OpenLLM-France/wikimedia huggingface dataset:
# Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology/Hermippus 2.

​2. Of Smyrna, a distinguished philosopher, surnamed by the ancient writers the Callimacheian (ὁ Καλλιμάχειος). From this title it may be inferred that he was a disciple of Callimachus about the middle of the third century b.c., while the fact of his having written the life of Chrysippus proves that he lived to about the end of the century. His writings seem to have been of very great importance and value. (Joseph. c. Apion. i. 22; Hieronym. de Vir. Illustr. Praef.) They are repeatedly referred to by the ancient writers, under many titles, of which, however, most, if not all, seem to have been chapters of his great biographical work, which is often quoted under the title ​of Βίοι. It can scarcely be doubted that the following were portions of that work: Περὶ τῶν ἐν Παιδείᾳ λαψάντων (Westermann believes this to have been the title of the whole work), — Περὶ τῶν ἑππὰ Σοφῶν, — Περὶ τῶν Νομοθετῶν, - Βίοι τῶν Φιλοσόφων, of which a great portion was occupied with the life of Pythagoras, and which also contained lives of Empedocles, Heracleitus, Democritus, Zeno, Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Antisthenes, Diogenes, Stilpo, Epicurus, Theophrastus, Heracleides, Demetrius Phalereus, Chrysippus, and others, — Βίοι τῶν Ῥητόρων, under which, again, may be included the titles Περὶ Γοργίου, Περὶ Ἰσοκράτους, Περὶ τῶν Ἰσοκράτους Μαθητῶν. The work seems also to have contained lives of historians (Marcell. Vit. Thuc. 18), and of poets, for we have the title Περὶ Ἱππώνακτος. It is not improbable that the treatise Περὶ τῶν διαπρεψάντων ἐν Παιδείᾳ Δούλων also belonged to the same great work, but the subject creates a suspicion that it may belong to Hermippus of Berytus. There is more uncertainty about the work Περὶ Μάγων and about several miscellaneous quotations on points of geography, music, and astronomy. If the Hermippus whom Athenaeus quotes under the surname of ὁ ἀστρολογίκος (xi. p. 478, a.) be a different person, the work Περὶ Μάγων and the astronomical quotations would naturally be referred to him. Lastly, Stobaeus (Serm. 5) quotes from the work of a certain Hermippus, Συναγωγὴ τῶν καλῶς ἀναφωνηθἐντων ἐξ Ὁμήρου. Perhaps this work should be assigned to Hermippus of Berytus. (Vossius, de Hist. Graec. pp. 138 — 140, ed. Westermann; Fabric. Bibl. Graec. vol. iii. p. 495; Lozynski, Hermippi Smyrnaei Peripatetici Fragmenta, Bonn, 1832, 8vo.; Preller, in Jahn's Jahrbücher für Philologie vol. xvii. p. 159; Clinton, Fast. Hellen. vol. iii. p. 518.)
# Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology/Hermippus 3.

​3. Of Berytus, a grammarian, who flourished under Trajan and Hadrian. By birth he was a slave, but having become the disciple of Philo Biblius, he was recommended by him to Herennius Severus, and attained to great eminence by his eloquence and learning. He wrote many works, among which were an account of dreams in five books (Tertull. De Anim. 46), and a book Περὶ ἑβδομάδος (Clem. Alex. Strom, vi. p. 291). He is also quoted again by Clemens (Strom. i. p. 132), and by Stephanus Byzantinus, s. v. ῾Ράβεννα. (Suid. s. vv. Ἕρμιππος, Νικαγόρας; Vossius, De Hist. Graec. pp.262, 263, ed. Westermann.)
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Gandy, Michael

​GANDY, MICHAEL (1778–1862), architect, younger brother of Joseph Michael Gandy [q. v.] and of John Peter Gandy-Deering [see Deering], was a pupil of James Wyatt, whose office he left on receiving an appointment in the Indian naval service. He was thus employed for some years, and served in India and China. In 1812 he exhibited at the Royal Academy ‘The Burning of Onrust and Kupers Island, Batavia, in 1800, drawn on the spot.’ On his return he was employed for some time in the drawing-office of Mr. Holl, civil architect to the navy, afterwards by Francis Goodwin [q. v.], and eventually by Sir Jeffrey Wyatville [q. v.], with whom he remained for thirty-three years, until Wyatville's death in 1840. In 1842 he published with Benjamin Bond ‘Architectural Illustrations of Windsor Castle (text by J. Britton).’ He died in April 1862.
L. C.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Gandell, Robert

​GANDELL, ROBERT (1818–1887), professor of Arabic at Oxford, youngest son of Thomas Gandell, was born in London in 1818, and educated at the Mill Hill school and King's College, London. He graduated in 1843 at Queen's College, Oxford, where he was Michel fellow from 1845 to 1850. In 1861 he was appointed Laudian professor of Arabic, in 1874 prebendary of Ashill in Wells Cathedral, and in 1880 canon of Wells Cathedral. He lectured on Hebrew for Dr. Pusey for many years. In 1859 he edited for the Oxford University Press a reprint of Lightfoot's ‘Horæ Hebraicæ’ with great care and accuracy. He further contributed a commentary (on conservative lines) upon the books of Amos, Nahum, and Zephaniah to the ‘Speaker's Commentary.’ He died in October 1887.
D. S. M.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Gandy, William

​GANDY, WILLIAM (d. 1729), portrait-painter, son of James Gandy [q. v.], was probably born in Ireland. He was for some years an itinerant painter in Devonshire and the west of England, went to Plymouth in 1714, and eventually settled in Exeter. According to Northcote, whose grandfather and father knew and befriended Gandy, the painter was a man of most intractable disposition, very resentful, of unbounded pride, and in the latter part of his life both idle and luxurious; he was at all times totally careless of his reputation as a painter, though he might have been the greatest painter of his time. He liked people to think that he was a natural son of his father's patron, the Duke of Ormonde, and that he was so much concerned in the duke's affairs that he was not able to make a public appearance in London. His portraits, though sometimes slight and sketchy, showed real genius, and have been frequently admired by great artists. The portrait of the Rev. Tobias Langdon in the college hall at Exeter excited the admiration of Sir Godfrey Kneller. Gandy may also be credited with having directed and stimulated the rising genius of Sir Joshua Reynolds. Reynolds saw Gandy's pictures early in life, and they made a great impression on his mind; he, like Northcote, often borrowed one of Gandy's portraits, probably the Langdon portrait, to study. His portraits are seldom found out of the west of England. He painted Northcote's grandmother, the Rev. Nathaniel Harding of Plymouth, the Rev. John Gilbert, vicar of St. Andrew's, Plymouth (engraved by Vertue as a frontispiece to Gilbert's ‘Sermons’), John Patch, surgeon in the Exeter Hospital, the Rev. William Musgrave (engraved by Michael van der Gucht), Sir Edward Seaward in the chapel of the poorhouse at Exeter, Sir William Elwill, bart., and others. From his idleness and want of ambition Gandy frequently left his pictures to be finished by others. He died in Exeter, and was buried in St. Paul's Church on 14 July 1729.
L. C.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Garbet, Samuel

​GARBET, SAMUEL (d. 1751?), topographer, born at Norton, in the parish of Wroxeter, Shropshire, was educated at Donnington School and at Christ Church, Oxford, where he entered 12 June 1700, and graduated B.A. 23 May 1704, and M.A. 5 July 1707. He was ordained deacon 22 Sept. 1706, and became curate of Great Nesse. On 11 March 1712 he was elected second master of the free school at Wem, in Shropshire. In 1713 he also became curate of Edstaston. In 1724 he was offered, but declined, the headmastership of the Wem school. In 1742, ‘having [as he says] kept up the credit of the school for thirty years, and being in easy circumstances, he thought fit to retire,’ and devoted himself to the compilation of his ‘History of Wem, and the following Villages and Townships,’ which was published posthumously in 1818 (Wem, 8vo). In 1715 he had published a translation of Phædrus, bks. i. and ii. In 1751 he was still curate of Edstaston (Hist. of Wem, p. 280), and his death may have taken place in or after that year.
He married Anna, daughter of John Edwards of Great Nesse, by whom he had one son, Samuel, who graduated at Christ Church, Oxford, B.A. 1737, M.A. 1743, became curate of Wem and afterwards of Newtown, Shropshire, and died in 1768, being buried at Stoulton, near Worcester. According to Gough (Brit. Topogr. ii. 389) the younger Garbet had the principal hand in ​drawing up Valentine Green's ‘Survey of the City of Worcester’ (1764), and was ‘a great historian, chronologist, and linguist,’ though he published nothing in his own name.
W. W.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Gandy, James

​GANDY, JAMES (1619–1689), portrait-painter, born in 1619, was probably a native of Exeter. He is stated to have been a pupil of Vandyck, and to have acquired to some degree the style of that master. He has even been supposed to have assisted Vandyck by painting the drapery in his pictures.
In 1661 he was taken to Ireland by his patron, the Duke of Ormonde, and remained there until his death in 1689. He executed a number of copies of portraits by Vandyck for the duke's collection at Kilkenny, some of which were sold at the dispersal of that collection as original works. His principal portraits were done in Ireland, and remain there. One of the Duke of Ormonde was in the possession of the Earl of Leicester. Gandy is worthy of notice as one of the earliest native English painters. He was father of William Gandy [q. v.]
L. C.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Gandy, John Peter

​GANDY, JOHN PETER (1787–1850). [See Deering.]
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Gandy, Joseph Michael

​GANDY, JOSEPH MICHAEL (1771–1843), architect, elder brother of John Peter Gandy-Deering [see Deering], and also of Michael Gandy [q. v.], was a pupil of James Wyatt, and a student of the Royal Academy, where in 1790 he obtained the gold medal for his design for a triumphal arch. From 1793-9 he travelled, and in 1794 was at Rome, where in 1795 he received the pope's medal in the first class for architecture. He first exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1789 as Wyatt's pupil, sending a 'design for a casino,' and was from that time a frequent exhibitor up to 1838; he was elected an associate in 1803. In 1811 Gandy became connected with Sir John Soane [q. v.], and executed numerous drawings for him. His imagination and genius, which were of the first order, were now chiefly employed on works for which Soane got the chief credit. Certain drawings of great excellence exhibited at the Academy in Soane's name after he had become blind were no doubt the work of Gandy alone. Gandy, though an excellent draughtsman, seems to have been of too odd and impracticable a nature to insure prosperity, and it is said that his life was one of poverty and disappointment, ending, according to some accounts, in insanity. He died in December 1843, leaving a son, Thomas Gandy, who practised portrait-painting. Gandy was an excellent architect of the neo-classical school. Perhaps his best known work is shown in the Phoenix and Pelican Insurance offices at Charing Cross. He was largely employed on domestic architecture. Among his designs may be noted a 'Design for a National Institution appropriated to the Fine Arts, the Sciences, and Literature of our Kingdom;' this was embellished with busts and figures by Thomas Baxter, and engraved by John Le Keux. Gandy published in 1805 'Designs for Cottages, Cottage Farms, ​and other Rural Buildings, including entrance Gates and Lodges,’ and ‘The Rural Architect, consisting of various designs for Country Buildings, &c., with ground plans, estimates, and descriptions, &c.’ A number of his drawings remain in the Soane Museum, Lincoln's Inn Fields. Some of the illustrations in Britton's ‘Architectural Antiquities’ are by him.
L. C.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Fisher, Jasper

​FISHER, JASPER (fl. 1639), divine and dramatist, born in 1591, was the son of William Fisher of Carleton, Bedfordshire, deputy-auditor for the county of York (descended from a Warwickshire family), by Alice Roane of Wellingborough (Visitation of Bedfordshire, Harl. Soc. 1884, xix. 107). Fisher matriculated at Magdalen Hall, Oxford, 13 Nov. 1607; he was admitted B.A. 28 Jan. 1610-11, M.A. 27 Jan. 1613-14, B.D. and D.D. 1639 (Clark, Register, ii. 300). About 1631 (according to Wood) he became rector of Wilsden, Bedfordshire, and in 1633 published his one considerable work, a play, entitled 'Fuimus Troes, the True Trojans, being a story of the Britaines valour at the Romanes first invasion. Publickly presented by the gentlemen students of Magdalen College in Oxford,' London, 1633, 4to. The drama is written in blank verse, interspersed with lyrics; Druids, poets, and a harper are introduced, and it ends with a masque and chorus. Fisher held at Magdalen College the post of divinity or philosophy reader (Wood). He also published some sermons, one on Malachi ii. 7, 1636, 8vo, and 'The Priest's Duty and Dignity, preached at the Triennial Visitation in Ampthill 18 Aug. 1635, by J. F., presbyter and rector of Wilsden in Bedfordshire, and published by command,' London, 1636, 12mo. The exact date of Fisher's death is uncertain; it is only known that he was alive in 1639, when he proceeded D.D. According to Oldys's manuscript notes to Langbaine he became blind, whether from old age or an accident is not known. Wood calls him 'an ingenious man, as those that knew him have divers times informed me' (Athenæ, ii. 636, ed. Bliss). He married Elizabeth, daughter of the Rev. William Sams of Burstead, Essex. Gideon Fisher, who went to Oxford in 1634 and succeeded to the estate at Carleton, was the son, not of Jasper, but of Jasper's elder brother Gideon (Visitation of Bedfordshire, 1634, Harl. Soc. 107).
[Brit. Mus. Cat. of Printed Books; Langbaine's English Dramatic Poets, 1691, p. 533; Baker's Biographia Dramatica, 1812.]
E. T. B.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Fisher, Jonathan

​FISHER, JONATHAN (d. 1812), landscape painter, was a native of Dublin, and originally a draper in that city. Having a taste for art, he studied it by himself, and eventually succeeded in obtaining the patronage of the nobility. He produced some landscapes which were clever attempta to reproduce nature, but were too mechanical and cold in colour to be popular. They were, however, very well suited for engraving, and a set of views of Carlingford Harbour and its neighbourhood were finely engraved by Thomas Vivares, James Mason, and other eminent landscape engravers of the day. In 1792 Fisher published a folio volume called 'A Picturesque Tour of Killarney, consisting of 30 views engraved in aquatinta, with a map, some general observations, &c.' He also published other illustrations of scenery in Ireland. Fisher did not find art profitable, but was fortunate enough to obtain a situation in the Stamp Office, Dublin, which he continued to hold up to his death in 1812. There is a landscape by Fisher in the South Kensington Museum, 'A View of Lymington River, with the Isle of Wight in the distance.' A painting by him of 'The Schomberg Obelisk in the Boyne' was in the Irish Exhibition at London in 1888.
[Redgrave's Dict. of Artists; Catalogues of the South Kensington Museum and the Irish Exhibition, 1888; Lowndes's Bibl. Man.; engravings in Print Room, Brit. Mus.]
L. C.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Fisher, James

​FISHER, JAMES (1697–1775), one of the founders of the Scottish secession church, was born on 23 Jan. 1697 at Barr in Ayrshire, where his father, Thomas, was minister, studied at Glasgow University, and was ordained minister of Kinclaven, Perthshire, in 1725. In 1727 he married the daughter of the Rev. Ebenezer Erskine [q. v.] of Portmoak, Kinross-shire, with whom he was afterwards associated as a founder of the secession body. Fisher concurred with Erskine and other likeminded ministers in their views both as to patronage and doctrine, and in opposition to the majority of the general assembly, by whom their representations were wholly disregarded. In 1732 Erskine preached a sermon at the opening of the synod of Perth, in which he boldly denounced the policy of the church as unfaithful to its Lord and Master. For this he was rebuked by the general assembly; but against the sentence he protested, and was joined by three ministers, of whom Fisher was one. The protest was declared to be insulting, and the ministers who signed it were thrust out of the church, and ultimately formed the associate presbytery. The people of Kinclaven adhered almost without exception to their minister, and the congregation increased by accessions from neighbouring parishes. Fisher was subsequently translated to Glasgow (8 Oct. 1741), but was deposed by the associate anti-burgher synod 4 Aug. 1748. In 1749 the associate burgher synod gave him the office of professor of divinity. His name is associated with a catechism designed to explain the 'Shorter Catechism of the Westminster Assembly.' What is known as Fisher's 'Catechism' (2 parts, Glasgow, 1753, 1760) was in reality the result of contributions by many ministers of the body, which were made use of by three of the leading men, Ebenezer and Ralph Erskine and Fisher. Fisher survived the other two; and as the duty of giving a final form to the work, as well as executing lis own share, devolved on him, it is usually spoken of as his. It is a work of great care, learning, and ability; it has passed through many editions; it was long the manual for catechetical instruction in the secession church; and it was a favourite with evangelical men outside the secession like Dr. Colquhoun of Leith and Robert Haldane [q. v.] Fisher was the author of various other works, chiefly bearing on matters of controversy at the time, and illustrative of ​Erskine's work. Though not so attractive a preacher as the Erskines, nor so able an apologist as Wilson, yet by the weight of his character and his public position he exerted a very powerful influence on the secession, and contributed very materially to its progress and stability. He died 28 Sept. 1775, in the seventy-eighth year of his age.
[Scott's Fasti, pt. iv. 802; Memorials of the Rev. James Fisher, by John Brown, D.D. (United Presbyterian Fathers), 1849; M'Kerrow's Hist. of the Secession; Life and Diary of the Rev. E. Erskine, A.M., by Donald Fraser; Walker's Theology and Theologians of Scotland; McCrie's Story of the Scottish Church.]
W. G. B.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Fisher, John William

​FISHER, Sir JOHN WILLIAM (1788–1876), surgeon, son of Peter Fisher of Perth, by Mary, daughter of James Kennay of York, was born in London 30 Jan. 1788, and apprenticed to John Andrews, a surgeon enjoying a large practice. After studying at St. George's and Westminster Hospitals, he was admitted member of the Royal College of Surgeons in 1809, became a fellow in 1836, and was a member of the council in 1843. The university of Erlangen, Bavaria, conferred on him the degree of M.D. in 1841. He was appointed surgeon to the Bow Street patrol in 1821 by Lord Sidmouth, and promoted to the post of surgeon-in-chief to the metropolitan police force at the time of its formation in 1829, which position he held until his retirement on a pension in 1865. He was knighted by the queen at Osborne on 2 Sept. 1858. He was a good practitioner, honourable, hospitable, and steadfast in duty. He died at 33 Park Lane, London, 22 March 1876, and was buried in Kensal Green cemetery on 29 March, when six of his oldest medical friends were the pallbearers. His will was proved on 22 April, the personalty being sworn under 50,000l. He married, first, 18 April 1829, Louisa Catherine, eldest daughter of William Haymes of Kibworth Harcourt, Leicestershire, she died in London, 5 Oct. 1860; and secondly, 18 June 1862, Lilias Stuart, second daughter of Colonel Alexander Mackenzie of Grinnard, Ross-shire.
[Proceedings of Royal Medical and Chirurgical Soc. (1880), viii. 173–4; Illustrated London News, 1 April 1876, p. 335, and 27 May, p. 527; Lancet, 1 April 1876, p. 515.]
G. C. B.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Fisher, Joseph

​FISHER, JOSEPH (d. 1705), archdeacon of Carlisle, was born at Whitbridge, Cumberland, and matriculated at Queen's College, Oxford, in Michaelmas term 1674; took his B.A. degree 8 May 1679, his M.A. 6 July 1682, was fellow of that college, and on the death of Christopher Harrison, 1695, was presented to the rectory of Brough or Burgh-under-Stanmore, Westmoreland. Before that time he had filled the office of lecturer or curate, living in a merchant's house in Broad Street, London, to be near his work. At this place he wrote, 1695, the dedicatory epistle to his former pupil Thomas Lambard, prefacing his printed sermon, preached 27 Jan. 1694 at Sevenoaks, Kent, on 'The Honour of Marriage,' from Heb. xiii. 4. This is his only literary production, although we are told that he was well skilled in Hebrew and the oriental languages. On the promotion of William Nicolson [q.v.] to the see of Carlisle, the archdeaconry was accepted by Fisher 9 July 1702, and his installation took place 14 July. To the archdeaconry was attached the living of St. Cuthbert, Great Salkeld, which he held in conjunction with Brough till his death, which took place early in 1705. He was succeeded in office by George Fleming [q. v.] afterwards Sir George Fleming, bishop of Carlisle, 28 March 1705. He was buried at Brough.
E. C. S.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Hann, James

​HANN, JAMES (1799–1856), mathematician, was born in 1799 at Washington, near Gateshead, where his father was a colliery smith. After being fireman at a pumping-station at Hebburn, he was for several years employed in one of the steamers used on the Tyne for towing vessels. At the same time he studied mathematics, and was on one occasion found reading the works of Emerson the fluxionist. He afterwards became a teacher, and when keeping a school at Friar's Goose, near Newcastle, he published in 1833 (as joint author with Isaac Dodds of Gateshead) his first work, 'Mechanics for Practical Men.' An acquaintanceship with Woolhouse the mathematician led to his obtaining a situation as calculator in the Nautical Almanac Office. A few years later he was appointed writing-master, and then a little later ​mathematical master at King's College School, London; the latter post he held till his death. Among his pupils was Henry Fawcett [q. v.] He published several works on mechanics and pure mathematics, the chief of which are: 'Analytical Geometry' (a book which was afterwards greatly improved by J. R. Young), 'Treatise on Plane Trigonometry,' 'Spherical Trigonometry,' 'Examples of the Integral Calculus,' 'Examples of the Differential Calculus.' In applied mathematics he wrote 'Mathematics for Practical Men,' published 1833; 'The Theory of Bridges,' 1843; 'Treatise on the Steam Engine, with Practical Rules,' 1847; 'Principles and Practice of the Machinery of Locomotive Engines,' 1850. In 1841, with Olinthus Gregory [q. v.], he drew up and published 'Tables for the Use of Nautical Men.' He also contributed papers to the 'Diaries' and other mathematical periodicals. Hann was elected a member of the Institute of Civil Engineers in 1843, and was an honorary member of the Philosophical Society of Newcastle-on-Tyne. He died in King's College Hospital 17 Aug. 1856, aged 57 years. He married as a young man, and had several children.
[Latimer's Local Records of Newcastle, p. 384; Lady and Gentleman's Diary for 1857, p. 69; Proc. Inst. Civ. Engineers, vol. ii.(1843); Gent. Mag. 1856, pt. ii. pp. 513-15, 521; Ann. Register, August 1856.]
R. E. A.