that as attorney-general he might set aside by scire facias as forfeited every charter in America (debate on the American Prohibitory Bill, 18 P. If., 999); his speech in aggravation of punishment in the case of Home Tooke (20 St. Tr., 777-783), when he argued that the prisoner ought to be pilloried, because imprisonment was no penalty to a man of sedentary habits and a fine would be paid by seditious subscription; and his consistent opposition to all interference with the slave trade, are characteristic of the man. In 1778 Thurlow became lord chancellor and Baron Thurlow of Ashfield (June), and took his seat in the House of Lords, where he soon acquired an almost dictatorial power. He resolutely opposed the economical and constitutional reforms proposed by Burke and Dunning. Under Buckingham he still clung to the chancellorship, while conducting himself like a leader of the opposition. To the short-lived ministry of Shelburne he gave a consistent support. Under the coalition of Fox and North (April to December 1783) the great seal was placed in commission, and Lord Loughborough was made first commissioner. But Thurlow, acting as the king's adviser, and in accordance with his wishes, harassed the new ministry, and ultimately secured the rejection of Fox's India Bill (24 P. If., 226). The coalition was at once dissolved. Pitt accepted office, and Thurlow again became lord chancellor (December 23, 1783). At first he supported the Government heartily, but soon his overbearing temper asserted itself. Imprudently relying on the friendship of the king, and actuated by scarcely disguised enmity to Pitt, Thurlow passed rapidly from occasional acts of hostility to secret disaffection, and finally to open revolt. He delivered himself strongly against a bill, introduced without his privity, for the restoration to the heirs of attainted owners of estates forfeited in the Jacobite rebellion of 1745. Partly to please the king and queen, partly from dislike to Burke, and partly perhaps from a real belief in the groundlessness of the accusation, he supported Warren Hastings on every occasion "with indecorous violence." His negotiations with the Whigs during the discussion of the Regency Bill (1788-19th February 1789) went beyond the limits of mere perverse coquetry, and were designed to secure his seat on the woolsack in the event of Fox being called to power. The climax was reached in 1792, when he virulently attacked Pitt's bill "to establish a sinking fund for the redemption of the national debt," not on account of the economic objections to which it was justly liable, but on the trivial ground that it was an unconstitutional attempt to bind future parliaments. The bill was carried, but only by a narrow majority, and Pitt, feeling that co-operation with such a colleague was impossible, insisted successfully on his dismissal (June 15, 1792). The ex-chancellor, who had a few days before (June 12) been created Baron Thurlow of Thurlow, with remainder to his brothers and their male descendants, now retired into private life, and, with the exception of a futile intrigue, under the auspices of the prince of Wales, for the formation of a ministry from which Pitt and Fox should be excluded, and in which the earl of Moira should be premier and Thurlow chancellor (1797), finally abandoned the hopes of office and the dictatorship which he had so long exercised in the House of Lords. In 1795 he opposed the Treason and Sedition Bills without success. In 1801 he spoke on behalf of Home Tooke now his friend when a bill was introduced to render a priest in orders ineligible for a seat in the House of Commons. His last recorded appearance in the House of Lords was on May 4, 1802. He now spent his time between his villa at Dulwich and Brighton, Bognor, Scarborough, and Bath. He died at Brighton on 12th September 1806, and was buried in the Temple church. Thurlow was never married, but left three natural daughters, for whom he made a handsome provision. The title descended to his nephew, son of the bishop of Durham.
Lord Thurlow was a master of a coarse caustic wit, which habitually in his private and too frequently in his public life displayed itself in profanity. He was a good classical scholar and made occasional translations in verse from Homer and Euripides. His judicial and his ecclesiastical patronage was wisely exercised; he was the patron of Dr Johnson and of Crabbe, and was the first to detect the great legal merits of Eldon. Thurlow's personal appearance was striking. His dark complexion, harsh but regular features, severe and dignified demeanour, piercing black eyes and bushy eyebrows, doubtless contributed to his professional and political eminence and provoked the sarcasm of Fox that he looked wiser than any man ever was. Yet he was far from being an impostor. By intense though irregular application he had acquired a wide if not a profound knowledge of law. Clear-headed, self-confident, and fluent, able at once to reason temperately and to assert strongly, capable of grasping, rapidly assimilating, and forcibly reproducing minute and complicated details, he possessed all the qualities which command success. His speeches in the trial of the duchess of Kingston for bigamy (20 S. T., 355-651) are singularly vigorous and effective, while his famous opening in the Douglas Peerage case and his argument for the crown in Campbell v. Hall (20 S. T., 312-316) show that he might have rendered high service to the judicial literature of his country had he relied more upon his own industry and less upon the learning of Hargrave and Kenyon
See Lord Campbell's Lives of the Chancellors', vii. 153-333; Foss's Judges of England, viii. 374-385; Public Characters, 1798; Notes and Queries, 2d ser., iii. 283; 3d ser., iii. 122; Reports of his decisions by Brown, Dickens, and Vesey (Junior); Brougham's Statesmen of the Time of George III. (a. w. r.)
THURSO, a seaport, police burgh, and burgh of barony of Caithness, Scotland, is situated at the mouth of the Thurso, on the beautiful Thurso Bay, at the northern terminus of the Highland Railway, 21 miles north-west of Wick, and 367 north of Edinburgh by rail. The new town, regularly built with broad streets and good houses, is steadily increasing in population. In Macdonald Square, now laid out with ornamental walks, there is a statue of Sir John SINCLAIR (q.v.). Along the sands a promenade 300 yards in length was formed in 1882. The town-hall (1870) embraces a court-room and rooms for the free public library and the museum, which contains the geological and botanical specimens of Robert Dick, the "Thurso baker," commemorated by Samuel Smiles, as well as a large collection of northern birds. In the neighbourhood are large quarries for Caithness flags, which are cut and dressed in the town. They constitute the principal export, but the trade of the port is hindered by the inconvenience of the harbour. There is, however, communication with the south and west, and with Orkney by steamer from Scrabster pier, 3 miles to the north. To the east is Thurso Castle, the residence of the Ulbster branch of the Sinclairs. The population in 1871 was 3622 and in 1881 it was 4026.
Thurso was the centre of the Norse power on the mainland when at its height under Thorfinn (1014), and afterwards till the battle of Largs. Count Moddan, nephew of King Duncan, quartered his army for a time at Thurso, which he terms "the town of Caithness," and was plentifully supplied by spoil till surprised and slain by Thorkel in 1040. In the time of Malcolm II. Earl Erlend resided in the town. In 1633 it was created a burgh of barony, and was the seat of the sheriff courts of the county till they were removed to Wick in 1828.
THYME. The genus Thymus (nat. ord.Labiatæ) comprises a number of fragrant aromatic undershrubs, with very small leaves and whorls of small lilac flowers in the axils of the leaves or at the ends of the branches. The common garden thyme, a native of the Mediterranean region, is Thymus vulgaris; the wild thyme of our banks is T. Serpyllum. Marjoram (Origanum) is also closely allied. All these plants are remarkable for their essential oil, to which their fragrance is due. From this oil is produced by distillation a substance known as thymol, analogous to camphor. It is homologous with phenol or carbolic acid, and may be used as a disinfectant and germicide.
