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Peele, who came by his death in an equally disastrous way according to Meres, in his "Wits' Treasury;" and Marlow, who was stabbed with his own dagger by a rival, in a low broil; and Browne, the author of "Britannia's Pastorals;" and Sir Edward Dyer, the friend of the Countess of Pembroke and Sir Philip Sydney, who was possessed of 4000l. a-year, and fourscore thousand pounds in money, and spent it all; and Richard Barnfield, a poet of whom there is little known, but of whom it is enough to know that he was the author of that glorious lyric, that leaps like echoes in the sunshine amongst the hills, with a thrilling and bounding sweetness,—

and Fulke Greville, afterwards Lord Brooke; and Captain Nicholas Breton, who wrote so many pastorals, that if they were drawn out in lines, they would form a cordonround the county of Middlesex; and half-a-dozen University scholars with more learning than wit or fancy; and a dozen or so of delicately-hearted lovers of nature, who took great delight in spinning fantastic verses upon the tiniest buds and blossoms, are also pressed into the service of the "Helicon." But this is a subject upon which we might gossip for hours together without exhausting our own enthusiasm, and forgetful that there are other voices more worthy to be heard around us. So shutting the book at once, and putting out the lights, in the bravery of a self-suppressing resolution, the gossip is over!

The Annual Parliament of Science held its meeting this year at a town which is surpassed by none in the United Kingdom, in perfection of the industrial arts, and in mechanical skill and invention. The environs of Manchester are also rich in mineral treasures; the town is crowded with intelligent, active, and opulent persons, among whom are some whose fame is European, and these gathered (several hundreds in number) in the halls of science, to join with strangers and foreigners for one short week, in a glorious labour on which no worldly interests came to breathe anxiety, and with which no human passions mingled in saddening conflict.

The British Association distributes its members among many sections, each corresponding to a particular branch of investigation, and commencing with one the highest and most important, that of mathematics and physics. The contributions were also both theoretical and practical, or shaped into reports of progress, or of experiment and research, which latter often comprised the most valuable and efficient parts of the good accomplished.

It would be a work much beyond our limits, to follow the successive order of these communications, many read in the day, and that for several days in succession, and often commented upon verbally at considerable length. It is rather our wish to glean a few of the most prominent facts that distinguished this great anniversary.

The mathematical labours were of a generally high order; foremost among them, perhaps, stands Jacobi's communication on analytic mechanics, which was regarded by the president of the section as one of the most important announcements made in modern times. The principles developed by the learned professor related to the different problems on the motion of a system of material points, on which subject he announced, as the result of his researches, that whenever the forces have the functions of co-ordinates upon moving points only, and the problem is reduced to the integration of a differential equation of the first order, it may also be reduced to quadratures. The form preserved to the dynamic differential equations was that under which they were first presented by the illustrious astronomer-royal of Dublin, Sir W. Hamilton.

Next in importance came the communication of Professor Braschman, of Moscow, upon the principles of equilibrium and motion, in which he announced a new theorem on equilibrium and molecular forces.