MARTIN FARQUHAR TUPPER, D.C.L., F.R.S.

MR. MARTIN FARQUHAR TUPPER, widely known as the author of 'Proverbial Philosophy,' was born July 17, 1810, at No. 20, Devonshire Place, in the parish of Marylebone. He is the eldest son of a medical man, highly esteemed in his day, and possessed of an extensive practice at the West-End, the late Martin Tupper, Esq., F.R.S., to whom a baronetcy was twice offered,-in the first instance by the Earl of Liverpool, in the second, under the administration of the Duke of Wellington. This honour was proffered to Mr. Tupper, not alone as a mark of distinction to himself, but also to his elder brother Peter, who had, during the Peninsular War, evinced great diplomatic ability, and to whom the title had been first presented, but by whom it had been declined, on account of his having no son.

The family of Tupper (spelt Töpper in Germany, and Toupard in France and the Low Countries) is of ancient and honourable standing, and was originally German. During the persecution of the Lutheran Protestants by the Emperor Charles V., about the year 1548, the Töppers were exiled from Hesse Cassel; and Heinrich Töpper, the immediate ancestor of the "Proverbial Philosopher," settled, in 1551, in Guernsey, where he purchased an estate, and where his descendants still rank as one of the "first families" of the island. Rodolph Töpper, of German celebrity, is of the same staunch stock.

Those learned in heraldry tell us that the ancient armorial bearings of this family include the "Three Escallops Gules," dating from the Crusades.

During the reign of William and Mary, an ancestor of Martin

Farquhar Tupper, in the direct line of ascent, received from the sovereign a gold medal and chain, with the privilege descending to his heirs of wearing medal and chain before the king, and of bearing them on a canton in his coat of arms. John Tupper received this mark of distinction in recognition of an act of important service, rendered to the Crown at the risk of danger to life and limb. Recognizing the helpless condition of the French fleet, John Tupper conveyed intelligence of it to Admiral Russell, intelligence which led to the action and victory of La Hogue. This fact is slightly referred to by Macaulay in his History of England; but no mention is made of John Tupper, on his way to the British admiral, passing in an open boat through the midst of the French fleet, as it lay enveloped in dense fog.

A branch of the Tupper family sailed with the "Pilgrim Fathers" to the United States, where many of its descendants are still to be found. A Major John Tupper, an ancestor of the subject of this memoir, commanded the Marines at Bunker's Hill, after the death of Pitcairn, and gained for the corps their crown and laurel, as recorded at the Horse Guards. It is related that "by a strange coincidence there was in Washington's army another Major Tupper (originally of the same expatriated stock), and it is known to the family that when the cousins met in opposite ranks, some courtesies generously proffered by the 'rebel' were indignantly refused by the royalist."

The future popular author received his early education at the Charterhouse, during the period when the late Rev. Dr. Russell filled the important post of Head-Master. In due course of time he was transferred to Christ Church, Oxford, where he took his degree of B.A. in 1832, of M.A. in 1835, and of D.C.L. at a more recent period, 1847. At Christ Church, as a member of the Aristotle class, he was a fellow-student of many distinguished men, as the late Duke of Newcastle, the late Marquis of Dalhousie, the late Earl of Elgin, the Right Hon. W. E. Gladstone, and Professors Jelf, Hill, Doyle, and Vaughan.

Having taken his degree of M.A., as we have already seen, Martin Tupper became a student at Lincoln's Inn, and was called to the Bar in the Michaelmas Term, 1835. He has, however, never practised as a barrister. About the same period commenced Mr. Tupper's literary career. He appears to have contributed to the periodicals of the day, but his first important essay in literature was a small volume entitled 'Sacra Poesis.'