KNOWLES, JAMES (1759–1840), lexicographer, born in 1759, was son of John Knowles of Dublin, by Frances, daughter of the Rev. Dr. Sheridan of Quilca, the friend of Swift. His mother's brother, Thomas Sheridan, author of a ‘Pronouncing Dictionary,' and father of Richard Brinsley Sheridan, directed his education and intended him for the church; but an early marriage led Knowles to establish a school in Cork in 1780, which prospered until 1793. In that year Knowles, who was a liberal as well as a protestant, first signed a petition for catholic emancipation, and a little later went bail for the editor of a liberal paper, who had been prosecuted at the instance of the government. His pupils, who were the sons of protestant gentry, deserted him, and he went to London, where, according to his son's account, he was helped by his first cousin, Richard Brinsley Sheridan. He continued his career as a schoolmaster, and in 1813, mainly by his son's influence, he was appointed head-master of the English department in the Belfast Academical Institution. In 1816 he was dismissed by the directors, on the ground of inability to maintain discipline. Knowles declined to be dismissed, and prepared to resist ejectment; but eventually he gave way, and in 1817 published ‘An Appeal to the Dignified Visitors, and the Noblemen and Gentlemen, Proprietors,' invoking the principles of the British constitution to prove that he had suffered injustice. Before leaving Belfast he received a testimonial from some of the leading citizens. He returned to London, where he appears to have carried on his profession as ‘teacher of reading, elocution, grammar, and composition' for several years. In 1829 he seems to have joined his son in Glasgow, where he brought out a little book on ‘Orthoëpy and Elocution.' About this time, though he was now seventy and suffering from a painful disease, he began the compilation of a dictionary. This was published in London in 1835, under the name of ‘A Pronouncing and Explanatory Dictionary of the English Language.' A dispute with the printer led to a protracted lawsuit, of which most of the expenses were borne by his son, James Sheridan Knowles [q. v.] Knowles died at his son's house, Alfred Place, Bedford Square, London, on 6 Feb. 1840, and was buried at Highgate.
Knowles married, first, Jane, daughter of Andrew Peace, medical practitioner, of Cork, widow of a Mr. Daunt, and after her death, in 1800, a Miss Maxwell. James Sheridan was the offspring of the first marriage.
[R. B. Knowles's Life of James Sheridan Knowles; Gent. Mag. 1840.]
As a young man he must have been handsome, for he was good-looking even in old age: a courtly little gentleman, of polished, winning manners, scrupulously neat to the last about the sit of his coat and the polish of his boots, and able to make himself very agreeable. In vain did Mr. Peace expostulate with his daughter against this second marriage. In vain did he urge the suitor’s state of impecuniosity, the disparity between their ages (for the lady had the advantage in time as well as money), and his general disapproval of the match. “love was still the lord of all;” and, some time before the year 1780, James Knowles, bachelor, and Jane Daunt, widow, became man and wife.
That step taken, the next thing to be done was to prove that it had not been a foolish one. The newly-married pair opened a school, and the lady’s popularity, backed by her husband’s ability, soon made it a success. The came incidents not so satisfactory, but beyond their control. The first child was carried off by small-pox. Another came, and in like manner succumbed to that dreadful plague. But on the 12th of May, 1784, in their house on Anne Street, a third came, this time a son, who was not only to fill the void his infant sisters had left, but to fill up another void; for, during all the time that had elapsed since her marriage, Andrew Peace had not spoken to his daughter. This was a great drawback to her happiness. Her hear yearned for the love of the old fireside; and so, when baby had been christened “James,” after his father, and “Sheridan” after the orator, his mother and a lady-friend of hers laid their hands together, to see whether they could not utilize him to bring about a reconciliation between Andrew Peace and his daughter.
The lady-friend was one of Andrew’s patients, and one day he was sent for to come and see her. Not dreaming into what trap he was being decoyed, the old surgeon obeyed, and arriving at the lady’s house was shewn into a room, into which presently came, not the lady but his daughter Jane, with the little olive branch in her arms. It was strange, if old friends, who have quarreled, can come face to face unexpectedly, and not feel a prompting to take each other by the hand before they have time to recollect that they are enemies. But here were father and daughter, and a little mute petitioner for an old man’s love, in his child’s arms. The plot succeeded, and Andrew Peace took his daughter back to his heart, from which he had not been able to drive her very far. In this touching little drama, did the author of “Virginius” play his first important part in life: a drama not, in interest, unlike those he was afterwards to write.
Knowles married, first, Jane, daughter of Andrew Peace, medical practitioner, of Cork, widow of a Mr. Daunt, and after her death, in 1800, a Miss Maxwell. James Sheridan was the offspring of the first marriage.
[R. B. Knowles's Life of James Sheridan Knowles; Gent. Mag. 1840.]
As a young man he must have been handsome, for he was good-looking even in old age: a courtly little gentleman, of polished, winning manners, scrupulously neat to the last about the sit of his coat and the polish of his boots, and able to make himself very agreeable. In vain did Mr. Peace expostulate with his daughter against this second marriage. In vain did he urge the suitor’s state of impecuniosity, the disparity between their ages (for the lady had the advantage in time as well as money), and his general disapproval of the match. “love was still the lord of all;” and, some time before the year 1780, James Knowles, bachelor, and Jane Daunt, widow, became man and wife.
That step taken, the next thing to be done was to prove that it had not been a foolish one. The newly-married pair opened a school, and the lady’s popularity, backed by her husband’s ability, soon made it a success. The came incidents not so satisfactory, but beyond their control. The first child was carried off by small-pox. Another came, and in like manner succumbed to that dreadful plague. But on the 12th of May, 1784, in their house on Anne Street, a third came, this time a son, who was not only to fill the void his infant sisters had left, but to fill up another void; for, during all the time that had elapsed since her marriage, Andrew Peace had not spoken to his daughter. This was a great drawback to her happiness. Her hear yearned for the love of the old fireside; and so, when baby had been christened “James,” after his father, and “Sheridan” after the orator, his mother and a lady-friend of hers laid their hands together, to see whether they could not utilize him to bring about a reconciliation between Andrew Peace and his daughter.
The lady-friend was one of Andrew’s patients, and one day he was sent for to come and see her. Not dreaming into what trap he was being decoyed, the old surgeon obeyed, and arriving at the lady’s house was shewn into a room, into which presently came, not the lady but his daughter Jane, with the little olive branch in her arms. It was strange, if old friends, who have quarreled, can come face to face unexpectedly, and not feel a prompting to take each other by the hand before they have time to recollect that they are enemies. But here were father and daughter, and a little mute petitioner for an old man’s love, in his child’s arms. The plot succeeded, and Andrew Peace took his daughter back to his heart, from which he had not been able to drive her very far. In this touching little drama, did the author of “Virginius” play his first important part in life: a drama not, in interest, unlike those he was afterwards to write.
KNOWLES, JAMES (1759–1840), lexicographer, born in 1759, was son of John Knowles of Dublin, by Frances, daughter of the Rev. Dr. Sheridan of Quilca, the friend of Swift. His mother's brother, Thomas Sheridan, author of a ‘Pronouncing Dictionary,' and father of Richard Brinsley Sheridan, directed his education and intended him for the church; but an early marriage led Knowles to establish a school in Cork in 1780, which prospered until 1793. In that year Knowles, who was a liberal as well as a protestant, first signed a petition for catholic emancipation, and a little later went bail for the editor of a liberal paper, who had been prosecuted at the instance of the government. His pupils, who were the sons of protestant gentry, deserted him, and he went to London, where, according to his son's account, he was helped by his first cousin, Richard Brinsley Sheridan. He continued his career as a schoolmaster, and in 1813, mainly by his son's influence, he was appointed head-master of the English department in the Belfast Academical Institution. In 1816 he was dismissed by the directors, on the ground of inability to maintain discipline. Knowles declined to be dismissed, and prepared to resist ejectment; but eventually he gave way, and in 1817 published ‘An Appeal to the Dignified Visitors, and the Noblemen and Gentlemen, Proprietors,' invoking the principles of the British constitution to prove that he had suffered injustice. Before leaving Belfast he received a testimonial from some of the leading citizens. He returned to London, where he appears to have carried on his profession as ‘teacher of reading, elocution, grammar, and composition' for several years. In 1829 he seems to have joined his son in Glasgow, where he brought out a little book on ‘Orthoëpy and Elocution.' About this time, though he was now seventy and suffering from a painful disease, he began the compilation of a dictionary. This was published in London in 1835, under the name of ‘A Pronouncing and Explanatory Dictionary of the English Language.' A dispute with the printer led to a protracted lawsuit, of which most of the expenses were borne by his son, James Sheridan Knowles [q. v.] Knowles died at his son's house, Alfred Place, Bedford Square, London, on 6 Feb. 1840, and was buried at Highgate.
Knowles married, first, Jane, daughter of Andrew Peace, medical practitioner, of Cork, widow of a Mr. Daunt, and after her death, in 1800, a Miss Maxwell. James Sheridan was the offspring of the first marriage.
[R. B. Knowles's Life of James Sheridan Knowles; Gent. Mag. 1840.]
As a young man he must have been handsome, for he was good-looking even in old age: a courtly little gentleman, of polished, winning manners, scrupulously neat to the last about the sit of his coat and the polish of his boots, and able to make himself very agreeable. In vain did Mr. Peace expostulate with his daughter against this second marriage. In vain did he urge the suitor’s state of impecuniosity, the disparity between their ages (for the lady had the advantage in time as well as money), and his general disapproval of the match. “love was still the lord of all;” and, some time before the year 1780, James Knowles, bachelor, and Jane Daunt, widow, became man and wife.
That step taken, the next thing to be done was to prove that it had not been a foolish one. The newly-married pair opened a school, and the lady’s popularity, backed by her husband’s ability, soon made it a success. The came incidents not so satisfactory, but beyond their control. The first child was carried off by small-pox. Another came, and in like manner succumbed to that dreadful plague. But on the 12th of May, 1784, in their house on Anne Street, a third came, this time a son, who was not only to fill the void his infant sisters had left, but to fill up another void; for, during all the time that had elapsed since her marriage, Andrew Peace had not spoken to his daughter. This was a great drawback to her happiness. Her hear yearned for the love of the old fireside; and so, when baby had been christened “James,” after his father, and “Sheridan” after the orator, his mother and a lady-friend of hers laid their hands together, to see whether they could not utilize him to bring about a reconciliation between Andrew Peace and his daughter.
The lady-friend was one of Andrew’s patients, and one day he was sent for to come and see her. Not dreaming into what trap he was being decoyed, the old surgeon obeyed, and arriving at the lady’s house was shewn into a room, into which presently came, not the lady but his daughter Jane, with the little olive branch in her arms. It was strange, if old friends, who have quarreled, can come face to face unexpectedly, and not feel a prompting to take each other by the hand before they have time to recollect that they are enemies. But here were father and daughter, and a little mute petitioner for an old man’s love, in his child’s arms. The plot succeeded, and Andrew Peace took his daughter back to his heart, from which he had not been able to drive her very far. In this touching little drama, did the author of “Virginius” play his first important part in life: a drama not, in interest, unlike those he was afterwards to write.
Knowles married, first, Jane, daughter of Andrew Peace, medical practitioner, of Cork, widow of a Mr. Daunt, and after her death, in 1800, a Miss Maxwell. James Sheridan was the offspring of the first marriage.
[R. B. Knowles's Life of James Sheridan Knowles; Gent. Mag. 1840.]
As a young man he must have been handsome, for he was good-looking even in old age: a courtly little gentleman, of polished, winning manners, scrupulously neat to the last about the sit of his coat and the polish of his boots, and able to make himself very agreeable. In vain did Mr. Peace expostulate with his daughter against this second marriage. In vain did he urge the suitor’s state of impecuniosity, the disparity between their ages (for the lady had the advantage in time as well as money), and his general disapproval of the match. “love was still the lord of all;” and, some time before the year 1780, James Knowles, bachelor, and Jane Daunt, widow, became man and wife.
That step taken, the next thing to be done was to prove that it had not been a foolish one. The newly-married pair opened a school, and the lady’s popularity, backed by her husband’s ability, soon made it a success. The came incidents not so satisfactory, but beyond their control. The first child was carried off by small-pox. Another came, and in like manner succumbed to that dreadful plague. But on the 12th of May, 1784, in their house on Anne Street, a third came, this time a son, who was not only to fill the void his infant sisters had left, but to fill up another void; for, during all the time that had elapsed since her marriage, Andrew Peace had not spoken to his daughter. This was a great drawback to her happiness. Her hear yearned for the love of the old fireside; and so, when baby had been christened “James,” after his father, and “Sheridan” after the orator, his mother and a lady-friend of hers laid their hands together, to see whether they could not utilize him to bring about a reconciliation between Andrew Peace and his daughter.
The lady-friend was one of Andrew’s patients, and one day he was sent for to come and see her. Not dreaming into what trap he was being decoyed, the old surgeon obeyed, and arriving at the lady’s house was shewn into a room, into which presently came, not the lady but his daughter Jane, with the little olive branch in her arms. It was strange, if old friends, who have quarreled, can come face to face unexpectedly, and not feel a prompting to take each other by the hand before they have time to recollect that they are enemies. But here were father and daughter, and a little mute petitioner for an old man’s love, in his child’s arms. The plot succeeded, and Andrew Peace took his daughter back to his heart, from which he had not been able to drive her very far. In this touching little drama, did the author of “Virginius” play his first important part in life: a drama not, in interest, unlike those he was afterwards to write.
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