THE LATE MISS AMELIA B. EDWARDS.

In Miss Amelia B. Edwards, who died on Good Friday, aged sixty, an Englishwoman of great literary power and extraordinary versatility has passed away. In extreme youth her first attraction was music, but, despite a fine voice and the rarer power of composition, She early turned to a literary career, while giving some study to painting, in which she became a skilful sketcher from nature. As a writer for a course of years, she produced a series of novels and tales of which the best known are, perhaps, "Barbara's History" and Lord Brackenbury." A journey in the country of the "Dolomites" produced the work on that strange region, ably illustrated by the author. It was a visit to Egypt, vividly described in "A Thousand Miles up the Nile," which was the turning point of her career. Her interest in the monuments took shape by the foundation in 1883 of the Egypt Exploration Fund, which has produced a remarkable series of contributions to knowledge. With the munificent aid of the late Sir Erasmus Wilson, Miss Edwards founded that society, and as joint and afterwards sole honorary secretary she conducted the large correspondence, edited the voluminous memoirs, and made from a small beginning a national undertaking. The labour was enormous, but success was won by a secretary who never spared herself, and never failed to give all information asked of her. Every year a volume has appeared by Naville, Petrie, Ernest Gardner and other scholars of distinction, describing the discovery or examination of the most interesting biblical and classical sites in Egypt. Thus it was really due to Miss Edwards that a mass of information was added yearly to the stores of learning. All this was unpaid labour.

  To further the interests of the fund, Miss Edwards undertook a lecturing tour in America in 1890, when a severe accident shattered her health, though it did not interrupt her work for a day.

Miss Edwards received degrees from several American Universities, and a few months since a Civil List Pension from the Crown. Her best memorial is in the hearts of her many friends, to whom she was endeared by acts of affection and by the unwonted charm of the greatest earnestness contrasted with the most lively wit. While her labour was the bardest, her enjoyment of life was the most keen.

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