Thomas Wood

“ Thomas Wood was born in Smithfield, Jefferson County, Ohio, August 22, 1813, the son of Nathan and Margaret Wood, and the youngest of five children.
The family for three generations were natives and inhabitants of West Chester, Pennsylvania, his great-grandparents having been born there in 1750. The family were Quakers. Dr. Wood's father was a farmer in very moderate circumstances, so that the boy's early education was an exceedingly limited one; he seems, however, to have obtained, through his own exertions, good schooling. ”

“ As the year 1679 is also within the stated date-range of Ward's departure, the existence of the broadsheet must count marginally against his being the author of PdT.
I can cast no further light on this mystery beyond proposing that if the story of the exiled poet is in fact a fabrication, the poem may have been the work of a younger (b. 1661) and Protestant "T.W." in the person of Thomas Wood, Anthony à Wood's nephew, later celebrated as a legal writer, poet, and controversialist and for his fondness for anonymous and pseudonymous publication. ”

“ But he still laboured at a continuation of his Oxford biographies, to be published as an ‘appendix’ to the ‘Athenæ.’ Among his friends at this time were Arthur Charlett, master of University College, White Kennett, and Thomas Tanner. Wood had a sharp illness on 1 Nov. 1695; about the 11th he again fell ill; Charlett saw him on the 22nd, and told him he was dying. Wood manfully settled his affairs and prepared for death. ”

“ Thomas was a shrewd observer of men and affairs, but, according to Wood, had a ‘hot fiery spirit,’ which was probably the cause of most of his troubles. He was certainly ‘one of the most learned of his time’ (Strype) . His Italian grammar and dictionary were the first works of the kind published in English, while his ‘History of Italy’ was formerly held in the highest esteem for its comprehensive account of the chief Italian states. ”

“ Thomas suffered his right hand to fall upon George’s left, which rested on his knee. A more holy contact than that imparted by Mrs. Charlotte Pain’s.
“Don’t grieve, George. I am more than resigned. I think of it as a happy change. This world, taken at its best, is full of care: if we seem free from it one year, it only falls upon us more unsparingly the next. It is wisely ordered: were earth made too pleasant for us, we might be wishing that it could be permanently our home.” ”

“ I should like to take you far from this fever-tainted town. Will you come?”
She looked up at him with a smile, the colour rising to her face. “How could I, Thomas!”
Anxious thoughts were passing through the mind of Thomas Godolphin. We cannot put aside the convenances of life; though there are times when they press upon us with an iron weight. He would have given almost his own life to take Ethel from that house: but how was he to do it? No friend would be likely to receive her: not even his own sisters: they would have too much dread of the infection she might bring with her. ”

“ It was all so natural, Wood said, that seeing it sudden that way give him a first-class jolt. For a minute, he said, he couldn’t help thinking it was the real thing. As for the little man––and he likely would have took matters just the same, and no blame to him, if his feet had been as hard as anybody’s––he swallowed the show whole. ”

“ Wood says that in his young days he was ‘esteemed one of the most celebrated wits in the university, as his poems, jests, romantic fancies, and exploits, which he made and perform'd extempore, shew'd.’ Aubrey says that ‘he was a very handsome man, but something apt to abuse, and a coward.’ He took holy orders, and his quaint wit in the pulpit recommended him to all ‘ingenious men.’ In 1612, while proctor of the university and senior student of Christ Church, he pronounced funeral orations at Oxford on Prince Henry and Sir Thomas Bodley ”

“ Thomas shook his head. “So long as I am at all capable, George, I shall not give up. I believe it is my duty not to do so. If what the doctors say is correct—that I may live on in my present state, or nearly in my present state, for years—you may be an older and a wiser man by the time you are left alone. When you shall have gained grey hair, George, and a stoop in the shoulders, Prior’s Ash will be thinking you a stronger and a better man than I have ever been.” ”

“ And the ring of pain in his voice no one could mistake. "Thomas would have come home now."
"Instead of that, we shall never see him again; and you, they tell me, are Sir Harry Chandos. Who would have thought once that you would ever inherit!"
"Strange changes take place," was his reply, spoken altogether in a different tone, as if he did not care to encourage in her any reminiscence of the past.
"It is so singular that they should both die together. At least, die to us. That when we were mourning for the one, news should arrive of the death of the other." ”

“ After he had gotten some feathers at Martock, he took his flight to London,” and opened a school in Goldsmiths’ Rents, Cripplegate. From this school, which had as many as 300 pupils, there issued, says Wood, “more churchmen and statesmen than from any school taught by one man in England.” In the course of his London career “he was made master of arts of Cambridge, and soon after incorporated at Oxon.” Such was his success that he was enabled to buy an estate at Otford near Sevenoaks, Kent, to which he retired from London in 1636, still, however, carrying on his profession of schoolmaster. ”

“ Wood said the ride was real enjoyable––the little man showing up as sensible as anybody when he got to the church and struck things he knowed about; and it turned out he could talk French, and that pleased the padre––he was that French one I’ve spoke about, who was as white as they make ’em––and so things went along well.
The wind had set in to blow down the valley cool and pleasant as they was getting 179 along home; and coming down on it, when they got about half a mile from Palomitas, they begun to hear shooting––and it kept on, and more of it, the closer they come to town. ”

“ Jones is abused as a ‘knave and rogue’ by Wood, who was like himself a member of Merton College, for supporting the election of Dr. (afterwards Sir) Thomas Clayton [q. v.] , ‘a stranger,’ as warden in 1661. According to Wood, Clayton when in office disappointed Jones of promised preferments, and his mind consequently gave way. In 1662–3 he retired to London to follow the profession of the law at Doctors' Commons, but being unsuccessful his mental derangement grew. He died of the plague in the autumn of 1665. Wood gloated over Jones's derangement, death, and unceremonious burial. ”

“ Her eyes glistened with the rising tears. “Oh, Thomas! you must not die! We could none of us bear to lose you. George could not do without you; Janet could not; I think I could not.”
He gently shook his head. “We may not pick and choose, Maria—who shall be left here, and who be taken. Those go sometimes who, seemingly, can be least spared.”
She could scarcely speak; afraid lest her sobs should come, for her heart was aching. “But surely it is not to be speedy?” she murmured. “You may live on a long while yet?” ”

“ The name and literary labours of Anthony Wood are now held in general, and deservedly high, respect: and it is somewhat amusing, though not a little degrading to human nature, to reflect upon the celebrity of that man who, when living, seems to have been ridiculed by the proud and flippant, and hated by the ignorant and prejudiced, part of his academical associates. ”

“ He knew that, if treated according [305] to his deserts, this would be the last friendly note written him by his brother for many a day to come. Thomas was then being whirled on his way to the full knowledge of his, George’s, delinquency; or, if not to the full knowledge, which perhaps could only be unfolded by degrees, as we turn the pages of a book, to quite enough of it. It was time for him to be off now. If inquisitive callers must be seen, Hurde could see them.
Conscience makes cowards of us all: a saying, not more trite than true. Very absurd cowards it makes of us now and then. ”

“ But he begged so hard, Wood did, the town would hold itself in––saying if rigs was put up on a director’s nephew he was dead sure to lose his job––we all allowed we’d give the young feller a day or two to turn round in, anyway; and we promised Wood––who was liked––we’d let the critter get through his hunting picnic without putting up no rigs on him if he made any sort of a show of knowing how to behave. Howsomedever, he didn’t––and things started up, and nobody but Boston himself to blame for it, that very first night over in the bar-room at the Forest Queen. ”

“ When we drive past the railway station, she won’t get out, and won’t let me do so. Thomas, I want to go back to Ashlydyat.”
“I have come to take you back, my dear father.”
“Ay, ay. And mind you are firm when she says I must not go because of the fever. The fever will not hurt me, Thomas. I can’t be firm. I have grown feeble, and people take my will from me. You are my first-born son, Thomas.” ”

“ Are the hours of the day so few that you must choose the gloom of a winter’s morning for commencing a journey?”
Thomas glanced at Sir George, as if to draw her attention to him. “My father’s anxiety will not allow him to wait, Lady Godolphin. I think it well that we should catch the first train.”
“I wash my hands of the journey altogether,” said Lady Godolphin. “If Sir George does not reach the other end of it alive, you will have the goodness to remember that I am not to blame. Far better that he were safely kept in his room wrapped up in his dressing-gown in front of a good fire.” ”

“ Wood states that in the course of these years he resumed ‘his old trade of teaching school,’ and, residing chiefly in Whitefriars, thereby ‘not only gained a comfortable subsistence, but educated many ingenious youths, who afterwards proved most eminent in divers faculties.’ One of these was Thomas Dingley or Dineley [q. v.] the antiquary. ”

“ Thomas Woode, Esq. of Braconash, son of the aforesaid Thomas, is now lord and patron; he married first, Ellen, daughter of Tho. Eyre, Esq. and lies buried in this chancel, with the arms of Woode impaling Eyre, arg. on a chevron sab. three caterfoils or. Crest, a martlet volant, with an olive branch in his mouth; and this,
Here lyeth the Body of Ellen the Wife of Thomas Woode of Bracon Esq. and Daughter of Thomas Eyre of Harsop in Derbyshire Esquire, by a third Daughter of Sir Henry Bedingfield, who died 20 Aug. 1712, aged 27 Years.
Worthy of a longer Life, more worthy of eternal ”

“ The chanter was on the cantons side, nearly opposite to Roland; a good-looking, open-countenanced young clergyman, with brown hair, whose face seemed to strike another familiar chord on Roland's memory.
"If I don't believe it's Tom!" thought Roland.
Tom it was. But it slightly discomposed the equanimity of the Reverend Thomas Channing to find the stalwart, bold disturber, at whom everybody had stared, and the Dean himself glanced at, telegraphing him a couple of nods, in what seemed the exuberance of gratified delight. The young chanter's face turned red ”

“ Peter Castlemaine shook his head to the last sentence, but he made no denial in words. He seemed to have neither words nor spirit left, and sat leaning his brow upon his hand. The once fine fresh colour that was natural to his cheeks had faded away, though its traces might be seen still. One might have fancied that a thin veil of grey had been flung over the healthy bloom. In all his long experience Thomas Hill had never, to his recollection, seen a man change like this.
"You look ill, sir," he said. "Let me get you something to take." ”

“ Thomas could offer no opinion upon the subject. Miss Meta began to stamp her pretty shoes, and to drag her mamma by the hand. She was impatient to depart.
They chose the way by the lonely Ash-tree Walk. It was pleasant on a sunny day: sunshine scares away ghosts: and it was also the nearest. As they were turning into it, they met Charlotte Pain. Maria, simple-hearted and straightforward, never casting a suspicion to—to anything undesirable—spoke at once of the uncertainty she was in, as to her husband. ”

“ In this edition was also printed for the first time ‘The Apology of the Author from ye Aspersions cast uppon it by H. Burton,’ dedicated to Laud and Juxon, which Wood had seen in manuscript in the library of Dr. Thomas Barlow. The only known manuscript copy is in the library of Queen's College, Oxford. Stafford was engaged in a suit before the court of wards in 1641–2 against Lady Anne Farmer and Charles Stafford, from whom he claimed a rent-change and arrears. Wood says he died during the civil wars. He is known to have been living in 1645. ”

“ Hurde alone could have told it: and Thomas preferred to allow the odium of loosely-kept books, of reckless expenditure of money, to fall upon himself rather than betray George. Were the whole thing laid bare and declared, it could not bring a fraction of good to the creditors, so, from that point of view, it was as well to let it rest. Are these careless, sanguine, gay-tempered men always lucky? ”

“ Wood served with distinction in the Mediterranean from 1806 until 1808; he then went to Portugal, took part in Sir John Moore's campaign, was at the battle of Coruña on 16 Jan. 1809, and returned with the British army to England. In July he was in the expedition under the Earl of Chatham to Walcheren, and was at the siege of Flushing and its capture on 14 Aug. He was knighted on 22 May 1812. He commanded the royal artillery of the army under Sir Thomas Graham (afterwards Lord Lynedoch) [q. v.] ”