Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 21.djvu/757

Rh SHAFTESBURY 731 upright judge, overwhelmed his memory with scathing, if venal, satire ; and Dryden's satire has been accepted as truth by later historians. Hacaulay in especial has exerted all his art, though in flagrant contradiction of probability and fact, to deepen still further the shade which rests upon his reputation. Mr Christie, on the other hand, in possession of later sources of information, and with more honest purpose, has done much to rehabilitate him. Occasionally, however, he appears to hold a brief for the defence, and, though his picture is comparatively a true one, should be read with caution. Finally, in his monograph in the series of " English Worthies," Mr H. D. Traill professes to hold the scales equally. He makes an interesting addition to our conception of Shaftes- bury's place in English politics, by insisting on his position as the first great party leader in the modern sense, and as the founder of modern parliamentary oratory. In other respects his book is derived almost entirely from Christie. Much of Shaftesbury's career, increasingly so as it came near its close, is incapable of defence ; but it has escaped his critics that his life up to the Re- storation, apparently full of inconsistencies, was evidently guided by one leading principle, the determination to uphold the supremacy of parliament, a principle which, however obscured by self-interest, appears also to have underlain his whole political career. He was, too, ever the friend of religious freedom and of an enlightened policy in all trade questions. And, above all, it should not be forgotten, in justice to Shaftesbury's memory, that "daring his long political career, in an age of general corruption, he was ever incorrupt, and never grasped either money or land. In the days of the Commonwealth he never obtained or sought grants of forfeited estates. In the days of the restored monarchy he never profited by the king's favour for aught beyond the legal emolu- ments of office, and in office or out of office spurned all and many offers of bribes from the French king." (0. A.) SHAFTESBURY, ANTHONY ASHLEY COOPER, THIRD EARL or (1671-1713), was born at Exeter House in London, February 26, 1670-71. He was grandson of the first and son of the second earl. His mother was Lady Dorothy Manners, daughter of John, earl of Rutland. According to a curious story, told by the third earl himself, the marriage between his father and mother was negotiated by John Locke, who was a trusted friend of the first earl. The second Lord Shaftesbury appears to have been a poor creature, both physically and mentally, " born a shapeless lump, like anarchy," according to what is doubtless the exaggerated metaphor of Dryden. At the early age of three his son was made over to the formal guardianship of his grandfather. Locke, who in his capacity of medical attendant to the Ashley household had already assisted in bringing the boy into the world, though not his instructor, was entrusted with the superintendence of his education. This was conducted according to the principles enunciated in Locke's Thoughts concerning Education, and the method of teaching Latin and Greek conversationally was pursued with such success by his instructress, Mrs Elizabeth Birch, that at the age of eleven, it is said, young Ashley could read both languages with ease. In November 1683, some months after the death of the first earl, his father entered him at Winchester as a warden's boarder. Being a shy, retiring boy, and being moreover constantly taunted with the opinions and fate of his grandfather, he appears to have been rendered miserable by the rough manners of his schoolfellows, and to have left Winchester in 1686 for a course of foreign travel. By this change he was brought into direct contact with those artistic and classical associations which afterwards exercised so marked an influence on his character and opinions. On his travels he did not, we are told by the fourth earl, " greatly seek the conversation of other English young gentlemen on their travels," but rather that of their tutors, with whom he could converse on congenial topics. In 1689, the year after the Revolution, Lord Ashley returned to England, and for nearly five years from this time he appears to have led a quiet, uneventful, and studious life. There can be no doubt that the greater part of his attention was directed to the perusal of those classical authors, and to the attempt to realize the true spirit of that classical antiquity, for which he had conceived so ardent a passion. He had no intention, however, of becoming a recluse, or of permanently holding himself aloof from public life. Accordingly, he became a candidate for the borough of Poole, and was returned May 21, 1695. He soon distinguished himself by a speech, which excited great attention at the time, in support of the Bill for Regulating Trials in Cases of Treason, one provision of which was what seems to us the obviously reasonable one that a person indicted for treason or misprision of treason should be allowed the assistance of counsel. In connexion with this speech a story is told of Shaftesbury which is also told, though with less verisimilitude, of Halifax, that, being overcome by shyness, and unable to continue his speech, he simply said, before sitting down : " If I, sir, who rise only to speak my opinion on the bill now depending, am so confounded that I am unable to express the least of what I proposed to say, what must the condition of that man be who is pleading for his life without any assistance and under apprehensions of being deprived of it ? " " The sudden turn of thought," says his son, the fourth earl, " pleased the House extremely, and, it is generally believed, carried a greater weight than any of the argu- ments which were offered in favour of the bill." But, though a Whig, alike by descent, by education, and by conviction, Ashley could by no means be depended on to give a party vote ; he was always ready to support any propositions, from whatever quarter they came, that appeared to him to promote the liberty of the subject and the independence of parliament. Unfortunately, his health was so treacherous that, on the dissolution of July 1698, he was obliged to retire from parliamentary life. He suffered much from asthma, a complaint which was aggravated by the London smoke. Lord Ashley now retired into Holland, where he became acquainted with Le Clerc, Bayle, Benjamin Furly, the English Quaker merchant, at whose house Locke had resided during his stay at Rotterdam, and probably Limborch and the rest of the literary circle of which Locke had been a cherished and honoured member nine or ten years before. To Lord Ashley this society was probably far more congenial than his surroundings in England. Unrestrained conversation on the topics which most interested him philosophy, politics, morals, religion was at this time to be had in Holland with less danger and in greater abundance than in any other country in the world. To the period of this sojourn in Holland must probably be referred the surreptitious impression or publication of an imperfect edition of the Inquiry concern- ing Virtue, from a rough draught, sketched when he was only twenty years of age. This liberty was taken, during his absence, by Toland. After an absence of over a twelvemonth, Ashley returned to England, and soon succeeded his father as earl of Shaftesbury. He took an active part, on the Whig side, in the general election of 1700-1, and again, with more success, in that of the autumn of 1701. It is said that William III. showed his appreciation of Shaftesbury's services on this latter occasion by offering him a secretary- ship of state, which, however, his declining health compelled him to decline. Had the king's life continued, Shaftesbury's influence at court would probably have been considerable. After the first few weeks of Anne's reign, Shaftesbury, who had been deprived of the vice- admiralty of Dorset, returned to his retired mode of life, but his letters to Furly show that he still retained a keen interest in politics. In August 1703 he again settled in Holland, in the air of which he seems, like Locke, to have had great faith. At Rotterdam he lived, he says in a letter to his steward Wheelock, at the rate of less than 200 a