sirous to rescue his brethren from obloquy, and afford them a larger share in the merit of perpetuating the liberties of this kingdom. With this view, he resolved to become the biographer of the English branch of the Stuart family, and of Cromwell, and to assign to each their agency in the production of those great events in the seventeenth century, the REBELLION, the RESTORATION and the REVOLUTION. His preliminary attempt was on a singular subject, the LIFE of HUGH Peters, which as he published it without his name, has escaped the notice of the collectors of his works, but is now prefixed, as the first in the order of time, and essentially connected with one of the subjects of his future inquiries. In this life he professed to follow "the manner of Bayle," and it might have been thought that its appearance in print would have shown Dr. Harris that his choice was injudicious; but, for whatever reason, he followed the same in his subsequent works. The Life of Peters was published in 1751, and in 1753 appeared his Life of JAMES I; in 1758, that of CHARLES I; in 1761, that of CROMWELL; and in 1765, that of CHARLES II: this last in 2 vols. 8vo. It was his design to have completed this series with a life of James II; but he was interrupted by an illness which terminated fatally in February 1770, in the fiftieth year of his age. His degree of Doctor in Divinity was procured for him from the University of Glasgow, in 1765, by his friend Mr. Thomas Hollis, who had assisted him in his various undertakings, by many curious and interesting communications, and the use of scarce books and pamphlets. Dr. Birch and other gentlemen in London seem also to have contributed liberally to his stock of historical materials. It is indeed as a collection of such, that these Lives have been principally valued, for Dr. Harris cannot be ranked among elegant writers. They were all well received on their first publication, and the recent demand has raised them to an enormous price, which alone might justify the appearance of a new edition, if their curious and valuable contents had not given them a claim to a place in every English historical library. That Dr. Harris is always impartial cannot be gravely asserted, and that his reasonings are tinged with his early prejudices cannot be. denied, but his facts are in general narrated with great fidelity, and the evidence on both sides is given without mutilation. |