ATT 



69 



ATT 



doubt necessary- to keep in mind the turbulence of 

 the times in which he lived, and the political conten- 

 tions in which he had so great a share. It may ea- 

 sily be conceived, that, in such a scene, his activity 

 and zeal, in whatever cause he espoused, would draw 

 from his friends more frequent and pointed eulogies 

 than he really deserved, as well as excite in his op- 

 ponents stronger prejudices, and keener reproaches, 

 than strict justice authorised. But, after making all 

 reasonable allowances for the partialities of party, 

 and following the fairest medium of judgmerit, it is 

 not easy to form a very favourable estimate. It is 

 known, that, in open defiance of all propriety and 

 principle as a clerical character, he was accustomed 

 to swear upon any strong provocation ; that he was 

 even amongst the foremost and keenest in every po- 

 litical contest which occurred in his time ; that, in 

 the different stages through which he passed in the 

 course of his church preferments, he was involved in 

 quarrels ; and that Dr Smalridge, who succeeded him 

 in two of the stations which he had filled, complain- 

 ed of his hard fate, in being obliged " to carry wa- 

 ter after him, to extinguish the flame which his li- 

 tigiousness had every where occasioned." From 

 merely attending, then, to the acknowledged tenor 

 and transactions of Bishop Atterbury's life, it ap- 

 pears too evident, that he was a man of a hot temper, 

 and haughty spirit ; ambitious of preferment, and jea- 

 lous of his rights ; violent in his public proceedings, 

 and ready for political contention ; cautious and cun- 

 ning in general, yet frequently prompted by passion 

 to expose his own reputation, and to injure his most 

 favourite cause. There is no good ground for sus- 

 pecting, that he was either inclined to infidelity,* or 

 even favourable to Popery ; but, besides the evidence 

 advanced on his trial, there are several uncontrovert- 

 ed facts, which clearly indicate his attachment to the 

 Stuart family, and which strongly tend to confirm 

 the charge of his having been engaged in treasonable 

 practices for their restoration.-]- But however much 

 his personal concern in such plots may be doubted, 

 and his disaffection to the reigning family excused, 

 yet thnre is no adequate apology which can be made 

 for the turbulence of his public proceedings, and no 

 sufficient substitute to be found among all his excel- 



lencies and attainments, for that humility and meek- 

 ness, that love of peace and of good order, which be- 

 came him as a Christian bishop, but in which he was 

 so extremely deficient. Even they who approve his 

 principles as a high churchman, or who sympathise 

 with his feelings as a friend of the Pretender, will 

 not be able to vindicate the means which he used, 

 and the spirit which he displayed, in supporting what, 

 perhaps, he sincerely considered as just and right. 

 He may claim our admiration for his natural endow- 

 ments and acquired accomplishments : he may stand 

 high in our opinion as an acute politician and an ac- 

 tive partisan : and he may be contemplated with ap- 

 probation in his intercourse with his family and 

 friends ; but his title is not so valid to that true great- 

 ness which consists in self government, integrity, and 

 candour ; nor can he even be admitted to have pos- 

 sessed any great share of that moral worth, which can 

 attach to any man only by supporting consistently 

 that character which he assumes, and by discharging 

 consistently those duties which belong to him in his 

 particular place and station. See Stackhouse's Me- 

 moirs of Dr F. Atterbury ; and Biograph. Britan- 

 nica. (q) 



ATTICA, a country of Greece, immediately to 

 the east of Peloponnesus, from which it is separated 

 by the Saronic Gulf. That gulf and the vEgean Sea 

 form it into a species of peninsula. By land, it joins 

 with Becotia. The soil is barren, except in olives, 

 for which it has always been famous, and in honey, 

 which it produces copiously and of the best quality, 

 from Mount Hymettus. 



The people of Attica were anciently divided into 

 ten tribes, who derived their names from the most 

 distinguished of its heroes. Three were afterwards 

 added, in compliment to Ptolemy, king of Egypt, 

 Attalus, king of Pergamus, and the emperor Adrian. 

 These were subdivided into a hundred and seventy- 

 four communities, the names of which have been 

 searched out by the learned with indefatig;%le in- 

 dustry. They are given in Meursius (Attica,) or 

 more correctly in Spon, ( Voyage d' Italic,) where 

 they may be found by any one who is desirous of 

 such barren information. 



Attica is chiefly distinguished as having for its 



Attica. 



* The following anecdote it given by Dr Maty, on the authority of Lord Chesterfield, as a proof of Bishop Atterbury's 

 scepticism with regard to revelation : 



" I went to Mr Pope," says Lord Chesterfield, " one morniug, at Twickenham, and found a large folio Bible, with gilt clasp?, 

 lying before him upon his table, and, as I knew bis way of thinking upon that book, I asked him jocosely, if he was going to 

 write an answer to it ? It is a present, said he, or rather a legacy, from my old friend the bishop of Rochester. I went to take 

 my le;ive of him yesterday in the Tower, where I saw this Bible upon his table. After the first compliments, the bishop said to 

 me, My friend Pope, considering vour infirmities, and my age and exile, it is not likely that we should ever meet again, and 

 therefore I give you this legacy, to remember me by it. Does your lordship abide by it yourself ? I do. If you do, my 

 lord, it is but lately. M^.y t beg to know what new light, or arguments, may have prevailed with, you now to entertain an 

 opinion so contrary to that which you entertained of that book all the former part of your life ? The bishop replied, We 

 have not time to talk of these things ; but take home the book ; I will abide by it, and I recommend to you to do the same ; 

 so God bless you." This story, which rests entirely upon the authority of Lord Chesterfield, seems to be now generally dis- 

 credited. It i not only altogether uncorroborated, but is, on the contrary, clearly contradicted by numberless circumstances 

 in the bishop's life and writings ; and it has been directly confuted, in a very satisfactory manner, from a mere comparison 

 of dates. See Epistolary Corravondence, <S,c. of the Bishop of Rochester, published by Mr Nichols, vol. ii. p. 79. Notes. 



f It is certain that he suspended, for three years, a Mr CJibbon, curate of Gravesend, a clergyman of worth and learning, 

 because he had granted the use of his church for divine service to the Dutch troops, who came to assist in subduing the re- 

 bellion. And a pamphlet, published at Edinburgh in 17G8 by Lord Hailes, the authenticity of which has never been ques- 

 tioned, details his correspondence in 172.5 with several gentlemen in the north of Scotland, for the purpose of exciting com- 

 motions in favour of the Pretender. Thus, while in his letters from France he professes to have nothing in view but a quiet, 

 literary, social life, and still to retain a warm attaclunent even to that part of the constitution which had injured him, he 

 was actually engaged in moving and directing a scheme for rebellion and revolution. 



