Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 63.djvu/157

 holt, 1862, foolscap 4to. For the Rolls Series he also edited two works of value to the student of mediæval history, although errors abound in Wright's editorial contributions, viz.: ‘Political Poems and Songs relating to English History, composed during the Period from the Accession of Edward III to that of Richard III,’ London, 1859–61, 2 vols. royal 8vo; and ‘The Anglo-Latin Satirical Poets and Epigrammatists of the Twelfth Century,’ London, 1872, 2 vols. 8vo. For the Early English Text Society he edited ‘The Book of the Knight of La Tour-Landry: translated from the Original French into English in the Reign of Henry VI; from the unique Manuscript in the British Museum: with Introduction and Notes,’ London, 1869, 8vo.

In 1865 Wright's small resources were supplemented by a grant from the civil list of a pension of 65l., which was increased to 100l. in 1872. Until that year he had enjoyed robust health and buoyant spirits; but after 1872 his mind failed, and he sank into imbecility before his death. Halliwell-Phillipps generously contributed towards his maintenance in his last years. He died at Chelsea on 23 Dec. 1877, and was buried at Brompton cemetery. His civil list pension was revived in 1881 in favour of his widow, a French woman whom he married in early life. She was buried beside him on 10 Feb. 1883.

A marble bust of Wright by Durham, purchased of his widow, is in the apartments of the Society of Antiquaries at Burlington House. A portrait engraved by Daniel J. Pound for the ‘Drawing-room Portrait Gallery’ (2nd ser. 1859) was reproduced in the ‘Essex Review’ for April 1900.

Richard Garnett [q. v.] justly castigated Wright's carelessness as an editor of mediæval literature in the ‘Quarterly Review’ for April 1848. Nearly all his philological books are defaced by errors of transcription and extraordinary misinterpretations of Latin and early English and early French words and phrases. But as a pioneer in the study of Anglo-Saxon and mediæval literature and of British archæology he deserves grateful remembrance.

Wright's works embrace in the British Museum catalogue 129 entries. Besides those already enumerated and many separately published lectures and papers in transactions of archæological societies, he issued: 1. ‘Early Travels in Palestine: comprising the Narratives of Arculf, Willibald, Bernard, Sæwulf, Sigurd, Benjamin of Tudela, Sir John Maundeville, De la Brocquière, and Maundrell; edited with Notes,’ 1848, 8vo (Bohn's ‘Antiq. Libr.’). 2. ‘Narratives of Sorcery and Magic: from the most authentic sources,’ 1851, 8vo; New York, 2 vols. 1852. 3. ‘The History of Fulke Fitz-Warine, an Outlawed Baron in the Reign of King John; edited from a Manuscript preserved in the British Museum; with an English Translation and Notes,’ 1855, 8vo. 4. ‘Songs and Carols from a Manuscript of the Fifteenth Century in the British Museum,’ 1856, 8vo. 5. ‘Les Cent Nouvelles Nouvelles, publiées d'après le seul Manuscrit connu, avec Introduction et Notes [et Glossaire] par M. Thomas Wright,’ Paris, 1858, 2 vols. 16mo. 6. ‘The History of King Arthur and of the Knights of the Round Table; compiled from Sir Thomas Malory; edited from the Text of the Edition of 1634, with Introduction and Notes,’ London: J. R. Smith's ‘Library of Old Authors,’ 1858, 3 vols. fcap. 8vo; 2nd edit. revised 1865, 3 vols. fcap. 8vo. 7. ‘History of Ireland,’ London and New York, 1848–52, 3 vols. imp. 8vo. 8. ‘History of France,’ imp. 8vo, pts. 1–34, 1858–62. 9. ‘Roll of Arms of the Princes, Barons, and Knights who attended King Edward I to the Siege of Caerlaverock in 1300. Edited from the Manuscript in the British Museum, with a Translation and Notes; with the Coat-Armoury emblazoned in Gold and Colours,’ 1864, 4to. 10. ‘Ludlow Sketches: a Series of Papers,’ 1867, 8vo. 11. ‘Womankind in Western Europe, from the Earliest Ages to the Seventeenth Century. Illustrated with Coloured Plates and numerous Wood Engravings,’ 1869, fcap. 8vo. 12. ‘Feudal Manuals of English History: a Series of popular Sketches of our National History, compiled at different periods from the Thirteenth Century to the Fifteenth; from the Original Manuscripts,’ London, 1872, 4to; privately printed.

[Essex Review, ix. 65–76, art. by Edward A Fitch; Reliquary, 1877–8, vol. xviii., art. by Llewellyn Jewitt; Academy, 29 Dec. 1877; Athenæum, 29 Dec. 1877; Roach Smith's Retrospections, iii. 83 sq., and Collectanea Antiqua, viii. 250.]  WRIGHT, THOMAS (1809–1884), physician and geologist, was born on 9 Nov. 1809 at Paisley, Renfrewshire, and received his early education in the grammar school of that town, after which he was articled to his brother-in-law, a surgeon in practice there. On the removal of the latter to Ayrshire, Wright's medical studies were for a time interrupted, but their attraction was irresistible, so that he ultimately rejoined his relative and completed his time. Then he became a student at the Royal College of Surgeons, Dublin, working also at the Peter Street Anatomical and Surgical School. He rapidly acquired great skill as a dissector