MAY 29.

Press, Volume LXVII, Issue 14055, 29 May 1911, Page 7

MAY 29.

**!?• «f Ceftstanfcaiople by the-. ~. -"ate, »ad and 0 f the Byxantin- &*■ O. of England bom .. .. 1630 _i?? ioi 7 ,taoß of ■*_• Monarchy WtoHy Ua-ough tho instrumentality « Gaieral Monk, afterw&rda Duke ___. uurl ®) .... .. 1660 ""*«-Bushes* of Marlborough, friend wtt Cwncetic tyrant of Queen Anno, ft—™* •• 1660 -pallia V«a _Tomp,*'Dutch"admiraY, *_t** _ '• • 1691 "" anapiry Davy, eminent chemist, -__?«. 1829 * JP-** between Qre»t Britain and '- iT? 68 fot suppression of altt*/o at London .. .. 1845 j**Tg Grouchy, Marshal of Prance, _*S__ " '•• •• •• I B * 7 i^^T*" 1 *'• P«»_oo (democratic de- ■ aw_.te.tMmß, e_<>n suppressed) .. 18.8 iS^ 1 ? oi Marlborough, (Sarah about twelve years &»_ _l faturo termagant enjpa the service of the Duchess [ and became the closest ' W * toost intimate friend of j_L the Princess $_*_.. « . ° accession of Anne, W™ _H rah ' < wh ° had married tho S_S.. Chnrchill, Duke of Marl_y ruled the young Queen with l»»mii 0 lr0!i ; Her power was almost '*S. SSI T_ d _r a3 °* ert «l in the Whi S -°»'t*_-i + lhc^ uec n and her favourite, : f__n; "* 8 "° hecame, were on such terms as to call each other &,__? naaie of Mr * Morlev nnd Mrs £w W ? ft rcs P.«tiTely. At last, how&_si_ nn °\ tlrcd of thp tyranny of the -•WAorougn., di.mi.scd the haughty TVtosam a scene such as had probably

never been witnessed in a Court before. The wily Mrs Masham, the Duchess's own cousin, reigned in her stead. The Duchess was at the age of firty-oiie when she retired from the Queen's service ; she survived her husband for many years, living in complete retirement. She was never happy unless quarrelling with her friends or engaging in lawsuits, and her pugnacious disposition is the theme of many a humorous page. Shi'* died in her eighty-forjth year, leaving behind the huge fortune of three millions sterling, nt which she bequeathed £10.000 to William Pitt. CEarl of Chatham).

Sir Humphry Davy.—The great chemist came from Penzance, in Cornwall, and at tho age of seventeen became apprentice to a surgeon and apothecary in his nativo town. Ho at the same time entered upon a course of study all but universal—"Speculations on religion and politics, on metaphysics and morals, are placed in his note-book in -juxtaposition with stanzas of poetry and fragments of romance.'' It was not till his nineteenth year that ho entered seriously upon the"study of chemistry, and shortly thereafter he made the acquaintance of the Earl of Durham, of Coleridge, and Southey. and carried on a course of 'experiments on the respiration of different ga.ses, in which ho had more than once nearly sacrificed his life. He thus discovered the exhilarating effect of nitrous oxide when breathed. Tho account which ho published in his "Researches Chemical and Philosophical" established his reputation, and led to his appointment, at the age of twenty-two, as lecturer of the Royal Institution of London. The brilliancy and novelty of his experiments made his lecture-room tho rendezvous of the hip-best intellects of the land. When he first saw the globules of the now metal, notassiurn, his dc-li-'lit is said to have been so ecstatic that it required some time for him to compose himself to continue the experiment. He was knighted in his thirtyfourth year: he married; he discovered the talents of Faraday, .-nd with him sot out on a tour of the Continent • he investigated the nature of "fire-damp" in coal mines, which led to the invention of his famous safctv-lamp and to a magnificent recognition of > his scr-> vices He was on a visit to the Continent for the recovery of his health when ho died at Geneva, afc the oarlv ago of fifty-two. the Genevan Government evincing their ro.sprvt hv i niib'ic funeral. Among tho many tributes ito this useful savant, Cuvier says:— '•Davy, not yet fifty-two years of' n_e occiimed, in tho oninion of all that could .pidgc of such labours, the first rank among the chemists of this or any other age." aTK ] another critic Ims said:—' He wns noi only ono of the rrroatest. but ono of the most benevolent and amiable of men."