een; 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.

[111] These letters will interest every religious person; they may be
found in Toland's posthumous works, vol. ii. p. 295.

[112] Toland pretends to prove that "there is nothing in the Christian
Religion, not only which is contrary to reason, but even
which is above it."--He made use of some arguments (says
Le Clerc) that were drawn from Locke's Treatise on the
Human Understanding. I have seen in MS. a finished treatise by
Locke on Religion, addressed to Lady Shaftesbury; Locke
gives it as a translation from the French. I regret my
account is so imperfect; but the possessor may, perhaps, be
induced to give it to the public. The French philosophers have
drawn their first waters from English authors; and Toland,
Tindale, and Woolston, with Shaftesbury, Bolingbroke, and
Locke, were among their earliest acquisitions.

[113] In examining the original papers of Toland, which are preserved,
I found some of his agreements with booksellers. For his
description of Epsom he was to receive only four guineas in
case 1000 were sold. He received ten guineas for his pamphlet
on Naturalising the Jews, and ten guineas more in case Bernard
Lintott sold 2000. The words of this agreement run thus:
"Whenever Mr. Toland calls for ten guineas, after the first of
February next, I promise to pay them, if I _cannot show_ that
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