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philologists and ethnologists equally esteemed him. With marvel- 

 lous versatility of talent he grappled with the ancient Lycian in- 

 scriptions, brought home by Fellows, Forbes and Spratt, and revealed 

 the secrets of an unknown tongue written in an unknown character. 



In debate he was clear, keen, severely critical, and at times some- 

 what sarcastic, occasionally alarming to an opponent unaccustomed 

 to his style ; but those who knew him best were well aware that an 

 unvarying fund of kindly good humour lay beneath, and that if he 

 hit his adversary hard, no man than himself more rejoiced in a harder 

 blow in return. His private life was full of unostentatious benevo- 

 lence. In conversation with his familiars he was intelligent, lively, 

 and quick in perception, and his attached friends of the Geological 

 Club, of which he lately was President by virtue of his office as head 

 of the Society, will long mourn his loss, and miss the quaint humour 

 and quiet laugh that so often helped to animate their board. 



Mr. Sharpe was a Fellow of the Linnean, Zoological, and Geo- 

 logical Societies. In 1853 he became Treasurer of the Geological 

 Society, and on the retirement of Mr. Hamilton was elected its 

 President in 1856. In 1850 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal 

 Society. On the 20th of last May, while riding near Norwood, he 

 was thrown from his horse, and sustained a fracture of the skull. 

 In a few days he so far recovered as to be able to recognize the rela- 

 tions that were admitted to his chamber, and his numerous friends 

 rejoiced in the prospect of his speedy restoration ; but a sudden 

 relapse succeeded, and he died on the 31st of May, sorrowed for by 

 all who knew his worth. 



JAMES MEADOWS RENDEL was born in 1799, at a village on the 

 borders of Dartmoor, in Devonshire ; his grandfather, Mr. Meadows, 

 F.R.S., was a well-known architect, and his father, who was a county 

 surveyor and farmer, was a man of ability, excellent common sense 

 and determination of character, qualities which descended to the son, 

 Avhilst to his mother, who was a woman of considerable acquirements, 

 he owed the rudiments of his early education. 



After being practically instructed in the executive part of his pro- 

 fession, he went to London and obtained an engagement under Mr. 

 Telford, by whom he was employed on the survey and experiments 

 for the proposed suspension bridge over the Mersey, at Runcorn, and 



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