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

​THOMAS, JOHN EVAN (1809–1873), sculptor, born in Brecon in 1809, was the eldest son of John Thomas of Castle Street, Brecon. He came to London and studied under Sir Francis Legatt Chantrey [q. v.] From 1835 to 1857 he exhibited frequently at the Royal Academy. His works were chiefly busts, and for many years he laboured at nothing else. Later in life, however, he executed several statues in marble and bronze and several portrait statuettes. Among his statues was a colossal bronze figure of the Marquis of Bute at Cardiff. He also sculptured a statue of the Duke of Wellington at Brecon, of Prince Albert on the Castle Hill, Tenby, of James Henry Vivian at Swansea, of the Prince of Wales at the Welsh schools at Ashford, of Sir Charles Morgan at Newport, and of Sir Joseph Bailey at Glanusk Park. About 1857 Thomas retired to Penisha'r Pentre in Brecknockshire, where he filled the office of sheriff. He died at his London residence, 58 Buckingham Palace Road, on 9 Oct. 1873, and was buried in Brompton cemetery. He was elected a fellow of the Society of Antiquaries on 3 Feb. 1842.
[Brecon County Times, 18 Oct. 1873; Redgrave's Dict. of Artists.]
W. A.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Thomas, John Wesley

​THOMAS, JOHN WESLEY (1798–1872), translator of Dante, born on 4 Aug. 1798 at Exeter, was the son of John Thomas, a tradesman and leading Wesleyan local preacher in that city. In 1820 he went to London, attaching himself to the Hinde Street circuit, and in 1822 entered the itinerating ranks of the Wesleyan ministry. After fifty years of active ministerial effort he died at Dumfries on 7 Feb. 1872.
Although for the most part self-educated, Thomas was a considerable linguist, a poet of some capacity, and an artist of ability. He contributed largely to the ‘Wesleyan Methodist Magazine’ and other periodicals. His most important published works are: 1. ‘An Apology for Don Juan,’ cantos i. and ii. 1824; 3rd ed. with canto iii. 1850; new edition, 1855; this is a review and criticism of Lord Byron's poetry written in the ‘Don Juan’ stanza. 2. ‘Lyra Britannica, or Select Beauties of Modern English Poetry,’ 1830. 3. ‘The Trilogy of Dante: “Inferno,” 1859; “Purgatorio,” 1862; “Paradiso,” 1866.’ An able translation of Dante's poem in the metre of the original, with scholarly notes and appendices. Its merits have been generally admitted by English students of Dante. 4. ‘The Lord's Day, or the Christian Sabbath: its History, Obligation, Importance, and Blessedness,’ 1865. 5. ‘Poems on Sacred, Classical, Mediæval, and Modern Subjects,’ 1867. 6. ‘The War of the Surplice: a Poem in Three Cantos,’ 2nd ed. 1871; the troubles in 1845 of Henry Phillpotts [q. v.], bishop of Exeter, are the subject of this poem. 7. ‘The Tower, the Temple, and the Minster: the Historical and Biographical Associations of the Tower of London, St. Paul's Cathedral, and Westminster Abbey,’ 1873. 8. ‘William the Silent, Prince of Orange,’ 1873.
[Christopher's Poets of Methodism, 1875, pp. 344–66; Methodist Recorder, February 1872, pp. 79, 91; Christian World, 16 Feb. 1872; Athenæum, 1872, i. 337; Boase and Courtney's Bibl. Cornub.]
R. B.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Thomas, Matthew Evan

​THOMAS, MATTHEW EVAN (1788?–1830), architect, born in 1787 or 1788, was a student of the Royal Academy. In 1815 he gained the academy's gold medal for a design for a palace. He went to Italy in the following year, remaining there till 1819. During his stay he was elected a member of the academy at Florence, and of St. Luke at Rome. After his return he exhibited architectural drawings at the Royal Academy between 1820 and 1822. He died at Hackney on 12 July 1830, and was buried in St. John's Wood chapel.
W. A.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Thomas, Noah

​THOMAS, Sir NOAH (1720–1792), physician, son of Hophni Thomas, master of a merchant vessel, was born at Neath, Glamorganshire, in 1720. He was educated at Oakham school, when Mr. Adcock was its headmaster, and was admitted as a pensioner at St. John's College, Cambridge, on 18 July 1738, and there graduated B.A. in 1742, proceeding M.A. 1746 and M.D. 1753. He settled in London, was admitted a fellow of the Royal Society on 1 Feb. 1753, was elected a fellow of the College of Physicians on 22 Dec. 1757, and delivered the Gulstonian lectures in 1759. In 1761, 1766, 1767, and 1781 he was one of the censors. He became physician extraordinary to George III in 1763, and physician in ordinary 1775, and was knighted in that year. He was also physician to the Lock Hospital. He died at Bath on 17 May 1792. His portrait was painted by Sir Joshua Reynolds, and hangs in the combination-room of St. John's College, Cambridge. In the College of Physicians he was esteemed ​for his learning, but he never published any book.
N. M.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Thomas, Samuel

​THOMAS, SAMUEL (1627–1693), nonjuror, born in 1627 at Ubley, Somerset, was the son of William Thomas (1593–1667) [q. v.], rector of Ubley. He graduated B.A. from Peterhouse, Cambridge, in 1648–9, and was incorporated at Oxford on 20 Aug. 1651. He became a fellow of St. John's College, and graduated M.A. on 17 Dec. 1651, being incorporated at Cambridge in 1663. In 1660 he was deprived of his fellowship by the royal commissioners, and was soon after made a chaplain or petty canon of Christ Church, where in 1672 he became a chantor. He was also vicar of St. Thomas's at Oxford, and afterwards curate of Holywell. In 1681 he became vicar of Chard in Somerset, and on 3 Aug. of the same year was appointed to the prebend of Compton Bishop in the see of Wells. On the accession of William and Mary, Thomas was one of those who refused to take the oaths of allegiance and supremacy, and he was in consequence deprived of his prebend in 1691, and in the following year of the vicarage of Chard. He died at Chard on 4 Nov. 1693, and was buried in the chancel of the parish church.
Thomas was the author of:
* ‘The Presbyterians Unmask'd, or Animadversions upon a Nonconformist Book called the Interest of England in the Matter of Religion,’ London, 1676, 8vo; republished in 1681 under the title ‘The Dissenters Disarmed,’ without the preface, as a second part to the ‘New Distemper’ of Thomas Tomkins (d. 1675) [q. v.] The ‘Interest of England in the Matter of Religion’ was written by John Corbet (1620–1680) [q. v.] Baxter terms Thomas's reply ‘a bloody invective’ (Works, xviii. 188).
* ‘The Charge of Schism renewed against the Separatists,’ London, 1680, 4to. A pamphlet written in reply to ‘An Answer to Dr. Stillingfleet's Sermon on the Mischief of Separation’ by Stephen Lobb [q. v.] and John Humfrey [q. v.]
* ‘Remarks on the Preface to the Protestant Reconciler [by Daniel Whitby, q. v.] in a Letter to a Friend,’ London, 1683, 4to. Thomas also wrote a preface to Tomkins's ‘New Distemper,’ in which he assailed Richard Baxter and other nonconformists.
[Wood's Athenæ Oxon. ed. Bliss, iv. 390; Foster's Alumni Oxon. 1500–1714; Allibone's Dict. of Engl. Lit.; Nelson's Life of Bull, pp. 23, 211; Brit. Mus. Addit. MS. 5882, f. 39.]
E. I. C.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Thomas, John Fryer

​THOMAS, JOHN FRYER (1797–1877), Madras civil servant, born in 1797, entered the service in 1816, and after holding ministerial appointments in the court of Sadr Adálat and officiating in various revenue and judicial appointments, including those of principal collector and magistrate and of judge of the provincial court of appeal and circuit, was eventually in 1844 appointed secretary, and in the following year chief secretary to the government of Madras, in both of which positions he exercised considerable influence over the governor, the Marquis of Tweeddale [see Hay, George, eighth Marquis of Tweeddale]. In 1850 he became a member of the governor's council, and in 1855 he retired from the service. He was a man of marked ability. Some of his minutes, ​recorded in very incisive language, are among the ablest papers in the archives of the Madras Presidency. Among them perhaps the most remarkable are a review of Macaulay's draft of the Indian penal code, and a minute on native education, written in 1850, shortly after he joined the Madras government. He considered the educational policy then in force unduly ambitious, and held that the funds available, very limited in amount, ought to be expended rather in educating the many through the medium of the vernacular languages than in instructing the few in the higher branches of literature and science through the medium of English. He also advocated the adoption of the grant-in-aid system and its application to missionary schools as well as to others. He strongly supported and liberally contributed to missionary efforts, and deprecated the continued exclusion of the Bible from the course of instruction in government schools, differing on this point from James Thomason [q. v.] He died in London on 7 April 1877.
[India Office Records; Selections from the Records of the Madras Government, No. 2, 1855; personal knowledge.]
A. J. A.
# Domestic Encyclopædia (1802)/Lignum Vitæ

Edition of 1802.
​Lignum Vitæ. See Guaiacum.
# Domestic Encyclopædia (1802)/Lily, the Common

Edition of 1802.
​LILY, or Lilium, L. a genus of exotic plants, consisting of ten species, all of which are remarkable for the beauty of their flowers; but the two following deserve a distinguished place:
1. The candidum, or White Lily, which produces a beautiful flower, the fragrant odour of which is so powerful as to induce fainting, if numbers of it be kept over night in a close apartment:—an essential oil may be obtained from them, in a manner similar to that described under the article Jasmine.
2. The bulbiferum, or Fire Lily, which also bears fine flowers of a flaming red colour, and which, by culture, sometimes become double.—The Russians and Tungusians eat the roots of this species, either roasted, or boiled in milk; and Dr. Franke informs us (in his System of Medical Police, printed a few years since, in German), that these mealy roots might, in times of scarcity, be prepared into wholesome bread.—On account of their emollient and maturating properties, they have been greatly recommended in the dropsy; but are chiefly employed in cataplasms, when boiled, and bruised into a pulp, with oil: in this manner, they are said to form an efficacious application to recent burns.
# Domestic Encyclopædia (1802)/Lilac

Edition of 1802.
​LILAC, or Syringa, L. a genus of exotic plants, natives of Persia, consisting of three species, the principal of which is the vulgaris, or Common Lilac. It has long been cultivated in our gardens, on account of its ornamental flowers; and, if properly managed, will grow to the height of 18 or 20 feet.
This shrub thrives on almost any soil, but it produces the most beautiful flowers on rich, light land, though it flourishes best on wet grounds. It is propagated by suckers, which should be separated from the parent plants in the month of October, and set in a nursery, in rows three feet asunder, each sucker being one foot distant from the other. In the second or third year, they may be removed to the spot where they are intended to remain. After this operation, no farther attention will be required, except digging about their roots once in the course of the year, and cutting off the suckers; which not only destroy the beauty of the plant, but likewise deprive it of its nourishment.
The leaves of the Common Lilac are frequented by the Spanish Fly:—the yellowish and red-streaked wood of old trees is valuable to turners and cabinet-makers; as the vessels or utensils manufactured of it, are equal to those made of olive-wood, and almost indestructible: bv immersing such articles in a cold dye, consisting of aqua-fortis largely diluted with water, they acquire a fine red colour.—From the flowers of this plant may be distilled an essential oil, similar to that of roses.
# Domestic Encyclopædia (1802)/Lily, the Water

Edition of 1802.
​LILY, the Water, or Nymphæa, L. a genus of plants comprising nine species, two of which are natives of Britain; namely,
1. The lutea, Yellow Water-lily, or Watercan; which grows in gentle rivers, pools, and ditches; blows in the months of July and August. When the small yellow flowers begin to fade, the seed returns to the water, in which element it attains to maturity, and again germinates. This aquatic vegetable is eaten by hogs; but goats do not relish its flavour, and it is totally refused by horses, cows, and sheep. The flowers possess an odour similar to that of brandy; and the roots, if moistened with milk, are said by Linnæus to destroy crickets and cock-roaches.
3. The alba, White Water-lily, Candock, or Water-socks, which grows in ponds and slow rivers; flowers in the month of July. This species is one of the most beautiful British plants, and may be propagated by transplanting its bulbous roots in the winter.—It is eaten by hogs, but disliked by goats, and totally rejected by cows and horses.—The roots are employed in Ireland, and the Island of Jura, for dyeing a dark brown colour; but the Egyptians eat them boiled, and convert the seeds into bread. The Swedes also, in prevailing dearth, have used the root of this plant as a substitute for corn; though it requires to be previously divested of its bitter taste, by frequent ablutions.
According to Gleditsch, the roots of the white and yellow lily are equally useful in tanning and currying.
# Domestic Encyclopædia (1802)/Ligature

Edition of 1802.
​LIGATURE, a bandage or fillet, made of linen, flannel, leather, or any other elastic substance, which is generally tied round the arm, to facilitate the operation of blood-letting.
Ligatures are likewise used to extend or replace bones, which are broken or dislocated; on the arteries, during amputations, or in large wounds; and also to secure the splints that are usually applied to fractures.
Although the instinctive propensity of the lower animals, to pinch or compress wounded or painful limbs, seems to have furnished mankind with a hint for the application of tight bandages or ligatures, with a view to intercept the nerve in its course from the part affected to the brain; yet such practice is not always safe. We know instances where, in consequence of too long continued ​compression of the blood-vessels (previous to a surgical application) the tourniquet had produced so powerful an effect, that after removing it, the contorted limb was unsensible, paralytic, and sometimes mortified.
# Domestic Encyclopædia (1802)/Lily-of-the-Valley

Edition of 1802.
​LILY-OF-THE-VALLEY, or May-Lily, Convallaria Majalis, L. an indigenous perennial plant, growing in woods, heaths, and at the foot of hills: it flourishes in the month of May.
This vegetable is eaten by sheep and goats, but refused by cows, horses, and hogs; its flowers are in a high degree fragrant; but, when dried, they acquire a narcotic scent, and, if reduced to powder, excite sneezing. Both the flowers and roots have a bitter taste; and an ​extract, made from either, possesses similar purgative properties with aloes;—the dose being from 20 to 30 grains.—A beautiful green colour may be prepared from the leaves, with the addition of lime.
# Domestic Encyclopædia (1802)/Liquor

Edition of 1802.
​LIQUOR, a general name for any liquid preparation, but more particularly applied to such as are either fermented, or distilled: of the former class are, beer, ale, wine, &c.; of the latter, are brandy, gin, rum, and other ardent spirits.
A patent was granted, in 1797, to Mr. Joseph Bramah, for his invention of certain new methods of retaining, clarifying, preserving, and drawing off every kind of liquor; and more particularly porter, ale, &c. together with various improved casks and implements necessary for giving his contrivance full effect.
Our limits will not permit us to specify the different means employed by the ingenious patentee: we shall, therefore, at present, only state the various objects effected by his contrivance.
1. To preserve all liquors, used as beverage, from flatness or acidity, while they are on tap, for any period of time; by which the expensive custom of bottling liquors may be entirely superseded.
2. To render water, and every other fluid perfectly pellucid, and to extricate it completely from all heterogeneous matters, by means of a forced filtration, without the aid of isinglass, or any other chemical preparation, known under the name of finings; and which is usually employed for the purpose of clarification.
3. To convey every kind of liquor through small tubes from the cellar to any part of the house; by which means the cellar-door may be fastened at all times, and thus secured from the injurious access of either cold or heat; while intoxication, adulteration, embezzlement, &c. will be effectually prevented.
Lastly, to secure and draw off liquors, as occasion may require, by means of cocks constructed on a new principle, so that no person can open them, excepting such as have permission to that effect. Thus every person may ascertain, with accuracy, the quantity of beer, ale, &c. consumed.—To publicans, in particular, this invention must be a very great acquisition; as, beside the frauds committed on them by indolent or dishonest servants, considerable quantities of liquor will be saved, that are otherwise inevitably wasted by careless drawing, &c. The reader who wishes to obtain farther information respecting Mr. Bramah's useful inventions, will find them described in the 9th volume of the Repertory of Arts, &c. where his patent is illustrated with engravings.
# Elegiac Sonnets, and Other Poems, Volume 1, The Ninth Edition/Sonnet XIV

See notes
SONNET XIV.
FROM PETRARCH.
LOOSE to the wind her golden tresses stream'd,  Forming bright waves with amorous Zephyr's sighs;  And tho' averted now, her charming eyes Then with warm love, and melting pity beam'd, Was I deceived?—Ah! surely, nymph divine!  That fine suffusion on thy cheek was love;  What wonder then those beauteous tints should move, Should fire this heart, this tender heart of mine! Thy soft melodious voice, thy air, thy shape,  Were of a goddess——not a mortal maid;  Yet tho' thy charms, thy heavenly charms should fade, My heart, my tender heart could not escape;  Nor cure for me in time or change be found:  The shaft extracted does not cure the wound!
# Elegiac Sonnets, and Other Poems, Volume 1, The Ninth Edition/Sonnet XL

SONNET XL.
FROM THE SAME.
FAR on the sands, the low, retiring tide,  In distant murmurs hardly seems to flow; And o'er the world of waters, blue and wide,  The sighing summer-wind forgets to blow. As sinks the day-star in the rosy West,  The silent wave, with rich reflection glows: Alas! can tranquil nature give me rest,  Or scenes of beauty sooth me to repose? Can the soft lustre of the sleeping main,  Yon radiant heaven, or all creation's charms, "Erase the written troubles of the brain,"  Which Memory tortures, and which Guilt alarms? Or bid a bosom transient quiet prove, That bleeds with vain remorse and unextinguish'd love!
# Elegiac Sonnets, and Other Poems, Volume 1, The Ninth Edition/Sonnet XIX

SONNET XIX.
TO MR. HAYLEY,
ON RECEIVING SOME ELEGANT LINES FROM HIM.
FOR me the Muse a simple band design'd  Of 'idle' flowers that bloom the woods among, Which, with the cypress and the willow join'd,  A garland form'd as artless as my song. And little dared I hope its transient hours  So long would last; composed of buds so brief; 'Till Hayley's hand among the vagrant flowers  Threw from his verdant crown a deathless leaf. For high in Fame's bright fane has Judgment placed  The laurel wreath Serena's poet won, Which, woven with myrtles by the hands of Taste,  The Muse decreed for this her favorite son. And those immortal leaves his temples shade, Whose fair, eternal verdure—shall not fade!
# Elegiac Sonnets, and Other Poems, Volume 1, The Ninth Edition/Sonnet XLI

SONNET XLI.
TO TRANQUILLITY.
IN this tumultuous sphere, for thee unfit,  How seldom art thou found—Tranquillity!  Unless 'tis when with mild and downcast eye By the low cradles thou delight'st to sit Of sleeping infants——watching the soft breath,  And bidding the sweet slumberers easy lie; Or sometimes hanging o'er the bed of death,  Where the poor languid sufferer——hopes to die. Oh, beauteous sister of the halcyon peace!  I sure shall find thee in that heavenly scene  Where Care and Anguish shall their power resign;  Where hope alike, and vain regret shall cease, And Memory—lost in happiness serene,  Repeat no more—that misery has been mine!
# Elegiac Sonnets, and Other Poems, Volume 1, The Ninth Edition/Sonnet XLIII

SONNET XLIII.
THE unhappy exile, whom his fates confine  To the bleak coast of some unfriendly isle,  Cold, barren, desart, where no harvests smile, But thirst and hunger on the rocks repine; When, from some promontory's fearful brow,  Sun after sun he hopeless sees decline In the broad shipless sea—perhaps may know  Such heartless pain, such blank despair as mine! And, if a flattering cloud appears to show  The fancied semblance of a distant sail,  Then melts away——anew his spirits fail, While the lost hope but aggravates his woe! Ah! so for me delusive Fancy toils, Then, from contrasted truth—my feeble soul recoils.
# Elegiac Sonnets, and Other Poems, Volume 1, The Ninth Edition/Sonnet XLVI

See notes
SONNET XLVI.
WRITTEN AT PENSHURST, IN AUTUMN 1788.
YE towers sublime! deserted now and drear!  Ye woods! deep sighing to the hollow blast, The musing wanderer loves to linger near,  While History points to all your glories past: And startling from their haunts the timid deer,  To trace the walks obscured by matted fern,  Which Waller's soothing lyre were wont to hear,  But where now clamours the discordant hern! The spoiling hand of Time may overturn  These lofty battlements, and quite deface The fading canvass whence we love to learn  Sydney's keen look, and Sacharissa's grace; But fame and beauty still defy decay, Saved by the historic page——the poet's tender lay!
# Elegiac Sonnets, and Other Poems, Volume 1, The Ninth Edition/Sonnet XLII

See notes
SONNET XLII.
COMPOSED DURING A WALK ON THE DOWNS, IN NOVEMBER 1787.
THE dark and pillowy cloud, the sallow trees,  Seem o'er the ruins of the year to mourn; And, cold and hollow, the inconstant breeze  Sobs thro' the falling leaves and wither'd fern.  O'er the tall brow of yonger chalky bourn, The evening shades their gather'd darkness fling,  While, by the lingering light, I scarce discern The shrieking night-jar sail on heavy wing.  Ah! yet a little——and propitious Spring Crown'd with fresh flowers shall wake the woodland strain;  But no gay change revolving seasons bring To call forth pleasure from the soul of pain! Bid Syren Hope resume her long-lost part, And chase the vulture Care—that feeds upon the heart!
# Elegiac Sonnets, and Other Poems, Volume 1, The Ninth Edition/Sonnet XLIV

See notes
SONNET XLIV.
WRITTEN IN THE CHURCH-YARD AT MIDDLETON IN SUSSEX.
PRESS'D by the Moon, mute arbitress of tides,  While the loud equinox its power combines,  The sea no more its swelling surge confines, But o'er the shrinking land sublimely rides. The wild blast, rising from the Western cave,  Drives the huge billows from their heaving bed;  Tears from their grassy tombs the village dead, And breaks the silent sabbath of the grave! With shells and sea-weed mingled, on the shore  Lo! their bones whiten in the frequent wave;  But vain to them the winds and waters rave; They hear the warring elements no more: While I am doom'd—by life's long storm opprest, To gaze with envy on their gloomy rest.