Madras establishment, who died very lately in India; and four daughters, one of whom married to Anketel Singleton, esq. lieutenant-governor of Landguard-Fort, in Essex.

His works are, I. "The Antiquities of England and Wales," 8 vols. 4to and 8vo. 2. "The Antiquities of Scotland," 2 vols. 4to and 8vo. 3. "The Antiquities of Ireland," 2 vols. 4to and 8vo, a posthumous work, edited by Mr. Ledwich, 1794. 4. " A Treatise on ancient Armour and Weapons," 1785, 4to. 5. "A Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue," 1785, 8vo. 6. "Military Antiquities; being a History of the English Army from the Conquest to the present Time," 1786, 1788, 2 vols. 4to. 7. "The History of Dover Castle, by the rev. William 'Darell," 1786, 4to. 8. "A Provincial Glossary, with a Collection of local Proverbs and popular Superstitions," 1788, 8vo. 9. "Rules for drawing Caricatures," 1788, 8vo. 10. "Supplement to the Treatise on ancient Ar mour and Weapons," 1789, 4to. 11. "A guide to Health, Beauty, Honour, and Riches," being a collection of hu morous advertisements, pointing out the means to obtain those blessings; with a suitable introductory preface, 8vo. 12. "The Olio, a collection of Essays," jests, small pieces of poetry, all highly characteristic of Mr. Grose, but the collection was not made by him, and we suspect all the contents are not from his pen; 1793, 8vo.1

GROSLEY (PETER JOHN), a French antiquary and polite writer, was born at Troyes Nov. 18, 1718, and was educated in the profession of the law, but a decided turn for literary pursuits interrupted his legal studies, and induced him, in search of knowledge, to travel twice into Italy, twice into England, and once into Holland, besides passing a considerable part of every year at Paris, where he was received into the best company, but would never settle. His disposition appears to have been amiable and liberal, as when yet a youth he gave up a legacy of 40,000 livres in favour of his sister. At his own expence, too, he undertook to embellish the saloon of the town house of his native city, Troyes, with marble busts of the eminent natives of that city, executed by Vasse, the king's sculptor; and the first put up were those of Pithou, le Comte, Passerat, Girardon, and Mignard. He died in that city, Nov. 4, 1785, being then an associate of the academy of

European Mag, 1791.-Gent. Mag. 1791,

Inscriptions and belles lettres, and a member of our royal society. His principal works are, 1. "Recherches pour l'histoire du Droit Français," Paris, 1752, 12mo, a work highly esteemed. 2. "Vie de Pithou," ibid. 1756, 2 vols. 12mo. 3. "Observations de deux gentil-hommes Suedois sur l'Italie," 1774, 4 vols. 12mo, a very lively work, and full of interesting anecdotes. 4. "Londres," 1770, 3 vols. 12mo, of which nearly the same may be said, although allowances must be made for the mistakes into which a foreigner is very liable to fall. It was translated in 1772, by Dr. Nugent, 2 vols. 8vo. 5. "Essais historiques sur la Champagne." 6. "Ephemerides Troyennes," continued for several years, and containing papers relative to the history of Troyes. He had also a part in the "Memoires de l'academie de Troyes," and in the last translation of Davila; and was an useful contributor to the " Journal Encyclopedique," from 1771 to 1785, and to the "Dictionnaire Historique." A Life, written by himself, and some posthumous pieces, have been lately published. '

GROSSETESTE (ROBERT), an English prelate, and the most learned ecclesiastic of his time, was born probably about 1175, of obscure parents at Stradbrook in Suffolk. He studied at Oxford, where he laid the foundation of his skill in the Greek tongue, and was thus enabled to make himself master of Aristotle, whose works had been hitherto read only in translations: at Oxford too he acquired a knowledge of the Hebrew. He afterwards went to Paris, where he prosecuted his studies of Greek and Hebrew, and made himself master of French. Here he also studied the divinity and philosophy of the age, his proficiency in which was so remarkable as to draw upon him the suspicion of being a magician. At Oxford, on his return, he became celebrated as a divine, and was the first lecturer in the Franciscan school in that university. In 1235 he was elected, by the dean and chapter, bishop of Lincoln, which see was then, and continues still, the largest in England, although Ely, Oxford, and Peterborough have been since taken from it. Grosseteste, who was of an ardent and active spirit, immediately undertook to reform abuses, exhorting both clergy and people to religious observances, and perhaps would have been in a considerable degree successful, had he not confided too much in the Dominican

1 Dict. Historique.-Nugent's Preface.

and Franciscan friars, as his helpers in the good work. But they being appointed by him to preach to the people, hear their confessions, and enjoin penance, abused these opportunities by exercising dominion over the superstitious minds of the laity, and enriched themselves at their expence. Although, however, the hypocrisy of the Dominicans and Franciscans in this instance escaped his penetration, he could not be deceived in the dissolute character and ignorance of the more ancient orders, and was very strict in his visitations, and very severe in his censures of their conduct. Partly through this sense of his duty, and his love of justice, and partly from his warmth of temper, he was frequently engaged in quarrels with convents, and other agents of the pope. At one time he was even excommunicated by the convent of Canterbury; but treating this with contempt, he continued to labour in promoting piety, and redressing abuses with his usual zeal, firmness, and perseverance. Although the friars continued to be his favourites, and he rebuked the rectors and vicars of his diocese, because they neglected to hear them preach, and because they discouraged the people from attending and confessing to them, in time he began to see more clearly into the character of those ecclesiastics. In 1247, two English Franciscans were sent into England with credentials to extort money for the pope; and when they applied, with some degree of insolence, to Grosseteste, for six thousand marks, as the contribution for the diocese of Lincoln, he answered them that (with submission to his holiness), the demand was as dishonourable as impracticable; that the whole body of the clergy and people were concerned in it as well as himself; and that for him to give a definitive answer in an instant to such a demand, before the sense of the kingdom was taken upon it, would be rash and absurd.

He continued afterwards to exert himself in promoting the good of the church as to doctrine and morals, with the most upright intentions, and to the best of his knowledge, although it must afford the present age but a poor opinion of his knowledge in such matters, when we find him translating, and illustrating with commentaries, such works as those of John Damascenus, and of the spurious Dionysius the Areopagite; and even "The Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs," which he thought a valuable monument of sacred antiquity, and equal in importance with the scriptures. But the ignorance of the times, and the difficulties

of acquiring divine knowledge, were in that age greatly beyond what can now be conceived. In the case, however, of external morals, Grosseteste showed more discernment. In 1248 he obtained, at a great expence, from pope Innocent IV. letters to empower him to reform the religious orders. Fortified by this authority, he first turned his attention to the waste of large revenues by the monastic orders, and determined to take into his own hand the rents of the religious houses, probably with a design to institute and ordain vicarages in his diocese, and to provide for the more general instruction of the people. But the monks having appealed to the pope, Grosseteste, in his old age, was obliged to travel to Lyons, where Innocent resided, and where he immediately decided against our bishop, and treated him with much harshness of language, to which Grosseteste replied with great spirit, and went so far as to insinuate the power of money at the court of Rome. All, however, that he could do was to leave a kind of remon strance, in the shape of a long sermon, one copy of which be delivered to the pope, and others to two of the cardinals, in which he sharply inveighed against the flagitious practices of the court of Rome, particularly the appropriation of churches to religious houses, the appeals of the religious to the pope, and the scandalous clause in the bulls of non obstante, which was the great engine of the pope's dispensing power, and enabled him to set aside all statutes and customs. He was for some time so dejected with the disappointment he had met with, that he intended to resign his bishopric, but upon more mature reflection, thought it his duty to remain in his office, and do all the good which the bigotry and ignorance of the times would permit.

At home he still opposed the lazy Italians, who had procured the pope's letters for provisions, and were the objects of Grosseteste's greatest detestation, for he said “if he should commit the care of souls to them, he should be the friend of Satan." Upon such principles he would often, with indignation, cast the bulls out of his hand, and abso lutely refused to comply with them. He was suspended at one time for disobeying a papal mandate of this kind. Pope Innocent, persisting in his old courses, notwithstanding all the fair promises and assurances he had given to the contrary, commanded the bishop to admit an Italian, entirely ignorant of the English language, to a rich benefice:

in his diocese, and he refusing to comply, was suspended for it the Lent following. This sentence, however, seems to have been soon relaxed, as we find the bishop singing mass at Hales the same year. A more remarkable instance of Grosseteste's spirited opposition to the papal usurpations occurred in 1253, when Innocent ordered his nephew, an Italian youth, to be promoted to the first canonry that should be vacant in the cathedral of Lincoln, and declared that any other disposal of the canonry should be null and void; and that he would excommunicate every one who should dare to disobey his injunction. The pope also wrote to the archdeacon of Canterbury, and to one Mr. Innocent, both Italians, to see this business completed, with a clause of non obstante; and to cite all contraveners to appear before him without any manner of plea or excuse; and under another clause of non obstante, in two months time.

Grosseteste wrote immediately to the pope, or to his agents, in the most resolute and spirited terms, almost retorting, as Brown in his "Fasciculus rerum expetendarum," &c. observes, "excommunication for excommunication." This epistle, of which we have many copies now extant, both in manuscript and printed, is a most celebrated performance, and has immortalized the bishop's memory, and endeared it to all generations. He insists, that the papal mandates cannot be repugnant to the doctrine of Christ and his apostles, and that, therefore, the tenor of his holiness's epistles was not consonant to the sanctity of the holy see, on account of the accumulated clauses of non obstante, Then, that no sin can be more adverse to the doctrine of the apostles, more abominable to Jesus Christ, or more hurtful to mankind, than to defraud and rob those souls, which ought to be the objects of the pastoral care, of that instruction which by the scriptures they have a right to, &c. Hence he infers that the holy see, destined to edify and not to destroy, cannot possibly incur a sin of this kind; and that no one that is not an excommunicate, ought to obey any such absurd mandate, though an angel from heaven should command him, but rather to revolt and oppose them, &c.

The pope, on receiving this flat denial, which he little expected, written, as our readers may perceive, in a sarcastic style implying much more than is expressed, fell into a furious passion, exclaiming, with a stern countenanc, and with all the pride of Lucifer, "Who is this old dotard, deaf,