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RYMER, THOMAS (1641—1713)

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Originally appearing in Volume V23, Page 952 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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RYMER, See also:THOMAS (1641—1713) , See also:English historiographer royal, was the younger son of See also:Ralph Rymer, See also:lord of the See also:manor of Brafferton in See also:Yorkshire, described by See also:Clarendon as " possessed of a See also:good See also:estate," and executed for his See also:share in the " Presbyterian rising " of 1663. Thomas was probably See also:born at Yafforth See also:Hall See also:early in 1641, and was educated at a private school kept at See also:Danby-Wiske by Thomas See also:Smelt, a noted Royalist, with whom Rymer was " a See also:great favourite," and " well known for his great See also:critical skill in human learning, especially in See also:poetry and See also:history." He was admitted as pensionarius See also:minor at See also:Sidney See also:Sussex See also:College, See also:Cambridge, on See also:April 29, 1658, but See also:left the university without taking a degree. On May 2, 1666, he became a member of See also:Gray's See also:Inn, and was called to the See also:bar on See also:June 16, 1673.. His first See also:appearance in See also:print was as translator of See also:Cicero's See also:Prince (1668), from the Latin See also:treatise (16o8) See also:drawn up for Prince See also:Henry. He also translated See also:Rapin's Reflections on See also:Aristotle's Treatise of Poesie (1694), with a See also:preface in See also:defence of the classical rules for unity in the See also:drama, and followed the principles there set forth in a tragedy in See also:verse, licensed See also:September 13, 1677, called See also:Edgar, or the English Monarch, which was a failure. The printed See also:editions of 1678, 1691 and 1693 belong to the same issue, with new See also:title-pages. Rymer's views on the drama were again given to the See also:world in the shape of a printed See also:letter to See also:Fleetwood Shepheard, the friend of See also:Prior, under the title of The Tragedies of the Last See also:Age Consider'd (1678, 2nd ed. 1692). To See also:Ovid's Epistles Translated by Several Hands (168o), with preface by See also:Dryden, " See also:Penelope to Ulysses " was contributed by Rymer, who was also one of the " hands " who " Englished " the See also:Plutarch of 1683—86. The See also:life of See also:Nicias See also:fell to his share. He furnished a preface to See also:Whitelocke's Memorials of English Affairs (1682), and wrote in 1681 A See also:General See also:Draught and Prospect of the See also:Government of See also:Europe, reprinted in 1689 and 1714 as Of the Antiquity, See also:Power, and Decay of Parliaments, where, ignorant of his future dignity, the critic had the misfortune to observe, " You are not to expect truth from an historiographer royal." He contributed three pieces to the collection of Poems to the Memory of See also:Edmund See also:Waller (1688), afterwards reprinted in Dryden's See also:Miscellany Poems, and is said to have written the Latin inscription on Waller's See also:monument in See also:Beaconsfield See also:churchyard. The preface to the See also:posthumous Histaria Ecclesiastica (1688) of Thomas See also:Hobbes is said to have been by Rymer, but the Life of Hobbes (1681) sometimes ascribed to him was written by See also:Richard See also:Blackburne.

He produced a congratulatory poem upon the arrival of See also:

Queen See also:Mary in 1689. His next piece of authorship was to translate the See also:sixth See also:elegy of the third See also:book of Ovid's Tristia for Dryden's Miscellany Poems (1692, p. 148). On the See also:death of Thomas See also:Shadwell in 1692 Rymer received the See also:appointment of historiographer royal, at a yearly See also:salary of £200. Immediately afterwards appeared his much discussed See also:Short View of Tragedy (1693), criticizing See also:Shakespeare and See also:Ben See also:Jonson, which produced The Imperial Critick (1693) of See also:Dennis, the See also:epigram of Dryden,2 and the See also:judgment of See also:Macaulay that Rymer was " the ' See See also:Hickes, See also:Memoirs of See also:John Kettlewell (1718), pp. 10-14. 2 " The corruption of a poet is the See also:generation of a critic " (Ded. of the Third Miscellany, in See also:Works (1821), xii. p. 49), which is much more pointed than Beaconsfield's reterence to critics as " men who have failed in literature and See also:art" (See also:Lothair, See also:chap. See also:xxxv.) or See also:Balzac's sly See also:hit at See also:Merimee in similar terms. The poet's remarks on theworst critic that ever lived." John See also:Dunton (Life and Letters, p. 354), however, considered him " orthodox and modest," and See also:Pope " one of the best critics we ever had " (See also:Spence's Anecdotes). Rymer contended that although Shakespeare possessed See also:humour he had no See also:genius for tragedy, Othello being merely " a bloody See also:farce without See also:salt or savour." Within eight months of his See also:official appointment Rymer was directed (See also:August 26, 1693) to carry out that great See also:national undertaking with which his name will always be honourably connected, and of which there is See also:reason to believe that Lords See also:Somers and See also:Halifax were the See also:original promoters. The Codex See also:Juris Gentium Diplomaticus (1693) of See also:Leibnitz was taken by the editor as the See also:model of the Foedera.

The See also:

plan was to publish all records of alliances and other transactions in which See also:England was concerned with See also:foreign See also:powers from r 101 to the See also:time of publication, limiting the collection to original documents in the royal archives and the great national See also:libraries. Unfortunately, this was not uniformly carried out, and the See also:work contains some extracts from printed See also:chronicles. From 1694 he corresponded with Leibnitz, by whom he was greatly influenced with respect to the plan and formation of the Foedera. While See also:collecting materials, Rymer unwisely engraved a See also:spurious See also:charter of See also:King See also:Malcolm, acknowledging that See also:Scotland was held in See also:homage from See also:Edward the See also:Confessor. When this came to be known the Scottish antiquaries were extremely indignant. G. Redpath published a MS. on the See also:independence of the Scottish See also:crown, by See also:Sir T. See also:Craig, entitled Scotland's See also:Sovereignty Asserted (1695), and the subject was referred to by See also:Bishop See also:Nicolson in his Scottish See also:Historical Library (1702). This led Rymer to address three Letters to the Bishop of See also:Carlisle (1702—1706) explaining his See also:action, and discussing other antiquarian matters. Sir See also:Robert See also:Sibbald answered the second letter (1704). The first and second letters are usually found together; the third is extremely rare. Rymer had how been for some years working with great See also:industry, but was constantly obliged to See also:petition the crown for See also:money to carry on the undertaking.

Up to August 1698 he had expended £1253, and had only received £500 on See also:

account. At last, on See also:November 20, 1704, was issued the first See also:folio See also:volume of the Foedera, Conventiones, Litterae et cujuscunque generis Acta Publica inter reges Angliae et alios quosvis imperatores, reges, &c., ab. A.D.1101 ad nostra usque tempora habita See also:aut tractata. The publication proceeded with great rapidity, and fifteen volumes were brought out by Rymer in nine years. Two See also:hundred and fifty copies were printed; but, as nearly all of them were presented to persons of distinction, the work soon became so scarce that it was priced by booksellers at one hundred guineas. A hundred and twenty sheets of the fifteenth volume and the copy for the See also:remainder were burnt at a See also:fire at See also:William See also:Bowyer's, the printer, on See also:January 30, 1712—13. Rymer died shortly after the appearance of this volume, but he had prepared materials for carrying the work down to the end of the reign of See also:James I. These were placed in the hands of Robert See also:Sanderson, his assistant. For the greater See also:part of his life Rymer derived his See also:chief subsistence from a See also:mortgage assigned to him by his See also:father. His See also:miscellaneous See also:literary work could not have been very profitable. At one time he was reduced to offer his See also:MSS. for a new edition for See also:sale to the See also:earl of See also:Oxford. About 1703 his affairs became more settled, and he afterwards regularly received his salary as historiographer, besides an additional £zoo a See also:year as editor of the Foedera.

Twenty-five copies of each volume were also allotted to him. He died at See also:

Arundel See also:Street, Strand, See also:December 14, 1713, and was buried in the See also:church of St See also:Clement Danes. His will was dated See also:July ro, 1713. See also:Tonson issued an edition of See also:Rochester's Works (1714), with a short preface by the See also:late historiographer. Another posthumous publication was in a miscellaneous collection called Curious Amusements, by M. B. (1714), which included "some See also:translations from See also:Greek, Latin and. See also:Italian poets, by T. Tragedies of the Last Age have been reprinted in his Works (1821), xv. pp. 383-396, and in See also:Johnson's Life of Dryden. See also Dryden's Works, i.

377, Vi. 251, xi. 6o, xiii. 2o. " I never came across a worse critic than Thomas Rymer," says Prof. See also:

George See also:Saintsbury, who discusses his theories at length in History of See also:Criticism (1902), pp. 391-397. See also A. Hofherr, T. Rymers dramatische Kritik (19(38). Rymer." Some of his poetical pieces were also inserted in J. See also:Nichols's Select Collection (178o-86, 8 vols.), and two are reproduced in A.

H. Bullen's Musa Proterva (1895). Two more volumes of the Foedera were issued by Sanderson in 1715 and 1717, and the last three volumes (xviii., xix. and xx.) by the same editor, but upon a slightly different plan, in 1726-35. The latter volumes were published by Tonson, all the former by See also:

Churchill. Under Rymer it was carried down to 1586, and continued by Sanderson to 1654. The rarity and importance of the work induced Tonson to obtain a See also:licence for a second edition, and George See also:Holmes, See also:deputy keeper of the See also:Tower records, was appointed editor. The new edition appeared between 1727 and 1735. The last three volumes are the same in both issues. There are some corrections, enumerated in a volume, The Emendations in the New Edition of Mr Rymer's Foedera, printed by Tonson in 1730, and on the whole the second is an improvement upon the first edition. A third edition, embodying Holmes's See also:collation, was commenced at the See also:Hague in 1737 and finished in 1745. It is in smaller type than the others, and is compressed within ten folio volumes. The arrangement is rather more convenient; there is some additional See also:matter; the See also:index is better; the type is not so good, but it is to be preferred to either of the previous editions.

When the volumes of the Foedera first appeared they were analysed by Leclerc and Rapin in the Bibliotheque choisie and Bibliotheque ancienne et moderne. Rapin's articles were collected together and appended, under the title of Abrege historique See also:

des actes publiques de l'Angleterre, to the Hague edition. A See also:translation, called Acta Regia, was published by See also:Stephen Whatley, (1726-27), 4 vols. 8vo, reprinted both in 8vo and folio, the latter edition containing an See also:analysis of the cancelled sheets, See also:relating to the See also:journals of the first See also:parliament of See also:Charles I., of the 18th volume of the Foedera. In 1810 the See also:Record Commissioners authorized Dr See also:Adam See also:Clarke to prepare a new and improved edition of the Foedera. Six parts, large folio, edited by Clarke, Caley and Holbrooke, were published between 1816 and 183o. Considerable additions were made, but the editing was performed in so unsatisfactory a manner that the publication was suspended in the See also:middle of See also:printing a seventh part. The latter portion, bringing the work down to 1383, was ultimately issued in 1869. A general introduction to the Foedera was issued by the Record See also:Commission in 1817, 4to. The wide learning and untiring labours of Rymer have received the warmest praise from historians. His industry was praised by See also:Hearne (Collections, ii. 296).

Sir T. D. See also:

Hardy styles the Foedera " a work of which this nation has every reason to be proud, for with all its blemishes—and what work is faultless?—it has no See also:rival in its class " (See also:Syllabus, vol. ii. See also:xxxvi.), and Mr J. B. Mullinger calls it " a collection of the highest value and authority " (See also:Gardiner and Mullinger's Introduction to English History, p. 224). The best account of Rymer is to be found in the prefaces to Sir T. D. Hardy's Syllabus (1869-85, 3 vols. 8vo). There is an unpublished life by Des Maizeaux (Brit. See also:Mus.

Add. MS. No. 4223), and a few memoranda in Bishop Kennet's collections (Lansd. MS. No. 987). See also Dict. of Nat. Biogr. vol. 1. In Caulfield's Portraits, &c. (1819), i.

50, may be seen an See also:

engraving of Rymer, with a description of a satirical print of him as ` a garreteer poet." Rymer's two critical works on the drama are discussed by Sir T. N. See also:Talfourd in the Retrospective See also:Review (182o), vol. i. pp. 1—15. Sir T. D. Hardy's Syllabus gives in English a condensed See also:notice of each See also:instrument in the several editions of the Foedera, arranged in See also:chronological See also:order. The third volume contains a See also:complete index of names and places, with a See also:catalogue of the volumes of transcripts collected for the Record edition of the Foedera. In 1869 the Record See also:Office printed, for private destribution, Appendices A to E " to a See also:report on the Foedera intended to have been submitted by C. Purton See also:Cooper to the late Commissioners of Public Records," 3 vols. 8vo (including accounts of MSS. in foreign archives relating to Great See also:Britain, with facsimiles). In the See also:British Museum is preserved (Add.

MS. 24699) a folio volume of reports and papers relating to the Record edition. Rymer left extensive materials for a new edition of the Foedera, See also:

bound in 59 vols. folio, and embracing the See also:period from 1115 to 1698. This was the collection offered to the earl of Oxford. It was See also:purchased by the See also:Treasury for 215 from a Mrs See also:Anna See also:Parnell, to whom Rymer left all his See also:property, and is now in the British Museum (Add. MSS. Nos. 4573 to 4630, and 18911), A catalogue and index may be consulted in the 17th volume of Tonson's edition of the Foedera. The Public Record Office possesses a MS. volume, compiled by Robert See also:Lemon about 'Roo, containing See also:instruments in the Patent Rolls omitted by Rymer. In the same See also:place may be seen a volume of reports, orders, &c., on the Foedera, 18o8-11, and the transcripts collected for the new and unfinished edition. (H. R.

End of Article: RYMER, THOMAS (1641—1713)

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