Thornhill

“ Thornhill one of the most happy men in the world.
"Why, let him if he can," returned I; "but my son, observe this bed of straw and unsheltering roof, those moldering walls and humid floor, my wretched body thus disabled by fire, and my children weeping round me for bread. You have come home, my child, to all this; yet here, even here, you see a man that would not for a thousand worlds exchange situations. O my children, if you could but learn to commune with your own hearts, and know what noble company you can make them, you would little regard the elegance and splendor of the worthless. ”

“ Thornhill was going to be married to the rich Miss Wilmot, who had formerly been betrothed to my eldest son.
On a morning of peculiar warmth for the season, when we were breakfasting out of doors, Mr. Thornhill drove up in his chariot, alighted, and inquired after my health with his usual air of familiarity.
"Sir," replied I, "your present assurance only serves to aggravate your baseness."
"My dear sir," returned he, "I cannot understand what this means!"
"Go!" cried I. "Thou art a poor, pitiful wretch, and every way a liar; but your meanness secures you from my anger!" ”

“ Suppose Henry Thornhill fail; what then? He comes back, reconciled to what fate will still tender him—reconciled to my sea-side villa—to his charming wife—reconciled to life as it is for him. But now he is coveting a life which may be. A man only does that which fate intends him to do, in proportion as he obeys the motive which gives him his power in life. Henry Thornhill’s motive is military ambition. It is no use arguing the point—what man thinks, he is.”
I bowed my head. I felt that Tracey was right, and sighed aloud, “Poor little Clara!” ”

“ I am glad to believe the story; but I don’t believe, as some malevolent commentators have insinuated, that Sir James Thornhill made his son-in-law’s talent an excuse for behaving parsimoniously to the young couple after he had forgiven them. There is nothing to prove that Sir James Thornhill was a stingy man. He had a son who was a great crony of Hogarth, accompanied him on the famous journey to Rochester and Sheerness, and afterwards became sergeant-painter to the navy. I fancy that he was a wild young man, and cost his father large sums. ”

“ James's Park, a young gentleman of distinction, who had been my intimate acquaintance at the university, approached me. We saluted each other with some hesitation: he almost ashamed of being known to one who made so shabby an appearance, and I afraid of a repulse. But my suspicions soon vanished; for Ned Thornhill was at the bottom a very good-natured fellow."
"What did you say, George?" interrupted I. "Thornhill! was not that his name? It can certainly be no other than my landlord." "Bless me!" cried Mrs. Arnold, "is Mr. Thornhill so near a neighbour of yours? ”

“ About 1724 he drew up a proposal for the establishment of a royal academy of the arts, and his scheme had the support of the lord treasurer Halifax, but government declined to furnish the needful funds. Thornhill then opened a drawing-school in his own house in James Street, Covent Garden, where instruction continued to be given till the time of his death. He acquired a considerable fortune by his art, and was enabled to repurchase his family estate of Thornhill, Dorsetshire. ”

“ He never did anything finer than Squire Thornhill, although he was clever as Henry VIII. His gravity as Flutter in "The Belle's Stratagem" was very fetching; as Bucklaw in "Ravenswood" he looked magnificent, and, of course, as the sailor hero in Adelphi melodrama he was as good as could be. But it is as Thornhill that I like best to remember him. He was precisely the handsome, reckless, unworthy creature that good women are fools enough to love.
In the Court production of "Olivia," both my children walked on to the stage for the first time. ”

“ Mr Thornhill’s assurance had entirely forsaken him: he now saw the gulph of infamy and want before him, and trembled to take the plunge. He therefore fell on his knees before his uncle, and in a voice of piercing misery implored compassion. Sir William was going to spurn him away, but at my request he raised him, and after pausing a few moments, ‘Thy vices, crimes, and ingratitude,’ cried he, ‘deserve no tenderness; yet thou shalt not be entirely forsaken, a bare competence shall be supplied, to support the wants of life, but not its follies. ”

“ Thornhill’s thoughts on hearing this request were known to himself and his Maker—incidentally, they may have been more than guessed at by the Zulu—as he answered equably that the other could do so if he wished. He was thinking how easy it was to mistake a man for a buck in thick bush—and that a charge of Treble A at close quarters— And the laughter and joking of those within came loud through the open windows; for tragedy and mirth, are they not always more or less closely allied, and running on parallel rails? ”

“ You must not always trust to its testimony or emotions upon cold fact."
"There is yet hope, then, Johanna," said Arabella. "A bright hope for you to cling to, for, as this gentleman says, there is nothing positive to prove that Mr. Thornhill was Mark Ingestrie. I would not, were I you, abandon that hope on any account, while I lived, and could still clutch it. Would it not be a great thing, sir, if any papers or documents which this Thornhill might have had about him, could be recovered?" ”

“ THORNHILL, SIR JAMES (1676–1734) , English historical painter, was born at Melcombe Regis, Dorset, in 1676, of an ancient but impoverished county family. His father died while he was young, but he was befriended by his maternal uncle, the celebrated Dr Sydenham, and apprenticed to Thomas Highmore, serjeant-painter to King William III., a connexion of the Thornhill family. Little is known regarding his early career. ”

“ THE THORNHILL MIRACLE. Every one remembers the marvellous story of Sir James Thornhill stepping back to see the effect of his work, while painting Greenwich Hospital; and being prevented falling from the ceiling to the floor, by a person intentionally defacing the picture, and causing the painter to rush forward, and thus save himself. This may have occurred; but we rather suspect the anecdote to be of legendary origin, and to come from no less distance than the Tyrol ”

“ What can have become of that man whom we saw go into the barber's shop; but who, I suppose, we feel ourselves to be in a condition to take our oaths never came out?"
"I could take my oath; and what conclusion can we come to?"
"None, but that he met his death there; and that, let his fate be what it may, it is the same which poor Thornhill has suffered. I can endure this no longer. Do you stay here, and let me go alone."
"Not for worlds—you would rush into an unknown danger; you cannot know what may be the powers of mischief that man possesses. ”

“ Thornhill was about to dispose of a large slice of the ancient Leslie estate through Levy, and that he, Randal, could thus get it at a more moderate price than would be natural, if Mr. Thornhill knew that his neighbour the squire would bid for the purchase.
“Better say nothing about it either to Levy or Thornhill.”
“Right,” said the squire. “No proprietor likes to sell to another proprietor, in the same shire, as largely acred as himself: it spoils the balance of power. See to the business yourself ”

“ Thornhill, estates which, on examination of the title-deeds, I find once, indeed, belonged to your family." The baron glanced at a very elegant memorandum-book.—"The manors of Rood and Dulmansberry, with sundry farms thereon. Mr. Thornhill wants to sell them—an old client of mine, Thornhill. He has applied to me on the matter. Do you think it an improvable property?"
Randal listened with a livid cheek and a throbbing heart. ”

“ Thornhill, desiring permission to appear before his uncle in order to vindicate his innocence and honour. The poor, harmless Mr. Burchell, then, was in reality the celebrated Sir William Thornhill!
Mr. Thornhill entered with a smile, and was going to embrace his uncle.
"No fawning, sir, at present," cried the baronet. "The only way to my heart is by the road of honour; but here I only see complicated instances of falsehood, cowardice, and oppression."
At this moment Jenkinson and the gaoler's two servants entered, hauling in a tall man very genteelly dressed. As soon as Mr. ”

“ To be sure Lafosse got nearly 3,000l. for the staircase and saloons of Montagu House (the old British Museum) . Look at the etching of Sir James Thornhill, by Worlidge. He is painting in an elaborately-laced coat with brocaded sleeves; and his wig is as so many curds in a whey of horsehair, and no one but a Don could have such a double chin. ”

“ In 1724 Thornhill reopened it, but apparently again without success. After Thornhill's death the furniture of this academy was acquired by Hogarth for use in the newly constituted academy in St. Martin's Lane. Thornhill succeeded Highmore as serjeant-painter to the king in March 1719–20, and was knighted in the following April, being the first native artist to receive that honour. Although Thornhill frequently complained of the scale of pay for his paintings, he amassed sufficient wealth to be able to repurchase the old seat of his family at Thornhill in Dorset. ”

“ She thought him therefore a very fine gentleman; and such as consider what powerful ingredients a good figure, fine cloaths, and fortune, are in that character, will easily forgive her. Mr Thornhill, notwithstanding his real ignorance, talked with ease, and could expatiate upon the common topics of conversation with fluency. It is not surprising then that such talents should win the affections of a girl, who by education was taught to value an appearance in herself, and consequently to set a value upon it in another. ”

“ Thornhill had just completed the head of the apostle, and was retiring backwards in order to survey the effect; as he had just reached the edge, Brown, not having time to warn him, snatched up a pencil, full of colour, and dashed it upon the face. Thornhill enraged ran hastily forward, exclaiming, ‘Good God! what have you done?’ ‘I have only saved your life,’ was the reply. Brown was also assistant to Verrio and La Guerre, and then setting up for himself was employed to decorate several of the city churches, He painted the altar-piece in St. ”

“ He began to move in better society, and was to be met with at the fashionable as well as at the Bohemian clubs of the day. He and Thornhill founded the Arts Club at the Turk’s Head, in Gerrard Street; and, after the latter’s death, he took over Thornhill’s art school, and transferred it to Peter’s Court, St. Martin’s Lane. Occasionally he visited Richardson, the novelist, in Salisbury Court; and it was [Pg 43] here he first made the acquaintance of Dr. Johnson. He struck up a friendship with Garrick, too, and painted several portraits of him, for one of which he received two hundred pounds ”

“ Benjamin Thornhill, sworn servant to his Majesty King George, seventh son of the seventh son, who has kept a stage in the Rounds of West-Smithfield for several months past, will continue to be advised with every day in the week, from eight in the morning till eight at night, at his lodgings at the Swan Tavern, in West-Smithfield, till Michaelmas, for the good of all people that lie languishing under distempers, he knowing that Talenta in agro non est abscondita, that a talent ought not to be hid in the Earth; therefore he exposes himself in public for the good of the poor. ”

“ The precipice, he said, besides, over which the soldiers had tumbled, was so covered in with snow, and so formed by nature, that he had little doubt but that they would escape, with some bruises, perhaps, but with life. In these circumstances, his adjourn at Thornhill would probably be short; as the men would naturally infer that he would return, rather than advance, in their absence. In the meantime, a coffin was prepared, and the body was removed to Mortontown (a village now extinct) , where a relation of his, an uncle, tenanted a small farm from the Douglas of Drumlanrig. ”

“ He also objected to the new poor law on the ground that it severed the connection between the ratepayers and their dependents, and sapped the parochial system. When, in accordance with his views, he resisted the commissioners in the township of Fixby, Frankland Lewis, on their behalf, asked Thornhill to assist them in enforcing the law. ”

“ His first great plan was rejected, and the Duke of York (afterwards James II.) is said to have insisted on side recesses, that might serve as chantry chapels when the church became Roman Catholic. Wren was accused of delays and chidden for the faults of petty workmen, and, as the Duchess of Marlborough laughingly remarked, was dragged up and down in a basket two or three times a week for a paltry £200 a year. The narrow escape of Sir James Thornhill from falling from a scaffold while painting the dome is a tradition of St. Paul's, matched by the terrible adventure of Mr. ”

“ Thorn (27) , a town and fortress of the first rank in West Prussia, on the Vistula, 115 m. NW. of Warsaw; formerly a member of the Hanseatic League (q. v.) ; was annexed by Prussia in 1815; the birthplace of Copernicus; carries on a brisk trade in corn and timber.
Thornbury, George Walter, a miscellaneous writer, author of numerous novels, “Songs of the Cavaliers and Roundheads,” “Life of Turner,” “Old and New London,” etc.; born in London, where his life was spent in literary work (1828-1876) .
Thornhill, Sir James, an English artist of the school of Le Brun, born at Woodland, Dorsetshire ”