EDWARD, earl of Clarendon, and lord high-chancellor of England, was a very eminent statesman and historian, son of Henry Hyde, a private gentleman, resident at Dinton in Wiltshire, where his lordship was born, in the month of February 1608. The first rudiments of his education he received in his father's house, the vicar of the parish being his preceptor, under whose tuition he made such rapid progress, that he was sent to Oxford at the age of 13, where he studied only for one year in Magdalen-hall, as his father entered him in the Middle Temple, that he might be trained up to the profession of the law. He repaired to London at the age of 17, being countenanced and protected by his uncle, who was afterwards chief justice of the court of king's bench. On the death of his uncle he was still a student, yet such a heavy heavy misfortune did not deter him from the prosecution of his designs. As a licentiousness of manners was at that time extremely prevalent, the well-disposed part of the community considered early marriage as a commendable preservative against irregularity of conduct; and therefore in compliance with an opinion so respectable, Mr Hyde united himself in wedlock with a beautiful young lady, when he was only in the 21st year of his age, whom he had the misfortune to lose in fix months after the celebration of their nuptials, the having fallen a victim to that loathsome malady the smallpox. After a widowhood of three years continuance, he married the daughter of Sir Thomas Aylebury, with whom he lived 36 years in conjugal felicity. He considered it as a fortunate circumstance that he was made acquainted at an early period with a number of very distinguished characters, among whom we find the names of Lord Falkland, Selden, Kenelm Digby, Carew, Sheldon, May, Waller, Hales of Eton, Morley, Chillingworth, and others; of whom he has made respectable mention in memoirs written by himself; and to their instructive conversation he nobly ascribes the principal part of his literary acquirements. His diffidence is very amably expressed in these words; "that he never was so proud, or thought himself so good a man, as when he was the worst man in the company."

Being concerned in a cause in behalf of the merchants of London, he was thus introduced to the notice of Archbishop Laud, commissioner of the treasury, by whom he was treated with much respect, and had his advancement in the profession of the law greatly promoted. His easy circumstances and respectable connections powerfully contributed to bring him forward and increase his business as a barrister. But in the multiplicity of causes which he was employed to bring before different courts, he never lost sight of polite literature, on the study of which he bestowed indefatigable attention, and in his general deportment he exhibited more of the polished gentleman than of the mere lawyer. So great was the reputation which by this time he had acquired, that in 1640 he was chosen burgess for Wotton-Basset and Shaftesbury, in the parliament summoned by Charles I. on account of the Scotch rebellion. As public grievances first attracted the attention of this new parliament, Hyde brought forward a statement of the illegal oppressions and malpractices of the earl marshal's court; but as it was soon dissolved, a radical investigation of the conduct of that court was for a time prevented. The borough of Saltash made choice of him for the new parliament, in which he pleaded so effectually against the earl marshal's court as to procure its suppression. He now totally abandoned the profession of a barrister, and wholly confined himself to the discussion of public business; and as he was generally supposed to be attached to no particular party, he was frequently appointed chairman of committees in the transaction of the most important affairs.

Hyde was represented to his majesty in such a favourable light, that the king requested a private interview with him, in the course of which he expressed his great obligations to him for his meritorious services, and was much pleased with his zealous attachment to the church. After this interview he may be considered as devoted to the royal cause; and in order to make a proper estimate of his subsequent conduct, it will be necessary for our readers to attend to his own declaration. He informs us that he had "a very particular passion and devotion for the person of the king; and a most zealous esteem and reverence for the constitution of government, which he believed to be so equally poised, that if the least branch of the prerogative was torn off, the subject suffered by it; and he was as much troubled when the crown exceeded its just limits." He believed the church of England to be most admirably calculated for the promotion of literature, piety, and peace, perhaps, of any other in the whole world, and deemed the application of any part of its revenue to civil purposes to be the most abominable sacrilege and unpardonable robbery. He also considered the removal of bishops from the house of peers as a violation of the principles of justice, which made him an enemy to every innovation in the church from conscientious motives.

When the commons published their remonstrance on the state of the nation, Hyde drew up a reply to it, merely to gratify his own personal indignation, according to his own confession, without the smallest intention of making it public, although it is more than probable that Lord Digby was made acquainted with its contents. He was, however, at length prevailed upon to allow it to appear as the king's answer with the advice of his council. This procured him an offer of the office of solicitor-general, which he thought proper to decline, although he undertook the management of the king's affairs in parliament, in conjunction with Lord Digby and Sir John Colepepper. He opposed the king's assent to the bill for depriving the bishops of their seats in the house of peers, in which the sovereign acted in direct opposition to the sentiments of his professed friend, by giving his assent. In the year 1642 his majesty sent for Hyde to York, where he contributed his assistance in drawing up various papers in the cause of the falling monarch. He was recalled by parliament, but he refused to obey the summons without the royal permission, which excluded him from pardon by a vote of the house.

Soon after the breaking out of hostilities between the king and parliament, when the court of the former was held at Oxford, Hyde was appointed chancellor of the exchequer, sworn a member of the privy council, and created a knight. He continued with his majesty till the month of March 1644, when he was appointed to accompany Prince Charles to the west, and afterwards to the island of Jersey, where Sir Edward Hyde continued during two years after the departure of the prince, prosecuting his studies with indefatigable industry, and composing a history of those memorable transactions in which he himself had borne a distinguished part. He likewise published a reply to the parliamentary declaration of February 1647, in which it was declared improper to send any more addresses to the king. In 1648 he received orders to attend the prince at Paris, who having in the meantime set out for Holland, Sir Edward took shipping for Dunkirk. The prince was at the Hague when he received the melancholy intelligence of his royal father's fate. Upon this the council of the young king determined to send ambassadors to Spain, and for this purpose made choice of Sir Edward Hyde and Lord Collington, who arrived at Madrid in 1694; and when their residence in that metropolis Hyde. tropolis was no longer necessary, Sir Edward returned to Paris. The king's court at the Hague was torn by dissension, which made Sir Edward apply for, and obtain leave to retire to Antwerp, the residence of his wife and children, as he clearly perceived that his personal attendance was not likely to be productive of any substantial good. This retreat afforded him literary and domestic happiness, and was better suited to the reduced state of his finances. The princess of Orange, eldest daughter of the unfortunate Charles I., having assigned Sir Edward a house at Breda free of rent, out of gratitude for his warm attachment to her father, he was prevailed upon to remove to that city.

In the year 1657 he was appointed lord high-chancellor of England; a nomination which to our readers may probably seem ridiculous, as coming from a king who was not possessed of a kingdom; but it should be remembered that the young sovereign was of an easy and too pliable a disposition, incapable of denying any request; and therefore as applications were continually made to him for contingent grants and reversions, he justly considered it as a prudent step to raise a man to that high rank, who had sufficient firmness to reject all improper requisitions.

It is but doing justice to the memory of Sir Edward Hyde to say that he was the most confidential and faithful minister of Charles II. at the time of the restoration; and by the consent of all parties, the many public and private difficulties which this event occasioned, were settled by him with much wisdom, integrity and honour. Notwithstanding he was a warm advocate for the royal prerogative, it says much for the wisdom of his head and the goodness of his heart, that he was an enemy to the extension of it beyond the limits prescribed by the constitution; for when it was proposed to raise a great standing revenue, which would have made the king independent of parliament, it met from Sir Edward the warmest opposition, and he restrained the zeal of the royalists, and their desire of revenge. His zeal for episcopacy was, however, carried to an extravagant height, as it led him to wish for the annihilation of every vestige of presbyterianism. He was chosen chancellor of the university of Oxford, in 1660, and at the same time created a peer; being in the year following made Viscount Cornbury and earl of Clarendon. But as his new dignity was far superior to his fortune, the crown made several grants to him to enable him to support it. This sudden elevation, and the strictness of his moral deportment, which bordered on austerity, did not fail to create a number of enemies in such a licentious court as that of Charles II.

It would perhaps be improper to omit a remarkable circumstance respecting his daughter, who was a maid of honour to the princess of Orange, as it had every appearance of affecting his future fortune in a very material degree. The duke of York was so captivated with the charms of his lordship's daughter, that he entered with her into a private contract of marriage, when he found it impracticable to triumph over her virtue, or procure her for a mistress. Finding herself pregnant, she boldly insisted that the duke should make an open avowal of their marriage, which rendered it necessary to make the king acquainted with it; but when it reached the ears of her father, he behaved on the occasion in such a manner, as greatly to tarnish a character so illustrious. He said he would rather see his daughter the duke's mistress than his consort; advised to confine her in the Tower, and even asserted that he ought to lose her head. He was afraid of the king's indignation, from a supposition that he was privy to the marriage, which there is no good reason for believing, yet such an apprehension might bring such expressions from him as were wholly incompatible with the feelings of a parent. His extravagant notions of royalty might also have their own weight in producing such an unnatural conduct, since he would conceive the blood of majesty to be contaminated by such an alliance. To the honour of Charles he behaved on the occasion in a very commendable manner; and notwithstanding the rage of the queen-mother, the base conduct of the duke in denying his marriage, and attempting by calumny to impeach the chastity of his consort, she was at length acknowledged as the duchess of York, and became the mother of two English queens.

Earl Clarendon's influence with the crown was naturally increased by this marriage, while it as naturally procured him the envy of his fellow courtiers, and paved the way to his subsequent degradation. The tale of Dunkirk to the French was viewed as dishonourable by the nation at large, although perhaps on the score of economy and sound policy it was capable of vindication. To this we may add the unpopular measure of opposing the bill for granting liberty of conscience, as it brought on him the displeasure both of the king and of all religious sectaries. Even the unfortunate war with the Dutch was charged to his account, although he was known to be its enemy from its very commencement. Rigidly virtuous himself, the libidinous course of life pursued by his master could not fail to give him offence, and he certainly displeased the king by the freedom of his reproaches. In defiance, therefore, of all his former services, he was basely abandoned to the indignation of the people, and driven from every office of public trust in the month of August 1667. He was charged with the crime of high-treason by the house of commons, but the peers refused to commit him upon their charge; but while the dispute between the two houses was yet undetermined, Clarendon received his majesty's orders to quit the kingdom. His apology to the peers was burnt by the common executioner, and a bill of banishment was issued against him for flying from justice. While he proceeded from Calais to Rouen, the court of France sent an order to him to quit that kingdom, which bodily distress at that time rendered impracticable, upon which the cruel order was reversed. The savage rage of some Englishmen nearly deprived him of his life as he passed from Rouen to Avignon after his recovery; but the court of France punished the perpetrators of the deed. At Montpelier he met with very respectful treatment during a residence of four years, which time he devoted to the vindication of his conduct. Having spent some time at Moulins, he fixed his residence at Rouen, where he terminated his career in December 1674, in the 68th year of his age. His remains were brought to England, and interred in the abbey of Westminster.

Lord Clarendon was the author of Contemplations and Reflections on the Psalms; Animadversions on a book of Mr Creffy's in the Roman Catholic Controversy; HYD

fy; A brief view of the Errors in Hobbes's Leviathan; History of the grand Rebellion; his own Life and a Continuation of his History, published by the university in 1759. In a literary point of view his lordship is only known as a historian; and his history of the civil war is regarded by competent judges as an important source of information. The writings of Clarendon resemble those of a man who takes a decided part, yet his representations are generally allowed to be moderate and just. His language is not devoid of beauty; but his injudicious use of the relative pronoun often renders him obscure; few however have ever excelled him in the delineation of characters.

Dr Thomas, professor of Arabic at Oxford, and one of the most learned writers of the 17th century, was born in 1636; and studied first at Cambridge, and afterwards at Oxford. Before he was 18 years of age, he was sent from Cambridge to London to assist Mr Brian Walton in the great work of the Polyglot Bible; and about that period undertook to transcribe the Persian Pentateuch out of the Hebrew characters, which Archbishop Usher, who well knew the difficulty of the undertaking, pronounced to be an impossible task to a native Perisan. After he had happily succeeded in this, he assisted in correcting several parts of Mr Walton's work, for which he was perfectly qualified. He was made archdeacon of Gloucester, canon of Christ-church, head keeper of the Bodleian library, and professor both of Hebrew and Arabic in the university of Oxford. He was interpreter and secretary of the Oriental languages, during the reigns of Charles II. James II. and William III.; and was perfectly qualified to fill this post, as he could converse in the languages which he understood. There never was an Englishman in his situation of life who made so great a progress; but his mind was so engrossed by his beloved studies, that he is said to have been but ill qualified to appear to any advantage in common conversation. Of all his learned works (the very catalogue of which, as observed by Anth. Wood, is a curiosity), his Religio Veterum Perfarum is the most celebrated. Dr Gregory Sharpe, the late learned and ingenious matter of the Temple, has collected several of his pieces formerly printed, and republished them with some additional dissertations, and his life prefixed, in two elegant volumes quarto. This great man died on the 18th of February 1702. Among his other works are, 1. A Latin translation of Ulug Beig's observations on the longitude and latitude of the fixed stars; and, 2. A catalogue of the printed books in the Bodleian library.