H O B B E S. 



69 



, * ,v.\r>. -t** 1 - P<">-pj>- J . .i' . .r *, 



He continued even to study rasthawi stirs with great 

 perseverance, and he died at the house of hi* noble pa- 

 tron in I' 



The account* given of hi* temper and private cha- 

 racter are various, according to the rhaniw*.* through 

 which they are eommnairat*rl Those whose doctrines 

 he disputed, and whose writing* and character! he re- 

 viled, drew along with them a number of partisans to 

 stigmatise him a* rude, acrimonieu*. and untractable. 

 Of this tamper we certainly perceive some trace* in hi* 

 writings; bat we likewise find in them occasional 

 proofs of a spirit of conciliation and candour, together 

 with a sense of the bias which external circumstance* 

 gave to hi* writing*. In the following terms be con- 

 dnde* Us preface to bia book De Cit Urn 



you find any thing of questionable solidity, or 

 expressed* 



any thing 

 ber that thev 

 i wish 



i with too great 



are spoken not from party "seal, 

 sincere warn for the peace of society ; and by a i 

 rhose grief, so justly awaked by the distraction* 



intry. entities him to a share of for- 

 He therefore craves, that you ill. 



, bear with his weakness, and not in- 



He aened with taw 

 of the Uoyal Society as a body. 



r. which, in a loss noted man. amfJ* 

 by the layirirml far a mark of in. 



At court, he was a common object of banter, which 

 he bare with good temper, end wss remarkable for the 

 felimty and fecundity of hi* repartee*. To serious 

 questions, however, he never gave a ready reply. If 

 hi* opinion was asked on any paint of philosophy or of 



iMjTTTi -r.. 



1 ! - . ( \. i , A I . 



have been mistaken I 



I from hi* 

 , lob, 

 r always is 



All who cultivated bia society 

 jfmmiPiiiia ill. L Mr Woo. 

 > Ifassr* o/ife ^istafastiM a/ Os/arsf, insert* 

 nemrnf rlobbes: " lie waaa men ef whom (amidst 

 the varieties of acesunt*. goad and bad. that have bean 

 jjymliil) Uns may be meat truly nrenmmced. that be 



'.n uni.rrw! H.'.-tHr. a ,um.l . (, ',1, ., J ,| n,'., 



and secuW honours, and was superior to the envy of 

 the world. To his relation, andother. he 



a full exposure of it, ready for appearing in London Hobbts. 

 and Oxford at the same time with the work of Mr T""' 

 Wood. Hobbe* wa* remarkable for vigour of nerve, 

 and steadiness of intellect. He used to say, that in hi* 

 most complicated arithmetical calculations he never 

 mistonk a figure : and with the same undevmting stea- 

 diness he prosecuted all hi* learned undertakings. The 

 high value which be put on this natural quality, had 

 probably some influence in rendering him impatient ol' 

 opposition, and gave origin to the harsh features which 

 some parts of hi* work* bear. 



According to the account given of him by Dr White 

 Kennet, he was considered in the house of the Earl of 

 Devonshire as a humourist, or unaccountable being ; a 

 character very readily acquired by a man who dedi- 

 cate* to *tudy the hours by which -those around him 

 have their manner* moulded by shesr general intercourse 

 with others. His amusements, exercise*, and social 

 interviews, being subservient consideration*, were dic- 

 tated by hi* own thoughts ; and, though not result- 

 ing from an uns nnssnmn daring temper, appeared ca- 

 prmians, because they were singular In this noble, 

 nan's house he was retained from gratitude and affec- 

 tion, rather than with a view to any anrt of services, 

 and he lived in ease and plenty without any official 

 charge. His morning* were spent in violent exercise, 

 uch a* running, and climbing steep ascents, in which 

 be exerted hsmeasf to fatigue. After breakfast, he went 

 round the family, to wart on the ronnteas, the children, 

 and the visitor*. Thus the time passed till twelve 

 o'clock, when he had a little dinner prepared for him, 

 after which he retired to hi* study, where be smoked, 

 thought, and wrote for several hours. 



vMMwOW UlsK OsV W*M OOtXHQOOal tO * JWlWCTTUl JVJirtV, 



he was haunted with habitual spar ilieiiei urn for his 

 The pension of the King was chieiy valued 



and he had LordArlington and seme other friend* en- 

 gaged to protect him at court whenever there wa* oc- 

 casion. He disliked to be left in s house alone, some 

 said for fear of being assassinated by hi* enemies, while 

 others ascribed it to the workings of an involuntary 

 |iejeliiiuii. When the Earl went from home, he al- 

 ways went along with him, even in his last illness, 

 when he required to be conveyed en a fsathn bed to 

 the carriage, and survived the journey only afew day*. 

 He avoided all conversation on the subject of death. 

 1C a* baa bean Mppoasd, be scarcely believed in a fu- 



into error. 



a 



yet he stem* not to have been capable of 

 dissolution with that placid in. 



character 



held in 



J~ Tide eniojnum. bowevei, waa struck out of 

 the work by Dr Fell, dew of Chr 

 whose hands all works printed at the anil 

 were required to pass. The tram 

 I to Mr Hobbes, who had a 



to hi., 



with which men generally look back to the 

 He reckoned on the con- 

 tinuance of life* when his constitution wa* too much 

 worn uut to justify such expectations ; and when, in 

 reply to same """nir inquiries, he wa* forbid to hope 

 for a recevety, he lay in a state of silence and apparent 

 stsfefnction, which was concluded to be in s great i 

 rare produced bv the state of his mind. The last w 

 which he uttered in the Ml possession of hi* sense* were, 

 " I snail be glad to find any hole to creep out of the world 

 by," which probably njresssil a wiah that his last mo- 

 i abenld be exempt from pain and disturbance II. 

 to the Episcopal Church of England, and 

 fssrisreii that be preferred that religion to all others ; 

 yet he had no conidencr in the utility of religious ser- 

 vices on his death bed. On one occasion, during his 

 residence in France, when his life was seriously in dan. 

 grr, he resented UM souototioni of the Banish prieatt 



