Thomas Gordon (writer)
Thomas Gordon (c. 1691 – 28 July 1750) was a Scottish writer and
Life
He was born in Kirkcudbright towards the end of the seventeenth century. He possibly attended the University of Aberdeen.
He went to London as a young man and taught languages. Two pamphlets on the
Robert Walpole made Gordon first commissioner of the wine licenses, a post which he held till his death on 28 July 1750. Gordon was twice married, his second wife being Trenchard's widow.[4]
Works
A tract called the Independent Whig, published at the time of the rejection of the
In 1720 Gordon and Trenchard began the publication of Cato's Letters. They appeared in the London Journal and then in the British Journal until Trenchard's death in 1723, and were reprinted in 4 vols. in 1724.[4]
Gordon published, by subscription, a translation of Tacitus, in 2 vols. 1728 (dedications to the Prince of Wales and Walpole), which went through several editions, and seems to have been the standard translation till the end of the century. Edward Gibbon read it in his youth (Misc. Works, i. 41). John Nichols claimed that Gordon's commentaries on Tacitus were derivative from the work of Virgilio Malvezzi, Scipione Ammirato and Baltasar Alamos de Barrientos.[5] In 1744 he published The Works of Sallust, with Political Discourses upon that author; to which is added a translation of Cicero's "Four Orations against Cateline." He published an 'Essay on Government' in 1747, and a 'Collection of Papers' by him appeared in 1748.[4]
Gordon also wrote a preface to a translation from
The unfinished draft of a History of England is now preserved in the British Library Manuscript Collections.[6]
Vegetarianism
Gordon, inspired by Bernard Mandeville, expressed strong disapproval with the mass killing of numerous animals for human consumption, stating, "it is very unreasonable that the whole Creation should be lavished away in this profuse Manner." He also argued that meat wasn't inherently the natural food for humans, asserting that it was merely cultural practices that led people to overcome their aversion to it and to disregard the cruelty inflicted upon animals during the slaughter process.[7]
Notes
- ^ Marie P. McMahon (1990). The radical Whigs, John Trenchard and Thomas Gordon: libertarian Loyalists to the new House of Hanover.
- ISBN 9780814780053.
- ISBN 978-1400821525.
- ^ a b c d e f Dictionary of National Biography. London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1885–1900. .
- ^ The Literary Anecdotes of the Eighteenth Century (London, 1812), 1:710.
- ^ Giovanni Tarantino, Republicanism, Sinophilia, and Historical Writing Thomas Gordon (c. 1691–1750) and his History of England (Brepols Publishers, 2012)
- ^ Annie, Mitchell (2002). The Character of an Independent Whig: A Study of the Work of John Trenchard and Thomas Gordon, Including a Comparative Analysis of the Social and Political Thought of Bernard Mandeville (PDF) (PhD thesis). University of London. Retrieved 21 January 2024. pp. 145–146
References
- Hunt, F. Knight. The Fourth State: A History of Newspapers and of the liberty of the press vol.I. Londres: David Borgue, 1850.
- This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: "Gordon, Thomas (d.1750)". Dictionary of National Biography. London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1885–1900.
External links
- Works by or about Thomas Gordon at Wikisource
- Works by Thomas Gordon at Project Gutenberg
- Works by or about Thomas Gordon at Internet Archive
- Works by Thomas Gordon at LibriVox (public domain audiobooks)