EDWARD V. EDWARDS. 



803 



part of his reign was disturbed by his jealousy of his 

 brother Clarence. The consequence of this ill-will 

 was the attainder of Clarence, who was indulged in 

 his desire of meeting his death by immersion in a 

 butt of Mahnsey wine. Edward was preparing for 

 another expedition against France, when he was 

 token off by sickness, in April, 1483, in the forty- 

 second year of his age, and twenty-third of his reign. 

 He left two sons and five daughters. Edward IV. 

 possessed some ability and activity, but was, how- 

 ever, more showy tlian solid. His valour was stained 

 by cruelty, and he was less fitted to prevent evils, 

 than, by his courage and enterprise, to remedy them. 



EDWARD V., king of England, the eldest son of 

 Edward IV., was in his thirteenth year when he suc- 

 ceeded his father, in 1483. His uncle, the duke of 

 Gloucester, the regent, caused the young king and 

 his brother, who were lodged in the Tower, to be 

 smothered by ruffians. Two bodies, answering their 

 description, being found buried at the foot of the 

 stairs of their apartment, in the reign of Charles II., 

 were taken up by that king's order, and deposited 

 in Westminster abbey. 



EDWARD VI., king of England, son of Henry 

 VIII., by Jane Seymour, was born in 1538. At his 

 father's death, he was only nine years of age, and, as 

 he did not live to attain majority, the public acts of 

 his reign are to be deemed those of his counsellors. 

 His education was intrusted to men of the first char- 

 acter for learning, among whom were Sir Anthony 

 Cooke and Sir John Cheke. The progress of the 

 young king, whose disposition was very docile and 

 amiable, was great, especially in classical acquire- 

 ments, and a rooted zeal for the doctrines of the 

 reformation. His reign was, on the whole, tumul- 

 tuous and unsettled. After his father's death, his 

 maternal uncle, Seymour, duke of Somerset, became 

 protector; but his administration raised up such 

 powerful enemies, that he was brought to the scaf- 

 fold. Edward was much afflicted at the necessity of 

 consenting to his execution, and with equal reluctance 

 consented to the death of a fanatical female, named 

 Joan Bocher, who was sentenced to the flames for 

 heresy. When Cranmer urged Edward to sign the 

 warrant for her execution, he long resisted, and at 

 length, overcome by his importunities, told him, that 

 if it was wrong, the guilt lay with him. After the 

 death of Somerset, Dudley, duke of Northumber- 

 land, became all-powerful, and through his influence, 

 Edward, in a declining state of health, was induced 

 to set aside the succession of both his sisters, and to 

 settle the crown upon the lady Jane Grey, claiming 

 through his father's younger sister, the duchess of 

 Suffolk. His decease, from a pulmonary complaint, 

 soon after followed, July 6, 1553, in the sixteenth 

 year of his age, and seventh of his reign. 



EDWARD, PRINCE CHARLES. See Charles 

 Edward Stuart. 



EDWARDS, BRYAN, the historian of the West 

 Indies, was born at Westbury, in Wiltshire, in 1743. 

 On the death of his father, in adverse circumstances, 

 he acquired the protection of liis maternal uncle, a 

 person possessed of great property in the island of 

 Jamaica. He inherited not only the large fortune of 

 his uncle, but of a Mr Hume, of Jamaica, and, be- 

 coming an eminent mercliant, returned to England, 

 and, in 1796, took his seat for the borough of Gram- 

 pound, which he represented until his death, in July, 

 1800. His first publication was a pamphlet, entitled 

 Thoughts on the Trade of the West India Islands 

 with the United States, 1784 ; this was followed by 

 his Speech on the Slave Trade ; but his most distin- 

 guished performance is his History, civil and com- 

 mercial, of the British Colonies in the West Indies, 

 1793, 2 vols. 4to. A new edition of this work, 



published after his death, in 1801, 3 vols. 8vo, 

 includes a History of St Domingo. Mr Edwards 

 also published, in 1796, the Proceedings of the 

 Governor and Assembly of Jamaica, in regard to the 

 Maroon Negroes, 8vo. All these works are valuable 

 for their information, and are written with ease and 

 elegance. 



EDWARDS, JONATHAN, the most celebrated of 

 American metaphysicians and theologians, whom 

 Dugald Stewart describes as " indisputably the ablest 

 champion of the scheme of necessity since the time 

 of Collins," was born in East Windsor, Connecticut, 

 October 5, 1703. His father, a minister of the gospel, 

 instructed him in the dead languages. Jonathan 

 entered Yale college, in New Haven, in September, 

 1716, where he was distinguished for good morals, 

 diligence, and proficiency in the collegiate studies. 

 At fourteen, he read with pleasure Locke on the 

 Human Understanding. His habits of application 

 and thought, and his delight and success in metaphysi- 

 cal studies, were extraordinary. Papers, in his hand 

 writing, show, that at fourteen he conceived the 

 design of composing a complete Treatise on Natural 

 Philosophy and Natural History, including Chemistry 

 and Geology. His piety, his devotion to the Bible, 

 and his propensity for theological inquiries, were 

 equally remarkable. In 1720, he took his first degree, 

 and remained nearly two years at Yale, preparing 

 for the ministry. In 1722, he went to New York, 

 where he preached for about eight months, with great 

 distinction. In September, 1723, he was elected a 

 tutor in Yale college, and in the following year began 

 to act in that capacity, but resigned his office in 1726, 

 in order to become the minister of the people of 

 Northampton, where he was ordained February 15, 

 1727. 



The record of his labours as a pastor, divine, and 

 metaphysical writer, is edifying in the highest degree. 

 His various sermons and disquisitions procured for 

 him a wide reputation. His Treatise on Religious 

 Affections was immediately republished in England 

 and Scotland, and placed him among the first writers 

 of his sect. After more than three years of zealous 

 service in Northampton, a total rupture occurred be- 

 tween him and his congregation, owing to the candour 

 and boldness with which he publicly reproved certain 

 irregularities of some young persons of the principal 

 families connected with his church. An ecclesiasti- 

 cal council dismissed him in June, 1750 ; and, in the 

 following year, he accepted a call to serve as a mis- 

 sionary among the Indians at Stockbridge, in Massa- 

 chusetts. Here he remained six years, exerting him- 

 self with an apostolical spirit, and, at the same time, 

 prosecuting the deepest investigations in mental 

 philosophy. Here he composed his famous works on 

 the Freedom of the Will, and on Original Sin. The 

 first is his masterpiece, and worthy of the powers of 

 a Locke or Leibnitz. It was complete within the 

 space of four months and a half. The date of its 

 first appearance is the early part of 1754. In 

 1757, he was chosen president of the college at 

 Princeton, New Jersey, and accepted this invitation, 

 though not without reluctance, on account, chiefly, of 

 his desire to accomplish two great literary enterprises, 

 which he had begun long before a History of the 

 Work of Redemption, and a View of the Harmony 

 of the Old and New Testament. In January, 1758, 

 he repaired to Princeton, where the small-pox then 

 prevailed. He was inoculated by the physician of 

 the college. " He had the malady favourably, but a 

 secondary fever set in, and, by reason of a number 

 of pustules in his throat, the obstruction was such, 

 that the medicines necessary to check the fever could 

 not be administered. This disorder put an end to his 

 life, March 22, 1758, in the 55th year of his age." 

 3 E 2 



