BAY 



BAY 



incidental discussion of various points, as for that refutation 

 of a popular superstition, which is its ostensible purpose. 

 In the same spring (1682) he wrote an answer to Maim- 

 bourg's Hiatoire du Ca/vinisme, a libellous misrepresenta- 

 tion of the conduct of the French Protestant Church. (Cri- 

 tique Generate de I Hist, du Calv. de M. Maimb.) This \vas 

 composed in a fortnight, during the Easter vacation. It 

 iivt with great success, and having been condemned to be 

 publicly burnt in Paris, was bought and read in that city 

 with great avidity. 



We pass over some minor works to mention that in 1684 

 Bayle commenced his Nouvelles de la Republique des 

 Let (res. The notion of a literary journal was not new ; the 

 J'lurnal des Savans had been set on foot in Paris in 1665, 

 and received with applause in Germany and Italy, as well as 

 France. The Nouvelles were published monthly, beginning 

 with March, 1684, and consisted of a series of reviews of 

 such works as the editor thought worthy of special notice, 

 and a list of new publications, with short remarks on them. 

 In May the states of Friesland offered to make Bayle pro- 

 i of philosophy in the University of Franeker, but he 

 declined the appointment, which was more lucrative than 

 the one that he held. On completing the first year of the 

 Nuucel'.es, Bayle affixed his name to the work, contrary to 

 his Usual practice, which was carefully to conceal the pa- 

 rentage of all that he wrote. We may here state, that, 

 whether from timidity, habitual love of secrecy, or the wish 

 to leave himself at liberty to take either side of a question, 

 Bayle generally employed the most elaborate devices of false 

 dates and fictitious prefaces, to divert public suspicion from 

 himself. These practices he carried to an extent, incon- 

 sistent, as we think, with a candid and manly spirit. 



At this time men's minds were deeply steeped in the 

 bitterness of political and religious dissension. The revo- 

 cation of the Edict of Nantes, and persecution of the French 

 Protestants, had raised a violent indignation on the part of 

 those who were banished for conscience-sake, and a strong 

 sympathy in all Protestant countries for the sufferings of 

 their brethren. Bayle expressed his feelings on this sub- 

 ject with moderation in the Nouvelles ; but he made a hitter 

 attack on the dominant church in an anonymous publica- 

 ti"ii (Ce que c'est qne la France toute Catholique sous le 

 Regne de Louit le Grand), which he followed in the same 

 year, 1686, by a ' Philosophical Commentary' on the words 

 of St. Luke xiv. 23, ' Constrain them to come in.' In 

 these two works he laboured to expose the atrocious conduct 

 of the French government towards the Protestants, and the 

 odious nature of persecution in general. The pains which 

 Bayle bestowed upon this work, in addition to the fatiguing 

 task of writing his Nouvelles, brought on an illness in the 

 spring of 1687, which incapacitated him for literary exertion 

 (luring more than a year. He was obliged to give up his 

 periodical, which at his own request was continued, but 

 under a different name (Histoire des Ouvrages des Sfa- 

 vans), by Henry Basnage, brother to his friend. The Nou- 

 velles, however, continued to be published by another hand. 



In 1690 there appeared a book, once celebrated, now for- 

 gotten, entitled Avis Important aux Refugiez, $c., contain- 

 ing a violent attack on the doctrines and conduct of the 

 French Protestants. This work Jurieu, whose former 

 friendship had long given way to jealousy of the reputation, 

 or dislike of the opinions, real or suspected, of his colleague, 

 chose to attribute, without any proof, to Bayle, upon whom 

 he published a violent attack. (Examen dun libelle inti- 

 .tvis Important, fyc.) Bayle retorted in La Cabale 

 f'linneriquf, Rotterdam, 1691, followed by La Chimerc de 

 la Cabale de Rotterdam demontree, $c. It is not necessary 

 to trace the progress of the quarrel, which was marked by 

 grt'iit asperity. The question whether Bayle was tho author 

 of the Avis, SfC., or not, si question deeply affecting his lite- 

 rary integrity, can hardly be regarded as determined. 

 Bayle always denied it. His friend and biographer, Des 

 Maizcaux, seems nevertheless to disbelieve his assertions, 

 and has, hypothetically, made a very lame defence on the 

 supposition that he was the author. The piece is inserted 

 in the collection of his miscellaneous works: there is, how- 

 ever, no direct evidence whatever to prove that he wrote it 

 hut the assertions of the printer, and of a person who cor- 

 n.Ttud the press, and said that the manuscript was in Bayle's 

 writing. 



Whether Jurieu was right or wrong in 1m accusation, 

 his precipitate and violent conduct drew on him great dis- 

 credit, especially at Geneva. But he possessed much, in- 



fluence in Holland, which he employed m inducing th 

 Consistory of Rotterdam to review his adversary's letter on 

 comets, which they condemned as containing dangerous and 

 antichristian doctrines. This was employed by the magis- 

 tracy of Rotterdam as an excuse for depriving him of hia 

 pension and license to teach ; but the real cause, according 

 to Des Maizeaux, was the express command of William III., 

 who exercised an overpowering influence in that body, and 

 who was led to believe that Bayle was deeply engaged 

 in advocating the views and wishes of the court of France. 

 The injury thus done to our author was slight, for his habits 

 were simple and unexpensive, and he rejoiced in being finally 

 delivered from the labour of teaching, and left at liberty to 

 attend to his chief work, the Dictionnaire Historique et Cri- 

 tique. His first scheme in respect of this undertaking was 

 to compose a dictionary, expressly to correct the errors of other 

 dictionaries ; and he proceeded so far as to publish a specimen 

 of the intended work (Projet et Fragmens dun Dictionnaire 

 Critique). But this specimen not suiting the public taste, 

 he altered his plan, and produced his dictionary in the form 

 in which it now is. The composition of it, together with 

 his paper warfare with Jurieu, engrossed his time until Au- 

 gust, 1695, when the first volume appeared; the second 

 volume, which completed the first edition, was printed in 

 1696, but bears the date of 1697. It obtained great popu- 

 larity, so that a second edition was soon called for; but it 

 gave great ffence to the religious, and incurred a public 

 censure from the Consistory of Rotterdam. Five principal 

 errors were alleged against it : 1. The indecency visible in 

 many passages ; 2. The tendency of the whole article on 

 David; 3 and 4. The support covertly given to the Mani- 

 chean doctrine of evil, and the sceptical tenets of the philo- 

 sopher Pyrrhon ; 5. Too studious commendation of Epi- 

 cureans and atheists, by which a tacit support was supposed 

 to be given to their tenets. The author submitted to the 

 authority of the church, and promised to amend the faults 

 in a second edition. According to promise, the article David 

 was replaced by another ; but the purchasers exclaimed 

 loudly against this interference with the work, and the 

 publisher finally reprinted the obnoxious article in a sepa- 

 rate form. It is to be found at the end of the second volume 

 of the editions of 1720 and 1730, &c. Little notice was 

 taken of the other objections. Instead of altering, Bayle 

 defended himself and his work in a series of Eclaircisse- 

 meats, subjoined to the second edition of 1702, and pub- 

 lished in subsequent editions of the book. 



It is a singular property of this singular work, that, unlike 

 all other dictionaries, it has never been superseded, though 

 near a century and a half has elapsed since it was written. 

 The author did not intend it to be, like More'ri's antece- 

 dent dictionary, a book of general historical reference ; 

 we might rather suppose that, being disappointed in his 

 first scheme of publishing a work supplementary to, and 

 corrective of, other works, he had resolved to make available, 

 in the shape in which they could most readily be produced 

 the multifarious stores of his vast reading and extensive 

 memory. Consequently the dictionary contains much curious 

 and minute, and much trifling and almost useless informa 

 tion. The chance is against our finding exactly what we 

 want in it ; but if the subject is treated at all, we are pretty 

 sure to find something which we should hardly find else- 

 where. As a book for casual reading it is highly amusing, both 

 in respect of the matter and the style, in which his wit and 

 power of sarcasm are largely displayed : the form, however, 

 is highly objectionable, the text being usually meagre, and 

 serving as a vehicle to introduce numberless digressions, 

 criticisms, and quotations in the shape of notes. This is' 

 the more to be regretted, because the influence of Bayle's 

 example has caused two valuable English works, the Ge- 

 neral Dictionary, in 10 vols. folio, and Kippis's Biogruphia 

 Britannica, to be composed on the same plan. 



After the publication of the second edition, which was 

 considerably enlarged, Bayle amused himself by preparing 

 the first volume of Reponses aux Questions d'un Provincial 

 intended, as he says, ' to occupy a middle place between 

 hooks for study and books for recreation.' It is charac- 

 terized by a late writer (Biog. Univ.) as ' a work which the 

 author could not define, and which is undefinahle, because 

 all possible matters are treated in it without order, and in 

 separate chapters.' In 1704 he published a defence of his 

 Letter on Comets, which engaged him in a controversy, 

 which lasted for the rest of his life, with I.e Clerc, the 

 well-known author of the Bibliotheque Choisie, and a theo- 



