she wrote at forty-seven. Each style has its own charm of lightness; and in all the Queen's writing there is a freshness which compensates a reader for the absence of severer and more conscious art."

inventor of

machine.

The death of Mr. Joseph Glass, the inventor Joseph Glass, of the chimney-sweeping machine, is thus re- the chimneycorded on the same date: "Not until the sweeping production of this philanthropic invention were the advocates of the suffering climbing boys able to procure the passage of the Bill for the suppression of a cruel practice. Mr. Glass, having perfected his machine and proved its practicability, was examined before a Committee of the House of Lords; the result being the Act of Parliament for the suppression of the climbing-boy system of sweeping chimneys. Mr. Glass received the silver medal and the prize of 2007, but he never patented his useful invention. He was actively engaged for many years, first, in advocating the claims of the climbing boys, and afterwards in prosecuting the masters who attempted to evade the provisions of the Act." Mr. Glass died at Buxton on the 29th of December, 1867.

The death of John Doyle is noticed on the John Doyle. 18th of January. In his time as a comic satirist he had no small political power. "As a pseudonym the signature of 'H. B.,' for some twenty

years, kept St. James's Street in a state of expectancy as to public things and public men. The strength and grace and delicacy of Mr. Doyle's caricatures rested on the fact of their never degenerating into coarseness. In them, it is true, might be seen Lord Brougham's nose, and Lord Morpeth's ill-considered dancing, yet they were never for an instant vulgar." In private life John Doyle was courteous, quiet, "simple in manner, more pertinacious in argument than in agreement, but never aggressive. The best character of himself may be found in the career of his children, all in different paths and careers, individual as artists."

"One of those works of reference in which true scholars delight," 'A Descriptive Catalogue Books written of Friends' Books,' that is to say, of books by Quakers. written by Quakers, compiled by Mr. Joseph Smith, is noted on the 25th of January: “We are not in case to say whether the Catalogue is complete; what we can say is, that it fills above two thousand pages of royal octavo. The list of George Fox's writings covers sixty pages!"

Dr. John
Davy.

The death of Dr. John Davy is thus referred to in the Athenæum of February 1st: "Dr. John Davy, the younger the younger brother of Sir Humphry Davy, died of bronchitis on Saturday, aged seventy-eight, at Ambleside, where he had

sojourned since he retired from the medical department of the army. He was able to continue his important chemical researches nearly to the time of his death, and communicated papers to the Royal Society in the course of last year."

Sir David
Brewster.

The death of Sir David Brewster on the 10th of February, at the age of eighty-six, is recorded on the 15th. He was educated for the Scottish Church, and received a licence; but he turned to scientific pursuits. In 1826 he put his name as editor to Mr. Thomas Carlyle's translation of Legendre's 'Geometry,' and from 1808 to 1830 carried on what is known as 'Brewster's Cyclopædia.' "As an optical discoverer he was highly distinguished, and gained many public acknowledgments from scientific bodies. His invention of the kaleido- His invention of the scope is that by which he is best known to the kaleidoscope. world at large: but there are greater things. He will, in time to come, be better remembered by his lives of Newton than by his partnerships with the booksellers, or even by his experimental researches. The first life was published in 1831, and, though written as a matter of business, was of a higher flight and better type than anything he had done before. In writing it the subject took root in his mind; and he pursued it with noble enthusiasm through a quarter of a century. He procured

the loan of Newton's papers from Lord Portsmouth; worked at them and all other sources with genuine interest, and without knowing whether he should ever find a publisher; and, His life of in 1855, produced his biography of Newton, in. two volumes. This work, with all its faults, is a noble monument to Newton's memory, and a pillar of fame to the writer."

Newton.

The 29th of
February

on a

The 29th of February fell in 1868 on a Saturday, and the following note appears on that Saturday. date: "This day's number of the Athenæum (in common with all periodicals bearing date Saturday, February 29th) appears on a day so singular that hitherto it has only been thrice repeated since the introduction of the Gregorian style; viz., in the years 1772, 1812, and 1840. The rule is the concurrence of corresponding bissextiles at intervals of twenty-eight years; but the year 1800, though a fourth year, not being regarded as leap-year, deflected the reckoning, and forty years had to transpire after 1772 ere the 29th of February again fell on a Saturday. The next time it will fall thus will be in 1896; and at the close of the present century there will be another deflexion, owing to 1900 being passed over as regards bissextile observance."

In the same number mention is made of the Mr. Eyre death of the editor of the Daily News, Mr. Eyre Evans Crowe, "a gentleman of great ability and

Evans Crowe.

experience as a writer and politician. Mr. Crowe's most important work is the 'History of France,' the last volume of which has recently been published."

Sale of H. G. Bohn's books.

The sale, by Messrs. Sotheby, Wilkinson & Hodge, of the first portion of the stock of Mr. H. G. Bohn, "who is retiring from business," is announced on the 21st of March. "The books sold well, the total amounting to 6,973l. 19s. 6d." Mr. Bohn was born in London on the 4th of Henry G. January, 1796, and died at his house at Twicken

Bohn.

ham on the 22nd of August, 1884. The Athenæum of the 30th states: "His father, His father. John Henry Martin Bohn, who had served his apprenticeship in Germany, settled in England and carried on business as a bookbinder, first at 31, Frith Street, Soho, and afterwards at 17 and 18, Henrietta Street, Covent Garden. He was noted for his spring backs and a system of diamond graining on the sides of books bound in calf, and acquired a considerable connexion. In 1814 he added to bookbinding a business in second-hand books, and from his eighteenth year young Bohn travelled abroad on his father's account......In 1831, having married a daughter His marriage to Miss of the late Mr. Simpkin, he started in business Simpkin. for himself, and he speedily became a secondhand bookseller on a more extensive scale than any of his competitors...... His father died in