Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 57.djvu/127

Townshend marquis [q. v.], was his uncle, and John, the fourth marquis, was his younger brother. Charles Fox was educated at Eton (1807–12) under Keate. In 1811 he founded the ‘Eton Society.’ Its members were originally known as the ‘Literati,’ but afterwards the society was called ‘Pop,’ from ‘Popina,’ an eating-house, because its meetings were held in a room over the shop of Mrs. Hatton, a confectioner. In 1846 this house was pulled down and the club removed to the ‘Christopher.’ Keate approved the objects of the society, and the translation docti sumus, ‘I belong to the Literati,’ became one of his stock jokes.

The original number of members was twenty; it was increased to thirty, but by 1816 had sunk to four, and but for the protest of the founder would have probably become extinct. ‘Pop’ has included among its orators G. A. Selwyn, A. H. Hallam, Sir Francis Doyle, Gerald Wellesley, Sir E. S. Creasy, Sir John Wickens, the Earls of Derby and Granville, and W. E. Gladstone (elected 1825, æt. 15). The club, which at present numbers twenty-eight, possesses a bust of its founder. Townshend proceeded to St. John's College, Cambridge, and graduated M.A. in 1816. He died unmarried on 2 April 1817, while a candidate for the representation in parliament of Cambridge University, being then only in his twenty-second year.

[Stapylton's Eton Lists, 1864; G. E. C[okayne]'s Complete Peerage; Eton Loan Collection Cat. 1891, pp. 41, 76; Wilkinson's Reminiscences of Eton in Keate's Time, chap. xix.; Collins's Etoniana; Lyte's Hist. of Eton College, 1887; Luard's Alumni Cantabr.]  TOWNSHEND, CHAUNCEY HARE (1798–1868), poet, born on 20 April 1798, was the only son of Henry Hare Townshend (d. 1827) of Downhills, Tottenham, Busbridge Hall, Godalming, and Walpole, Norfolk, by his wife Charlotte (d. 1831), daughter of Sir James Winter Lake of Edmonton, baronet. He was educated at Eton College, whence he proceeded to Trinity Hall, Cambridge, as a fellow-commoner, graduating B.A. in 1821 and M.A. in 1824. In 1817 he obtained the chancellor's English medal for a poem on the subject ‘Jerusalem.’ He took holy orders, but was early disabled by illness from the active duties of his profession. Early in life he made the acquaintance of Robert Southey, and received an invitation to Greta Hall, Southey's residence in the vale of Keswick. Encouraged by the laureate's approbation, he published a volume of ‘Poems’ in 1821 (London, 8vo) which were generally praised. Notwithstanding the recognition he received, Townshend showed no anxiety for fame, and suffered thirty years to elapse before he produced his next volume of poetry, entitled ‘Sermons in Sonnets, with other Poems’ (London, 1851, 8vo), followed in 1859 by ‘The Three Gates’ (London, 8vo). Townshend was by no means deficient in poetic insight, but his verse was too often commonplace. His poems were frequently tinged by metaphysical speculation. His best known poem is the ballad of the ‘Burning of the Amazon.’ He drew and painted with some skill, and interested himself in collecting pictures and jewels. Much of his time was spent in travel, and the greater part of his later life was passed at his villa, Monloisir, at Lausanne. He died on 25 Feb. 1868 at his residence in Norfolk Street, Park Lane, London. On 2 May 1826 he married Eliza Frances, daughter of Sir Amos Godsill Robert Norcott, but left no issue. He bequeathed his collections of precious stones, coins, and cameos, and such of his pictures, water-colours, and drawings as might be selected, to the South Kensington Museum. Besides the works mentioned, Townshend was the author of: 1. ‘A Descriptive Tour in Scotland by T. H. C.,’ Brussels, 1840, 8vo; new edit. London, 1846. This work must not be confused with ‘Journal of a Tour through part of the Western Highlands of Scotland by T. H. C.,’ which is by a different author. 2. ‘Facts in Mesmerism,’ London, 1840, 8vo; 2nd edit. 1844. 3. ‘The Burning of the Amazon: a Ballad Poem,’ London, 1852, 12mo. 4. ‘Mesmerism proved True,’ London, 1854, 12mo. He also added a supplement to Lang's ‘Animal Magnetism,’ 1844. Some writings intended to elucidate his ‘Religious Opinions’ were published by his friend Charles Dickens, whom he made his literary executor (London, 1869, 8vo). He was a contributor to Knight's ‘Quarterly Magazine,’ 1823–4.

[Townshend's Works; Men of the Time, 1868, p. 787; Burke's Landed Gentry, 7th edit.; Stapylton's Eton School Lists, 1791–1850, pp. 71, 78; Boddington's Pedigree of the Family of Townshend, 1881; Life and Letters of Robert Southey, 1850, iv. 150; Forster's Life of Charles Dickens, 1874, iii. 227, 410; Gent. Mag. 1868, i. 545; Notes and Queries, 4th ser. viii. 415, 534; Church's Precious Stones, 1883, pp. 96–111.]  TOWNSHEND, GEORGE (1715–1769), admiral, born in 1715, was eldest son of Charles, second viscount Townshend [q. v.], by his second wife, Dorothy (d. 1726), sister of Sir Robert Walpole, first earl of Orford