however, that the taste of that age did not resent the outrage as keenly as we might suppose. It is a remarkable fact that, on the margin of his own copy, Pope signified his approval of many of the new readings, though, in his published poems, he attacked Bentley repeatedly for his treatment of Milton. Pope's hostility may have been partly inherited from Atterbury and Swift. He had a grievance of his own as well, if the story be true that Bentley said to him of his translation of Homer: 'a pretty poem, Mr Pope, but you must not call it Homer.' When Bentley was asked, late in life, why Pope assailed him, he said: 'I talked against his Homer, and the portentous cub never forgives.'

Bentley wrote one piece of English verse which is preserved in Boswell's Life of Johnson. Johnson praised the verses highly on one occasion and recited them 'with his usual energy.' He added: 'they are the forcible verses of a man of strong mind but not accustomed to write verse; for there is some uncouthness in the expression.' The verses describe the arduous labours and scanty rewards of a scholar's life; and Johnson's praise and his blame are alike just.

Bentley died in Trinity college after a few days' illness on 14 July 1742. Four months earlier, Pope had published, in the fourth book of The Dunciad, his full-length caricature of the most famous scholar in Europe, now over eighty years old. It suited Pope's purpose or his humour to represent Bentley as one of the dullest of men. But the truth is that no greater intellect than his has ever been devoted to the study and elucidation of ancient literature.

Of Bentley's contemporaries at Cambridge and elsewhere, several made a reputation for learning and scholarship; and these will be briefly mentioned here. Of Joseph Wasse, Bentley said: "When I die, Wasse will be the most learned man in England.' He was a fellow of Queens' college and edited Sallust, besides preparing material for an edition of Thucydides. John Davies, president of Queens' college and one of Bentley's few intimates, edited many of the philosophical works of Cicero. Conyers Middleton, fellow of Trinity college and protobibliothecarius of the university (1721), bore a prominent part in the warfare against Bentley. During his lifetime, he enjoyed a great reputation as a keen controversialist and the master of an excellent style. Of his numerous works, the chief are his Life of Cicero, which brought him much profit, and his Free Enquiry, which involved him in prolonged controversy with more orthodox divines. William

Warburton, bishop of Gloucester, cannot be called a scholar, in the strict sense of the word: his knowledge of the ancient languages and literature was very small. Yet he had vigour of mind and much miscellaneous reading, so that his chief work, The Divine Legation, was regarded by many of his contemporaries as a genuine masterpiece.

The influence of Bentley is clearly seen in the work of three Cambridge scholars who belong to the generation after him.

Jeremiah Markland, fellow of Peterhouse, had some intimacy with Bentley in his studious old age, and devoted his own life to study and retirement. He twice refused to stand for the Greek chair at Cambridge. He edited several Greek plays; but his masterpiece is his edition of the Silvae of Statius. It shows great acumen, together with a wide and exact knowledge of the Latin poets; and it still remains the best commentary on this author. John Taylor, fellow of St John's college, and librarian (1732) of the university, won his reputation by learned editions of portions of the Greek orators. Richard Dawes, fellow of

Emmanuel and, afterwards, a schoolmaster at Newcastle, published only one book, his Miscellanea Critica; but it marks a distinct advance in Greek scholarship. Though it pleases him to speak slightingly of Bentley, yet it is clear that he had studied Bentley's writings with minute attention; and thus he was enabled to make important discoveries in Greek syntax and Greek metre, which no one would have applauded more heartily than Bentley, had he lived to hear of them1.

II. ANTIQUARIES

This summer [1656] came to Oxon 'The Antiquities of Warwickshire,' &c. written by William Dugdale, and adorn'd with many cuts. This being accounted the best book of its kind that hitherto was made extant, my pen cannot enough describe how A. Wood's tender affections and insatiable desire of knowledg were ravish'd and melted downe by the reading of that book.

It was in these words that Anthony Wood' greeted the appearance of a book which represented the firstfruits of a new movement in the study of local history and antiquities. This movement, which becomes noticeable in the seventeenth century,

1 For a list of scholars whose names belong to the history of this period of literature, but are mainly associated with studies other than classical, see the bibliography to this chapter.

2 Life and Times of Anthony Wood, ed. Clark, A., vol. 1, p. 209.

approached the subject from a new standpoint, and, in place of depending upon bald and hackneyed compilations by previous writers, sought to found its history on the study of original documents and records, supplemented by local topographical investigation. With immense industry and untiring patience, 'collections' were made from every accessible source. Charters, registers, muniments, genealogies, monumental inscriptions, heraldic achievements, were all made to yield their quota; and if, in the amassing of material, the collectors were sometimes too uncritical of their 'originals,' or in the maze of detail have lost sight of broader issues, they at least preserved from oblivion a multitude of valuable records and paved the way for the remarkable series of county histories and other kindred works produced in the succeeding century.

The centre of the new school was at Oxford, where, since the opening of its doors in 1602, the library of Sir Thomas Bodley had been rapidly accumulating materials and extending its collections, until it became a great storehouse of sources, and served as the nursing-ground of a remarkable group of men, which includes the names of Wood, Hearne, Rawlinson, and Tanner.

To these may be added the author of The Antiquities of Warwickshire, for, though Sir William Dugdale was not an alumnus of the university, yet, during his sojourn in Oxford, in 1642-6, he fell under the spell of the Bodleian and collected there abundant material for the works he was at that time projecting.

The book which Wood greeted so enthusiastically was not undeserving of the encomium. In its fulness, its method, its reliance upon original sources, and its general accuracy, it was much beyond anything that had hitherto appeared. It set a new standard in topographical history, and inspired succeeding writers to emulate its merits. If, among its author's many works, the Warwickshire volume may be esteemed his masterpiece, yet the book which, at the present day, most notably maintains Dugdale's fame is Monasticon Anglicanum, an account of English monastic houses, consisting, to a large extent, of charters of foundation and other original documents. In this undertaking, he collaborated with Roger Dodsworth, an indefatigable worker who spent his life in the study of genealogy and ecclesiastical and monastic history, and whose enormous manuscript collections now repose in the Bodleian. Wood says of him' that 'he was a person of wonderful industry, but less judgment, was always collecting and 1 Fasti Oxon., ed. Bliss, P., vol. 11, p. 24.

transcribing, but never published anything': a characterisation that would describe equally well many another antiquary whose ambitious schemes have failed of fruition.

The first volume of Monasticon appeared in 1655, the year after Dodsworth's death and just seventeen years after the authors began their joint work. The second volume, which was delayed until the sale of the first should produce funds to defray some of the expense, came out in 1661; and, in 1673, Dugdale published a third volume containing Additamenta and documents relating to the foundation of cathedral and collegiate churches. The precise share in this work with which the respective authors are to be credited has been, almost from the first, a subject of controversy; but this is a matter of little moment. Dugdale claimed that a full third of the collection was his, and that the work had wholly rested on his shoulders1; and there can be no doubt that, apart from his contributions to the text, the work owes its appearance in print to Dugdale's energy and methodical scholarship. In 1722-3, captain John Stevens, to whom is attributed the English abridgment of Monasticon which appeared in 1718, brought out two supplementary volumes to the original work, containing additional charters and the records of the friaries.

By a happy chance, there came into Dugdale's hands, about the year 1656, a large collection of manuscripts and documents relating to St Paul's cathedral, amounting 'to no lesse than ten porters burthens'; and, setting to work upon these, he produced two years later his History of St Paul's Cathedral, and thus preserved a valuable record of the building and monuments that were, within a few years, to be destroyed in the great fire.

The History of Imbanking and Drayning of divers Fenns and Marshes (1662), which was undertaken at the request of Lord Gorges, surveyor-general of the Bedford level, suggests a subject somewhat outside the scope of Dugdale's activities; but his wide acquaintance with manuscript sources and the contents of state archives, aided by a journey through the district in 1657, enabled him to compose a treatise abounding in historical and antiquarian interest. He takes leave to interpret the limits of his subject very widely, and is quite aware of the irrelevancy of his digressions. The isle of Ely gives an opening for narrating at large the life of Saint Audrey (translated from a Cottonian manuscript), and then follows the whole story of the feats of Hereward in defence of the isle against William the conqueror and his knights. 1 Life, Diary, and Correspondence of Sir William Dugdale, ed. Hamper, W., p. 284.

It is in this unexpected quarter that the accomplished antiquary reveals himself as an entertaining story-teller.

Dugdale's genius for painstaking research found a thoroughly suitable theme in his Origines juridiciales (1666), a historical account of English laws, courts of justice, inns of court, and other cognate matters, in which is embodied much curious information respecting ancient forms and customs observed therein; while The Baronage of England, which he began during his stay in Oxford and published in 1675-6, is a monument to his industry. His 'church and king' principles found expression in A short view of the late troubles in England, which appeared anonymously in 1681, though he had not at first intended to make it public during his lifetime.

In several respects Dugdale was particularly fortunate, though it must be allowed that this good fortune was worthily bestowed. Early in his career, he received help and encouragement from influential friends, notably Sir Henry Spelman and Lord Hatton; and an official position in the College of Arms secured for him ready access to important collections of manuscripts and records which he used to good purpose. His books are always methodically arranged, and his text, devoid of superfluous verbiage, is carefully and fully documented by references to his authorities. In works involving a multitude of details and covering fields previously little explored, it is not surprising to find that charges of inaccuracy were levelled at the author; but, in truth, the wonder is, not that errors may be discovered, but at the admirable work in which they are embedded. Certain lapses from a critical discernment of the evidences as to the genuineness of documents were gently pointed out to Dugdale in a courteous letter1 from his friend Sir Roger Twysden, student of constitutional law and upholder of ancient rights and liberties. Wood, also, says that he sent Dugdale at least sixteen sheets of corrections to The Baronage, and he does not hesitate to repeat other aspersions on Dugdale's accuracy; but he concludes with this tribute:

Yet however what he hath done, is prodigious...and therefore his memory ought to be venerated and had in everlasting remembrance for those things which he hath already published, which otherwise might have perished and been eternally buried in oblivion 2.

The most prominent and characteristic name in the Oxford group is that of Anthony Wood, or Anthony à Wood as, in later years, he pedantically styled himself. Born in Oxford, in 1632,

1 Hamper, u.s., p. 335.

"Fasti, u.s., vol. 11, p. 28.