11 



TIIURLOW, LOUD. 



THURNEYSSER, LEONARD. 



s}>ite of Mr. Fox's opposition to bis continuance in office ; thus 

 furnishing im instance without a parallel in the history of English 

 party, of a lord chancellor retaining office under an administration to 

 all the leading features of whose policy he was resolutely opposed. 

 Nor was he content in this inconsistent association to differ from his 

 colleagues in opinion only ; on the contrary, he took no paina to 

 conceal his.hoatility to their principles, and even opposed in the House 

 of Lords with all his characteristic energy the measures which they 

 unanimously supported. Thus, after the bill for preventing govern- 

 ment contractors from sitting in the House of Commons had been 

 introduced into the House of Lords, where it was supported by Lord 

 Shelburne and all the ministers in that house, tho lord chancellor loft 

 the woolsack, and himself moved that " the bill ba not committed," 

 (! nouncing the measure as "an attempt to deceive and betray the 

 people," and designating it " a jumble of contradictions." (Hansard's 

 ' Purl. Hist.' vol. xxii. pp. 1356-1379.) The inconvenience produced 

 by this embarrassing disunion of councils' was deeply fclb, and was one 

 of the principal reasons for Mr. Fox's retirement from administration, 

 on the death of the Marquis of llockinghum ; and when the admi- 

 nistration was dissolved in February 1783, upon the coalition formed 

 between Lord North and Mr. Fox, Lord Thurlow was compelled to 

 retire from office, notwithstanding the exertions of the king to retain 

 him. But though no longer chancellor, he still continued to be one of 

 those who were described by Junius as " the king's friends," and was 

 supposed to have been his secret and confidential adviser during the 

 short reign of the Coalition ministry. Upon the dissolution of that 

 ministry at the end of the same year in which it was formed, the 

 great seal was restored to Lord Thurlow by Mr. Pitt, who then became 

 prime minister. He continued to hold the office of lord chancellor 

 for nine years after his reappointment : and until the occurrence of 

 the king's madness in 1788, appeared to act cordially with the rest of 

 the cabinet; but when that event rendered a .change of councils by 

 means of a regency probable, ho was suspected, with good reason, of 

 some intriguing communications with the Prince of Wales and the 

 Whigs (Moore's ' Life of Sheridan,' vol. ii. chap, xiii.), and was always 

 subsequently regarded with distrust by Pitt and his colleagues. On 

 the other hand, Lord Thurlow took no pains to conceal his dislike of 

 Pitt; and that minister felt himself so embarrassed by the chancellor's 

 personal hostility to him, that in 1789 he complained to the king, who 

 immediately wrote to Thurlow upon the subject, and obtained from 

 him a satisfactory answer. His angry feeling however still continued, 

 until at length, in 1792, probably relying upon his personal influence 

 with the king, he ventured to adopt a similar course to that which he 

 had followed in very different circumstances under the Rockiugham 

 administration, and actually opposed several measures brought into 

 parliament by the government. In particular he violently opposed 

 Mr. Pitt's favourite scheme for continuing the Sinking Fund, and 

 voted against it in the House of Lords, though he had never expressed 

 his dissent from the measure in the cabinet. This kind of opposition, 

 - though submitted to from necessity by a weak government like that 

 of the Marquis of Rockingham, could not be endured by so powerful 

 a minister as Pitt ; and on the next day he informed the king that 

 either the lord chancellor or himself must retire from the administra- 

 tion. The king, without any struggle or even apparent reluctance, at 

 once consented to the removal of Lord Thurlow, who was acquainted 

 by command of his majesty that he must resign the great seal upon 

 the prorogation of parliament. Lord Thurlow is said to have been 

 deeply mortified by this conduct on the part of the king; and he is 

 related to have declared in conversation that "no man had a right to 

 treat another as the king had treated him." Subsequently to his 

 notice of dismissal, and before he quitted office, his ill humour was 

 displayed by his opposition to another measure prepared and supported 

 by Mr. Pitt, the object of which was the encouragement of the growth 

 of timber in the New Forest. On this occasion he reflected severely 

 upon those who advised the king upon this measure, and went so far 

 as to say that his majesty had been imposed upon. (Tomline's ' Life 

 of Pitt,' vol. iii. p. 398-99.) One of his latest acts as lord chancellor 

 was to sign a protest in the House of Lords against Mr. Fox's Libel 

 Act. The opportunity of his retirement from office was taken to 

 grant him a new patent, by which he was created Baron Thurlow, of 

 Thurlow, in the county of Suffolk, with remainder, failing his male 

 issue, to his three nephews, one of whom afterwards succeeded to the 

 title under this limitation. 



After his retirement from office in 1792, Lord Thurlow ceased to 

 take any leading part in politics, and having little personal influence 

 with any party, became insignificant as a public character. He occa- 

 sionally spoke in the House of Lords on the subjects of interest which 

 were discussed at the period of the French revolution; and it is 

 worthy of remark that he frequently opposed the measures adopted 

 by the Tory government at that time for the suppression of popular 

 disturbances. Instances of this occur with respect to the Treasonable 

 Practices Bill and the Seditious Meetings Bill, in 1795; and a com- 

 parison of the sentiments expressed by him on these occasions, with 

 his speeches respecting America during Lord North's administration, 

 affords a striking example of political inconsistency. A circumstance 

 is recorded in the 'Memoirs of Sir Samuel Romilly' (vol. ii. p. 124), 

 which proves that within a few months of his death Lord Thurlow 

 was still confidentially consulted by members of the royal family, 



On occasion of the first communication of the charges made by Lady 

 Douglas against the princess of Wales in 1805, the prince (afterwards 

 George IV.) directed that Thurlow should be consulted, and the par* 

 ticulars of the interview between him and Sir .Samuel Romilly are 

 characteristic and interesting. Lord Thurlow died at Brighton ou the 

 12th of September 1826, after an illness of two years. 



THURMER, JOSEPH, a German architect of some note, was born 

 at Munich, November 3, 1789, but did not begin to apply himself to 

 architecture professionally until 1817, when be became a pupil of 

 Professor Fischer's, and had for his fellow-students Gaertuer, Ziebland, 

 Ghlmuller [GAI.UTNEII; OHI.MUU.KU], and many others who have 

 since rendered themselves more or lees distinguished. At the end of 

 the following year (after a previous visit to Rome at the commence- 

 ment of it) he joined Hiibich, Heger (died 1837), and Koch, in a pro* 

 feesional excursion to Greece, where he spent five months in studying 

 and drawing the remains of buildings at Athena, Home few of which 

 he published on his return, with the title of ' Anoichten von Athen 

 und seine Denkmaler,' 1823-26. He did not however confine himself 

 to the study of the Grecian style, nor was he such a prejudiced 

 admirer of it as to have no relish for any other ; on the contrary, be 

 considered the Italian style of the time of Leo X. to be equally 

 worthy of the architect's attention, and to deserve to be far better, 

 more faithfully and tastefully, represented by means of engravings 

 than it had previously been. He accordingly joined with Gutensohn 

 in bringing out a ' Sammlung von Denkmaler,' &c., ' Collection of 

 Architectural Studies, and Decorations from Buildings at Rome, of 

 the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries,' the first number of which ap- 

 peared in 1826 ; but, unfortunately, it did not meet with the encourage- 

 ment it deserved, and was therefore given up, when very little progress 

 had been made with it. The publication however was advantageous 

 to Thurmer, since it recommended him to notice, and led to his 

 receiving (1827) at the same time two different invitations, one from 

 Frankfurt, the other from Dresden, to which last he gave the pre- 

 ference. He was there made professor-extraordinary at the school of 

 architecture, and in 1832 was promoted to be first professor of 

 architecture, in which capacity he did much for the advancement of 

 the art and the improvement of taste. Though he has left very little 

 executed by himself in that city, the only public building in it entirely 

 by him being the post-office (for though the ' Hauptwache,' or guard- 

 house, was erected by him, it was after Schinkel's designs), hia 

 opinions had a very beneficial influence. That he should have had so 

 few opportunities for displaying his ability, is not very surprising, nor 

 does it detract from his reputation, since he did not long survive the 

 completion of his first edifice : he died November 13th, 1833, while 

 staying at Munich. What he might have done, had a longer life been 

 granted him, is shown by the number of designs he left, all more or 

 less stamped by originality and artistical feeling. That the grateful 

 regard expressed for his memory and his talents by his friends and 

 pupils was not a mere temporary effusion, is proved by their having 

 erected a bronze bust and monument to him, in 1838, at the Academy 

 of Arts. 



THURNEYS3ER ZUM THUJIN, LEONARD, a celebrated alche- 

 mist and astrologer, was born in 1530 at Basle, where his father 

 carried on the trade of a goldsmith. He was himself brought up to 

 this employment, but he was obliged to leave his native place when 

 eighteen years of age, on account of having sold to a Jew a piece of 

 gilt lead for pure gold. He first went to England, thence to France, 

 and afterwards to Germany, where he enlisted among the troops of 

 the margrave of Brandenburg. The following year he was taken 

 prisoner ; from that time he gave up a military life, and having visited 

 the mines and foundries of Germany and the north of Europe, he 

 came back in 1551 to Niirnberg, Strasburg, and Kostnitz. Here he 

 again carried on the trade of a goldsmith, and made much money by 

 it, till on account of his reputation for skill in the art of mining, he 

 was sent for to the Tyrol to superintend different mineral works. 

 Accordingly in 1558 he went to Tarenz in Upper Innthal, and estab- 

 lished on his own account in that place, as well as at St. Leonard, 

 foundries for the purifying of sulphur, the success of which contributed 

 still more to his celebrity. The Archduke Ferdinand had so much 

 confidence in him that he sent him to travel in Scotland, the Orkney 

 Islands, Spain, and Portugal. Thurneysser also visited the coasts of 

 Barbary, Ethiopia, Egypt, Arabia, Syria, and Palestine, and returned 

 to the Tyrol in 1567. Two years afterwards, at the request of t 

 same prince, he again visited the mines of Hungary and Bohemia. 

 The publication of his works made him determine to go to Munste 

 and Frankfurt on the Oder, at which latter place he became acquaint 

 with the elector of Brandenburg, whoso wife he cured of a dangero 

 illness, and who resolved to attach him to his service in the hope t 

 he might discover in his estates some unknown mineral treasures. 

 Thurneysser accepted the office of physician to the prince, and a 



with all tne resources or cnanatauiaui, u< <-- --- -- 



acquiring considerable wealth, but also in passing himself off 

 of the most learned and scientific men of his age. At length how 

 by the envy of others, and still more by his own imprudence, uu 

 tions were discovered, and he was, in 1584, obliged to let 

 He went to Prague, Cologne, and Rome ; and after having th 



