Linacre does not appear to have practised or taught medicine in Oxford. About the year 1501 he was called to court as tutor of the young prince Arthur; and continued to act in this capacity till the prince’s death in 1503. On the accession of Henry VIII. he was appointed the king’s physician, an office at that time of considerable influence and importance, and practised medicine in London, having among his patients most of the great statesmen and prelates of the time, as Wolsey, Warham, and Fox.

After some years of professional activity, and when in advanced life, Linacre received priest’s orders. But, as he had for some years previously held several clerical benefices, it would seem that he must have been already a deacon, and thus nominally at least a cleric, but this status would not in those days have interfered with his practising as a physician. There is no doubt, however, that his ordination as priest was connected with his retirement from active life. Literary labours, and the cares of the foundation which owed its existence chiefly to him, the Royal College of Physicians, occupied Linacre’s remaining years till his death in 1524.

Linacre was more of a scholar than a man of letters, and rather a man of learning than a scientific investigator. It is difficult now to judge of his practical skill in his profession, but it was evidently highly esteemed in his own day; and several instances are recorded of his wise prognosis and judicious treatment. He took no part in political or theological questions, and died too soon to have to declare himself on either side in the formidable controversies which were even in his lifetime beginning to arise.

But his career as a scholar was one eminently characteristic of the critical period in the history of learning through which he lived. He was one of the first Englishmen who studied Greek in Italy, whence he brought back to his native country and his own university the lessons of the “New Learning.” His teachers, who have already been named, were some of the greatest scholars of the day. Among his pupils was one—Erasmus—whose name alone would suffice to preserve the memory of his instructor in Greek, and others of note in letters and politics, such as Sir Thomas More, the lamented Prince Arthur, and Queen Mary. Colet, Grocyn, William Lilye, and other eminent scholars were his intimate friends, and he was esteemed by a still wider circle of literary correspondents in all parts of Europe.

Linacre’s literary activity was displayed in two directions, in pure scholarship and in translation from the Greek. In the domain of scholarship he was known by the rudiments of (Latin) grammar composed in English for the use of the Princess Mary, and afterwards translated into Latin by George Buchanan, and by a work on Latin composition, De emendata structura Latini sermonis, which enjoyed a wide popularity. It was originally composed for the use of St Paul’s school, when founded by Dean Colet, but was set aside as unsuited for the purpose. It was, however, printed in London, in 1524, and many times reprinted on the Continent.

Linacre’s only medical works were his translations. It was the cherished project of his life to make the works of Galen (and indeed those of Aristotle also) accessible to all readers of Latin. What he effected in the case of the first, though not trifling in itself, is inconsiderable as compared with the whole mass of Galen’s writings; and of his translations from Aristotle, some of which are known to have been completed, nothing has survived. The following are the works of Galen translated by Linacre :—(1) De Sanitate Tuenda, printed at Paris in 1517; (2) Methodus Medendi, Paris, 1519; (3) De Temperamentis et de InaequaU Intemperie, Cambridge, 1521; (4) De Naturalibus Facultatibus, London, 1523; (5) De Symptomatum Differentiis et Causis, London, 1524; (6) De Pulsuum Usu, London, without date. He also translated for the use of his pupil Prince Arthur an astronomical treatise of Proclus, De Sphaera, which was printed at Venice by Aldus in 1499. The accuracy of these translations and their elegance of style were universally admitted. They have been generally accepted as the standard versions of those parts of Galen’s writings, and frequently reprinted, either as a part of the collected works or separately.

But the most important service which Linacre conferred upon his own profession and science was not by his writings. To him was chiefly owing the foundation by royal charter of the College of Physicians in London, which first gave the medical profession in this country a recognized legal status, and which has been the model of all the similar colleges of physicians and surgeons in the three kingdoms. He was the first president of the new college, which he further aided by conveying to it his own house, and by the gift of his library. Shortly before his death Linacre obtained from the king letters patent for the establishment of readerships in medicine at Oxford and Cambridge, and placed some valuable estates in the hands of trustees for their endowment. Two readerships were founded in Merton College, Oxford, and one in St John’s College, Cambridge, but owing to neglect and bad management of the funds, they fell into uselessness and obscurity. The Oxford foundation was revived by the university commissioners in 1856 in the form of the Linacre professorship of anatomy. Posterity has done justice to the generosity and public spirit which prompted these foundations; and it is impossible not to recognize a strong constructive genius in the scheme of the College of Physicians, by which Linacre not only first organized the medical profession in England, but impressed upon it for some centuries the stamp of his own individuality. The intellectual fastidiousness of Linacre, and his habits of minute accuracy were, as Erasmus suggests, tire chief cause why he accomplished so little and left behind no more permanent literary memorials. It will be found, perhaps, difficult to justify by any extant work the extremely high reputation which he enjoyed among the scholars of his time. His Latin style was so much admired that, according to the flattering eulogium of Erasmus, Galen spoke better Latin in the version of Linacre than he had before spoken Greek; and even Aristotle displayed a grace which he hardly attained to in his native tongue. Erasmus praises also Liuacre’s critical judgment (vir non exacti tantum sed severi judicii). According to others it was hard to say whether he were more distinguished as a grammarian or a rhetorician. Of Greek he was regarded as a consummate master; and he was equally eminent as a “philosopher,” that is, as learned in the works of the ancient philosophers and naturalists. In this there may have been, as the custom of the day was, some exaggeration; but all have acknowledged the elevation of Linacre’s character, and the fine moral qualities summed up in the epitaph written by John Caius:—“Fraudes dolosque mire perosus; fidus amicis; omnibus ordinibus juxta carus.”

The materials for Linacre's biography are to a large extent contained in the older biographical collections of George Lilly (in Paulus Jovius, Descriptio Britannice), Bale, Leland, and Pits, in wood’s Athenae Oxonienses, and in the Biographia Britannica·, but all are completely collected in the Life of Thomas Linacre, by Dr Noble Johnson, London, 1835. Reference may also be made to Dr Munk's Boll cf the Royal College of Physicians, 2d ed., London,1878; and the Introduction, by Dr Payne, to a facsimile reproduction of Linacre’s version of Gqlen. de Temperamentis, published by Messrs Macmillan, Cambridge, 1881. with the exception of this treatise, none of Linacre’s works or translations have been reprinted in modern times.

Surface and Geology.— The surface of Lincolnshire is generally a large plain, some portions of which are below the level of the sea. The south-east parts are perfectly flat; and about one-third of the county consists of fens and marshes, intersected in all directions by artificial drains, called locally dykes, delphs, drains, becks, learns, and eaux. This flat surface is, however, broken by two ranges of calcareous hills running north and south through the county, and known as the Cliff and the Wolds. The former range, on the west, runs nearly due north from Grantham to Lincoln, and thence to the Humber, traversing the Heaths of Lincolnshire, which were formerly open moors, rabbit warrens, and sheep walks, but are now enclosed and brought into high cultivation. Parallel with this range on the east side of it runs the old Roman Ermine Street, sometimes called the Cliff Row Road. The Wolds form a ridge of bold hills extending from Spilsby to Barton-on-Humber for about 40 miles, with an average breadth of about 8 miles. Between the Wolds and the sea lie the Marshes, a level tract of rich alluvial soil extending from Barton-on-Humber to Wainfleet, varying in breadth from 5 to 10 miles. Between the Welland and the Nene in the south-east of the county are Gedney Marsh, Holbeach Marsh, Moulton Marsh, and Sutton Marsh.

The Fens, the soil of which has been formed partly by tidal action and partly by the decay of forests, occupy the Isle of Axholme on the north-west, the vale of Ancholme on the north, and most of the country south-east of Lincoln. The chief of these are the Holland, Wildmore, West, and East Fens draining into the Witham; and the Deeping, Bourn, Great Porsand, and Whaplode Fens draining into the Welland. Owing to the dead level of these districts there is perhaps more artificial drainage in Lincolnshire than in any other English county; and this part of the country resembles in many respects, especially in embankments and dykes, the continental Holland.

The drainage of the Fens appears to have early occupied attention. Shortly after the Norman Conquest Richard de Rulos, lord of Brunn, and chamberlain to William I., enclosed and drained a large part of Deeping Fen in so complete a manner that the work would not be disgraced by a comparison with the more scientific efforts of modern times. Excluding the Welland by a bank, he changed ‘ t deep lakes and impassable fens into most fruitful fields and pastures, and the most humid and moorish parts thereof into a garden of pleasure.”

The drainage of the remaining levels of Lincolnshire was chiefly commenced in the reigns of James I. and Charles I. The East, West, and Wildmore Fens were contracted for in the 7tħ Charles I. The earl of Lindsey undertook all the fens in Holland and Kesteven, north of the river Glen up to Lincoln, on the completion of which 24,000 acres were awarded to him. In the 13th of the same reign, the king declared himself the “Undertaker” of the Holland Fen, containing 22,000 acres, out of which he was to have 8000 for his share. Sir John Monson with other freeholders drained the Ancholme level in the north, and had 5827 acres assigned to them. In the same reign the Isle of Axholme was undertaken by Cornelis Vermuijden and his Dutch and Flemish followers. These operations were interrupted during the civil wars, and many of the works destroyed by the “stilt-walkers,” so curiously described by Camden. Little was done towards restoring the works thus destroyed till the middle of the 18th century, when several townships, having a right of common over particular fens, began to join in procuring Acts of Parliament for their drainage, enclosure, and division. The Holland Fen was the first to be dealt with, about 1768; in spite of renewed and riotous opposition from the “stilt-walkers,” all the fen lands were successfully drained and enclosed, and on the completion of the East, West, and Wildmore Fens (about 60,000 acres) the race of “stilt-walkers” became extinct. The low lands adjoining the tidal reaches of the Trent and Humber, and part of those around the Wash, have been raised above the natural level, and enriched by the process of warping, which consists in letting the tide run over the land, and retaining it there a sufficient time to permit of the deposit of the sand and mud held in solution by the waters.

The general appearance of the county is very pleasing. The level tracts are richly cultivated; the hills and dales are interspersed with wood and lawn; and many spots on the Cliff or Wolds command extensive and charming views. The charms of the Fen districts are described as “a beauty as of the sea, of boundless expanse and freedom” (Kingsley). Not a few passages in the writings of Tennyson (a native of the county) bear the impress of the scenery and colourings of the Fens.

The geological formations, for the most part, extend in parallel belts, nearly in the line of the length of the county, from north to south, and succeed one another, in ascending order, from west to east.

1. The lowest is the Triassic or New Red Sandstone found in the Isle of Axholme and the valley of the Trent in the form of marls, sandstone, and gypsum. The presence of the peroxide of iron which tinges the beds red seems to have been prejudicial to animal life; therefore few fossils are found. Fish scales and teeth, with bones and footprints of the Labyrinthodon, are to be met with in the sandstone. The red clay is frequently dug for brick-making. The beds dip gently towards the east. At the junction between the Trias and Lias are series of beds termed Rhaetics, which seem to mark a transition from one to the other. These beds are in part exposed in pits near Newark, and extend north by Gainsborough to where the Trent flows into the Humber, passing thence into Yorkshire. The characteristic shells are found at Lea, 2 miles south of Gainsborough, with a thin stratum of bone bed full of fish teeth and scales.

2. The Lower Lias comes next in order, with a valuable bed of ironstone now largely worked. This bed is about 27 feet in thickness, and crops out at Scunthorpe, where the workings are open and shallow. The Middle Lias, which enters the county near Woolsthorpe, is about 20 or 30 feet thick, and is very variable both in thickness and mineralogical character. The Upper Lias enters the county at Stainby, passing by Grantham and Lincoln. It forms the west slope of the Cliff range, and is thickest upon the highest hills. The Lias thus occupies a band about 8 or 10 miles in width in the south, narrowing until on the Humber it is about a mile wide.

3. To this succeed the three Oolite formations. The Lower Oolite, somewhat narrower than the Lias, extends from the boundary with Rutland due north past Lincoln to the vicinity of the Humber. The Middle Oolite, very narrow in the south near Wilsthorpe, widening gradually about Sleaford, and then suddenly contracting again south of Lincoln, sends out a narrow band south-east towards Spilsby. It then proceeds north from Lincoln with decreasing width to the vicinity of the Humber. The Upper Oolite and Kimmeridge clay start from the vicinity of Stamford, and after attaining their greatest width near Horncastle, run north-north-west to the Humber.

4. In the Cretaceous system of the Wolds, the Lower Greensand runs nearly parallel with the Upper Oolite past South Willingham to the Humber. The Upper Greensand and Gault run north-west from Irby, widening out as far as Kelstern on the east, and cross the Humber. The Chalk formation, about equal in breadth to the three preceding, extends from Burgh across the Humber.

5. All the rest of the county, comprising all its south-east portions between the Middle Oolite belt and the sea, all its north-east portion between the Chalk belt and the sea, and a narrow tract up the course of the Ancholme river, consists of alluvial deposits or of reclaimed marsh.

Minerals.— Gypsum is dug in the Isle of Axholme, whiting is made from the chalk near the shores of the Humber, and lime is made on the Wolds. Freestone is quarried around Ancaster, and good oolite building stone is quarried near Lincoln and other places. Ironstone is found and worked at Claxby near Caistor, and carried into Yorkshire to be smelted; it is also worked at Frodingham, 9 miles north-north-west of Brigg.

Rivers.— The Humber separates Lincolnshire from Yorkshire. Its ports on the Lincolnshire side are Barton, New Holland, and Grimsby. The Trent divides the Isle of Axholme from Lindsey, and falls into the Humber about 30 miles below Gainsborough. Like the Severn, it is noted for a tidal phenomenon called the “eager” or bore, which, at spring tides, rises to the height of from 6 to 8 feet. The Witham rises on the south-west border of the county, flows north past Grantham to Lincoln, and thence east and south-east to Boston, after a course of about 80 miles. This river was once noted for its pike. The Welland rises in north-west Northamptonshire, enters the county at Stamford, and, after receiving the Glen, flows through an artificial channel into the Fossdyke Wash. The Nene on the south-east has but a small portion of its course in Lincolnshire; it flows due north through an artificial outfall called the Wisbech Cut.

Canals.— The principal canals are—the Stainforth and Keadby, connecting the Trent with the Yorkshire coal-field; the Louth Navigation, from Louth to Tetney Haven; the Sleaford Navigation, connecting Sleaford with the Witham; and the Grantham Canal, from that town to the Trent at Nottingham. The remainder are chiefly small rivers artificially deepened and embanked.

Climate.— The climate of the higher grounds is now noted for its salubrity, and meteorological observation does not justify the reputation for cold and damp often given to the county as a whole. The mean annual temperature of the Fens as given by ten years’ observation (1864-73) is 47 o, 9, 1 0, 6 below that of Greenwich. The rainfall of the Fen district is very small as compared with other parts of England. While the average of the whole country was little over 30 inches, at Boston the average fall from 1830 to 1849 was 23 , 58 inches, and from 1850 to 1869 22Ό8. At Wisbech south-west winds prevail on an average six months in the year, and north-east winds barely two months.

Soil and Agriculture.— The soils vary considerably, according to the geological formations; ten or twelve different kinds may be found in going across the country from east to west. A good sandy loam is common in the Heath division; a sandy loam with chalk, or a flinty loam on chalk marl, abounds on portions of the Wolds; an argillaceous sand, merging into rich loam, lies on other portions of the Wolds; a black loam and a rich vegetable mould cover most of the Isle of Axholme on the north-west; a well-reclaimed marine marsh, a rich brown loam, and a stiff cold clay variously occupy the low tracts along the Humber, and between the north Wolds and the sea; a peat earth, a deep sandy loam, and a rich soapy blue clay occupy most of the east and south Fens; and an artificial soil, obtained by “warping,” occupies considerable low strips of land along the tidal reaches of the rivers. The wide grazing lands of Lincolnshire have long been famous, and the arable lands are specially adapted for the growth of wheat and beans. There is no generally recognized rotation of crops. The cattle raised are the Shorthorns and improved Lincolnshire breeds. The dairy, except in the vicinity of large towns, receives little attention. The sheep are chiefly of the Lincolnshire and large Leicestershire breeds, and go to the markets of Yorkshire and the metropolis. Lincolnshire has long been famous for a fine breed of horses both for the saddle and draught. Horse fairs are held every year at Horncastle and Lincoln. Large flocks of geese were formerly kept in the Fens, but their number has been diminished since the drainage of these parts. Where a large number of them were bred, nests were constructed for them one above another; they were daily taken down by the gooseherd, driven to the water, and then reinstated in their nests, without a single bird being misplaced. Decoys were once numerous in the undrained state of the Fens.

According to the agricultural returns for 1881, the total area under crops comprehended 1,498,676 acres, a percentage of 84 ’ 7 instead of 81 - 7 in 1870; corn crops had an area of 611,977 acres, a percentage of 34 - 6 instead of 34'9 in 1870; green crops, 238,719 acres, a percentage of 13 ’ 5 instead of 13 - 2 in 1870; rotation grasses, 167,252 acres, a percentage of 9 ’ 5 instead of9 - 4; permanent pasture, 440,422 acres, a percentage of 24 - 9 instead of 23 Ό. The area under crops is thus more than three times the amount under pasturage. The area under woods in 1881 was 39,431 acres, and under orchards 1788, under market gardens 660, under nursery grounds 137. Of the corn crops the most largely grown is wheat, which in 1881 occupied 245,645 acres,—barley or bere, grown mostly on the Woldsand the Heath districts, coming next with 199,900 acres; then oats, 113,564 acres; lastly rye, 1300 acres. Beans occupied 41,073 acres, pease 10,495 acres. Of the green crops the most largely grown in 1881 were turnips and swedes, 142,300 acres, mostly on the Wolds and Lincoln Heath. Potatoes occupied 39,794 acres; mangold, 21,438; vetches and other green crops, except clover or grass, 18,615 acres; cabbage, kohl-rabi, and rape, 15,057 acres; carrots, 1515 acres. Onions are raised to a great extent in the Isle of Axholme, and under good management have been known to return £50 per acre. Flax occupied 353 acres, and hops 3. The bare fallow or uncropped arable land in 1881 was 39,950 acres. In 1870, 81‘7 per cent, of the entire area of Lincolnshire was returned as cultivated, in 1879, 841 per cent., and in 1880, 84 - 5. The number of horses used solely for agriculture in 1881 was 49,656; mares and unbroken horses, 15,171—total, 64,827. The number of cows and heifers in milk or in calf in 1881 was 53,499, and of other cattle 156,706. The number of sheep was 1,336,147, or 90 ’ 2 for every 100 acres, the average for Great Britain being 76 - 3, for England 62 ’ 4. Pigs in 1881 numbered 82,497.

The agriculture of Lincolnshire is only second to that of East Lothian, by which alone it is excelled in the use of fixed steam-engines upon its farmsteads. In the south part of the county small proprietors abound. According to the landowner’s returns for 1872-73, the land in the county of Lincoln was divided among 30,497 owners, and its gross estimated rental was £3,173,825. Of the owners, 13,768, or more than 45 per cent., possessed less than 1 acre; the average value per acre was £1, 19s. 6⅜d. There were four proprietors possessing over 20,000 acres each :—Earl of Yarborough, 55,272 acres; Lady Willoughby de Eresby, 24,696 acres; Henry Chaplin, Μ. P., 23,370 acres; and Christopher Tumor, 20,664 acres.

The following table gives a classification of holdings according to size as returned on the 25th June 1875 and the 4th June 1880 [table]

Manufactures and Trade.— The manufactures are few and comparatively small. There are, however, some large agricultural machine and steam-engine factories in and around Lincoln; and similar works exist at Boston, Gainsborough, Grantham, and Louth. At Frodingham there are extensive iron-works. At Little Bytham a very hard brick, called the adamantine clinker, is made of the silicious clay that the Romans used for their manufactures of pottery. At Louth there is a carpet manufactory, also several tanneries and iron foundries. Bone crushing, leather working, the manufacture of oil-cake for cattle, rope making, and sack weaving are carried on in various places. The chief ports are Grimsby, Boston, Sutton Bridge, and Gainsborough, the first being by far the most important. For the fisheries of Grimsby see vol. ix. p. 249.

Railways.— The first line opened in the county was the Midland Railway to Lincoln, in August 1846. The Manchester, Sheffield, and Lincolnshire Railway, first opened in 1848-49, goes from Lincoln north-east to Market Rasen, and thence, by way of Barnetby and Ulceby junctions, to Grimsby and Cleethorpes. A second branch runs north-east from Gainsborough to New Holland and Barton on the Humber, and a third from Barnetby due west to the Yorkshire coal-fields. The Great Northern main line runs through the south-west of the county past Grantham to Newark, and throws off several branches. A loop line connecting Spalding, Boston, and Lincoln with the direct line from London to York was opened in 1848. The East Lincolnshire Railway (leased to the Great Northern) runs from Boston to Grimsby.

Administration.— The primary divisions of Lincolnshire are three trithings or ridings. The north division constitutes the Parts of Lindsey, the south-west the Parts of Kesteven, and the south-east the Parts of Holland. Each of these divisions had before the Norman Conquest its own trithing gerefa or reeve, and to this day each has its separate magistrates, quarter sessions, clerk of the peace and treasurer, but they are all under one lord-lieutenant and one sheriff, and subject to the court of assize held at Lincoln. These “Parts” are again subdivided into wapentakes, sokes, and hundreds. The trithings do not in any way coincide with parliamentary divisions. The Parts of Lindsey comprise more than half the county, and contain seventeen wapentakes. The Parts of Kesteven, exclusive of the soke and borough of Grantham and the borough of Stamford, comprise nine wapentakes. The Parts of Holland comprise three wapentakes only. Before the passing of the Reform Act of 1832 Lincolnshire sent twelve members to parliament—two for the county, two for the city of Lincoln, and two each for the boroughs of Great Grimsby, Boston, Grantham, and Stamford. After the passing of that Act the county returned four members, and Grimsby lost one. In 1867 Stamford also lost a member, and the representation of the county, newly divided into Mid, North, and South Lincolnshire, was increased to six, each new division returning two members. Lincolnshire comprises one city, Lincoln (population 37,312), which is also a municipal and parliamentary borough; four other municipal and parliamentary boroughs—Boston (18,867), Grantham (17,345), Great Grimsby (45,373), Stamford, partly in Northampton (8995); and one municipal borough—Louth (10,690).

The county belongs to the midland circuit. Besides the winter and summer assizes held at Lincoln, there are spring assizes held at the same place for Lincoln and Notts, and autumn assizes at Nottingham for Notts and Lincoln. Quarter sessions for the Parts of Lindsey are held at Lincoln and Spilsby, for the Parts of Kesteven at Bourn and Sleaford, for the Parts of Holland at Boston and Spalding. The county is divided into seventeen county court districts,...

Besides those already mentioned, the works of Lindley include An Outline of the First Principles of Horticulture (1832), An Outline of the Structure and Physiology of Plants (1832), A Natural System of Botany (1836), The Fossil Flora of Great Britain (the joint work of Lindley and Hutton, 1831-37), Flora Medica (1838), The Vegetable Kingdom (1846), Theory of Horticulture (2d ed., 1855), Folia Orchidacea (1852), Descriptive Botany (1858), a Ladies? Botany, ο School Botany, the volume Botany in the Library of Useful Knowledge, and most of the botanical articles in the Penny Cyclopaedia. See Botany, vol. iv. p. 81.

Lindsey’s chief work is An Historical View of the State of the Unitarian Doctrine and Worship from the Reformation to our own Times, 1783; in it he claims, amongst others, Burnet, Tillotson, S. Clarke, Hoadly, and Sir I. Newton for the Unitarian view. His other publications, mostly occasional, include Apology on Resigning the Vicarage of Catterick (1774), and Sequel to the Apology (1776); The Book of Common Prayer reformed according to the plan of the late Dr Samuel Clarke, 1774; Dissertations on the Preface to St John's Gospel and on praying to Jesus Christ, 1779; Vindiciae Priestleianae, 1788; Conversations upon Christian Idolatry, 1792; and Conversations on the Divine Government, showing that everything is from God, and for good to all, 1802. Two volumes of Sermons, with appropriate prayers annexed, were published posthumously in 1810; and a volume of Memoirs, by Thomas Belsham, appeared in 1812.