CAMBRIDGE PLATONISTS. CAMBRONNE. CAMBRIDGE PLATONISTS. A school of ■nritcis ill the Enj;lish CIuulIi, members of the University of Camljritlye, in the hitter part of the Seventeenth Century, who sought to exhibit the entire rationality of the doctrines of the Christian religion, and drew largely from Plato in execution of this purpose. They were the liberals of their age, and were often styled 'Latitudinarians.' There had been a liberal party iu the early part of the century, but its liberalism 'as concerned with Church polity. It sought to maintain a comprehensive Cliurch. The liberalism of the Cambridge Platonists took another direction, for they sought to emphasize the great Ciiristian doctrines to the neglect of minor matters, often made the instruments of sectarian exclusiveness, and to show that theso great doctrines were identical with the teachings of the soundest philosophy. With a single ex- ception (^lore, educated at Emmanuel College, and of the Puritan party), they worked in great harmony: while they naturally belonged to the party that had formulated the Puritan theology in the Westminster Confession, they were led, by the prevailing laxity of morals and the mul- tiplication of sects, to endeavor to overcome the schism between divinity and morals. They were powerfully iiiHuenced by the philosophical cur- rents of their time, particularly by the writings of Descartes (Cudworth and Keen), less so by those of Bacon. But as a school, thej' were formed by the study of Plato, and of the Chris- tian Fathers who followed the Platonic course of thouglit — those of Alexandria. On the other hand, the school was largely determined by its fundamental antagonism to the doctrines of Holjbes, who founded his philosophy on the senses, and ignored the moral and religious pos- tulates of human nature. Against this philos- ophy the Cambridge Platonists waged uncom- promising and unceasing war. Their liberalism, however, brought them into suspicion, and they ■were generally regarded with disfavor. The principal representatives of this school were the following: Benjamin Wliichcole. born in Shropshire, IMarch 11, 1G09-10. died at Easter, 168.3, in Cam- bridge. His father was apparently a country squire, the owner of Whicheote Hall. He was sent to Emmanuel College in 1G26, took his B.A. in 1020, and his M.A. in 1{)33. when he became fellow of his college. In l(i3ti he was ordained, in 1043 presented to the living of Xorth Cad- bury, where he probably married. He was made provost of King's College. Cambridge, in 1644, and continued to occupy this post till the Resto- ration, 1660, when he was displaced by the royal order. His great work here was iierfornied as a teadier, and particularly as the preacher of the Sunday afternoon lecture in Trinity Church. In these sermons he sought to lift the plane of cur- rent religious thinking, and he exercised the great influence which belongs to those whom the sight of a receptive audience quickens to elo- quence. After his removal he occupied two dif- ferent charges in London, s])endiiig his last fif- teen years in Saint I^aurence .Jewry, where he was attentively heard by a small but select con- gregation. He pulilished nothing himself. After his death a few sheets of Select Xotions were published in 1683, a Treatise of Devotion in 1697. then Select Sermons (1698) with a preface by the Earl of Shaftesburv (reprinted, Edin- VoL. iv— (■,. burgh, 1742); and in the years 1700 11. a new edition of the sermons from the author's own 51SS. in four volumes, with a volume of Apho- risms ( 1753) . John Smith, one of the most gifted of the school, born at Achurch, Northamptonshire, 1618, died August 7, 1652, has left behind almost no materials for a biographj-. He entered Em- manuel College, Cambridge,' in 1636. took his B.A. in 1640, and his il.A. in 1644, at which time he was chosen fellow of Queen's College. His health seems to have been precarious from the tirst. His labors were principally confined to his office as teacher, for which he had remarkable qualifications. His preaching was with a rare degree of eloquence, which can still be felt in the Discourses (1660), which remain to us. He gained niucli local fame as a lecturer on mathe- matics. His personal character was such as to excite the admiration and love of his asso- ciates in a remarkable degree. As a founder of the school, his special service was in develop- ing the foundations of a Christian philosophy. The two most famous of the Cambridge Platonists are Ralph Cudworth and Henri/ More, whose lives will be found in their alphabetical places in this Encyclopsedia. More obscure were Nathaniel Culrerwel, of a genius and eloquence like Smith's, who entered Emmanuel in 1633 and took his M.A. in 1640, Mas a fellow and preacher in the College Chapel, died about 1651, 'and whose Discourse of the Light of Nature was published 1632; John Worthinyton, a native of Jlanchester, educated at Emmanuel College, Master of Jesus College till the Restoration, then held a succession of livings, and finally Hackney, where he was chosen lecturer in 1670, his Dis- courses being published in 172,5, and Miscel- lanies: in 1704; George Iusf, fellow of Christ's College in 1657. after the Restoration in Ireland, where, in 1667. he became Bishop of Dromore, died in 1670, his Discourse of Truth appear- ing in 1682; Simon Patrick (1626-1707). Bishop of' Chichester, 1689. and of Ely. 1691; Edivard Fouler, took his M.A. in Trinity College, Cam- bridge, about 1655, finally Bisho]) of Gloucester; Joseph Glanvill and John Norri^i, both Oxford students, but impregnated with the spirit of the Cambridge Platonism. Consult John Tulloch, Jfational Theologij and Christian Philosophg in England in the Seventeenth Centuri/. Vol. 11. (Edinburgh. 1872). CAMBBIDGESHIBE. An inland agricul- tural county of England (Map: England. G 4). Area, 820 square miles. About three-fourths of the county consists of arable land, meadow, and pasture, the rest being fens. The chief rivers are the Ouse, which crosses the middle of the county from west to east, with its tributary the Cam, the Xene, which borders the county on the north, and the Lark. These are all navigable to a certain extent. County townu. Cambridge. Population, in 1891, 188,961; in 1901. 190,700. Consult CoMvbeare, History of Cambridgeshire (London, lSl'i7). CAMBRONNE, kiLN'brim', Pierre Jacques Etik.nxk. Count of (1770-1842). A brave and blunt soldier of Xapohu)!), mo.st widely known, perhaps, for a phrase he never uttered. He was born at Saint-Seb.astien, near Nantes, fought in the Vendee in 1792, distinguished himself at Zurich in 1799, and participated in the cam- Iiaigns of the Empire between 1800 and 1813.
