Victory obtained near Mons, and for the other great Successes of her Majesty's Arms this last Year, under the Command of the Duke of Marlborough. By Samuel Clarke, D. D. rector of St. James's, Westminster, and Chaplain in Ordinary to her Majesty;" 8vo. 1710. "An Essay on Human Actions, By Joseph Keble *, Esq.;" 8vo. * Son of a lawyer of eminence during Cromwell's usurpation, and born in London in 1632. He was sent to Jesus college, Oxford; thence shortly removed to All Souls, of which he was made fellow by the parliamentary visitors in 1648. He took the degree of LL.B. in 1654; and, settling at Gray's Inn, where he had been admitted a student, became a barrister about 1658. The following year he went to Paris. After the Restoration, he attended the King's Bench bar with extraordinary assiduity, continuing there as long as the court sat, in all the Terms from 1661 to 1710; which is the more remarkable, since he was hardly ever known to be retained in any cause, or so much as to make a motion there. He died suddenly, under the gateway of Gray's Inn, in August 1710, just as he was going to take the air in a coach. He was a man of incredible industry, and published several books in his life-time; besides which, he left above 100 large folios, and more than 50 thick quartos, in MS. He employed all his time in writing; which faculty was so habitual to him, that he continually laboured with his pen, not only to report the law at the King's Bench, Westminster, but all the sermons at Gray's Inn chapel, both forenoon and afternoon, amounting to above 4000. This was the mode of the times when he was young; and there is a mechanism in some natures, which makes them fond of proceeding as they have set out. The first work he undertook for the publick was, making a new table, with many new references, to the Statute-book, in 1674. 2. "An Explanation of the Laws against Recusants, &c. abridged, 1691," Svo. 3. "An Assistance to Justices of the Peace, for the easier Performance of their Duty, 1683," folio; licensed by all the judges. 4. "Reports, taken at the King's Bench at Westminster, from the 12th to the 30th Year of the Reign of our late Sovereign Lord King Charles II. 1685," 3 vols. folio. This work was also licensed by the judges; but, not being digested in the ordinary method of such collections, and having no table of references, it was not so well received as was expected; and the credit of it, being once sunk, could not be retrieved, though the table was added in 1696. 5. Two essays, in the form of separate pamphlets, one "On Human Nature, or the "Papers relating to Dr. Bentley, Master of Trinity College, Cambridge; with the Articles which the Fellows exhibited against him, and his Answer;" 8vo. "The Life of Mr. Thomas Betterton, the late eminent Tragedian; wherein the Action and Utterance of the Stage, Bar, and Pulpit, are distinctly considered. With the Judgment of the late ingenious M. de St. Evremond upon the Italian and French Musick and Operas; in a Letter to the Duke of Buckingham. To which is added, the Amorous Widow, or the Wanton Wife, a Comedy; written by Mr. Betterton; now first printed from the original Copy;" dedicated to Sir Richard Steele. [by Charles Gildon ;] 8vo. the Creation of Mankind;" the other "On Human Actions." This article is abridged from a life of Mr. Keble which appeared in "The Postboy," Sept. 19, 1719. * See a copious list of the pamphlets published on this occasion in Mr. Gough's "Anecdotes of British Topography, vol. I." P. 240. †This celebrated actor, commonly called the English Roscius, died April 28, 1710, aged 75; and was buried in Westminster Abbey. Mr. Gildon was born at Gillingham in Dorsetshire, whither his father, who had been a member of Gray's Inn, and suffered much for his adherence to King Charles I. had retired. The son was educated at Douay, with a view to the Romish priesthood; but, on his return to England, got rid of his Popish principles. In 1693 he published "The Oracles of Reason," written by Charles Blount, esq. after that author's unhappy end, with a pompous eulogium and a defence of self-murder. He was afterwards, however, as Dr. Leland observes (" View of Deistical Writings," vol. I. p. 43)" convinced of his error; of which he gave a remarkable proof, in a good book which he published in 1706, intituled, 'The Deist's Manual; or, a Rational Enquiry into the Christian Religion;' the greatest part of which is taken up in vindicating the doctrines of the existence and attributes of God, his providence and government of the world, the immortality of the soul, and a future state." Having greatly injured his fortune by thoughtlessness and dissipation, he was obliged to consider on some method for retrieving it, or indeed rather for the means of subsistence; and he candidly owns, in his essays, that necessity (the general inducement) was his first motive for venturing to be an author; nor was it till he had arrived at his 32d year, that he made any attempt in the dramatic way; Sir Humphry Mackworth's "Short State," and "Book of Vouchers;" 8vo. (See p. 21.) "A Dialogue between Timothy and Philatheus, &c. Vol. II. containing a complete Answer to the remaining Chapters of the Rights of the Christian Church;" 8vo. Dr. King's "Historical Account of the Heathen Gods and Heroes; necessary for the Understanding of the antient Poets; being an Improvement of way; after which he produced four tragedies, one comedy, and two critiques in a dramatic form, none of which met with any great success, though they possessed some merit. In criticizing the works of others, Mr. Gildon was rather severe; and by passing a censure on "The Rape of the Lock," excited the resentment of Pope, who thus immortalizes his name: "Ah Dennis! Gildon ah! what ill-starr'd rage Mr. Gildon died Jan. 14, 1723-4; and is said by Abel Boyer (in "Political State," vol. XXVII. p. 102.) to have been a person of great literature, but a mean genius; who, having attempted several kinds of writing, never gained much reputation in any, Among other treatises he wrote the " English Art of Poetry," which he had practised himself very unsuccessfully in his dramatic performances. He also wrote an English Grammar; but what he seemed to build his chief hopes upon was his late Critical Commentary on the Duke of Buckingham's Essay on Poetry, which last piece was perused and highly approved by his Grace. * In this volume, which is dedicated to Bp. Trelawny, the doctrine of passive obedience and non-resistance is impartially stated and proved, from Reason, Antiquity, and Scripture. The Revolution justified, and reconciled with that principle. The Republican scheme historically traced from its original, and thoroughly examined and confuted. The Author of the Rights" account of Episcopacy, of University-learning, of the toleration of parties, of morality, occasional conformity, ordination, with all his other material objections to the civil and ecclesiastical constitution, are fairly stated, and replied to. † William King, LL.D. the celebrated civilian; of whom an account will be given under the year 1775.-Of his "History of the Heathen Gods, composed for Schools," Dr. Johnson says, "The work is useful; but might have been produced without the powers of a King." whatever whatever has been hitherto written by the Greek, Latin, French, and English Authors upon that Subject*;" dedicated to the Rev. Dr. Knipe, prebendary of Westminster, and head of Westminster School, 8vo. * "The subject of the Poctical History has exercised the pen of Clemens Alexandrinus, Lactantius, Minutius Felix, Arnobius, St. Austin, and the learned Bishops Fulgentius and Eustathius ; and is useful, not only for the better knowledge of the Classicks and all other Polite Literature, but even of the Holy Scriptures themselves." Dr. KING. "Though I have lost my natural parents," says Dr. King, "who were most indulgent to me, and the grave Busby, whose memory to me shall be for ever sacred; yet, I thank God, I have a Master still remaining, to whom I may pay duty and acknowledgment for the benefits I have received by my education."-Dr. Knipe did not long survive this grateful acknowledgment. He died at Hampstead, Aug. 6, 1711, and was buried. in Westminster Abbey, where the following epitaph perpetuates his memory: "Thomas Knipe, S. T. P. hujusce Ecclesiæ Prebendarius, in claustrorum parte huic marmori oppositâ ubi uxorem Annam eum quinque ex eâdem liberis tumulaverat. & egregiis doctrinæ subsidiis instructus, & juvenes optimis disciplinis institutos plures qui in eandem indies spem succrescunt. cæteras, quæ virum bonum commendant, virtutes, comitatem, benevolentiam, candorem, fidem, & propensam in egenos benignitatem addiderat. qua "A Sermon preached before the Queen, at St. James's Chapel, on Wednesday, March 15, 1709-10, being the Day appointed by Her Majesty for a general Fast and Humiliation to be observed in a most solemn Manner, for obtaining the Pardon of our Sins, and imploring God's Blessing and Assistance on the Arms of Her Majesty and her Allies engaged in the present War; and for restoring and perpetuating Peace, &c. By Robert Moss, D.D. Chaplain in Ordinary to Her Majesty, and Preacher to the Honourable Society of Gray's Inn. Published by Her Majesty's special Command;" 8vo. "Noah's Dove; an Exhortation to Peace, set forth in a Sermon [on Isaiah xi. 13, 14.] preached on the 7th of November 1710, a Thanksgiving-day, by Tho. Swift*, M. A. formerly chaplain to Sir quo pertinacius tandem urgente, 80 idûs Aug. anno Domini 1711, ætat. 73. Alicia lectissima fœmina & suos aliquando cineres depositura.” *First cousin to the Dean, and one year only senior to him, Mr. Thomas Swift was presented by Lord Somers, and probably at Sir William Temple's request, to a crown-living, Puttenhain, near Guilford, in Surrey; which he held 60 years, and quitted but with life, in May 1752, in the 87th year of his age. Thomas preached a sermon in November 1710 (the same as is mentioned above), but it is not specified where it was preached; which he printed, and prefixed to it a dedication to Mr. Harley, chancellor of the Exchequer, afterwards Earl of Oxford. Mr. Deane Swift says, "Thomas Swift was a man of learning and abilities; but unfortunately bred up, like his father and grandfather, with an abhorrence and contempt for all the Puritanical sectaries:" whence he seems to infer, that he neither had, nor could well have, the least hope of rising in the Church. This "Parson cousin," as the Dean calls him in a letter to Ben Tooke, Nov. 7, 1710, affeeted to be the author of the "Tale of a Tub;" and when the Lord Treasurer Oxford wished to play u on his friend Jonathan, he would introduce him as Mr. Thomas Swift. And in the Journal to Stella, Nov. 7, 1711, in allusion to the Sermon above-mentioned, Swift says, "A book seller |