833 



WRIGHT, THOMAS. 



WRIGHT, THOMAS. 



836 



BoydelL Of his landscapes, two of the beat were views of Cicero's 

 Villa, and Maecenas" Villa at Tivoli; he painted also several other 

 beautiful Italian landscapes, which have many of the beauties of 

 Wilsou. Of remarkable or peculiar effects of light he painted many 

 popular pieces, as the ' Blacksmith's Forge,' an ' Eruption of Mount 

 Vesuvius,' the ' Hermit,' the ' Indian Widow,' ' Mirwan opening the 

 Tomb of one of his Ancestors,' besides several domestic pieces in 

 which striking effects of candle-lipht are admirably imitated: he 

 painted also a picture of the Girandola, or the fireworks which are 

 exhibited from the castle of St. Angelo at Rome on the eve of St. 

 Peter's day, and at other festivals of the Roman Church. 



When Wright was in Rome he made some drawings from the fres- 

 coes of Michel Angelo in the Sistine Chapel, which are said to have 

 preserved perfectly the character of those great works : he was an 

 enthusiastic admirer of Michel Angelo. Mortimer and Wright were 

 the first painters of recent times who successfully cultivated historical 

 painting in England, or indeed perhaps the first Englishmen who 

 excelled as historical painters. Neither Sir James Thornhill nor 

 Hogarth can be considered as exceptions, for the former was chiefly 

 an allegorist the latter a satirist ; and although both allegory and 

 satire are perfectly compatible with historical painting as it is more 

 strictly understood, they are not necessarily connected, and in these 

 cases they were quite distinct from it. 



* WRIGHT, THOMAS, a native of the borders of Wales, but of a 

 good Yorkshire family, was born on the 21st of April 1810. He was 

 educated at Ludlow Grammar School, and at Trinity College, Cam- 

 bridge, where he graduated B.A. and M.A. While still an under- 

 graduate, he commenced his literary career by writing in ' Eraser's 

 Magazine,' the 'Foreign Quarterly Review,' the ' Gentleman's Maga- 

 zine,' the 'Literary Gazette,' &c., to some of which he is still an 

 occasional contributor. Eventually he devoted his attention specially 

 to archaeological studies, which he pursued with rare zeal and intelli- 

 gence not suffering his labours to be frittered away on a crude heap 

 of miscellaneous fragments, but investigating in their principles, as 

 well as minute details, the early English history, literature, popular 

 opinions, and antiquarian remains. His papers on these subjects in 

 the Transactions of learned societies, and still more his separate publi- 

 cations, early secured him a high position among the antiquaries and 

 literary men of this country, and a considerable reputation on the 

 Continent. 



Mr. Wright was one of the founders of the Camden Society in 1838, 

 of which he was the first honorary secretary. Subsequently he took 

 an active part in the formation of other societies on a similar plan, 

 as the Percy Society, of which he was for some time treasurer and 

 secretary, and the Shakespeare Society. In 1843 he, in conjunction 

 with Mr. Roach Smith, founded the British Archaeological Association, 

 and during several years edited its 'Journal;' but in 1849, along with 

 the president (the present Lord Londesborough), and other leading 

 members, he separated himself from it. He is a fellow of the Society 

 of Antiquaries, to whose ' Archseologia ' he has been a frequent con- 

 tributor. 



When the death of the Earl of Munster made a vacancy in one of 

 the few places of correspondents to the Acaddmie des Inscriptions in 

 the Institute of France, Mr. Wright was elected to supply it by the 

 largest majority of votes known ; he being, it is said, the youngest 

 corresponding member who had been elected. His opponents were 

 Mr. W. H. Hamilton (vice-president of the Society of Antiquaries), 

 and Sir Gardner Wilkinson. It added to the honour that the two 

 leading ministers of state (Messrs. Guizot and Thiers), M. Augustin 

 Thierry (though then blind), and several other men of great literary 

 reputation who rarely attended, went specially to vote for Mr. Wright. 

 Many other learned societies of the Continent have also enrolled his 

 name as one of their members, including the Societd des Antiquaires 

 de France, the Socidtd Ethnologique of Paris, the Royal Society of 

 Northern Antiquaries of Copenhagen, de Svenska Fornskrift Sallska- 

 pet, Stockholm, &c. 



The following list of his separate works will sufficiently indicate the 

 range of his studies and show his remarkable industry. Of the value 

 of the works, it will be enough to say that, addressed as many of them 

 are to the learned, they have taken their place, some of them (as the 

 ' Biographia Britannica Literaria ') as admitted authorities on the 

 subjects of which they treat, and others as standard editions of their 

 authors : 1836, 4 small vols. of black-letter poetical tracts, edited for 

 Pickering ; 1837, ' Galfridi de Monemuta Vita Merlini Public d'apres 

 les MSS. de Londres,' 8vo, Paris; 1838, 'Queen Elizabeth and her 

 Times,' 2 vols. 8vo ; ' Early Mysteries, and other Latin Poems of the 

 12th and 13th centuries,' 8vo; 'Alliterative Poem on the Deposition 

 of Richard II.,' post 4to (Camdeu Soc.) ; 1839, ' The Political Songs of 

 England, from the reign of John to that of Edward II.,' post 4to 

 (Camden Soc.); 1840, a new edition, with notes, of Fuller's 'History 

 of Cambridge,' 8vo; 1841,' Popular Treatises on Science written 

 during the Middle Ages, in Anglo-Saxon, Anglo-Norman, and English,' 

 8vo ; ' Reliquiao Antiques : scraps from ancient MSS., illustrating 

 chiefly early English Literature and the English Language,' 2 vols. 8vo 

 (edited with Mr. Halliwell) ; ' The Latin Poems commonly attributed 

 4o Walfeef MapBs;'>po8t4te ('Camden Soc,}j 'Political Ballads published 

 iti England during the '0Qmraiiwe*lth^ p'oat &vt^Perey Soc.)} i'Speci^ 

 E Ctoistnsa8 Carols : fr<H StS. sources/ fwirf 8vo {Pe^rcy Sotyj 



1842, 'The Vision and the Creed of Piers Ploughman, with notes and 

 a glossary,' 2 vols. fcp. 8vo; 'A Collection of Latin Stories, illustrative 

 of the History of Fiction during the Middle Ages,' post 8vo (Percy 

 Soc.) ; ' Specimens of Lyric Poetry composed in England in the reign 

 of Edward I.,' post 8vo (Percy Soc.) ; ' Gifford's Dialogue concerning 

 Witches,' post 8vo (Percy Soc.); 'The Autobiography of Joseph Lister,' 

 8vo ; 1843, ' Contemporary Narrative of the Proceedings against Dame 

 Alice Kyteler, prosecuted for sorcery in 1324,' post 4to (Camdeu Soc.); 

 ' Original Letters relating to the Dissolution of Monasteries,' post 4 to 

 (Camden Soc.) ; ' The Owl and the Nightingale, an early English 

 poem attributed to Nicholas de Guildford,' post 8vo (Percy Soc.) ; 

 ' The Chester Miracle Plays,' 2 vols. 8vo (Shakespeare Soc.) ; 1844, ' St. 

 Patrick's Purgatory : an Essay on the Legends of Hell, Purgatory, and 

 Paradise, current during the Middle Ages/ post 8vo (reprinted in 

 America) ; ' Anecdota Literaria : a collection of short poems iu. 

 English, Latin, and French, illustrative of the Literature and History 

 of England in the 13th century, and more especially of the Condition 

 and Manners of the different classes of society,' 8vo ; ' St. Brandan : 

 a Mediaeval Legend of the Sea, in English verse and prose,' post 8vo 

 (Percy Soc.); 1845, 'Memorials of Cambridge,' plates by Le Keux, 

 2 vols. royal 8vo ; ' The Archaeological Album, or Museum of National 

 Antiquities,' 4to ; ' The Seven Sages : a collection of Stories in Early 

 English verse, from a manuscript at Cambridge, with Introductory 

 Essay on Popular Stories,' post 8vo (Percy Soc.); 1846, 'Essays on 

 the Literature, Popular Superstitions, and History of England in the 

 Middle Ages,' 2 vols. post 8vo ; ' Biographia Britannica Literaria,' 

 8vo : vol. i, ' Anglo-Saxon Period ' vol. ii., 'Anglo-Norman Period;' 

 ' The Religious Poems of William de Shoreham, vicar of Chart Sutton 

 in Kent, temp. Edward II.,' post 8vo (Percy Soc.) ; 1847, ' The Canter- 

 bury Tales of Chaucer, a new text with illustrative notes,' 3 vols. post 

 8vo (Percy Soc.) ; ' Songs and Carols, from a MS. of the 15th century in 

 a private collection,' post 8vo (Percy Soc.) ; 1848, ' England under the 

 House of Hanover, illustrated from the Caricatures and Satires of the 

 day,' 2 vols. 8vo ; ' Early Travels in Palestine, translated from the 

 Latin, with notes,' 12mo (Bohn's Antiquarian Library) ; 1850, 'Gualteri 

 Mapes de Nugis Curialium,' post 4to (Camden Soc.) ; ' Geoffrey 

 Gaimar's Anglo-Norman Metrical Chronicle of the Anglo-Saxon Kings,' 

 8vo ; 1851, ' Narratives of Sorcery and Magic,' 2 vols. 8vo ; 1852, ' The 

 Celt, the Roman, and the Saxon : a History of the Early Inhabitants 

 of Britain, illustrated by the ancient remains brought to light by 

 recent research,' post 8vo ; ' The History of Ludlow and its Neigh- 

 bourhood, forming a popular sketch of the History of the Welsh 

 Border,' 8vo ; 1853, ' The History of Ireland,' 3 thick vols. in imp. Svo, 

 published in numbers, and completed in 1857; 1854, ' Wanderings of 

 an Antiquary chiefly upon the traces of the Romans in Britain,' fcp. Svo; 

 ' The Travels of Marco Polo the Venetian the translation of Marsden 

 revised, with a selection of his notes,' 12mo (Bohn's Autiq. Lib.); 

 'Cambridge University Transactions, a collection of contemporary 

 documents relating to proceedings in the University during the 

 Puritan Controversies of the 16th and 17th centuries,' 2 vols. Svo; 

 'The Canterbury Tales of Geoffrey Chaucer,' revised edition, in 1 vol. 

 Svo; 1855, ' The History of Fulke Fitz Warine, au outlawed Baron iu 

 the reign of King John, edited from a manuscript preserved in the 

 British Museum, with an English translation,' post Svo ; ' The History 

 of Scotland,' 3 thick vols. in imp. Svo, published in numbers, and 

 completed in 1857 ; ' Early Christianity in Arabia, an historical essay,' 

 Svo (written when the author was eighteen years of age) ; 1856, 

 ' Johannis de Garlandia de Triumphis Ecclesiae libri octo. A Latin 

 poem of the 13th century,' 4to (Roxburgh Club) ; ' The Vision and 

 Creed of Piers Ploughman,' revised edition, 2 vols. fcp. Svo ; ' Songs 

 and Carols, from a MS. of the 15th century in the British Museum,' 

 post Svo; 1857, 'Dictionary of Obsolete and Provincial English,' 

 2 vols. 12mo (Bohn's Philological Library); and 'Miscellanea Graphica: 

 representations of Ancient, Mediaeval, and Renaissance remains in the 

 possession of Lord Loudesborough ; the Historical Introduction by 

 Thomas Wright,' post 4to. He has also completed ' A Volume of 

 Vocabularies, illustrating the Condition and Manners of our Fore- 

 fathers, &c., from the 10th century to the 15th,' imp. Svo; and 'Les 

 Cent Nouvelles Nouvelles, publides d'apres le seul mauuscrit connu 

 avec Introduction et Notes, par M. Thomas Wright/ 2 vols. 12mo, 

 Paris, both of which are just ready for publication; and he has in 

 progress a ' History of France,' imp. 8vo, which is in course of publi- 

 cation in numbers. 



* WRIGHT, THOMAS, whose praiseworthy endeavours to benefit 

 prisoners have earned for him the title of the ' Prison Philanthropist,' 

 was born in 1788. At an early age he went to work at Ormerod and 

 Sons' iron-foundry in Manchester, and continued in the same employ- 

 ment for forty-seven years. His claim to public notice is the fact that 

 for many years he has pursued with unremitting zeal and perseverance 

 various plans for the welfare of criminals, visiting them in prison, 

 endeavouring to induce them to forsake an evil course of life, and 

 adopting measures to obtain employment for such discharged prisoners 

 as seemed desirous of prosecuting a course of honesty. Being fore- 

 man in one of the departments of the foundry his wages amounted to 

 31. 10s. per week; of this sum he was accustomed to give 21. to his 

 wife for house expenses, devoting the remaining portion of his wages, 

 nnd m nfneh of Ills time as he- could spare from his daily duties, ou 

 pH9oneW, ! 'wih "tbe Viewof tefct&Hng as many of thfetii to 



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