parts covered by the helmet, shoulderbelt and sandals. This model met with universal applause, and was one of the objects shown to every stranger. Hope, of Amsterdam, commissioned the artist to execute the colossal figure in marble. This was the beginning of his reputation; and he now proceeded to other works of the highest merit. His bassorelievo, Achilles, sitting with averted face and suppressed ire, while the heralds of Agamemnon are carrying away the reluctant Briseis, delivered to them by Patroclus, may be put by the side of the finest bassi-relievi of the ancients. His colossal Mars, in a standing posture, resting on his reversed lance, and seizing with his right hand the olive-branch, excels even the Jason, and is considered the finest modern work in this style. This Mars, and the Adonis, commended by Canova as a masterpiece, were finished in 1808. His statues, previously made somewhat under the natural size, such as Venus, Apollo, Bacchus, Cupid, Psyche, Hebe, Ganymede, Mercury killing Argus, &c., are well known, as he has often repeated them in marble. They have few equals, and, as well as his other works, have been engraved, by Riepenhausen and Mori, in outlines, of which thirty appeared at Rome in 1811. His four relievi for the sides of a baptismal fount, are distinguished for invention and grouping. They are a baptism of Christ, a Madonna with the infant Jesus and the child John, a Christ blessing the little children, and a group of angels. These, and his four medallions for the public hall in Copenhagen, are models of a complete cycle in sculpture. For the front of the new cathedral in Copenhagen he has made a St. John preaching in the desert, in basso-relievo; for the niches of the vestibules, the great prophets; for the frieze, Christ carrying the cross; for the interior of the church, the twelve apostles; for the high altar, the Savior himself. Part of these are already executed in marble. The greater part are still in model. Thorwaldsen in these works has strikingly accomplished the difficult ask of representing Christian subjects in sculpture-a task much more difficult than that which Michael Angelo undertook in his Moses, because the power and vigor, predominant in the character of the Hebrew prophet, are much better adapted to the plastic art than the deep feeling of Christ, filled with the idea of revealing a future world, which is more proper for painting. Among the most beautiful pro

ductions of Thorwaldsen are the three Graces, models of calm, poetic beauty, with nothing of the modern and piquant, from which even Canova's Graces are not quite free; his lovely allegorical figures, Day and Night, and the frieze in one of the rooms of the papal palace on Monte Cavallo, in basso-relievo. It has been copied in terra cotta (q. v.); also his truly poetical figure Hope. After these, he made two not less beautiful Caryatides, of the size of life, and bassi-relievi for the tomb of the young Bethmann of Frankfort on the Maine, who died in Florence. Among his other bassi-relievi are a Bacchus letting Cupid drink out of his cup; Minerva placing a butterfly on the head of the human figure made by Prometheus; Cupid holding up to Venus his little hand, stung by a bee; Hygeia giving drink to the serpent of Esculapius from her cup; Cupid endeavoring to restore consciousness with the touch of his arrow to the fainting Psyche; the Muses dancing, to the sound of Apollo's lyre, around the Graces. Young male beauty was never conceived or executed more perfectly than in his Shepherd. The king of Denmark conferred on Thorwaldsen the order of the Danebrog, and king Joachim of Naples (Murat) the order of the Two Sicilies. Among his recent works is Alexander's triumphal entry into Babylon, in bassorelievo, ordered by Napoleon, and executed in a very short time. It may be called an epic poem in marble. This, with four other fine bassi-relievi, was bought for the castle of Christiansburg. He has also made a Mercury in the act of killing Argus asleep. The restoration of the Æginetic statues (see Æginetan Style), excavated in 1811, in Ægina, and bought by the king of Bavaria, has been confided to him. He has ceased to make portrait busts, though very high prices have been offered for them. He has lately made two candelabras, from the description which Pausanias gives of those in the temple of Jupiter, in Athens. For the city of Warsaw he made the model of the colossal bronze statue of Copernicus, which was first exhibited to the public May 11, 1831-one of the noblest statues in existence-and an equestrian figure of Poniatowski at the moment of his leaping into the Elster, after the battle of Leipsic. He also made the monument of Pius VII, in St. Peter's, which is distinguished by simplicity, and the bust of cardinal Consalvi. (q. v.) His works are often engraved in Rome, and cut in gems. A medal with his head

an uncommonly fine one-has been struck in Rome. In 1819, he visited Denmark, and returned through Dresden, Warsaw and Vienna to Rome, in 1820. Many monarchs have confided to his taste the selection of designs for monuments. While the works of Canova (q. v.) are distinguished for loveliness and grace, those of Thorwaldsen exhibit a calm conception of true beauty, a simplicity and truth, which seem caught from the ideals on which the works of nature are formed, and which belong only to genius of the highest order. A sculptor like Thorwaldsen can dispense with the minor attractions to which inferior talent resorts to win the favor of the multitude; for the power of such striking genius is felt even by the most inexperienced judges.

THOTH. (See Egyptian Mythology, in the article Hieroglyphics; also Hermes Trismegistus.)

THOU, James Augustus de (in Latin, Thuanus), an eminent magistrate and historian, born at Paris in 1553, was the third son of a president of the parliament of Paris. At ten years of age, he was placed in the college of Burgundy, and designed for the church, but was afterwards sent to Orleans, for the study of the civil law, which he further cultivated under Cujacius at Valence. In 1573, he travelled into Italy; and, in 1576, his high character for prudence and ability induced the court to employ him to negotiate with 'marshal Montmorency for the purpose of preventing a civil war. On the death of his elder brother, in 1579, he dedicated himself to the law, in 1584 was made a master of requests, and, in 1587, having resigned all his previous ecclesiastical engagements, he married. On the revolt of Paris, produced by the violences of the league, he adhered to Henry III, and, after the assassination of the duke of Guise, was principally instrumental in reconciling Henry with the king of Navarre. On the death of Henry III, he hastened from Venice to support his lawful successor, Henry IV, who employed him in several important negotiations, and nominated him principal librarian to the king, on the death of Amyot. In 1594, he succeeded his uncle as président-àmortier, and was afterwards one of the Catholic commissioners at the celebrated theological conference at Fontainebleau, between Du Perron and Du Plessis Mornai. In the regency of Mary de' Medici, he was appointed one of the directorsgeneral of finance, and otherwise em

ployed in nice and difficult matters, in which he rendered himself equally conspicuous by integrity and ability. These various occupations did not prevent him from an assiduous cultivation of literature; and being fond of composition in Latin verse, in, 1584 he gave the world a descriptive poem on the subject of hawking, entitled De Re accipitraria (On Falconry). He afterwards published other pieces of Latin poetry; but his greatest literary labor was the composition, in the same language, of a voluminous History of his own Times (Historia sui Temporis), of which the first part was made public in 1604. To the great discredit of Henry IV, this work was condemned, in submission to the influence of the Catholic leaders, who were nettled at the freedom with which the historian did justice to the Huguenots, and censured the popes,' the clergy, and the house of Guise. The history, when finished, consisted of one hundred and thirty-eight books, comprising the events from 1545 to 1607; and as few writers have undertaken a work of this extent with better qualifications for the task, it was accomplished in a manner which has secured the approbation of posterity. Accurately acquainted with the politics, revolutions and geography of modern Europe, the narrative of De Thou is at once copious and exact, while his native candor and love of truth have ensured all the necessary freedom and impartiality. To this work he subjoined Commentaries, or Memoirs of his own Life, composed in the same spirit. In 1601, he lost his first wife, by whom he had no children, and married a second, who brought him three sons and three daughters. The loss of this lady in 1616, together with the calamities which befell the country after the assassination of Henry IV, is thought to have hastened his own death, which took place in 1617, at the age of sixty-four. The most complete edition of the History of De Thou is that published in London, in 1733, by Buckley, in seven volumes, folio. See Chasles's Discours sur De Thou (1824), which divided the prize of the French academy. His eldest son, Francis Augustus, born in 1607, inherited the virtues and intelligence of his father, and was made master of requests and grand master of the royal library. Cardinal Richelieu having discovered that he kept up a correspondence with the duchess de Chevreuse, studiously kept him out of all confidential employment, which, unhappily for himself, threw him into the party

of Cinqmars. When that imprudent person therefore was detected in a secret correspondence with Spain, De Thou was apprehended on the charge of not revealing it, and, notwithstanding an able and eloquent defence, was condemned, and sentenced to lose his head. Resolved upon a signal sacrifice, the unrelenting minister resisted all entreaties in his favor, and his execution was irrevocably determined upon. Cinqmars, who was the cause of his ruin, humbled himself before him drowned in tears; but De Thou raised and embraced him, saying, "There is now nothing to be thought of but how to die well." He was beheaded at Lyons in 1642, at the age of thirty-five, universally lamented.

THOUSAND AND ONE NIGHTS. Arabian Nights.)

(See

THOUSAND LEGS. (See Centiped.) THOYRAS. (See Rapin de Thoyras.) THRACE. At a remote period of history, Thrace, among the Greeks, signified all the northern region beyond Macedonia, whose boundaries were not distinctly known, and which was usually conceived of as being a wild, mountainous land. In a narrower sense, Thrace signified the tract of country lying north of Macedonia, bounded east by the Black sea, south by the Ægean and the Propontis, and extending northwards to Mosia and the Hamus. The land was originally, before it was cultivated, in part wild, and inhabited by a fierce and warlike people, among whom were the Getæ: it was, therefore represented as the residence of Boreas, and considered sacred to Mars. The Greeks early settled colonies there, and the country was not destitute of rich meadows and corn-lands: it abounded in mines, and the Thracian horses and riders rivalled those of Thessaly. The principal mountains of Thrace were the Hæmus (Balkan), Rhodope and Pangaus. Among the rivers, the largest and most celebrated was the Hebrus (now Maritza). The remarkable places were Abdera, notorious for the stupidity of its inhabitants, which, however, gave birth to Democritus and Protagoras; Sestos, on the Hellespont, celebrated in the story of Hero and Leander; and Byzantium, on the peninsula on which Constantinople now stands. The whole country is now included in the Turkish ejalet, or province, Rumelia, or Romania. (q. v.) It was formerly governed by several princes, then subject to Macedonia, and finally formed a Roman province. The tradition of the old Thracian bard, Orpheus (q. v.), shows that

music early flourished in Thrace; and, if, as some writers suppose, the Greeks borrowed many of their religious ceremonies and notions from the Thracians, we must conclude that the early inhabitants of the country were not altogether so rude as the ancients often represent them.

THRALE. (See Piozzi.)

THRASIMENE, or TRASIMENUS (now Perugia); a lake of Italy, near Perusium, celebrated for a battle fought there between Hannibal and the Romans under Flaminius, in which the latter were defeated with great loss, B. C. 217. (See Hannibal.) "Such was the mutual animosity of the combatants," says Livy (xxii, 12), "that the earthquake, which overthrew many cities of Italy, turned the course of rapid rivers, and tore down mountains, was not heeded by them." (See an interesting note (35) on the site of the battle, in Childe Harold, c. iv. st. 63.)

THRASYBULUS; a noble Athenian, who rendered great service to his country, not only as a general in the Peloponnesian war, during which he repeatedly defeated the Spartans, but more particularly by delivering it from the dominion of the thirty tyrants, who, after the close of the war, had been imposed upon the city (B. C. 404) by the victorious Spartans. (See Attica.) Thrasybulus, with thirty of his fellow citizens, who, like him, were lovers of liberty, left the city, but did not remain an inactive spectator of the misfortunes of his country. Determined to seize the first opportunity to deliver Athens from the yoke, he occupied a strong place on the borders of Attica, and assembled a small body of forces, with which he bade defiance to the attacks of the tyrants, and even succeeded in capturing the Piræus. Encouraged by this success, the Athenians finally rose, after eight months of slavery, and chased their oppressors from the city. Thrasybulus then restored the old democratical constitution, and with it tranquillity. After having reduced Lesbos, and recovered Byzantium and Chalcis, he lost his life on an expedition against Rhodes, during an insurrection of the inhabitants of Aspendus. He was distinguished above all his countrymen by his ardent love of liberty, his pure patriotism, and his noble disinterestedness.

THREE. (See Triad.)

THREE KINGS, THE, or THE THREE WISE MEN OF THE EAST. The magi spoken of in the New Testament, as guided by the star of Jesus to Bethlehem, and offering him gold, frankincense and myrrh, are call

ed by the Catholic church kings; and the festival of Epiphany (q. v.) is called the feast of the three holy kings. Bede even gives their names-Gaspar, Melchior and Balthasar. Cologne boasts of possessing their bodies in the cathedral of St. Peter's, where their monument is shown in a chapel built by the elector Maximilian, whence they are called the three kings of Cologne. The legend relates that they were baptized after their return to their own country; that, 300 years afterwards, their bodies were transferred to Constantinople by the empress Helena, thence by Eustathius to Milan, and at last to Cologne by Renatus.

THREE RIVERS. (See Trois Rivières.) THRENODY (from Convos, grief, and won, song); a song of lamentation, which, unlike the narrative, and therefore calmer elegy (q. v.), may be the lyrical expression of the most violent grief or despair, without any soothing mixture.

THRUSH. The birds of this genus are hardly distinguishable from the warblers, except by their superior size. They are, however, more frugivorous, living on berries, insects and worms. The bill is strong, compressed at the sides, and the upper mandible is slightly notched near the point. Their colors, in general, are not brilliant, and many of them have spots on the breast. Several are distinguished for their powers of song, or for the delicacy of their flesh. We have seven species in the U. States-the mocking-bird, cat-bird, American robin, and the brown, wood, hermit, and tawny thrushes.

THUANUS. (See Thou, De.)

THUCYDIDES, the greatest of all the Greek historians, was born at Athens, B. C. 470. His father's name was Olorus; his mother's Hegesipyle. By the father's side he was connected with Miltiades, and by his mother's was descended from the stock of the kings of Thrace. He received his education at a time when Athens, having conquered her enemies, and acquired distinguished power, was occupied with zeal on the highest objects of human effort. The philosopher Anaxagoras, and the orator Antiphon, early imparted to his mind that manly tone which gives so high a value to his historical works. He was excited to devote himself to historical studies by the applause which the Greek people bestowed upon Herodotus, when he read his delightful narratives at Olympia. When the Peloponnesian war broke out, he was commissioned to raise soldiers for the service of his country. He lived, at that

time, upon his estate on the borders of Thrace, and had the superintendence of the gold mines in the island of Thasos. The flame of war reached these lands, and the Spartan commander, Brasidas, besieged the city of Amphipolis, which was under the protection of the Athenians. When the Athenian commander saw that he could not hold out without assistance, he demanded aid of Thucydides, who, unfortunately, did not arrive till the night after the city was surrendered. The Athenians punished him by banishment. Thus the active mind of Thucydides obtained the leisure necessary for his historical masterpiece, which he wrote at Scaptesyla, in Thrace, the birthplace of his wife. While in exile, he dared to enter into connexion with the Spartans; not, however, to the injury of his country, but for the advantage of his historical work; for he maintained in their army certain persons, who gave him full and authentic information of all the events of the Peloponnesian war. Thus he was placed in a situation to compare reports, and, by a careful examination, to determine the truth. He was afterwards recalled to Athens, but returned again to Thrace, and died there, in his seventieth or eightieth year. According to Pausanias, he was assassinated in Athens. This, at least, seems to be certain, that a cenotaph was erected to him in Athens. The work which has made his name immortal bears the title Account of the War of the Peloponnesians and Athenians. It consists of eight books, of which only seven are finished: the eighth is to be considered only as a rough draught, which wants the last touches. These eight books, however, embrace only twenty-one years of this memorable war: the last six are wanting. This work is the production of a deep-searching, clearsighted man, fully acquainted with the nature of history. As a work of art, it stands far higher than the agreeable narratives of Herodotus. While Herodotus gives more interesting accounts, he neither penetrates into the character of the persons of the action, nor seeks out the causes of events springing from the relations of the various states. Thucydides considers history in a higher point of view, treats the particular events as the result of necessity or choice, and by this means makes history a teacher, not merely of what has been, but of what will be. As politics attracted him particularly, his history has a limited character, but, as the political history of a state, is a model,

and, as he himself calls it, a treasure for posterity. He first introduced dialogues into historical narratives, with a view of exhibiting the principles and motives of the leading agents. He made historical writing an art, for he not only skilfully united the different threads of the action, but investigated truth with a very critical spirit. Superior to selfishness and national prejudice, he dispenses praise and blame, reproves vices and praises virtue, with impartiality; and, as he spent a great part of his fortune in the collection of materials for his history, his accounts have great value on the score of credibility. As to his style, it justly deserves the praise which has been bestowed on it by all intelligent judges. It has the greatest dignity; every word has a meaning; and it possesses all the qualities upon which the perfection of writing depends. His pictures attract as well by the variety of the coloring as by the power and individuality of the figures. However, at times he is obscure. But the present text of Thucydides is full of the faults occasioned by ignorant transcribers. Among the editions, that of Duker (Amsterdam, 1731, folio) is the most complete. Next to this is the Bipont (1788, 1789, in 6 vols.), valuable on account of the Latin version. Thucydides has been translated into English by Smith.

THUILLERIES. (See Tuileries.)
THUISCON. (See Tuiscon.)

which contain an abundance of observations and descriptions, sometimes characterized by deep and grave reflection, sometimes by the most unbridled humor. French ease and German feeling are beautifully united in this work. He also wrote some poems. A collection of his works appeared in 1821.

THULE. This name the ancients gave to the most northern country with which they were acquainted. Probably the word did not always denote the same country or island: many, in fact, may not have attached to it the idea of any precise country. Hence the many contradictory opinions of scholars respecting it. According to Pythias, it is an island, six days' journey to the north of Britannia. Some have imagined it to be one of the Scotch islands, but most the coast of Norway. Mannert, and others believe it was Iceland.

THUNBERG, Charles Peter, professor of botany in the university of Upsal, member of more than sixty societies, was born, Nov. 11, 1743, at Jönköping, the capital of Smaland, and studied at Upsal. Linnæus, his great countryman, was his instructer in natural history, and said of him, "Never has any botanist afforded me more satisfaction and pleasure." In 1772, he went as a physician in the service of the Dutch East India company to the cape of Good Hope, where, during three years, he made journeys into the interior. In 1775, he went to Batavia, and afterwards to Japan, as physician to the embassy of the East India company to the emperor of Japan. Thunberg and Kämpfer are the only persons who have given us much authentic information respecting that country. In 1777, he visited Ceylon, and, in 1778, went again to the cape of Good Hope, in order to return to his own country. He subsequently presented his rich collections to the university of Upsal, having been appointed professor of botany in Upsal immediately on his return. In 1784, after the death of the younger Linnæus, he was made professor ordinarius. The royal academy chose him their president. At his request, Gustavus III gave the ancient royal garden, as a botanical garden, to the university. The rich museum Thunbergianum is preserved there-the most costly collection of natural history ever presented to a European university. The most important works of this indefatigable inquirer are, 1. his Travels, in four vols. (it has been translated into English, German, Dutch, French, &c.); 2. Flora Japonica; 3. Flora Capensis; 4. Icones Plantarum Japonicarum; 5. Description of Swedish Mammalia; 6. Museum naturalium Academia Upsaliensis; 7. Dissertationes Academica; and a numerous collection of treatises, mostly in the Transactions of the academies of sciences at Stockholm and Petersburg, and those of the scientific society at Upsal. Peculiarly valuable are his Kampferus illustratus, and the notes respecting Japanese coins and language. He died, Aug. 8, 1828, near Upsal.

THÜMMEL, Maurice Augustus von, a distinguished German author, was born, in 1738, near Leipsic, where he studied. He subsequently entered the service of the duke of Saxe-Cobourg, whose privy counsellor and minister he became in 1768. From 1775 to 1777, he travelled in France and Italy. He died in 1817, near Cobourg. His chief work is called Travels in the Southern Provinces of France. It is a novel, interspersed with reminiscences of his travels. Ten volumes of it appeared from 1791 to 1805,

THUNDER AND LIGHTNING.* It has *This article is from doctor Thomson's Out

lines of the Science of Heat and Electricity.