109 



TOLEDO, DON PEDRO DE. 



TOLEDO, DON PEDRO DE. 



110 



in 1718; ' Pantheisticon, sive Formula celebrandao Sodalitatis Socra- 

 ticao, iu tres partes divisa, quoc Pantheistarum aive sodalium continent, 

 1, Mores et axiomata; 2, JN'uincu et philosophiam ; 3, Libertatcm et 

 lion fallentem legem neque fallendam : Pramittitur de antiquis et 

 novis eruditorum sodalitatibus, ut et de universe infiuito et uoterno, 

 diatriba. Subjicitur de duplici Pantheistarum pkilosophia sequenda, ac 

 de viri optirni et oruatissiini idea, dissertatiuncula,' published in 1720 ; 

 and iu the same year, ' Tetradymus ; ' and in 1721, ' Letters from the 

 Right Honourable tho late Earl of Shaftesbury to Robert Molesvvorth, 

 Esq., now Lord Viscount of that name ; with two letters written by 

 the late Sir John Cropley.' 



Some of these titles show at once the learning and the fantastical 

 pedantry of Toland. The ' Tetradymua ' consists of four treatises, 

 which bear the names Hodegus, Clydophorus, Hypatia, and Mango- 

 neutes, and have for their respective subjects the pillar of cloud and 

 fire which led the Israelites, and which Toland argues was no miracle ; 

 the exoteric and esoteric philosophy of the ancients ; an account of the 

 female philosopher Hypatia, " who was murdered at Alexandria, as 

 was supposed, at the instigation of the clergy ; " and an answer to Dr. 

 Mangey, who had attacked his 'Nazarenus.' The 'Nazarenus' and the 

 'Pantheisticon' had again evoked the anger of the church. Dr. Hare, 

 dean of Worcester, in a treatise against Hoadley, spoke of Toland as 

 often quoting Locke to support notions he never dreamed of. Tolaud 

 published an advertisement to the effect that he had never quoted or 

 even named Locke in his writings. Hare issued a counter-advertise- 

 ment, in which he directs " makes great use of Mr. Locke's principles" 

 to be read instead of " is often quoted to support notions he never 

 dreamed of." Toland then published a pamphlet, with the title ' A 

 Short Essay upon Lying, or a Defence of a Reverend Dignitary, who 

 suffers under the Persecution of Mr. Toland, for a lapsus calami.' This 

 pamphlet, with Hare's advertisement, was reprinted "at the end of the 

 ' Tetradymus.' Hare returned to the charge, and, in the preface to a 

 new edition of hia work, speaks of "downright Atheists," such as the 

 impious author of the 'Pantheisticon.' 



Towards the close of his life, Toland, whom all his literary industry 

 could not keep from pecuniary difficulties, found a benefactor in Lord 

 Molesv/orth. Mr. Disraeli, who has devoted a chapter to Toland in his 

 ' Calamities of Authors,' mentions from -Poland's papers which he has 

 seen, the paltry sums which he generally received for his writings. 

 "For his description of Epsom he was to receive only four guineas in 

 case 1000 were sold. He received ten guineas for his pamphlet on 

 Naturalising the Jews, and ten guineas more in case Bernard Lintott 

 sold 2000." And in another place, in the ' Quarrels of Authors/ in 

 the chapter headed 'Lintott's Account-Book,' he says, "It appears that 

 Toland never got above 51., 101., or 201. for his publications. . . . 

 All this author seems to have reaped from a life devoted to literary 

 enterprise, and philosophy, and patriotism, appears not to have 

 exceeded 2001." This last statement must be a great exaggeration. 

 Further details as to Toland's literary gains, derived also from Lin- 

 tott's Account-Book, are to be found in Nichols's ' Literary Anecdotes,' 

 vol. v., p. 302. 



Toland died at Putney, where he had lodged for about four years 

 previous, choosing that place on account of its convenient distance 

 from London, on the llth of March 1722. " Never," says Mr. Disraeli, 

 " has author died more in character than Toland : he may be said to 

 have died with a busy pen in his hand. Having suffered from an 

 unskilful physician, he avenged himself in his own way ; for there was 

 found on his table an 'Essay on Physic without Physicians.' The 

 dying patriot trader was also writing a preface for a political pamphlet 

 on the danger of mercenary parliaments ; and the philosopher was 

 composing his own epitaph, one more proof of the ruling passion pre- 

 dominating in death ; but why should a Pantheist be solicitous 

 to perpetuate his genius and his fame ?" 



Toland's posthumous works were published in 1726, in 2 vols. 8vo, 

 with a Life by Des Maizeaux prefixed, and were republished in 1747. 

 The contents of these two volumes are an additional proof of the ver- 

 satility of his powers : they contain, together with many other essays, 

 the Memorials to the Earl of Oxford which have been referred to, and 

 several private letters : an account of Giordano Bruno ; the Secret 

 History of the South-Sea Scheme, in which Toland had been con- 

 cerned; a Plan for a National Bank; and a proposal, in Latin, for a 

 new complete edition of Cicero. ' An Historical Account of the Life 

 and Writings of the late eminently famous Mr. John Toland, by one 

 of his most intimate friends, in a letter to the Lord ,' was pub- 

 lished in 1722; and is attributed to Curll. This is not so minute a 

 biography as Des Maizeaux's and is rather a sketch of his writings and 

 opinions. There is appended to it a complete list of Toland's works, 

 many of the smaller of which are not^named in this article. 



Toland's works have never been collected, and the notoriety which 

 attended him during his life having soon died away, they are now 

 little known. But they are almost all of some worth, and his political 

 writings may throw some little light on the history of the times. 



TOLE'DO, DON PEDRO DE, a younger son of Frederic of Toledo, 

 dake of Alba, was born at Alba de Tormes, near Salamanca, in 1484. 

 After going through his early studies he was placed as a page in the 

 court of King Ferdinand the Catholic, who took him into particular 

 favour; and it was by the king's influence that young Pedro obtained 

 the hand of Donna Maria Osorio, heiress of the house of Villafranca, 



in consequence of which he took the title of Marquis of Villafranca, 

 and tho possession of the rich estates attached to it. He afterwards 

 served with distinction in the expedition against Jean d'Albret, king 

 of Navarre, and after King Ferdinand's death he continued in the 

 service of his successor Charles I. of Spain, afterwards Charles V. of 

 Germany. He served against the revolted communeros of Castile, 

 and afterwards followed the court of Charles V., whom he accompanied 

 in his journeys through Flanders, Germany, and Italy. In 1532, 

 being at Ratisbon with the emperor, the news arrived of the death of 

 Cardinal Colouna, viceroy of Naples, when Charles V. appointed for 

 his successor Don Pedro de Toledo, marquis of Villafranca, who 

 immediately set out to take possession of his government. He found 

 the kingdom suffering from the consequences of the preceding foreign 

 and civil wars, and especially of the recent French invasion of 1527-29, 

 and the revolt; of many of the barons and the subsequent confiscation 

 of their property; of the plague, which, originating in the French 

 camp, had desolated the city of Naples; and the state of confusion, 

 bordering upon anarchy, which prevailed in the provinces. The first 

 care of the new viceroy was to enforce the rigorous administration of 

 justice without respect for persons, and he sent to the scaffold the 

 commendator Pignatelli, the count of Policastro, and other noblemen, 

 who had been guilty of oppression and other crimes. He pulled 

 down the old dark arcades and other places which were the resort 'of 

 thieves and murderers ; he abolished the abuse of making the palaces 

 of the barons a place of asylum for criminals ; forbade the use of 

 weapons, except the side sword, then worn by gentlemen; he sen- 

 tenced duellists to death, prescribed regulations for restraining tho 

 disorders that took place at funerals and marriages; and, lastly, by a 

 ' bando,' or public edict, he inflicted the penalty of death on any one 

 found in the night with ladders scaling the windows of houses, a 

 practice which had become frequent among dissolute men, who thus 

 introduced themselves into ladies' apartments. Don Pedro reformed 

 the courts of justice, increased the number of judges, and made 

 several regulations for the more humane treatment of prisoners and 

 debtors; and also for the prevention of bribery and perjury. He 

 raised an extensive building near Porta Capuana, where he placed all 

 the higher courts of justice, civil and criminal. 



When Charles V., on his return from the Tunis expedition in 1535, 

 visited Naples, where he remained till March, 1536, amidst the 

 festivals and rejoicings with which he was greeted, he received hints 

 and suggestions from several of the nobility against Toledo, but 

 Charles stood firm in his good opinion of the viceroy, especially after 

 having heard the deputies of the people, who explained to him that 

 the nobility disliked Don Pedro because he would not permit them to 

 oppress the lower orders, and to put themselves above the law, as 

 they had been wont to do. It is reported that Charles, when he 

 lauded at Naples, on meeting the viceroy, said to him, " Welcome, 

 marquis ; I find that you are not become so large as I was told you 

 were;" to which Toledo replied, smiling, "Sire, I am aware that you 

 have been told that I was grown a monster, which I am not." 



Toledo greatly embellished Naples ; he enlarged the city, extended 

 the walls, cleared, widened, and paved the streets, and made new 

 drains and sewers ; he built the royal palace near Castel Nuovo, 

 which is now called ' Palazzo Vecchio,' and constructed the handsome 

 street which still bears his name. He adorned the city with fountains, 

 enlarged the dockyard, fortified the castle of S. Elmo, built new 

 hospitals and churches, and, in short, he quite altered the appearance 

 of Naples. He also drained the marshes by opening the wide canal 

 called dei Lagni, which carries the superfluous waters into the sea. 



In 1537, the Turks having landed at Castro and other places of the 

 province of Otranto, Toledo summoned the barons with their militia, 

 and marched with them and the regular Spanish troops against the 

 enemy, who, finding the country prepared for defence, took again to 

 their ships and sailed away. Toledo fortified the maritime towns of 

 Apulia, built towers of defence along the coast, restored Pozzuoli, 

 which was nearly depopulated in consequence of the earthquakes and 

 volcanic eruptions, and enlarged the ' Grotta,' which leads to it from 

 Naples. For all these and other services to the Neapolitans, ag well as 

 for the just though severe tenor of his general administration, Don 

 Pedro de Toledo had become very popular, until the year 1547, when 

 his ill-judged attempt to establish the tribunal of the Inquisition after 

 the fashion of his own country, Spain, rendered him universally 

 obnoxious. The cause of this attempt was that the doctrines of the 

 Reformation had found their way to Naples, and made many converts, 

 even among priests and monks. Charles V., who was at that time 

 struggling in Germany with the religious and political dissensions 

 arising out of the Reformation, dreaded a similar explosion in his 

 Italian dominions, and the viceroy Toledo wished to save his master 

 the additional trouble. Pope Paul III. was anxious to assist them in 

 repressing the spread of heresy to Italy : but the Neapolitans, a lively, 

 communicative people, had conceived a great horror of that gloomy 

 and arbitrary court and its secret proceedings ; they had heard of its 

 deeds in Spain, and they determined to resist its introduction into 

 their country, even by force of arms if necessary. The tumult began 

 about the middle of May, when the people tore down the placards 

 containing the edict which sanctioned the establishment of the Inqui- 

 sition, from the gates of the archbishop's palace. A cry of " To arms ! " 

 resounded through the streets and squares; most of the nobles, who 



