The Express.
London, England, 1866-08-27 00:00:00

NOTTINGHAM, SATURDAY.
To-day all but the most predetermined scientific
members and associates became tourists for awhile.
Several of the sections did not sit, and some of
them only gave themselves an hour or an hour and
a half, to satisfy, perhaps, the conscientious
scaujeles pinny who have resolved to have no break
in the feast of science and the flow of abstruse
dissertation. Excursions were the order of the
day, and crowds of visitors and not a few of the
townsfolk went away into regions more or less re-
mote. Most of the places that were to be examined
were quasi-scientific ; the objects which were
to be examined being mineral or mechanical. Thus
there were to be seen coal-pits at Nuthall, collieries
at Annealey, more coal-pita at Eastwood ironworks,
and still mere coal-pits at Alfreton and Riddings,
and the engineering works of the Midland Railway
at Derby. In the midst of this rather " black "
programme stood out in romantic relief an an-
nouncement that Newatead Abbey, " formerly the
residence of Lord. Byron," was open to a visit on
an invitation _from W. F. Webb, Esq. To this
party one attached oneself, and in due time de-
ysarted • by train of the Midland Railway
on a route' by which the most picturesque
view of Nottingham (and it has more than
one picturesque point of view) is to be seen,
through pleasant meadows, studded with trees,
which were taken to be relics of Sherwood Forest ;
past neat villages, and all the softer features of
• midland county ; until a new station, about
a mile from the l gates of Newttead, was
• reached.. There the company diaembarked,- and
proceeding, along what was apparently a new road-
way bordered by young trees, which will form a
' magnificent avenue for the posterity of the
writer of the demesne, through a wind-
ing and • undulating pathway, sometimes
•ithisded with lofty and wide-spreading trees,
.10w fringeil, with shrubberies, with here a water-
fall said there a gentle stream, with a certain
suddenness the front of the Abbey of Newstead,
standing on the margin of a lake of considerable
size, came into view. It is hardly, if at all neces-
sary to describe the building, and it may suffioe to
say that externally the character and peculiar
features of the structure in all their detail are
scrupulously preserved. Passing into the vesti-
bule which is studded, not only with Byronic
relics, but plentifully laid about with animals,
which have gone through the usual taxidermical
process, which fell before the unerring gun of
Vebb during that visit to Africa which has
given him a place amongst the explorers of that
region, the grand staircase was reached. This
leads into one of the four corridors which pass
round the whole quadrangle of the mansion ; and
thence the grand saloon is reached. At the door-
way of this magnificent apartment the visitors were
met and welcomed with a most gracious courtesy by
Mr. and Mrs. Webb. It was in the nature
of things a mixed assemblage, and of
necessity the great bulk of those who
availed themselves of the hospitality of Mr.
and Mrs. Webb were personally unknown
to them, but each individual was received with a
kindly and genial greeting, such as might have
been expected to have been bestowed only on
intimate friends. Here were assembled the nu-
merous permanent guests at the Abbey, and many
of the notabilities of the county. Amongst them
were to be observed the Duke of St. Albans, Lord
Helper, Lord Milton, M.P., Viscount and Vis-
countess Amberley, Lord and Lady Edward
Clinton, the Speaker of the House of Commons,
Mr. Bernal Osborne, M.P. Sir Roderick Mur-
chison, Sir Samuel and Lady Baker, Professor
Philips,Sir W. Armstrong, Sir J. Bowring, and
Ds. Robertson (local secretary), under whose
careful direeition the excursion was organised.
The
emr were then entertained on a
spl • at luncheon in the noble
hall. At a• conclusion of that which
was literally a banquet, Sir Roderick Murchison
in appropriate terms proposed the health of Mr.
and Mrs. Webb; and this dutiful compliment was
acknowledged by Mr. Webb in a speech of much
aptitude for the occasion. The visitors then dis-
persed over the building, the full and' free range
of every part of which was afforded to them. With
a large party of guests staying in the house, of
course many, and probably all, of the " Show "
bedrooms were appropriated to ordinary uses • but
those to which were attached any interest, or
. which contained specimens of antique fur-
loishing and garniture, were thrown open
to inspection, and in several instances the tem-
porary occupants were so good as to do the honours
in person of their mediaeval dormitories. The first
of the bedrooms to which every one turned was
that of Lord Byron, which, with the dressing-room
attached, remains exactly in the same state as
when he last occupied it. Here a learned professor,
the president of one of the sections, had taken up
his rest at nights, and some of his belongings which
were lying about, if they somewhat diminished the
abstract romance of the association of ideas, gave
a realistic air of habitation to the room, which
might have given the imagination a new turn. The
same may be said of the Charles 11. Room, the Ed-
ward 111. Room, and the Sussex Room, which were
all in a state of pristine preservation, the antique
features being toned down by the outward and
visible signs of actual and present occupation. In
a word, it may be said that, down to the minutest
detail, the original character of the mansion—at
least as Byron left it—has been religiously retained ;
and where restoration has been absolutely neces-
sary, it has been carried out with a scrupulous ad-
herence to the pervading character of the place.
As an instance of the care with which
the Byronic relics are watched and tended,
it may be mentioned that the branch of the
tree on which Lord Byron inscribed his own name
and that of his sister on his last visit to Newstead,
the letters of which were becoming indistinct and
poising away by lapse of time, has been felled,
and the block enclosed in a glass case, which is
placid conspicuously in a place of honour in one of
the corridors. Again, with equal care are pre-
served the foils, single-sticks, and boxing-gloves
which Byron last used in those athletic exercises
of which he was a professor • and grouped with
them is the sword with which his ancestor slew Mr.
Chaworth in the duel with which everyone is
familiar. When the Abbey had been exhausted
from within, the guests spread themselves over the
spacious and exquisitely arranged grounds and ter-
races. The tomb of the famous dog Boatswain
(whose picture, by the bye, is in the Edward the
Third bedroom) in the garden was of course duly
visited •, and from a window looking to the terrace
might have been seen a living relic of the bard of
Newstead, in the person of a very aged man,
named Potter, who wasa dependent of Byron, and
whose recollections of him, though growing dim,
are said to have been comprehensive. As the
evening began to close the excursionists, with
• "lingering steps and slow," wended their way
back through the demesne, carrying away with
them pleasant remembrances, combined with special
associations with him who has made Newstead
famous, and a grateful sense of the kindly and
generous hospitalities of the present worthy pos-
sessors of that manaion.
The following is an abstract of the work done
by the " faithful " in the various sections :
Sacrnow A.—MATHEMATICAL AND PHYSICAL
SCIENCE.
This section commenced business on Saturday at 11
o'clock—Mr. Bpottiswoode, M.A. F.R.S., in the chair.
Professor Smith read his report " On the Theory of Num-
bers," and divided his subject into three heads for the
sake of convenience—congruenees, mathematical theory of
homogeneous focus, and all those forms of that theory of
numbers which did not mine under other heath. The pro-
fessor gave an able and lengthy exposition of the subject,
and was followed by remarks by Mr. Russell and Mr.
• gash The President also remarked that no science illus-
trated the principle of continuity so much as the greatest
of all sciences—mathematics.
Professor Maninv read a paper " On Kchirnimusen's
Method of Traarfermation of Algebra Equation., and some
of its Modern Extensions." A blind man named Shelton,
who stated that be came from Carlton, took part in the
discussion, stating that he bad solved the fourth degree of
equation.
Another paper was read by Professor Harley "On
Differential bessimmerr in which he stated ChMf Justice

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THE BRITISH ASSOCIATION,
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i (wOlll MI CAM 21,03113.)
NOTTINGHAM, Wean
Today aB but the most predetermined scim
members and associates became tourists for aw
Several of the sections did not sit, and eon
I them only gave themselves an hour or an how
a half, to satisfy,• perhaps, the conacieni
scamphes plumy who have resolved to have no t
in the feast of science and the flow of abel
.16..ar4tinn Excursions were the order of