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COLLECTION
OF SEVERAL
P I E C E S
O F
Mr. JOHN TOLAND,
Noxv- firft publifh'd from his Original Manufcripts :
Wif H
lome MEMOIRS ^/ ^/> LIFE ^»^ Writings.
VOLUME L
L 0 NT) O N:
Printed for J. Peei^e, at Locke's Head in Tater-npfter Raw. M. dcc. xxvi.
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(iii )
S O M E
MEMOIRS
OF THE
LIFE ANt) WRITINGS
O F
Mr. JOHN TOLANt):
I N A
LETTER
T O
5*** B***L***.
SIR,
May i6^ 1722.
[HEN, in the courfc of our Cor- refpondcncc, 1 fcnt you the news of Mr, Toland's Death, I little cxpcfted you wou'd ask me for an Account of his Lifc> and there- fore ia my next Letter, I dcUr d yoa to confidet * A z , that
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iv T H E L I F E O F
that I was every way unqoalified fpr a work of that nature : but your anfwer was, that, as you coricciv'd the Life of an Author chiefly confiftcd in the Hiftory of his Books and Dif- putes, with which any one might eaiily make himfelf acquainted ^ you did not require more of me than I could perform. This made mc fufpeft, that you intended to try, whether my readincfs to oblige you, was anfwerable to the. feveral marks of friend(hip I had re- ceived from you 5 and therefore, without any further confideration, 1 refolv'd to comply with your rec^ueft. But when I came to the performarice, I found it fo difficult to meet with proper materials, that I thought I fliou'd have been obliged, either to drop my dcfign, Dt to fend you a moft confus'd and imper- fed account : the former of which, you might have imagined to proceed from my want of refjpeft for you 5 and the latter, to be an ef- fed of my iiegligence. But it happened, by the greatejft accident in the world, that I fell into the company of a Gcntlenpn, who had been intimately acquainted with Mr.ToLAND, and who very generoufly communicated to mc feveral particulars concerning him, Thefe have been of great ufc to me in compiling the following Memoirs, which, I hope, wil| afford you £pmc entertainment, *
Mr. ToLANi> was born on the 30th of Kovembcr 1670, in the moft northern Penin-
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Mr. TOLAND. v
fala in Ireland^ in the Ifthmus whereof ftands Londonderry. That Peninfula was originally called Inis-Eogariy or Inis E again , but is now caird Intfoen^ or Enis-owen. He had the Name of Janus Junius given him at the font; and was caird by that name in the fchool-roll every morning : but the other boys making a jeft of it, the M after himfclf ortler'd him to be call'd John for the future j which name he kept ever after.
I can give you no particular account of his Parentage. Some have affirm'd that his Fa* thcr was a Popith Pricftj and he hath been abufcd by Abbot Tilladet (i), Bifhop HuETius(2)3 and others, upon the account of his pretended illegitimacy : which^ were it frue> is a moll bale and ridiculous re- proach 5 the Child, in fuch a cafe, being in- tircly innocent of the guilt of his Parents. But no Popifh Writer will, I prefumc, afpcirfc him in that refped for the future, when they have feen the Teftimonial, which war given him in the year 1708, by the Irifh Francif- cans of Prague, where he happcn'd to be at that time. It runs thus :
Infra-fcripti tefiamur T^om. T o a n n e m
To L A N D oftum ejfe ex honejtay nobiliy &
anticpiijfima Familiay qua per f lures cente-
'•'A 3 fioi
(i) Preface des Dijfettathns de Mr. Huet fitr MverfiS ms^ tUres di Religkn &P dd Fbilohgie^ |. v. {2) Cmmevtamf dc rtbus ad earn pfrtinentlhtiSp pag. 412*
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vi TH5 LIFE OF
nos armos^ ut Regni Hiftoria & continua monftrant memoriae in Teninfula Hibetms Enis-Ocn di^hy prope urbem Londina-T)eri- enfem in Ultonia^ perduravit. In cujus ret firr/vorem fidem^ nos ex eadem Tatria ori- undi propriis manibus fuhfcripjimus, Traga in Bobemi^y h^c die z Jan. 1708.
Joannes o Neill, Superior CoUegU Hibcrnoruni.
L.S.
Franciscus o Deulin, S. Theolo- gian Profcflbr.
RuDOLPHys 6 Neill, S. Tiicol. Leftor.
THESE honeft Friars, you fee, do certify under their hands and fcal, that Mr. Tolanp vas defcended from an honourable, noble, ^d Hioft ancient Family, recorded in the HUtory of Ireland for fevcral hundred years.
H O WIE V E R, we may take it for grant- ee^ that his Relations were Papifts : for he himfelf tells us, that h? was " educated (3), " from his cradle in the groflcft Superftition ^^ apd Idolatry, but God was pleas'd to make ^^ his own Rcafpn, and fuch ^ made ufc of ^^ theirs, the hgppy inftruments of his Con- ^ verfion :'' for " he was not iixteen years
" old
(3) Prcfiicc to Qhrifiia/thy mtmyJIermSf p. m, vUi. ix.
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Mr. TOLAND. vU
^^ old when he became (4) as zealous againit " Popery, as he hath ever fince continued.
PROM the School at " Redcaftle near " Londonderry, he went in 1687 to the ^ College of Glafcow in Scotland :' and tf- ter three years ftay there, he vifited the Uni* verfity of Edinburg, where he was created Mafter of Arts, on the 30th of June idpie, . and jreceiv'd the ufual Diploma or Ccrtificjitc from the Profeflbrs. Here is a Copy of it.
UNivkRsis S* Jingulis ad quos prafentes Liter £ pewewmty Nos Univerfitatis Jacobi Regis Edinburgens VrofeJforeSy falutem in domino fempiternam comprecamur: Una- Qu E teftamur ingemUm hunc bona fpei Ju- venem Magiftrum Joannem Toland Hi- bernumy merlbus, diligent ia^ & laudabili Jkc- cejfu fe nobis ita approbajfe^ ut pofi edi^ turn Thikfophici profeBus examen^ folenni more Magifier in jirtibus Liber alibus renun- ciaretWy m Comitiis noftris Laureatis anno falutis millejimoy fexcentejimo & nonagefimo, trigejimo die Jimii : ^u^propter mm dubita- mus eum nune a Nobis in Tatriam redei/m- temy ut egregimn Adolefcentemy ommhus fuos adire n>el quibufatm verfari contigerit de me- iiori not a commendarey fperantes ilium {00- tulmte divina gratia) Literis hifce Tefti- momali^s fore abunde refpanfurum. In qm- *A4 rum
(4) An Aitilo^y fof Mr, Toland, Lond. 1(^971 p* itf.
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via
THE LIFE OF
Tumfidem inclyta Civitas Edinburgum Acd- demi£ hujus Tarens & AltriXy jigillo fuo publico Literas Jyngraphis nofiris porro con- firmari jujjit.
^abamus in fu- Al. Monro, S. S. T. D. pradiSfo Athenao Profeflfor primarius.
Jtegio 22^« die
Juliianno^yEr£ Jo. Strahan, S. S. T. D. %2hrifiiana 1690. cjufdemque Profcffor.
D. Gregorie, Math. P.
T. Herbertus Kennedy, P.P.
L. S. J. Drummond, H. L. p.
Tho: Burnet> Ph. P.
Robertus Henderson , B.* & Acadcmix ab Archivis, &c.
Mr. ToLAND having recciv'd his Diploma, went back to Glafcow, where he made but a fhort ftay. Upon his departure from it, the Magiftratcs of that City gave him the follow- ing recommendatory Letters :
"WE the Magiftrats of Glafcow under- ** fubfcribeing, do hereby teftifie and declare ^* to all whom thefe prefents may concern.
That the bearer John Tolland, Mafter erf
*^ Arts,
tt
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Mr. TOLAND. ix
^^ Arts did rcfidc here for fome yearcs as a ^' Student at the Univerlitie in this Citic, du- *' reing which tyme he behaved himfelf as anc " trcw Protcftant and Loyal Subjcft 5 as witnefe ** owr hands at Glafcow the penult day of " July one thoufand fcx hundreth and ninetie << yeares. And the common Scale of Office ^* of the faid Citie is hereunto affixt.
John Lecke. L.S.
George Nisbitt.
FROM Scotland, Mr. Toland intend- ed to have returned into Ireland, as it appears by the Certificate of the Univerfity of Edin- burg : but he altered his mind> and came in- to England, " where he liv'd (5) in as good ^ Protcftant Families as any in the Kingdom, " till he went to the famous Univerfity of *^ Leiden in Holland to perfed his Studies," under the celebrated Spanhemius, Triglan- vius, &c. There he was gencroufly fupport- ed and maintained by fome eminent Diftenters in England, who had conceived great hopes from his uncommon parts, and might flatter themfelves that, in time, he wou'd be fervicc- able to them in the quality of a Minifter. For he had liv'd in their communion ever fincc he forfook Popery 5 as he owns himfelf in a Pamphlet printed in the year 1697 •[ " Mr. To- land,
cc
0) ^1^, p. 17.
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4C
X THE LIFE OF
«^ LAND, (fays he (6) in atifwcr to the impu- tation of being a rigid Noncanf0rmi/i)yV/ill « never deny but the real iimplicity of the *^ Diflenters Worfhip, and the feeming equi- ^ ty of tbcir Difcipline (into which being fo *^ young he could not diftin£tly penetrate) did " gain extraordinarily upon his affedions, juft " as he was newly deliver d from the infup- " portable yoke of the moft pompous and ty- " rannical Policy that ever cnflaved mankind " under the name or fhew of Religion. But " when greater experience and more years " had a little ripen'd his judgment, he eafily *^ perceiv'd that the Differences were not fo *^ wide as to appear irreconcileable, or at leaft, ^ that men who were found Proteftants on ** both fides, fbould barbaroufly cut one ano- ^ thcrs t?hroat$, or indeed give any difturbancc ^ to the fociety about them. And asfoon as *^ he underftood the late heats and animoii- ^ ties did not totally (if at all) proceed from ** a concern for mere Religion, he allowed " himfelf a latitude in feveral things, that " would have been matter of fcruplc to him *^ before. His travels increased, and the ftudy *^ of Ecclefiaftical Hiftory perfefted this difpo- ^ fition, wherein he continues to this hour: *^ for, whatever his own opinion of thofc *^ Differences be, yet he finds fo eflentiaJ an ^ Agreement between tlie French, DiEtch^ « Englifti, Scotifli, and other Proteftants, that
« he's
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Mr. TOLANEh xi
^' he's refolv'd never to lofe the benefit of " an inftrudive Difcourfc in any of their " . Churches upon that fcore ; and it muft b? a " civil not a religious intereft that can engage " him againft any of thcfe Parties, not think- ^^ ing all their private notions wherein they ^^ dilagree worth endangering, much left fub- " verting, the publick Peace of a Nation. If " this, purfues he^ makes a man a Noncon- ^* formift, then Mr. Toland is one unquef- ^' tionaWy.
IN the year 1692, Mr. Daniel Wil- liams, a Diflcnting Minifter, having publifh'd a Book intitled : Gofpel Truth Jiated andf vindicated I wherein fbme of ©r. Crisp's Opinions are confidere/y and the oppofite truths are plainly jiated and confirmed 5 Mr. Toland fent it to the Author of the Bibliotheque Uni- verfelUy and defir'd him to give an Abftraft of it in that Journal : at the fame time, he related to him the Hiftory of that Boc^, and of the Controverfy it referred to. The Jour- nalift comply'd with his requeft i and to the Abftrad of Mr. Williams's Book, he prefixed the Letter he had received from Mr. To- land, whom he ftyles Student in divi- nity (7).
AFTER having fojourn'd about two years at Leiden, he came back into Englandj and
fooa
(7) SlUMeqHellniverfelkf Tom, xxiiLp. 505.
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xu THE LIFE OF
foon after went to Oxford 5 where befides the Converfation of learned Men, who have never been wanting in that famous Univcrfity, he had the advantage of the publick Library. He colleded materials upon various fubjeds, and composed fome Pieces , among others a ^ijfertation wherein he proves the received Htftory of the tragical T)eath of Atilius Regulus, the Roman Conful, to be a fable (8). And here he begun to (hew his inclina- tion for Paradoxes, and the pleafure he took in oppofing traditional and commonly re- ceived Opinions : which humour is often be- neficial to the Public, as it promotes the dif- covery of truth, which feldom or never fufFers by a free examination. Mr. Toland owns himfelf indebted for this notion to Palme- Rius: who has examined that fubjed, in his Obfervations on^ feveral Greek Authors {9). If the ingenious Abbe de Vertot had feen that learned and judicious performance of Pal- mer lus, he wou d not have related, as a fad, the tragical Death of that Conful, in his Re- volutions of the Roman Refublick 5 but have looked upon it as a Romance.
THE fame byafs for Paradoxes, put MrTo- LAND upon another Work of greater confe- quence : he undertook to prove that there are
no
(8) That Differtation- you JI find in this CoHeBion. VoL IL ptg. 18.
(9) Ohfetvationes in ffftimorfer9 Author^s Gr^cos. pag* 147,
1511 & feqq*
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Mr. T O L A N D. xiU
no Myfteries in the Chriftian Religion, But he kit Oxford in 1695, before that Book was finifh'd i and came to London, where he pub- lifh'd it the next year, under the title of Chri- ft i unity not Myfterious \ or^ a Treatife fbew- ingj that there is nothing in the Gofpel con- trary to Reafon, nor above it : and that no Chriftian ^o6frine can be properly caltd a Myftery.
T O affirm that the Chriftian Religion has no Myfteries^ or nothing above Reafon^ muft indeed appear a ftrange Paradox : but as wc ought not to be prejudiced or frighten'd with words, let us examine our Author's intent and meaning.
THE word Myftery y fays he, is always us'd in the New Tcftament for /^ thing intelligible in it ft If y but which could not be known with- out fpecial Revelation. And to prove that after tion, he examines all the pafla^es of the New Teftament where the word myftery oc*- cursi and ftiews, firft, that Myftery is read for the Gofpel or th^ Chriftian Religion in general, as it was a future difpenfation totally hid from the Gentiles, and but very impcr- feftly known to the Jews : fecondly, that fomc peculiar Dodrines occasionally reveal'd by the Apoftles, are faid to he mamf eft ed Myfteries^ that is, unfolded fccrets : and thirdly, that Myftery is put for any thing vail'd under parables, or enigmati<;al forms of fpeech. -
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xiv THE LJFE OF
AND to fct this matter in a clearer light, lie obfervcs, that as in the phenomena of Nature, we neither call Myfteries thofe things which are pcrfedly unknown to us, nor thofe whereof we can have no adequate idea 5 the fame way of fpeaking ought to be ufed in religious matters 5 fince all the reveal'd truths of the Chriftian Religion, which it is necefla- ry and beneficial tor us to know, can be made as clear and intelligible as natural things which come within our knowledge and com- prehenfion : and that the cafe is parallel , he promised to fhew in another work, and to eivc a particular and rational Explanation of the rejjutid Myfteries of the GofpeL But he de- clares, at the fame time, that if his Advcrla- rics think fit to call a My ft cry j whatever is cither abfolutely unintelligible to us, or where- of we have but inadequate ideas 5 he is ready to admit as many Myfteries in Religion as they pieafe.
S O far, you'll fay. Sir, there is no great harm done : it is only a difputc about words. Indeed he pretends that he can give as clear and intelligible an explanation of the Myfteries of the Gofpel, as 'tis poiTibie to give of the phenomena of Nature : but do not our Di- vines do the fame thing, in attempting to give a rational explanation of the Trinity, the greateft Myftery of the Chriftian Religi«r on ? Such explanations are the teft of the foundnefs of their Dodriac : and who knows
but
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Mr. TOLAND. xv
but Mr. Toland's explanacion, had he given one, might have been orthodox i
1 T had been happy for Mr. Toland, if eve* ry body had Entertained the fame favouribk* fentiments of this work, as you do. But it proy'd otherwife. His Trcatife alarm'd the Public, and fcveral Books came out a«;ainft it. Mr. Beconsall publifh'd. The Chrinian Be- lief: wherein is ajfertedand pro^veay That ai there is nothing in the Gofpel conftary t$Rea- fifty yet there are fime T^oBrines in it above Reafon ; and thefe being necejfarily enjoyrid US to believe y are properly caltd Myjreries 5 in Anfwer to a Book intituledy Chriftianity not Myftctious. Mr. Beverley, a Presbyte- rian Miniftcr, put out a Pamphlet intitled, Chrifiiunity the great Myftery : in AnJ^er to a late Treatifiy Chriftianity not MyfterioUSi that iSy not above, nor contrary to Reafon. In oppofition to which is ajfertedy Chfi^ianity is above created Reafiny in its pure efiate % and contrary to human Reafon y as fallen and corrupted 'y and therefore in a proper Jenfe Myftery. Together with a Tofifitipt Letter to the Author y on his ficond editii^n enlarged. It was alfo animadverted upon by Mr. N0RR1&, in his Account of Reafon and Faith in relation to the Myfleries of Chriftianity : by Mr. Elys in his Letter to Sir Robert Howard, with Akimadverfions upon aBooky calledy Chrifti- anity not Myfterious : by Dr. Payne, in fomc Sermons preach'd at Cambridge : by Dr. Stil- ling- d by Google
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xvi THE LIFE OF
I.INGFLEET, Bifhop of Worccftcr, in his Vith die at ion of the T>o6frine nf the Trinity y &c: by the Author of the Occajional Taper^ Numb. Ill: by Mr. Miller, in his T^ifcourfe of QonfciencCy &c: byMr. Gailhard> in his Book againft the Socinians: by Mr. Synge in his Appendix to the Gentleman's Religion y &c It was even prefented by the Grand Jury of Middlcfcx : but thofe Prcfentments have feldom any other efFcd than to make a Book fell the better, by publifhing it thus to the World, and tempting the Curiofity of Men, who are naturally inclined to pry into what is forbidden them.
Mr. ToLAND publifh'd the fame Year, A "Difcourfe upon Coins by Signor Bernardo Davanzati, a Gentleman of Florences being publicklyjpoken in the Academy there y anno 1588. Trmflated out of Italianj by John ToLAND. in the Preface, Mr, Toland ob- fervcs that Signor 1>avanzati, was every way qualified to perform his undertaking, be- ing famous for natural and acquired pwts, not only converfant in Trade, and one of the beft Arithmeticians of his time 5 but likewife an able Politician, as appears by his admir'd Tran- slation of Tacitus, and his own Original Compofitions. Mr, Toland judg'4 it pro- per to publilh his T^ifcourfe upon Coins ^t a time, when the clipping of Money was be- come a National grievance, and feveral Mcr thpds were proposed %o ycin^dy that ^viU
His
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MnTOLAND. xvU
HIS Chriftianity not My ft er tons being feat into Ireland, by the London Bookfellers, you may eafily imagine it made no lefs noifc there than in England : but the clamour was much cncreafed, when he went thither him- fclf towards the beginning of the year 1697.
" I N my laft to you, fays Mr. Molyneux " in one of his Letters to Mr. Locke (10), '^ there was a palTage relating to the Author *^ of Chriftianity not Myfterious. I did not ^^ then think that he was fp near mc, as *^ within the bounds of this City 5 but 1 find ** lincc that he is come over hither, and have
*^ had the favour of a vifit from him
** I propofe i great deal of fatisfadion in his " Converfaticin ^ i take him to be a candid, '^ Free -Thinker, and a good Scholar. But '^ there is a violent fort of fpirit reigns here, " which begins already to fhew itfclf againft. '^ him 5 and I believe, will increafe daily 5 for *^ I find the Clergy alarmed to a mighty de- ** grec againft' him.. And laft Sunday he had " his welcome to this City, by hearing him- " felf harangued agaihft, out of the Pulpit,^ ** by a Prelate of this Country."
Mr. ToLAND himfclf tells us, that " he was
(11) fcarcely arrived in that Country, when
*B ''he
it
(10) April <, 1(^97- (IX) ^A^|6cc. p. 4r
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xviu THE LIFE OF
'^ he found himfclf warmly attacked from ^' the Pulpit, which at the beginning could ^' not but ftartle the people, who till then ^' were equal ftrangers to him and his Book 5 ^' yet they became in a little time fo well " accuftom'd to this fubjeft, that it was as *^ much expefted of courfe as if it had been " prcfcrib'd in the Kubrick/'
HIS indifcreet behaviour did not a little contribute to exafperate them againft him* *^ To be free, and without refervc to you, ^^ Jays Mr. Molyneux to Mr. Locke (12), ^^ I do not think his Management, itnce he " came into this City, has been fo prudent. " He has rais'd againft him the clamours of ^^ all parties ; and this, not fo much by his " Difference in Opinion, as by his unfeafon- ^^ able way of difcourfing, propagating and ^' maintaining it. Coffee-houfes, and pub- ** lie Tables, are not proper places for fe- *' rious difcourfes relating to the moft impor- ^' tant truths. But when alfo a Tinfture of " Vanity appears in the whole courfe of a *' man s Converfation, it difgufts many, that " may otherwife have a due value for his *' Parts and Learning."
Mr. ToLAND indeed gives us a different account of himfclf: he fays, that ^' fo far (i 3)
t wa?
(la) May »7» i<>7'
(13) Aphgi^ p. ^
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Mr. T O L A N D. xix
" y}^ he from making his Opinions the fub- ^^ jcft of his cominon talk, that, notwith- ** {landing repeated provocations, he pur- •* pofcly declined fpcaking of 'em at allj ** \i^bich made his Adverfaries (who flipt no ** handle of decrying him) infinuate, that he ^^ was not the real Author of the Piece going " under his name.
HOWEVER it be, "when (i+) this " r^ugh handling of him in the Pulpit (where " be could not have word about) prov'd in- ^^ %nificant, the Gratid Jury was follicited to ^^ prcfent him for a Book that was written ^^ and publiftied in England. And to gain '* the readier compliance, the Prefcntment of <^ the Grand Jury of Middlcfex was printed " in Dublin with an cmphaticai Title, and " ery'd about the ftreets. So Mr. Toland " was accordingly prefcnted there the laft day '^ of the Term in the Court of KingVBench, ^* the Jurors not grounding their proceeding " upon any particular Paffagcs of his Book, *^ which moft of 'em never read, and tho^^- ** that did confefs'd not to undcrftand.
A T that time, Mr. Peter Brown, fcnior Fellow of Trinity College near Dublin, pub- lilh'd a Book againft Mr. Toland, call'd, ji Letter in Anfwer to a Book, entitukd^ CUriflianity not Myfterious: as alfo to all ♦B 2 thofe
(14) IViL p. 5, d.
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XX T H E L I F E O F
thoje who fet up for Reafon and Evidence inoppofitton to Revelation and My fiery. This Letter contributed very much to enflame all forts of people againft Mr. To land. Mr. Brown reprefented him as a mofi in- veterate enemy to all reveal d Religion^ a Rnight-errant^ one who openly affe^ed to be the Head of a Se£iy and dejign'd to be as fa- mous an Impojlor as Mahomet: but being fcnfiblc that all thefe fuggeftions cou'd not hurt his perfon, he did, as much as in him lay, deliver him into the hands of the civil Magiftrate. Mr. Brown was afterwards made Bifhop of Cork ; and I am told Mr. To- LAND ufed to fay, he had made him a Bijbop. It is the fame perfon, who, becaufc he cou'd not bear, as 'tis prefum'd, that people fhou'd drink to the Memory of King William, wrote a Pamphlet againft drinking to the Me- mory of any perfon, as being a prophanation of the Lord's Supper 5 and at laft, was driven to condemn drinking any Healths at all : for which he had the Authority of the famous William, Prynne, who publifh'd in 1628, a Book ' entitled, Healths Sicknefs : or a compendious and brief difcourfej proving the drinking-, and pledging of Healths , to be fihful and utterly unlawful unta ChriJiianSy ice. He had alfo the Autliority of John Geree, M. A. and Paftoy of St. Faith's in London, who put out ia 1648 a Pamphlet, caird : ®UQ(pccf- pcLXQv : a divine Totim t(^ preferve fpiritual Htdthy by the cure of unnatural Health-
dtink-
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Mr. TOLAND. xxi
drinking. Or an exercife wherein theEvill of Health-drinking is by clear and folid Ar- guments convinced. Written for the fa- ttsfaEtion , and puhlijbed by the direSiion of a godly Parliament ' man. But this by the by.
Mr. MoLYNEUx fcnt Mr. Brown's Book to Mr. Locke s and in a Letter to him, he makes fome very judicious refle^ons both up- on that work, and the Grand Jury's proceed-' ings againft Mr. Toland. Mr. Toi^and^ fays he {ii\ ** has had his oppofers here, " as you will find by a Book which I have
^^ fent you The Author is my ac-
" quaintance j but two things I (hall never " forgive in his Book i the one is, the foul ^^ language and opprobrious names he gives " Mr. ToLANP 5 the other is, upon feveral *^ occafions, calling in the aid of the Civil " Magiftrate, and delivering Mr. Toland up " to fecular Punifhment. This indeed is a ** killing Argument i but fome will be apt to ^ fay. That where the ftrength of his Reafon " fail'd him, there he flies to the ftrength of ^* the Sword. And this minds me of a bufi- ^* ne(s that was very (Urprizing to many, even ^' feveral Prelates in this place, the Prefent- *' ment of fome pernicious ^ooks, and their " Authors, by the Grand jury of Middlefex. ^* This is look'd upon as a matter of dange- *B 3 '^wus
C15) Julyao, i(Jj7- o,.t,zed.vGoogle
xxu THE LIFE OF
^* rous confcqucncc, to make our Civil Comts " Judges of Religious Dodrincs ; and no one " knows, upon a change of Affairs, whofe " turn it may be next to be condemned. But " the example has been followed in our " Country 5 and Mr. Toland, and his Book, *^ have been prefented here, by the Grand ** Jury, not one of which (I am perfuaded) " ever read one leaf in Chrijiianity not My- ^^ Jlerious. Let the Sorbone for ever now ** be filent 5 a learned Grand Jury, diredcd *^ by as learned a Judge, does the bufincfs ^* much better. The Diflcnters here were the ^* chief promoters of this matter i but, when ** I asked one of them, what if a violent " Church of England Jury fhould prefent '* Mr. B A X T E r's Books, as pernicious, and ** condemn them to the flames by the coin- *^ mon executioner ? He was fenfiblc of the *' error, and faid, he wifljed it had never ^J been done"*
Mn ToLAND, It fecms, was dreaded in Ireland, as a,moft formidable enemy of Chri- ftianity, a fecond Goliath, who at the head of the Philiftines defied the Armies of Ifrael % in fo much, that, as he relates it himf?lf, ** in a few days (16) after the Lords Juftices ** of that Kingdom landed, the Recorder of •' Dublin, Mr. Hancock, in his cougratula- ^^ tory Harangue in the name of his Corpo-
\^ ration,
(Id) A^oUgj^ p. 7.
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Mr. TOLAND. xxm
'* ration^ bcgg'd their Lordlhips wou'd pro ^^ tcft the Church from all its enemies, but ^^ particularly from the Tolandists.**
B U T to give the laft and finifhmg ftroke to Mr. T gland's Book, fome people con-, eluded to bring it before the Parliament. *^ And therefore (17) on Saturday the 14^ day ** of Auguft, it was mov'd in the Committee ^^ of Religion, that the Book entitul'd, O&ri- '^ ftianity not Myfterious^ fhould be brought *^ before them, and accordingly it was or- <^ der'd that the faid Book fliQuld the Satur- ^^ day following be brought into the Com- ^' mittee. That day the Committee fat not ; ^ but the next Saturday, which was the 28*^* <* day of Auguft, there met a very full Com- ^ mittee, wherein this bufinefs was a great ** while debated. Several perfons eminent ^ ibr their birth, good qualities, or fortunes, <^ oppos'd the whole Proceeding, being of o- ^^ pinion it was neither proper nor convenient ^^ for them to meddle with a thing of that *^ nature. But when this point was without ^ much argument carried againft them, they '^ inMed that the Paffages which gave offence ^^ in the Book fhould be read ; and then the ^ Committee was adjourn'd till the 4*^ of ** Sqptember. That day, after feveral Gentle- ^ men had fpoke to the Objeftions made to ^ fome Paffages in the Book, they urg'd at *B 4 \' laft
07) HM. ^aa,aJ,»4• ^ _^ CoooIp
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XXIV THE LIFE OF
** laft, according to Mr- Toland's own dc-
*' fire, that he fhould be caird to anfwcr in
*^ perfon, to declare the fenfe of his Book,
^^ and his defign in writing it. But this fa-
** vour being peremptorily dcny'd , an ho-
" nourable Member went to the Bar, and of-
*^ fer'd a Letter to be read which he had re-
'^ ceiv'd that morning from Mr. Toland,
*' containing what fatisfadion he intended to
" give the Committee, had they thought fit
" to let him fpeak for himfelf. But this was
*^ likewife refus'd, and the Committee came
" immediately to thofe Refolutions, to which
*^ the Houfe agreed, after fome Debate on
" Thurfday following, being the 9*^ of Scp-
^^ tember, viz. That the Book entitutd^ Chri-
" ftianity not Myfterious, containing fever d
*^ Heretical T)otirines contrary to the Chri-
fiian Religion and the ejiahlijh'd Church
of Irelana, be publickly burnt by the hands
of the common Hangman. Likewife, That
" the Author thereof ]o\ii!iToL,iM\> betaken
^^ into the cuftody of the Serjeant at ArmSy
^' and be profecuted by Mr. Attorney Gene-
^ raly for writing and publishing the faid
^' Book. They order d too. That an Addrefs
^^ Jbould be made to the Lords Juftices to
<« give T^ireBions that no more Copies of
^^ that Book be brought into the Kingdom^
" and to prevent the felling of thofe already
imported. Their Sentence was executed on
the Book the Saturday following, which
was the 1 1^^ of September, before the Par-
^[ liamcnt:
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Mr. TOLAND. xxv
^' liamcnt-Houfc Gate, and alfo in the open *' ftrect before the Town-Houfc 5 the Sheriffs
*' and all the Conftables attending/'
UPON this, Mr. Toland very wifely took his way back into England. « Mr. To- '^ LAND, fays Mr. Molyneux to Mr. ^' Locke (18), is, at laft, driven out of '^ our Kingdoms the poor Gentleman by " his imprudent Management, had raifed " fuch an univerfal Outcry, that it was even '* dangerous for a man to have been known " once to convcrfe with him. This made " all men wary of reputation decline feeing " him 5 in fo much that at laft he wanted a " meal's-meat (as I am told) and none would " admit him to their tables. The little ftock ^' of Money which he brought into this Coun- ** trey being exhaufted, he fell to borrowing '^ from any one that would lend him half a ^* Crown, and run in debt for his Wigs ^* Cloaths, and Lodging, (as I am informed i) '^ and laft of all, to compleat his hard- ^' (hips, the Parliament fell on his Book, ^ voted it to be burnt by the common hang- ^* man, and ordered the Author to be taken <* into Cuftody of the Serjeant at Arms, and ^' to be profecuted by the Attorney-General «« at Law. Hereupon he is fled out of this *' Kingdom, and none here knows where ^ he has directed his Courfc-^
Dr. <i8) Sept. II. itfp7«
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xxvi THE LIFE OF
Dr. South was Co well plcas'd with this condud of the Irifli Parliament, that he com- plemented the Archbifliop of Dublin upon it, in the Dedication of his third Volume of Sermons^ printed in 1698. After having con- demned our remiflhefs here in England, for bearing witii Dr. Sherlock, whofe notions of the Trinity he charges with Herefyj he adds, ^* But on the contrary amongft you, ^^ when a certain Mahometan Chriftian (nc^ ^^ new thing of late), notorious for his blat " phemous denial of the Myfteries of 0^ ^^ Religion, and his infufferable virulence *^ againft the whole Chriftian Trtefiheody *^ thought to have found fhelter amongft you, ^^ the Parliament to their immortal Honour, ** prefently fent him packing, and without ^* the help of a Faggot foon made the King- *^ dom too Hot for him.''
A S foon as he was in London, he publifh'd an apologetical Recount of the treatment he had received in Ireland, intitled: An Apolo- gy for Mr. ToLAND, in a Letter from him- filj to a Member of the Houfe of Commons in Ireland I written the day before his Book was refohfd to be burnt by the Committee of Retigion. To which is prefixed a Narra^ five containing the occa/ion of thefaid Let^^ ter.
IN
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Mr. TOLAND. xxvi-
IN the year 1698, after the Peace of Ryf- wick> there arofe a great difpute among our Politicians, concerning tlie forces to be kept on foot, for the quiet and fecurity of the na- tion. Several Pamphlets came out on that fubjcd : fome for, others againft^ a (landing Army. Mr. Toland proposed to reform the Militia, in a Pamphlet, intitled : ne Militia Reformed \ or an eafy Scheme of furnifhing Evglaiki with a confiant Land ForcCy capa- ble to prevent or to fubdue any fore in Tower ^ and to maintain ferpetval quiet at home^ without endangering the fublick Liberty. In 8«.
THE fame year he published the Life of John Milton, which was prefixed to his Works colleded together (except the Poetical part^ m three volumes in folio 5 the two firft attaining the Englifli, and the third the La- tin Pieces. It was alfoprinted feparately in $% with this title: The Life ^ John MiLTQ]^, contmningy bejides the Hiflory of l^s-Wg^hSy fenjeral extraordinary CharaBers of Mfny of Books J Se£tsy Tarties, and Op- nioMS. There, fp^aking of Milton's Icono- fiajiesy he not oiily gave an account of that performance, as his plan requires! he (hould 5 hut he thought fit likewife to enter upon the Controverfy, that had been lately carry'd on with great heat concerning the Author of /r^?;^ Bajilih, and to fum up and enforce the ar- guments
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xxviu THE LIFE OF
gumcnts of thofc who dcny'd it to be a pro-^ duftion of King Charles L In the clofc of < that digrcffion he fhcw'd by what nice and unforcfcen accidents this notorious impofturey as he calls it, happened to be difcovcr'd i and from thence took occafion to make the fol* lowing obfcrvation :
" WH E N. I fcrioufly confider,y2y'^ he (19), ^^ how all this happened among ourfelves with- " in the compafs of forty years, in a time of " great Learning and Politenefs, when both " Parties fo narrowly watch'd over one ano- " ther's anions, and what a great Revolution in *' civil a'nd religious Affaurs was partly occa,- " fidn'd by the credit of that Book, I ceafe to " wonder any longer how fo many fuppofiti- " tious pieces under the name of Christ, his *' Apoftles, and other great Perfons, fhould be *^ publiflied and approv'd inthofe primitive *^ times, when it was of fo much importance '^ to have 'em believ'd 5 when the Cheats were *^ too many on all fides for them to reproach ^' one another, which yet they often did 5 when ** Commerce was not near fo general as now, " and the whole earth intkely over-fpread " with the darknefs of Superftition. I doubt *^ rather the Spurioufnefs of feveral more fuch " Books is yet undifcover'd, thro' the remote- '^ nefs of thofe Ages, the death of the Perfons
con^
(19) 2^? Life of Mr. John Milton, pgg. pit 9t«
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Mr. T O L A N D. xxix i
" concerned, and the decay of other Monu- '' mcnts which might give true Information.
THIS paffagc was cenfur'd by Mr. Of- SPRING Blackall, then Chaplain in ordi- nary to the King, and afterwards Bifliop of Ex- cctcr, in a Sermon preached on the 30*^ of January following before the Houfc of Com- mons. After exclaiming againft the Author of MiJLTON's Life for denying Icon BaJUike to be the compofurc of King Charles 1 5 he purfued his accufation in thefe terms : " We ^' may ceafe to wonder fays he (20), that ^^ he Ihould have the boldnefs, without proof, " and againft proof, to deny the Authority *^ of this Book, who is fuch an Infidel as to ** doubt, and is fhamelefs and impudent c- ** nough, even in print, and in a Chriftian " Country, publickly to affront our holy Re- *' hgiony by declaring his doubt, thzt feveral " Tieces under the Name of Christ and his *^ ApofileSy (he muft mean thofe now receivV. *^ by the whole Chriftian Church, for I knoi^y • ** of no other) are fuppojititious ^ tho* thro' '^ the remotenefs of thofe AgeSy theDeat/j of " the Terfons concerned, ana the d^cay of other '*. Monuments which might give us true Infor- ^' mationy the fpurioufnefs thereof is ye t undif " covefd. '' Thus, Mr. Blackall cha rged Mr. ToLAND with declaring that there w tizfeve-
ral
{^oYA 'Sermon preached before the honourable Honfe of Com- pionsy J^an. iothf idjS-j, Lond. idyp. pag. i 6.
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MMiM
XXX THE LIFE OF
ralTieces under the name of Christ and his ApoftleSy xhcfpurioufnefs whereof he fufjpeft- cd i and from thence he mferr'd that Mr. To- LAND muft mean thofe now received by the whole Chriftian Churchy or the Books of the NewTcftamentj bccaufe i&^, Mr. Bl ackali., knew of no other that went under the name of Christ and his Apoftles.
Mr. ToLAND thought fit to vindicate him- fclf from this imputation of Mr. Blackali, : and at the fame time, he undertook to con- fute the reafons; which Mr.WAGSTAFFE had alledgcd, to prove that King Charles I. was the true Author of Icon Sajilikej in a Pam- phlet printed in 1693, with this title: A Vindication of Kin^ Charles the Martyr^ proving that his Majefty was the Author of "EijcAfF Bai7jXix/w : againft a Memorandum,yiir/V to be written by the Earl of Anglefey s and /igainft the Exceptions of ©r. Walker, ^nd others. In anfwer to both thcfe Authors, Hr. ToLAND publiQi'd, Amyntor : or^ a jD^- feuce of Mil toil's Life. Containing^ L \A general Apology for all Writings of that kind. 11^ A Catalogue of Books attributed in the ^^rimitive times to Jesus Christ, his^ Apoftles. and other eminent "Per Jons : With ftveral important Remarks and Obfervat ions relating to the Canon of Scripture. III. A compleat H ^i (lory of the Book, entituN, Icon Bafilike,/r^^ v/>^ ^r. Gauden, and not King "\ "' Chari*e«
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Air. TOLAND. xxxi
Charles the firfty to be the Author of it* With an Anfwer to the FaBs alledgd by Mr. Wagstaf to the contrary ^ and to the Exceptions againji my Lord Anglefefs Memorandum, ©r. Walker's Bookj or Mrs. Gauden's Narrative^ which loft Tiece is now the firfi time publiflyd at large.
I (hall not tike notice of what Mr. To^ land obferves concerning Icon BaJUike : the title of his Book exprcffcs it fufficicntly. As .to Mr. Blacrall's charge, after having tranfcrib'd the paflage in the LifeofMiLTOU excepted againft, *^ Here then,y2r/j he (21),
in the firft place, it is plain, that, I fay, a '^ great many fpuridus Books were early fa- ^^ ther'd on Christ, his Apoftles, and other ^^ great Names, part whereof arc ftiil acknow- ** ledg'd to be genuin, and the reft to be forg'd, '^ in neither of which Aflcrtions I cou'd be *^ juftly fuppos'd to mean any 3ook$ of the " New Teftament, as I fhall prcfently evince. " But Mr. Blackball affirms. That I muft *' intend tho/e now received by the iJbhole ^^ Chrijiian Churchy for he knows of no 0- " ther. A cogent Argument truly ! and clcar- *' ly proves his Logic to be juft of a piece
*' with his Reading But had Mr. Blac-
*^ KALL been difpos'd to deal ingcnuoufly " with mc, he might fee, without the help ^ of thQ Fathers, that 1 did not mean the
'[ Books
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xxxii THE LIFE OF
" Books of the New Teftament, when I " mentionM Suppoiititious Pieces under the " Name of Christ, fince there is none a- " fcrib'd to him in the whole Bible ; nor do " we read any where that he wrote any
*' thing Now to convince all the
" world that I did not intend by thofe Pieces " the Books of the New Teftament, as well " as to (hew the Raflinefs and Uncharitable- " nefs of Mr. Blackhall's Aflertion, I fliall " here infert a large Catalogue of Books an- " ciently afcribed to Jesus Christ, hisApo- " ftlcs, their Acquaintance, Companions, and " Contemporaries/' . . ;
T H E)i>i. i he gives a Catalogue of Books mentioned, by the Fathers and other dncient Writers y as truly or falfely afcribed /^ Jesu« Christ, his ApoftleSy and other eminent Ter- fons : which, for its cxadnefs and accuracy, has been commended by feveral learned men abroad, and even by fomc of Mr. Toland's Adverfaries at home (z2). After having given that Catalogue, he proceeds thus:
" HERE'S, fays he (23), * a long Lift for ^' Mr. Blackall, who, 'tis probable, will* *' not think the more meanly of himfelf for ^^ being unacquainted with thefe Pieces 5 nor, " if that were all, fliould I be forward to think
'' the
(2x) That Catakgue enlarged and correSedj the Reader will find in this ColleBhn^ VoL I. jpag. JJOi C2})mpag.42,&c, *
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Mf. TO LAND. xxxiii
'^ the worfc of him on this account : but I ^^ think he is to blame for denying that there '^ were any fuch, becaufe he knew nothing ^^ of 'em 5 much lefs fhould he infer from ^^ thence, that I dcny'd the Scriptures 5 which *^ Scandal however,bccaufemanifeftly procced- ^' ing from Ignorance, I heartily forgive him, ^^ as every good Chriftian ought to do.
^^ T O explain now therefore the feveral ^^ Members of the Paflage in Milton's Life: ^^ In the firft place, by the fpurious Pieces I " meant, tho' not all, yet a good parcel of ^' thofe Books in the Catalogue, which I am ^' perfuaded were partly forged by forae more '^ zealous than difcreet Chriftians, to fupply '' the brevity of the Apoftolic Memoirs 5 part- ly by defigning Men tcf fupport their private Opinions, which they hop'd to effed by virtue of fuch refpefted Authorities : and fome of 'em, I doubt, were invented by '^ Heathens and Jews to impofe on the Cre- *' dulity of many well-difpos'd perfons, who " greedily fwallow'd any Book for Divine *^ Revelation that contain'd a great many Mi- " racks, mixt with a few good Morals, while ^* their Adverfaries laught in their flecves all " the while, to fee their tricks fuccced, and ^' were rivetted in their ancient Prejudices by [^ the greater Superftition of fuch Enthufiafts.
'MN the fecond place, by the Books of
l^ whofe fpurioufnefs I faid the World was
VoL.L *C "not
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xxxiv THE LIPE OF
'* not yet convinc'd, tho' in my private Opini- " on I could not think 'cm gcnuin, I meant *^ thofe of the other great Perfons, or the " fuppos'd Writings of certain Apoftolic Men '^ (as they call 'em) which arc at this prcfcnt^ " as well as in ancient times, read with cx- " traordinary Veneration. And they arc the E- " piftle of Barnabas, the Paftor of Hbrmas> " the Epiftle of Polycarpus to the Philippians, *^ the firft Epiftle of Clemens Rom anus to the " Corinthians, and the feven Epifties of Ig- *' NATius. Thcfc arc generally received in the " Church of Rome, and alfo by moft Pro- " teftants.5 but thofe of the Church of Eng- *^ land have particularly fignalizM themfclvcs " in their Defence, and by publifliing the cor- " rcdeft Impreffions of them. The Ancients " paid them the higheft refped, and reckoned "the firft four of them efpecially, as good as " any part of the New Tcftamcnt : &c.
Mr. Toland's Defence engaged Mr. Blac- KALL to put out a Pamphlet, entitled : Mr. Blackall's Reafons for not replying to a Book lately publifl)e4y entituledy Amyntor. In a Letter to a Friend. I charged Mr. To- LAND, fays he, with doubting of the Authori- ty of the Books of the New Tcftamcnt : but he declares that he docs not mean thofe Books : therefore wc arc now agreed 5 there can be no difpute between us on that fubjed. " All " that I could fay to this, purfues he^ (if I '' had a mind to reply to this part of his
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Mt. TOLAND. XXXV •
•* Book) would be only to give the world ^' thlc Reafon that made me think, he meant *^ fonie of the Books of the New Teftamenti ** li^hich' was this ; that he having fpoken bc- *^ fore o^fuppojititious Pieces under the name ^' of Christ and bis ApoJileSj as well as of *^ other great Perfonsj it was very reafonable *^ to think, when immediately after, in the *^ fame Period he fpeaks of fever al morefuch ^ Bookfy the fpurioufnefs of which is not yet '^ difcoveir'd, he had meant feveral^ fome at " leaft, of all the forts before mentioned 5 ^' that i^, fome under the name of Christ,, ^* and fome under the name of his Apoftles, ^' as well a$' fome under th^ name of the o- ** ther great Perfons. For how fhould I know '^ what he meant by fuch Books^ but by " looking back, and feeing what Books he **• had fpoken of before ? And finding that " he had there fpoken, not only of Books ^^ under the name of other great Perfons, but " likcwife «W(?r the name of Christ and his " ApoftleSy what could I undcrftand by fuch " Booki, but fome Books under the name of ** Christ and his Apoftles, as well as fome *' under the name of other great Perfons ? *' And if he did not mean fo, or would not *' have been thought to have m'eant fo 5 ^* he ought, I think, to have diftinguifh'd *' and have made that Paffage which I *^ excepted againft, an intire fentence by *^ it fclf 5 and have faid plainly, that tho' *^ he thought fome Books fpurious, whiefa ^ * C 2 "r^o"^^
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Xxxvi THE LIFE OF
^' fome others believed to-be genuine, they '^ were only fome pieces that had been afcribed ^' to the other great Men, but not any '^ of thofe that were received as Pieces c^ ^' Christ or his Apoftles ; and if he had ^^ written his mind thus clearly, I ihould no *^ more have excepted againft this Paffagc than ** I did asainft the former-
^^v
I leave it to you. Sir, who are an excel- lent Logician, to judge of the pertinency of this Anfwer. I (hall only obfcrve, that Mr. ToLAND after having thus profefs'd, that in the aforefaid paffagc he had no view to the Books of the New Teftamentj he notwith- ftanding endeavoured by feveral fuggeftions and infmuations to make the Authority of the prefent Canon fufpicious and precarious. But he was anfwer'd by fome of our Divii^ies} as by Mr. (now Dr.) Samuel Clarke, in. a fmall Trad, intitled: Some Reflexions on that part of a Book called Amyntor, or the Defence of Milton's Life, which relates to the Writings of the Primitive Fat her Sy and the Canon of the New Tejiament. In a Letter to a Friend: by Mr. Stephen Nye iri his Hiftorical Account andT^e fence of the Canon of the New Teflament. In Anfwer to Amyntor : and by Mr. John Richard- son, B. D. formerly Fellow of Emmanuel College in Cambridge, in The Canon of the New Teftament vindicated i in Anfwer to the Obje6fions of J. T, in his Amyntor.
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THAT part of AmyntOTy which related to Icon Bajilikey was anfwer'd by Mr.'Vl^AG- STAFFE, in a Pamphlet call'd, A defence of the Vindication (ff Ring Charles the Mar- tyr ; juftifying his Title to 'Eikhn B asi aikh', In Anfwer to a late Pamphlet intituled^ Amyntor. By the Author of the Vindica- tion. If you defire to fee all that Mr. Wag- STAFFE has ofFer'd with refpeft to this Con- trovcrfy, you will find it fumm'd up and di- gefted in the third Edition of his Vindication^ printed in 1711: A Vindication ofK. Charles the Martyr : proving that his Majefty was the Author Of 'EiKsiiiBA7:iAiKii'^ Againfi a Memorandum faid to be written by the Earl of Angle fey 5 Andy againfi the Exceptions of T)r. Walker and others. To which is added ^ Preface, wherein the bold and info- lent AJfertionSy publijhed in a Taffage of Mr. Bayle's Dictionary, relating to the pre- fent Controverjyy are examined and confuted. The third Edition^ with large Additions 5 together with fome original Letters of King Charles the firft under his own Han3y never before printedy and faithfully CQpied from th^ faid Originals, In the Preface he falls foul upon Mr. Bayle, and is likcwifc very angry with the Author of his Life (fub- joind to the Engiifh Tranflation of his Re- fieSiions upon the Comet Sy printed in 1709) for obferving that in his Hiftorical and Cri- tical ^iSfionaryy he relates hiftorical fads wit^
*c i ' * %
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xxxviii THE LIFE OF
a perfcd difintercftcdncfs and impartiality. The matter of ft£t is this. Mr. BAYLEiiaving gi- ven an Article of Milton in the firft Edition of his Dictionary, when he was about QOjrred- ing and enlarging it for a fecond Edition, he was informed that Mr. Tox.and had pu^lifli'd the Life of that celebrated Author, ^nd defij'd to read it in order to improve that Article. But as he did not underftand EngUfh, he had fome Abftrads made of it in Latin, and took his Additions from them 5 and among othprs he gave an account of Icon Bafilihy agreeable to Mr. Toland's aflertions, or rather accord- ing to the Latin Abftra£ts of his Book, which he carefully cites in the margin. AncJ for a further caution, he makes this general jLema^rk, which Mr. Wagstaffe has tranfcrib'd in his Preface (24) but with fome omiffions vher?- of I fhali take notice. " Note,y2^x ikfr .Bayle, " that in all this, I neither ought, nor can be " confider'd, but as a mere Tranfcriher of ** Milton's Life publifh'd in Englifh**. Mr. Bayle's words arc : comme un fimfle traduc^ teur des extraits Latins que fai fait faire du livre Anglais queje cite : i. e. '^ as a mere " tranflator of the Latin Abftrads I procured *' of the Englifh Book (Amjntor)whx(Ai I cite." ^^ Note alfo, furfues Mr. Bayle, that this " Paflfagc of the Life of Milton has hci^n, *^ oppos'd i for Mr.W AGSTAFFE publifli'^ ^ovsac " Obfervations, to weaken the Tcftimpny of
'^ my
(24) Ptg. xvii, xviiu
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Mr. TOLAND. xxiix
*^ my Lord Anglesey, the Narrative of Dr. ** Walker, and the Papers of Mr. North. *^ But Mr. ToLAND hatii refuted them all in ** his AmyntOTy wherein he hath farther dil- ** cufe'd all the Teftimonies that are alledg'd ** to affert the Icon Bafilike to King Charles ** the firft. I was told, that as to both thefe ^^ Parts * of his Apology, he has omitted no- " thing that was neceflary to maintain the ** full Evidence of his Proofs, and all the ** Arength they appeared to have before any " one wrote againft them. This is all that ** I can fay, having never read any thing that *^ was written againft him, or what was rc- ^' plied by him.'' The French hath, nay ant point lu ce qtion a fait contre luiy ni c€ qu'il a repliquey & ne h pouvant point entendre^ tsr ce font tous livres Ar^lois : i. e. " hav- " ing never read what was written againft ** him, nor what was reply'd by him, and ^' not being able to underftand it, for all " thcfc Books arc in EngUfli.
A N D now, S I R, I appeal to your equi- ty, whether Mr. Bayle cou d have aded in this matter with more caution, impartiality, and diiintereftednefs ? But it may be ask'd why did he not give an account of Mr. Wag- STAFFERS Anfwer > Why, truly, bccaufe he had it not, and was affured by perfons, who
*C4 fcem'd
♦ That is to &y, the Anfwer to the Objcaions pf Mr. Wagstaffs, and the Anfwer to the direQ Proofs alledg*<i by the Fartixans of King Charl£s»
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xl THE LIFE JOF
feem'd to him proper judges, that there was not much in it. Befides, whatever good o- pinion Mr. Wagstaffe might have of his own performance, he ought not to expeft that Mr. Bayle would enter into the bottom of that Controverfy, without verifying his quotations, comparing the Arguments of both fides, and confequentiy, having all the Pam- phlets publifh'd on that occafion tranflated in- to Latin. But on the other fide, why did Mr. Wagstaffe leave out of the aforefaid paffage, this material circumftance, that Mr. Bayle declares he did not underftand Englifh, and was oblig'd to procure fome Latin Abftrafts of Mr. Toland's Book ? Was he afraid it would not have .fcrv'd his turn i In Ihorr, if he was fo tender on that point, why did he not fend him a Latin Tranflation of his two Pamphlets, to be made ufe of in the Supple- ment of his Didionary i The fecond Edition of that Didionary came out in the beginning • of the year 1702, and Mr. Bayle liv'd five years longer 5 why did he chufe to raife all this Clamour, and endeavour to afperfe and blacken his Memory nine or ten years after, in 1 7 1 1 ?
B U T to give you a fpecimcn of Mr.WAO- staffe's temper, accuracy, and judgment, I will t;:anfcribe here what he fays on occafion of Pamela's Prayer. Mr. Bayle^ fays hey(z$)
//has
«. • ' - " * ' ■ ♦
X26) Prcfucc, pug, xKiii*
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Mr. TOLAND. xli
^ has given Pamela's Prayer at large, com-
par'd it with the Arcadia^ and fet down in two Columns one againft another ; and
to what purpofe was this inferted He
** fays indeed, that Milton made a great ^^ noife about ity and that is true; but what *^ follows, that MiLToi^ placed that TaralM *^ at the end of his Anfwery is a plain and « notorious Falfhood i for Milton himfeii^ " placed neither the Prayer nor the Parallel " at the end of his Anfwcr, but Mr, Toland " plac'd them there many years after Mil- " ton's Death. So that in this fliort Para- " graph, we have abundant Evidences, not *' only of his Negligence, Partiality and Ma- *^ lice, but of his Unaccuratenefs alfo 5 each " of which £n% very heavy on his Charader/*
THIS is a heinous Charge indeed, brought in with great confidence 5 but you'll prefently fee that there is not the leaft foundation for it. Mr. Wagstaffe reprefents Mr. Baylb as grounding his affertion upon the* Englilh Original of Milton's Iconoclafies s whereas he made ufe of a French Tranflation of that Book, printed in 1 65 2, by Du Card, and he gives die title of it at large. The two Prayers, he tranfcrib'd out of that Tranflation, where- in they are fet in two Parallel Columns 5 and in the margin he refers to the page where they are to be found, thus : Milton, pag. m. 24. de flconocJaJies. Moreover , at the end of the two Prayers, he gives a fliort Advertife-
xtient
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jncnt of the French Tianflator relating to Pamela's Pxayjcr. He took for granted that this Tranflation was agreeable to die OrigmaU and if he was milled by the Tranflator, how could he help iti There is greater reaftm to wonder, how Mr. Waqstaispfe could over- look all thefe .particulars : and one might, I fear, retort his own words upon hini, ami obferve that inthisfhort ^amgnO^h we have ,^undant Evidences y not only af his Negii- l^encej partiality y and Malice^ but of his Unaccuratenefs alfo.
I fhall make no Apology for this Digrefliod^ I know that Mr. Bayle had a great (hare in your cfteem $ and don t doubt but you'll be pleased to fee jufticc done to his Memory. This task properly belonged to the Author of his Life^ as being more particularly con- cerned : but fince he hath thought fit to be filent, I was glad to find this occafion to vin^ dicate Co great a Man as Mr. Bayle* Let us nowj:ctum to Mt.Tqland.
I N the fame year (25) i<S9P, he publifh'd the Memoirsof^enziilLordHaujESy Baron ffjfieldin SuffeXy from the year 1641 to 16^1. The ManiUcript was put mtx> his bands by the late Duke of Newcastle, who
was
(25) The Author of thefe Memoirs naig^t have ohferv'd^ that this year Mr. Toland took a turn bto Hollandf m it appears hj ftme Letters in this CQttegm. See VoL II* pag«
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Mr. TO J. AND. xM
was one of his patrons and benefaftors 5 and he d€;dicated them to his Gra^Gc. He did likewise prefix a Preface.
IN 1700, he publ^*4 Harrington's Oceana, with fome other Pieces of that in- genious Author, which had aot been yet printed : The Oceana of James Harring- ton, and his other Works , fome whereof are ^ow fir ft publiflidfrom his own Manufcripts. The whole colleBed, methodix^'dy and re- view'dy with an exalt account of his Life prefix dy by John Toland. In folio.
H E clofes the Preface, with giving notice that this Life of Harrington fbali be the laft Life but one, which he intends to write of any modern perfon. ^* As for myfelf, " fiVf^ ^y *h^ ^^ employment or condition ^^ of life fhall make me diireliih the lading ^ entertainment which Books afford; yet I '^ have refolv'd not to write the Life oi any ** modern Perfon again, except that only of ^^ one Man ftill alive, and who in the ordi- *' nary comfe of nature I am like to furvivc ** a long while, he being already far advanced ** in his declining time, and I but this pre-' ^ fent day beginning the thirtieth year of my ** age.'* That Preface being dated, Novem- ber 30, 16995 we find here the prccife time
IN
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xliv THE LIFE OF
I N the conclufion of the Life, he makes the following Declaration : " If I write, fays *' he^ any thing hereafter (either as oblig'd ** by duty, or to amufe idle time) I have dc- ^ termin'd it fliall not concern perfonal Dif- ^ putes, or the narrow interefts of jarring *^ Faftions, but fomething of univerfal bene- " fit, and which all fides may indifferently " read. Without fuch provocations as no " man ought to endure, this is my fix'd re- *' folution i and I particularly defire that none « may blame me for afting otherwife, who " force me to do fo themfelves." • This he faid, I fuppofe, with refped to the difput^s he had been ingaged in. How he kept this re- folution, will appear in the fequel.
ABOUT the fame time, came out a Pamphlet, intitled, ClitOy a Toem on the force of Eloquence. The Editor tells us, that Mr. ToLAND is the Author of it, and that he is underftood in the Poem by ADEisiDifi- MON, which fignifies unfuperjiitious. The plan of that Piece is this. Clito asks Adei- siD^MON how far the force of Eloquence can go.
To teach Mankind thofe Truths which
they mijiake^ And who the noble Task durji undertake ?
Apeisi^
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Mr. T O L A N D. xlv
Adeisid^mon undertakes that task, and tells him all the great and furprizing things he can perform, even with refped to religious matters :
Nor will I hefe defift : all holy Cheats Of all Religions pjall partake my Threat s^ Whether with fable Gowns they fhew their
"Pride, Or under Cloaks their Knavery they hide^ Or whatfoe'er difguife they chufe to wear^ To gull the Teop^y while their Spoils they
fhare, &c.
THIS Piece was animadverted upon in a Letter, written, as it feems, by a Clergy-man, and publiih'd with another Letter of the fame Author againft Fuller: Mr. Toland's Clito dtjfedied: and Fuller^ plain Troof of the true Mother of the pretended Trince of Wales made out to be no proof In twoLet- ters froma Gentleman in the Country to his Friend in London. His Remarks are very fevere, not to fay abufive ; as you may judge by the following paflage : " As for the Name " of the Poem, fays he (27), how he comes " to call it Clito, or, the force of Elo- " quence, when he himfelf, not his pretend- " ed Friend, ads the Orator, I know not, ^* and it looks fomething like a miftake. Had
"he
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xlvi THE LIFE OF
*^ he given it the Heathcnifh name of To- ^* L A N D, or A D E IS I D B MON, I am apt to " think this abominable iffue of his braini <* would have had a more fignificant appella^ ** tion. And tho Clito be too good a *' Name, for a perfon who has any intimacy '* with a Man of his Charafter, yet I muft ^^ join with him in approving his choice of *' Adeisidemon for himfelf ; which is in *^ downright Englifh (not Unfuperftitious, as " he terms, it) but one that fears neither '' God nor "Deviir
IN the beginning of the year 1701, he publilh'd a Book, intitled. The Art of Go- verning by Tatties : particularly in Religion^ in TolitickSy in Parliaments on the Bench , and in the Minijify j with the ill effects of "Parties on the People in generaly the King in particular y and all our foren Affairs i as well as on our Credit and Trade^ in Peace or WoTy &c. His name no where appears in< this Book, which he dedicated to the King, with this pretty fingular Infcription : Ta William III. King of Englaridy Scotland^ France, and Ireland: St at holder of Guelder- landy Holland^ Zealand^ Utrecht , and Over^ yjfel: fupreme Magijirat of the two mofi potent and flourijbing' Commonwealths in the Uni<verfe. In the firft Chapter^ he obfervcs, that " till the aeceffion of the Stuarts to ". the Imperial Throne of this Realm^ wc '/ never knew the Art of Governing by Par^^
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Mr. T GLAND. xlvu
'^ ties. It was fet oh foot among us by the *^ firft of that Race^ and was daily improv- '* ing under his SuceefTor, till at lafr it fa- " tally tum'd on himfelf, and deprived him ^ both' of his Crown and Life. But becaufe '^ I^/^ ^^y ^'^^ execrable Policy was brought *^ to peifeftion under Chahles II, I fhall ^^ difplay fomc of its worft cffcfts in his ^ Bccign, and the difmal influence it has oa f all our Affairs cVn at this time..
ABOUT the fame time Mr. To land put out a Pamphlet, caird, ^ropvjitions: for uniting the two Eaftrlndia Companies : in a Letter to a Man of ^alitjty w%o defifdthe Opinion of a Gentleman not concerned in either Company. In 4**.
IN March foUbwing, Mr. Toland being informed that, the lower Houfe of Convoca- tion had appointed a Committee to examine Books lately publifh'd againft the Chriftiaa Religion^ or the cffablifh'd Church of Eng- land, and that his Chrifiianity not Myjler sous and his Amyntor were under the confiderar tton of that Committee j he writ two Letters to Dr. Hooper, Prolocutor of the lower Houfe of Convocation, either to give fuch fatisfaftion as fliould induce them to ftbp^ their proceedings, or defiring to he heard in his own defence- before they pafs'd any Cen- furc o» his Writings. But [^ the lower
... /5 Houfe
V-
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xlvui THE LIFE OF
*^ Houfe (28), without Confultation with the ^* Bilhops, without expcfting the King's Li* *^ cenfc, and without any regard to the two *^ Letters he fcnt 'em, came to formal Re- " folutions about Chriftianity not Myfteriouss " and on the Report of the Committee ap- " pointed, they did, about the twentieth of " March, fend a Reprefentation to the Bifhops, " praying their Lordftiip's Concurrence to their *V Refolutionsy with their Advice and T^irec^ *' tions what effeBual Courfe might be taken " to fupprefs tms Book and all other fernicums " Books already written againft the Truth ^^ of the Chriftian Religion^ and to prevent ^' the^ublicationof the like for the future r At the fame time, they extrafted five Pofitions out of that Book, and their Refolutions con- tained, that in their Judgment ^ the faid Book is of pernicious TrincipleSy of dangerous Con- fequence to the Chriftian Keligiony written on a dejtgn (as they conceive) and tending to fubvert the Fundamental Articles of the Chriftian Faith: that the Tofttions extracted out of it arCy together with diver fe others of the fame naturCy pernicious^ dangerous y (can- dalousy and deftruStive of tne Chriftian Faith.
THIS Reprefentation they fent to the Up- per Houfe, which did likewife appoint a Com- mittee of Biihops to examine MhToland's
Book 5,
(28} yindUm LibmHS, p. 4^
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Mr. TOLAND. xlU
Book: and they founck therein (cveral Pofi* tions, as they concciv'd, of dangerous confc- quence, and one in particuiar^ wiiich they look'd on as the foundation of ail the reft> of which the lower Houfe had not taken notice. Upon the Report of the Committee of the Bifliops to the Upper Houfe, they were all unanimoufly of opinion to proceed (as far as legally they could go^ againft the Book and the Author : but they alfo agreed before hand to advife with Council Learned in the Law. Which being done, " their Lordfhips *' (29) in Anfwer to that Part of the Repre- ^^ fintation which concerned a Cenfurey de- " clared (April the eighth) that on their cvn^ " fulting with Council learned in the Law ** concerning heretical^ impious^ or immoral •' Books, and particularly concerning this ^ Book fent up to them frjom the lower ^* Houfe y they do not find j how, without a ^* Licence from the King {which they had ^' not yet received) they cou'dhave fuffictent " Authority to cenfure judicially any fuch '^ Books : but on the contrary they were advi-^ '^ fed that byfo doing both HoufesofConvoc^^ ** tion might incur theTenalties of the Statute *^ i^Xi ofH. 8 . And this opinion theirLordlhips ^ received from able Lawyers after defiring *^ their Rcfolution of thefe two Queftions j ^ Pirft, fVhether the Convocations givif$g ^ an Opinion concerning a Book that is he- Vol. L ?D ^ retical^
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1 THE LIFE OF
*^ reticaly impious y a^ immoral^ is contrarj *^ to any Law ? To which they received an *' Anfwer in the Affirmative : Secondly, ?' Whether the Tofitions (they had cxtraftcd "out of Chtiftimity not Myjierious) were *^ fuch an opinion as is contrary to any Law ? <' to which it was anjfwer'd in the Negative. " Nor did they content themfelves with this ** Advice, but they inquir'd befides what had " been formerly done in fuch Cafes, and *^ found that on a Complaint being exhibited " againft fomc Books by the lower to the *^ upper Houfe, in the year 1689, the Learn- " cd in both the Laws were of Opinion they* " cou'd not proceed judicially in fuch Mat- " ters."
A F T E R the Death of the Duke of Glo- cefter, it was thought ncccflary to make a further provifion for the Succelfion of the Crbwn in the Protcftant Line. Accordingly in June 1701, an ji£f was pafs'd/i^r the fur- ther Limitation of the Crown^ by fettling it, after the deceafe of King William and the Princefs Anne of Denmark, and for default of their IfTcic, upon the Princefs Sophia, Ele£trefs and Dutchefs Dowager of Hanover, qnd the Heirs of her body being Proteftants : and in the fame Aft a provifion was likewifc made for better fecuring the Rights arulLi^ btrtits of the Subjects. Mr. Xoland pubw liflid on that occafion a Book, intitled, An- glia Libera: or, the Limitation and Succef-
♦' t ; Ji9n
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. Uti TOLAND. li
Jtoft df the Cr&wn of England explained and a(ferted s asgr&unded on his Majeftfs Speech i the Proceedings in Tarliament 5 the T^efires of the Teopkh the Safety of our Religion i the Nature of but Confiitution i the Balance of Europe i and the Rights of Mankinds He gives the plan or defign of this Book, in his Epiftle Dedicatory to the Duke of New<-^ castlB, ** The new Limitations of thtGrowi^ " fays hcy aire the fiibjeft of the following '^ Difcourfe^ which is writtcn> firft, to con- ^^ vin€c pur own People of their future fafc- " ty againft Popery ftnd Arbitrary Power | " and that his prefent Majcfty has not only " siade us a freer Nation thin he found us^ '^ but has alfo rais'd our Liberty to a degree '^ fcarce to be exceeded by all his fuccefforsJ '* Secondly, to Ihow all perfons both at home ** and abtoid, that the Proceedings of the ** Parliament on this occafion are agreeable " to the Principles of Jiiftice and the ends of* '^ all gctod Government, as well as accdrding to *' the conftant pradice of this Kingdom : And *^ thirdly, to acquaint the Houfe of Hanovef ^ with the true natui'e of their Title^ and the *« frame of that Government to which they 1^ are like to fucceedi what confidence but <« People tepofe in their Virtues from his • Mafefty's Recommendation / how alive they *^ may command the LoVe.of thelt Subjeds, *^ ,anci when dead enjoy the Veneration of all ^ Pofterity/'
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lii THELIFEOF
THE King having fent the late Earl of Macclesfield to Hanover with the A£t of Succeflion, Mr. Toland took this opportuni* ty to go thither. He prcfented his Anglia Libera to her Eieftoral Highnefs the Princcfs Sophia, and was (30) the firft who had the honour of kneeling and killing her Hand on account of the Aft of Succeffion. The Earl of Macclesfield was pleas'd to recommend him, particularly to Her Highnefs. Mr. To- land ftay'd there five or fix weeks : and up- on his departure, their Highnefles the Elcftrels Dowager, and the Eieftor, were pleas'd to prefent him with feveral Gold Medals, as a princely acknowledgment for the Book he had wrote about the Sacccflion, in defence of their title and family. Her Highnefs con- defcended to give him likewife the Pidures of herfelf , the Eieftor, the young Prince, and of her Majefty the Queen of Prufl[ia> done in oil colours. The Earl of Maccles- field in his return, waited upon the King at Loo, and gave an Account of his Nego- tiation to his Majefty. ^' There, fays Mr. To- ^* iAND(3i)> he prefented me to kifs his ^« Majefty's Hand, and took off thofc imprefe ** fions which might have been made upoiv ^* him, by fome of them who endeavour'd ** to prepoffefs him againft thofc that were
^^ the
()o) See the Actwnt ef th§ Court of Ummtr^ f. m. 49* 4if €9»taidVmdicius tibnittSf p* 1541 ijj* (}i) 4n Jfcomn^ Sec* p. 6^ r-^^^i^
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Mr. TOLAND. liu
'^ the moft zealous for his fctvicc, and the " moft faithful in his Intcrefts. My Lord " himfcif went with a prc|udice agalnft me ** to Hanover, where he was throughly unde- ^' ceiv'd, and became my hearty Patron, till *^ juft on his going home he was rcmov'd by *' death from the fervice of his country and '^ his friends.
O N the 1 1*^ of November, a Proclamation was iflfued out diflblving the prcfent Parlia- ment, and calling another to meet the jo* of December. While the Candidates were making intcrcft in their refpeftivc Counties, Mr. ToLAND publifh'd the following Advcr- tifement in the Poft-Man (32) : There having ieen d piibUc Repdrt as if Mr. Toland Jlood for Blecbingley in Surry ^ 'tis thought fit to ad- vertife that Sir K0nT.Kr Clky r 01^ has given his Interefi in that Borough to an eminent Citizens and that Mr. Toland hath no thoughts of ftanding there or any where elfe. This Advertifement afforded matter of plea- fantry to an anonymous Writer, who pub- lifh'd a little Pamphlet, intitled : Modeftymif taken: dr, a Letter to Mr. Toland, upon his declining to appear in the enjfiing Tarr liament. He begins his Letter thus: *' A-^ f* mongft all the News of this bufy Sea- ff fon/ 1^0 ireport has affefted mc fo peculiarly.
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llv THE LIFE OF
" as that of your Inclination to fill 9 feat in ^^ the Grand approadiing Council i for I ani *^ pcrfuadcd> that not only our Civil Intercft, ^' but our Religion has fome dcpendance on ^* the Iffue of the next Debates 5 and 1 have '^ long known your T?ilchts, whether in Vo f^ liticks pr Theology, t^ be fo weighty, as ^' to qualify you at once for a Good Old " Committee Man^ and for a Member of that " Healing ^ynody th? 4jF^wbly pf divines, ^' It was with this double juftice to your " Merit th^trj ]^^^^y confounded an Acadeif ^^ mical ^pp 5 who Xpeaking^ of your. B6ok' " learn'4 Autagpnift, thp: lafc Bifbop of J^r-r " cejier, aind gravely ftyling him a Body of " ^hinityy was by me given to underftand, *^ that what , the Bifhop had in ^rqfundity^ V Mr.TpLANp made out in Latitude ^ and *^ that if the one.w^s Carpus Theologia^ the ^? pthey was Tra^^taS'theokgico-foliticfs :
THE King's Sppeph at the opening pf the; Parliament gave Mr. Toj^^and occafion to pub- lifti, Taradoxex pf^tate, felating to the pre- fint jun^ure qf affairs in England ana the X(fi of Europe \ chiefly grounded on his Md^ jd^f^:pri^ce}j/ypi^us^ andmfl.grdcips Speef^\
. SOpN after hp- put out another Pam- plilet, containing, I. Reafonsfor addrejjmg hii
^^Mftj fffffV^fftnf^p^ their High-
neffes,
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;Mr. T DC and:' Iv
nejfesy the Eledtrefs dowager and the Elec- tor at Trince of Hanover : And Ukewife^ IL Reafonsfor attainting and. akjuring the pretended "rrince of Wales ^ ana all Qt hers pretending .any ciaitri^ right y or title from the late King] AMES and ^een Mary* fFith ^ Arguments far making d vigorous War againfi France. 1702^ 4^.
- THIS was writ againft by Luke Mil- •^BURN, in a Pamphlet call'd, AnAnfwer to Mr. Toland's Reafons for addreffim his Majefty to invite into Englmd their. Wgh^ neffeSj' theEleiirefs /Dowager and the E- ledtoral Trince.af Hanover. And alfo to his Reafons for attainting tht. pretended Prince (f Wales ^i^LC. 1702,40..
Mr.ToLAND had the fatisfoaibn to fee that the Parliament i^z^'danAiiforthe Attainder of the pretended Trince of Wales of Hi^ Treafon : and another ^^/^r the further Secu- rity of his Majejifs perfon, and the Succejfion of the Crown in the Trot eft ant Line^ and eoe- tinguifhing the hopes of the pretended Trinae of Wales and all other Pretenders and their open and fecret abettors^ which enjoined the taking an Qath of Abjuration of the Pre- tender. The King gave his Royal Affent' to thcfc two AQ:s by Commiflion, on the 2^ and 7*^ of Marchj ancl died pn i;he 8* of, the
*D4 THE
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THE difference which had happcnU the year before between the two Houfesof Colii- vocation, on account of their Jtirildidion, hay- ing occafion'd fever al Pamphlets, wherein a relation was given of their Proceedings againft Qhrifiianity not Mjfterious $ and Mr- Tolanj> 'finding himfelf ill us'd in thofe that were written in favour of the tower Houfe 5 he publifli'd, Vindicius Liberius; or, Mr. To- i*AND*s defence ofhimfelf, againji the Lmvtt Houfe of Convocation and others h iJiJher em {bepdes his Letters to the Tnolocutor) cer^ tain Taffages of the Booky intituPd Chrifti- anity not Myfkctions are explained, and others CorreSiedT with a full and clear Account sf the Author's Principles telating. to Chutch and State 5 ard a Juftification of the Whigs and Common-wealths-men , againji the Mifreprefentations of all their Oppofefs. 1702. i^. • • ^
'AFTER the publication of this Book, Mr. ToLAND went to the Courts of Hanov ver and Berlin, where he was received very gracioufly by the Princefs Sophia, and by the Queen of Prussia : two Princcfles, who for the delicacy of their Wit, the folidity of their Judgment, and the fublimity of their Genius^ will ever be accounted the glory of the fair Sex. Thcmoft abftrufe points of Philofo^hy were no jnore than a matter of diverfion to
them 5
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^em$, ;:»dihcy delighted in copycrfing about 'cm, wiidnnen of wit and penctratio;i, whofe notiom were new or njncomnjon. Mr.ToLAND h^d the honour to be often/ admit^c( incp their Converfation : and as he made a longer ft^y at Betlift th^n at Hanover^ fo he bad frequent opportuaitics Qf waiting upon the Queen, who took a plcafure in asking him queftions,. and h(.ari(\g his paradoicical Opinir ens. This gave hifti occ^on tp write fomc Pieces, which he pr^felitjcd to her Mjyefty. -There he writ like wife aRsiafiQq of t;he Courts of Pruffia and Hanpver. \
APTER his return into Englapp, he put out in i704> fome Phflofophical Lctt?|?8, thre? pf which were infcribed to Serena, that if the Queen of Pruffia, who, he afliMres us, was pleas'd to ask his Opinion concerning the fub- jcds of them : Letters to Serena : contain^ ingy I. The Origin and Force of Prejudices : IL The Hiftory of the Souts immortality a- imng the Heathens. III. The Origin of Ido- latry, andReafonsofHeathenifm. As alfo^ IV. A Letter to a Gentleman in Holland^ fbowing ^^lUozii^s ^Jiem of Thilofpphy to be without ai^ Tfinciple qr ^Qf^ndation. V., Mo- tion ejfential to Matter j in^ anfwer to fome Remarks by a Koble Friend qn the Cqnfuta^ tionof^^i^ozK. "po all which is prefix' d^ a T^reface 5 being a Letter to a Gentleman in London-, '" fent togithef with the foregoing ^ifferfatibns^ And declaring the fever al Oc-^ •^ ' capons
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cajions of writing thim\ ''fh<feIIcftcrs;Wtfc animadverted upon fey Mr. W<yr'roK, In a Pamphlet, call'd, A Letter ta^MSEfii^^ aec^ Jioned hj Mr. ToLAt^i^^s Letters r^ Serena.
' AT the fame timc^ he publifli'd ah lEngHfh Tranflation of the Life of ^yEfop by M*)'nfieilr De Me^iriac, and dedicated it to Anthony CoLi.ii*s Efq, It was prefixed to the Fables of .^fop. The Fabled of \^fop: with- the tnorat Reflexions 'of MOnJieur S a' u d o i n. Tr (inflated from the French. To A^hith^ is prefixed hy athot her hand y The true Life of ^J^fop^ by the mofl: learned and noble Critick^ Monjieur De yi^zivahCi proving by unquepiolHable Authorities y that J^sov was an iffgefkiouSy eloquent ^ and comely perpn, a Courtief and Thilofopher i contrary to the fabulous Relation of the Monk Planudej, who makes him ftupid^ ftamtnering-, a buffoon^ and monftroufly deformed;
i N the year r7Q5, he publifh'd the folr lowing Pieces :
SOCINIANISM iruly Jlated : being fn example of fair dealing tn Theologiad Controverjys. To which is prefix' d^ Jmiff^- fence in ^ijputes : recommended by a Vanr theifi to an Orthodox friend, A Pamphlet
n+' •, ; ■'■ ' "■"■ " ■■ ■ * ."
.... All
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Us) f ©land; Ihe
AN Jccamt »f theCouipti if}'Pri(ffi4 find Hanover : fent to a Minijtet fif State in HoUfitidy dedicated to the Duke* of Sp; m&itct. This Account was trahflated ihtd French, Dutch, and High-Dufc'h. Two l^tt- tcrs were ptibliftiM againft dtj 4h f)utch r ari4 indeed> 'tis but an indiflfcrent performance. '
THE Ordinancesy StatuUSi and TrHi- leges of the R^ydl Academy y efetied by hfs Majefty the King of ^ruffiay m his capital City of Berlin. Tranjlated from the Ori- ginal.
THE Memorial of the State of England, in Vindication of the ^eeni ^he "Churchy and the Admintjlration : dejign'd to rectify the mutual Mijtakes of TroteftantSy and tot unite their AffeBions in defence of our Re-^ ligion and Liberty. This was puHifli'd with-* out the name of the Author, by the direcr tion of Mr. Harley, Secretary of State, anci one of his Patrons and BcnefadOrs, againft the Memorial of the Church of England^ written by Counfcllor Pooley and Dr. Drake, with a dcfign to prejudice and influence the People in the Elcfkion of the enfuing Parlia- pient, by reprefenting the then Whig Admi- liiftration as contriving the Deftru£tion of the Churchj and coi^ntenancing ixs gre^teft cne«
mics.
Mr.
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, Mr. Tolakd's Book was animadverted up- on by Thomas BwAULiNS E% one of his intimate* friends^ in a Letter to the Author of the Memorial of the StaSe of England^ wliich contained feveral reflexions againft the Duke of Marlborough's Condud the pre- ceding Campaign^ as wellasjigaioftMnHAR- LEY. This Pamphlet did very much exafpe- jate them i and Mr. WulliaM Stephens, Redor of Sutton in Surrey, being found the Fublifher of it, and refuting to be an evi- dence againft Mr. RAyLiNS, he was fen- tenced to ftand in the Pillory : but that fen- tence was afterwards remitted.
Mr. )Foj#AND was direded to anfwer Mr. Kaulins's Letter; whereupon he composed another Pamphlet, intitled : A T^e- fence of her Majejifs Adminiftration : par- ficuiartjty againft the notorious forgeries and, calumnies wifh which his Grace tne ^uke of Marlborough, and the right honouraite Mr. Secretary Harley, arefcandaloujly de- fanid and ajpers'd in a lat^ fcurrilous In^ veifive, entitukd, " A Letter to the Author ** of the Memorial of the State of England.** This Anfwer was immediately put tx> the prefs : but for fome particular reafons it wa^ fupprefs'd, when fix or fcycn {hee|s were al^ icady printed.
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Mr.HARLEY having accidentally founds a- mong fomc other Manufcripts, a Piece call'd^ Oratio ad excitandos contra Galliam Bri* tannos, he communicated it to Mr. Toland^ who puWilh'd it in the beginning of the year 1707, with this title: Oratio Philip- pica ad excitandos contra Galliam Britannosi maxime verb, ne de 7 ace cum viifis prae- mature agatur : fdnBiori Anglorum Concilia exhibit ay Anno a Chrijlo nato 1514* Author e Matthaeo Cardinale Sedunenfii qui Gallo^ rum ungues non refecandoSy fed penitus evH- lendos effe voluit. Tublica luce^ ^iatriha praelifhinariy & Annotationibus donavit Jo- annes Toi^andus. He puWifli'd it at the fame time in Englifh.
SOON after, he put out The EleSior ^Palatine's declaration^ lately publijVdy in favour of his ^ rot eft ant SubjeUsy and no- tiff d to her Majefty. To which is prefio^dy An impartial Account of the Caufes of thofe Innovations and Grievances about Religion^ which are nam fo happily redrefs'd by his Electoral Highnefs. This he publifh'd at the requeft of the Eledor Palatine's Minifter, who at that time had foine particular reafons to make himfelf acceptable to his Mafter : for he de/ired to be raifed from the title of -Rcfident to that of Envoy. Accordingly be- ing informed by Mr. Toland, with whom he was intimately acquainted^ of his defign
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of going Into Germany^ he encouraged hlni .to wait upon the Elcdor, and gave hiin; In-
ftrudion? €onccrning the management of this Affair.
Mu ToLANb fct Out for Germany towards the middle of the Spring. He, went firft to Berlin : but an incidenti too ludicrous to be mentioned in thefe Memoirs, obliged him to leave that place fooner than he eipeded. Prom thcnc? he went to HanoVer, where he found that they Were not pleas'd with fomc Obfervations he had made in his Account of the Court of Hanover^ on the territories of a neighbouring Prince- He proceeded to Duffeldorp, and was very gtacioufly received by his Eledoral Highnefs, who, in Gonfidera-^ tion of the Englim Pamphlet he had pub-» lifh'd, prcfented him with a Golden Chain and Medal, and a purfe of . a hundred Ducats^ He went afterwards to Vienna, being com- miffion'd by a famous French Banker, then in Holfand, who wanted a. powerful protedion, to engage the Imperial; Minifters to procure liim the title of Count of the Empire^ iot which he was ready to pay a good fnm of money : but they did not think fit to meddle with that affair, and all \i\% attempts p]X)ved tmfuccefsfuL From Vienna he vifited Prague in Bohemia, where the Irifh Francifcans gavd him the Teftimonial above-raention'd. And iu>w his money being all fpcnt^ he was
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forced to make a hard Ihift to get back to HoUahd/ where heitaJj^'d till the year 17 lo,
BEING at the Hffgue, he publifli'd in 1709. a Volume containing two Latin Dit Tertarions : the firft he call'd, Adeifidaetnm^ five Titus Livius k fuperjtitione viiidicdtus. In qua 13ijfeTtatione frobatuty Livium Hi- ftoricum in Sdcris^ TrodigiiSy & Ofientis Romanorum enarrandis, haudquaquam fuijfe creduium aut fuperftiiiofum i ipfamque fuper- ftitumem non minus Reifublica {fi nan md- gis) exitiofam ejfey quam purum putum Athe- ifmum. Autore J. Tolando. He prefixil to it, Epiftola {qu£ ^rafationis vices Jiipplere pqffit) ad T)o. Antonium Collinum At- migerumy non magis integritate morum quam ingenii dotibus confpicuum virum. The fe- cond Diflcrtation bears the title of, Origines yudaicae : five^ Strabonis de Moyfe & Re* ligione Judaica Hiftoriay brevitet illufirata. In this Diflcrtation he gives us Strabo's paf- fage in Greek and Latin, with his Obferva- tions upon it, wherein he feems to prefer the Account of that Pagan Author concerning Moses and the Jcw^ Religion, before the Teftimony of the Jews themfelves : a moft extravagant imagination ! In the fame Diflcr- tation, he ridicules Huetius, who in his ^emonjhratio Evangelica^ affirms that fome eminent perfons recorded in the Old Tefta- ment are allegorized iu the Hcathenifli My- thology i that Moses, for inftan<:e, is undcr-
ftood
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£toQd by the name of Bacchus, Typho, Sr- i^Eifvsy Priapus, and Adonis. And here M^. ToLAND does not feem to be much in the wrong. However, Huetius was greatly provok'd zt this attacks and he exprefs'd his rcfentment in a French L^^f^r, firft publilh'd in the Journal of Trcvoux, and afterwards printed with fome ^iffertatians of HuEXiUsii coUefted by Abbot Tilladet (33).
THE5E two Differtations of Mr. To* liA^D^werc anfwercd by Monfieur la Faye, JWinifter at Utrecht, in a Book printed in i709> calfd, "Defenfio ReligianiSy nee nan Mofis & gent is Judaic £ contra duas ^ijfertatienes Jo. ToLANDi, quarumunainfcribiturj Adcifidac- mon i altera vero^ Antiquitates Judaicae : and by Monlieur Benoist, Miniftcr at Delft, in his Milange de Remarques Critiques^ Hifio- riqueSy ThihfophiqueSy Theologiques^ fur les deux T>i^ertations de Mr. Toland, intitu- leeSy tune: THomme fans Superftition, c^ t autre \ les. Origines Judaiques, ^c. Printed atPeifti7i2^
H E likcwife put out at Amfterdam in 1 709* a fecond Edition of OratioThiliffica &c : to which he fubjoin'd an InVcftiVe againft the Au-* thor of a Rhapfody publifti'd monthly at Pa* ris> under the title of Mercure Gdant^ where* in, as you may eafily gue^, the Condu^ of
the
(j3) See above, pag. n
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the Ailies> as well as their rc(J>caive interefts, were rcprefcnted with a notorious partiality : Gallus Aretalogus, odium or bis & ludibrium : five Gallantis Mercurii gallantijfimus fctif^ tor vapulans.
IN the beginning of 17 lo he publifii'd without his name, a French Pamphlet rela- ting to Dr. SacheV£rell: Lettre dim Anglais a un HollandoiSy au fujet du T^oc- teur SacheVerell, prefentement en or- rSt par ordre des Communes de la Grande Bretagney & accufe de hauts Crimes ^ Malverfations a la Barre des Seigneurs^ In 4t^.
WHILE he was in Holland, he hid th^ good fortune to get acquainted with Prince EuGENfi of Savoy, who gave hhtx fcvcral marks of his Geneirofity. "^
AFTER his return to England he pufe out, in 171 1, The ^efcription of Epfom^ with-fhe Humours and Toliticks of that ^{ace: in a Letter to Eudoxa (34). There is addedj A Tranjlatton of four Letters out of Pliny. Thefe four Letters he publifli'd, as a Specimen of the Tranflation he was
Vox. L *E making
C54} That Defiriptm is infertcd in this CcUeBm^ Vol. IL
SLg. 91* but With fo many Corredions, Additions^ and otes, that it is in fome meafure, a new work ; and for that reafojQ Mt« Toland called it, A 9w Vefmftitn iff
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making of Pltky's Letters \^ bat how far he carried thai dcfign, I cannot tell (3 >).
THE year following he publifli'd :
A Letter againji Topery : particularly a- gainfi admitting the Authority of Fathers or Councils in Contro'verjies of Rtligion : by Sophia Charlotte the late ^een of ^rujffla. Being an Anfwer to a Letter written to her Majejiy by Father Vota, an Italian Jefuity Confejfor to King Augustus. There is prefix d by the Tublijhery a Letter containing the occnfion of the §lueen*s wr/- ting, and an Apology for the Church of England.
HER Majejlfs Reafons for creating the EleBoral Trince of Hanover a Teer of this Realm {i^): or^ the Preamble to his Tatent as T^uke of Cambridge. In Latin and Eng^ lifh s i^ith Remarks upon the fame. In 4<'.
THB grand Myjlery laid open: namely^ by dividing of the ^rotejtants to weaken the Hanover Succeffiony jmd by defeating the Succeffion to extirpate the Trotejlant Reli- gion. To which is added^ The Sacrednefs of 'Farliamentary Securities, ^^i^/i thofe^ who wou'd irklireifly this year^ or more tndire£fly
the
(3 5) Ail the Letters he has tranflntcd are in xh\$CoU UBicHs Vol. II. pag., 48. (36) Id the year 170^.
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the next {if they live fo long) attack the pub- lick funds,
A T that time, he undertook to publifli a new Edition of Cicero's Works by Sub- fcription, and gave an account of his plan in a Differtation, entitled : Cicero illuflratuSy ^ijfertatio Vhilologico-Critica : Jive Conci- lium de toto edendo Cicetone^ alia plane me- thodo quam hoBenus unquam fa£ium. This Piece, I know, you have been enquiring after a long time : but cou'd never meet with it. It is Very fcarcc ; and the reafon is, that it was never made publick : Mr. Toland hav- ing only printed a few Copies at his own charge, to diftribute among his friends and Subfcribers(37).
IN 171 3 lie put out. An Appeal to honefi People againft wicked Trie ft s : ory the very Heathen Laity s "Declarations for Civil Obe- dience and Liberty of ConfciencCy contrary to the rebellious and perfecuting Principles of fome of the old Chrtftian Clergy ; with an Application to the corrupt part of the Triejis of this prefent time : publiflfd on OC' cajton of 2)r. SacheverellV laji Sermon.
I>UNKIRK or Dover: or the ^een*s flomur^ the Nation*s Safety ^ the Liberties
*E z of
(57") The Reader v^ill find ie \h this Coium^^ Vol. % fag. 2Z9.
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of Europe^ and the ^eace of the Worldy all at Jlake till that Fort and Tart he totally demoliflid by the French.
THE year following, he publifli'd feme other Pamphlets relating to the prcfent fitu- ation of Affairs in England : viz. *
THE Art of Reftoring: Or^ the Tiety and Trobity of General Monk in bringing about the laft Reftoration^ evidenced from his own Authentick Letters: with a juft Account of Sir Roger (3 8), who runs the Tarallel as far as he can. In a Letter to a Minifter of State, at the Court of Vienna. There were ten editions of it within a quar- tcr of a year.
AColleSiion of Letters written by his Ex- cellency General George Monk, afterwards !Di!^y&^ 1?^ Albemarle, relating to the Eejioration of the Royal Family. With an IntroduBiony proving by incontejiable Evi- dence, that Monk had projeSted that Re- ft or at ion in Scotland i againft the Cavils of thofe who woud rob him of the merit of this A6tion.
THE funeral Elogy and CharaBer of her Royal Highnefsy the late Trincefs Sophia : Wth the explication of her confecration
Medal,
( J8) The Enfl of Onfordt
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Medal. Written originally in Latiny tranjla- ted into Englijby and further illuftratedy by Mr. ToLAND, who has added the CharaSier of the King9 the Trincey and the Trine efs. This Latin Piece was written by Moniicur Cramer.
THE fame year Mr, Toland publifli'd, Reafons for naturalizing the Jews in Great Britain and Irelandy on the fame foot with all other Nations. Containing alfoy AT>e- fence of the Jews againft all ^vulgar Trejudi-^ ces in all Countries. He prefixed to it an in- genious^ but fomewhat ironical. Dedication to the moft Reverend the Arch-Biftiops, and the Right Rcveriend the Bifhops, of both Pro- vinces.
IN I7i7> he put out. The State-Anatomy 0f Great Britain. Containing a particular Ac- count of its fever al Inter ejis and TartieSy their bent and genius 5 and what each ofthemy with all the refi of Europe y may hope or fear from the Reign and Family of King George. Being a Memorial fent by an intimate friend to a foreign Minijiery lately nominated to come for the Court of Englarid. This Trad was anfwcif d by Dr. Fiddes, Chaplain to the Earl of Oxford, and by Daniel de Foe : where- upon Mr. Toland pttblifli'd. The fecond Tart of the State-Anatomyy &c. Containing a fbort Vindication of the former Tart^ a* gainft the Mifreprefentations of the ignorant
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or the malicious^ efpecially relating to our Minificrs of State and to Foreigners ; with fame RejJetiions on th(e defima Clamour a- gainft the Armyy and on the ^uedijh Confpira^ cy. Alfoy Letters to his Grace^ the late Archbi^op of Canterbury y and to the'Diffent- ing Mintjiers of all denominations ^ in the Tear 1705-6, about a GeneralTolerationyWith fome of their Anfwers to the Author : who now offers to public k Confiderationy what was then tranfaaed for private SatisfaBion 5 to- gether with a Letter from their High Mi^h- tineffes the States-General of the United ^ProvirueSy on the fame fubje£i. Mr. To- LAND ufed to prefix long Title? to his Books, the better, I fuppofe, to recommend them to the Bookfellers.
IN the Year 171 8, he publifh'd, Nazare- nus : ory Jewifby Gentile j and Mahometan Chrijlianity. Containingy the hiftory of the ant tent Gofpel of Barnabas, and the mo- dern Gofpel of the Mahomet anSy attributed to the fame Apojlle : this laji Gofpel being now fir ft made known among Chriftians. A^Oy the Original T Ian of Chriftianity occafionally ex- plain' d in the htftory of the NazarenSy where- by diverfe Controverfies about this divine {but highly perverted Inftitutioti) may be happily terminated. With the relation of an Irijh Ma- nufcript of the four Gofpelsy as likewife a Summary of the antient Irifh Chriftianity ^^ and th^ reality of the Reldees {an Order of
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Layreligiaus) againftthe two laft Bijhops.&f Worcester. Tlic Original T Ian ofChri- ftianityy according to Mr.ToLAND, was this: that the Jews, tho aflbciating with the con- verted Gentiles, and acknowledging them for brethren, were (till toobferve their own Law throughout all generations 5 and that the Gen- tiles, who became fo far Jews as to acknow- ledge one God, were not however to obferve the jfcwifh Law : but that both of them were to be for ever after united into one body or fellowfhip, in that part of Chriftianity parti- cularly, which, better than all the prepara- tive purgations of the Philofophers, requires the fanftification of the Spirit, and the reno- vation of the inward man 5 and wherein alone the few and the Gentile, the Civiliz'd and the Barbarian, the Freeman and the Bondflave, are all one in Chrift, however otherwife differing in their circumftances.
THIS Book was examined by Mr. Man- gey in his Remarks upon Nazarenus : where- in the fal/ity of Mr. Toland V Mahometan Go/pely and his mifreprefentation of Mahome- tan Sentiment Sy in reJpeB of Chrift ianityy are fet forth i the hifiory of the old Nazaraans cleared up^ and the whole conduB of the firfl Chrifvians in refpeB of the Jewijb LaWy ex- plained and defended: by Mr. Paterson, in his Anti-NazarenuSy by way of Anfwer to- Mr. ToLAND 5 ory a Treatife proving the ^di- ^ine original, apd ^pthority of the Ho h Scr^r
* E 4 ' ' ' ^^^•^' • V
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tures againft Atheifis^ JewSy Heathens y Ma* hometansy TapiftSy Spinozay and other mo- dern Errors s as alfo againfi a late Tamphlet, entitledy " ThcDiincultics and Difcouragcmcnts whidi attend the Study of the Scriptures :" and by Dr. Brett in the Preface of hisTradition necejfary to explain and interpret the Holy Scriptures: &c.
THE fame year he put out a Pamphlet, caird, TheT>eJiiny of Rome: or, the Proba- bility of the Jpeedy and final T>eftru6tion of the Vope. Concluded^ partly y from natural Reafonsy and political Obfervations \ and partly y on occafion of the famous "Prophecy of St.MKLKCUYj Archbijbop of Armagh y in the xiiV^ Century : fVhich curious Tiecey con- taining Emblematical Charadters of all the ^opesy from his own time to the utter Extir-^ pat ion of themy is not only here entirely pub- lijb'd i but Ukewife fet in a much clearer light y than has ever hitherto been done. In a Letter to a divine of the Church of the Firfii'born. . What made him trifle away his time upon this fubjeft, I will not pretend to account for : I Ihall only obferve, that this Prophecy of St. Malachy is look'd upon as a moft filly impertinent forgery by the beft Po- pifh Criticks, and has been demonftrated to be fo by the ingenious., Father Menestrier, a Jefuit. I will fend you his Remarks upon it> If you h^vc the curipfity to f?e them.
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Mr. TOLA ND. IxxiU
IN the beginning of the Year 1720^ Dr. Hare having put out a fourth Edition of his Vifitation Sermon entitled. Church Autho- rity vindicatedy &c 5 with a Poftfcript con-, cerning Mr.ToLAND, he publifh'd the fol- lowing Advertifcment in the Poft-Man (39) : ^^ Whereas the Reverend Dr. Hare, in the " Poftfcript to the 4«^ Edition of his Sermon " {Church Authority vindicated) publifli'd *^ laft Friday, fpeaking of the Right Reverend "the Bifliop of Bangor's Writings, ufes the " following words in page 48. Itmuft be aU " low' d his Lordfhip judges "Very truly y when " he faySy they are faint refemblances of ^^ Mr. Chillingworth : For envy it felf " tnujl owny his Lordjbip has fome refem- ^^ blance to that Great Man 5 juft fuch a one " as Mr. ToLAND has to Mr. Locke, who, in " Chriftianity not Myfterious, is often quoted " to fupport Notions he never dreanid of. *^ Now, this is to inform all thofe who have " not read Chriftianity not Myfterious, that I *^ have never nam'd Mr. Locke in any Edi- " tion of that Book 5 and that far from often *' quoting him, 1 have not as much as brought " one C^otation out of him to fupport No^ " tions he never dreanid of I hope Mr. Locke ** himfelf may be heard, in a matter wherein *^ he is fo nearly concerned. In the Difputc *^ between him and the then Bifliop of Wor- " cefter, Dr. Stillingfleet, his Lordfliip ** was pleased to aifirm, that what he opposed
" in (39) TU Fefi'Man^ from Jimuary 30^ to February %. x72o»
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*^ in my Book was built on Mr. Locke j of '^ which Allegation the latter, in his Second '^ Reply y fufficiently (hows the falfity. The *^ Author of Chriftianity not Myfterious (fays " he. Works y Vol. I. page 138.) fuppofesthat *' we muft have clear and dtftin£t Ideas of *^ whatever we pretend to any certainty of ^^ in our Mind. Tour Lordjbip calls this <^ a new way of reafoning. This Cen- *^ tleman of this new way of reafoning^ '* in his firfi Chaptery fays fomething which ^^ has a conformity with fome Notions ^' in my Book : but it is to be obferv'dy he *^ [peaks them as his own thought Sy and ^^ not upon my Authority^ nor with taking *^ any ndtice of me. Thus again, in page 440. ^ granting that 1 made ufe of words fomc- *' what like his (as who has read any good *^ Philofopher that does not do the fame ?) ^* / humbly conceive alfiy fays he, that he ^^ made ufe of them as his owny and not as <^ tny words h for I do not remember^ that ^^ he quotes me for them. This I am fur Cy that '* in the words quoted out of him by your Lord- ^^ fljipy upon which my Book is brought in, ** there is not one fy liable of certainty by ^* Ideas. The Bifhop himfclt was forced at '* laft to own, that Mr, Locke and I went '^ upon different grounds 3 nay he averr'd that " mine were the better (whether in juftice to " me, or oppofition to him, I leave to the ^^ judgment of the Publick) upon which Mr.' ^« Locke reply'd, pag. 44.3. / am fupp^s'd to
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" y^/, that the cauCe why I continue unfa- *^ tisfiedy isy that the Author mentioned went " upon aground different .from mine : Andy ^^ to fatisfy me^ lam told his way is better " than mine, which cannot but be thought ^^ an Anfwer very likely to fatisfy me. He ^^ fhows, ia a word, that I was mifrcprefcnted *^ as well a3 himfclf, and prcffcs the Biftiop of " Worcester, to produce the parallel places " out of him and mc; as I do hereby call ^^ upon the Dean of Worcester, to (how, " where I have often^ or once quoted Mr. ** Locke to fupport Notions he never dream' d ^^ of. As Mr. Locke then took notice, that " his Name and mine were to be join'd, no " matter what way ; fo people cannot but *^ now obferve, the fame Artifice is us'd with " regard to the Biftiop of Bangor : For which " favour, of introducing mc into fo good " Company, I thank both the Dignitaries of '^ Worcester 5 tho' I fliou'd never importune *^ any body to violate the Rules of Candor ^' and Decorum, in doing mc a like kind- " ncfs.
J. TolaiJd. London , Feb. 1.1710.
I N Anfwer to this Advertifement, Dr.HARE publifli'd the following one in the Daily- Courjljt (40) :
(40) n$ Daily CpurafHf February j. J720.
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Ixxvi tHE LIFE OF
^' Juft publifh'd, the 4'^ Edition of,
*^ The Dean of Worccftcr's Vifitation Scr- ^* mon, entitled. Church Authority wndica- <* ted. Cin the Poftfcript 1. 9. from the end, *' infteadof w often quoted^ ktA makes great " «f/^ of Mr. Ix)cke'$ Trinciples.^ Sold by " J. Roberts near the Oxford Arms in War- ** wick-lane. Price 6d.
Dr. Hare's Advertifcmcnt occafion'd the publilhing of a Pamphlet, with this title : A Jbort Ejfay upon Lyings or, a defence of a Reverend dignitary y who Jiijfers under the ^erfecutim ef Mr. Tolamd, for a Lapfus calami.
U P O N a difputc between the Irifli and JBritifh Houfes of Lords with refped to Ap- peals, the latter ordered a Bili to be brought in for the better fecuring the dependency of the Kingdom of Ir eland y upon the Crown of Great Britain^ wherein it was declared^ that there lay an Appeal from any Decree oi the Houfe of Lords in Ireland to the Houfc of Lords in Great Britain, as to the fiiptemc Court of Judicature and lafl refort. Some Pamptilets were printed at Dublin in favour of the Irifh Houfe of Lords, and to prevent the pafling of that Bill, which Mr. Tolani> caus'd to be reprinted at London : and he himCelf publifh'd on that occafion^ Reafons
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moft humbly offefd to the honourable Houfe of Commons y why the Bill fent down to them from the moft honourable the Houfe of Lords y entitledy A Bill for the better fecuring the Dependency of the Kingdom of Ireland upon the Crown of Great Britain, fkotid not fafs into a Law.
ABOl^T that time, he printed a Latin Trad, int\tled, Tantheifticon: five Formula celebrandae Sodalitatis Socraticaey in tres ^articulas divifai quae ^ ant heift arum^ ftve Sodaliumy continent y I. Mores & Axiomat^ : IL Numen & Thilofophiam: IIL Libert a-^ temy & rum fallentem Legem neque fallen- dam. ^raemittitury de antiquis ^ novis Eruditorum SodalitatibuSy ut &de Univerfo infinito & aeternOy T>iatriba. Subjicitury de duplici Tantheiftarum Thilo/Mia fequenda, ac de Viri Optimi & ornatijpmi tdeay 2)//^ fertatiuncula. CofmopoUy M.^DCCiasi. That Formula celebrandae Sodalitatis Socraticaey is written by way of Dialogue, between the Prciident of a Philofophical Society, and the Members of it. The Prefident recommends to them the love of Truth, Liberty, and Health s and encourages them to be chearful, fobcr, temperate, and free from Superftition : and in their Anfwers they declare their rea- dinefs to obferve his Precepts. He now and then reads to them paflfages out of Cicero or Seneca 5 and fomctimcs they fing all toge- ther fome Vcrfes out of the antient Poets,
fuitablc
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fuitabic to their Maxims. As to the Religi- on of thefc Philofophcrs, their name fuffi- ciently (hews what it is. They are Tanthe-^ ijisy and confcqucntly acknowledge no other God than the Univerfc. And if wc fiirthcr look upon this Piece as made up of Rcfponfcs, Lcflbns, a Philofophical Canon, and a fort of Litany, and the whole printed both in red and black j we fhall hardly forbear thinking that it was written in dcrifion of fome Chri- (lian Liturgies. He himfelf feems to have been fenfiblc, tliat he iiad too much indulged his loofe imagination 5 for he got it print- ed fecretly, at his own charge, ind but a few copies, which he diftributed with a view of receiving fome prcfents for them.
I had almoft forgot to tell you, S i r, that he prefixed before this Pamphlet a fliort Preface under tlie name of Janus Junius E0GANESIUS5 which, tho' it was his true Ghrifteh-namc, and the name of his Coun- try, yet it ferv'd for as good a cover as any he cou'd feign or invent : no body- in England, being acquainted with thefc particulars. But you fee now plainly the meaning of it. From Inis-EogaUy i. e. Eo-^ gani Inpula^ the place of his birth, he form- ed Eogane^usy as Trocormejiusy or Telopn^ nefius.
SOME
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SOM£ time after, he pubhfli'd a Book intitlcd, Tetradymus. Containing^ I. Hode- Gus ; or the Tillar of Cloud and FirCy that guided the Ifraelites in the Wildernefsy not miraculous : buty as faithfully related in Ex- odusy a thing equally pra5iis'd by other Na- tions^ and in thofe places not onely ufeful but necejfary (41). 11. CLiDOPHORUSi or of the Exoteric and Efoteric Thilofophyy that , is, of the External and Internal "T^oBrine of the Ancients : the one open and public y accommodated to popular Prejudices and the eftablifb'd Religions 5 the other private and fecret^ whereiny to the few enable and dif cretCy was taught the real Truth ftript of all difguifes. III. Hypatia i or the hijiory of a moft beaut ifuly moji virtuousy moji learn- edy and every way accompliflj'd Lady 5 who was torn to pieces by the Clergy of Alexan- driay to gratify the pride y emutationy and cruelty of their Archbi^op Cyril, commonly but undefervedly Jiitd Saint Cyril. IV. Mangoneutes : being a defence of Naia- rcnus, addrefs'd to the right reverend }oim Lord Bifbop of London s againjl his jLord-
fbi/s
(41) That Differtation was anfwer'd in a Pamphlet cali'd ; Hodegus confuted : or a flam demoTifiration^ that the Fil- Jar of Cloud and Ftre^ that guided the Ifraelites in the Wildernefs^ nvas not a Fire of human Preparation^ hut the tnofi miraculous frefeme of God : 1 7 21. In 8^. And in a Difcourfe upon the PtUar of Cloud and Ftre^ tuhich guided the Ifraelttes thro the JVildemefsy prov:n^ it to have been miraculous ; dccafiond by a J>'rJfcTtatton of Mr. Toland*i calVd Hod ecus : inlcrtcd in the Su^iifftbeca Literariay &c* lyijt Numb. V. p«g« i,^c*
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^iip's Chaplain ©r. Man gey, kis ^edicatdr Mr. PaterSon, and {who ought to have been nanid firft) the reverend 2)r. Brett, once belonging to his Lordjibifs Church.
IN the laft of thcfc Trads, addrefs'd to the late Bifhop of London, he infcrtcd his Advertifement againft Dr. Hare, with the Dodor's Anfwer. After having obfery'd *^ that certain men (+2) will neither allow ** themfelves nor others to commend an)r ** thing in one from whom they differ % and *^ that they do not ftick at faying any thing ** to his prejudice, be it ever fo improbable *^ or even falfe :" and that " thefe are the " men who give Religion the dccpeft wounds, ** and who are not only the real and moft " dangerous unbelievers, but who likewife *' tempt the unwary and inconfiderate to bc- " come fuch : for if they were heartily per- " fuaded of the dodrines of Chriftianity, *^ they wou'd not, in direft oppofition to ^^ them, abandon all truth and charity 5 nor *^ wou'd others think, they only made a *^ gainful trade of teaching thofc holy doc* ^^ trines, but becaufe they perceive their prac- *' ticc glaringly contrary to their profeflion. " Now fince I am on this head, pur Cues he, " and that, at the beginning of this Lettery I *' made out my right to demand juftice of " thofc among your Lordlhip's Clergy, who
« had
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^< had injured mci I fliall lay before you the << caufe.of fome reafonable complainr> I con* ^< ccive ro have againft Dr« Har£> a Prebea* *^ dary of your own Cathedral. This leara« /< ed geatlemaa hooking me into a work of <^ hiSy without the ieaft occafionor provoca* *^ tion, I publifh'd the following Advertifi^ *< tnent on the fecond of laft February^ in ** the Toft-man and in St. Jamefs Evening
** 5P^ (43) Every body did me all the
^ fuSciCt then^ I cou'd require on this occa« ^ iion, except Dr. Hare himfclf : who^ far ** from giving glory to God, and ingenu« *' oufly ?icknowlcdging his fault, gets inferred " in the Courant of next day, thefe words 5 *^ Inftead of, is oftm quoted^ read, makes great ^' ufe of Mr. LockeV Wnciples. Firft, " Mr. Locke peremptorily difowns, that I *^ tnade any ufe of his Trinciples^ to Ji^port ^^ notions he never dreamt ofi and, fccondly^ " it appears by the whole connexion, that ^ this emendation was not in the Dodor'$ ^^ thoughts at the beginning j or fuppoling it ^ were^ that it ferves his caufe as little as ^^ the other way of (peaking: iince I pro* ^ cced upon different Trincifles from Mr. <^ Locke, and Principles that are better, if <^ you believe the then Bilhop of Worcefter. ^* In fine, tm Slip of the Ten^ nor any of ^ the methods laid down by an ingenious *^ Vol.. I. I wri-
443) See the jUhirttfimm ^ore, ptg^^Jjcxiii.
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'^ writer (44)): can poflibly falvc the Dodor -< from pbUqwc ckaling : a$ the drawing inc *<'by: thq head and ihouldcrs into his Pam- *'-phlet, was afincccffary i if not fpightful, ^ with regard tQ me or f«ne other. I fay ^^ it again> that it wou'd have been no con- ^^ defceiifion below has dignity, iincc he *^ vouchfafed to take notice of me at all, ^^ if he had accused his memory, or in any ^f other maimer, owti'd his miftake 5 inftead of " havkig' recourfe to fhifts that deferve a ^ coarfer name, than I am willing to give, *-^ out of refpe^ I pay him on other accounts. ^5 He (hall iind no man more ready to pro- <^ claim hi3 real merit, as: I Ihall have.fomc ^* occafion to do fo, before I finiOi thisLet- '^. tcr. Uniformity of fentiments, as I have !^ alicady told your Lordfhipmore than once, ^ fliail^ nevcx be the ftaridard of my cfteemj *^ and, Candor fhall ever weigh more with ^ me, thaa Learning or Parts, which yet
V with all the 'World I highly admire^ How ^ divioq was. that faying df Prince Eugene! f^ whefe fending a mark of his favor from I'vLcifccftcrihoufe to the. reverend Mr. Whis- ^A t<m^itbulitfifirnve m>tnt all his fentimmts
Y (faid he toian impertinent zczXot) yet I i^neJiejemJhha, ^^ fuffering for what he's per^ ^^fkadettto ke^i^e truth. What a reproach 1^ is thisf to his ProteftantPcrfccutors, out
C44) A fimtBlfTf^n Ljh^ tKc
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^r. TO t AND. Ixxxiu
^ of the mcMith oi^ one of the Roman Com- '' munionr
1 N the conclufion of that Letter, he gives
the following account* of his Condud and
Sentiments : *^ Notwithftanding, fa^s he (45)^
" the imputations of Herefy and Infidelity fo
" often publifh'd by the Clergy, as'lately in
'* the vauntingeft manner by one not im-
" known to you (the whiffling and the ig-
^ norant being ever the moft arrogant and
" confident) I aflfure your Lordfliip, that the
" Purity of Religion, and the Prolperity of
^ the State, have been ever my chiefeft aims*
" CivjL Liberty and Religious Tolera-
'^ TioN, as the moft defirable things in this
" World, the moft conducing cto peace, plen-
" ty, knowledge, and every kind of happi-
" nefs, have been the two main objeffs of
" all my writings. But as by Liberty I did
^' not mean Licentioufnefs, fo by Tolera^
, " tion I did not mean Indifference, and
^^ much lefs an Approbation of every Reli-
" gion.that I coadfuffcr. To be more par-
*^ ticular, I folemnly profefs to your Lord-
^* fliip, that the Religion taught by Jesus
^ Christ and his Apostles (but not as fince
*^ corrupted by the fubftradions, additions,
^ or other alterations of any particular n^aigi
*« or company of men) is that which I infi-
^ nitely prefer before dl others. I do over
'*F 2 « and
145) Pi>fr a»$. ')Jg I
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Ixxxiv THE LIFE OF
** aiid over again repeat Christ ^nd his " Apostles> exclufivc of either Oral Tradi- •' tion, or the determinations of Synods : *' adding, what I declared before to the ** World, that Religion, as it came out of <* their binds, was no lefs plain and pure, ^' than ufcful and inftrudivci and that, as <* being the bufmefs of every man, it was << equally underftood by every body. For ^ Christ did not inftitute one Religion fojr *« the learned, and another for the vul- <' gar, &c.
IN the Preface to this Volume, there is likewife a Vindication of himfelf and his Opinions : but it is too long to be infcrtcd here.
Dn Hare publifh'd in 172 1, a Book intitled. Scripture vindicated from the Mifrefrefevr tatians of the Lord Bijbop of Bangor &c, and in the Preface, fpeaking of the Covfiitu- tions of Carolina^ he obfervcs, that by one of the Articles, none arc excluded from fet- ling in that Country, upon the account of their Opinions, but downright AtheifiSy fuchy fays iic, as the impious Author of the Pantheifti- con \ and at the bottom of the page he hath the Note following (46) : '* This Atheiftick ^* Writer not content with what he has ^ dared to print in this prophanc Piece, has,
: ^ I
(4O Pag* »i.
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Mx. TOLAND. Ixxxf
<^ I am told, in fomc Copies inferted a Prayer " in MSS. in tlicfe or the like words :
" Omnipotens & Sempiteme Bacche, qui " homnum corda donis tuis recrfas^ concede ^' pTQpitiuSy ut qui hcfternis pQCulis itgroti ^^ fait i funty hodiernis cur entur^ ^ " per pocula poculorum. How to
'< fill the blank I have left, I do not remem* ^' ber. Thus prays i\i\sVantheifi^ whofe im- " pudcnt Blafphemics loudly call for the Ani- *^ madvcrfions of the Civil Power.
AND upon further intelligence, he infer* ted this Advcrtifcment in the Errata:
"THE Prayer to Bacchus, p.xxi. beings *^ to the beft of my remembrance, in the very " words, in which 1 have heard it repeated " more than once by the fame perfon j and " yet difTering much in expreifion from two " written Copies I have lately feeffj (which '^ alfo differ from each other;) I tliought it ** would not be unacceptable to the Reader, ** to giyc him the following Copy 5 which, " whatever the other be, I c^ aflure him is ^^ from an Original.
" Omnipotens & Sempiterne Pacche, qui ^^ humanam focietatem maxume in bibendo ^^ conftituifti h concede propitiuSy ut iftorum *^ Cdpita^qui hefierna compotatione gravantur^ ^'* ' * J 3 *^ ho^
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Ixxxvi the' life of
^ hodierna leventur 5 idq\Jiat per pocula po- f^ culorum. Amen.
WHEN Dr. Hare's Book came out, I J remember, SiK, you ask'd me whether Mr. To- LAND had really writ this Prayer : I cou'd not then anfwer your queftion $ but I have fince enquired into this matter, and can now alTure you that he never dreamM of any fuch thing. The perfon, who, I am told, is the author of .. it, I will forbear to name upon the account of his profelHdn : tho', I believe, he only de- iign'd it as a ridicule on Mr. Tol and's Club of Pantheift Philofophers, whom he imagined to be jail drunkards i whereas they are grave, fober, and temperate men. Upon the whole, it muft be own'd, that as there is more wit and humour, fo there is likewife a more bare- faced prophanefs in this Prayer, than in any pafl3gt of the Tantheijlicon.
THE fame year, Mr. Toland publifli'd fome Letters of the Eatl of Shaftsbury to the Lord Molesworth, with an Introdudioni wherein, after having done juftice to the ex- traordinary parts and learning of the Earl of Shaftsbury, he gives a particular account of his principles and condud with refped to public affairs : Letters from the right ho- nourable the late Earl of Shaftsbury, to Robert Molesworth Efqs now Lord Vtf count of that name. With two Letters wrtt-
ten
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Air. T 6 1 A N 1>. Ixxxvit
ten hy the late iSV;^ John Cropley. Totsohkb is prefixed a large Introdudiion by the Editor: Thcfc Letters turn chiefly upon two points, the Love of one's Country, and the Choice of a Wife.
Mr. ToLAND had for above four years paft' liv'd at Putney, from whence he cou'd con- veniently go to London and come back the fame day 5 but he ufed to fpend moft part of the winter in London. Being in town about the middle of December, he found himfelf very ill i having been lingring for fome time before. His appetite and ftrength faird him : and a certain Dodor, who was call'd to him, made him a great deal worfe, by bringing a continual vomiting and loofene fs upon him. However, he made a fhift to return to Put- ney, where he grew better, and had fome hopes of recovery. In this interval, he writ a Differtation to fhew the uncertainty of Pliy- lic, and the danger of trufting our life to thofe who pradifc it : while by our own care and experience we might cafUy provide fuch medicines as arc proper and neceffary for us (47)- He did likcwife prepare a Preface, to be prefixed before a Pamphlet, cali'd The danger of Mercenary Parliament Sy which.it was thought feafonable to Teprint againft the *F 4 ap-
(47) That Differration, intitled, Vhy}c ^bouf Ttypdam^ h printed in this CoUiSm^ VoLII* pag* 27}.
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IxxxviU THE LIFE OF
approaching Eledion of a new Parliament. In this Piece> he dc%n'd to fet forth the in- finite mifchiefs of long and t>ack'd Parliaments : but he cou'd not finifh it s for he died on Sunday the ii*^of March 172 1-2, about four a-dock in the morning. He behav'd himfclf throughout the whole courfe of his ftciaiefs with a true philofophical patience^ and look'd upon death without the Icaft perturbation of mind ; bidding farewell to thofc about him^ and telling them, he was going U Jleep.
SOME few days before be died, he made the foUowmg Epitaph :
H» S. E.
JOANNES TOLANDUS,
^ui, in Hibemia prope T^eriam natut^
In Scotia & Hibemia fiuduit^
Quod Oxonii quoque fecit adolefcensi
jit que Ger mania plus feme I petit a^
Virilem circa Londinum tranfegit £taten:**i
Omnium Liter arum excultory
Ac Linguarum plus decern fciens.
Vfritatis propugnatory
t^ibertatis ajfertor: '
Nidffus out em Senator aut Cliens,
NiC minis, net matis eft inflexus,
J^in, quam elegit, viam^perageret j
• <- Uttlt
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Mr. TOLA KD. Ixxxix
Utili honeftum anteferens, Spiritus cum athereo patre;^ A quo frodilt olimy conjungitur : Corpus item^ nature cedensy In materno gremio reponitur,. Ipfe "veto aternum eft refurredturus. At idem futufus Tolandus nunquam. NatusNov. 30.
Cetera ex Scriptis pete.
THUS^ S y R, I have in ob^edicaec to your commands, an4 to die bcft of my ability, given you an Account of Mr. Toland, as ofx Author. 1 have, 1 prefiune, taken notice of all the Pieces he has publilh'd 5 but did not think it worth the while to mention his Pro-^ jcfts. He hardly put out a Book, but he pro- mised in it one or two ixiore : which may help fome learned German Biographer, to enlarge Almeloveen's Bibliotheca promijfa & la* ^ens. The moft confidcrable of thefc Pror jcfts, and Which, I believe, he intended to purfue in good earned, was his Hiftory of the Druids. But I am credibly informed, that he had not fo much as be|;un it. He has, howe- ver, left a very curious Specimen of it, in three Letters to the Lord Mqlesworth (48). ■ • ; - ■ X
(48) Yhftt Sfecimm the Reader ^ill $nd in this CoU^-
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xc THE LIFE OF
I (hall not enter into Mr. ToI/ANO's per- fonal Charafter, fincc you have not required it of me. Nor will I mention what has been faid of him by other Authors; fome of which have carried their partiality fo far, that they won't even allow him one fingle commend- able quality. 111 give you an inftance of this, from a late weekly Writer. After having mifteprefcnted fome circumftanccs of his Life, he proceeds thus :
<^ HIS- Misfortunes, fays he (49), are to " be afcribed to his Vanity 5 he afFeded fln- " gularity in all things, (an eafy way of be- " ing diftinguifhed) he would rcjeft an Opi- " nion, merely becaufe an eminent Writer " embraced it s he had a Smattering in many " Languages, was a Critick in none 5 his Style " was low, confufed, and difagreeable 5 he " prefix'd ajafeded Titles to his Trafts, in imi- " tation of fome ancient Philofophers, in ^' which he loved to talk of himfelf, and that in a moft complaifant manner. Dabling in Controverfy was his Delight, in which he was rude, pofitive, and always in the wrong. His being known to the world, ^' is owing chiefly to the Animadverfions of " learned Men upon his Writings, ampng ^' whom 'twas a common trick in their Dif-
" putes
(49) ;7T&f FreehUers JoufnaU March 21, I)*!*
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tc
iC
Mr. TQLAND. xci
^^ putes with one another, to charge their <^ Advcrfary with an agreement to, or re- *^ femblance of Mr. Toland's Notions, as " the greatcft Infamy, and the fhreft Crite- ^^ nan of Error. No man that wrote fo ^' voiuminoufly againft Religion, has ever ^^ done fo little mifchief 5 'tis a Queftion whe- ^^ ther he was more pitied by the pious part " of mankind, or defpifcd by his fellow In- *^ fidels. He was happy in one circumftancc, *^ that he expired the fame Day with the Par- " liament (50), whereby the little ftream of *^ his Impiety Tcaped the notice of thofc, who " had their eyes fix'd upon the abatement of " a deluge of Iniquity."
YOU eafily perceive. Sir, that fevcral things here are overftrain'd, or purpofely fug- gefted to make Mr. Toland odious and con- temptible. After all, it muft be own d, that he might have employed his Talents much better than he has done. But he had the misfortune to fall into an , idle indifcreet way of living, which he indulged to his death, notwithftanding the repeated advices and re- monftrances of his bcft friends. It were to be wifli'd, he had confider'd that Wit and Learning don't go a great way to make one
efteem'd
(50) Mr. Toland did not exf/re the fame day with the Parliament, He died on the eleventh, und the Purliamcnt was dilTolv^d on the tenth of Marck
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xcii THp LIFE, &C.
cftecm'd and rcfpe£tcd in the world, if they are not attended with thofc focial Virtues, which arc the ornaments as well as the dutic§ of every man.
I am.
S xu,
Your moft humble and
moft obedient fervant
/A N
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AN £ L E G Y
On the late in^ehibtis Mr. T o jl a n d ♦•
OToLAND r mighty ftietid to iiacUr4f*S laws. Thou great fupponj of Tnithiind Reafbn's caufe ; Art thou no more ? Is thy laft breath expired ? And nature to her ancient feat rctir'd ? Each jarring element gone angry home ? And Mafler Toland a Non-ens becomb' ? Is all thy eloquent bi-eath, thy wond'rous boaft Of argument, in boundlefs iEcher loft ? Earth gone to earth, the mouldering fubftance muft. By ilow degrees, diflblve to native Duft. The cooler fluids, and the wat'ry part That dampt thy blood, and quench'd thy noble heart. Now leave the ftiff unanimat^d clay. And to their mother Ocean fcek their way. The purer genial pow'rs, the vital flame, . That mov'd and quickened the mechanick frame. Is flown aloft, a fpark, a borrowed ray. And reunited to the Prince of Day. Oh ! weep, Britannia's fons^ your chamjiffon's dead* The patron of your Liberty is fled. O Libeny ! thou Godd^fs heavenly bright ! That doft impart thy radiant beams of light To this bleft Iflc, which of thy darling train. Will, like this Hero, thy juft caufe maintain ? How greatly brave has he undaunted ftood Againft a torrent, an impetuous flood.
Of
♦ThisEttGY was publifhM feme days after Mr. To- i^ANp'ii PcAch i and 'tis a matter of doubc with fomc people^ whether the Author defign'd topraife w to ridicule him.
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AN ELEGY.
Of bigotted Enthufiafts, and tricks Of Pedantry, and prieftly Politicks ! Thou pxtgntLQt Genius, who thy praife caii t^I ?^ Thy Reafon 4id, like morning fun, dilpei . Dark clouds of Ignorance, and break the fpell Of Rome's Inchantmcnts, and the leflcr frauds Of Churches Proteftant, and Englifli Liwuds. To thee we owe, to thy viftorious hand, A refcu d People, and a ranfom'd Land. Thou haft broke crfT out manacles atid chains, And freed our minds of fuperftitious pains. Thy finning lamp ha« brought refpiendent day, * Finely defa'ib'd the plain and eafy way. Cleared of the rubbifti x)f myfterious Schods, ^ And mazes intricate of pious fools, >
Enflav'd to narrow Forms, and captivating Rules- J Oh ! hadft thmi liv<l to banilh all the Dreams Of fab'lous Ages, and the Monkifh Themes Of Miracles, of Myfterles, and Tales, (Where fancy over common fenfe prevails) Then might we mourn thy fate with lefs concern. With lefs regret behold thy facred Urn. Howe'er, thy great example has infpir'd A noble emulation, it has fir'd The glowing breafts of our Britannick Touth, With love of Liberty, and love of Truth* Thou ha<l not left us in the gloom of night. Some Stars we have, that lend a friendly light. That flied a kiiid, aufpicjious influence. To cherilh Reafon, and to ripen Seafe.
T H JB
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V
THE
CONTENTS
O F T H E
FIRST VOLUME
Specimen of the Critical Hiftory of . the Celtic RciigiQu and Learn- ing.: containing an AccxHint of the Druids, &c. Pag. i
Mr. Tate's Queftions about the Druids and other Brittifti Antiquities, with Mr. Jones's Ahfwer to them^ 1 84
Catalogus njocum (^uarundam Armoricarum quas Hibernicas ejfe defrehendi. 204
Vocabularium Armor icoHibernicum. ziz
A Specimen of the Armorican Language. 220
Cicero
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THE CONTENTS.
Cicir4 iikfiratuSj ^ijfertatio Thilologicih CritlcAiJwe Qoncilium de toto edendo Ci- cerone y alia plane methodo quam ha£lenus unquam faifum, 229
CanjeBura verqpmilis de prima Tjpographia invent tone. 297
JJD^ generey locOy & tempore mortis Jordxi^i Bruni Nolani. 304
An Account of JordAno Bruno's Book, of the infinite [ Univerfe and impir^eralne
Worlds. . J . i . _ : jid* _
A Catalogue of Books mentioned by the Fa- thers and other ancient Writers^ as truly or falfly afcrib'd to Jefus Chrift, his A- pO(Ues> and other eminent Perfons. 3 56
Th? Secret Hiftory of the South-Sea Scheme.
. •■ '404
^ The Scheme or pra^ical Model of a Nitionai Bank. 44'
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A
SPECIMEN
OF THE
CRITICAL HISTORY
OF THE
CELTIC RELIGION
AND LEARNING:
CONTAINING
An Account of the Drui os, or the
Pricfts and Judges ; of the V a i d s^ or the Diviners and Phyficians j and of the B a r d 5, or the Poets and Heralds of the antient Gauls, Batons, Irifli and Scots,
WITH THE
Hi/l<ny cf A BAR IS tke Hyperborean, Prieft of the Sun.
In THREE LETTERS
T O The Right Honourabls
THE ^ t O R D
yiSCOUNT MOLESWORTH. Vol. I. A
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3 1 f .1
/ I . J ' -
/••M
:i;iir;' r^i
M t;. )i)l ;i,..T
1 i^i. .\3 \i I ^
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(i)
tHE TO
The Right HiONOURAiLE
THE LORD VISCOl!rNT MOLESWORtH,
OME men. My Lord, from a natural grcatnefs of {qui, and others from a fenfe of the w^t of Learning in themfclves, or the advantages of it in dthfcrs, have many times liberally coh-
ttibuted towards the advancement oif Letters.
But wheh they, whofe excellent natural parts
arexichiy cultivated by found Literature, under-.
take the protedion of the Mufcs, \iritcrs feel
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4 THE HISTORY
a double incouragcmcnt > both as they arc hap- pily iaablcd to pcrfeft their ftuHies, and a$ their Patrons are true judges of their performance^, Tis from tliis confideration alone (abftraded, Mr LoRp, from all that you have already done, or may hereafter deferve from your country , by an unlhaken love of Ltbeity) that I prefume to acquaint your Lordfliip with a de%n, which J formed fevcral years ago at Oxford, and which I have ever fincc kept -in view 5 coliefting, as occafion prcf?ntcd, whajevcr^ might any yyqy tcnsl to the aiJvaatagp or perfe^ioti.cif it. [ Tis to write TheHifiory oftkeDKViDS, contain- ing an account of the antient Celtic Re- jLiGioN and Literature 5 and concerning whi(:h I beg: your patience for;. a little. wljilc. Thothis be a fubjed, that will be naturally entertaining to the curious in every place 5 yet it does more particularljr concern tlie inhpibi- tants of antient Gaule, (tlbw Tl-ance, Flanders, the Alpine regions, and Lombardy) and of all the Britifh Ifland^, whofe antiquities are hcr^ partly explain'd and illuftrated, paitly vindica- ted and refto/d. It will fpupd fomewhgtjKid- ly, at firft hearing, that a man born in the moft northern (i) Peninfula of Ireland^^ fhou d un-
j ' dcrtakc
(i) 'This pcnlnfiila IS ^//.BofirfAi,' Vulgarly En^^feipw, In %hole Ifthmus ftands thecity of Lond<Jiiderry, irfeJf a pe- ninfula, and, if the tradition be tnie, originally a fampus Grove and School of the Druids. Hence comes thfe very n^me pair^, corruptly pronpupc'^ i^/^j7i which in Mitt: fignlfies a Qrcve, particularly of Oaks. The great COlum- BA chang'd it into a College for Mbilks (who in his time wer^ r^^ir'4: laymen, that Jiy.'d by xbe labor of their
hands)
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or THE DRUIDS. ^
demke to fct the Antiquities of Giiule iii H clearer light than any one ha^ hitherto dohei But when 'tis cOnfider'd> that, ovel: ind aboV'c vhat he knows in common, I'elatlng tb the DauiDS, with the leijfned of the French ni- tion^ (whofe works he conftandy reads With uncommon eftcerii) he lias alfo certain othet advantages, which hone of thofe writers have ever had: wheni this, Ifay, fc confider'd, theft
: , A 3 an
bnds) as moft <^oinipbniy the ikcirei places o# tlie"I|^
thens, if pleaiknt or commodious, were converted to tB#
like me by the Chriftlans after their o#ii mamier. Th?l
Derry is the Rohretutn ox* Camfus rohmrm^ mentiOii'd by
BeDE in his Ecclepafiicai Hiftory : but not ^riimstha^ now
jirmaiby in the fanie province oi^ Ulfter, as ihany have
erroneoufly conceived j nor yet Durwgmh^ now Durr0tigt\
in that 01 Leinfter, as fome have no le(s groundleflyrfan*
cy'd, among 'iJlrhom Archbiihop tlSHfeR- Dearmach is com*
pounded of Dm'r an •ak and the antieht word Math (nd#
Mgthaire) 2i field. They who did not know io much, havt^
imapnM it fJrom the mere found to be Atmagh^ which, fat
fromCampus roiofum^ fignifies the height ir muHt p/MACHAi
(fumamed Mongru^dh Qr redhair'd) a Que^i of Ireland, and
the only womati that eVer fway'd the fbvereign fceptre
of tkit kingdom. But Armach nevisr was. a moniltery
founded by COlumba, yrho in BfiD^Vtimei^ caU'd
t CoLUiM-ciLlE, as he's by the Irifh to .this day : where^
ks it Was from the monafterics of D&fy and Ucohn^-
iiB Cwhich laft, tbo the fecond erefted, bicame the firft
indignity) that all the other monafteries dedicated to CO«
lUMBA, whether in Jcptlaxid or Ireland,, Were fo many
colonies.* This is attefted by the juft mciition'd** Bbdb*
no lefs than by all the Iriih Anuslffis fuice their itveral fouii**
dations.
* Fecerat antem [ColumiaI priSis hmba: nomiae,,C^£tt]iCctL%t toiler ^iHia in Britaaniam vchittt monafte- tvfi IbiJ. lib. $. cap. lo. luim nobile inHibei&ia> quod a Co- ** "Six quo uttoqttemonaftolo.M fU rob. snm Deatmach lingua Scoto* , plurima cxinde monaft^ria, pei diw tarn koc eft Ciifi^'ro&tfNiNf, iRkator. cipulos ejal, & i&. Britandiii <& IdT S{fi. Ec^f, iib. 3, cap. 4.. .. : •. ' Hibexaia propag»ta fant^ i» ^uibnif t Qs^i, viddicet' ColumbA^ ikvtoi omnibus' idem' m^oiM^lvnum inCi^^ A VovivUiS) compofito a CelU & Co^ aum, in quo ipfe requieCcit cov^ottf
jjiincipatumtcaet. l(nd, Hb,s*^i^€
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6 THE HI&TORY
all tl)c worv^r about tliis affair will inftantiy ccafc. Yec kt it bo fhiU rcmcmber'd, diait whatever accompli(bmeiit may^ cbniift in ^ knowlccige of langaages^ no language is f ealiy valuable, but as fiar as it ferves to * convctfc wit& ^e living, on to learn from the dead ; and therefpre were that knowledge of times^ and things CQntaln'd ia Lapponian, which we draw Crpqi th$ Greec^ and that this la£b were^ as bar- r(}ri as the firft : 1 (hou^d then ftudy Lapponian, andncgleftGreccj for all its fuperiority over ttibft tongues, itii rcfpe^ <^ ipnprpu? ^KOMmr <;iatioo, wpioufnefe c«f wools, and* variety- of expreffion. But a? the pj;ofbund;ignpra^ce ar^d flavery of the prcfentrGr6ec;s does not? bti»der> but that dheir anccftors were the mcrflj learned^ fplit^y and fres: ^^5 ^U i^ufppe.^ natipn* 5 fo no.rG^solutiovi tbathas befalleii any or all of the Celtic colonies, can. be a juft prqufiice a^juift the trulyw ancients and> undoubted monuments they may be able to furijifh, towards ipjprpving pr reftoring any point: pf Learning. Whether Acre be any,fuc^ moiiumcn^ or not, and how % ^fc;fUl Qr,agrie,eat?lp, wiU i|» tfcft following ibccts. appear.
lie AiM.CXRQ. thoTe Inftitutions which arc thou^t to- be irrecoverably loft^; one is tbaf of the Druids i of which the I^earned have hi- therto ^p^Tyjiijcrthino^ h[jif,by.fftrjiftBrAgmejBj» ^prtcerp^rngthem out of tti^%C3¥:a;pi^:4plW aluhorsi Noi are iux^ Fora^nentf aii^y^JptfKl^ ligible, bc/»0l£,nc;v'ex^xf^au^^^
■ ' who
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iKkywtreslimdilA' th»Cttlli&<lidlcAsr K»hi«^ aac ilcMrpi«i6ipia|^'fi)i; namelf I^Sn^ or rtM^ iiifiilaiBliisiffi^ Cimtifi i&tKA cxdtid, ^^dnhl.
ittpuallyctbeir oWtt dkfeaisr at(v WiHi r<l^c^. twenhochor «k( «6e oid Cdtb €^<ittiil«, j» tkvfepcraiifiaMb^f tile Genmtt' Itttguage andl theI.0w£tacdH di&^w«difh, Dimi^ lffopw«u gfauvandilftiURdlc^ iv^idiatiealt^dttlttcildftii^of ihcit aM»»an«iotfi6r, the 6oiAto Kf^eAaC^ cfcv fudF a> tlun^ as a puee Godlk- or Ceftic Ibagoa^ cai^Hs ^d Of couiU exiftiftafly a«»Wti^ ioMcvB^nvtiiS^wxdbisdky noioiore tI^|f gosr- elenunts;: bur by fivcki ati' oeighial !««• goage: is; meant rile common nsktr amd tFUtitii, dterprinaCHWOKft,. andc^«ciaUy'thr((eeciliatt cootaidiDa- tliac runs- tdtro^ aU< thfl bcaiiche»f wJuacBby ifaeyapc intdligibktJS' eocb orhctf, «t any eaily btoome ibi but difSsrtnv firom ail binde a£ fjuecb befides^. Thus tlve Celtfia mA tiscGotiiu^ \vi»cH'ba\% beon often takucn- JBcii cacbothov »:e as diffeient^itt Latin and Am* bic. ImlilcrmattnetAviieccmeeive' of tbeinvt', al idioms' o^ the Ohfoe lai^age ferniofly^-ift fiiccece kM£' properly fo call'd, inMaccdlslik^ kbOreteandthcrltands^of thcArchlpdii^ ia Ma^ BOiodts, pdrc of Itafy, in Sktly^ dnvt Mas£iil^$ andait<tld»time ofi^e Sdai^^DNiMi lan^a^Cr 'whofe. dialcOs not only prctraU^in Sjima, Poland, Bohemia, Carijathia, andiSt* ^i A 4 via,
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via, but in a great many ether places, too tt^/ dious to recite. But of thi$ fttbied we fliatt. treat profeffcdly in a (2) ^ifferiatim to be an- nex'd to the work, whereof I am giving your Lordfhip an actx>unt« Neither (hall I in thb ^^/«^im dwell (HI ipmethu3^i whereof I (hall principally Mid largely treat in the deftgn'd Hi- fiory 5 I mean, the Phitofophy xrf the Druids cQupernitigthe Gods, human Souls, Nature in general, and in particular the heavenly Bodies, their mag^tucles, ^notions, diftances, and du- ra^onj whereof Cesar, Piodorus Siculus, Strabo, Pomponius Mela, andAMMiAKUs Marc£|.(.imus writemore fpccially than others. Thefe fubdcAs, I fay, will be copioufly handled and commented, in my Hijiory. In the mean time I do aflfure you, Mr }U)rd, from all authors, that no Heathen Prieflhood ever came up to the perfedion of the Druidical, which was for more cxquidte than any.other fuch fyftem $ as having been much better calculated to beget Ignorance andanlmplicitc difpoiition in the people, no. leis than to procure power and profit to the Priefts, which is one grand difference between the true worftiip and the &lfe. This Weftera Priefthopd did infinitely exceed that of Zoro*- ASXER, and all the Eailern facted policy ; &> i^thg Hifhry of the^ruidsy infhortj is the €omlete HifiQty af Trieftcr^fty with all its realo^s and refibrts 5 which to diftingUifli acctK «Sely Irqro jright Religion, is not only the iQ-
' (2) A DlSSBKTA¥lOK tmemtng the Celtic LtmgU0^ smd
s. f w ^ tereft
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OF THE DRUIDS. p
tereft of all wife Princes and States^ but hkc* wife does fpccially concern the tranquillity and happincfs of every private perfon. I have ufed the word ^rieft craft here on purpofc^ not merely a$ being the beft expreflion for the de- Ugn'd abufe and revcrfe of Religion, (for Super- ftition is only Religion mifunderftood) but alfo becaufe the coining of the very word was occa- fion'd by the Druio s : lince the Anglo-Saxons haying learnt the word ^ry (3) from the Irifli and Britons for a Magician^ did very appoHtely call Magic or Inchantment ^rycneft (4) ; as being nothing elfe but trick aiul illufton, the £>urbery of Priefts and their confederates^
III. NOW, this Inftitution of the Druids I, think myfelf, without any confdoufnefs of vanity, much abler to retrieve (as having in- finitely better helps in many refpeds, of which^ before I have done) than Dr. Hyde was to re- ftorc the knowledge of the antient Perfian Lite- rature and Religion; which yet he left imperfcdr for want of due encouragement, as I have ftiown in the firft chapter oi Mazaretms. From un^ doubted Celtic monuments, joki'd to the Greec and Roman remains, I can difplay the order of their Hierardiy, from the Arch-Druid down to the meaneft of their four orders of Pricfts. Of theie degrees, the Arch-Druid excepted, there's litde tabc found in the Claffic authors,
()) Fronounc'd as X)r«« in EnglUh.
(4) Pjy magusy Drycri^t incantatia. ^Ifrh. in Qlojfar, ^
that
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riwt ti«* of the ©wicfc^ : but Very miidi and^ wy piutkulariy, in* tfee Cckic wiitmgs and* meiiumenis. ¥e^ many rcafon^ their Hiflkny i^ mofV intMeffing and entertaining : I mean, zsr OH the one hanct we confider tfecnt i&dUting;^ tbeir fbHowc», and as on* the other hand we Ifeam not to be fo- deceived. They dfcxtrouflyj' littd the people blindftdd^ by committing no parr of their Theology or Philofephy to writing, tho^ great writers, in other relpef^sj but their dilates* were only hereditarily conveyed from maftcrs to (tefcipk^ by traditionary Pocmsj iir-^ terpretablc (tortfcquently)> and alterable as tficy fliou'd fee convenient : which is a much more effedual way, than locking up a book from the Laity, that, one way or- other, is furc to come firft or- liafl? to their knowledge, andeaiy perhaps to be tum'd againl! the Prieffi;, Tlfc DruicHs, as^ may^ be fecn in- the 6f^ book of €i^^Kfi's CofmnentarieSy drew the decifionr of all controverflcs of Law^ and Equity to t4icm»- {elves, thediffributionof all pumfhment5 and rewards 5 from tliepo^wer that was firft*givciT, or afterwards- affhm'tt by* them, of determin- ing matters of Ceremony and'Religion; Moff terrible were theefFetgb^ the Druidical(y) Ex*- communication on: any*mani that did^notim*
pliciteijp
(r) Ifdi«IeacfMdmi4er^ ¥»4ioi4iiiO¥rraiiy eftht ptfli^^ or the unlearned reader who wants authorities for provin|; the following affertions, ftould. wpnder I do not alwgy; cite them ; let it be know» to^botK-, tHtt as in- xhir Sfmim» I ^omflxoniji^oxifih. hur rl«rhB«k& ofi dm^^: (^ai vtpt t^i all things neither) fo I wou'd not crowd the margin With long
paffiiges
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Ot TUt DRUIDS. ti
j)licitcly follow their dircftions, and fubmittp iimt decree : not only to the cxduding of private perfons from all benefits of Society, arid" even from fociety itfelf 5 but alfbtothe dcpo> iin^ of the Princes who did not pleafe them, and often devoting them to deftraftipn. Nor left intolerable was rficir power of engaging the naiion ih war, or of making a difkdvantageous and diihonbiirable peace 5 while they had the s^ddreft togct themfelvcs exempted frgm bear-^ ing arms, frying taxes, or contributing any thing to the public but Charms : and yet tq have their pqpfons reputed facred andinviolablc, by^ioTe even of the contrary fide, which ve- neration however was not always ftridly paid. Thcfe privileges allur'd great numbers to enter into their communities, for fuch Sodalities or Fraternities they hadj and to take on them thet Druidical profelfion, to be perfc^ in which, did fometimcs coft them twenty years ftudy. Nor ought this to feem a wonder, fincetoar- rivc at pcrfedion in Sophiftry requires a long habit3 as well is in juggling, in which laft they were very expert : but to be mafters.of both^ and withal to learn the art of njanaging the:
paijbges, nov -yet curtail whatin my Wft^rjy flmll be producM at large : and therefore all tlie following ctrattons (the ori* Sinai manner of writing Celtic wo^s eiEcepted) are eitbeia Simples ot\ the quotations I Ihall give, or proofii of whae 1 twott'd not for amomenthave ful'pefted to be precariQufl]^' advafiQ*4) or, finally^ for the better underftanding of ce|v tain matters which come in by way of digreflion or ilhiftra- tioi*. Otherwife they 'vcou'.d.not be neceftary in a mere Spe- cimen, thoUnafiuilh*dworkindifpenfable,
mob>
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t2 THE HISTORV
mob, which is vulgarly caird kadif^ the peit^ fie by the nofe^ demands abundant fhidy and cicjfcifc.
IV- TriE children ofthclcvcralKing*, with thofc of all the Nobility, were cpnunittcd to the tuition of the Druids^ wheircby they had an opportunity (contrary to all good politics) of molding and framing them to their own private interefts and purpofcs 5 confidcring which diredion of Education, Patric^ had they been a landed Clergy y wou'd not h«Vc found the conversion of Ireland fo eafy a task. So cafy indeed it was, that the heathen Mo^ narch Laogirius (who, as fpmfc alTcrt, was never himfclf converted) and all the provincial Kings, granted to every man free liberty %i- preaching and profcffing Chriftianity. So that, as GiRALDUS Cambrensis remarks, this is the only country of Cliriftians, where no body was obliged to fufFcr (6) Martyrdom for the GoJ^el. This juftice therefore 1 woud do to Ireland^ even if it had not been my country, wz. to maintain that this Tolerating principle, this Im^ partial Liberty (ever fmce unexampled there
i6) Omnes fan&i terrae Iftlus tonfefibres funt, & nullus^ martyr; quod In alio regno Chrlftiano difficile ^it iuvjcnire^ Mirum Icaque quod gens crudeliflima & fanguinis fttibunda^ lUes ab and quo fun data & Temper te^idifiima; pro Chriftr cccklla corona m^irtyrii nulla. . Non igitur inventus eft in parcibus illis, gtii ecclefiae furgentis fundamenta fanguinls ciFiiilonecenienriiiet : non fuit, qui faceret hoc bonuQi ; iipn fuit uft^ue ad uaum. Ttftgr^h. Hibern. Diftinifi 3.,
as
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O^ THE DRUIDS. i,
il$ w«ll as elfewhqre> China excet)ted) is aiar gtc^t^j: l^onour to it, than whatever thing moft. gipriotts or magnificent can bcfaid of any other country in the world- Girald on the con- tpaiy (^ in his days they were wont to over- rate Martyrdom, Celibacy, and the like, much above the pofitive duties of Religion) thinks it j| reproach to the Irilh, that none af their SaipU cemented the foundations of the grow-' ipg Church with their bloody all of them beinm Copfejfars^ fays he, and not one able to bw^^ of the crown of Martyrdom. But who fccJ^ pot the vanity and abfurdity of this charge ? ft i$ blaming the Princes and People fbr their reafonabienefs, moderation and humanity $ zsL \X is taxing the new Converts for not fediti-: oufly provoking them to pcrfecute, and for not madly ranning themfelves to a voluntary death, which was the unjuftifiaHe conduft of m^ny clfewhcrc in the primitive times of: Chtiftianity, Tis xm much better grounds, tho' with a childifh and naufcous jingle, that he a^icufes the Irifli Clergy of his own time : and Tq far am I froni being an enemy to the Clergy, that I heartily wifli the like could not* be feid of any Clergy, whether there, or here, pr elfewhcre, from that time to this. Well theni; what is it I They are Tafiorsy iisys ho {7)7 whofeeknottofeedy but to be fed: Tre^
(7) Sunt enim paftore^, qui non pafcere quaerunt, fed ^fci : font oradati, ^\ iion prodcffe ciipiunt, fed pracefle : iunt epifcopi, qui non omen, fed nomeu^ nononuSi fed' bcnorem ampkttuntur. Id. Ihd.
Iftesy
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H tHE HISTORY
ha^s, Wba dc/ke not to. profit^ huttopNfide^ Bifbops^ wko omkracf not the nature^ tm tht natne 5 not the bttrtheny bitt the brw)»y tf their frof^on. This, Mr Lord, I YedctiNci to be 00 digreiKon frdna ohy fub^d^ f^fttb n^faatiittl^e: opp6fmoA thbtc happelitl ik> be in Irdind to CiuriftiinJky, 'wis wholly mide by the Drvidst or dt their inlli^tion : mA Chat when they pcrcciv\i this new Rtligkm Ktet Mr prtvaiU iMite tam6 into it Reedier, o» tnaidt a mdre advantageous %ure in it, thaifi t!»giy. Th6 Irlih however have their Martyyoio^ief (left this fhott'd bt tibftfttd by fome triflfe*) biit they ace oi fudi of their nation as IbJR^'A in other countries^ or undet the hdiche^ Dine^ intheiriiwn ebimtry, iohie hundreds of ytftri afttr the totalcohverfionx>f it to Chriftianity.
V. T HO S E advantages we have nam'd in the two laft Sedtcxis, and many the like af- tiei^, with the Druids pretences to work mi« radcs, to fpretcl evcntis by Ailguty and ethfer- wife, to have it familiar intdrcourfe with thfe Gddr (hi^y confirm'd by calculating Ecfipfts) and ii thouf^d impoftures of the faine (B) na- turc, I can by Ji^s^aWc authorities fet irt fUch la lights 'that all of thr like kind tti^ to everyone ^^W£ina8evttl6ht a vieWi whteh^
(8) The heads of the two laft Seftions, with thefe here
lentiop'^ Trho^ cnneei vM in l«ur \irnr«)«^ will vpf Ad<*h c^SdVA
iepara
tiiefly :
appear.
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OT TII£'I5Rint)S. t5
»;! Unecd bcfcfer^ cwiux 4itt %t vety }«^ lioefafais iibth to Rekigicni ami liiloraSity. Tot tiaeilxiigiancbes aot ^ooKfiftiiftCuiitiins^ d«- n^fidUcB* in^actiDiirf, ■domkUMi, ^pMn^-^ hi ID :^irh: and tmdi, in ifiit^ioity tmd ^- dd-Krame, in a tfilial lofciuitl ^sttp^xet^ not wx]fefvile>fliKad and'tttcot'Of ^ Di«7i<aty. Astht ftittdamental Law of a4liftomn i5,<ln:iftg 10 £a.y J 'vhatxTer is iltiie> and not dm'tiBig «> •■die any faliboodf AdirhCfr ^ekig ^ay'l by hnc.im battcdy norgaite^d !|ff ftvodr i^ Iffics xdt: lb he oughr of >c08Jlfe t6 ile* as a man lifwD tifloe or coiQCilrjs «ff notdSI or party j %Adi 1 liope tiK CcKncf^ lUttlons, "concern'^ la.tfaisjpiefiait ^oiquirf, ^witl ^^ t(> be pam- ailaifty (tme of^tne< 9Kuc if in-ckairlng op aiv- fknt cities -iiid cdftdttis, "^k 4^-oti^n and
Iks (loag litKC c^eittiJty any commanitics or ovdcrs >of men; tMMT 4a tteing, fiK>u'4 think themiisbes tpa^i'ti^' -^hey (ou^ nOt to im- pute it to dclign in thfc -atttiior, but to the conformity of things, if indeed there be any jeai- jafmiibiiiak^y^'^iik in aCs. tbete ' be hone at-ati,thcy'<hould-n<k make ^oplc apt to £i%c^ that there i^' by crying 4&utfho they acenK^-thuit. I -rettlelttbct vhcn •complaint was nadcagaiftft anhonottrible poflbn {9)^ that, . in treating of the 'Heathen Pricfts, he had whipt fome"Chriftiah Pricfts Oii theit backs ', all the anfwer he made was only
(9) Sir Robert Ho^YAan. • ' ' . asking,
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16 THE HISTORY
asking) ff^at nkuk them get up tba^f the benefit of whi<ii anf^iFcr I claim beltirehand to myfelf) without makiiig or needii^any other Apology w Yet if the corre(pondeh<^ of anyPriefts with heaven b6 as flenderly' gtocmded as that of the Druids^ if their niitacles b^ai iiditious and fraudulent, if their love>ofxiehes be as inimoderate^ if thdif thirft after pOwtt <be as infatiable, and their exercife of it be as partial and tyrannical oter the Laity :- thm I am not only content they ihoti'd be touch'd, whether I thought of:;tltem:or not ; Jttitrthxt they fhou'd be bMe^ tooy without. a poflu* bility of ever fprouting.up again, TfcrTAth will but fliinc the brightet,^ tte better '^ta.cbun*- terfelts are ftiown : and all that I can do to (hpw my own cando<:, is, to leave the reader to make fuch applicitfi^os himfclf^ feldom making any for him^ ifinOQ lie that is:n$idier clcar-fighted nor qui<± enough of conceptioa to do fo, may to as gopd purpofe read the Fairy 'tales as this H^ory.r
VI. B £ S IDE S thi$ iinp^uxialditp^^^ competent knowledge I have of thcr Korthon languages^ dead and living (tho' I ihiil 'jprove, that nol?ruids, except fiich as fiowards their latter end fled thither for refiige, or that went before with Celtic invaders <m: colonics, were ever among the Gothic nations) I fay, the£: languages will not a little contribute to the pcrfeftion of my work, for a reafon that may with more advantage appear in the book nt-
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fclC But the knowledge of the anticnt Irifh^' which I learnt froni my childhood, and o^ the other Celtic dialeds, in all which I have printed books or manufcripts C^ot to fpeak of their vulgv Traditions) is abfolutely necet fary $ thefe having preferv'd numberlefs mo- numents concerning the Druids, that never hitherto have come to the hands of the learned* For as the Inftitutions of the Druids were for- merly better learnt in Britain, by Cesar faid ta be the native feat of this fuperftitious race, than in Gaulc where yet it exceedingly flourifli'd : fo their memory is ftill bed preferv'd in Ire- land and the Highlands of Scotland, coniprc^ hcnding the Hebrid£y Hebrides ^ or Weftern Iflcs, among which the He of Man s where they contintfd long after their extermination in Gaule and South-Britain, moftly by the Ro* mans, but finally by the inttodudion of Chri- ftianity* Befides, that much of the Irifti Hea- then Mythology is ftill extant in Verfe, which gives fuch a luftre to this matter, and of courlc to the Grcec and Roman Fragments conc?rrt< ing the Druids, as cou'd not poflibly be had any other way*
VIL THUS (to giv^ an eximple in the Philological part^ the controverfy among the Grammarians, whether they fliould write ^ruiS or (lo) T^Tuida in the nominative cafe fingulat>
(io)The Irilhwor4 forDniid Is Dr«/' corruptly /)>•«/, ixA more corruptly Dra^i ^ yet all of the lame found, which lil Stymologies is a great matter; and in the nominative plu«
Vol. I. B tA
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V8 the' HIStdRY'
can only be decided by the Irifti writings, ii you may fecdcmonftrated in the margin 5 where allGrammatical remarks fhall be inferred anlong ike other Nates of the Hifiory, if they do not properly belong to the annext ^ijfertation concerning the Celtic Language and Colonies: This conduft I obferve, to avoid any difagrec- able ftop or perplexity in the work itfel^ by uncouth words or of difficult pronunciation. Tor as every thing in the Univerfc is the Sub- jcd of writing, fo an author ought to treat of every fubjeft fmoothly and correftly, as well as pertinently and perfpicuoufly : nor ought he to be void of ornament and Ele- gance, where his matter peculiarly requires it- Some things want a copious ftile, fome a con- cife; others to be more floridly, others to be more plainly handrdi. but all to be pro- perly, methodically, and handfomly exprefh Negleding thcfe particulars, is negleding, and confequently affronting, the reader. Let- a
Tal 'tis Druidhe, whence coiner no doubt the Greec and jLatIn Druides j as Bruis in the fingular was form'd by only adding / to Dr«/, according to thole nations way of termi- nating. But as thefe words in^rifh as well as the Brittiih Drudiotty are common to both fexcs ; fo the Romans, ac- cording to their inflet>ion, dlftinguifh'd Druida for a She- Druid fwhich fort are mention'd i>y authors) whereof the nominative plural being DruSdae^ it ought byustobeufed in that fenle only : and fo I conclude, that in our modern Latin compolitions Druides and Druidae ftiou'd not be con- founded J as they have frequently jljcea by the Tranfcribers iof old writings, who milled others. We are not to be inov'd therefore by reading Druidae in any Latin author in the mafculingender, or in theGrei^ writers, who certainly ns'd it £>• All equlyocatioU at kaft will l}e thtt$ taken away.
Laciy
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tady be as wdl-fliap'd as you can fancy, let all her features be faultlefs, and her complexion be ever fo delicate : yet if ftie be carelcfs o£ her pcrfon, tawdry in her drefs, or aukward in her gate and behavior, a man of true taftq is fo fir from being touched with the charma of her body, that he's, immediately prepoflcft againil the beauties of her mind ^ and apt to believe there can be no order within, where there's fo much diforder without. In my opi* nion therefore, the Mujks themfelvcs are ne- ver agreeable company without the Graces. Or if, as your Lordihip's ftile is remarkably ftrong,you wovi'd, with (i i) Cicero, take this limile from a man 5 you'll Own 'tis not enough to make him be lik'd, that he has well-knit bones, nerVes and finews : there mdk be like- wife proportion, mufcling, and coloring, much blood, and fome foftneiS. To relate faa$ without their circumftances, whereon depend^ all Inftrudion $ is to exhibit a skeleton with- out the flclh, wherein confifts all comclyncfs* This I fay to your Lordftiip, not pretending to teach the art of writing to one, who's (o fit to be my mafter 5 but to obviate the cen* furcs of thofe, and to cenfure 'em in their turns, who not only do not treat of fucla fub- jeds as I have now undertaken in a flowing and continu'd ftile, but peremtorily deny the fields of Anticjuity and Criticifm to be capable of this culture : and iijdecd as fuffering un-
(11) DeOratore, lib. |.
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dcr the drudgery of their hands, they generally become bartren heaths or unpaflable thickets j where you are blinded with fand, or torn with bryars and brambles. There's no choice of words or expreffions. All is low and vul- gar, or obfolete and mufty i as the whole dif^ courfe is crabbed, hobbling, and jejune. Not that I wou'd have too much licenfe taken in this refpeft 5 for tho none ought to be flaves to any fet of words, yet great judgement is to be imploy'd in crclling a new, or reviv- ing an old word : nor muft there be lefs di- fcretion in the ufe of figures and fentences 5 which, like imbroidery and fait, are to fet off and feafon, but not to render the cloth invi- fible, or the meat uneatable. To conclude this point, we are told by the moft eloquent of me», that a profufc (12) v<riubility, and a for- did exility of words, are to be equally avoid- ed. And now after this Digrellion, if any thing that effentially relates to my task can be properly caird one, T return to the Druids, who were fb prevalent in Ireland, that to this hour their ordinary word for Magician is ^ruid ( 13 ), the art Magic is call'd T^ruidity (14), and the wand, which was one of the badges of their profcffion, the tad of T)ruidifm{\<i). Among anticnt Claffic authors Pliny is the moft exprefs concerning the Magic of the
(12) Cicero de Oratore, Ub. |.
(i4)l!>rutdheacbt.
iif)siatMjrn Drmdheacht^ *
^ Druids,
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Pruids, whereof the old Irifli and Brittifh Books are full: which Legerdemain, or fecrets of Natural Philofophy (as all Magic is cither the cue, or the other, or both) we Ihall indeavor to jay open in our Hijiory of the T>ruids ; not forgetting any old author that mentions them, for there's fomething particular to be learnt in every one of them, as they touch different circumftances. Having occafionally fpokenof the Wand or Staff which every Druid carry'd in his hand, as one of the badges of his profeffion (and which in a chapter on this fubjed will be fhown to have been a ufual thing with all pretenders to magic) I mud here acquaint you further, that each of 'em had what was commonly callM the Druids Egg (which fhall be explained in the Hijiory) hung about his neck inchas'd in gold. They all wore fhort hair, while the reft of the na- tives had theirs very long : and, on the con- trary, they wore long beards, while other peo- {)le Ihav'd all theirs but the upper lip. They ikewife all wore long habits, as did the Barcb and the Vaids : but the Druids had on a white Surplice, whenever they religioufly officiated. In Ireland they, with the graduate Bards and Vaids, had the privilege of wearing fix co- lors in their Breacans jqx robes (which were the ftrip'd Braccae of the Gauls, ftill worn by the Highlanders) whereas the King and Queen might have in theirs but feven. Lords aiid Ladies five, Governors of Fortreffes four. Of- ^rs and young Gentlemen of quality thref , B 3 coni-
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22 THE HISTORY
common Soldiers two, and commdn peopld one. This fumtuary Law moft of the Irifh Hiftorians fay, was cnafted under King (i6) AcHAius the firft $ tho others, who will have this to be but the reviving of an old Law, maintain it was firft eftablilh'd by king Tl-
GERNMHAS.
Vni. A S the Druids were commonly wont to retire into grots, dark woods, mountains, and (17) groves (in which laft they had their numerous Schools, not without houfes as fome have fooliflily dreamt,) fo many fuch places in France, Britain, and Ireland, do ftill bear their names : as l^reuXy the place of their an- nual General Aflembly in Trance 5 Kerig-y- ghudion (or Druid-ftones) a parifh fo call'd in enbighfhirc, from a couple of their Altars; there ftill remaining. In Anglefcy there's the Village of Tre'f ^riuy the town of the Druid, next to which is Tte'r Beirdh or Bards-town : is aUb in another place of the fame Hand Maen- y-^TUUy that is, the Druid's ftonc 5 and Caer- ^reuinyOt the city of the Druids, in Merioneth- .ftlre. The places in Ireland and the Hebrides 'are infinite. The prcfent ignorant vulgar, in tife firft of the laft-mention'd places, do be- lieve, that thofe Inchanters were at laftthem- ■felves inchailted by their Apoftle Patric
» ^ri^") :EoCflAID EUDGHATHACH.
^ V ' 7) Thell Groves for pleafure and retirement, as well as fdraweand revereiiie-, were diflrerent from the lurking pla- ces in foreft§ and caves, into whkb ^^y were fore d wb^n interdlftcd in G^ule and Britajn.
and
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md his Difciplcs, miraculoufly confining them to the places that fo bear their names $ where they are thought to retain much power, and fbmctimes to appear, which are (i 8) fancies like the EngUfli notion of Fairies. Thus the Druid O MuRNiN inhabits the hill of Creag-a Vanny in Inifoen, Aunius (19) in Benavny froni him fo caird in the county of Londonderry, and Gealcossa {20) in Gealcoffa's mount in Inifoen aforefaid in the county of Dunegall. This laft was a Druidefs, and her name is of the Homerical ftrain, fignifying JVhite4egg'4 (21). On this hill is her grave (the true in- chantment that confines her) and hard by is her Temples being a fort of diminutive Stene* hengej which many of the old Jriih dare not even at this day any way profane. I (hall dis- cover fiich things about thefc Temples (where- of multitudes arc ftill exifting, many of thcixi intite, in the Hebrides, in Orkney, and on the oppofite continent 5 as alio many in Wales, in Jerfey and Gucrnfey, and fomc in England and Ireland, the moft remarkable to be accu- rately defcrib'd and delineated in our Hijiory!)
(iS") Such fancies came from the hiding of the perfecutcd Dniids, from the reign of Tiberius, who made the f^t^ law againft them (having been dil countenanced by Ar- cusTCJs ) but ftriftly put in execution by Claudius, and the following Emperors, till their utter extirpation by the general converhon of the people to Chriftlanity.
(l9)AlBHNF, OrOlBHNE.
(zo) Gealchossach. {%i)6nuf «>i Gealchossaigh.
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I fliall difeovcr fuch things, I fay, about the famous Egg of the Druids, to the learned hither- to a riddle, not to (peak of their magical gems and herbs 2 as alfo about their favourite All- heal or (22) Miffelto, gather'd with fo much ceremony by a Pricft in his white Surplice, as Pliny (2 3) tells us, and with a goldpruning- knife; as well as about the abftrufeft parts of their Philofophy and Religion, that the like has not yet appeared in any author, who has treated of them. The books of fuch are either bare colledions of Fragments, or a heap of pre- carious fables 5 I mean efpcciaily/fome French writers on this Subjeft, as Picard, Forca- TULUS, GuENEBAUT, with othcts of no bet- ter allay in Britain and Germany 5 for as I ad- mit nothing without good authority, fo I ;iiftly cxped, that, without as good, nothing will be admitted from me,
IX. BUT, My Lord, befides thefe Dm- ids, the anticnt Gauls, Britons, and Irifh, had another order of Learned men, call'd BARDS, whereof we fhall fufficicntly diC^ courfe in our proposed work. Bard is ftill the Irifh and Scottith word, as Bardh the Armoric and Brittifti, There's no difference in the pronunciation, tho*, according to their different manner of writing in exprcfling the power of the letters, they vary a little in the
(21) All thefe heads will be fo many Intire (Chapters, (z;) Sacerdos, candid^ vefte cultus, a^borem fcandit : &lcc «ure^ demw. Hifi, Nf. lib, 16, cap. 44, ^ '
OrthoH
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OF THE DRUIDS. 25
orthography (24). The Bards were divided into three orders or degrees 5 namely (to give an example now in the Brittifli dialed, as I ihall give thek turns to all the Celtic colo- nics) Trivardhy Tofvardhy and Aruyvardh : l>ut, with regard to the fubjeds whereof they treated, they were caird Trududh^ or Tev- luur, or Cleriir 5 which words, with the e- quivalent Irifh names, Ihall be explained in our Hifiary, where you'll find this divifion of the Bards well warranted. The firft were Chro* nologers, the fccond Heralds, and the third Comic or Satyrical Poets among the vulgar : for the fecond fort did fing the praifes of great men in the heroic ftrain, very often at the head of armies, like him in Virgil
Cretea mufarum comitemj cut carmina femper Et citharaecordiy numerofque intendere nervism Semper equosy atq-y arma vmlm, pugnafq-y canebat :
Virg. Aen. lib. 9.
^24) Let it be noted once for all, that as in other tongues, fo in Irlih and Welfli particularly, r and d are commonly put for each other, by reafon of their affinity; and that </i& and gh being pronounced alike in Irifh, and therefore often confounded, yet an exa£^ writer will always have regard i;o the origin as well as to the analogy of any word : and lb he'll write Druidhe (for example) ana not Drmghe^ much lefs DraoiPhe broadly and afpirately ; nor will he ufe any other mifpellifngs, tno' ever to common in books. This is well obfcrv'd Dv an old author, who writing of Conla a hea- then freetninking Judge of Connacht, thus chara£terizes . him ; $e do ritme an choinhhlhcht ris na Druidhibb : 'twas he that difputed againfl the Druids. Thefe Criticii'ms, fpme wou'd fty, are trifles ; but
Ifae pu^ae in feria dt^cunt.
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and the firft, who likcwifc accompany'd them in pcace> did hiftorically regiftcr their genea- logies and atchievments. We have fome proofe that the Panegyrics of the Gallic Bards did not always want wit no more than ^attery j and particularly an inftance out of Atheneus, who had it from Posidonius the Stoic, coni- cerning (245) Luernius a Gallic Prince, ex* traordinary rich, liberal, and magnificent. He was the father of that fame Bittus, - who was beaten by the Romans. Now this Luer- Nius (fays (27) my author) having apfointed a certain day for a feaft, and one of the Barbarous ^oets coming too late, p$et him as he was departing \ whereupon he began to fing his praifes and to extol his grandeur^ but toUment his own unhapy delay. Luernius be^ ing delighted, caltdforapurfeofgoldy which he threw to him, as he ran by the fide of his chariot : and he taking it up, begun to fing a^ gain to this purpofei That out of the
TRACKS HIS CHARIOT HAD PLOWED ON THE GROUND, SPRUNG UP GOLD AND BLESSINGS
TO MANKIND. As fomc of the Gallic Bards
(26; Whether it be LUERNIUS, or as St R A BO writes it LUERius, the name is frequent either way in the antienteft Iriili Writers, as LOARN, and LuiRB or Lu- IGHAIRE.
(27) A4>opiffavro^ I* avT» vpo^effjueu/ toti t>?^ 6«vmc, a^^tpn- tuvra TtvA rttiv fiAptapmv 'jeotttryiv a^ix£<r^cu ; tccct ^vavryjffetvr a ijlst
TcvJf r$p^tvTa BvXetKiov ewnitat xpvffiov, %at ff^eu atrw TopccTpt' Xevft i avtko^ivov 2' etutvw Tr^Acv Ctivttv, hey^vrtL, hio kou ra ixvtf T*i< y^ (•<>* wK dpfxarijXeiTu) xpttfov teat tve^yefftx^; avbpct^Tiotg ^spu-
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OP THE DRUIDS. 27
were tmely ingenious, £0 were many of 'era mere quiblers : and among the bombaft of the Brittifli and Irifli Bards, there want not infinite inftances of the true Sublime. Their Epigrams were admirable, nor do the modern Italians equal them in conceits. But in ftirring the paffions, their Elegies or Lamentations far cxccde thofe of the Greecs, becaufe they exprefe nature much more naturally. Thefe Bards arc not yet quite extind, there being of them in Wales, in the Highlands of Scotland, and in Ireland : nor did any country in the yorld a- bound like the laft with this fort of men, whofe licentious panegyrics or fatyrs have not a lit- tle contributed to breed confufion in the Irifli Hiftory. There were often atatimeathoufand Ollaws (^2i) or graduate Poets, befides a pro- portionable number of inferior Rhymers, who all of 'em liv'd mod of the year on free coft : and, what out of fear of their railing, or love of their flattery, no body durft deny them any thing, be it armor, fcwcl, horfc, mantle, or the like 5 which grew into a general cuftom, whereof the Poets did not fail to take the ad- vantage. The great men, out offelf love and intereft, incourag d no other kind of Learning, cfpecially after they profcft Chriftianity : the good regulation, under which they were in the time of Druidifrti, as then in fonic manner belonging to the Temples, having been deftroy- cd with that Religion. In a fmall time they
(t8) Olhmljis aProfefTor or Doftor Ingny faojlty.
bccamcT
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became fuch a grievance, that feyeral attemts were made to rid the nation of them : andi which is fbmething comical (what at leaft our prefent Poets would not extr^rdiparily like) the ordprs for banifhingthem were always to the Highlands of Scotland 5 while they were as often harbor'd in Ulfter, till upon promife of amendment (of theu: manners 1 mean afld not of their Poetry) they were permitted' to return to the other Provinces. At laft, in a general national at fembly, or Parliament, at Drumcat (29) in the country we now call the county of London- derry, under (sp) Aidus ANMiREUSthc iitl> Chriftian King, in the y? ar 5 97, where was alfo prefept (31) AiDi^sKingof Scotland and the great (3 2)Columba, it was decreed : that for the better prcfervation of their Hiftory , Ggnealor gies, and the purity of their Language, the fu- preme Monarch, and the fubordinate Kings, with every Lord of a Cantred, fhould enter- tain a Poet of his own (no more being allow- ed by antient law in the Hand) and that upr on each of thefe and their pofterity ^ portion of land, frc? from all duties, fhou d be fet- tl'd for ever 5 that, for incouraging the Learur ing thefe Poets and Antiquaries profcft, publif Schools Ihou'd be jippointed and indow'd, un- der the national infpeftion j and that the Mon- arch's own Bard ftiou'd be Arch-Poet (33),
(Z^) Druittt'ceat alias Druimcbeat.
(%o\ AODHMHAC AtnMHIRE.
{31} AODHANMHAC GaURAIN.
(32) CoLUIM-ClI-L«.
^^) Ard^OUamb. )
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OF THE DRUIDS. i^
and have fupcr-intcndcncy over the reft. Tis a common miftake, into which father Pezrom has fallen among others, that the Bards be- longed to the body of the Druids: but this is not the place to refttfy it. They made Hymns for the ulc of the Temples, 'tis true, and ma- nag'd the Mufic there 5 but they were the Draids that officiated as Priefts, and no Sacrifices were offcr'd but by their miniftxy.
X. IN the Hifiorj^ likewife (hall be fully explained the third order of the Celtic Literati, by the Greecs call'd OUATEIS, and by the Romans VATES $ which yet is neither Grccc nor Roman, but a mere Celtic word^ viz. FAIDH, which fignifies to this day a prophet in all Irilh books, and in the com- mon language, particularly in the Irifti tranfla- tion of the Bible; where ^r«i^j (34) arealfo commonly put for Inchanters, as thofe of E- gypt, and efpecially for the MageSy or as we tranflatc, the wife men (35) that came from the caft, to vifit Jesus in his cradle. So eafily do men convey their own ideas into other men's books, or find 'em there 5 which has been the fourcc of infinite miftakes, not onely in Divi- nity, but alfo in Philofophy and Philology. The Celtic (36) VAIDS were Phyficians
(54) DriiwV^^. Exod. 7. II. Anois Draoithe na Heglpte dor innedurranf6s aran modhgceadna le nandroigheach- ruibh.
C;f ) Mat. 2. 1. Feuch Tangadar Draoithe 0 naird flioir go HiarufaJcm.
(;6) The word is Pdidh (ot rait hy the ufual convcrfi- on of the Letters Finto ^ and D into 7^ whence the Latins
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36 THE HISTORY
and Diviners^ great proficients in natural Phi- lofophy (as were likcwifc the Druids, who had the particular infpedion of Morals) but C i- c E R o, who was well acquainted with one of the prime Druids, remarks, that their predic- tions were as much grounded on (37) con- )cdure, as on the rules of Augury : both e- qually fortuitous and fallacious. For the fay- ing of Euripides will ever hold true, that (3 8), the beft guejfer is the heft Trophet. He that is nearly acquainted with the (late of affairs, that underftands the fprings of human adions^ and, that, judicioufly allowing for circumftan- ces, compares the prefent time with the paft? he, I fay, will make a fhrewd guefs at the future. By this time, My Lord, you begin to perceive what is to be the Subjcd of the iltflory I intend to write, 5 which, tho a piece of general Learning and great curiofity, yet I (hall make it my bufinefs fo to digeft : as to render it no lefs intertaining than inftrudivc to all forts of readers, without excepting the Ladies, who arc pritty much concern d in this
made Vates ; and their Critics acknowledge, that they took many words from the Gauls. The Euhages and Eubages, in fome copies of A M M I A N us M A R C E L L I N u s, arc felie readings, as In time will appear. So are Drufi^ DrufitUfj and Drujtades £oT DruiJes : as like wife T^r^/, from (he Bric<* tifli and Irilh oblique cafes of Bard.
(^j) Siquidem 6c in GaUia Druldes funt, e quibus ipfc DiViTiACuM Aeduum,horpitem tuum laudatoremjjue, cogr novi (inquit QuiNTUS) qui & naturae ratlonem, quam phyfiologiam Graeci appellant, notam eilb. fibiprofttebatur} & partim Auguriis, partim conjeftur^, quae effent futu«^ dicelat. DeDivhiat, lib. i. caf,^i. ,
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matter; throwing, as I told you before, all my Critical Obfervations, and Difquiittions a- bout words, into the margin, or the ©z^- tation anncxt to the Hijiory. As to what 1 fay of the Ladies being concerned in this -ffi- fiory, there were not only Druideffes 5 but fbme even of the higheft rank were fuch,and Princeflcs themfelves were educated by the Druids : for in our own Annals we read, that the two daugh- ters of King (39) Laogirius (in whofc reign Patric preach'd Chriftianity) were educated by them 5 and we have the particulars of ai long difputc thofc young Ladies maintained againft this new Religion, very natural but very fubtil. Several other Ladies bred tmder the Druids became famous for their writings and proficiency in learning, of fome of whom„ wc (hall occafionally give an account : but left I Ihou'd be thought in every thing to flatter the Sex, ^how much foevcr I refpeft them, I refer the reader to a ftory in my thurd Let- ter. But, in order to complete my defign, £0 as to leave no room for any to write on this fubjeft after me 5 and alfo to procure fe- veral valuable Manufcripts^ or authentic co- pies of them (well knowing where they ly) I purpofe towards the Spring to take a jour- ney for at leaft fix months ; which, at our next meeting, I fliall do my felf the honour to im- part to your Lordlhip very particularly.
(J9) LAOgHAIRfi.
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XL THEIrifh (a few Scandinavian and Di^ nifh words excepted) being not only a Dialed^ of the anticnt Celtic or Gallic, but being alfo liker the mother than her other daughter the Britifhs and the Iriih Manufcripts being more numerous and much antienter than the Wclfli, fliows beyond all contradiftion the iieceffity of this language for retrieving the knowledge of the Celtic Religion and Learning. Camden and o- thers have long fince taken notice of the agree- ment between the prefent Brittifti and thofc old Gallic words coUeded by learned men out of Greec and Roman authors : and the indufirious Mr.EDWARD Lhuyd, late keeper o£thcMuJeum at Oxford, perceiv'd this affinity between the fame words and thelrifti, even before he ftu- dy'd that language, by the demonftration I gave him of the fame in all the faid inftances. Nor docs he deny this agreement in the comparO' tive Etymologicon he afterwards made of thofe languages, where he quotes Camden and B03&- HORNius affirming it about the Gallic and Btit- tifh : but there beingj fays he (40), no Vocabu- lary extant [meaning no doubt in print] of the Irifh, or antient Scottifh, they cotid not col- late that language therewith ^ which the cu- rious in thefe Jiudies will now find to agree rather more than ours^ with the Gaulijh. That it does fo, is abfolute fad, as will be fecn by hundreds of inftances in this prefent work,
C40) In the freftue to his jirch^oUgta Britanmca, pag. i.
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I aitt aware that what I am going to fay will found very oddly, and fcem more than a para* dox; but I deferve, My Lord, and fhall be content with your fevcreft cenfure, if^ before you have finifh'd reading thefe fheets, you be not firmly of the fame mind your felf : name- ly, that, without the knowlege <)f the Irifli Language and Books, the Gallic Antiquities (not meaning the Francic) can never be fet iA any tolerable light, with regard either to words or to things 5 and numerous occafions there will occur in this Hijiory of illuftrating both words and things even in the Greec and Roman authors. I ftiall here give one example of this, fmce I juft come from treating of the fevcral profefibrs of Learning common to the antient Gauls, Britons, and Scots, viz. the Druids, Bards, and Vaids. Lucian (41) relates that in Gaule he faw Hercule s reprefented as a little old man, whom in the language of the country they called O G M lU S 5 drawing after him an infinite multitude of perfons, who feem'd mod: willing to follow, tho drag'd by extreme fine and almoft imperceptible chains : which were faften'd at the one end to their ears, and held at the other, not In either of Hercules's hands, which were both otherwife imploy'd $ but ty'd to the tip of his tongue, in which there was a hole on purpofe, where ^11 thofe chains centered. Lugian wondring at this manner of
(4! ) Tov 'EiJakAia it Ke?iTot 6 T M I O jN ovcfMaXovct ^wi^ t>j tvf
W^^ et quae fequunturin HfiRCUifi Gallico : Graeca ctenlm longiora iunt, quam ut hie commod^ itHtti poflint.
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U tHH HISTOkY
portriying HEkcuLES, was inform'd by a learn- ed Druid who flood by, that Hercules didt not in Gaule, as in Greece, betoken Strength of Body, but the Force of Eloquence 5 which is there very beautifully difpiay'd l?y the Druid^ in his explication of the pidure that hung in the Temple. Now, the Critics of all nations have made a heavy pother about this fame word O G M 1 U S, and laborioufly fought for the meaning of it every where, but juft where it was to be found. The moft celebrated Bo- CHARf , who, againft the grain of nature (if I may fofpeak) wou'd needs reduce all things to Phenician 5 fays it is an Oriental word, fince the Arabians (42) callftrangers and barbarians Age- mion: as if, becaufe the Phenicians traded an- tiently to Gaule and the Brittifh Hands (for Co- lonies in them they planted none) they muft have alfo imported their Language 5 and, with their other commodities, bartered it for fome- thing to the natives, naming their places, their men, and their Gods for them^ Our prefent Britons, who are at leaft as great Traders, do not find they can do fo in Phenjicia, nor nearer home in Greece and Italy, nor y^t at their owa dooirs in this very Gaule : befidcs that Lucian docs pofitively affirm O G M I U S was a Gallic word, a word Wi) of the coimtry. This has not hinder'd a learned Englifti Phyfician, Dr. Edmund Dickenson^ from hunting ftill in the Eaft for a derivation of it 5 conjeduring
{42) In Geofftapbis Socra^ fivt Ctmuan^ fart. 2. caf. 42. 49) ^<»v« T%^ fxijcw^a. Uh'fufra.
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OF THE DRUIDS, 35
fe[ERCULES to be (44) Joshua, who was fur- . named OcMiuis, for having conquer'd Og King of Bafhan :
01 fanBas gentesl quibus haec nafcuntur
in kortis Numina. Juvenal. Sat. 1 5 . ver. 1 0.
I could make your Lordfhip yet merryer, or rather angrier, at thefe forc'd and far-fetch'd Etymologies, together with others hammer'd as wretchedly out of Greec, nay even out of Suedifh and German. But the word OG- M 1 U S, as LuciAN was truely informed, is pure Celtic; and fignifies (to ufc Tacitus's (45) phrafc about the Germans) the Secret of LetterSy particularly the Letters themfelves> and confequently the Learning that depends on them, from whence theFORCE OF ELO- QUENCE procedes: fo that Hercules Ogmius is ?^^/f/^r;/^// Hercules, or Hercu- les the TroteBor of Learnings having by ma- ny been reputed himfclf a (46) Philofopher.
(41^) JOSUAM quoque fpeftafle videtur flhid nomen^ quo Galli ahtiquitus Herculem nuncupabant. Unde vc- xi Oy yuoq ? Anaon ab Og vifto ? Delph, Phoenicizant, caf.:}.
(4j) Litcrarum Secreta viri pariterac foeminae ignorant. Dt m9rihusGermanorumy cap. l^.
(46) E*' ^« ^°^^ Xpovotq inii ^aatXttaq tm ^omnoq ifv *E^aKMSf 6 4><Aotf'Q^o< Tvpio^> oqiq f^cvpt tijv nvY%vXviiV^ &c. Palaephati fra^" mentum in Chronho AUxandrino . «Ef ^kAm^ AAjefi.»tv>i« vioq. Toutov (pixoao^oy Iqtipovch &c. Stadss in von *Epa*A>j^. Ef diu ante SuiDAM audiehat afud Heraclitvm, in Allegorlis Home- liicis,Avi)p <|x4>p«v, Kou c^taq wpaviov lAHqm, ucxipst utira^^tta^
2r«i)c«tf it ZoHtu. (ararou
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1(5 THE MtSTORV
To prove this account of the word, fo nztut^i and fo apt, be pleased to underftand, that, from; the very beginning of the Colony, O G U M, fometimes written OGAM, and alfo (47) O G- lA A, has fignify'd in Ireland the Secret of Let- ters, or the Irijb Alphabet 5 for the tmth of which I appeal to all the antient Irifh Books, without a lingle exception. Tis one of the moft authentic words of the language, and Ori- ginally (lands for this notion alone. Indeed after Patric had converted the nation, and, for the better propagating of Chriftian Books, introduc d the ufe of the Roman Letters (in- ftead of the antient manner of writing) their primitive Letters, very different from thofc they now ufe, began by degrees to grow obfo- lete; and at laft legible pnly by Antiquaries and other curious men, to whom they ftcK)d in ds good ftead as any kind of occult charaders ; whence it happened that O G U M, from figni- fying the fecret of writingy came to fignify fecret writingy but ftill principally meaning the original Irifh Charaders. There are feveral Manufcript Treatifes extant, defcribing and teaching the various methods of this fecret Writing 5 as one in the College-Library oF (48) Dublin, and another in that of his Grace .
(47) As In the Dublin College ManufcrJpt, to be pre- fently cited.
(48) "Us, among other pieces, in the Book ofBalUmore 5 being the i/yth volum In the Dublin Catalogue, in parch^ ment, folio, D. 18.
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OF THE DRUIDS. 37
the Duke of (49) Chandois. Sir James Ware, inhis yfntiquities of Ireland, relating how the antient, Irijh did, befides the vulgar characters J fraBife alfo divers ways and arts of occult writing, calld OGUM, in which fhey wrotf their fecrets 5 / have, continues
(50) he, an antient parchment Book full of thefe^ which is the fame juft now faid to be- long to the Duke of Chandois : and Dudley
(51) Forbes, a hereditary Antiquary, wrote to the rather laborious than judicious Chrono- gift (52) O Flaherty, in the Year 1683, that he had fome of the primitive (53) Birch- tables (for thofe they had before the ufp of parchment or paper) and many forts of the old occult writing by him. Thefe are principally the Ogham-beith, the Ogham-coll, and the (54) Oghanp-craoth, which laft is the old one and the true. But that the primary Irifli Let- ters, the Letters firft in common ufe, which in the manner we have fliown, became acci^ dentally occult, were originally meant by the word O G U M i befides the appeal made a- bove to all antient authors, is plain in paxticu-
(49) AnonymicujufdamTraftatusdevarlis apud Hlbcr- nos vet^res oceulcis fcrlbendl formulis, Hibernlci OGUM dials.
(fo) Praeter charafteres vulgares utcbjuitur etiam vctercs Hibcmi variis occultis fcribendi formulis feu artificils, . pGUM difiis, 4}ulbus fecreta iua fcribebaiit : his refer- tum habeo libellutli membranaceum antiquum. Caf^ 2.
(51) DUALTACH MHAC FiRBIS.
(52) RUDHHUIGH O FLAlTH-BHSARTVICMt
(f 3) Ogygia, fart. 3. inf. 30. 1/4) O^um^hamh^T*
C 3 lar
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38 THfc HISTORY
lar from Forchern, a noted Bard and Philo- fopher, who liv'd a little before Christ. This learned man afcribing with others the in- vention of Letters to the Phenicians, or rather more ftriftly and properly to Phenix (whom the Irilh call Fenius farfaidhy or Phenix the ant tent) fays, that, among other Alphabets, as the Hebrew, Greec, and Latin, he alfo com- posed that of (55) Bethluifnion an Oghuim^ ^t. Alphabet of Ogam j or the Irilh Alphabet, meaning that he invented the firft Letters, in imitation of which the Alphabets oif thofe Na- tions were made. O G U M is alfo taken in this fenfe by the beft modern writers : as Wil- liam (5 6) O DoNELL, afterwards Archbifhop of Tuam, in his prefa<;e to the Irilh Ne'yo Teftament^ dedicated to King James the Firft, and printed at Dublin in the Yean 602, fpeak- ing of one of his afliftants, fays, that he en- joined him to write the other part according to the Ogum and propriety of the Irip) tongue i where O GUM muft neceffarily fignify t6ic Alphabet, Orthography, and true manner of writing Irifh. From all this it is clear, why among the Gauls, of whom the Irilh had their Language and Religion, Hercules, as the pro- testor of Learning, Ihqu'd be ^ caird OoMifus, the termination alone being Greec. Nor Is this all. C)gma was not only a kiiown ^prdper
(5'5^) FfiNius Farsaidh A}ph|iW«f pnoia j^eliraeorum, Graecorum, Latinorum, et Bethluimion an Oghuim^ com-' pofuic. Ex Foa€H£RNi libr9, t^ingentis retro armis Latins rtddit;
(Jd) WtLtlAM O DOMUMUILL.
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OF THE DRUIDS, 39
name in Ireland, but alfo one of the moft an- ticntj iince Ogma Grianann, the father of King(57)DALBOETius, was oneof thefirft of the Danannan race, many ages before Lucian's time. He was a very learned man, marry'd to Eathna a famous Poetefs, who bore, bc- lides the fore-mention'd Monarch, Cairbre likcwife a Poet: infomuch that Ogma was dcfervcdly furnamed (58) Grianann, which is to fay ^hebean^ where you may obfervc Learning ftill attending this name. The Celtic Language being now almoft extinft in Gaulc, except onely in lower Britanny, and fuch Gal- lic words as remain fcatter'd among the French ; fubitfts however intire in the fcveral (59)diai- Icds of the Celtic Colonies, as do the words Ogum and Ogma particularly in IriQi. Nor is there any thing better known to the learn- ed, or will appear more undeniable in the fc- quel of this work, than that words loft in one dialed of the fame common language, arc of- ten found in another : as a Saxon word (for example) grown objfolete in Germany, but re- maining yet in England> may be alfo us'd in Switzerland 5 or another word grown out of date in England, and florifhing ftill in Den- mark, continues likewife in Iceland. So moft of the antiquated Englifh words are more dr
(f7)DEALBHA0TTH.
(;8) Gri0n is the Sun» and GrianMm Sufi-like, or belong* ing to the Sun.
(fo) Thcfe are Brlttifli, Wclfli, Cornilh, Irlfli, AJankSf and Earfe.
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40 THE HISTORY
hCs corruptly extant in Friczland, Jutland, and the other Northern countries f with not ^ few in the Lowlands of Scotland, and in the old Englifli Pale in Ireland,
XII. N O W, from the name of Hercules let's come to his perfon, or at leaft to the perfon acknowledg'd to have been one of the Heros worfliip'd by the Gauls, and fuppos'd by th? Greecs and Ropians to be HERquLES, On thi? occafion I cannot but refled on the oppofitc <;onduft, whi(;h the Learned and the Unlearned formerly obferv'd, with refpcftto the Gods and divine matters. If, thro the ig- norance or fuperftition of the people, any fa- ble, tho ever fo grofs, was generally rep civ'd in a Religion 5 the Learned being afhanVd of fuch an abfurdity, yet not daring openly to explode any thing wherein the Pricfts found tfieir account, explain'd it away by emblems and allegories importing a reafonable mean- ing, of which the firft authors nev^r though^ : and if the Learned on th^ other hand, either to procure the greater veneration for their dic- tates, or the better to conceal their fentimcnfs from the profane Vulgar, did poetically dif- courfeof the Elements and qualities of Matter, pf the Conftellations or the Planets, and the like efFeds of Nature, veiling them as perfons 5 the common fort immediately took them for fo - many perfons in good earneft, and ucnder'd '?m divine worfliip under fuch forrris, as the Priefts judg'd fitted to rcprcfent them. Ob-
)ea§^
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jf ds of divine worftiip have been coin'd out of the rhetorical flights of Orators, or the flatter-^ ing addreflfes of Panegyrifts : even metaphors and epithet^ have been transformed into Gods, Ift^hich prof ur d mony for the Priefts as well as the befts and this by fo much the more, as fuch objeds were multiply 'd. This is the un- avoidable confequence of deviating ever fo lit- tle from plain TRUTH, which is never fo heartily and highly reverenced, ^s when appear- ing in her native fimplicity 5 for as foon as her genuine beauties are indeavor'd to be h^ightn'd by borrowed ornaments, ^ndthatfhe's put un- der a difguife in gorgeous apparel : flie quicl?- ly becomes, like others aiFcding fuch a dreft, a mercenary p/oftitute, wholly afting by vanity, ^tifice, or intereft, and never fpeaking but in ambiguous or unintelligible terms; while the pdmiration of her Lovers is firft turn'd into ^- fnazement, as it commonly ends in contenit and hatred. But over and above the difficul- ty, which thefe proceedings have occafion'd in the Hiftory of antient Time, there arifes a grea- ter from Time itfelf deftroying infinite circuni- , ilances, the want wl^ereof (jauf^s that tp feem afterwards obfcure, which at the beginning was very clear and eafy. To this we may join the prepofterous emulation of nations, in af- cribing to their own Gods or Heros, what- ever qualities were preeminent in thofe of q- %hcrs. That moft judicious writer (57) about
(57^ ^wpwvTW Btoopia xtpt rm twv Oi«ir (^;««»<, Vu1g&: fed.
Tit Ra VII codex & Vaticanus legunt (notante doaiflim^ Galeo) verus cltulus eft Kopvovnw tft^p^mr^y ««> t>iv *ea-
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42 THE HISTORY
the nature of the Godsy commonly caird Phurt NUTUS (tho his true name was Cornutus, a Stoic Philofophcr) whom I fhall have frequent occafion to quote hereafter, " owns the great ^< (5 8) variety, and confcquently the perplexed- " nefs and obfcurity, that occurs intheHiftory ** of Hercules i whereby it is difficult to *' know certainly what were his real atchiev- <^ nicnts, or what were fabuloufly fathered up- << on him : but having been an excellent Gc- " neral, who had in diverfe countries figna^ " liz'd his valor, he thinks if not probablCj^ <' that he went onely arm'd with a Lions ** skin and a Club i but that he was repre- «^ fented after his death with thefe, is fym-^ *' bols of generofity and fortitude, for which ** reafori alfo he was pidur d with a bow and *' arrows/' To this let me add, that feveral valiant men in feveral nations having, in imi- tation of fome one man any where, been cal- ' led or rather furnam'd Hercules $ not only the works of many, as fubduing of Tyrants, ex- terminating of wild beafts, promoting or exer- cifing of commerce, and proteding or improv- ing of Learning have been afcrib'd to one :
(r8) To it iyihatiftiet yeyovevai rot t8 Scou iJia, flMW t«v irupt To^ "llpeobc /^opoufjuvwv. Ta,%ct Jav ^ Xiwn^ uat to poroAw fK rtf^ Tff-. Xfuaq 6«oAoy<af sti tovIov fii\tvijv9yixiya nm t;pa\ijywyap aurovyfr- vojxfvoy ayadov, xat roXKst (Jitpyi rviq v\t; tiera ZwafAW^ trehBovra^ evx'ciov Tff yvjxvov cSo^av nrspts^ii^v^fyctt $vA^ /xovto cJrAitf'/xivoy : aAA4 Vo<€ ? fT<(tf»j/x6/$ Tou 0#ou, (lera, tov avaBavartfff-Wf w»o ruv tvtpT/tr roviiBvmv mitoffiiiff^cu i ^vftjSoAov ya^ fiuCfpov t/»f p«ft>]( mcu yf wocioa
.T>JT««- ^r. cap. 31,
* Alii li^<<ruvo<«.
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OF THE DRUIDS. 43
but that alto wherever any robuft pcrfon was found rcprefented with a skin and a club, a bow and arrows, he was ftraight dcem'd to be Her- cules 5 whence the Egyptian, the Indian, the Tyrian, the Cretan, the Grecian or Theban, and the Gallic Hercui.es. This was aconftant way with the Greecs and Romans, who (fojr example) from certain rcfemblances perfedly accidental, conjedur'd that Isis was honour d by the (59) Germans, and Bacchus worfhip^d by the (60) Jews, which laft notion is refuted even by their enemy (61) Tacitus. Such fuperficial difcoveries about the Celtic divini- ties I (hall abundantly expofe. Yet that Og- mius might be really the Grecian Hercules, well known in Gaule, it will be no valid ex- ception that he was by the Druids Theologi- cally made the Symboll of the Force of Elo- quence ^ for which that country has been ever diftinguifh'd and efteem'd : fince even in Greece he was, as Phurnutus aflures us, myftically ac- counted (62) thatReafdn which is diffused thro
(f^) Pars Suevonim & Ifidl facrificac Unde caulk et origo pcrcgrino facro panim comperi ; nifi quod flgnum ipfum, in modum Libumae figuratuiti, docet adve&am Hellglonem. Tacit, de mcr. German, cap, 9.
(60) Plutarch. Sjmfoftac. lib. 4. queih ^rolixiis dlf- fercntenx otiofus confulas, leSor.
(61) Quia facerdotes eorum tibil tympanifque concine- bant, hederi vinciebantur, vitifque aurea templo repcrta, liberum patrem coli, domitorem Orientis, quidaih aroitra- ti funt, nequaqiiam coii|ruentibus inftitutis : qulppe Liber feftos laetolqiie ritus pofuit, Judaeorum mos abfurdus for^ didufque. Lib. S- ^f^f* f*
(62) *HptfKAij« 5i tqtv 6 «v Toi$ 6Ao/« Aoyo^, xaO' 6v ^ ^vft^ lex"' fa KCit Hpcilaia ««y*v, avtHtpfiq xcu artptyewif.oq ovffx : fitraZortKO^ tfXvo^f Hcu Ttti »«P« 1^9^*^ «^Ki^ w»a;x«v. i/bi fufra.
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44 THE HISTORY
all things ^according to which Nature is viga^ rous and ftrongy invincible and ever genera- ting 5 being the power that communicates vir^ fue andfirmnefs to every part of things. The Scholiafl: of Apollonius affirms, that the na- tural Philofophcrs underftood by Hercules, the (63) intelligence and permanence of beings : ^ the Egyptians held him to be (64) that Reafony which is in the whole of things ^ and in every part. Thus the Learned allegorized away among others (as I faid before) the fa- bulous atchievments and miraculous birth of this Hero, on which we Ihall however touch again, when we come to explain the Hea- then humor of making all extraordinary perr fons the Sons of Gods, and commonly be- got on Virgins 5 tho this laft is not the cafe of Hercules, who was feign'd to be the Son of Jupiter by Alcmena, another man's wife. This wou'd be reckon'd immoral among men, but Jupiter (faid the Priefts) can do with his own what he pleafes : which reafon, if it con- tented the husbands, cou'd not difpleafe the batchelors, who might chance to be fometimcs JypiTER's fubftitutes. The Druidical allegory of OGMIUS, or the Gallic Hercules, which in its proper place I fliall give you at large, is extremely beautiful : and as it concerns that
(64) Toy iv TUfft, neii Ztei vcLvrav, Aoyov ^non ^^ov, ut COimpt^ leg! cum Ga;.EO fufpicor in MacrOBIO, $aturnaLUb^ i^ fif/. 20. ' * ^ ' • '- • ^
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tioqucncc whereof you are fo confummate a mafter, cannot but powerfully charm you.
Xin. IN the mean time 'tis probable yout Lordfliip will be defireous to know, whether, beiides the language and traditions of the Irifti, or the Monuments of Stone and other mate- rials which the country affords, there yet re- main any Literary records truly antient and un- adulterated, whereby theHiftory oftheDruids^ with fuch other points of antiquity, may be retrieved, or at leaft illuftrated > This is a ma- terial queftion, to which I return a clear and dired anfwer 5 that not onely there remain very many antient Manufcripts undoubtedly genuine, bcfides fuch