Character as a Writer. — As a writer, Swift is without a parallel in English letters. No one since the days of Rabelais has equalled him in humor and satire, unless we except Voltaire and Heine. His style is a model of clear, forcible expression, displaying a consummate knowledge of the foibles and vices of mankind. He has no sympathy with the grander flights of the imagination; he never rises above the earth. But in his sphere he is inimitable. Much of the coarseness that disfigures his writings is due to the spirit of the age- but not all. Swift would have been coarse in any age. Gulliver's Travels is his greatest and most popular work, but, in the opinion of Hallam, the Tale of a Tub is the best. His poem Cadenus and Vanessa gives an account of the early stages of his love-affair with Miss Vanhomrigh. The word Cadenus is a mere transposition of the Latin word decanus, dean. In his manners Swift was taciturn and unmoved, even amidst the laughter that his own humor had produced, sparing no one with his satire, yet of a not unkindly disposition to those who knew him well, and as shrewd and original in his conversation as in his writings.

John Arbuthnot, M. D., 1675-1734, was one of that brilliant circle of authors and wits, of which Pope and Swift were the central figures.

The Scriblerus Club, formed in 1714, counted among its members Arbuthnot, Swift, Pope, Gray, Congreve, Atterbury, and Harley. Their object, according to Pope, was "to ridicule all the false tastes in learning, under the character of a man of capacity enough, that had dipped into every art and science, but injudiciously in each." The club did not continue long, but it gave birth to the following works: The First Book of Martinus Scriblerus (by Arbuthnot); The Travels of Gulliver (by Swift); and The Art of Sinking (by Pope).

Works. Arbuthnot's first publication was An Examination of Dr. Woodward's Account of the Earth, and it brought him at once into notice as a first-class writer. His next productions were: On the Usefulness of Mathematical Learning, and On the Regularity of the Births of Both Sexes. His most brilliant performance was a work of humor, entitled The History of John Bull, and intended to ridicule the Duke of Marlborough. "Never was a political allegory managed with more exquisite humor, or with a more skilful adaptation of character and circumstances."

Popularity.-Arbuthnot was a general favorite among the brilliant authors with whom he was associated. They were filled with jealousies of each other, but they all speak in terms of admiration and kindness of him. "He has more wit than we all have, and his humanity is equal to his wit."-Swift. "His good morals were equal to any man's, but his wit and humor superior to all mankind."-Pope. Dr. Johnson, referring back to this circle of eminent writers, says, "I think Dr. Arbuthnot the first man among them. He was the most universal genius, being an excellent physician, a man of deep learning, and a man of much humor."

SHAFTESBURY.—Anthony Ashley Cooper, Earl of Shaftesbury, 1671-1713, was a statesman and writer of illustrious descent, and of equally illustrious abilities.

Works. -- Shaftesbury's writings are numerous, and have been held in high estimation, notwithstanding their faults of style. His best known work is Characteristics of Men, Matters, Opinions, and Times, 3 vols., 8vo. He wrote also The Moralist, a Philosophical Rhapsody; Letters concerning Enthusiasm; Advice to an Author; Letters by a Noble Lord to a Young Man at the University; A Letter from a Person of Quality to his Friend in the Country; Essay on the Freedom of Wit and Humor; On the Judgment of Hercules; Inquiry concerning Virtue, etc.

Shaftesbury was educated under the special care of John Locke. As a statesman, he was much trusted by King William, Warburton scented infidelity in the Characteristics, but the sober judgment of subsequent and abler critics has not confirmed the suspicion. "Perhaps there is scarcely any composition of our language more lofty in its moral and religious sentiments and more exquisitely eloquent and musical in its diction [than the Moralist]."-Sir James Mackintosh.

Shaftesbury's chief fault of style is a want of simplicity: "His lordship can express nothing with simplicity. He seems to have considered it vulgar, and beneath the dignity of a man of quality, to speak like other men." -Blair.

Bolingbroke.

Henry St. John, Viscount Bolingbroke, 1678-1751, was a political writer and speaker, contemporaneous with Pope, Swift, and Addison.

Character. Bolingbroke, if not the ablest and most profound, was at least the most brilliant of the illustrious company of authors that flourished in the early part of the eighteenth century. He owed no little of his celebrity, in his own time, to his fascinating manners, the charm of his conversation, and even his personal beauty. It is not to be denied, however, that he had talents of a very high order, though he used them for ends thoroughly selfish and often ignoble, and he has left behind no monument of genius worthy of the large space which he occupied in the public estimation while he lived. His youth was notorious for its profligacy and libertinism, his meridian of public life was one of splendid intrigue rather than of statesmanship, and he bequeathed in dying a posthumous work of an irreligious character, which he had not the courage to avow when living.

Political Career. - Bolingbroke belonged to the political party which was opposed to the Duke of Marlborough and to the Hanoverian succession. He reached various high offices, ending with that of Prime Minister, in the closing year of Queen Anne. On the death of the Queen, being accused of an attempt to bring back the Stuarts, he was driven into exile, and openly entered the service of the Pretender. He was impeached for treason and attainted, but was afterwards allowed to return to England and to regain his estates, though not to enter Parliament.

Works. — Bolingbroke's literary executor, David Mallet, brought out a sumptuous edition of his lordship's works, in 1754, in 5 vols., 4to, besides 2 vols., 4to, additional, of Correspondence, State Papers, etc., which appeared in 1798. The works which obtained the greatest notoriety were The Idea of a Patriot King, Dissertations uponParties, The State of Parties on the Accession of George I., The Spirit of Patriotism, The Study and Use of History, Reflections upon Exile.

Johnson's Verdict. — In reference to the works of a sceptical kind which Bolingbroke left to Mallet to be published posthumously, Dr. Johnson said: “Sir, he was a sconudrel and a coward: a scoundrel, for charging a blunderbuss against religion and morality; a coward, because he had not the resolution to fire it off himself, but left half a crown to a beggarly Scotchman to draw the trigger after his death.”

"Bolingbroke's abilities were exactly of that stamp which astonish and fascinate those who come into personal contact with their possessor, -more brilliant than solid, more showy than substantial. His mind was not a profound one; but what it wanted in this respect was atoned for by its readiness and acuteness. He seemed to grasp everything by intuition, and no sooner had he made himself master of a propo sition or an argument, than his astonishing memory enabled him to bring forth vast stores of information and illustration at a moment's warning. Endowed with a brilliant imagination, a prodigious flow of words, a style which fascinates the reader by the incomparable beauty of the language and the bounding elasticity of the sentences, and an extraordinary power of presenting his conceptions in the clearest light — his contemporaries looked upon him as one of those rare beings who seem to be endowed with a nature superior to that of common mortality, and who stoop down to the world only to evince their mastery of all its lore, and their superiority to its inhabitants. But, dazzled as they were by the vast surface of the stream, they forgot to inquire into its depths. We, in modern times, who know nothing of the artificial splendor with which a form excelling human'—a manner that seemed given to sway mankind, and a most dazzling style of conversation-invested the name of Bolingbroke, are perhaps inclined, by the exaggeration of the praise once lavished on him, to do him but scanty justice."- Cunningham's Biog. Hist.

BISHOP ATTERBURY.-Francis Atterbury, 1662-1732, Bishop of Rochester, was the intimate friend and associate. of Swift, Pope, Bolingbroke, and the other eminent men of that day.

Career and Character. Being suspected of an intrigue to bring in the Pretender, on the death of Queen Anne, Atterbury was deprived of his offices and banished by George I., in 1722, and spent the remainder of his days in exile. He was a man of brilliant parts, bold and self-reliant in temper, always ready to lend a hand in a literary or a political contest, and better fitted for such work probably than for that to which he was ordained. His sermons, however, are exceedingly able, and in a literary view are among the best that we have. He took an active part in the virulent controversy between Bentley and Boyle about the authenticity of the Epistles of Phalaris, more than half of Boyle's portion being written by Atterbury. He engaged actively also in the Convocation controversy against Burnet, Hoadley, and Wake.

Works. Atterbury's chief publications were: The Voice of the People no Voice of God; Rights, Powers, and Privileges of an English Convocation; Sermons, Discourses, and Correspondence. He translated Dryden's Abs dom and Achitophel into His Sermons and his Letters give him his best claim to a place in lit"His sermons, it must be confessed, are clear, forcible, and, though never sublime, occasionally eloquent and pathetic; and his letters, on which his fame as a writer must principally depend, are superior even to those of Pope."- Georgian Era.

Latin verse. erature.

Bishop Berkeley.

George Berkeley, D. D., 1684-1753, Bishop of Cloyne, was highly distinguished as a philanthropist and a philosophical writer.

Career. Berkeley was a native of Ireland and a graduate of Trinity College, Dublin; and the associate of Pope, Swift, Addison, Steele, Atterbury, and Arbuthnot. Among his philanthropic schemes was one for the conversion of the American savages, and as preparatory to this, the founding of a University in the Bermudas. He obtained a Parliamentary grant of £20,000 for this purpose, and several large private subscriptions. A charter was granted, providing for the appointment of a President and nine Fellows. The Queen offered Berkeley a Bishopric, if he would remain at home, but he preferred the headship of his new College, and sailed for America. He remained in Newport, R. I., for two years, waiting for the arrival of the money promised by the Government. Finding that it was not likely to come at all, he returned to England, leaving behind him in the new world pleasant memories of his sojourn. He preached much during his stay at Newport. To the libraries of Harvard and Yale he gave important donations of books; and to the former, for the establishment of scholarships in Latin and Greek, the farm of Whitehall which he had bought near Newport, and which has since become very valuable. The Berkleian scholars of Yale form a noble list of more than two hundred names, nearly one hundred of them ministers of the gospel, among them President Wheelock, the founder of Dartmouth.

Works. Berkeley's writings were numerous. The works of greatest note were those in which he published his leading philosophical idea, denying the existence of matter. This idea was first set forth in the New Theory of Vision, and then more fully in The Principles of Human Knowledge. Berkeley's theory was of course an easy subject for ridicule.

"When Bishop Berkeley said there was no matter,'

And proved it, 't was no matter what he said.”— Byron.

An advocate of Berkeley's theory having been in conversation with Dr. Johnson,

and being about to take his leave, Johnson said, "Pray, sir, don't leave us: we may perhaps forget to think of you, and then you will cease to exist."

Notwithstanding these squibs, the Bishop's essays made a profound impression, and modified perceptibly the current of metaphysical opinion, though his views did not meet general acceptance.

Another work of his, The Minute Philosopher, written during his residence at Newport, is a defence of religion against the various forms of infidelity, and is highly spoken of. The Analyst also is a work of the same kind, but addressed particularly to mathematicians. The Bishop published also several essays on the use of Tar Water, and had a renowned controversy on the subject.

The Estimate of Him.- Berkeley is spoken of in terms of unwonted commendation, not only by the distinguished men of his own day, who seem to have been charmed by the benevolence and genial warmth of his private character, but by astute critics, such as Dugald Stewart and Sir James Mackintosh. So much understanding, so much knowledge, so much innocence, and such humility, I did not think had been the portion of any but angels, till I saw this gentleman."— Atterbury. “Of the exquisite grace and beauty of his diction, no man accustomed to English composition can need be informed. His works are, beyond dispute, the finest models of philosophical style since Cicero."- Mackintosh.

No single writing of Berkeley's is so well known as the brief poem which he wrote under the enthusiasm excited by the prospect of his going to the new world to found his University. The last stanza seems to have been prophetic:

Westward the course of empire takes its way;

The four first acts already past,

A fifth shall close the drama with the day;
Time's noblest offspring is the last.

LORD JOHN SOMERS, 1650-1716, was a conspicuous lawyer and statesman of the age of the English Revolution.

Career.- Somers studied at Oxford, was admitted to the bar, and was one of the counsel for the famous seven bishops, in 1681. In 1692 he became Attorney-General, and in 1697 was made Lord Chancellor, and raised to the peerage. He was afterwards deprived of his Chancellorship and impeached, but was acquitted. Somers was chairman of the committee that drafted the celebrated Declaration of Right, in 1689

Works. The works that Somers has left are scarcely proportionate to his great fame as a jurist. His speeches were never preserved. The most important of his published works are A Brief History of the Succession of the Crown, and The Security of Englishmen's Lives, a treatise on grand juries. Besides his graver works, Somers is the author of the translation of Dido's Epistle to Eneas, and of Plutarch's Alcibiades, in Tonson's English versions of Ovid and Plutarch. The Declaration of Right is conjectured to have emanated wholly from him, and also King William's last Speech to Parliament.

WILLIAM PULTENEY, Earl of Bath, 1682-1764, was a statesman of considerable note in the time of Walpole and Bolingbroke.