Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XV.djvu/753

 THORN the type ; this has proved perfectly hardy near New York in the most severe winters, and promises to be a valuable hedge plant. The pyracanth thorn is readily multiplied from cuttings, but the hawthorn and our native spe- cies are mostly raised from seeds, which are very slow in germinating ; the fruit is placed in what is called the " rot heap," where mixed with earth it is exposed to the weather for a year before sowing. Thorns from the seed are used as stocks upon which to graft the double and other desirable varieties, and some of our vigorous native species have been used as stocks for the pear ; but there is no advan- tage in using these stocks, and unless the graft- ing is done below the surface of the soil the pear is apt to break away from the thorn. THORN, a town of the kingdom and the province of Prussia, on the right bank of the Vistula, 52 m. S. W. of Marienwerder ; pop. in 1871, 16,619. It has three Protestant and three Catholic churches, famous manufacto- ries of gingerbread, and an important trade in corn and lumber. It is the birthplace of Copernicus, of whom there is a statue in the market place and a monument in the Catholic St. John's church. It is strongly fortified. Thorn was founded about 1230 by the Teutonic knights. It joined the Hanse league, and in 1454 placed itself under the protection of Po- land, to which it was confirmed by the peace with the order concluded there in 1466. In 1724 a riot between the students of the Protes- tant gymnasium and those of the Jesuit school led to a bloody persecution of the Protestant citizens. Thorn has repeatedly been besieged. THORN APPLE. See DATUEA. THORNBCRY, George Walter, an English author, born in London in 1828. In 1845 he published a series of topographical and antiquarian papers in the "Bristol Journal." After 1858 the name George is omitted from his title pages. He has published "Lays and Legends, or Bal- lads of the New World" (London, 1851); " Monarchs of the Main, or Adventures of the Buccaneers" (1855) ; " Shakespeare's England," and "Art and Nature at Home and Abroad" (1856); "Legend of the Wandering Jew," and " Songs of the Cavaliers and Roundheads " (1857); "Every Man his Own Trumpeter," a novel founded on Montluc's memoirs (1858) ; "Life in Spain, Past and Present" (1859); "Turkish Life and Character" (1860); "Brit- ish Artists from Hogarth to Turner " (2 vols. 8vo, 1860); "Ice-Bound," "Cross Country," and "Life of J. M. W. Turner, R. A." (1861) ; "True as Steel" (1863); "Wildfire" (1864); "Haunted London," and "Tales for the Ma- rines " (1865) ; " Greatheart, a Cornish Novel " (1866) ; " Two Centuries of Song," a collection of vers de societe (1867) ; " The Vicar's Court- ship," and "Old Stories Retold" (1869); "A Tour round England" (1870); "Old and New London" (2 vols., 1873-'4); and "Historical and Legendary Ballads and Songs," a collec- tion of his previously published poems (1876). THORNWELL 723 THORNH1LL, Sir James, an English painter, born in Weymouth in 1676, died there, May 4, 1734. He settled in London, and during the last 30 years of his life was employed on im- portant works, including the eight pictures in chiaroscuro illustrating the history of St. Paul on the inner dome of St. Paul's cathedral, and the decorations at Kensington palace, Blen- heim, and Greenwich hospital. In 1724 he opened an academy for drawing at his house. Hogarth was his pupil and son-in-law. He was knighted by George I., and represented Weymouth in parliament. THORNTON, BonneH, an English author, born in London in 1724, died May 9, 1768. He was educated at Oxford, and in conjunction with George Colman the elder began a periodical, "The Connoisseur," which lasted from Jan- uary, 1754, to September, 1756. With Col- man also he was one of the original proprie- tors of " The St. James's Chronicle." In 1762 he published "An Ode on St. Cecilia's Day, adapted to the antient British Music, viz., the Salt-box, the Jews-harp, the Marrow-bones and Cleavers, the Hum-strum or Hurdy-gurdy, &c., with an Introduction giving an Account of those truly British Instruments " (4to, Lon- don); the ode was set to music by Dr. Bur- ney, and performed on the instruments named with great success. In conjunction with Col- man and Richard Warner he published "The Comedies of Plautus, translated into familiar Blank Verse" (2 vols., 1767), of which he translated " Amphitryon," " The Braggart Cap- tain," " The Treasure," " The Miser," and "The Shipwreck." In 1768 he published " The Bat- tle of the Wigs, an additional Canto to Dr. Garth's Poem of the Dispensary " (4to). THORNTON, Matthew, a signer of the Dec- laration of Independence, born in Ireland in 1714, died in Newburyport, Mass., June 24, 1803. His father emigrated to America about 1717. The son was educated at Worcester, Mass., studied medicine, and commenced prac- tice at Londonderry, N. H. In 1745, as a sur- geon, he joined a New Hampshire division of 500 men in the expedition against Louisburg. At the beginning of the revolutionary war Dr. Thornton was a colonel in the militia. When a provincial convention was called, he was chosen its president ; but he was immediately appointed to represent New Hampshire in the congress, and was permitted to sign the Dec- laration of Independence after taking his seat in September, 1776. Subsequently he was chief justice of the court of common pleas in New Hampshire, and later a judge of the su- perior court. He removed from Londonderry to Exeter, and finally fixed his residence at Merrimack, where he purchased a large estate. THORNWELL, James Henley, an American cler- gyman, born in Marlborough district, S. 0., in 1811, died in Charlotte, N. C., Aug. 1, 1862. He graduated at the South Carolina college in 1829, studied theology, and commenced preach- ing as a 1'resbyterian minister to the Waxhaw