The International Monthly Magazine of Literature, Science and Art | Page 9

is
by George Cornewall Lewis, M.P. for Herefordshire, and Under
Secretary of State for the Home Department. He is the eldest son of the
Right Honorable Sir Thomas Frankland Lewis, Bart., M.P. for Radnor
District, was born in London, in 1806, and received his school
education at Eton, which he entered in 1819, and where he was a pupil
of Doctor Hawtrey, the present head master. The Illustrated London
News furnishes the following particulars of his subsequent career:
At Christmas, 1824, he left Eton, and in the following year entered
Christ Church, Oxford, where as a student he was one of the few who
gave attention to modern languages, and especially German, from
which, jointly with Mr. Tufnell, he translated Müller's "Dorians." In
1828 he took his University degree as a first-class man in classics, and
a second-class in mathematics. In the same year he entered the Middle
Temple, and in 1831 was called to the bar, and joined the Oxford
Circuit. He had studied for the bar with no less diligence than at the
University; but in consequence of weakness of the chest, was obliged,
after his first circuit, to abandon the profession, in which, had health
allowed him, his success was certain. In 1835 he was placed upon the
commission of inquiry into the relief of the poor, (on the report of
which was founded the Irish Poor-law,) and the state of the Church in
Ireland; and afterward drew up an able report on the condition of the
Irish in Great Britain. In 1836 he was appointed, with Mr. John Austin,
a Commissioner to inquire into the Government of the Island of Malta,

especially as to its tariff and expenditure. The Commission laid an
elaborate report before Parliament, in accordance with the
recommendations of which, such reductions were made as rendered the
tariff of Malta one of the least restrictive in the world, and materially
extended its trade; and they succeeded in establishing the freedom of
the press in the island.
In January, 1839, Mr. Lewis was appointed a Poor-Law Commissioner,
and held the office until July, 1847; when, determining to enter
Parliament, he resigned, and was returned, with Mr. Joseph Bailey, Jr.,
and Mr. Francis Wegg Prosser, both Conservatives and Protectionists,
without opposition, for Herefordshire. In November, 1847, he was
appointed joint secretary of the Board of Control, with Mr. James
Wilson, M.P. for Westbury, and early in the following year made his
first speech in the House, in opposition to a motion for the production
of papers in the case of the lately deposed Rajah of Sattara. In April,
1848, Mr. Lewis was appointed Under Secretary of State for the Home
Department, and was succeeded in the secretaryship of the Board of
Control by the Hon. John E. Elliot, M.P. for Roxburghshire. In his
present office Mr. Lewis has served on the Smithfield Market
Commission, appointed in November, 1849, which has just brought up
its report; and upon that subject, the Irish Poor-Law, and Mr. Disraeli's
motion as to local burdens, has spoken in the House. Last year he
brought forward a road bill to consolidate the management of highways,
and dispose of the question of turnpike trusts and their advances. The
bill was not proceeded with last session, and has again been brought
forward this year, with reference, however, only to highways. Mr.
Lewis has earned reputation as the translator of "Boukli's Public
Economy of Athens," which, as well as the "Dorians," has become a
textbook, and passed through a second edition; and is known as author
of an able essay on the "Use and Abuse of Political Terms," published
in 1832; on the "Origin and Formation of the Romance Languages,"
published in 1835; on "Local Disturbances in Ireland, and the Irish
Church Question," in 1836; on the "Government of Dependencies," in
1841; and "On the Influence of Authority in Matters of Opinion," in
1849.

ORIGINAL LETTER FROM DR. LAYARD UPON ANCIENT ART,
&c.
We present in this number of the International a communication from
the most celebrated traveler of the nineteenth century, AUSTEN
HENRY LAYARD, upon the sources of Ancient Art. It was addressed
by the distinguished author to his friend and ours, Mr. MINOR K.
KELLOGG, the well-known painter, who was for some time with DR.
LAYARD in the East.
* * * * *
MY DEAR FRIEND:
I frequently wish that you were here with me; I could find you subjects
which would astonish you. However, I suppose you are desirous of
hearing something about my proceedings. When I said that the arts may
have passed from Egypt into Greece, I merely alluded to the popular
opinion, without adhering to it. It is not altogether improbable that they
came from another source. Phoenicia was too much of a trading
province to devote any great