ST. JOHN, BAYLE, second son of J. A. St. John, was born in London in the year 1822, and is remarkable for having entered on the career of literature at a very early age. He accompanied his father in his visits to France and Switzerland; and having exhibited a fondness for drawing, was urged to study with a view of becoming an artist by profession. He persevered in this idea until he was seventeen, but long before had begun to write. He was scarcely thirteen when he offered an article to a monthly magazine, which was accepted. This too-early success irrevocably influenced lis predilections. By degrees the pencil was more and more neglected, and at last utterly abandoned. For a long time he was employed in assisting his father in his great work on the " Manners ad Customs of Ancient Greece;" but this did not prevent him from contributing regularly to the " Sunday Times " and the " Penny Magazine," and furnishing occasional articles to most of the periodicals of the day. In 1849 he contributed to "Fraser's Magazine," besides some poetry, a series of articles entitled " De Re Vehiculari, or a Comic History of Chariots," which, with other humorous productions of the same kind, were generally attributed to Dr. Maginn. He also supplied to the same periodical a Chapter on ilit early life of Montaigne, which subject has ever since continued to occupy him. In 1844 he published a novel in three volumes, called " The Eccentric Lover," written at a previous period, when he had not turned his attention so much to serious literature ; but showing, according to the expressions of the " Spectator," that "he had inherited his father's style of composition." About the same time he helped to form the Ethnological Society, and contributed a paper on the Mongols to its early " Transactions." He was also connected with the establishment of the Syro-Egyptian Sociay. As a contributor to the "Foreign Quarterly Review," he discussed the political questions of the day, and received the formal thanks of the London Missionary Society for the manner in which he treated the subject of Tahiti. A love for an active life induced him, in 1845, to accept a situation as secretary to a company started for carrying out a railway between Mirzapore and Delhi, the scene of the recent mutiny. This important project, however, disappeared with so many others in the great monetary crisis that followed, and Mr. Bayle St. John resolved to go out to Egypt . He visited France, Italy, and Sicily on his way, and reached Alexandria in June 1846. Impressed with the idea that personal experience of life was necessary to counteract the imitative habit acquired by too early practice of literature, with the exception of some letters to English and Indian newspapers, Mr. B. St. John now almost ceased to write. He spent his time in a manner described vividly in a work published at a subsequent period; studied Arabic: 

continued his classical and philosophical reading; explored many unknown districts; resided sometimes in the villages and sometimes in Cairo or Alexandria; and at last undertook a journey to the Oasis of Siwah, with the express object of studying the route of Alexander the Great. No Englishman, with the exception of Brown in the last century, had crossed that arid and dangerous desert, inhabited only by fierce wandering tribes, to whom the European face is unknown. The narrative of the expedition is contained in the first work published by Mr. St. John after his return from Egypt, under the title of " Adventures in the Libyan Desert," forming a volume of Murray's " Home and Colonial Library." Since that time Messrs. Chapman and Hall have utilised Mr. St. John's sketches by bringing out an illustrative Atlas, containing coloured lithographic views and a map. The latter document contains new information which has been adopted by geographers. Mr. B. St. John returned from Egypt in June, 1848; and lived in Paris, studying French arts, manners, and politics, for two years. During this time he wrote his charming " Two Years Residence in a Levantine Family;" and began contributing to " Chambers' Journal," and soon to " Household Words." He then went back to Egypt for another year, visited the whole valley up to the Cataracts, and collected materials for his " Village Life in Egypt." Up to this time he had been very sparing in the production of books ; but he has since made up for lost time. In rapid succession have followed " Purple Tints of Paris;" " The Turks in Europe;" " The Hungarian Emigration into Turkey" (from communicated materials); "The Travels of an Arab Merchant," from an Arab narrative; " The Louvre, or Biography of a Museum;" " Maretimo, a Story of Adventure," first published in " Chambers' Journal," but since reprinted; " The Fortune of Francis Croft" (anonymous); "Legends of the Christian East;" " The Subalpine Kingdom," based on a recent visit to the north of Italy, and containing curious new documents with reference to life Life of Rousseau ; and " The Memoirs of St. Simon," abridged from the French. Many of the works we have mentioned, which have met with a large measure of success, contain biographical details; for Mr. Bayle St. John has adopted a system of mixing up his own personal adventures with the description of what he sees. He is now, however, engaged on a work of research and criticism,entitled "Montaigne the Essayist," which we believe is drawing to a conclusion. He will probably, at some future period, compose a History of the Establishment of the Empire in France, as he has been residing in Paris, keeping a record of events, watching all revolutions and ententes, and communicating with politicians of all classes and opinions for the purpose.