LECKY

lecky, william edward hartpole (1838-1903), irish historian and publicist, was born at newtown park, near dublin, on the 26th of march 1838, being the eldest son of john hartpole lecky, whose family had for many generations been landowners in ireland. he was educated at kingstown, armagh, and cheltenham college, and at trinity college, dublin, where he graduated b.a. in 1859 and m.a. in 1863, and where, with a view to becoming a clergyman in the irish protestant church, he went through a course of divinity. in 1860 he published anonymously a small book entitled _the religious tendencies of the age_, but on leaving college he abandoned his first intention and turned to historical work. in 1861 he published _leaders of public opinion in ireland_, a brief sketch of the lives and work of swift, flood, grattan and o'connell, which gave decided promise of his later admirable work in the same field. this book, originally published anonymously, was republished in 1871; and the essay on swift, rewritten and amplified, appeared again in 1897 as an introduction to a new edition of swift's works. two learned surveys of certain aspects of history followed: _a history of the rise and influence of rationalism in europe_ (2 vols., 1865), and _a history of european morals from augustus to charlemagne_ (2 vols., 1869). some criticism was aroused by these books, especially by the last named, with its opening dissertation on "the natural history of morals," but both have been generally accepted as acute and suggestive commentaries upon a wide range of facts. lecky then devoted himself to the chief work of his life, _a history of england during the eighteenth century_, vols. i. and ii. of which appeared in 1878, and vols. vii. and viii. (completing the work) in 1890. his object was "to disengage from the great mass of facts those which relate to the permanent forces of the nation, or which indicate some of the more enduring features of national life," and in the carrying out of this task lecky displays many of the qualities of a great historian. the work is distinguished by the lucidity of its style, but the fulness and extent of the authorities referred to, and, above all, by the judicial impartiality maintained by the author throughout. these qualities are perhaps most conspicuous and most valuable in the chapters which deal with the history of ireland, and in the cabinet edition of 1892, in 12 vols. (frequently reprinted) this part of the work is separated from the rest, and occupies five volumes under the title of _a history of ireland in the eighteenth century_. a volume of _poems_, published in 1891, was characterized by a certain frigidity and by occasional lapses into commonplace, objections which may also be fairly urged against much of lecky's prose-writing. in 1896 he published two volumes entitled _democracy and liberty_, in which he considered, with special reference to great britain, france and america, some of the tendencies of modern democracies. the somewhat gloomy conclusions at which he arrived provoked much criticism both in great britain and america, which was renewed when he published in a new edition (1899) an elaborate and very depreciatory estimate of gladstone, then recently dead. this work, though essentially different from the author's purely historical writings, has many of their merits, though it was inevitable that other minds should take a different view of the evidence. in _the map of life_ (1900) he discussed in a popular style some of the ethical problems which arise in everyday life. in 1903 he published a revised and greatly enlarged edition of _leaders of public opinion in ireland_, in two volumes, from which the essay on swift was omitted and that on o'connell was expanded into a complete biography of the great advocate of repeal of the union. though always a keen sympathizer with the irish people in their misfortunes and aspirations, and though he had criticized severely the methods by which the act of union was passed, lecky, who grew up as a moderate liberal, was from the first strenuously opposed to gladstone's policy of home rule, and in 1895 he was returned to parliament as unionist member for dublin university. in 1897 he was made a privy councillor, and among the coronation honours in 1902 he was nominated an original member of the new order of merit. his university honours included the degree of ll.d. from dublin, st andrews and glasgow, the degree of d.c.l. from oxford and the degree of litt.d. from cambridge. in 1894 he was elected corresponding member of the institute of france. he contributed occasionally to periodical literature, and two of his addresses, _the political value of history_ (1892) and _the empire, its value and its growth_ (1893), were published. he died in london on the 22nd of october 1903. he married in 1871 elizabeth, baroness de dedem, daughter of baron de dedem, a general in the dutch service, but had no children. mrs lecky contributed to various reviews a number of articles, chiefly on historical and political subjects. a volume of lecky's _historical and political essays_ was published posthumously (london, 1908). le clerc [clericus], jean (1657-1736), french protestant theologian, was born on the 19th of march 1657 at geneva, where his father, stephen le clerc, was professor of greek. the family originally belonged to the neighbourhood of beauvais in france, and several of its members acquired some name in literature. jean le clerc applied himself to the study of philosophy under j. r. chouet (1642-1731) the cartesian, and attended the theological lectures of p. mestrezat, franz turretin and louis tronchin (1629-1705). in 1678-1679 he spent some time at grenoble as tutor in a private family; on his return to geneva he passed his examinations and received ordination. soon afterwards he went to saumur, where in 1679 were published _liberii de sancto amore epistolae theologicae_ (irenopoli: typis philalethianis), usually attributed to him; they deal with the doctrine of the trinity, the hypostatic union of the two natures in jesus christ, original sin, and the like, in a manner sufficiently far removed from that of the conventional orthodoxy of the period. in 1682 he went to london, where he remained six months, preaching on alternate sundays in the walloon church and in the savoy chapel. passing to amsterdam he was introduced to john locke and to philip v. limborch, professor at the remonstrant college; the acquaintance with limborch soon ripened into a close friendship, which strengthened his preference for the remonstrant theology, already favourably known to him by the writings of his grand-uncle, stephan curcellaeus (d. 1645) and by those of simon episcopius. a last attempt to live at geneva, made at the request of relatives there, satisfied him that the theological atmosphere was uncongenial, and in 1684 he finally settled at amsterdam, first as a moderately successful preacher, until ecclesiastical jealousy shut him out from that career, and afterwards as professor of philosophy, belles-lettres and hebrew in the remonstrant seminary. this appointment, which he owed to limborch, he held from 1684, and in 1712 on the death of his friend he was called to occupy the chair of church history also. his suspected socinianism was the cause, it is said, of his exclusion from the chair of dogmatic theology. apart from his literary labours, le clerc's life at amsterdam was uneventful. in 1691 he married a daughter of gregorio leti. from 1728 onward he was subject to repeated strokes of paralysis, and he died on the 8th of january 1736. a full catalogue of the publications of le clerc will be found, with biographical material, in e. and e. haag's _france protestante_ (where seventy-three works are enumerated), or in j. g. de chauffepie's dictionnaire. only the most important of these can be mentioned here. in 1685 he published _sentimens de quelques theologiens de hollande sur l'histoire critique du vieux testament composee par le p. richard simon_, in which, while pointing out what he believed to be the faults of that author, he undertook to make some positive contributions towards a right understanding of the bible. among these last may be noted his argument against the mosaic authorship of the pentateuch, his views as to the manner in which the five books were composed, his opinions (singularly free for the time in which he lived) on the subject of inspiration in general, and particularly as to the inspiration of job, proverbs, ecclesiastes, canticles. richard simon's _reponse_ (1686) elicited from le clerc a _defense des sentimens_ in the same year, which was followed by a new _reponse_ (1687). in 1692 appeared his _logica sive ars ratiocinandi_, and also _ontologia et pneumatologia_; these, with the _physica_ (1695), are incorporated with the _opera philosophica_, which have passed through several editions. in 1693 his series of biblical commentaries began with that on genesis; the series was not completed until 1731. the portion relating to the new testament books included the paraphrase and notes of henry hammond (1605-1660). le clerc's commentary had a great influence in breaking up traditional prejudices and showing the necessity for a more scientific inquiry into the origin and meaning of the biblical books. it was on all sides hotly attacked. his _ars critica_ appeared in 1696, and, in continuation, _epistolae criticae et ecclesiasticae_ in 1700. le clerc's new edition of the _apostolic fathers_ of johann cotelerius (1627-1686), published in 1698, marked an advance in the critical study of these documents. but the greatest literary influence of le clerc was probably that which he exercised over his contemporaries by means of the serials, or, if one may so call them, reviews, of which he was editor. these were the _bibliotheque universelle et historique_ (amsterdam, 25 vols. 12 mo., 1686-1693), begun with j. c. de la croze; the _bibliotheque choisie_ (amsterdam, 28 vols., 1703-1713); and the _bibliotheque ancienne et moderne_, (29 vols., 1714-1726). see le clerc's _parrhasiana ou pensees sur des matieres de critique, d'histoire, de morale, et de politique: avec la defense de divers ouvrages de m. l. c. par theodore parrhase_ (amsterdam, 1699); and _vita et opera ad annum mdccxi., amici ejus opusculum, philosophicis clerici operibus subjiciendum_, also attributed to himself. the supplement to hammond's notes was translated into english in 1699, _parrhasiana, or thoughts on several subjects_, in 1700, the _harmony of the gospels_ in 1701, and _twelve dissertations out of m. le clerc's genesis_ in 1696.