As the noble Earl of Elgin has long | honors passed to Thomas, third Baron, filled high stations of honor and responsi- who was advanced to an Earldom, June bility on both sides of the Atlantic, and twenty-first, 1633, as Earl of Elgin; he now stands conspicuous before the world was further advanced to the dignity of an as Her Majesty's Ambassador to China on English peerage in 1640, as Baron Bruce a mission of great importance to the Brit- of Whorlton, county of York. The next ish government, we take pleasure in em- Earl achieved additional dignities by his bellishing the present number of the Ec- loyalty to the Charleses, having been LECTIC with a beautiful portrait and strik- created, in March, 1664, Baron Bruce of ing likeness of this renowned nobleman. Skelton, county of York, Viscount Bruce In doing this, we hope to please and grat- of Ampthill, county of Bedford, and Earl ify his many personal friends in the United of Aylesbury. In the mean time, one of States and especially in Canada, over the junior branches of the family attained which he was so long the popular Gov- a peerage as Baron Bruce of Torrey and ernor-General. We hope our Canada Earl of Kincardine, which dignity subsefriends will regard this portrait of the quently became incorporated with that of Earl of Elgin in the ECLECTIC as a tribute Elgin. The joint title of Earl of Elgin of respect to them, and our desire to grat- and Kincardine was assumed by Charles ify their wishes, if this shall meet their Bruce, ninth Earl of Kincardine, on the approbation. We subjoin a biographical death of the fourth Earl of Elgin without sketch to add interest to the portrait. surviving male issue. The father of the present peer was born in 1777, and achieved considerable distinction in the diplomatic service. He fulfilled the duties of Envoy to Brussels, in 1792, and accompanied the Prussian army during its operations in Germany, in the following year. In 1795 he was appointed Envoy Extraordinary at Berlin, and in 1799 he went to Constantinople as Ambassador. While in Turkey, he conceived the idea of sending to England a variety of valuable records of art from Athens. He sought the assistance of the Govern ment, but without success. But he was not discouraged; engaging six artists at his own expense, he sent them to Athens, in August, 1800, where they secured a large number of casts, monuments, statues, bass-reliefs, medals, and fragments of architecture, of the best age of Athenian art. They were brought over to England, and purchased by the Government for the British Museum, where they were deposited in 1816. They are well known by the name of the "Elgin Marbles."

The Right Honorable the EARL OF ELGIN AND KINCARDINE is a descendant of the Scottish royal family of Bruce. Genealogical writers trace the lineage of this noble stock to a period nearly a thousand years back. Among the comparatively recent members of the family, to whom the present representative is indebted for the honors and estates he in herits, there are one or two who may be mentioned. We learn from Sir Bernard Burke's invaluable "Peerage" that Sir Edward Bruce of Kinloss was appointed a Lord of the Session in 1597, and, in company with the Earl of Mar, was accredited by James VI. to the Court of Elizabeth, to congratulate her Majesty upon the suppression of Essex's rebellion. He then placed the affairs of his royal master in such a train with Secretary Cecil as to pave the way for the peaceable succession of the Scottish monarch to the English throne. Upon his return, in February, 1602, he was created a Peer of Scotland, as Baron Bruce of Kinloss, in the country of Elgin. Accompanying King James into England, on his accession, he was sworn a member of the new monarch's Privy Council, and constituted Master of the Rolls for life. The successor to this nobleman was killed in a duel with Sir Edward Sackville, when the family

The present Earl was born in Park-lane, London, in the month of July, 1811. He was educated at Christ Church, Oxford, where he attained a distinguished position among many scholars who afterwards achieved celebrity in art, literature, and science. He won first-class honors in