Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XV.djvu/711

 THAER "The History of Pendennis" (1850); "The History of Henry Esmond" (1852); "The Newcomes " (1855) ; " The Virginians " (1859) ; "Lovel the Widower" (1860); "The Adven- tures of Philip on his Way through the World " (1862); and "Denis Duval," left unfinished (1864). His Christmas books are : "Mrs. Per- kins's Ball" (1846); "Our Street" (1848); "Dr. Birch and his Young Friends" (1849); " Rebecca and Eowena " (1850) ; " The Kickle- burys on the Rhine " (1851) ; and " The Rose and the Ring" (1854). His other publications include "The Paris Sketch Book" (1840); " Comic Tales and Sketches" (2 vols., 1841) ; " The Second Funeral of Napoleon" and " The Chronicle of the Drum," in verse (published together, 1841) ; " The Irish Sketch Book" (2 vols., 1843) ; "Notes of a Journey from Corn- hill to Grand Cairo" (1846); "The Book of Snobs" (1848); "English Humorists of the Eighteenth Century" (1853); "Ballads" (1855) ; " The Four Georges " (1860) ; " Round- about Papers" (1862); and "The Orphan of Pimlico, and other Sketches, Fragments, and Drawings," with notes by his daughter (1875). Most of his books were illustrated by himself. James T. Fields has made a collection of his fugitive articles, under the title "Early and Late Papers " (12mo, Boston, 1867). There are numerous approximately complete editions of Thackeray's works, the latest of which repro- duces the original illustrations (22 vols., Lon- don, 1875 et seq.). See " Studies on Thacke- ray," by James Hannay, and " Thackeray, the Humorist and the Man of Letters: the Story of his Life," by Theodore Taylor (London, 1864). His daughter ANNE ISABELLA has pub- lished " The Story of Elizabeth " (London, 1863 ; German translation, Leipsic, 1864; Dutch, Am- sterdam, 1864) ; " The Village on the Cliff " (1867); " Old Kensington " (1873); "Toilers and Spinsters, and other Essays " (1873) ; "Bluebeard's Keys" (1874); " Miss Angel," a novel founded on the life of Angelica Kauff- mann (1876) ; and numerous short tales and sketches. THAER, Albrecht, a German agricultural wri- ter, born in Celle, May 14, 1752, died at Moge- lin, near Potsdam, Oct. 26, 1828. He studied at Gottingen, and in 1780 was appointed court physician at Hanover. In 1790 he established an agricultural school at Celle, in 1804 entered the Prussian civil service, and in 1807 erected on his estate of Mogelin an institution since known as the royal school of agriculture. In 1810 he was appointed professor of agriculture and political economy in the university of Berlin, with a seat in the ministry of the in- terior. In 1815 he became superintendent of the royal establishments for breeding sheep. His great work, Grundsdtze der rationellen Landwirthschaft (4 vols., Berlin, 1809; 6th ed., 1868), has been translated into English by W. Shaw and 0. W. Johnson ("The Princi- ples of Agriculture," 2 vols., London, 1844; 1 vol., New York, 1849), and into other lan- THALBERG 681 guages. Among his other works are : Ein- leitung zur Kenntniss der englischen Land- wirthschaft (3 vols., Hanover, 1798-1804; 3d ed., 1816) ; Ueber die feinwollige SchafzucJit (Berlin, 1811); and Leitfaden zur allgemei- nen landwirthschaftlichen GewerMehre(181fy. A monument was erected to him at Leipsic, Sept. 28, 1850, and one designed by Rauch at Berlin, Nov. 15, I860. See Albrecht Thaer, by Wilhelm Korte (Leipsic, 1839). THAIS, an Athenian courtesan, who accom- panied Alexander the Great on his expedition to Asia. She is said to have instigated him to set fire to the citadel of Persepolis, the resi- dence of the Persian kings, in revenge for the injuries done to her native city by Xerxes ; but this is probably untrue, as we know on the authority of Arrian that it was his intention to sack the place and burn the citadel on grounds of state policy. After the death of Alexander, Thais became the mistress of Ptol- emy Soter, and, according to Athenseus, was afterward married to him. She was celebrated for wit and repartee. THALBERG, Sigismond, a Swiss pianist, born in Geneva, Jan. 7, 1812, died in Naples, April 27, 1871. He was the natural son of Prince Die- trichstein, and was placed under the instruction of Hummel, whom he subsequently surpassed in firmness of touch and grace of expression. At 15 he began to be known in the concert rooms, and soon afterward published his first compositions. From 1830 to 1839 he made extended concert tours through Europe, ap- pearing in England in 1837. He visited South America and the United States in 1856-'8. His playing was distinguished by precision, deli- cacy, and finish, rather than by the produc- tion of surprising effects ; but his chief merit, both as a performer and a composer, consisted in his successful attempts to combine the ele- ments of song and harmony and of brilliant execution, as exemplified respectively in the schools of Mozart and Beethoven and of de- menti. In pursuance of this design he discov- ered many ingenious combinations for the fin- gers, whereby the song or melody, which he kept in the medium keys of the piano, could always be heard strongly accented in the midst of rapid passages, scales, arpeggios running from end to end of the instrument, and other complicated forms of accompaniment. This species of composition has since become ex- ceedingly common, through the works of a host of imitators. Among the productions by which Thalberg and his method acquired their celeb- rity are a series of fantasias of great beauty and brilliancy, including those on themes from Don Giovanni, Robert le Dialle, UElisire ffa- more, Les Huguenots, La donna del lago, and Nose en Egitto, the performance of any one of which by the composer realized the perfection of pianoforte playing. In 1851 he produced at London under Balfe's direction an opera entitled Florinda, founded on a libretto by Scribe, which failed to attract much attention.