May 26, 185G.] OBITUARY. 131 



of one of the most ancient and illustrious families of Poiiugal. After 

 having received an excellent education, he vi^as sent as minister of 

 Portugal to the Court of Denmark ; recalled after the revolution of 

 1820, he was appointed, in 1823, keeper of the archives of the realm, 

 having already, in 1821, during a sojourn in Paris, collected numer- 

 ous documents bearing upon the history of Portugal from among 

 the MSS. in the ' Bibliotheque Eoyale.' In 1827, he v^^as appointed 

 Minister of Foreign Affairs, but shortly afterwards, upon his retire- 

 ment, he proceeded to Paris, where he joined the Geographical 

 Society in 1835, and was afterwards elected Vice-President. The 

 library of our Society is enriched with numerous works from his 

 pen; and it was but last year that my predecessor in this chair 

 directed the attention of the world to his beautiful work on the 

 ' Discoveries of the Portuguese,' and other labours, which have 

 been so suddenly interrupted by his death, which took place in 

 February, 1856. 



' Symonds, Eear- Admiral Sir William, k.h., c.b., f.r.s. — late Sur- 

 veyor of the Navy — died in March, on his voyage from Malta to 

 Marseilles, aged 74. Sir William entered the navy at an early 

 age, and, during the early part of his career, was much engaged in 

 active service on the coasts of France, Spain, and in the West 

 Indies. He obtained post rank in 1827 ; and in 1^31, Capt. Symonds 

 was enabled, through the munificence of the Duke of Portland, to 

 build the 10-gun brig ' Pantaloon,' the triumph of which vessel led 

 to the construction, under his superintendence, of the * Vernon,' 50 ; 

 ' Vestal,' 26 ; ' Snake,' 16, and others. On June 9th, 1832, he was 

 offered, and accepted, the appointment of Surveyor of the Navy, 

 which he continued to fill until 1847. 



Sir. William Symonds received the honour of knighthood for his 

 services, and the thanks of the Admiralty in 1 830 for a memoir con- 

 taining 'Sailing Directions for the Adriatic Sea;' and again, in 

 1837, for " the valuable qualities of his several ships, and for im- 

 provements introduced by him into the navy." He was elected a 

 F.R.S., 1835, and nominated a C.B. on the Civil division, 1848. In 

 1854 he became a Eear- Admiral on the retired list. 



Urcullu, Don Jose de, was born in Hamburg on the 8th April, 

 1787. His father, D. Manuel de Urcullu, the Spanish Consul in 

 that cit}^ brought him, at an early age, to Bilboa, where he 

 had possessions. On the death of his father, he was sent to be 

 educated to the college of Sao Jose de Calasan, in Saragossa, 

 where he graduated in the faculty of Philosophy. In 1807, having 



