which he has digested the learning of all preceding ages, will, we may venture to say, be transmitted to, and stand the examination of, all succeeding ones. He has so thoroughly exhausted every subject that he wrote a set treatise upon, that it is impossible to hit upon anything which is not in his writings, or to express that more justly or clearly which is there."

This sturdy polemic appears to have been one of the most zealous, disinterested, and temperate, of that host of controversialists, for which his times were remarkable. Orthodoxy never

had a more stedfast defender; but his aversion to arianism carried him so far, that he was sometimes charged with evincing an heterodox tendency towards arminianism. He wrote entirely for conscience' sake, and not with a view to attract notice, or to obtain promotion. He never solicited preferment, and once refused a bishopric. Though firm and unflinching in his polemical contests, he treated his adversaries, except in a few rare instances, with courtesy, and gave them credit for sincerity in professing those doctrines which he most vehemently opposed.

CONYERS, the son of William Mid-| dleton, rector of Henderwell, in Yorkshire, was born on the 27th of December, 1683. He passed his boyhood under the tuition of his father, and, when about seventeen years of age, was sent to Trinity college, Cambridge; where, having, in due course, proceeded B. A., he obtained a fellowship in 1710; which, however, he, some time afterwards, vacated, by marrying a rich widow, named Drake. In 1717, George the First, during a visit to the university, nominated Middleton, among others, for a doctor's degree in divinity; but Bentley absolutely refused to create him, except on payment of four guineas beyond the usual fees. Middleton was naturally of a irritable disposition, and had previously been involved in a quarrel with Bentley, which, it is said, originated from the latter having termed him, on account of his occasionally playing on the violin, 66 fiddling Middleton ;" and Bentley's illegal demand produced a renewal of their strife. Middleton paid the additional fee under protest, and, immediately appealing to the vice-chancellor, procured an order for its restitution; which, however, Bentley refused to obey, and he was consequently degraded from all his university honours and offices. The conflicting parties afterwards brought the matter before the judges of the court of king's bench; Middleton also

most

published four pamphlets against his adversary; but the dispute, which appears, for a long time, to have been deeply interesting to the public, terminated, at length, by Bentley's restoration to his rank.

On the death of his wife, in or about 1724, Middleton went to Italy for the benefit of his health; and, on his return, greatly increased the number of his enemies, by publishing a scurrilous pamphlet against the medical profession. Soon afterwards, he exposed himself to a charge of heterodoxy, in a dispute which arose out of the answers of Waterland and Pearce, to Tindal's Christianity as old as the Creation. In 1734, he married a Miss Place, of Dorchester; and, in the same year, abandoning the Woodwardian professorship, which he had previously held, he became librarian to the university. In 1735, appeared his Dissertation concerning the Origin of Printing in England; and, in 1741, he published a Life of Cicero, which reflects considerable lustre on his talents. Two years afterwards appeared his Epistles of Cicero to Brutus, and of Brutus to Cicero; and, in 1747, he involved himself in a bitter controversy with several orthodox writers, by his Free Inquiry into the Miraculous Powers.

Having lost his second wife, he was united, in his old age, to a Welsh lady, named Powell. During his last illness, he is said to have been laboriously

soon afterwards obtained a charter for the erection of a college at Bermuda, and a promise of £10,000, from government. Having also obtained some subscriptions in aid of the design, he embarked, in September, 1728, for Rhode Island, with his wife, who was a daughter of Foster, speaker of the Irish house of commons, and whom he had married in the preceding month; another lady; and two gentlemen of fortune. His plan, however, completely failed; principally, as it was alleged, because government did not furnish him with the promised pecuniary aid; and, after an absence of two years, he returned to this country, a great loser by the undertaking.

In 1732, with a view to the refutation of sceptical systems, he published a series of dialogues, entitled, The Minute Philosopher; with which Queen Caroline was so pleased, that she procured his promotion to the bishopric of Cloyne. About this period, having been informed that Dr. Garth had, on his death-bed, asserted to Addison, that he did not believe in the doctrines of christianity, because Dr. Halley had demonstrated to him, that they were incomprehensible, Berkeley produced his Analyst, addressed to an Infidel Mathematician; in which he contended, that some mysteries in mathematics were more difficult of conception than the articles of faith. A spirited controversy ensued, which gave rise to Colin Maclaurin's Treatise on Fluxions.

In 1744, Berkeley published a work entitled, Siris, in which he zealously advocated the virtues of tar water, a medicine, which, as he said, had cured him of a distressing nervous complaint: and, some years afterwards, appeared his Further Thoughts, on the same subject. In 1745 and 1749, he wrote some able letters to the Roman catholics in his diocese. During the former year, he was offered the bishopric of Clogher, which, however, he declined in these terms:-"I love my neighbours, and they love me; why, then, should I begin, in my old days, to form new connexions, and tear myself from those friends, whose kindness is to me the greatest happiness I can enjoy?"

In 1750, appeared his last work, entitled, Maxims concerning Patriotism. Soon afterwards, for the purpose of

superintending the education of his son, he removed to Oxford; where, on the 14th of January, 1753, while his wife was reading to him a sermon, by Sherlock, he suddenly expired, of what was termed a palsy in the heart. So imperceptibly did he breathe his last, that his body was already cold, and his joints stiff, before Mrs. Berkeley, and her daughter, who were present, became aware of his death. He was buried at Christchurch, Oxford, where a noble monument was erected to his memory. In the early part of his life, he was robust, powerful, and handsome; but constant study, by impairing his health, prematurely destroyed his personal graces and bodily strength; his countenance, however, is said to have retained to the last its original innocent, kind, and enthusiastic expression.

In addition to his more celebrated productions, Berkeley was the author of some "fugitive pieces," which were printed in a volume of Miscellanies, the year preceding his death. His attainments were very extensive: he was ingenious, acute, and imaginative; but, in the opinion, perhaps, of the majority, his writings are too much tinged with that enthusiasm which was so conspicuous in his actions. His letters are excellent; and a high degree of poetical merit has been attributed to his Stanzas on looking towards the Bermudas. His motives were always pure, and his conduct disinterested. Even in the destruction of Mrs. Vanhomrigh's letters, there is no doubt, that, however wrong he may have been, he acted conscientiously. He was invariably zealous; though certainly, on some occasions, far from successful, for the advancement of religion. He is described as having been a pattern of christianity to his flock; a rare example of humility combined with great intellect; and, in the language of Pope, of having possessed "every virtue under heaven!"

His application is said to have been so intense, that although he rarely quitted his studies until midnight, he rose between three and four o'clock in the morning; when, although, like many other eminent men," he had not the least ear for music," he summoned his children to take a lesson on the bass viol, from an Italian, whom he kept in the house for that purpose.

THIS learned divine was born in 1684, and received the early part of his education at St. Paul's school; whence he was removed, in 1701, to Corpus Christi college, Cambridge. While yet a student, he composed a copy of Hebrew verses, on the death of King William the Third, which were printed in the Cambridge collection. After proceeding to the degree of B. A., in 1704, and to that of M. A., in 1708, he acted, for a short time, as an assistant tutor, at St. Paul's school.

Having taken deacon's and priest's orders, in 1712-13, he was preferred, by Archbishop Tennison, to the vicarage of Gormorsham, in Kent; which he resigned, in 1714, on being presented by the Duchess Dowager of Bedford, to the rectory of Dry-Drayton, in Cambridgeshire. About this time he wrote an answer to Brett's Extent of the Commission of Christ to Baptise; and, in 1715, published a curious tract, entitled, The Innocency of Error Asserted and Vindicated; in which he maintained that no heresy is so destructive to religion as a wicked life; and no schism so damnable as a course of sin. Some anonymous attacks being made upon this production, he replied to them in a preface to the second edition; and, in 1720, vindicated his opinions in a letter to Potter, then Bishop of Oxford, who had animadverted upon them in a charge to his clergy. He had, previously, in 1718, resigned the rectory of Dry-Drayton, on being instituted to that of Rayleigh, in Essex; and, during the same year, he had been appointed afternoon preacher at King street chapel, Golden_square, by Dr. Clarke, the rector of St. James's; to whose doctrines, as well as to those of Hoadly, he appears to have been a staunch adherent.

In 1723, he was made præcentor of Winchester cathedral, in which, Hoadly, at the same time, collated him to a prebend. In 1725, he became assistantpreacher at St. James's; and, during the same year, he published his Essay on the Truth of the Christian Religion. In 1726, he proceeded to the degree of

S. T. P., at Cambridge, on which occasion, it is said, " he stood like a sturdy oak, to receive and return back the fiery darts of the orthodox."

Soon after the death of his friend, Dr. Clarke, he entered into a controversy, relative to that divine's Exposition of the Church Catechism, with Dr. Waterland, by whom it had been severely attacked; and subsequently contended, against Whiston and others, that the eclipse recorded by Phlegon had no connexion with the darkness that occurred at the crucifixion of our Saviour. In 1736, he published two tracts, the first of which was entitled, Reasonableness of applying for the Repeal of the Corporation and Test Acts impartially considered; and the second, The Corporation and Test Acts shewn to be of no Importance to the Church of England. Soon afterwards, he became involved in another controversy arising out of his Inquiry as to the Meaning of the Demoniacs; in which he had maintained that the demons, mentioned in the New Testament, signified the souls of departed men. In 1739, he was presented, by the crown, to the deanery of St. Burien, in Cornwall; and in the following year, Hoadly collated him to a prebend in the cathedral of Winchester.

About this period appeared his Principles and Connexion of Natural and Revealed Religion; which was speedily followed by his Brief Discourse on Miracles, and his Rational Communicant. In 1744, he published an Examination of Warburton's Account of the conduct of the ancient Legislators; of the Double Doctrine of the Old Philosophers; of the Theocracy of the Jews; and of Sir Isaac Newton's Chronology. Warburton soon wrote an angry reply, to which, Sykes powerfully rejoined. Among his subsequent productions were, An Essay on the Nature, Design, and Origin of Sacrifices; Two Questions previous to Dr. Middleton's Free Inquiry impartially considered; and A Paraphrase and Notes upon the Epistle to the Hebrews. He died, leaving a widow, but no children, on the

15th of November, 1756, and was buried near the pulpit in St. James's church, Westminster.

Dr. Sykes composed a great number of publications, besides those already mentioned, the most celebrated of which are, his Case of Subscription to the Thirty-nine Articles considered; and a tract, entitled, The Eternal Peace of the Church only attainable by a Zeal for Scripture in its just Latitude, by Mutual Charity, not by a Pretence of Uniformity of Opinion. He was a strong supporter of Whig sentiments, and so zealous an advocate for latitudinarian subscription, that Cramer, chaplain to the King of Denmark, while engaged on a history of the protestant religion, requested Professor Hubner, who was then in London, to inquire if Sykes had ever actually subscribed to the articles of the English church: Hubner replied, that he certainly had done so on being admitted to each of his preferments. Although Warburton affected to despise him, it is clear that he possessed considerable ability. Bott said, that "in Sykes, Warburton had caught a Tartar." As a controversialist, he was shrewd,

temperate, and disinterested. "Truth," said he, "I love; truth I constantly search after; truth I make the study of my life."

Bishop Watson had so high an opinion of his productions, as to wish that a complete edition of them had been published; Priestley declared, that in his Treatise on Redemption, a great number of texts were admirably explained; Harwood says, that all his works manifest a sedulous and successful study of the Scriptures; and Hollis, as he states in his diary," employed himself in collecting a complete set of the late learned Dr. Sykes's works, to bind and send to Harwood college, in America, for honourable preservation of his memory."

In private life he was mild, obliging, cheerful, and much beloved by his friends. "Dr. Clarke," says Mrs. Sykes, "would often make him a visit; and when he came, his usual way was to sit with him upon a couch, and, reclining upon his bosom, to discourse in the most free, easy, and familiar manner, upon subjects agreeable to the taste and judgment of both."

THIS learned prelate, the son of a distiller in Holborn, was born in 1690. In 1704, he was sent to Westminster school; where he much distinguished himself. He became a king's scholar in 1707; and in 1710, removed to Trinity college, Cambridge; of which, after having proceeded B. A. in 1713, he was elected a fellow, through the interest of Parker, subsequently Earl of Macclesfield; to whom, in 1716, he had dedicated an edition of Cicero de Oratore. On taking his degree of M.A. and entering into holy orders, in the following year, he became domestic chaplain to his patron; who, in 1719, being then lord chancellor, instituted him to the rectory of Stapleford Abbots, in Essex; in 1722, to that of St. Bartholomew, London; and, in 1723, to that of St. Martin's-in-the-fields; for which, Dr. Claget had already kissed hands; but, such was the interest of

Macclesfield, and the esteem in which Pearce was held, that the king confirmed him in the living.

In the following year, he received the degree of D. D. from Archbishop Wake, and published his edition of Longinus de Sublimitate, with a Latin version and notes. In 1739, he was promoted to the deanery of Winchester, which he unwillingly exchanged, in 1748, for the bishopric of Bangor. In 1756, the Duke of Newcastle prevailed upon him to accept the see of Rochester, and the deanery of Westminster. Lord Bath afterwards, on two occasions, offered him the bishopric of London; but Pearce positively declined further promotion; and, in 1763, feeling the infirmities of age growing fast upon him, solicited permission to resign his dignities, in order that he might have some interval between the fatigues of business and eternity. His desire not