967 



ABOELANDEB, FRIEDBIG'H WILHELM. 



BAINES, EDWARD. 



963 



During the last few years Professor Ansted has devoted himself to 

 the practical applications of geological science in the investigation of 

 the strata of the earth containing mineral riches. In the course of 

 these researches he has travelled extensively both in the New and Old 

 Worlds, and has produced many elaborate and valuable reports. 



ARGELANDER, FBIEDBICH WILHELM AUGUST, Professor 

 of Astronomy in the University of Bonn, and one of the most emi- 

 nent astronomers of our time, was born at Memel, in East Prussia, on 

 the 22nd of March 1799. He was educated iu the University of 

 Konigsberg, where he at first studied financial economy (Kameralswia- 

 senschaften) ; but the discourses of Bessel led him to exchange that 

 study for astronomy. Under Bessel's instruction he was soon occupied 

 with practical calculations and observations, and in 1820 was appointed 

 his assistant in the Konigsberg Observatory. In 1822 he employed 

 himself as a private tutor in the university, whence, in 1823, he 

 removed to the handsome newly-erected observatory at Abo in Fin- 

 land, where he succeeded the astronomer Waldeck. Here he dili- 

 gently occupied himself in examining principally those stars which 

 have a peculiar motion. A fire, which destroyed Abo in 1827, inter- 

 rupted his labours. The university was removed to Helsingfors in 1832, 

 whither he had to follow ; and he had to superintend the building of 

 a new observatory, which was completed in 1834. The result of his 

 observations was a catalogue of 560 stars having a peculiar motion, 

 which was published by the Academy of St. Petersburg, and received 

 the DemidoiF prize. In 1837 he was nominated to the post at Bonn 

 which he at present holds. Here he was again called upon to superin- 

 tend the construction of an observatory, which was not completed till 

 1845. In the interim, as the produce of his observations, he published 

 at Berlin, in 1843, ' Uranometria nova,' an astronomical chart, with 

 specifications of the different relative magnitudes of the stars visible 

 by the naked eye. In 1846 he published at Bonn, ' Astronomische 

 Beobachtungen auf der Stern warte zu Bonn,' which is a continuation 

 of Bessel's observations on the zone, and contains a review of the 

 Northern Hemisphere from 45 to 80 of declination, fixing the 

 position of about 22,000 stars. His labours for the last ten or twelve 

 years have been directed to the subject of the change of luminosity in 

 some of the variable stars, on which subject he is said to be preparing 

 an important work. 



AUCKLAND, GEORGE EDEN, 2ND LORD AND IST EARL OF, 

 eldest surviving son of the 1st lord, was born in 1784. After receiving 

 his education at Eton and Oxford, he entered the House of Commons 

 as M.P. for Woodstock, but was soon removed to the House of Lords 

 by his father's death. He formed a part of the Whig administration 

 as President of the Board of Trade, and was appointed First Lord 

 of the Admiralty by Lord Melbourne in 1834. In the following year 

 he went out to India as governor-general. His administration is 

 marked by the ill-advised Afghan war (1838-39), almost the only 

 bright spot in which was the capture of Ghuznee by Sir John Keane 

 in 1839 (KEANE, LORD). The Earl of Auckland was recalled to 

 England in 1842, having been previously advanced to an earldom : 

 the final settlement of the Afghan affairs was left for his successor, 

 the Earl of Ellenborough. Lord Auckland died suddenly, January 

 1st, 1849. 



* AYTOUN, WILLIAM EDMONDSTOUNE, Professor of Rhetoric 

 in the University of Edinburgh, was born in Fifeshire in 1813, and 

 educated iu Edinburgh University, where in 1831 he gained the prize 

 for his poem of ' Judith.' For some time Mr. Ay toun practised as a 

 writer to the signet at Edinburgh, but in 1840 was called to the bar. 

 By his writings and his social qualities having obtained a high local 

 reputation, Mr. Ay toun was in 1845 appointed to the chair of rhetoric 

 in the University of Edinburgh, and his lectures have amply sustained 

 his previous celebrity. His local standing has also been supported 

 by his position as editor of ' Blackwood's Magazine,' in which office he 

 succeeded his father-in-law, John Wilson, and he has contributed to the 

 magazine many sparkling essays and sharp criticisms, as well as much 

 poetry. His services to the Conservative cause were acknowledged 

 by his appointment by the Derby-Disraeli ministry, in 1852, as sheriff 

 and vice-admiral of the Orkneys. His claim to public notice as a poet is 

 founded mainly on his 'Lays of the Scottish Cavaliers,' 8vo, Edin., 1849 

 (10th edit., 1857), which are marked by a good deal of the old Scottish 

 ballad spirit and energy, with an ample share of modern nationality; but 

 he has also published ' Poland, and other Poems,' and 'Both well, a poem, 

 in six parts,' 8vo, Edinb., 1856 ; and the caustic parody on certain poets 

 of the so-called spasmodic school, ' Fermilian, or the Student of Bada- 

 joz; a Spasmodic Tragedy, by T. Percy Jones ' (Edinb. 1854), is under- 

 stood to be a production of his fluent pen. In prose his only separate 

 work is ' The Life and Times of Richard the First, King of England,' 

 8vo, Lond., 1840. In 1853 Professor Aytoun delivered a series of lec- 

 tures on ' Poetry and Dramatic Literature ' to a distinguished audience 

 at Willis's Rooms, London. ' The Ballads of Scotland, edited by Pro- 

 fessor Aytoun,' are announced as nearly ready for publication (Decem- 

 ber 1857). 



*BAILEY, PHILIP JAMES, author of 'Festus,' was born in Not- 

 tingham, April 22, 1816, and was educated at Nottingham and at 

 Glasgow University. Having selected the legal profession, he in 1833 

 entered the office of a eolicitor in the Temple, where he remained for 



two years. Turning his thoughts to the bar, he then entered a con- 

 veyancer's office ; was admitted a member of Lincoln's Inn in 1835 ; 

 and in 1840 was called to the bar. In the previous year however ho 

 had published his poem 'Festus' (commenced in 1836), and the 

 general attention which that remarkable work excited had probably 

 deepened his long growing dislike to the law ; at any rate, he after 

 a short time abandoned the bar, returned to Nottingham, and devoted 

 himself to literary, and especially to poetic studies. ' Ftstus ' created 

 a new phase of English poetic literature. A work written with a 

 moral and metaphysical purpose (a kind of devouter Faust) treating 

 often of the highest and most abstruse subjects 



(" It aims to mark 

 The various beliefs as well as doubts 

 Which hold or search by turns the mind of youth, 

 Unresting anywhere") 



lofty and swelling in diction, yet occasionally stooping to the home- 

 liest colloquialisms ; earnest, and even passionate in tone and manner, 

 abounding in strange, often extravagant metaphors, and turns of 

 expression, and in vivid descriptions, yet everywhere running into 

 mysticism and obscurity, however it might be open to captious or to 

 sober criticism, was a work well calculated to captivate young and 

 ardent minds ; and it found many and passionate admirers and imitators, 

 as svell in America as in the author's native country. Its influence on 

 younger poets, especially those of a metaphysical turn, has been very 

 great. Buc though ' Festus ' passed through several editions (a fifth 

 was published in 1852), it was not till 1850 that Mr. Bailey put forth 

 a new poem, when there appeared ' The Angel World, and other 

 Poems,' in which the reader was carried into the realms of Christian 

 doctrine. Again he was silent till 1855, when he published his 

 ' Mystic,' another psychological poem, even more venturesome in its 

 soaring, and more mystical in treatment than was ' Festus,' but, like 

 it, abounding in passages of power, beauty, and suggestiveuess. 



BAINES, EDWARD, an eminent example of the success of indus- 

 try, good conduct, integrity, and of unceasing endeavours to make his 

 talents beneficial to his fellow-men as well as useful to himself, was 

 born on February 5, 1774, at Walton-le-Dale, a village about a mile 

 from Preston, in Lancashire, of a respectable but uot wealthy family 

 long settled at Marton-le-Moor, near Ripon, in Yorkshire. He was 

 first sent to the free grammar-school at Hawkshead, the master of 

 which was Edward Christian, afterwards Downing Professor of Law in 

 the University of Cambridge, whence he was removed when eight 

 years old to the free grammar-school of Preston. His father had 

 commenced business as a cotton-weaver, and wished to bring his son 

 up to that business, but he preferred a more intellectual employment, 

 and at the age of sixteen was apprenticed to a printer in Preston. 

 After serving about four years and a half, during which time he had 

 seen something of the management of a country paper, his master's 

 business falling off, he transferred his services to Leeds, where ho 

 finished his time in the office of the ' Leeds Mercury.' During his 

 apprenticeship he sedulously cultivated his mind. He invited several 

 of his companions to join him in forming reading and debating 

 societies, in the latter of which he is said to have distinguished himself 

 by his liberal opinions, his toleration, and his plain good sense. In 

 September 1797, the day after the expiration of his apprenticeship, he 

 began business for himself in connection with a partner, from whom 

 he separated in the course of the following year. -From the political 

 circumstances of the time the dissenters from the Churcn cf England 

 were the most liberal in their political opinions. Mr. Bainea, from 

 their consonance with his own, was thus brought into association with 

 many of the most influential among them ; and at length joined the 

 body as an Independent. In July 1798 he married the daughter of 

 Mr. Matthew Talbot, an excellent and pious woman, and continued by 

 his industry and attention to business to win the confidence of the 

 dissenting body and to increase his means. In 1801, assisted by some 

 of the wealthier members of that body, he purchased the copyright and 

 the printing materials of the ' Leeds Mercury,' of which he immediately 

 became editor as well as printer. By judicious but not sudden im- 

 provements he gradually increased its circulation, and extended its 

 influence, while his good taste and temper led him to abjure all gross- 

 ness and bitterness of altercation ; and he promoted as far as lay in his 

 power all local schemes for the amelioration of the position of his poor 

 fellow- townsmen, by advocating the establishment of hospitals, friendly 

 societies (savings-banks had not yet been established), and tho extension 

 of education. A large part of the influence he acquired arose from his 

 being among the first who introduced leaders or original editorial 

 dissertations on political subjects into a provincial paper; these leaders 

 being distinguished by the moderation of their tone, their inde- 

 pendence, their fearless advocacy of the opinions he entertained, the 

 force of their style, and their general good sense. In the severely con- 

 tested election for Yorkshire in 1807, he took an energetic part in 

 support of Lord Milton in opposition to Mr. Lascelles, although he 

 differed in opinion from Lord Milton respecting the desirableness of 

 peace on proper terms, and a reform in parliament, both of which he 

 advocated, while there were few more earnest in supporting the 

 dignity of England when threatened by France, and his appeals to the 

 inhabitants of Leeds to join the volunteers when an invasion was 

 feared, had a most remarkable effect. But we are not about to narrate 

 all the incidents connected with Mr. Balnea's conduct of his paper, which 



