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

​SETTLE, THOMAS (fl. 1575–1593), divine, born about 1555, matriculated as pensioner at Queens' College, Cambridge, in 1575, but left college without a degree. He was ordained by Bishop Freake of Norwich, and was minister at Boxted in Suffolk. In May 1586 he was cited before Archbishop Whitgift at Lambeth to answer six charges: that he did not observe the order in the Book of Common Prayer, that he did not use the sign of the cross in baptism, that he did not marry with the ring, that he frequented conventicles, that he denied the validity of private baptism, that he denied the descent into hell. Settle acknowledged his contumacy on the last charge, and refused subscription to any rites or ceremonies. After a stormy dispute with Whitgift he was committed to the Gatehouse, where he was kept prisoner till 1592. On his release he joined the Brownists' congregation, which met privately in London, and was arrested again before the end of the year, while attending a meeting at the house of George Johnson in St. Nicholas Lane. On 6 April 1593 he was brought before the high commission and required to take the oath ex officio, but absolutely declined. He admitted that he had separated himself from the established church for about a year, that he had not taken the sacrament in his parish church for three years, and that he had opposed the discipline of the church for seven years; but he declined to say from whom he had imbibed his opinions. He confessed to being present at illegal religious meetings, and refused to attend public service. He was sent back to prison, and nothing further is recorded of him. He may have been the author of ‘Tho. Settle his Catechisme,’ London, 8vo, n.d.; licensed to Henry Carr and Henry Hasselup, 22 May 1587. There is no reason to identify him with the Settle ​mentioned by R. Bancroft (Daungerous Positions, p. 81).
[Brook's Lives of the Puritans, ii. 46–8; Cooper's Athenæ Cantabr. ii. 402; Dexter's Congregationalism, pp. 256n., 274; Hanbury's Historical Memorials, i. 87 n., 88; Ames's Typogr. Antiq. ed. Herbert, p. 1338; Neal's Puritans, i. 388–9; Strype's Annals, 1824, iv. 134.]
R. B.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Rotherham, John

​ROTHERHAM, Sir JOHN (1630–1696?), lawyer, son of Thomas Atwood Rotherham, vicar of Pirton, Hertfordshire, and of Boreham, Essex, was baptised at Luton, Bedfordshire, on 21 Oct. 1630. He belonged to the ancient house of Rotherham of Farleigh, near Luton, and was admitted fellow of Lincoln College, Oxford, as of kin to its second founder, Archbishop Rotherham, in 1648. He matriculated on 9 Feb. 1648–9, graduated B.A. on 5 June 1649, and proceeded M.A. on 6 May 1652. In 1653 he was incorporated at Cambridge.
On 2 Aug. 1647 Rotherham was admitted a member of Gray's Inn, where he was called to the bar on 18 May 1655, was elected ancient in November 1671, and treasurer in 1685–6. Rotherham was the draughtsman of the plea put in by Algernon Sidney [q. v.] on his trial for high treason, 7 Nov. 1683; and was one of the counsel retained by Henry Ashurst [q. v.] for the defence of Richard Baxter [q. v.] on 30 May 1685. The indictment was for seditious libel, grounded on the animadversions on episcopacy contained in the ‘Paraphrase of the New Testament.’ Rotherham attempted to argue that Baxter's attack was directed exclusively against the prelates of the church of Rome, but the absurd contention was laughed out of court by Jeffreys. In January 1687–8 he was made high steward of Maldon, under the new charter granted by James II; he was made serjeant-at-law on 18 June, and baron of the exchequer on 7 July of the same year. He was knighted six days later, and on 23 Oct. following he took the oath and test.
He carried his hatred of episcopacy on to the bench, and on the acquittal of the seven bishops sneered at them as writers of bad ​English, and fit to be ‘corrected by Dr. Busby for false grammar.’ On the revolution he resumed his practice at the bar. Rotherham was a friend of Robert Boyle [q. v.], who made him one of the trustees of his lecture (cf. Evelyn, Diary, May 1696). He died about 1696. He was lord from 1684 of the rectory manor of Waltham Abbey, to which succeeded his son, John Rotherham, recorder of Maldon.
J. M. R.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Roucliffe, Brian

​ROUCLIFFE, Sir BRIAN (d. 1494), judge, was eldest of the four sons of Guy Roucliffe, by his wife Joan, daughter of Thomas Burgh of Kirtlington, Nottinghamshire. His grandfather was Sir Robert de Roucliffe (d. 1381), and his father was recorder of York. Brian adopted the legal profession, and probably practised in the court of exchequer, though his name does not appear in the yearbooks. On 2 Nov. 1458 he was raised to the bench as third baron of the exchequer. His judicial functions did not prevent his undertaking other legal work, and he frequently acted as counsel to Sir William Plumpton [q. v.] His appointment was confirmed on Edward IV's accession in 1461, and again on Henry's restoration in 1470. He officiated at the coronation of Richard III on 26 June 1483, and was on that occasion promoted second baron of the exchequer. His commission as second baron was renewed on 24 Sept. 1485, and on 12 Oct. following he was granted custody of the manor of ‘Forset,’ Yorkshire. He died on 24 March 1494. Through his mother he acquired the manor of Cowthorp, Yorkshire, which he made his seat. In 1458 he founded and built the parish church, where he lies buried. A curious monument, representing Roucliffe and his wife holding the model of a church between them, was extant, though much defaced, in 1840 (Archæol. Journal, i. 69). Roucliffe's will, which shows him to have been a man of wealth and intelligence, as well as piety, is printed in ‘Testamenta Eboracensia,’ iv. 102–7. Several of his letters are printed in the ‘Plumpton Correspondence.’ He married Jane, daughter of Sir Richard Hamerton, and his son, Sir John Roucliffe (d. 1531), married Margaret, granddaughter and heir of Sir William Plumpton, and was thereby involved in the protracted litigation over the Plumpton estates [see Plumpton, Sir William].
A. F. P.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Rothwell, Richard

​ROTHWELL, RICHARD (1800–1868), painter, was born at Athlone, Ireland, in 1800, and received his art training in Dublin, where he worked for a few years. On the incorporation of the Royal Hibernian Academy in 1826 he was nominated one of the original associates, and in the same year was elected a full member. Soon afterwards he removed to London, where he became Sir Thomas Lawrence's chief assistant. On the death of Lawrence, Rothwell was entrusted with the completion of his commissions, and had a fair prospect of succeeding to his practice; but he was unable to sustain the reputation which his early works, painted in the manner of Lawrence, gained for him. From 1830 to 1849 he was a frequent exhibitor at the Royal Academy of portraits and fancy subjects, the former class including the Duchess of Kent, the Prince of Leiningen, Viscount Beresford, William Huskisson, and other distinguished persons. During the same period he contributed also to the Royal Hibernian Academy. About 1846 Rothwell returned to Dublin, where, having resigned in 1837, he was re-elected R.H.A. in 1847. From 1849 to 1854 he was again in London, and then removed to Leamington, whence he sent to the Royal Academy in 1858 ‘A Remembrance of the Carnival;’ in 1860 two portraits, and in 1862 ‘The Student's Aspiration.’ The last years of his life were passed abroad, first in Paris and then in Rome, where he died in September 1868. Rothwell's portraits of Huskisson and Lord Beresford are in the National Portrait Gallery, London, and those of himself and Matthew Kendrick, R.H.A., in the National Gallery of Ireland. Three of his fancy subjects, ‘The Little Roamer,’ ‘Noviciate Mendicant,’ and ‘The very Picture of Idleness,’ are in the South Kensington Museum. His ‘Fisherman's Children’ was engraved by S. Sangster for the Irish Art Union.
F. M. O'D.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Rothwell, Edward

​ROTHWELL, EDWARD (d. 1731), dissenting minister, was born in the parish of Bury, Lancashire. On 30 Aug. 1689 he entered the academy of Richard Frankland [q. v.] at Rathmell, Yorkshire. Here he was ​ordained on 7 June 1693 as minister for Poulton-in-the-Fylde, Lancashire, by Frankland, Oliver Heywood [q. v.], and others. From Poulton he removed to Tunley, near Wigan. He lived at Wrightington, near Wigan, and had divinity students as his pupils. From 1711, still retaining the charge of Tunley (where he was living in 1713), he ministered also in Bass House, Walmersley, near Bury, Lancashire, to a congregation originally gathered by Henry Pendlebury [q. v.] Rothwell, who had property in the district, gave land at Holcombe for a nonconformist chapel; this, since known as Dundee Chapel, was opened on 5 Aug. 1712, though not conveyed to trustees till 1722. Here in 1717 Rothwell had five hundred and seventy hearers, including twenty-three county voters. Many of his congregation lived in Bury, and for their accommodation a chapel was built (1719) in Silver Street, Bury, Rothwell, assisted by Thomas Braddock (1695–1770), who had been his pupil, served both chapels. He still continued to take pupils in philosophy and theology. He died on 8 Feb. 1731, and was buried on 10 Feb. in his chapel at Holcombe.
He published: 1. ‘Pædobaptismus Vindicatus,’ 1693, 4to; answered by Benjamin Keach [q. v.] 2. ‘A Vindication of Presbyterian Ordination and Baptism,’ 1721, 8vo: a curious treatise, occasioned by the recent rebaptising of dissenters at Bury parish church and elsewhere; Rothwell argues (p. 58) that ‘either presbyterian baptisms are good or King Charles was no Christian.’
A. G.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Rye, Edward Caldwell

​RYE, EDWARD CALDWELL (1832–1885), entomologist, eldest son of Edward Rye, a London solicitor of Norfolk descent, was born at Golden Square on 10 April 1832. His sister, Miss M. S. Rye, was well known in connection with female pauper emigration; and his brother, Mr. Walter Rye, wrote voluminously on Norfolk antiquities. Originally intended to succeed to his father's business, Edward was educated at King's College School, but, tiring of routine work, he devoted his life to the study of natural history, and especially of entomology. He made valuable collections of the English coleoptera (to the list of which he added very many species). He was the author of a useful work on ‘British Beetles’ (1866), was co-editor of the ‘Entomologists' Monthly Magazine,’ and for several years was editor of the ‘Zoological Record.’ Later in life he became librarian of the Royal Geographical Society and was a constant contributor to the ‘Field,’ and for some years honorary secretary of the geographical section of the British Association. He died of smallpox on 7 Feb. 1885, in his fifty-third year.
He married the daughter of G. R. Waterhouse, F.R.S., of the British Museum, the writer on mammalia.
[Private information.]
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Ryland, Herman Witsius

​RYLAND, HERMAN WITSIUS (1760–1838), Canadian statesman, born at Northampton in 1760, was younger son of John Collett Ryland [q. v.] and brother of John Ryland (1753–1825) [q. v.] He was educated for the army, and in 1781 was assistant deputy-paymaster-general to the forces under Burgoyne and Cornwallis in America, rendering important service at New York prior to its final evacuation in 1782. He returned to England with Sir Guy Carleton (afterwards first Lord Dorchester) [q. v.], who had negotiated the peace. In 1793 Lord Dorchester, being appointed governor-in-chief of British North America, took Ryland with him to Canada as his civil secretary; and thenceforward for many years Ryland's influence on the administration of affairs in Lower Canada was paramount. He was continued as secretary by Dorchester's successor, General Robert Prescott [q. v.], in 1797, and again (after serving with Sir Robert Miles, the lieutenant-governor) by Sir James Craig on 22 Oct. 1807. To Craig he seems to have been chiefly attached. He became also clerk of the executive council, clerk of the crown in chancery, and treasurer for the jesuits' estates; and he received a ​pension in respect of his services prior to 1804.
Ryland, a somewhat prejudiced Englishman, set himself to establish in Canada the supremacy of the crown and the church of England, and to anglicise the French Canadians. He was the fountain-head of the opposition to Archbishop Joseph Octave Plessis [q. v.]; in constant fear of ‘demagogues’ and ‘sedition,’ he advised the seizure of the reactionary press in March 1810. Soon afterwards he was despatched to England on a special mission, the objects of which were to obtain an alteration of the constitution of Lower Canada, to appropriate to the use of the crown the revenues of the jesuits' estates, and to induce the government to seize the patronage of the Roman catholic bishop of Quebec. On 31 July 1810 he arrived at Plymouth, and was admitted to a meeting of the cabinet on the subject of his mission on 22 Aug.; but after about two years' delay he returned unsuccessful to Canada, arriving at Quebec on 19 Aug. 1812. Meanwhile Sir James Craig had retired, and Sir George Prevost (1767–1816) [q. v.] took his place. The new governor did not approve Ryland's views, and, though Ryland came back with a recommendation from Lord Liverpool and with the honour of a seat in the legislative council, he did not retain his old position of secretary more than a few months, resigning in April 1813.
Henceforth Ryland's influence was chiefly felt in the legislative council; but after 1820 he appeared little in public life. He died at his seat, Beauport, near Quebec, on 20 July 1838. He was married, and left children settled in Canada. A son, George Herman Ryland (d. 24 Sept. 1883), was clerk of the legislative council.
C. A. H.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Ryland, John (1717?-1798)

​RYLAND, JOHN (1717?–1798), friend of Dr. Johnson, was born in London, but spent his early years at Stratford-upon-Avon. Though bred for the law, he took to business, and for many years was a West India merchant on Tower Hill, London. As a young man he spent much of his time with John Hawkesworth [q. v.], and subsequently married his sister. Through this relationship he contributed to the ‘Gentleman's Magazine,’ and during Hawkesworth's occasional absences from London he saw the periodical through the press. He died at Cooper's Row, Crutched Friars, London, on 24 June 1798, aged 81.
Ryland was acquainted with Dr. Johnson for many years, and was the last surviving friend of his early life. He belonged to the old club that met weekly in 1749 at the King's Head in Ivy Lane and was broken up about 1753, and he was one of the four surviving members that dined together in 1783. He also belonged to the Essex Head Club, which Johnson formed at the close of his life. He constantly visited the doctor in his last illness, he supplied Nichols with several of the particulars which are inserted in the article in the ‘Gentleman's Magazine’ for 1784 (p. 957), and attended the funeral. Several of Dr. Johnson's letters to him are included in the correspondence edited by Dr. G. B. Hill, but he is seldom mentioned by Boswell, possibly because these letters were withheld from publication in Boswell's ‘Life.’ In religion a dissenter, in politics a staunch whig, Ryland was a good scholar, and expressed himself well both in speech and in writing; he saw many aspects of life and owned a rich fund of anecdote.
W. P. C.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Ryland, Jonathan Edwards

​RYLAND, JONATHAN EDWARDS (1798–1866), man of letters, only son of John Ryland (1753–1825) [q. v.], by his second wife, was born at Northampton on 5 May 1798. His earlier years were spent in Bristol, and he was educated at the baptist college, over which his father presided, and at Edinburgh University, where he was a pupil of Dr. Thomas Brown. For a time he was mathematical and classical tutor at Mill Hill College, and for a short period he taught at Bradford College. He afterwards moved to Bristol, and in 1835 went to Northampton, where he remained for the rest of his life. The degree of M.A. was in 1852 conferred upon him by Brown University, Rhode Island. He died at Waterloo, Northampton, on 16 April 1866. On 4 Jan. 1828 he married Frances, daughter of John Buxton of Northampton.
Ryland was well acquainted with Hebrew, Latin, Greek, and German, but he was shy and reserved in manner, and did not do himself justice. He chiefly employed himself in editing and translating the works of others. His earliest compositions were inserted in the ‘Visitor’ (Bristol, 1823); he was a writer in the ‘Baptist Magazine,’ and he edited vols. ix.–xii. of the fifth series of the ‘Eclectic Review.’ He wrote for Kitto's ‘Cyclopædia of Biblical Literature,’ and he published in 1856 a ‘Memoir’ of Kitto. In 1864 he produced ‘Wholesome Words; or One Hundred Choice Passages from Old Authors.’ To the eighth edition of the ‘Encyclopædia Britannica’ he contributed memoirs of John ​ Foster, Andrew Fuller, John Kitto, Robert Robinson, Schleiermacher, and Schwartz, and the articles on Northampton and Northamptonshire.
The translations, by Ryland, included Pascal's ‘Thoughts on Religion,’ Jacobi on the ‘General Epistle of St. James,’ Felix Neff's ‘Dialogues on Sin and Salvation,’ Sartorius's ‘Lectures on Christ,’ Semisch's ‘Life of Justin Martyr,’ Gaussen's ‘Canon of the Holy Scriptures,’ Tholuck's ‘Guido and Julius,’ Tholuck's ‘Old Testament and the New,’ Barth's ‘Weaver of Quelbrunn,’ Lange's ‘Life of Christ’ (vol. ii.), two treatises by Hengstenberg, and several volumes by Neander on the ‘History of the Church and its Dogmas.’ Ryland edited the ‘Pastoral Memorials’ of his father (1826–8), and the ‘Life and Correspondence of John Foster’ (1846, 2 vols.). He also edited collections of Foster's ‘Essays’ and ‘Lectures.’
W. P. C.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Liart, Matthew

​LIART, MATTHEW (1736–1782?), engraver, born in 1736 in Compton Street, Soho, was son of a sausage-maker, and grandson of a barber, belonging to a family of French Huguenot refugees settled in Soho. Showing a taste for engraving, Liart was apprenticed by his father to S. F. Ravenet [q. v.] the engraver for seven years. He obtained a premium from the Society of Arts in 1764 and also studied at the Royal Academy, where he gained a silver medal for a drawing from the life. His performances as a draughtsman were commended by Benjamin West, P.R.A. Liart was employed by Boydell to engrave ‘Jacob and Laban’ after Pietro da Cortona, and ‘Noah's Sacrifice’ after A. Sacchi; he exhibited proofs of these engravings at the Society of Arts in 1766 and 1767. In 1771 Liart published himself two engravings after B. West, ‘Cephalus and Procris,’ and ‘Venus lamenting the Death of Adonis.’ He also engraved ‘The Joyous Peasant,’ after A. van Ostade, and some designs for furniture. He died about 1782 in Compton Street, and was buried at Paddington. Lawrenson drew his portrait.
[J. T. Smith's Nollekens and his Times, ii. 117; Nagler's Künstler-Lexikon.]
L. C.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Leyson, Thomas

​LEYSON, THOMAS (1549–1608?), poet and physician, was born at Neath in Glamorganshire in 1549. He was educated at Winchester, becoming scholar in 1563. In 1567 he was elected scholar of New College, Oxford, where he was fellow from 1569 to 1586. He graduated B.A. about March 1571, and proceeded M.A. 1 Feb. 1575–6, and M.B. 8 July 1583. In 1583 he was proctor of the university, and took part in the contest then proceeding between the proctors and the vice-chancellor as to the appointment of the clerk of the market. At Oxford Leyson was famed for his Latin verses. When Albertus à Lasco, nephew of John Laski [q. v.], visited Oxford in 1583, Leyson disputed before him. Leaving Oxford he settled at Bath and practised physic, and died there some time after 1607. He was buried in St. James's Church, Bath. Leyson was a friend of Sir John Harrington and Sir Edward Stradling. Stradling's house, St. Donats Castle in Glamorganshire, suggested a Latin poem by Leyson, which was turned into Welsh by Dr. John Davydd Rhys, and published, without date as ‘Venustum Poema.’ Reference is made in it to the medical knowledge which Leyson acquired about 1580; the date 1569 which has been assigned to the publication (Notes and Queries, 3rd ser. vii. 35) is consequently too early. Wood says that Leyson wrote much Latin verse, which was printed, but it has never been collected.
[Wood's Athenæ Oxon. ed. Bliss, ii. 27; Wood's Fasti Oxon. i. 187, 199, 223, 224; Reg. Univ. Oxford (Oxf. Hist. Soc.), II. i. 252, ii. 126, iii. 10; Kirby's Winchester Scholars, p. 139; Williams's Eminent Welshmen, p. 272.]
W. A. J. A.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Lichfield, William

William Lichefeld in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.
​LICHFIELD, WILLIAM, D.D. (d. 1447), divine and poet, was doctor of divinity of Oxford according to Pits and Wood (MSS.), of Cambridge according to Gascoigne. In his dictionary (Loci e libro veritatum, ed. Thorold Rogers, sub voce ‘Prædicator’) Gascoigne enumerates Lichfield among the most famous preachers of his time. He left behind him at his death no fewer than 3,083 sermons, written in English with his own hand, besides a collection of materials for sermons, entitled ‘Mille Exempla,’ of which there was once a manuscript in Syon Abbey. He wrote also in verse ‘The Complaynt of God to Sinful Man and the Answer of Man,’ and a ‘Dialogue, “of the Passion,” between God and the Penitent Soul’ (both extant in MS. 174, Gonville and Caius Coll. Cambr. ff. 469–82).
Lichfield was rector of the church of All Hallows the Great, London, but the date of his admission thereto does not appear. His predecessor was admitted in 1397 (Newcourt, Repertorium Paroch. Londin. i. 248). Lichfield died 24 Oct. 1448, and was buried under the communion table of his church, ‘having a fair plated stone laid over him,’ with a long inscription in rhyming Latin verse (Stow, Survey of London, book ii. 205, ed. 1720).
[Pits, De Illustr. Angliæ Script. App. p. 854; Tanner's Bibl. Brit.-Hib. p. 480; authorities cited above.]
J. T-t.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Leycester, John

​LEYCESTER, JOHN (fl. 1639), miscellaneous writer, was born in 1598 in Cheshire, of low parentage, although probably connected with Sir Peter Leycester, bart. [q. v.], of that county. At the age of twenty-one (28 Jan. 1619–20) he was matriculated at Brasenose College, Oxford, and graduated B.A. on 28 Feb. 1621–2. He afterwards became a schoolmaster, in which calling he appears to have spent his life. He wrote, among other things, ‘Enchiridion seu Fasciculus Adagiorum Selectissimorum, or a Manual of the Choicest Adagies,’ London, 1623, 8vo (Latin and English); ‘An Excellent Oration of Dr. John Rainolds,’ translated from the Latin, London, 1638, 8vo; and two poems, in single sheets folio, ‘An Elegiacall Epitaph upon the deplored Death of that Religious and Valiant Gentleman, Colonell John Hampden, Esquire,’ London, 1641; and ‘England's Miraculous Preservation Emblematically Described, Erected for a perpetuall Monument to Posterity,’ London, 1646.
[Wood's Athenæ Oxon. ed. Bliss, ii. 636; Oxf. Univ. Reg. (Oxf. Hist. Soc.), II. ii. 381, iii. 406; Brit. Mus. Cat.]
T. B. S.