Page:Imperialdictiona03eadi Brandeis Vol3b.pdf/441

TRA He entered the house of commons in 1747, and soon attained prominence in an assembly for success in which he seemed to be born. One of the greatest of his earlier parliamentary speeches was that which he made against the marriage bill of 1753, a measure intended to check the facility with which marriages were contracted by the young and thoughtless. In a witty speech he brought his own position to bear upon the argument, and describing himself, according to Horace Walpole, "as the younger son of a capricious father, who had already debarred him from an advantageous match, he asked, 'Are new shackles to be imposed to keep young men of ability from rising to a level with their elder brothers?'" "A year afterwards," is Lord Stanhope's pithy comment on this query, "he married a wealthy dowager from the house of Buccleuch, the countess of Dalkeith." In the duke of Newcastle's ministry, formed after the death of his brother Mr. Pelham, in 1754, Charles Townshend was appointed a lord of the admiralty, and he seems to have been a member of every succeeding administration up to the time of the formation of Chatham's ministry of 1766. In that year the chancellorship of the exchequer, with the leadership of the house of commons, was bestowed on Townshend, who, says Lord Macaulay, "had belonged to every party, and cared for none." Provoked by a taunt of George Grenville's, that the ministers did not dare to tax America, Townshend rashly, and during Chatham's illness, for the sake of an addition to the revenue, estimated by its own author at not more than £40,000, brought in and carried his colonial importation bill, which helped to produce the American revolution. He was intriguing against Chatham, with an eye to the premiership for himself, when the "most brilliant and versatile of mankind," as Lord Macaulay styles him, who appears to have had every quality but principle, died suddenly of a neglected fever on the 4th September, 1767. He lives in the genial eulogium of Burke, who in his fondness for the man, pardoned for the moment the folly of the author of the colonial importation bill.—F. E.  TRADESCANT,, the name of two English naturalists, father and son, who flourished during the seventeenth century. The elder Tradescant seems to have been born in Holland, and to have come to England about the beginning of the seventeenth century. He travelled in Europe, visited the Mediterranean, and made collections of plants in Barbary. He was for some time in the service of Lord Salisbury, and in 1629 he became royal gardener to Charles I. His garden was richly stored with plants.—The younger Tradescant inherited his father's taste for natural history. He added many plants to the garden at South Lambeth, and established a museum there, an account of which was published under the name of Museum Tradescantium. The museum was bequeathed to Mr. Elias Ashmole, and it constituted the basis of the Ashmolean museum at Oxford. Tradescant took a voyage to Virginia, and collected plants and seeds there. Both he and his father introduced many new plants into Britain, among others the spider-wort, which has received the name of Tradescantia.—J. H. B.  TRAHERON,, a learned divine, was born in the first half of the sixteenth century, but the precise year has not been ascertained. Anthony Wood supposes him to have been a native of Cornwall. He was educated either at Exeter college or Hart hall, Oxford; and after completing his studies crossed over to the continent, and travelled for some time in Germany and Italy. On his return to his native country he entered into holy orders, and subsequently received the appointment of keeper of the royal library from Edward VI. Traheron was also made dean of Chichester; but on the death of the young king he was, like so many of his fellow protestants, forced to resign all his preferments and seek safety abroad. He cast in his lot with the numerous English exiles who had found a temporary home at Frankfort, and became what was called their divinity-reader. His works appear all to have been written during his sojourn in Germany. He was author of "Parænesis, lib. i.," addressed to his brother Thomas, persuading him to renounce popery and embrace the protestant faith; "Carmina in Mortem Henrici Dudlæi;" "Analysis Scoparum Johannis Cochlæi;" "Exposition of a Part of St. John's Gospel, made in sundry readings in the English congregation against the Arians" (this, as well as the next work mentioned, formed part of his ordinary expositions as divinity-reader); "Exposition on the Fourth Chapter of St. John's Revelation, which treateth of the providence of God, made before his countrymen in Germany;" "An Answer made by Bartholomew Traheron to a private Papist;" and a "Treatise on Repentance." It is not known where this excellent divine died.  TRAILL,, an eminent presbyterian minister, was born at Ely, Fife, May, 1642. The family of Traill had been in possession of the estate of Blebo since the time of Waller Traill, archbishop of St. Andrews, in the fourteenth century. The father of the subject of this memoir, and of the same name, was minister first of Ely, and afterwards of Greyfriars, Edinburgh. In those dark and troublous times he was summoned before the council, imprisoned seven months in Edinburgh, and then banished from the realm. Robert Traill, the son, was educated at the university of Edinburgh. The arbitrary and intolerant acts of the government had so maddened the people that they took up arms, but were defeated at Pentland hill. Traill was suspected of being among the insurgents, and on a warrant being issued for his apprehension he joined his father in Holland. On his return in 1670 he was ordained by some presbyterian clergymen in London. Having preached privately in Edinburgh in 1677, he was seized and tried, and sent to the Bass. Being soon released, he went up to England, preached for a time at Cranbrooke in Kent, and finally became pastor of a Scottish congregation in London. In this sphere he laboured till his death in May, 1716. His sermons on the "Throne of Grace" and on the "Lord's Prayer" were long in great esteem. An edition of his works in four octavo volumes was published in 1810 at Edinburgh. Robert Traill, a grandson, conformed, and became bishop of Down and Connor in Ireland.—J. E.  TRAILL,, D.D., a clergyman of the Irish church, and translator of the Jewish War of Josephus. Dr. Robert Traill, third son of the archdeacon of Connor, born at Lisburn, 1793; died 1847—"a victim to the generous and extraordinary exertions made by him during that winter of horrors, 1846-47, to alleviate the sufferings of his parishioners and neighbours"—at Skibbereen. He matriculated at Trinity college, Dublin, in 1814, and passed his college examinations with great credit. He obtained the valuable living of Schull, county of Cork, in 1830, which he held till his death. During the seventeen years of his residence in that parish, he had, while giving assiduous attention to his duties as clergyman, devoted much time to the perusal of Josephus, and he had made great progress in producing an English version of the Antiquities, as well as of the Jewish War, and the Life of Josephus. The repulsive and rugged version of Whiston he found it easy to surpass in fluency of style and perspicuity; and if he had lived he would probably have given to the English reader the entire works of the Jewish historian in a style combining elegance with accuracy. The new translation of the Jewish War and the Life of Josephus were published, but did not, in fact, appear until some time after the death of Dr. Traill. It was edited, with notes by Isaac Taylor, and was copiously illustrated by engravings which had been produced at great cost, the faithfulness of these views in Palestine, from drawings by Mr. William Tipping, as well as the general merits of the work, has been admitted by those best qualified to give an opinion on the subject.—I. T.  TRAILL,, a distinguished medical man and naturalist, was born at Kirkwall in Orkney in 1781, and died at Edinburgh on the 30th of July, 1862. His father was parish minister of Kirkwall. He prosecuted his studies at the university of Edinburgh, where he was a contemporary of Lord Brougham, and he took the degree of M.D. in 1801. He afterwards settled as a medical man in Liverpool, and acquired great reputation as a physician. He devoted also attention to the sciences collateral to medicine, especially chemistry and natural history. In 1832 he was appointed professor of medical jurisprudence in the university of Edinburgh, and he continued to fill this chair till his death. During a period of forty years he was never absent from his lectures. He did duty also for other professors, and on several occasions lectured on chemistry and natural history. In 1852 he undertook the editorship of the eighth edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica. He was universally respected and esteemed. He was a man of extensive learning, and of a most obliging disposition.—J. H. B.  TRAJANUS,, Roman emperor, . 98-117, was born of an Iberian family at Italica, near Seville, 18th September,. 52, and was the first Roman citizen born beyond the confines of Italy who was elected to the imperial purple. Having early distinguished himself as a commander 