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Thomson, James (1700–48), poet; author of the cycle of poems The Seasons (1730) and the long blank verse poem Liberty (1735-6); achieved success as an opposition dramatist with Agamemnon (Drury Lane, 1738) before falling foul of the Licensing Act and shifting towards the melodramatic and sentimental with Tancred and Sigismunda (Drury Lane, 1745); Surveyor-General of Customs for the Leeward Islands (1746): 57, 192, 238, 294, 458, 538, 578, 583, 584, 594, 718, 790 n. b, 883 n. a, 1022 n. 45, 1041 n. 489

Thomson, Mary, youngest sister of Thomson the poet and wife of William Craig: 718

Thomson, Mrs (d. 1781), wife of Robert Thomson: 718

Thomson, Revd James (1699–1790), minister of Dumfermline: 548, 551–2

Thomson, Robert, master of the Grammar School, Lanark; brother-in-law of the poet: 295, 583, 718

Thornton, Bonnell (1724–68), writer; governor of St Luke’s Hospital for Lunatics (1751); co-founder and co-writer of The Connoisseur (1754-6); co-founder of and substantial contributor to the St James’s Chronicle (1761), along with Garrick, Colman and others; translated Plautus (2 vols., 1767): 117, 122 n. a, 210, 222

Thou, J. A. de, see Thuanus, Jacques Auguste de

Thrale, Henrietta Sophia (1778–83), Thrale’s twelfth child: 720

Thrale, Henry (1728/9-81), brewer and politician; husband of Hester Thrale (later Piozzi); MP for Southwark (1765–80); friend of S.J. from 1764; S.J. an executor on his death, occasionally helping with the trade of the brewery while Thrale was still alive: 16, 257–60, 276, 297, 301, 332, 339 n. a, 372, 380, 383, 384, 392, 402, 412, 414, 415 and n. a, 429, 437, 443, 448, 466–7, 474, 478, 480, 481, 490, 493, 515–16, 522, 528, 530–31, 533, 541–2, 546, 565, 567, 571, 577–8, 585–6, 589, 591, 593, 644, 645, 654–5, 657, 701, 710, 720, 725, 735, 738, 749, 751, 752 and n. c, 753, 758–9, 762–3, 804, 809, 811, 813, 818, 845, 853, 864, 902, 906, 916, 937, 950, 951–3, 955

Thrale, Henry Salusbury (1767–76), elder son of the above: 521

Thrale, Hester Lynch (afterwards Mrs Piozzi) (1741–1821), friend of S.J., writer; worked with S.J. on the translation of Boethius; amanuensis for The Lives of the English Poets; accused of shortening S.J.’s life by her marriage to Gabriel Mario Piozzi; author of Anecdotes of the Late Samuel Johnson (1786), a tremendous success; innovative writer admired by S.J. and willing to experiment with genre: 17 and n. a, 102, 259–60, 276, 285 n. a, 297, 301–2, 335, 337, 339 n. a, 370, 372, 381, 401, 403 n. a, 406, 411, 414, 415 and n. a, 424, 426, 437–8, 440 n. b, 448, 463, 465, 466–7, 474, 481, 493–4, 515–16, 519, 522, 528, 533–4, 536, 541–2, 543, 567, 570, 578, 585, 589, 591, 593, 594 n. a, 623, 636, 637, 639, 646–7, 658, 677 n. a, 694, 699, 705, 710–14, 720, 722, 725, 735, 738, 741, 751, 752, 754, 757, 761 n. a, 783, 795 and n. a, 804, 806, 809–10, 814, 828, 837, 843, 846, 853, 855, 856, 857, 858, 874, 888 and n. a, 896, 897, 898, 916, 936 n. a, 937 and n. a, 939, 946, 950 and n. a, 951–3, 954 and n. a, 972, 979 n. a, 981, 985 n. b, 986 n. a, 995

Thrale, Hester Maria (Viscountess Keith) (1764–1857), Thrale’s eldest child; protegee of S.J.; called ‘Queeney’ by S.J.; educated by S.J.; prominent in London and Edinburgh society after her marriage to Viscount Keith: 467 n. a, 481, 522

Thrale, Sophia (Mrs Hoare) (1771–1824), Thrale’s seventh child: 897

Thrale, Susanna Arabella (1770–1858), Thrale’s sixth child: 897

Thuanus, or Thou, Jacques Auguste de (1553–1617), French statesman, bibliophile and historiographer whose detached, impartial approach to the events of his own period made him a pioneer in the scientific approach to history: 22, 116 n. a, 994–5

Thucydides (c. 400–c. 460 bc), historian of the Peloponnesian War: 702

Thurlow, Edward Thurlow,1st Baron (1731–1806), Lord Chancellor (1778–92); Solicitor-General (1770); Attorney General (1771); Privy Councillor (1778); teller of the Exchequer (1786); presided over the opening years of the Hastings impeachment; personally kind to the ageing S.J. in 1784; exploited his role as an