Bonnell Thornton, an English author, born in London in 1724, died May 9, 1768. He was educated at Oxford, and in conjunction with George Colman the elder began a periodical, " The Connoisseur," which lasted from January, 1754, to September, 1756. With Colman also he was one of the original proprietors of " the St. James's Chronicle." In 1762 he published "An Ode on St. Cecilia's Day, adapted to the antient British Music, viz., the Salt-box, the Jews-harp, the Marrow-bones and Cleavers, the Plum-strum or Hurdy-gurdy, etc., with an Introduction giving an Account of those truly British Instruments " (4to, London); the ode was set to music by Dr. Burney, and performed on the instruments named with great success. In conjunction with Colman and Richard Warner he published "The Comedies of Plautus, translated into familiar Blank Verse" (2 vols., 1767), of which he translated "Amphitryon," " The Braggart Captain," " The Treasure," " The Miser," and "The Shipwreck." In 1768 he published "The Battle of the Wigs, an additional Canto to Dr. Garth's Poem of the Dispensary " (4to).