Page:Biographia Hibernica volume 2.djvu/600

 596 TOLAND. has been so prudent. He has raised against him the clamours of a l l parties; and this not s o much by his difference o f opinion, a s b y his unseasonable way o f discoursing, propagating, and maintaining i t . Coffee houses and public tables are not proper places for serious discourses relating t o the most important truths: but when also a tincture o f vanity appears i n the whole course o f a man's conversation, i t disgusts many that may other wise have a due value for his parts and learning.” The consequence o f such conduct was natural and un avoidable; and we can only b e surprised that i t was not till the 11th o f September, that Mr. Molyneux forwarded t o Mr. Locke the following account o f his retreat:—“Mr. Toland i s a t last driven out o f our kingdom: the poor gentleman, b y his imprudent management, had raised such a n universal outcry, that i t was even dangerous for a man to have been known once t o converse with him. This made a l l wary men o f reputation decline seeing him, insomuch that a t last he wanted a meal's meat, a s I am told, and none would admit him t o their tables. The little stock o f money which h e brought into this country being exhausted, h e fell t o borrowing from any one that would lend him half-a-crown; and run i n debt for his wigs, clotkes, and lodging, a s I am informed. And last o f all, t o complete his hardships, the parliament fell o n his book; voted i t t o b e burnt b y the common hangman, and ordered the author t o b e taken into the custody o f the serjeant a t arms, and t o b e prosecuted b y the attorney-general a t law. Hereupon h e i s fled out o f this kingdom, and none here knows where he has directed his course.” He retired t o London t o escape the storm which his indiscretion had produced, and immediately o n his arrival, published a n apologetical account o f the treatment h e had received; which appears only t o have irritated him t o still more violent attacks o n revealed religion. I n his life o f Milton, published i n 1698, h e asserted the spuriousness of the Icon Basilikè which, with some others o f his opi nions, occasionally interspersed, was represented b y Dr. Blackall, afterwards Bishop o f Exeter, a s affecting the