Managers and Counsel in the Trial of Warren Hastings,' edited by E. A. Bond, and published by authority; 'Revolutions in English History: Vol. I., Revolutions of Race,' by Robert Vaughan, D.D.; 'Ceylon,' by Sir James Emerson Tennant; and 'A Select Glossary of English Words used formerly in Senses different from their Present,' by Richard Chenevix Trench, D.D.

Mr. S. W. Singer, the editor of Shakspeare and S. W. Singer. Bacon, died on the 20th of December, 1858, at the age of seventy-five. The Athenæum of January Ist, 1859, states that he "had been a labourer during a long and studious life, and his name occurs on title-pages from the very beginning of the century. Mr. Singer may be considered to have been entirely self-educated, but his knowledge of books and of their contents was extensive, minute and multifarious: his services, especially to the cause of Old English Literature, must be rated high. His habits were retired, and his tastes refined; and while he shared the fate which no illustrator of the text of Shakspeare seems able to escape, of being involved in controversies occasionally more than warm, his nature was kindly and his attachments were affectionate."

The death of "a ripe Welsh scholar," John
Williams, Archdeacon of Cardigan, born in 1792,

is announced in the same number. He is referred
VOL. II.
g

John Williams.

The National Portrait Gallery opened

to as "a scholar and man of letters, who had connected the Principalities with learning and literature for half a century. Besides being the biographer of Alexander and Cæsar, Mr. Williams was one of the few surviving friends of Scott and his great Edinburgh contemporaries."

On the 8th of January it is stated that the National Portrait Gallery will be opened to to the public. the public the following week. The Gallery contained fifty-seven pictures, the last two additions being John Dryden and the infamous Judge Jeffreys.

On the same date it is announced that " Prof.

Owen will read a paper, at the meeting of the

The gorilla. Zoological Society, on Tuesday next, 'On the External Characters of the Gorilla,' which will be illustrated by a mounted specimen of the animal, recently received from the Gaboon "; and the following week a full report of the lecture is given.

Henry Hallam.

Henry Hallam died on the 21st of January, in his eighty-third year, having been born at Windsor in 1777. His father was a clergyman, and ultimately became Dean of Bristol. The obituary notice which appeared on the 29th of January states: "At an early age Hallam went to Eton, where he was soon first among the youthful scholars. Of course his genius first took wing in song......From Eton he

went to Christchurch, Oxford, where he again distinguished himself by his wondrous acquaintance with ancient tongues and ancient authors. Classic Hallam, much renowned for Greek, became afterwards renowned for English; but his hours passed wholly among his books, and his adventures were confined pretty nearly to a brief residence in Germany and Switzerland, -a trip to Ireland, where he broke his leg, falling from a cliff at Killarney, and laming himself for life, and to short visits to a few country houses. From Eton to Oxford, from Oxford to London, from London to Clevedon,-these were his chief wanderings. The best of his biography is written in title-pages. He very early became

He

Το

F.S.A.

a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries, and at The oldest his death was the oldest Fellow on the list. was also a member of the Royal Society......In the various editions his works were all annotated and improved with a most curious and conscientious skill. The last editions are the best. To his great work on the Middle Ages he published, in his seventieth year, a thick volume of 'Notes,' in which he confessed to many mistakes of fact, and did ample justice to the eminent men who had followed so closely in the wake of his inquiries as to detect his wanderings to the right or the left. In the Collected Edition of his writings, published by Mr. Murray three or

1

four years ago in ten volumes, these 'Notes' are incorporated with the 'View of the State of Europe,' to which they added so many pleasant illustrations. The book is precious in every way; and not least among its uses to the future generations of Englishmen will be the light of a great and good example which it sets. In Hallam we possessed a scholar who loved truth better than fame." He married a daughter of Sir Abraham Elton, and had two sons and two daughters. The Arthur Henry first of these sons was Arthur Henry Hallam, the college friend of Tennyson, who dedicated 'In Memoriam' to him.

Hallam.

Liverpool The Free Lending Libraries of Liverpool had Free Lending Libraries. been in operation five years, and the Athenæum of March 5th notes the remarkable success which had attended them: "No less than 1,130,000 volumes have been lent during this period, and upwards of 19,000 persons have enjoyed the privilege of borrowing books. Last week's statistics show the number of volumes lent in the week to be 9,937, the number returned 9,770, and the number in the hands of borrowers 8,591. The number of books at present in the libraries exceeds 22,000 volumes. As far as practicable, all tastes are said to have been consulted in the selection made by the committee of the corporation, under whose management these libraries

have been placed.

A feature of these free

libraries is that of issuing books in embossed type to the blind. A considerable number of musical works have been purchased, and, we hear, are in great demand. Apart from the ordinary wear and tear, twenty shillings would cover the losses of books since the commencement.'

Round.

On the 12th of March it is announced that "Mr. Charles Dickens will bring out on the 30th of April a new periodical to be entitled All All the Year the Year Round. Household Words will cease to appear on the last Saturday in May. The new serial will open with a new tale by Mr. Dickens."

manuscripts.

The collection of manuscripts formed by M. Libri had been sold by Messrs. Sotheby & The Libri Wilkinson, and on the 9th of April an account of some of the chief manuscripts is given. The catalogue is described as "a large volume of 260 pages, with 37 plates of fac-similes, in which the different manuscripts are minutely described. The grand feature of the collection was the immense number of manuscripts of the Latin Classics and Fathers hitherto uncollated, and

* The Thirty-third Annual Report, issued in 1886, shows the total number of the books in the libraries to be 132,276, and while the number of volumes lent during 1885 was 383,128, only six books were lost.