In the corrigenda and addenda to Kippis's _Biographia Britannica_, prefixed
to vol. iii. is the following note, under the head of _Berkeley_:
"On the same authority [viz., that of Dr. George Berkeley, the bishop's
son,] we are assured that his father did not write, and never read
through, the _Adventures of Signor Gaudentio di Lucca_. Upon this head,
the editor of the _Biographia_ must record himself as having exhibited
an instance of the folly of building facts upon the foundation of
conjectural reasonings. Having heard the book ascribed to Bishop
Berkeley, and seen it mentioned as his in catalogues of libraries, I
read over the work again under this impression, and fancied that I
perceived internal arguments of its having been written by our
excellent prelate. I was even pleased with the apprehended ingenuity of
my discoveries. But the whole was a mistake, which, whilst it will be a
warning to myself, may furnish an instructive lesson to others. At the
same time, I do not retract the character which I have given of the
_Adventures of Signor Gaudentio di Lucca_. Whoever was the author of
that performance, it does credit to his abilities and to his heart."
After this decisive testimony of Bishop Berkeley's son, accompanied by the
candid confession of error on the part of the editor of the _Biographia
Britannica_, the rumour as to Berkeley's authorship of _Gaudentio_ ought to
have been finally discredited. Nevertheless, it seems still to maintain its
ground: it is stated as probable by Dunlop, in his _History of Fiction_;
while the writer of a useful Essay on "Social Utopias," in the third volume
of _Chambers's Papers for the People_, No. 18., treats it as an established
fact.