Thomas Wilson (rhetorician)

For other people with the same name, see Thomas Wilson (disambiguation).

Thomas Wilson, Esquire

Thomas Wilson (1524–1581), Esquire, LL.D.,[1][2] was an English diplomat and judge who served as a privy councillor and Secretary of State (1577–81) to Queen Elizabeth I. He is remembered especially for his Logique (1551)[3] and The Arte of Rhetorique (1553),[4] which have been called "the first complete works on logic and rhetoric in English".[5]

He also wrote A Discourse upon Usury by way of Dialogue and Orations (1572), and he was the first to publish a translation of Demosthenes into English.[6]

  1. ^ In his own Will, Wilson styles himself "Esquire", not "Knight". Will of Thomas Wilson, Principal Secretary to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth and a member of the Privy Council, Doctor (P.C.C. 1582, Tirwhite quire).
  2. ^ Montague-Smith, P.W. (ed.), Debrett's Peerage, Baronetage, Knightage and Companionage (Kelly's Directories Ltd, Kingston-upon-Thames 1968), p.865, makes him a knight, but this is not followed by Oxford Dictionary of National Biography or other reputable sources.
  3. ^ The Rule of Reason, conteinyng the Arte of Logique, set forth in Englishe, by Thomas VVilson (Imprinted at London: By Richard Grafton, printer to the Kynges Maiestie, An. M.D.LI). Full text at Umich/eebo (open).
  4. ^ For a text, see G.H. Mair (ed.), Wilson's Art of Rhetorique, 1560, Tudor and Stuart Library (Clarendon Press, Oxford 1909), at Internet Archive. Revised edition, 1562, at Internet Archive (Original page views).
  5. ^ J. Franklin, The Science of Conjecture (2001), p. 128.
  6. ^ Frederick Chamberlin: Elizabeth and Leycester Dodd, Mead & Co. 1939 p. 56