S62 



BAYL E. 



Bayle. the peace of Nimeuen, he was afraid that there was 

 v ' a design to make use of the same methods at Rot- 

 terdam for putting an end, however imperious, to the 

 important contest in which he was engaged. He 

 therefore, without examining the project itself, or 

 making any enquiry- into the character of Mr Bayle, 

 ordered the magistrates to expel him from his office. 

 These men, though perfectly satisfied that the suspi- 

 cions of William were groundless, and that they were 

 commanded to do what was both unjust and cruel, 

 obeyed the order they had received without address- 

 ing one word of remonstrance to the prince, or con- 

 descending, as they had promised, to hear the de- 

 fence which Mr Bayle might think it necessary to 

 adduce. This act of undeserved severity had no dis- 

 grace in it except for those by whom it was com- 

 mitted. It neither greatly disturbed the tranquillity, 

 nor at all injured the reputation of Mr Bayle ; on the 

 contrary', he bore it with the utmost fortitude and 

 composure. The sense of the public was loudly ex- 

 pressed in his favour. And the same stroke which 

 deprived him of an honourable employment and an 

 independent Tt*x-nue, afforded him the leisure that he 

 would not otherwise have found, for the composition 

 of a work on which his future fame was principally 

 to rest. 



This work was his Historical and Critical Dic- 

 tionary. The original plan, of which he published 

 a specimen in 1C9'2, under the title of Projet et 

 Fragmcns d'ltn Dictionaire Critique, was to col- 

 lect, under the different articles of which he should 

 treat, all the errors and mistatements that were to be 

 found in other dictionaries, and to make remarks on 

 the character of authors as occasion should offer. 

 However interesting and useful such a publication 

 might be deemed, it did not meet with that degree 

 of approbation which could justify the prosecution 

 of his design. He therefore abandoned it, and ap- 

 plied himself to the composition of another dictionary 

 on a more liberal and extended scale. So diligently 

 did he labour, and so much had he his learning at 

 command, that, notwithstanding the interruptions 

 which he repeatedly received from the malice of Ju- 

 ricu, the frequent necessity he was under of publicly 

 defending himself, the painful indisposition which he 

 suffered in consequence of the closeness and severity 

 of his studies, and other serious disadvantages under 

 which he laboured, his new work, in two folio vo- 

 lumes, was ready for publication in about four years 

 after it was begun. It came out in 1697, with the 

 following title, Dictionaire {lis/orir/iw et Critique 

 par Monsieur Bayle. He put his name to this 

 work, contrary to his former unvaried practice, not 

 from any change in his sentiments on that point, but 

 because the states of Holland made it the condition 

 of granting tin- privilege for which his bookseller had 

 applied. The duke of Shrewsbury, at that time se- 

 cretary of state in England, expressed a wish that it 

 should be dedicated to him ; but Mr Bayle declined 

 complying witli his grace's request, both because he 

 had often made a jest of dedications, and because he 

 disdained to praise any one who held an official situa- 

 tion under a prince from whom he had experienced 

 such cruel and unprovoked injury. 



The plan of the dictionary is well known. It con- 

 1 



sists of two parts: one of which is a succinct narration 

 of facts, and the other " a large commentary," as ' 

 Mr Bayle himself expresses it, " a medley of proofs 

 and discussions, a criticism of many errors, and some- 

 times a long train of philosophical reflections." The 

 public were highly pleased with it when it first ap- 

 peared, and to the present day it has continued to 

 be a work of great authority and repute. The learn- 

 ing and acuteness of the author are every where con- 

 spicuous. That freedom of disquisition which con- 

 tributes so much to the elucidation of truth, is in- 

 dulged in with little reserve. The mistakes and mis- 

 representations of other critics are exposed. New 

 facts are brought forward. The merits and demerits 

 of character are ascertained with much precision. 

 The history of literature is, in many cases, well il- 

 lustrated. Superstition and enthusiasm are happily 

 ridiculed. Many maxims of a political, moral, and 

 philosophical kind are deduced and established. In 

 short, it contains a great deal of useful and entertain- 

 ing matter, and is written in that easy, perspicuous, 

 and agreeable style by which all Mr Bayle's compo- 

 sitions are distinguished. 



Mr Bayle's dictionary procured for him a high de- 

 gree of celebrity, but it also involved him in much 

 disagreeable controversy. .Turieu, of course, was the 

 very first to attack and decry the merits of the work. 

 Mr Le Clerc found fault with his statement of the 

 Manichean system. Mr Tessier blamed him for cri- 

 ticising falsely, several passages in his " Additions to 

 the Eulogies of Learned Men." Mr Jaquelot reproach- 

 ed him for his alleged heterodoxy respecting free 

 will, moral evil, and Pyrrhonism. And by many others 

 he was subjected to the severest censure and animadver- 

 sion. But against all of them he defended himself with 

 boldness, ability, and success. The consistory of the 

 Walloon church of Rotterdam, were induced, through 

 the influence of Jurieu, to examine the dictionary. 

 They found many parts of it inconsistent with sound 

 doctrine and with good morals. They communica- 

 ted their remarks to Mr Bayle, and gave him an op- 

 portunity of answering for himself. With his an- 

 swers, which consisted partly of explanation, partly 

 of concessions, and partly of promises to correct or 

 expunge what had given offence, they declared them- 

 selves to be satisfied, and concluded their proceed- 

 ings with presenting to him a memorial of the prin- 

 cipal things to which they requested his attention in 

 the second edition of his dictionary. Jurieu seems 

 to have been mortified and displeased that Mr Bayle 

 did not experience a more rigid treatment from the 

 consistory. But that enmity must have been exces- 

 sive indeed, which was not fully gratified by the re- 

 proofs that were administered, and the restraints that 

 were imposed on the philosopher, by the humble tone 

 of acquiescence and submission in which he replied to 

 the ministers, and by the injunctions which they gave 

 him to behave with greater moderation towards Mr.Iu- 

 rieu ; a pastor whose ministry and labours had been 

 and still were of singular edification to the church. 



The second edition of the Critical Dictionary had 

 fatigued Mr Bayle ; and, in order to relieve his mind 

 a little, he wrote and published in 1703, a book en- 

 titled, Reponsc aux Questions d' 'tin Provincial, which 

 treats of a great variety of subjects in an easy 



B i\ le. 



