1821,] Mr. Thomas Bentley— Mr. Dohbs. 



must be found ; but I may ventnie to 

 assert, that it is virtue alone that can 

 adjust the cords of worldly power, so as 

 to render their owners happy and their 

 possessions secure, in those sublunary 

 concerns which they are superiorly 

 connected Avitli, in this " vale of ha- 

 rassing triiiLs," to the lest of mankind. 



535 



neiglibours, he left off eatinc; ass flesh, 

 and only lived on vegetables, as the 

 common Sort of food, he said, hurt his 

 conscience. ^ 



MR. THOMAS BENTLEY, MR. DOBBS, 



late Member far Cknrlemont^ in Ire- 

 land, BELL the Life Guardsman, fyc. 

 Mr. Thos. Bentley was a general 

 dealer in his native town of Sudbury, 

 in Suffolk, which he quitted about the 

 year 17^0, to open a warehouse in Lon- 

 don. Probably he had been always of 

 a religious turii, but it is certain that a 

 few years before he came ;to lo\vn, he 

 suddenly conceived that almost every 

 innocent enjoyment iu life was sinful, 

 and, as such, that it WJis his duty to 

 publish his sentiments to the world. To 

 obviate the objection that he preached in 

 opposition to his own practice, he first 

 stripped his house of pictures, prints, 

 &c. which he insisted upon destroying, 

 because, as he urged iu answer to the 

 objections of Mrs. Bentley, they might 

 otherwise become the cause of sin in 

 others. His next object was to alter 

 his dress to the resemblance of that 

 worn by the Friends, excepting that 

 instead of the dest and finest, he pre* 

 ferredthe worst and the coarsest. From 

 the same principles, when females came 

 to his shop to purchase any of the best 

 of linen &c.,lie would recommend them 

 not to do so, but to purchase double 

 the (piantify of some inferior kind, in 

 order that they might be enabled to 

 give tiie other half away. 



This conduct, no doubt, rendered it 

 necessary to lea^-e the shop at Sudbury ; 

 but as Mr. Bentley was not independ- 

 ent, he for some years had a warehouse 

 iu town. In the meantime, his admoni- 

 tions to the world were not confined to 

 speaking, a privilege of which he avail- 

 ed himself wherever he might be, but 

 he published at his own expense a num- 

 ber of pamphlets, hand-bills, letters, 

 &c. Some of the latt(;r were addressed 

 ' to those who seek peace with God.' He 

 also presented a letter to the members 

 of the House of Commons, dated May 

 12(h, I7IH, in which he assured them, 

 that although he had a fortune of one 

 tiiousand jMiunds, and naturally liked 

 good living, yet that Ik; lived on horse 

 antl ass flesh, barley bread, stinking 

 bu((ci, ikv. But wlik;n he found tjiat 

 eating such things gave oft'ence to his 



After Mr. Benfley's separation from 

 his Avife, which took place several years 

 previous to his own decease, lie carried 

 his aversion to tiic observance of known 

 usages with respect to diet, to a still 

 gieatcr extreme. He Mould have no 

 set meal-times, insisting that the calls 

 of nature ought to be obeyed at all 

 times, and, if possible, in all places. 

 After became to London, he never had 

 but one servant, who, as he respected 

 his master's principles, was contented 

 sometimes to breakfast at six in the 

 morning, and sometimes not before 

 noon. As any thing like pride in dress 

 was abhorrent to Mr. Beutley's way of 

 thinking, this faithful servant was con- 

 tent to wear the clothes presented by 

 his master, without any alteration. Mr. 

 Bentley was six feet high within a few 

 inches ; but his Sancho Panza, a short 

 man, positively wore one of his mastej"'s 

 coats, nearlydragging along the ground. 

 At length, however, the ridicule which 

 Mr. Bentley brought upon himself by 

 advocating the eating of ass flesh, tend- 

 e<l considerably to cool his ardour for 

 making proselytes, to which may be 

 added the expenses he had been at foi- 

 years in printing his numerous proiluc- 

 tions, addressed to all ranks, which he 

 generally gave away, having experi- 

 mentally found few persons who would 

 purchase them. 



Mr. Bentley was only an occasional 

 visiforof the little singular society that 

 used to assemble with Mr. John Dennis, 

 the bookseller, and others, at the house 

 of a friend, near Hoxton. 



Mr. DoBBS, a member of the Irish 

 Parliament about 1799, was another of 

 the persons that attended this small 

 circle of religious enquirers. Partial 

 to his own country, he seriously main- 

 tained that, according to the Book of 

 Revelations, Ireland was selected to be 

 the principal theatre of the approaching 

 Millennium ; and that the tine linen in 

 which the Saints are said to be clothed 

 in chap, xvi., was to be manufactured 

 in Ireland ; and that as serpents and 

 all venomous creatures were banislied 

 thence by St. Patrick, Satan, the old 

 serpent, was also destineil to receive his 

 deadly blow there. The (iiant's Cause- 

 way, he thought, had been referred to 

 by Daniel. (>ogand Magog, who, it is 

 supposed in Ezekiel, would give the 

 Saints a good deal of trouble before the 

 Millennium; 



