Hume, in his History, has given some account of this enormous quarto; to which I refer the reader, vol. vi. chap. lii.
Milton admirably characterises Prynne’s absurd learning, as well as his character, in his treatise on “The likeliest means to remove hirelings out of the Church,” as “a late hot querist for tythes, whom ye may know by his wits lying ever beside him in the margin, to be ever beside his wits in the text. A fierce Reformer once; now rankled with a contrary heat.”
The very expression Prynne himself uses, see p. 668 of the Histriomastix; where having gone through “three squadrons,” he commences a fresh chapter thus: “The fourth squadron of authorities is the venerable troope of 70 several renowned ancient fathers;” and he throws in more than he promised, all which are quoted volume and page, as so many “play-confounding arguments.” He has quoted perhaps from three to four hundred authors on a single point.
Toland was born in Ireland, in 1669, of Roman Catholic parents, but became a zealous opponent of that faith before he was sixteen; after which he finished his education at Glasgow and Edinburgh; he retired to study at Leyden, where he formed the acquaintance of Leibnitz and other learned men. His first book, published in 1696, and entitled “Christianity not Mysterious,” was met by the strongest denunciation from the pulpit, was “presented” by the grand jury of Middlesex, and ordered to be burnt by the common hangman by the Parliament of Ireland. He was henceforth driven for employ to literature; and in 1699 was engaged by the Duke of Newcastle to edit the “Memoirs of Denzil, Lord Hollis;” and afterwards by the Earl of Oxford on a new edition of Harrington’s “Oceana.” He then visited the Courts of Berlin and Hanover. He published many works on politics and religion, the latter all remarkable for their deistical tendencies, and died in March, 1722, at the age of 53.—Ed.
These letters will interest every religious person; they may be found in Toland’s posthumous works, vol. ii. p. 295.