Shaftesbury, Anthony Ashley Cooper

Shaftesbury, Anthony Ashley Cooper,

the third earl of; was born in London, Feb. 26, 1671. He was educated under the supervision of Locke, entered Parliament in 1693, from which he withdrew on account of delicate health, and took up his residence in Holland in 1698 or 1699. He entered the House of Lords in 1700, supporting the measures of William III, and retiring upon the king's death. He was noted as a philanthropist, was stigmatized as a freethinker, and wrote a Letter on Enthusiasn (1708) in defense of the rights of the French Prophets: — The Moralist (1709), a philosophical rhapsody: — Sensus Communis (1710): — -A Soliloquy, or Advice to an Author (1710). He died at Naples, Feb. 5, 1713. His principal work, Characteristics of Men, Matters, Opinions, and Times, was posthumously published (1713-23, 3 vols.).