OpenLLM-France/wikimedia huggingface dataset:
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Render, William

​RENDER, WILLIAM (fl. 1800), grammarian and translator, was a native of Germany. He was a fellow student at Giessen University with a brother of Charlotte (‘Werther's’ innamorata), and was well acquainted with Werther himself. In an appendix to his English version of Goethe's romance, Render relates a conversation he had with Werther at Frankfort-on-the-Main a few days before the latter's suicide. Render was ordained to the Lutheran ministry. Subsequently he acted as ‘travelling guardian to the son of a distinguished personage.’ He then travelled in western Germany with ‘several English gentlemen,’ one of whom may have been Francis, afterwards the Marquis Hastings, to whom, as Earl of Moira, he dedicated his ‘Tour through Germany.’ Render came to England about 1790, and settled in London. He taught German and other languages ‘in several families of distinction.’ Towards the end of the century he also became ‘teacher of German’ at Cambridge, Oxford, and Edinburgh. In 1798 he published an English version of Kotzebue's play ‘Count Benyowsky,’ which reached a second edition within the year (cf. Biogr. Dram. ii. 133). In 1800 Render further translated ‘The Robbers,’ ‘Don Carlos,’ ‘Maria Stuart,’ and ‘The Armenian’ of Schiller. In the following year appeared his version of ‘The Sorrows of Werther,’ the first translation into English made direct from the original German. In the preface he speaks of ‘his friend the baron Goethe,’ whom he may have met at Frankfort. Render's ‘Tour through Germany, particularly along the Banks of the Rhine, Mayne,’ &c., also appeared in 1801, in two octavo volumes. A vocabulary of familiar phrases in German and English is annexed for the benefit of travellers. The remainder of Render's publications were educational manuals. The chief of these, ‘A concise Practical Grammar of the German Tongue’ (1799), was very successful. A fifth edition, corrected and augmented with improvements made by the Berlin Academy, was issued in 1817. As a token of his appreciation of the work, Alexander I of Russia ordered Woronzow, his ambassador in England, to present Render with a ring and an autograph letter. Render also published German ‘Exercises,’ a ‘Pocket Dictionary’ in English and German, and other manuals of instruction in German.
A portrait of Render, engraved by Mackenzie from a drawing by Dighton, is prefixed to his ‘Recreations’ (Ergötzungen) in English and German (1806).
G. Le G. N.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Rendle, William

​RENDLE, WILLIAM (1811–1893), antiquary, son of William Rendle of Polperro, near Fowey, Cornwall, who married, 7 May 1810, Mary, daughter of William and Dorothy Johns of the same place, was born at the village of Millbrook, Cornwall, 18 Feb. 1811. He was trained by his parents in the principles of Wesleyanism. When little more than four he was brought by his father to Southwark in a trader from Fowey, taking six weeks on the passage (Notes and Queries, 7th ser. ii. 201–2). He was educated at the British and Foreign training school, Borough Road, Southwark, and afterwards became its honorary surgeon. When he determined upon a medical career, he was sent to Guy's Hospital, and to the medical school of Edward Grainger [q. v.] in Webb Street, Maze Pond, Southwark.
Rendle passed as L.S.A. in 1832 and M.R.C.S. of England in 1838, and in 1873 he became F.R.C.S. For nearly fifty years he practised in Southwark, and from 1856 to 1859 he was medical officer of health for the parish of St. George the Martyr, Southwark. He lived at Treverbyn, Forest Hill, and died there on 18 Sept. 1893, leaving issue four sons and one daughter.
Rendle was deeply interested in the borough of Southwark, and engaged in laborious researches into its history. His chief works are: ‘Old Southwark and its People’ (1878), and ‘The Inns of Old Southwark and their Associations’ (1888), the last volume being the joint labour of Rendle and Philip Norman, F.S.A., who revised and rearranged the manuscript materials, drew the more important illustrations, and superintended the publication (Notes and Queries, 7th ser. xi. 225). Both works contain much original information. Rendle contributed historical sketches to ‘Etchings of Old Southwark, and a paper on the Bankside, Southwark, and the Globe playhouse to Harrison's ‘Description of England’ for the New Shakspere Society,’ pt. ii. app. i. (1877). The last essay was expanded by him in articles in the ‘Antiquarian Magazine,’ vols. ii., vii., and viii. He contributed to the ‘Antiquary’ (vols. xvii., xix., and xx.) papers of ‘Reminiscences,’ chiefly on Southwark, ‘Early Hospitals of Southwark,’ and ‘Records of St. Thomas's Hospital.’ Articles by him on three Southwark residents—John Harvard, Alleyn, and Henslowe—and on the puritan migration to New England, appeared in the ‘Genealogist,’ vols. i., ii., and iv. of the new series, and in ‘Notes and Queries,’ 7th ser. ii. 401, 442. Many of them were issued separately, that on John Harvard being somewhat amplified in the reproduction (cf. Athenæum, 11 July and 24 Oct. 1885, and 16 Jan. 1886).
[Boase and Courtney's Bibl. Cornub. iii. 1324; Boase's Collectanea Cornub. pp. 187, 793–4.]
W. P. C.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Relph, Joseph

​RELPH, JOSEPH (1712–1743), Cumberland poet, was born on 3 Dec. 1712 at Churchtown, a small estate belonging to his father in the parish of Sebergham, Cumberland. His father, though a freeholder or ‘statesman’ of very small means, procured for his son an excellent education at the celebrated school of the Rev. Mr. Yates of Appleby. At fifteen Josiah went to Glasgow, but soon returned to fill the post of master in the small grammar school of his native village. Taking holy orders, he also succeeded to the incumbency of the parish of Sebergham, a perpetual curacy. This, it is said, was hardly worth 30l. a year; and it is probable that his income at no time exceeded 50l. a year. After working energetically to reform the rough manners of his parishioners and to educate their children, he died at the early age of thirty-two, on 26 June 1743, at his father's house, Churchtown. He was buried at Sebergham, and there is a monument with an inscription to his memory in the church.
Relph's poetical works were first published in 1747 under the title of ‘A Miscellany of Poems,’ Glasgow, 8vo. They were edited by Thomas Sanderson, who supplied a life of the author and a pastoral elegy on his death. A second edition appeared at Carlisle in 1798, with the life of the author, and engravings by Thomas Bewick. Relph's best verses are in the dialect of his native county; they show talent and appreciation of natural beauties.
A. N.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Renaud

​RENAUD, Mrs. (fl. 1787–1829), actress. [See Powell, Mrs.]
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Lewis, Evan

​LEWIS, EVAN (1828–1869), independent minister, born at Carmarthen in 1828, was son of an architect there. He studied at Airedale College to prepare for the independent ministry, and graduated B.A. at London University. He served successively the independent chapels at Barton-on-Humber (1853–8), at Rothwell, Northamptonshire (1858–63), the Oak Street Independent Chapel at Accrington, Lancashire (1863–6), the Grimshaw Street Chapel, Preston (1866–1868), and finally the Offord Street Chapel, Islington, from October 1868 till his death. His later removals were made in search of health, but when settled in London consumption declared itself, and he died on 19 Feb. 1869 at Offord Road. At Preston he formed a day-school in connection with his chapel, and there and at Accrington he was a frequent lecturer on literary and scientific topics. He was fellow of the ​Royal Geographical Society and of the Ethnological Society.
His writings include: 1. ‘The Wines the Saviour made, used, and sanctioned, being an Examination of John ii. 1–11 and Matt. xxvi. 29,’ 12mo, London (1856?). 2. ‘A Plea for the People, or the Force and Fate of England's Juggernaut,’ 8vo, London (1857). 3. ‘The Two Twilights, or the Saint and the Sinner in Life and Death,’ in verse, 8vo, London, 1860. 4. ‘Independency, a Deduction from the Laws of the Universe,’ 8vo, London, 1862. 5. ‘God's Week of Work, being an Examination of the Mosaic six days,’ 8vo, London, 1865.
[Preston Guardian, 24 Feb. 1869, p. 2; Preston Chronicle, 27 Feb. 1869, p. 5; Sutton's Lancashire Authors (Manchester Literary Club), p. 72.]
G. G.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Lewis, Edward

​LEWIS, EDWARD (1701–1784), miscellaneous writer, born in 1701, was probably the son of John Lewis, a farmer of Aldersey, Cheshire, who was educated at Wrexham, was admitted a subsizar of St. John's College, Cambridge, on 3 July 1719, graduated B.A. ​in 1722, and proceeded M.A. in 1726. On 23 Sept. 1725 he was presented by Sir Henry Ashhurst to the rectory of Emmington, Oxfordshire, and 18 July 1726 he became rector of Waterstock in the same county. He was also, he says, chaplain to the Earl of Cadogan. He died 4 Nov. 1784; there is a tablet to his memory in the chancel of Waterstock Church. He married, on 4 Sept. 1725, Elinor Manby, who died 17 Jan. 1766. Lewis's chief works were: 1. ‘Sinners saved by Jesus Christ as preached in Scripture, but Church Fathers and Clergy are no sure Guides to Heaven,’ Oxford, 1756, 8vo; a visitation sermon, in which Lewis showed his distrust of Roman catholic doctrines. 2. ‘The Patriot King, displayed in the Life of Henry VIII, King of England, from the time of his Quarrel with the Pope till his Death,’ London, 1769, 8vo; another edition the same year. This had the same object as No. 1, and is equally violent in tone. Lewis also translated two sermons by Chrysostom, under the title of ‘The Sin of Sodom reproved,’ London, 1772 and 1776, 8vo. Baker considers him to have been the author of ‘The Italian Husband, or the Violated Bed avenged,’ a moral drama, London, 1754, 8vo, chiefly on the ground that ‘the author of the most ridiculous of all dramatic performances’ might also have written Lewis's ‘Patriot King.’ It must be distinguished from Ravenscroft's tragedy of the same name, acted in 1697 (Genest).
[Information kindly furnished by the Rev. J. H. Ashhurst, Robert G. C. Proctor, esq., and J. F. Scott, esq.; Baker's Biog. Dram.; Brit. Mus. Cat.]
W. A. J. A.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Lewis, George (1763-1822)

​LEWIS, GEORGE (1763–1822), dissenting divine, born in 1763 at Trelech, Carmarthenshire, was admitted in 1781 to the Presbyterian College at Carmarthen, where he studied under Robert Gentleman [q. v.] In 1786 he became pastor of a congregation at Carnarvon, from which charge, in 1795, he was called to Llanuwchllyn, Merionethshire. Here he stayed seventeen years, immersed in theological studies, yet finding time to promote and sustain a powerful religious revival. In 1796 he issued his ‘Drych Ysgrythyrol; neu Gorph o Dduwinyddiaeth; yn cynnwys eglurhad a phrawf o amrywiol ganghenau yr athrawiaeth sydd yn ol duwioldeb … Yr ail argraffiad,’ Bala, 1812, 8vo—a small manual of divinity, which, popular from the first, has passed through numerous editions. This was followed in 1802 by his valuable Welsh commentary on the New Testament (‘Esboniad ar y Testament Newydd,’ 7 vols. 8vo), the result of about twenty years' assiduous labour. The work met with almost universal acceptance in Wales, and in 1812 the author was summoned to Wrexham to succeed Jenkin Lewis as head of the Independent Academy or Theological College, originally founded in 1755 at Abergavenny. In 1816 Lewis removed from Wrexham to Llanfyllin, Montgomeryshire, and the board in London consented to move the academy with him. In 1821 it was thought desirable to move it again to Newtown in the same county. Some nine months after the removal, on 5 June 1822, Lewis died at Newtown, and was buried in the New Chapel there, funeral sermons being preached both in English and Welsh.
All Lewis's works were written in the last-mentioned language. His Calvinism was of the type of Dr. John Owen (1616–1683) [q. v.], one of the few Welsh nonconformists by whom he was surpassed in learning. Besides the works mentioned above and some sermons, Lewis wrote:
* ‘Cyfiawnhad trwy Ffydd,’ Machynlleth, 1803, 12mo. ‘Arweinydd i'r Anwybodus, yn cynnwys cyfarwyddiadau i'r anllythyrennog i ddysgu darllen, ynghyd a hyfforddiadau byrrion tu ag at cyrhaedd gwybodaeth o egwyddorion crefydd. … Y pummed argraphiad,’ &c., Gwrecsam, 1812, 12mo.
* ‘Catecism Athrawiaethol ac ymarferol. Neu gasgliad o wirioneddau a dyledswyddau Cristnogol. … Y degfed argraffiad,’ Llanfyllin, 1818, 16mo; new ed. Wrexham, 1870.
[Williams's Eminent Welshmen, pp. 271–2; Evangelical Magazine, xxx. 277–8; Gent. Mag. 1822, ii. 94; Rees's Protestant Nonconformity in Wales, p. 499; Brit. Mus. Cat.]
T. S.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Lewis, Charles James

​LEWIS, CHARLES JAMES (1830–1892), painter, born in 1830 in London, was of Welsh extraction on the father's side. At the age of seventeen he was an exhibitor at the Royal Academy, sending a portrait of ‘Miss Shelton.’ Subsequently he became a painter of small domestic subjects, and latterly of landscape, and his works were very popular. He was an industrious, rapid, and prolific artist, and a frequent exhibitor at the Royal Academy, the Society of British Artists, the British Institution, and other London exhibitions. Lewis's best work was, however, done in water-colour, in which he was very successful. In 1882 he was elected a member of the Royal Institute of Painters in Water-colours. Though he suffered much from illness in his later years, he continued painting up to the last. A portrait of Lewis from a photograph will be found in ‘The Year's Art’ for 1892. He married Miss Shelton in 1854, by whom he left a family, and resided for many years at 122 Cheyne Walk, Chelsea, where he died on 28 Jan. 1892. He was buried at Brookwood Cemetery, Woking.
[Daily Graphic, 8 Feb. 1892; private information.]
L. C.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Johnson, Robert (1770-1796)

​JOHNSON, ROBERT (1770–1796), engraver and water-colour painter, born in 1770 at Shotley, near Ovingham, Northumberland, was son of a joiner and carpenter, who shortly afterwards removed to Gateshead. Through the influence of his mother, who was acquainted with Thomas Bewick [q. v.], Johnson was in 1788 apprenticed to Beilby and Bewick in Newcastle, to learn copperplate-engraving. Johnson executed some unimportant engravings during his apprenticeship, but chiefly occupied himself in sketching from nature in water-colours. He made most of the drawings for Bewick's ‘Fables,’ which for minute excellency have hardly been excelled. His drawings for Bulmer's edition of Goldsmith's and Parnell's ‘Poems’ were cut by Thomas and John Bewick, and published in 1795. A fine drawing by Johnson of St. Nicholas's Church at Newcastle was engraved in wood by Charlton Nesbitt [q. v.]; Johnson made a small copperplate engraving from the same drawing for the publisher, Joseph Whitfield of Newcastle. Having a quarrel with Whitfield he engraved three caricatures of him. On the expiration of his apprenticeship, Johnson abandoned copperplate-engraving, and determined to take to painting. He was employed by Messrs. Morison of Perth to copy the portraits by Jamesone at Taymouth Castle, the seat of the Earl of Breadalbane, for reproduction in Pinkerton's ‘Iconographia Scotica.’ Johnson, however, caught there a chill, from the results of which he died at Kenmore, Perthshire, on 26 Oct. 1796, in his twenty-sixth year. He was buried in Ovingham churchyard, where a monument was erected to his memory by his friends. Two drawings by him were engraved by C. Warren, as illustrations to Gay's ‘Fables’ and Ossian's ‘Poems.’
Johnson, John(d. 1797), wood-engraver, cousin of the above, was born at Stanhope in Weardale, and was also apprenticed to Beilby and Bewick at Newcastle. He assisted in cutting some of the tail-pieces to Bewick's ‘British Birds’ and drew the illustration of the ‘Hermit’ for Bulmer's edition of Parnell's ‘Poems.’ He died at Newcastle about 1797, very soon after he had terminated his apprenticeship.
L. C.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Johnson, Robert (fl.1626)

​JOHNSON, ROBERT (fl. 1626), lutenist and composer, was in 1574 a member of Sir Thomas Kytson's household at Hengrave Hall, Suffolk. In April 1575 he took part in an entertainment provided at Kenilworth by the Earl of Leicester for Queen Elizabeth. Subsequently he came to London, at what date is unknown, but not later than 1610. Dr. Wilson described him as a musician of Shakespeare's company, second only to John Dowland as a performer on the flute, and hence Dr. Rimbault, in his tract ‘Who was Jack Wilson?’ (Lond. 1846), surmises that ‘Wilson may have been Johnson's pupil.’ In 1611 Johnson was in the service of Prince Henry as musician, at an annual salary of 40l. He was afterwards musician to Charles I. His name occurs in a document dated 20 Dec. 1625, which exempts the king's musicians from the payment of certain subsidies, and again in a warrant of 11 July 1626, insuring him a pension of 60l. as ‘king's musician.’
While in London, Johnson composed several pieces for the theatres, including: 1. Music to Middleton's tragi-comedy, ‘The Witch,’ 1610. This is reprinted in Rimbault's ‘Ancient Vocal Music of England,’ as is also a ballad of Johnson's, ‘As I walked forth one summer day.’ 2. Music to Shakespeare's ‘Tempest,’ 1612. Johnson was thus the first to set both of Ariel's songs, ‘Full fadom five thy father lies,’ subsequently harmonised for three voices by Dr. John Wilson in his ‘Cheerful Ayres or Ballads’ (Oxford, 1660), and ‘Where the Bee sucks,’ also harmonised by Wilson, and printed in Hullah's ‘Singers' Library’ (No. 21, 1859) (see Malone, Shakespeare, xv. 61; A List of all the Songs and Passages in Shakespeare which have been set to Music, New Shakspere Soc.) 3. Songs for Beaumont and Fletcher's ‘Valentinian’ and the ‘Mad Lover,’ 1617. 4. Music for Ben Jonson's ‘Masque of the Gipsies,’ 1621. Some of the songs for this remain in manuscript in the Music School, Oxford.
He was one of the contributors to Leighton's ‘Teares or Lamentacions,’ 1614, and the author of a ‘Pavana’ and three ‘Almans,’ included in the manuscript collection known as ‘Queen Elizabeth's Virginal Book,’ and preserved in the Fitzwilliam Museum at Cambridge. Some catches by Johnson in manuscript are in the library of the Sacred Harmonic Society, and the manuscript of an instrumental piece by him is preserved in the Grand-ducal Library of Wolfenbüttel.
[Grove's Dict. of Music, ii. 36, iv. 308, 309; Fétis's Biog. Univ. des Musiciens, iv. 443; Cal. State Papers, Dom., Charles I; Add. MS. 24491, f. 1476 (Hunter's Chorus Vatum); Notes and Queries, 3rd ser. ii. 171; Harmonic Soc. Libr. Cat.; Fitzwilliam Museum Cat.; Wolfenbüttel Herzogl. Bibl. Cat.; Burney's Hist. of Music, ii. 593; Hawkins's Hist. of Music, v. 433; Johnson's works in British Museum.]
R. F. S.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Johnson, Thomas?

Captain Johnson in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.
​JOHNSON, THOMAS? (1772–1839), smuggler and pilot, was in 1798 made prisoner in an affray with the revenue officers on the coast of Sussex, and confined in the new gaol in the Borough in London, from which he made his escape ‘in a most daring way.’ A reward of 500l. was offered for his apprehension, but nothing was heard of him till, in the following year, he offered himself as pilot to the expedition to Holland. His offer was accepted; he received a free pardon, and performed the duty to the great satisfaction of the officers in command, especially, it is said, of Sir Ralph Abercromby. He is described as then launching out into an extravagant way of living and contracting debts to the amount of 11,000l. This was no doubt a gross exaggeration; but in 1802 he was imprisoned for debt in the Fleet prison. At the same time he was charged with having again been guilty of smuggling, and fearing to stand his trial he effected his escape, succeeded in reaching the coast, and in getting a passage to Calais, and thence to Flushing, where he seems to have remained an outlaw, till in 1809 he again offered his services to pilot the Walcheren expedition. For the second time he received a free pardon, and after the satisfactory performance of the duty he was granted a pension of 100l. a year, conditional on his abstaining from his evil practices. He died in Vauxhall Bridge Road, London, in March 1839, aged 67. He is spoken of as ‘Captain’ Johnson.
J. K. L.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Johnson, Robert (d.1559)

​JOHNSON, ROBERT (d. 1559), canon of Worcester, took the degree of bachelor of the civil law at Cambridge in 1531 (Cooper, Athenæ Cantabr. i. 203). He was appointed a canon of the church of Rochester on its refoundation in 1541, and was presented to a canonry in the church of Worcester on 10 July 1544 on the death of Dr. Thomas Baggard, whom he also succeeded as chancellor of that diocese. He had the prebend of Putston Major in the church of Hereford, 9 Sept. 1551, and was in that year incorporated B.C.L. at Oxford (Wood, Fasti, ed. Bliss, i. 133). In 1552 he supported Henry Joliffe in a controversy with Hooper [see Joliffe, Henry]. Johnson was presented by Queen Mary to the rectory of Clun, Shropshire, 10 April 1553; installed prebendary of Stillington in the church of York 22 Feb. 1555–6; collated to the rectory of Bolton Percy, Yorkshire, in July 1558; and was admitted to the prebend of Norwell Overhall in the collegiate church of St. Mary, Southwell, 7 Sept. 1558. He died in 1559.
He was ‘esteemed learned and well read in the theological faculty,’ and wrote a book in Latin against Hooper, but did not publish it. After his death the manuscript came into the hands of his friend Henry Joliffe, who published it at Antwerp, with his own reply to Hooper, in 1564 (4to).
T. C.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Johnson, Robert (fl.1550)

​JOHNSON, ROBERT (fl. 1550), priest, and possibly chaplain to Anne Boleyn, was a composer of motets, part-songs, and pieces for the virginal. His music is among the ​earliest English music for the church extant, and includes the motet, ‘Sabbatum Maria’ (in die Pasce), printed by Burney (ii. 593). The Complaint of Anne Boleyn, a 4, ‘Defyled is my name,’ was printed by Hawkins (iii. 921). There are preserved in manuscript the motets, ‘Ave Dei Patris Filia,’ a 5 (Brit. Mus. Addit. MS. 5059); ‘Gaude Maria Virgo,’ and ‘Dum transisset Sabbatum’ (ib. 17802–5); ‘Benedicam Domino,’ ‘O Lord, with all my heart’ (ib. 4900); ‘Ave plena gratia’ (ib. 29240, in tablature); ‘Ave Domini Filia’ (Royal College of Music Library); ‘A Knell,’ a 8, ‘In nomine’ (Brit. Mus. Addit. MS. 31390). The part-song ‘Tye the Mare, Tom, the Boy,’ is attributed, probably in error, to Johnson in Ritson's ‘Ancient Songs.’ Fétis states that he published a collection of organ fugues, which were re-printed in Amsterdam in 1770.
L. M. M.