PREFATORY NOTE. THE following are the principal sources for an estimate of Bentley's life and work: 1. Life of Bentley, by J. H. Monk, 4to, London, 1830: 2nd ed., 2 vols. 8vo, 1833.-2. Bentley's Correspondence, ed. C. Wordsworth, 2 vols., Lond. 1842.-3. Bentley's Works, ed. Alex. Dyce, 1836-38. Vols. I. and II.-Dissertation on Letters of Phalaris, (1) as published in 1699, (2) as originally printed in Wotton's Reflections, 1697. Epistola ad Ioannem Millium. Vol. III. - Boyle Lectures, with Newton's Letters: Sermons: Remarks upon a late Discourse of Freethinking: Proposals for an edition of the New Testament: Answer to the Remarks of Conyers Middleton.-4. Bentley's Fragments of Callimachus, in the edition of Graevius, Utrecht, 1697, reprinted in Blomfield's ed., London, 1815.-5. Emendations on Menander and Philemon (1710), reprinted, Cambridge, 1713.-6. Horace, Camb. 1711, 2nd ed., Amsterdam, 1713.-7. Terence, Cambridge, 1726, 2nd ed., Amsterdam, 1728. 8. Milton's Paradise Lost, London, 1732. -9. Manilius, London, 1739. Notes by Bentley appeared during his lifetime in the books of other scholars. Since his death, many more have been published from his MSS. These, while varying much in fulness and value, cannot be overlooked in a survey of the field which his studies covered. The subjoined list comprises the greater part of them: On Cicero's Tusculan Disputations, in Gaisford's ed., Oxford, 1805. -Hephaestion, in Gaisford's ed., 1810.- Lucretius, in Oxford ed., 1818.-Horace (curae novissimae), in the Cambridge Museum Criticum, 1. 194–6, ed. T. Kidd.—Ovid, in the Classical Journal, xix. 168, 258, ed. G Burges.-Lucan, ed. R. Cumberland, Strawberry Hill, 1760. -Silius Italicus, Class. Journ. 111. 381.-L. Annæus Seneca, ib. XXXVII. 11, ed. T. Kidd.-Nicander, in Museum Criticum, 1. 370, 445, ed. J. H. Monk.-Aristophanes, in Classical Journal, xI. 131, 248, xii. 104, 352, XIII. 132, 336, xiv. 130, ed. G. Burges; and in Museum Criticum, II. 126, ed. J. H. Monk.-Sophocles, Theocritus, Bion, Moschus, ed. E. Maltby in Morell's Thesaurus, reprinted in Classical Journal, xIII. 244.-Philostratus, in Olearius's edition (1709).-Hierocles, in Needham's edition (1709).—Plautus, in E. A. Sonnenschein's ed. of the Captivi, p. 135, Lond. 1880.-Iliad, I. II., at the end of J. Maehly's memoir of Bentley (1868), from the MS. at Trinity College, Cambridge.-Selected Notes on the Greek Testament (from the MS. at Trin. Coll., Camb.), including those on the Epistle to the Galatians, in Bentleii Critica Sacra, ed. A. A. Ellis, Camb. 1862.-A few anecdota from Bentley's MS. notes on Homer (at Trin. Coll., Camb.) are given on page 150. R. Cumberland's Memoirs (4to, 1806, 2nd edition, in 2 vols. 8vo, 1807) deserve to be consulted independently of Monk's quotations from them. The memoir of Bentley by F. A. Wolf, in his Litterarische Analekten (pp. 1-89, Berlin, 1816), has the permanent interest of its authorship and its date. Rud's Diary, so useful for a part of Bentley's college history, was edited, with some additional letters, by H. R. Luard for the Cambridge Antiquarian Society, 1860. De Quincey's essay originally a review of Monk-has every charm. of his style; the sometimes whimsical judgments need not be taken too seriously. Hartley Coleridge's comments on Monk's facts may be seen in the short biography of Bentley which he wrote in the Worthies of Yorkshire and Lancashire (pp. 65–174). In “Richard Bentley, eine Biographie" (Leipzig, 1868), Jacob Maehly gives a concise sketch for German readers, on Monk's plan of a continuous chronological narrative, in which notices of the literary works are inserted as they occur. It is proper to state the points which are distinctive of the present volume: 1. In regard to the external facts of Bentley's life, I have been able to add some traits or illustrations from contemporary or other sources: these are chiefly in chapters I. III. VII. XII.— 2. Chapter VI. is condensed from some results of studies in the University life of Bentley's time, and in the history of Trinity College.-3. The controversy on the Letters of Phalaris has hitherto been most familiar to English readers through De Quincey's essay on Bentley, or the brilliant passage in Macaulay's essay on Temple. Both versions are based on Monk's. The account given here will be found to present some matters under a different light. In such cases the views are those to which I was led by a careful examination of the original sources, and of all the literary evidence which I could find.—4. My aim has been not more to sketch the facts of Bentley's life than to estimate his work, the character of his powers, and his place in scholarship. Here the fundamental materials are Bentley's writings themselves. To these I have given a comparatively large share of the allotted space. My treatment of them has been independent of any pred ecessor. The courtesy of the Master of Trinity afforded me an opportunity of using Bentley's marginal notes on Homer at a time when they would not otherwise have been accessible. Mr. Tyrrell, Regius Professor of Greek in the University of Dublin, favoured me with information regarding a manuscript in the Library. Prof. A. Michaelis, of Strassburg, and Mr. J. W. Clark, of Trinity College, Cambridge, kindly lent me some books and tracts relating to Bentley. My thanks are especially due to Dr. Hort, for reading the proof-sheets of chapter x.; and to Mr. Munro, for reading those of chapters VIII. and IX. To both I have owed most valuable suggestions. For others, on many points, I have been indebted to Dr. Luard, Registrary of the University of Cambridge; who, with a kindness which I cannot adequately acknowledge, has done me the great favour of reading the whole book during its passage through the press. Master of Spalding School. Tutor to J. Stillingfleet. James II. William and Mary. Goes with J. Stillingfleet to Oxford. Letter to Mill. Boyle Lectures.◄ Prebendary of Worcester. Temple's Essay. Chaplain in Ordinary to King. -F.R.S.-Boyle's Phalaris. First essay on Phalaris in 2nd ed. of Wotton. "Boyle against Bentley." 1694 32 1695 33 1696 34 Bentley against Boyle."-Master of Trin. Coll., Camb. II. AT CAMBRIDGE.-1700-1742. Archdeacon of Ely. |