"device, firft taken up in France by one Clement Marot, "one of the grooms of the bed-chamber about king "Francis I, who being much addicted to poetry, and

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having fome acquaintance with thofe that were thought "to be inclined to the Reformation, was perfuaded by the "learned Vatablus, profeffor of the Hebrew language in "Paris, to exercife his poetical fancy in tranflating fome "of David's Pfalms; for whofe fatisfaction and his own, "he tranflated the first fifty of them. Afterwards flying "to Geneva, he grew acquainted with Beza, who in fome "tract of time tranflated the other hundred alfo, and caused them to be fitted to feveral tunes; which thereupon began to be fung in private houses, and by degrees to be taken up in all the churches of the French "nation, which followed the Geneva platform. The "translation is faid by Strada to have been ignorantly and

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perverfely done, as being the work of a man altogether "unlearned; but not to be compared with the barbarity "and botching, which every where occurreth in the "tranflation of Sternhold and Hopkins. These, not"withstanding, being allowed for private devotion, were "by little and little brought into the ufe of the church, "and permitted rather than allowed to be fung before "and after sermons. Afterwards they were printed and "bound up in the Common-Prayer-Book ;' and at last "added by the ftationers to the end of the Bible. For though it be expreffed in the title of thofe finging "Pfalms, that they were fet forth and allowed to be "fung in all churches, before and after morning and "evening prayer, and alfo before and after fermons,' yet "this allowance feems rather to have been a connivance "than an approbation, no fuch allowance having been any where found by fuch as have been moft industrious "and concerned in the fearch thercof. At first it was

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pretended only, that the faid Pfalms fhould be fung' be"fore and after morning and evening prayer, and alfo "before and after fermons,' which fhews they were not "to be intermingled with the public liturgy: but in fome "tract of time, as the Puritan faction grew in ftrength and "confidence, they prevailed fo far in moft places to thrust "the Te Deum', the Benedictus,' the Magnificat,' "and the Nunc Dimittis,' quite out of our church."

STESICHORUS, an ancient Greek poet, was born at Himera, a city of Sicily, in the 37th Olympiad, which PP 4

was

was about the time of the prophet Jeremiah. His namè was originally Tyfias, but changed to Stefichorus, on account of his being the first who taught the Chorus to dance to the lyre. He appears to have been a man of the firft rank for wisdom and authority among his fellow citizens; and to have had a great hand in the tranfactions between that ftate and the tyrant Phalaris. He died at Catana in Sicily at above eighty; and the people were fo fenfible of the honour his reliques did the city, that they. refolved to keep them, whatever pretences the Himerians fhould make to the contrary. Much of this poet's hiftory depends upon the authority of Phalaris's epiftles; and if the genuineness of these fhould be given up, as we know it has been difputed, yet we collect thence the efteem and character Stefichorus bore with antiquity. We have no catalogue of his works on record: Suidas only tells us, in general, that he compofed a book of lyrics in the Dorian dialect; of which a few fcraps, not amounting to threefcore lines, are fet together in the collection of Fulvius Urfinus, at Antwerp, 1568, 8vo. Majefty and greatnefs make the common character of his ftyle whence Horace gives him the Graves Camœnæ. Hence Alexander, in Dion Chryfoftom, reckons him among the poets whom a prince ought to read and Synefius puts him and Homer together, as the noble celebrators of the heroic race. Quintilian's judgement on his works will juftify all this: "the force of Stefichorus's Inft. Orat. wit appears," fays he, "from the fubjects he has treated of; while he fings the greateft wars and the greatest "commanders, and fuftains with his lyre all the weight "and grandeur of an epic poem. For he makes his heroes fpeak and act agreeably to their characters and had he but obferved moderation, he would have appeared the faireft rival of Homer. But he is too ex"uberant, and does not know how to contain himself: which, though really a fault, yet is one of thofe faults which arifes from an abundance and excefs of genius."

1. x. c. I.

Life of

STILLINGFLEET (Dr. EDWARD), an English Stillingfleet prelate of great abilities and learning, was defcended from prefixed to his Works, an ancient family at Stillingfleet near York; and was in fix vols. born at Cranbourn in Dorfetfhire, April 17, 1635, being folio, 1710. the feventh fon of his father, Samuel Stillingfleet, gent.

After an education at a private grammar fchool, he was fent in 1648 to St. John's-college, Cambridge; of which

he

he was chofen fellow March 31, 1653, having taken a bachelor of arts degree. Then he withdrew a little from the university, to live at Wroxhall, in Warwickshire, with Sir Roger Burgoin, a perfon of great piety, prudence, and learning; and afterwards went to Nottingham, to be tutor to a young gentleman of the family of Pierrepoint. After he had been about two years in this ftation, he was recalled by his patron Sir Roger Burgoin, who in 1657 gave him the rectory of Sutton; which he entered upon with great pleasure, having received epifcopal orders from Dr. Brownrigg, the ejected bishop of Exeter. In 1659, he published" Irenicum, or a Weapon-Salve for the

Churches Wounds:" which, while it fhewed prodigious abilities and learning in fo young a man, gave great offence to many of the church-party. He did not fcruple afterwards to condemn it himself, declaring, that there Life, p. 3. "are many things in it, which, if he were to write again, "he would not fay; fome, which fhew his youth, and "want of due confideration; others, which he yielded too far, in hopes of gaining the diffenting parties to "the church of England." In 1662, he reprinted this work; and, as he had greatly offended fome churchmen by allowing too much to the ftate, fo he now meant to give them fatisfaction, in a difcourfe, which he joined to it, concerning the power of Excommunication in a Chriftian Church :" in which he attempts to prove, that "the church is a diftinct fociety from the state, and "has divers rights and privileges of its own, particularly "that it has a power of cenfuring offenders, resulting "from its conftitution as a Chriftian fociety; and that "these rights of the church cannot be alienated to the "state, after their being united in a Chriftian country.'

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The fame year, 1662, he published "Origines Sacræ, << or a Rational Account of the Grounds of Natural and "Revealed Religion;" a work, which, for extensive and profound learning, folidity of judgement, ftrength of argument, and perfpicuity of expreffion, would have done the highest honour to a man of any age; and therefore was really marvellous from one who had but just compleated his 27th year. When he appeared afterwards at the vifitation, bishop Sanderfon, his diocefan, feeing fo young a man, could hardly believe it was Mr. Stillingfleet, whom as yet he knew only by his works; and, embracing him, faid, "he expected rather to have feen one as confiderable for his years, as he had already fhewn himself for

"his learning." Upon the whole, this work has always been juftly esteemed one of the beft defences of Revealed Religion, that ever came forth in our own or any other language. It was republished by Dr. Bentley in 1709, withPart of another book upon the fame fubject, writ"ten in 1697, from the author's own manufcript," folio. This admirable work made him fo known to the world, and got him fuch esteem among the learned, that, when a reply appeared in 1663 to Laud's book against Fisher the jefuit, he was pitched upon to answer it; which he did, to the public fatisfaction, in 1664.

The fame of thefe excellent performances was the occafion that, while he continued at his living of Sutton, he was chofen preacher at the Rolls chapel by Sir Harbottle Grimfton, mafter. This obliged him to be in London in iterm-time, and was a fair introduction to his fettlement there, which followed foon after: for he was prefented to the rectory of St. Andrew's, Holbourn, Jan. 1664-5. Afterwards, he was chofen lecturer at the Temple; appointed chaplain to the king; made canon refidentiary of St. Paul's in 1670, as afterwards prebendary of Canterbury, and dean of St. Paul's: in all which stations he acquitted himself like an able, diligent, and learned divine. While he was rector of Sutton, he married a daughter of William Dobyns, a Gloucestershire gentleman, who lived not long with him; yet had two daughters, who died in their infancy, and one fon, Dr. Edward Stillingfleet, afterwards rector of Wood-Norton in Norfolk. Then he married a daughter of Sir Nicholas Pedley of Huntingdon, ferjeant at law, who lived with him almost all his life, and brought him feven children, of whom two only furvived him.

In 1663, he went out bachelor, and in 1668 doctor, of divinity. He was deeply engaged in all the controverfies of his times; with Deiits, with Socinians, with Papifts, with Diffenters. We forbear entering into particulars, as they do not now appear fufficiently interefting; and the catalogue of his works, to be hereunto added, will give the reader a very tolerable notion, as well of the occafions of his writings, as of the perfons with whom he had to do. In 1689, he was made bishop of Worcefter. He had a controverfy, in the latter part of his life, with Mr. Locke; who, having laid down fome principles in his "Effay on Human Understanding," which feemed to the bishop to ftrike at the Mysteries of Revealed Reli

gion, fell on that account under his lordship's cognizance. Stillingfleet had always had the reputation of coming off with triumph in all his controverfies, but in this was fuppofed to be not fuccefsful; and fome have imagined, that his being preffed with clearer and clofer reafoning by Locke, than he had been accuftomed to from his other adverfaries, created in him a chagrin, which fhortened his life. There is, however, no occafion to fuppofe this: for he had had the gout near twenty years, and it is no wonder, when it fixed in his ftomach, that it fhould prove fatal to him; as it did at his houfe in Park-ftreet, Weftminfter, March 27, 1699. He was tall, graceful, and well-proportioned; with a countenance comely, fresh, and awful. His apprehenfion was quick and fagacious, his judgement exact and profound, and his memory very tenacious fo that, confidering how intenfely he ftudied, and how he read every thing, it is eafy to imagine him, what he really was, one of the most universal scholars that ever lived.. His corpfe was carried to Worcester cathedral, and there interred: after which an elegant monument was erected over him, with an infcription written by Dr. Bentley, who had been his chaplain. This, as it gives a noble and yet juft idea of the man, as alfo good authority for many particulars of his life, fhall be inferted here, after we have given fome account of his writings.

The

They were all collected, and reprinted in 1710, in 6 vols. folio. The firft contains, "Fifty Sermons, preached $6 on feveral Occafions:" with the author's life. fecond, "Origines Sacræ;" "Letter to a Deift," written, as he tells us in the preface, for the fatisfaction of a particular perfon, who owned the Being and Providence of God, but expreffed a mean efteem of the fcriptures and the Chriftian religion; "Irenicum; The Unreafonableness "of Separation, or an Impartial Account of the Hiftory, "Nature, and Pleas of the prefent feparation from the "Communion of the Church of England." The third volume contains, Origines Britannice, or the Anti"quities of the British Churches; Two Difcourses con

cerning the Doctrine of Chrift's Satisfaction," against the Socinians; "Vindication of the Doctrine of the

Trinity," in which he animadverts upon fome paffages in Mr. Locke's Effay; "Anfwers to two Letters,' published by Mr. Locke; "Ecclefiaftical Cafes relating to the duties and rights of the Parochial Clergy,' a charge; "Concerning Bonds of Refignation of Bene"fices;"