OBITUARIES, FOREIGN. 



669 



Seyffarth, C.nstaviis, a German Egyptologist, 

 born in Uebigau, Saxony, July 13, 1796 ; died 

 in New York, Nov. 17, 1885. He studied in 

 the gymnasium at Leipsic, and later in the 

 university. In 1820 he went to Paris and 

 studied with Champollion. He claimed that 

 he was the first to decipher the hieroglyphics 

 on the celebrated Rosetta Stone, and his claims 

 were generally recognized by European scien- 

 tists. In 1823 he published his u Clavis Hiero- 

 glocorum Egyptiacorum," which made him 

 known to many savants and learned societies. 

 Two years later he was appointed Professor of 



1 Oriental Archaeology in the University of Leip- 

 sic, and he held this post for thirty years, pub- 

 lishing during that period numerous mono- 

 graphs and treatises. In 1855 he came to the 

 United States and was appointed to the chair 

 of Archaeology and Exegesis in the Lutheran 

 Seminary at St. Louis. From 1871 he resided 

 in New York. He deciphered numerous Egyp- 

 tian manuscripts in the collection of the New 

 York Historical Society, as well as those upon 

 the obelisk in the Central Park. Soon after its 

 erection here, he lectured on the obelisk. 



Shaftesbury (Anthony Ashley Cooper, seventh 

 Earl of Shaftesbury), born in London, April 28, 

 1801 ; died at Folkestone, Oct. 1, 1885. He was 

 educated at Oxford, where he obtained a first- 

 class in classics in 1822. He was returned 

 member for Woodstock in 1826, and supported 

 the Government of Lord Liverpool and George 

 Canning. In the administration of the Duke 

 of Wellington, he was a Commissioner of the 

 Board of Control. He was returned for Dor- 

 chester in 1830, which county he represented 

 for sixteen years. He was elected for Bath in 

 1847, and sat for that borough till 1851, when 

 he succeeded his father in the peerage. He 

 was a Lord of the Admiralty in Sir Robert 

 Peel's administration in 1834-'35. He was a 

 decided evangelical Christian, and stood always 

 among the leaders and often at the head of 

 movements for advancing the welfare of his 

 fellow-men. He early became distinguished 

 by his efforts for the improvement of the so- 

 cial condition of the laboring classes, no man 

 having taken more pains to inform himself of 

 the actual condition of the poor of Great Brit- 

 ain. He was a great favorite among the work- 

 ing-people, whom he visited in their homes and 

 whom he frequently addressed at public meet- 

 ings. He achieved distinction by his devotion 

 to social, industrial, and intellectual reform 

 movements, but was comparatively indifferent 

 to politics as such. He agitated successfully 

 for laws reducing the hours of labor for both 

 adults and children ; for improving workshops, 

 factories, and lodging-houses ; also for the care 

 of children and affecting the sanitary and moral 



i, condition of the miners and other humble 



1 classes. He was President of the Ragged 

 School Union from its formation in 1844 until 

 his death ; of the British and Foreign Bible 

 Society, and of the Victoria Institute, whose 



. aim was to secure for science a better recogni- 



tion from theology. He was also President 

 of the Society for the Conversion of the Jews, 

 of the Protestant Alliance, and of many other 

 Christian and philanthropic institutions. For 

 half a century he was an active advocate of 

 the abolition of slavery throughout the world, 

 and he was a firm friend of the United States 

 during the civil war. His influence in the 

 Evangelical party within the Church of Eng- 

 land, of which he was a member, was always 

 powerful. Few lives have been marked by 

 such simple, earnest piety, and such unceasing 

 devotion to the good of his fellow-men. When- 

 ever he appeared at a public meeting, he 

 elicited a popular enthusiasm hardly shared by 

 any public man of the period. The last year 

 of his life was devoted to the preparation of 

 an autobiography, which will soon be pub- 

 lished. While respecting his wishes that he 

 should be buried with his ancestors at the fam- 

 ily seat of St. Giles, in Dorsetshire, it was decided, 

 by means of a memorial service in Westmin- 

 ster Abbey, to gratify a large number of friends 

 and admirers. Unusual honors were paid to a 

 patrician by thousands of the London poor, 

 who swarmed in and around the ancient abbey. 

 On his coffin lay a floral wreath sent by the 

 Queen's eldest daughter, the future Empress of 

 Germany, and by its side another, sent by the 

 poor flower-girls of London. Lord Shaftes- 

 bury married, in 1830, a daughter of Earl 

 Cowper, by whom he had three sons. The 

 eldest, who entered Parliament in 1857, and 

 visited the United States in 1860, succeeded to 

 the title and estates. Lady Shaftesbury died 

 in 1872. She was a superior and most estima- 

 ble woman, who shared in her husband's phil- 

 anthropic work. 



Shairp, John Campbell, a British scholar, born 

 at Houstoun House, Linlithgow shire, July 30, 

 1819; died in London, Sept. 18, 1885. He re- 

 ceived his education at Oxford, and was ap- 

 pointed assistant master at Rugby. In 1857 

 he was called to a professorship at St. An- 

 drews, and in 1868 he was made principal of 

 the college. For the last four years of his life 

 he filled a professor's chair at Oxford. Prof. 

 Shairp was the author of several volumes of 

 essays, lectures, and addresses, which were re- 

 published in the United States, and gave him 

 high reputation. He also published " Kilma- 

 hoe," a Highland pastoral, with other poems. 

 He was a frequent contributor to the magazines. 

 His latest production was a poem entitled " The 

 Clearing of the Glens." 



Somerset, Sir Adolplms St. Manr, Duke of, born 

 Dec. 20, 1804; died in Stover, Nov. 21, 1885. 

 He was educated at Eton and Oxford, and from 

 1834 to 1855 represented Totnes in the House 

 of Commons, as Lord Seymour. He held va- 

 rious offices under Liberal ministers, and after 

 he succeeded his father, the eleventh Duke, in 

 1855, he entered Lord Palmerston's Cabinet in 

 1859 as First Lord of the Admiralty. He pub- 

 lished some mathematical essays, and in 1880 

 a book entitled " Monarchy and Democracy." 



