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ATTKRBURT, FRANCIS. 



ATTICUS, T. POMPONIU3. 



by Dr. Atterbury, in conjunction with Dr. Smalridg* and Mr. Fraud. 

 In the same year Dr. Atterbury WM chosen prolocutor to the lower 

 BOOM of convocation. In 1712 he WM mad* dean of Christ Church, 

 Oxford ; but owing to hi* imperious temper, discord soon broke out 

 in the college, and his removal WM thought necessary for the restora- 

 tion of peace. In 1713, on Lord Oxford's recommendation, be WM 

 promoted to the bishopric of Rochester, and the deanery of West- 

 minster. It has been generally thought that he aspired to the 

 primacy, and that he probably would have attained it bad a vacancy 

 occurred during the queen'* lifetime. Immediately on her death ft 

 U asserted that he proposed to BoUngbroke to attempt to proclaim 

 James at Charing Cross ; and offered himself to head the procession 

 in hi* lawn sleeves. On the other hand it U said that he attempted 

 to gain the good grace* of George I. ; but that his overture* were 

 rejected with mark* of personal dislike. Certain it is, that from this 

 time he assumed a position of hostility to the House of Hanover, and 

 that all his energies were directed to bring about the restoration of 

 the Stuart dynasty. At the breaking out of the rebellion in 171.1 the 

 other prelate* published a declaration of abhorrence of it, but Attar- 

 bury on the plea of it* containing certain reflections on the High 

 Church party, refused his signature. In the House of Lord*, he drew 

 up some of the most violent protests against the measure* of the court 

 and ministry. Thus far his opposition WM not unconstitutional ; 

 bat he soon after incurred the suspicion of being deeply concerned in 

 a suoceasion of plot* for the restoration of the ejected family. The 

 report of a secret committee of the House of Commons charged him 

 with a treasonable correspondence, for the purpose of raising insur- 

 rection in the kingdom, and procuring invasion from abroad. The 

 evidence against him WM decisive, but the ministry hesitated for 

 three months before issuing their warrant (August 24, 1722) for hi* 

 committal to the Tower. On his appearance before the council he 

 behaved with calmnrss and self-possession. The imprisonment of a 

 bishop caused much excitement, which WM no doubt greatly increased 

 by the unnecessary harshness with which he WM treated in the Tower. 

 In the course of the ensuing March, a bill of pains and penalties 

 against him WM brought into the House of Commons. Atterbury 

 raised a difficulty about appearing either in person or by counsel ; 

 and this point of privilege WM warmly debated in the Upper House, 

 but to bis vexation it was decided that the bishop being not a peer of 

 the realm, but only a lord of parliament, might make his defence 

 before the Commons without any detriment to the honour of the 

 peerage. He however acquainted the Speaker by a letter, that he 

 would give the Commons no trouble, but make hi* defence in another 

 house, of which he had the honour to be a member. The bill passed 

 the Common* without a division. On the first reading in the Lords, 

 the bishop on bis passage to Westminster WM insulted by the mob ; but 

 a guard WM appointed for his future protection, and for the remainder 

 of tue week, through which the proceeding lasted, the populace WM 

 softened into pity. His speech in his own defence WM both argu- 

 mentative and eloquent; his demeanour WM firm and collected. 

 After a long and warm debate, the bill WM passed by a majority of 

 83 to 43. It received the royal assent on the 27th of the same month, 

 May. This affair at the time excited the vehemence of party, but 

 the dispassionate view of the case seems to be, that the bishop WM 

 really guilty of the political offence laid to his charge, but that proofs 

 neither sufficiently strong nor strictly legal could be adduced, and 

 that the proceeding WM in it* nature dangerous and unconstitutional 

 A strong protest WM entered on the Journal* of the Lord*. (' Histo- 

 rical Uecistor,' and ' Debate* of the House of Lords.') 



The bill condemned him to deprivation from all his ecclesiastical 

 preferment*, incapacitated him from performing any spiritual functions 

 or holding any civil appointment, and sentenced him to perpetual exile. 

 Accordingly in June 1723 he quitted England for Calais, accompanied 

 by his daughter, Mrs. Mortice, who WM allowed to attend him on his 

 travel* ; and, through the hand* of her husband, he WM permitted to 

 maintain an intercourse by correspondence with his native country. 

 After a abort stay at Brussels he settled finally at Paris, where he 

 resided till bis death, softening the severity of his banishment by study, 

 oon>enaiioo, and correspondence with bis old friends Swift and Pope, 

 and other eminent and learned men. In a collection of the bishop's 

 original letters, furnished by M. Thiriot. there is much able criticism 

 on several French authors. His avowed wish now WM to live to him- 

 self sad a few friend*, but he in fact, for three or four yean, WM the 

 real though covert manager of the Pretender 1 * business. He was 

 consequently deeply implicate.) in the schemes for raising another 

 rebellion in the Highlands of Scotland, and other equally abortive 

 " 1 Atterbury WM too plain-speaking a man, and too con 

 otesUnt, for James ; and the Incapable favourite* of 

 that wrak aad bigoted prince found little difficulty in undermining 

 hi* innuene*. A letter, dated June 16, 1727, is extent in which the 

 bishop, with a grave and sorrowful dignity, refers to his loss of favour, 

 and requests permission to " retire from that share of business with 

 which it has been hitherto thought not improper to intrust roe." The 

 dth of Oeorg* L however led to hi* deferring U* resignation to the 

 following year, when he removed to Montpellier. Subsequently Jan 

 seems to have become aware of the error he bad committed in alien- 

 atiag from his service the most able man of hi* party, and he in 17*0 

 succeeded in inducing him to return to Paris. But Atterbury's spirit* 



lad bean broken by the death of his daughter, who had gone to France 

 a Me him, October 1729; and if he had retained more of his old 

 vigour, the state of European politics would probably hare prevented 

 urn rendering any effectual service to the Pretender's cause, llii 

 Staling* of desolation and hopelessness are strikingly shown in a letter 

 to James, dated November 12, 1731. Atterbury died at Paris on the 

 18th of February. 1732. He WM buried privately at Westminster 

 Abbey ; and no little public outcry was cau<ed by the government 

 laving caused his coffin to be opened and searched for Jacobite 

 papers which they asserted they had /aason to believe were concealed 



Atterbury has been somewhat absurdly charged, on the strength of 

 an improbable anecdote which Dr. Maty says Lord Chesterfield related 

 to him, with having been, at least in early life, a sceptic ; but the 

 whole tenor of hi* conduct, and every reference in his private M well 

 as public writings, contradict such a supposition. He WM a worldly- 

 minded and ambitious man, but that he firmly believed the religious 

 truths which he so eloquently defended there can be no reasonable 

 doubt His chief purpose WM plainly to raise himself to a high 

 position in the Church, but it was as plainly for the sake of the Church 

 (considered M an eoclnslastioal corporation), of which he WM ever tue 

 ardent and untiring advocate and resolute champion. The conduct 

 of Atterbury with reference to the Stuart dynasty is the great blot 

 on his public career, and though perhaps illegally convicted, he WM 

 undoubtedly guilty of the treason for which be WM condemned. But 

 he WM sincerely devoted to the Stuart dynasty, and it WM for no 

 elfish ends he adhered to it* desperate fortunes. Nor WM his conduct 

 wholly inconsistent with his position M a prelate of the English Church. 

 The plan on which he had fixed hi* hope of securing the restoration 

 of the Stuart* WM that of inducing James to educate his son in the 

 Protestant faith : an absurd expectation undoubtedly, but it WM cha- 

 racteristic of Atterbury to overlook obstacles when he bad set his 

 heart on accomplishing a gnat purpose. In private life the haughti- 

 ness and asperity of the politician and controversialist wholly disap- 

 peared, and no man ever succeeded in winning a more affectionate 

 attachment from friends M well M relations. As a preacher, a speaker, 

 and a writer, he had few rivals ; and Lord Mahou (' Hist of Kng.,' 

 c. xii.) hardly exaggerates hi* literary menu when he says that " few 

 men have attained a more complete mastery of the English language 

 than Atterbury ; and all his compositions are marked with peculiar 

 force, elegance, and dignity of style." 



ATTICUS, T. POMPO'NIUS, WM descended from a very ancient 

 family, which formed one of the chief ornament* of the equestrian order. 

 He WM born on the 9th of March, B.C. 109, being three yean before 

 Cicero and Pompey, and nine yean before Cesar. He is sometimes 

 called Q. Cacilius (Cic., ' Ad Att,' iii. 20), a name which he derived, 

 B.C. 68, from bis maternal uncle Ciccilius, who left him a considerable 

 estate. His early years were spent under the direction of his father, 

 whose taste for literature induced him to give hi* son the best edu- 

 cation which Rome could supply. He lived during the most stormy 

 period of Roman history, but he early came to the determination to 

 sue for no public honours, and to take no aide in party or political 

 strife. He thus contrived to retain the friendship of the various 

 parties which in succession directed public affairs. He was on good 

 term* with Sulla, and with the younger Marius, with Cnsar, Pompey, 

 M. Brutus, Caasius, Antony, and Augustus; but his most intimate 

 friend WM Cicero, with whom he seems to have kept up a constant 

 correspondence from the year B.C. 63 down to Cicero's death. We 

 still possess the letters of Cicero to Attieus, in sixteen books, one of 

 the moit valuable records of that important period. Attieus spent a 

 considerable portion of his life at Athens (from u.c. 85 to 65), 1 

 withdrawn from Rome that he might not be forced to take any part 

 in the first civil war : it is probable that he derived the name of Attieus 

 from hi* residence at Athens. Attieus bad also an estate in Epirus, 

 near Buthrotum, where ha appear* to have spent a considerable part 

 of his time. He returned to Rome B.C. 65; and there, M at Athens 

 and Buthrotum, his days were spent in the delight* of literary retire- 

 ment Ho married at a late period (Feb. 12, no. 56) Pilia, of whom 

 we know nothing more than the name (Cic., ' Ad Alt,' iv. 4), and that 

 her health appears not to have been very good. His daughter Pom- 

 ponia (called by Cicero also Caxnlia and Attica) married M. Viptaniu* 

 Agrippa, the ultimate friend and able minister of Augustus ; and bis 

 (fraud-daughter by this marriage, Vipsania Aiirippina, WM married to 

 Tiberius Claudius Nero, afterwards emperor, by whom she bad Drusus. 

 After Vipsania WM divorced from Tiberius she married Asiuiua Oallus, 

 by whom she became the mother of a numerous family. Pomponia, 

 the sister of Attieus, WM married to Cicero's brother Quintes, but the 

 marriage WM not a happy one. 



Attieus died March 31, B.C. 32, at the age of 77, of voluntary 

 starvation, after be found that a disease with which he was seized WM 

 incurable. None of bis works have been preserved. He wrote annals 

 which included a period of seven centuries; and though they r : 

 principally to the history of Rome, he gave in them an abridged 

 account of several of the more celebrated nations of antiquity. He 

 was particularly happy in the composition of short epigrammatic 

 inscriptions to be placed under the busts of illustrious men. Me 

 wrote also a history of the Consulate of Cicero in the Greek language, 

 in a plain unadorned style. (Cic., 'Ad Att,' ii. 1.) In his philoso- 



