ford, distinguished by his zeal in the promotion of various branches of practical science, was born at the village of Rumford, in New England, in the year 1752; and, with the assistance afforded him by a professor of natural philosophy in the American university of Cambridge, acquired in early life such a degree of knowledge as enabled him to give instruction to others. By an advantageous marriage, while he was young, his advancement was accelerated, so that he obtained the rank of a major in the militia of his native district. When the war broke out, between the mother country and her colonies, he took part with the former, and rendered himself useful to several of the British generals. In process of time he repaired to England, and recommending himself to lord George Germaine, the chief minister in the American department, obtained a place in his office. Towards the close of the war, the same nobleman, with a view of securing for him a provision, sent him to New York, where he raised a regiment of dragoons, and, by being appointed lieutenantcolonel, became entitled to half-pay. Upon his return to England, his majesty, in 1784, conferred upon him the honor of knighthood; and for some time he was one of the under secretaries of state. Soon after he made a tour to the continent, and being warmly recommended by the prince of Deux-Ponts, afterward king of Bavaria, to the reigning elector-palatine, and duke of Bavaria, he was admitted into his service, and occupied an eminent station. He had thus an opportunity of effecting many important and useful reforms, both civil and military. His attention was at first directed to the suppression of mendicity, which prevailed not only at Munich, the capital, but through the whole country, to an extent that rendered the abolition of it a very difficult undertaking. He formed however a plan for employing all mendicants; and having provided a building for their reception, and materials for their labor, sallied forth into the streets of the city on the 1st of January 1790, (New year's day being set apart for giving alms in Bavaria), accompanied by the field officers of the garrison and the magistrates of the city; and, arresting with his own hand the first beggar that came in his way, his attendants followed his example, so that before night not a single beggar was to be seen in the whole metropolis. Those arrested were conducted to the town hall, where their names were inscribed, and then ordered to repair to the workhouse, where they would find employment, and a sufficiency of wholesome food. In consequence of these vigorous measures, the evil was redressed, and the mendicants were led to prefer industry to idleness, and decency to filth and rags. He also introduced into Bavaria the culture of potatoes. For these services Sir Benjamin was decorated by the Bavarian sovereign with several orders, promoted to the rank of lieutenant general, and created a count by the title of his native place, Rumford. During his abode at Munich, he commenced his experiments upon fire places, the economy of fuel, and the convenience of cooking; and also his plans for a cheaper and more nutritive mode of feeding the poor. Having in 1799 quitted VOL. XXII.

Bavaria, he resided for some time in this country, pursuing a variety of experiments on the nature and application of heat, and the construction of fire places. He also promoted science by liberally exciting emulation in others. For the latter purpose, he transferred, on a visit to this country in 1796, to the Royal Society of London, of which he was a member, £1000, three per cent, stock, the interest of which was to be applied every second year as a premium to the author of the most important discovery on the subjects of heat and light in any part of Europe during the two preceding years. He also suggested the plan, and assisted in the formation of the Royal Institution.

In 1802 he fixed his residence at Paris, where he married the widow of the celebrated Lavoisier; but this connexion, proving unhappy, was terminated by a separation. The count afterwards retired to a country house at Auteuil, about four miles from Paris, and, preferring the climate of France, obtained permission from the king of Bavaria to continue there, and to enjoy his pension of £1200 a year. He died of a slow fever in August 1814, in his sixty-third year.

THOMSON (James), a British poet, the son of a Scottish divine, was born in the shire of Roxburgh, in 1700, and educated in the university of Edinburgh, with a view to the ministry. But he relinquished his views of engaging in the sacred function, and repaired to London, in consequence of some engagement which he had received from a lady of quality there, a friend of his mother. The reception he met with, wherever he was introduced, emboldened him to risk the publication of his excellent poem on Winter. This piece was published in 1726; and, from the universal applause it met with, Mr. Thomson's acquaintance was courted by people of the first taste and fashion. But the chief advantage which it procured him was the acquaintance of Dr. Rundle, afterwards bishop of Derry, who introduced him to the late lord chancellor Talbot; and some years after, when the eldest son of that nobleman was to make his tour on the continent, Mr. Thomson was chosen as his tutor. The expectations which his Winter had raised were fully satisfied by the successive publications of the other seasons; of Summer in 1727; of Spring in 1728; and of Autumn, in a 4to edition of his works in 1730. Besides the Seasons, and his tragedy of Sophonisba, written and acted with applause in 1729, he had, in 1727, published his poem to the Memory of Sir Isaac Newton, with an account of his chief discoveries. That same year, the resentment of our merchants for the interruption of their trade by the Spaniards in America, running very high, Mr. Thomson zealously took part in it, and wrote his Britannia, to rouse the nation to revenge. With the honorable Charles Talbot our author visited most of the courts in Europe, and returned with his views greatly enlarged. On his return to England with Mr. Talbot (who soon after died), the chancellor made him his secretary of briefs; a place suiting his retired indolent way of life, and equal to all his wants. From this office he was removed, when death, not long after, deprived him of his patron. He

F

then found himself reduced to a state of precarious dependence.

Thomson having had, we are told, the misfortune to be arrested, the report of his distress reached the ears of Quin, the comedian, who sought him in a spunging house, in Holborn, and being admitted into the room, was, after some civilities on both sides, invited by Thomson to sit down. Quin then told him that he was come to sup with him, and had already ordered supper to be provided, which he hoped he would excuse. Mr. Thomson made the proper reply, and the discourse turned on subjects of literature. When supper was over and the glass had gone briskly round, Quin observed that is was time to enter upon business. On which Mr. Thomson, imagining that he was come about some affairs relating to the drama, declared that he was ready to serve him to the utmost of his capacity in any thing he should command. 'Sir,' said Quin, you mistake my meaning; I am in your debt, I owe you £100; and I am come to pay you.' Thomson replied, that as he was a gentleman whom he had never offended, he wondered he should come to insult him in his misfortunes. Quin, in return, expressed his detestation of such ungenerous be haviour, adding, 'I say I owe you £100; and there it is,' laying a bank note of that value before him. Thomson, filled with astonishment, begged he would explain himself. Why,' replied Quin, I'll tell you. Soon after I had read your Seasons, I took it in my head, that, as I had something to leave behind me when I died, I would make my will; and, among the rest of my legatees, I set down the author of the Seasons £100; but this day, hearing that you were in this house, I thought I might as well have the pleasure of being my own executor.' Mr. Thomson expressed his acknowledgment, and the sum instantly procured his discharge.

But the profits arising from his works were not inconsiderable; his tragedy of Agamemnon, acted in the year 1738, yielded a good sum; but his chief dependence was upon the prince of Wales, who settled on him a handsome allowance, and honored him with many marks of particular favor. Notwithstanding this, however, he was refused a licence for his tragedy of Edward and Eleonora, which he had prepared for the stage in 1736. Thomson's next perform ance was the Masque of Alfred, written in 1740 jointly with Mr. Mallet, by the command of the prince of Wales, for the entertainment of his royal highness's court at Clifden. The last work he published was The Castle of Indolence, his tragedy of Coriolanus being only prepared for the theatre, when he died, August 27, 1748, in consequence of a cold he caught on the Thames. The distinguishing qualities of his mind and heart appear best in his writings. is not known that through his whole life he ever gave any person a moment's pain, either by his writings or otherwise; nor wrote, as it has been truly said of him--

It

A line which, dying, he could wish to blot.' His testamentary executors were lord Lyttleton and Mr. Mitchell. By their united interests,

the orphan play of Coriolanus was brought on the stage to the best advantage; from the profits of which, and the sale of MSS. and other effects, a handsome sum was remitted to his sisters. His remains were deposited in the church of Richmond, under a plain stone, long without an inscription. A handsome monument was erected to him in Westminster Abbey in 1762, the charge of which was defrayed by the profits arising from a splendid edition of all his works in 4to.; Mr. Millar the bookseller, who had purchased all Mr. Thomson's copies, giving up his property on this occasion. A monument has also been erected to him at the place of his birth. THONG, n. s. Sax. nang, nong. A strap, or string of leather.

separa

Ayliffe.

THORDA, or THORENBURG, a county and town of Transylvania, in the province belonging to the Magyars or Hungarians. It lies nearly in the centre of the principality, having the county of Clausenburg to the north, and that of Weissenburg to the south. The area of the county is 1850 square miles; its population nearly 100,000. It is very hilly, but has pleasant valleys producing wine, watered by the Maros. It has little corn land, but here are several productive mines of salt and iron. It has also extensive forests. Thorda, or Thorenburg, the capital is situated near the river Aran-jos, and divided by a smaller stream, called the Salzbach, into two parts, called Old and New Thorda. It contains about 8000 inhabitants. THORN, n. s. THORN BACK, THORN'Y, adj.

Saxon Jonn; Gothic thaurn. A prickly tree; Sa difficult point: a seafish: the adverb corresponding with thorn. Thorns and thistles shall it bring forth.

Gen. iii. 18. The most upright is sharper than a thorn hedge. Micah vii. 4.

By how many thorny and hard ways they are come thereunto, by how many civil broils.

Spenser on Ireland.

THORN, a considerable town of West Prussia, in the government of Marienwerder, on the Vistula, about ninety miles from the mouth of the river, over which it has a very long wooden bridge. It consists of the old and new towns, separated from each other by a wall and ditch; but, as both are surrounded by a mound and moat, Thorn was formerly considered a place of strength. The manufactures are woollens, linen, hats, leather, gloves, starch; and the chief exports corn and wood. Its best edifices are of old date. The town was begun under the Teutonic knights in 1231, and, when the government of these knights became oppressive, Thorn set the first example of throwing off the yoke, and putting herself as a free town under the protection of Poland. It enjoyed a considerable share of prosperity until the eighteenth century; but in 1708 and 1710 it was ravaged by the plague, and in 1724 occurred a violent dispute between the Protestant and Catholic inhabitants. In 1793 it was taken possession of by a Prussian garrison: in 1806 it suffered from the invasion of the French, and remained in their hands until the disastrous retreat from Moscow. The well known Copernicus was born here in 1472. Population 8000. Ninety-two miles south of Dantzic, and 113 W. N. W. of Warsaw.

THORNBURY, a market-town of Gloucestershire, situate on a rivulet that falls into the Severn, two miles distant; being eleven miles north of Bristol, and 121 from London. The town is in a low situation, consists of three streets, in the form of a Roman Y, about half a mile in length; but the church is spacious, in the form of a cathedral, and has a high tower. Here is a free school and four almshouses. The town is a borough by prescription, governed by a mayor, twelve aldermen, and two constables; and here are the remains of a magnificent palace, begun by the great duke of Buckingham, in 1511, but the completion of that, and a navigable canal to the Severn, was prevented by his attainder. Several rooms, annexed to the walls of the castle, are intended as barracks for soldiers. Market on Saturday. Fairs, Easter Monday, 15th of August, and Monday before St. Thomas's day.

THORNDIKE (Herbert), B. D., a learned English divine of the seventeenth century. He was educated at Trinity college, Cambridge, where he graduated. In 1613 he was elected master of Trinity College; but was soon after ejected for his loyalty. In 1660 he obtained a prebend in Westminster Abbey. He wrote, 1.

Epilogus, a Latin treatise in defence of the Church of England, folio; 2. A Treatise on Weights and Measures; 3. A tract On Chu ch Censures. He also assisted Walton in the Polyglot Bible. He died in 1672.

THORNE, a market-town, West Riding of York, seven miles south by east of Snaith, and 161 north of Lendon. This town is tolerably well built, and the streets are paved: but it is situate in a very damp and marshy soil, being entirely surrounded by the rivers Don, Aire, Ouse, and another small river which divides it from the Isle of Axholme, in Lincolnshire. These rivers communicating with each other, and with the Stainforth and Headley canal, pass the end of the town, and contribute greatly to the increase of its trade. Besides a neat church, it contains chapels for Methodists, and one for Quakers. Many vessels are built here for the port of Hull. Market on Wednesday.

THORNEY, a parish in the Isle of Ely, Cambridge, six miles north by west of March, and eighty-six from London; formerly called Thorney Abbey; and previously Ankridge. Market on Tuesday, and two annual fairs.

THORNHILL (Sir James), an eminent English painter, was born in Dorsetshire in 1676, of an ancient family; but was constrained to apply to some profession, his father having been obliged to sell his family estate. On his arrival in London he applied to his uncle, the famous Dr. Sydenham, who enabled him to proceed in the study of the art of painting, and the genius of Thornhill made ample amends for the insufficiency of his instructor. He gradually rose to the highest reputation; and his performances in the dome of St. Paul's church at London, in the hospital at Greenwich, and at Hampton-court, are such public proofs of his merit as will convey his name to posterity with great honor. He lived in general esteem; enriched himself by the excellence of his works; was appointed state painter to queen Anne, from whom he received the honor of knighthood; had the singular satisfaction to repurchase his family estate; and was elected member of parliament. He died in 1732.

THORNTON (Bonnel), A. M. and M. B., an English poet, born in Maiden-lane, London, in 1724, was the son of an apothecary; and, being educated at Westminster school, was elected to Christ Church, Oxford, in 1743. The first work in which he was concerned was, The Student, or Oxford and Cambridge Miscellany, which appeared in monthly numbers; and was collected in 2 vols. 8vo. in 1748. Smart was the chief conductor of the work; but Thornton, and other wits of both universities, assisted in it. He took his degrees in 1750 and 1754. In 1754 he undertook The Connoisseur, in conjunction with Coleman, which they continued weekly to the 30th September, 1756. To the Public Advertiser, then in high reputation, he was a frequent contributor. In 1766 he published a translation of Plautus in blank verse, in 2 vols. These volumes contain seven plays, of which the Captive was translated by Mr. Warner, who afterwards completed all that Thornton left unfinished. Thornton published, in 1767, The Battle of the Wigs, on the disputes then subsisting between

the fellows and licentiates. He died, of the gout in his stomach, May 9, 1768, aged fortyfour. He wrote the papers in the Adventurer marked A; An Ode to St. Cecilia's Day, The Oxford Barber; with many detached essays in the public papers.

THORNTON (Thomas, col.), a noted sportsman and bon vivant, lieutenant-colonel of the West York militia, prince de Chambord and marquis de Pont in France, in which country he had purchased estates. He was born in London, and educated at the Charter House, whence he proceeded to Glasgow, and, on inheriting his patrimonial estate of Thornville Royal, distinguished himself by his attachment to field sports, and especially falconry. At the peace of Amiens he proceeded to France, where he afterwards settled, for the purpose of examining the state of sporting in that country, and gave the result of his observations to the world in a work entitled A Sporting Tour through France, 1806, 2 vols. 4to. Previously to the appearance of this he had printed, in 1804, A Sporting Tour through the North of England and the Highlands of Scotland, 4to. He was also the author of a small work entitled A Vindication of Colonel Thornton's Conduct in his Transactions with Mr. Burton, 8vo., 1806. He died at Paris early in the

summer of 1823.

THOROUGH, prepos. & adj."
THOROUGHFARE, N. S.
THOROUGHLY, adv.
THOROUGH PACED, adj.
THOROUGHSPEd,
THOROUGHSTITCH.

Sax. Junah. Through extended into

of

two syllables. By way making passage or penetration; by means of: as an adjective complete; perfect; full; passing through: a thoroughfare is a passage through; the power of passing: thoroughly, completely; fully: thorough paced, perfect in what is undertaken; complete thoroughsped is of similar import: thoroughstitch, completely; fully.

The Irish horseboys, in the thorough reformation of that realm, should be cut off. Spenser.

Mark Antony will follow

Thorough the hazards of this untrod state,
With all true faith. Shakspeare. Julius Cæsar.
Look into this business thoroughly. Shakspeare.
Let all three sides be a double house, without
Bacon.
thorough lights on the sides.

He did not desire a thorough engagement till he had time to reform some, whom he resolved never Clarendon.

more to trust.

Hell, and this world, one realm, one continent Milton's Pardise Lost. Of easy thoroughfare.

We can never be grieved for their miseries who are thoroughly wicked, and have thereby justly called their calamities on themselves.

Dryden's Dufresnoy. The courts are filled with a tumultuous din Of crowds, or issuing forth, or entering in : A thoroughfare of news; where some devise Things never heard; some mingle truth with lies. Dryden.

A thorough translator must be a thorough poet.

Id.

LEURUM.

THOTH, or THEUT (called by the Phoenicians Taaut, by the Greeks Hermes, and by the Romans Mercury), was a Phoenician of very superior talents, and one of the civilizers of mankind. He was prime minister to Osiris, whom, after his death, he deified; and he was himself deified by his countrymen the Egyptians.

THOU, pronoun & v. a. Sax. Ju; Teut. and Dan. du; Goth. ther, tu, in the oblique cases singular thee, Sax. de. in the plural ye, Sax. ge, in the oblique cases plural you, Sax. eop. The second pronoun personal: to thou is to treat with familiarity. You is now commonly used for the nominative plural.

Is this a dagger which I see before me,

The handle tow'rd my hand! Come let me clutch

thee.

I have thee not, and yet I see thee still.
Art thou not, fatal vision, sensible
To feeling as to sight?

Shakspeare. Macbeth. Taunt him with the licence of ink; if thou thou'st him some thrice, it shall not be amiss. Shakspeare.

Poet and saint, to thee alone were given
The two most sacred names of earth and heaven.
Cowley.

Thou, if there be a thou in this base town,
Who dares with angry Eupolis to frown;
Who at enormous villainy turns pale,
And steers against it with a full-blown sail.

For though in dreadful whirls we hung
High on the broken wave,

I know thou wert not slow to hear,
Nor impotent to save.

Dryden.

Addison.

THOUGH, conj. Sax. deap; Goth. thauh. Notwithstanding that; although.

In the vine were three branches; and it was as Genesis xl. 10. though it budded. Milton. Not that I so affirm, though so it seem. The sound of love makes your soft heart afraid, And guard itself, though but a child invade.

Waller.

You shall not quit Cydaria for me: 'Tis dangerous though to treat me in this sort, And to refuse my offers, though in sport. Dryden. I can desire to perceive those things that God has prepared for those that love him, though they be such

as eye hath not seen, ear heard, nor hath it entered into the heart of man to conceive. Locke. Though the name of abstracted ideas is attributed to universal ideas, yet this abstraction is not great. Watts's Logick.

THOUGHT, n. s. The pret. and THOUGHTFUL, adj. part. pass. of THINK, THOUGHTFULNESS, n. s. which see. The act THOUGHT LESS, adj. >of thinking: idea; THOUGHT LESSLY, adv. sentiment; inagiTHOUGHT LESSNESS, n. s. nation; opinion; THOUGHT SICK, adj. contemplation; design: the derivatives all strictly correspond. Let us return, lest he leave caring for the asses, and take thought for us. 1 Samuel ix. 5. He that is ready to slip, is a lamp despised in the thought of him that is at ease. Job xii. 5.

The thoughts I think towards you are thoughts of

peace,

and not evil.

Jeremiah xxix. 11. In restless hurries thoughtlessly they live, At substance oft unmoved, for shadows grieve.

My giddiness seized me; and, though I now totter, yet I think I am a thought better. Swift.

THOUINIA, in botany, a genus of plants belonging to the class of diandria and order of monogynia. The corolla is quadripetalous; the calyx quadripartite, and the antheræ sessile. There is only one species discovered, T. nutans. THOUSAND, adj. or n. s. Į Sax. durend; THOUSANDTH, adj. Belg. dnysend. The number of ten hundred : a great number: the ordinal of a thousand.

So fair, and thousand, thousand times more fair She seemed, when she presented was to sight.

Spenser.

He that will divide a minute into a thousand parts, and break but a part of a thousandth part in the affairs of love, it may be said of him, that Cupid hath clapt him o' th' shoulder, but I'll warrant him heart whole. Shakspeare. As You Like It. About three thousand years ago, navigation of the world for remote voyages was greater than at this day.

Bacon.

For harbour at a thousand doors they knocked, Not one of all the thousand but was locked.

Dryden.

Addison's Spectator.

The French hugonots are many thousand witnesses to the contrary; and I wish they deserved the thousandth part of the good treatment they have received. Swift's Miscellanies. How many thousands pronounce boldly on the affairs of the publick, whom God nor men never qualified for such judgment. Watts.

THRACE, a country very frequently mentioned by the Greek and Latin writers, deriving its name, according to Josephus, from Tiras, one of the sons of Japhet. It was bounded on the north by Mount Hæmus; on the south by the Ægean Sea; on the west by Macedon and the river Strymon; and on the east by the Euxine Sea, the Hellespont, and the Propontis. The Thracian Chersonesus is a peninsula enclosed on the south by the gean Sea, on the west by the