his orthodox belief; and he could not but confefs, "that "the doctrine of Arius is either a truth, or at least no dam"nable herefy." From this middle region of the air, the descent of his reafon would naturally reft on the firmer ground of the Socinians and if we may credit a doubtful ftory, and the popular opinion, his anxious inquiries at last fubfided in philofophic indifference. So confpicuous, however, were the candour of his nature and the innocence of his heart, that this apparent levity did not affect the reputation of Chillingworth. His frequent changes proceeded from too nice an inquifition into truth. His doubts grew, out of himself; he affifted them with all the ftrength of his reafon he was then too hard for himfelf: but finding as little quiet and repofe in thofe victories, he quickly recovered, by a new appeal to his own judgment: fo that in all his fallies and retreats, he was in fact his own convert.

Bayle was the fon of a Calvinift minifter in a remote province of France, at the foot of the Pyrenees. For the benefit of education, the proteftants were tempted to rifk their children in the catholic univerfities; and in the twentyfecond year of his age, young Bayle was feduced by the arts and arguments of the jefuits of Thouloufe. He remained. about feventeen months (19th March 1669-19th Auguft 1670) in their hands, a voluntary captive; and a letter to his parents, which the new convert composed or subscribed (15th April 1670), is darkly tinged with the fpirit of popery. But Nature had defigned him to think as he pleased, and to speak as he thought: his piety was offended by the exceffive worship of creatures; and the ftudy of phyfics convinced him of the impoffibility of tranfubftantiation, which is abundantly refuted by the teftimony of our fenfes. His return to the communion of a falling fect was a bold and difinterested step, that expofed him to the rigour of the laws; and a fpeedy flight to Geneva protected him from the refentment of his fpiritual tyrants, unconfcious as they were of the full value of the prize, which they had loft. Had Bayle adhered to the catholic church, had he embraced VOL. I.

E

the

the ecclefiaftical profeffion, the genius and favour of fuch a profelyte might have afpired to wealth and honours in his native country but the hypocrite would have found lefs happiness in the comforts of a benefice, or the dignity of a mitre, than he enjoyed at Rotterdam in a private state of exile, indigence, and freedom. Without a country, or a patron, or a prejudice, he claimed the liberty and fubfifted By the labours of his pen: the inequality of his voluminous works is explained and excufed by his alternately writing for himself, for the bookfellers, and for pofterity; and if a fevere critic would reduce him to a fingle folio, that relic, like the books of the Sybil, would become ftill more vaJuable. A calm and lofty spectator of the religious tempest, the philofopher of Rotterdam condemned with equal firmnefs the perfecution of Lewis the Fourteenth, and the republican maxims of the Calvinifts; their vain prophecies, and the intolerant bigotry which fometimes vexed his folitary retreat. In reviewing the controverfies of the times,. he turned against each other the arguments of the difputants; fucceffively wielding the arms of the catholics and proteftants, he proves that neither the way of authority, nor the way of examination can afford the multitude any teft of religious truth; and dexterously concludes that cuftom and education must be the fole grounds of popular belief. The ancient paradox of Plutarch, that atheism is less pernicious than fuperftition, acquires a ten-fold vigor, when it is adorned with the colours of his wit, and pointed with the acutenefs of his logic. His critical dictionary is a vaft repofitory of facts and opinions; and he balances the falfe religions in his sceptical seales,, till the oppofite quantities (if I may ufe the language of algebra) annihilate each other. The wonderful power which he fo boldly exercifed of affembling doubts and objections, had tempted him jocofely to affume the title of the spλnyspero Zavs, the cloudcompelling Jove; and in a conversation with the ingenious Abbé (afterwards Cardinal) de Polignac, he freely disclosed his univerfal Pyrrhonifm. "I am most truly (faid Bayle) a

" pro

proteftant; for I proteft indifferently against all fystems "and all fects."

The academical refentment, which I may poffibly have provoked, will prudently fpare this plain narrative of my studies, or rather of my idleness; and of the unfortunate event which shortened the term of my refideuce at Oxford. But it may be fuggefted, that my father was unlucky in the choice of a fociety, and the chance of a tutor. It will perhaps be afferted, that in the lapfe of forty years many improvements have taken place in the college and in the univerfity. I am not unwilling to believe, that fome tutors might have been found more active than Dr. Waldegrave, and lefs contemptible than Dr. ****. About the fame time, and in the fame walk, a Bentham was ftill treading in the footsteps of a Burton, whose maxims he had adopted, and whofe life he had published. The biographer indeed preferred the school-logic to the new philofophy, Burgurfdicius to Locke; and the hero appears, in his own writings, a ftiff and conceited pedant. Yet even these men, according to the measure of their capacity, might be diligent and ufeful; and it is recorded of Burton, that he taught his pupils what he knew; fome Latin, fome Greek, fome ethics and metaphyfics; referring them to proper mafters for the languages and sciences of which he was ignorant. At a more recent period, many ftudents have been attracted by the merit and reputation of Sir William Scott, then a tutor in University College, and now confpicuous in the profesfion of the civil law: my personal acquaintance with that gentleman has infpired me with a juft esteem for his abilities and knowledge; and I am affured that his lectures on hiftory would compofe, were they given to the public, a most valuable treatise. Under the aufpices of the prefent Archbifhop of York, Dr. Markham, himself an eminent scholar, a more regular difcipline has been introduced, as I am told, at Chrift Church; a courfe of claffical and philofophical ftudies

E 2

• This was written on the information Mr. Gibbon had received, and the obfervation he had made, previous to his late refidence at Lausanne. During

his

studies is propofed, and even pursued, in that numerous fe minary: learning has been made a duty, a pleasure, andi even a fashion; and several young gentlemen do honour to the college in which they have been educated. According to the will of the donor, the profit of the fecond part of Lord Clarendon's Hiftory has been applied to the establishment of a riding-fchool, that the polite exercises might be taught, I know not with what fuccefs, in the university. The Vinerian profefforfhip is of far more ferious importance; the laws of his country are the first science of an Englishman of rank and fortune, who is called to be a magiftrate,

His last vifit to England, he had an opportunity of seeing at Sheffield-place fome young men of the college above alluded to; he had great fatisfaction in converfing with them, made many enquiries refpecting their course of study, applauded the difcipline of Chrift Church, and the liberal attention fhewn by the Dean, to those whofe only recommendation was their merit. Had Mr. Gibbon lived to revife this work, I am fure he would have mentioned the name of Dr. Jackson with the highest commendation, and alfo that of Dr. Bagot, Bishop of St. Afaph, whofe attention to the duties of his office while he was Dean of Christ Church College were unremitted. There are other colleges at Oxford, with whofe difcipline my friend was unacquainted, to which, without doubt, he would willingly have allowed their due praise, particularly Brazen Nofe and Oriel Colleges; the former under the care of Dr. Cleaver, bishop of Chester, the latter under that of Dr. Eveleigh. It is ftill greatly to be wished that the general expence, or rather extravagance, of young men at our English univerfities may be more effectually restrained. The expence, in which they are permitted to indulge, is inconfiftent not only with a necefsary degree of study, but with those habits of morality which should be promoted, by all means poffible, at an early period of life. An academical education in England is at present an object of alarm and terror to every thinking parent of moderate fortune. It is the apprehension of the expence, of the diffipation, and other evil confequences, which arife from the want of proper restraint at our own universities, that forces a number of our English youths to thofe of Scotland, and utterly excludes many from any fort of academical instruction. If a charge be true, which I have heard insisted on, that the heads of our colleges in Oxford and Cambridge are vain of having under their care chiefly men of opulence, who may be fuppofed exempt from the neceffity of economical controul, they are indeed highly cenfurable; fince the mischief of allowing early habits of expence and diffipation is great, in various refpects, even to thofe poffeffed of large property; and the most ferious evil from this indulgence muft happen to youths of humbler fortune,. who certainly form the majority of students both at Oxford and Cam-bridge.

S.

giftrate, and may hope to be a legislator. This judicious inftitution was coldly entertained by the graver doctors, who complained (I have heard the complaint) that it would take the young people from their books: but Mr. Viner's benefaction is not unprofitable, fince it has at least produced the excellent commentaries of Sir William Blackftone.

After carrying me to Putney, to the house of his friend Mr. Mallet*, by whose philosophy I was rather scandaJized than reclaimed, it was neceffary for my father to form a new plan of education, and to devise some method which, if poffible, might effect the cure of my fpiritual malady. After much debate it was determined, from the advice and perfonal experience of Mr. Eliot (now Lord Eliot) to fix me, during fome years, at Laufanne in Switzerland. Mr. Frey, a Swiss gentleman of Bafil, undertook the conduct of the journey: we left London the 19th of June, croffed the sea from Dover to Calais, travelled poft through feveral provinces of France, by the direct road of St. Quentin, Rheims, Langres, and Befançon, and arrived the 30th of June at Laufanne, where I was immediately fettled under the roof and tuition of Mr. Pavilliard, a Calvinist minifter.

The first marks of my father's displeasure rather astonished than afflicted me: when he threatened to banish, and difown, and difinherit a rebellious fon, I cherished a fecret hope that he would not be able or willing to effect his menaces; and the pride of confcience encouraged me to fuftain the honourable and important part which I was now acting. My fpirits were raised and kept alive by the rapid motion of my journey, the new and various fcenes of the Continent, and the civility of Mr. Frey, a man of sense, who was not ignorant of books or the world. But after he had refigned me into Payilliard's hands, and I was fixed in my new habitation, I had leifure to contemplate the

ftrange

* The author of a life of Bacon, which has been rated above its value; of fome forgotten poems and plays; and of the pathetic ballad of William and Margaret.

S.