543 



advocacy, the weight of his character, and the uniform dignity 

 (combined as it always was with exceeding courtesy and gentleness) 

 of his personal bearing, peculiarly fitted him. 



His health, which in the earlier days of his residence at Cam- 

 bridge, after taking his Bachelor's degree, had not been strong, lat- 

 terly gave way under the influence of repeated attacks of influenza 

 and bronchitis, which necessitated his passing the winters in warmer 

 residences. That of 1848 he passed in Madeira with every promise 

 of permanent benefit. The disorder, however, recurred in succeeding 

 winters, and was aggravated in 1857 by an attack of dysentery. On 

 the 28th of October in the present year he attended a meeting of the 

 University Commission, from which returning, he took to his bed, 

 exhausted by the effort, to rise no more a striking comment on the 

 expressions used by him in his letter above cited. His decease took 

 place on the 8th of November, 1858. 



Dr. Peacock married, in 1847, Frances Elizabeth, second daughter 

 of W. Selwin, Esq., Q.C. He has left no family. He was for 

 several years a Vice-President of this Society; in 1830-31, and 

 various subsequent sessions down to 1856-57, he acted as a Mem- 

 ber of the Council. Few men have left behind them a memory 

 more cherished, or been attended through life by more universal 

 manifestations of affectionate regard and reverential esteem. 



MAJOR-GENERAL SIR WILLIAM REID, K.C.B., was born on the 

 25th of April, 1 79 1 : his father was a Minister of the Established 

 Church of Scotland, at Kinglassie, in Fife, and with slight pre- 

 vious advantages of education, he was sent, soon after he entered his 

 fifteenth year, to the Royal Military Academy at Woolwich. Young 

 Reid made rapid progress, completed his course of study before he 

 had attained his eighteenth year, and was sent, as was at that time 

 the custom, to the Ordnance Survey, then directed by Colonel Mudge, 

 Royal Artillery : in February 1809, he was commissioned in the 

 Royal Engineers. In those stirring times the interval was short 

 between the hall of study and the field. Lieutenant Reid joined the 

 army of Wellington in 1810, was present at the first unsuccessful 

 siege of Badajoz in April 1811, and at the final capture of that 

 fortress twelve months later. Early and continuously conspicuous for 

 his zeal, intelligence and energy, even among the very many young 

 officers of Engineers who greatly distinguished themselves in that 



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