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OBITUARY.

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hensioii and the incislveness of his satire. He was a brilliant talker, a practised writer, and an attractive lecturer. In the House of Commons he was as ready to ridicule the pre- tensions of his own party as the blunders of his opponents. In the course of the debate on the Home Rule Bill in 1893, on the In and Out Clause, he asked the chairman what he was to do "seeing that he was not possessed of the flexibility or the fluidity of intelligence which made so many of his co-disciples not only equal to one another but equal to anything." He played in the course of his life the parts of scholar, divine, preacher, journalist, barrister, and politician, attracting friends in every position, and seldom, if ever, making an enemy. He married in 1858 Miss Margaret Robertson of Edinburgh, and he died in Westminster Hospital, almost in the precincts of the House of Commons, having been struck with paralysis whilst speaking (June 6) on the grant to Lord Kitchener, and died a few hours later without having recovered consciousness.

took a prominent part in the discus- sions of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, where he brought to the aid of his Liberal colleagues the resources of a powerful debater but scarcely those of a conciliatory speaker. In 1876 Dr. Wallace suddenly re- signed all his Church preferment, and, to the surprise of many of his friends, was nominated editor of the Scotsman in succession to his deceased friend Mr. Alexander Russel. After four years of arduous work, he felt unequal to the constant strain, and resigning his office came to London, studied law, and was called to the Bar at the Middle Temple 1888. His interest, however, was in politics more than in his new profession. In 1886 he offered himself as a Home Rule candidate for East Edinburgh in opposition to Mr. Goschen, and was returned by 8,694 to 2,258 votes, and oontinued to represent the constituency until his death. His position in Parliament was that of a thoroughly independent Liberal, never hesitating to criticise his leaders, and always able to command the attention of the House by his quickness of appre-

On the 1st, at Edinburgh, aged 60, John Smart, R.B.A., a popular landscape painter. Born at Leith ; educated at the High School and School of Art, Leith, as a designer and engraver ; later studied painting under H. MacCuUoch ; Associate, Royal Scottish Academy, 1871 ; Academician, 1877. On the 1st, at Pietermaritzburg, Natal, aged 65, Sir Melmoth Osborn, K.O.M.O., son of Robert Farquhar Osborn, M.D. Educated in Natal ; attached to the Civil Service of the Colony, 1854; appointed Resident Magistrate and Captain-Commandant of the Newcastle (Natal) Rifles, 1865; Secretary to Sir T. Shepstone's mission to the Transvaal, 1876; Colonial Secretary to the Transvaal Government, 1878-80; British Resident in Zululand, 1880-98. On the 2nd, at Aix-les-Bains, aged 54, Robert Cox, M.P., son of George Cox, of Gorgie, Edinburgh. Educated at Loretto, Musselburgh and St. Andrews University; M.A., 1865; was a manufacturer of gelatine, etc. ; unsuccessfully contested Kirkcaldy as a Liberal Unionist, 1891 ; elected for South Edinburgh, 1892. Married, 1875, Harriet, daughter of Professor J. H. Bennett, M.D., of Edinburgh. On the 3rd, at West bourne Terrace, London* aged 84, John Nixon, a mining and civil engineer of great capacity, son of a yeoman farmer of North Durham. Educated at Dr. Brace's Academy, Newcastle- on-Tyne ; worked for a time on a farm ; apprenticed to an engineer, 1831 ; was Overman at Gadresfield Colliery, and subsequently went to South Wales, where he undertook the survey of the Dowlais Colleries, and pressed the superiority of Welsh coal ; after some years' direction of a colliery near Nantes, was the means of introducing Welsh coal into France. On his return to England, established colleries at Werfa, which were subsequently extended to an enormous extent; invented the machine "Billy Fairplay" for the accurate measurement of the proportion of large and small coal ; was one of the founders of the sliding scale system of wages. On the 3rd, at Vienna, aged 73, Johann Strauss, a popular composer and conductor, son of Johann Strauss, in whose orchestra he first appeared, 1843, and of which he became the conductor, 1849. Author of the operettas the " Fliederman," the " Zigeuner baron," the " Waldmeister," etc. His compositions of dance music earned for him the title of " Walzerkdnig." On the 3rd, at Brighton, aged 88, Dowager Lady Castletown, Augusta, daughter of Rev. Archibald Douglas. Married, 1830, first Baron Castletown, of Upper Ossory. On the 4th, at Vienna, aged 68, Helnrich Slegel. Born in Grand Duchy of Baden ; Professor of German Jurisprudence and History in the University of Vienna; author of several works on jurisprudence, etc. On the 4th, at Astley, Stourport, aged 75, Major-Oeneral mil Wallace, C.B., R.A., son of Joseph Wallace, of Beech- mount, Co. Antrim. Educated at Addiscombe; entered the Bombay Artillery,

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