John Adamson (antiquary) - Early Life

Early Life

Adamson, the son of Lieutenant Cuthbert Adamson, R.N., and his second wife Mary, was born on 13 September 1787 at his father's house in Gateshead. He was educated at Newcastle Grammar School, and in 1803 went to Lisbon, to work in the office of his elder brother Blythman, a merchant in the city. He left Portugal for England in 1807, when a French invasion threatened. While there, he had studied the language and collected a few books, including the tragedy of Dona Ignez de Castro, which he translated and printed in 1808.

Read more about this topic:  John Adamson (antiquary)

Famous quotes containing the words early and/or life:

    On the Coast of Coromandel
    Where the early pumpkins blow,
    In the middle of the woods
    Lived the Yonghy-Bonghy-Bo.
    Two old chairs, and half a candle,—
    One old jug without a handle,—
    These were all his worldly goods:
    In the middle of the woods,
    Edward Lear (1812–1888)

    There is in him, hidden deep-down, a great instinctive artist, and hence the makings of an aristocrat. In his muddled way, held back by the manacles of his race and time, and his steps made uncertain by a guiding theory which too often eludes his own comprehension, he yet manages to produce works of unquestionable beauty and authority, and to interpret life in a manner that is poignant and illuminating.
    —H.L. (Henry Lewis)