LIFE

OF

RICHARD BENTLEY, D.D.

CHAPTER I.

Bentley's origin-Family - Grandfather, Richard Willie-Education in childhood-Wakefield School-His instructors-His father's deathHis grandfather's bequest-Sent to St. John's College, CambridgeCollege studies-Bentley's verses-Mathematical pursuits-Newton's lectures—Bentley's contemporaries—Richard Johnson-William Wotton, a juvenile prodigy-Degree of B.A.-Fellowship at St. John's CollegeBentley master of Spalding School-Tutor to the son of Dr. Stillingfleet -His Hebrew studies-Classical pursuits.

RICHARD BENTLEY was a native of Oulton in the CHAP. I. parish of Rothwell, a village not far from Wakefield, Bentley's in the West Riding of Yorkshire. In certain biogra- origin. phical narratives which appeared a few years after his death we find him described as a person of very low

extraction, the son either of a tanner or a blacksmith'.' On the other hand, the late Mr. Richard Cumberland, his grandson, not only contradicts this statement, but intimates that he was sprung from a family of rank and consideration, and shows great anxiety to establish this point; as if he deemed it more honourable to his ancestor to have been born of gentle blood, than to have raised himself from

1 Biographia Britannica, vol. ii. p. 734, first edition, 1748. VOL. I.

B

CHAP. I. obscurity by the force of genius and merit 2. But the fact is, that Bentley's progenitors were of that respectable class which has supplied every profession with many of its brightest ornaments, the higher description of English yeomen: they had been settled for some generations at Heptonstall, a village about eight miles from Halifax, where they possessed property, which appears to have suffered in the civil wars between the King and the Parliament 3. His grandfather, James Bentley, a captain in the Royal army, was taken by the enemy, and died a prisoner in Pontefract Castle; Cumberland adds, that his house was plundered, and his estate confiscated.' His father, Thomas Bentley, possessed a small estate, probably by inheritance, at Woodlesford, one of the five townships of which the parish of Rothwell consists indeed, from the occurrence of the name of Bentley in the parish registers in the reign of Elizabeth, I am led to suppose that this had been the original residence of the family. In the In the year 1661 he married Sarah, daughter of Richard Willie, a stone-mason at Oulton; and the first offspring of their union was the illustrious subject of these memoirs. Grandfa- Bentley was born on the 27th of January, 1661-62, ther, Rich in a house belonging to his grandfather, in compli

Family.

ard Willie.

ment to whom he received the name of Richard. Mr.

2 In Kippis's edition of the Biographia Britannica, the article upon Bentley received many additions and alterations, which were avowedly from the hand of Cumberland.

3 The family was very numerous, and spread into several branches. In the register of baptisms in the chapelry of Heptonstall, which consists of four townships, no less than forty-two persons of the name of Bentley are found between the years 1599 and 1660. The Christian names of most frequent occurrence are, Michael, James, and Thomas. For particulars respecting the family at Heptonstall, I am indebted to the obliging enquiries of the Rev. Joseph Charnock, who occupies a house belonging to the family, and some closes adjoining, which in the records of the parish are called Bentley's Land.'

1662.

Willie appears to have been a person of more consi- CHAP. I. deration than his trade of mason' might imply; according to the authority just cited, he too had been a cavalier, and had held a major's commission in the Royal army *. This however is certain, that in the education and welfare of his grandson he took a great and effectual interest.

in child

school.

It is a circumstance not unworthy of record, that Education the most celebrated scholar of modern times received hood. the first rudiments of his classical education from a female it was his mother, who is represented to have been a woman of exceedingly good understanding, by whom Bentley was taught the Latin Accidence. He was first sent to a day-school in the neighbouring hamlet of Methley; afterwards to the Grammar School of Wakefield, a seminary of considerable reputation. Of Bentley's school studies and school Wakefield friendships no particulars have been recorded by Cumberland we are only told, that he went through the school with singular reputation, for his proficiency, as well as for his regularity.' Even the name of the master who had the honour of so illustrious a pupil, has been hitherto unknown. I find that Mr. Jeremiah Boulton was master of Wakefield School until April, 1672, when he obtained the living of Ackworth, and was succeeded by Mr. John Baskervile. Of the latter His instrucgentleman, to whom, of course, the principal credit tors. of Bentley's education must belong, I know no more than that he was of Emmanuel College, Cambridge,

* Biographia Britannica. It is necessary to observe, that Cumberland is inaccurate in several of the particulars which he gives of Bentley: he is even mistaken in the name of his grandfather, whom he repeatedly calls Willis.

5 Biographia Britannica.

"This and some other particulars I learnt from Mrs. Hopkins, a lady related to the Bentley family, who died a few years ago at a very advanced

age.

CHAP. I. and presided in the school till his death in 1681.

1672.

Not to name the school or the masters of men illustrious for literature, has been justly called a kind of historical fraud, by which honest fame is injuriously diminished. This remark is peculiarly applicable to cases like the present, where the eminence of the party rests so materially upon classical scholarship, and where the bias of his taste and genius probably received its direction from his early instructors. For the place of his education Bentley testified throughout life the greatest attachment, and extended to persons coming from that seminary his encouragement and patronage. It may here be mentioned, that to this school belongs the singular distinction of having produced two scholars who held the office of Regius Professor of Divinity in their respective Universities at the same time. John Potter, afterwards Archbishop of Canterbury, who filled the theological chair at Oxford, when Bentley was chosen to the same post at Cambridge, was sent from Wakefield to University College.

At the time of Bentley's birth, his father was considerably advanced in life, while his mother's age was only nineteen. They had four children younger than himself, of whom only two, Ann and Joseph, survived His father's their infancy. When he was thirteen years old, his death, April father died, leaving his property at Woodlesford to

1675.

his eldest son James, the offspring, as it appears, of a former marriage. Richard was committed to the care of his grandfather Willie, who determined upon sending him to the University. This design he put in execution the following year, choosing that early period either on account of the youth's uncommon proficiency, or for the better chance of witnessing

7 Dr. Samuel Johnson's Life of Addison.