155 



TREMBECKI, STANISLAW. 



TRENCHARD, JOHN. 



166 



ehrewd, but was greatly mistaken in his opinion of myself." On leaving 

 the school at Archangel he studied at Moscow; and then, by the 

 liberality of Prince Alexander Kurakin, was enabled to visit France, 

 England, and Holland, for the purpose of completing hia education. 

 While at Paris he attended Rollin's lectures, and made himself master 

 of some of the modern languages. In 1730 he returned to Russia, in 

 1733 was appointed secretary to the St. Petersburg Academy of 

 Sciences, and in 1745 was made professor of eloquence on that office 

 being first created. He died August Cth, 1769. Without talent for 

 any one department of literature, Trediakovsky attempted all, from 

 idyls and fable to tragedy and epic or heroic poetry. Of the last- 

 mentioned kind is his ' Telemachida,' which is a versified paraphrase 

 of Fc'ndlon's ' Telemachus,' a production so dull that Catherine II. 

 used to inflict the task of getting a hundred lines of it by heart as a 

 penalty upon those who infringed the rules established for her private 

 parties iu the Hermitage. Numerous as they were, his own poetical 

 productions were but the smaller portion of his literary labours ; for 

 he translated several historical works, and among others Rollin's 

 'Ancient History,' in 26 volumes, twice over, the manuscript of the 

 first translation having been destroyed by fire ; than which there is not 

 perhaps a more singular instance of literary industry and perseverance 

 upon record. 



(Bantiesh-Kamensky, Slovar DostopamiatniJch Liudei.) 

 TREMBECKI, STANISLAW, one of the best Polish poets of the 

 age of Stanislaus Augustus, was born about 1724, in the district of 

 Cracow. Notwithstanding his eminence as a writer, and that during 

 the greater part of his long life he moved in the higher circles of 

 society, very few particulars have been preserved or collected respecting 

 him. In his youth he spent many years in visiting various parts of 

 Europe, and resided for a considerable time at the court of Louis XV. 

 Afterwards ho was for a long time at tho court of Stanislaus, where he 

 held the post of chamberlain. Later in life he withdrew almost 

 entirely from society, rarely seeing any strangers, although he resided 

 in the family of Felix Potocki at Tulczyn. At one time he had been 

 remarkably abstemious, never touching either animal food or wine for 

 thirty years, on which account Stanislaus used to call him his Pythago- 

 ras. Latterly he abandoned that rigorous system, which however does 

 not seem to have had much influence upon his temperament, for he is 

 said to have been engaged in no fewer than thirty duels, all of them 

 arising out of some affair of gallantry, and in every one of which he 

 came off conqueror. He died Dec. 12, 1812, after very little previous 

 indisposition, at nearly ninety years of age. Among his poetical 

 works, all of which exhibit great mastery of style and beauty of lan- 

 guage, that entitled 'Zofijowka' is considered his chef-d'osuvre. This 

 production belongs to a species of poetry now in little esteem, it being 

 a description of the gardens at Zofijowka, an estate in the Ukraine 

 belonging to the Potocki family ; but though the subject itself is not 

 of the highest order, it is treated with great ability, and the whole 

 abounds with striking beauties ; nor is the reader's admiration at all 

 lessened by its having been written when its author was between the 

 age of seventy and eighty. The work however which would probably 

 have most of all contributed to his reputation, namely, his ' History of 

 Poland,' has never seen the light. The manuscript, consisting of two 

 hundred sheets, was given in trust by him to a friend, that it should 

 not bo published until after his death ; but what became of it has not 

 been ascertained. There is a portrait of Trembecki prefixed to the 

 two volumes of his poems, forming a part of Bobrowicz's ' Biblioteka 

 Klassykow Polskich/ from which work the account here given is 

 derived. 



* TRENCH, REV. RICHARD CHENEVIX, Dean of Westminster, 

 is tho son of Richard, brother of the first Lord Ashtown, by Melesina, 

 grand-daughter of Dr. Richard Chenevix, formerly Bishop of Waterford. 

 He was born September 9, 1807, and graduated at Trinity College, 

 Cambridge, in 1829, without obtaining honours however either in 

 classics or mathematics. Having taken orders, he served a country 

 curacy. His name first became known as a poet in 1838, whilst 

 holding the incumbency of Curdridge, a chapelry iu the parish of 

 Bishop's Waltham in Hants, by the publication of two volumes of poems, 

 written in something of the simple style of Wordsworth. They were 

 respectively entitled ' Sabbation, Honor Neale, and other Poems,' and 

 ' The story of Justin Martyr.' Attracting the favourable notice of the 

 press, these volumea were shortly afterwards followed by his ' Geno- 

 veva," ' Elegiac Poems,' and ' Poems from Eastern Sources.' In 1841 

 Mr. Trench resigned the charge of Curdridge, and became curate to 

 Archdeacon (now Bishop) Wilberforce at Alverstoke, near Qosport ; in 



1845 he was presented by Lord Ashburton to the rectory of Itchen- 

 Stoke near Alresford ; and on Archdeacon Wilberforce's promotion to 

 the see of Oxford, he became his examining chaplain. In 1845 and 



1846 he was Hulsean lecturer at Cambridge, and for a short time 

 also one of the select preachers of the University. His chief publica- 

 tions during the last few years are : ' Notes on the Miracles ; ' ' Notes 

 on the Parables ; ' ' Lessons in Proverbs ; ' all of which have been 

 more than once reprinted; 'The Sermon on the Mount, illustrated 

 from St. Augustine ;' ' Sacred Latin Poetry ;' ' Synonyms of the New 

 Testament;' ' St. Augustine as an Interpreter of Scripture;' and a 

 remarkably useful treatise on the ' Study of Words/ being the 

 substance of some lectures delivered to the Diocesan Training College 

 at Winchester. 



In 1847 Mr. Trench was appointed theological professor and 

 examiner at King's College, London, and more recently one of the 

 examiners for engineer and artillery appointments at Woolwich. In 

 1852, he was an unsuccessful candidate for the representation of the 

 archdeaconry of Winchester in convocation, the revival of whoso 

 active powers he is understood to advocate. In 1856, on the death of 

 the late Rev. Dr. Buckland [BUCKLAND, REV. WILLIAM], he was nomi- 

 nated by Lord Palmerston to the deanery of Westminster, as a token 

 of the general appreciation of hia services to the cause of religion, 

 education, and literature. 



TRENCHARD, SIR JOHN, Knight, a secretary of state in the 

 reign of William III., was born in 1650, and was the second son of 

 Thomas Trenchard, Esq., of Wolverton in Dorsetshire, the then head 

 of the ancient and wealthy family of the Trenchards. Anthony 11 

 Wood gives the following account of Sir John Trenchard's birth and 

 education : " was borne of puritanical parents in Dorsetshire, became 

 probationary fellow of New College in a civilian's place an. 1665, aged 

 fifteen years or more, entered in the public library as a student in the 

 civil law, 22nd October, 1668, went to the Temple before he took a 

 degree, became barrister and councillour." ('Athenae Oxonienses,' 

 vol. iv., p. 405, Blisa's edition.) The account characteristically pro- 

 ceeds, " busy to promote Gates his plot, busy against papists, the 

 prerogative, and all that way." Trenchard was elected member for 

 Taunton in Charles II.'s third parliament, which met on the 6th 

 March, 1679, and was dissolved on the 12th of July in the same year. 

 Anthony h, Wood erroneously states that ho was first elected in the 

 succeeding parliament, which, having been called on the 1st October, 

 1 679, was not allowed to assemble until the same day and month iu 1680. 

 In this last-mentioned parliament Trenchard took a prominent part iu 

 support of the Exclusion Bill, and was generally a zealous member of 

 the opposition party. He was among those apprehended in 1683, on 

 the suspicion of the Protestant plot, of which Lord Russell and 

 Sydney were made the victims. It was told against him that he had 

 engaged to raise a body of men from Taunton. He denied this on 

 examination, and Lord Russell also denied all knowledge of it; but 

 he was committed to prison. " One part of his guilt," says Burnet, 

 "was well known : lie was the first man who had moved the exclusion 

 in the House of Commons : so he was reckoned a lost man" (' History 

 of His Own Time,' vol. ii., p. 357, 8vo, ed. 1823). He was afterwards 

 however discharged from prison for want of a second witness against 

 him. (Evelyn's 'Diary,' vol. iii., p. 106.) 



After the accession of James II., Trenchard engaged to support the 

 duke of Monmouth in his foolish invasion, and on tho almost im- 

 mediate failure of the duke's attempt he fled into France. (Dalrymple's 

 'Memoirs of Great Britain and Ireland,' vol. i., p. 173.) He is said to 

 have been dining with his relative, Mr. W. Speke, at Ilminster, when 

 he received intelligence of tha defeat of the duke of Monmouth's army 

 at Sedgemoor ; he immediately mounted his horse and advised Mr. 

 Speke to do the same ; he succeeded in making his way to Weymouth, 

 where he took ship for France ; and the story goes on to say, that at 

 the moment he was embarking, his friend Mr. Speke was hanging 

 before his own door at Ilminster (Burke's 'History of the Com- 

 moners/ vol. iv., p. 78). He remained abroad till things had ripened 

 for the Revolution of 1688. 



Trenchard was member for Dorchester iu the convention parliament 

 which placed William and Mary on the throne. His services to 

 William were rewarded by his being made first, serjeaut, then chief 

 justice of Chester and a knight, and lastly, in the spring of 1093, 

 secretary of state. He received this last appointment at the same 

 time that Somers was elevated from the attorney-generalship to be 

 lord keeper; and these two appointments were held of great im- 

 portance, as being signs of William's desire to return to the Whigs, 

 from whom he had for a time alienated himself. In the spring of the 

 next year Lord Shrewsbury returned to the other secretaryship of 

 state, and the [government was made completely Whig. Sir John 

 Treuchard died on the 20th of April, 1695. 



Opposite characters have been drawn of him by Anthony a Wood 

 and Bishop Burnet. The former calls him " a man of turbulent and 

 aspiring spirit." Burnet's character of him is as follows : " He had 

 been engaged far with the Duke of Monmouth, as was told formerly. 

 He got out of England, and lived some years beyond sea, and had a 

 right understanding of affairs abroad. Ho was a calm and solute 

 man, and was much more moderate than could have been expected, 

 since he was a leading man in a party. He had too great a regard to 

 the stars and too little to religion." The last feature in the character 

 which Burnet has drawn is illustrated by a story of Wood's. "An 

 astrologer told him formerly that he should such a year be im- 

 prisoned, such a year like to be hanged, such a year be promoted to a 

 great place in the law, such a year higher, and such a year die, which 

 all came to pass, as he told Dr. Gibbons on his death-bed." 



TRENCHARD, JOHN, a political writer of some celebrity in his 

 day, was born in 1662. He was a member of a junior branch of the 

 same family as tho subject of the preceding article, and was the eldest 

 son of William Trenchard, Esq., of Cutteridge in Dorsetshire, by Elleu, 

 daughter of Sir George Norton, of Abbots Leigh in Somersetshire. On 

 Sir George Norton's death in 1715, Mr. Trenchard, his grandson, 

 inherited his property. 



The writer of the life of Trenchard, in the 'Biographia Britannica 



