a “letter of protection” from his creditors from Charles I. in 1637. In the same year, his son Thomas and a younger one were accused of forcibly detaining their father in an upper room, but the matter was settled without further proceedings. Thomas was educated at King’s College, Aberdeen, spending his spare time in the pursuit of physical science. On leaving the university he travelled over Europe, succeeded to his embarrassed inheritance, and got together a remarkable library, which, however, fell into the hands of his creditors. All his later life was disturbed by pecuniary and political difficulties. He was an enthusiastic Royalist; and, so far as religious matters went, his principles may be judged from his favourite signature, “C. P.,” for Christianus Presbyteromastix. He took part in the “Trot of Turriff” in 1639, and was rewarded by being knighted on 7th April 1641 by the king’s own hand at Whitehall. He took occasion by this visit to London to see through the press his first work, a collection of Epigrams of no great merit. Four years later, in 1645, he produced a tract called Trissotetras, a treatise on logarithms, adjusted to a kind of memoria technica, like that of the scholastic logic. In 1649 he was proclaimed a rebel and traitor at the Cross of Edinburgh for taking part in the abortive rising at Inverness on behalf of Charles II. in that year; but no active proceedings were taken against him. He took part in the march to Worcester, and was there wounded and taken prisoner. His MSS. were destroyed after the battle, with the exception of a few pages of the preface to his Universal Language. Urquhart was imprisoned in the Tower and at Windsor, but was released by Cromwell’s orders in 1651. He published in rapid succession during 1652 and 1653 three tracts with quaint titles and quainter contents. Παντοχρονοχανον is an amazing genealogy of the house of Urquhart up to Adam, with the names extemporized for the earlier ages in a kind of gibberish. Ἐκσκυβαλαυρον is supposed to be a treatise on the virtues of a jewel found in the streets of Worcester. The jewel is the recovered sheets of his manuscript. The defence of his system for a universal language was supplemented by a eulogy of the Scottish character, as shown in the Admirable Crichton and others. Finally, in Logopandecteision he again handled the subject of a universal language. The Translation of Rabelais (Books I. and II.), which Urquhart produced in 1653, is of the highest value as literature, and, by general testimony, one of the great masterpieces of translation. Though by no means a close rendering, it reproduces the spirit of the original with remarkable felicity. The translation was reprinted in 1664; and in 1693 that of the Third Book was added. Next to nothing is known of Urquhart after 1553; it is said that he sought refuge, like other cavaliers, on the continent, and died (1660) of a fit of laughing, brought on by joy at hearing of the Restoration.
His original Works, with such scanty particulars of his life as are known, and with reproductions of two original and curious frontispieces, which represent him as a handsome and dandified wearer of full cavalier costume, were published by the Maitland Club (1834). See also Sir Thomas Urquhart of Cromartie, by John Willcock (1899), and the articles in the New Review (July 1897) and Dict. Nat. Biog. The Rabelais has been frequently reprinted; Peter Motteux’s translation of the whole appeared in 1708, and Ozell’s in 1737, each incorporating Urquhart’s portions. Theodore Martin in 1838, and Henry Morley in 1883, published editions of Urquhart’s text.
URSA MAJOR (“The Great Bear”), in astronomy, a constellation
of the northern hemisphere, supposed to be referred
to in the Old Testament (Job ix. 9, xxxviii. 22), mentioned by
Homer, Ἄρκτος θ’, ἥν καὶ ἅμαξαν ἐπίκλησιν καλέονται (Il. 18. 487),
Eudoxus (4th century B.C.) and Aratus (3rd century B.C.).
The Greeks identified this constellation with the nymph Callisto
(q.v.), placed in the heavens by Zeus in the form of a bear
together with her son Arcas as “bear-warder,” or Arcturus (q.v.);
they named it Arctos, the she-bear, Helice, from its turning
round the pole-star. The Romans knew the constellation as
Arctos or Ursa; the Arabians termed the quadrilateral, formed
by the four stars α, β, γ, δ, Na’sh, a bier, whence it is sometimes
known as Feretrum majus. The Arabic name should probably
be identified with Hebrew name ’Ash and ’Ayish in the
book of Job (see G. Schiaparelli, Astronomy in the Old Testament,
1905). Ptolemy catalogued 8 stars, Tycho 7 and Hevelius 12.
Of these, the seven brightest (α of the 1st magnitude, β, γ, ε, ζ, η
of the 2nd magnitude, and δ of the 3rd magnitude) constitute
one of the most characteristic figures in the northern sky;
they have received various names—Septentriones, the wagon,
plough, dipper and Charles’s wain (a corruption of “churl's
wain,” or peasant’s cart). With the Hindus these seven stars
represented the seven Rishis. α and β are called the “pointers,”
since they are collinear with, or point to, the pole-star. ξ Ursa
majoris is a beautiful binary star, its components having magnitudes 4 and 5; this star was one of the first to be recognized as
a binary— i.e. having two components revolving about their
common centre of gravity—and the first to have its orbit
calculated. ζ Ursa majoris is perhaps the best known double
star in the northern hemisphere, the larger component is itself
a spectroscopic double. The nebula M. 97 Ursae majoris is
of the planetary type; the earl of Rosse observed two spiral
condensations turning in opposite directions—hence its name,—the
“Owl nebula.”
URSA MINOR (“The Little Bear”), in astronomy, a constellation of the northern hemisphere, mentioned by
Thales (7th century B.C.) and by Eudoxus and Aratus. By the
Greeks it was sometimes named Cynosura (Gr. κυνός, dog’s;
οὐρά, tail), alleging this to be one of the dogs of Callisto, who
became Ursa major. The Phoenicians named it Phoenice, or
the Phoenician constellation, possibly in allusion to the fact
that the brightest star is a Ursae minoris or the pole-star,
which being situated very close to the north pole is of incalculable
service to navigators. Ptolemy catalogued 8 stars, Tycho
Brahe 7 and Hevelius 12. α Ursae minoris, more generally
known as the pole-star or Polaris, a star of the 2nd magnitude,
describes a circle of 2° 25′ daily about the north pole; it has a
9th-magnitude companion, and is also a spectroscopic binary.
URSINS, MARIE ANNE DE LA TRÉMOILLE, Princess des (1642–1722), lady of the Spanish court, was the daughter of the duke of Noirmontier and his wife Renée Julie Aubri. She was born in 1642, and was married young to Adrien Blaise de Talleyrand, Prince de Chalais. Her husband, having been concerned in the duel of four against four, in which the duke of Beauvilliers was killed in 1663, was compelled to fly the country. He died soon afterwards in Spain, and his widow established herself in Rome. In 1675 she married Flavio Orsini, duke of Bracciano. The marriage was far from harmonious, but her husband left her his fortune. It brought her a series of lawsuits and troubles with Livio Odescalchi, who claimed that he had been adopted by the duke. At last the widow sold the title and estates to Odescalchi. She then assumed the title of Princess des Ursins, a corruption of Orsini, and was tacitly allowed to use it, though it had no legal existence. The Princess des Ursins had indulged in a great deal of unofficial diplomacy at Rome, more particularly with Neapolitans and Spaniards of rank, whom it was desirable to secure as French partisans in view of the approaching death of Charles II. of Spain, and the plans of Louis XIV. for placing his family on the Spanish throne. Her services were rewarded in 1699 by a pension which her spendthrift habits made necessary to her. When Philip, duke of Anjou, grandson of the French king, was declared heir by the will of Charles II., the princess took an active part in arranging his marriage with a daughter of the duke of Savoy. Her ambition was to secure the post of Camarera Mayor, or chief of the household to the young queen, a mere child of twelve. By quiet diplomacy, and the help of Madame de Maintenon, she succeeded, and in 1701 she accompanied the young queen to Spain. Till 1714 she was the most powerful person in the country. Her functions about the king and queen were almost those of a nurse. Her letters show that she had to put them to bed at night, and get them up in the morning. She gives a most amusing description of her embarrassments when she had to enter the royal bedroom, laden with articles of clothing and furniture. But if the Camarera Mayor did the work of a domestic servant, it was for a serious political purpose. She was expected to look after French
