Xlvi PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY* 



eloquent tribute from the pen of our own Sir Roderick Murchison, 

 the President of the Geographical Society, in his Annual Address to 

 that most useful and prosperous Society ; and I can do no better than 

 glean from him what is necessary to justify the high estimation in 

 which we have always held that estimable Nobleman. 



For a large portion of his writings, Lord Ellesmere adopted the 

 Quarterly lie view as the medium of communication to the public. It 

 appears that between the years 1834 and 1854, he was the contri- 

 butor of no less than fifteen articles, many of which were directed 

 to geographical research, others to the fine arts of which he was an 

 able connoisseur, and some to biography, or to military exploits, as 

 the spirit of chivalry was as alive in him as in the breasts of his 

 warlike ancestry. His accounts of the works of the Dutch authors 

 Meiglan, Fischer, and Doeff, and especially his vivid picture of the 

 manners and usages of the Japanese, have been justly praised as 

 having thrown a charm over geographical science, and rendered even 

 its minute details attractive. The lively interest he displayed in the 

 romantic expedition of Sir James Brooke, his analysis of Arctic and 

 Antarctic researches, and his account of the travels of Castron among 

 the Lapps not only prove the pleasure he derived from perusing the 

 narratives of voyagers and travellers, but also his ability in estimating 

 the value of their results. Many must remember the stately figure, 

 and the courtly yet courteous manners, of this type of the true Eng- 

 lish nobleman, when, opening the halls of the palace of his family for 

 the reception of the leading men of science, he collected, as it were, 

 the living gems of intellect within a frame-work enriched by those 

 of past ages as displayed in his rich collection of the works of the 

 great masters of art ; as well as the dignified manner in which he 

 presided over the Geographical Society : he exhibited indeed every 

 quality which is calculated to adorn a nobleman of such high social 

 position, and to render him a fitting leader of his fellow men. The 

 versatility of his talents has been already noticed; but it may be 

 added that he possessed the soul of a poet ; for who but a poet could 

 attempt to transfuse the spirit of a Goethe and Schiller into the 

 English language ?— - and unquestionably the soul of a soldier, as, in 

 addition to the papers in the Quarterly Review, he translated ' Clau- 

 sewitz's Campaigns in Russia,' the ' Sieges of Vienna by the Turks,' 

 and the ' Last Military Events in Italy.' This latter aspect of his 

 character was strikingly marked by the strong attachment and 

 respect he always manifested for the great Duke of Wellington ; and 

 his singular ability for military science may be judged from the 

 sound judgment he has exhibited in his Preface, or, as it may be 

 called, Introduction to Clausewitz's " Campaign of 1812," 



His thorough knowledge of the fine arts is well known ; and his 

 general acquaintance with science, as well as his earnest desire to 

 apply it to the practical amelioration of the condition of his fellow 

 creatures, was publicly manifested by his address to the British 

 Association, over which body, at its meeting in 1842, at Manchester, 

 he presided as President, being then Lord Francis Egerton. His 

 generous support of men of genius, and his domestic virtues, flowed 



