When Captain Franklin this brave and persevering explorer went out to discover the north-west passage, and after several expeditions to the North and Polar seas, he started on a last Polar voyage, from which he never returned. In 1859 Captain Maclure went out on the same track, and found that Sir John Franklin had preceded him by five years in his discoveries, and been lost in the attempt. MARIA EDGEWORTH. Born 1767.—Died 1849.—George III.—George IV.—William IV.—Victoria. This accomplished woman wrote a number of useful and educational tales, for which the children of many generations owe her a debt of gratitude. Her _Frank_, _Rosamond_, _Harry and Lucy_, _Moral_, _Popular_, _and Fashionable Tales_, _Patronage_, _Belinda_, _Harrington and Ormond_, etc., are all written with a purpose of instruction that is admirably carried out. Her last and most beautiful story, _Helen_, shows the wretched consequences of departing from truth. SIR ROBERT PEEL. Born 1788.—Died 1850.—George III.—George IV.—William IV.—Victoria. This celebrated statesman (sprung from the class of artizans) raised himself to the highest station by his great talents and their careful and refined cultivation. His love of literature and general knowledge were considerable, and he was a most accomplished leader of the House of Commons. His political life was marked by the passing of the Roman Catholic Relief and the Reform Bills, and his administration by the measures passed for repealing the Corn Laws and General Free Trade. He died from injuries sustained by a fall from his horse, in London. WILLIAM WORDSWORTH. Born 1770.—Died 1850.—George III.—George IV.—William IV.—Victoria. This eminent poet is the chief founder of what is called the “Lake School” of poetry. Throwing off the fetters of conventional and “fine” language, and clothing the reality of thought in the simplest words, Wordsworth, as a poet, is the greatest moral teacher of modern times, and no one can make a study of his works without finding himself the better for it. _The Excursion_, _the White Doe of Rylstone_, _The Brothers_, and a multitude of smaller poems, are well known. Wordsworth, Coleridge, and Southey were all strict and intimate friends; but the former outlived most of his early companions, dying at Rydal at eighty years of age. It is much to be regretted that his poems are not spread in cheap forms. DUKE OF WELLINGTON. Born 1769.—Died 1852.—George III.—George IV.—William IV.—Victoria.