of Physicians, occupied Linacre’s remaining years till his death on the 20th of October 1524.
Linacre was more of a scholar than a man of letters, and rather a man of learning than a scientific investigator. It is difficult now to judge of his practical skill in his profession, but it was evidently highly esteemed in his own day. He took no part in political or theological questions, and died too soon to have to declare himself on either side in the formidable controversies which were even in his lifetime beginning to arise. But his career as a scholar was one eminently characteristic of the critical period in the history of learning through which he lived. He was one of the first Englishmen who studied Greek in Italy, whence he brought back to his native country and his own university the lessons of the “New Learning.” His teachers were some of the greatest scholars of the day. Among his pupils was one—Erasmus—whose name alone would suffice to preserve the memory of his instructor in Greek, and others of note in letters and politics, such as Sir Thomas More, Prince Arthur and Queen Mary. Colet, Grocyn, William Lilye and other eminent scholars were his intimate friends, and he was esteemed by a still wider circle of literary correspondents in all parts of Europe.
Linacre’s literary activity was displayed in two directions, in pure scholarship and in translation from the Greek. In the domain of scholarship he was known by the rudiments of (Latin) grammar (Progymnasmata Grammatices vulgaria), composed in English, a revised version of which was made for the use of the Princess Mary, and afterwards translated into Latin by Robert Buchanan. He also wrote a work on Latin composition, De emendata structura Latini sermonis, which was published in London in 1524 and many times reprinted on the continent of Europe.
Linacre’s only medical works were his translations. He desired to make the works of Galen (and indeed those of Aristotle also) accessible to all readers of Latin. What he effected in the case of the first, though not trifling in itself, is inconsiderable as compared with the whole mass of Galen’s writings; and of his translations from Aristotle, some of which are known to have been completed, nothing has survived. The following are the works of Galen translated by Linacre: (1) De sanitate tuenda, printed at Paris in 1517; (2) Methodus medendi (Paris, 1519); (3) De temperamentis et de Inaequali Intemperie (Cambridge, 1521); (4) De naturalibus facultatibus (London, 1523); (5) De symptomatum differentiis et causis (London, 1524); (6) De pulsuum Usu (London, without date). He also translated for the use of Prince Arthur an astronomical treatise of Proclus, De sphaera, which was printed at Venice by Aldus in 1499. The accuracy of these translations and their elegance of style were universally admitted. They have been generally accepted as the standard versions of those parts of Galen’s writings, and frequently reprinted, either as a part of the collected works or separately.
But the most important service which Linacre conferred upon his own profession and science was not by his writings. To him was chiefly owing the foundation by royal charter of the College of Physicians in London, and he was the first president of the new college, which he further aided by conveying to it his own house, and by the gift of his library. Shortly before his death Linacre obtained from the king letters patent for the establishment of readerships in medicine at Oxford and Cambridge, and placed valuable estates in the hands of trustees for their endowment. Two readerships were founded in Merton College, Oxford, and one in St John’s College, Cambridge, but owing to neglect and bad management of the funds, they fell into uselessness and obscurity. The Oxford foundation was revived by the university commissioners in 1856 in the form of the Linacre professorship of anatomy. Posterity has done justice to the generosity and public spirit which prompted these foundations; and it is impossible not to recognize a strong constructive genius in the scheme of the College of Physicians, by which Linacre not only first organized the medical profession in England, but impressed upon it for some centuries the stamp of his own individuality.
The intellectual fastidiousness of Linacre, and his habits of minute accuracy were, as Erasmus suggests, the chief cause why he left no more permanent literary memorials. It will be found, perhaps, difficult to justify by any extant work the extremely high reputation which he enjoyed among the scholars of his time. His Latin style was so much admired that, according to the flattering eulogium of Erasmus, Galen spoke better Latin in the version of Linacre than he had before spoken Greek; and even Aristotle displayed a grace which he hardly attained to in his native tongue. Erasmus praises also Linacre’s critical judgment (“vir non exacti tantum sed severi judicii”). According to others it was hard to say whether he were more distinguished as a grammarian or a rhetorician. Of Greek he was regarded as a consummate master; and he was equally eminent as a “philosopher,” that is, as learned in the works of the ancient philosophers and naturalists. In this there may have been some exaggeration; but all have acknowledged the elevation of Linacre’s character, and the fine moral qualities summed up in the epitaph written by John Caius: “Fraudes dolosque mire perosus; fidus amicis; omnibus ordinibus juxta carus.”
The materials for Linacre’s biography are to a large extent contained in the older biographical collections of George Lilly (in Paulus Jovius, Descriptio Britanniae), Bale, Leland and Pits, in Wood’s Athenae Oxonienses and in the Biographia Britannica; but all are completely collected in the Life of Thomas Linacre, by Dr Noble Johnson (London, 1835). Reference may also be made to Dr Munk’s Roll of the Royal College of Physicians (2nd ed., London, 1878); and the Introduction, by Dr J. F. Payne, to a facsimile reproduction of Linacre’s version of Galen de temperamentis (Cambridge, 1881). With the exception of this treatise, none of Linacre’s works or translations has been reprinted in modern times.
LINARES, an inland province of central Chile, between Talca on the N. and Ñuble on the S., bounded E. by Argentina and W. by the province of Maule. Pop. (1895) 101,858; area, 3942 sq. m. The river Maule forms its northern boundary and drains its northern and north-eastern regions. The province belongs partly to the great central valley of Chile and partly to the western slopes of the Andes, the S. Pedro volcano rising to a height of 11,800 ft. not far from the sources of the Maule. The northern part is fertile, as are the valleys of the Andean foothills, but arid conditions prevail throughout the central districts, and irrigation is necessary for the production of crops. The vine is cultivated to some extent, and good pasturage is found on the Andean slopes. The province is traversed from N. to S. by the Chilean Central railway, and the river Maule gives access to the small port of Constitucion, at its mouth. From Parral, near the southern boundary, a branch railway extends westward to Cauquenes, the capital of Maule. The capital, Linares, is centrally situated, on an open plain, about 20 m. S. of the river Maule. It had a population of 7331 in 1895 (which an official estimate of 1902 reduced to 7256). Parral (pop. 8586 in 1895; est. 10,219 in 1902) is a railway junction and manufacturing town.
LINARES, a town of southern Spain, in the province of Jaen, among the southern foothills of the Sierra Morena, 1375 ft. above sea-level and 3 m. N.W. of the river Guadalimar. Pop. (1900) 38,245. It is connected by four branch railways with the important argentiferous lead mines on the north-west, and with the main railways from Madrid to Seville, Granada and the principal ports on the south coast. The town was greatly improved in the second half of the 19th century, when the town hall, bull-ring, theatre and many other handsome buildings were erected; it contains little of antiquarian interest save a fine fountain of Roman origin. Its population is chiefly engaged in the lead-mines, and in such allied industries as the manufacture of gunpowder, dynamite, match for blasting purposes, rope and the like. The mining plant is entirely imported, principally from England; and smelting, desilverizing and the manufacture of lead sheets, pipes, &c., are carried on by British firms, which also purchase most of the ore raised. Linares lead is unsurpassed in quality, but the output tends to decrease. There is a thriving local trade in grain, wine and oil. About 2 m. S. is the village of Cazlona, which shows some remains of the ancient Castulo. The ancient mines some 5 m. N., which are now known as Los Pozos de Anibal, may possibly date from the 3rd century B.C., when this part of Spain was ruled by the Carthaginians.
LINCOLN, EARLS OF. The first earl of Lincoln was probably William de Roumare (c. 1095–c. 1155), who was created earl about 1140, although it is possible that William de Albini, earl of Arundel, had previously held the earldom. Roumare’s grandson, another William de Roumare (c. 1150–c. 1198), is sometimes called earl of Lincoln, but he was never recognized as such, and about 1148 King Stephen granted the earldom to one of his supporters, Gilbert de Gand (d. 1156), who was related to the former earl. After Gilbert’s death the earldom was dormant for about sixty years; then in 1216 it was given to another Gilbert de Gand, and later it was claimed by the great earl of Chester, Ranulf, or Randulph, de Blundevill (d. 1232). From Ranulf the title to the earldom passed through his sister Hawise to the family of Lacy, John de Lacy (d. 1240) being made earl of Lincoln in 1232. He was son of Roger de Lacy (d. 1212), justiciar
