THE LATE SIR JOSEPH BANKS lies buried in Heston Church. There is neither inscription, nor monument, nor memorial window to mark the place of his sepulture; even his hatchment has been removed from its place. Surely, as President of the Royal Society, a member of so many foreign institutions, as well as a man who had traveled so much, he should have been thought worthy of some slight mark of respect. * * * * * ELIHU BURRITT is presented with the Prince of Wales in one of the designs for medals to be distributed on the occasion of the great Industrial Exhibition in London; and the Athenæum properly suggests that such an obtrusion of the "learned Blacksmith" (who has really scarce any learning at all) is "little better than a burlesque." * * * * * HORACE MANN, President of the late National Convention of the friends of education, had issued an address inviting all friendly to the object, whether connected with and interested in common-schools, academies, or colleges, to meet in convention at Philadelphia on the fourth day of August next. * * * * * LIEUT. MAURY says that the new planet, _Parthenope_, discovered by M. Gasparis, of Naples, has been observed at Washington, by Mr. J. Ferguson. It resembles a star of the tenth magnitude. This is the eleventh in the family of asteroids, and the seventh within the last five years. * * * * * GEORGE WILKINS KENDALL is now in New York, having visited New Orleans since his return from Paris. His History of the Mexican War, illustrated by some of the cleverest artists of France, will soon be published here and in London. * * * * * Mrs. FANNY KEMBLE has left this country for England, on account of the sudden illness of her father, Charles Kemble, of whose low state of health we have been apprised by almost every arrival for a year. * * * * * M. BALZAC's recent marriage, at his rather advanced period of life, finds him, for the first time, an invalid, and serious fears are now entertained for him, by friends and physicians. * * * * * ORESTES A. BROWNSON has received the degree of LL.D. from the R.C. College, Fordham. * * * * * RECENT DEATHS. * * * * * SARGENT S. PRENTISS, one of the most distinguished popular orators of the age, died at Natchez, Mississippi, on the 3d inst. He was a native of Maine, and after being admitted to the bar he emigrated to the Southwest, where his great natural genius, with his energy and perseverance, soon gained for him a well-deserved reputation as one of the most successful advocates at the bar, and as one of the most brilliant and effective speakers in all that part of the country, where "stumping" is the almost universal practice among political aspirants.