T E M 



To thele meafures Temple was adverfe ; and his laft acl in 

 parliament, as member for the univerfity of Cambridge, was 

 to carry from the council the king's final anfwer to the ad- 

 drefs of the Commons, never to confent to the exchifion of 

 his brother : other members had previoully declined this 

 difagreeable fervice. When the king, in January 1 68 1, 

 diflolved the parliament without the advice of his privy 

 council. Temple boldly remonftrated againft the mcalure ; 

 and at length, wearied with the faftion and mifgovernmoiit 

 which he had witncfled, he declined the offered return for 

 the univerfity to the new parliament, and retired to Sheen, 

 conveying from thence a meffage to thi? king, " that he 

 would pafs the reft of his life as good a fubjeft as any in his 

 kingdom, but would never more meddle with public affairs." 

 The king replied to the meffage, that he bore him no re- 

 fentmcnt ; but his name was expunged from the council. 

 The remainder of his life was fpent in retirement and feclu- 

 fion from all public bufinefs ; and it is faid, that he inter- 

 fered fo little in political matters, as not to know the defign 

 of the prince of Orange to engage in the expedition that 

 terminated in the revolution, and to be the laft perfon who 

 gave credit to his landing. After James's abdication, how- 

 ever, he waited on the prince at Windfor, and prefentcd to 

 him Iiis fon. King William urged upon him the accept- 

 ance of the office of fecretary of ftate ; but he maintained 

 his purpofe of Hving in retirement. His fon was appointed 

 fecretary at war ; but in the week in which he affumed 

 the office, he was feized with melancholy, and threw himfelf 

 into the Thames. His refleftion on this affliclive event was 

 that which his Stoic philofophy alone could have diftated : 

 " a wife man might difpofe of himfelf, and render his life as 

 fhort as he pleafed." In his ftate of retirement, he admitted 

 Swift to be his companion, as we have already mentioned 

 under Swift's article. King William occafionally vifited 

 him, and confidentially confulted him on feveral important 

 affairs. In 1 694 he loft his wife ; and finking gradually 

 under increafing infirmities, occafioned by repeated fits of 

 the gout, his hfe was terminated at Moor park, in 

 January 1698, in his 70th year. The greateft part of his 

 fortune was bequeathed to the daughters of his unfortunate 

 fon by a French lady, under the exprefs condition that they 

 (hould not marry Frenchmen. 



Sir William Temple ranks high as aftatefmau, and alfo as 

 a patriot, who well underftood and zealoufly purfued his 

 country's intereft. His foibles, without giving them a 

 worfe appellation, were impatience with thofe whom he 

 diftiked, warmth in difpute, and a ftiare of vanity and con- 

 ceit ; but he was fubftantially, fays his biographer, a worthy 

 man in the various relations of life. To outward forms of 

 religion he paid little regard ; but his letter to the counlefs 

 of Effex is no lefs pious than eloquent: fo that we can 

 fcarcely admit the charge of atheifm with which he is re- 

 proached by bilhop Burnet. As a writer, he ranks ainong 

 the moft eminent and popular of his time. His " Obferv- 

 ations upon the United Provinces of the Netherlands" were 

 printed in 1672, and deferve the attention of the politician 

 and philofopher: his " Mifcellanea" are lively and enter- 

 taining, if not profound. His " Memoirs" elucidate the 

 hiftory of the times. His " Introdudion to the Hiftory of 

 England" was pubUflied in 1695. His "Letters," in 3 

 vols., which relate to public tranfaftions, were publilhed after 

 his death by Swift. " AU fir William Temple's writings," 

 fays one of his biograpl.crs, " difplay much acquaintance 

 both with books and men, and are entirely free from the li- 

 centioufnefs fo prevalent in that age. Their ftvle is negli- 

 gent and incorred, but agreeable, refembling that of ealy 

 and pohte converfation." Hume's Hift. vol. vii. 8vo. 

 4 



T E M 



Biog. Brit. Gen. Biog. Account of his Life, &c. prefixed 

 to the folio edition of liis Works, in 2 vols. Lond. 1720. 



Sir William Temple did not cfcape the lafti of criticifm, 

 and inch was his vanity or irritabflity,or perhaps a compofition 

 of both, that his indignation was roufed, and he expreffed him- 

 felf in the following terms: "Thecriticksare a race of fcholars 

 I am very little acquainted with ; having always efteemed 

 them but little brokers, who, having no ftock of their own, 

 fet up and trade with that of other men, buying here and 

 feUiiig there, and commonly abufing both fides, to make out 

 a little paltry gain, cither of money or credit, for themfelves, 

 and care not at whofe coft." In another place he fays, 

 " there is, I think, no fort of talent fo defpicable, as that of 

 fuch common criticks, who can at beft pretend to value them- 

 felves by difcovering the defaults of other men, rather than 

 any worth or merit of their own : — a fort of levellers, that will 

 needs equal the beft and richeft of the country, not by improv- 

 ing their own eftatcs, but reducing thofe of their neighbours, 

 and making them appear as mean and wretched as themfelves." 



Temple, in Geography, a town of the province of Maine, 



in the county of Kennebeck, containing 482 inhabitants 



Alfo, a townftiip of New Hampfliire, in the county of Hillf- 

 borough, containing 941 inhabitants ; 70 miles W. of Portf- 

 mouth. 



Temple, Le, a town of France, in the department of 

 the Lot and Garonne ; 7 miles W. of Villeneuve d'Agen. 



Temple^5(^{)', a bay on the N.E. coaft of New Holland, 



to the S. of Cape Grenville Alfo, a bay on the E. coaft 



of Labrador. N. lat. 52° 25'. W. long. 55° 50'. 



TEMPLEMORE, {I r. the Great Church,) a poft- 

 town of the county of Tipperary, Ireland, where there was 

 formerly held a fair for wool, which lafted feveral days. It 

 is 75 miles S.W. from Dublin. 



TEMPLE PATRICK, (;'. e. Patnd--s Church,) a poft- 

 town of the county of Antrim, Ireland, on the river Six- 

 mile-water ; 4^ miles E. by S. from Antrim, on the road 

 to Belfaft. 



TEMPLERS. See Templars. 



TEMPLES, in Jnatomy. See Tempora. 



TEMPLETON, in Geography, a town of America, in 

 the ftate of Maffachufetls, and county of Worcefter, con- 

 taining I 203 inhabitants. 



TEMPLETONIA, in Botany, is dedicated by Mr. R. 

 Brown, to the honour of John Templeton, efq. of Orange 

 Grove, near Belfaft, a gentleman whofe enquiries have much 

 enriched our knowledge of Iriih plants, and whofe name 

 confequently often appears in the pages of the Flora Bri- 

 lannica and Erig/i/h Botany. — Brown in Ait. Hort. Kew. 



V. 4. 269 Clafs and order, Diadelphia Decandria. Nat. 



Ord. Papiitonacea, Linn. Legiimino/x, Juff. 



Gen. Ch. Cal. Perianth inferior, of one leaf, fimple, 

 bell-fliaped, with live rather unequal fegments in the limb, 

 permanent. Cor. papilionaceous, of five petals. Standard 

 elliptical, afcending, entire. Wings nearly the length of 

 the ftandard, linear-oblong, obtufe, with a fmall tooth near 

 the bafe at their upper edge. Keel a Httle ftiorter than the 

 wings, oblong, flightly curved, of two half-ovate petals, 

 cohering near the extremity, with ftiort claws. Stam. Fila- 

 ments ten, all combined into one tube for more than half 

 their length, fcparate above, afcending, five alternate ones 

 rather the ftiorteft ; anthers uniform, fmall, oblong, incum- 

 bent. Fiji. Germen ftaLked, linear-awlftiaped ; ftyle awl- 

 ftiaped, afcending ; ftigma capitate. Per'ic. Legume ftalked, 

 linear-oblong, compreffed, obliquely pointed, of one cell 

 and two valves. Seeds eight or ten, oval, pohfhed, the fear 

 of each bordered with a prominent creft. 



Eff. Ch. Calyx fimple, with five rather unequal teeth. 



Keel 



