Thomas Hutton

“ In 1851 he married, and accepted the post of editor of the Unitarian magazine, 'The Inquirer,' which was offered him by the proprietor, R. Kinder. John Langton Sanford [q. v.] was associated with him in the editorship in 1852, and among the contributors were his brother-in-law, William Caldwell Roscoe [q. v.] , and Bagehot. At a time when the traditions of Priestley and Thomas Belsham were still dominant among the Unitarians, Hutton advocated many innovations, and in consequence aroused the disapproval of the more conservative. ”

“ The name of James Hutton is far less dazzling, by far less widely celebrated, than that of Linnæus; but it has been shown by those competent to judge that Hutton's services to science were of the order which can truly be described as epoch-making. His 'Theory of the Earth' upset many ancient opinions as deeply rooted as mountain chains, as widely spread as the main oceans. Contrary to the apparent evidence of men's senses, he maintained that the crust of the globe is a great piece of machinery perpetually at work. ”

“ They had not, they declared, been robbed by Zinzendorf and the Moravian leaders; on the contrary, they had received substantial benefits from them. Thomas Rhodes himself proved Whitefield in the wrong. He wrote a letter to his own lawyer; James Hutton published extracts from the letter, and in that letter Rhodes declared that he had sold his estate of his own free will, that the Brethren had paid a good price, and that he and his mother were living in perfect comfort. Thus was Whitefield's fiction exploded, and the Brethren's credit restored. ”

“ Theory of the Earth' to attract attention was due to its excessive condensation, its assumption of too great knowledge in the reader, its unexpected and abrupt transitions, and its occasional obscurity, which was by no means observable in Hutton's conversation. It was not till John Playfair published his classical 'Illustrations of the Huttonian Theory' (Edinburgh, 1802) , that it received adequate attention. ”

“ Hutton ranks as the first great British geologist, and the independent originator of the modern explanation of the phenomena of the earth's crust by means of changes still in progress. 'No powers,' he says, 'are to be employed that are not natural to the globe, no action to be admitted of except those of which we know the principle.' He first drew a marked line between geology and cosmogony. ”

“ Hutton (Edward) . THE CITIES OF UMBRIA. With many Illustrations, of which 20 are in Colour, by A. Pisa. Second Edition. Cr. 8vo. 6s.
A Colonial Edition is also published. ENGLISH LOVE POEMS. Edited with an Introduction. Fcap. 8vo. 3s. 6d. net.
Hutton (R. H.) . See Leaders of Religion.
Hutton (W. H.) , M.A. THE LIFE OF SIR THOMAS MORE. With Portraits. Second Edition. Cr. 8vo. 5s. See also Leaders of Religion.
Hyett (F. A.) . A SHORT HISTORY OF FLORENCE. Demy 8vo. 7s. 6d. net.
Ibsen (Henrik) . BRAND. A Drama. Translated by William Wilson. Third Edition. Cr. 8vo. 3s. 6d. ”

“ He was also a corresponding member of other European, colonial and American societies, was president of the Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science in 1901 at the Hobart Town meeting, and was first president of the board of governors of the New Zealand Institute, by which a memorial medal and prize was founded.
In 1863 Hutton married Annie Gouger, daughter of Dr. WiUiam Montgomerie of the Bengal mihtary service, who introduced gutta-percha into practical use in Europe. His wife, three sons (one an officer in the royal engineers) and three daughters survived him. ”

“ In the third place—and this was the crucial point—the Brethren were able to show, by the written evidence of local residents, that wherever they went they made honest, industrious citizens. They had settled down in Pennsylvania; they had done good work at Bethlehem, Nazareth, Gnadenhütten, Frederick's Town, German Town and Oley; they had won the warm approval of Thomas Penn; and, so far from being traitors, they had done their best to teach the Indians to be loyal to the British throne. They had doubled the value of an estate in Lusatia, and had built two flourishing settlements in Silesia ”

“ The Brethren were critical and cold. As the settlers were mostly simple people, with little knowledge of the world beyond the seas, it was natural that they should shrink from a task which the powerful Protestant Churches of Europe had not yet dared to attempt. Some held the offer reckless; some dubbed it a youthful bid for fame and the pretty imagination of young officious minds. Antony Ulrich came to Herrnhut, addressed the congregation in Dutch, and told them that no one could be a missionary in St. Thomas without first becoming a slave. As the people knew no better they believed him. ”

“ Hudson, Benjamin, printer, 54 years in one shop, died December 9, 1875, aged 79.
Hutton Catherine, only daughter of William Hutton. died March 31, 1846, aged 91.
Hutton, Rev. Hugh, many years minister at Old Meeting, died September 13, 1871, aged 76.
Ivers, the Very Rev. Bernard, canon of St. Chad's Cathedral, and for thirty years rector of St. Peter's (Roman Catholic) church. Broad Street, died June 19, 1830. ”

“ Scores of pages would not suffice to give even the shortest biographies of the many who, by their inventive genius and persistent labour, placed our town at the head of the world's workshops, the assistants and followers of the great men of Soho, the Thomasons, Taylors, and others living in the early part of the century, or the Elkingtons, Chances, &c., of later days. A volume might easily be filled with lives of scientific and literary men of the past, Hutton the historian, Morfitt, poet and barrister ”

“ February, and March, 1783, much discussion took place as to building a new Workhouse, but nothing definite was done in the matter until 1790, when it was proposed to obtain an Act for the erection of a Poorhouse at Birmingham Heath, a scheme which Hutton said was as airy as the spot chosen for the building. Most likely the expense, which was reckoned at £15,000, frightened the ratepayers, for the project was abandoned, and for fifty years little more was heard on the subject. ”

“ If the Count could now have carried out his scheme, he would have had men from various Churches at the head of each tropus in the Church of the Brethren. For the present he did the best he could, and divided the Brethren into three leading tropuses. At the head of the Moravian tropus was Bishop Polycarp Müller; at the head of the Lutheran, first he himself, and then, later, Dr. Hermann, Court Preacher at Dresden; and finally, at the head of the Reformed, first his old friend Bishop Friedrich de Watteville, and then, later, Thomas Wilson, Bishop of Sodor and Man. ”

“ He contributed 'The Political Character of the Working Class' to 'Essays on Reform' (London, 1867, 8vo) , and 'Reciprocity' to a volume of 'Lectures on Economic Science,' published by the National Association for the Promotion of Social Science (London, 1870, 8vo) . In 1899 a volume of selections from Hutton's writings in the 'Spectator,' entitled 'Aspects of Religious and Scientific Thought,' was, published under the editorship of his niece, Miss Elizabeth Mary Roscoe. William Watson's 'Lachrymæ Musarum and other Poems' (London, 1893, 8vo) was dedicated to Hutton and Townsend. ”

“ The New-York Beauty. The Sleeping Nymph. A Tea Party of Young Ladies, with a Servant Negro Girl. The Salem Beauty. Maternal Affection, or a Lady with two beautiful Children. The Boston Beauty. Sir Charles Grandison and Miss Harriet Byron. Charlotte weeping at the Tomb of Werter.—Humphreys and Mendoza, the celebrated English Boxers. The domestic Cottager, at the spinning wheel. The venerable John S. Hutton, who lately died in Philadelphia, aged 108 years and 4 months, drest with the same cloathes which he wore when living, with his own cane, pipe, tobacco-box, &c. ”

“ Hutton was a clever, cultured, and—when he pleased—a wholly delightful companion. Occasionally on Sundays the pair made little excursions together, visited the City churches and quaint bits of Old London, or ventured a dash into the country, or up the river.
“You say Friday is a holiday in your office, Shafto,” he remarked one evening; “how would you like to come for a prowl, and see what we can find in the Caledonian Market? It’s an out-of-the-way place, where once a week all manner of rubbish is shot, and now and then you pick up a really staggering bargain.” ”

“ Fitton, in 1839, wrote in the Edinburgh Review, 'The original work of Hutton (in two volumes) is in fact so scarce that no very great number of our readers can have seen it. No copy exists at present in the libraries of the Royal Society, the Linnean, or even the Geological Society of London [26] !' He also points out that Hutton's work, and even the more lucid Illustrations of the Huttonian Theory, [Pg 31] were almost unknown on the continent, owing to the isolation of Great Britain during the war ”

“ In contemplating the stupendous results achieved by such apparently feeble forces, Hutton felt that one great objection he had to contend with in the reception of his theory, even by the scientific men of his day, lay in the inability or unwillingness of the human mind to admit such large demands as he made on the past. ”

“ A work of such variety and extent cannot be carried to perfection by the efforts of an individual. Ages may be required to fill up the bold outline which Dr Hutton has traced with so masterly a hand; to detach the parts more completely from the general mass ”

“ When Hutton addressed himself to a deep topic of abstract speculation, he "saw so very far into it" that even his most earnest admirers could not follow the visual act. When he handled the more commonplace subjects of thought or action with which ordinary men concern themselves, he seemed to miss the most obvious and palpable points. ”

“ Townsend knew a great deal about diplomatic history and about war by land and sea, as must every man who has lived long in India; Hutton's mind was little occupied with such things. Home politics, as I have said, were his field and had his deepest concern, while Townsend took in these no more than an ordinary interest. Again, Hutton was deeply interested in psychology and the study of the mind, whereas what interested Townsend most was what might be called the scenery of life and politics. Townsend looked upon life as a drama played in a great theatre and seen from the stalls. ”

“ There is reason to believe, on the evidence of two pay-bills, that for a short time in 1755 and 1756 Hutton worked in Old Long Benton colliery; at any rate, on Ivison’s promotion to a living, Hutton succeeded to the Jesmond school, whence, in consequence of increasing pupils, he removed to Stote’s Hall. While he taught during the day at Stote’s Hall, he studied mathematics in the evening at a school in Newcastle. In 1760 he married, and began tuition on a larger scale in Newcastle, where he had among his pupils John Scott, afterwards Lord Eldon, chancellor of England. ”

“ HUTTON, MATTHEW (1639–1711) , antiquary, born in 1639, was the third son of Richard Hutton of Nether Poppleton, Yorkshire, by his second wife, Dorothy, daughter of Ferdinando, viscount Fairfax of Cameron in Scotland, and was thus the great-grandson of Matthew Hutton [q. v.] , archbishop of York. He was educated at Brasenose College, Oxford, of which he was a fellow, and graduated M.A. and D.D. In March 1677 he became rector of Aynhoe in Northamptonshire (Bridge, Northamptonshire, i. 139) . He married Elizabeth, daughter of Sir Roger Burgoine, knt. ”

“ The Huttonian Theory is, indeed, the only one which possesses the means of reconciling the elevation of the strata with their horizontal deposition, and which is entitled to consider stratification, in whatever plane it may be, as originally the work of the ocean. The geologists who attach themselves exclusively to the action of water, will never be able to extend the dominion of that element so far as Dr Hutton has done, by combining it with fire. ”

“ It forms a complete contrast to the theory of Dr Hutton, where nothing is to be seen beyond the continuation of the present order; where no latent seed of evil threatens final destruction to the whole; and where the - 486 - movements are so perfect, that they can never terminate of themselves. This is surely a view of the world more suited to the dignity of Nature, and the wisdom of its Author, than has yet been offered by any other system of cosmology. ”

“ That was all very well for a subordinate and a younger man, but it would not have been half so satisfactory in the case of an equal partnership. Hutton was occupied with pure literature—especially poetry—and with theology and with home politics. Townsend, on the other hand, though he was a great reader and lover of books, and a man of real religious feeling, was specially interested in Asia and the Asiatic spirit and foreign affairs. ”

“ William Hutton was born at Derby, in 1723. His father, a drunken wool-comber, scarcely brought home wherewithal to keep the wretched family from starvation, and “consultations were held (when the child was six years old) about fixing me in some employment for the benefit of the family. Winding quills for the weaver was mentioned, but died away. Stripping tobacco for the grocer, by which I was to earn fourpence a week, was proposed, but it was at last concluded that I was too young for any employment.” ”

“ Hutten wished to know the world, not from books only, but to see all cities and lands; to measure himself with other men; to rise above those less worthy. The danger of such a course seemed to him only the greater attraction. Content to him was laziness; love of home but a dog's delight in a warm fire. "I live," he said, "in no place rather than another; my home is everywhere."
So he tramped through Germany to the northward, and had but a sorry time. In his own mind he was a scholar, a poet, a knight of the noblest blood of Germany ”