TYLER. 588 TYLER'S REBELLION. studying, lecturing, and writing letters to the New York IiuJependent and the New York Xation. In 1807 he acceiJtcd tlic chair of English at the University of Michigan, and in 1881 he was called to the chair of American history at Cornell, a po- sition wliieh he held until liis death. In 1881 he was ordained deacon in the Protestant Episcopal Church, and was advanced to the priesthood in 1883. Meanwhile he had puhlished his History of American, Literature During the Colonial Time (2 vols., 1878) and had won a wide reputation for scholarship. This history, which was continued in the two volumes entitled A hiterury History of the American lierohition (1897) and in the essays entitled Thr.ee Men of Letters (Bishop Berkeley, President Dwight, and Joel Barlow, 1895), "constitutes Professor Tyler's chief claim to remembrance. It liardly carries the story of our literature beyond the year 1783, but within its limits is cliaracterized by such accuracy and breadth of scholarship, such genial sympathy and attractiveness of style, that it is not likely to be superseded, and fully entitles its author to rank with the great literary historians of the world. Its chief defects are difTuseness and a failure to apply standards rigorously. Besides this his- tory, Tyler's most important work is a biogra- phy of Patrick Henry in the American States- men series (1887). He also published The Brawnville Papers (1869), devoted to the claims of physical culture: a revision of H. Morley's Manual of English Literature (1879) ; Memorial of E. K. Apgar (privately printed, 1886) ; and Glimpses of England (1898), a collection of his letters from England mentioned above. Consult a paper by W. P. Trent in the Forum for August, 1901, and one by G. L. Burr in Report of the American Historical Association ioT 1901 (vol. i.). TYLER, Ransom Hebb.^rd (1813-81). An American author, l)orn in Leyden, Mass. He studied law, and was admitted to the New York bar. He was elected to numerous local offices, including those of district attorney and county judge for Oswego County. An extensive traveler, he was also editor of the Oswego Gazette, and contributed widely to periodicals. He published The Bible and Social Reform (1863) ; American Ecclesiastical Law (1866); On Usury, Pawns, and Loans (1873), and several other works. TYLER, RoYALL (1757-1826). An American jurist and author, born in Boston. He graduated at Harvard College in 1770, studied law under John Adams, and was for a time aide to Cicneral Benjamin Lincoln, serving in the Revolution and in Shays's Rebellion in 1786. In 1790 he re- moved to Vermont, became a judge of the Supreme Court in 1794, and was Chief Justice from 1800 to 1806. His chief legal work was Reports of Cases in the Supreme Court of Yer- mont (1809-10). He wrote several clever and successful plays, of which one. The Contrast, a comedy partly in Yankee dialect, presented in New York in 1787, was the first American comedy produced by a regular professional dramatic company. Other plays were May Day, or Vew York in an Uproar (1787), and The Georgia Spec., or Land in the Moon (1797). He also contributed light, witty verse to periodicals and wrote a picaresque story, The Algerine Captive, or the Life and Adventures of Dr. Up- dike UnderhiU, Six Years a Prisoner Among the Algerines (1797); Moral Tales for American Youths (1800); and The Yankey in London (1809). Tyler's Contrast was published in 1790 and reissued in 1887 by the Dunlap So- ciety, with an introduction by T. J. McKee. Some of his worlc may be found in The Spirit of the Farmer's Museum (1801), for he helped Joseph Dennie (q.v.) to make The Farmer's Museum a success, and also in Dennie's late newspaper. The Portfolio, of which Tyler's sane literary criticism was an important feature. TYLER, Wat ( ?-1381). The principal leader of the English social revolt of 1381. Owing to the fact that he was captain of the Kentish in- surgents, he is generally supposed to have been a Kentishman ; but Kentish jury indictments re- cently published, and the best contemporary evi- dence, show that he was from Colchester in Essex. He should not be confounded with his colleague. Jack Straw, captain of Essex. The usual supposition drawn from his name, that he was a tiler by trade, is by no means certain, since a surname in the fourteenth century does not necessarily indicate the bearer's trade. Noth- ing is known of his life previous to the revolt. The usual unfavorable estimates of his character are based upon the hostile and unreliable testi- mony of Walsingham and Froissart. Even hos- tile sources are agreed as to his ability. His part in the organization of the revolt was second only to that of Jolm Ball, and he was certainly the chief factor in conducting it. The peasants' levies were summoned in his name, and impor- tant questions were submitted to his personal de- cision. On special occasions he acted as spokes- man of the insurgents, presenting their demand to the King. We are told on good authority that he was very eloquent. The extent of his impor- tance as a leader is shown by the entire collapse of the revolt after his murder at Smithfield. For his part of this movement, resulting in his death, see Tyler's Rebellion. TYLER'S REBELLION. The name usually applied to the English social revolt in 1381, from Wat Tyler, its chief leader. It had been prepared for years by the teacliing of a priest, John Ball (q.v.), in Southern and Eastern Eng- land, and from his home at Colchester it was silently organized throughout Essex, and thence in the adjoining counties, especially Middlesex, Sus- sex, and Kent. The brutal collection of an oppres- sive poll-tax greatly incensed the people, and gave occasion for the outbreak in Essex in the early part of June, 1381. The country was soon aflame, and a division under Wat Tyler and Jack Straw crossed the Thames at Erith, After captur- ing the Castle of Dartford, where Tyler was chosen leader, and securing the allegiance of the Mayor and Council of Canterbury, they marched, in irresistible force, on London. On June 12 they camped at Blackheath, a southeastern suburb, while the Essex men, under Jack Straw, gath- ered at Mile End. From all sides bands of in- surgents, from the most distant counties, marched on London, Corpus Christi (June 13) being the day of reckoning chosen. Disappointed in a promised conference at Blackheath with the young Richard II., whom the Council would not permit to land from his barge in the Thames, the insurgents on .June 13 marched on London. The London populace and
