B F. N 



the ill will of fome of tlie fcnior irtmbers of the collegi; ; 

 but as hi appeared to iv.'.ve cxcrciftd an undue authority, 

 a:-.d to have corfultcd liis own advantage more than the 

 public, a charge was exliibited againll him in 1709, by the 

 vice-iiia!ler, thirty of the fcnior fellows, and other mem- 

 bers of the college, for peculation, bre:iLh of the ftatutes, 

 and other ac\s of mal-adniiuiilration. The charj^e was prc- 

 fcnted to the bilhop of Ely, as vifitor of the collrfje. But 

 Dr. Beiilley contended, that the crown was the vifitor ; and 

 upon thii a law-fuit commenced, w'liich was not terminated 

 till the year 17^1, when the crown alTerted its vifitoriil 

 power, hut declined interfering in the prefent inlhince. It 

 appeared afterwards, that, upon the whole, the charges 

 againft the mailer were well founded. 



In 1710, Dr. Bcivdey puhlilhed at Aniflerdam his criti- 

 cal annotations on the two firll comedies of Arillophane;. ; 

 and, ab.nit the fame time, at Rheip.T;, his emendations of 

 the fragments of McMianiler and Philemon, under the feigned 

 name of " PhiUleutherus Lipfienfis." Tliis latter was un- 

 dertaken with the view of difparaging a fimilar performance 

 of Le Cltrc, and thus by degrading his literary charafter in 

 the ])nblic elUmation, to fet alide a fcheme, which was then 

 in atjitation, for inviting him to England, by the offer of 

 fome confukrable church preferment. In the year 171 1, 

 lie puhliihed his long cxpefted and mncli commended edition 

 of " Horace." This correft and elegant edition of Horac ', 

 which was piononuccd by Dr. Hare to be the cimipleateifc 

 work produe.cd by Ciititilm fiucc the relloration of learning, 

 was printed in 410. and dedicated to the earl of Oxford. 

 It was luccecded, in 1 7 1 3, by fome excellent remarks on Col- 

 lins's diicourfe ot free-thinking, publilhed under the former 

 name of " Philelcutherus Lipfienlis," and dedicated to Dr. 

 Hare. In 1716, Dr. Bentley was appointed rtglus profeiTor 

 of divinity; and in the f:\me year he circulated propofals for 

 a new edition of the Greek Tellameiit, with St. Jtrom's 

 latin verfior. Tlicfe propofals were the lubjcft of fevere 

 animadverfion by Dr. Middleton, who proteffcd a ferious 

 conviillion, that Dr. Bentley had neither talents nor mate- 

 rials proper for the work, and that religion was much more 

 likely to receive detriment than fervice from it. Several 

 pamphlets were publidied on the occafion ; and it is much to 

 be regretted, that a work of fiich importance to facred litera- 

 ture and biblical criticifm was abandoned. The completion 

 of this noble undertaking was the principal employment of 

 the latter part of Dr. Bentley's life. In the profeeution of 

 it he had collected and collated all the MSS. of Europe 

 to which accefs could be obtained; and for this purpofe, 

 his nephew, Thomas Bentley, L.L.D. well knoun in the 

 republic of letters, had travdlcd througli Europe at his 

 tmcle's exptncc ; the whole was completed for publication ; 

 but when he determined not to let it appear during his own 

 life, the fuin of 2C00I., which he had received in part of the 

 I'lbfcriptions, was returned to the fiibfcribcrs. A ciicum- 

 Ilance occurred in 1717,' which materially affected the doc- 

 tor's reputation, and which was attended, at leall for a time, 

 with detrimental confequences to hiinfelf. Upon the creation, 

 by royal mandate, of feveral doClors in divinity, Dr. Bentley 

 demanded from each of them, betides the cullomary per- 

 <-|uinte, an extraordinary fee of four guineas. In this de- 

 mand they acquiefced, on condition that the money (houid 

 be reilored, if it fliould nppearthat Dr. Bentley had no right 

 to enforce it. Dr. Middleton, however, fome time after, 

 obtained a decree for the repayment of the money ; and in 

 confequence of this decree, Dr. Bentley wa>' arrelled, and ap- 

 peared by his proftor before the court ot the vice-chancellor. 

 On this occafion, the beadle tellified on oath, that Dr. Bent- 

 ley had declared, " I will not be concluded by what the 



BEN 



vice-cliancellor and two or three of his friends (hall detertnine 

 over a bottle ;" and for this exprefTion he was fufpended by 

 the vice-chancellor, without a citation or hearing, from all his 

 degrees, and afterwards by the caput deprived of all lr.3 privi- 

 leges and honours, as wtllas degrees, in the univernty. Dr. 

 Bentley appealed to the king, and after fucceifive references 

 to the council and to a committee of council, and to the 

 court of king's bench, ?r.d many delays, the univeriity re- 

 ceived a mandamus in February 171^, which reverfcd all 

 their proceedings, and required a rell oration of Dr. Bentley 

 to all degrees, honours, &c. of which he had been deprived. 

 In I 726, he publifhcdan edition of "Terence and Pluedrus;" 

 and in I'V' the laR of his works, which was his edition r.f 

 •' Milton's Paradife Loft ;" and which made no addition to 

 hi.-, reputation, though it has beenfaid thnt many of his cor- 

 rctlioiis of that poet have been unreafonaLly objefted to by 

 bidiops Pearce and Newton. This work was undertaken at 

 the requell of queen Caroline. Dr. Bentley died on the 

 14th of July 1742, in the Sill year of his age, aad was 

 buried in the chapel of Trinity college. When we confider 

 the unquellionable abilities and erudition of Dr. Bentley, 

 it may excite fome degree of furprife, that his literary cha- 

 rafter lliould have been held in much higher ellim;uion by 

 foreigners, than by his own countrymen. This may be 

 partly owing to that pride, petulance, and irritability of 

 temper, with which he, in common uith many others 

 who have excelled in verbal criticim, feems to have been 

 chargeable ; to the pcrfonal difputcs in which he was en- 

 gaged ; and to the political difl'erences that difquieted tlie 

 period in which he lived. But, perhaps, it arofe principally 

 from his having, in the clafsof his adverfaries, the poets and 

 wits of the age, and from their having made liim the objccl 

 of their I'atire and ridicule. Tlie afperity of Mr. Pope, who 

 attacked him in the charailcr of Anllarchus (works, vol. iii. 

 p. 207 — 211.) has, however, been afcribed to perfonal rc- 

 fentment. WhiUl they were both together at dinner with 

 bilbop Atterliury, Dr. Bentley was queftioned as to his 

 opinion of the Englifh Homer ; and, after fome demur, 

 being urged to fpeak out, he faid " the verfes are good 

 verfes, but the work is not Homer ; it is Spondanus." 

 Another circumftance, which contributed to degrade Dr. 

 Bentley in the ellimation of fome of his contemporaries was 

 that love of money, which he feems to have unduly indulged, 

 and which involved him in difputcs, that were dilhonourable 

 to him. As to the charge of fcepticifm, with refpedl to 

 revelation, alleged againft him by Mr. Whillon, it does not 

 appear to have been well founded. Dr. Salttr defcribes 

 him as having been a very amiable and pleafant man in pri- 

 vate life, and as poirefPing much good nature, though he has 

 been otherwife reprefented. Agaiall the difparaging judg- 

 ment of the learned bidiop Lowth, who allows him to rank 

 only among grammatical and verbal critics, may he con- 

 trailed the ciicoiuium of Dr. Samuel Clarke, eminently dif- 

 tinguiilied by his literature and critical difcer:;ment, who, 

 in the preface to his edition of Cxfar's Commentaries, fpeaks 

 of him as " vir in hujuimodi rebus pcritia plane incredibili 

 et criticos omnes longc longeque judicio et fagacitate ante- 

 cellens." The judgment of poiterity, inore impartial than 

 tl'.at of his contemporaries, has allowed Dr. Bentley's pro- 

 found fliill in the idiom of the Latin and Greek languages ; 

 and though, as a verbal critic, many of his emendations are 

 unfaniJtioncd by the authority of ancient MSS. they fie- 

 qucntly approve themfelvcs as juft and reafonable, and are 

 regarded as real improvements. It muft be acknowledge*!, 

 however, that thofe corrections of ancient and modern au-. 

 thors, which depend uprm mere conjeflure, and which fug- 

 gett wh.it miijht, or ought to Jiave been written, rather than 

 2 what 



