which was the amusement of his leisure hours for twenty-eight years. The first volume of the 'Aeneis ' came out in 1718, the second in 1720, and the translation of the complete works, 'with large explanatory notes and critical observations,' which have been much praised, was published in three volumes in 1731 and 1735. Freedom is sacrificed to closeness of rendering, a quality which, as Johnson said, 'may continue its existence as long as it is the clandestine refuge of schoolboys' (Lives of Poets, ed. Cunningham, i. 374-5). Several epigrams were made on it, the most familiar being that by Abel Evans [q. v.] on the publication of the first volume:
Keep the commandments, Trapp, and go no farther, For it is written, That thou shalt not murther.
Trapp's other works comprised, in addition to single sermons:
- 'Most Faults on one Side' (anon.), 1710. In reply to the whig pamphlet, 'Faults on both Sides.':
- 'To Mr. Harley on his appearing in Publick after the Wound from Guiscard,'1712.:
- 'Her Majesty's Prerogative in Ireland ' (anon.), 1712.:
- 'Preservative against unsettled Notions and Want of Principles in Religion,' 1715, vol. ii. 1722; 2nd ed. 1722, 2 vols.:
- 'Real Nature of Church and Kingdom of Christ,' 1717, three editions. This reply to Hoadly was answered by Gilbert Burnet, second son of Bishop Burnet, and by several other writers.:
- 'Doctrine of the Trinity briefly stated and proved. Moyer Lectures, 1729 and 1730,' 1730.:
- 'Thoughts upon the four last Things: Death, Judgment, Heaven, Hell. A Poem in four parts ' (anon.), 1734 and 1735; 3rd ed. 1749. He presented a copy to each of his parishioners.:
- Milton's 'Paradisus Amissus Latine redditus,' vol. i. 1741, vol. ii. 1744. This was printed at his own cost, and he lost heavily by the venture.:
- 'Explanatory Notes upon the Four Gospels and the Acts of the Apostles,' 1747 and 1748, 2 vols; reprinted at Oxford, 1805.
Two volumes of Trapp's 'Sermons on Moral and Practical Subjects' were published by his surviving son in 1752.
Trapp wrote several papers in the 'Examiner,' vols. i. and ii., and contributed several pieces to the 'Grub Street Journal,' 1726. Many anonymous pieces are assigned to him by a writer, apparently well informed, in the 'Gentleman's Magazine' (1786, ii. 1661). The well-known tory epigram on the king sending a troop of horse to Oxford and books to Cambridge is usually attributed to him [see under Browne, Sir William, and Moore, John, 1640-1714].
[Gardiner's Wadham College, i. 387-8; Foster's Alumni Oxon.; Biogr. Brit.; Gent. Mag. 1741 p. 599, 1786 i. 381-4, 452, 660-3; Lysons's Parishes of Middlesex, pp. 129-32; Malcolm's Lond. Redivivum, iii. 341, 350; Boswell's Johnson, ed. Hill, i. 140, iv. 383; Wordsworth's Life in English Univ. pp. 5, 45; Wood's Hist, of Oxford, ed. Crutch, vol. ii. pt. ii. p. 976; Jacob's Poet. Register, i. 259, ii. 213-14; Scott's Swift, ii. 143-4,263, iii. 43, 143-4; Hearne's Collections, ed. Doble, i. 212, 265, ii. 120, 141, 192, 384, iii. 56, 70, 480; Reliq. Hearnianae (ed. 1869), i. 311, ii. 140; Nichols's Lit. Anecdotes, i. 39, ii. 148-50, iii. 330, vi. 85; information through Mr. W. V. Morgan, alderman of London.]
TRAQUAIR, first Earl of. [See Stewart, Sir, John, d. 1659.]
TRAVERS, BENJAMIN (1783–1858), surgeon, was second of the ten children of Joseph Travers, sugar-baker in Queen Street, Cheapside, by his wife, a daughter of the Rev. Francis Spilsbury. He was born in April 1783, and after receiving a classical education at the grammar school of Cheshunt, Hertfordshire, under the Rev. E. Cogan, he was taught privately until at the age of sixteen he was placed in his father's counting-house. He soon evinced a strong dislike to commercial pursuits, and, as his father was a frequent attendant on the lectures of Henry Cline [q. v.] and (Sir) Astley Paston Cooper [q. v.], Travers was articled to Cooper in August 1800 for a term of six years, and became a pupil resident in his house. During the last year of his apprenticeship Travers gave occasional private demonstrations on anatomy to his fellow pupils, and established a clinical society, meeting weekly, of which he was the secretary.
He was admitted a member of the College of Surgeons in 1806, and spent the following session at Edinburgh. He returned to London at the end of 1807, and settled at New Court, St. Swithin's Lane. He was appointed demonstrator of anatomy at Guy's Hospital, and, his father's affairs having become embarrassed, he obtained the appointment in 1809 of surgeon to the East India Company's warehouses and brigade, a corps afterwards disbanded.
On the death of John Cunningham Saunders [q. v.] in 1810, Travers was appointed to succeed him as surgeon to the London Infirmary for Diseases of the Eye, now the Moorfields Ophthalmic Hospital. This post he held for four years single-handed, and so developed its resources as a teaching institution that in 1814 (Sir) William Lawrence [q. v.] was appointed to assist him.
