cating its warmth-three junior fellows in Trinity college entered with zeal into the scheme, and consented to exchange their hard-won prospects of independence for £40 a-year, and settlements in the Summer Isles.

To raise funds for his project, Berkeley sent a proposal to the king, George I., stating the value of certain lands in the island of St Christopher's, which were then about to be sold by government, and proposed that the proceeds of the sale might be applied to the foundation and building of his college. This was conveyed to the king by the Abbé Gualtiere, an eminent Venetian, with whom Berkeley had formed an intimacy during his travels. The king laid his commands on Walpole to introduce and conduct the proposal through the commons, and granted a charter for its institution, by the name of St Paul's college. The fate of this proceeding may be partly followed out by extracts from those letters in which it was mentioned by Berkeley. The college was to consist of a president and nine fellows, at £100, and £40, per annum, respectively, and to educate the Indians at the rate of £10 per scholar. The first president and fellows were to retain their preferments in England, or Ireland, for a year and a half from the date of their arrival in Bermuda. The matter was accordingly moved in the house of commons; and, on the 11th May, 1726, a vote was carried, “ That an humble address be presented to his majesty, that out of the lands in St Christopher's, yielded by France to Great Britain by the treaty of Utrecht, his majesty would be graciously pleased to make such grant for the use of the president and fellows of the college of St Paul's in Bermuda, as his majesty shall think proper." The king answered favourably, and £20,000 were promised by Walpole, in advance, on the security of the expected grant.

While matters were in this state, Berkeley married Miss Anne Forster, eldest daughter to the speaker of the Irish house of commons. This marriage occurred, 1st August, 1728, and, on the following month, he sailed with his wife for Rhode Island. He was also accompanied by a Mr Smilert, an artist; two gentlemen of fortune, Messrs James and Dalton; and a young lady of the name of Hancock. He had also raised a considerable sum of money from means or property of his own, and brought out a considerable library. It was his design to purchase what lands he could, on the nearest part of the continent, for the endowment of the new university; and these were to be paid for from the grant which he was assured should be forthcoming, so soon as the lands were selected, and the agreement completed for them. He took up his residence at Newport in Rhode Island, where he continued two years; during which time he occupied himself in preaching for the clergyman there.

From the correspondence of Berkeley with Prior, it first appears with what cost and exertion the charter had been obtained. By the time it had passed all the offices, it had cost him £130 in fees, "besides expedition-money to men in office." He was, at the same time, encumbered with some obstacles and delays about Miss Vanhomrigh's bequest, which appear to have been managed for him by Prior, and, after urging him to increased exertion, he adds-"I thank God I

find in matters of a more difficult nature, good effects of activity and resolution,—I mean Bermuda, with which my hands are full, and which seems likely to thrive and flourish in spite of all opposition.” On May 12th, 1726, he alludes to the debate in the house of commons, in which none spoke against his motion but two mercantile men; and, among other incidents of the question, he mentions, that the fear entertained by the mercantile interest was, lest America might become independent by the advance of civilization.

We have already noticed the discrepancy which has often been found to exist between the motives of public bodies, and those by which individuals are governed,-a phenomenon of frequent occurrence, which it is not necessary to explain by the assumption of any degree of private corruption or baseness; though such, in numerous cases, will afford the most adequate explanations. But the too prevalent disposition to impute low motives must be, in some measure, checked by a consideration of some prevalence; though by no means so easily comprehended. Prudence, discretion, and the sense of personal responsibility, are the prevalent influences which favour the private counsels of the individuals; while the man, who is but one of the aggregate, and divested of these in proportion to the number with whom the weight of division is to be shared, is more accessible in nearly the same proportion to those more liberal, generous, or disinterested views, which eloquence, or the imposition of circumstances may call forth, and which all are disposed to indulge in at no cost. Hence splendid schemes of good will excite a public enthusiasm sufficient to deceive a single-minded being, who, like Berkeley, is ever ready to see the conduct and professions of mankind through the light of his own spirit. He thought all difficulties over in a single stage of his proceedings, when no person could have said or done otherwise than to approve of a measure, the advantages of which could not be denied, on any public ground, without first advancing reasons which would be both unpopular and untrue. But, on the part of practical politicians, (too generally men of a very inferior range of knowledge and views,) no large or decided plan for the promotion of human welfare, unconnected with some immediate interest, was likely to be sincerely entertained. To men like Walpole the Summer Island scheme was a chimera of speculation, and its author an amiable visionary: £20,000 was a serious outlay on a dream of Utopia; and, to an experienced observer of the world, its frustration might have been predicted. To Berkeley's simplicity, the address of the house was a decisive incident: the opposition of the council, which was silenced, and apparently set at rest by it, went for nothing. Everything seemed for a while to prosper; meetings and conferences were held to adjust the manner of the grant, and the legal difficulties were easily obviated. It was arranged to settle it by a rent-charge payable on the whole lands, redeemable on the crown paying £20,000 for the use of the president and fellows of the college of St Paul, and their successors. As the time drew nigh, Berkeley expressed great anxiety to pass three months in perfect seclusion, in some lodging near Dublin, and the reasons are not explained; but it may possibly have been to avoid the press and interruptions of society, while he transacted the necessary prelimi

naries with his associates. His position was at least peculiar enough to make such interruptions peculiarly troublesome and jarring. The death of George I., for a moment, threw a passing cloud over his sanguine impatience, the broad seal had not been annexed to the grant,— a new warrant had to be made out,—and several tedious delays had to be encountered. These delays were overcome, and, in February, he writes to Prior, "I need not repeat to you what I told you here, of the necessity there is for my raising all the money possible against my voyage, which, God willing, I shall begin in May, whatever you may hear suggested to the contrary." At last, in September, he writes, "To-morrow, with God's blessing, I set sail for Rhode Island with my wife and a friend of her's, my lady Hancock's daughter, who bears us company. I am married since I saw you to Miss Forster, daughter of the late chief-justice, whose humour and turn of mind pleases me beyond anything I knew in her whole sex." He then mentions that he shall want £300 before the income of his deanery was to become due. His next communication is a letter from Newport, in Rhode Island, in the April of the year 1729. He, at some length, describes the place, and mentions that the inhabitants consisted of a great variety of sects, each of which allowed the church of England to be the "second best." He expressed strong anxiety about the punctuality of his remittances, but does not yet appear to entertain any misgivings about the good faith of the government. His friends had gone to live at Boston, while he and his own immediate family, preferring domestic quiet to the bustle and noise of cities, lived on a small estate which he had purchased. "Among my delays and disappointments," he says, on March, 1730, "I have two domestic comforts that are very agreeable—my wife and son-both which exceed my expectations, and answer all my wishes." On May 7, 1730, he writes, “I must tell you that I have no intention of continuing in these parts, but to settle the college his majesty hath been pleased to found in Bermuda, and I want only the payment of the king's grant to transport myself and family thither." He adds, that his friend Dr Clayton was at the time engaged by his desire to negotiate, and that he had written. directions to him to go to the treasury, with the letters patent in his hands, and there make the demand in form." He goes on, "I have wrote to others to use their interest at court; though, indeed, one would have thought all solicitation at an end, when once I had obtained a grant under his majesty's hand, and the broad seal of England. As to my going to London, and soliciting in person, I think it reasonable first to see what my friends can do; and the rather because I have small hopes that my solicitations will be regarded more than theirs. Be assured I long to know the upshot of this matter; and that, upon an explicit refusal, I am determined to return home, and that it is not at all in my thoughts to continue abroad and hold my deanery. It is well known to many persons in England that I might have had a dispensation for holding it in long absence during life, and that I was much pressed to it; but I resolutely declined it: and if our college had taken place as soon as I once hoped it would, I should have resigned before this time." After some further remarks of the same

general purport, he goes on to mention, "I have been at great expense in purchasing land and stock here, which might supply the defects of Bermuda in yielding those provisions to our college, the want of which was made a principal objection against its situation in that island." Among other things, it appears that letters took, in general, at the least, half-a-year, and oftener twice that time, in reaching him from Ireland. Talking of himself and his wife, who had at the time sustained a miscarriage, he says, "Our little son is great joy to us: we are such fools as to think him the most perfect thing in its kind that we ever saw."

It is mentioned by Dr Clarke that the settlement of affairs respecting the will of Miss Vanhomrigh with his joint executor, Mr Marshal, and with a Mr Vanhomrigh, involved Berkeley at this time in great trouble. From the extracts which Dr Clarke has given from his letters to Prior on the subject, it appears that, while all sorts of delay were caused by the refractory temper of Mr Vanhomrigh, the whole creditors of the testatrix were importunately pushing their claims. One of these extracts will serve our purpose here. "November 12, 1726.-I have sent to you so often for certain eclaircissemens, which are absolutely necessary to settle matters with the creditors, who importune me to death, you have no notion of the misery I have undergone, and do daily undergo on that account. For God's sake,

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pray disentangle these matters, that I may once be at ease to mind my other affairs of the college, which are enough to employ ten persons.' He mentions in the same letter, "I have spent here a matter of £600 more than you know of, for which I have not yet drawn over.”

Berkeley, in this interval, had exerted himself with all the vigour of his mind and body to bring the projected plan to a completion. At last all the arrangements were effected, and nothing remained but to give effect to the agreements he had entered into, by the necessary payments. But in this lay an obstacle not to be surmounted by industry, talent, and enthusiasm. Walpole had, from the first, been unfavourably inclined to the project; and it was probably by the exertion of his influence that the money which had been allotted for the grant was turned to some other use. The lands sold in St Christopher's brought £90,000; of this £80,000 went to pay the portion of the princess royal; the rest was obtained by general Oglethorpe for his new colony in America. Bishop Gibson, on Berkeley's part, applied to Sir Robert Walpole, and at last received the following answer:- "If you put this question to me as a minister, I trust, and can assure you, that the money shall most undoubtedly be paid as soon as suits with public convenience; but if you ask me as a friend whether dean Berkeley should continue in America, expecting the payment of £20,000, I advise him, by all means, to return home to Europe, and to give up his present expectations." This plain speaking had the effect of exposing to Berkeley the entire futility of the dependence on which he had thrown away so much good money and irretrievable time; and, after seven years of vain labour and expectation, he prepared for his return. He distributed his books among the clergy of Rhode Island, and was soon on his way to London. When he arrived

there, his first act was the repayment of the various subscriptions he had received for the advancement of his plan. It was in the interval immediately succeeding his return that he composed the most useful of his writings-the Minute Philosopher; in which he adopted the ancient method of the Socratic and Platonic dialogue, of which he gives the happiest example known in modern literature; and follows all the windings of scepticism through the different fields of fallacy, in which it has taken refuge at different times, according to the state of human opinion and knowledge; or, as Clarke writes, pursuing the "freethinker through the various characters of atheist, libertine, enthusiast, scorner, critic, metaphysician, fatalist, and sceptic; and very happily employs against him several new weapons drawn from the storehouse of his own ingenious system of philosophy." We cannot, indeed, agree with Dr Clarke in attaching any value to arguments drawn from a system of philosophy so baseless as that of Berkeley; but on this we must reserve our comment.

We have already had occasion to give some account of the court of the princess of Wales, and of her love for the society of the learned. Berkeley had the good fortune to hold a place in her esteem; and it is mentioned that Clarke and he were the principal persons in the discussions which frequently arose on those days which were devoted by her highness to these learned colloquies. Berkeley had indeed good need for all his ability to support his character for discretion and common sense, against some unfavourable impressions occasioned by his Bermuda scheme. The world is so deeply in earnest about its own peculiar pursuits, and so careless about those beyond them, that, while it theoretically assents to the importance of the latter, it yet commits the singular fallacy of treating them as fiction; and, so far is this practical inconsistency carried, that the few who are in full earnest in spiritual concerns, and who act on the principle of their reality, will, to some extent, be looked on as visionary, by the dull-headed and carnal-hearted crowd that verbally and formally admits what it practically rejects. Berkeley, whose simplicity and singleness of mind only followed out the principles of a christian divine, in a plan for the good of mankind, obtained the character of a visionary among the formal, sensual, and worldly-minded. And it is curious to observe that his really visionary speculations had no share in this; for the true province of human reason was yet too little understood. Such contemporaries as Clarke, and such successors as David Hume, amply indicate the error of the age, and show that philosophy was yet in its cradle. Though he was singularly disposed by nature for visionary speculation, Berkeley, in this respect, only took the bent of the time; his admirable ingenuity was the gift of nature, and his own. In the discussions to which we have adverted, it is mentioned that bishop Hoadly mostly took part with Clarke, while Sherlocke took Berkeley's side: when the "Minute Philosopher" was printed, he took it to the queen, and suggested that such a work could not be the production of one who possessed an unsound mind.

With the queen he soon became a favourite, and his preferment was a determined point. Neither was he long kept in suspense; though