PERSONAL

Let no one imagine a prevailing absurdity in Thomas Ellwood's life; he was a man whom every reader must heartily respect and honor. He was incorruptibly true and unimpeachably brave, and he suffered for his faith, outrage and injustice with saintly patience and manly strength. Again and again he was seized and cast into prison without cause; every ruffian and coward felt free to insult the gallant youth who had once been so quick with his sword. If the reader will know how, without striking a blow, a man of courage may make knightly defence of a lady, let him turn to Ellwood's modest account of how he protected the beautiful Guli Pennington, afterwards the wife of William Penn, from the rudeness of some drunken troopers; and if he will learn how a true man is always efficiently a man, let him compare the quiet fearlessness of Ellwood in moments of peril with the valor of Lord Herbert. The Quaker will suffer nothing by contrast with the cavalier. HOWELLS, WILLIAM DEAN, 1877, ed., Life of Thomas Ellwood, p. 171.

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HISTORY OF THOMAS ELLWOOD

1683

At about this date [1683] his narrative ceases. We learn, from other sources, that he continued to write and print in defence of his religious views up to the year of his death, which took place in 1713. One of his productions, a poetical version of the "Life of David,” may be still met with, in the old Quaker libraries. On the score of poetical merit, it is about on a level with Michael Drayton's verses on the same subject.-WHITTIER, JOHN GREENLEAF, 1849, Old Portraits and Modern Sketches, p. 69.

Many of Ellwood's writings have not

been printed; but the fact that twentyfour works of all kinds-poems, pamphlets, and controversial treatises-were published and forgotten must be our comfort and stay in this partial deprivation. His autobiography has alone survived to our time, and it will probably keep his memory alive as long as men love to read simple, sincere, and manly books. Its manner has for me a great charm, and from the clearness with which it mirrors the author and the profound religious movement in which he was so largely concerned, it must always be interesting to the student of history; whoever loves a quaint force of style, and many delicate unconscious flavors of character, or values rare pictures of the intimate life of the past, must also enjoy it. No one will like it the less for the harmless vanity which occasionally appears in it. Ellwood came hardly by his religion and his learning, and so much as any man might, had a right to self-satisfaction in them.-HOWELLS, WILLIAM DEAN, 1877, ed., Life of Thomas Ellwood, p. 177.

Distinguished for many literary excellences, and entirely free from the fanaticism and intolerance so generally displayed in other writings of the early Friends.BALDWIN, JAMES, 1883, English Literature and Literary Criticism, Prose, p. 435.

"The History of Thomas Ellwood, written by Himself," is interesting for the frankness with which it makes Thomas Ellwood himself known to us; and again, for the same frank simplicity that brings us nearer than books usually bring us to a living knowledge of some features of a bygone time; and yet again, because it helps us a little to come near to Milton in his daily life. He would be a good novelist who could invent as pleasant a book as this unaffected record of a quiet life

them. He went to church and took the sacrament regularly, respecting religion though he hated the priests. He is a typical example of the whig aristocracy. of the time, and with better health might have rivalled his grandfather's fame. STEPHEN, LESLIE, 1887, Dictionary of National Biography, vol. XII, p. 132.

There is nothing that demands concealment in his career, whatever his mistakes or shortcomings; the more closely one presses home upon the inner motives and exalted purpose of his life the richer and more ennobling does his character appear. -RAND, BENJAMIN, 1900, ed., The Life, Unpublished Letters, and Philosophical Regimen of Anthony, Earl of Shaftesbury, Introduction, p. vi.

GENERAL

The generality of moralists and philosophers have hitherto agreed that there could be no virtue without self-denial; but a late author, who is now much read by men of sense, is of a contrary opinion, and imagines that men, without any trouble or violence upon themselves, may be naturally virtuous. He seems to require and expects goodness in his species, as we do a sweet taste in grapes and China oranges, of which, if any of them are sour, we boldly pronounce that they are not come to that perfection their nature is capable of. This noble writer fancies that, as man is made for society, so he ought to be born with a kind affection to the whole, of which he is a part, and a propensity to seek the welfare of it. In pursuance of this supposition, he calls every action performed with regard to the public good, virtuous; and all selfishness, wholly excluding such a regard, vice. In respect to our species, he looks upon virtue and vice as permanent realities that must ever be the same in all countries and all ages, and imagines that a man of sound understanding, by following the rules of good sense, may not only find out that "Pulchrum et Honestum" both in morality and the works of art and nature, but likewise govern himself, by his reason, with as much ease and readiness as a good rider manages a well-taught horse by the bridle.

Two systems cannot be more opposite than his Lordship's and mine.MANDEVILLE, BERNARD DE, 1723, A Search into the Nature of Society.

More surprising that a young nobleman

should have published so many tracts, so generally read by men of sense, than that there should be so few errors found in them. FIDDES, RICHARD, 1724, A General Treatise of Morality formed upon the Principles of Natural Reason only.

The rest of his time he employed in ordering his writings for publication, which he placed in the order they now stand. The several prints then first interspersed in the work were all designed by himself, and each device bears an exact affinity to the passage to which it refers. That no mistake might be committed, he did not leave to any other hand, even so much as the drudgery or correcting the press. In the three volumes of the "Characteristics" he completed the whole of his writings which he intended should be made. public, though some people have, however, in a very ungenerous manner, without any application to his family, or even their knowledge, published several of his letters, and those too of a private nature, many of which were written in so hasty and careless a manner, that he did not so much as take copies of them.-SHAFTESBURY, FOURTH EARL, C1734-41, A Sketch of the Life of the Third Earl of Shaftesbury.

Had many excellent qualities, both as a man and a writer. He was temperate, chaste, honest, and a lover of his country. In his writings he has shewn how largely he has imbibed the deep sense, and how naturally he could copy the gracious manner, of Plato.-WARBURTON, WILLIAM, 1738, Divine Legation of Moses, Dedication.

It hath been the fate of Lord Shaftesbury's "Characteristics," beyond that of most other books, to be idolized by one party, and detested by another. While the first regard it as a work of perfect excellence, as containing everything that can render mankind wise and happy; the latter are disposed to rank it among the most pernicious of writings, and brand it as one continued heap of fustian, scurrility, and falsehood. The noble

writer hath mingled beauties and blots, faults and excellencies, with a liberal and unsparing hand.-BROWN, JOHN, 1751, Essays on the Characteristics.

You say you cannot conceive how Lord Shaftesbury came to be a philosopher in vogue; I will tell you: First, he was a Lord; secondly, he was as vain as any of

his readers; thirdly, men are very prone to believe what they do not understand; fourthly, they will believe anything at all, provided they are under no obligation to believe it; fifthly, they love to take a new road, even when that road leads nowhere; sixthly, he was reckoned a fine writer, and seemed always to mean more than he said. Would you have any more reasons? An interval above forty years has pretty well destroyed the charm. A dead Lord ranks with Commoners; Vanity is no longer interested in the matter, for the new road has become an old one.-GRAY, THOMAS, 1758, Letters, Aug. 18.

The writings of the latter breathe the virtues of his mind, for which they are much more estimable than for their style and manner. He delivers his doctrines in ecstatic diction, like one of the Magi inculcating philosophic visions to an eastern auditory.-WALPOLE, HORACE, 1758, A Catalogue of the Royal and Noble Authors, of England, Scotland and Ireland, ed. Park, vol. IV, p. 55.

The philosophical manner of Lord Shaftesbury's writing is nearer to that of Cicero than any English author has yet arrived at; but perhaps had Cicero written in English, his composition would have greatly exceeded that of our countryman. The diction of the latter is beautiful, but such beauty as, upon nearer inspection, carries with it evident symptoms of affectation. This has been attended with very disagreeable consequences. Nothing is so easy to copy as affectation, and his lordship's rank and fame have procured him more imitators in Britain than any other writer I know; all faithfully preserving his blemishes, but unhappily not one of his beauties.-GOLDSMITH, OLIVER, 1759, The Bee, No. 8, Nov. 24.

Considerable merit, doubtless, he has. His works might be read with profit for the moral philosophy which they contain, had he not filled them with so many oblique and invidious insinuations against the christian religion; thrown out, too, with so much spleen and satire, as do no honour to his memory, either as an author or

propriety, and with respect to cadence. All this gives so much elegance and pomp to his language, that there is no wonder it should have been highly admired by some. It is greatly hurt, however, by perpetual stiffness and affectation. This is its capital fault. His lordship can express nothing with simplicity. He seems to have considered it as vulgar, and beneath the dignity of a man of quality, to speak like other men. Hence he is ever in buskins; and dressed out with magnificent elegance. In every sentence, we see the marks of labour and art; nothing of that ease which expresses a sentiment coming natural and warm from the heart. Of figures and ornament of every kind, he is exceedingly fond, sometimes happy in them; but his fondness for them is too visible; and having once laid hold of some metaphor or allusion that pleased him, he knows not how to part with it. . . Lord Shaftesbury possessed delicacy and refinement of taste, to a degree that we may call excessive and sickly; but he had little warmth of passion; few strong or vigorous feelings, and the coldness of his character, led him to that artificial and stately manner which appears in his writings. He was fonder of nothing than of wit and raillery; but he is far from being happy in it. He attempts it often, but always awkwardly; he is stiff, even in his pleasantry; and laughs in form, like an author, and not like a man.-BLAIR, HUGH, 1783, Lectures on Rhetoric and Belles-Letters, ed. Mills, pp. 209, 210.

For a considerable time he stood in high repute as a polite writer, and was regarded by many as a standard of elegant composition: his imitators as well as admirers were numerous, and he was esteemed the head of the school of sentimental philosophy. Of late years he has been as much depreciated as he was before extolled, and in both cases the matter has been carried to an extreme.PARK, THOMAS, 1806, ed. Walpole's Royal and Noble Authors, vol. IV, p. 59.

Grace belongs only to natural movements; and Lord Shaftesbury, notwithstanding the frequent beauty of his thoughts and language, has rarely attained it. . . . He had great power of thought and command over words. But he had no talent for inventing character, and bestowing life on it. The Inquiry concerning

Virtue is nearly exempt from the faulty peculiarities of the author; the method is perfect, the reasoning just, the style precise and clear.-MACKINTOSH, SIR JAMES, 1830, Second Preliminary Dissertation.

Shaftesbury retains a certain place as one of the few disciples of idealism who resisted the influence of Locke; but his importance is purely historical. His cold and monotonous though exquisitely polished dissertations have fallen into general neglect, and find few readers and exercise no influence. The shadow of the tomb rests upon them all; a deep unbroken silence, the chill of death surrounds them. They have long ceased to wake any interest, or to suggest any enquiries, or to impart any impulse to the intellect of England.-LECKY, WILLIAM EDWARD HARTPOLE, 1865, Spirit of Rationalism in Europe, vol. 1.

Shaftesbury's relation to Christianity involves some difficult questions. If all we had to settle were simply whether or not he went with the Christianity prevalent in his time, the answer would be easy. He stood apart from the clergy, ridiculed "the heroic passion of saving souls," and the Christian who had "his conversation in heaven." He said, with a sneer, that he dutifully and faithfully embraced the holy mysteries, conforming to the Church by law established, and making no researches into the origin of the rites and symbols. If he were to exercise himself in such speculations, he was quite sure that the further he inquired the less satisfaction he would find; for inquiry was the sure road to heterodoxy. This was a mode of writing common with the Deists. It must have been provoking and offensive, not only to the clergy, against whom it was aimed, but to all right-minded people. It is evident, however, that he was only bantering the clergy, whose ignorance and prejudice may have been equally provoking to all sensible men. He immediately after asserts the right of every man to examine the Scriptures for himself; and not only to examine them, but to know their history, what they profess to be, and what authority they claim. Scripture be the only religion of Protestants, we ought, surely, as Protestants, to know what Scripture is. -HUNT, JOHN, 1868, Anthony Earl of Shaftesbury, The Contemporary Review, vol. 8, p. 521.

He may be called the first of the intuitional school, writing without being at all aware of the difficulties of his position.

His style is highly elaborated. His first care is to be delicately melodious. He strives also to avoid the very appearance of harshness in the union of ideas. As a consequence, he is rather wanting in vigour, is driven upon affected inversions, and is obliged often to prolong his sentences to a tedious length before his smooth circumlocutions amount to a complete expression. -MINTO, WILLIAM, 1872-80, The Manual of English Prose Literature, p. 401.

The third Lord Shaftesbury is one of the many writers who enjoy a kind of suspended vitality. His volumes are allowed to slumber peacefully on the shelves of dusty libraries till some curious student of English literature takes them down for a cursory perusal. Though generally mentioned respectfully, he has been dragged deeper into oblivion by two or three heavy weights. weights. Besides certain intrinsic faults. of style to be presently noticed, he has been partly injured by the evil reputation which he shares with the English Deists. Their orthodox opponents succeeded in inflicting upon those writers a fate worse than refutation. The Deists were not only pilloried for their heterodoxy, but indelibly branded with the fatal inscription "dulness." The charge, to say the truth, was not ill-deserved; and though Shaftesbury is in many respects a writer of a higher order than Toland, Tindal, or Collins, he cannot be acquitted of that most heinous of literary offences. A second-rate English author of Queen Anne's time. Whenever he tries

to be facetious he is intolerable; he reminds one of that painful jocosity which is sometimes assumed by a grave professor, who fancies, with perfect truth, that his audience is inclined to yawn, and argues, in most unfortunate conflict with the truth, that such heavy gambols as he can manage will rouse them to the smiling point. The result is generally depressing. Yet Shaftesbury is less annoying when he is writhing his grave face into a contorted grimace than when the muse, whom he is in the habit of invoking, permits him to get upon stilts. His rhapsodies then are. truly dismal.-STEPHEN, LESLIE, 1873, Shaftesbury's Characteristics, Fraser's Magazine, vol. 87, pp. 76, 77.