Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 26.djvu/442

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
Hilton
436
Hilton

begins ‘Ghostly sister,’ while other copies have ‘brother’ or ‘brother and sister.’ Fyslawe's translation, however, has ‘soror’ only, following this Harleian MS. The Latin translation of this treatise is also known as ‘Baculum Contemplationis’ and ‘Speculum Contemplationis.’ Three other manuscripts of the ‘Scala’ are in the Rawlinsonian collection at the Bodleian Library.

Other works by Hilton are: 1. 'De Imagine Pecci,' beginning 'Dilecte in Christo frater, inter cetera que mihi scripsisti' (Digby MS. 115, f. 1: Cott. MS. Tit. D. xi. 40). 2. 'Speculum de Utilitate et prerogativis religionis regularis.' beginning 'Quia vero ex tenore cujusdam litere mihi nuper transmisse' (Merton Coll. MS. 48, f. 239: Harl. 3852; Reg.MS.8A.vii.f.l). 3. A tract, beginning 'Noviter militanti nova congruit milicia;' an exposition in English of this work is extant in Harley MS. 2406). 4. A tract, headed 'Here bigynes a devoute matier be the drawyng of M. Waltere Hylton,' beginning 'For als mikell as the Apostil sais' (Harl. MS. 2409). 5. 'The Cloud of Unknowynge,' attributed to Hilton and William Exmeuse, beginning 'Gostly frende in God, I prey and I beseche the' (Univ. Coll. Oxon. MS. 14). 6. 'A tretis of viij chapitres necessarie for men that given hem to perfeccion, which was founden in a book of Maister Lowes de Fontibus at Cantebrigge, and turned into Englisch bi Maister Water Hilton of Thurgarton,' beginning `The firste token of love is that the lover submitte.' 7. 'A devoute boke compylyd by Mayster Walter Hylton to a devoute man in temperall estate howe he shulde rule hym,' &c., beginning 'Dere broder in Cryst two maner of states there are in holy chyrche' (printed by Pynson, 1516). This is not the same as 'the luytel boke that was writen to a worldly lord to teche hym howe he schuld have hym in hys state in ordeynyng love to God and to his even Cristene,' of which there is a copy in Brit. Mus. Addit. MS. 22283, f. 160b, and which has been ascribed to Hilton, but is more probably the work of Richard Rolle of Hampole. 8. 'A devoute treatyse compyled by M. Walter Hylton of the songe of Aungells' (printed in 1521). 9. 'Quomodo temptationes aunt evadende.' 10. 'Liber theologicus cui titulus Imago Dei Homo' (Harl. MS. 330). 11. 'Epistola aurea de Origine Religionis' (Digby MS. 33, f. 316). The error in the date of Hilton's death noticed above has led biographers to attribute to him several works which present no evidence of his authorship, and in some cases belong to a slightly later period than that in which he lived. Tanner and Oudin give a very full list of works, but as some of them are only in manuscripts not easily accessible, it is impossible here to discuss the correctness of the attribution. Other works attributed to Hilton are: 'De Utilitate Ordinis Carthusianæ' (Magd. Coll. Oxon. MS. 93); 'Media Vita' in English (Rawlinson MS. A. 355); three letters, De consolatione in tentationibus, De Communi Vita, and Ad quendam religion (Reg. MS, 6 E. iii. 37); 'Conclusiones de Imaginibus contra Hæreticos' (ib. 11 B. x. 4). Hilton's name is often found in connection with devotional works which should most probably be assigned to Richard Rolle [q. v.]

[Pits, De Illustr. Angliæ Scriptoribus, p. 624; Tanner's Bibl. Britannico-Hibernica, p. 425; Oudin, De Scriptoribus Ecclesiæ, iii. c. 3986; Catalogues of Cottonian, Harleian, Lansdowne, and Add. MSS. in the Brit. Mus.; Coxe's Catalogue of MSS. in Colleges and Halls at Oxford; Bibliotheca Carthusiana; The Scale of Perfection, edited by Robert E. Guy, London, 1869; the same, edited by J. B. Dalgairns, London, 1870; Writings and Examinations of Brute, Thorpe, Cobham, Hilton, &c., London, 1831, p. 189.]

C. T. M.


HILTON, WILLIAM (1786–1839), historical painter, was born at Lincoln, 8 June 1786. His father, a portrait-painter, wished to bring him up to a trade, but his tendency towards art was strong, and he was ultimately placed with John Raphael Smith [q. v.], the engraver. Peter De Wint [q. v.] was his fellow-pupil. In 1806 he entered the Academy schools. His first known works are well-finished designs in oil for `The Mirror' and `The Citizen of the World.' He commenced to exhibit at the Royal Academy in 1803, and in 1810 was awarded a premium by the British Institution. In the next year he was awarded another for his picture of 'The Entombment of Christ,' and the institution bought his 'Mary anointing the feet of Jesus' (exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1813) and `Christ crowned with Thorns' (1825), now at South Kensington in the collection purchased by the Chantrey bequest. In 1813 he was elected an associate, and in 1818 a full member of the Royal Academy. In this year he visited Rome with Thomas Phillips, R.A., and painted 'The Rape of Europa' for Sir John Leicester. In 1837 he succeeded Henry Thomson as keeper of the Academy, and in 1828 he married the sister of his friend De Wint. Although he received much encouragement from the British Institution, which as late as 1834 awarded him a complimentary premium for his picture of 'Edith discovering the dead body of Harold' (now in the National Gallery), and though he soon rose to full honours of the Aca-