ANTHONY ASHLEY COOPER, EARL OF SHAFTESBURY. As lord Rochester was immersed only in the vices of that reign, his was an innocent character compared to those who were plunged in its crimes. A great weight of the latter fell to the share of the lord in question, who had canted tyranny under Cromwell, practised it under Charles the second, and who had disgraced the cause of liberty, by being the busiest instrument for it, when every other party had rejected him 3. It was the weakest vanity [Lord Shaftesbury was twice committed to the Tower under an accusation of treason. Soon after he was committed the second time, says sir Richard Bulstrode, I was assured from a very good hand, that a petition was presented to the king, in the name of this nobleman, wherein he prayed his liberty, and offered to transport himself and family to Carolina: but his petition was not received, or at least not answered. Mr. Seward informs us, that the character of Antonio, the old senator, raving about plots and other things in Venice Preserved, is supposed to have been intended to ridicule this extraordinary personage. Anecd. vol. v. p. 54.] 3 [Dryden characterizes him in his well-known satire: "For close designs and crooked counsels fit, in him to brag that Cromwell would have made him king: the best he could hope for was not to be believed: if true, it only proved that Cromwell took him for a fool 4. That he should have acted in the trials of the regicides was but agreeable to his character-or to his want of it! Let us hasten to his works: he was rather a copious writer for faction, than an author; for in no light can one imagine that he wished to be remembered. "A Letter from Sir Anthony Ashley Cooper, Thomas Scot, J. Berners, and J. Weaver, Esquires, delivered to the Lord Fleetwood, owning their late Actions in endeavouring to secure A fiery soul, which, working out its way, And o'er-inform'd the tenement of clay. A daring pilot in extremity; Pleas'd with the danger, when the waves went high; He sought the storms; but for a calm unfit, Would steer too nigh the sands to boast his wit." Absalom and Achitophel.]` [Bishop Burnet represents him as addicted to judicial astrology: but Mr. Seward thinks he used to talk on that subject before the bishop, merely to prevent his talking politics to him. The writer of Essays philosophical and literary, has passed a severe censure on Burnet's delineation of lord Shaftesbury's character, and scouts the ridiculous story as related by lord Orford, which he says only proves, that if Cromwell took Shaftesbury for a fool, he made a most egregious blunder.] t the Tower of London, and expostulating his Lordship's Defection from his Engagements unto the Parliament;" printed in 1659, and mentioned in no catalogue of lord Shaftesbury's works. "The fundamental Constitutions of Carolina." London, seven sheets folio; dated March 1, 16695. "A seasonable Speech made by Sir A. Ashley Cooper in the House of Commons, 1659, against the new Peers and Power of the House of Lords"." "Speech on Lord Treasurer Clifford taking his Oath in the Exchequer, December 5, 1672." "Several Speeches to both Houses at the Opening of the Parliament, February 4 and 5, 1672." Speech to Serjeant Edward Thurland in the Exchequer-chamber, when he was made one of the Barons of the Exchequer, January 24, 1672." Reprinted in 1681, to show the author's mutability; it containing zealous arguments for the prerogative, and a most favourable character of the duke of York. For the following list of his works, vide Wood, vol. ii. P. 725. • Buckingham's Works, vol. i. p. 324 |