pursuits, when, in 1853, he was appointed to the most important pust to which an Austrian diplomatist could be called-he was nominated Internuncio at Constantinople. His work was, first, to restore those earlier friendly relations of Austria with the Purte which had been so rudely displaced by Count Leiningen on special mission from Vienna, and afterwards to maintain the influence of Austria against that of Russia, France, and England. It will be admitted that this was no light task, seeing that the three powers were respectively making armed demonstrations, while Austria professed no more than a neutrality friendly to the Porte. Whatever opinion may be formed of the policy of the Austrian cabinet, there can be no doubt that it has been worthily represented at Constantinople by Baron Bruck. From the departure of Prince Menschikoff from Constantinople (May 18) to the day of his recall, he was the appointed protector of the Czar's subjets in Turkey, and at the same time one of the chief foreign advisers of the Porte. His efforts have always been directed to the Eintenance or the restoration of peace. Thus he opposed the declaration of war by the Sultan in 1853, advised the acceptme of the Vienna note, and opposed, as far as he could, the

inal passage of the British fleet through the Dardanelles. The act with which his name is most permanently identified is the ConVtion of June 1854, by which Austria gained a splendid military position on the Danube as far as to the Pruth, without incurring any further obligation than that of defending the same. At the Commencement of 1855 Bruck was recalled to Vienna, to take charge of the Ministry of Finance, vacant by the resignation of Herr von Baumgarten. On the 3d of January, at a fête given at the palace of the embassy, the Baron, when proposing the health of the Sultan as a toast, expressed his aspirations for the East in words which have produced a great effect both at Constantinople and St. Petersburg. He said: "Come peace when it may-before fter the struggle-the pride of Russia will have been subdued. Then will Turkey enter upon a new era; the prejudices of race will be removed, all religions will be freely exercised, right will triumph over force, and the great resources of commerce and industry be developed. That the Sultan is resolute upon all these important matters is well known. Aided by a devoted and able body of ministers, his will be the privilege of fixing his mighty empire more firmly than ever, upon the sound basis of a wise and liberal administration. Such a solution of the Eastern question will be truly in accordance with the civilisation of our day."

BRUNNOW, BARON, the celebrated Russian Diplomatist, is a German by birth, and his connexion with the Court of Russia was originally formed at the period of the Congress of Aix-la-Chapelle, in 1818. He was subsequently attached to the Foreign-office at St. Petersburg, and was next appointed Minister at the Grand Ducal Court of Darmstadt. In 1839 Baron Brunnow arrived in London, on a special mission relative to the contest between the

Sultan and his Egyptian subjects. He then represented Russia at the Court of Wurtemberg, and was next appointed Russian Ambassador in London, which office he filled until the rupture between Great Britain and Russia in 1854. Through five administrations, Baron Brunnow was respected by the statesmen of every party. The late Sir Robert Peel has left the following tribute to the Baron's high official character:-" There never was a foreign minister more zealous for the promotion of the interests of his own country, or more unwilling to make any compromise of its honour, or of anything that could qualify his obligations to watch over the interests of which he is the representative; but, rising above all the petty arts of intrigue, and by the suavity and simplicity of his own conduct, his Excellency has gained the confidence of every ministry with which he has been called upon to act, and, without sacrificing the interests of his own country, has secured the personal goodwill and esteem of all those with whom it has been his lot to act." Baron Brunnow left England in February 8, 1854, for a temporary sojourn at Darmstadt; and he has since lived in retirement.

BRUNSWICK WOLFENBUTTEL, AUGUSTUSLOUIS-WILLIAM, DUKE OF, born 26th of April, 1806, took the reins of government April 25th, 1831, on the flight of his elder brother, the previous Duke, since sufficiently known in London.

BRYANT, WILLIAM CULLEN, an American Poet and Journalist, is the son of an eminent physician of Cummington, Massachusetts, in which place he was born on the 3d November, 1794. His forefathers, for three generations, had been medical men; but family bias towards the healing profession did not exist in young Bryant, who appears to have determined, at an early age, to become a barrister. His elementary education was superintended by his father, a gentleman of considerable literary talent; and he exhibited, whilst yet a child, a taste for poetry exceedingly remarkable in one so young. At ten years of age he began to write verse, and at thirteen published a small volume of poems, of which "The Embargo" and "The Spanish Revolution" attracted considerable notice; so much so, indeed, that a second edition was called for soon after the publication of the first. In 1810 he entered Williams College, where, after two or three years of no very arduous study, he distinguished himself by his proficiency in languages and polite letters. When he left school he was placed as student in the law office of Mr. Justice Howe, and afterwards in that of the Honourable William Baylies. In 1815 he was admitted to the bar at Plymouth, Massachusetts, and in 1825 he removed to New York, having previously published (in 1821) some of his most successful writings, "The Ægis," "Thanatopsis," "Stanzas to a Waterfowl," and other lyrics of a similar character. In 1821 he associated himself, for the first time, with the periodical press, as one of the Editors of the "United States Review and Literary Gazette." In 1825 Mr. Bryant married and settled in New York, where he has ever since

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resided. In 1828 he became co-editor with Mr. Leggen of the "New York Evening Post," one of the oldest and most influential of the American newspapers. In 1827, 1828, and 1829, he brought

in conjunction with several of his friends, an Annual, entitled The Talisman." In 1832 he published the first collective edition of his poetry, and a copy having been forwarded to Washington Irving, he caused it to be reprinted in this country. This book has since passed through several editions in both hemispheres. In the

mer of 1834 Mr. Bryant visited England with his family, with the intention of devoting a few years to literary pursuits and the education of his children. In the interval between 1834 and 1836 be travelled through France, Germany, and Italy, and resided for several months in each of the cities of Florence, Pisa, Munich, and Heidelberg. The illness of his partner on the "Evening Post," in 12, compelled him to return home and resume his editorial duties. The poetry of Bryant has enjoyed considerable popularity this country. His "Indian at the Burying-place of his Fathers," Death of the Flowers," "The Prairies," "Hymn of the City," and *Bartle Field," have often been reprinted in volumes of " Select Petry," and are, perhaps, better known in England than his more erate works. Mr. Bryant belongs to the good old school of poets, who considered common sense and intelligible language the mispensable elements of all good poetry, how lofty soever the ages with which it abounds. With much of the vigour and Body of Byron and Campbell, and the philosophic and reflective characteristics of Wordsworth, Mr. Bryant's poetry is altogether free from either obscurity or affectation in either sentiment or

diction.

BUCHANAN, HON. JAMES, Statesman and ex-Secretary of State of the United States, was born on the 13th of April, 1791, in the county of Franklin, state of Pennsylvania. After having passed through a regular classical and academical course of instruction, he stadied and adopted the law as a profession. Having inherited a pre-stion for politics, he was nominated in 1814 for the House of Representatives of the legislature of his native state, and was elected. He was re-elected in the year 1815. After having served two sessions, he declined another re-election. In 1820 he was elected to Congress, and took his seat in that body in December 12. He remained a member of the house till March 4, 1831. Immediately after his fifth election he declined further service, and retired into private life. In May, 1831, he was offered the mission Eussia by General Jackson, and accepted the proffered honour. In the year 1834, immediately after his return from Russia, Mr. Buchanan was elected to the Senate of the United States, to fill an unexpired term, rendered vacant by the resignation of Mr. Wilkins. In December, 1836, he was elected for a full term; and in 1843 was re-elected. In March, 1845, he was appointed Secretary of State by President Polk, which office he held till the close of the administration of that gentleman. In 1854 he accepted the

London embassy, which he resigned in the following year. Mr. Buchanan, as a politician, ranks with the Democratic party, by whom he is highly respected. He has probably had less censure cast at him than is the usual lot of the prominent politician, and is respected by all parties in private and domestic circles.

BUCKINGHAM, JAMES SILK, Traveller, Public Lecturer, and Author, was born at Truro, in Cornwall, in 1784, and began life as a printer, but soon afterwards turned sailor, and commanded several vessels, but left the sea to become proprietor and editor of a newspaper in Calcutta. Having criticised very freely some acts of the authorities in the columns of his journal, the Indian Government arbitrarily and abruptly stopped his paper, and ordered him to quit the country. This harsh measure brought with it its own punishment, for Buckingham came to Europe, and began an agitation against the Indian authorities and their system, which lasted for many years, and hastened the growth of an opinion in England on Indian subjects which has resulted in a great diminution of the powers of the magnates of Leadenhall Street. Mr. Buckingham is a dexterous speaker, and a voluminous, if not a very amusing author. He travelled in the East, and gave the results to the world in several volumes, entitled "Travels in Palestine," "Travels among the Arab Tribes," and "Travels in Mesopotamia;" the latter published in 1827. A subsequent tour in America resulted in the completion and issue of some five or six volumes of "Travels in America," which met with but little success. He was elected M.P. for Sheffield after the passing of the Reform Bill. Among Mr. Buckingham's early speculations were the " Sphynx," and the "Athenæum." The "Sphynx" was incorporated with the "Spectator," and the "Athenæum" was not successful while in the hands of its originator, nor subsequently under the control of Mr. Stirling (son of Captain Stirling, the "Thunderer" of "The Times." After it became the property of its present proprietors, its fortunes soon changed. Mr. Buckingham was for a time lecturer for the Anti-Corn-Law League. The East India Company have in some degree atoned for former harshness by giving him a pension, which, after a life of struggles, he now enjoys. Lord John Russell, also, was pleased to recommend her Majesty to confer a pension upon him on the Civil List of 2001. per annum. He has just published his Autobiography, or, to describe it more correctly, his apology for his life.

BUCKLAND, THE REV. DOCTOR WILLIAM, Geologist, was born about 1790, and educated at Corpus Christi College, Oxford, of which he became a Fellow. In 1813 he was nominated Reader in Mineralogy; and on the establishment three years afterwards, at his own instance, of a Readership of Geology, he received the appointment. His profound acquaintance with the subject conferred a lustre on the new chair, and was the means of recommending the study to the higher classes, when his "Bridgewater Treatise"

made its appearance, investing it with all the charms of eloquence, and extracting from the dry bones of antediluvian antiquity addi tional proofs of the wisdom and beneficence of the Deity. Το Doctor Buckland Oxford is indebted for the geological objects now leted in the Radcliffe Library; and he had a large share in the establishment of the Museum in Jermyn Street, of which Professor Hunt is the Curator. Doctor Buckland's "Reliquiæ Diluvianæ," the first of his works which displayed his profound researches in thas science, had its origin in the discovery of the oolitic caves in Yorkshire, which are supposed to have been a den of hyenas, at a pened when elephants and hippopotami, of a species which has ng reased to exist, inhabited the northern regions of the globe, and dragged into it for food the bodies of the various animals that frequented its neighbourhood. Doctor Buckland's work on reology and mineralogy has proved the most popular of the Bridgewater Treatises;" and in his valuable contributions to the entific knowledge of his times he has paid especial attention to the practical application of geology to useful purposes connected wah mining, building, etc. In 1845 Doctor Buckland was proted to the Deanery of Westminster, vacant by the elevation of Der Samuel Wilberforce to the episcopal bench. In this parity he honourably distinguished himself by the example he set to the heads of cathedral bodies, in facilitating the admission the public to view the ancient monuments of the English Church, and in encouraging attendance on cathedral worship by more liberal regulations than had heretofore existed. He has also exerted himself strenuously to secure a supply of good water to the metropolis; preaching, writing, and lecturing incessantly of the imprtance, in a sanitary point of view, of securing so desirable a conmation. We lament to add that the Doctor's multifarious labours bare latterly so deeply affected his mental health, that in July, 1550, it was deemed prudent that he should retire for a time from the mere active duties and studies which have earned for him such high honour. Beside sermons, and his account of the Yorkshire erves. Dr. Buckland has published "A Treatise on Geology and Mineringy (Bridgewater Treatise), 2 vols. 8vo., and "Geological Evidences of the Deluge," 4to.

BULWER, SIR EDWARD LYTTON. See LYTTON.

BULWER, THE RT. HON. SIR HENRY LYTTON EARLE, G.C.B. and Privy Councillor, Diplomatist, and Author, was born in 1505, and is an elder brother of Sir E. Bulwer Lytton. Henry Balwer early prepared to devote himself to the active business of de. His numerous accomplishments and aptitude for business haring recommended him to the notice of the Government, he was introduced to the diplomatic service in 1829, and attached ecessively to the British embassy at Berlin, Brussels, and the Hague. In 1830 he was sent on a special mission to Brussels, to watch the course of the Belgian revolution. In the same year he