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INTRODUCTION.

I.

Biographical Sketch.

Thomas Hobbes was born in Westport, England, April 5, 1588. In his metrical autobiography he refers to his birth as follows:


Natus erat noster servator Homo-Deus annos Mille et quingentos, octo quoque undecies. Stabat et Hispanis in portubus inclyta classis Hostílis, nostro mox peritura mari; Primo vere; dies et quintus inibat Aprilis: Illo vermiculus tempore nascot ego, In Malmesburia.


He was the son of Rev. Thomas Hobbes, vicar of Charlton and Westport. When four years of age he was sent to school at Westport. Four years later he went to Malmesbury School, and shortly afterward attended a private school in Westport. In 1602-3 he entered Magdalen Hall, Oxford, receiving his bachelor's degree Feb. 5, 1607-8. These five years spent at Oxford were years of great political and ecclesiastical strife, and undoubtedly had much to do in determining the future conduct of Thomas Hobbes. The curriculum was still dominated by scholastic influences and had very little attraction for him. In the year of his graduation he was engaged by William Cavendish, afterward Earl of Devonshire, as companion for

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