119 



TOOKE, REV. WILLIAM, F.R.S. 



TORDENSKIOLD. 



120 



Mr. Tooke waa a man of great powers and considerable attainments. 

 He was well read in Englisb, French, and Italian literature, possessed a 

 tolerable knowledge of Latin and Greek, and bad studied Anglo- 

 Saxon with some diligence. In private he was much beloved, and his 

 conversational powers are particularly celebrated by all who knew 

 him. He is however principally known in the present day by the 

 ' Diversions of Purley,' a work which has exercised considerable 

 influence upon the works on the English language published since its 

 appearance. It is written in the form of a dialogue : the .principal 

 speakers in the first volume are Mr. Tooke himself, and his friend 

 Dr. Bcadon, the Master of Jesus College, Cambridge ; Mr. William 

 Tooke is occasionally admitted to take part in the dialogue : in the 

 second volume the only speakers are the author and Sir Francis 

 Burdett The first volume is divided into ten chapters :. the first 

 treats ' Of the Division and Distribution of Language ; ' the second 

 contains ' Some Considerations <;f Mr. Locke's Essay on the Human 

 Understanding;' the third treats 'Of the Parts of Speech,' in which 

 nil words necessary for the great purposes of speech are resolved into 

 " words necessary for the communication of our thoughts," and 

 "abbreviations employed for the sake of despatch;" in respect to the 

 former we are told that in English and in all languages there are only 

 two sets of words necessary for the communication of our thoughts, 

 and that these are nouns and verbs. The fourth chapter treats ' Of 

 the Noun,' and the fiftb ' Of the Article and Interjection.' The 

 substance of the three next chapters, 'On the word That,' 'Of Con- 

 junctions,' and 'Etymology of English Conjunctions,' had been pre- 

 viously given in the letter to Mr. Dunning. The tenth chapter speaks 

 ' Of Adverbs.' In the second volume, the first chapter treats ' Of the 

 Rights of Man;' the second, third, fourth, and fifth, ' Of Abstraction;' 

 and the sixth, seventh, and eighth, ' Of Adjectives and Participles.' 

 It is impossible to read this work without deriving information from 

 it. It contains many happy explanations and conjectures, but the 

 young student cannot be cautioned too strongly against receiving all 

 the conclusions of the author. The great fault of the book is the 

 love of hypothesis, and the absence to a great extent of that historical 

 mode of investigation without which etymological studies are worse 

 than useless. A useful edition of the work has been published by 

 Richard Taylor, with note.*, London, 1840. 



TOOKE, REV. WILLIAM, F.R.S., was born on the 18th of January 

 1744, and educated at a private academy at Islington, kept by Mr. 

 Shield, where he had for school-fellows the indefatigable and amiable 

 antiquarian Mr. John Nichols, and Dr. Ed. Gray, of the British 

 Museum, Sec. R.S., with each of whom he kept up a cordial intimacy 

 during their lives. He was ordained a clergyman of the Church of 

 England in 1771, by the then Bishop of London, and shortly after- 

 wards obtained the situation of minister of the English church at 

 Cronstadt, the naval arsenal and commercial port of St. Petersburg. 

 In 1774 he was appointed chaplain to the factory of the Russia 

 Company at St. Petersburg, in which situation he remained for 

 eighteen years. He often preached in the chapel of the French Pro- 

 testants at St. Petersburg in the French language, of which he was 

 a complete master; and after hia return to London he preached on 

 several occasions in that language on behalf of the French Protestant 

 School and Workhouse in London. He returned to England in 1792, 

 in consequence of succeeding to a considerable property by the death 

 of his maternal uncle, which enabled him to dispense with all profes- 

 sional exertion. He died in London, November 17, 1820, in his 

 seventy-seventh year, much esteemed by a large circle of literary 

 friends. By his wife Elizabeth, daugther of Thomas Eyton, Esq., of 

 Llangynhavil in Denbighshire, he had a daughter and two sons, who 

 survived him. 



Mr. Tooke was the author of several works, of which the most 

 important are those relating to Russia, namely, a ' Life of Catherine 

 II.,' 3 vols. 8vo ; ' A View of the Russian Empire," 3 vols. ; and ' A 

 History of Russia, from the Foundation of the Empire to the Acces- 

 sion of Catherine II." Mr. Tooke was also a joint editor with Arch- 

 deacon Nares and Mr. Beloe, of the ' General Biographical Dictionary,' 

 in 15 vols. 8vo, 1798; his portion of the work was the first five 

 volumes. Besides this he published, early in life, ' Othniel and 

 Achsah,' an Oriental tale from the Chaldee, in 2 vols., and long after- 

 wards four volumes of miscellaneous essays under the title of 

 'Varieties of Literature,' and 'Selections from various Foreign Literary 

 Journals." He translated Zollikofer's sermons from the German, in 

 10 vols. 8vo, and Lucian's works, in 2 vols. 4to, with the notes of 

 Wielaud. The Lucian however is not a translation from the original 

 Greek, but from Wielaud's version ; and where the latter did not give 

 the meaning of the Greek, recourse was had to the original. 



(Nichols's Literary Anecdotes; and Gentleman's Magazine for May, 

 1816 ; November 1820; and December 1839.) 



* TOOKE, THOMAS, one of the two sons of the Rev. William Tooke, 

 published in 1838 ' A History of Prices and of the State of the Cir- 

 culation from 1793 to 1837, preceded by a brief Sketch of the State 

 of the Corn-Trade in the last Two Centurie. s,' 2 vols. 8vo. The treatise 

 comprised in these two volumes, though apparently an enlargement 

 and continuation of one published about fifteen years previously under 

 the title of ' Thoughts and Details on the High and Low Prices of the 

 last Thirty Years,' embracing, as it does, the same line of argument 

 and establishing the same conclusions, is yet essentially different both 



in its arrangement and details, and is in fact, with slight exceptions, 

 entirely new. It forms the first two volumes of the valuable work 

 now well known to political economists as the ' History of Prices,' 

 perhaps the first really scientific attempt to elucidate by inferences 

 legitimately deduced from actual experience the complicated facts of 

 this branch of political economy. The first two volumes were followed 

 in 1840 by another volume, in continuation of the two former, to which 

 were added 'Remarks on the Corn Laws and on some of the Alterations 

 proposed in our Banking System.' The fourth volume was entitled 

 'A History of Prices and the State of the Circulation from 1839 to 

 1847 inclusiye; with a General Review of the Currency Question, and 

 Remarks on the Operation of the Act 7 & 8 Viet., c. 32,' 8vo, 1848. 

 Mr. Tooke afterwards published a tract, in which he was assisted by 

 Mr. Newmarch, 'On the Bank-Charter of 1844, its Principles and 

 Operation, with Suggestions for an Improved Administration of the 

 Bank of England," 8vo. The last two volumes of his gr.-at work are 

 entitled 'A History of Prices and the State of the Circulation during 

 the Nine Years 1848-1856, in Two Volumes, forming the Fifth and 

 Sixth Volumes of the History of Prices from 1792 to the Present 

 Time, by Thomas Tooke, F.R.S., jBorresponding Member of the Insti- 

 tute of France, and William Newmarch,' 8vo, 1857. The 5th and 

 6th volumes, besides being a continuation and completion of the 

 work, arranged under the heads Prices of Corn, Prices of Produce 

 other than Corn, and the State of the Circulation, contains discussions 

 on the connected topics of Railways and the Railway System, the 

 Origin and Progress of the Free-Trade Movement, the State of Fiuancti 

 and Banking in France, and the New Discoveries of Gold. 



* TOOKE, WILLIAM, F.R.S., the younger son of the Rev. William 

 Tooke, was born in 1777, at St. Petersburg. He was bred to the law, 

 and continued many years in practice as a solicitor in London. Ho 

 published in 1804 anonymously ' The Poetical Works of Charles 

 Churchill, with explanatory Notes and an authentic Account of his 

 Life,'- 2 vols. 8vo, which was republished in 1844, with his name, as 

 one of the 'Aldine Poets,' under the title of 'The Poetical Workn 

 of Charles Churchill, with copious Notes and a Life of the Author,' 

 3 vols. Mr. William Tooke was influential in the establishment of the 

 Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge, of which he became 

 the Treasurer. He has since published 'The Monarchy of France, 

 its Rise, Progress, and Fall,' 8vo, 1855. 



TORDENSKIOLD, Vice-Admiral in the Danish navy. His name 

 was Peter Wessel before he was ennobled by King Frederick IV. 

 Born on the 28th of October 1691, at Trondheim in Norway, of 

 obscure parents, he was at an early age bound apprentice to a barber, 

 but his strong desire for a seafaring life induced him to leave his 

 master and go to Copenhagen as cabin-boy. There he entered the 

 service of the East India Company as a common sailor, and in his 

 third voyage distinguished himself so much, that by the recommenda- 

 tion of his captain he obtained an appointment as midshipman in the 

 royal navy. In the year 1709, immediately after the battle of Pultawa, 

 Denmark declared war against Sweden, and from that time Wessel's 

 brilliant career commenced. From 1709 to 1711 he commanded a 

 small privateer, and made many prizes. He was promoted to the rank 

 of lieutenant in 1712, and shortly afterwards had the command of a 

 small frigate, in which he cruised against the Swedish traders with 

 such effect, that it is said that the Gothenburg and Calmar merchants 

 offered him a hundred thousand crowns if he would resign his com- 

 mand. On the 5th of June 1712 he met a Swedish frigate of nearly 

 double the size of his own, under English colours. Tordenskiold 

 hoisted the Dutch flag, and by a skilful manoeuvre laid alongside the 

 enemy within hailing distance, and the Swedish captain, still believing 

 him to be Dutch, hailed him. The answer was a destructive broad- 

 side. A most obstinate engagement ensued, in which Tordenskiold 

 had decidedly the advantage, when he unfortunately found that his 

 ammunition was exhausted. Upon this he hailed the Swedish captain, 

 telling him the roughness of the sea alone prevented him from board- 

 ing the frigate and taking her ; but that if he either would lend him. 

 some powder or pledge his word to await his return withiu three days 

 off the Drammen, he would promise to carry him as a prize to Copen- 

 hagen. Both proposals were declined, but the Swedish captain express- 

 ing a lively wish to become personally acquainted with his gallant 

 adversary, Tordenskiold went on board to him, and drank to the King 

 of Sweden's health. Upon his return to Copenhagen lie was tried 

 by a court-martial, but honourably acquitted ; and King Frederick, 

 pleased with his chivalrous conduct, promoted him to the rank of 

 captain. During his stay in Copenhagen, he submitted to the king 

 personally a plan for attacking the Swedish coast, which the Admi- 

 ralty however, being annoyed at the young man's rapid promotion and 

 increasing favour, rejected with great disdain. He left Copenhagen on 

 the 24th of April 1715, his frigate being then attached to the fleet 

 under Admiral Gabel, who despatched him for the purpose of recon- 

 noitring the Swedish fleet, commanded by Admiral Wachtmeister, on 

 the coast of Norway. Here, by his extraordinary seamanship and 

 boldness, he was principally instrumental in destroying four ships of 

 the line and three frigates, besides a large frigate which he captured, 

 and in which, as a due reward for his eminent services, ho was sent to 

 Copenhagen as bearer of the glorious tidings. For this exploit he 

 was raised to the rank of commodore, and a short time afterwards he 

 was appointed to the command of a squadron destined to cruise in 



