prevented; but the emperor was indelibly impressed with hatred and suspicion of that body. That odious class of men, the delators, or informers, always the instruments of tyrants, were again encouraged, and numbers of eminent persons fell victims to false accusations. Perennis, a minister to whom he had given all his confidence, and who is represented in very different colours by the historians Dion and Herodian, lost his life under a charge of aspiring to the empire. He was succeeded by one Cleander, originally a slave, who had risen by the basest arts. He became all-powerful, and amassed more wealth than any imperial freedman before him; when, in a furious sedition, occasioned by a famine, the affrighted emperor, who had in vain attempted to quell it by means of the pretorian guards, caused his head to be thrown out among the enraged populace. To such persons were all the cares of government confided; for Commodus himself was solely occupied by his pleasures, and by the achievements of the amphitheatre, which was his great scene of action. Having by long practice attained uncommon skill in the use of the bow and other weapons, it was his delight and pride to exhibit his talents before the assembled people; and animals of the rarest species were collected from the remotest parts of the empire in order to serve as marks for the imperial archer. For the merit of delivering the world from these monsters, he assumed the title and insignia of Hercules, in which character he frequently appears on his medals. One mode of his acting the Roman Hercules singularly displayed his cowardice and cruelty. He assembled all the unfortunate wretches in the city who had lost the use of their legs by accident or disease, and causing them to be wrapt up in fantastical habits, like dragons or monsters, and armed with sponges instead of stones, he rushed upon them with his club, and laid them all dead at his feet. His mock combats as a gladiator, solemnly recorded in the public acts as the most heroic exploits, amounted in the whole to the number of 735; in which he always obtained a victory, bloodless to himself, but frequently fatal to his antagonists. He at length made a mere diversion of killing and mutilating the wretches who came in his way, and seemed to propose for his imitation the most extravagant and ferocious deeds of the frantic Caligula. Meantime he was continually sacrificing to his political suspicions the senators most distinguished for rank and dignity; and he sought out with peculiar anxiety as his victims, all who were connected, even the most remotely, with the blood of the

Antonines. At length his mad and detestable career came to its merited end. Meeting with some opposition to his bloody and infamous designs from his bosom counsellors, Marcia his favourite concubine, Eclectus his chamberlain, and Letus his pretorian prefect, he resolved to put them to death, and entered their names in a long list of others destined to the same fate. He was thoughtless enough to leave the tablets in which this was written, upon a couch in his apartment, while he went to bathe. A little child, kept about his person as a favourite, happened to take them up, and Marcia found them in his hand. From curiosity she opened them, and discovered her own name at the head of the fatal list. She immediately sent for the chamberlain and prefect, and apprised them of their common danger. It was resolved, to anticipate the stroke; and Marcia, mixing some poison in wine, presented it to him as he came out of the bath. He soon fell asleep; but awaking from the operation of the poison, he was persuaded to try to dispel the stupor he felt by exercise. A strong athlete, named Narcissus, was called in, who, as he was directed, contrived with very little difficulty to strangle him while they wrestled. Such was the end of Commodus, on the last day of the year 192, after he had reigned near thirteen years. His memory was by the senate declared execrable, his monuments were defaced, and his body, after being buried by his successor Pertinax, was disinterred, burnt, and its ashes scattered in the wind. Herodian. Dion. Lampridius. Crevier. Gibbon.-A.

COMNENA, see ANNA.

COMNENUS, see ALEXIUS, ANDRONICUS, ISAAC, &c.

COMPTE, LEWIS LE, a native of Bourdeaux, and of the order of Jesuits, was sent by them to China, in the united characters of missionary and mathematician, in the year 1685. On his return home, he published, in the epistolary form, two volumes of Memoirs on the present State of China, &c." which, before the appearance of Du Halde's History, were considered as containing the most authentic information relative to that country within the reach of European readers. But father le Compte has been accused of too great partiality for the character of the Chinese, and of attributing to them earlier advances in civilisation and improvement, than his documents, or pro bability, will warrant. For he asserts that they had entertained just notions respecting the Deity, during a period of 2000 years, and had practised the purest lessons of morality, at a

time when the rest of the world was involved in error and vice. The method, however, which the clergy adopted of refuting his assertions, by proscribing them, and that of the parliament, by condemning his book to the flames, were not the proper means of exploding their fallacy. Father le Compte died at his native place, in the year 1729. Nouv. Dict. Hist.-M. COMPTE, NICHOLAS LE, a French monk of that branch of the benedictine order called Celestines, was a native of Paris, where he died in 1689. He was a man of respectable talents, and pleasing accomplishments, and is known to the public as the author or editor of different works, which have met with a favourable reception. Among other articles, he published at Paris, in 1662 and 1664, "The remarkable Travels of Peter della Valle, a Roman Gentleman, translated from the Italian," in 4 vols. 4to.; and "A new and interesting History of the Kingdoms of Tonking and Laos," in 4to. translated from the Italian of father Marini, in 1666. He likewise completed, and published, in 1665, the third volume of father Lewis Coulon's " History of the Jews," which was left in an imperfect state among the author's manuscripts. Moreri.-M.

COMPTON, HENRY, an English prelate of distinguished worth, was the sixth and youngest son of Spencer, the second earl of Northampton, and born in the year 1632. Although by his father's death, when he was but ten years of age, he was deprived of the advantage of his paternal care and instructions, due attention appears to have been paid to his education. After the preparatory learning of the grammar schools, he was entered a nobleman of Queen's college, Oxford, in the year, 1649, where he prosecuted his studies till about 1652; after which he spent some time in foreign countries, examining their civil and ecclesiastical polities, and perfecting himself in their languages. On the restoration of Charles II. he returned to England, and accepted a cornet's commission in a regiment of horse raised for the king's guard; but soon relinquished the military profession, with a determination to devote himself to the service of the church. After having made this choice, he was admitted to the degree of M.A. in the university of Cambridge; and, entering into orders, obtained a grant of the next vacant canonry of Christ church, Oxford, of which college, by the advice of Dr. Fell, then dean, he was admitted canon-commoner in the year 1666. At Oxford he was incorporated M.A. according to his standing at Cambridge; about which time he possessed the rectory of Cotten

ham, in Cambridgeshire, worth above 500l. a-year. In the year 1667 he was constituted master of St. Crosse's hospital, near Winchester, and in 1669 installed canon of Christ church. These promotions were after no long intervals of time followed by higher dignities. After having taken the degrees of B.D. and D.D. in 1669, he was nominated to the bishopric of Oxford, in the year 1674; made dean of the royal chapel in 1675; and in the same year translated to the see of London. In his appointments to these successive preferments, Dr. Compton's very respectable character, and ardent attachment to the interests of the church of England, seem to have had considerable weight, as well as his family and political connections. In the year 1675-6, Dr. Compton was sworn of his majesty's privy-council; and had the superintendency of the religious education of the king's two nieces, the princesses Mary and Anne, afterwards queens of England, entrusted to his care, whom he had the honour of confirming, according to the rites of the national church, and of uniting in marriage, at subsequent periods, to their respective consorts. Their zealous attachment to the protestant establishment of this country, may, in a considerable degree, be attributed to the labours of our prelate; which was remembered, and resented, during the latter part of the reign of Charles II. and after the accession of his bigotted successor. In the years 1679 and 1680, bishop Compton was active in devising methods of reconciling the protestant dissenters with the established church; for which purpose he held different conferences with his clergy, the substance of which was published; and also wrote to different foreign divines of the reformed communion, to obtain the sanction of their friendly interference. Their answers were such as would have terminated all matters in debate, if the question had depended on ecclesiastical decision, without any relation to the important points of the right of free enquiry and private judgment. But in the conduct of this business his lordship took a most unwarrantable step, under the pretence of guarding the church against the encroachments of heresy, by obtaining a royal letter to prohibit the introduction and use of new terms on the subject of the doctrine of the Trinity. Such a measure was equally indefensible, on the principles of genuine protestantism, with the tyrannical proceedings of James II. against which he was afterwards led, both by conscience and interest, to make a firm stand. Bishop Compton, how ever, although not a consistent, was a well-in

tentioned and decided friend to the protestant reformation, and encouraged his clergy to defend it in their pulpits, and by their pens, when it was becoming fashionable to embrace the tenets of popery, or to affect an indifference to their prevalence, towards the close of the reign of Charles II. For this commendable and spirited discharge of his duty, he was marked out as one of the first victims of the new system intended to be established after the accession of James II. Soon after that event he was removed from the 'council-table; and, in the year 1685, deprived of the office of dean of the royal chapel. In the year 1686 he received a letter from the king, enjoining him to suspend Dr. John Sharp from farther preaching in any parish church or chapel in his diocese, until he had given the king satisfaction, for having dared, in some of his sermons, to vindicate the doctrines of the church of England in opposition to popery. It is worthy of remark, that this conduct of Dr. Sharp, for which he is highly to be commended, was in direct disobedience to a letter of the king to the archbishops of Canterbury and York, prohibiting all preaching upon controverted points: a parallel instrument of tyranny with that of which bishop Compton thought fit to avail himself, in his attempts to exterminate the heresies of schismatics. In the present instance, however, our prelate nobly determined to obey God rather than man; and, after endeavouring to defend himself by legal objections to the king's order, and to the jurisdiction of the ecclesiastical commission, which attempted to enforce submission; after being tyrannically harassed by their scandalous proceedings, for an account of which we must refer to the history of the times, or to the abstract given in the Biographia Britannica; he chose to be suspended from his episcopal office, rather than violate his conscience, or ratify the king's unconstitutional measures. Under this suspension he remained, until the dread of the prince of Orange's expedition, in the year 1688, induced the court to attempt to regain the estranged affections of the clergy, by restoring bishop Compton and other deprived dignitaries to the possession of their functions. But the injuries received had been too systematical and inveterate to admit of reconciliation. Our prelate, with the archbishop of Canterbury, and others of the bench, waited on the king, in the month of October of that memorable year, and suggested such advice as they deemed prudent in the exigency of affairs. But the greater part of them had determined, in connection with the leading people of the country, to

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favour the enterprise of the prince of Orange. Upon his landing, the bishop of London embraced an early opportunity of fulfilling the engagements into which he had entered, with the other friends of the revolution, by joining the earl of Dorset in conducting princess Anne of Denmark from London to Nottingham; by signing the association begun at Exeter, on his return to the metropolis; by waiting on the prince of Orange, at the head of his clergy, to thank him for his interference in preserving the laws and liberties of the nation; and by the votes which he gave in the House of Lords, for placing the prince and princess of Orange on the abdicated throne. When that event had been decided upon, he was restored to his seat in the privy council, and to the office of dean in the royal chapel, and had the honour of performing the ceremony of king William and queen Mary's coronation, on the refusal of archbishop Sancroft to take the oaths to the new government. In the year 1689, he was appointed one of the commissioners for reviewing the liturgy, and president of the convocation in which their proposed amendments were to be discussed, together with the interesting subject of the comprehension of the protestant dissenters. these situations he at first actively joined the moderate party, who were for introducing such alterations in the service and discipline of the church, as might lead to the reconciliation of scrupulous consciences; but afterwards, either from a conviction that the opposition made by the high-church zealots in the lower house of convocation would entirely frustrate their intentions, or partaking in the alarm which they propagated, that the proposed comprehension must prove fatal to the rights of the church, and introduce ruinous innovations, he united himself with those members who advised and obtained the discontinuance of the convocation session. Soon afterwards king William nominated commissioners of trade and plantations, and appointed the bishop of London for the time being one of them, on account of his superintendency of all the churches in the plantations. In this capacity Dr. Compton is reported to have been assiduous in selecting and sending over, at no small expence, such clergymen as were well adapted, by their talents and by their manners, to promote the interests of the church of England. In the year 1690-1, he attended the king, at his own expence, to the celebrated congress at the Hague, where the grand alliance against France was concluded. About this period he appears to have united himself, more closely than before, to the tory

N

and high-church party, whose sentiments were, on the whole, more congenial with his own than those of the whigs and moderate churchmen. And this union was confirmed on the death of Dr. Tillotson, archbishop of Canterbury, when Dr. Tennison was preferred to our prelate, as the successor to that see. From this event, during the remaining part of the reign of king William, and in that of queen Anne, the ecclesiastical and political measures which he favoured and supported, were such as were countenanced by the high-church party. In king William's reign his influence at court was at an end, in consequence of this choice of connections, as well as during a considerable part of queen Anne's; but towards the close of her reign, when his principles again became fashionable, he recovered much of his former power and interest. We do not find, however, that he took an active part in any public political measures, excepting in the year 1709-10, when he opposed the prosecution carried on against Dr. Sacheverel, gave his vote in favour of his being not guilty, and protested against several of the steps taken in that indiscreet business: we call it indiscreet, because it was unworthy of the dignity of the Commons of Great Britain, to prefer an impeachment against such an insignificant and hot-brained enthusiast; and because the solemn pomp and parade in which he was held up to public notice, gave to his person and cause a temporary importance,

which neither could have obtained if left to merited neglect and contempt. It may be improper to omit noticing, that in the year 1702 Dr. Compton was sworn of his majesty's privycouncil; that in the same year he was put in the commission for the union of England and Scotland, but left out of the new commission, issued in 1706; that he was assiduous in obtaining the act for augmenting small livings, by the grant of first fruits and tenths; and that he maintained a friendly correspondence with the foreign protestant churches, and the university of Geneva, endeavouring to impress them with favourable sentiments towards the church of England, and to obtain their disapprobation of those who should dissent from its discipline. As his lordship advanced in life, he was subject to repeated attacks of the gout and stone, followed by a complication of distempers, which sent him to his grave at Fulham, in 1713, in the eighty-first year of his age. On the whole, bishop Compton appears to have possessed great excellence of character, and to be deservedly remembered as an ornament to the bench on which he sat. He was highly exemplary in

his moral conduct; and in his manners modest, affable, and unaffectedly polite. He was a warm friend, a beneficent patron, and singularly generous and charitable. His literary acquirements may have been respectable, but we have no evidence to satisfy us that they were eminent. His character as a statesman will be sufficiently understood from the circumstances of his life above detailed. In the discharge of his episcopal functions he appears to have been carefully attentive to the improvement, the interests, and convenience of his clergy. And he manifested his attachment to the establishment of which he was a member, not only by the circumstances which have been already enumerated, but by purchasing many advowsons out of lay hands; by giving considerable sums of money for the rebuilding of churches; and by expending still greater sums in the buying in of impropriations, and settling them on the poor vicars. The following is a list of the few things which he published: "The Life of Donna Olympia Maldachini, who governed the Church during the Time of Innocent X. which was from the Year 1644 to 1655," published in 1667, translated from the Italian of abbot Gualdi, which was privately printed at Paris; "The Jesuits' Intrigues, with the private Instructions of that Society to their Emissaries," in 1669, translated from the French; "A Treatise of the Holy Communion," in 1677, 8vo.; different letters to the clergy of the diocese of London, dated in 1679, 1680, 1682, 1683, 1684, and 1685, concerning baptism, the lord's supper, catechising, the half communion, prayers in an unknown tongue, prayers to saints, confirmation, visitation of the sick, and upon the 54th, 118th, and 13th canons, which were reprinted together in 1686, in 12mo. under the title of "Episcopalia, or Letters of the Right Reverend Father in God, Henry, Lord Bishop of London, to the Clergy, &c." There is also " a letter of his to a clergyman in his diocese, concerning non-resistance," written soon after the revolution, and inserted in the memoirs of the life of Mr. John Kettlewell. Bing. Brit. Tindal's Cont. of Rapin, vol. I. Burnet's own Times, vol. II.-M.

CONANT, JOHN, a learned and pious English divine in the seventeenth century, was born at Yeatenton, a small village in Devonshire, in the year 1608. After a diligent application to classical learning, under different masters, he was entered at Exeter college, Oxford, in the year 1626. In that seminary he studied with such assiduity, while he maintained at the same time the most regular and irreproachable man