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tures of Robinson Crusoe. Of his other novels, the most noted are Moll Flanders, Colonel Jack, Roxana, and Captain Singleton.

"While all ages and descriptions of people hang delighted over Robinson Crusoe, and shall continue to do so, we trust, while the world lasts, how few comparatively will bear to be told, that there exist other fictitious narratives by the same writer,four of them, at least, of no inferior interest, Roxana, Singleton, Moll Flanders, Colonel Jack, all genuine offspring of the same father." - Charles Lamb.

"We are compelled to regard him as a phenomenon, and to consider his genius as something rare and curious, which it is impossible to assign to any class whatever. Throughout the ample stores of fiction in which our literature abounds, more than that of any other people, there are no works which at all resemble his, either in the design or the execution. Without any precursor in the strange and uncarved path which he chose, and without a follower, he spun his web of coarse but original materials, which no mortal had ever thought of using before; and when he had done, it seems as though he had snapped the thread, and conveyed it beyond the reach of imitation. To have a train of followers is usually considered as adding to the reputation of a writer: it is a peculiar honor to De Foe that he had none. Wherever he has stolen a grace beyond the reach of art, wherever the vigor and freshness of nature are apparent, there he is inaccessible to imitation."- Retrospective Review.

"Was there ever anything written by mere man that the reader wished longer, except Robinson Crusoe, Don Quixote, and The Pilgrim's Progress?"— Dr. Johnson.

WILLIAM WOLLASTON, 1659-1724, a clergyman of leisure, educated at Cambridge, published in 1722 a work called The Religion of Nature, which was much read, and is often quoted in religious and philosophical treatises of the eighteenth century.

Wollaston wrote other things, but this is the only one by which he is known. In it he maintains that Truth is the supreme good, and the source of all morality, laying down, as a foundation of his argument, that every action is a good one which expresses in act a true proposition.

SAMUEL CLARKE, D. D., 1675-1729, was a celebrated philosophical writer. His chief book was his Demonstration of the Being and Attributes of God, being one of the Boyle courses of Lectures. This work is intended as a confutation of the works of Spinoza and Hobbes. He wrote also The Scripture Doctrine of the Trinity, and some other works.

JOHN NORRIS, 1657-1711, was a learned metaphysician and divine. He was a Platonist in his views, and strongly inclined to mysticism. He wrote a treatise on the Platonic theory of innate ideas, advocating the system of Malebranche on that subject, and arguing against the theory of Locke. The following are his chief publications: An Essay towards the Theory of the Ideal or Unintelligible World, considering it absolutely in Itself, 2 vols., 8vo; A Philosophical Discourse concerning the Natural Immortality of the Soul; Two Treatises concerning the Divine Light; An Account of Reason and Faith; Reason and Religion; Christian Blessedness, or Practical Discourses on the Beatitudes; An Idea of Happiness; Miscellanies, consisting of Poems, Essays, Discourses, and Letters.

"Norris is more thoroughly Platonic than Malebranche, to whom, however, he pays great deference, and adopts his fundamental hypothesis of seeing all things in God. He is a writer of fine genius, and a noble elevation of moral sentiments, such as predisposes men for the Platonic schemes of theosophy. He looked up to Augustine with

as much veneration as to Plato, and respected more, perhaps, than Malebranche, certainly more than the generality of English writers, the theological metaphysicians of the schools. With these he mingled some visions of a later mysticism. But his reasonings will seldom bear a close scrutiny.” — Hallam's Lit. Hist of Europe.

JOHN HUTCHINSON, 1674-1737, was the founder of the Hutchinsonian school of interpretation.

Hutchinson was a native of Yorkshire. He was a layman, without the advantages of University education, but he acquired by private study a good deal of linguistic and scientific knowledge, and he wrote many works in support and illustration of a new scheme of biblical interpretation, which went by his name and was for a time much in vogue. The pivotal idea of his system was that the Hebrew Scriptures contain the elements of science and philosophy as well as of religion, and that science is to be interpreted by the Bible.

Works. -Hutchinson's principal works are the following: Moses's Principia; Moses sine Principio; The Confusion of Tongues and Trinity of the Gentiles; The Hebrew Writings Complete; A Treatise on Power, Essential and Mechanical; Glory of Gravity, Essential and Mechanical; Giory, Mechanical; The Human Frame, or Agents that circulate the Blood explained; the Religion of Satan, or Antichrist Delineated, etc.

"The works of Hutchinson are entitled to notice, as their author was the founder of a school of philosophy and theology to which some of the most celebrated men of the last century belonged. However absurd many of its speculations seem to be, there must be a plausibility in the leading principles of a system which engaged the attention and support of such men as President Forbes and Bishop Horne, Mr. Parkhurst and Bishop Horsley. The leading idea of Hutchinson is that the Hebrew Scriptures contain the elements of all rational philosophy as well as of genuine religion. That philosophy he opposes to the Newtonian; and hence he wrote his Moses's Principia, or a commentary on the Mosaic account of the creation and the deluge. His Moses sine Principio contains an account of the fall, and of other subjects connected with it. His work on the confusion of tongues is very ingenious; in which he attempts to prove that it was not a diversity of languages, but of religion, that took place at Babel. His Trinity of the Gentiles gives a view of ancient mythology and idolatry, considered chiefly as a corruption of the true religion. In the Covenant of the Cherubim he gives a view of the perfection of the Hebrew Scriptures, and of the Covenant of the Divine Three for the redemption of man. Hutchinson is an obscure, and, at the same time, a most dogmatical and abusive writer. It is often exceedingly difficult to ascertain his meaning, and still more difficult to acquiesce in it when ascertained. That he and his scholars have contributed considerably to the interpretation of the Bible, it would be wrong to deny. They have done a good deal, at the same time, to injure and clog the science of criticism."—Orme's Bibl. Bib.

ANDREW WILSON, M. D., a Scotchman, and an advocate of the Hutchinsonian theories, published, 1750-1767, several works on that subject, opposing the Newtonian Philosophy, and contending that all philosophy should be deduced from the Hebrew Bible: The Creation the Groundwork of Revelation, and Revelation the Language of Nature; Human Nature Surveyed by Philosophy and Revelation; The Principles and Moving

Powers assumed by the Present System of Philosophy; Subjects in Dispute between the Author of the Divine Legation of Moses [Warburton] and a Late Professor in the University of Oxford [Lowth]. Dr. Wilson published also several works on medical subjects.

FRANCIS HUTCHESON, 1649-1747, was a metaphysical writer of considerable celebrity.

Hutcheson was a native of the north of Ireland, and a graduate of the University of Glasgow. He was Professor of Moral Philosophy in the University of Dublin. His writings on metaphysical science, though not numerous, exerted a large influence by their originality and the clearness and beauty with which his thoughts were presented. He is even sometimes considered as the founder of the modern Scottish school of philosophy. The doctrine which he particularly advocated was the existence of an innate moral sense. His principal works are: A System of Moral Philosophy; An Inquiry into the Originals of our Ideas of Beauty and Virtue; An Essay on the Passions and Affections; Letters on Virtue.

DAVID HARTLEY, M. D., 1705-1757, was a writer of some note on metaphysical science.

Hartley was educated at Cambridge. He is the author of several medical treatises, but is best known by his Observations on Man, his Frame, etc., and by his Theory of the Human Mind. This theory regards the brain, nerves, and spinal chord as the direct Instruments of sensation, by means of vibrations communicated to and through them by external objects. Although overthrown subsequently, the theory is still interesting as marking an important step in the investigation of psychological phenomena.

SIR ISAAC NEWTON, 1642-1727, does not belong, strictly speaking, to the department of English literature, inasmuch as nearly all his most celebrated works were published in Latin.

Newton's English works are: A Treatise on the Reflections, etc, of Light, Observations on the Prophecies of Daniel, etc., and Historic Account of Two Notable Corruptions of Scripture (on the reading of 1 John v. 7, and 1 Tim. iii. 16). Sir Isaac Newton is the most distinguished name in the annals of English science. It is not too much to say that his great discoveries in the laws of gravitation and of light, and his invention of the system of fluxions, reconstructed all the processes of scientific investigation hitherto employed, and placed them upon a broad and stable basis. His labors as a Bible critic cannot claim the same honor, and are of little value as compared with the results of modern exegesis.

WILLIAM WHISTON, 1667-1752, notorious in his own day for his theological heresies, and the persecution and controversy to which they gave rise, is now chiefly known for his translation of Josephus.

Whiston was educated at Cambridge, where he became tutor, fellow, and finally successor to Sir Isaac Newton in the professorship of Mathematics. He was expelled from the University in 1710, in consequence of his Arianism and his rejection of infant baptism. Whiston's works are exceedingly numerous, but are chiefly scientific

or theological. His New Theory of the Earth, (a defence of the Mosaic account,) attracted much attention when it appeared, but is now wholly worthless.

The remainder of Whiston's life, after his expulsion from the University, was spent in writing and publishing works in defence of Arianism. An attempt to expel him from the communion of the Church of England was made, and was continued for five years, but failed. This suit forms a curious chapter in the history of the times.

Works.Whiston's theological works are now almost forgotten, and he is remembered almost exclusively by his translation of Josephus. This translation has gone through a number of editions, and is still much read, although superseded by the work of Dr. Robert Traill. Whiston's Autobiography is a curious record of the times, and displays the author in all his disinterested zeal and curious proneness to super

stition.

RT. HON. DUNCAN FORBES, 1685-1747, a distinguished Scotch scholar and advocate, studied at Edinburgh, Utrecht, Leyden, and Paris, and rose to high distinction in civil affairs. He wrote Thoughts on Religion, Natural and Revealed; Reflections on the Sources of Incredulity with regard to Religion; Letters on some Important Discoveries in Philosophy and Theology, etc. "I knew and venerated the man; one of the greatest that ever Scotland had, both as a judge, a patriot, and a Christian." — Warburton.

JOHN ASGILL,

1738, was the author of a number of books, chiefly legal. For one of his books, entitled Argument proving that men may be translated to Heaven without dying, he suffered much persecution. It was regarded as impious, and on account of it he was expelled first from the Irish House of Commons, and then from the English, and finally he lay for thirty years in prison. The quotations from the book given by Southey in The Doctor convict the author of absurdity rather than of blasphemy, He berated men for dying, when, as he said, there was no necessity for it; it was merely a foolish custom into which they had fallen! As he himself lived to be almost a hundred years old, some people began to think that possibly there might be something in his theory. But finally he knocked it all in the head by dying himself, just like other people.

ANTHONY COLLINS, 1676-1729, a writer on Theology and Metaphysics. Works: Essay concerning the Use of Reason; Priestcraft in Perfection; Vindication of the Divine Attributes; Discourse on Free Thinking; Philosophical Inquiry concerning Human Liberty and Necessity; A Discourse of the Grounds and Reasons of the Christian Religion, etc. Collins was a Deist, and an acute and subtle disputant. His opponents were some of the greatest men of his time, Bentley, Sam. Clarke, Sherlock, and others.

JOHN TOLAND, 1669–1722, another of the deistical writers of England at the beginning of the last century, was born in Londonderry, Ireland. He was of Catholic parentage; but in his sixteenth year became a Protestant, and afterwards a Deist, or rather a Pantheist. He studied at the Universities of Glasgow, Edinburgh, and Leyden, and afterwards spent much time in literary research at Oxford. His chief work was Christianity not Mysterious, published in 1696.

MATTHEW TINDAL, LL.D., 1657-1733, was the leading deistical writer at the close of the seventeenth and the beginning of the eighteenth century. He was educated at Oxford, and was elected to a Law Fellowship there. He resided chiefly in London. He published several works, but the only one much known is that entitled Christianity as old as the Creation, or the Gospel a Republication of the Law of Nature. It cre

ated great controversy, and was the chief object had in view by Butler in writing his Analogy.

NICHOLAS TINDAL, 1687-1774, nephew of the deistical writer, Matthew Tindal, translated Rapin's History of England from the French to the English, and continued it to his own time. Tindal's Rapin, published formerly in 5 vols., fol., and latterly in 21 vols., 8vo., is a valuable thesaurus of facts, but heavy in style, and consequently not much read except by profound students of history. Tindal was the author of several works, but this was the chief.

CHARLES DAVENANT, LL.D., 1656–1714, had considerable notoriety in his day as a dramatist and a writer on political economy. His Tragedy of Circe was written at the age of nineteen, and he himself took part in the performance of it. His works were published in 5 vols., 8vo. The following are the titles of some of them: An Essay on the Ways and Means of Supplying the War; An Essay on the Trade of India; Discourses on the Public Revenues, etc., etc.

Mrs. Mary Astell, 1668-1731, was one of the earliest of her sex in England to gain celebrity by the pen.

Mrs. Astell wrote a number of works, which were well received and gained for her the respect of some of the most distinguished persons of her day. Her works are partly of a religious kind, and partly directed to the improvement and elevation of her own sex. One of her works, Reflections on Marriage, is said to have been occasioned by a disappointment of her own on that subject, and betrays, not unnaturally, some acerbity of temper. "Some people [men?] think that she has carried her arguments with regard to the birthrights and privileges of her sex a little too far; and that there is too much warmth of temper discovered in this treatise." The old story!

Another of her books was Six Familiar Essays upon Marriage, Crosses in Love, and Friendship. Another, "a witty piece," was an Essay in Defence of the Female Sex. The titles of some of her other works are: A Serious Proposal to the Ladies for the Advancement of their True and Greatest Interest, A Fair Way with Dissenters and their Patrons, Letters concerning the Love of God, Bart'lemy Fair, or an Inquiry after Wit, The Christian Religion as practised by a Daughter of the Church of England. The last named work was for a time attributed to Bishop Atterbury.

"Mrs. Astell was a truly exemplary character, and devoted her talent to the best ends, the interests of true religion, and the improvement of her own sex; indeed, of all capable of appreciating moral excellence and intellectual elevation.” — Allibone.

MRS. ELIZABETH ROWE, 1674-1737, was another lady writer of some note.

Mrs. Rowe,was the daughter of a Dissenting minister, Walter Singer, and was noted at an early age for her beauty and accomplishments. She had Matthew Prior for a suitor, Bishop Ken and Dr. Watts for advisers, and no lack of adulation and compliment. She was married at the age of thirty-six to Mr. Thomas Rowe, a gentleman a

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