MANDEVILLE, Bernard de, English writer: b. Dort, Holland, c. 1670; d. London, 21 Jan. 1732 or -33. He was educated at the Erasmus School, Rotterdam, and et the Univers ity of Leyden, where, in 1691, he received the de gree of doctor of medicine. The date and occa sion of his removal to England are unknown; but he appears soon to have settled in London where with but small success he practised his profession. He lived obscurely, with distillers and Dutch merchants as his ordinary acquaint ances. Franklin, in his 'Autobiography,) re cords that in 1725, at "the Horns, a pale-ale house in — Lane, Cheapside," he was intro duced "to Dr. Mandeville, author of the 'Fable of the Bees,' who had a club there, of which he was the soul, being a most facetious, enter taining companion." Franklin at this time was merely a struggling young printer. unknown to fame: Mandeville gained no honor from his acquaintance. Mandeville had, however, a few acquaintances outside his tavern circle. Of these, the most important was Lord Maccles field, the chief justice, at whose house Mande ville also met Addison. Of their world, how ever, Mandeville was never a real part, socially or intellectually.
Mandeville wrote much both in verse and prose; but his chief claim to notoriety was the authorship of the of the Bees.' This, in its earliest form, consisted solely of a rude poem, in octo-syllabic couplets far from Mil tonian, entitled, 'The Grumbling Hive, or Knaves turned In it, he related how, so long as they remained unscrupulous, the bees increased in numbers and prosperity, and how by their moral reformation the bees gained only their material ruin. He concluded that " To enjoy the world's conveniences, Be famed in war, yet live in ease, Without great vices is a vain Utopia, seated in the brain.
Fraud. Luxury, and Pride must live, While we the benefits receive." Of this piece, the earliest known edition is that of 1705. Mandeville's assertion that an earlier edition was printed is unsupported by evidence_ In 1714, Mandeville reprinted the poem with prose additions, the whole bearing the new title 'The Fable of the Bees, or Private Vices Public Benefits.' This he further enlarged in the edi tion of 1723.
At this point, the grand jury of Middlesex interfered, and, in July 1723, presented the 'Fable) as a nuisance. Immediately the book became a subject of general attack. Richard Fiddes and John Dennis in 1724, William Law. Francis Hutcheson in 1725-27, Archibald Camp bell in 1728 and Bishop Berkeley in 1732, all assailed Mandeville in turn. By Law and by Berkeley, Mandeville was intellectually out classed; but he held up his side of the argu ment, adding to his (Fable,' in successive edi tions, tract after tract. That the 'Fable) should be thus attacked is not surprising. Its funda mental thesis, that private vices are public benefits, was as subversive of morality as its illustrative material was foul and its style plausible and forceful. Whether Mandeville was sincere or ironical in his argument is in dispute. That he thoroughly enjoyed, his own foulness cannot be doubted. But at least he ac complished one good thing; he pricked the sham morality of Shaftesbury. Other works by Mandeville are 'Esop Dressed, or a Collectim of Fables Writ in Familiar Verses' (17041; 'Free Thoughts on Religion) (1720) ; (En quiry into the Causes of the Frequent Execu tions at (1725). Consult Robertson, J. M., 'Pioneer Humanists' (London 1907).