reviewers, (probably Badcock) was Calvinism in the extreme; and when he reasoned on some of its distinguishing principles, particularly predestination, he discovered no mean talent for disputation. He understood all the niceties of that article; and if his arguments could not convince, his subtleties would confound an Arminian. He would take his adversary on his own ground, and make his own concessions contribute to his defeat. Of this we have a remarkable example related by himself in a letter to Mrs Macauley, in which he tells her of a debate he once had with Mr Burgh, author of the Political Disquisitions.' "I should have had," says he, "a sharp onset if he had been in perfect health. Even as it was, he could not forbear feeling my pulse on the article of free will. In the course of our debate I drove him into this dreadful refuge: viz. 'that God doth all he possibly can (these were Mr Burgh's own words) to hinder moral and natural evil, but he cannot prevail: men will not permit God to have his wish.'" On Mr Toplady's asking him if this would not render the Deity an unhappy being? he replied, "No; for he knows that he must be disappointed and defeated, and that there's no help for it and therefore he submits to the necessity, and does not make himself unhappy about it." Of his defences of Calvinism, his Historical Proof' is by far the most able. As a controversialist, in his disputes with Wesley and others, he has been blamed for a degree of acrimony unworthy of his cause; but he possessed a warm and acute imagination, and a degree of zeal which was not always under the guidance of judgment. Against Wesley he may be said to have had a confirmed antipathy, and employed ridicule as well as argument in opposing his opinions and conduct. The last act of his life was to publish what he called his 'Dying Avowal,' in which he contradicted a report circulated by Wesley or his followers, respecting his having changed his sentiments. In this short piece he informs us that his Arminian prejudices received their first shock from reading Dr Manton's sermons on the xviith chapter of John's Gospel. Besides the works above-mentioned, Mr Toplady was the editor for some years of 'The Gospel Magazine,' begun in 1774; and in it, under the article, 'Review of Books,' will be found some of his bitterest philippics against -Wesley. Upon the whole, however, he must be considered as one of the ablest of modern writers in defence of Calvinism, and brought a larger share of metaphysical acuteness into the controversy than any man of his time.1

Bishop Warburton.

BORN A. D. 1698.-DIED A. D. 1779.

THIS extraordinary man was a native of Newark-upon-Trent. His father was an attorney, and at the usual age young Warburton was articled to a gentleman of his father's profession. On completing his clerkship, he practised some time in his native town, but he either appears to have deserted his profession, or to have been deserted by it. After filling for some time the situation of usher in a school, we find

'Chalmers.-Life published in 1778, 8vo.-Month. Rev. vol. LXX.

him in deacon's orders in 1723, and in 1726 vicar of Greasley in Buckinghamshire.

In this latter year, Warburton contributed some notes to Theobald's edition of Shakspeare, and also enrolled himself in the literary confederacy against Pope, then lord of the ascendant in the literary world. His notes on the great dramatist, both in this and his own edition, are erudite and ingenious, but singularly perverse in many instances. His biographer, Hurd, has indeed praised "the felicity of his genius in restoring numberless passages to their integrity, and in explaining others," but we greatly doubt the correctness of this view of Warburton's labours on the Shakspearian text: the truth is, he appears either to have understood the mighty dramatist a great deal better than he understood himself, or to have possessed a singular obliquity of mental vision throughout the whole of this task. He is perpetually discovering difficulties where an ordinary mind would perceive none; and rendering what was before clear and simple of apprehension, perplexed and contradictory. His connexion with the inferior wits, or dunces,' of the day was, as might have been anticipated, of very short duration ; he soon became the intimate friend of Pope, Chesterfield, Murray, and the other leading men of that party.

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In 1727, he published an Enquiry into the Causes of Prodigies and Miracles,' and in 1736 his famous treatise on the Alliance between Church and State.' Towards the conclusion of this piece he announced the approaching publication of his great work, The Divine Legation of Moses,' the first volume of which appeared in 1737. Of this work the following account has been given in an interesting article on Hurd's edition of Warburton's works, in the 7th volume of the 'Quarterly Review.' "To the composition of this prodigious performance, Hooker and Stillingfleet could have contributed the erudition, Chillingworth and Locke the acuteness, Taylor an imagination even more wild and copious, Swift, and perhaps Eachard, the sarcastic vein of wit: but what power of understanding, excepting that of Warburton, could first have amassed all these materials, and then compacted them into a bulky and elaborate work so consistent and harmonious?

“The principle of the work was no less bold and original than the execution. That the doctrine of a future state of reward and punishment was omitted in the books of Moses, had been insolently urged by infidels against the truth of his mission, while divines were feebly occupied in seeking what was certainly not to be found there, otherwise than by inference and implication. But Warburton, with an intrepidity unheard of before, threw open the gates of his camp, admitted the host of the enemy within his works, and beat them on a ground which was now become both his and theirs. In short, he admitted the proposition in its fullest extent, and proceeded to demonstrate from that very omission, which in all instances of legislation, merely human, had been industriously avoided, that a system which could dispense with a doctrine, the very bond and cement of human society, must have come from God, and that the people to whom it was given, must have been placed under his immediate superintendence.

"In the hands of such a champion, the warfare so conducted might be safe; yet the experiment was perilous, and the combatant a stranger: hence the timid were alarmed, the formal disconcerted; even the ve

teran leaders of his own party were scandalized by the irregular act of heroism; and long and loud was the outcry of treason and perfidy within the camp. Nor is it to be dissembled, that in choosing this new and narrow ground of defence, however adapted to his own daring and adventurous spirit, Warburton gave some cause of alarm, and even of dissatisfaction, to the friends of revelation. They foresaw, and deplored a consequence, which we believe has in some instances actually followed; namely, that this hardy and inventive champion has been either misconceived or misrepresented, as having chosen the only firm ground on which the divine authority of the Jewish legislation could be maintained; whereas that great truth should be understood to rest on a much wider and firmer basis; for could the hypothesis of Warburton be demonstrated to be inconclusive; had it even been discovered-which from the universal knowledge of the history of nations is impossible— that a system of legislation, confessedly human, had actually been instituted and obeyed without any reference to a future state, still the divine origin and authority of the Jewish polity would stand pre-eminent and alone. Instituted in a barbarous age, and in the midst of universal idolatry, a system which taught the proper unity of the Godhead; denominated his person by a sublime and metaphysical name, evidently implying self-existence; which, in the midst of fanatical bloodshed and lust, excluded from its ritual every thing libidinous or cruel, (for the permission to offer up beasts in sacrifice is no more objectionable than that of their slaughter for human food, and both are positively humane,) the refusal in the midst of a general intercommunity of gods, to admit the association of any of them with Jehovah :-all these particulars, together with the purity and sanctity of the moral law, amount to a moral demonstration that the religion came from God.

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"Warburton's Divine Legation' is one of the few theological and still fewer controversial works, which scholars perfectly indifferent to such subjects will ever read with delight. The novelty of the hypothesis, the masterly conduct of the argument, the hard blows which this champion of faith and orthodoxy is ever dealing about him against the enemies of both, the scorn with which he represses shallow petulance, and the inimitable acuteness with which he exposes dishonest sophistry, the compass of literature which he displays, his widely extended views of ancient polity and religion, but, above all, the rich sunshine of an Italian landscape, illuminates the whole,-all these excellencies will rivet alike the attention of taste, of reason, and erudition, as long as English literature shall exist; while many a standard work, perhaps equally learned and more convincing, is permitted to repose upon the shelf. But it is in his episodes and digressions that Warburton's powers of reason and brilliancy of fancy are most conspicuous. They resemble the wanton movements of some powerful and half-broken quadruped, who, disdaining to pace along the highway under a burden which would subdue any other animal of his species, starts aside at every turn to exercise the native elasticity of his muscles, and throw off the waste exuberance of his strength and spirits. Of these the most remarkable are his Hypothesis concerning the Origin and late Antiquity of the Book of Job, his elaborate Disquisition on Hieroglyphics and Picturewriting,' and his profound and original Investigation of the Mysteries.' "Warburton had a constitutional delight in paradox. He read, as

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it would appear, among other reasons, for the purpose of ascertaining what had been written on a subject; not that he might adopt or reject, at his discretion, the opinions of others, but that he might be sure of producing what had never been said or thought before. He was like an adventurer projecting a voyage of discovery, who should sit down to study the charts and journals of all his predecessors, neither for direction nor security, but that having been instructed in every route already explored by man, he might penetrate into the unfathomed depths of unknown seas, and ransack the wealth of countries hitherto without a name. Such a spirit, aided by a constitution however strong, and a hand however skilful, while it might occasionally reward the discoverer, and enrich his country with unexpected wealth, would sometimes drive him upon unknown rocks, and sometimes entangle him in inextricable quicksands, where his rashness would at once be regarded as his calamity and his reproach. Such was his ill-starred dissertation on the book of Job, which, besides having incidentally drawn upon him the vengeance of Lowth, missed that praise which Warburton courted more ardently than either utility or truth, that of fortunate boldness, or ingenious and well-supported error. His disgraceful failure on this subject was, however, more than compensated by his wonderful dissertation on hieroglyphical and picture-writing; one of those felicities which seem to be occasionally and extrinsically bestowed upon great genius, and are beyond all power of ordinary effort and meditation. In profundity of research, clearness of deduction, and happiness of illustration, we know of no analysis which will bear a comparison with it. Had Warburton written nothing but the fourth section of the fourth book of the Divine Legation,' it would have rendered his name immortal."

The 'Divine Legation' was received with little favour in either university, and was bitterly assailed by a host of antagonists. Our author defended himself with great spirit, and published a second volume in 1741. In 1746, he was chosen preacher of Lincoln's inn through the interest of his friend Murray. In 1750, he published Julian, or a Discourse concerning the earthquake and fiery eruption which defeated that emperor's attempt to rebuild the Temple at Jerusalem.' This is an able, erudite, and convincing dissertation on the celebrated passage in Ammianus Marcellinus, wherein that historian records the miraculous manner in which the emperor Julian's attempts to rebuild the Temple were defeated. The following rules for the qualification of an unexceptionable witness, affording a favourable specimen of Warburton's style, are taken from this piece : "Were infidelity itself, when it would evade the force of testimony, to prescribe what qualities it expected in a faultless testimony, it could invent none but what might be found in the historian here produced. He was a pagan, and so not prejudiced in favour of Christianity: he was a dependent, follower, and profound admirer of Julian, and so not inclined to report any thing to his dishonour. He was a lover of truth, and so would not relate what he knew or but suspected to be false. He had great sense, improved by the study of philosophy, and so would not suffer himself to be deceived:

Richard Bentley is said to have observed of its author, after reading the first part of the work, "This man has a monstrous appetite, but a very bad digestion !" 2 This work was highly esteemed by the president Montesquieu.

he was not only contemporary to the fact, but at the time it happened, resident near the place. He related it not as an uncertain hearsay, with diffidence, but as a notorious fact; at that time no more questioned in Asia than the project of the Persian expedition: he inserted it not for any partial purpose in support or confutation of any system, in defence or discredit of any character; he delivered it in no cursory or transient manner, nor in a loose or private memoir, but gravely and deliberately as the natural and necessary part of a composition the most useful and important, a general history of the empire, on the complete performance of which the author was so intent, that he exchanged a court life for one of study and contemplation, and chose Rome, the great repository of the proper materials, for the place of his retirement." Warburton's next labour was the editing of a uniform edition of his deceased friend and benefactor Pope's works. Warburton had completely gained the confidence of the bard of Twickenham, who is even said to have paid great deference to his criticisms, and to have made numerous alterations on his productions in obedience to his strictures; he introduced 'the Lincolnshire parson' to all his most influential friends, and at his death bequeathed to him one-half of his library, and the whole of his unsold copyrights.

His first government preferment was a prebend of Gloucester, which was conferred upon him in 1753, through the patronage of Yorke, Lord Hardwicke. Warburton had espoused government measures with much warmth, so early as 1745; its patronage, therefore, came late; and he appears never to have forgotten the coldness with which he was so long treated. In a letter to his friend and future biographer, Hurd, written in February, 1766, he says: "I brought, as usual, a bad cold with me to town; and this being the first day I ventured out of doors, it was employed, as in duty bound, at court, it being a levee-day. A buffoon lord in waiting was very busy marshalling the circle; and he said to me, without ceremony,-'Move forward; you clog up the door-way.' I replied with as little, Did nobody clog up the king's door-stead more than I, there would be room for all honest men.' This brought the man to himself. When the king came up to me, he asked, 'Why I did not come to town before?' I said, 'I understood there was no business going forward in the house in which I could be of service to his majesty.' He replied, He supposed the severe storm of snow would have brought me up.' I answered, 'I was under cover of a warm house.' You see by all this how unfit I am for courts."

In 1755 he was appointed a prebendary of Durham, and in the same year had the degree of D.D. conferred upon him by archiepiscopal mandate. In 1757 he was made dean of Bristol; and, in 1759, was advanced to the bishopric of Gloucester. His publications up to this latter date, besides those already mentioned, were a vindication of Pope from the charge of Spinosism in his Essay on Man,'-a Dissertation on the origin of books of Chivalry,—an edition of Shakspeare with notes, -some strictures on Middleton, animadversions on Bolingbroke's philosophical writings, and an improved edition of the first volume of the Divine Legation.'

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In 1762 he published his Doctrine of Grace.' This work was directed against the opinions of Middleton on the one hand, and John Wesley on the other. It is an exceedingly scurrilous performance. In