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

​RUTHERFORD, ANDREW, Earl of Teviot (d. 1664), was the only son of William Rutherford of Quarrelholes, Roxburghshire, a cadet of the Rutherfords of Hunthill, by Isabella, daughter of Sir James Stuart of Traquair. He was educated at the university of Edinburgh, and at an early period he entered the French service, where he rose to the rank of lieutenant-general. He returned to Scotland at the Restoration, and, being specially recommended by the French king to Charles II, was by patent dated Whitehall, 10 Jan. 1661, created Lord Rutherford ‘to his heirs and assignees whatsoever, and that under the provisions, restrictions, and conditions which the said Lord Rutherford should think fit.’ Soon afterwards he was appointed governor of Dunkirk, which had been captured from the Spanish in 1658, and was held in joint possession by the French and English. On the transference of the town in 1662 to Louis XII of France for 400,000l., Rutherford returned to England, and in recognition of his able services as governor he was on 2 Feb. 1663 created Earl of Teviot, with limitation to heirs male of his body. In April he was appointed colonel of the second or Tangier regiment of foot, and the same year was named governor of Tangier, where he was killed in a sally against the Moors on 4 May 1664. By his will he made provision for the erection of eight chambers in the college of Edinburgh, and gave directions that a Latin inscription which he had composed should be placed upon the building. By his death without lawful male issue the earldom of Teviot became extinct; but on 23 Dec. 1663 he had executed at Portsmouth a general settlement of his estates and dignities to Sir Thomas Rutherford of Hunthill, who on 16 Dec. 1665 was served heir in his title of Lord Rutherford and also in his lands.
T. F. H.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Russen, David

​RUSSEN, DAVID (fl. 1705), author, was in 1702 resident at Hythe, Kent. In 1703 he published ‘Iter Lunare; or a Voyage to the Moon.’ It was reissued in 1707. The book consists of a detailed account and criticism of Cyrano Bergerac's ‘Selenarchia,’ which Russen had read ‘with abundance of delight’ in the English version by Thomas St. Sere. He holds Bergerac's view that the moon was inhabited, and proposed to ascend to the moon by means of ‘a spring of well-tempered steel fastened to the top of a high mountain, having attached to it a frame or seat, the spring being with cords, pullies, or other engines bent, and then let loose by degrees by those who manage the pullies.’ The moon must be at the time of ascent ‘in the full in Cancer, and the engine must be so order'd in its ascent that that the top thereof must touch the moon when she comes to the meridian.’ The moon's motion must be exactly calculated to prevent the rotation of the earth carrying away the engine, and the distance from the top of the mountain exactly known. Russen opines it ‘possible in nature to effect such a spring, though 'tis a query if art will not be defective.’
Russen also published ‘Fundamentals without a Foundation, or a True Picture of the Anabaptists in their Rise, Progress, and Practice’ (1698?). There is no copy in the British Museum Library. A reply by Joseph Stennett appeared about 1699, and was reprinted in 1704. Russen made insinuations against the private character of Benjamin Keach [q. v.], the baptist preacher. A rejoinder to Stennett by James Barry, published in 1699, was reprinted in 1848.
G. Le G. N.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Rust, Thomas Cyprian

1904 Errata appended.
​RUST, THOMAS CYPRIAN (1808–1895), divine, born at Stowmarket, Suffolk, on 25 March 1808, was educated in a boarding school at Halesworth. He became a baptist preacher in London, and in 1838 was ordained pastor of the baptist chapel, Eld Lane, Colchester. In 1849 he joined the communion of the church of England, and entered Queens' College, Cambridge, where he graduated LL.B. in 1856. He had previously been licensed to the perpetual curacy of St. Michael at Thorn, Norwich, and in 1860 he was presented by Dr. Pelham, bishop of Norwich, to the rectory of Heigham. That huge parish was subsequently divided into three, and Rust chose for himself the newly constituted parish of Holy Trinity, South Heigham, to the rectory of which he was admitted on 2 April 1868. In 1875 he was presented to the rectory of Westerfield, near Ipswich, which he resigned in 1890. He died at Soham, Cambridgeshire, on 7 March 1895, in the house of his only child, John Cyprian Rust, vicar of the parish.
Rust was an accomplished Hebrew scholar, and published: 1. ‘Essays and Reviews: a Lecture,’ Norwich, 1861. 2. ‘The Higher Criticism: some Account of its Labours on the Primitive History—the Pentateuch and Book of Joshua,’ London, 1878; this treatise, which chiefly criticised the writings of Ewald, was entirely rewritten and republished under the same title in 1890, in order to deal with the theories of Wellhausen and Kuenen. 3. ‘Break of Day in the Eighteenth Century: a History and Specimen of its First Book of English Sacred Song: 300 Hymns of Dr. Watts carefully selected and arranged, with a Sketch of their History,’ London, 1880.
T. C.
Dictionary of National Biography, Errata (1904), p.241 N.B.— f.e. stands for from end and l.l. for last line
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# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Murray, John (d.1820)

​MURRAY, JOHN (d. 1820), chemist and physicist, a native of Scotland, was educated at Edinburgh, where he rose to eminence as a lecturer on natural philosophy, chemistry, materia medica, and pharmacy. He became M.D. of St. Andrews on 17 Oct. 1814, and was elected fellow of the Royal College of Physicians, Edinburgh, on 7 Nov. 1815. He was a fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh and of the Geological Society of London. To the 'Transactions' of the former body (vol. viii.) he contributed four papers. Twenty-eight papers are assigned him in the Royal Society's 'Catalogue of Scientific Papers,' but those numbered 19 to 22, relative to the safety-lamp and explosions of firedamp, are by another John Murray (d. 1851) [q. v.] The two John Murrays had a discussion about the safety-lamp in the 'Philosophical Magazine.' Murray died ​in Nicolson Street, Edinburgh, on 22 July 1820.
His works comprise: 1. 'Elements of Chemistry,' 2 vols. 8vo, Edinburgh, 1801; 6th ed. 1828. 2. 'A Comparative View of the Huttonian and Neptunian Systems of Geology' (anon.), 8vo, Edinburgh, 1802. 3. 'Elements of Materia Medica and Pharmacy,' 2 vols. 8vo, Edinburgh, 1804; 6th ed. 1832. 4. 'A System of Chemistry,' 4 vols. 8vo, Edinburgh, 1806–7; 6th ed. 1832.
His son, John Murray (1798–1873), who edited the later editions of his father's works, was born on 19 April 1798, graduated M.D. of St. Andrews in 1815, and became a fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons, Edinburgh, in November 1826. He afterwards emigrated to Melbourne, where he died on 4 June 1873.
[Gent. Mag. 1820, pt. ii. p. 185; Watt's Bibl. Brit.; Royal Soc. List of Papers; information kindly supplied by Dr. G. A. Gibson, secretary Roy. Coll. Phys. Edinb., and J. Robertson, esq., secretary Roy. Coll. Surg. Edinb.]
B. B. W.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Murray, John Fisher

​MURRAY, JOHN FISHER (1811–1865), Irish poet and humorist, eldest son of Dr. (afterwards Sir) James Murray [q. v.], was born in Belfast on 11 Feb. 1811, and after being educated in that town proceeded to Trinity College, Dublin, where he graduated B.A. in 1830 and M.A. in 1832. His earliest productions apparently were published in 'Blackwood's Magazine,' to which he was for some years a constant contributor. There he wrote many amusing sketches of London life, afterwards reprinted separately, and also some stories and a series of papers in 1840, entitled 'Some Account of Himself, by the Irish Oyster Eater,' which have been attributed to William Maginn [q. v.] He also wrote for the 'Belfast Vindicator,' previous to 1840, and when the 'Nation' was started in 1842 contributed occasionally in its columns. His article entitled 'War with Everybody,' in its third number, was reprinted in 'The Voice of the Nation,' a collection of articles from the paper published in 1844. After a long interval he also wrote some poems for it over the signature of 'Maire,' one or two of which are still remembered. To the 'United Irishman' of 1848 Murray contributed a few characteristic pieces, and the 'Dublin University Magazine' contains a good many of his productions. His last years were spent in retirement, and his death took place in Dublin on 20 Oct. 1865. He was buried in Glasnevin. Murray's writings exhibit great satirical power, and were in their day widely popular. His 'Viceroy' is a scathing description of life in fashionable Dublin at the beginning of the century. His published volumes are: 1. 'The Court Doctor Dissected,' a severe pamphlet on the case of Lady Flora Hastings [q. v.], 8vo, London, 1839; fourth edition, 1839. 2. 'The Chinese and the Ministry,' 8vo, London, 1840. 3. 'The Viceroy,' a three-volume novel, 12mo, London, 1841. 4. 'The Environs of London Western Division,' 8vo, Edinburgh, 1842. 5. 'The World of London,' 2 vols. 8vo, Edinburgh, 1843; second series, 2 vols. 12mo, London, 1845.
[Duffy's Young Ireland, and Four Years of Irish History, 1880-1883; Northern Whig, 27 Oct. 1875; Brit. Mus. Cat]
D. J. O'D.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Mynors, Robert

​MYNORS, ROBERT (1739–1806), surgeon, born in 1739, practised with considerable reputation at Birmingham for more than forty years. He died there in 1806. A son, Robert Edward Eden Mynors, student of Lincoln's Inn, 1806, and M.A. of University College, Oxford, 1813, died at Weatheroak Hill, Worcestershire, on 15 Dec. 1842, aged 54 (Foster, Alumni Oxon. 1715–1886, iii. 1004; Gent. Mag. 1843, pt. i. p. 222).
Mynors wrote:
* ‘Practical Observations on Amputation,’ 12mo, Birmingham, 1783.
* ‘History of the Practice of Trepanning the Skull, and the after Treatment,’ &c., 8vo, Birmingham, 1785.
He also contributed an ‘Account of some Improvements in Surgery’ to Duncan's ‘Medical and Philosophical Commentaries.’
[Cat. of Libr. of Med. and Chirurg. Soc.; Reuss's Alphabetical Register, 1790–1803, pt. ii. p. 129; Dict. of Living Authors, 1816, pp. 247, 442; Watt's Bibl. Brit.]
G. G.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Myrddin Wyllt

​MYRDDIN Wyllt, i.e. the Mad (fl. 580?), Welsh poet, is in mediæval Welsh literature credited with the authorship of six poems printed in the ‘Myvyrian Archaiology,’ 2nd edit. pp. 104–18, 348. In two sets of the Triads he is styled Myrddin mab Morfryn, or ap Madog Morfryn (Myvyrian Archaiology, pp. 394, 411). The searching analysis of Thomas Stephens (Literature of the Kymry, 2nd edit. pp. 202–70), though needing revision in some of its details, has clearly shown ​that these Myrddin poems cannot be the work of any poet of the sixth century, and are in fact the product of the Welsh national revival of the twelfth and thirteenth. Stephens's assumption that the Myrddin Wyllt who is traditionally associated with the authorship of the poems is identical with Myrddin Emrys, i.e. Merlin or Merlinus Ambrosius [q. v.], the legendary enchanter, seems, on the other hand, improbable.
As early as the end of the twelfth century Giraldus Cambrensis sharply distinguishes ‘Merlinus Ambrosius’ (Myrddin Emrys), who was found at Carmarthen and prophesied before Vortigern, from another ‘Merlinus’ called ‘Silvester’ or ‘Celidonius,’ who came from the North (Albania), was a contemporary of Arthur, saw a horrible portent in the sky while fighting in a battle, and spent the rest of his days a madman in the woods. Each of the two legends appears to deal with a different person, and while it is the former legend which Geoffrey of Monmouth, in the ‘Historia Regum Britanniæ,’ connects with Merlin the enchanter, the latter legend supplies the basis of the ‘Vita Merlini,’ a work also attributed to Geoffrey. There is reason to believe, however, that Myrddin Wyllt was in no way connected with either of these Merlins, and that he may be identified with another person, who was probably called in his own lifetime Llallogan. Jocelyn of Furness, in his ‘Life of St. Kentigern’ (end of twelfth century), says that there was at the court of Rhydderch Hael, king of the Strathclyde Britons about 580, a fool named Laloicen, who had the gift of prophecy; and another fragment of a life of the same saint adds that some identified Laloicen with Merlin (Cymmrodor, xi. 47). Accordingly, in the dialogue entitled ‘Cyfoesi Myrddin a Gwenddydd ei Chwaer’ (Myvyrian Archaiology, 2nd edit. pp. 108–15), Gwenddydd addresses her brother (Myrddin or Merlin) as ‘Llallogan.’ It is not too much to assume that a bard named Llallogan lost his wits in connection with the battle of Arderydd (fought about 573, and traditionally associated with Myrddin Wyllt), and, wandering in the forest, was subsequently revered as a seer and prophet.
J. E. L.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Müntz, John Henry

Johann Heinrich Müntz in the ODNB
​MÜNTZ, JOHN HENRY (fl. 1755–1775), painter, was of Swiss origin, and originally served in the French army. After the disbandment of his regiment he was found in the island of Jersey by Richard Bentley (1708-1782) [q. v.], who brought him to England, and introduced him to Horace Walpole at Strawberry Hill. Walpole employed him for some time as a painter and engraver. He also recommended him to his friends William Chute and others, and Müntz worked for some time at Chute's residence, The Vyne, near Basingstoke, where some of his paintings remain. Müntz painted chiefly Italian landscapes in a hard, cold manner, of which there were several examples at Strawberry Hill. He also copied pictures for Walpole. Together with Walpole he practised the art of encaustic painting, as revived by Caylus, and they projected a joint publication on the subject. This was checked, however, by a quarrel arising from an intrigue of Müntz with one of Walpole's servants, whom he subsequently married. The incident led to his dismissal from Walpole's service. He then came to London, where in 1760 he published 'Encaustic, or Count Caylus's Method of Painting in the Manner of the Ancients,' with an etching on the title-page by himself. In 1762 he exhibited a painting in encaustic at the Society of Artists, and again in 1763. After that there are no traces of him, but he may have gone to Holland, and is probably identical with J. H. Müntz, engineer and architect, who in 1772 compiled a work with drawings on ancient vases, which remains in manuscript in the South Kensington Art Library.
[Walpole's Letters, ed. P. Cunningham, vols. i. and iii.; Edwards's Anecdotes of Painters; Chute's Hist. of The Vyne; Cat. of Books on Art (South Kensington Museum).]
L. C.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Samuel, William

​SAMUEL, WILLIAM (fl. 1551–1569), divine and poet, perhaps connected with the Samwells of Northampton (Burke's Commoners, i. 440), describes himself in 1551 as servant of the duke of Somerset, but from 1558 onwards as minister of Christ's church. He may have been father of William Samuell of Shevyock, Cornwall (Harl. Soc. ix. 196).
He wrote: 1. ‘The Love of God—here is declared, if you will rede—that God doth love this land indede—by felynge with his rod,’ no place, no date, 12mo, 4 leaves. 2. ‘The Abridgment of Goddes statutes in myter,’ London, 1551, b.l. 38 leaves (contains metrical abridgments of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy). 3. ‘An Abridgment, brief abstract or short sume of those bookes following taken out of the Bible and set into Sternhold's meter’ (Genesis to Kings inclusive, 1558?). 3. ‘An Abridgment of all the Canonical books of the Olde Testament,’ 1569, written in Sternhold's metre (all the Old Testament); at end, ‘The prophets thus are finished and books canonicall—apocrypha you shall have next if death do not me call.’ 4. ‘The grace from God the father hye,’ b.l. broadside, 8 stanzas, 1574 (Roxburghe Coll.). 5. ‘Preces pro afflicta ecclesia Anglicana’ (cf. Tanner, Bibl. Brit.). Samuel is also credited by Corser (Coll. Angl. Poet. i. 74) with ‘An answere to the proclamation of the rebels in the North,’ by W. S. London, 1569, 8vo; but at the end is ‘Finis quod William Seres [q. v.]’, who was probably the author as well as printer. It is distinct from the ‘Epistle’ of the same date by Thomas Norton (1532–1584) [q. v.]
W. A. S.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Samwell, David

Date of death 1798 in the ODNB.
​SAMWELL, DAVID (d. 1799), surgeon, was the son of William Samuel, vicar of Nantglyn, and therefore grandson of Edward Samuel [q. v.] of Llangar. He sailed with Captain Cook on his third voyage of discovery as surgeon's first mate on the Resolution. On the death of William Anderson he succeeded John Law as surgeon of the Discovery. In this capacity he was an eye-witness of Cook's death, of which he wrote an account for ‘Biographica Britannica;’ this was published separately in 1786 as ‘A Narrative of the Death of Captain James Cook.’ In later life Samwell was a prominent member of the Welsh literary circle of London; he was secretary of the Gwyneddigion Society in 1788, and vice-president in 1797. His assistance is acknowledged in the preface to Pughe's edition (1789) of the poems of Dafydd ap Gwilym [see David], and in October 1796 he contributed to the first volume of the ‘Cambrian Register’ a biographical and critical notice of Huw Morris or Morus [q. v.] (pp. 426–39). Some of his poems are preserved in Brit. Mus. MSS. Addit. 14957 and 15056. He died in the autumn of 1799, and was buried in the churchyard of St. Andrew's, Holborn. An elegy on him, by Thomas Edwards (‘Twm o'r Nant’), was printed in ‘Diliau Barddas’ (1827).
J. E. L.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Sandars, Thomas Collett

​SANDARS, THOMAS COLLETT (1825–1894), editor of ‘Justinian,’ eldest son of Samuel Sandars of Lochnere, near Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire, was born in 1825. He matriculated at Balliol College, Oxford, on 30 Nov. 1843, was a scholar from 1843 to 1849, graduated B.A. in 1848 (having taken first-class honours in literis humanioribus and the chancellor's Latin-verse prize), became fellow of Oriel in 1849, and proceeded M.A. in 1851. He was called to the bar in 1851, and was reader of constitutional law and history to the inns of court from 1865 to 1873. He was one of the earliest contributors to the ‘Saturday Review,’ and an intimate friend of James (afterwards Sir James) FitzJames Stephen [q. v.] He interested himself in commercial affairs in later years, and went twice to Egypt in 1877 and 1880 to represent the Association of Foreign Bondholders. He was also chairman of the Mexican Railway Company. He died on 2 Aug. 1894 at Queen Anne's Mansions; he had married, on 25 May 1851, Margaret, second daughter of William Hanmer of Bodnod Hall, Denbighshire, and left a family.
Sandars is remembered chiefly by his useful edition of Justinian's ‘Institutes,’ which first appeared in 1853; it reached an eighth edition in 1888.
[Foster's Alumni Oxon. 1715–1886; Oxford Honours Register; Times, 9 Aug. 1894; Leslie Stephen's Life of Sir James FitzJames Stephen, pp. 152, 178, 197; Foster's Men at the Bar.]
W. A. J. A.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Meilan, Mark Anthony

​MEILAN, MARK ANTHONY (fl. 1812), miscellaneous writer, born about 1743, held at one time a situation in the post-office, which he resigned in order to become ‘instructor’ in private families in English, bookkeeping, and shorthand, of languages, arts, and sciences. In 1776 he was keeping an academy in Charles Square, Hoxton, but is subsequently found residing at Westminster, St. George's Fields, and Kennington. He took orders, and for some time served the curacy of St. John, Wapping. He submitted tragedies to Garrick and Colman, who declined them on the ground that they contained rather too many reminiscences of Shakespeare and Rowe. At the suggestion of some kind-hearted ladies he printed his dramas by subscription, and prefixed a diverting preface, in which he gives a detailed account of his interviews and correspondence with the ‘despots of the drama’ (i.e. the managers). He had intended to inflict a second volume upon his subscribers, but found their patience exhausted. In 1809 he was assistant minister of St. Mary, Newington, Surrey, and was apparently alive in 1816 (Dict. of Living Authors, 1816). He was married and had a family.
Meilan published: 1. ‘Stenography, or Shorthand improved,’ 8vo, London, 1764, which professes to be an ‘improvement’ on Gurney's system. 2. ‘Northumberland, a Tragedy,’ 8vo, London, 1771. 3. ‘The Adventures of Telemachus, an epic poem from the French of Fénelon, with alterations,’ in heroic couplets, 2 vols. 8vo, London, 1776; 2nd edit. with plates, 2 vols. 4to, 1792–4. 4. ‘Dramatic Works (tragedies entitled “Emilia,” “Northumberland,” and “The Friends”), published by way of an appeal from the arbitrary decisions of the despots of the drama,’ 8vo, London, 1780. 5. ‘The Children's Friend,’ translated from the French of A. Berquin, 24mo, London, 1786. 6. ‘The Friend of Youth … consisting of … stories, … dialogues, and moral dramas,’ partly translated from Berquin and other writers, and partly original, 12 vols. 12mo, London, 1788. 7. ‘Sermons for Children,’ 3 vols. 12mo, London, 1789. 8. ‘The Book of Righteousness, or an Elucidation of the … Gospel … with … the Acts,’ 12mo, London (1790?). 9. ‘Holy Writ familiarized to Juvenile Conceptions,’ 4 vols. 12mo, London, 1791. 10. ‘An Introduction to the English Language,’ 2 vols. 8vo, London, 1803. A portrait of Meilan, surrounded by his ‘Works,’ is prefixed to the second edition of his ‘Telemachus.’
[Meilan's Works; Baker's Biog. Dram. (1812); Westby-Gibson's Bibliography of Shorthand, p. 129.]
G. G.