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 to denote the sharp bayonet-like edge of a mountain (such as the Matterhorn), that slopes steeply upward with two precipitous sides meeting in a long ascending ridge. Hence the word has passed into common use to denote any sharp mountain edge denuded by frost action above the snowline, where the consequent angular ridges give the characteristic “house-roof structure” of these altitudes. ARETHAS (c. 860–940), Byzantine theological writer and scholar, archbishop of Caesarea in Cappadocia, was born at Patrae. He was the author of a Greek commentary on the Apocalypse, avowedly based upon that of Andrew, his predecessor in the archbishopric. In spite of its author’s modest estimate, Arethas’s work is by no means a slavish compilation; it contains additions from other sources, and especial care has been taken in verifying the references. His interest was not, however, confined to theological literature; he annotated the margins of his classical texts with numerous scholia (many of which are preserved), and had several MSS. copied at his own expense, amongst them the Codex Clarkianus of Plato (brought to England from the monastery of St John in Patmos), and the Dorvillian MS. of Euclid (now at Oxford).

ARETHUSA, in Greek mythology, a nymph who gave her name to a spring in Elis and to another in the island of Ortygia near Syracuse. According to Pausanias (v. 7. 2), Alpheus, a mighty hunter, was enamoured of Arethusa, one of the retinue of Artemis; Arethusa fled to Ortygia, where she was changed into a spring; Alpheus, in the form of a river, made his way beneath the sea, and united his waters with those of the spring. In Ovid (Metam. v. 572 foll.), Arethusa, while bathing in the Alpheus, was seen and pursued by the river god in human form; Artemis changed her into a spring, which, flowing underground, emerged at Ortygia. In the earlier form of the legend, it is Artemis, not Arethusa, who is the object of the god’s affections, and escapes by smearing her face with mire, so that he fails to recognize her (see L. R. Farnell, Cults of the Greek States, ii. p. 428). The probable origin of the story is the part traditionally taken in the foundation of Syracuse by the Iamidae of Olympia, who identified the spring Arethusa with their own river Alpheus, and the nymph with Artemis Alpheiaia, who was worshipped at Ortygia. The subterranean passage of the Alpheus in the upper part of its course (confirmed by modern explorers), and the freshness of the water of Arethusa in spite of its proximity to the sea, led to the belief that it was the outlet of the river. Further, according to Strabo (vi. p. 270), during the sacrifice of oxen at Olympia the waters of Arethusa were disturbed, and a cup thrown into the Alpheus would reappear in Ortygia. In Virgil (Ecl. x. 1) Arethusa is addressed as a divinity of poetical inspiration, like one of the Muses, who were themselves originally nymphs of springs.

ARETINO, PIETRO (1492–1556), Italian author, was born in 1492 at Arezzo in Tuscany, from which place he took his name. He is said to have been the natural son of Luigi Bacci, a gentleman of the town. He received little education, and lived for some years poor and neglected, picking up such scraps of information as he could. When very young he was banished from Arezzo on account of a satirical sonnet which he composed against indulgences. He went to Perugia, where for some time he worked as a bookbinder, and continued to distinguish himself by his daring attacks upon religion. After some years’ wandering through parts of Italy he reached Rome, where his talents, wit and impudence commended him to the papal court. This favour, however, he lost in 1523 by writing a set of obscene sonnets, to accompany an equally immoral series of drawings by the great painter, Giulio Romano. He left Rome and was received by Giovanni de’ Medici, who introduced him at Milan to Francis I. of France. He gained the good graces of that monarch, and received handsome presents from him. Shortly after this Aretino attempted to regain the favour of the pope, but, having come to Rome, he composed a sonnet against a rival in some low amour, and in return was assaulted and severely wounded. He could obtain no redress from the pope, and returned to Giovanni de’ Medici. On the death of the latter in December 1526, he withdrew to Venice, where he afterwards continued to reside. He spent his time here in writing comedies, sonnets, licentious dialogues, and a few devotional and religious works. He led a profligate life, and procured funds to satisfy his needs by writing sycophantish letters to all the nobles and princes with whom he was acquainted. This plan proved eminently successful, for large sums were given him, apparently from fear of his satire. So great did Aretino’s pride grow, that he styled himself the “divine,” and the “scourge of princes.” He died in 1556, according to some accounts by falling from his chair in a fit of laughter caused by hearing some indecent story of his sisters. The reputation of Aretino in his own time rested chiefly on his satirical sonnets or burlesques; but his comedies, five in number, are now considered the best of his works. His letters, of which a great number have been printed, are also commended for their style. The dialogues and the licentious sonnets have been translated into French, under the title Académie des Dames. AREZZO (anc. Arretium), a town and episcopal see of Tuscany, Italy, the capital of the province of Arezzo, 54 m. S.E. of Florence by rail. Pop. (1901) town, 16,780; commune, 46,926. It is an attractive town, situated on the slope of a hill 840 to 970 ft. above sea-level, in a fertile district. The walls by which it is surrounded were erected in 1320 by Guido Tarlati di Pietramala, its warlike bishop, who died in 1327, and is buried in the cathedral; they were reconstructed by Cosimo I. de’ Medici between 1541 and 1568, on which occasion the bronze statues of Pallas and the Chimaera, now at Florence, were discovered. The town itself is fan-shaped, the streets, which contain some fine old houses with projecting eaves and many towers, radiating from the citadel (Fortezza), which was constructed in 1502, and dismantled by the French in 1800. The cathedral, close by, is a fine specimen of Italian Gothic begun in 1277, but not completed internally until 1511, while the façade was not begun until 1880. The interior is spacious and contains some fine 14th-century sculptures, those of the high altar, which contains the tomb of St Donatus, the patron saint of Arezzo, being the best; very good stained-glass windows of the beginning of the 16th century by Guillaume de Marcillat, and some terra-cotta reliefs by Andrea della Robbia. Another fine church is S. Maria della Pieve, having a campanile and a façade of 1216, the latter with three open colonnades running for its whole length above the doors. The interior was restored to its original style in 1863–1865. The Romanesque choir and apse belong to the 11th century, the rest of the interior is contemporary with the façade. In the square behind the church is a colonnade designed by Vasari. In the cloisters of S. Bernardo, on the site of the ancient amphitheatre, is a remarkable view of medieval Rome. S. Francesco contains famous frescoes by Piero de’ Franceschi, representing scenes from the legend of the Holy Cross, and others by Spinello Aretino, a pupil of Giotto. There are several other frescoes by the latter in S. Domenico. Among the Renaissance buildings the churches of S. Maria delle Grazie and the Santissima Annunziata may be noted. The collection of majolica in the municipal museum is very fine, and so is that of the Funghini family. In the middle ages Arezzo was generally on the Ghibelline side; it succumbed to Florence in 1289 at the battle of Campaldino, but at the end of the century recovered its strength under the Tarlati family. In 1336 it became subject to Florence for six years, and after intestine struggles, finally came under her rule in 1384. Among the natives of Arezzo the most famous are the Benedictine monk Guido of Arezzo, the inventor

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 OWEN, JOHN, D.D. (1616–1683), theologian, of an old Welsh family, was second son of the Rev. Henry Owen, vicar of Stadhampton, Oxfordshire, where he was born in 1616. He matriculated at Queen's College, Oxford (having been previously at a school in the town kept by Edward Sylvester), on 4 Nov. 1631, graduated B.A. on 11 June 1632, proceeded M.A. on 27 April 1635, and was created D.D. on 23 Dec. 1653. As an undergraduate he read prodigiously, and relaxed his mind with flute-playing and athletics. Dr. [q. v.] was his music-master, and his tutor Dr. [q. v.], whose friendship he retained throughout life. He studied with equal zest classics, mathematics, philosophy, theology, Hebrew, and rabbinical lore. In 1637 he left the university rather than submit to Laud's new statutes, and, being already in holy orders, became chaplain to Sir Robert Dormer of Ascott, Oxfordshire. He was afterwards chaplain to John, lord Lovelace at Hurley, Berkshire. On the outbreak of the civil war he removed to Charterhouse Yard, London, where he obtained relief from severe spiritual distress, from which he had long suffered, and published two tracts: ‘Θεομαχία ἀυτεξουσιαστικὴ, or a Display of Arminianism, being a Discovery of the old Pelagian Idol, Freewill, with the new Goddess Contingency,’ 1643, 4to; and ‘The Duty of Pastors and People Distinguished, or a Brief Discourse touching the Administration of Things commanded in Religion,’ 1643, 4to. The former, a trenchant polemic against Arminianism, got him preferment to the sequestered rectory of Fordham, Essex; from the latter it appears that he then held the presbyterian theory of church government, which, however, he changed for independency upon a more thorough investigation of the history of the primitive church. The transition was already effected in 1646 (cf. his first sermon preached before parliament, ‘A Vision of unchangeable free Mercy, &c., whereunto is annexed a short Defensative about Church Government,’ &c. London, 1646, 4to).

About this time, on the death of the true incumbent, Owen was ejected from the Fordham living by the patron; but, having taken the covenant, was instituted by order of the House of Lords, on the recommendation of the Earl of Warwick, to the neighbouring vicarage of Coggeshall (Lords' Journals, viii. 467). Here he modelled his church entirely on congregational principles, of which he published an exposition, entitled ‘Eshcol; or Rules of Direction for the Walking of the Saints in Fellowship,’ London, 1648, 12mo. The same year he resumed his polemic against Arminianism by the publication of ‘Salus Electorum Sanguis Jesu; or the Death of Death in the Death of Christ’ (London, 4to). The antinomian tendency of this work elicited protests from both Richard Baxter and [q. v.] (cf. . Aphorisms of Justification, Appendix; and rejoinder Of the Death of Christ, the Price He paid, and the Purchase He made, &c., London, 1650).

On the surrender of Colchester to Sir Thomas Fairfax, 27 Aug. 1648, Owen, at his request, preached two thanksgiving sermons—one at Colchester, the other at Romford. Both were printed under the title ‘Ebenezer: a Memorial of the Deliverance of Essex, County and Committee,’ &c., London, 1648, 4to. He preached before parliament on the day following the execution of the king, but made only the most distant allusion to that event. The sermon was printed shortly after its delivery, together with a brief defence of the right of private judgment, entitled ‘A Discourse about Toleration and the Duty of the Civill Magistrate’ (London, 1649, 4to). ‘Oὐρανῶv Oὐράνια,’ another of his sermons before parliament, preached on 19 April following, and published the same year (London, 4to), led to his acquaintance being sought by Cromwell, whom he attended as chaplain in Ireland. His sermon on the spiritual state of that country, preached before parliament on 28 Feb. 1649–50, occasioned the passing of an ordinance for the re-endowment of Trinity College, Dublin, and the establishment there of six salaried parliamentary preachers. On 8 March 1649–50 Owen was appointed preacher to the council of state. In the autumn he attended Cromwell in Scotland, and, having taken the engagement, was intruded into the deanery of Christ Church, Oxford, on 18 March 1650–1, in the room of [q. v.], being about the same time appointed preacher at St. Mary's. On 24 Oct. 1651 he preached before parliament the thanksgiving sermon for the victory of Worcester; on 6 Feb. 1651–2 Ireton's funeral sermon. At Oxford offices were accumulated upon him. On 15 June 1652 Cromwell, then chancellor of the university, placed him on the board of visitors, on 9 Sept. following nominated him vice-chancellor, and on 16 Oct. put the chancellorship in commission and made him first commissioner. About the same time he was placed on the commission for licensing translations of the Bible, and on 20 March 1653–4 on that for approving public preachers. On 27 June following he was returned to par-

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Owen liament for the university, but was unseated on account of his orders. He served, however, as chairman of a committee of referees appointed by the Protector's council (14 July 1654) to devise means for the Christian composing of differences in the kirk of Scotland, and as one of the associates of the committees of toleration, and for the consideration of the proposals of Manasseh ben Israel (1654–5).

Owen retained the vice-chancellorship until 1658, when (9 Oct.) he was replaced by Dr. John Conant. In his execution of the office he displayed equal vigour and moderation. When the royalist rising was anticipated in the spring of 1654–5, he made himself responsible for the security of the town and county of Oxford, and was frequently to be seen riding at the head of a troop of horse, well mounted, and armed with sword and pistol. In defiance of academical etiquette, he dressed more like a layman than a divine, but was so far from slovenly that Anthony à Wood represents him as a fop; he was a strict disciplinarian, and curbed the license of the terræ filii by arresting one of them with his own hands and sending him to Bocardo (the university gaol). He fostered learning and piety, and discouraged persecution. He connived at the public use of the proscribed liturgy of the church of England in the house of Dr. Thomas Willis [q. v.], in the immediate vicinity of Christ Church; and to his influence it was mainly due that the Laudian professor of Arabic was secured in the possession of his Berkshire rectory [see ].

Notwithstanding the heavy responsibilities which his various offices entailed, Owen found time to pass through the university press several elaborate theological treatises. In his ‘Diatriba de Divina Justitia seu Justitiæ Vindicatricis Vindiciæ’ (1653, 8vo) he attempted to cut the ground from under the feet of the Socinian by deducing the absolute necessity of satisfaction for sin from the constitution of the divine nature. He also plunged afresh into the Arminian controversy, opposing to John Goodwin's ‘Redemption Redeemed’ his ‘Doctrine of the Saints' Perseverance explained and confirmed,’ published in 1654 (fol.), with ‘Animadversions on Dr. H. Hammond's “Dissertationes Quatuor”’ (on the evidence for episcopacy afforded by the Ignatian epistles) [see, and ]. In 1655, at the request of the council of state, he entered the lists against John Biddle [q. v.] with ‘Vindiciæ Evangelicæ; or the Mystery of the Gospel vindicated and Socinianisme examined,’ 4to. This work brought Hammond into the field with a defence of the orthodoxy of Grotius, whom Owen had classed among Socinians. Owen replied in ‘A Review of the Annotations of Hugo Grotius in reference to the Doctrine of the Deity and Satisfaction of Christ; with a Defence of the Charge formerly laid against them’ (1656, 4to). To the same period belong several of his best known minor treatises—viz. ‘Of the Mortification of Sin in Believers,’ 1656, 8vo (2nd edit. 1658); ‘Of Communion with God the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, each Person distinctly in Love, Grace, and Consolation,’ 1657, 4to, a piece of wire-drawn mysticism, severely criticised by William Sherlock [q. v.] in 1674 (cf. infra); ‘Of Schism: the true Nature of it discovered and considered with reference to the Present Differences in Religion,’ 1657, 8vo, an ingenious attempt to exonerate nonconformists from the guilt of schism, which provoked an answer from Daniel Cawdry [q. v.], to which Owen rejoined in ‘A Review of the True Nature of Schism,’ &c., 1657, 8vo; ‘Of Temptation: the Nature and Power of it,’ &c., 1658, 8vo; ‘Of the Divine Original, Authority, Self-evidencing Light and Power of the Scriptures,’ 1659, 8vo. Appended to this work were some ill-judged ‘Considerations on the Prolegomena and Appendix to the late Biblia Polyglotta,’ which drew from Brian Walton [q. v.] an animated reply; and ‘Some Exercitations’ (in Latin) against the quaker theory of inspiration, which were answered with unfriendly heat by Samuel Fisher in ‘Rusticus ad Academicos’ [see, 1605–1665]. Owen attended the synod of independent divines held at the Savoy, 29 Sept. to 12 Oct. 1658, when the confession of faith known as the Savoy Declaration was formulated.

After the abdication of Richard Cromwell Owen was commissioned by the council of state to raise a volunteer corps for the defence of Oxford. During the critical period which ensued he was in London, straining every nerve to secure Monck's adhesion to the independent faction. Ejected from Christ Church on 13 March 1659–60, he returned to an estate which he had bought at Stadhampton, and while there published Θεολογούμενα παντοδαπά, an encyclopædic Latin treatise on the history of religion and theology, natural and revealed, from the creation to the reformation. While the bill for uniformity in the prayers and ceremonies of the church of England was pending, he tendered a temperate protest against it in ‘A Discourse concerning Liturgies and their Imposition,’ London, 1662, 8vo. This tract


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Owen appeared anonymously, as also did his able ‘Animadversions’ on the ‘Fiat Lux’ of Vincent Canes [q. v.], published the same year (London, 8vo). The latter work was acknowledged by Owen in the ‘Vindication’ of it which he published in 1664. So signal was the service which by these works he was thought to have rendered to the protestant religion that Lord Clarendon offered him high preferment if he would conform to the church of England. He remained true to his principles, however, and in 1664–5 was indicted at Oxford for holding religious assemblies in his house. He escaped without imprisonment, and removed to London. There he pleaded the cause of religious liberty in several anonymous tracts: ‘Indulgence and Toleration considered’ and ‘A Peace Offering or Plea for Indulgence,’ both published in 1667, 4to; and ‘Truth and Innocence vindicated’ (1669, 8vo), a reply to Samuel Parker's ‘Discourse on Ecclesiastical Polity.’ There, too, he published (also anonymously) ‘A Brief Instruction on the Worship of God and Discipline of the Churches of the New Testament’ (1667, 12mo); ‘The Nature, Power, Deceit, and Prevalency of the Remainders of Indwelling Sin in Believers’ (1668, 8vo); and, with his name, in 1669, ‘A Practical Exposition on Psalm cxxx’ (4to), and a ‘A Brief Declaration and Vindication of the Doctrine of the Trinity’ (12mo), both of which have been frequently reprinted (see bibliographical note, infra). His elaborate ‘Exercitations on the Epistle to the Hebrews,’ of which the first volume appeared in 1668 (fol.), were completed in four volumes, of which the last was not published until after his death (London, 1684, fol.). In 1670 a minute by Owen on the Conventicle Bill was submitted to the House of Lords. In 1671 he issued an argument on behalf of the strict observance of the Sunday, entitled ‘Exercitations concerning the Name, &c., of a Day of Sacred Rest’ (London, 8vo); and in 1672 a dissuasive against the practice of occasional conformity adopted by some of the less strict dissenters, entitled ‘A Discourse concerning Evangelical Love, Church Peace, and Unity’ (London, 8vo).

Owen had powerful friends at court, among them Sir John Trevor, secretary of state in the Cabal; George, first earl of Berkeley [q. v.]; Roger Boyle, first earl of Orrery [q. v.]; Arthur Annesley, first earl of Anglesey; and Philip, fourth lord Wharton [q. v.], whom he frequently visited at Wooburn, Buckinghamshire. In 1674 the Duke of York whiled away a vacant hour at Tunbridge Wells in discussing with him the rights and wrongs of nonconformity; and Charles II gave him a private audience at London, and a thousand guineas for distribution among the sufferers by the penal laws. Hence, notwithstanding the Conventicle Act and the revocation of the declaration of indulgence, by which its operation had been at first suspended, Owen was suffered to preach; and, after dallying with Baxter's project for a union of the presbyterians and independents, accepted in 1673 the pastorate of an independent congregation in Leadenhall Street. Among his flock were Fleetwood, Desborough, and Sir John Hartopp [q. v.] In 1674 appeared his ‘Vindication of Some Passages in a Discourse concerning Communion with God from the Exceptions of William Sherlock’ (London, 8vo). In his ‘Πνευματολογία; or a Discourse concerning the Holy Spirit,’ published the same year (fol.), his ‘Nature of Apostasie from the Profession of the Gospel, and the Punishment of Apostates declared’ (1676, 8vo), as also in his ‘Reason of Faith’ (1677, 8vo), and ‘Doctrine of Justification by Faith through the Imputation of the Righteousness of Christ’ (1677, 4to), his ‘Χριστολογία; or a Declaration of the Glorious Mystery of the Person of Christ, God and Man,’ &c. (1679, 4to), his ‘Church of Rome no Safe Guide’ (1679, 4to), and his ‘Union among Protestants’ (1680, 4to), he bent his whole strength to the task of arresting the movements towards Rome on the one hand, and rationalism on the other.

In 1680 an attack on dissenters by Stillingfleet, in one of his sermons, drew from Owen an anonymous ‘Brief Vindication of the Nonconformists from the Charge of Schisme’ (4to), to which Stillingfleet replied by a ‘Discourse of the Unreasonableness of Separation.’ Owen rejoined with ‘An Enquiry into the Original Nature, Institution, Power, Order, and Communion of Evangelical Churches’ (1681, 4to), wherein he endeavoured to prove that the ecclesiastical polity of the first two centuries was congregational. This proved to be Owen's last controversy. In 1681 he published at London ‘Φρονήμα τοῦ Πνεύματος; or the Grace and Duty of being Spiritually-Minded’ (4to); and anonymously in the following year ‘A Brief and Impartial Account of the Nature of the Protestant Religion’ (4to, reprinted in 1690); and a tract ‘Of the Work of the Holy Spirit in Prayer’ (8vo). He was engaged in passing through the press his ‘Meditations and Discourses on the Glory of Christ,’ when a protracted and painful illness—he suffered from both stone and asthma—terminated his life on St. Bartholomew's Day, 24 Aug. 1683. His remains were


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 interred on 4 Sept., with many tokens of public respect, in Bunhill Fields, his funeral sermon being preached by [q. v.] His library was sold by auction on 6 May 1684.

Owen married twice. By his first wife (married at Fordham, died 1676) he had eleven children, all of whom died in his lifetime. By his second wife (who survived him), Dorothy, widow of Thomas D'Oyley of Chiselhampton, near Stadhampton, married at London, by license, dated 21 June 1677, he had no children. She brought him a considerable fortune, which enabled him to keep his carriage and a villa, first at Kensington, and afterwards at Ealing.

Owen was a tall and strong man, the dignity of whose appearance was not diminished by a slight scholar's stoop. His somewhat irregular features were animated by a smile of extreme sweetness. Portraits of him, by Ryley, are in the Baptist College, Bristol, and the Lancashire Independent College; another, by an unknown painter, is in the National Portrait Gallery, London: this has been engraved in line for Thane's series of historical portraits. For other engravings see his ‘Sermons,’ ed. 1721, fol., and the collective editions of his works, Palmer's ‘Nonconformists' Memorial,’ and Middleton's ‘Biographia Evangelica’ (cf., Cat. of Portraits, p. 137).

Owen ranks with Baxter and Howe among the most eminent of puritan divines. A trenchant controversialist, he distinguished himself no less by temperateness of tone than by vigour of polemic. His learning was vast, various, and profound, and his mastery of calvinistic theology complete. On the other hand, his style is somewhat tortuous and his method unduly discursive, so that his works are often tedious reading. His only essay in elegant scholarship consists of some poor elegiacs in Cromwell's honour, published in the ‘Musarum Oxoniensium Ἐλαιοφόρια’ in 1654.

The ‘Meditations and Discourses on the Glory of Christ,’ which he was revising at the time of his death, appeared at London in two parts; pt. i. in 1684 (fol.), and pt. ii. in 1691 (fol.). Both parts were reprinted in one volume in 1696, 8vo; 2nd edit. 1717, 12mo; later reprints Glasgow, 1790; Sheffield, 1792, 8vo; London, 1830? and 1856? 8vo. A manuscript, ‘Answer unto Two Questions; with Twelve Arguments against any Conformity to Worship not of Divine Institution,’ found among his papers upon his death, fell into Baxter's hands, and occasioned his ‘Catholick Communion defended,’ 1684. The tract thus answered before it was printed was first published in 1720 (London, 8vo). Other posthumous works appeared at London as follows: ‘The Principles of the Doctrine of Christ unfolded in two short Catechismes,’ 1684, 12mo; ‘A Treatise on the Dominion of Sin and Grace,’ 1688 (Edinburgh, 1739, 12mo); ‘The True Nature of a Gospel Church and its Government,’ 1689, 4to; ‘A Guide to Church Fellowship and Order according to the Gospel-Institute,’ 1692, 12mo; ‘Two Discourses concerning the Holy Spirit and His Work—the one of the Spirit as a Comforter, the other as He is the Author of Spiritual Gifts,’ 1693 (Glasgow, 1792), 8vo [see ]; ‘The Gospel Grounds and Evidences of the Faith of God's Elect,’ 1709, 8vo; Twenty-five Discourses suitable to the Lord's Supper,’ ed. R. Winter, 1760 (Leeds, 1806), 12mo.

Owen's ‘Works’ (including, however, only the Χριστολογία, the treatises on communion with God, sin, temptation, the death of Christ, and the ‘Display of Arminianism’) and sermons (including tracts, Latin orations during his vice-chancellorship, with his ‘Life’ by Asty) were published at London in 1721, 2 vols. fol. Two collective editions, including sermons, appeared during the nineteenth century: (1) by T. Russell, with ‘Life’ by W. Orme, London, 1826, 28 vols. 8vo (the last seven volumes being the ‘Exercitations on the Epistle to the Hebrews,’ ed. Orme); (2) by W. H. Goold, with ‘Life’ by A. Thomson, London, 1850–5, 24 vols. 8vo.

Particular treatises have appeared, where not otherwise specified, at London, as follows:  ‘Certaine Treatises formerly published at severall times now reduced into One Volume, viz. (i.) “A Display of the Errours of the Arminians concerning Free-will;” (ii.) “A Treatise of the Redemption and Reconciliation that is in the Blood of Christ;” (iii.) “The Duty of Pastors and People distinguished,”’ 1649, 4to.  ‘Eshcol,’ 1655? 1700, 1764, 12mo.  ‘Of the Mortification of Sin in Believers,’ 1668, 1783, 12mo; and in John Wesley's ‘Christian Library,’ vol. x. 1820, 8vo.  ‘The Nature, &c., of the Remainders of Indwelling Sin in Believers,’ 1675, 1792, 1805, 1826, 12mo; Paisley, 1772, 12mo; Glasgow, 1825, 12mo.  ‘A Brief Declaration and Vindication of the Doctrine of the Trinity,’ 1676, 1719, 8vo.  Θεολογούμενα Παντοδαπά, Bremen, 1684, 4to.  ‘A Brief Instruction in the Worship of God and Discipline of the Churches of the New Testament,’ 1688, 8vo.  ‘Meditations and Discourses of the Glory of Christ,’ 1717, 1830? 12mo; Glasgow, 1790, 8vo; Sheffield, 1792, 8vo; Edinburgh, 1856? 8vo.  ‘Salus Electorum Sanguis Jesu,’


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 Edinburgh, 1755, 1845, 8vo.  ‘A Dissertation on Divine Justice’ (translation of the ‘Diatriba de Divina Justitia’ by J. Stafford), 1770, 12mo.  ‘Of Temptation,’ Paisley, 1772, 12mo; London, 1805, 1831, 12mo.  Πνευματολογία, Glasgow, 1791, 2 vols. 8vo.  ‘Two Discourses concerning the Holy Spirit and His Work,’ Glasgow, 1792, 8vo.  ‘Two Treatises: (i.) “The Mortification of Sin in Believers;” (ii.) “Of Temptation,”’ 1809, 8vo.  ‘A Treatise on the Nature and Beauty of Gospel Worship,’ 1812, 8vo.  ‘A brief and impartial Account of the Protestant Religion,’ 1822.  ‘The Grace and Duty of being Spiritually-Minded,’ ed. T. Chalmers, Glasgow, 1826; London, 1834, 12mo.  ‘A Treatise on the Sabbath’ (being the ‘Exercitations concerning the Day of Sacred Rest’), ed. J. W. Brooks, 1829, 1831, 12mo.  ‘Of Communion with God,’ Edinburgh, 1849, 32mo; and London, 1859, 12mo.

Several volumes of selections from his more popular works have also appeared, viz.: ‘Oweniana,’ ed. Arthur Young, London, 1817, 8vo; ‘Selections from the Works of John Owen,’ ed. W. Wilson, London, 1826, 12mo; ‘Select British Divines,’ ed. Bradley, London, 1824–27, vols. xiii–xxv.; ‘Christian Library,’ ed. J. Wesley, vols. x. and xi.; a Dutch translation of the ‘Exercitations on the Epistle to the Hebrews,’ by Simon Commenicq, appeared at Amsterdam, 1733–40, 7 vols. 4to; an English abridgment of the original, entitled ‘Exposition of the Epistle to the Hebrews,’ with ‘Life’ of Owen by E. Williams, was published in London, 1790, 4 vols. 8vo; and a reprint of the entire work, with the treatise on the Sabbath, ed. Wright, Edinburgh, 1812–14, 7 vols. 8vo.

OWEN, JOHN (1766–1822), divine, was son of Richard Owen of Old Street, London. He entered St. Paul's school on 18 Oct. 1777, whence he proceeded in 1784, as Sykes exhibitioner, to Magdalene College, Cambridge (admitted a sizar 10 May). He migrated to Corpus Christi College, and was admitted a scholar on the old foundation on 17 Nov. 1784, graduated B.A. in 1788, became a fellow 11 April 1789, and proceeded M.A. in 1791.

In the spring of 1791 he went on the continent, at first as tutor to a young gentleman. In September 1792 he left Geneva for the south of France, and arrived in Lyons to find it in the hands of a revolutionary mob. He with difficulty escaped to Switzerland. On his return to England, early in 1793, Owen published some letters which he had addressed to W. Belsham as ‘Travels into Different Parts of Europe, in the years 1791 and 1792, with familiar Remarks on Places, Men, and Manners,’ London, 1796, 2 vols. Soon after his return he was ordained, and on 1 Sept. 1794 he married and settled at Cambridge. On 11 March and 5 Aug. 1794 Owen preached two assize sermons in the university church of St. Mary's. These were published at Cambridge in 1794. In the same year he published ‘The Retrospect; or Reflections on the State of Religion and Politics in France and Great Britain,’ London, 1794. At the end of 1795 Owen was presented by [q. v.], bishop of London, to the curacy of Fulham, Middlesex, where he resided for seventeen and a half years. Porteus had presented him in 1808 to the rectory of Paglesham, Essex; and when, in 1813, Dr. Randolph, Porteus's successor, required Owen's residence there, he resigned the Fulham curacy. He afterwards became minister of Park Chapel, Chelsea.

Owen's connection with the British and Foreign Bible Society is his chief claim to remembrance. From 23 April 1804—a few weeks after its foundation—until his death he was its principal secretary, although unpaid. He wrote, in defence of the society, a ‘Letter to a Country Clergyman, occasioned by his Address to Lord Teignmouth, &c., by a Suburban Clergyman;’ and to an attack by


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Owen Thomas Twining and Major Scott Waring on the society's work in India, on the ground that a conquered nation's free exercise of religion was improperly interfered with, Owen replied in ‘An Address to the Chairman of the East India Company,’ &c., London, 1st, 2nd, and 3rd editions, 1807. At the request of some of its members Owen wrote ‘The History of the Origin and First Ten Years of the British and Foreign Bible Society,’ 2 vols. London, 1816. This was reviewed by Robert Southey [q. v.] in the ‘Quarterly Review,’ 1827, vol. xxxvi. pp. 1–28, who, while calling Owen one ‘of its most amiable as well as able advocates,’ severely censures the society's translations. A French translation of the work appeared.

In August 1818 Owen went abroad, to assist at the establishment of a branch bible society in Paris, and to inspect the progress of the Turkish New Testament, then in course of preparation for the society by Professor Kieffer. He visited Pastor Oberlin and the branches established at Zurich, St. Gall, Constance, and other Swiss towns. He returned to England in December, and published ‘Brief Extracts from Letters on the Object and Connexions of the British and Foreign Bible Society,’ London, 1819. He also wrote ‘Two Letters on the Subject of the French Bible,’ London, 1st and 2nd editions, 1822. This was in reply to a charge of Socinianism brought against the translation.

Owen died at Ramsgate on 26 Sept. 1822, and was buried at Fulham. His widow, whose maiden name was Charlotte Green, and several children survived him. One of his daughters married the eldest son of William Wilberforce [q. v.]

Besides sermons and the works noted, Owen wrote: 1. ‘The Christian Monitor for the last Days,’ 1799; 2nd edit. 1808. 2. ‘An Earnest Expostulation with those who Live in the Neglect of Public Worship,’ London, 1801. 3. ‘The Fashionable World Displayed,’ by ‘Theophilus Christian, esq.,’ 1st edit. London, 1804; 2nd edit., with a dedication to Beilby Porteus, bishop of London, 3rd edit. 1805; 5th edit. 1805; 7th edit. 1809. An eighth edition was published before 1822. A New York edition from the fifth London edition appeared in 1806.

 OWEN, JOHN (1821–1883), Welsh musician, known in Wales by his pseudonym of ‘Owain Alaw,’ was born in Crane Street, Chester, on 14 Nov. 1821. His father was the captain of a small vessel; both parents were natives of Llanfachreth, Merionethshire, but had settled in Chester shortly before his birth. Owen began life as apprentice to a firm of cutlers, Messrs. Powell & Edwards; but in 1844, having shown a conspicuous aptitude for music, he gave up business and became a professional musician. He was organist in succession of Lady Huntingdon's chapel, St. Paul's, Boughton, St. Bridget's, St. Mary's, and the Welsh church (all in Chester), and at the same time gave tuition in music. It was, however, in connection with the Eisteddfod that he attracted the notice of his fellow-countrymen. His success in winning the prize for the best anthem at the Royal Eisteddfod of Rhuddlan (1850) was the first of a series of victories which gave ‘Owain Alaw’ a recognised place among Welsh musicians. He devoted himself energetically to composition, and during the next few years wrote a large number of glees, songs, and anthems, published in various Welsh musical magazines of the time. His only attempts at more ambitious work were the ‘Prince of Wales Cantata’ (1862) and the ‘Festival of Wales’ Cantata (1866). In 1860 appeared under his editorship the first number of ‘Gems of Welsh Melody,’ a collection of Welsh airs, published in four numbers at Ruthin (2nd edit. Wrexham, 1873). His fluent and melodious style of composition made him one of the most popular of Welsh musicians, and he was also much in request as conductor and adjudicator. He died at Chester on 29 Jan. 1883.

 OWEN, JOSIAH (1711?–1755), presbyterian minister, was born about 1711. He was a nephew of James Owen (1654–1706) [q. v.], and of Charles Owen, D.D. [q. v.], and is generally said to have been the son of their eldest brother, David Owen (d. 7 Oct. 1710, aged 59), minister of Henllan, Carmarthenshire. He may have been a posthumous


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Owen son, but he has probably been confused with David Owen's son Jeremiah, who was educated by James Owen, succeeded his father at Henllan, and, after holding various pastorates in England, died in America. Josiah Owen was educated by his uncle, Charles Owen, at Warrington. His first settlement was at Bridgnorth, Shropshire (after 1729), which he left in 1735. He then ministered for short periods at Walsall, and at Stone, Staffordshire. Some time after June 1740 he became minister of Blackwater Street Chapel, Rochdale, Lancashire. His ministry was immediately successful, and his chapel was enlarged in 1743. He came into note in connection with the rebellion of 1745 as a strong writer against the political and religious principles of the Jacobites. To him has been assigned the pun on the word Jacobite which belongs to Daniel Burgess (1645–1713) [q. v.] He published a sermon with the title, ‘All is well; or the Defeat of the late Rebellion … an exalted and illustrious Blessing,’ 1746. In his treatment of Thomas Deacon [q. v.], whom he calls ‘the Master-Tool’ of the faction, he was particularly harsh. An anonymous letter (dated ‘Manchester, 6 Oct. 1746’) in the ‘Whitehall Evening Post’ (11 Oct.) scoffed at Deacon for pulling off his hat when passing the ‘rebel heads’ of his unfortunate son and another insurgent, affixed to the Manchester Exchange. ‘Some suppose he offers up a prayer for them, others to them.’ This letter was defended in the ‘Gentleman's Magazine’ by a letter (dated ‘Manchester, 19 Dec. 1746’) bearing the odd signature ‘Philopatriæ,’ which Owen subsequently acknowledged as his. John Byrom [q. v.] referred, in ‘An Epistle to a Friend,’ to ‘the low-bred O——ns of the age,’ and published a ballad on ‘the zealot of Rochdale,’ under the title of ‘Sir Lowbred O .. N, or the Hottentot Knight,’ retorting a coarse gibe by Owen. The latter was fully persuaded of the goodness of his cause, but not sufficiently careful of his facts. Though nominally a presbyterian, he was warmly opposed to ‘synods and assemblies,’ and is said to have been instrumental (about 1750) in prevailing with the ‘provincial meeting’ of the ‘associated ministers of Lancashire’ to discontinue the customary questions respecting the internal state of congregations. In debate, as in pamphlet war, he was famous for his powers of retort. His ministry at Rochdale closed on 14 June 1752. He became minister of the presbyterian congregation at Ellenthorp, Yorkshire, where he died in 1755, ‘æt. 44.’ He published, in addition to separate sermons, including funeral sermons for Charles Owen, D.D. (1746), and James Hardman (1746): 1. ‘A Letter to the Bishop of Litchfield and Coventry,’ &c., 1746, 8vo; two editions in the same year. 2. ‘Jacobite and Non-juring Principles freely Examined,’ &c., Manchester, 1747, 8vo; 2nd edit. 1748, 8vo: to some copies of the second edition a new title-page, ‘The Humourist,’ &c., was prefixed (among other answers was ‘A Letter to the Clergy of Manchester,’ probably by Thomas Percival (1719–1763), of Royton Hall). 3. ‘Dr. Deacon try'd before his own Tribunal,’ &c., Manchester, 1748, 8vo.

OWEN, LEWIS (d. 1555), Welsh administrator, was the son of Owen ap Hywel ap Llywelyn of Llwyn, Dolgellau. Under Henry VIII he became vice-chamberlain of North Wales and baron of the exchequer of Carnarvon, taking from the latter office his familiar title of ‘y Barwn Owen.’ He was sheriff of Merioneth for 1545–6 and 1554–5, and he represented the county in the parliaments of 1547, of the spring of 1553, and of 1554. He lived at Cwrt Plas yn dre, Dolgellau, which, until its recent removal to Newtown, was pointed out to tourists as ‘Owen Glyndwr's parliament-house.’ Owen met his death at the hands of ‘Gwylliaid Cochion Mawddwy,’ the red-haired brigands of the Mawddwy district. Empowered by a commission to extirpate the band, he and John Wynn ap Maredudd of Gwydir one Christmas-eve seized over eighty of them, and in due time had them executed. The rest swore revenge, and on 11 Oct. 1555 waylaid him near Mallwyd as he was returning from the Montgomeryshire assizes. His retinue fled, leaving only his son-in-law, John Lloyd of Ceiswyn, to defend him, and he fell pierced with more than thirty wounds. The spot is still known as ‘Llidiart y Barwn,’ the Baron's Gate.

Owen married Margaret, daughter of Robert Puleston, rector of Gresford, and had seven sons—John Lewis of Cwrt Plas yn dre, Hugh of Cae'rberllan, Edward of Hengwrt, Gruffydd of Peniarth, Robert of Bron-


text: 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Arethas

title: 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Arethas


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Owen quickly that when seven years old he was made 'usher.' He had a passion for reading, and books were lent to him by the clergyman, doctor, and lawyer. He read the ordinary standard literature, including 'Robinson Crusoe' and Richardson's novels, and believed every word to be true. He afterwards read histories, books of travel, and biography. Some methodist ladies lent him a number of religious books, and he says that the study of controversies convinced him before he was ten years old that there was 'something fundamentally wrong in all religions' (own Life, p. 4). This early passion for reading disappeared under the pressure of business, and in later life he read little except newspapers and statistical books. He acted as usher for two years, and then became assistant in a small shop of grocery and haberdashery. He became anxious to see the world, and was allowed, when he had completed his tenth year, to join his eldest brother William, then a saddler in London. After a short stay in London he was placed with McGuffog, an honest and shrewd Scotsman, who had been a pedlar, and had started a successful business in Stamford, Northamptonshire. McGuffog had become famous for the sale of the finer articles of female wear, and Owen became a good judge of different fabrics. His master was kind and considerate, and he was able to spend many hours before and after his day's work meditating and reading in Burleigh Park. Seneca was a favourite author. The McGuffogs belonged to different churches ; and Owen now developed his early scepticism, and reluctantly abandoned Christianity. He had, however, previously written a letter to Pitt, the prime minister, "suggesting measures for better observance of the Sabbath. The publication a few days later of a proclamation in that sense was supposed by the McGuffogs and himself to be a consequence, though he afterwards perceived that it could be only a coincidence.

Meanwhile Owen's ambition was confined to business. After four years at Stamford and a brief holiday he became assistant in a haberdasher's shop on old London Bridge, where he received: 25l. a year, besides board and lodging. His employers were kind, but the work so severe in the busy season that he had only five hours for sleep. He was glad to accept an offer of 40l. a year for a similar situation with a Mr. Satterfield in Manchester. At this time the cotton trade was in process of rapid development. Owen formed an acquaintance with a mechanic named Jones, who made wire bonnet-frames for Satterfield, and was anxious to make some of the new machinery for cotton spinning. Owen borrowed 100l. from his brother, and took a workshop with Jones, where they soon had forty men at work. Owen had to keep the boots, manage the men, and look as wise as he could till he had learnt his new business. Affairs prospered till a capitalist offered to buy him out. He was glad to set up for himself, took a room, and began spinning yarn, which he sold to the agent of some Glasgow manufacturers. He formed an alliance with two young Scotsmen, James McConnell and John Kennedy (1769-1855) [q. v.], afterwards successful cotton spinners, about 1790, and was soon clearing six pounds a week. A Mr. Drinkwater of Manchester required a manager for' a large business. Owen applied for the post, and, though he was younger and demanded a larger salary than other applicants, Drinkwater was pleased by his manner, and appointed him. He had now charge of a mill employing five hundred persons, and filled with machinery of which he knew little. Drinkwater left the whole business to him. He studied the arrangements carefully, and mastered them thoroughly in six weeks. He had, he says, by this time learnt his great principle— that, as character is made by circumstances, all anger is out of place. His management of the workmen was at any rate successful, and they were soon distinguished for sobriety and good order. The knowledge of fabrics acquired at McGuffog's stood him in good stead. The mill produced the finest kinds of yarn, the cotton being spun into 120 hanks to the pound. Owen increased this by 1792 to 250, and afterwards to 300, hanks to the pound. He was among the first to make use of the Sea Island cotton, none of the North American cotton having been used previously to 1791, in the new machinery. Owen's skill greatly increased the profits of the business, while his own mind was being impressed by the reflection that more attention was generally paid to the 'dead' than to the 'living machinery.' During the first year Drinkwater proposed a new agreement with him, which he gladly accepted. He was to have 400l. for the second year, 500l. in the third, and a partnership, with a quarter of the profits, in the fourth. He was becoming known in Manchester; he was on friendly terms with Dalton the chemist, and became a member of the 'Literary and Philosophical Society of Manchester.' He still spoke, he says (ib. p. 31), an imperfect mixture of Welsh and English, but apparently made an impression upon more cultivated minds. He records a dispute with John Ferriar [q. v.], says that he had the best of the argument, though the worst


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Owen of the rhetoric, in discussions with Coleridge, who visited Manchester (ib. p. 36), perhaps during his tour for starting the 'Watchman ;' and gained the name of the 'reasoning machine,' He was also intimate with Robert Fulton, who was in Manchester in 1794, and lent him money to carry out inventions connected with canal navigation (ib. pp. 64-70). Drinkwater desired to withdraw from the partnership agreement in consequence of some family arrangements, and offered to continue Owen as manager at any salary he chose to name. Owen at once gave up the agreement, but refused to remain as manager. He stayed for a year till Drinkwater could find a competent successor, and in 1794-5 formed the 'Chorlton Twist Company,' two old-established firms taking some part in the enterprise. Owen superintended the new mills which were built at Chorlton, and made the purchases. His business led him frequently to Glasgow. He there made the acquaintance of Anne Caroline Dale, daughter of David Dale [q. v.] Dale was the proprietor of mills at New Lanark on the falls of the Clyde, which he had started in 1785 in combination with Arkwright. Miss Dale immediately confided to a friend that she would never take any husband unless Owen were the man. Owen was diffident until the friend revealed the confidence to him. Miss Dale, when he ventured to speak, said that she must first obtain the consent of her father, to whom he was still unknown. The father, as a man of strong religious principles, was likely to be repelled by Owen's views. A happy thought suggested itself to Owen, that he should introduce himself by offering to buy the New Lanark mills. Owen, with the help of his partners, agreed to buy the mills for 60,000l., to be paid in twenty annual instalments. Dale took a liking to Owen in the course of their meetings, and after a time consented to accept the young man as his son-in-law. In spite of many discussions upon religious questions, Dale and Owen remained upon affectionate terms till Dale's death in 1806. Mrs. Owen also retained her early religious opinions, which her husband treated with tenderness.

Owen says that his property at this time was worth 3,000l. (ib. p. 55), but his income was rising rapidly. He had for two years occupied Greenheys at Manchester, the residence of De Quincey's father. He married Miss Dale on 30 Sept. 1799 ; and, leaving the Chorlton mills to his partners, undertook the 'government' of New Lanark about 1 Jan. 1800. The Chorlton mills were soon afterwards sold.

Owen now resolved to carry out the plans I suggested by his experience at Drinkwater's. His workmen and their families numbered about thirteen hundred, and there were four or five hundred pauper children. The men were given to drink and dishonesty ; and the children, chiefly sent from workhouses, though Dale had tried to provide for their comfort and instruction, were terribly overworked. Owen took no more pauper children, and began to improve the houses and machinery. The workmen disliked him as a foreigner and obstructed his plans. He won upon them by arranging stores at which good articles were sold for low prices, and still more by his conduct during the American embargo in 1806. He stopped the mills for four months, but paid the workmen their full wages, amounting to more than 7,000/. He was now able to introduce other measures for diminishing temptations to drink and checking pilferers. He was especially proud of a quaint arrangement for marking each man's conduct daily by a 'silent monitor,' a label coloured variously to indicate goodness and badness and placed opposite each man's post. He was anxious to apply his principles more thoroughly by forming the characters of his people from the first, and resolved to set up schools. He was still only a partner, with a ninth share of the profits and 1,000l. a year as manager. He calculated the outlay for a proposed school at 5,000l. besides an annual expense. The partners made some difficulties ; and, although they gave him a piece of plate with a flattering inscription, they hesitated to co-operate in his plans. He agreed to buy them out, the business being valued at 84,000l., and the profits during the ten years of the firm's existence having been 60,000l., after paying five per cent, on the capital. A new partnership was now formed, in which Owen had the largest of five unequal shares besides his 1,000l. a year. The new partners, however, objected to his measures, and it was finally decided that the works should be sold by auction. The partners spread discouraging accounts of the result of Owen's management, intending to buy the mills for a small sum. Owen meanwhile was tired of partners who looked merely to profit, and resolved to find men who would sympathise with his aims. He circulated a pamphlet, called 'A New View of Society' (revised by Francis Place, according to Mr. Holyoake's Life and Last Days, p. 18), describing his principles, and found ready support. He proposed to raise 130,000l. in ten shares, of which he held five himself; John Walker of Arno's Grove took three ; Joseph Foster of Bromley, William Allen [q. v.], Joseph Fox (a dentist), Michael Gibbs


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Owen (afterwards lord mayor), and Jeremy Bentham had one share a piece. Owen proposed that five per cent, should be paid on capital, and the whole surplus devoted to general education and improvement of the labourer's condition. Owen returned to Glasgow for the auction with Allen, Foster, and Gibbs, and, after an exciting contest, the business was knocked down to him for 114,100l. The net profit of the four years' partnership had been 160,000l. Owen was enthusiastically received, apparently at the beginning of 1814, by his workmen upon his return, and had now for a time a free hand for his projects. The population was about two thousand five hundred (own Life, p. 130).

Owen's new school system was to provide his 'living machinery.' He had been interested in the plans of Bell and Lancaster, which caused most of the educational discussion of the day, and had subscribed to both committees. He presided at a public dinner given to Lancaster at Glasgow in 1812 and made an impressive speech (given in the Appendix to his Life). His system at New Lanark showed much sense and benevolence. There were schools for all the children under twelve, at which age they could enter the works. Owen, however, was especially proud of his infant school, where children were received as soon as they could walk. He claimed to be the founder of infant schools. His ' institution for the formation of character,' which included schools of three grades, was opened on 1 Jan. 1816. His first principle was that the children should never be beaten ; that they should always be addressed kindly, and instructed to make each other happy. He took for teacher of his infant school a man who could scarcelv read or write, but was patient and fond of children. He used to teach by objects, avoided overstrain, and thought that books should hardly be used for children under ten. Dancing, music, and drilling were an essential part of the system, and he declares that his school children were the 'happiest human beings he ever saw' (own Life, p. 135). His infant school was imitated by Lord Lansdowne, Brougham, and others, to whom he transferred his master in order to start a new school at Westminster. The New Lanark institutions had now become famous. Owen says (ib. p. 114) that during the ten years preceding 1824 the annual number of visitors was two thousand. He lived from 1808, with his family and Mrs. Owen's four sisters, at Braxfield House, previously occupied by the well-known judge [see ], and there received his distinguished guests. His acquaintances included many clergymen, from the Archbishop of Canterbury (Sutton) downwards ; Wilberforce, Clarkson, and other abolitionists ; Malthus, Mackintosh, and the utilitarian group — Bentham, James Mill, and Francis Place. Owen's views were at the time in favour of paternal government, and showed no democratic tendency. He was opposed to Malthusian views, in which he observes (ib. p. 104) that Mrs. Malthus agreed with him, and to the laissez-faire tendencies of the economists. The tory government were disposed to take him up. Lord Liverpool received him ; and Lord Sidmouth had his essays circulated by government in order to elicit comments from qualified people. J. Q. Adams, then United States minister in London, took copies for the United States ; the ambassadors of Austria and Prussia consulted him ; and he declares that Napoleon was converted at Elba by reading his essays, and would have applied their principles if the sovereigns of Europe had not interfered in 1815 (ib. iii. 202 ; an unpublished letter of Place, communicated by Mr. Graham Wallas, notices the despatch of a pamphlet to Elba). The Grandduke Nicholas (afterwards emperor of Russia) visited him at New Lanark, and offered, he says, to take two million of the ' surplus population 'of England and establish a Russian New Lanark under Owen (ib. p. 140). He became acquainted with the English royal family, and especially the Duke of Kent. Owen thus became a prophet. He attributed his remarkable successes at New Lanark, not to the singular combination of good business qualities with genuine benevolence and mild persistence which seems to have attracted all who met him, but to the abstract principle which he began to preach as a secret for reforming the world. This doctrine, which he never wearied of repeating, was that, as character is made by circumstances, men are therefore not responsible for their actions, and should be moulded into goodness instead of being punished. He began to preach this with apostolic fervour. His first public action, however, was more practical. He called a meeting of manufacturers at Glasgow in 1815, and proposed a petition for removing the tax upon the import of cotton. This was carried unanimously. He then proposed resolutions approving a measure for limiting the hours of children's labour in mills. No one would second them, but Owen went to London to lay his proposals before government. The first Sir Robert Peel undertook to bring before the House of Commons a measure founded upon them. Peel consented to the appointment of a committee to investigate


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Owen the question of the employment of children in mills. The manufacturers of Glasgow endeavoured to injure Owen by charges, supported by the minister of Lanark, to the effect that he had used seditious language in his address on the institution for the formation of character. Sidmouth had already seen the address, and dismissed the charge as ridiculous. Owen attended the committee at every meeting for two sessions. He was disgusted by the concessions made by Peel to the manufacturers, and handed over his duty to Nathaniel Gould and Richard Oastler [q. v.]. The Factory Act of 1819 was the result of this agitation. Owen had proposed that no child under ten should be employed in any factory; that no child under eighteen should be worked for more than ten and a half hours; and that some schooling should be given, and a system of inspection provided (see Appendix in second volume of Life).

The distress which followed the peace led to the formation of a committee, under the presidency of Archbishop Sutton, for which Owen prepared a report, afterwards published, suggesting as the only remedy for the evils a system of educating and of 'villages of unity and co-operation' (own Life, p. 129). Sturges Bourne's committee on the poor law, then sitting, declined to examine him, and he decided to expound his views through the press. On 30 July 1817 he published a letter in the papers, followed by others on 9 and 10 Aug., announcing a meeting for 14 Aug. at the City of London Tavern. He circulated thirty thousand copies of these papers, besides other documents, at a cost of 4,000l. The mail-coaches were delayed twenty minutes beyond the hour of starting by his mass of papers. A crowded and successful meeting was held on the 14th, and adjourned to the 21st. Owen had been challenged to give his religious views. He had discovered that the religions of the world were the great obstacle to progress, and he resolved to announce this piece of news to the meeting, though expecting to be torn in pieces. He made the statement in the most dramatic fashion, and thereby, he thought, struck the death-blow of bigotry and superstition. A pause was followed by a few hisses, when an 'electric shock' seemed to pass through the audience, and a burst of 'heartfelt applause' drowned all dissent. Some 'political economists,' however, talked against time, and, to secure peace, Owen permitted his motion for appointing a committee to be negatived.

He declares that when the meeting met he was the most popular man of the day, and that the government was 'at his mercy' (Life. p. 158). Though allowance must be made for Owen's self-esteem, it is remarkable that after this declaration he retained so many supporters among the respectable. His simplicity seems to have disarmed antipathy. From this time he devoted himself to the propagation of his theories, and to schemes intended to give them effect. In the autumn he went abroad, with introductions to great men, including one from the Duke of Kent to the Duke of Orleans. He travelled with Professor Pictet of Geneva; they went to Paris with Cuvier, crossing the Channel in a French frigate. He was introduced to La Place, Alexander von Humboldt, and other distinguished men at Paris. He then went to Switzerland, where he saw Sismondi, visited Oberlin at Freiburg, Pestalozzi at Yverdun, and Fellenberg at Hofwyl. He visited Frankfort, where the Germanic diet was sitting, and afterwards Aix-la-Chapelle, to attend the congress of 1818. He saw many diplomatists, and presented papers to the Emperor Alexander, who treated him rather contemptuously. After another visit to Switzerland, he returned to England about the beginning of 1819. He offered himself in 1819 as a candidate for the Lanark burghs; but some of the electors were bribed in his absence, and he never entered parliament. His declaration of war against religion had alienated most of his supporters, and the newspapers had turned against him. A committee, however, was formed (26 June 1819) to carry out his plans, of which the Duke of Kent was president. The committee included not only high dignitaries, but such economists as Ricardo and Torrens. It failed, however, to raise 8,000l. out of the 60,000l. proposed, and was dissolved in December 1819 (documents in Appendix to Life, vol. ii.) The Duke of Kent died in January 1820. A meeting was soon afterwards held by the county of Lanark to consider the existing distress. Owen attended, and drew up a report (dated May 1820, and given in Life, vol. ii.)

Owen's political economy was heterodox and extremely crude. He held the common opinions about over-production and the bad effects of all machinery in displacing labour. He proposed to substitute the spade for the plough, and he announced the socialist doctrine that 'the natural standard of value' is 'human labour.' He advocated a scheme in which, as he says, he had been anticipated by John Bellers [q. v.], one of whose pamphlets he reprinted. He proposed to form village communities of two to three hundred families, partly on the New Lanark model, which were to be arranged round common buildings, and


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Owen in which all labour was to be for the good of the community. Owen circulated the report at his own expense; it was translated into French and German, and proposals were made for carrying the scheme into effect. He first held that three-quarters of a million would be required, but consented at last to make a beginning with 50,000l. A. J. Hamilton offered a site at Motherwell, not far from Lanark. Owen subscribed 10,000l., but ultimately withdrew from the scheme in consequence of differences of opinion with other promoters. A community was started at Orbiston, near Motherwell, under themanagement of Abram Combe, brother of Andrew and George Combe [q. v.], who had visited New Lanark in 1820, and become an ardent disciple of Owen. Combe disapproved of the thoroughly communistic principles which were adopted in September 1826, after the scheme had been at work for a year. His death, on 27 Aug. 1827, grave a death-blow to the scheme, and the buildings were pulled down in 1828.

Owen also withdrew gradually from New Lanark. His associate Allen naturally objected to his anti-religious principles, and, as a quaker, to the singing, dancing, and military drill. Various disputes arose, and an agreement was made in January 1824 (given in New Existence, v. 201) which gave effect to some of Allen's views. Owen was discontented with the management, and finally withdrew in 1829. He now made a small settlement upon each of his children, and considered himself at liberty to spend the rest of his money upon his various projects.

Meanwhile Owen was energetically promulgating his doctrines. In 1821 he started a periodical called 'The Economist,' which ran for a year, and was followed by 'The Political Economist and Universal Philanthropist,' 1823, and 'The Advocate of the 'Working Classes,' 1827-7 (, History of Co-operation, i. 108), more or less inspired by him. He visited Ireland in 1823, argued with professors at Maynooth, and held meetings at the Rotunda in Dublin (18 March, 12 and 19 April 1823), which resulted in the formation of the Hibernian Philanthropic Society. There was, however, a strong opposition, and these meetings, according to Mr. Holyoake (Life and Last Days, p. 8), 'sealed the fate of his social reform,' In 1824 Owen heard from an Englishman, who, after settling in America, had visited Braxfield, of an estate of 30,000 acres on the Wabash river, in the states of Illinois and Indiana. It belonged to a German colony who had emigrated from Würtemberg in 1804, under the guidance of a Lutheran teacher named Rapp. They combined business energy with peculiar religious views, and had prospered upon this land, to which they had given the name Harmony. They now wished to move on. Owen sailed in the autumn of 1824, and bought the village, with 20,000 acres, for 30,000l. in April 1825. On his way Owen was invited to give two addresses in the Hall of Representatives at Washington, which were attended by the president and other officials. He at once proceeded to Harmony, where nine hundred people soon assembled, and a provisional committee of management was appointed.

Owen returned to England in 1825, and made fresh journeys to 'New Harmony' at the end of the same year, and again in the winters of 1826–7 and 1827–8. A constitution was framed on 5 Feb. 1826 upon communist principles. Owen, though he had intended a longer period of probation, was asked to manage the affairs for a year. Communities sprang up in imitation at various laces, and several were grouped round New Harmony. A Mr. Maclure founded a school system on a large scale. Difficulties, however, soon arose. The heterogeneous collection of colonists gradually gave up their communism. Owen on his visits did his best to patch things up, and gave large sums of money. He found, however, that the communities had deserted his principles, and in 1828 had finally to break off his connection with the place, leaving the communities to do as they pleased. Owen had in one way or other spent upon this experiment over 40,000l. He had given to his sons Robert and William two shares in the New Lanark property, which they soon afterwards again made over to him when his funds ran low. Ultimately he settled upon them the New Harmony property, reserving for himself an annuity of 300l., which for many years was his only means of support. The rest had been spent on his various philanthropical enterprises and publications (, Threading my Way, pp. 261-3).

While in England, in the following summer, Owen received an application from some persons to whom the Mexican government had granted lands in Texas to help him in colonising. He sailed on 22 Nov. 1828 with introductions to the Mexican authorities, and was received with high honours by the president, Victoria. He was told that congress would grant him a territory fifty leagues broad, stretching through 13½° of latitude. It was only necessary to change the law which made profession of Catholicism necessary in Mexican territory. In the winter, however, a new party came into power,


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Owen and no more was heard of the grant to Owen. He returned by the United States, and held a public discussion at Cincinnati on 1 April 1829, dined with President Jackson and the secretary of state, Van Buren, and brought back pacific messages from them to the English foreign secretary, Lord Aberdeen, who gave him an interview.

Owen's schemes had failed, as might have been expected, even upon his own principles. He had laid the greatest stress at New Lanark upon the necessity of forming character' in infancy, and he might have inferred that miscellaneous collections of unprepared people would not have the necessary qualities for success in new undertakings. He now set about propagating his doctrine by lectures, and by promoting various associations. A 'London Co-operative Society' had been started in 1824, with rooms in Burton Street, Burton Crescent, where discussions were held, afterwards transferred to Chancery Lane (, ii. 113). Here J. S. Mill and Charles Austen and others had hand-to-hand fights with the 'Owenites' (, Autobiography, p. 123-5). The 'Co-operative Magazine' was started in January 1826, and gave accounts of the New Harmony" community. It was published during the next three years as a sixpenny monthly. In 1830 it gave way to the 'British Co-operator' and the Co-operative Miscellany,' and other journals expounded Owen's theories" (, ii. 123, 136, 129). Many societies were started, and congresses'—the name is said to have been then first applied to such gatherings—were frequently held in 1829, and for some years later. Owen held meetings; he gave Sunday lectures at the Mechanics' Institute in Southampton Buildings, until objections arose, and afterwards at the Institute of the Industrious Classes,' and in Burton Street. In 1832 he started a scheme which caused much excitement. He had published since 14 April 1832 a penny paper called 'The Crisis,' and in that periodical he announced in June the formation of an association to promote the exchange of all commodities upon the only 'equitable principle' of giving equal values of labour. To carry out this, an Equitable Labour Exchange' was opened on 3 Sept. 1832 at a building in Gray's Inn Road, called the Bazaar. It had belonged to one Bromley, who had pressed Owen to use it for a new society, and Owen had thought it suitable for his experiment, which had already been partly set going elsewhere. Any goods might be deposited in it; labour notes, which had been elaborately contrived to avoid forgery, were given in exchange, and the goods deposited might be bought in the same currency. The system was exceedingly crude, and indeed scarcely intelligible. There was, however, a rush to the exchange. A large amount of deposits was made, and the example was imitated, especially at Birmingham. Difficulties soon arose. Bromley made exorbitant claims for rent, though Owen had understood that he had offered his premises gratuitously. It was determined to move the exchange to Blackfriars. Bromley in January 1833 made a forcible entry into the premises, and Owen paid large sums to settle the matter. Bromley tried to appropriate the scheme himself, but soon failed. The exchange was moved to Charlotte Street, Fitzroy Square, where Owen, helped by his son Robert Dale Owen, continued to lecture for some time, and a new constitution was framed. It only survived for a short time; Owen made up a deficiency of 2,500l, for which he held himself to be morally, though he was not legally, responsible.

Owen's activity continued for several years, and had a great effect in stimulating the co-operative movement in the country, though exciting comparatively little public interest. He took part in the co-operative congresses, of which seven met from 1830 to 1834, and in the succeeding 'socialist congresses,' of which there were fourteen from 1835 to 1846, and was frequently chairman (, ii. 182-96 for a list of these congresses). He took the part of the Dorset labourers convicted in 1834, whose case caused much excitement at the time. The chief organ of the party was the New Moral World,' a weekly journal by Robert Owen and his disciples, which was continued from 1834 to 1841. It called itself the organ of the 'Association of all Classes of all Nations,' and at a later period the 'Gazette of the Universal Community Society of Rational Religionists.' The early volumes contained many communications from Owen. A 'Book of the New Moral World' by Owen himself appeared in seven parts (with some changes of title) between 1826 and 1844. It contains some of the fullest statements of his doctrines. Owen's expectations became rasher and vaguer as his real influence declined. Mr. Holyoake gives an account of his activity as a travelling lecturer as late as 1838 (i. 102). He had, however, been nearly forgotten by the general public when, in 1840, he was presented to the queen by Lord Normanby, who was denounced on the occasion (24 Jan. 1840) by Bishop Philpotts in the House of Lords. The bishop had to admit that Owen's character was irreproachable, though his principles were abominable. Owen was after-


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Owen wards president of the short-lived community at Queenwood, Hampshire, but not an active member. From 1844 to 1847 he was again resident in America, and after his return published Revolution in Mind and Practice,' 1849, and 'Letters to the Human Race,' 1850. He spent many of his later years with a family at Sevenoaks.

Owen continued his appeals to the public in various forms, till his mind was evidently growing feeble. In November 1850 he began to publish a weekly 'Journal,' which lasted till the end of 1852. He petitioned parliament in 1851 for a committee to examine his schemes. During the same year he circulated tracts, translated into French and German, for distribution among visitors to the exhibition. He began to publish his 'Rational Quarterly' in June 1853, including letters to the Prince Consort and ministers. About the same time he proposed himself for election by any constituency which would elect him 'free of all trouble and expense.' He was converted to spiritualism by a medium in America about 1854, and in 1854 began the 'New Existence of Man upon Earth, with an outline of his early life.' Eight parts of this appeared, and contain some documents in regard to his Irish experience and his disputes with Allen. It afterwards diverges into spiritualism, and gives communications from Franklin, Jefferson, the Duke of Kent, and some posthumous dramas by Shakespeare. Owen held meetings at St. Martin's Hall in 1855, where he announced the inauguration of the true millennial state of human existence,' and afterwards published a series of tracts called 'The Millennial Gazette.' His autobiography, a very interesting and clear account of his early life, appeared in 1857-8. In 1857 be convened a Congress of the Advanced Minds of the World.' He presented himself at an educational conference held at Willis's Rooms in June 1857 under the presidency of the Prince Consort; and he appeared at the first two meetings of the Social Science Association held at Birmingham in October 1857 (where he read a paper), and at Liverpool in October 1858. Though very feeble, he was placed on the platform and introduced by his old friend Brougham to the meeting. He pronounced a few words, and was then carried to bed. After a fortnight's confinement he begged to be taken to his native place, Newtown. He went thither, made another journey to Liverpool, and finally returned to Newtown, and died there in the hotel on 17 Nov. 1858, in presence of his son, Robert Dale Owen. He was buried very simply in the grave of his parents in the ruins of St. Mary's, after the Anglican service had been performed at the new church. Many of his old friends and persons interested in socialism and co-operation attended the funeral. Mr. Holyoake soon afterwards delivered an eloquent oration upon him at a meeting at Rochdale, under the presidency of Mr. Jacob Bright.

He left three sons—Robert Dale, Daniel Dale, and David Dale Owen-the first of whom is separately noticed; the other two became professors in American colleges.

Owen's works have been mentioned above. The early New View of Society, or Essays on the Principle of the Formation of the Human Character,' originally published in 1813-16, is reprinted at the end of his 'Life,' and gives his essential views. The numerous periodicals which he wrote or inspired, and various unpublished addresses and discussions, contain little more than repetitions of the same theme. A list of the more important is given in Mr. Holyoake's 'Life and Last Days'. A drawing in crayons of Owen by S. B. and a medallion by Leverotti are in the National Portrait Gallery, London.

Owen may be described as one of those intolerable bores who are the salt of the earth. To the whigs and the political economists he appeared chiefly as a bore. Macaulay describes him (letter of 8 June 1831) at a fancy ball trying to convert Sheil to co-operation, and then proving to the catholic Mrs. Sheil that moral responsibility did not exist. Miss Martineau (Autobiogr. i. 230-3) describes his attempts to convert her in the same spirit; and he seems to have been regarded in such circles as a social butt, whose absurdity was forgiven for his good humour (see, Table Talk, i. 73, 'Of People with One Idea'; and for a characteristic criticism in 1816, , Political Essays, pp. 97-104). He was essentially a man of one idea; that idea, too, was only partially right, and enforced less by argument than by incessant and monotonous repetition. Yet he will certainly be recognised as one of the most important figures in the social history of the time. His great business capacities enabled him to make an important stand against some of the evils produced by the unprecedented extension of the factory system. He was not in sympathy with any political party. Cobbett, who shared some of his views, treats him with contemptuous ridicule (Political Register, August 1817). Southey, while approving his social aims, was alienated by his religious teaching (see especially, Colloquies, 1829, p. 62, where he is called the 'happiest, most bene-


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Owen ficent, and most practical of all enthusiasts,' and pp. 132-47). Although Bentham was his partner and Ricardo joined his committee, his condemnation of the laissez-faire principle and his denunciations of competition made him the opponent of the utilitarians. In his later years his head seems to have been turned. His absorption in his idea led him to attribute to it a kind of magical efficacy, and his adventures in America showed a complete forgetfulness of all the businesslike precautions to which the success of New Lanark had been due. He had succeeded by training the young, and fancied that he could make a community by simply collecting an untrained mass of needy adventurers. Yet his influence upon the growth of co-operation in its subterranean period was enormous, and he sowed the seed of a harvest which has been reaped by his disciples.

Personally, according to Robert Dale Owen, who no doubt speaks the truth, he was most amiable. His ruling passion was benevolence; he was exceedingly fond of children; spent a fortune to promote the welfare of his race, and had a command of temper which enabled him to conciliate opponents. He had apparently all the obstinacy without the irritability generally attributed to his countrymen. His son says that he was so like Brougham in person that he might have been taken for him (, Threading my Way, p. 180); but, with a vanity as great as Brougham's, he had what Brougham unfortunately wanted — the power of making even his vanity subsidiary to his principles.

 OWEN, ROBERT DALE (1801–1877), publicist and author, was born in Glasgow on 9 Nov. 1801, and was the eldest son of Robert Owen [q. v.] The New Lanark factory was then at the neight of its prosperity, and Owen received an excellent education. At the age of fifteen he was deeply influenced by a brief but important acquaintance with Clarkson, and in the following year was sent to the Swiss college of Hofwyl, then flourishing under the direction of Fellenberg. The influences thus received confirmed his innate tendency to a somewhat inconsiderate philanthropy, and induced him to sympathise with his father's unfortunate transfer of his industrial and social activity from Scotland to America, where he hoped to find a wider scope for his projects as a moral and economical reformer. The circumstances connected with the New Harmony experiment have been mentioned under Owen, Robert. Its mismanagement is fully admitted in the autobiography of Robert Dale Owen, who sums up: 'A grave mistake as to money; yet better than the opposite extreme.' He had joined it in 1826; 'in the spring of 1827 New Harmony ceased to be a community,' and he returned to Europe with Frances Wright [see Darusmont, Frances], in whom, as well as in her enterprise at Nashoba towards the gradual conversion of the negroes into free labourers, he had conceived a deep interest. After making the acquaintance of Lafayette and other distinguished personages, he returned to America, enabled his father 'to get rid of certain swindlers in whom he had placed an unmerited confidence,' edited for a time the ' New Harmony Gazette,' and in 1828 commenced at New Harmony, with Frances Wright, the publication of the 'Free Inquirer,' an avowedly socialistic journal, full of attacks on Christianity ancl the established order of things. This naturally involved him in much obloquy, which was not diminished either by the tracts he published in conjunction with 'Frances Wright, or by his platform discussions, and his endeavour to deal with the delicate question of Malthusianism in his 'Moral Physiology' (1831). In 1832 this phase of his career came to an end; and he devoted himself to the public affairs of the State of Indiana, being elected to the legislature in


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Owen upon confession at the hour of death.' He quotes Chillingworth with approbation. He had intended to amplify his work under the title 'Imago Imaginis,' in which he was to have shown 'that Rome papal was an image of Rome pagan.' The catalogue of his books, with those of Ralph Button, 'to be sold by auction by John Dunmore in Ivy Lane, on 7 Nov. 1681,' is extant.

 OWEN, THOMAS (d. 1598), judge, second son of Richard Owen, a merchant of Shrewsbury, by his wife Mary (d. 1568), daughter of Thomas Ottley of the same town, was born at Condover in Shropshire. He went to Oxford, and graduated in arts on 17 April 1559, either at Broadgates Hall or at Christ Church. On 18 April 1562 he entered at Lincoln's Inn, and was called to the bar on 4 June 1570. He sat in parliament as M.P. for Shrewsbury in 1584–5. He became reader of the Inn in Lent term 1583, and a serjeant in 1589. He was appointed a member of the council of the marches of Wales at the end of 1590 (Cal. State Papers, Dom. 1581–90, p. 703), and a queen's serjeant on 25 Jan. 1593. ‘By his unwearied industry,’ says Wood (Athenæ Oxon. 3rd. edit. i. 673) ‘advanced by a good natural genie and judgment, he became a noted counsellor, and much resorted to for advice.’ He collected reports of decisions in the common pleas in law French, which were translated and printed in folio in 1656, and had generally a high reputation. Lord Burghley selected him as conveyancer to settle deeds in his behalf on the intended marriage of his granddaughter, Lady Bridget, with the Earl of Pembroke's eldest son in 1597 (State Papers, Dom. ed. Green, 1595–1597, p. 497). On 21 Jan. 1594 he became a judge of the court of common pleas, not, as Dugdale says, of the king's bench, but was not knighted. Further promotion to be master of the wards was expected for him, when he died on 21 Dec. 1598. He was buried in Westminster Abbey, on the south side of the choir, in a marble tomb with a recumbent effigy (, Westminster Abbey, ii. 83 ;, Westminster Abbey, ii. 246). By his first wife, Sarah, daughter of Humphrey Baskerville, he had five sons—among whom was Sir Roger Owen [see below]—and five daughters. His second wife, Alice, is separately noticed. A portrait of Owen, by an unknown painter, was in 1866 in the possession of Mr. Reginald Cholmondeley.

(1573–1617), the eldest surviving son, matriculated from Christ Church, Oxford, in 1590, and graduated B.A. in 1592. He became a barrister of Lincoln's Inn in 1613, and was treasurer of the inn in 1613. His residence was at Condover, Shropshire. He was elected M.P. for Shewsbury in 1597, and for Shropshire in 1601, 1605, 1610, and 1614. He was sheriff of Shropshire (1603–4). On 30 May 1604 he was knighted. In parliament he often sided with the opposition, although he was a champion of the clergy, and in 1610 he argued that the king must resign all claim to levy impositions by his own will. On 21 May he was one of the members deputed by the commons to confer with the lords on the question of impositions, and complicated the discussion by irrelevant remarks on the laws of foreign countries. His assiduous support of views unfavourable to the king led to his dismissal from the commission of the peace for Shropshire when the parliament of 1614 was dissolved. Owen was buried at Condover on 5 June 1617. Camden wrote of him, ‘multiplici doctrina tanto patre dignissimus.’ He married Ursula, daughter of William Elkin, the second husband of his stepmother, Alice, but left no male issue, and Condover passed to his brother, Sir William (, Alumni ;, Hist. ii. 106, 238, 249 ; , Worthies, ed. Nichols, iii. 81 ; and , Sheriffs of Shropshire, p. 99).

 OWEN, THOMAS (1557–1618), jesuit, born in Hampshire in 1567, studied humanities at Douay, and law at Paris, and entered the Society of Jesus at Lyons in 1579. Afterwards he taught rhetoric and philosophy at Tournon, where he became prefect of studies and spiritual director. Eventually he was summoned to Rome, and appointed, first, confessor, and then minister in the English College. Father Robert Parsons [q. v.], on his deathbed in 1610, made a request to the father-general, Claudius Aquaviva, that Owen might succeed him in the office of rector of the college and prefect of the English mission. The recommendation was adopted, and Owen held those offices until his death on 6 Dec. 1618. A status of the English College at Rome for 1613 says that Thomas Owen and his brother Cyprian were of a very ancient catholic house. Owen was the author of the following


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Owen  from the French: 1. 'A Letter of a Catholike Man beyond the Seas, written to his Friend in England, inclvding another of Peter Coton, Priest, of the Society of Iesus, to the Queene Regent of France. . . Tovching the imputation of the death of Henry the IHI, late K. of France, to Priests, Iesuites, or Catholicke Doctrine' [St. Omer], 1610, 8vo. The 'Catholike Man' subscribes himself T. A. — Audoenus, being the latinised form of Owen. 2. 'The Copie of a Letter sent from Paris to the Reverend Fathers of the Society of Iesus who live in England. Contayning an Answere to the Calumniations of Anti-Coton against the same Society in generall, and Fa. Coton in particuler [St. Omer], 1611, 4to. 3. 'Cardinal Perron's Letter to Isaac Casaubon,' St. Omer, 1612.

 OWEN, THOMAS (1749–1812), agricultural writer, son of Thomas Owen of Anglesey, was born there in 1749. On 20 March 1767 he matriculated from Jesus College, Oxford, and graduated B. A. in 1770; migrating to Queens College, he proceeded M.A. in 1773. In 1779 he was presented to the living of Upton Scudamore, Wiltshire. He died in Anglesey in May 1812. Owen was author of: 1. 'Three Books of M. Terentius Varro translated into English,' Oxford University Press, 1800, 8vo. 2. 'Γεωπονικά, Agricultural Pursuits, translated from the Greek,' 2 vols. London, 1805–1806, 8vo. 3. 'Fourteen Books of Palladius on Agriculture,' London, 1807, 8vo. Donaldson describes these translations as 'honest performances.'

A contemporary (1764–1814), son of William Owen of Conway, Carnarvonshire, was elected scholar of Westminster School in 1780, matriculated as student from Christ Church, Oxford, on 26 May 1785, and graduated B.A. in 1789; he was presented to the living of South Stoke, Oxfordshire, in 1792, and Llandyfrydog, Anglesey, in 1794, where he also became an 'able, active, and upright magistrate.' He died in 1814, and was buried in Llanfair-is-Gaer Church, Carnarvonshire. He wrote 'Methodism Unmasked; or the Progress of Puritanism,' 1802, 8vo.

 OWEN, WILLIAM (1469?–1574), lawyer, born about 1469 in Pembrokeshire, was the son of Rhys ap Owen of Henllys, near Newport, Pembrokeshire, by Jane, daughter of,' Owen Elliott of Earwere in the same county. According to his son's account, he was a fellow-student and near 'cousin of Sir Thomas Elyot' [q. v.] An ancestor, Richard de Hoda, had married Ales, the only daughter of Nicholas Fitzmartin, great-grandson of Martin of Tours and lord of the barony of Kemes in Pembrokeshire ; in virtue of this descent, Owen, after a suit which lasted nineteen years, recovered the barony of Kemes from Sir John Tuchet, son of James, lord Audiey (beheaded in 1497), into whose family it had passed in the female line (, Britannia, 6th ed. 1607, p. 512). In the deed of release, which is dated 21 Aug. 1543, Owen is described as of Maesgwenith in the county of Monmouth, but the family residence was Henrys, Pembrokeshire. Owen became a member of the Middle Temple, where he was 'chamber-fellow with Sir Anthony Fitzherbert' (1470–1538), whose 'Abridgment of the Laws' ('La Graunde Abridgement,' London, 1514) he is said to have written out. He himself compiled a much less bulky abridgment, 'in soe small a volume as the price thereof was but 12d.,' entitled 'Le Bregement de toutes les Estatutes. . . nouvellemet Abbreges correctes, et amendes,' par 8vo (London, 1521, 8vo, 2nd ed. 1528; both editions, being printed by Pynson). The running title of the work is 'Le Bregement de Statutis,' and the articles are in alphabetical order (, Typographical Antiquities, ed. Herbert, i. 268, 281). Williams, in his 'Eminent Welshmen,' attributes to Owen an earlier edition, dated 1499, of which there is a copy without a title-page in the British Museum. Many years before his death he gave up the practice of the law, and retired to Pembrokeshire, where, among other offices, he held that of vice-admiral for South Wales.

He was also one of the Pembrokeshire members of the commission appointed in 1537 for the division of Wales into counties. He died 29 March 1574, and was buried the following day at Nevern, Pembrokeshire (, Pembrokeshire, i. 239 ; Arch. Cambr. 1867, 3rd ser. xiii. 132). According to his son's account, he 'was present at the coronation and proclamation of thirteen kings and queens of England, and lived under the fourteenth, and also saw eight bishops in


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Owen St. Davids, and all his lifetime was never sick but once, and at his dying day wanted not one tooth,'

Owen married Elizabeth, daughter of Sir George Herbert, brother to William, first earl of Pembroke of the Herbert line (second creation), and by her he had, among other children, George Owen (1652-1613) [q. v.] He had also several illegitimate children, some of whom are mentioned in Dwnn's 'Heraldic Visitations' (i. 157).

 OWEN, WILLIAM (1530?–1587), Welsh poet, better known by his bardic name of William Lleyn or Llŷn, was born at Llangian in Lleyn, Carnarvonshire, being, according to tradition, a natural son of one of the Griffiths of Cefh Amwich, by whom he was educated for the church. The date of his birth is generally given as 1540, but since Gruflydd Hiraethog, who was his bardic teacher, died in 1550, the date of 1530 is more probable (Cambrian Biography, p. 342, sub William Lleyn and G. ap Rhys, Llenyddiaeth Gymreig, p. 308 n.) Owen is always described as M.A., but where he graduated appears unknown. He was appointed vicar of Oswestry in 1683, and died there in 1587 (, Diocese of St. Asaph, p. 655).

He was present at the Eisteddfod held by virtue of a royal commission at Caerwys 22 May 1568, when he received the degree of chief bard (, Tours in Wales, ii. 92-5). It was probably on that occasion that he had a poetical contest with a rival bard, Owain Gwynedd. He is almost the only Welsh poet of the day who was not a Roman catholic, and he is credited with having instructed in the rules of Welsh prosody Edmund Prys [q. v.], the evangelical psalm-writer. Owen shows himself a master of style, but his poems also possess such intrinsic merit that he is generally considered the greatest Welsh poet in the period between Dafydd ab Grwilym and Goronwy Owen. Nine pieces by him, including his elegy on his teacher, Gruffydd Hiraetnog, are printed in 'Gorchestion Beirdd Cymru,' ed. 1864, pp. 250-77, and three others were published in 'Y Brython,' iii. 117, 263, 394; but a large number still remain unpublished. Nearly one hundred poems by him — some of them probably duplicates are found in thirty-three different volumes (between 14866 and 15059) in the Additional MSS., in the British Museum, while No. 15065 contains a Welsh vocabulary by him, transcribed by Lewis Morris. Among the Hengwrt MSS., now at Penairth, No. 110 is in the poet's own handwriting, while Nos. 168, 232, 247, and 253a contain some of his poems (see 'Catalogue of Hengwrt MSS.' in Arch. Cambr. 3rd ser. xv. 209, 352, 4th ser. i. 73, 323). His own elegy was written by Rhys Cain. Another poet of the name of Huw Lleyn is supposed by some to have been his brother.

 OWEN, WILLIAM (1769–1825), portrait-painter, was born at Ludlow, Shropshire, in 1769. He was the son of a bookseller, and, after having been educated at Ludlow grammar school, was sent in 1786 to London, where he became a pupil of Charles Catton, R.A., the coach-painter. Soon afterwards he attracted the notice of Sir Joshua Reynolds, whose picture of 'Perdita' he had copied, and he was indebted to Reynolds for some valuable advice. He entered the Royal Academy as a student in 1791, and his earliest exhibited works—a portrait of a gentleman and a view of Ludford Bridge, Shropshire—appeared in the exhibition of 1792; and in each succeeding year, except 1823, he contributed portraits and occasional rustic subjects. Some of the most eminent men of the day were among his sitters, and his portraits were truthful and characteristic, although somewhat weak in drawing. Among them were the Duke of Cumberland, afterwards king of Hanover; William Pitt, Lord Grenville, Lord-chancellors Eldon and Loughborough, Lord-chief-justice Abbott, afterwards Lord Tenterden; Sir William Scott, afterwards Lord Stowell; the Marquis of Stafford, the Earl of Bridgewater, Admiral Viscount Exmouth, Dr. Howley, bishop of London, and afterwards archbishop of Canterbury; and Sir John Soane, R.A. His portraits of ladies were not equally successful. His fancy subjects included 'The Beggar's Daughter of Bednall Green,' 1801; 'The Schoolmistress,' engraved by James Ward, and 'A Sleeping Girl,' 1802; 'The Children in the Wood,' 1806; 'Girl at the Spring' and 'The Roadside,' 1807; 'The Fortune Teller,' 1808; and 'A Cottage Door: Summer Evening,' 1809.

Owen was elected an associate of the Royal Academy in 1804, and an academician in 1806, when he presented as his diploma work a 'Boy and Kitten,' In 1810 he was appointed portrait-painter to the Prince of Wales, and in 1813 principal portrait-painter