WRIGHT, THOMAS, an English antiquary and historian,was b. near Ludlow, in 1810, and was educated in the grammar-school of that town. From school he proceeded to Trinity college, Cambridge, where he took his degree of B.A. in 1834, and subse that of a..&. At an early age Wright showed considerable literary talent, ana while still at the university, contributed to Frascr's Magazine, the Gentleman's Magazine, the Literary Gazette; and other periodicals. In 1836 he came to London, and at once commenced the career of a man of letters; and from that time till his death lie was con tinually before the public in the capacity of autIir, editor, or translator. In 1837 he was elected a fellow of the society of antiquaries; and in the following year published his first considerable entitled Queen Elizabeth and her Times (2 vols. 8vo). In this year also he was one of the two founders of the Camden society, for which he edited various works at different times, such as the Latin Poems of Walter May's, Letters on the Dissolution of the Monasteries, etc. He was also for some years honorary secretary of the Camden society. Iu 1843 Wright, in conjunction with his friend, Mr. Roach Smith, founded the British arclneological associatiol. He also took an active part in the formation of the Percy and Shakespeare societies, and for each of these, from time to time, edited volumes. Upon the death of the of Munster, in 1842, Wright was elected to succeed him as corresponding member of the institute of France, an honor never before attained by one so young. were several candidates; but Wright was chosen by a large majority, among whom were two ministers of state, MM. Gutzot and Villemain. Wright was also a member of the society of antiquaries of France, of the ethnological society of Paris, of the Royal society of northern antiquaries of Copenhagen, and of other learned societies on the continent and in America.
Of Wright's various works—said to exceed 100 volumes in number, including, of course, translations and works edited for societies—the following may be regarded as the principal: Biographia Britannica Literaria, 2 vols., of which the Anglo-Saxon period
appeared in 1842, and the Anglo-Norman in 1846; Essays on Subjects connected with the. Literature, Popular Superstitions, and History of England in the _Middle Ages (2 vols. 1846); The Arelacological Album, or Museum of National Antiquities, the Illustrations by F. W Fairholt (1845); England under the House of Hanover, Illustrated from the Casket lures of the Day (2 vols., 1848); Narratives of Sorcery and Magic (2 vols. 1851); History of Ludlow (1852); The Celt, the Roman, and the Saxon: a History of the Early Inhabitants of Britain down to the Conversion of the Anglo-Saxons to Christiantty (1852; 2d ed. 1861); History of Ireland (3 vols. 1854); Wanderings of an Antiquary (1854); Cambridge Uni versity Transactions (2 vols. 1854); Dictionary of Obsolete and Provincial English (2 vols 1857); History of France (3 vols. 1856-1862); Guide to the Ruins of the Roman City of Uriconium, at Wroxeter, near Shrewsbury (1859); Political Poems and Songs relating to English History, composed during the Period from the Accession of Edward III. to that of Richard III. (2 vols. 1859-61). These volumes form part of the series of works pub lished, under the direction of the master of the rolls, in illustration of the medimval his tory of England; Les Cent Nouvelles Nouvelles (2 vols. 1853), being a collection of medim val tales from the only known manuscript of the same, discovered by Wright in the library of the Hunterian museum, Glasgow; Essays on Archeological Subjects (2 vols. 1861); History of Domestic Manners and Sentiments in England during the Middle Ages, with Illustrations by F. TV. Fairholt (1861); A History of Caricature and Grotesque in Lit erature and Art, with Illustrations by F. W. Fairholt (1865). To these may be added his Womankind in Western Europe (1869); Uriconium: a Historical Account of the Ancient Roman City (1872); and his translations of Pauli's Sing Alfred, and of Napoleon's Julius Cams. He died Dec. 23, 1877.