A NEW AND GENERAL

BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY.

EACHARD (JOHN), master of Catharine-hall, in the university of Cambridge, and author of several ingenious works, was descended from a good family in the county of Suffolk, and born about 1636. Having been carefully instructed in grammar and classical literature, he was sent to Catharine-hall, in the university of Cambridge, where he was admitted on the 10th of May, 1653. He took the degree of B. A. in 1656, was elected fellow of his college in 1658, and in 1660 became M. A. We meet with no farther particulars about him till 1670, when he published, but without his name, "The Grounds and Occasions of the Contempt of the Clergy and Religion enquired into. In a letter to R. L." This piece had a very rapid sale, and passed through many editions. It was attacked by an anonymous writer the following year, in " An Answer to a Letter of Enquiry into the Grounds," &c. and by Barnabas Oley, and several others; particularly the famous Dr. John Owen, in a preface to some sermons of W. Bridge. Eachard replied to the first of his answerers in a piece entitled "Some Observations upon the Answer to an Enquiry into the Grounds and Occasions of the Contempt of the Clergy with some additions. In a second letter to R. L." In 1671 he published, "Mr. Hobbes's State of Nature considered in a dialogue between Philautus and Timothy. To which are added, five letters from the author of The Grounds and Occasions of the Contempt of VOL. XIII.

B

the Clergy." In these letters he animadverted, with his usual facetiousness, on several of the answerers of his first performance. He soon after published some farther remarks on the writings of Hobbes, in "A second Dialogue between Philautus and Timothy." On the death of Dr. John Lightfoot, in 1675, Mr. Eachard was chosen in his room master of Catharine-hall; and in the year following he was created D. D. by royal mandamus. It does not appear that he produced any literary works after being raised to this station; but it is said that he executed the trust reposed in him, of master of his college, with the utmost care and fidelity, and to the general satisfaction of the whole university. He was extremely desirous to have rebuilt the greatest part, if not the whole, of Catharine-hall, which had fallen into decay: but he died before he could accomplish any part of that design, except the master's lodge. He contributed, however, largely towards rebuilding the whole; and was very assiduous in procuring donations for it from his learned or wealthy friends. He died on the 7th of July, 1697, and was interred in the chapel of Catharine-hall, with an elegant Latin inscription, said to have been more recently added by the late Dr. Farmer.

Dr. Eachard's pieces, excepting his second Dialogue on the writings of Hobbes, have been several times printed together in one volume, 8vo; but the most complete edition, and which contains that Dialogue, is that published by T. Davies, in 1774, in 3 vols. 12mo, with a life of him, written by Davies, with the assistance of Dr. Johnson and Dr. Farmer.

Though Dr. Eachard's works abound with wit and humour, he is said to have failed remarkably when he attempted to write in a serious manner. Mr. Baker, of St. John's college, Cambridge, in a blank leaf of his copy of Eachard's "Letter to R. L." observes, that he went to St. Mary's with great expectation to hear him preach, but was never more disappointed. And dean Swift says, "I have known men happy enough at ridicule, who, upon grave subjects, were perfectly stupid; of which Dr. Eachard, of Cambridge, who writThe Contempt of the Clergy,' was a great instance.” It is remarked by Mr. Granger, and Dr. Warton, that the works of Dr. Eachard had been evidently studied by Swift. Dr. Eachard's wit, however, was applied to the best of purposes; for although some

parts of his "Grounds of the Contempt, &c." may be mistaken, he cannot be too highly praised for turning the philosophy of Hobbes into contempt.

In the catalogue of the printed books in the British museum, a piece is attributed to Dr. Eachard, which was published in 1673, in 12mo, under the following title: "A free and impartial enquiry into the causes of that very great esteem and honour that the Nonconforming Preachers are generally in with their followers. In a letter to his honoured friend, H. M. By a lover of the church of England and unfeigned piety." But if written by Dr. Eachard, it certainly has not his wit, or his manner.

EAGLESFIELD. See EGGLESFIELD.

EADMER, or EDMER, the faithful friend and historian of archbishop Anselm, was an Englishman, who flourished in the twelfth century, but we have no information respecting his parents, or the particular time and place of his nativity. He received a learned education, and very early discovered a taste for history, by recording every remarkable event that came to his knowledge. Being a monk in the cathedral of Canterbury, he had the happiness to become the bosom friend and inseparable companion of the two archbishops of that see, St. Anselm, and his successor Ralph. To the former of these he was appointed spiritual director by the pope; and that prelate would do nothing without his permission. In 1120 he was elected bishop of St. Andrew's, by the particular desire of Alexander I. king of Scotland; but on the very day after his election, an unhappy dispute arose between the king and him respecting his consecration. Eadmer would be consecrated by the archbishop of Canterbury, whom he regarded as primate of all Britain, while Alexander contended that the see of Canterbury had no pre-eminence over that of St. Andrew's. After many conferences, their dispute becoming more warm, Eadmer abandoned his bishopric, and returned to England, where he was kindly received by the archbishop and clergy of Canterbury, who yet thought him too precipitate in leaving his bishopric. Eadmer at last appears to have been of the same opinion, and wrote a long and submissive letter to the king of Scotland, but without producing the desired effect. Wharton fixes his death in 1124, which was not long after this

Life prefixed to his works.-Biog. Brit.

affair, and the very year in which the bishopric of St. Andrew's was filled up. Eadmer is now best known for his history of the affairs of England in his own time, from 1066 to 1122, in which he has inserted many original papers, and preserved many important facts that are nowhere else to be found. This work has been highly commended, both by ancient and modern writers, for its authenticity, as well as for regularity of composition and purity of style. It is indeed more free from legendary tales than any other work of this period, and affords many proofs of the learning, good sense, sincerity and candour of its author. The best edition is that by Selden, under the title of "Eadmeri monachi Cantuarensis Historia Novorum, sive sui Sæculi, Libri Sex," Lond. 1623, fol. His other works are, 1. A Life of St. Anselm, from 1093 to 1109, often printed with the works of that archbishop, and by Wharton in the "Anglia Sacra." 2. The Lives of St. Wilfrid, St. Oswald, St. Dunstan, &c. &c. and others inserted in the "Anglia Sacra," or enumerated by his biographers, as in print or manuscript.'

EARLE (JABEZ), a dissenting minister of considerable note, was born about 1676, and educated among the dissenters. Of his personal history we have little information. He officiated in the meetings in London between sixty and seventy years, and died in 1768. During this long life, he had never experienced a moment's ill health. He would scarcely have known what pain was, had he not once broke his arm. He preached to the last Sunday of his life, and died suddenly in his chair, without a groan or sigh. All his faculties continued in great perfection, excepting his eye-sight, which failed him some time before his death. He was remarkable for a vivacity and cheerfulness of temper, which never forsook him to his latest breath; and he abounded in pleasant stories. He had published in his earlier days several occasional sermons, some of them preached at Salters'-hall meeting, a "Treatise on the Sacrament," 1707, 8vo, and a small collection of poems, in Latin and English. His chief excellence, as a scholar, was in classical learning. When he was above ninety years old, he would repeat, with the greatest readiness and fluency, a hundred verses or more from Homer, Virgil,

Tanner.-Bale.-Pits.-Moreri.-Selden's Preface.-Henry's Hist. of Great

Britain.