MAIL OBITUARY.

Lyttelton Times, Volume LI, Issue 5585, 18 January 1879, Page 5

MAIL OBITUARY.

The following notices of eminent men whose deaths are recorded in our usual telegrams are taken from Men of the Time. edition 1875: G. H. LEWES Was bom April 18, 1817, in London, was educated partly abroad, and partly by the late Dr Burney at Greenwich. On leaving school he became a clerk in the establishment of a Russian merchant, but quitted business, and, pursuing anatomy and physiology only as branches of philosophic study, finally adopted literature as a profession. With this end in view he went through a course of training in Germany, in 1838-9, when he returned to London, and has since contributed largely to literature. He has written “Biographical History of Philosophy,” and “Ranthorpe, a Tale,” published in 1847; “The Spanish Drama: Lope de Vega and Calderon,” and “ Rose, Blanche, and Violet," a novel, in 1848 ; a “ Life of Robespierre;” “ The Noble Heart," a tragedy, in 1850 ; and “ Comte’s Philosophy of the Sciences,” “ The Life and Works of Goethe," “Seaside Studies,” “ Physiology of Common Life," in 1859-60; “Studies in Animal Life,” “ Aristotle : a Chapter from the History of Science,” in 1861; and a “ History of Philosophy from Thales to Comte,” in 1867. He has contributed to the Edinburgh , Westminster, Foreign Quarterlg, British and Foreign, and British Quarterly Reviews; to Blackwood, Fraser, the Cornhill, &c. He was the literary editor of the Leader newspaper from its commencement in 1849 until July, 1854, since which time he has been almost exclusively devoted to scientific pursuits. In 1858 he read a paper “On the Spinal Cord as a Centre of Sensation andjVolition,” before the meeting of the British Association for the Advancement lof Science; and in 1859, three papers on the .“Nervous System,” in which he combated tne ragniag doctrines. These papers exeitaH StMtiok-W^Ton^enfaS^p^ofolls^r l *ln 1865 he founded the Fortnightly Review , the editorship of wh! ch he resigned, on account of failing health, in Dec., 1866, and was succeeded by Mr John Morley, His latest work is “ Problems of Life and Mind. First series. The Foundation of a Creed.”

WHXTE-3181.T11i8 Eldest son of Major Whyte-Melville, of Mount Melville, near St. Andrew’s, Fifeshire, born in 1821, entered the army in 1839, became captain in the Coldstream Guards in 1846, and retired in 1849, joined the cavalry of the Turkish Contingent in 1855, and resigned at the close of the Crimean war, in 1856. He is known as a popular writer of fiction, and, amongst other works, has written “ Captain Digby Grand,” an autobiography, published in 1853; “ General Bounce; or. Lady and the Locusts,” in 1854; “ Sate Coventry,” an autobiography, in 1856; “ The Interpreter: a Tale o! the War,” in 1858; “ Holmby House: a Tale of Old Northamptonshire,” in 1860; “ Good for Nothing; or, All Down Hill,” “ Tilbury Nogo, ail Uunsuccessful Man,” and “Market Harborough,” in 1861; “Gladiators: a Tale of Borne and Judea,” in 1863; “Brookes of Bridlemere,” in 1864; and “Cerise: a Tale of the Last Century,” in 1865. “M or N,” 1869; “ Contraband, or a Losing Hazard," 1870; “ Sarchedon," 1871; “Satanella, a story of Punchestown,” 1872; “ The True Cross, a Legend of the Church,” 1873; “ Uncle John,” 1874; and “ Katerfelto, a story of Exmoor,” 1873. He has published a translation of the Odes of Horace, which was well received by the critics, and a volume of “Songs and Verses,” and has contributed to “ Fraser’s ” and “ Blackwood’s Magazines," and other periodicals. X.AYAKD TAYLOB, Originally James Bayard was born near Kennett square, Pennsylvania, Jan. 11,1825. He became an apprentice in a printing office in 1842. Ho travelled in Europe, mostly on foot, for two years (1044-6), at an expense of only oOOdols *(£100), and on his return published “ Views Afoot, or Europe seen with Knapsack and Staff.” He had previously Eubushed “Ximena, and other Poems." On is return from Europe he became a journalist, and in 1849 a member of the editorial staff of the New York Tribune. He also visited California, and returned in 1850, by way of Mexico. In August 1851, he left the United States on a third tour, through Northern and Eastern Europe, returning m October, 1858. In 1862 ha accepted the post of Secretary of Legation to the American Embassy at St. Petersburg, and in 1863 became Charge d’Affaires there. After his return from Russia in 1864, ho devoted himself to writing and lecturing. He re-visited California, and made a somewhat protracted stay in Colorado and the region once known as the Great American Desert, in 1866-67. In 1871 he traversed the route of the Northern Pacific Radwav, and made an excursion into the British Province of Manitoba. In 1874 he visited Iceland on occasion of its centennial anniversary. His works of travel, which originally appeared in substance in the Tribune, comprise : —“ Views Afoot, or Europe; ” “ Eldorado ; or, Mexico and California ; ” “ Central Africa; ” “ Greece and Russia; ’’ “ Homo and Abroad,” two series ; “ India, China, and Japan ; ” “ Lands of the Saracen;” “ Northern Travel;” “ By-Ways of Europe and “Colorado.” Ho is also the author of the novels: 11 Hannah Thurston," “John Godfrey," “Story of Kennett," and “Joseph and his Friend;” and of several volumes of poetry: “ Poems of the Orient,” “ Poems of Home and Travel j" “ The Poet’s Journal“ The Masque of the Gods," a poem, 1872 ; “ Complete Poetical Works;" and “The Picture of St. John." He has translated Goethe’s “ Faust" and “Frithiof’s Saga," and has edited “ A Oyclopoodia of Travel," “The Life, Travels, and Books of Alexander von Humboldt," “ Auerbach’s Villa on the Rhineand “ The Illustrated Library of Travel, Exploration, and Adventure." He has resumed .the practice of' lecturing, and still retainsTiis editorial connection with the ZWhiia