and Berlin, of which he published an ‘Account’ in 1705. Sophie Charlotte, queen of Prussia, admitted him to her philosophical conversations (see Carlyle, Friedrich, bk. i. ch. iv.; and Erman, Mémoires de … Sophie Charlotte, 1801, pp. 198–211). To her he addressed the letters to ‘Serena.’ They contain some interesting remarks, and especially an argument to prove that motion is ‘essential to matter,’ which is described as remarkable in Lange's ‘Geschichte des Materialismus’ (2nd edit. i. 272–6, ii. 96). The letter of 1705 shows that Toland was anxious to be employed by the government, of which his old patron Harley was now a member. He thinks that Godolphin might employ him as a correspondent at Hanover, where he would not be either ‘minister or spy,’ but welcome everywhere as ‘a lover of learning.’ He also would not object to his appointment being ‘paid quarterly.’ Harley made some use of him as of other authors. He was employed to write a ‘Memorial of the State of England’ in answer to the ‘Memorial of the Church of England’ by James Drake [q. v.], which had made a great noise. He defended Harley and Marlborough in further pamphlets, and in 1707 edited a manuscript ‘Oration’ against the French, in Harley's possession. He made another foreign tour, of which an account is given by Des Maizeaux. According to Des Maizeaux, a translation of the elector palatine's ‘Declaration … in favour of his Protestant Subjects’ (1707) brought him a mission from the elector's minister in England. Toland again went to Berlin, which he was forced to leave by ‘an incident too ludicrous to be mentioned.’ Thence he visited Hanover and Düsseldorf, where the elector palatine gave him a gold chain and a hundred ducats; and went to Vienna, where he was employed to procure a countship of the empire for a French banker in Holland. Toland failed in this, which possibly (see below) covered another, mission, and, after visiting Prague at the end of 1707, got back in a penniless state to Holland. Here he stayed for some time, and published his ‘Adeisidæmon,’ dedicated to Anthony Collins [q. v.] the deist, and one or two other pamphlets. In Holland he made some acquaintance with Prince Eugène, who ‘gave him several marks of his generosity.’ Toland returned to England in 1710. He wrote some pamphlets against Sacheverell and Jacobitism. Two ‘Memorials’ of 1711 (printed in the Collection of Pieces, ii. 215–38), addressed to Harley (now Earl of Oxford), imply that he believed himself to have strong claims upon the minister. He had been employed in some way as an agent, and refers to his ‘impenetrable negotiation at Vienna,’ which was rewarded ‘by the prince that employed me.’ He wished to act as Oxford's ‘private monitor,’ and would like a moderate ‘annual allowance,’ while declining a public post. He is in favour of a coalition of moderate whigs and tories, and says that he assumes Harley's fidelity to principles of toleration and to the Hanoverian succession. He speaks bitterly of the favour shown to S[wift] and P[rior], who are allowed a familiarity now denied to him. These memorials, if ever sent, probably show that Toland's vanity, worked upon by Oxford's cajoleries, had given him an excessive notion of his own importance, but are also favourable to his political honesty. He wrote various pamphlets against Jacobites and high-churchmen, and early in 1714 published the ‘Art of Restoring,’ in which Oxford was accused of intending to follow in the steps of Monck. The pamphlet made a sensation, especially when it was known to be the work of a former dependent of the minister (Boyer, Queen Anne, p. 661), and went through ten editions.
After the accession of George I Toland continued to write political pamphlets in the same sense. They attracted little attention, however, though the ‘State Anatomy’ (1716) was answered by De Foe and Richard Fiddes [q. v.] He returned to other speculations in ‘Nazarenus’ (1718) and ‘Tetradymus’ (1720), discussing various points of ecclesiastical history in a freethinking spirit. His most curious performance was the ‘Pantheisticon’ (1720). It sets forth the principles of a supposed philosophical society of pantheists who meet and go through a kind of liturgy commemorating ancient philosophers. He was accused by Francis Hare [q. v.], in his ‘Scripture Vindicated,’ of inserting in some copies a prayer to Bacchus, which, however, according to Des Maizeaux, was written in ridicule by an adversary. Toland had the book privately printed and ‘distributed copies with a view of receiving some presents for them.’ This, no doubt, was the real motive of the performance. Toland, in fact, was sinking into distress. He seems to have been partly supported by Robert, lord Molesworth [q. v.] Some letters printed in the ‘Collection of Pieces’ show that Molesworth's favour enabled him to make some speculations in the South Sea business in 1720. Molesworth also entrusted him with the publication of the letters to himself from Shaftesbury (1721). Toland from about 1718 lived at Putney. His health failed at the end of 1721, and, after suffering patiently, he died
