descendants. In 1837 William IV conferred upon him the rank of knight commander of the royal Guelphic order of Hanover.
In 1840 Parish was appointed chief commissioner to proceed to Naples to settle the British claims upon the Neapolitan government in consequence of the sulphur monopoly. By a treaty of 1816 between Great Britain and Naples, it had been agreed that the latter kingdom should grant to no other state mercantile privileges disadvantageous to the interests of England. Nevertheless in June 1838 the king granted to a certain company of French and other Europeans a monopoly of all the sulphur produced and worked in Sicily. The British government protested against this as an infraction of the treaty of 1816, but the king of Naples refused its demands, and orders were sent to Sir Robert Stopford to commence hostilities. After the capture of some Neapolitan vessels the king gave way. Full indemnities were obtained for the claimants, and an account of the negotiations was laid before parliament. When Joseph Hume rose in the House of Commons to ask for further papers, Sir Robert Peel replied ‘that he had no objection to the motion, but he could not assent to it without bearing testimony to the manner in which Sir Woodbine Parish had performed his duty, and to the great ability and zeal he had shown in the public service.’ On the conclusion of the sulphur commission in 1842, Parish received full powers as plenipotentiary separately or jointly with Temple, his majesty's minister at Naples, to make a new commercial treaty with the king of Naples; it was a difficult negotiation, and was complicated by the jealousy of other powers, but it was eventually concluded and signed in 1845.
Parish had combined with his political labours much scientific research, chiefly in geology and palæontology. In 1839 he published ‘Buenos Ayres and the Provinces of Rio de la Plata,’ which attracted much attention. Not only did he describe the history and geography of the provinces, but he gave an account of their geology and of the fossil monsters, the megatherium, mylodon, and glyptodon, in the discovery of which he had assisted. From the remains of the megatherium which Parish presented to the Royal College of Surgeons, Sir Richard Owen built up the skeleton now exhibited in the Natural History Museum. Parish was elected a fellow of the Royal Society in 1824. He was also a fellow of the Geological and Geographical Societies, and served as vice-president of the latter for many years, contributing various papers, mainly on South American subjects. He died, 16 Aug. 1882, in his eighty-sixth year, at his residence, Quarry House, St. Leonards-on-Sea.
Parish married, first, in 1819, Amelia Jane, daughter of Leonard Beecher Morse, esq.; secondly, in 1844, Louisa Ann, daughter of John Hubbard, esq., and sister of the first Lord Addington.
[Morning Post, 21 Aug. 1882, Royal Geographical Society's Proceedings, October 1882, p. 612; private information.]
PARISH-ALVARS, ELI or ELIAS (1808–1849), harpist and musical composer, born on 28 Feb. 1808 at Teignmouth, where his father was organist (cf. Athenæum, 17 Feb. 1849), began to study the harp under Robert Bochsa in 1820, after the latter's flight from France, and was subsequently a pupil of François Dizi and of Théodore Labarre in Paris. In his fifteenth year he made a short concert tour in Germany, where his success was pronounced; and, after continuing his study of the harp, went in 1828 to Italy, where he gave his attention to the theory of music, pianoforte-playing (in which he was proficient), and to singing under Guglielmo and Leidesdorf in Florence. Two years later he returned to England, and in 1831 he revisited Germany, and gave concerts in Denmark, Sweden, and Russia. From Russia he went to Constantinople to perform before the sultan, and in 1832 he travelled through Austria and Hungary. He next joined John Field in a tour in Switzerland and Italy, and obtained in 1834 an engagement as solo-harpist at La Scala in Milan, whence in 1836 he went by way of Munich to Vienna. There he studied counterpoint under Sechter and Ignaz Seyfried, married the harpist Melanie Lewy (Hanslick, Geschichte des Concertwesens, p. 345 n.), was engaged as principal harpist at the Court Opera, and wrote much music for his own instrument with orchestra. From 1838 to 1841 he travelled in the East, and collected many eastern melodies, some of which he subsequently used in his compositions. In 1841 he returned to Europe, and gave concerts at Dresden and Leipzig. At Leipzig he made the acquaintance of Mendelssohn, who exercised a strong influence over his work.
Parish-Alvars eventually reached England in 1842, and on 16 May he, in conjunction with Molique and others, played before the queen at Buckingham Palace (Dramatic and Musical Review, 21 May 1842, p. 93). Two days later he made his first appearance at the Philharmonic concerts, and repeatedly performed elsewhere. From London he returned to Vienna to fulfil engage-
