Danzig Notables -- John Tompson

John Tompson was born in London in 1693. After traveling in Europe for many years (including an extended stay in Danzig), in 1731 he settled in Helmstädt to teach English and Italian at the university there. In January 1735 he was called to the new university in Göttingen as a Lector publicus of English. He was named Professor extraodinarius in 1751 and Professor ordinarius in 1762 . In 1737 he published a selection of English texts under the title English Miscellanies. The texts included in this miscellany were likely the ones he also taught Johann Ernst Kulmus and consequently which the latter taught his half-sister. They included many texts about Rome and as well as excerpts from The Spectator, The Guardian, and The Freethinker. Especially notable is the presence of the entire text of Addison's Cato. Further editions of the miscellany appeared in 1746, 1755 and 1762. He died in 1766.