Thomson, James, 1700-1748 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—

Scottish poet James Thomson's nature and landscape poem The Seasons (1730) was much revered by his contemporaries and influenced Romantic period poetic depiction of nature. Thomson published several republican political poems, including the unsuccessful Liberty (1735-1736). Other works include The Castle of Indolence (1748), a Spenserian allegory; and five dramatic tragedies: The Tragedy of Sophonisba (1730), Agamemnon (1738); Edward and Eleonora (1739), Tancred and Sigismunda (1745), and Coriolanus (1749).

Thomas, à Becket, Saint, 1118?-1170 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—

Archbishop of Canterbury from 1162 until his assassination in 1170 in Canterbury Cathedral on the orders of King Henry II. Soon after his death, he was canonized by Pope Alexander III and is venerated as a saint and martyr by both the Catholic and Anglican Churches. His shrine at Canterbury is the object of the pilgrims in Chaucer's Canterbury Tales.