fubjects. But his mafter-piece is his "Clavis Mathematica," which he drew up for his pupil, the lord William Howard, fon of Thomas, earl of Arundel. This work is thought to be fo perfect as fcarce to admit of improvement; and what ferves inftead of every other encomium, the general plan of it has been adopted by Sir Ifaac Newton. He was the first that gave a turn for mathematical ftudies to the univerfity of Cambridge; and his "Clavis" was introduced by Seth Ward, who lectured his pupils in it. He fometimes amused himself with archery; but his very ftudy feems to have had a good effect upon his health; as the mathematics were not only recreation to him, but epicurifm. He was fprightly and active at above eighty years of age; and if we may be lieve Mr. Collier, died in an ecftafy of joy, upon hearing of the refloration of Charles II. Ob. 1660. Et. 86.

Sir HENRY VANE, Jun.

SIR

IR Henry Vane, a chief of the independent party, and a principal leader of the Houfe of Commons, was one of thofe fingular

characters that are feen but once in an age, and fuch an age as that of Charles I. It is hard to fay whether he were a more fantaltic vifionary, or profound politician. He did not, like the generality of enthufiafts, rely fupinely on heaven, as if he expected every thing from thence; but exerted himfelf, as if he entirely depended on his own activity. His enthufiafm feems ne

ver to have precipitated him inte injudicious measures, but to have added new powers to his natural fagacity. He mistook his deep penetration for a prophetic fpirit, and the light of his genius for divine irradiation. The Solemn League and Covenant was the issue of his prolific brain, which teemed with new fyftems of politics and religion. He preferved an uniformity of character to the laft, and died in expectation of the crown of martyrdom. Beheaded the 14th of June, 1662.

Sir Henry Vane deferves to be ranked in the first class of mystics, as he is little lefs profound than Jacob Behmen himfelf. We are amazed that a man, whofe genius carried him fo far above the common level of mankind in his pub. lic character, fhould fink fo far below common fenfe in his writings. Don Quixote is fuppofed to have fpoken like a philofopher upon every thing but knight-errantry; fo did Sir Henry Vane upon any thing but religion. He, as well as every. other ridiculous broacher of heterodoxies, had many followers*.

was

was as extraordinary and as active as his courage, feemed to proceed from as fixed a principle. In the part he acted against Charles, with whom he had formerly lived in great intimacy, he appears not to have been influenced by perfonal hatred, party animofity, or the common motives of intereft or ambition. He acted from a much nobler motive than any of thefe, an inviolable attachment to the liberties of his country. He had long entertained a jealoufy of the prerogative; and therefore, in the latt parliament of James I. fided with the party that oppofed the court. jealoufy was much increafed in the next reign; and he entered, with his ufual fpirit, into all thofe meafures that he thought neceffary to reduce the power of the king within bounds, and became a leader of the Prefbyterian party, as he believed it to be on the fide of liberty. He was greatly alarmed upon feeing

This

Cromwell at the head of the Independents; and Cromwell was little lefs alarmed at feeing fo able a chief at the head of the Prefbyterians. He was, by the Independent faction, impeached of hightreafon, which occafioned his flying into France. He was employed in feveral embaffies after the Reftoration, when he retained the fame jealoufy for liberty. He reffed the infidious prefents offered him by Lewis XIV. with as much difdain as he had before refufed 5000l. offered him by the parliament, to indemnify him for his loffes in the Civil war. Ob. 1679-80, Et. 81.

OLIVEL CROMWELL. LIVER Cromwell, who had been long ufed to farming in the country, made a very uncouth

appearance at his firft coming into the Houfe of Commons. "Who (fays Dr. South)" that had beheld fuch a bankrupt, beggarly fel"low, as Cromwell, first entering "the Parliament-Houfe, with a "thread - bare toin coat, and a "greafy hat (and perhaps neither "of them paid for) could have "fufpected, that in the space of fo "few years he fhould, by the mur"der of one king, and the ba "nifhment of another, afcend the

throne, be invefted in the royal "robes, and wanted nothing of "the state of a king, but the "changing of his hat into a

"crown."

Oliver Cromwell united, in a very high degree, the characters of the politician and general; and occafionally affumed thofe of the buffoon, and the preacher. He broke forth from his obfcurity, at an age when others think themfelves doomed to it for ever; and when many begin to entertain thoughts of retiring from the world, he began to make the moft confpicuous figure in it. He availed himself of the virtues and the vices, the talents and the weakneffes of mankind; and fuch obftacles as would have been unfurmountable to an inferior genius, helped greatly to carry him on in his career. His moft fignal exploit in this reign, was at the battle of Nafeby, where, in that decifive action, he wholly turned the fortune of the day.

This great man, whofe genius was awakened by the diftractions of his country, was looked upon as one of the people, till he was upwards of forty years of age. He is

an amazing inftance of what ambition, heated by enthufiafm, reftrained by judgment, difguifed by hypocrify, and aided by natural ví

gour

as

gour of mind, can do. He was never oppreffed with the weight, or perplexed with the intricacy of affairs: but his deep penetration, indefatigable activity, and invincible refolution, feemed to render him a mafter of all events. He perfuaded without eloquence; and exacted obedience, more from the terror of his name, than the rigour of his adminiftration. He appeared a powerful inftrument in the hand of Providence, and dared to appeal to the decifions of Heaven for the justice of his caufe. He knew every man of abilities in the three kingdoms, and endeavoured to avail himself of their refpective talents. He has always been regarded by foreigners, and of late years by the generality of his countrymen, as the greatest man this nation ever produced. It has been difputed which he deferved moft, "a halter or a crown;" and there is no lefs difparity betwixt the characters drawn of him, and the reports propagated by his enemies.

Oliver Cromwell exercised what he called "ths fword of the fpi"rit," upon every occafion, where he thought the military fword would be ineffectual. He well knew that the people were ever more difpofed to be led by preachers than captains, and, to extend his influence over them, he united both characters. There is a fermon, said to have been preached by him, on Rom. xiii. i. "The laft Lord's "day, in April, 1649, at Sir P. "T.'s houfe in Lincoln's Inn

"Fields." It was published in 1680. As it abounds with low ribaldry, and egregious nonfenfe, it carries with it no internal evidence of its being genuine.-Harrifon, Vane, and Peter Pett, were aifo lay-preachers in the time of the Inter-regnum: the first of thefe perfons was head of a re-baptifed congregation in London.

Lord HOPTON.

ALPH Lord Hopton, a no

affirmed, that he faw him enter into a formal contract with the devil; and Dawbeny has drawn "a "Parallel betwixt Mofes the Man "of God, and Oliver the Protec❝tor." He died in his bed, on the 3d of September, a day which he had long efteemed forturate, in the year 1658. The French court went into mourning for him; but the famous Mademoiselle de Montpenfier difdained to pay that refpect to the memory of an ufurper*.

plishments of body and mind, was trained up in a good fchool of war in the Low Countries. After exerting himself in the Houfe of Commons in the royal caufe, he retired into the weft; where, in a few months, he raifed a formidable army, and fortified no less than forty garrifons. He was fo great a mafter of difcipline, that his army moved as one man; and was, in every refpect, different from thofe

"Crom

licentious

licentious and tumultuous rabbles, of which there were many inftances in the civil war, that more refembled a herd of banditti, than a well appointed army. His victory at Stratton, which was the moft fignal in the course of that war, is an aftonishing inftance of what determined valour can effect. He well knew how to improve it, and it was only an earneft of feveral others. After he had done as much as courage, conduct, and activity could do, he, for want of fupplies, was forced to retire before Fairfax; and approved himself as great a general in his retreat, as he had done before in his victories. He died at Bruges in September, 1652.

Mr. WILLIAM PRYNNE.

a man

"feldom eating a dinner, would, 66 every three hours or more, be "maunching a roll of bread, and "now and then refresh his ex"haufted fpirits with ale." To this Butler feems to allude in his addrefs to his mufe:

"Thou that with ale, or viler li 66 quors,

"Did'ft infpire Withers, Prynne, "and Vicars;

"And teach them, tho' it were "in fpite

"Of nature, and their ftars, to "write."

This voluminous rhapfodift gave his works, in forty volumes folio and quarto, to the fociety of Lincoln's Inn. There is a catalogue of them in the "Athenæ Oxoni"enfes." The most valuable of his performances, by far, is his "Collection of Records," in four

ciples, took upon himself the office of cenfor, and boldly ftepped forth to correct every enormity in church and state. He wrote againft bishops, players, long hair, and love-locks; and was therefore dignified by his party with the appellation of Cato. He was a man of great reading; and there appear in his writings a copioufnefs without invention, and a vehemence without fpirit. Mr. Wood fuppofes that he wrote a fheet for every day of his life, computing from the time of his arrival at man's eftate. He fays, "His cuf"tom was, when he ftudied, to "put on a long quilted cap, which "came an inch over his eyes, ferv"ing as an umbrella to defend "them from too much light; and

ful work. Ob. 24 O&. 1669.

This writer was, to ufe the epithet of lord Clarenden, no less voluminous as a fpeaker. Clement Walker mentions, with due commendation, a fpeech of his addreffed to the Houfe of Commons, a little before the death of Charles I. in which he proves his conceffions to the parliament to be fufficient ground for a peace. He has, in this fpeech, recapitulated the arguments on both fides with great freedom and propriety. He continued to fpeak roundly of abuses, when others thought it prudent to be filent; and though he had loft his ears for his patriotifm, he was determined to be a patriot ftill, though at the hazard of his head.

Sir

Sir JOHN SUCKLING.

IR John Suckling, the poet, who had made a campaign under Guftavus Adolphus, raifed a fplendid troop of horfe, at the expence of twelve thousand pounds, for the fervice of the king. This troop, with Sir John at its head, behaved fo ill in the engagement with the Scots, upon the English borders, in 1639, as to occafion the famons lampoon compofed by Sir John Mennis; Sir John he got him an ambling nag," &c. This ballad, which was fet to a brifk tune, was much fung by the parliamentarians, and continues to be fung to this day. This difaf

trous expedition, and the ridicule that attended it, was fuppofed to have haftened his death.

Sir John, who was a poet of great vivacity, and fome elegance, was one of the fineft gentlemen of his time. His profe writings, particular his "Difcourfe of Religion," addreffed to Lord Dorfet, are thought equal to the best of his poetical performances. His ballad on a wedding, and his "Seffion of "the Poets," are oftener remembered than any of his works. This ballad was occafioned by the marriage of Roger Boyle, the firft earl of Orrery, with lady Margaret Howard, daughter of the earl of Suffolk. There was a great intimacy betwixt Sir John and the earl of Orrery, then lord Broghill.

In

his "Seflion of the Poets," he has given us fome traits of the characters of his poetical brethren, and has not forgot Sir William Dave.

nant's nofe; which has been the fubject of more fatyrical jokes than any other nofe that ever exited. Ob. 1641, At. 28.

J

Marquis of MONTROSE.

AMES GRAHAM, marquis of Montrofe, was comparabic to the greatest heroes of antiquity. He undertook, againft almost every obftacle that could terrify a lefs enterprifing genius, to reduce the kingdom of Scotland to the obedience of the king; and his fuccefs was answerable to the greatnefs of his undertaking. By a thousand efforts of ftratagem and valour, he, in a few months, effectuated his great defign; but for want of fupplies, was forced to abandon his conquefts. After the death of Charles, he, with a few men, made a fecond attempt, but was prefently defeated by a numerous army. As he was leaving the kingdom in difguife, he was betrayed into the hands of the enemy, 'by the lord Aston, his treacherous friend. He was carried to his execution with every circumftance of indignity that wanton cruelty could invent, and hanged upon a gibbet thirty feet high, with the book of his exploits appendent to his neck. He bore his reverfe of fortune with his ufual greatnefs of mind, and expreffed a juft fcorn at the rage and infult of his enemies. We meet with many inftances of valour in this active reign; but Montrofe is the only inftance of heroifm. Executed, May 21, 1650.