Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 15.djvu/186

 not now two claimants of the same altar of which the dispossessed had the better title,’ Dodwell, with Cherry and Mr. Robert Nelson, returned to the communion of the established church. They were admitted to communion at St. Mildred's, Poultry, by the excellent Archbishop Sharp. In 1711 Dodwell caught cold in a walk from Shottesbrooke to London, and died on 7 June in that year. He was universally esteemed as a most pious and learned man; his views were those of a staunch Anglican churchman, equally removed from puritanism on the one side and Romanism on the other. Thomas Hearne, the antiquary, was brought up at Shottesbrooke partly under his instruction, and constantly refers in his ‘Diary’ to ‘the great Mr. Dodwell’ as an unimpeachable authority on all points of learning. He speaks of the ‘reputation he [Dodwell] had deservedly obtained of being a most profound scholar, a most pious man, and one of ye greatest integrity;’ and yet more strongly: ‘I take him to be the greatest scholar in Europe when he died; but, what exceeds that, his piety and sanctity were beyond compare.’ His extensive and accurate knowledge won the admiration of some who had less sympathy than Hearne with his theological and political opinions. Gibbon, for instance, in his ‘Entraits raisonnés de mes Lectures,’ writes: ‘Dodwell's learning was immense; in this part of history especially (that of the upper empire) the most minute fact or passage could not escape him; and his skill in employing them is equal to his learning.’ This was a subject on which the great historian could speak with authority. That Dodwell's character and attainments were very highly estimated by his contemporaries is shown by testimonies too numerous to be quoted. That he was mainly instrumental in bringing back Robert Nelson to the established church is one out of many proofs. But that, in spite of his vast learning, his numerous works have now fallen into comparative oblivion is not to be wondered at. Gibbon gives one reason: ‘The worst of this author is his method and style—the one perplexed beyond imagination, the other negligent to a degree of barbarism.’ Other reasons may be that the special interest in many of the subjects on which Dodwell wrote has died away, and that he was fond of broaching eccentric theories which embarrassed his friends at least as much as his opponents. Bishop Ken, for instance, notices with dismay the strange ideas of ‘the excellent Mr. Dodwell,’ and even Hearne cannot altogether endorse them. Dodwell had a great veneration for the English clergy, and might himself have been described, with more accuracy than Addison was, as ‘a parson in a tye-wig.’ All his tastes were clerical, and his theological attainments were such as few clergymen have reached. Hearne heard that he was in the habit of composing sermons for his friend Dr. Lloyd; whether this was so or not, his writings show that he would have been quite in his element in so doing.

Dodwell was a most voluminous writer on an immense variety of subjects, in all of which he showed vast learning, great ingenuity, and, in spite of some eccentricities, great powers of reasoning. His first publication was an edition of his tutor Dr. Stearn's work ‘De Obstinatione,’ that is, ‘Concerning Firmness and not sinking under Adversities.’ Dr. Stearn finished the work just before his death, and expressed his dying wish that it should be published under the direction of his old pupil, Dodwell, who accordingly gave it to the world with prolegomena of his own. He next published ‘Two Letters of Advice, (1) for the Susception of Holy Orders, (2) for Studies Theological.’ These were written in the first instance for the benefit of a son of Bishop Leslie, and a brother of the famous Charles Leslie, who was a friend of Dodwell's at Shottesbrooke. His next publication (1673) was an edition of Francis de Sales's ‘Introduction to a Devout Life.’ Dodwell wrote a preface, but did not put his name to the work. In 1675 he wrote ‘Some Considerations of present Concernment,’ in which, like all the high churchmen of the day, he combated vehemently the position of the Romanists; and in the following year he published ‘Two Discourses against the Papists.’ His next publication was an elaborate work, entitled in full, ‘Separation of Churches from Episcopal Government, as practised by the present Nonconformists, proved schismatical,’ but shortly termed his ‘Book of Schism.’ This work, of course, stirred up great opposition. Among its opponents was the famous Richard Baxter, who called forth in 1681 Dodwell's ‘Reply to Mr. Baxter,’ and various other tracts. In 1683 he published ‘A Discourse of the One Altar and the One Priesthood insisted on by the Ancients in their Disputes against Schism.’ This was also occasioned by his dispute with Baxter. Two years earlier he added to his ‘Two Letters of Advice’ a tract concerning Sanchoniathon's ‘Phœnician History.’ In 1682 he published his ‘Dissertations upon St. Cyprian,’ undertaken at the desire of the well-known Dr. Fell, bishop of Oxford and dean of Christ Church, the editor of St. Cyprian's works. In 1685 he published a treatise ‘De Sacerdotio Laicorum’ (Of the Priesthood of Laics, against Grotius), again occasioned by