CHAP.VII. rather corrects than defends his former opinions. He 1704 places Pythagoras later than either Bentley or Lloyd Swift's had done, and upon this point adduces, a powerful mass of authority: at the same time he confesses the great difficulty of the subject; the oldest historians having neglected to distinguish the accounts resting on certain authority from those which they derived only from tradition. This able tract, though not written in an elegant style, is a model of controversial candour and good-manners. Dodwell treats his two adversaries with the respect and consideration which their learning deserved; but he discovers the feelings of the nonjuror, when in speaking of Lloyd, now Bishop of Worcester, his old patron and friend, he terms him Episcopus olim Asaphensis; that he might not acknowledge the validity of his translation by King William. The book itself is one of great value; being the most elaborate attempt ever made to approximate to truth respecting the history and biography of that remote age pieces pub- tions, lished. 35 About the same time Swift's two famous produc- Battle of the They appeared 35 The title of the work Exercitationes duæ, Prima de Ætate Phalaridis; Secunda, De Etate Pythagoræ Philosophi. Ab HENRICO DODWELL, A.M. Dubliniensi. Londini, 1704. The spirit in which it is written may be judged by the following extract from the discussion on the age of Pythagoras: 'Nos hic Natalem uno anno seriorem quam in prædicta Dissertatione (scil. De Cyclis Veterum) posuimus, de quo infra plura. Antiquior placet amico summo Cl. Lloydio Episcopo olim Asaphensi, et eruditissimo Bentleio. Natum illi censent Olymp. xliii. ut annum ætatis xviii. Olymp. xlviii. inchoarit, quæ illum ætas excluserit a Pugilatu Puerorum. Pugilem enim Pythagoram eundem existimant cum Philosopho. Discrepamus ergo spatio integro novem Olympiadum, annorumque proinde xxxvi. De quo spatio ambigitur, antiquioremne justo Pythagoram fecerint celeberrimi Adversarii, an nos potius justo seriorem. Nostras ergo dissentiendi rationes, qua par est nominum tantorum observantia proponemus; nec aliter quam qua salva veritate licebit, tuebimur atque vindicabimus. Sic enim Christiani hominis officiis, et bono Reipubl. literariæ publico, optime consulturos arbitramur.' Dodwelli Exercitationes Duæ, p. 96. 1704. anonymously, after having been for several years CHAP.VII. handed about in manuscript: the reason for this long delay in the publication it is not easy to determine; it has indeed been remarked that a degree of mystery almost always attended the productions of Swift. Both pieces were immediately read with great interest and avidity; three editions were called for in 1704, and a fourth, with the author's corrections, appeared in the following year. But how great soever was the amusement which it afforded to the laughers, the Tale of a Tub' occasioned much scandal and disgust, from the irreverent levity of the allegory in which the history of the Christian Church is disguised. Though there was no doubt of the author's design to uphold the Church of England, yet many of its zealous and conscientious members were justly offended at the method to which he had recourse for this purpose; among them was Queen Anne, who in consequence of this work steadily resisted the promotion of its author to a dignity in the English Church. So resolute was she in her refusal, that a few years afterwards her minister, Harley, who admitted Swift to his confidential intimacy, while in the plenitude of influence, and all-powerful upon other matters, was unable to advance him to a place on the episcopal bench. defence. In the following year Wotton printed a third edition Wotton's of his 'Reflections upon Ancient and Modern Learning;' in which appeared Bentley's Dissertation upon the spurious Epistles of Euripides, Themistocles, and Socrates, and the Fables of Æsop; that upon Phalaris was omitted, being superseded by the larger work. As an appendix, Wotton wrote an able defence of himself and Bentley against the attacks of Swift, without spleen or ill-humour, but not without severity. At the same time he exposed, fairly enough, the real CHAP. VII. allusions contained in the Tale of a Tub.' Dr. 1704. Swift, in his edition of 1709, bethought himself of this pleasant conceit: he extracted passages from Wotton's appendix, and affixed them as explanatory notes to the text; thereby making his adversary the commentator on his Tale:' a character which Wotton sustains very respectably; his notes have been attached to every subsequent edition, and prove in sober sadness very useful to the reader 36. 36 Bennet, the bookseller, the prime mover of the famous dispute upon Phalaris, died in 1706: and it is a curious fact that he gave occasion by his death to another controversy of some celebrity. His funeral Sermon was preached at St. Paul's by his patron Atterbury, and contained a lavish eulogium on his character, which is said not to have been well deserved. In discoursing on his text, 1 Cor. xv. 19. “If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable:" the Doctor maintained that were there no life after this, men would be more miserable than beasts;' and the best men would be most miserable.' Immediately on the publication of this discourse, the celebrated Hoadly printed a letter to Atterbury, calling in question these positions: which the preacher defended in a preface to the second edition of the Sermon: and was again attacked in a rejoinder by Hoadly, who on this occasion first distinguished himself in the field of controversy, and seems to have had the advantage over his antagonist. CHAPTER VIII. Queen Anne visits Cambridge-Sike, the oriental scholar-Elected Hebrew Professor-Dr. Brookbank-Cottonian library—Verses on the death of Prince George of Denmark-Bentley prints the text of Horace-Baron Spanheim-Kuster's Suidas-Jubilee at Frankfort on the Oder-Kuster quits Berlin, and returns to Utrecht-Undertakes an edition of Aristophanes Bentley's Critical Epistles to Kuster-to Hemsterhuis-His children-He takes pupils as boarders in the lodge-Roger Cotes — Bentley builds an Observatory-Founds a school of natural philosophy— Whiston—Vigani, Professor of Chemistry—Bentley prepares a chemical laboratory-College bowling-green-Bentley's plan for a new interior of the Chapel—Bernard Smith the Organ builder—Subscription—The work superintended by Professor Cotes Distress of the Fellows - The Master's measures of Retrenchment and Reformation-College festivals— College offices-Pandoxator's Dividend—First deviation from the rule of merit in elections to Fellowships-Expulsion of two Fellows-Wyvill— Breval-Bentley discommunes some Fellows-Attempts to take away the Combination Room-Is a candidate for the Bishoprick of Chichester— John Davies-Bentley's Emendations on Cicero's Tusculans-James Gronovius-Peter Needham's Edition of Hierocles—Assistance received from Bentley-Second Edition of Sir I. Newton's Principia. VIII. 1705. Queen Anne Not long after his lodge had been completely refitted CHAP. and furnished, Dr. Bentley enjoyed the honour of receiving in it no less a guest than his Sovereign. Queen Anne, who was passing the month of April visits Cam1705 at the Royal residence at Newmarket, went bridge. over on the 16th, accompanied by her husband and her whole Court, to visit the University of Cambridge. Alighting at the Regent Walk, before the Schools, she was received by the Duke of Somerset the Chancellor, at the head of the University, and addressed in a speech by Dr. Ayloffe, the Public Orator. From thence her Majesty went in procession to the Regent House, where agreeably to ancient custom was held the congregation of the Senate, termed Regia Comitia, CHAP. VIII. 1705. Confers knighthood Newton. Hall. at which the University conferred degrees upon all persons nominated by the Royal command; the presence of the Sovereign dispensing with statutable qualifications and exercises 1. Afterwards the Queen held a court at Trinity Lodge, where she rendered this day memorable by conferring knighthood upon on Sir Isaac the most illustrious of her subjects, Sir Isaac Newton 2. Dines in the A sumptuous dinner was then given to the royal College visitor and her suite in the Hall of Trinity College, which had been newly fitted up and decorated. Whoever is acquainted with the large sums which Alma Mater has since expended on public objects, will be surprised to learn that she was then so poor, as to be compelled to borrow 500l. for the purpose of this entertainment. The royal party, after attending evening service at the magnificent chapel of King's College, took leave of the University, and returned the same night to Newmarket. Sike, the oriental scholar. Bentley, from his first coming to Trinity College, lived principally in a select knot of intimate friends, with whom his intercourse was constant and familiar. For two of these, Ludolph Kuster and Henry Sike, he procured on the day of the Queen's visit the degree of Doctor of Laws in the University; an academical rank which circumstances rendered peculiarly desira Among the personages of the Queen's suite who received the degree of LL.D. were the Lords Sunderland, Orford, Wharton, and Harvey. There were created at the same time thirteen Doctors of Divinity, among whom occur the well-known names of Robert Mosse, William Fleetwood, Samuel Bradford, and Andrew Snape; and three Doctors of Physic, one of whom was her Majesty's physician, the celebrated Dr. Arbuthnot. 2 The two persons who had the honour of receiving knighthood along with Sir Isaac Newton, were Sir John Ellys, Master of Caius College, the Vice Chancellor, and Sir James Montagu, the University Counsel, afterwards Lord Chief Baron of the Exchequer. Oldmixon's Hist. of the Stuarts, vol. ii. p. 355. 3 Grace Book, April 2, 1705. From some expressions in the controversial pamphlets in 1710, I infer that the expense of this academical banquet was not less than one thousand pounds. |