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THE
LIFE
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 $ CORRECTED.
IN TWO V O L U M E S.
VOL. II.
LONDON:
PRINTED FOR J. G. & F. RIVINGTON,
pt. Paul's church yard, and Waterloo place, pall mall;
& J. & J. J. DEIGHTON, CAMBRIDGE.
MDCCCXXX1II.
<Us#S-
LONDON:
gilbert and r1vington, printeks,
st. john's sqiiake.
CONTENTS
OF
VOL. II.
CHAPTER XIII.
PAGE
Johnson's Aristarchus Anti-Bentleianus Bentley's Sermon before the King
Regius Professorship of Divinity Death of Dr. James, the Professor The
expected Candidates Dr. Bentley elected Professor Bentley's prelection
on the disputed text in St. John Bentley's Letter on the subject Decides
on rejecting the verse Duties of the Professor His Inaugural Speech
Bangorian Controversy Value of the Professorship Bentley's expensive
improvements of his Lodge His granary Richard Walker Bentley's
tithe wheat Nomination of Scholars Of College servants Colbatch's two
Letters to Bishop Fleetwood Commemoration Sermon Bentley makes and
plants the College walks King George visits the University The Duke of
Somerset Behaviour of Grigg, the Vice-chancellor Bentley creates some
Doctors of Divinity in the King's presence Bentley demands an additional
fee from the new Doctors Dr. Conyers Middleton resists the payment
Grounds of Bentley's claim Dr. Gooch, Vice-chancellor Dr. Richard
Warren Vice-chancellor's Court Dr. Gooch deprived of his Chaplaincy
to the King Bentley quarrels with the Vice-chancellor Offends the
other Heads Decree to arrest Bentley Proceedings of the Court Bentley
suspended from his degrees His appeal refused Prohibited from acting
as Professor The Chancellor comes to Cambridge Refuses Bentley's offer
of submission Grace for the degradation of Dr. Bentley Efforts of his
friends in his favour The Senate deprives him of his degrees - - 1
CHAPTER XIV.
Bentley petitions the King against the University Gooch re-elected Vice-chan-
cellor Lays an account of the University proceedings before the King in
Council Matter referred to a committee of the Privy Council Pamphlets
by A. A. Sykes Sherlock Middleton Bentley's own Tract against Mid-
dleton and Miller Agitation of the University Pretended plots against
Dr. Gooch The Fellows of Trinity renew their exertions to procure a hear-
ing for their Petition Lord Chancellor Parker's promises The Petition
again read in Council Bentley concludes a treaty with Serjeant Miller It
A 2
iv CONTENTS.
PAGE
is at first rejected by the Seniority Dr. Baker procures signatures in favour
of Bentley's scheme The bargain is ratified by the Seniors Arguments
for and against the transaction Subsequent history of Miller Bishop Fleet-
wood again refuses to interfere Abuses of the Master's authority Appeal
to the Visitor by Charles Squire Middleton writes a pamphlet against
Bentley's College government It is censured by the Seniority Bentley's
attempt against Colbatch Prosecutes the publisher Middleton confesses
the authorship Is prosecuted Colbatch claims the vacant rector}- of Orwell
The struggle between him and the Master Bentley obliged to give way
Humphreys admitted Fellow Lectures on the Catechism, &c. Treatment
of Mailed and Craister Bouquet The design of a Royal Visitation of the
University abandoned Dr. Gooch elected a third time Vice-chancellor
Application to the Court of King's Bench to deprive Bentley of his Profes-
sor ship Election for M.P. of the University - - - -62
CHAPTER XV.
Account of Bentley's children His intimate acquaintance Dr. Davies's devo-
tion to him Second edition of Cicero's Tusculans Bentley's domestic
habits Progress of his edition of the New Testament Assistance of
Wetstein John Walker resides at Paris, collating manuscripts for Bentley
Benedictines of St. Maur Ancient Italic version of the Scriptures
Montfaucon Bentley's Proposals for publishing the New Testament His
specimen Middleton's Remarks on the Proposals Written in a disgrace-
ful spirit Various persons suspected of having written the Remarks
Bentley's reasons for thinking that Colbatch had supplied the materials
His reply Virulent abuse of Colbatch Colbatch seeks redress for the
injur}' Bentley's Reply censured by the Heads Colbatch prosecutes the
printer in the Vice-chancellor's Court Dr. Cross Middleton's Further
Remarks on the Proposals Reported assistance by Ashton Letter by
Philalethes Pearce's two Latin Epistles Dr. Smalbroke's Letter Mis-
taken opinion that Bentley's edition was stopped by Middleton's pamphlet
Great extent of the subscription Fails in his attempt to import paper
duty-free David Casley Middleton found guilty of a libel Kept in long
suspense Change of ministry Act of Grace The Chief Justice advises a
settlement Middleton begs pardon of Bentley Pays the costs Made
Principal Librarian of the University - - - _ - 1 1 2
CHAPTER XVI.
Ancient Sigean Inscription, published by Chishull Bentley's letter to Dr.
Mead on this Inscription Bentley's restoration of an old Delian Inscrip-
tion Alexander Cunningham's censure of Bentley's Horace Cunning-
ham labours to destroy Bentley's credit Validity of his strictures examined
CONTENTS. v
PAGE
Comparison of Bentley and Cunningham Thirlby's Justin Martyr
Cotes's Harmonia Markland's Epistola Critica Wasse Bentley's re-
vision of Nicander Attack on Bentley in the Spy Lord Orrery Verses
by Dr. Bentley Colbatch pursues the prosecution of Bentley for a libel
Bentley cited to give evidence in the Vice-chancellor's Court Is absent on
the King's sendee A Rule from the Court of King's Bench to stop the
proceedings of the University Colbatch writes Jus Academicum The
proceedings against Bentley dropped Bentley prosecutes Colbatch's pub-
lication Interest in Colbatch's favour with the Ministers Lord Chancellor
Macclesfield Chief Justice Pratt The publisher committed Colbatch
solicits the King's pardon Lord Carteret Bentley applies to the Court of
King's Bench to procure his restoration to his degrees University employs
Sir Philip Yorke as counsel Colbatch's case Favour promised him by
Lord Townshend Prevented by the Lord Chancellor He is committed
Sentence by Mr. Justice Powis Middleton's tract, ' Bibliotheca? Canta-
brigiensis Ordinanda; Methodus' Prosecuted by Bentley for a reflection on
the Judges Middleton fined 50/. Bentley's cause against the University
The Judges deliver their opinions against the University The Senate
still keeps up the contest Peremptory mandamus to restore Bentley's de-
grees - - - . . . . . _ i5G
CHAPTER XVII.
Dr. Bentley restored to his rank and station Middleton renews his action to
recover four guineas King's favour to the Universities Bishoprick of
Bristol offered to Dr. Bentley Great expenses of his late law-suits Theo-
logical Schools Examination for University Scholarship Professor Pil-
grim Foundation of Battie's Scholarship Causes of offence between Dr.
Hare and Dr. Bentley Hare's knowledge of the Latin comic metres
derived from Bentley He publishes Terence His Dedication to Lord
Townshend Bentley's resentment He prints a rival edition Constant
censure of Hare Dissertation on the Metres Commencement speech
Edition of Pha?drus Westenhof's Terence Resentment of Dean Hare
' Epistola Critica' to Dr. Bland Burman publishes Phaedrus Rupture
between him and Bentley Bentley's and Burman's editions of Lucan
Bentley's design of publishing Ovid Still occupied on the New Testa-
ment Vatican manuscript His nephew, Thomas Bentley Election of
Public Orator Bentley's controversy with Burford respecting the old sta-
tutes Epitaph on Sir Isaac Newton Bentley appoints a deputy in the
Schools Trinity College Dr. Greene, Bishop of Ely Opposition to the
Master at an end His son chosen Fellow Lease of Massam House
Bentley builds a country-house His nominations to Fellowships Rejec-
tion of Benjamin Stillingfleet Bishop Gibson Claims of Westminster
School Dean and Chapter solicited to interfere Bentley resists their pre-
tensions -.-__---- 208
vi COXTE N T S.
CHAPTER XVIII.
PAGE
General election New members chosen by the University of Cambridge
Fresh attempts to procure a visitation of Trinity College Opinions of five
leading counsel on the question King George II. visits the University
Claim to fees determined by the Chancellor Bentley creates fifty-eight
doctors Entertains the King in his College His dangerous illness Mar-
riage of his daughter Joanna Scheme for prosecuting the Master Parne
Mason Johnson Bentley anticipates his prosecutors Petition to the
King College meeting Commissary Greaves Petition of the Bishop of
Elv Bentley writes a pamphlet on the case Colbatch's reply The Privy
Council decline all interference Bentley's dispute with Archbishop Wake
on the Library-keeper's place Decided by the Attorney-general Johnson
promoter of the suit against Bentley Edward Smith Bentley's expenses
paid by the College Bishop Greene cites Dr Bentley Application to the
Court of King's Bench for a prohibition Proceedings of the Court
Nature of the articles Bentley appears at Ely House His objections
Second application to King's Bench Resumes his edition of the New
Testament Causes of its not being published Rule for a prohibition made
absolute Progress of a new mode of action Bentley refuses an offer of
the deanery of Lincoln New Senate House Contest for Vice-chancellor-
ship King's books placed in the old Senate House Taylor's music
speech Internal state of Trinity College Vindictive measures against the
prosecutors Court of King's Bench overrule Bentley's pleas Continue
the prohibition on Bishop Greene - - - _ - 261
CHAPTER XIX.
Situation of affairs after the decision of the Court of King's Bench Bentley's
petition to the King The Attorney-general's fiat refused The case car-
ried by Writ of Error to the House of Lords Difficulties of the prose-
cutors Fire in the Cottonian Library Origin of Bentley's edition of
Milton His want of qualification for that work Fiction of Milton's re-
viser No intentional deceit practised Presumptuous character of his
notes The general disapprobation Real merits of Bentley's Milton
Publications against it Pearce's Review Bentley patronised by Lord
Carteret Colbatch's tract on the Visitatorial Power Mr. Porter Thomp-
son The case between Bishop Greene and Dr. Bentley argued in the
House of Lords Bishop Sherlock speaks against the Master The Lords
reverse the judgment of the King's Bench The articles discussed se-
parately The case adjourned to another session Bentley commences an
edition of Homer The Lords prohibit some and confirm other articles
Commencement of Bentley's second trial at Ely House His defensive
plea Expense of the defence Dr. Bentley sentenced to be deprived of his
mastership Bentley resists the execution of the sentence Continues to
act as Master Hacket the Vice-master resigns Walker succeeds Pro-
CONTENTS. vii
PACK
bable error in the Statute Colbatch petitions the House of Lords Com-
promise between Bentley and part of the Prosecutors Colbatch renews the
suit Court of King's Bench grant a mandamus addressed to Dr. Walker-
Death of Dr. Davies Destruction of his notes on Cicero's Offices by
fire Contests for the Vice-chancellor's office - 303
CHAPTER XX.
Bentley's proposed edition of Homer Account of the Digamma Bentley's
discovery of its use by Homer Great difficulty of the undertaking Pro-
nunciation of the Digamma Account of Richard Dawes His book His
treatment of Bentley Heyne's Homer Pope's Hostility to Bentley
Arbuthnot ridicules Bentley's critical style in Scriblerus Attacks him
severely in an imitation of Gulliver Pope's Dunciad Mallet's poem on
Verbal Criticism Pope's direct attacks upon Bentley Walker's return to
the mandamus of the King's Bench Mandamus addressed to the Bishop
of Ely Quashed by the Court A third mandamus procured to enforce
the execution of the sentence Parne rejoins the prosecutors Chief Justice
Lee Court discharges the rule Death of Bishop Greene Termination of
the efforts to procure Bentley's expulsion College distressed by the ex-
penses of the suit Bentley brings an action against Colbatch as Arch-
deacon of Ely Ecclesiastical Procurations Decision in Bentley's favour
Colbatch's pamphlet Discovery of a sect of Atheists Strutt White-
head Ducket Public trial Court adjourned to Bentley's Lodge Duck-
et's expulsion Society for the encouragement of learning Publication of
Bentley's Manihus Bentley has a paralytic stroke Is disabled from pub-
lishing Homer Death of Mrs. Bentley Bentley's intimates in old age
His domestic habits Cumberland's account of them Pope's fresh offence
against Bentley Fourth book of the Dunciad Miller the botanist
Thomas Bentley's publications and death Warburton's conduct in respect
to Bentley Singular proof of Bentley's sagacity in correcting a Greek
inscription Bentley's last illness His death Funeral Disposition of his
property His library and papers His family Remarks on the personal
character of Dr. Bentley His literary merits Trinity College - - 360
Appendix. Dr. Bentley's Defensive Plea - - - 427
Sentence pronounced upon Dr. Bentley by Bishop Greene - 440
Dr. Bentley's Will, extracted from the Registry of the Prerogative
Court of Canterbury - - - - - 441
Index ._.__--- 445
--*.
LIFE
OF
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D.
CHAPTER XIII.
Johnson's Aristarchus Anti-Bentleianus Bentley's Sermon before the King
Regius Professorship of Divinity Death of Dr. James, the Professor
The expected Candidates Dr. Bentley elected Professor Bentley's
Preelection on the disputed text in St. John Bentley's Letter on the
Subject Decides on rejecting the verse Duties of the Professor His
Inaugural Speech Bangorian Controversy Value of the Professor-
ship Bentley's expensive improvements of his Lodge His Granary
Richard Walker Bentley's tithe wheat Nomination of Scholars Of
College Servants Colbatch's two Letters to Bishop Fleetwood Com-
memoration Sermon Bentley makes and plants the College walks
King George visits the University The Duke of Somerset Behaviour
of Grigg, the Vice-chancellor Bentley creates some Doctors of Divinity
in the King's presence Bentley demands an additional Fee from the
New Doctors Dr. Congers Middleton resists the payment Grounds
of Bentley's claim Dr. Gooch, Vice-chancellor Dr. Richard War-
ren Vice-chancellor's Court Dr. Gooch deprived of his Chaplaincy
to the King Bentley quarrels with the Vice-chancellor Offends the
other Heads Decree to arrest Bentley Proceedings of the Court
Bentley suspended from his Degrees His Appeal refused Prohibited
from acting as Professor The Chancellor comes to Cambridge Re-
fuses Bentley's offer of submission Grace for the degradation of Dr.
Bentley Efforts of his friends in his favour The Senate deprives him
of his Degrees.
At the beginning of the year 1717 Dr. Bentley chap
experienced a rude and virulent attack from Mr.
Johnson, the master of Nottingham school, on ac-
VOL. II. B
/
XIII.
1717-
\ LIFE OF
chap, count of his edition of Horace. I have already
1717 mentioned my belief that this person is the same
Richard Johnson who had been his youthful con-
Johnson's
Anstarchus temporary at ot. John s College : in which case it is
ieUinus. ent " not improbable that early pique, or some offence at
the neglect of old acquaintance, might have led to
the immoderate bitterness of this publication. It
seems indeed hardly possible to account for his ma-
lignity against our critic, except upon the supposition
of personal hatred or resentment. The Horace, having
now been five years in the hands of all scholars in
Europe, might have been considered as past the
danger of such harsh and ill-natured attacks. John-
son possessed an uncommonly accurate knowledge of
the Latin language and the niceties of its gramma-
tical construction ; and had made himself known
with considerable credit by ' his Grammatical Com-
mentaries;' a book in which the errors of common
grammars are noticed ; as well as by other works of
a similar tendency. Of his present undertaking he
gives the following account : on the perusal of Bent-
ley's Horace, he was struck with several instances of
perverted phraseology in the emendations, which he
thought might be demonstrated to be changes for the
worse ; and he detected in the Latinity of the notes
many inaccuracies. Of the latter blemish in our
critic's writings we have already spoken. Johnson
waited a year or two in expectation that these faults
would have been exposed by some other hand : but
when he found that the edition, instead of being
reprobated, was every where admired and extolled,
and was generally placed in the hands of young
men, he resolved to buckle on his own armour, and
break a lance with this mighty Aristarchus ; in order,
as he says, that it might be ascertained, whether
himself or those who praised the book had lost their
1
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D.
senses. His design was interrupted by a severe chap.
xm.
illness, accompanied with tormenting pain, which 1717>
for a long time deprived him of the use of his limbs.
On his recovery he again took up the Horace, and
pursued his strictures till they had swelled to a
volume of above 200 pages : this he styled Aristar-
chus Antl-Bentleianus ; the hint of which title was
taken from Bentley's own assumption of the attributes
of Aristarchus. Being unable to extend his critique
through the entire work, he confined his censures
to the text of the first book of Odes, and the Latinity
of the notes in the whole volume. The first class of
errors which he undertakes to point out are fort y -six
in number, the second ninety : and the very title-
page, in which the mistakes are termed erubescendi
and foedissimi, shows what mercy they had to expect
from the stern pedagogue. In his preface, indeed,
he has the grace to condemn the habit of scholars
abusing one another, but takes an exception in favour
of his own case ; and as an apology for out-doing all
his predecessors in what he acknowledges to be a
bad practice, he urges Bentley's arrogant commen-
dations of himself, and contemptuous language to-
wards others ; stringing together all the passages in
which he thinks him guilty of either of those enor-
mities. Upon the first fault I have already animad-
verted sufficiently : those boastful expressions, when
brought together, have certainly a ludicrous effect ;
and such an exposure was in itself punishment
enough to have satisfied even a rigid censor. His
second list of passages fails in making out a case
against our critic : the instances of contumelious
language, when raked together, are not very nume-
rous ; some of them are counterbalanced by com-
pliments elsewhere paid to the same persons ; and
b 2
I LIFE OF
xm' severa ^ f tne censorious expressions are only such as
1717. m ig'ht, I fear, be found in the writings of the mildest
= and most candid critics that ever illustrated an
ancient author 1 .
It is obvious that Bentley's delinquencies do not
afford the slightest excuse for the insolent and abusive
tone which pervades every sentence of Johnson's
book. No term of contumely does he spare ; but
heaps contempt and reproach upon his adversary,
much in the same terms as he would have applied,
when in his worst humour, to the exercise of a
blundering school-boy 2 . He, like Mr. Ker, had
passed his life in the detection of minute errors of
construction ; and here he obtains many triumphs
over the great object of his antipathy. The Doctor's
notes on Horace were composed with haste ; and in so
large a work some slips more or less heinous, could
1 It is perfectly preposterous to abuse and insult Bentley for such sen-
tences as the following, which occur in his notes : " Crediderim equidem
jam nunc interpretes judicii pcenitere ; sed et adhuc aliud reliquum est
nihilo minus pcenitendum." " Nullus est omnium interp return, quin ad
hunc locum, veluti ad scopulum, naufragium fecerit." " Haec tot inter-
pretes patienter tulerunt : quia sic invenerant in editionibus priscis. At si
bonis uti suis novissent, meliora eos docere poterant codices scripti."
" Infeliciter hunc locum tentavit Nic. Heinsius, et infelicius multo Dace-
rius." " Ecquid vero jam videtur ? Annon sordet prae hac nostra lectio
ilia vulgata ?" " Cruquius in re, qua? maximi quidem momenti est, sub-
inde annotanda nimium securus et indiligens erat." "Quam conjecturam,
etsi Rutgersio mirifice placuit, multo deteriorem esse judico."
2 The following are a few instances of the manner in which the school-
master of Nottingham treats the first scholar of the age : these specimens
are taken casually and without selection ; the reader will find similar dic-
teria in every page :
" Videsne omnia sicca et sana esse, nihilque, praeter ipsum te ineptum
atque inficetum?" p. 12 " Digna quidem Bentleio, non Horatio sententia.
Quorsum ha?c tam putida tendunt?" p. 34. "Vide hominis levissimi,
atque obliviosi inconstantiam." p. 45. " Sapientiam tuam rerum caetera-
rum quae sit, nescio ; in hac te stultissimum praebuisti." p. 56. " Satin'
sanus es qui haec dicas ? Satin' sobrius ? Quin tu potius demirare insig-
nem stultitiam atque hebetudinem tuam." p. 70, &c. &c.
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D.
hardly have been avoided. But whoever takes in chap.
xm.
hand the Aristarchus Anti-Bentleianus, in which the \'
extracts from the notes and Johnson's censures upon =
them are given alternately, will acknowledge the
superiority of Bentley in the ease, perspicuity, and
classical elegance of his language ; and would be
sorry to exchange it for the rugged exactness of his
adversary.
Although many of Johnson's strictures are well-
founded, yet it must not be inferred from his positive
and contemptuous tone, that all the objects of his
displeasure are ' shameful blunders.' Bentley might
have found in his enemy's work sufficient matter for
severe retaliation. But I am not aware that he
deigned to take any notice, either public or private,
of this attack, or even showed a consciousness of its
existence : indeed, when his Horace was reprinted in
1728, he omitted to correct some undoubted slips in
language pointed out by Johnson ; from which we
might infer that he had never seen the schoolmaster's
production.
As an interlude between the two divisions of his
book, Aristarchus Anti-Bentleianus gave a burlesque
criticism upon some lines of Tom Bostock, an old
English ballad, in ridicule of Bentley 's style. An
extract of this scholastic jeu-cVesprit will be seen in a
note. The absurd translation of Latin phrases fails to
throw any just ridicule on the Horace, while it proves
the author himself to have been a vulgar fellow.
Nevertheless this must be acknowledged to be a
curious hit : unless he had the gift of divination, he
could not have foreseen that his adversary would ever
publish emendations of an English poet : but whoever
has read Bentley 's notes on Milton, written fifteen
years after this drollery, will confess that it is no bad
6 LIFE OF
chap, caricature of the tone and language actually adopted
by him in that extraordinary performance 3 .
XIII
1717
3 " And now my hand's in, after the example of great authors, and the
Doctor in particular, I shall not think much of my lahour, for the reader's
benefit, the honour of the English nation in general, and the family of the
Bostocks in particular, to put down one stanza of a certain English Marine
Ode, for so in good truth it is, and so it is entituled in all the parchments,
and the first editions ; how in the latter it came to be called a Ballad, I,
for my part, can't tell ; let them look to it that were the cause of it. But
'tis high time to put down the place. Why so it runs then,
Then old Tom Bostock he fell to the work,
He prayed like a Christian, but fought like a Turk,
And cut 'em off all in a jerk,
Which no body can deny, &c.
" Now you must understand, this Tom Bostock was chaplain, in Latin
capellanus, in a sea-fight, a long time ago, and after the enemy had boarded
the ship, cut 'em all off to a man. O bravo Tom ! Thus much for the
interpretation. Now to the reading.
" Old. I have a shrewd suspicion that all is not sound at bottom here ;
how sound a complexion soever the words may seem to have. For why
old pray ye ? What he hewed down so many lusty fellows at fourscore,
I'll warrant ye ? A likely story. I know there is old boy, as well as any
of ye : but what then ? And I could down with old Tom in another place,
but not here.
" For once again, I say, why old Tom ? What, when he was commend-
ing him for so bold an action, would he rather say, old Tom, than bold
Tom ? Was it not a bold action ? Is not the word bold necessary in this
place ? And do you find it any where else ? Thou, therefore, ne'er be
afraid of being too bold, no, rather boldly read bold Tom, I'll bear thee
out ; in Latin, me vide. But you'll say, neither edition, nor manuscript
hath this reading ; I thought as much.
" What of all that? I suppose we have never a copy under the author's
own hand : as for the librarians and editors, what can you expect from
such cattle as they, but such stuff as this ? One grain of sense (and God
be thanked I don't want that) weighs more with me, than a tun of their
papers."
" Tom. Some would fain make us believe, that we are to read Ben
here : much good may do 'em with their Ben. I for my part shall never
believe that the poet would ever put Ben and Bostock, two words beginning
with a B so near together : such grating stuff wounds the ears ; such stuff
could never come from so terse a poet as you may guess by the work : for
as for his name, though no pains have been wanting, nor charge neither,
in getting manuscripts from all parts of the world, I'll say that for myself,
XIII.
1717.
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D.
Johnson did not very long survive his exhibition in chap
the character of Aristarchus: he was overtaken by-
some mental malady which proved the precursor of
his melancholy fate. Little more is known respecting
him, but that in the year 1720 he drowned himself in
the meadows adjacent to Nottingham 4 .
Immediately after the King's return from Hanover, Bemiey's
Dr. Bentley preached before his Majesty in his capa- IZTthe
city of Royal Chaplain. His sermon, which was King -
printed, is a masterly dissertation on Rom. xiv. 7.
For none of us liveth to himself, and no man dieth to
himself: this text he treats in his usual perspicuous
and forcible manner, leaving nothing untouched
which bears upon the subject. There are many
readers who will be as much pleased with this dis-
course as any other part of the Doctor's writings :
they will perhaps not find much that is new to them ;
but when they see with what ability he illustrates a
sacred text, they will not fail to wish that he had
devoted more of his time to benefit the world in this
department. The following extract is interesting, as
showdng the sentiments of so powerful a mind upon an
important and much controverted point :
" But let none of my hearers so misinterpret our Apostle ; as if,
by saying, A T oe of us dies to himself, he taught that none of us could
be accessory or contributing to his own death. Without doubt he
was not of their opinion, that believe the time, cause, and circum-
stances of every man's death to be fixed as immoveably by God's
prescience, as by necessity or fate. God can foresee contingencies,
the free resolves of rational agents, as well as the most necessary
events in the material and inanimate world : but the divine prescience
I cannot recover it. Besides, who ever heard of a Ben of the Bostocks ?
Tom, George, and Harry I'll allow ye ; but only Tom was the parson
though ; and that this is spoke of the parson or chaplain of the ship is
plain." Aristarchus Anti-Bentleianus, p. 109.
1 See Gilbert Wakefield's Life of himself, p. 22.
8 LIFE OF
CHAP, does not superadd nor imply a fatal necessity. That notion robs us
XIII. of our free-will, of our reason, of our very soul ; is repugnant both
i? 1 ?- to observation, and the revealed word of God. ' Bloody and deceit-
ful men,' says the Royal Psalmist, ' shall not live out half their
days :' so that impiety and guilt deprived them of half that space of
life, that in a natural course of things they might have arrived to.
And does not daily experience teach us, that intemperance, temerity,
and violence, cut men off in the flower of their age, and in the very
meridian of life ? And again, how many are daily reprieved and
rescued from the very jaws of impending death, by the saving care
and skill of the physician ? But then withal, though the space of life
may be thus shortened, and the thread of it broken by such accidents
(though even those too come to pass, not without the foreknowledge
or permission of God) yet perhaps it can never be lengthened
by all the power and wisdom of man. A flower or fruit may be
plucked off by force before the time of their maturity ; but they can-
not be made to outgrow the fixed period, when they are to fade and
drop of themselves. The hand of nature then plucks them off, and
all human art cannot withhold it. And as God has so appointed
and determined the several growths and periods of the vegetable
race ; so he seems to have prescribed the same law to the various
kinds of living creatures. In the first formation and rudiments of
every organical body, there are contained the specific powers both of
its stature and duration. And when the evolution of those animal
powers is all exhausted and run out, the creature expires and dies of
itself, as ripe fruit falls from the tree. So that, as we cannot add
one cubit, one inch, to our stature ; so neither can we add one day,
one hour, to our years, beyond that fixed limit of natural life, to
which our original frame and constitution was made to extend. So
certain is it, that none of us either liveth, or dieth to himself, but all
of us to God ; who has given to each of us his particular body,
with the determined powers and period belonging to it." Ser-
mons, p. 391.
Regius Pro- Our narrative has now arrived at an interesting
Divi'nUy 1 ' epoch of Dr. Bentley's life his accession to the
Regius Professorship of Divinity. This office, the
most valuable as well as most dignified in the Uni-
versity, had been for some time the object of his
ambition ; and during the last year, when the declin-
ing health of the Professor, Dr. James, the Presi-
dent of Queen's College, caused the expectation of a
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 9
vacancy, he suffered it to publicly known that he chap.
aspired to succeed. The prevailing sentiments of the 1?l7 '
University were far from being favourable to his pre- =====
tensions. Besides the odium which he had incurred
from causes already related, there was an obstacle of
a legal nature in the way of his obtaining this high
appointment. The statute of foundation of the three
King's Professors of Divinity, Hebrew, and Greek,
which allots them stipends and residence in Trinity
College, and gives a preference, in case of parity
of merit among the candidates, to Fellows of that
Society, concludes with forbidding them to hold along
with their professorships any other office either in the
University or in that College. The words of this
prohibitory enactment are, Nemo prcedictorum Lec-
torum, durante tempore Lecturce sues, utlum officium,
Magistratum, aid Lecturam aliam vel in dicto Collegio,
vel in Academia habeat, sub poena prcedicta. Hence it
was contended that the Master of Trinity was dis-
tinctly and pointedly excluded from the chair : and
this express prohibition was confirmed and accounted
for by various other enactments, which commit the
jurisdiction and superintendence of the Regius pro-
fessorships to the Master of the College, jointly with
the Vice-chancellor. A Professor is, upon his elec-
tion, to be sworn and admitted by the Master, who is
also to admonish him should he neglect his duty, to
be his judge in case of complaints of heresy or any
notable crime, and to deprive him upon hearing and
conviction. It was alleged therefore to be plainly
impossible that the statute could contemplate or allow
the Master's holding a situation, in which he might
become his own visitor and his own judge. In oppo-
sition to these arguments, it was urged by Bentley
and his friends that two of his predecessors, Dr.
Richardson and Dr. Arrowsmith, had held the Divi-
10 LIFE OF
chap, nity professorship, each for the space of two years,
1717 along with the mastership. Upon the latter precedent
" indeed no stress could be laid, as it had occurred
during the Usurpation, when the statutes were fre-
quently violated by the arbitrary mandates of the
Protector. Nor was the case of Dr. Richardson, one
of the Translators of the Bible, exactly in point ; he
having held the professorship some years before he
was appointed Master : it did however serve as a
clear proof, that the union of the two offices, whether
legally or not, had once been permitted. The statute
reposes the choice in the breasts of the electors, who
are sworn in a particular form, appealing strongly to
their consciences, to choose the candidate most likely
to confer honour upon the University, and benefit
upon the students. If therefore a majority should
judge Dr. Bentley to be, under all circumstances, the
fittest and most eligible candidate, it was contended
that nothing could invalidate their decision. The
electors to these offices are the Vice-chancellor, the
Master and two senior Fellows of Trinity, the Provost
of King's, and the Masters of St. John's and Christ's
Colleges ; the concurrence of four of those seven in
favour of the same candidate being necessary to con-
stitute an election. Three of them, Dr. Adams, Dr.
Jenkin, and Dr. Covel, the Heads of King's, St.
John's, and Christ's, had declared themselves against
the pretensions of the Master of Trinity, being con-
vinced that he was excluded by the positive enact-
ment, as well as the whole scope and tenor of the
Nov. 3. statute. At the election of a Vice-chancellor in
1 ** 1 fl
November, it being thought improbable that Dr.
James could survive another year, this subject appears
to have influenced the proceedings ; at least I am
aware of no reason for setting aside the ordinary
course, except that Dr. Bradford was believed to be a
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 11
favourer of Bentley. His exclusion seemed a great chap.
j ~ XIII
blow to the Master's hopes ; particularly as Mr. Grigg, 1?17 '
the person chosen, avowed an opinion similar to that
of the three Heads just mentioned. To this it may
be added, that the two senior Fellows of Trinity hav-
ing been for four years and a half his determined
prosecutors, and being sufficiently mortified at the
failure of their endeavours to remove him from the
mastership, could hardly be supposed favourable to
his views on the present occasion. To have persevered
under such discouraging circumstances, proves the
sanguine character of Bentley's mind, and the reliance
which he placed upon his own ingenuity and re-
sources.
The above detail has been necessary to enable the Death of
reader to comprehend the extraordinary proceedings t ^ r e ' p*^!
which ensued on the death of Dr. James. The s r - ,
March 15,
Vice-chancellor happened to be absent in London, 1716-17.
whither he had gone with an address of congratu-
lation to the King upon his safe return, and the
disappointment of the scheme for a Swedish invasion
in favour of the Pretender. The Heads being; as- March ia.
sembled at the funeral of the deceased Professor, the
acting chief magistrate, Dr. Lany, consulted the
Master of Trinity upon the steps to be taken for the
election of a successor. Bentley asked him, whether
he had received his appointment as deputy under
the hand and seal of the Vice-chancellor ; and being
answered in the negative, put an end to the conver-
sation, by telling him that ' then he had no concern
with that afTair. '
The statute orders that on the day after the va- Bentley
cancy becomes known, the Vice-chancellor shall, entmethods
with the consent of the Master of Trinity, convene t0 obtain it-
the electors to a meeting, at which they are to issue a
public notice, and fix a day for the examination of
12 LIFE OF
chap. i. candidates. This not having been done, Bentlev
XIII. J
1717. was prepared to maintain that the professorship had,
= by non-compliance with the statute, fallen to the
appointment of the King, as representative of the
founder. Accordingly, when the Vice-chancellor re-
turned, about the end of the month, and applied for
his consent to the meeting, he flatly refused it ; al-
leging that the office had now lapsed to the Crown 5 .
His next step was to have been a solicitation of it for
himself. Ingenious as this scheme certainly was,
there were evident obstacles to its success. The
statute is silent upon the subject of a lapse ; the
words which fix the time for the meeting, postridie
quam locum vacare intellexerint, do not prohibit a
reasonable interval, for the vacancy to become known
to a Vice-chancellor who may happen to be absent :
the King's ministers would hardly have assumed the
appointment without a legal assurance of their right ;
and however they might be disposed to oblige the
Doctor, he could not expect them to be forward to
embark in a quarrel with the University. This pre-
carious plan therefore was to be adopted, only in
case all other measures were hopeless. But he did
not despair of making an impression upon the Vice-
Griggthe chancellor. Mr. William Grio-o- wa s chaplain to the
Vice-chan-
ceiior. ' Duke of Somerset, and had been appointed by his
patron Master of Clare Hall, the votes of the Fellows
at the election being equally divided between two
5 Another account of this affair, by Dr. Colbatch, states that Bentley
first refused to give his consent to the proceedings, except upon the con-
dition of the other electors declaring, under their hands, that they made no
exception to the eligibility of the Master of Trinity : and that upon their
declining to say any thing of a matter not yet before them, he withheld his
consent, and at length declared that the office was lapsed. The narrative
in the text is taken fron the account of Attwood, the Esquire Beadle,
whose duty kept him in constant attendance on the proceedings of the
Vice-chancellor, and who wrote down all occurrences with great care in
his Diary.
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.U. 13
candidates, (one of them Mr. Laiiffhton, the cele- chap.
> XIII
brated disciplinarian and instructor, with whom the ''
reader is acquainted), and the nomination having =
thereby lapsed to the Chancellor of the University,
as Visitor. What arguments the Doctor could use
with this gentleman, it is not easy to conjecture : but
as no connection or friendliness appears ever to have
subsisted between them, I am inclined to suppose
that the interest made in Bentley's favour was not
with Grigg, but with his patron the Duke ; and that
at his instance he listened to the Doctor's proposals.
Having, however, already declared himself against
the eligibility of the Master of Trinity, he could not
with decency aid in choosing him Professor. But
Bentley's fertile invention suggested a stratagem to
overcome this and all other embarrassments : it was,
that Grigg should go out of the University, at the
same time constituting him Deputy Vice-chancellor :
the rest was to be left to himself. Accordingly, after
above a fortnight passed in negotiations, this scheme
was put into execution. On the 17th of April, the Bentiey
University learned with amazement that the Vice- viT-cLn-
chancellor was gone, and had appointed Dr. Bentiey cellor '
his deputy. The main obstacle was now forced, and
the field open for his operations. Uniting in himself
the two characters of Vice-chancellor and Master of
Trinity, he summoned the electors to meet in the
Schools on the following day. The statute orders April 18.
that if any one of the number be Vice-chancellor, his
place shall be supplied by the President of Queen's Dr. Davies
College: during the late time of suspense, Dr. Davies, Queen's.
the editor of Cicero, whose attachment to Bentiey
we have had occasion to remark, had succeeded Dr.
James in the Headship of his college, and in that
capacity claimed the place of an elector. The two
14 LIFE OF
chap, senior Fellows of Trinity were unable to be present ;
1717 ^ the first, Dr. Stubbe, residing in London, and the
= second, Mr. Cock, being prevented by age and
infirmity from quitting his rooms : but their places
were supplied, agreeably to the statutes, by the two
next in order, Modd and Bathurst, both of whom the
Doctor had found means to render propitious to his
views. These four issued a programma appointing a
day for examination of candidates. The other three
electors chose to absent themselves from a proceeding
the evident tendency of which they disapproved.
The expect- No mention has yet been made of any other candi-
dates nd '" dates for this important professorship. There were,
however, at least three in the public contemplation :
Dr. Colbatch and Mr. Waterlancl were wished by their
respective friends to be introduced to a chair for which
each was thought highly qualified : but various cir-
cumstances detailed in the last chapter will account
for neither of them choosing to oppose the Master of
Trinity. The person generally fixed upon was Dr.
Charles Ashton, the Master of Jesus College. This
gentleman, who possessed in a high degree the respect
and regard of the University during the unexampled
period of fifty-one years that he continued one of its
Heads, was among the most learned men of his time,
and particularly versed in the departments of know-
ledge required from a theological professor; and he it
was, I apprehend, whom the seceding electors had
designed to support. But, like them, he did not think
proper to present himself at the meetings summoned
by Dr. Bentley.
April 25. On the day appointed the Master of Trinity appeared
in the Schools as Vice-chancellor, along with Davies,
Modd, and Bathurst ; when after waiting in vain for
the other electors the space of one hour, he declared
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 15
himself a candidate, and offered to be examined chap.
XIII.
according to the statute. The conclave declined a
1717.
public examination as unnecessary ; but appointed
him a day to read his prcelectio, or probationary
lecture. No other candidate appearing, the meeting
separated.
On the 1st of May Dr. Bentley delivered his praelec- Dr. Bentiey
tion before a crowded audience, on the disputed text %l^
of the Heavenly Witnesses in the First Epistle of St. May 2 -
John : and on the following day he was chosen Regius
Professor of Divinity by the four votes of himself, Dr.
Davies, Mr. Modd, and Mr. Bathurst.
The daring manoeuvre by which Bentley attained
this object of his ambition, astonished and confounded
his opponents. If they had hoped to defeat his opera-
tions by keeping aloof, they found themselves com-
pletely in error. It might be true, that the peculiar
conjuncture of circumstances was the result of intrigue
and collusion ; yet it could not be denied, that from
the moment when he was constituted Deputy Vice-
chancellor, the proceedings had been conducted with
strict attention to the forms of the statute. The
electors who contended that the Master of Trinity
was absolutely excluded and ineligible, had, by with-
drawing from their post, lost the opportunity of pro-
testing against such an election as illegal, in case
they could not have prevented its taking place. The
absence of other candidates supplied an argument in
favour of those who elected Dr. Bentley : in the
event of litigation they would naturally allege that
they had no alternative ; that they were bound to
execute their functions, and no other person was
offered to their choice. Whatever was the mortifica-
tion of his opponents, they were compelled to digest
it in silence : no attempt was at that time made to dis-
16 LIFE OF
chap, pute his title ; and he was suffered to take quiet
1717. possession of the theological chair 6 .
The subject of his preelection being the authen-
Bcntlcv's
prelection ticity of the disputed verse of 1 St. John v. 7., great
putedVxT curiosity has lately been expressed respecting it ; all
in st. John. p ersons agreeing that much weight must be attached
to the sentiments of the prince of critics upon such a
question. The composition excited great sensation
both at the time and long afterwards : it was pre-
served in manuscript, and perused by some scholars
little more than forty years ago. I hope and believe
that it is still in existence, and may ere long be
brought to light ; but all my endeavours to trace it
have hitherto been ineffectual. It has however been
in my power to collect such testimony respecting its
contents, as must put an end to all the doubts which
have been started relative to Bentley's judgment
upon the controverted text.
contro- The dispute upon the genuineness of this verse had
theTerse. lately been revived : a summary of the opposite
opinions appeared in Dr. Mill's Prolegomena. It was
attacked b}^ Emlyn the Arian, and defended by Martin
the French refugee priest of Utrecht ; and the con-
troversy just then maintained by those combatants,
drew the attention of all theological readers to the
merits of the question. In the December preceding,
Bentley received a long letter from a layman, whose
name has not been preserved, written in consequence
of a report that the verse would be omitted in his
promised edition of the New Testament. This corre-
6 Hearne writes thus, on May 7, 1717- " Dr. Bentley is elected Regius
Professor of Divinity of the University of Cambridge, in the room of Dr.
James, deceased. He was opposed by Dr. Ashton, Master of Jesus, who
had got it, had not Bentley used knavery. Ashton was best qualified."
MSS. in the Bodleian library.
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 17
spondent argues earnestly for its genuineness, upon the chap
evidence of the context of the whole passage ; the ri '
sense of which, he contends, would be incomplete
s
the
without it. To this epistle our critic returned an Bentiey'
answer, explaining clearly and concisely the nature Object."
of his proposed edition, the object of which was to'JSJJS} 1,
restore the text as it stood in the days of St. Jerome
in the fourth century. Upon the point in question,
he adds,
" Now in this work I indulge nothing to any conjecture, not even
in a letter, but proceed solely upon authority of copies, and Fathers
of that age. And what will be the event about the said verse of
John, I myself know not yet ; having not used all the old copies that
I have information of.
" But by this you see, that in my proposed work, the fate of that
verse will be a mere question of fact. You endeavour to prove, (and
that's all you aspire to,) that it may have been writ by the Apostle,
being consonant to his other doctrine. This I concede to you ; and
if the fourth century knew that text, let it come in, in God's name :
but if that age did not know it, then Arianism in its height was beat
down, without the help of that verse : and let the fact prove as it
will, the doctrine is unshaken."
His correspondent rejoined with a further expos-
tulation, urging the necessity of admitting a verse,
the rejection of which he thought, like many other
orthodox persons, would afford a triumph to the Uni-
tarians. He afterwards published the three letters,
with some additional remarks of his own, which
proved nothing but his disqualification to discuss
such a subject. Bentiey, finding how much the ques-
tion interested the public mind, and perceiving that
there was expected from the editor of the New Testa-
ment a clear expression of opinion on this point,
applied himself in the course of the four following
months to examine all the evidence on both sides.
Having chosen this as the subject of his Preelection,
vol. n. c
XIII.
1717-
18 LIFE OF
chap, he gave a regular history of the verse, and an account
of the manner in which the passage of St. John is
quoted by ancient writers ; and concluded with a
Decides in decided rejection of the verse; maintaining at the
Senile, same time the doctrine of the Trinity in its orthodox
acceptation, and showing that it stood not in any need
of such dubious support.
My account of this Preelection does not rest, like
other narratives of Dr. Bentley's life, upon the state-
ment of Whiston ; which is confessedly given only
from hearsay : I have more than once had occasion
to notice the credulity and inaccuracy of that writer,
which makes his sole authority an unsafe guide in
every instance 7 . But the following evidences are
liable to no such exception. First, Atw T ood the Esquire
Beadle, who was present and heard Dr. Bentley's
composition, says in his manuscript journal, ' that he
read away the text (1 St. John, v. 7.) to the utmost
of his power.' Secondly, Conyers Middleton, who
probably heard the discourse, and who at all events
wrote in the University, and for readers who had
heard it, speaking four years afterwards of Bentley,
says, " He has already, ice know, determined against
the genuineness of the famous passage of St. John,
1 Epistle v. 7. For what reason has he condemned
' Whiston's Life of Dr. S. Clarke, p. 77- " This treatise, as I have
been informed, was alluded to by Dr. Bentley in his own famous lecture
at Cambridge soon afterward, when he stood candidate for the chair of
Regius Professor of Divinity : wherein he also entirely gave up that text,
and publicly proved it to be spurious. I have been also informed, that
when Dr. Waterland was asked, ' whether Dr. Bentley's arguments did
not convince him ;' he replied, ' no : for he was convinced before.' Nor
does the Doctor, I think, ever quote the text as genuine in any of his
writings ; which, in so zealous and warm a Trinitarian, deserves to be
taken great notice of, as a singular instance of honesty and impartiality."
Little credit is due to "Whiston's information upon this matter, as is justly
observed by the present Bishop of Durham, in his Life of Waterland,
p. 25. In fact, the latter part is distinctly contradicted by Waterland
himself, in a letter to Mr. Loveday: Works, vol. x. p. 410.
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 19
it as spurious ? Why because some manuscripts and chap.
some Fathers have omitted it s ." My third evidence 1717!
is Professor Porson, who had in his youth seen this =
Prselection, and observes in his Letters to Travis, that
' Bentley read a public lecture, which is still extant,
to prove the verse spurious 9 .' Lastly, Dr. Vincent,
the late learned Dean of Westminster, once had the
original of this piece in his possession, lent to him by
a relative of Bentley : a letter of his now lies before
me, containing the account which I have just given
of its contents, and adding that to him ' it was con-
viction 10 .'
The duties of his newly-acquired office were various Duties of
and important. The Regius Professor is expected SO r.
to preside and moderate at all disputations in the
8 Middleton's Works, vol. ii. p. 373.
9 Porson's Letters to Travis, Pref. p. viii. That Porson had himself
seen this lecture, I have learnt from two of his friends to whom he com-
municated the fact. It is mentioned by Mr. Kidd, in his Misc. Tracts,
Pref. p. xhi.
10 This letter, addressed by Dean Vincent to the late learned Dr. Charles
Burney, Sept. 3, 1806, has been obligingly communicated to me by his son,
the Rev. C. P. Burney, D.D. It gives an account of some papers of Bentley's
lent him by a relation of the great critic, who had two sons under him at
Westminster. " They consisted," says he, " of several sermons, or rather
dissertations in form of sermons, all on learned questions : one on the
three heavenly witnesses, was in Latin. It was not a Concio ad Clerum,
but as well as I remember, a sort of inauguration discourse as Professor
of Divinity. Another was an argument to prove that the Epistle to the
Ephesians was the lost Epistle to the Laodiceans, and, I think, in English.
What the remainder consisted of I do not recollect : it is five and twenty
years ago since I saw them. That on the Three Heavenly Witnesses was a
regular and historical narrative of the manner in which the context in this
part of St. John was cited by different authors from the earliest date down
to Erasmus, and a decided rejection of 1 John v. 7- Maintaining, how-
ever, the doctrine in its most orthodox acceptation. To me it was con-
viction : and I have always felt the charge of Emlyn, who reproaches the
Church of England for having in her first translations, printed the verse
in a different character, and afterwards dropping the character, and suffer-
ing the verse to stand without remark, like any other indifferent text.
The doctrine, as Bentley observed, did not stand in need of a false
support: but this was doing evil that good might come of it."
c 2
20 LIFE OF
chap. Theological Schools ; to deliver his own judgment
XIII ^ .
1717. or ' determination' on the subjects of discussion ; to
===== present candidates for theological degrees ; to create
the Doctors of Divinity with appropriate speeches ;
to deliver lectures twice in the week during term ; and
to preach in Latin before the University on certain
stated days. There can be no doubt but that the
new Professor was admirably qualified to discharge
all these duties with honour to the University and
reputation to himself. Notwithstanding his addiction
to other pursuits, theological studies had, at certain
periods of his life, occupied much of his attention ;
and for the scholastic disputations, his prompt and
clear-sighted judgment, his acuteness in the detection
of fallacy, and his logical turn of mind admirably
qualified him ; while his peculiar attainments were
sure to temper with classical elegance the dryness of
school-divinity. It is impossible not to wish that
Bentley, having now attained the age of fifty-five,
had devoted himself entirely to the professorship ;
with which the care of his edition of the New Testa-
ment would have been consistent. Such were his
capacity and power of application, that he would
perhaps have reaped a greater accession of fame from
this than could accrue to him from any other pursuits ;
and the remembrance of the manner in which he
possessed himself of the chair, might have been
effaced by the applause that followed the execution
of its duties. Being now invested with increased
sanctity of character, it is greatly to be wished that
he had adopted a different course in the government
of his College. Had he so done, the road to con-
ciliation and tranquillity was open ; and it is probable
that every legitimate object of ambition would still
have been within his reach.
Hisinaugu- Our Professor, on first taking possession of the
ral speech.
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 21
XIII.
1717.
chair, delivered an inaugural speech in the Divinity chap
Schools, which occupied not less than an hour and a
half; giving a full account of himself, his pursuits,
his works, and his designs. Some notice of this
speech has been preserved in a letter addressed to
Bishop Nicolson from David Wilkins, Librarian to
the Archbishop of Canterbury : it is written in a
sneering and ironical tone ; nor can there be a better
instance of the truth of the poet's observation, nihil
est Quin male narrando posslt depravarier . This
letter will be seen in the note, and is sufficient to
make us regret that the production itself, delivered
by Bentley in the gaiety of his heart, and in the
moment of triumph, has not been preserved ".
" Bene't College, June 9, 1717.
11 " My Honoured Lord,
" If the Cantabrigians had the advantage which the Oxonians
enjoy, to write daily by the post to London, your Lordship should have
had an account of Professor Bentley's remarkable speech, at the entering
into his office, by Friday's post.
" The whole discourse contained in substance nothing but an enarration
of his performances done, and some that are to follow. He began to give
us the reasons why, now he was in limine senectutis, he desired to be made
Professor, in spite of his ringentes rivals ; and patefecerit viam to that
place which he refused eighteen years ago, because he formerly had other
views. He liked the company of great men at Court ; but now every
place in London was full of contention, quarrel, and tumult. Jam Canta-
brigia placet, placent bibliothecce, placet aer, placent ernditorum hominum
mores ; so that he designs to five and die here. He thanked the Pro-
Vice-chancellor, the Master of Queen's, and his two Senior Fellows, for
choosing him Professor, and put at the same time a slur upon the three
Heads of Houses that should have been present at the election. He was
full of praises of his predecessors, of whom some were made Bishops,
some Archbishops ; and that he was sensible how unworthy he was to
succeed them ; especially since all the world knew that he had studied
more the Humaniora than divinity. But yet he said that he has had
Thomas Aquinas in his study these thirty years, and had read him ; that
he had studied Syriac, Chaldaic, and other Oriental languages, till he was
like to fall into a consumption. It was true indeed that he had printed
Phalaris, Callimachus, Menander, Tully's Tusculan Questions, and Horace ;
and that thereby he had showed himself a philosopher and a critic, rather
than a theologus. But yet he had printed some Sermons at Boyle's Lec-
tures, which were translated into several languages ; that he had refuted
09
LIFE OF
CHAP.
XIII.
1717.
Bangorian
Contro-
versy.
It will be recollected that at this very time, the
celebrated Bangorian Controversy was in full pro-
gress ; and perhaps it may be wondered that the
newly-elected Professor of Divinity did not engage
his ready pen in a dispute which interested and
divided the whole nation. Attention to his new
functions was, it is true, sufficient to absorb all his
time and thoughts ; but the reader has seen him
capable, when urged by any strong motive, to ab-
stract his mind in the pursuit of heterogeneous
objects, even at the busiest and most anxious mo-
ments of his life. Had he however been tempted to
the Free-thinkers, for which he had the University's solemn thanks ; and
Augustissimi Principis Matrona had ordered him the printing of it.
Besides this, he said, that he has read a great many of the Fathers, Greek
and Latin ; that he had Clemens, Origen, and Eusehius, ready for the
press ; and if that would not deserve him the title of a theologus, he said,
that under Beaumont * he had taken his Doctor's Degree. But that, says
he, is no proof, because a man by being a Doctor of Physic is not sup-
posed to be a physician ; nor a Doctor of Laws to be a lawyer (which he
intended for a reflection upon the Professors f of those two faculties).
Then he desired his auditors not to judge his abilities at present, now he
begins his office: detur crescendi copiaj and after-ages will show that he is
a theologus, by reason of his excellent design of a new edition of a New
Testament ; of which, by the help of Origen and St. Jerome, and some
very old MSS, he will make the text so undoubtedly true, ut e manibus
Apostolorum vix purior et sincerior evaserit, which shall for ever be a
standard of Religion to Christianity. At last he promised to read over the
Scholastic Divines ; and whatever of modern divinity the pampldets con-
tained he would buy, and exercise himself and his disputants ; to whom
he sancte promised to be very civil : assist the respondents ; and give room
for the opponents to exercise their talents ; and moreover that he would
encourage any body in printing of divinity books; and so concluded.
" In his answer to the cmestion about the Supremacy of the Pope, he
asserted, that abundance of Christian Bishops ought not to give place to
the Bishop of Rome ; and that, if he was to meet in a place with the
Archbishop of Canterbury, our Archbishop should take place of him."
Bishop Nicolson's Correspondence, p. 458.
f " Joseph Beaumont, D.D. ; Divinity Professor, 1672; died Nov. 22,
1699."
t " Francis Dickens, LL.D. and Christopher Green, M.D."
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 23
engage in this great controversial combat, there was, chap.
if I mistake not, an insuperable reason which must 1717
have kept him aloof. His opinions on the subject in =====
dispute would probably have led him to take part
with Sherlock, Snape, and the High-church com-
batants ; while his acquaintance, connections, and
interests, lay entirely with the opposite party.
Dr. Bentley's income received a large addition Value of the
from the revenue of his new office. The professor- s hi P .
ship of Divinity, like those of Hebrew and Greek,
was originally endowed with the fixed stipend of
forty pounds ; a sum sufficient in the reign of Henry
VIII. to maintain the respectability of the holder.
But in process of time, the altered value of money
having rendered this salary utterly inadequate, King-
James I. gave to the Divinity Professor the rectories
of Somersham, Pidley, and Coin, in Huntingdonshire.
The income of this endowment was reputed to be
about 300/. a year : the new Professor, considering
the rent inadequate, took into his own hands the
great tithes, which he collected by the agency of
Kent, his bailiff, to whom he let the small tithes of
the parishes. From this measure he expected to
raise the value of his office, with the addition of
stipend and fees, to 600/. a year.
The Fellows of Trinity found themselves no gainers Bentiey-s
by the prosperity of their Head : the increase of his h^prove^ 6
University preferment made the prospect of his re- " iei - ltsof his
moval, with which the mal-content party had con-
soled themselves, less probable than before ; and his
determination to increase the comforts and conve-
nience of his residence, subjected the College to a
series of renewed expenses. About this time an old
summer-house belonging to the Master, being in
want of repair, Bentley thought it more advisable to
pull it down, and build a larger one contiguous to
1
24 LIFE OF
xin ? ' ^ S own stuc ^y : an( * nere ne maa "e a bath, supplied
1717. w ^h water by a pipe from the College conduit 12 .
===== This edifice the malignants termed ' a banqueting
room.' In this year and the following the garden of
the Lodge was newly laid out with walks and grass-
plots ; and a terrace was made on the bank of the
river, which continued to be Bentley's favourite walk
for the remainder of his life. All this was executed
without any order ftom the Seniority ; but the ex-
penses were allowed at the audits. These works,
and a double-vaulted cellar for his wine, beingf un-
doubted improvements of the College premises, might
have produced little or no murmuring (though the
cost was about 900/.), had it not been for another
fancy of the Master's. Two out-houses in the back
premises of the Lodge, heretofore used as a dove-
cote and a lumber-house, he converted into a spacious
Hisgrana- granary, at an expense of above 300Z. and imme-
diately filled it with large quantities of tithe wheat
and malt, conveyed in barges from his rectory of
Somersham. In the course of the next two years
the greater part of these articles was sold to Tri-
nity College for the supply of the bakehouse and
brewery. As this transaction took place on the
mandate of the Master, and as the largest prices
were paid for them by the College officer, an im-
mediate outcry was raised against Bentley as ex-
ercising the trades of 'a farmer and a maltster 13 .'
Damaged Nor was this all : it happened that the malt was
the cone^e! damaged by an insect called the weevil; and in this
state the brewer was obliged to take it to the amount
of 700 bushels, although he declared the impossibility
of its making good liquor ; an assertion which Bent-
's Middleton's Present State of Trinity College, Works, vol. iii. p. 362.
13 Middleton's Present State of Trinity College, Works, p. 370. " He
immediately became the greatest farmer and maltster in the country."
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 25
lev either disbelieved or disregarded. The brewery chap.
. XIII.
of this College had always been noted for its peculiar 1717 '
excellence : and when, on the next great College fes- ~
. Trinity
tival, the badness of the beer was complained of, and Sunday,
the butler questioned in the hall respecting it, that '
officer, to obviate further examination, declared that
' it was brewed from the Master's malt.' Hardly any
particular in Bentley's life subjected him to more
scandal than this transaction : the story, circulated
and improved by his enemies, conveyed the joint
imputation of meanness, rapacity, and indecorum.
In the fulness of time it became a matter of judicial
investigation, and the facts were deposed by various
persons. The evidence of Kent the bailiff, which
there seems no reason to dispute, shows that the
malt was really not the Doctor's ; but that he him-
self, being a maltster, had purchased the tithe barley,
and sent it, when malted, to the Trinity granary,
and that the Master received the money on his
account. This statement, it must be confessed, does
not materially alter the complexion of the case ;
since it is evident that Dr. Bentley used his magis-
terial power to obtain a better and more certain
market for the commodity than it could otherwise
have commanded : he was, in one shape or other,
the gainer by the arrangement ; and whatever risk
or loss was incurred, fell upon the society, whose
interests it was his duty to protect u .
The granary had been made without permission junior Bur-
of the Seniors, the Master having only casually ** r * ef "^ s
mentioned before some of them that he was preparing thegranary.
a place to hold oats for his horses : a pretence so
11 The details of this transaction are given by Dr. Colbatch in several
manuscript papers, and are told with much bitterness by Middleton in his
State of Trinity College, &c. My account is taken from an examination
of the various witnesses on both sides, at the trial at Ely House, in 1733.
26 LIFE OF
chap, different from the real design that it added not a
XIII. . .
1717 ' little to the odium he incurred. Mr. Myers, the
junior bursar, to whose office all works on the Col-
lege buildings appertained, having been cautioned
by Dr. Colbatch, scrupled to pay for the granary, as
being executed without the authority required by the
statutes. But his conscientious behaviour had no
other effect than to bring upon himself the resent-
ment of the Master, who, at the ensuing election of
Dec. 1717. officers, opposed his re-appointment. On this oc-
casion however he met with unusual opposition, six
of the eight Seniors having spirit enough to vote for
Myers. But the Doctor overruled them by the ex-
ercise of his prerogative, and chose Richard Walker,
who, being of the standing of Bachelor of Divinity,
was disqualified for this office by a law of his own
making, on the importance of which he had laid so
much stress a few years before.
Richard The character now introduced to the reader will
Walker
play no inconsiderable part in the sequel of our
history, being of all Bentley's friends the most sin-
cerely attached and devoted. His intimacy, which
began at this period, was kept up by daily intercourse
as long as the Master lived ; and he continued to
cherish his memory the whole of his own life with
remarkable affection. This gentleman had but lately
resumed his residence in College, having been ab-
sent since the year 1708, serving a curacy at Upwell
in the Fen-country ; whence his contemporaries fa-
cetiously distinguished him from others of the same
name by the title of Frog Walker ; a nick-name by
which he is still designated. His friendly disposi-
tion, his liberality and public spirit, and his almost
chivalrous devotion to the fortunes of his Master,
have procured him a celebrity in University annals,
to which his talents and acquirements do not seem to
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 27
have entitled him. His first appearance on the stag;e chap.
. . XIII.
was far from being creditable : he paid the bills for j- 17
the granary, as well as all other works which it ==
pleased the Master to order, during the four years that
he continued College Edile, without once troubling
the Seniority for their consent ; and when he brought
his books to be approved at the audits, he was found
to have so intermixed the charges of the Lodge with
the general expenses of the College, that it was in
vain to think of disentaiio-lino- them.
Another heinous accusation was brought against Sept. 28,
the Master, relating to the produce of his rectory : he Bemley
was reported to have managed a collusive sale of coJi" s( j dofa
wheat in Cambridge market, on the day when the sale of
. J wheat.
prices of that article, according to which the College
tenants pay their half-year's rents, were to be de-
termined. It was said that Porter, the College
butler, made a purchase at 5s. a bushel of Kent, his
bailiff; while no other wheat was sold in the market
at more than 4s. Id. ; and that in order to cloak the
transaction, he had stipulated with one Rule, a
farmer, noted for the excellence of his wheat, to give
him 5s. for a quantity of it, if brought to sale on that
day : in the market, Kent produced a sample of the
Somersham tithe wheat, which being compared with
the other, and pronounced ecpial, if not superior,
appeared entitled to as large a price. A double
purpose was here effected ; the College rents were
fixed unduly high, and the Master's own tithe wheat
was sold out of his granary to the College at a
greater price than it was worth. The story being-
circulated with surprising industry, Bentley's enemies
charged him with an offence of peculiar magnitude ;
that of bringing public disgrace upon his College.
However, after a careful examination of the evidence
on this subject, I must declare that the charge of
28
LIFE OF
chap, fraudulent or dishonourable conduct is not made
XIII. 1 , T I ,
1?17 out ; nor are we warranted in believing that the
===== collusion, if any existed, took place with Bentley's
cognizance. Porter, the butler, distinctly denies it :
he was, it is true, the creature of the Master ; but
unless we suppose him guilty of wilful perjury, the
accusation was untrue ; and this I am the rather led
to believe, because Dr. Ayloffe, the bursar, allowed
to have been a scrupulous and conscientious man,
jealous of all irregularities, and not favourably dis-
posed to the Master, could not have been ignorant of
the deceit, had any been committed.
Bentley kept his tithes in his own hands for three
years ; when either to avoid further obloquy, or find-
ing the advantage not commensurate with the in-
convenience, he let them to Kent, who was still
accommodated with the use of the College granary.
But the late transactions were not forgotten, and
ever afterwards made a prominent figure in all the
complaints of his adversaries.
Bentley's The Doctor's College administration in the years
nomination ,_-._ iir-i^ i n i i
of scholars. 1/17 and 1/18 presents little more than the same
absolute disposal of places, honours, and preferments,
as we have already witnessed ; and to this assumption
of authority all resistance now seemed hopeless. At
the election of scholars in 1717, he allowed none to
be candidates but those previously selected by him-
self, and their number was exactly the same as that
of the vacancies. Some young men, not included in
his list, having entered their names, he immediately
ordered them to be erased. This continued after-
wards his ordinary practice ; and that there might
be no doubt of the Master being the sole fountain of
honour and reward, he gave the candidates this
subject for a theme, Nemo ex hoc numero mihi non
donatus abibit. Such an exercise of patronage, be-
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 29
sides overturning: all but the semblance of statutable chap.
XIII.
election, had another mischievous tendency. The ]?17
disputes of their governors were found to descend to
the young men ; and it had been for some time
observed that the students were divided into two
parties, the friends and enemies of the Master :
many from their first coming to the College attached
themselves to one or other of the two factions ; and
it was suspected, that in the selection of students to
be admitted on the foundation, these party attach-
ments were not overlooked 15 .
The Master's appointment of the various college of college
servants seemed to proceed upon the idea of those
situations (some of them posts of considerable trust)
being appendages of his own household. Thus the
places of butler, porter, and cook, were given to his
domestics ; of which no complaint would have been
made had they been qualified for their respective
posts : but when he conferred the place, or rather
the emoluments, of porter upon his coachman, and
after his death upon his son, a boy of fifteen, a
serious abuse ensued. He suffered the duties in
both cases to be executed by deputies ; who having
no remuneration except such fees and presents as
they could obtain, opened the gates to young men at
unseasonable hours of the night, to the destruction
of College discipline, and injury of the morals of the
students.
Dr. Colbatch was able to watch and denounce, Coibatch's
i i i" p i n/r * w0 ' et t ers
but not to arrest the proceedings ot the Master. t0 Bishop
Being foiled in all his efforts to procure a visitation Fleetw0
by petitioning the Crown, he now obtained leave
from the Bishop of Ely to lay before him a detail of
15 In the year 1717 the Master forbade the sizars being candidates for
scholarships before their third year : a rule which has in practice been
followed, with few exceptions, from that day to the present.
XIII.
1717-
30 LIFE OF
chap, the college grievances. This he did in the year
1717, in two letters, couched in the severest lan-
guage, and well calculated to communicate the in-
dignation with which he was himself inspired. The
first contains an exposition of Dr. Bentley's govern-
ment, as concerned the elections, discipline, and
studies ; the second, of his malversation regarding
revenues and expenditure. But the liberty of vent-
ing his complaints was the only satisfaction with
which he was indulged. Bishop Fleetwood remained
immovable in his resolution to take no steps as
Visitor of the College, until he was empowered and
required to do so by the King's command ; and he
now urged, in addition to his former reasons for not
interfering, that the Petition of the Fellows to the
King remained still unanswered.
commemo- Thus repulsed, Colbatch had no further resource ;
ration Ser- . , . , . , . .
man. but in a sermon which it was nis turn to preach in
17T7. the College Chapel at the commemoration of Bene-
factors, he made a powerful appeal to the religious
feelings of his auditors, laying before them the real
objects of the foundation, and the duties particularly
demanded of the governors of a college, and adding
a dignified rebuke upon what he deemed an aban-
donment of those obligations : a censure, perhaps, the
more felt, because its tone w r as calm and temperate.
This discourse w<as published, and appears to have
excited considerable sensation. Bishop Smalridge,
then Dean of Christ Church, w r assaid to have declared
that it ought to be read once a quarter by every
governor of a college ; and Dr. Bentley himself felt
it right not only to avow his approbation of it, but to
say he was ready to subscribe to every word l6 .
16 See Preface to Middletori 's Further Remarks, Whiston's Life, p. 356.
In this Sermon Colbatch paid a remarkable tribute to the merits of
Laughton, the tutor of Clare Hall, which deserves to be recorded, and is
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 31
The only particular of Bentley's administration at chap.
this period which can be recorded with satisfaction is, m '
that he laid out and made those beautiful walks on
the opposite side of the river Cam, which are so great Bentiey
an ornament and convenience to the College and Uni- plants uTe
versity. This ground, previously called the back- ^^f
green, had been purchased above a century before by
the exchange of more than thirty acres of land in the
outskirts of Cambridge : it appears, however, to have
been left in its original state of a fen. In the years
1717 and 1718 the present walks were formed, and
the beautiful avenues of lime trees, the very perfec-
tion of academic groves, were planted. Although
the Doctor became a planter at a somewhat advanced
age, he lived long enough to enjoy the shades of his
own rearing. It is, perhaps, right to add that the
cost bestowed upon these walks, though amounting to
500/. and that too without order of the Seniority,
seems to have been so well laid out, that it never gave
rise to any murmuring or discontent.
The visit of King George I. to the University, was King
followed by results so curious and unexampled, as to V is?ts g the
form a kind of episode in our academical history. As Unlveisl( y-
the transactions of the day itself had considerable
influence upon the subsequent events, it is my duty to
detail from the beginning all that I find to have taken
place on that occasion.
His Majesty having, in imitation of his predecessors, Oct. 4,
^ 171*7
visited Newmarket with his court, the Vice-chancellor,
Heads, and other members of the University went
over to invite him to honour Cambridge with his
presence, and took that opportunity of thanking him
for the late signal instance of his munificence. The
the more honourable to both, from the fact of their being of opposite par-
ties. " We see," says he, " what a confluence of nobility and gentry the
virtue of one man daily draws to one of our least Colleges."
32 LIFE OF
XIII.
1717.
chap. Sovereign gave them a gracious reception, and pro-
mised to visit the University on Sunday the 6th, and
by this short notice precluded as far as possible all
expensive preparations. We noticed in our account
of Queen Anne's visit, that when the Monarch is
present in this University, it is customary to give
Doctors' and other degrees to all whom the Royal
pleasure may nominate for such dignities. Upon the
present occasion a list was prepared, comprising
twenty-seven noblemen and others in the King's suite,
who were to be made Doctors of Laws, and thirty-two
of the most distinguished members of the University,
on whom the degree of Doctor of Divinity was to be
conferred. To Bentley belonged the twofold duty of
creating the Doctors as Professor of Divinity, and
receiving the Royal guest at his lodge, as Master of
The Duke the leading college. But the University was destined
of somerset tQ j^ ] lonoure( i on the same day with the presence of
another august personage, its Chancellor, who is gene-
rally known by the appellation of ' the proud Duke
of Somerset ;' and his reception was as much a matter
of care and punctilio as that of the Monarch himself.
Having determined to receive the King at the head of
the University, he signified his intention of coming
over at nine in the morning ; his Majesty being ex-
pected at eleven. His Grace was himself a member
of Trinity College : his two sons the Earl of Hertford,
and Lord Percy Seymour had successively occupied a
large set of rooms in the Great Court, consisting of
what had formerly been the Old Library, which were
first fitted up for the reception of the former ; and in
those apartments the Duke designed to take up his
own residence on the present occasion.
1717- Accordingly, on Sunday morning, Mr. Grigg, the
of C Grigg U ti>e Vice-chancellor, attended by a number of other
vije-chan- fjeads, proceeded to Trinity Lodge, in order to greet
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 33
XIII.
1717.
the Duke upon his arrival. Dr. Bentley, to whom it chap.
appears that no previous intimation had been given of
their design, was surprised and displeased at this
arrangement. We may suppose him to have been
occupied at that moment in giving directions for pre-
paring his house and his college for the reception of
the Sovereign, or in meditating a Latin oration which
he was to deliver two or three hours afterwards, before
an august and critical audience. In either case the
intrusion must have been as inconvenient as it was
unceremonious. He accordingly represented to the
Vice-chancellor and Heads that the Consistory was
the proper place in which to receive the Chancellor ;
adding that the state apartments of his lodge were
kept for the reception of the King. Hereupon, the
other Heads departed ; but Grigg, not caring whom
he offended so long as he was but showing attention
to his own patron, resolved to remain : and in effect,
he, the Senior Proctor, and three Beadles made good
their lodgement in the house-keeper's room, there to
wait for the arrival of the great Duke. At 10 o'clock
his Grace came accompanied by the Earl of Thomond
and Bishop of Norwich ; they were met about the
middle of the quadrangle by the Vice-chancellor, and
conducted by him to the lodge of the Master, who
found these august visitors forced upon him contrary
to his expectations, and before he had time to change
his undress gown, and put on his robes for their recep-
tion 17 . He did, however, receive this unwished-for
17 " About 10 o'clock his Grace came. As soon as he entered the Col-
lege gate, the Vice-chancellor, (the three Beadles going before him in their
tufted gowns, velvet caps and hoods, without their coifs,) advanced to meet
him ; which he did about the middle of the court.
" The Duke was very courteous ; seemed wonderfully pleased to find
himself in the University ; and indeed carried a very cheerful air in his
countenance during the whole day.
VOL. II. D
"After
34
LIFE OF
CHAP
XIII.
1717.
honour with proper deference and courtesy ; the Chan-
cellor, after viewing the handsome apartments of the
lodge, went in procession as Head of the University
to the Regent-house, and having there transacted the
preliminary business, descended into the Consistory,
to await the coming of his Majesty. About 1 1 o'clock
the King alighted from his carriage at the Regent-
walk, in the middle of which he took his seat in a
chair of state in the open air ; and after a short com-
pliment from the Chancellor, was greeted in a Latin
speech by Dr. Ayloffe, the Public orator. His Majesty
was then conducted with a mixture of royal and^ aca-
demical ceremony, to the Regent-house, where his
chair was placed at the upper end of the table, which
was covered with a cloth of gold. Hereupon the
creation of some of the new Doctors, the only speci-
men of academical proceedings, which the shortness
of time w T ould allow, took place with full ceremonial.
After the grace had passed for the degrees of all per-
sons named in the Royal mandate, Dr. Bentley, as
Regius Professor, presented to the Chancellor three
King's pre- f the number, who were Heads of Houses, Mr. Grigg,
Dr. Davies (previously only Doctor of Laws) and Mr.
Waterland : after their regular admission, the Pro-
fessor, turning himself to the King, delivered an
appropriate speech, upon what must be allowed to
have been a most interesting occasion. He then
created the three Doctors of Divinity with all those
Bentley
creates
some Doc-
tors of Divi
nity in the
sence.
" After compliments were over, the Beadles turned their staves and
preceded the Chancellor to the lodging.
" At the second door Dr. Bentley, in his morning gown, with his hat
under his arm, received Ins Grace ; and though he was not all suhmission,
he was pretty near it.
" While he entertained the Duke in discourse, there stood the Earl of
Thomond and Bishop of Norwich, unregarded: and there they might
have stood, if one of the Beadles had not touched his sleeve a little ; and
then he vouchsafed them a welcome also." Attwood's Journal.
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 35
ancient ceremonies to which he has added so much chap.
VTIT
interest, in the Commencement-speech prefixed to his "
edition of Terence. =
The academical business thus concluded, the august
company went in procession to the magnificent chapel
of King's College, the glory of the University ; in the
nave of which the King was addressed in another
speech from the Provost ; his Majesty probably under-
standing these Latin orations better than any thing
else which he heard that day. Here service was per-
formed, and a sermon preached by Laughton, the
tutor of Clare Hall. The procession then left the
chapel for Trinity College, where his Majesty was to
lodge, and where a banquet was prepared for the whole
company. A distressing mistake now occurred. The The King
Vice-chancellor wishing that his own beautiful college seifshuTout
should have its share of the Royal admiration, chose ^"" lty
to conduct the procession the back way to Trinity, in
order that it might pass by Clare Hall. Thus his
Majesty, after a passing glance at that House, was
led to the Queen's-gate of Trinity : but no intimation
having been given of Grigg's design, and his arrival
being of course expected at the King's-gate, the
Master and the whole college were drawn up there for
his reception, while all the inhabitants of the town
were assembled on the outside : meantime the other
entrance had been closed to prevent the irruption of
the populace into the quadrangle. Thus did the
King find the entrance of his Royal college barred
against him, and was compelled to stand five minutes
in the lane, which is described to have been at that
time 'a most dirty, filthy place,' before the tidings
of his arrival could reach the Great Gate, and the
postern be thrown open for his reception. At length
his Majesty obtained admission, and Dr. Bentley at
the head of the society, meeting him about the middle
d 2
1717-
36 LIFE OF
chap, of the court, bade him ' welcome to a college which
XIII. . .
he might call his own,' and conducted him to his
- lodge. The King next visited Trinity Library, the
noble work of Sir Christopher Wren ; but he declined
honouring the public banquet with his presence, pre-
ferring to dine at the Master's lodge with a select
company of ten noblemen : while the Duke partook
of the dinner prepared in the hall, with the Royal
retinue and the University. In the evening his
Majesty attended service at the College Chapel, and
then taking his leave, returned to Newmarket, and on
the next day to Hampton Court ; having gratified the
University by his goodness and condescension, but
leaving some of its members irritated against one
another by certain occurrences of the day 18 .
18 The following notice of this Royal visit is in a letter from Dr. Wilkins
to the Bishop of Carlisle, (Bp. Nicolson's Correspondence, p. 464.)
Lambeth, Oct. 15, 1717-
My honoured Lord,
I am but just returned from Cambridge, where I had the good fortune to
be created Doctor of Divinity by Dr. Bentley. The good Bishop of Nor-
wich had so much kindness for me, as to put me in the King's list of his
own accord, by which I saved a great sum of money ; only my exercises I
had composed in vain, and reckon so much time lost. His Majesty has
made a general conquest of the affections of grumbling people wherever he
was ; and expressed a great deal of satisfaction in being so kindly received
by the University. The Duke of Somerset (who is said to glory more in
being Chancellor of Cambridge than in Ins other titles) exerted himself in
a fine speech, which he thus concluded : If our University is not the learn-
edest society in the world, your Majesty's late present will make us so. The
University Orator made a very ingenious, learned, Latin speech, which, as
well as Dr. Bentley's, the King said, he understood every word.
As long as the King staid at Cambridge, one heard nothing (although it
was upon a Sunday) but ringing of bells, Vivat Rex ! King George for
ever ! The country people came ten miles and farther to see this solemnity ;
and the King was pleased to shew himself openly ; admitted every body
where he dined, made presents to the poor of all parishes, to the two gaols,
to the ringers of every Church, and to the Sizars of Trinity College. What
will the Sister University say to this ?
Your Lordship's always dutiful son,
and most obedient humble servant,
D. Wilkins.
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 37
Our narrative of this day's proceedings is prin- chap.
cipally drawn from the journal of Attwood, the , '
Esquire-beadle, whose duty kept him in close attend- _
ance on the leading personages, and gave him the
fullest opportunity of observing every thing that oc-
curred. But this gentleman seems to have entered
so strongly into the feelings of the party hostile to
Bentley, that he was resolved always to find him
in the wrong : nor could he perceive that his own
narrative would convince any unprejudiced person
that the Doctor was, in this case, at least, ' more
sinned against than sinning.' The behaviour of
Grigg, the Vice-chancellor, was not only at open war
with good manners, but his mode of introducing both
the King and the Chancellor into Trinity had a ten-
dency to throw upon the Master the appearance of
inattention ; and might, therefore, have been pro-
voking to a meeker spirit than Bentley 's. On the
other hand, the only complaint which his enemies
could make against him was, that he had endeavoured
to appropriate to himself and his college, all the ho-
nour of the Royal visit 19 .
On the following morning, the adjourned Congre- Oct. 7.
gation met in the Senate-house, to complete the mands y an e "
business decreed at the Regia Comitia ; when the ^ e d e d r "^
Professor of Divinity required from each of the Doc- atin g the
tors whom he was about to create, a fee of four tors.
guineas, in addition to a broad-piece, which was the
ancient and established compliment on this occasion.
Three or four of them complied with this demand ;
but the greater part protested against it, as unreason-
19 Middleton makes this a subject of complaint against Bentley, in the
controversy which took place in 17 19- Great offence was given by Hacket,
the College dean, saying grace at dinner. Beadle Attwood says, " Dr.
Hacket had the presumption to say grace, though the Vice-chaneelJor was
present, and he too chaplain to the Chancellor."
38 LIFE OF
chap, able and unwarrantable. A long and warm alterca-
xiii. . . .
17J J tion ensued, in which Bentley maintained the justice
===== of his claim, and refused to give creation to any who
would not acquiesce. Among the incepting Doctors,
the person most prominent in the argument against
Dr.conyers the Professor was Conyers Middleton, whom we
resists the have already had occasion to notice more than once
payment. ag taking a part unfriendly to our hero. This emi-
nent and accomplished scholar occupied a house at
Cambridge, where his society was much courted and
enjoyed by the leading characters of the University.
He had contracted an early and violent antipathy
against Bentley, which only waited for such an oppor-
tunity as the present to display itself. His intimates
seem to have been for the most part ill-disposed to the
Doctor, and in party views he was opposed to him ;
but I find no trace of any personal offence having ever
passed between them, unless it were that Bentley had
expressed contempt for his love of music, by terming
him 'the musical Conyers,' or 'the fiddling Con-
yers.' In the course of the present dispute, the
Professor, though he declined any appeal to the
University authorities, repeatedly argued that he
demanded only his right ; adding that he was the
King's Professor, and declaring his readiness to refund
the fee, provided the case were decided against him
by the King, or any commission or authority emanat-
ing from his Majest) 7 . Accordingly, several of the
new Doctors, and Middleton among the rest, agreed
to pay the required fee, taking a promise under Dr.
Bentley's hand, that he would restore the four guineas
should it be adjudged by such authority that his claim
was ill-founded. The Congregation was then ad-
journed to the following day : in the meantime the
Vice-chancellor and Heads sent over a statement of
the dispute to the Chancellor, who was at Newmarket,
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 39
and received from his Grace a reply, that they must chap.
not suffer the University business to be interrupted by 17l -"
the Professor ; along with an assurance that he would =
himself support their authority, if necessary, in
person.
On the 9th Dr. Bentley performed the ceremony Opposition
of creating those Doctors who had given him the V ers%.
required fee : but some others, being refused creation,
appealed to the Vice-chancellor and Heads, who pro-
nounced at once that the demand was extortion, and
ought not to be complied with. Bentley replied by
denying their right of interference ; told them that if
they obstructed him in his demand of four guineas
he would require ten ; and positively declared that
there should be no more creations. Hereupon it was
suggested that the agency of the Regius Professor
was not indispensable in this ceremony, and that it
might be performed by any other Doctor in Divinity.
Accordingly Dr. Bardsey Fisher, the Master of Sidney
College, was directed by the Vice-chancellor to create
those whom the Professor refused ; which he imme-
diately performed, receiving the broad-piece as his
fee ; though the confused manner in which he blun-
dered through the ceremony, prompted by the beadle,
was such a contrast to the able and dignified manner
of the Professor, as afforded the latter considerable
matter for triumph 20 . However his best friends, and
among them Davies and Laughton, disapproved of his
obstinate adherence to such a point ; and it seems to
have been partly at their instance, and partly from
apprehension of this new interpretation of the statute,
that he conceded so far as to create the remaining
Doctors, upon their giving a note promising him the
2" Cole, MSS. vol. xxx. p. 106., having occasion to allude to Dr. Fisher,
describes Mm as a ' very pleasant, facetious, and witty man.'
40 LIFE OF
chap, four guineas, if it were decided to be his just de-
,_, ' mand.
1717.
The reader may now be desirous of knowing upon
Bemiey's what grounds Dr. Bentley defended a claim, which
claim. raised such extraordinary disturbance. The matter
originated thus : candidates for theological degrees
are exempted by the statutes from two Opponencies,
part of the prescribed exercises, provided, when they
keep their Acts, they have a Doctor for their Oppo-
nent. In order to secure to the Respondent this
advantage, the Professor himself, who moderates,
sometimes adduces arguments against him ; and
Bentley's two predecessors, Dr. Beaumont and Dr.
James, had fixed a charge, the first of two guineas,
and the last of four guineas, as a remuneration for
this extra-trouble. Dr. Bentley, finding the latter
sum an established charge, considered it in the light
of an addition to the fee for a doctor's degree, and as
such had claimed and received it from those who
were created at the preceding Commencement.
Supposing the duties to be really performed, since it
was voluntary on the part of the Professor, and a
considerable accommodation to the person graduat-
ing, there appears to be nothing unreasonable either
in the principle or the amount of this demand. But
he went further : he argued that the King's visit to
the University, being intended as a measure of grace
and favour, ought not to operate to the prejudice of
any one ; that, had it not taken place, each of the
royal Doctors would probably have taken his degree
in the ordinary way, and thus the required fee would
have been paid to the Professor. He contended
moreover that no hardship could be complained of,
since they now obtained their doctorships at an
expense of not more than 20/. ; while, in the ordi-
nary course, it would have been 100/: thence it
1717-
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 41
was every way unreasonable that he should be a chap.
XIII
sufferer in his emoluments. When it was alleged
that this demand rested upon no statute, authority,
or precedent, he replied that the two other Regius
Professors of Law and Physic demanded and received
from each of the doctors created in their faculties
the sum of 14/., for which they had no better autho-
rity to plead. But, above all, he urged that Grigg
himself, by whom this payment was condemned and
prohibited, did at the same time receive four guineas
for each of the new graduates, two as Vice-chancellor
and two as Chancellor's Secretary, without the autho-
rity of statute or the pretence of trouble, but simply
upon the same principle as the demand made by the
Divinity Professor. This last argument tended to
make unprejudiced persons believe, that the oppo-
sition to Dr. Bentley's claim was in truth the mere
result of personal or party animosity.
The argument of the other professors being undis-
turbed in their larger claim, was rebutted by saying,
that those two officers having only the paltry stipend
of 40Z. were in a manner compelled to seek a more
adequate support of their station by means of fees
and perquisites ; but that the Divinity Professor,
being endowed with a noble benefice, had no pre-
tence or excuse for grasping at further emoluments.
After all, however, it probably will be allowed that
Bentley's claim was not without grounds which de-
served consideration, had the question been referred
to any competent authority ; but that he was greatly
to be condemned for making and enforcing such a
demand by his own unsanctioned will ; while his
obstinate perseverance in what was held pecuniary
extortion, was injurious to his personal reputation,
and derogatory to the sacred character with which
he was invested.
42
LIFE OF
CHAP.
XIII.
1717.
Dr. Gooch,
Vice-chan-
cellor.
Nov. 4.
The election of a new Vice-chancellor shortly
ensued. The persons nominated were Dr. Bradford,
Master of Corpus Christi, and Dr. Gooch, Master of
Caius College. Bradford was the senior ; but the
Tory party determined again to set him aside : it
was apprehended from his intimacy with Dr. Bentley,
that upon disputed questions he might incline to his
interest : accordingly a contest took place, and Gooch
was elected by a majority of 95 to 51.
The gentleman now invested with the chief ma-
gistracy belonged to a good family in Suffolk, and
was at this time about his forty-fourth year. His
political opinions had so strong a Tory cast, that
they were suspected of Jacobitism. Having, while
Fellow of Caius College, been chaplain to the late
Bishop of London, Dr. Compton, he preached the
funeral sermon at the death of that prelate, when he
mentioned, in terms of the highest praise, the advice
which he had given to Queen Anne, (whose preceptor
he had been) to reject the two Whigs recommended
for bishopricks by her Ministers, and to assert the
Royal prerogative by a choice of her own. Gooch
afterwards received from Bishop Robinson the arch-
deaconry of Essex ; and in 1716 was elected Preacher
of Gray's Inn, and Master of his college. He
then married the sister of Dr. Sherlock, and a
close confederacy existed throughout their lives be-
tween these two brothers-in-law ; both of whom were
raised, by Sir Robert Walpole's government, to high
stations on the Episcopal bench. His contemporaries
describe Dr. Gooch to have been a courtly gentleman
in his manners, possessed of much address and sub-
tilty. His letters, which I have seen, are only
remarkable for a pointed and laconic style of ex-
pression.
Dr. Bentley in the meantime made no progress
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 43
towards confirming- his claim to the additional fee, chap.
XIII
by the interference of the Court. He had been 1717
encouraged by the indications of favour on occasion -
of the late Royal visit, and expected that he, being
leader of the ministerial party at Cambridge, would
meet with the support of the Government. But his ap-
plications for this purpose were altogether ineffectual.
Lord Sunderland did not think it right that either
the name or authority of the King should be inter-
posed in a dispute of so invidious and personal a
nature ; and he, I presume, was ' the great Minister
of State,' who was said to have assured the Vice-
chancellor that ' Government would not meddle with
the matter 21 .'
At this resolution Bentley seems to have been Bentley
sufficiently chagrined ; and perhaps his mortification fhlThird
was increased by the marks of favour bestowed on Earks'L
Sherlock, the leader of his opponents, who had Free-think-
recently been made Dean of Chichester. Our pro-
fessor had been introduced into the select coteries of
the Princess of Wales, in which she enjoyed the
conversation of the most learned men in the kingdom ;
and it was at her Royal Highness's special request
that he resumed the third part of ' Phileleutherus's
Remarks on Free-thinking.' We learn that he
happened to have that work in hand just at this
period ; but on experiencing what he conceived ill
usage, he threw it aside with indignation, complaining
' that those whom he wrote for, were as bad as those
whom he wrote against.' Two half-sheets had ac-
tually been printed when he broke off his manuscript
in the middle of a page, and could never be pre-
vailed upon to resume it
ing.
22
21 Proceedings of the Vice-chancellor and University of Cambridge against
Dr. Bentley Stated and Vindicated, p. f.
22 This account is distinctly given by his nephew and executor, Dr.
Richard Bentley, who had heard it from his uncle himself. See his
44 LIFE OF
chap. I find it recorded that Richard Warren, of Jesus
*"!,' College, who took his doctor's degree in 1718, was,
171 8. D '
when keeping his Act in the Schools, used somewhat
waSn hard harshly by the professor : happening to preach before
June 19, t j ie University on the Commencement Sunday, he
17 18. J . ,
took the opportunity of retaliating in his sermon ;
but Dr. Bentley, two days afterwards, in his speech
on creation of the doctors, rejoined with much se-
verity. What was the subject of this dispute, I can
only surmise ; its effect seems to have produced a
lasting resentment in the mind of Dr. Warren, who
treated Bentley with much asperity in an edition of
Hierocles, which he published a great many years
afterwards, principally with the view of decrying the
emendations of our critic 23 .
Dr. Middleton hearing no more of his four guineas,
which were to abide the Royal decision upon the fee,
thought fit to apply to the professor for their restora-
tion, first by letter, and afterwards in person. No
regard being paid to his applications, he resolved to
seek the recovery of his money by suing for it as a
The vice- debt, in the Vice-chancellor's court. This tribunal
conA "'" possesses an extensive jurisdiction both of a criminal
and civil nature, for the maintenance of discipline,
Advertisement to the eighth edition of the Remarks, published in 1/43,
and containing the last pages written by the author. His statement coin-
cides with that given by Dr. Salter, from Bentley's own mouth.
23 Rud's Diary. I find, from a letter dated University College, Oxford,
Aug. 18, 1718, that a report had reached the sister University, that Cam-
bridge was in a great ferment, on account of Dr. Bentley having on occa-
sion of a Divinity Act, made a speech, condemning the Epistles of St.
Ignatius, and afterwards refusing to hear the Respondent, who attempted
to reply. The whole of this is given as hearsay ; but it was the talk of the
Long Vacation ; and as Bentley's Commencement Speech, alluded to by
Rud, (who was himself created D.D. on the same day) was the last public
exhibition before the vacation, and as Rud makes no mention of any other
altercation occurring in the Schools about this time, it is at least probable
that his dispute with Warren, and that upon St. Ignatius, were the same.
If the Professor's opinion was delivered in his ' Determination,' he was
perfectly correct in not suffering a reply.
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 45
XIII.
1718.
the punishment of offences, and the decision of chap.
causes in which any members of the University are
concerned : the sole judge is the Vice-chancellor ;
who acts, however, with the advice of his assessors :
but an appeal lies against his decisions to the Dele-
gates, who are either three or five individuals chosen
by the Senate for the purpose. This academical
court, though armed with great and comprehensive
authority, is by no means one of frequent resort. A
Vice-chancellor sometimes passes through his year of
office without being once called upon to preside as
judge. But in the time of Dr. Gooch, the functions
of the court were displayed with unwonted activity.
Mr. Bull, of Queen's, who has been noticed as a
friend and partizan of Bentley, was prosecuted for
defamation by Mr. Warde, a Fellow of the same
college : whether the quarrel between these two
gentlemen was of a private or a public nature, it is
needless to inquire : it probably partook of both
characters. Bull was convicted and censured ; but
the Vice-chancellor did not escape some outcry from
the Whig party, who charged him with partiality to
the prosecutor. The defendant then appealed to the
Delegates, who however confirmed the sentence.
Soon afterwards, proceedings were commenced in
the court against Philip Brooke, a Fellow of St.
John's College, one of the Non-jurors, who was then
Library-keeper of the University, for disaffection to
the King. When the prosecution had advanced
some way, he resigned his office ; whereupon all
further proceedings were closed : here the Govern-
ment party charged Dr. Gooch with disloyalty, on
the score of his forbearance and lenity to the accused.
An appeal was also presented to the Vice-chancellor
in capacity of Visitor of Corpus-Christi College,
against the Master, who had pre-elected his son,
46
LIFE OF
CHAP.
xnr.
1718.
Dr. Gooch
deprived of
his chap-
laincy to the
King.
William Bradford, to a fellowship, in a College
Meeting, at which only four of the twelve Fellows
were present : but before he could deliver his judg-
ment, Dr. Bradford (who was about this time made
Bishop of Carlisle) obtained an order from the King
in Council, prohibiting his further proceedings ; and
the dispute was made up in the society. Nor was
this the only occasion on which the Government
showed a disposition to countenance their adherents
in the University. Dr. Sherlock and Dr. Snape
having given umbrage by their zeal in favour of the
High-church party, both in Convocation and in the
Bangorian Controversy, their names had been erased
from the list of King's Chaplains. It was now thought
that the activity of Dr. Gooch merited a similar
disgrace ; he was accordingly deprived of his chap-
laincy; and to make this expression of displeasure
more pointed, Mr. Bull, who had just suffered by
his sentence, was constituted King's Chaplain in his
room
24
Bentley
quarrels
with the
Vice-chan-
cellor.
Dr. Middleton having announced to the Vice-
chancellor his resolution to institute a process against
Dr. Bentley, that officer endeavoured to procure a
termination of the business, by advising the Professor
to return the four guineas. Although a personal
friend of Middleton, and participating in the dislike
of Bentley felt by all his party, Dr. Gooch acted in
the outset of this affair as became a person in his
station, anxious to save the University and the Church
from the scandal of such a dignified character being
involved in so paltry a proceeding. He held many
conversations with the Professor, and as an argument
24 Bull's opponent, Mr. John Warde, shortly afterwards experienced
far more valuable patronage from the hands of the University ; who pre-
sented him to the large living of Simonburn in Northumberland ; the ad-
vowson of which belonged to a papist.
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 47
XIII.
1718.
to induce him to give up the point, plainly told him CIIAp
that if the matter came into his Court, he must
decide it against him. This intimation, joined with
the fact of his intimacy and frequent communication
with his adversary, convinced Bentley that he had
no prospect of a favourable decision during the Vice-
chancellorship of Dr. Gooch : he chose, therefore, to
take such a course as might at least postpone the
matter ; and continued to flatter himself with the
hope of Government interfering in his behalf. Once,
however, he did yield so far as to send the four
guineas to be placed in the hands of the Vice-chan-
cellor ; but he happening to be out at the moment,
they were brought back by the messenger : in the
meantime the Doctor's mind was altered, and he was
fixed in his unfortunate resolution to pursue a contest,
from which, whatever might be the decision, neither
credit nor advantage could accrue
Bella geri placuit nullos hubitura triumphos.
He would have been satisfied indeed to have got
out of the dispute, could that have been effected
without the appearance of a defeat ; for on one
occasion he said to Gooch, that ' he would end the
dispute as the Germans and Turks had done, with a
uti possidetis.' But on being told that the complain-
ant demanded the decree (which is in fact an arrest,
the first step in the action), and that it could no
longer in justice be refused, he cautioned the Vice-
chancellor how he proceeded to arrest a Doctor
without the consent of nine Heads of colleges. Upon
this a meeting of the Heads was summoned, the
statutes examined, and a determination made and
published, that in case of a civil action a Doctor pos-
sessed no exemption or privilege different from other
1
48 LIFE OF
xnr
1718
chap, members of the University. The Vice-chancellor
immediately wrote to Bentley, communicating this
interpretation, and again begging him to reconsider
the matter, and to end the dispute without bringing
it into Court. This letter was answered by the
professor in person, who called at Caius Lodge, and
in high terms expostulated with Gooch, saying,
among other things which gave offence, that ' he
would not be judged by him and his friends over a
bottle.' His own statement is, that he was treated
with incivility by Gooch, who remained seated, while
he was left standing, during the whole of the visit.
This fact, which was stated in print and not con-
tradicted, may serve as a curious illustration of the
importance assumed in those days by official rank ;
though it does seem amazing that a gentleman, de-
scribed as possessing courtly manners, could have
so demeaned himself to one considerably his senior
in years, and immeasurably his superior in all other
particulars, except the ephemeral office with which
he happened to be invested.
offends the It may here be mentioned, that Dr. Bentley had
Heads given personal offence to many of his brethren the
Heads, partly by contemptuous expressions, and
partly by the nicknames which he was said to bestow
upon them. Tradition reports that at some meeting,
where, after a question had been long discussed,
Dr. Ashton observed, that ' it was not yet quite clear
to him,' the Master of Trinity briskly demanded,
' are we then to wait here till your mud has sub-
sided?' The Vice-chancellor he termed ' the empty
gotch of Caius ;' while to Sherlock, whom he found
to be the real mover and manager of every thing in
the University, he gave the title of Cardinal Albe-
roni : an appellation which appeared so appropriate
that it adhered to him long; after its orioin had been
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 49
forgotten. This contemptuous treatment of his brother chap.
Heads may account for their combining to crush the 1718
Master of Trinity ; a fact which might otherwise be ===
extraordinary ; as the esprit de corps in that order is
generally observed to prevail over party feeling,
whenever those two impulses are brought into col-
lision. Certain it is, that there never was a period
at which the Heads less deserved to be held in dis-
respect ; for of the whole number of sixteen, no less
than eight were known to the world as scholars and
divines of the first eminence : even at the present
day the names of Bentley, Covel, Ashton, Jenkin,
Bradford, Sherlock, Waterland, and Davies reflect
lustre upon the University which claims them as her
sons.
After repeated postponements, a decree at length Sept 23,
went forth from the Vice-chancellor, for arresting Decree to
Dr. Bentley at the suit of Dr. Middleton ; it was ^ st Bent "
committed to Edward Clarke, one of the Esquire-
beadles, who immediately proceeded with it to
Trinity Lodge. The Master's behaviour towards this
functionary constitutes the principal, or I may say,
the only ground for the severe and extraordinary
measures which ensued. He cavilled at the form
and questioned the legality of the document; saying,
that the King, and not the Vice-chancellor was his
judge, and repeating that ' he would not be con-
cluded by what he and four or five of his friends
determined against him over a bottle:' having then
asked for the arrest, he refused to give it back to
Mr. Clarke, alleging ' that he had further occa-
sion for it.' The beadle unwillingly left it in his
hands ; but he went next morning to reclaim his
document, when Dr. Bentley positively refused to
give it him at present. The Vice-chancellor being
informed of this usage, issued another decree, which
VOL. 11. e
50 LIFE OF
chap. Mr. Clarke carried to Trinity Lodge, but was denied
17ia admittance. The next day he went to complete the
=== arrest, and got into the dining-room ; when after a
Sept. 24. ' o o 7
time, there came to him not the Master, but Dr.
Ashenhurst with two other friends, Witton and Lisle,
who demanded how he presumed to remain in
another man's house without his leave ? They then
offered to give him back his decree, which however
he declined to receive from any hands but Dr. Bent-
ley's, and resolved not to leave the house without
seeing him ; whereupon Ashenhurst, not thinking it
prudent to turn him out, locked the doors of the
room upon him. Afterwards the Master's servant,
having in vain desired him to depart, locked him up
and left him a prisoner. Having remained in durance
from two till six o'clock, he knocked and was let out
sept. 2C. of his confinement. Two days afterwards he tried
again to execute his commission, but the Doctor
would not be seen. Bentley's object in this strange
proceeding was, as he afterwards avowed, to gain
time, in order either to procure support from the
Ministry, or obtain legal directions for his conduct.
Clarke was all along told that he would consent to
be arrested in a few days : but this zealous Lictor
was not destined to have the glory of hooking the
Leviathan, as he termed it ; for he was himself ar-
rested by a severe fit of the gout. In the meantime
the Master of Trinity was said to make himself
merry at his simplicity in parting with the arrest.
The examination for fellowships being just then in
progress, he gave as a theme to the candidates the
following line :
Oct. i. However, in a few davs Attwood, one of the other
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 51
Beadles, waiting upon him on different business, chap.
Bentley asked whether he was not come to arrest 1?18 '
him ; saying he was now ready and expecting to be =====
arrested. Thus invited, Attwood went and fetched
from Clarke the decree which he had himself been
unable to execute, and completed the arrest : Dr.
Baker, one of the Fellows of Trinity, being bail for
his appearance at the Court to be holden on the
3rd of October.
In the meantime the Vice-chancellor held a con-
sultation with all his brethren who were in the place ;
when it was resolved to curb the refractory spirit
with which they had to deal, by the severest mea-
sures, and to revenge the slight put upon academical
authority by the exercise of the strongest power with
which the statutes have armed the chief magistrate
for the maintenance of discipline and punishment of
contumacy.
On the court-day Dr. Bentley sent, as his re- Oct 3.
presentative, Denys Lisle, a young civilian, lately ftheCourt!
made College Auditor and Registrar, who had shown
extraordinary activity and zeal in promoting all his
wishes and interests. He could have no doubt, after
the intimation of the Vice-chancellor himself, that
the result of the action would be against him ; and
there is reason to believe that he intended to have
appealed against the decision, on the score of a
prejudice in the mind of the judge 25 . But the
proceedings of the day were of a very different cha-
racter from what he anticipated. The Vice-chan-
cellor took his seat, along with six of the Heads as
his assessors, Doctors Covel, Ashton, Adams, Lany,
Jenkin, and Grigg ; when Dr. Middleton, the plain-
tiff, appeared, and asked permission to name Mr.
25 Review of the Proceedings, Sec. p. 78.
E 2
XIII.
1718.
52 LIFE OF
chap. Cook, as his proctor, to conduct his cause ; which
was granted and registered : but no defendant ap-
peared. Mr. Lisle declared himself commissioned to
act as his proctor ; but the Vice-chancellor would
not admit him in that character, because the de-
fendant did not in person solicit it. This point, upon
which the statutes are precise, could hardly have
been overlooked by Bentley, who probably considered
it as a mere technical form, not likely to be insisted
upon. He thought that the arrest, having been
satisfied by his putting in bail, was not to be regarded
as a personal citation or summons. Proctor Cook
then began to address the court, charging the de-
fendant with contempt ; at the same time calling for
the beadle's return to the first decree. Whereupon
the Vice-chancellor, having previously sent Mr. Grove
the Registrary to take the deposition of Clarke, who
was himself unable to attend, ordered it to be pro-
duced and read in court. This evidence gave a full
detail of all the occurrences ; and although coloured
and exaggerated by a person irritated by the joint
action of resentment and gout, yet the main facts of
the case, the detention of the decree, the confinement
of the officer, and Bentley's expressions respecting
the Vice-chancellor, admitted of no dispute. As
soon as the deposition had been read, Middleton's
proctor again addressed the court ; but the Vice-
chancellor interrupted him, waving his hand, and
saying that he postponed the cause for the present,
and would consider Dr. Bentley's contempt of the
authority and jurisdiction of the University, in calling
a regular meeting of the Heads, to which he had
himself been invited, ' the Vice-chancellor and his
friends over a bottle.' He then consulted his as-
suspended sessors, who all agreed both as to the fact of con-
grees." 8 e tempt, and the propriety of inflicting the heaviest
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 53
punishment in the power of the court a suspension chap.
of the offender from all his degrees. Immediately \~ l8
the Vice-chancellor, uncovering- himself, pronounced, =====
in solemn and awful terms, the judgment of the
court ' that Richard Bentley was suspended ab
omni gradu suscepto.''
This extraordinary act of power, though privately
determined upon before-hand, struck with amazement
the audience in the Consistory, who could scarcely
believe the reality of the scene, when they heard such
a punishment pronounced upon a Doctor of twenty-
two years standing, who possessed the highest prefer-
ments, as well as the greatest literary reputation of
the whole University. Dr. Gooch was not able to
sustain the dignity which such an occasion demanded :
while pronouncing the sentence, he trembled and
turned pale, like a person alarmed at the magnitude
of his own act. Mr. Lisle, who yielded to no man
living in courage and assurance, immediately ex-
claimed against the hardship of punishing any one
upon a charge to which he was not summoned to
reply, and on evidence which he himself could in
part refute : but the Vice-chancellor silenced him in
an angry tone, threatening to ' suspend him also if he
interfered ; ' saying that there was no reason to dis-
believe the beadle, as he had himself heard similar
language from Dr. Bentley : he added, with much
warmth, " Go, tell your friend from me, that if he
does not come and make his submission and acknow-
ledge his fault within three days, I will declare his
professorship vacant." Having then ordered the pro-
ceedings to be recorded by the Registrary, he dissolved
the court.
As soon as tidings of this blow were carried to His appeal
Bentley, he resolved to appeal from the sentence of refused -
the court to the Delegates ; and the next morning
54 LIFE OF
XIII.
1718
chap, sent Lisle to lodge his appeal, drawn up and attested
in a legal form, with the senior proctor Sympson,
whose duty it was to inhibit the Vice-chancellor from
all proceedings pending the appeal. The proctor
went, along with the registrary, to Dr. Gooch, who
was at first startled at this step, which he had not
expected ; but he presently maintained that no appeal
lay against a sentence for contempt of court, and
peremptorily refused to allow it ; nor did the two
officers, both of whom participated in the feelings of
the prevailing party, attempt to oppose the decision of
the chief magistrate.
The Master of Trinity next sent Lisle to the Vice-
chancellor to enquire the meaning and consequence
of the sentence pronounced upon him. Dr. Gooch's
reply to these queries seems sufficiently laconic and
pithy : ' the meaning was, that Bentley had now no
degree in the University; the consequence would be,
that unless Bentley came to the court, acknowledged
his fault, owned the justice of his sentence, and prayed
for its reversal, he would declare his professorship
vacant :' adding, ' that he would not admit of any
defence.'
The Vice-chancellor held two courts on the 7th
and 9th of October, for the sole purpose of giving the
suspended Doctor an opportunity of making his sub-
mission, and having his sentence reversed : but no
Prohibited Bentley appeared. On the latter of those days it is
asPiofosor! ordered by the statutes that the Regius Professor of
Divinity shall preach at St. Mary's a Latin sermon
ad clerum ; and Bentley sent to apprize the Beadle
Attwood that he should perform that duty in person.
Dr. Gooch being informed of his intention, despatched
the Lictor to caution him that none but graduates
could ascend the pulpit, and that he would not suffer
him to officiate. Being requested to declare in writ-
their own
measure.
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 55
ing that he prohibited the performance of a duty pre- chap.
scribed by the statutes, he declined ; but he forbade 17l8 '
the bell to be runo- or the doors of the church to be =====
opened.
Dr. Gooch and his counsellors were now embar- The Heads
rassed at the predicament into which they had thrown rSS at
themselves. Under the impression that they had an
extraordinary personage to deal with, they had judged
that measures of unusual vigour were requisite to
humble his spirit, and calculated that the fear of
losing his rank and preferment would certainly and
immediately reduce him to submission. But when
they found themselves mistaken, and saw the object
of their severity braving all consequences with calm-
ness, they felt themselves uneasy, and began to con-
sider whether so sudden and vigorous a resort to
extreme measures admitted of justification. The only
ground upon which Bentley's punishment could rest
was the deposition of Beadle Clarke : as for the failure
of his personal appearance in court after he had given
bail, that was a circumstance commonly overlooked
in actions of debt, or if noticed at all, was only
punishable by the forfeiture of the bail. The fact
therefore was, that he had been convicted and sen-
tenced upon a charge of which he had no notice,
unsummoned and unheard, without opportunity of
disproving, or explaining, or apologizing for the
alleged contempt. Whatever might be the opinion
of his conduct in the affair of the fee, it was hard to
vindicate so plain a deviation from the common
maxims of law and equity as these proceedings pre-
sented. To add to the embarrassment, the Vice-
chancellor had committed himself by a public threat,
which he dared not execute, of declaring the profes-
sorship vacant. The Heads therefore were anxious
to change their position, and obtain the countenance
56 LIFE OF
chap, and support of superior authority. For this purpose
j 718 ' they applied to the Duke of Somerset, whom the
sports of Newmarket had brought into the vicinity of
the P Duke of his University. At their instance the Chancellor
Somerset. came over on a Sunday to Caius Lodge, where he
The chan- dined with the Heads between the two services at St.
ceiior comes ]yj ar y , s< Bentley being on his part sufficiently de-
bridge, sirous of getting out of his awkward predicament, if
that could be done with honour, availed himself of
this opportunity to invite the Duke to Trinity Lodge,
and at the same time to offer submission to his Grace,
and his authority, for the alleged contempt. This
proposal the Duke not only declined but ridiculed in
presence of the Heads. The Master next sent Dr.
Baker to propose that Dr. Gooch and himself might
appear face to face before his Grace. The Duke
merely replied, that ' he did not come to Cambridge
to try the Vice-chancellor.' Bentley made a third
attempt, by offering to wait upon the Chancellor at
Clare Hall Lodge, and there to make his uncon-
Refuses ditional submission : his Grace, who entered entirely
fubm'Sion. i nt0 tne feelings of the Heads respecting their delin-
quent brother, answered, that ' the injury had been
done to the Vice-chancellor, and to him the submis-
sion must be made.' In the afternoon he held a
consultation with the Heads, and offered to preside at
the court, which was to be held on the following day,
for the purpose of giving one more chance to the great
culprit. Had he done so, it is probable that Bentley
would have appeared, and the business might have
been terminated. But the academical aristocracy,
satisfied with the Duke's unqualified approbation of
their proceedings, were not desirous that his personal
interference should be carried any further.
Oct. 13. The next morning, the Chancellor having left the
University, Dr. Gooch sent the Registrary to inform
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 57
XIII.
1718.
the Master of Trinity that a third court was to be chap
held that day, for the purpose of receiving his sub-
mission ; adding, that he should wait for it no longer.
Bentley enquired, what kind of submission was ex-
pected, whether to the justice of the accusation, or of
the sentence, or both ; he was told that ' he must
come into the Court, acknowledge his fault in the
contempt offered to its jurisdiction, ask pardon, and
beg to be restored to his degrees.' To this intimation
he returned no reply 26 .
The tribunal assembled at the appointed hour, but
the suspended doctor was not there. At the sugges-
tion of Dean Sherlock, who was one of the assessors,
Richard Bentley was summoned by name. The Vice-
chancellor then declared ' that he would deliberate
on preserving the jurisdiction of the University,' and
dissolved the court.
The Heads having certain misgivings as to the
legality and propriety of what had been done, and
knowing that the suspension might be reversed by
another Vice-chancellor, found it expedient that the
matter should not rest where it then was ; and a
meeting was held at the lodge of Dr. Richardson, the
Master of St. Peter's College, who was prevented by
ill health from leaving his apartment. This gentle-
man having great experience and knowledge of aca-
demical laws and customs, was much referred to by
his brethren on occasions of emergency. It was here
proposed to pass a sentence of expulsion upon the
refractory Master ; but more cautious counsels pre-
vailed. The Heads determined to engage the whole
body of the Senate to adopt the proceedings as their
own, by passing a grace for taking away his degrees.
The Senate is not a Court of Justice, but possesses an
23 Minute by Mr. Grove, in the Registrary's office.
58 LIFE OF
XIII.
1718.
chap, extensive and undefined power ; and this act was in-
tended to resemble a Bill of Attainder, by means of
which the Legislature sometimes takes upon itself to
inflict punishments, which Courts of Justice cannot or
will not sanction. This idea seems to have originated
with Dr. Richardson, the same person by whom it
has been mentioned that Dr. Bentley was married.
By this shrewd and ingenious plan it was designed
that the Suspension should merge in the Degradation,
and the responsibility of the act be shared by the
whole body of the University.
Oct. ic. The Vice-chancellor was accordingly desired to
prepare a grace for taking away Dr. Bentley's de-
grees : and a Congregation was assembled. But
when the Caput was called, Dr. Waller, the repre-
sentative of the medical faculty, being out of town,
Dr. Ashenhurst stepped in and supplied his place.
Hereupon the Vice-chancellor, knowing that he would
quash the whole measure by his veto, kept back the
grace which he had ready to produce ; and after
mentioning some other business, dissolved the Con-
gregation.
Oct. 17. On the following day the Senate was reassembled ;
theTegm- precautions having been taken by the party of the
Heads to secure the attendance of a Caput favourable
to their views. As the measure itself was without
precedent, so the mode of proposing it to the body
was unusual. The Vice-chancellor commenced the
proceedings by convoking the two Houses, and deli-
vering to them a Latin speech ; opening and enlarg-
ing upon the offence committed by Dr. Bentley. He
next ordered the deposition of the beadle, Clarke, to
be read ; and then proposed to the Senate the follow-
dation of
Dr. Bentley
mg grace
' Cum Reverendus Vir, Richardus Bentley, Collegii Trinitatis
Magister, ad summos in hac Universitate Titulos et Honores vestro
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 59
favore dudum promotus, adeo se immemorem et loci sui et vestrse CHAP.
autoritatis dederit, ut debite summonitus ad comparendum et respon- X I"-
dendum in causa coram Procancellario obedientiam recusaverit, '
Ministrum Universitatis summonentem indignis modis tractaverit,
Procancellarium et Capita Collegiorum opprobriis impetiverit, juris-
dictionem denique Universitatis, longo usu, Regiis Cbartis, et
autoritate Parliamenti stabilitam pro nihilo babendam esse declara-
verit ; cumque idem Richardus Bbntley super bis causis ab omni
Gradu suspensus fuerit, et postea per tres dies juridicos expectatus
comparere tamen neglexerit ; Placeat vobis ut dictus Richardus
Bentley ab omni Gradu, Titulo et Jure in hac Universitate dejiciatur
et excludatur."
This grace being laid before the Caput, an inge- Efforts of
nious attempt was made by the Professor's ever active in^hiTf"- 8
friends to arrest its progress. Dr. Otway, one of the voun
members, was suspected to be a Non-juror : could he Dr - otwa y-
have been removed, Dr. James Johnson of Trinity
Hall, a warm partizan of Bentley, would have stepped
in and negatived the grace. Accordingly Ashenhurst
and Bull went up and required the Vice-chancellor,
as a magistrate, to tender the Oaths to Dr. Otway.
But he, regarding this an impertinent and malicious
interruption of the business of the University, sent
them back to their places with anger and menaces.
The Caput now sanctioned the measure with their
approval ; though there was one individual of that
body whom the reader will be surprised to find
engaged in such a business. This was Jeremiah
Markland, one of the most justly celebrated scholars Markiand.
of the eighteenth century, who in the opinion of some
takes his rank in the class after Bentley ; upon
whose model his critical taste and skill were formed.
He was at that time a young man, Fellow of Peter-
house, and happened to represent the Regent Masters
in the Caput. Many a scholar might have envied
the opportunity which fortune thus cast in his way,
of saving by his single voice the great hero of lite-
60 LIFE OF
chap, rature from the unseemly fate that awaited him.
1718 But in the heat and clamour of that day, the voice
of learning had little chance of being heard.
The Senate At the second Congregation, in the afternoon, the
hmi'oYhis question of Degradation was proposed to the votes of
Degrees. t j le g ena t e at large. Great efforts were made by
both parties for this struggle. It is important to
record that, whatever might have been his conduct
in his college, of all the Fellows of Trinity there
were but four (one of whom was Dr. Colbatch) that
took part against their Master on this occasion. His
friend Dr. Laugh ton had interest enough to bring
six of his brother Fellows from Clare Hall to his
assistance. But from the other colleges there were
few who voted in his favour : in addition to party
and personal feelings, the statements just laid before
them by the Vice-chancellor inflamed their resent-
ment against Bentley. Several however declined
taking any part in a question which involved so
much personal acrimony. But on the votes being
taken, the grace for degrading Dr. Bentley was
carried in the Non-regents' House by 46 voices
against 15 ; and in the Regents' by 62 against 35.
This unexampled measure was thus effected by more
than a double majority : among the dignitaries of the
University, a still greater proportion was found on the
side of severity. An e}^e-witness records that a
greater display of scarlet robes appeared in the
Senate-house on this day, than ever had been seen in
the memory of man 27 : of thirty Doctors present, no
27 Rud's Diary, Rud, who had become D.D. the preceding year, and
was himself one of the 50 who voted in favour of Dr. Bentley, would
appear from the following remarks not to have been greatly mortified at
the catastrophe. " So the great Dr. Bentley was reduced to be a bare
Harry- Soph, being not able to gain above 50 votes in the whole Univer-
sity; though a great many did indeed stay away, that they might not
offend him by voting against him ; yet 108 appeared against him."
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 61
less than twenty-three voted for the degradation of chap.
XIII
their brother ; and of ten Heads of colleges, all but 1718 "
one joined in the same cause 28 . =====
28 The single Head who voted in Bentley's favour, I conclude to have
been Davies, the President of Queen's. Bradford and Waterland were
out of the University during the whole of the proceedings.
62 LIFE OF
CHAPTER XIV.
Bentley petitions the King against the University Gooch re-elected Vice-
chancellor Lays an account of the University proceedings before the
King in Council Matter referred to a committee of the Privy Council
Pamphlets by A. A. Sykes Sherlock Middleton Bentley' s own
Tract against Middleton and Miller Agitation of the University
Pretended pilots against Dr. Gooch The Fellows of Trinity renew
their exertions to procure a hearing for their Petition Lord Chancellor
Parker's promises The Petition again read in Council Bentley con-
cludes a treaty with Serjeant Miller It is at first rejected by the
Seniority Dr. Baker procures signatures in favour of Bentley' 's
scheme The bargain is ratified by the Seniors Arguments for and
against the transaction Subsequent history of Miller Bishop Fleet-
wood again refuses to interfere Abuses of the Master's authority
Appeal to the Visitor by Charles Squire Middleton writes a pamphlet
against Bentley' s College government It is censured by the Seniority
Bentley's attempt against Colbatch Prosecutes the Publisher Middle-
ton confesses the authorship Is prosecuted Colbatch claims the vacant
rectory of Orwell The struggle between him and the Master Bentley
obliged to give way Humphreys admitted Fellow Lectures on the
Catechism, fyc. Treatment of Mailed and Craister Bouquet The
design of a Royal Visitation of the University abandoned Dr. Gooch
elected a third time Vice-chancellor Application to the Court of King's
Bench to deprive Bentley of his Professorship Election of M.P.for
the University.
chap. The reader havino; seen with what alacrity Bentlev
XIV. J J
1718> sometimes embarked in disputes where no necessity
== urged him, will be prepared to find a still more
stormy course of events, now that he was compelled
to maintain a struggle against exasperated enemies,
who were determined to allow him no quarter. The
blow already struck was severe, and its effects per-
manent ; for the infliction of such a censure by a
great majority of his University, as had never before
been passed on a man of dignified station, was a
blemish to his reputation which no time or circum-
1
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 63
stances could altogether efface. But nature had chap.
... XIV.
given him strong nerves and an intrepid spirit ; and 1718
though sometimes carried away by temper, he never
lost his acuteness in detecting error, or weakness in
the cause of an adversary.
When the news reached him of the vote passed for Rentiey
his Degradation, he observed, ' I have rubbed through ?he King
many a worse business than this ! ;' and immediately university
drew up a petition to the King, as supreme Visitor,
briefly stating the facts, and complaining that he
had been suspended from his degrees by the Vice-
chancellor, without hearing or summons, and in-
hibited from discharging his duty as Regius Pro-
fessor ; adding the refusal of the Vice-chancellor to
administer the oaths to Dr. Otway, as well as the
grace of the Senate by which he stood degraded and
excluded from all rank in the University, and pray-
ing redress for these grievances. His petition met
with readier attention than that of the Fellows of
Trinity, being read at the Council-board on the 30th
of October, and an order being made by the King
that the Vice-chancellor should attend the board on
the 6th of November with an account of the pro-
ceedings.
The office of Vice-chancellor annually terminates G ch ic-
on the third of November. This summons gave vice-chan-
Bentley's adversaries a good pretext to re-elect Dr. cellor "
Gooch for a second year. In the earlier times of
the University it had not been unusual for the same
person to be chosen Vice-chancellor twice or thrice
in succession ; but there had been no such instance
for several years. The turn now came in its rotation
to Dr. Davies, the devoted friend of Bentley ; to
whom his brethren naturally were unwilling at this
1 Middleton's Full and Impartial Account, &c.
64 LIFE OF
XIV.
1718.
chap, moment to entrust the office 2 . They, therefore, no-
minated Dr. Gooch and Dr. Davies for the votes of
the Senate : the partizans of Bentley supported the
latter, but the Tories returned Gooch with their
usual majority of two to one 3 .
Lays an ac- The Vice-chancellor immediately on his re-election
univeSty 16 went up to present his statement to the King in
proceedings Council. The account which he dves of the trans-
before the
King in actions distinctly attributes Bentley's Suspension to
his non-appearance in the action for debt ; a ground
which was the weakest that could have been taken.
In order to obviate all enquiry into the legality of
this exercise of power, he takes care to inform his
Majesty that ' the Suspension was sunk in the De-
gradation;' and adds, ' The said Vice-chancellor
humbly conceives that he is not personally answer-
able for an act of the body corporate of the University
of Cambridge, whereof he is but one member :'
which last sentence unintentionally reveals the real
motive that suggested the grace for Degradation.
The complaint which Bentley had artfully advanced
against him, of refusing to administer the Oaths to
Dr. Otway, Gooch answers at some length ; and satis-
factorily shows that this was no ground for charging
him with disaffection to the Government.
Matter re- The pressure of political business prevented the
committee Privv Council entering further into this academical
cornea 7 dispute at that moment ; but in the following month
they referred the consideration of the business to a
committee of their body, and a general opinion pre-
vailed that the result would be a Royal commission
to visit the University, and enquire into and redress
2 Dr. Bradford, the Master of Corpus-Christi, being just raised to the
bishoprick of Carlisle, was, according to the practice of the University,
exempt from the vice-chancellorship.
3 The numbers were : Dr. Gooch 122, Dr. Danes 60. Attwood's Diary.
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 65
XIV.
1718.
all abuses and grievances. The Whigs were much chap
elated at the prospect of seeing their opponents hum-
bled ; while in the other party there was a disposi-
tion to question whether such a power could legally be
exerted by the crown. A certain degree of uneasiness
exhibited itself likewise at Oxford : an apprehension
was entertained of the Royal commission being ex-
tended to that University ; and there were thoughts
of questioning, if necessary, the validity of that kind
of jurisdiction 4 .
In the meantime this extraordinary feud attracted
the attention and divided the opinions of the whole
kingdom. The reputation of the parties concerned,
the unparalleled character of the transactions, and the
public questions likely to grow out of the dispute, all
concurred to make this a topic of extreme interest.
The subject presently became one of party, and per-
sons' sentiments upon it were different according to
their political bias. While the Tories exclaimed
against the arrogance and insolence of Bentley, for
which they considered him justly punished, the Whigs
contended that the whole proceeding was the effect of
disappointed party malice ; that the real offence for
which he had been deprived, was his being leader of
the ministerialists in the University ; and that the
conduct of the Vice-chancellor and his abettors had
been arbitrary, oppressive, unjust, and such as ought
not to be tolerated in a free country. Lawyers very
generally demurred to the legality of the measures
employed in his overthrow. The prosecutors and
judges now found that they had to defend themselves
at the bar of public opinion ; and the war of pamph-
4 These apprehensions are mentioned in a letter to Bishop Smalridge,
dated Feb. 10, 1718-19, preserved in the Bodleian Library; also in a letter
fromG. Clarke, Dec. 9, 1718, in the same collection.
VOL. II. F
66
LIFE OF
CHAP.
XIV.
1719.
Pamphlets
by A. A.
Sykes.
Sherlock.
lets, which we have seen so repeatedly excited in the
discussion of Bentley's merits, recommenced with un-
common vigour and asperity.
The attack was begun by Mr. Arthur Ashley Sykes,
whose acquaintance with Bentley we have already
had occasion to mention. His residence in the vici-
nity of Cambridge had given him particular and
accurate information respecting the various transac-
tions ; and he was induced to come forward in this
cause from his devotion to the interests of the Low-
church party, against whom he thought that a blow
had been struck in the oppressive usage experienced
by the Divinity Professor. This unwearied polemic,
whose whole life may be termed one long altercation,
had scarcely ceased from his labours in the Bangorian
Controversy, when this new dispute invited his co-
operation. He probably felt that another opportunity
was here afforded for pointing his weapons at Dean
Sherlock, who in the late protracted combat, had been
the especial object of his hostility. Accordingly, after
the Suspension of the Master of Trinity, Sykes ad-
dressed a letter to the St. James's Post, giving a
detailed account of the proceedings of the Vice-chan-
cellor ; and a second upon the Degradation, com-
plaining in strong language of the injustice and
tyranny with which the great scholar and professor
had been treated. With some allowance for the spirit
of party, his statements and arguments are as fair as
could be expected from a professed advocate in the
heat of the moment. The}?- were generally read, and
it being found that a reply was indispensable, the
powerful pen of Sherlock was called forth to defend
the conduct of the academical aristocracy, of which
he was himself believed to be the main-spring. He
immediately gave the world his own narrative and
view of the affair in a pamphlet, called ' The Pro-
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 67
ceedin^s of the Vice-chancellor and University of chap.
. XIV
Cambridge against Dr. Bentley, Stated and Vindi- 1?19
cated. In a Letter to a Noble Peer.' The Dean here -
displays all the art of an experienced controversialist
in making the affair of Bentley's demand of the fee a
prominent feature in his statement. That matter had
in reality nothing to do with the Suspension or Degra-
dation, nor any bearing upon the merits of either; but
as it happened to have led to those proceedings, and
was strongly calculated to prejudice liberal minds
against the Professor, it is made the leading topic of
the letter and placed in the most invidious light. He
then makes the most of the inflammatory matter
in the Beadle's deposition, and prepares the public
for further measures intended to deprive Bentley of
his professorship. A continuation was promised of
the defence of the University proceedings ; but Sher-
lock found himself relieved from that task by an able,
willing, and persevering combatant.
Conyers Middleton being the original author of the Middieton.
feud which so greatly agitated the University and
interested the public, felt himself called upon to vin-
dicate the conduct of the majority, who had so readily
embraced his cause. This distinguished writer was
not one of those who are early familiar with the press ;
his present pamphlet happens to be the first published
specimen of a style which for elegance, purity, and
ease, yields to none in the whole compass of English
literature. In this first essay he showed himself to
possess all the talents, and to understand the use of
all the weapons of a controversialist. The acrimo-
nious and resentful feeling which prompted every line
is in some measure disguised by the pleasing lan-
guage, the harmony of the periods, and the vein of
scholarship which enlivens the whole tract. Middle -
ton's management of the subject is uncommonly artful.
f 2
G8 LIFE OF
XIV,
1710-
chap. While he pretends to vindicate the proceedings of the
University, he is in fact only endeavouring to hold up
Dr. Bentley in odious and detestable colours. He
not only dwells largely upon the business of the fee,
as if that were the real question at issue, but refers to
all the instances of his College government, and pub-
lic conduct, which he thinks best calculated to raise a
prejudice against him. His pamphlet is termed ' A
Full and Impartial Account of all the late Proceed-
ings in the University of Cambridge against Dr.
Bentley :' but to the epithet impartial, its claim goes
no further than the title page. It breathes the most
violent personal resentment ; and the manifest object
of the writer was to ruin the reputation and fortunes of
his adversary. Its partiality is conspicuous in the
compliments bestowed on his friend Gooch's dignified,
equitable, and dispassionate conduct ; which com-
mendations are not borne out even by his own narra-
tive of the transactions. Having already put the
reader in possession of all the facts, carefully sifted
from the opposite statements in this controversy, it
will be needless for me to cite specimens of Middle-
ton's account ; but the following sentences will show
the bitter spirit, as well as the powerful language in
which this new antagonist assailed the Master of
Trinity. Speaking of the Divinity professorship,
he says :
" For besides, that its forfeiture might be fairly argued from his
present want of degrees ; that by its foundation it is made incon-
sistent and incompatible with the mastership of Trinity College ;
that he obtained it by bullying, and holds it by violence : besides all
this, I say, as the statute has made it a necessary qualification of a
Professor, that he have no blemish or infamy upon his character, I
would desire no other foundation to prove the necessity of his
being ejected. He has been publicly accused by his Fellows of
many great crimes, which he never has nor can clear himself of.
And his trial which never came to a sentence, has left the marks of
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 69
such an infamy upon him, as by all the notions which the civil or CHAP,
canon law has of it, would be sufficient not only to incapacitate him XIV -
from being chosen Professor, but to deprive him when in possession." I/19-
Full and Impartial Account, fyc. p. 21.
" But even this will hardly seem strange from him, who dares to
give out, that the King and his Ministry will interpose to reverse our
statutable proceedings against him ; that for the sake of a single
person so justly odious, so void of all credit and interest amongst
us, his Majesty will set a mark of his displeasure upon his famous
and loyal University. But it is to be hoped that an insolence so
criminal, so apparently tending to alienate the affections of his people
from his Majesty, may meet with the just severity and chastisement
of the law." Ibid. p. 34.
" Thus fell the Great Bentley from all his degrees amongst us ; a
sacrifice, as his writer says, to ' the madness of the people,' but, as I
have plainly shewn, to his own ;
Quos Jupiter vult perdere dement at prius.
His conduct will bear me out in the application, and shews the plain
marks of a judgment and infatuation upon him. By the restoring
of four guineas, which he had shamefully extorted, he might have
saved himself the great trouble and expense which his obstinacy has
involved him in. By an easy, and perhaps private submission, he
might have saved himself the shame of this public disgrace : but for
the glory of never having been known to submit, he has risked not
only his credit, but, what is much dearer to him, his preferments, on
the quarrel. By this censure, which now lies upon him, he stands
actually incapacitated both for his mastership and professorship ; by
his own rashness he has at once brought upon himself, what all the
petitions and remonstrances of his College could never effect :
quod optanti divum promittere nemo
Auderet, volvenda dies en attulit ultro. Ibid. p. 39.
" We may strip him of his titles, but we never can, we see, of his
insolence ; he has ceased to be Doctor, and may cease to be Pro-
fessor, but he can never cease to be Bentley. There he will triumph
over the University to the last ; all its learning being unable to
polish, its manners to soften, or its discipline to tame the superior
obstinacy of his genius." Ibid, p. 42.
" There is something so singularly rude and barbarous in his way
of treating all mankind, that whoever has occasion to relate it, will,
instead of aggravating, find himself obliged to qualify and soften the
harshness of his story, lest it should pass for incredible." Ibid.
70 LIFE OF
CHAP. " To observe a decency and complaisance towards him who has
XIV - no notion of it, would be interpreted only as the cowardice or weak-
^ 19 - ness of his adversary. A controversy with him must always be a
= fighting without quarter : for it is but necessary not to give any,
where you are sure of finding none." Ibid. p. 43.
Sykes immediately replied to his own opponents in
a third and fourth letter in the St. James's Post. He
now vindicated Bentley's conduct respecting the fee,
as far as it was capable of defence, and by comparing
the circumstances of Grigg, of Gooch himself, and of
other officers receiving similar fees, contended that
the outcry raised against the Divinity Professor's
demand was the result of party malice, or personal
dislike. Aware that the weakness of his adversaries
lay in the want of distinct authority in law, statute,
or precedent for their proceedings, he grapples with
this part of the subject, and shows that on this head
their vindication was incomplete ; and consequently,
that his original complaint against the transactions
remained unanswered.
These letters being published, along with their two
predecessors, in the form of a pamphlet, called ' The
Case of Dr. Bentley Truly Stated,' were answered
by Dr. Middleton, in * A Second Part of the Full
and Impartial Account of all the late Proceedings;'
to which all the remarks made upon the first are
applicable : the tone is indeed even more confident
and overbearing, from the applause which his former
publication had met with, and the effect which he
saw that it was producing. There is shown the
same talent for saying sarcastic and bitter things in
polished and even eloquent language ; the tone,
whether of irony or invective, is perfectly sustained ;
and there is hardly a sentence which is not calculated
to inflict a wound upon his adversary's character.
He again rakes up the most invidious stories with
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 71
XIV.
1719.
which either memory or hearsay could supply him, chap
to blacken his reputation for honour and honesty.
His severity is now not confined to Bentley, but is =
shared by those friends who ventured to take a pro-
minent part in his favour, Johnson, Ashenhurst,
Bull, Lisle, and his literary champion Sykes. Of
this the two following specimens will suffice :
" A certain angry Doctor of ours, learned in the law, [Johnson]
' had rather,' he says, ' live under the Great Turk, than under the
power exercised by our Vice-chancellors ;' yet he has already spent
the best part of his life under it, and is himself an infallible proof of
its mildness and lenity : but let him go whenever he pleases, our
Church will lose no credit by his turning Mahometan." Second
Part of the Full and Impartial Account, $c. p. 17.
" If Mr. Bentley indeed has a mind to be tried upon the foot of a
Tory, we will readily join issue, and find proof enough to convict
him ; especially if Dr. Ashenhurst would but turn evidence against
him, as I am confident he will, when the Court has once dropped
him : this sole favourite of his, though he has taken the Oaths him-
self, yet for the respect he declares for Nonjurors, has taken withal
a resolution never to accept any fees from them, and he hopes, as he
says, that the one will atone for the other ; but I know how he will
come off from this, by telling us that it was in pure zeal to King
George that he insinuated himself into their favour ; it being the
surest way of destroying his enemies by making himself their phy-
sician." Ibid. p. 26.
Sykes rejoined in another pamphlet, termed ' The
Case of Dr. Bentley Further Stated ;' in which he
resolved to repel the personalities of his antagonist
by a similar species of warfare ; and accordingly
brought up the ridiculous story of Dr. Laughton
having, when Proctor, invaded the political party
assembled at the Rose tavern, eight or nine years
before. It may be recollected that among the
persons whom that over-zealous officer accused of
breaking the discipline of the University, were Mr.
Middleton and Mr. Gooch ; which individuals were
no other than the present prosecutor and present
72 LIFE OF
xiv
171D
chap, judge of Dr. Bentley. Sykes judged it fair to
remind those who now pretended such a regard for
discipline, and urged the necessity of upholding it by
the severest penalties, how differently they had them-
selves been treated when guilty of a real violation of
the laws of the University. But it appears amazing
that an experienced controversialist could commit so
palpable an error. Laughton's complaint was so
frivolous, and his conduct on that occasion so extra-
vagant, that it was scarcely possible to speak of it
with gravity ; and to revive the memory of such an
affair was not the act of a judicious friend. This
provoked a third pamphlet from Middleton, wherein
his tremendous powers of invective are exerted to
their full extent upon his adversary Sykes ; at the
same time he exposes with much dignity the weak-
ness and folly of those who would attack the cha-
racters of Gooch and himself on such paltry grounds.
" It was to little purpose for the author to conceal his name, for
every soul who could get through a page or two, cried out presently,
it must he Sykes :
Ubi ubi est, diu celari non potest.
Nature, which in kindness to the world has set a mark upon his
countenance, has given us infallible ones of his productions. Wher-
ever you find a writer surprisingly trifling and dull, glorying in
never being in the right, discovering an antipathy to Church and
University, with a special malice to Dr. Sherlock, the principal
champion and ornament of both, there's your man ; pronounce it to
be Svkes ; vou need not be afraid of counterfeits. When the work
is too foul and scandalous for any other man to engage in, Sykes is
a sure card, that never fails his friend in distress.
Cum nemini obtrudi potest, itur ad me.
He alwavs keeps himself in readiness for sendee ; and like a famous
lawver I have heard of, can be advocate or evidence, as occasion
requires ; and as a true dragoon, fights either a-foot or on horse-
back. It has been wondered at by some, how a man, who had no
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 73
relation to or business in the University, no particular acquaintance CHAP,
or friendship with the Professor, could, out of pure love to wrangling, XIV -
thrust himself into a controversy, which he had not the least concern 1719.
in. But there is, it must be owned, another good reason very
obvious ; his friend Ashenhurst had been roughly handled by me ;
and that was touching him in a tender part ; there his own character
was nearly concerned ; for if tale-bearing and informing could once
be brought into discredit and contempt, his business was done at
once, and all his parts and talents made useless and unserviceable.
Ashenhurst and Sykes are terms convertible, that have always
signified the same thing in the University ;
Par nobile fratrum
Nequitia et nugis, pravorum et amove gemellum.
Their names are proverbs in every College, to give at once a full
and adequate idea of a disturber of the peace of the Society, and an
accuser of his brethren." Some Remarks upon a Pamphlet, $c. p. 6.
Of the invective just quoted, the part intended to
be most cutting was the identification of Sykes with
Ashenhurst, whose acquaintance he could not be
proud of acknowledging.
A strong expectation prevailed at that moment
that a Royal mandate for the restoration of Bentley's
degrees would be forthwith sent to the University ;
and we find from this tract that the party of the
Heads talked loudly of their determination to refuse
compliance.
" To tell us of his being redressed, without making a satisfaction
suitable to his offence, is to talk to us like children : we know our-
selves and constitution too well to believe that we can ever be
obliged to it. We are threatened indeed every day with the ex-
pectation of a Royal mandate to re-establish him ; and he himself, I
hear, gives assurances of it to his friends ; if ever we should receive
such an one, we shall hardly be at a loss how to behave ourselves
with a becoming duty and regard to it ; we should use it, without
doubt, with the utmost reverence and respect. But should we obey
it without reserve or hesitation, before the law has convinced us
that we are in duty bound to do it, his Majesty himself would, I
74 LIFE OF
CHAP, dare say, have the worse opinion of us ; the world, I am sure, would
XIV - despise us for it." Some Remarks upon a Pamphlet, $c. p. 24.
1719.
All the publications in this controversy were
anonymous. But people being just then familiar
with the writings of Sherlock and Sykes, their hands
were at once detected. Middleton, being a new
writer, was not known till he himself acknowledged
his first tract, when he found how well it was re-
ceived by the public 5 . In point of literary merit in
this contest, the palm is unquestionably due to
Middleton ; but it is equally certain that in Sykes's
pamphlets the arguments are sounder, and the re-
presentation of facts more just and candid. The
reason is, that the latter embarked in the question
merely as the advocate of a party ; his design was to
represent Bentley's case in the fairest light, and say
all that he thought could justly be urged in his
favour ; and at the same time to oppose on public
grounds the arbitrary and oppressive proceedings of
his adversaries. Middleton's views, on the contrary,
were directed against Bentley as a man whom he
personally hated, and for whose destruction the pre-
sent crisis seemed to afford an opportunity. It was
accident alone that united him with the High-church
party, for whose principles he cared nothing, and re-
garded them only as far as they were auxiliaries in his
cause. The consequence is, that his writings will
5 Mr. Zachary Pearce, on the perusal of that pamphlet, was convinced
that the author was Dr. Colbatch, to whom he wrote a letter of compli-
ments on the occasion. He had himself communicated to the Doctor the
an&cdote of Bentley having said to Dr. Hare, the Dean of Worcester,
" I am your Pope, your only Nevi Testament is in my hands," which he found
repeated in the same words in this publication. It had passed from Col-
batch to Middleton. The three pamphlets are reprinted in the third
edition of Middleton' 's Miscellaneous Works, in 4to. in 1752 ; but in the
8vo. edition they are omitted.
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 75
be found, on a dispassionate examination, not only chap.
deficient in fairness and candour, but replete with
malignity and rancour.
There still remains to be noticed one piece in this Bemiey's
controversy ; which, though anonymous, I have no a^nTtMid-
hesitation in attributing to the aggrieved Professor ^" and
himself. It had been expected that he would im-
mediately on the Degradation have made his appeal
to the public ; but Bentley seeing his cause taken up
by other hands, preferred in the first instance em-
ploying all his efforts to procure redress from the
Crown, and accordingly went to London, where he
was indefatigable in soliciting the influential persons
in Government. When however he supposed the
controversy between Sykes and Middleton had reached
its limit, he thought fit to make his enemies feel the
severity of his pen. Of this Review of the Proceedings
against Dr. Bentley, one half is dedicated to repel
the attacks of Dr. Middleton, and the other to ex-
pose the unfair reasoning and bad principles of his old
enemy Serjeant Miller ; whose book, after two years'
silence, he now determined to censure.
As the pamphlet evidently originated in some
degree with Bentley himself, and bore marks of his
style, at the same time that it was greatly unworthy
of him, it was conjectured that it might have been
drawn up by one of his intimates, and under his own
inspection. That it was written by another hand
from his dictation, seems highly probable ; but the
style, the contemptuous tone of criticism, and the
peculiar turn of wit, oblige me to believe the whole
of this piece to have proceeded from Bentley. That
its publication however was not superintended by
him, is proved by the extreme carelessness with
which it is printed. All his works show him to have
been an accurate corrector of the press. In this
76 LIFE OF
chap, pamphlet the negligence of the printer seems to
1719 ' respond to the haste and slovenliness with which it
- was composed 6 . The object was to throw contempt
upon the books of Midclleton and of Miller, and to
turn the authors into ridicule. In the case of the
Serjeant, who was an awkward and embarrassed
writer, the ' Review' frequently succeeds, and ex-
hibits his strictures in a ludicrous light. Many of
the censures are ingenious and humorous, but fall
infinitely below what the author of the Remarks on
Free-thinking was capable of producing ; and the
whole tone of the book is unfitting a learned, die:-
nified, and ill-used divine. It must be allowed,
however, that the treatment of Middleton and Miller,
contemptuous and insulting as it is, exhibits a less
rancorous spirit than may be found in their respective
publications against Bentley.
Agitation of The whole of this literary conflict was fought at
the Univer- the ^ of mg ^ begmning of 17] g J n the
meantime the feud among the Heads, with its various
ramifications, kept the University in a state of un-
ceasing agitation. The disputes of their superiors,
as is generally the case, descended to the young
men. Mr. Towers, of Christ College, the Senior
6 It is a remarkable instance of the inattentive manner in which this
pamphlet was put forth, that it bears two distinct titles; that prefixed to
the first page is, An Account of Dr. Bentley' s Case, in Answer to a pre-
tended Full and Impartial Account, fyc. But before it was published, a
different title-page was hit upon : A Review of the Proceedings against Dr.
Bentley in the University of Cambridge ; in answer to a late pretended Full
and Impartial Account, fyc. With some Remarks upon Serjeant Miller's
Account of that University ; wherein the egregious Blunders of that Gentle-
man are briefly set forth. 1719- The two mottoes, and the description of
the author, bear marks of Bentley's humour :
" Solventur risu tabula ; tu missus abibis. Hor.
"Avtpi AYAHTHPI 6toi voov ti<jiv'z<pvoav,
'A\X' (ifia T(p (pvoq.v ^di vooq iiznkTciTO. Anthol. Epig.
" By N. O. M.A. of the same University."
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 77
Proctor, chose as the subject of his speech, addressed chap.
to the students in the Philosophical Schools, the ]719
proceedings of the Heads in the disgrace of their ===
illustrious brother. This gentleman, who afterwards
became Master of his College, was a zealous Whig,
and had incurred some censure from the Vice-chan-
cellor, for his behaviour on the occasion of the
Degradation, when he demanded of him publicly
upon what law or statute such a grace was founded.
To bring a topic of this nature before young men
was, to say the least, a blameable act of indiscretion.
On the two tripos days, when the academical ho-
nours of the year are announced, in compliance with
ancient custom some degree of licence among the
youth was always tolerated, though frequent en-
deavours were made to contract its limits. At this
time disturbances being apprehended, the Senate
took the precaution of appointing eight special Pro-
proctors to preserve order on those days. This
measure, perhaps designed only as a reflection on
the Proctor, the regular functionary, whose conduct
had given great offence, was a step of very question-
able policy ; being calculated to excite the evil which
it was designed to reoress. A habit of insubordina-
tion, when once begun, is not quickly subdued : I
observe that it was deemed necessary to have re-
course to the same precaution previous to the tripos
days, in each of the ten succeeding years 7 .
The exasperation of parties in the preceding age Pretended
had generally produced some real or imaginary plot, ^nst Dr.
the belief or disbelief of which became a kind of Gooch -
political test. It would appear that at this period
the taste for sham plots was not quite extinct, and
that the conflict of party feeling in the academical
7 University Register.
78 LIFE OF
chap, world would not be satisfied without some admixture
XIV
j 719 ' of this sort. The first symptom I shall give in the
===== words of Conyers Middleton :
" Ashenhurst, when he was caught the other day alone and
without leave in the Vice-chancellor's house, and in the absence of
the family, set the whole University a thinking and talking of
Young's plot upon the late Bishop of Rochester." Some Remarks
on a Pamphlet, #c. p. 7.
The other anecdote of a reputed plot has been pre-
served by tradition. It was reported about this time,
that Dr. Gooch had been shot at through a window
of his lodge, and the shot was surmised to have been
fired from part of the premises of Trinity College :
moreover it was asserted that the bullet had pene-
trated the wainscot. This story was probably not
much believed even by those who reported it : but it
continued to be preserved as a sort of legendary tale
in Caius College ; the hole in the wainscot was still
pointed out, although people were incredulous about
the cause. However, a few years ago, some repairs
being necessary, the wainscot was removed, and in
the recorded spot, the bullet was actually found in
the wall. Had this examination taken place at the
moment, it would have been held to confirm the
report, that some emissary of Bentley had attempted
to assassinate the judge of whom he complained.
TheFeiiows Meanwhile the Fellows of Trinity College, who
renew their had so long been labouring to procure the interpo-
J^* sition of a Visitor, thought that now their Master
hearing for h a( i himself brought matters to the desired crisis:
their Peti- * _ '
tion. and trusted that in the expected visitation of the
University, the affairs of their Royal College could
not fail to come under review. It will be recollected
that their petition to the King, owing to Sir Edward
Northey's neglect of his commission, remained still
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 79
without effect. At this juncture Dr. Colbatch ex- chap.
. XIV
erted himself afresh to procure attention to the 1719 '
grievances of the College : he renewed his solicita- -
tions to Archbishop Wake, Lord Sunderland the
Premier, and Lord Parker, who was now made Lord
Chancellor, and shortly afterwards became Earl of
Macclesfield. From the Archbishop he received the
fullest assurances of support whenever the petition
should be brought before the Council, along with
private advice for his proceedings. But his Grace
had not much interest with the Cabinet Ministers,
who were engaged in designs of no very friendly
nature to the Establishment, and were resolved by
every means in their power to discourage and break
the High-church party. By his advice, however, a
memorial was presented to Lord Sunderland, praying
that the petition might be considered. With the
Lord Chancellor Colbatch had several personal inter- Lord chan-
views, and at his desire laid before him a detailed ker^ 1 pro-
statement of the College grievances, and heard from "
him with great delight that it was intended to advise
the King to grant the full visitatorial power to the
Bishop of Ely, and that a patent for this purpose
would pass the Great Seal : at other times his
Lordship intimated his opinion, that the Bishop was
already authorized to execute those functions. His
chaplain, Zachary Pearce, who had daily opportu-
nities of conversing with the Chancellor, encouraged
Dr. Colbatch with the same constantly repeated
hopes of his taking some decisive step in this business.
But Lord Parker was a politician, and an adept in
the subtlest arts of political management. It appears
to have been the feeling of the Ministry, that Bentley,
being a professed and active partizan of the Whigs,
must not be abandoned in the hour of his necessity :
at the same time it was seen that if an absolute refusal
1
mises.
80 LIFE OF
chap, were given to those who only prayed for common
j ' justice, the odium of the Master's proceedings would
===== be transferred from himself to the Government. The
Lord Chancellor continued for at least three years to
amuse Dr. Colbatch with expectations that the prayer
of the petitioners was immediately to be complied with.
It may appear surprising that a man of sense, who
knew the world, should have suffered himself to be so
Ions: deceived : but the candour and frankness of the
language held by the great man, and the confidence
reposed in his designs by Pearce, his chaplain, will
account for the credulity of the Doctor and his
confederates.
May 26. The effect however of Colbatch's perseverance was,
Jgalntad 11 that the petition of the Fellows of Trinity College,
in council. a f ter having remained three years in the hands of Sir
E. Northey, was called for and again read at the
Council-board, where the Lords Justices, one of
whom was the Archbishop of Canterbury, presided
in the absence of the King; and by them it was
referred to the committee of the Privy Council, who
had been directed to prepare a Royal Commission
for visiting the University.
This was felt by Bentley as a serious blow : he
had not expected the old petition to come again to
light, and he well knew that it would not be possible
to obtain any considerable number of signatures to a
similar one 7 . To get this document withdrawn from
the Privy Council, was now an object which called
for all his ingenuity and boldness. It will be re-
collected that when it was first presented and read in
? The Archbishop had in fact recommended to Colbatch the presenta-
tion of a new petition : but the inefficacy of the former, added to the
resentment shown by the Master against all the subscribers, to one of
whom he had refused testimonials for Orders, made the Fellows unwilling
to put their names to another.
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 81
Council, in 1716, the Master had attempted to effect chap.
a compromise with Miller; but the serjeant at that j 719
time breathed nothing but war and vengeance, and =====
refused to listen to any overtures. He did not, how-
ever, take a sure method of gratifying revenge. His
book about the University had only brought upon
himself the resentment of all parties, without doing
the least harm to his adversary. The intervening-
time had been full of angry and hostile measures.
The condemnation of his treatise by the academical
authorities, and his dismissal from the Deputy High-
stewardship, in which measure Bentley and his
friends concurred with the Tories, have been already
noticed. He was also summoned before the Vice-
chancellor's court on account of the same publication,
through the agency of Bentley, who continued to
press Dr. Gooch to exert the powers of a judge for
his expulsion, until Middleton's suit against himself
absorbed his attention. In retaliation, the Serjeant
procured an information by the Attorney General
against the University of Cambridge, upon some
point relating to Mr. Wort's will, an affair in which
he had himself been employed as counsel for the
University 9 .
In Trinity College the usage experienced by Miller
was not more agreeable. Some arrears to the amount
of 30/. or 40/. were demanded, which he, considering
that the college owed him the whole proceeds of his
fellowship for some years, refused to pay ; whereupon
Richard Walker, the officer, by the Master's direction,
put him out of commons. The serjeant, who was a
vindictive man, had recourse, as usual, to an action
at law :
Servius iratus leges minitutur et urnam.
9 This fact I learn from the University Register.
VOL. XI. G
82 LIFE OF
chap. He prosecuted Walker for taking a pupil without hav-
1719. g qualified according to an Act of Parliament. On
this occasion, however, his temper blinded his legal
judgment : Walker was acquitted, and his expenses
to the amount of 50/. were paid out of the college
stock 10 . In addition to this ground of vexation,
Bentley had in his recent ' Review of the Proceed-
ings,' treated Miller with unsparing severity, and
made it his principal object to prove him the ' com-
pletest blockhead he ever met with ".'
All these circumstances were discouraging to any
Bentiey hopes of accommodation. But Bentley, who knew
treaty with tnat tne Serjeant was not indifferent to the pecuniary
Serjeant view of the question, and that he had small chance
Miller. l
of recovering any part ol his expenses except through
an agreement with himself, made the attempt without
delay, and found him willing enough to enter into a
treaty. Through the intervention of one Edwards,
an attorney in town, the terms of pacification w^ere
speedily arranged. Miller had received 105/., voted
by the Seniors, towards carrying on the prosecution
before Bishop Moore ; and had been for some time
urging his fellow-prosecutors to defray the remainder
of his charges. He now engaged, upon condition of
receiving 400/. as costs in that cause, and half the
dues of a Fellow since 1715, with the whole of his
room-rent, that he would resign his fellowship, and
moreover withdraw both his own petition and that
presented by him, in 1716, on behalf of Colbatch and
eighteen other Fellows, to the King in Council.
it is at first The Master had a two-fold object; to remove the
ttosaau 7 probability of a visitation, by getting the petition
ority. withdrawn, and to obtain the payment of his own
10 This anecdote was told by Walker himself in his evidence at Ely
House, in 1733.
11 Review of the Proceedings, -c. p. 39.
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 83
expenses incurred in the late prosecution ; which he chap.
considered a necessary corollary to the proposition for 171<J
defraying those of Serjeant Miller. Losing no time
in the execution of his project, he propounded the
business to his Seniority, read to them the letters of
Edwards, containing assurances of Miller's assent to
the bargain ; and then proposed that he should have
400/. besides the consideration for his fellowship, paid
from the College money ; and that he should himself
be reimbursed his own expenses, which he estimated
at the same sum as Miller's. The opposition to his
measures in this body was generally such as he was
able to overpower either by a majority of votes, or
the force of his prerogative : Ayloffe the Orator, and
Bouquet the Hebrew Professor, both men of honour
and integrity, were disposed to resist the abuse of
power, which was now become unhappily frequent ;
but they had not the firmness or resolution of Col-
batch, and were generally overborne and brow-beaten.
On this occasion however the result was different.
Dr. Colbatch firmly protested against such an extra-
vagant and unreasonable appropriation of College
money : with respect to the claims of Serjeant Miller,
he urged, that if he produced the account of his
expenses, they ought to be defrayed by those who
had employed him to conduct the prosecution ; and
declared himself ready to pay his own quota : to
which the Master replied, "You call yourselves the
College; the College, therefore, is bound to pay;"
adding, upon the authority of Edwards, that the
Lord Chancellor had been heard to express his ap-
probation of such a mode of settling the business.
Colbatch then proposed that the question of expend-
ing so large a sum of money for such purposes should
be submitted to the Visitor. This suggestion touched
the very string which was most displeasing to the
g 2
8 4 LIFE OF
chap. Master ; to remove all chance of an appeal to a
f^' Visitor being the principal object of the whole device.
He immediately assailed Colbatch with invective, as
a disturber of the peace of the society ; and after one
of those indecorous altercations which were now
become frequent in their debates, he put to the vote
his proposal for paying both the Serjeant's expenses
and his own : when, to his surprise and mortification,
five of the eight Seniors answered in the negative.
Bentley, though chagrined by this unexpected rebuff,
was not accustomed to acquiesce in a defeat : he
soon afterwards told Colbatch, that ' the money was
none of his, and that he was resolved to have it,
though by another way.'
Dr. Baker The instrument employed for his new measures
SgnaYuis was Dr. John Baker, whom we have already had
in <kvour of - on t0 men tion as his obsequious agent. This
Bentley s o
scheme*. gentleman, having been College tutor of the West-
minster scholars, may be presumed to have possessed
learning and ability : but I can meet with him in no
character, except that of an active, devoted, and
unscrupulous minister to all the Master's views and
projects. In. order to give a colour to the intended
bargain, Baker solicited most of the Fellows for their
approbation of a measure, which he represented
would at once restore harmony to the distracted col-
lege, and confer a great obligation on the Master :
they were to sign a paper to this effect: " I hereby
declare that I sincerely wish that an end may be put
to the contests which have so long disturbed the
college ; and in order thereto, I desire that the
charges of each side may be defrayed out of the
common stock of the college." The society had for
some time felt severely the effects of these protracted
feuds, not only in the destruction of domestic tran-
quillity, but in the diminution of its numbers, and
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 85
XIV.
1719.
the general odium under which it lav. Baker there- chap.
fore, beginning with the newly-elected Fellows im-
mediately on their admission, and canvassing all the
juniors, many of whom had been his pupils, was
successful in persuading them to adopt a measure
from which he promised such great results ; and
they listened to his assurances that no future conduct
of the Master would break the intended pacification.
Their names, with the addition of all who could be
influenced by Dr. Bentley, amounted to thirty-three.
Baker declared that his agency in this business was
at his own motion, and took credit to himself as
being totlus rei i?iceptor et perfector : but it was only
calculated to give a colour and pretext for the mea-
sure, upon which it could have no real influence.
A more effectual step was the intimation that, unless
this order were passed, the Master would not consent
to sealing any leases ; while Modd, Barwell, and
Brabourn were alarmed with the idea of being obliged
to pay their share of Miller's expenses, unless the
whole were defrayed from the college funds. But
it was found necessary to wait for Colbatch's absence.
He being called by business to London at the latter
end of November, Baker became his substitute in the
Seniority ; whereupon a meeting was called, and the
measure of composition again proposed by the Master.
Barwell, who had formerly opposed it, was now Thebargain
1 1 i xi 1 i >s ratified
gamed over either b} r threats or persuasion ; and on by the s e -
the votes being taken, the bargain was ratified by the
voices of the Master and five Fellows. By this
decree Miller almost immediately received 528/. of
the college money, for prosecutors' costs, his share of
arrears, and, as I apprehend, of interest ; Hum-
phreys, who had been elected conditionally into the
fellowship, had 58/. for his share of arrears ; and the
Master received 500/. for his own expenses on the
Mors.
8G LIFE OF
chap, trial. Availing himself of the granting propensity of
1719 his majority, he obtained 284/. more for certain ele-
=== gant furniture which he had purchased for his house.
In compliance with the stipulations, the serjeant
withdrew both his own petition against Dr. Bentley,
and that of the nineteen Fellows, which he had in
1716 presented on their behalf to the King in Coun-
cil ; giving at the same time a full discharge to the
college and all its members for any further claims
upon his fellowship.
Arguments As this is by far the greatest malversation ever
for 3.nrl * '
against the charged against Bentley in his disposal of the col-
"' lege funds, I have been careful to examine and com-
pare the evidence deposed by each party, when it
became a subject of judicial inquiry ; and I am
compelled to state that the pretences by which this
misappropriation of public money was justified, are
totally futile. He alleged that it was done at the
request of the Fellows, for the purpose of restoring
harmony to the society : he had taken the opinions
of two eminent barristers, Reeve and Lutwyche, upon
the equity of defraying from the public stock the
expenses of a cause, in which the society had been
almost equally divided, and their answer was favour-
able : Dr. Baker avowed himself the originator of
the scheme, and assumed the whole merit or demerit
of the management ; urging besides, that the with-
drawing the Petition was not the object, but only a
consequence of the agreement. Not one of these
allegations will bear examination. The agency of
Baker in procuring the Fellows' signatures was not
thought of, till after the whole bargain had been
negotiated between the attorney and Miller ; nor
before the Master had himself earnestly but unsuc-
cessfully endeavoured to obtain the consent of the
Seniors : the reference to lawyers was designed only
RICHARD BENTL1Y, D.D. 87
as a blind ; since this was a question of which pro- chap.
fessional men were no better judges than any other 1?19
persons of sense and probity ; and the case submitted =====
to them, presumed that the contending parties in
College at this time joined in the desire to settle
their dispute by such an expedient : a supposition
which was the reverse of the fact. The only ground
upon which the measure could be justified, was, the
restoring peace to the distracted college, and termi-
nating those feuds which destroyed every object of
its foundation : such a purpose would have been
cheaply purchased by this or even a larger pecuniary
sacrifice. But the bargain now ratified with Miller
had not a tendency to produce that effect : it was
rather calculated to exasperate the party who were
aggrieved by their petition being withdrawn, and
saw so large a portion of their common property
employed in procuring the triumph of their adver-
sary. The grant to Miller can only be regarded as
pay for that which he alone could accomplish, taking
away from the Council the consideration of giving a
Visitor to the College. But for this object, Bentley
would never have agreed to grant money to a hated
adversary, from whose hostility he had nothing further
to dread ; he would have taken some other method
to obtain the 500Z. for himself; or would have aban-
doned all thoughts of it, rather than set an example
of paying from the college funds the expenses of
prosecuting the Master.
Serjeant Miller experienced the just lot of treachery ; subsequent
he was despised by the party whom he served, and Mfflen
execrated by those whom he betrayed ; no tongue
and no pen ever attempted to urge the least apology
for him. As he considered himself ill used by the
desertion of his former confederates, he would not
have been censured for making an agreement with
1
88 LIFE OF
XIV.
171a.
chap. Bentley, as far as he was himself concerned. But
YIV J '
the essence of his present bargain was, that he should
sell the interests of a third party, the petitioners of
1716, against whom he had no complaint, and who
had confided themselves to his honour. Of the sub-
sequent history of this personage, I know little : he
lived about twelve years after this time ; but he left
the Cambridge circuit, and never, that we hear,
showed himself again in the University. He so far
continued his adherence to Bentley's interests, that
he refused all -applications to give up the original
affidavits sworn against him at his trial. Miller was
afterwards a member of the House of Commons,
where we find him maintaining the extreme opi-
nions of the Whig party: in 1725 he spoke against
the bill for enabling Lord Bolingbroke to succeed to
his family inheritance, after he had received the
King's pardon, although this partial reversal of the
attainder was recommended and supported by Wal-
pole himself 12 ; and not long afterwards he was made
one of the Barons of the Exchequer for Scotland.
Bishop While this bargain was pending, Ayloffe and
again re- Colbatch laid a full statement of the case before the
terfer? m " Bishop of Ely, and once more conjured him to in-
terpose and prevent such an injury to the society.
But the reply of that prelate was a repetition of his
former resolution, not to act as Visitor while the
petition to the King in Council lay still unanswered.
When the compact was completed, and the petition
withdrawn, the only ground of the Fellows was cut
from under them, and they were left in absolute
despair of ever having a Visitor. Archbishop Wake,
their only friend among the great, was hereby ren-
12 Chandler's Parliamentary Debates. Serjeant Miller was member for
Petersham at the general elections of 1722 and 1727.
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 89
tiered unable to assist them, and it was understood chap.
xiv
that their Master was countenanced and screened by 171 '
Earl Stanhope, who had succeeded to the seals of
Secretary of State for the Home Department 13 .
Previous to this consummation, several exertions, Abuses of
or rather abuses, of the Master's power had taken authority.' *
place, with the intent of strengthening his influence
over the Seniority. At the re-election of Mr. Modd
to the Vice-mastership, when Dr. Colbatch objected
that he had not put any one statute in execution,
that he had not kept the other officers to their duties,
and specified that Dr. Ashenhurst had been suffered
totally to neglect the lectureships which he held the
last two years, the Master replied ' that objection
concerned only the time past ; what had he to object
for the time to come?' a repartee uttered in the very
wantonness of power ; while at the same time he
wrote down Ashenhurst for a third lecture for the
ensuing year. He nominated Mr. Brabourn, a per-
son nearly insane, to the Perpetual Curacy of St.
Michael's, in Cambridge, though not one of the
Seniors, except Brabourn himself, would vote for
committing the care of a parish to hands so obviously
unfit and incapable. Shortly after, he chose the
same person pandoxator, a College officer through
whose hands considerable sums of money annually
pass. Hacket was made Vicar of Trumpington ;
which preferment had been augmented by a bequest
of the celebrated Herbert Thorndike, who had an-
nexed to the enjoyment of this augmentation the
condition of residence : he was accordingly bound to
reside in his vicarage by a bond of 1000/. given to
Thorndike's trustees : one of these trustees was the
13 This fact was positively asserted by Mr. Justice Page, during his stay
in Trinity College, at the Lent Assizes in 1720. He was a friend of Miller,
and had other opportunities of learning the fact. Colbutch's Journal.
90 LIFE OF
XIV.
1719-
chap. Master ; who soon made the performance of the
condition impossible, by choosing Hacket senior-dean
of the College. The statutes enjoin that the Fellows
shall perform theological disputations in the chapel
on Fridays ; at which exercises the dean presides as
moderator : Hacket being destitute of that as well as
every other description of learning, the exercises from
his time fell into disuse. He seems to have been
originally chosen Fellow upon no ground whatever
except his relationship to Bishop Hacket, the great
benefactor of the College. This act, which took
place before Bentley's time, though dictated by
gratitude, is an instance of the lasting mischief which
results from suffering any consideration, except that
of merit, to operate in admitting members into a
society.
Oct. 1. At the election of Fellows in 1719, Charles Squire,
tbevisitor whom some of the examiners considered the best
s y idre rieS q ua lifi e d of the candidates, was rejected by the
Master, though live of the Seniors voted for him.
As this young man, besides his literary claims, had
a blameless and exemplary character, his rejection
was attributed to his being a pupil of Professor Pil-
grim, whose attachment to Colbatch's party had
brought upon him the resentment of the Master. He
was advised, therefore, to appeal against the election
to the Bishop of Ely as Visitor : this design was en-
couraged by Dr. Colbatch ; who well knew that the
Bishop would decline acting as Visitor; but his
object was to solicit attention by every means to the
proceedings of the Master ; thinking that publicity
was now the only check upon his arbitrary conduct.
We have already mentioned the statute by which
Bentley justified his electing by his sole voice, unless
the eight Seniors were unanimous against him : but
it is to be observed that Colbatch always disputed his
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 91
interpretation, and contended that the words in plures chap.
..... ... . XIV.
partes divisi, implied a division of the Seniors into 1719 *
more than two parts. This ground does not seem -
very tenable : but the Master was certainly in the
habit of breaking the provisions of the statute, which
require that, before his single nomination can take
effect, the question must be three times put to the
vote : a ceremony which he chose to omit as un-
necessary.
The war excited in these once peaceful seats of
learning continued to rage with unabated fury in
several quarters at once : the reader, in perusing the
proceedings which follow, will observe that they took
place at nearly the same period, and that the feelings
produced by each had great influence in blowing the
flames of discord to a still greater height.
Middleton having successfully fleshed his maiden
sword in the contest, and having by his three pamph-
lets raised much odium against his enemy, resolved
to pursue the war, which he considered must be one
of extermination. It was thought that a public expo- Middleton
sure of Bentley's conduct in governing his college was pampwet
now the best, or rather the only expedient for obtain- ESey's
ins; the interference of some superior authority. Col- Colle s e g-
vernment.
batch, who was both able and willing to effect this,
knew that whatever he might publish against the
Master would be interpreted as a statutable crime,
calling for expulsion. Middleton therefore, who owed
Bentley no allegiance, and was disposed to give him
no more quarter than he would have vouchsafed to a
wolf or a tiger, undertook the task. He first borrowed
some papers of Colbatch, who was in the habit of
recording all events as they occurred, and afterwards
detailing them in the shape of memorials to the Bishop
of Ely, the Lord Chancellor, and other great men ;
and with this assistance he executed as keen a piece
XIV
1719.
92 LIFE OF
chap, of invective as that period, however fruitful in such
productions, can show. He termed it, ' A True
Account of the Present State of Trinity College in
Cambridge, under the oppressive Government of their
Master, Richard Bentley, late D.D. :' and gave as
his motto a sentence from one of Cicero's speeches
ao-ainst Verres ; pieces which he seems to have taken
as the model for his invective against Bentley : Preter-
mit t am minora omnia, quorum simile forsitan alius
quoque aliquid aliquando fecerit : nihil dicam nisi singu-
lare; nisi quod, si in alium reum diceretur, incredibile
rider etur. Middleton first states that since the Court
had apparently left Bentley to his fate, and given
up the intended Royal Visitation, the members of
Trinity, who had relied on that event for some re-
dress, were left abandoned and hopeless to his tyranny
and oppression, and were unable to obtain justice, or
even a hearing of their grievances : he then enters
into a detail of his different abuses of power, laying-
principal stress upon the occurrences of the last two
or three years. Almost all these have already been
laid before our readers, divested of the additions with
which the malice and inveteracy of his enemies had
clothed them. In Middleton's pamphlet every thing-
is represented in the strongest colouring : the Master's
actions are charged with being not only unstatutable
and illegal, but mean, dishonest, rapacious, oppres-
sive, and inhuman ; while his motives are impeached
as still worse than his actions. Middleton, in order to
gain credit with his readers, challenged his enemy to
refute the charge, in terms sufficiently uncompro-
mising.
" The charge I have brought against the Master, is such, that no
honest man can falselv make, any more than an honest man can be
guilty of it, ita apertam vim habet, ut out accusetur improbe aid
defendatur. The controversy is of that nature, as can never end but
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 93
in the loss of all credit and character to one side or other; the CHAP.
quarrel is now come to such a head and crisis, that it is impossible ^ lv -
for the contending parties to live with any ease together within the !719.
same walls ; it is impossible for them to continue scuffling and
wrangling thus perpetually, but to the irreparable damage and utter
ruin of the Society. It is now become necessary that one or other
be made to submit and quit the field to his adversary ; this is the
issue that the complainants would gladly put the dispute upon. If
their accusation should appear at last to be false and frivolous, they
are content to become as justly odious, as their Master must needs
be, if it is found real and unanswerable ; they are content to suffer
expulsion themselves, if they cannot prove him to have long deserved
it." True Account, &c. p. 38.
There was no question that every page of this
book contained libellous matter ; but it was doubted
whether Bentley would venture to resent it, either by
an action or the press : if he did, it was thought that
the writer's object would be gained, in forcing the
affairs of Trinity College into public notice. But this
reasoning was erroneous. No sooner had he perused
the book than he determined on his measures, and
put them as promptly into execution. He called the it is cen-
Seniors together, read to them some passages from the^eiX
the publication, and then produced a ready-written orIty *
censure, denouncing it as a scandalous libel upon the
college and its members, and declaring that the
printer, publisher, author, or authors should be pro-
secuted at the public expense. This was five days Nov. 30.
before the accomplishment of the bargain with Ser-
jeant Miller : Colbatch, as we have observed, was
absent at that time ; three of the Seniors, Jordan,
Ayloffe, and Bouquet opposed the censure ; but the
Master with the other five decreed it in the terms
given in the note u . Having carried this point, he
14 "Nov. 30, 1719. Whereas a pamphlet was brought before us with
this title : A True Account of the Present State of Trinity College, in Cam-
bridge, under the oppressive Government of their Master, Richard Bent-
94
LIFE OF
chap, advanced a step further, thinking to crush all his
l71 ' enemies at a blow. The intimate knowledge of col-
Bentley's
attempt
against
C'olbatch.
lege transactions exhibited in this pamphlet, made
him conclude that it must have been written, or at
least the materials supplied, by one of the Seniority ;
and he had no hesitation in fixing upon Dr. Colbatch
as that individual. Accordino-lv, assuming- him to
be either the author or instigator of the work, he
proposed that, as a punishment, he should at once
be removed from the Senioritv : and two of his ad-
herents, Brabourn and Baker, entered unscrupulously
into this measure. But here his support ended :
Model and Barwell, though they had, for the sake of
avoiding broils, given an almost indiscriminate con-
sent to the Master's projects, had yet virtue enough
to refuse being made instruments in the ruin of a
brother, whose crime was his perseverance in a resist-
ance which they had themselves abandoned as hope-
less. Bentley therefore, unable to inflict this summary
blow on his enemy, satisfied himself with a Power of
Attorney under the College seal, enabling his own
solicitor, Edwards, to
bring
whatever actions he
ley, late D.D. Printed for T. Bickerton, at the Crown in Paternoster Row,
1720. Upon examining the said pamphlet, resolved by the Master and
majority of Seniors, with the general approbation of the other Fellows, and
the Scholars, that it is a false, and malicious, and scandalous libel, tra-
ducing this Royal foundation for a decay of all good learning in it, for want
of all discipline, for wronging and defrauding the College tenants in their
rents, and many other wicked calumnies, tending to the detriment and
dishonour of this nourishing Society; and that the printer, publisher,
author or authors of the said libel (if discovered) be forthwith prosecuted
at law, and an instrument under the College seal be made for that pur-
pose."
R. Bextley, Master of the College.
Geo. Modd.
Matt. Barwell.
Ja. Brabourn.
John Hacket.
John Baker.
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 95
pleased against the authors, printers, and publishers chap.
of the attack upon his government. 1719
Dr. Middleton at first considered all this as the
Prosecutes
fulmination of empty menace : but a short time con- thepub-
vinced him of the contrary, when he found a prosecu-
tion commenced against Bickerton, the publisher.
Hereupon he resolved, with proper spirit, to avow the
authorship ; but wishing to give at the same moment
another wound to his adversary, he subjoined to this
confession a copy of the articles of accusation, prepared
by Colbatch to be laid before a Visitor, which had
formed the ground-work of his pamphlet. The book-
sellers, however, were alarmed, and declined publish-
ing what they thought would be considered as a fresh
libel upon the Master of Trinity. He was therefore \nddieton
obliged to be satisfied with acknowledging himself ^author-
the author, in an advertisement ; asserting, that the shi P-
facts stated in his publication were only such as had
been, or might be proved before a Visitor ; that the
only motive of the book was to bring on a Visitation ;
promising, that if the Master, or any friend of his,
would answer it in print, he would either defend and
prove every article, or give him the satisfaction of a
public recantation
15
15 This document, being curious, must be given at length.
Cambridge, Feb. 9, 1720.
" Whereas the Master of Trinity College is prosecuting the author and
publisher of a book, entitled A True Account of the present State of Trinity
College in Cambridge, under the oppressive Government of their Master,
Richard Bentley, late D.D. for the preventing all unnecessary trouble
and expense in such prosecution, I hereby voluntarily acknowledge myself
to be the sole author of the said book ; and do declare, that the several
facts therein mentioned are no other than what have either been proved
upon the Master, at a public trial before the late Bishop of Ely (who died
before sentence was given), or will certainly, with many more of the same
kind, be charged and proved upon him by the Fellows, whenever there
shall be a Visitor assigned for that purpose ; for which they have long
been petitioning : and I solemnly protest that I had no other design in
96 LIFE OF
chap. Bentley did not think fit to accept this challenge,
XIV.
1719.
but continued his prosecution of the bookseller, till
Middleton consented to subscribe, before witnesses,
cuted! se " an acknowledgment that he was the author : where-
upon an information was commenced against him in
the Court of King's Bench, on the joint behalf of the
Kino- and of Richard Bentley. To this species of
action he had exposed himself by a sentence or two,
which complained that the Fellows of Trinity had
been unable to obtain justice, or even a hearing, from
the King in Council, or any Court of Justice in the
kingdom :
" Thevhave for several years past been labouring, by all the means
they could, to procure a public and decisive hearing of their disputes,
and have applied themselves for that purpose to every great man
they could anv way find access to : they have long been desirous to
subject themselves to the visitatorial power of the Bishop of Ely,
and to join in any addresses to Court or Parliament for such an ex-
plication of their statutes, as would confirm that power to him ; their
Petition to the King in Council to assign them a Visitor, has been
depending there above four years, without any other effect, than from
the little notice that is taken of them abroad, to find themselves
trampled upon, with the greater spirit and insolence, at home.
" While the liberty of an Englishman is so much the envy of other
nations, and the boast of our own, and the meanest peasant knows
writing the said book but to promote and bring on such a Visitation, by
shewing the necessity of it, and to do justice to my worthy oppressed
friends of that College (whereof I was not long since a Fellow) , which they
are not able to do of themselves, but at the hazard of their Fellowships ;
(the Master having, since the publication of the book, attempted to deprive
a reverend and learned member of the Seniority for the bare suspicion of
his being the author of it.) And I do now affirm, that I have said nothing
material in the said book but under the utmost conviction of its truth,
either from my own knowledge, or upon the best evidence and information,
as will easily appear whenever there shall be occasion : and if, in the mean-
while, the Master or any of his friends, will undertake to answer it in print,
I hereby promise either to defend and prove every article alleged against
him, or to make him the satisfaction of a public recantation.
" Conyers Middleton, D.D."
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. .97
where to find redress for the least grievance he has to complain of; CHAP,
it is hardly credible, that a body of learned and worthy men, oppressed XIV *
and injured daily, in every thing that is dear and valuable to them, 1/19.
should not be able to find any proper court of justice in the kingdom
that will receive their complaints." True Account, #c. p. 5.
These words were construed into a reflection upon
the King's government and the administration of the
law. To arrest this prosecution it was in vain -that
Middleton produced affidavits of his good and peace-
able character, and the general correctness of his
details of the College affairs. The proceedings how-
ever, though sure, were slow ; harassing postpone-
ments took place from term to term ; and before the
case was brought to its crisis, many other incidents
occurred of considerable moment to our narrative.
The senior Fellow of Trinity, Dr. Stubbe 16 , who
when superseded in the vice-mastership, had with-
drawn into voluntary exile from the college, died
about the end of October 1719, vacating the rectory of
Orwell in the neighbourhood of Cambridge. This
living, being separated from the Vicarage, was a
16 Though we have had occasion to remark the high monarchical princi-
ples of Dr. Stubbe, yet t apprehend him to have been the last surviving
member of Trinity College, who was educated under the Republican
regime. His remains were brought for interment to his rectory of Orwell ;
where a monument was erected by Mr. Paris, to whom he left much of
his property, with the following inscription :
Hie juxta sitae sunt
Corporales Reliquiae
Dignissimi Wolfrani Stubbe, S. T. P.
Hujus Ecclesiae non ita pridem Rectoris.
Hie apud Cantabrigienses et Sacra? Linguae Professor,
Et Collegii Trinitatis Vice-Magister fuit :
Hie ad extremum usque aetatis
In conservando Collegio
Strenue elaboravit,
Vires ultra sortemque senectas.
* * * * *
Annos natus 82.
VOL. II. II
98 LIFE OF
XIV.
1719.
chap, desirable preferment for a Senior-fellow, and had
successively been held, ever since the foundation, by
= the oldest doctor in the college. Colbatch being now
ciaimfthe the senior graduate, immediately claimed it as his
cantrec- r ight. No opposition was offered by any one of his
wen. brethren 17 ; but when the Master was requested to
hold a meeting to give the presentation, which, by
order of the statutes, is to be within a month after the
vacancy has been announced, he flatly refused ; alleg-
ing on this, as on similar occasions, that he was at
liberty to postpone the presentation till the conclusion
of six months, which opinion he maintained by an
ingenious but sophistical argument, drawn from a
comparison of provisions in other parts of the statutes.
It may be remarked that his plan of keeping livings
undecided till the last moment, was one of the
methods by which he retained his Fellows in depend-
ence. Colbatch thinking this a favourable occasion
for fighting the battle, prepared himself, with the aid
of his friend Dr. Exton Sayer of the Commons, to
demand from the law that justice, which the Master
was disposed to refuse him. He applied to the dio-
cesan, Bishop Fleetwood, with the proofs of his claim,
begging him to interfere as Ordinary, if he declined
to do so as Visitor, and to require that the statutable
presentation should be made. But that prelate was
inflexible in his resolution to take no step which
might bring himself into trouble. However he made
no secret of his opinion upon the matter, but declared
that Colbatch's right to the living was ' indefeasible :'
and when a friend of the Master's hinted that the
Doctor was unfriendly to the Government, the Bishop
promptly replied that ' that was no reason why justice
17 There were three clerical fellows senior to Colbatch at this time ; but
they were only Masters of Arts, and no controversy was now raised against
the right of the senior graduates to the preoption of livings.
0(
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D.
should be refused him.' Bentley now gave out that chap.
he thought of presenting himself to this sinecure, and 1719
appropriating the profits to a fund for the improve-
ment of College preferment. Such a scheme was in
plain opposition to the statutes, and probably was
never seriously entertained, but designed as a veil of
his real object, which was to make Colbatch surren-
der his fellowship on receiving this preferment. He
reckoned that when he had once freed himself from
that adversary, he should be left in undisturbed pos-
session of his monarchy. The scheme appeared at
first sight likely to succeed : the rectory was pecu-
liarly desirable to a Professor of the University ; and
Colbatch, in giving up his fellowship, would make
but a trifling pecuniary sacrifice, as he might in that
case retain his prebend at Salisbury : on the other
hand, his continuance in the College held out little
other prospect than that of interminable broils, inju-
rious to the peace of mind, the feelings, and the
studies of a scholar. But Bentley did not properly
estimate the person by whom he was opposed. Col-
batch acted upon principle ; and would rather have
sacrificed his life than abandoned a cause, which
mainly relied on his support.
When, after five months' importunity, the subject The strug-
was agitated at the board of Seniority, the Master Jim and"
offered the living of Orwell to Dr. Colbatch upon Masten
condition of resigning his fellowship. The other
firmly declined accepting upon conditions that which
was his right by statute ; contending that he asked
no favour, but only justice : whereupon the Master
as positively refused to consent to his having the pre-
sentation ; alleging that he had two causae gravisshnce
against him disaffection to the Government, and
disaffection to the College. Of the first charge his
proof was a hearsay report, that ' a certain gentle-
h 2
100 LIFE OF
XIV
1710
chap, man,' whom he would not name, suspected of being
a Jacobite, had praised Dr. Colbatch as ' a very
worthy man.' On the second head, he urged, on the
authority of ' a certain bishop,' that he had confessed
having supplied the materials for Middleton's pam-
phlet. For this last allegation there was some ground :
Colbatch had certainly told Dr. Trimnell, the Bishop
of Norwich, that Middleton had seen some papers of
his ; a piece of information of which the good bishop
made an indiscreet use. The only individuals who
abetted the Master on this occasion were Brabourn
and Hacket, two discreditable auxiliaries, who brought
upon themselves a severe rebuke and exposure by Dr.
Colbatch, from which no one interposed to protect
them. It appears extraordinary that Bentley should
have so far lost his sagacity and presence of mind, as
to defer such objections until after he had, before
witnesses, offered him the living upon condition of
quitting his fellowship ; whereby he supplied evidence
of the futility of his own pretences. Colbatch, who
was neither a vain nor arrogant man, says, that, on
this occasion, ' he fairly threw Bentley on his back :'
and this is the first time I find it hinted that he was
not the same man as formerly.
In a few days the Master altered his measures, and
made overtures through Modd and Ayloffe, for an
accommodation : offering to give his consent to Col-
batch having the living, provided he would engage
no longer to solicit a visitation of the college : he like-
wise proposed an amicable conference, to which the
other unwillingly consented. The interview between
these enemies took place in the presence of Modd,
Avlofte, and Hacket : but it resembled the meeting
of Brutus and Cassius with the Triumvirs. Colbatch
refused to make any promise or condition, and de-
clared that he would only accept the living pure ct
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 101
simpliciter, as the oath of institution requires. To the chap.
wishes expressed by Bentley ' for the peace of the 171 ^
college,' he replied that this was the main object of-
his own desires ; and that being persuaded it could
only be secured by having a perpetual Visitor, he
would not cease to labour for the appointment of one.
Finally they parted in mutual defiance, the Master
declaring that he would withhold his consent, though
the living should thereby lapse to the Bishop. The
prospect of the last alternative, which was near ap-
proaching, proved very disagreeable to the Master's
own partizans, who considered this as a wanton loss
of the college preferment, and pressed him that if
Colbatch was not to have it, the presentation might
be given to some other Fellow. Meanwhile some
friends of Colbatch came up and remained in College,
in order to be present at the meeting of the sixteen,
which was necessary for affixing the seal : so that the
result of the struggle was doubtful. But Bentley was Bentley
~~ . J . obliged to
defeated from an occurrence to which all courts are lia- give way.
able, a dissention among his own adherents. Hacket,
whose support of his measures was mercenary, aimed
at this rectory for himself: Baker, who disliked and
despised Hacket, thought that if the statutable claim
of seniority was to be set aside, his own services
merited this reward ; and Ashenhurst, a powerful
auxiliary, espoused his cause. The two aspirants
were irreconcileable, each preferring that Orwell
should be given to Colbatch, rather than to his com-
petitor. Thus circumstanced, the Master had no
choice but either to yield the point to his adversary,
or hazard the breaking up of his own party. Accord- April n,
ingly he gave a reluctant acquiescence ; but could
not so far overcome his mortification, as to be present
at the meeting which gave the presentation to Dr.
Colbatch. The honest joy expressed by all the Fel-
102 LIFE OF
XIV
1720.
chap, lows at this termination of the contest, is one of the
few gratifying circumstances in this disastrous period
of the College history : not only the rest of Bentley's
partizans joined in testifying their satisfaction, but
even Brabourn and Hacket made atonement for their
former hostility.
In the meantime other events had occurred, which
though the biographer of Dr. Bentley can have no
satisfaction in relating, it is yet necessary to mention,
as being the steps by which he compassed his ob-
Humphreysjects. It will be remembered that in 1714 David
Fellow. Humphreys had been chosen to fill Miller's fellow-
ship, in case the King should before the expiration of
nine months declare it to be void. An article in the
late bargain with the Serjeant was, that the arrears
should be divided between him and Humphreys, and
that the fellowship should thenceforward be enjoyed
by the latter, who was to have seniority according to
his standing. Humphreys was deserving of the fel-
lowship, and after a suspense of above five years, his
admission seemed reasonable and equitable : but it
was pointedly against the statutes to admit any one
above the standing of Master of Arts ; and the King
never having declared Miller's fellowship vacant, all
the consequences built upon that supposition were an
Jan. 2, evident nullity. When the treaty was completed, a
meeting was called to admit Humphreys. The party
in the Seniority opposed to the Master, being four in
number, might, had they held firmly together, have
obstructed most of his projects ; but he generally
carried his points in the absence of one of them. On
this occasion Dr. Bouquet, thinking it useless to
irritate the Head of the College by further opposition
after the main point had been decided, chose to be
absent : Bentley also, finding that there were five
Fellows on whom he could rely, and not wishing to
1720.
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 103
have a gratuitous altercation with Col batch, thought chap.
f . XIV
proper to stay away. After an indignant protest ir>0
against any business being transacted by a meeting
which did not consist of the eight seniors in College,
and likewise against the unstatutable act of admitting
a Fellow of Humphrey's standing, Colbatch and his
two friends left the Chapel. To withdraw after a
protest, instead of witnessing acts which they deemed
illegal, was for several years the general practice
of the malcontents ; but the majority in this as well
as every other instance completed the business, re-
gardless of the secession of their brethren.
We have had occasion to notice the privilege of Lectureson
holding preferment allowed by statute to the College- chism, &c.
preachers, but denied to the rest of the Fellows ; as
well as the patronage exercised by Bentley in the
appointments to these preacherships. The statutes
of Trinity enjoin that there shall be read in Chapel
every Sunday and Holiday a lecture upon some part
of the catechism : in order that this exercise, at
which all the scholars are to be present, may never
be omitted, there are to be five or six Fellows ap-
pointed for the office ; and at the vacancy of a
preachership, one of those who have completed their
course is to be elected. The undoubted intent of
this provision was to supply to the students constant
instruction in the principles of Christianity, and at
the same time to give a direction to the studies of
the junior Fellows, by calling upon them for an
appropriate and useful exercise in divinity. That
the institution had been eminently useful was proved
by Dr. Barrow's published exposition of the Lord's
Prayer, the Decalogue, and the Sacraments, which
had formed part of his catechetical lectures in Trinity
Chapel ; and by Herbert Thorndike's treatise on
Church-government, which was grounded upon his
104 LIFE OF
chap, lectures on the k Power of the keys,' delivered in
xiv .
1720 ' this course. During Dr. Bentley's mastership these
= lectures had been intermitted for months and years
together. The fact is that he viewed them only as
the means of approach to a College-preachership ;
and being resolved to appoint no one but those on
whose attachment he could rely, he would not even
suffer their names to be entered as Catechists ; and
resisted all applications to keep up the statutable
number, by appointing the Fellows in their order to
read those lectures. He urged in his defence they
had not been kept up according to statute in the
time of the last Master : but the omission then arose
from the neglect of the Fellows themselves, not from
any design of obstructing the access to a preachership.
The Master when strongly importuned at a College-
meeting to consent to the nomination of Catechists,
treated the application with scorn, saying, ' that it
was nonsense to talk of putting up five or six persons
Treatment to catechize at once.' Afterwards two of the persons
aLfcrafs- proposed, Mailed and Craister, waited upon him
ter - either to beg or demand his permission for that pur-
pose : both these gentlemen having been subscribers
to the Petition of 1716 for fixing a Visitor, had no
great pretensions to his patronage. He very un-
ceremoniously turned them from the door, and told
the Seniority that ' he supposed they had sent them
to bravo him.' However the Seniors did take upon
themselves, in the Master's absence, to appoint
Mailed to catechize : the vicarage of Barrinoton was
then vacant, and he wished for a preachership in
order to hold it. Having performed the exercises,
he again waited on the Master to solicit the appoint-
ment ; but was plainly told that ' he was on a side,'
and that ' he must change sides before he could be
judged fit to be a College-preacher/ Mailed did
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 105
not choose to adopt this condition : he applied no chap.
more for that object, but took the first opportunity of 1720
quitting his fellowship for a living in the North. =====
On the rejection of his senior, Craister called to beg
that he might be suffered to qualify himself for this
living ; but was treated with still less ceremony than
the other. The Master, after reminding him that he
had voted for his Degradation, took him by the
shoulder and fairly pushed him out of the door. As
for the living, he designed it for his useful favourite,
Richard Walker, who was considerably junior to
those named ; but finding that he could not gain
consent to this mode of rewarding his services, he
offered to present Craister provided he would quit
his fellowship. Failing in this also, he suffered the
presentation to lapse and be lost to the College. Dr. February,
Colbatch, who entertained a peculiarly strong feeling 172 "
of the propriety of keeping up these lectures, suffered
greater uneasiness from this than from any other part
of the Master's conduct : at a time when his own
interests in the affair of Orwell were at stake, he
remonstrated on this subject in a Seniority, and ear-
nestly begged that the statute might be executed for
the future : he then proposed the names of five per-
sons for Catechists ; whereupon the Master exclaimed,
" you propose? and pray who are you, that you
propose?" to which the other replied, that ' it was
not himself, but the statutes which made the pro-
position.'
But while Bentley repulsed with such a high hand
all who were disposed to mutiny against his authority,
he was careful to throw open the doors of preferment
to his supporters. About this time he made Uvedale,
Parran, Whitfield, and Barnwell, College-preachers,
though all of them junior to Mailed who was refused.
On the appointment of Dr. Whitfield a scene took
10G
LIFE OF
CHAP.
XIV.
1720.
Bouquet.
Whitfield.
place, which spoke in the clearest terms what must
be expected by those who attempted to curb the
autocrat of the society. He and Dr. Bouquet had
been appointed to preach probation sermons by the
Seniors, during the absence of the Master in London ;
a presumption for which the old gentlemen were
severely reprimanded. Bentley, hastening his re-
turn, held a meeting for the election ; when Bouquet,
claiming a preachership as his right by long standing,
was treated with threats and scurrility. He had
opposed the Master in the Seniority on the bargain
with Serjeant Miller, on the prosecution of Middle-
ton's book, and on other favourite questions. Bentley
declared that ' he disapproved of his discourse, as he
approved of Dr. Whitfield's, by report' (for he had
heard neither), told him that ' his sermon was out of
the dripping-pan,' and hinted that his being a fo-
reigner and not naturalized w r as a ground for ejecting
him from his fellowship, if not from his professorship.
He was accordingly put aside, and his competitor
elected. Bouquet being a Doctor of Divinity of nine
years standing, Regius Professor of the Sacred Lan-
guage, and a person of unblemished character, it
was preposterous to urge such objections to his be-
coming either preacher or incumbent : but in effect,
although he remained Fellow of the College above
half a century, he was excluded throughout life upon
no other pretence.
Dr. Whitfield deserves a particular notice among
the Master's adherents, as being attached to him,
not like many others upon grounds of party or in-
terest, but by personal regard and friendship, which
I observe from some letters of his that have fallen
into my hands, he retained long after he had left the
society. He was a man of extensive reading and
considerable ability ; his theological opinions were
1
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 107
suspected, but erroneously, I believe, of Arianism. chap.
About four years after this time he married, on the 1720
living of Dickleborough in Norfolk, quitting his fel- =====
lowship before he had sullied his character by any
unworthy compliances with the humour or schemes
of his principal.
It may be remembered that Dr. Gooch had been The design
re-elected Vice-chancellor in 1718, that he might in visitation
the character of chief-magistrate defend before the "VL Um ~
^j vcrsity
King in Council the proceedings of himself and the abandoned.
University, relative to the Suspension and Degrada-
tion of the Master of Trinity College. The Com-
mittee of the Privy Council appointed to prepare a
Royal visitation, which was to settle all disputes in
the University, did nothing : and the only advice
which his Ministers gave to the King was, not to
interfere in any way with these academical feuds.
Matters therefore at the conclusion of Gooch's second
year of office, were in the same state as at its com-
mencement. Bentley was deprived of every degree,
and all voice or interference in University business.
He held, however, the station of Regius Professor of
Divinity, although excluded from the performance
of its duties. For some time after his Degradation
the disputations in theology were entirely omitted
and dispensed with, on the payment of caution.
Upon the receipt of a letter from the Archbishop of
Canterbury, objecting to this practice, and informing
the University that he would not admit theological
degrees obtained without exercises, to be a ground
of dispensation for holding two livings, some dis-
putations did take place in the Schools. But as I
find no person named who presided at them as
moderator, and as they are termed miserable and
unfruitful, I apprehend that they were in fact little
108
LIFE OF
CHAP.
XIV.
1720.
better than mere forms, intended to satisfy the letter
of the law. Since this state of things was discre-
ditable to the University, and there was now no
prospect of Bentley's being restored to his degrees
on the terms of submission, it was resolved to make
an effort to deprive him of his professorship. Dr.
Gooch had at the time of the Suspension, threatened
that ' if he did not make his submission in three
days, he would declare his professorship vacant.'
He was probably not aware, when he uttered this
menace, that it could only be executed by the joint
agency of the Vice-chancellor and the Master of
Trinity ; and the latter, being identified with the
Professor, was not likely to concur in his own de-
Dr. Gooch privation. A resolution being now taken of having
thlrd e time recourse to the law for assistance, it was found ne-
vice-chan- cessar y to elect the Vice-chancellor to a third year
cellor. J g *
of office; the junta, who ruled the University, not
daring at that moment to entrust the chief magistracy
to any one whose views did not exactly coincide
with their own. There was another ostensible ground
for continuing Gooch in office ; the first steps had
been taken in the preceding year towards building a
new Senate-house : this, however, appears to have
been only intended as a colourable pretence. There
having been no instance of the same individual hold-
ing the Vice-chancellorship three years together,
since the reign of Elizabeth, the Heads did not think
it safe to leave any option to the Senate ; they there-
fore nominated along with Gooch the Bishop of
Carlisle, upon whom they knew that the office could
not be imposed. Bentley's party however chose to
Nov. 4. express their feelings on this occasion by a poll, in
1719, which 58 voted for Bishop Bradford, and 94 for
Dr. Gooch.
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 109
After long delays the attack upon the Professor chap.
assumed the form of a Rule of the Court of King's 1720
Bench, calling upon the electors to the professorship,
Application
to shew cause why a mandamus should not be issued, to the court
obliging them to fill up a supposed vacancy in the Bench ui
Chair. This was obtained in Trinity Term 1720, by B 7 e yof
the Attorney General, Sir R. Raymond, counsel for his profes-
the University, upon the affidavit of Robert Simpson,
one of the Esquire-beadles ; who detailed the cir-
cumstances of Dr. Bentley's election, and deposed
that the two Fellows of Trinity College, Modd and
Bathurst, who had voted for him, were neither the
maxime seniores, nor deputed by them, and that the
whole affair was the result of collusion between the
Master of Trinity and the other three electors ; and
therefore inferred that the place had never been
legally filled since the death of Dr. James. This
attempt was so weak, that it seems surprising how
any success could have been expected from it. The
collusion between the electors, to which he deposed,
could only be matter of suspicion : in the absence of
the two maxime seniores, the appearance of the next
seniors in their room was consistent both with statute
and practice : and whatever objections might be
made to the proceedings, had been equally valid
three years before ; and were evidently brought for-
ward at this time to serve a particular purpose.
Bentley in reply to this deposition drew up three
separate affidavits, from himself, Dr. Davies, and
Mr. Modd 18 . The two latter negative the impu-
tation of collusion, and make a judicious use of the
fact of there being no competitor for the office, as
justifying their choice of Bentley. His own affidavit
is an able and artful composition ; containing a
18 Mr. Bathurst had died in February, 1719.
110 LIFE OF
chap, plausible account of the election itself, as well as of
xiv. l
1720 many subsequent occurrences ; and dwelling par-
== ticularly on the conduct of Dr. Gooch. Other affi-
davits were also filed in the Michaelmas term, in
opposition to the Rule of Court, from some Fellows
of Trinity, proving that the deputation of the electors
which had taken place was consistent with forms and
custom ; and one from Lisle, deposing the treatment
which the Professor had experienced from the Vice-
November, chancellor. Whatever arguments took place in
Court on this occasion have not been preserved : but
it appears that the Rule was discharged 19 .
Election for In the year 1720 political opinions were again
unfversity. 6 brought into conflict in the University of Cambridge.
The health of Dr. Paske, one of the representatives,
having; been for some time in a dangerous state, an
active canvass was kept up, at least eighteen months,
for the expected vacancy. Several candidates ex-
erted their interest ; but Dr. Paske dying in the
latter end of the year, the contest lay between two
the Hon. Thomas Willoughbv, second son of Lord
Middleton, one of the twelve Tory peers created on
the same day by Queen Anne, and the Hon. Henry
Finch, son of Daniel Earl of Nottingham. The
latter gentleman had the interest of the Ministry in
his favour ; and he was also supported by Archbishop
Wake and others of the Hierarchy, in consideration
of the long and powerful services rendered to the
Church of England by Lord Nottingham. Thus the
High-church party was divided : the Archbishop,
anxious for Finch's success, solicited the support of
Dr. Colbatch. He was on every account desirous to
19 Copies of all the documents on this occasion have been furnished to
me, from the records of the Court, through the kind intercession of Lord
Chief Justice Tindal. Bentley's original draughts of the three first affida-
vits are found among his papers.
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. Ill
oblige the primate and the Earl of Nottingham ; but chap.
his devotion to the cause of Trinity College made j 720 '
him resolve to support no one who was not likely to ===
use his exertions, in and out of Parliament, to pro-
cure some hearing and redress for its grievances :
accordingly, when he found that Bentley was ex-
erting himself in favour of Finch, and that all his
party, who formed a numerous body, were supporting
him, he plainly saw that the Petitioners had nothing
to hope from that quarter ; and wrote to explain to
the Archbishop his inability to comply with his Grace's
wishes. The contest which ensued was severe ; but Dec. 14.
so prevalent were Tory sentiments in the Univer-
sity, that Mr. Willoughby succeeded against the
combination of such powerful interests, polling 176
votes, while Mr. Finch had 143. The ministerial
party seem to have been much chagrined at this
defeat, and there is good reason to believe, that
a consideration of the opposite sides taken in this
election, by the friends and enemies of the Master of
Trinity, had some influence upon the extraordinary
occurrences, which are shortly to be the subject of
our narrative.
HO LIFE OF
CHAPTER XV.
Account of Bentley's children His intimate acquaintance Dr. Davies's
devotion to him Second edition of Cicero's Tusculans Bentley's do-
mestic habits Progress of his edition of the New Testament Assist-
ance of WetsteinJohn Walker resides at Paris, collating manuscripts
for Bentley Benedictines of St. Maur Ancient Italic version of the
Scriptures Montfaucon Bentley's Proposals for publishing the New
Testament His Specimen Middleton's Remarks on the Proposals
Written in a disgraceful spirit Various persons suspected of having
written the Remarks Bentley's reasons for thinking that Colbatch
had supplied the materials His reply Virulent abuse of Colbatch
Colbatch seeks redress for the injury Bentley's Reply censured by the
Heads Colbatch prosecutes the printer in the Vice-chancellor's Court
Dr. Cross Middleton's Further Remarks on the Projwsals Reported
assistance by Ashton Letter by Philalethes Pearce's two Latin
Epistles Dr. Smalbroke's Letter Mistaken opinion that Bentley's
edition was stopped by Middleton's pamphlet Great extent of the
subscription Fails in his attempt to import paper duty-free David
Casley Middleton found Guilty of a Libel Kept in long suspense
Change of Ministry Act of Grace The Chief Justice advises a
settlement Middleton begs pardon of Bentley Pays the costs Made
Principal Librarian of the University.
chap. The contentious topics, which have so long engaged
our attention, have allowed us no intermission to
1720.
nnrirp the habits of Dr. Bentley's private life, and
jTi of the circle of his family and intimate acquaintance.
Identic}' s J *
children. . *. ^^ard to his progeny, he was eminently happy:
his threes children are described to have been every
thine that tfrte heart of a fond father could desire.
His son Richard exhibited extremely quick parts;
and the father determining that he should be educated
under his own eye, admitted him a member of Trinity
College, while "a child of only ten years old. In
adopting this uncommon and hazardous plan, he was
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 113
probably influenced by the precocious talents of the chap.
boy, and imitated the only precedent for such a step 172 ^
which he had ever witnessed, that of his early friend
William Wotton 1 .
Elizabeth, his eldest daughter, is described by
Cumberland, her nephew, ' to have inherited the
virtues and benignity of her mother, with habits
more adapted to the fashions of the world 2 .' Her
younger sister, Joanna, was the object of universal
admiration for her beauty, wit, and accomplishments ;
and she is said, from her earliest youth, to have cap-
tivated the hearts of the young collegians. Several
hints lead me to infer, that this young lady inherited
as large a portion of her father's spirit as could be
amiable in so charming a creature. She w r as his
favourite child ; and having received from him the
fondling appellation of Jug in her infancy, she con-
tinued to be called Jug Beiitley, as long as she
remained unmarried. Few beauties, even in an
University, have ever been so much celebrated as
this young nymph ; and it was her peculiar fortune
to have her praises first sung in her childhood. Mr.
John Byrom, a name well known in literary history
for his versatile genius, and varied accomplishments,
when a Bachelor of Trinity College, wrote, for the
amusement of Miss Joanna, a Pastoral, of which she
was the Phoebe ; and soon afterwards inserted it in Oct. 1714.
the eighth volume of the Spectator, to which work
he nad been an occasional contributor. This piece
is still celebrated as one of the most exquisite spe-
cimens in existence of playful poetry. Some saga-
cious critics have observed, that it does not breathe
the full spirit of tenderness and passion. One of
1 Richard Bentley was baptized June, 1708 ; and admitted of Trinity
College sub tutela Magistri, in 1718.
2 Cumberland's Memoirs, 4 to. p. 18.
VOL. II. I
114 LIFE OF
chap, them doubts whether Colin was ever really in love
xv
1720 W ^ tn n * s Phrebe ; another has discovered, from pri-
vate information, that Byrom was not sincere in his
attempt upon the heart of Miss Joanna, but being a
candidate for a fellowship, took that method of
ingrratiatino; himself with her father. Had these
commentators happened to look at the dates, they
would have discovered that when the poem came
forth the young lady was only eleven years old ! It
is recorded, that when the papers of the Spectator
appeared, Dr. Bentley heard them read with much
delight. How great must have been the surprise of
Phoebe if it was her turn to read on the morning
when, instead of an Essay, there appeared the Poem,
of which she knew herself to be the subject 3 .
iiisinti- -Dr. Bentley continued to pass in College the life
mate ac- f a severe student, relaxing himself in a small and
quaintance. ~
select circle of acquaintance. Of the Fellows ad-
mitted to his society, his favourites were Ashenhurst,
R. Walker, Witton, Barnwell, and Whitfield : the
only persons in the rest of the University with whom
he maintained any intimacy were Bishop Bradford,
Dr. Davies, and Dr. Brookbank. In London, whither
he was now frequently called by the contests into
which he had plunged, he enjoyed the society of his
old acquaintance Sir Isaac Newton, and Dr. Samuel
Clarke ; but more particularly of the celebrated physi-
cian, Dr. Mead. This gentleman, the glory of his
profession, and universally distinguished by his learn-
ing and virtues, remained to the end of our critic's
life his firm and zealous friend. Whatever impression
3 Ibid. p. 14. " When the Spectators were in publication, I have heard
my mother say, he (Dr. Bentley) took great delight in hearing them read
to him ; and was so particularly amused with the character of Sir Roger
de Coverley, that he took his literary decease most seriously to heart."
The Pastoral is in Vol. viii. No. 603. Byrom was also the author of Nos.
586 and 587, in the same volume.
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 115
the narrative of some late events may have produced chap.
upon the reader, Bentley 's friends appear to have con- r ., : J
tinned as much devoted to him as ever. Dr. Davies
published in 1717 his first edition of Cicero de Natura devotbTtV
Deoritm, prefixed to which is an epistle of dedication him "
to Dr. Bentley, expressing the highest admiration and
warmest attachment ; he not only praises his learn-
ing and talents in glowing terms, but speaks in the
language of heartfelt gratitude of his constant kind-
ness and uncommon favours conferred upon himself.
The latter topic is somewhat surprising ; since, as far
as we have means of judging, the debt of gratitude
lay wholly on the other side : it was but a short
time before this publication that Davies's assistance
had placed his friend in the Regius Professor's chair.
The dedication itself will be seen in a note ; and the
reader will easily distinguish its tone of regard and
admiration from the cant of adulation, which fre-
quently disgraces such productions. It is incumbent
on the biographer of Dr. Bentley, to show in what way
he was estimated by the most learned and amiable of
his acquaintance 4 .
4 " Viro summo Richardo Bentleio, S. P. D. Joannes Davisius.
" Si laudibus effundendis destinata fuerat haec Epistola ; vel ob earn
caussam tuum, Vir prasstantissime, nomen praescripsissem : non quod
pra?clarissimae tuae dotes meo careant praeconio, sed quod nemo me jure
posset adulationis incusare, licet eas exquisitissimis encomiis celebrassem.
Apud bonos enim in confesso est, aeterna ilia limatissimi tui judicii, miri
acuminis, et in variorum generum Uteris eximiae doctrinae monumenta, ut a
pessimis hie illic carpi queant ingeniis, ab optimis exaaquari vix posse.
" Verum alia res erat, quae hoc tempore non solum non omittenda, sed
potissimum agenda videbatur. Nimirum tu, literatissime Bentlei, uni-
verso quidem orbi erudito summum virum, mibi porro fidissimum amicum,
te probasti. Quamvis ergo voci publicae meam lubens adjunxerim ; tua
tamen singularis in me bonitas flagitat, ut me tibi privatim esse devinctis-
simum et praedicem et glorier. Tu me modis omnibus ornasti ; tu me
continuis prosecutus es officiis ; et, quod rei caput est, non quotidiano
fatigatus convitio, sed ultro, nee rogatus, efTusissimam in me benevolentiam
tam rebus quam verbis ostendisti. Ingratus igitur essem, si tantam comi-
i 2
116 LIFE OF
chap. The devotion of the editor of Cicero to his brother
xv.
1?20 Head, which came little short of idolatry, was ex-
hibited some time afterwards in a still more re-
second edi- markable light. The whole impression of Davies's
cero's Tus- edition of the Tusculan Disputations being sold, and
cuians. a new one ca n ec [ f or? Bentley applied himself afresh
to this work, and corrected it throughout, introducing
a vast number of his own emendations : of these
some were sanctioned by the collation of manuscripts,
and some rested only upon conjecture, in which, it
may be remarked, that he grew bolder as his age
advanced. Davies trusting to his friend as he would
have done to a Pythian Oracle, printed, instead of
the text of his former edition, that of Bentley ; al-
leging in his notes the authority of our mighty
Aristarchus, as the sole and sufficient ground for his
numerous and daring alterations. The defence of
these emendations was intended to come in the Ap-
pendix ; and Bentley was altering and enlarging his
former notes for that purpose : but when the text
was printed off, and the booksellers were clamorous
for its appearance, those annotations, upon which the
tatera, indulgentiam tantam, mihi sane perhonorificam, tibi, spero, non
ignominiosam, silentio praeterirem, nee tibi gratias et haberem et agerem
maximas.
" Id equidem simpliciter ac sine fueo jam nunc facio, nee faeere desinam ;
hujus autem animi mei pignora, Ciceronis libros de Natura Deorum,
mea cura non indiligenter, ut opinor, illustrates et emendates, tibi, Vir
ornatissime, cousecro. Quod si benignam nimis opinionem de opere meo
conceperim ; in eo tamen non fallor, te, quod pro eruditione tua laudare
non poteris, pro bumanitate tua condonaturum.
" Quodcunque vero de meis lucubrationibus feratur judicium, tuae certe
rectissimo stant talo, et ut, quae olim edidisti, doctiores omnes legunt
avidissime, ita, quae apud te premis, exspectant cupidissime. Honestissimis
igitur eorum desideriis noli, quaeso, repugnare ; sed turn alios egregios
animi tui foetus, turn Novum praecipue Testamentum integritati suae
pristinae restitutum, e scriniis expromas ; ut ea ratione tu denuo summam
gloriam, nos amplissimos fructus consequamur. Vale, Vir laudatissime,
et iis omnibus, quae Deus O.M. pretiosissima largiatur, in hac vita diu, in
altera semper fruare."
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 117
whole fabric of the amended text rested, were not chap.
forthcoming. This was in the year 1723 ; and the 1720
overwhelming importance of the transactions shortly
to be related, prevented his making up his mind
upon every point, and completing the Appendix.
Accordingly the book made its appearance, without
the only addition which could justify, or render
tolerable, the liberties taken with the text of Cicero.
As the confidence of other scholars in Bentley's con-
jectures did not equal that of Davies, who considered
them as certain as truth itself, this publication pro-
duced no small dissatisfaction, and people were in
amazement at such an instance of one scholar's de-
ference to the authority of another ; of which the
whole history of literature supplied no similar ex-
ample 5 .
The habits of Dr. Bentley's domestic life continued Bentley's
in the same simple and uniform course for many 2bits. tIC
years. The greater part of each day he passed in
his study, where he breakfasted alone ; he joined his
family at the other meals, and at ten o'clock for
evening prayers ; after which they retired for their
night's repose. Habited in his dressing-gown, he
pursued his studies with the same application as had
distinguished the earlier periods of his life. The
tempestuous feuds in which he was now embarked
appear neither to have deranged his habits, nor
affected his health. The only change which they
produced in his course of life was by obliging him to
make more frequent journeys to London, and pass a
longer time at his residence in Cotton House. Once
a year his family accompanied him ; at other times
he left them in College, travelling himself in the
5 A specimen of the feeling of foreign scholars on this subject may be
seen in an article of the Miscellanea Observationes, torn. i. p. 399 j which
did not appear till 1732, and is rather elaborately written.
118 LIFE OF
chap, stage-coach. His constitution seems not to have
xv. ,
1720. required exercise ; nor do I hear of his taking any,
- except that he sometimes walked on the terrace in
his garden. But robust as his health is represented
to have been, it was frequently affected by catching
cold ; a consequence of the recluse life which he
generally passed G .
Bentley's aversion to letter-writing increased with
his years ; and he seems for some time to have
dropped almost all correspondence, except such as
was called for by the imperious claims of business, or
was connected with the immediate objects of his
literary pursuits, and the publications which he me-
ditated. Peter Burman, who valued his friendship
and correspondence in the highest degree, and con-
sidered it as the legacy of his master Graevius, was
deeply distressed at his protracted silence, which he
presumed to arise from some inadvertent offence or
omission of his own ; and after waiting above two
years for a letter, wrote in 1718, imploring to know
the cause of the interruption of their correspondence.
As his subsequent letters express no further uneasi-
ness on this account, we may presume that Bentley
satisfied his friend that his silence was not attribu-
table to alienation of regard.
Progress of We must now recall our attention to the Doctor's
of the New great undertaking, his edition of the New Testament ;
Testament. to ^ n j c ji we ] iave no t adverted since its commence-
ment in 1716. Letters and other documents prove,
that for the first year he must have been diligently
occupied with the work which he had taken in hand
with so much spirit. In the two following years the
a These particulars of Dr. Bentley's private life and habits are distinctly
told by Ellinger, who was his butler from 170 9 to 1719 ; and by Atkinson,
who succeeded to that situation. Both their depositions were given at Ely
House in 1733.
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 119
imperious call made upon his time by his new pro- c ^ p -
fessorship, and the extraordinary course of events 1720
which ensued, will account for the suspension of this =====
great and laborious work ; but it was an error to
suppose, as some did, that he had abandoned the
idea. So entirely had he resolved to give the world
the most perfect text of the New Testament which
could be supplied by manuscripts and criticism, that
he spared no labour or expense in procuring the
requisite materials. He made fresh collations of the
two most ancient and precious copies in this country,
the Codex Alexandrinus, belonging to the Royal
Library of which he was Keeper, and the Greek and
Latin copy of the Gospels and Acts, given to the
University of Cambridge by the great Reformer,
Beza. Collations of these manuscripts had already
been published ; but Bentley found that a more
careful and precise examination would amply repay
the labour. From the collection of the Earl of
Oxford he procured several old manuscripts, which
had not been used by Dr. Mill ; one of these for-
merly belonged to the 3'ibliotlibqiie du Hoi at Paris,
and appears to have been among the treasures stolen
from that vast collection by the thief Aymond, and
to have come by purchase into the hands of the
ex-minister of England. His diligence was exerted
likewise in making accurate collations of the manu-
scripts of the Latin Testament, to which he attached
much importance, as conducing to the recovery of
that Version in the very state left by St. Jerome.
He pursued the important task of collecting the
quotations from the New Testament made by the
early Fathers. Whatever might be the prevalent
sentiment respecting this projected edition, there
certainly was exhibited great liberality and readiness
in all quarters to aid and facilitate the objects of the
1
120 LIFE OF
chap, editor. Amon; other instances we may notice that
xv
172 ^ of his predecessor, Dr. Montague, the Dean of
====== Durham ; who allowed some manuscripts from his
Chapter Library to be transmitted for the use of the
Assistance Master of Trinity. His most useful auxiliary at this
ofWetstein. .
period was Wetstein, whose acquaintance and com-
munications with him have already been noticed.
To serve the purposes of Bentley's edition, this ardent
scholar, the ruling passion of whose life was to note
various readings in the New Testament, took another
1710. journey to Paris, where he passed a few months in
collating manuscripts ; his time was principally de-
voted to decyphering a very old vellum copy in the
King's Library, which had originally contained the
whole Bible in Greek capital letters ; the writing
had been industriously erased, to make room for
certain works of St. Ephrem ; the obliteration how-
ever was not so perfect but that the original could,
in most places, be detected by good eyes 7 . Wetstein
wished to continue in this congenial employment at
Paris, and in other parts of Europe, provided Bent-
ley would have held out such an inducement as
might indemnify him for the sacrifice of his present
livelihood : the fact was, that the future editor of the
New Testament, although a Swiss by birth and
7 Wetstein entered his collation of this manuscript in the margin of a
printed copy of the New Testament, on the fly-leaf of which he has written,
" Cum hoc codice collatus est Codex Ephrem MS. in Bibliotheca Regia,
Parisiis, 1716.
" Lectio cui Asteriscus praefigitur, non ita certa est ac reliqua? ; ita
tamen videtur, quantum ex spatio et quibusdam Uteris non exesis conjici
potest."
Bentley has added, " Codex manuscriptus est plus mille annorum, cui
ob fugitivas fere literas jam ante saecula aliquot superscripts est Ephraim
Syri Liber. Collatio hujus codicis constitit R. Bentleio quinquaginta
Libris Sterlingis."
Wetstein gives a more detailed account of this copy in his Prolegomena,
p. 27-
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 121
education, was at that time a chaplain in the Dutch chap.
army ; and the leave of absence given him by his 1720
commanding officer was near expiring. Dr. Bentley
did not choose to take this hint ; and in November
following received a letter from his correspondent,
dated from his quarters at Bois le Due, to which he
had been compelled to return. In the course of the
next year, Wetstein left a situation where he enjoyed
neither books nor literary society, and returned to 1717.
his native city of Basil, as an assistant to his father
in his clerical duties : but he was still on the alert to
aid the intended edition of the New Testament ; and
in 1718 communicated to Bentley that he had dis-
covered at Heidelberg a very ancient and valuable
Greek and Latin manuscript of St, Paul's Epistles,
which had been purchased at his suggestion by his
relatives, the Wetsteins of Amsterdam. The Master
of Trinity immediately wrote to those booksellers,
who, with much liberality, sent him the precious
volume, charging only the same sum that they had
themselves paid for it, 250 Dutch florins 8 . He now j u i y , 1718.
sent further injunctions to his correspondent to col-
late accurately all ancient Latin copies, which he
could meet with, of the Acts, Epistles, and Apoca-
lypse. All this Wetstein undertook to do, but plainly
intimated that he must have secured to him some
other reward for such labour, ' besides weak eyes,
and a disqualification for other pursuits
9 '
8 This valuable manuscript, having formerly belonged to the Monastery
of Augia Major CRheinau in Switzerland), is known by the name of Codex
Augiensis. A full account of it may be seen in Wetstein's preface to the
second volume of his Greek Testament, p. 8 ; and in the Bishop of Peter-
borough's Notes to Michaelis, vol. iii. p. 664. It is now in Trinity Library,
along with the rest of Bentley' s manuscripts.
9 Wetstein has printed the last mentioned letter of Bentley, with his
reply, in his Prolegomena, p. 153. His other letters are among Bentley's
papers. It must be confessed that the pecuniary value winch he placed
J22 LIFE OF
xv.
1720.
chap. Bentley, however, did not think fit to purchase
the further assistance of Wetstein, having found in
his own Society a young man, upon whose fidelity
and learning he could securely rely. We have
already had occasion to mention the name of Mr.
johnWai- j onn Walker as one of three excellent scholars,
ker. .
who in 1716 became Fellows of Trinity College. He
had been educated at Wakefield school, and was,
while an under-graduate, honourably distinguished
as the successful candidate for an University scholar-
ship on Lord Craven's foundation, the only prize at
that time open to competition. While only Bachelor
of Arts he drew up a series of emendations upon
Cicero's three books De Natura Deorum, and com-
municated them to Dr. Davies, by whom they were
printed as an Appendix to his edition, and are a
specimen of proficiency in critical learning highly
creditable to so young a man. The Master having
noticed and encouraged this promising scholar, and
initiated him in the arcana of Greek and Latin
manuscripts, and the proper methods of examining
them, found him a person upon whose diligence and
Resides at accuracy he might depend. Having now given up
latingma- the design, which he formerly entertained, of goino-
foTSendey. himself to the Continent to collate manuscripts, he
sent Walker to Paris, in the year 1719, for that
purpose ; and never did an agent acquit himself with
more industry or ability in fulfilling the wishes of his
principal. He remained nearly a year in that capital,
and in that time examined and collated a surprisino-
number of manuscripts ; his letters, as well as the
collations themselves, testify his zeal and care in the
discharge of his commission. The expense of his
upon his labours was rather high ; as it appears that the Doctor paid him
50/. for the collation of the MS. Ephrem, just mentioned.
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 123
sojourn at Paris, which fell upon Bentley, was con- chap.
siderable ; for at that moment the scheme of the *
notorious Mr. Law, which was to have opened a new =
mine of wealth to the French nation, drew to the
metropolis an extraordinary multitude of strangers,
eager to participate in those ideal riches. Walker
writes, on Feb. 10, 1720, " Paris has been so dear
all this winter, that there is no living in it, but for
those people who have dealt in the actions of Mis-
sissippi : I pay near half more for every thing than
I did when I came first here."
Bentley had formed some acquaintance with the Benedic-
Beneclictine monks of St. Maur, at the time when ^ x
Wetstein was at Paris, and had promised to aid the
edition of the works of Origen, then in the hands of
De la Rue, one of that body, with a series of emen-
dations on the tract Tltpl Evyjig- This illustrious
society contained at that time the Fathers Mont-
faucon, Martianay, De la Rue, Juillier, Sabatier, and
others, who devoted their lives to those laborious and
splendid publications which have distinguished them
above all other literary fraternities. Walker being
introduced to their notice was received and assisted
with that kindness and courtesy which has at all
periods distinguished the literati of France. His
personal merits, his amiable manners, and his skill
in decyphering manuscripts attached them greatly
to their young acquaintance ; and it is pleasing to
record the hearty zeal with which they promoted the
objects of his mission. Besides communicating all
their own manuscripts, and using their interest in
procuring collations from their brethren of Angers,
they accommodated him with a room and fire in
their monastery of St. Germain des Pres for his
work, and in order to abridge his task, several of
them gave him assistance in the labour of collation.
124 LIFE OF
1720.
chap. Walker's attention while at Paris was not confined to
the manuscripts of the New Testament : he collated
several Latin authors, partly to serve the purposes of
Bentley's intended editions, and partly to gratify his
curiosity : among* others was the oldest and best copy
of Suetonius ; and I discover from a letter of our
critic that he was meditating an edition of that
historian 10 .
Ancient A curious circumstance was near losing Bentley the
Ji'on'of the co-operation of the fraternity of St. Germain's. They
scriptures. i ia d been for some time preparing an edition of the
ancient Latin versions of the Scriptures in use before
the time of St. Jerome, and comparing them with the
Vulgate. The two editors, Sabatier and Mopinot,
had long laboured in their own and other Parisian
libraries, transcribing the numerous versions of an
earlier date than the Vulgate, with the view of reco-
vering; that identical ' Italic version' which St. Au^us-
tine had declared to be preferable to every other. An
apprehension now occurred to them that Bentley, if
suffered to have transcripts or collations of all their
ancient manuscripts, would publish such a list of
variations from the common version, found in those
copies on which they principally relied, as might in
effect anticipate their own undertaking. Upon this
there was a demur about admitting Mr. Walker to
the use of their manuscripts : and the question was
discussed at a meeting of the superiors of the monas-
Montfau- tery. Here Father Montfaucon, the most distinguished
of the body, maintained the cause of Dr. Bentley with
an ardour which shows that the spirit of chivalry may
10 Of this letter, dated Sept. 13, 1719, the only one of Bentley's to
Walker which has been preserved, a copy has been obligingly communi-
cated to me by A. J. Valpy, Esq. I understand that all the rest were
destroyed by some ignorant executor ; a loss which is greatly to be re-
gretted.
con
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 125
find its way into the regions of scholastic literature, chap.
He contended that the request of so great a scholar, 1720
from whom they had received obligations, ought by
all means to be complied with, even though their own
undertaking should thereby be prejudiced ; declaring
that he would rather send the treasures themselves to
Cambridge for Bentley's use, than by refusing the
indulgence requested, bring a disgrace upon the
Benedictine name. His arguments so far prevailed,
that they determined to write and ascertain the precise
character of the new edition, adding an assurance that
they would render it all the assistance in their power,
consistent with justice due to their own brethren.
To this inquiry, conveyed in a most courteous letter
from Father Thuillier, Bentley returned a satisfactory
answer, informing them that his edition, the main
object of which was to recover the Latin version as
left by St. Jerome, would in no respect interfere with
their intended publication. But at the same time
they learned an opinion of our Aristarchus respecting
their undertaking, which must have occasioned them
no small surprise and dismay. Our only knowledge
of the character or existence of the ancient ' Italic
version,' which it was the object of the Benedictine
work to recover, is found in the following sentence of
St. Augustine : In ipsis autem Inter pretationibus Itala
ceteris prceferatur ; nam est tenacior verborum, cum
perspicuitate senterdice. As there is no mention any
where else of one among the numerous Latin versions,
which was peculiarly known by the name of ' Italic,'
and as it was probable that, had such been the case,
St. Augustine would rather have termed it Italica
than Itala, Bentley exercised upon these words of the
Father his critical ingenuity ; and thought he dis-
covered the true reading to be, Illa ceteris prceferatur,
QU2E est tenacior verborum, Sec. ; accordingly, he pro-
126 LIFE OF
chap, nounced the Italic version to be a mere ehimaera. This
xv.
r20 conjecture is very plausible, and ingeniously sup-
===== ported : but the question is still open to much doubt ;
and nothing which I have yet seen has quite satisfied
me either of the correctness of the old reading: or of
Bentley's emendation. I shall, however, say no more
in this place, than that a subsequent correction by
Archbishop Potter, usitata for Itala, which has re-
ceived the approbation of high authority in our own
times, appears to me somewhat less probable than
that of Dr. Bentley ". The Benedictines received the
communication of their learned correspondent not
only with good-humour, but thankfulness ; they in-
stantly laid open their treasures to Walker, whose
behaviour and learning speedily rendered them his
personal friends ; and an unreserved intercourse of
good offices was maintained between the convent of
St. Germain's and Trinity Lodge : Bentley sent them,
among other things, a collation of the Latin version in
the Beza manuscript ; and when, after the lapse of
twenty years, their splendid publication made its ap-
pearance, he was mentioned in a manner befitting the
first scholar of the age 12 .
BenUey's Upon the return of Walker from his mission in the
fo r rpuMsh- y ear 1720 > Bentley, having availed himself of the
large accession to his stock of materials brought by
ing his New
Testament.
11 The Archbishop's correction proceeded upon the idea of a transcriber
having omitted to repeat us in usitata, the same letters being found at the
end of the preceding word Interpretationibus .- the remaining word itata
might then naturally be altered to Itala. This emendation is approved by
the Bishop of Peterborough in his notes on Michaelis, and subsequently
by Archdeacon Wrangham in his edition of Walton's Prolegomena, torn. ii.
p. 271. But it has never yet been shown that the Common Version was
known by the bare title of Usitata.
12 The letters of the Benedictine Fathers, as well as those of Mr. Walker,
have been preserved among Bentley's papers. An extract from Bentley's
letter on this subject is given by Sabatier in the preface to Bibliorum
Sacrorum Latince Versiones Antigua, &c. p. 31.
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 127
that zealous ao-ent, found himself in a condition to ch ap.
lay his undertaking before the public. The great 1720 .
expense of the work, and the uncertainty of its sale, ==
having determined him to publish by subscription, he
put forth a printed sheet containing a concise account
of the object and nature of the intended edition, along
with a specimen of its execution. From these pro-
posals, which will be seen in a note, a clear idea may
be drawn of the design : the promise of abstaining
from conjectural emendation, as too hazardous a mode
of dealing with the sacred text, was intended to
obviate a general apprehension which Bentley knew
to prevail, that he was likely to take the same liberties
as he was accustomed to do with profane writers.
The price of the two folio volumes being fixed at
three and five guineas respectively for the small and
large paper, must even at that day have been mo-
derate ; and the allotment of half the profits of the
publication to Mr. Walker as a remuneration for the
trouble of correcting the press, appears an instance of
great liberality to his young assistant 13 . The spe- His speci-
men.
13 <<< H XAINH AIA0HKH. Grace. Novum Testamentum, Versioiiis
Vulgatce, per S' nm Hieronymum ad veiusta Exemplaria Grceca castiyatce et
exactce. Utrumque ex antiquissimis Codd. MSS. cum Grcecis turn Latinis,
edidit Richardus Bentleius.
" PROPOSALS FOR PRINTING.
" I. The author of this edition, observing that the printed copies of the
New Testament, both of the original Greek and ancient vulgar Latin, were
taken from manuscripts of no great antiquity, such as the first editors could
then procure ; and that now by God's Providence there are MSS. in
Europe, (accessible, though with great charge) above a thousand years old
in both languages ; believes he may do good service to common Christ-
ianity, if he publishes a new edition of the Greek and Latin, not according
to the recent and interpolated copies, but as represented in the most
ancient and venerable MSS. in Greek and Roman capital letters.
"II. The author, revolving in his mind some passages of St. Hierom ;
where he declares, that (without making a new version) he adjusted and
128 LIFE OF
chap, cimen consisted of the 22d chapter of the Apocalypse,
the text being restored according to the reasons and
authorities given in his notes, with the common read-
xv
r/20,
reformed the whole Latin Vulgate to the best Greek exemplars, that is, to
those of the famous Origen ; and another passage, where he says, that ' a
verbal or literal interpretation out of Greek into Latin is not necessary,
except in the Holy Scriptures, Ubi ipse verborum ordo mysterium est, where
the very order of the words is mystery ;' took thence the hint, that if the
oldest copies of the original Greek and Hierom's Latin were examined and
compared together, perhaps they would be still found to agree both in
words and order of words. And upon making the essay, he has succeeded
in his conjecture, beyond his expectations or even his hopes.
" III. The author believes that he has retrieved (except in very few
places) the true exemplar of Origen, which was the standard to the most
learned of the Fathers, at the time of the Council of Nice and two centuries
after. And he is sure, that the Greek and Latin MSS., by their mutual
assistance, do so settle the original text to the smallest nicety, as cannot
be performed now in any Classic author whatever : and that out of a
labyrinth of thirty thousand various readings, that crowd the pages of our
present best editions, all put upon equal credit to the offence of many good
persons ; this clue so leads and extricates us, that there will scarce be
two hundred out of so many thousands that can deserve the least con-
sideration.
" IV. To confirm the lections which the author places in the text, he
makes use of the old versions, Syriac, Coptic, Gothic and ./Ethiopic, and
of all the Fathers, Greeks and Latins, within the first five centuries ; and
he gives in his notes all the various readings (now known) within the said
five centuries. So that the reader has under one view what the first ages
of the Church knew of the text ; and what has crept into any copies since,
is of no value or authority.
"V. The author is very sensible, that in the Sacred Writings there's no
place for conjectures or emendations. Diligence and fidelity, with some
judgment and experience, are the characters here requisite. He declares,
therefore, that he does not alter one letter in the text without the authorities
subjoined in the notes. And to leave the free choice to every reader, he
places under each column the smallest variations of this edition, either in
words or order, from the received Greek of Stephanus, and the Latin of
the two Popes Sixtus V. and Clements VIII. So that this edition exhibits
both itself, and the common ones.
"VI. If the author has any thing to suggest towards a change of the
text, not supported by any copies now extant, he will offer it separate in
his Prolegomena ; in which will be a large account of the several MSS. here
used, and of the other matters which contribute to make this edition use-
ful. In this work he is of no sect or party ; his design is to serve the
whole Christian name. He draws no consequences in his notes ; makes
no oblique glances upon any disputed points, old or new. He consecrates
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 129
ings in the margin. The selection of the last chapter chap.
of the New Testament, was probably designed to 1720
intimate, what was really the fact, that the whole =====
work was in an equal state of forwardness. There
might indeed have been an additional reason for this
preference : he had not yet obtained collations of the
Vatican and some other old MSS. of the Gospels ;
but those copies not containing the Apocalypse, a
specimen taken from thence was equally perfect in
their absence.
These Proposals were put forth at the critical time, October,
1720
when Bentley was resisting the attempt of his ene-
mies to deprive him of his professorship ; and an
opinion was propagated, that his object was only to
interest the public in favour of a person who was
devoting: his knowledge and abilities to so meritorious
an undertaking:. It was recollected that he had on
similar occasions made successful efforts to occupy
the public mind by his literary productions ; and it
was insinuated that he had not really prepared his
edition, but that the whole was a vain pretext, to be
abandoned as soon as it had answered its temporary
this work, as a KeifirjXiov, a Krijfia laati, a Charter, a Magna Charta, to
the whole Christian Church ; to last when all the ancient MSS. here quoted
may be lost and extinguished.
" VII. To publish this work, according to its use and importance, a
great expense is requisite : it is designed to be printed, not on the paper
or with the letter of this specimen, but with the best letter, paper, and ink
that Europe affords. It must, therefore, be done by subscription or con-
tribution. As it will make two tomes in folio, the lowest subscriptions for
smaller paper must be three guineas, one advanced in present ; and for the
great paper five guineas, two advanced.
"VIII. The work will be put to the press, as soon as money is contri-
buted to support the charge of the impression ; and no more copies will be
printed than are subscribed for. The overseer and corrector of the press
will be the learned Mr. John Walker, of Trinity College in Cambridge ;
who with great accurateness has collated many MSS. at Paris for the pre-
sent edition. And the issue of it, whether gain or loss, is equally to fall on
him and the author.''
VOL. IT. K
130 LIFE OF
xv.
1720.
chap, purpose. To these suspicions Bentley himself added
force by a strange indiscretion, of which we find
more than one instance in his latter years. The
proposals and the specimen were drawn up, according
to his own confession, in haste one evening by candle-
light : the whole sheet bore marks of precipitation ;
and, what was worse, a sentence from St. Jerome,
upon which he greatly relied, was misquoted, as it
appears, from a slip of the pen ; whereby he sub-
jected himself to the imputation of falsifying autho-
rities for the sake of supporting his hypothesis about
the Latin version u . The truth is, that it never
occurred to him as probable that his present adver-
saries, keen and inveterate as they were, would think
of attacking him in the department of criticism ; and
a paper of proposals, which he regarded only in the
light of an advertisement, did not seem to demand
that care and circumspection which he reserved for
the publication itself.
Middieton's It is painful to narrate the animosity and virulence
the Pro- which displayed themselves upon such a subject as
a new edition of the Gospel of Peace. Middleton,
inflamed with resentment against his great adversary,
14 Bentley himself, in his printed defence of his proposals, makes a dis-
tinct confession of this haste and of its effects :
" We come now to the second passage, quoted by our Master, ubi ipse
verborum ordo mysterium est, which our Censor works and sweats at
for three whole pages together ; resolving to undermine and demolish it, as
the sole basis of the new edition."
" You'll please, Sir, to believe, when I tell you, that our Master's Pro-
posals being drawn up in haste, in one evening by candle-light, and printed
the next day from that first and sole draught, (which haste likewise
hindered him from revising the sheet, and so left several false accents and
points in the specimen itself,) he consulted not St. Hierom, but cited the
passage by memory : whereby it happened, that for ubi et verborum ordo,
he put ubi ipse verborum ordo. But, that et and ipse have the very same
meaning here, every school -boy can see : 'tis just as in English, where
even the order of wards, or the very order of words, are perfectly equiva-
lent." Dr. Bentley's Proposals, 4'C p. 18, 1Q.
posals.
RICHARD RENTLEY, D.D. 131
xv.
1720.
and indignant at the prosecution then hanging over char
him, perceived on the perusal of the Proposals, that
Bentley had laid open some weak points, and that a
skilful enemy might make a successful assault upon
his credit. Accordingly he lost no time in writing
Remarks upon the Proposals, taking to pieces every
paragraph and every sejutence, with a determination
to find Bentley wrong in all his assertions, and
unequal to his undertaking. The avowed object of
this tract was to prevent the public being deluded by
the bold promises of the author of the Proposals,
whom he believed to have ' neither talents nor
materials proper for the work he had undertaken ;'
or, in other words, to defeat the projected subscrip-
tion. Middleton not only attacks his adversary with
learning and argument upon the few points in the
Proposals which admitted of a difference of opinion,
but indulges the most captious and ill-natured sneers
at almost every expression, however innocent or in-
different. There can scarcely be found a sentence
in his book which is not dictated by the spirit of
malice and unfairness. An instance or two of this
determined injustice will be sufficient to betray the
temper of the writer : he charges Bentley with not
dealing honourably towards his partner, Mr. John
Walker, ' to whom he allotted half the profit, and
almost all the trouble of this work, yet reserved the
whole reputation of it to himself an unblushing mis-
statement of the fact. He accuses him of treating the
first editors of the Greek Testament with ' barbarity
and injustice,' in his opening paragraph. This is
passionate language and speaks ill for the heart of
the man who could use it : Bentley's account of the
manuscript sources of those early editions was only
such as Middleton must have known in his conscience
to be true. In the same class may be placed the
k 2
132
LIFE OF
CHAP.
XV.
1720.
complaints of ' ingratidude' displayed to Dr. Mill,
' inconsistency' with passages found in his Remarks
on Free-thinking and his Sermon on Popery, and an
imputation of total ignorance of the Oriental lan-
guages. But the writer's sheer personal malice shows
itself most when he speaks of Bentley publishing by
subscription (of which resource, by the bye, no
person ever availed himself more beneficially than
Middleton himself, in his Life of Cicero) ; ' we find,'
says he, ' in these two paragraphs such sordid in-
sinuations, such low and paltry higgling to squeeze
our money from us, &c. &c, that it puts me in mind
of those mendicants in the streets, who beg our cha-
rity with an half sheet of proposals pinned upon their
breasts.' This happening to occur in the South-sea
year, and in the height of the mania speculation, he
makes a dextrous use of the coincidence :
Written in
a disgrace-
ful spirit.
" But, indeed, most people are agreed in opinion, that he has bor-
rowed his scheme from Change- Alley, and in this age of bubbles, took
the hint to set up one of his own : for having invented a rare secret
to make paper more durable than parchment, and a printed book,
however used and tumbled about, to out-last anv manuscript pre-
served with the greatest care, he presentlv takes in a partner, opens
books for subscriptions, and does not in the least question but tbat
Bentley's Bubble will be as famous and profitable as the best of
them." Remarks, Paragraph by Paragraph, p. 18.
What makes this publication peculiarly disgraceful
to Dr. Middleton is, that he gave his powerful aid to
support the prejudices of those who condemned all
attempts at correcting the common text of Scripture.
It is well known that there long continued a super-
stitious feeling in favour of the precise words of the
textus receptus, even where the readings of manu-
scripts were demonstrably preferable, and an unde-
fined dread of sacred criticism, as tending to disturb
the text which had acquired a kind of prescriution.
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 133
Middleton's character and turn of mind were sure to chap.
make him view such apprehensions in their proper 1?20
lio-ht : but his malice against Bentlev rendered him =
unscrupulous as to the means by which he endea-
voured to injure him ; and he therefore lent his
support to the ill-founded clamour to which he well
knew that every critical edition of the Scriptures was
equally exposed.
The appearance of so smart an attack upon our Various
. . , ,. i ], persons sus-
veteran critic excited great sensation in the literary pected of
republic : the author only styled himself ' a Member Jjjjjjjs the
of the University of Cambridge;" and various per- Remarks,
sons, whose studies were considered to lie in that
department, were immediately conjectured to have
produced this well-written and formidable tract.
Some attributed it to Dr. Colbatch, some to Dr.
Waterland ; while other guesses fixed upon Mr.
Pearce of Trinity, Mr. Newcome of St. John's, and
Mr. Thirlby of Jesus. Middleton, whose pursuits
were not supposed to be of a theological nature,
seems hardly to have been suspected ; but he soon
put an end to all surmises, by avowing the piece ;
and to prevent Bentley's resentment from fastening
upon a wrong object, he took care to do this in the
hearing of some of his intimate friends. The ag-
grieved critic, roused by this daring attack, resolved
upon an immediate reply. The whole of Middleton's
book was composed in so bad a spirit, that had
Bentley confined himself to a dignified exposure of
his malice, and refutation of his cavils, he would
certainly have inflicted a severe punishment upon his
enemy, and might perhaps have turned the tide of
popular opinion in his own favour. But he was now
no longer the same person as formerly : a course of
violent animosities, and the indulgence of unre-
strained indignation for many years, had impaired
134
LIFE OF
Bentley's
reasons for
thinking
Colbatch
had sup-
plied the
materials.
chap, both his taste and judgment in controversy, and he
,",..,' forgot that whoever insults and abuses an adversary,
neglects his own dignity, and is sure to be a sufferer
in the conflict. It must be allowed, that in this
instance, he had given no provocation ; it was clear
that the enemy with whom he had to deal was both
malicious and inveterate ; and that enemy he knew
to be Dr. Middleton. But he was also aware that
a close confederacy existed between him and Dr.
Colbatch, by whom he had been supplied with the
materials for the pamphlet about his administration
of the College for which he was then under pro-
secution ; and a strong suspicion possessed him, that
the same was the case in regard to the present
publication. This notion was altogether erroneous ;
but Colbatch had given some cause for it, by de-
claring, in the hearing of the Master's friends, when
the Proposals were first shown him in the College
Hall, that ' the whole was a sham ; that no such
design was really intended ; and that these were
Bentley's veteres artes, to interest the public in his
favour when under prosecution :' a similar insinuation
respecting ' the time, manner, and other circum-
stances of the Proposals' occurs in Middleton 's pam-
phlet : where was also found another remark, coin-
ciding with one uttered at the same time by Colbatch.
Independently of this suspicion, the Master was
irritated at the incessant applications which he knew
that his opponent in the Seniority was still making
to persons in power, to procure a visitation of the
College ; and he was much galled at his late defeat
His Reply, in the affair of the rectory of Orwell. Accordingly,
he gave full vent to his spleen and resentment in a
Reply which assumed Dr. Colbatch to be the un-
doubted author of the Remarks, and abused him
without compunction and without decency. Of Mid-
1
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 135
xv
1720.
dleton he only took a contemptuous notice, as the chap.
publisher of the other's libels, and hinted that he
was already ' in danger of the pillory.' As for the
presumed censor, he spoke of him at the very outset
in the following terms :
" The author at the first publishing might have been called Le-
gion ; for as his party is discovered in his very title-page, where our
Master is named Richard Bentley without the honour of his degree ;
so of that party every one that was thought to have conceitedness
and malice enough to write it, was suspected to be the author. But
a day or two cleared up that point. The known image of the true
author was stamped so visible on it, that all suspicions soon centred
in one. But his name I will not foul my letter with, since he him-
self thought it too scandalous for his own pamphlet. Nor is pos-
terity concerned in the matter ; for whenever he's earned to the
grave, his memory will be buried with him. Let his name, there-
fore, be Suffenus, or Zoilus, or Margites, or Timon, or which you
please of these old heroes, whose shining characters were in whole
or part so exactly like our author's 15 ."
He takes care, however, to leave no doubt as to virulent
the person designated, by perpetual references to his fjjj^
Casuistical professorship ; styling him ' a casuistic
drudge,' a ' plodding pupil of Escobar,' &c. ; speaks
of his residence in Portugal, his dissatisfaction with
' his two patrons, a noble Duke and a great Bishop ;'
charges him with ingratitude to himself, ' who had
been, though the lowest, not the least of his bene-
factors ;' says that ' a College squabble is necessary to
keep up his spirits :' " In the midst of College
plenty, with five thousand pounds surplusage above
all expenses, he can bawl, with tragical tone, and
lungs stronger than a smith's bellows, Destruction,
Dilapidation, Ruin, upon the laying out of five
13 Dr. Bentley' s Proposals for printing a New Edition of the Greek Testa-
ment, and St. Hierom's Latin Version. With a Full Answer to the Remarks
of a late Pamphleteer, p. 9.
136 LIFE OF
xv.
1720.
chap, pounds 16 ." " He never broaches a piece of mere
knavery, without a preface about his conscience ;
nor ever offers to us downright nonsense, without
eyes, muscles, and shoulders wrought up into the
most solemn posture of gravity u ." " Commend me
to the man, who with a thick hide and solid forehead,
can stand bluff against plain matter of fact 18 ."
" We need go no further than this paragraph for a
specimen of the greatest malice and impudence, that
any scribbler out of the dark committed to paper 19 ."
These passages, and a hundred others equally in-
sulting, with the abusive terms ' cabbage-head,'
' insect,' ' worm,' ' maggot,' ' vermin,' ' gnawing rat,'
1 snarling dog,' ' ignorant thief,' ' mountebank,' and
many more taken from the vocabulary of Billings-
gate, are interlarded with the personal epithets ' hard-
faced,' ' grinning,' ' swarthy,' ' of intellect as dark
as his countenance,' ' opening his wide jaws with an
agreeable yawn,' ' smiling horrible, like Satan in
Milton :' but all taken together do not come up to
another device for hurting; the feelings of Dr. Col-
batch : he insinuates that he was under the repute of
craziness and madness, and attributes his censures
' to the influence of the moon.' To this reflection,
for which there was not the least foundation, he
endeavours to give some colour, by allusion to the
eccentricitv of his brother, the Rev. George Colbatch,
saying that ' he had a brother here in the neighbour-
hood, a harmless, quiet clergyman, and much the
better of the two, who had taken a fancy, from a
vow or a vision, to wear in the flower of his age a
16 Dr. Bentley's Proposals for printing a New Edition of the Greek Testa-
ment, and St. Hierom's Latin Version. With a Full Answer to the Remarks
of a late Pamphleteer, p. 11.
17 Ibid, p. 10. is Ibid. p. 13. 19 Ibid. p. 24.
XV.
1720.
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 137
beard to his girdle, sufficient for a Greek Patri- chap.
arch 20 .'
Had these vulgar and personal invectives been
collected together in one place, like those vented
against iEschines by his illustrious rival, they might
have been passed over by the reader, and the rest of
Dr. Bentley's book have been perused with interest
and approbation. But unfortunately there occur in
every paragraph, and almost every sentence, such
instances of bitterness against his imaginary antago-
nist, as would occasion disgust even were the subject
one of profane literature. But what would in other
cases have been an offence against taste and good
manners, became, in a debate upon the text of the
New Testament, a source of positive scandal, inju-
rious to the cause of piety and religion. Thus did
Bentley, although the person unfairly assailed, and
in spite of his advantage of having the best cause,
excite by his Reply an universal prejudice against
himself; which neither his close and argumentative
reasoning, nor the occasional scintillations of genius,
worthy of his better days, could counteract.
The title-page only declares the author to be ' A
Member of Trinity College, Cambridge ;' and the
pamphlet invariably speaks of Dr. Bentley in the
third person, as ' our Master.' But the signature of
J. E. the two first vowels in the names of Richard
Bentley, and the undisguised allusions which run
throughout the piece, prove that the veil was so thin
as not even to be designed to conceal the author.
The whole is written in a style of gaiety and con-
fidence, and betrays the feeling with which he anti-
cipated a triumph over his adversaries not less signal
20 Dr. Bentley's Proposals for printing a new Edition of the Greek Testa-
ment, Sfc. p. 39- G. Colbatch was of Christ's College, A.B. 169], and
Minister of Abington, near Cambridge.
138 LIFE OF
chap, than that which had attended him in the controversy
xv. .
1720 upon Phalaris 21 .
This extraordinary production appeared at the be-
Jamiary,
1720-21. ginning f the year, and excited a sensation still
coibatch grreatgj. tnan that of Middleton had done. Colbatch,
dress for the roused to indignation at the libel on his character,
resolved to seek satisfaction by every legal and prac-
ticable method. His first step was to print a short
paper, disavowing altogether the ' Remarks' which
were made the pretext for the attack, and denying
the truth of other assertions contained in Bentley's
book. He next displayed his reverence for the
statutes of his College, by applying to the Vice-
master to take cognizance, in conjunction with the
other Senior Fellows, of the feud between the Master
and himself: but this appeal promised little satis-
faction. The feeble Mr. Modd, now sinking under
the weight of age, excused himself, on the score of
his infirmities, from taking any step in the business :
but Bentley going to town in a few days, and a
College meeting being held upon other matters,
Colbatch exhibited the libel, and obtained from the
majority a vote that it was ' false, scandalous, and
21 Instances of this retrospective triumph are seen in the two mottoes :
Cunarum labor est angues superare mearum.
Tollentemque minas ei sibila colla tumentem Dejice
And again in the fifteenth page :
" But now prepare for a stabbing push, a piece of capital and tran-
scendent wit. Are manuscripts ' now accessible ?' it's very certain then,''
says he, ' that library -keepers abroad have more humanity and less envy, than
some I could name at home.' What a pity 'tis, that this sparkling repartee
is not new and his own ; but borrowed from old Phalaris, Pro singulari
sua humanitate? And methinks the very omen of it might have kept our
Censor's fingers from pilfering such unlucky goods ; from stealing cotton
at Marseilles, while infected with the plague.
Ah, qu& te mala mens, miselle Timon ?
Tune etiam telis moriere Diana f"
Dr. Bentley's Proposals, c"yc. p. 15
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 139
malicious ; and that if it should appear to have been chap.
written, as it professed, by a member of the College, 1721
the author should be proceeded against according to =
statute.' Brabourn, however, one of those who con-
curred in this censure, shortly afterwards recanted ;
nor was it ever entered in the College register. But,
on referring the case to the Heads of Colleges, Dr.
Colbatch obtained a public and substantial redress :
they decided at once that he was the individual
injured by the libel, and that cognizance ought to be
taken of it as a violation of academical decorum ;
but they would not admit that the vehement pre-
sumption, which pointed at the Master of Trinity as
the author, could be taken as a proof of the fact.
However, after a long discussion, they agreed to Bemiey's
censure the book in the strongest terms which could su e r e/by n "
be used; declaring that < Dr. Colbatch had just the Heads -
ground of complaint;' pronouncing ' the book to be
a most virulent and scandalous libel, highly injurious
to Dr. Colbatch, contrary to good manners, and a
notorious violation of the statutes and discipline of
the University;' and adding, ' that the author of the
libel, as soon as he was discovered, should receive
such censure as the statutes did in that case appoint.'
This declaration, subscribed by the names of the
whole meeting, among whom w r as Dr. Waterland,
the former friend and ally of Bentley, was imme-
diately printed and circulated by the authority of the
Heads ; and ought to have contented the aggrieved
party, as the most effectual satisfaction for injured Colbatch
fame which the case admitted. But Colbatch's feel- the printer
ings were too sore to allow him to rest here ; he Sana*-"*
considered it a duty not to desist till he had procured lor ' s Court -
a personal censure of his enemy ; and he thought
the agitation of the question likely to draw attention
to the grievances of his College. Accordingly he
140 LIFE OF
chap, instituted a prosecution in the Vice-chancellor's Court
172 j against Crownfield, the University printer and book-
= seller, for having sold the obnoxious pamphlet ; cal-
culating that this proceeding must procure a public
announcement of the author.
Dr. Crosse. The chief-magistracy was now held by Dr. Crosse,
who had in the preceding year become Master of
Catherine Hall, on the resignation of Dean Sherlock.
This gentleman being attached to the ruling party of
the University, could safely be entrusted by his
brethren with the authority which Dr. Gooch had
held for three successive 3 T ears : accordingly, he was
elected Vice-chancellor in 1720, although Dr. An-
drew Snape, the new Provost of King's College, was
entitled, as his senior, to the precedence 22 . Crosse
appears to have been a quiet and timid man, de-
termined to avoid if possible a collision with the
person who had so long kept the place in agitation.
He discourag-ed the institution of this suit as much as
he could ; and after two hearings, intimated to Col-
batch his opinion that judgment must be given
in the bookseller's favour, as it did not appear that
he had sold the tract after it had been declared
a libel. Upon the prosecutor hinting that he should
appeal to the Senate against such a decision, the case
was adjourned ; Dr. Crosse being resolved to escape,
by procrastination, from the difficulties which threat-
ened all proceedings in this business. But an anxiety
was shown by him as well as the other Heads, to
testify such a sense of Colbatch's merits as mio-ht
soothe his wounded spirit. A suitable occasion for
so doing had just occurred : Dr. Gastrell, the Bishop
of Chester, had stood forward as the champion of the
22 On this occasion Bentley's friends voted for Snape. The numbers
were for Dr. Snape 44, Dr. Crosse 70.
XV.
1721.
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 141
two Universities of Oxford and Cambridge, in re- chap.
fusing to institute Mr. Peploe, the newly-appointed
Warden of Manchester College, as not having a
degree in theology. He had indeed obtained the
title of B.D. from the Archbishop of Canterbury;
but the Bishop maintained, both by an action and in
a pamphlet, that Lambeth degrees could not be
recognized as a qualification. It was thought that
this prelate's zealous and able defence of the rights
and privileges of the Universities, deserved the public
thanks of those bodies. About the same time the
Earl of Nottingham had nobly exerted himself in
defence of the Christian faith, by his answer to
Whiston's ' Letter on the Eternity of the Son of
God,' and entitled himself to the thanks of those seats
of religious education. It was therefore designed
that solemn thanks, decreed by the Senate, should
be presented both to the Bishop and the Earl, by
Dr. Colbatch in company with Dr. Waterland. This
honourable mission, so well calculated to testify the
feelings of the University in his favour, Dr. Colbatch
thought proper, even when pressed, to decline ; and
he did this, by his own statement, not without ill-
humour ; alleging, that ' it was not fit that one who
had such a slur upon him, should appear before per-
sons of honour;' thereby evincing a degree of petu-
lance unworthy of his character 23 .
In the meantime hostilities continued between
Bentley and his adversaries in all the methods of law,
controversy, and personal altercation. Colbatch wrote
a very severe and cutting reply to the late attack upon
himself; but he was prevented from giving it to the
23 The account of these matters is taken from Colbatch's Manuscript
Journal. Upon his refusal, Dr. Lany and Dr. Waterland were appointed
by the Senate to convey the thanks of the University to the Bishop of
Chester and the Earl of Nottingham, by a Grace, April 22, 1721.
142 LIFE OF
c "v P ' public by the advice of friends, who represented the
1721. impropriety of seeking redress at the same moment
= both from the law and the press. Middleton, how-
iurtherRe! ever > pressed the war in a more effectual manner. He
marks on lost no time in writing a rejoinder to Bentlev's An-
the Pro- 1 t 1 t
posais. swer, which appeared in about three months, under
the title of ' Some Further Remarks, Paragraph by
Paragraph, upon Proposals lately published for a new
edition of a Greek and Latin Testament, by Richard
Bentley.' To this pamphlet, which was four times as
long as his former, Middleton prefixed his name, and
explained in his preface the state of the contest, and
the wilful mistake which Bentley had committed in
assigning his first remarks to Dr. Colbatch. This is
an able and masterly production, every way worthy
of its author's exalted reputation for talent and ino-e-
nuity. He shows himself a consummate master of all
the arts of controversy ; and although every sentence
is influenced by hatred of his antagonist, he is gene-
rally able to veil his spirit with the dress of learning
and argument. In this respect he maintains a great
advantage over Bentley, the abusiveness of whose
pamphlet is barefaced and intolerable. The topics
are professedly the same as those of his preceding-
piece ; but in support of his positions he adduces a
variety of new arguments, and displays a much more
extensive acquaintance with the writings of the Fa-
thers. Every thing is disposed in the most lucid
arrangement : all the writings of his antagonist were
industriously sifted for passages upon which charges
might be grounded of arrogance and inconsistency :
to injure his moral and literary character, no method
seemed in the eyes of Dr. Middleton to be unfair :
dolus an virtus quis in hoste requirat? The two weak
points of Bentley 's Proposals were, first, his attaching
too much importance to his supposed discovery of the
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 143
xv.
1721.
Vulgate Latin always following the exact order of the chap.
Greek words ; which was in truth only a plausible
hypothesis, not safely to be acted upon in revising the
Greek text ; and, secondly, the acknowledged hurry
in which the printed specimen had been sent to the
press. Both these topics his adversary urged with
much sarcasm, and still greater malevolence. He
was aware that Bentley had, by the violence of his
last publication, placed himself under a cloud ; and
he wrote as one who felt that he was trampling his
enemy to pieces. His concluding denunciation of
sticking to him as close as possible, is sufficiently
curious to be cited :
" Being conscious, however, of no offence that my 'name' has
ever given, nor of any ' infamy' upon it, to make it odious to any
man but himself, I am not ashamed of producing it. And since it is,
as he says, ' to die with me,' and be ' buried shortly in oblivion', he
must excuse me the reasonable ambition of making the most of it
while I live ; and that I may have some chance of being known like-
wise to posterity, I am resolved to fasten myself upon him, and stick
as close to him as I can, in hopes of being dragged at least by his
great name out of my present obscurity, and of finding some place,
though an humble one, in the future annals of his story." Some
Further Remarks, $c. p. 70. Middleton s Works, vol. ii. p. 436.
That Middleton has succeeded in securing himself
a place, and a prominent one, ' in the annals of
Bentley 's story,' must be acknowledged ; and it may
be added that no one of the countless publications
written against our hero ever displayed so much
ability, or inflicted so severe a blow, as that now
under our consideration. But that he has thereby
elevated his own reputation in the eyes of posterity,
as much as he has depressed that of his enemy, is
not equally certain. The reader will find in it a
beautiful style, acute reasoning, extensive learning,
well-sustained humour, and all the accomplishments
144 LIFE OF
chap, of a perfect controversialist ; but he will look in vain
for the sincerity and candour of a fair adversary,
1721.
whose object is the establishment of truth
Reported It has been generally believed that Middleton was
oSsiuon. assisted in this piece by Dr. Ashton, the Master of
Jesus College ; who is well known on some occasions
to have aided by his learning the productions of his
friends. But this fact rests upon uncertain tradition :
I find no hint of it in any contemporary writing ;
and though it is not improbable that he might have
supplied Middleton with detached hints or references
to the Fathers (the controversy being a matter of
general conversation in the University), yet there is
no necessity for any such supposition ; there is no
part of the book which appears above the reach or
the learning of Middleton, whose attention had been
for some months closely devoted to the subject 24 .
The reader must have observed that it was the com-
mon fortune of Bentley's publications to provoke a
controversy : in this instance, the mere announcement
of his intended edition of the New Testament gave
birth to an extensive discussion. Besides the far-
famed tracts of Middleton, there appeared some
other pieces which it will here be convenient to notice.
Letter by The first was ' A Letter to the Reverend Master of
Phiiaiethes. Trinity College, Cambridge,' signed by ' Philalethes;
a most severe banter, in which virulence and insult
are conveyed in pages abounding with wit and
scholarship. The author of this attack is unknown ;
but he speaks of himself as a Trinity man. There
Pearce's appeared also two able, judicious, and scholar-like
iTLtief 11 Latin Epistles from the hands of Mr. Zachary Pearce,
24 The late Dr. Parr, who used to take great interest in discussing the
merits of Dr. Middleton, held that in this controversy he was indebted to
Dr. Ashton : but when I inquired of him the authority for this opinion,
he confessed that it rested only upon tradition.
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 145
who, assuming the title of Phileleutherus Londinensis, chap
xv.
gave a fair and just estimate of the probable merits 1721
of the intended edition, as far as could be inferred
from the proposals and specimen. He proceeded to
examine the various conjectural emendations of pas-
sages in the Scriptures which Bentley had advanced
in different publications, but which in the intended
edition were to be confined to the Prolegomena :
afterwards, in his second epistle, he propounded and
defended a series of conjectures of his own. Pearce's
learning is considerable and well applied ; and while
he speaks of Bentley with the praise due to his
merits in literature, he fairly points out those par-
ticulars in his critical character which made him less
qualified for his present than his former undertakings.
Notwithstanding this veil of candour, it is not diffi-
cult to discover, that the real object of the Lord
Chancellor's chaplain was to bring forward his own
merits, and to found a reputation by mixing himself
in a controversy which the name of Bentley rendered
generally interesting 25 . The last pamphlet to be no-
ticed appeared in the shape of a ' Letter to Archdea-
con Bentley,' on the subject of the Complutensian
edition : like the rest it is anonymous, but was
25 The title of this book is Epistolce Dua ad Celeberrimum Doctissimum-
que Virum F V , Professorem Amstelodamensem scriptce. Quarum
in altera agitur de Editione Novi Testamenti a Clarissimo Bentleio suscepta,
SfC. fyc. Londini, 1721. Pearce, at the beginning of his first letter, informs
his supposed correspondent at Amsterdam of the depressed state of learning
in England at that moment (the heat of the South-sea speculation), the
thirst for money having extended itself to scholars, and abstracted them
from all literary pursuits not attended with profit. He says, " Fatendum
est tamen scientiarum illam veterem sitim paulum hie jam restinctam
videri, nostrosque homines plerumque divites malle quam doctos audire.
Juvenemne aliquem ad arduum quoddam aut philologia? aut philosophise
opus edendum hortaris ? Instat subito et respondet, Quid inde commodi,
subductis omnibus impensis, ad me venturum est ? Scilicet ea argenti
cupido, quae olim bibliopolis solum, nunc ipsis authoribus insedit." p. 2.
VOL. II. L
146 LIFE OF
chap, understood to be the production of Dr. Richard
xv.
j_ 21 ' Smalbroke, a controversial writer of eminence, who
===== was shortly afterwards elevated to the Bench as
bioke's Bishop of St. David's 26 . His object was to uphold
the disputed verse of 1 John v. 7, by arguing that its
insertion by the Complutensian editors must be owing
to their finding it in some of the Greek manuscripts
sent for their use by Pope Leo X. and that it probably
was taken from that most ancient manuscript, which
is pre-eminently known by the name of the Vatican,
which he thought was one of those sent from Italy to
Alcala, for the purposes of the edition : and he urged,
that it was incumbent upon Bentley, before he finally
decided on rejecting this verse in his edition, to
employ able persons to examine the Vatican and the
libraries of Spain, in order to ascertain that point.
The same opinion of the authority of the Complu-
tensian edition continued to be held long after this
period ; but it has now been ascertained beyond a
doubt, that the Vatican was not used in revising the
text of that oldest printed copy of the Scriptures 27 ;
and every topic has been exhausted which can bear
on either side of the controversy upon the genuine-
ness of the verse.
Mistaken These various pieces were entirely eclipsed by
opinion that ^ / a /
Bentiey's Middleton's ' Further Remarks,' in which it was
stopped^ generally conceived that he had obtained a complete
^an/hieT s victory over Bentley, and that the certain conse-
quence would be the abandonment of his scheme of a
new edition : and when it was found that the publi-
23 ' Enquiry into the Authority of the Primitive Complutensian Edition of
the New Testament ; in a Letter to Archdeacon Bentley, 1722.' This is
reprinted in the last edition of Lord Somers' Tracts, by Sir Walter Scott,
but is erroneously stated to be written by Dr. Middleton.
27 This matter has been decided by Bishop Marsh, who has compared
a great number of the readings of the manuscript with those of the edition.
See notes on Michaelis, vol. iii. p. 818.
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 147
cation was suspended, the cause was universally chap.
attributed to the irrecoverable blow experienced from 1?2 j
his adversary's publication. This opinion is expressed =
by numerous writers of the time, and has been com-
monly received and credited down to the present
day. It is, however, one of the vulgar errors, which
have attached themselves to Dr. Bentley's history ;
for though different causes co-operated to prevent the
intended publication, it is quite certain that Middle-
ton's pamphlet had no effect upon the undertaking ;
or, if it had any influence at all, seems rather to have
added a stimulus to the editor to persevere with more
energy in his task. Whatever reply he designed to
make to the censures and cavils of his opponents,
was reserved for his Prolegomena. It is indeed
doubtful whether he ever perused this formidable
tract : shortly after its appearance he told Bishop
Atterbury, that ' he scorned to read the rascal's
book ; but if his Lordship would send him any part
which he thought the strongest, he would undertake
to answer it before night 28 .' Nor is it true, as cur- Great ex-
rently believed, that the subscription to the work was S ubscnp- e
stopped by this publication ; it had already obtained tlon "
great encouragement ; a long and distinguished list
of subscribers had been secured, and the sum paid
by them in advance, according to the terms of the
Proposals, is recorded to have been not less than 2000
guineas 29 . About the same time he met with a
28 Letter of Middleton to Colbatch, June 9, 1721.
29 The preface to the Epistolce Dims just mentioned, which was pub-
lished in 1721, says, " Aliud est denique de quo te monitum velim ;
nempe has Epistolas, quamvis pluribus abhinc mensibus scriptas, non
ante in publicum prodire, quam futurus ille Novi Testamenti editor
magnam et amplam satis ad opus suum sustentandum subscribentium (ut
vocant) copiam sibi comparasset." Smalbroke also, in his pamphlet just
mentioned, alludes to the great number of Bentley's subscribers.
Respecting the subscription, there is an anecdote told by Hearne, in his
l2
148 LIFE OF
chap, rebuff of another description : deeming his work one
l72 j in which both Religion and the national credit were
interested, he thought it a fit object for the counte-
Fails in his . . -
attempt to nance and favour ot Cjovernment, and therefore
pTpeVdutv- applied f r permission to import the paper for the
free - publication duty-free. This application, though it
met with some support, was rejected by the Board of
Treasury. Wetstein states in his Prolegomena, that
the immediate abandonment of the whole under-
taking was the consequence of mortification at this
disappointment 30 . Bentley is said, and no doubt
with truth, to have been considerably hurt at the
repulse ; but it is a mistake to suppose that he there-
upon abandoned his plan, even for a clay : almost
May 11. immediately afterwards we find him borrowing from
the Earl of Oxford a valuable Latin manuscript, in
capital letters of gold, called Codex Aureus, just
purchased in Holland, and another ancient copy of
manuscripts, from a person who met Dr. Bentley at the Duke of Bolton's
table. " The Doctor happening to he called out of the room, the Duke
proposed to the company to subscribe to his New Testament : to which
they all agreed, and collected about 100 guineas, which his Grace put into
his hands on his return : when Bentley exclaimed, while he shook them,
Quis, nisi mentis inops, oblatum respuii aurum ?"
In this story, the number of guineas must, I apprehend, have been
exaggerated.
3a This account is given in "Wetstein' s Prolegomena, p. 156. He appears
to have derived his information from the Bibliotkeque Angloise. See
Wolf's Epistle to Lacroze, Sept. 1721, in which he mentions the fact of
Bentley's unsuccessful application to obtain paper duty-free ; and remarks
upon the disposition shown in England to oppose Bentley's scheme, won-
dering what he could have done to have drawn upon himself so much
hatred. Thes. Epistol. Lacroz. torn. ii. p. 16/. Colbatch writing to Mid-
dleton, May 23, 1721, refers to this anecdote. " I heartily congratulate
you upon the universal and highly deserved applause that your last piece
meets with every where ; by which, according to all that I can speak with
or hear from, you have laid Bentley flat upon his back. Mr. Eachard
writes me by last post from London, that he is every where teased and
mortified about it ; and flint the loss of his paper project puts him beyond all
patience"
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 149
the Gospels, belonging to the noble collection of the chap.
ex-minister 31 . He designed also to go to Oxford at '^
the beginning of the summer, to examine and col-
late with his own eyes the numerous and important
manuscripts of the New Testament in the Bodleian
and other libraries of that University ; and he was to
have been a visitor in the house of the Dean of
Christchurch 32 . But finding it inconvenient to per-
form this task himself, he committed it to David David cas-
Casley, his deputy in the King's and Cottonian e> '
libraries. That gentleman executed his commission
with great diligence ; and as neither trouble nor
expense was spared for the accuracy of the forth-
coming edition, he made new collations of several
manuscripts which had been already used by Dr.
Mill ; and Bentley embodied these, as well as the
readings of the ancient copies just noticed, among
the materials for his great work.
Our hero, however, was now to have his thoughts
and attention occupied by matters the most uncon-
genial to literary and editorial pursuits, a series of
angry litigations, which only supplied food to the
vindictive passions of all parties concerned. His Middieton
prosecution of Dr. Middieton for a libel upon him- ofTiibei. y
self, his College, and the King's justice, had been
going on since the beginning of the last year. The
repeated delays of trial led to a general opinion that
he would abandon the proceedings : but this was a
mistake; for in Trinity Term, 1721, shortly after the
31 Of the loan of these manuscripts to Bentley, a statement, highly
amusing for its official solemnity, is given by Humphrey Wanley, the
well-known keeper of the Harleian Library, in his Diary printed in Nichols'
Literary Anecdotes, vol. i. p. 88. Bentley in his account of these copies
considers each of them to be 1000 years old
32 At the death of Bishop Smalridge, in 1719, Dr. Hugh Boulter, after-
wards Primate of Ireland, succeeded both to the bishoprick of Bristol, and
deanery of Christchurch.
150 LIFE OF
chap, appearance of Middleton's last pamphlet, and while
jlgj Bentley's publisher was threatened with a prosecu-
===== tion, the cause was called on in the Court of King's
Bench. The issue of the trial could not be doubtful
for a moment. Middleton had formally acknow-
ledged himself to be author of the ' True State of
Trinity College ;' and the Chief Justice, Sir John
Pratt, in his charge to the jury, dwelt upon the
passage quoted in our last Chapter, which declared
that the Fellows of Trinity had ' not been able to
find any proper court in England which would re-
ceive their complaints,' as containing an undoubted
libel upon the whole administration of justice in the
kingdom. Thereupon the jury returned a verdict
of ' Guilty,' and Dr. Middleton was ordered to at-
tend at the bar on an early day to receive sentence
Kept in for the crime of which he was convicted. This was
a great and, as it seems, an unexpected blow. The
correspondence of Middleton with Colbatch at this
time exhibits a lively picture of the uncertainties and
anxieties which agitate the mind of a person in his
situation. He was kept nearly a month in daily
attendance at Westminster Hall, in expectation of
judgment, which was constantly put off, as he be-
lieved, by the artifices of Bentley, who wished to
make the business as vexatious and expensive as
possible. Meanwhile a variety of reports kept him
in a perpetual fever, sometimes elevated by hope,
the next day sunk in despondency at the prospect of
a fine beyond his means to pay, which might consign
him to the misery of a jail. Before his trial, Mid-
dleton had been flattered with assurances that his
cause would be considered as the common cause of
the whole party, and that the}' would not allow their
champion to suffer for his exertions ; but when he
was actually in peril, the number of his zealous
1
long sus-
pense.
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 151
friends appeared to dwindle : those who continued to chap.
countenance and assist him were only Dr. Colbatch, 1721
Dr. Ayloffe, Dr. Dickens the Professor of Civil Law, =====
and Mr. Pilgrim the Professor of Greek. They fur-
nished him with suitable affidavits to be presented
to the Court previous to his sentence, and gave him
money towards his expenses : Colbatch in particular
sent him an order for fifty pounds. He fancied that
the leaders of his party, Sherlock and Gooch, showed
coldness towards him in his distress ; and did not
recollect that his present trouble related to the con-
cerns of a private college, in which members of other
societies seldom like to interpose. However, through
the good offices of Mr. Dixie Windsor, he was in-
troduced to a private conference with ' a certain
great personage,' (whom I apprehend to be the Lord
Chancellor) and obtained from him an assurance
that he would mollify the Chief Justice, and procure
a lenient sentence. Meanwhile the term passed
away, and the defendant was left to speculate upon
his fate throughout the Long-vacation.
Dr. Colbatch now occupied himself in preparing
for the press a pamphlet in Middleton's favour,
entitled ' The Case of Richard Bentley against Dr.
Middleton considered : and a Question arising there-
upon discussed ; viz. how far it may be lawful to
publish the notorious Crimes of any Wicked Man.'
This piece, executed with all his ability, repeats,
comments upon, and aggravates the charges of the
pamphlet for which Middleton had been convicted.
But the copy being shown by his bookseller to Mr.
Ketelbey, a barrister, he pronounced without hesi-
tation that it would be deemed a libel and subject
the author to a prosecution, and that Bentley, ' who
now knew the way into Westminster Hall,' would in-
152 LIFE OF
chaf. fallibly avail himself of such an opportunity for
crushing a dreaded adversary.
A revolution had just occurred in the Ministry, in
XV
1721.
Grace.
Ministry, consequence of the explosion of the South-sea Bubble.
Some leading; members of the Government being:
involved in the disgrace of that transaction, the
Cabinet was broken up, and Lord Townshend and
Mr. Walpole resumed their former stations in the
Act of councils of the King;. Parliament having; enacted
fir", ~ o
severe penalties upon the leading managers of that
fraudulent scheme, the new Ministry found it ex-
pedient to close the session with an Act of Grace,
which might relieve the fears of numbers implicated
in the transactions of the last year of insane spe-
culation. Mr. Dixie Windsor, meeting the Chan-
cellor while this Bill was in progress, reminded him
of Middleton's case, and obtained his Lordship's
promise that a clause should be so worded as to
include his friend in the general pardon. But the
great man forgot his pledge, or neglected to attend
to its fulfilment ; and the Bill was drawn in precisely
the same terms as that of 1717, leaving the Doctor
exposed to the terrors of the law for the libel of
which he was convicted. Accordingly he had to
renew his attendance in the month of November, and
was again subject to vexatious and expensive delays,
expecting daily to be called up for judgment. In
the meantime his counsel and friends earnestly im-
portuned him to compromise the business out of
court : at their instance he offered Bentley to pay
his costs ; but the latter was unwilling to let his
adversary out of his clutches, till he had deprived
him of further power of annoyance. In pursuing this
policy he somewhat over-reached himself; for the
defendant, wearied at length of his painful situation,
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 153
instructed his counsel to move for judgment upon the chap.
verdict. Chief Justice Pratt immediately observed,
' that he had hoped to have heard no more of this
affair ; but that two Doctors of Divinity, to avoid the justice ad-
scandal justly given by such personal quarrels, would jf^ s * t set "
have found some way of making it up between them-
selves :* and as the Court could not attend to the
matter that day, he trusted it would be compromised
in such a manner as to save them all further trouble
about it. It was then alleged that Bentley was too
unreasonable, and was not satisfied with the offer of
his costs ; but the judges all reminded Middleton of
the magnitude of his offence, and the necessity for
making some amends by asking pardon. Hereupon Middleton
his counsel again importuned him to comply with ^ Bentley"
the directions of the Court ; and he was prevailed
upon to say, that ' as far as he had offended the law
by what he had done, he was sorry for it, and asked
the Master's pardon.' This, the Chief Justice said,
' was a sufficient satisfaction, and ought to be so
considered by Dr. Bentley.' The latter, however,
aimed at something more than this qualified apology :
and the matter not having been settled, the defend-
ant next day again moved the Court for judgment. Nov - 24 -
The Chief Justice now expressed himself with some
severity against Bentley, wondering that he should
be so irreconcilable : and when his counsel urged that
the defendant ' ought to subscribe a paper acknow-
ledging that he had wronged and abused the whole
society,' his Lordship was pleased to be jocular, and
asked, ' whether they would not have the paper set
up at the Exchange, or have Dr. Middleton- led
through Westminster Hall, with it pinned upon his
hat?' This hint produced an immediate termination rays the
of the business : the apology already offered was
accepted, and the defendant paid the prosecutor's
costs.
154 LIFE OF
chap, costs, after they had been taxed by the Master of the
1721. Crown Office. The result was considered by Mid-
= dleton's friends as a sort of triumph, since he was
allowed to escape without sentence, after being con-
victed of what the law regarded as an egregious libel
upon Bentley : but it was probably more burthen-
some to him than a fine ; as the amount of expenses
to be defrayed, even after they had been taxed, was
very considerable. This we may conclude from the
fact, that the share of the expenses of prosecution,
not allowed by the Master of the Crown Office,
and remaining to be defrayed by Trinity College,
amounted to no less than 150/.
Made Prin- The feud, however, was only removed from West-
brarian of minster Hall to the Academic groves, where it was
Sty. Univer " carried on with renewed activity. Middleton having
suffered considerably both from expense and un-
easiness, in what his friends termed a public cause,
it was resolved by the party to take a measure in his
favour, which might at the same time make him
ample compensation, and be a public testimony of
the high sense entertained by the University of his
character and learning. The plan hit upon was to
create the new office of Proto-bibliothecarius, or
Principal Keeper of the University Library, and to
confer it upon Dr. Middleton with all honourable
distinction, and a salary of fifty pounds. The pre-
amble of the Grace for this measure, states that the
increase of the library, by the magnificent donation
of the King, required more care than a single libra-
rian could devote ; but the immediate object of the
appointment is declared in the following terms :
Placeat vobis, ut Reverendus Vir Conyers Middleton,
S.T.P. fide, morions, doctrina spectatissimus, in perpe-
tuum vestrce erga eum benevolentice testimonium, Proto-
bibliothecarii munere primus honestetur. On the 14th
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 155
of December this Grace was proposed to the chap.
Senate ; and from traditional anecdotes it may be 1?21
inferred that no measure of that agitated period was =====
supported and opposed with more warmth and ani-
mosity. Bentley's party exclaimed against it as a
profligate job of their opponents : and some inde-
pendent persons considered that, as the duties and
responsibility of the old librarian were to remain the
same as before, this new office, designed for persons
of higher rank, would, probably, after its temporary
purpose had been answered, become a sinecure for
one of the Heads. But the question became almost
entirely a conflict of party, and on a division it was
carried in favour of the appointment by a majority of
112 against 49 33 .
33 So great were the heats on this occasion, that Dr. Symonds, a Fellow
of St. John's College, used to relate, that he and another person being the
only members of that College who voted against Middleton's appointment,
the indignation against them was so great that they were hooted the whole
way back from the Schools to St. John's.
Dr. Middleton, about eleven years afterwards, in his speech before the
University, on first becoming Woodwardian Professor, alluded to the suc-
cess of this day, with great satisfaction: "Vos etenim, cum certorum
hominum invidia indigne olim vexarer, novum in hac Academia Proto-
Bibliothecarii munus eodem decreto instituistis, et ad me detulistis : pub-
Uco illo judicii vestri testimonio significantes, et quid de me judicaretis, et
quid ahis etiam judicandum praescriberetis." Middleton's Works, vol. i.
p. 399.
156 LIFE OF
CHAPTER XVI.
Ancient Sigean Inscription, published by Chishull Bentley's letter to Dr.
Mead on this Inscription Bentley's restoration of an old Delian
Inscription Alexander Cunningham'' s censure of Bentley's Horace
Cunningham labours to destroy Bentley's credit Validity of his
strictures examined Comparison ofBentley and Cunningham Thirlby's
Justin Martyr Cotes' s Har mania Markland's Ejnstola Critica
Wasse Bentley's revision of Nicander Attack on Bentley in the Spy
Lord Orrery Verses by Dr. Bentley Colbatch pursues the prosecution
of Bentley for a libel Bentley cited to give evidence in the Vice-chan-
cellor's Court. Is absent on the King's service A Rule from the Court
of King's Bench to stop the proceedings of the University Colbatch
writes Jus Academicum The proceedings against Bentley dropped
Bentley prosecutes Colbatch' s publication Interest in Colbatch' s ft: rour
with the Ministers Lord Chancellor Macclesfield Chief Justice Pratt
The publisher committed Colbatch solicits the King's Pardon Lord
Carteret Bentley applies to the Court of King's Bench to procure his
restoration to his degrees University employs Sir Philip Yorke as
counsel Colbatch's case Favour promised him by Lord Townshend
Prevented by the Lord Chancellor He is committed Sentence by Mr.
Justice Powis Middleton's tract, ' Bibliothecce Cantabrigiensis Ordi-
nandcB Methodus' Prosecuted by Bentley for a reflection on the Judges
Middleton fined 501. Bentley's cause against the University The
Judges deliver their opinions against the University The Senate still
keeps up the contest Peremptory mandamus to restore Bentley's
degrees.
chap. Before we pursue the detail of the judicial struggles
which took place between Dr. Bentley and his various
adversaries at this remarkable period of his life, it will
1721.
Ancient ^ convenient to notice some matters which afforded
Sigean in-
scription much interest to the literary commonwealth. In
published _ _ -,-, . / ~.. in , o
by chishuii. 1721 Mr. Edmund Chishull, an antiquarian ol con-
siderable learning* and industry, published a very
ancient Greek inscription from a large marble found
at Sigeum, accompanied with an able commentary.
There are several circumstances which still continue
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 157
to give to this monument of former times an extraor- chap.
XVI.
dinary degree of interest. In the first place, both 1791 '
the forms and order of the letters run in the alternate
lines from left to right and from right to left. This
mode of writing, termed Boustrophedon from its re-
semblance to the track of oxen ploughing the earth, is
that said to have been used by Solon in the public
copy of his Laws at Athens ; specimens of it have
been preserved to our time, in a few old inscriptions.
The characters, which are rude capitals, bear a con-
siderable resemblance to those of Phoenicia, the coun-
try from whence it is recorded that the use of letters
was first imported into Greece. The aspirate H is
still preserved as a distinct character, and in the very
same form which it bore when the iEolic dialect of the
Greek was carried to Italy, where it became one of
the parents of the Latin language. The terminations
of the genitive cases in O instead of OY presented
another characteristic of that ancient dialect ; and the
characters E and O expressing those vowels in their
long as well as short quantity, proved that the use of
the four letters of Simonides had not yet been intro-
duced. These and other circumstances rendered it
probable that this inscription was written as far back
as the age of Solon and Periander ; and, at all events,
that it was not later than 500 years before the Christ-
ian sera. Nor was the antiquity of the writing the
only circumstance of interest : the masonry of the
stone seemed referable to the heroic ages, and the
spot most hallowed by immortal verse : for history
records that the city of Sigeum was built by a colony
from Mitylene, out of the materials of ancient Troy ;
and this marble being nine feet in height, might be
fancied to have once held the place of a portal in the
palace of King Priam, or the Temple of Minerva. As
for the matter of the superscription, it was as trivial
158 LIFE OF
chap, as can be imagined. One Phanodicus had presented
1721. to tne c ^ty a bowl, a stand, and a strainer, for the use
' of the Prytaneum or Common Hall : and the grateful
Sigeans commemorated his munificence by a statue,
(probably one of the description called Hermce,) of
which the stone bearing this inscription appears to
have been the base. The enormous magnitude of the
mass, and size of the letters preserving this monu-
ment through all the revolutions of empire and of
ages, it has happened that the good citizens have con-
ferred upon their benefactor a more durable fame
than they could themselves have contemplated, or his
liberality deserved. Two copies of the inscription
having been transmitted to England, one made by a
Turkish dragoman, and the other by Dr. Samuel
Lisle (afterwards Bishop of St. Asaph and of Norwich),
who had succeeded Chishull as chaplain to the Eng-
lish Factory at Smyrna, the editor was induced by
the urgent persuasion of his friend Dr. Mead, to pub-
lish this precious specimen of antique writing, with
proper illustrations.
Bentiey's Dr. Bentley happening to be in town when this
letter to Dr. , i i- , 1
Mead on volume appeared, it was immediately put into his
don. Inscnp " hands by that great physician and Maecenas, with
whom he lived in habits of daily intercourse. The
first inspection led him to pronounce an opinion
respecting the inscription different from that of
Chishull. He took the book home with him, read it
through before he went to bed, and next day sent to
Dr. Mead a long epistle explaining and defending his
notions of this venerable monument. It is necessary
to mention that the stone contains two inscriptions,
one of which is only an abridgment of the other, and
from its containing the two long vowels v and o>,
which were not original Cadmean letters, seems to
have been engraved at a more recent period : the
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 159
longer of the two mentions ' iEsopus and his brothers' c ^ p '
as the workmen. Upon such data Bentley founded 1721.
an hypothesis, that these were really nothing more ======
than copies of inscriptions engraved on two of the
three vessels given by Phanodicus ; that there had
been no such thing as a statue of the donor ; and that
iEsopus and his two brethren were not statuaries, but
manufacturers of the three vessels which ministered
to the conviviality of the Sigeans. It is probable that
no one capable of forming a judgment on such sub-
jects, has ever acceded to this notion of Bentley 's : at
the same time no candid person can read his letter to
Dr. Mead, without acknowledging that the theory is
highly ingenious and ably defended. But it was
written on the spur of the moment, without reference
to books, to show how well he could maintain a sud-
denly-conceived hypothesis. It was highly imprudent
thus to expose the reputation which he had achieved,
by the maintenance of a paradox under every possible
disadvantage : but this is not the only instance in
Bentley 's life, in which he sacrificed much of his solid
fame to the transient vanity of displaying his ready
talent and extemporary learning. He did, indeed,
deprecate controversy under such circumstances, say-
ing in conclusion, " I have writ too much for an
extempore remark, and too little for an accurate dis-
cussion, if I was amongst my books. If you show it
to Mr. Chishull, pray let it go no further ; nor bring
me into a public dispute. I'll dispute with nobody
about nothing ; much less about this with a person
for whose great learning I have so just respect, and
whose labours in hand I wish so well to." An epis-
tle, however, from the prince of critics, upon a topic
of such interest to all classical antiquaries, was not
likely to pass into oblivion. Chishull so far adhered
to the condition prescribed, that he did not publish
160
LIFE OF
CHAP.
XVI.
1721.
Bentley's
restoration
of an old
Delian in-
scription.
Bentley's own words ; but while he ' kept the word
of promise to the ear, he broke it to the. hope ;' for he
printed an Appendix to his Dissertation, wherein he
stated and refuted the critic's objections, without
naming him, but designating him in terms which left
no doubt as to the person intended : this was done in
an elaborate manner, and not without occasional aspe-
rity. He probably could not resist the temptation of
exhibiting a decided advantage over the great Ari-
starchus ; and was moreover nettled at the terms in
which Bentley had spoken of the weakest point of
his Dissertation, a conjecture that isop the statuary
of the Sigeans was no other than isop the fabulist ;
the absurdity of which notion he had exposed, though
less severely than it deserved. The effect of this
Appendix has been, that every subsequent author
who speaks of the Sigean Inscription (and I scarcely
recollect any writer upon Greek Palaeography who
has not mentioned it) refers to Bentley's extemporary
criticism, and generally in terms of censure, without
being aware of the circumstances under which it was
promulgated ; and the result must be confessed to
have been injurious to his reputation 1 . As a coun-
tervailing merit, however, Bentley, at the conclusion
of this letter to Dr. Mead, gave an acute and happy
restoration and explanation of a certain old inscrip-
tion on the base of a colossal statue of Apollo at
Delos, which Tournefort, the celebrated French bo-
tanist, had copied during his travels in the Levant.
1 This Appendicula appears to have been in the first instance attached
by Chishull to the unsold copies of his work, and was afterwards reprinted
in an edition of it at Leyden in 1727, as well as in his larger work of
Antiquitates Asiatics. It contained besides, a reply of the editor to some
objections of Michael Maittaire ; also another inscription from a marble
found at Sigeum, which was purchased by Mr. Edward YVortley Montague,
the ambassador to the Ottoman Porte, and now graces the vestibule of
Trinity Library.
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 161
This Inscription, consisting of a single iambic line, chap.
XVI
m old characters, similar to those of the Sigean 1722 "
marble, had been unsuccessfully attempted by Har- =====
douin and Montfaucon, two of the most learned men
that France ever produced, as well as by Chishull
himself. This was a great triumph of his sagacity,
and is particularly to be noticed, because Richard
Dawes, his envious imitator, has endeavoured to
appropriate to himself the credit of what is really
due to Bentley 2 .
At the commencement of 1722 was published a Alexander
very severe and able censure of the Doctor's edition hern's c?n-
of Horace, by Mr. Alexander Cunningham, a Scotch ^tiey's
gentleman, printed at the Hague, which had long Horace -
been the place of his residence. Before we proceed
to describe this performance, we must bestow a few
words upon its author ; who has, owing to the nume-
rous points of coincidence with his namesake, the
author of a History of Great Britain in Latin, ac-
quired the character of a mysterious personage.
Between Alexander Cunningham the historian, and
Alexander Cunningham the editor of Horace, there
are so many particulars of resemblance, that Thom-
son, the translator of the History, was forced, after a
minute inquiry, to remain in suspense whether or
not they were the same individual. It appears that
they were both Scotchmen, had both been travelling
tutors, both resided at the Hague at the same period,
both were intimate with certain distinguished public
characters, both were eminent chess-players, both
accomplished scholars, and both lived to an advanced
age. These and many other coincidences long baffled
all inquiry respecting the identity or diversity of the
2 See Dawes' Miscellanea Critica, p. 132 ; and his Letter to Dr. Taylor,
p. 18* of Mr. Kidd's Appendix to his edition of that work.
VOL. TI. M
162 LIFE OF
chap, two namesakes : and it has, I believe, but recently
been ascertained bevond a doubt, that the critic died
1722.
at the Hague in 1730, and the historian died in
London in 1737. This instance of ambiguity may
serve as a caution to biographers and antiquaries,
who are sometimes led by much slighter circum-
stances than those just mentioned, to assign to one
person the actions or writings of another. The
present difficulty is the more worthy of remark,
because neither of the Cunninghams was an obscure
author ; they both lived in the world, enjoying con-
siderable reputation during their life-time ; and one
of them filled diplomatic stations in the service of his
country.
cunning- The writer who has secured to himself a literary
foTeSroy" 8 immortality as one of the most powerful of Dr. Bent-
Bentiey's l e y' s antagonists, has already been mentioned to the
credit. J .. o o t~\
reader as the intimate friend of Le Clerc at the time
of the celebrated exposure of his Menander : I know
not whether a regard for that unfortunate editor
might have prompted the idea of revenging his
friend's disaster by an elaborate censure of our critic's
Horace : it certainly may be inferred from Cunning-
ham's own account, that he had been occupied ever
since the publication of Bentley's edition, a period of
ten years, in preparing materials for refuting his
emendations and overturning his credit. The only
cause assigned by himself for such industrious hos-
tility, was his wish to chastise the arrogance and
presumption displayed in that performance. How-
ever this might be, it must be confessed that he has
deserved the title of ' the fairest of critics,' in the
sense in which it has been bestowed upon Milbourne,
the adversary of Dryden, who put forth, along with
his criticism of the latter 's Virgil, a translation of
part of that poet by his own hand, ' that Mr. Dryden
1
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 163
might be satisfied that he offered him no foul play, chap.
nor found faults in him without giving him an j 722
opportunity of retaliation.' In like manner, Mr.
Cunningham published at the same time two distinct
works a volume of Animadversions on Bentley's
Horace, and a volume containing the text of the
poet, corrected according to his own judgment. To
the latter he intended to have added a body of notes,
to which he frequently refers, and which were to
have comprised a defence of his own readings, and a
refutation of his antagonist's ; but those notes never
appeared. The Animadversions are divided into
19 chapters, occupying nearly 400 pages, and ad-
dressed personally to Dr. Bentley. This book is one
continued objurgation, delivered in dry and bitter
terms, unvaried by the least humour or playfulness :
it is the effusion of a person who feels an advantage
in the contest, and thinks that his own superior
industry and research have given him a right to scold
and insult his adversary without forbearance. The
general topics of reproach are, the boastfulness of
Bentley's language, his assuming to himself the
credit of readings which were already to be found in
some edition or some commentary, and his want of
skill in the application of certain critical rules, which
Cunningham persuaded himself to be infallible in
the discovery of true readings. I have already ex-
plained without reserve the principal faults of Bent-
ley's edition, and shown how they arose in part from
the manner in which it had been begun and com-
pleted. A large portion of his notes, perhaps the validity of
majority, having been despatched in haste, it was tures exa-
plainly impossible that he should have consulted mined -
every one of the innumerable editions of the poet,
for the reading in each line ; a task which his pre-
sent adversary, who is recorded to have possessed an
m 2
164 LIFE OF
XVI
1722
chap, excellent library, undisturbed leisure, and diligence
which was never tired, was enabled to accomplish.
This part of his work is the most successful in the
object at which he laboured, the infliction of a wound
upon our critic's reputation. But the fact, when
fairly stated, does not bear out the charge either of
plagiarism or carelessness, which this adversary took
such unexampled pains to establish. Cunningham's
eighth chapter enumerates no less than 109 passages
in the editions of Ascensius, 66 in that of Baxter,
and 138 in other printed copies, all of which give
the reading as it stands in Bentley's ; who, however,
assumes credit for its restoration, without mentioning
that the same had been done before him. But this
formidable collection of passages, while it proves the
industry and ill -nature of Cunningham, fails in es-
tablishing his accusation ; for it will be seen by
examination, that Bentley generally alleges as his
authority the reading of some manuscript or a cita-
tion by some old writer, and does not assert that
no one edition had adopted it, but speaks of plerceque
editiones or omnes fere editiones as giving the common
reading. He did not pretend to have examined
every preceding edition with minute care : some
copies it is pretty clear that he had never seen : and
in no instance, that I have observed, does this rigid
examiner make out against our critic a case of inten-
tional dishonesty or unfairness.
comparison As Cunningham challenges a comparison between
of Bentiey j^g text f Horace, and that of Bentlev, undertaking
and Cun- ' J ' O
ningham. that his own shall be found more correct than his
adversary's in 400 passages, it is almost unavoidable
to take some notice of the relative merits of the two
editors. In the first place we must mention that
Cunningham adopts a great proportion of Bentley's
readings, being convinced of their truth ; though he
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 165
can scarcely ever prevail upon himself to allow him chap.
the least credit. Secondly, his annotations, though 1722 *
displaying wonderful industry and accuracy, do not
approach to those of Bentley in learning, ingenuity,
or interest ; while they offend in the very particulars
for which he chiefly blames his adversary, verbosity
and prolixity 3 . The reader who compares any
passages of equal length in the two critics, will be
struck with the superior clearness and elegance, as
well as the greater quantity of matter comprised in
that of Bentley. His antagonist reproaches him in
severe terms for not following general rules of criticism
in correcting the text of his author ; and himself lays
down numerous rules, exhibiting their results in his
own emendations. It appears, however, that many
of them incur the very faults charged against those of
Bentley : the same occasional harshness, the same
disposition to refine and make nice distinctions in
Horace's phrases, and thus to degrade poetry into
prose, which we have noticed in our editor, may be
found in his adversary. At the same time his lan-
guage is as confident and dogmatical as that of any
commentator whom I can recollect. With respect to
the critical rules propounded and followed with so
much diligence, it is sufficient to observe, that they
will be found useful to the scholar who reads and con-
siders them, even when he does not altogether approve
their application. I am of opinion, indeed, that sub-
sequent editors have not sufficiently availed themselves
of the labours of Cunningham in establishing the text
of Horace.
The volume of Animadversions is dedicated to Dr.
3 " Illud unum hie contra tuum scribendi morem adnotare, quamquam
plura possum, placet, in notis nihil odiosius esse verbosa longitudine."
Cuningamii Animadversiones, p. 10.
166 LIFE OF
CH
XV
hap. Bentley, for whose use and amendment it professes to
be written : its motto is
1722.
" Laudis amore tames P sunt certa piacida, qua te
Ter pare lecto poterunt recreare //6e//o."
To the volume of text is prefixed a frontispiece
representing a crowd of critics introduced into the
temple of Truth, each of whom takes off a mask,
when the apparition of the goddess presents to them
a mirror which she bears upon her shield ; and they
all start with horror at viewing the deformity of their
own features. In this company the prominent figure
is intended for Dr. Bentlev, and the reflection in the
mirror bears a considerable resemblance to his coun-
tenance 4 .
Had this attack been made some years earlier, it is
probable that Bentley would have accepted the chal-
lenge thrown out by Cunningham, and a controversy
between them could not have failed to elicit much that
would have been interesting to scholars. Cominp- as
it did at the moment when his time and attention
were absorbed by the various struggles in which he
was engaged, he thought proper to leave his adversary
in possession of the field, and securely trusted to pos-
terity the part of deciding between their respective
4 At the bottom of this frontispiece are the following words, adapted
from Horace :
" Detrahit et pellem nitidus qua quisque per ora
Ambulat, introrsum turpis."
The title of the volume is Q. Horatii Flacci Poemata. Ex mitiquis
Codd. et certis Observationibus emendavit, variasque Scriptorum et Impres-
s/man Jectiones adjecit Alexander Cuxingamius. Hagce Comitum, apud
Thomam Jonsonivm, 1721. There are other title pages both of this publi-
cation and of the Animaduersiones, assuming to be published at London.
The preface to the Animadversions is dated 4 Cat. Dec. 1721. That of
the text ipsis Idibus Decembris, 1721.
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 167
merits. As more than a century has since elapsed, chap.
we may now consider that this judgment has been 1722
pronounced, and that the reputation of Bentley has =====
unequivocally triumphed : he is read and admired by
hundreds to whom the lucubrations of his rival are
unknown ; and Cunningham, like some others of his
opponents, owes the preservation of his name to the
transcend ant reputation of him whom he laboured so
industriously to disparage.
A few months afterwards, the great subject of these Thiriby's
memoirs was assailed by another attack, which sur- Martyr.
passed all the preceding in gall and malignity : this
was from Styan Thirlby, whose edition of Justin
Martyr was published by subscription in the summer
of 1722. We have already recorded his early anti-
pathy against our hero, which displayed itself at a
period when he could not have had any offence to
complain of, and when his existence was probably
unknown to Dr. Bentley. It is impossible to explain
all the impulses which may operate upon so extrava-
gant and capricious a character : but on this occasion
his wrath had been excited by hearing that the Master
of Trinity had spoken slightingly of him and his
projected edition. In revenge he abused him with
immoderate rancour in his preface and dedication to
William Earl of Craven ; telling the latter that, when
he met the offender in his company, he was withheld
only by respect for his Lordship from taking vengeance
of another description. So violently had resentment
got possession of him, that he gives the full reins to
invective, and rails against classical studies and Bent-
ley, in so extravagant a style that he makes the reader,
at the very outset of his work, doubt whether the
editor was in a sane mind. Dr. Ashton, the Master
of Thiriby's College, who had been his patron, and
was unfavourably disposed to the Master of Trinity,
nionia.
168 LIFE OF
chap, spoke of this performance in a letter to Dr. Moss, the
1722. Dean of Ely, in the following terms : "I have not
===== had patience to read all his dedication, but have seen
enough to observe that it is stuffed with self-conceit,
and an insolent contempt of others ; Bentley espe-
cially, whom he again points at in page 18. I have
read about 60 pages of his performance, and am
really ashamed to find so much self-sufficiency 5 ." Of
Thirlby no more need here be said. Had it been the
fortune of that desultory genius to enjoy the intimacy
of the illustrious biographer of Savage, it is probable
that his story might have supplied incidents as curious,
and moral reflections as important, as that of the
highly-gifted and profligate poet 6 .
cotes'sHar- As a set-off against- the tirades just mentioned, it is
fair to record the treatment which Dr. Bentley received
about the same time from persons whose names hold a
still higher station than those of his censurers. Robert
Smith, the Professor of Astronomy, published in 1722
Harmonia Mensurarum, the posthumous work of his
accomplished relative and predecessor, Cotes : his
preface speaks of Bentley, as the encourager of science,
in the most handsome terms imaginable ; and with
reference to his pecuniary liberality and activity in
promoting subscriptions, first for the observatory and
afterwards for astronomical instruments, he gives him
the title of a ' second founder.'
In the following year Jeremiah Markland first
appeared before the public as a classical critic ; a
character which he sustained with distinction for more
5 Cole's MSS. vol. xxx. p. 116. The letter is printed by Nichols,
Literary Anecdotes, vol. iv. p. 269.
G Mr. Nichols {Literary Anecdotes, vol. iv. p. 264 271) gives some
Memoirs of Styan Thirlby, about one half of which were taken from the
hints and suggestions of Dr. Sam. Johnson. See also Literary Anecdotes,
vol. ii. p. 551.
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 169
than fifty years. His first essay was an Epistola chap.
Critica addressed to Dr. Hare, the Dean of Worcester, '
principally relating to passages of Horace which he -
i , nni Markland's
proposed to correct. 1 he opening sentence contains Epistoia
a handsome tribute to the merits of Dr. Bentley, who Cntlca -
is mentioned in all parts of the book with becoming
praise. Markland, throughout his long career, uni-
formly showed his admiration of our great critic ;
which was founded upon an intimate acquaintance
with his intuitive genius, and with the intrinsic and
unrivalled excellence of his writings. I am particular
in noticing this fact, for two reasons : first, the opinion
of Markland is of great importance in awarding literary
credit, not only on account of his learning, but of his
candid disposition and unprejudiced judgment; se-
condly, because our mention of him in connection
with the party by whom Bentley was deprived of his
degrees, might have led to a notion that he was also
included among his literary adversaries 7 .
A classical miscellany was instituted in 1722, and wasse.
published periodically for two years, called JBiblio-
theca Liter aria; comprising the contributions of several
scholars. The editor was Dr. Samuel Jebb ; the
principal writer Mr. Joseph Wasse, late Fellow of
Queen's College, the well-known commentator on
Sallust and Thucydides : of him Bentley is recorded to
have said, " When I am dead, Wasse will be the most
learned man in England 8 ." This publication affords
7 Nichols, in his full and interesting account of Markland {Literary
Anecdotes, vol. iv. p. 275) mentions ' a rude message being sent to him by
Bentley,' relative to a projected edition of Apuleius. Whatever be the
authority for this story, Markland never testified any offence against
Bentley.
8 This is on the authority of Whiston. Wasse died nearly four years
before Bentley. Had he, however, survived him, Markland, Taylor,
Dawes, and perhaps other scholars, might have disputed the truth of the
prediction.
170
LIFE OF
CHAP.
XVI.
1722.
Bentley's
revision of
Nicander.
another proof of the homage paid by all rising scholars
to the established fame of our great Aristarchus.
: In No. vi. are two copies of verses, one Greek the
other Latin, written by Wasse in praise of Bentley
and his Horace. All that can be said in their favour
is, that they are better than the generality of lauda-
tory verses prefixed to books. The Latin copy con-
tains some tolerable lines ; it testifies the anxiety felt
by scholars that Bentley would no longer delay the
publication of those works which he was known to
have been some time meditating, and which his
advancing years rendered it unsafe to postpone 9 .
When the long vacation of 1722 afforded an in-
termission to the agitating business of the year, Dr.
Bentley found leisure to make a complete revision of
the Theriaca of Nicander, at the instance of Dr.
Mead, the only friend who, in the latter part of his
life, possessed any material influence over him. Ni-
cander, an old Greek physician of Colophon, in the
time of Attalus, had, like our countrymen Garth
and Armstrong, composed didactic poems on subjects
connected with the medical art ; two of which, the
Theriaca and Alexipharmaca, are preserved. Dr.
Mead having put into Bentley's hands an edition of
the former by Gorrseus, (who translated it into
9 In the following lines it is hardly possible not to suspect the writer of
a waggish allusion to the ' slashing' propensities of our critic :
" Quare age, Romance vindex celeberrime linguae,
Ure, seca, telis parcere parce tuis :
Falce preme Plautique sales, castique Terenti
Seria, barbaricas hen male passa manus.
Respice Lucanum, Gratis si forte negaris,
Da causam laudi materiemque turn.
It may be mentioned that Hearne records in his MSS. that he fell into
company with Wasse in 1722, when he spoke in praise of Bentley in
relation to his undertaking of the New Testament, as well as in every other
particular.
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 171
Latin verse,) our critic went through the whole with chap.
. . . XVI
great care, writing his emendations on the margin ; 1722 '
he then returned it to his illustrious friend, prefixing =====
an elegant Latin epistle. This volume in the course
of time found its way into the British Museum ; but
the offspring of Bentley's learning continued buried
and unknown till the year 1814, when, by permission
of the Trustees, I copied the emendations and the
letter, and printed the whole in the Museum Criticum,
Nos. iii. and iv. along with the text of Gomeus's
edition. Though the corrections are not defended
by any notes, yet the scholar who inspects them will
not fail to recognize the truth of an observation,
more than once hinted in this history, that Bentley
is more to be depended upon as a corrector of Greek
than of Latin authors : the spirit of violent and harsh
alteration, which continually shows itself in his revi-
sion of the latter, did not accompany him when
employed upon books in the former language.
The pens of light and ephemeral writers, who swarm Atta ck on
like summer flies in the fields of literature, continued the s py .
to make our great critic the object of their puny
attacks and worthless panegyrics. 'The Spy,' a
weekly literary paper, which lasted but for a few
numbers, in 1721 endeavoured to draw attention by
an article against him, principally on the score of his
New Testament. A pamphlet immediately appeared
in his defence, avowedly written by a friend of Dr.
Bentley, who was however almost as feeble as his
adversary 10 . The Spy, who was some scribbler
writing for bread in a garret, had converted to his
own purposes, without acknowledgment, many whole
10 The Apothecary's Defence of Dr. Bentley, in Answer to the Spy. To-
gether with some ObservatioJis, Moral and Critical, upon the Fable of the
Jackdaw in Peacock's Feathers, particularly addressed to the Author of the
Spy. London, 1721.
172 LIFE OF
XVI.
1722
chap, sentences from Boyle's book in the Phalaris contro-
versy : and the ' Defence' exposes the thefts of this
pillager. But neither piece would have any claim
upon our readers' notice, were it not for a single
sentence in the latter, which professes to express the
sentiments entertained by Dr. Bentley, after the lapse
of many years, towards Mr. C. Boyle, now Lord
Lord or- Orrery, the object of his former severity. " Let me
now tell it the Spy as a secret, that Dr. Bentley has
the greatest deference for his noble antagonist, both
as a person of eminent parts and quality : and I dare
say his noble antagonist thinks of Dr. Bentley as of a
person as great in critical learning, as England has
boasted of for many a century." We may here add,
what is stated on good authority, that Lord Orrery
visited the Master of Trinity at his lodge u .
Verses by About this time Bentley committed to paper a copy
Dr.Bentiey. Q f English verses : a sort of composition to which he
was adapted neither by nature nor habit ; but the
reputation of the author, and singularity of the pro-
duction, styled by Dr. S. Johnson ' the only English
verses that he is known to have written,' have trans-
mitted them to posterity. They were occasioned by
an imitation of Horace's Ode (iii. 2.) Angustani, amid,
pauperiem pati by Walter Titley, a student of Trinity :
this, which was probably a College exercise, so much
pleased the Master, that he chose to devote a leisure
hour to writing a parody of Titley's stanzas. The
lines have been much admired, and the great critic
just mentioned pronounced them the ' forcible verses
of a man of strong mind, but not accustomed to write
verse 12 .' In truth, they rather aspire to the praise of
eloquence than poetry ; but they claim, at all events,
a place in the account of Bentley 's life, since, whoever
11 Dr. Salter, note on Dissert, on Thalaris, ed. 1777, p- 309.
12 BosweWs Life of Johnson, vol. iv. p. 24.
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 173
reads them, must perceive that ' our hero' had in his chap.
eye his own fortune, and intended to pourtray his own ]72> '
character and career. Titley's lines must first be laid =====
before the reader :
IMITATION OP HORACE, BOOK III. ODE II.
He who would great in science grow,
By whom bright Virtue is adored,
At first must be content to know
An humble roof and homely board.
With want and rigid College laws
Let him inur'd betimes comply,
Firm to Religion's sacred cause,
The learned combat let him try :
Let him her envied praises tell,
And all his eloquence disclose,
The fierce endeavours to repel,
To still the tumult of her foes.
Him, early form'd, and season'd young,
Subtle opposers soon will fear,
And tremble at his artful tongue,
Like Parthians at a Roman spear.
Grim death, th' inevitable lot,
Which fools and cowards strive to fly,
Is with a noble pleasure sought,
By him who dares for truth to die.
With purest lustre of her own,
Exalted Virtue ever shines ;
Nor, as the vulgar smile or frown,
Advances now, and now declines.
A glorious and immortal prize
She on her hardy son bestows ;
She shows him heav'n, and bids him rise,
Tho' toil, and pain, and death oppose.
With lab'ring flight he wings the obstructed way,
Leaving both common souls and common clay.
174 LIFE OF
CHAP.
XVI.
1722.
BENTLEY S PARODY.
Who strives to mount Parnassus' hill,
And thence poetic laurels bring,
Must first acquire due force and skill,
Must fly with swan's or eagle's wing.
Who Nature's treasures would explore,
Her mysteries and arcana know,
Must high, as lofty Newton, soar,
Must stoop, as delving Woodward, low.
Who studies ancient laws and rites,
Tongues, arts, and arms, all history,
Must drudge, like Selden, day and night,
And in the endless labour die.
Who travels in religious jarrs,
Truth mix'd with error, shade with rays,
Like Whiston, wanting pyx, and stars,
In ocean wide or sinks, or strays.
But grant our hero's hope, long toil
And comprehensive genius crown,
All sciences, all arts his spoil,
Yet what reward, or what renown ?
Envy, innate in vulgar souls,
Envy steps in and stops his rise ;
Envv with poison'd tarnish fouls
His lustre, and his worth decries.
He lives inglorious or in want,
To college and old books confined ;
Instead of learn'd, he's call'd pedant,
Dunces advanc'd, he's left behind :
Yet left content, a genuine stoic he,
Great without patron, rich without South-sea 13 .
13 These lines are in the Grove, a miscellany, and in Dodsley's Collection
also in Gent. Mag. 1740. p. 616.
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 175
At the end of the last chapter, we left the feud c IFyJ'
between Bentley and his academical enemies raging 172 2.
with full vigour. Colbatch continued his determi- ~~ ;~
O Colbatch
nation to procure redress for the late libel upon his pursues the
character ; but the delays of the Vice-chancellor ofTentiey"
protracted the action against the publisher till the for a hbe1 '
Act of Grace had made it impossible to pursue a
criminal process in that or any other court in the
kingdom. Nevertheless Colbatch conceived that a
mode of proceeding still remained, which was not
affected by the general pardon : this was, to pro-
secute an inquiry into the authorship of the libel,
'in the office of judge:' an investigation which the
civil law admits in some cases, and which, as he
imagined, would allow of Bentley 's being himself
examined as an evidence ; whereby he might be
compelled to make a public confession of an act
which had already incurred the severest censure from
the Heads of the University. He had some months
before propounded his ideas on this subject to his
friend Dr. Sayer, and had received a long letter from
him, explaining the reasons which made him con-
sider such a proceeding inadmissible in a case of
defamation, although allowable in certain other in-
stances. But this opinion could not deter him from
his object : he was possessed of considerable ac-
quaintance with the civil law, and having applied
his mind with much diligence to the bearings of this
case, he persuaded himself that he could see dis-
tinctions, which made the exceptions of his friend
the civilian inapplicable. Accordingly, the very day Nov. 24,
on which Middleton stood before the King's Bench ' 2 '
to answer for his libel upon the Master of Trinity,
Colbatch appeared in the Vice-chancellor's court to
prosecute the latter personage for a libel upon him-
self. He produced the censure of the Heads upon
176 LIFE OF
chap, the second edition of ' Dr. Bentley's Proposals;'
1722. which, being read by the Registrary, he implored
_ the Judicis Officium, and begged that right and
justice might be done him agreeably to the de-
cree. Dr. Crosse, who had been re-elected for a
second year with scarcely any opposition, granted
the petition, and appointed Cook, Dr. Colbatch's
proctor, to be ' promoter of his office,' or prosecutor.
The business of the day passed off with only some
impertinent interruption from Lisle, who thought
that this process was intended as a continuation of
the former action. The Vice-chancellor going im-
mediately afterwards to keep residence on his stall at
Norwich, constituted Dr. Gooch his deputy, from
whom was expected a renewal of vigorous proceedings
Bentiey against the Master of Trinity. Accordingly Colbatch
cited to give , . . , . . . n -f. ,
evidence in applied to him to grant a citation lor oentley to
chancel-" appear in Court, and give evidence respecting his
lor's court, knowledge of the libel in question : it being thought
better to take this step at once ; since, in case he
confessed it, all further investigation might be spared.
There was no difficulty in obtaining the citation, but
a great one in getting it served upon the Master :
the Esquire-beadles remembered the circumstances of
the arrest of the great delinquent three years before,
and were all as averse to such perilous service, as the
mice in the fable were to undertake the office of
belling the cat. At length one of those gentlemen,
Mr. Attwood, was induced by the authority of Dr.
Gooch, and a double fee, to execute this function ;
and was agreeably surprised at finding himself civilly
received by Bentiey, who intimated no intention of
non-compliance, but only enquired ' whether the
summons related to Colbatch's business.' In the
meantime the annual audit of Trinity College brought
these two enemies into personal collision of a more
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 177
angry character, if possible, than heretofore : the chap.
expenditure of large sums of money for new works at 1722 '
the lodge, and other schemes of the Master, none of =
which had been ordered by the Seniority, and the
accounts of which they were not suffered to examine,
called for Colbatch's severe remonstrances : Bentley
replied by violent and abusive language, the result of
long-cherished resentment, which the occurrences of
each successive day served to irritate and inflame.
The court to which Bentley was cited was fixed for l 722.
Jan. 17 ; but his measures were taken in a way
which soon showed that his dexterity was more than a
match for the resolution and perseverance of his ad-
versary. He went to town, and learned that, in the
opinion of lawyers, the proceedings of the University
were illegal, as partaking of the nature of a general
inquisition, and might perhaps be resisted by appli-
cation to the King's Bench. That court, however,
did not sit till after the time fixed for his appear-
ance ; and he well knew that the summary proceed-
ings of the academical judge would not wait his con-
venience. Accordingly he negotiated with one of his
brother-chaplains an exchange of the turn of attend-
ance at St. James's, for the month of January. When
the Vice-chancellor's Court assembled, ' Richard
Bentley, Master of Trinity College,' was three times Jan. 17.
summoned by name : he not appearing, Proctor Cooke
moved for a compulsory writ ; but Dr. Crosse, who
presided, declared that he would wait for his appear-
ance till three o'clock. Lisle then came forward and
said, that he could save the court that trouble ; as he
held in his hand a letter from Dr. Bentley, who was
in London, enclosing one from the Duke of Newcastle,
the Lord Chamberlain, commanding his attendance is absent in
on his Majesty's service. The Vice-chancellor imme- service? 8 '
VOL. 11. n
178
LIFE OF
CHAP.
XVI.
1722.
February.
A Rule
from the
Court of
King's
Bench to
stop the
proceedings
of the Uni-
versity.
diately allowed the excuse to be just and sufficient,
adjourned the proceedings to the 16th of February,
and admitted the appointment of Lisle as proctor for
the Master of Trinity. But his timidity suffered him
to be brow-beaten by the insolence of this man ; who
insisted on the name of his client being entered in the
proceedings of the court as ' Doctor Bentley ;' and
when told by the Vice-chancellor that it was contrary
to his duty and his oath to acknowledge a title which
the University had taken away, Lisle declared his
belief that Dr. Bentley was still entitled to that dig-
nity, said that the Lord Chamberlain had so styled
him, and that he would not give up the honour and
dignity of his friend for any one. Such was his
sauciness, that the by-standers remarked, that ' had
Dr. Gooch presided, he would probably have been
laid by the heels.'
Before the day appointed, Bentley's counsel moved
the Court of King's Bench to prohibit the proceedings
of the Vice-chancellor, alleging two objections against
them : first, that the offence of the pretended libel had
been pardoned in the late Act of grace or indemnity ;
secondly, that the enquiry was illegal, inasmuch as it
was designed to examine the supposed offender by
interrogatories which he could not answer without
criminating himself. The Court immediately granted
a Rule for the Vice-chancellor to show cause, on the
second day of the following term, why a prohibition
should not issue : and he was enjoined to stay all
proceedings during the interval.
The Rule of Court being served upon the Vice-
chancellor's deputy, produced great sensation in the
University. While one party complained of this
interference as a breach of academical privilege, their
opponents triumphed at the check given to what they
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 179
considered arbitrary and violent proceedings u . But c y?'
the only individual in the place who seemed to under- 1722 .
stand the bearings of the question was Dr. Colbatch, "
with whom this process had originated. His conduct
in bringing the University into such a dilemma, by a
reliance upon his own legal reading when opposed to
professional advice, was rash and headstrong : nor
does the object which he was pursuing appear to have
been adequate ; since, even supposing him completely
successful, he could only have obtained a censure of
his libeller, by the same authority which had already
censured the libel ; while his own character would
have received no additional vindication. His exer- colbatch
, . , , writes Jus
tions however in the present exigency show great Academi-
energy and ability : he wrote statements of the case Cl
to inform and encourage the leaders of his party ; and
drew up an elaborate pamphlet, called Jus Academi-
cian, which was printed and circulated, before the
ensuing law term, among the judges and advocates 15 .
In this book the case is ably treated ; and it was
likely to convey to unlearned readers the same con-
viction that possessed the mind of the writer. His
14 There appeared immediately two pamphlets, written by young men
of the University, the first in the character of a friend of Bentley, and
called Animadversions on the University's Proceedings against the most
learned R. Bentley, D.D. By Phileleutherus Cantabrigiensis. The Reply,
entitled, A Vindication of the University of Cambridge, in Answer, fyc.
Both these pieces are entirely worthless ; the writers having but an im-
perfect and confused notion of the transactions which they were dis-
cussing.
15 The title of this tract, which, according to the fashion of that day,
serves as a table of contents, is as follows: " Jus Academicum ; or, a
Defence of the peculiar Jurisdiction which belongs of common right to Uni-
versities in general, and hath been granted by Royal Charters, confirmed
in Parliament, to those of England in particular. Shewing, that no Pro-
hibition can lie against their Courts of Judicature, nor appeal from them, in
any Cause like that which is now depending before the Vice-chancellor of
Cambridge. With a Full Account and Vindication of the Proceedings in that
Cause. By a Person concerned. London. Printed for R. Wilkin, at the
King's Head, in St. Paul's Church-yard, wdccxxii."
N 2
1722.
180 LIFE OF
chap, account of the peculiar jurisdiction belonging to Uni-
versities, both in England and the Continent, is clear
and satisfactory ; but he treads on perilous ground
when he contends, that it is not amenable to the
authority of the Court of King's Bench. He argues
forcibly that the general pardon, for the disregard of
which the University had been termed in court
' insolent,' could have no operation on the present
proceedings, they being instituted not so much to
punish the offender, as to vindicate the injured party,
' whose reputation lay a-bleeding from the libel ;' that
the King's gracious pardon neither was nor could be
intended to operate in this case to the damage of the
aggrieved party, any more than it could enable a
person to retain possession of an estate of which he
had fraudulently deprived the rightful owner. At
all events he contends that Bentley, had he chosen
to take advantage of that Act of grace, ought to have
pleaded it at the bar of the Vice-chancellor's Court.
The defence of the mode of proceeding ex officio
exhibits much research into customs and precedents,
and is spirited as well as argumentative.
Dr. Colbatch was careful to avoid the intemperate
language, which had filled the pages of his adversary;
but he did retaliate in some sentences so caustic and
acrimonious, as to prove that a sort of death-feud
existed between the two parties. Two or three in-
stances will be sufficient. Having occasion to men-
tion De Vargas, the instrument of the Duke d'Alva's
tyranny in the Low Countries, he says,
" By the way, it is worth one's notice, that there seldom arises
an enemv to our Colleges, (to their discipline, I mean ; for he who
would subvert that, does worse than if he attempted to hatter down
their walls) but a body may discern something in him, by which he
bears a near resemblance to this De Vargas, either in his learning,
or in his manners ; sometimes perhaps in both : a late and notable
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 181
instance of this sort might be given in one, who had he lived at the CHAP,
same time with De Vargas, might, for his skill in grammar, be iVI '
thought to have gone to the same school. But grammar of itself, I '
confess, does not always polish the native roughness of some tempers ;
no, nor criticism neither ; there may be those who have far excelled
De Vargas in both these arts, and outgone him as far in the bar-
barity of their manners." Jus Academicum, p. 12. " It will go
a great way towards clearing the injured party's reputation, when it
shall be publicly known who it is that hath attempted to blacken it ;
since whoever knows the man, knows what credit his allegations
deserve, and will soon be made to understand what it was that pushed
him upon so desperate an attempt." Ibid. p. 17. " The design of
the suit, which is now in question, is not the offender's punishment ;
no, nor yet the reformation of his manners ; the plaintiff in this case
being convinced by this time, how vain an attempt it would be for
him, to bring that offender to condign punishment, and much more
to correct and amend his manners. All that he pretends to by this
suit is the recovery of his own good name of which the said offender,
as far as in him lies, has injuriously, I will not say feloniously, robbed
him," &c. Ibid. p. 30. " For this cause, I am commissioned by
the complainant in the present case, to tell the defendant, that as
our court here proceeds according to the civil-law ; none of those
defamatorv articles contained in his libel will be charged to his ac-
count, that have any ground or colour of truth in them, in case there
be any such articles, as I am fully persuaded there is not one in all
the libel. I will venture further, and do hereby invite the said
defamer to make his appearance in court, with a promise, that the
party aggrieved shall withdraw his complaint, and desist from any
further prosecution of this cause, in case he, the said defamer, will
bring sufficient proof of but any one of those articles, or, which is
more, if the complainant shall not make it appear to be highly pro-
bable, that all and every of the said articles, are not only notoriously
false, but known to be so by the libeller himself." Ibid. p. 37.
The author having hastened the appearance of his
pamphlet, before the Easter term commenced, sent
copies of it to all persons of consideration with whom
he was acquainted, and among the rest to the Lord
Chancellor, and the Judges of the different Courts,
except Sir John Pratt and Sir John Fortescue ; those
being the only two upon the Bench to whom he was
not personally known. But he experienced the dis-
18*2 LIFE OF
chap, appointment which will often be the lot of an amateur
xvi. l r
1722. lawyer, when he attempts to give effect to his theories :
===== as such a person is generally ignorant of the rules
and maxims of the Courts of judicature, it is not to
be wondered, that the information which he has
gathered from writers on jurisprudence should con-
duct him into some practical error. All the cases
which Colbatch cited, and all the points which he
argued, could not get over the one objection which
professional men considered fatal to the late proceed-
ings of the Academical court. The University had,
in its exigency, committed its interests to Dean
Sherlock, who, besides his familiarity with business,
resided, as Master of the Temple, in the centre of the
legal world, and was much esteemed by the leaders
April 17. of the profession. He held a consultation of eminent
counsel on the dav before the time fixed for showing
The pro- cause against the prohibition. The two University
against counsel were Sir Robert Raymond and Serjeant
dipped Reynolds, each of whom was soon afterwards raised
to the Bench ; besides these leaders, Mr. Mead, Mr.
Fazakerly, and Dr. Strahan, the civilian, were em-
ployed ; Doctors Sherlock, Colbatch, and Middleton
assisting at the consultation on behalf of the Univer-
sity. Here Colbatch earnestly repeated the argu-
ments of his pamphlet ; but in vain. There was
some difference of opinion among the counsel respect-
ing the propriety of the superior Court's interference
in that stage of the business, before any thing beyond
a preliminary measure had been taken by the Uni-
versity ; but all agreed that the offence of the libel
was included in the general pardon : it was therefore
resolved, at the proposition of Mr. Attorney, to let the
business drop without a contest, in order to avoid a
judgment against the University being entered upon
record.
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 183
But Bentley did not think proper that the matter chap.
should fall to the ground as quietly as his prosecutors 172 2.
intended : he judged that it was now his turn to act --
on the offensive ; and as he had before attacked
Colbatch with his pen for a book which he had not
written, he now attacked him by the law for one
which he had written. He observed some passages
of the Jus Academician, in which the author, while
arguing against the interference of the King's Bench,
might be construed as speaking with disrespect of
that Court itself. Accordingly, two days after the A P ril 20,
University lawyers had announced the intention of prosecutes
dropping the proceedings against him, his counsel, P ubStion.
Mr. Reeve, moved the Court of King's Bench to take
cognizance of the Jus Academicum as a contempt on
their jurisdiction. Several passages being read, a
Rule of court was granted for Wilkin, the publisher,
to show cause why an Attachment should not issue
against him. Colbatch was immediately advised by
his friends to make interest among persons in power,
in order to avert the storm that seemed ready to burst
over his head. The sentences which had brought
him into his enemy's power, were in his own view
and intention perfectly innocent, nor had it once
crossed his mind that they were susceptible of an
injurious construction. The following were the pas-
sages that gave most offence :
" There is a strange doctrine got into Westminster Hall, where it
hath prevailed for ahove these hundred years past, as it is like to do
for these hundred to come, unless my Lords the Bishops shall think
fit to take notice of it in Parliament, viz. that the King's Pardon shall
put a stop to any process carried on in the Spiritual Courts, for the
reformation of manners, or the salvation of a man's soul." Jus
Academicum, p. 19.
" How the Reverend Judges of the High Court of King's Bench
will resent their being surprised into such a thing ; or how the Uni-
versity will vindicate the most valuable of her privileges, which being
184
LIFE OF
CHAP, once taken from her, she must bid adieu to all the rest, from so mani-
fest and unprecedented a violation, a private member ousrht not so
__^_ much as to guess." p. 42.
" It may not be amiss to take notice in this place, of a general
observation made by foreign writers, which hath been more that once
made good here in England, that they who design to subvert the laws
and liberties of any nation, commonly begin with the privileges and
immunities of the Universities." p. 11.
The sentence last quoted was particularly exclaimed
against, being said to contain an insinuation that not
only the Judges, but the Government of King George
designed to subvert the laws and liberties of the nation.
It is certain, however, that the writer, whose whole
mind was devoted to the maintenance of academical
jurisdiction against Bentley, harboured no such views
as were attributed to him, in writing these passages ;
of which the most that can be said is, that they were
unnecessary, incautious, and ill-timed.
interest in As it was clear that the interrogatories to be put to
Colbatch's , l
favour with the party attached would soon force him to discover
tere. ' " 5 tne author, and as the consequences of this proceed-
ing might be tremendous, Colbatch's friends exerted
themselves with great earnestness to procure the inter-
cession of powerful persons in his behalf. Particularly
Dean Sherlock and Dean Hare used their interest
with Lord Townshend for his good offices, and if
necessary, for a pardon ; while Dr. Freind, the Master
of Westminster School, exerted himself in a similar
manner with Lord Carteret, the other Secretary of
State. Both those ministers admitted the extreme
hardship of a respectable clergyman being ruined for
an inadvertence, committed in the course of a struggle
wherein he had been an aggrieved party ; and being
convinced that Colbatch was an inoffensive man, pro-
mised their good offices and intercessions with the
Lord Chief Justice ; declaring their belief that if he
would go into court and make a reasonable apology,
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 185
the matter would be terminated without further con- chap.
sequences. He himself preferred his applications to l722
the Lord Chancellor, now Earl of Macclesfield : the
incessant solicitations which he had been making for cellar Ma"-"
some years for a visitation of Trinity College, though clesfield -
they had no other result, yet had procured him the
acquaintance of this exalted personage ; who, how-
ever great might be his faults, was remarkably acces-
sible and affable. He indulged Colbatch with many
interviews ; and although he condemned without re-
serve the offending passages of his book, promised
him his good offices with the Chief Justice, to make
the consequences light, and end the matter in a more
favourable way than by procuring the King's pardon :
and he directed him, before the matter came into
court, to call upon Chief Justice Pratt, and express
his contrition for his offence. But the patronage of
these great ministers was not calculated to render the
unfortunate divine any real service. The distinguished chief Jus-
Judge who presided on the Bench, entertained a high tlce Pratt "
notion of the dignity of his court, and the necessity of
repressing all attempts to disparage or question its
authority ; in which feeling his three coadjutors, the
Judges Powis, Eyre, and Fortescue, strongly parti-
cipated. He had also too just an opinion of the sanc-
tity of the judicial character, not to be jealous of the
interference of persons in power with the administra-
tion of justice. He heard therefore the representa-
tions of the Cabinet Ministers without the least dispo-
sition to attend to them ; insomuch that the Premier
accounted for his inflexibility, by observing that
' Pratt had got to the top of his preferment, and was
therefore refractory, and not to be governed by them.'
However, when the Doctor, by advice of the Lord
Chancellor, waited on the Chief Justice at his house
in Ormond-street, he behaved to him with consider-
186 LIFE OF
chap, able candour and mildness : he declared indeed that
XVI.
1722.
he viewed the offence in a serious light ; but assured
him that he would take no advantage of his having
privately acknowledged himself author of the book.
A similar intimation was given to him by Judge Eyre
upon whom he likewise called ; and it seems highly
probable that the Court had at first intended to be
satisfied with the censure of the work, through the
publisher ; whose expenses falling upon the author,
would have been a punishment at least adequate to
his offence.
May 7. The Chief Justice going to the court immediately
after this interview, Wilkin was brought to the bar,
to answer the charge of publishing a libel on the
judicature of the kingdom. His lordship was severe
in his condemnation of such an interference with pub-
lic justice, by circulating insinuations against the
Court, as if they were not equally ready to hear
arguments on both sides of a question : that being
The pub- the last day of term, he ordered him to the Marshalsea
muted. prison, to remain there till the following term, ' that
they might have time to think of a proper punishment
for his offence.' The affrighted bookseller made an
effort to save himself by declaring that Dr. Colbatch
was the author ; but the Chief Justice told him that,
' he might do as he pleased about giving up the
author ; for it should not save him from the punish-
ment due to the offence of circulating the pamphlet ;
and that his fate should be a warning to other pub-
lishers;' adding, that ' the Court would serve the
author in the same way if brought before them.'
Wilkin's terrors were greatly augmented when, upon
applying in the evening at the chambers of Mr.
Justice Fortescae to be bailed, he was informed by
his Lordship, that he had that day taken as bail of
the publisher of the ' Freeholder's Journal,' a trea-
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 187
sonable paper, 1000/., and 500/. for each of two chap.
sureties ; and he was actually required to produce 1722
the same amount ; the Judge saying, that ' his =====
offence was as great or greater 15 .' As this enormous
bail could not immediately be procured, Wilkin
had to remain in durance for the vacation ; exposed
to the tender mercies of the marshal, who extorted
eleven pounds for allowing him the benefit of the
Rules, and five pounds under pretence of excusing
him from irons !
At the beginning of the Trinity term, the book- May 31.
seller was again brought up, and received a severe
reprimand from the Court ; whereupon he voluntarily
presented his affidavit naming the author of Jus
Academicum. This uncalled-for discovery the Chief
Justice declared should avail him nothing, and re-
manded him to prison : but upon the ground of the
affidavit, the Court directed a rule to be served on
Dr. Colbatch to show cause why he too should not
be attached.
Colbatch was now advised by his lawyers and coibatch
friends to lose no time in procuring the King's King's par-
pardon, which had been promised him, if necessary,
by both the Secretaries of State. He was, likewise,
13 Chalmers's Biographical Dictionary, in the account of this Judge,
Sir John Fortescue, (article Aland) informs us that he was the friend and
correspondent of Pope, to whom the poet addressed his Imitation of
Horace, Satire II. 1., and author of the Pleadings of ' Straddling versus
Styles,' in Swift's and Pope's Miscellanies. Had this been the fact, it
would have been curious to remark that this abhorrence of ' libels and
satires' showed itself in the case of Poor Wilkin to be even greater than
the poet attributes to him. But unluckily, they were different personages,
and not difficult to distinguish ; although they were both Judges, and sat
together for some years in the same Court. The person mentioned in the
text was Sir John Fortescue, who added the sirname of Aland ; he retired
from the Bench in 1746, and was made an Irish Peer. Pope's friend was
William Fortescue, who was first made a Judge in 1736, and after having
sat successively in the Exchequer and Common Pleas, became Master of
the Rolls, and died in 1750.
don.
188 LIFE OF
chap, recommended to keep out of the way, that he might
*!,!,' not be found by Bentley's attorney, when he came
to serve the Rule of Court upon him ; since he
would, otherwise, in the natural progress of the case,
be committed about the end of term, and lie in
prison the whole of the long Vacation. But when
he renewed his application for the promised inter-
ference of the great ministers in his favour, he found
their tone much altered since their communications
Lord car- with the Chief Justice. Lord Carteret in particular,
teret - had at first been profuse in his assurances of pro-
tection in case of the worst : ' should the Doctor be
sent to prison, here,' said he, brandishing his pen,
' is Mercury's wand, which will soon fetch him out.'
Now, however, his Lordship's language was altered,
and when the hardship of the case was represented,
he made himself merry upon ' University men, who
sucked in notions which they called principles, and
were resolved strictly to adhere to and die martyrs
for them.' He advised, however, that Colbatch
should present himself before the Court, and make
an apology for his fault ; and he would undertake
that nothing should hurt him, and that he would not
be committed. But Dr. Freind, whose heart mis-
gave him on this point, begged his Lordship to pledge
his word, that in case of the worst, ' Mercury's
wand' should be put in operation. Re-encouraged
by a fresh promise of this shield of power, the de-
linquent, who had changed his lodgings to escape
notice, now put on his gown and appeared publicly
in the streets and in Westminster Hall : here some
lawyers, upon hearing the grounds of his security,
told him to despair his charm, for that ' if he
confessed himself the author of Jus Academician, the
Kino- himself could not hinder his being sent to
prison.' After all the vibrations of resolution natural
1722.
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 189
to a man in his circumstances, being assured by the chap.
Lord Chancellor that it would be better for him that
the Ministry should not interfere, the Doctor de-
termined to brave the storm. Accordingly, two
days before the end of term, his counsel moved for
the liberation of Wilkin, and the accepting Col-
batch's recognizance for his appearance : when the
Chief Justice, more moderate than his brother For-
tescue, fined Wilkin 51. and discharged him ; and
fixed 200Z. bail for Colbatch himself, and 100/. for
his sureties ; thus leaving him at large till November,
to ruminate on his unlucky predicament, and con-
cert operations for the next campaign.
It deserves to be recorded as no common instance
of spirit, that Dr. Colbatch, while he stood in need
of all the interest which he could make for his per-
sonal security, yet never for a moment forgot the
public cause in which he was embarked ; but availed
himself of all opportunities of his interviews with the
Cabinet ministers and Judges, to remind them of the
affairs of Trinity College, and solicit a settlement of
the visitatorial power, as the only method by which
the distractions of the society could be appeased.
Every one allowed that this ought to be done ; and
all agreed in thinking the Lord Chancellor the fittest
person to carry through the measure. But Lord
Macclesfield only repeated the promises which ex-
perience had shown to be fallacious : on one oc-
casion he went so far as to say, ' that he was ashamed
to see him, since nothing was yet done about Trinity
College.' Colbatch's eyes appear to have been gra-
dually and unwillingly opened to the truth, that
Lord Macclesfield had all along only intended to
amuse him with hopes, and would never originate a
measure which was disagreeable to an active partizan
of the Whig interest.
190 LIFE OF
chap. Bentley, being' thus able to wreak his resentment
upon his adversary through the agency of that high
tribunal which the latter had unwittingly offended,
XVI
1722
plies to the took no further trouble with a business which went
King's on so agreeably to his wishes ; but occupied himself
Bench to w jth a scheme of greater importance, his own resto-
procure his l
restoration ration to his degrees. He had now continued three
grees. ' years and a half under the ban of the University ;
and although possessed of the two most important
preferments in the place, was deprived of all title,
rank, and voice in the body, and not suffered to
perform the duties of his station. For some time he
had calculated upon his restoration either through
the interference of a Royal visitation, or from the
influence of a more friendly feeling in the University.
But all prospect of the first had long passed away,
and recent events, by exasperating former animosi-
ties, had made the second less probable than ever.
He was all along convinced that the original pro-
ceedings against him had been arbitrary and illegal :
from the lammao-e held bv the Court of King's
Bench in the late affair of the Mandamus, he col-
lected that the judges would make no difficulty in
interfering with the academical judicature if they
deemed its proceedings to be faulty ; and he resolved
May 5. to appeal for justice to that high tribunal. Accord-
ingly, two days before the publisher of Jus Acade-
mician was to appear before the offended Court, Bent-
ley's counsel moved for a rule to be addressed to the
University of Cambridge, to show cause why a Man-
damus should not issue, compelling them to restore
him to all his decrees. The motion was grounded
upon an affidavit of his proctor, Denys Lisle,
alleging that he had been suspended bv the Vice-
chancellor without hearing or summons, and after-
wards degraded by the Senate upon the representation
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 191
of the same personage. The judges made some re- chap.
marks upon the propriety of referring such a case to 1722
a local visitor : but in fine they granted the Rule =====
Nisi, for the University to show cause on the second
day of the ensuing term. Bentley, having kept this
rule one week, served it upon the Vice-chancellor.
That officer being unequal to a matter of such im-
portance, the academical privileges were entrusted to
the care of Dr. Gooch, and his brother-in-law, the
Dean of Chichester. The latter, in particular, from
the opinion entertained of his talents, judgment, and
knowledge of business, enjoyed the full confidence of
the Senate ; and he engaged in its service with as
much zeal as if he had still been one of the Heads.
The time was found too short for instructing counsel
in the whole merits of a case which involved so
much of the statutes, usages, and privileges of an
University, and required a minute examination of old
charters and registers. They therefore directed Ser-
jeant Reynolds to show cause against the Rule, so
far as to allege the exempt jurisdiction which the
University derived from Royal charters confirmed by
Acts of Parliament, and then to give a succinct nar-
rative of the proceedings against Bentley, from the
beginning of Middleton's action of debt, to the com-
plaint preferred by him to the King in Council after
his Degradation ; contending that the punishment
had been inflicted by an authority competent to
censure the members of the University ; and that
the same body which gave the degrees, possessed a
right to take them away. If however the Court
were not satisfied with this statement, the Serjeant
was directed to pray for a longer time, to allow the
charters and records to be searched, and preparations
made for a more particular defence of the academical
privileges. The judges, as it was foreseen, did not
192 LIFE OF
chap, admit those allegations as conclusive, but granted
XVL the prayer for postponement, or, in the technical
phrase, enlarged the rule till next term.
May 31. j n t } ie meantime great pains were taken to prepare
a defence ; and Col batch drew up a very able paper,
containing all the arguments by which it might be
proved that the University had acted justly in punish-
ing Bentley's contumacy ; and that whatever were
the merits of the case, they were not cognizable by
the Court of King's Bench. It was judged that
much would depend upon the leading counsel to
whom this important cause was intrusted. The in-
University dividual who at this time stood highest in reputation
Philip 5 S r at the English bar was Sir Philip Yorke, the Soli-
cou^r 5 citor General : and though he was not a member of
the University, and several eminent barristers were
already engaged in her service, yet it was thought
proper at such a crisis to confide the academical
interests to one who had a paramount character in
the profession : from this circumstance began the
intimate connection between the University of Cam-
bridge and that distinguished personage, which sub-
sisted to the end of his life, and has been inherited
by his posterity 16 .
After several postponements, the case of the Uni-
versity was to have come into discussion on the 13th
of November ; on which clay Bentlev appeared in
the court, supported by his friends, Dr. Bradford,
Bishop of Carlisle, and Dr. Gee, Dean of Lincoln 17 .
16 On the conclusion of Sir Philip Yorke's pleadings in the case of Dr.
Bentley, in February 1723-4, he was complimented with the title of
University- Counsel. In 1749 he was chosen High Steward; in which
office he was succeeded by his son, the Earl of Hardwicke, in 1764, and
by his grandson, the Earl of Hardwicke, in 1806.
17 Dr. Edward Gee, who was this year removed from the deanery of
Peterborough to that of Lincoln. He was also Prebendary of Westminster,
and an intimate friend of Dr. Bentley. Colbatch observes in one of his
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 193
But the indisposition of the Chief Justice prevented chap.
his attending the court, and disappointed the ex- 1722
pectations of the assembled auditory. Two days ===
Nov. 15.
afterwards, the case was argued in favour of the
University with great ability by Sir Philip Yorke.
Among other things he contended, that the charters
of the University exempted it from the jurisdiction
of the King's Bench ; and consequently that the
Court had no power to interfere in behalf of the
deprived Doctor. It being of primary importance
that this point should be cleared up, the Court,
without entering into the merits of the case, directed
a writ of mandamus to the University to restore
Richard Bentley to his degrees, to which a return
might be made of the several facts and circumstances,
showing that the Court had no authority to interfere ;
and upon such return, the question of jurisdiction
might be argued and decided.
We must now attend to poor Colbatch, whom we Coibatch's
left struggling to extricate himself from the toils of
his enemy into which he had inadvertently fallen.
J J
His cousin, Sir John Colbatch, a surgeon of great
eminence, had learned from Mr. Baron Price, that
in his opinion the best and only way to escape with
credit was to obtain the interposition of the Crown,
by a pardon or a noli prosequi. For this purpose he
went to town early in October, and the journal of his
proceedings during the ensuing term presents only a
renewal of interviews with Cabinet-ministers, and
other exalted personages, by whom he was generally
received with kindness and sympathy, and encou-
raged to look for a speedy and easy termination of
his troubles. Besides his former intercessors, who
letters, in reference to the affairs of Trinity College, that Dr. Gee v/as the
only person of note that he could hear of, who approved and justified
Bentley's proceedings in every thing.
VOL. II. O
case.
XVI.
1/22.
194 LIFE OF
chap, renewed their kind offices, Sir William Dawes, the
Archbishop of York, and Dr. Gastrell, Bishop of
Chester, his old school-fellow, interested themselves
in his favour. But they possessed no influence ex-
cept that of character, being Tories, and the only
two prelates on the Bench who opposed the Govern-
ment in the affair of Atterbury's plot, and the com-
mitment of the Duke of Norfolk to the Tower, which
was just then agitated in Parliament. He discovered
a more powerful friend in Lord Carleton, the Pre-
sident of the Council. This nobleman, formerly Mr.
Henry Boyle, was the last survivor of the knot of
statesmen, termed the Whig Junta, who swayed the
measures of Government in the reign of Queen Anne.
Being an old school-fellow and of the same college
as Colbatch, he renewed his acquaintance with much
kindness and sympathy, and promised his inter-
cession in the proper quarter. It was universally
allowed that the offensive sentences of Jus Acade-
mician had proceeded from no malignity of intention ;
and as his inadvertency had already put him to an
expense of more than 100/., besides long and harass-
ing attendance, people thought that the punishment
had exceeded the fault, and that any further pro-
ceeding would be a great hardship. Even the Chief
Justice, when it was represented to him that both
Secretaries of State were desirous that he should be
let off, suggested, that ' then they might procure
him the King's pardon.' But Colbatch discovered
too late that there was a lion in the path, which
intercepted all his prospects of powerful mediation.
The Lord Chancellor, from an apprehension that
some of the Judges, who were more jealous than
even their Chief of the dignity of their Court, might
be offended if the culprit were taken out of their
hands, or from some other reason, was resolved to
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 195
prevent this indulgence being extended to a person, chap.
who, though respectable and harmless, had the mis- 1700 '
fortune to be a Tory.
Before the beginning of term Colbatch had several Favour pro-
interviews with Lord Townshend, who treated him by Lord
with the frankness and kindness which suited his Tow
character : told him that he had written to the
Chancellor to make the matter up with the Judges,
and that if it could not be settled in that wav, he
would do it by another. The Minister then entered
into a familiar conversation upon the politics of the
University of Cambridge, and expressed his regret
that they did not endeavour to keep well with the
Crown ; adding this remarkable speech, ' that he
had been blamed for procuring them the Royal
donation of a library.' The Doctor replied, that it
was in his Lordship's power to set right the most
considerable body in the University, Trinity College,
which had been petitioning so many years in vain
for a Visitor ; intimating that a redress of their griev-
ances would naturally remove the discontented feelings
which they then entertained : the Minister admitted
the hardship, but laid the blame upon the indolence
of the Bishop of Ely. In regard to his own affair,
his Lordship sent him to wait upon the Chief Justice
with a message from himself, intimating that the
Crown would interfere to stay proceedings, and wish-
ing to know in what manner that object could most
properly be effected. Colbatch proceeded immedi-
ately to Sir John Pratt's, but found that he was just
gone out : whereupon an unfortunate idea came across
his mind, that he ought to go and communicate the
Minister's design to the Lord Chancellor, lest he
should appear to distrust the promise of the latter.
This wily Lord, having learnt the state of the case, Prevented
determined to counteract what was doing ; and under chant.
o 2
196 LIFE OF
chap, pretence of smoothing the way, made the Doctor
i 7 oo promise not to deliver Lord Townshend's message to
the Chief Justice till he had himself seen him upon
the subject. Colbatch however, presently perceiving
that he had been surprised and tricked by this exalted
personage, went back to Lord Townshend, and can-
didly told him what had passed : the Minister revived
his spirits by promising to procure him the King's
pardon the next day, and directed him to call upon
him again in the evening at his office, when he should
see and talk with the Chancellor. Going at the time
appointed, he found a cabinet meeting just broken
up : Lord Townshend, as soon as he saw him, ordered
Lord Macclesfield to be recalled, and the two great
men held a long conversation apart, in which the
Chancellor contrived to intercept the favour designed
for the unfortunate Colbatch. They then joined
him, and Lord Macclesfield urged that nothing more
was required but to make a reasonable apology to
the Court, and that he would be committed to satisfy
form ; that this would be only nominal, as he would
regain his liberty the next day ; and earnestly ad-
vised him to undergo this trivial ordeal : Lord Towns-
hend then joined in the recommendation, saying,
" Do, good Doctor, do." Thus pressed, he had no
alternative but to acquiesce ; although he was no
longer deceived, but saw himself the victim of a
hard-hearted policy. It is not easy to pronounce
what was Lord Macclesfield's motive for taking: so
much pains to deceive and oppress an inoffensive
clergyman : possibly a consciousness of his own enor-
mous delinquencies might have given him secret
apprehensions of a day of reckoning, when, exalted
as he was, he should stand in need of the favour of
those Judges, whom he was then so anxious to
oblige.
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 197
The only practical effect of the great interest raised chap.
in Colbatch's favour, was to prolong his suspense and 1723
vexation. During the Easter term neither the prose- ;
cutor nor the Court took any notice of him, probably
expecting the business to be terminated by the inter-
position of Royal mercy. At the latter part of the
term, he wished himself to move the Court for judg-
ment; but his counsel dissuaded him, under the
apprehension that he might remain a prisoner the
whole vacation. But in the following term, the
Court, on the motion of Bentley's counsel, Mr. Reeve,
ordered that Dr. Colbatch should be examined by
the Master of the Crown Office. The formalities of
these interrogatories (a mode of proceeding which
our law adopts only, I believe, in the case of attach-
ments) were protracted through the greater part of
the term, and the report of the Master would have
been made to the Court on the last day, had not the
interference of Lord Townshend, who sent the Solici-
tor of the Treasury to that officer, occasioned its post-
ponement to the Easter term. This likewise was
suffered to pass away in fruitless attendance at West-
minster Hall ; the prosecutor having secured his
enemy in his clutches, and being in no hurry to dis-
miss him. At length Colbatch's patience being May 14.
exhausted, he resolved at all hazards to apply for a
termination of this vexatious affair. The moment
chosen was the most unpropitious imaginable, owing
to an unexpected incident shortly to be mentioned.
Nevertheless, he was treated by Chief Justice Pratt
with the mildness and candour due to a person of
respectable and unblemished character : he offered an
apology for his offence, at the same time reminding
the Court that this was the fifth term that he had been
in attendance to receive its censure. The Court, as he He is com-
expected, committed him ; the Chief Justice saying, n
J 98 LIFE OF
chai'. however, that he might move for his discharge as soon
XVI. ^
1723 ' as he pleased. After little more than a week's confine-
===== ment, which the indulgence of the Marshal, propi-
tiated by a present, rendered almost nominal, Dr. Col-
batch was again brought up before the King's Bench
to petition for his discharge ; whereupon Sir Littleton
Powis, the senior Puisne Judge, delivered him his
sentence by fi na l objurgation. His Lordship had just been read-
Mr. Justice _ A 7 l J
Powis. ing Jus Academician, and was master of its contents ;
but, unfortunately for the author, he considered some
of the reflections intended for Dr. Bentley, as levelled
against the Court : he regarded Colbatch's commen-
dations of Academical law as conveying a censure
upon the Common-law of the land; and termed 'the
appeals made to foreign lawyers quite foreign to the
purpose :' a conceit which took his Lordship's fancy
so much, that he repeated it three or four times in the
course of his speech. But the most disastrous point
was the motto of the book, Jura negat sibi nata, nihil
non arrogat. This venerable Judge, who had
passed a long life in the study of Law Latin, had for-
gotten whatever acquaintance he might have con-
tracted with classical writers sixty years before ; for
lie accused Colbatch of ' applying to the Court the
most virulent verse iu all Horace, Jura negat sibi
nata, nihil non abrogat.' The culprit immediately
set him right as to Horace's word ; and told him
besides that the motto was intended to apply, not to
the Judges, but to Bentley. Sir Littleton, however,
would not be driven from what he considered his
strong hold ; he thrice recurred to this unhappy quo-
tation, which accused their Lordships of 'abrogating'
the laws, and each time Colbatch was imprudent
enough to interrupt and correct him. At last the
Court remarked to his counsel, Kettelbey, that his
client did not appear to be sensible of his being in con-
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 199
XVI.
1723.
tempt ; and, to convince him of that fact, sentenced chap.
him to pay 50/., to be imprisoned till it was paid, and
to give security for his good behaviour for a year 18 .
While Colbatch was making provision for payment
of the fine, the Chief Justice told him, that if any
Clerk of the Court would answer that it should be
forthcoming by the end of the term, he should have
his liberty immediately. This s;ood-nature seems to
have been a hint that it would be remitted ; and Mr.
Kettelbey, his counsel, undertook to make a motion
for that purpose ; but by the same mismanagement
which attended all the proceedings of that gentleman,
whom Colbatch had employed merely because he
was his fellow-townsman of Ludlow, he postponed it
till the last day of term, and did not rise to move till
the Chief Justice and Mr. Justice Powis had left the
bench ; and those judges who remained declined
hearing such a motion except in a full Court.
At the moment that Bentley was thus punishing one Middieton's
of his adversaries, another of them afforded him the otheca c an -
unexpected opportunity of taking a similar venge- XSZ
ance. Dr. Middleton had applied himself, in his new Methodus -
office of Principal librarian, to consider the proper
arrangement and management of the Public Library,
which had been so greatly increased by the King's
noble present. The University had now devoted to this
purpose the whole of the apartments over the Schools,
including the Regent House : while, to supply the loss
of that room, a subscription had been raised for build-
ing the present Theatre, or Senate House. The first
stone of this beautiful structure had been laid by Dr.
Crosse, at the head of the University, on the 24th of
June, 1722: and the erection was proceeding rapidly.
18 There was reason to believe that it had been intended by the Court to
have discharged Colbatch with the fine of one mark, had it not been for
his behaviour during the Judge's speech.
'200 LIFE OF
XVI
17^3,
chap. Meanwhile general attention was directed to the sub-
ject, upon which Middleton published a Latin tract,
addressed to the Senate, entitled Blbliothecce Canta-
briglcnsis Ordinandi Methodus. His advice upon the
whole management of the library is clear and judi-
cious : he recommends, among other things, that in
the classical arrangement, the King's books should
be intermixed with the rest, being sufficiently distin-
guished by the Royal arms affixed to each volume.
The Librarian seized this occasion of giving another
severe slap to his enemy Bentley, who had detained
for some years certain manuscripts which he was
collating, and among others, the celebrated Beza
manuscript, the glory of the library. Since however
all these treasures were now returned, the paragraph
which is quoted in my note, served only to display
the unabated animosity of the writer 19 . But it would
have been fortunate for Middleton had he stopped
here : his zeal in the cause which then agitated the
University, led him to prefix a dedication to the Vice-
chancellor, Dr. Andrew Snape, who was diligently
emplo} T ed in maintaining the cause of the Senate
against the Master of Trinity, and who in his inau-
gural speech had declared, that he was ready to
19 " Quidam tamen apud nos, viginti fere Codices MSS. e Bibliotheca
Publica domum sibi transtubt; quorum aliquos undecim, alios octo,
omnes autem quinque ad minimum annos sibi quasi proprios servavit ;
atque inter alios celeberrimum illud Evangeliorum exemplar, quod a doc-
tissimo Beza dono olim acceperat Academia ; maximum plane Bibliotheca?
nostra? lumen, clarissimumque summa? vetustatis monumentum; quodque
advent, curiosique omnes unice ferme omnium videre et versare cupiunt :
ejus tamen septem jam circiter annos non modo non utendi, sed ne conspi-
ciendi quidem, nisi impetrata prius a Viro bono venia, copiam habuit
Academia: etenim cogitat Yir modestus aliis demum omnibus persuadere,
quod sibi jam diu habet persuasissimum, se unum esse in hac Academia,
qui manuscriptos libros evolvere dignus haberi mereatur. Huncce vero
Beza? Codicem, postquam repetitis nunciis revocare frustra laborassem, ad
Bibliothecam tandem paucis ante diebus, una cum reliquis illis supra
memoratis, remittere dignatus est." Middleton's Works, vol. Hi. p. 492.
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 201
XVI.
1723.
encounter any risk, even that of prison and of bonds, chap
rather than surrender the rights and privileges of the
University. He praises Snape for his devotion to the
interests of the body, and reflects upon certain per-
sons, who aimed at subjecting the academical juris-
diction to the courts of Westminster. Though these
sentences were levelled at Bentley, yet they were
capable of a different interpretation, and might be
imagined to contain a complaint against the Judges
of the King's Bench. Colbatch accordingly advised
and entreated his friend to omit those words, as likely
to prove injurious both to the University cause and
his own; since they two would be believed to act in
concert in their attacks upon the Judges : but Middle-
ton viewed the matter in a different light, and could
only be induced to soften the passage in a slight
degree. Bentley, aware of the jealousy of the Judges
upon that head, immediately perceived that his enemy
had, by writing this book, given him an advantage ;
and although he had already been engaged, within
the last three years, in no less than five distinct suits
before the King's Bench, he did not hesitate to add a
sixth, by prosecuting Dr. Middleton for a libel upon
that high tribunal.
Accordingly Serjeant Cheshyre moved for an infor- May 14.
mation against the book and its publisher, naming byTemky
the Principal Librarian as the avowed writer. The forarefl f c "
1 tion on the
pamphlet being handed to the Bench, the Chief Judges.
Justice pronounced, that ' if Dr. Middleton was
really the author, he must be the most ungrateful
man alive, considering that the Court had already
treated him with so much lenity, and had done as
much or even more than the law would justify, in
making up the quarrel between him and Dr. Bentley.'
As a preliminary step, Crownfield, the University
bookseller, who had published it, was ordered to
202
LIFE OF
chap, attend the Court to show cause why he should not
xvi. . . J
1723 be attached.
This happened to be the very day upon which Col-
batch applied to the Bench to take cognizance of his
own protracted affair ; and he imagined this new
prosecution to be only a stratagem to exasperate the
Judges against himself as the supposed confederate of
Middleton : an effect which it actually produced.
But Bentley intended something more than a ruse de
guerre : for he carried on a process similar to that
against Colbatch, and pushed it through all its stages
to a similar result. There was this difference only
between the two cases : Middleton, profiting by the
example of his friend, forebore to aggravate the
misery and expense by delays and applications to the
great. The following is the passage of his Dedica-
tion, in which the contempt of Court was considered
most apparent :
"Alii interea, Doctores creandi jus nobis licet integrum permit-
tant, de doctoratu tamen dejicere, de Senatu nostro deturbare, suo
nisi ai-bitratu et consensu haud patiuntur; rerumque adeo Academi-
carum cognitionem et judicium ad forum prorsus alienum atque exter-
num avocant : quorum conatus ni repellere tandem ac propulsare
valuerimus, lethale quoddam vulnus huic nostra? Academiae infiigatur
necesse est 20 ."
Middleton
fined 50/.
June 20.
Accordingly, on the 15th of June, he was com-
mitted by the Court for the contempt discovered in
the sentence just cited ; and being again brought up
five days afterwards, he was fined 50/. and discharged,
after giving securities for his good behaviour for one
twelvemonth.
20 The words distinguished by italics were those which gave the Court
most offence. When Middleton's Works were collected and printed in
four volumes, thirty years afterwards, those unlucky words were thought
too scandalous to be inserted ; the sentence accordingly stands thus :
"rerumque adeo Academicai-um cognitionem et judicium ad forum
******** av-cant." Vol. hi. p. 478.
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 203
While Bentley was thus successfully directing; the chap.
... . XVI.
weapons of law at the heads of his principal enemies, " 23 '
his suit against the University for depriving him of
his degrees went on with that deliberate caution which cause 5 s
was due to the important considerations involved, universit*
Snape, the Vice-chancellor, exerted himself with
much energy ; his principal ally was Colbatch, who
during the late period of anxiety and trouble, had
devoted his time and thoughts more to the public
cause than even to that which involved his own for-
tune and liberty. The return to the mandamus of
the Court of King's Bench was made in Hilary term
1723 : but the argument upon it was postponed by
agreement to the following term. This return, the
object of which was to show that ' a mandamus did
not lie,' inasmuch as the University possessed a juris-
diction not amenable to the Court, was drawn up
under the direction of Dean Sherlock, and a defence
of it was written by Dr. Colbatch. The last paper
was composed with great industry and ability, and
comprised every thing in the way of law, precedent,
and argument which could be urged in defence of the
Senate : and to this the University counsel had re-
course for their instructions. In the Easter term,
Serjeant Comyns, who was to defend the return, not
having been able to make himself master of the argu-
ments by the day appointed, moved for and obtained
a postponement. But in the following term the merits
of the case were argued at length by the learned
Serjeants Cheshyre and Comyns, the former of whom
contended for Bentley, that the return, was insufficient,
and contained no justification of the proceedings of
the academical Senate : the latter replied by showing
that the University did possess a power of this descrip-
tion over its own members, and that it was justly
exercised in the present case ; since Bentley had
204 LIFE OF
chap, treated their jurisdiction with contempt, and when
* ' admonished by his Suspension, had refused to make
. his submission and pray for pardon. Upon the facts
of the case there was no difference in the statement of
the two parties : but so extraordinary had been the
proceedings against the Doctor, that no precedent
could be discovered which bore any resemblance or
parallelism to them. The whole details of those
events, having been faithfully laid before the reader
in a former chapter, need not here be repeated ; and
the legal arguments of the two Serjeants are preserved
in Strange's Reports. Now that the merits of the
case can be considered without prejudice or passion,
it is probable that every one will be of opinion that
the treatment experienced by Bentley in the affair of
his suspension and deprivation was violent and intem-
perate : that it was also illegal was pronounced by the
The judges four Judges, who delivered their opinions seriatim.
opinion! 'se- Respecting the question of jurisdiction, they held that
a-aiL the s i nce tne University had not alleged in their return
university. t [ ia t they had a Special Visitor, to whom the cogni-
zance of the complaint might be referred, it was the
duty of the Court of King's Bench to overhaul the
proceedings of the Vice-chancellor's as well as any
other inferior Court ; and in case any wrong had been
committed, to redress it. In the present instance they
all intimated their opinion that a wrong had taken
place ; inasmuch as the Doctor had been suspended
and degraded for contempt : an offence for which,
supposing him guilty, he ought to have been bound
over to his good behaviour. In regard to the con-
duct for which he had been punished, the Chief
Justice observed, "As to Dr. Bentley 's behaviour
upon being served with the process, I must say it was
very indecent ; and I can tell him, if he had said as
much of our process, we would have laid him by the
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 205
XVI.
1724.
heels for it." But whatever might be said of other chap.
particulars, the Judges all declared that the want of
notice or summons previous to the Suspension, was a
defect in natural justice, which vitiated the whole
proceedings. It was, besides, remarked that Bentley
had been degraded by the Senate for a contempt, not
upon itself, but upon the Vice-chancellor's Court :
which was an unheard-of interference with another
jurisdiction competent of itself to maintain its own
just authority.
After so strong; an expression of opinion from the The Senate
. . still keeps
whole Court, it is somewhat extraordinary that the up the con-
University should have still maintained a contest
which seemed to promise nothing but ultimate defeat.
Perhaps the reliance placed upon the commanding
abilities of Sir Philip Yorke, and the great attention
paid to his arguments by the Bench, determined them
to try the fortune of another discussion, by keeping
up the cause to its very last stage, when a motion
was to be made for a peremptory mandamus. The
business, therefore, was again argued in Hilary term
1723-24, by Mr. Reeve for Bentley, and Sir Philip
Yorke, now become Attorney General, for the Uni-
versity. There is no doubt that every topic which
ingenuity and legal skill could suggest, was urged on
both sides by these great advocates, who became in
the course of a few years the two Chief Justices of the
land. The whole argument is given at length in
Raymond's Reports : but it does not appear that any
thing very material in substance was added to what
had been advanced at the last discussion 21 . The Peremptory
Judges, however, took time to deliberate : and on t o restore
the 7th of February, Chief Justice Pratt delivered Jl^' 8
21 Raymond's Reports, vol. ii. p. 1334. Sir Robert Raymond had him-
self just taken his seat upon the bench as a Puisne Judge.
206 LIFE OF
chap, the final judgment of the whole Court, in condemna-
^24 tion of the proceedings of the University. His Lord-
ship did not on that occasion enter at large into the
various bearings of the case, but dwelt upon the one
defect in the process, which never could be got over ;
and pronounced that to punish a person without hear-
ing and without summons, was illegal, and contrary
to natural justice. Since, therefore, there existed no
other remedy against such injustice, but the inter-
position of that Court, they ordered a peremptory
mandamus to the Chancellor, Masters, and Scholars
of the University of Cambridge, ' to restore Richard
Bentley to all his degrees, and to every other right
and privilege of which they had deprived him.'
It was not till six weeks after this fiat was issued,
that the Senate took the step which it was required to
do immediately. So determined were Bentley 's ad-
versaries upon resisting to the last, that petitions to
the Houses of Parliament against the judgment of the
Court of King's Bench were in agitation. Such
measures were obviouslv chimerical : but it was still
hoped that the humiliating necessity of rescinding the
grace by which he was degraded might be avoided.
A Syndicate had been appointed some months before,
the principal members of which were the Vice-chan-
cellor, the Dean of Chichester, Doctors Colbatch,
Gooch, Waterland, and Middleton, to whom the whole
management and plenary power in this affair had
been entrusted. The first person of this body had
publicly declared his resolution to undergo imprison-
ment, if necessary, in the cause of the academical
privileges : and the reader has seen proofs of the
inflexibility of some of his brethren : but the strong
arm of law was neither to be resisted nor eluded.
Their submission, however, was most ungraciouslv
postponed till the latest moment. The 25th of
1
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 207
March, 1724, was a day of high academical interest, chap.
The whole University, after attending service at King's , '
Chapel, assisted at laying the first stone of the new
building of that College ; which ceremony was per-
formed by Provost Snape, the Vice-chancellor. It
seemed but natural that, when resistance was found
to be vain, the Master of Trinity should have been
admitted to join in his place at such a celebration :
but this was industriously avoided ; and the grace of March 26.
the Senate, which, in obedience to the mandate of
superior authority, restored him to all his degrees
and privileges, was postponed till the day following
that solemnity.
208 LIFE OF
CHAPTER XVII.
Dr. Bentley restored to his rank and station Middleton renews his action
to recover four guineas King's favour to the Universities Bishoprick
of Bristol offered to Dr. Bentley Great expenses of his late law-suits
Theological Schools Examination for University Scholarship Pro-
fessor Pilgrim Foundation of Battle's Scholarship Causes of offence
between Dr. Hare and Dr. Bentley Hare's knowledge of the Latin
comic metres derived from Bentley He publishes Terence His Dedi-
cation to Lord Townshend Bentley' s resentment He prints a rival
edition Constant censure of Hare Dissertation on the Metres Com-
mencement speech Edition of Phcedrus Westerhof's Terence
Resentment of Dean Hare ' Epistola Critica' to Dr. Bland Burman
publishes Phcedrus Rupture between him and Bentley Bentley's and
Burman's editions of Lucan Bentley's design of publishing Ovid Still
occupied on the New Testament Vatican manuscript His nephew,
Thomas Bentley Election of Public Orator Bentley's controversy
with Burford respecting the Old Statutes Epitaph on Sir Isaac New-
ton Bentley appoints a deputy in the Schools Trinity College Dr.
Greene, Bishop of Ely Opposition to the Master at an end His son
chosen Fellow Lease of Massam House Bentley builds a country-
house His nominations to Fellowships Rejection of Benj. Stilling-
fieet Bishop Gibson Claims of Westminster School Dean and Chap-
ter solicited to interfere Bentley resists their pretensions.
chap. We have now seen Doctor Bentley, after a long and
XVII.
1724.
angry struggle, restored in triumph to all the titles
and dignities of which for the space of five years and
ftoredto^i's a na ^ ne nac ^ been deprived. Through the whole of
rank and that period he had maintained an unceasing contest
with active and determined adversaries, the most dis-
tinguished characters of the University ; and in point
of ability, ingenuity, and judgment, displayed a de-
cided superiority over them all. Even his enemies
were compelled to acknowledge the address and spirit
with which he made all the efforts of their hostility
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 209
recoil upon themselves. I presume that there are not chap.
many examples of an individual who has been a 1724
party in six distinct suits before the Court of King's -
Bench, within the space of three years : and it would
probably be very difficult to find another instance of
a person who has, like Bentley, been successful in
every one of such proceedings.
The senior Heads being all removed by death, the
station in which the restored Doctor found himself,
was that of first citizen of the academical common-
wealth. His enemies, both in his own College and
the University, being defeated at all points, had at
present neither power nor disposition to renew the
combat. So perfect was his victory, that he might
well have afforded to make sacrifices for conciliation :
and it was naturally to have been expected that a
literary man, who had entered upon his grand cli-
macteric, would have chosen to pass the evening of
his days in tranquillity.
By a curious coincidence it happened, that at the
very time when the fortune of Dr. Bentley seemed to
be in the ascendant, and triumphing over his present
adversaries, the principal antagonists of his former
life were experiencing adversity in its most alarming
form : a few months before the termination of the
academical struggle, Bishop Atterbury was deprived,
attainted, and exiled, and Charles Boyle, Earl of
Orrery, and Dr. John Freind were sent state prisoners
to the Tower, on suspicion of partaking in the plot for
the introduction of the Pretender.
At the moment of our Doctor's restoration, Conyers Dr. Middie-
Middleton, with whom had originated those disputes his action to
which so long agitated the University, was absent on r ^^ s four
a visit to Italy ; whither he had gone shortly after his
last censure by the Court of King's Bench, for the
recovery of his health and spirits. The results of this
VOL. II. p
210 LIFE OF
C ?7 AP " journey are well known : it gave occasion to the clear
1724 . and admirable exposure of the pagan origin of the
=== ceremonies of the popish religion, contained in his
celebrated ' Letter from Rome ; ' as well as to the
collection of classical antiquities, of which a full and
interesting description was published many years after-
wards in his Germana qucedam Antiquitatis erudites
Monumenta. Upon his return in the spring, finding
his enemy reinstated with triumph, he thought fit to
renew his old suit for the four guineas in the Vice-
chancellor's Court, which had constituted the first
scene of the late eventful drama. Dr. Bentley seems
to have designed a measure of pacification, and in-
tended to have sent him the money without further
July is. controversy ; for Middleton writes to Colbatch from
London, "Tom Bentley, whom I saw in a coffee-
house, told me that his uncle had given orders to
return me the four guineas in question, and wondered
that Lisle had not brought them to me at Cambridge."
Probably he was deterred from this design, by con-
sidering that it might be deemed a confession of
having been wrong in his original claim. The
action, therefore, was suffered to proceed ; but as I
find no mention of it except in the records of the
Court, and as they only notice the appearances and
steps of the plaintiff, it seems to have been an unde-
Feb. 1725. fended suit : at the conclusion Mr. Richard Walker
his claim. 61 s appeared for Dr. Bentley, and paid into Court the
sum of 41. 6s. along with the costs of suit ; which, to
the honour of the academical jurisdiction it must be
recorded, amounted only to twelve shillings.
King's The rays of Royal favour now shone upon both the
favour to the Universities. The King had iust given a donation of
Universi- Jo
ties. 2000/. towards erecting the Senate-house ; he also
founded and liberally endowed a professorship of
Modern History, both at Oxford and Cambridge ;
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 211
and appointed salaries for twelve Preachers from each, chap.
to officiate in turn at the Royal Chapel of Whitehall, ]724
who were to be selected from the resident fellows. =====
Bishop Boulter, the Dean of Christ-church, was raised
to the primacy of Ireland ; and on his elevation, it is
recorded that the see of Bristol was offered to the Bishoprick
Master of Trinity. Had this station been within Dr. offered to
Bentley's reach at an earlier period of life, he would r * entley '
probably not have hesitated to assume it : but he now
firmly declined the proposal ; alleging that the income
of Bristol, far from maintaining the rank of a Bishop,
would not even defray the expense of attending Par-
liament. This offer was made personally through the
Duke of Newcastle, the Secretary of State, who had
sent for him with that view : when it was declined, his
Grace asked ' what sort of preferment he desired or
expected:' " such preferment," replied Bentley, "as
would not induce me to desire an exchange 1 ."
In the late protracted law proceedings Dr. Bentley, Great ex -
although his adversaries were made to pay the greater kteYg
part of his costs, yet found the remainder press so
heavily upon his finances, as to diminish the gratifica-
tion of his triumph. The following incident occurred
at the first assizes after his restoration. The Judges
being at Trinity Lodge, one of them took occasion to
observe, " Dr. Bentley, you have not yet thanked us
for what we have done for you :" the reply was of a
kind which his Lordship could hardly have antici-
pated : " What am I to thank you for? Is it for only
doing me justice, after a long-protracted law-suit ?
Had you, indeed, restored me at once to my rights, I
1 This anecdote, which is very circumstantial, is communicated to me
by Bentley Warren, Esq., who received it, along with many other par-
ticulars, from his maternal uncle, Dr. Richard Bentley, of Nailstone. The
Duke of Newcastle had just commenced his ministerial career, which con-
tinued, with very little intermission, for fortv-three years.
p 2
law
suits.
212 LIFE OF
chap, might have expressed my obligations : but such have
1724 been your delays, that, if I had not been an economist
====i in my earlier years, I must have been ruined by the
pursuit of justice 2 ."
Dr. Bentley was this year deprived of two of his
University friends, with whom he had long lived in
intimacy ; Bishop Bradford, who succeeding Atter-
bury both at Rochester and Westminster, resigned the
headship of Corpus-Christi College ; and the amiable
Death of Dr. Brookbank, who died, and was buried by his own
bank! rook desire in St. Edward's Church-yard ; where his tomb-
stone bears an inscription briefly describing his cha-
racter, from the pen of his illustrious friend 3 .
The restored Doctor was now assiduous in his at-
tendance at all meetings for the transaction of public
business, as well as at the University Church, from
which, while denied his academical rank and station,
Theological he had been virtually excluded. The Theological
Schools recovered their Professor, and the disputa-
tions resumed their interest and importance. Some
anecdotes of the first Act at which he presided after
his restoration, are recorded by one who witnessed it :
the respondent was Mr. John Addenbroke, Fellow of
Catherine Hall, and afterwards Dean of Lichfield,
who experienced no gentle treatment under the hands
of so critical a moderator. He happened to have been
an active partizan against Bentley in the affair of his
Degradation ; and to this was attributed the caustic
2 For this anecdote I am likewise indebted to Mr. Bentley Warren.
3 Hie sepeliri voluit
Joannes Brookbank, LL.D.
Aula? SS. Trinitatis Socius,
Dioceseos Eliensis Omcialis,
Humanitate, Integritate, Comitate
Conspicuus ;
Natus oppido Liverpool, denatus Cantabrigise,
An. mdccxxiv, ^Etatis lxxiii.
Per totam vitam YAP0U0TH2.
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 213
language of the Professor, who was commonly very chap.
indulgent to the disputants. However, the anecdote 1724 '
itself, as given in the note, imputes to him no inter- =====
ference which was not strictly within the province of a
moderator 4 .
In the performance of his professorial duties in the Examina-
year 1724, there occurred an incident which, from university
the celebrity of some parties concerned, and the s ^^ r '
importance of its consequences, deserves to find a
place in academical history. One of the two Univer-
sity scholarships, the only public rewards then exist-
ing; for the encouragement of classical literature
among the students, became vacant by the resignation
of John Walker. The electors are the Vice-chan-
cellor, the five Regius Professors, and the Public
Orator. One of these seven, Mr. Pilgrim, the Greek professor
Professor, happened to be absent from Cambridge at Pllgnm "
the time of the examination. We have had occasion
to observe, that the part taken by this gentleman in
4 The anecdote is recorded by Kippis in the Biographia Britannica,
vol. ii. p. 247, on the authority of an ancient and respectable dignitary of
the Church, who was present when it occurred. " In the first Divinity
Act, which was kept in the public Schools, after Dr. Bentley's restoration
to his degrees, and in which Dr. Bentley himself moderated as Professor,
Dr. John Addenbroke, then Fellow of Catherine Hall, and afterwards
Dean of Lichfield, was respondent for the degree of Bachelor of Divinity.
His questions were, 1, Galei argumenta non valent contra Pcedobaptismum.
2, Miracula a Christo edita probant divinam ejus missionem. Against the
terms of the first the Professor objected, as confining the question to Gale's
arguments, saying, Quid nobis cum homuncione GaleoF On which it was
observed, that the last Determination Dr. Bentley made in the Schools
before he was degraded, was upon the question concerning Paedobaptism ;
and that he had said, that he would only consider Gale's arguments, as
that writer had said every thing on the negative side, that could be alleged
against infant baptism. To the terms of the other question, he objected
bad Latin, saying, ' we have heard of edere librum, edere signum populo ;
sed quis unquam audivit, edere miraculum? Miracula facta sunt non edita.'
N.B. Addenbroke was said to be a great stickler against Bentley, in the
Senate-house, while his Degradation was in debate."
214 LIFE OF
chap, the disputes of Trinity College had subjected him to
ro4 ' the Master's resentment, who went so far as to refuse
- to admit pupils under him. Bat the University made
him ample amends for this ill-usage : the valuable
living of Standish in Lancashire having fallen to the
disposal of the Senate, Professor Pilgrim was chosen
Rector by a large majority 5 ; and he was at this
moment gone to take possession of his preferment.
Many students entered the lists as candidates ; but
when the day of contest arrived, only six encountered
the test : three of these subsequently maintained a
considerable name in literature, William Battie and
Thomas Morell, of Kings, and Richard Bentley, of
Trinity College. The last was son of the Master's
younger brother, Joseph, and possessed a full share of
the talent which seems to have belonged to the whole
family of the Bentleys. The candidates were ex-
amined by all the electors in succession ; and the
Vice-chancellor, Dr. Snape, put their knowledge and
abilities to the trial in presence of one another, that
each might be himself a witness of the merits of his
competitors : he expressed, however, a difficulty in
making up his own mind about the most deserving.
oct.2c. On the day fixed for the decision, the suffrages were
found to be equally divided between Battie and
Bentley : the Vice-chancellor with the Professors of
Law and Physic, Dr. Dickens and Dr. Greene, voting
for the former, and the Professors of Divinity and
Hebrew with the Public Orator, for the latter. As
the existing regulations contained no provision for
deciding a case where the votes were equal, the
5 " The poll for the rectory of Standish, the advowson of which belonged
to a Papist, took place Jan. 22, 1723-24.
Dr. Baker, St. John's .... 77 votes.
Professor Pilgrim, Trinity . . . 125 votes." Attivood's Diary.
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 215
electors separated leaving the prize undetermined, chap.
XVII
The Vice-chancellor however summoned another .'
meeting in few days, which Doctors Bentley, Bouquet,
and Ayloffe, did not think fit to attend. In this
difficulty the proper course would have been to wait
for the return of the Greek Professor, and submit the
merits of Battie and Bentley to his decision : and this
was perhaps the view of the seceders. But the other
party apprehended some artifice from Dr. Bentley in
favour of his nephew; particularly as the office of the
Vice-chancellor was to expire in a few days, and his
successor might entertain a different opinion on the
point in controversy : they resolved, therefore, to
traverse such designs by a vigorous measure. On the
following day they laid a representation of the whole Oct. si.
affair before the Senate, not doubting but that the
majority would readily enter into any step adverse to
Dr. Bentley. This statement was followed up by a The Senate
grace, decreeing that, on the present occasion, it biTvote to
should be referred to Lord Craven, as representative chlrJceiior
of the founder, to name which of the two young
men should hold the scholarship; and that in future,
when an equality of votes occurred, that candidate
should be elected for whom the Vice-chancellor had
voted. It was in vain that Bentley and his friends
opposed this grace; it was carried by a majority of
54 against 21 6 ; and Lord Craven, in compliment to
the wish of the Senate, determined in favour of Battie,
as being the candidate who had the suffrage of the
Vice-chancellor 7 .
6 Attwood's Diary.
7 The account of this business has been taken partly from the repre-
sentation in the Register, and other records in possession of the University;
partly from the narrative given by Morell, one of the candidates, in a letter
to Mr. John Nichols, dated Feb. 1781. {Lit. Anecd. vol. iv. p. 600.)
Dr. Morell, a person to whose labours the cause of classical education is
essentially indebted, commits a few inaccuracies, as might be expected, in
XVII.
1724.
216 LIFE OF
chap. Thus the rule of giving; to the Chief Magistrate a
second voice in equally balanced cases, which has
been since adopted with relation to other prizes in the
University of Cambridge, originated in party spirit,
and was designed to carry a particular point. Its
introduction is much to be regretted: as an expedient
to cut the knot in cases of difficulty, hardly any plan
could be devised less satisfactory to the feelings of
candidates for honours : even the resource of casting
lots would be preferable. The admission of official
patronage in deciding questions where literary merit
is the sole object of enquiry, involves an obvious
inconsistency : and the person to whom the privilege
of a double vote is given, generally happens to be
unable to devote so much leisure and attention to the
investigation as any other of the electors.
It is not to be wondered that Dr. Bentley should
have been suspected by his enemies of partiality to
his own nephew ; but there is no reason to believe
that his vote was not given honestly and conscien-
tiously, or that the youth was inferior in point of
ability or scholarship to his rival. Dr. Ayloffe and
Dr. Bouquet, who voted for young Bentley, were
honourable and independent men, and, as the reader
has observed, were never backward in opposing the
Master, when they disapproved his conduct ; and it
was their sincere conviction that his nephew was
entitled to the scholarship by his examination 8 .
This was the first occasion, as far as I can discover,
on which general attention was drawn, even in aca-
demical circles, to a public examination in the
University of Cambridge. The memory of the trans-
relating what had happened fifty-seven years before ; and these are rather
increased in the transfusion of his account into the Biographical Dictionary,
article Battle.
1 This fact is incidentally mentioned in Dr. Colbatch's manuscripts.
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 217
action produced a singular effect upon the mind of chap.
Battie, the successful candidate. In the fulness of '
time, when his practice as a physician had conducted =
,. ., n , t 1, li- Foundation
mm to independence and opulence, he showed his f Battie's
gratitude for the benefits experienced from Lord Scholarshi P-
Craven's scholarship, by founding and endowing a
similar one, which bears his name ; but in certain
alterations made in the rules, he shows that the recol-
lection of his own success was not unaccompanied by
soreness. In Battie's Scholarship, the Professors of
Hebrew and Greek, and the Public Orator, are ex-
cluded from examining, and in their places are sub-
stituted the Provost of King's, and the two Proctors :
a change which could hardly have been made by any
person not under the influence of peculiar feelings.
Dr. Battie orders the examinations to take place in
the presence of all the candidates, ' that they be
witnesses of each others' abilities, and that all par-
tiality may, as much as possible, be prevented in the
electors :' and his gratitude to Provost Snape is
marked by assigning to the Provost of King's a
double vote, in case of the opinions of the examiners
being equally divided between two candidates 9 .
Our great critic was now embarked on one of the
most considerable of the undertakings which he ever
brought to a completion his edition of Terence. It
has been mentioned that he was occupied upon this
favourite author about the year 1713, but was pre-
vented from maturing his design by the approaching
trial at Ely House. It is probable that it would
9 Dr. Battie reserved to himself the disposal of his scholarship during
his life-time, and it was in fact filled by his own nominations till his death
in 1776. The first scholar on this foundation, elected on the score of
merit by open competition, was my learned and accomplished friend Jona-
than Raine, Esq. M.P. Chief Justice of the North Wales Circuit, who was
made Battie's Scholar in 1785.
XVII.
1724.
Hare and
Dr.Bentley.
2\S LIFE OF
chap, never have been resumed, but for an unexpected
occurrence which called forth all his energies : this
was the publication of Terence by his former friend
causes of Dr. Hare, the Dean of Worcester. Bentley, as the
?ween e Dr." reader may recollect, entertained a belief that the
project of an edition of the classics in Usum Frederici
Principis, for which he was to have had a pension of
1000/. a year, had been interrupted in the first
instance, by the suggestions of Dr. Hare. From that
time their intimacy tacitly subsided ; but no rupture
took place : Bentley chose, to use his own words,
amicitiam dissuere, non disrumpere : and they con-
tinued to be reputed and spoken of as friends 10 . In
the meantime however, other grounds of offence had
occurred : Bentley was of course displeased at Hare's
having repeated, in the hearing of his enemies, an
unguarded expression respecting his intended edition
of the New Testament, which was consequently pro-
claimed abroad in one of Middleton's pamphlets 11 .
But he was likely to have been still more irritated by
the Dean's exerting; his interest with Lord Townshend
in behalf of Dr. Colbatch, when the latter lay exposed
to the perils of a prosecution : this interference was
no secret ; and though proceeding only from compas-
sion to an individual, Bentley was sure to consider it
as an open adhesion to the cause of his inveterate
adversaries. It is possible also, that he deemed Hare's
confidential intimacy with the Minister an obstacle to
his own preferment.
While such were the Doctor's feelings towards his
old ally and panegyrist, the appearance of his edition
of Terence, about the middle of 1724, produced a
different sort of irritation. Hare was an excellent
10 Markland, in his Epistola Critica, addressed to Hare, in the preceding
year, speaks of Dr. Bentley as the great friend of the Dean.
11 See Chapter xiv. Vol. II. p. 74. note.
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 219
Latin scholar, and had a great deal of true taste in chap.
criticism : during the period of his intimacy with Y '
Bentley, for whom he entertained the sincerest admi-
ration, their conversation frequently turned upon the knowledge
versification of the Latin comic poets, a subject to comic^Me"
which the one had attended from his youth, and of tres derived
which the other, like most scholars of that day, was ley.
perfectly ignorant. For the general inattention to this
nice and difficult topic, there was a great excuse :
several ancient writers have spoken of the metres of
the Latin comedians, and of Terence particularly, in
such terms as show that even in those days the licences
which they used were not perfectly comprehended :
the verses are constructed on so loose a plan, that
they seem to differ but little from prose ; and as it
was deemed impossible to reduce them to any certain
rules, people spared themselves the trouble of an in-
vestigation in which complete success was not to be
expected. By the instructions of our critic, Hare was
not only made acquainted with the leading principles
of the Terentian verse, but was convinced that the lines
might even now be scanned according to the intention
of the poet. His good sense could not fail to show
him how essential this knowledge is for the correction
of the author's text, and the rejection of emendations
made by critics who were ignorant or regardless of the
metre. Nor are those the only fruits to be derived
from this branch of knowledge : every one is sensible
of greater pleasure in the perusal of a poet, and recol-
lects him better, when his ear recognises the harmony
of numbers, than if he were to read the verses as mere
prose. Hare listened to the doctrine of his friend with
avidity, but used to return to him with a complaint
not unlike that of Cicero's dialogist about Plato :
"While I am with you I seem to understand it all,
but when I come to con it over by myself at home, I
220
LIFE OF
CHAP.
XVII.
1724.
find I know nothing." Bentley advised him to study
the edition of Gabriel Faernus, and gave him further
lectures on this mysterious subject 12 . Faernus was
edkbnof an admirable scholar, about the middle of the six-
Terence. t een th century, who was patronized by the Medicean
family and the Cardinal Borromeo ; he possessed a
much greater insight into the versification of Latin
comedy than any scholar before Bentley, and cor-
rected Terence upon the best data, the collation of all
the ancient manuscripts which Italy could supply, and
a careful observation of the laws and licences of the
versification. But he died young, before he could
publish or complete his work : it was printed at
Florence after his death by his friend the celebrated
Peter Victorius, and reprinted several years after at
Heidelberg. It happened however that the innumer-
able editors of Terence who succeeded him had
generally neglected Faernus ; his book was become
extremely rare, and scarcely known even to the
learned.
Dean Hare probably longed for Bentley's edition
of this poet with more anxiety than any other of his
admirers. But when the Doctor had obtained the
chair of Theology, and in addition to his official
labours, had embarked in a critical edition of the New
Testament, he thought, naturally enough, that there
was no longer any prospect of the world seeing his
promised Terence ; and conceived the idea of becom-
ing himself the editor of that comedian, and intro-
ducing to his contemporaries a metrical knowledge of
his verses. Accordingly he made the edition of
Faernus the foundation of his own, adhering generallv
to his text, and printing as an appendix the whole of
his annotations. A critical apparatus was ready pre-
Hare pub-
lishes Te-
rence.
12 Communicated by Bentley to Dr. Salter.
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 221
pared for his hands by Dr. Leng, the Bishop of Nor- chap.
wich, whom we have had occasion to mention as the 1?94
publisher of Terence, above twenty years before : that
editor had entered in the same volume the collations
of all the English manuscripts that he could find, as
well as the various readings given by Faernus and
other editors, and had presented the whole collection
to his college, Catherine Hall ; from whence it was
lent for the use of the Dean of Worcester. But Hare's His disser-
main object was to publish a metrical copy of the themetres.
poet, or in other words, to enable his reader to scan
every line in his comedies. For this purpose he gave
a full and elaborate dissertation upon comic metres,
and began by supposing that his readers, presumed
to be grown gentlemen, were ignorant of the subject,
and stood in need of the most particular directions.
His instructions, being operose and minute in detail,
and trusting nothing to the ear or judgment of the
reader, plainly betrayed the fact, that the Dean had
himself made this acquisition at a recent period, and
was not really familiar with the science which he
taught. Not satisfied with these preliminary direc-
tions, he filled the whole text of the author with a
multiplicity of marks, sometimes dividing the verse,
sometimes the words, pointing the pauses to be
observed by the reader, and noting the quantities of
syllables when they varied from the ordinary rules of
prosody. This mangled appearance of the verses is
disagreeable to the eye, and presents Terence in a
form rather to be scanned than to be read. The part
of the work on which he bestowed the least pains are
his notes ; they are, however, scholar-like and sensi-
ble ; and upon the whole, there has been a harsher
judgment entertained of the edition than it deserves,
owing to the manifest superiority of its rival.
2-22 LIFE OF
chap. The Dean of Worcester prefixed to his Terence a
j ' long dedication to Lord Viscount Townshend, written
in an elegant Ciceronian style : this piece is alike
Hare's de-
dication to
creditable to the statesman and the dedicator, whose
LordTown- m ti m acv with his friend and patron had be;un at
shend. J * ~
King's College, and was maintained and cemented by
mutual regard. The topics of collaudation, relating
to the public and private conduct of the Minister, are
well chosen and judiciously handled : his services in
the suppression of the Rebellion of 1715, his return to
office to heal the wounds and relieve the distresses
occasioned by the South-sea madness, and his indus-
try and sagacity in unravelling the late conspiracy,
were just subjects of panegyric : but all mention of
the noble patronage which he had extended to his
University is unaccountably omitted. The editor
introduces in his dedication a very just and well-
written account of the peculiar merits of the Come-
dian, and the value of his productions. He remarks
with much truth, that the neglect of this fascinating
poet among men of mature age, who are most capa-
ble of appreciating and enjoying him, arises from the
habit adopted at many schools, of putting him into
the hands of very young boys, and compelling them
to learn small portions at intervals of time ; a method
which precludes all chance of their deriving enjoy-
ment from the comedies, and only leaves on their
minds an impression of dissatisfaction and disgust.
Much is likewise said about the superior tone of
morals, and the greater purity of ideas and expression
found in the works of this writer, than in other come-
dians ; and particularly the contrast which he presents
to the licentiousness of the modern stage : this re-
mark, which has been frequently made, was probably
introduced here by way of apology for a dignitary of
1 '
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 223
the Church employing his leisure in such a publi- chap.
1 J r XVII.
cation. 1? ., 4
The novelty of the method, and reputation of the ;
editor procured for Hare's Terence a great circulation, resentment.
and a second edition in quarto was almost immediately
required. The resentment which it occasioned in the
mind of Dr. Bentley is proved from his immediate
resolution to overturn its credit, by producing an edi-
tion of his own. A reader unacquainted with the
private history just related, would be at a loss to dis-
cover sufficient cause, or any cause at all, for the
violent offence which he conceived : particularly since
he is mentioned in the preface in terms of ample
praise, as the best qualified of all living scholars to
become the editor of Terence : nay further, his
present more important undertaking of the New Tes-
tament is spoken of in a handsome and gratifying
way 13 . Bentley however complained that Hare had
turned to his own purposes, without acknowledgment,
the information extracted from his unsuspicious com-
munications ; that, to use his own term, ' he had
interverted him.' Once, and but once, the Dean
acknowledges an obligation to his former friend, as
13 " Erat quidem cum non modo vehementer sperarem, sed et certa spe
confiderem hanc operam a Viro in his Uteris facile principe susceptum iri,
clarissimo nostro Bentleio : Sed jam plures anni sunt, quod omnis spes
ilia decolavit ; consilium quod de tempore in tempus Vir eruditissimus
distulerat, gravioribus negotiis subinde alio trahentibus, videtur in solidum
deposuisse ex eo tempore, quo ad Regiam Theologiae Cathedram in Acade-
mia Cantabrigiensi evectus est, et ad Novum Fcedus Graece et Latine ex
antiquissimis codicibus pristino nitori restituendum animum adjecit, ut
Graecum Textum ab insana ilia variarum lectionum mole, quam recentiores
codices invexerunt, liberaret, et Hieronymi Versionem ab erroribus pur-
gatam talem daret, qualis e doctissimi Patris manu exiit ; opus profecto
grande, et tanti viri diligentia, acumine, judicio in primis dignum !
" Cum vero baec me spes, de qua plurimum mihi saepe gratulabar, ita
penitus destituisset, coepi subinde mecum agitare, annon et ipse quadam
tenus praestare possim, quod tam avidis votis a tanta manu frustra expe-
tiissem." Prcpfatio, p. xxvi.
224 LIFE OF
chap, having learnt from him the proper method of dividing
1?24 " Iambic verses in the enunciation : where, by-the-bye,
=== he mistook the directions of his instructor, and sup-
posed that the rule of cutting off the first half foot,
and then reading the rest of the line as trochaic, which
Bentley applied to Trimeters, ought likewise to be
adopted in Tetrameters ; and accordingly disfigured
every verse of that description, by a misplaced mark
of intersection. Nevertheless, a jealous and scrutiniz-
ing eye might detect in the book several proofs of a
disposition to disparage our critic ; as for instance,
where the editor mentions the discovery of a system
of Cretic measures, and another of Bacchaic measures
in Terence, which are given in Bentley's notes upon
Cicero's Tusculans ; and plainly insinuates that he
had stolen those observations from an obscure edition
published by one Bergius at Leipsic, 150 years before ;
which it is probable that Bentley had never seen u .
Nor was this all : in the dedicatory epistle to Lord
Townshend there occur the following words : Nosti
pessimos quosque, dum potentia valerejit, impensissime
fuisse celebratos ; et ipsas etiam reipublicce pestes, dum
principem in ilia administranda locum obtinerent, suos
prcecones habuisse. Though this is no more than a
general remark, applicable to all times and all coun-
tries, yet the spirit of jealousy displayed against
Bentley, makes one suspect that it was intended as a
bitter reflection upon the latter's dedication of Horace
to the Earl of Oxford, while Lord Treasurer, whose
administration it was a fashion among the Whigs to
denominate ' the worst of times :' and such an allu-
sion to a sore topic was likely to inflame the irritation
in the Doctor's mind. The result was that, although
14 See Hare's and Bentley's respective Notes on Ter. Andr. III. ii. 1.
and IV. i. l.
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 225
busied with the duties of his professorship, and called chap.
upon by his engagements to the public to finish his ]724
Greek Testament, he did not hesitate to undertake = =
such an edition of Terence, as might at once supplant
and extinguish that of the Dean of Worcester.
To this work he betook himself with an energy as He prints a
1 tit 1 rival edi-
great as he had ever displayed at the most active tion.
period of life, and showed the mistake of those who
imagined that years had weakened either his spirit or
powers of exertion. His object was twofold ; to give
the reader a critical edition of Terence with a corrected
text and metrical arrangement of every verse, and at
the same time to censure the performance of his rival.
The industry with which he accomplished both pur-
poses, and his rapidity of execution are alike astonish-
ing, and mark the powerful genius of our veteran
critic. His text professes to be corrected in not less
than a thousand places ; and the reasons for almost
every change are given in the notes. The latter, as
is proved by internal evidence, must have been for the
most part written on this occasion ; and such was the
eager industry with which he hastened the work, that
he allowed himself only one week to despatch the
notes upon each comedy 15 . That the reader might Accentual
be able to recognize the measure of verses which differ m^ su es . e
so prodigiously from those of stricter poetry, Bentley
marked with an acute the first accented syllable of
every dipodia in every line of Terence : a laborious
task, which must have vastly increased the trouble of
correcting the press. Richard Dawes, one of his most
uncandid adversaries, sneers at this diligence, as im-
posing useless labour upon himself and his printer 16 .
But I apprehend that most readers of Bentley 's
15 This was his own statement to Dr. Salter. See Gent. Mag. 1779, vol.
xlix. p. 547-
16 Dawes. Miscellanea Critica, p. 193.
VOL. II. Q
226 LIFE OF
chap. Terence will find occasions to thank him for not hav-
r95 " ing spared his trouble in this respect.
Dr. Bentley printed the whole of Faernus's notes,
not, like his rival, at the eud of the volume, but at
the bottom of each page intermixed in the same series
with his own ; an arrangement far more convenient
corrections to the reader. The besetting sin of his criticism, a
of the text. imp i
proneness to subtile refinement and unnecessary cor-
rections, pervades this edition, though in a smaller
degree than that of Horace. It is to be wished that
many of these changes had been spared : but a still
greater number deserve unmixed praise. And it is
certain that by the united effort of genius, acuteness,
and nicety of ear, he has restored a multitude of pas-
sages which were before corrupted. After all that can
be said to the disparagement of this hasty performance,
I believe that most lovers of the great comedian of
Rome, will acknowledge that they read him with less
embarrassment and more satisfaction in Dr. Bentlev's
text than in any other copy 17 .
constant His censure of Hare, which unquestionably was
censure of, . . n . ,.. . , .-..
Hare. the primary motive ol the edition, is kept up in his
notes from the first page to the last with unwearied
severity : every untenable position of the rival editor
is attacked by Bentley, who seizes such occasions to
exhibit his own superior skill, and generally succeeds
in engaging the reader in his favour. But although
17 Professor Wolf, in an account of Bentley inserted by him in a German
literary journal, says that in his Terence there are fewer things which
ought to be rejected than in his editions of other authors. Professor
Hermann printed an academical dissertation at Leipsic,in 1819, to dispute
the truth of this observation : this essay, like all Hermann's writings,
contains many ingenious and acute criticisms, and some well-considered
remarks on Bentley's peculiar merits : but with respect to its object, I
cannot perceive that it shakes the truth of Wolf's observation, which was
intended, I presume, to compare Bentley's Terence with his Horace,
Phsedrus, Manilius, and Lucan : arid I agree with him in thinking his
text of Terence more free from errors than that of any of those poets.
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 227
his language is caustic and contemptuous, he never chap.
gives way to the angry and abusive style which marked 1725 '
at that time the quarrels of continental scholars : he =====
seems however to have understood in what way he
could most gall and irritate the person by whom he
thought himself ill-treated. Among other methods
of mortifying Hare, he industriously abstains from
naming him throughout the volume, but alludes to
him in every page under the designations of 6 Suva,
quidam, alius, est qui, &c. and when he designs his
sneer to be peculiarly provoking, terms him Vir
eruditus.
Bentley's notes upon Terence do not run into a
discursive length like those upon Horace, nor do they
embody so great a store of erudition ; but they are
elegant, and such as the purpose demanded. It is
right to add that the volume is more free from inac-
curacies, than might have been expected from the
haste with which it was carried through the press.
After a few sentences of preface, Bentley printed a Bentiey's
dissertation upon the Metres of Terence. This pro- oiTthf Me- 1
duction, which as being; extemporarv he termed tres of Te ~
m i. j rence.
Schediasma, is in fact the clearest and most satisfactory
account that has ever yet been written of that difficult
subject. Although the devotion of a greater length of
time would have rendered his essay more perfect, and
although the perpetual reflections on the errors of his
rival had better have been spared, yet it would not be
easy to find nineteen pages of any writer upon metre
from whence so much solid information is derived :
while the arrangement is so lucid, and the style so
pleasing, that much interest is given to a subject
which is in itself rather dry and repulsive. The
superiority over Hare's dissertation is very remark-
able. The doctrine indeed is essentially the same in
both ; and, except upon a few points, there is no very
q 2
228 ' LIFE OF
chap, material difference in the details : but the manner of
XVII.
1725. handling them marks the distinction between the
===== master of a subject with which he has been conversant
from his youth, and the amateur who is instructing
others in a species of knowledge, which he has him-
self acquired for the first time at an advanced age.
Commence- After the Schediasma there follows an oration, de-
ment T /~1
Speech. hvered by Dr. Bentley at the Cambridge Commence-
ment in 1725, on the occasion of his creating seven
Doctors of Divinity. What was the reason for insert-
ing it in a work of so dissimilar a kind as an edition
of Terence, it is not easy to determine ; but being the
only one of his Commencement-speeches which is pub-
lished, we are glad to meet with it in any situation.
This production is short and sprightly ; all its topics
are treated with remarkable good humour ; nor is
there a word which could give offence to any party,
or revive the recollection of the angry feuds which had
distinguished the late years of academical history.
The tone in which he rejoices at the increasing pros-
perity of the University, is that of a person who had
never felt any thing but affection, and never expe-
rienced any but kind treatment from that body. This
prosperity he attributes mainly to the patronage and
munificence so liberally extended to it by the Monarch :
and he takes occasion to praise his daughter-in-law,
the Princess of Wales, whose encouragement of learned
men, and particularly of the first English divines,
constitutes a marked feature in the history of the
country as long as she lived. The greater part of
this short oration consists of an explanation of the
origin and meaning of the several ceremonies, which
by ancient custom are used in the creation of a Doctor.
It is impossible not to admire his address, and occa-
sional eloquence in giving an interest to those forms,
which to the ignorant might appear barbarous or
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 229
ridiculous. Once only he may be fancied to allude chap.
to his own history : when expressing a wish that \- 75
some one of the seven new Doctors might succeed =====
him in the chair, he says, that in spite of its soft
cushion and elegant appearance, ea, si expertis creditis,
quovis scamno durior est et molestior ; quovis stadio et
curriculo exercitatior.
It would have been well for the credit of Dr. Edition of
Bentley had he rested here, and given his Terence
to the world as soon as the printing was completed.
But it occurred to him to strike an additional blow
at the rival against whom he was so much exas-
perated. Hare had announced his intention of
editing the Fables of Phaedrus, and had them nearly
ready for the press. Bentley resolved to anticipate
him in this publication, as he had himself been
anticipated in that of Terence. He had made no
preparations for this work, except such emendations
and conjectures as he was in the habit of writing in
the margin of all classical authors in the course of
their perusal. Many of these were of the most daring
class of his emendations ; and manv more, though
ingenious and plausible, were unnecessary. All,
however, were introduced into the text ; and the
notes did little more than point out the supposed
faults of the former readings, and then ordered the
substitution of the new ones by a sort of critical
decree ; the reasons of which he frequently left for
others to explain 18 . Great as had been the haste
with which the Doctor's Terence was completed,
18 This concise and imperious brevity is acknowledged and defended by
a sentence of a very short preface, which itself indicates the haste used in
printing the book :
" Porro in emendationibus nostris proponendis brevitatis laudem, qua
Phsedrus ipse tantopere se effert, studio sectati sumus : contend fere
rationem correctionis uno verbo indicasse ; nonnumquam de uno quidem ;
studiosis, qui post me mea probabunt, earn provinciam relinquens."
230 LIFE OF
chap, the Fabulist was despatched with ten-fold expedition.
1726 " In none of his publications did he display so much
===== presumption, as in putting forth this crude collection
of new readings, supported by notes, the jejuneness
of which formed a remarkable contrast to his copious
annotations upon Horace, and which were unworthy
even to appear in the same volume with his edition
of the Comedian : and never did he more expose
himself to the attacks of enemies, than when, at
the suggestion of picpie and resentment, he launched
this puny and meagre performance into the troubled
waters of criticism. That it might come forth under
Royal auspices, the edition of Phsedrus, having ap-
pended to it the Sentences of Publius Syrus, was
dedicated to William, afterwards Duke of Cumber-
land, then a boy of five years old ; while the Terence
was inscribed to his elder brother, Prince Frederick,
whose portrait engraved by Vertue forms the frontis-
piece of the book 19 .
The volume issued forth at the beo-inmno- of 1726,
and immediately excited the attention of the learned
throughout Europe. Bentley's dissertation upon the
Terentian Metres at once made plain and easy a
subject which was before intricate, and, as many
imagined, entirely hopeless : and an edition of the
author, containing the scansion of every verse, proved
to all, even to those who might take occasional
exceptions, that the problem was fairly solved, and
westerns the laws of Terence's measures discovered. This
Terence.
19 The preface just mentioned begins with noticing a very remarkable
fact respecting the three writers who are included in this volume : " Quod
Phaedri fabulas et Publii Syri sententias huic Terentii editioni sub-
junxerim ; ea partim causa erat, quod hi soli praeter Plautum et fragmenta
quaedam aliorum nunc extent, qui eadem qua Terentius licentia in senariis
sint usi ; partim quod hi tres, pari conditione liberti et peregrini, in non
ita dissimili argumento Comcediis, Mimis, et Apologis, omnia Italorum
ingenia facile superaverint ."
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 231
publication was attended with another peculiar cir- chap.
. XVII.
cumstance of triumph. A large and handsome 17 <, 6
edition of Terence, accompanied with a commentary, -
had been for some time in the press at the Hague :
the Dutch editor, Westerhof, mentions in his preface
Bentley's idea of restoring the metrical arrangement
of the lines of this comedian, with the following
sneer : Habebit igitur in quo se exerceat Vir CI.
Richardus Bentleius, si quod ad Horat. Serin. II.
5. 79. p. 513. prqfitetur, aliquando novam Terentii
editionem ad priscos numeros adornaturus sit : he then
proceeds to show the difficulty of recovering "the
metres of the Comedian, and argues that the attempt
must be at the present day hopeless, chimerical, and
absurd : for this purpose he writes three pages of
common-place remark, really designed to veil his
own ignorance of the subject. Unluckily for Wes-
terhof, Bentley's Terence appeared at the same
moment as his own : and scholars saw the very
achievement which one editor pronounced to be im-
possible, actually accomplished by the other. Nor
was this all : the popularity of Bentley's performance,
causing another edition to be immediately in request,
it was printed, like his Horace, at Amsterdam ; and
the person employed by the bookseller to construct
the index was no other than Westerhof himself, who
thus condescended to assist the triumph of his rival.
The effect of Bentley's publication upon the mind R n^ nt ^
of Dean Hare was to irritate and provoke him be- Hare,
yond his power of endurance. He saw that the
fruits of his own labour were at once driven out of
the field, and that their memory was likely to be
preserved chiefly by the censures which they had
incurred. He had resolved upon revenge even when
he knew onlv from rumour that the book was in
preparation. When it appeared, he could quickly
ment
232
LIFE OF
1727.
chap, discover that in the treatment of Terence his adver-
sary's advantage was so great, that he had little
chance of obtaining satisfaction by a controversy.
But Bentley's extreme imprudence in printing his
hasty, crude, and unsupported revision of the
text of Phsedrus, afforded his angry opponent
an ample field for retaliation. Hare had been for
some time preparing a new edition of that author :
consequently, his materials for the discussion were
ready : and it was not difficult for so able and
sensible a scholar to expose his rival's needless al-
terations, made in the very wantonness of critical
licence. The Dean drew up a review of Dr. Bent-
Epistoia ley's notes on Pheedrus in the form of an Epistola
Critica' to
Dr. Bland. Critica, addressed to his friend Dr. Bland, the Head-
master of Eton School. His resentment, however,
did not lead him to precipitate the publication ; and
by waiting for leisure, he was able to direct a severer
blow upon his adversary. The censure appeared in
the beginning of the following year, in 150 quarto
pages : the author, though not named in the title
page, was unreservedly acknowledged to be Dean
Hare.
Though this epistle is learned, abounding in ju-
dicious remarks, and written not without elegance, it
probably finds at the present day but few readers ;
so offensive is the spirit of personal acrimony which
pervades its pages. But it undoubtedly produced at
that time its intended effect, in depreciating the
reputation of Dr. Bentley. In pursuance of this
design, Dr. Hare went through the whole of Phaedrus,
refuting with the utmost bitterness the hasty sug-
gestions of his adversary ; to whom he dealt out a
severer measure than he had himself received. Bent-
ley had acknowledged in two or three places of
Terence the merit of his rival : but he is never
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 233
commended in return, except with such grudging chap.
and niggardly praise as serves not to exalt but de- 172 -'
grade its object. For instance, his knowledge of
ancient metre is confessed to be greater than that of
any one living ; but his acquirements in every other
department are spoken of with unbounded contempt ;
and that particular science, to which he is represented
to have devoted all his time, is pronounced so trivial
and useless, as to be unworthy the study of men of
sense. Besides this acrimonious spirit, there are two His incon-
particular points which the reader of Hare's Epistola S1
Critica cannot fail to remark. First, he compromises
his own character as a scholar, by speaking con-
temptuously of parts of Bentley's writings which all
the learned in Europe had commended : secondly,
he sacrifices his consistency to his resentment, by
depreciating and abusing what he had formerly ex-
tolled to the skies. In ' The Clergyman's Thanks
to Phileleutherus,' he had bestowed the most lavish
panegyrics, not only upon the ' Remarks on Free-
thinking,' but almost all Bentley's other writings,
particularly his dissertation on Phalaris, his Emen-
dations on Menander, and his edition of Horace ;
and lately in the preface to Terence, his undertaking
of the New Testament was noticed with unqualified
approbation. In the present publication, Hare sneers
at every one of those performances with much bitter-
ness. Nor does his spleen content itself here : he
makes sarcastic allusions to Bentley's College quarrels,
and his alleged neglect of the duties of his professor-
ship. Since he knew that for the greater part of the
time that he had held this office, he had been inhibited
by the University from any discharge of its duties,
the latter topic had better have been suppressed.
The Dean, in the course of his long pamphlet, took
occasion to notice a few passages of Terence, in
234 LIFE OF
chap, which he felt able to make a successful stand against
his rival : and at the conclusion, advertised his in-
1727.
===== tention of printing a complete censure of Bentley's
edition : a design which it may be doubted whether
he ever seriously entertained 20 .
Had our critic chosen to take any notice of this
elaborate attack, the most effectual reply would have
been, to reprint the ' Thanks to Phileleutherus.' So
glaring is the inconsistency of these two pieces, that
a few years after Hare's death, when his different
writings were collected in four volumes, it was per-
ceived that the republication of both would not be
creditable to the author's reputation : accordingly
the panegyric was omitted, and the JEpistola Critica
inserted in that collection. But Dr. Bentley in this,
as in several other controversies, resolved to commit
his literary character to be vindicated by posterity :
he is reported indeed to have spoken in terms of
contempt of the present attack, and to have observed
of Hare, ' that he had as much pride as himself,
and a great deal more ill-nature 21 .' It is recorded,
on the other hand, that the bitterness of this con-
troversy did not prevent the Dean retaining all his
admiration of the learning and genius of Bentley,
whom he is said to have continued almost to idolize 22 .
20 Prelo Parantur, Animadversiones in Terentium Bentleianum, Quibus
prcestantissimi Scriptoris texlus repurgatur ab innumeris corruptelis, quibus
Viri doctissimi Critica Temeritas eum commacidavit.
21 This speech is mentioned by Dr. Salter, as a report at Cambridge : he
himself heard Dr. Bentley observe of this piece, ' that he could not read it
through, nor imagined Dr. Hare capable of writing such a book.' See his
communication to Mr. John Nichols, Gentleman's Magazine for 1779, vol.
xlix. p. 548. In the editions of the Remarks on Free-thinking, published
after Hare had given offence to the author, the initials of the name of
Phileleutherus's correspondent were altered from F. H. to N. N. In the
edition of 1743, after Bentley's death, F. H. is re-instated.
22 This is the assertion of Bishop Warburton, who declares that he
knew Bishop Hare well. I have met with other reasons for believing it to
be true.
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 235
During the progress of the quarrel, Dr. Hare was chap.
advanced to the deanery of St. Paul's; and in about \~^'
a year after, to the bishoprick of St. Asaph. A
dispute between a dignitary of his rank and a pro-
fessor of theology, carried on with such asperity,
upon a topic so foreign to their profession, is reported
to have given much scandal ; and in particular, Sir
Isaac Newton is said to have complained that two
such divines should ' be fighting with one another
about a play-book 23 .'
The publication of Phsedrus had another unpleasant Bummn
consequence the termination of Bentley's friendship piUdVut
with his old correspondent Burman. This indefati-
gable scholar had already printed three editions of
the Fabulist. On receiving the Cambridge publi-
cation, he was filled with amazement at the numerous
and daring changes of the text, for which he laboured
in vain to discover the reasons : he was as much
surprised at the brevity of Bentley's notes, so widely
differing from his own, and the style of imperial
decree with which he ordered the adoption of his
new and unsupported readings. But when Hare's
Epistola Critica reached Holland, Burman (who
knew less than might have been expected of literary
anecdote among English scholars) experienced fresh
astonishment at the furious attack made by the
anonymous author, not only on the publications but
the character of his illustrious friend. Findinsi' how-
ever that general interest was drawn to this controversy
upon Phsedrus, and thinking that he had made that
field his own, Burman resolved upon a new edition
2S This anecdote is told by Whiston, in his Memoirs of Dr. Clarke,
p. 113. Bishop Warburton disbelieves it. Whiston certainly is not the
best authority; but he here expressly says, that he quotes Sir Isaac's
words ; and it is far from being improbable that this or similar remarks
should be made by Newton, and by many others, at the moment.
236
LIFE OF
CHAP.
XVII.
1727.
Rupture
between
him and
Bentley.
Bentley's
and Bur-
man's edi-
tions of Lu
can.
of the author ; which accordingly appeared, with an
elaborate commentary, in 1727. The editor takes
great pains in balancing the readings of Bentley and
his opponent, (whose name he did not discover till
the end of his work,) and in giving a fair statement
of their respective merits 24 . He added to the book a
reprint of Hare's Epistola Critica, at the desire of his
bookseller, to which he had at first made some ob-
jection. It was evident that this publication must
give offence to Dr. Bentley, who not only found his
positions disputed, but the attack of an exasperated
adversary re-issued from the press, in such company
as ensured perpetuity to an effusion which might
otherwise have sunk into oblivion ; and all this done
by a friend, who had been for five and twenty years
past industriously courting his intimacy, and pro-
fessing himself the most devoted of his admirers.
Burman's preface, which is of inordinate length, and
relates principally to his private feelings and grievan-
ces, makes a laboured apology for what he had done,
and discovers much uneasiness at the probable ter-
mination of their friendship, which he could not but
anticipate. In fact, another cause of offence, to
which we find no allusion in the preface, had already
occurred between these two sensitive correspondents.
Dr. Bentley had, immediately after his restoration
to his degrees, undertaken an edition of Lucan's
Pharsalia, and applied himself to the work with
ardour : after the interruption occasioned by his pub-
lication of Terence and PhaBdrus, he reverted to that
2 * Phaedrus was never published till towards the end of the sixteenth
century, when the book was printed from a single manuscript, found by
Peter Pithou, a French Protestant, who having escaped almost miracu-
lously from the massacre of St. Bartholomew at Paris, in 1572, secured
his future safety by turning Papist. The slender nature of that authority
afforded a considerable latitude for conjecture in the readings of this
author.
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 237
task, and made great progress ; having his notes on chap.
the three first books ready for the press, while those 1727
on the remaining seven were in considerable forward- == =
ness. He knew that his friend Burman possessed,
among the other manuscripts of Nicholas Heinsius,
his collations and notes upon Lucan. That scholar,
who may perhaps be termed the first critic of the
seventeenth century, was always held in high esteem
by Bentley ; and he did not hesitate to request the
communication of his critical apparatus on Lucan,
consisting of the collations of above twenty manu-
scripts, besides his own criticisms. Burman had
himself entertained vague ideas of publishing an
edition of Lucan, with Heinsius's notes and his own :
this would probably never have been taken up in
earnest, so entirely was he occupied with other un-
dertakings ; but when Bentley requested them for
his own purposes, Burman, unwilling to part with a
valuable treasure, could think of no other excuse but
to inform his friend that he was himself engaged in
an edition of Lucan ; and to verify his assertion,
actually betook himself to that task. Bentley was
too penetrating not to discern some want of sincerity
in his friend's proceeding, and the tone of his letters
became altered. Burman, learning that the publi-
cation of Bentley 's Lucan was postponed, thought it
unnecessary to devote to that author the time which
was demanded by his other literary works : and it is
not improbable that each of these friends was pur-
suing the same game, waiting for the appearance of
the other's edition, that he might immediately after-
wards put forth his own, avail himself of all the good,
and censure the defects of its rival. But while they
were thus mutually expecting the other to take the
lead, two young men actually printed independent
editions of Lucan ; Cortius at Leipsic, and Ouden-
238 LIFE OF
XVII
1727.
chap, dorp at Ley den. This was a good reason for the
booksellers not liking; to undertake immediately
another edition, even from the hands of more cele-
brated critics. Burman did publish his in 1740,
when he had been for fifty-two years incessantly
engaged in the press ; and from the account of this
affair given by himself in the preface, it is plain that
the breach in his friendship with Bentley is attri-
butable to his own want of candour and explicitness.
Bentley 's notes upon this poet did not see the light
till fourteen years after his death, when they were
printed at the Strawberry Hill press, attached to the
text and notes of Grotius. But, as might have been
expected, the coquetry about Lucan, and the ap-
pearance of Burman's Phsedrus, put a final period to
the intimacy of these two scholars ; which, consider-
ing how prone they both were to take offence, had
continued a surprising length of time. Bentle} T was
so much offended, that he meditated an act of reta-
liation, by publishing Ovid, to supersede or interfere
with the voluminous edition which Burman, after
twelve years' labour, ushered into the world almost
at the same time as his Phaedrus 25 .
25 In the manuscripts of Hearne, whose excessive hatred of Bentley
originated in political feelings, is found this memorandum :
" Aug. 30, 172". Yesterday I heard that, whereas Dr. Bentley talked
much of putting out a new edition of Homer, he is now mighty warm
about an edition of Ovid ; for no other reason but out of spite to Peter
Burman, a foreigner, who hath lately published Ovid. Thus does this
poor, old, spiteful man turn all his thoughts upon revenge, and spends
his time in mere trifles."
John Christopher Wolf mentions in a letter, Sept. 16, 1727, that it was
expected by all persons, and by Burman among the rest, that his publication
of Phaedrus would be resented by Bentley ; and that he was reported to
be preparing animadversions upon Burman's Ovid. La Croze, Thesauri's
Epistolicus, vol. ii. p. 115.
From a letter of Drakenborch (who was a pupil of Burman) to La
Croze, it appears, that our critic's old enemy, Alexander Cunningham,
had begun to write a censure of his Phaedrus, but gave it up, on hearing
that it was in Burman's hands. Ibid. vol. i. p, 124.
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 239
Our critic was at this period of his life intent upon CHAP.
. . XVII.
discharging all the promises which he had made, and 17 _, 7
satisfying the expectations of the learned public. =
Besides the authors mentioned in this Chapter, he
proposed to publish in succession Manilius, the New
Testament, and Homer. Such heterogeneous under-
takings formed ample work for a man whose years
already reached to sixty-five. Manilius, indeed, he
had prepared for publication about thirty years before;
but in the course of that time his opinions upon many
passages must have experienced a change. His great Perseveres
design of the New Testament, for the execution ofgj^n"f P ub-
wliich he stood peculiarly pledged, it is certain, not- ^"1 th t e _
withstanding the universal notion of the contrary, " i " ,r -
that he had never for a moment abandoned. The Vaticanma-
celebrated Vatican manuscript, which vies in import-"
ance with the Alexandrian itself, had not yet been
used for the purpose of correcting and fixing the
sacred text : for we have already noticed the fallacy
of the common opinion, that this was one of the
copies used by the Complutensian editors. Benthv
obtained accurate collations of a considerable part of
this manuscript, through the agency of Philip de
Stosch, a learned German baron, known by his
splendid publications of antiques, who resided at
Rome, secretly employed by the British government
to watch the proceedings of the Pretender and his
adherents. The person principally engaged in the
collation was Mico, an Italian. But lie received Thomas
great and important assistance in this matter from his
nephew, Thomas Bentley, who went abroad on a
literary excursion in 1725, and continued more than
a year in the examination of manuscripts at Paris,
Rome, Naples, and Florence.
This gentleman has been already mentioned as
having published, when a young man, ' a little
1
240
LIFE OF
CHAP.
XVII.
1727.
1713.
1718.
J 724
Horace,' with his uncle's text. Being chosen Fellow
of Trinity College, he continued to devote himself to
classical literature : he printed an edition of Cicero
de Finibus, and was engaged in other learned w r orks.
He was cordially attached to his great relative ; hut
so amiable was his disposition, that he appears to
have lived on good terms with the opposite party,
and is never mentioned otherwise than as a general
favourite. Not entering into orders, he lost his fel-
lowship when a Master of Arts of above seven years'
standing : but was then chosen Librarian of Trinity,
and took the degree of Doctor of Laws. Cumber-
land, in a communication to the Biogvaplila Britan-
nica, says of Bentley's projected edition of the New
Testament, " He had collected and collated all the
manuscripts of Europe to which access could be ob-
tained. For this purpose his nephew, Thomas Bent-
ley, LL.D., well known to the republic of letters,
travelled through Europe at his uncle's expense 26 ."
This statement, like most of that gentleman's notices
of his grandfather's life, is inaccurate. Dr. Thomas
Bentley's primary objects in his continental excur-
sion were the gratification of his curiosity, and the
procuring materials for literary publications of his
own. He was, no doubt, solicitous to assist the
views, and answer the enquiries of his uncle, at whose
feet he had been brought up, and with whose careful
and critical examination of manuscripts he was
familiar. It appears however from his letters, that
he travelled at his own charge : while at Rome he
candidly explained to Dr. Bentley, that his expenses
had exceeded his means, and received a present to
relieve him from his embarrassment, for which he
At Rome, was warmly thankful. Both at Paris and at Rome
Kippis, Biograph. Brit. vol. ji. p. 244.
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 241
he devoted much of his time to collating Greek chap.
manuscripts of Plutarch, of which author he medi-
tated an edition, and received encouraging: offers
1727.
from some booksellers ; but found himself unequal
to the labour of so great an undertaking. Imme-
diately on his arrival at Rome, he collated an ex-
tremely ancient manuscript of Terence on parchment,
formerly belonging to Cardinal Bembo, and bearing
his name : this piece of antiquity, which was one of
the chief boasts of the Vatican, Dr. Thomas Bentley
persuaded himself was at least 1700 years old 27 !
At all events, it is the most valuable copy of the
comedian, and had formed the main foundation of
Faernus's edition : he found, however, that it had not
been inspected by that editor with sufficient care. He
began, about Nov. 1725, with the two last acts of the
Phormio, the sixth play, and despatched the collation
to Cambridge : but even this did not reach his uncle
till his edition was printed. He employed his time
in the library to the best advantage, inspecting and
making extracts from other parts of their treasures ;
but the short period that strangers were allowed to
remain daily in the Vatican, and the number of
holidays on which it was closed, made it impossible
to effect as great a progress as at Paris, where every At Pans,
possible facility was afforded to a stranger by the
liberality of the French scholars, and where he was
received by the Abbe Bignon, Father Montfaucon,
and others, with the kindness ensured by the name
of his illustrious uncle. Dr. Bentley, however, did
27 " I am really of opinion that the Codex Bembinus is as old as J.
Caesar, or Augustus, or Tiberius at least ; and I have got that notion from
many marks, particularly the way of writing and spelling I have observed
in the inscriptions I have read up and down of that age : this book has the
same ; but when you come to Vespasian and Septim. Severus and Con-
stantine, they are very different." Letter from Rome, about December,
1725.
VOL. II. R
242 LIFE OF
chap, not find the agency of his nephew as valuable as that
*" of Mr. John Walker had proved ; not owing to any
= deficiency of his learning or zeal, but because he did
not enjoy a state of health adequate to long and
laborious employments. His letters, written from
Paris and Rome, are on many accounts highly inter-
esting : they display an open and ingenuous cha-
racter, and show not only the devoted attachment,
but the profound deference with which he regarded
the attainments and person of his uncle 2S .
Election of In the early part of 1727, Dr. Bentley engaged in
Pubin ora- ^ j agt acknowledged controversy of his pen ; the
subject being a dispute upon a point of academical
law, arising from the following incident. Dr. Aylofie
resio-nino- the office of Public Orator, which he had
filled for thirty-one years, the election of a successor
took place in the ordinary method : the Heads of
Colleges nominating two of the candidates, of whom
the Senate at large were to choose one. But at the
nomination, Mr. Heyrick of Trinity, and Mr. Banyer
of Emanuel College, had an equal number of suf-
frages : whereupon the point was referred, by direc-
tion of the statutes, to Dr. Bentley, as Regius Pro-
28 These letters refer to all the topics which Dr. Thomas Bentley thought
likely to amuse the Cambridge Aristarchus : politics are not forgotten.
The following scraps of news he sends from Rome, where then resided a
personage whose fortunes excited much interest :
Rome, Nov. 16, 1725. " All the news here is, that the Princess Sobieski
went into a nunnery three or four nights ago ; some say upon a quarrel
about the Lady Inverness, who lives in the family with them ; others, that
he (i. e. the Pretender) has put a protestant tutor to his son, and that she
can't bear that. There's no writing any thing, for they open letters both
at Rome and at London. I have seen him : he has not tl oc a^iov Tvpav-
viSog."
Another letter from Rome, without date: it seems December, 1/25.
" The Pretender's Lady is still in the nunnery. He is generally blamed.
They tell me the Pope has refused him audience three times."
April 24, 1726. " The Chevalier went from Rome yesterday; but whi-
ther, is a great speculation. Duke Wharton has been here incog."
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 243
fessor of Divinity : he decided in favour of Heyrick, chap.
who accordingly was returned, along with Mr. Castle 1727
of Corpus Christi; and the Senate on the following
day elected Castle. But a fourth candidate, Mr.
Burford, Fellow of King's, protested publicly against
the whole of these proceedings, by which he conceived
himself to be unjustly excluded from a fair competi-
tion. He was joined by a large party in asserting
that nomination by the Heads, a method prescribed
by the statutes of Queen Elizabeth, was not legally
applicable to the case of the Public oratorship ; that
this office, having been founded long before her
reign, was subject to the regulations of the Statuta
Antiqua, an ancient code, whose injunctions were still
in force when not expressly repealed by the Queen's
statutes. By those ancient laws, the Orator was to
be chosen in an open election : and Burford con-
tended that, notwithstanding recent custom, the same
method ought still to be adopted. Dr. Bentley, as
senior of the Heads, undertook to maintain the autho-
rity and privileges of his order : he declared himself
astonished at the objections made to the proceedings,
and expressed a wish to see by what arguments they
could be supported. Burford no sooner heard of this Bemiey's
in i i t k iii controversy
challenge than he wrote an Argument to prove with Bur-
that the old statutes of the University remained in f^S"
force in all points except where expressly repealed by statutes.
those of Queen Elizabeth ; and that they had re-
ceived confirmation bv a clause in the latter code.
Bentley immediately took up the contest, and printed
an * Answer to the Argument,' confuting each para-
graph, and maintaining, in a high tone and with keen
sarcasm, that the old statutes (which had originally
been graces of the Senate) were obsolete and abrogated.
In this piece, which seems only printed for circulation
among the Senate, the Doctor treats Burford and his
r 2
244 LIFE OF
XVII.
1727.
chap, friends in an unceremonious and supercilious style,
not justified by the occasion. The contest, indeed,
was unequal: not to mention the risk which a novice
in controversy must run when he encounters an ex-
perienced combatant, the two antagonists approached
the question under very different circumstances. Bur-
ford was master only of the common and popular
arguments bandied about by his party. Bentley
happened to have had occasion thoroughly to con-
sider this subject, and exert all the powers of his
mind in upholding the contrary opinion : during the
affair of his Degradation, his adversaries, when hard
pushed to defend their proceedings, had advanced
some passages from the old statutes. Thereupon it
became an object of importance to Bentley to impugn
the authority of these ancient enactments : he came,
therefore, to the combat ready prepared at all points.
His Answer exhibits all the characteristics which we
have noticed in his former controversial pieces : it is
luminous in its statements, pungent in its arguments,
and overpowering in its conclusions. Nevertheless, the
question was not set at rest by this veteran champion
of the Heads. Burford, after having studied the
case, and discovered the weak parts of Bentley's
Answer, wrote a powerful Reply : in which piece he
seems to have been assisted with materials and sug-
gestions by other members of the University ; and I
think we may in some places detect the hand of Dr.
Colbatch, whose aid was never wanting, when a
stand was to be made against his great enemy. This
Reply succeeds in oversetting some particulars of
Bentley's tract, though it does not satisfactorily
establish the claim which gave birth to the dispute,
that the appointment of an Orator ought to be by
open election. The particulars of the discussion are
of too local a nature to lay before the reader ; they
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 245
would not even interest members of the University, chap.
XVII
except at a moment when they happened to be in 1727
controversy. Burford's Reply, which was unanswered, ==
must be acknowledged to have left him in possession
of the field ; and so it appears to have been felt by
the University : for at a subsequent period, the col-
lection of Statuta Antiqua was printed by authority
for the use of official persons, in the same volume
with the statutes received from the Crown ; and was
deemed to be a sort of common-law, operative in
cases where the later enactments were silent.
At the moment of which we are speaking, England March 20.
was deprived of its brightest ornament, by the death
of Sir Isaac Newton. Dr. Bentley continued to the
last on terms of familiar intercourse with his illus-
trious friend ; and upon his death suggested the fol-
lowing epitaph to be inscribed upon his monument in
Westminster Abbey :
Hie quiescunt ossa et pulvis Epitaph on
IsAACI NEWTONI. Sir Isaac
Si queer is, quis et qualis fuerit, ew on "
Abi:
Sin ex ipso nomine reliqua novisti,
Siste paulisper,
Et mortale Mud Philosophies numen
Grata mente venerare 29 .
Notwithstanding the robust constitution of Dr. Bentley ap -
Bentley, he had a liability to catch severe colds, puty in the
owing- to the recluse habits in which he had of late
years indulged. It was observed that they were com-
monly brought on by sitting as moderator in the
Divinity Schools ; and accordingly he was forbidden
by medical advice to expose himself any longer to
the danger of these repeated attacks. This advice
was particularly urged by Dr. Wallis, a young physi-
39 Nichols's Illustrations of Literature, vol. iv. p. 18.
246 LIFE OF
chap, cian, who practised at Cambridge from 1725 to 1729,
XVII
1727.
and during that time was a daily visitor at Trinity
Lodge, and retained a great friendship for the Master
till his death 30 . It was in the early part of 1727
that he resigned his professional functions in the
Schools, and constituted as his deputy Dr. Newcome,
of St. John's College, who was about the same time
elected to the station of Lady Margaret's Professor
of Divinity 31 .
For the same reason Dr. Bentley gave up his prac-
tice of presiding in the Hall at the College festivals:
and he scarcely ever afterwards administered the sacra-
ment in the Chapel ; a ceremony which he had
hitherto performed in a manner described to have
been peculiarly dignified and impressive.
Trinity Coi- It is now a long time since we adverted to the
affairs of Trinity College : the transactions during
the interval are of no great moment, and are such as
we cannot feel any satisfaction in recording ; never-
theless it is requisite to explain the origin and pro-
gress of those strange occurrences which mark the
concluding years of Dr. Bentley's eventful life. His
triumphant restoration to his degrees, and the dis-
comfiture experienced by all his adversaries, had
greatly cooled the ardour of those who had formed
the regular opposition to his College government.
30 Thomas Wallis, Fellow of Magdalene College, was M.B. 1720, M.D.
1725. After leaving Cambridge he established himself in practice at
Stamford.
31 Newcome was one of the seven doctors whom Bentley created, on
the occasion when he delivered his commencement speech, published along
with his Terence. This gentleman, who became afterwards Master of St.
John's College, and Dean of Rochester, passed an academical life of
extraordinary length. He was a student of his College in the year 1700,
and he continued to reside within its walls in the memory of persons still
living in the University. Cole says in his MSS. that Dr. Newcome ac-
quitted himself in the Divinity Schools ' with tolerable ability ;' this faint
praise seems intended as a sneer at the Deputy Professor, who being a
zealous Whig, was an object of Cole's dislike.
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 247
Dr. Colbatch, although never deterred by fatigue or chap.
. . . XVII.
danger from the pursuit of his great object, deemed r2 "
all interference at present useless, and withdrew to -
his rectory of Orwell, deploring the ill-success of his
long and painful efforts to procure a visitation, and
watching anxiously for an opportunity to recommence
operations 32 . A favourable occasion seemed to pre- Dr. Greene,
sent itself by the death of Bishop Fleetwood, and E iy,i723.
translation of Bishop Greene from the diocese of
Norwich to that of Ely. The former prelate had
continued firm and immovable in his resolution never
to suffer himself to be troubled with the affairs of
Trinity College. The new Bishop having been for
many years Master of Corpus Christi College, and
possessing an intimate knowledge of academical
matters, was better qualified to exercise jurisdiction
in case of a College appeal, than either of his pre-
decessors. But although he listened to Colbatch's
statements of the condition of the society, yet such
was the terror spread by Bentley's uniform success
over every person who had placed himself in his
path, that he held out no hope of any interference,
until the validity of his jurisdiction over Trinity
College was established.
In the mean time all the Master's wishes and pro-
jects were effected without obstruction. On the death Sept 1772.
of Mr. Modd, his devoted and unscrupulous agent,
Dr. Baker was made Vice-master ; and in that capa-
city furthered all his measures, and directed all the
departments of the College with a regard to nothing
except his sovereign will and pleasure 33 . Mr. R.
32 During this period Dr. Colbatch employed himself in writing a very
able and interesting tract on Church and College Leases.
33 Mr. Modd had continued, hke his predecessor, Dr. Lynnet, to attend
morning prayers in the Chapel, daily, at six o'clock, till past the age of
fourscore.
248 LIFE OF
XVII.
1727.
ter at an
end.
chap. Walker was an equally active adherent ; and being-
more popular in manners and character than Baker,
appears to have had great success in conciliating the
toffeMi- minds of his brethren. Some Fellows who had
hitherto been of the opposite party, finding that
further resistance was likely to have no result, except
to destroy their own interest and comfort, deserted
their colours, and joined the ruling powers ; in par-
ticular, Craister and Paris, both men of ability, who
have been distinguished in this history by severe
marks of Bentley's resentment, now found it expe-
dient to forget their grievances and fall in with all
his measures and projects.
His son At the election of Fellows in 1723, the Master's
iow! en e " son, Richard Bentley, was chosen, although a junior
bachelor, and only fifteen years of age. This appears
a culpable instance of partiality, which it is difficult
even to palliate. He was indeed a youth of blame-
less character and admirable capacity, and would
probably, at a proper period, have well deserved the
station. But this was a solitary instance, during the
forty-two years of Dr. Bentley's mastership, in which
any person was permitted even to be a candidate
before the third year of his bachelorship 3i . It is not
34 The practice of former times respecting the election of Fellows of
Trinity being misunderstood, even in the Society itself, it will not be
amiss to give a distinct statement of its different variations. The statutes
only prescribe, that the persons chosen must be under the standing of
Master of Arts. From the date of the statutes, 1560, to the year 1667,
the Fellows were chosen promiscuously from the three years of Bachelors :
but it is to be observed, that although the elections were sometimes held
annually, they were more commonly biennial, or triennial. It was in
1667, the year made for ever memorable in College annals by the admis-
sion of Sir Isaac Newton to a fellowship, that the candidates were first
confined to the third year of Bachelors. This continued the practice in
all subsequent years, with two or three exceptions, till 1752, (the election
described in Cumberland's Memoirs, p. 96.) when the Middle Bachelors
were admitted to the competition ; as they have been every year since that
time. At the elections in 1771, 1772, and 1782, the Junior Bachelors also
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 249
easy to account for Bentley's resolution of forcing; this chap.
j JO XVII.
youth at so premature an age into the society and 1727 "
equality of men ; particularly as he was not brought -
up to any profession. About five years afterwards,
he nominated him to one of the two lay-fellowships,
which became vacant by the death of Dr. AylofTe.
The Master's attention to the interests of his own Lease of
relations led him to other acts which excited much House.
greater clamour. But in no instance was his cha-
racter more assailed with invective, than for the
disposal of a College estate, in the city of York,
called Massam House. This property, consisting of
several tenements in Petergate, had been leased in
the year 1696, for a very small fine ; and the lessee,
under promise from the then Master, Dr. Montague,
that the lease should be renewed in seven years for
the same consideration, expended 4 or 500/. in the
repairs and improvement of the premises : but when
he applied at the usual time for a renewal, Dr. Bent-
ley positively refused to accept the same terms ;
alleging that they were unreasonably small, and that
he was not bound by the engagements of his pre-
decessor. In 1716 the whole term of the lease ex-
pired ; but the tenant fancied he could still retain
possession ; and having some acquaintance with the
Doctor's elder brother, Mr. James Bentley, desired
him to inspect the premises and the improvements
which he had made. The result was very different
from his expectations : that gentleman fixed his own
affections upon the property ; and accordingly, in
the following year, the Master proposed to the Seni-
were suffered to be candidates ; and one of that standing was chosen in
each of those years ; viz. Rogerson Cotter, Tliomas Robinson, and Richard
Porson. Thirty-seven years afterwards, in 1819, the custom was once
more revived, and Connop Thirlwall was elected, being then a Junior
Bachelor.
250 LIFE OF
chap, ority, to grant his brother a new lease for twenty
1727. years of Massam House, upon his paying a fine of
= ^ 40/., a sum which hardly exceeded one year's clear
value. The former proprietor attempted resistance,
raised much outcry in the neighbourhood, and filed
a bill in Chancery to compel the performance of
Dr. Montague's promise on the part of the College.
The Chancery proceedings availed him nothing ; bat
the scandal hit the Master very severely. Middle-
ton, in his pamphlet on the government of the
College, works up this story, heightened by some
additional insinuations, into a most black charge
against the Doctor 35 . Ten years afterwards the lease
was renewed to Priscilla Bentley, his brother's widow,
for twenty years, upon a fine of 20/. In both cases
the pecuniary considerations were much smaller than
the Society were entitled to receive ; and thus a
sacrifice was indisputably made to benefit the rela-
tives of their Master.
Bentley retained his conviction that the headship
was not in possession of so large a proportion of the
College income as the foundation had destined for
it; and though he judged it inexpedient to revive
his old projects of reform on this subject, yet he was
incessantly on the watch to indemnify himself for
what he considered a deficiency in his just emolu-
ments. In the mode of doing this it must be con-
fessed that he was not always very nice. He fitted
up at the College expense the room over the Queen's
Gate, and then increased the rent, which was one of
those payable to the Master ; and, what was a still
greater outrage, he destroyed the architectural pro-
priety of the building, by inserting two modern sash-
windows in that apartment. He ordered a cow-
35 Middleton's Works, vol. iii. p. 755.
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 251
house and two coach-houses to be built in the stable- chap.
vy t r
yard ; reserving the first for his own purpose, and re-
ceiving- rent from those who were accommodated with
1727.
the latter : and he over-ruled, with a high hand, the
scruples of Edward Vernon, the junior bursar, who
hesitated to pay the bills of these works, as not
having been authorized by the Seniority.
The south meadow in the College walks had The south
always been considered as appropriated to the horses meadows -
of the Senior Fellows. In 1720 the Master requested
permission to rent this land for the pasture of his
own cows : having, as he said, been accustomed to
a milk diet in his childhood, he argued that the
same regimen would suit his constitution in old age.
The obsequious Seniors, happy to oblige their lord
by every sacrifice, public or private, gave him their
land for a rent of forty shillings (although worth four
times that sum), and it was immediately hedged,
diked, and drained, at the public cost.
This miserable transaction appears to have led the
way to another of greater magnitude. The rent of
the meadow was expended in an annual fishing-party
at Over, a village about six miles from Cambridge,
where the College has a rectorial estate. This is the Bentiey
only out-door amusement in which I find it recorded C ountry-
that Bentiey ever partook ; and he was sufficiently Q use at
pleased with the place, although bordering on the
fens, to form the idea of building there a country-
house, or summer residence, for himself and his
family. Being now in the plenitude of power, he
could at once have carried his measure into effect by
the mere jiat of authority ; but he seems to have had
misgivings and apprehensions of being some time
called to account for such an application of College
money, and adopted an artifice to disguise his
plans. The old house upon the farm wanting repair,
252 LIFE OF
chap, he ordered an estimate to be made of the sum re-
xvii. P ... i . .
1727. quisite tor putting it into a proper state ; designing
to prove that a new house might be erected for little
more than that expense. But the workmen, con-
trary to his expectations, found it strong and sub-
stantial, and undertook to put it into a perfect state of
repair for 214/. His scheme, however, was not aban-
doned : he proposed to the Seniority to rebuild the
house : whereupon Baker and Walker entering into
the Master's views, seconded the proposal, and urged
the expediency of building a very good one ; as it
might prove an occasional accommodation to some
of the society, who happened to serve the curacy.
Accordingly, a new mansion was ordered to be
erected with bricks and sash-windows. The pre-
tended object, however, deceived nobody : the plans
of the house and rooms were supplied, and the work
directed, by Dr. Bentley himself; the bricks were of
the best quality, brought by land-carriage from
a distance beyond London ; workmen were sent for
from London ; the whole house was wainscotted ; a
chimney was constructed according to a peculiar
notion of his own, having a window behind it, that
he might have light for reading while he sat by the
fire : nor could any one doubt but that it was des-
tined for his own use. It was finished in the summer
of 1727, at an expense of little less than 1000/. : but
circumstances intervened to prevent his ever occu-
pying this villa.
In 1726 the composition allowed to the Master for
his three horses was increased to 100/. from 60/., the
sum fixed in Dr. Barrow's time, half a century
before. It is more satisfactory to record, that in this
year Dr. Bentley completed the internal fitting and
decoration of the Chapel, and erected the present
noble repeating clock, the present dial, and the
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 253
three large hells. These improvements gave occasion chap.
xvii.
1727.
to the only piece of courtesy which seems for many
years to have passed between the Master and Dr.
Colbatch. Bentley offered his enemy the old Col-
lege clock for his church at Orwell ; and with con-
sideration and delicacy, made the tender through the
medium of Colbatch's friend, Dr. Ayloffe.
The elections to fellowships continued to be what The Mas-
we have already described, the authoritative appoint- nation
ments of the Master. Had this patronage been regu- Fellows -
lar and legal, it is certain that the mode in which
he generally bestowed it would have redounded to
his honour. There were admitted into the society
a great number of excellent scholars, whose sub-
sequent distinction in the University and the world
justified their claims to that reward, although the
power which gave it might be irregular and un-
constitutional 36 . Exceptions, however, there cer-
36 Within about ten years from 1718, besides many persons whose
academical character will be noticed in this history, the following Fellows
of Trinity were admitted by Dr. Bentley : Thomas Robinson, afterwards
Secretary of State and the first Lord Grantham; Vincent Bourne, the
unrivalled Latin poet ; William Barnard, Bishop of Raphoe and of Derry ;
Mark Hildesley, the celebrated Bishop of Sodor and Man ; Walter Titley,
an accomplished scholar, many years British Minister at the court of
Denmark; Thomas Clarice, who was Master of the Rolls from 1754 to
1764; and Thomas Newton, who became Bishop of Bristol and Dean of
St. Paul's, and is universally known as the editor of Milton, and author
of the Dissertation on the Prophecies. To this list I shall add the names
of three of their brethren, elected Fellows within the same period, who
were distinguished in the humbler but not less useful capacity of school-
masters : Benjamin Wilson, Master of Wakefield School, who bore the
reputation of one of the best Greek scholars of his age ; Timothy Crumpe,
High Master of St. Paul's ; and John Clarke, successively Master of
Shipton, Beverley, and Wakefield Schools, of whom an interesting
Memoir has been published by the late Dr. Zouch, himself one of his
pupils, under the emphatic title of " The Good Schoolmaster, exemplified
in the Character of the Rev. John Clarke, M.A. formerly Fellow of Trinity
College, <^-c." 1768. This piece is reprinted in Nichols's Illustrations of
Literature, vol. i- p. 745.
254 LIFE OF
chap, tainly were ; and the election of 1726 is stated to
. ' have militated with every good principle. Benjamin
Stillingfleet, grandson of Bentley's great patron,
being left an orphan by his father, the Bishop's
eldest son, was sent as a sizar to Trinity, in con-
fidence that the Master would, by his patronage of
this young man, show his gratitude to his ancestor.
Stillingfleet was candidate for a fellowship at this
election ; and his reputation for scholarship, added
to the consideration of his family, made every one
Rejection conclude his success to be certain. But, whatever
stuiingflTet! might be the reason, he was rejected, while four
persons, commonly deemed his inferiors in merit, were
successful ; two of them being pre-elected for the fol-
lowing year, according to that irregular custom, which
Dr. Bentley now made no scruple of adopting. One
of these was Andrew Hacket, who, as heir to a large
estate, ought to have been excluded ; but he was
related to the senior Fellow, who was perpetually
extorting some reward for his support of the Master's
measures. Stillingfleet deeply and bitterly resented
his failure, and continued throughout life to com-
plain of the Master's cruelty and ingratitude. His
attainments as a naturalist and man of elegant lite-
rature have given him much celebrity, and he has
been the means of affixing a great portion of ob-
loquy on Bentley's character. I gather from Col-
batch's papers that, in point of scholarship, he was
really superior to some of his successful competitors ;
what were the motives which led the Master to
reject him, we have no means of determining : he is
reported to have said on the occasion, that ' Mr.
Stillingfleet was too fine a gentleman to be buried in a
College.' Certain it is that I find no other instance
in the course of a lono; and active life, in which
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 255
there is any pretence for charging the Doctor with chap.
XVII.
ingratitude 37 . 172 '
The public outcry caused by this College election, =====
excited hopes in the mind of Dr. Colbatch, and made
him think this a favourable moment for renewing his
efforts to bring the Master to account. The learned Bishop Gib-
and eminent Bishop Gibson now filled the see of
London ; and his great judgment and knowledge, as
well as his exalted station, gave him the principal
voice and influence in ecclesiastical affairs. Colbatch
took occasion to address that great prelate on the state
of the College : his immediate object was to represent
the unfitness of a candidate for Priest's Orders, who
had applied to the Bishop with letters testimonial
from the Master and eight Fellows ; and to inform
him of the culpable facility with which such certifi-
cates were commonly signed : a mischievous negli-
gence, injurious to the best interests of the Church,
which was, however, chargeable upon the College
officers rather than upon the Head. He proceeded to
acquaint his Lordship with the wretched state in which
the society then was, and must continue to be, with-
out the interference of a Visitor ; and craved his
interest and assistance in effecting an object so im-
portant to the Church as the restoration of this great
College. Bishop Gibson hesitated not to declare,
publicly and privately, that he considered it a shame
and scandal to the Government, that the complaints
of Trinity College should have experienced such long
neglect, and that no redress could be obtained ; while
in every other case the laws had provided a remedy.
37 Much is said on the subject of this rejection, in Nichols's Literary
Anecdotes, vol. ii. p. 336 ; and in Coxe's Life of Benjamin Stillingfleet,
published in 1811 . Mr. Coxe's notion that his hero was excluded to make
room for Bentley's own son is utterly erroneous : the latter had at this time
been in possession of his fellowship three years.
1
256
LIFE OF
CHAP.
XVII.
1727-
Claims of
Western
ster
He did not, indeed, promise any assistance, except
that, in case a petition were offered to the King in
Council, he would attend the Board, and give his
best consideration to the case : and he advised that
such a petition should be presented by a respectable
number of the fellows. This was now hardly prac-
ticable ; as experience had shown them that such a
measure had no effect except to bring vexation and
loss upon themselves. The Bishop of London threw
out a suggestion of another kind ; that he thought the
Bishop of Ely might proceed to act as Visitor under
the statutes, and leave it to the Master to dispute his
authority, if he pleased, by moving for a prohibition
in the Courts of Westminster : this opinion, when com-
municated to the latter prelate, appears to have had
great influence upon his conduct.
Dr. Colbatch endeavoured also to obtain for his
school, cause the powerful assistance of the Dean and Chapter
of Westminster, as guardians of Westminster School.
We have more than once had occasion to notice the
connexion of that school with Trinity College. Queen
Elizabeth's statutes had given to the pupils from West-
minster no greater advantage over others, than a
preference in elections to scholarships. But in the
fifth year of James I. the governors of the school had
interest enough to obtain letters-patent from the
Crown, enjoining the College to elect the Westminster
scholars to fellowships every year, in preference to all
other candidates, (provided they were not exception-
able in learning or morals), and in order to make sure
of their success, decreed that they should continue
eligible two years after the degree of M.A. ; whereas
others are superannuated at that standing. It is ob-
vious that the effect of such an ordinance would have
been shortly to throw all the fellowships and all the
preferment of the College into the hands of West-
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 257
XVII.
1727.
minster men, and to destroy the objects of this liberal chap.
establishment, by making it ever afterwards an appen-
dage to another seminary of later foundation. At that
period it was neither usual nor safe to contest the
validity of Royal commands : nevertheless, the Master
and Fellows did resist a mandate, which could not
have been received without the violation of their duty,
and the subversion of the statutes which they were
sworn to maintain. After some angTV discussion
between the College and the School, a composition
was entered into, under the mediation of Archbishop
Bancroft ; by which it was settled that three scholars
should be taken from Westminster every year, and
that they should never be prejudiced by pre-elections ;
and, on the other hand, that the King's letters-patent
should never be urged upon the College. By a sub-
sequent letter of James I., which was accepted by the
College, the above agreement is enforced, and the
Westminster-elect have the privilege of seniority over
the other scholars of their year. This arrangement
appears to have continued for more than a century,
without dispute or complaint : the connexion was
mutually beneficial to the two institutions ; and many
of the most distinguished of the Fellows were those
chosen from the ' Westminster Scholars Elect.'
Bishop Atterbury being Dean, had lately found out
the old letters-patent of James I., and attempted to
establish their validity : but his essay was treated by
Dr. Bentley with derision, and seems to have been
carried no further 38 . It happened that at the last
3S It is reported that when the Bishop mentioned the existence of these
Royal Letters, and alleged that they were given Anno Quinto Jacobi Primi,
Bentley replied to this effect : " They would have had more weight in your
Lordship's favour had they been Anno Primo Jacobi Tertii .-" a keen re-
partee, if we recollect that Atterbury was believed at that time to be
anxiously devoted to the cause of the Pretender. The anecdote is told in
the Gentleman's Magazine for 1773, vol. xliii. p. 499, by an anonymous
writer, who misapprehends the occasion, and spoils the force of the jest.
VOL. II. S
258 LIFE OF
chap, election of Fellows, no Westminster scholar had been
! " chosen, though one of them was generally deemed
superior in merit to some of the successful candidates.
Surprise and dissatisfaction being hereby excited
among; Westminster men, an idea struck Colbatch
that it might be possible to make the guardians of the
school the instruments of bringing on a visitation of
the College. Being encouraged in this plan by the
Earl of Oxford, who was his neighbour in the coun-
jan. 16. try, as well as by Dr. Middleton, he set off to town,
resolving, with constitutional ardour, to leave nothing
jan.1,1727. untried which might contribute to this object. His
chapter"^- view was to induce the Dean and Chapter to become
licked to in- themsel ves petitioners to the King for the establish-
ment of a visitatorial power over the College, prepa-
ratory to laying before the Visitor the complaints of
the Westminster Scholars. This was to be backed by
a petition from some Fellows of the House, who might
be encouraged to come forward by such an example.
If this point was carried, and the Visitor once ascer-
tained, the whole grievances of the College were
immediately to be submitted to his cognizance. About
the letters-patent of James I. Colbatch took no other
interest than as a pretext for effecting the first step
towards Dr. Bentlev's overthrow : indeed it would
not have been consistent with his principles to desire
their enforcement. As soon as he propounded the
subject at Westminster, he met with considerable
encouragement. Dr. Robert Freind, the Master,
entered warmly into a scheme which promised to
bring such a rich endowment to his school. Several
members of the Chapter, when solicited by these two
Doctors, concurred in the propriety of asserting the
supposed rights of their scholars ; and all agreed that
there never could be a better opportunity 7 for an attack
upon Dr. Bentley than while he lay under general
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 259
odium for the late election. The persons educated at chap.
XVII
the school being met to celebrate Queen Elizabeth's '
anniversary, the general interest in this design was =====
publicly testified. After dinner, when, in the regular
order of toasts, ' Trinity College' was proposed, it was
drunk throughout the Hall in the form of ' Restora-
tion to Trinity College, 'with the addition of ' the health
of Dr. Colbatch 39 .'
The scheme was, that the aggrieved candidate Bentiey ex-
should first memorialize the Dean and Chapter ; invalidity
whereupon they were to present their petition at the ^tions!' 6 "
Council Board. There was no hope of the favour
of persons in power ; but Colbatch engaged Dean
Sherlock and Dean Hare to use their interest with
Lord Townshend and Sir Robert Walpole, that they
would not interfere, but suffer the matter to take its
course. When the subject, however, was agitated in
the Chapter, Bishop Bradford, the Dean, objected to
take any step before they had communicated to the
Master of Trinity the claims of the School, grounded
upon King James's letters-patent, and enquired what
he had to allege against them. Accordingly he wrote
a letter of such purport to Dr. Bentiey, his old inti-
mate and ally in the University. The Master, who
was accurately apprized of the meditated designs, now
found himself assailed on a ground which he was ready
and desirous to defend. He knew that the King's
letters, never having been accepted by the College,
were invalid : he had, during his Mastership, admit-
ted to fellowships a full proportion of the Westminster
scholars ; and he foresaw, that in resisting the revival
39 The toast having been forwarded in these words first by the Earl of
Oxford, and afterwards by Mr. Shippen, the leader of the Jacobite party in
the House of Commons, (himself an old Westminster-scholar at Trinity,)
Bentley's friends contrived to circulate a report that it was intended to
apply to another sort of restoration.
s 2
260
LIFE OF
CHAP.
XVII.
1727.
March 5,
1726-27.
March 13,
1726-27.
of an obsolete claim which tended to make Trinity a
close College, he should have the feelings and wishes
of every disinterested person in his favour. Accord-
ingly, on the receipt of the Dean's letter, intimating
the proposed appeal, the Master replied in a confident
and indignant tone, denying the assumed validity of
the letters of James I., inasmuch as they had never
been accepted by the College, and returning an
unequivocal defiance to the menaces which were im-
plied 40 . He next summoned his Seniority, who
agreed unanimously to support him in a resistance
to the threatened appeal, and resolved that ' the
College would defend itself and the honour of their
predecessors at the public charge.' He presently went
to town to take measures for meeting the storm. His
letter, however, appears to have convinced the Dean
and Chapter that the establishment of their point in
favour of the scholars was impracticable ; the lawyers
who were consulted gave them no encouragement to
proceed ; and although Colbatch and Freind took
great pains in canvassing the members of the Chapter,
it may well be supposed that the Bishop of Rochester
would not be forward in lending himself as an instru-
ment in the hands of those who only calculated on
ulterior proceedings, which aimed at the ruin of his
ancient confederate.
40 This epistle is preserved at Westminster, where it has been shown to
me by the kindness of the Very Rev. Dr. Ireland, the Dean.
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 261
CHAPTER XVIII.
General election New members chosen by the University of Cambridge
Fresh attempts to procure a visitation of Trinity College Opinions of
Jive leading counsel on the question King George II. visits the Univer-
sity Claim to fees determined by the Chancellor Bentley creates fifty -
eight doctors Entertains the King in his College His dangerous ill-
ness Marriage of his daughter Joanna Scheme for prosecuting the
Master Parne Mason Johnson Bentley anticipates his prosecutors
Petition to the King College meeting Commissary Greaves Peti-
tion of the Bishop of Ely Bentley writes a pamphlet on the case
Colbatch's reply The Privy Council decline all interference Bentley's
dispute with Archbishop Wake on the Library-keeper's place Decided
by the Attorney General Johnson promoter of the suit against Bentley
Edward Smith Bentley's expenses paid by the College Bishop Greene
cites Dr. Bentley Application to the Court of King's Bench for a pro-
hibition Proceedings of the Court Nature of the articles Bentley
appears at Ely House His objections Second application to King's
Bench Resumes his edition of the New Testament Causes of its not
being published Rule for a prohibition made absolute Progress of a
new mode of action Bentley refuses an offer of the deanery of Lincoln
New Senate House Contest for Vice-chancellorship King's books
placed in the old Senate House Taylor's music-speech Internal state
of Trinity College Vindictive measures against the prosecutors Court
of King's Bench overrule Bentley's pleas Continue the prohibition on
Bishop Greene.
The death of King George the First, and consequent chap.
dissolution of Parliament in the summer of 1727, ' 9 _
involved the University of Cambridge in another poli- =
tical struggle of considerable interest. At the last General
General Election in 1721, the Tory representatives, Election -
Mr. Windsor and Mr. Willoughby, had been re-
elected : but on the present occasion a great and suc-
cessful effort was made to supplant them. Their
opponents were the Hon. Edward Finch, brother of the
XVIII.
1727-
262 LIFE OF
chap, late candidate, and the Hon. Thomas Townshend,
second son of the Minister : had these young men
stood upon their separate interests, it is probable that
neither of them would have succeeded : but a coalition
was effected between them. The Master of Trinity,
who had possessed himself of great influence, gave
them his active and strenuous support. Mr. Windsor,
however, who had represented the University for 22
years, maintained a vigorous though ineffectual re-
sistance. The numbers at the poll were, for Finch,
New mem- 2*21 Townshend, 198 Windsor, 176 '. The new
bers chosen 1 .
by the uni- members were sons ol two noblemen, who enjoyed
Cambridge, the greatest popularity at Cambridge of all public
Aug. 22. c h arac ters in the kingdom ; Lord Nottingham having
proved himself for above forty years the most zealous
and conscientious supporter of religion and theChurch,
and Lord Townshend having benefited the University
in a more signal degree than had been done for cen-
turies by any person in power. However, as the gra-
titude of the Senate to those personages was accom-
panied by an abandonment of their representative, an
old fellow of a College, who had served them so
many years without change of principles or any other
blemish, I must consider this to be the least credita-
ble transaction with which our Alma Mater can be
charged. She did indeed redeem her credit for con-
sistency, by the exemplary fidelity with which she
adhered to the two members now elected, who were
returned together without interruption as joint repre-
sentatives for the University between forty and fifty
1 This is the earliest University poll that I have ever met with in print.
The Cambridge reader may be interested in seeing how the votes in the
two great Colleges were disposed of :
Trinity. St. John's.
Hon. Edward Finch, Trinity - - - 43 - - 26
Hon. Thomas Townshend, Clare Hall - 39 - - 23
Hon. Dixie Windsor, Trinity - - 17 - - 36
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 263
years : an instance which, perhaps, can hardly be chap.
paralleled in the annals of the House of Commons.
1727-
The result of this election was considered by all par-
ties as materially owing to the influence and exertions
of Dr. Bentley : his interest with the ruling powers
was consequently strengthened ; and the prospect of
his opponents in Trinity College obtaining a visita-
tion through Royal interference became more hopeless
than ever.
Dr. Colbatch's recent endeavours to procure a Fresh at -
Visitor, as described in our last chapter, had sue- procure a
ceeded in once more arresting public attention ; and Trinity "
the hardship of the members of the College having no Colle s e -
court of appeal, or avenue to redress, was much can-
vassed. Doubts were expressed among legal men
about the soundness of the opinion given by Queen
Anne's lawyers in 1712, which held that the general
visitatorial power had been taken away from the
Bishop of Ely by Queen Elizabeth's statutes, and
transferred to the Crown : it was thought that this
opinion, although subscribed by so many eminent
names, did in reality emanate from Sir Edward
Northey ; and they preferred the judgment of Sir
Joseph Jekyll, who dissented from the rest, and held
that the Bishop's original appointment as Visitor had
never been revoked, but was expressly recognized by
the code of Elizabeth. A ready and confidential com-
munication was maintained between Colbatch and
Ely-House, through the intervention of the Bishop's
secretary, Mr. Francis Say ; who was himself a
Trinity man, and entered zealously into the views of
the Master's enemies. At length the prelate pledged
himself, that if the opinions of counsel should declare
him possessed of sufficient jurisdiction, and if he were
indemnified in respect to all expenses of the proceed-
ings, he would take upon himself to hear the com-
1
264 LIFE OF
chap, plaints of the Fellows, and administer impartial jus-
tice to the College.
Accordingly in the latter part of 1727, a set of
XVIII
1/2
Opinions of
fivekading particular and searching queries relative to the claims
t?e un ues- n of the Bishop of Ely, the validity of the statutes of
tion. Edward VI. and other matters regarding the question,
were proposed to two eminent civilians, Dr. Hench-
man and Dr. Audely, and three of the first common-
lawyers, Sir Philip Yorke, Sir John Cheshire, and
Mr. Reeves : and in order to obtain their unbiassed
opinions, they were proposed to each separately. All
the five concurred in pronouncing that King Edward's
statute De Visitatore was still in force ; that in virtue
of its provisions the Bishop of Ely continued Visitor
of Trinity College, and was enabled to hold a general
visitation every three years ; and that the 40th
statute of Elizabeth was corroborative of the former,
containing only directions for proceedings in the par-
A P rii30, ticular case of complaints against the Head. Upon
minor points there were some shades of difference,
though none of importance, except that the Attorney
General, whose occupations prevented his looking at
the case till long after the others, and perhaps from
bestowing on it the same attentive consideration, held
that the Bishop was only empowered to hear the com-
plaints under Queen Elizabeth's 40th statute (De
Magistro Amovendo) in the course of his triennial
visitation : a notion which does not appear to have
been entertained by any other lawyer, in the endless
discussions on this much agitated question. But
before this last opinion was given, circumstances were
near rendering the meditated proceeding unneces-
sary.
KingGeorge King George the Second having announced his
IkitstiJ? intention of visiting his University of Cambridge,
university. g Te at preparations were made for his reception. His
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 265
Majesty reached Newmarket on the 23d of April, chap.
wrir
The Vice-chancellor, Dr. Lambert, Master of St. 1728 "
John's, went over on the morrow, accompanied by -
the Heads, to entreat his presence ; which invitation
he accepted for the following day. As the approach
of this august visit recalled to every one's recollection
the disputes which ensued on the last occasion of a
similar honour, precautions were taken to obviate
such misunderstanding on the present. The Duke ofciaimto
s~* fees deter*
Somerset issued a mandate, as Chancellor of the mined by
University, settling the amount of the fees to be re- cenor. han "
ceived by the Regius Professors for creating doctors at
the Royal Commencement : that of the Divinity Pro-
fessor was two guineas, besides his broad-piece 2 .
The amount fixed was evidently designed as a
compromise between the opposite opinions in the old
dispute ; but the principle of an extraordinary de-
mand being recognized by authority, it cannot be
denied that the final victory in the controversy rested
with Dr. Bentley.
His Majesty came attended by a noble retinue, April 25.
among whom were no less than seven dukes : being;
met by the Mayor and Corporation on horseback
before he reached the town, he was conducted across
Christ-College Piece to the entrance of Cambridge
by Emmanuel ; from which College to the Schools
he passed through two continued lines of the younger
academics, who w r ere drawn up for his reception. At
the Regents' Walk he was greeted by the dignitaries
of the University, addressed in a speech by the
Chancellor, and another by the Public-orator, and
then conducted to the Regent-house. Here the
Regia Comitia were celebrated : and at this time, the
last occasion that the University has been honoured
2 The Chancellor's Decree, dated Newmarket, April 25, 1728, is printed
in Wall's Ceremonies of the University, p. 334.
26G LIFE OF
chap, with the presence of its Monarch, doctors' and other
XVI II.
1728 degrees were conferred by the Royal mandate with
= unprecedented liberality : the rank of D.D. was
given to no less than fifty-eight persons, and other
degrees in great numbers. Dr. Bentley had intended
that the ceremonies should be performed by his
deputy; but the Duke of Somerset and other grandees
being urgent that the veteran Professor should exe-
Bentiey cute his functions in person, he complied, and had
elghtDoc-" tne fortune to confer the doctorship that day upon
tors. many distinguished characters in the Church, and
among the rest upon two who became successive
Archbishops of Canterbury, Thomas Herring and
Matthew Hutton. These ceremonials concluded, his
Majesty, after hearing an anthem at King's Chapel,
was conducted to Trinity College, where he was
greeted at the King's-gate by the Master in an appro-
Entertains priate speech. He then walked through a double
hbCoufg^ nDe f tne under-graduates to the College Hall :
here a banquet was prepared, exceeding in splendour
all that had ever been witnessed on the shores of the
Cam. The King was seated in an elevated chair of
state at the upper end of the Hall, and waited upon
by twelve fellow-commoners of the College ; Dr.
Bentley standing by his side, and remaining in con-
versation with him while at dinner. His Majesty
took his leave in the evening, after marking his satis-
faction with the University by a noble present of two
thousand pounds towards the completion of the Senate-
house 3 .
On this occasion Dr. Bentley experienced great
3 King George II. gave another thousand pounds for the Senate-house,
as I apprehend, while Prince of Wales. My account of this Royal visit
is drawn from various sources : from the University Register, Cole's MSS.,
Salmon's Chronology, and from an interesting letter of Mr. James Ben-
tham, the well-known historian of Ely Cathedral, who was at that time a
student in Trinity College, preserved in Nichols' Lit. Anecd. vol. ix. p. 396.
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 267
marks of Royal favour and attention : but the results chap.
win
of the day were near proving fatal to him. The ' 8 '
fatigue which he went through, and the sudden alter-
nations of heat and cold to which he was exposed, ou^iine^T
hazardous to a person of his recluse and sedentary
life, brought on an alarming fever : for some days
his life was pronounced to be in great danger ; and
at the particular wish of his physician, the presence
or advice of his friend, Dr. Mead, was requested in
this emergency. Either medical skill or the good-
ness of his constitution restored him : in a few weeks
he recovered ; but his legs being swollen, he was
sent to Bath for the benefit of the waters. . After his
return to College he had the satisfaction of giving his
favourite daughter. Miss Joanna, in marriage to Mr. Marriage of
Denison Cumberland, a young man of his College, jolnna?
of excellent character, and good family and expecta-
tions. He was son of Archdeacon Cumberland, and
grandson of the learned Bishop of Peterborough.
The opinions of the civil and common lawyers Scheme for
having coincided in giving to the Bishop of Ely the S2mSSJ
visitatorial jurisdiction over Trinity College, it was
resolved to call the Master of Trinity to account for
malversation and abuse of his authority. Colbatch's
hopes were now revived, and he again unsparingly
devoted his labour and property to effect the great
object of his life: but so completely was the Master's
authority established in the society, that at first he
only found three of the junior Fellows, Pame, Ingram,
and Mason, who were willing to co-operate with him :
these however proved highly zealous and able assist-
ants. Pame, who was one of the College tutors, was Pame.
a person of great talents and high reputation in the
University. He had an intrepid spirit, but accom-
panied with a violent temper ; which, however, so
long as he continued under Colbatch's influence, was
268
LIFE OF
CHAP.
XVIII.
1728.
Mason.
restrained from breaking out into excesses. Mason
was all his life distinguished by a peculiar roughness
of appearance and manner : but he was a man of
extensive and varied learning, eminent as a mathe-
matician, a scholar, and an antiquarian ; and not-
withstanding his unhewn exterior, he must have pos-
sessed excellent qualities, since we find him enjoying
the friendship and regard of most of the first cha-
racters in the University for a long period. In his
youth his rugged nature had been subdued by the
charms of Miss Joanna Bentley : he was numbered
among her devoted admirers ; and if the reports of
the young wits his contemporaries may be believed,
he enjoyed his full share of the smiles of the fair
damsel 4 . In the prosecution of her father, to which
he now devoted himself, his industry, research, and
accur
acy
in
examining;
and transcribino- old docu-
ments and records, made him a powerful auxiliary.
4 Those who are curious about such anecdotes, may find, in Nichols'
Literary Anecdotes, vol. i. p. 224, a copy of verses, written by Edward
Prior, also a scholar of Trinity, and afterwards a Fellow, deploring his
own banishment from the presence of Miss Joanna, and satirizing Mason,
his favoured rival, whom he describes in these lines :
" Mason, to love and shape eternal foe,
That chaos of a man, that unlinked lump of beau.
Behold the haggard honors of his face,
The ghastly smile, and the Cyclopian grace !
Had but this age a Polyphemus known,
The giant sure had marked him for his own.
Those harpyan claws, that should the plough sustain,
Now screen' d with ruffles, dare the plough disdain i
The brawny calves in silken stockings shown ;
Strange change, to wear the best from wearing none !
In snaky curls the bristling wig appears,
With all the horrors of Medusa's hairs.
Nor disagreement thro' the whole we find j
He's Mason both in body and in mind."
Cumberland, when he described Dr. Mason in his Memoirs, p. 106,
was probably not aware that he had once been a favoured admirer of his
mother.
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 269
An important accession was soon obtained to this chap.
band Robert Johnson, a Fellow of higher standing* .-"
' & 1/28.
than those just mentioned, who had hitherto kept
aloof from both the parties by which the College was
distracted. His present adhesion to Bentleys ene-
mies was attributed to personal resentment. At the
late Royal visit, the Master, among other marks of
favour, had been allowed to recommend whomever
he pleased for degrees ; he accordingly procured
doctorships for seven of the Fellows attached to his
interests Parran, Barnwell, Paris, R. Walker, Hum-
phreys, Hooper, and Vernon. The three last were
below Johnson in standing : but bv thus becoming
doctors, they obtained a priority over him, whose
degree was only Bachelor of Divinity, in the choice
of livings and chambers ; an advantage never after-
wards to be recovered. Hooper and Vernon, who
were his juniors by ten years, had also been made
College-preachers by the Master ; an appointment
from which he was excluded. Incensed at this
manifest exercise of favouritism, Johnson associated
himself with Colbatch's party ; and being a man of
business and despatch, proved a formidable enemy to
the Master. The knot of malcontents exerted them-
selves with much diligence in preparing articles of
enquiry and accusation, and collecting evidence for
the expected trial, which they hoped would take
place at the College, in the course of the Bishop's
triennial visitation, this summer. His Lordship, how-
ever, preferred hearing the complaint, as his pre-
decessor, Bishop Moore, had done, upon the latter
part of the 40th statute of Elizabeth, as the ground
least liable to dispute. The conspirators, wishing to
keep their plans secret till the moment of action, held
their meetings in Dr. Colbatch's rectory-house at
Orwell; which the opposite party used, consequently,
270 LIFE OF
xvfn t0 term t ^ ie ^ e House; a jocular appellation, that it
1728 long retained in the society.
No caution could prevent the secret of the hostile
Bentleyan- .
ticipates his designs transpiring : and Bentley took a prompt re-
ctors. so l u tion not to wait for the attack, but to commence
operations, by throwing himself upon the protection
of the Crown, and at the same time engaging
the College to adopt his cause as its own. He
accordingly drew up the following petition to the
King, which was circulated among the Fellows three
or four days before they were called upon to ratify it.
Petition to To the King's most excellent Majesty,
" The humble Petition of the Master, Fellows, and Scholars of
the College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity, within the Town
and University of Cambridge.
" Sheweth, that this your College of the Holy and Undivided
Trinity having been founded by the bounty and munificence of King
Henry VIII. has ever since had the peculiar happiness to be
governed by the laws and statutes received from your Royal pre-
decessors, the. successive Kings and Queens of this realm, as Royal
Visitors of the same.
" But whereas some persons are desirous to deprive this your
Society of the felicity of being governed by your Majesty as Visitor
of the same, in like manner as it has been by your Royal prede-
cessors, by subjecting the same to other jurisdictions, in prejudice of
the rights and privileges of this your Society, as well as in dero-
gation of your Majesty's right and authority, as your petitioners
apprehend and believe ; wherefore we your petitioners beg leave to
apply to your Majesty, not to avoid any enquiry into the state of
our Society, or the conduct of any member thereof, being desirous
that the same may be made by any legal authority ; but that your
Majesty would graciously condescend to take our case into your
Royal consideration, that we may receive your Royal determination
thereon, in such wise as to your Majesty, in your Royal wisdom and
justice, shall seem most meet and convenient.
" In witness whereof we have hereunto put the common seal of
our College, this 10th day of August, 1728."
meeting. The meetm g of tIie sixteen seniors, whose assent
August io. was requisite for sealing this corporate act, beino-
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 271
convened to the Chapel, the Master, foreseeing some chap.
dissent and secession, sent word by Dr. Walker to 1708 '
all the Fellows who dined in Hall that day, that -
they had better go to the Chapel to witness a matter
which so much interested the whole College, and to
vote, if required. Some chose to keep aloof; but
twenty-one met in the chancel, where the Master
produced and read the petition. Colbatch then be-
gan to read a protest, signed by himself, Johnson,
and Parne, against sealing the petition, as interfering
with the jurisdiction of the Bishop of Ely. Bentley
interrupted him, and endeavoured to snatch the
paper from his hands ; but Johnson taking it, read it
aloud, and then required the Master to order all
below the sixteen to withdraw. Parne desired that
' security might be given that the College should
not, by sealing this petition, be drawn into expense :'
to which the Master fiercely replied, " To whom
should I give security ? To thee ? Who should
bear the expense but the College, since it is a Col-
lege affair?" The meeting becoming tumultuous,
the three protesters, followed by three more Fellows,
left the Chapel ; and those that remained completed
the business, by putting the common seal to the
petition. In all their subsequent proceedings, Bent-
ley's prosecutors alleged his conduct upon this day
as a prominent article of accusation : but the facts
did not warrant their charges. The tumultuary con-
duct of the meeting was rather owing to the Fellows
than the Master ; and perhaps, in the excited state
of their minds, it could hardly have been prevented.
The practice of putting the seal to any instrument,
except in presence of the sixteen senior residents,
might be irregular ; but it had been frequent of late
years : the statutes were so far complied with, that
a formal summons had been sent to that number ;
27-2
LIFE OF
CHAP.
XVIII.
1728.
Commis-
sary
Greaves.
December,
1728.
Petition of
the Bishop
of Ely.
and the question was bona fide decided in favour of
the sealing by the voices of the Master and nine of
the Fellows legitimately entitled to vote upon the
occasion.
The petition was presented to the King at Hampton
Court by Mr. Greaves, a young barrister, who left
the circuit for that purpose. This gentleman, whose
name is much connected with the history of Trinity
College for nearly sixty years, was a Fellow of Clare
Hall, but had been early patronized by Dr. Bentley,
at whose recommendation, it is said, he was made
Commissary of the University by the Duke of So-
merset. On the death of Lisle, in 1727, he became
auditor, steward of the courts, and registrar of Trinity
College ; and what was probably of more value to a
young barrister, he was the Master's counsel in all
the complicated law proceedings which ensued ; and
never was an advocate more zealously devoted to the
interests of his friend and client than he proved to
those of Dr. Bentley. The patents of his College
offices having been made out for the whole term of
his life, and some informality being apprehended,
the College exchanged them for patents for the term
of fifty years, ' si tarn diu vixerit ;' thinking this a
reasonable extent of tenure : but their calculation
fell short of the longevity of Commissary Greaves,
who not only lived to surrender his patents in De-
cember 1778, a few days before their expiration, and
to receive a present of plate, with the thanks of the
College for his long and faithful services and his
affectionate regard for the prosperity of the Society,
but six years afterwards he made a donation to the
College of 100/. to found an annual prize for an
essay on the character of King William the Third.
The prosecutors drew up different counter-petitions
to the King, and pressed the Bishop of Ely to pro-
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 273
ceed to a visitation : that prelate, however, waited to chap.
. xvm.
see what steps the Privy Council might take upon 1729
the College petition : and after three months' delay, =====
rinding it unnoticed, he also petitioned the King in
Council, praying that, in case any cognizance was Nov. 6.
taken of that document, he might be heard in behalf
of the rights of his See. Hereupon a committee of
the Privy Council was appointed to consider the
merits of the case ; which met on Nov. 27th to hear
the arguments of the several parties. Dr. Bentley's
counsel however prayed for a postponement, and at
his instance the hearing was adjourned to the 11th
of December ; but not without an intimation from
one of the committee, Mr. Arthur Onslow, Speaker
of the House of Commons, that he thought the
matter was one which would more properly be de-
termined in a court of law than by the Council ; an
opinion in which Lord Trevor, the Privy Seal,
coincided.
Before the time fixed, the Master prayed for a
further postponement, alleging that the audit of Tri-
nity College, which required his presence, began on
Dec. 2, and lasted twenty days : and he was again in-
dulged with a compliance 5 . Dr. Bentley's object in Bentiey
these delays, besides increasing the expenses of the pamphLt
prosecutors, was to obtain time for printing and cir- on the case-
culating among the members of the Council a pam-
phlet inforcing his own view of the case. This ap-
peared at the beginning of 1729, entitled ' The Case
of Trinity College ; whether the Crown or Bishop of
Ely be the General Visitor :' its style bearing un-
doubted evidence of the Master's hand. It begins
with giving extracts from the opinion of the seven
5 Bentley's enemies long continued to exclaim against this pretence for
delay : the fallacy of which was rendered more glaring by the fact, that
he did not once come to the audit this year.
VOL. II. T
274
LIFE OF
chap, learned counsel of Queen Anne, which held that
J7 ' King Edward's statutes were repealed by those of
Queen Elizabeth, and that the general visitatorial
power had reverted to the Crown ; along with Bishop
Fleetwood's letter declining to insist upon the juris-
diction, and other matters which made in favour of
his own views : upon these he built an ingenious
argument, to show that the 40th of Elizabeth's code
must also be invalid. He contended that it was
unreasonable to suppose, that the Master could have
two visitors, the King and the Bishop ; that the
latter should have power over him alone of the whole
society, and not over his accusers ; that he should be
able to injure, but not to redress him. He argued
besides with considerable humour, that this statute
was void ab initio, from its very absurdity ; since by
its latter provisions, the Master of Trinity, if accused
of murder or any other heinous felony, was to be
tried not by the judges of the land, but by the
Bishop of Ely ; and if found guilty, was not to be
hanged, but only expelled the College.
Dr. Colbatch lost no time in preparing a pamphlet
in refutation of the Master's arguments : it is called
' The Case of Trinity College in Relation to a Visitor ;'
and comprises a clear and comprehensive view of the
question, as well as an exposure of the partial cha-
racter of the other's statements. The reply however
had not the advantage possessed by Bentley's tract,
of being perused by the committee of the Privy
Council before the hearing of the case. This having
been several times postponed, and then interrupted
by the business of Parliament, did not actually take
place till the middle of March, when the Master and
many of the Fellows were present. After listening
Council de- to t i ie arguments of Sir Philip Yorke for the College,
cline all in- ~ .
terference. and Mr. Fazakerly for the Bishop, their Lordships
1
Colbatch's
reply.
The Privy
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 275
came to the decision, which must have been anti- chap.
... XVIII.
cipated, that they could not advise his Majesty to 1799
interfere at all with the question, and that the Bishop
was at liberty to proceed in the cause as he thought
proper.
Before we describe the further operations of the Bentiey's
contending parties, it is necessary to notice a dispute, Archbishop
which was carried on at the same time with much JjJj^JL.
energy, between Archbishop Wake and Dr. Bentley. kee P er ' s
To embroil the Master with that great prelate was
part of the hostile system of his prosecutors, whose
cause stood particularly in need of confederates
among the great. The occasion arose from his
nephew, Thomas Bentley, holding the place of
Library-keeper of the College. This office had been
founded in 1602, by Sir Edward Stanhope, the Vicar
General, an old Fellow of Trinity, and endowed with
a benefaction of 700/ : he attached to his foundation
several strict conditions ; ordering, among other
things, that the Librarian should not be absent more
than forty-two days in the year; that he should never
take a higher degree than Master of Arts; and direct-
ing, that if the Master and Seniors do not fill up the
place within fourteen days after the occurrence of a
vacancy, the appointment should lapse to the Arch-
bishop of Canterbury : of this last clause the Primate
had actually availed himself once before in the year
1716, by appointing a successor on the resignation of
Mr. Clagett, the same who became afterwards Bishop
of Exeter. The present Librarian, so far from ad-
hering to the injunction of residence, had not been
in the College more than three months in any one
year ; and had not resided, upon the whole, above
six months in six years : and he had further broken
the conditions by taking the degree of Doctor of
Laws. Colbatch and Parne, while drawing up the
t 2
1720.
276 LIFE OF
chap. Master's offences of omission and commission, as
charges for the Visitor, bethought them of selecting
the case of the Librarian, as one to be submitted to
the Primate ; they therefore wrote to inform his
Grace, that the office was forfeited by non-compliance
with the rules, and consequently waited his appoint-
ment. Archbishop Wake immediately addressed
himself to Dr. Bentley, enquiring into the facts of
the case ; and a spirited correspondence ensued. A
dispute between the Head of a College and an Arch-
bishop must be maintained on such unequal ground
that it might be supposed not likely to be of long
continuance : the present controversy did, however,
last nearly a year and a half : and Bentley, who was
all this time occupied in defending himself against a
formidable prosecution instituted for his ruin, never-
theless held much the highest tone in this debate.
The merits of the argument bear little upon the
other events of the Doctor's life, and are of too local
a nature to interest the reader : but the whole corre-
spondence, which has been preserved in the Lambeth
Library, exhibits the ingenuity and argumentative
subtilty which we have so often remarked in Bentley;
while the letters of Parne, who conducted the oppo-
sition, show talent, spirit, and manliness ; and the
Archbishop's are marked with a liberal and candid
consideration for all parties, a clear-sighted penetra-
tion, and an anxiety to act right under embarrassing
circumstances. Bentley pursued the same system of
tactics as in his great cause ; inventing: delays, and
calling attention to other questions, in order to gain
time and the chance of availing himself of circum-
stances which might intervene. Thus at one time
the Senior Fellows are not all returned to College,
at another his nephew has a fever, and he himself a
sprained ancle ; while two or three small underplots
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 277
form the matter of correspondence between Lambeth chap.
Palace and Trinity Lodge. Meanwhile Thomas 17 . 79 '
Bentley was himself not solicitous to retain a situa- =====
tion, the duties of which he had no intention of ful-
filling. Nevertheless, an argument was drawn up in
his name, against the claim of the Primate ; and
thereupon the Master and eight Fellows subscribed
their satisfaction at the reasons which he alleged, and
decided that the place was not vacant. This step,
however, occasioned the Master much difficulty :
some of the Seniors, though obsequious enough in
other matters, did not relish embarking in a quarrel
with the Archbishop, and declined to subscribe their
names ; and he was forced to complete his list of
eight signatures from the very juniors of the society.
The argument itself is written in a style as foreign as Nov. n,
possible from the modest and unassuming manner of 1728 '
Thomas Bentley, and bears indubitable marks of his
uncle's pen ; who, indeed, not only acknowledged it
in the College, but boasted of the short time in
which it had been despatched. In this piece, as in Dec. 7,
almost all the writings of his latter years, Bentley 1728 '
injures the effect of his close and ingenious reasoning
by the indulgence of a taunting and contemptuous
tone, which is at war with propriety and good taste :
this remark applies peculiarly to the concluding para-
graph :
" Two things, I think, I may be sure of: that if vis major forces
one [a librarian] upon the College, without their own election, it
may resume what it has voluntarily given, and it will pay him his
strict dues, as covenanted by the will. The other is, that he who
by accusation turns one man out, for breach of some puny articles,
may eodem jure be himself turned out for the breach of any one of
them ; and so the third successor in his turn ; so a fourth, and a
fifth, in infinitum. And since all the pack of those articles never
were kept, nor ever can or will be, you may possibly see a dozen
278 LIFE OF
CHAP, new Librarians in one year; and in the meantime the Library will
XVIII. jj e gloriously served.
1729- " Thomas Bentley."
Colbatch, in a reply to tins argument, observes
upon the liberty of so free a style in a composition
intended for the eye of the Primate :
" Men may, by constantly treating their equals and inferiors in a
gross way, so much debauch their manners as to forget that any
decency is to be observed even to the greatest of mankind.'
Decided by To bring the matter to a conclusion, Archbishop
neyGene- Wake proposed that it should be referred to the
raL decision of the Attorney General, though aware that
he was retained as Dr. Bentle}^'s counsel in the great
March 1, cause which was approaching. To this the latter
assented ; and Sir Philip Yorke, after a considerable
interval, gave his opinion that, as the penalty of for-
feiture was not specifically attached to those two vio-
lations of Sir Edward Stanhope's rules, and as the
librarian had not received three admonitions for his
neglect, the office was not vacant. Hereupon the
Archbishop gave up the point : the matter, however,
was not suffered to drop. His Grace had already
appointed Sandys Hutchinson, a Bachelor of Arts of
the College, recommended by Colbatch and Parne,
to hold the office : and this young man's uncle
thought proper to maintain the contest, and assert
his nephew's right. The Master, having triumphed
in his argument, wished to free himself from further
June 20, trouble on this question : accordingly Dr. Thomas
Bentlev made a formal resignation of the office ; and
the Master and Seniors, within the limited time,
elected another young man, Gossip, to succeed. But
as this act could not alter the former question, Hutch-
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 27JJ
inson applied to the Court of King's Bench for a chap.
Mandamus to the College to admit him Librarian, as 1729
having the nomination of the Archbishop ; and a rule
was granted to show cause. Bentley having no
motive for further dispute, and having already as
much law proceedings on his hands as he could
manage, put an end to the question by making two
librarians : Hutchinson was admitted upon the con-
ditions of Sir E, Stanhope, and with no more stipend
than he had allotted ; and Gossip was made ' addi-
tional Library-keeper, with a salary from the Col-
lege.'
As soon as the decision of the Privy Council had Nov. 3.
left the Bishop of Ely at liberty to receive the accu-
sation against the Master of Trinity, steps were taken
by the complainants to prosecute their charges. Dr.
Colbatch was laid up this spring by a fit of the ague,
and felt the infirmities of increasing years. It was Johnson
therefore arranged that Mr. Johnson should be pro- fheTuiT
moter, or prosecutor ; and he embarked in a cause JgJjJk,
which was likely to prove very expensive, with no
other resources than his own small income, and the
promised assistance of his brethren, who strained
every nerve, and subjected themselves to every pri-
vation, to supply funds for the accomplishment of
their undertaking. The principal reliance was placed
on the pecuniary resources of two individuals, Dr.
Colbatch, and Mr. Edward Smith. The latter was Edward
a Fellow of the College who is now first mentioned
in our history : he had resided for some time in the
country ; and I find no mention of his having ever
come into collision with the Master : but his strong
opinion of the want of a superior authority to correct
the existing state of the Society, induced him to
devote his means, which were more considerable than
those of his brethren, to the prosecution of this suit.
280 LIFE OF
XVIII.
1729.
chap. His correspondence with Colbatch, in whom his con-
fidence was unlimited, marks a singularly spirited,
liberal, and disinterested character. The contest,
April 11. . i 1 -i 1
Bentieys however, was unequal : while the prosecutors em-
JKbythe harked in an enterprise of certain difficulty and
college. expense, at their own risk and cost, the party accused
obtained an order of the Seniority, regularly entered
in the Conclusion -book, that all charges which might
result from the proceedings against him, as being
connected with the question of the visitatorial power,
and therefore a matter of common concern, should be
defrayed from the revenues of the College.
The articles of accusation against the Master being
drawn up by Colbatch, and digested into form by a
April 1. professional civilian, were presented to Bishop Greene,
Greene cites who immediately cited Dr. Bentley to appear before
" ey ' him, as ' Visitor specially appointed by the 40th statute
of Elizabeth,' at FAy House on May 5, to answer the
charges preferred by Mr. Johnson, the promoter. Of
this citation the Master took no notice, until two days
May 3. before the time fixed for his appearance ; when he
to the court made an application to the Court of King's Bench for
Bench g for a a rule to prohibit the Bishop's proceeding against
prohibition. j lim . alleging-^ that the 40th statute, the ground of
his pretended power, required that the Master should
be twice admonished by the Vice-master and Seniors,
before any accusation could be preferred against him.
The reader may recollect that this same objection was
started by Dr. Bentley to the charges laid against him
nineteen years before, in a letter to Bishop Moore 6 .
It was then overruled by that prelate ; but he per-
ceived, that if he could obtain the sanction of the
Court of King's Bench to his interpretation, he
6 See the statute itself in vol. i. p. 250, and Bentley's arguments upon it
in vol. i. p. 265, note.
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 281
should be for ever relieved from all trouble from chap.
this statute : as he took care to have a Vice-master lwon '
1729.
who was his creature and tool, there was no chance
of an admonition, which could never be pronounced
but with his concurrence. The Court granted a May 7.
rule for the Bishop to show cause why he should not
be prohibited : and the Master speedily summoned
his Seniority, who are, with himself, the interpreters
of doubtful questions in the statutes : he here proposed
his explanation, which six of the eight Seniors ap-
proved and ratified ; declaring it to be the sense of
the statutes that two previous admonitions were requi-
site before the Master could be accused of the greater
crimes mentioned in the latter section of the chapter 7 .
But in a few days the Bishop's counsel, Dr. Hench-
man, Serjeant Eyres, and Mr. Fazakerly, showed
cause against the rule before the Court of King's
Bench. The Judges of that high tribunal had been
all changed since the affairs of Dr. Bentley were last
under its cognizance. Chief Justice Raymond now Proceedings
presided ; and his brethren were the Judges Page, l e ourt '
Probyn, and Lee. The arguments against the pro-
hibition appear to have been irresistible ; at least the
instructions for the Bishop's counsel, which are pre-
served, comprise the most satisfactory demonstration
that the admonitions by the Vice-master and Seniors
apply only to the cases of negligence, or lighter delin-
quency, mentioned in the first part of the statute : nor
did the Court hesitate in forming the same judgment.
7 This interpretation by the Master and six Seniors, dated May 7, 1729,
with the reasons on which it is founded, was not inserted in the Conclusion-
book, but written on a loose paper, in the Master's possession. It is not
easy to see Bentley's reason for not entering it in the regular register :
possibly that volume might just then be submitted to the examination of
lawyers.
XVIII
1729
282 LIFE OF
chap. The four Judges gave their opinions to that effect,
and set the question at rest by discharging the rule,
and leaving the Bishop of Ely at liberty to proceed
as Visitor.
It was apprehended that this point being decided
against him, all Bentley's resources were at an end,
and that he must now abide a trial upon the charges
which had been so long and loudly made against his
administration. Bishop Greene, determining to exer-
cise his judicial functions with firmness, and at the
same time to show attention to the feelings and
interests of the defendant, sent him a copy of the
articles, with notice of a day on which he might make
what preliminary objections he thought proper to
Nature of their form or substance. These articles touched upon
the articles. a | mogt a ^ t j ie ma t er i a l events of the College history
during the last eighteen years. There was, however,
one charge of grave import, which we have- not yet
mentioned among the alleged delinquencies of the
Master : his neglect of daily service in the College
chapel. For twenty years past he had scarcely ever
been seen at prayers in the morning ; and for ten
years or more as seldom in the evening. There could
be no doubt that this habitual omission was a serious
offence in the Head of a College, whose station called
upon him to set an example to the whole society of
regularity and piety. His excuse was infirmity of
health; but as he was generally known to be a per-
son of robust constitution, this pretence was treated
with incredulity and ridicule : and, accordingly, his
habitual neglect of chapel was made the head and
front of the long catalogue of his offences. Medical
testimony, and that of his intimates, distinctly proved
his great liability to catch cold, and the consequent
danger of his leaving the house in damp or severe
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 283
weather ; but it made out no apology for his absence c "^ p -
in other seasons of the year 8 . 172!)
The accusations presented a more formidable cata- =====
logue of delinquencies than those upon which the
Master had been tried before Bishop Moore in 1714 :
at the same time it may be remarked that on this, as
well as the former occasion, he was arraigned for a
number of acts, which rather deserved the name of
informalities than of violations of statute. Some of
the prosecutors were aware of this disproportioned
character of the charges ; but they waived their objec-
tions, in deference to Colbatch, who had devoted his
life to the prosecution of this cause, and was regarded
as the centre and main-spring of their party. His
feeling was peculiarly strong as to the propriety of
adhering to statutes in their literal and simple ac-
ceptation : he had been engaged in discussions and
altercations with the Master upon every, one of those
particulars ; and some of them, though of small con-
sequence in themselves, he deemed necessary to prove
his habitual and systematic disregard of the statutes.
It appears however that they did in fact afford Bent-
ley's friends a ground of outcry against his prosecutors,
as descending to frivolous and worthless matters in
order to injure the object of their hatred. They com-
plained also of the date of part of the pretended
offences : some of them were of twenty years' standing;
8 For a long time the non-attendance of Dr. Bentley had been considered
so certain, that the Chapel-clerks had forborne to light the candles of the
Master's stall, in order to avail themselves of that small perquisite. After
his restoration to his degrees in 1724, he resumed his long-neglected
attendance at evening chapel : on which occasion, there occurred a
ludicrous scene, detailed in a copy of doggrel verses in the Gentleman's
Magazine, vol. ii. p. 920, and Noble's Continuation of Granger, vol. iii.
p. 104. The lock of the door of his stall had, from long disuse, become
rusty, and he was unable to open it. The fact was related nearly in the
same way by an eye-witness, Mr. Edward Smith, in his deposition at
Ely House.
284 LIFE 0F
chap, and even the transaction with Serjeant Miller, upon
X ^ IIL which such great stress was laid, had taken place no
29 ' less than ten years before. But the prosecutors alleged
in reply, that they had been ever since endeavouring
in vain to find a Visitor, to whom their complaints
could be preferred ; and that this was the first mo-
ment that they could even obtain leave to make a
statement of their grievances.
Bentiey a P - The preliminary steps were taken in this great cause
pears at Ely jj ouse on tne seC ond of June, when Dr. Bent-
House. J nil
June 10. i e y appeared in person, habited in a purple cloak;
and had a further day appointed for tendering his
exceptions to the articles 9 . On that day his proctor,
Greenly, excepted against a large portion of them,
that they alleged nothing more than offences of neg-
ligence, which belonged to the first part of the 40th
statute, and were therefore not cognizable, since he
had never yet been admonished by the Vice-master
msobjec- and Seniors. Against all accusations of misdemean-
ours previous to the year 1721, he objected, that those
matters, supposing them to be criminal, had been
pardoned by the Act of Grace. Lastly, whatever had
been done by order of the Master and Seniors, was,
he contended, a corporate act, and therefore not cog-
nizable by the Bishop, but by the King, as general
Visitor of the College. All these objections were
overruled by Bishop Greene : he did, however, direct
several alterations in the wording of the articles, prin-
cipally for the sake of specification and exactness, and
one article, which related to the pre-elections of fel-
lows, he entirely expunged ; since that practice, how-
ever censurable, could not be shown to be a violation
9 Mr. Shelton, a barrister, an old member of Trinity College, writes tbus
to Dr. Colbatcb, June 3. "I was last night at Ely House, where the
Doctor appeared in person, with a purple cloak ; which occasioned some of
the Turba Re mi to call him Cardinal Bentivoglio."
tions
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 285
of the statutes. The articles were then returned to chap.
the promoter, and a day appointed for presenting them 17Qg '
in their corrected form. =====
But before that time arrived, Bentley gave another June 21.
specimen of the skill with which he could elude and pSS/to
baffle his adversaries. A few davs before the end of 'J 16 ^ ing ' s
J Bench.
Trinity term, his counsel, Mr. Reeve, applied to the
Court of King's Bench for another writ of prohibition
against Bishop Greene proceeding as judge in this
cause ; alleging the three objections just mentioned,
which his Lordship had refused to admit. The Court
again granted a rule for the Bishop to show cause why
he should not be prohibited : ordering all proceedings
to be suspended while the question was before them,
and allowing civil lawyers to speak upon the subject,
as one particularly belonging to their profession.
From Bishop Greene's decision upon the admis-
sibility of the articles, it was easy to discover that he
considered some which could unquestionably be es-
tablished, like that of the bargain with Serjeant
Miller, as sufficient cause for the deprivation of the
Master. It was, therefore, the policy of the latter to
prevent the case ever coming to a trial before that
prelate. To effect this purpose, delay and expense
were the surest expedients : the former enabled him
to avail himself of circumstances to break the con-
federacy ; and as the Bishop's costs were to be
defrayed by the prosecutors, he calculated that pro-
tracted litigation must ere long exhaust their re-
sources ; while all his own expenses were paid bv
the College stock, in which his enemies bore a share,
and were thus doubly losers by the action. His
motion, if it effected nothing else, was certain to
postpone the business till after the long vacation,
that period in which the Bishop had reckoned upon
XVIII
1729
286 LIFE OF
chap, completing the trial. The suggestions upon which
his application was grounded, were so framed as to
include the whole of the articles, and extend over
230 pages ; a copy of which, when applied for by
the opposite side, occupied above a week in tran-
scription, and cost them no less than nine guineas.
June 29. Before the end of the term the Bishop's counsel
showed cause against the rule, and urged the Judges
to take off the prohibition, as being a mere stratagem
on the part of Dr. Bentley to gain the long vacation.
The Court however, not having time to enter into
the questions involved in the application, continued
the prohibition ; and the discussion was of course
postponed till the Michaelmas term. They after-
wards granted a rule, empowering the Bishop, or his
agents, to consult all the College books, records, and
registers, for the purpose of evidence : which office
his Lordship deputed to Parne and Ingram, two of
the prosecutors.
Resumes When the summer recess afforded a truce to his
his edition ... _
of the New judicial struggle, Bentley appears to have resumed
the task of his New Testament, with a resolution of
discharging his debt to the public, and at the same
time supplying a practical answer to those who ac-
cused him of passing ' an irreligious life.' His
attention was now directed to two particulars ; the
evidence respecting the disputed verse of St. John,
and the collation of the Vatican manuscript. Upon
the former point, the advocates of the genuineness of
the text relied greatly upon its insertion in the Dublin
Greek manuscript. To ascertain, therefore, the an-
tiquity and authority of that copy became an object
of much importance : he applied for information on
various particulars to Dr. Delany, the well-known
friend of Dean Swift, then Chancellor of Christ-
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 287
church, and to Mr. Doyle, one of the Chaplains of char
that Cathedral 10 . The former sent a fac-simile of 1729 .
that part of the Epistle, in which the Heavenly =
Witnesses occur, and the latter answered all the
Doctor's queries with minute and laborious exactness.
From the character of Bentley's enquiries, I appre-
hend that it was his intention to introduce a dis-
cussion upon this controverted verse in the Prolego-
mena of his edition 11 . His correspondent at Rome,
10 His applications were made through the medium of Mr. John Wilson,
one of the Fellows of Trinity.
11 I shall quote the concluding sentence of Dr. Delany's letter, as it is
curious to see what a person of his celebrity felt upon this question :
" This is all the information I can give upon this controversy ; which I
am sorry to see revived in an age wherein the early editions of the New
Testament ought, in my humble opinion, to have more weight than
perhaps all the manuscripts now extant put together. No man who
knows the character of the early editors, can doubt the credit of those
manuscripts they published from."
Mr. Doyle's letters are very long, and his style unhappily prolix:
nevertheless, his statements respecting the Dublin MS., which lay before
him while he wrote, are so important, that the readers who take an
interest in that subjeet, will feel obliged to me for the following extracts :
" Sir,
" I received yours this day, and immediately set about con-
sulting the MSS. you desired, especially that text you mention : of which
I send you a copy, with part of the context. I had thought at first there
would have been but little occasion for it, because 'tis inserted at length
in Mr. David Martin's book, which I mentioned in my last : in which
also there is a large description and account of our MS. But I find by
my own notes, which I have taken of the MS., and by looking into the
MS. itself, and comparing it with Mr. Martin's account of it, (which I
have been doing almost all this day) that in many things he, or Dean
Yeard, from whom he received it, have been very often mistaken, and
even in this very text ; for though the words agree with the original, yet
the writing Mr. Martin has inserted in his book, p. 272, as the exact copy
of the MS. is, I assure you, not a little different from it ; as you may
judge yourself by examining the paper inclosed, which I copied this day
in the library, and which is as near the original as I could possibly write
it. And yet, after all, the form of the letters is different, as the hand of
one man will, though he takes never so much care to make it like
another's, be, after all, distinguishable from it.
" Now as to your other demands concerning the text, I have been no
less careful about them. The paper is the very same with the rest of the
288 LIFE OF
chap. Baron de Stosch, transmitted to him a transcript of a
172g ' large quantity of interlinear and marginal notes, ex-
- tracted from the Vatican manuscript ; for this pur-
book, as is also in all respects the colour of the ink, and the hand and
manner of writing. The leaf on which this text is wrote, is not any-
where scraped or blotted, neither is it pasted in, but makes one continued
piece with another leaf, which contains part of the Apocalypse. And
thus I hope I have been as particular with relation to this passage as Dr.
Bentley could wish ; and if in this, or any thing else, I can be serviceable
to him, while he is on so excellent a work, I shall serve him with the
greatest pleasure and readiness imaginable."
Then follows a very long and detailed account of the form, size, and
description of the MS. with much verbosity. The following are extracts.
" It is all of paper, but the paper exceeding thick, as thick as any
white paper I have ever seen ; but withal exceeding smooth and fine,
without the least wrinkle, knot, or the like, that ever I observed. Dean
Yeard indeed (and from him Mr. Martin) asserts it is parchment : but
when a dispute arose between us thereon, we referred it to another, who
affirmed it to be paper ; of which this is a clear proof, that all the rules
which we see in paper are clearly to be seen in ever)' leaf.
" Dean Yeard is certainly a very learned gentleman, and much better
versed in these things than I am : but his eyes are so very bad, and have
been this considerable time, that one that knew him would not wonder, if
he were mistaken in every thing the knowledge of which depended on his
eye-sight : and it is to this misfortune we are to attribute his mistakes in
this and several other particulars concerning this MS. And for this
reason, and also because Mr. Martin has very often not done him justice in
misquoting and mistranslating the Latin letter he sent him on this subject,
and from which Mr. Martin, in his defence of the 1 John v. 7 ., has taken
what he has said concerning this MS. (all which the Dean himself told
me) I say on these accounts it is that you cannot give much heed to any
thing Mr. Martin there speaks about this book, at least nothing contrary
to the account I send you."
" As for the age, 'tis in ah probability as late or later than printing,
and so Dean Yeard thought, and so he wrote Mr. Martin word, though
this latter pretends the Dean told him 'twas five or six hundred years old.
And as for the proof Mr. Martin brings of its being so old as he pretends,
'tis only a note wrote at the bottom of St. Mark's Gospel, declaring in
what year the Evangelist wrote it, which yet Mr. Martin has ridiculously
and preposterously interpreted, as if thereby the MS. I am speaking of
was declared to be wrote in the eleventh centurv."
" It agrees very much with the Alex. MS , even where they both differ
from all others, and especially where the Alex, agrees with the Yulgar
Latin, though this latter not always ; but the various readings, (supposing
this to be Montfortius's) are not very exactly collated by Walton or Mills,
and therefore if Dr. Bentley would insert the various readings, out of
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 289
pose he had employed the services of the Abbe chap.
Ridotti, as his old amanuensis Mico was dead. It ' { - 29 '
appears from the Baron's letter, dated July 9, 1729,
that Dr. Bentley had urged despatch, and was in
great haste to receive those extracts from the Vatican.
This urgency, and the fact that in the copy from
which he designed to print his edition, both text and
notes were in as great forwardness as his materials
allowed, make it probable that he waited only for
the completion of the collations of the Vatican MS.
to send his book to the press. After this time I pauses of
1 its not being
discover no trace of his being occupied upon his published.
projected edition : the contest which he waged with
his prosecutors allowed him but little intermission for
several years ; and in those short intervals other
literary objects were pressed upon him, and when at
length greater leisure arrived, it found him disabled
by age for the exertion requisite to complete the
work.
In the Michaelmas term the war recommenced Rul , e ., foi : a
prohibition
upon the affair of the Bishop of Ely's jurisdiction, made abso-
and the articles against the Master of Trinity. The
former, being defendant, showed cause in the Court
of King's Bench, against the rule for a prohibition,
which Dr. Bentley, as plaintiff, had obtained in the
preceding term. The matter of the c suggestions,'
upon which the rule had been obtained, was discussed
by the respective counsel at two different hearings.
On the latter day the Court remarked that ' the Nov. 10.
cause was of a nature to which they were unaccus-
tomed ; that none like it had ever been before them :'
they declined, therefore, to pronounce judgment
upon the case, until it had been argued by way of
Montfortius, we must collate it anew for him ; because he cannot trust to
the others, besides that they have collated only to the first chapter of
the Romans."
VOL. II. U
290 LIFE OF
chap. ' declaration and answer:' and in order to give an
xviii. . . &
1730. opportunity for such proceedings, they made the rule
for a prohibition absolute.
Progress of The only coarse which now remained for Dr.
of n action! ce Bentley 's prosecutors was, that the Bishop should
sue for what is called a writ of consultation ; that
being the act of the superior Court, by which alone
the prohibition could be removed, and the cause
sent back to the Bishop's jurisdiction. Accordingly
the pleadings for that purpose began in the year
1730. On the 31st of March the plea of the Bishop
w T as delivered to the Court. But it was found ne-
cessary to apply to the Bench for a rule to oblige
Bentley, the plaintiff, to reply to this plea : and
April 27. when the time came for his reply, his counsel prayed
for a month longer : the Judges, however, thinking
this delay unreasonable, granted him only a week.
Dr. Bentley then put in his implication, which was,
as Strange observes in his Reports, ' immaterial.'
The Bishop immediately demurred, that being the
next step in the action, whereby the defendant denies
the sufficiency of the matter of law alleged by the
opposite party.
This description of suit was admirably calculated
for Bentley 's immediate objects, procrastination and
expense. As it is generally the interest of the plain-
tiff to avoid all unnecessary delay, and to expedite
the decision, the practice of the Court presumes that
he will lose no time in taking the steps which are
incumbent upon him. But Bentley, though plaintiff,
had an opposite view ; he neglected to ' join in de-
murrer, ' the next step in the action, which is requisite
to submit the consideration of the legal question to the
June 2. Judges. On the first day of Trinity term, a rule of
Court was obtained to oblige the plaintiff ' to join in
demurrer.' This done, the next matter was to enter
1
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 291
all the proceedings in the action upon the records, chap.
and to make copies of them, called paper-books, for 1730 '
the use of the Judges. To ' make up the paper-book,'
is the ordinary business of the plaintiff; but as he
neglected to do this, the defendant had it made up,
and delivered to Bentley's attorney : the latter replied,
that this step was irregular, that it was assuming a
business belonging to the plaintiff. Hereupon the
Court was applied to by both parties ; but the result
of some intricate management on this point was, that
the Bishop's lawyers were unable to push the affair
any further during the Trinity term ; and thus another
legal year passed away.
Just before this time a general expectation prevailed Bentiey re-
* l fusesanoner
that a termination would be put to these tedious liti- of the dean-
gations, by the removal of the Doctor from the scene coL?
of dispute to a considerable dignity in the Church.
It was understood that some promise had been made
to him of the deanery of Lincoln, which became
vacant in March this year by the death of his friend
Dr. Gee. It was natural to expect that he would
eagerly embrace an opportunity of exchanging his
headship, the present tenure of which seemed preca-
rious, for such a station. He went to town on the
occasion ; but for some reason the negotiation failed.
It appears that he did not consider that deanery,
although richly endowed, as an equivalent for the
sacrifice of his academical stations : he probably
reckoned, that if he once quitted his mastership, he
might experience difficulty in retaining the emolu-
ments of the Regius professorship. As for the efforts
now making to deprive him, he relied upon his own
resources to defeat them ; and this legal warfare,
although it consumed his time, did not injure his
health, his spirits, or his peace of mind. From putting
together the different accounts, I conclude that he
u 2
292 LIFE OF
chap, aimed at getting both the deanery of Lincoln and a
1730 stall at Westminster ; and being refused that addition,
declined giving up his mastership 12 . When he wrote
word to the College that he was not to quit them,
some of his friends, who had gone all lengths to serve
him, and were perhaps alarmed at the prospect of
his leaving them at that juncture, determined to give
him a triumphal reception on his return. Accord-
ingly, part of them went to meet him at Bourn Bridge,
and brought him back in triumph to Cambridge ;
while others arrayed the College so as to welcome his
return in a manner similar to that in which they had
received the late visit of his Majesty 13 .
NewSenate- The interior of the new Senate-house being at
house. . l-iii
length completed, it was determined that the open-
ing of this beautiful room should be accompanied with
the solemnities of a ' Public Commencement.' This
celebration had usually occurred at intervals of fifteen
12 Mr. Say, the Bishop's secretary, writes to Dr. Colbatch, March 21,
" There has been a strong report last week, that Dr. B. would be made
Dean of L. and Preb. of Westm. and give you a release : but that report is
now vanished : and unless he will take the deanery alone, you must e'en
be troubled with him till the end of your law-suit."
13 This scene is described in a copy of doggrel verses, given in Cole's
MSS. They may also be seen in the Gentleman' s Magazine, 1779, p. 560;
they are called 'The Trinity College Triumph.' The writer is evidently a
member of the College, and there is much allusion to the small politics and
jokes of the place. The following are the concluding lines :
" But Baker alone to the lodge was admitted,
Where he bowed, and he cring'd, and he smil'd, and he prated :
' And pray now, good Master, how came it, the Queen,
Who knew you so well, would not make you a Dean?'
Quoth he, ' I might now have been in Lincoln Church,
Would I 've left my dear college and you in the lurch.
But, I thank 'em for that, they shall ne'er find me willing
To give eighteen-pence to receive a poor shilling.'
Then he grinn'd a broad laugh at his own joke so pretty,
And the Vice-master smil'd 'cause the Master was witty :
And let him laugh on ; he'll soon find to his cost,
A shilling is better than eighteen-pence lost."
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 293
or sixteen years, and therefore naturally coincided chap.
J . i l xviir.
with an event which forms an interesting epoch in the ]730
history of the University of Cambridge u . The Tory
party, which retained the ascendancy, were solicitous contest for
VicG-cli3.il-
that this august ceremony should take place under ceiiorship.
the auspices of a chief magistrate, whose feelings
coincided with their own. It was the turn of Dr.
Mawson, the Master of Corpus-Christi, a personage,
the splendid liberality of whose donations has made
his name illustrious both in the University and the
Church : but he was a Whig ; and the other party
contrived to put in nomination along with him Dr.
Lambert, the Master of St. John's, who had served
the office last year but one. The election took place
on the following day : the ministerial party were en-
tirely taken by surprise ; they exerted themselves,
however, with great energy to obtain a majority on
the poll for Mawson : in particular Dr. Gooch, who
had recently changed his party, used in favour of the
Whig cause the activity and influence, which we have
heretofore seen him exerting on the opposite side.
But the Tory interest was still too strong, and elected
Lambert by 84 votes against 83 15 .
When the new building was finished for the transac- King's
tion of academical business, the University converted p a c k e s dinthe
the old Senate-house into a room for the reception of ldSenate -
1 house.
" The last Public Commencement had been in 1714, when Dr. Greene,
the Bishop of Ely, had presided as Vice-chancellor. Roger Long, after-
wards Master of Pembroke Hall, and a distinguished astronomer, being
then a young man, spoke the Music-speech. Those who are curious about
such matters, will find a burlesque copy of verses relative to that Com-
mencement, in the Gentleman's Magazine.
15 Cole, in his manuscript Life of Dr. Lambert, gives an account of this
election ; and he also places on record some doggrel verses, written on the
occasion by one of the successful side : they are very scurrilous, and no
part of them is worth quoting. Cole gives the list of votes on each side :
in Trinity College seventeen voted for Mawson, three for Lambert : in
St. John's, none for Mawson, thirty-two for Lambert.
294 LIFE OF
chap, the late King's present of books ; keeping them apart
X ' from the rest of the library, in opposition to the advice
' of Middleton, the Principal-librarian. Their sojourn
here was designed indeed only to be temporary, or, to
use the words of the Grace, ' till they had a building-
more suitable to the munificence of their Royal bene-
Juiy. factor:' but here, after the lapse of a century, they
still remain 16 .
There seem to have been three leading objects of
attraction at the Public Commencement. First, Dr.
Bentley appeared once more in the quality of Divinity
Professor, moderating and opposing for several hours
at the theological exercises, which were on this occa-
sion performed in the new Senate-house, to indulge
public curiosity. Secondly, the University was treated
with an extraordinary exhibition of musical talent, by
Maurice Greene, the celebrated composer, who set to
music Pope's Ode on St. Cecilia's Day, altered and
enlarged by the poet himself for this occasion 17 .
Taylor's Lastly, the medley of Latin and English, called a
music- *
speech, Music-speech, was delivered by one of the best scho-
lars in the University, John Taylor, of St. John's
College, afterwards renowned as the editor of Lysius
and Demosthenes. Part of this farrago consists of a
satirical copy of verses, the leading feature of which
is a description of the students of Trinity College as
an idle and frivolous set, addicted to all the vanities
of dress and dissipation, and neglectful of science,
literature, and every thing else which ought to be
cultivated in an University. The feelings of College
16 This room, which was more commonly known by the name of ' the
Regent-house,' is on the north side of the quadrangle, over the Divinity
Schools. Its denomination in all official proceedings was Novum Sacellumj
of the origin of which term I am not certain.
17 Immediately after the Commencement Dr. Greene was appointed by
the Senate to the professorship of Music, which happened to be then
vacant, as a reward for his display of talent on this occasion.
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 295
jealousy must have been exceedingly strong; a hundred chap.
& / o XVIII.
years ago, to prompt such a sweeping condemnation ]730
of the whole youth of a rival Society, and predict =
still greater degeneracy in the course of one more
age, when Trinity Library was to be converted into a
ball-room ! ! However, now that the age has actually
passed, it is curious to remark how completely Taylor's
predictions have been falsified ; and that the youth of
that College, which he designates only as a ' dressing,
dancing race,' have been pre-eminently distinguished
in the Senate-house, then first opened, for their suc-
cessful devotion to every laudable pursuit 18 .
1S The lines which follow are part of an address to the ladies who
graced the University with their presence in the Senate-house on that
occasion :
" By this plain dealing will the fair-ones guess
Our clumsy breeding, and our lame address.
'Tis true our courtship's homely, but sincere ;
And that's a doctrine which you seldom hear.
I hope the charge is not so general yet,
As no good-natured comment to admit.
Pray, cast your eyes upon our youth below,
And say, what think you of our purpled Beau ?
For if the picture's not exactly true,
The thanks to white-glov'd Trinity are due.
What though our Johnian plead but scanty worth,
Cold and ungenial as his native North,
Who never taught the virgin's breast to glow,
Nor rais'd a wish beyond what vestals know ;
The Jesuit cloister'd in his pensive cell,
Where vapours dark with contemplation dwell,
Dream out a being to the world unknown,
And sympathise with every changing moon ;
Though politics engross the sons of Clare,
Nor yields the state one moment to the fair ;
Though Ben'et mould in indolence and ease,
And whist prolong the balmy rest of Kay's ;
And one continued solemn slumber reigns,
From untun'd Sidney to protesting Queen's:
Yet, O ye fair !
Let this one dressing, dancing race atone
For all the follies of the pedant gown.
The Templar need not blush for such allies,
Not jealous Christ-Church this applause denies.
296 LIFE OF
chap. Such an effusion as this is not the place to look to
XVIII.
1730 for a true account of the state of a society : however,
there is reason to believe that the satire, though over-
state of charged, was not altogether unfounded. Dr. Col-
li!!?* 3 ' C " batch used to declare, that his principal motive for
such exertions to procure a visitation, was the disso-
lution of discipline, and consequent neglect of study,
which was an unavoidable consecpience of the feuds
and distractions of the College. The state of things
resembled that into which the society was thrown by
the prosecution of the Master twenty years before ;
but with this difference : at that time all the Seniors
were at the head of his enemies ; now the majority
of the governors were under his absolute control,
and gave him the disposal of their funds, and the
vindictive power of legislating at his discretion. This he was
^hist e &e never backward in exerting for the annoyance of his
prosecutors, adversaries. Parne had distinguished himself by his
activity in the prosecution, and incurred a deep share
April 1. of the Master's resentment. Being a person of repu-
tation for ability and scholarship, upon a vacancy of
the Public-oratorship this year, he was nominated by
How sleek their looks ! how undisturbed their air,
By midnight vigils, or by morning prayer !
No pale reflection does those cheeks invade,
No hectic student scares the yi elding maid.
Long from those shades has learned dust retir'd,
And toilets shine where folios once aspir'd.
Pass but an age perhaps thy labour, "Wren,
Rear'd to the Muse, displays a softer scene.
Polite reformers ! luxury to see
The pile stand sacred, Heidegger, to thee.
Where Plato un disturb' d his mansion keeps,
And Homer now past contradiction sleeps,
The vizard squire shall hear the concert's sound,
And midnight vestals trip the measur'd round.
I see the classes into side-boards flung,
And musty codes transform'd to modern song;
The solemn wax in gilded sconces glare,
Where poring Wormius dangled once in air."
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 297
the Heads of Colleges as one of the two candidates ; chap.
XVIII.
but owing, as it seems, to the division of his own 1730
College, he was outnumbered in the contest bv his =====
opponent, Mr. Williams. As a public tutor, he w r as
more exposed than the other prosecutors to be ha-
rassed by the ruling powers. Frequent orders were
made to enforce strictness of discipline ; but the
penalties were attached rather to the tutor than the
pupil. Thus, in an edict against keeping dogs in
College, the tutor who did not prevent the practice
was to be ' excluded from his office :' an order was
made, from which two of the Board dissented, that
the payments of the young men to the College should
be advanced by their tutors, monthly ; and in case
of any default, both tutor and pupil were to be dis-
commoned. These, and other enactments of a simi-
lar complexion, were made by Baker and the Seniors,
who, while the Master was in London, carried on
operations at home with great activity. Most of the
younger Fellows who adhered to the prosecutors,
were convened before the Board, and censured upon
different pretexts. Prior and Hadderton were ad-
monished for charges of contumacy to Dr. Craister,
the dean. Ingram and Mason, who were employed
in consulting the College records, were special objects
of the Master's resentment. Mason being a man of
rough manners, grounds of complaint w r ere easily
discovered against him. He had, upon some provo-
cation, beaten one of the butler's servants, and for
this offence he was convened by the Master before
the Seniority : here an uncommon occurrence took
place. Bentley was unable to obtain the consent of Jan. 5,
a majority to any severe punishment ; but five dis- 1730 " 31,
sentients, of whom Colbatch w r as one, agreed to
inflict the statutable censure of the loss of one month's
commons, and an admonition. This blow was in a
298 LIFE OF
XVIII.
1730.
chap, few weeks followed up by a similar one. Upon
Ingram going to demand some of the College books
under authority from the Court of King's Bench, the
Master brought against him and Mason a charge of
having ill-used the College cook, by setting him in
the stocks. The circumstance had taken place nearly
four years before, and had long been forgotten.
Mason, who had been the principal, alarmed by
threats of proceeding to extremities, and having the
terrors of expulsion before his eyes, propitiated the
Master by some concessions ; the other, who pos-
sessed firmer nerves, faced the storm, and was con-
Feb.s, vened before the Seniority. But the charge was so
1730 " 31 ' palpably vexatious, that Bentley could not gain the
consent of a majority to the infliction of any punish-
ment : he, therefore, adjourned the meeting ; and
then declared himself and Craister the judges of a
case of discipline, appointing Hacket and Walker
their two assessors. Before such a tribunal, all diffi-
culties vanished. For this offence, as well as on the
general charge of irreverence to his superiors, and as
rixcB anctor, Ingram received a sentence similar to
that lately pronounced on Mason. Parne, being
produced, among others, as an evidence in this en-
quiry, had a sharp altercation with Bentley, and
complained of his bringing up against one of the
Fellows a sillv storv of such old standing : to which
the Master made this pithy reply, " You are now
prosecuting me for things done thirty years ago."
This last exercise of power was not suffered to pass
unquestioned. Bentley's prosecutors thought that its
discussion might advance their cause : accordingly,
Ingram lodged an appeal against the Master and
senior-dean before the Bishop of Ely, praying him,
Feb. 26, as Visitor, to reverse so unjust a sentence. Bishop
1730-31. Q reene wro te a letter to Dr. Bentley, not command-
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 299
ing, but advising him to suspend the execution of the chap.
sentence till the question of the visitatorial power, 1 - 30 '
then pending before the Court of King's Bench, had =
been decided.
These petty hostilities had no result except to ag- court of
gravate the evils and distractions by which the Col- B^Sover-
We was torn : they neither accelerated nor retarded 5 ul ? B ? nt_
i pi y s p' eas -
the progress of the great cause, which was winding
its deliberate course through the Court of King's
Bench. In the Michaelmas term of 1730 the objec- Nov. 6,
tions of Dr. Bentley to Bishop Greene's proceedings, Nov! 25'.
were fully argued on three several days, by Mr.
Greaves and Dr. Andrews on his side, and by Mr.
Harper and Dr. Henchman for the opposite party.
At the conclusion of the argument the four Judges
delivered their opinions in order, and concurred in
rejecting two of his pleas, relating to the King's
pardon and the corporate acts : they all held that
the Act of Grace related only to offences against the
public laws of the realm ; but did not apply to
breaches of College statutes, which were private laws,
enacted only for the government of one particular
house, and were cognizable by no jurisdiction except
that of a Visitor. As to the other plea, they were
unanimous in deciding that it was no defence against
such charges to allege that they were corporate acts ;
that every member of the corporation was answerable
to his Visitor for his own actions ; that if a measure
was criminal, it was the duty of the Head to have
resisted it ; and that it was no apology to allege that
others had concurred in its execution. Upon the
remaining point, the alleged jurisdiction of the Crown
as Visitor of the whole College, their Lordships were
not prepared to deliver a judgment: this was accord-
ingly postponed for a future discussion.
It was not till the following Easter term that a 1731.
XVIII.
1731.
300 LIFE OF
chap, further hearino; could be obtained : in addition to
other causes of delay, the Chief Justice did not
choose to hear a matter of such importance except
when all his brethren were upon the bench. This
lono'-ao-itated case now suddenly assumed a novel
May 11. complexion. When the counsel were proceeding to
speak upon the articles of accusation, the Judges
directed their attention to another question that must
previously be settled the validity of Queen Eliza-
beth's statutes, upon which they were grounded.
Their Lordships all declared their opinion, that the
Bishop of Ely was Visitor of the whole College, by
virtue of the original statutes of King Edward. It
may be remembered that Lord Raymond, the Chief
Justice, when Solicitor General in 1711, had con-
curred in an opinion that the Crown was General
Visitor of Trinity College : he now candidly declared
in court, that upon fuller information he had seen
cause to change that opinion, and was not ashamed
to acknowledge his former error. Mr. Justice Lee
entertained the strongest scruples about going any
further with the case : it seemed to him that the
Crown, having once constituted the Bishop of Ely
Visitor, possessed no more jurisdiction to grant, and
had neither power to revoke that authority, nor to
promulgate new statutes for the government of the
College. Since neither the plaintiff's nor defendant's
counsel were instructed to dispute the authority of the
latter statutes, the remainder of the cause consisted
principally of the Judges' remarks to the bar and to
one another, upon the difficulty which they had struck
out. As Elizabeth's statutes are those by which the
College has been governed ever since their promul-
gation, and which all the Society are sworn to obey,
the notion of overturning them by a judgment of the
Court threatened not only to terminate the present
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 301
action, but to dissolve the whole frame of the insti- chap.
tution. Their Lordships however were not agreed in
. 1731.
their views of this question. But another point soon
occurred to the Court, which enabled them to dis-
pose of the case by an unanimous judgment. In the
original citation, wherein the Bishop had summoned
Dr. Bentley to answer to the articles alleged against
him, he had styled himself ' Visitor specially au-
thorized and appointed by the 40th of Queen Eliza-
beth's statutes to examine the Master,' &c. The
Court held that this description of his powers was
incorrect, since he was already the Visitor, and au-
thorized to examine the Master, by King Edward's
statutes : this inaccuracy they judged to be fatal to
the whole subsequent proceeding : therefore, although
they had overruled every one of the Master's excep-
tions to the Bishop's exercise of his jurisdiction, yet
they thought this flaw, which they had discovered
themselves, was a reason for continuing the prohibi-
tion upon the Bishop. In Trinity term Lord Ray- Continue
mond ended the case, by delivering the judgment of tionon
the Court : his speech, of which a copy has been q 1 ^
preserved, exhibits great clearness and ability ; but
the point itself, upon which the judgment was founded,
is of a very narrow description. The Judges were
decided in their opinion that the Bishop of Ely, hav-
ing been made by King Edward, the immediate heir
of the founder, General Visitor of Trinity College,
continued possessed of that power in as unrestricted
a manner as any Visitor could enjoy it ; that Queen
Elizabeth's 40th statute did not and could not appoint
him Visitor over the Master, since he w 7 as such
already ; but only recognized him in that capacity.
Upon the question of the validity of Elizabeth's
statutes his Lordship did not consider it necessary to
give an opinion, since all his brethren agreed with
302 LIFE OF
XVIII
1731.
chap, him in thinking the inaccurate expression of the
citation a sufficient cause for continuing the prohibi-
tion .
Such was the termination of this long cause, which
cost Colbatch and the other prosecutors little less
than 1000/. ; while Bentley's expenses, paid out of
the College-chest, amounted to 1300/. By the com-
plaining party this result was considered as no less
than a denial of justice. None but professional per-
sons could appreciate the force of a technical objection,
which was thus made to counterbalance all the sub-
stantial and admitted merits of the case : the ex-
ception to the words ' specially authorized and ap-
pointed' appeared to the unlearned rather to resemble
a piece of verbal criticism, than the solemn judg-
ment of a high tribunal upon a question which had
been pending before it above two years. Even to
lawyers the flaw was not very obvious : it had not
been discovered by any of Dr. Bentley's counsel,
nor even by the Judges themselves till the very close
of the case, when there was no opportunity for the
Bishop's counsel to argue in defence of the words.
Nay, even some legal characters did not hesitate to
declare their belief that the judgment, although ema-
nating from such high authority, was bad in law.
It added to the hardship of the case, that the pro-
secutors had to pay the Doctor 289/. as costs ; al-
though the whole expense had been contracted in
discussing his objections, every one of which the
Court had decided to be invalid.
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 303
CHAPTER XIX.
Situation of affairs after the decision of the Court of King's Bench Bent-
ley's petition to the King Tlie Attorney -generaV 's fiat refused The
case carried by Writ of Error to the House of Lords Difficulties of
the prosecutors Fire in the Cottonian Library Origin of Bentley' s
edition of Milton His want of qualification for that work Fiction of
Milton's reviser No intentional deceit practised Presumptuous cha-
racter of his notes The general disapprobation Real merits of Bent-
ley's Milton Publications against it Pcarce's Review Bentley pa-
tronized by Lord Carteret Colbatch's tract on the Visitatorial Power
Mr. Porter Thompson The case between Bishop Greene and Dr. Bent-
ley argued in the House of Lords Bishop Sherlock speaks against the
Master The Lords reverse the judgment of the King's Bench Tlie
articles discussed separately The case adjourned to another sessio7i
Bentley commences an edition of Homer The Lords prohibit some and
confirm other articles Commencement of Bentley' s second trial at Ely
House His defensive plea Expense of the defence Dr. Bentley sen-
tenced to be deprived of his mastership Bentley resists the execution of
the sentence Continues to act as Master Hacket the Vice-master
resigns Walker succeeds Probable error in the Statute Colbatch
petitions the House of Lords Compromise between Bentley and part of
the Prosecutors Colbatch renews the suit, Court of King's Bench
grant a mandamus addressed to Dr. Walker Death of Dr. Davies
Destruction of his Notes on Cicero's Offices by fire Contest for the
Vice-chancellor's office.
Dr. Bentley, although he obtained a decision in his chap.
favour, did not enjoy much opportunity for triumph. 1731 *
All his positions had been overruled by the Judges ; =====
r . . ,, ill Situation of
who had besides unequivocally pronounced that the affairs after
Bishop was General Visitor of the whole College, ofuJcoun
and could execute that office at his discretion. It^h^
was now expected that a visitation would forthwith
take place ; and Colbatch drew up a set of articles
or interrogatories, which, to prevent cavil, were
304 LIFE OF
XIX.
1731.
chap, grounded upon the statutes both of Edward and of
Elizabeth. The Master was again thrown upon his
resources, to avert a danger which appeared to be
great and imminent. The Bishop's plan of proceed-
ino- however was not settled : he went to Cambridge
in July, and was there considering the course to be
adopted : but Bentley did not wait the result of his
deliberation ; he sent Dr. Hacket and Dr. Walker to
ask him whether it was his intention to visit Trinity
July 20. College during the vacation. The ambassadors
waited upon his Lordship at Benet Lodge to put this
question ; but in their anxiety to uphold the dignity
of the personage whom they represented, they seem
to have forgotten that of him whom they addressed ;
and the prelate, offended at their behaviour, refused
July 27. to give them any answer. As the courts of law were
not sitting, the Master announced to the Bishop his
intention of immediately moving the Court of Chan-
cery for a writ of prohibition under the Great Seal, to
prevent his exerting any visitatorial power over him-
self or his college. But in three days he saw oc-
casion to change his measures, and declared his
intention of petitioning the King to command the
Attorney-general to issue his Jiat, prohibiting the
Bishop's visitation : he lost no time in presenting
Bentiey's such a petition, taking his old ground of allegation,
theKhig. that the Crown only was Visitor, and that the Royal
jurisdiction was invaded by the Bishop. The Duke
of Newcastle, then Secretary of State, sent the pe-
tition to the Attorney and Solicitor General, with the
King's orders to report their opinion of its merits :
and those gentlemen, Sir P. Yorke, and Mr. Talbot,
appointed an early day for hearing the counsel of all
the parties concerned in the question. Nothing in
the whole proceedings gave so much displeasure to
Bishop Greene, already sufficiently prejudiced against
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 305
the Master, as this fresh attempt at litigation. He chap.
says, in a letter to Mr. Harper, one of his lawyers : 1731 '
" I am sufficiently convinced that all which the Doctor's counsel
have hitherto done, was purely to create delays, to make it as long
as possible before this affair can be finally determined : which is the
hardship I complain of; since it occasions an infinite expense, and
all this while prevents the discipline of the College to be taken care
of as it ought to be ; which is of so great consequence to that Uni-
versity and to the whole kingdom likewise. I have great reason to
complain of Dr. Bentley's petition to the King for a prohibition
against my proceeding against him and the College during the
vacation of the term, contrary to my promise to the Council ; which
is all a suspicion of his own ; for I never yet gave the least occasion
to him, or any one else, to suspect it, by any thing that I have
said or clone ; only that I refused to give any answer to two imper-
tinent men, whom he sent to me, to ask me the question whether
I designed it."
1 6*
The merits of Bentley's petition underwent twoTheAttor-
hearings before the Attorney and Solicitor-general ; S"|o?re-
where, among other evidence, was produced the fusecL
original copy of King Edward's statutes, with proofs
that the signature was in the hand-writing of that
Kino* himself. After an argument, the Attorney and Aug. 14
Solicitor decided that the fiat prayed for by the
Master would be illegal and unprecedented.
The question with the Doctor's prosecutors now The case
was, in what way the suit might be renewed with wTkof error
best prospect of success ; for no one thought of re- o f L e r d S . use
treat. Perhaps it may have occurred to some of my
readers, that it would have been an easier, cheaper,
and safer method, to have introduced a bill into Parlia-
ment to ascertain the visitatorial power over Trinity
College, than to endeavour to establish, by protracted
litigation, a point upon which the greatest legal
authorities had disagreed with one another and with
themselves. In fact this plan was thought of, and
the heads of a bill for the purpose are found among
VOL. II. x
306 LIFE OF
chap. Dr. Colbatch's papers ; but, I apprehend, it was
1731 ' deemed impossible to carry such an Act through the
two Houses without the countenance of Government ;
of which there was not the slightest probability.
The choice lay therefore between two methods : the
Bishop of Ely might, in the character of General
Visitor, summon the Master to answer articles of
complaint against him, and then contest a new
action of prohibition which was certain to ensue ; or
he might appeal to the House of Lords to reverse the
late judgment of the Court of King's Bench. After
much deliberation the latter course was adopted, and
a Writ of Error was sued out.
This proceeding was singularly daring : a person
must be very sanguine who could expect the House
of Peers to overturn a judgment pronounced by an
unanimous bench, in the highest tribunal of common
law, upon a point of which lawyers only could form
an opinion. Nor did it escape notice, that Lord
King, who as Lord Chancellor must be principal
judge in the appeal, was a friend and patron of Dr.
Bentley \
Difficulties The immediate difficulty was to ensure funds for
the still-increasing expenses of the prosecution. The
efforts already made by the few Fellows associated in
this cause, were so much greater than could have
been expected from persons in their station, as to be
a matter of general surprise. Bishop Greene had
thus far been indemnified ; but they could give him
no security for the expense of future litigation, ex-
cept their personal promise : and in case of the death
of Colbatch, whose health was precarious, it was
1 He had recently given the living of Stanwick, in Northamptonshire,
to Bentley's son-in-law, Mr. Denison Cumberland. The Doctor in his
correspondence with his nephew Thomas while abroad, communicated to
him his great intimacy with the Lord Chancellor.
of the pro
secutors
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 307
probable that the confederacy would fall to pieces, chap.
His Lordship required, therefore, a bond from Dr. 1?31 '
Colbatch and Mr. Edward Smith, the only two of
any substance, to bear him harmless to the amount
of a thousand pounds. This was decidedly refused
by Smith ; who, though liberal to an extreme in his
contributions to the cause, declined to submit himself
to a perilous obligation 2 . Colbatch however found
means to satisfy the prelate. Subscriptions were
2 The following sentences are extracted from Smith's letters to Col-
batch :
Sept. 20, 1729. " I received your letter of the 14th instant, and in an-
swer thereunto have sent you inclosed a hill for fifty pounds. I must beg
the favour of you to let me know how to direct to you when you are in
town, and I will take what care I can not to be wanting in any thing that
I can contribute towards the welfare and prosperity of Trinity College."
March 3, 1730-31 ; in reference to the Bishop's demand for security, he
says, " In the way that I am in at present, I know what I do. The cause
that we are engaged in I shall readily assist to the utmost of my power ;
but I must desire to be excused if I reserve to myself the liberty of judg-
ing when I can do no more." April 14, 1731. " I take this opportunity
of sending you, together with my best wishes for your success, the in-
closed note for 50/. and shall beg the favour of a line or two, that it is
come safe to hand." " If the worst his Lordship seems to apprehend
should really come to pass, and our cause at last must fall upon us, I shall
not be wanting in my endeavours to make the weight of it as easy to every
body as I can ; but I shall not willingly put myself under the power of
any man." Feb. 8, 1731-32. " If I can be of any service to you by a
little supply or so, be pleased to give me your directions, and I will see
what may be done." March 14, 1731-32. " I received a few days since
a letter from Mr. Johnson, desiring some further aids and assistance. I
did design to write to him to-morrow by some neighbour that should go
to Royston market ; but having, I think, at present the opportunity of a
much safer conveyance, I shall take the convenience of it, and send a note
for 30/. to you, as I intended to have sent to him. The expense that you
are likely to be at in this way (i. e. in the appeal to the House of Lords)
or how you are provided for it, is what I cannot so much as guess at ; but
if what I have offered be not sufficient to the business of this journey, I
should be very sorry if you should mince the matter, and not acquaint me
with it ; assure yourself, upon the first notice, I shall endeavour to supply
you further." June 2, 1732. " I send you inclosed a note upon Mr.
Thomas Blackman, for seventy pounds. The money is already in his
hands, and will, I dare say, be forthcoming whenever you shall think fit
to demand it."
x 2
308 LIFE OF
chap, certainly given and renewed from several quarters ;
1731 ' but who supplied those external resources, I cannot
ascertain 3 . It is not improbable that assistance came
from Gooch, Middleton, Ashton, and other members
of the University whom we have met with in a cha-
racter unfriendly to the Doctor ; and I find reason
to suppose that pecuniary aid was sent from the Earl
of Oxford, son of the late Lord Treasurer, and Dr.
Lockier, the Dean of Peterborough, an old Fellow of
Trinity College who is stated to have been a hearty
friend to ' the cause.'
Fire in the It was at this period that a disaster befell the library
cottonian im( j er rj r> Bentley's care, which was near proving an
Library. J i o
irreparable loss to literature and the world. The
King's and Cottonian collections had been removed
from Cotton House, first to Essex House, near Temple
Bar, and lately to Abingdon House, in Little Dean's
Yard, adjoining Westminster School, which had been
purchased for that purpose. In this house, which was
kept by a Mr. Bently, a fire broke out in the night
of Oct. 23 ; it did much damage to the Cottonian col-
lection, and was very near destroying the whole united
treasures. Dr. Bentley happened to be in town, and
hastened to rescue from the flames what he justly
considered the palladium of the library, the Alex-
andrian manuscript of the Scriptures ; and Dr. Freind,
a witness of the fire, describes in a letter his figure
coming out of the house in his night-gown, his great
wig, and the codex under his arm 4 . The number of
3 In the course of the extensive correspondence which I have seen rela-
tive to this prosecution, there is hardly any mention of contributions,
except in the letters of Mr. Smith. But it is certain from other evidence,
that several persons, and some of eminence, did contribute. I presume
therefore that their names were kept secret, and all documents relating to
the subject immediately destroyed.
* This is said to be the only anecdote, worth notice, which is contained
in Dr. R. Freind's letters to Lady Sundon. Nichols' Literary Anecdotes,
vol. ix. j). 592.
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 309
volumes destroyed or greatly injured by the flames C "4F -
was above two hundred. After this catastrophe the 1731
two collections were removed to the Old Dormitory at =====
Westminster, their last migration before the year
1752, when they were given to the British Museum,
and found a resting place in Montague House.
At this crisis, while he was awaiting; the session of 0ri g nof
Bentley's
the great tribunal by whom his fate was to be deter- edition of
mined, Dr. Bentley employed himself in the most
extraordinary and disastrous of his literary under-
takings, his edition of Milton's Paradise Lost. It will
be expected that I should give some account of an
enterprise, which is without parallel in the history of
literature, and which at first sight argues mental
aberration, or the dotage of talent. The facts of the
case I believe to have been these : the idea of correct-
ing a poem, which from the blindness of its author,
might be supposed to have suffered some injury in
the transcription and the press, originated with Elijah
Fenton, Pope's coadjutor in the translation of the
Odyssey : he published in 1725 an edition of Milton,
containing many changes in the punctuation, and
some substitutions for words which he imagined might,
from similarity of sound, have been misapprehended
by the amanuensis. This performance seems to have
led Bentley to exercise his critical ingenuity in some
corrections of the poem, which he mentioned to his
intimates ; for I find that a report was spread shortly
afterwards of his design to write notes upon the text
of Milton 5 . The idea was probably soon abandoned ;
but the mention of it might have suggested to Queen
Caroline the wish that the great critic would exercise
5 Dr. Ashenhurst, who, being in ill health, was at Bristol about 1726,
published this fact in conversation. See Gent. Mag. vol. ii. p. 754. He
died in 1733 ; whereupon the Master nominated Mr. Walter Titley to suc-
ceed him in his lay-fellowship.
310 LIFE OF
XIX.
1731
chap, his talents upon an edition of the prince of English
poets, and thus gratify those readers who could not
enjoy his celebrated lucubrations on classical writers.
Her Majesty having expressed her pleasure that Dr.
Bentley should undertake such a work, he immediately
complied ; having the double motive of obedience to
the Queen's commands, and a wish to bring his lite-
rary merits immediately before the noble judges, who
were in a few months to become the arbiters of his
fate.
His want of He took up the text of Paradise Lost with the deter-
qualifica- _ . T p i
tion for this mmatioii ol not only detecting every slip ol language
in a poem whose author was unable to revise what he
had dictated in his moments of inspiration, but also
of noting for rejection all the instances of bad taste or
incorrect imagery that his lynx-eyed criticism could
discover. For a person who was neither a poet, nor
possessed of poetical taste, to venture upon such a
task, was no common presumption : but it would have
been well had he stopped here. Wishing that Paradise
Lost should be read in his edition agreeably to his
notions of a perfect poem, he proposed, in every case,
his own alterations of Milton's verses, printed in the
margin. For such an undertaking, which hardly any
endowments or acquirements could justify, Bentley
wanted almost every qualification. He not only was
destitute of poetical talent, but had contracted an
aversion to the rapturous flights of genius and glowing
language which distinguish the divine poem. Scarcely
ever was he able to sympathize with the author ; and
was, besides, frequently ignorant of his allusions and
the source of his phrases and imagery. Of the works
of the Italian poets, to which Paradise Lost is greatly
indebted, Bentley knew nothing : and with the writers
of romance, who had been the delight of Milton's
earlier years, and from whom many of his allusions
1
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 311
are drawn, he was equally unacquainted. To have chap.
ventured upon an undertaking for which he wanted 1731
such indispensable qualifications, and put to hazard =====
his eminent reputation, upon a ground where he was
under every disadvantage, appears a wanton prodi-
gality of credit ; and is hardly to be accounted for,
without considering the peculiar circumstances which
impelled him to an immediate compliance with the
wishes of her Majesty.
The method in which his censures on Milton were Fiction of
delivered corresponded with the presumptuous and v iser.
revolting nature of the criticisms themselves. He de-
vised an imaginary personage in the character of an
' editor of Paradise Lost,' some nameless friend of its
author, who had corrected the press : to him, and not
to Milton he pretends to attribute all those faults and
defects which he so confidently points out. Of course
it is presumed that the author never heard the poem
read over ; not even when a second edition was pub-
lished seven years after the first ; and that all the
forgeries of the editor, consisting of the substitution
not only of words, but a multitude of whole verses,
and the introduction of many passages often or twenty
lines together, were palmed upon the world as the
offspring of Milton's genius, without the knowledge or
suspicion of the blind poet himself. This monstrous
hypothesis is thus propounded in the preface :
" Our celebrated author, when he composed this poem, being
obnoxious to the Government, poor, friendless, and, what is worst
of all, blind with a gutta serena, could only dictate his verses to be
writ by another. Whence it necessarily follows, that any errors in
spelling, pointing, nay even in whole words of a like or near sound
in pronunciation, are not to be charged upon the poet, but on the
amanuensis."
" But more calamities, than are yet mentioned, have happened to
our poem : for the friend or acquaintance, whoever he was, to whom
Milton committed his copy and the overseeing of the press, did so
312 LIFE OF
CHAP, vilely execute that trust, that Paradise, under his ignorance and
XIX. audaciousness, may be said to be twice lost. A poor bookseller, then
17.51. living near Aldersgate, purchased our author's copy for ten pounds,
and (if a second edition followed) for five pounds more : as appears
by the original bond, yet in being. This bookseller, and that
acquaintance, who seems to have been the sole corrector of the press,
brought forth their first edition, polluted with such monstrous faults
as are beyond example in any other printed book."
" But these typographical faults, occasioned by the negligence of
this acquaintance, (if all may be imputed to that, and not several
wilfully made) were not the worst blemishes brought upon our poem.
For this supposed friend, (called in these notes the editor), knowing
Milton's bad circumstances ; who (vii. 26.)
' Was fall'n on evil days and evil tongues,
With darkness and with dangers compass' d round
And solitude ;'
thought he had a fit opportunity to foist into the book several of his
own verses, without the blind poet's discovery. This trick has been
too frequently played ; but especially in works published after an
author's death. And poor Alilton in that condition, with threescore
vears' weight upon his shoulders, might be reckoned more than half
dead."
This theory involved so many obvious improbabili-
ties, was so totally unsupported by evidence, and so
little reconcileable with the memoirs which have been
preserved of Milton's life, that it was not to be expected
that any one should acquiesce in it ; nor can it be
imagined that Bentley himself seriously believed its
reality. Upon this point Dr. Samuel Johnson, in his
' Life of Milton," calls in question the moral character
of the critic :
" The generality of my scheme," says he, " does not admit the
frequent notice of verbal inaccuracies ; which Bentley, perhaps better
skilled in grammar than in poetry, has often found, though he some-
times made them, and which he imputed to, the obtrusions of a revisor,
whom the author's blindness obliged him to employ ; a supposition rash
and groundless, if he thought it true ; and vile and pernicious, if, as is
said, he in private allowed it to be false." Johnsons Life of Milton.
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 313
I cannot consider this view of the question correct ; CI ?v P '
or think that the Doctor subjected himself, in this un- i 731 .
fortunate performance, to the charge of designing; to ==
, ,., p i l . No inten-
propagate deliberate falsehood. In my opinion, the tionai deceit
ideal agency of the reviser of Paradise Lost, was only prc
a device to take off the odium of perpetually con-
demning and altering the words of the great poet : he
seems to have thought that the readers of his notes
could better endure the censure of a nameless editor,
than of Milton, the glory of our country. At the same
time, he was neither deceived himself, nor intended to
deceive others : he never really believed that all those
exquisitely harmonious similes and digressions in
Paradise Lost, containing allusions to classic or ro-
mantic fables, or all the long enumerations of proper
names in musical arrangement, were the offspring of
some corrector of the press, hired by the blind poet in
Bunhill-fields. But the fact was, that however de-
lightful they are to the ear, he deemed them out of
place, and blemishes to the poem ; and thought that
he might decree their rejection with less offence to the
reader, by assuming them to have been the interpola-
tion of an editor, unknown and unsuspected by Milton
himself. It is true that this machinery was clumsy
and ill- devised, presenting an unexampled instance of
failure in judgment : but Bentley was no more im-
peachable for a moral fraud, than the dramatist who
introduces a fictitious character into the action of an
historical play.
The execution of this extraordinary project of our Presump-
critic kept pace with the infelicity of the conception, racterofdie
His censures of Milton, nominally levelled against book '
the editor or corrector, are pronounced in so flippant
and presumptuous a tone, and in language so con-
temptuous and even insolent, that, if regarded in a
serious light, they become perfectly insufferable. It
14 LIFE OF
XIX.
1731
chap, seems as if Bentley had determined to justify, by this
performance of his old age, the ridicule long ago
thrown upon his commentaries on Horace in different
publications which we have had occasion to notice.
The jocular and bantering style of his criticisms is
particularly exceptionable, from its inconsistency
with the sacred subject of the poem, and offends
those feelings with which the reader of Milton is sure
to be possessed. Almost every thing that he chooses
to censure in the poem, is placed in a ludicrous point
of view : and as such buffoonery is not unfrequently
employed upon passages comprising the most awful
allusions, it is difficult to acquit him of irreverence and
profaneness, in allowing such a licence to his pen 6 .
6 This is, I admit, a severe condemnation of our critic ; but I think
that his notes upon the following passages, among many others, will prove
that it is not unmerited. Book IV. 269. Raphael
" Now on the polar winds, then with quick fan
Winnows the buxom air ; till within soar
Of tow'ring eagles, to all the fowls he seems
A phoenix, gaz'd by all, as that sole bird,
When to enshrine his reliques in the Sun's
Bright temple, to --Egyptian Thebes he Hies."
This passage Bentley rejects as spurious, observing, " When our editor
once begins with his similitudes, he knows not when to leave off; but still
blunders on, through sense or nonsense. Milton said, ' Raphael sail'd
between worlds and worlds,' wisely steered through the vacuous ether that
lay between them. But the editor, in contradiction, tells us, he sailed
' sometimes on the polar winds ;' which winds could not exist, but within
those worlds. And then, when he came so near the earth, as eagles used
to soar, he took the shape of a phoenix ; and three verses are bestowed on
the story of this phoenix. But why that shape, good master Editor ?
Why, says he, to deceive all the fowls, who look and gaze at him as a true
one. Was that a whim fit for an Archangel, sent from heaven to earth on
so important a commission ? Is not this rare trifling ? and among so
many real birds of grand magnitude and fine feather, could none content
you but a phoenix, a fictitious nothing, that has no being but in tale and
fable ?"
" Of elements
The grosser feeds the purer, earth the sea,
Earth and the sea feed air ; the air those fires
Ethereal, and as lowest first the Moon :
[Whence
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 315
The haste with which his notes were despatched chap.
would have been evident to the reader, even if Bent-
Whence in her visage round those spots, unpurg'd
Vapours not yet into her substance turn'd.
Nor doth the Moon no nourishment exhale
From her moist continent to higher orbs.
The Sun, that light imparts to all, receives
From all his alimental recompense
In humid exhalations ; and at ev'n
Sups with the Ocean." B. V. 415.
This, too, is rejected with the following note : " Our author should
have taken great care what notions, what points of philosophy, he put
into the mouth of an Archangel. Not to examine what he has said here,
' Know, that whatever was created,' even spirits immortal, ' needs to be
sustained and fed.' This doctrine may pass in Heaven, where nectar and
ambrosia are always in plenty ; but how will it do in Hell ? If the Devils
want feeding, our author made poor provision for them in his Second
Book, where they have nothing to eat but ' hell-fire,' and no danger ' of
their dinner cooling.' To pass this over; yet what he subjoins, from a
catch in Anacreon, 'H y?7 fxkXaiva irivti, &c. paraphrased by Mr. Cowley, is
not to be borne. Our air, our atmosphere, he says, ' feeds the Moon first,'
as the lowest of planets. Thin diet for her truly, and thinner for those
above her; for before the highth of her orb, it is a million times thinner
than on the top of the Andes, where no animal can breathe. But, liri
<paicy pvpov, to mend the matter, he adds a fine observation on it : ' thence,'
says he, ' those spots are seen in the Moon's visage, which are vapours
unpurg'd, not yet turn'd into her substance.' I find she has a poor
stomach, or a very slow digestion ; for her food, the very same spots, have
stood upon her table untouched for thousands of years, ever since this
Angel then spied them. Well, but though the Moon in so many ages has
eat so little herself, yet she has out of her moisture fed the higher stars,
and the Sun too is fed by ' humid exhalations.' This is Anacreon exactly :
' The Sun himself, as one would guess
By his drunken fiery face no less,
Drinks up the sea ; and when that's done,
The higher stars drink up the Sun.'
But, above all, thank our Editor for that, ' the Sun every evening sups
with our Ocean :' no doubt of it; and, as the poets vouch, Thetis washes
and rubs down his horses. But this Sun, methinks, is but a cannibal sort
of guest, to swallow up his own host. I own, to see such stuff as this,
delivered by an Archangel, raises my indignation :
Indignor, quandoque bonus dormitat Homerus.
But I hold to that point, that Homer himself did not write this, but Choe-
rilus, his editor."
1731.
316 LIFE OF
chap, ley had not told him in the preface that they were
J- 3l * written extempore, and sent immediately to press. In
. the twelfth Book he pretends that the supposed editor
had taken fewer liberties with Milton than in any of
the preceding, and had therefore spared him the
trouble of noticing his enormities : but the reader
perceives plainly enough the real fact, that it was not
the want of topics, but the approach of the session of
Parliament, which led him to pass the last Book
almost untouched, and hurry the publication of his
volume. It appears however that, although impelled
by a strange infatuation to fling away his credit in
this ill-imagined and preposterous adventure, he was
not blind to its almost certain consequences. His
nephew, Richard, to whom was allotted the task of
correcting the press, foresaw the result, and earnestly
dissuaded the publication; but in vain 7 . In noticing
the two last lines of the poem, and Addison's sugges-
tion for their erasure, Bentley thus alludes to his own
undertaking, and the Royal commands which had
imposed it upon him :
"' If I might presume,' savs an ingenious and celebrated writer,
' to offer at the smallest alteration in this divine ivork' If to make
one small alteration appeared to be so presumptuous, what censure
must I expect to incur, who have presumed to make so many ? But
jacta est alea; and non injussa cecini:
ilap' ifioiye /ecu ciXXoi
01 /; fie Tifdi'iaovai, ^uciAtora ce p^rlera Zevc."
A similar defiance of the censures which he fore-
saw, is expressed in the concluding sentence of the
preface :
" Who durst oppose the universal vogue, and risk his own cha-
7 This fact I learned from Mr. Bentley Warren, to whom it was com-
municated by Dr. R. Bentley himself.
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 317
racter, while he laboured to exalt Milton's ? I wonder rather, that CHAP,
it is done even now. Had these very notes been written forty years
ago, it would then have been prudence to have suppressed them, for '
fear of injuring one's rising fortune. But now when seventy years
jamdudum memorem monuerunt, and spoke loudly in my ears,
Mitte leves spes et certamina divitiarum ;
I made the notes extempore, and put them to the press as soon as
made, without any apprehension of growing leaner by censures, or
plumper by commendations."
In this preface, while speaking of Milton's power
of abstracting his mind from his own troubles, and,
' surrounded as he was with cares and fears, spati-
ating at large through the whole compass of the
universe,' Bentley makes a palpable allusion to his
own situation, and the calmness which he was able
to maintain amid the ill-usage and persecutions with
which he thought himself beset :
" This theory, no doubt, was a great solace to him in his affliction;
but it shows in him a greater strength of spirit, that made him
capable of such a solace. And it would almost seem to me to be
peculiar to him, had not experience by others taught me, that there is
that power in the human mind, supported with innocence and conscia
virtus, that can make it quite shake off all outward uneasiness, and
involve itself secure and pleased in its own integrity and entertain-
ment."
The new Paradise Lost appeared in a handsome Appearance
quarto volume just before the day on which the ses- ff C adon Ub "
sion of Parliament was opened 8 . The punctuation is January,
. 1731-32.
more correct than in any former edition : and the text
of Milton is given with no other alteration, except that
the words which Bentley was pleased to condemn are
8 The book was printed for Jacob Tonson and other booksellers ; who, it
is said, gave the Doctor 100 guineas for the edition. If this be true ; I
apprehend it was a larger sum than he ever received for any other of his
publications. The price of each copy was a guinea.
318 LIFE OF
chap, printed in italics, and the many passages which he
XIX.
1732
ordered to be struck out of the poem, are enclosed
between brackets. No words can describe the feelings
of the public at the amazing audacity of this attempt,
in which the bad taste of the alterations was rendered
more intolerable by the flippant arrogance of the com-
mentary. The admirers of Milton found many of his
most harmonious passages condemned as the produc-
tions of some silly, senseless blockhead, his learning
treated with contempt, his poetical expressions taken
to pieces, not without harsh abuse, and converted into
heavy prose ; and, as if the critic's classical predilec-
tions were in abeyance for the time, the imitations of
Greek and Latin poets, their phrases and idioms, with
which Milton abounds, were generally proscribed in
terms of banter and insult 9 .
9 Of this many instances might he given : in fact there is hardly a pas-
sage in Paradise Lost, where classical allusion, or any other description of
learning, is employed, which Bentley does not propose to expunge as
unworthy of the poet ; and in so doing, certainly contrives to lop off many
of the most beautiful parts of the poem. I will give but two instances,
taken casually, and without selection. The first is his note upon B. IV.
323.
" Adam, the goodliest man of men since born
His sons, the fairest of her daughters Eve."
" I'll not believe this distich to be Milton's. We have had too much
trial of his busy acquaintance, to be easily imposed on. The sense is
entirely expressed in the lines preceding ; and the diction is very vicious.
Adam ' the goodliest of his sons,' Eve ' the fairest of her daughters.'
Which, in strict construction, implies him to be one of his sons, and her
one of her daughters. Besides, his sons, her daughters ; as if his sons
were not her's too, and her daughters his. He might have avoided the
fault of expression thus :
Adam a goodlier man than men since born
His sons, and fairer than her daughters Eve.
" But the whole is silly, superfluous, and spurious."
The second is from B. IX. 385.
" Thus saying, from her husband's hand her hand
Soft she withdrew, and like a wood-nvmph light
[Oread
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 319
The combined effect of all the literary attacks upon chap
our critic in the course of forty years had not inflicted
XIX.
1732.
tion.
The public
Oread or Dryad, or of Delia's train, disapproba-
Betook her to the groves, but Delia's self
In gait surpass'd, and goddess-like deport,
Though not as she with bow and quiver arm'd,
But with such gard'ning tools as art yet rude,
Guiltless of fire, had form'd, or angels brought.
To Pales or Pomona thus adorn'd
Likeliest she seem'd, Pomona when she fled
Vertumnus, or to Ceres in her prime,
Yet virgin of Proserpina from Jove."
" Here our editor thought he had a field before him, to implant what he
pleased. He seldom intermeddles in speeches, wherein Milton chiefly
excels ; but when any thing of description will make way for him, he'll
never fad to intrude his rubbish. We have had frequent accounts of Eve's
beauty already; particularly viii. 59. when leaving Raphael and Adam she
went to her groves ; these most noble verses fully describe her charms :
With goddess-like demeanour forth she went,
Not unattended ; for on her as queen
A pomp of winning Graces waited still ;
And from about her shot darts of desire
Into all eyes, to wish her still in sight.
Yet now, when only she leaves Adam to go to the groves, the Editor has a
prolix attempt to describe her afresh, as if nothing had been said before ;
and yet he falls as much below the true Mdton, in book viii. as a novice
sign-dauber below a Titian, or a Raphael. Let us see what fine work he
makes. Instead of something real, he empties all his common-place of
mythology. She walked so light (a great commendation) as any wood-
nymph, Oread or Dryad, or one of Diana's train ; nay, she had a finer gait
than Diana herself, though she had no bow and quiver : as if carrying a
, heavy quiver at her back made Diana walk the more gracefully. Aye, but
he alters his mind ; and now she's ' likeliest (he meant likestj to Pales or
Pomona ;' and yet not to Pomona always, but when she fled Vertumnus,
who would have ravished her : Eve here had no such occasion to run away
so fast. Aye, but she's like Ceres too : all these, even in fable, are unlike
one another ; and yet Eve is like them all. But she was like Ceres, when
she was a maid, and in her prime,
Yet virgin of Proserpina from Jove.
I find the Editor's goddesses, though immortal, have the decays of old age,
grow past their prime, and then grey-haired and wrinkled. But what
monster of a phrase is that, ' virgin of Proserpina,' virgin of her daughter ?
320 LIFE OF
chap, so great an injury upon his credit, as was done by this
XIX
1732.
one ill-fated production of his own ; and he thus be-
came an illustration of the truth of his own maxim,
' that no man w T as ever written out of reputation but
by himself.' His notes on Milton excited either indig-
nation or ridicule, according to the character and dis-
position of the reader. Scholars witnessed this expo-
sure of their acknowledged chief, with shame and
humiliation ; while the unlearned English reader saw
reason for despising the classical knowledge and cri-
tical skill which he had so often heard extolled. In
the meantime, his friends were silent ; no tongue or
pen ventured to oppose in the least degree the general
voice of censure. Nor has public feeling been altered
by time : the work has continued for nearly a hundred
years to call forth, whenever it is named, expressions
of condemnation and amazement.
Real merits When public opinion is so unanimous upon any
of Bentley's . . . -, i r*
Milton. question, it is hazardous to mention a word ot excep-
tion or opposition : nevertheless it is certain that
Bentley's Milton contains many just and sensible
remarks, and many acute pieces of criticism, for
Any one else that was minded to speak human language, would have
said,
Like Ceres in her prime,
Not mother yet of Proserpine by Jove.
But it is time to leave this animal ; and to try if we can find any mangled
limbs of our poet, scattered among this dozen of lines ; veluti disjecti
membra poetce. These four, with some help of surgery, have the features of
Milton :
Thus saying, from her husband's hand her hand
Soft she withdrew, and hasten'd to the groves,
Arm'd with such gard'ning tools, as art yet rude,
Guiltless of fire, had form'd, or angels brought.
All the nymphs and goddesses, whether in their prime, or past it, we'll
return to their right owner."
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 321
XIX.
1732.
which the world allows him no credit. If any un- chap.
prejudiced judge were to try the experiment of con-
sidering Bentley's remarks on Milton's text, divested
of the absurd fiction of an interpolating editor, the
flippant and unseemly language of his notes, and all
his own proposed emendations, he would be surprised
to find himself frequently compelled to acknowledge
the justness of his strictures ; and even when he dis-
sented, would recognize the ingenuity of the critic.
Of all great poets with whom we are acquainted,
Milton was, in his earlier days, most given to the
practice of correcting and polishing his verses 10 ; and
there can hardly be a doubt that, if he had retained
his eyesight, he would have altered many of the words
and lines against which Bentlej^ excepts. And had
similar strictures been communicated to the poet in
his blindness, though he might have rejected with
indignation the suggestion of omitting so many fa-
vourite passages, as well as the prosaic alterations of
poetical expressions, yet he would probably have
accepted many of the hints ; he would have changed
or omitted many flat and inharmonious verses, and
removed those inconsistencies and improprieties which
cannot be denied to be blemishes to his immortal
work. Nay further : if Bentley's objections to the
introduction of heathen mythology and northern
superstitions into a poem which possesses a perfect
machinery of its own, had but been expressed in
decorous language, many of Milton"s greatest ad-
mirers might have acquiesced in their justice ; and
joined with him in wishing that all those allusions, as
well as the romances of the middle ages, and part of
his astronomy, his geography, and his scholastic learn-
10 This fact appears conspicuously in Milton's copy of Comus and many
of his earlier poems, which is preserved in Trinity library.
VOL. II. Y
322 LIFE OF
chap, ing, had found a place elsewhere, rather than in the
, ' divine poem of Paradise Lost.
It naturally followed that Bentley's publication was
against^" 8 attacked from every quarter, and particularly by the
host of small writers who swarmed at that day in
unusual multitudes. The Grub Street Journal, and
its contemporaries, continued for a long time to level
severe and acrimonious abuse at this unhappy pub-
lication ; and the Gentleman's Magazine, which had
recently begun its career, by extracting some of those
critiques, has secured them a more permanent ex-
istence than they were entitled to expect ll . Of the
sixpenny pamphlets which appeared in refutation or
ridicule of this book, one called ' Milton Restored
and Bentley Deposed,' gave the Poet's words and
Bentley's alterations in opposite columns ; that every
one might have an opportunity of joining in the out-
cry against the audacious critic. Another called
1 A Friendly Letter to Dr. Bentley,' written in ironical
language, contains a very witty exposure of some of
the worst and most preposterous of the alterations.
The title-page says it is by 'A Gentleman of Christ-
Church;' but I suspect it to have come from a Col-
lege with which Bentley was better acquainted. His
hapless performance soon became the butt of every
laugher, and the scandal of every lover of poetry. I
shall mention only two other works in which it is
censured : ' Explanatory Notes and Remarks,' by the
two Richardsons, the painters, father and son, of
11 One of the wittiest as well as bitterest of the jeu-d'esprits, was an
epigram on Bentley's applying to himself in the Preface the quotation from
Virgil : Me quoquc Vat em Dicunt pastores, sed non ego credulus Mis.
It was
" How could vale sycophants contrive
A he so gross to raise,
Which even Bentley can't believe
Though spoke in his own praise."
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 323
whom the elder is known as the friend and corre- chap.
spondent of Pope j and ' A Review of the Text of f^
Paradise Lost,' by Zachary Pearce. The last is a
publication of considerable value, and, in my opinion, Review!
deserves a preference over all the commentaries upon
Milton. Its author had long ago shown himself not
afraid of an encounter with our great critic, on the
subject of his proposed edition of the Greek Testa-
ment. Pearce was at this very time engaged in a
sharp dispute with Conyers Middleton relative to
' His Letter to Dr. Waterland,' the first work in which
he discovered a disposition to cavil at and undermine
Religion. Being very conversant with Milton, and
acquainted with the sources of his poetry, he printed
his remarks while the public interest was drawn to
that subject, and was thus engaged at the same
moment in literary contests with those two great
adversaries Bentley and Middleton. His ' Review
of the Text of Paradise Lost' appeared in three sepa-
rate parts : it must be noticed that although he con-
demns the present performance of the Doctor, he
treats him with the respect due to his splendid talents
and reputation, even while they were suffering under
an eclipse ; and this moderation of tone forms a con-
trast to the language with which he was assailed from
his other adversaries.
Our literary veteran had now to encounter a more Bentley
formidable ordeal than he had ever yet undergone, a by lota
contest in which both character and station were in- Carteret *
volved, before the supreme tribunal of the kingdom.
He had several acquaintance among the Peers, whose
support he solicited on this exigency. The person
who took up his cause with the greatest decision and
energy was Lord Carteret. That distinguished and
eloquent statesman had, since he was last mentioned
in this history, filled the station of Lord Lieutenant of
y 2
324 LIFE OF
XIX
1732
chap. Ireland ; and the affair of Wood's Patent, and the
resistance produced by the writings of Dean Swift,
have made the six years of his government one of the
most interesting periods in the annals of the sister
island. I find no trace of his intimacy with Dr.
Bentley before the last year or two ; and it seems to
have arisen from his Lordship's love of classical litera-
ture, and the pleasure which he took in the conver-
sation of our veteran scholar 12 . The countenance
afforded to him by Royalty itself was probably not
unfelt on this occasion : but the Bench of Bishops
seemed in general dissatisfied with the proceedings
which had taken place, and wished the cause to be
decided, not upon the ground of some legal nicety,
but upon its substantial merits.
Although the session was opened on the 13th of
January, it was not till after Easter that their Lord-
ships could find leisure to hear this question. As it
was a Writ of Error to set aside the judgment of the
Court of King's Bench, the situation of the parties
was reversed : Bishop Greene was now plaintiff, and
Dr. Bentley defendant : the former was represented
by Mr. Fazakerley and Mr. Harper as his counsel,
the latter by Sir Philip Yorke, Mr. Reeve, and Mr.
Greaves. The last gentleman, although a junior
12 The peculiar attachment to Terence, which is found among persons
educated at Westminster School, might probably be the means of cement-
ing their acquaintance. The following anecdote is told by Kippis, in the
Biographia Britannica, vol. ii. p. 280.
" Dr. Bentley, when he came to town, was accustomed, in his visits to
Lord Carteret, sometimes to spend the evenings with his Lordship. One
day old Lady Granville reproached her son with keeping the country
clergyman, who was with him the night before, till he was intoxicated.
Lord Carteret denied the charge; upon which the lady replied, that the
clergyman could not have sung in so ridiculous a manner, unless he had
been in liquor. The truth of the case was, that the singing thus mistaken
by her Ladyship, was Dr. Bentley's endeavour to instruct and entertain
his noble friend, by reciting Terence according to the true cantilena of the
ancients."
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 325
counsel, proved the Doctor's most useful and efficient chap.
advocate, both before the King's Bench and the 1732
House of Lords : and being not only the advocate,
but the intimate and confidential friend of his client,
he entered into all his feelings and gave effect to all
his views.
Before the case was argued in the House, Dr. coibatch's
Colbatch put forth an able pamphlet, called ' A visitatorial
Defence of the Lord Bishop of Ely's Visitatorial power -
Jurisdiction over Trinity College in general, and over
the Master thereof in particular.' This was an
enlarged and improved draught of his former tract
upon the same subject : its arguments are clear, well
arranged, and almost irresistible. The author, being
taught, by sad experience, took care not to allude to
the august tribunal, at whose bar the question was
now to be discussed.
It may appear surprising; that Dr. Bentley should Mr. Porter
. . J . ., . . i /^ r v Thompson.
at this crisis have again gone into the Court ot King s
Bench : such, however, was the fact. Mr. Porter
Thompson, a gentleman residing in Trinity College
as Master of Arts, had some quarrel with Dr. Hacket,
a personage who never let slip his interest with the
Master. In consequence of this feud, as it was
believed, Bentley with the assistance of Craister the
senior-dean, banished Thompson from the College.
He resenting this usage, entered into the party of the Nov. 30,
malcontents, and appealed to the Bishop of Ely as
Visitor for redress, alleging that ' he had been ex-
pelled without having any thing objected to him, and
without even a summons.' That prelate, conceiving- j an . 24,
himself to have been pronounced General Visitor by
the Court of King's Bench, felt it his duty to sum-
mon the Master and Dr. Craister to appear before
him on February 1, to answer the appeal, under the
penalties of contempt. Bentley chose to treat the
XIX
173
LIFE OF
chap, citation with neglect, and applied to Westminster
Hall for a rule to prohibit the Bishop from inflicting
the threatened penalties. The Court granted a rule
for his Lordship to show cause : but before the matter
Avas ripe for an argument, the events in the House of
Peers were thought to have rendered further proceed-
ings in this small affair unnecessary 13 .
The case It was not until Bishop Greene had himself peti-
Bishop 11 tioned their Lordships to take the appeal into their
Greene and consideration, that a day was fixed for the hearing;:
Dr. Bentley J '
argued in' and the Judges were ordered to attend the House
the House , , . , . , .
of Lords, each time that it was discussed, to assist, it necessary,
with their advice. The heads of the arguments of
the plaintiff and defendant were printed in a concise
form, for the consideration of the Peers ; those of the
latter containing the articles of accusation against
the Master, as well as parts of the statutes upon
which they were grounded. The interest attached
to this cause, and the personage whose fortunes were
at stake, produced full houses on almost every day
that it was argued. On the 6th of May it was heard
for the first time : the counsel for Bishop Greene, the
plaintiff in error, argued that the supposed incorrect-
ness in the words of the original citation, which was
the sole ground of the judgment of the Court of
13 Porter Thompson had been a fellow-commoner of Trinity, admitted in
1725. He became M.A. at the Royal visit in 1728. The only account
that I can give of this probably insignificant affair, is the following notice,
from the MSS.of "Will. Cole, who, when speaking of the village of Trump-
ington, and his friend Dr. Barnwell, who succeeded Hacket, and built the
vicarage-house, says : " Dr. Hacket quitted this vicarage on a quarrel
between him and Mr. Porter Thompson, whom he got Dr. Bentley to expel
from Trinity College, where he was Fellow Commoner, upon an idle, frivo-
lous affair; and Mr. Thompson, in return, insisted on his residence here;
which, not suiting Dr. Hacket, he resigned it." I cannot even discover
the alleged cause of his expulsion ; for the feud being afterwards made
up, Bentley erased the entry of his sentence in the Conclusion-book so
completely, that it is hardly possible to decipher a single word of it.
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 327
King's Bench, was neither a reasonable nor legal chap.
' XIX.
cause for continuing the prohibition, and refusing all Y '
justice to the complainants. They maintained, first,
that the words ' specially authorized and appointed by
the 40th of Queen Elizabeth's statutes,' were not
incorrect ; since the Bishop, though constituted Visi-
tor by the former statutes, was then going to proceed
upon the latter enactment. Secondly, ' that had
the citation been defective, Dr. Bentley's appearing
upon it, as he did, at the time and place appointed,
would have cured the mistake.' Thirdly, that Visi-
tors, not being tied up to any particular form of pro-
ceeding, ought not to be prohibited for informality,
but only for want of jurisdiction ; that in this case
it was admitted that the Bishop possessed the juris-
diction, and only objected that he had given a wrong
description of his authority. When the plaintiff's
case had been gone through, the House adjourned,
it being Saturday, and fixed the following Monday
for hearing the other party. On that day Dr. Bent- Ma >' 8 -
ley's counsel spoke in answer to the arguments of
their opponents, relying principally upon the topics
which had been supplied to them by the Chief Jus-
tice himself in his speech on delivering the opinion
of the whole Court. One of the Bishop's counsel
replied : after which they were all ordered to with-
draw, and it was moved that the judgment of the
Court of King's Bench should be reversed, and the
prohibition taken off. A debate ensued, in which Bishop
the most prominent speaker was Bentley's old oppo- spe e a r k
nent, Sherlock, who occupied the see of Bangor,
This distinguished prelate had already displayed his
senatorian talents in the discussion on the Pension
Bill, and other occasions ; he now reasoned against
the Master of Trinity with a power of argument
which bore down the efforts of his supporters. The
against the
Master.
;j_\s LIFE OF
chap, speeches have not been reported, and the journals of
" the House contain nothing but minutes of the pro-
ceedings : I can therefore only glean occasional hints
of the debates, and notices of the divisions, from
loose memoranda of persons present : it seems that
Bentley's prosecutors attributed much of the unex-
The Lords pected success of this day to the arguments of Bishop
reverse the Sl ier lock. Upon a division being called for, the
judgment of 1 ~
the court judgment of the Court of King's Bench was reversed
of King's i . . i iS x
Bench. by a majority ot twenty-eight Peers against sixteen.
Another debate then took place upon the method
of proceeding ; the result was, that the counsel were
called in, informed by the Lord Chancellor of the
decision of the House, and asked whether they had
any thing to offer. Those of the plaintiff prayed in
general, ' that a Consultation might be granted,'
that is, that the cognizance of the articles might be
remitted to the Bishop of Ely. One of the defend-
ant's lawyers, probably Greaves, suggested that their
Lordships should examine each article of the accusa-
tion, compare it with the statutes, and give directions
The articles thereupon. After further argument at the bar, the
discussed
sep
arateiy. House agreed to this suggestion, probably not being
aware of the magnitude of the task which they im-
posed upon themselves : the effect was, that a post-
ponement of the trial for another year became inevit-
May 15. able. The Peers adjourned the further proceeding
in this cause to that day se'nnight : another long ar-
gument then took place at the bar upon the mode of
proceeding; and their Lordships agreed, after further
debate, that every article should be argued separately.
The Bishop's counsel then prayed that a consultation
might be granted upon the sixth article, that which
accused the Master with constantly and habitually
absenting himself from divine service in the chapel ;
this being a charge which the House considered very
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 329
flap-rant. In the arguments at the bar, the extent of chap.
XIX.
the Bishop's jurisdiction having been questioned, the 1732 '
Judges were directed to give the House their opinion
upon that point. After learning from those authori-
ties that the Master's habitual absence from chapel
was a violation of Queen Elizabeth's statutes, and
therefore cognizable by the Bishop, another debate
ensued : in conclusion, it being moved that a prohi-
bition should issue against enquiring into this article,
the House divided, and a majority decided in the
negative: a consultation was then granted. Onthe Ma y 1G -
morrow the subject was resumed, when the seventh
article underwent a similar discussion : this related
to the negligence of the Vice-masters, and was really
aimed at Baker. The Peers determined that no
accusation should be submitted to the judge, which
would not, if proved, be a sufficient ground for the
Master's expulsion ; they therefore prohibited this
article ; and thus ended the business of the day.
The prosecutors now found a double inconvenience
from the multiplicity of articles : many of the charges
being insignificant in comparison with those on which
the real stress was laid, raised a prejudice against
their cause, and at the same time gave their oppo-
nents fresh means of increasing the duration and
expense of the suit. As the method was to hear
three counsel upon each head of accusation, and then
debate the question in the House, one charge was as
much as could be conveniently disposed of at a sit-
ting. Accordingly, on the next day Bishop Greene's May 17.
counsel acquainted the House, that in order to take
up as little of their Lordships' time as possible, they
were willing to waive proceeding on several of the
articles. But the defendant's counsel declined this
forbearance : and, after an argument, the Peers re-
solved that the plaintiff must proceed, article by
330
LIFE OF
CHAP.
XIX.
1732.
The case
adjourned
to another
session.
article. The lawyers were then heard upon the
eighth and ninth articles, the latter depending on the
former, and accusing the Master of suffering the
chaplains of the College to be non-resident : and
upon these, the House ordered the prohibition to
stand. As they were now within a fortnight of the
end of the session, and much public business, par-
ticularly the bills relating to the frauds on the Cha-
ritable Corporation, were still pending, their Lord-
ships found that the affairs of Trinity College must
be postponed, and therefore adjourned proceedings
in this cause till Tuesday in the second week of the
ensuing- session
14
The reversal of the judgment of the King's Bench
was a matter of great triumph to all Bentley's adver-
saries ; though the matter was so managed, that the
wished-for result was postponed and rendered doubt-
ful. The success which had been obtained was attri-
buted to the courage and perseverance of Dr. Col-
batch, by whom the whole proceedings had been
directed, and all the arguments supplied to the coun-
sel 15 .
14 Parliament was prorogued this year on the first of June, as the King
was setting out to visit his German dominions.
15 The following letter is a specimen of the manner in which the news
of Colbatch's success was received by Bentley's enemies at Cambridge.
The writer I presume to have been Mr. John Perkins, a Fellow of St.
John's College :
" Dear Sir, May 13.
"lam obliged to you for the favour of yours, and am glad
that our friends served you so effectually. Give me leave to rejoice with
you, and to congratulate you upon your success. All admire your courage
now, and applaud your victory, who have overcome an enemy so obstinate,
so powerful, and so well-skilled in all evasive arts and stratagems. You
are the common toast of the place, and it is surprising to see how the scene
is altered ; they who before had not virtue enough to declare against the
vices of the man, are now the most zealous against him, and wish and
long for justice. It is a pity that the Bishop of Bangor's speech and ar-
gumgs are not taken down in writing. Pray be pleased to remember who
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 331
As soon as the parliamentary proceeding's ceased chap.
YFY
for the year, the Master, who knew that much 173 V
remained to be contested before a final victory could
be gained over him, resumed his studies, and com- commences
menced an edition of Homer; a work which he had a !?^ dltI0n
ot Homer.
meditated for a few years past, and which every
scholar was anxious that he should accomplish. By
taking it in hand at this crisis, he supplied one more
evidence of the truth of what his enemies alleged ;
that whenever he w^as in legal peril, his practice was
to interest the public in his favour by some literary
undertaking. Lord Carteret, who had fought his
battle in the House of Peers, now encouraged and
urged this design, and endeavoured to hold him
pledged to its completion, by borrowing for his use
all the manuscripts and other assistance which his
interest and connections could procure. Our account,
however, of this projected edition must be deferred,
till we have described the issue of the proceedings
which were pending in Parliament against the
editor.
In the month of January the House of Lords resumed l ?33.
the consideration of the articles ; they entered, day prohibits
after day, into all the minute details of academical confirms* 1
discipline and studies, interpreted the statutes, and oth . e !' o
took upon themselves the various functions of a Col-
lege Seniority. Nor do the noble senators appear to
have disliked the employment ; for instead of the
matter being heard, as appeal cases generally are, by
of Sir J. Cotton's friends attended. I have spent the afternoon with the
Master of Jesus , who desires his service to you, and is well pleased ; he
says, you fought to such a disadvantage that he began to despair. I beg
you will be so good as to let me have the favour of seeing you at your
return to College.
" I am, dear Sir, your most affectionate and faithfid servant,
" J. Perkins. v
332 LIFE OF
chap, two or three unwilling auditors, the Journals show that
" there was a large attendance of Peers on every day
. that the affairs of Trinity College were discussed, even
when there was no other business before the House.
Jan. 24, Upon the first day their Lordships took into consider-
1732 " 33 ' ation the four articles, Nos. 10, 11, 12 and 13, all
which related to the Master's refusing to appoint lec-
turers on the Catechism ; and the majority determined
Jan. 25. to send Dr. Bentley to his trial upon this charge. On
the morrow the fourteenth article was heard, which
charged him with not allowing the vacancies in the
College-preacherships to be filled up. It occupied
the House the whole day; but the majority held that
the preacherships were useless, and that his refusal to
elect was no offence ; upon this charge therefore the
Jan. 2G. prohibition continued. They prohibited also the two
next articles, which accused the Master of not giving
away vacant livings till more than five months had
passed : the statutes, to be sure, are precise and
peremptory in ordering that the presentation shall be
given in one month ; but it was held that this was
inconvenient to Fellows who might visit them to view
their condition, when by reason of distance and bad
roads the appointed time might be exceeded. The
prosecutors then begged leave to waive the seven-
teenth and eighteenth articles, which accused the
Master of not hearing the probationary sermons of
the College preachers : this indulgence was conceded.
Debate But upon the two next, relating to the disputations
JJe n e xer- m chapel, a sharp debate ensued : the Bishop of
cises. London, Gibson, maintained that the subject was one
of very great importance ; that the power of reason-
ing, and knowledge of theology, obtained by the
disputants were essential acquirements ; and that if
the House thought lightly of them, an important exer-
cise would be discouraged. Lord Carteret, in reply,
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 333
spoke with some respect of the religious exercises, but. chap.
ridiculed those upon philosophy, as being grounded 1733 '
on the Physics of Aristotle. As for the articles them-
selves, he termed them ' the distempered frenzies of
cloistered zealots ;' said that a late Bishop of Ely
(meaning Fleetwood) ' would have scorned to accept
of such ; and that no man of tolerable sense or learn-
ing could with a grave face expel a Master upon this
charge, nor even admonish him, without the censure
of dulness and incapacity, and the amazement of man-
kind.' Bishop Willis, of Winchester, spoke nearly to
the same effect as his brother of London. Bishop
Reynolds, of Lincoln, agreed with his Reverend
brethren in considering it a subject of moment; but
as this alleged neglect did not seem to him a sufficient
ground for expulsion, he thought it better to vote for a
prohibition. Lord Hay doubted whether the disputa-
tions in question did not do more harm than good,
and instanced the practice of the Jesuits in other
countries, who adhered to the old jargon of the
schools. Upon a division, the prohibition was carried
by fourteen against twelve. It was then determined,
by a majority of one, to sit on the following day,
Saturday, contrary to ordinary practice, in order to
get forward with this interesting cause. The prose- Jan. 27.
cutors waived the four next articles, of which the two
first concerned the lecturers of the College, and the
two last that abuse of the porter's office which has
been noticed in a former chapter. The House then
debated the twenty-fifth and twenty-sixth, which
charged Bentley with violation of statute in transact-
ing the College business at a board of eight Fellows,
some of whom were neither Seniors nor deputed by
Seniors : here their Lordships interpreted in favour of
the Doctor ; but, on the same da} 7 they came to an
opposite conclusion upon the four next articles, which
334 LIFE OF
C xix P ' re g arded the affixing the College seal at meetings
1733. where less than sixteen Fellows were assembled : for
this they sent him to his trial ; and it cannot be denied
that the opposite manner of deciding those two cases
Jan. 29. showed considerable discrimination. The four fol-
lowing articles upon the elections to scholarships and
fellowships, one of them regarding Bentley's son, were
withdrawn ; but a contest took place on the thirty-
fifth, which charged him with not visiting the College
estates; and again, on the thirty-sixth and thirty-
seventh, relating to the lease of Massam House to his
brother ; a matter which had been the source of as
much odium as any transaction of his life : but both
charges were prohibited by the Peers. It was now
evident that the cause was proceeding with accelerated
velocity, twenty articles having been disposed of in
Jan. 31. three days. At the next sitting Bentley's friends
proposed that the mode of proceeding should be
altered, and that his counsel should speak first upon
each article, in order to have the advantage of the
reply. Had this suggestion been adopted, it is pro-
bable that the case would not have been got through
the House in that session. The Lords however chose
to persevere in the method prescribed, and proceeded
to try the merits of the four articles regarding the
alienation of a small piece of land in the North as
long ago as the year 1713, and in conclusion they con-
firmed them ; but all those relating to the evasion of
Feb. 1. the Corn Act were prohibited. They advanced with
exemplary diligence through the remainder of the
charges, and confirmed those respecting the granary
and other buildings on the Master's premises, the
country-house at Over, the alleged extravagance in
the household consumption of the lodge, and the bar-
gain with Serjeant Miller. The decision of the last
question proved how different an impression it had
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 335
made on their lordships' minds from any of the others, chap.
XIX.
In general the divisions had been nearly equal : this 1733
last article was confirmed without a dissentient voice. =====
The two last days of the discussion were occupied
in settling the question of costs, which were claimed
by Dr. Bentley. Their Lordships having ordered the
attendance of the Judges, proposed to them a feigned Feb. 8.
case, the answer to which was to guide their decision
on this subject. They supposed a case of appeal
from the Common Pleas to the King's Bench, in
which the judgment of the lower court was in part
reversed and in part confirmed by the higher, and
enquired whether the costs would be reduced or stand
undiminished. The Judges finding this a nice and
difficult point, which required deliberation and re-
search, a week was given them for consideration. The
result of their opinion was in favour of giving to Dr. Feb - 15 -
Bentley moderated costs. It was then moved, that
Bishop Greene should pay him fifty pounds on this
account ; but the Doctor's friends considering that
sum too small for an appeal of such length, resisted
and negatived the motion : whereupon it was voted,
that the Bishop, as plaintiff in error, should pay the
defendant one hundred pounds as costs ; and final
judgment was pronounced, giving him permission to
try the Master of Trinity upon twenty of the sixty-four
articles.
As the charges which were admitted comprehended
most of the serious imputations against Bentley, the
final result was not likely to be affected by the obsti-
nate struggle which he had made in detail before the
House of Lords. He had, in reality, gained nothing
but delay ; and this was purchased by a sum little
less than 1000/, paid from the College chest as the
defendant's expenses in the parliamentary proceed-
ings. There were still however so many difficulties
1
XIX.
1733
336 LIFE OF
chap, in the way, that a compromise was suggested to the
prosecutors, as the most expedient method for the
restoration of Trinity College ; and it was thought
that the Master, being now in extreme peril, would
consent to certain conditions, of which the principal
was, an immediate settlement of the society by the
Bishop as General Visitor. This was recommended
by Mr. Say, the confidential secretary at Ely House :
but I find no mention of an overture for accommoda-
tion coming from either of the parties ; nor did such
a scheme suit the character either of Bentley or of
Colbatch.
The prosecutors, impatient as they were to bring to
a close this long protracted affair, found another and
unlooked-for source of delay. The ' writ of consulta-
tion,' decreed by the Peers on the 15th of February,
was not sent to the Bishop of Ely till the 31st of May,
although no pains were spared in urging the Lord
Chancellor to execute the order of the House. This
extraordinary delay was attributed by the aggrieved
party to that nobleman's partiality towards Dr. Bent-
ley ; a suspicion to which no credit ought to be
given 16 . Whatever was the cause of this dilatory
The following letter from Mr. Say to Mr. Johnson, expresses the
sentiments of Ely House at this treatment :
" Dear Sir, Ma V 12 > 1 ' 33 -
" I received yours of the last post, and will take care to acquaint
my IiOrd with it, as soon as he is fit for business : at present he is very ill,
and I think, as I have all along thought, in a dangerous way.
" Lord Chancellor, though he had the judgment ten days before the end
of the term, has not yet finished it ; though no pains have been wanting on
the part of my Lord to press him to despatch. But that you can account
f or No remedy, therefore, but that we must stay
till next term for the consultation ; and who knows, as that will be a very
short term, but some way or other will be found out to baffle us till the
vacation ?
" These are hardships, but such as you and we have been used to.
" I am, dear Sir, yours,
" Fua. Say."
[I know
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 337
proceeding, the effect was, that the business was chap.
YFV
driven off for another twelvemonth. Bishop Greene 1733
had engaged the assistance of Dr. Audley and Dr.
Cotterell, as his assessors in the approaching trial :
the avocations of these gentlemen compelled them to
leave town at the end of June ; and one month was
too short a period to bring to a close this important
suit. In the meantime both the Bishop and Dr.
Colbatch were in a doubtful state of health ; and the
death of either would probably have quashed the whole
proceedings.
The moment that the writ was obtained, Bishop commence-
Greene issued his citation to the party : and the first Beatiey's
court was held at Ely House, on the 13th of June, ^cond trial
Here Dr. Bentley in his seventy-second year had to House,
undergo a second public trial upon charges which
seriously affected his character. He did not think fit
to obey the summons in person ; but Mr. Greenly,
his proctor, answered the articles, in his name, with
a negative plea. The Bishop then laid down the
method which he had resolved to follow. All the June 13,
evidence was to be in writing : full notice of every
witness brought forward by each party was to be given
to their opponents, for the purpose of cross-examina-
tion : and he determined to hear only two counsel,
one common and one civil lawyer on each side,
respecting the several articles. The counsel of the
promoter in vain petitioned his Lordship to admit
oral as well as written testimony.
Ten days afterwards the Master gave in his ' De- His defen-
sive plea.
I know not whether this seeming denial of justice might be partly attri-
buted to the peculiar state of the Court of King's Bench this year. I
observe that Lord Raymond died in March, and that for seven months
there was no Chief Justice ; his successor, Sir Philip Yorke, not being
appointed till October. Mr. Justice Page presided in the Court during the
interval, and executed the functions of the Chief.
VOL. II. Z
338 LIFE OF
chap, fensive Plea.' As this piece is on every account
xrx.
1733 cunous, it will be given at large in an Appendix. It
===== exhibits the strong, clear, and peculiar style of the
author, though invested with the technicalities of the
civilian who reduced it into the form of a legal docu-
ment. Our readers being already in possession of the
plain unvarnished facts, will not always be satisfied
with the defence ; but they cannot fail to remark the
ingenuity with which many of the charges are evaded,
and a new light thrown upon the transactions. At
all events, it is important to those who would form
an estimate of this extraordinary man, to see his
own account of those parts of his conduct upon
which his moral character was peculiarly called in
question.
To this plea Johnson the promoter replied : and
the depositions of the different witnesses began imme-
diately to be taken. As the majority of them were
absent from London, the Bishop gave commissions to
various persons to receive depositions. Of these com-
missioners the principal was Mr. Edmund Law, a
Fellow of Christ College, who became in the fulness
of time a distinguished member of the episcopal
Bench.
Ordand An attempt was just now made, as it was thought,
l I'IVkP Q
petition to at Bentley's instigation, to divert the public attention,
the Kmg. ^j^ was fi xe d ^v itli intense interest upon this trial,
and to induce the Crown to interfere in the affairs of
Trinity College. Mr. Ord and Mr. Clarke, two
Junior Fellows, whose profession was the bar, pre-
sented a petition to the King in Council, praying
that he would increase the number of Lay-fellowships,
or in other words, would permit more than the two
specified in the statutes to remain Fellows after the
appointed period, without taking Orders. The peti-
tion was sent to the Attorney and Solicitor-general
RICHARD BEE DLEY, DJ),
for their opinion. A day being appointed for the chap
hearing, Dr. Bentley's prosecutors deemed it right to
oppose the progress o\' an affair calculated to delay
and obstruct the present trial. After Mr. N\ vnne. the
counsel for the promoter, had spoken, the Attorney
and Solicitor-general determined that the matter and
circumstances were such, that they could not advise
the King to take any proceedings upon the petition.
The evidence of the witnesses for the prosecution i
and defence, as well as the cross-examinations of a
each, were taken at great Length. It happens that the
depositions have been preserved, and have enabled
me to give a distinct and impartial statement of the
various transactions to which they relate: besides
supplying much incidental information relative to
Or. Bentley's life, which would otherwise have been
lost. Of the Fellows of Trinity, the witnesses for the
prosecution were Colbatch, E. Smith. Vernon, Parne,
[ngTam, and Mason, with the late Fellows. Pilgrim.
Mailed, ami Fleming : the defendant produced the
evidence of Walker, Taylor, Whitehall, Holme,
W ebb. Allen, and A Wilson, along with that of
Baker the hue Vice-master, who had recently quitted
his fellowship. Main other members of the College
were brought to prove the Master's almost constant
neglect of chapel : and various workmen and College
servants were examined upon the charges relating
to the buildings and expenditure. The Doctor's de-
fence relied principally upon the testimony of Or.
Baker. Dr. W ulker. and Porter the College butler :
the whole of which was given in a studied form, to
bear out the positions of his ' Defensive Flea." A-
these had been his principal agents, the cross-exami-
nation which the\ had to undergo was o\ an em-
barrassing nature. The witnesses for the prosecution
were eloseh questioned about the contributions of
340 LIFE OF
XIX
1733
chap, themselves and others towards carrying on the cause :
the juniors avowed without hesitation the sums which
they had themselves subscribed, but were silent as to
their knowledge of the assistance received from others.
Colbatch and Smith refused to answer all such in-
terrogatories, submitting that they were immaterial
to the case.
The twenty articles upon which the House of Lords
suffered Dr. Bentley to be arraigned, comprised only
eight distinct heads of accusation. 1. His habitual
absence from chapel. 2. The non-appointment of
lecturers on the Catechism. 3. Using the College
seal at meetings which did not consist of the statutable
number of sixteen. 4. The sale of a piece of land
belonging to the College at Kirby Kendal. 5. Ex-
travagance in building upon the Master's premises.
6. Erecting: for himself a country-house at Over.
7. The wasteful expenditure in his household. 8.
The bargain with Serjeant Miller. Two of these
charges, the third and fourth, appear by the evidence
to have been frivolous, and failed to attach any
stigma upon the accused : the mode of transacting
College business with the senior Fellows upon the
spot was the same as had been practised by all
Bentley's predecessors ; and the want of a deputation
was only the omission of a form, the observance of
which must have been attended with great incon-
venience. The transaction respecting the land might
have been irregular, but did not involve even a sus-
picion of bad or corrupt motives. But upon no
other of the accusations was the Master able to clear
himself. The three which bore heaviest upon him,
the first, sixth, and eighth, were distinctly proved,
and nothing was established in his defence by which
they were rebutted, or even palliated. His general
neglect of chapel after the few first years of his
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 341
mastership, was established by a cloud of witnesses ; chap.
and the evidence of his physician Dr. Wallis, and " 1733
his intimates Dr. Baker, Dr. Walker, and Professor
Taylor, respecting his liability to catch cold, referred
to a period much subsequent to that at which his
neglect had commenced. An attempt had been
made to cloke the affair of the country-house, which
he had built at so great an expense ; after the com-
mencement of the prosecution Bentley gave up all
thoughts of ever occupying it, and the College estate
at Over, the lease of which had expired, was demised
to a different lessee for twenty years ; this lease
included the new-built mansion, which became the
farm-house, but for which no additional consideration
was paid : in fact, it was proved by distinct testi-
mony, that this house was less eligible for the oc-
cupation of a farmer than the old one which had
been pulled down. It was also proved by the esti-
mates of Newling the carpenter, and Kettle the
bricklayer, that they could have put the old house
into a state of repair for little more than 100/. ; and
even that charge ought to have fallen upon the
former lessee : consequently, the total expense of the
new building had been a wanton waste of the Col-
lege money. The agreement with Miller, and the
payment of large sums of money to him and the
Master, as expenses of the prosecution before Bishop
Moore, were proved by mere reference to the College
registers. Bentley 's defence has been already men-
tioned in describing this transaction, (Vol. II. p. 86.)
It was asserted to have taken place in compliance
with the desire of thirty-three Fellows, (of whom the
promoter Johnson was one) and Baker declared that
the whole business had originated with himself.
This assertion, had it been true, would not have
342 LIFE OF
xix.
1733
chap, justified the expenditure of College money to the
amount of a thousand pounds, particularly as the
effect which it tended to produce was the very op-
posite of tranquillity ; but a mere reference to the
dates overturned at once all the validity of this
pretence.
In alluding to the other charges, it is unnecessary
to repeat the account already given of the real merits
of each. The chief particulars in which the Master's
conduct was to be condemned, seem to have been his
arbitrary and autocratic style of effecting every ob-
ject ; his disregard of all statutes, rules, or customs,
which stood in the way of his sovereign pleasure ;
his general recklessness of consequences, and con-
tempt of opposition. In regard to his buildings in
the College (with the exception of the granary,
which involved a charge of a different kind), it did
not appear that they were either unnecessary or ex-
travagant ; but it was proved that they were all
undertaken without the sanction of that body to
whom the foundation has entrusted the government
and revenues of the society. Respecting the alleged
waste of all household articles with which Trinity
Lodge was supplied at the public charge, the Master's
defence was ingenious : it was not denied that a
greater consumption of such articles had taken place
in Dr. Bentley's time than under any of his pre-
decessors ; but it was shown by a detailed calculation,
that the average emoluments of his mastership, when
compared with those of a fellowship, had not ex-
ceeded, or even equalled, the proportion which the
foundation allotted to the Head. This argument,
had it not been over-stated, and pressed too far,
would have been a powerful reply to his accusers ;
although it could not justify the waste which was
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 343
incontestibly proved to have taken place in some c "4f-
parts of his establishment 17 . 1733>
There was another article of expenditure, which,
Expense of
although it formed no part of the present accusation the defence.
against Dr. Bentley, was in fact more burthensome
to the College, and more destitute of colour or excuse,
than any of the extravagances for which he was
arraigned. I mean the expense of all his law pro-
ceedings since August 1728. Under pretence of the
whole being a defence of the King's visitatorial juris-
diction, all the complicated proceedings before the
Privy Council, the King's Bench, the House of
Lords, and the Bishop of Ely, the greater part of
which had no bearing on that question, were paid
for from the common stock. Nor was this all : his
own personal expenses, and those of his witnesses,
were defrayed with lavish profusion from the same
source. It appears by the bursar's books, that in
1733 the costs amounted to about 700/. and as much
more in the following year. Such a continued drain
1 7 In the mode of instituting the comparison, there was a fallacy so
palpable, that it is extraordinary that Bentley should have committed
himself to propound it. In estimating the emoluments of the mastership,
he took the average of all the years since his appointment ; while in
reckoning the value of the fellowship, he supposed the Fellow to be
resident in commons the whole of the year, and to be in enjoyment of the
largest advantages that the fellowship had ever reached. These premises
being unfair, the result of the calculation was of course fallacious. Be-
sides, he omitted to include, what ought to have formed a part of such a
computation, some allowance for the furniture and internal decoration of
the lodge.
The expense of coals for the lodge had in some years exceeded 1001.
And it was much complained, that in addition to the large quantities of
beer and ale supplied to the Master's family, those articles were sometimes
sent for to the butteries, and then charged ' to the College head.' On
these occasions, the only security against the imposition of servants was,
that Madam Bentley used to send her snuff-box along with the order, as
a token. But for any good purpose, she needed not have parted with
that solace for a moment: the snuff-box could not tell whether she
wanted a large or small quantity ; that point was left to the veracity of
the messenger.
344
LIFE OF
CHAP.
XIX.
1734.
April 27.
Dr. Bentley
sentenced
to be de-
prived of
his master-
ship.
Reported
dissent of
of the
Bishop's
assessors.
was more than the revenues of the society could
support, and the result was a considerable debt and
embarrassment.
After all the witnesses' depositions had been taken,
the articles of accusation were separately discussed
at many successive hearings before the Bishop and
his assessors. The trial being concluded, before
sentence was pronounced a long demur took place :
and a report transpired, that a difference of opinion
prevailed between the Bishop and one or both of his
assessors. At length a sitting of the Court was an-
nounced for the 27th of April, to deliver a final
judgment on this long-protracted cause. The Hall
being full of anxious auditors, Bishop Greene ap-
peared without his assessors : the result being an-
ticipated, Dr. Andrews, as counsel for the Master,
immediately rose, and begged that his Lordship
would defer giving sentence till his assessors could
be present and deliver their opinions. This the
Bishop peremptorily refused ; but being asked whether
they were consenting to his judgment, replied in the
affirmative. He then declared in terms of o-reat so-
lemnity that Dr. Bentley was proved guilty both of
dilapidating the goods of his College and violating
its statutes, and had thereby incurred the penalty of
deprivation appointed by those statutes : accordingly,
he pronounced him to be deprived of the mastership
of Trinity College.
This sentence was by no means unexpected : but
the mystery which regards the opinion of the Bishop's
assessors I am not able to clear up. Immediately
after the judgment was pronounced, Kenn, an agent
of Bentley 's, was sent to question Dr. Cotterell upon
this subject. His report of the interview is the only
account we possess of this affair ; and being only an
ex parte statement made for a particular purpose, and
18
18 The following is the communication itself made by Kenn to Dr.
Hacket, the Vice-master :
" Sir, " April 27, 1734.
" As you know the Bishop came into Court without his asses-
sors, and was rising up to pronounce judgment, Dr. Andrews thought fit
to make the following motions, to which you have the Bishop's answers in
his own words, as taken down by me in short hand, and agreed by the
gentlemen present to be so. Viz.
" Dr. Andrews. ' Your Lordship hath had the assistance of two learned
gentlemen of great judgment and integrity ; who have taken great pains,
and, I believe, were very exact in their notes ; and it will be to the satis-
faction of every body to hear their opinion before your Lordship gives your
judgment, and therefore I submit it to your Lordship, whether you will
not defer giving it till they are present.'
" Bishop. * No, I sha'nt.'
" Dr. Andrews. ' Then, my Lord, I am desirous to know if they are
consenting.'
" Bishop. ' They are consenting and desirous of it.'
" And as it was apprehended by most of the persons then present, who
were numerous, that the Bishop meant his assessors were consenting to
his judgment, it was thought proper by Dr. Andrews and Mr. Greaves,
that I should wait upon Dr. Audley and Dr. Cotterel, the two assessors ;
which, accordingly, I did, and saw Dr. Cotterel, but Dr. Audley was
just gone out of town. To Dr. Cotterel I show'd an exact copy of what
is before wrote ; upon reading of which, he declared that he never had,
nor never would give his opinion in private in a case where he was to assist
in judgment, especially in a matter of so great consequence, and that he
was willing and ready to have attended this day, to have given his reasons
in public, for his opinion, which was so far from agreeing with, or any
ways consenting to the judgment pronounced by the Bishop, that he had
not the least doubt as to any of the articles against Dr. Bentley, except
1734.
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 345
being likewise inconsistent with the Bishop's declara- chap.
... . XIX
tion and with itself, it does not claim much consider-
ation. Kenn says, that Cotterell first told him, he
would not reveal in private his opinion upon a subject
on which he had been judicially consulted ; but he
went on to say, that he considered Dr. Bentley to
have been proved guilty upon only two of the charges,
his neglect of chapel, and his bargain with Serjeant
Miller, and that even these were not proved as they
were laid ; that, consequently, he thought he ought
to have been acquitted ; adding, that he believed Dr.
Audley's opinion to be the same as his own 1
346 LIFE OF
chap. The supposed dissent of Bishop Greene's assessors
xix
1734.
does not appear ever to have been publicly alleged
but it was an opinion received and circulated among
Dr. Bentley's friends. A statement written by Pro-
fessor Lort mentions the report, adding that the
Bishop was believed to. have made up his mind that
justice must take its course, in consequence of the
Master's declaration at the last fellowship-election,
when he pre-elected three persons, that if he gained
his cause, he would make vacancies for them by ex-
pelling as many of his prosecutors 19 .
Bentiey re- Our readers who have felt surprise at the skill and
ecutiono? address shown by Dr. Bentiey, in eluding a visitation
tence!"" f r tne l ast s * x y ears > w iU De st ^^ more astonished
when they find him retaining his place in defiance of
a final sentence of expulsion, emanating from a judge
who was specially sanctioned and authorized by the
highest tribunal in the empire. He had long formed
a resolution, in case of his conviction by the Visitor,
to take his stand behind the last entrenchment, and
that relating to his absenting himself from Chapel, and that relating to
Serjeant Miller, and in regard to them, they were not proved as laid, and
therefore as he should always think his honour and conscience concerned
whenever he was to declare his opinion to lead the mind of another man to
the judgment he was to give, he must have declared that Dr. Bentiey ought
to have been acquitted, as to them as well as to others. He further said that
he never had talked with Dr. Audley in relation to this matter, till after
the Bishop had been with them both separately, which was on Thursday
last, and since that he had had some conversation with him about his opinion,
and might venture to say that Dr. Audley was of the same opinion with him,
and that he believed they would have differed very little in their reasons,
if they had had an opportunity of offering them, and that he should be very
sorry that the world should run away with a notion of his being consenting
to the Bishop's sentence.
" This, Sir, I send to you to communicate to Dr. Bentiey, or to whom
you shall see occasion.
" I am, Sir, your most faithful and humble servant,
" L. Kenn."
19 From a manuscript book of Professor Lort, in Gough's Collection,
now in the Bodleian library.
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 347
XIX.
1734.
resist the execution of the sentence. His ground chap
consisted in the following words of the 40th statute :
supposing a Master to have been convicted before the
Bishop of Ely of any of the greater crimes there speci-
fied, it is directed sine mora per eundem Vice-Magistrum
officio Magistri privetur. The execution being thus
left to the Vice-master, Bentley perceived, that if the
King, and not the Bishop, were presumed to be Ge-
neral Visitor, the Vice-master owed no allegiance to
the latter, or at least could not be punished by him
for disobedience. Should he, therefore, induce a
Vice-master to refuse or neglect to obey the injunc-
tion, there existed no power to compel him to perform
that duty ; and by this means the Bishop's juris-
diction, which had been asserted with so much
effort and difficulty, might be set at nought. The
scheme was indeed so beset with hazard, that scarcely
any one except Bentley would have seriously enter-
tained it : it mio-ht be difficult to induce any Vice-
master to stand in the breach, and expose himself to
the penalties of contumacy in order to preserve his
principal : or the Court of King's Bench might decide
the matter by a mandamus. The Doctor had the
precaution to take Mr. Reeve's opinion upon the latter
point, immediately after the House of Lords had taken
off the prohibition, and allowed the Bishop to exer-
cise his jurisdiction. Mr. Reeve replied, that taking
for granted that the King was Visitor, he much doubted
whether the Court would grant a mandamus, and
was not aware of any precedent for such an inter-
ference.
Baker had quitted his fellowship a year before, in
consequence of taking the College living of Dickie-
borough 20 : Walker, not being yet one of the eight
20 Dr. Baker continued to reside in College, being allowed by the Mas-
348 LIFE OF
chap. Seniors, could not succeed him as Vice-master : ac-
xix. .
1734 cordingly Hacket was appointed to that office. As
= soon as Bishop Greene had pronounced the sentence
Hacket 'the of deprivation, he transmitted one copy of it to Dr.
vice-mas- B en tl e y, ordered another to be affixed to the College
gates, and sent a third to Dr. Hacket, with a man-
date requiring him to execute the deprivation. But
the Vice-master was advised at the same time, by
Bentley's counsel, to return for answer, that he would
take legal advice for his conduct, and to wait the
further steps of the prosecutors.
Bentiey Bentley remained tranquil at his post, and in the
act as Mas- capacity of Master summoned a statutable meeting
for the 10th of May, for the election of scholars. Col-
batch and all the adverse party signed a strong pro-
test against the transaction of any business under the
pretended authority of a deprived Master, declared
that every act done in such circumstances was a nul-
lity, and denounced Hacket for neglecting to execute
his statutable functions, as well as every one else who
should adhere to their late Head. A great proportion
of the Fellows had from the beginning of the prosecu-
tion kept aloof, and absented themselves as much as
possible from the scene of feuds and distractions : but
of those who had sided with Bentley, I do not find
that any one abandoned him in the hour of adversity.
He himself, supported by a majority of the Seniors,
maintained not only his spirits but his accustomed
gaiety ; and in allusion to his own predicament, gave
the candidates as a subject for a theme, the following
words of Terence :
hoc nunc dieis,
Ejectos hinc nos; omnium rerum hens vicissitudo est.
ter to hold, along with that rectory, the perpetual curacy of St. Mary's,
and being pre-elected one of the conducts or chaplains. The reason as-
signed was, that he was embarrassed with debt.
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 349
Dr. Hacket, who had never supported the Master chap.
but with a view to his own interest, felt uneasy at the ~ '
situation in which he was placed : he plainly saw the
danger that he incurred by open disobedience to the Hacket re -
<i * signs.
statutes, and had no mind to become a victim in de-
fence of one whom he regarded with no affection. But
Bentley's ingenuity never failed him in cases of diffi-
culty : although he could not induce Hacket to run
any hazard in his behalf, yet he had sufficient interest
with him to procure his immediate resignation of the
Vice-mastership. It happened, most fortunately for walker is
him, that Walker had recently become one of the master. c
eight Seniors, and consequently capable of holding
that office. Hereupon this devoted friend of our hero
was appointed Vice-master ; and was prepared and
resolved to use the power with which he was invested
in maintaining his patron in his seat. His attach-
ment to Bentley seems to have been so perfect, as to
resemble the devotion of a Highland clansman to his
chief; and it is likely that he would, if necessary,
have cheerfully risked his life in the protection of his
Master 21 .
Had the Bishop of EI3' proceeded in the first
instance with the prompt and summary powers of a
Visitor, to enforce obedience to his mandate, and
punish all attempts at evasion, it is probable that his
sentence would have been executed ; but the delay of
three weeks had altered the posture of affairs : there
was no longer to be found idem Vice-magister in the
21 This transaction is thus recorded in the Conclusion-book:
May 17, 1734. " I, John Hacket, D.D. and present Vice-master,
foreseeing many occasions of absence in the remainder of this year, do
desire to resign my office of Vice-master, to the Master and Seniors, and
desire they would chuse a successor :" John Hacket.
Ditto. " The Master and Seniors accepted the resignation of the late
Vice-master, and appointed Richard Walker, D.D. to be Vice-master
the remaining part of the year." Ri. Benteey.
350 LIFE OF
XIX
1734
chap. College : the present officer was different both in
person and character from the one who had been
required to execute the order for deprivation. A dis-
solution of Parliament had taken place about a week
before the Bishop pronounced his sentence ; so that
no appeal could be made to the House of Lords to
enforce that authority with which they had specially
invested him.
June 19. It happened rather whimsically, that Bishop Greene,
thec^nvo- almost at the same moment that he pronounced upon
cation.
Dr. Bentley sentence of expulsion from his College,
had to address to him a summons, as his Archdea-
con, to attend the new Convocation. At the election
of two representatives for the parochial clergy of the
diocese of Ely, a sharp contest took place; the object
was to exclude Dr. Colbatch, who was nominated as
one of the candidates. As the Convocation had not
been suffered to transact business for the last seven-
teen years, and as there was little probability of its
functions being renewed under the government of Sir
Robert Walpole, the poll on this occasion, which
drew from their homes the clergy of all parts of
Cambridgeshire, seems only to have been intended
as an expression of personal or party sentiment 22 .
Probable Meanwhile the deprived Master continued, to the
error in the
statute.
23 The numbers on the poll were,
Rev. Mr. Perkins, Rector of Fulbourn .... 40
Rev. Mr. Hetherington 36
Rev. Dr. Colbatch, Rector of Orwell . ... 36
Rev. Dr. Basset, Rector of Balsham 29
Perkins and Colbatch appear to have had the votes of most of the High
Church party : all Bentley's friends voted for their opponents. Colbatch
protested against the return of Hetherington, as having voted for himself,
which he (Colbatch) had not been allowed to do; and another of his
voters being a perpetual curate, while a person in a similar situation had
not been admitted to poll for the other side.
1
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 351
amazement of the public, in full enjoyment of his chap.
station, power, and emoluments 23 . The real origin 1734
of this strange state of affairs I suspect to have been
one of those small occurrences, which are sometimes
found to produce great and disproportionate results.
It is highly probable that the mention of the Vice-
master in this part of the statute of deprivation was
nothing more than a clerical error, and that instead
of ' per eundem Vicemagistrum,' the framers of the
statutes had designed to enact, ' per eundem Visita-
torem officio Magistri privetur;' but that the clerk
who transcribed the fair copy from the original
draught, either had his eye caught by the word Vice-
magistrum in the former paragraph, or was deceived
by the similarity of the abbreviated form of the words,
and thence wrote Vicem. as it stands in the authentic
copy. If the reader will cast his eye over the latter
part of the statute, which is given in Vol. I. p. 250.
and observe the recurrence of the words coram dicto
Visitatore aliquando examinatus, coram prcedicto Visi-
tatore legitime convictus, he will probably agree that
we should expect the next sentence to be per eundem
Visitatorcm officio Magistri prwetur : particularly as
the Vice-master is not otherwise mentioned or con-
cerned in the latter part of this enactment, nor is it
customary to give him any authority independent
of the rest of the Seniors : it will also be observed
that there is not any form of deprivation prescribed,
or any apparent necessity for the intervention of
that officer. It may perhaps be thought incredible
23 Mr. Baker, of St. John's College, the celebrated antiquary, writes
thus to his friend Hearne at Oxford :
May 26, 1734. " The execution of the sentence is by statute in the
Vice-master. He that was in that post has resigned, and another chose
entirely in the Master's interest, who will never proceed against him,
unless compelled ; and how that is to be done, is more than I know. In
the meantime, plectuntur Achivij which I am sorry for."
XIX.
1734.
352 LIFE OF
chap, that a blunder of such magnitude should have been
suffered to pass uncorrected. It is however no less
certain than strange, that the fair copy of the sta-
tutes of Trinity College was not revised before it
received the Royal sanction by the Great Seal : for
there are actually found in all parts of them a great
number of mistakes of the transcriber's pen, and
those too of the grossest kind ; particularly in words
which are likely to have been abbreviated in the
original draught. In fact this error was afterwards
found out, and the word Visitatorem written over
the other by a subsequent pen ; and at the begin-
ning of the case, when a copy of the statute was
submitted to the Privy Council, the prosecutors as-
sumed the licence which their Master had taught
them in his editions of classical authors, and made
an attempt to introduce this various reading into the
text.
Since, however, the littera scripta, confirmed by
the Great Seal of England, made the Vice-master
the agent of deprivation, it remained a question how
to enforce the performance of this office. A long
pause took place, which I apprehend to have been
Nov. 2. owing to the severe illness of Dr. Colbatch. In the
month of November the opinion of Mr. Wynne, who
had been counsel for the prosecution, was asked
respecting the present posture of affairs and the
Dec. 5. proper mode of proceeding. That gentleman, after
much consideration, declared his belief, that until
the act of removal had been executed by the Vice-
master, the place was not void, and the acts of Dr.
Bentlev as Master continued to be legal. He was
convinced indeed that the Bishop of Ely was General
Visitor by King Edward's statutes, and thought that
he might enforce his mandate by punishing those who
disobeyed it : but if his Lordship did not choose to
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 353
take that course, Mr. Wynne saw no other method cejp.
XIX.
but to send a fresh order to the new Vice-master, 1734
and in case of his non-compliance, to apply to the ==
Court of King's Bench for a mandamus to oblige him
to execute his duty ; though he confessed that he
recollected no instance of that Court interfering in
such a case. If this failed, the dernier resort was to
be a petition to the House of Lords.
In pursuance of this advice, Bishop Greene sent January,
his mandate to Dr. Walker, requiring him imme-
diately to deprive the Master, agreeably to his sen-
tence. To this rescript no attention was paid. Col-
batch, as senior Fellow, called upon the Vice-master
to enquire whether he had executed, or intended to
execute, his duty ; to which enquiry the latter de-
clined to give any reply. The next step should have
been an application to the Court of King's Bench ;
but experience had given the prosecutors so great a
horror of Westminster Hall, that, after some demur,
they resolved to invert the course directed by counsel,
and to pray at once for justice from the House of
Peers. Accordingly, Dr. Colbatch, as the senior, Coibatch
petitioned their Lordships on behalf of himself and the House
other members of Trinity College, that the Vice- M ai . h J" 0-
master might be required to put in execution the
sentence against Dr. Bentley. It was at first pro-
posed to fix a day for the consideration of this peti-
tion ; but a motion was immediately made for its
rejection. A debate ensued, which concluded with
leave being given by the House that it should be
withdrawn. Never having seen any account of this
debate, I can only conjecture that the petition could
not be received from its informality, as praying the
House to interfere with the courts below, not in the
way of appeal, but in an extra-judicial manner.
The only remaining step was to re-enter the Court Compro-
vol. ii. a a
/
secutors.
354 LIFE OF
chap, of King's Bench : but ere that could be done, a com-
1735 promise had taken place between Bentley and some
of his most active prosecutors. This measure, so
tween Bent- important to the fortunes of our hero, was brought
of y th e n Jr P o a - rt about by the agency of Dr. Walker, who possessed
more conciliatory qualities than any of his former
ministers. Though deeply engaged in all the Mas-
ter's most obnoxious measures, we do not observe
that he had ever brought personal enmity upon him-
self. By his mediation, Bentley on the one hand,
and Johnson, Parne, &c. on the other, came to a
pacific agreement ; it was promised that the latter
should not be obstructed in their fair claims to offices,
and preferments, so long as they on their part ab-
stained from giving any assistance of money or other
co-operation to displace the Master. There was also
a general understanding that he was no longer to
interfere in the elections and government of the Col-
lege : a forbearance which, so long as the adminis-
tration remained in the hands of his devoted creature,
was but of little moment. That the Fellows should
have entered into such terms, can occasion no sur-
prise : they had already exerted themselves for the
space of seven years, with efforts beyond their means
and station, to procure redress of grievances : and
having after great and painful sacrifices obtained a
trial of the questions at issue, and a sentence in their
favour, they saw no method of procuring its execu-
tion. A fresh suit in Westminster Hall held out
little prospect but delay and expense. They fancied
that their enemy was shielded by some secret and
mysterious influence ; since it had happened, that
even when legal opinions concurred in their favour,
the practical results were always against them. Mean-
while the injury and losses brought upon the College
by the prosecution had been greater than those which
1
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 355
they had sought to remedy. Besides these motives c "^ p -
for desisting from litigation, the ages of the Visitor, 1735
the Master, and the principal prosecutor, all of whom =
were septuagenarians, made it probable that time
and the course of nature would end the controversy
before the law had decided it. Personal interest had
also its weight in bringing about this pacification :
the prosecutors were not only excluded from office or
preferment, but, as the Master held the absolute
power without any practicable appeal, they stood
themselves in more real danger of expulsion than he
did. Johnson was next in succession to the Seniority :
but there was small chance of his being admitted to
that or any other object, so long as he continued
promoter of the suit against the Master. Parne had
to endure an additional grievance, in seeing his
pupils excluded from scholarships and fellowships ;
while the other vexations to which he was exposed,
as tutor, must have been almost insupportable. There
was, I apprehend, another cause which induced him,
although a man of undaunted spirit, to submit to the
terms of compromise : he was ambitious of rank and
office in the University ; which he had little chance
of obtaining, so long as he continued to be opposed
by part of his own College. It happened at the end
of 1734, that John Taylor, the distinguished scholar
already mentioned, was removed from the office of
Librarian to that of Registrary of the University. Pame
. J i t_ elected
Parne was then a candidate to succeed him as Librarian
Librarian, and was elected by the Senate. From v ers it y . '
a statement of his own I discover, that about the
same time the treaty just mentioned between him and
the Master was concluded by the intervention of
Walker: whence I infer that this office was a motive,
and his success at the election a result of that agree-
ment.
a a 2
356 LIFE OF
chap. Colbatch viewed the subject in a different light,
and considered it a duty owing to the College to
leave no legal and practicable method untried to
XIX.
1735.
renew S C tiie procure the execution of the sentence. He accord-
suit ingly appealed again to the laws for assistance. I
cannot discover from his papers, that he had any
confederate in the renewal of the suit, except his
friend Smith, who was not disheartened like the rest,
but resolved to contribute to what he considered the
deliverance of the College, as long as his means
June 25. lasted. In the Trinity term of 1735, a motion was
King's made in the Court of King's Bench for a mandamus
a man- Srant to compel the Vice-master to give effect to the
damusad- Bishop of Ely's sentence, bv immediately depriving
dressed to r ' J J J r CT
Dr. walker. Dr. Bentley : the Court granted a writ of mandamus,
addressed to Dr. Walker, requiring him to execute
the sentence, or to show cause for omitting to do so,
upon a day appointed in the next Michaelmas term.
This order, by securing the Master a respite from
danger for the next five months, left him at liberty to
pursue his edition of Homer, and allows us to revert
to a few occurrences which took place in the course
of this anxious suit.
Death of At the beginning of 1732, Bentley 's friend, Dr.
MaxdiT* Davies, na d nearly completed the great object which
1731-32. had occupied him so many years, an edition of all the
Philosophical Works of Cicero, having advanced as
far as the middle of the third Book of Offices, when a
termination was put to his labours and his life.
His papers were bequeathed to that general patron
of scholars, Dr. Mead : he, wishing to have them
published according to the editor's intentions, placed
them in the hands of Dr. Thomas Bentley, who was
to supply what Davies had left unfinished, and to
publish an edition of the Offices uniform with the
other pieces. But while he was employed upon this
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 357
work at lodoino-g in the Strand, an accident occurred, chap.
. . XIX.
which put an end to his undertaking, and had nearly 1735
proved fatal to himself. He is stated to have indulged
himself in the dangerous practice of reading in bed, of his Notes
and thereby to have set fire to the house ; and the offices^ S
conflagration was so rapid, that he had barely time Fire -
to escape with his own life. All his papers were de-
stroyed, including the whole of Davies's manuscripts
entrusted to his care, and some inedited scholia on
Homer, which he was copying for the use of his
uncle's edition 24 . Not long after this catastrophe he
24 Dr. Mead in a letter prefixed to the third edition of Davies's Cicero
de Natura Deorum, notices this circumstance : " Ego negotiis, ut nosti,
distentus ipse et in re nostra medica occupatissimus, amico cuidam in
scriptoribus classicis et arte critica satis exercitato, schedas Davisii omnes
in manus tradideram ; qui dum in iisdem digerendis atque supplendis
totus esset, ecce in asdibus, ubi diversabatur, incendium, pestis in hac urbe
heu ! nimium frequens, erupit : atque adeo repentinum quidem atque vio-
lentum, ut homo ipse vix flammas evaserit ; unde factum est, ut inter aha
Davisii Notae penitus interierint." J. Chr. Wolf mentions the same occur-
rence in a letter to La Croze, Oct. 2, 1733. " CI. Dorvilhus heri mihi
nunciavit, CI. Th. Bentleii Mdes, una cum Bibhotheca ejus, quam altera
pars Inscriptionum Asiaticarum, in Homeri Ihadem avkK&ora, et Davisii
in Ciceronis de Officiis Libros Annotationes ornarunt, ita periisse, ut ipse
aegre vitam servant." That the fire was owing to Thomas Bentley reading
in bed, is related by the author of the account of Davies in the Biographia
Britannica, who had information respecting him from some of his con-
temporaries. Mr. Kidd, in the preface to Opuscula Ruhnkeniana, p lix.
seems to attribute the fire not to Thomas, but to his uncle, (although he
refers to the above letter of Wolf) and to imagine that the conflagration
destroyed some of his criticisms, and particularly the greater part of his
Cures Posteriores on Cicero's Tusculans. His notions on this point are
adopted by the writer of an article in the Gent. Mag. for 1807, p. 1048.
(taken from the Literary Panorama) who attributes to our great Aristar-
chus the fatal habit of reading in bed. But whoever compares that state-
ment with the authorities in this note, will perceive it is a misapprehension,
caused by confounding the uncle with the nephew. I am convinced that
the story of Bentley's Notes on the Tusculans being burned, is also a
mistake ; nor do I beheve that he had prepared any more for his second
series, than those found in the two books, the contents of which form the
Appendix to the edition of the Tusculans printed at the Clarendon press.
This matter has been explained in p. 116.
1733
358 LIFE OF
chap, found it expedient to part with the property at
n35 ' Oulton, which had descended to him from his father,
James Bentley, including the house in which our
Aristarchus was born.
1731. The stratagem by which the Tory party in the
theVice- 0r University had elected Dr. Lambert to the Vice-
offic n e cell rs chancellorship in 1729, was remembered and re-
sented by their opponents. Dr. Mawson was chosen
in 1730, and by way of retaliation his friends pro-
cured his re-appointment for the following year. The
spirit of party long continued active in the academical
community; and the election to the chief-magistracy,
an office which in tranquil times is rather considered
a burthen, continued to be the occasion of warm
Nov. 4, competition. After another year, Dr. Long, Master
of Pembroke, and Dr. Towers, Master of Christ's,
being nominated, a contest took place in which,
judging from the list of voters, the feelings of the
two parties seem to have been entirely political : the
Tories succeeded in electing Long by a majority of
102 against 72. The next year they planned to
choose him to a second term of office, and to exclude
Towers, who had, it may be recollected, given great
offence as Proctor by his conduct at the time of Bent-
Nov. 3, ley's degradation. At the nomination three names
were proposed, Towers, Long, and Adams, and it
happened that an equal number of Heads voted for
each : whereupon the case being referred to the de-
cision of Dr. Bentley, as Regius Professor of Divinity,
he determined in favour of Towers and Adams ; and
in consequence the former was chosen by the Senate
on the following day. After Towers had filled the
chair, the election of chief-magistrate, which had
almost always been contested since Bentley 's nomi-
nation in 1716, relapsed into its former routine, and
1734
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 359
remained undisturbed for nearly fifty years : at least, chap.
if any contest did occur during that period, it has not 1735
obtained a record either in writing or tradition 25 . ===
25 There was a contest in 1782, when the late Bishop Beadon, being
Master of Jesus College, was elected ; and another in 1809, when Dr.
Milner, late Dean of Carlisle, and President of Queen's, was successful.
In both cases, the usual order was set aside.
360
LIFE OF
CHAPTER XX.
Bentley's proposed edition of Homer Account of the Digamma Bentley's
discovery of its use by Homer Great difficulty of the undertaking
Pronunciation of the Digamma Account of Richard Dawes His book
His treatment of Bentley Heyne's Homer Pope's hostility to Bent-
ley Arbuthnot ridicules Bentley's critical style in Scriblerus Attacks
him severely in an imitation of Gulliver Pope's Dunciad Mallet's
poem on Verbal Criticism Pope's direct attacks upon Bentley Wal-
ker's return to the mandamus of the King's Bench Mandamus addressed
to the Bishop of Ely Quashed by the Court A third mandamus pro-
cured to enforce the execution of the sentence Parne rejoins the j)rose-
cutors Chief Justice Lee Court discharges the ride Death of Bishop
Greene Termination of the efforts to procure Bentley's expulsion
College distressed by the expenses of the suit Bentley brings an action
against Colbatch as Archdeacon of Ely Ecclesiastical Procurations
Decision in Bentley's favour Colbatch' s pamphlet Discovery of a
sect of Atheists Strutt Whitehead Ducket Public trial Court
adjourned to Bentley's Lodge Ducket's expulsion Society for the en-
couragement of learning Publication of Bentley's Manilius Bentley
has a paralytic stroke Is disabled from publishing Homer Death of
Mrs. Bentley Bentley's intimates in old age His domestic habits
Cumberland's account of them. Pope's fresh offence against Bentley
Fourth book of the Dunciad Miller the botanist Thomas Bentley's
publications and death Warburton's conduct in respect to Bentley
Singular proof of Bentley's sagacity in correcting a Greek inscription
Bentley's last illness His death Funeral Disposition of his property
- His library and papers His family Remarks on the personal cha-
racter of Dr '. Bentley His literary merits Trinity College.
CHAP.
XX.
1735.
Bentley's
proposed
edition of
Homer.
We must now speak of a matter which will ever con-
stitute an interesting: feature in the literary career of
Dr. Bentley his projected edition of Homer. The
principal object which he proposed to himself was to
reform the versification of the poet, the harmony of
whose lines is continually impaired by open vowels,
and other metrical defects. The reformation was to
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 361
be effected by the aid of manuscripts, quotations, and chap.
scholiasts, but above all, by the introduction of the r35
JEolic Digamma. The history of this celebrated letter,
and its disappearance from the Greek alphabet, have [he m-
been the subject of so much dispute among later gamma *
scholars, that its very mention suggests a series of
curious questions ; which however this is not the place
to discuss. It is now, I believe, admitted on all
hands, that the consonant must have been used by
Homer, that its restoration is necessary for the prosody
of many of his verses, and that for the first discovery
of this fact we are indebted to Dr. Bentley. The
digamma itself he had seen mentioned in various
ancient authors and grammarians ; it had been re-
cently found in some ancient inscriptions, bearing a
form similar to that produced by the perpendicular
union of two gammas, from which it drew its name ;
and its former existence in the iEolic was proved bv
its being; retained in the renowned descendant of that
dialect, the Latin language ; the words ver, vicus,
vinum, video, &c. exhibiting a consonant which their
Grecian kindred had discarded. The epithet ' iEolic'
seems to have been one cause which had prevented a
suspicion of this letter's original existence in the poems
of Homer, who was generally considered an Ionian.
The following appears to be the outline of its real
history : the digamma was one of sixteen original
letters of the Greek alphabet ; but partly owing to the
adoption of other consonants, and partly from dislike
of its harsh sound, it fell gradually into disuse : it
was abandoned first by the Ionic Greeks, before the
period when writing was general ; it was next dropped
by the Dorian tribe ; but was continued much later
by the JEolians settled in Lesbos and other islands, as
well as by those who retained their old station in the
Peloponnesus ; and its being there found, after it had
362 LIFE OF
chap, been exiled from the rest of Greece, seems the only
1735 reason for its possessing the distinctive title of JEolic.
===== It is a fact well established by history, that the copies
of Homer's poems, which have ever since delighted
the world, were written at Athens, the metropolis of
the Ionic family. At this period (the age of Pisis-
tratus) the Athenians themselves were contracting and
refining their language into that chastised and elegant
dialect, which is the principal depository of the liter-
ature of Greece. Without entering into the hopeless
question of the country, or native dialect of Homer,
we may observe that it was natural for the Athenians,
when they wrote down his poems, to give them the
dress of Ionic, the old poetical language of their own
country ; so that the digamma, which had been long-
banished from Attic soil, had no chance of finding a
place in the copies which have descended to pos-
terity. Hence it was left for the illustrious critic
of the eighteenth century to reinstate this long-lost
exile.
Bentiey's The discovery itself, and the process by which it
SraTby was confirmed, mark the genius of Bentley and the
Homer. logical turn of his mind. He first observed that the
offensive hiatus in verses of the Iliad and Odyssey
continually recurred in the same words ; and some of
them, he was led to believe, from the slender accounts
which we possess of the old iEolic dialect, had once
been written with the digamma. By trying the expe-
riment of inserting the consonant in all those words
wherever they occurred in Homer, he found that in a
great majority of instances he succeeded in improving
the versification. On proceeding to make the same
insertion in other words, where the metre required
support, his success was too general to proceed from
accident, and established to demonstration the truth
of the discovery. At the same time this restoration
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 363
of the true orthography of so many words enabled chap.
him to correct numerous faulty verses with perfect 1735
success and certainty. It must not be forgotten that
Bentley made this discovery at a time when there was
much less information respecting the old orthography
of Greece than what we now possess. Subsequent to
that time the publication of some ancient grammatical
works, of which he knew nothing, has taught us that
the digamma was actually used in the very words to
which Bentley affixed it : and a similar confirmation
of his doctrine is derived from old inscriptions upon
stones dug out of ruins in those parts of Greece where
this consonant held its ground the longest 1 .
At what time Bentley's discovery was first made I
cannot determine : but from a small hint in some
notes written in the margin of a copy of Collins'
Freethinking, preparatory to his Remarks upon that
work, I find that he had made up his mind about the
use of it in Homer, as far back as the year 1713,
although it is probable that he was not at that time
prepared to announce it to the world. It appears that
about 1726 he meditated giving an edition of Homer,
but not till after the publication of his New Testa-
ment. About three years later his friend, Dr. Clarke,
published the first volume of his edition of the Iliad,
but died before he had completed his notes on the
second. While he was engaged in this undertaking,
Bentley communicated to him, in conversation, his
notions respecting the digamma, with some of his
reasons ; and in one of the last notes which Clarke
lived to write, he mentioned Bentley's mode of re-
storing the measure by the digamma : this was in the
1 An inscription found by Sir William Gell in the territory of Elis,
which contains the digamma seven times in the space of ten lines, is
printed from a fac-simile in the Museum Criticum, vol. i. p. 536. Among
other digammatized words it presents din Fejroc, din pdpyov.
3G4 LIFE 0F
1735.
chap, sixteenth Book ; and it was published by his son,
* who finished the second volume, in 1732. About the
same time two quotations from Homer, in Bentley's
notes upon Milton, presented to the eye the long-lost
consonant in its full dimensions 2 . It was natural that
all lovers of Homer should be interested by this dis-
covery, and feel anxious to see in detail the opinions
of the greatest of metrical scholars upon Homeric
versification. Almost immediately after these publi-
cations, Lord Carteret engaged him to pledge himself
for a new edition of Homer : and to that work he
devoted all the leisure allowed him by the more im-
perious business of preserving his station and prefer-
ment. It would, under any circumstances, have been
a bold enterprize for a person whose years exceeded
threescore and ten to commence an edition of the
Iliad and Odyssey ; but the Doctor rendered his task
immoderately severe, by undertaking to introduce the
digamma in every word of the text to which it once
belonged, and likewise to give every line its faultless
measure. To reconcile these two objects formed the
first difficulty : for though in a majority of cases, the
digamma proved the means of sustaining the metre,
yet it happened in not a few that this addition made
it impossible to scan the verse, and reduced the critic
to the alternative of either changing some words, or
pronouncing the whole a spurious interpolation. Who-
ever reflects upon the history of these poems, and
recollects that they underwent the revision and alter-
ation of the Alexandrian grammarians, who had no
suspicion of the exiled consonant which once belonged
2 Bentley's printer, having no better method of representing the
Digamma than by a roman capital F, (6 8', ipe/ivy vvktI feoiKiog Auvbv
Kairraivwv) gave occasion to Pope's allusion to its towering size :
" While towering o'er your alphabet, like Saul,
Stands our Digamma, and o'ertops them all."
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 365
to them, will see that the complete success of such a chap.
plan was hopeless. What he did achieve was, in his 1735
circumstances, more than could have been anticipated. -=
He corrected and noted the two poems from beginning
to end ; availing himself of the collations of all the
manuscripts then to be procured, and amending the
text, wherever he could, from the lexicons and gram-
marians. Many of the verses which were unmanage-
able, he rejected ; though the number condemned
does not come near to that which a late editor, who
pursued a similar plan, found it expedient to discard.
The frequent changes and erasures of his own correc-
tions, which appear in his copy, prove the uncertainty
and difficulty of the undertaking : independently of
the lines affected by the digamma, many others pre-
sented obstacles to the restitution of metrical propriety ;
and the character of Bentley's criticism, which had
become more daring as his years increased, sometimes
led him to harsh attempts at alteration.
I consider it a matter of regret that our critic, in- Great dim-
stead of devoting his latter years to an attempt at a imdertak. e
complete edition of the Iliad and Odyssey, did not lllg *
give the public an essay upon Homeric versification :
such a performance, which would not have occupied
more than one of his long vacations, might have com-
prised the whole doctrine and application of the
digamma, as well as most other points interesting to
scholars, which could have been expected from the
larger work. Even a schediasma, similar to that upon
the metres of Terence, would have been highly ac-
ceptable ; and the sketch of such a piece was actually
in readiness : whereas the meditated edition, had his
prosecutors left him at liberty to print it, must, from
the very nature of the plan, have contained much that
would have proved unsatisfactory, and have com-
promised the high reputation of the editor, which, as
366 LIFE OF
chap, a Greek critic, stood unimpeached and unrivalled.
1735 To say the truth, there is great room for doubts as to
== the propriety of printing Homer's text with the inser-
tion of the digamma, while the rest of the orthography
remains as in the common copies. To maintain any
thing like consistency, several other changes are
requisite, to bring back the Iliad and Odyssey to
their earlier dress. This feat has been attempted in
our own times by Mr. Payne Knight, a gentleman
whose attention was for many years devoted almost
exclusively to the infant literature of Greece. Both
his learning and ingenuity deserve high commenda-
tion ; but I cannot consider his representation of the
Homeric text successful. Although he restores the
ancient orthography in several other respects besides
the digamma, yet by using some characters of later
introduction, he forfeits his claim to consistency : the
appearance of the lines is disagreeable to the eye, and
the reader is likewise offended at missing a considera-
ble portion of the verses hitherto composing part of
the poems : after all, the antiquarian, for whom the
publication seems principally designed, finds the
orthography consistent with that of no period what-
ever ; and even the semblance of antiquity is destroyed
by the adoption of the common cursive character, in-
stead of the uncial letters of the earlier ages.
Pronund- During; the time that Bentlev was occupied upon
ation of the
Digamma. Homer, he used to amuse his friends, and all who
sought his conversation, by expounding his doctrine
of the digamma, and reciting verses of the poet as he
conceived they ought to be read. Among other
topics respecting this mysterious consonant, its ori-
ginal pronunciation has been the subject of many
sharp arguments ; some maintaining that it corres-
ponded in sound with our F, others with V, and
others with W. In truth, the authorities which we
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 367
possess upon this doubtful question would rather lead chap.
us to believe, that its sound varied in different parts 1735
of the Grecian territory. But without entering upon =====
that question, I shall only remark, that Bentley
always pronounced his new-found letter as W : and
I dare say that some will attribute his partiality for
that guttural consonant to his being himself a native
of the north-country 3 .
The foregoing account of Bentley 's Homer must Account of
have reminded scholars of the section upon the di- Dawes? 1
gamma given by Richard Dawes, in his Miscellanea
Critica, as well as his perpetual endeavours to carp
at and depreciate the great critic, to whose writings
he was himself singularly indebted. His violent dis-
like for the Doctor, and the injustice with which he
treats him in all parts of his volume, are observed
with surprise by every reader. One of his editors
attempts to account for the phenomenon, by supposing
Dawes to have resided at Cambridge during the
heat of the disputes between Bentley and the Uni-
versity, and to have taken part against him 4 : but
3 Mr. Thomas Blackwell, the Professor of Greek at the Marischal
College of Aberdeen, visited Cambridge at this time (1735) and was
introduced to Bentley : having the good fortune to hear him speak upon
this favourite topic, he gave the following account of his visit in a letter :
" He received us very graciously, and entertained us with the service he
had done to learning by restoring the iEolic Digamma, which he pro-
nounced like our W. He acknowledged that Dionysius of Halicarnassus
explained the Digamma by a * in Greek, and a V in Latin ; ' but,' says
the old gentleman, ' he and Aristarchus and Demetrius were all dunces,
and knew nothing of the Digamma ; which I have restored the use of,
after it had been lost 2000 years.' " This was just after Blackwell had
published his ' Enquiry into the Life and Writings of Homer ;' of which
book it is said, but I know not on what authority, that Bentley observed,
when he had gone through half of it, he had forgotten the beginning ;
and when he had finished the reading of it, he had forgotten the whole.'
Kippis' Biogr. Brit. vol. ii. p. 337-
4 " Dawesius videtur Cantabrigiae commoratus esse, cum partium
studia contra Bentleium maxime arderent; et ipse etiam ex iis fuisse
partibus. Hue enim referre soleo, quod in Miscellaneis Criticis occasio-
368 LIFE OF
chap, tills notion is inconsistent with time, as his first ad-
XX.
173 ^ mission in Emanuel College was in the year 1725,
= when those fends had subsided. It is not improbable
that he was acquainted with some of the Fellows of
Trinity who were prosecuting Bentley, and entered
into their feelings 5 : and it may be presumed that
his political opinions were of a severe character, since
he takes occasion, from the emendation of a passage
in Aristophanes, to express his detestation of Sir
Robert Walpole, in a sentence more remarkable for
its ill-nature than its humour 6 . Again, he was
nominated by the Heads as a candidate for the office
of Esquire-beadle in 1734, but was beaten by his
competitor, Burrowes, of Trinity : he might indeed
attribute this defeat to Bentley *s influence ; but that
the Head of a College should exert himself on such
an occasion in favour of one of his Fellows, was so
natural, that it could hardly have provoked resent-
ment. We must, therefore, look for some other
cause. Dawes, who delighted in Greek poetry, had
translated the first book of Milton's Paradise Lost
into Homeric verse, and designing to publish it by
subscription, printed a short specimen, with two or
three Latin notes ; in one of which he joined the
general voice in condemning Bentley 's edition of
Milton, both with regard to its principle and exe-
cution. It can hardly be doubted that this specimen
w r as shown to our Aristarchus, who was regarded at
Cambridge as the Grecian oracle : in that case, w^e
may be certain that he expressed his opinion pretty
nem qualemcunque arripiat de laudibus Bentleianis detrahendi, &c."
Burgess. Prcef. ad Dawes. Misc. Crit. p. iv.
5 Dawes seems to have been acquainted with Mason : at least it was
by the latter, in conjunction with Mr. Henry Hubbard of Emanuel Col-
lege, that the volume of Miscellanea Critica was carried through the
University press.
6 Miscellanea Critica, p. 77- ed. Cantab.
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 369
roundly of the faults and inaccuracies of the version, chap.
which are in fact more numerous than the lines ; and K35
the severity of his criticism was likely to be increased =====
by the proposer's flippant and offensive note about
his Milton. Dawes, instead of publishing any more
of his translation, immediately set himself to acquire
that knowledge of the niceties of the Greek language,
in which his specimen had proved him to be deficient.
He studied all Bentley's writings with the minutest
attention, and while thereby forming his notions of
true criticism, he was incessantly on the watch to
detect flaws and imperfections in his master. In
perusing Greek writers, but particularly the Attic
poets, he closely inspected their peculiarities of con-
struction, metre, and grammar. Being endowed with
uncommon penetration and discernment, he hit upon
the true method of discovering the laws which they
adopted, and by means of comparison and analogy,
was able to draw up those rules, which threw a new
light upon the language, and have contributed in a
wonderful degree to ascertain the genuine texts of the
ancient writers. The sagacity as well as industry of
this man is proved by the history of his book. At His book.
the time of printing his specimen in 1736, he had
shown himself ignorant of the very rudiments of that
science by which his name has since been distin-
guished ; and in 1744 he sent to the press his volume
of Miscellanea Critica. In the course of those eight
years, six of which he was employed in teaching the
grammar-school at Newcastle-upon-Tyne, the foun-
dations of his system were laid, and the whole fabric
was completed. Though he lived more than twenty
years after that time, the remainder of his life ap-
pears to have been neither useful to the world nor
honourable to himself.
This writer's spirit of injustice and detraction,
VOL. II. B B
370
LIFE OF
His treat-
ment of
Bentley.
chap, whenever he mentions Bentley, is the most marked
XX ' feature of his book : it shows itself in the preface,
where he decries the unrivalled performance on Pha-
laris, and confines its author's merit to that of a
detector of sophists : he cannot propound his notions
upon the metre and division of tragic and comic
verses, which were entirely learned from the Doctor's
writings, without cavilling at his master. We learn
from a letter of Dawes to Taylor, that two sections of
his book, which are suppressed, consisted of strictures
upon Bentley's notes on Aristophanes, and emenda-
tions of Menander : he charges him with possessing
hardly any knowledge of Greek but what he had
derived from indexes and lexicons ; an assertion so
extravagantly false, as to consign either to ridicule or
disgrace the person who could utter it. His know-
ledge of the dio-amma had been collected from what
Bentley had suffered to transpire of his intended
edition of Homer : but while explaining that doctrine
with great diligence and accuracy, he labours to rob
its discoverer of all credit, and instead of praise, gives
him much censure for introducing into Ionic poetry a
consonant which he fancies peculiar to iEolic ; whereas,
he thinks the letter which is to be restored to Homer
oug;ht to be called Van. From a consideration of all
circumstances, I am convinced that Dawes's ill-usage
of Bentley arose, not so much from personal or party
hatred directed against a man who had been dead
two or three years before the Miscellanea Critica ap-
peared, as from a design to appropriate to himself
the praise due to the illustrious critic ; and that he
hoped to veil this disingenuous scheme by testifying
dislike and contempt for his master. Such conduct
undoubtedly implies an illiberal and unprincipled
spirit ; and I am sorry to say, that all which has
been recorded of his character rather tends to confirm
1
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 371
than remove this suspicion. While at Cambridge he chap.
was addicted to low company and vulgar habits ; and 1735
of his subsequent life we learn little, except that he =
was engaged in constant quarrels with his neighbours,
and abuse of his best friends and benefactors.
It is a satisfaction to observe that Dawes's attack
upon Bentley's literary claims has entirely failed,
while he has himself reaped from it abundant dis-
credit. All subsequent scholars, without exception,
have assigned the merit of the restoration of the di-
gamma in Homer to its real author. When the
learned and candid Heyne was eno-ao-ed upon his Heyne's
J & . . Homer.
edition of the Iliad, the Master and Fellows of Trinity
College, to whom Bentley's corrected copy of Homer
had been recently bequeathed, determined, with
much spirit and liberality, to send it to Gottingen for
his use. One cannot help admiring Heyne's account
of the transport with which he beheld the hand of
the venerable scholar, and his gratitude for the
signal instance of generosity which allowed him this
benefit. But it is most interesting to observe, what a
contrast his behaviour towards Bentley forms to that
of Dawes. He not only faithfully communicates the
manuscript contents of the book, but ingenuously
confesses that all his own acquaintance with Homeric
prosody was derived from this source, which he re-
gards as the greatest assistance and ornament of his
publication 7 .
7 Heyne in his preface, p. xv. says of this loan, " Hujus munificentise,
generosis Britannorum animis dignissimEe, memoria prsedicabitur, quam-
diu Homerici studii erit aliquis honos ; debet ei opera mea ornamenta
sua, si qua in ea eminent, principe loco." His gratitude, however, is
lavished more upon the persons, who were merely the vehicles of his request,
than upon the Seniority of Trinity College, to whose spirit and generosity
he was exclusively indebted for the accommodation which he so greatly
valued. A full account of Bentley's book (Stephens's edition) and the
doctrine of the Digamma, is contained in the preface to torn. iii. p. xciii.
xcvi. and the Excursus on the 19th Book of the Biad. vol. vii. p. 708.
B B 2
372 LIFE OF
chap. Our readers may perhaps be surprised at not hav-
1-35. m & 5' et met w ^ an y uot i ce f tne well-known hos-
tility displayed against our critic by Mr. Pope, the
Pope's hos- J r *., & . ,. .
tiiity to greatest poetical genius among his contemporaries ;
Bemiev. particularly as it is customary to attribute the aliena-
tion of the public mind, and the abandonment of his
projected edition of Homer, to the keen and witty
attacks of the satirist. The fact is, that it was not
till Bentley had reached old age, and was no longer
to be dreaded as an adversary, that those attacks
commenced ; and the consequences assigned to them
are altogether imaginary. Dr. Johnson, who lived
with the contemporaries of both, observes in his Lives
of the Poets, that ' of Pope's vain desire to make
Bentley contemptible, he had never heard any ade-
quate reason." It would be indeed a hard matter to
discover ' adequate reasons' for the various resent-
ments of the bard of Twickenham, which so often ori-
ginated in jealousy, spleen, the suspicion of a slight,
or some casual offence. But for his dislike of Bent-
ley, there may surely be found reasons more than
sufficient to operate upon so irritable a temperament.
The common story of his having told Pope, whom he
met at Bishop Atterbury"s table shortly after the pub-
lication of his translation of the Iliad, ' that it was a
very pretty poem, but that he must not call it Homer,"
is told in different forms ; and its truth is very proba-
ble, from his having himself, when asked in his latter
days, what had been the cause of Pope's dislike, re-
plied, " I talked against his Homer; and the portent-
ous cub never forgives." The opinion attributed to
Bentley, respecting the English Iliad, is, in fact, no
more than its greatest admirers have always admitted;
amidst all its beauties, we cannot recognize a resem-
blance to the original. But the declaration of such a
sentiment from the first Greek scholar of the ao-e was
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 373
xx.
J 735.
certain to give uneasiness to the poet, particularly as he chap.
knew that his slender acquaintance with the original
language was his most vulnerable point. But had
there existed no such offence, yet there were number-
less reasons which would make Pope regard Bentley
with unfriendly eyes. He had early fallen under the
lash of Swift, the leader and idol of his party ; he was
the successful antagonist of Atterbury, another of the
poet's friends ; and had given great offence to Boling-
broke, a third. His ministerial politics, and admit-
tance to the select parties of Queen Caroline, added
to his demerits : he was regarded as an object of ex-
treme aversion in the family of Lord Oxford, where
Pope was a frequent visitor : but above all, he stood
at the head of the verbal critics of the age, a race
against whom Pope had denounced implacable war,
ever since his own failure in the character of critical
edkor of Shakspeare. But however inclined he might
be to make our Aristarchus the object of his taunts,
it was not till many years after the translation of the
Iliad that he thought fit to commence his attack ;
nor even then, until the war had been begun by a
confederate.
The friendship which subsisted between Swift, Arbutimot
Pope, Arbutimot, Parnell, and Gay, was such, that BenUey's
whoever offended any one was sure to be placed under ^ scrib- 7 ' 6
the ban of the whole alliance. Dr. Arbutimot pos- lerus -
sessed, in a high degree, that classical knowledge in
which Swift and Pope were deficient. In the publi-
cation of these friends, entitled ' Miscellanies,' which
appeared in 1727, Arbutimot, who wrote most of the
lucubrations of Martinus Scriblerus, sometimes en-
deavoured to ape Bentley 's style ; and the section
called Virgilius Reformatus contains a direct burlesque
of his emendatory criticism, under the garb of Scri-
blerus' pretended alterations of the two first books of
374 LIFE OF
chap, the /Eneid : the short and imperious decrees of this
xx ...
1735 critical jeu-(T esprit being particularly designed to n-
dicule the Notes on Phaedrus, which were lately
published. These came forth about the same time as
the celebrated Travels of Gulliver, the plan of which
is known to have been discussed by Swift with his
friends at Twickenham. It is probable that they had
wished him to introduce Dr. Bentley among the pro-
minent characters in his Empire of Lilliput. Bat
whether it was from a sense of the injustice done to him
in his first publications, the ' Tale of a Tub,' and
' Battle of the Books,' or from some other cause, it
may be remarked that Swift never chose to indulge in
a sneer at our critic in any of his subsequent writings.
To supply this deficiency, Arbuthnot printed a little
Attacks him episode to his friend's book, called 'An Account of
limitation tne State of Learning in the Empire of Lilliput, to-
of Guiiiver. g e th e r with the History and Character of Bullion, the
Emperor's Library-Keeper.' This piece of satire suc-
ceeded in catching the manner, and preserving the
allusions and tone of Gulliver ; and in the guise of
that extraordinary traveller, he delivered as keen and
unsparing a satire upon the manners and principles of
Bentley, as any of the countless adversaries by whom
we have found his character assailed 8 .
8 As this piece of Dr. Arbuthnot's is not commonly met with, a few ex-
tracts will not be unacceptable to the reader.
" Bullum is a tall raw-boned man, I believe near six inches and a half
high; from his infancy he applied himself, with great industry, to the
old Blefuscudian language, in which he made such a progress, that he
almost forgot his native Lilliputian : and at this time he can neither write
nor speak two sentences, without a mixture of old Blefuscudian. These
qualifications, joined to an undaunted forward spirit, and a few good
friends, prevailed with the Emperor's grandfather to make him keeper of
his library, and a Mulro in the Gomflastru ; though most men thought
him fitter to be one of the Royal Guards. These places soon helped him
to riches, and upon the strength of them he soon began to despise every
body, and to be despised by every body. This engaged him in many
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 375
Shortly afterwards Pope's Dunciad made its ap- chap.
pearance, in the earlier editions of which were the . ' "
following lines :
" Bentley his mouth with classic flatt'ry opes,
And the pufFd orator bursts out in tropes ;
But Welsted most the poet's healing balm
Strives to extract, from his soft yielding palm :
Unlucky Welsted! thy unfeeling master,
The more thou ticklest, gripes his fist the faster."
B. II. 179.
quarrels, which he managed in a very odd manner ; whenever he thought
himself affronted, he immediately flung a great book at his adversary, and
if he could, felled him to the earth ; but if his adversary stood his ground
and flung another book at him, which was sometimes done with great vio-
lence, then he complained to the Grand Justiciary, that these affronts were
designed to the Emperor, and that he was singled out only as being the
Emperor's servant. By this trick he got that great officer to favour him,
which made his enemies cautious, and him insolent.
" Bullum attended the Court some years, but could not get into an higher
post ; for though he constantly wore the heels of his shoes high or low, as
the fashion was, yet having a long back and a stiff neck, he never could
with any dexterity creep under the stick, which the Emperor or the chief
minister held. As to his dancing on a rope, I shall speak of it presently ;
but the greatest skill at that art will not procure a man a place at court,
without some agility at the stick." State of Learning in the Empire of
Lilliput.
Bentley's quarrel with the University is thus typified :
" Some years after, the present Emperor, in a progress through his do-
minions, came to the Gomflastru ; and Bullum, without being asked, was
resolved to divert his Maj esty with his performance on the strait-rope : up
he mounts, and capers bravely for some time ; at last, endeavouring to
shew the utmost of his skill, in the midst of an high caper, he reached out
his right hand too far, which gave him a terrible fall.
" Most people imputed it to his over-reaching himself ; but he laid the
fault partly upon the robes he was obliged to wear before the Emperor,
which, as he said, entangled his feet ; and partly upon the maliciousness
of a by-stander, whom he accused of pulling the rope aside, as he was in
the midst of his caper. However that was, poor Bullum broke his leg,
and was carried to his own house, where he continued lame aboA'e two
years, not being able to shew himself in public all that time ; and it was
thought he would never have recovered, if the Emperor at last had not
taken pity on him, and sent one of his own surgeons to him, who cured
him immediately. " Ibid.
Pope's Dun-
ciad.
376 LIFE OF
chap. But either the poet found his taste questioned, for
xx
173; ! thus associating the first scholar of the age with a
herd of alleged dunces, or some circumstance oc-
curred to induce him to sound a retreat. In the edi-
tion of 1729, the first which was published with notes,
all mention of Bentley is suppressed : but as the
couplet in which he had been celebrated, though
palpably altered from Hudibras, was thought too
valuable to be sacrificed, Pope substituted for the
name of Bentley that of Welsted ; and transferred
the four next lines, with a slight alteration, from
Welsted to Oldmixon, another of the Whig writers,
who had fallen under his displeasure.
After this retractation, I am not aware of any hosti-
lities from Twickenham, till the disastrous edition of
Milton had exposed our veteran critic to the censure
and derision of all readers of English poetry. His
genius was now pronounced to be in its dotage, and
he was no longer an object of literary terror. Pope
however still preferred to see him denounced by other
pens rather than his own. David Malloch, of the
proscribed clan of Rob Roy Macgregor, being then a
literary adventurer about town, attached himself to
the party and interests of the great satirist. The
Celtic termination of Malloch being reduced into that
Maiiefs of Mallet, this gentleman published a ' Poem on
poem on ~cr i_ 1 4"i * j * 1 -> > -\ ir -r\ i -\
verbal di- Verbal Criticism, addressed to Mr. Pope, eulogizing
the illustrious poet in terms of flattery, of which, not-
withstanding his frequent professions to the contrary,
he was unquestionably greedy, and abusing verbal
critics, but particularly the two great objects of his
dislike, Bentley and Theobald, in a mode precisely
similar to that adopted elsewhere by Pope himself.
This performance seems unequal ; some of the lines
are extremely good, and exactly convey the feelings
of the superior bard : which circumstance, joined
ticism.
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 377
with Pope's anticipation of Bentley's resentment chap.
against himself, convince me, that in the most pun- Y ^ 35
gent parts of the attack he had lent the assistance of =
his pen 9 . Mallet was rewarded by the place of under-
secretary to Frederick, Prince of Wales, procured
him by Pope's interest : although a man of consider-
able genius, he seems to have been as unscrupulous
and indiscriminate in his attacks upon the characters
of others, as his kinsmen, the Highland freebooters,
were upon their neighbours' lives and properties. It
is well known, that after the death of Pope, he was
employed by Lord Bolinbroke to expose the moral
character of his deceased patron.
About a year afterwards Pope declared public war Pope's di-
against Bentley on his own account : in the ' Epistle upon Bent-
ley.
9 Pope says in a letter to Richardson, in the latter part of 1732, " I am
glad you published your Milton. Bentley will be angry at you, and at me
shortly for what I could not help, a satirical poem on Verbal Criticism by
Mr. Mallet, which he has inscribed to me : but the poem itself is good;
another cause of anger to any critic."
The following is a specimen of this satire :
" While Bentley, long to wrangling schools confin'd,
And but by books acquainted with mankind,
Dares in the fulness of the pedant's pride
Rhyme, tho' no genius ; tho' no judge, decide ;
Yet he, prime pattern of the captious art.
Out tibbalding poor Tibbald, tops his part ;
Holds high the scourge o'er each fam'd author's head,
Nor are their graves a refuge for the dead :
To Milton lending sense, to Horace wit,
He makes them write what never poet writ ;
The Roman Muse arraigns his mangling pen,
And Paradise by him is lost again.
Such was his doom impos'd by Heav'n's decree,
With ears that hear not, eyes that shall not see,
The low to swell, to level the sublime,
To blast all beauty, and beprose all rhyme.
Great eldest-born of Dulness ! blind and bold,
Tyrant ! more cruel than Procrustes old,
Who to his iron bed by torture fits
Their nobler part, the souls of suff'ring wits." V. 133.
378 LIFE OF
chap, to Dr. Arbuthnot,' one of the most nervous and
finished of his compositions, appeared the following
lines :
xx
1735
" Did some more sober critic come abroad ?
If wrong, I smil'd ; if right, I kiss'd the rod.
Pains, reading, study are their just pretence,
And all they want is spirit, taste, and sense.
Commas and points they set exactly right,
And 'twere a sin to rob them of their mite.
Yet ne'er one sprig of laurel grac'd these ribalds,
From daring Bentley down to piddling Tibbalds." V. 157.
In 1735 Pope printed a new edition of his poems,
in folio, when he reinstated Bentley into his former
place in the Dunciad, bearing, however, only his
initial B , and restored to Welsted the lines in
which he was originally celebrated. Two years after-
1737. wards, in his imitation of Horace's Epistle to Augustus,
he returned to the attack :
" Milton's strong pinion now not Heav'n can bound ;
Now, serpent-like, in prose he sweeps the ground :
In quibbles Angel and Archangel join,
And God the Father turns a school divine.
Not that I'd lop the beauties from his book,
Like slashing Bentley with his desp'rate hook."
The epithet which he now fastened upon the critic
pleased his fancy so strongly, that in a revision of the
Epistle to Dr. Arbuthnot, he substituted the same in
place of the less distinguishing term ' daring Bentley.'
These details of the cautious progress of Pope's satire
against the Doctor, will have reminded the reader of
the elaborate passage devoted to him in the fourth
book of the Dunciad ; as well as the ridicule which
Warburton assists in heaping upon him, in his office
of commentator on the poet. But this would antici-
pate several years of our history ; and it will be found,
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 379
that the period to which those satirical attacks were chap.
deferred, really forms one of the most curious and 1735
remarkable circumstances in the transaction. -
We left Dr. Bentley still struggling; in the midst of Walker's
tit 5 i i ii -i return to the
troubled waters, with the same unbroken spirit with mandamus
which he had for so many years maintained the con- BeVch. 1 " 8 *
flict. In the Michaelmas term 1735, Dr. Walker, his
faithful Achates, made a return in the Court of King's
Bench to the writ of mandamus, which ordered him
to execute the Bishop of Ely's sentence, by depriving
the Master. He alleged the same topics so often
advanced by Bentley, respecting the visitatorial power
over Trinity College ; that Queen Elizabeth's statutes,
having superseded those of King Edward, the pro-
vision of the latter, whereby the Bishop was constituted
General Visitor of the College, had been cancelled.
He used no argument to justify his own disobedience,
except that, as Vice-master, he owed no allegiance to
the Bishop of Ely, but was amenable for what he did,
or neglected to do, to no power or authority except
the King himself, whom, as representative of the
Founder, he considered General Visitor of the College ;
and concluded with submitting to the Court, whether
he was compellable to give any other answer to their
writ. Lord Hardwicke, who now presided on the
Bench, had formerly, while Attorney-general, given
his decided opinion, that the Bishop of Ely was Gene-
ral Visitor ; and his three learned brethren had seve-
rally declared themselves to be of the same mind a
few years before. But the difficulties which seemed
always to arise whenever the affairs of Trinity College
came before this high tribunal, were as great and
intricate as ever. First, the Judges declined inter-
posing their authority in compelling Walker to do his
duty, upon the ground of its being contrary to prac-
tice, and inconsistent with their dignity, to aid an
380 LIFE OF
chap, inferior court in enforcing its jurisdiction. Thereupon
1736 the form of the process was altered, and a writ was
obtained for a mandamus to the Bishop to compel
muTad- a " Dr. Walker to execute his sentence. It was now
fhTBisw believed that the right method was at last discovered,
that this mandamus must be confirmed, and that the
extraordinary personage who had so long baffled and
eluded his pursuers was fairly hunted down, and must
submit to his fate. The Bishop was passive, and
awaited the decision of the Court. Had he been
backed by their authority, he would either have com-
pelled the Vice-master's obedience, or have suspended
him on his refusal : in the latter case, Dr. Colbatch,
as the oldest Fellow, would have become his statut-
able substitute, and have immediately and joyfully
executed the sentence of deprivation. The various
steps of this action occupied the year 1736: in the
course of the proceedings, Bentley obtained leave for
his College to be admitted, in its corporate character,
as a party in the action, and to show cause against the
Jan. 27, rule. In January following the case was matured for
a hearing; : Mr. Strange, a barrister rising; into hig*h
reputation, who shortly became Solicitor-General,
argued against the mandamus upon the ground of
there being no precedents for such a measure, and of
its being virtually an attempt to force the Court to do
that which they had already refused, it being- below
their dignity to assist the proceedings of an inferior
jurisdiction. The Bishop's counsel merely alleged,
that he had carried the special authority with which
the House of Lords had armed him as far as he thought
himself empowered, but was ready to obey the direc-
tions of the Court. Serjeants Eyre and Wynne argued
for the prosecutors, and showed the hardship and in-
justice which must ensue, unless the Court interposed ;
for that Doctor Bentley had received a trial before the
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 381
Bishop, upon a jurisdiction confirmed and sanctioned chap.
by the first court in the kingdom, had been convicted 1737
of the misdemeanors with which he stood charged, ~^~ ~~ ~~
and sentenced to lose his office ; but kept possession
of the place in defiance of all law : unless therefore
the Court of King's Bench interfered, there would be
a failure of justice, without a remedy from any quar-
ter. They alleged precedents of mandamus' being
sent to visitors obliging them to discharge their func-
tions ; but here, as well as in all other stages of the
proceedings against Dr. Bentley, no cases could be
discovered which perfectly tallied and agreed with his
extraordinary predicament. The Chief Justice and
Mr. Justice Page appeared to lay great stress upon
the precedent of a mandamus having been sent to
Bishop Moore, calling upon him to take cognizance of
the first accusation preferred by his Fellows against
Dr. Bentley : but they all felt great difficulty in
making up their minds upon the present question, and
after much conversation, took refuge in another post-
ponement, for the purpose of having the Crown-Office
searched for precedents to assist them as guides. On
a subsequent day Lord Hardwicke and Judge Lee
declared a view of the case differing from that ex-
pressed by any of the counsel : they held that the writ
was felo de se ; since its object was to procure the
Court's assistance in enforcing the Bishop's jurisdic-
tion, at the same time that it considered him to be
the Visitor ; if he actually possessed that character, he
might proceed to suspend and deprive the Vice-master
for disobedience, and the Court itself could not do
more ; if he had not such an authority already, they
could not give it him. They still however paused as
to the step most proper to be taken, whether of quash-
ing the writ, or allowing the return made by Dr. Mandamus
Walker ; after a little further delay, they quashed the ?heCourt. y
XX.
1737-
382 LIFE OF
chap, writ ; declaring at the same time, that they did not
intend thereby to decide the question whether the
Bishop was or was not general Visitor of the College.
a third Counsel were still of opinion that by a slight varia-
mandamus g ..."...
procured to tion in the form of process, a judicial decision might
execution of be obtained which would effect the object of Bentley's
ten C Sen " deprivation. This was by a mandamus to the Bishop
of Ely, to do his duty as General Visitor, in compelling
the Vice-master's execution of the sentence. The
change seems so small, that at first sight it is not
very obvious in what this process differed from that
which had been just overruled : but it was thought
that the mandamus in its present shape could only be
resisted by contesting the fact of the Bishop's being-
General Visitor ; a point upon which the Judges were
known to have formed an opinion in the affirmative.
Colbatch therefore entertained strong hopes of the
result, and thought that one more hearing would clis-
pose of the question in their favour : his confederate,
Smith, was not so sanguine, and judged that they
Parne re- were ' certain of nothing but delay.' Their party had
prosecutors, lately received an accession by the return of Mr.
Parne : this gentleman thought that the conditions of
his treaty with the Master, though strictly observed
by himself, had been neglected by the other party ;
and that, while he had abstained from giving any aid
to the prosecution, his pupils were excluded from
their fair access to scholarships and fellowships : ac-
cordingly, after a strong and menacing letter to
Bentley, calculated to produce nothing but hostility,
he declared open war, and assisted the prosecutors
with his money and advice. The Doctor's resent-
ment on this occasion was very great ; and traditionary
stories are still in existence, of the indignation with
which he was heard to speak of ' that rascal Parne.'
One proof of his resentment I can discover from the
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 383
Conclusion-book : Bentley, who had absented himself chap.
from all College meetings for nearly three years, now, '
for the last time in his life, presided at a Seniority, =
for the purpose of renewing and enforcing the order 1737. '
passed in 1729, obliging the tutors to pay in advance
the dues of their pupils to the College : a measure
which it is clear, from the time and circumstances,
was intended as an annoyance to Mr. Parne, and was
likely to pre-occupy the spare money which he might
have destined for law expenses. This order was sub-
scribed, as in extraordinary cases, by the Senior Fellows,
and among the rest by Johnson, the late promoter,
who had obtained the sentence of expulsion against
the Master. From this circumstance, and from his
being admitted about the same time to the office of
pandoxator, it appears that he had acquiesced in those
measures, which counteracted and rendered nugatory
all his long and painful exertions in the cause 10 .
In the meantime the new action pursued its course Feb. 21,
through the Court of King's Bench. Lord Hardwicke,
just after he had pronounced the decision on the last
case, was invested with the Great Seal, which became
vacant by the death of Lord Talbot ; and continued
for several months to unite in his own person the two
highest legal offices of Lord Chancellor and Chief
Justice. At length he was succeeded in the latter by June 1737.
Sir William Lee, the Judge who had in 1731 expressed tice Lee" S "
an opinion stronger than the rest of the Bench in
favour of the validity of King Edward's statutes, and
the jurisdiction of the Bishop of Ely. But it seemed
as if a spell attended the affairs of Trinity College,
whenever they were brought into the Court of King's
Bench. Although the cases were managed by some
10 Mr. Johnson gave up to Dr. Colbatch his papers and letters relating
to the prosecution which he had carried on for five or six years against Dr.
Bentley : they have been preserved along with Colbatch's own papers.
384 LIFE OF
C xx ? ^ ^ ie a ^ es ^ lawyers at the bar, yet they never could
1738. ne moulded and fashioned into such a shape, as to
===== extract a definite and substantial judgment from the
Court. The cause was not brought to a final hearing
April 22. till Easter Term in 1738, when Bentley's counsel
made two objections to the Rule : first that the Bishop
was not General Visitor ; secondly, that supposing
him to be such, yet the sentence had been pronounced
not in that character, but as Special Visitor : that it
was therefore inconsistent to compel the execution as
General Visitor, and that the Vice-master could not
be obliged by the statutes of Edward VI. to execute a
sentence founded on those of Queen Elizabeth. The
latter plea went the full length of maintaining in
argument, what had been for some time apparent in
fact, that the 40th statute of Elizabeth was ineffectual
and nugatory, since the Bishop had no means of en-
forcing the sentence which he might pronounce ; and,
consequently, that there existed no authority which
could bring the Master of Trinity to punishment for
collegiate misdemeanours. The counsel on the other
side denied that the two jurisdictions were incon-
sistent ; nor did the Judges give any countenance to
such a position : but they refused to compel the
Bishop to exercise the power of a General Visitor,
because it was doubtful whether he possessed it or
not. The suit, they said, should have been renewed
in a different way ; either by disputing the validity of
Dr. Walker's return in the first cause, or ' by bring-
ing a feigned action by consent.' The latter method
was intended, I presume, to subject the question of
fact, as to the Visitor of the College, to the verdict of
a jury : which resource, obvious as it may seem, was
Court dis- now hinted at for the first time. The Court thinking
Rui'e geS the tn * s a qu^i 011 not fit to De decided upon motion, dis-
charged the Rule.
XX.
1738.
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 385
Thus finally terminated all attempts to procure the chap
expulsion of Dr. Bentley from his mastership : the
lawyers suggested, that as the mode of action recom-
mended by the Bench would prove difficult and ex-
pensive, the Fellows would be wise if they determined
to push the matter no further. However, I think it
probable that Dr. Colbatch, who considered it a duty
due to his injured College, never to relax in the pur-
suit of justice, would have embarked in a new pro-
cess, had not an event almost immediately followed,
which rendered further proceedings impracticable ;
this was the death of Bishop Greene, at the age of Deathof
fourscore : thus in fact, the course of nature, and not May iT"
the determination of law, put a period to the con-
test 11 .
The success of this struggle kept up with unex- Termina-
ampled spirit and obstinacy for ten years, must be ^onlto*
attributed principally to the acuteness, address, and P roo " re ,
. . Bentley s
skilful tactics of Dr. Bentley himself, seconded by the expulsion.
zeal of his professional friend, Mr. Greaves. Many
persons would have sunk under the agitation of such
proceedings, every stage of which threatened his ruin :
but he was cool and collected in his operations, he
never gave his enemies an advantage over him, nor
ever failed to seize the right occasion for a successful
manoeuvre. His aim was always to distress and baffle
his antagonists ; while it must be allowed, that he
seemed strangely regardless of the opinion which
might be entertained of the rectitude of his own
conduct.
In the perusal of the foregoing narrative some,
perhaps, may have remarked that Dr. Bentley might
have been an excellent lawyer ; others may have
thought his talents adapted for military command :
11 Bishop Greene was succeeded at Ely by Dr. Robert Butts, the Bishop
of Norwich, an old member of Trinity College.
VOL. II. C C
386 LIFE OF
chap, but all must agree that such a display suited any
T _ 38 character rather than that of a learned and dignified
===== clergyman.
Of the contributors to this long and complicated
suit, much the largest share of expense, and all the
responsibility of management, fell to the lot of Dr.
Colbatch 12 . We have more than once mentioned
that the Master defrayed the whole of his own ex-
coiiegedis- penses from the College stock. The amount of those
the'expis charges, as I find them separately stated in the bur-
of the suit. sar ' s D00 1l Sj was 36571. : but part of them being placed
under other heads, I apprehend that the sum was
really not less than 4000/. This extraordinary bur-
then, being double the amount of a year's dividend to
the whole society, was beyond the means of their
revenue to sustain : a great and increasing deficit
appeared in the annual accounts, and the immediate
prospect of starvation presented itself to the College.
In this emergency, the late contending parties com-
bined to relieve the common distress. Large sums
were borrowed at interest : Walker and Johnson vi-
sited in company the College estates in different parts
of the kingdom, and took measures for improving the
revenues : both Bentley and Colbatch refrained for
several years from receiving their dividends and other
dues, and only took the arrears when they found that
the great pressure was relieved. However, the Col-
lege was not able, for a long course of time, to ex-
tricate itself from the debt which the Master's defence
had occasioned.
Bentley having attained his seventy-seventh year
before he was delivered from the danger of expulsion,
12 Winston says that Colbatch expended nearly a thousand pounds of his
own money in this cause : a statement which probably falls short of the
fact. Memoirs of his own Life, vol, i. p. 430.
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 387
the reader will expect to see him pass the remnant of chap.
his days in the noiseless repose so naturally coveted x '
by old age. He will therefore be startled at learning =
that, so far from this being the case, he scarcely gave brh^L
himself time to enjoy the sense of his security, before ^ t Col .
he pluno-ed into a fresh law-suit, and became in his batch as
, o i ' i Archdeacon
turn the prosecutor ol his persevering and unappeas- of Ely.
able enemy, Colbatch. The latter had refused to
pay the small sums annually demanded of him as
Rector of Orwell, at the visitation of the Archdeacon
of Ely, maintaining that those charges, called pro-
curations, or proxies, were only due to an Archdeacon
who personally visited the parishes within his juris-
diction, as being intended to defray his expenses in
travelling. Bentley had never once during the thirty-
seven years that he had held the office, inspected the
churches and parsonage-houses personally and in de-
tail : the annual visitations, held at Cambridge by
himself or his Official, were calculated for no pur-
pose, as his adversary contended, but to receive those
procurations to which he had no claim by canon,
civil, or statute law. It must be remarked that this
neglect of parochial visitations was by no means pe-
culiar to Bentley, but was frequent and even general
at that period : the zealous attention to their import-
ant functions which distinguishes most English Arch-
deacons of the present day, was then very rare ; and
to this cause we may attribute the decayed state of
some of our churches, and the neglect and ruin of
many parsonage-houses, which has in numerous cases
entailed upon the Establishment the evils of non-re-
sidence.
As Colbatch had systematically refused to pay his
proxies for the last fifteen years, it is probable that
the Archdeacon had long meditated to call him to
account, whenever he might have his hands at liberty.
c c 2
388
LIFE OF
CHAP.
XX.
1738.
Ecclesias-
tical Pro-
curations.
July 14.
Accordingly, just before his visitation this year, his
proctor, Burrow es, made the demand of proxies and
arrears, giving at the same time a notice of process
in case of non-compliance ; and upon Colbatch re-
plying that they were not due, he immediately insti-
tuted a suit against him in the Consistorial Court of
the Bishop of Ely, before Dr. Wharton Peck, the
Chancellor of the Diocese. The sum demanded of
the Rector of Orwell was three shillings and sixpence
for each year. While joining issue in this new liti-
gation, one party undoubtedly conceived himself to
be acting upon public principles, such as animated
Hampden when he resisted the payment of as small
a sum, the quota assessed upon him for ship-money :
the other believed that he was discharging a duty
due to his station and preferment, in thus vindicating
the rights of his successors with the trouble and ex-
pense of a law-suit. But it is probable that bye-
standers gave a different interpretation to their con-
duct, and could discover in their proceedings only a
specimen of exasperated and implacable animosity,
ill befitting persons arrived almost at the limit of
human existence. It did seem, indeed, as if these
gray-headed litigants were so habituated to a state of
controversy, that the excitement of a law-suit had
become as necessary to them as that of hazard is to
the inveterate gamester.
Henry Monson, LL.D. a Fellow of Trinity Hall,
the same who was afterwards made Professor of Civil
Law, was commissioned, as surrogate of the Chan-
cellor, to discharge the office of judge in this cause.
The proceedings were opened with all formality in
Great St. Mary's Church ; but the sittings of the
Court were generally held at Dr. Monson's college-
rooms. Thomas Burrow es, one of the Esquire-
beadles, acted as proctor for the Archdeacon ; and
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 389
Thomas Bennet, who was afterwards elected to the chap.
xx.
same office, for Dr. Colbatch. The adjournments, 1738
deliberations, and arguments upon points of form, =====
were so numerous, that this little court seemed to
mimic the procrastination of those high tribunals
with which our readers have been lately conversant.
The ecclesiastical law affords abundant resources for
delay ; and although the question at issue lay in a
very small compass, the Court contrived to postpone
its decision for the full space of a year and a half:
and in all this time the defendant was not permitted
to adduce those arguments, which he had accumu-
lated from his legal reading, to prove that the claim
for proxies could only be justified in a parochial visi-
tation.
We need not be detained with the several stages of
this petty action : I apprehend much of the time to
have been really employed in consulting eminent
civilians in London upon the merits of the question,
involving, as it did, a point of considerable import-
ance to most Archdeacons in the kingdom. Opinions
were entirely in favour of a right, which was estab-
lished by the undeviating practice of above a hun-
dred years : but it was also proved that the ancient
claim upon the Rector of Orwell was only one shil-
ling. At length the cause was ripe for a decision ; Decision in
and Dr. Monson pronounced his judgment in January f av0 ur. y
1740, in favour of Dr. Bentley, condemning Dr.
Colbatch in the payment of six shillings for proxies
and arrears from the year 1734, and in 20/. for a bill
of costs, reduced by taxation to that amount.
Colbatch, believing the proceedings of the court coibatch's
to have been irregular and partial, and convinced pamp let '
that the judgment was in opposition to the maxims
of civilians and canonists, with whose writings he
390 LIFE OF
xx
173a.
chap, was peculiarly conversant, determined upon an appeal
from the Bishop's Commissary to the Court of Arches :
but finding that the opinions of the profession were
decidedly against him, he was induced to forego that
purpose, and to make his appeal to the public in a
pamphlet, comprising his grounds in law, justice, and
reason, for withholding those payments which had
been the subject of the action. This tract, called
' The Case of Proxies payable to Ecclesiastical Visi-
tors,' conveys a good deal of information concerning
the early discipline and practice of Christian churches,
and displays an extensive acquaintance with writers
upon the canon law, and ecclesiastical history : its
perusal is by no means unattended by amusement ;
and it should be mentioned to Colbatch's credit, that
he so far subdued his personal feelings, as to abstain
from any thing like invective against the great adver-
sary, whom he was compelled once more to leave in
possession of the victory. Nearly half the publica-
tion is occupied by a reply to a posthumous tract of
Bishop Stillingfleet, recently published with his works,
which took a different view of the question, and con-
sidered the payment of proxies as intended to exoner-
ate the clergy from the expense of entertaining the
Archdeacon on his visitation. Of this great autho-
rity against him Colbatch had not been aware, till
after the termination of the trial : it was an Arch-
deacon's charge, but not printed by the Bishop him-
self among his ecclesiastical tracts ; nor does it bear
marks of great research. In regard to the propriety
of maintaining a long established practice, the general
opinion must be with Stillingfleet; but if it be con-
sidered merely as a question of antiquarian curiosity,
it is certain that Colbatch, whose mind had been long-
exerted upon this particular point, had carried his
1
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 391
enquiries further, and established his positions more chap
securely than that illustrious prelate 13 .
The last time that I find Dr. Bentley appearing in
public, it was in the capacity of judge, on an extra- ofTsec'of
ordinary and alarming occasion. It was discovered Atheists -
that atheistical principles had insinuated themselves
among a party of young men in the University; who
having formed a society with some persons in town,
were anxiously employed in propagating their tenets.
We may generally remark that they who throw off
all dependence upon revealed religion, with great
inconsistency attach their faith to some one leader, as
infallible, and embrace all his dogmas with the most
slavish submission. The oracle of this confederacy
was Mr. Samuel Strutt, of the Temple, a writer now strutt
forgotten, who had dressed up the arguments of Lord
Herbert of Cherbury, and other enemies of religion,
in a new shape, and published them a few years
before in a book called ' A Philosophical Enquiry
into the Physical Spring of Human Actions;' this
his disciples were satisfied to make their code of faith,
and the panacea for every doubt 14 . Of the members
of this fraternity, one only is known to posterity, Paul
13 The title at length is, " The Case of Proxies payable to Ecclesiastical
Visitors fully stated: and the Question discussed, whether those payments can
upon any account become due from the Parochial Clergy to an Archdeacon,
who doth not visit them and their Churches in person ? With some Remarks
on part of a posthumous Discourse of the late Bishop Stillingfleet, on the
antiquity and legality of Archdeacons' Visitations. By John Colbatch,
D.D. Rector of Orwell, in the Diocese of Ely, and Casuistical Professor of
Divinity in the University of Cambridge, 17-11."
14 This book was published in 1732. Strutt, who was dead at the time
of which we are speaking, had been a writer in the Craftsman, the oppo-
sition journal which assailed Sir Robert Walpole's government with great
ability. In the Gentleman's Magazine, vol. ix. p. 198, is an amusing
attempt of the editor of the Craftsman to exonerate himself from the sus-
picion of Strutt's intimacy or friendship, which however is fairly proved
upon him by the ministerial writer in the Daily Gazetteer (p. 203, of the
same volume) who had gained access to Strutt's papers.
392 LIFE OF
chap. Whitehead, a poet who trod closely in the steps of
j " Pope, and assailed the friends of Ministers with the
r _ lash of furious satire : his poem of ' Manners,' the
" most successful imitation of Pope's style, had just
appeared : but his infidel principles, pursuing their
natural course, procured him in time a different kind
of notoriety, as secretary of the too notorious bro-
Ducket. therhood of Mednam Abbey. Tinkler Ducket, a
Fellow of Caius College, who had joined this so-
ciety of atheists, was pursuing a system of proselytism
in his College, when the existence of the sect was
discovered by a letter from him addressed to one of
his converts. This paper being dropped in the quad-
rangle, was picked up by another Fellow of the Col-
lege, Mr. Burrough, then Esquire Beadle, and after-
wards Master of Caius, who enjoys the reputation of
architect of the Senate House. His reading a letter
so found, gives us but a mean opinion of his delicacy
or sense of honour : but upon discovery of its con-
tents he felt it his duty to lay them before the autho-
rities of the University. The letter amounted to a
full confession on the part of Ducket, of his having
reached the ne plus ultra of atheism ; displayed his
veneration for ' the adorable Father Strutt,' the
founder of the sect, and expressed his anxiety to
remove all scruples and prejudices which might yet
linger in the mind of his correspondent. It also re-
vealed incidentally the names of five or six of the
fraternity 15 .
This discovery occasioned great uneasiness to the
University ; Dr. Whaley, the Vice-chancellor, went
13 Ducket's letter itself may be seen in the Gentleman's Magazine for
1 739, vol. ix. p. 203. It had been written Oct. 1734, four years before the
discovery ; from which circumstance, I cannot help suspecting that it was
dropped intentionally by his correspondent, with the design of betraying
the writer and his compeers. This supposition, if true, may account for
its not being restored unread to the owner.
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 393
to town to consult Archbishop Potter and Bishops chap.
Gibson and Sherlock upon the expediency of public 173g
proceedings. In the mean time, the existence of a =
school of atheism in the University became a matter
of general conversation ; and it was found necessary
to bring' Ducket to a public trial upon the charge of
entertaining and propagating such opinions 16 . The
Vice-chancellor's Court was held in the Law-Schools, 1>L|blic tri ai.
March 9th, when the accusation was proved by the
production of his own letter ; and was confirmed by
a remarkable specimen of the practical results of
atheism. He had been endeavouring to seduce a
female, who was the object of his affections ; and
strove to remove her conscientious and religious
scruples, by persuading her that matrimony was but
an institution of human authority, that it was an
affront to God to imagine that he would first implant
passions in his creatures, and then forbid the grati-
fication of them ; adding, as a natural consequence
of this reasoning, that her compliance, instead of a
sin, would be the highest act of benevolence : at the
same time, he endeavoured to remove her fears of
discovery, by assuring her that he possessed drops
which were a sovereign preventive against pregnancy.
These facts were deposed at the trial by the lady her-
self; who also produced a letter in his hand-writing,
containing arguments to the same effect. Ducket's
defence was a premeditated speech, delivered, as an
eye-witness records, ' with grace and intrepidity :'
he justified, by quotations from Locke and other
16 Dr. Waterland writing from Windsor to Dr. Zach. Grey, Jan. 31,
1/38-39, says, " I am very sorry to hear the ill-news from Caius College,
which is got to town, it seems, and alarms many good men there." Mr.
Nichols, who prints this letter in his Illustrations of Literature, vol. iv.
p. 390, observes in a note " What this ' ill-news' was, I leave to be dis-
covered by some future commentator." It now requires no commentator
to discover the allusion.
394 LIFE OF
chap, writers, freedom of thought and private judgment,
r39 and maintained that the atheist was as capable of
. moral and social virtue as the believer. He declared,
however, that he had been for some time convinced of
the fallacies of the ' Philosophical Enquiry,' and was
become once more a believer in God and Christianity :
and to prove the truth of his repentance, he brought
the evidence of some persons who had heard him
condemn the ' Philosophical Enquiry.' But as it
appeared that he had used the arguments of an infidel
to debauch the principles of a female, subsequently
to that pretended recantation, his apology availed
him nothing. The Court however adjourned, to de-
liberate upon their sentence.
March 23. Upon the next Court-day, only eight Heads of
C urned d to colleges appeared in the Schools; whereas a majority
Berkley's f t } ie yvhole number w T as indispensably required to
sanction the judgment which the Vice-chancellor was
then ready to pronounce. Dr. Bentley's liability to
catch cold did not suffer him to leave his house : ac-
cordingly, in compliment to the Father of the Univer-
sity, and the early refuter of atheistical tenets, the
court was adjourned to Trinity Lodge. Here some
persons who generally condemned his words and
actions, were scandalized at instances of levity, as ill-
suiting the solemnity of the occasion. Tradition in
the University still records a jest then uttered by
Bentley : he enquired of those about him, ' which
was the atheist?' and on Ducket being pointed out,
who was a small and spare personage, he exclaimed,
" What! is that the atheist? I expected to have
seen a man as big as Burrough the beadle 17 ." The
17 I cannot determine whether the character in this jest was Mr. Bur-
rough, or his hrother-mace Mr. Burrowes, not knowing which was the
larger man : the truth is that the portly appearance of the three Esquire-
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 395
alleged offence being proved in its full extent, sen- chap.
tence was pronounced upon Ducket of expulsion from x '
the University, and the Senate passed a vote for
taking away his degrees. His fate excited no com- 2SlL
passion, since he was a vicious as well as a vain man;
and it was no small aggravation, that he was about
the age of thirty, and had taken holy orders in the
Church 18 .
In the year 1736, an association was established in society for
London for the ' Encouragement of Learning,' con- conragV
sisting of numerous personages distinguished for rank "^"nilf
and genius ; who subscribed to assist authors by pub-
lishing their works under the auspices and in part at
the cost of the Society. It was an important object
for this institution to start with eclat, by printing the
work of some great author ; and accordingly they
offered to commence with the publication of Dr.
Bentley's Manilius, which was known to be ready
for the press. The Doctor, to their surprise and morti-
fication, instead of gratefully accepting the proffered
honour, started certain objections to the tendency of
such a society, which had never occurred to its liberal
supporters, and condemned with great freedom the
whole undertaking. Piqued at this unexpected re-
jection of their offer, they addressed a similar pro-
posal to Bentley's old enemy, Conyers Middleton,
who was at that time engaged upon his Life of Cicero,
which they solicited his permission to publish. He
however preferred the more lucrative method of print-
beadles at that day, did much credit to University cheer. They are
described by Christopher Smart, in a copy of Latin verses, by the follow-
ing periphrasis,
' Pinguia tergeminorum abdomina Bedellorian."
18 My account of the proceedings against Ducket is supplied partly by
the University Registers, partly by Cole, and Tunstall, the Public Orator,
in a letter to Lord Oxford. Both these gentlemen were present at the
trial.
396 LIFE OF
chap, ins bv subscription : and the Society were obliged
to content themselves with authors of less celebrity.
= The experience however of a few years proved the
justice of Bentley's exceptions : the design of the
Society, liberal and spirited as it undoubtedly was,
could not be executed without interfering with the
interests of the booksellers, who are in reality the most
efficient patrons of literature : it became therefore the
policy of that whole fraternity to oppose the success of
their general rival. In a short time, it was found
necessary to take in the co-operation of some book-
sellers, as partners : but even then the liberality of
the Society to its authors left for the traders such small
profits, that they felt no interest in the circulation of
its books : and after twelve years' perseverance, it Mas
found that the whole funds of the Society, consisting
of about 2000/, had been expended, without any ef-
fectual advance towards compassing its public-spirited
objects 19 .
Dr. Bentley having resolved to give to the world
19 A full account of the operations of this Society, a list of its original
members, and of the hooks printed by it from 1736 to 1748, the time of
its dissolution, is given by Mr. Nichols, in his interesting and valuable
repository, the Literary Anecdotes, vol. ii. p. 90-97- Mr. Alexander Gor-
don, the Secretary of the Society, writes to Dr. Richardson, the Master of
Emanuel College, begging him to communicate their offer to Dr. Middle-
ton, and speaking with great indignation of Bentley's rejection of the
honour intended for him : " You have no doubt heard in what a dis-
couraging way Dr. Bentley has used our Society : for tho' his work of
Manilius was ready to be printed, and he desired by several people to have
it published by the Society, he not only raised such ill-grounded objections
against the institution itself, but chose to throw it into the hands of a
common bookseller, rather than into those of the Society ; which has not
only made several gentlemen of letters and high life exclaim against the
discouraging and ungenerous act, but will be recorded in the learned
world, perhaps, when he is dead and rotten. Such men deserve fleecing
from booksellers ; and I am mistaken if he or his editors will not meet
with it : I am sure none will regret them. But it is hoped, nay expected,
from the excellent character Dr. Middleton bears in the world, that our
Society will meet with other treatment from him."
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 397
his Manilius, which had been prepared for publication chap.
no less than forty-five years before, it was printed at 1739
the newly -established press of Henry Woodfall. In
> Publication
elegance ol type and paper it is superior to any ot f Bentiey's
Bentley's other books, and is as beautiful in appear- Mamhus -
ance as the Society itself could have made it. It is
embellished with a remarkably fine engraving, by
Vertue, of his own portrait painted by Thornhill in
1710 20 , and illustrated by a representation of the
celestial sphere of the ancients, taken from a model
of the globe in the Farnese Palace, lately brought
from Rome by Mr. Martin Folkes, the eminent anti-
quarian scholar, and the well-known President of the
Royal Society. The Doctor thinking his edition of
Homer the utmost that he could now hope to accom-
plish, committed to his nephew, Richard, by whom
this volume was carried through the press, the task of
writing the preface ; the object of which was to defend
his opinion of the age and character of Manilius, and
to explain the subsidia used in this edition. He es-
tablishes satisfactorily, as I think, by internal argu-
ments, that the author of the Astronomicon, whoever
he might be, wrote in the reign of Augustus ; and
accounts for the frequent harshness of his diction, by
supposing him to have been a foreigner.
The remarks which we have had occasion to make
upon our critic's editions of other Latin poets, are for
the most part applicable to that of Manilius. His
observations are always ingenious, acute, and well
worthy of consideration : but a great many of his
emendations had better have been spared ; and most
20 From this portrait is taken the engraving, which forms the frontispiece
of this work. Vertue's engraving was always considered by those who
had seen Bentley as an admirable likeness. It is within the recollection of
persons still living that his barber, who used to dress him in his latter
years, said, whenever he saw this print hanging up in any College rooms,
" It is as like him as if he was speaking to you.'"
398 LIFE OF
chap, of the verses which he condemns as spurious, appear
1739. as mucn the offspring of the poet as any others in the
===== book : upon the whole however, the reader will find
more to approve than to condemn. But to say the
truth, no great accession of reputation could be ob-
tained by an edition of Manilius, since he is a poet
never likely to be generally read : with the exception
of three or four digressions, both the beauties and
faults of which strongly remind us of Ovid, the peru-
sal of the poem is a work of rather severe study : this
may be owing principally to the abstruse and un-
inviting nature of the subject ; as Manilius himself
declares,
Intendas animum ; nee dulcia carmina queeras ;
Ornari res ipsa negat, contenta doceri.
Nevertheless, one cannot help recollecting with what
poetical charms even this subject is invested, when it
falls into the hands of the author of the Geomics 21 .
Bentieyhas I believe it to have been shortly after this time that
stroke. ytI Dr. Bentley was afflicted by an attack of palsy, and
was in consequence forced to abandon all hope of
executing his edition of Homer, or any other literary
work. Perhaps the reader may be surprised, after so
much minute detail of the life of my hero, that I
should be unacquainted with the precise time when
he was struck by this warning of mortality. Nothing
however that I have ever seen, notices the period of
the blow ; but of the fact itself, there can be no doubt.
It is a tradition in College, that in his latter days he
was paralytic ; and Mr. Cumberland distinctly records
21 Some very able and interesting observations upon Manilius, as well
as upon Bentley's criticisms, may be found in an article of the Monthly
Review, vol. lxxi. p. 456, which proceeded from the pen of Dr. Parr. It
is a critique of an edition of Manilius, published in 1783, by Mr. Edmund
Burton, a gentleman of fortune, formerly a Fellow of Trinity College.
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 399
that when he remembered his grandfather, he was chap.
disabled by that malady from quitting his chair with- 1739
out the assistance of a servant. At the trial of Ducket, = =
in the early part of 1739, an eye-witness observes that
he appeared in perfect health : and Taylor, in his
Lectiones Lysiacce, published the same year, expresses
the general and anxious expectation of Bentley 's edi-
tion of Homer, upon which he was then daily em-
ployed 22 . After this year, I hear no more of his is disabled
pursuing that work : his notes, which he was writing i[Mng U
out in a copy-book for the press 23 , end abruptly in the. Homer -
sixth book of the Iliad ; so that I have little doubt
of their having been broken off and the hopes of the
classical world defeated by his paralytic seizure. I
apprehend that the stroke was not very severe, and
that he partially recovered from its effects : he cer-
tainly continued able to amuse himself with reading
till a few days before his death ; but all possibility of
continuing his editorial labours was precluded.
In the early part of the following- year Dr. Bentley ! 740.
February.
sustained a calamity of a still severer nature, by the Death of'
death of his wife, in the fortieth year of their union 24 . le y # s ' ent "
Deprived of the comfort and support of her society
and virtues, he felt for the first time the real afflictions
of mortality. His daughters were both married : the
22 Taylor, Lectiones Lysiacce, cap. 9. (torn. vi. 287- ed. ReisJce.)
23 This little manuscript volume must be that which Professor Thiersch,
in his Greek Grammar, calls Bentley's ' full and elaborate Treatise' on the
Digamma : he says, that it was shown to him, along with the Codex Bent-
leianus, (the volume which had been sent to Heyne, being in fact his correc-
tions on the margin of Stephens's edition) in Trinity Library in the year 1815.
The short and cursory inspection which the Professor gave to this copy-
book, seems to have led him into the error : it is nothing more than what
I have described in the text.
24 The Register of All Saints parish mentions, on Feb. 29, 1739-40, the
payment of the chancel-fee for the wife of Dr. Bentley, who died in Trinity
Lodge, and was buried in Huntingdonshire. Cumberland in his Memoirs,
p. 15, gives some account of her character and death.
400 LIFE OF
chap, eldest had first been the wife of Mr. Humphrey Ridge,
1739 a gentleman of good family in Hampshire, who in less
than a year left her a widow. After his death she
returned to her father's house, and solaced by her
attentions the affliction of his declining years. In this
duty she was joined by her sister, Mrs. Cumberland,
who, after the death of her mother, passed much of
her time with her family at Trinity Lodge 25 . Sur-
rounded by such friends, the Doctor experienced the
joint pressure of old age and infirmity as lightly as is
consistent with the lot of humanity. He continued to
amuse himself with reading ; and though nearly con-
fined to his arm-chair, was able to enjoy the society
of his friends, and several rising scholars who sought
the conversation of the veteran Grecian : with them
he still discussed the readings of classical authors,
recited Homer, and expounded the doctrine of the
digamma ; and, as it appears from the recollections
of one of his visitors, Dr. Salter, used to communicate
the earlier events of his own literary career. Walter
Bentiey's Taylor, the Greek Professor, an eleve of his own, was
intimates in , , , n -i > . i i
old age. much m his society ; as well as his more distinguished
namesake, John Taylor. Markland is also mentioned
among those who were admitted to his conversation ;
and his two nephews, Thomas and Richard Bentley,
both of whom were attached to him with filial regard,
and had shaped their studies agreeably to his taste
and advice, were the frequent companions of his old
age. But his constant associate, at all times except
in his hours of study, was the Vice-master, Walker,
whose firmness and attachment had borne him safe
through the perils of the late prosecution. His good-
humour and veneration for his aged superior, con-
tributed to make the attentions of Dr. Walker a great
25 Cumberland's Memoirs, p. 26.
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 401
comfort to the declining days of the Master. Mean- chap.
while the whole government of the College was left in
1740
the hands of the Vice-master, who seems to have .
managed matters with such address, that the four
years of Bentley's life, subsequent to the prosecution,
were, as far as I can discover, free from disturbance
or uneasiness. It is a proof of no common tact and
judgment, that after so violent an agitation for many
years, he should have been able to calm the excited
and angry feelings with which the Society had been
distracted.
As the minor particulars of the lives of great men His domes-
are objects of curiosity, it is recorded that Bentley en-
joyed smoking tobacco with his constant companion ;
a practice which he did not begin before his seventieth
year : he is stated also to have been an admirer of good
Port wine, while he thought contemptuously of Claret,
which, he said, ' would be Port if it could.' He
generally wore, while sitting in his study, a hat with
an enormous brim, as a shade to protect his eyes ; and
he affected more than ever a fashion of addressing his
familiars with the singular pronouns thou and thee.
Some amusing recollections of Bentley in his old Cumber-
age have been printed by his grandson, Mr. Cumber- count* of"
land, in the ' Memoirs of his own Life.' It would be him "
injustice to that, author to give them in any words but
his own ; since the lively and characteristic style in
which the anecdotes are told, constitutes their chief
value. As he was a child of ten years old at the time
of his grandfather's death, it is not likely that his
impressions were very vivid of any particulars, except
the old man's personal kindness towards himself. He
had opportunities, indeed, of learning from his mother
and other relations accurate particulars respecting his
distinguished ancestor, but that he did not avail him-
self of them, appears from the frequent mistakes which
VOL. II. d d
402 LIFE OF
chap, he commits. It was his object to paint the domestic
1740 character of the great scholar in a pleasing and amia-
ble light, and to counteract the general impression
which prevailed of his stern and overbearing man-
ners : to this purpose he devotes the best efforts of his
polished and agreeable style.
" Of Doctor Richard Bentley, my maternal grandfather, I shall
next take leave to speak. Of him I have perfect recollection. His
person, his dignity, his language and his love, fixed my early atten-
tion, and stamped both his image and his words upon my memory.
His literary works are known to all, his private character is still mis-
understood by many ; to that I shall confine myself, and, putting
aside the enthusiasm of a descendant, I can assert, with the veracity
. of a biographer, that he was neither cynical, as some have represented
him, nor overbearing and fastidious in the degree, as he has been
described by many," Cumberland's Memoirs, p. 7.
" I had a sister 26 somewhat elder than myself. Had there been
any of that sternness in my grandfather, which is so falsely imputed
to him, it may well be supposed we should have been awed into
silence in his presence, to which we were admitted every day. No-
thing can be further from the truth ; he was the unwearied patron
and promoter of all our childish sports and sallies ; at all times ready
to detach himself from any topic of conversation to take an interest
and bear his part in our amusements. The eager curiosity natural to
our age, and the questions it gave birth to, so teazing to many
parents, he, on the contrary, attended to and encouraged, as the
claims of infant reason never to be evaded or abused ; strongly
recommending, that to all such inquiries answer should be given
according to the strictest truth, and information dealt to us in the
clearest terms, as a sacred duty never to be departed from. I have
broken in upon him many a time in his hours of study, when he
would put his book aside, ring his hand-bell for his servant, and be
led to his shelves to take down a picture-book for my amusement.
I do not say that his good-nature alwavs gained its object, as the
pictures which his books generally supplied me with were anatomical
drawings of dissected bodies, very little calculated to communicate
delight ; but he had nothing better to produce ; and surely such an
effort on his part, however unsuccessful, was no feature of a cynic :
26 Cumberland had three sisters, and all living about the period of these
anecdotes. See the will of Dr. Bentley, Appendix, No. IV.
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 403
a * cynic should be made of sterner stuff.' I have had from him, at CHAP,
times, whilst standing at his elbow, a complete and entertaining nar- XX "
rative of his school-boy days, with the characters of his different l ^ 40-
masters very humourously displayed, and the punishments described,
which they at times would wrongfully inflict upon him for seeming
to be idle and regardless of his task, ' When the dunces,' he would
say, ' could not discover that I was pondering it in my mind, and
fixing it more firmly in my memory, than if I had been bawling it
out amongst the rest of my school- fellows.'
" Once, and only once, I recollect his giving me a gentle rebuke
for making a most outrageous noise in the room over his library and
disturbing him in his studies ; I had no apprehension of anger from
him, and confidently answered that I could not help it, as I had been
at battledore and shuttlecock with Master Gooch, the Bishop of
Ely's son 27 . 'And I have been at this sport with his father,' he
replied ; ' but thine has been the more amusing game ; so there's no
harm done.' " Ibid. p. 7.
" His ordinary style of conversation was naturally loftv, and his
frequent use of thou and thee with his familiars carried with it a kind
of dictatorial tone, that savoured more of the closet than the court ;
this is readily admitted, and this on first approaches might mislead a
stranger ; but the native candour and inherent tenderness of his heart
could not long be veiled from observation, for his feelings and affec-
tions were at once too impulsive to be long repressed, and he too
careless of concealment to attempt at qualifying them." Ibid. p. 9.
" How liable he was to deviate from the strict line of justice, by
his partiality to the side of mercy, appears from the anecdote of the
thief, who robbed him of his plate, and was seized and brought
before him with the very articles upon him : the natural process in
this man's case pointed out the road to prison ; my grandfather's
process was more summary, but not quite so legal. While Commis-
sar}- Greaves, who was then present, and of counsel for the College
Ex officio, was expatiating on the crime, and prescribing the measures
obviouslv to be taken with the offender, Doctor Bentley interposed,
saying, ' Why tell the man he is a thief ? he knows that well enough,
without thy information, Greaves. Harkye, fellow, thou see'st the
trade which thou hast taken up is an unprofitable trade, therefore get
thee gone, lay aside an occupation by which thou can'st gain nothing
but a halter, and follow that bv which thou may'st earn an honest
27 This is an anticipation. Dr. Gooch did not become Bishop of Ely
till several years after Bentley's death. He was at that time Bishop of
Norwich.
d d 2
404 LIFE OF
CHAP, livelihood.' Having said this, he ordered him to be set at liberty
xx - against the remonstrances of the by-standers, and insisting upon it
l 7 i0 - that the fellow was duly penitent for his offence, bade him go his way
and never steal again." Ibid. p. 14.
Pope's fresh It was at this time, when Bentley was too much
agai n ns e t sunk under the load of years and infirmity to be an
Bentiey. bject of jealousy or resentment, that Pope chose to
write against him a severe satire, and Warburton
assisted his friend in holding him up to ridicule and
contempt. The spleen of the satirist appears to have
been lately increased and irritated by the interference
of Thomas Bentley, who had, indiscreetly perhaps,
taken up the cudgels in his uncle's cause, and ad-
dressed an angry letter to Pope in some of the journals.
As none of the commentators have given a clue to find
this epistle, I can only conjecture from circumstances,
that it was written in 1740, and that it was intended
to resent some ridicule cast upon our Aristarchus.
That point however is of no importance ; few people,
except Pope, would have suffered themselves to be
disturbed by such effusions ; and a writer who passed
his life in satirizing others, ought not to have com-
plained of occasional attempts at retaliation. It ap-
pears from his correspondence with Warburton, that
the latter had suggested to the poet some ludicrous
comparison, as applicable to the uncle and nephew :
Oct. 27, Pope's reply betrays much asperity and anger :
"Your simile," says he, "of B and his nephew,
would make an excellent epigram. But all satire is
become so ineffectual, when the last step that virtue
can stand upon, shame, is taken away, that epigram
must expect to do nothing even in its own little pro-
vince, and upon its own little subjects 28 ." Not long
28 Pope's Works, vol. ix. p. 379- There is an epigram upon Bentley,
given by Mr. Bowles, as Pope's, he having found it in his hand-writing : but
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 405
afterwards, the scheme of the fourth Book of the chap.
xx.
Dunciad, was suggested to the satirist by Warburton ; 1741 "
here it was arranged that the Aristarchus of Cam-
bridge should perform a conspicuous character. Even book of the
the greatest admirers of Pope must acknowledge that Dunmd -
this piece, relating as it does to subjects which have
no connection with those ridiculed in the three former
books, is an incongruous appendage to his poem : nor
was it very decent to introduce his sarcasms upon
such characters as Bentley, Clarke, and Mead, the
ornaments of the age in which they lived, as the
sequel of a satire, designed to ridicule the dulness and
poverty of the scribblers who wrote for bread in the
purlieus of Smithfield and Grub-Street. The long
oration assigned to Bentley, who appears as the repre-
sentative of the two Universities, consists in reflections
upon the whole system of academical studies, whether
classical, philosophical, or metaphysical. Though
some of the verses are excellent, the satire is too
general to be felt, the irony is not happily sustained,
and the fiction of the speaker is inappropriate. The
opening lines are personally applicable, and are meant
to describe his appearance and manner :
" As many quit the streams that murm'ring fall
To lull the sons of Marg'ret and Clare Hall,
Where Bentley late tempestuous wont to sport
In troubled waters, but now sleeps in Port.
even the evidence of his hand-writing is hardly sufficient to make us
believe that the great poet was the father of so paltry a production :
" Did Milton's prose, O Charles, thy death defend ?
A furious foe unconscious proves a friend.
On Milton's verse did Bentley comment ? Know
A weak, officious friend becomes a foe :
While he but sought his author's fame to further,
The murd'rous critic has aveng'd thy murder." Vol. iv. p. 32.
406 LIFE OF
CHAP. Before them marcli'd that awful Aristarch ;
Plow'd was his front with many a deep remark :
' His hat, which never vail'd to human pride,
Walker with rev'rence took, and laid aside.
Low how'd the rest : he, kingly, did but nod ;
So upright Quakers please both man and God.
' Mistress ! dismiss that rabble from your throne :
Avaunt Is Aristarchus yet unknown ?
Thy mighty scholiast, whose unwearied pains
Made Horace dull, and humbled Milton's strains.
Turn what they will to verse, their toil is vain :
Critics like me shall make it prose again.
Roman and Greek grammarians ! know your better,
Author of something yet more great than letter ;
While tow'ring o'er your alphabet, like Saul,
Stands our digamma, and o'ertops them all,' '
The conclusion of the scene again exhibits the
individual character :
" ' Walker, our hat !' nor more he deign'd to say,
But stern as Ajax' spectre, strode away."
Cumberland is seriously displeased with this allu-
sion, and very gravely maintains the improbability of
his grandfather's ever commanding the Vice-master
to reach his hat : but it does happen that for this scene
the poet had some authority in the following anecdote
Miner the which had been related to him. Philip Miller, the
botanist. , *
celebrated botanist, and author of the ' Gardener's
Dictionary,' went on an embassy to Cambridge to
consult the Aristarchus upon some classical subject,
for the advantage of a foreign scholar. He was hos-
pitably received at Trinity Lodge, and after dinner
propounded his question ; when Bentley, perhaps not
approving this style of consultation, recommended
him to ' drink his wine.' Miller however took three
opportunities of recurring to the object of his mission,
when Bentley, offended, called to his faithful com-
panion, " Walker! my hat " and quitted the room
1
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 407
in a manner not unlike that described by the poet 29 , chap.
The Vice-master himself was so far from being raor- 174 2
tified at the manner in which his name was connected =====
with Bentley's, that after the Doctor's death he pre-
served the identical hat, hung upon a peg in his
College rooms, and used to point it out to persons who
visited him, as a relique and memorial of his revered
friend.
This satire first appeared in 1742, and, I believe,
just before the decease of the aged critic. Thomas
Bentley was not forgotten ; but ere the opportunity
occurred for discharging the bile which was nourished
against him, he was no longer living to be sensible
of its effects. In 1741 he published his handsome Thomas
and well-known edition of the Hymns of Callimachus ; publication.
which seems principally intended for the use of
schools. His preface consists of a remonstrance
against a method, then prevalent, of reading Greek
with attention only to the accent, and a neglect of
quantity ; or, to speak more correctly, of changing
the quantities of Greek words, in order to make them
correspond with the accents 30 : but of the exact
nature of accent and quantity themselves, it exhibits
no very distinct knowledge. The next year appeared
his edition of Caesar, in which the notes of his friend,
Dr. Jurin, are given along with his own. In both
these publications, the devoted attachment of Thomas
to his venerable uncle is conspicuously shown. The
termination of the nephew's career was now at hand :
being in a bad state of health, he was sent by
medical advice to Clifton : here he was making an
29 This anecdote is told by Mr. George Ashby, in some manuscripts in
the possession of Sir Thomas Cullum, Bart., communicated to me by his
kindness.
30 The only point worthy of notice in this piece is the fact that it was an
ordinary practice at that day to pronounce the following words, with the
quantities as here marked : r(0?/p, kivSvvoq, aiepT/3//e, Aj;/io<r06j^c.
408
LIFE OF
CHAP.
XX.
1742.
His death.
May 28,
1742.
excursion on the water ; when, being very ill, he
begged to be put ashore : but before the boat reached
the bank he expired 31 . About a year after his
death, Pope published his Dunciad complete, with
its large commentary ; and although the object of
his resentment was sheltered from him by the grave,
he exhibited his anger by a severe reflection. It
may be recollected that Thomas had printed, thirty
years before, a small edition of Horace, with his
uncle's text, dedicated to Lord Harley. It was there-
fore determined to fasten upon him the couplet in
the second book of the Dunciad, which had hitherto
been understood, as it was undoubtedly designed, to
apply to the great Aristarchus, and his well-known
dedication of Horace to the Earl of Oxford. Bentley
his mouth with classic flattery opes, &c. The sting
however was comprised in the following commen-
tary :
" Not spoken of the famous Dr. Richard Bentley, but of one Thomas
Bentley, a small critic, who aped his uncle in a little Horace. The
great one was intended to be dedicated to the Lord Halifax, but (on
a change of the ministry) was given to the Earl of Oxford ; for
which reason the little one was dedicated to his son, the Lord
Harley."
This note, to which WarburtoiTs name is subscribed,
goes on to give an extract from the dedication, ver-
bally translated, and concludes with mentioning his
offensive letter to Mr. Pope.
In this edition of the Dunciad appeared the nume-
rous notes bearing the signature of Bentley, written
31 Communicated by Mr. Bentley Warren. He is buried in the church
of Clifton, with the following inscription :
Hie jacet Corpus
Thom^; Bentley, LL.D.
Qui obiit xxviii Maii
Anno 1742,
iEtat. 50.
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 409
either by Pope or his friend, in imitation of our chap.
critic's style : the idea of making an adversary the ?*'
commentator upon his work being probably borrowed =====
from the example of Swift in his ' Tale of a Tub.'
At the same time a dissertation, burlesquing the Wartmr-
style of Bentley, under the title of ' Richardus ^^
Aristarchus upon the Hero of the Poem,' was pre-^ ectt0
fixed by Warburton. This great writer has attained
such high and well-merited reputation for command-
ing genius and unbounded learning, that it would
be but a small addition to his glory to pronounce
him an able mimic. But in truth, this performance
seems a very ordinary one of its kind ; while the
publication of such buffoonery against an illustrious
scholar, lately dead, for whom, in his sincere judg-
ment, he entertained the highest admiration, is a
proof neither of good taste nor good feeling. In-
deed the whole conduct of Warburton in relation to
Bentley is remarkable. He had not any cause of
offence against him ; nor did he, like his friend the
poet, regard the race of critics with aversion : on the
contrary, no one more fully appreciated the value of
criticism, or better estimated the learning and genius
of Bentley 32 . His literary ambition, however, which
took aim at the highest objects, had led him to exert
uncommon pains in his ' Divine Legation of Moses,'
to controvert Bentley 's positions respecting the laws
attributed to Zaleucus and Charondas, maintained
in the dissertation on Phalaris. Of all the antago-
nists of our critic, Warburton was most worthy to be
matched in such a combat : both his reading and his
logical powers admitted a comparison with those of
32 "Warburton, writing advice to Mr. W. Greene, in 1738, on a course
of studies, directs him to the study of the best critics, such as Jos. Scaliger,
Casaubon, Lipsius, Turnebus, &c. ; " but, above all, Dr. Bentley and
Bishop Hare, who are the greatest men in this way that ever were."
410 LIFE OF
chap. Bentley ; and had they been more nearly of an age,
1742 it is probable that the world would have seen the
powers of both called out in a controversy. But
Warburton's classical education not having been re-
gular, his learning was neither so sound nor so secure
as that seen in the dissertation on Phalaris ; and
there is much justice in the well-known remark at-
tributed to Bentley, on reading the ' Divine Lega-
tion,' that the author had a voracious appetite for
knowledge, but he doubted whether he had a good
digestion. Although he treats the veteran scholar
with the respect due to his merits and character, yet
it is easy to discover from this and other parts of his
great work, that he was jealous of his fame, and
1741. proposed himself as his rival. In the second part of
the ' Divine Legation,' Warburton's reply to Collins'
book ' On the Grounds of the Christian Religion,'
plainly emulates the celebrated answer of Phileleu-
therus to his ' Discourse of Freethinking 33 '. In some
places there may, I think, be discovered a spirit of
detraction, and a desire to degrade Bentley in estima-
tion 3 *. Whether it is to be attributed to this cause, or
a wish to gratify the spleen of his friend Pope, that
he condescended to turn his style into ridicule, in
neither case is the fact creditable to his own cha-
racter. It is more satisfactory to remark that War-
burton shows an anxiety to make some amends by
the introduction of a note on another part of Pope's
works, in his edition published after the poet's death,
in which he expresses a wish ' to do that justice to
33 Divine Legation. B.VI. Section 6.
34 Particularly in the long note on the Divine Legation, B. II. Section 3,
in which he labours to convict Bentley of want of veracity relative to his
alleged plagiarism from Vizzanius in his Dissert, on Phal. p. 54. But he
does not make out his case in a way which can satisfy any liberal mind in
admitting such a charge. The subject has been already mentioned in
Vol. I. p. 105.
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 411
Bentley, which he never met with while alive 35 .' In chap.
the same spirit, in a letter to his friend Hurd, he 1742
declares himself ' charmed with the latter's generous =
concern for the character of a truly great and much
injured man, Dr. Bentley 36 ."
Shortly before Bentley 's death, justice was pub- singular
licly done to a very remarkable instance of his critical Bemiey's
sagacity, and intimate acquaintance with the Greek JJfSfn^a
language. Chishull had inserted in his Antiquitates Gr f ek in -
...... * scnption.
Asiatics an inscription taken from an ancient marble,
which had belonged to the temple of Jupiter Urius
in the Bosphorus, at the entrance of the Euxine sea.
This had been separately copied long before by the
two travellers, Wheeler and Spon ; and Chishull
printed the eight elegiac lines of which it consisted in
a somewhat corrected form : hereupon Bentley wrote 1729.
a criticism, restoring them according to his own judg-
ment, as he imagined they must have been intended
by the author, and supposing the errors to have pro-
ceeded from the two travellers by whom they were
copied. These remarks being sent in a letter, pro-
bably addressed to his friend Dr. Mead, were com-
municated, without the author's name, to Chishull ;
who replied in two letters, partly approving and partly
rejecting as inadmissible, the corrections of the anony-
mous critic. It must be allowed to have been no
common instance of boldness, to dispute the testi-
mony, separately given, of two learned eye-witnesses.
But not long afterwards the marble itself was brought 1731.
to England ; and, improbable as such a thing might
35 Pope's imitation of Horace's Epist. to August. V. 104. In another
part of his Commentary on Pope's works, Warburton applies to Bentley
the following quotation from Cicero : " Habuit a natura genus quoddam
acuminis, quod etiam arte limaverat, quod erat in reprehendendis verbis
versutum et solers ; sed saspe stomachosum, nonnunquam frigidum, inter-
dum etiam facetum."
36 Letters from a late eminent Prelate to one of his Friends, 8vo. p. 9-
412 LIFE OF
chap, appear, every word of the inscription, when examined,
1742. turned out to be literally and exactly as Bentley had
" conjectured that it ought to be read. John Taylor
was at this time publishing a Latin Thesis, which he
had delivered in the Law-Schools when keeping his
Act: by way of appendix to this essay, he transcribed
and printed a facsimile of the inscription itself, along
with Bentley 's Letter and Chishull's reply, copies of
which had been given to him by the veteran critic,
whose sagacity he had thus the satisfaction of dis-
playing by such a signal example 37 . In the same
publication Taylor inserted another letter of Bent-
ley's, written in 1735, and containing a specimen of
his accuracy in a different way : it was the explana-
tion of the date of a Persic manuscript just given to
the Public Library, showing that the term Yonane
1504, implied that year of the sera of the Seleu-
cidse, corresponding with A.D. 1193; Yonane or
Iounan being the name by which the Eastern nations
called the people of the Greek Empire under the suc-
cessors of Alexander.
My narrative has now reached its last stage ; and
no more remains but to relate the termination of
Bentley 's mortal career. He used in his old age to
compare himself with ' an old trunk, which, if you
let it alone, will last a long time ; but if you jumble
it by moving, will soon fall to pieces 38 .' Tradition in
Cambridge has recorded that he said, he thought
himself likely to live to fourscore, an age long enough
to read every thing which was worth reading ; ad-
ding in his peculiar manner,
Et tunc magna mei sub terris ibit imago.
3 ? Commentarius ad Legem Decemviralem de inope Debitore in partes dis-
secando: quern in Scholis Juridicis Cantabrigice, Junii xxii. 1741, recitavit
Joannes Taylor, LL.D.
8 Markland's Letter to Bowyer. Nichols' Lit. Anec. vol. iv. p. 351.
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 413
In January 1742 he completed his eightieth year : chap.
in June, 1 find that his health and spirits enabled him 1742
to officiate as examiner and elector to Lord Craven's
two University Scholarships 39 . About a month after- " . ',
J * Bentley s
wards he was seized with a complaint which is said last illness,
to have been a pleuritic fever. He himself suggested
that his case required bleeding ; but Dr. Heberden,
who was then a young physician practising at Cam-
bridge, would not venture upon that remedy. The His death.
illness appearing serious, his family sent to Stamford
for Dr. Wallis, who lost no time in going to Cam-
bridge to visit his venerable friend : but before his
arrival, Dr. Bentley was no more. He expired on
the 14th of July. Dr. Wallis is stated to have ex-
pressed much regret that the patient's own sugges-
tion had not been complied with.
His remains were interred on the north side of the
communion-rails of the College chapel ; after the
ceremony, a funeral oration in Latin was spoken in Funeral.
commendation of the deceased, by Mr. Philip Yonge,
one of the College tutors, who became shortly after-
wards Public Orator, and in process of time Bishop of
Norwich 40 . A small square stone in the pavement
39 The Scholars elected were John Hardy Craven, and Christopher
Smart. From a memorandum in the Registrary's Office, it appears that
the former was chosen solely on account of his name, in compliance with
a clause in the founder's will. A strong protest was entered by Taylor,
the Greek Professor, against his election, upon the ground of his insuf-
ficiency in learning.
40 It happened that on the day of Bentley's funeral, the celebrated phy-
sician, Sir George Baker, first went from Eton to be admitted a scholar of
King's College. The reputation for scholarship which he brought with
him was so high, that a prognostication of his future fame was expressed
by this quotation :
uno avulso, non deficit alter
Aureus, et sitnili frondescit virga metallo.
The prediction may be said to have been verified, though not in the in-
stance of Baker himself, yet in that of an eleve of his, whom his liberality
414 LIFE OF
chap, comprises the only memorial of Dr. Bentley ; and it
1742. * s a remarkable circumstance, that the inscription on
this stone withholds from him his title of Master of
the College. This omission obviously proceeded from
that part of the Fellows, who contended that after the
Visitor's sentence of deprivation, he had ceased to be
their legitimate Head ; and I infer from it a proba-
bility, that Colbatch's party happened at that moment
to be sufficiently strong to make the suppression of his
title a condition of the interment taking place in the
chapel with the usual honours 41 . The feelings re-
sulting from the late feuds will account for no monu-
ment being erected to the memory of this illustrious
character.
Disposition The particulars of the Doctor's will do not enable
of his pro- . . r i IT
perty. us to ascertain the extent 01 his property. He be-
queathed 500/. to each of his daughters, and 500/. to
each of Mrs. Cumberland's four children ; his property
in Bank-stock to his son Richard Bentley, and the
residue of his effects to be divided equally between
his son and two daughters : but what was the amount
of the Bank-stock is not specified. From information
which I have gathered from connections of his family,
I apprehend that Dr. Bentley, although accused by
his enemies of amassing money almost all his life, was
really able to leave but a very moderate provision for
his family. Although he had several pieces of pre-
ferment, yet the amount of the whole did not, I think,
exceed 1300/. or 1400/. a year, at the utmost. His
enabled to go to the University of Cambridge Richard Porson, the person
who, of all scholars subsequent to Bentley, can best be compared with his
great model.
41 The following is the inscription on the stone :
H. S. E.
Richaudus Bentley, S. T. P. R.
Obiit xiv Jul. 1742.
iEtatis 80.
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 415
son, who was brought up to no profession, had occa- chap.
sioned him considerable expense. Upon the whole, 1?42
I doubt whether the savings of his long life were more =====
than five thousand pounds.
The most valuable bequest of Bentley was that of His library
his library and papers ; the whole of these (except a
some old Greek Manuscripts brought from Mount
Athos, which he left to the College) he made the
property of his nephew, Richard, the sole executor of
his will ; probably expecting that he would give to
the world his edition of the New Testament, and
others of his unpublished lucubrations. But this
gentleman never edited any posthumous works of his
uncle ; and returned the money of the subscribers to
the New Testament. Part of the books were sold
immediately, the possessor not having a house large
enough to contain the whole ; the remainder continued
in his parsonage at Nailstone, in Leicestershire, till
his death in 1786 42 , when they also were sold by
auction : but with one important exception. The
whole of Bentley 's manuscripts and critical apparatus
for his edition of the New Testament, his corrected
copy of Homer, and copy-book of manuscript notes,
his Hesychius, and Hephsestion, were bequeathed by
Doctor Richard to Trinity College, of which he con-
tinued a Fellow till his death. He had many years
before given a valuable portion of his uncle's classical
books, bearing his marginal notes, along with his
literary correspondence, to Mr. Cumberland, the well-
known dramatist and poet, by whom the papers were
transferred to Trinity College, and the volumes sold
to Lackington the bookseller : by the public spirit
and right feeling of the latter, his entire purchase be-
42 The account of Dr. Richard Bentley, given in the obituary of the
Gentleman's Magazine for 1"86, p. 268, confounds him with his cousin,
Dr. Thomas Bentley, who had been dead forty-four years.
416 LIFE OF
chap, came the property of the British Museum, and, as I
have understood, without any advance of price.
1742.
After Dr. Bentley's death, his eldest daughter, Mrs.
His family. ^^ ^^ the Rey J ameg Y^VeW, & FeUow Q f
Trinity College, of high character, and an admired
preacher in the University pulpit. Mr. Cumberland,
his other son-in-law, became in process of time the
Bishop of Kilmore. His son, Richard Bentley, is
well known to fame both by his writings, and his inti-
macy with Bubb Dodington, Horace Walpole, and
Gray. All his contemporaries agree in acknowledg-
ing the extent of his genius, and in lamenting that his
pursuits were so desultory and various, as to preclude
him from obtaining in any line that eminence which
his talents qualified him to reach.
Remarks on It may be expected of a biographer that he should
ihar P a e cter n of at the end of his work give a careful and well-balanced
Dr. Bemiey. summar y f j^g hero's character. But this is a task
which I must confess my disinclination to undertake.
Having spared no pains in collecting every particular
which I could discover respecting the conduct and
opinions of Dr. Bentley, and in comparing and weigh-
ing different representations of them ; and having
carefully and impartially communicated the results to
my readers, I have enabled them to form as just an
estimate as I can myself do, of the character of that
extraordinary personage. Were I now to sum up my
own opinions of his mind, his principles, disposition,
and talents, it would be presumptuous to expect that
they should coincide in all respects with those of a
reader who has accompanied me throughout my nar-
rative. But I have another reason for my unwilling-
ness to descant further upon the particulars of Bent-
ley's character : it appears to me that his passions
were not alwavs under the controul, nor his actions
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 417
under the guidance, of Christian principles ; that, in chap.
consequence, pride and ambition, the faults to which ]742 *
his nature was most exposed, were suffered to riot -
without restraint ; and that hence proceeded the dis-
play of arrogance, selfishness, obstinacy, and oppres-
sion, by which it must be confessed that his career
was disfigured. That nature however had not denied
to him certain amiable qualities of the heart, and that
he possessed in a considerable degree many of the
social and endearing virtues, is proved beyond a
doubt by the warm and steady affection with which
he was regarded by his family and his intimate
friends.
Upon Bentley's literary character I have already His literary
made frequent observations, which it would be su- me " s '
perfluous to repeat. It is now sufficient to remark,
that his merits have been universally acknowledged
by subsequent scholars, both in this country and on
the continent : the disposition to censure the faults
of his writings, which we have so frequently observed,
appeared to cease with his life ; and the learned of
all countries have joined in assigning to him the
title of Prince of Scholars. Not that they have
been blind to the errors of his criticism, particu-
larly his unnecessary and tasteless alterations in
Latin poetry ; but they have discovered and acknow-
ledged the signal benefit of his productions, in the
information which they convey, and the exercise
which they supply to the judgment.
The reader of the foregoing Memoirs will have
observed, how greatly the literary career of Dr.
Bentley was affected and influenced by the extraordi-
nary complexion of his personal history : no one can
fail to regret that so large a portion of his time
should have been worse than wasted in unseemly
contests, or to remark that, however great and du-
VOL. II. e e
418 LIFE OF
xx.
1742
chap, rable the reputation which he has actually achieved,
his literary performances might have been still more
honourable to himself, and more beneficial to the
public, had he not been occupied in an incessant
struggle to retain his rank and preferment. But,
putting this consideration aside, I am disposed to
think that he did not correctly understand the nature
of his own qualifications, and that his powers were
not always exerted in the field where they were most
capable of benefiting the world. At the time of
composing the most learned of his works, the en-
larged Dissertation on Phalaris, Bentley was in his
thirty-eighth year ; and although he continued his
literary labours to more than double that age, yet he
never produced any thing equal or similar to that
admirable piece. His Remarks on Freethinking, al-
though a hasty composition, serve as a specimen of
the powerful effect which he could produce, when he
brought the energies of his mind and stores of his
erudition to serve in the maintenance of truth, and
refutation of sophistry. In such a line he would, I
conceive, have exercised his learning, acuteness, and
powers of application, with far more benefit to man-
kind, than in that conjectural criticism, which should
have been the sport and amusement, rather than the
serious and staple occupation of a genius like Bent-
ley's. In this favourite pursuit he displayed his in-
genuity and quickness, often at the expense of sound
judgment and correct taste; and his learning was
too much employed in defending his fanciful altera-
tions of the text of a Latin poet, when it ought to
have been devoted to maintain and illustrate truth.
Notwithstanding this frequent abuse of his erudition,
such is the power of genius, and so great the pre-
ponderance of his solid and unshaken merits, that
Bentley has established a school of criticism, of which
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 419
the greatest scholars since his time have been proud chap.
to consider themselves members ; and, in spite of the l742
envy and opposition of his contemporaries, has at-
tained a more exalted reputation than has hitherto
been the lot of any one in the department of ancient
literature.
e e 2
420 LIFE OF
(iiap. \ T j s n0 improbable that some readers, who have
= felt an interest in the particulars about Trinity Col-
lege unavoidably connected with my narrative, may
wish for a little information respecting the subsequent
history of that Society, and the steps by which it
rose to its present eminence. Having given in the
seventh Chapter a brief account of the College pre-
vious to the mastership of Dr. Bentley, I will here
annex an outline of such later occurrences as are
most worthy of record.
Dr. Robert Smith, the relative and successor of
Cotes, became Master upon Bentle} 7 's death. He
had been a partizan of his predecessor in the recent
feuds ; nevertheless, he seems by his equitable and
judicious conduct to have healed all wounds, and
conciliated all parties. The peace of the College
was, however, sometimes disturbed by the violent
temper and eccentric conduct of Dr. Parne. This
gentleman officiated as deputy to Dr. Whaley, (who
succeeded Bentley as Regius Professor of Divinity)
and is said to have acquitted himself in the Schools
with much ability and a graceful manner. But
in the meantime he became embarrassed with debts,
probably resulting from his tutorship ; and the agi-
tation of such circumstances operating on a mind
which seems always to have been in a high degree
of excitement, produced unequivocal symptoms of
insanity ; whereupon he was exiled from the College
with an allowance for his support. Just at that time
1740. the death of Dr. Colbatch occasioned the revival of
those proceedings, to which he had devoted so large
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 421
a portion of his life ; and a fresh attempt was made chap.
to ascertain the Visitor of Trinity College. The _
rectory of Orwell was taken by Dr. Vernon, who
already possessed the living of St. George's Blooms-
bury : the statutes ordain, that no one shall hold two
livings along with his fellowship ; but as St. George's
was one of the churches recently built, and therefore
not in the King's books, Vernon contended that it
ought not to be regarded as a benefice contemplated
by the statutes. The Master and Seniors holding a
different opinion declared his fellowship vacant, and 1750.
he immediately appealed against their decision to
the Bishop of Ely as Visitor. Dr. Gooch, the Master
of Caius College, who had performed so conspicuous
a part in Bentley's history, then occupied the see of
Ely ; but he, warned by the example of his prede-
cessors, was not forward to interpose in the affairs
of Trinity College ; and the Court of King's Bench
was moved to compel him by a mandamus to dis-
charge the office of Visitor. The Master and a ma-
jority of the Seniors, having been of Bentley's party
in the former disputes, adopted his view of the
question, and resolved to maintain that the King
alone possessed that authority. The action which
ensued bears a close resemblance to the last that
we detailed, in 1738 : on this occasion however
the Court directed that the Attorney-General, Sir
Dudley Ryder, should be heard on behalf of the
rights of the Crown. This action concluded, like
the last, with determining nothing : Chief Justice
Lee pronounced that the question, in whom the
visitatorial power existed, was not to be settled by
the Court, but ought to be decided by a jury.
Parne, who being incensed against his brethren, had
joined with Vernon in this action, died shortly after
its termination. Thus ended the litigations which
422 LIFE OF
chap, had agitated the College with little intermission for
- above forty years : at the close of that long term the
question was left in exactly the same state of uncer-
tainty as at the beginning. I am not aware of any
subsequent attempts made to litigate the point : the
Society, seemingly in despair of ever obtaining a
decision from the law, settled it among themselves ;
and all personal feelings having subsided, the mem-
bers have ever since acquiesced in what happened to
be the sense of the majority when it was last under
discussion, and have regarded the Crown as Visitor
of the College. In the few and trifling cases of
appeal which have since occurred, justice has been
administered promptly and without difficulty, by the
Lord Chancellor on behalf of the Sovereign.
From that time the College was enabled to pursue
undisturbed the main objects of its institution, the
education of youth, and the cultivation of philosophy,
literature, and religion. Its advance in reputation
corresponded with the spirit of industry and study
which, when not interrupted by domestic jars, be-
came again the pervading principle of the society.
In the meantime its revenues, under the judicious
management of Mr. Stephen Whisson, who continued
bursar for about thirty years, not only recovered from
the embarrassment occasioned by the defence of Dr.
Bentley, but improved the incomes of the Fellows,
rebuilt part of the fabric, and, what was an object of
at least equal importance, enabled the Society to give
considerable sums towards the augmentation of their
small vicarages. It has been mentioned in our me-
moirs of Dr. Bentley, how much the state of the
College preferment was to be regretted, and what a
judicious plan he had meditated for bettering its con-
dition. This was effected, in part, about forty years
ago, by a Royal Letter, enjoining that the College
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 423
living's (except five or six in the neighbourhood of chap.
Cambridge) should in future be offered to the Fel- -
lows, not to hold as before with College-preacher-
ships, but upon condition of vacating their fellow-
ships. Of the prospective benefit of this regulation
to the College there could be no doubt : but it was
equally certain that the immediate views of many of
the existing Society, who were in the expectancy of
livings, must thereby be prejudiced : it deserves
therefore to be recorded as an instance of the triumph
of public spirit over private interest, that the resolu-
tion to solicit this order was carried, not by a majority
only, but by the express consent and approbation, in-
dividually given, of every one of the sixty Fellows.
The custom which had been introduced by Dr.
Bentley of private examinations for fellowships and
scholarships, was attended with much inconvenience.
The various examiners formed their opinions of the
candidates' merits upon different data ; too much
latitude was given to the private taste of individuals
in the choice of subjects for examination ; in some
hands the enquiry might be slight and superficial, in
others altogether neglected : a door was thus opened
to abuse, and confidence was diminished in the justice
of the decisions. Some instances having occurred of i76.
Seniors taking a part in the elections, who had never
examined the candidates, a strong memorial was pre-
sented to the Seniority by ten of the junior Fellows,
remonstrating against a practice which was in oppo-
sition to the statutes, and tended to destroy the objects
of the foundation 43 . The matter of this remonstrance
43 The effects which have flowed from this Memorial have been so sin-
gularly beneficial to the College and the public, that the names of the ten
memorialists deserve to be placed upon record : they were, George Wad-
dington, John Baynes, Thomas Cautley, Miles Popple, Thomas Jones, Henry
Porter, Kingsman Baskett, John Hailstone, Matthew Murfitt, and Matthew
Wilson.
424 LIFE OF
chap. W as unexceptionable ; but the governing part of the
' Society, offended at what could not be denied to be a
censure of themselves, and regarding: it as an act of
insubordination on the part of their juniors, after an
ineffectual attempt to induce some of the memorialists
to withdraw their names, pronounced an admonition,
cautioning; them to behave with more deference to
their superiors. The object of the memorial was
however immediately effected : the Master, Dr. Hinch-
liffe, Bishop of Peterborough, insisted on each of the
electors becoming bona jide an examiner : and upon
1789. his resignation about two years afterwards, Dr. Postle-
thwaite, who succeeded, instituted the present system
of public examination, in which the merits of the can-
didates are fully and fairly tried in the different
] 7oo. branches of academical study. Under the auspices
of the same Master the annual examinations of the
students of the College were established 44 . The
wonderful effects of these institutions in exciting in-
dustry and emulation among the young men, and
exalting the character of the College, are such as
must have even surpassed the hopes of their pro-
moters. It was not till this system came into full
operation, that Trinity College could be said to have
resumed the station which it originally held among
the establishments of this kingdom. Since that period
its history is comprised in the record of academical
rewards adjudged to its students, and of the distinc-
tions which they have subsequently obtained in the
1823. different professions, in the paths of learning and
science, and in the great theatre of public life. The
only particular incident to be noticed in the later
41 The examinations then instituted were for Undergraduates of the first
two years. A plan for a similar examination of the third year was adopted
liy the Master and Seniors in 1818, at the instance of the writer of this
hook, who at that time filled the office of Head Lecturer.
RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D. 425
annals of the College, is the addition of a new and
handsome quadrangle, erected principally through
the exertions of Dr. Wordsworth the present Master,
which accommodates more than an hundred students.
But the benefits, like those of other public spirited
measures, have extended much beyond their imme-
diate object. The example was hereby set to other
Colleges, and has been promptly followed, of en-
larging their buildings for the reception of an in-
creased number of students, and extending the ad-
vantages of education in an English University to a
larger proportion of the liberal classes of society.
CHAP.
xx.
APPENDIX.
DR. BENTLEY'S DEFENSIVE PLEA. June 23, 1733.
See Vol. II. p. 337.
1. Whereas it is alleged in the sixth article of the pre-
tended articles, exhibited and.objectecl to the said Dr. Bentley,
to the effect following, to wit, ' That by the second chapter of
the statutes of Trinity College, it is amongst other things
ordained and provided, that the Master of the said College for
the time being, shall be a person no less eminent above other
members of the said College in his piety and integrity of life,
than he is superior to them in the dignity of his place, notwith-
standing which, he, the said Richard Bentley, hath for more
than twenty years past, in violation of the said statute, lived a
very irreligious life, and notoriously neglected the public wor-
ship of God :' It is therein alleged falsely and untruly, and
the truth was and is, that the said Dr. Bentley always was and
is a devout, pious, and religious man, and w r as always accounted,
reputed, and esteemed so to be, and this was and is true ; and
so much the said Robert Johnson hath heard and doth know
and believe in his conscience to be true, and the party propo-
nent doth allege and propound every thing jointly and severally.
2. And whereas it is also alleged in the said sixth article,
of the said articles, that the said Dr. Bentley, for more than
twenty years last past, preceding the time of exhibiting the
said articles, did notoriously neglect the public worship of God,
and particularly by constantly and habitually absenting him-
428 APPENDIX.
APPEND, self from divine service in the chapel of the said College, at the
D B : usual hours of morning and evening prayers : It is therein
ley's Defen- alleged falsely and untruly, and the truth was and is, that the
sive Plea. sa -^ -p r> B en ^ e y j f rom the time of his being made Master of
the College, and until he was about fifty years of age, which
was about the year 1709, the said Dr. Bentley constantly
attended morning and evening prayers in the chapel, and
that from that time the infirmity of his constitution pre-
vented his attending morning prayers, when at five or six
o'clock in the morning, but he always attended when morn-
ing prayers were later at the times of celebrating the
sacrament: That from 1709 he constantly attended evening
prayers in summer, till he was about sixty years of age, which
was about the year 1718 or 1719. That about that time the
infirmity of his age and a tenderness contracted by his seden-
tary and studious life prevented his being so constant at evening
prayers as he before had been. But the said Doctor, from
about the said year 1718 to 1725 or 1726, was frequently at
evening prayers, and at the celebration of the sacrament always
when his health permitted. That from about the year 1718,
when his age and the tenderness contracted as aforesaid, sub-
jected him to almost constant colds and dangerous coughs by
changing his habit and putting on a collegiate or academic one,
yet he was so unwilling to be prevented attending chapel so
constantly as he before had done, that in order to enable him-
self to stay in that spacious chapel, and to secure him from the
cold and damp of the marble, the necessary time of prayers and
administering the sacrament, he had a carpet carried by his
servant to chapel for that purpose ; but as his age and tender-
ness increased, and all means he could use proving ineffectual
to prevent his indisposition, which he almost constantly con-
tracted by being in so spacious a room in his collegiate or aca-
demic habit, about the year 1725 or 1726, two or three years
before the said articles were exhibited, he was necessitated to
decline going thither, or to any other place out of his own
house, by advice of his physicians. And this was and is true,
and the party proponent doth allege and propound as before.
3. That accordingly from that time the said Dr. Bentley hath
not, by reason of his tenderness and indisposition, gone out
of his own house to visit any one Fellow of his own Society,
or any one acquaintance in the University, nor once been in
APPENDIX. 429
the College-hall, even at any public festival, though it adjoins append.
to his own apartments. That from that time also, he being Dr Bent _
the King's Professor in Divinity, he has been forced to obtain !fy' s Defen-
a deputy at his own annual and considerable expense, to pre-
side in his stead at disputations. That since that time, when
his present Majesty did the University the honour of a visit,
it being the duty of the King's Professor in Divinity to receive
him with a Latin oration in the University Schools, he, the
said Doctor, performing the said exercise in person, did thereby
get such an illness that he was for several days very danger-
ously ill, and accounted by his physicians as a dying man, and
the party proponent doth allege and propound as before.
4. That during all the time the said Dr. Bentley hath been
Master of the said College, there have been every year at
least the number necessarily required by statute, and gene-
rally more, College preachers in his time, than there were in
his predecessor's time for the like number of years, as appears
by the College books and appointments of College preachers,
to which the party proponent refers himself, and this was and
is true, and the party proponent doth allege and propound as
before.
5. That the Catechetical Lectures being by statute ap-
pointed only in order for the College preachers to be more com-
modiously chosen out of them, and there having never been a
defective number of College preachers, there was not any
necessity of appointing Catechetical Lecturers in order to
choose College Preachers. But, however, there have been
three times as many in the said Dr. Bentley's time, as there
were in the same number of years in his immediate predeces-
sor's time, as appears by the usual appointments of lecturers,
and this was and is true, and the party proponent doth allege
and propound as before.
6. That it does appear by the College books, to which the
party proponent refers himself, that Mr. Mailed, who is alleged
in the twelfth and thirteenth articles to have been refused to
be put up to catechise in the year 1719, was actually put up
for that purpose on the 4th of June, 1716, and so continued in
1719 ; and this was and is true, and the party proponent doth
allege and propound as before.
7. That Dr. Bentley was not present at, or any way privy
to, the putting the seal to the instrument mentioned in the
sive Plea.
430 APPENDIX.
append, twenty-ninth article of the said articles objected to the said
"~ Bent " Dr. Bentley. But the same was put in his absence by the
ley's Defen- Vice-master, after a meeting duly summoned, and agreed to
be put by a majority of the sixteen seniors; and this was and
is true, and the party proponent doth allege and propound as
before.
8. That by the statutes as well as the usage of the College,
the seal is not required to be put to any instruments in the
presence of the sixteen seniors in College. For that by the
said usage and statutes, the sixteen seniors in College are to be
duly summoned, and if a majority of the said sixteen seniors
agree to the putting of the seal, with the consent of the Master,
or in his absence the Vice-master, the same is to be put ac-
cordingly. But in case any of the sixteen seniors in College
shall not appear at the said meeting, the next senior Fellow in
College in course, is to supply the vacancy ; and this was and
is true, and the party proponent doth allege and propound as
before.
9. That it doth not appear by any of the College books that
the seniors going out of College, have deputed any persons to
act for them, or that ever any such deputations were made.
But all College acts have been done at meetings composed of
the proper seniors, and the next immediate seniors resident in
College, without any deputation from the absent seniors ; and
this was and is true, and the party proponent doth allege and
propound as before.
10. That the meetings to transact the College affairs are
appointed by the Master, or Vice-master, and the seniors are
thereto always summoned, according as they appear in seniority
resident in the College Books. And the said Dr. Bentley
hath not at any time given orders for summoning any persons
in particular, but only in general to summon the seniors in
the same manner as hath been always customary ; and upon
the 9th day of August, 1728, the sixteen seniors resident in
College were duly summoned for the meeting upon the day
following, being the 10th day of August, the day mentioned
in the thirtieth article of the said articles. That sixteen
Fellows duly assembled, of whom were the fifteen proper
seniors then resident in College ; that Mr. Myers, who was the
sixteenth proper senior then resident, and who had been duly
summoned, but not attending, the next Fellow in seniority
APPENDIX. 431
to him was summoned, and did assemble on the said 10th day append.
of August, and the seal was put to the petition mentioned in
the said article, by the direction of thirteen, or at least twelve, ley's Defen-
of the said sixteen so assembled ; and that no j uniors were slve PIea *
purposely sent for, nor were any Fellows at that time resident
in College absent from the said meeting who were of longer
standing than any of those present, except Mr. Myers, as
aforesaid ; and this was and is true, and the party proponent
doth allege and propound as before.
11. That the Promoter himself being one of the sixteen
so assembled, was so far conscious that the said assembly was
regular, that though he, together with Dr. Colbatch, the Casu-
istical Professor, and Mr. Thomas Parne, two other Fellows
of the said College, assembled on that occasion, did on that
day draw up and deliver a protest in writing against the setting
the seal to the said petition, yet he or they did not in the said
protest even suggest that the said assembly had not been duly
summoned, or that there were not sixteen assembled, or that
the said sixteen were not the proper seniors resident in Col-
lege; the said protest being founded wholly on the subject-
matter of the instrument tendered to be sealed, and not on any
irregularity of the said assembly, either as to the manner of
summoning them, the impropriety of persons assembled, or the
defect of the sufficient number ; and this was and is true, and
the party proponent doth allege and propound as before.
12. In supply of proof of the preceding article, the party
proponent doth exhibit and hereunto annex the said original
protest, and doth allege that the same is subscribed by and
with the proper hand-writing of the said Dr. Colbatch, Mr.
Parne, and the said Robert Johnson, the Promoter in this
cause ; and so much was and is true, and the party proponent
doth allege and propound as before.
13. That the close, or piece of inclosed ground, in the parish
of Kirby Kendal, in the thirty-eighth article mentioned, was
copyhold of inheritance, and held by Copland, of and
from the said College, who were lords of the manor the same
was held of, under a quit-rent of four shillings a year, and
other duties and services. That the said Copland did, in
1708, mortgage the same to Mr. Robert Shepheard, of Natland,
in Westmoreland, and Mr. William Wilson, of Kirkland, in
the said county, for the sum of 34/. ; that soon after the said
6
432 APPENDIX.
append. Copland was convicted of felony, and was executed for the
~ same, whereby the said piece of ground escheated to the said
ley's Defen- College, as lords of the said manor, subject to the said mort-
sive Plea, g^ge. That the charge of conviction of the said Copland
amounted to ten pounds, and the said Copland leaving a wife
and several small children, the neighbouring gentlemen and
justices of the Peace petitioned the College not to take ad-
vantage of the said escheat, in compassion to the poverty of
the said widow and family ; that the said College, finding the
annual value of the said piece of ground to be SI. a year, agreed
to re-grant out the same to Mr. Josiah Lambert, he paying
for the same 64Z. out of which 44Z. 15s. was to be deducted for
the said mortgage and charge of conviction, and of the remain-
ing, 19/. 5s. 91. 5s. was given by the College as an act of
charity to the said widow, and books were bought into the
College Library with the remaining sum of 101. ; and this was
and is true, and so much does appear by the College books, and
an agreement of the Master and Seniors assembled together
in 1712, in order to regrant the same ; and this was and is
true, and the party proponent doth allege and propound as
before.
14. That the said piece of ground is not alienated for ever,
nor by the deeds of conveyance purported to be so ; but the
same was only regranted out by the College to the said Josiah
Lambert for life, only to be held of the said College at their
will, under the same rents, dues, duties, and services, which
the said Copland held the same by, as by the said ori-
ginal deed remaining in the said College will appear, and which,
as lords of the -said manor, they were enabled to do, in order
to preserve and support their manor; and this was and is
true, and the party proponent doth al'ege and propound as
before.
15. That when the said Dr. Bentley was made Master, the
Master's lodge was in a very ruinous condition, little or nothing
having been done towards repairing of it from the year 1640;
and towards the repairs of the said lodge the said Dr. Bentley
gave out of his own proper money, in the year 1700, the sum
of 100/. sterling ; and in the same year, the said lodge being a
considerable part of the fabric of the College, the Master and
the eight Seniors finding the same to be much out of repair,
unanimously agreed and ordered that the said lodge should be
[Q3
APPENDIX. 43o
repaired, and finished, with new ceiling, wainscot, flooring, and APPEND,
other convenient improvements, which by the said statutes of Dr jjent^
the said College they have the power to do ; and this was and !fy's Defen-
is true, and the party proponent doth allege and propound as
before.
16. That in pursuance of the said order, now remaining in
the College books, the same was repaired and fitted up with
convenient improvements, which did amount to the sum of
1171/. and no more, which was necessary to be laid out thereon,
and that the several sums of money which have been at any
time laid out on the said lodge, and improvements of it, were
ordered and approved of by the Master and Senior Fellows of
the said College ; and that the rest of the said fabric hath had
as much laid out in repairing the same in Dr. Bentley's time as
the lodge hath had in proportion ; and the said lodge is not in
better condition, or better fitted up, than the lodges of several
other Masters in the said University, though it is the residence
of the Royal Family when they honour the University with
their presence, as also of the Lords the Judges in their circuits ;
and this was and is true, and the party proponent doth allege
and propound as before.
17. That about the year 1718, or 1719, the said Dr. Bent-
ley's infirmities and indispositions requiring a milk diet, and
there being two pieces of ground belonging and near to the
said College, in which the Senior Fellows had a right to turn
their horses, and which were not of the yearly value of twenty
shillings, he, the said Dr. Bentley, did apply to the said Seniors
to hire the same of them, in order to keep a cow or two, at the
yearly rent of two guineas, which the said Seniors let him have
in the year 1720, at the said rent, by an order of the College
for that purpose ; and the same were not then, or at any other
time, seized by him, as is falsely alleged in the fifty-second
article exhibited against him ; and this was and is true, and
the party proponent cloth allege and propound as before.
18. That the College being exempted from paying the duty
of excise for beer brewed in their own brewhouse for their own
use, and there being an old pigeon-house, with a lumber-room
adjoining, belonging to the College, the same were fitted up
by the approbation of the Seniors, for a place to lay the Col-
lege stores, or grain in, when they should have occasion ; but
the said Dr. Bentley did not convert the said two edifices, or
F F
434 APPENDIX.
append. aT1 y other edifices, into a large spacious granary, at the expence
Dr Bent of 400/. or any other sum, for his own private use, to carry on
ley's Defen- the trade of a farmer, or maltster, as is falsely alleged in the
said fifty-second article, which trade he never at any time used
or followed, or ever used the said edifices or granary for his
own use, or for any such like purpose ; and this was and is
true, and the party proponent doth allege and propound as
before.
19. That whereas it is alleged in the said fifty-second article
exhibited against the said Dr. Bentley, that the said Dr. Bent-
ley hath, since the year 1715 or 1716, exorbitantly and unne-
cessarily laid out 2000/. of the College stock on his lodge,
garden, and other buildings, which in the said article are men-
tioned, it is therein alleged, falsely and untruly ; and the truth
was and is, that the sum of money laid out thereon did amount
to 911/, and not more. And that in October, 1717, when his
late Majesty, King George the First, designed to honour the
University with his presence, some of his Majesty's surveyors
being sent before to view the presence-room, called ' Henry
the Eighth's Chamber,' and other rooms for his Majesty's
entertainment, at the said Dr. Bentley 's lodge, the walls of
the said chambers were found so decayed and weak, that they
were then ordered to be underpropped and shored up for his
Majesty's security during his stay there, and were thereupon
pulled down and rebuilt, and a considerable part of the said
911/. were laid out in the same, and the rest thereof in the
other buildings belonging to the College, and the whole sum
was paid by order of the Seniors of the said College ; and the
party proponent doth allege that the other buildings mentioned
in the said fifty-second article, and pretended to have been
built for the use of the Master, in the back side of the said
College, were not built for the use of the Master, as is falsely
alleged in the said article, but for the use and conveniency of
the Fellows of the said College ; and this was and is true, and
the party proponent doth allege and propound as before.
20. That whereas it is alleged in the said fifty-second article
that Dr. Bentley had made himself a bath in his garden, and
caused it to be suj)plied with water and other conveniences for
bathing, the party proponent doth allege that there was a foun-
tain near the place where the said bath now is, when the said
Dr. Bentley first came to be Master of the said College, and
8
APPENDIX. 435
that the pipe which had for a century or two before supplied append.
the same with water, was only lengthened by an addition of ~
two feet of lead to supply the cistern of the said bath, and that ley's Defen-
there is no other summer-house in the said garden save the said slve PIea -
bath ; and this was and is true, and the party proponent doth
allege and propound as before.
21. And whereas it is alleged in the fifty-third article, that
Dr. Bentley built a fine new country house upon part of the
College estate at Over, for the use of himself and family, fit
for the reception of a person of rank and quality, which cost
eight hundred pounds of the College money, though not then
finished or furnished ; it is therein alleged falsely and untruly,
and the truth was and is, that the College being endowed with
the great tithes of the parish of Over, and the glebe land
belonging to the said rectory and the parsonage-house being
fallen to decay, by a former tenant running out his lease, it was
agreed by the Master and Senior Fellows of the said College,
to rebuild the said parsonage-house, which was done accord-
ingly ; that as the vicarage of the said parish is in the gift of the
said College, and the vicar has no house to live in, and the
profits of the said vicarage are exceedingly small, it was thought
proper to rebuild the said house, so that it might not be incon-
venient to the tenant or lessee of the rectory to let the vicar
for the time being have two rooms or a floor for his use when
necessary ; that when the said house was rebuilt it was in lease
to a tenant, and was so at the time the said articles were exhi-
bited ; that it was not built by Dr. Bentley for the use of him-
self or family, that neither the said Doctor nor any of his
family ever lived there, nor was any of his family ever there,
or the Doctor himself, save only once when he went with the
Seniors, to view the said estate ; that the said place is so far
from being fit for the reception of a person of rank and qua-
lity, or for the residence of any person who can live elsewhere,
that it is situate in the worst, the most dirty and unhealthful
part of Cambridgeshire, on the brink of the great level of the
Fen, and worse supplied with conveniences of life than any
village in the said county ; and this was and is true, and the
party proponent doth allege and propound as before.
22. That whereas it is alleged in the fifty-seventh article,
that there is not any allowance by any of the statutes to the
Master of the College for bread, beer, fuel, or other provisions
f f2
43G APPENDIX.
a ppend. f or hi mS elf and family at home, yet, notwithstanding, that he
Dr. Bent- hath consumed great quantities of the stores of the College to
ley's Defen- ^he amount of several hundred pounds a year ; the party pro-
ponent doth allege that the said Dr. Bentley hath never since
he was Master of the said College received so much of the
stock or stores of the College, or any other profits what-
soever from it, as by the statutes of the said College he is
entitled to, due allowance being made for the decrease of the
value of money, from the time when the statutes were given to
the time of exhibiting the said articles ; the Master of the
said College having an allowance, by the 43d chapter of the
said statutes, of 104. a year for stipend and commons or pro-
visions, and 4/. a year for livery, besides three servants and
three horses to be kept and maintained at the College expense
for his use ; and by the 2d chapter of the said statutes, no
deduction is to be made from his allowance for commons or
provisions at such times as he shall be absent from the said
College, as by the said 43d and 22d chapters of the said sta-
tutes, reference being thereunto had, may more fully appear ;
and this was and is true, and the party proponent doth allege
and propound as before.
23. That whereas it is alleged in the said fifty-seventh article,
that the said Dr. Bentley hath consumed in bread, beer, and
meal, one hundred and fifty pounds a year, it is therein alleged
falsely and untruly, and the truth was and is, that he has not
consumed in bread, beer, or meal a hundred pounds a year ;
and this was and is true, and the party proponent doth allege
and propound as before.
24. That whereas it is likewise alleged in the fifty-eighth arti-
cle, that Dr. Bentley, in the last year before the said articles were
exhibited, spent of the College stock in linen and pewter ninety
pounds, as will appear by the said College books ; it is therein
untruly alleged, and the truth was and is, that the said Dr.
Bentley had allowed him only in the said books thirty-five
pounds three shillings and eight pence half-penny, as by the
said books will appear ; and this was and is true, and the
party proponent doth allege and propound as before.
25. That some of the Fellows of the College having in the
year 1711 and afterwards, employed Mr. Serjeant Miller in
carrying on their contests in relation to some collegiate rights
claimed by them before the Right Reverend Bishop Moore,
APPENDIX. 437
the then Lord Bishop of Ely; and in carrying on a pre- append.
tended prosecution against the said Dr. Bentley, before the Dr Bent _
said Lord Bishop of Ely, and afterwards on the said Bishop ley's Uefen-
Moore's death, a petition or two to his late Majesty in slve ea
Council, and his said late Majesty or his Privy Council not
proceeding therein, and the said Mr. Miller being urgent on
some of the Fellows for the expence he had been at on
their account, it was in 1719, by some of the said Fel-
lows mentioned to the said Dr. Bentley, that it might pro-
bably be the opinion of his said late Majesty and his Honour-
able Privy Council, that the matters in difference should be
ended and accommodated by themselves, and the said Dr.
Bentley was desired by the said Fellows to take the opinion of
some of the King's learned counsel on a question to the fol-
lowing effect : whether, as the said contest carried on before
Bishop Moore had been concerning some collegiate rights,
concerning which the Fellows of the said Society had been
near equally divided in their opinions, and no decision of the
same had been made, the College might not equitably and
justifiably pay the expences of both sides out of the common
stock of the said College, after the dividends to the Fellows
and Scholars were paid, which question being thereupon stated
to Mr. Reeve and Mr. Lutwyche, they were both of opinion
the College might do so ; and this was and is true, and the
party proponent doth allege and propound as before.
26. That some of the Fellows of the said College, in or
about the month of July or August 1719, informed the said
Dr. Bentley, that many of the Fellows of the College being-
very desirous that an end might be put to the contests which
had sc long disturbed the College, had drawn up a certificate
to the following effect, viz. " I hereby declare that I sin-
cerely wish that an end may be put to the contests de-
pending, which have for so long time disturbed the College,
and in order thereto, I desire that the charges of each side
may be defrayed out of the public stock of the College ;" and
that the said certificate, or one to that effect, was at that time
signed by two thirds of the Fellows of the College, of whom
the said Robert Johnson, the promoter, was one ; and this was
and is true, and the party proponent doth allege and propound
as before.
27. That some time after (viz.). on the fifth clay of Decern-
438 APPENDIX.
APPEND. b er? 1719 ? during the stated annual statutable meeting of the
Dr. Bent- Seniors, one of the senior Fellows of the College came to
ley's Defen- Dr. Bentley from the said meeting, and desired of him that,
sivp Plpn
as so many of the Fellows had so fully declared their desire
that an end might be put to the said contests, and the charges
of both sides defrayed out of the common stock of the College,
he would propose the said question to the Seniors, and call a
meeting for that purpose, which accordingly the said Dr.
Bentley caused to be duly summoned, and the eight senior
Fellows then residing in College, in pursuance of such sum-
mons, assembled accordingly, when it was agreed by a majority
of them, that the charges of both sides should be defrayed out
of the common stock, and Mr. Miller should give a discharge
to every member of the said College for all claims occasioned
by or depending on the said law-suit, but that no part of the
charges of the said law-suit should be in any year paid, un-
less the College was in such a state of plenty that a whole
dividend was first voted. And the said Dr. Bentley did not
make use of any indirect practices in order to obtain the
consent of the Seniors so assembled ; but the same was agreed
to voluntarily and freely by five of the eight Seniors together
with the said Master, so as aforesaid summoned and assem-
bled; and this was and is true, and the party proponent doth
allege and propound as before.
28. That whereas it is alleged in the fifty-ninth article, that
Dr. Bentley did fraudulently, unjustly, collusively, and un-
known to the several members of the said College, make the
contract and agreement in the said article referred to, with the
said Serjeant Miller ; the same is falsely and untruly alleged,
and the truth was and is, that the said agreement was not
only well known to the several members of the College, but
desired by them, and was agreed to by him at their desire, he,
the said Dr. Bentley, having had no intercourse by himself or
any agent with the said Mr. Miller for several years before the
said agreement was entered into, nor had he any, either at
that time or since, the persons who settled the same being
agents for the College ; and this was and is true, and well
known to the promoter in this cause, and the party proponent
doth allege and propound as before.
29. That whereas it is alleged in the said fifty-ninth article,
that the contract or agreement with Mr. Serjeant Miller, re-
APPENDIX. 439
lating to the payment or allowance of four hundred and fifty- APPE nd.
three pounds to him the said Serjeant Miller, was made ^ T Bent .
by Dr. Bentley with a view only to avoid the pursuit of jus- ley's Defen-
tice, by engaging the said Serjeant to withdraw a certain peti-
tion that had been presented to his said late Majesty, in order
to ascertain the visitatorial power ; it is therein alleged falsely
and untruly, and the truth was and is, that the only motive
the said Dr. Bentley had in coming into the said agreement,
was the restoring the peace and quiet of the College, which
the greatest part of the College so earnestly desired, and in
that sense it was taken and understood by the then Fellows of
the College, or the major part of them ; and that he, the said
Dr. Bentley, was so far from avoiding to have the visitatorial
power settled, that it was what he always wished and endea-
voured to have done, and had even himself petitioned the
Crown to direct the same to be settled before any of the said
articles were exhibited ; and this was and is true, and the
party proponent doth allege and propound as before.
30. That whereas it is alleged in the said fifty-ninth article,
that Dr. Bentley procured the aforesaid sum of four hundred
and fifty-three pounds to be paid to the said Serjeant out of
the College stock, over and above the sum of one hundred
pounds to him before in hand paid ; it is also falsely and un-
truly alleged, and the truth was and is, that the said sum of
one hundred pounds was not paid to the said Serjeant by
order or consent of the said Dr. Bentley, but that the same
and several other sums which had before been paid out of the
said stock to the said Serjeant, were actually paid without
and against this the said Dr. Bentley 's consent, and were paid
the said Serjeant by the then Seniors in 1710 or 1711, and
their adherents, to encourage him, the said Serjeant, to go on
with the prosecution before Bishop Moore, against him, the
said Dr. Bentley ; and this was and is true, and the party
proponent doth allege and propound as before.
31. Whereas it is further alleged in the sixty-first of the
said pretended articles, that the said Serjeant Miller, in consi-
deration of four hundred and fifty -three pounds, did by writ-
ing or instrument under his hand and seal, bearing date the
nineteenth day of December, 1719, covenant and agree that
lie would not at any time after prosecute or proceed upon the
before-mentioned petition to his said late Majesty, but would
440 APPENDIX.
APPEND, withdraw, or cause the same to be withdrawn ; the party pro-
Dl . Bent _ ponent doth allege, that at the meeting of the Master and Se-
ley'sDefeu- niors, had on the fifth day of December, 1719, it was by a ma-
uve lea. j or ity then present ordered and agreed, that the said Mr. Mil-
ler should release the several Fellows of the said College from
all demands he had upon them upon any account whatsoever ;
but that no order or agreement was then made that the said
petition should be withdrawn ; and if there be any such cove-
nant in the said writing or instrument, the same was therein
inserted at the desire of the promoter or others, the agents for
the said Fellows, and not at the desire of the said Dr. Bent-
ley, he, the said Dr. Bentley, having always been desirous,
and having several times endeavoured to have the said visita-
torial power ascertained by a judicial or other proper determi-
nation ; and the party proponent doth allege, that the said
Dr. Bentley consented to the aforesaid agreement, at the desire
of the major part of all the Fellows of the said College, who
well liked and approved thereof, and in order to restore the
peace of the said College, and that all or most of the said Fel-
lows having been one way or other concerned in the said dis-
putes, were desirous the same might be amicably adjusted,
and that the expence thereof might he paid out of the said
College stock in the manner before set forth, as by the law
and statutes of the said College they were empowered to do.
Sentence 'pronounced upon Dr. Bentley, by
Bishop Greene.
" We, Thomas, by Divine permission Bishop of Ely, and
Visitor specially authorized and appointed, by the fortieth
chapter of the statutes given by Queen Elizabeth of blessed
memory to the Master, Fellows, and Scholars of the College
of the Holy and Undivided Trinity, in the Town and Univer-
sity of Cambridge, of King Henry the Eighth's foundation, to
examine the Master of the said College for the time being, of
and concerning certain crimes and enormities mentioned and
expressed in the second member of the said fortieth chapter,
having in a certain cause of office depending before me as Vi-
sitor aforesaid, promoted by the Rev. Robert Johnson, clerk,
Bachelor of Divinity, one of the Fellows of the said College,
APPENDIX. 441
against the Rev. Richard Bentley, Doctor of Divinity, Master append.
of the said College, fully and maturely considered the evidence Dr Bent _
read on both sides, as well upon the several articles exhibited ley's Defen-
and admitted before us on the part and behalf of the said Ro-
bert Johnson, and upon which his Majesty's writ of Consulta-
tion hath been awarded, as on the allegations given and
admitted in the said cause on the part and behalf of the said
Dr. Richard Bentley ; and having likewise considered the
several arguments of counsel upon the same with great care
and attention, as I shall answer it to Almighty God hereafter,
am sincerely of opinion, and I do hereby solemnly and finally
declare, pronounce, and adjudge, as Visitor aforesaid, that the
said Dr. Richard Bentley, party in the said cause, and Master
of the said College, is guilty of dilapidation of the goods of
the said College, and also of violation of the said statutes, and
that he is duly and legally convicted thereof, before me, as
Visitor aforesaid ; and that he, the said Dr. Richard Bentley,
has thereby incurred the penalty of deprivation of his office of
Master of the said College, inflicted in such cases by the for-
tieth chapter of the said statutes : and I do accordingly, and by
the authority aforesaid, pronounce, declare, and adjudge him,
the said Dr. Richard Bentley, to be duly and legally convicted
thereof before me, as Visitor aforesaid.
" Thomas Ely."
" April 21th, 1734."
DR. BENTLEY'S WILL.
Extracted from the Registry of the Prerogative Court
of Canterbury.
To all whom it may concern. Know ye that I, Richard
Bentley, Doctor in Divinity, Master of Trinity College in
Cambridge, being in good health and perfect memory, and
mindful of the accidents human nature is liable to, do make
this my last Will and Testament for the disposition of such
estates and effects as it hath pleased God to bless me with.
Whereas my son-in-law, the Reverend Dennison Cumberland,
is indebted to me in the sum of two thousand five hundred
442 APPENDIX.
append, pounds, I do hereby dispose of the same as follows ; viz. To
Dr Bent _ my daughter, Joanna Cumberland, his wife, five hundred
ley's Will, pounds ; to her daughter, Joanna, five hundred pounds ;
to her son, Richard, five hundred pounds ; to her daughter,
Elizabeth Bentley Cumberland, five hundred pounds; and
to her daughter, Mary, five hundred pounds : the said
sums of five hundred pounds to each of the said children
I will to be paid them when they come of age respectively ;
and in case of the death of any of them before they come
of age, or of the death of their mother, Joanna, I will that the
share or legacy of the persons so dying go amongst all the
survivors, equally to be divided amongst them whom I have
given the aforesaid legacies to. But my mind and will
is, nevertheless, that in case the said Joanna, the mother,
shall have one or more child or children hereafter by the said
Dennison Cumberland, that in such case the share or legacy
of either the said Joanna, the mother, or of any of the afore-
named children dying before they come of age as aforesaid,
shall go to such hereafter born child or children to make up
to them five hundred pounds each, or such a proportion
thereof as the same on an equal division amounts to, and then
an equal distribution shall be made of any of the aforesaid
legacies, which may happen to fall, equally amongst all of
them. And I will, that my son Cumberland shall have the
said two thousand five hundred pounds after my decease in
his hands without allowing any interest for the same till the
legacies become payable, in consideration of his educating
them respectively.
Item, I give to my daughter, Elizabeth Ridge, five hun-
dred pounds, to be paid her out of my remaining personal es-
tate ; and to Mrs. Mary Ewer one hundred pounds also
thereout. And I give and devise to my son, Richard Bentley,
all my bank stock, and the dividends and produce due thereon.
I also give and devise to Trinity College the five following
pictures, viz. Joseph Scaliger's, Sir Isaac Newton's, my spouse,
Joanna Bentley's, deceased, and my own, and Baron Ezekiel
Spanheim's, which I will to remain in the gallery in my lodge
they are now in. And I further also bequeath to the said
College all my Greek manuscripts, which were brought from
Mount Athos, and by me purchased. The rest and residue
of niv library I give to my nephew, Richard Bentley, whom I
APPENDIX. 443
make sole executor of my last will. And all the rest and resi- APPEND.
due of my goods and effects not hereby before particularly Dr Bent _
bequeathed, I give and bequeath, after my funeral expences, ley's Will,
to my son Richard Bentley, and my two daughters, Elizabeth
and Joanna, to be equally divided amongst them. In witness
whereof I have hereunto set my hand and seal this twenty-
ninth day of May, one thousand seven hundred and forty-one.
Richard Bentley.
Sealed, published, and declared by the testator as and for
his last Will and Testament, in the presence of us, who sub-
scribed our names as witnesses thereto, in Ins presence.
William Greaves,
William Carter,
John Porter.
Proved at London before the Worshipful Edward Simpson,
Doctor of Laws and Surrogate, 10th August, 1742, by the
oath of Richard Bentley, the nephew and executor, to whom
administration was granted, having been first sworn duly to
administer.
NATH. GoSTLING,\ jn
Chas. Dyneley, > tj .,
x T ' J Registers.
John Iggulden, )
INDEX.
Addenbroke, Dr. John, Dean of Litch-
field, Bentley's treatment of him in
the Theological Schools, ii. 212 ;
anecdote of him, ii. 213, note.
jEsop's Fables, Sir W. Temple's opinion
of, i. 62 ; real history of them, i. 86 ;
Bentley's dissertation upon, i. 87-
Aldrich, D>\ Henry, Dean of Christ
Church, his mode of distinguishing
meritorious students, i. 64.
Alsop, Anthony, his share in the Pha-
laris controversy, i. 89, 90 ; his pub-
lication of jEsop, i. 96 ; Fable of the
Dog in the Manger, i. 97-
Ancient and Modern learning, contro-
versy respecting, i. 59.
Anne, Queen, her visit to Cambridge,
i. 183 ; confers the order of knight-
hood on Sir I. Newton, i. 184; de-
signs to raise Bentley to the episcopal
Bench, i. 222 ; her death, i. 365.
Arbuthnot, Dr. ridicules Bentley's cri-
tical style in Martinus Scriblerus'
pretended alterations of the two first
books of the yEneid, ii. 373 ; attacks
him in his Account of the state of
learning in Lilliput, ii. 374 ; and note.
Archdeacon's parochial visitations, much
neglected formerly, ii. 387 ; question
respecting the ground of their claims
to procurations, ii. 388.
Aristophanes, Kuster's edition of, parti-
culars respecting, i. 193; Bentley's
observations on the two first plays, i.
194.
Ashenhurst, Dr. Ward, supports Bent-
ley, i. 233 ; is appointed by him Phy-
sic-fellow, i. 246 ; his disrespectful
remarks concerning the Queen, i. 261,
262; trial in the Vice Chancellor's
court, i. 262 ; locks up Clarke, the
Esquire-beadle, ii. 50 ; his device for
arresting the progress of the grace of
the Senate against Bentley, ii. 59 ;
his death, ii. 309, note.
Ashton, Dr. Charles, Master of Jesus
College, designed for the Professor-
ship of Divinity, ii. 14 ; affronted by
a remark of Bentley's, ii. 48 ; sup-
posed to have assisted Middleton in
his ' Further Remarks,' &c, ii. 144 ;
his observations on Thirlby's Justin
Martyr, ii, 167-8.
' Atheism, Confutation of,' subject of
Bentley's first series of Boyle Lec-
tures, i. 38.
Atheists, discovery of attempts by some
to propagate their principles in the
University of Cambridge, ii. 391 ;
Mr. Samuel Strutt the oracle of this
sect, ibid. ; remarkable inconsist-
ency of atheistical professors, ibid. ;
Whitehead and Ducket adherents of
this society, ii. 392.
Atterbury, Bishop, tutor to the Hon.
Charles Boyle, i. 65 ; his share in the
Phalaris controversy, i. 90 ; probably
the author of a tract called ' A Short
Review,' i. 178 ; controversy occa-
sioned by his sermon at the funeral
of Bennett, i. 182, note ; his letters
to Dr. Colbatch, i. 263-4 ; his letter
to Bentley on his edition of Horace,
i. 323 ; is attainted and exiled, ii. 209 ;
is succeeded by Bishop Bradford, ii.
212 ; his attempts to establish the
validity of letters-patent of James I.
respecting the election of Westmin-
ster scholars to fellowships of Trinity
College treated with derision by Bent-
ley, ii. 257 ; Bentley's keen reply to
an observation of his, ibid. note.
Atwood, Esquire-beadle of Cambridge,
his Journal, ii. 33, note ; arrests Bent-
ley, ii. 51 ; cites him to give evidence
before the Vice Chancellor's court, ii.
176.
446
INDEX.
B.
Babrius, a Greek poet, the original com-
poser of the present collection of
./Esop's Fables, i. 86; Tyrwhitt's
Dissertation on, i. 87, note.
Baker, Dr. John, his character and at-
tachment to Bentley, ii. 84 ; procures
signatures in favour of Bentley's
scheme for a bargain with Serjeant
Miller, ii. 85; remarks on the trans-
action, ii. 86.
Bangorian controversy, ii. 22.
Barnes, Joshua, his character, corre-
sponds with Bentley respecting Epis-
tles ascribed to Euripides, i. 53 ; his
singular behaviour, i. 54 ; publishes
his edition of Homer, i. 291 ; his hos-
tility to Bentley, ibid. ; severely cri-
ticised by Bentley in his letter to
Davies, i. 293 ; his death and cha-
racter, i. 296.
Barretier, John Philip, reports of his
miraculous attainments rest upon in-
sufficient authority, i. 9. note.
Barrow, Dr. Isaac, funds provided by
him for the erection of a library for
Trinity College, i. 206-7.
Battie, William, candidate for a Univer-
sity scholarship, ii. 214 ; is elected in
preference to Richard Bentley, ne-
phew of the Doctor, ii. 215; founds
the scholarship called after his name,
ii. 217 ; regulations respecting the
elections to it, ibid.
Benedictines of St. Maur, high literary
reputation of that Society, ii. 123 ;
assistance given by them to Bentley
in his edition of the New Testament,
ibid. ; curious circumstance respect-
ing the Italic version of the Scrip-
tures, ii. 124 ; they are alarmed by
an ingenious criticism of Bentley upon
a sentence in Augustine, ii. 125 ; their
high commendations of Bentley, ii.
126.
Bennett, the bookseller, his application
to Bentley for the Manuscript of Pha-
laris, i. 66. 98 ; his death and funeral
sermon, i. 182, note.
Bentley, Richard, his birth and pa-
rentage, i. 1,2; sent to the Grammar
School of Wakefield, i. 3 ; sent to St.
John's College, Cambridge, i. 5 ; his
college studies, i. 5, 6 ; specimen of
his English verses, i. 7 ; his contem-
poraries at the University, i. 8 ; com-
mences B.A., i. 10 ; appointed Mas-
ter of Spalding School, i. 12; ap-
pointed tutor to Bishop Stillingfleet's
son, i. 13; his theological and Hebrew
studies, i. 14; his classical pursuits,
i. 15 ; his late entrance into holy
orders accounted for, i. 16; his resi-
dence at Oxford, i. 18 ; his literary
acquaintance and employments there,
i. 19, 20 ; ordained deacon, i. 21 ;
appointed Chaplain to the Bishop of
Worcester, ibid. ; fails in his attempt
to purchase for the University of Ox-
ford the celebrated Vossian library, i.
21, 22 ; engages in a collection of the
Fragments of the Greek Poets, i, 22 ;
and in preparing an edition of the
Greek Lexicographers, i. 23 ; his
corrections of Hesychius, i. 24 ; writes
an Appendix to the Oxford edition of
the Chronicle of Malelas, i. 27 ; his
dispute with Hody respecting the
name Malelas, \. 29; commendations
of the learned upon his ' Appendix,'
i. 31 ; its style, i. 32 ; his rule re-
specting the Synaphea, ibid. ; under-
takes an edition of Manilius, i. 34;
his favourable opinion of that author
decried in the Phalaris controversy,
i. 34, 35, note ; appointed the first
Boyle lecturer, i. 38 41; first gives
a popular exposition of Newton's dis-
coveries, i. 42 ; his correspondence
with Newton, i. 43 ; his observations
on Gravity, i. 44, note ; remark on his
style, i. 45 ; appointed Prebendary of
Worcester, i. 47 ; his correspondence
with Graevius, i. 49 ; and with Barnes,
i- 52; appointed Keeper of the King's
Library, i. 55 ; his second course of
Boyle's Lectures, i. 56 ; abandons his
edition of Philostratus to Olearius of
Leipsic, i. 58; becomes involved in
the Phalaris controversy, i. 58, 65,
69; origin of it, ibid. ; assists Evelyn
in his ' Discourse on Medals,' i. 71 ;
is introduced by him to Mr. Pepys,
ibid. ; appointed Chaplain to the
King, i. 72 ; takes the degree of D.D.,
i. 74 ; his Commencement Sermon, i.
75 ; his Collection of the Fragments
of Callimachus, i. 76 ; his first Dis-
sertation on Phalaris, i. 7886 ; his
account of J^sop's Fables, i. 86; ri-
diculed by Swift in the ' Tale of a
Tub,' i. 92 94 ; proposes the erec-
tion of a new Royal Library, i. 95 ;
forms a literary club, i. 96 ; absurd
charges against him, i. 100 ; Keill's
attack upon him, i. 110, 111 ; cari-
catured at Cambridge, i. 112; criti-
cised by Rymer, i. 113; assailed in
' The Battle of the Books,' i. 114;
his strictures on Dodwell's Be Cyclis
Veterum, i. 119 ; prepares an en-
larged reply to Boyle, i. 120; cha-
racter of it and quotations from it, i.
121 126; unfounded charge of pla-
INDEX.
447
giarism, i. 128; his refutation of Dr.
King's slanders, i. 130 ; writes an in-
scription for Bishop Stillingfleet's mo-
nument, i. 134, 135, note; his un-
availing efforts for the purchase of the
Bishop's library, i. 136; his complete
success in the Phalaris controversy,
ibid. ; made Master of Trinity Col-
lege, Cambridge, i. 140 ; his appoint-
ment unpopular, i. 144; his conduct,
i. 146 149; is elected Vice Chan-
cellor, i. 150 ; his marriage, i. 151 ;
Mrs. Bentley's character, ibid. ; ad-
dress to the King, i. 153 ; his ma-
nagement of the University press, i.
154 ; urges Kuster to publish an edi-
tion of Suidas, ibid. ; made Archdea-
con of Ely, i. 156 ; becomes a mem-
ber of Convocation, ibid. ; his edition
of Horace commenced, i. 158 ; his
regulations respecting fellowships and
scholarships, i. 159 ; account of his
early administration in Trinity Col-
lege, i. 159 164; his dispute with
the senior Fellows, i. 176 ; prints the
text of Horace, i. 188; his ' Critical
Epistles' on the Plutus and Clouds of
Aristopha:.es, i. 194 ; corresponds
with Hemsterhuis, i. 196 198; his
children, i. 200; the Fellows com-
plain of him for taking pupils as
boarders at the Lodge, i. 201 ; builds
an observatory, i. 202 ; founds a
school of Natural Philosophy, i. 203 ;
his designs for the repairs of Trinity
Chapel, i. 205 ; his financial mea-
sures, i. 209 213 ; malversation in
electing a Fellow, i. 214 ; expulsion
of Wyvill and Breval, i. 215, 216;
attempts to deprive the Fellows of the
Combination-room, i. 219 ; aspires to
the bishoprick of Chichester, i. 220 ;
his Appendix to Davies's Cicero's
Tusculan Questions, i. 223; character
of it, i. 224 ; his commendations of
Davies, ibid. ; probable account of the
origin of the Appendix, i. 225 ; as-
sists Needham in his edition of Hie-
rocles, i. 226 ; censured by Wolfius
and Warren, i. 227, 228 ; succeeds in
effecting a plan for a new and im-
proved edition of Sir Isaac Newton's
Principia, i. 228 ; forms a party
among the Fellows, i. 231 ; proposes
a new scheme of dividends, i. 234 ;
account of his proceedings, i. 235
238 ; his scheme for improving the
College livings, i. 239 ; his plan re-
jected by the Seniors, i. 240 ; op-
posed by Edmund Miller, i. 241 ;
quarrels with the Seniority, i. 243 ;
their declaration against him, i. 244 ;
remarks on his conduct, i. 248 ; his
Letter to the Bishop of Ely, i. 254 ;
character of it, i. 257 ; replies to it, i.
258 ; his second letter to the Bishop
of Ely, i. 265 ; his ' Emendations of
Menander and Philemon,' i. 267 ;
extraordinary merits of the work, i.
275 ; his severe censure of Le Clerc,
i. 270 ; supposed motives, ibid. ; mys-
tery attending the publication of the
' Emendations,' i. 272 ; replies to Le
Clerc's threatening letter, i. 274; cen-
sures Gronovius, i. 276 280 ; his
perilous situation on the accession of
the Tory Ministry, i. 281 ; his dex-
terous management, ibid. ; articles of
accusation against him, i. 284 ; as-
sailed by Barnes in the Preface to his
Homer, i. 291 ; his letter to Davies,
containing severe criticisms on several
errors of Barnes's, i. 293 296 ; his
interest with the Queen and the Mi-
nistry, i. 297 ; attempts to procure a
Boyal Letter in his own favour, i.
298 ; Bishop Moore requires answers
to the accusations against him, i. 299;
he petitions the Queen against the
Bishop's jurisdiction, ibid. ; Mr. Se-
cretary St. John directs the Attorney
and Solicitor General to examine the
allegations, i. 302 ; their report, ibid. ;
Bentley's Letter to the Lord High
Treasurer, i. 304; remarks on his
change of party, i. 305 ; completes
his edition of Horace, i. 307 ; dedica-
tion to the Earl of Oxford, i. 308 ;
arrogant language of the preface, i.
309 ; his opinions on the chronology
of the works of Horace, i. 311 ; re-
ception of the work, i. 313 319 ;
faults in the notes, i. 314 ; fails in his
attempts to terminate the prosecution
against him, i. 332 ; is appointed
deputy Vice Chancellor, i. 333 ; pre-
sents an address of the University to
the Queen, i. 334 ; severe grace of
the Senate against him, ibid. ; com-
mendations of him by learned men, i.
336338 ; publication of Collins's
' Discourse of Free-thinking,' i. 341 ;
Bentley's reply to Collins, i. 344
348. 350; character of it, i. 348;
important remarks on sacred criti-
cism, ibid. ; exposes Collins, i. 353,
note ; offends Lord Bolingbroke, i.
353 ; his answer to the articles of ac-
cusation against him, i. 356 ; under-
takes a new edition of Terence, i.
360 ; his trial commences, ibid. ; Bi-
shop Moore's sentence of deprivation,
i. 363 ; is reconciled with his Fel-
lows, i. 367 ; his charge to his arch-
deaconry, i. 370 ; vote of the Senate
against him rescinded, i. 372 ; vote
448
INDEX.
of thanks to him by the University,
i. 373 ; his sermon on Popery, i. 379 ;
quotation from it, i. 381 ; attack upon
it, i. 382 ; anonymous reply, i. 383 ;
his disposal of College livings, i. 389 ;
undertakes an edition of the Greek
Testament, i. 397 J his letter to the
Archbishop of Canterbury, i. 398 ;
corresponds with Biel, i. 405 ; pro-
jects an edition of classical authors in
mum Prhieipis Frederic/, ibid. ; his
violent measures against Miller, i.
406 ; his quarrel with Dr. Colbatch,
i. 409 ; suggests a compromise with
Miller, i. 414; succeeds in carrying
an address to the Throne, i. 419 ; fer-
ment of the University against him, i.
421, 422; delivers a charge to the
clergy, i. 427 ; attacked by Johnson,
in his Aristarchus Anti-Bentleianus,
ii. 1, 2; and in a ballad entitled Tom
Boslock, ii. 5 ; extracts from it, ii. 6,
note ; his sermon before the King, ii.
7 ; extract from it, ii. 1, 8 ; is ap-
pointed Regius Professor of Divinity,
ii. 8 : his methods to obtain the ap-
pointment, ii. 11; delivers his pre-
lection, ii. 1G; rejects 1 John, v. 7,
ii. 18; his inaugural speech, ii. 20;
account of it, ii. 21, note ; did not en-
gage in the Bangorian controversy,
why ? ii. 22 ; his expensive improve-
ments of his Lodge, ii. 23 ; his gra-
nary, ii. 24 ; accused of a collusive
sale of wheat, ii. 27 ; his reception of
the King and Duke of Somerset at
Trinity College, ii. 32 ; creates some
Doctors of Divinity in the King's pre-
sence, and delivers an address to his
Majesty, ii. 34 ; demands an addi-
tional fee for creating the new Doc-
tors, ii. 37 ; the demand resisted by
several, especially by Conyers Mid-
dleton, ii. 38 ; appeal of the Vice
Chancellor and Heads to the Chan-
cellor, ii. 39 : opposition by the Uni-
versity, ibid. ; grounds of his claim, ii.
40 ; disappointed in his expectation
of the support of Government, ii. 43 ;
declines, in consequence, to pursue
the third part of Phileleutherus's Re-
marks on Free-thinking, though soli-
cited by the Princess of Wales to
finish it, ibid. ; his quarrel with Dr.
Richard Warren, ii. 44 ; quarrels
with Dr. Gooch, the Vice Chancellor,
ii. 46 ; and with the other Heads, ii.
48 ; a decree from the Vice Chan-
cellor to arrest him, ii. 49 ; his beha-
viour to Edward Clarke, the Esquire-
beadle, who was sent to Trinity Lodge
with the decree of arrest, ii. 49, 50 ;
his theme to the candidates for fellow-
ships, ii. 50 ; submits to be arrested,
ii. 51 ; proceedings of the Vice Chan-
cellor's Court against him, ibid. ; is
suspended from all his degrees, ii. 53;
appeals to the Delegates from the sen-
tence of the Court, ibid. ; the appeal
refused, ii. 54 ; prohibited from
preaching as Regius Professor of Di-
vinity, ibid. ; the Vice Chancellor and
his counsellors are alarmed at the pro-
bable consequences of their own pro-
ceedings against Bentley, ii. 55 ; his
submissive behaviour to the Chan-
cellor, ii. 56 ; who encourages the
proceedings against him, ibid. ; his
conduct in consequence of this, ii. 57 ;
Grace of the Senate for his degrada-
tion, ii. 58, 59 ; active efforts of his
friends in his favour, ii. 59 ; deprived
of his degrees by the majority, ii. 60 ;
petitions the King against the Uni-
versity, ii. 63 ; universal interest ex-
cited by the question, ii. 65 ; is de-
fended by A. A. Sykes, ii. 66 ; and
assailed by Sherlock and Middleton,
ii. 67 69 ; writes a pamphlet against
Middleton and Miller, ii. 75; remarks
upon it, ibid. ; effect of the contest
upon the University at large, ii. 76 ;
the petition of Trinity College against
him again read at the Council Board,
ii. 80 ; his device respecting the peti-
tion, ii. 80, 81 ; he concludes a treaty
with Miller, ii. 82 ; opposition of the
Seniority, ii. 83 ; his successful mea-
sures to procure their consent, ii. 84,
85 ; remarks on the transaction, ii.
86 ; his wanton abuse of authority,
pending his treaty with Miller, ii. 89 ;
Squire's appeal to the Bishop of Ely
against him, ii. 90 ; Middleton's pam-
phlet against his College government,
ii. 91 ; Bentley procures its censure
by the Seniority, ii. 93 ; copy of the
decree, ii. 93, 94, note ; he suspects
Colbatch of being the author, ii. 94 ;
prosecutes the publisher, ii. 95 ; and
afterwards prosecutes Middleton upon
his confession of the authorship, ii.
96 ; refuses to present Dr. Colbatch
to the living of Orwell, vacant by the
death of Dr. Stubbe, ii. 98; contest
between them, ii. 99 ; proposes an
accommodation, and is finally obliged
to give way, ii. 101, 102 ; his conduct
respecting Catechetical Lectures, ii.
103 ; his treatment of Mailed and
Craister, ii. 104; and of Bouquet, ii.
106 ; patronizes Dr. Whitfield, ibid. ;
the design of a Royal visitation aban-
doned, ii. 107 ; an attempt is made to
deprive Bentley of his professorship,
ii. 108: application to the Court of
INDEX.
411)
King's Bench for the purpose, ii. 109;
Bentley's reply to the deposition,
ibid. ; election for M.P. of the Uni-
versity, effects of the contest upon the
future fortunes of Bentley, ii. 110,
111 ; account of his children, ii. 112;
and of his intimate acquaintance, ii.
114; Dr. Davies' high commenda-
tions of him in the Dedication of his
edition of Cicero De Natitra Deorum,
ii. 115 ; copy of the Dedication, ibid,
note ; singular deference of Davies to
the authority of Bentley in his 2nd
edition of the Tusculan Disputations,
ii. 116 ; his domestic habits, ii.
117 ; account of the progress of his
edition of the New Testament,
ii. 118; zealously assisted by Wet-
stein, ii. 120 ; and by John Walker,
ii. 122; and by the Benedictines of
St. Maur, ii. 123 ; curious circum-
stance respecting the Italic Version of
the Scriptures, ii. 124 ; Bentley's re-
quest for collating of MSS. supported
by Montfaucon, ii. 125 ; he alarms
the Benedictines by an ingenious
criticism upon a sentence in Augus-
tine, ibid. ; his proposals for publish-
ing an edition of the New Testament,
ii. 127, note ; remarks upon his spe-
cimen, ii . 129; remarks of his ene-
mies upon the proposals, ibid. ; espe-
cially of Middleton in his ' Remarks,'
ii. 130; observations upon them, ii.
132 ; Bentley suspects Colbatch to be
the author, ii. 134 ; his reply, ibid. ;
virulent abuse of Colbatch, ii. 135 ;
the reply is censured by the Heads,
and the printer prosecuted by Col-
batch in the Vice Chancellor's court,
ii. 139 ; Smalbroke's letter to him on
the disputed text, 1 John v. 7-> ii.
14G; his edition of the New Testa-
ment not stopped (as has been sup-
posed) by Middleton's pamphlet,
ibid ; great extent of the subscrip-
tion, ii. 147 ; f a 'ls in his attempt to
import paper duty free, ii. 148 ; em-
ploys David Casley to collate the
Oxford MSS., ii. 149; Middleton,
having been convicted of a libel in
his ' True State of Trinity College,'
begs pardon of him, ii. 153 ; disputes
the opinions of Edmund Chishull, re-
specting an ancient Greek inscription
found at Sigeum, ii. 158 ; his inge-
nious restoration of an old Delian in-
scription, ii. 160 ; his edition of Ho-
race censured by Cunningham, ii.
161 6; is violently attacked by
Styan Thirlby in the preface and
dedication of his edition of Justin
Martyr, ii. 167; is highly commended
VOL. II.
by Professor Smith in the preface to
the Harmonia Mensuration of Cotes,
ii. 168 ; revises the Theriaca of Ni-
cander, at the instance of Dr. Mead,
ii. 170 ; is attacked in ' The Spy,' ii.
171 ; Bentley's declared opinion of
the character and talents of Mr.
Boyle, ii. 172 ; copy of verses by
Bentley, ii. 174; Colbatch continues
his prosecution against him for a libel,
ii. 175 ; Bentley cited to give evidence
in the Vice Chancellor's court, ii. 176;
artfully eludes the summons, ii. 177 ;
a rule granted by the Court of King's
Bench to stop the proceedings of the
University against him, ii. 178; the
proceedings against him dropped, ii.
182 ; he prosecutes Colbatch's Jus
Academician, ii. 183 ; applies to the
Court of King's Bench for restoration
to his degrees, ii. 190 ; assailed by
Middleton, in a Latin tract respect-
ing the arrangement of the books in
the University library, ii. 200; pro-
secutes Middleton for a reflection on
the Judges of the King's Bench, ii.
201 ; the Judges give their opinions,
on Bentley's suspension, against the
University, ii. 204 ; peremptory Man-
damus of the Court to restore him to
his degrees, ii. 205, 206 ; is restored
after a deprivation of five years and
a half, ii. 208 ; Middleton's action for
the recovery of four guineas renewed,
ii. 209 ; Bentley refunds them, ii.
210 ; declines the offer of the bishop-
rick of Bristol, ii. 211 ; great expense
of his law-suits, ibid. ; his rough reply
to the Judges at Trinity Lodge, ibid. ;
anecdote of him, respecting his beha-
viour as Moderator in the first Divi-
nity act after his restoration, ii. 213,
note ; his conduct with respect to his
nephew, Richard Bentley, candidate
for a University scholarship, ii. 214,
215 ; resumes his edition of Terence,
ii. 217 ; causes of offence between
him and Dr. Hare, ii. 218, and ii. 223;
prints an edition of Terence to sup-
plant that of Hare, ii. 225 ; character
and contents of Bentley's edition, ii.
225-227 ; his hasty edition of Phae-
drus, ii. 229; exposed by Hare, in his
Epistola Critica, ii. 232 ; rupture be-
tween him and Burman, ii. 23f> ; edi-
tion of Lucan, ii. 237 ; perseveres in
his design of publishing the New Tes-
tament, ii. 239 ; obtains collations of
a considerable part of the Vatican MS.
ibid. ; controversy with Burford re-
specting the selection of Public Orator,
ii. 243 ; appoints Dr. Newcome his
Deputy in the Divinity School, ii.
G g
4,")0
INDEX.
246; brief review of some transac-
tions in the last five years, ibid. ; op-
position to him at an end, ii. 248 ;
his son is chosen Fellow, ibid. ; his
conduct respecting the lease of Massam
House, in the City of York, ii. 249 ;
and respecting the South Meadow, ii.
251 ; builds a summer residence at
Over, near Cambridge, where he had
an annual fishing party, ibid. ; com-
pletes the repairs and decorations of
Trinity Chapel, and erects the clock,
dial, and bells, ii. 252 ; presents the
old clock to Dr. Colbatch for his
Church at Orwell, ii. 253 ; enumera-
tion of distinguished scholars admit-
ted by him to fellowships, ibid, note ;
rejects Benjamin Stillingfleet, grand-
son of the bishop, ii. 254; incurs
much odium in consequence, ibid. ;
Colbatch takes advantage of the out-
cry against him, ii. 255, 256 ; Bent-
ley denies the assumed validity of the
letters of James I., ii. 260 ; and defies
his opponents, ibid. ; the Seniority
unanimously agree to support him,
ibid. ; his efforts in securing the re-
turn of the Hon. Edward Finch and
the Hon. Thomas Townshend, as
Members of Parliament for the Uni-
versity, greatly strengthen his inte-
rests against his opponents, ii. 263 ;
fresh attempts to procure a visitation
of Trinity College, ibid.; five leading
counsel concur in pronouncing that
the Bishop of Ely is Visitor of Trinity
College, ii. 264; creates fifty- eight
Doctors of Divinity on the occasion of
the visit of George II. in 1728, ii.
266 ; entertains the King at his Col-
lege, ibid. ; soon recovers from a dan-
gerous illness, ii. 267 ; gives his
daughter Joanna in marriage to Mr.
D. Cumberland, ibid. ; Colbatch re-
news his efforts to call him to account
before the Visitor, ibid. ; his treatment
of Robert Johnson, Fellow of Trinity,
who joins Colbatch's party against
him, ii. 269 ; he anticipates his pro-
secutors, ii. 270 ; draws up a peti-
tion to the King, ibid. ; tumultuous
meeting at the College Chapel, ii.
271 ; the petition is presented to the
King by Mr. Greaves, ii. 272 ; writes
a pamphlet entitled ' The Case of
Trinity College, whether the Crown
or Bishop of Ely be the General Vi-
sitor,' ii. 273; Colbatch's reply, ii.
274 ; the Privy Council declines all
interference, ii. 275 ; Bentley's dis-
pute with Archbishop Wake on the
library-keeper's place, ibid. ; decided
by the Attorney General, ii. 278 ;
obtains an order of the Seniority that
all expenses resulting from these
proceedings should be defrayed from
the revenues of the College, ii. 280;
is cited by Bishop Greene, ibid. ; ap-
plies to the Court of King's Bench for
a prohibition, which is refused, ibid. ;
the Bishop sends him a copy of the
articles against him, ii. 282 ; charge
of daily neglect of service in the Col-
lege Chapel, ibid. ; defends himself
upon the ground of delicate health,
ibid, and ii. 283 note ; general remarks
upon the articles, ii. 283 ; he appears
at Ely House, ii. 284 ; his objections
against the articles, ibid. ; applies a
second time to the Court of King's
Bench for a prohibition, ii. 285 ; the
prohibition continued, ii. 286 ; re-
sumes his edition of the New Testa-
ment, ibid. ; communicates with Dr.
Delany and Mr. Doyle respecting the
verse of the Heavenly Witnesses
found in a Greek MS. in the Library
of Trinity College, Dublin, ii. 287,
and note ; corresponds also with
Baron de Stosch respecting the Va-
tican MS., ii. 288 ; probable reason
for the non-appearance of the edition
of the New Testament, ii. 289 ; rule
for a prohibition made absolute, ibid. ;
Bentley's management in defeating
the proceedings of the Bishop of Ely,
ii. 290 ; refuses the offer of the
Deanery of Lincoln, vacant by the
death of Dr. Gee, ii. 291 ; received
in triumph by his adherents on his
return to Cambridge, ii. 292; sati-
rical lines written upon the occasion,
ibid, note; vindictive measures against
his prosecutors, ii. 296; his severe
treatment of Ingram, Mason, and
Parne, ii. 296-8; his pithy reply to
the last, ii. 298 ; the Court of King's
Bench overrules his objections against
Bishop Greene's proceedings ii. 299 ;
the Judges entertain doubts respect-
ing the validity of the statutes of Eli-
zabeth, ii. 300 ; new complexion of
the case in consequence, ibid. ; they
continue the prohibition on Bishop
Greene, ii. 301 ; termination of the
cause, ii. 302 ; expenses of the two
parties, ibid. ; situation of affairs after
the decision of the Judges, ii. 303 ;
Colbatch draws up a new set of arti-
cles, ibid.; Bentley's measures against
the Visitor, ii. 304; petitions the
King, ibid. ; Bishop Greene greatly
displeased at this, ii. 305 ; the At-
torney General refuses the fiat, ibid.;
the case carried by writ of error to
the House of Lords, ibid. ; Bentley's
INDEX.
451
acquaintance with Lord Chancellor
King, ii. 306 ; fire in the Cottonian
Library, ii. 308 ; origin of Bentley's
edition of Milton's Paradise Lost, ii.
309 ; his want of qualification for this
work, ii. 310; his notion of a ficti-
tious reviser, ii. 311 ; presumptuous
character of the book, ii. 313; pub-
lic opinion of it, ii. 318 ; real
merits of his edition of Milton, ii.
320 ; publications against it, ii. 322 ;
especially Pearce's ' Review,' ii. 323 ;
Colbatch's able pamphlet on the Vi-
sitatorial jurisdiction of the Bishop of
Ely, ii. 325 ; Bentley's treatment of
Mr. Porter Thomson, ibid. ; the cause
between him and Bishop Greene
comes on in the House of Lords, ii.
326-7 ; Bishop Sherlock's powerful
speech against him, ii. 327 ; the
House reverses the judgment of the
Court of King's Bench, ii. 328; detail
of the proceedings, ii. 328. 337 !
Bentley commences an edition of
Homer, ii. 331 ; his second trial at
Ely House, ii. 337 ; his ' Defensive
Plea,' ii. 337-8; evidence for the
prosecution and defence, ii. 339 ;
heads of accusation against him, ii.
340 ; expense of the defence, ii. 343;
is sentenced to be deprived of his
Mastership, ii. 344 ; reported dissent
of the Bishop's assessors, ibid. ; his
device to frustrate the sentence, ii.
346 ; Dr. Hacket, the Vice-master,
neglects to execute the sentence
against him, ii. 348 ; resigns, and is
succeeded by Dr. Richard Walker,
ii. 349 ; Bentley is enabled to main-
tain his station, through a probable
error in the statute, ii. 351 ; Colbatch
petitions the House of Lords for exe-
cution of the sentence, ii. 353 ; Dr.
Richard Walker effects a compromise
between him and some of his most
active opponents, ii. 354 ; resumes
his edition of Homer, ii. 356 ; parti-
cular account of it, ii. 360 ; great
difficulty of the undertaking, ii. 365 ;
restores the use of the Digamma, ii.
361 ; history of his discovery of it,
ii. 362 ; Dawes's enmity against him,
ii. 367 ; probable causes of it, ii.
368-9 ; Heyne's satisfaction on re-
ceiving his corrected copy of Homer,
ii. 371, and note ; Pope's hostility to
him, ii. 372 ; remarks on it, ii. 372-3,
his opinion of Pope's translation of
Homer, ibid. ; lines 3gainst him
by Pope in the Dunciad, ii. 375;
the lines altered in a subsequent
edition, ii, 376 ; attacked by Mal-
let, in his ' Poem on Verbal Cri-
ticism,' ibid. ; and by Pope, in his
' Epistle to Dr. Arbuthnot,' ii. 378 ;
a Mandamus is addressed to the Bi-
shop of Ely to compel Dr. Walker to
execute the sentence of deprivation,
ii. 380; a third Mandamus to enforce
the execution of the sentence against
him, ii. 382 ; the Court of King's
Bench discharges the rule, ii. 384 ;
the contest finally terminated by the
death of Bishop Greene, in 1738, ii.
385 ; brings an action against Dr.
Colbatch for proxies due to him as
Archdeacon of Ely, ii. 387 ; the case
is decided in his fevouf, ii. 389 ; dis-
covery of a sect of Atheists in the
University, ii. 391 ; his behaviour at
the trial of Ducket for the propaga-
tion of atheistical principles, ii. 394 ;
his treatment of the ' Society for the
encouragement of Learning,' ii. 395;
publishes his edition of Manilius, ii.
397 ; observations on it, ibid. ; is af-
flicted with a paralytic stroke, ii. 398 ;
is disabled from pursuing his edition
of Homer, ii. 399 ; death of Mrs.
Bentley, ibid. ; his companions and
amusements, ii. 400 ; his domestic
habits, ibid. ; Cumberland's account
of him, ii. 401-4; is attacked by Pope
in the fourth book of the Dunciad, ii.
405-6 ; his behaviour to Miller the
botanist, ii. 406 ; Warburton's treat-
ment of him, ii. 409 ; his sagacious
correction of a copy of a Greek in-
scription, ii. 411-12; his last illness
and death, ii. 413 ; his funeral, ibid. ;
disposition of his property, ii. 414 ;
his library and papers, ii. 415 ; re-
marks on his personal character, ii.
416 ; his literary merits, 417-
Bentley, Richard, son of Dr. Bentley,
account of him in early youth, ii. 112;
made Fellow of Trinity College, ii.
248 ; his father's bequests to him,
ii. 414.
Bentley, Elizabeth, eldest daughter of
Doctor Bentley, her character, ii. 113;
married to Humphrey Bidge, Esq.
ii. 400 ; afterwards to the Rev. James
Favell, ii. 416.
Bentley, Joanna, youngest daughter of
Dr. Bentley, remarkable for the graces
of her mind and person, ii. 113 ; lines
in commendation of her, inserted in
the Spectator, by Byrom, ibid. ; mar-
ried to Mr. Denison Cumberland, ii.
267.
Bentley, Richard, nephew of Dr. Bent-
ley, particulars of his contest for a
University Scholarship, ii. 214-15 ;
endeavours to dissuade his uncle from
publishing his edition of Milton, ii.
Gg2
452
INDEX.
316 ; edits his Manillius, ii. 397 ;
Bentley's books and papers bequeath-
ed to him, ii. 415 ; gives a part to
Cumberland, ibid. ; leaves a part to
Trinity College, ibid.
Bentley, Thomas, nephew of Dr. Bent-
ley, publishes a small edition of Ho-
race, i. 340 ; his literary excursion
through France and Italy in 1725, ii.
239; assists Dr. Bentley in his edition
of the New Testament, by collating
MSS. in Paris, Rome, &c, ibid. ; brief
account of his literary pursuits and
travels, ii. 239-42 ; Dr. Davies's papers,
committed to his care by Dr. Mead,
are, through his carelessness, destroy-
ed by fire, ii. 357; account of the ac-
cident, ibid, and note ; his edition
of the hymns of Callimachus, and of
Csesar's Commentaries, ii. 407: his
death, ii. 408.
Bergler, Stephen, his eminent skill in
the Greek language, i. 277 ! reviews
the controversy on Menander, ibid.
Berkeley, Dr. George (Bishop of Cloyne),
replies to Collins, i. 343.
Bernard, Dr. Edward, his correspond-
ence with Bentley respecting the
Appendix to the Chronicle of Malelas,
i. 28.
Bibliotheca Literaria, a classical miscel-
lany edited by Dr. Samuel Jebb, ac-
count of it, ii. 169.
Bibliotheque Universelle, John Le Clerc
one of the principal writers in, i. 267-
Bibliotheque Ckoisie, a quarterly review
of literary publications, conducted by
Le Clerc," i. 267-
Biel, John Christian, corresponds with
Bentley respecting Hesychius, i. 405.
Bolingbroke, Lord, see St. John.
Boulter, Dr. Hugh, Dean of Christ-
Church, appointed Archbishop of Ar-
magh, ii. 211.
Boyle, the Honourable Robert ; his
death and character i. 37 ; his lec-
tureship, i. 38; Bentley appointed
first lecturer, ibid.
Boyle, the Honourable Charles (Earl of
Orrery), appointed editor of Phalaris,
i. 64 ; his character, i. 64, 65 ; applies
to Bennet, the bookseller, for a colla-
tion of the King's manuscript, i. 65 ;
his reflections upon Bentley, i. 69;
his Examination of Bentley's Disser-
tation, i. 97 ; remarks upon it, ibid.
i. 101 ; quotations from it, i. 103-107;
causes of its popularity, i. 107 ; is
himself dissatisfied with the perform-
ance of Atterbury and his other as-
sistants, i. 109 ; said to have visited
Bentley at Cambridge, ii. 172; is
committed to the Tower on suspicion
of being engaged in the plot for the
restoration of the Pretender, ii. 209.
Breval, John Durant, account of his ex-
pulsion from his fellowship by Bent-
ley, i. 216 ; his history, ibid.
Brookbank, Dr. John, friend of Bent-
ley ; his character, i. 186 ; complaint
against him as Official of the Arch-
deacon, i. 334 ; his death, ii. 212 ; his
epitaph, written by Bentley, ibid,
note.
Burman, Peter; his hostility to Le Clerc,
i. 272 ; his edition of Petronius Arbi-
ter, ibid. ; Le Gazettier Menteur, ibid. ;
receives by an unknown hand Bent-
ley's ' Emendations on the Fragments
of Menander and Philemon,' ibid. ;
publishes them with a preface, i. 273 ;
Bentley's renewal of his correspond-
ence with him, ii. 118; publishes an
edition of Phaedrus, ii. 235 ; rupture
between Bentley and him, ii. 236-7 ;
his edition of Lucan, ii. 238.
Byrom, John ; lines in the Spectator,
in commendation of Joanna Bentley,
youngest daughter of Dr. Bentley,
written by him, ii. 113 ; remarks on
them, ibid.
C.
Cambridge, University of, extraordinary
number of students there, at the time
of Bentley's admission, i. 5 ; objects
of study at that time, i. 7 ; unsatis-
factory mode which formerly pre-
vailed in the distribution of academi-
cal honours, i. 10 ; present plan, i.
11 ; fellowships at St. John's College,
ibid. ; Bentley renovates the Univer-
sity press, i. 73. 153; brief history of
Trinity College, i. 140 ; Queen Anne's
visit to, i. 183 ; deputation appointed
to represent the University at the Ju-
bilee at Frankfort on the Oder, i. 191 ;
omits to address the Queen on the
dismissal of the Whig ministry, i.
289 ; state of politics at the general
election, ibid. ; expulsion of Professor
Whiston, i. 290; address to the
Queen, i. 334; remarks on Univer-
sity politics, i. 375 ; comparison with
those of Oxford, ibid. ; Royal present
of Bishop Moore's library to the Uni-
versity, i. 377 ; George I. visits the
University, ii. 31 ; great agitation
produced by the quarrel with Bent-
ley, ii. 76 ; the design of a Royal
visitation abandoned, ii. 107 ; election
of M.P. for the University, ii. 110;
a rule from the Court of King's
Bench, to stop the proceedings of the
University against Bentley, ii. 178 ;
INDEX.
453
Bentley petitions the Court of King's
Bench to obtain from the University
his restoration to his degrees, ii. 190 ;
the University employs Sir Philip
Yorke as counsel, ii. 192 ; long con-
nexion between the University and
his family, ibid. ; state of the case
between the University and Bentley,
ii. 203 ; the Judges of the Court of
King's Bench deliver their opinions
seriatim against the University, ii.
204 ; Chief Justice Pratt delivers the
final judgment of the Court against it,
ii. 206 ; proceedings of the Univer-
sity in consequence, ibid. ; a profes-
sorship of Modern History founded
by George I. ii. 210 ; the Senate
gives a double vote to the Vice-Chan-
cellor in equally balanced cases, ii.
215 ; origin of that regulation, ii.
214-16 ; election of Public Orator, ii.
242 ; political events there upon the
death of George I. in 1727, " 261 ;
account of the general election, ii.
262 ; George II. visits the University,
ii. 264 ; presents 2000/. towards the
completion of the Senate House, ii.
266, and note ; the new Senate House
completed, ii. 292 ; ceremonies at its
opening, ii. 292-3 ; Taylor's music
speech, ii. 294 ; discovery of an at-
tempt to propagate atheistical princi-
ples there, ii. 391.
Carleton, Lord, President of the Council,
befriends Dr. Colbatch, in the case of
Jus Academicum, ii. 194.
Carteret, Lord, Secretary of State ; Dr.
Freind uses his interest with him in
behalf of Colbatch, in the case of Jus
Academicum, ii. 184 ; his promises,
and subsequent conduct, ii. 188 ; holds
the Lieutenancy of Ireland at the
time when Wood's patent was attack-
ed by Swift, ii. 323-4 ; his intimacy
with Bentley, and his love of classical
literature, ibid. ; amusing anecdote
respecting him and Bentley, ibid, note;
his speech in the House of Lords in
the case of appeal between Bishop
Greene and Bentley, ii. 332-3 ; urges
Bentley to undertake an edition of
the Iliad and Odyssey, ii. 364.
Casley, David, Bentley's deputy in the
King's and Cottonian libraries, em-
ployed by him to collate the Oxford
MSS. for his edition of the New Testa-
ment, ii. 149.
Chishull, Edmund, publishes a com-
mentary on an ancient Greek inscrip-
tion found at Sigeum, ii. 15P-7 ; his
opinions disputed by Bentley, ii.
158-9 ; Bentley's sagacious correction
of a copy of a Greek inscription, in-
serted by him in his Antiquitates
Asiatics, ii. 411-12.
Clarke, Edward, Esquire-beadle, his
conduct and treatment respecting the
decree of arrest against Bentley, ii.
49-50.
Clarke, Dr. Samuel, his edition of
Caesar's Commentaries, i. 336 ; his
high commendations of Bentley, i.
337 ; Bentley's letter to, i. 425 ; his
edition of Homer's Iliad, ii. 363.
Clergy, English, non-juring temper in
1716, i. 425, 426.
Colbatch, Dr. John ; correspondence be-
tween him and Atterbury, i. 263 ; ac-
count of him, i. 383-6 ; his conduct
in College, i. 386 ; Bentley offers to
him the Vice-mastership, i. 389 ;
quarrels with him, i. 410 ; his letters
to Bishop Fleetwood, ii. 30 ; his Com-
memoration sermon, ibid. ; his earnest
endeavours to solicit the attention of
Government to the grievances of the
College, ii. 79; in vain solicits Bishop
Fleetwood to interfere, ii. 88 ; urges
Squire to appeal to the Visitor against
Bentley's rejection of him, ii. 90 ; dis-
putes Bentley's interpretation of a
College statute, ii. 91 ; claims the
living of Orwell, vacant by the death
of Dr. Stubbe, ii. 98 ; accused by
Bentley of being the author of the
' Remarks' written by Middleton, on
the ' Proposals' for a new edition of
the New Testament, ii. 134 ; is viru-
lently abused by him, ii. 135 ; seeks
redress for the injury, ii. 138 ; prose-
cutes the printer in the Vice Chancel-
lor's court, ii. 139; declines to present
the thanks of the Senate to the Earl
of Nottingham, ii. 141 ; is dissuaded
from publishing his 'Case of Richard
Bentley,' &c, ii. 151 ; continues his
prosecution of Bentley for a libel, ii.
175 ; writes Jus Academicum, ii. 179 ;
extracts from it, ii. 180-1 ; the pub-
lication prosecuted by Bentley, ii.
183; is greatly alarmed, ibid. ; inte-
rest in his favour with the Ministers,
ii. 184; the publisher is committed,
ii. 186 ; his interview with Chief
Justice Pratt, ii. 185-6 ; is publicly
declared to be the author by the pub-
lisher, ii. 186 ; solicits the King's
pardon, ii. 187; the encouraging
promises of Lord Townshend and
Lord Carteret, ii. 188 ; further ac-
count of his case, ii. 193 ; particulars
of his treatment by Lord Townshend
and Lord Macclesfield, ii. 195-6; is
committed, ii. 197 ; his sentence, ii.
198 ; speech of Mr. Justice Powis
concerning Jus Academicum, ii. 198;
454
INDEX.
Bentley offers to him the old clock of
Trinity College for his Church at Or-
well, ii. 253 ; takes advantage of the
outcry against Bentley, in consequence
of his rejection of Bishop Stilling-
fleet's grandson, to renew his efforts
against him, ii. 255 ; particulars of
his application to Bishop Gibson, ibid. ;
solicits the Dean and Chapter of West-
minster to interfere to procure the
appointment of a Visitor for Trinity
College, ii. 25G ; renews his prose-
cution of Bentley, ii. 263. 267; is as-
sisted only by Parne, Ingram, and
Mason, ibid.; is soon afterwards join-
ed by Robert Johnson, ii. 269; ac-
count of him, ibid. ; Colbatch's reply
toBentley's ' Case of Trinity College,'
ii. 274; appeals to Archbishop Wake
respecting Bentley's nephew, the Li-
brarian, ii. 275 ; is afflicted with ill-
ness, and Johnson is deputed to act as
promoter of the suit against Bentley,
ii. 279 ; is powerfully aided by Mr.
Edward Smith, ibid. ; the Judges dis-
cover a flaw in the proceedings, ii.
301 ; termination of the cause in con-
sequence, ibid. ; expenses of Colbatch
and Bentley, ii. 302; situation of
affairs after the decision of the Judges,
ii. 303 ; Colbatch draws up a new set
of articles, ibid. ; satisfies Bishop
Greene respecting the expenses of the
proceedings against Bentley ; ii. 307
and note ; his able pamphlet in de-
fence of the Bishop of Ely's visitato-
rial power, ii. 325 ; the case comes on
in the House of Lords, ii. 326 ; the
House reverses the judgment of the
Court of King's Bench, ii. 328 ; is
candidate to represent in Convocation
the clergy of the diocese of Ely, ii.
350 ; petitions the House of Lords
for execution of the sentence against
Bentley, ii. 353 ; Colbatch applies to
the Court of King's Bench for a Man-
damus, which is granted, ii. 356 ; ter-
mination of the contest by the death
of Bishop Greene, 1737, ii. 385 ; Col-
batch's expenses, ii. 386 ; Bentley, as
Archdeacon of Ely, brings an action
against him, ii. 387 ; the case is de-
cided against him, ii. 389 ; his able
tract, 'The case of Proxies payable to
ecclesiastical Visitors,' ii. 390; his
death, ii. 420.
Complutensian edition of the Bible, the
Vatican MS. not used in revising the
text of, ii. 146.
Constable, Sir Marmaduke, Fellowship
at St. John's College, Cambridge,
founded by him, i. 12.
Cotes, Roger, first Astronomical Pro-
fessor at Cambridge, i. 202; his ob-
servations and lectures, i. 203 ; super-
intends the repairs of Trinity College,
Chapel, i. 208; the most distinguished
of Bentley's partizans, i. 233; his
share in the new edition of Newton's
Principia, i. 229. 338 ; urges Bentley
to write the Preface, i. 339; his
commendation of Bentley, ibid. ; his
death, i. 401 ; the inscription on his
monument written by Bentley, i. 402,
note.
Cowley, Abraham, character of his style,
i. 6; short account of him, i. 141,
note.
Crosse, Dr., is elected to succeed Dr.
Gooch as Vice Chancellor, ii. 140;
his character and conduct, ibid. ; is
re-elected Vice Chancellor, ii. 176;
grants Dr. Colbatch's petition against
Bentley, ibid. ; lays the first stone of
the Senate House, 1722, ii. 199.
Cumberland, Richard; his remarks upon
Dr. Bentley's origin, i. 1, 2 ; inaccu-
racy of them, note, i. 3 ; publishes
Newton's four letters to Bentley, i.
43, note ; his account of Dr. Bentley,
from his ' Memoirs,' ii. 401-4.
Cunningham, Alexander, discovers Bent-
ley's authorship of the Emendations
on the fragments of Menander and
Philemon, i. 274 ; some account of
him, ii. 161 ; distinguished from the
historian of the same name, ibid. ;
censures Bentley's Horace, ibid. ; la-
bours to destroy Bentley's credit, ii.
162 ; remarks on his Animadversions
on Bentley's Horace, ii. 162-7 ; com-
parison between Bentley and him, ii.
164.
D.
Davies, Dr. John, Fellow of Queen's
College, Cambridge, his edition of
Cicero's Tusculan Questions, i. 223 ;
Bentley's emendations, ibid. ; Bent-
ley's letter to him, exposing the
errors of Barnes in his edition of
Homer, i. 293: appointed President
of Queen's, ii. 13; supports Bentley
when candidate for the Divinity Pro-
fessorship, ii. 14, 15; created D.D.
in the King's presence, ii. 34 ; opposes
the vote for degrading Bentley, ii. 61,
note ; his edition of Cicero de Natura
Deorum, ii. 115; his death, ii. 356;
his papers, committed by Dr. Mead to
the care of Thomas Bentley, are un-
forti nately destroyed by fire, ii. 356-7-
Dawes Richard, his disingenuous treat-
ment of Bentley with respect to his
explanation of an old Delian inscrip-
INDEX.
455
tion, ii. Mil ; his account of the
/Eolic Digamma in his Miscellanea
Critica, ii. 367 ; his enmity against
Bentley, ii. 368 ; probable cause of it,
ii. 369-70 ; his extraordinary dili-
gence, ii. 369 ; remarks on his book,
ibid. ; his unjust treatment of Bent-
ley, ibid. ; his knowledge of the
Digamma derived wholly from Bent-
ley, ii. 370 ; his vulgar and quarrel-
some habits, ii. 371 ; failure of his
attempts to appropriate to himself the
credit due to Bentley, ibid.
Delany, Dr. P., Bentley communicates
with him and Mr. Doyle respecting
the disputed verse of the Heavenly
Witnesses, found in the Dublin Greek
MS. ii. 286 ; his opinion on that
controversy, ii. 287, note.
De Pauw, John Cornelius, his literary
character, i. 277 ; his book against
Bentley, under the name of Philargy-
rius Cantabrigiensis, i. 278-9.
D'igamma, the jfcolic, the use of it
restored by Bentley in his proposed
edition of Homer, ii. 361 ; account of
it, ii. 361-65 ; employed by Mr. Payne
Knight in his restoration of the Ho-
meric text, ii. 366 ; pronunciation of
it, ibid. ; Blackwell's account of a
conversation with Bentley, respecting
it, ii. 367, note.
Dodwell, Henry, his work De Cyclis
Veterum, improved by hints from
Bentley, i. 119-20 ; disputes the
opinions of Bentley and Lloyd re-
specting the age of Pythagoras, i. 180.
Ducket, Tinkler, Fellow of Caius Col-
lege, his efforts in propagating atheist-
ical principles in his College, ii. 392 ;
the existence of his sect discovered by
means of a letter of his, ibid. ; his
trial, ii. 393 ; and sentence of ex-
pulsion, ii. 395.
E.
Emlyn, the Arian, dispute between him
and Martin of Utrecht respecting the
disputed text in the first epistle of
St. John, ii. 16.
Evelyn, Mr., solicits Bentley to publish
his second course of Boyle's Lectures,
i. 56 ; fails in his endeavour to pro-
cure for him a Lambeth degree, i.
71 ; assists him in his project for the
erection of a new Royal Library, i.
95, 96 ; his warm friendship towards
him, i. 117.
Facrnu?, Gabriel, an illustrious scholar,
ii. 220 ; his edition of Terence recom-
mended to Hare by Bentley, ibid.
Finch, the Hon. Henry, son of the Earl
of Nottingham, contest between him
and the Hon. Thomas Willoughby
for the representation of the Univer-
sity of Cambridge, ii. 110.
Finch, the Hon. Edward, brother to the
last, is supported by Bentley as can-
didate for the University, ii. 262; is
elected, and continues representative
nearly fifty years, ibid.
Fisher, Dr. Bardsey, Master of Sidney
College, appointed by the Vice Chan-
cellor to create those who withstood
Bentley's demand of an additional
fee for creating Doctors in Divinity,
ii. 39.
Fleetwood, Dr. succeeds Dr. Moore,
Bishop of Ely, i. 367 : refuses to
take cognizance of the articles of
accusation against Bentley, i. 370 ;
refuses a second time, ii. 88 ; his
death, ii. 247 ; is succeeded by Bishop
Greene, ibid.
Fontenelle, originates the controversy
respecting ancient and modern learn-
ing, i. 59.
Fortescue, Sir John, a Judge of the
Court of King's Bench, has been con-
founded with Sir William Fortescue,
the friend of Pope, ii. 187, note; his
severity to the publisher at Jus Acade-
mician, ii. 186-7-
Freind, Dr. Robert, Master of West-
minster School, interests himself with
Lord Carteret in Colbatch's favour,
ii. 184 ; co-operates with Dr. Col-
batch against Bentley, ii. 258.
Freind, John, M.D., his share in the
Phalaris controversy, i. 89, 90 ; is
committed with Lord Orrery to the
Tower, ii. 209.
Gale, Dr. Thomas, Dean of York, tutor
to the Hon. Charles Boyle, i. 64, note,
ibid. ; suggests some corrections in
his book, i. 110.
Garth, Dr. Samuel, Bentley's contempo-
rary at Cambridge, i. 8 ; his lines
upon Bentley's book, i. 112.
Gastrell, Bishop, made Boyle's Lecturer,
i- 77 ; upholds the rights of the Uni-
versities, ii. 140-1 ; befriends Col-
batch, ii. 194.
George I., his visit to Cambridge, ii. 31 ;
his reception in Trinity College, ii.
34 ; gives 2000/. towards the erection
of the Senate House, ii. 210; found?
Professorships of Modem History at
456
INDEX.
Oxford and Cambridge, ibid. ; his
death in 1727, ii. 2C1.
George II., visits the University of Cam-
bridge, ii. 264 ; account of his recep-
tion, ii. 265 ; dines in the hall of
Trinity College, ii. 266 ; presents
2000/. towards the completion of the
Senate House, ibid.
Gibson, Dr., Bishop of London, his high
character, ii. 255 ; Dr. Colbatch ap-
plies to him respecting the state of
Trinity College, ibid. ; his advice and
opinion upon the subject, ii. 255-6.
Gevartius, an edition of Manilius pro-
jected by him, i. 49 ; his opinion of
the poet's age, i. 49, 50.
Gooch, Dr. Thomas, elected Vice Chan-
cellor of Cambridge, ii. 42 ; his family
and character, ibid. ; his official con-
duct gives offence to Government, ii.
45 ; deprived of his Chaplaincy to
the King, ii. 46 ; Bentley quarrels
with him, ibid. ; pronounces the sen-
tence against Bentley of suspension
from all his degrees, ii. 53 ; his smart
reply to Bentley's inquiry respecting
the meaning and consequence of the
sentence, ii. 54 ; is alarmed at the
magnitude of his own proceedings,
ii. 53 ; applies to the Chancellor, ii.
56 ; delivers a speech to the Senate
against Bentley, ii. 58 ; proposes a
grace for his degradation, ibid. ; is
re-elected Vice Chancellor, ii. 63 ;
lays an account of the proceedings
before the King in Council, ii. 64 ;
the matter is referred to a committee
of the Privy Council, ibid. ; pretended
plots against him, ii. 77 ; is chosen
Vice Chancellor for the third time, ii.
108; attempts to deprive Bentley of
his professorship, ii. 109 ; exerts him-
self in favour of the Whig interest, ii.
293.
Gospel, " Society for the Propagation
of," assailed by Collins, i. 346.
Grsevius, John George, his commenda-
tions of Bentley, i. 31, 51, 54; cor-
responds with him, i. 49; his edition
of Callimachus, i. 52 ; published, i.
76 ; his death, i. 159.
Greaves, Mr. Commissary, presents
Bentley's petition to the King at
Hampton Court, ii. 272; his long
connexion with Trinity College, ibid. ;
brief account of him, ibid.
Greene, Dr. Thomas, Bishop of Nor-
wich, translated to the see of Ely
upon the death of Bishop Fleetwood,
1723, ii. 247; shews himself averse
to interfere with the affairs of Trinity
College, ibid. ; petitions the King in
Council, ii. 272-3; cites Bentley to
appear before him, ii. 280 ; Bentley
applies to the Court of King's Bench
for a prohibition, which is refused,
ii. 281-2; sends Bentley a copy of
the articles against him, ii. 282 ; rule
for a prohibition made absolute by the
Court of King's Bench, ii. 289 ; pro-
ceedings of the Bishop thereupon, ii.
290 ; the Court of King's Bench
overrules Bentley's objections against
his proceedings, ii. 299 ; extraordinary
doubts entertained by the Judges re-
specting the validity of the Statutes
of Elizabeth, ii. 300 ; effects of this
view of the subject upon the proceed-
ings, ii. 300-1 ; appeals to the House
of Lords to reverse the judgment of
the Court of King's Bench, ii. 306;
his measure respecting the future ex-
pense of the proceedings, ii. 306-7
and note ; the case between him and
Bentley argued in the House of Lords,
ii. 326-7, it is decided against the
Court of King's Bench, ii. 328 ; detail
of the proceedings, ii. 326-36 ; cites
Bentley to appear at Ely House, ii.
337 ; evidence for the prosecution
and defence, ii. 339-42 ; sentences
Bentley to be deprived of his Master-
ship, ii. 344; reported dissent of his
assessors, ibid. ; a mandamus from
the Court of King's Bench to him to
compel Dr. Walker to execute the
sentence, ii. 380 ; another mandamus,
ii. 382 ; his death, 1737, puts an end
to the contest between Bentley and
his prosecutors, ii. 385.
Grigg, Dr. William, nominated with
Bentley for the place of Vice Chan-
cellor, i. 423 ; circumstances of his
election, i. 425 ; makes Bentley his
deputy, ii, 13; his behaviour on the
visit of the King and the Duke of
Somerset to the University, ii. 32, 33.
Gronovius, James, his hostility to Bent-
ley, i. 225-6; his general character,
i. 226 ; severely censured by Bent-
ley, i. 276 ; his violent abuse of Bent-
ley in his Infamia Emendationum,
&c, ibid.
H.
Hacket, Dr. John, made dean of Trinity
College, ii. 90 ; some account of him,
ibid. ; is appointed Vice Master, ii.
348 ; is commanded by the Bishop of
Ely to execute the sentence of de-
privation against Bentley, ibid. ; re-
signs his office, ii. 349 ; is succeeded
by Walker, ibid.
Hare, Dr. Francis, Bentley's emenda-
INDEX.
457
tions on Menander sent to him in
Holland for publication, i. 274 ; ' Re-
marks on Freethinking' dedicated to
him, i. 344 ; publishes the ' Clergy-
man's Thanks to Phileleutherus,' i.
348 ; interests himself in favour of
Colbatch, ii. 184 ; causes of offence
between Bentley and him, ii. 218 ; his
knowledge of the Latin comic metres
derived from Bentley, ii. 219; pub-
lishes his edition of Terence, ii. 220 ;
remarks on it, ii. 221 ; dedicates it to
Lord Townshend, ii. 222 ; character
of the dedication, ibid. ; Bentley's
resentment against the editor, ii. 223 ;
occasions his own edition, ii. 225 ;
exposes Bentley's Phsedrus in his
' Epistola Critica,' ii. 232 ; character
of this epistle, ibid. ; Hare's incon-
sistency, ii. 233 ; his real admiration
of Bentley, ii. 234 ; is appointed Dean
of St. Paul's, and Bishop of St. Asaph,
ii. 235.
Hawkins, John, Bentley attempts to re-
move him from the number of Senior
Fellows, i. 282.
Hemsterhuis, Tiberius, engaged to super-
intend an edition of the Onomasticon
of Julius Pollux, i. 196 ; corresponds
with Bentley, i. 197; the effect of
Bentley's letters upon him, i. 198.
Hesychius, Lexicon of, Bentley's cor-
rections of it, i. 124 ; Verwey's edi-
tion of, ibid. ; Kuster projects an
edition, i. 192 ; does not live to com-
plete it, i. 404 ; Bentley's epistle to
Biel on Hesychius, i. 405.
Heyne, his edition of the Iliad, ii. 371 ;
Bentley's corrected copy of Homer
sent to him by the Master and Fel-
lows of Trinity College for his use,
ibid. ; his great satisfaction and grati-
tude on receiving it, ibid, and note.
Hickes, Dr. George, the intentions of
the non-juring party discovered from
his papers, i. 426.
Hierocles, Needham's edition of, i. 226 ;
the Florentine manuscript, i. 227 i
Warren's edition, i. 228.
Hoadly, Bishop, his controversy with
Atterbury, i. 182, note ; his reply to
Collins, i. 342.
Hobbes, Thomas, his doctrines confuted
by Bentley in the Bovle's Lectures,
i. 39.
Hody, Dr. Humphrey, his great literary
reputation, i. 19 ; appointed Chaplain
to the Bishop of Worcester, i. 21 ;
writes the Prolegomena to the Chro-
nicle of Malela, i. 26 ; his dispute
with Bentley respecting the word
Malela, i. 29, 30.
Homer, revised and altered by the
Alexandrian grammarians, ii. 364 ;
Bentley's edition of, commenced, ii.
331; resumed, ii. 356; particular ac-
count of it, ii. 360 ; his use of the
JEolic Digamma discovered by Bent-
ley, ii. 362 ; Dr. Clarke's edition of
the Iliad, ii. 363 ; completed by his
son, ii. 364 ; Mr. Payne Knight's at-
tempt to restore the Iliad and Odyssey,
ii. 366 ; observations on his repre-
sentation of the Homeric text, ibid. ;
Heyne's edition, ii. 371 ; Bentley's
corrected copy sent to him by the
Master and Fellows of Trinity College
for his use, ibid.
Humphreys, David, is admitted Fellow
in the place of Serjeant Miller, ii. 102.
I.
Ingram, Goodricke, employed in con-
sulting the College Records by Col-
batch's party, ii. 297 I incurs Bent-
ley's resentment in consequence,
ibid. ; Bentley's accusation against
him and Mason, of having set the
College cook in the stocks, ii. 298 ;
Bentley's severe proceedings against
him, ibid.
' Italic Version' of the Scriptures, inge-
nious conjecture of Bentley respecting
the reading of a passage in Augustine,
supposed to refer to it, ii. 125 ; Arch-
bishop Potter's emendation, ii. 126.
John, St. 1 Epistle, v. 7-> Bentley's
preelection on this text, ii. 16; con-
troversy on the verse, ibid. ; Smal-
broke's Letter to Bentley concerning
it, ii. 146; account of its appearance
in the Dublin MS., ii. 286.
Johnson, Dr. James, a warm partizan of
Bentley, ii. 59 ; severely attacked by
Middleton, ii. jl.
Johnson, Rev. Joseph, Bentley's College
tutor, i. 5.
Johnson, Richard, author of the Noctes
Noltingliamiccp, a contemporary of
Bentley at Cambridge, i. 8 ; his ran-
cour against Bentley, ibid. ; attacks
him in his Aristarchus Anti-Bentleia-
nus, ii. 1-3 ; his history and death,
ii- 7-
Johnson, Robert, Fellow of Trinity Col-
lege, associates with Colbatch's party
against Bentley, ii. 269 ; cause of his
resentment against Bentley, ibid. ; be-
comes promoter of the cause, ii. 279 ;
his agreement with Bentley, ii. 351.
458
INDEX.
Johnson, Dr. Samuel, reviews Newton's
four letters to Bentley, i. 43, note; his
opinion respecting Bentley's style, i.
45 ; his remark on Pope's hostility to
Bentley, ii. 372.
Johnson, Walter, succeeds Bentley in
the mastership of Spalding School, i.
13.
Jurin, Dr. James, undertakes by Bent-
ley's advice an edition of Varenius, i.
337; brief account of him, i. 338;
his commendation of Bentley, i. 337,
note ; his notes on Caesar published by
T. Bentley, ii. 407-
K.
Ker, John, account of him, i. 320 ; his
offence at Bentley, ibid. ; prints a
book censuring his Latinity, i. 321 ;
anecdote respecting him and Bentlev,
i. 320.
Kidder, Bishop, succeeds Bentley as
Boyle Lecturer, i. 47-
King, Dr. William, his representation of
Bentley's behaviour, i. 99 ; Bentley's
refutation of his slanders, i. 130 ; his
' Dialogues of the Dead,' quotation
from, i. 137, note ; lampoons Bentley
in his ' Horace in Trinity College,'
i. 264.
King, Sir Peter, counsel for the Fellows
at Bentley's trial before Bishop Moore,
i. 360 ; when Lord Chancellor is in-
timate with Bentley, ii. 306 ; gives
the living of Stanwick in Northamp-
tonshire to Mr. D. Cumberland, Bent-
ley's son-in-law, ibid. note.
Knight, Mr. Payne, his attempt to re-
store the Homeric text, ii. 366 ; ob-
servations on it, ibid.
Kuster, Ludolph, introduced to Bentley
by Graevius, i. 154 ; account of his
edition of Suidas printed at Cam-
bridge, ibid. ; completion of the work,
i. 190; attends the Cambridge Dele-
gation at the Jubilee at Frankfort on
the Oder, i. 191 ; quits Berlin, and
returns to Utrecht, i. 192; his edition
of Aristophanes, i. 193, and corre-
spondence with Bentley, ibid. ; his
death and character, i. 404, 5.
L.
Laughton, Dr. Richard, his conduct as
Proctor of the University of Cam-
bridge, i. 286 ; anecdote respecting
him, ibid. ; disturbs a distinguished
party at the Rose tavern, i. 287 ; first
made the Principia of Newton a ge-
neral subject of study in the Univer-
sity, i. 288 ; candidate for the master-
ship of Clare Hall, ii. 13 ; Dr. Col-
batch's high commendation of him,
ii. 30, note.
Layton, Henry, writes a pamphlet
against Bentley's reasoning on the
immateriality of the soul, i. 46.
Learning, Society for the encouragement
of, object of it, ii. 395; Bentley's
haughty treatment of it, ibid. ; Mid-
dleton declines their offer to print his
' Life of Cicero,' ibid. ; its operations,
ii. 396 ; and note.
Le Clerc, John, his skill as a reviewer,
i. 267 ; writes in the Bibliotkeque
Universelle, and publishes the Biblio-
tkeque Choisie, ibid. ; collects the frag-
ments of Menander and Philemon, i.
2C8 ; his incompetence for the task,
ibid. ; excessive demerits of his book,
i. 269 ; severely criticised by Bentley,
i. 270 ; reported design of inviting
him to England, ibid. ; his hostility
to Burman, i. 272 ; writes a threaten-
ing letter to Bentley, i. 274 ; is de-
fended by De Pauw, i. 277 ; his re-
view of Bentley's Horace, i. 322 ; de-
cline of his reputation, i. 323, note.
Leng, Dr. Bishop of Norwich, his edi-
tion of Terence, ii. 221.
Lisle, Denys, is sent by Bentley as his
representative to the Vice Chancellor's
Court, ii. 51 ; his conduct in the be-
half of Bentley rebuked by the Vice
Chancellor, ii. 53 ; his insolent beha-
viour to Dr. Crosse, on the occasion
of Bentley's eluding the summons to
give evidence in the Vice Chancellor's
Court, 1722, ii. 178; Bentley grounds
upon his affidavit an application to the
Court of King's Bench for restoration
to his degrees, ii. 190.
Lloyd, Dr. William, Bishop of St. Asaph,
his great interest in Bentley's ad-
vancement, i. 23 ; suggests to him a
publication of all the Greek Lexico-
graphers, ibid. ; his publication on the
age of Pythagoras, i. 132.
M.
Macclesfield, Earl of, see Parker.
Malela, chronicle of, i. 25 ; annotations
on it by Gregory and Chilmead, i. 26 ;
the publication of it superintended by
Dr. Mill, and the Prolegomena written
by Hody, ibid. ; Bentley writes the
Appendix, i. 27 ; brief analysis of,
ibid. ; dispute upon the name, i. 29.
Mallet, David, attacks Bentley in his
' Poem on Verbal Criticism,' ii. 3?6 ;
INDEX.
459
remarks on the poem, ibid. ; extracts
from it, ii. 377j note ; subsequent his-
tory of him, ii. 377-
Manilius, Bentley undertakes an edition
of, i. 34 ; his opinion of the author
defended, i. 34, 35, note ; Gevartius
had projected an edition of, i. 49 ; con-
jectures respecting his age, i. 50 ; pub-
lication of Bentley's Manilius, ii. 397.
Markland, Jeremiah, a member of the
Caput, when Bentley was degraded,
i. 59 ; his commendations of Bentley
in his Epistola Critica, ii. 169 ; is
among Bentley's acquaintance in his
old age, ii. 400.
Martin, of Utrecht, controversy between
him and Emlyn, the Arian, respect-
ing the disputed passage in John's
First Epistle, v. 1, ii. 1G.
Mary, Queen, consort of William III.
had the disposal of the Church pa-
tronage, i. 47 ; used to consult Stil-
lingfleet, ibid. ; desires his elevation
to Lambeth, i. 70 ; promises to pa-
tronize Colbatch, i. 384.
Mason, Charles, Fellow of Trinity, as-
sists Colbatch against Bentley, ii.
267 ; an admirer of Miss Joanna
Bentley, ii. 268; his character, ibid. ;
satirical lines upon him by Edward
Prior, ibid, note; occurrence on his
being convened by Bentley before
the seniority, ii. 297 ; accused on an-
other charge, ii. 298.
Maur, St., Benedictines of, assistance
rendered by them to Bentley in his
edition of the New Testament, ii.
123 ; they are alarmed by an ingeni-
ous conjecture of Bentley respecting
the reading of a sentence in Au-
gustine, ii. 125.
Mawson, Dr. Matthias, famed for his
splendid liberality, ii. 293 ; defeated
in a great contest for the Vice Chan-
cellorship in 1730, ibid, ; is elected
Vice Chancellor in 1730, ii. 358 ; and
re-appointed 1731, ibid.
Mead, Dr. Richard, the celebrated phy-
sician, Bentley's great intimacy with,
ii. 114; Bentley's letter to, upon the
Sigean Inscription, ii. 158 ; urges
Bentley to revise the Theriaca of Ni-
cander, ii. 170; commits to the edi-
torship of Thomas Bentley the papers
of Dr. Davies on Cicero's Offices, &c.
ii. 356; they are unfortunately de-
stroyed by fire, ii. 357, and note.
Middleton, Dr. Conyers, commencement
of his hostility to Bentley, i. 153;
one of the party at the Rose, disturb-
ed by Mr. Laughton, i. 287 ; his un-
founded imputation upon Bentley,
i. 373, 4 ; his testimony respecting
8
Bentley's opinion of 1 John v. 7- ii.
18 ; resists Bentley's demand of an
additional fee for creating new Doc-
tors of Divinity on the occasion of
the King's visit to the University, ii.
38 ; pays the four guineas, and is
created D.D. by Bentley, ibid.;
brings an action in the Vice Chancel-
lor's Court to recover that sum, ii. 44. ;
Bentley arrested on his suit, ii. 49 ;
his second pamphlet, in reply to
Sykes, ii. 70 ; third pamphlet on the
proceedings of the University against
Bentley, ii. 72, 73 ; his account
of the proceedings against Bent-
ley
67 ; his character as a
writer and controversialist, ibid. ; ex-
tracts from his pamphlets, ii. 69 73;
Bentley's tract against him, ii. 75 ;
his pamphlet against Bentley's Col-
lege government, ii. 91, 92 ; it is cen-
sured by the Seniority, ii. 93 : copy
of the decree against it, ibid, note ;
confesses himself the author, and is
prosecuted by Bentley, ii. 95-6 ; copy
of his acknowledgment of authorship,
ii. 95 ; note ; his ' Remarks' upon
Bentley's ' Proposals' for a New edi-
tion of the New Testament, ii. 130 ;
observations upon them, ii. 131-2;
Bentley suspects Colbatch of being
the author, ii. 134 ; Bentley's ' Re-
ply,' ii. 134-5; 'Further Remarks
on the Proposals,' ii. 142 ; com-
mendations of them, ibid. ; extract
from, ii. 143 ; supposed to have been
assisted by Dr. Ashton, ii. 144; is
found guilty of a libel, ii. 149 ; kept
in a painful state of suspense respect-
ing his sentence, ii. 150; fails in his
endeavours to get himself included in
the Act of Grace, 1721, ii. 152; begs
pardon of Bentley, ii. 153 ; pays the
costs, ibid; is made Principal Libra-
rian of the University, ii. 154; his
tract concerning the arrangement of
the books, ii. 199 ; quotation from it,
ii. 200. note ; assails Bentley in it,
ibid. ; is prosecuted by him for a re-
flection upon the Judges of the Court
of King's Bench, ii. 201 ; effect of
this prosecution upon Colbatch's case,
ii. 202 ; is fined 50/. ibid. ; his visit
to Italy, ii. 209 ; his ' Letter from
Rome,' ii. 210; renews his action
against Bentley for the recovery of
four guineas, ibid. ; it is decided in
his favour, ibid. ; Zachary Pearce's
dispute with him relative to his ' Let-
ter to Dr. Waterland,' ii. 323.
Mill, Dr. John, Bentley's intimate ac-
quaintance at Oxford, i. 19; Bent-
ley's first publication addressed to
460
INDEX.
him, i. 28 ; publishes the Chronicle
of Malela, i. 26 ; his edition of the
New Testament, i. 33: unfounded
alarm at its publication, i. 348 ; Mid-
dleton accuses Bentley of ingratitude
to Mill, ii. 132.
Wilier, Edmund, his opposition to Bent-
ley respecting the College revenues,
i. 241 ; Bentley declares his Fellow-
ship vacant, i. 245 ; the Seniors re-
instate him, i. 246 ; draws up the
articles of accusation against Bent-
ley, i. 284 ; fresh attempt to vacate
his Fellowship, i. 368 ; his petition
to the King, i. 369 ; Bentley's violent
measures against him, i. 408 ; Bent-
ley proposes a compromise with him,
i. 414 ; his ' Account of the Univer-
sity of Cambridge,' i. 415 ; censure
of it, i. 416 ; he prosecutes Richard
Walker, ii. 81 ; Bentley concludes a
treaty with him, ii. 82 85 ; his sub-
sequent history, ii. 87.
Milton's Paradise Lost, Bentley's edi-
tion of, ii. 317 21 ; Milton's great
care in correcting and polishing his
verses, ii. 321.
Modd, George, made Vice Master, i.
389 ; account of him, i. 409 ; joins in
electing Bentley Professor of Divi-
nity, ii. 14 ; his death, ii. 247.
Monson, Dr. Henry, his decision of the
case between Bentley and Colbatch
respecting the proxies and arrears
demanded bv the former as Archdea-
con of Ely, i'i. 389.
Montague, Dr. John, Dean of Durham,
Bentley's predecessor as Master of
Trinity College, i. 140 ; dispute be-
tween him and Bentley respecting his
dues, i. 147 ; assistance given by him
to Bentley in his edition of the New
Testament, ii. 120.
Montfaucon, Father, supports Bentley's
request respecting the ancient MSS.
at St. Germains, ii. 124.
Moore, Dr. John, Bishop of Norwich,
his liberal patronage of learned men,
i. 52. 223 ; his noble library, ibid. ;
Baron Spanheim's letter to him in
favour of Bentley, i. 221, note ; his
conduct when Bishop of Ely with re-
spect to Bentley, i. 251 ; petition to
him from the Fellows of Trinity, i.
251 3; requires from Bentley an
answer to the articles of accusation
against him, i. 299 ; his proceedings
inhibited by the Queen, i. 302 ; again
demands Bentley's answer to the ac-
cusation, i. 356 ; his opinion at the
trial, i. 363 ; orders a sentence of
deprivation to be prepared against
Bentley, i. 363-4 ; his death, ibid.
N.
Needham, Peter, Fellow of St. John's
College, Cambridge, publishes an edi-
tion of Hierocles, i. 226; assisted by
Bentley, i. 227.
Newton, Sir Isaac, his lectures at Cam-
bridge, as Lucasian professor, i. 8 ;
the Principia, i. 41 ; first explained in
a popular form by Bentley in the
Boyle Lectures, i. 42 ; his four letters
to Bentley, i. 43 ; is returned member
of Parliament for the University of
Cambridge, i. 157 ; is knighted by
Queen Anne, i. 184 ; a new edition of
the Principia, i. 229 ; this edition
urged by Bentley, and superintended
by Professor Cotes, ibid. ; his corres-
pondence with Professor Cotes, letters
in the possession of the Earl of Ports-
mouth, i. 230 ; publication of the
Principia, i. 338 ; Bentley solicited
by Cotes to write the preface, i. 339 ;
his remark on the quarrel between
Bentley and Hare, ii. 235; his death,
ii. 245 ; epitaph suggested by Bent-
ley, ibid.
Nicander, some account of him, ii. 170;
translated by Gorraeus into Latin,
ibid. ; Bentley, at the instance of Dr.
Mead, undertakes a complete revision
of his Tlteriaca, ibid.
Nottingham, Earl of, his masterly an-
swer to Whiston's ' Letter on the
eternity of the Son of God,' ii. 141 ;
thanks decreed by the Senate for it,
ibid. ; Dr. Colbatch declines to pre-
sent them, ibid.
O.
Orrery, Earl of. See Boyle.
Oxford, Harley, Right Hon. Robert, in-
vites Bentley to suggest a plan for the
settlement of Trinity College, i. 298 ;
becomes Earl of Oxford, and Lord
High Treasurer, i. 303; Bentley's
letter to him, i. 304 ; his pride of an-
cestry, i. 308 ; Bentley dedicates his
Horace to him, i. 309 ; private com-
munication of the Fellows of Trinity
College with him, i. 326; his encou-
ragement to them, i. 327-
Oxford, University of, addresses the
Queen on the dismissal of the Whig
ministry, i. 289 ; politics of, compared
with those of Cambridge, i. 375 ;
George I. founds a professorship of
Modern History, ii. 210.
P.
Paine, Thomas, Fellow of Trinity Col-
INDEX.
461
lege, assists Colbatch against Bentley,
ii. 267 ; his high literary reputation,
ibid. ; feels the weight of Bentley's
resentment, ii. 296 ; his unsuccessful
contest for the Public Oratorship,
ii. 297; his altercation with Bentley,
ii. 298 ; pithy reply of the latter,
ibid. ; makes a treaty with Bentley,
ii. 354 ; is elected Librarian of the
University, on the advancement of
Taylor, ii. 355 ; again joins the pro-
secutors, ii. 382 ; his menacing letter
to Bentley, ibid. ; effects of Bentley's
resentment, ii. 383; his subsequent
history and death, ii. 420.
Parker, Lord Chief Justice, suggests the
idea of an edition of the Classics, in
Usum Frederici Principis, i. 406 ;
writes to Bentley in favour of Pearce,
i. 411 ; becoming Lord Chancellor,
promises that the visitatorial power
over Trinity College shall be settled
under the Great Seal, ii. 79, 193; his
policy, ii. 79 ; his affability, and
easiness of access, ii. 185; prevents
Colbatch obtaining the King's pardon
for writing Jus Academicum, ii. 194.
Pearce, Zachary, circumstances of his
election to a fellowship, i. 411 ; en-
courages Dr. Colbatch to expect from
the Lord Chancellor (Parker) a speedy
redress of the grievances of the Col-
lege, ii. 79, 80 ; writes two Latin
epistles (under the signature of Phile-
leutherus Londinensis) respecting
Bentley's ' Proposals' for a new edi-
tion of the New Testament, i. 144 ;
his critique upon Bentley's edition of
Milton, entitled ' Review of the text
of Paradise Lost,' ii. 323; its great
merits, ibid. ; his dispute with Mid-
dleton, ibid.
Pembroke, Earl of, Baron Spanheim's
letter to him in recommendation of
Bentley, i. 221, note ; his great influ-
ence with Queen Anne, i. 222.
Pepys, Samuel, Bentley introduced to
him by Mr. Evelyn, i. 71 ; his opinion
respecting Bentley, ibid.
Phalaris, Epistles attributed to, opi-
nion of Sir W. Temple respecting
them, i. 62 ; Bentley's judgment of
them, i. 62-3; Hon. Charles Boyle
undertakes an edition of them, i.
65-8 ; Bentley's first Dissertation
upon Phalaris, i. 78-85 ; confederacy
formed at Christchurch to reply, i. 88 ;
Boyle's Examination, i. 97 ; Bentley's
enlarged Dissertation, i. 120; sequel
of the controversy, i. 178.
' Philalethes,' author of a severe pam-
phlet against Bentley's ' Proposals,'
ii. 144.
' Phileleutherus Lipsiensis,' a name as-
sumed by Bentley in his emendations
of Menander and Philemon, i. 272 ;
again in his Remarks on Collins's
Discourse of Freethinking, i. 344 ;
Dr. Hare writes ' The Clergyman's
Thanks to Phileleutherus,' i. 348;
second part of Phileleutherus, i. 350 ;
French translation, i. 353 : thanks of
the Senate voted to Phileleutherus,
i. 373 ; Bentley proposes finishing the
Remarks, i. 374 ; gives it up in of-
fence, ii. 43.
Pilgrim, Thomas, chosen Greek Pro-
fessor, i. 330 ; Bentley's enmity to
him, ii. 214 ; the living of Standish in
Lancashire given to him by the Se-
nate, ibid.; gives evidence at Bent-
ley's trial, ii. 339.
Potter, Archbishop, his ingenious con-
jecture respecting the reading of a
passage in Augustine, supposed to
refer to the ' Italic Version' of the
Scriptures, ii. 126.
Pope, Alexander, his hostility to Bent-
ley, ii. 372; probable cause of it,
ii. 372-3 ; Dr. Johnson's remark on
it, ii. 372; Bentley's opinion of his
translation of Homer, ibid. ; lines
against Bentley in the Dunciad, ii.
375 ; suppresses them in the second
edition, ii. 376 ; restores them in his
folio edition in 1735, ii. 378 ; attacks
Bentley again in 1737, in his imita-
tion of Horace's Epistle to Augustus,
ibid. ; takes fresh offence at him and
his nephew Thomas, ii. 404 ; ridi-
cules him in the fourth book of the
Dunciad, ii. 405-6 ; origin of his men-
tion of Bentley's hat, ii. 406 ; his
great resentment against Thomas
Bentley, ii. 407.
Porson, Professor, his account of Bent-
ley's Prselection, which he had read
in his youth, ii. 19; elected Fellow of
Trinity while Junior Bachelor of
Arts, ii. 249, note; the one of all sub-
sequent scholars who can best be com-
pared with Bentley, ii. 414, note.
Towis, Sir Littleton, a Judge of the
Court of King's Bench, his sentence
on Dr. Colbatch, ii. 198.
Pratt, Chief Justice, his charge to the
jury at Middleton's trial for libelling
Bentley, ii. 150 ; advises an accom-
modation, ii. 153 ; his remarks on
Bentley's reluctance, ibid. ; his reso-
lution to uphold the dignity of his
Court, ii. 186; commits the publisher
of Jus Academicum, ii. 187 ; treats
Colbatch with mildness, ii. 189 ; his
severe rebuke of Middleton, ii. 201 ;
and of Bentley for his conduct upon
462
INDEX.
being served with the process by the
Vice Chancellor's Court, ii. 204 ; de-
livers the final judgment of the Court
against the University, ii. 205-6.
Pythagoras, Bentley's remarks upon his
age, i. 120; Bishop Lloyd's publica-
tion on the age of, i. 132 ; Needham's
edition of Hierocles on the Golden
Verses of, i. 22G.
R.
Richardson, Dr. John, Master of St.
Peter's College, his great skill and
experience in academical laws and
customs, ii. 57 ; his suggestion re-
specting the suspension and degrada-
tion of Bentley, ii. 58.
Rubenius, Albertus, his treatise De Re
Vestiaria published by Grsevius, i. 49 ;
his treatise De Mallio published by
Graevius, with a dedication to Bent-
ley, i. 50-
Rymer, Thomas, his essay on ' Critical
and curious Learning,' i. 112; reply
to it, i. 114.
Sacheverell, Dr., extraordinary sensa-
tion produced by his impeachment,
i. 281.
Senate of the University of Cambridge,
passes a severe vote against Bentley,
i. 334 ; anecdote of the election of
Vice Chancellor in 1712, i. 335, note ;
repeals the decree, i. 372-3 ; address
to the Throne carried by the manage-
ment of Bentley, i. 417-20; the re-
sentment shown against him, i. 421 ;
deprives Bentley of his degrees, ii. 60 ;
copy of the Grace against him, ii. 58 ;
the Judges of the Court of King's
Bench deliver their opinions against
it, ii. 204 ; the Senate still keeps up
the contest, ii. 205 ; peremptory man-
damus to restore Bentley to his de-
grees, ibid. ; proceedings of the Se-
nate in consequence, ii. 206; gives a
double vote to the Vice Chancellor in
equally balanced cases, ii. 215 ; origin
of the regulation, ii. 214-15.
Senate House, first stone laid by Dr.
Crosse, June 24, 1722, ii. 199; the
King (George I.) gives 2000/. to-
wards the building, ii. 210; King
George II. gives 2000/. more, ii. 266,
see note ; completed and opened, ii.
292-3.
Sherburn, Sir Edward, lends Bentley
the collection of Gevartius upon Mani-
lius, i. 35 ; his frivolous complaint
against Bentley, i. 100 ; Bentley re-
plies to it, i. 118.
Sherlock, Dr. Thomas, his early theolo-
gical reputation, i. 371 ; becomes Vice
Chancellor of the University of Cam-
bridge, i. 372 ; his judicious conduct
in the disturbances, i. 376 ; eloquent
thanks for the King's present of
books, i. 377 ; appointed Dean of
Chichester, ii. 43 ; is regarded as the
leader of Bentley's opponents, ibid. ;
his name erased from the list of
King's Chaplains, ii. 46 ; sneeringly
called ' Cardinal Alberoni' by Bent-
ley, ii. 48 ; answers Sykes's pamphlet
in defence of Bentley, ii. 66-7 i in-
terests himself with Lord Townshend
in behalf of Dr. Colbatch, in the case
of Jus Academicum, ii. 1 84 ; his de-
fence of the University against the
interference of the Court of King's
Bench, ii. 203 ; his able speech in the
House of Lords, when Bishop of
Bangor, against Bentley, ii. 327-
Sigeum, an account of an old Greek in-
scription found there, ii. 156-7 ; com-
mentary on it by Edmund Chishull,
ii. 158; Chishull's opinions disputed
by Bentley, ibid.
Sike, Henry, (the oriental scholar,)
Bentley obtains his appointment to
the Hebrew Professorship, i. 186 ; his
dreadful death, i. 329 ; commenda-
tion of him by eminent scholars, ibid,
notes.
Smalbroke, Dr. Richard, his letter to
Bentley on the disputed verse 1 John
v. 7, ii. 146.
Smith, Dr. Robert, assistant of his rela-
tion, Cotes, in the observations, i.
203; succeeds him as Professor of
Astronomy, i. 401 ; his high com-
mendations of Bentley in his preface
to the Harmonia Mcnsurarmn of
Cotes, ii. 168: succeeds Bentley as
Master, ii. 420.
Smith, Edward, joins Colbatch's party
against Bentley, ii. 279 ; brief account
of him, ibid. ; pecuniary assistance
given by him in the proceedings
against Bentley, ii. 307, and note.
Snape, Dr. Andrew, his name erased
from the list of King's Chaplains, ii.
46 ; appointed Provost of King's
College, ii. 140; supported by Bent-
ley's friends in the election for Vice
Chancellor in 1721, ibid.; Middleton
dedicates to him his tract respecting
the arrangement of the books in the
University Library, ii. 200 ; Snape's
devotion to the cause of the Univer-
sity, ii. 200-1 ; lays the first stone of
INDEX.
463
the new building of King's College,
ii. 207.
Somerset, Duke of, Chancellor of the
University, his treatment of Dr. Col-
batch, i. 384-5; his visit to Cam-
bridge, ii. 32; the Vice Chancellor
and Heads apply to him respecting
the quarrel with Bentley, ii. 56 ; he
visits Cambridge in consequence,
ibid. ; confirms their resolution, and
leaves Cambridge, ibid. ; determines
the amount of fees for creating Doctors
at the Royal Commencement, ii. 265.
Spanheim, Baron Ezechiel, his com-
mendations of Bentley, i. 31 ; his
commentary on Callimachus, i. 76;
brief account of his character and
talents, i. 189-90; his commentary
on three plays of Aristophanes, i.
195-6; endeavours to obtain for Bent-
ley the Bishoprick of Chichester, i.
220 ; his letters to the Earl of Pem-
broke and Bishop Moore, i. 221, note.
Spinoza, his doctrines confuted by Bent-
ley in the Boyle's Lectures, i. 38-9.
Squire, Charles, appeals to the Bishop
of Ely against Bentley's rejection of
him, ii. 90.
Sterne, Laurence, his plagiarism from
Bentley in < Tristram Shandy,' i. 382.
Stillingfleet, Dr. Edward, appoints Bent-
ley tutor to his son, i. 13 ; his charac-
ter, i. 16 ; Prolocutor of the Lower
House of Convocation, ibid. ; conse-
crated Bishop of Worcester, i. 18 ;
consulted by Queen Mary respecting
church patronage, i. 47 ; remark of,
respecting Bentley, i. 48; his death,
i. 133 ; Bentley's expression of re-
spect for him, i. 134 ; writes his mo-
numental inscription, i. 135, note ; his
library purchased by Dr. Marsh, Arch-
bishop of Dublin, i. 136 ; his tract on
Archdeacons' Visitations, ii. 390 ;
opinions of the publication contrasted
with those of Dr. Colbatch's tract on
the same subject, ibid.
Stillingfleet, Benjamin, grandson of the
foregoing, rejected by Bentley at an
election for fellowship, ii. 254 ; his
excellent character, ibid. ; outcry
against Bentley in consequence of his
rejection, ibid.
St. John, Right Hon. Henry, Secretary
of State, related to Mrs. Bentley, i.
297 ; sends her Majesty's commands
to the Attorney and Solicitor General
to report their opinion on Bentley's
petition to Queen Anne, i. 302 ; sends
the Queen's further commands to
Bishop Moore to stay proceedings
against Bentley, i. 307 ; offended by
Bentley's conduct at the election of
Westminster scholars, i. 353 ; the bill
for allowing him to succeed to his
family property opposed by Serjeant
Miller, ii. 88.
Stosch, Philip de, employed by the
British Government to watch the pro-
ceedings of the Pretender, at Rome,
ii. 239 ; assists Bentley in procuring
accurate collations of a considerable
part of the Vatican MS. ibid, and
ii. 288.
Strutt, Samuel, leader of a confederacy
of atheists, ii. 391 ; his ' Philosophi-
cal Enquiry into the spring of human
actions,' ibid.
Stubbe, Dr. Wolfran, Vice-master of
Trinity College, i. 214 ; summons
Bentley to answer Miller's complaint,
i. 246 ; his correspondence with the
Lord Treasurer respecting the Visitor
of Trinity College, i. 326 ; removed
from the office of Vice-master through
Bentley's management, i. 331 ; his
letter to the Prime Minister, i. 332 ;
his letter to Erasmus Lewis, i. 363,
note ; his death, ii. 97 ; his vacant
living claimed by Dr. Colbatch, ii. 98.
Suidas, Lexicon of, edited by Kuster at
Cambridge ; i. 154 ; completion of the
work, i. 190.
Swift, Dr. Jonathan, ridicules Wotton
and Bentley in his ' Tale of a Tub,'
i. 93; and in 'The Battle of the
Books,' i. 114 ; the idea of the piece
whence taken, ibid. ; animadversion
upon it, i. 115; publication of the
above pieces, i. 180; they impede his
advancement in the Church, i 181 ;
his analysis of Collins's Discourse of
Freethinking, i. 343. 347. note; his
Gulliver's Travels imitated by Ar-
buthnot, ii. 374.
Sykes, Arthur Ashley, his sermon at
Bentley's Visitation, i. 427, note ;
writes in Bentley's defence at the
time of his degradation, ii. 66 ; is an-
swered by Sherlock, ibid. ; his con-
troversy with Middleton, ii. 67;
Middleton's reflections upon him,
ii. 71.
Taylor, John, editor of Lysias and De-
mosthenes, ii. 294 : his music-speech
delivered at the opening of the new
Senate House at Cambridge, ibid. ;
is appointed Registrary of the Uni-
versity, ii. 355 ; publishes a remark-
able instance of Bentley's sagacity in
correcting a copy of a Greek inscrip-
tion, ii. 412.
4G4
INDEX.
Taylor, Walter, Greek Professor, gives
evidence in Bentley's favour at his
trial, ii. 341 ; one of his particular
intimates, ii. 400.
Temple, Sir William, his share in the
controversy respecting ancient and
modern learning, i. 59 ; observations
on his mode of reasoning, i. 60 ; his
opinions of ./Esop and Phalaris, i. 62 ;
his mortification, i. 92 ; and rejoinder,
i. 93; his reception of Boyle's book
against Bentley, i. 109; his death,
i. 127-
Tenison, Archbishop, desires the publi-
cation of Bentley's second course of
Boyle's Lectures, i. 56 ; supports Dr.
Williams against Bentley as Boyle's
Lecturer, i. 77 ; head of the com-
mission by whom Bentley was made
Master of Trinity College, i. 140.
Thirlby, Styan, publishes a violent
pamphlet on the occasion of the dis-
missal of the Whig ministry, i. 289 ;
abuses Bentley, ibid. ; violently at-
tacks Bentley in the preface and de-
dication of his edition of Justin Mar-
tyr, ii. 167 ; observations on his cha-
racter and style, ii. 168.
Titley, Walter, student of Trinity, his
verses in imitation of Horace, book
iii. ode ii, ii. 173; Bentley's parody
of them, ii. 174; appointed by him
lay-fellow, ii. 309, note.
Townshend, Chas. Viscount, Prime Mi-
nister, suggests to the King to make
a present of Bishop Moore's library to
the University, i. 377 I his negotia-
tion with Bentley for an edition of
the Classics, in usuni Frederici Prin-
cipis, i. 406 ; probable reason of its
failure, i. 407 ; is supplantd by Lord
Sunderland, i. 408 ; he and Walpole
again become members of the cabinet
on the change of ministry in 1721, ii.
152; they close the session with an
Act of Grace, ibid. ; his kindness to
Dr. Colbatch, ii. 195 ; Dr. Hare de-
dicates to him his edition of Terence,
ii. 222 ; his popularity at Cambridge,
ii. 262.
Trinity College, Cambridge, Bentley
appointed Master, i. 140; brief his-
tory of it, ibid. ; Bentley's regulation
respecting fellowships and scholar-
ships there, i. 159; account of his
conduct as Master, i. 159-64: pri-
vileges of graduates in divinity, i.
165-8; decision in their favour, i.
168; College preacherships, i. 177;
Queen Anne's visit; she dines in the
College Hall, i. 184 ; Bentley builds
an observatory, i. 202 ; his anxiety
for the reputation of the College, i.
203 ; plans for the repairs of the
Chapel, i. 205 ; list of the sub-
scribers, i. 207 ; the work superin-
tended by Professor Cotes, i. 208 ;
dissatisfaction of the Fellows, i. 209 ;
system of mismanagement corrected
by Bentley, i. 210 ; pandoxatorship,
ibid. ; College party, i. 211 ; Bentley's
plan for improving the College livings,
i. 239; case of Edmund Miller, i.
241 ; doubts as to the Visitor, i. 249 ;
petition of the Fellows to the Bishop
of Ely, i. 251 ; brief account of the
foundation of Trinity College, i. 300 i
case of the Visitor, ibid. ; question of
the visitation of the College submitted
to the Lord Keeper and Queen's
counsel, i. 306 ; opinion of the Crown
lawyers respecting the Visitor, i. 325;
correspondence of the Fellows with
the Lord Treasurer, i. 326; petition
of part of the Fellows to the King, i.
395 ; the petition read in Council, i.
413 ; visit of George I. to the Col-
lege, ii. 34 ; distressing mistake on
that occasion, ii. 35 ; the petition of
the College against Bentley read in
Council, ii- 80 ; disposal of it by the
Council, ibid. ; state of the College
upon Bentley's restoration to his de-
grees, ii. 246; Bentley completes the
repairs and decorations of the chapel,
and erects the clock, dial, and bells,
ii. 252 ; Dr. Colbatch's representation
of the state of the College to Bishop
Gibson, ii. 254; the Bishop's opinion
and advice, ii. 256 ; connexion of
Westminster School with this College,
ibid. ; some detail of attempts in the
reign of James I. to make Trinity
College an appendage to Westminster
School, ii. 256-7 ; Atterbury's at-
tempt to establish the validity of those
regulations treated with contempt by
Bentley, ii. 257 ; smart reply of Bent-
ley on the subject, ibid. note. ; re-
newed efforts of Colbatch to procure
the appointment of a Visitor, ii. 263;
five leading counsel give their opi-
nions on the question, ii. 264 ; tu-
multuous proceedings in the chapel
on the occasion of the reading of
Bentley's petition to the King, ii.
271 ; petition presented by Mr. Com-
missary Greaves, ii. 272 ; his long
connexion with Trinity College, ibid. ;
the Bishop of Ely petitions the
King, ii. 273 ; a committee of the
Privy Council appointed to consider
the case, ibid. ; the Privy Council de-
clines all interference, ii. 275 ; Bent-
ley's dispute with Archbishop Wake
respecting the Library Keeper's place,
INDEX.
465
ibid. ; decided by the Attorney Gene-
ral, ii. 278 ; satirical remarks upon
the students of Trinity in Taylor's
music speech, delivered at the open-
ing of the new Senate House, ii. 294 ;
lines from it, ii. 295, note ; internal
state of the College, ii. 296 ; doubts
of the Judges of the Court of King's
Bench respecting the validity of the
statutes of Elizabeth, ii. 301 ; the case
between Bishop Greene and Bentley
is argued in the House of Lords, ii.
32G-7 ; and is decided against the
Court of King's Bench, ii. 328 ; de-
tail of the proceedings, ii. 328-38 ;
petitions of Ord and Clarke to the
King to increase the number of lay-
fellowships, ii. 338 ; termination of
the contest between Bentley and his
prosecutors, ii. 385 ; the College is
distressed by the expenses of the suit,
ii. 386 ; Bentley's MSS. and critical
apparatus for the edition of the New
Testament, &c. bequeathed to the
Library by his nephew Richard Bent-
ley, ii. 415 ; short history of the Col-
lege from Bentley's death to the pre-
sent time, ii. 420.
U.
' University Loyalty considered,' notice
of a pamphlet so called, i. 378 ; quo-
tations from it, ibid.
University scholarship, Lord Craven's
examination for, ii. 213; another, ii.
413.
Varenius, Bernhard, a new edition of
his Geography undertaken by Jurin,
at Bentley's suggestion, i. 337.
Vatican MS. not used in revising the
text of the Complutensian edition of
the Bible, ii. 146.
Vice Chancellor's Court, nature and ex-
tent of its jurisdiction, ii. 44 ; its pro-
ceedings against Bentley, ii. 51.
Vigani, John Francis, appointed Pro-
fessor of Chemistry in the University
of Cambridge, i. 204 ; gives lectures
at a laboratory in Trinity College,
ibid.
Vincent, Dr. Wm. his testimony respect-
ing Bentley's opinion of the disputed
text, 1 John v. 7, ii. 19.
Vossius, Dr. Isaac, Canon of Windsor,
his death, i. 21 ; Bentley unsuccess-
fully endeavours to procure his cele-
brated library for the University of
Oxford, ibid.
VOL. IT.
W.
Wake, Archbishop, interests himself in fa-
vour of the Fellows of Trinity College
against Bentley, i. 394-5; Bentley's
letters to him respecting a new edition
of the Greek Testament, i. 398-400 ;
his condemnation of Bentley, i. 412 ;
Bentley's dispute with him respecting
the office of Library Keeper, ii. 275.
Wakefield, grammar-school of, Dr. Bent-
ley and Archbishop Potter educated
there, i. 4.
Walker, John, zealously assists Bentley
in his edition of the New Testament,
ii. 122 ; some account of him, ibid. ;
introduced to, and assisted by, the
Benedictines of St. Maur, ii. 123.
Walker, Richard, his attachment to
Bentley, ii. 26. 349 ; his character,
ibid. ; his proceedings against Serjeant
Miller, ii. 81 ; is prosecuted by Miller,
ibid. ; is appointed Vice-master on the
resignation of Dr. Hacket, ii. 349 ;
declines to execute the sentence of
deprivation against Bentley, ii. 353 ;
mediates an agreement between Bent-
ley and several of his most active op-
ponents, ii. 354 ; the Court of King's
Bench, at Colbatch's suit, issues a
mandamus to compel him to execute
the sentence against Bentley, ii. 356 ;
his return, ii. 379 ; a rule is obtained
for a mandamus to the Bishop of Ely
to compel him to execute the sentence,
ii. 380 ; great difficulty of the case,
ibid. ; the Court quashes the writ, ii.
381 ; a new rule obtained, ii. 382 ;
discharged, ii. 384 ; Bentley's prin-
cipal associate in old age, ii. 400 ;
story of Bentley calling to him for his
hat, alluded to by Pope, ii. 406.
VValpole, Mr. and Lord Townshend, be-
come members of the cabinet on the
change of ministry in 1721, ii. 152.
Warburton, Bishop, his treatment of
Bentley, ii. 409 ; his character, ii.
409-10; remarks of Bentley on read-
ing the ' Divine Legation,' ii. 410;
applies to Bentley a quotation from
Cicero, ii. 41 1. note ; his high opinion
of Bentley's abilities, ii. 411.
Warren, Dr. Richard, of Jesus College,
his quarrel with Bentley, ii. 44.
Wasse, Joseph, his verses published in
the Bibliotheca Literaria, in commen-
dation of Bentley, ii. 170.
Waterland, Dr. Daniel, Master of Mag-
dalen College, i. 372 ; his theological
disputation with Sherlock, ibid. ; pro-
poses the thanks of the University to
Dr. Bentley, i. 373 ; his confederacy
H H
466
INDEX.
with Bentley while Vice Chancellor,
i. 417; created by him D.D. in the
presence of King George I., ii. 34 ;
joins in censuring his libel on Col-
batch, ii. 139 ; is one of the Syndi-
cate to conduct the proceedings against
Bentley, ii. 206.
Westerhof's edition of Terence, ii. 231 ;
is employed to form an index to Bent-
ley's edition, ibid.
Westminster School, its connexion with
Trinity College, ii. 256 ; account of
attempts in the reign of James I. re-
specting election of Westminster scho-
lars to fellowships, ii. 256-7 ; Dr.
Colbatch solicits the Dean and Chap-
ter to interfere to procure the appoint-
ment of a Visitor for Trinity College,
ii. 258 ; Dr. Robert Freind, the Mas-
ter, supports Colbatch, ibid.
Wetstein, John James, urges Bentley to
undertake an edition of the Greek
Testament, i. 397 ! assists him in the
work, ii. 120 ; some account of him,
ii. 120-1.
Whiston, Professor, Bentley procures
chambers for him in Trinity College,
i. 203 ; his expulsion from the Uni-
versity, i. 290 ; his answer to Collins,
i. 343.
Whitehead, Paul, his successful imita-
tion of Pope, ii. 392 ; is associated
with a sect of atheists at Cambridge,
ibid.
Whitfield, Dr. is patronized by Bentley,
ii. 106; brief character of him, ibid.
Wilkins, Dr. his account of the visit of
George I. to Cambridge, ii. 36, note.
William III. consigned to his Queen
(Mary) the patronage of the Church,
i. 47 ; after her death appoints a Com-
mittee of six Bishops to dispose of the
Church preferment in the gift of the
Crown, i. 139.
Williams, Dr. John, appointed Boyle
Lecturer, i. 77-
Willoughby, the Hon. Thomas, second
son of Lord Middleton, contest be-
tween him and the Hon. Henry Finch
for the representation of Cambridge,
ii. 110.
Wotton, William, a contemporary and
friend of Dr. Bentley, i. 9 ; his extra-
ordinary attainments when a boy, i.
9, 10; and note, i. 10; assists and
corresponds with Bentley, i. 20 : his
' Reflections upon ancient and modern
learning,' i. 61 ; ridiculed by Swift in
the ' Tale of a Tub,' i. 93 ; again in
the 'Battle of the Books,' i. 114;
his third edition of ' Reflections on
Learning,' i. 181.
Yonge, Philip, afterwards Bishop of
Norwich, speaks a funeral oration
over Bentley, ii. 413.
Yorke, Sir Philip, Solicitor General, ap-
pointed by the University of Cam-
bridge its counsel against Bentley, ii.
192 ; his high reputation at the bar,
ibid. ; origin of the connexion be-
tween the University and his family,
ibid. ; is appointed Attorney General,
ii. 205; makes an ingenious and skil-
ful defence for the University against
the interference of the Court of King's
Bench, ibid. ; his opinion respecting
the Visitor of Trinity College, ii. 264 ;
is umpire between Archbishop Wake
and Bentley, ii. 278 ; refuses his fat
to stay the proceedings of Bishop
Greene, ii. 304 ; is counsel for Bent-
ley before the House of Lords, ii. 324 ;
Chief Justice of the Court of King's
Bench, ii. 337, note ; his difficulty in
deciding on Dr. Walker's case, ii. 381 ;
holds for some time both offices of
Chief Justice and Lord Chancellor, ii.
383.
THE EM).
GiLUEiir & Rivixgton, Printers, St. John's Square.
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