xcursion," and "The White Doe
of Rylstone." He also wrote many deeply touching minor poems.

May 24th, Miss Jane Porter, authoress of many works, which have been
translated into various languages. The most popular of these were
"Thaddeus of Warsaw," and the "Scottish Chiefs." Sir Walter Scott
is represented as having admitted to George IV. that his idea of the
"Waverley Novels" was suggested by the perusal of the "Scottish Chiefs."
If this currently believed anecdote be correct, Miss Porter was the
founder of the school of modern historical novels, and not Sir Walter
Scott.

On the 27th, Mr. Richard J. Wyatt, known as a sculptor of great merit
throughout Europe. His death took place at Rome.

July 4th, at Barham, Suffolk, Canon Kirby, rector of that parish. He
was a distinguished naturalist, and the author of various eminent works,
especially in the department of entomology. His _Monographic, Apium
Anglio_, his description of the _Fauna Boreali Americana_, and his
"Bridgewater Treatise," on the "history, habits, and instincts of
animals," have made him a world-wide tame.

July 12th, Mr. Robert Stephenson, civil engineer, who had obtained an
honourable notoriety for his achievements in his profession.

August 19th, Sir Martin Shee, president of the Royal Academy. He was
not only celebrated as a painter, but was an accomplished scholar and
author.

On the 30th of October, one of the most benevolent and amiable ladies in
the world of letter's, Mrs. Bell Martin, died at New York. This gifted
lady was born at Ballinahinch Castle, in Galway. Her father, Mr. Thomas
Barnewell Martin, M.P. for Galway, died in 1847. Miss Martin married a
Mr. Bell, who assumed the name of Martin. The estates of Mr. Martin, of
Ballinahinch, were in area the largest in the United Kingdom, and Miss
Martin was commonly styled "the Irish heiress," from her very large
patrimony. The failure of the potato crops, and the ensuing famine,
which afflicted Ireland for several years, ruined Miss Martin's
inheritance. The estates were encumbered, and as landed property in
Ireland during "the famine years" brought but little in the market, the
Ballinahinch properly was thrown into the Encumbered Estates Court, and
there were no assets for "the heiress," She left the extensive region
over which she had almost reigned as a princess, without any longer
having a claim to a single acre. She was in deep distress, and, to the
dishonour of the gentry of Ireland,