g 94 BEN T 
duftry; and, his inclination leading him ftrongl.y to critical 
learning, the acquirements he had made in that depart¬ 
ment ot fcience recommended him to Dr. Edward Stiiling- 
fieet, who was bred at the fame college, and in 3685 ap¬ 
pointed him private tutor to his foil. In 1089 he attended 
liis pupil to W.adham college in Oxford, where he was in¬ 
corporated mailer of arts July 4th that year, having taken 
that degree fome'time before in his own tiniverfity.' lie 
was then in orders, and his patron (to whom he had been 
very ferviceable), being advanced to the fee of Worcelier 
in 1692, collated him to a prebend in that church, into 
which he was inftalled OXober 2d of that year, and alfo 
made him his domeflic chaplain, in which fiat ion lie con¬ 
tinued till his lordfhip’s death. That learned prelate, as 
well as Dr. William Lloyd, then bifhop of Lichfield, had 
fieen proofs of his extraordinary merit, when they concur¬ 
red in recommending him as a fit perfon to open the lec¬ 
tures upon Mr. Boyle’s foundation, in defence of natural 
and revealed religion. This gave him a fine opportunity 
of eflablilhing his fame. He law It well; and refolved to 
pulh it to the utmoft. Sir Ifaac Newton’s Principia had 
been publifhed but a few years, and the book was little 
known and lefs underlfood ; Mr. Bentley therefore deter¬ 
mined to (pare no pains in difplayingto the bed advantage 
the profound demonftrations w hich that excellent work 
furnilhed in proof of a Deity; and, that nothing might be 
want mg which lay in his power to complete his defign, he 
applied to the great author, and received from him the fo- 
lution of fome difficulties, which had not fallen within the 
plan of his work. This was the hypotheiis of deriving 
the frame of the world, by mechanic principles, from mat¬ 
ter evenly Ipread through the heavens, which is fo clearly 
dated and computed by that incomparable mathematician 
and philofopher, as his manner was, that the reader cu¬ 
rious in thefe matters will be glad to perufe it in four let¬ 
ters from S'tr Ifaac Newton to Dr. Bentley, &c. London, 
1756, 8vo. Mr. Bentley’s diligence in confulting Sir Ifaac 
on this occafion was highly commendable ; and, if lie had 
been equally diligent in confulting the Principia, he would 
have efcaped the error of proving the moon not to turn 
round her own axis, becaufe die always fhevvs the fame 
face to the earth ; a midake in thefe f'erinons, which laid 
him open to the raillery of Dr. Keill. Yet, r.otwith- 
danding this error, Mr. Bentley’s fermons at Boyle’s lec¬ 
tures became the wonder and admiration of the world, 
and railed the highed opinion of the preacher’s abilities. 
Accordingly lie loon reaped the fruits of his reputation, 
being appointed keeper of the royal library at St. James’s 
the following year. But he was fcarcely fettled in this of¬ 
fice, when he fell under the difpleafure ot the Hon. Mr. 
Charles Boyle, elded fon to the carl of Orrery ; a young 
nobleman of the greated hopes, who was then in the coui fe 
of his dudy at Chrift-church in Oxford. Mr. Boyle was 
about to put out a new edition of the “ If pi fries of Pliala- 
ris,” and for that purpofe had. obtained the ufe of a MS. 
of the book out of Sr. James’s library. But the librarian de¬ 
manding it back fooner than was expected, and before the 
collation of it was finifited, was refented by Mr. Boyle, 
and gave rife to the well-known controverfy betxwixt Boyle 
and Bentley. This was carried o.n with admirable fpint, 
wit, and learning, in fevera! writings on both iides until 
the year 1699, and gave our author another opportunity 
of furprifing the world with his genius and knowledge in 
critical learning: and, Dr. Montague dying the next year, 
he wus'prefented by the crown to the maderfhip of Trinity- 
college, Cambridge, upon which promotion he refigned 
his prebend of Worceder. He was afterwards collated to 
to the archdeaconry of Ely, June 12, 1707, and belicles 
tins was prefeiued to a benefice in that iflund. He was 
alfo appointed chaplain both to king William and queen 
Anne. 
Having thus obtained eafe, affluence, and honour, he 
took his doctor’s degree in divinity, entered into matri¬ 
mony, and indulged his inclination in critical purfitits ; 
and, as he gave the fruits of his labours occafionally to the 
LEY. 
public, thefe were obferved feverally fo to abound with 
erudition and fagacity, that he grew by degrees up to the 
character of being the fird critic of his age. In the mean 
time he carried on matters with fo high a hand in the go¬ 
vernment oi his college, that in 1709 a complaint was 
brought before the bithop of Ely, as vifitor, againd hint, 
by leveral of the fellows'; who, in order to have him re¬ 
moved from tire maderdiip, charged him with embezzling 
the college money, and other mifdemeanors. In anfwer 
to this, he preiented his defence to the bifiiop, which was 
publilKed in 1710, under tlie title of the Prelent State of 
Trinity College, 8vo. and thus began a lading quarrel, 
which, having the nature of a bellum intrflinum, was 
’carried on, like other civil wars, with the mod virulent 
animofity on each fide, till, after above twenty years con¬ 
tinuance, it ended at lad in the doctor’s favour. Nor was 
this the only trial which exercifed his fpirit, and procured 
him triumph over his adverfaries. During the courfe of 
the former difpute, lie had been promoted to the regius 
profellbrlhip of divinity ; and George I. on a vilit to the 
tiniverfity in CXober 1717, having nominated by mandate, 
as ufual on Inch occafions, feveral perions for a doctor’s 
degree in that faculty ; Dr.-Bemley, to whom belonged 
the ceremony called creation, made a demand of four 
guineas from each perfon as a fee due to his office, befid.es 
a broad piece of gold, which had cudomarily been receiv¬ 
ed as a prefent, and abfolutely refufed to create any doc¬ 
tor without the fee. Hence grew a long, and warm dif¬ 
pute, during which the doXor was firft ftifpended from his 
degrees by the tiniverfity, OXober 3, 1718, and then de¬ 
graded on the 17th of that month ; but, on a petition to 
the king for relief from tliat (entence, the affair was refer¬ 
red by the council to the court of king’s bench, where the 
proceedings again!! hint being reverted, a mandamus was 
iiTued on the 7th of February the fame year, charging the 
tiniverfity to retlore him. 
He was happily endued with a natural hardinefs of tem¬ 
per, which enabled him to ride out both thefe (forms with¬ 
out any extraordinary dilfurbance, fo that he went on as 
before in the career of literature; where he never failed to 
make a confpicttous figure. The 5th of November, 1715, 
he preached a Termon before the tiniverfity, which was 
printed with the title of A Sermonupon Popery ; and, fome 
Remarks being .publifhed upon it, the doXor anfwered in 
a piece intitied Reflexions on the Ycandalous Afperfions 
caff on the Clergy by the Author of the Remarks, &c. 
This came out in 1717, 8vo. He had the preceding year 
printed fome account of an edition which he intended to 
•give of the New Teflament in Greek ; and having revolv¬ 
ed the delign in his mind for the fpace of four years, in 
1721 he iffiued prop.ofals for printing it by fubfeription, 
together with the Latin verfion of St. Jerom, to which a 
fpecimen of the whole was annexed. Thefe were attacked 
warmly by Dr. Conyers Middleton, who had been a fel¬ 
low of his college, and was from the firfl, and all along 
continued to be, a principal leader among his antagonilfs 
there. Some pieces were written upon the occafion : the 
refult of which was, that the defign was dropped. In 
1726 came out, in qto. his Terence with notes, and a fche- 
diaftna concerning the metre and accents of that writer. 
This was reprinted the following year at Amfterdam, with 
fome corrections and additions by the author, who alfo 
annexed thereto a beautiful edition, with notes, of Phoe- 
drus’s Fables in Latin. The laft piece which employed 
the doXor’s critical talents was Milton’s Paradife Loft", a 
new edition of which he gave the public in 1732, qto. with 
notes and emendations: but, though fome of thbfe exhi¬ 
bited ftrong proofs of his tnalferly genius, yet in the main 
here was a great falling off, fuch as evidently difeovered 
that he was now declining apace. Indeed he grew appa¬ 
rently fenfible of his decay ; and, though he continued on 
this fide the grave ten years longer, yet he languifhed the 
remainder of his days a miles emeritus , feeble and inaXive, 
to his death, which happened July 14, 1742, at the age of 
fourfeore years. He died in his lodge at Trinity-college, 
Cambridge, 
