became a contributor to the Evening Herald and Daily Telegraph, both published in Melbourne. He subsequently became connected with the Age and Leader, and contributed much brilliant matter to the latter above the signature "Atticus." The connection with both these journals lasted till his death. In 1878 Mr. Clarke refused the librarianship of the Victorian Parliamentary Library, offered him by Mr. (now Sir Graham) Berry. He did this in the certainty of obtaining the chief position in the Melbourne Public Library, which, however, was, much to his disappointment, conferred on Dr. Bride. His fame as a writer had in the meantime become widely diffused, and he was offered a permanent position on the staff of the London Daily Telegraph by its enterprising proprietor, Mr. E. L. Lawson. This he was compelled to decline through inability to leave Australia. He died in Melbourne on August 2nd, 1881, of congestion of the liver and erysipelas supervening on pleurisy. Mr. Clarke left behind him an unfinished novel entitled "Felix and Felicitas," which displayed remarkable promise. In 1884 a selection from his writings was published by subscription by Messrs. Cameron, Laing & Co., of Melbourne. It is entitled "The Marcus Clarke Memorial Volume," and was edited by Mr. Hamilton Mackinnon, who prefaced it by a detailed Life of his friend and a complete list of his works, which is of much interest to the student of Australian literature.
Clarke, William, J.P., son of William Joseph Sayers Clarke by his marriage with Miss Mary Ann Welsford, was born in Melbourne on June 26th, 1843, and married there on June 25th, 1862, to Miss Mary Ann Mortimer. He is a Justice of the Peace for the colonies of New South Wales and Victoria, and was M.L.A. for Orange in the former colony, but was defeated at the general election in 1889. Mr. Clarke was Minister of Justice in the administration of Sir Henry Parkes, from Jan. 20th, 1887, to Jan. 10th, 1889. He has held important positions in connection with financial institutions in the colonies, and is now Managing Director in London of the Standard Bank of Australia, Limited. Mr. Clarke was a member of the New South Wales Commission in London for the Colonial and Indian Exhibition of 1886.
Clarke, Rev. William Branwhite, M.A., F.R.S., was born at East Bergholt, in Suffolk, on June 2nd, 1798, and educated at Dedham Grammar School and at Jesus College, Cambridge, where he graduated B.A. in 1821, and M.A. in 1824. He was ordained deacon in 1821, and priest in 1824. In 1822 he published three poems: "Lays of Leisure," "Pompeii," and "The River Derwent," and in 1839 "Recollections of a Visit to Mont Blanc" and several religious poems. Whilst at Cambridge he attended the geological lectures of Professor Sedgwick and Dr. E. Clarke, and visited various parts of England in search of geological information during his vacations. After holding one or two small preferments he emigrated to New South Wales in 1839, partly for his health. He took charge of the King's School at Parramatta, and did clerical duty in that district, and subsequently at Campbell Town. From 1846 to 1870 he was incumbent of St. Thomas's, Willoughby. Mr. Clarke was the author of numerous treatises on scientific, and especially geological, subjects. In 1841 he demonstrated the existence of gold in New South Wales from geological and mineralogical evidences, and verified his contentions by finding specimens in the Macquarie valleys, and near the Vale of Clydd. In 1844 he described the existence of a goldfield in the Bathurst district without any personal exploration, and without any knowledge of Strzelecki's previous discovery, which exactly coincided with his predictions. The then Governor of New South Wales, Sir George Gipps, dreading the effect of exciting the cupidity of the convicts and labourers, requested Mr. Clarke, as he had done the Count previously, to keep his discoveries secret. With this injunction Mr. Clarke was well inclined to comply, as, according to his opinion declared in 1849, gold washing was more suitable for slaves than British freemen. In comparing the geology of Russia with that of Australia, in 1847, Mr. Clarke asserted that New South Wales "would be found wonderfully rich in metals"—a prophecy which has since been amply verified. For his services to science he was in 1876 elected a Fellow of the Royal Society, and died on June 17th, 1878, at North Shore, Sydney. For
