Richard Bentley (January 27, 1662 – July 14, 1742) was an English theologian, Classics scholar and critic. This image has been released into the public domain by the copyright holder, its copyright has expired, or it is ineligible for copyright. ... January 27 is the 27th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... Events February 1 - The Chinese pirate Koxinga seizes the island of Taiwan after a nine-month siege. ... July 14 is the 195th day (196th in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian Calendar, with 170 days remaining. ... // Events January 24 - Charles VII Albert becomes Holy Roman Emperor. ... Royal motto (French): Dieu et mon droit (Translated: God and my right) Englands location (dark green) within the British Isles Languages None official English de facto Capital None official London de facto Largest city London Area – Total Ranked 1st UK 130,395 km² Population – Total (mid-2004) – Total (2001... Theology is literally rational discourse concerning God (Greek θεος, theos, God, + λογος, logos, rational discourse). By extension, it also refers to the study of other religious topics. ... Classics, particularly within the Western University tradition, when used as a singular noun, means the study of the language, literature, history, art, and other aspects of Greek and Roman culture during the time frame known as classical antiquity. ... A scholar is either a student or someone who has achieved a mastery of some academic discipline, perhaps receiving financial support through a scholarship. ... A critic (from Greek κριτικός, kritikós - one who discerns, from Ancient Greek κριτής, krités, a judge) is a person who offers judgement or analysis, value judgement, interpretation, or observation. ...

Bentley was born at Oulton near Wakefield, Yorkshire. His grandfather had suffered for the Royalist cause following the English Civil War, leaving the family in reduced circumstances. Bentley's mother, the daughter of a stonemason, had some education, and was able to give her son his first lessons in Latin. From the grammar school of Wakefield Richard Bentley passed to St John's College, Cambridge in 1676. He afterwards obtained a scholarship and took the degree of B.A. in 1680 (M.A. 1683). Wakefield Wakefield is a city in the county of West Yorkshire, England, south of Leeds, and by the River Calder. ... The White Yorkshire rose. ... Charles I (19 November 1600–30 January 1649) was King of England, Scotland, and Ireland from 27 March 1625 until his execution in 1649. ... The term English Civil War (or Wars) refers to the series of armed conflicts and political machinations which took place between Parliamentarians and Royalists from 1642 until 1651. ... It has been suggested that History of the Latin language be merged into this article or section. ... A grammar school is a type of school found in some English-speaking countries. ... Full name The College of Saint John the Evangelist of the University of Cambridge Motto Named after The Hospital of Saint John the Evangelist, Cambridge, named after John the Evangelist Previous names Incorporates part of what was Merton Hall which no longer exists Established 1511 Sister College(s) Balliol College... Events January 29 - Feodor III becomes Tsar of Russia First measurement of the speed of light, by Ole Rømer Bacons Rebellion Russo-Turkish Wars commence. ...

He never became a Fellow, but was appointed by his college, before he was twenty-one, headmaster of Spalding grammar school. In this post he did not remain long, being selected by Dr Edward Stillingfleet, dean of St Paul's, to be tutor to his son. This appointment brought Bentley into contact with the most eminent men of the day, gave him access to the best private library in England, and put him on familiar terms with Dean Stillingfleet. The six years Bentley passed in Stillingfleet's family were employed, with the restless energy characteristic of the man, in comprehensive study of Greek and Latin writers, storing up knowledge which would be of use to him later. Spalding is a market town in Lincolnshire, England, perhaps best known for its annual Flower Parade. ... Edward Stillingfleet (1635 - 1699) was a British theologian. ...

In 1689 Stillingfleet became bishop of Worcester, and Bentley's pupil went to Wadham College, Oxford, accompanied by his tutor. Bentley's was soon on a footing of intimacy with the most distinguished scholars in the university, including Dr John Mill, Humphrey Hody, and Edward Bernard. Here he revelled in the manuscript treasures of the Bodleian, Corpus Christi and other college libraries. He occupied himself with collecting material for vast literary schemes. Among these are specially mentioned a corpus of the fragments of the Greek poets and an edition of the Greek lexicographers. The Oxford (Sheldonian) press was about to bring out an edition (the editio princeps) from the unique manuscript in the Bodleian of the Greek Chronicle (a universal history down to AD 560) of John of Antioch (date uncertain, between 600 and 1000), called John Malalas or "John the Rhetor"; and the editor, Dr John Mill, principal of St Edmund Hall, had requested Bentley to look through the sheets and make any remarks on the text. Events Louis XIV of France passed the Code Noir, allowing the full use of slaves in the French colonies. ... The city of Worcester (pronounced Wuh-ster) is the county town of Worcestershire in England; the river Severn runs through the middle, with the citys large Worcester Cathedral overlooking the river. ... College name Wadham College Named after Nicholas Wadham Established 1610 Sister College Christs College Warden Sir Neil Chalmers JCR President Navid Pourghazi Undergraduates 460 Graduates 180 Homepage Boatclub Wadham College is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. ... This article is about the 17th-century theologian. ... Humphrey Hody (1659 - January 20, 1707) was an English monk and theologian. ... Entrance to the Library, with the coats-of-arms of several Oxford colleges The Bodleian Library, the main research library of the University of Oxford, is one of the oldest libraries in Europe, and in England is second in size only to the British Library. ... College name Corpus Christi College Named after Corpus Christi, Body of Christ Established 1517 Sister College Corpus Christi College President Sir Tim Lankester JCR President Binyamin Even Undergraduates 239 Graduates 126 Homepage Corpus Christi College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. ... A lexicographer is a person devoted to the study of lexicography, especially an author of a dictionary. ... John Malalas (or Malelas) (Syriac for orator ) (c. ... St Edmund Hall is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. ...

This inspired Bentley's Epistola ad Millium, which occupies less than one hundred pages at the end of the Oxford Malalas (1691). This short tractate placed Bentley ahead of all living English scholars. The ease with which he restored corrupted passages, the certainty of the emendation and the command over the relevant material, are in a style totally different from the careful and laborious learning of Hody, Mill or E Chilmead. To the small circle of classical students (lacking the great critical dictionaries of modern times) it was obvious that he was a critic beyond the ordinary academical standard. Humphrey Hody (1659 - January 20, 1707) was an English monk and theologian. ...

Bentley was also self-assertive and presumptuous, and made enemies as a result. Dr Monk, Bentley's biographer, charged him (in his first edition, 1830) with an indecorum of which he was not guilty. "In one place," writes Dr Monk, "he accosts Dr Mill as Si luavvidiov (Johnny), an indecorum which neither the familiarity of friendship, nor the licence of a dead language, can justify towards the dignified head of a house." But the object of Bentley's apostrophe was not his correspondent Dr Mill, but his author John Malalas, whom in another place he playfully appeals to as "Syrisce." From this publication, however, dates the origin of those mixed feelings of admiration and repugnance which Bentley inspired.

A bust of Bentley now stands in the library of Trinity College, Cambridge

In 1690 Bentley had taken deacon's orders. In 1692 he was nominated first Boyle lecturer, a nomination which was repeated in 1694. He was offered the appointment a third time in 1695 but declined it, being by that time involved in too many other undertakings. In the first series of lectures ("A Confutation of Atheism") he endeavours to present Newtonian physics in a popular form, and to frame them (especially in opposition to Hobbes) into proof of the existence of an intelligent Creator. He had some correspondence with Newton, then living in Trinity College, Cambridge, on the subject. The second series, preached in 1694, has not been published and is believed to be lost. Download high resolution version (608x800, 102 KB)Bust of Richard Bentley by Louis-François Roubiliac. ... Download high resolution version (608x800, 102 KB)Bust of Richard Bentley by Louis-François Roubiliac. ... Full name The College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity Motto Virtus vera nobilitas Virtue is true Nobility Named after The Holy Trinity Previous names Kings Hall and Michaelhouse (until merged in 1546) Established 1546 Sister College(s) Christ Church Master The Lord Rees of Ludlow Location Trinity Street... Events Giovanni Domenico Cassini observes differential rotation within Jupiters atmosphere. ... Sir Isaac Newton, PRS, (4 January 1643 – 31 March 1727) [OS: 25 December 1642 – 20 March 1727] was an English physicist, mathematician, astronomer, alchemist, inventor, and natural philosopher who is generally regarded as one of the most influential scientists in history. ... Physics (from the Greek, φυσικός (physikos), natural, and φύσις (physis), nature) is the science of the natural world dealing with the fundamental constituents of the universe, the forces they exert on one another, and the results produced by these forces. ... Hobbes redirects here. ... Full name The College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity Motto Virtus vera nobilitas Virtue is true Nobility Named after The Holy Trinity Previous names Kings Hall and Michaelhouse (until merged in 1546) Established 1546 Sister College(s) Christ Church Master The Lord Rees of Ludlow Location Trinity Street...

Scarcely was Bentley in priest's orders before he was promoted to a prebendal stall in Worcester Cathedral. In 1693 the keepership of the royal library became vacant, and great efforts were made by his friends to obtain the place for Bentley, but did not have enough influence. An arrangement was made, by which the new librarian, a Mr Thynne, resigned in favour of Bentley, on condition that he received an annuity of £130 for life out of the £200 salary. In 1695 Bentley received a royal chaplaincy and the living of Hartlebury. In the same year he was elected a fellow of the Royal Society, and in 1696 proceeded to the degree of D.D. The recognition of continental scholars came in the shape of a dedication, by Graevius, prefixed to a dissertation of Albert Rubens, De Vita Flavii Mattii Theodori, published at Utrecht in 1694. A prebendal stall is a seat, usually in the back row of the choir stalls, where a prebendary sits. ... A plan of Worcester Cathedral made in 1836. ... Hartlebury is a village in Worcestershire, England. ... The premises of the Royal Society in London (first four properties only). ...

Bentley now had official apartments in St. James's Palace, and his first care was the royal library. He made great efforts to retrieve this collection from the dilapidated condition into which it had fallen. He persuaded the earl of Marlborough to ask for some additional rooms in the palace for the books. This was granted, but Marlborough kept them for himself. Bentley enforced the law against the publishers, and thus added to the library nearly 1000 volumes which they had neglected to deliver. St Jamess Palace and The Mall by Jan Kip, 1715. ...

He was commissioned by the University of Cambridge to obtain Greek and Latin fonts for their classical books, and accordingly he had cast in Holland those beautiful types which appear in the Cambridge books of that date. He assisted Evelyn in his Nuinismata. Bentley did not settle down to the steady execution of any of the great projects he had started. In 1694, he designed an edition of Philostratus, but abandoned it to G Olearius, (Ohlschiger), "to the joy," says FA Wolf, "of Olearius and of no one else." He supplied Graevius with collations of Cicero, and Joshua Barnes with a warning as to the spuriousness of the Epistles of Euripides. Barnes printed the epistles and declared that no one could doubt their genuineness but a man perfrictaefrontis out judicii imminuti. Bentley supplied to Graevius's Callimacijus a masterly collection of the fragments with notes, published at Utrecht in 1697. The University of Cambridge (often called Cambridge University), located in Cambridge, England, is the second-oldest university in the English-speaking world. ... John Evelyn (October 31, 1620 – February 27, 1706) was an English writer, gardener and diarist. ... Philostratus, was the name of several, three (or four), Greek sophists of the Roman imperial period: Philostratus the Athenian (c. ... Friedrich August Wolf (February 15, 1750 - August 8, 1824) was a German philologist and critic. ... Johann Georg Graevius (properly Guava or Greffe) (January 29, 1632 - January 11, 1703), German classical scholar and critic, was born at Naumburg, Saxony. ... Marcus Tullius Cicero (IPA: ;) (January 3, 106 BC – December 7, 43 BC) was an orator and statesman of Ancient Rome, and is generally considered the greatest Latin orator and prose stylist. ... Joshua Barnes (January 10, 1654 - August 3, 1712), English scholar, was born in London. ... A statue of Euripides Euripides (Greek: Ευριπίδης) (c. ...

The Dissertation on the Epistles of Phalaris, the work on which Bentley's fame in great part rests, also originated accidentally. William Wotton, about to bring out in 1697 a second edition of his book on Ancient and Modern Learning, asked Bentley to fulfil an old promise to write a paper exposing the spuriousness of the Epistles of Phalaris. This paper was resented by the Christ Church editor of Phalaris, Charles Boyle, afterwards earl of Orrery, who in getting the manuscript in the royal library collated for his edition (1695) had quarrelled with Bentley. Assisted by his college friends, particularly Atterbury, Boyle wrote a reply, "a tissue," says Dr Alexander Dyce (in his edition of Bentley's Works, 1836-1838), "of superficial learning, ingenious sophistry, dexterous malice and happy raillery." The reply was hailed by the public as crushing and went immediately into a second edition. Bentley was forced to respond, in what Porson styles "that immortal dissertation," to which no answer was given, although the truth of its conclusions was not immediately recognized. William Wotton (August 13, 1666 - February 13, 1727), was an English scholar, chiefly remembered for his involvement in The Battle of the Books. ... For the genus of grass, see Phalaris (grass). ... Charles Boyle, 4th Earl of Orrery (July 28, 1674 - August 28, 1731), the second son of Roger, 2nd earl, was born at Chelsea. ... Francis Atterbury (March 6, 1663 - February 22, 1732), was an English man of letters, politician and bishop. ... Alexander Dyce (June 30, 1798 - May 15, 1869) was a Scottish dramatic editor and literary historian. ...

In the year 1700, Bentley received that main preferment which, says De Quincey, " was at once his reward and his scourge for the rest of his life." The six commissioners of ecclesiastical patronage unanimously recommended Bentley to the crown for the mastership of Trinity College, Cambridge. This college, the most splendid in the university, and regarded as the most eminent, had in 1700 greatly fallen from its high estate. Although no worse than the other colleges, its former reputation made the abuse of endowments in its case more conspicuous. The eclipse had taken place during the reaction which followed 1660, and was owing to causes which influenced the nation at large. The names of John Pearson and Isaac Barrow, and, greater than either, that of Newton, adorn the college annals of this period. Events January 1 - Russia accepts Julian calendar. ... Full name The College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity Motto Virtus vera nobilitas Virtue is true Nobility Named after The Holy Trinity Previous names Kings Hall and Michaelhouse (until merged in 1546) Established 1546 Sister College(s) Christ Church Master The Lord Rees of Ludlow Location Trinity Street... John Pearson could refer to: John Pearson, an English 17th Century devine and scholar John Pearson, a British author of works such as James Bond: The Authorized Biography of 007 This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... Isaac Barrow Isaac Barrow (1630 - May 4, 1677) was an English divine, scholar and mathematician who is generally given minor credit for his role in the development of modern calculus; in particular, for his work regarding the tangent; for example, Barrow is given credit for being the first to calculate... Sir Isaac Newton, PRS, (4 January 1643 – 31 March 1727) [OS: 25 December 1642 – 20 March 1727] was an English physicist, mathematician, astronomer, alchemist, inventor, and natural philosopher who is generally regarded as one of the most influential scientists in history. ...

These men had not inspired the rank and file of fellows of Trinity with any of their own love for learning or science. Any excuse served for a banquet at the cost of "the house," and the celibacy imposed by the statutes was made as tolerable as the decorum of a respectable position permitted. Bentley arrived here, obnoxious as a St John's man and an intruder, unwelcome as a man of learning whose interests lay outside the walls of the college. Bentley replied to the Fellows' concealed dislike with open contempt, and proceeded to reform the college administration. He made extensive improvements to the buildings, and used his position for the promotion of the interests of learning both in the college and in the university. But this energy was accompanied by a domineering temper, an overweening contempt for the feelings and even for the rights of others, and an unscrupulous use of means when a good end could be obtained. The continued drain upon their purses--on one occasion the whole dividend of the year was absorbed by the rebuilding of the chapel-was the grievance which at last roused the fellows to make a resolute stand. Celibacy refers either to being unmarried or to sexual abstinence. ...

After ten years of stubborn but ineffectual resistance within the college, they appealed to the visitor, the bishop of Ely (Dr Moore). Their petition was full of general complaints and not alleging any special delinquency. Bentley's reply (The Present State of Trinity College, etc., 1710) is in his most crushing style. The fellows amended their petition and put in a fresh charge, in which they articled fifty-four separate breaches of the statutes as having been committed by the master. Bentley, called upon to answer, appealed directly to the crown, backing his application by a dedication of his Horace to the lord treasurer (Harley). The crown lawyers decided against him; the case was heard (1714) and a sentence of ejection from the mastership was drawn up, but before it was executed the bishop of Ely died and the process lapsed. The feud continued in various forms. In 1718 Bentley was deprived by the university of his degrees, as a punishment for failing to appear in the vice-chancellor's court in a civil suit; and it was not till 1724 that the law compelled the aniversity to restore them. In 1733 he was again brought to trial before the bishop of Ely (Dr Greene) by the fellows of Trinity and sentenced to deprivation, but the college statutes required the sentence to be exercised by the vice-master (Dr Walker), who was Bentley's friend and refused to act. Although the feud was kept up till 1738 or 1740 (about thirty years in all) Bentley remained in post. Ely (pronounced , rhyming with freely) is a cathedral city in the East Cambridgeshire district of Cambridgeshire in the East of England and 64 miles (103 km) east north-east of Charing Cross in London. ... Horace Quintus Horatius Flaccus, (December 8, 65 BC - November 27, 8 BC), known in the English-speaking world as Horace, was the leading lyric poet in Latin. ...

During his mastership, except for the first two years, Bentley pursued his studies uninterruptedly, though the results in the shape of published works are minor. In 1709 he contributed a critical appendix to John Davies's edition of Cicero's Tusculan Disputations. In the following year he published his emendations on the Plutus md Nubes of Aristophanes, and on the fragments of Menander and Philemon. The last came out under the name of "Phileutherus Lipsiensis," which he made use of two years later in his Remarks on a late Discourse of Freethinking, a reply to Anthony Collins the deist. For this he received the thanks of the university, in recognition of the service thereby rendered to the church and clergy. His Horace, long contemplated and in the end written in very great haste and brought out to propitiate public opinion at a critical period of the Trinity quarrel, appeared in 1711. In the preface he declared his intention of confining his attention to criticism and correction of the text, and ignoring exegesis. Some of his 700 or 800 emendations have been accepted, aut the majority of them are now rejected as unnecessary and prosaic, although the learning and ingenuity shown in their support are remarkable. Marcus Tullius Cicero (IPA: ;) (January 3, 106 BC – December 7, 43 BC) was an orator and statesman of Ancient Rome, and is generally considered the greatest Latin orator and prose stylist. ... Bust of Aristophanes Aristophanes (c. ... For the Indo-Greek king (160–135 BC) see Menander the Just. ... Philemon (c. ... This page is about Anthony Collins the philosopher. ... Historical and modern deism is defined by the view that reason, rather than revelation or tradition, should be the basis of belief in God. ...

In 1716, in a letter to Dr Wake, Archbishop of Canterbury, Bentley announced his plan of preparing a critical edition of the New Testament. During the next four years, assisted by JJ Wetstein, an eminent biblical critic, who claimed to have been the first to suggest the idea to Bentley, he collected materials for the work, and in 1720 published Proposals for a New Edition of the Greek Testament, with specimens of the manner in which he intended to carry it out. He proposed, by comparing the text of the Vulgate with that of the oldest Greek manuscripts, to restore the Greek text as received by the church at the time of the council of Nice. A large number of subscribers to the work was obtained, but it was never completed. His Terence (1726) is more important than his Horace, and it is upon this, next to the Phalaris, that his reputation mainly rests. Arms of the see of Canterbury The Archbishop of Canterbury is the senior clergyman of the established Church of England and symbolic head of the worldwide Anglican Communion. ... See New Covenant for the concept translated as New Testament in the KJV. The New Testament (Καινή Διαθήκη), sometimes called the Greek Testament or Greek Scriptures, and sometimes also New Covenant, is the name given to the part of the Christian Bible that was written by various authors c. ... Publius Terentius Afer, better known as Terence, was a comic playwright of the Roman Republic. ...

To the same year belong the Fables of Phaedrus and the Sentenliae of Publilius Syrus. The Paradise Lost (1732), undertaken at the suggestion of Queen Caroline, is generally regarded as the most unsatisfactory of all his writings. It is marred by the same rashness in emendation and lack of poetical feeling as his Horace; but there is less excuse for him in this case, since the English text could not offer the same field for conjecture. He put forward the idea that Milton employed both an amanuensis and an editor, who were responsible for clerical errors, alterations and interpolations. It is uncertain whether this was Bentley's excuse for his own numerous corrections, or whether he really believed it. The contemplated edition of Homer was never published; all that remains of it consists of some manuscript and marginal notes in the possession of Trinity College. Their chief importance lies in the attempt to restore the metre by the insertion of the lost digamma. Phaedrus, ¹ (15 B.C. – AD 50), Roman fabulist, was by birth a Macedonian and lived in the reigns of Augustus, Tiberius, Gaius and Claudius. ... Publilius (less correctly Publius) Syrus, a Latin writer of mimes, flourished in the 1st century BC. He was a native of Syria and was brought as a slave to Italy, but by his wit and talent he won the favour of his master, who freed and educated him. ... Margravine Caroline of Brandenburg-Ansbach (or Anspach) (Wilhelmina Charlotte Caroline) (1 March 1683 – 20 November 1737) as Queen Caroline was the queen consort of King George II of Great Britain 1727-1737. ... John Milton, English poet John Milton (December 9, 1608 – November 8, 1674) was an English poet, best-known for his epic poem Paradise Lost. ... A secretary is a person who performs routine, administrative, or personal tasks for a superior. ... The Homère Caetani bust at the Louvre, a 2nd century Roman copy of a 2nd century BC Greek original. ...      This article is about the Greek letter; for the mathematical function, see digamma function. ...

Minor Works

• Astronomica of Manilius (1739)
• a letter on the Sigean inscription on a marble slab found in the Troad, now in the British Museum
• notes on the Theriaca of Nicander and on Lucan, published after his death by his grandson, Richard Cumberland
• emendations of Plautus (in his copies of the editions by Pareus, Camerarius and Gronovius, edited by Schroder, 1880, and Sonnenschein, 1883)
• Bentleii Critica Sacra (1862), edited by AA Ellis, contains the epistle to the Galatians (and excerpts), printed from an interleaved folio copy of the Greek and Latin Vulgate in Trinity College.
• a collection of his Opuscula Philologica published at Leipzig in 1781.

In 1701, Bentley married Joanna, daughter of Sir John Bernard of Brampton, Huntingdonshire. She died in 1740, leaving a son, Richard, and two daughters, one of whom married in 1728 Mr Denison Cumberland, grandson of Richard Cumberland, bishop of Peterborough. Their son was Richard Cumberland, the dramatist. In old age, Bentley continued to read; and though nearly confined to his arm-chair, was able to enjoy the society of his friends and several rising scholars, J Markland, John Taylor, his nephews Richard and Thomas Bentley, with whom he discussed classical subjects. He used to say that he should live to be eighty, adding that a life of that duration was long enough to read everything worth reading. He fulfilled his own prediction before dying of pleurisy. Though accused by his enemies of being grasping, he left less than £5000. A few Greek manuscripts, brought from Mount Athos, he left to the college library; his books and papers to his nephew, Richard Bentley. Richard, who was a fellow of Trinity, at his death in 1786 left the papers to the college library. The books, containing in many cases valuable manuscript notes, were purchased by the British Museum. Marcus Manilius (fl. ... Map of the Troas The Troas (Troad) is an ancient region in the northwestern part of Anatolia, bounded by the Hellespont to the northwest, the Aegean Sea to the west, and separated from the rest of Anatolia by the massif that forms Mount Ida. ... The main entrance to the British Museum. ... Nicander (2nd century BC), Greek poet, physician and grammarian, was born at Claros, near Colophon, where his family held the hereditary priesthood of Apollo. ... Marcus Annaeus Lucanus (November 3, AD 39-April 30, 65), better known in English as Lucan, was a Roman poet, and is one of the outstanding figures of the Silver Latin period. ... Richard Cumberland (February 19, 1732 - May 7, 1811) was an English dramatist and civil servant. ... Titus Maccius Plautus (born at Sarsina, Umbria in 254 B.C.) was a comic playwright in the time of the Roman Republic. ... Dr. David Pareus (1548— 1622) was a German Protestant theologian and reformer. ... Joachim Camerarius (April 12, 1500 - April 17, 1574), German classical scholar, was born at Bamberg. ... Gronovius is the name of: Johann Friedrich Gronovius (1611 - 1671), German classical scholar and critic. ... The Epistle to Galatians is a book of the Bible New Testament. ... The Vulgate Bible is an early 5th century translation of the Bible into Latin made by St. ... Events January 18 - Frederick I becomes King of Prussia. ... Huntingdonshire (abbreviated Hunts) is a part of England around Huntingdon, which is currently administered as a local government district of Cambridgeshire. ... Peterborough is a cathedral city and Unitary Authority in the East of England. ... A dramatist is an author of dramatic compositions, usually plays. ... Pleurisy, also known as pleuritis, is an inflammation of the pleura, the lining of the pleural cavity surrounding the lungs, which can cause painful respiration and other symptoms. ...

Some anecdotes are related by his grandson, Richard Cumberland, in vol. i. of his Memoirs (1807). The hat he always wore during reading to shade his eyes, and his preference of port to claret (which he said "would be port if it could ") are mentioned in Pope's caricature (Dunciad, b. 4). He did not take up smoking till he was seventy. He held the archdeaconry of Ely with two livings, but never obtained higher preference in the church. He was offered the (then poor) bishopric of Bristol but refused it, and being asked what preferment he would consider worth his acceptance, replied, "That which would leave him no reason to wish for a removal."

Bentley was the first Englishman to be ranked with the great heroes of classical learning. Before him there were only John Selden, and, in a more restricted field, Thomas Gataker and Pearson. "Bentley inaugurated a new era of the art of criticism. He opened a new path. With him criticism attained its majority. Where scholars had hitherto offered suggestions and conjectures, Bentley, with unlimited control over the whole material of learning, gave decisions". The modern German school of philology recognises his genius. Bentley, says Bunsen," was the founder of historical philology." And Jakob Bernays says of his corrections of the Tristia, "corruptions which had hitherto defied every attempt even of the mightiest, were removed by a touch of the fingers of this British Samson." The English school of Hellenists, by which the 18th century was distinguished, and which contains the names of R Dawes, J Markland, J Taylor, J Toup, T Tyrwhitt, Richard Porson, PP Dobree, Thomas Kidd and JH Monk, was the creation of Bentley. And even the Dutch school of the same period, though the outcome of a native tradition, was in no small degree stimulated and directed by the example of Bentley, whose letters to the young Hemsterhuis on his edition of Julius Pollux produced so powerful an effect on him, that he became one of Bentley's most devoted admirers. John Selden (December 16, 1584 - November 30, 1654) was an English jurist, legal antiquary and oriental scholar. ... Thomas Gataker (September, 1574 - July, 1654) was an English clergyman and theologian. ... Philology is the study of ancient texts and languages. ... Jakob Bernays (September 11, 1824 - May 26, 1881), German philologist and philosophical writer, was born at Hamburg of Jewish parents. ... (17th century - 18th century - 19th century - more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 18th century refers to the century that lasted from 1701 through 1800. ... Richard Dawes (1708 - March 21, 1766) was an English classical scholar. ... Jeremiah Markland (October 18 (or 29) 1693 - July 7, 1776), English classical scholar, was born at Childwall in Lancashire on the 29th (or 18th) of October 1693. ... For others by this name, see John Taylor. ... Jonathan Oannes Toup (1713 – January 19, 1785), English classical scholar and critic, was born at St Ives in Cornwall, and was educated at a private school and Exeter College, Oxford. ... Thomas Tyrwhitt (March 27, 1730 - August 15, 1786) was an English classical scholar and critic. ... Richard Porson (December 25, 1759–September 25, 1808), was an English classical scholar. ... Peter Paul Dobree (1782 - September 24, 1825), English classical scholar and critic, was born in Guernsey. ... Thomas Kidd (1770 - August 27, 1850) was an English classical scholar and schoolmaster. ... James Henry Monk (1784-1856), English divine and classical scholar, was born at Buntingford, Herts. ... François Hemsterhuis (December 27, 1721 - July 7, 1790), Dutch writer on aesthetics and moral philosophy, son of Tiberius Hemsterhuis, was born at Franeker in Holland. ...

Bentley was a source of inspiration to a following generation of scholars. Self-taught, he created his own science; but there was no contemporary guild of learning in England by which his power could be measured, and his eccentricities checked. In the Phalaris controversy his academical adversaries were absolutely defeated. Garth's couplet—"So diamonds take a lustre from their foil, And to a Bentley 'tis we owe a Boyle"—expressed the belief of the wits or literary world of the time. The attacks upon him by Alexander Pope, John Arbuthnot and others are evidence of their inability to appreciate his work. To them, textual criticism seemed mere pedantry and useless labour. In a university where the instruction of youth or the religious controversy of the day were the only known occupations, Bentley was an isolated phenomenon. All his vast acquisitions and all his original views seem to have been obtained before 1700. After this period he acquired little and made only spasmodic efforts--the Horace, the Terence and the Milton. Alexander Pope, an English poet best known for his Essay on Criticism and Rape of the Lock Pope, circa 1727. ... John Arbuthnot (April 29, 1667 - February 27, 1735) was a British physician and author best known for his satirical writings. ... Events January 1 - Russia accepts Julian calendar. ... Horace Quintus Horatius Flaccus, (December 8, 65 BC - November 27, 8 BC), known in the English-speaking world as Horace, was the leading lyric poet in Latin. ... Publius Terentius Afer, better known as Terence, was a comic playwright of the Roman Republic. ... John Milton, English poet John Milton (December 9, 1608 – November 8, 1674) was an English poet, best-known for his epic poem Paradise Lost. ...

References

• A. T. Bartholomew and J. W. Clark, Bibliography of Bentley, (Cambridge, 1908).
• R. C. Jebb, Bentley ("English Men of Letters" series, 1882), where a list of authorities bearing on Bentley's life and work is given.
• J. Mahly, Richard Bentley, eine Biographie (1868)
• Monk, Life of Bentley (1830)
• JE Sandys, History of Classical Scholarship, ii. 401-410 (1908)
• F. A. Wolf, Literarische Analekten, i. (1816)

Bentley's works: Sir Richard Claverhouse Jebb (August 27, 1841 - December 9, 1905) was a British classical scholar and politician. ... Sir John Edwin Sandys was a classical scholar. ... Friedrich August Wolf (February 15, 1750 - August 8, 1824) was a German philologist and critic. ...

• Works of Richard Bentley, collected by Alexander Dyce, 1836. v. 1-2. Dissertations upon the epistles of Phalaris, Themistocles, Socrates, Euripides, and upon the fables of Aesop ; also, Epistola ad Joannem Millium -- v. 3. Sermons preached at Boyle's lecture ; remarks upon a discourse of free-thinking ; proposals for an edition of the Greek testament.

For Bentley's letters see: Alexander Dyce (June 30, 1798 - May 15, 1869) was a Scottish dramatic editor and literary historian. ...

• Bentlei et doctorum-virorum ad eum Epistolae (1807)
• The Correspondence of Richard Bentley, edited by C. Wordsworth (1842)

This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain. John Montagu (cir 1655–1728) was a son of the famous admiral, Edward Montagu, 1st Earl of Sandwich, killed at the Battle of Solebay. ... Full name The College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity Motto Virtus vera nobilitas Virtue is true Nobility Named after The Holy Trinity Previous names Kings Hall and Michaelhouse (until merged in 1546) Established 1546 Sister College(s) Christ Church Master The Lord Rees of Ludlow Location Trinity Street... Robert Smith (1689 - February 2, 1768) was an English mathematician. ... Encyclopædia Britannica, the 11th edition The Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition (1910–1911) is perhaps the most famous edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica. ... The public domain comprises the body of all creative works and other knowledge—writing, artwork, music, science, inventions, and others—in which no person or organization has any proprietary interest. ...