Page:A new and general biographical dictionary; containing an historical and critical account of the lives and writings of the most eminent persons in every nation v1.djvu/385

 A S G I L L. 349 Twits, and among thefe there were few confickraMe in which Mr. Algill was not retained on one fide or other ; fo tlut in a very fhort fpace of time he acquired a confiderable fortune. fie purchafed a large edate in Ireland ; and the influence this purchafe gave him, occasioned his being dueled a mem- ber ot the houfe of commons in that kingdom, lie was in Munfter when the (Vfiion began ; and, before he could reach Dublin, lie was informed, that, upon a complaint, the houfe had voted the left-mentioned book of his to be ablafphcmous libel, and had ordered it to be burnt : however, he took hii feat in the houfe, where he fat juft four days, when he was expelled for this performance. Being involved in a number of Jaw-fuits, his affairs foon grew much tmbarrafied in Ire. land, fo that he refolvcd to leave that kingdom. In 1705, he returned to England, where he was chofen member for the borough ofBramber, in the county of Suflex, and fat for fe- veral years : but in the interval of privilege in 1707, being taken in execution at the fuit of Mr. Holland, he was com- mitted to the Fleet. The houfes meeting in November, Mr. Afgill applied ; and on the i6th of December was demanded out of cuftody by a ferjeant at arms with the mace, and the next day took his feat in the houfe. Between his application and, his difcharge, complaint was made to the houfe of the treadle for which he had been expelled in Ireland, and a committee was appointed to examine it : of this committee Edward Harley, efq. was chairman, who made a report, that the book con- tained feveral blafphemous expreflions, and feemed to be in- tended to ridicule the Scriptures. Thurfday, the i8th of September, 1707, was appointed for him to make his defence, which he did with great wit and fpirit ; but as he ftill conti- tinued to maintain the afiertions he had laid down in that treatife, he was expelled. From this time Mr. Afgiil's af- fairs grew worfc and worfe : he retired firft to the Mint, and then became a prifoner in the King's Bench, removed him- felf thence to the Fleet,, and in the rules of one or other of thefe prifons continued thirty years, during which time he published a multitude of fmall political traces, molt of which were well received [BJ. He alib drew bills and anfwers, and did [B] The mod confiderable of his te fent ?.hjcrty),h,i tit!ehcreJitiry,and piects which have not already been <: of divine Imtirution, 17 10," odtivo. taken notice ot, are thefe: 2. " H : ,b Djteru-eon his Expuliionj i. (t De juredivino ; or, an AfTerticp, " to which is aOded, an Introduilioa " that the title of th; Hou'e of Hanover ' and IVllfcript, 1712, "octavo. ' to tho Succeflion of the Britifh Mo- Of the firft pamphlet there were feve- f ^aichy (us t allure of liHis of herjprc- fi edi-ions ; however, nui lonj after it