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

​MINSHEU, JOHN (fl. 1617), lexicographer, lived chiefly in London, and made his living as a teacher of languages. He was poor, was married, and had children. Often, as may be gathered from his works, his lexicographical works were at a standstill for want of money, but generous friends, such as Sir Henry Spelman, helped him, and he managed to carry out his expensive undertakings. To finish his Spanish dictionary he ​went down to Cambridge, where, as may be seen from the subscription list prefixed to the ‘Guide into the Tongues,’ he made many friends. At Oxford he passed some months, with ‘his company of strangers and scholars,’ revising his ‘Guide,’ but although the vice-chancellor gave him in 1610 a certificate signed by himself and several heads of houses to the effect that the ‘Dictionary’ or ‘Guide’ was worthy of publication, Oxford did not furnish any subscribers. He seems to have been a laborious student, lighting the candle, as he says, for others and burning out himself. Ben Jonson describes him as a ‘rogue’ (Conversations with Drummond, ed. Laing, p. 4).
Minsheu wrote: 1. ‘A Dictionarie in Spanish and English,’ London, 1599, fol. 2. ‘A Spanish Grammar,’ London, 1599, fol. Minsheu's ‘Dictionary’ and ‘Grammar’ were both founded on the works of Richard Percival [q. v.] He also about this time seems to have published another shorter Spanish dictionary, more in the nature of an encyclopædia (cf. Arber, Stationers' Registers, iii. 145-6). 3. ‘Vocabularium Hispanico-Latinum et Anglicum copiosissimum. … A most copious Spanish Dictionarie with Latine and English (and sometime other Languages),’ London, 1617 (?) fol. 4. 'Ηγεμών είς τάς γλώσσας, id est Ductor in Linguas, the Guide into Tongues,’ London, 1617, fol., containing equivalents in eleven languages (2nd edit. 1626, in nine languages and much altered). This great lexicon is of great value as a dictionary of Elizabethan English; it is also in all probability the first English book printed by subscription, or at all events the first which contains a list of the subscribers. Minsheu obtained a license (granted to John Minshon) for the sole printing of the ‘Glosson’ for twenty-one years on 20 Feb. 1611. It seems that Bishop Wren had annotated a copy of the second edition with a view to republishing it himself.
W. A. J. A.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Mimpriss, Robert

​MIMPRISS, ROBERT (1797–1875), Sunday-school worker, was born at Deptford, Kent, 14 Jan. 1797. His father was an official in Deptford dockyard, and had nine sons, of whom Robert and Thomas, afterwards a surgeon, alone survived infancy. After education at a Blackheath boarding school Robert, at the age of sixteen, went to sea as purser on a foreign merchantman. But after the first voyage he abandoned the occupation, and after a brief trial of a clerkship in a London merchant's office, and subsequently of a desultory study of art, he married a lady of fortune in 1821, and thenceforth devoted himself to the development of Sunday schools. He devised what was known as the ‘Mimpriss System of Graduated Simultaneous Instruction,’ based on Greswell's ‘Harmony of the Gospels’ [see Greswell, Edward]. He moulded the gospel history into a continuous narrative, and divided it into one hundred lessons. The course was illustrated by pictorial maps, charts, and tables, in the preparation of which he was assisted by John Wilson, author of ‘Lectures on the Israelitish Origin of the English Nation.’ From 1830 to 1850 Mimpriss was chiefly engaged in writing books in connection with his system, but he repeatedly travelled round the country setting forth its merits or advocating millenarian and teetotal principles.
​In 1860 the illness of his wife and pecuniary losses, due to the partial failure of his publications, led him to relax his efforts. He died at Clapham, 20 Dec. 1875. His widow and his brother Thomas survived him. A portrait is prefixed to the memoir of 1876.
His works, apart from elementary manuals for the use of schools, were:
* ‘A Pictorial, Geographical, Chronological, and Historical Chart, delineating the Rise and Progress of the Evangelical or Christian Dispensation to the Ascension of our Lord,’ London, 1832 (with a key,8vo).
* ‘A Harmony of the Four Gospels in the English Authorised Version, arranged according to Greswell's “Harmonia Evangelica,” in Greek …’ intended principally as an accompaniment to No. 1, London, 1833, 8vo.
* ‘Gospel Recreations for Sabbath Evenings,’ London, 1836, 8vo (with a set of card-pictures); 2nd edit. 1839, revised and much enlarged, under the title of ‘Conversations for Sabbath Evenings on our Lord's Life and Ministry.’
* ‘The Acts of the Apostles and Epistles historically and geographically delineated according to Greswell's arrangement,’ Lond. 1837, 8vo (with a chart).
* ‘The Treasury Harmony of the Four Evangelists, in the words of the Authorised Version, according to Greswell's “Harmonia Evangelica," &c.,’ 2vols. London, 1849-51, 12mo; republished as the ‘Gospel Treasury,’ new edit., London, 1884, 4to.
* A Full Development of Mimpriss's System of Graduated Simultaneous nstruction,’ London [1855], 8vo.
* ‘The Mimpriss System. The Amalgamated Manual for Superintendents,’ London [1855], 8vo.
[Robert Mimpriss: a Memoir of his Life and Work, London [1876], 8vo; Record and Rock for December 1875; the author's works; private information.]
E. G. H.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Minshull, Geffray

​MINSHULL or MYNSHUL, GEFFRAY (1594?-1668), author, son of Edward Minshull of Nantwich, Cheshire, and his wife Margaret, daughter of Thomas Mainwaring, was born about 1594, and admitted at Gray's Inn on 11 March 1611–12. In 1617 he was imprisoned for debt in the King's Bench prison, and while there occupied himself by writing a series of ‘characters,’ which he sent to his uncle Matthew Mainwaring [q. v.], who generously helped him out of his difficulties. These experiences of prison life were published in 1618, with the title of ‘Essayes and Characters of a Prison and Prisoners. Written by G. M. of Grayes-Inn, Gent.’ (small quarto). The volume was reissued without alteration in 1638; the title-page bears the inscription ‘with some new additions,’ but the contents are precisely the same as those of the 1618 edition; it was reprinted at Edinburgh in 1821. To this last edition, of which only 150 copies were printed, an introductory notice was prefixed by the anonymous editor. All these editions are in the British Museum Library. Minshull died in 1668 at Nantwich, where he was buried on 1 Nov.
C. W. S.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Locke, John (1805-1880)

​LOCKE, JOHN (1805–1880), legal writer and politician, born in London in 1805, was only son of John Locke, surveyor, of Herne Hill, Surrey, by his wife Alice, daughter of W. Cartwright. He was educated at Dulwich College and at Trinity College, Cambridge, graduating B.A. in 1829 and M.A. in 1832. He was called to the bar at the Inner Temple in Easter term 1833, and became a bencher of his inn in 1857. He joined the home circuit and Surrey sessions, where he enjoyed a leading practice, and from 1845 to 1857 was one of the common pleaders of the city of London. In June 1857, having ceased to practise for some years, except as counsel to the commissioners of inland revenue, he was appointed a queen's counsel, and in 1861 became recorder of Brighton, an office which he held until 1879. Having unsuccessfully contested Hastings as a liberal in 1852, he was elected for Southwark in April 1857, and held the seat till his death. In parliament he chiefly exerted himself upon questions of local government and measures for improving the condition of the working classes. He introduced and passed a bill in 1861 for the admission of witnesses in criminal cases to the same right of substituting an affirmation for an oath as in civil cases. He died at 63 Eaton Place, London, on 28 Jan. 1880. He married in 1847 Laura Rosalie, daughter of Colonel Thomas Alexander Cobb of the East India Company's army. He was the author of a 'Treatise on the Game Laws,' published in 1849, and another on 'The Doctrine and Practice of Foreign Attachment in the Lord Mayor's Court,' published in 1853.
[Solicitors' Journal, 7 Feb. 1880; Law Times, 14 Feb. 1880; Times, 30 Jan. 1880; Ann. Reg. 1880. For a description of his manner see Ballantine's Experiences, i. 66.]
J. A. H.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Lochore, Robert

​LOCHORE, ROBERT (1762–1852), Scottish poet, was born at Strathaven, Lanarkshire, 7 July 1762. At the age of thirteen he became a shoemaker, and ultimately conducted a successful business of his own in Glasgow. On 7 June 1786 he married Isobel Browning, a native of Ayrshire. His local interests and his literary tastes brought him into contact with Burns. Generous and philanthropic, Lochore founded the Glasgow Annuity Society, besides assisting other institutions for the public good. He died at Glasgow 27 April 1852, leaving an autobiography and various Scottish tales and poems, which have not been published.
Lochore early wrote verses, and he composed in his eighty-eighth year a spirited 'Last Speech of the Auld Brig of Glasgow on being condemned to be taken down.' This was circulated as a broadsheet in 1850, and it is believed to have appeared in the 'Reformers' Gazette' that year. In 1795-1796 Lochore published two poetical tracts, 'Willie's Vision' and 'The Foppish Taylor.' About 1815 he published anonymously 'Tales in Rhyme and Minor Pieces, in the Scottish ​Dialect.' His song, 'Noo, Jenny, lass, my Bonny Bird,' has been attributed to Burns. He used the vernacular dexterously, and his poems are valuable illustrations of Scottish life and character. For a time, about 1817, he edited the 'Kilmarnock Mirror' for his son (James Paterson, Autobiog. Reminiscences, 1871).
[Information from Mr. R. Brodie and Mr John Lochore, the poet's grandsons; Rogers's Modern Scottish Minstrel; Grant Wilson's Poets and Poetry of Scotland.]
T. B.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Lochinvar

​LOCHINVAR, Lord. [See Gordon, Sir John, first Viscount Kenmure, 1599?–1634.]
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Locker, John

​LOCKER, JOHN (1693–1760), miscellaneous writer, born in London on 27 Aug. 1693, was son of Stephen Locker, a scrivener in the Old Jewry, and clerk of the Leathersellers' Company. He entered Merchant Taylors' School on 12 March 1706–7 (Robinson, Register, ii. 20), matriculated at Merton College, Oxford, 21 April 1711, and afterwards travelled on the continent with his friend Mr. Twisleton. On 28 March 1719 he was admitted of Gray's Inn, and he studied law in the chambers once occupied by Francis Bacon, viscount St. Albans (Foster, Gray's Inn Admission Register, p. 363). He was elected a fellow of the Society of Antiquaries 3 March 1737, and became an intimate friend of John Bowyer (Gough, List of Soc. Antiq. p. 6). He was appointed clerk of the Companies of Leathersellers (1719) and Clockmakers (1740), and he was also a commissioner of bankrupts. He is styled by Dr. Ward ‘a gentleman much esteemed for his knowledge of polite literature,’ and by Dr. Johnson, ‘a gentleman eminent for curiosity and literature.’ He learned Modern Greek colloquially from a poor Greek priest, whom he casually met wandering about the streets of London, and entertained for some years in his house at his own and Dr. Mead's expense. Locker translated into Modern Greek a part, if not the whole, of one of Congreve's comedies. He died a widower on 30 May 1760, and was buried in St. Helen's Church, Bishopsgate Street (Gent. Mag. 1760, p. 297).
He married Elizabeth, eldest daughter of Edward Stillingfleet, M.D., Gresham professor of physic, and afterwards rector of Wood-Norton and Swanton, Norfolk. She was sister of Benjamin Stillingfleet, and granddaughter of the eminent Bishop of Worcester. By this lady, who died on 12 Aug. 1759, he had nine children. Their son, William Locker, is separately noticed.
Locker translated the last two books of Voltaire's ‘Life of Charles XII, King of Sweden,’ London, 1731, and wrote the prefatory discourse.
He and his friend Robert Stephens, historiographer-royal, eagerly collected original or authentic manuscripts of Bacon's ‘Works,’ published and unpublished. On Stephens's death in November 1732 his papers came into the possession of Locker, who also died before he could publish the results of their joint labours, although he finished his correction of the fourth volume of Blackbourne's edition (London, 1730), containing Bacon's law tracts and letters. After Locker's death all his collections were purchased by Dr. Birch, and they are now in the British Museum (Addit. MSS. 4258–62). In the preface to the complete edition of Bacon's ‘Works’ published by Birch and Mallet in five vols. 1765, liberal acknowledgment is made of the labours of Stephens and Locker.
To Dr. Johnson Locker communicated a collection of examples made by Addison from the writings of Tillotson, with the intention of preparing an English dictionary.
[Nichols's Lit. Anecd. vii. 234, ix, 417; Spedding's Letters and Life of Bacon, i. 16, 119, ii. 2, vi. 165 n., 172.]
T. C.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Donkin, William Fishburn

​DONKIN, WILLIAM FISHBURN (1814–1869), astronomer, was born at Bishop Burton, Yorkshire, on 15 Feb. 1814. He early showed marked talent for languages, mathematics, and music. He was educated at St. Peter's School, York, and in 1832 entered St. Edmund Hall, Oxford. In 1834 Donkin won a classical scholarship at University College, in 1836 he obtained a double first class in classics and mathematics, and a year later he carried off the mathematical and Johnson mathematical scholarships. He proceeded B.A. 25 May 1836, and M.A. 1839. He was elected as a fellow of University College, and he continued for about six years at St. Edmund Hall in the capacity of mathematical lecturer. During this period he wrote an able ‘Essay on the Theory of the Combination of Observations’ for the Ashmolean Society, and also contributed some excellent papers on Greek music to Dr. Smith's ‘Dictionary of Antiquities.’
In 1842 Donkin was elected Savilian professor of astronomy at Oxford, in succession to Professor Johnson, a post which he held for the remainder of his life. Soon afterwards he was elected a fellow of the Royal Society, and also of the Royal Astronomical Society. In 1844 he married the third daughter of the Rev. John Hawtrey of Guernsey. Between 1850 and 1860 Donkin contributed several important papers to the ‘Philosophical Transactions,’ including one on ‘The Equation of Laplace's Functions,’ and another ‘On a Class of Differential Equations, including those which occur in Dynamical Problems.’ In 1861 he read an important paper to the Royal Astronomical Society on ‘The Secular Acceleration of the Moon's Mean Motion’ (printed in Monthly Notices, R. A. Soc., 1861). Donkin was also a contributor to the ‘Philosophical Magazine,’ his last paper in which, a ‘Note on Certain Statements in Elementary Works concerning the Specific Heat of Gases’ appeared in 1864.
Donkin's acquaintance with practical and theoretical music was very thorough. His work on ‘Acoustics,’ intended to be his opus magnum, was commenced in 1867, and the fragment of it which he completed was published, after his death, in 1870. It is devoted to an inquiry into the vibrations of strings and rods, and gives evidence on every page of the combined musical and mathematical talents of the author.
Donkin's constitution was always delicate, and failing health compelled him to live much abroad during the latter part of his life. He died 15 Nov. 1869. There is a complete list of his papers, sixteen in number, in the ‘Catalogue of Scientific Papers’ published by the Royal Society.
[Monthly Notices, Royal Astron. Society, xxx. 84.]
W. J. H.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Donn, James

​DONN, JAMES (1758–1813), botanist, was a pupil of William Aiton (1731-1793) [q. v.], the king's gardener at Kew. About 1790 he was appointed curator of the Cambridge Botanic Garden, of which he published a catalogue in 1796, with a few novelties; of this list the sixth edition was issued by the compiler in 1811, and the thirteenth under successive editors in 1845. He died at Cambridge on 14 June 1813, leaving behind him the reputation of a zealous and successful cultivator, but he is best known as having named Claytonia perfoliata, a North American plant now naturalised in this country. He was a fellow of the Linnean Society during the last two years of his life.
B. D. J.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Donlevy, Andrew

​DONLEVY, ANDREW, D.D. (1694?–1761?), an Irish ecclesiastic, born about 1694, received his early education in or near Ballymote, Sligo. In 1710 he went to Paris, and studied in the Irish college there, of which he ultimately became prefect. He took the degree of licentiate of laws in the university of Paris. Walter Harris states that he was titular dean of Raphoe, and seeks an occasion to introduce his name 'out of gratitude,' as he says, 'for many favours I received from him, particularly in his transmitting to me from time to time several useful collections out of the King's and other libraries in Paris.' Donlevy was living in 1761. The date of his death is unknown. He was the author of: ‘An Teagasg Criosduidhe do réir ceasda agus freagartha, air na tharruing go bunudhasach as bréithir h Soilléir Dé, agus as toibreacaibh fiorglana oile' (‘The Catechism, or Christian Doctrine, by way of question and answer, drawn chiefly from the express Word of God and other pure sources’), Paris, with approbation and the king's license, 1742,8vo. This scarce work is in Irish and English. To it is appended (pp. 487-98) an Abridgment of Christian Doctrine in Irish verse, compiled more than a century before by Bonaventure O'Heoghusa, or O'Hussey. The book also contains a treatise by Donlevy on ‘The Elements of the Irish Language.’ It treats of orthography only, but is the best dissertation which had appeared on the subject up to that time. A second edition of the Catechism appeared at Dublin in 1822, 8vo. It was revised by the Rev. John McEncroe, and corrected for the press by Edward O'Reilly, author of the ‘Irish Dictionary.’ To it are appended a poem in Irish on the Sufferings of Christ, written by Doncha mor O'Dálaigh, abbot of Boyle in the fourteenth century, and a compendium of Irish grammar by McEncroe. A third edition of the Catechism was published at Dublin in 1848, 12mo, for the Royal College of St. Patrick, Maynooth.
T. C.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Prince, John Henry

​PRINCE, JOHN HENRY (fl. 1818), author, born on 21 May 1770 in the parish of St. Mary, Whitechapel, was son of George Prince, originally of Dursley, Gloucestershire, by his wife, Dorothy Dixon. He was educated in the charity school of St. Mary's, Whitechapel; he started life as errand boy to a tallow-chandler, and eventually, about 1790, became clerk to an attorney in Carey Street, Lincoln's Inn. Dismissed after three years' service, he entered another office, and a year later became secretary to a retired solicitor, who gave him access to an excellent library. His weekly salary was only half a guinea, but he deemed it sufficient to maintain a wife, and was married on 29 May 1794. One child, a daughter, was the fruit of this union. From 1796, when an essay from his pen ‘On Detraction and Calumny’ appeared in the ‘Lady's Magazine,’ he began to turn out articles and pamphlets on the most varied subjects. He left his patron in 1797, and served with several firms of solicitors. Besides his literary and legal work, he found time to act for a while as minister of Bethesda Chapel—a methodist congregation—and was prominent in debating societies, such as the London and Westminster Forums. A religious organisation of his own, of a methodistical type, had a short-lived existence.
In 1813 he was living at Islington (Gent. Mag. 1813, ii. 18), and in 1818 he published a small legal treatise on conveyancing. The date of his death is unknown.
He wrote, besides ephemeral tracts including three letters (1801–2) attacking Joseph Proud [q. v.]: 1. ‘A Defence of the People denominated Methodists,’ London, 1797, 8vo. 2. ‘Original Letters and Essays on moral and entertaining Subjects,’ 1797, 8vo. 3. ‘Observations on the Act for Incorporating the London Company, including Remarks on the Dearness of Bread, and on Monopoly, Forestalling, and Regrating,’ 4th edit. 1802, 8vo. 4. ‘The Christian's Duty to God and the Constitution at all Times, but especially at this critical Juncture,’ 1804, 8vo, 3rd edit. 5. ‘Remarks on the best Method of barring Dower,’ 1805, 8vo (republished, with additions, 1807). 6. ‘The Life, Pedestrian Excursions, and singular opinions of J. H. P., Bookseller … Written by himself,’ 1806, 8vo. 7. ‘Original Precedents in Conveyancing, with Notes and Directions for drawing or settling Conveyances,’ 1818, 8vo.
E. G. H.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Pringle, Andrew

​PRINGLE, ANDREW, Lord Alemoor (d. 1776), solicitor-general for Scotland and lord of session, was eldest son of John Pringle, lord of session, under the title of Lord Haining, by his wife Anne, eldest daughter of Sir John Murray of Philiphaugh. He was admitted advocate at the Scottish bar in 1740, appointed sheriff of Wigton in 1750, and in the following year was named sheriff of Selkirk. On 5 July 1755 he was named solicitor-general, and on 14 June 1759 he was raised to the bench as Lord Alemoor, the title being taken from a property which he had acquired in Selkirkshire. He was also at the same time appointed a lord of justiciary.
Pringle was a lay elder of the general assembly of the kirk in 1757, when John Home [q. v.] was libelled on account of the performance of his play of ‘Douglas,’ and he spoke in Home's favour. He also spoke in favour of Dr. Alexander Carlyle [q. v.] when he was cited before the synod of Lothian and Tweeddale for his attendance at the performance of Home's play in the Edinburgh Theatre (Alexander Carlyle, Autobiography, p. 321). He died at Hawkhill, near Edinburgh, on 14 Jan. 1776. As he was unmarried, he was succeeded in his estates by his second brother, John Pringle of Haining, who had purchased Haining on the death of his father, and cleared off the encumbrances on it.
Lord Alemoor had in his day an unrivalled ​reputation as a lawyer and pleader. Dr. Alexander Carlyle expresses the opinion that he ‘was the most eloquent of all the Scottish bar’ in his (Carlyle's) time (ib.); and the character of his eloquence is described in some detail by Dr. Somerville, who states that he was the most admired speaker at the Scottish bar in the middle of last century, and that he had never been surpassed by any one at the bar or on the bench since that period. ‘His language,’ says Somerville, ‘was pure and nervous, his argument the most sound and substantial, shortly and distinctly stated, and strictly applicable to the point under discussion. Nothing appeared to be studied for effect; he used no action nor artificial embellishment, but the native dignity of his manner and the force and perspicuity of his reasoning always commanded attention’ (Own Life and Times, p. 108).
[Brunton and Haig's Senators of the College of Justice, p. 523; Dr. Carlyle's Autobiography; Dr. Somerville's Own Life and Times; Craig-Brown's Hist. of Selkirkshire, ii. 309–10.]
T. F. H.