Berkeley, George

berk'le, George (1685-1753), an English churchman, better known as Bishop Berkeley. He was a native of Kilcrin, Ireland. In philosophy he taught that the belief in the existence of everything outside of mind is false, that there is no world of matter, except as it exists in our imagination. "Matter, so far as it is thought to exist beyond the circle of consciousness, is inconceiveable, absurd, impossible." He became much interested in the conversion of the American Indians to Christianity, and obtained permission to establish a college for them in the Bermuda Islands. He resided for a time at Newport, Rhode Island, and acquired an estate, which, with a number of books, he bestowed on Yale College. In literature he is remembered for various sayings. The phrase, "to cheer, but not inebriate," occurs in an essay in which he praises the mild and benign effects of tar water on the constitution. We conclude with a quotation taken from his essay On the Prospect of Planting Arts and Learning in America: