OpenLLM-France/wikimedia huggingface dataset:
# Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology/Lepidus 10.

​10. M. Aemilius M. f. M. n. Lepidus Porcina, son probably of No. 9, and grandson of No. 7, was consul b. c. 137. He was sent into Spain in his consulship to succeed his colleague C. Hostilius Mancinus, who had been defeated by the Numantines [Mancinus] ; and while he was waiting for reinforcements from home, as he was not yet in a condition to attack the Numantines, he resolved to make war upon the Vaccaei, under the pretence of their having assisted the Numantines. This he did merely from the desire of distinguishing himself; and the senate, immediately his intention became known, sent deputies to command him to desist from his design, as they deprecated a new war in Spain, after experiencing so many disasters. Lepidus, however, had commenced the war before the deputies arrived, and had summoned to his assistance his relation, D. Brutus, who commanded in Further Spain, and was a general of considerable experience and skill. [Brutus, No. 15, p. 509, b.] Notwithstanding his aid, Lepidus was unsuccessful. After laying waste the open country, the two generals laid siege to Pallantia, the capital of the Vaccaei (the modern Palencia), but they suffered so dreadfully from want of provisions, that they were obliged to raise the siege ; and a considerable part of their army was destroyed by the enemy in their retreat. This happened in the proconsulship of Lepidus, {sc|b. c.}} 136 ; and when the news reached Rome, Lepidus was deprived of his command, and condemned to pay a fine. (Appian, Hisp. 80 — 83, who says that Lepidus was deprived of his consulship, by which we must understand proconsulship ; Liv. Epit. 56 ; Oros. v. 5.) Lepidus was augur in b. c. 125, when he was summoned by the censors, Cn. Servilius Caepio and L. Cassius Longinus, to account for having built a house in too magnificent a style. (Vell. Pat. ii. 10 ; Val. Max. viii. 1, damn. 7.)
Lepidus was a man of education and refined taste. Cicero, who had read his speeches, speaks of him as the greatest orator of his age, and says that he was the first who introduced into Latin oratory the smooth and even flow of words and the artificial construction of sentences which distinguished the Greek. He helped to form the style of Tib. Gracchus and C. Carbo, who were accustomed to listen to him with great care. He was, however, very deficient in a knowledge of law and Roman institutions. (Cic. Brut. 25, 86, 97, de Orat. i. 10, Tuscul. i. 3 ; Auctor, ad Herenn. iv. 5.) In politics Lepidus seems to have belonged to the aristocratical party. He opposed in his consulship (b. c. 137) the law for introducing the ballot (lex tabellaria) proposed by L. Cassius Longinus (Cic. Brut. 25) ; and it appears from a fragment of Priscian (vol. i. p. 456), that Lepidus spoke in favour of a repeal of the lex Aemilia, which was probably the sumptuary law proposed by the consul, M. Aemilius Scaurus in b. c. 115. (Meyer, Orator. Rom. Fragm. p. 193,&c.2d. ed.)
# Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology/Lepidus 11.

​11. M. Aemilius M. f. M. n. Lepidus, consul b. c. 126 (Cic. Brut. 28 ; Obsequ. 89 ; Oros. v. 10.), and brother apparently of No. 10., though it is difficult to account for their both having the same praenomen.
# Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology/Lepidus 15.

​15. M´. Aemilius Mam. f. M. n. Lepidus, probably likewise a son of No. 8, was consul, b. c. 66, with L. Volcatius Tullus, the same year in which Cicero was praetor. He is mentioned several times by Cicero, but never attained much political importance. In b. c. 65, he is spoken of as one of the witnesses against C. Cornelius, whom Cicero defended. He belonged to the aristocratical party, but on the breaking out of the civil war in b. c. 49, he retired to his Formian villa to watch the progress of events. Here he was in almost daily intercourse with Cicero, from whose letters we learn that Lepidus was resolved not to cross the sea with Pompey, but to yield to Caesar if the latter was likely to be victorious. He eventually returned to Rome in March. (Sall. Cat. 18 ; Cic. in Cat. i. 6, pro Sull. 4 ; Dion Cass, xxxvi. 25 ; Ascon. in Cornel. p. 66, ed. Orelli ; Cic. ad Att. vii. 12, 23, viii. 1, 6, 9, 15, ix. 1.)
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Biddulph, Thomas Tregenna

​BIDDULPH, THOMAS TREGENNA (1763–1838), evangelical divine, was the only son of the Rev. Thomas Biddulph by his first wife, Martha, daughter and coheir of Rev. John Tregenna, rector of Mawgan in Cornwall. He was born at Claines, Worcestershire, 5 July 1763, but his father became in 1770 the vicar of Padstow in Cornwall, and the younger Biddulph was educated at the grammar school of Truro in that county. In his eighteenth year he matriculated at Queen's College, Oxford (23 Nov. 1780), and took his degpree of B.A. and M.A. in 1784 and 1787 respectively. He was ordained deacon by Bishop Ross of Exeter, 26 Sept. 1785, being licensed to the curacy of Padstow, and preaching his first sermon in its church, and after holding many curacies became the incumbent of Bengeworth near Evesham in 1793. Though he retained this small benefice for ten years, he resided for the greater part of his time at Bristol, and it was as the incumbent from 1799 to 1838 of St. James's, Bristol, that his reputation as a preacher and a parish priest was acquired. His doctrines were at first unpopular among the citizens of Bristol, but in the course of years his services were rewarded by the respect and affection of his fellow-townsmen. He died at St. James's Square, Bristol, 19 May 1838, and was buried 29 May. His wife, Rachel, daughter of Zachariah Shrapnel, whom he married at Bradford, Wiltshire, 19 Feb. 1789, died at St. James's Square, Bristol, 10 Aug. 1828. Portraits by Opie of the Rev. Thomas Tregenna Biddulph and of his father and mother are in the possession of Mr. W. P. Punchard of Taunton. The catalogue of the writings of Mr. Biddulph occupies more than six pages of the 'Bibliotheca Cornubiensis.' All his works were of a theological character, and were written in support of evangelical doctrines. On their behalf he engaged in controversy with the Rev. John Hey, the Rev. Richard Warner, and the Rev. Richard (afterwards bishop) Mant. A periodical called at first 'Zion's Trumpet,' but afterwards known for many years under the title of 'The Christian Guardian,' was established by him in 1798.
[Gent. Mag. x. 331–34 (1838); Bibl. Cornub. i. and iii.; May's Evesham, 148; Rogers's Opie, 74–5; Christian Guardian, 1838, pp. 267–63.]
W. P. C.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Bigland, Ralph

1904 Errata appended.
​BIGLAND, RALPH (1711–1784), Garter king-of-arms, was born at Kendal in Westmoreland in 1711, his father being Richard Bigland, the descendant of an old family originally from Bigland in Lancashire. He was appointed head of the College of Arms in 1780, after passing through all the minor offices. He had been elected Bluemantle in 1757, Somerset and registrar 1763, Norroy king-of-arms May 1773, Clarenceux August 1774; but he enjoyed his elevation as Garter king-of-arms only a few years, dying 27 March 1784 at the age of seventy-three, in St. James's Street, Bedford Row. He married at Frocester, 13 June 1737, Ann, daughter of John Wilkins of that town, by whom he had one son, born on 3 April 1738, and who died at the early age of twenty-two on 1 Dec. 1738. Bigland afterwards married Ann, daughter of Robert Weir; this marriage also being of short duration, for she died 5 April 1766, leaving no issue. The collections which he had made during his lifetime for a history of Gloucestershire were intended to have been arranged and presented by him to the public. After his death they were partly published by his son, Richard Bigland of Frocester, Gloucestershire, under the title of ‘Historical, Monumental, and Genealogical Collections relative to the County of Gloucester' (fol. 1791-2). Among some of his other literary labours may be mentioned his ‘Account of the Parish of Fairford, co. Gloucester, with a description of the celebrated windows and monuments.' In 1764 he also published a small work entitled ‘Observations on Marriages, Baptisms, and Burials, as preserved in Parochial Registers,' in which he pointed out the necessity of these documents being accurately kept ‘for the benefit of society.’ An interesting correspondence between him and Mr. G. Allan on various subjects was published in Nichols's ‘Literary Anecdotes.'
[Noble's History of the College of Arms, 1804, 417-18; Lowndes's Bibliographers' Manual, 1864, i. 203; Nichols's Literary Anecdotes, 1814, viii. 713-18; Gent. Mag. 1788, lviii. 344; 1791. lxi. 345, 725; 1793, lxiii. 655.]
T. F. T. D.
Dictionary of National Biography, Errata (1904), p.27 N.B.— f.e. stands for from end and l.l. for last line
| Page | Col. | Line | |
| 21 | | 10 f.e. | Bigland, Ralph: after Somerset insert herald 1759 |
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Bignell, Henry

​BIGNELL, HENRY (1611–1660?), divine, the son of Foulk Bignell of Souldern, Oxfordshire, was born in the parish of St. Mary, Oxford, in July 1611. In 1629 he became a servitor of Brasenose College, and subsequently entered at St. Mary's Hall. After taking the degree of B.A. he was ordained and set up as a schoolmaster. In 1645 he was made rector of St. Peter-le-Bayly, Oxford, but was ejected from his benefice for scandalous conduct. Shortly before the Restoration he went out to the West Indies, where he seems to have died. According to Wood he published, in 1640, a book ‘for the education of youth in knowledge,' called ‘The Son's Portion,' and was the author of some other ‘trivial things not worth mentioning.'
[Wood's Athenæ, iii. 406, and Fasti, i. 465.]
A. R. B.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Bidgood, John

​BIDGOOD, JOHN, M.D. (1624–1690), the son of Humphrey Bidgood, an apothecary of Exeter, was born in that city 13 March 1623-4. His father was poisoned in 1641 by his servant, Peter Moore, a crime for which the offender was tried at the Exeter assizes, and executed on 'the Magdalen gibbet belonging to the city,' his dying confession being printed and preserved in the British Museum. The son was sent to Exeter College about 1640, and admitted a Petreian fellow 1 July 1642. On 1 Feb. 1647-8 he became a bachelor of physic at Oxford, but in the following June was ejected from his fellowship by the parliamentarian visitors. After this loss of his income he withdrew to Padua, then a noted school of medicine, and became M.D. of that university. With this diploma he returned to England, and, after a few years' practice at Chard, settled in his native city, where he remained until his death. On the restoration in 1660, Bidgood resumed his fellowship, and in the same year (20 Sept. 1660) was incorporated M.D. at Oxford. Two years later he resigned his fellowship, possibly because a kinsman, who had matriculated in 1661, was then qualified to hold it. His skill in medicine was shown by his admission, in December 1664, to the College of Physicians in London as honorary fellow—an honour which he acknowledged by the gift of 100l. towards the erection of their new college in Warwick Lane—and by his subsequent election in 1686 as an ordinary fellow. Some years before his death he retired to his country house of Rockbeare, near Exeter, but he died in the Close, Exeter, 13 Jan. 1690-1, and was buried in the lady chapel in the cathedral. A flat stone, with an English inscription, in the pavement indicated the place of his burial, and a marble monument with a Latin inscription to his memory was fixed in the wall of the same chapel by his nephew and heir. An extensive practice brought Dr. Bidgood a large fortune, but his good qualities were marred by a morose disposition and by a satirical vein of humour. He left the sum of 600l. to St. John's Hospital at Exeter.
[Prince's Worthies; Munk's College of Physicians (ed. 1878). i. 348; Boase's Exeter Coll. 7, 212, 229; Davidson's Bibliotheca Devon. 138; Izacke's Exeter (ed. 1731), p. 189; Register of Visitors of Oxford Univ. (Camden Soc. 1881), pp. 13, 60, 98, 188.]
W. P. C.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Bidlake, John

​BIDLAKE, JOHN (1755–1814), divine and poet, was the son of a jeweller at Plymouth, and was born in that town in 1765. His education was begun at the grammar school of that town, and he proceeded thence to Christ Church, Oxford, being entered on its books as a servitor 10 March 1774, where he took his degree of B.A. in 1778, and those of M.A. and D.D. in 1808. He was for many years master of the Plymouth grammar school, and minister of the chapel of ease at Stonehouse. Neither of these posts brought much gain to their holder, nor were his pecuniary troubles lightened by his obtaining the offices of chaplain to the prince regent and the Duke of Clarence. He was appointed Bampton lecturer in 1811, but during the delivery of the third discourse he was attacked with cerebral affection, which terminated in blindness. In consequence of this crushing misfortune he was forced to resign his curacy at Stonehouse, and as he was totally without the means of support, an appeal to the charitable was made on his behalf in June 1818. On 17 Feb. in the following year he died at Plymouth.
Bidlake's works were very numerous, both in divinity and poetry. He published separately at least seven sermons, in addition to three volumes of collected discourses on various subjects (1795, 1799, and 1808). His earliest poem was an anonymous 'Elegy written on the author's revisiting the place of his former residence' (1788). It was followed by 'The Sea' (1796), 'The Country Parson' (1797), 'Summer's Eve' (1800), 'Virginia or the Fall of the Decemvirs, a tragedy' (1800), 'Youth' (1802), and 'The Year' (1813). Three volumes of his poetical works were issued in 1794, 1804, and 1814 respectively. In 1799 he composed a moral tale entitled 'Eugenio, or the Precepts of Prudentius,' and in 1808 he issued an 'Introduction to the Study of Geography.' His Bampton lectures were entitled 'The Truth and Consistency of Divine Revelation' (1811). Three numbers of a periodical called 'The Selector ' were published by him at Plymouth in 1809, but with the third number it expired. Bidlake was a man of varied talents and considerable acquirements, but his poetry was imitative, and the interest of his theological works was ephemeral.
[Watt's Bibl. Brit.; Gent. Mag. 1813. pt. i. 560, 1814, pt. i. 410; Worth's Plymouth (2nd ed.) p. 322; Worth's Three Towns Bibliotheca (Trans. Plymouth Instit. vol. iv.]
W. P. C.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Bidwill, John Carne

​BIDWILL, JOHN CARNE (1815–1853), botanist and traveller, was born in 1815 at Exeter, his father being a well-known citizen of that place. At an early age he went out to New South Wales, and entered into business as a merchant at Sydney. In February 1839 he started upon an exploring expedition in New Zealand. From Tawranga ​he made his way into hitherto unknown regions. So savage were the native tribes at that period that, shortly before the traveller's arrival at Tawranga, a band from Roturoa had seized a number of people and cooked them absolutely in sight of the inhabitants of the surrounding villages. Bidwill explored the shores of Lake Taupo; amongst other discoveries made, he found in the vicinity of Roturoa a species of eugenia, identified as the Earina mucronata. In the mountains of the Arrohaw he met with the organtic tree fern, the Mummuke. He next investigated the great plain of the Thames or Waiho.
Bidwill fell a victim to the spirit of investigation. While engaged in marking out a new road he was accidentally separated from his party, and lost himself, without his compass, in the bush. He struggled to extricate himself, remaining on one occasion eight days without food. In cutting his way with a pocket-hook through the scrub, he brought on internal inflammation, of which he eventually died. Bidwill was an ardent botanist. He contributed to the 'Gardener's Chronicle' many interesting papers upon horticultural subjects, but more especially on hybridising, in which he was an adept. 'To him,' says Professor Lindley, 'we owe the discovery of the famous Bunya-Bunya tree, subsequently named after him Araucaria Bidwilli, and of the Nymphæa gigantca, that Australian rival of the Victoria. By his friends, of whom he had more than most men, his loss will be found to be irreparable, and the colony in which he died could ill afford to lose him.' Bidwill, who died at Tinana, Maryborough, in March 1853, was commissioner of crown lands and chairman of the bench of magistrates for the district of Wide Bay, New South Wales.
[Bidwell's Rambles in New Zealand, 1841; Gardener's Chronicle, March 1853; Gent. Mag. 1863.]
G. B. S.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Bigg, John Stanyan

​BIGG, JOHN STANYAN (1828–1865), poet and journalist, was born at Ulverston 14 July 1828. He was educated at the old Town Bank School in that town, and at an early age began to exhibit strong literary predilections. It is said that the 'Arabian Nights' Entertainments' first fired him with imaginative ardour. He would recite the oriental stories to his companions, and as the latter recompensed him for so doing, young Bigg was able to indulge the love of books, and became possessed of the works of the best English poets. At thirteen he was sent bv his father to a boarding school in Warwickshire. On his return to his native town, he assisted his father in the conduct of his business. Soon afterwards the family removed to the beautiful vicinitv of Penny Bridge. His poetical enthusiasm was here stirred into action, and he penned many attractive lyrics.
Returning to Uverston, he published in 1848 his first work, 'The Sea King,' a ​metrical romance in six cantos, with very copious historical and illustrative notes. The romance arose out of a study of Sharon Turner's ‘History of the Anglo-Saxons.’ In conception it has something in common with Fouqué's ‘Undine,’ though Bigg states that book to have been unknown to him at the time of the composition of his own work. The ‘Sea King’ interested several men of letters, including Lord Lytton and James Montgomery. Bigg was now appointed editor of the ‘Ulverston Advertiser,’ a post which he occupied for several years. He subsequently went to Ireland, and edited for some years the ‘Downshire Protestant,’ the proprietor of which was Mr. W. Johnston, of Ballykilbeg House, the author of ‘Nightshade,’ and other works. At Downpatrick Bigg married Miss. R. A. H. Pridham. In 1859 the Burns centenary was celebrated, and his ode competing for the Crystal Palace prize was selected by the three judges as one of the six best.
Previous to his Irish experiences, Bigg had written his most important poem, ‘Night and the Soul.’ It appeared in 1854. Bigg belonged to that class of poets which acquired the name of the ‘Spasmodic School,’ a school severely travestied by Professor Aytoun in his spasmodic tragedy of ‘Firmilian.’
In 1860 Bigg left Ireland and returned to Ulverston, where he became both editor and proprietor of the ‘Advertiser,’ which position he continued to occupy until his death. In 1860 he also published a novel in one volume, entitled ‘Alfred Staunton,’ which met with a favourable reception. In 1862 appeared his last work, ‘Shifting Scenes, and other Poems.’ In the course of his brief career Bigg was a contributor to the ‘Critic,’ ‘Literary Gazette,’ ‘London Quarterly Review,’ ‘Eclectic Review,’ ‘Church of England Review,’ ‘Scottish Quarterly Review,’ ‘Dublin University Magazine,’ and ‘Hogg's Instructor.’ In all the private relations of life he was most estimable, and his premature death was widely lamented. He died 19 May 1865, in his thirty-seventh year.
[Works of Bigg; Gent. Mag. 1865; Gilfillan's Literary Portraits; Athenæum. 1854 and 1862; Ulverston Advertiser, 25 May 1865.]
G. B. S.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Biffin, Sarah

​BIFFIN or BEFFIN, SARAH (1784–1800), miniature painter, was born at East Quantoxhead, near Bridgwater, Somerset, in 1784. Her parents were apparently of very humble station. She was born without arms, hands, or legs (Handbill in British Museum, 1881 a 2, where her name is printed Beffin). Her height never exceeded thirty-seven inches; but by indomitable perseverance she contrived, by means of her mouth, to use the pen, the pencil, and paint-brush, and even the scissors and needle. Her first instructor was a Mr. Dukes (Gent. Mag. xxxiv. new series, 668), to whom she bound herself, and with whom she stayed sixteen years. In 1812 she was carried round the country to exhibit her powers and ingenuity, and was at Swaffham in October, the race week (Handbill). A commodious booth was hired there for her: the pit seats were 1s., the gallery seats 6d. Miss Biffin wrote her autograph for her visitors, drew landscapes before them, and painted miniatures (the charge for which, on ivory, was three guineas); and her 'conductor,' probably Mr. Dukes, promised to give a thousand guineas if she were not found to produce all he described. It is complained that Miss Biffin received only 5l per annum from Mr. Dukes (Gent. Mag.) The Earl of Morton, becoming acquainted with Miss Biffin's talents, had further instruction given to her in painting by Mr. Craig, then popular for his portraits and 'Keepsake' illustrations (Redgrave, Dictionary of Artists). The poor little artist was patronised by the royal family, and she managed to support herself by her art, receiving a medal from the Society of Artists in 1821. She finally retired to Liverpool. There age overtook her, exertions of her extraordinary kind grew very painful, and she fell into poverty, which was only lightened by the benevolence of Mr. Richard Rathbone, who organised a subscription for her benefit. She died 2 Oct. 1860, aged sixty-six years.
[Chambers's Book of Days, vol. ii. p. 404; Redgrave's Dict. of Artists of British School; Handbill to the Nobility, Ladies, and Gentlemen, No. 1881 a 2, Brit. Mus.; Gent. Mag. vol. xxxiv. new series, 1850, p. 668.]
J. H.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Bigg, William Redmore

​BIGG, WILLIAM REDMORE (1755–1828), painter, was a pupil of Edward Penny, R.A., and by choice of his subjects at least a faithful follower of his master. In 1778 he entered the Academy schools. Bigg delighted in depicting florid children. The first of many engaging works of this class was exhibited in 1778, 'Schoolboys giving Charity to a Blind Man.' It was followed a year later by one similar, 'A Lady and her Children relieving a Distressed Cottager.' Besides these his 'Palemon and Lavinia,' the 'Shipwrecked Sailor Boy,' and 'Youths relieving a Blind Man ' were highly popular works, and were all engraved. Two good pictures from his easel are preserved in the Cottonian Museum at Plymouth. He had not the naïve rusticity of Wheatley, nor the rough and ready naturalism of Morland, though by choice of subjex^ts and general manner of treatment he woidd rightly be classed with those painters. He was highly popular in his day, and the best engravers were employed upon his work. In 1787 he became A.R.A., and was elected academician in 1814. He sat to C. R. Leslie for the knight in 'Sir Roger de Coverley.' The younger painter spoke eloquently of his fine presence and genial nature. He died in Great Russell Street on 6 Feb. 1828.
[Gent. Mag. vol. xcviii. pt. i. p. 376; Redgrave's Dict, of Artists of the Eng. School.]
E. R.