Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 34.djvu/311

 ministration, and Present State of the Military Colonies in Russia,’ 1824.

In 1826 Lyall succeeded James Hastie [q. v.] as British agent in Madagascar. He arrived with his family at Mauritius in the summer of 1827, and, proceeding to Tamatave, was introduced to the king of Madagascar, Radama I, but he returned to his family at Port Louis in order to await the season suitable for journeying to the interior. In July 1828 he received tidings of the illness of Radama I, and hastened to Antananarivo, but did not arrive until 1 Aug., when the king was dead, and although he was received with salutes of cannon, the suspension of public business, owing to the king's death, prevented him from holding any intercourse with the Hova government. On 28 Nov. Queen Ranavalona announced her refusal to receive him as agent of the British government. The season being unfavourable for his departure, Lyall remained at the capital, botanising and collecting objects of natural history.

In March 1829 Lyall was permitted at his own request to proceed to Tamatave, and a fortnight later (29 March) a crowd of natives, headed by the keepers of the national idol, Ramahavaly, which they carried on a pole, surrounded his dwelling. The idol-keepers emptied bagfuls of snakes in the courtyard, while Lyall and his sons were led on foot to the village of Ambohipeno, some six miles distant. There Mrs. Lyall, who was in a feeble state of health, soon joined them, and on 22 April they were all permitted to travel in palanquins to Tamatave. The Malagasy government pretended that the idol Ramahavaly had instigated the outrage to mark its disapproval of Lyall's visit to his sacred village for the purpose of collecting plants and reptiles. Lyall died at Port Louis, Mauritius, 23 May 1831 of the effects of the malarial fever common to the lowland swamps and forests of Madagascar.

Lyall was a fellow of the Linnean Society and of other scientific societies in London, Edinburgh, Manchester, and Moscow. Many of the plants collected by him in Madagascar are preserved at Kew. A list was published by Lasèque. Besides the works mentioned above, he was author of ‘A Treatise on Medical Evidence relative to Pregnancy as given in the Gardner Peerage Cause,’ London, 1826, 2nd edit. 1827.

 LYALL, WILLIAM ROWE (1788–1857), dean of Canterbury, born in London, 11 Feb. 1788, was third son of John Lyall of Findon, Sussex, a merchant and shipowner in the city of London, who died 10 Dec. 1805, aged 53. In 1805 he entered Trinity College, Cambridge, where he obtained a scholarship, and graduated B.A. 1810 and M.A. 1816. He was curate of Fawley, Hampshire, from 1812 to 1815, when he removed to London. He was appointed chaplain to St. Thomas's Hospital in 1817, and soon afterwards assistant preacher at Lincoln's Inn. In 1822 he became examining chaplain to the Bishop of London; in 1823 rector of Weeley, Essex; on 4 June 1824 archdeacon of Colchester; in 1826 Warburtonian lecturer, when his subject was ‘The Prophetical Evidences of Christianity;’ in 1827 rector of Fairsted, Essex, and in 1833 he exchanged the livings of Weeley and Fairsted for the cure of Hadleigh, Essex. On 11 June 1841 he was instituted to the archdeaconry of Maidstone, on 11 June 1841 to a prebendal stall at Canterbury, in 1842 to the rectory of Great Chart, near Ashford, and on 26 Nov. 1845, to the deanery of Canterbury. He was seized with paralysis in 1852, from which he never recovered, and died at the deanery, Canterbury, on 17 Feb. 1857, being buried in Harbledown churchyard on 26 Feb. He married in 1817 Catharine, youngest daughter of Joseph Brandreth, M.D., of Liverpool.

Lyall contributed to the ‘Quarterly Review’ in 1812 and 1815 articles on Dugald Stewart's philosophy (vi. 1–37, xii. 281–317), and conducted the ‘British Critic’ during 1816–17, and reorganised the ‘Encyclopædia Metropolitana’ at the request of Bishop Howley in 1820. He appointed Edward Smedley editor of the latter undertaking, and contributed to the ‘Encyclopædia's’ ‘History of Greece, Macedonia, and Syria,’ chap. i. ‘State of Parties in Greece on Conclusion of Peloponnesian Wars,’ and chap. v. ‘The Age of Agesilaus.’ With Hugh James Rose he edited ‘Theological Library,’ vols. i–xiv. 1832–46; and published, besides charges to the clergy of Colchester and Maidstone, ‘Propœdia Prophetica. A View of the Use and Design of the Old Testament; followed by (1) On the Causes of the rapid Propagation of the Gospel, (2) On the Credibility of the