BER 



469 



BER 



m 



Berkeley, following circumstance : Mr Addison having visited 



* v Dr Garth in his last iliness, addressed him seriously 



on the necessi ' of preparing for his approaching dis- 

 solution ; to which the Doctor replied, " Surely, 

 Addison, I have good reason not to believe those 

 trifles, since my friend Halley, who has dealt so much 

 in demonstration, has assured me, that the doctrines 

 of Christianity are incomprehensible, and the religion 

 itself an imposture." This conversation being re- 

 ported by Addison to Berkeley, the bishop wrote 

 The Analyst, as a confutation to this redoubtable 

 dealer in demonstration. In 1735, he published A 

 Defence of Freethinking in Mathematics, being a re- 

 ply to Philalethes, supposed to be DrJurin, who had 

 opposed the doctrines of the Analyst. In the same 

 year also, hs published a small pamphlet on this sub- 

 ject, entitled, Reasons for not replying to Mr Wal- 

 ton's full Answer, &c. For some time after this, his 

 attention seems to have been directed to the public 

 affairs of his country ; and his Queries, for the good 

 of Ireland, published in 1735,; his Discourse addressed 

 to Magistrates, in 1736 ; and his Maxims concerning 

 Patriotism, in 1750, were a valuable fruit of this ap- 

 plication of his mind. In 1745, during the Scottish 

 rebellion, he addressed a letter to the Roman catho- 

 lics of his diocese ; and in 1749, another to the clergy 

 of that persuasion in Ireland, under the title of A Word 

 to the Wise, which was so well received by them, 

 that they returned him their public thanks, with ex- 

 pressions of marked esteem and respect, which describe 

 him as " the good man, the polite gentleman, and 

 the true patriot." He has also acquired considerable 

 celebrity as the author of Siris, a chain of philosophi- 

 cal re/lections and enquiries concerning the virtues of 

 Tar water ;" which was reprinted in 1747, and fol- 

 lowed in 1752 by Farther thoughts of Tar water, the 

 last of his publications. Berkeley thought that he 

 received great benefit from this medicine, in allaying 

 a nervous colic, to which he was subject during the 

 decline of life. 



In 1752, he adopted the resolution of removing 

 with his wife and family to Oxford, in order to su- 

 perintend the education of one of his sons. Enter- 

 taining a firm conviction of the obligation of resi- 

 dence upon every clergyman, he endeavoured to ex- 

 change his bishopric for some canonry or headship at 

 Oxford ; and not having succeeded in this, he request- 

 ed permission, by a letter to the secretary of state, to 

 resign his bishopric, worth at that time not less than 

 j1400 per annum. When the petition for this pur- 

 pose was presented to his majesty, he declared that 

 he should die a bishop, in spite of himself ; and gave 

 him full liberty to reside wherever he pleased. Be- 

 fore he left Cloyne, however, he directed the rents of 

 his demesne lands, amounting to '200 a-year, to be 

 distributed among the poor. At Oxford he was in 

 the highest degree respected and beloved ; but his re- 

 sidence there was destined to be very short. Whilst 

 his lady was reading to him one of Sherlock's ser- 

 mons on the evening of Sunday, January 14th, 1753, 

 lie was suddenly seized with what is called a palsy of 

 the heart, and instantly expired. His remains were 

 interred at Christ Church, Oxford, where a marble 

 monument was erected by his widow, with a Latin 

 inscription by Dr Markham, afterwards archbishop 



>tead. 



of York. In this inscription, he is said to have been Berkeley, 

 born in 1769; but it is stated in the Biographia Bri- Berkham- 

 iannica, on the authority of his brother, that he was 

 bom in 1684, and consequently died at the age of 69. 

 Berkeley was of a comely figure, a benign and im- 

 pressive countenance, and of a robust constitution, 

 till his health was impaired by his sedentary habits. 

 Few persons were ever held in higher estimation by 

 those who knew him than this excellent prelate, 

 whose worth was of so high a standard as to render 

 the praise of Pope scarcely hyperbolical, when he 

 ascribes, 



" To Berkeley every virtue under heaven." 



Bishop Atterbury, after having been in company 

 with Berkeley for the first time, on being asked his 

 opinion of this excellent person, exclaimed with ad- 

 miration, " So much understanding, so much know- 

 ledge, so much innocence, and such humility, I did 

 not think had been the portion of any but angels, till 

 I saw this gentleman." That the knowledge of 

 Berkeley was greatly diversified, and extended to the 

 arts and business of common life, as well as the depths 

 of science, is amply testified by the author of the 

 Court of Augustus, Dr Blackwell, whom the bishop 

 wished to engage as one of the professors of his new 

 college in the Bermudas. " I scarce remember," says 

 Blackwell, " to have conversed with him on that art, 

 liberal, or mechanic, of which he knew not more than 

 the ordinary practitioners. With the widest views, 

 he descended into a minute detail, and grudged nei- 

 ther pains nor expense for the means of information. 

 He travelled through a part of Sicily on foot ; clam- 

 bered over the mountains, and crept into the caverns, 

 to investigate its natural history, and discover the 

 cause of its volcanos: and I have known him sit for 

 hours in forgeries and founderies, to inspect their suc- 

 cessive operations. I enter not into his peculiarities 

 either religious or personal : but admire the extensive 

 genius of the man, and think it a loss to the western 

 world, that his noble and exalted plan of an Ameri- 

 can university was not carried into execution. Many 

 such spirits in our country would quickly make learn- 

 ing wear another face. 



It is thought, that, towards the close of his life, 

 Berkeley began to doubt the solidity of metaphysi- 

 cal speculations ; and on that account turned his 

 thoughts more to the subjects of politics and medi- 

 cine. The ingenious romance, entitled the Adven- 

 tures of Signior Gaudentio di Lucca, has been repeat- 

 edly ascribed to his pen, but without sufficient autho- 

 rity. This performance, it is believed, was the pro- 

 duction of a Romish priest, who wrote it for his 

 amusement while a prisoner in the Tower of London. 

 A complete edition of the works of Berkeley, with an 

 account of his life, and several letters, was published 

 in two volumes quarto in 1784; and a volume, con- 

 taining his smaller pieces, under the title of Miscella~ 

 nies, was printed under his own inspection at Dublin 

 in 1752. (i) 



BERKHAMSTEAD, the Durobrivae of the Ro- 

 mans, a market town of England, in Hertfordshire, 

 situated on a branch of the river Dale, and the grand 

 junction canal. It consists of one street, handsome 

 and broad. It carries on a trade in bark, shovels, 



