Definitions of shaftesbury, anthony ashley cooper, earl of
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1. shaftesbury, anthony ashley cooper, earl of a notable politician, prominent in the times of Cromwell and Charles II., born, of good parentage, in Dorsetshire; passed through Oxford and entered Lincoln's Inn; sat in the Short Parliament of 1640; changed from the Royalist to the Parliamentary side during the Civil War, and was a member of Cromwell's Council of State, but latterly attacked the Protector's Government, and was one of the chief promoters of the Restoration; Chancellor of the Exchequer in 1661, and later a member of the "Cabal"; he in 1672 was created an earl and Lord Chancellor, but, hoodwinked by Charles in the secret Treaty of Dover, went over to the Opposition, lost his chancellorship, supported an Anti-Catholic policy, leagued himself with the Country Party, and intrigued with the Prince of Orange; came into power again, after the "Popish Plot," as the champion of toleration and Protestantism, became President of the Council, and passed the Habeas Corpus Act; his virulent attacks on James and espousal of Monmouth's cause brought about his arrest on a charge of high treason (1681), and although acquitted he deemed it expedient to flee to Holland, where he died; one of the ablest men of his age, but of somewhat inscrutable character, whose shifting policy seems to have been chiefly dominated by a regard for self; is the "Achitophel" of Dryden's great satire (1621-1683).
2. shaftesbury, anthony ashley cooper, earl of grandson of the preceding, philosopher, born in London; was an ardent student in his youth, made the grand tour, and entered Parliament in 1694, moving to the Upper House on the death of his father in 1699, where, as a staunch Whig, he gave steady support to William III.; withdrew from politics, never a congenial sphere to him, on the accession of Anne, and followed his bent for literature and philosophy; in 1711 his collected writings appeared under the title "Characteristics," in which he expounds, in the polite style of the 18th century, with much ingenuity and at times force, a somewhat uncritical optimism, enunciating, among other things, the doubtful maxim that ridicule is the test of truth (1671-1713).
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