T H O 



T H O 



Mr. Millar. His " Coriolanus" was brought on tlie ftage 

 by his executors, in 1 749, for the benefit of the furviving 

 branches of his family. The prologue, compofed by Lyt- 

 teltoii, was very feelingly dehvered by Quin, the intimate 

 friend of Thomfon. 



Thonifon's pcrfon was large and awkward, and his coun- 

 tenance luianiinated ; nor did iiis appearance or manners indi- 

 cate genius or refinement. With feleft friends, however, he 

 was eafy and cheerful, and univcrfally beloved for the 

 kindnefs of his heart, and freedom from thofe paffions that 

 fometimes difgrace men of literary charaAer. He was in- 

 dolent and ft-lf-indulgent in his habits; although " no poet," 

 as his biographer fays, " has deferred more praife for tiie 

 moral tenor of his writings. Unbounded philanthropy, en- 

 larged ideas of the dignity of man, and of his riglits, love 

 of virtue, public and private, and a devotional fpirit, nar- 

 rowed by no view5^ of feft or party, give foul to his verle 

 when not merely defcrlptive ; but no one can rife from the 

 perufal of his pages without mehoration of his principles or 

 feelings." His poetical merit is moil confpicuous in his 

 " Seafons," and though Dr. Johnfon charges it with adefetl 

 of method, yet as a hiftory of the year through its changes, 

 depending upon the vicilFitude of the feafons, it adheres 

 fufficicntly to its general plan for preferring a continuity of 

 fubjeft, with due allowances for the moral and philofophical 

 digreflions by which it is vai-ied. Its diftion, though fome- 

 ivhat laboured, is energetic and expreflive. Its verfification, 

 though it does not indicate a nice ear, is feldom unpleafantly 

 harfii. Upon the whole, continues the biographer now 

 cited, "fcarcely any poem has been more, andmore defervedly, 

 popular ; and it has exerted a powerful influence upon pviblic 

 talle, not only in this country, but throughout Europe. 

 Thonifon's other pieces in blank verfe difplay a vivid imagina- 

 tion, a comprehenfive underftanding, and exalted fentiments, 

 but are not marked with any peculiar character. The addi- 

 tion to his fame as a poet has principally arifen from his 

 " Caftle of Indolence," an allegorical compofitiou in the 

 manner of Spenfer." Of his tragedies, the beft that can 

 be faid is that they maintain a reipeftable rank among the 

 produftions of the modern fchool of the drama, which, 

 when they difappear from the ftage, are feldom taken up 

 in the clofet. Murdoch's Life of Thomfon. Johnfon's 

 Lives of the Poets. Gen. Biog. 



THONE, in Geography. See Tone. 



Thone, in Agncuhiire, a term fignifying fomewhat damp 

 -and cold, not thoroughly dry. Alfo flaxid or limber, as 

 undried hav, corn, or llraw in a moift ftate. 



THONGTONG, in Geography, a town of the Birraan 

 empire ; 10 miles N.W. of Raynangong. 



THONNA, a town of Saxony, in the principality of 

 Gotha ; I 2 miles from Gotha. 



THONNAUSTAUFF, a town of Bavaria, near the 

 Danube ; 3 miles from Ratifbon. 



THONNES, or Thonnex, a town of France, in the 

 department of the Leman ; 9 miles S.E. of Annecy. 



THONON, or ToN'os", a town of France, in the depart- 

 ment of the Leman, late capital of the duchy of Chablais, 

 on the lake of Geneva, fituated on a plain a little elevated. 

 It is not environed with walls, but was formerly defended 

 by a ftrong caftle, furrounded with lofty towers, where 

 Amadeus VIII. and IX. and Louis, dukes of Savoy, re- 

 lided for fome time. The caftle was burned and demolifhed, 

 in the i6th century, by the Bernois. It has one parifh 

 church and fcvcral convents ; i8 miles N.E. of Geneva. 

 N. lat. 46' 18'. E. long. 6= 32'. 



THOPH. See Machul and Sistrum. 



THOPHAIL, Abu Giaiar, in Biography, a cele- 



brated Peripatetic philofophcr and phyfician, was a aativc 

 of Seville in Spain, and preceptor to Maimonides and Avcr- 

 roes. This philofoplier employed the Ariftotelian doftriue 

 to the purpofes of enthufiafm, in the elegant tale ftill extant 

 of " Hai Ebr Yockdan ;" a youth who, havuig been ex- 

 pofed when an infant on the fea-coaft, was nouridied by a 

 hind, and grew up in the woods, without any intcrcourfe 

 with human beings ; and who, by the unaided exertions of 

 his own powers, attained to the knowledge of things na- 

 tural and fupernatural, and arrived at the felicity of an in- 

 tuitive intercourfe with the divine mind. This piece is 

 written with fnch elegance of language and vigour of imagi- 

 nation, that, nolwithftanding the improbability of the ftory, 

 it has been univcrfally admired. It exhibits a favourable fpe- 

 cimen of Peripatetic phllofophy, as it was taught among the 

 Saracens ; and, at the fame time, affords a memorable ex- 

 ample of the unnatural alliance, which was now fo generally 

 ellabliflied between philofophy and fanaticifm. This work 

 was tranflated by Edward Pococke, jun. from the Arabic 

 into Latin, under the title of " Philofophus Autodidaftus," 

 and printed in 4to. at Oxford, in 1 700. It was alfo tranflated 

 into Englifli by S. Hoadley, profeffor of Arabic in Cam- 

 bridge, ed. Lond. 171 1, 8vo., and alfo into Dutch. Tho- 

 phail is faid to have written feveral other works, and died at 

 Seville in 1175. Bruckcr by Enfield. Gen. Biog. 



THOR, in Mythology, a deity worfliipped by the ancient 

 inhabitants of the northern nations ; p;irticularly by the 

 ancient Scandinavians and Celts. JuHus Cxfar (Com. 

 lib. vi. c. 17.) fpeaks of a god of the Gauls, who was 

 charged with the conduft of the atmofphere, and prefided 

 over the winds and tempefts, under the name of Jupiter : 

 but Lucan gives him a name, which bears a greater refem- 

 blance to that of Thor, w'z. Taranis, a word which, to this 

 day, in the Welfh language, fignifies thunder. The autho- 

 rity of this deity extended over the winds and feafons, and 

 particularly over thunder and lightning. In the fyftem of 

 the primitive religion, the god Thor was probably one of 

 thofe genii, or fubaltern deities, fprung from the union of 

 Odin, or the Supreme Being, and the Earth. The Edda 

 calls him the moft valiant of the fons of Odin ; and in the 

 Icelandic mythology, he is confidered as the defender and 

 avenger of the gods. He always carried a mace, or club, 

 which as often as he difcharged it returned to his hand 

 of itfelf ; he grafped it with gauntlets of iron, and was 

 potFeffed of a girdle which had the virtue to renew his 

 ftrength as often as was needful. With thefe formidable 

 arms he overthrew the raonflers and giants, when the gods 

 fent him to oppofe their enemies. Thor, Friga, or Freya, 

 and Odin, compofed the court or fupreme council of the 

 gods, and were the principal objefts of the worfliip and 

 veneration of all the Scandinavians. The Danes feem to 

 have paid the higheft honour to Odin. The inhabitants of 

 Norway and Iceland appear to have been under the imme- 

 diate proteftion of Thor : and the Swedes chofe for their 

 tutelar deity Freya, or Frey, an inferior divinity, who, ac- 

 cording to the Edda, prefided over the feafons of the year, 

 and beftowed peace, fertility, and riches. 



There was a day confecrated to Thor, which ftill retains 

 his name in the Danifh, Swedifh, Englifh, and Low Dutch 

 languages, -ulz. Thurfday. This word has been rendered 

 into Latin by dies Jovis, or Jupiter's day ; for this deity, 

 according to the ideas of the Romans, was the god of 

 thunder. Mallet's North. Ant. vol. i. p. 95. 



Thor, Le, in Geography, a town of France, in the depart- 

 ment of the Mouths of the Rhone ; 9 miles E. of Avignon. 



THORA, a town of Hindooftan, in the circar of Ran- 

 tampour ; 45 miles S. of Rantampour. 



Thoka, 



