius and learning, which it will be remembered
he had been one of the first to discover and proclaim.
As a testimony of his regard he presented Bentley
with his portrait, which is bequeathed by the latter
to Trinity College, there to remain as a memorial of
their friendship.
Kuster's Bcutlcy's otlicr learned friend Kuster, having now,
by means of his patronage, completed the three noble
volumes of his Suidas, their appearance raised the
fame of the editor, while it excited public admiration
at the spirit and liberality of the University of Cam-
bridge in undertaking so magnificent a publication ^°.
Shortly after he had established his reputation by
this work, he proceeded to assume his functions at
Berlin ; and by the management of his friend Bentley,
his introduction to the notice of his Royal master was
particularly auspicious. The University of Frankfort
'" This is particularly noticed in Le Clerc's Bibliotheque Choisie.
1
Suidas.
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 191
on the Oder having; resolved to celebrate the cen- chap.
. . . VIII.
tenary anniversary of its foundation with secular ^^^^
solemnities, invited various other Universities to assist '
by their deputies at this ceremony. The invitation Frankfort
sent to Cambridge was courteously accepted; and a °" ''^^ ^'^^'■"
deputation was nominated by the Senate, consisting
of representatives of the different faculties. The
King of Prussia presided at the solemnities ; and
Kuster, being attached to the delegation, was pre-
sented to him, attired in the scarlet robes of a Cam- April 26,
bridge doctor, and received in the gracious manner '
which his merits and character demanded. There
exists a curious letter from him to Bentley, in Eng-
lish, giving a detailed account of this academical
jubilee : from which it appears that the deputation
from the banks of the Cam was distinguished above
those of all the other Universities : an address was
delivered to the King by Dr. Andrew Snape, the
divine ; another to the Prince Royal, by Dr. Penrice,
the civilian ; and a third to the Rector Magnificus,
by Dr. Plumtre, the physician of the representative
body^^
Immediately after this celebration, Kuster entered ^satiSla'^'
upon his office of Greek Professor in the academy at ^'ti^ '"^
-r-> T 1 T p 1 1 1 • 1 • 1 situation at
Berlin ; but he soon tound that the reputation which Berlin.
he had achieved drew upon him the jealousy of his
colleagues, who, though his inferiors in other respects,
possessed interest with the ruling powers ; while his
own former friends were either dead, or had left the
capital. Kuster was a man of high and independent
spirit, which could neither brook affronts and slights,
nor descend to the methods necessary to ingratiate
himself at court. Perhaps a hastiness of temper
" An account of the solemnities was officially transmitted by the Uni-
versity of Frankfort to that of Cambridge, where it is preserved in the
Public Library.
192 LIFE OF
CHAP, mio-lit have contributed to make him take a preci-
VIII , . .
1706 pitate resolution. Having allowed himself scarcely
- one month's trial of his situation, he determined to
quit Berlin, and to pass the remainder of his life in
the enjoyment of the freedom and the learned society
to be found iu Holland or in England. Having
Goes back askcd and obtained the King's permission, he betook
to Utrecht, j^jjjjggjf ^Q Utrecht, where he was kindly received by
his old acquaintance, and found himself deservedly
appreciated. Presently he resigned his situation at
Berlin ; whereupon the booksellers became the only
resource to which he could look for subsistence. The
reputation of his Suidas made them anxious that he
should undertake a new edition of Hesychius ; a work
which he promised to execute, principally in reliance
upon Bentley's emendations ; well knowing how much
they surpassed in worth the lucubrations of all other
scholars, and what value and credit they would confer
upon his edition. The Master of Trinity, who felt a
sincere regard for Kuster, offered him the whole
collection, but upon condition that the book should
be printed at the Cambridge press ; choosing that the
fruit of his early studies should be issued to the world
under his own eye, and from the bosom of his own
Alma Mater '^ Some difficulty and delay being
thereby interposed, Kuster had in the meantime
engaged for an edition of Jamblichus's Life of Pytha-
goras. Before this work was off his hands, he yielded
to the urgency of some booksellers, who imposed
upon him the task of a new and complete edition of
Aristophanes, for which there appeared to be a great
demand : consequently Hesychius was again post-
poned.
Kuster having now chosen to throw himself and his
" See Bentley's letter to Professor Sike, quoted in the note, p. 18S.
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 193
reputation into the hands of others, was compelled to chap.
put his great work to the press, with scarcely a j-^-
minute's delay, and to adopt a plan for the edition ==^=
which was in opposition to his own judgment, and to
the earnest and repeated recommendation of his friend
Bentley. Thus he inserted the whole of the Greek
Scholia ; not only the ancient and valuable collection
first printed by Aldus, but the modern lucubrations
of the French scholars Biset and Bourdin, which over-
load and incumber the pages of his folio, and detract
from its real value as much as they increase its price.
It was determined that nothing should be omitted
which had appeared in the edition of Portus ; accord-
ingly, the Latin metrical versions occupy a column
in each page contiguous to the Greek text. At the
end of the volume is a valuable collection of all the
commentaries upon Aristophanes then in existence ; His edition
1 . ,^ • .,.,,. . 1 °f AiLsto-
Dut their arrangement is highly inconvenient to the phanes.
reader. The truth is that Kuster was composing his
own notes, while the press was occupied in re-printing
those of other commentators. In vain did he wish
for another year or two to devote to this great and
important task : his finances, relying solely upon the
profits of his pen, compelled him to obey the arrange-
ments and the urgency of the Leipsic publisher,
Fritch, who had undertaken to give him 150/. for the
edition. His correspondence with Bentley at this Correspond-
period IS very interesting. It was my good fortune Kuster and
to discover the originals of Kuster 's letters, along with ^^"''^y-
copies of two of Bentley 's, amid a large collection of
papers found in Trinity Lodge upon the death of the
late Master, and I printed them soon afterwards in
the seventh number of the Museum Criticum. The
confidential manner in which the German opens his
circumstances and feelings is very striking : he con-
sults Bentley, for whom he entertained unbounded
VOL. I. o
194 LIFE OF
viir
1707.
CHAP, deference, upon rather heterogeneous topics ; for in-
stance, the readings of the comic poet, his own scheme
of purchasing a life annuity as soon as he could scrape
together 600/, and a private negotiation with some
English minister to whom the Aristophanes was to be
1708. dedicated. The last point was decided in favour of
Lord Halifax ; and of all the ' soft dedications' with
which he was regaled, none was ever more soothing
to his gentle ears, or better earned the 50/. or 60/.
which was thought a reasonable compliment to the
dedicator of a folio ^^ Bentley did not spare his best
exertions to serve his friend on this occasion. He
gave him good counsel relative to the undertaking,
of which, as we have seen, he was not suffered to
avail himself; and not only transmitted a collation of
the Lysistrata, along with some unpublished Greek
Scholia which he had copied from Vossius's manu-
scripts while that collection was in England, but
determined to put together for the use of the edition
Bentiey's his owu emeiidatious of the Comedian. Accordinoiy,
Critical . .
Epistles on in tlic summcr of 1708, he addressed to him three
phanes. ' Critical Epistles,' containing observations upon the
first two plays, the Plutus, and the Clouds. He had
intended to proceed with the other nine ; but found
that even these contributions arrived too late ; for
Kuster's own commentary, in which he had designed
them to be incorporated, was already printed. The
use which his friend made of his letters was to dissect
them into the form of notes, omitting all the points
on which he had himself anticipated them, as well as
much of that playful and digressive style which gives
them a peculiar interest with the reader. Fortunately
however the two of which Bentley preserved copies,
have now after more than a century been given to the
" Vid. Kusteri Epist. Museum Criticuni, vol. ii. p. 412—415.
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 195
world. There are scarcely any of the writings of our chap.
great critic which exhibit a more lively specimen of ^^qq^
his acuteness, and perception of the elegancies of the — —
Greek language, than may be found in these epistles.
The reader of them will hardly fail to remark, that
an edition of Aristophanes was the work which would
have best suited the genius of Bentley : and every
scholar must regret that he did not devote to this task
some of the time which was passed in college squab-
bles, or in defending new readings of the Latin poets.
It is not too much to say that, had he given his mind
to such a work, no person ever lived who was so well
qualified for an editor of the greatComedian of Athens.
These specimens, it should be observed, were drawn
up hastily, and after he had been for some years
abstracted from that line of reading. Their style is
animated and engaging : they abound indeed as much
as any of his writings, with boastful and confident
expressions ; but for this it is a good apology, that he
never intended them to meet the public eye, having
strictly enjoined his correspondent to embody the
remarks in his own notes, and to give them in his own
words'*. This injunction Kuster could not follow,
having already printed his own commentary; and
in such haste that his notes on one comedy, the
Lysistrata, were written in a day and a half, and two
other plays appear without any annotation whatever.
The notes picked out of Bentley *s epistles are sub-
joined to those of Baron Spanheim, who in his old
age, and in the midst of public business, found leisure
" " Denique hoc oro te atque obsecro (quod antea facere memini) ut si
quae ex nostris tibi usui fuerint, ea in notis exhibeas, non meis verbis,
nomine ad finem posito, ut fit in notis variorum ; sed tuis, narrationis
<Tx^/iart, sic emended Bentleius, &c. ; et quoties castigationum rationes
adjicis, non meis verbis, quas hie avToaxiCid'!:,t», taris ; sed memor Epi-
charmi, El/ta ^rpc "cai Tropipvpnv, Xoyoim iroiiciWojv aofoTg." Museum Criticum,
vol. ii p. 456.
o 2
]96 LIFE OF
VIII.
1708.
CHAP, to write a profound commentary on the three first
vTTT r ....
plays. Having two such auxiharies in the rear,
Kuster sent forth his Aristophanes with more credit
than it really deserved ^^
Tiberius About tlic Same period Bentley was engaged in a
huis. literary correspondence with Tiberius Hemsterhuis,
the founder of the most distinguished sect of conti-
nental scholars. This personage, who was destined
to hold among the literati of the eighteenth century
a place second only to Bentley himself, was at that
time a youth, and remarked among the learned of
Holland for his surprisingly precocious attainments.
A new edition of the Onomasticon of Julius Pollux
had been for some time in progress at Amsterdam,
when it was interrupted by the editor, Lederlin, being
called away to a professorship in his native city of
Strasburg. He had completed only seven books, and
to finish the remaining three young Hemsterhuis was
engaged as a well qualified person. It was the
venerable Grsevius, the patriarch of literature, whose
authority sanctioned this recommendation ; and at his
urgent persuasion the youthful scholar undertook a
work requiring no common portion of learning and
judgment, before he had attained his eighteenth
year ^^ ! His performance bears many marks of
juvenility, but 'exhibits at the same time an extent of
erudition which is perfectly astonishing in a youth.
Like Kuster, he complains of being hurried by the
15 Notwithstanding the breathless haste with which this edition was got
up, and which was so injurious to the author, to the editor, and to the
reader, there was an unaccountable delay in the publication. Bentley's
notes on the Clouds, the last matter in the volume except the Indexes, were
sent to Kuster in August 17O8 ; but the book was not forthcom'ng tiU the
year 17 10.
"* The character of Grsevius, and particularly his kindness to young
men of merit, is beautifully described by Hemsterhuis, in the preface to
Juhus Pollux, p. 24.
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 197
impatience of the bookseller, who was eager to derive chap.
the fruits of the expence bestowed upon the under- j^^g
taking. Shortly before the publication of Julius
Pollux, Hemsterhuis ventured to write to Bentley, encTww"
whom he considered as the highest living authority, ^'^"'^^y*
for his opinion and assistance respecting certain pas-
sages ^^ : he received an immediate reply, with the
Doctor's opinion upon all the subjects of consultation.
The young Dutchman sent letters of thanks for this
favour by the hands of two persons who failed to
deliver them : at length, in the spring of 1708,
Bentley received from him a letter of acknowledg-
ment, with a present of some select Dialogues of
Lucian which he had just published. Nothing can
exceed Hemsterhuis's expressions of gratitude for the
condescension and favour of the great critic : he
regrets that the hurry of the publisher had prevented
the edition of Julius Pollux being enriched with his
emendations ; but promises to insert those, and any
other remarks which Bentley would send him, in* his
Cur<s Secundoe. The attention paid to this second Bentiey's
application marks considerable good-nature in our EpisUe on
Aristarchus. He transmitted to Hemsterhuis one of p"[[|J^
the richest literary despatches ever consigned to the
post-oflfice. First he relieves his young correspondent
from all apprehension of having given offence by his
silence, and then, after some merited compliments on
the learning, industry, and genius displayed in his
work, he plainly tells him that his principal defects
arose from the want of adequate skill in the ancient
metres, and adds his urgent advice that he should
lose no time in acquiring this description of know-
ledge ; which indeed appears to have been generally
neglected by continental scholars. As example is
" This letter was written on the 4th of July, 1705, when he had been
two years and a half employed on the work.
198 LIFE OF
CHAP, usually found to have more weight than precept,
VIII
j^Qg Bentley took up the tenth book of Julius Pollux, and
- examined all the Comic fragments which it contains ;
correcting the errors of the original, as well as those
committed by Hemsterhuis himself, and restoring the
true reading with incomparable neatness and inge-
nuity. This epistle not only displays his acute and
happy perception of the language, but shows in a
striking light the importance of that metrical skill on
which he so justly prided himself. It proves besides
great knowledge of the peculiarities of Attic phrase-
ology and Attic customs ; which I particularly notice,
because some late writers have been disposed to deny
him that qualification.
Its effect The effect of this letter upon Hemsterhuis was
upon Hem- . .
sterhuis. remarkable, and is well described by his celebrated
pupil, David Ruhnken, in the Elog'mm with which
he has honoured his memory. The restoration of the
comic fragments was the very part of his work upon
which he had bestowed most pains, and thought he
had acquitted himself most successfully. What then
was his mortification at finding that in almost every
one of these attempts he had clearly failed ; and that
Bentley, without any greater assistance than himself,
had by mere dint of learning and sagacity, restored
the verses of the poet with success amounting to
demonstration. In the first moments of chagrin, he
determined to abandon his Greek studies altog-ether,
and kept his resolution for about two months. He
then began to consider that it was unfair to compare
his own juvenile performances with those of Bentley,
an experienced critic, and the first man of the age in
that line of scholarship ; and wisely judged that it
would be better to follow the advice of his corres-
pondent in endeavouring to corrcf^t the deficiencies
which he had pointed out. To the honour of Hem-
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 199
sterhuis it is recorded, that he was in the habit of chap.
. . VIII.
relating this anecdote as well as his own feelings on ^^qq
the occasion, to young scholars whom he wished to -
encourage : to the last day of his life he never failed
to speak of Bentley with veneration, nor did he ever
hear an attempt made to depreciate his merits without
testifying offence ^^.
I find that about this period Bentley was in cor- Bentiey's
respondence with several other continental scholars, other con-
among whom the name of Adrian Reland, the orien- [^"i^^f^l^
talist, is the most distinguished. The homage and
deference offered to him by them all, show the vast
estimation which his publications had at this time
acquired among the learned of other countries. Of
his own letters, besides those to Kuster and Hem-
sterhuis, he kept a copy of one to Godfrey Richter of
Jena^^ From a letter of his to De Veil, a French
scholar resident in London, the date of which I am
unable to determine, it appears that his intense study
by candle-light had produced a weakness of his eyes: vveakness
which, however, he declares was relieved by an appli- ° ^'^ ^^^^'
cation of the insects called multipedce -". This is the
1^ Ruhnken. Elogium Hemsterhusii, p. 23 — 27- Hemsterhuis kept the two
Epistles of Bentley till his death, which happened in 1766. They were
then found by his son and given by him to Ruhnken, who printed them at
the end of the second edition of his Elogium in 1789. Bentley preserved a
fair copy of his second letter, which, as well as the originals of Hemster-
huis's, is now lying before me.
" This Richter published Specimen Observationum Criticarum in 1713,
and an edition of Phsedrus for schools in 1718. He wrote to Bentley,
Aug. 1, 1708, with an offer to collate for him a MS. of ManiUus, which he
had found at Leipsic. Bentiey's reply has lately been printed in Germany
from the original.
20 " Sed qua ratione oculis meis malefactum rogas. Non usque adeo
canis annisque obsiti sumus. Sed quia noctu ad lucernam et quidem luce
satis maligna, etiam in lecto supinus legere jam olim consueveram. Hinc
illis prima mali labes. Verum baud longa mora contemptissimi animalculi
beneficio, quam credo multipedam vocant, simul ilh acumen suum, et nos
libros (imprimis autem tuos) resumpsimus." [" Quod
«200 LIFE OF
VIII
1708.
CHAP, only time in Bentley's life that I observe any com-
plaint of his eyes failing him ; although he continued
the constant exercise of them to extreme old age, in
the most trying occupation of reading small Greek
type and manuscripts difficult to be decyphered.
Bentiey's The offspring of Dr. Bentley's marriage were two
daughters, Elizabeth and Joanna, and two sons, Wil-
liam and Richard ~K William died shortly after his
birth : of the other three, mention will be made in
He tcakes different parts of these memoirs. The increase of his
Edersin family was probably the cause which induced the
the lodge, jyia^g^gr iQ listen to the solicitations of some noble
persons, and take three or four young men, students
of the College, as pupils and boarders of his own.
Their names were Edward Viscount Hinchinbrooke,
Lord Kingston and his brother, and Sir Charles
Kemys. These pupils remained inmates of the lodge
only one year (1707). The Master perhaps found
that his attention to them absorbed too large a share
of the leisure which this busy period of his life
afforded. I apprehend that they stopped the pro-
gress of the Horace ; and it is certain that they were
the means of exciting a considerable clamour in the
society. That the Head of the College should take
private pupils did not seem altogether consistent with
his dignity ; nor could it be agreeable to the Fellows,
who found themselves curtailed of their legitimate
occupation. But it gave rise to a complaint of a still
" Quod liceat Veli doctas mihi volvere chartas,
Ponitur hacc vobis gratia, Multipedae :
At vobis maneat crebris, precor, imbribus uda,
Subqiie cavo quercus cortice tuta domus."
2' All, except Elizabeth the eldest, were born in Trinity lodge. It
appears from the register of All Saints' jjarish, that Joanna was baptised
Sept. 1, 1703; William, Jan. 16, 1706-7, and buried three days after-
wards; Richard, June 3, 1708.
sure.
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 201
more invidious nature. The spirit and liberality of chap.
. VIII
the Fellows of Trinity had always supplied their ^ "
Master's lodge with various articles of housekeeping, ===
as bread, beer, oil, fuel, &c. out of the common purse
of the College, and that too without limitation ; re-
liance being placed upon the delicacy and good feeling
of their Head, that this indulgence would never be
abused. But when they found the expense of these complaints
articles increased by the consumption of the pupils,
for whose board no payment was made to the College,
they began to grumble and to tax the Master with
greediness and meanness. As each of the young
men paid him the large sum of 200Z. for board and
lodging only, they shoidd certainly have been re-
garded in a different light from the rest of his family.
Bentley, when he heard of the dissatisfaction, treated
it with contempt, observing that ' a few College
loaves' were not to be put in competition with the
honour brought to the society by these young patri-
cians ; he thought indeed that he had amply repaid
the cost by putting into their chambers three sash
windows at his own expense. But neither these
arguments, nor the mention of some precedents in
the time of former Masters, (which, to say the truth,
were not in point) could allay the discontent and
disgust excited by the measure ^^.
During the period of which we are speaking, the
exertions of Dr. Bentley to raise the character and
improve the fabric of his college were great and
successful. In the course of a single year (1706) he
undertook three works of magnitude and importance;
the erection of an observatory, the foundation of a
chemical laboratory and chemical lecture, and the
refitting of the chapel upon a magnificent plan. The
^- There is much said on this subject in Bentley^s Present State of
Trinity Colkf/e, \). 10- Blomer^s Full View, \^A6l. Miller's Remarks, \^ 186.
202 LIFE OF
CHAP, origin of the first work was this : Dr. Thomas Plume,
VT IT
Archdeacon of Rochester, had just founded and en-
1708.
dowed a professorship of Astronomy and Experimental
shiVofTs- Philosophy, making the Heads of Trinity, Christ's,
tronomy. ^^^ Caius CoUcges, aloug with the Lucasian Professor
of Mathematics, electors to the office. Among the
young men chosen Fellows of Trinity in the year
RogerCotes. 1705 was Rogcr Cotes, a native of Leicestershire,
who exhibited such an extraordinary proficiency in
natural philosophy and mathematics, with so great
an original genius, as attracted the attention of the
Master, and caused his determination to bring him
forward into a field worthy of his merits. Having
made him known to Sir Isaac Newton, as well as Mr.
Whiston the successor to the chair of that philosopher,
and having obtained their testimony in his favour,
Bentley proposed him as the first Astronomical Pro-
fessor, and procured his unanimous election, while
jan.1705-6. yet a Bachelor of Arts. No sooner had he accom-
buUds'^an plished this point, than he undertook to build a noble
observa- Obscrvatory, that the study of astronomy, promoted
by such a professor, and aided by such advantages,
might become naturalized and permanent in Trinity
College. For this purpose he instituted a subscrip-
tion among the members of the College and the lovers
of science throughout the University, by means of
which he succeeded in erecting over the beautiful
entrance of the College, called the King's Gate, an
Observatory, stored with the best astronomical instru-
ments which science could at that period produce.
The expence, as commonly happens in such under-
takings, greatly exceeded the sum contemplated ;
nor was the Master able to complete the purchase of
the instruments, without appropriating to that pur-
pose money which properly belonged to the library.
1705-6. He obtained a College order, assigning for ever the
VIII.
1708.
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 203
chambers over the gate to the Astronomical Professor chap.
and his assistant, who was to be a scholar of the Col-
lege. In this station Cotes delivered his incom-
parable lectures on the sublimest subjects of natural
philosophy for about ten years, when the world was
prematvirely deprived of that extraordinary genius.
In his observations he was assisted by his young
relation, Robert Smith, the worthy successor to his
professorship. By such measures Bentley had the Founds a
satisfaction of founding in Trinity College a school of Nauuli'phi.
natural philosophy of singular eminence, which has '"^op^'y-
continued to produce some of the first scientific cha-
racters of our country in an unbroken succession from
that day to the present. Thenceforth Newtonian
learning became one great pride of the place in which
the mighty genius of its founder had been nurtured
and matured ; and the same College which gave
birth to his discoveries has been made a principal
means of introducing the knowledge of them to the
community. The great and solid glory of originating
and fostering this school is due to Dr. Bentley ; and it
is just to observe that at no period did his enemies, in
the height of their animosity, venture to deny or
detract from his credit in this particular.
It was at this time his favourite object to make Professor
Trinity College the focus of all the science in the
University. With that view he procured for Professor
Whiston chambers in the College adjoining the King's
Gate, from which he and his pupils enjoyed the full
advantage and convenience of the observatory. Whis-
ton mentions in his Memoirs that he gave a course of
lectures on hydrostatics and pneumatics jointly with
Cotes ; and, with a degree of modesty not usual to
him, acknowledges the great superiority of his col-
league's share in the performance ^^
-^ Whiston' s Memoirs, vol. i. p. 118.
204 LIFE OF
CHAP. John Francis Vio;ani, a native of Verona, having
VIII n ' , .
j-Qg" resided in Cambridge and taught chemistry with
reputation for about twenty years, received in the
feSor of '^°" year 1702 a strong mark of the approbation of the
Chemistry. University, by being invested with the title of Professor
of Chemistry. To serve the purposes of science, and
promote the celebrity of his College, Dr. Bentley
resolved to transplant him and his lectures into Trinity,
Bentley Accordiugly hc repaired and fitted up an old lumber
chemkS fa- house as an elegant chemical laboratory; and here
boratory. vigaui rcgularly delivered his courses of lectures for
some years. But, whatever might have been the
reason, this scheme of founding a school of chemistry
was not permanently successful. Some time elapsed
after the death of Vigani before the University ap-
pointed a successor to the professorship. Bentley 's
conduct in this business, like some other of his laudable
undertakings, did not escape an uncharitable construc-
Coiiege tion. The College bowling-green happened to adjoin
that part of the lodge in which was the Master's study;
and parties of the Fellows, amusing themselves with
the game of bowls, proved a frequent disturbance to
the lucubrations of our Aristarchus ^^ Accordingly
he aimed at delivering himself from this annoyance,
and designed at the same time to enlarge the garden
of the lodge, which is very confined, and lies con-
tiguous to the bowling-green, by the addition of that
ground. But no sooner had he propounded this
scheme to the Fellows, than it met with their unani-
mous opposition, as an unwarrantable encroachment
upon their comforts; and it was in vain that he
** The following memorandum is found in a blank page of Bentley's
Ephemeris for 1701 : " July 26, 1701, Saturday. Mr. Hutchinson, Mr.
Porter, Mr. Green, and Mr. Laughton played at bowls in the College
bowling-green all Chapel time, in the evening senace : seen out of my
window by me (who was then lame and could not be at Chapel) and Will.
Saist."
bowling-
green.
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 205
descended to private solicitations to effect his purpose, chap.
But as it was observed that he did not easily abandon ,.,„o
his projects, it was suspected that the fitting up the ==
' lumberhole' had some bearing upon this design ;
since, if ever the bowling-green should become part
of his garden, it seemed a natural consequence that
the laboratory would be transformed into his green-
house. So strongly did this suspicion prevail, that ^^b. 11,
when the Master applied to the Seniority to defray
the expense bestowed on that building, (which was
not till after the work had been executed) they con-
sented only upon the express and recorded condition,
that it should never be converted to any other purpose
than that of a laboratory for the use of chemical,
physical, and philosophical experiments ^^
The idea of giving a new interior to the chapel, the Trinity
greatest of Dr. Bentley's improvements in Trinity
College, appears to have originated in the following
manner. Among the members of his club in London
was the celebrated organ-builder, Mr, Bernard Smith,
who is universally known by the title given him by
his contemporaries, of ' Father Smith ^''.' When he
first became Master, this gentleman promised to make
him a noble organ for his College chapel. The mag- organ buiit
nificent instrument being now in a state of forward- Smith.
ness, Bentley considered it almost necessary that the
chancel should be fitted up with becoming elegance
for its reception. It happened at this time that the
fabric itself was dilapidated, the roof being decayed
and dangerous, and one of the walls in imminent
25 See Miller's Remarks, p. G8. Blomer's Full View, p. 119.
26 See an accovint of ' Father Smith,' in Noble's Biographical History,
vol. ii. p. 362. He did not hve to complete the organ of Trinity: it
was finished, ' by tuning and voicing,' by his son-in-law, Christopher
Schrider, according to a resolution of the Master and Seniors, May3, 1708.
206 LIFE OF
CHAP, hazard of falling. To repair the latter damage,
i^oy Mr. Corker, a Senior Fellow, had, three years before,
— — made a donation of 500Z. ; and several other benefac-
tions, to the amount of 600/, were appropriated to the
Bentiey's Same objcct. Fortlficd by these circumstances, the
plan for a ]y[ag^gj. resolvcd to effect a complete reparation and
new interior a •>■
ofthecha- jjg^ modelling of the whole building, with every
suitable improvement and ornament ; and thus to
render it one of the handsomest chapels in Europe.
But the College revenues being unequal to such an
undertaking, he proposed to aid it by private sub-
subscrip- scription, and set the example himself by a liberal
FeSows.'''' donation of 200/. Having thus taken the lead, he
recommended to the Fellows that every one should
subscribe the amount of his whole year's dividend,
which was just payable. This must be acknowledged
to have been a most unreasonable requisition ; but
such was the spirit pervading the society, and the
determination not to be left behind in promoting a
work which all had at heart, that almost every man
complied. The amount of the dividend of a Senior
was 50/, of a Junior, 25/ ; and these sums, though
not large, constituted the principal income of the
majority. To some who had small livings, pupils, or
other resources, the sacrifice was comparatively light ;
but in most cases it proved highly distressing ; par-
ticularly as in the years 1703 and 1704, owing to the
great expenses of the College, only half a dividend
had been received. Thus in some instances it hap-
pened that a person subscribed to the chapel more
than he was worth in the world. In this measure
Bentley emulated the example of his great prede-
cessor. Dr. Barrow, who had, by an appeal to the
members of his College, secured funds for the erection
of a library. But although that magnificent work
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D.
207
cost more than 18,000/, so judicious were the arrange-
ments that the burden was less felt than that of the
present undertaking ^^
CHAP.
VIII.
1707.
2^ The list of the subscribers for repairing and beautifying Trinity
Chapel has, I believe, never been printed. It is true that acknowledg-
ments come too late when more than 1 20 years have passed : however, as
I know no instance in which donations have been so hberal in reference
to the means of the contributors, it seems but an act of justice to give the
Subscription of 1 707 from the original copy.
£
s.
£
s.
Richard Bentley, D.D.
. 200
John Barnwell . .
. . 25
W. Stubbe, D.D. . .
. 100
Marshal Greswold .
. . 70
WiUiam Mayer . . .
. 50
Thomas Hill . . .
. . 25
George Modd . . .
. 40
Tliomas Rud . . .
. . 5
Edward Bathurst . .
• 40
J. Baker . . . .
. . 25
M. Hutchinson, D.D. .
. 30
George Jeffreys . .
. . 25
John Colbatch, D.D. .
. 30
Gilbert Malkin . .
. . 25
Stephen Cressar, B.D.
. 30
Ed. Rud ....
. . 25
Henry Firebrace, D.D.
. 50
Samuel AVhite . .
. . 25
Nath. Hanbury, B.D.
. 20
Phillips Gretton . .
. . 26
5
Wm. Ayloffe, LL.D. .
. 30
Roger Cotes . . .
. . 25
John Cooper, B.D. . .
. 20
John Wy^dll . . .
. . 25
Edmund Miller . . .
. 60
William Chamberlajoi
. . 30
James Braboum, B.D.
. 20
John Felton . . .
. . 25
Thomas Blomer . . .
. 25
Samuel Knight . .
. . 25
Henr>' Sike, LL.D.
. 30
Henry Eden . . .
. . 30
Henry Colman . . .
. 50
WUham Wade . .
. . 25
John Hacket . . . .
. 50
Griff. Wilhams . .
. . 20
John Whitfield . . .
. 20
Phil. Bouquet, B.D.
. . 18
James Bankes . . .
. 20
Edmund Stubbe . .
. 30
William Drury . . .
. 20
Henry Hawes
. 10
Montague Lloyd . .
. 32
James Mailed
. 20
John WiUiams . . .
. 25
John Towersey . . .
. 25
John Paris ....
. 25
Matthew BarweU
. 20
John Craister . . .
. 25
John Heylin . . .
. 5
WOham Andrews . .
. 20
Mordecai Gary . .
. 5
John Laughton . . .
. 50
Edward Smith . . .
. 21
Montagu Bacon . . .
. 30
Laurence Eusden . .
. 10
Bradgate Ferrand . .
. 5
Paul Jenkinson . . .
. 10
Richard Stokes . . .
. 20
Robert Uvedale . . .
. 25
Hon. Wm. Kingston .
. 100
James Uvedale . . .
. 25
Samuel D'Oyly . . .
. 25
Ralph Welstead . . .
. 20
Thomas Pilgrim . . .
. 25
Ward Ashenhurst . .
. 25
Nicholas Clagett . . .
. 25
Laurence Brodrick . .
. 20
John Reddington . .
. 25
Robert Lumley . . .
. 20
Conyers Middleton . .
. 25
Abraham Franke . .
. 30
1
George
208
LIFE OF
CHAP.
VIII.
1707-
The Master
lends 1000/.
The work
superin-
tended by
Prof. Cotes.
Distress of
the Fellows
In order to facilitate the execution of the work,
1000/. was borrowed at five per cent, a low rate of
interest at the time ; which sum the Master lent to
the College from Mrs. Bentley's fortune. It is an
instance of the violence of party prejudice that this
act was afterwards objected against him as usurious,
and made matter of judicial charge before the Visitor.
The whole arrangement and superintendance of the
work, as well as the disbursement of the money, was
committed to Professor Cotes. It must add to the
interest with which this chapel is viewed, to learn
that it was beautified under his auspices and direction :
at the same time many perhaps will regret that so
much of the brief period that this extraordinary genius
was spared to the world, should have been devoted
to such employments as collecting subscriptions, and
overlooking the operations of masons and carvers.
The work, though beautifully executed, and worthy
of the College, was productive of extreme uneasiness
and agitation. The expense exceeded 6000/; the
private subscriptions of the Fellows, although they
£
s.
George Toilet
.
25
James Jurin . .
,
•25
Vyner Snell . .
30
Robert Parran
25
Alexander Burrell .
30
William Smyth .
25
Anthony Corbiere
30
Christopher Hussey
25
Ri. Walker . .
25
Henry James, S. Th
. Prof.
Reff
?0
William Herring, oj
Cam-
bridge, draper .
. .
10
Sir John Ellys, M. oJ
'' Cuius
Coll
10
20
50
10
10
D. Hopkins, D.D. Rector
of Fakenham ....
Hen. Campion, Esq. of Kent
John Yardley . .
John Valavine . .
Dr. Bowes
Mr. Ral. W. Cradock
Mr. Trevor . . .
Mr. William Sotheron
Mr. T. Micklethwaite
P. Wagener, Rector of Stis-
tead, Essex 5 5
10 10
10 10
50
10 10
5 5
Total
£2674 5
In the heading of the above subscription for repairing and beautifying
the College Chapel, it is stated that the expense of it ' may amount to
about 3000/.'
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 209
absorbed most of their year's revenue, amounted to chap.
little more than a third of that sum : and, notwith- ,„„ '
1707-
standmg the assistance from other members, a large =—
deficiency remained for the College stock to defray.
Hence, in subsequent years, they found their expected
income anticipated by the cost of the chapel, and
several of them became involved, from no fault of
their own, in debts and embarrassments. An outcry
was immediately raised against the Master as the
author of this distress ; and their ill-will was auo--
mented by reports of his having spoken of their
circumstances in terms of unfeeling levity. On one
occasion, when the subject was mentioned, he is said
to have replied, that " he expected their complaints,
but that it would be all one twenty years hence ^\"
And it is recorded, as a proof of his contemptuous
treatment of those who had so largely and painfully
contributed to the work, that when one of the Seniors
enquired what he proposed doing to a particular part
under reparation, he was told that ' he would know
when it was done.' A settled ill-humour was now
engendered in the Society, which discovered faults
and bad intentions in every step and every exjoression
of their Master.
The extraordinary charge upon the College stock Bentiey's
led Dr. Bentley to turn his attention to methods of measures.
improving its revenues, and economizing its ordinary
expenditure ; and these financial subjects appear to
have occupied much of his time and thoughts in the
years 1706 and 1707. A large portion of the College
rents, being, by Act of Parliament, paid in corn and
malt, or in sums equivalent to the value of those arti-
st Blomer, in his ' Full View,' p. 125, declares that Dr. Bentley made
this speech, which he terms ' barbarous,' in his hearing. But the words
haA'e not necessarily the apphcation which he affixes to them : Bentley
might have been speaking of unreasonable complaints.
VOL. I. P
210
LIFE OF
CHAP.
VIII.
1707.
Retrench-
ments.
cles in the Cambridge market on stated days, much
collusion had existed from tenants influencing their
prices in order to defraud the College : such practices
were now met by strict and efficient regulations of the
Master, which secured that important portion of the
revenue. But his measures for domestic retrenchment
gave so much offence, that it may be doubted whether
they did not occasion greater evils than they reme-
died. The character of a fiscal reformer is generally
invidious, and in order to produce real good, requires
to be moderated by judgment and discretion. A great
establishment, like Trinity College, is unavoidably
exposed to the waste or imposition of servants and
dependants. At that time the state of things called
aloud for reformation : how the Master corrected one
department of the system shall be related in his own
words.
Pandoxator. "The pandoxatorship ^^ had been so managed, that there were
four bakers in one office, and four brewers m the other ; each inde-
pendent of any other, and having a salary to himself: whereby the
work was done negligently, and perpetual complaints made without
means of redress. There was a clerk too, or supervisor of both
offices, who having annually laid out many hundred pounds of
College money for wheat and malt, had not bought one bushel in the
open market for above twenty years before I came thither. The
pandoxator too had carved well for himself, and besides other
emoluments, had (as it were on purpose to puzzle the accounts) the
32d part of the yearly gain : and to enhance his own perquisite, had
for many years placed that on the account of gain, which was mani-
festly on the side of charge and loss. To remedy all these evils at
once, without any consent at all of the governing part, (for that was
not to be hoped for, and the statutes in that case required it not), in
1707 I displaced this clerk, and four bakers, and four brewers at
once, made a contract with one baker and one brewer to do the
whole work for about half the charge, settled a certain salary of 20/.
29 " Trinity College for above a hundred years has had a bake-house
and brew-house of its own ; and the Senior Fellow, who looks after those
offices, is cSiWedi pandoxator." Letter to the Bishop of Ehj, p. 22.
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 211
per ann. upon the pandoxator (as a premium to the Seniority, though CHAl'.
the very office might have been drop'd and spar'd), caused all the ^^^"•
com ever since to be bought in the open market, gained thereby '^07-
some hundred pounds a year to the College, which since that time
has had the best bread and beer in the whole University." Letter to
the Bishop of Ely, p. 23.
In this reform there might have been nothing wrong,
except the autocratic exercise of authority by which
it was effected. But in controlling the expenses of
the College festivals, Dr. Bentley suffered his zeal for
economy to impair the character of hospitality which
had always distinguished that noble foundation. On College
the various feasts of the Church, the two audit days,
and the Founder's Commemoration, it had been an
immemorial practice for the College to entertain in
its capacious hall a large party of persons from the
rest of the University. On Trinity Sunday in par-
ticular the Heads and other dionitaries were invited,
and always made it a point to pay respect to the
College by dining in their robes. The Master finding
that the charge of these festivals had become enor-
mous, and amounted on some one day to thirty
shillings a head, instead of making such regulations
as might obviate the abuse, while the hospitality and
splendour were preserved, adopted the unfortunate
plan of forbidding the invitations altogether; strictly
limiting the charge to a sum sufficient to provide a
good dinner for the members of the House, and
ordering that, if any one introduced a guest, he
should pay his quota himself. This order was fatal
to all public hospitality ; and the society, mortified at
the abolition of what they regarded as one of their
glories, gave a harsh interpretation to the measure,
and considered it as a paltry saving of money, to
be devoted to the expenses of the Master's private
establishment.
p2
212 LIFE OF
VIII
1707
Jordan the
steward.
CHAP. The stewardship of the College having descended
in its triennial course to Mr. Jordan, a Fellow who is
stated to have been sometimes affected in his intellects,
Bentley discovered, on examining his accounts at the
audit, that he had charged 50/. for the article of wine
beyond what had been usual in one year : and, as the
poor man could give no reasonable account of this
excess, he caused him to be fined that sum, and
deposed from his office with all publicity of disgrace.
As there was no suspicion of wilful malversation on
the part of Jordan, who seems to have been imposed
upon by others, this was a very severe proceeding :
indeed it was felt to be so three years afterwards,
when the penalty was remitted upon condition of his
subscribing 30/. towards the repairs of the chapel.
The Master seized this opportunity ' while' (to use his
own expression) ' the iron was hot, ' and extorted the
consent of the Seniority to an arrangement, by which
the two fiscal offices of Junior-bursar and Steward
were confined to the younger part of the society. The
statutes exclude from them all Bachelors or Doctors
of Divinity; and it was now enacted that thenceforth
none should be elected who were above seven years
standing as Masters of Arts ; that being the earliest
period at which a theological degree can be taken :
at the same time the emoluments of the two places
were reduced to the original salaries of 4/. and 3/. a
measure intended only to serve a temporary purpose,
by removing an obstacle to a favourite plan of the
Master's which will shortly be developed. Indeed it
was not equitable, that, while the stipends of other
offices were augmented in proportion to the altered
value of money, these two, which did not remunerate
the holders with rank or dignity, should be brought
back to their original allowance : nor was it reasonable
to expect gentlemen to devote their time and attention
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 213
to these troublesome departments for so paltry a chap.
consideration.
1707.
Bentley's economy descended to such minute par-
ticulars, that he made a decree against any Fellow
being allowed to receive his commons in his chambers
instead of the Hall, except with the special permission
of the Master or his deputy: a regulation which, in
the eyes of the Society, seemed to be designed not so
much to save money, as to make himself the arbiter
of the comforts of those, whose health or convenience
might require such an indulgence.
In years of great expence, when there remained no Pandox-
other money to distribute, the emoluments of the de°nV.
Fellows were confined to their commons, a small
statutable stipend, and ' the pandoxator's dividend.'
The last was so called from its having originated in a
surplus stock in that officer's department. It was
fixed at the following sums : 20/. to the Master ;
lOl. to each of the eight Seniors ; and 51. to each of
the other Fellows who had resided in College not less
than half the year. At the audit of 1707 Bentley, Dec. 1707.
declaring that these proportions were objectionable,
and that the money ought to be divided like the rest
of the College stock, put a final period to ' the
pandoxator's dividend' by the force of his prerogative,
as it could not be issued without the Master's consent.
His object was not the correction of an abuse, for this
dividend had, in fact, the advantage of priority over
the other ; but he found it an obstacle to a grand
financial scheme then in his contemplation. The
season chosen for its abolition was unfortunate, since
it aggravated the distress, and increased the murmurs
of the Fellows ^^
For the first five or six years of his mastership, in
'" Bentley's Letter to the Bishop of Ely, p. 22. Miller's Remarks,
p. 66 — 71. True State of Trinity College, p. 40.
214 - LIFE OF
CHAP, all elections to scholarships and fellowships he had
J-Q-' regarded only the merit of the candidates; and in
consequence a series of able and deserving young
tionlii'eiect- Kicn had been admitted into the society. But at the
ingaFeiiow. election in 1706 he is stated to have made the first
1706.' deviation from the rule of merit. The Vice Master,
Dr. Wolfran Stubbe, a much respected personage,
who had formerly filled the Hebrew professorship,
was generally a supporter of the Master's measures:
among the candidates was his nephew and heir,
Edmund Stubbe, a young man wdio is represented as
a profligate, and in everyway unworthy of the station.
Bentley, to gratify the old gentleman, proposed and
elected him a supernumerary Fellow, to succeed upon
a ' presumed vacancy.' In this act there was a two-
fold malversation. The candidates for fellowships
being superannuated when of the standing of Masters
of Arts, there had formerly been a custom of pre-
Pre-eiec- electing to future vacancies. This practice, though
not expressly forbidden b}^ the statutes, was contrary
to their general spirit, as discouraging the emulation
of students by pre-occupying what ought to be their
rewards. It had, accordingly, been strictly prohibited
by a Royal Letter of King James I. Dr. Bentley, at
the same time that he condemned pre-elections, termed
this act only a presmnption ; thereby taking a distinc-
tion between the two cases which made no practical
diHerence. Having once ventured upon this step,
he had frequent recourse to the same method ; and
in the following year, two more fellows were elected
by ' presumption.' The choice of an unworthy per-
son, whom he afterwards termed ' the worst character
that ever entered a college,' was never insisted upon
by his accusers, out of tenderness towards the uncle,
Dr. Stubbe ; but it became known in the world ; and
we are told by Whiston that, in his opinion, the
tions.
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 215
present was Bentley's first breach of integrity, and chap.
that ' having made this deviation from the path of ^-^g'
justice he never afterwards returned to it^\'
The Master continued to take such liberties in the t:xpuision
administration of Trinity College, as prove that he Feiiows.
considered himself absolute and irresponsible. Of
this a glaring instance occurs in the expulsion of two
Fellows propter crimina majora, both of whom he
allows to have been ' men of good learning and
excellent parts,' but adds, that ' they were on these
very accounts more dangerous to the society, having
fallen into such ill courses and enormities, as could
not be tolerated there, without infecting and ruining
all the youth ^^' The first was Mr. John Wyvill, Wyviii.
whose offence consisted in having cut to pieces some
College plate, with an intention, as was supposed, of
melting and selling it. Of his guilt there was no
doubt ; but his expulsion was summary, and without
the forms of the statute, which enacts that this pun-
ishment shall be inflicted only with the consent of the
Master and major part of the eight Seniors, after a
regular citation, hearing, and proof of guilt
33
31 Whiston's Memoirs, vol. i. p. 106. His account of this transaction,
though he places it three years too early, is substantially correct, as I find
from MSS. observations written by persons in College at the time. Indeed
he asserts that Bentley himself told him that in this instance he had
stepped from the rule Detur Digniori, and that he had done it with reluct-
ance. I find it also stated that this Edmund Stubbe had paid attention to
a niece of the Master, then visiting at the lodge, and that a marriage was
in contemplation: in which case Dr. Stubbe's fortune, not less than
10,000/., was to have been settled on the young couple. If there be good
foundation for this story, it will at least prove that Bentley, at the time of
the election, could not have been aware of the badness of his character.
He proved a disgrace to the College ; but fortunately in about four years
he reUeved it, by marrying an innkeeper's daughter at Ne\vmarket.
3^ Letter to the Bishop of Ely, p. 29.
^^ John Wpnll was B.A. in 1701-2 and elected Fellow in 1704. He was
one of the representatives of the University, in the dej^utation sent to
Frankfort on the Oder, as mentioned at the beginning of this chapter. It
is possible that he might have distressed himself by his expenses on that
216 LIFE OF
VIII.
1708
Breval.
CHAP. The other Fellow expelled at the same time was
John Durant Breval, son of Dr. Breval, a Prebendary
of Westminster. He had been guilty of some foolish
or criminal conduct in Berkshire : being suspected
of an improper connection with a married lady, on
her experiencing harsh usage from her jealous hus-
band, he interfered for her protection ; when the
result was that he beat the husband, and was held
to bail for the assault. Conceiving, however, that
there was an informality in the proceedings against
him, he neglected to appear at the assizes, and was
in consequence outlawed. In this stage of the busi-
ness. Dr. Bentley laid before the Seniority the case
of the two delinquents, and proposed their immediate
expulsion. Respecting Wyvill little or no opposition
was made ; though the Board did not conceive that
this discussion amounted to a final sentence, and no
entry to that effect was made in the College register.
But to such a proceeding against Breval some of the
Seniors expressed their positive objection, observing
that of the two offences charged against him, the one
for which he was liable to expulsion, the adultery,
rested upon mere rumour and suspicion ; adding, that
if they proceeded upon such grounds to deprive him
of his freehold, ' he would have an action against the
College.' This apprehension the Master treated with
contempt, saying, that ' his father was just dead in
poor circumstances, and all his family were beggars.'
Subsequently to the meeting he entered in the Con-
clusion-book the following memorandum, the wording
of which is peculiar : " April the 5th, 1708. Ordered
occasion. He confessed in a letter to the Master the justice with which he
had been treated. Subsequently he bore a good character, and became
Chaplain to the Bishop of London, Dr. Compton. At the trial of the
Master, when this expulsion was made one of the articles of accusation,
Wyvill refused to bear evidence against him, declaring that he had no
ground of complaint.
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 217
by the Master and Seniors that the two Fellowships, chap.
late of Mr. Wyvill and Mr. Breval, be declared void." ^-^^g
It was deposed by several of the Seniors that no ——
consent was given at the Board, and no entry made
in their presence. In this proceeding:, which is one legality of
tlie proceed-
of the clearest cases of malversation proved against ing.
him, Bentley seems to have believed that he had
extorted a sort of consent from his council, and so
little was he accustomed to have his measures crossed
that he held in contempt all forms that stood in the
way of his sovereign will. The sentence itself he
believed to be just. We find Breval indeed some
years afterwards asserting upon oath his innocence of
the adultery, and his belief that the Master, in thus
oppressing him, was actuated by pique against him-
self for a refusal to vote according to his wishes at an
election, and against his father, owing to some dispute
in the Convocation. But irregular as such an exer-
cise of power certainly was, there is no reason to
suppose him influenced by those or any other sinister
motives. The presumption of Breval's guilt was very
strong ; nor was it diminished by the pretence of his
friends, that ' he was a sort of romantic Platonic
lover ^*.' The Master alleged in defence of his con-
duct towards this gentleman, that ' he had been guilty
of gambling with young men of the College, and
winning their money;' a charge which, if true, called
for immediate expulsion. But as no mention had
been made of it at the time, this allegation supplies
no justification of his proceeding.
Mr. Breval having nothing to depend upon but his Account of
fellowship for subsistence, immediately joined the
3* Miller's Remarks on Dr. Bentley' s Letter, p. 81. Blomer, who was a
friend of Breval, and nearly of the same standing, mentions that the
latter, in reference to Dr. Bentley's usage of him, said, ' tantum nonjugu-
lavit.' Full View of Dr. Bentley's Letter, p. 76.
218 LIFE OF
CHAP, army in Flanders as a volunteer, and soon obtained
j-Qg" an ensign's commission. Here his talents, address,
== and skill in different languages, attracted the notice
of the Duke of Marlborough, who employed him in
several negotiations. Having served in the army with
reputation, on the return of peace he travelled through
Europe with Lord Malpas, and published an account
of his tour in three folio volumes. He afterwards
became a wit and poet of some note about town, and
produced various dramatic pieces at the theatres.
But at length, in a luckless hour, he provoked the
resentment of Pope by writing a farce called ' The
Confederates,' in ridicule of ' Three Hours after Mar-
riage,' the rejected production of Pope, Arbuthnot,
and Gay; and was accordingly exalted into the un-
enviable immortality of the Dunciad ^^
strongmea- Mauv othcr of his acts show that Dr. Bentley did
suresofthe • i i i • n ^ • n i
Master. not cntertani the least apprehension oi bemg called to
account before a superior. He chose a layman as one
of the four Sacellani or Conducts, whose duty is to
read prayers daily in the College chapel ; telling him
that he would dispense with his taking Orders, and
allow him to hold his appointment till seven years
after his Master of Arts' degree ^^ He assigned to
Mr. Hacket, one of the Fellows, a small piece of
garden ground, hitherto used by the College cooks
for growing kitchen herbs, saying that he exercised
Heciiscom- this right 'as lord of the soil.' Finding that his
munes some • i 1 1 • 1
Fellows, measures excited much outcry m the society, he re-
solved to check the rising spirit of sedition by a new
and extraordinary mode of punishment ; discommoning
^5 See an account of Captain Breval in Nichols's Literary Anecdotes,
vol. i. p. 254.
^•^ This was done in imitation of the provision of a totally different
statute, which allows the Fellows to remain lapnen till that period. But
it is indispensable that the Conducts shall be clergymen. " Quatuor sint
presbijteri, et appellentur Sacellani."
VIII.
1708.
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 219
those Fellows whom he designed to censure. Thus chap.
he ' put out of commons' Mr. Barwell, who was
approaching- to the rank of a Senior, because he was
in the habit of condemning the proceedings of the
Master : he inflicted the same punishment on Mr.
Eden, the junior bursar, for hesitating to pay a bill
for some work done at the Master's premises ; and on
two or three other Fellows upon different pretences ^^
For this exercise of power he alleged the authority of
the statutes, which occasionally specify, as a penalty
of minor offences, commeatu menstruo privetur or mulc-
tetu7\ But for the legal punishment of a Fellow the
consent of the Seniority was required. Besides, this
sort of penalty, though used as a mode of admonishing
refractory students for neglect of College duties, never
before appears to have been inflicted upon those of
senior standing ; and when exercised on persons in
Holy Orders, and officers of the establishment, became
an unseemly and intolerable indignity. To all com-
plaints of this proceeding he replied, that ' it was but
lususjocusque,' and that he ' was not warm yet ^\'
These and several other particulars of Bentley's i709.
, . ,. , , Attempts to
government continued to excite discontent : and the take away
outcry was increased by the profuse expenditure of JJj^io°"oo'^^
*' Eden demurred to the payment of 15Z. for a hen-house, which the
Master had erected in his yard, alleging that it was done without leave of
the Seniors. Bentley told him, when he ' put him out of commons,' that
he would not be kicked by an ass. As this measure was speedily followed
by the Bursar's submission, and the payment of the bill, it was observed
in College, that the Master, by calling him an ass, had made him appear
one ever since. Miller's Remarks, p. 175.
38 See Miller's Remarks, p. 120. Blomer's Full View, p. 94. The True
State of Trinity College, p. 50 and 81. Dr. Bentley, in his Letter to the
Bishop of Ely, defends this ' discommoning,' urging that it was not so
much a punishment, as * a reprehension, a disgrace, a denouncing, an
accusation;' and adding, that ' the parties themselves submitted, asked
pardon for their faults, and returned thanks to him for the clemency of
his proceeding.*
VIII.
1709.
220 LIFE OF
CHAP, the Lodge, which, it must be confessed, had become
much greater than under any of his predecessors.
He soon discovered that ' the Combination Room,'
where the Society are in the habit of assembling after
dinner, was the place in which he and his proceedings
were loudly and continually censured ; and he be-
thought him of the desperate expedient of silencing
at once the voice of opposition, by removing the scene
on which it was exerted. He accordingly attempted
to deprive the Fellows of their Combination Room,
and to convert it into chambers, alleging that the
statutes had made no mention of such a place of
meeting, (although every other College in England
possessed one), and urging that it was a source of mis-
chief and dissention. The unanimous resistance of
the society made him abandon this scheme, but the
attempt was long remembered with indignation and
resentment.
Aspires to The fcuds iu Trinity College had not yet attracted
Ikk'of Chi- public notice ; while the great and successful efforts
Chester. ^f ^jjg Mastcr to advaucc the splendour and credit of
the society were generally known, and prepared people
to witness his further advancement. On the vacancy
of the bishoprick of Chichester in April 1709, Dr.
Bentley was a candidate for that dignity. This fact
I discover from two letters, which have been preserved,
addressed by his friend Baron Spanheim to the Earl
of Pembroke and Bishop Moore, soliciting their in-
terest with the Queen in his favour, and urging that
such a promotion would be attended with the universal
applause of the learned throughout the world. These
letters I copy in a note, as a specimen of the address
and delicacy, as well as zeal, with which the veteran
diplomatist endeavours to serve his friend in a matter,
where his proper character of an ambassador gave
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 221
him but little pretence for interference ^^. The quar- chap.
ters to which the Baron addressed his applications
39 A My Lord Comte de Pembroke, Grand Admiral de la Grande Bretagne.
A Londres le 27 Avril, 1709.
My Lord, Je suis bien redevable a la bonte, avec laquelle il a plu a
Vostre Excellence de prendre part a I'estat de ma sante, laquelle, par la
grace de Dieu, se trouve autant que retablie, et a me donner lieu de luy en
aller temoigner en peu de jours ma reconnoissance. Que pensera-t-EUe
cependant de la liberte que je prends de luy dire, que j'aprens que I'Evesche
de Chichester se trouve vaquant, et que Monsr. le Docteur Bentley est sur
les rangs pour y pouvoir estre avance par la grace de Sa Majeste Britan-
nique. Je sgay que V^e. Excell<^e. en connoist le merite, et n'ignore pas,
qu'il est considere non seulement en Angleterre, mais encore dans les pays
etrangers, pour un des plus S9avans hommes de nostre temps, et un des
omemens de sa nation. En sorte que le choix d'un si digne personnage a
cette dignite, s'il venoit a avoir lieu, ne pourroit que rencontrer une appro-
bation generale. Et bien qu'il ne convienne en aucune maniere a un
Ministre Etranger, comme moy, de me mesler en ce que peut regarder des
affaires ou des etablissemens du dedans du Royaurne, I'estime particulier
que je fais et du merite et de I'amitie du dit Docteur Bentley, et la con-
noissance que j'ay de I'estime que N"^^. Excellce_ en fait, m'a donne cette
confiance qu'Elle ne prendroit pas en mauvaise part, si je luy marquois
par ces lignes, combien je serois sensible a I'appui et I'approbation qu'il luy
plairoit de contribuer en faveur de cette promotion du Docteur Bentley a
I'Evesche de Chichester. Je la supplie au moins de me pardonner cette
liberte, et de me croire avec des attachemens particuliers, &c.
E. Spanheim.
Reverendissimo Viro, Joanni Moro, Episcopo Eliensi, S. P. D.
E. Spanhemius.
Nescio quid de me statues, quod intermissa fuerint aliquamdiu mea te
conveniendi, partumque semel eruditae tuae consuetudinis amicitijeque
usum excolendi ulterius ofEcia. Mitto, quod a pluribus septimanis gravi
catharro adfectuque pectoris molesto laborarim, unde vix adhuc plane
convalui. Illud vero, quod nunc forte se mihi oiFert, scribendi ad te
argumentum baud omittere potui ; idque eo magis, quod istud tibi haud
ingratum fore, neque a te alienum, possum facile arbitrari. Fato functum
praeteritis diebus Episcopum Cesterciensem, ac simul inter illius pontificii
candidatos exstare CI. Dfem. Bentleium, uno eodemque tempore ad me
relatum est. Quum vero, non solum ex quo pedem in banc Britanniam
ante octennium, hujusce mei muneris, quo fungor hactenus, intuitu, intuli
mihi cum eo, ob singularem in orani literarum genere doctrinam, amicitiee
usus intercesserit ; sed jam ante ex editis aliquot Dissertationibus, ad
Malelara Antiochenum in primis, ut nascens turn eruditse Britannias sidus
et ornamentum, quamquam plane ignotum hactenus, publice celebrassem,
non potui non, ut banc ornatissimam Spartam vir doctissimus amicissi-
VIII.
1709.
222 LIFE OF
VIII
1709.
CHAP, were judiciously chosen. The Queen had lately
shown, by her nomination of Dr. Blackall and Sir
William Dawes to the sees of Exeter and Chester, in
opposition to the recommendation of her prime minis-
ter, that she was determined to follow her own will
in such appointments. Of all the ministers who had
then access to her Majesty, the Earl of Pembroke, the
Lord High Admiral, was supposed to have the greatest
share of her confidence ; and she was known to be in
the habit of consulting Bishop Moore upon eccle-
siastical subjects. The solicitations made on this
occasion were unsuccessful ; but they probably were
not without some effect ; as we find from a letter of a
cabinet minister, in the following year, on the vacancy
of the bishoprick of Bristol, that Dr. Bentley was
understood to be in the Queen's contemplation. That
see, however, was not filled till after the great minis-
terial revolution which ensued, when it was given to
Dr. John Robinson, who became, shortly afterwards,
Lord Privy Seal, and plenipotentiary at the Treaty of
Utrecht, and is the last ecclesiastic in England who
has held any of the high offices of state *°.
musque posset consequi, animosus optare. Etsi eadem opera haud minus
intelligerem, neutiquam Ministrum Principis externi decere, ut se rebus
vestris interioribus, minime autem Ecclesiasticis, immisceat; neque id
etiam a me hie agi omnino profitear. Id vero pridem mihi constat, quo
loco ipse Bentleium habeas ; ut non sim dubius, quin sponte patrocinio
tuo, et apud Serenissimam Potentissimamque Reginam commendatione,
hoc ejus incrementum sis prosequuturus ; unde non in hac solum Britan-
nia, sed foris etiam commendatissimi nominis virum sacris illis infulis
ornatum omnes grato animo intelligent. Unvun hie addam, quod te fac-
turum mihi jam spondeo, ut hoc meum pro CI. Bentleio studium, etsi forte
minus mihi conveniens, boni consulas ; meque amicitia tua benevolentia-
que, quod fecisti hactenus, complecti deinceps non dedigneris. Dabam
Londini V. Kal, Mai. Anno mdccix.
''" The Earl of Sunderland to the Dvichess of Marlborough. " Tuesday
morning. I am this moment informed that the Bishop of Bristol [Dr.
Hall] is dead. Upon all accounts Dr. Willis would be the properest person.
There are two other men very good, that the Lord Treasurer says that the
Queen is well affected to. Dr. Mandeville and Dr. Bentley. ITiis is a time
1 . .
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 223
Though the completion of his Horace was still de- chap
layed, some specimens of Bentley's genius and learning ^ '
appeared in the publications of other scholars. Of
Davies's
icero's
these the most considerable was a body of emendations ci
on Cicero's Tusculan Questions, attached to the edi- '^"«<^"J^"
' Ciuestions.
tion of that book by Mr. John Davies, a Fellow of
Queen's College. This gentleman, who had already
appeared before the world as the editor of Maximus
Tyrius, of Csesar, and of Minucius Felix, designed to
publish all those works of Cicero which Graevius had
left unfinished : the present specimen appeared from
the University press, and was dedicated to Bishop
Moore, the general patron of rising scholars, who had
accommodated him with the use of the same precious
volume which Bentley had formerly procured for his
friend Graevius. This work is universally known, and
continues to be the most popular edition of the Tus-
"culans. The performance was creditable to the editor
as a young man, and it would perhaps have been
better, if in his subsequent editions he had used the
same moderation, and abstained from altering the text
of Cicero without authority. Bentley, having obtained
a sight of the book before publication, perused it with
interest, and noted a great number of corrections
which he was disposed to make in the text : where-
upon Davies entreated him to write his observations
on those passages, to be printed as an appendix to the
edition. With these solicitations our Aristarchus com- Bemiey's
plied, and produced a series of notes occupying ninety-
four pages, entitled Richardi Bentleii Emendationes in
Ciceronis Tusculanas, far surpassing all preceding com-
mentaries, and claiming a high rank among the works
that makes this of more consequence than ordinary ; so that I beg j'ou
would mention it to the Lord Treasurer as soon as you can, that he may
not plead engagements." Coxe's L^fe of the Duke of Marlborough, vol. iii.
p. 169.
Appendix.
224
LIFE OF
CHAP.
VIII.
1709.
Letter to
Davies.
of Bentley himself. We discover in these emenda-
tions more acquaintance with the philosophical works
of Cicero, than his former writings could have led
people to expect. Every part is entertaining as well as
instructive to the scholar ; nor is there any fault to be
found with the composition, except the self-complacent
and boastful tone which pervades the whole. The
most valuable notes are those containing his correc-
tions of fragments of old Latin Poets, with which the
Tusculans abound. These quotations had been miser-
ably corrupted and disjointed, owing to an ignorance
of the laws of metre adopted by the dramatic poets of
Rome : and all scholars before Bentley, without ex-
ception, had committed great errors in attempting to
correct them. Persons who are not acquainted with
these metrical notes, will have but an inadequate
notion of Bentley 's skill and correctness of ear, which
could detect immediately the rhythm of verses, defaced
by mistakes of transcribers, mixed up with the text of
Cicero, and constructed in measures abounding with
licence, and difficult to be caught by a modern reader.
If we would fully appreciate his merit in this depart-
ment, it should be recollected that he was the first
who discovered the true laws of these verses, and that
whatever knowledge we now possess upon the subject
may be said to originate with him. In one place he
held out expectations of publishing, some time or
other, both Plautus and Terence, a task for which he
displayed such peculiar qualifications '^^
Bentley prefixed to these Notes a short letter to
Davies, bestowing upon the edition fully as much
compliment as it merited ; and having so done, he
assumed the privilege of a friend, and animadverted
^' Among the metrical notes, T would particularly point out to the
reader, those on Lib. I. liv. Til. xii. III. xix.
novius.
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 225
rather freely upon the errors and oversights of the ^'"'^i'-
editor. Such defects he excuses upon the score of j-Qg
his youth ; an apology, we might suppose, not very
acceptable to a person of the age of thirty, who had
been already for six years a classical editor. In fact
he schools him, in the course of the appendix, in so
magisterial a tone, that a less devoted disciple would
have turned refractory, and declined to publish to the
world so much censure of himself: but Davies, who
regarded Bentley as little less than a divinity, far
from being displeased, expressed his unqualified grati-
tude, and continued to the day of his death to extend
to him, not only his admiration, but his zealous and
devoted friendship *^
There was a particular reason which, as I appre- James c-ro-
hend, induced Bentley to comply witliDavies's request
in writing these notes. The only member of the
literary republic from whom he had experienced rough
treatment, since the controversy on Phalaris, was
James Gronovius of Leyden, who had been attacking
him in almost all his writings for the last ten years.
This laborious professor, perhaps the most voluminous
of classical editors, has disgraced a name which would
otherwise be honourable in literature, by his habit of
assailing with insolent language his rivals in criticism;
a practice which he pursued for nearly half a century.
At this time his favourite amusement was vilifying
" Respecting these notes he thus expresses himself in the preface.
" Ultimum locum tenent Emendationes, quas meo rogatu scribere dignatus
est Vir praestantissimus Richardus Bentleius. Illi propterea gratias
quam maximas habeo atque ago ; nee dispari animo erunt ii, qui suo quee-
que pretio solent sestimare. Quantopere vero mihi placeant, melius indicare
nequeo, quam si tester eas Auctore suo dignas videri : Hujus enim sum-
mam eruditionem ac mirum acumen exosculantur omnes, qui non sunt aut
invidi, aut ab hisce Uteris aheni." In the editions subsequent to the first
this paragraph is omitted.
VOL. I. Q
226 LIFE OF
VIII.
1709.
CHAP, and traducing the three most learned men of the age,
Spanheim, Bentley, and Kuster. With Bentley he
appears to have been angry on account of his success
Bentley!^ in corrccting the fragments of Callimachus, some of
which he had himself attempted in vain a long time
before. Thus provoked, our critic cannot be accused
of indulging hasty resentment : but finding at length
that ten years could not subdue this ill-nature, and
that he was become a perpetual object of the male-
volence of one whose talents and learning he held in
small esteem, he resolved to make his implacable
adversary feel the recoil of his own weapons. Gro-
novius having published a new edition of the works of
Cicero, corrected from Gruter's, the appendix to the
Tusculans afforded Bentley an opportunity of reta-
liating on the aggressor: accordingly he shows him
no quarter, but lashes him in a style of severity which
he had never before adopted. Whatever may be the
literary justice of this proceeding, the reader must
regret the animosity evinced towards Gronovius, whose
offences do not appear along with the castigation, and
whose consideration as a scholar, (being termed by
his adversary homunculus eruditione mediocri, ingenio
nulla), hardly deserved so much notice from one of
Bentley's eminence ^^.
Needham's About tlic samc time our critic 2:ave Q'reat assistance
edition of n /r t* tvt x^ y-t
Hierocies. to Mr. Pctcr Nccdham, a Fellow of St. John's Col-
lege, who was publishing an edition of the Commentary
of Hierocies on the Golden Verses of Pythagoras.
" In speaking of the father of GronoA-ius, he inserts a sentence which,
at all events, ought to have been spared : Ut primus ibi restituit Jo. Frid.
Gronovius, acerrimo virjudicio, doctrina autem et acumine admirabili j qui,
si in vivis esset, nihil credo agrius ferret , quamfilium sibi esse tarn parenti
dissimilem. In Tusc. V. 23. Other signal instances of his severity towards
James Gronovius appear in the notes on Tusc. IV. 21. V. 37 ; and in the
latter part of the Dedicatory Epistle to Da^aes.
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 227
This scholar, like his friend Davies, was patronised chap.
VIII
by Bishop Moore, and already known to the public j-^g
as a Greek editor **. His present undertaking appears -
on some accounts unfortunately selected : Hierocles
was an author printed originally from a bad copy ;
no good manuscripts had hitherto been used in cor-
recting the editions, and little or no critical skill had
been exerted upon the text. There existed in the
Medicean library at Florence a singularly good ma-
nuscript, the readings of which Needham in vain
endeavoured to procure through some powerful inter-
cession. Finding however that Fabricius, the com-
piler of the Bibliotheca GrcEca, possessed a collation
of this valuable copy, he used the interest of his
friend Professor Sike to obtain it: but here some
unlucky accident interfered. Fabricius wrote to in-
form him that he had complied with his request;
but the packet never reached him. Instead of such Bentiey's
assistance, he received from Bentley a very large tkl'nrof Hi-
collection of emendations and conjectures which had ^'"°'^'"*
occurred to him in the perusal of Hierocles, but
scarcely a word of note to confirm them : and Need-
ham, who regarded the genius of our critic with
unbounded veneration, and deemed his sagacit}^ of
conjecture as even more infallible than the authority
of manuscripts, admitted into his text without hesita-
tion almost all the Bentleian emendations. In so
doing he consulted neither his own reputation, nor
that of his illustrious friend; for immediately after
the appearance of his book, Christopher Wolfius, of Woifius.
Leipsic, published a review of it in the form of an
** Peter Needham had published at the University press, in 1704, an
edition of the Geoponica. He took his Bachelor of Arts' degree in 1696-97;
M.A. in 1700 ; B.D. in 1707 ; and D.D. in 1717- On Feb. 14, 1705-6,
he was elected Rector of Ovington in Norfolk, a living in the patronage of
the University.
q2
Priiicipia.
228 LIFE OF
CHAP, epistle, restoring the text, and overturning many of
y^^y the conjectures upon the authority of that very coila-
' - tion which Needham had failed to obtain. Many
wanen. years aftcrvi^ards, Dr. Richard Warren, a Fellow of
Jesus College, published an edition of Hierocles, for
the avowed purpose of giving a text free from the
conjectural emendations introduced by Needham, and
supplying the true readings from the Florentine
manuscript ; not without some misplaced asperity
ao-ainst Bentley ; who had in fact never recommended
that absolute and implicit adoption of his conjectures,
which his admiring friend judged to be their due".
Shortly afterwards Bentley succeeded in effecting a
matter which he had much at heart, the publication
Newton's Qf a ncw aud improved edition of Sir Isaac Newton's
Principia. The first impression being entirely ex-
hausted, the lovers of philosophy were in a manner
debarred access to the fountain of truth. The book
had not been received on the continent as its merits
demanded, and the greatest injustice had been done
to the fame of its illustrious author. This seems
principally attributable to Leibnitz, who had already
begun to practise those arts which were afterwards so
conspicuously exposed. By denying the truth of part
of Sir Isaac's discoveries, and by assuming to himself
^5 The title of this book is, ' HierocUs in Aurea Carmina Comment ariiis
Gr. Lat. Graca accuratius nunc recognita, et ad MSS. Codicumfidem exacta,
plurimisque in lods e Gudiana Medicai Codicis coUatione emendata, una
cum Notts subjunctis, edidit R. W. S. T. P. Coll. Jes. Cant, miper Socius.
Londini, 1742.' All the knowledge possessed of this manuscript proceeded
from the collation made long before by Marcjiiard Gudius, the well-known
copyist of inscriptions and manuscripts. The long posti)onement of the
rival edition of Dr. Warren is a curious circumstance. At this time he
was a Fellow of Jesus College, a little junior to Needham ; but for some
reason or other, he put oft' his jniblication for thirty-three years ; and at
length it came foi-th in the year of Benthifs death, and long after that of
Needham, when the age of Warren himself was between sixty and seventy.
The origin of his dislike for Bentley will be found in a subsequent period
of this history.
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 229
the credit of part, he had laboured not without success, chap.
to detract from liis glory, and to transfer it to his own ™^
brow. It could not be denied that some of the de- '
monstrations in the Priucipia were imperfect, and
that others, depending upon experiments, had not
received al] the illustration of which they were capable.
A new edition was therefore required, both for the
interests of science and the reputation of the philo-
sopher: and Dr. Bentley, who lived in great intimacy Bentieyin-
with him, long solicited and urged him to this work, fo'pubiisha
But Sir Isaac's avocations as Master of the Mint, and "'^"' ^'^'t'""-
other public duties, had for some years abstracted his
attention from mathematical pursuits ; and he was
unwilling that his book should re-appear without a
careful revision and improvement. At length Bentley
effected his object by engaging Professor Cotes to
superintend the publication at the University press.
To his care Sir Isaac committed this trust ; and never June, 1709.
perhaps was more zeal and ability experienced in a
literary coadjutor tlian he found in this admirable
young man. The feelings which Cotes expressed at
the outset of the undertaking, continued during the
three ^^ears that the work was in progress ^*^. The
improvements which he suggested were numerous and
■*'' Cotes, in his first letter to Sir Isaac, thus expresses himself.
" Sir, Cambridge, August 18, 1709.
" The earnest desire I have to see a new edition of your Principia
makes me somewhat impatient till we receive your copy of it, which you
were pleased to promise me aljout the middle of last month you would
send down in about a fortnight's time. I hope you wUl pardon me for
this uneasiness, from which I cannot free myself, and for giving you this
trouble to let you know it. I have been so much obhged by yourself and
by our book, that (I desire you to believe me) I think myself bound in
gratitude to take aU the care I possibly can that it shall be correct.
" Your obliged servant,
" Roger Cotes."
** For Sir Isaac Newton at his house in Jermyn-street ,
near St. James's Church, Westminster.'"
230 LIFE OF
VIII
1709
CHAP, important, and in most cases were adopted by Sir
Isaac, who took pains to make this monument of his
genius as perfect as possible. The correspondence
between Newton and Cotes, during this whole period,
is in the highest degree important and interesting to
the lovers of science. Their letters, nearly three
hundred in number, are preserved in Trinity College :
and I now express publicly, what 1 have often ex-
pressed in private, a wish and request that some one
of the many accomplished Newtonians, who are re-
sident in that Society, would favour the world by
publishing the whole collection '^^
*'' Some letters, which are, properly speaking, part of this series, are
among the collection of Sir Isaac Newton's papers, belonging to the Earl
of Portsmouth, at Hartsbourne House, Hampshire, where they were
obligingly shown to me by the Hon. H. Fellowes.
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 231
CHAPTER IX.
A party among the junior Fellows in favour of the Master — History of the
College dividends — Bentley issues proposals for a new scheme of divi-
dends — Change in the Master's proportion — Scheme of composition for
customary alloivances — Objections of the Fellows to the proposals — The
Master's design for improving the College preferment — The proposals
rejected by the Seniors — Mr. Miller, a lay fellow, encourages their
resistance — Violent behaviour of the Master — The Fellows resolve to
complain to the Visitor — Dr Colbatch — Bentley deprives Miller of his
fellowship — The Seniors reinstate him — Half the Fellows petition the
Bishop of Ely on the statute for the removal of the Master — Bentley
publishes a letter to the Bishop — Defence of himself, and abuse of his
prosecutors — Replies by Miller, Blomer, White, Paris, Partridge — Mr.
Ashenhurst prosecuted for libelling the Queen — Scandal occasioned by
these feuds — Dr. King's Horace in Trinity College — Bentley again
writes to the Bishop of Ely — Le Clerc publishes the fragments of
Menander and Philemon — Bentley writes a censure of this book, under
the title of Phileleutherus Lipsiensis — Sends it to Utrecht to be pub-
lished by Teter Barman — Correspondence with Le Clerc — Gronovius
publishes a book against both Bentley and Le Clerc— Bergler's review —
De Pauw, Philargyrius Cantabrigiensis — Le Clerc's defence.
Dr. Bentley having excited against himself the chap. ix.
clamour and resentment of a large portion of his ^^"^-
Fellows, was too much an adept in the art of governing Bentiey
to omit any means of dividmg the malcontents, and pavtyamong
,,.,. ., J • ^ • ' J. i the Fellows.
estabhshmg an opposite party ni his own interest.
This he effected by carefully watching every oppor-
tunity of advancing the fortunes of those who showed
a disposition to adhere to him. His station as Head
of so large a College, his acquaintance in the great
world, and his eminent reputation naturally invested
him with an extensive description of patronage : be-
sides the power of assigning pupils in College, he had
opportunities of recommending the younger Fellows
to curacies, chaplaincies, tutorships, and other situa-
232 LIFE OF
CHAP. IX. tions. Thus his friends were sure to be provided for,
^^^^- while vexation, loss, and proscription seemed the only
lot of his opponents. His system of advancing young-
men to College offices, and breaking through the
custom which had long confined all emolument to
length of standing, engaged in his interest many of
the juniors, who now saw the road to advancement
laid open. In the meantime, the numbers and repu-
tation of his College experienced a considerable
accession ; nor could it be denied, that the Master
distinguished young men of merit, and procured for
them the notice and the patronage of the great. The
complaint of the Seniors, that he governed arbitrarily
and without their assistance, had little weight with
their younger brethren ; some of whom regarded it
with indifference, others with satisfaction. The sub-
seaiing- jcct of ' scaling-money' was an old bone of contention
money. |^ ^j^^ Collcgc : tlic statutcs cnjoin that the sixteen
first Fellows shall be present at setting the seal to
leases and other acts of the corporation, allotting to
each one shilling for his trouble, and two shillings to
the Master: but an old custom, the origin of which
could not be traced, had increased the allowances for
each sealing ten-fold ; and the amount of these pay-
ments in the course of a year was considerable. The
juniors, who had no share in this profit, had always
contended, that all beyond the statutable allowance of
the sealers ought to be thrown into the common
stock : the Master now declared himself to be of the
same opinion, and incited them to remonstrate against
the practice as a grievance \ He pursued a similar
' See Bentley's account of this matter, in his Letter to the Bishop of
Ely, p. 20 ; and a counter-statement in Miller's Remarks, p. 57 to GO.
Bentley appears to overstate the amount of these payments, when he says
that they averaged 300Z. a year. The custom, however, continued till the
year 1784, when the fi.\ed sum of 10/. was assigned to each of the sixteen
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 233
course in encouraging complaints against an aug- chap. ix.
mentation in the stipends of the Vice Master, Senior ^'^^^'
Dean, and Senior Bursar ; making it known, ad salaries of
augendam invidiam, that it had originated during the
Usurpation. In this instance there was less ground
for complaint than in the last : the altered value of
money had rendered an increase of the small salaries
prescribed by the statutes, not only reasonable, but
necessary ; and, even then, the trouble of those im-
portant offices was but poorly compensated.
By these and similar methods he secured a con-
siderable party among the juniors ; of whom the first
in talents and reputation was Professor Cotes : a name
calculated to reflect honour upon any cause which he
embraced. But the most active of his adherents was
Mr. Ashenhurst, a Fellow of two years' standing, whose Ashenhurst.
character, having been painted only by enemies, is
represented in as unfavourable a light as possible : he
is stated to have been a bustling, forward, and im-
pudent man, of unabashed assurance and overbearing
conversation : his best trait was the unshaken fidelity
with which he continued throughout life to serve the
interests of his principal. Being a medical student,
and having commenced his practice at Cambridge,
he w^as constantly on the spot, and incessantly exerting
himself to promote all the views and projects of the
Master.
Bentley had for some j^ears meditated an improved Coiiege
method of dividing the College revenues, which he
at length proposed to the society, and was resolutely
bent upon its accomplishment. The existing system
of dividends distributed the surplus money of the
College among the Master and Fellows in certain
Fellows, for his attendance at reading and sealing all the leases, &c. in the
course of the year ; a svim not more than a reasonable remuneration for
his trouble and loss of time.
revenues.
234 LIFE OF
CHAP. IX. proportions which had been fixed by a College order
^709- in the year 1660. The original endowment had
allotted to all Fellows chambers and commons free of
expense, and had given them stipends varying ac-
cording to their academical degree: to a Doctor of
Divinity 5/, to a Bachelor of Divinity 41, and to a
Master of Arts 21. 13s. 4c?. And these were the whole
emoluments of a fellowship, except a small allowance
for liheratura or dress, likewise apportioned according
History of to degTces. But when the depreciation of money had
dividends. j.gj-,jgj,gjj ^jj increase of allowance necessary for the
subsistence of gentlemen, and had at the same time
increased the revenue, the surplus was disposed in a
mode not contemplated by the statutes. The first
dividend took place in 1630 ; in subsequent distribu-
tions the sums allotted to the senior and junior Fellows
were varied in arbitrary proportions ; but it was re-
marked that by each successive change the juniors
were sufferers. At length, after the Restoration, the
Seniority thus arranged the distribution of 2000/, the
largest sum ever divisible in one year, which was
thence termed ' a whole dividend.' The Master had
150/; each of the eight Seniors 50/; the ninth and
tenth Fellows (called labourers, from their generally
filling the place of some absent Senior at the board)
each 40/, the next six 34/, and the rest of the Fellows
(being M.A.) 25/. This scale, by giving the advan-
tage to standing alone, held out no encouragement to
taking higher degrees ; and therein proceeded upon
Bentiey different principles from the statutes. The Master
neTscheme now circulatcd a paper of proposals for altering the
ofdividends. gcheme of dividends so as to reduce them to an exact
proportion with the stipends. Each sum prescribed
by the statutes was to be multiplied by ten : so that a
Doctor of Divinity was to have 50/, a Bachelor of
Divinity 40/, a Master of Arts 26/. 135. 4d, or in that
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 235
ratio. That this method was more consonant to the chap. ix.
spirit of the foundation than the existing one, is unde- ^^^^'
niable. The effect of the change woukl have been to
make every Fellow proceed to the higher degrees as
soon as his standing allowed ; an object which, as we
have already seen, Bentley had much at heart ; and if
a due provision had been made for the present Seniors,
whose age rendered the taking degrees inconvenient •
and burdensome, no one could have complained of
hardship in the alteration. It admitted indeed of
doubt whether it was worth while to disturb an
arrangement which had continued fifty years, and, as
far as appears, without exciting dissatisfaction. How-
ever, the determined resistance which the proposals
met with, was occasioned by the increase contemplated
in the income of the Master himself.
The foundation of Trinity, at the same time that it Amount of
gave the Fellows the above-mentioned stipends, as- ^jl^.j^/j^^^^" *
signed to the Master 100/. for stipend and commons
jointly, but without specifying what portion of that
sum was for stipend alone. Bentley, in proposing
that the dividends of the society should henceforth be
in proportion to their respective stipends, of course
included the Master in the new scale ; and suggested,
in the first instance, that his stipend should be con-
sidered as 85/, or seventeen times as great as that of a
Doctor ; whence it would follow that his dividend
ought to be 850/ ; but foreseeing that the largeness
of that sum would startle every one, he proposed to
fix it at 800/. When he discovered that the increase
of his share from 150/. to 800/. raised an outcry against
the whole scheme, he issued a new paper of proposals
in which he reduced the Master's share to 400/. As
this was still unpalatable, he finally declared that he
would be content with 200/, provided the rest of the
project were ado])ted. But it was shrewdly remarked
tion.
236 LIFE OF
CHAP. IX. that, if the dividends were once established upon the
^^^^' footing of stipends, the old claim for 850/. might be
revived either by the present Master or his suc-
cessors.
Customary This, howcvcr, constltutcd but a part of his new
to the Mas- proposals. The foundation had provided for the Mas-
*^''- ter three servants, and three horses, to be kept at the
public charge, as well as extra-commons: for all
which a composition in money had long been esta-
blished. B 
