king had abdicated, and that the throne was thereby vacant." He was now about eighty-seven years old, yet possessed his original vigour of understanding. Bur net has recorded a bon mot of his, on his first waiting on the prince of Orange, afterwards William III. which has been often repeated to his praise. On the prince noticing his great age, and that he had outlived all the men of the law of his time, Sir John Maynard replied, that "he had like to have out-lived the law itself, if his highness had not come over." The old serjeant had forgot that he had once seen the law as near its dissolution as ever it was in king James's time.

In March 1689, sir John was appointed one of the lords commissioners of the great seal of England, and next year was chosen member of parliament for Plymouth; but being now very infirm, he resigned his commissioner's place, and returned to his house at Gunnersbury, near Ealing, where he died Oct. 9, 1690. He was thrice married. Elizabeth, his first wife, was buried at Ealing in 1654-5. Jane, his second wife (daughter of Cheney Selherst, esq. and relict of Edward Austen, esq.) was buried there in 1668. His last wife, who was daughter of Ambrose Upton, canon of Christ-church, Oxford, and relict of sir Charles Vermuyden, survived him many years, and died in 1721, being then the widow of Henry earl of Suffolk.

Bi

Serjeant Maynard was esteemed a very able advocate, and has been called the best old book lawyer of his time. All parties, says Mr. Lysons, seem to have been willing to employ him, and he seems to have been equally willing to be employed by all. Some of his reports and speeches have been printed. There is also a report of his of a very singular case of murder, in "The Works of the Learned," for August 1739, communicated by Dr. Rawlinson. shop Warburton has not inaptly characterised serjeant Maynard by a comparison with Whitlocke. They were both lawyers of family, and in the long parliament; both of the presbyterian faction; both learned and eminent in their profession; moderate, sage, and steady. So far they agreed. In this they differed: Maynard had strong parts with a serious modesty; Whitlocke was weak and vain: and by these defects only, more self-interested. A sense of honour made Maynard stick to the presbyterian faction, and to fall with them; but, as he had much phlegm and caution, not, like Hollis and Stapleton, to fall for them. VOL. XXI. K K

量

So that he was never marked out by the independents for their first sacrifices. On the contrary, Whitlocke forsook his party in distress; but as he had the other's moderation, it was by slow and gentle degrees; and so, as it happened, decently. Maynard, by adhering steadily, but not violently, to the party he set out with, was reverenced by all; and had he not been more intent on the affairs of his profession, than on public business, might have become considerable by station. "He went," adds Warburton, "through the whole reign of Charles and James II. with the same steady pace, and the same adherence to his party; but by his party, I rather mean presbytery for the sake of civil liberty, than to civil liberty for the sake of presbytery."

991

MAYNE (JASPER), an English poet and divine, was born at Hatherlagh in Devonshire, in 1604. He received his education at Westminster-school; and was afterwards removed to Christ-church in Oxford, when he was about twenty. He took his bachelor and master of arts degrees in the regular way; and then, entering into holy orders, was presented by his college to the vicarages of Cassington, near Woodstock, and of Pyrion, near Watlington in Oxfordshire. He became, says Wood, "a quaint preacher, and a noted poet;" and, in the latter capacity, distinguished himself by the production of two plays, entitled "The City Match," a comedy; and "The Amorous War," a tragi-comedy. When the rebellion broke out, and Charles I. was obliged to keep his court at Oxford, to avoid being exposed to the resentment of the populace in London, where tumults then prevailed, Dr. Mayne was one of those divines who were appointed to preach before his majesty. In 1646, he was created a doctor of divinity; and the year after, printed a sermon at Oxford, “Against false prophets," upon Ezek. xxii. 26. which occasioned a dispute between him and the memorable antagonist of Chillingworth, Mr. Cheynell. Cheynell had attacked his sermon from the pulpit at St. Mary's in Oxford; and several letters passed between them, which were published by Dr. Mayne the same year, in a piece entitled "A late printed sermon against false prophets vindicated by letter from the causeless aspersions of Mr. Francis Cheynell; by Jasper Mayne, D. D. the misunderstood author

1 Ath. Ox. vol. II.-British Biog.-Burnet's Own Times.-Noble's Memoirs of Cromwell, vol. I. p. 435.-Lysons's Environs, vol. II. where is a fine portrait of sir John.-Warburton's Letters, 4to edit. p. 154.

of it." Mayne having said, in one of his letters to Cheynell, that "God, upon a true repentance, is not so fatally tied to the spindle of absolute reprobation, as not to keep his promise, and seal merciful pardons;" Cheynell animadverted upon him in the following terms: "Sir, Reprobatio est tremendum mysterium. How dare you jest upon such a subject, at the thought of which each Christian trembles? Can any man repent, that is given up to a reprobate mind and impenitent heart? And is not every man finally impenitent, save those few to whom God gives repentance freely, powerfully, effectually? See what it is for a man to come from Ben Jonson or Lucian, to treat immediately of the high and stupendous mysteries of religion. The Lord God pardon this wicked thought of your heart, that you may not perish in the bond of iniquity and gall of bitterness. Be pleased to study the ixth chapter to the Romans." The same year Mayne published also another piece, entitled, "OXÃOMAXIA; or, the people's war examined according to the principles of scripture and reason, in two of the most plausible pretences of it. In answer to a letter sent by a person of quality, who desired satisfaction." In this piece he examines, first, how far the power of a king, who is truly a king, not one only in name, extends itself over subjects; secondly, whether any such power belongs to the king of England; and, thirdly, if there does, how far it is to be obeyed, and not resisted. The conclusion he draws is, that the parliamentary resistance to the king was rebellion. We cannot be surprized if a man of such principles was deprived of his studentship at Christ-church, in 1648, and soon after of both his livings. During the time of the usurpation, he was chaplain to the earl of Devonshire, and consequently became the companion of the celebrated Hobbes, who then attended his lordship; but, as Wood informs us, Mayne and he did not agree well together. At the restoration he not only recovered both his livings, but, for his services and attachment to the royal cause, was promoted to a canonry of Christ-church, and made archdeacon of Chichester, and chaplain in ordinary to his majesty, which preferments he held to the time of his death, Dec. 6, 1672. He was interred in the choir at Christ-church, where a monument was erected for him, at the charge of his executors, Dr. Robert South, and Dr. John Lamphire. By his will he left 500l. towards the re-building of St. Paul's

cathedral, and 100l. each to both of his livings. Though very orthodox in his opinions, and severe in his manners, he is said to have been a most facetious and pleasant companion, and a great joker. Of this last, Langbaine gives an instance which affords no very pleasing specimen of Mayne, either as a serious or a jocular man. Langbaine says that he had a servant, who had long lived with him; to whom he bequeathed a trunk, "with something in it," as he said, "which would make him drink after his death." The doctor dying, the servant immediately paid a visit to the trunk; but instead of a treasure, or at least a valuable. legacy, which he expected, he found only a red herring.

Besides the writings above-mentioned, Mayne published "A Poem upon the Naval Victory over the Dutch by the duke of York," and four sermons; one "Concerning unity and agreement, preached at Oxford in 1646 ;" another "Against schism, or the separations of these times, preached in the church of Watlington in Oxfordshire, in 1652," at a public dispute held there, between himself and an eminent Anabaptist preacher, the same year; a "Concio ad academiam Oxoniensem, in 1662," and "A Sermon at the consecration of Herbert lord bishop of Hereford, in 1662." He translated some of "Lucian's Dialogues," in 1638; and also "Donne's Latin epigrams," in 1652, which he entitled "A sheaf of miscellany epigrams.

MAYNWARING (ARTHUR), esq. a political and miscellaneous writer, descended from an ancient family in Shropshire, was born at Ightfield in that county in 1668. He was instructed in grammar learning at Shrewsbury, and thence removed, at seventeen, to Christ-church, Oxford; where he was placed under the care of Smalridge, afterwards bishop of Bristol. He staid several years at Oxford, and then went into the country, where he prosecuted his studies in polite literature with great vigour; and afterwards, coming to London, applied himself to the law. During his residence in the country, he had contracted from an uncle, with whom he lived, an extreme aversion to the government of king William, which he displayed in a satire against king William and queen Mary, entitled "Tarquin and Tullia," printed in the "State Poems," vol. III. p. 319. He also wrote several pieces in favour of James the Second's party: but, upon being in

1 Biog. Brit.-Ath. Ox. vol. II.-Prince's Worthies of Devon.

troduced to the acquaintance of the duke of Somerset, and the earls of Dorset and Burlington, he began to entertain very different notions in politics. He studied the law till he was five-and-twenty; and, upon the conclusion of the peace of Ryswick, went to Paris, where he became acquainted with Boileau. That poet invited him to his country-house, gave him a very handsome entertainment, and spoke much to him of the English poetry; but all by way of inquiry: for he affected to be as ignorant of the English Muse, as if the English were as barbarous as Laplanders. Thus a gentleman, a friend of Maynwaring's, visiting him some time after, upon the death of Dryden, Boileau said that he was wonderfully pleased to see, by the public papers, that the English nation had paid such extraordinary honours to a poet in England, burying him at the public charge; and then asked the gentleman who that poet was, with as much indifference as if he had never heard of Dryden's name.

After his return from France, he was made one of the commissioners of the customs, in which office he distinguished himself by his skill and fidelity. Of the latter, Oldmixon gives a remarkable instance, in his treatment of a person who solicited to be a tide-waiter. This man, understanding that Mr. Maynwaring had the best interest at the board of any of the commissioners, with the lords of the treasury, left a letter for him with a purse of fifty guineas, desiring his favour towards obtaining the place for which he applied. After that, he delivered a petition to the board, which was read, and several of the commissioners spoke on the subject; upon which Mr. Maynwaring took out the purse of fifty guineas, and the letter, and told them, that, "as long as he could help it, that man should never have this nor any other place." In the beginning of queen Anne's reign, he was made auditor of the imprests, by the lord-treasurer Godolphin, an office worth 2000l. per annum in a time of business. In the parliament which met in 1705, he was chosen a burgess for Preston in Lancashire. He died at St. Alban's, Nov. 13, 1712, leaving Mrs. Oldfield, the celebrated actress, his executrix. This lady had lived with him as his mistress, and by her he had a son, named Arthur Maynwaring. He divided his estate, which did not amount to much more than 30007. equally between that child, Mrs. Oldfield, and his sister.

He published a great number of compositions