of respect which genius always extorts from
society. He was a man who was hated and dreaded. He had reached the age
of ninety-two when he died. His words were pregnant with meaning; and
he never used an unnecessary sentence. A collection of moral apothegms
might be gathered from his table-talk. When asked why he did not read
every new book which appeared, he said, "If I had read as much as other
men, I should have been as ignorant." His habits were simple; he
rose early in the morning, took a long walk through the grounds of
Chatsworth, and cultivated healthful recreation. The after part of the
day was devoted to study and composition. Like Sir Walter Raleigh, he
was a devoted admirer of the "fragrant herb." Charles II.'s constant
witticism, styled Hobbes as "a bear against whom the Church played their
young dogs, in order to exercise them."

If there had been a few more similar "bears," the priestly "dogs" would
long since have been exterminated, for none of them escaped unhurt from
their encounters with the "grizzly" of Malmesbury, except it was in the
mathematical disputes with Dr. Wallis.

He was naturally of a timid disposition: this was the result of the
accident which caused his premature birth, and being besides of a
reserved character, he was ill-fitted to meet the physical rebuffs of
the world. It is said that he was so afraid of his personal safety, that
he objected to be left alone in an empty house; this charge is to some
extent true, but we must look to the mitigating circumstances of the
case. He was a feeble man, turned the age of three-score and ten, with
all the clergy of England hounding on their dupes to murder an old
philosopher because he had exposed their dogmas. It was but a few years
before, that Protestants and Papists had complimented each other's
religion by burning those who were the weakest, and long after Hobbes's
death, Protestants murdered, ruined, disgraced, and placed in the
pillory Dissenters and Catholics alike, and Thomas Hobbes had positive
proof that it was the intention of the Church of England to _burn
him alive_, on the stake, a martyr for his opinions. This, then, is a
sufficient justification for Hobbes feeling afraid, and instead of
it being thrown as a taunt at this illustrious Freethinker, it is a
standing stigma on those who would re-enact the tragedy of persecution,
if public opinion would allow it.

Sir James Mackintosh says: * "The style of Hobbes is the very perfec