Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 14.djvu/245

 On 26 Aug. 1577 a license was granted to John Day and Richard, his son, during their lives and that of the longest liver, for the ‘Psalmes in Meeter’ and ‘A B C with the lyttel Catechisme.’ John Day died 23 July 1584, and pirated editions of these privileged books were issued. Hence the Starchamber case of R. Day and his assigns v. T. Dunn, R. Robinson, and others, Michaelmas term, 1585 (, ii. 21, 790–3).

He took orders and was appointed to the vicarage of Reigate 29 May 1583, and resigned in 1584 ( and, Surrey, i. 323). The date of his death is not known, but it must have happened some time after 1607.



DAY, STEPHEN (1611–1668), printer. [See .]

DAY, THOMAS (1748–1789), author of ‘Sandford and Merton,’ was born 22 June 1748 in Wellclose Square, London. His father was collector of customs in the port of London, and had an estate of 1,200l. a year at Bear Hill, near Wargrave, Berkshire. He died suddenly in July 1749, leaving the estate to his son, with a jointure of 300l. a year to his widow, Jane, daughter of Samuel Bonham. Mrs. Day removed to Stoke Newington after his death. In 1755 she married Thomas Phillips of the custom-house. The stepfather was a troublesome busybody, and behaved unkindly to Day. The mother was affectionate and took great pains with her son's education, and especially with his physical training. After her second marriage she settled at Bear Hill, when the boy was left at a school in Stoke Newington till he could enter the Charterhouse. Here he already showed character, giving away his pocket-money to the poor, and being distinguished for his kindness to animals. He was a good boxer, and fought William Seward of the ‘Anecdotes,’ when, on finding that his antagonist had no chance, he immediately shook hands. From the Charterhouse Day went (in his sixteenth year) to Corpus Christi College, Oxford. He resided three years, lived sparingly, drank water, and studied philosophy, but left without a degree. He became intimate with Sir William Jones, then at University College, and with James Bicknell, afterwards a barrister. During an Oxford vacation he formed an intimacy with [q. v.], who had also been at Corpus, and was now settled at Hare Hatch, near Bear Hill. The two friends had daily discussions upon philosophical points. Rousseau's ‘Nouvelle Héloïse,’ ‘Contrat Social,’ and ‘Émile’ appeared in 1761–2, and were now exciting the intellects of Europe. Day became an ardent adherent of the school which denounced corruption and endeavoured to return to the simplicity of nature. He calls Rousseau ‘the first of humankind,’ and his friend Edgeworth brought up his own eldest son upon the principles expounded in ‘Émile.’ On 12 Feb. 1765 Day was admitted a student of the Middle Temple. He studied law and was called to the bar 14 May 1775, but never sought practice. ‘Day,’ said Jones one day, ‘kill that spider!’ ‘No,’ said Day, ‘I don't know that I have a right. Suppose that a superior being said to a companion, “Kill that lawyer,” how should you like it? And a lawyer is more noxious to most people than a spider.’ Day was fond of walking tours, in which he made friends with people of all classes.

Upon coming of age, he raised his mother's allowance to 400l. and settled the sum upon her and his stepfather for their lives. He had already suffered a disappointment in love. He had travelled in the west of England to look for a wife, and had addressed some verses to a lady whom he met at Shaftesbury, suggesting, without result, that she should live unnoticed with him ‘sequestered in some secret grove.’ Another poem commemorates an attachment to the sister of his friend Edgeworth, formed during a visit to Ireland in 1768. They discovered by the next winter that a fine lady would not suit a rough philosopher, who objected on principle to combing his hair, though he was fond of washing. He therefore resolved to take measures for securing a wife upon philosophical principles. He went with his friend Bicknell to an orphan asylum at Shrewsbury, and chose a flaxen-haired beauty of twelve, whom he called Sabrina Sidney (the last name from Algernon Sidney). From the Foundling Hospital in London he selected a brunette whom he called Lucretia. He undertook to choose one of these girls for his wife, or to give her a marriage portion if he changed his mind, and to apprentice the other and maintain her till she married or became independent. They were to be educated on the severest principles to acquire strength of mind and body. He went to Avignon with them, where (according to Miss Seward) they gave him much trouble by their tempers and igno-