Dr. William Sherlock, who after some scruple about taking the oaths to King William, did so, and was made Dean of St. Paul's, published his very popular

Practical Discourse concerning Death

, in 1689. He died in 1707.

Father Nicolas Malebranche, in the

Spectator's

time, was living in enjoyment of his reputation as one of the best French writers and philosophers. The foundations of his fame had been laid by his

Recherche de la Vérité

, of which the first volume appeared in 1673. An English translation of it, by Thomas Taylor, was published (in folio) in 1694. He died in 1715, Aged 77.

Thomas D'Urfey was a licentious writer of plays and songs, whose tunes Charles II would hum as he leant on their writer's shoulder. His

New Poems, with Songs