WOBO: Search for words and phrases in the texts here...

In 1720, Theobild introduced upon the stage a tragedy called “The Double Falshood;” the greatest part of which he asserted was Shakspeare’s. Pope insinuated to the town, that it was all, or certainly the greatest part, written, not by Shakspeare, but Theobald himself; and quotes this line,

which he calls a marvellous line of Theobald, “unless,” says he, “the play, called * The Double Falshood,' be (as he would have it thought) Shakspeare’s; but, whether this is his or not, he proves Shakspeare to have written as bad.” The argument* which Theobald uses to prove the play to be Shakspeare’s, are indeed, far from satisfactory, and it was afterwards Dr. Farmer’s opinion that it was Shirley’s. It was, however, vindicated by Theobald, who was attacked again in “The Art of Sinking in Poetry.” Theobald endeavoured to prove false criticisms, want of understanding Shakspeare’s manner, and perverse cavilling in Pope: he justified himself and the great dramatic poet, and attempted to prove the tragedy in question to be in reality Shakspeare’s, and not unworthy of him. Theobald, besides his edition of Shakspeare’s plays, in which he collated the ancient copies, and corrected with great pains and ingenuity many faults, was the author of several dramatic pieces. Not less than twenty, printed or acted, are enumerated in the “Biographia Dramatica.” He was also concerned in various translations, and at his death in Sept. 1744, had made some progress in an edition of Beaumont and Fletcher.

As the name is not very common, it may be necessary to mention a later writer, a John Theobald, who had the degree of a doctor of physic, but does not appear to have been of the London college of physicians. He published a little volume of poetry in 1753, called “Musa Panegyrica,” and died May 17, 1760. Amongst many other performances, he produced a translation of Merope, translated from Voltaire, 1744, 8vo.

, an ancient Greek poet, was a Sicilian 1 and born at Syracuse, the son of Praxagoras and Philina. He is said to have been the scholar of Philetas, and Asclepiades, or Sicelidas: Philetas was an elegiac poet of the island of Cos, had the honour to be preceptor to Ptolemy Philadelphus, and is celebrated by Ovid and Propertius: Sieelidas was a Samian, a writer of epigcams: Theocritus mentions both these with honour in his seventh Idyllium. As to the age in which he flourished, it seems indisputably to be ascertained by two Idylliums that remain: one is addressed to Hiero king of Syracuse, and the other to Ptole^ ray Philadelphus, the Egyptian monarch. Hiero began his reign, as Casaubon asserts in his observations on Poly^­bius, in the second year of the 126th olympiad, or about 275 years before Christ; and Ptolemy in the fourth year of the 123d olympiad. Though the exploits of Hiero are recorded greatly to his advantage by Polybius, in the first book of his history; though he had many virtues, had frequently signalized his courage and conduct, and distinguishes himself by several achievements in war; yet he stems, at least in the early part of his reign, to have expressed no great affection for learning or men of letters: and this is supposed to have given occasion to the 16th Llyllinm, inscribed with the name of Hiero; where the poet asserts the dignity of his profession, complains that it met with neither favour nor protection, and in a very artful manner touches upon some of the virtues of this prince, and insinuates what an illustrious figure he would have made in poetry, had he been as noble a patron, as he was an argument for the Muses.

His not meeting with the encouragement he expected in his own country, was in all probability the reason that induced Theocritus to leave Syracuse for the more friendly climate of Alexandria, where Ptolemy Philadelphus then reigned in unrivalled splendour, the treat encourager of arts and sciences, and the patron of learned men. In his voyage to Egypt he touched at Cos, an island in the Archipelago not far from Rhodes, where he was honourably entertained by Phrasidamus and Antigenes, who invited him into the country to celebrate the festival of Ceres, as appears by the seventh Idyllium. There is every reason to imagine that he met with a more favourable reception at Alexandria, than he had experienced at Syracuse, from his encomium on Ptolemy, contained in the 17th Idy Ilium; where he rises above his pastoral style, and shows that he could upon occasion (as Virgil did afterwards) exalt his Sicilian Muse to a sublimer strain, paulo majora: he derives the race of Ptolemy from Hercules, he enumerates his many cities, he describes his great power and immense riches, but above all he commemorates his royal munificence to the sons of the Muses. Towards the conclusion of the 14th Idyllium, there is a short, but very noble panegyric on Ptolemy: in the 15th Idyllium he celebrates Berenice, the mother, and Arsinoe, the wife of Ptolemy. Little else of this poet’s life can be gathered from his works, except his friendship with Aratus, the famous author of the * 4 Phenomena;" to whom he addresses his sixth Idyllium, and whose amours he describes in the seventh. It is mentioned by all his biographers, that he red an ignominious death, and they derive their infuniiation from a distich of Ovid in his Ibis,

Sic auiniae laqueo sit via clausa tux. But it does not appear, that by the Syracusan poet, Ovid means Theocritus; more probably, as some commentators on the passage have supposed, Empedocles, who was a poet and philosopher of Sicily, is the person pointed at: others mink that Ovid by a small mistake or slip of his memory might confound Theocritus the rhetorician of Chios, who was executed by order of king Aritigonus, with Theocritus the poet of Syracuse.

The compositions of this poet are distinguished among the ancients by the name of “I-iyllia,” in order to express the smallness and variety of their natures; they would novr be called “Miscellanies, or Poems on several Occasions.” The nine first and the eleventh are confessed to be true pastorals, and hence Theocritus has usually passed for nothing more than a pastoral poet: yet he is manifestly robbed of a great part of his fame, if his other poems have not their proper laurels. For though the greater part of his “Idyllia” cannot be called the songs of shepherds, yet they have certainly their respective merits. His pastorals doubtless ought to be considered as the foundation of his credit. He was the earliest known writer of pastorals, and will be acknowledged to have excelled all his imitators, as much as originals usually do their copies. There are, says Dr. Warton, “few images and sentiments in the Eclogues of Virgil, but what are drawn from the Idylliums of Theocritus: in whom there is a rural, romantic wildness of thought, heightened by the Doric dialect; with such, lively pictures of the passions, and of simple unadorned nature, as are infinitely pleasing to lovers and judges of true poetry. Theocritus is indeed the great store-house of pastoral description; and every succeeding painter of rural beauty (except Thomson in his Seasons) hath copied his images from him, without ever looking abroad upon the face of nature themselves.” The same elegant critic, in his dissertation on pastoral poetry, says, “If I might venture to speak of the merits of the several pastoral writers, I would say, that in Theocritus we are charmed with a certain sweetness, a romantic rusticity and wildness, heightened by the Doric dialect, that are almost inimitable. Several of his pieces indicate a genius of a higher class, far superior to pastoral, and equal to the sublimest species of poetry: such are particularly his Panegyric on Ptolemy, the fight between Amycus and Pollux, the Epithalamium of Helen, the young Hercules, the grief of Hercules for Hylas, the death of Pentheus, and the killing of the Neniean Lion.” At the same time it imi;t be allowed that Theocritus descends sometimes into gross and mean ideas, and makes his shepherds ahusive and immodest, which is never the case with Virgil.

This poet was first published in folio at Milan in 1493, again by Aldus at Venice, in 1495, and by Henry Stephens at Paris, in 1566, with other Greek poets, and without a Latin version: a good edition also in Greek only was printed at Oxford, by bishop Fell, in 1676, 8vo. There are, since, the editions of Martin, Loud. 1760, 8vo, the very splendid one of Thomas Warton, 1770, 2 vols. 4to; and of Valckenaer, Leyden, 1773, 8vo. Dr. Thomas Edwards also published a very correct and critical edition of “Selecta quaedam Theocriti Idyllia,” 1779, 8vo.

king of Corsica, baron Niewhoff, grandee of Spain, baron of England, peer of France, baron of the holy empire, prince of the Papal throne for thus he styled himself; “a man whose claim to royalty,” says lord Orford, “was as indisputable, as the most ancient titles to any monarchy can pretend to be;” was born at Metz about 1696. The particulars of his eventful history are thus related. In March 1736, whilst the Corsican mal-contents were sitting in council, an English vessel from Tunis, with a passport from our consul there, arrived at a port then in the possession of the roal-contents. A stranger on board this vessel, who had the appearance of a person of distinction, no sooner went on shore, but was received with singular honours by the principal persons, who saluted him with the titles of excellency, and viceroy of Corsica. His attendants consisted of two officers, a secretary, a chaplain, a few domestics and Morocco slaves. He was conducted to the bishop’s palace; called Himself lord Theodore; whilst the chiefs knew more about him than they thought convenient to declare. From the vessel that brought him were debarked ten pieces of cannon, 4000 fire-locks, 3000 pair of shoes, a great quantity of provisions, and coin to the amount o 200,000 ducats. Two pieces of cannon were placed before his door, and he had 400 soldiers posted for his guard, He created officers, formed twenty-four companies of soldiers, distributed among the mal-contents the arms and shoes he had brought with him, conferred knighthood on one of the chiefs, appointed another his treasurer, and professed the Roman Catholic religion. Various conjectures were formed in different courts concerning him. The eldest son of the pretender, prince Ragotski, the duke de Ripperda, comte de Bonneval, were each in their turns supposed to be this stranger; all Europe was puzzled but the country of this stranger vas soon discovered he was, in fact, a Prussian, well known by the name of Theodore Antony, baron of Niewhoff.

Theodore was a knight of the Teutonic order, had successively been in the service of several German princes, had seen Holland, England, France, and Portugal; gained the confidence of the great at Lisbon, and passed there for a chargé des affaires from the emperor. This extraordinary man, with an agreeable person, had resolution, strong natural parts, and was capable of any enterprise. He was about fifty years of age. Upon his first landing, the chiefs of the Corsicans publicly declared to the people, that it was to him they were to be indebted for their liberties, and that he was arrived in order to deliver the island from the tyrannical oppressions of the Genoese. The general assembly offered him the crown, not as any sudden act into which they had been surprised, but with all the precaution that people coujd take to secure their freedom and happiness under it. Theodore, however, contented himself with the title of governor-general. In this quality he assembled the people, and administered an oath for preserving eternal peace among themselves; and severely did he exact obedience to this law.

He was again offered the title of king: he accepted it the 15th of April, 1736, was crowned king of Corsica, and received the oath of fidelity from his principal subjects, and the acclamations of all the people. The Genoese, alarmed at these proceedings, publicly declared him and his adherents guilty of high treason; caused it to be reported, that he governed in the most despotic manner, even to the putting to death many principal inhabitants, merely because they were Genoese; than which nothing could be more false, as appears from his manifesto, in answer to the edict. Theodore, however, having got together 25,000 men, found himself master of a country where the Genoese durst not appear he carried Porto Vecchio, and, May the 3d, blocked up the city of Bastia, but was soon obliged to retire. He then separated his force, was successful in his conquests, and came again before Bastia, which soon submitted to him. His court grew brilliant, and he conferred titles of nobility upon his principal courtiers.

Towards July, murmurs were spread of great dissatisfac^ tions, arising from the want of Theodore’s promised succours: on the other hand, a considerable armament sailed from Barcelona, as was supposed in his favour. At the same time France and England strictly forbade their subjects in any way to assist the mal-contents. Sept. the 2d, Theodore presided at a general assembly, and assured his subjects anew of the speedy arrival of the so much wanted succours. Dt-bates ran high; and Theodore was given to understand, that before the end of October he must resign the sovereign authority, or make good his promise. He received in the mean time large sums, but nobody knew whence they came: he armed some barques, and chased those of the Genoese which lay near the island. He now instituted the order of Deliverance, in memory of his delivering the country from the dominion of the Genoese. The monies he had received he caused to be new coined; and his affairs seemed to have a promising aspect: but the scene presently changed.

In the beginning of November, he assembled the chiefs; and declared, that he would not keep them longer in a state of uncertainty, their fidelity and confidence demanding of him the utmost efforts in their favour; and that he had determined to find out in person the succours he had so long expected. The chiefs assured him of their determined adherence to his interests. He named the principal among them to take the government in his absence, made all the necessary provisions, and recommended to them union in the strongest terms. The chiefs, to the number of forty-seven, attended him with the utmost respect, on the day of his departure, to the water-side, and even on board his vessel; where, after affectionately embracing them, he took his leave, and they returned on shore, and went immediately to their respective posts which he had assigned them; a demonstrative proof this, that he was not forced out of the island, did not quit it in disgust, or leave it in a manner inconsistent with his royal character. Thus ended the reign of Theodore, who arrived in a few days disguised in the habit of an abbé at Livonia, and thence, after a short stay, conveyed himself nobody knew whither. The next year, however, he appeared at Paris; was ordered to depart the kingdom in forty-eight hours; precipitately embarked at Rouen, and arrived at Amsterdam, attended by four Italian domestics; took up his quarters at an inn; and there two citizens arrested him, on a claim of 16,000 florins. But he soon obtained a protection, and found some merchants, who engaged to furnish him with a great quantity of ammunition for his faithful islanders. He accordingly went on board a frigate of fifty-two guns, and 150 men; but was soon afterwards seized at Naples in the house of the Dutch consul, and sent prisoner to the fortress of Cueta. This unhappy king, whose courage had raised him to a throne, not by a succession of bloody acts, but by the free choice of an oppressed nation, for many years struggled with fortune; and left no means untried, which policy could attempt, to recover his crown. At length he chose for his retirement this country, where he might enjoy that liberty, which he had so vainly endeavoured to fix to his Corsicans: but his situation here, by degrees, grew wretched; and he was reduced so low, as to be several years before his death, a prisoner for debt in the King’s-bench.

To the honour of some private persons, a charitable contribution was set on foot for him, in 1753; and, in 1757, at the expence of the late lord Orford, a marble monument was erected to his memory in the church-yard of St. Anne’s, Westminster, with the following inscription

Heroes and beggars, galjey slaves, and kings.

Bestow‘d a kingdom, and deny’d him bread. Theodore had a son, known by the name of colonel Frederick, who, after following his father into England, entered into the army in foreign service, but appears to have been disappointed in his hopes of rising, or acquiring even a competence, and after sustaining many distresses, without timely relief, put an end to his life, by a pistol, near the gate of Westminster Abbey, Feb. 1, 1797. He was a man of gentleman-like manners, and accomplishments, x and much regretted by those who knew him intimately. He was interred in the church-yard of St. Anne’s Soho, by the side of his father. He published in 17G8, “Memuires pour servir a l'Histoire de Corse,” 12mo, of which there is an English translation and, “A Description of Corsica, with an account of its temporary union to the crown of Great Britain, &c.” 8vo.

, archbishop of Canterbury, was a monk of Tarsus. He was ordained bishop by pope Vitalianus, and sent into England in the year 668, to govern the church of Canterbury. Being kindly received by king Egbert, he restored the faith, and promoted, or rather founded, a form of ecclesiastical discipline, which he is said to have exercised with great rigour, placing and displacing several bishops in an arbitrary manner, particularly those belonging to the diocese of York. He died Sept. 19, 690, aged eighty -eight. He is said to have imported into England a great many valuable Mss. Godwin mentions a Homer, extant in his time, of exquisite beauty. He is also the supposed founder of the school called Greeklade, whence arose the university of Oxford, but this is somewhat fabulous. What remains of his form of discipline, called the “Penitential,” and of his other works, has been collected by James Petit, and printed at Paris, 1677, 2 vols. 4to, with learned notes.

, so called from his being bishop of Mopsuestia, a city in Cilicia, was educated and ordained priest in a monastery, and became one of the greatest scholars of his time, and had the famous Nestorius for a disciple. He died in the year 429, or 430. This bishop wrote a great number of learned works, of which are now only extant, “A Commentary on the Psalms,” which is in father Corder’s “Catena,” the authenticity of which was verified, in one of his dissertations by the duke of Orleans, who died in 1752, at Paris, one of the most learned princes Europe has produced. Theodore left also a “Commentary” in ms. on the twelve minor prophets; and several “Fragments,” enumerated hy Dupin, which are printed in the “Bibliotheca” of Photius. Those parts of his works supposed to contain the distinction of two persons in Christ, the letter from Ibas, bishop of Edossa, who defended him, and the anathemas published by the celebrated Theodoret, bishop of Cyrus, against St. Cyril, in favour of Theodore of Mopsuestia, occasioned no little disturbance in the church. This dispute is called the affair of the “Three Chapters,” and was not settled till the fifth general council, in the year 553, when he and his writings were anathematized. His confession of faith may be found in father Garnier’s Dissertations on Marius Mercator.

, an illustrious writer of the church, was born at Antioch about the year 386, of parents who were both pious and opulent. His birth has been represented as accompanied with miracles before and after, according to his own account, in his “Religious History;” in which he gravely informs us, that it was by the prayers of a religious man, called Macedonius, that God granted his motirer to conceive a son, and bring him into the world. When the holy anchorite promised her this blessing, she engaged herself on her part to devote him to God; and accordingly called him Theodoretus, which signifies either given by God, or devoted to God. To promote this latter design, he was sent at seven years of age to a monastery, where he learned the sciences, theology, and devotion. He had for his masters Theodore of Mopsuestia, and St. John Chrysostom, and made under them a very uncommon progress. His learning and piety becoming known to the bishops of Antioch, they admitted him into holy orders; yet he did not upon that account change either his habitation or manner of living, but endeavoured to reconcile the exercises of a religious life with tha function of a clergyman. ' After the death of his parents, he distributed his whole inheritance to the poor, and reserved nothing to himself. The bishopric of Cyrus becoming vacant about the year 420, the bishop of Antioch ordained Theodoret against his will, and sent him to govern that dumb. Cyrus was a city of Syria, in the province of Euphratesia, an unpleasant and barren country, but very populous. The inhabitants commonly spake the Syriac to;ig.e, Tew of them understanding Greek; they were almost all poor, rude, and barbarous; many of them were engaged in profane superbtitions, or in such gross errors as shewed them to be rather Heathens than Christians. The learning and worth of Theodoret, which were really very great, seemed to qualify him for a better see; yet he remained in this, and discharged all the offices of a good bishop and good man. He was afterwards engaged in the Nestorian dispute, very much against his will; but at length retired to his see, spent his life in composing books, and in acts of piety and charity, and died there in the year 457, aged seventy and upwards. He wrote “Commentaries upon the Holy Scriptures” an “Ecclesiastical History” a “Religious Histor\ T” containing the lives and praises of thirty monks, and several other things, which are still extant.

Great encomiums have been bestowed upon this writer, particularly by Dupin, who asserts that “Of all the fathers who have composed works of different kinds, Theodoret is one of those who has succeeded the very best in every kind. Some have been excellent writers in matters of controversy, but bad interpreters of Scripture; others have been good historians, but bad divines; some have had good success in morality, who have had no skill in doctrinal points; those who have applied themselves to confute Paganism by their own principles and authors, have usually Lad little knowledge in the mysteries of our religion; and lastly, it is very rare for those. who have addicted themselves to works of piety to be good critics. Theodoret had all these qualities; and it may be said, that he has equally deserved the name of a good interpreter, divine, historian, writer in controversy, apologist for religion, and author of works of piety. But he hath principally excelled in his compositions on Holy Scripture, and has outdone almost all other commentators, according to the judgment of the learned Phqtius. His style, says that able critic, is veryproper for a commentary; for he explains, in just and significant terms, whatsoever is obscure and difficult in the text, and render* the mind more fit to read and understand it by the elegance of his style. He never wearies his reader with long digressions, but on the contrary labours to instruct him clearly, neatly, and methodically, in every thing that seems hard. He never departs from the purity and elegance of the Attic dialect, unless when he is obliged to speak of abstruse matters, to which the ears are not accustomed: for it is certain that he passes over nothing that needs explication; and it is almost impossible to find any interpreter who unfolds all manner of difficulties better, and teaves fewer things obscure. We may find many others who write elegantly and explain clearly, but we shall find few who have forgotten nothing which needed illustration, without being too diffuse, and without running out into digressions, at least such as are not absolutely necessary to clear the matter in hand. Yet this is what Theodoret has observed throughout his commentaries, in. which he hath opened the text admirably well by his accurate inquiries.” Other writers, however, have not expressed so high an opinion of Theodoret. Beausobre, in his History of the Manichees, says that “Theodoret is, in my opinion, one of the most valuable of the fathers. He is learned; he reasons well, especially in his dialogues against the Greek heresies of his times: he is a good literal interpreter of the Scriptures. I cannot help admiring his prudence and moderation, when I consider that he ended his Ecclesiastical History at the time when the Nestorian quarrels, in which he was so deeply interested, began. But, I fear, his zeal against heretics imposed upon him almost as much, as his admiration for the heroes of the ascetic life, with whom he was charmed. Monasteries have undoubtedly sent forth great men into the world, but these disciples of the monks contracted there in their youth a superstitious disposition, which is hardly ever thrown off; and the weak side of this able man seems to have been an excessive credulity.” In truth, Theodoret surpasses all other writers in admiration of monastic institutions, and is credulous beyond measure in subjects of that nature. Yet he was undoubtedly one of the most learned and best men in the Eastern church. His pacific conduct displeased the bigots, during the Nestorian and Eutychian controversies, and because he inclined to healing methods, he was condemned at one of the synods, and was not without difficulty reinstated. “His works,” says Milner, “are large, on a variety of subjects; but they speak not for him equally with his life; and it will be sufficient to say, that his theology, with a stronger mixture of superstitioiij was of the same kind as that of Chrysostom. But his spirit was humble, heavenly, charitable; and he seems to have walked in the iaith, hope, and love of the gospel, a shining ornament in a dark age and country.”

The works of Theodoret were published in Greek and Latin, by father Sirmond, at Paris, 164-2, in 4 vols. folio; a work not of much pecuniary value unless when joined with a fifth, which the Jesuit Gamier added, in 1684, consisting of other pieces, which had never been printed before, of supposititious pieces, learned dissertation*, and an account of the life, principles, and writings of Theodoret. A new edition has since been published by Schultze, Halae, 1768 74, in 5 vols. 4to, or in 10 vols. 8vo. The “Ecclesiastical History” of Theodoret, which is divided into five books, is a kind of supplement to Socrates and Sozomen, as being written after theirs, about the year 450. It begins where Eusebius leaves off, at the rise of the Arian heresy in 322, and ends with 427, before the beginning of the Nestorian heresy. It has been translated and published by Valesius, with Eusebius and the other ecclesiastical historians, and republished with additional notes, by Reading, at London, 1720, in 3 vols. folio.

, called Tripolites, or of Tripoli, was a celebrated mathematician, who flourished, as Saxius seems inclined to think, in the first century. He is mentioned by Suidas, as probably the same with Theodosius, the philosopher of Bythinia, who, Strabo says, excelled in mathematics. He appears to have cultivated chiefly that part of geometry which relates to the doctrine of the sphere, on which he wrote three books containing fifty-nine propositions, all demonstrated in the pure geometrical manner of the ancients, and of which Ptolomy as well as all succeeding writers made great use. These three books were translated by the Arabians out of the Greek into their own language, and from the Arabic the work was again translated into Latin, and printed at Venice. But the Arabic rersion being very defective, a more complete edition was published in Greek and Latin at Paris, in 1558, by John Pena (See Pena) professor of astronomy. Theodosius’s works were also commented upon by others, and lastly by De Chales, in his “Cursus Mathematicus.” But that edition of Theodosius’ s spherics which is now most in use, was translated and published by our countryman the learned Dr. Barrow, in 1675, illustrated and demonstrated in anew and concise method. By this author’s’ account, Theodosius appears not only to he a great master in this more difficult part of geometry, but the first considerable author of antiquity who has written on thai subject. Theodosius also wrote concerning the celestial houses; and of dnys and nights; copies of which, in Greek, are in the king’s library at Paris, and of which there was a Latin edition, published by Peter Dasypody in 1572.

, a celebrated bishop of Orleans, one of the most learned men of the ninth century, was born in Cisalpine Gaul. Charlemagne made him abbot of Fleury f then bishop of Orleans about the year 793, and chose him to sign his will in the year 811; Louis le Debonnaire had also a high esteem for him. But Theodulphus being accused of having joined in the conspiracy formed by Berenger, king of Italy, was committed to prison at Angers, where he composed the hymn beginning Gloria, laus, et honor, part of which, in the catholic service, is sung on Palm Sunday. It is said that Theodnlphus singing this hymn at his prison window while the emperor passed by, that prince was so charmed with it that he set him at liberty. He died about the year 821. In the Library of the fathers, d'AcherPs “Spicilegium,” and father Labor’s “Councils,” is a treatise by this prelate on baptism, another on the Holy Ghost, two “Capitularia,” addressed to his clergy, some “Poems,” and other works the best edition of which is by father Sirmond, 1646, 8vo the second of the “Capitularia” is in the “Miscellanea,” published by Baluze.

, an eminent Greek poer, was born in the fifty-ninth olympiad, or about 550 years before Christ. He calls himself a Megarian, in one of his verses; meaning, most probably, Megara, in Achaia, as appears also from his own verses, for he prays the gods to turn away a threatening war from the city of Alcathous and Ovid calls the same Megara, Alcathoe. We have a moral work- of his extant, of somewhat more than a thousand lines, which is acknowledged to be an useful summary of precepts and, reflections; which, however, has so little of the genius and fire of poetry in it, that, as Plutarch said, it may more properly be called carmen than poema. These “Tw^cm, Sententiae,” or “Precepts,” are given in the simplest manner, without the least ornament, and probably were put into verse merely to assist the memory. Athenacus reckons this author among the most extravagant voluptuaries, and cites some of his verses to justify the censure; and Suidas, in the account of his works, mentions a piece entitled “Exhortations, or Admonitions,” which, he says, was stained with a mixture of indecency. The verses we have at present are, however, entirely free from any thing of this kind, whence some have supposed that they were not left so by the author, but that the indecencies were omitted, and the void spaces filled up with graver sentences. They have been very often printed both with and without Latin versions, and are to be found in all the collections of the Greek minor poets. One of the best editions, but a rare book, is that by Ant. Blackwell, Lond. 1706, 12mo.

, of Alexandria, a celebrated Greek philosopher and mathematician, flourished in the fourth century, about the year 380, in the time of Theodosius the Great; but the time and manner of his death are unknown. His genius and disposition for the study of philosophy were very early improved by a close application to study; so that he acquired such a proficiency in the sciences as to render his name venerable in history; and to procure him the honour of being president of the famous Alexandrian school. One of his pupils was the celebrated Hypatia, his daughter, who succeeded him in the presidency of the school; a trust, which, like, himself, she discharged with the greatest honour and usefulness. (See Hypatia.)

The study of nature led Theon to many just conceptions concerning God, and to many useful reflections in the science of moral philosophy; hence, it is said, he wrote with great accuracy on divine providence. And he seems to have made it his standing rule, to judge the truth of certain principles, or sentiments, from their natural or necessary tendency. Thus, he says, that a full persuasion, that the Deity sees every thing we do, is the strongest incentive to virtue; for he insists, that the most profligate have power to refrain their hands, and hold their tongues, when they think they are observed, or overheard, by some person whom they fear or respect. “With how much more reason then,” says he, “should the apprehension and belief that God sees all things, restrain men from sin, and constantly excite them to their duty?” He also represents this belief concerning the Deity as productive of the greatest pleasure imaginable, especially to the virtuous, who might depend with greater confidence on the favour and protection of Providence. For this reason, he recommends nothing so much as meditation on the presence of God; and he recommended it to the civil magistrate, as a restraint on such as were profane and wicked, to have the following inscription written in large characters at the corner of every street: “God sees thee, O sinner.”

Theon wrote notes and commentaries on some of the ancient mathematicians. He composed also a book entitled “Progymnasmata,” a rhetorical work, written with great judgment and elegance; in which he criticised on the writings of some illustrious orators and historians; pointing out, with great propriety and judgment, their beauties and imperfections; and laying down proper rules for propriety of style. He recommends conciseness of expression, and perspicuity, as the principal ornaments. This work was printed at Basle in 1541, but the best edition is that of Leyden, 1626, 8vo.

, an historian who may be ranked among those to whom Russia is chiefly indebted for the introduction of polite literature, was the son of a burgher of Kiof; born in that city, June 9, 1681, and baptised by the name of Elisha. Under his uncle, Theophanes, rector of the seminary in the Bratskoi convent at Kiof, he commenced his studies, and was well grounded in the rudiments of the Greek, Latin, and Hebrew tongues. Though his uncle died in 1692, he completed his education in that seminary; and in 1698, in the eighteenth year of his age, he travelled into Italy. He resided three years at Rome, where, beside a competent knowledge of Italian, he acquired a taste for the fine arts, and improved himself in philosophy and divinity. Upon his return to Kiof he read lectures on the Latin and Sclavonian art of poetry in the same seminary in which he had been educated: and, with the monastic habit, assumed the name of Theophanes. Before he had attained the twenty-fifth year of his age he was appointed praefect, the second office in the seminary, and professor of philosophy. In 1706 he distinguished himself hy speaking a Lain oration before Peter the Great; and still more by a sermon, which in 1701) he preached before the same monarch after the battle of Pultawa. Having once attracted the notice, he soon acquired the protection of Peter, who was so captivated with his great talents, superior learning, and polite address, as to select him for a companion in the ensuing campaign against the Turks; a sure prelude to his future advancement. In 1711 Theophanes was nominated abbot of Bratskoi, rector of the seminary, and professor of divinity. His censures against the ignorance and indolence of the Russian clergy, and his endeavours to promote a taste for polite literature among his brethren, rendered him a fit instrument in the hands of Peter for the reformation of the church, and the final abolition of the patriarchal dignity. He was placed at the head of the synod, of which ecclesiastical establish* merit he himself drew the plan; was created bishop of Plescof; and, in 1720, archbishop of the same diocese; soon after the accession of Catharine he was consecrated archbishop of Novogorod, and metropolitan of all Russia; and died in 1736. Beside various sermons and theological disquisitions, he wrote a treatise on rhetoric, and on the rules for Latin and Sclavonian poetry; he composed verses in the Latin language; and was author of a “Life of Peter the Great,” which unfortunately terminates with the battle of Pultawa. in this performance the prelate has, notwithstanding his natural partiality to his benefactor, avoided those scurrilous abuses of the contrary party, which frequently disgrace the best histories; and has been particularly candid in his account of Sophia. Peter, from a well-grounded experierce, had formed such a good opinion of the talents of Theophanes, as to employ him in composing the decrees which concerned theological questions, and even many that related to civil atf'airs. Theophanes may be said not only to have cultivated the sciences, and to have promoted them during his life, but likewise to have left a legacy to his cou itrymen, for their further progress after hi-, decease, by maintaining in his episcopal palace fifty hoys, who>e education he superintended under his an>piccs they were instructed in foreign languages, and in various branches of polite knowledge, which had teen hitherto censured by many as profane acquisitions thus transmitting the rays of learning to illuminate future ages and a distant posterity.

, a celebrated French poet, surnamed Viaud, was born about 1590, at Clerac in the diocese of Agen, and was the son of an advocate of Bousseres SainteRadegonde, a village near Aquillon. Having come early to Paris, he was admired for his genius and fancy, and was the first who published French works with verse and prose intermixed. But his impiety and debaucheries obliged him to go into England in 1619, whence his friends procured his recall, and he turned Catholic. This change, however, did not make him more regular in his conduct, and he was at last burnt in effigy for having published in 1622, “Le Parnasse Satyrique.” Being arrested at the Chatelet, he was placed in the same dungeon of the Coneiergerie where Ravaillae had been confined; but, on his protestations of having had no share in the above mentioned publication, received only a sentence of banishment. He died September 25, 1626, in the Hotel de Montmorenci at Paris, leaving a collection of “Poems” in French, containing “Elegies, Odes, Sonnets, &c.;” a treatise “on the Immortality of the Soul,” inverse and prose; “Pyrame et Thisbe,' 4 a tragedy; three” Apologies;“some” Letters,“Paris, 1662, 12mo; his” New Works,“Paris, 1642, 8vo;” Pasiphae," a tragedy, 1628, &c.

, a celebrated patriarch of Alexandria, who succeeded Timotheus about 385, has the credit of having completely destroyed the remains of idolatry in Egypt, by pulling down the temples and idols of the false deities; and he also terminated happily the disputes which had arisen between Evagrius and Flavianus, both ordained bishops of Antioch. He zealously defended the faith of the Catholic church; but quarrelling afterwards with Chrysostom, caused him to be deposed, and refused to place his name in the Dyptics. Of this violence and injustice Dupin thinks he never repented but some compunction he felt at last, on account of his other failings, for on his death-bed, reflecting on the long penitence of St. Arsenius, he exclaimed, “How happy art thou, Arsenius, to have had this hour always before thine eyes.” We have some of this patriarch’s works in the Library of the fathers, which seem of very little value. Dupin says, he knew better how to manage a court-intrigue than to solve a point in divinity.

, of Antioch, a writer and bishop of the primitive church, was educated a heathen, and afterwards converted to Christianity. Some have imagined that he is the person to whom St. Luke dedicates the “Acts of the Apostles;” but this is impossible, as he was not ordained bishop of Antioch till the year 170, and he governed this church twelve or thirteen years, at the end of which be died. He was a vigorous opposer of certain heretics of his time, and composed a great number of works, all of which are lost, except three books to Autolycus, a learned heathen of his acquaintance, who had undertaken to vindicate his own religion against that of the Christians. The first book is properly a discourse between him and Autoly* cus, in answer to what this heathen had said against Christianity. The second is to convince him of the falshood of his own, and the truth of the Christian religion. In the third, after having proved that the writings of the heathens are full of absurdities and contradictions, he vindicates the doctrine and the lives of the Christians from those false and scandalous imputations which were then brought against them. Lastly, at the end of his work, he adds an historical chronology from the beginning of the world to his own time, to prove, that the history of Moses is at once the most ancient and the truest; and it appears from this little epitome, that he was well acquainted with profane history. In these books are a great variety of curious disquisitions concerning the opinions of the poets and philosophers, but few things in them relating immediately to the doctrines of the Christian religion, the reason of which is, that having composed his woiks for the conviction of a Pagan, he insisted rather on the external evidences of Christianity, vis better adapted, in his opinion, to the purpose. His style is elegant, and he was doubtless a man of considerable parts and learning. These boots were published, with a Latin version, by Conradus Gesner, at Zurich, in 154-6. They were afterwards subjoined to Justin Martyr’s works, printed at Paris in 1615 and 1636; then published at Oxford, 1684, in 12mo, under the inspection of Dr. Fell; and, lastly, by Jo. Christ. Wolfius, at Hamburgh, 1723, in 8vo. It has been said, that this Theophilus of Antioch was the h'rst who applied the term Trinity to express the three persons in the Godhead.

, a celebrated philosopher, was a native of Kresium, a maritime town in Lesbos, aud was born in the second year of the 102 olympiad, or B.C. 371. After some education under Alcippus in his own country, he was sent to Athens, and there became a disciple of Plato, and after his death, of Aristotle, under both whom he made great progress both in philosophy and eloquence. It was on account of his high attainments in the latter, that instead of Tyrtamus, which was his original name, he was called Theophrastus. During his having charge of the Peripatetic school, he had about two thousand scholars; among whom were, Nicomachus, 1 the son of Aristotle, Erasistratus, a celebrated physician; and Demetrius Phalereus. His erudition and eloquence, united with engaging manners, recommended him to the notice of Cassander and Ptolemy, who invited him to visit Egypt. So great a favourite was he among the Athenians, that when one of his enemies accused him of teaching impious doctrines, the accuser himself escaped with difficulty the punishment which he endeavoured to bring upon Theophrastus.

Under the archonship of Xenippus, Sophocles, the son of Amphiclides, obtained a decree (upon what grounds we are not informed) making it a capital offence for any philosopher to open a public school without an express licence from the senate; on which all the philosophers left the city; but the next year, this illiberal legislator was himself fined five talents, and the philosophers returned to their schools, and Theophrastus, among the rest, now continued his debates and instructions in the Lyceum.

Theophrastns is highly celebrated for his industry, learning, and eloquence and for his generosity and public spirit. He is said to have twice freed his country from the oppression of tyrants. He contributed liberally towards defraying the expence attending the public meetings of philosophers, which were held, not for the sake of show, but for learned and ingenious conversation. In the public schools, he commonly appeared, as Aristotle had done, in an elegant dress, and was very attentive to the graces of elocution. He lived to the advanced age of eighty -five; towards the close of his life, he grew exceedingly infirm, and v\us carried to the school on a conch. He expressed great regret on account of the shortness of life, and com* plained that nature had given long life to certain animals, to whom it is of little value, as stags and crows, and had denied it to man, who, in a longer duration, might have been able to attain the summit of science, but now, as soon as he arrives within sight of it, it is taken away. His last advice to his disciples was, that since it is the lot of man to die as soon as he begins to live, they would take more pains to enjoy life as it passes, than to acquire posthumous fame. These reflections, and this advice, do not appear to correspond with the character usually bestowed on this philosopher.

Theophrastus, although he held the first place among the disciples of Aristotle, did not so implicitly follow his master as to have no peculiar tenets of his own. In several particulars he deviated from the doctrine of Aristotle; and he made some material additions to the system of the Peripatetic school. He taught, that the predicaments, or categories, are as numerous as the motions and changes to which beings are liable; and that, among motions or changes are to be reckoned desires, appetites, judgments, and thoughts. In this opinion he deviated widely from Aristotle: for, if these actions of the mind are to be referred to motion, the first mover, in contemplating himself, is not immovable. He maintained, that all things are not produced from contraries; but some from contraries, some from similar causes, and some from simple energy: that motion i* not to he distinguished from action; and that there is one divine principle of all things, by which all things subsist. By this divine principle Tneophrastus probably meant the first Mover, without whom other things could not be moved, and therefore could not subsist.

To these theoretical tenets might be added several moral apothegms, which are ascribed to Theophrastus; but they are too trite and general to merit particular notice, except perhaps the following: “Respect yourself, and you will never have reason to be ashamed before others.” “Love is the passion of an indolent mind.” *' Blushing is the complexion of virtue."

In imitation of his master Aristotle, he composed a great Dumber of works; and, indeed, we do not find that any of the ancients exceeded him in this respect. Diogenes Laertius reckons up more than two hundred different tracts, and the subjects of which they treated; but the greatest part are lost. Those that remain are, nine books of the* “History of Plants-,” six of the “Causes of Plants;” a book “Of Stones” “Of Winds;” “Of Fire;” “Of Honey” “Of the signs of Fair Weather” “Of the signs of Tempest;” Of the signs of Rain“Of Smells;” *' Of Sweat“<* Of the Vertigo” “Of Weariness” “Of the Relaxation of the Nerves;” “Of Swooning;” “Of Fish which live out of water” “Of Animals which change their colour;” “Of Animals which are born suddenly” ?' Of Animals subject to envy“and,” The Characters of Men."

In his botanical works, “The History of Plants,” and the “Causes of Plants,” which have come down to us almost entire, he mentions, and endeavours to describe, about 500 species; but his descriptions are very imperfect and doubtful, although Sprengel, in his *' Historia Rei Herbaria?,“has bestowed uncommon pains in endeavouring to ascertain them, These works were first published in the fourth volume of the Aldine edition of Aristotle, Ven. 14-97, and have been since reprinted separately, particularly by Bodseus, 1644. There is an edition of his entire works by Heinsius, 1613, folio; and there are editions of his tracts,” De Igne,“” De Ventis,“&c. But the work of Theophrastus most generally known, and oftenest reprinted, is his” Characters," which give him the merit of having been the first who drew characters from common life, and with somewhat of what we might call modern humour. Of this entertaining work the most ancient editions contained only fifteen chapters, to which Camotius, in the Aldine edition of 1551, added eight, and the remaining five were discovered in a ms. at Heidelberg, by Marquard Freher, from whose copy Casaubon inserted them in his second edition of 1659, which, however, is the least correct of the two. The best since are those of Needham, Cambridge, 1712, 8vo Pauw, 1737, 8vo; Newton, 1757, Qxou. Fischer, Cobourg, 1763, 8vo; Goezius, Nurimberg, 179&, 8vo and Coray, Paris, 1799, 8vo. There are translations of this work into almost every European language.

, archbishop of Achridia, and metropolitan of all Bulgaria, an eminent ecclesiastical writer, flourished in the eleventh century. He was born and educated at Constantinople. After he was made bishop he laboured diligently to extend the faith of Christ in his diocese, when there were still many infidels; but met with much difficulty, and many evils, of which he occasionally complains in his epistles. He was bishop in 1077, and probably some years earlier. How long he lived is uncertain. The works of this bishop are various 1. “Comxnentaria in qtlatuor Evangelia,” Paris, 1631, folio. These as well as the rest of his commentaries are very much taken from St. Chrysostom. 2. “Commentaries on the Acts of the Apostles,” Greek and Latin, published with some orations of other fathers, Colon. 1568. 3. “Commentaries on St. Paul’s epistles,” Greek and Latin, Lond. 1636, folio. 4. “Commentaries on Four of the Minor Prophets:” namely, Habbakuk, Jonas, Nahum, and Hosea, Latin, Paris, 1589, 8vo. The commentaries of Theophylact on all the twelve minor prophets are extant in Greek, in the library of Strasburgh, and have been described by Michaelis in his “Bibliotheca Orientalis.” 5. * c Seventy-five Epistles," published in Greek, with notes, by John Meursius, Leyden, 1617, 4to. They are also in the Bibliotheca Patrum. 6. Three or four smaller tracts, some of which are rather doubtful.

, an ancient Greek poet, is entitled to some notice as the reputed inventor of tragedy. He was a native of mount Icaria in Attica, and flourished in the sixth century B. C. He introduced actors into his tragedies, who recited some lines between each verse of the chorus, whereas, till that time, tragedies had been performed only by a company of musicians and dancers, who sang hymns in honour of Bacchus while they danced. Thespis wrote satirical pieces also, and Horace says that this poet carried his actors about in an open cart, where they repeated their verses, having their faces besmeared with wine-lees, or, according to Suidas, with white-lead and vermillion. His poems are lost.

, librarian to the king of France, and a celebrated writer of travels, was born at Paris in 1621, and had scarcely gone through his academical studies, when he discovered a strong passion for visiting foreign countries. At first he saw only part of Europe; but accumulated very particular informations and memoirs from those who had travelled over other parts of the globe, and out of those composed his “Voyages and Travels.” He laid down, among other things, some rules, together with the invention of an instrument, for the better finding out of the longitude, and the declination of the needle; which, some have thought, constitute the most valuable part of his works. Thevenot was likewise a great collector of scarce books in all sciences, especially in philosophy, mathematics, and history; and in this he may be said to have spent his whole life. When he iiad the care of the king’s library, though it is one of the best furnished in Europe, he found two thousand volumes wanting in it, which he had in his own. Besides printed books, he brought a great many manuscripts in French, English, Spanish, Italian, Latin, Greek, Hebrew, Syriac, Arabic, Turkish, and Persic. The marbles presented to him by Mr. Nointel, at his return from his embassy to Constantinople, upon which there are bas-reliefs and inscriptions of almost two thousand years old, may be reckoned among the curiosities of his library. He spent most of his time among his books, without aiming at any post of figure or profit; he had, however, two honourable employments; for he assisted at a conclave held after the death of pope Innocent X. and was the French king’s envoy at Genoa. He was attacked with a slow fever in 1692, and died October the same year at the age of seventy-one. According to the account given, he managed himself very improperly in this illness: for he diminished his v strength by abstinence, while he should have increased it with hearty food and strong wines, which was yet the more necessary Oh account of his great age. “7'hevenot’s Travels into the Levant, &c.” were published in English, in 1687, folio; they had been published in French, at Paris, 1663, folio. He wrote also “L'Art de nager,” the Art of Swimming, 12 mo, 1696.

, a writer of some note in the 16th century, was horn at Angflulesme, and entered the Franciscan order, and afterwards visited Italy, the Holy Land, Egypt, Greece, and Brasil. At his return to France in 1556, he quitted the cordelier’s habit, took that of an ecclesiastic, and was appointed almoner to queen Catherine de Medicis. He had the titles of historiographer of France, and cosmographer to the king, and received the profits of those offices. He died Nov. 23, 1590, aged eighty-tight, leaving “Cosmographie de Levant,” Lyons, 1554, 4to; “A History of illustrious Men/' 1671, 8 vols. 12mo, or 1684, 2 vols. fol. a work of very little merit; but the folio edition is esteemed of some price on account of the portraits. He wrote also” Singularity’s de la France Aniarctique," Paris, 1558, 4to, and several other books, from which the author appears to have been a great reader, but at the same time, to have possessed great credulity, and little judgment.

, an excellent engraver, was born in 1758, at Pattrington, in Holderness, in the East Riding of York, where his father was an innkeeper. At a proper age he was placed as an apprentice to a cooper, at which business, on the expiration of his apprenticeship, he worked some time. During the American war he became a private in ifie Northumberland militia; at the conclusion of which, in 1783, he came to settle at Hull, where he commenced engraver of shop-bills, cards, &c. One of his fust attempts was a card for a tinner and brazier, executed in a very humble style. He engraved and published a plan of Hull, which is dated May 6, 1784, and afterwards solicited subscriptions for two views of the dock at that place, which, it is thought, he shortly after published. He also engraved, while there, a head of Harry Rowe, the famous puppet-showman of York, after a drawing by J. England. Another account says, that an engraving of an old woman’s head, after Gerard Dow, was his first attempt, and appeared so extraordinary, that on the recommendation of the hon. Charles Fox, the duchess of Devonshire, and lady Duncannon, he was appointed historical engraver to the prince of Wales. In 1788, the marquis of Carmarthen, whose patronage he first obtained by constructing a very curious camera obscura, wrote him a recommendatory lelter to Alderman Boy dell, who immediately offered him 300 guineas to engrave a plate from Northcote’s picture of Edward V. taking leave of his brother the duke of York. He afterwards engraved, for Boydell, a number of capital plates from the Shakespeare gallery,and from the paintings by sir Joshua Reynolds, Shee, Westall, Smirke, Fuseli, Northcote, Peters, &c. all which are very extraordinary specimens of graphic excellence, and have been highly and deservedly approved by the connoisseur, and well received by the public. Of Boydell’s Shakspeare, nineteen of the large plates are from his hand. He had received very little instruction, but depended solely on native genius, aided by an intense application, by which \\e suddenly arrived at great excellence in the art. Almost at the outset of his career he became connected with Messrs. Boydell by extensive engagements on their Shakspeare, a work which will long bear ample testimony to his rare merit and talents. The distinguishing characteristics of his practice consisted in most faithfully exhibiting the true spirit and style of each master; a most minute accuracy, a certain polish, and exquisite delicacy of manner; with the appropriate character given to all objects, while a mildness of tone and perfect harmony pervaded the whole piece. The Cardinal Wolsey entering Leicester Abbey, from Westall, is certainly the greatest effort of his skill, and is, by many of the bestinformed connoisseurs and artists, held to be a first-rate specimen in that style of engraving. This ingenious artist died in July 1802, at Stevenage in Hertfordshire.

, or Theodoric de Niem, a native of Paderborn in Westphalia, who was under- secretary at Rome to Gregory XL Urban VI. &c. attended John XXIIL to the council of Constance, as writer of the Apostolical Letters, and abhreviator; but after that pontiff’s flight, wrote a very violent invective against him, and died about 1417, leaving the following works: “A History of the Schism,” which is very curious, and ends in 1410, Norernberg, 1592, fol.; a book concerning “The Privileges and Rights of the Emperors in the Investitures of Bishops,” printed in “Schardii Syntagma de Imperiali Jurisdictione,” Argent. 1609, fol.; “A History of John XXIII.” Francfort, 1620, 4to; and “A Journal of the Council of Constance.” This fcuthor’s style in Latin is dry and unpleasant, but very forcible, and his narrations are accurate and faithful. Some attribute to him the treatise “On the necessity of Reformation in the Church, both with respect to its head and its members,” which others give to Peter d'Ailli.

, a learned doctor of the Sorbonne, and a celebrated writer of the seventeenth century, was born at Chartres, about 1636. He professed belleslettres at Paris, and became curate of Vibray, in the diocese of Mans, where he composed several of his works, and where he died February 28, 1703, aged sixty-five. He left a great many works, which are tiow but seldom read, though they are very learned, and very often singular.

“The History of Perukes” is one of his most known and curious books. He designed it againat those ecclesiastics who were not contented to wear their own hair. The year 1621) (says he) is the epoch of perukes in France. He maintains, that no clergyman wore a peruke before 1660, and pretends that there is no instance of it in antiquity. He observes, that cardinal de Richelieu was the first who wore a calot and that the bishop of Evreux having prefixed to the life of St. Francis de Sales (which he presented to pope Alexander VIII.) a print wherein that saint appeared with a leather cap on, the pope had much ado to accept that book, attended with such an irregularity. M. Thiers exclaims against those ecclesiastics, who powder their perukes, and wear them of a different colour from their own hair. He answers the arguments that may be alledged in favour of the clergy. As for what concerns their beard and their bands, he says, no ecclesiastic wore a band before the middle of last century. There have been many variations about their beard. Sometimes shaving was looked upon as a kind of effeminacy, and a long beard appeared very suitable with the sacerdotal gravity; and sometimes a venerable beard was accounted a piece of pride and stateliness. When cardinal d'Angennes was about to take possession of his bishopric of Mans in 1556, he wanted an express order from the king to be admitted with his long beard, which he could not resolve to cut. M. Thiers acknowledges those variations about the beard; but he maintains that the discipline has been constant and uniform as to perukes; and therefore, he says, they ought to be laid aside, and beseeches the pope and the king to suppress such a novelty. Among his other works are, 2. “Traité des Superstitions qui regardent les Sacremena,” 4 vols. 12mo, a book esteemed agreeable and useful by those of his own communion. 3. “Traité de I'exposiiioii. du Saint Sacrement de PAutel,” 1663, 12mo. Some have esteemed this his best production. Many other articles are enumerated by his biographers, but few of them interesting in this country.

, LL. D. a very ingenious and learned English critic, was the son of Mr. Thirlby, vicar of St. Margaret’s in Leicester, and born about 1692. He received his education first at the free-school of Leicester, under the rev. Mr. Kiiby, then head usher, from which school he was sent in three years to Jesus college, Cambridge, and shewed early in life great promise of excellence. From his mental abilities no small degree of future eminence was presaged: but the fond hopes of his friends were unfortunately defeated by a temper which was naturally indolent and quarrelsome, and by an unhappy addiction to drinking. Among his early productions of ingenuity was a Greek copy of verses on the queen of Sheba’s visit to Solomon. In 1710 he published “The university of Cambridge vindicated from the imputation of disloyalty it lies under on account of not addressing; as also from the malicious and foul aspersions of Dr. Bentley, late master of Trinity college, and of a certain officer and pretended reformer in. the said university,” Lond. 1710. This was followed in 1712 by “An answer to Mr. Whiston’s seventeen suspicions concerning Athanasius, in his Historical Preface ,” and by two other pamphlets on the same subject. He obtained a fellowship of his college by the express desire of Dr. Charles Ashton, who said“he had had the honour of studying with him when young;” though he afterwards spoke very contemptuously of him as the editor of “Justin Martyr,” which appeared in 1723, in folio; and the dedication to which has always been consid-‘M’ed as a masterly production, in style particularly. After Thirlby’s publication of Justin, Dr. Ashton, perhaps to shew him that he had not done all that might have been done, published, in one of the foreign journals, “Some emendations of faulty passages,” which when Thirlby he said, slightingly, that “any man who would, might have made them, and a hundred more.” Thus far MI. Thirlby went on in the study of divinity; hut his versatility led him to try the round of the other learned professions. His next pursuit was physic, and for a while he was called “Doctor.” While he was a nominal physician, he lived some time with the duke of Chandos, as librarian, and is reported to have affected a perverse and indolent independence, so as capriciously to refuse his company when) it was desired. It may be supposed they were soon weary of each other.

Tbirlby then studied the civil law, in which he lectured while the late sir Edward Walpole was his pupil; but he was a careless tutor, scarcely ever reading lectures. The late learned Dr. Jortin, who was one of his pupils, was very early in life recommended by him to translate some of Eustathius’s notes for the use of “Pope’s Homer,” and complained “that Pope having accepted and approved his. performance, never testitied any curiosity or desire to see him.” The civil law displeasing him, he applied to common law, and had chambers taken for him in the Temple by his friend Andrew Reid, with a view of being entered of that society, and being called to the bar; but of this scheme he likewise grew weary. He came, however, to London, to the bouse of his friend sir Edward Walpole, who procured for him the office of a king’s waiter in the port of London, in May 1741, a sinecure place worth about \00l. per annum. While he was in sir Edward’s house he kept a miscellaneous book of memorables, containing whatever was said or done amiss by sir Edward or any part of his family. The remainder of his days were passed in private lodgings, where he lived in a very retired manner, seeing only a few friends, and indulging occasionally in excessive drinking, being sometimes in a state of intoxication for five or six weeks together; and, as is uual with such men, appeared to be so even when sober; and in his cups he was jealous and quarrelsome* An acquaintance who found him one day in the streets haranguing the crowd, and took him home by gentle violence, was afterwards highly esteemed by Thirlby for not relating the story. He contributed some notes to Theobald’s Shakspeare; and afterwards talked of an edition of his own. Dr. Jortin undertook. to read over that poet, with a view to mark the passages where he had either imitated Greek and Latin writers, or at least had fallen into the same thoughts and expressions. Thirlby, however, dropped his design; but left a Shakspeare, with some abusive remarks on Warburton in the margin of the first volume, and a very few attempts at emendations, and those perhaps all in the first volume. In the other volumes he had only, with great diligence, counted the lines in every page. When this was told to Dr. Jortin, “I have known him,” said he, “amuse himself with still slighter employment: he would write down all the proper names that he could call into his memory.” His mind seems to have been tumultuous and desultory, and he was glad to catch any employment that might produce attention without aqxiety. The copy, such as it was, became the property of sir Edward Walpole, to whom he bequeathed all his books and papers, and who lent it to Dr. Johnson when he was preparing his valuable edition of “Shakspeare” for the press; accordingly the name of Thin by appears in it as a commentator. He died Dec. 19, 1753. One of Dr. Thirlby’s colloquial topics may be quoted, as in it he seems to have drawn his own character, with one of those excuses for which self-conceit is never at a loss. “Sometimes,” said he, “Nature sends into the world a man of powers superior to the rest, of quicker intuition, and wider comprehension; this man has all other men for his enemies, and would not be suffered to live his natural time, but that his excellencies are balanced by his failings. He that, by intellectual exaltation, thus towers above his contemporaries, is drunken, or lazy, or capricious; or, by some defect or other, is hindered from exerting his sovereignty of mind; he is thus kept upon the level, and thus preserved from the destruction which would be the natural consequence of universal hatred.”

As the edition of “Justin Martyr” was the magnum opus of Dr. Thirlby, and he is a writer of whom little has ever hitherto been said, this article may be enlarged with, the opinions of some eminent scholars on that performance.

“The learned Mr. Thiriby,” says Mr. Bowyer, “fellow of Jesus college, is publishing a new edition of ‘Justin Martyr’s two Apologies,’ and his ‘ Dialogue with Trypno the Jew.’ The Greek text will be printed exactly according to R, Stephens’s edition. The version is Langius’s, corrected in innumerable places. On the same page wi$h the text and version are printed the notes and emendations of the editor, with select notes of all the former editors, and of Sraliger, Casaubon, Salma^us, Capellus, Valesius,­and other learned men. The most selected places have been collated with the ms. from which R. Stephens’s edition was taken, and the variations are inserted in their proper places. At the end are bishop Pearson’s notes from the margin of his book, and Dr. Davids notes upon the first Apology;' both now first printed.”

“You are much mistaken,” says Dr. Ashton, in an unprinted letter to Dr. Moss, “in thinking Thirlby wants some money from you (though in truth he wants): you are only taken in to adorn his triumph by a letter of applause, though I think you may spare that too; for he is set forth in his coach, with great ostentation, to visit his patron. J have not had the patience to read all his dedication, but have seen enough to observe that it is stuffed with self-conceit, and an insolent contempt of others, Bentley especially, whom he again points out in p. 18*. He sticks not to fling scorn upon Justin himself, as a triflingwriter, beneath his dignity to consider, and so absurd a reasoner as only pessima litura can mend. 1 have read about sixty pages of his performance, and am really ashamed to find so much self-sufficiency, and insufficiency. I am almost provoked to turn critic myself, and let me tempt you to a little laughter, by promising to shew you some conceits upon Justin; which are under no name in Thirlby’s edition.”

In a letter from Mr. Clarke to Mr. Bowyer, dated March 10, 1768, he says, “I think somebody has told me, that * Justin Martyr’s Apology‘ has been lately published from Dr. Ashton’s papers; by whom I know not. His ’ Hierpcles’ shews that Needham was not equal to that work: has this the same view with regard to Thirlby? That man was lost to the republic of letters very surprisingly; he went off, and returned no more.” 1

, a member of the French academy, was born in 1732, at Clermont in Auvergne, the country of the celebrated Pascal. He received from his mother a severe, and almost a Spartan education. The three children of that estimable woman were brought up chiefly under her own eyes. His two elder brothers died, the one in 1748, the other in 1755, both young men, and both having signalized themselves in literature. Joseph, the eldest, had produced a comedy; and John, the second, excelled in Latin poetry. The death of his second brother, impressed Antony very early with a strong sense of the vanity of worldly cares; and with a profound piety ^ which enhanced the value of his character. He had a decided taste for poetry, but was designed for the bar. In obedience to the wish of his mother, he went to Clermont, to follow a study repugnant to his taste; but going with her to Paris, when John was at the point of death, his friends offered him a professorship in the qoliege of Beauvais. This, therefore, he accepted, as more congenial to his feelings, though less splendid in appearance, than the profession for which he had been designed. He was soon in high estimation for his talents as a poet and an orator; and M. Watelet, a rich man, and a man of letters, offered him a pension as a tribute to his merit; but he chose, with becoming pride, to owe his subsistence to hi own talents, rather than to the generosity of any one: He was afterwards secretary to the duke de Praslin, minister for foreign affairs; secretary to the Swiss cantons (an independent place in the government); and finally secretary to the duke of Orleans. He was also a member of the academy, tho-ugh it is said that he once refused to be chosen, when he found that he was proposed chiefly out of pique to another candidate, M. Marmontel. Without any fortune but his pension from the court, and the trifling reward he received for his assiduous attendance at the academy, he continued to reside at Paris; and latterly, with a sister* who superintended his domestic concerns. But, his health being impaired by excessive application, he was obliged to seek the more favourable climate of Nice, where for a time he recovered the use of all his powers. But his lungs had always been weak, and being seized also with a fever, he died September 17, 1785, in the ho,use of the archbishop of Lyons, and was buried at the neighbouring village of Qulins. At the time of his death he was employed in writing a poem on the czar Peter the Great, styled the “Pe*treade,” which has never been published.

The personal character of M. Thomas, was held still higher than even the merit of his works could claim. He bad that amiable simplicity of manners which prevents a man of genius from offending others by his superiority. He was just, moderate, gentle, an enemy to noise and ostentation, a good friend, and an affectionate son. He was not indifferent to commendation or censure, but received the one without vanity, and the other without anger. It was in 1756, that he first appeared as an author, hy publishing, 1. “Reflexions historiques et liteVaires sur le Poeme de la Religion naturelle cle Voltaire,” 12mo. In this able tract he defended revelation without bigotry; and, allowing the great talents of his antagonist, lamented his errors, and treated him with politeness. 2. In 1759 he wrote and pronounced his “Eloge du Mareschal de Saxe,” a performance which gained hini the crown from the academy, and the credit of uniting the precision of Tacitus with the elevation of Bossuet. He produced afterwards similar orations in praise of d'Aguesseau, du Guai Trouin, Sully, and Descartes, which were equally admired; and with an additional eulogium on Marcus Aurelius, published together by himself, with very valuable notes. 3. In 1772 be produced his “Essai sur le caractere, les mceurs, et Tesprit des Femmes,” 8vo. This is not esteemed equally judicious. 4. “Essai sur les Eloges,” 1773, 2 vols. 8vo. This is a work of great genius and eloquence and contains many able portraits of illustrious persons. He produced also, 5. Several poems; as, “Epitre au Penple,” “Ode sur les temps,” and “Jumonville,” with some others. 6. A ballet in three acts, called “Amphion;” but this is not reckoned one of the best flowers in his crown. It was played in 1767. His prose works were published collectively in 1773; and form 4 vols. 12mo; but a more complete edition appeared in 1802, 7 vols. 8vo.

, a modern philosopher, was born at Leipsic, in 1655, and was well educated, first under his father, and afterwards in the Leipsic university. At first, he acquiesced in the established doctrines of the schools; but, upon reading PuffendorPs “Apology for rejecting the Scholastic Principles of Morals and Law,” he determined to renounce all implicit deference to ancient dogmas. He read lectures upon the subject of natural law, first from the text of Grotius, and afterwards from that of Puffendorf, freely exercising his own judgment, and boldly advancing new opinions. Whilst his father was living, paternal prudence and moderation restrained the natural vehemence and acrimony of the young man’s temper, which was too apt to break out, even in his public lectures. But when he was left to himself, the boldness with which he advanced unpopular tenets, and the severity with which he dealt out his satirical censures, soon brought upon him the violent resentment of theologians and professors.

An “Introduction to Puffendorf,” which Thomas published in 1687, in which he deduced the obligation of morality from natural principles, occasioned great offence, which he increased in the following year, by commencing a monthly journal which he called “Free Thoughts: or Monthly Dialogues on various books, chiefly new;” iti which he attacked many of his contemporaries with such severity, and probably with such injustice, that he -narrowly escaped punishment from the ecclesiastical court of Dresden. A charge also of contempt of religion was brought against him, but was not prosecuted. A satirical review, which he wrote, of a treatise “On the Divine right of Kings,” published by a Danish divine; “A Defence of the Sect of the Pietists,” and other satirical publications, at last excited the resentment of the clergy against Thomas, and he found it necessary to leave Leipsic, and by the permission of the elector of Brandenburgh, read private lectures in the city of Hall. After a short interval, he was appointed public professor of jurisprudence, first in Berlin, and afterwards at Hall. In these situations, he thought himself at full liberty to indulge his satirical humour, and to engage in the controversies of the times; and, as long as he lived, he continued to make use of this liberty in a manner which subjected him to much odium. He died at Hall in 1728.

Besides the satirical journal already mentioned, Thomas wrote several treatises on logic, morals, and jurisprudence; in which he advanced many dogmas contrary to received opinions. In his writings on physics, he leaves the ground of experiment and rational investigation, and appears among the mystics. His later pieces are in many particulars inconsistent with the former. His principal philosophical works are “An Introduction to Aulic Philosophy, of Outlines to the Art of Thinking and Reasoning;” “Introduction to Rational Philosophy;” “A Logical Praxis;” “Introduction to Moral Philosophy;” “A Cure for Irregular Passions, and the Doctrine of Self-Knowledge;” “The new Art of discovering the secret Thoughts of Men;” “Divine Jurisprudence;” “Foundations of the Law of Nature and Nations;” “Dissertation on the Crime of Magic;” “Essay on the Nature and Essence of Spirit, or Principles of Natural and Moral Science;” “History of Wisdom and Folly.”

Brncker gives the following brief specimen of the more peculiar tenets of this bold, eccentric, and inconsistent philosopher. "Thought arises from images impressed upon the brain; and the action of thinking is performed in the whole brain. Brutes are destitute of sensation. Man is a corporeal substance, capable of thinking and moving, or endued with intellect and will. Man does not always think. Truth is the agreement of thought with the nature of things. The senses are not deceitful, but all fallacy is the effect of precipitation and prejudice. From perceptions arise ideas, and their relations; and from these, reasonings. It is impossible to discover truth by the syllogistic art. No other rule is necessary in reasoning, than that of following the natural order of investigation; beginning from those things which are best known, and proceeding, by easy steps, to those which are more difficult.

“Perception is a passive affection, produced by some external object, either in the intellectual sense, or in the inclination of the will. Essence is that without which a thing cannot be perceived. God is not perceived by the intellectual sense, but by the inclination of the will: for creatures affect the brain; but God, the heart. All creatures are in God: nothing is exterior to him. Creation is extension produced from nothing by the divine power. Creatures are of two kinds, passive and active; the former is mattr r; the latter, spirit. Matter is dark and cold, and capable of being acted upon by spirit, which is light, warm, and active. Spirit may subsist without matter, but desires a union with it. All bodies consist of matter and spirit, and have therefore some kind of life. Spirit attracts spirit, and thus sensibly operates upon matter united to spirit. This attraction in man is called love; in other bodies, sympathy. A finite spirit may be cgnsidcred as a limited sphere in which rays, luminous, warm, and active, flow from a centre. Spirit is the region of the body to which it is united. The region of finite spirits is God. The human soul is a ray From the divine nature; whence it desires union with God, who is love. Since the essence of spirit consists in action, and of body in passion, spirit may exist without thought: of this kind are light, ether, and other active principles in nature.” Fortunately, says a very judicious writer, this jargon is as unintelligible as the categories of Kant, and the blasphemies of Spinosa.

, known to the world by the name of Corinna, with which Dryden flattered her, was born in 1675; and, after a life of ill health and various disappointments, died Feb. 3, 17 3O, in her fifty-sixth year, and was buried in the church of St. Bride. Among her other misfortunes, she laboured under the displeasure of Pope, whom she had offended, and who took care to place her in his “Dunciad.” He once paid her a visit, in company with Henry Cromwell, esq. whose letters, by some' accident, fell into her hands, with some of Pope’s answers. As soon as that gentleman died, Curl I found means to wheedle them from her, and immediately committed them to the press; which so enraged Pope, that he never forgave her. Corinna, considered as an author, has very few; claims to notice: she had not so much wit as Mrs. Behn or J Mrs. Manley, nor so happy a gift at intellectual painting; but her poetry was once thought soft and delicate, and her letters sprightly and entertaining. Her poems were published after her death, by Curll; and two volumes of letters (under the title of “Pylades and Corinua,”) which passed between her and a Mr. Gwynnet, who was to have been her husband, but died before matters could be accomplished. In this last publication she gives an account of her own life, which has been abridged in Gibber’s “Lives,” and other collections but which Mr. Malone has proved such a tissue of improbabilities and falsehoods, that a mere reference to it may be thought sufficient

, bishop of Rochester, the eldest of three sons of the rev. John Tnomas, many years vicar of Brampton in Cumberland, was born at Carlisle Oct. 14, 1712. Many of his ancestors, both on the paternal and maternal side, were remarkable for their longevity; so that he might be considered as “born with somewhat like an hereditary claim to length of days.” Being designed for the church, at a proper age he was placed in the grammar-school at Carlisle, whence he was sent to Oxford, in 1730, and, on the 23d of November, was admitted a commoner of Queen’s-college. Soon after his admission he had a clerkship given him by Dr. Smith, then provost. Having discharged this office, and completed his terms, he put on a civilian’s gown, and, leaving Oxford, became an assistant at the classical academy in Soho-square. In this situation he acquitted himself so well, as to be recommended to be private tutor to the younger son of sir William Clayton, bart. a charge which led to his future elevation. How long he remained in it, is not precisely known, but probably till he had completed his pupil’s education. His conduct, however, was so well approved, that shortly after, with the consent of sir William Clayton, the sister of his pupil, on the death of her first husband, sir Charles Blackwell, of Sprowston-hall, Norfolk, became his wife. Mr. Thomas lived in habits of the closest friendship with his brother-in-law, until about 1784, when that gentleman met a premature death, occasioned by a fall from his horse.

On the 27th of March, 1737, Mr. Thomas was ordained a deacon, by sir George Fleming, bishop of Carlisle, at a special ordination holden in the chapel of John the Baptist, within the precincts of the Savoy, in the Strand; and, on the 25th of September, in the same year, he was ordained priest, by Dr. Joseph Wilcocks, bishop of Rochester, at a general ordination holden in the parish church of Bromley, in the county of Kent. The promotion of Dr Herring (afterwards archbishop of Canterbury) in this same year to the see of Bangor, occasioned a vacancy in the rectory of Blechingley, to which Mr. Thomas was presented by his majesty, George II. through the interest of sir W. Clayton, and was instituted, on the 27th of January, by Dr. Benjamin Hoadly, bishop of Winchester. During his incumbency on this preferment, which was thirty-six years, Mr. Thomas chiefly resided in the rectorial-house, which he enlarged, improved, and embellished, at a very considerable ex pence. In the discharge of his parochial duties, in which he never omitted any thing which he conceived inight conduce to the temporal or spiritual interests of his parishioners, he was for some time assisted by his brother; and, after his promotion to a vicarage in Norfolk, by the rev. William Thompson, the poet.

On the 25th of May, 1742, Mr. Thomas took the degree of D. C. L.; in the year following his marriage took place; on the 18th of January, 1748, he was appointed chaplain in ordinary to his late majesty, George II.; on the 23d of April, 1754, he was made prebendary of Westminster; on the 12th of December, 1760, he was appointed chaplain to his present majesty, by the king’s order, and without any application. ID 1762, he was appointed sub-almoner to the archbishop of York, an office rather honorary than lucrative; and in 1766, was instituted to the vicarage of St. Bride’s, in London, on the presentation of the dean and chapter of Westminster. In 1768, he succeeded Dr. Pearce as dean of Westminster, and soon after was chosen the archbishop of Canterbury’s prolocutor to the lower house of convocation. In 1772, he met with a severe shock in the death of his wife; and, in 1774, lost his valuable fr.tt,d Dr. Pearce. In November following he succeeded him, “according to his (Dr. Pearce’s) most earnest wish,” in the bishopric of Rochester. On the ancient palace at Bromley, which he found in a ruinous and dilapidated condition, he expended upwards of three thousand pounds; displayed great munificence in repairing and rebuilding it, and in disposing and embellishing the episcopal demesnes; and, from his regard for social worship, a little before his death he gave 5OO/. towards enlarging the parish church at Bromley.

The bishop added one to the many instances of men who have been peculiarly fortunate in their first marriage, and, deeply concerned at its dissolution, seeking consolation in a second. Such consolation did his lordship seek in a second marriage with lady Elizabeth Yates, relict of sir Joseph Yates, late one of the judges of the court of King’sbench, to whom he was married, by special licence, on the 12th of January, 1775, at Westminster-abbey. In this union, he was as happy as the great disparity of age" would permit. Though twice married, he had no issue; but each of his ladies brought him a son and a daughter by their former husbands, and to these he shewed a parental affection.

Age, and its natural concomitants, for some few years before his death, almost incapacitated the bishop from any laborious duty; but, so zealous was he in the discharge of his function, that he held a general confirmation not long before his last lingering and fatal illness, and continued to preach both at court and at Bromley, till near his eightieth year. He expired, in great composure, about eleven o'clock on the morning of Thursday, August 22d, 1793, having completed his eightieth year on the preceding 14th of October, 1792. The manner of his death was perfectly agreeable to his wish, expressed in a letter written to his brother on the death of his first lady, “without a sigh or a groan.” The bjlk of his fortune was bequeathed to his relations, in such proportions as corresponded with the proximity of kindred, and the expectations which he had encouraged; bonds and notes, from different friends and acquaintances, to the amount of 5000l. were cancelled legacies, mourning, &c. were presented to his servants and several sums were appropriated to charitable purposes. In his last will and testament, the bishop had made no provision for the manner or place of his interment: but, in a cancelled will, made as far back as 1774, he had directed his remains to be deposited by those of his first lady, and this direction was consequently carried into effect.

In 1803 a valuable collection, in 2 vols. 8vo, of his “Sermons and Charges,” was published by the rev. G. A. Thomas, his lordship’s chaplain and executor, with a Memoir of his Life, to which we are indebted for the preceding particulars, as well as for the following sketch of his character.

"His lordship was in stature above the middle height, standing about five feet eleven inches. In the early part of his life he was slender, and of Bo delicate a constitution, that his father used to say, he was propped up by art and medicine. But, as he advanced to maturity, his constitution acquired strength: yet he never increased to any degree of corpulence. His figure was elegant and manly, and its dignity comported with the natural elevation of his mind: at all times inspiring respect and veneration, but particularly when he was engaged in any of the sacred offices of religion, which he always performed with such a devotional ardour and fervency, as seemed to add a peculiar sanctity and spirit to the native gracefulness of his appearance. His countenance was the faithful index of his soul, open, placid, and benevolent. His features were regular, and generally softened with the most gracious smile of complacency and benignity.

“His intellectual abilities were above mediocrity; and the endowments of nature were improved by the application of art and study. He had a lively and chaste imagination, a quick apprehension, a sound and penetrating judgment, and a retentive memory. He excelled equally in learning, science, and the polite arts. He was an adept in music, and a connoisseur in painting. He was, in his earlier days, perfectly acquainted with the practice as well as the theory of music; having been a performer on two difficult instruments. For this agreeable art he entertained a passion to his latest days. He was a great lover of antiquity, and well skilled in the knowledge of coins and medals, and of these, as also of prints and paintings, he left valuable collections. There was no feature more prominent in this good bishop’s character, than a zealous and uniform attachment to our unrivalled constitution. It was the warmest wish of his heart, to see our excellent and happy form of government, both in church and state, preserved free from the contagious influence of superstitious tyranny on the one hand, and licentious anarchy on the other.”

It is somewhat singular that there were three prelates of the same names, John Thomas, who ran their course nearly together; Dr. John Thomas, successively bishop of Peterborough and Salisbury, who died in 1766; Dr. John Thomas, successively bishop of Peterborough, Salisbury, and Winchester, who died in 1781, and the subject of the preceding article.

, a learned writer of the sixteenth century, was born in Wales, and was at least of Welsh extraction, and educated at Oxford. Wood says that one of both his names was, in 1529, admitted bachelor of canon law, but does not say that it was this person. In 1544, being obliged to quit the kingdom on account of some misfortune, he went to Italy, and in 1546 was at Bologne, and afterwards ai Padua. In 151-9, he was again in London, and on account of his knowledge of modern languages, was made clerk of the council to king Edward VI. who soon after gave him a prebend of St. Paul’s, and the living of Presthend in South Wales. According to Strype, he acted very unfairly in procuring the prebend, not being a spiritual person; and the same objection undoubtedly rests against his other promotion. On the accession of queen Mary, he was deprived of his employment at court, and is said to have meditated the death of the queen; but Bale says it was Gardiner whom he formed a design of murderiug. Others think that he was concerned in Wyat’s rebellion. It is certain that for some of these charges, he was committed to the Tower in 1553, together with William Winter and sir Nicholas Throgmorton. Wood says, “He was a man of a hot fiery spirit, had sucked in damnable principles by his frequent conversations with Christopher Goodman, that violent enemy to the rule of women.” It appears that he had no rule over himself, for about a week after his commitment, he attempted suicide, but the wound not proving mortal, he was arraigned at Guildhall, May 9, 1553, and hanged at Tyburn, on the 18th.

His works are, 1. “The History of Italy,” Lond. 1549, 1561, 4to. 2. “The principal rules of the Italian Grammar, with a dictionary for the better understanding of Boccacce, Petrarch, and Dante,” ibid, 1550, 1561, 1567, 4to. 3. “Le Peregrynne, or a defence of king Henry VIII. to Aretine the Italian poet,” ms. Cott. Vesp. D. 18, and in Bodl. Library. This, Wood says, was about to be published in the third volume of Brown’s “Fasciculus.” 4. “Common Places of State,” written for the use of Edward VI. ms. Cott. 5. “Of the vanity of the World,” Lond. 1549, 8vo. 5. “Translation of Cato’s speech, and Valerius’s answer, from the 4th decade of Li vy,” ibid, 1551, 12mo. He also made some translations from the Italian, which are still in manuscript.

, bishop of Worcester, was son of Mr. John Thomas, a linen-draper in the city of Bristol, who lived in a house of his own on the bridge in that town, where the bishop was born on Thursday, February 2, 1613, and baptized there in St. Nicholas’s church, on the Friday following. He was of a very ancient and noble family, as appears by a pedigree taken out of the Heralds’ -office by William Thomas lord bishop of Worcester in 1688, to prove his right to the Herbert arms. His mother was Elizabeth Blount, descended from the Blounts of Eldersfield, in the county of Worcester. His grandfather, William Thomas, was recorder of Carmarthen, where he and his family had for a long time lived in great credit; and the earl of Northampton, then lord president of Wales, gave him this character, “that he was the wisest and most prudent person he ever knew member of a corporation:” this gentleman, after the death of their son, undertook the care of his grandson; which trust he executed with the greatest care and attention, placing him under the tuition of Mr. Morgan Owen, master of the public school at Caermarthen, afterwards bishop of Landaff: here he continued till he went to St. John’s college, Oxford, in the sixteenth year of his age, in Michaelmas term, 1629; from hence he removed to Jesus college, where he tqok his degree of B, A. 1632, and soon after was chosen fellow of the college, and appointed tutor by the principal. Here, according to the fashion of the times, he studied much school philosophy and divinity, epitomizing with his own hand all the works of Aristotle: he took his degree of M.A. Feb. 12, 1634, was ordained deacon by John Bancroft, bishop of Oxford, at Christ Church, June 4, 1637, and priest in the year following at the same place, and by the same bishop. Soon, after he was appointed vicar of Penbryn, in Cardiganshire, and chaplain to the earl of Northumberland, who presen ed him to the vicarage of Laugharn, with the rectory of Lansedurnen annexed. This presentation being disputed, he determined to give it up; but the earl encouraged him to persevere, assuring him that he would be at all the expence and trouble: in consequence of which, the dispute was soon ended, and Mr. Thomas instituted: here he determined to reside, having no other thought but how best to perform his duty; and that he might be more fixed, and avoid the inconveniences of a solitary single life, he resolved to marry. The person he chose was Blanch Samyne, daughter of Mr. Peter Samyne, a Dutch merchant in Lime-street, London, of an ancient and good family, by whom he had eight children; William, who died young, Peter, John, Blanch, Bridget, William, Sarah, and Elizabeth. Here he religiously performed every duty of a parish priest, esteeming his employment not a trade, but a trust, till about 1644, a party of the parliament horse came to Langharn, and inquired whether that popish priest Mr. Thomas was still there, and whether he continued reading the liturgy, and praying for the queen; and one of them adding, that he should go to church next Sunday, and it' Mr. Thomas persevered in praying for that drab or the whore of Babylon, he would certainly pistol him. Upon this, Mr. Thomas’s friends earnestly pressed him to absent himself; but he refused, thinking it would be a neglect of duty. He no sooner began the service, than the soldiers came and placed themselves in the next pew to him, and when he prayed for the queen, one of them snatched the book out of his hand, and threw it at his head, saying, “What do you mean by praying for a whore and a rogue?” The preacher bore it with patience and composure; but the soldier who had committed the affront was instantly seized with such anxiety and compunction, that his companions were forced to carry him away. Mr. Thomas continued the service, and delivered the sermon with his usual emphasis and 'propriety; and when he returned to his house, he there found the soldiers ready to beg his pardon, and desiring his prayers to God for them. When this happened, he was about thirty-three years old. Soon after, the parliament committee deprived him of the living of Laugharn; and though a principal member of that body had been his pupil and particular friend, yet he refused to shew him any favour, saying, “If he was his father, he would do him no service unless he would take the covenant.” From this time till the restoration, Mr. Thomas endured great hardships, being a sufferer to the amount of above fifteen hundred pounds, and, for the support of his family, obliged to teach a private school in the country; and though his friends often made him liberal presents, yet his wiie and numerous family were frequently in want of common necessaries.

At the restoration Mr. Thomas was re-instated in his living, and by the king’s letters patent made chanter of St, David’s. In this year he took his doctor’s degree in divinity, carrying with him a letter from the chancellor, who said thus of him: “I have heard of his great worth and deserts, as well in respect of his learning and orthodox, judgment, as of his most exemplary life and conversation.” In 1661, he was presented to the rectory of Llaqbeder in the Vajley, in the county of Pembroke, by lord chancellor Hyde, and made chaplain to the duke of York, whom he attended in his voyage to Dunkirk, in whose family he continued some time, and with whom he was in one of the sea engagements against the Dutch. By the interest of the duke and the chancellor he was promoted to the deanery of Worcester, Nov. 25, 1665, in the room of Dr. Thomas Warrnestry, deceased. Here, though a stranger, he behaved himself in such a manner as to gain the affections of all the gentlemen of the county, particularly the duke of Beaufort, lord Windsor, afterwards created earl of Plymouth, and sir John Pakington: the last, that he might enjoy more of his company, presented him to the rectory of Hampton Lovet in the beginning of 1670. Upon this he quitted his living at Laugharn, and removed his family to Hampton. Here he enjoyed an easy and pleasant retirement, and he was often heard to say that this was the pleasantest part of his life; and that here he had more quiet and satisfaction within himself than when he was afterwards in the highest order of the church. Here also he found time to search into antiquity, to enlarge his mind, and to enrich it with fruitful knowledge: but his pleasures were not without alloy, for, during his residence here in 1677, his beloved wife died, and was buried in one of the side ailes of the cathedral church of Worcester. In this year also he was promoted to the see of St. David’s, and held the deanery of Worcester in commendam. He was very acceptable to the gentry and clergy of that diocese: he had been bred up among them, spoke their language, and had been a fellow-sufferer with many of them in the late troublesome times. His behaviour confirmed their expectations, his generous temper agreed with theirs, but his chief concern was not so much to please their humours, as to correct their morals, and save their souls; to promote true piety and goodness, and to sow the seeds of holiness among them. He began to repair the palaces at Brecknock and Aberguilly; he preached frequently in several parts of his diocese in the language of the country, and was very instrumental in promoting the translation of the Bible into Welsh. He endeavoured all he could to remove the cathedral service from St. David’s to Caermarthen; the former being a place of no trade, little frequented, situated ; in a corner of the kingdom, twelve long miles from any market town, the cathedral ruinous, the bishop’s palace quite demolished, no residence kept, the canons never attending, except to receive their revenues, and not one shilling laid out in repairing the cathedral after the restoration. On the contrary, Caermarthen he knew to he a rich and populous town; the great church capable of heing made decent and handsome, and the episcopal house of Aberguilly very near, where the bishop constantly resided. On those motives he set about the work very heartily, but met with the same success as bishop Barlow had done before.

Having been bishop of St. David’s six years, he was translated to the see of Worcester, in the place of bishop Fleetwood. As soon as he knew of this appointment, his lordship, who never was a lover of money, desisted from any further treaty with several tenants of the bishopric of St. David’s, and refused very considerable fines, afterwards received by bishop Womack. He went to Worcester in August 1683, and was conducted to his palace by the gentry and clergy of his diocese, where they were entertained very handsomely, and ever after found a plentiful table and hearty welcome; he being always of opinion that, in order to amend the morals of the people, the first step was to gain their acquaintance and affection. Upon this principle, he was a great lover of hospitality and charity; the poor of the neighbourhood were daily fed at his door, and he sent provisions twice a week to the common prison, besides very large sums given where he saw occasion. Some may think that he carried this matter to excess for though he frequently was heard to say, “he dreaded debt as a sin,” through his extensive charity, and the necessary calls of a numerous family, he sometimes brought himself to the verge of it, he laid not up for himself or his children; and, when charged by several for not providing for his own household, his answer always was, “that no bishop or priest was to enrich himself with, or raise his family out of the revenues of the church that the sacred canons forbade it and that for his part he was resolved that none of his should be the richer for them, as he was only God’s steward, and bound to dispense them to his glory in works of charity and piety.” He was extremely careful what persons he ordained; his censures were also expressed in the softest words, and with an humble air of such tenderness and brotherly compassion as always gained the more ingenuous, and left the incorrigible without excuse. He constantly attended six o'clock prayers in the cathedral, so long as Ins health would permit and upon complaint from archbishop Sheldon, dated June 4, 1670, that the duties of reading the church service and administering 1 the sacraments were too much neglected by dignified persons, “the cleans and canons, as if it were an office below them, and left for the most part to be performed by their vicars or petty canons, to the offence of the church’s friends, and the advantage of sectaries, and their own just reproach;” he, together with the prebendaries, so ordered the residence, that one or two of them generally officiated at the communion. The bishop, at his first visitation of the dean and chapter, by his own authority, and their concurrence, procured a chapter act to be made, to oblige the prebendaries to be resident two at a time in every month; this being done with the concurrence of Dr. Hickes, then dean, and Dr. Hopkins, a worthy prebendary of the church, passed without the least appearance of uneasiness in any one member of the society. The money, which at former visitations was usually expended in entertaining, v the bishops, he ordered to be laid out in books for the library, and entertained the church at his own charge; he was besides a considerable benefactor to the library, the books about this time being brought from an inconvenient room on the south side of the church, and placed in the chapter-house, a very elegant room, capable of containing a noble collection of books. The bishop was often present in the Consistory court, whereby he much prevented the frivolous suits, and expedited the dilatory proceedings, which at that time were much complained of. Jn 1683, archbishop Bancroft wrote a letter to the bishop, complaining of a custom which then and for many years after continued, of preaching the sermon in the body of the cathedral, the prayers being read in. the choir: the origin of this custom was, that as there was no sermon in the parish churches, the several parishioners might, after their own prayers, attend the sermon of some eminent preacher in the cathedral. He was a great patron of the French protestants, and contributed largely to their support. In 1687, when the king made his progress through part of England, the bishop sent his servant to Bath, to invite his majesty to his palace at Worcester, where he had the honour of entertaining him on the 23d day of August, the eve of St. Bartholomew. He met him at the gate of his palace, attended by his clergy, and in a sfyort Latin speech welcomed him to the city. His majesty walked upon a large piece of white broad cloth of the manufacture or the city, all strewed with flowers, which reached from the palace gute to the stairs leading up to the great hall: as he went along, he said, “My lord, this looks like Whitehall.” Having refreshed himself after his journey, he went to see the cathedral, the dean attending his majesty to the college gate, from whence he went to see the curiosities of the town, and, among the rest, was shewn where the battle was fought between Oliver and his royal brother *.

The next morning being the feast of St. Bartholomew, the king went to hear mass at the popish chapel, built at his accession to the crown, on the east side of Foregatestreet, attended by the mayor and aldermen, whom, when they came to the gate of the chapel, his majesty asked if they would not go in with him; to which the mayor with a becoming spirit replied, “I think we have attended your majesty too far already.” This worthy magistrate, who preferred his religion, and duty to his country, to every other consideration, should have his name recorded in letters of gold: Dr. Nash took pains to find out who it was, and believed it to be either Thomas Bearcroft or Thomas Sherwin; the former was elected by the new charter, the Jatter by the old charter restored. Upon this answer made by the mayor, the king went into the popish chapel, and the mayor, with all the protestants who attended him, went to the college church, where, when divine service was ended, the bishop waited on his majesty till dinner came in, and the meat being set on the table he offered to say grace; but the king was pleased to say that he would spare him that trouble, for he had a chaplain of his own, upon which the good old man withdrew, not without tears in his eyes. As soon as the dinner was over, his majesty proceeded in his progress to Ludlow, having expressed himself well pleased with the attendance of the gentlemen of the county, and his entertainment by the bishop, which, his lordship says in a private letter to a friend, though very chargeable to him, yet he did not grudge it, as he hoped he had done the church some credit by it. The white broad

* The king’s escape after the de- out his own horse ready saddled, upon feat in this battle is thus related his which his majesty fled through St. Matmajesty being forced to alight from tin’s gate, and so to Boscobrl. Dr. his horse to get into Sidbury-gate, and Thomas, when dean ef Worcester, a cry being made for a horse to re- married his eldest son to a daughter mount thfcking, a Mr. William Bag- of this Mr. Bngi.il. u* I, who then li\cd in Skibury, turned cloth on which his majesty walked from the palace gate to the stairs leading to the great hall, cost his lordship 27/: it was rolled up after his majesty, and taken away by his attendants as belonging to his wardrobe.

While the king was at Worcester, the neighbouring dissenters of all denominations sent their addresses to hira^ which the earl of Plymouth, being lord-lieutenant, was to receive, and to deliver to the king. When he brought the two first the king asked him what religion the men who brought them were of. “Indeed, sir,” replied the lordlieutenant, “I did not ask them; but I know by their looks they are neither of your religion, nor mine.” But now the good bishop’s troubles drew on apace: the penal laws against nonconformists were suspended; and May 4, 1688, the king ordered the bishops to take care that his declaration should be read in the neighbourhood of London, on the 20th and 27th of the said month, and in all other churches and chapels the 3d and 10th of June. The archbishop and six bishops presented a petition against it; the consequence of which was, that they were sent to the Tower; this was a great grief to the bishop, not that he was concerned for any fault or misbehaviour of his brethren, or for the calamity that had befallen them, for he often wished that he had been with them, to bear his testimony in so good a cause, and to have a share with them in their honourable sufferings, but he was troubled to think on that impending storm which he foresaw might fall on the church: however, both he and the dean (Dr. Hickes) resolved not to disperse the declaration, and signified to all the clergy his utter dislike of it. Soon after he received a letter from court, containing a reprimand for not obeying the king’s orders; the answer to which was, as he himself says, without any tincture of collusion, but declaratory of his firm resolution not to comply. Upon king William’s accession, his ill health would not allow him to attend the convention; and indeed he never approved of the prince of Orange’s being declared king, and much less of that act which obliged all persons to take oaths of allegiance to king William and queen Mary, or to forfeit their offices, their livings, and their temporal subsistence. For his own part, he was resolved to forsake all, rather than act con* trary to his former oaths, and homage, which he had paid to king James; and although he writes to Kettlewell, and says, “If my heart do not deceive me, and God’s grace do not fail me, I think I could suffer at a stake rather than take this oath,” yet it does not appear that he used any persuasions to prevent others from taking it, only freely gave his opinion, and advised them sincerely to consult their own consciences. This was what he said to the clergy; and when a grandson of his, Dr. William Thomas, of whom we shall speak hereafter, then a student in Trinity college, Camhridge, consulted him on this critical point, he left him to his own liberty, and the feelings of his own conscience. In one of his sermons he says, “An humble man submits, suspects his own judgment, hath a venerable esteem for his superiors; if startled by any constitutions in church and state, he frequently prays, seriously discourses, modestly counsels with others; if after all expedients he remains dissatisfied, if he cannot swim with the stream, he will not trouble the waters.”

The limited time for taking the oaths drawing near, he prepared himself for leaving the palace, and vacating the see. He had agreed with Mr. Martin, then vicar of Wolverly, to come and live with him; and he wrote to Dr. StillinghYet, telling him that he would use all his interest that he might succeed him. While he was thus preparing all things for his retirement, God was pleased to prepare better for him, for, about the 20th of June, after a very severe fit of the gout, he grew continually weaker and weaker, though his friends did not think him in any immediate danger. The bishop, however, perceiving himself decaying, on Sunday the2-3d, received the sacrament in his own chapel; on Monday all his servants were called in, and he gave every one of them his blessing; that night he endeavoured to sleep, but in vain; his daughter-in-law, Mrs. Anne Thomas, sat up with him, and was much edified by him, for the most part of that restless night he spent in ejaculations, and prayer to God, that he would be pleased to re* lease him from his miseries, and the troubles of this vain worl 1: there was no weight or clog on his conscience; death did not appear at all troublesome to him, the sting was gone, his earnest desire was to depart, and be with Christ. Thus he passed the few remaining hours of his life, being sensible to the last; but, growing still weaker and weaker, about three o'clock the next day, being the 25th, he patiently submitted to the stroke of death, and resigned his spirit into the hands of God that gave it.

He died in the seventy-sixth year of his age, and according to his own appointment lies buried at the north-east corner of the cloisters of Worcester cathedral, at the bottom of the steps near the south door; being used to say that the church was for the living, and not for the dead. His funeral was ordered by himself, as many old men going before his corpse clothed in black as corresponded with the years of his age when he died. The inscription ordered by himself, was agreeable to his extraordinary humility: “Depositum Gulielmi Thomas, S. T. P. olim Decani Wigorniensis incligni, postea Episcopi Minevensis indignioris, tandem Episcopi Wigorniensis indignissimi, meritis tamen Christi resurrectionis ad vitam seternam candidati.” Something further was added afterwards by dean Hickes, and a marble monument was placed within the church by his youngest son, Mr. William Thomas of Hackney.

His whole estate amounted to but 800l. He left behind him two sons, John and William; and five grand-children, four by his daughter Elizabeth, who married Mr. Jonathan Andrews, of Barnes-hall near Worcester, and one by his son John, who was the Worcestershire antiquary, of whom we shall presently speak.

He published in his life-time, “An Apology for the Church of England, 1678-9,” 8vo. “A Sermon preached at Caermarthen Assizes,” printed in 1657. “The Mammon of Unrighteousness,”, a sermon preached at the cathedral church of Worcester when he was in a very languishing state of health. His “Letter to the Clergy,” and an imperfect work, entitled “Roman Oracles silenced,” were published after his death. All these shew him to have been a good bishop and industrious divine, but not a writer of parts or genius; his style is harder and more antiquated than that of most writers of his time; but his matter shews the simplicity and humility of his heart; for meekness and unaffected humility were his chief ornaments. These rendered him peaceable and quiet, patient of contradiction, and contented in all conditions, the same easy man when sequestered as when bishop and with the same easy- tranquillity and cheerfulness of mind he prepared to lay down his bishopric, as in his younger years he had done his vicarage. He was never known to have been in a passion. When he was dean of Worcester, one of the prebendaries in chapter fell into a sudden and violent emotion upon no great provocation, which made the dean say to him. “Brother, brother, God give you more patience.” To which the angry gentleman replied, “Mr. Dean, Mr. Dean, God give you more passion.” The good man made no reply, but by a smile. His memory was very good, for though he penned his sermons with great' accuracy, yet he always delivered them memoriter. He was of a stature somewhat tall anci slender, of a long visage, his forehead large, his countenance graceful, and his aspect venerable. The constitution of his body in his younger years was strong and healthful, though afterwards much broken by frequent infirmities, particularly the gout; to frequent and violent fits of which he was subject for upwards of four and twenty years: and that disorder would much sooner have brought him to an end, if it had not been checked by his great temperance and repeated abstinence.

, born in 1670, was grandson to the bishop, and only son of John Thomas and Mary Bagnail, daughter 'to Mr. Bagnall, mentioned in the preceding article. William inherited but little from his grandfather. He was educated at Westminster-school, from whence he was elected to Trinity-college, Cambridge, June 25, 1688, being then seventeen years old, as appears by the accounts of admissions in that college. Here he took his master’s degree, and soon after went into orders: he had the living ef Exal in Warwickshire, given him by the interest of lord Somers, to whom he was distantly related: at Atherston in the same county, he had a considerable estate, as he had likewise at the Grange near Toddington in Gloucestershire; the former came to him by his wife, the latter by his uncle William Thomas.

Queen Anne was well disposed to him, and made many inquiries after him, his grandfather the bishop having been formerly her preceptor; but he declined preferment or attendance at court. He married Elizabeth Carter, only daughter of George Carter, esq. of Brill, in the county of Bucks, with whom he had a considerable fortune. By her he had a numerous family, nine daughters and five sons; of the latter one only survived him about eight years, and died unmarried. For the education of this numerous family, Dr. Thomas wished to go to Worcester, which he accordingly did in 1721, and in 1723 was presented to the rectory of St. Nicholas in that city by bishop Hough, to whom he dedicated “Antiquitates Prioratus majoris Malverne,” printed in 1725; his edition of “Dugdale’s Warwickshire in 1730;” and likewise his “Survey of the Cathedral Church of Worcester,” printed in 1736: to Dugdale he made many large and valuable additions, and it is now deservedly a book of great price.

In his younger years, namely in 1700, he travelled to France and Italy, where he contracted a particular intimacy with sir John Pakington; he was well skilled in the Greek and Latin languages, to which he added the French and Italian. He likewise made himself master of the Saxon, a task at that time not so easy as at present, when we have a good dictionary, and 'a good grammar; the former would have saved him great labour, as Dr. Nash saw one he made himself for his own use, which cost him great pains: his industry, indeed, was amazing; as he hardly allowed himself time for sleep, meats, or amusement. He fully intended, if Providence had spared his life, to have published the History of Worcestershire, and with this view had carefully examined and transcribed many of the registers of the bishops, and the church of Worcester. To these labours Dr. Nash owns himself indebted, and says, he should be highly ungrateful if he did not take every opportunity of acknowledging his obligations. He visited likewise every church in the county about fifty years ago, which, together with the church gatherings of old Habingdon, were of great service to Dr. Nash, by explaining defaced arms and obliterated inscriptions: indeed the account of the painted glass is chiefly taken from their Mss. as it is now, by time and other accidents, almost all broken, or rendered unintelligible, by the glaziers. He died July 26, 1788, aged sixty-eight, and is buried in the cloisters of Worcester cathedral, near his grandfather.

, a learned French divine, was born Aug. 28, 1619, at Aix in Provence, of a good and ancient family, and admitted at the age of fourteen into the congregation of the oratory, where he had been educated. After teaching ethics in his congregation, and philosophy, he was appointed professor of divinity at Saumur, and introduced in his school the method of treating theological subjects according to the scriptures, the fatheri, and councils. Being invited to Paris in 1654, he began to bold conferences of positive theology in the seminary of St. Magloire, according to the method he had adopted it Saumur, and continued them till 166S, at which time his superiors and several eminent prelates persuaded him to give the fruits of his labours to the public. He complied, and afterwards became so celebrated by his works, that pope Innocent XI. endeavoured to draw him to Koine, with an intention of giving him a cardinal’s hat, and making use of his talents; but the king of France replied that so learned a man was necessary in his dominions. The French clergy gave him a pension of Jooo livres, which the poor always shared with him. He was mild, modest, active, agreeable in his manners, and very assiduous in all his pursuits. He died December 25, 1695, aged seventyseven. His principal works are: 1. A large treatise on “Ecclesiastical Discipline,” reprinted 1725, 3 vols. fol. in French; of which he, made a Latin translation, reprinted also in 1706, 3 vols. fol. This work is highly praised by persons in the catholic community. 2. “Theological Dogmas,” 1680, 3 torn. fol. in Latin. 3. “Tracts on the Divine office, 8 vo; on the Feasts, 8vo; on the Fasts, 8 vo; on Truth and Falsehood, 8vo; on Alms, 8vo on Trade and on Usury, 8vo; 4.” Tr. dogmatique des Moyens dont on s’est servi dans tous les terns pour maintenir Tunite de i'Eglise,“1703, 3 vols. 4to. To these may be added,” Directions for studying and teaching philosophy in a Christian manner,“8vo the same” for the profane historians,“8vo; apian of the same kind for grammar or the languages with relation to the Holy Scriptures, 2 vols. 8vo;” A Universal Hebrew Glossary,“printed at the Louvre, 1697, fol.” Dissertations on the Councils,“in Latin, 1667, 1 vol. 4to;” Memoires sur la Grace," 1682, 4to, &c. His Life, written by father Bordes, is prefixed to his Hebrew Glossary.

, Count Rumford, an ingenious philosopher, was born in 1753, in North America. His family, of English origin, had long been settled in New Hampshire, at the place formerly called Rumford, and now Concord; and possessed there some land previous to the war of the revolution. From his infancy his attention appears to have been directed towards objects of science. The father of one of his early companions, a clergyman, of the name of Bernard, took a liking to him, and taught him algebra, geometry, astronomy, and even the transcendental part of mathematics. Before the age of fourteen, he had made sufficient progress in this branch of study to be able, without assistance, to calculate and to trace graphically the phases of an eclipse of the sun. He had been destined to business; but from the period of this little event his passion for learning became irresistible, and he could apply himself to nothing but to his favourite objects of study. He attended the lessons of Dr. Williams; afterwards those of Dr. Winthorp, at the college of Havard; and under that able master he made considerable progress.

He appears, however, to have been early acquainted with misfortune. Soon after the death of his father, his mother contracted a second marriage, with a man who turned him away from her while yet a child; and an uncle, who survived his father only a few months, scarcely left him whereon to live. He was thus, at a very early period, launched into a world which was almost unknown to him, and it became necessary for him to acquire the habit of thinking and acting for himself, and of living on his own acquirements. “My ideas,” said he to a friend, “were not yet fixed; one scheme succeeded another, and perhaps I should have acquired a habit of indecision and inconstancy, perhaps I should have lived poor and miserable to the end of my days, if a woman had not loved me, if she had not given me existence, a habitation, and an independent fortune. 1 took a wife, or rather she took me, at nineteen years of age. I married the widow of colonel Rolfe, the daughter of the reverend Mr. Walker, a most respectable clergyman, and one of the first inhabitants of Rumford. He had made three voyages to England, intrusted with public business; he was well informed, and a most liberal-minded man. He heartily approved of the choice of his daughter, and himself united our hands and our destinies. That excellent man was sincerely attached to me; he directed my studies, he formed my taste; and my situation was, in every respect, the happiest which it is possible to conceive.”

Unforeseen circumstances withdrew him from his peaceful retreat, and from the favourite studies which probably would have formed the chief occupation of his life, to make him act on the theatre of the great world, a part for which apparently he was not prepared. At the commencement of the troubles of America, which preceded and brought an the war of the independence, Thompson, then twenty years of age, was united by friendship with the governor of the province, and attached to the government. The civil and military employments, with which, though still young, he was invested, naturally drew him to the royalist party; and when the opposite party acquired the ascendant in his province, he was forced to abandon his home, and to seek an asylum at Boston, then occupied by the English troops. It was toward the end of the month of November 1773, that he secretly quitted his habitation, where he left his wife, with a daughter, of whom she had but lately been delivered. He never again saw the former; and the beloved child whom she had given him he found not till twenty years after, when she came to rejoin her father in Europe.

Thompson was received with distinction by the commander in chief of the British army, and called to raise a regiment for the service of the king. But the events of the war having occasioned the evacuation of Boston, in the spring of 1776, he then repaired to England, and was the bearer of important dispatches to government. Here he soon acquired the confidence of the secretary of state for the colonies, and some days after his arrival in London he was appointed secretary of the province of Georgia, an office which he never exercised. He remained in London connected with the office of the colonies.

During the autumn of the year 1777, his health becoming disordered, he went to Bath to take the waters. He there resumed his favourite pursuits, and performed an interesting set of experiments on the cohesion of different bodies. On his return to London he communicated the results of them to sir Joseph Banks, and from that epoch used to date the intimate friendship which long subsisted between him and the illustrious president of the Royal Society of London. In 1778, he was admitted a member of the society, and he made, in the same year, his first experiments on gun-powder. The results which he obtained greatly excited his curiosity, and raised the desire of repeating the same experiments with great guns, and. of choosing that occasion to study at sea the principles of naval architecture. With this view, in the spring of 1779, he went on board the Victory, a vessel of 110 guns, commanded by admiral sir Charles Hardy, who was his friend. He passed that whole campaign with the grand fleet of England, employing his time as he had purposed to do, by multiplying his experiments, and repeating them on different ships belonging to the fleet; and on his return to London he composed an essay on naval architecture, which is to be found, as a separate chapter, in the treatise of Staikart on the same subject, published the following year. He joined to it a code of signals for the use of the navy, which has never been published. Being appointed under-secretary of state in the beginning of the year 1780, he was for thirteen months constantly employed in the office of the business of the American war. The regiment of cavalry called the King’s American dragoons was raised at that period in his native country by his friends and agents, and he was at first appointed its lieutenant-colonel commandant. This circumstance determined him to return to America to serve with his regiment; and when at Charlestown he was appointed to the command of the remains of the cavalry in the royal army, then under the orders of lieutenant-general Leslie. This corps, which was greatly reduced, he restored speedily; and gained its confidence and attachment. He led it on several times against the enemy, and was often fortunate in his enterprises. Honoured with the esteem of the army, and furnished with the most flattering recommendations from general Leslie to the commander in chief, Thompson set out in the spring of 1782 for New York, where he assumed the command of his regiment. Prince William-Henry- (the duke of Clarence), the king’s third son, who reviewed his corps, delivered to him the colours with his own hand. General Clinton was, towards autumn, replaced by sir Guy Carlton, who equally imparted to Thompson his friendship and confidence. The feeble remainder of the two regiments which had served from the beginning of the war, was joined to his corps, and he was sent to Huntingdon, outpost of the army in Long-Island, where he passed the winter.

At the beginning of 1783, Jamaica being threatened, Thompson was chosen to command a body of troops destined to defend it; but the news of the peace having soon after arrived in America, that expedition was prevented, and he returned to England. There one of the first objects of his solicitude was to make a return to the confidence fvhich had been reposed in him by the American officers; and he was fortunate enough to obtain for these victims of their attachment to the metropolitan country, the compensations which their sacrifices had Reserved. By a solemn act of the legislature an honourable provision was secured to some hundreds of brave officers, notwithstanding a pretty strong opposition, which rendered the issue of the negotiation very doubtful; and general Carltun having mentioned Thompson in his dispatches as an officer of extraordinary merit, the king, upon this recommendation, made him colonel, though it was but two years since he had been made lieutenant-colonel.

Wben the American war terminated, Thompson solicited to be employed wih his regiment in the East Indies; but the peace having occasioned the reduction of that corps, together with that of several others, he obtained from the king permission to travel on the continent, where, stimulated as he then still was by the military passion, he hoped to find an opportunity of serving as a volunteer in the Austrian army against the Turks. “I owe it to a beneficent Divinity,” said he to his biographer, “that I was cured in time of that martial folly. 1 met, at the prince de Kaunitz’s, with a lady seventy years of age, and endowed with great sense and knowledge. She was the wife of general de Burghausen; and the emperor Joseph II. often came to spend the evening with her. That excellent person formed an attachment to me; she gave me wise advices; and imparted a new turn to my ideas, by presenting to me in perspective other species of glory than that of conquering in battles.”

On quitting England in the month of September 1783, he landed at Boulogne, along wiih the celebrated Gibbon, who describes him by three epithets which shew how quickly he had been able to appreciate him. He calls him “the soldier, philosopher, statesman, Thompson.” He afterwards arrived at Strasburg, where the prince Maximilian de Deux- Fonts, now elector of Bavaria, then mareschal du camp in the service of France, was in garrison. That prince, commanding the parade, discovered among the spectators an officer in a foreign uniform, mounted on a fine English horse, and accosted him; Thompson informed him that he had just been employed in the American war; the prince, pointing out to him several officers who surrounded him, ' These gentlemen,“said he,” served in the same war, but against you. They belonged to the royal regiment Deux-ponts, sent to America under the command of the count de Rochambeau."

The conversation became close and animated. Colonel Thompson, invited, in consequence, to dine with the prince, found there a number of French officers against whom he had fought in America. The conversation turned on the events of that war. The colonel sent for his portfolio, which contained exact plans of all the principal actions, of the strong places, of the sieges, and an excellent collection of maps; every one recognized the places where events interesting to himself had happened. The conversation lasted a great while, and they parted, promising to see one another again. The prince was an enthusiast in his profession, and passionately fond of instruction. He invited the colonel next day. They resumed the conversation of the evening with the same ardour; and when the traveller at last took his leave, the prince engaged him to pass through Munich, and gave him a letter of recommendation to his uncle the elector of Bavaria. The season was far advanced, and he was in haste to arrive in Vienna. He intended to stop at Munich two or three days at most. He remained fifteen, and quitted, not without regret, that city, where the testimonies of the favour of the sovereign, and the partialities of the different classes of society, had been lavished upon him with that cordial frankness, which so eminently distinguishes the Bavarian character. At Vienna, in the same manner he met with the most flattering reception, and was presented at court, and in the first companies, He spent there a part of the winter; and, learning that the war against the Turks would not take place, he yielded to the attraction of the recollections of Munich, and passing through Venice, where he stopped some weeks, and through the Tyrol, he returned to that residence toward the end of the winter of 1784. He now received from the elector a positive invitation to enter into his service; and instead of returning to Vienna, he set out for London with the intention of soliciting permission from the king to accept the offers of the elector palatine. Not only was -that favour granted him, but the king joined to it ah honourable distinction, by creating him a knight. He accordingly returned to Bavaria sir Benjamin Thompson; and was on his arrival appointed colonel of the horse, and general aid-de-camp to the sovereign who wanted to secure his services. Sir Benjamin employed the four first years of his abode at Munich in acquiring the political and statistical knowledge necessary for realizing the plans which his philanthropy suggested to him for improving the condition of the lower orders, he did not neglect in the mean time his favourite studies; and it was in 1786, in a journey to Manheim, that he made his first experiments on heat. Political and literary honours poured in upon him during that interval. In 1785 he was made chamberlain of the elector, and admitted a member of the academies of science of Munich and Manheim. In 178C he received from the kin<4 of Poland the order of St. Stanislaus; in 1787 he made a journey in Prussia, during which he was elected a member of the academy of Berlin. In 1788 he was appointed Major-general of cavalry and privy counsellor of state. He was placed at the head of the war department, and particularly charged with the execution of the plans which he had proposed for improving the state of the Bavarian army.

At last, the following year (1789) witnessed the accomplishment of the numerous projects meditated during those which preceded. The house of industry of Manheim was established; the islands of Mulhau near Manheim, which till that time had been nothing but a pestilential morass, useless for culture, and pernicious to the health of the inhabitants of the city, were joined together, surrounded by a mound and ditch, and transformed into a fertile garden, consecrated to the industry of the garrison. The tine establishment of the military academy of Munich was founded; a scheme of military police was formed to deliver the country from the numerous gangs of vagabonds, robbers, and beggars, who infested it; schools of industry, belonging to every regiment, were established, to employ the wives and children of the soldiers; a veterinary school was instituted, and a stud of horses provided for improving the breed of the country. At the beginning of 1790 the house of industry at Munich, that fine establishment, which the count himself has described at length in his essays, was formed, for bettering the condition of the poor; and mendicity was completely abolished: nor has it again made its appearance in Bavaria, since that memorable epoch. The beautiful English garden of Munich was begun, and military gardens established in all the garrisons. The sovereign expressed his obligation for these numerous services, by conferring on sir Benjamin the rank of lieutenant-general of his armies, and giving him a regiment of artillery. In 1791 he was created a count of the holy Roman empire, and honoured with the order of the white eagle. He employed that year and the following in completing his projects, and in removing the obstacles by which attempts were made to interrupt their progress. This species of labour, and the anxiety of mind inseparable from it, impaired his health to such a degree, that his physicians declared that his life was in danger, unless he retired, for some time, from business, and had recourse to a change of climate. He obtained permission from the elector to take a journey into Italy; and before leaving him, communicated, in a detailed account, the principal results of his four years administration, compared with the four years which had preceded his entrance into office. After having travelled over all Italy, and a part of Switzerland, he returned to Bavaria in the month of August 1794. He had been attacked with a dangerous illness in Naples, and his slow recovery did not permit him to resume, on his return, the transaction of the business of his department, over which he contented himself with exercising a general superintendance. He laboured in his closet; and it was at this time that he prepared the first five of the essays which he published.

In the month of September 1795 he returned to England, after an absence of more than eleven years. The principal object of his journey was to publish his essays, and to direct the attention of the English nation toward the plans of public and domestic ceconomy which he had conceived and realized in Germany. Lord Pelham was then secretary of state in Ireland. The count complied with his invitation in the spring of 1796, and took that occasion of visiting that interesting country. He introduced, at Dublin, several important improvements into the hospitals and houses of industry, and left there models of a number of useful mechanical inventions. Every testimony of honour and gratitude was lavished upon him in that country. The royal academy of Ireland, the society for the encouragement of arts and manufactures, both elected him an hono^ rary member; and after having left the country, he received a letter of thanks from the grand jury of the county of Dublin, an official letter from the lord mayor of the city, and one from the lord lieutenant of Ireland; all filled with the most flattering expressions of esteem and of gratitude.

On his return to London he directed the alterations, which had been adopted, on his recommendation, in the Foundling-hospital; and he presented to the Board of agriculture several machines, as models for imitation. The philanthropic activity which distinguished this epoch of his life manifested itself in every form It was at this time he placed in the English and American funds, two sums of 1000l. sterling each, to establish a premium to he given every two years to the author of the most useful discovery, made respectively in Europe or America, on light, or heat. The premium is a gold medal worth 1500 francs, to he adjudged in Europe by the royal society of London, and in America by the academy of sciences of America.

Nothing seemed sufficient to withdraw him from these tranquil and important oc-cupations, when the events of war called upon him to display his military talents fur the service of his adopted country. General Moreau, having crossed the Rhine, and defeated several bodies of soldiers who disputed with him its passage, advanced by quick marches to Bavaria. Count Rumford, on receiving this intelligence, immediately set out to join the elector. His arrival at Munich was eight days previous to the epoch when the sovereign was called upon to quit his residence, and to take refuge in Saxony. Rumford remained in Munich with instructions from the elector to wait events, and to act according to the exigency of circumstances: they were not long in requiring his interference. After the battle of Freidberg, the Austrians, repulsed by the French, fell back upon Munich: the gates of the city were shut against them. They marched round it, passed the Inn by the bridge, and posted themselves on the other side of die river on a height which commanded the bridge and the town. There they erected batteries, and firmly waited for the French. In this situation, some inconsiderate transactions which happened in Munich, were interpreted by the Austrian general as an insult pointed against himself, and he demanded an explanation of them from the council of regency, threatening to order the towq to be fired upon if a single Frenchman entered the city. At this critical moment the count made use of the eventual orders of the elector, to take the command in chief of the Bavarian forces. His firmness and presence of mind awed both parties; neither the French nor the Austrians entered Munich; and that city escaped all the dangers with which it had been threatened.

On the return of the elector, the count was placed at the head of the department of the general police in Bavaria, The services which he rendered in that capacity, though. Jess brilliant than military exploits, were not less valuable, or less conspicuous. But the excessive labour to which his zeal and activity betrayed him, the opposition which he often experienced in the exercise of his office, again affected his health to such a degree as threatened his life. The elector, impressed with esteem and gratitude towards him, wished not to allow him to sink under a labour too severe for him, and desired to find the means of procuring him the repose which he required, without altogether depriving himself of his services: he appointed him his envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary at the court of London. But the rules of England not permitting a subject of the king to be accredited as a foreign minister, the count did not exercise that office, and continued to live in England after his return in 1798 as a private individual.

It being reported in America that he had quitted Bavaria forever, the government of the United States addressed to him, through the medium of the American ambassador at London, a formal and official invitation to return to his naiive country, where an honourable establishment was destined for him. The offer was accompanied with the most flattering assurances of consideration and confidence. He replied, declaring at the same time his profound gra* titude for such a mark of esteem, “That engagements, rendered sacred and inviolable by great obligations, did not permit him to dispose of himself in sach a manner as to be able to accept of the offer which was made to himij”

The historical society of Massachusets, on electing count Rumford a member, communicated to him, by their president, about the same time, their unanimous desire of seeing him return to his own country, and take up his residence among them. His answer, which is to be found in the American papers of that time, was very much admired.

Toward the autumn of 1800, count Rumford went to Scotland. The magistrates of Edinburgh paid him a visit of ceremony; gave a public dinner on his account, and to these marks of distinction added the freedom of the city, conceived in terms the most flattering. They consulted him on the means of improving the existing charitable institutions, and on the measures proper for abolishing mendicity. The work was undertaken without loss of time, and that great enterprize was finished in a few months with complete success. The royal society of Edinburgh, and the college of physicians, elected him at the same time, respectively, an honorary member; and the university bestowed upon him the degree of doctor of laws. During his stay in that city he employed himself in superintending the execution, in the great establishment of Heriot’s hospital, of improvements which he invented with regard to the employment of fuel in the preparation of food; and the managers, to shew their gratitude, sent him a silver box, with a very flattering inscription, having on one of its sides a representation, in relief of gold, of the principal front of the building to the improvement of which he had so eminently contributed.

Count Rumford quitted England for the last time in the month of May 1802, for Paris. He went that summer to Munich, and returned to Paris in the winter. In the summer of 1803, he made a tour of part of Switzerland and Bararia with the widow of the celebrated Lavoisier, a woman of highly cultivated mind and capacious understanding; whom shortly after their return to Paris he married; but their union proved unhappy, and they at length separated, the count retiring to a house at Auteuil, about four miles from Paris, where he passed the rest of his days in philosophical pursuits and experiments, almost secluded from the world; for after the death of his worthy friend, the illustrious Lagrange, he saw only his next-door neighbour, the senator Lecoutejux Caneleux, Mr. Underwood, the member of the royal institution, who assisted him in the experiments, and an old friend, Mr. Parker, a learned American. He ceased to attend the sittings of the National Institute; but for the perpetual secretary Cuvier, he always preserved the highest admiration and esteem. One object of his latter occupations was a work not finished, “On the Nature and Effects of Order;” which would probably have been a valuable present to domestic society. No man in all his habits had more the spirit of order: every thing was classed; no object was ever allowed to remain an instant out of its place the moment he had done with it; and he was never beyond his time in an appointment a single instant. He was also latterly employed on a series of experiments on the propagation of heat in solids. He had by him several unpublished works, particularly one of considerable interest on Meteorolites, in which he demonstrated that they came from regions beyond the atmosphere of the earth. This very ingenious philosopher died August 21, 1814, when on the eve of retiring to England. The literary productions of count Kumford have obtained a wide circulation, having been translated into various languages. His papers in the “Philosophical Transactions,” chiefly on matters connected with the object of his beneficent investigations, were rather distinguished for the useful application of which they were susceptible, than for their number. Among them are, 1. “Experiments on Gun-powder, with. a method of determining the velocity of projectiles, and the force of gun-powder.” 2. “Experiments on Heat; by which it is proved to pass more slowly through the Torricellian vacuum, than through the air.” 3. “Experiments on the production of dephlogisticated air (oxygen gas) by different substances, exposed under water to the action of light.” 4. “Experiments on the relative and absolute quantities of moisture absorbed by different substances employed as garments.” 5. “Experiments on the communication of heat in air.” This memoir procured to the author the gold medal of the royal society. 6. “The description of a photometer, and experiments on the relative quantity of light furnished by different combustible substances, and their relative prices.” 7. “Experiments on coloured shades, and the optical illusions produced by the contrast of colours actually present.” 8. “Experiments on the force of Gunpowder, by which it is proved that this force is at least 50,000 times greater than the mean weight of the atmosphere, and that it is probable that the force of gun-powder depends chiefly on the elasticity of the vapour of water.” 9. “A letter to sir Joseph Banks, president of the Royal Society, offering a capital of 1000l. sterling destined for a fund to furnish a premium every two years to the author of the most useful discovery made in Europe with regard to light or heat.” 10. “Inquiries into the cause of heat excited by friction, &c. &c.”

His only distinct publication was a series of detached “Essays, experimental, political, economical, and philosophical,” which appeared at different times since 1"796, and now amount to eighteen, forming four octavo volumes. The contents are, Essay 1. Account of an Establishment for the Poor at Munich, together with a detail of various public measures connected with that institution, which have been adopted and carried into effect, for putting an end to mendicity, and introducing order and useful industry among the more indigent of the inhabitants of Bavaria. 2. Of the funJamental principles on which general establishments for the relief of the poor may be formed in all countries. 3. Of Food, and particularly of feeding the poor. 4. Of Chimney Fire-places, with proposals for improving them to save fuel; to render dwelling-houses more comfortable and salubrious; and effectually to prevent chimneys from smoking. 5. A short account of several Public Institutions lately formed in Bavaria. 6. On the Management of Fire, and the Economy of Fuel. 7. Of the Propagation of Heat in Fluids. 8. Of the Propagation of Heat in various substances, being an account of a number of new experiments made with a view to the investigation of the causes of the warmth of natural and artificial clothing. (First published in the Phil. Transactions.) 9. An experimental inquiry concerning the Source of the Heat which is excited by friction. 10. On the construction of Kitchen Fire-places, and Kitchen Utensils, together with remarks and observations relating to the various processes of cookery, and proposals for improving that most useful art. 11. Supplementary observations concerning Chimney Fireplaces. 12. Observations concerning the Salubrity of Warm Rooms in Cold Weather. 13. Observations concerning the Salubrity of Warm Bathing, and the principles on which Warm Baths should be constructed. 14. Supplementary observations relating to the management of fires in closed Fire places. 15. Of the use of Steam as a vehicle for transporting heat from one place to another. 16. Of the management of Light, in illuminations; together with an account of a new portable lamp. 17. An inquiry concerning the source of the Light which is manifested in the combustion of inflammable bodies. 18. Of the excellent qualities of Coffee, and the art of making- it in perfection.

, a miscellaneous writer of no great fame, was the son of a merchant at Hull, where he was born about 1738. He was educated at Beverley, under the Rev. Mr. Clarke, and thence removed to Hampstead, unHer the care of Dr. Cox. He early embraced a maritime life, and in 1750 sailed on a voyage to Greenland. In 1754 he was engaged on board an Indiaman, and became what is called “a guinea pig,” though other accounts say that he went to the East Indies with sir Peter Dennis, on board the Dorsetshire, and was in the memorable action off Quiheron Bay. By his “Sailor’s Letters,” it appears that he was at Madras, Ceylon, and Bengal. In 1759 he was engaged in Hawke’s celebrated battle with Gentians. His other naval movements seem to have been of little importance, and on the peace in 1762 he became unemployed He now wrote a licentious poem, celebrating the most remarkable women of the town, which he published under the title of the “Meretriciad.” This seems to have been the means of introducing him to the acquaintance of Churchill, with whom he boasts on many occasions to have lived on terms of intimacy, and with whose principles, political and moral, he appears to have been at perfect agreement. Of this, his subsequent poems, “The Soldier,” “The Courtezan,” and the “Demirep,” afford sufficient proof. In 1765, he was more laudably employed in soliciting parliament for an increase of half-pay for the lieutenants of the navy, an application which was attended with success.

In 1767 he published his “Sailor’s Letters,” 2 vols. 12mo, in which there are many particulars of his life, from 1754 to 1759, told in a rambling and desultory manner. He afterwards edited the works of Oldham in 3 vols. and in 1777, those of Paul Whitehead, in one vol. 4to, and of Andrew Marvell, in 3 vols, 4to, none of which added much to his reputation, either for judgment or correctness. When the war with France commenced, he was, in 1778, appointed to the command of the Hyaena, and was in Rodney’s famous action off Cape St. Vincent, of which he is said to have brought home the intelligence; but this, and other accounts of his progress, as related by his biographer, are certainly erroneous. There was a capt. Thompson, of the America, who brought home the news of Rodney’s having captured a valuable Spanish convoy, but this was capt. Samuel Thompson, a much older officer; and as to Rodney’s action off Cape St. Vincent, a reference to the Gazette will show that it was capt. Uvedale of the Ajax; who brought home that intelligence. We are told, which may be correct, that he was soon afterwards appointed commodore of an expedition against Demerara, and afterwards conveyed home a fleet of merchantmen from St. Eustathius. In 1785 he was appointed commander of the Grampus, and sent to the coast of Africa, where he died on board of his ship, Jan. 17, 1786. He was considered as a brave and skilful commander, and had that infallible test of merit, the affection of his crew. It must also be noticed to his honour that when he acquired some degree of opulence, he with great alacrity and liberality repaid his obligations to many persons who had before assisted him. The most impartial of his biographers concludes with observing that “the merits by which capt. Thompson will be best known to posterity, are his sea songs, which are still on every one’s lips: more especially those three beautiful and affecting compositions, beginning” Loose every sail to the breeze,“” The topsail shivers in the wind,“and” Behold upon the gallant wave."

, a scholar and poet of considerable merit, is said to have been the second son of the rev. Francis Thompson, B. D. of Queen’s college, Oxford, and vicar of Brough in Westmoreland, who died August 31, 1735, aged seventy. His mother, who died two years after, in the sixty-fifth year of her age, was the widow of the rev. Joseph Fisher, M. A. fellow of Queen’s college, Ox* ford, vicar of Brough, and archdeacon of Carlisle, by whom she had no children. Our author was born probably in the early part of the last century, but the year cannot be ascertained. He was young, when in 1734 and 1736, he wrote “Stella, Sive Amores, Tres Libri,” and “Six Pastorals,” none of which he thought it proper to include in his published works. In his poem, entitled “Sickness,” he laments the want of a mother’s tenderness, and a father’s care; but, as they died in advanced age, he could not have lost them before he had attained at least his twentieth year.

It was on the banks of the Eden, which runs near Brough, that “his prattling muse was first provoked to numbers,” and where, we may suppose, he wrote most of those smaller pieces which he thought worthy of preservation. In these he frequently addresses an lanthe, who was probably a real mistress. At the usual age he went to Queen’s college, Oxford, and on February 26, 1738, took the degree of master of arts. He afterwards became a fellow of his college, and succeeded to the livings of South Weston and Hampton Poyle, in Oxfordshire. It was probably during his residence on his living that he published “Sickness,” in 1746. The origin of this poem may be found in a note subjoined to the fifth book, but much of it must have been written just before publication, as he pays tribute to the memory of Pope and Swift, who died about that time.

In 1751, he is said to have been an unsuccessful candidate for the poetry professorship, against Hawkins. In 1756 he published “Gratitude,” a poem, on an occasion which certainly required it from every true son of Oxford. In the preceding year Henrietta Louisa, countess dowager of Pomfret, daughter of John, baron Jeffrys of Wemm, and relict of Thomas, first earl of Pomfret, presented to the university more than one hundred and thirty statues, &c. which the earl’s father, William, baron of Lempster, had purchased from the Arundel collection, and preserved at his seat at Eston Neston in Northamptonshire. On the 25th February, 1756, this lady received the thanks of the university; and the year following, the university celebrated a public enccenia, on which occasion, in an oration by Mr. Thomas Warton, professor of poetry, she was again complimented in the most public manner for her noble and generous benefaction. Besides Thompson, an anonymous Oxonian offered a poetical tribute to her liberality; and in. 1760, Mr. Vivian, afterwards king’s professor of modern history, published “A Poem on the Pomfret Statues.” Thompson’s poem is added to the late collection, without, it will perhaps be thought, adding much to his poetical reputation.

In 1757 he published two volumes, or, as he quaintly terms them, two tojms of poems, by subscription, with prefaces and notes which give us a very high idea of the author’s modesty, piety, and learning. He became afterwards dean of Raphoe in Ireland, where, it is presumed, he died sometime before 1766 or 1767.

It has already been mentioned, in the life of 'bishop Hall, that in 1753 Thompson superintended the publication of an edition of the “Virgidemiarum.” To his own volumes of poems was added, “Gondibert and Bertha,” a tragedy, the subject taken from Davenant’s poem of “Gondibert.” This tragedy was written, he informs us, when “he was an undergraduate in the university, as an innocent relaxation from those severer and more useful studies for which the college, where he had the henefit of his education, is so deservedly distinguished.” He reprintfd it with all its juvenile imperfections, but, although it is not without individual passages of poetical beauty, it has not dramatic form and consistency to entitle it to higher praise.

Of Thompson’s personal character, a very high opinion may be deduced from the general tenour of his acknowledged works. He appears to have been a man of warm affections in the relative duties of life, an ardent admirer of merit, with an humble consciousness of his own defects; a man of real piety, and of various learning. His studies lay much among the ancient English poets, in whose history and writings he was critically skilled. As a poet, although he has not been popular, he may be allowed to rank above some whose writings have been more anxiously preserved. Having been in early life an admirer of Spenser, he became a studied imitator of that father of English poetry; but like most of his imitators, while he adopted his measure, he thought his imitation incomplete without borrowing a greater number of antiquated words and phrases than can be either ornamental or useful. But if he be censurable on this account, it must be allowed, that in his “Nativity” he has not only imitated, but rivalled Spenser in the sweetness and solemnity which belong to his canto. His imagery is in general striking, and appropriate to the elevated subject, nor is he less happy in his personifications. His “Hymn to May” has received more praise than any of his other pieces. It is certainly more finished, but there are many luxuriancies which sober judgment would have removed, and many glittering epithets, and verbal conceits, which proceeded from a memory stored with the ancient poets, and not yet chastened into simplicity by the example and encouragement of the moderns. The poem on “Sickness” is the longest, and altogether, perhaps the most successful effort of his muse. He chose a new subject, and discovers considerable powers of invention.

, a very eminent poet, was the son of a minister in Scotland, and born at Ednam in the shire of Roxburgh, Sept. the llth, 1700. His mothers name was Beatrix Trotter, and not Hume, as Dr. Johnson says, Hume being the name of his grandmother. His father was minister of Ednam, with a family of nine children. A neighbouring clergyman, Mr. Riccarton, discovering in James uncommon promises of future excellence, undertook to give him instructions, and provide him with books; and, after the usual course of school education at Jedburgh, he was sent to the university of Edinburgh. In the second year of his admission, his studies were for some time interrupted by the death of his lather; but his mother soon after repaired with her family, which was very numerous, to Edinburgh, where she lived in a decent and frugal manner, till her favourite son had not only finished his academical course, but was even distinguished and patronized as a man of genius. Though the study of poetry was about this time become general in Scotland, the best English authors being universally read, and imitations of them attempted, yet taste had made little progress; the major part criticized according to rules and forms, and thus were very able to discern the inaccuracies of a poet, while all his fire and enthusiasm escaped their notice. Thomson believed that he deserved better judges than these, and therefore began to turn his views towards London, to which an accident soon after entirely determined him.

The divinity-chair at Edinburgh was then filled by Mr. Hamilton, whose lectures Thomson attended for about a year, when there was prescribed to him, for the subject of an exercise, a psalm, in which the power and majesty of God are celebrated. Of this psalm he gave a paraphrase and illustration, as the nature of the exercise required, but in a style *o highly poetical, that it surprized the whole audience. Mr. Hamilton complimented him upon the performance; but at the same time told him, smiling, that if he thought of being useful in the ministry, he must keep a stricter rein upon his imagination, and express himself in language more intelligible to an ordinary congregation. Thomson concluded from this, that' his expectations from the study of theology mi^ht be very precarious, even though the church had been more his free choice than it probably was: so that, having soon after received some encouragement from a lady of quality, a friend of his mother, then in London, he quickly prepared himself for his journey, in 1725; and although this encauragement ended in nothing beneficial, it served then for a good pretext, to cover the imprudence of committing himself to the wide world, unfriended and unpatronized, and with the slender stock of money he possessed.

But his merit did not lie long concealed. Mr. Forbes, afterwards lord-president of the session, received him very kindly, and recommended him to some of his friends, particularly to Mr. Aikinan, whose premature death he has with great affection commemorated, in a copy of verses written on that occasion. The good reception he experienced wherever he was introduced, emboldened him to risque the publication of his “Winter,” in March 1726, which was no sooner read than universally admired; and from that time his acquaintance was courted by all men of taste. Dr. Ilundle, afterwards bishop of Derry, received him into his intimate confidence and friendship; promoted his reputation every where; introduced him to his great friend the lord chancellor Talbot; and some years after, when the eldest son of that nobleman was to make his tour of travelling, recommended Mr. Thomson as a proper companion for him. His affection and gratitude to Dr. Rundle are finely expressed in his poem to the memory of lord Talbot. In the mean time, the poet’s chief care had been, in return for the public favour, to finish the plan which their wishes laid out for him; and the expectations which his “Winter” had raised were fully satisfied by the successive publication of the other seasons; of “Summer,” in 1727; of “Spring,” in 1728; and of “Autumn,” in a 4to edition of his works, in 1730. Some very interesting remarks on the variations introduced into these, in subsequent editions, may be seen in the Ceusura Literaria, vols. II. III. and IV.

Besides these, and his tragedy of “Sophonisba,” written and acted with applause in 1729, Thomson had, in 1727, published his “Poem to the Memory of Sir Isaac Newton,” then lately deceased. The same year, the resentment of our merchants, for the interruption of their trade by the Spaniards in America, running very high, Thomson zealously took part in it, and wrote his poem named “Britannia, to rouzethe nation to revenge. His poetical pursuits were now interrupted by his attendance on the honourable Mr. Charles Talbot in his travels, with whom he visited most of the courts and capital cities of Europe. How particular and judicious his observations abroad were, appears from his poem on” Liberty,“in five parts, thus entitled,” Ancient and modern Italy compared“” Greece'“”Rome;“” Britain;“” The Prospect.“While he was writing the first part of” Liberty,“he received a severe shock, by the death of his noble friend and fellow-traveller; and this was soon followed by another still more severe, and of more general concern, the death of lord Talbot himself; which Thomson so pathetically laments, in the poem dedicated to his memory. At the same time, he found himself from an easy competency reduced to a state of precarious dependence, in which he passed the remainder of his life, excepting only the two last years of it; during which he enjoyed the place of surveyor-general of the Leeward islands, procured for him by the generous friendship of lord Lyttelton. Immediately upon his return to England with Mr. Talbot, the chancellor had made him his secretary of briefs, a place of little attendance, suiting his retired indolent way of life, and equal to all his wants. This place fell with his patron; yet could not his genius be depressed, or his temper x hurt, by this reverse of fortune. He resumed, in time, his usual cheerfulness, and never abated one article in his way of living, which, though, simple, was genial and elegant The profits arising from his works were not inconsiderable; his” Tragedy of Agamemnon," acted in 1738, yielded a good sum.

But his chief dependence, during this long interval, was on the protection and bounty of his royal highness Frederic prince of Wales, who, upon the recommendation of lord Lyttelton, then his chief favourite, settled on him an handsome allowance, and always received him very graciously. It happened, however, that the favour of his royal highness was, in one instance, of some disadvantage to Mr. Thomson, in the refusal of a licence for his tragedy of “Edward and Eleonora,” which he had prepared for the stage in 1739. This proceeded from the misunderstandings, which then subsisted between the court of the prince of Wales and that of the king his father. His next dramatic performance was the masque of “Alfred,”' written, jointly with Mr. Mallet, who was his good friend on many occasions, by command of the prince of Wales, for the entertainment of his royal highness’s court at his summer residence. In 1745, his “Tancred and Sigismunda,” taken from the novel in Gil Bias, was performed with applause. He had, in the mean time, been finishing his “Castle of Indolence,” an allegorical poem, in two cantos the stanza which he uses in this work is that of Spenser, borrowed from the Italian poets. This was the last piece Thomson himself published, his tragedy of “Coriolanus” heing only prepared for the theatre, when a fever seized him, and deprived the world of a very good man, as well as of an admirable poet. His death happened Aug. the 27th, 1748. His executors were lord Lyttelton and Mr. Mitchel; and by their interest, the orphan play, “Coriolanus,” was brought on the sta e to the best advantage: from the profits of which, and from the sale of his manuscripts and other effects, all demands were duly satisfied, and a handsome sum remitted to his sisters. His remains were deposited in the church of Richmond in Surrey, under a plain stone, without any inscription; but in 1762 a monument was erected to his memory in Westminster-abbey.

Thomson himself hints, somewhere in his works, that his exterior was not the most promising, his make being rather robust than graceful. His worst appearance was, when he was seen walking alone, in a thoughtful mood; but when a friend accosted him, and entered into conversation, he would instantly brighten ^ito a most amiable aspect, his features no longer the same, and his eye darting a peculiarly animated fire. He had improved his taste upon the best originals, ancient and modern, but could not bear to write what was not strictly his own. What he borrows from the ancients, he gives us in an avowed and faithful paraphrase, or translation, as we see in a few passages taken from Virgil; and in that beautiful picture from the el<!er Pliny, where the course and gradual increase of the Nile, are figured by the stages of a man’s life. 1 he autumn was his favourite season for poetical composition, and the deep silence of the night the time he commonly chose for such studies: so that he would often be heard walking in his study till near morning, humming over, in his way, what he was to correct and write out the next day. The amusements of his leisure hours were civil and natural history, voyages, and the best relations of travellers; and, had his situation favoured it, he would certainly have excelled in gardening, agricultuie, and every rural improvement and exercise. Although he did not perform on any instrument, he was passionately fond of music, and would sometimes listen a full hour at his window to the nightingales in Richmond-gardens. Nor was his taste less exquisite in the arts of painting, sculpture, and architecture. In his tr.vels, he had seen all the most celebrated monuments of antiquity, a.id the best productions of modern art, and had studied them so minutely, and with so true a judgment, that, in some of his descriptions in the poem of “Liberty,” we have the masterpieces, there mentioned, placed in a stronger light than many visitors can see them witii their own eyes. A* for the more distinguishing qualities of his mind and heart, they are better represented in his writings, than they can be by the pen of any biographer. There his love of mankind, of his country, and friends; his devotion to the Supreme Being, founded- on the most elevated and just conceptions of his operations and providence, shine out in every page. So unbounded was his tenderness of heart, that it took in even the brute creation: he was extremely tender towards his own species. He is not indeed known, through his whole life, to have given any person one moment’s pain by his writings, or otherwise. He touk no part in the poetical- squabbles of his time, and so was respected and left undisturbed by both sides. These virtues did not fail to receive their due reward. The best and greatest men of his time honoured him with their friendship and protection; the app'ause of the. public attended all his productions; his friends loved him with an enthusiastic ardour, and sincerely lamented his untimely death.

As a writer, says Dr. Johnson, he is entitled to one praise of the highest kind: his mode of thinking, and of expressing his thoughts, is original His blank verse is no more the blank verse of Milton, or of any other poet, than the rhymes of Prior are the rhymes of Cowley. His numbers, his pauses, his diction, are of his own growth, without transcription, without imitation. He thinks in a peculiar train, and he thinks always as a man of genius; he looks round on Nature and on Life with the eye which Nature bestows only on a poet; the eye that distinguishes, in every thing represented to its view, whatever there is on which imagination can delight to be detained, and with a,rrind that at once comprehends the vast, and attends to the minute The reader of the “Seasons” wonders that he never saw before what Thomson shews him, and that he never yet has felt what Thomson impresses. His is one of the works in which blank verse seems properly used; Thomson’s wide expansion of general views, and his enumeration of circumstantial varieties, would have been obstructed and embarrassed by the frequent interruptions of the sense, which are the necessary effects of rhyme. His descriptions of extended scenes and general effects bring before us the whole magnificence of Nature, whether pleasing or dreadful. The gaiety of Spring, the splendour of Summer, the tranquillity of Autumn, aad the horror of Winter, take in their turns possession of the mind. The poet leads us through the appearances of things as they are successively Taried by the vicissitudes of the year, and imparts to us so much of his own enthusiasm, that our thoughts expand with his imagery, and kindle with his sentiments. Nor is the naturalist without his part in the entertainment; for he is assisted to recollect and to combine, to arrange his discoveries, and to amplify the sphere of his contemplation. The great defect of the “Seasons” is want of method; but for this, perhaps, there was not any remedy. Of many appearances subsisting all at once, no rule can be given why one should be mentioned before another; yet the memory wants the help of order, and the curiosity is not excited by suspense or expectation. His diction is in the highest degree florid and luxuriant, such as may be said to be to his images and thoughts both their lustre and their shade; such as invests them with splendour, through which, perhaps, they are not always easily discerned. It is too exuberant, and sometimes may be charged with filling the ear more than the mind. The highest praise, adds Dr. Johnson, which he has received, ought not to be suppressed: it is said by lord Lyttelton, in the prologue to his posthumous play, that his works contained “No line which, dying, he could wish to blot.”

, an eminent antiquary, descended from a very ancient family, was born at Leeds in Yorkshire, Aug. 16, 1658, and was the son of a reputable merchant, and after some education at the grammar-school of that place, was sent, in 1677, for further improvement, to London. The father possessed a good share of learning, and had a peculiar turn for the knowledge of antiquities; which being inherited by the son, he employed his leisure hours in visiting remarkable places, copying monumfntal inscriptions, studying their history, and particularly collecting accounts of protestant benefactions. His father, designing him for his own -business, sent him in 1678 to Rotterdam, in order to learn the Dutch and French languages, and to be perfected in mercantile accomplishments: but he was obliged to return the year following, on account of his health. On the death of his father, in 1680, he entered on his business: and, though merchandize was his profession, yet learning and antiquities took so firm a possession of his heart, that, contenting himself with a moderate patrimony, he made those researches the great employment of his life. There is a circumstance relating to him, in the unhappy times under James II. which we cannot pass over. He had been bred among the presbyterians; but, never imbibing any of their rigid principles, had always occasionally conformed to the established church: and now, when popery began to threaten the nation, he more frequently attended its worship, with a view of promoting an union among the protestaots for their mutual preservation. His presbyterian pastor was highly displeased with his compliance, and treated him with a very indiscreet zeal. This prompted Thoresby to examine more closely the arguments on both sides, and apply to his diocesan and friend archbishop Sharp (who, by the way, had a good taste for coins and medals, and collected a curious cabinet of them), who treated him very affectionately, and by letters and personal conversation settled him in full communion with the established church.

Thoresby was well respected by the clergy and gentry of his town and neighbourhood, and by all the eminent antiquaries and men of learning of his time. It would be almost endless to enumerate the assistances which he gave in one way or other to the works of the learned. When Gibson published his new edition of Camden’s Britannia, Mr. Thoresby wrote notes and additional observations on the West-riding of Yorkshire, for the use of it; and transmitted above a hundred of his coins to Mr. Obadiah Walker, who undertook that province which related to the Roman, British, and Saxon monies. Hearne often acknowledged in print the favour of his correspondence. He communicated to Strype some original letters in his collection. He imparted to Calamy memoirs of several northern divines for his abridgment of “Baxter’s Life and Times” as he did also of the worthy royalists to Walker, for his “Sufferings of the Clergy,” which was published as an antidote to Calamy’s book; esteeming good men of all parties worthy to have their names and characters transmitted to posterity. His skill in heraldry and genealogy rendered him a very serviceable correspondent to Collins in his “Peerage of England.” By these kindnesses, sweetened with the easiness of access to his own cabinet, he always found the like easy admission to those of others; which gave him frequent opportunities of enlarging his collection, far beyond what could have been expected from a private person, not wealthy. He commenced an early friendship with the celebrated naturalist Dr. Martin Lister. To this friend he sent an account of some Roman antiquities he had discovered in Yorkshire, which being communicated by him and Dr. Gale, dean of York, to the Royal Society, obtained him a fellowship of that learned body in 1697: and the great number of his papers, in their Transactions, relating to ancient Roman and Saxon monuments in the North of England, with notes upon them, and the inscriptions of coins, &c. shew how deserving he was of that honour.

He died in 1725, in his sixty-eighth year, and was interred among his ancestors in St. Peter’s church at Leeds. His character for learning is best seen in the books he published, which shew him to have been a great master of the history and antiquities of his own country; to attain which, it became necessary for him to be skilled, as he was, in genealogy and heraldry. He appears from these books to have been also an industrious biographer: but that. which sets his reputation the highest as a scholar, was his uncommon knowledge of coins and medals. He had long formed a design of doing honour to his native town and its environs, by writing the history of them; and had accumulated a vast quantity of materials for the work, which was published in 1715, under the title of “Ducatus Leodiensis; or, The Topography of Leeds and the parts adjacent,” fol. To which is subjoined, “Museum Thoresbeianum; or, a Catalogue of the Antiquities, &c. in the Repository of Ralph Thoresby, gent. &c.” In the former piece, he frequently refers to the historical part, intended for giving a view of the state of the northern parts of the kingdom during the dark ages of the Britons and the Romans and of the alterations afterwards made by the Saxons, Danes, and Normans: and he proceeded so far, as to bring his narration in a fair copy nearly to the end of the sixth century, illustrating and confirming his history byhis coins. This curious unfinished manuscript is inserted in the Biographia Britannica, in order to excite some able writer to carry it on, and complete the noble design of the author. His advancement in years hindering him from completing this work, he contented himself with committing to the press his “Viearia Leodiensis: or, The History of the Church of Leeds, &c.”, which was published in 1724, 8vo. The subject of this work being narrow and confined, he has enriched it with observations on the original of parochial churches, and the ancient manner of building them; as also on the' old way of passing estates by delivery of pledges, subscription of golden crosses, pendent seals, &c. and, besides the memoirs of many worthy divines successively vicars of Leeds, he has added the lives of the doc-, tors, Matthew Hutton, Edwyn Sandys, Tobie Matthews, John Thoresby, archbishops of York, and of Henry earl of Huntingdon. His character is thus given by his biographer: “However diligent he was in cultivating the laudable accomplishments of the gentleman and the scholar, yet he never suffered his beloved studies to interfere with his religion, but managed all his affairs in subserviency to it. He often lamented the great consumption of time, occasioned by the numerous visitants to see his museum, but took care that they should not hinder his private or public worship. In his principles, after his conversion, he was orthodox; in his affections, catholic, comprehending therein all denominations of Christians. He was modest and pure, temperate, and abstemious to an uncommon degree; though, being one of the lords of the manor, and a governing member 'of the corporation, he could not always avoid public meetings and festivities, yet he was a sparing partaker, even of innocent diversions. He was constant and regular at his private devotions, which were invigorated with an unusual degree of fervency. Ex emplary in the government of his family, he called them together morning and evening to prayer, and reading the Scriptures. Extremely careful of the religious instruction of his children, he was not unmindful of the moral behaviour of his servants. He was a kind relation, compromising the distressed affairs of some that were very near to him, by expensive journeys, irksome applications, and money almost beyond his abilities. He was very charitable to the utmost of his power, not seldom solicited others, and was always a faithful dispenser of whatever was entrusted to his care.”

Mr. Thoresby’s widow survived him near fifteen years. By her he had ten children, of whom three only, a daughter and two sons survived him. The eldest son, Ralph, was of Queen’s college, Cambridge, vicar of Rickmansworth in Hertfordshire, and rector of Stoke Newington in Middlesex, where he died in 1763. The younger, Richard, was of Catherine-hall, and rector of St. Catherine Colman, London, and died about 1774.

, one of a family of that name, of foreign extraction, but settled in England, is said by Wood to have been the son of John Thorius, a physician, who called himself “Balliolenus Flandrus,” a native of Bailleul in Flanders. It is more probable, however, that his father’s name was Francis, whom Foppen calls “Balliolenus, Flander,” who published, in 1562, “Joannis Straselii Comment, in aurea Carmina Pythagorx,” 8vo. He published also, according to the same biographer, a poem on peace, translated into Latin from the French, and wrote some epigrams and satires. According to Wood, John Thorius was born at London in 1568, and in 1586 became a member of Christ church, Oxford, but whether he took a degree, Wood says, “appears not, though in one of his books he writes himself ‘ a graduate of Oxenford.’” When he died is uncertain. He published “A Spanish Dictionary,” Lond. 1590, 4to, along with a translation of Anthony de Corro’s “Spanish Grammar.” He translated from the Spanish “The Councellor; a Treatise of Councils and Councellors of Princes,” Lond. 1589, 4to, written by Barth. Phillip. It is in this he calls himself, not “a graduate of Oxenford,” but “graduate in Oxford.” It is dedicated to the right hon. John Fortescue, master of her majesty’s wardrobe. He also translated from the Spanish of Valdes, “The Serjeant Major: or, a Dialogue of the office of a Serjeant major,” Lond. 1500, 4to.

, whether of the same family with the preceding we know not, for Wood says he was a Frenchman born, and called Thoris, became a physician and Latin poet, and admired in both characters in the reign of James I. He appears to have studied medicine at Oxford, but took no degree in that faculty. He afterwards settled in London, and was very successful in practice. In the first year of the reign of Charles I. when the plague raged in London, his humanity led him to expose himself too much to the infection, and he died of that dreadful disorder in July or August 1625, and was probably buried in St. Bennet Fink church, as his residence was in that parish. It is related of this physician that he was immoderately addicted to wine, and seldom satisfied unless he made his friends keep pace with him in drinking. Gassendi informs us, that Thorius being in company with Peiresc, whom he strongly pressed to drink a large glass of wine, the latter at length consented, upon condition that he would promise to pledge him in return. When it came to the turn of Peiresc he filled a large glass of water, and drinking it off, insisted that Thorius should do the same. This, with much hesitation, and after pouring out execrations against the vile liquor, and citing a multitude of classical invectives against it, he at length performed. The story reached king James I. and much amused him.

His works, all Latin poems, were mostly published after his decease: 1. “Hymnus Tabaci,” which, Wood says, was first published at London in 1627, 8vo; but Eloy mentions two editions at Leyden in 1622 and 1623, 4io. It was afterwards reprinted at the same place in 1628, 4to and at Utrecht in 1644, 12mo, in a collection mentioned by Haller, under the title of “Collectio opusculorum de Tabaco.” 2. “Cheimonopegnion, a Winter Sung,” published with the London edition of the “Tobacco,” 1627, and both were translated into English by Peter Hausted, M. A. and afterwards D. D. of Cambridge, 1651, 8vo. He wrote also “Epistolae duae de Isaaci Casauboni morbi mortisque causa,” inserted in Gronovius’s edition of J. Casaubon’s epistles. Tborius’s death was lamented in a poem printed in 1626, a single sheet, 4to, entitled “Lessus in funere Raphaelis Thorii medici et poeti prastantissimi, qui Londini peste extinctus bonis et doctis omnibus triste sui desiderium reliquit, anno 1625.” He left a son John, who studied at Magdalen -college, Oxford, and became a physician in Dublin. He was incorporated M. D. at Oxford in 1627, but we find no further mention of him.

, a learned divine in the seventeenth century, was educated in Trinity-college, in the university of Cambridge, of which he was fellow. In 1638 he was proctor of that university. In July 1642 he was admitted to the rectory of Barley in Hertfordshire and, upon the death of Dr. Samuel Ward, in September 1643, he was elected master of Sidney-college in Cambridge, from which, Dr. Walker says, he was kept out “by the oppressions of the times;” but there was also somewhat of court-intrigue in this affair, as related in Walter Pope’s life of bishop Ward. He tells us, that upon the death of the latter, the fellows of the college assembled to choose a new master. “Mr. Seth Ward, with nine of them, gave their suffrages for Mr. Thorndike of Trinity-college; for Mr. Minshull there were eight votes including his own. But while they were at the election, a band of soldiers rushed in upon them, and forcibly carried away Mr. Parsons, one of those fellows who voted for Mr. Thorndike, so that the number of suffrages for Mr. Minshull, his own being accounted for one, was equal to those Mr. Thorndike had. Upon which Mr. Minshull was admitted master, the other eight only protesting against it, being ill-advised, for they should have adhered to their votes. Two of them, whereof Mr. Ward was one, went to Oxford, and brought thence a mandamus from the king, commanding Mr. Minshull, and the fellows of Sidney-college, to repair thither, and give an account of their proceedings as to that election. This mandamus, or peremptory summons, was fixed upon the chapel-door by Mr. Linnet, who was afterwards a fellow of Trinity-college, but at that time attended on Mr. Thorndike. On the other side, one Mr. Bertie, a kinsman of the earl of Lindsey, being one of those who voted for Mr. Minshull, was also sent to Oxford on his behalf. This gentleman, by the assistance and mediation of my lord of Lindsey, procured an order from the king to confirm Mr. Minshull’s election; but he, not thinking this title sufficient, did corroborate it with the broad seal, to which Mr. Thorndike consented, Mr. Minshull paying him and the rest of the fellows the charges they had been at in the management of that affair,amounting to about an hundred pounds.” This was therefore evidently a matter in which “the oppressions of the times” (which are usually understood to mean those which arose from the usurpation) were not concerned. He was, however, afterwards, to experience the latter also, and was ejected from his living of Barley, which was given to the rev. Nath. Ball of King’s college, Cambridge, who, Calamy informs us, punctually paid a fifth part of the income to Mr. Thorndike. At the restoration he was replaced in this living, but resigned it on being made a prebendary of Westminster. He very much assisted Dr. Walton in the edition of the Polyglot Bible, particularly in marking the variations in the Syriac version of the Old Testament; and wrote several treatises: “A Discourse concerning the primitive Forme of the Government of Churches,” Cambridge, 1641, 8vo; “A Discourse of Religious Assemblies and the Publike Service of God,” Cambridge, 1642, 8vo; “A Discourse of the Right of the Church in a Christian State, with a Review by way of Appendix,” London, 1649, 8vo; “Just Weights and Measures; that is, the present State of Religion weighed in the Balance, and measured by the Standard of the Sanctuary,” London, 1662, 4to; “A Discourse of the Forbearance of the Penalties, which a due Reformation requires,” London, 1670, 8vo; “Origines Ecclesiae, seu de ratione ac jure finiendi Controversias Ecclesise,” Lond. 1670. To these we may add, what is called his famous book, published in 1659, under the title of “An Epilogue to the Tragedy of the Church of England, in three books, viz. 1. Of the Principles of Christian Truth. 2. Of the Covenant of Grace. 3. Of the Laws of the Church.” By a letter from chancellor Hyde, in the appendix to Dr. Barwick’s Life, it would appear that this work had given offence, as being unseasonable and injudicious. Hyde says, “Pray tell me, what melancholy hath possessed poor Mr. Thorndike? And what do our friends think of his book? And is it possible that he would publish it, without ever imparting it, or communicating with them? His name and reputation in learning is too much made use of, to the discountenance of the poor church; and though it might not be in his power to be without some doubts and scruples, I do not know what impulsion of conscience there could be to publish those doubts to the world, in a time when he might reasonably believe the worst use would be made, and the greatest scandal proceed from them.” This seems to allude to some opinions he held that were unfavourable to the measures of the court: and we find that there was some difficulty in admitting him into the convocation in 1661, “on account of his speaking much of the Bohemian churches, called Unitas Fratrum.” He was a member of the Savoy conference, and in the little he said completely undeceived the non-conformists, who, from his early publications, had supposed he was of their side. There was also a suspicion that he had a little too much leaning to the church of Rome, so that his character has not descended to us with all the evidences of consistency; but that he was a man of great learning, and an able oriental scholar, seems indisputable.

He died July 1672, and was interred in Westminsterabbey. There were some remarkable passages in his last w 11, dated July 3d that year; particularly these words: "My will is, that if my nieces, or either of them, shall return to New-England, after my decease, or shall marry with any that goes to mass, or any of the new licensed conventicles, then whatsoever is given them by this my will, exceeding the four hundred pounds, which I have absolutely given them by deed, shall be void and not due; so that when either or both of them shall be married here to such as sincerely cleave to the church of England, then the payment to be made. As for my body, 1 charge my executor to write these words upon my grave-stone: ‘ Hie jacet corpus Herbert! Thorndike, prebendarii hujusecclesiae, qui vivus veram reformandae ecclesiae rationem ac niodum precibusque studiisque prosequebatur. Tu, lector, requiem ei et beatam in Christo resurrexionem precare.’ It is evident, from this last clause, that he believed in the efficacy of prayer for the dead.

, an eminent English painter, was born in 1676. He was the son of a gentleman of an ancient family ‘and estate in Dorsetshire but the father’s imprudent conduct having reduced him to sell his estate, the son was uno’er the necessity of seeking for a profession which might support him. He came to London, where the famous physician, Sydenham, who was his uncle, supplied him with the necessary assistances for studying under a middling painter. Such a master, however, doing but little for him, he was driven to trust to his own judgment and application; and having naturally genius and taste, he made, by the strength of these, a surprising progress in the art of painting. He travelled through Holland and Flanders, whence he went into France, and there bought several good pictures; among others, a Virgin, of Annibal Carrache, and the history of Tancred, by Poussin. If he had seen Italy, his works would have had more delicacy and correctness. His only view in travelling seemed to be acquiring a knowledge of the tastes of different nations, and buying up good pictures, in which he was very curious. Thornhill’s merit soon spread his character, and raised his reputation to the greatest height. Queen Anne appointed him to paint, in the dome of St. Paul’s church, the history of that saint, which he executed in a grand and beautiful manner, on eight pannels, in two colours, relieved with told her majesty also nominated him her first historypainter. He afterwards executed several public works, particularly at Hampton-court, where he painted an apartment, in which the queen and prince George of Denmark her husband are represented allegorically; as also another piece painted entirely on the wall, where the same subject is treated in a different manner. The other parts of the paintings there are done by Antonio Verrio, a Neapolitan. He painted also in the chapel at All Souls, Oxford, the portrait of the founder over the altar, and the cieling and figures between the windows; an altar-piece for Weyuriouth church, which was engraved by a young man, his scnolar, whom he set up in business: the hall at Blenheim, tke chapel at lord Oxford’s, at Wimple, in Cambridgeshire, the saloon and other things for Mr. Styles, the then owner of More-park, in Hertfordshire.

These great works, having established his reputation, procured him much employment among people of quality and fortune. His master-piece is the refectory and saloon of the sailors hospital at Greenwich. The passage to this refectory is through a vestibule, where sir James has represented, in two colours, the winds in the cupola; and, on the walls, boys who sustain pannels to receive the inscription of the names of the benefactors. The refectory is a fine gallery, very lofty, in the middle of which king William and queen Mary are allegorically represented sitting, and attended by the virtues and love, who support the sceptre; the monarch appears giving peace to Europe. The twelve signs of the zodiac surround the great oval in which he is painted; the four seasons are seen above: lastly, Apollo drawn by his four horses, making his tour through the zodiac. The painter has represented in the angles the four elements, and between the colossal figures that support the balustrade, the portraits of those able mathematicians, that have perfected the art of navigation, are painted, such as Tycho Brahe, Copernicus, and Newton. The cieling is all by his own hand; but he emploj'ed a Polander to assist him in painting the walls, which he has adorned with allegorical figures suitable to the intention of the fabric, such as Liberality, Hospitality, and Charity. The saloon above is not so beautiful as the refectory; the cieling represents queen Anne and prince George of Denmark, surrounded by heroic virtues; Neptune and his train bringing their marine presents, and the four quarters of the world presenting themselves, in various attitudes, to admire them. George I. is painted on the wall facing the entry, sitting with all his family around him. On the left hand is the landing of king William, on the right that of king George I. at Greenwich. These great works would have been certainly more esteemed if they had all been done by sir James ThornhilPs own hand; they are entirely from his designs; but one cannot help, in looking at them, criticizing their incorrectness; it may even be wished that there were fewer figures. They display, however, great judgment and knowledge in treating the allegory, talents which must necessarily produce great and rich compositions.

High as sir James’s reputation was, and laborious as his works, he wa& far from being generously rewarded for some of them, and for others he found it difficult to obtain the stipulated prices. His demands were contested at Greenwich; and though La Fosse received 2000l. for his work at Montague-house, and was allowed 500l. for his diet besides, sir James could obtain but 40s. a square yard for the cupola of S.t. Paul’s, and, as lord Orford thinks, no more for Greenwich. He was obliged to sue Mr. Styles also for the work at More-park, but the issue was in his favour, and he not only recovered 3,500l. which Mr. Styles had agreed to pay him, but 500l. more for decorations about the house.

Notwithstanding these difficulties, sir James had acquired a considerable fortune, and he laid out part of it profitably, in buying back the estate his father had sold, and in rebuilding a beautiful house, where he used to live in summer-time. He was knighted by king George the Second; but, with great injustice, was turned out of his public employment, in company with the great sir Christopher Wren, to make room for persons of far inferior abilities: after which, to amuse himself, he continued to paint easel pictures. The ill treatment he met with was thought to have impaired his health and at last, after a year’s sickness, he died, May 4, 1734, aged fifty- eight, in the same place where he was born. By his marriage he left a son, James, whom he had procured to be appointed serjeant-painter, and painter to the navy; and a daughter, married to the celebrated Hogarth. Lady Thornhill died at Chiswick in 1757.

This painter was well made, and of an agreeable humour. He was several years in parliament, and was also chosen fellow of the royal society. He designed a great deal from, practice, with much facility of pencil. His genius, so well turned for history and allegory, was no less so for portrait, landscape, and architecture; he even practised the last science as a man of business, having built several houses. He had a fine collection of designs of great masters, which he had got together with diligence, and which did honour to his taste; these he shewed very readily to strangers, and they were sold after his death. There is a set of prints engraved after the paintings on the cupola of St. Paul’s.

By the favour of the earl of Halifax, who had procured him the work at Hampton-court, he was allowed to copy the cartoons there, on which he employed three years. He executed also a smaller set, of one-fourth part of the dimensions. Having been very accurate in noticing the defects, and the additions by Cooke who repaired them, and in examining the parts turned in to fit them to the places: and having made copious studies of the heads, hands, and feet, he intended to publish an exact account of the whole, for the use of students, but this work never appeared. At his sale the smaller set was sold for seventy-five guineas, the larger for only 200l. a price we ought in justice to suppose was owing to the few bidders who had spaces in their houses large enough to receive them. They were purchased by the duke of Bedford, and placed in the gallery at Bedford- house, Bloomsbury-square and when that house was pulled down a few years ago, the late duke, Francis, presented them to the royal academy.

, a miscellaneous writer of genuine humour, and the colleague of Mr. Colman in many of his literary labours, was the son of an apothecary, and born in Maiden-lane, London, in 1724. After the usual course of education at Westminster school, he was elected to Christ Church, Oxford, in 1743. The first publication in which he was concerned, was “The Student, or the Oxford Monthly Misrellany;” afterwards altered to “The Student, or Oxford and Cambridge Monthly Miscellany.” This entertaining medley appeared in monthly numbers, printed at Oxford, for Mr. Newbery, in St. Paul’s churchyard. Smart was the principal conductor, but Thornton and other >wits of both universities occasionally assisted. Thornton’s first attempt appeared in the first number, “The Comforts of a Retired Life,” an elegy in imitation of Tibullus. Mr. Thomas Warton was also a writer in the poetical department; and Dr. Johnson, probably at Mr. Newbery’s request, wrote his “Life of Cheynel,” in one of the latter numbers. The whole were afterwards collected and published in 1748, 2 vols. 8vo. In 1752 he began a periodical work entitled “Have at ye all, or the Drury Lane Journal,” in opposition to Fielding’s “Coventgarden Journal.” It contains some humorous remarks on reigning follies, but with too frequent mixture of personal ridicule. How long it lasted is uncertain. The copy before us contains only twelve numbers.

Our author took his degree of M. A. on April 7, 1750, and as his father wished him to make physic his profession, he took the degree of bachelor in that faculty, May 18, 1754 but his bent, like that of Colman, was not to the severer studies, and they about this time “clubbed their wits” to establish the periodical paper entitled “The Connoisseur.” As they did not distinguish their respective papers by any mark, Thornton’s share cannot now be ascertained, but it is believed to be less than that of his partner. His habits were early relaxed, and although not naturally indolent, he was easily led from regular pursuits, and was consequently not remarkable for punctuality in his periodical supplies. Of this we have the following instance: when the Connoisseur, No. 101, came to town for publication, Colman, who happened to be in London, saw it at the publisher’s, and found it contained the production of a correspondent of very inferior merit, which Thornton had sent to press to save himself the trouble of writing one. But as the day for the appearance of this paper was the first of January, Colman was enraged at this carelessness and inattention to so remarkable an opportunity for a good essay, and came to Mr. Say’s printing-office late at night to inquire if it was possible to have a paper printed in time for next day’s publication. Being told that it was barely possible, he immediately sat down in his publisher (Mr. R. Baldwin’s) parlour, and wrote the paper which now stands as the 101st, cancelling the other.

As an occasional writer, however, unfettered by times and seasons, Mr. Thornton was profuse in his contributions to magazines and newspapers. Scarce any popular topic offered of whatever kind, which did not afford him a subject for a pamphlet, an essay, a piece of poetry, or some whimsical paragraphs for the newspapers. His contributions to the Public Advertiser were very considerable, and when the St. James’s Chronicle was projected (and the first thought of it was imparted to him) he became a proprietor, and a valuable contributor. A collection of the best pieces of the first year of that paper was published at the close of it, under the title of “The Yearly Chronicle for 1761; or a collection of the most interesting and striking essays, &c. with a diary of events,” &c. This was handsomely printed in an octavo volume, but notwithstanding the convenience of the plan, and the popularity of the contents, it did not succeed so well as to encourage a continuation. About this time our author had it in contemplation to treat with Mr. Rich for the patent of Covent-gardeii theatre, but the negociation proved abortive. Ho had now given up all thoughts of the employment to which he was bred, and became an author by profession, and a general satirist, oor was it with his pen only that he exercised his humour. He projected an exhibition of sign paintings, a scheme which at first appeared preposterous, beyond all hopes of encouragement, but which actually took place at his house in Bow-street, Covent-garden. The object was to convey satire on temporary events, objects, and persons, and for some time it had considerable success. It was, however, one of those odd schemes which could not be expected to last, or to be repeated, and which the public, at a less good-humoured period, might in all probability be disposed to consider as an insult.

The “Ode for St. Cecilia’s Day,” above mentioned, was another effort of the burlesque kind, from Mr. Thornton’s sportive muse, and afforded much entertainment. The sternest muscles must relax where it is read. It was professedly adapted to “the ancient British music,” viz. the salt-box, the Jew’s harp, the marrow-bones and cleavers, the hum-strum or hurdy-gurdy, &c. Dr. Johnson praised its humour, and seemed much diverted with it; nor could it be less diverting to hear him repeat the following passage, which he frequently did:

And clattering and battering and clapping combine

With a rap and a tap, while the hollow side sounds,

Up and down leaps the flap, and with rattling rebounds *."

In such compositions Mr. Thornton’s imagination was particularly original and fertile, and so various that no writer has ever excelled in so many species of wit, both of the superior and inferior kinds, although his inclination and sometimes his subjects led him more frequently to the latter. What reputation this might have conferred, however, has been in a great measure lost, from his writing anonymously, and upon subjects that had no permanent interest with the public, and from no collection having been made of his pieces when they could be ascertained, and attributed to the proper author. Mr. Colman once announced to his friends, a design to collect all his partner’s works, but neglected it until his other engagements rendered it impracticable. In 1766 Thornton published two volumes, afterwards completed in five, of a translation of “Plautus,” in blank verse, assisted by Warner and Colman; a work, which, although not very successful, was generally approved, and Warburton said “he never read so just a translation in so pure and elegant a style.” In 1767 he published “The battle of the Wigs,” as an additional canto to Garth’s “Dispensary,” the subject of which was the dispute then subsisting between the fellows and licentiates of the college of physicians. This was followed by his “City Latin^” in ridicule of the inscription on Blackfriars Bridge. Besides these publications, he is said to have written the papers in the “Adventurer,” marked A.

In 1764, Mr. Thornton married Miss Sylvia Brathwaite, youngest daughter of colonel Brathwaite, who was governor of Cape Coast Castle in Africa, and who, when the ship in which he was returning to England, was taken by a Spanish privateer, fell under a treacherous blow by one of the sailors, who had observed a valuable brilliant on his finger. With this lady, Mr. Thornton appears to have enjoyed the highest domestic felicity, for which he^ was eminently qualified by a most affectionate heart, until his prospects were closed by bad health, which hurried him to his grave in the forty-fourth year of his age, May 9, 1768. He left a widow, a daughter and two sons, of whom Dr. Thornton, physician, is the only survivor.

His character may be taken from the epitaph written in Latin by his friend Dr. Joseph Warton, and placed on his monument in the cloisters of Westminster-abbey. “His genius, cultivated most happily by every kind of polite literature, was accompanied and recommended by manners open, sincere, and candid. In his writings and conversation he had a wonderful liveliness, with a vein of pleasantry peculiarly his own. In ridiculing the failings of men, without bitterness, and with much humour, he was singularly happy as a companion he was delightful.”

, a physician and antiquary, descended from an ancient Kentish family, was the eldest son of John Thorpe, esq. and born at Newhouse, in the parish of Penshurst, March 12, 1682. After school-education at Westerham in Kent, he was, in April 1698, matriculated as a commoner of University-college, Oxford, where he was under the tuition principally of Dr. Cockman, afterwards master of that college. In 1701 he took his degree of B. A. and in 1704-, that of M. A. Having given a preference to the medical profession, he was admitted B. M. in 1707, and took his doctor’s degree in 1710. In 1705 he was elected a fellow of the Royal Society, to the transactions of which he had in 1704 contributed a letter “concerning, worms in the heads of sheep,” &c. and afterwards “An. account of a great quantity of Hydatides found in the abdomen.” He was also assistant to Dr. (afterwards sir) Hans Sloane, in the publication of the “Philosophical Transactions.” He then resided in Ormond-street, London, near his friend Dr. Mead, and contracted an intimate acquaintance with the most eminent physicians, naturalists, and antiquaries of that time; but at the earnest solicitations of many of his relations and friends, be quitted London in 1715, and settled at Rochester, where he practised thirty-­five years, with great success, and with equal humanity in all cases where the poor were concerned. He died Nov. 1750 at Rochester, and was buried in a chapel on the north-side of the church of Stockbury in Kent.

At such hours as he could spare from his practice, he applied himself to his favourite study, the history and antiquities of his native country, and especially those relating to the ecclesiastical affairs of the diocese of Rochester. Of all these he made very extensive collections; but printed only “A List of Lands contributory to Rochester-bridge,” a folio sheet. “A collection of Statutes concerning Rochester-bridge;” and “Articles of the High Court of Chancery for settling and governing sir Joseph Williamson’s mathematical school at Rochester.” He published also a volume of Scheuchzer’s “Itinera Alpina,” in 1708, having corresponded with that eminent naturalist.

, son of the preceding, and also an antiquary, was born in 1714, and educated at Ludsdown in Kent, whence he removed to University-college, Oxford, where he took his masters degree iii 1738, and had an intention to have studied physic, but was diverted from the pursuit, and seems to have devoted his Life to the study of antiquities. He was elected F. S. A. in 1755, and published from his father’s Mss. and indeed what his father had in a great measure prepared, the “Registrum Roffense, or a collection of ancient records, &c. necessary for illustrating the ecclesiastical history and antiquities of the diocese and cathedral church of Rochester, &c. by John Thorpe, late of Rochester, M. D, F. R. S. and published by his son John Thorpe, esq. A. M. F. S. A.” Lond. 1769, fol. Pursuing the same plan, he published in 1788, in another sumptaous folio, the “Custumale Koffense, from the original Mss. in the archives of the dean and chapter of Rochester.”

In the “Philosophical Transactions” is a letter by Mr* Thorpe on “Chesnut Trees;” and he communicated to the “BibL Topographica Britannica,” “Illustrations of several antiquities in Kent, which have hitherto remained undescribed,” and several smaller articles, both in that publication and in the Gentleman’s Magazine.*

Mr. Thorpe married the daughter of Lawrence Holker, M. D. a physician at Milton near Gravesend; and after her death, 1789, to whom he had been united forty-two years, be married in 1790 Mrs. Holland, a lady who lived with him as housekeeper, and was the widow of an old college acquaintance. Soon after his first marriage, he purchased High-street-house, in Bexley, which after his first wife’s death he quitted fora house on Richmond-green, Surrey, and at last removed to Chippenham in Wiltshire, where he died Aug. 2, 1792, in the seventy-eighth year of his age. He was buried, according to his own desire, in the churchyard of Harden Huish, Wiltshire. Mr. Thorpe, by the report of one who knew him well, “was happy in a retentive memory, and could quote whole pages of hi*; favourite Pope, with the utmost facility. He was courteous,” but not courtly, in his manners hospitable, but not extravagant at his table skilful and curious in his garden intelligent and communicative in his library; social, elegant, and informing in his general conversation, and on antiquarian topics almost an enthusiast."

, an illustrious historian of France, was son of a first president of the parliament of Paris, and born there the 9th of October, 1553. He was so exceedingly weak and infirm in his infancy, that there was no hope of rearing him for the first five years of his life; and to this it is owing, that abundantly more care was taken to preserve his body, than to cultivate his mind, although he then appeared to be a boy of uncommon talents; for he was not addicted to the amusements of childhood, but aimed at something higher, and would divert himself with drawing and painting, for which he had always a very good taste. When he was ten years old, he was put to books, and placed in the college of Bourgogne; but in less than a year he was attacked with a violent fever, and taken home. The physicians gave him over for many months; but he recovered, and applied again to books, though with great moderation; for hie constitution was not able to* undergo the least fatigue. He was afterwards placed under the care of private tutors \ and regard seems to have been had, in the choice of them, to the weakness of his nature, as well as to the improvement of his understanding; for they were physicians, and successively four of them. Then he studied under the famous Dionysius Lambinus, and Joannes Pellerinus, who was professor of the Greek language in the College-royal.

In 1570 he went to Orleans, to pursue the law; and there the writings of Cujaci us inspired him with such an esteem for that celebrated professor, that he quitted Orleans, and repaired to him into Dauphiny. He stopped upon the road at Bourges six months, for the sake of, hearing the famous civilian Hotomannus; and then proceeded to Valence, where Cujacius was reading lectures. Here he met with Joseph Scaliger, who was upon a visit to Cujacius; and commenced a friendship with him, which he cultivated ever after with the greatest care. His father, unwilling to have him long at a distance from him, recalled him in about a year; and he returned to Paris some time before that terrible massacre of the Protestants, which was perpetrated on St. Bartholomew’s day in 1572. As he was designed for the church, he went to live with his uncle Nicholas de Thou, who, being just made bishop of Chartres, resigned to him a canonry of Notre Dame. He began now to collect that library, which afterwards became so famous. In 1573 he accompanied Paul de Foix into Italy, and visited the principal towns, cultivating acquaintance with the learned as he passed. On his return to Paris, he applied himself to reading for four years; yet this, he used to say, was not of so much use to him as conversing with learned men, which he did daily. About the end of 1576, when civil tumults threatened the state, M. de Thou was employed in certain negotiations, which he executed so well, as to establish the reputation of a man fit for business. He afterwards went into the LowCountries, and in 1578 was made counsellor-clerk to the parliament; an honourable post, bur accepted by him with reluctance, on account of his great love for retirement and study. In 1579 he accompanied his eldest brother to the baths of Plombieres in Lorrain; and this gentleman dying, he soon after quitted the ecclesiastical state.

The plague beginning at Paris in 1580, he retired to Touraine, and took an opportunity of seeing Normandy and Britany; and on his return to Paris, after the plague Stopped, was sent, with other counsellors in parliament, to administer justice in Guyenne. He came again to Paris in 1582, and had the misfortune not to arrive till the day after his father was buried. To make amends*, however, for not being able to pay his last duties to him, he erected a most noble monument to his memory, and adorned it with eulogiums written by the first wits of the age. la 1584 he was made master of the requests; and at that time, late as it may seem, entered upon a new course of study. He took into hix house Bressieu, the professor royal of mathematics; and under his d-rection applied, this year and the following, to read the Greek Euc-lu) with the notes of Proclus. The anvction which the cardinal de Vendome had conceived for him induced him to spend some time at court; but this affection abating, he withdrew from a place he did not at all like, and devoted -himself entirely to the composing his History, which he had begun two years before. In 1587 he took a wife, having first by the official of Paris been thoroughly absolved from all ecclesiastical engagements; for he had taken the four lesser orders. He lost his mother in 158S; and other troubles of a more public kind exercised him this year. The spirit of the league had seized Paris, and obfigef Henry II. to quit the city. Thuanus followed this prince^ and went by his order into Normandy, to sound the governors and magistrates; to acquaint them with what had happened at Paris; to confirm them m their duty; and to make known his intentions of assembling the states. Uponi his return, he was made a counsellor of state.

During the holding of the states at Blois, he returned to Paris, where he was in danger of losing his life; fur the news of the duke of Guise’s death arriving, all who were of known attachment to the king were obliged to hide themselves. Thuanus was among them, hut happily escaped under the disguise of a soldier. He repaired to the king, who, being removed to Tours, resolved to establish a parliament there, to oppose that of the league; and De Thou would have been made the first president of it, if he had not been fixed against accepting that office; He afterwards accompanied Mr. de Schomberg into Germany, to assist in raising forces for the king, and drawing succours from the German princes he passed by Italy, and was at Venice, when the news of Henry Illd’s death made him immediately return to France. Henry IV. received him very kindly, to whom he gave an exact account of all that had been done, and continued very faithfully in his service; while the king placed the greatest confidence in him, and employed him in many important negotiations. After the battle of Yvry, which Henry IV. gained in 159O, De Thou obtained leave to visit his wife at Senlis, whom he had not seen above a year; and arrived there, after having been detained some time upon the road by a fever. His purpose was to settle at Tours and he was one evening upon the road thither, when a party of the enemy carried off his wife and equipage, while he escaped by the swiftness of his horse, and found ipeaus soon after to recover his lady. In 1592, he had the plague, and despaired of life, but was happily cured by the infusion of bezoarstone into strong waters. The year after, the king made him his first librarian, which place became vacant by the death of the learned James Amyot, famous for his translation of Plutarch and other ancient Greek authors. In 1592, the duke of Guise having made his peace with the king, Thuanus was one of the persons appointed to regulate the conditions of the treaty he became the same year president à mortier by the death of his uucle Augustin de Thou, which honour had long been promised him. He was afterwards concerned in many negotiations with the Protestant party, and was greatly instrumental in bringing forward the edict of Nantes, which was signed in April 1598, and afterwards revoked, as is well known, by Louig XIV. in 1685. In 1601, he lost his wife, whom he immortalized by elegies; but soon after recovered so far from his grief, great as it was, as to take another. During the regency of queen Mary of Medicis, Thuanus was one of the general directors of the finances; and was, to the end of his life, engaged more or less in the service of the state. He died the 17th of May, 1617, and was interred with his fami-ly in the chapel of St. Andrew of the Arches,

He left behind him a general history of his own times from 1545 to 1608, written in very clear and excellent Latin. “Among many things,” says Grotius to him, “which posterity will admire, this above all astonishes me, how you, always as it should seem engaged in business, should find leisure and indefatigable force of mind to know so many and so great things as you have known, and to write them in such a manner as you have written them.” And in another place, “You have comprised a history of the whole world in such a manner, as could not have been expected from a man of the most leisure: such is the plenty of your iQatter, such the elegance of your language.” Isaac Casaubon says, “that Thuanus seems to him to have been providentially given for an example to the age in which he lived of piety, sincerity, probity, and in short of all virtue mid goodness.” Thuanus has acquired immortal glory by his History, which, says Perrault, is written with an exactness and fidelity beyond example. This biographer adds, that he “never disguised or concealed the truth; but had a noble and generous boldness, for which he has been praised by all the great men of his time. This work is worthy of the ancients, and perhaps would have exceeded a great part of what the ancient Romans have left us in the way of history, if he had not affected to imitate them too closely; for this has put him upon Latinizing the proper names of men, towns, countries, and other things, in so strange a manner, as to make a glossary necessary, in order to know frequently what he means.”

Part of this History was first printed at Paris in 1604, with a dedication to Henry IV. which is thought to be as masterly a composition in its kind, as the dedication of Casaubon’s Polybius to the same monarch, and that of the “Instittitiones Christianae” of Calvin to Francis I. The publication of the history, in separate parts, was alterwards continued by the author, who, however, does not seem to have published it all in his life-time; or any part of it, except the volume just mentioned, in a manner conformable to his original copy, which, therefore, he deposited in the hands of a friend, that it might be printed after his death, just as he wrote it. It was long, however, before this could be effected. Thuanus was an honest historian, and with respect to things and persons boldly delivered the truth. There would of course be many exceptionable passages in his work, many that would highly offend individuals both in church and state; and this was the reason why, though printed frequently and in different countries, it never came out free from castrations, and agreeable to the author’s original copy, till 1733. It was then handsomely printed at London, and published under the direction, and chiefly at the expence, of the excellent Dr. Mead, in seven volumes folio; to which are prefixed four Latin letters, inscribed to that celebrated patron of letters, and giving an account of the various changes and chances this History has undergone; of the different editions; what each of them contain, and how they vary; and by what materials and assistances the editors have at length been enabled to give a very complete and perfect copy of it.

Thuanus excelled in poetry as well as history, and published several productions of that kind, as “Metaphrasis poetica librorum sacrorum aliquot,” 158 I, in 8vo. These paraphrases are upon the books of Job, Ecclesiastes, the Lamentations of Jeremiah, and the six lesser prophets. “De re accipitraria,” Paris, 1514, 4to. Vossius and others have much cowmen. 'ed this work, and have not scrupled, on the merit of it, to rank Thuanus with the best poets of his age. “Crauibe, Viola, Lilium, Phlogis, Terpsinoe, Paris, 1611,” in4to; a miscellaneous collection. There arc also ' Thuana" but it may be said of them, as of the Anas in general, that they contain little that is worthy of the name of their supposed author.

, a natural historian, was born May 31, 1676, at Keiberg, in the parish of Kirkoswald in Cumberland. In 1698 he commenced master of arts in the university of Glasgow, and soon after settled at Low Huddlesceugh, near the place of his birth, in the character of a dissenting minister. In this situation he made a considerable progress in the study of physic, and contracted a love for plants; insomuch, that in 1712, he took a doctor’s degree in medicine at Edinburgh and the next spring, having- a narrow income, and a large family, he removed to Dublin and settled there in both characters, as a divine and a physician. His family, consisting of a wife and three sons, and as many daughters, did not follow till more than a year had elapsed; when, finding himself likely to succeed, he sent for them over. His practice <in medicine soon increased, so far as to enable him to drop his other character entirely, and devote himself wholly to physic; but he died after a short sickness of a violent fever, at hia house in Mark Valley, Frances-street, April 28, 1728, and was buried in the new burial ground belonging to St. Patrick’s, near Cavan Street, to which place his obsequies were attended by a set of children educated by a society t)f gentlemen. He was much regretted by the poor, to whom he had been both as a man, and as a physician, a kind benefactor.

It does not appear that Dr. Threlkeld published any other book than his “Synopsis Stirpium Hibernicarum alphabetice dispositarum, sive Commentatio de Plantis indigenis, praesertim Dubliniensibus, instituta” 1727, 12mo, being a short treatise of native plants, especially such as grow spontaneously in the vicinity of Dublin, with, their Latin, English, and Irish names, and an abridgment of their virtues, with several new discoveries; with an appendix of observations made upon plants by Dr. Molyneux, physician to the state in Ireland, the first essay of this kind in the kingdom of Ireland. In this work, after a dedication of his book to the archbishop of Armagh, and a preface, which, though written in a quaint stile, proves him to be a man of considerable erudition, he enumerates all the plants he had observed in the environs of Dublin, by giving, first, the old Latin name, generally from Caspar Bau-r hine’s Pinax; then the English name, and afterwards the Irish; subjoining, wherever it seems necessary, some ac count of the quality of the plant, and its use in medicine and (Economy. Besides these he has here and there thrown, in a curious observation: to instance, under the word be* tula, he says, “The Irish grammarians remark that all the names of the Irish letters are names of trees.” He appears, however, to have been better acquainted with the history of plants than with plants themselves; as he seems not to have studied them in a systematic way. He incurred the displeasure of the learned professor Dr. Dillenius, by having thrown out, in this hook, three or four criticisms npou that gentleman’s introduction of new names into botany, in his edit on of Mr. Hay’s “Synopsis,” published about three years before, and also on his multiplying the species of plants unnecessarily but Dillenius did not think him an antagonist formidable enough for a reply.

, a topographical writer, whose writ* ings, where they occur, may probably excite some curi-r osity alter his name, was born in 1740. Of his early history we have no account. He was for many years parish clerk of St. Martin’s Leicester, and a man of fine natural parts, and much laudable curiosity. During the vicissi* tudes of a life remarkably checquered, he rendered himself conspicuous as a draughtsman and topographer. He attempted many expedients for the maintenance of a numerous family, few of which answered his purpose; and his last days would have been shaded with penury and disappointment, hut for the assistance of those friends who knew his worth, and justly appreciated him as a man of honesty, integrity, and merit. He died Feb. 3, 1803, ai>ed sixtythree, and is recorded, on a tablet over the vestiy door at Sl Ma tin’s, to have been “of a peaceable disposition; who lived respected, and died an humble member of the church of Christ.” His publications were, 1. “The Me* moirs of the Town and County of Leicester,” 1777, 6 vols. 12mo. 2. “Select Views in Leicestershire, from original Drawings,” 1789, 4to, 3. “A Supplementary volume to the Leicestershire Views, containing a series of Excursions, in 1790, to the villages and places of note in the county,” J 790, 4to. 4. “The History and Antiquities of the ancient town of Leicester,” 1791, 4to. 5. “Letters on the Roman Cloaca at Leicester,” 1793. It is almost needless to add, that all these works on Leicestershire have been since superseded by Mr. Nichols’s elaborate history of that county. 6. “Thoughts on the Provincial Corps raised, and now raising, in support of the British constitution at this awful period,” 1795, 8vo. 7. “Thoroton’s History of Nottinghamshire, re-published with large additions, and embellished with picturesque and select views of seats of the nobility and gentry, towns, villages, churches, and ruins,” 1797, 3 vols. 4to.

, an ancient Greek historian, was a citizen of Athens, and born in the second year of the 77th olympiad, or before Christ 469. He was of royal extraction; for all writers relate, that his father Olorus, or Orolus, was descended from Olorus, king of Thrace. He was educated in philosophy by Anaxagoras, and in eloquence by Antiphon. Suidas and Photius relate a circumstance, which shews, that he had from his youth a noble emulation, for when Herodotus recited his History in public, a practice in use then and many ages after, it drew tears from him; which Herodotus himself noticing, congratulated his father on having a son who shewed so wonderful an affection to the muses. Herodotus was then twenty-nine years of age; Thucydides about sixteen.

When the Peloponnesian war began to break out, Thucydides conjectured truly, that it would prove an argument worthy of his labour; and it no sooner commenced than he began his history, noting down events and circumstances, as they happened under his eye, or came to his knowledge. Of his own life we know nothing with certainty, but what he himself has delivered in his history. He was a lover of contemplation and retirement, yet he did not decline the service of the state, and accepted accordingly a command in the army. This, however, proved unfortunate to him; for while he resided in the Isle of Thasus, it happened that Brasidas, the Lacedemonian, besieged Amphipolis, a city belonging to the Athenians, about half a day’s sail from Thasus. Thucydides being one of the strategi, or of those who had authority to raise forces in those parts for the service of the commonwealth, the Athenian captain sent to him to levy a power, and hasten to his relief: as he did not arrive till too late, and when the city was already yielded up, he was afterwards punished, as if he had done this either through negligence or fear of the enemy. For this suspicion, however, there was no just reason, for he put himself into the city of Eion, and preserved it to the Athenians, with the repulse of Brasidas, who came down the next morning from Amphipolis, and besieged it.

After his banishment, which happened in his forty-eighth year, he lived in Scapte-Hyle, a city of Thrace, where he had married a very opulent wife; and large possessions and rich mines of gold, as he himself professes in his fourth book. He was not however so affected with his disgrace, as to shut himself -up from the world, but was present at the actions of the rest of the war, as appears from the fifth book of his History. In compiling his History, which occupied a great share of his time while in exile, he is said to have employed considerable sums of money in procuring authentic memorials, not only from the Athenians, but the Lacedemonians. It comprehends the Peloponnesian war, which lasted one and twenty years; for though some writers make it continue six years longer, yet others more rightly judge what followed to be rather the consequences of the v\ar, than a part of it. Some critics have imagined, from the difference of style and manner, that the eighth book, according to the ordinary division, was not written by Thucydides, but added afterwards by another hand; but this is not the general opinion, and, as Hobbes says, it is very probable, that it is left the same as it was when he first wrote it, that is, in the way of commentary, neither beautified with orations, nor so well cemented in the transitions as the former seven books are. Xenophon’s “Hellenica” are a supplement to Thucydides 1 s History.

It does not appear, that after his exile Thucydides ever again enjoyed his country; nor is it clear from any author, where, or when, or in what year of his age, he died. Most agree, that he died in banishment; yet some have related, that,“after the defeat in Sicily, the Athenians decreed a general revocation of all banished persons, and that he then returned, and was afterwards put to death at Athens. This is not likely; and many other circumstances are related which have no more probability. Hobbcs thinks, that in this variety or' conjectures there is nothing more probable than that which we have from Pausanias, who, in describing the monuments of the Athenian city, says,” The worthy act of Oenobius, in the behalf of Thucydides, is not without honour, for Oenobius obtained to have a decree passed for his return: who returning was slain by treachery, and his sepulchre is near the gate called Melirides." He is reckoned to have been sixty-eight years of age when he died. He left a son, whose name is hardly known, but supposed to have been Timotheus.

He excelled in the two great points which form a just historian, truth and eloquence. The faith of his History has never been called into question. He wanted no opportunities of knowing the truth, and he does not appear to have misrepresented it; and though some have fancied him a little malevolent towards his country, because the usage hy had received would have made most people so, yet he has not written any thing that discovers such a passion. His manner of writing is coherent, perspicuous, and persuasive, yet close, strong, and pithy. The ancients have spoken <of him in the highest terms and if Herodotus, as his senior, obtained the title “father of history,” yet the greater part have allowed that Thucydides is the better historian. Plutarch says, in his treatise De Gloria Atheniensinm, that Thucydides “aims always at this, to make his auditor a spectator, and to excite in his reader the same passions witii those who were beholders.” Then enumerating some examples, “these things,” he says, “are so described, and so evidently set before our eyes, that the mind of the reader is no less affected, than if he had been present in the actions.” And it was probably for his skill in painting, certainly not for his eloquence (for, as Cicero says, “what great rhetorician ever borrowed any thing of Thucydides?”) that the famous orator Demosthenes wrote over his History, according to Lucian, eight times with his own hand. The same Lucian, in his book “How a history ought to be written,” continually exemplifies the virtues required in an historiographer by Thucydides; and it seems as if the image of Thucydides’s History, preconceived in Lucian’s mind, suggested to him all the precepts he there delivers. As to his style, Cicero speaks of it thus: “Thucydides in the art of speaking, in my opinion, has far exceeded them all. ^For he is so full of matter, that the number of his sentences almost equals the number of his words; and in his words he is so apt, and so close, that it is hard to say, whether his words more illustrate his sentences, or his sentences his words,” The Romans thought highly of Thucydides’s work; and Sallust evidently took him for his model.

It is remarkable, that Dionysius Halicarnassensis entertained unreasonable prejudices against this historian, in favour of his countryman Herodotus, whom he was desirous to have considered as superior to him, and had raised accordingly many objections to his work. “The principal and most necessary office of any man that intendeth to write an history,” he says, “is to chuse a noble argument, and grateful to such as shall read it; and this Herodotus has done, in my opinion, better than Thucydides. For Herodotus hath written the joint history both of the Greeks and Barbarians; but Thucydides writeth only one war.” To this, as well as to Dionysius’ s other objections, Hobbes replies: “Let any man consider, whether it be not more reasonable to say, that the principal and most necessary office of him that will write an history is to take such an argument as is both within his power well to handle, and profitable to posterity that shall read it; which Thucydides, in the opinion of all men, has done better than Herodotus. For Herodotus undertook to write of those things, of which it was impossible for him to know the truth, and which deJight more the ear with fabulous narrations, than satisfy the mind with truth; but Thucydides writes one war, which, how it was carried on from the beginning to the end, he was able certainly to inform himself.” The single circumstance here urged in favour of Thucydides, gives lord Clarendon’s History of our Civil Wars, perhaps, the preference to any history that is extant in any language. Some modern critics have, however, formed an opinion of Thucydides more according with that of Dionysius than of Hobbes. The emperor Charles V. is said to have been so fond of this historian, that he always carried him with him into the camp, and used to talk of him with wonderful pleasure to those about him.

Thucydides was first printed by Aldus, in 1502, folio, since which the best editions are, 1. That printed by Henry Stephens, with a Latin version of “Laureutius Valla, Paris, 1538,” folio. 2. That of Oxford, “Greek and Latin, curn notis variorum & Joh. Hudsoni, 1696,” folio. 3. “Graces & Latin e, cum notis variorum & Jos. Wasse. Accedunt emendationes Car. And. Dukeri, Amst. 1732,” 2 vols. folio. 4. The Glasgow edit. 175y, 8 vols. 12mo. 5. A elegant and correct edition in 8vo, 1783, at Deux-ponts, from the edition of Duker, 6 vois.; and lastly, that of Ediu. 1803 6, 6 vols. edited by the rev. Peter Elmsley.

We have a good English translation of this author by Hobbes, whose account of Thucydides has been of service to us in the course of this memoir. But a translation now more in use and estimation is that of Dr. Smith, dean of Chester, which was published in 1753, 4to, and 1781, 8vo.

, a Benedictine of the congregation de St.Maur, was born in 1685 at Coucy in the diocese of Laon, and taught philosophy and theology in the abbey of St. Germain-des-Pres at Paris. He afterwards became sub-prior of that abbey, and died there, Jan. 12, 1736. His best performance is an excellent French translation of Polybius, with a commentary by the chevalier Follard, 6 vols. 4to. He also acquired fame as a theologian by two “Letters,” on the revocation of his appeal from the bull Unigenitus; and some other pieces, chiefly in favour of the constitution Unigenitus, after he had revoked his appeal which made a great noise in his congregation.

, secretary of state to the two protectors Oliver and Richard Cromwell, was son of Thomas Thurloe, rector of Abbots- Roding, Essex, where he was born in 1616. He was educated to the law, and afterwards recommended to the patronage of Oliver St. John, esq. a person of great eminence in that profession, and successively solicitor-general to Charles I. and lord chief justice of the common pleas; by whose interest, Jan. 1645, he was appointed one of the secretaries to the parliament commissioners at the treaty of Uxbridge. In 1647, he was admitted of LincolnVinn; and, March 1648, made receiver or clerk of the cursitor fines, under the earl of Kent, lord Grey of Werke, sir Thomas Widdrington, and Bulstrode Whitelocke, esq. commissioners of the great seal. Though his attachments were entirely on the side of the parliament, yet, with regard to the death of king Charles, he declares himself, that he was altogether a stranger to the fact, and to all the counsels about it; having 1 not had the least communication with any person whatsoever on that affair. Yet, after that extraordinary event, and the establishment of the new commonwealth, he was diverted from his employments in the law, and engaged in public business. In March 1651, he attended the lord chief justice St. John, and Walter Strickland, esq. ambassadors to the states of the United Provinces, as their secretary, with whom he returned to England in 1651, and, April 1652, was preferred to the office of secretary to the council of state; and, upon Cromwell’s assuming the protectorship in 1653, became secretary of state. In Feb. 1654, he was chosen one of the masters of the upper bench of the society of Lincoln’s-inn; and, in Aug. 1655, had the care and charge of the postage, both foreign and inland, committed to him by the protector. In 1656, he was chosen member of parliament for the Isle of Ely; and in April 1657 received the thanks of the parliament, for his vigilance in detecting the plot of Harrison and other fifth-monarchymen, and for many great services to the public. On July 13 of the same year, he was sworn one of the privy council to the protector, according to the "humble petition and advice 7> and in November was elected one of the governors of the Charter-house. Burnet relates a story, which probably happened about this time, of his having nearly forfeited Cromwell’s good opinion, by not being vigilant enough in listening to accounts of plots against his (Cromwell’s) life, but he soon effected a reconciliation, and appears to have induced Cromwell to think as he did, that too much curiosity after such matters argued an undignified fear.

In Feb. 1658 he was made chancellor of the university of Glasgow; and, in June following, concurred with Whitelocke in advising the protector to leave the persons who had been detected in a plot, to be proceeded against in the ordinary course of trials at the common law, and not by an high court of justice; it being always his opinion, that the forms and rules of the old constitution should, on every occasion, be inviolably preserved, especially in the administration of justice. Upon the death of Oliver, he was continued in the post of secretary and privy counsellor to his successor Richard; though he was very obnoxious to the principal persons of the army, to whose interests, whenever they interfered with those of the civil government, he was a declared enemy: and their resentment against him on that account was carried to so great a height, that they accused him as an evil counsellor, and one who was justly formidable by the ascendant he had gained over the new protector. For this reason, in Nov. 1658, he desired leave to retire from public business; in hopes that this might tend to quiet things, and facilitate the protector’s affairs with the army: but he was induced still to continue in his employment; and, in December, was chosen member of parliament for the university of Cambridge. He was returned likewise for the tpwn and borough of Wisbech, and for the borough of Huntingdon; but made his election for Cambridge, where he had a greater number of votes than had ever been known on a similar occasion. In April 1659, he used his utmost efforts to dissuade the protector from dissolving the parliament; a step which proved fatal to his authority, though, upon his quitting it, Thurloe still continued in his office of secretary till Jan. 14, 1660. It was then conferred on Thomas Scott, esq.; but on Feb. 27, upon a report of the council of state, the parliament resolved, that Thurloe should be again one of the secretaries of state, and John Thomson, esq. the other. In April 1660, he made an offer of his service for the restoration of Charles II. as appears from a letter of chancellor Hyde to sir John Grenville, in which his lordship observes, that Mr. Thurloe' s offers were very frank, and accompanied with many great professions of resolving to serve his majesty, not only in his own endeavours, but likewise by the services of his friends; but that these offers were mixed with somewhat of curiosity in Mr. Thurloe, who was very inquisitive to know whether his majesty had any confidence in general Monk, or had approached him in the right way: which he desired to know, only to finish what was left undone, or be able the better to advise his majesty. The king returned such answers as were proper, and desired to see some effects of his good affection; and that then he would find his services more acceptable. However, on May 15 following, he was committed by the House of Commons to the custody of their serjeant at arms, upon a charge of high treason; but was soon released, and retired to Great Milton in Oxfordshire, where he generally resided, except in term-time, when he came to his c;, bers at Lincoln’s-inn. He was of great use occasionally to the chancellor Clarendon, by the instructions he gave him with respect to the state of foreign affairs; of which there is a very remarkable instance among his state-papers, in the recapitulation he drew up of all the nei>ociations between England, France, and Spain, from the lime of Cromwell’s taking upon him the protectorship till the restoration. He was likewise often solicited by Charles II. to engage in the administration of public business, but thought proper to decline those offers. He died suddenly, at his chambers in Lincoln’s-inn, Feb. 21, 1668, aged fifty-one; and was interred under the chapel there with an inscription over his grave. He was twice married, first to a lady of the name of Peyton, by whom he had two sons who died before him; and secondly to Anne, third daughter of sir John Lytcote of East Moulsey in Surrey, by whom he had four sons and two daughters.

He was a man of a very amiable character in private life; and in the height of his power exercised all possible moderation towards persons of every party. In his manner of writing he is remarkable above most of his contemporaries for conciseness, perspicuity, and strength. But the most Authentic testimony of his abilities is that vast collection of his “State Papers,” in 7 vols. folio, published by Dr. Birch in 1742, which places the history of Europe in general, as well as that of Great Britain and its dominions, during that remarkable period, in the clearest light; and shews at the same time his astonishing industry and application in the management of so great a variety of important affairs, which passed entirely through his hands, with secrecy and success not to be paralleled under any other government.

, Lord Thurlow, a distinguished statesman and lawyer, was the second son of the rev. Thomas Thurlow, rector of Ashfield in Suffolk, and was born about 1732. He was entered of, and continued for some time at Caiut college, Cambridge, whery vulgar report has made him idle and dissipated. Of this we have no proof, nor of his having been equally careless of his studies after he entered the society of the Middle Temple. Lord Thurlow may have been indebted to what are called lucky coincidences for some of his promotions, but as he was always found amply qualified for the high stations he held, he could not have much neglected the cultivation of his natural abilities, or been remiss in accumulating that knowledge by which alone he could rival his contemporaries. He appears to have been called to the bar in 1758, and must have rapidly attained distinction in his profession, for, in three years after, chiefly owing to the talent he displayed in the Douglas cause, he was advanced to the rank of king’s counsel. His voice, person, and manner, were not ill calculated to give his efforts an air of consequence at the bar, and his practice became extensive. In March 1770 he was appointed solicitor-general, and in. June 1771 attorney-general. He now sat in parliament for the borough of Tamworth, where he had many opportunities of justifying the choice of his patrons, and of creating that species of character and interest which generally leads to the highest legal appointments. As a politician, he uniformly, and with commanding vigour, suppotted the measures adopted with respect to America, Sec. during lord North’s administration. In June 1778, he was appointed to succeed lord Apsley, as lord high chancellor of Great Britain, and the same day was raised to the peerage by the title of Lord Thurlow of Ashfield in Suffolk. This office he resigned in April 1783, when the seals were put into commission, but was re-appointed when Mr. Pitt was nominated prime minister in December following. He again resigned them in June 1792, and on the 12th of that month was created Lord Thurlow of Thurlow in Suffolk, with a collateral remainder of this honour to the issue male of his late two brothers, the bishop of Durham, and John Thurlow of Norwich. After this retirement, till a short period before his death, he took an active part, and had great weight, in the House of Lords.; and having retained complete possession of his faculties, with accumulated wisdom and experience, his latter speeches were often more the subject of admiration, than any that had been remembered in his earlier days. He died in the seventy-fourth year of his age, Sept. 12, 1806, without male issue.

Lord Thurlow, says the candid author of the Biographical Peerage, “was a man of whose talents opinions have been various. His faculties were strong and direct; and, the results of his mind decisive. His nervous manner, and imperious temper, gave an artificial strength to what he delivered. Whatever he conceived right, he had rrcr timidity or hesitation in enforcing. A manly tone of sentiment, and a boldness which was admired while it was dreaded, gave him almost irresistible weight when clothed with authority. These qualities, added to a powerful natural sagacity, fitted him to preside over a court of equity with many advantages. He never felt himself fettered by forms and technicalities; but laid the case bare at once, and got at its essence. His head was not formed to be diverted by little difficulties or sophistries. On the other hand he was frequently too impatient, too dogmatical, and too little open to persuasion, and to all the complicated bearings of an entangled cause. His temper was severe, his feelings morose, and his disregard of the world, and even its innocent passions and foibles, too general and untparing. He made little allowance for a difference of habits or pursuits. On the whole, however, he was a man f a superior mind; and in many respects rilled his high station with great and deserved reputation.” To this we may add, that as a patron he was munificent; and often, what he could not perform in his official capacity, he expended from his own fortune. His behaviour, in this respect, to Dr. Johnson, must ever be remembered to his honour. In bestowing church preferment he was singularly honest and disinterested, and of all the anecdotes in current report (and they were at one time very many) relating to this subject, we never heard one that did not place his good sense and humanity in a very favourable light. But while, like many other men of high station encumbered with business, he needed to be reminded of those who had claims upon him, it was peculiar to himself that in his character of patron, he was seldom accessible to the common forms of application. If a tale of depressed merit and consequent distress was gently insinuated, he seldom heard it without extending relief, but all manner of solicitation from those who thought they had influence over him, he repelled with contempt; and such were the vicissitudes of his temper, that even when he came to confer his highest favours, it was frequently in a manner that seemed to lessen the obligation.

As a scholar lord Thurlow possessed more knowledge than the world gave him credit for, and his profound acquaintance with the Greek language is testified in a dedication to him by his friend Dr. Horsley. In early life, he lived much with men of gaiety and wit, and always preserved a high respect for literary merit. In his latter years, he would not probably have defended the laxity in which much of his time had been spent. He never was married, but left three daughters by a lady with whom he had long lived. He was, agreeably to the terms of his second peerage, succeeded by his nephew Edward, eldest son of Thomas Thurlow, late bishop of Durham, who died in 179 1.

, a learned Saxonist, and the descendant of some learned Oxonians, was born in 1667, but where, or where educated, has not been discovered. That he was well grounded in classical learning is evident. He was admitted battler of Queen’s college, Oxford, on Sept. 14, 1689, took his degree of B. A. jn Jan. 1694, and that of M.A. in 1697, and either then or in the following year, was admitted fellow of the college. Queen’s was at this time remarkable for the number of its Saxon scholars, one of the principal of whom was Mr. Thwaites, who so early as 1698 became a preceptor in the Saxon tongue there. The industry of his pupils was great, but they had few helps. In a letter to Wanley, dated March 24, 1698-9, he says, “We want Saxon Lexicons. I have fifteen young students in that language, and but one Somner for them all.” This was undoubtedly a sufficient reason for the patronage he bestowed on Mr. Thomas Benson’s Vocabulary, an epitome of Somner, begun to be printed in small quarto, but which was afterwards printed in 8vo, under the title of“Vocabularium Anglo-Saxonicum Lexico Gul. Somneri magna parte auctius,” Oxon. 1701. Mr. Thwaites, according to a memorandum in Hearne’s ms diary, had a considerable hand in this. In 1697, he edited “Dionysii Orbis Descriptio, cum veterum scholiis et Eustathii commentariis. Accedit Periegesis Prisciani, cum notis Andrea Papii,” Oxon. 8vo. This was followed in 1698, by “Heptateuchus, Liber Job, et Evangelium Nicodemi, Anglo-Saxonice. Historic Judith fragmentum, Dano-Saxonice*. Edidit nunc primum ex Mss. codicibus Edwardus Thwaites, e collegio Reginse,” Oxon. which being dedicated to Dr. Hickes, the celebrated non-juror, gave some offence in those days of party-spirit. The same year Mr. Thwaites had some concern in the edition of king Alfred’s Saxon version of “Boethius cle Consolatione Philosophize,” the professed editor of which was Mr. Christopher Rawlinson. Mr. Thvvaites also rendered much assistance to Dr. Hickes in his “Thesaurus,” which is amply acknowledged in the epistolary preface. In 17 Os, he was elected by the university, reader in moral philosophy, and the next year appointed regius professor of Greek. His last work, “Grammatica Anglo-Saxonica ex Hickesiano linguarum Septentrionalium Thesauro excerpta,” appeared at Oxford in 1711, on the 12th of December, 8vo, in which year he died, and was buried at Iffley church near Oxford. He was only forty-four years of age, and his death is supposed to have been hastened by the amputation of his leg. Of this affair, the accounts in our authorities differ; the one imputing the necessity for amputation to his having broke his leg by a fall from his horse, the other to a growing on one of his knees, perhaps what is called a white swelling, which is a very frequent cause for amputation. Both, however, agree in the extraordinary calmness with which he bore the operation, and in his having stopped the bleeding in the night when it broke out afresh, without help, It is said that when his surgeon, Mr. Charles Bernard, related his behaviour to queen Anne, she ordered him a pension, and to be made Greek professor; but in these circumstances likewise our accounts differ. A consumption ensued, and deprived the university of “the best Septentrionalist,” next to Dr. Hickes, a man, too, “beautiful in his personage, pleasant in conversation, of great vivacity, and of a most agreeable natural behaviour. 7 '” Besides these excellencies, he wrote,“says Mr. Browne,” the finest hand I ever saw."

, an antiquary, and herald, of the sixteenth century, descended from an ancient branch of the noble family now having the title of marquis of Bath, was the son of William Thynne, chief clerk of the kitchen, and afterwards marquis of the household to Henry VIII. He was born at Stretton, in Shropshire, and educated at Tunbridge school, under Mr. Proctor, the learned master, who is gratefully remembered by him as one of the English historians. From thence he was sent to Magdalen college, Oxford, where he was entered a commoner; and, as himself informs us, was afterwards a member of Lincoln’s Inn f Camden, in the preface to his Britannia, gives him the ample character of having prosecuted the study of antiquities with great honour. In that of heraldic and genealogical pursuits, he was particularly an enthusiast, and presented a petition to lord Burleigh, then presiding at the head of the commission for executing the office of earl marshal, requesting to be admitted into the college of heralds, and offering himself to the strictest examination. This was accordingly instituted, and his merit being acknowledged, he was preferred to be blanche lyon poursuivant, after which, when he was fifty- seven years of age, he was, on April 22, 1602, with great ceremony, created Lancaster herald at arms, having previously obtained a patent for that office, dated Oct. 23, 44 Eliz. Wood, in. his “Athenae,” and Hearne, after him, place the death of Mr. Thynne in 1611, but it must have happened sooner, since he never surrendered his patent, and that granted to his successor in office bears date Nov. 1608, which was more probably the year of his death.

Hearne published “A discourse of the Dutye and Office of an Heraulde of Armes,” written by Thynne, the 3d day of March, 1605. In 1651 were printed his “Histories concerning Ambassadors and their Functions,” dedicated to his good friend William, lord Cobham. He continued the Chronicle, known by the name of Holingshed’s, finishing Uie annals of Scotland, from 1586 down to where they now end. He drew up a list of English cardinals, added to the reign of Mary I. He wrote the catalogue of English historical writers; but his “Discourses” upon the earls of Leicester, archbishops of Canterbury, lords Cobham, and the catalogue of the wardens of the Cinque ports, were suppressed. He also wrote the history of Dover Castle and the Cinque Ports; the genealogical history of the Cobhams; discourses of arms, concerning the Bath and bachelor knights; the history and lives of the lord treasurers, mentioned in a manuscript life of him in the collection of sir Joseph Ayloffe, barr. Numerous as these works are, yet there are various other literary productions of his: some of them are preserved in the Cotton library, others were possessed by Anstis, sen. garter. His heraldic collections are in the college of arms, and in the Ashmolean Museum at Oxford. Some of his manuscripts are collections of antiquities, sepulchral inscriptions, taken by him from English churches, and elsewhere. He intended to have published an edition of Chaucer’s works, but declining that, gave his labours relative to it to Speght, who published them in his edition of that poet’s works, with his own notes, and those of his father, who printed an edition of this ancient writer in 1542. Thynne had meant to have written a comment upon the text, and some verses of his are prefixed to Speght’s edition.

, a celebrated Dutch philologer, born about 1603, at Harderwyck, was professor of poetry and eloquence at Leyden, and librarian to that university. He died in 1670. Besides being an excellent commentator on ancient authors, he published several other productions, as 1. “Historia Navalis;” a history of the naval wars between the Dutch and the Spaniards, 1657, 4to. 2. “Compendium Historiae Batavicae,” 1645. 3. “Exercitationes Miscellanea;,” these are dissertations on sacred history, and on mythology, 1639, 12mo. 4. Two tracts on the government and on the laws of Athens, subjoined to “Postellus de Republica, seu Magistratibus Atheniensium;” and published also in Gronovius’s collection. 5. Editions of many classic authors, "as Paterculus, 1668; Sallust, 1665; Valerius Maximus, 1670, which is the best variorum edition; Seneca’s tragediei, 1651, and Lactantius, 1652; Aulus Gellius, 1661, all at Leyden. 6. An edition of Polydore Vergil’s History of England.

, otherwise Pellegrino, an eminent artist, was of Milanese extraction, but probably a native of Bo. logna, and from the date of his earliest picture known to us, the Nativity in the palace Borghese at Rome, painted 1549, in his twenty-second year, must have been born in 1527. He entered the school of Bagnacavallo, and endeavoured to improve himself, according to Vasari, by designing from the pictures of that master in the refectory of S. Michele in Bosco; but departed for Rome in 1547, chiefly to study the works of Michael Angelo. There he was patronized by Monsig. afterwards cardinal Poggi, who sent him back to Bologna to complete the fabric of his palace, at present the Academical Institute, decorated by his pictures, and the principal monument of his art in Italy though the Carracci seemed to prefer, as objects of imitation for themselves and their scholars, the painting^ with which he had filled the sides and compartments of that noble chapel constructed by him in S. Giacopo of the Augustine friars.

From Bologna he went to Loretto, and in the church there built and ornamented a‘ chapel with stuccos and paintings; from thence he was called to Ancona to operate in the churches of S. Agostino and Ciriaco, in the last of which he painted a Christ highly relieved and larger than life; the Merchants 7 hall received its stuccos and paintings from his band. He superintended the fortifications of tha place as military architect, about 1560; and two years afterwards came to Pavia, where, by the order of cardinal Borromeo, he constructed the palace of the Sapienza; he then visited Milan, built the temple of S. Fidele, and before 1570 was elected architect of the cathedral. After disencumbering the dome of numerous empty gothic monuments, sepulchral urns, and trophies, and embellishing it in their stead with various elegant chapels and ’a majestic choir; Pellegrino was commissioned by Berardino Martirano, a Spaniard in the confidence of Philip II. to prepare designs and plans for the Escurial. He followed them himself to Spain in 1586, and superintended that enormous fabric as architect and painter, during nine years, when, satiated with glory, riches, and honours, he returned to Milan, where he died at an advanced age, and was buried in a tomb which he had selected for himself and his descendants in the dome. The precise year of his death is disputed, but his demise may safely be placed under the pontificate of Clement VIII. and some think about 1592.

Pellegrino had a brother, Domenico Tibaldi, who was his scholar, and acquired celebrity as an architect and an engraver at Bologna that he was a painter of merit we are told by his epitaph in the church dell' Annunciata, but epitaphs are doubtful authorities, and of Domenico there is not even a portrait remaining. In engraving he was the master of Agostino Caracci.

Pellegrino Tibaldi is considered, and with sufficient evidence from his works, as the greatest designer of the Bolognese and Lombard schools. He approaches the line of Michael Angelo nearer than all the rest of his imitators; but, as he had decidedly adopted the technic without always penetrating the moral principle* of his model, the manner of the master frequently became the style of the pupil; though it cannot be denied that he often united energy of attitude and grandeur of line with sublimity of conception and dignity of motive. Of these he has given no where more signal proofs than in the cielings and compartments ef the Academical Institute at Bologna; they represent various scenes of the Odyssey in a kind of monumental style, which it would be improper to judge by the established rules of regular history. Polypheme waking under the pangs of the fiery point nestling itself into his eye, though with a sentiment of original expression, is evidently imitated from the new-created figure of Adam in the Sistina; but the same Cyclops groping at the entrance of his eave to prevent the escape of Ulysses and his associates, is in conception of the whole, and in the detail of all the parts, a self-invented being; a form, than which Michael Angelo himself never conceived one of savage energy, provoked by sufferings and revenge, with expression, atti-r tude, and limbs, more in unison. With these may be placed that wonder of foreshortening, of conglobation, and eccentricity, the figure of Elpenor on one of the archi-r traves of the Salotto, represented in the moment when, yet dreaming, he loses his hold and is precipitated from the roof. The air of originality which this figure every where presents, and the elegance with which the imitator has reversed the figure in the Last Judgment of M. Angelo, from which he borrowed the principal limb of his own, place him on a level with the inventor.

It was, however, less for the powers exerted by Peflegrino in the decorations of the Institute, than for the eclec-. tic principle which they discovered in his subsequent works, that the Carracci gave him the epithet of “Michel* angiolo riformato,” and commended

Peilegrino Tibaldi is more known by his works in fresco, than by his pictures in oil, which are extremely scarce: one of the earliest is the Nativity already mentioned, in the palace Borghese, of which the cartoon still exists in a private collection of drawings. It is painted in a sober unaffected tone; and, considered as the work of an artist zealous of his line, with great mellowness of touch. The figures of this are considerably less than the size of life; but there are pictures of his to be met with of diminutive dimensions, with all the finish of miniatures, though rich in figures, touched with great spirit and equal vivacity of colour they are generally set off by back- grounds drawn from his favourite branch of art, architecture.

, a Latin poet, is supposed to have been born at Rome, in the year of Rome 690, six years after the birth of Virgil, and one after that of Horace. His father was of the equestrian order; and he himself set out into the world with all the advantages of fortune, and the greatest accomplishments of mind and person. Among the great men of his age, he singled out Messala Corvinus for his patron; who was a brave and accomplished Roman, admired by Cicero, mentioned with great respect by Horace, and ranked by Quintilian among the masters of oratory. He was to Tibullus, what Maecenas was to Horace. This poet had a country seat at Pedum, a town in Latium not far from Rome. He was a great sufferer in the civil wars, yet does not seem to have been concerned in any party. He was, like Ovid, a man devoted to ease and pleasure; and his time was divided between the Muses and his mistresses. He seems indeed to have abandoned himself entirely to the passion of love, as some think, even to the neglect of his affairs. His regard for Messala, however, made him forget his love of ease and pleasure, and followthat nobleman into Gaul, who was there victorious,' and had a triumph decreed him upon his return to Rome. He was attending Messala on a second expedition to Syria, when he fell sick by the way, and was forced to stay in the island of Phaeacia or Corcyra. On this occasion he composed the third elegy of the fourth book, and desired that if he should die of his illness, he might have this epitaph engraven on his monument:

As to his character, Horace, with whom he was intimately acquainted, as well as with the other wits of the Augustan age, gives him that of a fine writer and good critic:

Nor is Ovid sparing of his praises of Tibullus the ninth elegy of the third book is written to bewail his death. There Ovid finely describes the sweetness and elegance of this poet’s elegies, by introducing Cupid and Venus to mourn over him; after which he places him in the Elysian fields, in company with Calvus, Catullus, and Gallus. The best critics have preferred Tibullus even to Ovid himself, for elegance and correctness of style; and Quintilian sets him at the head of all the writers in elegy. “In elegy,” says he, “we challenge also the Greeks, in which way of writing, Tibullus, according to my judgment, is by far the most neat and elegant. Some indeed give Propertius the preference; Ovid is more indecent than either of them, as Gallus is more harsh and unpolished. 1 * There is certainly in his poems an admirable mixture of passion and purity, of simplicity and elegance, and he is thought to surpass all others not only in tenderness and sentiment, but in graceful ease and harmony of members. He has left four books of” Elegies.“His panegyric upon Messala is censured by Scaliger, and suspected not to be his; and the small pieces at the end of the fourth book, which Scaliger calls” hard, languid, and rough," either do not belong to Tibullus, or never received his last corrections.

This author has usually been printed in the same volume with Catullus and Propertius; and one of the best editions of him in conjunction with them is that by Graevius, “cum notia variorum,” Leyden, 1589, in 2 vols. 8vo. But he was afterwards, in 1*708, published separately at Amsterdam, in 1 vol. 4to, by Janus Brouckhusius, a very polite and elegant critic, who corrected many places from the best manuscripts, and added his own to the notes variorum. This edition is very neat, and adorned with copper-plates. An excellent edition in quarto was published by Vulpius, a professor at Padua (who also published Catullus and Propertius), in 1749. This was long esteemed the best, and is so still if we take splendour into the account; but two editions in 8vo, have since been published by the celebrated professor Heyne, of which the second of 1777 is, for use, one of the best editions of a classic author that has ever appeared. Tibullus has been translated into English with most success by Grainger, but some have thought it easy to suppose a better transfusion of his spirit into our language.

, son of the rev. Richard Tickell, was born in 1686 at Bridekirk in Cumberland; and in April 1701 became a member of Queen’s college, in Oxford; in 1708 he was made M. A. and two years afterwards was chosen fellow; for which, as he did not comply with the statutes by taking orders, he obtained a dispensation from, the crown. He held his fellowship till 1726, and then vacated it by marrying in that year, at Dublin. Tickell was not one of those scholars who wear away their lives in closets; he entered early into the world, and was long busy in public affairs, in which he was initiated under the patronage of Addison, whose notice he is said to have gained by his verses in praise of “Rosamond.” He produced another piece of the same kind at the appearance of “Cato,” with equal skill, but not equal happiness. When the ministers of queen Anne were negociating with France, Tickell published “The Prospect of Peace,” a poem, of which the tendency was to reclaim the nation from the pride of conquest to the pleasures of tranquillity. Mr. Addison, however he hated the men then in power, suffered his friendship to prevail over the public spirit, and gave in the “Spectator” such praises of Tickell’s poem, that when, after having long wished to peruse it, Dr. Johnson laid hold on it at last, he thought it unequal to the honours which it had received, and found it a piece to be approved rather than admired. But the hope excited by a work of genius, being general and indefinite, is rarely gratified. It was read at that time with so much favour that six editions were sold. At the arrival of king George he sung “The Royal Progress;” which, being inserted in the *' Spectator,“is well known. The poetical incident of most importance in Tickell’s life was his publication of the first book of the” Iliad,“as translated by himself, in apparent opposition to Pope’s” Homer,“of which the first part made its entrance into the world at the same time. Addison declared that the rival versions were both good; but that Tickell’s was the best that ever was made; and with Addison those wits who were his adherents and followers, were certain to concur. Pope does not appear to have been much dismayed;” for,“says he,” I have the town, that is, the mob, on my side.“But he remarks, that it is common for the smaller party to make up in diligence what they want in numbers;” he “appeals to the people as his proper judges; and if they are not inclined to condemn him, he is in little care about the high-flyers at Button’s.” Pope did not long think Addison an impartial judge; for he considered him as the writer of TickelPs version. The reasons for his suspicion we shall literally transcribe from Mr. Spence’s collection. “There had been a coldness between Mr. Addison and me for some time; and we had not been in company together for a good while, any where but at Button’s coffee-house, where I used to see him almost every day. On his meeting me there, one day in particular, he took me aside, and said he should be glad to dine with me at such a tavern, if 1 stayed till those people were gone (Budgell and Philips). We went accordingly; and after dinner Mr. Addison said * that he had wanted for some time to talk with me; that his friend Tickell had formerly, whilst at Oxford, translated the first book of the Iliad; that he designed to print it, and had desired him to look it over; that he must therefore beg that I would not desire him to look over my first book, because, if he did, it would have the air of doubledealing.‘ I assured him that < I did not at all take it ill of Mr. Tickell that he was going to publish his translation; that he certainly had as much right to translate any author as myself; and that publishing both was entering on a fair stage. I then added, that I would not desire him to look over my first book of the ’ Iliad,' because he had looked over Mr. Tickeli’s; but could wish to have the benefit of his observations on my second, which I had then finished, and which Mr. Tickell had not touched upon.‘ Accordingly I sent him the second book the next morning; and Mr. Addison a few days after returned it, with very high commendations. Soon after it was generally known that Mr. Tickell was publishing the first book of the ’ Iliad,‘ I met Dr. Young in the street; and, upon our falling into that subject, the doctor expressed a great deal of surprise at Tickell’ s having had such a translation so long by him. He said, that c it was inconceivable to him, and that there must be some mistake in the matter; that each used to communicate to the other whatever verses they wrote, even to the least things; that Tickell could not have been busied in so long a work there without his knowing something of the matter; and that he had never heard a single word of it till on this occasion.' This surprise of Dr. Young, together with what Steele had said against Tickell in relation to this affair, makes it highly probable that there was some underhand dealing in that business; and indeed Tickelt himself, who is a very fair worthy man, has since in a manner as good as owned it to me. [When it was introduced into a conversation between Mr. Tickell and Mr. Pope by a third person, Tickell did not deny it; which, considering his honour and zeal for his departed friend, was the same as owning it.]” Upon these suspicions, with which Dr. Warburton hints that other circumstances concurred, Pope always, in his “Art of Sinking,” quotes this book as the work of Addison. (See Pope, vol. XXV. p. 168.) When the Hanover succession was disputed, Tickeli gave what assistance his pen would supply. His “Letter to Avignon” stands high among party-poems; it expresses contempt without coarseness, and superiority without insolence. It had the success which it deserved, being five times printed. He was now intimately united to Mr. Addison, who, when he went into Ireland as secretary to the lord Sunderland, took him thither, and employed him in public business; and, when (1717) afterwards he rose to be secretary of state, made him under-secretary. ' Their friendship seems to have continued without abatement; for when Addison died, he left him the charge of publishing his works, with a solemn recommendation to the patronage of Craggs. To these works he prefixed an elegy on the author, which could owe none of its beauties to the assistance which might be suspected to have strengthened or embellished his earlier compositions; but neither he not Addison ever produced nobler lines than are contained in the third and fourth paragraphs, nor is a more sublime or more elegant funeral poem to be found in the whole compass of English literature. He was afterwards (in June 1724) made secretary to the lords justices of Ireland, a place of great honour; in which he continued till 1740, when he died April 23, at Bath. To Tickell cannot be refused a high place among the minor poets; nor should it be forgotten that he was one of the contributors to the “Spectator.” With respect to his personal character, he is said to have been a man of gay conversation, at least a temperate lover of wine and company, and in his domestic relations without censure.

, an ingenious writer, who first appeared as an author about 1778, in a poem entitled, “The Project,” is supposed to have been a descendant of the preceding, or rather of his brother Richard Tickel), esq. who was appointed secretary at war in 1724, and held that post till his death in 1740. Another account states that our author was the son of Richard Tickell, esq. who died in 1793, who was the son of Addison’s friend. Soon, after the appearance of Mr. Tickell’s “Project,” his “Wreath of Fashion” was published, and was allowed to have considerable merit. But that which raised him to immediate celebrity was his admirable political pamphlet, called “Anticipation;” in which, with the most successful humour, he imitated the manner of the principal speakers then in parliament, and defeated the force of the argument of the opposition, by preoccupying them. This appeared in 1778. Two other political pamphlets are attributed to him; namely, “The English Green-box,” 1779, and “Common-place Arguments,” in 1780. He produced also for the theatre, an alteration of Allan Ramsay’s “Gentle Shepherd,” which was acted at Drury-lane, in 1781; and “The Carnival of Venice,” a comic opera, written by himself, and acted the same year; but of these two pieces only the songs were printed.

, a modern German philosopher of considerable eminence, was born Aprils, 1748, at Bremervorde, in the duchy of Bremen, of which place his father was a burgomaster. His father intended him for the study of divinity, but he devoted the principal part of his early years to the study of the classics, and soon made great progress in the learned languages. As he became more acquainted with French and German literature and philosophy, he gave up all thoughts of studying divinity with a view to the church, imbibing by degrees the fashionable infidelity of his contemporaries. In 1772 he published at Riga his “Essay on the Origin of Languages,” and in 1776, his “System of the Stoic Philosophy,” a work that has been much praised abroad, and in which he was encouraged by the celebrated Heyne, who about the same time procured for him the professorship of the Greek and Latin languages in the Collegium Carolinum at Cassel. He was now, we are told, inclined to materialism, but cured by the essays and conversation of the learned Tetens. In 1778 he published his “Investigation of Man, 3 vols.; in 1780,” The first Philosophers of Greece,“and commenced his” Spirit of Speculative Philosophy."

In 1786, he, together with the other teachers of the college, was removed to Marburg, and appointed professor of philosophy. Here he taught with applause logic, metaphysics, empirical psychology, the law of nature, moral philosophy, the history of philosophy and of man, and explained the Greek classics. Of these he is said to have excelled principally in the history of philosophy, and empirical psychology. His religion, we are told, consisted in moral purity and rectitude of conduct: he attached no importance to external worship, though he did not deny its advantages to the great body of the people. He yvas an enemy to every kind of fanaticism, a word which we doubt not was in his creed comprehensive enough to embrace the doctrines of revealed religion. It is more to his honour, however, that he was a man of most extensive learning, particularly in the Greek language. His last performance was a translation of Denon’s Travels in Egypt, illustrated with notes. He died May 24, 1803, in the fifty -fifth year of his age. A prolix account of his studies and his philosophy appeared soon after in the foreign journals, from which we have abridged the present article. His works have never been much known in this country, and were not all very favourably received in his own.

, a learned protestant divine of the French church, was born at Goldberg in Silesia, Feb*4, 1563. He came into France about 1590, and was naturalized by Henry IV. He at first distinguished himself as an opponent of the tenetsof Arminius, but afterwards changed his opinion, and enlisted on the side of the remonstrants. His principal controversy was with Peter Du Moulin, which was carried on with so much warmth, that those who were friends to the peace of the church, and admired both writers for their respective excellencies, interposed to reconcile them, or put a stop to the dispute. James I. of England, among others, wrote a letter in 1614 to the synod of Tonneins on this subject, which with the answer and proceedings of that assembly, may be seen in Quick’s “Synodicon,” vol. I. Tilenus had, before this, been appointed by the mareschal de Bouillon, to be professor at the college of Sedan, which de Bouillon had founded, but about 1619, or 1620, Tilenus was obliged to resign in consequence of persisting in his peculiar sentiments, and came to Paris, where he lived on his property. He afterwards had a personal controversy at a country house near Orleans, with John Cameron, divinity professor at Saumur, concerning the subject of grace and free will. This lasted five days, and an account of it was published, under the title of “Collatio inter Tilenum & Cameronem, &c.” (See Cameron). Some time after, Tilenus addressed a letter to the Scotch nation, disapproving of the presbyterian, and commending the episcopal form of the reformed church, as established in England. This pleased king James so much, who hated presbyterianism, that he invited the author to England, where he received him very graciously, and offered him a pension. Tilenus accepted the offer, and only begged leave to return to France to settle his affairs; but his character becoming by some means obnoxious in this country, he was discouraged from returning, and died at Paris, Aug. 1, 163S. His latter days were spent in defending the Arminian tenets against the reformed church of France, and he wrote several books, the titles of which may now be dispensed with, but may be found in our authorities.

, a landscape-painter, who has left works that sustain their character even in capital collections, was born at Antwerp about 1684, and made himself a painter^ though he studied under very indifferent masters. In 1708, he was brought to England, with his brother-in-law, Casteels, by one Turner, a dealer in pictures, and was employed by him in copying Bourgognon and other masters, in which he succeeded admirably, particularly Teniers, of whom he preserved all the freedom and spirit. He generally painted landscapes with small figures, sea-ports and views, but when he came to be known, he was patronized by several men of quality, and drew views of their seats, huntings, races, and horses in perfection. In this way he was much employed, both in the west and north of England, and in Wales, and drew many prospects for Bridges’s History of Northamptonshire. The duke of Devonshire, in whose collection is a fine view of Chatsworth by Tillemans, and lord Byron, were his chief patrons. He also instructed the latter in his art, who did great credit to his master. After labouring many years under an asthma, for which he chiefly resided at Richmond, he died at Norton in Suffolk, Dec. 5, 1734, and was buried in the church of Stow-Langtoft.

, whom L‘Avocat prqnounces one of the most judicious and accurate critics and historians that France has produced, was born at Paris Nov. 30, 1637. His father, John L,e Nain, was master of the requests. About the age of ten, he was sent to the famous seminary of the Port Royal, where his attention to instruction, and his proficiency, were very extraordinary, and where he very early became fond of ’the study of history. This partiality seems to have been first excited by a perusal of Baronius, and while thus employed he was perpetually putting questions to his master Nicole, who at first gave him such answers as came in his head at the moment, hut soon found that his pupil was not so easily satisfied; and Nicole, although by no means ignorHiit of history, used to dread his approach, lest he might ask questions for which he was not fully prepared. At the age of e ghteen Tillemont began to read the fathers, the lives of the apostles, and their successors in the primitive church, and drew up for himself an account of early ecclesia^tical history, in the manner of Usher’s Annals, a hook he much admired, and formed his pwn somewhat on the same plan. In the mean time he was successfully instructed in other branches but it was a considerable time before he made choice of a profession. In this he was at last influenced by M. Choart de Buzanval, bishop of Brauvais, who determined him in favour of the church, and gave him the tonsure. About 1663, he went to reside with M. Hermant, a canon of the cathedral of Beauvais, and remained there five or six years. He then returned to Paris, and lodged with M. Thomas de Fosse, an old school-fellow, for about two years; but although in all these situations he was constantly employed in study, and had the quiet enjoyment of his time, he removed to the country, and, after receiving the other orders of his church, and being ordained priest in 1676, he settled at Tillemont, whence he took his name, about a league from Paris. About this time he was employed, along with his friend M. de Sacy, on a life of St. Louis, and two years after he travelled in Flanders and Holland. After his return, he continued his studies, and, in 1690, began to publish his <k History of the Emperors,“which was very favourabl\ received, and made the public more anxious to see his history of the church, on which it was well known he had been for some time employed. His” History of the Emperors“was, in fact, a part of his ecclesiastical history; hut when he printed a volume, as a specimen, it fell into the hands of a licenser of the press, who made so many petty objections, that M. Tillemont determined to suppress the work rather than submit to the proposed alterations and omissions, as none of the objections were in any way contrary to the received doctrines of the church. He then, by the advice of his friends, published the history of the emperors separately; and there being no occasion in this case for a theological licenser, he published vol. I. in 1690, 4to; and completed the work in five vols, in 1701, which had abundant success; was reprinted at Brussels, and translated into English. This was followed by his ecclesiastical history,” Memoires pour servir a l'Histoire ecclesiastique des six premiers siecles," &c. 1693, &c. completed in sixteen volumes, quarto. Extreme accuracy of facts and dates constitute the great merit of this work, and the want of a more methodical arrangement, and of a better style, its chief objections. Dupin wishes he had reduced his work to the form of annals, in imitation of Baronius; and this opinion having been conveyed to M. Tillemont, he said he could not think of going over the materials anew, but was very willing to give his manuscripts to any person who would take the trouble to put them in the form of annals. No such person offering his services, M. Tillemont proceeded in his own way, in which he met afterwards with very little opposition, except a short controversy, of no great importance, with father Lamy.

Tillemont was intimate with M. Hermant, doctor of the Sorbonne, Baillet, Nicole, and many other learned men, who frequently consulted him. To a complete knowledge of ecclesiastical history, he joined an exemplary humility, and regularity of conduct. His humility, indeed, was so great, that Bossuet, seeing one of his letters to father Lamy, besought him, *' not to be always upon his knees before his adversary, but raise himself now and then up." He was solicited to push himself in the church, and his friend the bishop of Beauvais wished to have him for his successor: but Tillemont, regardless of dignities, wished for nothing but retirement, and there his perpetual watchings and austerities brought him into a state of languor, which terminated in a disease, of which he died, January 10, 1698, aged sixty-one. He was interred at Port-royal agreeably to his desire, but when that abbey was destroyed in 1711, his remains were removed to St, Andre des Arcs, his parish church.

M. Tronchai, canon of Laval, published Tillemont' s life in 1711, 12mo. At the end of this, are “pious reflections, and instructive Letters,” by M. de Tillemont, from which we learn that he was a zealous devotee of the church of Rome. The “Life of St. Louis,” by M. de la Chaise, was compiled from his “Memoirs;” and many writers of the lives of the fathers found their best materials in that same work. He left in ms. a Memoir concerning William de Saint- Amour, and the disputes between the Dominicans and the university; a, life of Isabella, sister of St. Louis; remarks on the breviaries of Mans and Paris; a legend for the breviary of Evreux, and the history of the Sicilian kings of the house of Anjou.

His brother Peter Le Nain de Tillemont was born March 25. 1640, at Paris. Having chosen the ecclesiastical profession, he entered at St. Victor at Paris, but returned to la Trappe in 1663, being enamoured of the austerities of thai, order, and was a long time sub-prior. He died there in 1713, aged seventy-three. His works are, “Ks^ui de 1* Histoire de l'ordre de Citeaux,” 9 vols. 12mo; “Home.ios sur Jeremie,” 2 vols. 8vo a French translation of St Dorothens, a father of the Gn-ek church, 8vo “The Life of M. de Ranee, abbot and reformer of la Trappe,” 3 vols. 12mo. This life was revised by the celebrated M. Bossuet, but not published as le Nain wrote it; some satirical strokes being inserted, of which the author was incapable. “Relation fie la vie et de la mort de plusieurs Religieux de la I rappe,” 6 vols. 12mo; “Elevations a Dieu pour se ureparer a la Mort” two small tracts, one entitled, “De I‘e’tat du monde apre*s le Jugement dernier; 11 the other,” Sur le Scandale qui put arriver m&me dans le Monast. le mieux regies/‘ &c. These works, says L’Avocat, contain a spirit of true piety, but little criticism, and their style is too diffuse. The author’s life has been written by M. Darnaudin, in 12mo.

, archbishop of Canterbury, wag descended of a family anciently of the name of Tilston, of Tilston in Cheshire, and born at Sowerby in Yorkshire, in Oct. 1630. His father, Mr. Robert Tillotson, wasaconsiderable clothier there, a man of good understanding, and uncommon knowledge of the Scriptures; but so zealously attached to the system of Calvin, as not to be moderated by the reasonings of his son, whom he lived to see dean of Canterbury. He gave his son, however, a liberal education, vv, o,;fu-r passing through a school, was sent in 1647 to Onn. bridge, being then seventeen; and admitted a penftiooer oi C'are-hall. He took his bachelor of arts degree in 1650, and his master’s in 1654, having been chosen fellow of his college in 1651.

His first education and impressions were among Puritans; from whose principles he gradually seceded, and is said to have felt a great repugnance to read the works usually put into the hands of youth. Mr. Chillingworth’s works are said to have first given his mind a new bias, and dire. -ted Dim to a new method of study, and about the same time he entered into friendship with some great men, which contributed not a little to give him new views of theological matters. Cambridge then could boast of the celebrated names of Dr Cudworth, master of Christ’s-colle^e; Dr. More, and Dr. Rust, afterwards bishop of Dromore in Ireland, fellows of the same Dr. Whichcot, provost of King’s; Dr. Worthington, master of Jesus and Mr. John Smith, author of the “Select Discourses,” fellow of Queen’s. Tillotson enjoyed also a close and intimate friendship with Dr. Wilkins, afterwards bishop of Chester; he adopted all the best studies of this great man, but so as to perfect every one of them; for, though Wilkins had more general knowledge, yet Tillotson was the greater divine.