FRANCIS BAILY, F.R.S. &c. Born April 28, 1774. Died August 30, 1844. This eminent English astronomer was born at Newbury in Berkshire, and received his education at the school of the Rev. Mr. Best of that town, where he early showed a propensity to physical inquiry, obtaining among his schoolmates the nickname of 'the Philosopher of Newbury.' Francis Baily quitted this school, when fourteen years old, for a house of business in the city of London, and remained there until his twenty-second year, when, desirous of the enlargement of views which travel affords, he embarked for America in 1795. Mr. Baily remained there nearly three years, travelling over the whole of the United States and through much of the western country, experiencing at various times great hardships and privations. Shortly after his return to England he commenced business in London as a stockbroker, and was taken into partnership by a Mr. Whitmore, in the year 1799. While engaged in this business he published several works on Life Annuities, one of which, entitled 'The Doctrine of Life Annuities and Insurances analytically investigated and explained,' was published in 1810, with an appendix in 1813, continuing to this day to be a standard work on the subject, and it may serve to give some idea of the estimation in which it was held, to mention, that when out of print, copies used to sell for four to five times their original value. Although Mr. Baily was thus actively devoting himself to matters of a direct commercial interest, he was still able to find time for works of a more general nature: in 1810 he wrote his first astronomical paper on the celebrated Solar Eclipse, said to have been predicted by Thales, published in the 'Philosophical Transactions' for 1811, and in 1813 published a work entitled 'An Epitome of Universal History.' Astronomy, however, was his chief pursuit; and shortly after the celebrated fraud of De Beranger on the Stock Exchange in 1814, (in the detection and exposure of which Baily had a considerable share), this science absorbed more and more of his attention. His accounts of the Eclipse of 1820; of the Annular Eclipse of 1836, which he observed at Jedburgh; and the Total Eclipse of July 8, 1842, with its marvellous revelation of the rose-coloured protuberances of the solar atmosphere, since known as 'Baily's Beads,' are among the most interesting and classical of his writings. In January, 1823, the Royal Astronomical Society was founded, chiefly through the suggestions of Francis Baily and Dr. Pearson, and for the first three years of its existence Mr. Baily filled the office of Secretary, sparing no exertions on its behalf, watching over its early progress with paternal care, and as the Society grew and prospered, contributing to its transactions many copious and valuable papers.