the degrading notion of Hobbes. When _he_
looked into his own breast, he found that courage was a real
virtue, which had induced him, had it been necessary, to have
shed his blood as a patriot. But death, in the judgment of
Hobbes, was the most terrible event, and to be avoided by any
means. Lord Clarendon draws a parallel between a "man of
courage" and one of the disciples of Hobbes, "brought to die
together, by a judgment they cannot avoid." "How comes it to
pass, that one of these undergoes death, with no other
concernment than as if he were going any other journey; and
the other with such confusion and trembling, that he is even
without life before he dies; if it were true that all men fear
alike upon the like occasion?"--_Survey of the Leviathan_, p.
14.

[350] They were distinguished as _Hobbists_, and the opinions as
_Hobbianism_. Their chief happened to be born on a Good
Friday; and in the metrical history of his own life he seems
to have considered it as a remarkable event. An atom had its
weight in the scales by which his mighty egotism weighed
itself. He thus marks the day of his birth, innocently
enough:--

"Natus erat noster Servator Homo-Deus annos
Mille et quingentos, octo quoque undecies."

But the _Hobbists_ declared more openly (as Wood tells us),
that "as our Saviour Christ went out of the world on that day
to save the men of the world, so another saviour came into the
world on that day to save them!"

That the sect spread abroad, as well as at home, is told us
by Lord Clarendon, in the preface to his "Survey of the
Leviathan." The qualities of the author, as well as the
book, were well adapted for proselytism; for Clarendon,
who was intimately acquainted with him, notices his
confidence in conversation--his never allowing himself to
be contradicted--his bold inferences--the novelty of his
expressions--and his probity, and a life free from scandal.
"The humour and inclination of the time to all kind of
paradoxes," was indulged by a pleasant clear style, an
appearance of order and method, hardy paradoxes, and
accommodating principles to existing circumstances.

Who were the sect composed of?