If we pass from personal relics to relics of personality, those of Paine are innumerable; and among these the most important are the legends and fictions told concerning him by enemies, unconscious that their romances were really tributes to his unique influence.
Imagine Thomas Paine as a “raw and adventurous” youth, scurrying up a ship’s rigging in storm-tossed waters, overwhelmed by the booms of two dozen cannons fired in unison, the clouds of choking smoke, and the violent lurches of a shuddering ship.
Even before Paine’s death, his life was being dissected by those around him on both sides of the Atlantic. The earliest “biographies” of Paine were highly critical, politically-motivated smear campaigns funded by political enemies in high places. Each writer set out to debunk Paine’s major works.
The Curious History of Thomas Paine’s Biographies Read Post »
Paine was not wholly a geopolitical writer, not entirely a social philosopher, and not just an author of pamphlets, but that Paine should be credited with innovations and ingenious applications of wrought iron and cantilevered bridging techniques that are worthy of respect, and professional accreditation by constructors, engineers and architects.
Tom Paine, Architect – Engineer & His Iron Bridge Read Post »
In the first part of The Age of Reason, written during the French Revolution and completed we are told only a matter of hours before his arrest, Paine devotes some pages to a general account of astronomy as an introduction to his ideas on Christian theology.
How dared Thomas Paine, a man whose formal education had ended at thirteen, who had failed as a skilled craftsman, as a teacher, as a shopkeeper, as a street preacher, as a petty customs official in the Excise, dismissed and a debtor and bankrupt, even dare to think about government?
From the time that his first biographer, Francis Oldys, adopted Thomas Paine, the son of a Thetford stay-maker, as a subject, all others have accepted the fact that he fathered no children. Recent examination of records, from a long time past, suggest that he might have done.
A Small Addition To The Writings On Thomas Paine (1), Quakers, Read Post »
In 1792, Rickman met Thomas Paine with whom he had frequently corresponded. They soon became firm friends and Paine benefited from Rickman’s knowledge of languages and classical education. Paine lived with Rickman and his second wife and whilst there he completed the second part of Rights of Man.
Thomas “Clio” Rickman, Poet, Bookseller And Radical Publisher Read Post »
Thomas “Clio” Rickman (1761-1834) was a prominent radical reformer, bookseller and propagandist. He was a close friend of Thomas Paine who subscribed to his book of poems and wrote the first friendly life of him.
Sonnet To Thomas Paine, the author of The Rights of Man by T. Clio Rickman. Hail Genius! of Truth, and Life, and Light, The purest wisdom marks thy manly page; `Tis thine to purge from filth the mental site, `Tis thine to renovate and bless the age. To valued naught but what is truly great,
The two following letters are explanatory of the reasons why the publication of the life of Mr. Paine has been so long delayed, and are so well calculated to excite the candor of the reader toward the work, that no apology is offered for making them a part of the preface.
Epitaph, On Thomas Paine, by Clio Rickman. To future times this monumental stone Need not be spared to make thy value known. For future times will in each bosom raise An Altar sacred to that worth and praise; And sound with general voice, when envy dies, Thee and thy works with plaudits, to the skies.
