ARTICLE XXII.

The Countess of Conway.

IN Dr. J. W. Petersen's great work in advocacy and defense of the final salvation of all mankind, which appeared in Germany under the general title of The Restoration of all Things,1 in three volumes, folio, between the years 1700 and 1710, we find a mention, Vol. I. p 85, et seq. of an English Countess, who had not very long before avowed his favorite doctrine and maintained it in a small work which he had seen in a Latin translation. He met with it in a volume known to the learned under the title of Opuscula Philosophica,-or Philosophical Tracts—which had been published at Amsterdam ten years previously. Of the authoress he knew neither her name nor title, but only her nationality and rank. He had, however, been informed by the preface that she was a woman extra sexum erudita, learned beyond her sex, well-skilled in Greek and Latin, and familiar especially with philosophy, ancient as well as modern. From this translation he copied into his own work several passages which expressed his views and suited his purpose.

2

Dr. Whittemore, in the second enlarged and improved edition of his Modern History of Universalism, which appeared in 1860, called attention to Petersen's mention of the English Countess, and translated the passages from her tract which Petersen had copied, but was able to give no further information about her.

1 The full title of this work, so important to the history of Universalism, both ancient and modern, is, Μυστηρίου Αποκαταστασεως Παντων : Oder, Das Geheimniss der Wiederbringung Aller Dinge. (The Mystery of the Restoration of All Things). Pamphylia 1700, 1703, 1710. The first volume was published anonymously.

2 Of this edition, only the first volume, devoted exclusively to Universalism in Europe, was published, the death of the author occurring not long after its appearance. A second volume on Universalism in America, was to have followed, a task which Dr. Eddy has since so well accomplished. Dr. Whittemore's volume is now out of print, and should be re-published, with such corrections and improvements as the study of our history and the additions to our Historical Library would enable the editor to make.

Although I have been acquainted with The Restoration of All Things, and Petersen's notice of the English Countess for many years, and though I have annually read many hundred and often several thousand pages of catalogues of old and second-hand books, in English, French and German, I have looked in vain for the Opuscula Philosophica, or what I supposed might have been the original English from which Petersen's tract was translated, till a few months ago, when it was advertised by an antiquarian bookseller in Germany, and I was fortunate enough to secure it.

Several circumstances combine to give to this little work an exceptional interest. It is evidently rare; it was written more than two centuries ago, and by a woman of rank and fortune who naturally moved in a circle quite apart from pursuits indicated by this book, and who entertained some opinions which were probably as unpopular as they were uncommon. Besides, it might reasonably be expected that in the history of the authoress we should catch glimpses, by side lights at least, of others who were associated in life with her and may have sympathized with her in her religious opinions and hopes. All these considerations will, I trust, be my apology for occupying the pages of the QUARTERLY with some account of the tract and its author.

The copy of the Opuscula Philosophica now before me is a small volume of 648 pages in what we should call 18 mo., neatly bound in vellum, and though it has evidently passed through several hands during its two hundred years of existence, is still in excellent condition. As its title indicates, it is not a single work, but is made up of three separate tracts, with no other bond to unite them than the common philosophical cast of each. The whole work has its title-page, preface and a dedication to the Dauphin of France, while each separate part has also its own title-page and preface. It is the first tract, only, of 144 pages, that I am at present concerned with. Its title-page, according to the fashion of its time, is not only full but assuming. It is as follows:

"The Principles of Philosophy, the most ancient and the

most modern, concerning God, Christ and the Creature, that is, of Spirit and Matter in general; by means of which all the questions can be solved which can be solved neither by the Scholastic nor by the common modern philosophy, nor yet by that of Des-Cartes, Hobbes or Spinoza. A Posthumous work. Translated from the English into Latin, with Annotations drawn from the ancient philosophy of the Hebrews Amsterdam, 1690."

This title-page, I assume to be that of the translator Whether the original had anything like it is very doubtful, while it is certain that the Countess of Conway never wrote anything of the kind. The preface, which was but a little more modest, and from which Petersen derived all he knew of the authoress, was as follows:

"Benevolent Reader. We publish this little book for your sake. It was written not many years ago by a certain English Countess, a woman learned beyond her sex, familiar with Greek and Latin literature and very well skilled in all kinds of philosophy, whether ancient or modern. She was at first imbued with the principles of Des-Cartes, but coming to see their defects she afterwards studied some of the writers of the genuine philosophy of antiquity. In reading these she made a great many observations, and wrote them down for her own use, but only in pencil, and in an exceedingly small hand. After her death some of these were deciphered, though the rest have not as yet been made out-and translated that the learned world might derive some advantage from them. These few chapters are, therefore, published, that whoever will may admire the author and come the more readily to a knowledge of true philosophy and avoid the errors which, alas, are only too common; which may you enjoy, and so farewell."

All this is better fitted to excite curiosity than to satisfy a natural desire to know who this English Countess was and what her history and character. Fortunately I find on a fly-leaf of my copy of the Oposcula a Latin note, in an unmistakably German hand, which throws some light on the question as to who she was: “The author is said by Leibnitz (Monthly Extracts from all kinds of lately published books, Hanover, April,

1701) 3 to have been the Countess of Conway, sister of Heneage Finch, the Chancellor of England. After her death F. M. Van Helmont, who during her life enjoyed an intimate acquaintance with her, published an edition of it, to which he prefixed a preface. The book itself exhibits proofs of an uncommon erudition and an acumen truly philosophical, though many things are expressed obscurely and the author is too fond of paradoxes."

It is evident that Leibnitz had seen the English work, or was at least informed about it, for he mentions Van Helmont's preface which does not appear with the Latin translation and of which no hint is given. But of this preface I shall have occasion to speak further on. But I find another note in pencil on the inside of the book's cover, and in a very delicate English hand which has proved far more important. It is a mere reference to Ward's Life of Dr. Henry More. I had ordered this rare book, though for quite another purpose, only a few months before from Germany where it was advertised, but failed to obtain it. I therefore sought it in the Boston Public Library and also in the Athenæum without success, but finally fonnd it in Harvard College Library; and here in this unpretending volume I find, not all, indeed, that I could wish, but really all that I have to communicate. Here at least, I feel that I am standing on safe historic ground.

The Rev. Mr. Ward was an intimate friend of Dr. More and was entrusted with his papers to prepare his Life; while Dr. More himself was a life-long and most intimate friend of the Finch family and so with the Countess of Conway from her youth up, and to the end of her life.

But before going further, it may be well to stop a moment to speak of Dr. More. He was born in 1614. At the age of fourteen he went to the Eton School to perfect himself, as he expresses it," in the Greek and Latin tongue." After three years at Eton he entered Christ's College in Cambridge, where

3 Monatlicher Auszug allerhand neue ausgegbenen Bücher, Hanover, April, 1701.

by his talents and industry he won a scholarship, which, as he never married, he seems to have retained ever afterward, or very nearly to the day of his death. Devoting himself largely to the study of philosophy and theology he was early honored with the degree of Doctor of Divinity. Though offered places of distinction and an open path to preferment in the Church, he not only declined them but believed he could render her a better service by his studies and writings than in any office to which she would gladly have called him. He did accept at the hand of his old friend, Heneage Finch, now Earl of Nottingham, a Prebend of Gloucester, when well advanced in years, but soon resigned it in favor of a learned and worthy clergyman who needed it, and who afterwards rose to the dignity of a Bishop. Dr. More died in 1687 at the age of seventythree, and left behind him the reputation of great learning and a character rich in all the virtues and graces of an enlightened and earnest Christian. He was generally known as "the learned and pious Dr. Henry More.

"In his younger days," says Mr. Ward, "he took pupils, and approved himself a skilful and faithful person in that capacity as in others. He had some of very great quality that were put into his hands; and I have seen by various letters that have passed, particularly between Lord Radnor and himself, as well the diligence and fidelity he was wont to use in that affair. . . He had one heroine pupil, as I may call her at a distance, of an extraordinary nature, the Lady Viscountess Conway whom he always mentioned with a particular respect. 4 This Lady Conway, formerly Mrs. Anne Finch, was of incomparable parts and endowments."

And here we have not a Countess, indeed, but the Viscountess of Conway, of whom we have hitherto known so little and yet a great curiosity to know much. She was a sister, as Leibnitz says, of Heneage Finch, who was Chancellor of England. Another of her brothers, a Pupil also of Dr. More, a man of ability and accomplishments, was Ambassador from the Court of England to the Ottoman forte. The Finch family,

4 Mrs. or Mistress, an old form for Miss. It was formerly applied to girls and young women, as we now apply Master to boys.