CUMBERLAND

CUMBERLAND, Richard, bishop of Peterborough, was the son of a respectable citizen of London, and was born in the parish of St Ann, near Aldersgate, in the year 1632. Having laid a proper foundation of classical learning at St Paul's school, he was removed to Magdalen College, Cambridge, where in due time he took his degrees in arts, and obtained a fellowship. He took the degree of A. B. in 1653; and having proceeded A. M. in 1656, he was next year incorporated to the same degree in the university of Oxford.¹ For some time he applied himself

to the study of physic; and although he did not adhere to this profession, he retained his knowledge of anatomy and medicine. Mr Payne informs us that "he distinguished himself, whilst he was a fellow of the college, by the performance of his academical exercises. He went out bachelor of divinity at a publick commencement; and tho' it was hardly known that the same person performed those great exercises twice, yet such was the expectation he had raised, that he was afterwards solicited to keep the act at another publick commencement for his doctor's degree." He took the degree of B.D. in 1663, and that of D.D. in 1680.¹ Two of his contemporaries and intimate friends were Dr Hezekiah Burton, a worthy clergyman, "who was early lost to his family, his acquaintance, and the world," and Dr Hollings, who settled as a physician at Shrewsbury, and was there held in universal esteem. There were other members of the same college with whom he likewise cultivated a particular acquaintance; and among these were Sir Samuel Moreland, who was distinguished by his knowledge of mathematics, Sir Orlando Bridgeman, who became keeper of the great seal, and Mr Pepys, who for many years was secretary to the admiralty, and who is well known by his posthumous Memoirs.

To this academical connexion he appears to have been in a great measure indebted for his subsequent advancement in the church. When Bridgeman was appointed lord keeper, he nominated Cumberland and Burton as his chaplains, nor did he afterwards neglect the interest of either. Cumberland's first preferment was the rectory of Brampton in Northamptonshire, which was bestowed upon him in 1658 by Sir John Norwich. He then quitted the university, and went to reside on his benefice, where he zealously devoted himself to the duties of his sacred office, and to the prosecution of those abstruse studies to which he had long been addicted. His chief relaxation consisted in occasional excursions to Cambridge, for the purpose of maintaining those lettered friendships which he had formed in early life, and probably for the purpose of consulting such books as his own library could not supply. In 1661 he was appointed one of the twelve preachers of the university. His character was very remote from that of a preferment-hunter; and in this unambitious retirement he might have spent the remainder of his life, if the lord keeper, who obtained his office in 1667, had not invited him to London, and soon afterwards bestowed upon him the rectory of Allhallows at Stamford. In this new situation, he acquired new credit by the fidelity with which he discharged his important functions. In addition to his ordinary duties, he undertook the weekly lecture, and thus was obliged to preach thrice every week in the same church. This labour he constantly and assiduously performed, and in the mean time found sufficient leisure, as well as inclination, to prosecute his scientific and philological studies.

At the mature age of forty, he published his earliest work, entitled "De Legibus Naturæ Disquisitio philosophica, in qua earum Forma, summa Capita, Ordo, Promulgatio, et Obligatio e Rerum Natura investigantur; quin etiam Elementa Philosophiæ Hobbianæ, cum moralis tum civilis, considerantur et refutantur." Lond. 1672, 4to. It is dedicated to Sir Orlando Bridgeman, and is prefaced by an "Alloquium ad Lectorem," contributed by the author's friend Dr Burton. Cumberland's treatise is evidently the production of an acute and philosophical mind, and entitles him to a very respectable place among writers on the principles of natural law; but his speculations are not entirely free from that indistinctness which is too prevalent among those who have undertaken similar enquiries. His arguments are chiefly directed against the Epicurean laxity of Hobbes, whose writings on the elements of morality and politics, though of a very debasing tendency, made a strong impression on his contemporaries. His system was now opposed by another, which comprehends a more pleasing view of man in his moral and social relations. "The most universal love, or most diffusive benevolence, of all rational beings towards each other, constitutes the happiest state they can be capable of; so that their endeavour of the common good, by this benevolence, is the sum of all the laws of nature, and in which they are all contained."

Cumberland's treatise De Legibus Naturæ appeared during the same year with that of Pufendorf De Jure Naturæ et Gentium, which was printed at Lund, where the author was then a professor. This work of the English divine was highly commended in a subsequent publication of the German lawyer² and his weighty suffrage must have had the effect of making it known on the continent. The book was reprinted at Lübeck in 1683, and again in 1694. It was likewise reprinted at Dublin. The style of the learned author has no particular recommendations; and as his work was printed in London while he was residing at Stamford, the first edition contains many typographical errors; nor are they removed in the subsequent editions. Dr Bentley afterwards undertook to revise the entire text, and, according to his grandson's account, he most effectually performed this task; but Barbeyrac, who had the use of the corrected copy, and who was a more competent judge of its value, entertained a less favourable opinion. This copy is now in the library of Trinity College, Cambridge. The author's family intended to publish a splendid edition of the work, but their laudable design was never executed.

Mr Tyrrell, who was the grandson of Archbishop Usher, and is himself well known as a writer on history and politics, digested Cumberland's doctrines into a new form, and published a considerable volume under the following title: "A brief Disquisition of the Law of Nature, according to the Principles and Method laid down in the Reve-

rend Dr Cumberland's (now Lord Bishop of Peterborough's) Latin treatise on that subject; as also his Confutations of Mr Hobbs's Principles put into another method: with the Right Reverend Author's approbation." Lond. 1692, 8vo. Another edition appeared in 1701. A complete English version of the original work was published by John Maxwell, A. M. prebendary of Connor, under the title of "A Treatise of the Laws of Nature." &c. Lond. 1727, 4to. And at a more recent period, a French translation was executed by the learned Barbeyrac, who likewise enriched his native language by transfusing into it the great works of Grotius and Pufendorf. "Traité philosophique des Loix Naturelles, &c. traduit du Latin, par Monsieur Barbeyrac, Docteur en Droit, et Professeur en la même Faculté dans l'Université de Groningue: avec des notes du traducteur, qui a joint celles de la traduction Angloise." Amsterdam, 1744, 4to.

Having thus established a solid reputation, Dr Cumberland next prepared a work on a very different subject: "An Essay towards the Recovery of the Jewish Measures and Weights, comprehending their Monies; by help of ancient standards, compared with ours of England: useful also to state many of those of the Greeks and Romans, and the Eastern Nations." Lond. 1686, 8vo. This work, which is dedicated to his friend Mr Pepys, obtained a copious notice from Le Clerc,¹ and was translated into French. Some of the author's opinions were controverted without any mention of his name, in a work published two years afterwards by Dr Bernard, professor of astronomy at Oxford, a man of extensive and various erudition.² We are informed that he "writ some sheets to justify his calculations; but his averseness to any thing like wrangling made him lay them by, and leave his book to shift for it self."

About this period, he was greatly depressed, like many other good men, by apprehensions respecting the growth of popery; but his apprehensions were at length dispelled by the Revolution, which likewise brought along with it another material change in his circumstances. In the course of the year 1691, he went, according to his custom on a post-day, to read the newspaper at a coffee-house in Stamford, and there, to his great surprise, he read that the king had nominated Dr Cumberland to the bishopric of Peterborough. This mode of bestowing high preferment upon eminent and unobtrusive merit, must appear not a little singular to those who are chiefly acquainted with ecclesiastical proceedings in more recent times. The face of the bishop elect was scarcely known at court, and he had resorted to none of the usual methods of advancing his temporal interest. It is stated by his biographer that if the clergy had retained their ancient privilege of electing their bishop, they would have made no other choice. "Being then sixty years old," says his great-grandson, "he was with difficulty persuaded to accept the offer, when it came to him from authority. The persuasion of his friends, particularly Sir Orlando Bridgeman, at length overcame his repugnance; and to that see, though very moderately endowed, he for ever after devoted himself, and resisted every offer of translation, though repeatedly made and earnestly recommended. To such of his friends as pressed an exchange upon him he was accustomed to reply, that Peterborough was his first espoused, and should be his only one; and, in fact, according to his principles,

no church revenue could enrich him; for I have heard my father say, that, at the end of every year, whatever overplus he found upon a minute inspection of his accounts was by him distributed to the poor, reserving only one small deposit of twenty-five pounds in cash, found at his death in his bureau, with directions to employ it for the discharge of his funeral expences; a sum, in his modest calculation, fully sufficient to commit his body to the earth."³ To the duties of his new station he applied himself with great assiduity. He was a person of studious and retiring habits, nor did the natural calmness of his temper peculiarly fit him for the task of governing others; but if he erred in practising too much lenity towards those who were placed under his jurisdiction, he shewed no disposition to consult his own ease in the discharge of his various functions. His charges to the clergy are described as plain and unambitious, the earnest breathings of a pious mind. His old age was fresh and vigorous, nor did he discontinue his episcopal visitations till after he attained his eightieth year. When Dr Wilkins published the New Testament in Coptic, he presented a copy to the bishop, who began to study the language after he had completed the age of eighty-three. "At this age," says his chaplain, "he master'd the language, and went thro' great part of this version, and would often give me excellent hints and remarks, as he proceeded in reading of it." He died in 1718, in the eighty-seventh year of his age: he was found sitting in his library, in the attitude of one asleep, and with a book in his hand.

Bishop Cumberland was eminently distinguished by his gentleness and humility. He was of a temper so cool and sedate, that it could not be roused to anger; and through the whole course of his life, his soul is represented as having been in a constant state of calmness and serenity, hardly ever ruffled by any passion. The theory which he maintains in his principal work, is founded on benevolence, and it naturally flowed from the habitual temperament of the author's mind. He was a man of a sound understanding, improved by extensive learning, and has left behind him several monuments of his talents and industry.

The care of his posthumous publications devolved upon his domestic chaplain Mr Payne, who soon after the bishop's death edited "Sanctioniatho's Phœnician History, translated from the first book of Eusebius De Preparatione Evangelica: with a Continuation of Sanctioniatho's History by Eratosthenes Cyrenæus's Canon, which Dicearchus connects with the first Olympiad. These authors are illustrated with many historical and chronological remarks, proving them to contain a Series of Phœnician and Egyptian Chronology, from the first man to the first Olympiad, agreeable to the Scripture Accounts." Lond. 1720, 8vo. The preface contains an account of the life, character, and writings of the author, which was likewise published in a separate form, and exhibits a pleasing picture of his happy old age. The work itself is learned and elaborate, and the researches of such a man could not be entirely fruitless; but there is a material defect in the general design, inasmuch as it takes for granted the genuineness of a book which has very frequently been considered as spurious. It was treated as a fabrication by several of Cumberland's contemporaries, and, among others, by Dodwell and Van Dale;⁴ nor is there much hazard in averring that it might now be more difficult to find many individuals of

critical learning inclined to adopt the bishop's opinion. The Phœnician History, of which some portion is preserved by Eusebius, was published in Greek by Philo Byblus as a version from the Phœnician tongue, and was produced by Porphyry as a composition of great antiquity. "I cannot but think," says Dodwell, that "this author counterfeited purposely with a design of confronting the antiquity of the Scripture. But who was the impostor, whether Philo Byblus or Porphyry, that I confess I cannot easily determine."¹ The book in which this passage occurs was published many years before the death of Cumberland, and was written by a person of much reputation for his learning. It is therefore obvious that a critical enquiry respecting the genuineness of the history ought to have preceded an attempt to draw any arguments from its details. A German translation appeared under the title of "Cumberland Phœnizische Historie des Sanchoniathons, übersetzt von Joh. Phil. Cassel." Magdeburg, 1755, 8vo.² The sequel to this work of the venerable bishop was likewise published by Mr Payne: "Origines Gentium antiquissimæ; or, Attempts for discovering the Times of the first Planting of Nations: in several Tracts." Lond. 1724, 8vo.

The author left an only son, who bore the same name, and belonged to the same profession: he was rector of Peakirk, in the diocese of Peterborough, and archdeacon of Northampton. One of the bishop's daughters married his faithful chaplain, S. Payne, A. M. rector of Barnack, and afterwards an archdeacon. The bishop's son, who inherited an estate which descended from his grandfather, had two sons and a daughter. The latter was married to Waring Ashby, Esq. of Quenby Hall in the county of Leicester. Richard, the elder son, died unmarried at the age of twenty-nine. The younger, named Denison from his mother, married Joanna the daughter of Dr Bentley, and became successively bishop of Clonfert and Kilmore. He was the father of the late Richard Cumberland. (x.)