Thomas Tyrwhitt | |
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 Portrait of Thomas Tyrwhitt, 1788 | |
| Born | 27 March 1730 London, England |
| Died | 15 August 1786 (aged 56) London, England |
| Occupation | Writer, scholar, critic |
Thomas Tyrwhitt ( /ˈtɪrɪt/ ; 27 March 1730 –15 August 1786) was an English writer, classical scholar, and critic. He was best known for his edition of The Canterbury Tales in which he modernized the language and provided extensive notes as well as a glossary.
He was born in London, where he also died. He was educated at Eton College and Queen's College, Oxford. He was elected a fellow of Merton College, Oxford in 1755. In 1756, he was appointed under-secretary at war, in 1762 clerk of the House of Commons. In 1768, he resigned his post, and spent the remainder of his life in learned retirement. In February 1771, he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society. [1] In 1784, he was elected a trustee of the British Museum, to which he bequeathed a portion of his valuable library. [2]
His principal classical works are:
Special mention is due of his editions of Chaucer's Canterbury Tales (1775–1778); and of Poems, supposed to have been written at Bristol by "Thomas Rowley" and others in the 15th century (1777–1778), with an appendix to prove that the poems were all the work of Thomas Chatterton. [3] Tyrwhitt's bibliophile friend Thomas Crofts is credited with introducing Tyrwhitt in 1776 to George Catcott, the owner of the "manuscripts" of the poems. Initially Tyrwhitt was convinced that they were authentic, and pressed for publication in 1777. It was only when the third edition was published that Tyrwhitt changed his mind and pronounced the poems forgeries. [4]
In 1782, he published a Vindication of the Appendix in reply to the arguments that they were authentic. While clerk of the House of Commons he edited Proceedings and Debates of the House of Commons, 1620–1621 from the original manuscript in the library of Queen's College, Oxford, and Henry Elsynge's The Manner of Holding Parliaments in England (1768). [5]
Richard Henry Lee was an American statesman and Founding Father from Virginia, best known for the June 1776 Lee Resolution, the motion in the Second Continental Congress calling for the colonies' independence from Great Britain leading to the United States Declaration of Independence, which he signed. Lee also served a one-year term as the president of the Continental Congress, was a signatory to the Continental Association and the Articles of Confederation, and was a United States Senator from Virginia from 1789 to 1792, serving part of that time as the second president pro tempore of the upper house.
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Thomas Chatterton was an English poet whose precocious talents ended in suicide at age 17. He was an influence on Romantic artists of the period such as Shelley, Keats, Wordsworth and Coleridge.
Richard François Philippe Brunck was a French classical scholar.
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Thomas Russell was an English poet born at Beaminster early in 1762. He was the son of John Russell, an attorney at Bridport, in Dorsetshire, and his mother was Miss Virtue Brickle, of Shaftesbury. He was educated at the grammar school of Bridport, and in 1777 proceeded to Winchester, where he stayed three years, under Dr. Joseph Warton, and Thomas Warton, the professor of poetry.
Nationality words link to articles with information on the nation's poetry or literature.
The Reverend and Learned Thomas Crofts FRS FSA was a British bibliophile, Anglican priest, Fellow of the Royal Society and European traveller.
William Worthington was an Anglican priest and theological writer.
John Gutch was an Anglican clergyman and official of the University of Oxford. He was also an antiquarian, with a particular interest in the history of the university.
Weeden Butler, the elder (1742–1823) was an English cleric and writer.
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