_Thule_ (2 _syl._). Antonius Diogenês, a Greek, wrote a romance on “The Incredible Things beyond Thulê” (_Ta huper Thoulen Apista_), which has furnished the basis of many subsequent tales. The work is not extant, but Photius gives an outline of its contents in his _Bibliotheca_. =Thumb= (_Tom_), a dwarf no bigger than a man’s thumb. He lived in the reign of King Arthur, by whom he was knighted. He was the son of a common ploughman, and was killed by the poisonous breath of a spider in the reign of Thunstone, the successor of King Arthur. Amongst his adventures may be mentioned the following:--He was lying one day asleep in a meadow, when a cow swallowed him as she cropped the grass. At another time he rode in the ear of a horse. He crept up the sleeve of a giant, and so tickled him that he shook his sleeve, and Tom, falling into the sea, was swallowed by a fish. The fish being caught and carried to the palace gave the little man his introduction to the king. ⁂ The oldest version extant of this nursery tale is in rhyme, and bears the following title:--_Tom Thumb, His Life and Death; wherein is declared many marvailous acts of manhood, full of wonder and strange merriments. Which little knight lived in King Arthur’s time, and was famous in the court of Great Brittaine. London: printed for John Wright, 1630_ (Bodleian Library). It begins thus: In Arthur’s court Tom Thumbe did liue-- A man of mickle might, The best of all the Table Round, And eke a doughty knight. His stature but an inch in height, Or quarter of a span; Then thinke you not this little knight Was prov’d a valiant man? N.B.--“Great Britain” was not a recognized term till 1701 (Queen Anne), when the two parliaments of Scotland and England were united. Before that time, England was called “South Britain,” Scotland “North Britain,” and Brittany “Little Britain.” The date, 1630, would carry us back to the reign of Charles I. Fielding, in 1730, wrote a burlesque opera called _Tom Thumb_, which was altered in 1778, by Kane O’Hara. Dr. Arne wrote the music to it, and his “daughter (afterwards Mrs. Cibber), then only 14, acted the part of ‘Tom Thumb’ at the Haymarket Theatre.”--T. Davies, _Life of Garrick_. ⁂ Here again the dates do not correctly fit in. Mrs. Cibber was born in 1710, and must have been 20 when Fielding produced his opera of _Tom Thumb_. _Thumb_ (_General Tom_), a dwarf exhibited in London in 1846. His real name was Charles S. Stratton. At the age of 25, his height was 25 inches, and his weight 25 lbs. He was born at Bridgeport, Connecticut, in 1832, and died in January, 1879.