803 



PHILLIPS, THOMAS, R.A. 



PHILLIPS, WILLIAM, F.H.S., F.Q.S. 



810 



afterwards went to Sidney-Sussex College, Cambridge, with the 

 intention of ultimately taking holy orders. His father's death, and 

 the necessity there appeared of continuing the business for the support 

 of his mother and family, changed his plans, and he returned, after a 

 single term, to carry on in conjunction with his brother the Regent- 

 street chop. In this the brothers were unsuccessful, though they were 

 highly commended for their honourable conduct. 



He now (1841) turned to literature as a profession. His first work 

 was the novel of ' Caleb Stukeley,' which originally appeared in ' Black- 

 wood's Magazine,' but has since been two or three times reprinted in a 

 separate form. He afterwards wrote other tales in tho pages of that 

 and other periodicals, but none of them we believe were published 

 with his name. For a brief space during the summer months of 

 1844 he resided at the seat of the Marquis of Ailesbury in Wiltshire, 

 in order to read with Lord F. Bruce ; and whilst there he was thrown 

 from a horse and seriously hurt. He had perhaps always had a 

 tendency to consumption ; it was developed by the hurt, and during 

 his remaining days he worked with the weight of that terrible malady 

 pivs.-iug upou him. But he worked steadily on, and was able to 

 secure himself a handsome income, and an honourable position among 

 his literary compeers. Writing exclusively in newspapers and periodi- 

 cals, it was only in the last year or two of his life that Mr. Phillips was 

 at all known by name to the general public, yet he probably exercised 

 a much more considerable influence on public opinion and public taste 

 than many much better known men. For some time he wrote political 

 leaders in the ' Morning Herald ; ' but he afterwards became one of the 

 chiefs of the literary staff of the ' Times,' and during some years his 

 brilliant criticisms on current literature afforded an agreeable relief 

 among the news and politics of that powerful journal. In the ' Times ' 

 his pen waa entirely confined to literary criticism, at any rate he 

 never wrote ' leaders ' and he continued to write its more important 

 reviews down to hia death. Two volumes of ' Essays from the Times,' 

 by him, were published, though still without his name, in 1852 and 

 1854. Lucid, picturesque, often eloquent, and sometimes bitterly 

 keen, yet discriminating, and with all the appearance of being scru- 

 pulously fair, they will no doubt keep their place as a permanent 

 addition to our store of that class of essays : and some that were 

 attributed to him, but which appeared after the publication of these 

 volumes, are of at least equal merit. Besides his papers In the ' Times,' 

 Mr. Phillips wrote reviews in the ' Literary Gazette,' &c. He also 

 purchased, and for about a year edited, tho 'John Bull' newspaper, 

 but without much pecuniary success. In the formation of the Crystal 

 Palace Company he took an active part; and for a time acted as 

 secretary, and subsequently as ' literary director ' to the company, 

 and many of the arrangements are said to have been suggested by 

 him. He wrote likewise the general ' Guide to the Crystal Palace and 

 Park,' and the ' Portrait Gallery of the Crystal Palace.' He died at 

 Brighton, where he had gone on account of his health, on the 14th of 

 October, 1854, from the rupture of a large vessel on the lungs. He 

 left a widow and five children, for whom be had been enabled to make 

 a comfortable provision. In 1852 the University of Gottingeu con- 

 ferred on liim the honorary degree of LL.D. 



PHILLIPS, THOMAS, R.A., a distinguished portrait painter, was 

 born at Dudley, Warwickshire, October 18, 1770. He was placed 

 very early with Mr. Edgington at Birmingham to learn to paint on 

 glass ; and he came to London hi 1 790 with a letter of introduction to 

 West, who employed him at Windsor k on the glass paintings in St, 

 George's Chapel. In 1792 Phillips exhibited a view of Windsor 

 Castle from the north-east; and in the following year he exhibited 

 two historical pictures the ' Death of Talbot Earl of Shrewsbury, at 

 the Battle of Cassillon,' and ' Ituth and her Mother-in-law.' He 

 exhibited likewise two pictures of similar classes in 1794 'Cupid dis- 

 armed by Euphrosyne,' and ' Elijah returning the recovered Child jto 

 the Widow.' In 1796 he seems to have already turned his attention 

 to portrait painting, for from that year he appears chiefly in the 

 exhibition notices as a portrait painter, though he occasionally painted 

 some historical pieces. It is as a portrait painter however that he 

 acquired hia reputation, and as such he will be known ; for nearly 

 half a century he was a favourite exhibitor, and for a great portion 

 of the time he was fully occupied, notwithstanding the rivalry of 

 Hoppner, Owen, Jackson, Lawrence, and others of nearly equal 

 reputation ; few however of the nobility sat to him. 



In 1804 he removed into No. 8, George-street, Hanover-square, 

 where he remained until his death. In 1808 he was made a member 

 of the Royal Academy, tc which he presented a picture of ' Venus and 

 Adonis' as his diploma piece : there is likewise a large picture of this 

 subject by him in Stafford House. In 1824 he succeeded Fusoli in tho 

 professorship of painting, an office which he held until 1832 ; and he 

 delivered in all ten lectures, which he published together in one 

 volume 8vo. in 1833, dedicated to the Earl of Egremout, under the 

 title ' Lecture on the History and Principles of Painting : ' the first 

 four lectures are on the History of Painting ; the fifth i= on Invention ; 

 the sixth on Design ; the seventh on Composition ; the eighth on 

 Colouring ; the ninth on Chiaroscuro : and the tenth on the Applica- 

 tion of the Principles of Painting. These lectures aro clear and simple 

 in their style, and instructive in substance and arrangement, especially 

 in gome of the author's exposition!) of his viows of the principles of 

 art Mr. Phillips made a tour in Italy in company with Hilton, in 



1824, after his appointment to the professorship, and before the 

 delivery of any lectures, in order to be able to discharge the duties of 

 his office more efficiently. He died April 20, 1845. He was one of 

 the trustees of the Royal Academy. 



The following are some of Phillips's principal portraits : A portrait 

 of Lord Thurlow, paiuted in 1802 ; one of Napoleon, painted in the 

 same year, chiefly from memory; the Prince of Wales, 1806; Blake 

 the painter, 1807 jgSir Joseph Banks as President of the Royal Society, 

 1809 ; two of Lord Byron, 1814, one in an Albanian dress; Hetman, 

 Count Platoff, the Cossack general, on his charger, 1816, the horse 

 was painted by J. Ward, R.A. ; Sir F. Chantrey, 1818 ; the poet 

 Crabbe, for Mr. Murray, 1819; Earl Grey and Lord Brougham, 1S20 ; 

 the Duke of York for the town-hall of Liverpool, in 1823; Major 

 Denham, tho African traveller, the best of his portraits according to 

 Lawrence, 1826; Lord Stowell, Sir E. Parry, and Sir I. Brunell, 1827 ; 

 Wilkie, 1829; Mrs. Somerville and Sir Francis Burdett, 1834; Mr. 

 Justice Littledale and Lord Lyndhurst, 1836 ; W. Currie, Esq., 

 first mayor of Liverpool under the Municipal Reform Bill, painted for 

 the town-hall of Liverpool, and Lord William Bentiuck, 1838 ; Dr. 

 Thos. Arnold, and the late Earl of Egremont, a posthumous portrait, 

 1839 ; the Duke of Sussex in tho chair of the Royal Society, and Sir 

 Nicholas C. Tindal, late Lord Chief Justice of the Common Pleas, 

 1840 ; Dr. Shuttleworth, late bishop of Chichester, and George Green, 

 Esq., for the town-hall, Poplar, 1842. He painted also portraits of 

 Lord Byron and some other poets and writers for Mr. Murray, of 

 Albemarle-street, comprising those of Sir Walter Scott, Campbell, 

 Southey, Coleridge, Crabbe, and others. Among the few pictures 

 besides portraits which he exhibited after the establishment of his 

 name as a portrait-painter, were 'Field Sports,' in 1832; 'Rebecca,' 

 1833; a 'Nymph Reposing,' 1837; and ' Flora Maclvor,' 1839. His 

 last picture of this class is said to be the ' Expulsion from Paradise,' at 

 Petworth. Phillips was the author of several articles on painting in 

 Rees's 'Cyclopaedia.' 



PHILLIPS, WILLIAM, F.R.S., F.G.S. The name of the subject 

 of this notice "stands very creditably prominent in the list of 

 persons, fortunately numerous in England, who, though constantly 

 occupied in commerce, increase their own happiness, and promote 

 useful knowledge, by devoting their hours of leisure to the pursuit of 

 natural science." He was born on May 10th, 1773, and was the elder 

 brother of Richard Phillips, the subject of a preceding article. They 

 were the sous of James Phillips, a member of the Society of Friends, 

 who carried on tho business of a printer and bookseller, in George-yard, 

 Lombard-street, London, a locality which the publications of William 

 Phillips afterwards rendered classical in the history of English science. 

 It has already been stated that he was one of the founders of the 

 Askcsiau Society, to which in 1801 he contributed a paper, probably 

 his first, ' On the Virgula Divinatoria, or Divining Rod,' which was 

 published in the ' Philosophical Magazine ' for the following year. 

 The objects of his pursuit were those of geology, mining, mineralogy, 

 and crystallography. The latter sciences are indebted to him for an 

 extraordinary number of accurate measurements of crystals by the 

 reflective goniometer of Wollaston, which he was almost the first 

 mineralogist to employ ; and his elementary works on that science 

 and on geology, especially on the geology of the British Islands, con- 

 tributed in a great degree to extend their culture in this country, and 

 to render the latter subject one of general knowledge and interest in 

 society. 



In the use of the reflective goniometer, Dr. Whewell remarks, in 

 his ' History of the Industrial Sciences,' " no one was more laborious 

 and successful than William Phillips, whoso power of apprehending 

 the most complex forms with steadiness and clearness, led Wollaston 

 to say that he had a 'geometrical sense.'" Three editions of his 

 ' Elementary Introduction to the Knowledge of Mineralogy,' were 

 published in the years 1816, 1819, and 1823, the last on the day on 

 which he attained the fiftieth year of his age. It is this edition 

 which Dr. Whewell also pronounces to have been " an extraordinary 

 treasure of crystallographic facts." No greater tribute, perhaps, to 

 the value of this work, could have been paid by the author's suc- 

 cessors in science than its selection, after the lapse of thirty years, as 

 the foundation of Mr. Brooke and Professor W. H. Miller's ' Minera- 

 logy," published in fact as a new edition of it. [MILLER, WILLIAM 

 HALLOWS.] 



The members of the Society of Friends have been honourably 

 distinguished by the care and interest they have taken in the welfare 

 and intellectual culture of young people. William Phillips manifested 

 a more than ordinary amount of this, and his elementary publications 

 originated in his delivery of lectures on geology, mineralogy, and 

 astronomy, principally to young persons, at tho village of Tottenham, 

 near London, where he resided. Of these works the ' Outlines of 

 Mineralogy and Geology ' was the first, and of tho purely minera- 

 logical part of which, as first published, the first edition of his 

 ' Mineralogy * was an expansion. Four editions of these ' Outlines ' 

 appeared, the second in 1815, and the fourth, which was his last work, 

 in 1826. In 1818 he produced a most useful compilation entitled 

 'A Selection of Facts,' forming 'an Outline of the Geology of 

 England and Wales,' on which was founded the celebrated ' Outlines' 

 of the same subject, which liad so extraordinary an influence in tho 

 extension of geological research. In Dr. Whewell's work, already 



