, one of those writers who contributed to the general desolation of
, one of those writers who contributed to the general desolation of government, religion, and morals, which was afterwards completed by the French encyclopedists, was born June 24, 1704, at Aix in Provence, where his father was procurator-general to the parliament of that city. His father intended him for the magistracy, but he embraced the profession of arms in his fifteenth year, and appears to have led a wandering and profligate life, until, on his return from Constantinople, he was induced by his father to study law, He entered, however, again into the army in 1733, and was at the siege of Kell, where he was slightly wounded, in 1734. After the siege of Philipsbourg, he met with an accident by a fall from his horse, which disabled him for the military service. Being disinherited by his father, he went to Holland, and maintained himself by his pen, and when Frederick, king of Prussia, came to the throne, he made d'Argens his chamberlain. After passing twenty-five years in Berlin, where he married, he returned to his native country, Aix, where, in the late French cant, he lived a philosophic life, and died at the castle of the baroness de Garde, his sister, near Toulon, Jan. 11, 1771. It is said that in his last illness, he requested the sacrament might be administered to him; read often in the Gospel, and procured admission into a fraternity of penitents. His conversation has been praised for the candour and goodnature of his manner, as well as for its wit and pleasantry. He had a tendency towards melancholy, but was a good husband, friend and master. With respect to his writings, he confesses that he travelled into other countries where he might take liberties which would not be permitted at home. He professed that Bayle was his model, but he is far behind that author in genius and learning. He had, however, a thirst for knowledge, and besides his acquaintance with several languages, he studied chemistry and anatomy, and had some talent for painting.
and honoured him with a seat at their board. M. Bourgoing observes, that Dr. Feyjoo, or Feijoo, was one of those writers who treated this conjectural art in the most
, was a learned physician
of the order of St. Benedict, born in Spain, who died in
1765. By his writings many have thought that he contributed as much towards curing the mental diseases of
his compatriots and reforming the vitiated taste of his
countrymen, by introducing liberal notions in medicine
and philosophy, as the great Michel Cervantes had done
those of a preceding age, by his incomparable history of
Don Quixote. In the “Teatro Critico, sopra los Errores
communes,
” which he published in fourteen volumes, are
many severe reflections against the ignorance of the monks,
the licentiousness of the clergy, ridiculous privileges, abuse
ef pilgrimages, exorcisms, pretende-d miracles, &c. &c. by
which he made a formidable host of enemies, and would
certainly have been also a martyr, had the numerous calls
of vengeance been listened to by those in power. The
learned part of the nation, however, undertook his defence, and he escaped the grasp of the inquisition; and,
notwithstanding the freedom he had taken with the faculty,
the medical college at Seville conferred on him the degree
of doctor, and honoured him with a seat at their board.
M. Bourgoing observes, that Dr. Feyjoo, or Feijoo, was
one of those writers who treated this conjectural art in the
most rational manner, but he is certainly far from consistent, and sometimes lays down a doctrine which he is
obliged afterwards to abandon. A considerable part of
tis “Teatro Critico
” was translated into French by D'Hermilly, in 12vols. 12mo; and several of his Essays have
been published at various times in English, the largest
collection of which is entitled “Essays or Discourses, selected from the works of Feyjoo, and translated from the
Spanish, by John Brett, esq.
”
, one of those writers who, without much labour have attained high
, one of those writers who, without much labour have attained high reputation, and who are mentioned with reverence rather for the possession than the exertion of uncommon abilities, was the only son of Mr. Neale, an eminent merchant, by a daughter of the famous baron Lechmere; and born in 1668. Some misfortunes of his father, which were soon after followed by his death, occasioned the son to be left very young in the hands of Mr. S nith, who had married his father’s sister. This gentleman treated him with as much tenderness as if he had been his own cnild; and placed him at Westminster-school under the care of Dr. Busby. After the death of his generous guardian, young Neale, in gratitude, thought proper to assume the name of Smith. He was elected from Westminster to Cambridge, but, being offered a studentship, voluntarily removed to Christ-church in Oxford; and was there by his aunt handsomely maintained as long as she lived; alter which, he continued a member of that society till within five years of his own death. Some time before he left Christ church, he was sent for by his mother to Worcester, and acknowledged by her as a legitimate son; which his friend Oldisworth mentions, he says, to wipe off the aspersions that some had ignorantly cast on his birth. He passed through the exercises of the college and university with unusual applause; and acquired a great reputation in the schools both for his knowledge and skill in disputation. He had a long and perfect intimacy with all the Greek and Latin classics; with whom he had carefully compared whatever was worth perusing in the French, Spanish, and Italian languages, and in all the celebrated writers of his own country. He considered the ancients and moderns, not as parties or rivals for fame, but as architects upon one and the same plan, the art of poetry.