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OBITUARIES, FOREIGN. (PALMIERI PATMORE.) 



West Leeds, and, after a novel and lively campaign, 

 almost won this naturally Liberal seat from Herbert 

 Gladstone. 



Palmieri, Luigi, an Italian astronomer and 

 meteorologist, born in Benevento, April 22, 1807; 

 died in Naples, Sept. 9, 1896. He studied natural 

 science and philosophy at Naples, opened a school 

 of physical science, and was subsequently Professor 

 of Mathematics in the lyceums of Salerno. Campo- 

 basso, and Avellino successively. In 1845 he was 

 made Professor of Physics in the royal naval school 

 at Naples, and in 1847 was appointed professor at 

 the Naples University. In 1854 the meteorological 

 observatory on Vesuvius was placed under his direc- 

 tion. He devoted much attention to the study of 

 electricity and terrestrial magnetism, and invented 

 several instruments for the observation of natural 

 phenomena, especially an electrical seismograph 

 that has been used in Japan as well as in his ob- 

 servatory, an electrometer for ascertaining the 

 amount and the kind of electricity in the atmos- 

 phere, and a new rain gauge. For several years he 

 has predicted every fresh eruption of Vesuvius. 



Parkes, Sir Henry, an Australian statesman, 

 born in Stoneleigh, Warwickshire, in 1815: died in 

 Sydney, New South Wales, April 27, 1896. He was 

 a son of a farm laborer, and was bound out to a 

 trade in Birmingham. After serving his appren- 

 ticeship, he man-led, and in 1839 emigrated to New 

 South Wales, lie could scarcely earn enough to 

 feed his little famUy, and struggled on for years 

 in humble occupations indeed was oppressed with 

 poverty all his life but very soon his penetrating 

 grasp of public needs and political action impressed 

 his fellows. Taking part in public discussions as 

 an advocate of free labor in opposition to the de- 

 mands of the pastoralists to revive transportation 

 and the system of assigning convicts to them, he 

 established the "Empire" newspaper in 1848. and 

 was soon recognized as one of the foremost publi- 

 cists and orators in Australia, and was honored as 

 a champion of popular rights who had helped to 

 save the liberties of the colony. In the new and 

 democratic Australia that sprang up on the discov- 

 ery of gold he advanced to the front. After taking 

 a prominent part in the agitation for a new consti- 

 tution, he was elected a representative of Sydney in 

 the Legislative Council, fought the proposition to 

 create a hereditary peerage and titles of nobility, 

 and when the first true Parliament of New South 

 Wales was constituted in 1856, secured a seat in the 

 Legislative Assembly, which he held, with the ex- 

 ception of some brief intervals, up to the time of 

 his death. He took a prominent part in all debates 

 and was recognized and feared as a most consum- 

 mate parliamentarian and formidable antagonist, 

 but it was not till 1866 that he accepted office. He 

 took the post of Colonial Secretary in the Cabinet 

 of Sir James Martin, and in that year he carried 

 the public-schools act. In 1872 he formed his first 

 administration, which lasted till 1875. In 1877 he 

 again became Premier, and in 1878 for the third 

 time. In 1887 he formed a fourth Cabinet, and in 

 1889 a fifth, holding the position altogether about 

 twelve years. Sir Henry Parkes received his title 

 in 1877, and in 1888 the grand cross of the Colonial 

 order. He was imbued with the principles of Eng- 

 lish liberalism of the old school, that of Cobden 

 and Bright, but was much of an opportunist in his 

 politics, seldom an initiator of legislation, but quick 

 to adopt the new measures of other colonies and 

 countries that were likely to prove popular in New 

 South Wales. To him the colony owes its system 

 of national education freed from all ecclesiastical 

 control, efficient in its standards, and ingeniously 

 adapted to sparsely populated districts. Pie was 

 accustomed to boast that there were few great 



measures on the statute book that did not owe their 

 presence there to him. His public career came to 

 an end toward the close of 1891, when his ministry 

 resigned office rather than submit to the demands 

 of the Labor party. He was an earnest advocate of 

 Australian federation, and hoped to be called to 

 the head of the Government again on this issue, but 

 lie had refused to lead the party in Opposition and 

 other questions dominated the" situation when he 

 was passed by and Mr. Reid was made Premier. 



Patmore, Coventry Kearsey Deighton, an 

 English poet, born in Woodford, p]ssex, July '2o, 

 1823 ; died in Lymington, Sussex, Nov. 26, '1896, 

 He was the son of Peter George Patmore, a writer 

 of some note in his day, who died in 1855. lie 

 wrote and printed early his first volume of poems. 

 appearing in 1S44 

 and not escaping a 

 good deal of ad- 

 verse criticism. 

 The first numb.-r 

 of the famous pre- 

 raphaelite journal, 

 "The Germ,'' con- 

 tained some of his 

 work. In 1846 he 

 became an assist- 

 ant librarian in the 

 British Museum, 

 holding his place 

 until his retire- 

 ment, in 1868. In 

 is 47 he married 

 Miss Emily An- 

 drews, daughter of 

 a Congregational 

 minister. She died in 1862, having borne six chil- 

 dren, four of whom survive. During this portion of 

 his life Mr. Patmore lived in North London, well 

 known in literary circles, and counting among his 

 friends Monckton Milnes, Tennyson, Millais, Rus- 

 kin, Rossetti, and other famous men. It was in 

 this period likewise that he published the work by 

 which he is most widely known, "The Angel in the 

 House," the first part of which (" The Betrothal ") 

 appeared in 1854. and the second (" The Espousal ") 

 in 1856. His wife was the heroine of the poem 

 It was widely popular, and in externals lent itself 

 only too easily to parody. The meter was com- 

 fortably easy, the rhymes no less so, the scenery 

 that of a deanery, and the people Church men and 

 women of intense respectability. But it is more 

 than probable that the larger number of Mr. Pat- 

 in ore's readers failed to perceive the mystical mean- 

 ing of the whole. Human love here typified the 

 heavenly love ; the eternal bridegroom was symbol- 

 ized by the earthly one; the birth of every child 

 showing forth the Incarnation all this the poet 

 had in mind from the beginning, and these are the 

 motives of his work as poet throughout his career. 

 His next work, "Faithful forever," was cast in a 

 similar mold, and was likewise popular. In " The 

 Victories of Love" he still continued "to dwell on 

 the borderland of insipidity," as some one has said 

 of him, though it must be added that the insipidity 

 refers rather to the form than to the substance. 

 The serenity of Patmore's nature was too genuine 

 to permit of annoyance when he saw his work bur- 

 lesqued by Swinburne and others: but his later 

 writings, and especially his odes, not even the most 

 irreverent nature would parody. After many years 

 of neglect "The Angel in the House" again finds 

 appreciative readers, and its surpassing merits in 

 some directions are generally recognized ; while 

 ''The Victories of Love," not so well known to the 

 present generation, must, in the possession of cer- 

 tain qualities, be placed even higher. At his best, 



