THOMSON, JAMES (1834-1882).—Poet,b.at Port Glasgow and brought up in the Royal Caledonian Asylum, was for some years an army teacher, but was dismissed for a breach of discipline. He became associated with Charles Bradlaugh, the free-thought protagonist, who introduced him to the conductors of various secularist publications. His best known poem isThe City of Dreadful Night, deeply pessimistic. Others areVane's StoryandWeddah and Omel-Bonain. His views resulted in depression, which led to dipsomania, and hed.in poverty and misery. His work has a certain gloomy power which renders it distinctly noteworthy.
THOREAU, HENRY DAVID (1817-1862).—Essayist, poet, and naturalist, wasb.at Concord, Massachusetts. Hisf., of French extraction, from Jersey, was a manufacturer of lead-pencils. He wased.at Harvard, where he became a good classical scholar. Subsequently he was a competent Orientalist, and was deeply versed in the history and manners of the Red Indians. No form of regular remunerative employment commending itself to him, he spent the 10 years after leaving coll. in the study of books and nature, for the latter of which he had exceptional qualifications in the acuteness of his senses and his powers of observation. Though not a misanthropist, he appears in general to have preferred solitary communion with nature to human society. "The man I meet," he said, "is seldom so instructive as the silence which he breaks;" and he described himself as "a mystic, a transcendentalist, and a natural philosopher." He made such money as his extremely simple mode of life called for, by building boats or fences, agricultural or garden work, and surveying, anything almost of an outdoor character which did not involve lengthened engagement. In 1837 he began his diaries, records of observation with which in ten years he filled 30 vols. In 1839 he made the excursion the record of which he in 1845pub.asA Week on the Concord and Merrimac Rivers. Two years later, in 1841, he began a residence in the household of Emerson, which lasted for two years, when he assisted in conducting theDial, and in 1845, after some teaching in New York, he retired to a hut near the solitary Walden Pond to write hisWeek on the Concord, etc. Later works wereWalden(1854), andThe Maine Woods(1864), andCape Cod(1865), accounts of excursions and observations, bothpub.after his death. T. was an enthusiast in the anti-slavery cause, the triumph of which, however, he did not live to see, as hed.on May 6, 1862, when the war was still in its earlier stages. The deliberate aim of T. was to live a life as nearly approaching naturalness as possible; and to this end he passed his time largely in solitude and in the open air. As he says, "I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach." To his great powers of observation he added great powers of reflection, and two of the most characteristic features of his writings are immediateness and individuality in his descriptions of nature, and a remarkable power of giving permanent and clear form to the most subtle and evanescent mental impressions.
TICKELL, THOMAS (1686-1740).—Poet,b.at Bridekirk Vicarage, Cumberland, anded.at Oxf. became the friend ofJoseph Addison(q.v.), contributed to theSpectatorandGuardian, and accompanied him when he went to Ireland as sec. to the Lord Lieutenant. His translation of the first book of theIliadcame out at the same time as Pope's, and led to a quarrel between the latter and Addison, Pope imagining that the publication was a plot to interfere with the success of his work. On Addison becoming Sec. of State in 1717 he appointed T. Under-Sec. Among the writings of T. are the well-known ballad,Colin and Lucy,Kensington Gardens, a poem, and anElegyon the death of Addison, of which Macaulay says that it "would do honour to the greatest name in our literature." In 1725 he became sec. to the Lords Justices of Ireland, and retained the post until his death.
TICKNOR, GEORGE (1791-1871).—Historian and biographer,s.of a rich man, wasb.at Boston, Mass., anded.for the law. He, however, gave himself to study and writing, and also travelled much. After being a Prof. at Harvard, 1819-35, he went in the latter year to Europe, where he spent some years collecting materials for hismagnum opus,The History of Spanish Literature(1849). He also wrote Lives of Lafayette and Prescott, the historian. HisLetters and Journalswerepub.in 1876, and are the most interesting of his writings.
TIGHE, MARY (BLACKFORD) (1772-1810).—Poet,dau.of a clergyman, made an unhappy marriage, though she had beauty and amiable manners, and was highly popular in society. She wrote a good deal of verse; but her chief poem was a translation in Spenserian stanza of the tale ofCupid and Psyche, which won the admiration of such men as Sir J. Mackintosh, Moore, and Keats.
TILLOTSON, JOHN (1630-1694).—Divine,s.of a Presbyterian clothier, wasb.near Halifax, anded.at Camb., where his originally Puritan views became somewhat modified. At the Savoy Conference in 1661 he was still a Presbyterian, but submitted to the Act of Uniformity, and became next year Rector of Keddington, and in 1664 preacher at Lincoln's Inn, where he became very popular. In 1672 he was made Dean of Canterbury. He vainly endeavoured to secure the comprehension of the Nonconformists in the Church. After the Revolution he gained the favour of William III., who made him Clerk of the Closet, and Dean of St. Paul's, and in 1691 he succeeded Sancroft as Archbishop of Canterbury. His sermons, which had extraordinary popularity, give him a place in literature, and he was one of those writers who, by greater simplicity and greater attention to clearness of construction, helped to introduce the modern style of composition.
TIMROD, HENRY (1829-1867).—Poet,b.at Charleston, S. Carolina, of German descent, was ruined by the Civil War, andd.in poverty. He wrote one vol. of poems,pub.1860, which attained wide popularity in the South. He had notable descriptive power.
TOBIN, JOHN (1770-1804).—Dramatist, was for long unsuccessful, but in the year of his death made a hit withThe Honey Moon, which had great success, and maintained its place for many years. Other plays wereThe CurfewandThe School for Authors.
TOLAND, JOHN (1670?-1722).—Deistical writer,b.in Ireland of Roman Catholic parentage, completed his education at Glasgow, Edin., and Leyden. Very early in life he had become a Protestant, and at Leyden he studied theology with the view of becoming a Nonconformist minister, but imbibed Rationalistic views. He then resided for some time at Oxf., and in 1696pub.his first work,Christianity not Mysterious, which was censured by Convocation and gave rise to much controversy. Next year he returned to Ireland, where, however, he was not more popular than in England, and where his book was burned by the common hangman. Returning to England he took to writing political pamphlets, including one,Anglia Libera, in support of the Brunswick succession, which gained him some favour at Hanover, and he was sent on some political business to the German Courts. He then served Harley in Holland and Germany practically as a political spy. His later years were passed in literary drudgery and poverty. Among his numerous writings may be mentionedAccount of Prussia and Hanover,Origines Judaicæ,History of the Druids, and a Life of Milton prefixed to an ed. of his prose works.
TOOKE, JOHN HORNE (1736-1812).—Philologist,s.of a poulterer called Horne, added the name of Tooke in 1782 in anticipation of inheriting from his friend W. Tooke, of Purley. He was at Camb. and took orders, but disliking the clerical profession, travelled abroad. Returning he became prominent as a radical politician, and espoused the cause of Wilkes, with whom, however, he afterwards quarrelled. He also supported the revolted American colonists, and was fined and imprisoned for endeavouring to raise a subscription for them. An effort to be admitted to the Bar was unsuccessful; and in 1786 he published hisDiversions of Purley, a work on philology which brought him great reputation, and which, containing muck that has been proved to be erroneous, showed great learning and acuteness. T. twice endeavoured unsuccessfully to enter Parliament for Westminster, but ultimately sat for the rotten burgh of Old Sarum, making, however, no mark in the House. He was the author of numerous effective political pamphlets.
TOPLADY, AUGUSTUS MONTAGUE (1740-1778).—Hymn-writer,s.of an officer in the army, wasb.at Farnham,ed.at Westminster and Trinity Coll., Dublin, after which he took orders and became incumbent of Broad Hembury. He was a strong Calvinist and entered into a bitter controversy with Wesley. His controversial works are forgotten; but he will always be remembered as the author of "Rock of Ages," perhaps the most widely known of English hymns.
TOURNEUR, or TURNER, CYRIL (1575?-1626).—Dramatist, perhapss.of Richard T., Lieutenant of the Brill, served in the Low Countries, and was sec. to Sir Edward Cecil in his unsuccessful expedition to Cadiz, returning from which he was disembarked with the sick at Kinsale, where hed.He wrote two dramas,The Revenger's Tragedy(pr.1607), andThe Atheist's Tragedy(pr.1611), in both of which, especially the former, every kind of guilt and horror is piled up, the author displaying, however, great intensity of tragicpower. OfThe RevengerLamb said that it made his ears tingle. Another play of his,Transformed Metamorphosis, was discovered in 1872.
TRAHERNE, THOMAS (1636?-1674).—Poet and theological writer,s.of a shoemaker at Hereford where, or at Ledbury, he was probablyb.Very few facts concerning him have been preserved, and indeed his very existence had been forgotten until some of his MS. were discovered on a bookstall in 1896, without, however, anything to identify the author. Their discoverer, Mr. W.T. Brooke, was inclined to attribute them toHenry Vaughan(q.v.), in which he was supported byDr. Grosart(q.v.), and the latter was about to bring out a new ed. of Vaughan's poems in which they were to be included. This was, however, prevented by his death. The credit of identification is due to Mr. Bertram Dobell, who had become the possessor of another vol. of MS., and who rejecting, after due consideration, the claims of Vaughan, followed up the very slender clues available until he had established the authorship of Traherne. All the facts that his diligent investigations were successful in collecting were that T. was "entered as a commoner at Brasenose Coll., Oxf., in 1652, took one degree in arts, left the house for a time, entered into the sacred function, and in 1661 was actually created M.A. About that time he became Rector of Crednell, near Hereford ... and in 1669 Bachelor of Divinity;" and that after remaining there for over 9 years he was appointed private chaplain to the Lord Keeper, Sir Orlando Bridgeman, who on his retirement from office retained him as a member of his household at Teddington until his death in 1674, T. himself dying three months later. T. also appears to have been incumbent of Teddington, or perhaps more probably, curate to a pluralist incumbent. The complete oblivion into which T. had fallen is the more remarkable when the quality of his poetry, which places him on a level with Herbert, Vaughan, and Crashaw, is considered; and that he appears in his own day to have had some reputation as a scholar and controversialist. HisRoman Forgeries(1673) achieved some note. His next work,Christian Ethics, which was notpub.until after his death, appears to have fallen dead, and is extremely rare: it is described by Mr. Dobell as "full of eloquence, persuasiveness, sagacity, and piety."Centuries of Meditationsconsists of short reflections on religious and moral subjects, etc. ThePoemsconstitute his main claim to remembrance and, as already stated, are of a high order. With occasional roughness of metre they display powerful imagination, a deep and rich vein of original thought, and true poetic force and fire. It has been pointed out that in some of them the author anticipates the essential doctrines of the Berkeleian philosophy, and in them is also revealed a personality of rare purity and fascination.
TRELAWNY, EDWARD JOHN (1792-1881).—Biographer, entered the navy, from which, however, he deserted, after which he wandered about in the East and on the Continent. In Switzerland he met Byron and Shelley, and was living in close friendship with the latter when he was drowned, and was one of the witnesses at the cremation of his remains. He took part in the Greek war of independence, andm.the sister of one of the insurgent chiefs. Aftervarious adventures in America he settled in London, where he was a distinguished figure in society, and enjoyed the reputation of a picturesque, but somewhat imaginative, conversationalist. He wroteThe Adventures of a Younger Son(1831), a work of striking distinction, and the intensely interestingRecords of Shelley, Byron, and the Author(1858). The last survivor of that brilliant group, he was buried by the side of Shelley.
TRENCH, RICHARD CHENEVIX (1807-1886).—Poet and theologian,b.in Dublin, anded.at Harrow and Camb., took orders, and after serving various country parishes, became in 1847 Prof. of Theology in King's Coll., London, in 1856 Dean of Westminster, and in 1864 Archbishop of Dublin. As Primate of the Irish Church at its disestablishment, he rendered valuable service at that time of trial. In theology his best known works are hisHulsean Lectures,Notes on the Parables, andNotes on the Miracles. His philological writings,English Past and PresentandSelect Glossary of English Wordsare extremely interesting and suggestive, though now to some extent superseded. HisSacred Latin Poetryis a valuable collection of mediæval Church hymns. He also wrote sonnets, elegies, and lyrics, in the first of which he was specially successful, besides longer poems,Justin MartyrandSabbation.
TREVISA, JOHN of (1326-1412).—Translator, a Cornishman,ed.at Oxf., was Vicar of Berkeley, Gloucestershire, and chaplain to the 4th Lord Berkeley, and Canon of Westbury. He translated for his patron thePolychroniconof Ranulf Higden, adding remarks of his own, and prefacing it with aDialogue on Translation between a Lord and a Clerk. He likewise made various other translations.
TROLLOPE, ANTHONY (1815-1882).—Novelist,s.of Thomas Anthony T., a barrister who ruined himself by speculation, and ofFrances T.(q.v.), a well-known writer, wasb.in London, anded.at Harrow and Winchester. His childhood was an unhappy one, owing to his father's misfortunes. After a short time in Belgium he obtained an appointment in the Post Office, in which he rose to a responsible position. His first three novels had little success; but in 1855 he found his line, and inThe Wardenproduced the first of his Barsetshire series. It was followed byBarchester Towers(1857),Doctor Thorne(1858),Framley Parsonage(1861),The Small House at Allington(1864), andThe Last Chronicle of Barset(1867), which deal with the society of a small cathedral city. Other novels areOrley Farm,Can you forgive Her?,Ralph the Heir,The Claverings,Phineas Finn,He knew he was Right, andThe Golden Lion of Grandpré. In all he wrote about 50 novels, besides books about the West Indies, North America, Australia, and South Africa, a translation ofCæsar, and monographs on Cicero and Thackeray. His novels are light of touch, pleasant, amusing, and thoroughly healthy. They make no attempt to sound the depths of character or either to propound or solve problems. Outside of fiction his work was generally superficial and unsatisfactory. But he had the merit of providing a whole generation with wholesome amusement, and enjoyed a great deal of popularity. He is said to have received £70,000 for his writings.
TROLLOPE, MRS. FRANCES (MILTON) (1780-1863).—Novelist and miscellaneous writer,b.at Stapleton near Bristol,m.in 1809 Thomas A.T., a barrister, who fell into financial misfortune. She then in 1827 went with her family to Cincinnati, where the efforts which she made to support herself were unsuccessful. On her return to England, however, she brought herself into notice by publishingDomestic Manners of the Americans(1832), in which she gave a very unfavourable and grossly exaggerated account of the subject; and a novel,The Refugee in America, pursued it on similar lines. Next cameThe AbbessandBelgium and Western Germany, and other works of the same kind onParis and the Parisians, andVienna and the Austriansfollowed. Thereafter she continued to pour forth novels and books on miscellaneous subjects, writing in all over 100 vols. Though possessed of considerable powers of observation and a sharp and caustic wit, such an output was fatal to permanent literary success, and none of her books are now read. She spent the last 20 years of her life at Florence, where shed.in 1863. Her thirds.wasAnthony T., the well-known novelist (q.v.). Her eldests., Thomas Adolphus, wroteThe Girlhood of Catherine de Medici, aHistory of Florence, andLife of Pius IX., and some novels.
TRUMBULL, JOHN (1750-1831).—Poet,b.at Waterbury, Conn., was a lawyer, and became a judge. He wrote much verse, his principal productions beingThe Progress of Dulness(1772) andMcFingal(1782), written in support of the Revolution in imitation ofHudibras.
TUCKER, ABRAHAM (1705-1774).—Philosophic writer,b.in London, anded.at Oxf., was a country gentleman, who devoted himself to the study of philosophy, and wrote under the name of Edward Search, a work in 7 vols.,The Light of Nature Followed(1768-78). It is rather a miscellany than a systematic treatise, but contains much original and acute thinking.
TUCKER, GEORGE (1775-1861).—Economist, etc.,b.in Bermuda, became Prof., of Moral Philosophy, etc., in the Univ. of Virginia. He wrote aLife of Jefferson,Political History of the United States,Essays Moral and Philosophical,The Valley of the Shenandoah, a novel,A Voyage to the Moon(satire), and various works on economics.
TUCKER, NATHANIEL BEVERLY (1784-1851).—B.in Virginia, became a Prof., of Law in William and Mary Coll. He wrote a novel,The Partisan Leader(1836), a prophecy of the future disunion which led to the Civil War. It wasre-pub.in 1861 asA Key to the Southern Conspiracy. Another novel wasGeorge Balcombe.
TUCKERMAN, HENRY THEODORE (1813-1871).—Essayist, etc.,b.in Boston, Mass. He was a sympathetic and delicate critic, with a graceful style. He lived much in Italy, which influenced his choice of subjects in his earlier writings. These includeThe Italian Sketch-book,Isabel, or Sicily,Thoughts on the Poets,The Book of the Artists,Leaves from the Diary of a Dreamer, etc.
TULLOCH, JOHN (1823-1886).—Theologian and historical writer,b.at Bridge of Earn, Perthshire, studied at St. Andrews andEdin. He was ordained to the ministry of the Church of Scotland at Dundee, whence he was translated to Kettins, Forfarshire, and became in 1854 Principal and Prof. of Theology in St. Mary's Coll., St. Andrews. He was a leader of the liberal party in the Church of Scotland, and wroteLiterary and Intellectual Revival of Scotland in the Eighteenth Century(1883),Movements of Religious Thought in the Nineteenth Century(1884-85),Rational Theology and Christian Philosophy in England in the Seventeenth Century, and a book on Pascal, etc.
TUPPER, MARTIN FARQUHAR (1810-1889).—Versifier,s.of a surgeon, wasb.in London,ed.at Charterhouse School and Oxf., and called to the Bar in 1835. He, however, believed that literature was his vocation, and wrote many works in prose and verse, only one of which,Proverbial Philosophy, had much success. But the vogue which it had was enormous, especially in America. It is a singular collection of commonplace observations set forth in a form which bears the appearance of verse, but has neither rhyme nor metre, and has long since found its deserved level. He also wroteWar Ballads,Rifle Ballads, andProtestant Ballads, various novels, and an autobiography. T. was likewise an inventor, but his ideas in this kind had not much success.
TURBERVILLE, or TURBERVILE, GEORGE (1540?-1610).—Poet, belonging to an ancient Dorsetshire family, wasb.at Whitchurch, anded.at Winchester and Oxf. He became sec. to Thomas Randolph, Ambassador to Russia, and made translations from the Latin and Italian, and in 1570pub.Epitaphes, Epigrams, Songs, and Sonets. He also wrote books onFalconrieandHunting, and was one of the first to use blank verse.
TURNER, SHARON (1768-1847).—Historian,b.in London, was a solicitor, and becoming interested in the study of Icelandic and Anglo-Saxon literature,pub.the results of his researches in hisHistory of the Anglo-Saxons(1799-1805). Thereafter he continued the narrative inHistory of England(1814-29), carrying it on to the end of the reign of Elizabeth. These histories, especially the former, though somewhat marred by an attempt to emulate the grandiose style of Gibbon, were works of real research, and opened up, and to a considerable extent developed, a new field of inquiry. T. also wrote aSacred History of the World, and a poem on Richard III.
TUSSER, THOMAS (1524?-1580).—Versifier on agriculture, was an Essex man. Having a good voice he was trained in music, and was a chorister in St. Paul's, and afterwards in Norwich Cathedral, and held the post of musician to Lord Paget. He tried farming at different places, but unsuccessfully, which did not, however, prevent his undertaking to instruct others. This he does with much shrewdness and point in hisHundreth Goode Pointes of Husbandrie(1557), expressed in rude but lively verse; thereafter he addedHundreth Goode Pointes of Husserie(Housewifery). The two joined, and with many additions, were repeatedly reprinted asFive Hundredth Pointes of Goode Husbandrie united to as many of Goode Huswifery. Many proverbs may be traced back to the writings of T., who, in spite of all his shrewdness and talent,d.in prison as a debtor.
TYNDALE, WILLIAM (1484?-1536).—Translator of the Bible, belonged to a northern family which, migrating to Gloucestershire during the Wars of the Roses, adopted the alternative name of Huchyns or Hychins, which T. himself bore when at Oxf. in 1510. After graduating there, he went to Camb., where the influence of Erasmus, who had been Prof. of Theology, still operated. He took orders, and in 1522 was a tutor in the household of Sir John Walsh of Old Sodbury, and was preaching and disputing in the country round, for which he was called to account by the Chancellor of the diocese. At the same time he translated a treatise by Erasmus, theEnchiridion Militis Christiani(Manual of the Christian Soldier), and in controversy with a local disputant prophesied that he would cause that "a boye that driveth the plough" should know the Scriptures better than his opponent. Having formed the purpose of translating the New Testament T. went in 1523 to London, and used means towards his admission to the household of Tunstal, Bishop of London, but without success; he then lived in the house of a wealthy draper, Humphrey Monmouth, where he probably began his translation. Finding, however, that his work was likely to be interfered with, he proceeded in 1524 to Hamburg, whence he went to visit Luther at Wittenberg. He began printing his translation at Cologne the following year, but had to fly to Worms, where the work was completed. The translation itself is entirely T.'s work, and is that of a thorough scholar, and shows likewise an ear for the harmony of words. The notes and introduction are partly his own, partly literal translations, and partly the gist of the work of Luther. From Germany the translation was introduced into England, and largely circulated until forcible means of prevention were brought to bear in 1528. In this year T. removed to Marburg, where hepub.The Parable of the Wicked Mammon, a treatise on Justification by Faith, andThe Obedience of a Christian Man, setting forth that Scripture is the ultimate authority in matters of faith, and the King in matters of civil government. Thereafter, having been at Hamburg and Antwerp, T. returned to Marburg, and in 1530pub.his translation of thePentateuchandThe Practice of Prelates, in which he attacked Wolsey and the proposed divorce proceedings of Henry VIII., the latter of whom endeavoured to have him apprehended. Thereafter he was involved in a controversy with Sir Thomas More. In 1533 he returned to Antwerp, Henry's hostility having somewhat cooled, and was occupied in revising his translations, when he was in 1535 betrayed into the hands of the Imperial officers and carried off to the Castle of Vilvorde, where the next year he was strangled and burned. T. was one of the most able and devoted of the reforming leaders, and his, the foundation of all future translations of the Bible, is his enduring monument. He was a small, thin man of abstemious habits and untiring industry.
TYNDALL, JOHN (1820-1893).—Scientific writer,b.at Leighlin Bridge, County Carlow, was in early life employed in the ordnance survey and as a railway engineer. He was next teacher of mathematics and surveying at Queenwood Coll., Hampshire, after which he went to Marburg to study science, and while there became joint author of a memoirOn the Magneto-optic Properties ofCrystals(1850). After being at Berlin he returned in 1851 to Queenwood, and in 1853 was appointed Prof. of Natural Philosophy in the Royal Institution, which in 1867 he succeeded Faraday as Superintendent. WithHuxley(q.v.) he made investigations into the Alpine glaciers. Thereafter he did much original work on heat, sound, and light. In addition to his discoveries T. was one of the greatest popularisers of science. His style, remarkable for lucidity and elegance, enabled him to expound such subjects with the minimum of technical terminology. Among his works areThe Glaciers of the Alps(1860),Mountaineering(1861),Fragments of Science, two vols. (1871), including his address to the British Association at Belfast, which raised a storm of controversy and protest in various quarters,Hours of Exercise on the Alps, etc. T.d.from an overdose of chloral accidentally administered by his wife.
TYTLER, ALEXANDER FRASER (1747-1813).—Historian,s.ofWilliam T.(q.v.), studied at Edin., was called to the Bar in 1770 and raised to the Bench as Lord Woodhouselee in 1802. He was Prof. of History in Edin., and wroteElements of General History(1801),An Essay on the Principles of Translation(1791), besides various legal treatises.
TYTLER, PATRICK FRASER (1791-1849).—Historian,s.of the above, studied at Edin., and was called to the Bar in 1813. Among his many writings are anEssay on the History of the Moors in Spain,The Life of the Admirable Crichton(1819),History of Scotland(1828-43), andEngland under the Reigns of Edward VI. and Mary(1839). HisHistory of Scotland, which was the result of 20 years of study and research, is still authoritative.
TYTLER, WILLIAM (1711-1792).—Historical writer, was a lawyer in Edin., and wroteAn Inquiry into the Evidence against Mary Queen of Scots, in which he combated the views of Robertson. He discovered theKing's Quhairof James I., andpub.in 1783The Poetical Remains of James I., King of Scotland, with a Life.
UDALL, NICOLAS (1505-1556).—Dramatist and scholar,b.in Hampshire, anded.at Oxf. In 1534 he became headmaster of Eton, from which he was dismissed for misconduct, 1541. In 1537 he became Vicar of Braintree, in 1551 of Calborne, Isle of Wight, and in 1554 headmaster of Westminster School. He translated part of theApophthegmsof Erasmus, and assisted in making the English version of hisParaphrase of the New Testament. Other translations were Peter Martyr'sDiscourse on the Eucharistand Thomas Gemini'sAnatomia, but he is best remembered byRalph Roister Doister(1553?), the first English comedy, a rude but lively piece.
UNDERDOWN, THOMAS (fl.1566-1587).—Translator. He translated theÆthiopian Historyof Heliodorus 1566; also from Ovid.
UNDERWOOD, FRANCIS HENRY (1825-1894).—Critic and biographer,b.in Massachusetts, was American Consul at Glasgow and Leith. He wroteHand-books of English Literature,Builders of American Literature, etc., some novels,Lord of Himself,Man Proposes, andDr. Gray's Quest, and biographies of Lowell, Longfellow, and Whittier.
URQUHART, SIR THOMAS (1611-1660).—Eccentric writer and translator, wased.at King's Coll., Aberdeen, after leaving which he travelled in France, Spain, and Italy. He was bitterly opposed to the Covenanters, and fought against them at Turriff in 1639. His later life was passed between Scotland, England (where he was for some time a prisoner in the Tower), and the Continent, where he lived, 1642-45. A man of considerable ability and learning, his vanity and eccentricity verged upon insanity, and he is said to haved.from the effects of an uncontrollable fit of joyful laughter on hearing news of the Restoration. Among his extravagances was a genealogy of his family traced through hisf.to Adam, and through his mother to Eve, he himself being the 153rd in descent. Hepub.Trissotetras, a work on trigonometry (1645), an invective against the Presbyterians (1652), a scheme for a universal language,Logopandecteision(1653), and a partial translation of Rabelais (1653), a further portion beingpub.in 1693. In the last he was assisted by Peter Anthony Motteux, a Frenchman who had established himself in England, who continued the work.
USK, THOMAS (d.1388).—Poet,b.in London, was sec. to John of Northampton, the Wyclifite Lord Mayor of London, whom he betrayed to save himself, in which, however, he failed, being executed in 1388. During his imprisonment, which lasted from 1384 until his death, he composedThe Testament of Love, a didactic poem long attributed to Chaucer.
USSHER, JAMES (1581-1656).—Divine and scholar,b.in Dublin, thes.of a lawyer there, anded.at Trinity Coll., took orders, and became Chancellor of St. Patrick's, Dublin, 1605, and Prof. of Divinity, 1607-21. On the Irish clergy, in 1715, deciding to assert themselves as an independent church, U. had the main hand in drawing up the constitution, certain features of which led to the suspicion of his being in favour of Puritanism. To defend himself he went in 1619 to England, and had a conference with the King (James I.), in which he so completely succeeded that he was in 1621 made Bishop of Meath, and four years later Archbishop of Armagh. He constantly used his influence in favour of reform, and endeavoured to introduce such modifications of Episcopacy as would conciliate and comprehend the Presbyterians. During the troubles which led to the Civil War U. maintained the unlawfulness of taking up arms against the King. The Rebellion in Ireland in 1641 drove him away, and he settled first at Oxf., but ultimately at the house of Lady Peterborough at Reigate, where hed.in 1656. His works dealt chiefly with ecclesiastical antiquities and chronology, hismagnum opusbeingAnnales, a chronology of the world from the creation to the dispersion of the Jews in the reign of Vespasian, a work which gained him great reputation on the Continent as well as at home. The date of the creation was fixed as 4004 B.C., which was long universally received. It has, of course, been altogether superseded, alike by the discovery of ancient records, and by geology.
VANBRUGH, SIR JOHN (1664-1726).—Dramatist and architect,b.in London of Flemish descent, was in France from 1683 to 1685, studying architecture, for which he had early shown a taste.The next year he got a commission in the army, and in 1690 he was a prisoner first at Vincennes and then in the Bastille. In 1696 he began his dramatic career withThe Relapse, which had great success.Æsopfollowed in 1697, andThe Provoked Wifein the same year. The latter was severely handled byJeremy Collier(q.v.) in hisShort View, etc., which produced a vindication by the author. In addition to these he wrote or collaborated in various other plays. His leading features as a dramatist are the naturalness of his dialogue and his lively humour. Like all his contemporaries he is frequently extremely gross. He obtained great fame as an architect, as well as a dramatist. Among his most famous designs are Castle Howard, Blenheim Palace, and Dalkeith Palace. He was knighted by George I., was controller of the Royal works, and succeeded Wren as architect to Greenwich Hospital. In addition to the plays above mentioned V. wroteThe ConfederacyandThe Country House. He was a handsome and jovial person, and highly popular in society.
VAUGHAN, HENRY (1622-1695).—Poet,b.in the parish of Llansaintffraed, Brecknock, and as a native of the land of the ancient Silures, called himself "Silurist." He was at Jesus Coll., Oxf., studied law in London, but finally settled as a physician at Brecon and Newton-by-Usk. In his youth he was a decided Royalist and, along with his twin brother Thomas, was imprisoned. His first book wasPoems, with the Tenth Satire of Juvenal Englished. It appeared in 1646.Olor Iscanus(the Swan of Usk), a collection of poems and translations, was surreptitiouslypub.in 1651. About this time he had a serious illness which led to deep spiritual impressions, and thereafter his writings were almost entirely religious.Silex Scintillans(Sparks from the Flint), his best known work, consists of short poems full of deep religious feeling, fine fancy, and exquisite felicities of expression, mixed with a good deal that is quaint and artificial. It contains "The Retreat," a poem of about 30 lines which manifestly suggested to Wordsworth hisOde on the Intimations of Immortality, and "Beyond the Veil," one of the finest meditative poems in the language.Flores Solitudinis(Flowers of Solitude) andThe Mount of Olivesare devout meditations in prose. The two brothers were joint authors ofThalia Rediviva: the Pastimes and Diversions of a Country Muse(1678), a collection of translations and original poems.
VAUGHAN, ROBERT (1795-1868).—A minister of the Congregationalist communion, Prof. of History in London Univ., 1830-43, and Pres. of the Independent Coll., Manchester, 1843-57. He founded, and for a time ed. theBritish Quarterly. He wrote, among various other works,A History of England under the Stuarts,Revolutions of History, and a Life of Wycliffe.
VEITCH, JOHN (1829-1894).—Philosophic and miscellaneous writer,b.at Peebles,ed.at Univ. and New Coll., Edin., was assistant toSir Wm. Hamilton(q.v.), 1856-60, Prof. of Logic at St. Andrews, 1860-64, and Glasgow, 1864-94. He was a voluminous and accomplished writer, his works including Lives ofDugald Stewart(1857) andSir W. Hamilton(1869),Tweed and other Poems(1875),History and Poetry of the Scottish Border(1877),Feeling for Nature in ScottishPoetry(1887),Merlin and other Poems(1889),Border Essays(1896), andDualism and Monism(1895).
VERY, JONES (1813-1880).—Essayist and poet,b.at Salem, Mass., where he became a clergyman and something of a mystic. Hepub.one small volume,Essays and Poems, the latter chiefly in the form of the Shakespearian sonnet. Though never widely popular, he appealed by his refined, still thoughtfulness to a certain small circle of minds.
WACE (fl.1170).—Chronicler,b.in Jersey, anded.at Caen, was influenced by the Chronicle ofGeoffrey of Monmouth(q.v.), and based upon it a French metrical romance,Brut. Later, at the command of Henry II., he rewrote with additions a chronicle of the life of William the Conqueror and entitled itRoman de Rou.
WADE, THOMAS (1805-1875).—Poet,b.at Woodbridge,pub.poems, dramas, sonnets, and a translation of Dante'sInferno. Among his writings areTasso and the Sisters(1825),Mundi et Cordis Carmina(1835);Duke Andrea(1828), andThe Jew of Arragon(1830), both tragedies, and thePhrenologists(1830), a farce.
WAKEFIELD, GILBERT (1756-1801).—Scholar and controversialist,b.at Nottingham,ed.at Camb., took orders, but becoming a Unitarian renounced them and acted as classical tutor in various Unitarian academies. He was a strong defender of the French Revolution, and was imprisoned for two years for writing a seditious pamphlet. Hepub.ed. of various classical writers, and among his theological writings areEarly Christian Writers on the Person of Christ(1784),An Examination of Paine's Age of Reason(1794), andSilva Critica(1789-95), illustrations of the Scriptures.