Greek in December of the same year. In 1867–8 he was vice-chancellor of the university. The twenty years of his mastership were years of activity and progress. Although he disliked the routine of ordinary business, he had a strong sense of the responsibilities of his office, and shrank from no effort where the good of his college was concerned. He was alive to the necessity for reform, and the statutes framed in 1872, as well as those which received the royal assent in 1882, owed much to his criticism and support. He died at the master's lodge at Trinity on 1 Oct. 1886.
Thompson was tall, and bore himself with a stately dignity which was enhanced by singularly handsome features and, during the last years of his life, by silvery hair. The portrait painted by Mr. Herkomer, R.A., in 1881, which hangs in the hall of Trinity College, gives a lifelike idea of him at that time, though the deep lines on the face and the sarcastic expression of the mouth are slightly exaggerated. When Thompson first saw the picture he is said to have exclaimed, ‘Is it possible that I regard all mankind with such contempt?’ Those who knew him superficially thought him cold, haughty, and sarcastic. In reality he was shy, diffident of himself, and slightly nervous in society. But he had a quick appreciation of the weak points in an argument or a conversation, together with a keen literary faculty, so that he would rapidly gather up the results of a discussion into a sentence which fell, as though of itself, into an epigram. One of Thompson's sayings, ‘We are none of us infallible, not even the youngest among us,’ has become proverbial. It was a reply made incidentally at one of the college meetings held for the alteration of statutes in 1877 or 1878, to a junior fellow who had proposed to throw upon the senior members of the society a new and somewhat onerous responsibility. To the young, the diffident, the little known, the poor, Thompson was uniformly kind, helpful, and generous; it was only for the vulgar, the pretentious, the vicious, or the sciolist that he had no mercy. He had a wide knowledge of English and foreign literature; he travelled a good deal, and spoke French and German fluently; he was fond of art, and a good judge of pictures and sculpture.
Besides the editions of dialogues of Plato already mentioned, Thompson published:
- ‘Old Things and New,’ sermon in Trinity College Chapel, 15 Dec. 1852, Cambridge, 1852, 8vo.
- ‘Funeral Sermon on Dean Peacock,’ preached in Ely Cathedral, 14 Nov. 1858, Cambridge, 8vo.
- ‘Family Prayers,’ Cambridge, 1858, 8vo.
He also edited ‘Lectures on the History of Ancient Philosophy, by William Archer Butler, M.A.,’ with notes, Cambridge, 1856, 8vo. The following papers by him appeared in the ‘Journal of Philology,’ viz.: ‘Platonica’ (vol. v.), 1874; ‘Euripides,’ lecture delivered 1857 (vol. xi.), 1882; ‘On the Nubes of Aristophanes’ (vol. xii.), 1883; and ‘Babriana’ (vol. xii.), 1883.
[Cambridge Graduates, ed. 1884; Cambridge University Calendars; obituary notices in the Athenæum, 9 Oct. 1886 (by Henry Jackson, Litt.D., fellow of Trinity College), and the Academy (by H. R. Luard, D.D., fellow of Trinity College, and registrary of the university); information from Dr. Jackson; private knowledge.]
THOMS, WILLIAM JOHN (1803–1885), antiquary, born in Westminster on 16 Nov. 1803, was the son of Nathaniel Thoms, who was for many years a clerk in the treasury, and who, among many similar appointments, acted as secretary of the first commission of revenue inquiry. William began active life as a clerk in the secretary's office at Chelsea Hospital, a position which he held till 1845. From an early age he took a keen interest in literature, and especially in bibliography. He received much encouragement from Thomas Amyot [q. v.], the antiquary, through whom he became acquainted with Francis Douce [q. v.] Douce encouraged his studies, lent him books and manuscripts from his great library in Gower Street, and gave him every assistance in editing ‘Early Prose Romances.’ This, Thoms's first publication, comprised, among other English tales, ‘Robert the Devyl,’ ‘Thomas a Reading,’ ‘Friar Bacon,’ ‘Friar Rush,’ ‘Virgilius,’ ‘Robin Hood,’ ‘George a Green,’ ‘Tom a Lincolne,’ ‘Helyas,’ and ‘Dr. Faustus.’ It appeared in 1827 and 1828 in three octavo volumes. In 1858 a revised edition appeared, with which, however, Thoms had nothing to do. He followed this collection in 1834 by ‘Lays and Legends of France, Spain, Tartary, and Ireland’ (London, 12mo), and ‘Lays and Legends of Germany’ (London, 12mo). In 1832 he made his first essay in periodical literature as editor of ‘a miscellany of humour, literature, and the fine arts,’ entitled ‘The Original.’ It had, however, a short life of little over four months.
In 1838 he was elected a fellow of the Society of Antiquaries, and in the same year was appointed secretary of the Camden Society, a post which he held until 1873. In 1838 also he published ‘The Book of the Court’ (London, 8vo), in which he gave an account of the nature, origin, duties, and privileges of the several ranks of the nobility,
