WALTER BAGEHOT, a celebrated English essayist and journalist, was born at Langport in Somersetshire, February 3d, 1826. After graduating at the University of London in 1848, and completing his law studies, he became editor of the Economist, in which he developed the talent for economic essay-writing which made him famous. He was a student of literature and of natural science, as well as of political economy. The essays which first gained him general popularity are those of his “Physics and Politics” (1872), which illustrate the philosophical theories of English imperialism. He died in Somersetshire, March 24th, 1877.