230 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[2°-! S. VII. Mab. 19. '59. 



Moreover, it is as probable as not that The 

 Shepherd's Tale (if really written by him), like too 

 many more of the good bishop's works, was sacrificed 

 to the fury of the Irish in the rebellion of 1641. 



I think, however, it may be fairly questioned 

 whether Bedell composed any such " Tale" at all. 

 The exception to his usual style of composition — 

 his habits of mind, as well as \ns feeling — his various 

 occupations, both at the time of, and subsequent to, 

 the gunpowder conspiracy — all tend to make it 

 highly im'probable. His employments in Venice 

 are too well known to need recapitulation here. 

 On his return from that place in 1612, he retired 

 once more to St. Edmundsbury, where he con- 

 tinued to reside until his presentation to the living 

 of Horningshealh in 1615. During that brief in- 

 terval, his time was fully occupied in completing 

 (the two last books of) Sir Adam Newton's trans- 

 lation, into the Latin, of Fra Paolo's History of 

 the Council of Trent; as well as translating the 

 Histories of the Interdict and of the Inquisition 

 into the same language. From 1615 to the period 

 when he became Provost of the Trinity College, 

 Dublin, in 1627, he was engaged in earnest and 

 affectionate controversy with his old college chum, 

 Jas. Waddesworth ; hoping, as he characteris- 

 tically expressed himself, to set him in joint 

 again, and not in imitating the indiscreet con- 

 duct of their mutual acquaintance, Joseph Hall, 

 who was for literally " heaping coals of fire" on 

 the head of the unhappy recusant. )3. 



RALPU CUDWORTH. 



A writer in a popular miscellany has lately 

 ranked Cudworth amongst the charlatans, whose 

 temporary reputation has been succeeded by total 

 neglect. Whether the opinion of the anonymous 

 critic will affect that place in the history of phi- 

 losophy which Mosheim, Hitter, and Sir William 

 Plamilton have assigned to our Cambridge Pla- 

 tonist, I will not undertake to say. Certain it is 

 that for a forgotten author Cudworth has engaged 

 the attention of not a few writers and printers 

 within the last few years, as some of the following 

 references and notices, which might without dif- 

 ficulty be largely multiplied, will prove. In 1845 

 an edition of the Intellectual System and Immu- 

 table Morality was published at London in three 

 volumes 8vo., with a translation of Mosheim's 

 Latin notes, and with an index. In 1838 the 

 Rev. John Allen published for the first time the 

 Treatise of Free Will, with notes. 



W^ithin the last ievr years Cudworth's Sermon 

 hefore the House of Commons in 1647, has been 

 reprinted by Mr. Brogden in a handsome volume. 

 It may be found also in Wesley's Christian 

 Library (1837), vol. ix. p. 369. In 1848 or 1849 

 P. Janet wrote a thesis, " De Plastica Naturse 



Vitas quae a Cudwortho in Systemate Intellec- 

 tuali celebratur." Paris. 8vo. 



In 1856 Mr. Solly published two original let- 

 ters of Cudworth's at the end of his Will Divine 

 and Human (London, Bell, 8vo.). 



In the same year I printed for the Cambridge 

 Antiquarian Society a letter from Mosheim to the 

 University, requesting materials for Cudworth's 

 life, together with the University's reply, and a 

 note by Baker, from which it appears that Mo- 

 sheim's account of Cudworth was drawn up from 

 a paper communicated by Baker. 



Many notices of Cudworth will be found in 

 Worthington's Diary, a valuable book admirably 

 edited for the Chetham Society by its learned 

 president. Cudworth contributed Hebrew or 

 other verses to the Cambridge collection?, entitled 

 Carmen Natalitium (1635), Oliva Pads (1654), 

 Academiee Cantabrigiensis 'S.waTpa (1660). 



In Parr's Ussher, p, 545., he is called " a young 

 man of good worth." His father's widow married 

 Dr. Stoughton (Rous' Diary, Camd. Soo. p. 80.). 

 For an account of his daughter. Lady Mashau), 

 see Ballard's Lives of Ladies, 4to., p. 379. 



Archbishop Sharp was indebted to his favour 

 (Sharp's Life, vol. i. p. 13.) He was tutor to 

 John Whitlock (Calamy's Account, SfC, 2nd ed., 

 p. 520.) In 1651 he was respondent at the com- 

 mencement with Samuel Cradock, Fellow of Em- 

 manuel. (Baker's MS. note on Calamy's account 

 of Tuckney; he cites MS. Tenison.) See also 

 Patrick's Autobiography, p. 11., and Chauncy's 

 Herts, p. 38. 



Henry More {Antidote of Atheism, lib. iii. c. 7., 

 p. 128, scq., ed. 1653) relates that he once went 

 with Cudworth to inquire into some stories of 

 witchcraft. 



In 1685, John Turner, in his discourse Of the 

 Messias, combated some of Cudworth's positions. 

 Warburton {Life, 4to. ed, p. 90.) adopted Cud- 

 worth's view of the Lord's Supper. Like many 

 another philosopher, Cudworth gave a testimonial 

 to Greatrakes. (Boyle's Life, 8vo. ed , p. 179. ; 

 see too, ibid. 257., where we are told that he ad- 

 vised Boyle to publish his works in Latin.) 



Some notes of Cudworth's are included in 

 Dodd's Commentary on the Old and New I'esta- 

 ment, (fol. 1770). It is well known that several of 

 Cudworth's treatises and letters still exist ia 

 manuscript, and that a wish has often been ex- 

 pressed that they may see the light. That this 

 interest has altogether passed away, cannot, I 

 think, be again asserted in the face of the facts 

 which I have brought forward. Any farther in- 

 formation relating to him would doubtless be ac- 

 ceptable to many of your readers. I hope myself 

 hereafter to say something of other members of 

 the school of Cambridge Platonists. 



J. E. B. Matob. 



St. John's College, Cambridge. 



