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Or TIVE Dollars in Advance.
NUMBER II.
E.ongeT;sy Of Literary Men.

! The concluding lecture of the series Of
Smithsonian lectures delivered by Doctor
Wynne. Nas confined to the effect of leisure
and literary employment upon the duration
Of life. The Lecturer drcw bis examples Of
. life Of leisure chiefly from English records,
which embrace class on ong the English
nobility who are placed above the Necessity
for labor, and are necessarily freed from the
ordinary stimulants Which in the usual
walks Of life move men to exertion. Until
the last fey years the members Of noble
families were supposed to be placed in cir
cumstanoss highly favorable to longevity
but carefully eollated facts, derived from
the most authentic sources, by Professor
Guy, of Kings College, London, showed
| that, with feTr rare exceptions, such as
those Of Sir Ralph de Vernon, who is said
| TO have attained the age Of one hundred anal
fifty years, and three Misses Legge, desocn-
dants Of the Earl Of Dartmouth two Of
whom died at 105 and one at II, the du-
ration of life was less among them than in
any other class, and far below those embra-
oed IN the list of friendly societies, made up
entirely Of the vorking classes. OF tic
members Of the privileged classes in En-
gland, kings were found to have the shor-
test length of life, next peers Of the realm
! then cxpectants Of titles, and highest in the
list those of noblemen whose grade of title
placed them nearest the mass of the whole
population. From this it would appear
that labor formed an essential requisite in
producing those conditions necessary to
length Of days, and that those who were
placed above its contingencies wers rather
to be pitied than enyied
| Among those who were embraced in the
literary class were some who, like natural
philosophers, generally attained gr eat length
Of days, and others, as poets, in which the
duration OF life appeared to be short. Be
tween these two classes we're many grades
whose position in the scale was generally
defined by the absence or presence of the.
imaginative faculties in the production of
their works. As general rule the calm
and exalted studies of the philosopher, al
though often severe, were found to be ia
vorable to longevity, while the development
OF that imaginative faculty by means Of
which the poet was enabled to weave his
conceptions into verse was found to abridgc
its duration.
La addition to the effect produced by diff
ferent species of literary labor upon their
prosecutors, there was no doubt that indi-
vidual peculiarities had much to do with in
ducing favorable or nnfavcsable result
This was especially the case with poets, who
were as class men Ct irYegular lives The
Instances Of Burns, Cowper, Beattia and
Byron were cited as examples Of this posi-
tlon and many Of their personal poccliaFi7
ties we're detailed, showing them to have
lived either in state of great excitement
Or Of the deepest melancholy
The series Of lectures just closed cnlbra-
ced vast fund of valuable information upon
an important and hitherto neglected subject.
and was listened to by the audience with
great attention. They furnish substantial
contribution to science, and manifest the
pcra.ical value Of the Institution under whose
auEpices they have been given to the public
National Iately5gencer, Jan. %.