OpenLLM-France/wikimedia huggingface dataset:
# Dictionary of Christian Biography and Literature to the End of the Sixth Century/Novatus, presbyter of Carthage

Novatus (1), presbyter of Carthage, seems to have been an original opponent of Cyprian's election, but is first mentioned by him in Ep. xiv. § 5, with three other presbyters—Donatus, Fortunatus, and Gordius—as having written about some question to Cyprian then in retirement. This was, doubtless, touching the request of the confessors, to have peace granted to certain of the lapsed which, in Ep. 1., Cyprian refuses until he has consulted the presbyters and faithful laity. Cyprian reproves certain presbyters, evidently Novatus and his companions, who, "considering neither the fear of God nor the honour of the bishop," had already granted peace to the lapsed. In Ep. xliii, writing to the church of Carthage, he compares Novatus and his associates to the five chief commissioners entrusted with the conduct of the persecution, and, as it seems, intimates that they threatened to raise a riot upon his appearance from his place of retirement. In Ep. lii. 3 Cyprian, writing to Cornelius, gives a very bad character of Novatus. Cyprian's feelings may have here coloured his judgment, as such a bishop as he was could scarcely have tolerated such a bad man in the presbyterate. Cyprian describes Novatus as having made his follower Felicissimus a deacon, and then "at Rome committing greater and more grievous crimes. He who at Carthage made a deacon against the church, there made a bishop," i.e. that he brought about the ordination of both the deacon and bishop. Ep. xliii. 2 proves that Cyprian's wrath was, however, specially stirred by some anti-episcopal innovations of Novatus and his party. After the consecration of Novatian, Novatus was sent by him to organize his party in Africa (Cyp. Ep. 1.). After this he disappears from sight. Cf. Dr. Pusey's note upon him, appended to Cyprian, Ep. lii. in Oxf. Lib. of Fathers. Milman, Lat. Christ. t. i. pp. 60–62 (ed. Lond. 1867).
[G.T.S.]
# Dictionary of Christian Biography and Literature to the End of the Sixth Century/O

* Oceanus, a Roman of noble birth
* Olympias, the younger
* Optatus, bp. of Milevis
* Origenes, known as Origen
* Orosius, Paulus
# Dictionary of Christian Biography and Literature to the End of the Sixth Century/Noetus, a native of Smyrna

Noetus, a native of Smyrna according to
Hippolytus; of Ephesus according to Epiphanius (Haer. 57), probably by a mistake, as his narrative is in other respects wholly derived from Hippolytus. From Asia Minor also Praxeas, some years before, had imported into Rome the views which Noetus taught. Hippolytus traces the origin of the Patripassian heresy at Rome to Noetus, who in his opinion derived it from the philosophy of Heraclitus (Refutation, lib. ix. cc. 3–5, cf. x. 23). Noetus came to Rome, where he converted Epigonus and Cleomenes. He was summoned before the council of Roman presbyters, and interrogated about his doctrines. He denied at first that he had taught that "Christ was the Father, and that the Father was born and suffered and died," but his adherents increasing in number, he acknowledged before the same council, when summoned a second time, that he had taught the views attributed to him. "The blessed presbyters called him again before them and examined him. But he stood out against them, saying, 'What evil am I doing in glorifying one God?' And the presbyters replied to him, 'We too know in truth one God, we know Christ, we know that the Son suffered even as He suffered, and died even as He died, and rose again on the third day, and is at the right hand of the Father, and cometh to judge the living and the dead, and these things which we have learned we allege.' Then after examining him they expelled him from the church. And he was carried to such a pitch of pride, that he established a school." Cf. Routh's Reliq. Sac. t. iv. 243–248. As to his date, Hippolytus tells us "he lived not long ago," Lipsius and Salmon think this very treatise was used by Tertullian in his tract against Praxeas [HIPPOLYTUS ROMANUS], while Hilgenfeld and Harnack date Tertullian's work between a.d. 206 and 210. This would throw the treatise of Hippolytus back to c. 205. From its language and tone, we conclude that Noetus was then dead, a view which Epiphanius (Haer. 57, c. 1) expressly confirms, saying that he and his brother both died soon after their excommunication and were buried without Christian rites. The period of his teaching at Rome must then have been some few years previous to 205. But Hippolytus in his Refutation of Heresies gives us a farther note of time, telling us in ix. 2 that it was when Zephyrinus was managing the affairs of the church that the school of Noetus was firmly established at Rome and that Zephyrinus connived at its establishment through bribes. We cannot, however, fix the date of his excommunication and death more closely than c. 200. Hippolytus (x. 23) tells us that some Montanists adopted the views of Noetus. He seems to have written some works, from which Hippolytus often quotes.
[G.T.S.]
# Dictionary of Christian Biography and Literature to the End of the Sixth Century/Nomus, leading personage at Constantinople

Nomus, a leading personage at Constantinople in the latter years of Theodosius II., with whom he was all-powerful— τὰ τῆς οἰκουμένης ἐν χερσὶν ἔχων πράγματα (Labbe, Concil. iv. 407). Nomus filled in succession all the highest offices in the state. In 443 he was "magister officiorum" (Cod. Theod. Nov. p. 14, 1); consul in 445; patrician in 449, the year of the infamous "Latrocinium." He was the confidential friend of Chrysaphius the eunuch and shared with him the government of the emperor and the empire. Through them Dioscorus of Alexandria and the Eutychian doctrines he supported were brought into favour at court. Through Nomus the feeble Theodosius was induced to publish a decree in 448 confining Theodoret to his own diocese. The interesting series of letters, to the principal men of the empire, in which Theodoret, while observing the mandate, protested against its arbitrary character, contains several addressed to Nomus. With the death of Theodosius and the accession of Marcian and Pulcheria, Nomus's power sensibly waned. He took, however, a leading position as a high state official at the council of Chalcedon (Labbe, iv. 77, 475, etc.), where a libel or petition against him was presented by a nephew of Cyril, Athanasius by name, a presbyter of Alexandria, accusing him of violence and extortion which had reduced Athanasius and his relatives to beggary and caused his brother to die of distress (ib. 407–410).
[E.V.]
# Dictionary of Christian Biography and Literature to the End of the Sixth Century/Nonna, mother of Gregory Nazianzen

Nonna (1), mother of Gregory Nazianzen; a lady of good birth, the child of Christian parents, Philtatius and Gorgonia, brought up in the practice of the Christian virtues, of which she was so admirable an example. Her son describes in glowing terms the holiness of her life and the beautiful conformity of all her actions to the highest standards of Christian excellence. To her example, aided by her prayers, he ascribes the conversion of his father from the strange medley of paganism and Christianity which formed the tenets of the Hypsistarian sect, to which by birth he belonged (Greg. Naz. Or. ii, 19; Carm. 1, 2). We know of two other children of the marriage, a sister named Gorgonia, probably older than Gregory, and a brother named Caesarius. Nonna's death probably occurred on Aug. 5 (on which day she is commemorated both by the Greek and Latin churches) in 374 (Orat. 19, p. 315; Carm. 1, p. 9). Tillem. Mém. eccl. t. ix. pp. 309–311, 317, 318, 322, 385, 397.
[E.V.]
# Dictionary of Christian Biography and Literature to the End of the Sixth Century/Oceanus, a Roman of noble birth

Oceanus, a Roman of noble birth, connected with Fabiola and the Julian family; a friend of Jerome, Augustine, and Pammachius. He probably became known to Jerome during his stay in Rome in 383–385. He first appears as making a public protest against Carterius, a Spanish bp. who, having married before his baptism and lost his wife, had, as a Christian, married a second wife. Jerome points out that there is no law condemning such marriages and urges silence; c. 397. Either in 397 or 396 Oceanus, with Fabiola, visited Jerome at Bethlehem, whence they were driven by fear of Hunnish invasion. While there, he apparently met Rufinus, who, according to Jerome's insinuation (adv. Ruf. iii. 4), had an Origenistic document placed in Oceanus's room in Fabiola's house, hoping to identify him with that tendency. Rufinus having gone to Rome (397) and having published shortly afterwards his edition of Origen's Περὶ Ἀρχῶν, Oceanus and Pammachius watched his actions with critical eyes, and, on the appearance of the work, wrote to Jerome (Hieron. Ep. 83) asking him to deny the insinuation of Rufinus that he was only completing a work begun by Jerome, and to furnish them with a true translation of Origen's work. Oceanus, no doubt, took part in the subsequent proceedings which led to the condemnation of Origenism at Rome. On the death of Fabiola, c. 399, Jerome wrote to Oceanus her Epitaphium (Ep. 77), accompanied by his exposition, which had been intended for her, of the 42 resting-places of the Israelites in the desert. In 411 Oceanus, who had maintained his correspondence with Jerome, and possessed his books against Rufinus and other of his works, interested himself specially in the Pelagian controversy on the origin of souls. Jerome writes to Marcellinus and Anapsychius (Ep. 126) who had consulted him on this, referring them to Oceanus as one thoroughly "learned in the law of the Lord" and capable of instructing them. Augustine writes to Oceanus in 416 on the same subject, and on the reproof of St. Peter by St. Paul at Antioch.
[W.H.F.]
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Birch, William

1904 Errata appended.
​BIRCH, WILLIAM (d. 1794?), enamel painter and engraver, was born in Warwick about 1760, and practised in London. In 1781 and the following year he exhibited enamels at the Royal Academy, and in 1785 received a medal from the Society of Arts for the excellence of his work in this kind, and the improvements which he had introduced into it. He was a fairly good engraver, as is shown by his one published work, ‘Délices de la Grande Bretagne,’ which contains views of some of the principal seats and chief places of interest in England. There is one charming etching by Birch, 'The Porcupine Inn Yard, Rushmore Hill, etched upon the spot.' This little work is quiet, natural, balanced, and thoroughly picturesque. Unhappily we have not much more of this quality. In 1794 he went to America. He settled in Philadelphia, and painted a portrait of Washington. On the title of his work above referred to he describes himself as 'enamel painter, Hampstead Heath.' The date of his death is uncertain.
[Birch's Délices de la Grande Bretagne. 1791; Redgrave’s Dict. of Artists, 1878.]
E. R.
Dictionary of National Biography, Errata (1904), p.28 N.B.— f.e. stands for from end and l.l. for last line
| Page | Col. | Line | |
| 70 | i | 26 f.e. | Birch, William: for (d. 1794?) read (1755-1834) |
| | | 24 f.e. | for about 1760 read 9 April 1755 |
| | | 4-3 f.e. | for the date . . . uncertain read He died at Philadelphia 7 Aug. 1834. His MS. journal is in the possession of Mr. Charles H. Hart of Philadelphia |
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Birch, Jonathan

​BIRCH, JONATHAN (1783–1847), translator of 'Faust,' was born in Holborn, London, on 4 July 1783. When a lad he had a strong desire to become a sculptor, but in October 1798 he was apprenticed to an uncle in the city. In 1803 he entered the house of John Argelander, a timber-merchant at Memel, where he remained until Argelander's death, in 1812, much of his time being employed in travelling in Russia, Sweden, and Denmark. In 1807 the three eldest sons of Frederick William III of Prussia took refuge with Argelander for eighteen months, and became warmly attached to Birch, in whose company they took delight.
In 1812 Birch returned to England and turned to literary pursuits. In 1823 he married Miss Esther Brooke, of Lancaster, who bore him five children, of whom only two survived, a boy and a girl. His son, Charles Bell Birch, A.R.A., became a sculptor.
After many minor essays in literature he published 'Fifty-one Original Fables, with Morals and Ethical Index. Embellished with eighty-five original designs by Robert Cruickshank; also a translation of Plutarch's "Banquet of the Seven Sages," revised for this work,' London, 1833, 8vo. The preface is signed 'Job Crithannah,' an anagram of the author's name. The Crown Prince of Prussia accepted a copy, and renewed the friendship formed at Memel. Birch next produced 'Divine Emblems; embellished with etchings on copper [by Robert Cruickshank], after the fashion of Master Francis Quarles. Designed and written by Johann Albricht, A.M.' (another anagram of Jonathan Birch), London, 1838, 8vo ; Dublin, 1839, 8vo. On sending the crown prince a copy he received in return a gold medal, of which only thirty were struck, and given by the prince to his particular friends. He now undertook a complete translation of Goethe's 'Faust,' being the first to attempt the two parts. The first was published in 1839, and dedicated to the crown prince, who, on coming to the throne in 1840 as Frederick William IV, sent him the 'great gold medal of homage.' In 1841 Birch was elected 'foreign honorary member of the ​Literary Society of Berlin,' the only other Englishman thus honoured being Thomas Carlyle. The second part of 'Faust' was published in 1843, and dedicated to the King of Prussia. Birch also translated, from the German of Bishop Eylert, two works upon Frederick William III. In 1846 the King of Prussia offered him a choice of apartments in three of his palaces. He chose Bellevue, near Berlin, mainly for the sake of his son's artistic studies. At the end of 1846 he settled in Prussia, and completed his last work, a translation of the 'Nibelungen Lied,' Berlin, 1848, 8vo. He was greatly aided by Professor Carl Lachmann, whose text he mainly followed, and by the brothers Grimm. While his work was still in the press he was taken ill, and died at Bellevue on 8 Sept. 1847.
[Private information.]
T. C.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Birch, Richard James Holwell

​BIRCH, Sir RICHARD JAMES HOLWELL (1803–1875), general, came of a well-known Anglo–Indian family, and was the son of Richard Comyns Birch, of the Bengal civil service, and afterwards of Writtle, Essex, who was a grandson of John Zephaniah Holwell, of the Bengal civil service, author of the famous account of his sufferings in the Black Hole of Calcutta. Birch was born in 1803, and received a commission as an ensign in the Bengal infantry in 1821. His numerous circle of relations in India insured his rapid promotion and almost continuous service on the staff, and after acting as deputy-judge advocate-general at Meerut, and as assistant secretary in the military department at Calcutta, he was appointed judge-advocate-general to the forces in Bengal in 1841. In the same capacity he accompanied the army in the first Sikh war (1845–6), was mentioned in despatches, and was promoted lieutenant-colonel for his services. In the second Sikh war (1849) he was appointed to the temporary command of a brigade after the battle of Chillianwallah. He distinguished himself at the battle of Goojerat, and was made a C.B. in 1849, and continued to serve as brigadier-general in Sir Colin Campbell's campaign in the Kohat pass in 1850. He then reverted to his appointment at headquarters, and in 1852 received the still more important post of secretary to the Indian government in the military department. He was promoted colonel in 1854, major-general in 1858, and still held the secretaryship when the Indian mutiny broke out in 1857. His services at this time were most valuable, though he never left Calcutta, for his thorough knowledge of the routine duties of his office and his long official experience enabled him to give valuable advice to Lord Canning, the governor-general, and to Sir Colin Campbell when he arrived to take up the command in chief. These services were recognised by his being made a K.C.B. in 1860, and in 1861 he left India. In the following year he was promoted lieutenant-general and retired on full pay and on 25 Feb. 1875 he died at Venice, aged 72.
[Hart's Army List; Times. 10 March 1875; East India Register and Army List]
H. M. S.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Bond, William

​BOND, WILLIAM (d. 1735), dramatist, was, according to the ‘London Magazine’ (1735), ‘a near relation to the Lord Viscount age, and an author of several poetical pieces.' The following are known as works of his: 1. A very poor tragedy called ‘The Tuscan Treaty, or Tarquin’s Overthrow’ (Miscellaneous Plays, vol. xlvi.), announced 'as having been ‘Written by a gentleman lately deceased and altered by W. Bond.' It was unsuccessfully acted at Covent Garden in 1733. 2. A translation of G. Buchanan's ‘Impartial Account of the Affairs of Scotland from the Death of James V to the Tragical End of Earl Murray.' Of this work two editions were published in 1722, one with and one without the Latin text. 3. Contributions to the 'Plain Dealer,' conducted in 1724 by Aaron Hill, who also supplied him ​with a prologue to the ‘Tuscan Treaty.’ Dr. Johnson says that Bond and Hill wrote the ‘Plain Dealer,’ each six essays by turns, and the character of the work was observed regularly to rise in Hill’s week and fall in Bond's; whence Savage called them the two contending powers of light and darkness. He died in June 1735 in a fainting fit, into which he fell while acting Lusignan in Aaron Hill’s adaptation of Voltaire’s ‘Zaire,’ at the great room in York Buildings, before this play was brought out at Drury Lane. He is said to have been a man of little ability, who yet depended chiefly for subsistence on his literary exertions. He was a native of Suffolk.
[Biographia Dramtica, articles ‘Bond’ and ‘Zara;’ the Prompter, No. 60; L’Observateur François à Londres; London Magazine, June 1735; Johnson’s Life of Savage.]
E. S. S.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Bone, Robert Trewick

​BONE, ROBERT TREWICK (1790–1840), painter, was a younger brother of Henry Pierce Bone [q. v.], and was born on 24 Sept. 1790. He also was a pupil of his father, with whom he resided for twenty years. He first exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1813, and again in 1815, but ceased doing so after 1838. In 1817 he gained a premium of 100l. from the British Institution for his painting of ‘a Lady with her Attendants at the Bath.’ He does not appear to have done much, if anything, in enamel painting, but confined himself almost exclusively to sacred, classic, and domestic subjects. His works, though generally small, are tasteful and sparkling, and he was a member of the Sketching Club. He died from the effects of an accident on 5 May 1840.
[Redgrave's Dictionary of British Artists; Bibliotheca Cornubiensis; writer's Collections of Artists’ Drawings, &c.]
W. H. T.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Bond, Martin

​BOND, MARTIN (1558–1643), merchant of London, was son of William Bond, an alderman of London and merchant adventurer, who was sheriff in 1567; owned Crosby Place, Bishopsgate, to which he added a turret; died 30 May 1576, and was buried 14 June in St. Helen's Church, Bishopsgate. The epitaph on the monument erected to his memory describes him as 'most famous in his age for his great adventures both by sea and land.' Martin Bond was born in 1858. He was, like his father a merchant adventurer, and belonged to the Haberdashers' Company. As a captain of the train-bands of the city he marched at their head to Tilbury in 1588, and remained chief captain till his death. He laid the foundation-stone of the new Aldgate in 1607. Some Roman coins were found, and Bond caused two to be copied as medallions in stone, and placed them as decorations on ​the outer side of the gate. From 1619 to 1636 he was treasurer of St. Bartholomew's Hospital, and became one of the benefactors of the foundation. His portrait in oils is preserved in the hospital, and also a pewter inkstand bearing his arms and the inscription 'the gift of Mr. Martin Bond, 1619.' He died in May 1643, and has an elaborate monument (erected by William Bond, a nephew, and renovated by the Haberdashers' Company in 1868) in the north aisle of St. Helen's Church, Bishopsgate. On it he is represented sitting in armour in a tent, outside which a servant holds his horse, and two sentries are on guard with matchlocks in their hands.
[J. E. Cox's Annals of St. Helen's, Bishopsgate, 63, 64, 84, 96, 97, 333, 423; Stow's Survey, ed. 1633.]
N. M.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Bond, Thomas

​BOND, THOMAS (1765–1837), topographical writer, born at Looe, Cornwall, in 1765, was nominally in the profession of the law, but, having a private fortune, never sought practice. In 1789 he was appointed town clerk of East Looe, and also (a separate office) town clerk of West Looe, the same year that a relative and namesake was elected mayor of East Looe. In 1823, while still in office, he published ‘Topographical and Historical Sketches of the Boroughs of East and West Looe, in the County of Cornwall, with an account of the Natural and Artificial Curiosities and Pictorial Scenery of the Neighbourhood,’ eight plates and several woodcuts, London, 1823, 8vo, pp. 308. This work, written as a ‘labour of love,’ describes seaside places near Plymouth, which were popular resorts in summer for health and recreation. The views of Looe are by his relative, Mrs. Davies Gilbert. Bond was a great reader,and his knowledge of the law of tenures was extensive. He died much respected at East Looe 18 Dec. 1837, and., being unmarried, left the greater portion of his property to Davies Gilbert, Esq. F.R.S., one of his nearest relatives.
[Courtney and Boase's Bibl. Cornub. i. 32; Gent. Mag. 1858, p. 667.]
J. W.-G.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Bone, Henry Pierce

​BONE, HENRY PIERCE (1779–1855), artist, son of Henry Bone [q. v.], was born on 6 Nov. 1779, and received his art education from his father. Hs commenced as a painter in oils, and when twenty years of age exhibited some portraits, In 1806 he began painting classical subjects, and continued doing so until 1833, when he reverted to his father's art of enameling. This mode of painting he continued to practise until he ceased to exhibit, which was in 1855, the year of his death, In 1846 he published a catalogue of his enamels. He was appointed successively enamel painter to Queen Adelaide, and to her present majesty, also to the late prince consort; and he died at 22 Percy Street, Bedford Square, on 21 Oct. 1855. Though his enamels did not attain the supreme excellence of his father’s, they display very considerable ability, and he was not only a rapid sketcher, but his designs for classical and scripture subjects were bold and skilful.
[Redgrave’s Dictionry of Artists of the English School; Bibliotheca Cornubiensis; writer's Collections of Artists’ Drawings, &c.]
W. H. T.