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

​DENHAM, HENRY (fl. 1591), printer, was presented as an apprentice with Richard Tottel, 14 Oct. 1556 (Arber, Transcript, i. 40). The first book bearing his imprint is a very small edition of the Psalter, with marginal notes, in 1559. He was made free of the Stationers' Company 30 Aug. 1560 (ib. i. 159). In 1564 he printed ‘The Treasure of Gladnesse’ for John Charlewood, and between July 1563 and 1564 he was licensed to print ‘A Godly Learned Sermon made this last Lente at Wynsore by master Thomas Cole,’ ​which, says Arber, is ‘the first entry of a contemporary sermon’ (ib. i. 237). He was fined in 1564 for printing unlicensed primers, in 1565 and 1584 for using indecorous language, and for improper behaviour on other occasions, which conduct did not prevent him from being called to the livery of the Stationers' Company in 1572, in serving as renter in 1580 and 1581, and being appointed under-warden in 1586 and 1588. He lived in Paternoster Row, at the sign of the Star, which, with the motto ‘Os homini sublime dedit,’ is to be found at the end of many of his books. He also lived in Whitecross Street, and was assignee to William Seres, whose device of the bear and ragged staff with garter he used. In 1585 he lived in Aldersgate Street at the sign of the Star. Herbert says ‘he was an exceedingly neat printer, and the first who used the semi-colon with propriety’ (Ames, Typogr. Antiq. ii. 942). During thirty years he produced a large number of books, among which may be mentioned the first edition of the New Testament in Welsh, 1567, 4to; the first English translation of Ovid's ‘Heroycall Epistles,’ by George Turbervile; ‘An Alvearie or Quadruple Dictionarie,’ by John Baret, 1580, folio; ‘The Monument of Matrones,’ by Thomas Bentley, 1582, 3 vols. 4to; and the second edition of Holinshed's ‘Chronicles,’ 1586–7, 3 vols. folio. He printed for and in association with Tottel, Newbery, Toy, and others. He gave the copyright of eleven books for the poor of the Stationers' Company in January 1584 (Arber, ii. 789). The last book printed by him is dated 1591. The time of his death is unknown.
H. R. T.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Delvaux, Laurent

​DELVAUX, LAURENT (1695–1778), sculptor, born at Ghent in 1695, received his first lessons in sculpture from Gery Helderberg, a sculptor at Ghent. In his twenty-second year he came to England about the same time as Scheemakers [q. v.], and they both worked for Pierre Denis Plumier, a ​sculptor, who had come from Antwerp to settle in London, and died there in 1721; subsequently they both worked as assistants to Francis Bird [q. v.] In August 1728 Delvaux, Scheemakers, and Angelis [q. v.] left England for Rome; here Delvaux found employment, especially from the Portuguese minister, and did not return till 1733, two years after his two friends. He soon went to Brussels with a letter from Pope Clement XII to the papal nuncio there, through whom he became in 1734 chief sculptor to the Archduchess Marie Elizabeth and to the emperor Charles VI. On the death of that emperor he became in 1750 chief sculptor to Charles, duke of Lorraine. He resided chiefly at Nivelles, and died there 24 Feb. 1778. Among his works executed in England were the bronze lion, formerly an ornament of Northumberland House, and now at Sion House, Isleworth; a marble statue of Hercules, six feet high, executed for Lord Castlemaine; a bronze statue of Venus at Holkham, &c. For the flower garden at Stowe, Delvaux and Scheemakers, between whom there seems to have been a friendly rivalry, executed two marble groups of Vertumnus and Pomona and Venus and Adonis. They also co-operated in the monuments erected in Westminster Abbey to the Duke of Buckingham, in which Delvaux executed the figure of Time, and to Dr. Hugo Chamberlain (put up in August 1731). There are many important works by him at Brussels, Ghent, Nivelles, and other towns in Belgium. On his return from Rome, while in England, his portrait was painted by Isaac Whood, and engraved in mezzotint by Alexander van Haecken. In 1823 a bust of Delvaux by his pupil, Godecharle, was set up in the council room of the Academy at Ghent. On 5 May 1868 a collection of Delvaux's works was dispersed by auction at Brussels.
[Redgrave's Dict. of Artists; Walpole's Anecdotes of Painters, ed. Dallaway and Wornum; Nagler's Künstler-Lexikon; Immerzeel's Levens en Werken der Hollandsche en Vlaamsche Kunstschilders, &c.; Vertue's MSS. (Brit. Mus. Add. MSS. 23069–76); J. T. Smith's Nollekens and his Times; Siret's Journal des Beaux-Arts, 11 April 1868.]
L. C.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Albertazzi, Emma

​ALBERTAZZI, EMMA (1813–1847), vocalist, was the daughter of Francis Howson, a music teacher in London. She was first trained as a pianiste, and, in 1827, placed as an articled pupil in the house of Signor Costa, where she met a fellow pupil, Signor ​Albertazzi, whom she married in November 1829. She appeared first as a concert singer in England, then went to Italy, and, after a further course of training under Professor Celli, was engaged in 1832 for leading contralto parts at La Scala, in Milan. She sang next at Madrid, Paris, and London, where she made her operatic début in ‘La Cenerentola,' 19 April 1837. In the following year she sang with great success in an English version of ‘La Gazza Ladra,' produced at Drury Lane; but her voice, prematurely developed, soon after began to fail, and she ultimately fell into consumption, of which she died at St. John's Wood, 27 Sept. 1847. She left five children utterly destitute, for whom a subscription was raised. Her personal gifts were marred on the stage by total dramatic inefficiency, and her voice, a contralto of unusual compass, heard to greatest advantage in the florid music of Rossini, was ineffective in oratorio.
E. M. C.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Alan of Walsingham

​ALAN of Walsingham (d. 1364?), a celebrated architect, is first heard of in 1314 as a junior monk at Ely, distinguished by his skill in goldsmith's work, and for his acquaintance with the principles of mechanics. He afterwards turned his attention to the study of architecture, and in 1321, when subprior of his convent, designed and began to build the beautiful St. Mary's Chapel (now Trinity Church) attached to the cathedral. At the same time he was engaged in the erection of Prior Cranden's chapel, the new sacristy, and many minor works.
In December 1321, he was elected sacristan, with sole charge of the fabric of the cathedral.
In February 1322, the great central tower of the cathedral fell, and carried with it the choir and other attached portions of the structure. Instead of rebuilding the four piers which carried the square Norman tower—a weak point in cathedral construction from that day to this—Alan advanced the supports, to the extent of one bay, into each arm of the cross; and by so doing he not only distributed the weight upon eight piers instead of four, but obtained a magnificent central octagonal hall, which he roofed with a dome surmounted by a lofty lantern.
The result was not only supremely beautiful, but in every sense original. It is almost certain that Alan never travelled beyond the limits of his convent, and that he was not acquainted, except perhaps from hearsay, with the domed churches of the East, whose principles of construction, moreover, differ essentially from those employed by Alan. His work remains to this day unique amongst the cathedrals of Europe. He subsequently rebuilt the bays of the choir which had been ruined by the fall of the great tower, and these are admittedly amongst the most beautiful examples of ‘Decorated’ or ‘Second Pointed’ English Gothic.
In 1341 Alan was elected prior of his convent, and in 1344 to the bishopric of Ely, rendered vacant by the death of Simon de Montacute; and it would appear from the epitaph given in Dugdale that at this date Alan, as might have been supposed, ceased to hold the office of sacristan. He was then bishop-elect, and the works connected with the fabric of the cathedral had been conducted to a successful termination, leaving for his successor only the decorations and fittings.
His election to the vacant throne was, however, set aside by the pope in favour of Thomas L'Isle, a Dominican friar, who was at Avignon with the pope at the time.
A similar honour was destined for Alan in ​1361; but the choice of the convent was again overruled, and Simon Langham, afterwards archbishop of Canterbury and cardinal, was consecrated bishop of Ely in his stead.
The possessions of the convent were said to have increased under his wise and capable administration. The date of his death is somewhat uncertain, but it is believed to have taken place in or about the year 1364.
[Dugdale's Monasticon, ed. 1817, i. 468; Thos. Walsingham, Hist. Anglicana, Rolls Ser., ii. 104; Wharton's Anglia Sacra, i. 684; MS. Cotton, Tit. A. 1.]
E. I. B.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Albin, Eleazar

​ALBIN, ELEAZAR (fl. 1713–1759), naturalist and water-colour painter, tells us himself (vide preface to Natural History of Insects) that he was a teacher of water-colour drawing by profession, and that he was first attracted to the study of natural history by observing the beautiful colours of flowers and insects. He calls attention at the same time to the length of his family and the relative shortness of his subscribers' list.
Füssli discovers in a catalogue under Albin the three names, Eleazar, Elizabeth, and Fortin, and speculates upon the relationship of the first and the two last. Elizabeth Albin was his daughter. In his preface to vol. i. of the ‘Natural History of Birds' he explains that he has taught his daughter to ‘draw and paint after the life,' and the illustrations are stated upon the title-page to have been ‘carefully coloured by his daughter and himself.' Many of the plates are signed ‘Elizabeth Albin.' Of Fortin there is no mention. For the better accomplishment of his designs on the lower creation he solicits presents of curious birds, which should be sent to him at his house in the comfortable vicinage of the ‘Dog and Duck.' In vol. ii. of the same work he reviews his labour with pardonable complaisance, and gravely announces a new publication, ‘An History of an hundred and eighty different Spiders in their proper Colours.' This appeared in 1736. It was made the basis of a more comprehensive work by Mr. T. Martin in 1793, who says of Albin: ‘His information in general is loose, miscellaneous, and unmethodical, though sometimes it is amusing and often instructive; but he principally excels in the fidelity and correctness with which his subjects are delineated, both as to their size and distinctive marks.' Albin is interesting as having anticipated by so long a period the still less systematic publications of Bewick, and as having been, at so early a date as 1720, a teacher of water-colour painting. The dates of his birth and death are not known. His bibliography is a little complicated. A list of his publications is subjoined :— ​1. ‘A Natural History of English Insects, with 100 coloured plates, 4to, London, 1720; 2nd edition, with observations by W. Derham, 4to, 1724; 3rd edition, in Latin, 1731; 4th edition, 1749. 2. ‘A Natural History of Birds, with (306) copper-plates curiously engraved from the life and exactly coloured by the author, &c.,’ 3 vols. 4to, London, 1731, 1734, 1738; 2nd edition, 1738–1740; a translation of this book, entitled ‘Histoire naturelle des oiseaux, augmentée de notes et de remarques par W. Derham, trad. de l'anglais,’ was published at the Hague, 1750. 3. ‘A Natural History of Spiders and other Curious Insects,’ plates and portrait of the author, 4to, 1736. 4. ‘A Natural History of English Songbirds,’ &c., with coloured plates, 8vo, 1737; later editions, 1747, 1759, and 1779; an Edinburgh edition, 1776. 5. ‘The History of Esculent Fish,’ with plates drawn and egraved by Eleazar Albin; with an essay on the breeding of fish and the construction of fishponds, by Roger North. This work was not published till 1794. Plates, 4to.
E. R.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Albin, Henry

​ALBIN, HENRY (1624–1696), ejected minister, was born at Batcombe, Somersetshire, famous still in association with Richard Bernard and Richard Alleine, on 20 June 1624. He was educated at the grammar school of Glastonbury, and afterwards proceeded to the university of Oxford, though no mention is made of him by Anthony à Wood. He was ordained as clergyman of the parish of West Cammel, but in 1660 was ejected for nonconformity. Appointed later to Donyatt, also in Somersetshire, the Act of Uniformity found him again ready to be ejected and to share the witness and the sufferings of the two thousand. On his second ejection he retired to his native place, where he lived unobtrusively till his death. He held, as all the nonconformist ministers did, that his orders were of divine sanction, and could not be annulled by any bishop or other dignitary unless for proved fault. Accordingly he went about as an evangelist and preacher. His most successful ministry was in the ‘church in the house’ of separate families. But he also frequently attended as a worshipper at the parish church. For many years of his life he was occupied with preaching, as a kind of chaplain, in the house of Thomas Moore, Esq., of Spargrove—a fine example of the ancient stately puritan gentleman. In 1687 he became ‘stated preacher’ at Frome Selwood, Shepton Mallet, Bruton, and Wincanton in rotation. He died on 25 Sept. 1696. His funeral sermon was preached by William Hopkins, who held the same opinions as himself. ‘He was a judicious man, and of good learning; eminent for his piety, and very diligent in his work. He was a great redeemer of time, a hard student, and remarkable for prudence. He had a large acquaintance, and was of a very friendly temper. He taught by his life as well as his doctrine, and lived and died a great example of strict and close walking with God, and of a heavenly convention. He had a majestic countenance, but was clothed with humility.’ Such is the well-balanced eulogy of the ‘Nonconformists' Memorial.’ He published little, if anything, besides two sermons—the one entitled ‘A Practical Discourse on loving the World,’ from 1 John ii. 15, and the other, published posthumously, ‘The Dying Pastor's Last Farewell to his Friends in Frome Selwood’ (1697).
A. B. G.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Aland, John Fortescue

1904 Errata appended.
​ALAND, Sir JOHN FORTESCUE, first Baron Fortescue of Credan (1670–1746), justice of the common pleas, was the second son of Edmund Fortescue, a descendant of Sir John Fortescue, chief justice in the reign of Henry VI. His father took the name of Aland on his marriage with Sarah, daughter of Henry Aland, of Waterford. He was called to the bar at the Inner Temple in 1712, and became reader to that society in 1716. On the accession of George I he became solicitor-general to the Prince of Wales, and subsequently (December 1715) solicitor-general to the king. In January 1717 he was raised to the bench as a baron of the exchequer, and in 1718 appointed a justice of the king's bench. On the accession of George II he was superseded, but in January 1728 was appointed a justice of the common pleas. He held this office till June 1746, when he resigned. It is said that he had four years before petitioned for leave to retire with a pension, and had requested that a seat in the House of Commons might be obtained for him. This request, if it was ever made, was of course refused; but on his resignation in 1746 he received an Irish peerage. He died a few months afterwards, 19 Dec. 1746. He married first a daughter of Lord Chief-Justice Pratt, and secondly a daughter of Sir William Dormer, a justice of the king's bench. He was a fellow of the Royal Society and a D.C.L. of Oxford, though he was probably not educated there (see Lord Clermont, Hist. of the Family of Fortescue, ii. 73). He was the author of ‘Reports on Select Cases in all the Courts of Westminster Hall,’ published after his death in 1748. He also issued a good edition of his ancestor Sir John Fortescue's work, ‘The Difference between an Absolute and Limited Monarchy’ (London, 1714), with an excellent introduction containing some sensible remarks on the importance of studying the earliest specimens of English law, and of understanding the ‘Saxon’ language. Lord Fortescue's appearance was very peculiar, and his nose was specially remarkable. There is a well-known story told of him to the effect that a counsel practising before him, being reproached with handling his case in a lame manner, replied: ‘Have patience with me, and I will make it as plain as the nose on your lordship's face.’ Lord Fortescue has been sometimes confused (as in Chalmers's Biograph. Dict.) with his kinsman William Fortescue, master of the rolls, the friend of Pope.
[Lord Clermont's History of the Family of Fortescue, 1869, ii. 67; Foss's Judges of England, viii. 98; Park's Edition of Walpole's Catalogue of Royal and Noble Authors, v. 290; Chalmers's Biographical Dictionary.]
S. J. L.
Dictionary of National Biography, Errata (1904), p.4 N.B.— f.e. stands for from end and l.l. for last line
| Page | Col. | Line | |
| 216 | i | 26 | Aland, Sir John F.: after 1716 insert He became K.C. in 1714 |
| | | 29 | after the king insert He was whig M.P. for Midhurst from 1715 until he became a judge |
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Alan of Lynn

1904 Errata appended.
​ALAN of Lynn (fl. 1424?), a Carmelite monk, author of ‘Elucidationes Aristotelis,’ ‘De Quadruplici Sensu Scripturæ,’ &c., studied theology at Cambridge, and was buried among the Carmelites at Lynn. A list of his works is given by Tanner, ‘Biblioth. Britannico-Hib.’ p. 17, Fabricius, ‘Bibl. med. et infim. Latin.’ i. 37.
H. R. L.
Dictionary of National Biography, Errata (1904), p.4 N.B.— f.e. stands for from end and l.l. for last line
| Page | Col. | Line | |
| 214 | i | 15 f.e. | Alan of Lynn: for (fl. 1424?) read (d. 1421) |
| | | 7 f.e. | add Blomfield, Norfolk, viii. 525-6 |
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Evesham, Hugh of

1904 Errata appended.
​EVESHAM, HUGH of (d. 1287), cardinal, is called Atratus by Latin writers, and Il Naro and Lenoir by the Italian and French. It is possible that this is a translation of the English name Black, but there is no evidence in support of the conjecture, his name never occurring in an English form. He was born at Evesham, educated at both the English universities, and completed his studies in France and Italy. He applied himself especially to mathematics and medicine, and from his proficiency in the latter science acquired the name of 'Phœnix' Certain medical questions being under discussion at Rome about 1280, Evesham was invited to go to Rome and give his opinion by the then pope, either Nicholas III at the close of his pontificate, or Martin IV at the commencement of his. The latter pontiff appointed Evesham his physician, and at his first creation of cardinals, on 23 March 1281, at Orvieto, promoted him to that dignity, with the title of St. Laurence in Lucina. He spent the remainder of his life in Rome, where he acted as proctor for the Archbishop of York. Several letters addressed to him are entered in the register of Archbishop Peckham at Lambeth, and in those of other bishops of his time. Peckham writes to him as an old associate both in the university and at Rome.
He died in 1287, on 27 July, according to the Worcester annalist, who ascribes his death to poison. Tanner gives the date as 23 Sept., but on what authority does not appear.
He was buried in the church of San Lorenzo in Lucina, near the sacristy, but his tomb no longer exists. His ecclesiastical preferments in England were: prebendary of Botevant, York, prebendary of Bugthorpe, 11 Nov. 1279, archdeacon of Worcester, 1276, and rector of Spofforth, Yorkshire.
The books which he is said to have written are as follows: 1. 'De Genealogiis humanis.' 2. 'Canones Medicinales.' 3. 'Problemato.' 4. 'Super Opere febrium Isaac' (incip. 'Quoniam de filii bonitate sicut est'). 5. 'Distinctiones predicabiles.' 6. 'Sermo in Dominica Septuagesimæ.' There is a copy of the last-mentioned in the Bodleian Library (Bodl. MS. 50, f. 299), but the others are not known to be extant.
[Cioconiæ's Vita Pontiff. ii. 239; Pita, Scriptorum Angl. p. 370; Marini, Drgli Archiatri Pontificj, p. 27; Tanner's Bibl. Brit. p. 418; Cardella's Memorie de' Cardinali, i. 22; Annales de Wigornia (Rolls ed.), p. 494; Reg. Epist. J. de Peckham (Rolls ed.), pp. 219, 228, 281, 573, 703, 711, 749, 761; Barth. Cotton (Rolls ed.), p. 181; Le Neve's Fasti, iii. 74, 178; Eloy's Dict. de la Médecine.]
C. T. M.
Dictionary of National Biography, Errata (1904), p.119 N.B.— f.e. stands for from end and l.l. for last line
| Page | Col. | Line | |
| 90 | i | 20 | Evesham, Hugh of: after 'Phœnix.' insert He was prebendary of York in 1279. |
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Ewart, Joseph

​EWART, JOSEPH (1759–1792), diplomatist, eldest son of the minister of Troquear in the stewartry of Kirkcudbright, was born on 30 April 1759. He was educated at Dumfries and at Edinburgh University, and then acted as travelling tutor to Macdonald of Clanronald. While abroad, Ewart made the acquaintance of Sir John Stepney, British minister at Dresden, and after that diplomatist had been transferred to Berlin, Ewart became in rapid succession his private secretary and then secretary of legation. In this capacity he gave so much satisfaction that after acting as chargé d'affaires from 1787 to 1788, he was, in spite of his youth, appointed envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary to the King of Prussia on 5 Aug. 1788. The situation was very difficult, for it was Pitt's design, assisted by Lord Malmesbury, to induce Frederick William of Prussia to intervene in the affairs of Holland; to put down the revolutionary party there; and to re-establish the Prince of Orange aa stadt-holder. This design was carried out, and Ewart obtained much credit for his share in the transactions. Of his subsequent conduct at the court of Berlin there are contradictory reports, for the French revolution commenced in 1789, and partisans and opponents of the English foreign policy of that period represent the minister's behaviour in different lights. Ewart has been accused of adopting too peremptory an attitude towards the King of Prussia and his ministers, of thus alienating them from England. He certainly succeeded, however, in concluding the marriage treaty between the Duke of York and the eldest daughter of the King of Prussia, and received warm acknowledgments from the king. His health breaking down, he resigned on a pension of 1,000l. a year and a promise of the order of the Bath. He left Berlin on 3 Nov. 1791. He died at his brother's house in Bladud's Buildings, Bath, on 27 Jan. 1792, and was buried in Bath Abbey, where a tablet is erected to his memory. A statement that he died out of his mind, and another (by Wraxell) that his death was due to foul play of the Empress Catherine, are entirely ​disproved by facts preserved in the family papers. He married in 1785 a daughter of Count Wontensleben, by whom he left one son (afterwards Lieutenant-general Ewart, C.B.) and two daughters.
[Gent. Mag. February 1792; Lord Malmesbury's Letters and Correspondence; Letters and Correspondence of Sir James Bland Burges, ed. Hutton, 1885.]
H. M. S.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Everard (1083?-1150)

​EVERARD (1083?–1150). [See Eborard.]
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Eversley, Viscount

​EVERSLEY, Viscount. [See Shaw-Lefevre, Charles, 1794–1888.]