SENIOR, NASSA U WILMA NI, Whim] economist, b. 1790, eldest son of rev. J. R. Senior, vicar of Durnford, Wilts; was educated at Eton and Magdalen college, Oxford, where lie graduated in 1811, taithig a distinguished first-class in classics. In 1819 he was called to db• bar it Lincoln's inn. In 182.5 he was elected to the professorship of political economy at Oxford, framiled by the tale Henry Drummond, m.e. He held it for the statutory term of live years. and wits succeeded by Mr. Whately, afterward archbishop of Dublin. In 133:2 tac ene:nous ea Us of tLe poor-law administration in England led to the appointment of a commission of inquiry. Senior was one of the commissioners; and the portion of the report in which the abuses of. the existing system were detailed was drawn up by him. This report encouraged the whig government to bring in the poor-law amendment act of 1834. and Peon-Laws. In 1836 he received the appointment of master in chancery; and iu 1847 was re-elected to his former professor ship for another term of five years. More recently he was nominated one of the com missioners of national education, under the presidency of the late duke of Newcastle. His publications, which are numerous, comprise various excellent treatises on political economy, some of which were delivered in the form of lectures at•Oxford, and several pamphlets on social and political questions. also contributed numerous articles to the
Edinburgh Review, and other leading periodicals. He has left some interesting journals of his visits to Turkey and Greece, and observations on the political and social condition of these countries. His Essays on Ftction contributed to the chief reviews between the years 1821 and 1857, and republished in 1864, relate principally to the novels of Scott, Hulwer-Lytton, and Thackeray. He analyzes the plots, and classifies the characters of the Waverley novels with cutions felicity, and devotes a masterly essay to Thackeray, whom lie regards as the greatest novelist of his day. The intellect of Senior was clear and penetrating, and the perspicuity of his style made loin an able expositor of the truths of political and social science. His article on "Political Economy" in the Ency clopedia iletropolitana, and his remarks on some definitions in this science, ,published in the appendix to Dr. Whately's treatise on Logic, may be consulted with advantage. He died June 4, 1864.