SWINBURNE, ALGERNON CHARLES (1837-1909).—Poet,s.of Admiral S. and of Lady Jane Ashburnham,dau.of the 3rd Earl of A.,b.in London, received his early education in France, and was at Eton and at Balliol Coll., Oxf., where he attracted the attention of Jowett, and gave himself to the study of Latin, Greek, French, and Italian, with special reference to poetic form. He left Oxf. without graduating in 1860, and in the next yearpub.two plays,The Queen MotherandRosamund, which made no impression on the public, though a few good judges recognised their promise. The same year he visited Italy, and there made the acquaintance ofWalter Savage Landor(q.v.). On his return he livedfor some time in Cheyne Row, Chelsea, withD.G. Rossetti(q.v.), andG. Meredith(q.v.). The appearance in 1865 ofAtalanta in Calydonled to his immediate recognition as a poet of the first order, and in the same year hepub.Chastelard, a Tragedy, the first part of a trilogy relating to Mary Queen of Scots, the other two beingBothwell(1874), andMary Stuart(1881).Poems and Ballads,pub.in 1866, created a profound sensation alike among the critics and the general body of readers by its daring departure from recognised standards, alike of politics and morality, and gave rise to a prolonged and bitter controversy, S. defending himself against his assailants inNotes on Poems and Reviews. His next works were theSong of Italy(1867) andSongs before Sunrise(1871). Returning to the Greek models which he had followed with such brilliant success inAtalantahe producedErechtheus(1876), the extraordinary metrical power of which won general admiration.Poems and Ballads, second series, came out in 1878.Tristram of Lyonnessein heroic couplets followed in 1882,A Midsummer Holiday(1884),Marino Faliero(1885),Locrine(1887),Poems and Ballads, third series (1889),The Sisters(1892),Astrophel(1894),The Tale of Balen(1896),Rosamund, Queen of the Lombards(1899),A Channel Passage(1904), andThe Duke of Gandia(1908). Among his prose works areLove's Cross Currents(1905) (fiction),William Blake, a Critical Essay(1867),Under the Microscope(1872), in answer to R. Buchanan'sFleshly School of Poetry,George Chapman, a Critical Essay(1875),A Study of Shakespeare(1879),A Study of Victor Hugo(1886), andA Study of Ben Jonson(1889).
S. belongs to the class of "Poets' poets." He never became widely popular. As a master of metre he is hardly excelled by any of our poets, but it has not seldom been questioned whether his marvellous sense of the beauty of words and their arrangement did not exceed the depth and mass of his thought.The Hymn to ArtemisinAtalantabeginning "When the hounds of Spring are on Winter's traces" is certainly one of the most splendid examples of metrical power in the language. As a prose writer he occupies a much lower place, and here the contrast between the thought and its expression becomes very marked, the latter often becoming turgid and even violent. In his earlier days in London S. was closely associated with the pre-Raphaelites, the Rossettis, Meredith, and Burne-Jones: he was thus subjected successively to the classical and romantic influence, and showed the traces of both in his work. He was neverm., and for the last 30 years of his life lived with his friend, Mr. Theodore Watts-Dunton, at the Pines, Putney Hill. For some time before his death he was almost totally deaf.
SYLVESTER, JOSHUA (1563-1618).—Poet and translator, is chiefly remembered by his translation from the French of Du Bartas'Divine Weeks and Works, which is said to have influenced Milton and Shakespeare. He seconded theCounterblast against Tobaccoof James I. with hisTobacco Battered and the Pipes Shattered ... by a Volley of Holy Shot thundered from Mount Helicon(1620), and also wroteAll not Gold that Glitters,Panthea: Divine Wishes and Meditations(1630), and many religious, complimentary, and other occasional pieces. S., who was originally engaged in commerce, acted later as a sort of factor to the Earl of Essex.
SYMONDS, JOHN ADDINGTON (1840-1893).—Writer on art and literature,s.of a physician in Bristol, wased.at Harrow and Oxf. His delicate health obliged him to live abroad. Hepub.(1875-86)History of the Italian Renaissance, and translated theAutobiography of Benvenuto Cellini. He alsopub.some books of poetry, includingMany Moods(1878) andAnimi Figura(1882), and among his other publications wereIntroduction to the Study of Dante(1872),Studies of the Greek Poets(1873 and 1876),Shakespeare's Predecessors in the English Drama(1884), and Lives of various poets, including Ben Jonson, Shelley, and Walt Whitman. He also made remarkable translations of the sonnets of Michelangelo and Campanella, and wrote upon philosophical subjects in various periodicals.
SYNGE, JOHN MILLINGTON (1871-1909).—Miscellaneous writer,b.near Dublin,ed.privately and at Trinity Coll., Dublin. He wroteRiders to the Sea,In the Shadow of the Glen(1905),The Well of the Saints(1905),The Play Boy of the Western World(1907), andThe Aran Islands(1907).
TABLEY DE, JOHN BYRON LEICESTER WARREN, 3RD LORD (1835-1895).—Poet, eldests.of the 2nd Lord,ed.at Eton and Oxf., was for a time attached to the British Embassy at Constantinople. He wrote poems of a very high order, some of thempub.under thepseudonymsof "George F. Preston" and "William Lancaster." They includeBallads and Metrical Sketches,The Threshold of Atrides,Glimpses of Antiquity, etc. These were followed by two dramas,Philoctetes(1866) andOrestes(1868). Later works in his own name wereRehearsals(1870),Searching the Net(1873),The Soldier's Fortune, a tragedy.Poems, Dramatic and Lyrical(1893) included selections from former works. After his death appearedOrpheus in Thrace(1901). He was a man of sensitive temperament, and was latterly much of a recluse. He was an accomplished botanist, andpub.a work on theFlora of Cheshire.
TALFOURD, SIR THOMAS NOON (1795-1854).—Poet and biographer,s.of a brewer at Reading, where he wasb., and which he represented in Parliament, 1835-41, wased.at Mill Hill School. He studied law, was called to the Bar in 1821, and became a Judge in 1849. Hed.suddenly of apoplexy while charging the Grand Jury at Stafford. He wrote much for reviews, and in 1835 producedIon, a tragedy, followed byThe Athenian Captive(1838), andThe Massacre of Glencoe, all of which were acted with success. T. was the friend and literary executor ofCharles Lamb(q.v.), andpub.in two sections hisMemoirs and Letters. In 1837 he introduced the Copyright Bill, which was passed with modifications in 1842.
TANNAHILL, ROBERT (1774-1810).—Poet,b.in Paisley where he was a weaver. In 1807 hepub.a small vol. of poems and songs, which met with success, and carried his hitherto local fame over his native country. Always delicate and sensitive, a disappointment in regard to the publication of an enlarged ed. of his poems so wrought upon a lowness of spirits, to which he was subject, that he drowned himself in a canal. His longer pieces are now forgotten, but some of his songs have achieved a popularity only second to thatof some of Burns's best. Among these areThe Braes of Balquhidder,Gloomy Winter's now awa'andThe Bonnie Wood o' Craigielea.
TATE, NAHUM (1652-1715).—Poet,s.of a clergyman in Dublin, wased.at Trinity Coll. there. Hepub.Poems on Several Occasions(1677),Panacea, or a Poem on Tea, and, in collaboration with Dryden, the second part ofAbsalom and Achitophel. He also adapted Shakespeare'sRichard II.andLear, making what he considered improvements. Thus inLearCordelia is made to survive herf., and marry Edgar. This desecration, which was defended by Dr. Johnson, kept the stage till well on in the 19th century. He also wrote various miscellaneous poems, now happily forgotten. He is best remembered as the Tate of Tate and Brady's metrical version of the Psalms,pub.in 1696. T., who succeeded Shadwell as Poet Laureate in 1690, figures inThe Dunciad. NICHOLAS BRADY (1659-1726).—Tate's fellow-versifier of the Psalms,b.at Bandon, anded.at Westminster and Oxf., was incumbent of Stratford-on-Avon. He wrote a tragedy,The Rape, a blank verse translation of theÆneid, anOde, and sermons, now all forgotten.
TATHAM, JOHN (fl.1632-1664).—Dramatist. Little is known of him. He produced pageants for the Lord Mayor's show and some dramas,Love Crowns the End,The Distracted State,The Scots Figgaries, or a Knot of Knaves,The Rump, etc. He was a Cavalier, who hated the Puritans and the Scotch, and invented a dialect which he believed to be their vernacular tongue.
TAUTPHOEUS, BARONESS (MONTGOMERY) (1807-1893).—Dau.of an Irish gentleman,m.the Baron T., Chamberlain at the Court of Bavaria. She wrote several novels dealing with German life of which the first,The Initials(1850), is perhaps the best. Others wereCyrilla(1883),Quits(1857), andAt Odds(1863).
TAYLOR, BAYARD (1825-1878).—Poet,b.in Pennsylvania of Quaker descent, began to write by the time he was 12. Apprenticed to a printer, he found the work uncongenial and, purchasing his indentures, went to Europe on a walking tour, and thereafter he was a constant and enterprising traveller. After his return from Europe he ed. a paper, got on the staff of theNew York Tribune, andpub.several books of travel and poetry, among which areViews Afoot(1846), an account of his travels in Europe, andEl Dorado(1850), which described the Californian gold-fields. After some experience and some disappointments in the diplomatic sphere, he settled down to novel-writing, his first venture in which,Hannah Thurston(1863), was very successful, and was followed byJohn Godfrey's Fortunes(1864), partly autobiographical, andThe Story of Kenneth(1866). His poetic works includePoems of the Orient(1854),Poet's Journal(1862),Masque of the Gods(1872),Lars(1873),The Prophet(1874), a tragedy,Prince Deucalion, andHome Pastorals(1875). In 1878 he was appointed to the German Embassy, andd.in Berlin in the following year. His translation of Goethe'sFaustis perhaps his best work. He was a man of untiring energy and great ability and versatility, but tried too many avenues to fame to advance very far in any of them.
TAYLOR, SIR HENRY (1800-1886).—Dramatist,s.of a gentleman farmer in the county of Durham. After being at sea for some months and in the Naval Stores Department, he became a clerk in the Colonial Office, and remained there for 48 years, during which he exercised considerable influence on the colonial policy of the Empire. In 1872 he was made K.C.M.G. He wrote four tragedies—Isaac Comnenus(1827),Philip van Artevelde(1834),Edwin the Fair(1842), andSt. Clement's Eve(1862); also a romantic comedy,The Virgin Widow, which he renamedA Sicilian Summer,The Eve of the Conquest and other Poems(1847). In prose hepub. The Statesman(1836),Notes from Life(1847),Notes from Books(1849), and anAutobiography. Of all thesePhilip van Arteveldewas perhaps the most successful. T. was a man of great ability and distinction, but his dramas, with many of the qualities of good poetry, lack the final touch of genius.
TAYLOR, ISAAC (1787-1865).—Philosophical and historical writer, artist, and inventor, was the most eminent member of a family known as the Taylors of Ongar, which has shown a remarkable persistence of ability in various departments, but especially in art and literature. His grandfather andf., who bore the same name, were both eminent engravers, and the latter was the author of various books for children. T. was brought up to the hereditary art of engraving, in which he displayed pre-eminent skill, his work gaining the admiration of D.G. Rossetti. He decided, however, to devote himself to literature, and for 40 years continued to produce works of originality and value, includingElements of Thought(1823),Natural History of Enthusiasm(1829),Spiritual Despotism(1831),Ancient Christianity(1839),Restoration of Belief(1855),The Physical Theory of Another Life,History of Transmission of Ancient Books, andHome Education, besides numerous contributions to reviews and other periodicals. Besides his literary and artistic accomplishments T. was an important inventor, two of his inventions having done much to develop the manufacture of calico. Two of his sisters had considerable literary reputation. ANN T., afterwards MRS. GILBERT (1782-1866), and JANE (1783-1824) were, like their brother, taught the art of engraving. In 1804-5 they jointly wroteOriginal Poems for Infant Minds, followed byRhymes for the NurseryandHymns for Infant Minds. Among those are the little poems, "My Mother" and "Twinkle, twinkle, little Star," known to all well-conditioned children. Jane was also the author ofDisplay, a tale (1815), and other works, including several hymns, of which the best known is "Lord, I would own Thy tender Care." The hereditary talents of the family were represented in the next generation by CANON ISAAC T. (1829-1901), thes.of Isaac last mentioned, who, in addition toThe Liturgy and the Dissenters,pub.works in philology and archæology, includingWords and PlacesandEtruscan Researches; and by JOSIAH GILBERT,s.of Ann T., an accomplished artist, and author ofThe Dolomite Mountains,Cadore, or Titian's Country, and ed. of theAutobiographyof his mother.
TAYLOR, JEREMY (1613-1667).—Divine, wasb.at Camb. Hisf., though of gentle descent, followed the trade of a barber, andJeremy entered Caius Coll. as a sizar. After his graduation in 1634 he was asked to preach in London, where his eloquence attracted the attention of Laud, who sent him to Oxf., caused him to be elected a Fellow of All Souls Coll., and made him his chaplain. He also became a chaplain to the King, and soon attaining a great reputation as a preacher, was presented to the living of Uppingham. In 1639 hem.his first wife, and in 1643 he was made Rector of Overstone. On the outbreak of the Civil War T. sided with the King, and was present, probably as a chaplain, at the battle fought in 1645 near Cardigan Castle, when he was taken prisoner. He was soon released, but the Royalist cause being practically lost, he decided to remain in Wales, and with two friends started a school at Newtonhall, Caermarthenshire, which had some success. T. also found a friend in Lord Carbery, whose chaplain he became. During the period of 13 years from 1647-60, which were passed in seeming obscurity, he laid the foundations and raised the structure of his splendid literary fame. TheLiberty of Prophesying(that is, of preaching), one of the greatest pleas for toleration in the language, waspub.in 1647,The Life of Christin 1649,Holy Livingin 1650, andHoly Dyingin 1651. These were followed by various series of sermons, and byThe Golden Grove(1655), a manual of devotion which received its title from the name of the seat of his friend Lord Carbery. For some remarks against the existing authorities T. suffered a short imprisonment, and some controversial tracts onOriginal Sin,Unum Necessarium(the one thing needful), andThe Doctrine and Practice of Repentanceinvolved him in a controversy of some warmth in which he was attacked by both High Churchmen and Calvinists. While in Wales T. had entered into a second marriage with a lady of some property which, however, was seriously encroached upon by the exactions of the Parliamentarians. In 1657 he ministered privately to an Episcopalian congregation in London, and in 1658 accompanied Lord Conway to Ireland, and served a cure at Lisburn. Two years later hepub.Ductor Dubitantium, or the Rule of Conscience in all her General Measures, a learned and subtle piece of casuistry which he dedicated to Charles II. The Restoration brought recognition of T.'s unswerving devotion to the Royalist cause; he was made Bishop of Down and Connor, and to this was added the administration of the see of Dromore. In his new position, though, as might have been expected, he showed zeal, diligence, and benevolence, he was not happy. He did not, probably could not, entirely practise his own views of absolute toleration, and found himself in conflict with the Presbyterians, some of whose ministers he had extruded from benefices which they had held, and he longed to escape to a more private and peaceful position. Hed.at Lisburn of a fever caught while ministering to a parishioner. T. is one of the great classical writers of England. Learned, original, and impassioned, he had an enthusiasm for religion and charity, and his writings glow with an almost unequalled wealth of illustration and imagery, subtle argument, and fullness of thought. With a character of stainless purity and benevolence, and gracious and gentle manners, he was universally beloved by all who came under the spell of his presence.
TAYLOR, JOHN (1580-1653).—Known as the "Water Poet,"b.at Gloucester of humble parentage, was apprenticed to a London waterman, and pressed for the navy. Thereafter he returned to London and resumed his occupation on the Thames, afterwards keeping inns first at Oxf., then in London. He had a talent for writing rollicking verses, enjoyed the acquaintance of Ben Jonson, and other famous men, superintended the water pageant at the marriage of the Princess Elizabeth 1613, and composed the "triumphs" at the Lord Mayor's shows. He made a journey on foot from London as far as to Braemar, of which he wrote an account,The Pennyless Pilgrimage ... of John Taylor,the King's Majesty's Water Poet(1618). He visited the Queen of Bohemia at Prague in 1620, and made other journeys, each of which was commemorated in a book. His writings are of little literary value, but have considerable historical and antiquarian interest.
TAYLOR, PHILIP MEADOWS (1808-1876).—Novelist,b.at Liverpool,s.of a merchant there. When still a boy went out to a mercantile situation in Calcutta, but in 1826 got a commission in the army of the Nizam of Hyderabad. From this he rose to a high civil position in the service of the Nizam, and entirely reorganised his government. He wrote several striking novels dealing with Indian life, includingConfessions of a Thug(1639),Tara, andA Noble Queen. He left an autobiography,The Story of my Life, ed. by hisdau.
TAYLOR, THOMAS (1758-1835).—Translator,b.in London anded.at St. Paul's School, devoted himself to the study of the classics and of mathematics. After being a bank clerk he was appointed Assistant Secretary to the Society for the encouragement of Arts, etc., in which capacity he made many influential friends, who furnished the means for publishing his various translations, which include works of Plato, Aristotle, Proclus, Porphyry, Apuleius, etc. His aim indeed was the translation of all the untranslated writings of the ancient Greek philosophers.
TAYLOR, TOM (1817-1880).—Dramatist,b.at Sunderland,ed.at Glasgow and Camb., and was Prof. of English Literature in London Univ. from 1845-47. In 1846 he was called to the Bar, and from 1854-71 he was Sec. to the Local Government Board. He was the author of about 100 dramatic pieces, original and adapted, includingStill Waters run Deep,The Overland Route, andJoan of Arc. He was likewise a large contributor toPunch, of which he was ed. 1874-80, and he ed. the autobiographies of Haydon and Leslie, the painters, and wroteLife and Times of Sir Joshua Reynolds.
TAYLOR, WILLIAM (1765-1836).—Translator, etc.,s.of a merchant, travelled on the Continent, learned German, and became an enthusiastic student of German literature, which he was one of the first to introduce to his fellow-countrymen. His articles on the subject werecoll.andpub.asHistoric Survey of German Poetry(1828-30). He translated Bürger'sLenore, Lessing'sNathan, and Goethe'sIphigenia. He also wroteTales of Yore(1810) andEnglish Synonyms Described(1813).
TEMPLE, SIR WILLIAM (1628-1699).—Statesman and essayist,s.of Sir John T., Master of the Rolls in Ireland, wasb.in London, anded.at Camb. He travelled on the Continent, was for some time a member of the Irish Parliament, employed on various diplomatic missions, and negotiated the marriage of the Prince of Orange and the Princess Mary. On his return he was much consulted by Charles II., but disapproving of the courses adopted, retired to his house at Sheen, which he afterwards left and purchased Moor Park, where Swift was for a time his sec. He took no part in the Revolution, but acquiesced in the newrégime, and was offered, but refused, the Secretaryship of State. His works consist for the most part of short essayscoll.under the title ofMiscellanea, but longer pieces areObservations upon the United Provinces, andEssay on the Original and Nature of Government. Apart from their immediate interest they mark a transition to the simpler, more concise, and more carefully arranged sentences of modern composition.
TENNANT, WILLIAM (1784-1848).—Poet and scholar, a cripple from his birth, wasb.at Anstruther (commonly called Anster) in Fife. As a youth he was clerk to his brother, a corn-merchant, but devoted his leisure to the study of languages, and the literature of various countries. In 1813 he became parish schoolmaster of Lasswade, near Edinburgh, thereafter classical master at Dollar Academy, and in 1835 Prof. of Oriental Languages at St. Andrews. In 1812 hepub.Anster Fair, a mock-heroic poem, inottava rima, full of fancy and humour, which at once brought him reputation. In later life he produced two tragedies,Cardinal BeatonandJohn Baliol, and two poems,The Thane of FifeandPapistry Stormed. He also issued aSyriac and Chaldee Grammar.
TENNYSON, ALFRED, 1ST LORD (1809-1892).—Poet, was the fourths.of George T., Rector of Somersby, Lincolnshire, where he wasb.Hisf.was himself a poet of some skill, and his two elder brothers,Frederick T.(q.v.) andCharles T. Turner(q.v.), were poets of a high order. His early education was received from hisf., after which he went to the Grammar School of Louth, whence in 1828 he proceeded to Trinity Coll., Camb. In the previous year had appeared a small vol.,Poems by Two Brothers, chiefly the work of his brother Charles and himself, with a few contributions from Frederick, but it attracted little attention. At the Univ. he was one of a group of highly gifted men, includingTrench(q.v.), Monckton Milnes, afterwardsLord Houghton(q.v.),Alford(q.v.), Lushington, his future brother-in-law, and above all, Arthur Hallam, whose friendship and early death were to be the inspiration of his greatest poem. In 1829 he won the Chancellor's medal by a poem onTimbuctoo, and in the following year he brought out his first independent work,Poems chiefly Lyrical. It was not in general very favourably received by the critics, though Wilson inBlackwood's Magazineadmitted much promise and even performance. In America it had greater popularity. Part of 1832 was spent in travel with Hallam, and the same year saw the publication ofPoems, which had not much greater success than its predecessor. In the next year Hallamd., and T. beganIn Memoriamand wroteThe Two Voices. He also becameengaged to Emily Sellwood, his future wife, but owing to various circumstances their marriage did not take place until 1850. The next few years were passed with his family at various places, and, so far as the public were concerned, he remained silent until 1842, when hepub.Poemsin two volumes, and at last achieved full recognition as a great poet. From this time the life of T. is a record of tranquil triumph in his art and of the conquest of fame; and the publication of his successive works became almost the only events which mark his history.The Princessappearing in 1847 added materially to his reputation: in the lyrics with which it is interspersed, such as "The Splendour Falls" and "Tears, idle Tears" he rises to the full mastery of this branch of his art. The year 1850 was perhaps the most eventful in his life, for in it took place his marriage which, as he said, "brought the peace of God into his life," his succession to the Laureateship on the death of Wordsworth, and the publication of his greatest poem,In Memoriam. In 1852 appeared his nobleOde on the Death of the Duke of Wellington; and two years laterThe Charge of the Light Brigade. The publication ofMaudin 1855 gave his rapidly growing popularity a perceptible set-back, though it has since risen in favour. But this was far more than made up for by the enthusiasm with which the first set ofThe Idylls of the Kingwas received on its appearance four years later.Enoch Arden, with theNorthern Farmer, came out in 1864;The Holy GrailandGareth and Lynette, both belonging to theIdyllseries, in 1869 and 1872 respectively. Three years later in 1875 T. broke new ground by beginning a series of dramas withQueen Mary, followed byHarold(1876),The Falcon(1879),The Cup(1881),The Promise of May(1882),Becket(1884), andRobin Hood(1891). His later poems wereThe Lovers' Tale(1879) (an early work retouched),Tiresias(1885),Locksley Hall—60 Years after(1886),Demeter and other Poems(1889), including "Crossing the Bar," andThe Death of Œnone(1892). T., who cared little for general society, though he had many intimate and devoted friends, lived at Farringford, Isle of Wight, from 1853-69, when he built a house at Aldworth, near Haslemere, which was his home until his death. In 1884 he was raised to the peerage. Until he had passed the threescore years and ten he had, with occasional illnesses, enjoyed good health on the whole. But in 1886 the younger of his two sonsd., a blow which told heavily upon him; thereafter frequent attacks of illness followed, and hed.on October 6, 1892, in his 84th year, and received a public funeral in Westminster Abbey.
The poetry of T. is characterised by a wide outlook, by intense sympathy with the deepest feelings and aspirations of humanity, a profound realisation of the problems of life and thought, a noble patriotism finding utterance in such poems asThe Revenge, theCharge of the Light Brigade, and theOde on the Death of the Duke of Wellington, an exquisite sense of beauty, marvellous power of vivid and minute description often achieved by a single felicitous phrase, and often heightened by the perfect matching of sense and sound, and a general loftiness and purity of tone. No poet has excelled him in precision and delicacy of language and completeness of expression. As a lyrist he has, perhaps, no superiors, and only two or three equals in English poetry, and even of humour he possessed no small share, as is shown in theNorthern Farmerand in otherpieces. When the volume, variety, finish, and duration of his work are considered, as well as the influence which he exercised on his time, a unique place must be assigned him among the poets of his country.
SUMMARY.—B.1809,ed.Camb.,Poems by Two Brothers1827,Poems chiefly Lyrical1830, his chief worksPoems in two Volumes1842,Princess1847,In Memoriam1850,Maud1855,Idylls of the King1869-72, Poet Laureate 1850,d.1892.
Lifeby hiss.(2 vols., 1897). There are also numerous books, biographical and critical, by, among others, W.E. Wace (1881), A.C. Benson, A. Lang, F. Harrison, Sir A. Lyell, C.F.G. Masterman (T. as a Religious Teacher), Stopford Brooke, Waugh, etc.
TENNYSON, FREDERICK (1807-1898).—Poet, was the eldests.of the Rector of Somersby, Lincolnshire, and brother ofAlfred T.(q.v.).Ed.at Eton and Camb., he passed most of his life in Italy and Jersey. He contributed to thePoems by Two Brothers, and producedDays and Hours(lyrics) (1854),The Isles of Greece(1890),Daphne(1891), andPoems of the Day and Night(1895). All his works show passages of genuine poetic power.
TENNYSON TURNER, CHARLES (1808-1879).—Poet, elder brother ofAlfred T.(q.v.),ed.at Camb., entered the Church, and became Vicar of Grasby, Lincolnshire. The name of Turner he assumed in conformity with the will of a relation. He contributed toPoems by Two Brothers, and was the author of 340 sonnets, which were greatly admired by such critics as Coleridge, Palgrave, and his brother Alfred.
THACKERAY, WILLIAM MAKEPEACE (1811-1863).—Novelist,s.of Richmond T., who held various important appointments in the service of the East India Company, and who belonged to an old and respectable Yorkshire family, wasb.at Calcutta, and soon after the death of hisf., which took place in 1816, sent home to England. After being at a school at Chiswick, he was sent to the Charterhouse School, where he remained from 1822-26, and where he does not appear to have been very happy. Meanwhile in 1818 his mother hadm.Major H.W.C. Smythe, who is believed to be, in part at any rate, the original of Colonel Newcome. In 1829 he went to Trinity Coll., Camb., where he remained for a year only, and where he did not distinguish himself particularly as a student, but made many life-long friends, includingSpedding(q.v.),Tennyson,Fitzgerald(q.v.), and Monckton Milnes (seeHoughton), and contributed verses and caricatures to two Univ. papers, "The Snob" and "The Gownsman." The following year, 1831, was spent chiefly in travelling on the Continent, especially Germany, when, at Weimar, he visited Goethe. Returning he entered the Middle Temple, but having no liking for legal studies, he soon abandoned them, and turning his attention to journalism, became proprietor, wholly or in part, of two papers successively, both of which failed. These enterprises, together with some unfortunate investments and also, it would seem, play, stripped him of the comfortable fortune, which he had inherited; and he now found himself dependent on his own exertions for a living. He thought at first of art as aprofession, and studied for a time at Paris and Rome. In 1836, while acting as Paris correspondent for the second of his journals, hem.Isabella,dau.of Colonel Shawe, an Irish officer, and the next year he returned to England and became a contributor toFraser's Magazine, in which appearedThe Yellowplush Papers,The Great Hoggarty Diamond,Catherine, andBarry Lyndon, the history of an Irish sharper, which contains some of his best work. Other works of this period wereThe Paris Sketch-book(1840) andThe Irish Sketch-book(1843). His work inFraser, while it was appreciated at its true worth by a select circle, had not brought him any very wide recognition: it was his contributions toPunch—theBook of SnobsandJeames's Diary—which first caught the ear of the wider public. The turning point in his career, however, was the publication in monthly numbers ofVanity Fair(1847-48). This extraordinary work gave him at once a place beside Fielding at the head of English novelists, and left him no living competitor except Dickens.Pendennis, largely autobiographical, followed in 1848-50, and fully maintained his reputation. In 1851 he broke new ground, and appeared, with great success, as a lecturer, taking for his subjectThe English Humourists of the Eighteenth Century, following this up in 1855 with theFour Georges, first delivered in America. MeanwhileEsmond, perhaps his masterpiece, and probably the greatest novel of its kind in existence, had appeared in 1852, andThe Newcomes(1853),The Virginians, a sequel toEsmond, which, though containing much fine work, is generally considered to show a falling off as compared with its two immediate predecessors, came out in 1857-59. In 1860 theCornhill Magazinewas started with T. for its ed., and to it he contributedLovell the Widower(1860),The Adventures of Philip(1861-62),The Roundabout Papers, a series of charming essays, andDenis Duval, left a mere fragment by his sudden death, but which gave promise of a return to his highest level of performance. In addition to the works mentioned, T. for some years produced Christmas books and burlesques, of which the best wereThe Rose and the RingandThe Kickleburys on the Rhine. He also wrote graceful verses, some of which, likeBouillabaisse, are in a strain of humour shot through with pathos, while others are the purest rollicking fun. For some years T. suffered from spasms of the heart, and hed.suddenly during the night of December 23, 1863, in his 53rd year. He was a man of the tenderest heart, and had an intense enjoyment of domestic happiness; and the interruption of this, caused by the permanent breakdown of his wife's health, was a heavy calamity. This, along with his own latterly broken health, and a sensitiveness which made him keenly alive to criticism, doubtless fostered the tendency to what was often superficially called his cynical view of life. He possessed an inimitable irony and a power of sarcasm which could scorch like lightning, but the latter is almost invariably directed against what is base and hateful. To human weakness he is lenient and often tender, and even when weakness passes into wickedness, he is just and compassionate. He saw human nature "steadily and saw it whole," and paints it with a light but sure hand. He was master of a style of great distinction and individuality, and ranks as one of the very greatest of English novelists.
SUMMARY.—B.1811,ed.at Charterhouse and Camb., after trying law turned to journalism, in which he lost his fortune, studied art at Paris and Rome, wrote forFraser's MagazineandPunch,Barry Lyndon,Book of Snobs, andJeames's Diary,pub.Vanity Fair1847-8,Pendennis(1848-50), lectured onHumourists1851, and onFour Georgesin America 1855,pub.Esmond1852,Newcomes1853,Virginians1857-59, ed.Cornhill Magazine1860, his last great work,Denis Duval, left unfinished,d.1863.
Livesby Merivale and Marzials (Great Writers), A. Trollope (English Men of Letters), Whibley (Modern English Writers). Article inDictionary of National Biographyby Leslie Stephen.
THEOBALD, LEWIS (1688-1744).—Editor of Shakespeare, and translator, originally an attorney, betook himself to literature, translated from Plato, the Greek dramatists, and Homer, and wrote also essays, biographies, and poems. In 1715 hepub.Shakespeare Restored, etc., in which he severely criticised Pope's ed., and was in consequence rewarded with the first place inThe Dunciad, and the adoption of most of his corrections in Pope's next ed. Though a poor poet, he was an acute and discriminating critic, made brilliant emendations on some of the classics, and produced in 1734 an ed. of Shakespeare which gave him a high place among his ed.
THIRWALL, CONNOP (1797-1875).—Historian, wasb.at Stepney, thes.of a clergyman, anded.at the Charterhouse and Camb. He studied law, was called to the Bar in 1825, and in the same yearpub.a translation of Schleiermacher'sCritical Essay on the Gospel of St. Luke. After this, having changed his mind, he took orders in 1827, and the next year translated, withJulius Hare(q.v.), the first vol. of Niebuhr'sHistory of Rome, andpub., also with him,The Philological Museum(1831-33). He was an advocate for the admission of Dissenters to degrees, and in consequence of his action in the matter had to resign his Univ. tutorship. Thereupon Lord Brougham, then Lord Chancellor, presented him to the living of Kirkby Underdale. Between 1835 and 1847 he wrote his greatHistory of Greece, which has a place among historical classics. In 1840 he was made Bishop of St. David's, in which capacity he showed unusual energy in administering his see. The eleven charges which he delivered during his tenure of the see were pronouncements of exceptional weight upon the leading questions of the time affecting the Church. As a Broad Churchman T. was regarded with suspicion by both High and Low Churchmen, and in the House of Lords generally supported liberal movements such as the admission of Jews to Parliament. He was the only Bishop who was in favour of the disestablishment of the Irish Church.
THOMS, WILLIAM JOHN (1803-1885).—Antiquary and miscellaneous writer, for many years a clerk in the secretary's office of Chelsea Hospital, was in 1845 appointed Clerk, and subsequently Deputy Librarian to the House of Lords. He was the founder in 1849 ofNotes and Queries, which for some years he also ed. Among his publications areEarly Prose Romances(1827-28),Lays and Legends(1834),The Book of the Court(1838),Gammer Gurton's FamousHistories(1846),Gammer Gurton's Pleasant Stories(1848). He alsoed.Stow'sLondon, and was sec. of the Camden Society. He introduced the word "folk-lore" into the language.
THOMSON, JAMES (1700-1748).—Poet,s.of the minister of Ednam, Roxburghshire, spent most of his youth, however, at Southdean, a neighbouring parish, to which hisf.was translated. He wased.at the parish school there, at Jedburgh, and at Edin., whither he went with the view of studying for the ministry. The style of one of his earliest sermons having been objected to by the Prof. of Divinity as being too flowery and imaginative, he gave up his clerical views and went to London in 1725, taking with him a part of what ultimately became his poem ofWinter. By the influence of his friend Mallet he became tutor to Lord Binning,s.of the Earl of Haddington, and was introduced to Pope, Arbuthnot, Gay, and others.Winterwaspub.in 1726, and was followed bySummer(1727),Spring(1728), andAutumn(1730), when the whole were brought together asThe Seasons. Previous to 1730 he had produced one or two minor poems and the tragedy ofSophonisba, which, after promising some success, was killed by the unfortunate line, "Oh! Sophonisba, Sophonisba, oh!" being parodied as "Oh! Jemmy Thomson, Jemmy Thomson, oh!" In 1731 T. accompanied Charles Talbot,s.of the Lord Chancellor, to the Continent, as tutor, and on his return received the sinecure Secretaryship of Briefs which, however, he lost in 1737, through omitting to apply for its continuance to Talbot's successor. He then returned to the drama and producedAgamemnonin 1738, andEdward and Eleanorain 1739. The same year he received from the Prince of Wales a pension of £100, and was made Surveyor-General of the Leeward Islands which, after providing for a deputy to discharge the duties, left him £300 a year. He was now in comfortable circumstances and settled in a villa near Richmond, where he amused himself with gardening and seeing his friends. In conjunction with Mallet he wrote, in 1740, the masque ofAlfred, in which appearedRule Britannia, which M. afterwards claimed, or allowed to be claimed, for him, but which there is every reason to believe was contributed by T. In 1745 appearedTancred and Sigismunda, the most successful of his dramas, and in 1748Coriolanus. In May of the latter year hepub.The Castle of Indolence, an allegorical poem in the Spenserian stanza, generally considered to be his masterpiece. In August following he caught a chill which developed into a fever, and carried him off in his 48th year. Though T. was undoubtedly a poet by nature, his art was developed by constant and fastidious polishing. ToThe Seasons, originally containing about 4000 lines, he added about 1400 in his various revisions. He was the first to give the description of nature the leading place, and in his treatment of his theme he showed much judgment in the selection of the details to be dwelt upon. His blank verse, though not equal to that of a few other English poets, is musical and wielded in a manner suitable to his subject. In all his poems he displays the genial temper and kindly sympathies by which he was characterised as a man. He was neverm., and lived an easy, indolent life, beloved by his many friends. (See alsoLyttelton, Lord)