BOLINGBROKE, Henry St. John, lord viscount, a great statesman and philosopher, descended from an ancient and noble family, was born about the year 1672. He had a regular and liberal education; and by the time he left the university, was considered as a person of uncommon qualifications: but with great parts, he had, as it usually happens, great passions, and these hurried him into many indiscretions and follies. Contrary to the inclinations of his family, he cultivated Tory connections; and gained such an influence in the house of commons, that in 1704 he was appointed secretary of war and of the marines. He was closely united in all political measures with Mr. Harley: when, therefore, that gentleman was removed from the seals in 1707, Mr. St. John resigned his employment; and in 1710, when Mr. Harley was made chancellor of the exchequer, the post of secretary of state was given to Mr. St. John. In 1712 he was created Baron St. John of Lediard-Tregoze in Wilts, and Viscount Bolingbroke. But being overlooked in the bellowal of vacant ribbons of the order of the garter, he resented the affront, renounced the friendship of Harley then earl of Oxford, and made his court to the Whigs. Nevertheless, on the accession of George I. the seals were taken from him; and being informed that a resolution was taken to pursue him to the scaffold, for his conduct regarding the treaty of Utrecht, he withdrew to France. Here he accepted an invitation to enter into the Pretender's service, and accepted the seals as his secretary: but he was as unfortunate in his new connections as in those he had renounced; for the year 1715 was scarcely expired, when at the same time that he was attainted of high treason at home, the seals and papers of his foreign secretary's office were taken from him; followed by an accusation from the Pretender and his party, of neglect, incapacity, and treachery. Such a complication of distressful events threw him into a state of reflection, that produced by way of relief a consolatio philosophica, which he wrote the same year under the title of Reflections upon exile; and the following year drew up a vindication of his conduct with respect to the Tories, in the form of A Letter to Sir William Wyndham. His first lady being dead, he about this time espoused a niece of the famous Madame Maintenon, and widow of the Marquis de Vilette, with whom he had a very large fortune. In 1723 the king was prevailed on to grant him a free pardon, and he returned in consequence to England; but was by no means satisfied within, while he was yet no more than a mere titular lord, and remained excluded from the
Bolifaw
Bologna.
house of peers. This stigma operated to fix him in
enmity to Sir Robert Walpole, to whose secret enmity
he attributed his not receiving the full extent of the
king's clemency: hence he distinguished himself by a
multitude of political writings, till the year 1735, when
being thoroughly convinced that the door was finally
shut against him, he returned once more to France. In
this foreign retreat he began his course of Letters on
the study and use of History, for the use of Lord Com-
bury, to whom they are addressed. Upon the death
of his father, who lived to be extremely old, he settled
at Battersea, the ancient seat of his family, where he
passed the remainder of his life in philosophical digni-
ty. Pope and Swift, one the greatest poet, the other
the greatest wit, of the time, perfectly adored him; and
it is well known that the former received from him the
materials for his incomparable poem the "Essay on
Man."—He died in 1751, and left the care and benefit
of his MSS. to Mr Mallet, who published them to-
gether with his former printed work, in 5 vols 4to; they
are also printed in 8vo.