drid, 1632, 2 vols. 12mo. The time of his death is not known, nor can he be traced beyond 1596.'

ERDESWICKE (SAMPSON), an English antiquary, was the son of Hugh Erdeswicke, esq. and was born at Sandon in Staffordshire. He studied at Brazen-uose college, Oxford, in 1553 and 1554, as a gentleman commoner, and afterwards returned to Sandon, where he employed much of his time in antiquarian researches, especially what related to his own county. In this he must have shown acuteness and judgment as well as industry, for Camden styles him "venerandæ antiquitatis cultor maximus." He died April 11, 1603, and was buried in Sandon church, which he had a little before repaired and new glazed. He left behind him, in manuscript, "A short view of Staffordshire, containing the antiquities of the same county." He began this, it is said, in 1593, and continued adding and improving it till his death. It is now incorporated in Shaw's History of Staffordshire. A very incorrect copy was published at London in 1717, 8vo, and again in 1723. There are two copies of the original in the British Museum, and one among Mr. Gough's MSS. in the Bodleian library. In the Museum are also some MS collections by him of genealogies, monuments, arms, &c. It is said that he wrote "The true use of Armory," published under the name of Will. Wyrley, 1592; but this seems doubtful, and Wyrley was certainly very capable himself of writing it."

EREMITA (DANIEL), a native of Antwerp, and secretary to the duke of Florence, was born at Antwerp in 1584, of protestant parents, said to be of the same family with Peter the Hermit, so celebrated in the history of the crusades. In his youth Scaliger had a great esteem for him, and recommended him in the strongest terms to Casaubon; who procured him employment, and endeavoured to get him into Mr. de Montaterre's family, in quality of preceptor, and was likely to have succeeded, when Eremita found means to ingratiate himself with Mr. de Vic, who was going ambassador into Switzerland. In the course of their intimacy De Vic, a man of great bigotry, and fired with a zeal for making converts, soon won over Eremita, by means of a conference with a Portuguese monk; and he became a Roman catholic, which gave Casaubon great

1 Moreri.-Hayley on Epic Poetry.-Letters from an English Traveller in Spain, 1781, 8vo.

Ath. Ox. vol. I. new edit, 1813.-Gough's Topography, vol. II.

uneasiness. Eremita, however, still retained a veneration for Scaliger, and, after his death, defended him against Scioppius, who in his answer, speaks with very little respect of Eremita, and informs us that after being at Rome in 1606, he disappeared for some time after, as it was supposed at first from poverty, but it afterwards was discovered that he had retired to Sienna, where he made his court to archbishop Ascanio Piccolomini, who recommended him to Silvio Piccolomini, great chamberlain to the great duke of Florence. By this means he obtained a pension from that prince, as a reward for a panegyric written on the nuptials of the great duke with Magdalen of Austria, and published in 1608, and at his earnest request he was sent into Germany with the deputy, to acquaint the several princes of the empire with the death of the great duke's father. At his return to Florence, he affected to be profoundly skilled in affairs of government; and promised a commentary which should exceed whatever had been written upon Tacitus. As he looked upon the history of our Saviour as fabulous, so he took a delight in exclaiming against the inquisitors and the clergy; and had many tales ready upon these occasions, all which he could set off to advantage.

Such is the character which Scioppius has given of Eremita; which is in part confirmed by some particulars related by Casaubon. He died at Leghorn in 1613. Grævius published at Utrecht, in 1701, an octavo volume of his "Opera varia;" among which were "Aulicæ vitæ ac civilis, libri iv." all taken from a manuscript in the duke of Florence's library, communicated by Magliabecchi to Gravius, who, in a preface, has endeavoured to refute the slanders of Scioppius. The four books, "De Aulica vita ac civili," are written with great purity and elegance of style, and abound with curious knowledge, which makes them entertaining as well as useful. Bayle mentions two other works of our author, which, he says, deserve to be read: "Epistolica relatio de itinere Germanico, quod legatione magni Etruriæ ducis ad Rodolphum II. imperatorem Germaniæ anno 1609 peractum fuit ;" and his epistle "De Helveticorum, Rhetorum, Sedonensium situ, republica, & moribus." His Latin poems were inserted in the second volume of "Delicia poetarum Belgicorum."!

1 Gen. Dict.-Moreri in Ermite.-Foppen Bibl. Belg. in Hermite.-Niceron, Vol. XXIX.

. ERIGENA (JOHN SCOTUS), an eminent scholar of the middle age, was born in an early part of the ninth century. The most common account of him is, that he was a native of Ayr, in Scotland, though some writers have said that the place of his birth was Ergene, on the borders of Wales, and others have contended that he was an Irishman. It is, we apprehend, most probable that he was a Scotchman. However this may have been, he was animated, in a very dark period, with a most uncommon desire of literature. Seeing his country involved in great confusion and ignorance, and that it afforded no means of acquiring the knowledge after which he thirsted, he travelled into foreign parts; and it is even asserted, by several authors, that he went to Athens, and spent some years in studying the Greek, Chaldaic, and Arabic languages. In whatever place he obtained his learning, it is certain that in philosophy he had no superior, and in languages no equal, in the age during which he flourished. These extraordinary accomplishments, together with his wit and pleasantry, which rendered his conversation as agreeable as it was instructive, procured him an invitation from Charles the Bald, king of France, the greatest patron of literature in that period, to reside with him. Of this invitation Erigena accepted, and lived a number of years in the court of that prince, on a footing of the most intimate acquaintance and familiarity. He slept often in the royal apartments, and dined daily at the royal table. From the following repartee, which is preserved by one of our ancient historians, we may judge of the freedom which Scotus used with the monarch. As they were sitting one day at table opposite to each other, after dinner, the philosopher having said something that was not quite agreeable to the rules of politeness, the king, in a merry humour, asked him, "Pray what is between a Scot and a sot?" To which he answered, "Nothing but the table." Charles, says the historian, laughed heartily, and was not in the least offended, as he made it a rule never to be angry with his master, as he always called Erigena; yet, in order to assist our belief in the above joke, it has been observed, that we ought to know in what language Charles and Scotus conversed. Charles, however, valued this great man for his wisdom and learning, still more than for his wit, and retained him about his person, not merely as an agreeable companion, but as his preceptor in the sciences, and his

In his treatise on this

best counsellor in the most arduous affairs of government. While Scotus resided in the court of France, he composed, at the desire of his royal patron, a number of works, which procured him many admirers on the one hand, and many adversaries on the other. The clergy, in particular, were dissatisfied with some of his notions, as not being perfectly orthodox. One of the subjects which employed his pen was the doctrine of predestination. subject, which was addressed to Hincmar, archbishop of Rheims, and Pardulus, bishop of Laon, the position he begins with is, that every question may be resolved by four general rules of philosophy, viz. division, definition, demonstration, and analysis. By these rules he endeavours to prove, that there cannot be a double predestination, of one to glory, and another to damnation; and that predestination does not impose any necessity, but that man is absolutely free; and that, although he cannot do good without the grace of Jesus Christ, yet he does it, without being constrained or forced to do it by the will of God, by his own free choice. Sin, and the consequences of it, and the punishments with which it is attended, are, says Erigena, mere privations, that are neither foreseen nor predestinated by God; and predestination hath no place but in those things which God hath pre-ordained in order to eternal happiness; for our predestination arises from the foresight of the good use of our free-will. Sentiments so bold, and delivered in such an age, could not fail of exciting great indignation. Wemlo, or Ganelo, archbishop of Sens, having read the work, collected out of it several propositions, which he arranged under nineteen heads, according to the number and order of the chapters of Scotus's treatise, and sent them to Prudentius, bishop of Troyes. This prelate, having examined them, found in them, as he thought, not only the errors of Pelagius, but the impiety of the Collyridians. He employed himself, therefore, in answering Erigena; and another answer to him was written by Florus, a deacon of the church of Lyons. It does not appear that Scotus engaged any farther in the controversy.

Another of his works was upon the subject of the eucharist, in answer to a famous book of Paschasius Radbertus, concerning the body and blood of Christ. Upon this head, Erigena had the good sense to oppose the doctrine of transubstantiation.

While our author was employed in these discussions, an incident occurred, which drew upon him the displeasure of the Roman pontiff. Michael Balbus, the Greek emperor, had sent, in the year 824, a copy of the works of Dionysius, the philosopher, to the emperor Lewis the pious, as a most acceptable present. In France these treatises were esteemed to be an invaluable 'treasure; and therefore Charles the bald, who could not read Greek, was earnestly desirous of perusing them in a Latin translation. This desire was undoubtedly increased by an opinion which at that time universally prevailed, though without any proof, that Dionysius the Areopagite, or St. Denys, was the first Christian teacher, or apostle, in France. At the request of Charles, Scotus undertook the task of translating the works in question, the titles of which were, "On the celestial Monarchy;" "On the ecclesiastical Hierarchy;" "On divine Names ;" and, "On mystic Theology." These books were received with great eagerness by the western churches; but the translation having been made without the license of the sovereign pontiff, and containing many things contrary to the received faith of the church of Rome, the pope, Nicholas the first, was highly displeased, and wrote a threatening letter to the French king, requiring that Scotus should be banished from the university of Paris, and sent to Rome. Charles had too much affection and respect for our author to obey the pope's order; but Erigena thought it advisable, for his safety, to retire from Paris. According to some writers, it was upon this occasion that he returned to England. It was the translation of the works of the pretended Dionysius which revived the knowledge of Alexandrian Platonism in the west, and laid the foundation of the mystical system of theology, which afterwards so generally prevailed. Hence it was, that philosophical enthusiasm, born in the east, nourished by Plato, educated in Alexandria, matured in Asia, and adopted into the Greek church, found its way into the western church, and there produced innumerable mischiefs.

The most capital work of Scotus was his treatise "On the division of nature, or the natures of things;" which, after long lying in manuscript, was published at Oxford, in 1681, by Dr. Thomas Gale. In various respects this was the most curious literary production of the age in which Erigena flourished, being written with a metaphysical subtlety and acuteness then unknown in Europe. This