Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 58.djvu/191

 and by George Colman the younger, manager of the Haymarket, in 1791. Vaughan published it in 1791, under the title ‘Love's Vagaries’ (London, 4to), with a dedication to the rejectors. In 1776 he published another farce, entitled ‘The Hotel, or the Double Valet’ (London, 4to), which appeared at Drury Lane on 21 Nov. His next dramatic venture was ‘Deception,’ a political comedy, which was acted at Drury Lane on 28 Sept. 1784. None of Vaughan's plays possessed much merit, and they met with no success. He was the author of a novel entitled ‘Fashionable Follies’ (London, 1782), which had some vogue; he republished it in 1810 with considerable additions, and with a dedication to Colman, with whom he had formerly quarrelled, and who bestowed on him the nickname of ‘Dapper.’ ‘The Retort’ (London, 1761, 4to), a reply to Churchill's ‘Rosciad,’ which contained an allusion to Vaughan as ‘Dapper,’ is also assigned to him (, Engl. Theatrical Lit.; Rosciad, ed. Lowe, 1891, p. 31). He was a friend of Sheridan, and is said to have been the original of Dangle in the ‘Critic.’

[European Mag. 1782, i. 30, 58; Baker's Biogr. Dram.; Genest's Hist. of the Stage, v. 494, 546, vi. 332.]

 VAUGHAN, THOMAS (1782–1843), vocalist, born in Norwich in 1782, was a chorister of the cathedral under John Christmas Beckwith [q. v.] His father died while Vaughan, still very young, was preparing to enter the musical profession, which he was enabled to do under the advice and patronage of Canon Charles Smith. In June 1799 Vaughan was elected lay-clerk of St. George's Chapel, Windsor, where he attracted the notice of George III. On 28 May 1803 he was admitted a gentleman of the Chapel Royal, and about the same time became vicar-choral of St. Paul's and lay vicar of Westminster Abbey. In 1811 he joined Charles Knyvett [q. v.] in establishing vocal subscription concerts, in opposition to the Vocal concerts; but on the death of Samuel Harrison [q. v.] in 1812 the two enterprises were merged, and Vaughan stepped into the position of principal tenor soloist at all the prominent concerts and festivals. He sang at the Three Choirs festivals from 1805 to 1836, and took part in the production of Beethoven's Choral Symphony in 1825. For twenty-five years the public recognised in him the typical faultless singer of the English school, perfected by the study of oratorio music. With distinct enunciation, pure intonation, and severe elegance, Vaughan reigned supreme until a more versatile and energetic reading of classical as well as modern music was introduced by John Braham [q. v.], who, however, was never admitted to the frigid region of the Ancient concerts.

Vaughan died at a friend's house near Birmingham, on 9 Jan. 1843, and was buried on the 17th in the west cloister of Westminster Abbey. He married in 1806 Miss Tennant, a soprano singer well known from 1797 in oratorio performances. After some nine or ten years of married life they separated, and Mrs. Vaughan was heard, as Mrs. Tennant, at Drury Lane Theatre.

[Hist. of Norfolk, 1829, p. 1089; Phillips's Memoirs, pp. 141, 149; Gent. Mag. 1843, i. 212; Athenæum, 1843, p. 39; Musical World, 1843, p. 20; Quarterly Musical Mag. vols. ii. v. vi.; Annals of the Three Choirs, pp. 82–8; Grove's Dict. of Music, iv. 233, 319.]

 VAUGHAN, WILLIAM (1577–1641), poet and colonial pioneer, born in 1577, was the second son of Walter Vaughan of Golden Grove, Carmarthenshire [see under, second ]. Sir Henry Vaughan (1587?–1659?) [q. v.] was his brother. William matriculated, along with his brother John, from Jesus College, Oxford, on 4 Feb. 1591-2, and graduated B.A. on 1 March 1594-5, and M.A. on 16 Nov. 1597. He supplicated for B.C.L. on 3 Dec. 1600, but before taking the degree he went abroad, travelled in France and Italy, and visited Vienna, where he proceeded LL.D., being incorporated at Oxford on 23 June 1605. He was sheriff of Carmarthenshire for 1616.

Soon after his return he married Elizabeth, daughter and heiress of David ap Robert of Llangyndeyrn, where he thereupon settled at a house now called Torcoed, or, as he fancifully spelt it, Terra-Coed. By her he had one son, Francis, who appears to have died young. In January 1608 the house was struck by lightning and his wife killed, though Vaughan himself 'miraculously escaped.' As a result, spiritual thoughts so absorbed his mind that apparently he suffered for a time from religious mania, while most of his subsequent work bears evidence of strong religious feeling. 'Disgracefull libelles' were, however, 'dispersed farre and nigh' about his wife's death. To refute these Vaughan wrote a strangely mystical work, which he entitled 'The Spirit of Detraction coniured and contacted in Seven Circles: a Work both Divine and Morall, fit to be perused by the Libertines