the beginning of the third century, and the latter at the beginning of the sixth.

His reputation among the ancients, if we may judge from their having given him the title of grammarian, was very considerable; for, though the word grammarian be now applied to persons altogether attentive to the minutia of language, yet it was anciently a title of honour, and particularly bestowed on such as wrote well and politely in every way. The writings of this author were extremely numerous, as we learn from their titles preserved by Suidas; yet none of them are come down to us, except his "Destruction of Troy," which he calls "A Sequel to the Iliad." He also wrote a new Odyssey, which Addison has described with equal truth and humour. After having proposed to speak of the several species of false wit among the ancients, he says, "The first I shall produce are the Lipogrammatists, or Letter-droppers, of antiquity, that would take an exception, without any reason, against some particular letter in the alphabet, so as not to admit it once into a whole poem. One Tryphiodorus was a great master in this kind of writing. He composed an Odyssey, or epic poem on the adventures of Ulysses, consisting of four and twenty books, having entirely banished the letter A from his first book, which was called Alpha,' as lucus à non lucendo, because there was not an Alpha in it. His second book was inscribed Beta' for the same reason: in short, the poet excluded the whole four and twenty letters in their turns, and shewed them, one after another, that he could do his business without them. It must have been very pleasant to have seen this poet avoiding the reprobate letter, as much as another would a false quantity; and making his escape from it through the several Greek dialects, when he was pressed with it in any particular syllable. For, the most apt and elegant word in the whole language. was rejected, like a diamond with a flaw in it, if it appeared blemished with a wrong letter. I shall only observe upon this head, that if the work I have here mentioned had been now extant, the Odyssey of Tryphiodorus in all probability would have been oftener quoted by our learned pedants than the Odyssey of Homer. What a perpetual fund would it have been of obsolete words and phrases, unusual barbarisms and rusticities, absurd spellings and complicated dialects! I make no question, but it would have been looked upon as one of the most valuable trea

sures of the Greek tongue." It may be necessary to add that this singular composition does not exist, and that some have good-naturedly doubted whether it was written by our Tryphiodorus.

The first edition of Tryphiodorus's "Destruction of Troy" was published at Venice by Aldus, together with Quintus Calaber's "Paralipomena," and Coluthus's Poem on the rape of Helen. It was afterwards reprinted at several places, particularly at Francfort in 1588, by Frischlinus, who not only restored many corrupted passages in the original, but added two Latin versions, one in prose, the other in verse. That in verse was reprinted with the Greek at Oxford, 1742, in Svo, with an English translation in verse; and notes upon both the Greek and the English by J. Merrick of Trinity-college. There is another good edition more recently published by Mr. Northmore, Oxford, 1791, 8vo; and one was printed at Leipsic in 1809, in fol. amounting only to twenty-five copies.

1

TSCHIRNHÄUSEN (ERNFROY WALTER), an ingenious mathematician, lord of Killingswald and of Stolzenberg in Lusatia, was born April 10, 1651. After having served as a volunteer in the army of Holland in 1672, he travelled into most parts of Europe, as England, Germany, Italy, France, &c. He went to Paris for the third time in 1682; where he communicated to the Academy of Sciences, the discovery of the curves called from him Tschirnhausen's Caustics; and the academy in consequence elected the inventor one of its foreign members. On returning to Italy, he was desirous of perfecting the science of optics; for which purpose he established two glass-works, from whence resulted many new improvements in dioptrics and physics, particularly the noted. burning-glass which he presented to the regent. It was to him too that Saxony owed its porcelain manufactory.

Content with the enjoyment of literary fame, Tschirnhausen refused all other honours that were offered him. Learning was his sole delight. He searched out men of talents, and gave them encouragement. encouragement. He was often at the expence of printing the useful works of other men, for the benefit of the public; and died, beloved and regretted, the 11th of September, 1708.

Tschirnhausen wrote, "De Medicina Mentis & Corporis,"

! Merrick's Dissertation prefixed to his Edition.-Spectator, No. 59,

printed at Amsterdam in 1687. And the following memoirs were printed in the volumes of the Academy of Sciences: 1. Observations on Burning Glasses of 3 or 4 feet diameter; vol. 1699. 2. Observations on the Glass of a Telescope, convex on both sides, of 32 feet focal distance; 1700. 3. On the Radji of Curvature, with the finding the Tangents, Quadratures, and Rectifications of many curves; 1701. 4. On the Tangents of Mechanical Curves; 1702. 5. On a method of Quadratures; 1702.1

TSCHUDI (GILES DE), one of a family of Swiss writers, and landaman of the canton of Glarus, was born in 1505. He devoted much of his time to historical researches, and produced, among other works of less note, a "Chronicle," which, whatever its merits, remained in manuscript until 1734, when it was published at Basle in 2 vols. fol. He died in 1572. Another of the family, DOMINICK TSCUDI, who died in 1654, wrote in Latin, on the "Constitution of the Benedictine congregation in Switzerland," and an account of the founders of that abbey, which was printed in 1651, Svo. A third, JOHN HENRY TSCUDI, who died in 1729, and was a zealous protestant, his predecessors being equally zealous catholics, was the author of an account of the abbes of St. Gall, 1711, 4to; a "Chronicle" of the canton of Glaris, 1714, 8vo, both in German. He also conducted a literary journal from 1714 to 1726, which was ordered to be burnt by the public executioner in consequence of the freedoms he took with popery. There was also a JOHN PETER TSCUDI, who wrote in German a "History of Werdenberg," published in 1726.*

TUCKER (ABRAHAM), an ingenious English writer, was born in London Sept. 2, 1705, of a Somersetshire family, his father was a merchant, his mother was Judith, daughter of Abraham Tillard, esq. Both his parents died before he was two years old, and left him under the care of his grandmother Tillard and his maternal uncle sir Isaac Tillard, a man of strict piety and morality, of whose memory Mr. Tucker always spoke with the highest veneration and regard, and who took the utmost pains to give his nephew principles of integrity, benevolence, and candour, with a disposition to unwearied application and industry in his pursuits. He was educated at Bishop's Stortford, and in 1721

1 Hutton's Dict.-Dr. Gleig's Supplement to the Encycl. Britannica, an ample account, chiefly from the Acta Eruditorum, Leipsic, 1709.

Dict. Hist.-Saxii Onomast.

was entered as a gentleman commoner in Merton-college, Oxford, where his favourite studies were metaphysics and the mathematics. He there engaged masters to teach him French, Italian, and music, of which last he was very fond. In 1726 he was entered of the Inner Temple. Soon afterwards, and just before he came of age, he lost his guardian sir Isaac. He studied enough of the law to be useful to himself and his friends; but his fortune not requiring it, and his constitution not being strong, he was never called to the bar. He usually spent the summer vacations in tours through different parts of England, Wales, and ScotJand, and once passed six weeks in France and Flanders. In 1727 he purchased Betchworth-castle with its estate. He then turned his attention more to rural affairs, and with his usual industry wrote down numberless observations which he collected in discourses with his farmers, or extracted from various authors on the subject. On the 3d of February, 1736, he married Dorothy, daughter of Edward Barker, esq. afterwards cursitor baron of the exchequer, and receiver of the tenths. By her he had three daughters, Dorothy, who died under three years old, Judith, and Dorothea-Maria, who, on the 27th of October, 1763, married sir Henry Paulett St. John, bart. and died on the 5th of May, 1768, leaving one son. Mrs. Tucker died the 7th of May, 1754, aged 48. As they had lived together in the tenderest harmony, the loss was a very severe stroke to Mr. Tucker. His first amusement was to collect all the letters which had passed between them whenever they happened to be absent from each other, which he copied out in books twice over, under the title of "The Picture of artless Love;" one copy he gave to her father, who survived her five years, and the other he kept to read over to his daughters frequently. His principal attention then was to instruct his daughters; he taught them French and Italian, and whatever else he thought might be useful to them to know. In 175.5, at the request of a friend in the west of England, he worked up some materials which he sent him into the form of a pamphlet, then published under the title of "The Country Gentleman's Advice to his Son on the Subject of Party Clubs," printed by Owen, Temple-bar; and he soon after began writing "The Light of Nature pursued," of which he not only formed and wrote over several sketches before he fixed on the method he determined to pursue, but wrote the complete copy twice

with his own hand; but thinking his style was naturally stiff and laboured, in order to improve it, he had employed much time in studying the most elegant writers and orators, and translating many orations of Cicero, Demosthenes, &c. and, twice over, "Cicero de Oratore." After this he composed a little treatise called "Vocal Sounds," printed, but never published; contriving, with a few additional letters, to fix the pronunciation to the whole alphabet in such manner, that the sound of any word may be conveyed on paper as exactly as by the voice. His usual method of spending his time was to rise very early to his studies, in winter burning a lamp in order to light his own fire before his servants were stirring. After breakfast he returned to bis studies for two or three hours, and then took a ride on horseback, or walked. The evenings in summer he often spent in walking over his farms and setting down his remarks; and in the winter, while in the country, reading to his wife, and afterwards to his daughters. In London, where he passed some months every winter, and spring, he passed much time in the same manner, only that his evenings were more frequently spent in friendly parties with some of his relations who lived near, and with some of his old fellow collegiates or Temple friends. His walks there were chiefly to transact any business he had in town, always preferring to walk on all his own errands, to sending orders by a servant, and frequently when he found no other, would walk, he said, to the Bank to see what it was o'clock. Besides his knowledge in the classics and the sciences, he was perfectly skilled in merchant's accompts, and kept all bis books with the exactness of an accompting-house; and be was ready to serve his neighbours by acting as justice of peace. His close application to his studies, and writing latterly much by candle and lamp-light, weakened his sight, and brought on cataracts, which grew so much worse after a fever in the spring, 1771, that he could no longer amuse himself with reading or writing, and at last could not walk, except in his own garden, without leading. This was a great trial on his philosophy, yet it did not fail him ; he not only bore it with patience, but cheerfulness, frequently being much diverted with the mistakes his infirmity occasioned him to make. His last illness carried him off on the 20th of November, 1774, perfectly sensible, and as he had lived, easy and resigned, to the last.