sometimes flinging himself full length on two chairs, tracing a pattern with his finger on the floor, as some thoughtful or eloquent passage flowed from his lips. But though a rapid writer and dictator, he was sensitively conscientious in the correction of his manuscript, partly from a strong sense of the duty of accuracy, partly from a desire to save his publisher the expense of proof corrections. Hence passages once finished were rarely altered, even after many years, unless new facts arose.
‘When not at work Sir Charles (himself a good classical scholar, a strong liberal, and a great lover of poetry) found much pleasure in intellectual society of all kinds, and most of the leading men in politics, literature, science, and art met together at his house, which the ready tact and hospitality of Lady Lyell rendered a centre of the highest type of social intercourse’ (letter to the present writer from Arabella Buckley, Mrs. Fisher, at one time Lyell's secretary).
Seventy-six memoirs are recorded in the ‘Royal Society Catalogue of Scientific Papers,’ the most recent being a reprint of his address to the British Association, ‘On the Mineral Waters of Bath and other Hot Springs’ (Amer. Journ. Science, 1865, xxxix. 13). A list of papers and of the various editions of his books is appended to the ‘Life, Letters, and Journals.’ The frequent editions of the ‘Principles’ and the ‘Elements of Geology’ enabled him to incorporate many original discoveries or suggestions in the text, and in his latter years, when incapacitated from active observation, he had the satisfaction of seeing in the field a host of geologists whom his method and enthusiasm had inspired.
Portraits of Lyell hang in the apartments of the Geological Society, Burlington House, London, and an engraved portrait by C. H. Jeens was published in ‘Nature,’ xii. 325 (26 Aug. 1875). Busts by Theed, after Gibson, stand in Westminster Abbey and in the rooms of the Royal Society, Burlington House.
[Life, Letters, and Journals of Sir Charles Lyell, 1881, edited by his sister-in-law; Life and Letters of Charles Darwin, 1887, edited by Francis Darwin; Memoir of Sir R. Murchison, 1875, by A. Geikie; Life and Letters of Adam Sedgwick, 1890, by Clark and Hughes; obituary notices in various journals, notably Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society, xxxii. 53, and Nature, vol. xi. (4 March 1875); review of Life and Letters in Quarterly Review, 1882, cliii. 96; and private information. An excellent summary of the bearings of Lyell's scientific work is appended to the article by Miss A. B. Buckley (Mrs. Fisher) in the Encycl. Brit. 9th edit. vol. xv.]
LYFORD, WILLIAM (1598–1653), nonconformist divine, son of William Lyford, rector of Peasemore, near Newbury, Berkshire, was born there in 1598. He entered Magdalen Hall, Oxford, as a commoner on 26 April 1615, became a demy of Magdalen College in 1617, and graduated B.A. on 16 Dec. 1618. He proceeded M.A. on 14 June 1621 (incorporated at Cambridge 1623), and B.D. 12 May 1631. On the presentation of John Digby, earl of Bristol [q. v.], he became vicar of Sherborne, Dorset, in 1631. His Calvinistic views left him undisturbed during the civil war; he was chosen member of the Westminster assembly, but did not sit—a fact which perhaps accounts for the mistaken assumption that he was a royalist (Walker, Sufferings of the Clergy, p. 419). In 1653 he was allowed an annuity of 44l. 18s. out of Lord Digby's estate. Lyford died at Sherborne on 3 Oct. 1653, and was buried under the communion table in the chancel of the church. By his wife Elizabeth he left issue. By his will he bequeathed 120l. to Magdalen College, because, he says, he had in 1633 received 40l. for resigning his fellowship 'according to the corrupt custom of those days;' the money was really a compensation for not taking a college living.
Lyford published: 1. 'Principles of Faith and Good Conscience digested into a Catechistical Form,' London, 1642, 8vo; 5th edit. Oxford, 1658. 2. 'An Apology for our Public Ministry and Infant Baptism,' London, 1653, 4to; 3rd edit. 1657. Posthumous were; 1. 'The Plain Man's Senses exercised to discern both Good and Evil,' London, 1655, 4to, with a funeral sermon by W. H., D.D., which was also issued separately. 2. 'William Lyford his Legacy, or a Help for Young People to prepare them for the Sacrament,' London, 1656, 8vo; 2nd edit. 1658. 3. 'Cases of Conscience propounded in the Time of Rebellion resolved,' London, 1661, 8vo. Lyford edited in 1634 the second edition of William Pinke's 'Tryall of a Christians syncere Love unto Christ.'
[Wood's Athenae Oxon. (ad. Bliss), iii. 345-6; Foster's Alumni Oion. 1500-1714; Bloxam's Reg. of Magdalen, v. 78; Hutchins's Dorset, iv. 250. 264.]
LYGON, FREDERICK. sixth Earl Beauchamp (1830–1891), born 10 Nov. 1830, was third son of Henry, fourth earl Beauchamp, by Susan Caroline, daughter of William, second earl of St. Germans.
The Lygon family was connected with the Beauchamp family through Richard (or Thomas) Lygon, who married Anne, daughter of Richard Beauchamp, second and last baron
