Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 3.djvu/597

Rh frontis aut judicii imminuti.&quot; Bcntley supplied to Grse- vius s Callimachus a masterly collection of the fragments. The Dissertation on the Epistles of Phalaris, the work on vhich Bentley s fame in great part rests, originated in the same casual way. Wotton being about to bring out a second edition of his book on Ancient and Modern Learning, claimed of Bentley the fulfilment of an old promise to write a paper exposing the spuriousness of tlie Epistles of Phalaris. This paper was resented as an insult by the Christchurch editor of Phalaris, Hon. Charles Boyle, afterwards earl of Orrery. Assisted by his college friends, Boyle wrote a reply, &quot; a tissue,&quot; says Mr Dyce, &quot; of superficial learning, ingenious sophistry, dexterous malice, and happy raillery.&quot; The reply was hailed by the public as crushing, and went immediately into a second edition. It was incumbent on Bentley to rejoin. This he did, in what Person styles &quot; that immortal dissertation,&quot; to which no answer was, or could be, given. In the year 1700, Bentley, then in his 38th year, received that main preferment which, says De Quincey, &quot; was at once his reward and his scourge for the rest of his life.&quot; The six commissioners of ecclesiastical patronage unanimously recommended Bentley to the Crown for the headship of Trinity College. Trinity College, the most splendid foundation in the University of Cambridge, and in the scientific and literary reputation of its fellows the most eminent society in either university, had, in 1700, greatly fallen from its high estate. It was not that it was more degraded than the other colleges, but its former lustre made the abuse of endow ments in its case more conspicuous. The eclipse had taken place during the reaction which followed 1C GO, and was owing to causes which were not peculiar to Trinity, but which influenced the nation at large. The names of Pearson and Barrow, and, greater than either, that of Newton, adorn the college annals of this period. But these were quite exceptional men. They had not inspired the rank and file of fellows of Trinity with any of their own love for learning or science. Indolent and easy-going clerics, without duties, without a pursuit, or any conscious ness of the obligation of endowments, they haunted the college for the pleasant life and the good things they found there, creating sinecure offices in each other s favour, jobbing the scholarships, and making the audits mutually pleasant. Any excuse served for a banquet at the cost of &quot; the house/ and the celibate imposed by the statutes was made as tolerable as the decorum of a respectable position permitted. To such a society Bentley came, obnoxious as a Johnian and an intruder, unwelcome as a man of learning, whose interests lay outside the walls of the college. Bentley replied to their concealed dislike with open contempt, and proceeded to ride roughshod over their little arrangements. He inaugurated many beneficial reforms in college usages and discipline, executed extensive improvements in the buildings, and generally used his eminent station for the promotion of the interests of learning, both in the college and in the university. But this noble energy was attended by a domineering temper, an overweening contempt for the feelings, and even for the rights, of others, and an unscrupulous use of means when a good end could be obtained. Bentley, at the summit of classical learning, disdained to associate with men whom he regarded as illiterate priests. He treated them with contumely, while he was diverting their income to public purposes. The continued drain upon their purses on one occasion the whole dividend of the year was absorbed by the rebuilding of the chapel was the grievance which at last roused the fellows to make a resolute stand. After ten years of stubborn, but ineffectual resistance within the college, they had recourse, in 1710, to the last remedy an appeal to the visitor. Their petition is an ill-drawn invective, full of general complaints, and not alleging any special delinquency. Bentley s reply (TJie Present State of Trinity College, &c., 8vo, Lond. 1710) is in his most crushing style. The fellows amended their position, and put in a fresh charge, in which they articled fifty-four separate breaches of the statutes as having been committed by the master. Bentley, called upon to answer, demurred to the bishop of Ely s jurisdiction, alleging that the Crown was visitor. He backed his application by a dedication of his Horace to the lord treasurer (Harley). The Crown lawyers decided the point against him ; the case was heard, and a sentence of ejection from the mastership ordered to be drawn up, but before it was executed the bishop of Ely died, and the process lapsed. This process, though it had lasted nearly five years, was only a prologue to the great feud, the whole duration of which was twenty-nine years. Space will not allow of its vicissitudes being here followed. It must suffice to say that Bentley was sentenced by the bishop of Ely (Greene) to be ejected from the mastership, and by Convocation to be stripped of his degrees, and that he foiled both the visitor and the university. Bentley survived the extinction of this thirty years war, two years. Surrounded by his grandchildren, he ex perienced the joint pressure of age and infirmity as lightly as is consistent with the lot of humanity. He continued to amuse himself with reading; and though nearly confined to his arm-chair, was able to enjoy the society of his friends, and several rising scholars, Maitland, John Taylor, his nephews Bichard and Thomas Bentley, with, whom lie discussed classical subjects. He was accustomed to say that he should live to be 80, adding that a life of that duration was long enough to read everything worth reading. He fulfilled his own prediction, dying, of a pleurisy, 14th. July 1742, when he was a few months over 80. Though accused by his enemies of being grasping, he left not more than 5000 behind him. A few Greek MSS., brought from Mount Athos, he left to the college library ; his books and papers to his nephew, Richard Bentley. Richard, who was a fellow of Trinity, at his death in 1786, left the papers to the college library. The books were acquired, by purchase, by the British Museum. Of his personal habits some anecdotes are related by his grandson, Richard Cumberland, in vol. i. of his Memoirs (Lond. 1807). The hat of formidable dimensions, which he always wore during reading to shade his eyes, and his preference of port to claret, are traits embodied in Pope s caricature (Dunciad, b. 4), which bears in other respects little resemblance to the original. He did not take up the habit of smoking till he was 70. He held the archdeaconry of Ely with two livings, but never obtained higher prefer ence in the church. He was offered the (then poor) bishopric of Bristol, but refused it, and being asked what preferment he would consider worth his acceptance, replied, &quot; That which would leave him no reason to wish for a removal.&quot; Dr Bentley married, in 1701, Joanna, daughter of Sir John Bernard of Brompton. Their union lasted forty years. Mrs Bentley died in 1740, leaving a son, Richard, and two daughters, one of whom married, in 1728, Mr Denison Cumberland, grandson of Richard Cumberland, bishop of Peterborough, and father of Richard Cumber land the dramatic author. The Life of Ridiard Bentley, by Bishop Monk (4to, Lond. 1830; 2d ed., 2 vols. 8vo, 1833), gives in full de tail an interesting account of the Trinity College feud, and the other incidents of his hero s life. But, though himself a Greek scholar of celebrity and an editor of Euripides, Dr Monk appears to have had but an imperfect compre- 