EACHARD, John.

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Mr Hobb's State of Nature Considered; First editions of both the first and second part of the English Divine and Satirist John Eachard's witty refutation of Hobbes's philosophy, in the form of a dialogue between a thinly veiled Hobbes and Eachard."Philautus (Hobbes) is a megalomaniac know-all afflicted by the fear and selfishness Hobbes saw in human nature. Timothy, by contrast, has intelligence, common sense, and good humour. The colloquial language of both speakers makes the discussion lively and concrete - the same technique as employed in Contempt of the Clergy. Dryden, in his 'Life of Lucian', ranks Eachard with Erasmus and Fontenelle as modern exponents of the Lucianic dialogue: by this method, Dryden writes, he 'has more baffled the Philosopher of Malmsbury, than those who assaulted him with the blunt, heavy Arguments, drawn from Orthodox Divinity'. Eachard's continuation of the dialogue, Some Opinions of Mr. Hobbs Considered (1673), was less popular; unlike his other works it was not reprinted in the seventeenth century" (ODNB).The first part is appended with a response to critics of his 1670 work The Grounds and Occasions of the Contempt of the Clergy and Religion Enquired Into, a satire on the clergy for their lack of education and want of true vocation.Both books have the bookplate to inner front cover of the Fox Pointe Manor library of Howard and Linda Knohl, an impressive collection assembled in Southern California and specializing in 16th and 17th century Englis

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