Richard Bentley FRS (; 27 January 1662 – 14 July 1742) was an English classical scholar, critic, and theologian. Considered the "founder of historical philology", Bentley is widely credited with establishing the English school of Hellenism. In 1892, A. E. Housman called Bentley "the greatest scholar that England or perhaps that Europe ever bred".
Bentley's Dissertation upon the Epistles of Phalaris, published in 1699, proved that the letters in question, supposedly written in the 6th century BCE by the Sicilian tyrant Phalaris, were actually a forgery produced by a Greek sophist in the 2nd century CE. Bentley's investigation of the subject is still regarded as a landmark of textual criticism. He also showed that the sound represented in transcriptions of some Greek dialects by the letter digamma appeared also in Homeric poetry, even though it was not represented there in writing by any letter.
Bentley became Master of Trinity College, Cambridge in 1700. His autocratic manner and contemptuous treatment of the college fellows led to extensive controversy and litigation, but he remained in that post until his death, more than four decades later. In 1717 Bentley was appointed as the Regius Professor of Divinity at the University of Cambridge. As professor at Cambridge, Bentley introduced the first competitive written examinations in a Western university.
A fellow of the Royal Society, Bentley was interested in natural theology and the new physical sciences, subjects on which he corresponded with Isaac Newton. Bentley was in charge of the second edition of Newton's Principia Mathematica, although he delegated most of the scientific work involved to his pupil Roger Cotes.
Early life and education
Richard Bentley was born at his maternal grandparents' home at Oulton near Rothwell, Leeds, West Yorkshire, in northern England. A blue plaque near his birthplace commemorates the fact. His father was Thomas Bentley, a yeoman farmer of Oulton. His grandfather, Captain James Bentley, is said to have suffered for the Royalist cause following the English Civil War, leaving the family in reduced circumstances. Bentley's mother, the daughter of a stonemason, had some education, and was able to give her son his first lessons in Latin.
After attending grammar school in Wakefield, Bentley entered St John's College, Cambridge in 1676. He afterwards obtained a scholarship and received the degrees of BA in 1680 and MA in 1683.
Academic work
Bentley never became a college fellow, which would have been the more natural course to an academic career. Instead, he was appointed headmaster of Spalding Grammar School before he was 21 years old. Edward Stillingfleet, the dean of St Paul's Cathedral in London, hired Bentley as tutor to his son. This allowed Bentley to meet eminent scholars, have access to the best private library in England, and become familiar with Dean Stillingfleet. During his six years as tutor, Bentley also made a comprehensive study of Greek and Latin writers, storing up knowledge which he would use later in his scholarship.
In 1689, Stillingfleet became bishop of Worcester and Bentley's pupil went up to Wadham College, Oxford, accompanied by his tutor. At Oxford, Bentley soon met John Mill, Humphrey Hody, and Edward Bernard. He studied the manuscripts of the Bodleian, Corpus Christi, and other college libraries. He collected material for literary studies. Among these are a corpus of the fragments of the Greek poets and an edition of the Greek lexicographers.
The Oxford (Sheldonian) press was about to bring out an edition (the editio princeps) from the unique manuscript of the Chronographia in the Bodleian Library. It was a universal history (down to AD 560) in Greek by John Malalas or "John the Rhetor" of Antioch (date uncertain, between 600 and 1000). The editor, John Mill, principal of St Edmund Hall, asked Bentley to review it and make any pertinent remarks on the text.
Bentley wrote the Epistola ad Johannem Millium, which is about a hundred pages long and was included at the end of the Oxford Malalas (1691). That short treatise placed Bentley ahead of all living English scholars. The ease with which he restored corrupted passages, the certainty of his emendation and command over the relevant material, are in a style totally different from the careful and laborious learning of Hody, Mill or Edmund Chilmead. To the small circle of classical students (lacking the great critical dictionaries of modern times), it was obvious that he was a critic beyond the ordinary.