De Quincey

THOMAS, (kwin'se,) an English philosopher, B. 1785, early gained celebrity as one of the profoundest Grecians of his time, and as early became a slave to the practice of swallowing opium, the effects of which he has philosophically analyzed in his famous work, Confe ions of an English Opium-eater, 1821. De Q.'sE ays (of which there are several series) are works of the very highest character, and as models of profound criticism and philosophical research stand in the front rank of English cla ics. D. 1859. [s. 278]