was convinced, equally from the investigation of the principles of natural religion and the scriptures of revealed religion, that God was one; that Jehovah had no equal or rival, and that he alone was the object of religious homage. He was also satisfied that Jesus Christ was a man, the creature of God, and his delegated messenger and prophet. And how much soever good men may be allowed to differ from each other in the superstructure they may erect for themselves upon the foundation of the gospel, few persons were more competent to investigate theological subjects than himself, as far as human learning, a cultivated understanding, and a liberal mind, are to be considered as qualifications for such investigation.

About the latter end of the year 1783 was instituted a small society for promoting the knowledge of the Scriptures. Mr. Dodson was a very early and a very valuable member of this society. He communicated some papers of his own, and conducted through the press some of the most valuable contributions of others.

The papers of this society were published in numbers, at uncertain intervals, under the title of "Commentaries and Essays;" and, among these, Mr. Dodson furnished a new translation of Isaiah lii. 13.-liii. 12, with notes; also a new translation of Isaiah i.-xii. with notes, &c.

After revising his former papers, he extended his original design, and published in 1790 the entire book of Isaiah in one octavo volume, entitled "A new Translation of Isaiah, with Notes supplementary to those of Dr. Lowth, late Bishop of London, and containing Remarks on many Parts of his Translation and Notes. By a Layman."

Bishop Lowth expressed himself in a very handsome manner, in a note written to Mr. Dodson, upon his former translation of a small part of the book of Isaiah, published, as before mentioned, in 1784. He also repeated his acknowledgments in the same ftyle, on receiving, in the course of the next year, a copy of the translation of the first twelve chapters. On both occasions the bishop pleaded his declining health as the only reason for his not giving these papers the attention which they were otherwise entitled to receive from him. Dr. Sturges, however, nephew of the bishop, upon the publication of the translation of the whole book in 1790, addressed some "Short Remarks" to our translator. These chiefly respected a few particular passages; and were soon replied to by Mr. Dodson, in "A Letter to the Rev. Dr. Sturges, Author of Short Remarks on a new

VOL. III.

Translation of Isaiah."" To this publication he prefixed his name, and very properly took occasion to speak of his opponent's remarks as being "the performance of a gentleman, a scholar, and a christian"-characters which were acknowledged by Dr. Sturges, in a private letter, to be equally appropriate to the translator's vindication. Indeed, it is not assuming more than every "gentleman, scholar, and christian," will readily concede to me, to say, that our layman's translation of the prophet Isaiah, and his vindication of certain parts of it, after the same ground had been trodden by one of the most acute and learned critics of his age, will remain decisive proofs of his great learning, sound judgment, and unaffected candor.

Mr. Dodson afterwards published, in the same Commentaries and Essays, "A Letter to the Rev. Mr. Evanson, in Defence of his principal Object in his Book, entitled The Dissonance of the four generally-received Evangelists, and the Evidence of their respective Authenticity, examined." He also left prepared for the same vehicle of publication, and which has since been printed accordingly, "A Dissertation on Ephes. iv. 7-12. with a Postscript, containing other critical Remarks."

Mr. Dodson's character disdains to claim any advantage from the familiar maxim, de mortuis nil nisi bonum, the ordinary sanctuary to which the many are driven for refuge; but invites the application of an adage of superior wisdom and superior obligation-de mortuis nil nisi

verum.

His counsel, on any and every occasion, was founded in judgment, and communicated with discretion, sincerity, and kindness. His friendship was with reason very highly valued by those who shared in it; for he was mild in his manners, even in his emper, warm in his affections, and steady in his attachments; alike incapable of fluctuation from corroding suspicion or foreign influence. To strangers, and in mixed companies, he was shy and reserved.

It was said by Erasmus of Linacer, one of his contemporaries, vir non exacti tantum, sed severi judicii: and, of another, Latimer, vere theologus, integritate vitæ conspicuus. Both these characters will deservedly apply to Mr. Dodson. He was not only a man of correct but of critical judgment, a learned theologian, and a man as much distinguished by his unsullied integrity as by the simplicity of his manners.

Under these circumstances the tribute of friendship and of gratitude becomes a debt of honour and of justice; and herwho, agreeably to the custom of the ancients, does not sacrifice 3 H

to heroes till after sun-set, equally repels all suspicion of interest, and every petulant charge of designed exaggeration.-D.'

DODWELL, HENRY, a learned but injudicious and paradoxical writer, in the seventeenth and the beginning of the eighteenth century, was born at Dublin in the year 1641. His father, who was of English extraction, was possessed of an estate in the province of Connaught, which was seized by the insurgents in the great Irish rebellion. As by this circumstance he was deprived of his principal means of subsistence, he came over to England in the year 1648, with his wife and child, to obtain some assistance from his relations.. After some stay in London, they went to York, where the younger Dodwell was sent to the free school in that city, in which he continued for five years, and laid the foundation of that learning by which he was afterwards distinguished. His father, soon after he had been placed in that situation, returned to Ireland to look after his estate, but was carried off by the plague;' and his mother, who went thither for the same purpose, fell into a decline, which speedily proved fatal. Being thus left an orphan, he was reduced to great difficulties even in obtaining the pens, ink, and paper, necessary for preparing his exercises; and he met with much neglect and ill-treatment from the person who had undertaken to provide him with board, on account of the uncertainty of his ever being paid for it. With old clothes, and some few necessaries, he was occasionally supplied by sir Henry Slingsby, his mother's brother, who, from having some of his estates sequestrated, was incapable of affording him that assistance which might otherwise have been expected. In these discouraging circumstances he continued until the year 1654, when his paternal uncle, Mr. Henry Dodwell, rector of Newbourn and Hemley in Suffolk, discharged his debts at York, sent for him to his own house, and assisted him in making considerable progress in his studies. From his uncle's, Mr. Dodwell was sent to Dublin, where, after at tending for some time longer at a school in that city, he was entered at Trinity college in the year 1656. In that seminary Mr. Dodwell recommended himself to notice by the diligence of his application, and by his exemplary piety; and was chosen successively scholar and fellow of his college. In the year 1666 he quitted his fellowship, because he had determined not to comply with the statutes of the college, which enjoin the fellows, if masters of arts of three years standing, to enter into orders. This determination he had formed partly, under a deep

impression which he felt of the great importance of the ministerial office, and a diffidence in his own qualifications; and, partly, from a persuasion that he might be able to do religion more service by his writings in the character of a layman, than if he embraced the clerical profession. The celebrated bishop Jeremy Taylor, who entertained a great regard for him, offered to use his interest in procuring a dispensation, which should enable him to retain his fellow ship, notwithstanding the statutes; but Mr. Dodwell would not avail himself of his kindness, lest such a measure should prove the means of establishing a precedent that might be followed by injurious consequences to the college. Soon after quitting his fellowship, Mr. Dodwell came over to England, and resided for a time at Oxford, for the purpose of enjoying the advantages of the public library. Being re turned to his native country, he commenced his course of authorship in the year 1672, by a preface, entitled "Prolegomena apologetica, de Usu Dogmatum Philosophicorum, &c." to a posthumous treatise of his late tutor, Dr. Stearn, entitled "De Obstinatione: Opus Posthumum, Pietatem Christiano-Stoicum Scholastico More suadens." His next publication was "Two Letters of Advice; 1. for the Susception of holy Orders; 2. for Studies theological, especially such as are rational." To the second edition of this work, published in 1681, he annexed "A Discourse concerning the Phoenician History of Sanchoniathon;" in which he delivers it as his opinion, that Philo-Biblius was the forger or contriver of that history, under the name of Sanchoniathon. In the year 1673 he wrote a preface to " An Introduction to a devout Life," by Francis de Sales, the last bishop and prince of Geneva: a work which Mr. Dodwell revised for publication, and endeavoured to adapt to the use of protestants. In the year 1674 he came over again to England, and settled in London, where he became acquainted with the most learned and distinguished divines of the times, and particularly intimate with Dr. Lloyd, afterwards bishop of Worcester, whom he accompanied to Holland when he was appointed chaplain to the princess of Orange. During the four following years he published some treatises in controversy with Roman-catholic writers, for the titles of which we refer to the authority quoted at the end of this article; and in the year 1679 he attacked the dissenters in a work entitled "Separation of Churches from Episcopal Government, as practised by the present Nonconformists, proved schismatical, from such Principles as are least controverted, and

do withal most popularly explain the Sinfulness and Mischief of Schism." This work gave rise to a controversy between our author and the celebrated Richard Baxter, which produced different publications on both sides. Mr. Dodwell's are intended to shew, that separation from episcopal communion renders persons insecure of their eternal salvation; and in endeavouring to establish his point, he exalts the power and dignity of the priestly character to a degree that is both unscriptural and superstitious. For the titles of those publications, and of other pieces which Mr. Dodwell wrote on the subject of schism and the priesthood, we must again refer to the authority below. In the year 1682 he published "Dissertations on St. Cyprian;" in one of which, by considerably diminishing the number of martyrs in the early persecutions of the christian church, he exposed himself to severe attacks from writers both in the protestant and papal churches. In the year 1684, and some following years, he drew up some dissertations on various subjects connected with ecclesiastical - antiquities, which were added to a new edition of the works of Lactantius, or to the posthumous works of Dr. John Pearson, bishop of Chester; and in the year 1689 he published "Dissertations on Irenæus," which, though six in number, and forming together an octavo volume, were only prolegomena to what he farther designed. In the year 1688, without any application on his part, and as an honourable reward of his literary diligence, he was elected Caniden professor of history by the university of Oxford, and was also incorporated master of arts there. But he did not enjoy his fellowship much more than three years, as he entertained those high notions of kingly power which would not permit him to take the ohs of allegiance to the government established at the Revolution. He was accordingly deprived towards the latter end of the year 1691, about which time he wrote a short defence of his nonjuring principles. This was followed by other treatises in vindication of the conduct of the bishops who were deprived for refusing to take the oaths, which, as they relate to a controversy now known only in history, do not require any farther notice from

us.

In the year 1692 Mr. Dodwell published his Camdenian lectures, under the title of "Prælectiones Academicæ in Schola Rhetorices Camdeniana; cum Fragmentis è Libris Linteis." The subjects of them are the authors who wrote the history of the Roman emperors from the time of Trajan to that of Diocletian. Not long after Mr. Dodwell lost his professorship, he re

tired to Cookham, a village near Maidenhead in Berkshire; whence he removed to Shottesbrooke, another village in the vicinity of the same town, for the sake of enjoying the conversation of a person distinguished for his learning and virtue, who resided there. At that place, or in its neighbourhood, he chiefly spent the remainder of his days. In the year 1694 he entered into the marriage-state, and lived to be the father of ten children, two of whom will call for a slight notice at the end of this article. In the year 1696 Mr. Dodwell drew up the annals of Thucydides and Xenophon, to accompany the editions of those authors by Dr. Hudson and Mr. Wells, which, in the year 1702, were reprinted at Oxford, in a separate form, under the title "Annales Thucydidei & Xenophontei. Premittitur Apparatus, cum Vitæ Thucydidis Synopsi Chronologica," quarto. In the year 1698 he published, in octavo, "Annales Velleiani, Quinctiliani, Statiani; seu Vitæ P. Vellei, M. Fabii Quinctiliani, Papinii Statii (obiterque Juvenalis), pro Temporum Ordine dispositæ." The annals of Velleius Paterculus had been written at the request of Dr. Charlett, when he procured an edition of that author in 1692; and those of Quinctilian are printed with Burmann's edition of that rhetorician. At the end of these annals is an appendix concerning Julius Celsus, who digested Cæsar's Commentaries, and concerning Commodianus, in two dissertations, addressed to the learned Grævius. About the same time he wrote an account of "Geographiæ Vet. Scriptores Græci minores," printed in Dr. Hudson's edition of their works; and “A Treatise concerning the Lawfulness of instrumental Music in holy Offices, &c." together with some other pieces, printed in the first volume of Dr. Grabe's Specilegium. In the year 1701 Mr. Dodwell published, in quarto, his account of the Greek and Roman cycles, entitled "De veteribus Græcorum Romanorumque Cyclis, ohi terque de Cyclo Judæorum Atate Christi, Dissertationes decem, cum Tabulis necessariis, &c." This work, which Dr. Halley calls a most excellent book, is the most elaborate of all our author's productions, and was probably the result of his enquiries on the subjects discussed during the greatest part of his life. In the same year he wrote a letter concerning the disingenuous use made by Mr. Toland of a long quotation from his Dissertations on Irenæus, in order to invalidate the authority of the Scriptures; which is prefixed to "The Canon of the New Testament vindicated, by J. Richardson, B.D." In the following year he published "A Dis

course concerning the Obligation to marry within the true Communion, following from the Style of their being called a Holy Seed," annexed to Mr. Charles Lesley's discourse on the same subject; and "An Apology for the philosophical Writings of Cicero," prefixed to prefixed to Parker's translation of the books De Finibus. In the year 1703 appeared his "Letter concerning the Immortality of the Soul, against Mr. Henry Layton's Hypothesis," and in the following year his" Chronology of Dionysius Halicarnassensis," printed in Dr. Hudson's edition of that historian; his share in the famous controversy between Dr. Bentley and Mr. Boyle, entitled, "Exercitationes Due; prima, De Atate Phalaridis; secunda, De Ætate Pythagore Philosophi ;" octavo; and his admonition to foreigners concerning the deprivation of some of the bishops, and the filling up their sees with others, entitled "De nupero, Schismate Anglicano Parænesis ad Exteros, tam Reformatos quam etiam Pontificios, qua Jura Episcoporum vetera, eorumdemque à Magistratu seculari Independentia, omnibus asseranda commendantur," octavo. When the bill to prevent occasional conformity was depending in parliament, he also entered into the controversy on that subject, and published, in 1705, a treatise, entitled "Occasional Cummunion fundamentally destructive of the Discipline of the primitive Catholic Church, and contrary to the Doctrine of the latest Scriptures concerning that Communion," octavo. About the same time, observing that the number of the deprived bishops was gradually decreasing, and conceiving that they had no right to substitute successors, but that, upon their decease or resignation, the conscientious plea for separation from the established communion would be no longer in force, he wrote a treatise, entitled " A Case in View considered, &c." octavo, the object of which was to convince his brethren who had joined with him in the separation, that, on either of the events before mentioned, it would be their duty to close the breach in the church, by submitting to its legal governors. The same point he afterwards maintained in "A farther Prospect of the Case in View, in Answer to some new Objections not then considered," octavo, 1707. When, in the year 1710-11, Dr. Kenn, who was the only surviving deprived bishop, disavowed all claim on the subjection of the nonconforming episcopalians, and intimated his desire that they would no longer maintain their separation, Mr. Dodwell, with several of his friends, united in communion with the legal bishops. But as others refused to do so, he

considered himself called upon to use his best endeavours to remove their remaining scruples; and with that design published a treatise, entitled "The Case in View now in Fact, proving that the Continuance of a separate Communion, without Substitutes, in any of the lately invalidly deprived Sees, since the Death of William Lord Bishop of Norwich, is schismatical, &c." 1711, octavo. We now return back to the year 1706. In that year Mr. Dodwell published a work which exposed him to much censure, and disgusted many who had hitherto been his greatest admirers. It was entitled "An Epistolary Discourse, proving from the Scriptures and the first Fathers, that the Soul is a Principle naturally mortal, but immortalised actually by the Pleasure of God, to Punishment or to Reward, by its Union with the divine baptismal Spirit; where is proved that none have the Power of giving this divine immortalizing Spirit since the Apostles, but only the Bishops," octavo. At the end of the preface is a dissertation designed to prove, that "sacerdotal absolution is necessary for the remission of sins, even of those who are truly penitent." The philosophy of this work met with powerful opponents, and was condemned by every orthodox divine; and the theology of it appeared not only fanciful and superstitious, but highly ridiculous to every well-informed and liberalminded person. This work was soon attacked by numerous writers; the principal of whom were Mr. Chishull, Mr. Mills afterwards bishop of Waterford, Mr. Norris, and the celebrated Mr. afterwards Dr. Samuel Clarke. Against their strictures Mr. Dodwell endeavoured to vindicate himself, in three separate treatises, published in the years 1707 and 1708, for the long titles of which we cannot find room in our pages. Mr. Dodwell also wrote several other pieces, some of which have appeared in different publications, and others were left behind in MS. chiefly in an unfinished state. They are not, however, of sufficient importance to require to be enumerated by us. The author died at Shottesbrooke in 1711, in the seventieth year of his age. That Mr. Dodwell was a person of very extensive learning, and of indefatigable application, must be granted by every one who examines the nature and subjects of his multitudinous productions. His reading had been immense, particularly in profane and ecclesiastical antiquities; but there appears so much perplexity and confusion in the manner in which he has endeavoured to apply what he read to the different subjects which he undertook to elucidate, that we are fully justified in pronouncing