conveyed to Paris, and imprisoned in the Temple, where he was

treated with shameful rigour, under the frivolous pretext that he had violated international law. So obnoxious had his vigilance and audacity rendered him to the French republican rulers that they obstinately refused to exchange their dreaded prisoner. At length, after a close imprisonment of two years. Sir Sydney succeeded by a most ingenious device in effecting his escape, and reached England in May, 1798. He was soon after appointed captain of the Tigre, 84-gun ship, and sailed to the Mediterranean. He was also nominated joint-plenipotentiary to the Sublime Porte, and rendered most important services both to the Turkish and the British government. Bonaparte had by this time almost entirely conquered Egypt, and was now preparing to subjugate the contiguous province of Syria. The key of the province was the famous old fortress of St. Jean d'Acre, which was at this time in a dilapidated state, almost destitute of artillery, and quite unprepared to stand a siege. The French army was actually on its march from Jafta, and had approached within two days' march of Acre, when Sir Sydney arrived in the bay with the Tigre, the Theseus of 74 guns, and some smaller vessels. The Turkish commander, Djizzar Pacha, had resolved to evacuate the place, but was persuaded by Captain Smith to change his intentions. Not a moment was lost in making preparations for the impending attack. Seamen and marines, guns and ammunition, were immediately landed, some additional fortifications were hastily thrown up, and every effort was made to strengthen the works before the arrival of the invaders. Sir Sydney, too, had the good fortune to capture the flotilla, having on board the greater part of the battering train and ammunition for the siege, which were turned to service in the defence. The French appeared before the walls on the 17th of March, and having opened their trenches on the 20th, speedily made a breach in the mouldering walls; but their reiterated efforts to storm the breach, though persevered in day after day with the most desperate courage, were repulsed with great slaughter, mainly through the heroic exertions of Sir Sydney Smith and his gallant officers; and at length, after spending two months before the walls of this fortress which, according to the rules of military science, was quite indefensible, and losing four thousand of his best troops, Bonaparte was compelled to raise the siege and retreat into Egypt. For this brilliant service, which arrested the victorious career of Bonaparte to his bitter disappointment, and frustrated the whole scheme of the French expedition, Sir Sydney received the thanks of both houses of parliament, and was loaded with valuable presents both from the Turks and from his own countrymen; but, as Wilberforce remarked, he was "but ill requited" by the government. Sir Sydney was a party to the convention of El-Arisch, by which the French agreed, on certain conditions, to evacuate Egypt. But Lord Keith, the British commander-in-chief in the Mediterranean, acting under the general orders of the government, refused to ratify the treaty—a most unwise proceeding, which cost many thousands of valuable lives, embittered the feeling between France and England, proved highly injurious to the interests of the sultan, and gave rise to much angry discussion both in the parliament and in the country. In the end, the government was obliged to send an expedition to effect the object which might have been so easily attained by the execution of the convention. Sir Sydney cordially co-operated with Sir Ralph Abercromby, the commander of this expedition; assisted in the disembarkation of the British troops; took part in their operations on shore; and was wounded at the battle of Alexandria, in which Abercromby was killed. Shortly after Sir Sydney's return home with despatches in 1802, he was elected member for the borough of Rochester. On the 18th of May, 1803, he was appointed to the Antelope of 50 guns, with the command of a squadron to be employed on the French coast—a very fatiguing and harassing service, which, however, he performed with his usual vigilance. In 1805 he assisted the Neapolitans against the French, took Capri, and relieved Gaeta, but without materially promoting the interests of the expelled royal dynasty. Shortly after. Sir Sydney was made a rear-admiral; and in 1807 was appointed to a command in the expedition against Constantinople, under Sir John Duckworth. He assisted in forcing the passage of the Dardanelles, and destroyed a division of the Turkish fleet, but could not prevent the failure of this ill-advised enterprise. In June, 1807, Sir Sydney returned to England; but in October following he was appointed to the command of the squadron which was despatched to the coast of Portugal, then menaced by the French. In the beginning of 1808 he was ordered to proceed to the Brazils; but having somewhat imprudently taken part in the political contentions of the court, he was speedily recalled. In 1810 he was promoted to the rank of vice-admiral; and in 1812 was appointed second in command of the Mediterranean fleet, under Sir Edward Pellew. At the close of the war in 1814 he returned to England, and struck his flag. In the following year he was made a K.C.B., attained the rank of full admiral in 1821, was appointed lieutenant-general of marines in 1830, and died at Paris in 1841.—J. T. SMITH, William, a distinguished geologist, was born at Churchill in Oxfordshire on 23rd March, 1769, and died at Northampton on 28th August, 1839. He was the author of the first geological map of England, and may be justly called the father of English geology. His attention was in the first instance directed to the influence which rocks exercised on soils in some of the English counties. In 1791 he surveyed the coal mines of Somersetshire, and he noticed the unconformity of the strata of coal with those of the red marl rocks above. He observed also the characters of the fossils which occurred in the different strata, and thus gave an impetus to the study of palæontology. In 1799 he published a work on the order of the strata and the organic remains near Bath; and in 1801 he produced the geological map of England and Wales, which was afterwards much enlarged and extended. He also published excellent geological maps of various English counties, and was aided in this by his nephew, Mr. Phillips, now professor of geology at Oxford. He gave lectures on geology at the Philosophical Societies of York, Hull, and Sheffield. In 1828 he was appointed land-steward on the estate of Hackness in Yorkshire, and he made a geological map of the property. His works secured for him the Wollaston medal given by the Geological Society, and he received the degree of LL.D. from Trinity College, Dublin. One of his last acts was to assist Sir Charles Barry in selecting stone for the new houses of parliament.—J. H. B. SMITH, William, an Irish naturalist, was born in Antrim on 12th January, 1808, and died on 6th October, 1857. He was educated at the Royal Belfast Academic Institution, and became a unitarian preacher. In 1854 he was appointed to the chair of natural history in Queen's college, Cork. He published a work entitled "Synopsis of British Diatomaceæ."—J. H. B. * SMITH, William, LL.D., lexicograper and philologist, was born in London in 1814. He is known as the author and compiler of many works, chiefly educational, and particularly as the editor of the Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, and of the Dictionary of the Bible. He is classical examiner in the university of London, where he was educated, and professor of Greek, Latin, and German in the Independent colleges of Highbury and Homerton.—F. E. SMITHSON, James, the founder, by will, of the Smithsonian Institute, was an illegitimate son of a duke of Northumberland, and born about 1760. He was educated at Oxford, where he distinguished himself by his proficiency in chemistry. He became a member of the Royal Society, and contributed rather copiously to its Philosophical Transactions. Davies Gilbert records that he was one of the first to investigate the chemistry of a tear. His ducal father provided him with a liberal fortune; and, a bachelor, he passed his life in lodgings in London or in visits to the chief cities of the continent. His health was feeble and his manners were reserved. He died in 1829 at Genoa. By his will, dated 23rd October, 1826, he left the bulk of his fortune to a nephew, failing whose heirs, it was bequeathed to the United States of America, to found at Washington, under the name of the "Smithsonian Institute, an establishment for the increase and diffusion of knowledge among men." On the death of the nephew without heirs, in 1835, all his wealth became the heritage of the United States, whose secretary of the treasury received in 1838 upwards of five hundred and fifteen thousand dollars. With this sum was established the Smithsonian Institution at Washington, U.S., consisting of a public library and museum; and from the same source have come the well-known series of ethnological and scientific works, the Smithsonian Contributions to Knowledge.—F. E. SMOLLETT, Tobias George, the novelist and historian, was born in the year 1721, in the old house of Dalquhurn in the beautiful vale of Leven, Dumbartonshire. His father, Archibald, was the youngest son of Sir James Smollett of Bonhill, M.P. for