Berkeley was born in the County Kilkenny, Ireland, the same year that James II. succeeded to the British crown. His early education was acquired in the same school in Kilkenny which Dean Swift had attended, and his subsequent studies were pursued at Trinity College, Dublin. It was said of him while at college that he was regarded by some of his fellow students as the greatest dunce in the institution, while others thought him a prodigy of learning and goodness, but all agreed that he was full of simplicity and enthusiasm—indeed, these latter characteristics remained with him through life. The results of his application to study is shown by his college record. He was elected “scholar” in 1702, a B. A. in 1704, and obtained his master’s degree in 1707, and the same year was admitted to a fellowship. The drift of his mind and of his studies was shown in the formation of a college society “to promote investigations in the new philosophy of Boyle, Newton and Locke,” a subject upon which he wrote many papers.
Before leaving college to enter on his career in London, Berkeley had already acquired some reputation as a writer on philosophical subjects. It was Dean Swift who introduced his fellow countryman to the circles of influence in the British capital. In the “Journal to Stella,” the dean jots down under date of April 12, 1713: “I went to court today on purpose to present Mr. Berkeley, one of our fellows of Trinity College. This Mr. Berkeley is a very ingenious man and great philosopher, and I have mentioned him to all the ministers, and have given them some of his writings, and I will favor him as much as I can. This, I think, I am bound to—in honor and conscience to use all my little credit toward helping forward men of worth in the world.”
Swift introduced Berkeley to the Earl of Peterborough, then one of the most extraordinary characters in Europe. He had amazed the country a few years before by his wonderful achievements in Spain, during the war of the succession. Soldier, scholar and diplomatist, this singular man was eccentric in all his movements and actions—indeed, his career and character is still a favorite study and an enigma for the historian and biographer. The introduction obtained for Berkeley, the post of the chaplain and secretary to Peterborough, who had been appointed ambassador to the King of Sicily. It was little use the eccentric earl had for a chaplain, since he was himself a well-known skeptic and freethinker!
The post to which he had been appointed gave Berkeley the opportunity of making acquaintance with the continent—he had taken “orders” before Trinity College—and he now saw France and Italy for the first time. His letters describing his experience and observations in these countries are exceedingly interesting, but my limits will not admit of quotations. The death of Queen Anne during his sojourn abroad and the accession of George I. caused a change in his prospects and position. Peterborough was recalled by the new administration, and consequently Berkeley returned to England in August, 1714.
The change of administration in England blighted for a time Berkeley’s prospects of preferment. His friend, Dean Swift, was no longer in the ascendant, and his late patron, the Earl of Peterborough, had been deprived of place and influence. He was, nevertheless, a welcome guest and visitor in literary circles and in general society. He possessed a charm of address and manners that won friends to him on all sides. He shortly had the opportunity again to revisit the continent—this time as companion and tutor to the son of Sir George Ashe. While in Paris he had an interview and carried on a discussion with the celebrated Malebranche on points of philosophy and metaphysics which, it is said, became so animated and exciting that the Frenchman brought on himself a violent disorder which prostrated him and resulted in his death within a few days.
After an absence this time of five years Berkeley returned to England in 1720. He found the country in turmoil over the collapse of the South Sea bubble. The speculative mania which had spread widely in England led as usual to an era of extravagance and corruption. The disorders of society consequent on these conditions was general. Berkeley gave vent to his feelings on the situation by an essay that attracted wide attention, in which he sought to point out a remedy for the prevailing evils.