Beside devoting his attention to the duties of the chair of the Royal Society, Sir Joseph became an active member of all the public societies of the day; and to his care in a great degree the African Association owes its origin. He also liberally encouraged and assisted those who undertook voyages or travels of discovery. In his attentions to the breeding of sheep and cattle, and to the improvements in husbandry, he gave many instances of scientific patriotism; and to his exertions may be attributed the drainage of the Fens in the immediate vicinity of Revesby. To the Horticultural society, which he assisted in forming, he was a contributor of several papers. In politics he took no ostensible part, and had not even a seat in parliament. During the latter years of his life, Sir Joseph was so severely afflicted with the gout, as to be deprived of the use of his lower extremities, and consequently unable to take his accustomed exercise. In 1817 he was by death deprived of his sister, a loss which he severely felt. In April, 1820, in consequence of increasing debility, he expressed a wish to resign his office of President of the Royal Society, but this resignation the society were unwilling to accept of, and he continued to hold the office until his death, which took place on the 19th of the following month. His remains were interred in the church yard at Heston. Having no issue, his title is extinct. After the death of his widow, his estates in Lincolnshire go to the Honorable James Hamilton Stanhope, and Sir Henry Hawley, Baronet; the remainder of his estates to Sir Edward Knatchbull, Baronet. His valuable and extensive library he bequeathed to the British Museum. KIRKSTEAD. KIRKSTEAD, anciently called Cristed, is situated on the east bank of the Witham, in the hundred of Gartree, and is about three miles distant from Tattershall, and eight from Horncastle. Formerly it was a hamlet of Kirkby super Bane, but for many years it has been considered as a separate parish. The manor, with that of Tattershall, was among the several estates given by the conqueror to Eudo, one of his Norman followers. His son Hugh fitz Eudo, called the Breton, founded a Cistertian Abbey here in 1139, and endowed it with his possessions in this place. Afterwards the monks, considering the situation unhealthy, petitioned Robert, the son of the founder, to allow them to remove the abbey to some other place; but though they obtained permission, yet it does not appear that the affair was proceeded in any further. The abbey had subsequently many benefactors, and acquired very extensive possessions.