follow, on 'Vital Dynamics,' being an attempt to connect science with the philosophy of Coleridge. Re-appointed Hunterian orator in 1847, he supplemented his former Coleridgean exposition with another equally incomprehensible to his hearers, on 'Mental Dynamics; or, Groundwork of a Professional Education.' In 1853 he was made D.C.L. at Oxford, on the occasion of Lord Derby's installation as chancellor. The General Medical Council having been established by the Medical Act of 1858, Green became the representative on it of the College of Surgeons. Two years after he was appointed by the government president in succession to Sir B. Brodie, and held that office until his death. During the thirty years that he lived after Coleridge's death, the bequest of the latter, to arrange and publish his ideas, was seldom absent from Green's mind. With a view to a great synthesis, he undertook a vast course of reading, revived his knowledge of Greek, learned Hebrew, and made some progress in Sanscrit. An introduction by him to the 'Confessions of an Inquiring Spirit' is prefixed to the edition of 1849. He made slow progress with the system; but before he died he had compiled a work from Coleridge's marginalia, fragments, and recollected oral teaching, under the title 'Spiritual Philosophy, founded on the teaching of S. T. Coleridge,' which was brought out, in two volumes (1865), with a memoir of Green, by his friend and former pupil Sir John Simon. The first volume, of which the first chapter was dictated to Green by Coleridge himself, is occupied with a groundwork of principles; the second volume is wholly theological. Having suffered in his later years from inherited gout, he had an acute seizure on 1 Nov. 1863, and died in his house at Hadley on 13 Dec. His wife survived him; he had no issue. He was distinguished by a fine presence, oratorical ability, and cool judgment as a surgeon.
[Memoir by Sir J. Simon, prefixed to Spiritual Philosophy; Med. Times and Gaz. 1863, vol. ii.; Lancet, 1863, vol. ii.; Notes and Queries, 1st ser. 1854, ix. 543.]
GREEN, MATTHEW (1696–1737), poet, is said to have belonged to a dissenting family, whose puritanical strictness disgusted him, so that he took up 'some free notions on religious subjects.' He held a place in the custom-house, where he discharged his duty very well; and died, aged forty-one, in 1737, at a lodging in Nag's Head Court, Gracechurch Street. A few anecdotes are recorded to show that he was a witty and pleasant companion. When an allowance for supplying the custom-house cats with milk was threatened by the authorities, he wrote a successful petition in their name. When a waterman insulted him as he was bathing by calling out 'Quaker,' and a friend asked how his sect could be detected when he had no clothes, he immediately replied, 'By my swimming against the stream.' His poem on 'Barclay's Apology' implies that he admired the quakers, though without belonging to them. His wit is shown more decisively by the 'Spleen.' The poem appeared posthumously in 1737, with a preface by his friend, Richard Glover [q. v.] Pope praised its originality, and Gray expressed a warm admiration for it. A poem called 'The Grotto' (on Queen Caroline's grotto at Richmond) was privately printed in 1732. These and three or four previously unpublished trifles were published in the first volume of Dodsley's collection (1748). They were afterwards in Johnson's poems and have since appeared in Chalmers's and other collections. An edition by Aikin in 1796 has a preface of twaddle without facts. The 'Spleen,' written in Swift's favourite octo-syllabic metre, is one of the best poems of its class. The line 'Throw but a stone, the giant dies,' is one of the stock quotations. The poem was a favourite with Gray and many good judges.
[European Mag. 1785, ii. 27, and notice in Dodsley's Collection are the only authorities.]
GREEN, RICHARD (1716–1793), antiquary. [See Greene, Richard.]
GREEN, RICHARD (1803–1863), shipowner and philanthropist, born at Blackwall in December 1803, was the son of George Green, by his first marriage with Miss Perry, daughter of a shipbuilder of repute at Blackwall. On the introduction of the elder Green into Perry's business, he became a shipowner, and fitted out a number of vessels in the whaling trade, thus laying the foundation of the house which at the time of his son's admission to the firm was styled Green, Wigram, & Green. Increasing their operations the partners took advantage of the East India Company's charter to build East Indiamen, for which they became well known. On the death of the head of the firm and the consequent dissolution of partnership, Richard Green continued the business in conjunction with his then surviving brother Henry. Green increased the number of vessels until the discovery of gold in Australia, when he and his brother launched a large number of ships for this voyage also. To this service they were about to add another to China, one vessel
