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Title: Through the Year with Famous Authors

Author: Mabel Patterson

Release date: January 5, 2013 [eBook #40412]

Most recently updated: October 23, 2024

Language: English

Credits: Produced by Steven desJardins and the Online Distributed

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*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THROUGH THE YEAR WITH FAMOUS AUTHORS ***

THROUGH THE YEAR

WITH FAMOUS AUTHORS

BY

MABEL PATTERSON

WALTER NEALE

PUBLISHER OF GENERAL LITERATURE

118 EAST 28TH STREET

NEW YORK

Copyright, 1925

BY

MABEL PATTERSON

JANUARY

JANUARY

There is no moment like the present; not only so, but, moreover, there is no moment at all, that is, no instant force and energy, but in the present. The man who will not execute his resolutions when they are fresh upon him can have no hope from them afterwards: they will be dissipated, lost, and perish in the hurry and skurry of the world, or sunk in the slough of indolence.

—Maria Edgeworth.

MARIA EDGEWORTH, a noted English novelist, was born in Black Bourton, Oxfordshire, January 1, 1767, and died in Edgeworthstown, Ireland, May, 1849. She wrote: “Early Lessons,” “Castle Rackrent,” “Tales of Fashionable Life,” “Belinda,” “Leonora,” “Moral Tales,” “The Modern Griselda,” “Helen,” “Ormond,” and “Patronage.”

’Tis always morning somewhere in the world.

“Orion,” Book iii, Canto ii (1843).—Richard Henry Horne.

RICHARD HENRY HORNE, a famous English miscellaneous writer, was born January 1, 1803, and died March 13, 1884. His principal works are: “The Dreamer and the Worker,” “Cosmo de’ Medici,” “Orion,” “A New Spirit of the Age,” “The Death of Marlowe,” “Judas Iscariot, A Miracle Play,” “Australian Facts and Prospects,” and “Exposition of the False Medium, and Barriers Excluding Men of Genius from the Public.”

Ah, the key of your life, that passes all wards, opens all locks,

Is not I will, but I must, I must, I must,—and I do it.

—A. H. Clough.

ARTHUR HUGH CLOUGH, an English poet of great renown, was born in Liverpool, January 1, 1819; and died at Florence, Italy, November 13, 1861. Among his noted works may be mentioned: “Ambarvalia: Poems by Thomas Burbidge and A. H. Clough,” “Poems and Prose Remains,” “Plutarch’s Lives: the Translation called Dryden’s Corrected,” etc.

And what is sorrow? ’Tis a boundless sea.

And what is joy?

A little pearl in that deep ocean’s bed;

I sought it—found it—held it o’er my head,

And to my soul’s annoy,

It fell into the ocean’s depth again,

And now I look and long for it in vain.

“Sorrow and Joy,”—Alexander Petöfi.

ALEXANDER PETÖFI, a celebrated Hungarian poet, was born at Kis-Koros, near Pesth, January 1, 1823, and died July 31, 1849. His chief works are: “The Wine-Bibbers,” “Coriolanus” (a drama), and his famous song “Talpra Magyar” (Up, Magyar), the Hungarian Marseillaise.

I think, ofttimes, that lives of men may be

Likened to wandering winds that come and go

Not knowing whence they rise, whither they blow

O’er the vast globe, voiceful of grief or glee.

“A Comparison,”—Paul Hamilton Hayne.

PAUL HAMILTON HAYNE, a distinguished American poet, was born in Charleston, S. C., January 1, 1830, and died at Augusta, Ga., July 6, 1886. He has written: “Sonnets and Other Poems,” “Avolio, a Legend of the Island of Cos,” “Legends and Lyrics,” “The Mountain of the Lovers,” etc.

Then rushed to meet the insulting foe;

They took the spear, but left the shield.

“To the Memory of the Americans who fell at Eutaw,”—Philip Freneau.

PHILIP FRENEAU, a noted American poet, was born in New York City, January 2, 1752, and died near Freehold, N. J., December 18, 1832. He wrote: “Eutaw Springs,” “The College Examination,” “The Home of Night,” “The Indian Student,” and “Lines to a Wild Honeysuckle.”

Men of letters and great artists are the lights of a nation; they are what make it great; they are what give it a place in history.

“Advance of the English Novel,”—William Lyon Phelps.

WILLIAM LYON PHELPS, a celebrated university professor and literary critic, was born at New Haven, Connecticut, January 2, 1865. He has written “Selections from the Poetry and Prose of Thomas Gray,” “Irving’s Sketch Book,” “The Best Plays of Chapman,” “The Novels of Samuel Richardson,” (20 vols.), “The Works of Jane Austen” (12 vols.), “Stevenson’s Essays,” “The Pure Gold of Nineteenth Century Literature,” “Essays on Modern Novelists,” “Essays on Russian Novelists,” “Essays on Books,” “The Advance of the English Novel,” “The Advance of English Poetry,” “Reading the Bible,” “Essays on Modern Dramatists.”

He is one of those wise philanthropists who in a time of famine would vote for nothing but a supply of toothpicks.

—Douglas Jerrold.

DOUGLAS WILLIAM JERROLD, a noted English humorist, was born in London, England, January 3, 1803, and died there June 8, 1857. Some of his well-known works are: “The Rent Day,” “Retired from Business,” “Story of a Feather,” “Nell Gwynne,” “The Bubbles of the Day.”

You can’t expect anything from a pig but a grunt.

“Fairy Tales,”—Grimm.

JACOB GRIMM, a famous philologist, archæologist, and folklorist, was born at Hanau, January 4, 1785, and died at Berlin, September 20, 1863. He wrote: “The Poetry of the Meistersingers,” “German Mythology,” “History of the German Language,” “German Grammar,” etc. His fame rests, however, upon his celebrated work, “Fables for Children,” written in collaboration with his brother Wilhelm, and best-known as, “Grimm’s Fairy Tales.”

I do not know what I may appear to the world; but to myself I seem to have been only like a boy playing on the sea-shore, and diverting myself in now and then finding a smoother pebble or a prettier shell than ordinary, whilst the great ocean of truth lay all undiscovered before me.

Brewster’s “Memoirs of Newton,” Vol. ii, Chap. xxvii.—Isaac Newton.

SIR ISAAC NEWTON, the renowned English philosopher and mathematician, was born at Woolsthorpe, Lincolnshire, January 5, 1643, and died at Kensington, March 31, 1727. Among his works are: “Principia,” “Theory of Light and Colors,” “Optical Readings,” “On Motion,” “Opticks,” etc.

The phrase, “public office is a public trust,” has of late become common property.

—Charles Sumner (May 31, 1872).

CHARLES SUMNER, a distinguished American statesman, was born in Boston, January 6, 1811, and died in Washington, D. C., March 11, 1874. His speeches, orations, etc., were collected and published (1870-83) in a 15-vol. edition.

There are many moments in friendship as in love, when silence is beyond words. The faults of our friends may be clear to us, but it is well to seem to shut our eyes to them.

—Ouida.

LOUISE DE LA RAMÉE (OUIDA), a famous English novelist of French extraction, was born at Bury St. Edmunds, January 7, 1839, and died January 25, 1908. Among her numerous works are: “Held in Bondage,” “Strathmore,” “Chandos,” “Idalia,” “Under Two Flags,” “A Leaf in the Storm,” “Pascarel,” “In a Winter City,” “Friendship,” “A Village Commune,” “Wanda,” “A House Party,” “Guilderoy,” “Moths,” “A Rainy June,” “Views and Opinions,” etc.

The Darwinian theory, even when carried out to its extreme logical conclusion, not only does not oppose, but lends a decided support to, a belief in the spiritual nature of man. It shows us how man’s body may have been developed from that of a lower animal form under the law of natural selection; but it also teaches us that we possess intellectual and moral faculties which could not have been so developed, but must have had another origin; and for this origin we can only find an adequate cause in the unseen universe of Spirit.

“Darwinism,”—A. R. Wallace.

ALFRED RUSSEL WALLACE, a renowned English naturalist, was born at Usk in Monmouthshire, January 8, 1822, and died November 7, 1913. He wrote: “Travels on the Amazon and Rio Negro,” “The Malay Archipelago,” “On the Geographical Distribution of Animals,” “Tropical Nature,” “Darwinism: An Exposition of the Theory of Natural Selection,” “Man’s Place in the Universe,” “My Life: A Record of Events and Opinions,” “Is Mars Habitable?” “The World of Life,” “Social Environment and Moral Progress,” “The Revolt of Democracy,” etc.

I have always held the old-fashioned opinion that the primary object of a work of fiction should be to tell a story.

—William Wilkie Collins.

WILLIAM WILKIE COLLINS, a celebrated English novelist, was born in London, January 8, 1824, and died there September 23, 1889. He wrote: “The New Magdalen,” “No Name,” “Antonia,” “Basil,” “The Dead Secret,” “Armadale,” “Man and Wife,” “Poor Miss Finch,” “Miss or Mrs.?” “The Law and the Lady,” “The Two Destinies,” “Heart and Science,” “I Say No,” “The Legacy of Cain,” “The Moonstone,” and “The Woman in White,” his greatest novel.

The all-pervading greatness of Shakespeare lies in his comprehension of the ethical order of the world; [his dramas are] the truest literary product of the time, because the most perfect and concrete presentation of realized rationality.

—D. J. Snider.

DENTON JAQUES SNIDER, a distinguished American author, was born in Mt. Gilead, Ohio, January 9, 1841. He is best known by his famous work, “A Walk in Hellas.” His other works include: “Homer in Chios,” “Johnny Appleseed’s Rhymes,” “Ancient European Philosophy,” “Modern European Philosophy,” “Architecture,” “World’s Fair Studies,” “Commentaries on Froebel’s Play Songs,” “The Will and Its World,” “The Life of Frederick Froebel,” “The Father of History,” “Herodotus,” “Social Institutions,” “The State,” “A Tour in Europe,” “Cosmos and Diacosmos,” etc.

Softly, O midnight hours,

Move softly o’er the bowers

Where lies in happy sleep a girl so fair:

For ye have power, men say,

Our hearts in sleep to sway

And cage cold fancies in a moonlight snare.

“Softly, O Midnight Hours,”—Aubrey Thomas de Vere.

AUBREY THOMAS DE VERE, a famous Irish poet and descriptive and political essayist, son of Sir Aubrey De Vere, was born January 10, 1814, and died in 1902. Among his works are: “Poems,” “Irish Odes,” “Alexander the Great,” “Picturesque Sketches of Greece and Turkey,” “Constitutional and Unconstitutional Political Action,” “The Foray of Queen Meave and Other Legends of Ireland’s Heroic Age,” “The Sisters,” “Legends of the Saxon Saints,” “St. Peter’s Chains,” “Essays Chiefly on Poetry,” “Essays Chiefly Literary and Ethical,” “Recollections,” etc.

I know of no other English-speaking poet of the day who can turn a song so gracefully and easily as Mr. Stoddard can. Certain of his lyrics are, to my mind, unsurpassed for haunting charm of cadence. He has also written several odes of admirable nobility and stateliness.

“Poems of Wild Life,”—Charles G. D. Roberts.

CHARLES GEORGE DOUGLAS ROBERTS, a celebrated Canadian poet, was born in Douglas, N. B., January 10, 1860. Among his publications are: “Orion and Other Poems,” “In Divers Tones,” “Canterbury Poets,” “History of Canada,” “A Sister to Evangeline,” “The Heart of the Ancient Wood,” “The Kindred of the Wild,” “Barbara Ladd,” “The Watchers of the Trails,” “The Heart that Knows,” “The House in the Water,” “Neighbours Unknown,” “The Feet of the Furtive,” “Babes of the Wild,” “The Ledge on Bald Face,” “In the Morning of Time,” etc.

A national debt, if it is not excessive, will be to us a national blessing.

—Alexander Hamilton.

ALEXANDER HAMILTON, an illustrious American statesman, was born in the Island of Nevis, West Indies, January 11, 1757, and died near New York, July 12, 1804. His “Collected Works,” appeared in 1851.

The effect of every burden laid down is to leave us relieved; and when the soul has laid down that of its faults at the feet of God, it feels as though it had wings.

—Eugénie de Guérin.

EUGÉNIE DE GUÉRIN, a famous French diarist and prose-writer, was born January 11, 1805, and died May 31, 1848. Jointly with her brother Maurice, she wrote the “Journals,” and “Letters.”

I feel the rush of waves that round me rise,

The tossing of my boat upon the sea;

Few sunbeams linger in the stormy skies,

And youth’s bright shore is lessening on the lee!

—Bayard Taylor.

BAYARD TAYLOR, an eminent American poet, and novelist, was born at Kennett Square, Pennsylvania, January 11, 1825, and died at Berlin, Germany, December 19, 1878. His noted works are: “Views Afoot,” “The American Legend,” “Poems and Ballads,” “Poems of the Orient,” “Travels in Greece and Russia,” “Poems of Home and Travel,” “At Home and Abroad,” “Hannah Thurston,” “The Story of Kennett,” “By-Ways of Europe,” “The Masque of the Gods,” “Egypt and Iceland,” “Home Pastorals, Ballads, and Lyrics,” “Dramatic Works,” “Critical Essays and Literary Notes,” etc.

A liberty to that only which is good, just, and honest.

“Life and Letters,” Vol. ii, p. 341,—John Winthrop.

GOVERNOR JOHN WINTHROP, first Colonial governor of Massachusetts, and a distinguished writer, was born near Groton, Suffolk, England, January 12, 1587, and died at Boston, March 26, 1649. He wrote: “A Modell of Christian Charity,” “Arbitrary Government Described,” and a “History of New England from 1630 to 1649,” which was left by him in MS., and found in his “Life and Letters,” by Robert C. Winthrop.

People will not look forward to posterity who never look backward to their ancestors.

“Reflections on the Revolution in France,” Vol. iii, p. 274—Edmund Burke.

EDMUND BURKE, an eminent British statesman and orator, was born in Dublin, January 12, 1729, and died in Beaconsfield, England, July 9, 1797. He wrote: “A Philosophical Inquiry into the Origin of Our Ideas of the Sublime and Beautiful,” “Reflections on the French Revolution,” “Letters on a Regicide Peace,” “Works and Correspondence.”

La crainte fit les dieux; l’audace a fait les rois.[1]

—Crébillon.

PROSPER JOLYOT DE CRÉBILLON, a celebrated French dramatist, was born at Dijon, January 13, 1674, and died at Paris, June 14, 1762. His plays include; “The Death of Brutus’s Children,” “Idomeneus,” “Atreus and Thyestes,” “Electra,” “Rhadamistus and Zénobia,” “Xerxes,” “Semiramis,” “Pyrrhus,” and “Catalina.”

How dear to this heart are the scenes of my childhood,

When fond recollection presents them to view.

“The Old Oaken Bucket,”—Samuel Woodworth.

SAMUEL WOODWORTH, a noted American poet and journalist, was born at Scituate, Mass., January 13, 1785, and died in New York City, December 9, 1842. His poem, “The Old Oaken Bucket,” won for him great fame.

All quiet along the Potomac to-night,

No sound save the rush of the river,

While soft falls the dew on the face of the dead—

The picket’s off duty forever.

“All quiet along the Potomac,”—Ethel L. Beers.

ETHEL LYNN BEERS, a well-known American poet, was born in Goshen, N. Y., January 13, 1827, and died in Orange, N. J., October 10, 1879. She is the author of “All Quiet Along the Potomac, and Other Poems.”

Oh, meet is the reverence unto Bacchus paid!

We will praise him still in the songs of our fatherland,

We will pour the sacred wine, the chargers lade,

And the victim kid shall unresisting stand,

Led by his horns to the altar, where we turn

The hazel spits while the dripping entrails burn.

“Georgics,” Bk. ii, St. 17, L. 31 (H. W. Preston’s Translation).—Vergil.

HARRIET WATERS PRESTON, a distinguished American scholar, translator, and writer, was born in Danvers, Mass., January 14 (?), 1836, and died in 1911. Besides her translations of Mistral’s “Mireio,” Virgil’s “Georgics,” etc., she has published: “Aspendale,” “Troubadours and Trouvéres,” “Love in the Nineteenth Century,” “A Year in Eden,” etc.

Although I am a pious man, I am not the less a man.

“Le Tartuffe,” Act. iii, Scene 3,—Molière.

JEAN BAPTISTE POQUELIN (MOLIÈRE), the greatest of French dramatists, was born in Paris, January 15 (?), 1622, and died there, February 17, 1673. Among his famous works are: “The Misanthrope,” “The Learned Ladies,” “The School for Wives,” “The Imaginary Invalid,” “The Miser,” “Don Juan,” “The School for Husbands,” and “Tartuffe,” which is considered by many to be his masterpiece.

Die Thränen sind des Schmerzes heilig Recht![2]

“Sappho, III, 5,”—Fr. Grillparzer.

FRANZ GRILLPARZER, a renowned Austrian poet and dramatist, was born in Vienna, January 15, 1791, and died there January 21, 1872. Among his noted works are: “Blanche of Castile,” “The Ancestress,” “Sappho,” “The Jewess of Toledo,” “The Poor Minstrel,” etc., also two famous poems, “Waves of Ocean; Thrills of Love,” and “In Thy Camp is Austria.”

The pure, the beautiful, the bright,

That stirred our hearts in youth,

The impulse to a wordless prayer,

The dreams of love and truth,

The longings after something lost,

The spirit’s yearning cry,

The strivings after better hopes,

These things can never die.

“Things that Never Die,”—Sarah Doudney.

SARAH DOUDNEY, a noted English writer of fiction, was born near Portsmouth, England, January 15, 1843. She has written: “Under Grey Walls,” “The Pilot’s Daughters,” “Nothing But Leaves,” “Under False Colours,” “The Lesson of the Water Mill,” “The Missing Rubies,” “When We Two Parted,” “Through Pain to Peace,” “Pilgrims of the Night,” “A Cluster of Roses,” “Silent Strings,” “One of the Few,” “Shadow and Shine,” etc.

Tant la plume a eu sous le roi d’avantage sur l’epée.[3]

“Mémoires,” Vol. iii, p. 517 (1702), Ed. 1856.—Saint-Simon.

LOUIS DE ROUVROY, DUC DE SAINT-SIMON, the great French annalist, was born January 16, 1675, and died March 2, 1755. His notable works are: His famous “Memoirs,” published in twenty volumes.

Early to bed and early to rise,

Makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise.

—Benjamin Franklin.

BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, the renowned American philosopher and statesman, was born in Boston, January 16, 1706, and died in Philadelphia, April 17, 1790. He wrote his own “Autobiography,” and other important works.

Dicen, que el primer consejo

Ha de ser de la muger.[4]

“El Medico de su. Houra,” I, 2.—Calderon.

PEDRO CALDERON DE LA BARCA, the great Spanish dramatist, was born at Madrid, January 17, 1600, and died May 25, 1681. Among his dramas may be mentioned: “The Wonder-Working Magician,” “The Schism of England,” “The Alcalde of Zalamea,” “No Magic Like Love,” “The Divine Orpheus.”

Ove son leggi,

Tremar non dee chi leggi non infranse.[5]

“Virginia,” II., i.,—Alfieri.

COUNT VITTORIO ALFIERI, a celebrated Italian dramatist, was born at Asti in Piedmont, January 17, 1749, and died at Florence, October 8, 1803. Among his many works may be mentioned: “Cleopatra,” “Polinice,” “Antigone,” “Agide,” “Bruto,” “Saul,” “Filippo,” etc. He also wrote: “Tyranny,” “Essays on Literature and Government,” odes on “American Independence,” and “Memoirs of His Life.”

A good writer does not write as people write, but as he writes.

—Montesquieu.

CHARLES DE SECONDANT, BARON DE MONTESQUIEU, a famous French historian and political philosopher, was born near Bordeaux, January 18, 1689, and died in Paris, February 10, 1755. He wrote: “Persian Letters,” “The Temple of Cnidus,” “Causes of Roman Greatness and Decline,” “Dialogue of Sylla Eucrates and Lysimachus,” “Works,” etc. Also his renowned work, “Spirit of Laws,” his masterpiece.

Whatever makes men good Christians, makes them good citizens.

“Speech at Plymouth,” Dec. 22, 1820. Vol. i, p. 44.—Daniel Webster.

DANIEL WEBSTER, the illustrious American statesman and orator, was born in Salisbury, N. H., January 18, 1782, and died in Marshfield, Mass., October 24, 1852.

Truth is like a pearl: he alone possesses it who has plunged into the depths of life and torn his hands on the rocks of Time.

—Laboulaye.

EDOUARD RENÉ LEFÈBVRE DE LABOULAYE, a distinguished French jurist, historian, and writer of tales, was born at Paris, January 18, 1811, and died there May 25, 1883. His greatest work is a “Political History of the United States, 1620-1789,” (3 vols.) 1856-66. His other works are: “The United States and France,” “Paris in America,” and a novel “Prince Caniche.” His best known works of fiction are the three series of “Blue Stories.”

The despot’s heel is on thy shore,

Maryland!

His torch is at thy temple-door,

Maryland!

Avenge the patriotic gore

That flecked the streets of Baltimore,

And be the battle queen of yore,

Maryland, my Maryland!

“My Maryland.”—James Rider Randall.

JAMES RYDER RANDALL, a celebrated American song-writer, was born in Baltimore, Md., January 18, 1839, and died in 1908. His poems include: “The Sole Entry,” “Arlington,” “The Cameo Bracelet,” “The Battle Cry of the South,” and his famous poem, “My Maryland!”

“Why wait,” he said, “why wait for May,

When love can warm a winter’s day?”

“Vignettes in Rhyme, Love in Winter.”—Austin Dobson.

HENRY AUSTIN DOBSON, a famous English poet and man of letters, was born at Plymouth, January 18, 1840, and died April 1, 1921. He has written: “Proverbs in Porcelain,” “Old-World Idyls,” “Eighteenth-Century Vignettes,” “Vignettes in Rhyme and Vers de Société,” “Four French Women,” “The Paladin of Philanthropy,” “Side-Walk Studies,” “De Libris,” “Old Kensington Palace,” “At Prior Park,” “Rosalba’s Journal and Other Papers”; also “Lives of Fielding, Steele, Goldsmith,” “William Hogarth,” “Horace Walpole,” “Richardson,” “Fanny Burney,” etc.

Literature is the daughter of heaven, who has descended upon earth to soften and charm all human ills.

—Bernardin de Saint-Pierre.

BERNARDIN DE SAINT-PIERRE, the renowned French author was born in Havre, January 19, 1737, and died at Eragny-sur-Oise, January 21, 1814. His works include: “Voyage to the Isle of France,” “Studies of Nature,” “The Indian Cottage,” “Vows of a Solitary,” “Harmonies of Nature,” “On Nature and Morality,” “Voyage to Silesia,” “Stories of Travel,” “The Death of Socrates,” and his most famous work, “Paul and Virginia.”

Woman’s mission is a striking illustration of the truth that happiness consists in doing the work for which we are naturally fitted. Their mission is always the same; it is summed up in one word,—Love.

“Positive Polity”—Auguste Comte.

AUGUSTE COMTE, the great French philosopher, was born at Montpellier, January 19, 1798, and died in Paris, September 5, 1857. His most celebrated works are: “Positive Philosophy,” and “Positive Polity.”

All that we see or seem

Is but a dream within a dream.

“A Dream within a Dream,”—Edgar Allan Poe.

EDGAR ALLAN POE, a celebrated American poet and story-writer, was born in Boston, January 19, 1809, and died in Baltimore, Maryland, October 7, 1849. His poems include: “The Raven, and Other Poems,” “Tamerlane and Other Poems,” “Eureka, a Prose Poem,” “Poems,” etc.

It would hardly be safe to name Miss Austen, Miss Brontë, and George Eliot as the three greatest women novelists the United Kingdom can boast, and were one to go on and say that the alphabetical order of their names is also their order of merit, it would be necessary to seek police protection, and yet surely it is so.

“Life of C. Brontë,”—Augustine Birrell.

RT. HON. AUGUSTINE BIRRELL, a distinguished English essayist, was born in Wavertree, near Liverpool, January 19, 1850. He has written: “Obiter Dicta,” “Res Judicatæ,” “Life of Charlotte Brontë,” “Men, Women and Books,” “Collected Essays,” “William Hazlitt,” “Andrew Marvell,” “Miscellanies,” “In the Name of the Bodleian,” “Frederick Locker Lampson,” etc.

For it stirs the blood in an old man’s heart,

And makes his pulses fly,

To catch the thrill of a happy voice,

And the light of a pleasant eye.

“Saturday Afternoon,”—Nathaniel P. Willis.

NATHANIEL PARKER WILLIS, a celebrated American journalist and poet, was born at Portland, Maine, January 20, 1806, and died at Idlewild on the Hudson, New York, January 20, 1867. Some of his writings are: “People I Have Met,” “Inklings of Adventure,” “Letters from Under a Bridge,” “Famous Persons and Places,” “Poems,” etc.

Time’s horses gallop down the lessening hill.

“Time Flies,”—Richard Le Gallienne.

RICHARD LE GALLIENNE, a noted English author, was born in Liverpool, January 20, 1866. He has written: “The Religion of a Literary Man,” “My Lady’s Sonnets,” “Prose Fancies,” “Sleeping Beauty and other Prose Fancies,” “The Quest of the Golden Girl,” “The Life Romantic,” “Pieces of Eight,” etc.

Gray found very little gratification at Cambridge in the society and manners of the young university men who were his contemporaries. They ridiculed his sensitive temper and retired habits, and gave him the nickname of “Miss Gray,” for his supposed effeminacy. Nor does Gray seem to have lived on much better terms with his academic superiors. He abhorred mathematics, with the same cordiality of hatred which Pope professed towards them, and at that time concurred with Pope in thinking that the best recipe for dullness was to

“Full in the midst of Euclid plunge at once,

And petrify a genius to a dunce.”

“Memoirs of Eminent Etonians,”—Sir Edward Creasy.

SIR EDWARD SHEPHERD CREASY, a famous English historian was born at Bexley in Kent, January 21, 1812, and died January 27, 1878. He wrote: “Fifteen Decisive Battles of the World,” “The History of the Ottoman Turks,” “History of England,” “Rise and Progress of the English Constitution,” “Historical and Critical Account of the Several Invasions of England,” etc.

The father’s love is greater than the mother’s, as his strength is greater than hers. Christ, not Mary, is the embodiment of parental love.

“The Betrayal,”—Walter Neale.

WALTER NEALE, a noted American author and man of letters, was born at Eastville, Va., January 21, 1873. Among his works are: “The Betrayal” (a novel), “The Sovereignty of the States,” and numerous essays, poems, addresses, etc.

Travel, in the younger sort, is a part of education; in the elder, a part of experience. He that travelleth into a country before he hath some entrance into the language, goeth to school, and not to travel.

“Of Travel,”—Francis Bacon.

FRANCIS BACON, the great English philosopher, was born in London, January 22, 1561, and died April 9, 1626. Some of his works are: “The Advancement of Learning,” “On the Colors of Good and Evil,” “Novum Organum,” his immortal “Essays,” and many histories, among them “Elizabeth,” “Henry VII” and “Henry VIII.”

For the will and not the gift makes the giver.

—Lessing.

GOTTHOLD EPHRAIM VON LESSING, a famous German poet, was born at Kamenz, in Upper Lusatia, January 22, 1729, and died at Brunswick, February 15, 1781. Among his writings are: “Letters on Literature,” “Nathan the Wise,” “Philotas,” “The Woman-Hater,” “The Jews,” “Trifles,” (a collection of poems), “The Free-Thinker,” “Education of the Human Race,” etc.

There is a pleasure in the pathless woods;

There is a rapture on the lonely shore;

There is society, where none intrudes,

By the deep sea, and music in its roar;

I love not man the less, but Nature more.

“Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage,” Canto iv, Stanza 178.—Byron.

GEORGE NOEL GORDON, LORD BYRON, the renowned English poet, was born in London, January 22, 1788, and died at Missolonghi, Greece, April 19, 1824. Some of his celebrated works are: “English Bards and Scotch Reviewers,” “Hours of Idleness,” “Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage,” “The Corsair,” “Hebrew Melodies,” “Lara,” “Manfred,” “The Prisoner of Chillon,” “The Lament of Tasso,” “Don Juan,” etc.

Blandishments will not fascinate us, nor will threats of a “halter” intimidate. For, under God, we are determined that wheresoever, whensoever, or howsoever we shall be called to make our exit, we will die free men.

“Observations on the Boston Port Bill,” 1774—Josiah Quincy.

JOSIAH QUINCY, a distinguished American lawyer, was born in Boston, January 23, 1744, and died April 26, 1775. His important works are: “Observations on the Boston Port Bill,” and “An Address of the Merchants, Traders, and Freeholders of Boston.”

We love because we get pleasure from loving. When the pleasure palls, love dies a natural death; and the love that survives should not hope for resurrection, but abide in patience a new birth.

“Love,”—Marie Henri Beyle.

MARIE HENRI BEYLE, a famous French novelist and critic, was born in Grenoble, January 23, 1783, and died in Paris, March 23, 1842. He has written, “History of Painting in Italy,” “Rome, Naples, and Florence in 1817,” “About Love,” and his celebrated work, “The Chartreuse (Carthusian Nun) of Parma.”

Tout finit par des chansons.[6]

“Mariage de Figaro.”—Beaumarchais.

PIERRE AUGUSTIN CARON DE BEAUMARCHAIS, a renowned French dramatist, was born in Paris, January 24, 1732, and died there, May 18, 1799. His greatest plays are: “The Barber of Seville,” and “The Marriage of Figaro.”

But pleasures are like poppies spread,

You seize the flower, its bloom is shed;

Or, like the snow-fall in the river,

A moment white, then melts forever.

“Tam O’Shanter,”—Robert Burns.

ROBERT BURNS, a Scotch poet of world-wide fame, was born in Alloway, January 25, 1759, and died in Dumfries, July 21,1796. His most famous poems are: “Hallowe’en,” “The Cotter’s Saturday Night,” “To a Mountain Daisy,” “Twa Dogs,” “Tam O’Shanter,” and “Highland Mary.”

’Tis a little thing

To give a cup of water; yet its draught

Of cool refreshment, drained by fevered lips,

May give a shock of pleasure to the frame

More exquisite than when nectarean juice

Renews the life of joy in happiest hours.

“Ion,” Act. i, Sc. 2,—Thomas Noon Talfourd.

SIR THOMAS NOON TALFOURD, an eminent English author and statesman, was born at Doxey, near Stafford, January 26, 1795, and died at Stafford, March 13, 1854. His works include: “An Attempt to Estimate the Poetical Talent of the Present Age,” “Poems on Various Subjects,” “History of the Roman Republic,” “History of Greece,” “Final Memorials of Charles Lamb,” “Critical and Miscellaneous Essays,” etc.

“Whatever is, is not,” is the maxim of the anarchist, as often as anything comes across him in the shape of a law which he happens not to like.

“Declaration of Rights,”—Richard Bentley.

RICHARD BENTLEY, a celebrated English critic and essayist, was born in Oulton, Yorkshire, January 27, 1662, and died July, 1742. His important works are: “Dissertation on the Epistles of Phalaris,” and “Latin Epistle to John Mill, Containing Critical Observations on the Chronicle of Joannes Malala.”

There is in every man a certain feeling that he has been what he is from all eternity, and by no means become such in time.

—Schelling.

FRIEDRICH WILHELM JOSEPH VON SCHELLING, an eminent German thinker and philosopher, was born at Leonberg, Wurtemberg, January 27, 1775, and died at the Ragaz baths, Switzerland, August 28, 1854. Among his many works are: “On the Possibility of a Form of philosophy,” “Ideas for a Philosophy of Nature,” “On the Soul of the World,” “Philosophy and Religion,” etc. Four posthumous volumes are: “Introduction to the Philosophy of Mythology,” “Philosophy of Mythology,” and “Philosophy of Revelation,” in two separate volumes.

Take care of the sense and the sounds will take care of themselves.

“Alice in Wonderland,” Chap. ix.—Lewis Carroll.

LEWIS CARROLL, nom de plume of Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, a distinguished English clergyman and writer on mathematical subjects was born January 27, 1832, and died in January, 1898. His principal works are: “A Syllabus of Plane Algebraical Geometry,” “Guide to the Mathematical Student,” etc. Also: “The Hunting of the Snark,” “Rhyme and Reason,” “Euclid and His Modern Rivals,” “Game of Logic,” “Mathematica Curiosa,” and his two popular tales for children, entitled “Alice in Wonderland,” and “Through the Looking-Glass.”

Morgen, Morgen, nur nicht heute;

Sprechen immer trage Leute.[7]

“Der Aufschub,”—Weisse.

CHRISTIAN FELIX WEISSE, a noted German poet and writer, was born at Annaberg, January 28, 1726, and died at Leipsic, December 16, 1804. He wrote: “Sportive Lays,” “Lays of the Amazons,” “Songs for Children,” etc.

Onward, Christian soldiers,

Marching as to war,

With the cross of Jesus

Going on before!

Christ the royal Master

Leads against the foe;

Forward into battle,

See, His banners go.

Onward, Christian soldiers,

Marching as to war,

With the cross of Jesus,

Going on before!

“Onward, Christian Soldiers.”—S. Baring-Gould.

SABINE BARING-GOULD, a renowned English antiquary and novelist, was born in Exeter, January 28, 1834; died January, 1924. Among his numerous works may be mentioned: “Lives of the Saints,” “Yorkshire Oddities,” “In the Roar of the Sea,” “The Deserts of Southern France,” “A Garland of Country Song,” “Old Fairy Tales Retold,” “Napoleon Bonaparte,” “A Study of St. Paul,” “A Book of the Riviera,” “A Book of the Rhine,” “A Book of the Pyrenees,” “Devonshire Characters,” “Cornish Characters,” “The Land of Teck,” “Cliff Castles and Cave Dwellings,” “The Church Revival,” and his most famous work, “Curious Myths of the Middle Ages.”

A man after death is not a natural but a spiritual man; nevertheless he still appears in all respects like himself.

“Conjugal Love,” Par. 31,—Swedenborg.

EMANUEL SWEDENBORG, the famous Swedish mystic philosopher and author, was born in Stockholm, January 29, 1688, and died there March 29, 1772. His notable works include: “Principles of Chemistry,” “Conjugal Love and its Chaste Delights,” “Opera Philosophica et Mineralia,” “Domini Jesu Christi Servus,” etc.

The sublime and the ridiculous are often so nearly related, that it is difficult to class them separately. One step above the sublime makes the ridiculous, and one step above the ridiculous makes the sublime again.

“Age of Reason,” Part ii, note,—Thomas Paine.

THOMAS PAINE, an eminent American publicist, was born at Thetford in Norfolkshire, England, January 29, 1737, and died at New Rochelle, New York, June 8, 1809. The most important of his Works are: “Decline and Fall of the English System of Finance,” “Common-Sense,” “The Age of Reason,” “The Rights of Man.”

A delicate thought is a flower of the mind.

—Charles Rollin.

CHARLES ROLLIN, a noted French historian and professor of belles-lettres, was born at Paris, January 30, 1661, and died September 14, 1741. His chief works are: “On the Study of Belles-Lettres,” “Ancient History” (12 vols. 1730-1738), and “History of Rome.”

Shakespeare is not our poet, but the world’s—

Therefore on him no speech! And brief for thee,

Browning! Since Chaucer was alive and hale,

No man hath walk’d along our roads with steps

So active, so inquiring eye, or tongue

So varied in discourse.

“To Robert Browning,”—Walter S. Landor.

WALTER SAVAGE LANDOR, the celebrated English poet and prose writer, was born at Ipsley Court, Warwickshire, January 30, 1775, and died at Florence, September 17, 1864. His best known works are: “The Pentameron,” “The Hellenics,” “Popery, British and Foreign,” “Poems,” “Antony and Octavius: Scenes for the Study,” “Heroic Idylls, with Additional Poems,” and his most famous work, “Imaginary Conversations of Literary Men and Statesmen.”

Nur eine Mutter weiss allein, was lieben heisst und glücklich sein.[8]

“Frauen Liebe und Leben,” 7.—A. von Chamisso.

ADELBERT VON CHAMISSO, a famous German lyrist, was born at the castle of Boncourt Champagne, January 30, 1781, and died at Berlin, August 21, 1838. His most celebrated work is “Peter Schlemihl,” which has been translated into all the principal languages of Europe.

When thou a fast would’st keep,

Make not thy homage cheap,

By publishing its signs to every eye;

But let it be between

Thyself and the Unseen,

So shall it gain acceptance from on high.

—Bernard Barton.

BERNARD BARTON, a noted English poet, was born in Carlisle, January 31, 1784, and died in Woodbridge, February 19, 1849. He published: “Metrical Effusions,” “Devotional Verses,” “Household Verses,” etc.

Gather leaves and grasses,

Love, to-day;

For the Autumn passes

Soon away.

Chilling winds are blowing

It will soon be snowing.

“Gather Leaves and Grasses,”—John Henry Boner.

JOHN HENRY BONER, a well-known American poet and literary worker, was born at Salem, N. C., January 31, 1845, and died in 1903. He is best remembered for his volume of verse, “Whispering Pines.”

FOOTNOTES:

[1] Fear made the gods; audacity has made kings.

[2] Tears are sorrow’s sacred right.

[3] So far had the pen under the king the superiority over the sword.

[4] They say that the best counsel, is that of woman.

[5] Where there are laws, he who has not broken them need not tremble.

[6] Everything ends with songs.

[7]

To-morrow, to-morrow, not to-day,

Hear the lazy people say.

[8] “Only a mother knows what it is to love and be happy.”

FEBRUARY

FEBRUARY

An instinct is a blind tendency to some mode of action, independent of any consideration, on the part of the agent, of the end to which the action leads.

—Whately.

RICHARD WHATELY, a distinguished English clergyman and educator, archbishop of Dublin, was born in London, February 1, 1787, and died in Dublin, October 8, 1863. His writings include: “Elements of Logic,” “A General View of the Rise, Progress, and Corruptions of Christianity,” “The Use and Abuse of Party Feeling in Matters of Religion,” “Bacon’s Essays, with Annotations,” “Miscellaneous Lectures and Reviews,” etc.

Small habits well pursued betimes

May reach the dignity of crimes.

“Florio,” Part i—Hannah More.

HANNAH MORE, a celebrated English religious writer, was born at Stapleton, Gloucestershire, February 2, 1745, and died at Clifton, September 7, 1833. She wrote: “Practical Piety,” “Religion of the Fashionable World,” “Sacred Dramas,” “The Shepherd of Salisbury Plain,” etc.

Look up! the wide extended plain

Is billowy with its ripened grain,

And on the summer winds are rolled

Its waves of emerald and gold.

“The Harvest,” Call St. 5,—Wm. Henry Burleigh.

WILLIAM HENRY BURLEIGH, a noted American poet and journalist was born in Woodstock, Conn., February 2, 1812, and died in Brooklyn, N. Y., March 18, 1871. A collection of his poems was published in 1840.

The illusion that times that were are better than those that are, has probably pervaded all ages.

“The American Conflict,”—Horace Greeley.

HORACE GREELEY, a famous American editor and controversial writer, was born in Amherst, N. H., February 3, 1811, and died in New York, November 29, 1872. He wrote: “Glances at Europe,” “The American Conflict,” “Recollections of a Busy Life,” etc.

The strength of affection is a proof not of the worthiness of the object, but of the largeness of the soul which loves.

—F. W. Robertson.

FREDERICK WILLIAM ROBERTSON, a distinguished English clergyman, was born in London, February 3, 1816, and died at Brighton, August 15, 1853. His works were collected and published after his death under the following titles: “Expository Lectures on St. Paul’s Epistles to the Corinthians,” “Lectures and Addresses on Literary and Social Topics,” “Notes on Genesis,” “Sermons Preached at Trinity Chapel, Brighton.”

Shelley had many merits and many defects. This is not the place for a complete or indeed for any estimate of him. But one excellence is most evident. His words are as flexible as any words; the rhythm of some modulating air seems to move them into their place without a struggle by the poet, and almost his knowledge. This is the perfection of true art.

“Literary Studies,” Vol. II.—Walter Bagehot.

WALTER BAGEHOT, a famous English writer on political economy and government, was born in Langport, Somersetshire, February 3, 1826, and died there March 24, 1877. He wrote: “The English Constitution,” “Lombard Street: A Description of the Money Market,” “Literary Studies,” etc. His complete works were published in 1889.

The incalculable Up and Down of Time,

“Clover,”—Sidney Lanier.

SIDNEY LANIER, a celebrated American poet, was born at Macon, Ga., February 3, 1842, and died at Lynn, N. C., September 7, 1881. He wrote: “The English Novel and the Principles of its Development,” “The Science of English Verse,” etc. His poems were collected and published after his death.

Man has wants deeper than can be supplied by wealth or nature or domestic affections. His great relations are to his God and to eternity.

—Mark Hopkins.

MARK HOPKINS, a distinguished American educator and religious and ethical writer, was born at Stockbridge, Mass., February 4, 1802; and died at Williamstown, Mass., June 17, 1887. Among his works are: “Evidences of Christianity,” “The Law of Love, and Love as a Law,” “An Outline Study of Man,” etc.

In depth and variety of coloring, in richness of matter, profundity of thought, and heedlessness of conventional canons, “Cymbeline” has few rivals among Shakespeare’s plays. Fascinating as it is, however, this tragi-comedy has never been very popular on the stage. The great public, indeed, has neither studied nor understood it.

“William Shakespeare, A Critical Study,” Vol. II, p. 323.—George Brandes.

GEORGE MORRIS COHEN BRANDES, a distinguished Danish man of letters, was born at Copenhagen, February 4, 1842. He wrote: “Critiques and Portraits,” “French Aesthetics in Our Day,” “The Idea of Fate Among the Ancients,” and his masterpiece, “Main Currents of 19th Century Literature.” Also, “Men of the Modern Revival,” “A Study of Ibsen,” “Goethe,” “Poems,” “English: Main Currents,” “Eminent Authors,” “Poland,” “Recollections of My Childhood and Youth,” “Complete Works,” (21 vols.), “Voltaire,” “Caesar,” (2 vols.), “The World War,” etc.

No statesman e’er will find it worth his pains

To tax our labours and excise our brains.

“Night,” Line 271,—Charles Churchill.

CHARLES CHURCHILL, a famous English satirical poet, was born in Westminster, February 5, 1731, and died at Boulogne, November 4, 1764. He wrote: “The Farewell,” “The Ghost,” “The Conference,” “The Author,” “The Prophecy of Famine,” and “The Rosciad,” the satire that won his fame.

Up the River of Death

Sailed the Great Admiral!

“The River Fight,”—Henry H. Brownell.

HENRY HOWARD BROWNELL, a noted American poet and writer of historical sketches, was born at Providence, R. I., February 6, 1820, and died at East Hartford, Conn., October 31, 1872. He published his many verses in “Lyrics of a Day, or Newspaper Poetry by a Volunteer in the U. S. Service.” In “The Bay Fight” he describes the battle of Mobile Bay.

Look when the clouds are blowing

And all the winds are free:

In fury of their going

They fall upon the sea.

But though the blast is frantic,

And though the tempest raves,

The deep immense Atlantic

Is still beneath the waves.

“Wind, Moon and Tides,”—Frederic William Henry Myers.

FREDERIC WILLIAM HENRY MYERS, a distinguished English poet and critic, was born at Duffield, England, February 6, 1843, and died January 17, 1901. He has written: “Science and a Future Life,” “Renewal of Youth and Other Poems,” “Essays, Modern and Classical,” “St. Paul,” “English Men of Letters,” etc. Also a posthumous work called “Human Personality and Its Survival of Bodily Death,” (2 vols.), 1903.

Sir Thomas More advised an author, who had sent him his manuscript to read, “to put it in rhyme.” Which being done, Sir Thomas said, “Yea, marry, now it is somewhat, for now it is rhyme; before it was neither rhyme nor reason.”

—Sir Thomas More.

SIR THOMAS MORE, the great English statesman and miscellaneous writer, was born in London, February 7, 1478, and was executed July 6, 1535. He wrote: “History of Richard III,” “Life of John Picus, Earl of Mirandola,” and “Utopia” (which was his most celebrated work), etc.

Oh, a dainty plant is the ivy green,

That creepeth o’er ruins old!

Of right choice food are his meals, I ween,

In his cell so lone and cold.

Creeping where no life is seen,

A rare old plant is the ivy green.

“Pickwick Papers,” Chap. vi,—Charles Dickens.

CHARLES DICKENS, one of the most famous of English novelists, was born at Landport, in Portsea, February 7, 1812, and died June 9, 1870. His most famous works are: “Oliver Twist,” “Pickwick Papers,” “Sketches by Boz,” “Nicholas Nickleby,” “Old Curiosity Shop,” “A Christmas Carol,” “American Notes,” “The Cricket on the Hearth,” “The Chimes,” “Pictures from Italy,” “Dombey and Son,” “The Battle of Life,” “David Copperfield,” “The Haunted Man,” “Bleak House,” “Little Dorrit,” “A Child’s History of England,” “Great Expectations,” “A Tale of Two Cities,” “Hard Times,” “Our Mutual Friend,” etc.

We can say nothing but what hath been said. Our poets steal from Homer.... Our story-dressers do as much; he that comes last is commonly best.

“Democritus to the Reader,”—Robert Burton.

ROBERT BURTON, a famous English writer, was born at Lindley, Leicestershire, February 8, 1577, and died January 25, 1640. His greatest work was: “Anatomy of Melancholy.”

It is not written, blessed is he that feedeth the poor, but he that considereth the poor. A little thought and a little kindness are often worth more than a great deal of money.

—John Ruskin.

JOHN RUSKIN, the renowned English essayist and critic, was born in London, February 8, 1819, and died January 20, 1900. His principal works are: “The Seven Lamps of Architecture,” “Modern Painters,” “The Stones of Venice,” “Elements of Drawing,” “The Two Paths,” “Political Economy of Art,” “Lectures on Art,” “The Art of England,” “Verona and Other Lectures,” “Sesame and Lilies,” “Munera Pulveris,” “The Crown of Wild Olive,” “Love’s Meinie,” “The Eagle’s Nest,” “The Queen of the Air,” “Arrows of the Chace,” “Proserpina,” “The King of the Golden River,” etc.

Hold the fort! I am coming!

Signalled to General Corse in Allatoona from the top of Kenesaw, Oct. 5, 1864,

—William Tecumseh Sherman.

WILLIAM TECUMSEH SHERMAN, one of the greatest of American generals, was born in Lancaster, O., February 8, 1820, and died in New York City, February 14, 1891. He published: “Memoirs of Gen. William T. Sherman by Himself” (2 vols.).

O white and midnight sky, O starry bath,

Wash me in thy pure, heavenly crystal flood:

Cleanse me, ye stars, from earthly soil and scath—

Let not one taint remain in spirit or blood!

“The Celestial Passion,”—Richard Watson Gilder.

RICHARD WATSON GILDER, a distinguished American poet, was born in Bordentown, N. J., February 8, 1844, and died in 1909. His works include: “Two Worlds and Other Poems,” “Five Books of Song,” “Lyrics,” “The New Day,” “The Great Remembrance and Other Poems,” and “The Celestial Passion.”

What man supremely admires in man is manhood. The valiant man alone has power to awaken the enthusiastic love of us all.

“Life of Andrew Jackson,”—James Parton.

JAMES PARTON, a famous American writer, was born at Canterbury, England, February 9, 1822, and died at Newburyport, Mass., October 17, 1891. A few of his works are: “Life and Times of Aaron Burr,” “General Butler in New Orleans,” “Life of Thomas Jefferson,” “Famous Americans of Recent Times,” “Life of Horace Greeley,” “Life and Times of Benjamin Franklin,” “Life of Voltaire,” “Humorous Poetry of the English Language,” “Topics of the Time,” etc.

“Bourgeois,” I observed, “is an epithet which the riff-raff apply to what is respectable, and the aristocracy to what is decent.”

“Dolly Dialogues,”—Sir Anthony Hope Hawkins.

SIR ANTHONY HOPE HAWKINS (“Anthony Hope”) a celebrated English author was born February 9, 1863. Among his works are: “The Prisoner of Zenda,” “The Dolly Dialogues,” “Rupert of Hentzau,” “Double Harness,” “The Great Miss Driver,” “A Young Man’s Year,” “Beaumaroy Home from the Wars,” “Lucinda,” etc. Plays: “The Adventure of Lady Ursula,” “Pilkerton’s Peerage,” etc.

I have had playmates, I have had companions,

In my days of childhood, in my joyful schooldays.

All, all are gone, the old familiar faces.

“Old Familiar Faces,”—Charles Lamb.

CHARLES LAMB, the great English essayist, was born in London, February 10, 1775, and died at Edmonton, December 27, 1834. Among his essays may be mentioned: “Essays of Elia,” “Last Essays of Elia,” and his famous work, “Tales from the Plays of Shakespeare” (Mary and Charles Lamb).

Too fair to worship, too divine to love.

“The Belvedere Apollo,”—Henry Hart Milman.

HENRY HART MILMAN, a celebrated English clergyman, historian, and poet, was born in London, February 10, 1791, and died near Ascot, September 24, 1868. He wrote: “Fall of Jerusalem,” “History of Christianity under the Empire,” “History of the Jews,” and his most important work, “The History of Latin Christianity down to the Death of Pope Nicholas V.”

High in his chariot glow’d the lamp of day.

“The Shipwreck,” Canto I, III; L. 3,—Falconer.

WILLIAM FALCONER, a noted Scotch poet, was born February 11, 1732, and died in 1769. He wrote: “The Demagogue,” a “Universal Dictionary of the Marine,” and numerous odes, satires and poems; the most famous of his poems being “The Shipwreck.”

Genius hath electric power

Which earth can never tame,

Bright suns may scorch and dark clouds lower,

Its flash is still the same.

“Marius Amid the Ruins of Carthage,”—Lydia M. Child.

LYDIA MARIA CHILD, a famous American prose-writer, was born in Medford, Mass., February 11, 1802, and died in Wayland, Mass., October 20, 1880. Among her numerous works may be mentioned, “Philothea,” “Fact and Fiction,” “Looking Toward Sunset,” “Miria: A Romance of the Republic,” “Hobomok,” “Aspirations of the World,” etc.

Let us have faith that right makes might; and in that faith let us to the end, dare to do our duty as we understand it.

“Address,” Cooper Union, New York City, Feb. 27, 1860,—Abraham Lincoln.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN, the great “War President,” was born in Hardin County, Ky., February 12, 1809, and died at Washington, D. C., April 15, 1865. His “Address,” at the dedication of the National Cemetery at Gettysburg, Pa., and his “Second Inaugural Address,” won for him everlasting fame.

We will now discuss in a little more detail the Struggle for Existence.

“The Origin of Species,” Chap. iii,—Charles Robert Darwin.

CHARLES ROBERT DARWIN, the famous English naturalist and philosopher, was born at Shrewsbury, February 12, 1809, and died April 19, 1882. He wrote: “The Descent of Man and Selection in Relation to Sex,” “The Expression of the Emotions in Men and Animals,” “A Naturalist’s Voyage,” “On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection,” etc.

God’s rarest blessing is, after all, a good woman.

“The Ordeal of Richard Feverel,”—George Meredith.

GEORGE MEREDITH, a noted British novelist and poet, was born at Portsmouth, Hampshire, February 12, 1828, and died May 18, 1909. Some of his famous works are: “Evan Harrington,” “Harry Richmond,” “Ordeal of Richard Feverel,” “Rhoda Fleming,” “Vittoria,” “The Adventures of Harry Richmond,” “Beauchamp’s Career,” “The Egoist,” “The Tragic Comedians,” “Diana of the Crossways,” “Poems and Lyrics of the Joy of Earth,” “Ballads and Poems of Tragic Life,” “A Reading of Earth,” “One of Our Conquerors,” “The Amazing Marriage,” etc.

Ils n’out rien appris, ni rien oublié.[1]

—Talleyrand.

CHARLES MAURICE DE TALLEYRAND-PÉRIGORD, a celebrated French diplomat, was born at Paris, February 13, 1754, and died at Valencay, May 17, 1838. His “Memoirs” were first published in 1891-92 in (5 vols.); his “Correspondence with Louis XVIII, during the Congress of Vienna,” in 1881, his “Diplomatic Correspondence,” in 1889-91 in (3 vols.) and “Unpublished Letters of Talleyrand to Napoleon, 1800-1809,” in 1889.

O golden Silence, bid our souls be still,

And on the foolish fretting of our care

Lay thy soft touch of healing unaware!

“Silence,”—Julia Caroline Ripley Dorr.

MRS. JULIA CAROLINE (RIPLEY) DORR, a noted American poet and novelist, was born in Charleston, S. C., February 13, 1825, and died in 1913. Her works include: “Afternoon Songs,” “Daybreak, an Easter Poem,” “Poems,” “Lanmere,” “Expiation,” “Farmingdale,” “Bermuda,” “Sibyl Huntington,” and “A Cathedral Pilgrimage.”

Oh, for the simple life,

For tents and starry skies!

“Aspiration,”—Israel Zangwill.

ISRAEL ZANGWILL, a renowned English-Jewish novelist, was born in London, February 14, 1864. He has published: “The Premier and the Painter,” “The Bachelors’ Club,” “The Big Bow Mystery,” “The Old Maids’ Club,” “Children of the Ghetto,” “Merely Mary Ann,” “Ghetto Tragedies,” “The Master,” “The King of Schnorrers,” “Without Prejudice,” “The Mantle of Elijah,” “The Next Religion,” “Plaster Saints.”

Nature has placed mankind under the government of two sovereign masters—pain and pleasure.

—Jeremy Bentham.

JEREMY BENTHAM, a distinguished English writer on ethics and jurisprudence, was born February 15, 1748, and died in 1832. His collected works (11 volumes) were published in 1843, and include: “A Fragment on Government,” “View of the Hard Labor Bill,” “Rationale of Punishment and Rewards,” “Introduction to the Principles of Morals and Legislation,” “The Panopticon, or the Inspection House,” “Manual of Political Economy,” “Poor Laws and Pauper Management,” “Constitutional Code,” etc.

A poet is the translator of the silent language of nature to the world.

—R. W. Griswold.

RUFUS WILMOT GRISWOLD, a distinguished American journalist and prose-writer, born in Benson, Vt., February 15, 1815, and died in New York, August 27, 1857. His works include: “Poets and Poetry of America,” “Poets and Poetry of England in the Nineteenth Century,” “Prose Writers of America,” “Female Poets of America,” etc.

Up anchor! Up anchor!

Set sail and away!

The ventures of dreamland

Are thine for a day.

“Dreamland,”—Silas Weir Mitchell.

SILAS WEIR MITCHELL, a distinguished American physician, poet and novelist, was born in Philadelphia, February 15, 1829, and died January 4, 1914. He has written: “In War Time,” “Poems,” “Hephzibah Guinness, and Other Stories,” “Hugh Wynne,” “The Adventures of François,” “The Red City,” “Westways,” “Complete Poems,” etc.

Noth lehrt auch die Könige beten.[2]

“Der Trompeter von Säkkingen, Drittes Stuck,”—Scheffel.

JOSEPH VIKTOR VON SCHEFFEL, an eminent German poet and novelist, was born at Karlsruhe, February 16, 1826, and died April 9, 1886. He wrote: “Gaudeamus,” “Ekkehard,” “Mountain Psalms,” and his famous epic poem, “The Trumpeter of Säkkingen,” which won for him great fame, and has reached more than 250 editions.

It is probable that for many millions of years but one climate prevailed over the whole earth, which very closely resembled, or even surpassed the hottest tropical climate of the present day.

“Change of Climate and its Influence on Life,” from “History of Creation.”—Ernst Heinrich Haeckel.

ERNST HAECKEL, a renowned German naturalist, was born at Potsdam, February 16, 1834, and died in 1919. Among his most famous works are: “On the Division of Labor in Nature and Human Life,” “On the Origin and Genealogy of the Human Race,” “Life in the Great Marine Animals,” “The Arabian Corals,” “The System of the Medusa,” “A Visit to Ceylon,” “Riddle of the Universe,” “Natural History of Creation,” “Souvenirs of Algeria,” “Monoism as Connected with Religion and Science,” etc.

Darlings of the forest!

Blossoming alone

When Earth’s grief is sorest

For her jewels gone—

Ere the last snow-drift melts, your tender buds are blown.

“Trailing Arbutus,”—Rose Terry Cooke.

MRS. ROSE (TERRY) COOKE, a noted American poet and short-story writer, was born at West Hartford, Conn., February 17, 1827, and died at Pittsfield, Mass., July 18, 1892. Her complete poems were published in 1888, and her stories were published in book form under the titles: “Somebody’s Neighbors,” “Root-Bound,” “The Sphinx’s Children,” “Happy Dodd,” “Huckleberries,” “Steadfast,” a novel, appeared in 1889.

He [Hampden] had a head to contrive, a tongue to persuade, and a hand to execute any mischief.

“History of the Rebellion,” Vol. iii, Book vii,—Edward Hyde Clarendon.

EDWARD HYDE, EARL OF CLARENDON, a celebrated English historian and statesman, was born at Dinton, Wiltshire, February 18, 1609, and died at Rouen, France, December 9, 1674. His famous works are: “History of the Civil War in Ireland,” “History of the Rebellion and Civil Wars in England,” “Essay on an Active and Contemplative Life.”

The earth is not the center of the universe.

—Copernicus.

NICOLAS COPERNICUS, a famous Polish astronomer, was born at Thorn, Poland, February 19, 1473, and died at Frauenburg, Prussia, May 24, 1543. He wrote: “Revolutions of the Celestial Orbs (De Orbium Cœlestium Revolutionibus).”

I’m growing old, I’m sixty years;

I’ve labored all my life in vain.

In all that time of hopes and fears,

I’ve failed my dearest wish to gain.

I see full well that here below

Bliss unalloyed there is for none

My prayer would else fulfilment know—

Never have I seen Carcassonne!

“Carcassonne,” Translated by John Reuben Thompson, Stanza i,—Gustave Nadaud.

GUSTAVE NADAUD, a well-known French composer and song-writer, was born in Roubaix, February 20, 1820, and died in Paris, April 28, 1893. He wrote a novel, “An Idyll,” and published “Songs,” “More Songs,” “Unpublished Songs,” and “New Songs.”

Lead, kindly Light, amid the encircling gloom,

Lead thou me on!

The night is dark, and I am far from home:

Lead thou me on:

Keep thou my feet; I do not ask to see

The distant scene: one step enough for me.

“The Pillar of the Cloud,”—John Henry Newman.

JOHN HENRY NEWMAN, a celebrated religious writer, first in the Church of England, and later in the Roman Catholic Church, was born in London, February 21, 1801, and died at Birmingham, August 11, 1890. His principal works are: “Five Letters on Church Reform,” “St. Bartholomew’s Eve,” “Plain and Parochial Sermons,” “Loss and Gain,” “Verses on Religious Subjects,” “Essay in Aid of a Grammar of Assent,” “Lectures on Justification,” “The Arians of the Fourth Century,” “Tracts for the Times,” “Hymns for the Use of the Birmingham Oratory,” and “Apologia pro Vita Sua,” his most celebrated work.

John Smith was the most picturesque figure in the early history of America; and his writings are like him—bold, free, highly colored.

“An Introduction to the Study of American Literature,” (1896), —Brander Matthews.

(JAMES) BRANDER MATTHEWS, a famous American author, was born in New Orleans, February 21, 1852. Among his works may be mentioned: “French Dramatists of the Nineteenth Century,” “With My Friends,” “Studies of the Stage,” “Bookbindings, Old and New,” “Introduction to the Study of American Literature,” “Aspects of Fiction,” “A Confident To-morrow,” “The Historical Novel,” “Parts of Speech,” “Essays in English,” “Development of the Drama,” “Recreations of an Anthologist,” “Inquiries and Opinions,” “The American of the Future,” “A Study of the Drama,” “Molière,” “Shakespeare as a Playwright,” “These Many Years,” etc.

To be prepared for war is one of the most effectual means of preserving peace.

“Speech to both Houses of Congress,” Jan. 8, 1790,—George Washington.

GEORGE WASHINGTON, the illustrious American statesman and first President of the United States, was born at Pope’s Creek, Westmoreland County, Va., February 22, 1732, and died at Mt. Vernon, Va., December 14, 1799.

Natural ability can almost compensate for the want of every kind of cultivation; but no cultivation of the mind can make up for the want of natural ability.

—Schopenhauer.

ARTHUR SCHOPENHAUER, a renowned German philosopher, was born at Dantzic, February 22, 1788, and died at Frankfort-on-the-Main, September, 1860. He wrote: “The Fourfold Root of the Principle of the Sufficient Cause,” “The World as Will and Representation,” “On Vision and Colors,” “The Two Fundamental Problems of Ethic,” “Parerga and Paralipomena,” etc.

And while the wicket falls behind

Her steps, I thought if I could find

A wife I need not blush to show

I’ve little further now to go.

—William Barnes.

WILLIAM BARNES, a celebrated English poet and philologist, was born in Dorsetshire, February 22, 1800, and died in Winterbourne Came, in October, 1886. He wrote many works on philology, and a series of “Poems of Rural Life in Dorsetshire Dialect,” “Poems of Rural Life,” etc.

No man is born into the world whose work

Is not born with him. There is always work,

And tools to work withal, for those who will;

And blessed are the horny hands of toil.

“A Glance behind the Curtain,”—James Russell Lowell.

JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL, the great American poet and critic, was born at Cambridge, Mass., February 22, 1819, and died there August 12, 1891. Some of his works are: “The Bigelow Papers,” “A Year’s Life,” “Poems,” “Under the Willows and Other Poems,” “My Study Windows,” “Among My Books,” “Latest Literary Essays and Addresses,” “Heartsease and Rue,” “Political Essays,” “Democracy, and Other Addresses.”

Nearer, my God, to Thee!

Nearer to Thee!

E’en though it be a cross

That raiseth me.

Still all my song shall be,

Nearer, my God, to Thee!

Nearer to Thee!

“Nearer, my God, to Thee!”—Sara Flower Adams.

SARA FLOWER ADAMS, a noted English hymn-writer, was born at Great Harlow, Essex, February 22, 1805, and died August, 1848. She wrote many lyrics and hymns, the most popular of which is “Nearer, My God, to Thee!”

Never yet was a springtime

Late though lingered the snow,

That the sap stirred not at the whisper

Of the southwind, sweet and low;

Never yet was a springtime,

When the buds forgot to blow.

“Awakening,”—Margaret Elizabeth Sangster.

MARGARET ELIZABETH (MUNSON) SANGSTER, a celebrated American poet and prose-writer, was born in New Rochelle, N. Y., February 22, 1838, and died in 1912. Among her writings are: “May Stanhope and her Friend,” “Little Kingdom of Home,” “Good Manners for all Occasions,” “Radiant Motherhood,” “Easter Bells,” “Little Knight and Ladies,” “Lyrics of Love,” “Fairest Girlhood,” “Eleanor Lee,” “A Little Book of Homespun Verse,” “Women of the Bible,” “The Story Bible,” “From My Youth Up—an Autobiography,” “My Garden of Hearts,” and her famous poems, “Our Own” and “Are the Children at Home?”

To St. Paul’s Church Yard to my book-sellers ... choose ... “Hudibras,” both parts, the book now in greatest fashion for drollery, though I cannot, I confess, see enough where the wit lies.

“Diary,” Dec. 10, 1663,—Samuel Pepys.

SAMUEL PEPYS, a famous English diarist, was born in London, February 23, 1633, and died there May 26, 1703. His fame rests on the remarkable “Diary” that bears his name.

Rocked in the cradle of the deep

I lay me down in peace to sleep;

Secure I rest upon the wave,

For Thou, O Lord! hast power to save.

I know Thou wilt not slight my call,

For Thou dost mark the sparrow’s fall,

And calm and peaceful shall I sleep,

Rocked in the cradle of the deep.

“Rocked in the Cradle of the Deep,” Stanza I,—Emma (Hart) Willard.

EMMA (HART) WILLARD, a noted American educator, historian, and poet, was born at New Berlin, Conn., February 23, 1787, and died at Troy, N. Y., April 15, 1870. She has written: “A History of the United States,” “Universal History in Perspective,” etc. She also wrote: “Rocked in the Cradle of the Deep,” and much other verse.

By one great Heart, the Universe is stirred:

By Its strong pulse, stars climb the darkening blue;

It throbs in each fresh sunset’s changing hue,

And thrills through low sweet song of every bird.

“Life,”—Margaret Deland.

MARGARET WADE DELAND, a famous American author, was born at Allegheny, Pa., February 23, 1857. She has written: “John Ward, Preacher,” “The Old Garden and Other Verses,” “Old Chester Tales,” “Dr. Lavendar’s People,” “The Common Way,” “The Awakening of Helena Richie,” “An Encore,” “The Iron Woman,” “The Voice,” “Partners,” “The Hands of Esau,” “Around Old Chester,” “The Rising Tide,” etc.

While we read history we make history.

“The Call of Freedom,”—George William Curtis.

GEORGE WILLIAM CURTIS, a distinguished American author, was born in Providence, R. I., February 24, 1824, and died at Staten Island, August 31, 1892. His works include: “The Howadji in Syria,” “Nile Notes of a Howadji,” “Manners upon the Road,” “Lotus Eating,” “Prue and I,” “Potiphar Papers,” “Trumps,” etc.

If Goldsmith had to struggle socially against the disadvantages of poverty, intellectually it cannot be doubted that poverty very amply compensated him. His circumstances forced him to be an unwilling spectator of scenes, and the companion of men of whom affluence or his laziness would have kept him ignorant. His “Citizen of the World,” indeed, is an epitome of London life as it was exhibited to the observer of that age.

“Goldsmith and La Bruyère,” The Argosy, p. 265,—William Clark Russell.

WILLIAM CLARK RUSSELL, a noted English-American novelist, was born in New York City, February 24, 1844, and died in 1911. Among his numerous sea stories and novels are: “The Wreck of the Grosvenor,” “A Sailor’s Sweetheart,” “My Watch Below,” “A Sea Queen,” “Jack’s Courtship,” “A Strange Voyage,” “The Frozen Pirate,” “The Death Ship,” “Marooned,” “The Romance of Jenny Harlowe,” “The Good Ship Mohock,” “Overdue,” “The Ship’s Adventure,” “Abandoned,” “Voyage at Anchor,” “Yarn of Old Harbor Town,” etc.

All flowers, it would seem, were in their earliest form yellow; then some of them became white; after that a few of them grew to be red or purple; and finally, a comparatively small number acquired various shades of violet, mauve, lilac, or blue.

“The Colors of Flowers,”—Grant Allen.

GRANT ALLEN (CHARLES GRANT BLAIRFINDIE ALLEN), a celebrated English naturalist, essayist, and novelist, was born in Kingstone, Canada, February 24, 1848, and died October 24, 1899. His most noted works are “The Devil’s Die,” “Under Sealed Orders,” “Recalled to Life,” “The Woman Who Did,” “Strange Stories,” “The British Barbarians,” “Science in Arcady,” “Vignettes from Nature,” “Colin Clout’s Calendar,” “The Color Sense,” “Colors of Flowers,” “Flowers and Their Pedigrees,” “Force and Nature,” etc.

Bello è il rossore, ma è incommodo qualche volta.[3]

“Pamela,” I, 3,—Goldoni.

CARLO GOLDONI, a noted Italian comedy-writer, was born in Venice, February 25, 1707, and died at Paris, January 6, 1793. He wrote: “The Good Father,” “The Singer,” “Pamela,” “Belisarius,” “The Venetian Gondolier,” “Rosamond,” and “The Coffee House.”

Let us reckon upon the future. A time will come when the science of destruction shall bend before the arts of peace; when the genius which multiplies our powers—which creates new products—which diffuses comfort and happiness among the great mass of the people—shall occupy in the general estimation of mankind that rank which reason and common sense now assign to it.

“Eloge on James Watt.”—Arago.

DOMINIQUE FRANÇOIS ARAGO, an eminent French astronomer and physicist, was born near Perpignan, February 26, 1786, and died in Paris, October 2, 1853. Among his publications are: “Popular Lectures on Astronomy,” “Meteorological Essays,” “Biographies of Scientific Men,” and his own “Autobiography.”

A queen devoid of beauty is not queen;

She needs the royalty of beauty’s mien.

“Eviradnus,” V,—Victor Hugo.

VICTOR HUGO, the great French novelist, was born at Besançon, February 26, 1802, and died at Paris, May 22, 1885. His most famous works are: “Odes and Ballads,” “New Odes,” “The Orientals,” “Various Odes and Poems,” “Twilight Songs,” “Inner Voices,” “Sunbeams and Shadows,” “Autumn Leaves,” “Songs of the Streets and Woods,” “The Four Winds of the Spirit,” “The Legend of the Ages,” “Notre Dame de Paris,” “The Last Day of a Condemned Man,” “Claude Gueux,” “Napoleon the Little,” “Les Misérables,” “The Man Who Laughs,” “Acts and Words,” “History of a Crime,” “The Toilers of the Sea,” etc. Also numerous plays, among them, “Amy Robsart,” “Cromwell,” “Hernani,” “Lucretia Borgia,” “Marie Tudor,” and “Esmeralda.”

These deeper questions cannot be treated in this short appendix to Descartes’ life. They are mentioned here merely to show how he was to modern thought what Socrates was to Greek philosophy. Far greater, too, was he than Socrates, in the range of his influence. In every department of his thinking—in his first philosophy, his theology, his physics, his psychology, his physiology—he sowed the dragon’s teeth from which sprang hosts of armed men, to join in an intellectual conflict, internecine, let us trust, to their many errors and prejudices, but fraught with new life and energy to the intellectual progress of Europe.

“Descartes,”—John Pentland Mahaffy.

JOHN PENTLAND MAHAFFY, a distinguished Irish classical scholar and historian, was born at Chapponnaire, Switzerland, February 26, 1839, and died in 1919. Among his publications are: “Social Life in Greece,” “Rambles and Studies in Greece,” “Greek Life and Thought,” “Greece Under Roman Sway,” “History of Classical Greek Literature,” “The Silver Age of the Greek World,” “The Empire of the Ptolemies,” etc.

Sail, on, O Ship of State!

Sail on, O Union, strong and great!

Humanity with all its fears,

With all the hopes of future years

Is hanging breathless on thy fate!

“The Building of the Ship,”—Longfellow.

HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW, one of the greatest of American poets, was born at Portland, Me., February 27, 1807, and died at Cambridge, Mass., March 24, 1882. His celebrated works include: “Voices of the Night,” “Hyperion,” “Poems on Slavery,” “Ballads and Other Poems,” “The Spanish Student,” “Poets and Poetry of Europe,” “Evangeline, a Tale of Acadie,” “The Seaside and the Fireside,” “The Golden Legend,” “A Volume of Poems,” “Song of Hiawatha,” “Poems,” “Courtship of Miles Standish,” “Tales of a Wayside Inn,” “A New England Tragedy,” “Excelsior,” “The Skeleton in Armor,” “The Building of a Ship,” etc.

A grain of sand leads to the fall of a mountain when the moment has come for the mountain to fall.

—Ernest Renan.

JOSEPH ERNEST RENAN, the renowned French Semitic-Orientalist; historian, philologist, and essayist, was born at Treguier, Brittany, February 27, 1823, and died at Paris, October 2, 1892. Among his numerous works may be mentioned: “General History of the Semitic Languages,” “The Life of Jesus,” “Marcus Aurelius,” “Studies in Religious History,” “Questions of the Day,” “Recollections of My Youth,” “New Studies in Religious History,” “Discourses and Conferences,” “Dialogue of the Dead,” “The Song of Songs,” and “Ecclesiastes.”

Samuel Pepys stands at the head of the world’s literature in his own department.... Pepys’ “Diary” has been frequently compared with Boswell’s “Life of Johnson,” and with justice in so far as the charm of each arises from the inimitable naïveté of the author’s self-revelations. Boswell had a much greater character than his own to draw, but Pepys had to be his own Johnson. It is giving him no excessive praise to say that he makes himself as interesting as Johnson and Boswell together.... Another Milton is more likely to appear than another Pepys.

“The Age of Dryden,”—Richard Garnett.

RICHARD GARNETT, a noted English librarian and author, was born at Litchfield, February 27, 1835, and died April 13, 1906. He wrote: “Primula,” “Io in Egypt,” “Idylls and Epigrams,” “The Queen and Other Poems,” “Collected Poems,” “The Twilight of the Gods,” “A Short History of Italian Literature,” “Essays in Librarianship and Bibliophily,” etc.

You hail from Dreamland, Dragon-fly?

A stranger hither? So am I

And (sooth to say) I wonder why

We either of us came!

“To a Dragon-fly,”—Agnes M. F. R. Darmesteter.

AGNES M. F. R. DARMESTETER, a distinguished English poet, was born in Leamington, February 27, 1857. Her writings include: “A Handful of Honeysuckle,” “Lyrics,” “Retrospect,” “Arden,” a novel, “Emily Brontë,” “The New Arcadia and Other Poems,” “An Italian Garden, a Book of Songs,” “The End of the Middle Ages,” “Essays and Questions in History,” “Life of Renan,” “Collected Poems,” “The Fields of France,” “The Return to Nature,” “The French Ideal,” “Twentieth Century French Writers,” “Madame de Sévigne,” etc.

How many worthy men have we seen survive their own reputation!

“Of Glory,” Chap. xvi.—Montaigne.

MICHEL EYQUEM DE MONTAIGNE, the illustrious French moral philosopher, was born at Château Montaigne, Perigord, February 28, 1533, and died September 13, 1592. His remarkable “Essays” won for him world-wide fame.

In Nature there is no dirt, everything is in the right condition; the swamp and the worm, as well as the grass and the bird—all is there for itself. Only because we think that all things have a relation to us, do they appear justifiable or otherwise.

—Auerbach.

BERTHOLD AUERBACH, a renowned German novelist, was born at Nordstetten, Wurtemberg, February 28, 1812, and died at Cannes, France, February 8, 1882. He wrote: “The Educated Citizen, a Book for the Thinking Human Mind,” “Poet and Merchant,” “Spinoza,” “The Professor’s Lady,” “Little Barefoot,” “Joseph in the Snow,” “Edelweiss,” “New Life,” “The Head Forester,” “The Villa on the Rhine,” “Waldfried, a Family History,” “Black Forest Village Stories,” “After Thirty Years,” and his most noted work, “On the Heights.”

The first, and perhaps the final impression we receive from the work of Robert Browning is that of a great nature, an immense personality.

“Introduction to the Study of Browning,”—Arthur Symons.

ARTHUR SYMONS, a celebrated writer of prose and verse, was born in Wales, February 28, 1865. His publications include: “An Introduction to the Study of Browning,” “Days and Nights,” “Silhouettes,” “London Nights,” “Amoris Victima,” “Studies in Two Literatures,” “The Symbolist Movement in Literature,” “Images of Good and Evil,” “Collected Poems,” “Plays, Acting, and Music,” “Cities,” “Studies in Prose and Verse,” “Spiritual Adventures,” “A Book of Twenty Songs,” “The Fool of the World,” “Studies in Seven Arts,” “Cities of Italy,” “The Romantic Movement in English Poetry,” “Knave of Hearts,” “Figures of Several Centuries,” “Tragedies,” etc.

Take time enough: all other graces

Will soon fill up their proper places.

“Advice to Preach Slow,”—John Byrom.

JOHN BYROM, a noted English poet, and writer of hymns, was born at Kersel Cell, near Manchester, February 29, 1692, and died in 1763. He wrote a famous poem “Colin and Phoebe.” A collection of his poems was published in 1773.

FOOTNOTES:

[1] They have learned nothing, and they have forgotten nothing.

[2] Danger teaches even kings to pray.

[3] The blush is beautiful, but it is sometimes inconvenient.

MARCH

MARCH

That friendship only is, indeed, genuine when two friends, without speaking a word to each other, can, nevertheless, find happiness in being together.

—George Ebers.

GEORGE MORITZ EBERS, a famous German Egyptologist and novelist, was born at Berlin, March 1, 1837, and died August 7, 1898. Among his noted works are: “The Sisters,” “The Emperor,” “Serapis,” “Joshua,” “Cleopatra,” “Homo Sum,” “Uarda,” “The Bride of the Nile,” and “An Egyptian Princess,” his most celebrated work.

Until after the war we had no real novels in this country, except “Uncle Tom’s Cabin.” This is one of the great novels of the world, and of all time. Even the fact that slavery was done away with does not matter; the interest in “Uncle Tom’s Cabin,” never will pass, because the book is really as well as ideally true to human nature, and nobly true. It is the only great novel of ours before the war that I can think of.

“My Favorite Novelist,”—Munsey’s Magazine, Vol. 17, p. 22, 1897.—William Dean Howells.

WILLIAM DEAN HOWELLS, a celebrated American novelist and poet, was born at Martinsville, O., March 1, 1837, and died in 1921. Among his numerous works are: “Italian Journeys,” “Poets and Poetry of the West,” “Poems,” “A Day’s Pleasure,” “A Little Girl Among the Old Masters,” “Indian Summer,” “Modern Italian Poets,” “The Shadow of a Dream,” “A Little Swiss Sojourn,” “My Year in a Log Cabin,” “My Literary Passions,” “Impressions and Experiences,” “A Previous Engagement,” “Certain Delightful English Towns,” “Through the Eye of the Needle,” “Fennel and Rue,” “Imaginary Interviews,” “The Seen and Unseen in Stratford-on-Avon,” “Years of My Youth,” “A Modern Instance,” “The Lady of the Aristook,” “The Rise of Silas Lapham.”

Much like a subtle spider which doth sit

In middle of her web, which spreadeth wide;

If aught do touch the utmost thread of it,

She feels it instantly on every side.

“The Immortality of the Soul,”—Sir John Davies.

SIR JOHN DAVIES, a noted English poet and judge, was bom in Tisbury, Wiltshire, March 2, 1570, and died December 7 or 8, 1626. He wrote: “Know Thyself,” “The Orchestra,” and “Hymns to Astraea.”

Of the generations of American statesmen that followed those of the Revolutionary period, few will live as long in the memory of the people, and none as long in the literature of the country, as Daniel Webster.

“Library of the World’s Best Literature,” 1897, ed. Warner, Vol. 38, p. 15725.—Carl Schurz.

CARL SCHURZ, a famous German-American journalist and statesman, was born near Cologne, Prussia, March 2, 1829, and died in 1906. His most celebrated speeches are: “The Irrepressible Conflict,” “The Doom of Slavery,” “The Abolition of Slavery as a War Measure,” “Life of Henry Clay,” “Eulogy on Charles Sumner,” etc.

Go, lovely rose!

Tell her that wastes her time and me

That now she knows,

When I resemble her to thee,

How sweet and fair she seems to be.

“Go, Lovely Rose,”—Edmund Waller.

EDMUND WALLER, a renowned English poet and parliamentarian, was born at Coleshill, March 3, 1605, and died at Beaconsfield, October 21, 1687. He published a volume of poems in 1645, and another in 1664.

O woman! lovely woman! Nature made thee

To temper man: we had been brutes without you.

Angels are painted fair, to look like you:

There’s in you all that we believe of heaven,—

Amazing brightness, purity, and truth,

Eternal joy, and everlasting love.

“Venice Preserved,” Act i, Sc. 1,—Thomas Otway.

THOMAS OTWAY, a noted English dramatist, was born at Trotton, near Midhurst, Sussex, March 3, 1652, and died in April, 1685. His famous plays include “Don Carlos, Prince of Spain,” “The Orphan, or the Unhappy Marriage,” “The History and Fall of Caius Marius,” “Venice Preserved, or a Plot Discover’d,” etc.

When money represents many things, not to love it would be to love nearly nothing. To forget true needs can be only a feeble moderation; but to know the value of money and to sacrifice it always, maybe to duty, maybe even to delicacy,—that is real virtue.

—De Sénancour.

ETIENNE PIVERT DE SÉNANCOUR, a distinguished French writer, born at Paris, March 4 (?), 1770, and died at St. Cloud, January 10, 1846. He wrote: “Reveries on the Primitive State of Man,” “Love According to Primordial Laws, and According to the Conventions of Society,” “Free Meditations of an Unknown Solitary on Detachment from the World,” “Isabella,” and “Obermann,” his most celebrated work.

I have always believed that success would be the inevitable result if the two services, the army and the navy, had fair play, and if we sent the right man to fill the right place.

“Speech in Parliament,” January 15, 1855,—Sir Austen Henry Layard.

SIR AUSTEN HENRY LAYARD, a celebrated English traveler, was born at Paris, March 5, 1817, and died July 5, 1894. Among his publications are: “Nineveh and Babylon,” “Early Adventures in Persia, Susiana, and Babylonia,” “Nineveh and Its Remains.”

Deep brown eyes running over with glee;

Blue eyes are pale, and gray eyes are sober;

Bonnie brown eyes are the eyes for me.

“October’s Song,”—Constance F. Woolson.

CONSTANCE FENIMORE WOOLSON, a well-known American poet and novelist, was born at Claremont, N. H., March 5, 1848, and died at Venice, January, 1894. Her principal works are: “Rodman the Keeper,” “For the Major,” “Anne,” “East Angels,” “Horace Chase,” “Jupiter Lights,” and “Castle Nowhere.”

As when, O lady mine!

With chiselled touch

The stone unhewn and cold

Becomes a living mould.

The more the marble wastes,

The more the statue grows.

“Sonnet,” Translation by Mrs. Henry Roscoe,—Michelangelo.

MICHAELANGELO BUONAROTTI, one of the greatest of Italian sculptors and poets, was born at Caprese, March 6, 1475, and died at Rome, February 18, 1564. His “Poems” were published in 1863, and a volume of “Letters” in 1865.

God answers sharp and sudden on some prayers,

And thrusts the thing we have prayed for in our face,

A gauntlet with a gift in’t.

“Aurora Leigh, Book II,”—Elizabeth Browning.

ELIZABETH BARRETT BROWNING, a famous English poetess, was born in Durham, March 6, 1809, and died in Florence, June 30, 1861. Her principal poems are: “The Drama of Exile,” “A Vision of Poets,” “The Seraphim,” “Romance of the Swan’s Nest,” “Aurora Leigh,” “The Cry of the Children,” “Lady Geraldine’s Courtship,” and “Sonnets from the Portuguese.”

A little work, a little play

To keep us going—and so good day!

A little warmth, a little light

Of love’s bestowing—and so, good night.

A little fun, to match the sorrow

Of each day’s growing—and so, good morrow!

A little trust that when we die

We reap our sowing—and so, good bye!

“Trilby,”—George Du Maurier.

GEORGE DU MAURIER, a celebrated illustrator, cartoonist, and novelist, was born in Paris, March 6, 1834, and died in London, October 8, 1896. He wrote and illustrated three noted stories, “Peter Ibbetson,” “Trilby,” and “The Martian.”

The people are gaining upon Nathaniel Hawthorne’s works. A century hence, when the most popular authors of to-day are forgotten, he will probably be more widely read than ever.

—Edward P. Roe, 1888.

EDWARD PAYSON ROE, a noted American novelist, was born in Orange County, N. Y., March 7, 1838, and died at Cornwall, N. Y., July 19, 1888. He wrote: “Barriers Burned Away,” “What Can She Do?” “The Opening of a Chestnut Burr,” “From Jest to Earnest,” “Near to Nature’s Heart,” “A Knight of the Nineteenth Century,” “A Face Illumined,” “A Day of Fate,” “Without a Home,” “A Young Girl’s Wooing,” “Nature’s Serial Story,” “Driven Back to Eden,” “He Fell in Love with His Wife,” “A Hornet’s Nest,” “Miss Lou,” “Taken Alive, and Other Stories,” etc.

The Roman Epic abounds in moral and poetical defects; nevertheless it remains the most complete picture of the national mind at its highest elevation; the most precious document of national history, if the history of an age is recorded in its ideas, no less than in its events and incidents.

“History of the Romans under the Empire,” Ch. xli,—C. Merivale.

CHARLES MERIVALE, a famous English historian, was born March 8, 1808, and died December 27, 1893. He wrote: “General History of Rome from the Foundation of the City to the Fall of Augustulus,” and in 1862 he very successfully translated Keats’ “Hyperion” into Latin verse.

O Light divine! we need no fuller test

That all is ordered well;

We know enough to trust that all is best

Where Love and Wisdom dwell.

“Oh, Love Supreme,”—Christopher P. Cranch.

CHRISTOPHER P. CRANCH, a noted American poet and artist, was born in Alexandria, Va., March 8, 1813, and died in Cambridge, Mass., January 20, 1892. His publications include: “Poems,” “The Last of the Huggermuggers,” and “Ariel and Caliban, with Other Poems.”

Man, being essentially active, must find in activity his joy, as well as his beauty and glory; and labor, like everything else that is good, is its own reward.

—Whipple.

EDWIN PERCY WHIPPLE, a distinguished American literary critic, was born at Gloucester, Mass., March 8, 1819, and died in Boston, June 16, 1886. He published: “Essays and Reviews” (2 vols. 1848-49), “Lectures on Subjects Connected with Literature and Life,” “Character and Characteristic Men,” “The Literature of the Age of Elizabeth,” “Success and Its Conditions.” He also wrote: “Recollections of Eminent Men,” “American Literature and Other Papers,” and “Outlooks on Society, Literature, and Politics.” The latter works were published after his death.

Public credit means the contracting of debts which nations never can pay.

“Advice to Young Men,”—William Cobbett.

WILLIAM COBBETT, a distinguished English essayist and political writer, was born in Farnham, March 9, 1762, and died at Normandy Farm, near Farnham, June, 1835. He wrote: “The Political Proteus,” “Legacy to Laborers,” “Advice to Young Men,” etc.

The historian is a prophet looking backward.

—Schlegel.

FRIEDRICH VON SCHLEGEL, a celebrated German critic and philologist, was born at Hanover, March 10, 1772, and died at Dresden, January 12, 1829. Among his publications are: “History of Greek and Roman Poetry,” “The Greeks and Romans,” “Fragments,” “Poems,” “Alarcos,” “Language and Wisdom of the Indians,” “On the Schools of Grecian Poetry,” “Modern History,” “History of Ancient and Modern Literature,” “Philosophy of Life,” etc.

Wem Gott will rechte Gunst erweisen,

Den schickt er in die weite Welt.[1]

“Der Frohe Wandersmann,”—J. V. Eichendorff.

BARON JOSEPH VON EICHENDORFF, a distinguished German poet, was born at the castle of Lubowitz in Silesia, March 10, 1788, and died at Neisse, November 26, 1857. His famous works include: “Presage and Presence,” “War to the Philistines,” “The Last Hero of Marienburg,” etc.

I do not deem that Castiglione wrote for the men of his own day only ... the beauty of his writings deserves that in all ages they should be read and praised; and as long as courts shall endure, as long as princes, ladies, and noble gentlemen shall meet together, as long as valor and courtesy shall abide in our hearts, the name of Castiglione will be valued.

—Tasso.

TORQUATO TASSO, a renowned Italian poet, was born at Sorrento, Italy, March 11, 1544, and died at Rome, April 25, 1595. He published: “Rinaldo,” “Aminta,” “Torismondo,” and his masterpiece, “Jerusalem Delivered.”

Wealth is not acquired, as many persons suppose, by fortunate speculations and splendid enterprises, but by the daily practice of industry, frugality, and economy. He who relies upon these means will rarely be found destitute, and he who relies upon any other will generally become bankrupt.

—Wayland.

FRANCIS WAYLAND, a distinguished American clergyman, author, and educator, was born in New York City, March 11, 1796, and died in Providence, Rhode Island, September 30, 1865. Among his notable works are: “Elements of Moral Science,” “Elements of Political Economy,” “The Limitations of Human Responsibility,” “Elements of Intellectual Philosophy,” “Sermons to Churches,” etc., etc.

Our youth we can have but to-day,

We may always find time to grow old.

“Can Love be controlled by Advice?”—Bishop Berkeley.

BISHOP GEORGE BERKELEY, the eminent Irish clergyman and author, was born near Kilkenny, March 12, 1685, and died at Oxford, England, January 14, 1753. His writings include: “Essay Towards a New Theory of Vision,” “The Analyst,” “The Principles of Human Knowledge,” his famous “Commonplace Book, 1703-6,” etc.

The terrible rumble, grumble and roar

Telling the battle was on once more—

And Sheridan twenty miles away!

“Sheridan’s Ride,”—Thomas Buchanan Read.

THOMAS BUCHANAN READ, a celebrated American portrait-painter and poet, was born in Pennsylvania, March 12, 1822, and died in 1872. His most famous works are: “The House by the Sea,” “Poems,” “Lays and Ballads,” “Poetical Works,” “A Summer Story,” “The New Pastoral,” “The Pilgrims of the Great St. Bernard,” “The Good Samaritans,” “A Voyage to Iceland,” “Sylvia; or The Lost Shepherd,” “Drifting.”

“I have heard frequent use,” said the late Lord Sandwich, in a debate on the Test Laws, “of the words ‘orthodoxy’ and ‘heterodoxy’; but I confess myself at a loss to know precisely what they mean.” “Orthodoxy, my Lord,” said Bishop Warburton, in a whisper,—“orthodoxy is my doxy, heterodoxy is another man’s doxy.”

“Memoirs,” Vol. i, p. 572,—Priestley.

JOSEPH PRIESTLEY, an English theologian, physicist, and philosopher of great fame, was born at Fieldhead, near Leeds, March 13, 1733, and died near Philadelphia, February 6, 1804. His principal writings are: “Observations on Different Kinds of Air,” “History of Electricity,” “The Doctrine of Phlogiston Established,” “History of the Corruptions of Christianity,” “Disquisitions on Matter and Spirit,” and “Institutes of Natural and Revealed Religion.”

Nature is mighty. Art is mighty. Artifice is weak. For nature is the work of a mightier power than man. Art is the work of man under the guidance and inspiration of a mightier power. Artifice is the work of mere man, in the imbecility of his mimic understanding.

—Hare.

AUGUSTUS JOHN CUTHBERT HARE, a noted English descriptive writer, was born in Rome, March 13, 1834, and died in 1903. He wrote: “A Winter at Mentone,” “Walks in Rome,” “Wanderings in Spain,” “Walks in London,” “Days near Paris,” “Cities of Southern Italy and Sicily,” “Memorials of a Quiet Life,” “Story of My Life,” etc.

This new page opened in the book of our public expenditures, and this new departure taken, which leads into the bottomless gulf of civil pensions and family gratuities.

“Speech in the U. S. Senate against a Grant to President Harrison’s Widow,” April, 1841,—Thomas Hart Benton.

THOMAS HART BENTON, a distinguished American statesman and author, was born near Hillsborough, Orange County, N. C., March 14, 1782, and died in Washington, D. C., April 10, 1858. His chief publications are his “Abridgment of the Debates of Congress” and his “Thirty Years’ View.”

His form was of the manliest beauty,

His heart was kind and soft;

Faithful below he did his duty,

But now he’s gone aloft.

“Tom Bowling,”—Charles Dibdin.

CHARLES DIBDIN, a noted English lyric and dramatic poet, and actor, was born at Southampton, March 15, 1745, and died July 25, 1814. He wrote: “History of the Stage,” “Sea Songs,” and many plays and operettas.

Dulde, gedulde dich fein!

Uber ein Stundlein

Ist deine Kammer voll Sonne![2]

“Gedichte,” “Uber ein Stundlein,”—P. Heyse.

PAUL LUDWIG HEYSE, a famous German poet and novelist, was born in Berlin, March 15, 1830, and died in 1914. He has written: “The Sabines,” “The Brothers,” “Ourika,” “Rafael,” “Children of the World,” etc.; also his celebrated tragedy “Francesca da Rimini.”

The advice nearest to my heart and deepest in my convictions is that the union of the states be cherished and perpetuated. Let the open enemy to it be regarded as a Pandora with her box opened, and the disguised one as the serpent creeping with his deadly wiles into paradise.

—James Madison.

JAMES MADISON, the fourth President of the United States, was born at Port Conway, Va., March 16, 1751, and died at Montpelier, Vt., June 28, 1836. His “Complete Works” have been published in six volumes.

O Liberty! Liberty! how many crimes are committed in thy name.

—Madame Roland.

MADAME ROLAND, a noted French author and Republican politician, was born in Paris, March 17, 1754, and died November 8, 1793. Her “Letters” and “Memoirs,” published after her death, have made her famous.

Even in the fiercest uproar of our stormy passions, conscience, though in her softest whispers, gives to the supremacy of rectitude the voice of an undying testimony.

—Chalmers.

THOMAS CHALMERS, a famous Scottish theologian, was born in Anstruther, Fifeshire, March 17, 1780, and died in Edinburgh, May 30, 1847. His works were collected (23 vols., 1836-42), “Posthumous Works” (9 vols., 1847-49), “Select Works” (12 vols., 1854-79).

Man dwells apart, though not alone,

He walks among his peers unread;

The best of thoughts which he hath known

For lack of listeners are not said.

“Afterthought,”—Jean Ingelow.

JEAN INGELOW, a celebrated English poet and novelist was born in Boston, Lincolnshire, March 17, 1830, and died in London, July 19, 1897. Among her writings are: “A Rhyming Chronicle of Incidents and Feelings,” “Home Thoughts and Home Scenes,” “Round of Days,” “A Story of Doom and Other Poems,” “Mopsa the Fairy,” “Little Wonder Horn,” “Studies for Stories,” “A Sister’s Bye Hours,” “Quite Another Story,” “A Motto Changed,” “Songs of Seven,” etc.

We pardon infidelities, but we do not forget them.

—Madame de Lafayette.

MADAME DE LAFAYETTE, a noted French novelist, was baptized at Paris, March 18, 1634, and died there, May 25, 1693. She wrote: “The Princess de Montpensier,” “Zaide,” “History of Henrietta of England,” “Memoirs of the Court of France for the Years 1688 and 1689,” and “The Princess of Cleves,” her most celebrated work.

The very essence of a free government consists in considering offices as public trusts, bestowed for the good of the country, and not for the benefit of an individual or a party.

“Speech,” February 13, 1835.—John C. Calhoun.

JOHN CALDWELL CALHOUN, an illustrious American statesman, was born in Abbeville Dist., S. C., March 18, 1782, and died in Washington, March 31, 1850. His works include his famous treatise: “On the Constitution and Government of the United States,” and a “Discourse on Government.”

Though the people support the government the government should not support the people.

“Veto of Texas Seed Bill,” February 16, 1887.—Grover Cleveland.

GROVER STEPHEN CLEVELAND, a distinguished American diplomat and President of the United States from 1885 to 1889, and again from 1893 to 1897, was born at Caldwell, Essex County, New Jersey, March 18, 1837, and died in 1908. He published: “Presidential Problems,” “Fishing and Hunting Sketches.”

Oh, bring again my heart’s content,

Thou Spirit of the Summer-time!

“Song,”—William Allingham.

WILLIAM ALLINGHAM, a noted Irish poet, was born at Ballyshannon, March 19, 1828, and died at Hampstead, near London, November 18, 1889. His most celebrated work is: “Lawrence Bloomfield in Ireland.”

It is the mind that makes the man, and our vigor is in our immortal soul.

“Metamorphoses,” xiii,—Ovid.

OVID (PUBLIUS OVIDIUS NASO), the great Roman poet, was born at Sulmo, March 20, 43 B.C., and died at Tomi, A.D. 17. He wrote: “Heroids,” “Metamorphoses,” “Fasti,” “Art of Love,” “Epistles,” “Amours,” etc.

Only the spirit of rebellion craves for happiness in this life. What right have we human beings to happiness?

“Ghosts,”—Henrik Ibsen.

HENRIK IBSEN, a famous Norwegian dramatist, was born in Skien, March 20, 1828, and died in 1906. His most noted plays are: “The Pillars of Society,” “The Warriors at Helgeland,” “Love’s Comedy,” “The Wild Duck,” “An Enemy of the People,” “Ghosts,” “Hedda Gabler,” and “A Doll’s House.”

Try it for a day, I beseech you, to preserve yourself in an easy and cheerful frame of mind. Compare the day in which you have rooted out the weed of dissatisfaction with that on which you have allowed it to grow up, and you will find your heart open to every good motive, your life strengthened and your breast armed with a panoply against every trick of fate, truly you will wonder at your own improvement.

—Richter.

JEAN PAUL FRIEDRICH RICHTER, the celebrated German philosopher and humorist, was born at Wunsiedel, Bavaria, March 21, 1763, and died at Bayreuth, November 14, 1825. His noted works were: “The Country Valley,” “Titan,” “Flower, Fruit, and Thorn Pieces,” “The Invisible Lodge,” “The Life of Quintus Fixlein,” “The Jubilating Senior,” “Introduction to Aesthetics,” “Hesperus,” “Wild Oats,” etc.

This is the charm, by sages often told,

Converting all it touches into gold:

Content can soothe, where ’er by fortune placed,

Can rear a garden in the desert waste.

“Clifton Grove,” L. 130,—Henry Kirke White.

HENRY KIRKE WHITE, a noted English poet, was born at Nottingham, March 21, 1785, and died October 19, 1806. He published: “Clifton Grove, a Sketch in Verse with Other Poems,” which was dedicated to Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire. He also wrote numerous religious verses.

In George Sand’s finest work there is a sweet spontaneity, almost as if she were an oracle of Nature uttering automatically the divine message. But, on the other hand, when the inspiration forsakes her, she drifts along on a windy current of words, the facility of her pen often beguiling the writer into vague diffuseness and unsubstantial declamation.

“Life of George Eliot,”—Mathilde Blind.

MATHILDE BLIND, a celebrated German-English poet, was born in Mannheim, March 21, 1847, and died in London, November 26, 1896. Among her writings are: “Life of George Eliot,” “Madame Roland,” “The Heather on Fire,” “Ascent of Man,” “Dramas in Miniature,” “The Prophecy of St. Oran, and Other Poems,” “Songs and Sonnets,” and “Birds of Passage.”

Time still, as he flies, brings increase to her truth,

And gives to her mind what he steals from her youth.

“The Happy Marriage,”—Edward Moore.

EDWARD MOORE, a famous English dramatist and fabulist, was born at Abingdon, March 22, 1712, and died in London, March 1, 1757. He wrote: “Fables for the Female Sex,” “Gil Blas,” “Poems, Fables, and Plays,” “Dramatic Works,” etc.

The Night has a thousand eyes,

And the Day but one;

Yet the light of the bright world dies

With the dying sun.

The Mind has a thousand eyes,

And the Heart but one;

Yet the light of a whole life dies

When Love is done.

“Light,”—Francis W. Bourdillon.

FRANCIS W. BOURDILLON, a noted English poet, was born March 22, 1852. He has published: “Among the Flowers and Other Poems,” “Ailes d’Alouette,” “A Lost God,” “Bedside Readings,” “Sursom Corda,” “Nephele,” “Through the Gateway,” “Aucassin and Nicolette,” “Prelude and Romances,” etc.

Some shall reap that never sow

And some shall toil and not attain.

“Success,”—Madison Julius Cawein.

MADISON JULIUS CAWEIN, a distinguished American poet, was born in Louisville, Ky., March 23, 1865, and died December 7, 1914. Among his works are: “Blooms of the Berry,” “The Triumph of Music,” “Lyrics and Idyls,” “Days and Dreams,” “Moods and Memories,” “Accolon of Gaul,” “Intimations of the Beautiful,” “Red Leaves and Roses,” “Undertones,” and “Poems of Nature and Love.”

I sing the sweets I know, the charms I feel,

My morning incense, and my evening meal,

The sweets of Hasty Pudding.

“Hasty Pudding,” Canto I,—Joel Barlow.

JOEL BARLOW, a famous American poet and statesman, was born in Redding, Conn., March 24, 1754, and died near Cracow, Poland, December 24, 1812. He wrote: “The Vision of Columbus,” “The Columbiad,” “The Conspiracy of Kings,” and his celebrated poem, “Hasty Pudding.”

O thrush, your song is passing sweet

But never a song that you have sung,

Is half so sweet as thrushes sang

When my dear Love and I were young.

“Other Days,”—William Morris.

WILLIAM MORRIS, a celebrated English poet and writer on socialism, was born near London, March 24, 1834, and died at Hammersmith, October 3, 1896. His poetical writings include: “Defence of Guenevere and Other Poems,” “Life and Death of Jason,” “The Earthly Paradise,” “Love Is Enough,” “Poems by the Way,” “The Story of Sigurd,” etc. He also wrote: “The House of the Wolfings,” “The Roots of the Mountains,” “Hopes and Fears for Art,” etc., and translated the “Æneid” in 1876, and the “Odyssey” in 1887.

Oh, dinna ask me gin I lo’e ye:

Troth, I daurna tell!

Dinna ask me gin I lo’e ye,—

Ask it o’ yoursel’.

“Dinna Ask Me,”—John Dunlop.

JOHN DUNLOP, a noted Scottish song-writer, was born March 25 (?), 1755, and died at Port Glasgow, September 4, 1820. His Most famous song is, “Oh, Dinna Ask Me Gin I Lo’e Ye,” which won for him great fame.

The stately ship is seen no more,

The fragile skiff attains the shore;

And while the great and wise decay,

And all their trophies pass away,

Some sudden thought, some careless rhyme,

Still floats above the wrecks of Time.

“On an Old Song,”—William Edward Hartpole Lecky.

WILLIAM EDWARD HARTPOLE LECKY, a distinguished English historian, was born in Dublin, Ireland, March 26, 1838, and died in 1903. Among his works may be mentioned: “History of the Rise and Influence of the Spirit of Rationalism in Europe,” “The Leaders of Public Opinion in Ireland,” “A History of England in the 18th Century,” “A History of Ireland in the 18th Century,” “Democracy and Liberty,” “A History of European Morals from Augustus to Charlemagne.”

When I was one and twenty

I heard a wise man say:

“Give crowns and pounds and guineas

But not your heart away.”

“A Shropshire Lad,”—Alfred Edward Housman.

ALFRED EDWARD HOUSMAN, a noted English poet, was born March 26, 1859. Among his poetical pieces are: “A Shropshire Lad,” “The Recruit,” “The Street Sounds to the Soldiers’ Tread,” “The Day of Battle,” “On the Idle Hill of Summer,” “Loveliest of Trees,” etc.

The army is a good book to open to study human life. One learns there to put his hand to everything, to the lowest and highest things. The most delicate and rich are forced to see living nearly everywhere poverty, and to live with it, and to measure his morsel of bread and draught of water.

—Alfred de Vigny.

ALFRED VICTOR, COMTE DE VIGNY, a celebrated French writer, was born in Loches, March 27, 1799, and died in Paris, September 17, 1863. His works include: “Cinq-Mars,” “Consultations of Dr. Noir,” etc. He also wrote several plays, “Chatterton” being the most famous.

But the sunshine aye shall light the sky,

As round and round we run;

And the truth shall ever come uppermost,

And justice shall be done.

“Eternal Justice,” Stanza 4,—Charles Mackay.

CHARLES MACKAY, a noted Scottish poet, journalist, and miscellaneous writer, was born at Perth, March 27, 1814, and died in London, December 24, 1889. He wrote: “Voices from the Mountains,” “Voices from the Crowd,” “The Salamandrine, or Love and Immortality,” etc.

The school is the manufactory of humanity.

—Comenius.

JOHANN AMOS COMENIUS, an illustrious theologian and educator, was born at Nivnitz (?), Moravia, March 28, 1592, and died at Amsterdam, November 15, 1670. He has written: “Gate of Languages Unlocked,” “World of Sense Depicted,” “Great Didactics, or the Whole Art of Teaching Everything,” etc.

We shall be judged, not by what we might have been, but what we have been.

—Sewall.

SAMUEL SEWALL, a distinguished American jurist, was born in Bishopstoke, England, March 28, 1652, and died in Boston, January 1, 1730. He wrote: “The Selling of Joseph,” “The Accomplishment of Prophecies,” “A Memorial Relating to the Kennebec Indians,” “A Description of the New Heaven,” His “Diary” was published in the “Collections of the Massachusetts Historical Society.”

I have lived long enough to know what I did not at one time believe—that no society can be upheld in happiness and honor without the sentiment of religion.

—La Place.

PIERRE SIMON, MARQUIS DE LAPLACE, a renowned French mathematician and physical astronomer, was born at Beaumont-en-Auge, March 28, 1749, and died at Paris, March 5, 1827. His works include: “Exposition of the System of the Universe,” “Mechanism of the Heavens,” “Analytic Theory of Probabilities,” “Philosophical Essay on Probabilities,” etc.

The love of truth is the stimulus to all noble conversation. This is the root of all the charities. The tree which springs from it may have a thousand branches, but they will all bear a golden and generous fruitage.

—Orville Dewey.

ORVILLE DEWEY, a noted American clergyman and man of letters, was born in Sheffield, Mass., March 28, 1794, and died there, March 21, 1882. Among his works are: “Discourses on Human Nature,” “Discourses on the Nature of Religion,” “The Problem of Human Destiny,” etc.

One thing only in this world is certain—duty.

“Selected Essays,”—James Darmesteter.

JAMES DARMESTETER, a distinguished French Orientalist, was born at Château-Salins, March 28, 1849, and died October 19, 1894. Among his writings may be mentioned: “Ormazd and Ahriman,” “Iranian Studies,” “Origins of Persian Poetry,” and “Selected Essays.”

You’d scarce expect one of my age

To speak in public on the stage;

And if I chance to fall below

Demosthenes or Cicero,

Don’t view me with a critic’s eye,

But pass my imperfections by.

Large streams from little fountains flow,

Tall oaks from little acorns grow.

“Lines written for a School Declamation,”—David Everett.

DAVID EVERETT, a noted American journalist and miscellaneous writer, was born at Princeton, Mass., March 29, 1770, and died at Marietta, Ohio, December 21, 1813. He wrote: “Common Sense in Deshabille or the Farmer’s Monitor,” “The Rights and Duties of Nations,” and “Darenzel, or the Persian Patriot.”

I am but a gatherer and disposer of other men’s stuff.

“Preface to the Elements of Architecture,”—Sir Henry Wotton.

SIR HENRY WOTTON, a famous English diplomatist, poet, and miscellaneous writer, was born at Boughton, Malherbe, Kent, March 30, 1568, and died at Eton, December, 1639. He wrote: “State of Christendom,” “Poems,” “Elements of Architecture,” etc.

From the very beginning Freeman’s historical studies were characterized on the one hand by philosophical breadth of view, and on the other hand by extreme accuracy of statement, and such loving minuteness of detail as is apt to mark the local antiquary whose life has been spent in studying only one thing. It was to the combination of these two characteristics that the pre-eminent greatness of his historical work was due.

“A Century of Science and other Essays,”—John Fiske.

JOHN FISKE, a renowned American historian, was born at Hartford, Conn., March 30, 1842, and died at Gloucester, Mass., July 4, 1901. He has written: “Outlines of Cosmic Philosophy,” “The Unseen World,” “Darwinism,” “American Political Ideas,” “The Critical Period of American History,” “The Idea of God,” “The American Revolution,” “The Beginnings of New England,” “The Discovery of America,” “Dutch and Quaker Colonies in America” (1899), “Civil Government of the United States,” “The Mississippi Valley in the Civil War,” “Old Virginia and her Neighbors,” 2 vols., etc.

(Et) le malheur est bien un trésor qu’on déterre.[3]

“Amour,”—Paul Verlaine.

PAUL VERLAINE, a celebrated French poet and story writer was born at Metz, March 30, 1844, and died at Paris, January 8, 1896. He wrote: “Saturnine Poems,” “Gay Festivals,” “Memoirs of a Widower,” “Stories Without Words,” “Love,” “Dedications,” “Good Luck,” “My Hospitals,” etc.

When anyone has offended me, I try to raise my soul so high that the offence cannot reach it.

—Descartes.

RENÉ DESCARTES, the illustrious French philosopher, was born at La Haye, Touraine, March 31, 1596, and died at Stockholm, February 11, 1650. His works include: “Discourse on Method,” “Meditations in Elementary Philosophy,” “Philosophical Beginnings,” “Dioptrique,” “Meteors,” “Geometry,” “Treatise on the Passions,” and “Letters to the Princess Elizabeth.”

The world in all doth but two nations bear—

The good, the bad, and these mixed everywhere.

“The Loyal Scot,”—Andrew Marvell.

ANDREW MARVELL, a famous English poet and satirist, was born at Winstead, Yorkshire, March 31, 1621, and died in London, August 18, 1678. He wrote: “The Nymph Complaining,” “The Rehearsal Transposed,” “Horatian Ode on Cromwell’s Return from Ireland,” and his well-known “Poems on Affairs of State.”

Whether we wake or we sleep,

Whether we carol or weep,

The Sun with his Planets in chime,

Marketh the going of Time.

“Chronomoros,”—Edward Fitzgerald.

EDWARD FITZGERALD, a renowned English poet, was born at Bredfield House, near Suffolk, March 31, 1809, and died June 14, 1883. Among his writings are: “The Mighty Magician,” “Six Dramas from Calderon,” and “The Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám.” These are all translations of foreign poems.

There’s a joy without canker or cark,

There’s a pleasure eternally new,

’Tis to gloat on the glaze and the mark

Of China that’s ancient and blue.

“Ballades in Blue China,”—Andrew Lang.

ANDREW LANG, a noted English poet, story-teller and literary critic, was born at Selkirk, Scotland, March 31, 1844, and died in 1912. Among his works are: “Letters to Dead Authors,” “Helen of Troy,” “Ballads and Lyrics of Old France,” “Custom and Myth,” “Myth, Ritual, and Religion,” “Ballades in Blue China,” etc.

FOOTNOTES:

[1]

God sends His highly favored ones

Into the wide, wide world to roam.

[2]

Bear ye! Bravely endure;

Just one short hour—

And thy dark room with sunshine glows.

[3] Misfortune is in truth a treasure we unearth.

APRIL

APRIL

Dis moi ce que tu manges, je te dirai ce que tu es.[1]

“Physiologie du Goût,”—Brillat-Savarin.

ANTHÈLME BRILLAT-SAVARIN, a distinguished French author, was born April 1, 1755, and died in 1826. His fame rests on the noted work: “Physiology of Taste.”

Wir Deutschen furchten Gott, sonst aber nichts in der Welt.[2]

“Speech in the Reichstag,” 1887,—Prince Bismarck.

OTTO EDWARD LEOPOLD VON BISMARCK, the renowned German statesman, was born at Schonhausen, April 1, 1815, and died in 1898. “Bismarck’s Letters” won for him a place in literature.

Without doubt

I can teach crowing: for I gobble.

“Chantecler,” Act. i, Sc. 2,—Edmond Rostand.

EDMOND ROSTAND, a noted French dramatist, was born in Marseilles, April 1, 1868, and died in 1918. His notable plays include: “Les Romanesques,” “La Princesse Lointaine,” “La Samaritaine,” “Cyrano de Bergerac,” “L’Aiglon,” “Poems,” “Les Musardises,” “Pour la Grèce,” “Un Soir à Hernani,” “Les Mots,” “Chantecler,” “Le Cantique de l’Aile,” “Le Printemps de l’Aile,” etc.

The God who gave us life, gave us liberty at the same time.

“Summary View of the Rights of British America,”—Thomas Jefferson.

THOMAS JEFFERSON, a distinguished American statesman, was born at Shadwell, Va., April 2, 1743, and died at Monticello, Va., July 4, 1826. He wrote: “Notes on Virginia,” “Autobiography,” “Correspondence,” etc. The Declaration of Independence was also written by him.

Michael Angelo has expressed in colors what Dante saw and has sung to the generations of the earth.

(Miserere) “In the Sistine Chapel,” from “The Improvisatore” (Translation by Mary Howitt),—Hans Christian Andersen.

HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN, a renowned Danish poet and story writer, was born at Odense, April 2, 1805, and died August 4, 1875. He wrote: “The Poet’s Bazar,” “Only a Fiddler,” “The Picture Book Without Pictures,” “The Improvisatore,” and his celebrated “Wonder Tales” for children. Among his dramatic compositions are: “Raphaella,” “The Two Baronesses,” “The Flowers of Happiness,” etc.

Genius and its rewards are briefly told:

A liberal nature and a niggard doom,

A difficult journey to a splendid tomb.

“Dedication of the Life and Adventures of Oliver Goldsmith,”—John Forster.

JOHN FORSTER, a noted English biographer and historical writer, was born in Newcastle-on-Tyne, April 2, 1812, and died in London, February 2, 1876. He wrote: “Life of Charles Dickens,” “Statesmen of the Commonwealth of England,” “Life of Oliver Goldsmith,” “Biographical and Historical Essays,” etc.

Sweet day, so cool, so calm, so bright,

The bridal of the earth and sky.

“Virtue,”—George Herbert.

GEORGE HERBERT, a celebrated English poet, was born in Montgomery Castle, Montgomeryshire, April 3, 1593, and died at Bemerton, Wiltshire, in 1633. His most noted poems are: “Sweet Day, So Cool, So Calm, So Bright,” “Virtue,” “Life,” “Love,” “Discipline,” “Holy Baptism,” etc.

The almighty dollar, that great object of universal devotion throughout our land, seems to have no genuine devotees in these peculiar villages.

“The Creole Village,”—Washington Irving.

WASHINGTON IRVING, the renowned American historian, biographer, and man of letters, was born in New York, April 3, 1783, and died at “Sunnyside,” near Tarrytown, N. Y., November 28, 1859. His principal works are: “The Alhambra,” “Mahomet and His Successors,” “Conquest of Granada,” “The Sketch Book,” “Bracebridge Hall,” “Life and Times of Christopher Columbus,” “Companions of Columbus,” “Life of Washington,” “A Voyage to the Eastern Part of Terra Firma,” a translation; “Life of Oliver Goldsmith,” “Astoria,” “History of New York, by Diedrich Knickerbocker,” “The Poetical Works of Thomas Campbell,” “The Rocky Mountains: Journal of Captain B. L. E. Bonneville,” etc.

To look up and not down,

To look forward and not back,

To look out and not in, and

To lend a hand.

Rule of the “Harry Wadsworth Club,” from “Ten Times One Is Ten,” 1870,—Edward Everett Hale.

EDWARD EVERETT HALE, a distinguished American divine and prose-writer, was born in Boston, Mass., April 3, 1822, and died June 10, 1909. Among his writings are: “The Man Without a Country,” “My Double and How He Undid Me,” “Ten Times One is Ten,” “The Skeleton in the Closet,” “In His Name,” “Ups and Downs,” “Philip Nolan’s Friends,” “The Kingdom of God,” “East and West,” “Ralph Waldo Emerson,” “Memories of a Hundred Years,” “We, the People,” “Prayers in the Senate,” “Foundations of the Republic,” etc.

Ah, happy world, where all things live

Creatures of one great law, indeed;

Bound by strong roots, the splendid flower,—

Swept by great seas, the drifting seed!

“The Story of the Flower,”—Harriet P. Spofford.

HARRIET ELIZABETH (PRESCOTT) SPOFFORD, a noted American poet and novelist, was born in Calais, Me., April 3, 1835, and died August 15, 1921. Among her noted works are: “New England Legends,” “Poems,” “Ballads about Authors,” “The Marquis of Carabas,” “A Master Spirit,” “In Titian’s Garden,” “The Thief in the Night,” “The Amber Gods, and Other Stories,” “In a Cellar,” etc.

No surer does the Auldgarth bridge, that his father helped to build, carry the traveller over the turbulent water beneath it, than Carlyle’s books convey the reader over chasms and confusions, where before there was no way, or only an inadequate one.

—John Burroughs.

JOHN BURROUGHS, a famous American essayist, was born in Roxbury, N. Y., April 3, 1837, and died in 1921. He has written: “Winter Sunshine,” “Fresh Fields,” “Wake-Robin,” “Birds and Poets,” “Locusts and Wild Honey,” “Sharp Eyes,” “Signs and Seasons,” “Riverely,” “The Light of Day,” “Ways of Nature,” “Camping and Tramping with Roosevelt,” “Under the Apple Trees,” etc.

There must always be, we presume, however age and experience may modify nature, a certain inability on the part of a woman to appreciate the more riotous forms of mirth, and that robust freedom in morals which bolder minds admire. It is a disability which nothing can abolish.

—Mrs. Oliphant.

MARGARET WILSON OLIPHANT, a well-known Scotch novelist, was born April 4, 1828, and died in 1897. Among her numerous works may be mentioned: “Zaidee,” “The Story of Valentine and His Brother,” “In Trust,” “A House Divided Against Itself,” “Sir Tom,” “The Cuckoo in the Nest,” “English Literature at the End of the Eighteenth and Beginning of the Nineteenth Century,” “Victorian Age of English Literature,” “Makers of Florence, Venice, and Rome,” “The Reign of Queen Anne,” “The Makers of Modern Rome,” “William Blackwood and His Sons,” etc.

For words are wise men’s counters,—they do but reckon by them; but they are the money of fools.

“The Leviathan,” Part i, Chap. iv,—Thomas Hobbes.

THOMAS HOBBES, a renowned English philosopher, was born in Malmesbury, April 5, 1588, and died at Hardwick Hall, Derbyshire, December 4, 1679. A few of his many works are: “De Cive,” “Human Nature,” “De Corpore Politico,” and “Leviathan, or the Matter, Form, and Power of a Commonwealth,” considered his masterpiece.

For blessings ever wait on virtuous deeds,

And though a late, a sure reward succeeds.

“The Mourning Bride,” Act V, Sc. xii.—Congreve.

WILLIAM CONGREVE, an eminent English dramatist, was born in Bardsley, near Leeds, April 5, 1670, and died at London, January 19, 1729. Among his comedies are: “The Double Dealer,” “The Mourning Bride,” “The Old Bachelor,” and “Love for Love.”

It is a zealot’s faith that blasts the shrines of the false god, but builds no temple to the true.

—Sydney Dobell.

SYDNEY THOMPSON DOBELL, a famous English poet, was born at Cranbrook, in Kent, April 5, 1824, and died in 1874. He wrote: “England in Time of War,” and two noted poems, “The Roman” and “Balder.” “Thoughts on Art, Philosophy and Religion,” appeared after his death.

I think it will be generally conceded that, at the time of his death, Mr. Lowell occupied the position of the foremost American citizen. In public regard, at home and abroad, his name naturally headed the list of prominent Americans. Looked upon as a man of letters, as a representative of our country in foreign lands, or in any of the various positions in which he appeared before the public, there was no one to whom it was the custom to name James Russell Lowell as second. Without occupying the highest rank in any of his vocations, he stood in front of his fellow-citizens, because he held so high a rank in so many of them.

“Personal Tributes to Lowell, the Writer,” Vol. 5, p. 187,—Frank R. Stockton.

FRANK RICHARD STOCKTON, a celebrated American author, was born in Philadelphia, April 5, 1834, and died April 20, 1902. Among his popular works may be mentioned: “Rudder Grange,” “The Lady or the Tiger,” “The Casting Away of Mrs. Leeks and Mrs. Aleshine,” “The Dusantes,” “Tales Out of School,” “Adventures of Captain Horn,” “The Great Stone of Sardis,” “The Watchmaker’s Wife and Other Stories,” “Pomona’s Travels,” “Mrs. Cliff’s Yacht,” “Kate Bonnett,” etc.

Pleasure with pain for leaven,

Summer with flowers that fell,

Remembrance fallen from heaven,

And Madness risen from hell,

Strength without hands to smite,

Love that endures for a breath;

Night, the shadow of light,

And Life, the shadow of death.

“Atalanta in Calydon,” Chorus,—Swinburne.

ALGERNON CHARLES SWINBURNE, an eminent English poet, was born in London, April 5, 1837; and died April 10, 1909. His publications include: “Poems and Ballads,” “The Queen Mother and Rosamond,” “Bothwell,” “Songs of the Springtides,” “A Century of Roundels,” “The Sisters,” “Studies in Song,” “Songs of Two Nations,” “Chastelard,” “Ode on the Proclamation of the French Republic,” “Songs Before Sunrise,” “Atalanta in Calydon,” “Under the Microscope,” “Tristram of Lyonesse and Other Poems,” “Marino Faliero,” “A Midsummer Holiday and Other Poems,” “Locrine,” a tragedy, a third series of “Poems and Ballads,” “Astrophel and Other Poems,” “The Tale of Balen,” “Rosamund, Queen of the Lombards,” a tragedy, etc.

From every place below the skies

The grateful song, the fervent prayer,—

The incense of the heart,—may rise

To heaven, and find acceptance there.

“Every Place a Temple,”—John Pierpont.

JOHN PIERPONT, a well-known American clergyman and poet, was born in Litchfield, Conn., April 6, 1785, and died in Medford, Mass., August 27, 1866. He wrote: “Airs of Palestine, and Other Poems,” also, his famous poem “Warren’s Address at the Battle of Bunker Hill.”

It came upon the midnight clear,

That glorious song of old,

From angels bending near the earth

To touch their harps of gold:

“Peace on the earth, good-will to men,

From Heaven’s all-gracious King!”

The world in solemn stillness lay

To hear the angels sing.

“The Angels’ Song,”—Edmund Hamilton Sears.

EDMUND HAMILTON SEARS, a noted American clergyman, religious writer and poet was born in Sandisfield, Mass., April 6, 1810, and died at Weston, Mass., January 14, 1876. He wrote: “Regeneration,” “Pictures of the Olden Time,” “Athanasia,” “Christian Lyrics,” “The Fourth Gospel: the Heart of Christ,” “Sermons and Songs of the Christian Life,” “Christ in the Life,” etc.

Dreams, books, are each a world; and books, we know,

Are a substantial world, both pure and good.

Bound these, with tendrils strong as flesh and blood,

Our pastime and our happiness will grow.

“Personal Talk,” Stanza 3,—William Wordsworth.

WILLIAM WORDSWORTH, the great English poet, was born at Cockermouth, Cumberland, April 7, 1770, and died at Rydal Mount, April 23, 1850. Among his noted works are: “The Excursion,” “Lyrical Ballads,” “The Prelude,” “Peter Bell,” “The Waggoner,” “Sonnets,” “Yarrow Revisited and Other Poems,” “Poems,” “An Evening Walk,” etc.

I sing New England, as she lights her fire

In every Prairie’s midst; and where the bright

Enchanting stars shine pure through Southern night,

She still is there, the guardian on the tower,

To open for the world a purer hour.

“New England,”—William E. Channing.

WILLIAM ELLERY CHANNING, a distinguished American theologian, was born at Newport, R. I.; April 7, 1780, and died at Bennington, Vt.; April, 1842. His works were published in 1848, and comprise the following: “Youth of the Poet and Painter,” “Thoreau the Poet-Naturalist,” “Conversation in Rome Between an Artist and Catholic, and a Critic,” etc.

There came a new poet who, to the science of rhythm, the resources of expression, the gift of epic narration, the deep feeling for nature, to all the caprices of a delightful fancy, to all the favorite ideas, noble or morbid, of modern thought, knew how to join the language of manly passion. Thus, as it were summing up in himself all his forerunners, he touched all hearts; he linked together all admirations; he has remained the true representative, the last expression and final, of the poetic period to which he belongs. Tennyson reigns to-day almost alone in increasing and uncontested glory.

“Taine’s History of English Literature,” Essays on English Literature, tr. Saintsbury, p. 87,—Edmond Scherer.

EDMOND SCHERER, a celebrated French essayist and critic, was born in Paris, April 8, 1815, and died at Versailles, March 16, 1889. Among his writings are: “Miscellanies of Religious Criticism,” “Letters to my Pastor,” “Criticism and Belief,” “Miscellanies of Religious History,” etc.

I consider biennial elections as a security that the sober second thought of the people shall be law.

“On Biennial Elections,” 1788,—Fisher Ames.

FISHER AMES, a famous American statesman and orator, was born at Dedham, Mass., April 9, 1758, and died there, July 4, 1808. He wrote many essays and orations.

Music should strike fire from the heart of man, and bring tears from the eyes of woman.

—Beethoven.

LUDWIG VON BEETHOVEN, a renowned German composer, was born at Bonn, April 9, 1770, and died at Vienna, in 1827. Besides his numerous musical productions, he won literary fame by his “Correspondence” and “Brentano Letters.”

Indolence is a delightful but distressing state; we must be doing something to be happy. Action is no less necessary than thought to the instinctive tendencies of the human frame.

—Hazlitt.

WILLIAM HAZLITT, a celebrated English prose-writer and critic, was born in Maidstone, Kent, April 10, 1778, and died in London, September 18, 1830. He wrote: “The Spirit of the Age,” “Characters of Shakespeare’s Plays,” “Lectures on English Poets,” etc.

Riches take wings, comforts vanish, hope withers away, but love stays with us. Love is God.

—Lew Wallace.

LEWIS WALLACE (“LEW WALLACE”), a famous American general, lawyer, and novelist, was born at Brookville, Ind., April 10, 1827, and died in 1905. Among his notable works are: “The Fair God,” “Ben Hur,” “The Life of Gen. Benjamin Harrison,” “Commodus: a Tragedy,” “The Boyhood of Christ,” “The Prince of India,” etc.

Bend low, O dusky Night,

And give my spirit rest,

Hold me to your deep breast,

And put old cares to flight.

Give back the lost delight

That once my soul possest,

When Love was loveliest.

“To-night,”—Louise Chandler Moulton.

LOUISE (CHANDLER) MOULTON, a noted American poet, story-writer, and critic, was born in Pomfret, Conn., April 10, 1835, and died August 10, 1908. She wrote: “The True Flag,” “This, That and the Other,” “Juno Clifford,” “Bed-Time Stories,” “Firelight Stories,” “Stories Told at Twilight,” “In the Garden of Dreams,” “Poems,” etc.; also, “Miss Eyre from Boston and Other Stories,” “Lazy Tours in Spain,” etc.

Thus, when a barber and a collier fight, the barber beats the luckless collier-white; the dusty collier heaves his ponderous sack, and big with vengeance, beats the barber-black. In comes the brick dust man, with grime o’er spread, and beats the collier and the barber-red; black, red, and white, in various clouds are tost, and in the dust they raise the combatants are lost.

“The Trip to Cambridge” in “Campbell’s Specimens of the British Poets,” Vol. vi, p. 185,—Christopher Smart.

CHRISTOPHER SMART, a famous English poet, was born at Shipbourne, Kent, April 11, 1722, and died May 21, 1771. His works include: “Translation of the Psalms of David,” “The Hilliad: An Epic Poem,” “Song to David,” “Power of the Supreme Being,” “Poems,” “Poems on Several Occasions,” etc.

Give me the avowed, the erect, the manly foe,

Bold I can meet,—perhaps may turn his blow!

But of all plagues, good Heaven, thy wrath can send,

Save, save, oh save me from the candid friend!

“New Morality,”—George Canning.

GEORGE CANNING, an English statesman, orator, and writer of great distinction, was born in London, April 11, 1770, and died at Chiswick, August 8, 1827. He wrote: “The Needy Knife-Grinder,” “The Rovers,” etc.

When I am dead, no pageant train

Shall waste their sorrows at my bier,

Nor worthless pomp of homage vain.

Stain it with hypocritic tear.

“Alaric the Visigoth,”—Edward Everett.

EDWARD EVERETT, a famous American statesman, was born at Dorchester, Mass., April 11, 1794, and died January 15, 1865. Among his writings were: “Mount Vernon Papers,” “Defense of Christianity,” “Orations and Speeches,” etc.

The gentleman [Josiah Quincy] cannot have forgotten his own sentiment, uttered even on the floor of this House, “Peaceably if we can, forcibly if we must.”

“Speech,” Jan. 8, 1813.—Henry Clay.

HENRY CLAY, an eminent American orator and statesman, was born in Hanover, Va., April 12, 1777, and died at Washington, D. C., June 29, 1852. His “Complete Works,” were edited in 1857.

Coquetry whets the appetite; flirtation depraves it. Coquetry is the thorn that guards the rose,—easily trimmed off when once plucked. Flirtation is like the slime on water-plants, making them hard to handle, and when caught, only to be cherished in slimy waters.

“Reveries of a Bachelor,”—Ik Marvel.

DONALD GRANT MITCHELL (“IK MARVEL”), a famous American novelist and essayist, was born at Norwich, Conn., April 12, 1822, and died in 1908. He wrote: “Dream Life,” “My Farm of Edgewood,” “Doctor Johns,” “Bound Together,” “Wet Days at Edgewood,” “English Lands, Letters and Kings,” and his most noted work, “Reveries of a Bachelor.”

Every white will have its blacke,

And every sweet its soure.

“Sir Cauline,” from “Reliques of Ancient Poetry,”—Thomas Percy.

THOMAS PERCY, a noted English poet, was born at Bridgenorth in Shropshire, April 13, 1728 or 1729, and died at Dromore, Ireland, September 30, 1811. He wrote: “The Hermit of Warkworth,” the song, “O Nanny, Wilt Thou Gang Wi’ Me?” and published a collection of old ballads and songs under the title “Reliques of Ancient English Poetry.”

No creature lives that must not work and may not play.

“Work and Play,”—Horace Bushnell.

HORACE BUSHNELL, an eminent American clergyman, was born near Litchfield, Connecticut, April 14, 1802, and died at Hartford, Conn., in 1876. Among his numerous works may be mentioned: “Christian Nurture,” “God in Christ,” “Christ in Theology,” “The Vicarious Sacrifice,” “Nature and the Supernatural,” “Moral Uses of Dark Things,” “The Age of Homespun,” “Forgiveness and Law,” “Work and Play,” “The Character of Jesus,” “Christ and His Salvation,” etc.

Monuments! What are they? The very pyramids have forgotten their builders, or to whom they were dedicated. Deeds, not stones, are the true monuments of the great.

—Motley.

JOHN LOTHROP MOTLEY, a famous American historian and diplomatist, was born at Dorchester, Mass., April 15, 1814, and died in Dorsetshire, England, May 29, 1877. Among his works are: “Rise of the Dutch Republic,” “History of the United Netherlands,” “Causes of the Civil War in America,” “Life of John of Barneveld,” etc.

Not much talk—a great, sweet silence.

“A Bundle of Letters,” Letter IV,—Henry James.

HENRY JAMES, a distinguished American novelist and miscellaneous prose-writer, was born in New York, April 15, 1843, and died in February, 1916. Among his numerous works may be mentioned: “Roderick Hudson,” “A Passionate Pilgrim and Other Tales,” “The American,” “French Poets and Novelists,” “Daisy Miller: a Study,” “A Bundle of Letters,” “The Diary of a Man of Fifty,” “Washington Square,” “A Little Tour in France,” “The Portrait of a Lady,” “The Bostonians,” “The Tragic Muse,” “Partial Portraits,” “The Real Thing and Other Tales,” “The Private Life,” “The Wheel of Time,” “The Princess Casamassima,” “Essays in London and Elsewhere,” etc.

There paused to shut the door,

A fellow called the Wind,

With mystery before,

And reticence behind.

“At the Granite Gate,”—Bliss Carman.

BLISS CARMAN, a celebrated Canadian poet, was born at Fredericton, N. B., April 15, 1861. He has written: “Low Tide on Grand Pré: A Book of Lyrics,” “Songs from Vagabondia,” “Behind the Arras: A Book of the Unseen,” “A Winter Holiday,” “Christmas Eve at St. Kavin’s,” “Ode for the Coronation,” “Pipes of Pan No. I,” “Pipes of Pan No. II,” “The Kinship of Nature,” “The Friendship of Art,” “The Poetry of Life,” “The Making of Personality,” “Sappho,” “Daughters of Dawn,” “Oxford Book of American Verse,” “Earth Deities,” “April Airs,” etc.

Le roi règne et ne gouverne pas.[3]

“In the National Newspaper,” July 1st, 1830.

LOUIS ADOLPHE THIERS, a renowned French statesman and author, was born at Marseilles, April 16, 1797, and died at St. Germain, September 3, 1877. He wrote: “History of John Law,” “Man and Matter,” “On Property,” “History of the Consulate and the Empire,” and his most famous work, “History of the French Revolution.”

To be frank, the critics should say: “Gentlemen, I intend to speak of myself apropos of Shakespeare, Racine, Pascal, or Goethe.”

—Anatole France.

ANATOLE FRANCE (JACQUES ANATOLE THIBAULT), a celebrated French critic, poet and novelist, was born at Paris, April 16, 1844. He has written: “The Yule Log,” “Our Children: Scenes in Town and in the Fields,” “The Garden of Epicurus,” “Abeille,” “Poems,” “The Crime of Sylvester Bonnard,” “The Wishes of Jean Servien,” “Balthazar,” “Thais,” “My Friend’s Book,” “Le Jongleur de Notre Dame,” “Histoire de Jeanne d’Arc,” “La Revolte des Anges,” etc.

When that my mood is sad, and in the noise

And bustle of the crowd I feel rebuke,

I turn my footsteps from its hollow joys,

And sit me down beside the little brook;

The waters have a music to mine ear

It glads me much to hear.

“The Shaded Water,”—William Gilmore Simms.

WILLIAM GILMORE SIMMS, a distinguished American poet and novelist, was born in Charleston, S. C., April 17, 1806, and died there June 11, 1870. His publications include: “The Wigwam and the Cabin; or, Tales of the South,” “Atalantis: A Tale of the Sea,” “Castle Dismal,” “The Maroon, and Other Tales,” “The Yemassee,” and “War Poetry of the South.”

Many a genius has been slow of growth,

Oaks that flourish for a thousand years

Do not spring up into beauty like a reed.

“The Spanish Drama: Life of Lope De Vega.” Ch. II,—Geo. Henry Lewes.

GEORGE HENRY LEWES, a celebrated English historical and miscellaneous writer, was born at London, April 18, 1817, and died there November 28, 1878. Among his writings are: “The Life and Works of Goethe,” “History of Philosophy from Thales to Comte,” “The Physiology of Common Life,” “Seaside Studies,” “Studies in Animal Life,” “Aristotle: A Chapter from the History of Science,” “Problems of Life and Mind,” “The Physical Basis of Mind,” “Ranthorpe,” “The Noble Heart,” etc.

Friendship! mysterious cement of the soul!

Sweetener of life, and solder of society.

“The Grave,”—Robert Blair.

ROBERT BLAIR, a noted Scottish poet, was born at Edinburgh, April 19 (?), 1699, and died February 4, 1746. His reputation as a poet rests solely on his famous poem, “The Grave,” written in blank verse.

If any man can convince me and bring home to me that I do not think or act aright, gladly will I change; for I search after truth, by which man never yet was harmed. But he is harmed who abideth on still in his deception and ignorance.

“Meditations,” VI, 21,—Marcus Aurelius.

MARCUS AURELIUS, the great Roman emperor, was born in Rome, April 20, A.D., 121, and died in Pannonia, March 17, 180. His “Meditations” have been handed down to posterity.

Immortality alone could teach this mortal how to die.

“Looking Death in the Face,”—Dinah Maria Mulock Craik.

DINAH MARIA MULOCK CRAIK, a famous English novelist, was born in Stoke-upon-Trent, April 20, 1826, and died at London, October, 1887. The best known of her works are: “The Ogilvies,” “John Halifax, Gentleman,” “Two Marriages,” “A Brave Lady,” and “A Noble Life.”

No maid is near,

I have no wife;

But here’s my pipe

And, on my life;

With it to smoke,

And woo the Muse,

To be a king,

I would not choose.

—William H. Davies.

WILLIAM HENRY DAVIES, a noted Welsh poet, was born in Monmouthshire, April 20, 1870. He has written: “The Soul’s Destroyer,” “New Poems,” “Nature Poems,” “Farewell to Poesy,” “Songs of Joy,” “Foliage,” “The Bird of Paradise,” “Child Lovers,” “Collected Poems,” “The Autobiography of a Super-Tramp,” “A Pilgrim in Wales,” “A Poet’s Pilgrimage.”

The first groundwork of religious life is love—love to God and man—in the bosom of the family.

“Aphorisms,”—Friedrich Froebel.

FRIEDRICH FROEBEL, an eminent German educator, was born at Oberweissbach, April 21, 1782, and died at Marienthal, June 21, 1852. He won fame by his celebrated work, “The Education of Man.”

From Greenland’s icy mountains,

From India’s coral strand,

Where Afric’s sunny fountains,

Roll down their golden sand.

“Missionary Hymn.”—Reginald Heber.

REGINALD HEBER, a famous English hymn-writer and clergyman, was born in Cheshire, April 21, 1783, and died at Trichinopoly, India, April 2, 1826. His prose writings include the Bampton lectures on “The Personality and Office of the Christian Comforter,” “Life of Jeremy Taylor,” “Journey Through India,” etc. His fame rests, however, on his hymns, “From Greenland’s Icy Mountains,” and “Holy, Holy, Holy! Lord God Almighty!”

Life, believe, is not a dream,

So dark as sages say;

Oft a little morning rain

Foretells a pleasant day!

“Life,”—Charlotte Brontë.

CHARLOTTE BRONTË, a famous English novelist, was born in Thornton, April 21, 1816, and died in Haworth, March 31, 1855. She wrote: “Shirley,” “Villette,” “The Professor,” and “Jane Eyre,” her most famous work.

There are four varieties in society,—the lovers, the ambitious, observers, and fools. The fools are the happiest.

—Taine.

ADOLPHE HIPPOLYTE TAINE, an illustrious French historian and critic, was born at Vouziers (Ardennes), April 21, 1828, and died at Paris, March 5, 1893. Among his publications are: “Essay on La Fontaine’s Fables,” “Essay on Livy,” “Journey to the Pyrenees,” “French Philosophers in the Nineteenth Century,” “Essays in Criticism and History,” “Notes on England,” “Contemporary English Writers,” “History of English Literature,” “English Idealism,” “New Essays in Criticism and History,” “Philosophy of Art,” “Philosophy of Art in Italy,” “Tour in Italy, Naples, Rome, Florence, and Venice,” “Notes on Paris,” “The Ideal in Art,” “Philosophy of Art in Greece,” “On the Understanding,” “The Old Régime,” “The Revolutionary Governments,” etc.

When I’m not thank’d at all, I’m thank’d enough;

I’ve done my duty, and I’ve done no more.

“Tom Thumb the Great,” Act. i, Sc. 3,—Henry Fielding.

HENRY FIELDING, a celebrated English novelist, was born at Sharpham Park, Somersetshire, April 22, 1707, and died at Lisbon, October 8, 1754. His most famous works are: “Tom Jones, or the History of a Foundling,” “The Adventures of Joseph Andrews,” “Amelia,” and “The History of Jonathan Wild.”

Sincerity is the indispensable ground of all conscientiousness, and by consequence of all heartfelt religion.

—Emmanuel Kant.

EMMANUEL KANT, an eminent German philosopher, was born at Königsberg, April 22, 1724, and died there, February 12, 1804. His three famous works are: “Critique of the Practical Reason,” “Critique of Pure Reason,” and “Critique of the Power of Judgment.”

And all the bustle of departure—sometimes sad, sometimes intoxicating—just as fear or hope may be inspired by the new chances of coming destiny.

“Corinne,” Book X, Chap. VI,—Madame De Staël.

ANNE LOUISE GERMAINE (NECKER), BARONESS DE STAËL-HOLSTEIN, a celebrated French writer, was born in Paris, April 22, 1766, and died there July 14, 1817. She wrote: “Letters on the Character and Writings of J. J. Rousseau,” “Corinne,” “Delphine,” “Literature in Relation to Social Institutions,” etc.

We live in deeds, not years; in thoughts, not breaths;

In feelings, not in figures on a dial.

We should count time by heart-throbs. He most lives

Who thinks most, feels the noblest, acts the best.

Life’s but a means unto an end; that end

Beginning, mean, and end to all things,—God.

“Festus,” Scene V, A Country Town,—Philip James Bailey.

PHILIP JAMES BAILEY, a noted English poet, was born in Basford, Nottinghamshire, April 22, 1816, and died in 1902. He wrote: “The Universal Hymn,” “The Age,” “The Mystic,” “The Angel World,” and his great poem, “Festus.”

Friendship is constant in all other things

Save in the office and affairs of love:

Therefore all hearts in love use their own tongues;

Let every eye negotiate for itself

And trust no agent.

“Much Ado about Nothing,” Act ii, Sc. i.—William Shakespeare.

WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE, the great English poet, was born at Stratford-on-Avon, April 23, 1564, and he died there April 23, 1616. Among his famous works may be mentioned: “Henry VI,” “Richard III,” “Taming of the Shrew,” “Love’s Labour’s Lost,” “Comedy of Errors,” “Two Gentlemen of Verona,” “Romeo and Juliet,” “The Merchant of Venice,” “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” “Henry V,” “All’s Well That Ends Well,” “The Merry Wives of Windsor,” “As You Like It,” “Julius Cæsar,” “Much Ado About Nothing,” “Twelfth Night,” “Hamlet,” “Othello,” “King Lear,” “Macbeth,” “Measure for Measure,” “Antony and Cleopatra,” “Cymbeline,” “A Winter’s Tale,” “The Tempest,” etc., etc.

Our thoughts and our conduct are our own.

“Short Studies on Great Subjects: Education,”—James A. Froude.

JAMES ANTHONY FROUDE, a celebrated English historian, was born at Dartington in Devonshire, April 23, 1818, and died in London, October 20, 1894. Among his works are: “Luther: A Short Biography,” “Shadows of a Cloud,” “Nemesis of Faith,” “History of England from the Fall of Wolsey to the Death of Elizabeth,” “The English in Ireland in the Eighteenth Century,” “Influence of the Reformation on the Scottish Character,” “Thomas Carlyle,” “Short Studies on Great Subjects,” “Spanish Story of the Armada,” etc.

Bowed by the weight of centuries, he leans

Upon his hoe and gazes on the ground,

The emptiness of ages in his face,

And on his back the burden of the world.

“The Man with the Hoe,”—Edwin Markham.

EDWIN MARKHAM, a noted American poet, was born at Oregon City, Oregon, April 23, 1852. He is best known by his famous poem, “The Man with the Hoe.”

But as some muskets so contrive it

As oft to miss the mark they drive at,

And though well aimed at duck or plover,

Bear wide, and kick their owners over.

“McFingal,” Canto i, Line 93,—John Trumbull.

JOHN TRUMBULL, a famous American lawyer, poet, and wit, was born in Westbury, Conn., April 24, 1750, and died at Detroit, Mich., May 10, 1831. He wrote: “The Progress of Dullness,” “McFingal,” which won for him his greatest fame, and several other works. His “Poetical Works” were published in 1820.

Whatever Thackeray says, the reader cannot fail to understand; and whatever Thackeray attempts to communicate, he succeeds in conveying.

“Life of Thackeray,”—Anthony Trollope.

ANTHONY TROLLOPE, an illustrious English novelist, was born in London, April 24, 1815, and died there, December 6, 1882. Among his numerous publications may be mentioned: “The Kellys and the O’Kellys,” “La Vendée,” “The Warden,” “Barchester Towers,” “Doctor Thorne,” “The Bertrams,” “Castle Richmond,” “Orley Farm,” “Tales of All Countries,” “The Struggles of Brown, Jones and Robinson,” “North America,” “Rachel Ray,” “Hunting Sketches,” “Traveling Sketches,” “The Claverings,” “British Sports and Pastimes,” “He Knew He Was Right,” “Mary Gresley,” “Ralph the Heir,” “The Golden Lion of Granpère,” “Phineas Redux,” “South Australia and Western Australia,” “Lady Anna,” “The Prime Minister,” “The American Senator,” “South Africa,” “John Caldigate,” “Cousin Henry,” “The Duke’s Children,” “Life of Cicero,” “Ayala’s Angel,” “Marion Fay,” “The Fixed Period,” “Kept in the Dark,” etc. His “Autobiography” appeared in 1883.

Come and see her as she stands.

Crimson roses in her hands;

And her eyes

Are as dark as Southern night,

Yet than Southern dawn more bright.

And a soft, alluring light,

In them lies.

“Fanny, A Southern Blossom,” St. I,—Anne Reeve Aldrich.

ANNE REEVE ALDRICH, a noted American poet and novelist, was born in New York, April 25, 1866, and died there June 22, 1892. She wrote: “The Rose of Flame,” “The Feet of Love,” “Songs About Life, Love and Death,” etc.

Take, O boatman, thrice thy fee,—

Take, I give it willingly;

For, invisible to thee,

Spirits twain have, crossed with me.

“The Passage,” Edinburgh Review, Oct., 1832,—Johann L. Uhland.

JOHANN L. UHLAND, an eminent German poet, was born at Tubingen, April 26, 1787, and died November 13, 1862. He wrote: “Walther von der Vogelweide,” “The Old French Epos,” “The Myth of Thor, according to Norse Tradition,” etc. Also two dramas: “Ludwig the Bavarian,” and “Ernest, Duke of Suabia.” His ballads and songs also won for him great renown.

Even bear-baiting was esteemed heathenish and unchristian: the sport of it, not the inhumanity, gave offence.

“History of England,” Vol. i, Chap. lxii,—David Hume.

DAVID HUME, a famous British philosopher and historian, was born in Edinburgh, April 26, 1711, and died there August 25, 1776. Among his works may be mentioned: “Political Discourses,” “An Inquiry Concerning the Principles of Morals,” “Four Dissertations,” “A Treatise on Human Nature,” “History of England,” “Two Essays,” “Natural History of Religion,” “Essays, Moral and Political,” etc.

Let us all be happy and live within our means, even if we have to borrow the money to do it with.

“Natural History,”—Charles Farrar Browne.

CHARLES FARRAR BROWNE (“ARTEMUS WARD”), a noted American humorist, was born at Waterford, Me., April 26, 1834, and died at Southampton, England, March 6, 1867. He wrote: “Artemus Ward, His Book,” and “Artemus Ward, His Travels.”

On the approach of spring, I withdraw without reluctance from the noisy and extensive scene of crowds without company, and dissipation without pleasure.

“Memoirs,” Vol. i, p. 116,—Edward Gibbon.

EDWARD GIBBON, a renowned English historian, was born at Putney, Surrey, April 27, 1737, and died at London, January 15, 1794. His notable works are: “History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire,” “Critical Observations,” “Essay on the Study of Literature,” and “Miscellaneous Works, with Memoir Composed by Himself.”

Volumes might be written upon the impiety of the pious.

“First Principles,”—Herbert Spencer.

HERBERT SPENCER, the celebrated English philosopher, was born at Derby, April 27, 1820, and died December 8, 1903. Among his noted works are: “Principles of Psychology,” “Classification of the Sciences,” “Education,” “Essays,” “The Study of Sociology,” “Data of Ethics,” “Principles of Sociology,” “Political Institutions,” etc.

Let us have peace.

Accepting a Nomination for the Presidency, May 29, 1868.—Ulysses Simpson Grant.

ULYSSES SIMPSON GRANT, the greatest of American generals, and eighteenth President of the United States, was born at Point Pleasant, Ohio, April 27, 1822, and died at Mt. McGregor near Saratoga Springs, N. Y., July 23, 1885. His “Personal Memoirs,” won for him everlasting literary fame.

Have you sent to the apothecary for a sufficient quantity of cream of tartar to make lemonade? You know I die if I have not everything in the highest style.

“Man and Wife,” iii,—Colman.

GEORGE COLMAN, the Elder, a celebrated English dramatist, was born in Florence, Italy, April 28, 1733, and died in London, August 14, 1794. Among his comedies are: “The Deuce Is in Him,” “New Brooms,” “Man and Wife,” “The Separate Maintenance.”

Injuries from friends fret and gall more, and the memory of them is not so easily obliterated.

—John Arbuthnot.

JOHN ARBUTHNOT, a famous Scottish humorist, was born near Arbuthnot Castle, Kincardineshire, Scotland, April 29, 1667, and died in London, February 27, 1735. His most celebrated work was, “The History of John Bull.”

Life is a game the soul can play

With fewer pieces than men say.

“Field-Notes,”—Edward Rowland Sill.

EDWARD ROWLAND SILL, a distinguished American poet, was born in Windsor, Conn., April 29, 1841, and died in Cleveland, O., February 27, 1887. His poetical works include: “The Venus of Milo, and Other Poems,” “The Hermitage, and Other Poems,” and “Poems,” published after his death.

To be bright and cheerful often requires an effort; there is a certain art in keeping ourselves happy; in this respect, as in others, we require to watch over and manage ourselves almost as if we were somebody else.

—Sir John Lubbock.

SIR JOHN LUBBOCK, a renowned English naturalist and paleontologist, was born in London, April 30, 1834, and died in 1913. Among his many works are: “Prehistoric Times as Illustrated by Ancient Remains,” “The Origin of Civilization and the Primitive Condition of Man,” “Origin and Metamorphoses of Insects,” “Ants, Bees, and Wasps,” “On the Senses, Instincts and Intelligence of Animals,” “The Beauties of Nature and the Wonders of the World,” “Flowers, Fruits and Leaves,” “The Pleasures of Life,” “The Use of Life,” “The Scenery of Switzerland and the Causes to Which It Is Due,” “The Scenery of England,” “Essays and Addresses,” “Free Trade,” “Notes on the Life History of the British Flowering Plants,” “Marriage, Totemism, and Religion,” “Peace and Happiness,” etc.

From our Dominion never

Take thy protecting hand!

United, Lord, forever,

Keep thou our father’s land!

—John Campbell, Duke of Argyll.

GEORGE JOHN DOUGLAS CAMPBELL, eighth Duke of Argyll, a noted English philosophical, scientific, and political writer, and statesman, was born in Ardencaple, Castle Dumbartonshire, April 30, 1823, and died in 1900. Among his notable works are: “The Reign of Law,” “Primeval Man,” “Iona,” “The Eastern Question,” “The Unity of Nature,” “The Unseen Foundations of Society.”

FOOTNOTES:

[1] Tell me what you eat, and I will tell you what you are.

[2] We Germans fear God, but nothing else in the world.

[3] The king reigns but does not govern.

MAY

MAY

It must be so,—Plato, thou reasonest well!

Else whence this pleasing hope, this fond desire,

This longing after immortality?

Or whence this secret dread and inward horror

Of falling into naught? Why shrinks the soul

Back on herself, and startles at destruction?

’Tis the divinity that stirs within us;

’Tis Heaven itself that points out an hereafter,

And intimates eternity to man.

Eternity! thou pleasing, dreadful thought.

“Cato,” Act V. Sc. I.—Joseph Addison.

JOSEPH ADDISON, a famous English essayist and poet, was born at Milston, Wiltshire, May 1, 1672, and died in London, June 17, 1719. He wrote 41 original papers in the “Tattler,” and 34 with Steele; 274 in the “Spectator,” 24 to a revived “Spectator,” and 2 to Steele’s “Lover.” His other works include: “Letters from Italy” (a poem), “The Campaign” (a poem), “Fair Rosamond” (an opera), “Remarks on Several Parts of Italy,” and “Cato” (a tragedy).

As an orator, Webster has been compared in simplicity to Demosthenes and in profundity to Burke.

“Daniel Webster; History of the United States,”—James Ford Rhodes.

JAMES FORD RHODES, a distinguished American historian, was born in Cleveland, Ohio, May 1, 1848. He is best known by his noted work in two volumes, “History of the United States from the Compromise of 1850.” His other works include, “Historical Essays,” “Lectures on the American Civil War Delivered at Oxford,” “History of the Civil War,” “History of the United States from Hayes to McKinley,” etc.

All power appears only in transition. Permanent power is stuff.

—Novalis.

NOVALIS, the nom de plume of FRIEDRICH VON HARDENBURG, a noted German philosopher and mystic, was born in Saxony, May 2, 1772, and died, 1801. Among his writings are: “Hymns to the Night,” “Disciples at Sais,” and “Heinrich von Ofterdingen.”

The people of Massachusetts in the seventeenth century, like all other Christian people at that time and later,—at least, with extremely rare individual exceptions,—believed in the reality of a hideous crime called witchcraft. They thought they had Scripture for that belief, and they knew they had law for it, explicit and abundant; and with them law and Scripture were absolute authorities for the regulation of opinion and of conduct.

“History of New England.”—J. G. Palfrey.

JOHN GORHAM PALFREY, a distinguished American clergyman and author, was born in Boston, May 2, 1796, and died in Cambridge, Mass., April 26, 1881. He published numerous sermons, lectures, addresses, etc., but “The History of New England,” won for him world-wide fame.

I like work; it fascinates me. I can sit and look at it for hours. I love to keep it by me: the idea of getting rid of it nearly breaks my heart.

“Three Men in a Boat,” Chap. 15,—J. K. Jerome.

JEROME K. JEROME, a famous English writer, was born at Walsall, May 2, 1861. Among his works are: “Idle Thoughts of an Idle Fellow,” “Three Men in a Boat,” “Novel Notes,” “John Ingerfield,” “Fennel,” “Ruth,” “Passing of the Third Floor Back,” “Esther Castways,” “Malvina of Brittany,” “All Roads Lead to Calvary,” etc.

Bisogna che i giudici siano assai perché pochi sempre fanno a modo de’pochi.[1]

“Dei Discorsi,” I, 7,—Machiavelli.

NICCOLO MACHIAVELLI, a renowned Italian statesman and political and historical writer was born at Florence, May 3, 1469, and died there, June 22, 1527. He wrote: “Mandragola,” “The Prince,” “Florentine History,” “Discourses,” “Art of War,” etc.

There is another and a better world.

“The Stranger,” Act. i, Sc. 1,—A. F. Kotzebue.

AUGUST FRIEDRICH FERDINAND VON KOTZEBUE, a famous German dramatist, was born at Weimar, May 3, 1761, and died at Mannheim, March 23, 1819. His best known works are: “The Spaniards in Peru,” “The Stranger,” “Misanthropy and Repentance,” “German Provincials,” “The Indians in England,” and his noted novel, “Sorrows of the Ortenberg Family.”

The Doctrine of Stoicism modified by a doctrine of culture is nobly preached in Matthew Arnold’s verse.

“New Studios in Literature,” p. 37,—Edward Dowden.

EDWARD DOWDEN, a distinguished Irish poet and historian of literature, was born at Cork, May 3, 1843, and died in 1913. He has written: “Life of Percy Bysshe Shelley,” “Primer of French Literature,” “Studies in Literature,” “Poems,” “Southey,” “Shakespeare, His Mind and Art,” “Introduction to Shakespeare,” “Wordsworth,” “New Studies in Literature,” “The French Revolution and English Literature,” “A History of French Literature,” “Robert Browning,” “Michel de Montaigne,” “Essays: Modern and Elizabethan,” “Poetical Works” (2 vols.). His “Letters” appeared in 1914.

The triumphs of the warrior are bounded by the narrow theatre of his own age, but those of a Scott or a Shakespeare will be renewed with greater luster in ages yet unborn, when the victorious chieftain shall be forgotten, or shall live only in the song of the minstrel and the page of the chronicler.

—Prescott.

WILLIAM HICKLING PRESCOTT, a famous American historian, was born at Salem, Mass., May 4, 1796, and died in New York, January 28, 1859. He wrote: “History of Ferdinand and Isabella,” “History of the Conquest of Mexico,” “History of the Conquest of Peru,” “Critical Essays,” “History of the Reign of Philip II of Spain,” etc.

It is well to think well: it is divine to act well.

—Horace Mann.

HORACE MANN, a noted American educator and educational writer was born in Franklin, Mass., May 4, 1796, and died in Yellow Springs, Ohio, August 2, 1859. He published: “A Few Thoughts for a Young Man,” “Slavery: Letters and Speeches,” “Powers and Duties of Woman,” etc.

The great end of life is not knowledge but action.

“Technical Education,”—Thomas Henry Huxley.

THOMAS HENRY HUXLEY, a renowned English scientist, was born in Ealing, May 4, 1825, and died June 29, 1895. Among his famous works are: “Evidence as to Man’s Place in Nature,” “On the Educational Value of the Natural-History Sciences,” “Lectures on the Elements of Comparative Anatomy,” “Lessons in Elementary Physiology,” “On the Physical Basis of Life,” “Half Hours with Modern Scientists,” “American Addresses,” “An Introduction to the Classification of Animals,” “Science and Culture, and Other Essays,” etc., etc.

Time, to the nation as to the individual, is nothing absolute; its duration depends on the rate of thought and feeling.

—John W. Draper.

JOHN WILLIAM DRAPER, a famous physiologist, historical and miscellaneous prose-writer, was born near Liverpool, England, May 5, 1811, and died at Hastings-on-the-Hudson, N. Y., January 4, 1882. He has written: “Human Physiology,” “History of the Intellectual Development of Europe,” “History of the American Civil War,” and his most celebrated work, “History of the Conflict Between Religion and Science.”

In La Fontaine there is an affluence of poetry which is found in no other French author.

“Literary Judgments,”—Joseph Joubert.

JOSEPH JOUBERT, an eminent French moralist and writer of aphorisms, was born in Montignac, Périgord, May 6, 1754, and died at Paris in 1824. Most of his epigrammatic work was published after his death, the titles of the volumes being, “Thoughts,” and “Thoughts, Essays, Maxims, and Correspondence.”

I feel the breath of the summer night,

Aromatic fire;

The trees, the vines the flowers are astir

With tender desire.

“A Summer Night,”—Elizabeth Barstow Stoddard.

ELIZABETH DREW (BARSTOW) STODDARD, a noted American novelist and poet, was born in Mattapoisett, Mass., May 6, 1823, and died in 1902. Among her works are: “Temple House,” “Two Men,” “The Morgesons,” and “Poems,” collected and published in 1895, etc.

I trust in Nature for the stable laws

Of beauty and utility. Spring shall plant

And Autumn garner to the end of time.

I trust in God,—the right shall be the right

And other than the wrong, while he endures.

I trust in my own soul, that can perceive

The outward and the inward,—Nature’s good

And God’s.

“A Soul’s Tragedy,” Act i,—Robert Browning.

ROBERT BROWNING, the renowned English poet, was born in Camberwell, May 7, 1812, and died in Venice, December 12, 1889. Among his poetical works are: “A Soul’s Tragedy,” “The Return of the Druses,” “Colombe’s Birthday,” “Strafford,” “Pauline,” “Christmas Eve and Easter Day,” “Fifine at the Fair,” “Men and Women,” “King Victor and King Charles,” “Jocoseria,” “Red-Cotton Nightcap Country,” “Dramatic Idylls,” “Pippa Passes,” etc.

Facts are stubborn things.

“Gil Blas,” Book x, Chap. i,—Le Sage.

ALAIN RENÉ LE SAGE, a famous French novelist and dramatist, was born at Sarzeau, near Cannes, May 8, 1668, and died at Boulogne-sur-Mer, November 17, 1747. His greatest works were: “The Bachelor of Salamanca,” “Gil Blas,” “The Life and Adventures of M. de Beauchène,” “The Devil on Two Sticks,” and two well-known comedies, “Crispin His Master’s Rival,” and “Turcaret.”

Suffering is the surest means of making us truthful to ourselves.

—Sismondi.

JEAN CHARLES LÉONARD SIMON DE SISMONDI, an illustrious Swiss historian, was born at Geneva, May 9, 1773, and died there, June 25, 1842. His most noted works are: “History of the Italian Republics in the Middle Ages,” “History of the New Birth of Liberty in Italy,” “History of the Fall of the Roman Empire,” “History of the French,” “Julia Severa: or, the Year 492,” and “Literature of the South of Europe.”

Life is a long lesson in humility.

“The Little Minister,” Chap. 3,—J. M. Barrie.

JAMES MATTHEW BARRIE, a noted Scottish author, was born in Kirriemuir, Forfarshire, May 9, 1860. He has written: “When a Man’s Single,” “Better Dead,” “Auld Licht Idylls,” “A Window in Thrums,” “My Lady Nicotine,” “Sentimental Tommy,” “Margaret Ogilvy,” “The Little Minister,” “Tommy and Grizel,” “The Little White Bird,” “Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens,” “Peter and Wendy,” Dramatic works are: “The Professor’s Love Story,” “The Wedding Guest,” “Little Mary,” “Peter Pan,” “Alice-Sit-by-the-Fire,” “What Every Woman Knows,” “The Legend of Leonora,” “The Will,” “The Adored One,” “Half an Hour,” “Der Tag,” “Rosy Rapture,” “A Kiss for Cinderella,” “Seven Women,” “Dear Brutus,” “Echoes of the War,” etc.

No country seems to owe more to its women than America does, nor to owe to them so much of what is best in social institutions and in the beliefs that govern conduct.

“The American Commonwealth,”—James Bryce.

JAMES BRYCE, a noted British statesman, diplomat, and historian, was born in Belfast, May 10, 1838, and died Jan. 22, 1922. His most important works are: “The Holy Roman Empire” and “The American Commonwealth.”

By the waters of Life we sat together,

Hand in hand, in the golden days

Of the beautiful early summer weather,

When skies were purple and breath was praise.

“An Old Man’s Idyll,”—Thomas Noel.

THOMAS NOEL, a noted English poet, was born May 11, 1799, and died in 1861. Among his volumes of verse are: “Rhymes and Roundelayes,” etc.

The congress of Vienna does not walk, but it dances.

—Prince de Ligne.

CHARLES JOSEPH, PRINCE DE LIGNE, a distinguished Belgian soldier and miscellaneous writer, was born at Brussels, May 12, 1735, and died December 13, 1814. He wrote: “Military, Literary and Sentimental Miscellanies,” “Life of Prince Eugene of Savoy,” etc.

Molto sa chi non sa, se tacer sa.[2]

“Gingillino,” Part II,—Giusti.

GIUSEPPI GIUSTI, a notable Italian poet and political satirist, was born in Monsummano, May 12, 1809, and died in Florence, March 31, 1850. His first masterpiece was the poem “Dies Iræ,” other pieces are: “The Boot,” “The Crowned,” “The Investiture of a Knight,” and the satires written from 1847 to 1849.

Each hour until we meet is as a bird

That wings from far his gradual way along

The rustling covert of my soul—his song

Still loudlier trilled through leaves more deeply stirr’d:

But at the hour of meeting, a clear word

Is every note he sings, in Love’s own tongue.

“Winged Hours,” Sonnet xv,—Dante Gabriel Rossetti.

DANTE GABRIEL ROSSETTI, the renowned English painter and poet, was born in London, May 12, 1828, and died at Birchington, Kent, April 9, 1882. Among his poetical works are: “Blessed Damozel,” “Sister Helen,” “The White Ship,” “The House of Life,” “The King’s Tragedy,” “Hand and Soul,” and “Rose Mary.” Also: translations of “Early Italian Poets.”

To tremble, when I touch her hands,

With awe that no man understands;

To feel soft reverence arise

When, lover-sweet, I meet her eyes;

To see her beauty grow and shine

When most I feel this awe divine,—

Whate’er befall me, this is mine;

And whereabout the room she moves,

My spirit follows her, and loves.

“Divine Awe,”—George Edward Woodberry.

GEORGE EDWARD WOODBERRY, a famous American poet and miscellaneous writer, was born at Beverly, Mass., May 12, 1855. He has written: “The North Shore Watch, and Other Poems,” “History of Wood Engraving,” “Life of Edgar Allan Poe,” “The Flight and Other Poems,” “North Africa and the Desert,” “Shakespeare: An Address,” “Great Writers,” “Poems,” “The Inspiration of Poetry,” “Wendell Phillips,” “Two Phases of Criticism,” “Ideal Passion” (sonnets).

Work, and thou wilt bless the day

Ere the toil be done;

They that work not, can not pray,

Can not feel the sun.

God is living, working still,

All things work and move;

Work, or lose the power to will,

Lose the power to love.

“Working,”—John Sullivan Dwight.

JOHN SULLIVAN DWIGHT, a noted American musical critic, was born at Boston, May 13, 1813, and died September 5, 1893. His noted poem is, “God Save the State.”

Children are like grown people; the experience of others is never of any use to them.

—Alphonse Daudet.

ALPHONSE DAUDET, a distinguished French novelist, was born at Nîmes, May 13, 1840, and died December 16, 1897. He wrote: “The Little Thing: Story of a Child,” “Letters from My Mill,” “Monday Tales,” “Fromont, Jr. and Risler, Sr.,” “The Nabob,” “Kings in Exile,” “Numa Roumestan,” “The Gospeller,” “Sappho,” “Tartarin,” “Prodigious Adventures of Tartarin,” “Tartarin in the Alps,” “Port Tarascon,” “Thirty Years of Paris,” “Recollections of a Man of Letters,” etc.

Columbia, Columbia, to glory arise,

The queen of the world and the child of the skies!

Thy genius commands thee; with rapture behold,

While ages on ages thy splendors unfold.

“Columbia,”—Timothy Dwight.

TIMOTHY DWIGHT, a celebrated American Congregational clergyman, was born in Northampton, Mass., May 14, 1752, and died in New Haven, Conn., January 11, 1817. He wrote: “Observations on Language,” “Essay on Light,” “Greenfield Hill” “Travels in New England and New York,” “Theology Explained and Defended,” etc.

“You can never say too much about Coleridge to me,” Rossetti would write, “for I worship him on the right side of idolatry, and I perceive you know him well.” Upon this one of my first remarks was that there was much in Coleridge’s higher descriptive verse equivalent to the landscape art of Turner. The critical parallel Rossetti warmly approved of, adding however, that Coleridge, at his best as a pictorial artist, was a spiritualised Turner.

“Recollections of Dante Gabriel Rossetti,”—Hall Caine.

SIR THOMAS HENRY HALL CAINE, an eminent English novelist, was born at Runcorn, Cheshire, May 14, 1853. His most noted works are: “The Deemster,” “A Son of Hagar,” “Recollections of Rossetti,” “The Scapegoat,” “The Shadow of a Crime,” “The Manxman,” “The Christian,” “The White Prophet,” “The Prodigal Son,” “The Woman Thou Gavest Me,” etc. Also: “The Drama of 365 Days,” “Scenes in the Great War,” “Britain’s Daughters,” etc.

Sooth ’twere a pleasant life to lead,

With nothing in the world to do

But just to blow a shepherd’s reed,

The silent season thro’

And just to drive a flock to feed,—

Sheep, quiet, fond and few!

“Dolce far Niente,” Stanza I,—Laman Blanchard.

SAMUEL LAMAN BLANCHARD, a noted British author and journalist, was born May 15, 1804, and died February 15, 1845. He published “Lyric Offerings,” etc.; and edited numerous magazine journals.

The deeper the feeling the less demonstrative will be the expression of it.

—Balzac.

HONORÉ DE BALZAC, the greatest of French novelists, was born in Tours, May 16, 1799, and died in Paris, August 18, 1850. He wrote in all about 97 celebrated novels. Among them: “Le Vieille Fille,” “Contrat De Marriage,” “Le Colonel Chabert,” “Les Chouans,” “Pierrette,” “Seraphita,” “Les Employés,” “Modeste Mignon,” “Histoire Des Treize,” “Début Dans La Vie,” “Ursule Mirouet,” “Eugène Grandet,” “Cousin Pons,” “Le Père Goriot,” “Les Paysans,” “Cousine Bette,” etc., etc.

Les grandes ne sont grands que parceque nous sommes à genoux; Relevons nous.[3]

“Revolutions de Paris,” Motto.—Prudhomme.

RENÉ FRANÇOIS ARMAND SULLY-PRUDHOMME, a famous French poet, was born at Paris, May 16, 1839, and died in 1907. He has written: “The Broken Vase,” “Stanzas and Poems,” “The Stables of Augeas,” “The Wildernesses,” “Revolt of the Flowers,” “Reflections on the Art of Versification,” etc.

To think, and to feel, constitute the two grand divisions of men of genius—the men of reasoning and the men of imagination.

“Literary Character of Men of Genius,” Ch. II,—Isaac Disraeli.

ISAAC DISRAELI, a distinguished English literary essayist, compiler and historian, was born at Enfield in Middlesex, May 17, 1766, and died January 9, 1848. Among his writings are: “Curiosities of Literature,” “Calamities of Authors,” “Quarrels of Authors,” “Miscellanies, or Literary Recollections,” etc. Also: “Commentaries on the Life and Reign of Charles I.”

A monument to Newton! a monument to Shakespeare! Look up to Heaven—look into the Human Heart. Till the planets and the passions—the affections and the fixed stars are extinguished—their names cannot die.

“Noctes Ambrosianæ,” Vol. iii,—John Wilson.

JOHN WILSON (CHRISTOPHER NORTH), a noted Scottish writer, was born May 18, 1785, at Paisley, and died April 3, 1854. Among his works are: “The Isle of Palms,” “The City of the Plague,” “Lights and Shadows of Scottish Life,” “The Trials of Margaret Lindsay,” “The Foresters,” etc.

Not alone to know, but to act according to thy knowledge, is thy destination,—proclaims the voice of my inmost soul. Not for indolent contemplation and study of thyself, nor for brooding over emotions of piety—no, for action was existence given thee; thy actions, and thy actions alone, determine thy worth.

—Fichte.

JOHANN GOTTLIEB FICHTE, a renowned German philosopher, was born at Rammenau in Upper Lusatia, May 19, 1762, and died at Berlin, January 27, 1814. Among his works are: “Foundations of the Whole Doctrine of Science,” “Introduction to the Doctrine of Science,” “The Doctrine of Science,” “System of Moral Doctrine,” “Man’s Destiny,” and his celebrated treatise, “Essay Toward a Critique of All Revelation.”

The worth of a state, in the long run, is the worth of the individuals composing it.

—John Stuart Mill.

JOHN STUART MILL, a famous English philosophical writer, logician, and political economist, was born in London, May 20, 1806, and died at Avignon, France, May 8, 1873. Among the most important of his works are: “Essay on Liberty,” “Logic,” “Political Economy,” “On the Subjection of Women,” “Examination of Sir William Hamilton’s Philosophy,” “Auguste Comte and Positivism,” and “Utilitarianism.” His “Autobiography” appeared in 1873.

It was the calm and silent night!

Seven hundred years and fifty-three

Had Rome been growing up to might,

And now was queen of land and sea.

No sound was heard of clashing wars,

Peace brooded o’er the hushed domain;

Apollo, Pallas, Jove, and Mars

Held undisturbed their ancient reign,

In the solemn midnight

Centuries ago.

“Christmas Hymn,”—Alfred Domett.

ALFRED DOMETT, a noted British statesman and poet, was born at Camberwell Grove, Surrey, May 20, 1811, and died in 1887. The best known of his works are: “Ranolf and Amohia, a South Sea Day Dream,” and “Flotsam and Jetsam: Rhymes Old and New.”

Awake, my St. John! leave all meaner things

To low ambition and the pride of kings.

Let us (since life can little more supply

Than just to look about us, and to die)

Expatiate free o’er all this scene of man;

A mighty maze! but not without a plan.

“Essay on Man,” Epistle i, Line 1,—Alexander Pope.

ALEXANDER POPE, the renowned English poet, was born at London, May 21, 1688, and died at Twickenham on the Thames, May 30, 1744. His most famous works are: “Homer’s Odyssey,” “The Iliad of Homer,” translated, “Epistles from Eloisa to Abelard,” “The Rape of the Lock,” “The Temple of Fame,” “Essay on Criticism,” “The Dunciad,” “Imitations of Horace,” “Essay on Man,” etc.

“It is more than a crime; it is a political fault,”—words which I record, because they have been repeated and attributed to others.

“Memoirs,”—Fouché.

JOSEPH FOUCHÉ (DUKE OF OTRANTO), a celebrated French statesman, was born May 21, 1759, and died in 1820. A few of his famous political pamphlets and reports are: “Réflexions sur le jugement de Louis Cofret,” “Réflexions sur l’éducation publique,” “Rapport et project de loi relatif aux Collèges,” etc.

A sudden thought strikes me,—let us swear an eternal friendship.

“The Rovers,”—J. H. Frere.

JOHN HOOKHAM FRERE, a noted English poet, translator, and diplomatist, was born in London, May 21, 1769, and died in Malta, January 7, 1846. He produced: the “Prospectus and Specimen of an Intended National Work... Relating to King Arthur and his Round Table,” known as “The Monks and the Giants”; a literary burlesque, and numerous translations.

A sound so fine, there’s nothing lives

’Twixt it and silence.

“Virginius,” Act v, Sc. 2 (1784-1862),—James Sheridan Knowles.

JAMES SHERIDAN KNOWLES, a famous Irish actor, lecturer and dramatist, was born at Cork, May 21, 1784, and died at Torquay, England, November 30, 1862. Among his dramas are: “Caius Gracchus,” “William Tell,” “Alfred the Great,” “The Wife: a Tale of Mantua,” “The Rose of Aragon,” and his three masterpieces, “Virginius,” “The Hunchback,” and “The Love Chase.”

Unconsciousness is one of the most important conditions of a good style in speaking or in writing.

—Richard Grant White.

RICHARD GRANT WHITE, an eminent American journalist, critic, and Shakespearean scholar, was born in New York City, May 22, 1822, and died there, April 8, 1885. Among his books are: “National Hymns: A Lyrical and National Study for the Times,” “Memoirs of the Life of William Shakespeare, with an Essay Towards the Expression of His Genius,” “Poetry of the Civil War,” “Words and Their Uses,” “England Without and Within,” etc.

The bow was made in England:

Of true wood, of yew-wood,

The wood of English bows;

So men who are free

Love the old yew-tree

And the land where the yew-tree grows.

“Songs of Action: Song of the Bow,” etc. I,—Sir A. Conan Doyle.

SIR ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE, a renowned Scotch story and romance writer, was born in Edinburgh, May 22, 1859. His works include: “A Study in Scarlet,” “The Sign of the Four,” “The White Company,” “The Great Shadow,” “Adventures of Sherlock Holmes,” “The Hound of the Baskervilles,” “Adventures of Gerard,” “Return of Sherlock Holmes,” “Sir Nigel,” “Through the Magic Door,” “The Fires of Fate,” “The Crime of the Congo,” “The Lost World,” “The Case of Oscar Slater,” “The Valley of Fear,” “A Visit to Three Fronts,” “His Last Bow,” etc.

I remember, I remember

The fir-trees dark and high;

I used to think their slender-tops

Were close against the sky;

It was a childish ignorance,

But now ’tis little joy

To know I’m farther off from heaven

Than when I was a boy.

“I remember, I remember,”—Thomas Hood.

THOMAS HOOD, the great English poet, was born in London, May 23, 1799, and died there May 3, 1845. Among his poetical works are: “The Haunted House,” “Whims and Oddities,” “The Plea of the Midsummer Fairies,” and “The Hostler’s Lament,” “The Bridge of Sighs,” and “The Song of the Shirt.”

Chance cannot touch me! Time cannot hush me!

Fear, hope, and longing, at strife,

Sink as I rise, on, on, upward forever,

Gathering strength, gaining breath,—naught can sever

Me from the Spirit of Life!

“Dryad Song,” Stanza 4,—Margaret Fuller.

SARAH MARGARET FULLER, Marchioness d’Ossoli, best known as “Margaret Fuller,” was born at Cambridgeport, Mass., May 23, 1810, and died in 1850. She wrote: “Art, Literature, and Drama,” “At Home and Abroad,” “Life Without and Life Within,” and a collection of essays on “Women in the Nineteenth Century.”

The object of science is knowledge; the objects of art are works. In art, truth is the means to an end; in science, it is the only end. Hence the practical arts are not to be classed among the sciences.

—William Whewell.

WILLIAM WHEWELL, a noted English philosopher and scientist, was born at Lancaster, May 24, 1794, and died at Cambridge, March 6, 1866. Among his works are: “History of the Inductive Sciences,” “Philosophy of the Inductive Sciences,” “Lectures on Political Economy,” “Elements of Morality,” etc.

If ever any poet stood in the white light of the beauty which we call poetry, it was Mrs. Browning. Her thoughts were as fire and her words were as fire.

“Lectures on English Literature,” 1889, p. 135.—Maurice Francis Egan.

MAURICE FRANCIS EGAN, a distinguished man of letters, was born in Philadelphia, May 24, 1852 and died in 1923. His works include: “That Girl of Mine,” “That Lover of Mine,” “A Garden of Roses,” “Stories of Duty,” “The Life Around Us,” “Lectures on English Literature,” “A Primer of English Literature,” “A Gentleman,” “The Flower of the Flock,” “Preludes” (poetry), “Songs and Sonnets,” “Everybody’s St. Francis.”

Beneath the rule of men entirely great,

The pen is mightier than the sword.

“Richelieu,” Act ii, Sc. 2,—Edward Bulwer-Lytton.

EDWARD BULWER-LYTTON, LORD LYTTON, the renowned English novelist, poet and dramatist, was born in London, May 25, 1803, and died in Torquay, January 18, 1873. Among his famous novels are: “Eugene Aram,” “Pelham,” “Last Days of Pompeii,” “Pilgrims of the Rhine,” “Last of the Barons,” “Ernest Maltravers,” “A Strange Story,” “Rienzi,” “Devereux,” “Falkland,” “Harold,” “The Coming Race,” “The Caxtons,” and three noted dramas, “Money,” “Richelieu,” and “The Lady of Lyons.”

I rarely read any Latin, Greek, German, Italian, sometimes not a French book, in the original, which I can procure in a good version. I like to be beholden to the great metropolitan English speech, the sea which receives tributaries from every region under heaven. I should as soon think of swimming across Charles River when I wish to go to Boston, as of reading all my books in originals when I have them rendered for me in my mother tongue.

“Books,”—Ralph Waldo Emerson.

RALPH WALDO EMERSON, the famous American philosopher, essayist and poet, was born in Boston, May 25, 1803, and died at Concord, Mass., April 27, 1882. He wrote: “The American Scholar,” “Man the Reformer,” “Nature,” “The Young American,” “The Conduct of Life,” “Letters and Social Aims,” “Tribute to Walter Scott,” “Society and Solitude,” “Representative Men,” “Miscellanies,” “Essays,” “Poems,” “May Day and Other Pieces,” etc.

Satire should, like a polished razor keen,

Wound with a touch that’s scarcely felt or seen.

“To the Imitator of the First Satire of Horace,” Book ii,—Mary Wortley Montagu.

MARY WORTLEY, LADY MONTAGU, a celebrated English letter-writer, was born at Thoresby, Notts, May 26, 1689, and died in England, August 21, 1762. Her “Letters” won for her great literary fame.

In the beauty of the lilies Christ was born across the sea, With a glory in His bosom that transfigures you and me; As He died to make men holy, let us die to make men free.

“Battle Hymn of the Republic,”—Julia Ward Howe.

JULIA WARD HOWE, a famous American poet, essayist, lecturer, biographer, and writer of travels, was born in New York, May 27, 1819, and died in 1910. Among her works are: “Life of Margaret Fuller,” “Trip to Cuba,” “Sex and Education,” “The World’s Own,” “Later Lyrics,” “From the Oak to the Olive,” and her celebrated “Battle Hymn of the Republic.”

A cause is like champagne and high heels,—one must be prepared to suffer for it.

“The Title,”—Arnold Bennett.

ENOCH ARNOLD BENNETT, a famous English author and journalist, was born at North Staffordshire, May 27, 1867. Among his many works are: “The Truth About an Author,” “A Great Man,” “The Old Wives’ Tale,” “The Regent,” “The Price of Love,” “Over There,” “War Scenes on the Western Front,” “Books and Persons,” “The Pretty Lady,” “The Roll Call,” “Things That Have Interested Me.” Among his plays are: “Milestones” (with Edward Knoblauch), “The Great Adventure,” “The Title,” “Judith,” “Sacred and Profane Love.”

Whate’er there be of Sorrow

I’ll put off till To-morrow

And when To-morrow comes, why then

’Twill be To-day and Joy again.

“The Word,”—John K. Bangs.

JOHN KENDRICK BANGS, a noted American humorist and novelist, was born May 27, 1862, and died January 21, 1922. Among his publications are “Coffee and Repartee,” “Mr. Bonaparte of Corsica,” “Water Ghost and Other Stories,” “A Houseboat on the Styx,” “A Rebellious Heroine,” “The Pursuit of the Houseboat,” “Olympian Nights,” “Over the Plum Pudding,” “Mollie and the Unwise Man,” “The Inventions of the Idiot,” “Songs of Cheer,” “Little Book of Christmas,” “Line o’ Cheer for Each Day of the Year,” “The Foothills of Parnassas,” “From Pillar to Post,” “Half-Hours with the Idiot.”

The harp that once through Tara’s halls

The soul of music shed,

Now hangs as mute on Tara’s walls

As if that soul were fled.

So sleeps the pride of former days,

So glory’s thrill is o’er;

And hearts that once beat high for praise

Now feel that pulse no more.

“The Harp that Once Through Tara’s Halls,”—Thomas Moore.

THOMAS MOORE, one of the greatest of Irish poets, was born at Dublin, May 28, 1779, and died near Devizes, February 25, 1852. His most famous works were: “Irish Melodies,” “Loves of the Angels,” “Odes and Epistles,” “The Twopenny Post Bag,” “History of Ireland,” “The Epicurean,” and “Lalla Rookh,” his most famous work.

Asa Gray and Dr. Tarrey are known wherever the study of botany is pursued. Gray, with his indefatigable zeal, will gain upon his competitors.

“Life and Correspondence,” ed. Agassiz, Vol. ii, p. 437, Letter to Milne Edwards,—L. Agassiz.

JEAN LOUIS RODOLPHE AGASSIZ, a renowned Swiss naturalist, was born at Motier, Switzerland, May 28, 1807, and died at Cambridge, Mass., December 14, 1873. He published: “Studies of Glaciers,” “Principles of Zoölogy,” “The Structure of Animal Life,” “Scientific Results of a Journey in Brazil,” etc.

Is life so dear or peace so sweet as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take, but as for me, give me liberty, or give me death!

“Speech in the Virginia Convention,” March, 1775,—Patrick Henry.

PATRICK HENRY, an illustrious American orator, was born at Studley, Va., May 29, 1736, and died at Red Hill, Va., June 6, 1799. His numerous speeches may be found in a (3 vols.) book, entitled “Life,” by William Wirt Henry.

“Vanitas Vanitatum” has rung in the ears

Of gentle and simple for thousands of years;

The wail still is heard, yet its notes never scare

Either simple or gentle from Vanity Fair.

“Vanity Fair,”—Frederick Locker-Lampson.

FREDERICK LOCKER-LAMPSON, a noted English poet, was born at Greenwich, May 29, 1821, and died in 1895. His fame rests principally upon his “Society Verses.”

In this dim world of clouding cares,

We rarely know, till wildered eyes

See white wings lessening up the skies

The angels with us unawares.

“Babe Cristabel,”—Thomas Gerald Massey.

(THOMAS) GERALD MASSEY, a celebrated English poet, was born near Tring, Hertfordshire, May 29, 1828, and died October 29, 1907. He published “Voices of Freedom and Lyrics of Love,” “The Ballad of Babe Cristabel,” “War Waits,” and “A Tale of Eternity.” He collected the best of these volumes into a two-volume edition of poems called “My Lyrical Life.” He also wrote: “The Book of the Beginnings,” “The Natural Genesis,” and his most important work, “Ancient Egypt: The Light of the World.”

“Truths turn into dogmas the moment they are disputed.”

“Heretics,”—G. K. Chesterton.

GILBERT KEITH CHESTERTON, a famous English author was born in London, May 29, 1874. He has published: “Robert Browning,” “Charles Dickens,” “George Bernard Shaw,” “What’s Wrong with the World?” “The Victorian Age in Literature,” “The Wisdom of Father Brown,” “Poems,” “A Shilling for My Thoughts,” “A Short History of England,” “Irish Impressions,” “The Superstition of Divorce,” etc.

So long as faith with freedom reigns

And loyal hope survives,

And gracious charity remains

To leaven lowly lives;

While there is one untrodden tract

For intellect or will,

And men are free to think and act,

Life is worth living still.

“Is Life Worth Living?”—Alfred Austin.

ALFRED AUSTIN, a noted English poet, critic and journalist, was born at Headingly, near Leeds, May 30, 1835, and died in 1913. He was appointed poet laureate of England in 1896. Among his writings are: “The Golden Age: A Satire,” “The Tower of Babel,” “The Human Tragedy,” “Veronica’s Garden,” etc.

Die Liebe wintert nicht

Nein, nein! Ist und bleibt Frühlings-Schein.[4]

“Herbstlied,”—Ludwig Tieck.

JOHANN LUDWIG TIECK, a celebrated German poet and miscellaneous writer, was born in Berlin, May 31, 1773, and died there, April 28, 1853. Among his works may be mentioned: “William Lovell,” “Ostrich Plumes,” “Abdallah,” “Peter Lebrecht: A Story Without Adventures,” “Prince Zerbino,” “Romantic Fancies,” “Life and Death of St. Genevieve,” “Love Songs of the Suabian Past,” “Old English Dramatists,” “The Tourists,” “The Old Man of the Mountain,” “Society in the Country,” “Dramatic Pages,” “The Betrothal,” “Musical Joys and Sorrows,” etc.

To me every hour of the light and dark is a miracle,

Every cubic inch of space is a miracle.

“Miracles,”—Walt Whitman.

WALT WHITMAN, a renowned American poet, was born at West Hills, L. I., May 31, 1819, and died at Camden, N. J., March 26, 1892. He wrote: “Leaves of Grass,” “As a Strong Bird on Pinions Free, and Other Poems,” “Two Rivulets” “November Boughs,” “Memoranda During the War,” “Drum Taps,” “Passage to India,” etc.

A brave endeavor

To do thy duty, whate’er its worth,

Is better than life with love forever,

And love is the sweetest thing on earth.

“Sir Hugo’s Choice,”—James Jeffrey Roche.

JAMES JEFFREY ROCHE, a noted American author, was born in Queen’s County, Ireland, May 31, 1847, and died in 1908. He has written: “Songs and Satires,” “Ballads of Blue Water,” “Life of John Boyle O’Reilly,” “His Majesty the King; A Romance of the Harem,” etc.

FOOTNOTES:

[1] There should be many judges, for few will always do the will of few.

[2] Much knows he who knows naught, if he can hold his tongue.

[3] The great are only great because we are on our knees. Let us rise up.

[4] Love knows no winter; no, no! It is, and remains the sign of spring.

JUNE

JUNE

Abide with me! fast falls the even-tide!

The darkness deepens; Lord, with me abide!

When other helpers fail, and comforts flee,

Help of the helpless, oh, abide with me!

“Abide With Me!”—Henry Francis Lyte.

HENRY FRANCIS LYTE, a distinguished British clergyman and poet, was born at Kelso, Scotland, June 1, 1793, and died at Nice, France, November 20, 1847. He has written: “The Spirit of the Psalms,” and some well-known hymns, among them, “Abide with Me,” “Jesus, I My Cross Have Taken,” “Praise, My Soul,” “The King of Heaven,” etc.

While we would have our young sisters imitate, as they cannot fail to love, the conduct of Ruth, will not their elders do well to ponder on, and imitate the tenderness of Naomi? Would we have our daughters Ruths, we must be Naomis.

—Grace Aguilar.

GRACE AGUILAR, a celebrated English novelist, was born at Hackney, June 2, 1816, and died at Frankfort-on-the-Main, September 16, 1847. She wrote: “The Spirit of Judaism,” “Women of Israel,” “Home Influence,” “The Days of Bruce,” “The Vale of Cedars,” etc.

’Tis wise to learn; ’tis God-like to create.

“The Library,”—John G. Saxe.

JOHN G. SAXE, a noted American humorous poet, was born in Highgate, Vt., June 2, 1816, and died in Albany, N. Y., March 31, 1887. His most popular poems include: “Rhyme of the Rail,” and “The Proud Miss McBride.”

When false things are brought low,

And swift things have grown slow,

Feigning like froth shall go,

Faith be for aye.

“Between Us Now,”—Thomas Hardy.

THOMAS HARDY, the renowned English novelist, was born in Dorsetshire, June 2, 1840. Among his noted works are: “Desperate Remedies,” “Under the Greenwood Tree,” “A Pair of Blue Eyes,” “Far from the Madding Crowd” (Cornhill), “The Hand of Ethelberta,” “The Return of the Native,” “The Trumpet Major,” “A Laodicean,” “Two on a Tower,” “The Mayor of Casterbridge,” “The Woodlanders,” “Tess of the D’Urbervilles,” “Jude the Obscure,” “The Well Beloved,” “Wessex Tales,” “A Group of Noble Dames,” “Life’s Little Ironies,” “A Changed Man, The Waiting Supper and Other Tales,” “Wessex Poems,” “Poems of the Past and the Present,” “The Dynasts” Pt. 1, 2, 3 (1903, 1906, 1908), “Time’s Laughing Stocks,” “Satires of Circumstance,” “Moments of Vision and Miscellaneous Verses,” “Complete Poetical Works.”

Let every man be occupied, and occupied in the highest employment of which his nature is capable, and die with the consciousness that he has done his best.

“Memoirs,” Vol. i, p. 130,—Sydney Smith.

SYDNEY SMITH, the famous English wit, essayist and clergyman, was born at Woodford, Essex, June 3, 1771, and died in London, February 22, 1845. Among his publications are: “Three Letters to Archdeacon Singleton on the Ecclesiastical Commission,” “Letters,” “Papers,” “Peter Plymley’s Letters,” etc.

Courage, Brother! do not stumble,

Though thy path be dark as night;

There’s a star to guide the humble,

Trust in God and do the Right.

“Trust in God,”—Norman Macleod.

NORMAN MACLEOD, a distinguished Scottish divine and miscellaneous writer, was born at Campbeltown, June 3, 1812, and died at Glasgow, June 16, 1872. Among his writings are: “Peeps at the Far East,” “Wee Davie,” “The Earnest Student,” “Character Sketches,” “Parish Papers,” and “The Starling.”

Qui fuit peut revenir aussi;

Qui meurt, il n’en est pas ainsi.[1]

—Scarron.

PAUL SCARRON, a noted French poet, novelist, and dramatist, was born at Paris, June 4, 1610, and died there October 14, 1660. His works include: “The Ridiculous Heir,” “Jodelet,” “Don Japhet of Armenia,” “The Scholar of Salamanca,” and his best known work the “Comic Romance.” His travesty of the Æneid (1648-53) was considered a masterpiece of its kind.

To found a great empire for the sole purpose of raising up a people of customers may at first sight appear a project fit only for a nation of shopkeepers.

“Wealth of Nations,” Vol. ii, Book iv, Chap. vii, part 3 (1775),—Adam Smith.

ADAM SMITH, a celebrated Scotch political economist, was born at Kirkcaldy, June 5, 1723, and died at Edinburgh, July 17, 1790. Among his works may be mentioned: “Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations,” “Theory of Moral Sentiments,” and “Origin of Languages.”

Les hommes valeureux le sont au premier coup.[2]

“Le Cid,” II, 3,—Corneille.

PIERRE CORNEILLE, the illustrious French dramatist, was born at Rouen, June 6, 1606, and died in Paris, September 30, 1684. He wrote: “The Gallery of the Palace,” “The Lady’s Maid,” “Mélite,” “The Widow,” “The Palais Royal,” “Medea,” “The Dramatic Illusion,” “Pompey,” “The Liar,” “The Sequel to the Liar,” “Cinna,” “Horace,” “Théodore,” “Polyeucte,” “Don Sancho,” “The Golden Fleece,” “The Cid,” etc., etc.

There is no such thing as abstract liberty; it is not even thinkable. If you ask me, “Do you favor liberty?” I reply, “Liberty for whom to do what?”

“The Shadow on the Dial,”—Ambrose Bierce.

AMBROSE BIERCE, a noted American author and journalist, was born in Ohio, June 6, 1842, disappeared in 1913. His best known works are: “In the Midst of Life,” “Shapes of Clay,” and “Can Such Things Be?” His “Collected Works,” in 12 volumes, were published 1909-1912.

Beddoes was, so to say, saturated with the spirit of the Elizabethan Dramatists, and cast his poetry for the most part into Elizabethan forms.

A Poetry Book, Second Series, “The Modern Poets,” p. 322, note,—Amelia B. Edwards.

AMELIA BLANDFORD EDWARDS, a celebrated English novelist and Egyptologist, was born in London, June 7, 1831, and died April 15, 1892. She has published: “My Brother’s Wife,” “Hand and Glove,” “In the Days of My Youth,” “A Thousand Miles up the Nile,” etc.

I studied the great art of fiction closely for fifteen years before I presumed to write a word of it.

—Charles Reade.

CHARLES READE, a renowned English novelist, was born at Ipsden, June 8, 1814, and died April 11, 1884. Among his numerous productions are: “Peg Woffington,” “It’s Never Too Late to Mend,” “The Course of True Love Never Did Run Smooth,” “The Double Marriage; or White Lies,” “Hard Cash,” “The Cloister and the Hearth,” “Foul Play,” “Put Yourself in His Place,” “A Terrible Temptation,” “A Simpleton,” “A Woman Hater,” etc. His plays include: “Gold,” “Masks and Faces,” “The Courier of Lyons,” “Two Loves and a Life,” “The King’s Rivals,” etc.

’Mid pleasures and palaces though we may roam,

Be it ever so humble, there’s no place like home;

A charm from the skies seems to hallow us there,

Which sought through the world is ne’er met with elsewhere.

An exile from home splendour dazzles in vain,

Oh, give me my lowly thatched cottage again;

The birds singing gayly, that came at my call,

Give me them, and that peace of mind dearer than all.

“Home Sweet Home,” from the opera “Clari, the Maid of Milan,”—J. Howard Payne.

JOHN HOWARD PAYNE, an American dramatist and author, was born in New York City, June 9, 1792, and died in Tunis, Africa, April 10, 1852. His fame rests upon the celebrated lyric “Home, Sweet Home,” introduced in his drama, the “Maid of Milan.” His other plays are “Brutus,” “Virginius,” and “Charles II.”

While black with storms the ruffled ocean rolls, and from the fisher’s art defends her finny shoals.

—Sir Richard Blackmore.

SIR RICHARD DODDRIDGE BLACKMORE, a renowned English novelist, was born in Longworth, Berkshire, June 9, 1825, and died January 22, 1900. Some of his well-known novels are: “The Maid of Sker,” “Cripps the Carrier,” “Clara Vaughan,” “Sir Thomas Upmore,” “Alice Lorraine,” “Christowell,” “Spring-haven,” “Erema,” “Mary Anerley,” and his most celebrated novel, “Lorna Doone.”

By the flow of the inland river,

Whence the fleets of the iron have fled,

Where the blades of the grave-grass quiver,

Asleep are the ranks of the dead;—

Under the sod and the dew,

Waiting the Judgment Day:

Under the one, the Blue;

Under the other, the Gray.

“The Blue and the Gray,”—Francis Miles Finch.

FRANCIS MILES FINCH, a noted American poet and judge, was born in Ithaca, N. Y., June 9, 1827, and died in 1907. He is the author of the well-known lyrics, “Nathan Hale,” and “The Blue and the Gray.”

Some very dull and sad people have genius though the world may not count it as such; a genius for love, or for patience, or for prayer, maybe. We know the divine spark is here and there in the world; who shall say under what manifestations, or humble disguise!

—Anne Isabelle Thackeray.

LADY ANNE ISABELLE (THACKERAY) RITCHIE, a distinguished English miscellaneous writer, was born in London, June 9, 1838, and died in 1919. She has written: “Old Kensington,” “Toilers and Spinsters,” “Miss Angel,” “Bluebeard’s Keys,” “Mme. de Sévigné,” “Lord Tennyson and his Friends,” “Records of Tennyson, Ruskin, and Browning,” etc.

Also, I think that good must come of good,

And ill of evil—surely—unto all—

In every place and time—seeing sweet fruit

Growth from wholesome roots, and bitter things

From poison stocks; yea, seeing, too, how spite

Breeds hate, and kindness, friends, and patience, peace.

—Edwin Arnold.

SIR EDWIN ARNOLD, the famous English poet and journalist, was born in Rochester, June 10, 1832, and died in 1904. His greatest works are: “Indian Idylls,” “Pearls of the Faith,” “The Light of the World,” “Japonica,” “The Tenth Muse and Other Poems,” “Sa’di in the Garden,” and his most famous work: “The Light of Asia, a Poetic Presentation of the Life and Teaching of Gautama.”

Shall I, wasting in despair,

Die because a woman’s fair?

Or make pale my cheeks with care,

’Cause another’s rosy are?

Be she fairer than the day,

Or the flowery meads in May,

If she be not so to me,

What care I how fair she be?

“The Shepherd’s Resolution,”—George Wither.

GEORGE WITHER, a celebrated English poet and soldier, was born at Brentworth, June 11, 1588, and died in London, May 2, 1667. Among his writings are: “Fidelia,” “The Shepherd’s Hunting,” “Hymns and Songs of the Church,” “The Motto,” “Abuses Stript and Whipt,” and his best-known song, “Shall I, Wasting in Despair.”

In lang, lang day o’ simmer,

When the clear and cloudless sky

Refuses ae wee drap o’ rain

To Nature parched and dry,

The genial night, wi’ balmy breath,

Gars verdure spring anew,

An’ ilka blade o’ grass

Keps its ain drap o’ dew.

“Its Ain Drap o’ Dew,”—Ballantine.

JAMES BALLANTINE, a noted Scotch poet, was born in Edinburgh, on June 11, 1808, and died December 18, 1877. His poetical works include: “The Gaberlunzie’s Wallet,” “One Hundred Songs,” etc.

All things change, creeds and philosophies and outward systems—but God remains.

“Robert Elsmere,” Book IV, Chap, xxvi,—Mary Augusta (Arnold) Ward.

MRS. HUMPHRY WARD (MARY AUGUSTA ARNOLD), a famous English novelist, was born at Hobart Town, Tasmania, June 11, 1851, and died in 1920. She has written: “Milly and Ollie,” “Miss Bretherton,” “Robert Elsmere,” “The History of David Grieve,” “Marcella,” “The Story of Bessie Costrell,” “Sir George Tressady,” “Eleanor,” “Lady Rose’s Daughter,” “The Marriage of William Ashe,” “Fenwick’s Career,” “Diana Mallory,” “Daphne,” “Canadian Born,” “England’s Effort,” “Towards the Goal,” “Missing,” etc.

The poems of Alfred Tennyson have certainly much of the beauty of a long-past time; but they have also a life so vivid, a truth so lucid, and a melody so inexhaustible, as to mark him the poet that cannot die.

“A History of the Thirty Years’ Peace,” A.D. 1815-1846, Vol. IV. p. 436—Harriet Martineau.

HARRIET MARTINEAU, a notable English reformer and miscellaneous writer, was born at Norwich, June 12, 1802, and died at Ambleside, June 27, 1876. Among her most noted works are: “Society in America,” “Deerbrook,” “History of England During the Thirty Years’ Peace,” “Philosophy of Comte,” “British Rule in India,” “Biographical Sketches,” etc.

I am reading again, the “History of England,” that of Smollett.... I have to the reign of George the Second, and, in spite of the dislike I have of Smollett’s language and style of writing, I am much entertained.—Burney, Frances, 1770.

“Early Diary,” ed. Ellis, Vol. I, p. 94,—Frances Burney.

FRANCES BURNEY—MADAME D’ARBLAY, a celebrated English novelist, was born in King’s Lynn, Norfolk, June 13, 1752, and died in Bath, January 6, 1840. Among her noted works are: “Evelina, or a Young Lady’s Entrance into the World,” “Cecilia,” “Camilla,” and “The Wanderer, or Female Difficulties.”

Be good, sweet maid, and let who will be clever;

Do noble things, not dream them, all day long:

And so make life, death, and that vast forever

One grand sweet song.

“A Farewell,”—Charles Kingsley.

CHARLES KINGSLEY, the distinguished English novelist, poet, and philanthropist, was born at Holne, near Dartmoor, Devonshire, June 13, 1819, and died at Eversley, Hampshire, January 23, 1875. He wrote many novels, among them: “Hypatia,” “The Saint’s Tragedy,” (a drama in verse), “Alton Locke, Tailor and Poet,” “Westward, Ho!” “Yeast,” “The Water Babies,” (a fairy tale). Also “Lectures Delivered in America,” “Poems,” “Andromeda and Other Poems,” etc.

Land of Heart’s Desire,

Where beauty has no ebb, decay no flood,

But joy is wisdom, Time and endless song.

“Land of Heart’s Desire,”—William Butler Yeats.

WILLIAM BUTLER YEATS, a famous Irish poet and writer of romance, was born in Dublin, June 13, 1865. He has written: “The Wanderings of Oisin,” “Celtic Twilight,” “Poems,” “The Secret Rose,” “Irish Folk Lore,” “Fairy Tales,” “Irish Stories,” “The Wind Among the Reeds,” “The Countess Kathleen,” “The Shadowy Waters,” “Ideas of Good and Evil,” “In the Seven Woods,” “Hour Glass and Other Plays,” “The King’s Threshold,” “Deirdre,” “The Green Helmet and Other Poems,” “Plays for an Irish Theatre,” etc.

It lies around us like a cloud—

A world we do not see;

Yet the sweet closing of an eye

May bring us there to be.

“The Other World,”—Harriet Beecher Stowe.

HARRIET BEECHER STOWE, a renowned American novelist, was born at Litchfield, Conn., June 14, 1811, and died at Hartford, Conn., July 1, 1896. Among her numerous works are: “Sunny Memories of Foreign Lands,” “First Geography for Children,” “The Minister’s Wooing,” “Religious Poems,” “Agnes of Sorrento,” “Men of Our Times,” “Earthly Care a Heavenly Discipline,” “House and Home Papers,” “Palmetto Leaves,” “The Ravages of a Carpet,” “The Chimney Corner,” “Little Foxes,” “Lives and Deeds of Our Self-Made Men,” etc., etc. Also her famous works: “Uncle Tom’s Cabin; or, Life Among the Lowly,” “Key to Uncle Tom’s Cabin,” and “Uncle Tom’s Emancipation.”

Justice, like lightning, ever should appear;

To few men ruin, but to all men fear.

—Thomas Randolph.

THOMAS RANDOLPH, a noted English poet and dramatist, was born near Daventry in Northamptonshire, and was baptized June 15, 1605, and died in 1635. Among his plays are: “The Jealous Lovers,” “The Muses’ Looking-Glasse,” etc.

Smiling always with a never fading serenity of countenance, and flourishing in an immortal youth.

“Duty of Thanksgiving,” “Works,” Vol. I, p. 66,—Isaac Barrow.

ISAAC BARROW, a distinguished English theologian, classical scholar and mathematician, was born at London, June 16, 1630, and died at London, April, 1677. The best edition of his theological works is that of Rev. A. Napier (1859).

Though I am always in haste, I am never in a hurry.

—John Wesley.

JOHN WESLEY, a celebrated English divine and writer, was born at Epworth, June 17, 1703, and died March 2, 1791. He wrote: “Doctrine of Original Sin,” “Explanatory Notes on the New Testament,” “Preservative Against Unsettled Notions in Religion,” “A Calm Address to Our American Colonies,” “Survey of the Wisdom of God in Creation,” “Notes on the Old and New Testaments,” etc.

The violet thinks, with her timid blue eye,

To pass for a blossom enchantingly shy.

“Garden Gossip,”—Mrs. Osgood.

MRS. FRANCES SARGENT (LOCKE) OSGOOD, a well-known American poet, was born in Boston, June 18, 1811, and died in Hingham, Mass., May 12, 1850. She published: “Wreath of Wild Flowers,” “Poetry of Flowers,” “Poems,” etc.

Whilst twilight’s curtain spreading far,

Was pinned with a single star.

“Death in Disguise,” Line 227 (Boston edition, 1833).—McDonald Clarke.

MCDONALD CLARKE, a noted American poet, was born in Bath, Maine, June 18, 1778, and died in New York, March 5, 1842. His works include: “Poetic Sketches,” “The Belles of Broadway,” etc.

Learning hath gained most by those books by which the printers have lost.

“Of Books,”—Thomas Fuller.

THOMAS FULLER, a famous English divine and historian, was baptized on June 19, 1608, and died in 1661. Among his famous works are: “David’s Heinous Sin,” “History of the Holy War,” “Church History of Britain,” etc. “The Worthies of England,” is the work for which he is now esteemed.

Montaigne is wrong in declaring that custom ought to be followed simply because it is custom, and not because it is reasonable or just.

“Thoughts,” Chap. IV, 6,—Blaise Pascal.

BLAISE PASCAL, a renowned French philosopher and mathematician, was born at Clermont Ferrand, in Auvergne, June 19, 1623, and died at Paris, August 19, 1662. His writings include: “Letters Written by Louis Montalte to a Friend in the Provinces,” more widely known as the “Provincial Letters,” and his “Thoughts on Religion” (Pensées), which was published after his death.

Child of mortality, whence comest thou? Why is thy countenance sad, and why are thine eyes red with weeping?

“Hymns in Prose,” xiii,—Mrs. Barbauld. 1743-1825.

ANNA LÆTITIA BARBAULD, a celebrated English poet and essayist, was born in Kibworth-Harcourt, Leicestershire, June 20, 1743, and died in Stoke Newington, March 9, 1825. She wrote: “Early Lessons for Children,” “Devotional Pieces,” “Hymns in Prose for Children,” “Eighteen Hundred and Eleven,” etc.

The summer day was spoiled with fitful storm;

At night the wind died and the soft rain dropped;

With lulling murmur, and the air was warm,

And all the tumult and the trouble stopped.

“The Nestling Swallows,”—Celia Thaxter.

MRS. CELIA (LEIGHTON) THAXTER, a famous American poet, was born at Portsmouth, N. H., June 20, 1836, and died in 1894. She has written: “Poems for Children,” “Idyls and Pastorals,” “Poems,” “Drift-Weed,” “The Yule Log,” “Letters,” “An Island Garden,” “Among the Isles of Shoals,” “Stories and Poems for Children,” etc.

Woman’s love is writ in water!

Woman’s faith is traced on sand!

“Lays of the Scottish Cavaliers”; “Charles Edward at Versailles,”—W. E. Aytoun.

WILLIAM EDMONSTOUNE AYTOUN, a noted Scottish humorist, was born in Edinburgh, June 21, 1813, and died at Blackhills, near Elgin, August 4, 1865. He wrote: “Ballads of Scotland,” and his most famous work, “Lays of the Scottish Cavaliers.” With Theodore Martin he wrote the celebrated “Bon Gaultier Ballads.”

With the multiplication of books comes the rapid extension and awakening of mental activity.

“Constitutional History of England,”—William Stubbs.

WILLIAM STUBBS, a noted English historical writer, was born at Knaresborough, June 21, 1825, and died April 22, 1901. His most famous work is: “The Constitutional History of England.” He also published: “Lectures on Mediæval and Modern History.”

Hopkins sought to add to the five points of Calvinism the rather heterogeneous ingredient that holiness consists in pure, disinterested benevolence, and that all regard for self is necessarily sinful.

“History of the United States of America,” Vol. II, p. 597,—Richard Hildreth.

RICHARD HILDRETH, a renowned American historian, was born in Deerfield, Mass., June 22, 1807, and died in Florence, Italy, July 11, 1865. Among his works are: “History of Banks,” “Theory of Morals,” “Theory of Politics,” and his most noted work, “History of the United States.”

My two favourite novels are Dickens’ “Tale of Two Cities” and Lytton’s “Coming Race.” Both these books I can read again and again, and with an added pleasure. Only my delight in the last is always marred afresh by disgust at the behaviour of the hero, who, in order to return to this dull earth, put away the queenly Zoe’s love.

“Books which Have Influenced Me,” p. 67,—Haggard, H. Rider.

SIR HENRY RIDER HAGGARD, a celebrated English novelist was born in Norfolk, June 22, 1856. Among his numerous works are: “Cetewayo and His White Neighbors,” “Dawn,” “The Witch’s Head,” “King Solomon’s Mines,” “She,” “Jess,” “Allan Quatermain,” “Cleopatra,” “Allan’s Wife,” “Beatrice,” “Nada, the Lily,” “The People of the Mist,” “Heart of the World,” “Joan Haste,” “Rural England,” “Pearl Maiden,” “The Way of the Spirit,” “Benita,” “Fair Margaret,” “The Yellow God,” “Regeneration,” “Red Eve,” “Marie,” “Child of Storm,” “The Holy Flower,” “The Ivory Child,” “Love Eternal,” “Moon of Israel,” “When the World Shook,” etc.

At some disputed barricade,

When Spring comes back with rustling shade

And apple-blossoms fill the air,—

I have a rendezvous with Death

When Spring brings back blue days and fair.

“I have a Rendezvous With Death,”—Alan Seeger.

ALAN SEEGER, a noted American poet, was born in New York City, June 22, 1888, and was killed on the field of Belloy en Santene, France, July 4, 1916. He will always be remembered for his famous poem, “I Have a Rendezvous with Death.”

If but one friend have crossed thy way,

Once only, in thy mortal day;

If only once life’s best surprise

Has opened on thy human eyes;

Ingrate thou wert, indeed, if thou

Didst not in that rare presence bow,

And on earth’s holy ground, unshod,

Speak softlier the dear name of God.

—Lucy Larcom.

LUCY LARCOM, a noted American poet, was born at Beverly, Mass., June 23 (?), 1826, and died in Boston in 1893. Her works include: “Poems,” “An Idyl of Work, a Story in Verse,” “As It Is in Heaven,” and “The Unseen Friend.”

The world still needs

Its champion as of old, and finds him still.

“The Epic of Hades: Herakles,”—Sir Lewis Morris.

SIR LEWIS MORRIS, a distinguished British poet, was born at Penbryn, June 23, 1833, and died November 13, 1907. His poetical works include: “Songs of Two Worlds,” “The Epic of Hades” (his best-known work) “Songs Unsung,” “A Vision of Saints,” “The Ode of Life,” “Idylls and Lyrics,” “The New Rambler,” and “Gwen.”

Time is short, your obligations are infinite. Are your houses regulated, your children instructed, the afflicted relieved, the poor visited, the work of piety accomplished?

—Massillon.

JEAN BAPTISTE MASSILLON, a renowned French preacher, was born at Hyères, June 24, 1663, and died at Clermont, September 18, 1742. His sermons have been translated into English, also the funeral oration on Louis XIV. (London, 1872.)

A glass is good, and a lass is good,

And a pipe to smoke in cold weather;

The world is good, and the people are good,

And we’re all good fellows together.

“Sprigs of Laurel,” Act. II. Sc. I,—John B. O’Keefe.

JOHN B. O’KEEFE, a famous Irish dramatist, was born in Dublin, June 24, 1747, and died at Southampton, February 4, 1833. Among his plays are: “The Young Quaker,” “The Poor Soldier,” “Peeping Tom,” “Wild Oats,” “The Castle of Andalusia,” “Sprigs of Laurel,” etc.

Of all the duties, the love of truth, with faith and constancy in it, ranks first and highest. Truth is God. To love God and to love Truth are one and the same.

—Silvio Pellico.

SILVIO PELLICO, an illustrious Italian poet, was born at Saluzzo, in Piedmont, June 24, 1788, and died at Turin, January 31, 1854. Among his tragedies are: “Iginia of Asti,” “Ester of Engaddi,” “Leonerio of Dertonia,” “Laodicea,” “Eufemio of Messina,” “Gismonda da Mendrisio,” “Thomas More,” “Herodias,” and “Francesca da Rimini,” his most celebrated tragedy.

Put away all sarcasm from your speech. Never complain. Do not prophesy evil. Have a good word for every one or else keep silent.

—Henry Ward Beecher.

HENRY WARD BEECHER, a distinguished American clergyman, was born in Litchfield, Conn., June 24, 1813, and died in Brooklyn, New York, March 8, 1887. He wrote: “Freedom and War,” “Norwood, or Village Life in New England,” “Eyes and Ears,” “Star Papers: or Experiences of Art and Nature,” etc. His “Sermons” were edited by Dr. Lyman Abbott in 1868.

Who can refute a sneer?

“Moral Philosophy.” Vol. II, Book V, Chap. 9.—William Paley.

WILLIAM PALEY, a noted English divine and philosopher, was born at Peterborough, June 25 (?), 1743, and died May 25, 1805. He published his lectures, revised and enlarged under the title of “The Principles of Moral and Political Philosophy”; also “Deity Collected from the Appearances of Nature.”

Dryden’s practical knowledge of English was beyond all others exquisite and wonderful.

“The Diversions of Purley,”—John Horne Tooke.

JOHN HORNE TOOKE, a celebrated English political writer and grammarian, was born at Westminster, June 25, 1736, and died at Wimbledon, March 18, 1812. His principal work was: “Epea Pteroenta (Winged Words); or The Diversions of Purley.”

Live while you live, the epicure would say,

And seize the pleasures of the present day;

Live while you live, the sacred preacher cries,

And give to God each moment as it flies.

Lord, in my views, let both united be:

I live in pleasure when I live to thee.

“Epigram on his Family Arms,”—Philip Doddridge.

PHILIP DODDRIDGE, a distinguished English non-conformist divine, was born in London, June 26, 1702, and died in Lisbon, Portugal, October 26, 1751. Among his works are: “The Rise and Progress of Religion in the Soul,” “The Family Expositor,” and “Evidences of Christianity.”

Lafcadio Hearn is a painter with the pen.

LAFCADIO HEARN, a noted American journalist and miscellaneous writer, was born at Santa Maura, Ionian Islands, June 27, 1850, and died September 26, 1904. He has written: “Two Years in the French West Indies,” “Youma,” “Some Chinese Ghosts,” “Glimpses of Unfamiliar Japan,” “Gleanings in Buddha-fields,” “Out of the East,” “Kokoro,” “Exotics and Retrospectives,” “Shadowings,” “A Japanese Miscellany,” “Kotto,” “Japanese Fairy Tales,” “Kwaidan,” etc.

Days of absence, sad and dreary,

Clothed in sorrow’s dark array,—

Days of absence, I am weary:

She I love is far away.

“Days of Absence,”—Jean Jacques Rousseau.

JEAN JACQUES ROUSSEAU, the renowned French writer, was born in Geneva, June 28, 1712, and died at Ermenonville near Paris, July 2, 1778. Among his numerous works may be mentioned: “A Project of Perpetual Peace,” “To the Archbishop of Paris,” “Letters from the Mountain,” “Consolations of My Life,” “Memoir on the Shape of the Earth,” “The Village Soothsayer,” “Letter on French Music,” “On Political Economy,” “Letters to Voltaire,” “Narcissus,” “The Social Contract,” “Letters on His Exile,” and his famous, “Confessions.”

So long as a ray of sunlight illumines her fields, Italy will reverence Alfieri as the first to give to tragedy a noble mission, to raise it from the dust in which it lay, and make of it the instructor of the people.

“Life and Writings,” Vol. II,—Mazzini.

JOSEPH MAZZINI, a famous Italian patriot, was born at Genoa, June 28 (?), 1805, and died at Pisa, March 10, 1872. “Complete Works” (18 vols.), 1861-91. His “Memoirs” were published in 1875.

For right is right, since God is God,

And right the day must win;

To doubt would be disloyalty,

To falter would be sin.

“The Right Must Win,”—Frederick W. Faber.

FREDERICK WILLIAM FABER, a distinguished English hymn-writer, was born in Calverley, Yorkshire, June 28, 1814, and died at the Oratory, Brompton, September 26, 1863. His collection of “Hymns” appeared in 1848.

Be silent and safe,—silence never betrays you.

“Rules of the Road,”—John B. O’Reilly.

JOHN BOYLE O’REILLY, a celebrated Irish-American poet and prose-writer, was born near Drogheda, Ireland, June 28, 1844, and died at Hull, Mass., August 10, 1890. He wrote: “Songs of the Southern Seas,” “Moondyne,” etc.

Don’t you remember, sweet Alice, Ben Bolt?

Sweet Alice, whose hair was so brown;

Who wept with delight when you gave her a smile,

And trembled with fear at your frown!

“Ben Bolt,”—Thomas Dunn English.

THOMAS DUNN ENGLISH, a noted American writer, was born in Philadelphia, June 29, 1819, and died in 1902. He is best remembered by his famous song, “Ben Bolt.”

Just take a trifling handful, O philosopher!

Of magic matter: give it a slight toss over

The ambient ether—and I don’t see why

You shouldn’t make a sky.

“Sky-Making.” To Professor Tyndall,—Mortimer Collins.

MORTIMER COLLINS, a famous English novelist and poet, was born in Plymouth, June 29, 1827, and died at Knowl Hill, Berkshire, July 28, 1876. His novels include: “Who Is the Heir,” “Sweet Anne Page,” “The Ivory Gate,” “The Vivian Romance,” “The Marquis and Merchant,” “Two Plunges for a Pearl,” “Blacksmith and Scholar,” etc. Also: “Idyls and Rhymes,” “Summer Songs,” and “The British Birds.”

No historian who has yet written has shown such familiarity with the facts of English history, no matter what the subject in hand may be: the extinction of villeinage, the Bloody Assizes, the appearance of the newspaper, the origin of the national debt, or the state of England in 1685. Macaulay is absolutely unrivaled in the art of arranging and combining his facts, and of presenting in a clear and vigorous narrative the spirit of the epoch he treats. Nor should we fail to mention that both Essays and History abound in remarks, general observations, and comment always clear, vigorous, and shrewd, and in the main very just.

“Library of the World’s Best Literature,” ed., Warner, p. 9386.—John Bach McMaster.

JOHN BACH MCMASTER, a renowned American historian, was born at Brooklyn, N. Y., June 29, 1852. He has written: “Brief History of the United States,” “Cambridge Modern History,” “A Primary School History of the United States,” “Daniel Webster,” “The Struggle for the Social, Political and Industrial Rights of Man,” “Life and Times of Stephen Girard,” and his most famous work, “History of the People of the United States.”

Is she not more than painting can express,

Or youthful poets fancy when they love?

“The Fair Penitent,” Act III, Sc. I,—Nicholas Rowe.

NICHOLAS ROWE, a distinguished English dramatist and poet-laureate, was born at Little Barford, Bedfordshire, June 30 (?), 1674, and died December 6, 1718. He is best known as the translator of Lucan’s “Pharsalia.” He was the author of many successful plays, the most popular being: “Tamerlane,” “The Fair Penitent,” “Jane Shore,” and “Lady Jane Grey.”

Why thus longing, thus forever sighing

For the far-off, unattained, and dim,

While the beautiful all round thee lying

Offers up its low, perpetual hymn?

“Why thus Longing?”—Harriet Winslow Sewall.

HARRIET (WINSLOW) SEWALL, a noted American poet, was born at Portland, Me., June 30, 1819, and died at Wellesley, Mass., February, 1889. “Poems, with a Memoir,” was published in 1889.

FOOTNOTES:

[1] He who flies can also return; but it is not so with him who dies.

[2] Brave men are brave from the very first.

JULY

JULY

Moderation is the silken string running through the pearl chain of all virtues.

“Christian Moderation,” Introduction,—Bishop Hall.

JOSEPH HALL (BISHOP HALL), a famous English bishop and satirist, was born at Bristow Park near Ashby de la Zouch, Leicestershire, July 1, 1574, and died in 1656. He wrote “Episcopacy by Divine Right,” “An Humble Remonstrance to the High Court of Parliament,” “Of Toothless Satyrs,” “Christian Moderation,” “Contemplations,” etc.

Solitude holds a cup sparkling with bliss in her right hand, a raging dagger in her left. To the blest she offers her goblet, but stretches towards the wretched the ruthless steel.

—Klopstock.

FRIEDRICH GOTTLIEB KLOPSTOCK, a renowned German poet, was born at Quedlinburg, July 2, 1724, and died at Hamburg, 1803. He is best known by his great epic, “The Messiah,” and his “Odes.”

Discouragement seizes us only when we can no longer count on chance.

“Handsome Lawrence,” Ch. II,—George Sand.

GEORGE SAND (BARONNE DUDEVANT), the great French novelist, was born in Paris, July 2, 1804, and died at Nohant, June 7, 1876. Among her numerous works may be mentioned: “Indiana,” “Aldo the Poet,” “The Private Secretary,” “Andrè,” “A Winter at Majorca,” “Gabriel,” “Pauline,” “Horace,” “The Seven Strings of the Lyre,” “Consuelo,” “The Companion of a French Tour,” “Isidora,” “The Countess of Rudolstadt,” “The Miller of Angibault,” “The Castle of Solitude,” “The Master Ringers,” “Story of My Life,” “The Snow Man,” “Flavia,” “Tamaris,” “The Last Love,” “Cadio,” “A Rolling Stone,” “The Little Daughter,” “Narcissus,” “Village Walks,” “Loves of the Golden Age,” “Journal of a Tourist During the War,” etc., etc.

Silence is the speech of love,

The music of the spheres above.

“Speech of Love,”—Richard Henry Stoddard.

RICHARD HENRY STODDARD, a distinguished American lyric poet, was born at Hingham, Mass., July 2, 1825, and died in 1903. His works include: “Abraham Lincoln: A Horatian Ode,” “Poems,” “The Lion’s Cub,” “Songs of Summer,” etc.

Life is a voyage. The winds of life come strong

From every point; yet each will speed thy course along,

If thou with steady hand when tempests blow

Canst keep thy course aright and never once let go.

“The Voyage of Life,”—Theodore Chickering Williams.

THEODORE CHICKERING WILLIAMS, a noted American clergyman, educator and author, was born at Brookline, Mass., July 2, 1855, and died in 1915. He has written: “Character Building,” “Elegies of Tibullus,” “Virgil’s Æneid,” “Poems of Belief,” “Virgil’s Georgics and Eclogues,” etc.

At twenty years of age, the will reigns; at thirty, the wit; and at forty, the judgment.

—Grattan.

HENRY GRATTAN, a noted Irish orator and statesman, was born in Dublin, July 3, 1746, and died in London, June 4, 1820. He wrote: “Letters on the Irish Union,” “Correspondence,” and numerous speeches.

We do ourselves wrong, and too meanly estimate the holiness above us, when we deem that any act or enjoyment good in itself, is not good to do religiously.

“Marble Faun,” Bk. II, Ch. VII,—Nathaniel Hawthorne.

NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE, a famous American novelist and short-story writer, was born in Salem, Mass., July 4, 1804, and died at Plymouth, N. H., May 19, 1864. He wrote: “The House of the Seven Gables,” “Tanglewood Tales,” “The Wonder Book,” “Tales of the White Hills,” “Twice-Told Tales,” “Mosses from an Old Manse,” “Fanshawe,” “Our Old Home,” “The Marble Faun,” “The Scarlet Letter,” etc.

Let travellers devote one entire morning to inspecting the Arcos and the Mai das agoas, after which they may repair to the English Church and cemetery, Pere-la-chaise in miniature, where, if they be of England, they may well be excused if they kiss the cold tomb, as I did, of the author of “Amelia,” the most singular genius which their island ever produced, whose works it has long been the fashion to abuse in public and then read in secret.

“The Bible in Spain,”—George Borrow.

GEORGE BORROW, a distinguished English philologist, and traveler, was born in East Dereham, Norfolk, July 5, 1803, and died in Oulton, Suffolk, July 30, 1881. Among his writings are: “Romano Lavo Lil, or Word-Book of the Romany,” “The Zincali, or Gipsies of Spain,” “The Bible in Spain,” “Lavengro,” “The Romany Rye,” and “Wild Wales.”

The knowledge which we have acquired ought not to resemble a great shop without order, and without an inventory; we ought to know what we possess, and be able to make it serve us in need.

—Leibnitz.

GOTTFRIED WILHELM VON LEIBNITZ, a renowned German philosopher and scholar, was born at Leipsic, July 6, 1646, and died at Hanover, November 14, 1716. Among his writings are: “Essays on God’s Goodness, Man’s Freedom, and the Origin of Evil,” “Principles of Nature and Grace,” “New Essays on the Human Understanding,” etc.

Alexander Wilson, in the Preface to his “American Ornithology,” (1808), quotes these words, and relates the story of a boy who had been gathering flowers. On bringing them to his mother, he said, “Look, my dear Ma! What beautiful flowers I have found growing in our place! Why, all the woods are full of them!”

—Alexander Wilson.

ALEXANDER WILSON, a celebrated Scotch-American ornithologist, was born at Paisley, Scotland, July 6, 1766, and died in Philadelphia, August 23, 1813. His most important work, “American Ornithology,” won for him great fame.

Awake thee, my Lady-Love!

Wake thee, and rise!

The sun through the bower peeps

Into thine eyes.

“Waking Song,”—George Darley.

GEORGE DARLEY, a noted Irish poet and critic, was born in Dublin, July 7, 1795, and died near Rome, November 23, 1846. He wrote: “Sylvia, or the May Queen,” “Nepenthe,” “Errors of Extasie and Other Poems,” and numerous studies of other men’s work.

There’s a hope for every woe,

And a balm for every pain,

But the first joys of our heart

Come never back again!

“The Exile’s Song,”—Robert Gilfillan.

ROBERT GILFILLAN, a renowned Scotch poet, was born in Dumfermline, July 7, 1798, and died at Leith, December 4, 1850. His “Original Songs” have made him famous, the best known of the collection being: “In the Days o’ Langsyne,” “Peter McCraw,” and “The Exile’s Song.”

The opinion of the strongest is always the best.

“The Wolf and the Lamb,” from “Fables,” Book I, Fable 10,—Jean de La Fontaine.

JEAN DE LA FONTAINE, the great French fabulist and poet, was born at Château-Thierry, in Champagne, July 8, 1621, and died in Paris, April 13, 1695. His principal works were: “Stories and Novels,” “Adonis,” “The Loves of Psyche,” and his celebrated “Fables.”

They love their land because it is their own,

And scorn to give aught other reason why;

Would shake hands with a king upon his throne,

And think it kindness to his Majesty.

“Connecticut,”—Fitz-Greene Halleck.

FITZ-GREENE HALLECK, a celebrated American poet, was born in Guilford, Conn., July 8, 1790, and died there, November 19, 1867. His most important poems were: “Fanny,” and “Marco Bozzaris.”

Time softly there

Laughs through the abyss of radiance with the gods.

“The Fire-Bringer,” Act i,—William Vaughn Moody.

WILLIAM VAUGHN MOODY, a noted American poet, was born at Spencer, Indiana, July 8, 1869, and died at Colorado Springs, October 17, 1910. He is best known by his famous poem, “An Ode in Time of Hesitation,” which won for him lasting fame. Among his dramas are: “The Masque of Judgment,” “The Great Divide,” and “The Faith-Healer.” With R. W. Lovett, he wrote: “History of English Literature,” etc.

A manufacturing district ... sends out, as it were, suckers into all its neighborhood.

“View of the State of Europe during the Middle Ages,” Ch. IX,—Hallam.

HENRY HALLAM, a distinguished English historian, was born at Windsor, July 9, 1777, and died at Pickhurst, Kent, January 21, 1859. His noted works are: “Constitutional History of England,” “Introduction to the Literature of Europe During the Fifteenth, Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries,” and “A View of the State of Europe During the Middle Ages.”

I have not so great a struggle with my vices, great and numerous as they are, as I have with my impatience.

—Calvin.

JOHN CALVIN, a renowned reformer and theologian, was born at Noyon, in Picardy, France, July 10, 1509; and died in Geneva, May 27, 1564. He wrote: “Commentaries on the New Testament,” and “Institutes of the Christian Religion,” the latter his most famous work.

Man was formed for society; and, as is demonstrated by the writers on the subject, is neither capable of living alone, nor indeed has the courage to do it. However, as it is impossible for the whole race of mankind to be united in one great society, they must necessarily divide into many, and form separate states, commonwealths, and nations, entirely independent of each other, and yet liable to a mutual intercourse.

“Comment: Of the Nature of Laws in General,”—Blackstone.

SIR WILLIAM BLACKSTONE, an eminent English jurist and writer on law, was born in London, July 10, 1723, and died in 1780. He won great celebrity by his famous “Commentaries on the Laws of England.”

All lies disgrace a gentleman, white or black, although I grant there is a difference. To say the least of it, it is a dangerous habit, for white lies are but the gentleman ushers to black ones. I know of but one point on which a lie is excusable, and that is, when you wish to deceive the enemy. Then, your duty to your country warrants your lying till you are black in the face; and, for the very reason that it goes against your grain, it becomes, as it were, a sort of virtue.

—Captain Marryat.

FREDERICK MARRYAT (CAPTAIN MARRYAT), a celebrated English novelist, was born in London, July 10, 1792, and died at Langham, Norfolk, August 9, 1848. His best known works are: “The King’s Own,” “Frank Mildmay,” “Peter Simple,” “Mr. Midshipman Easy,” “Japhet in Search of a Father,” “Masterman Ready,” etc.

Chance is blind and is the sole author of creation.

“Picciola,” Ch. III,—J. X. B. Saintine.

JOSEPH XAVIER BONIFACE SAINTINE, known as Saintine, the renowned French littérateur and dramatist, was born in Paris, July 10, 1798, and died there, January 21, 1865. He wrote numerous plays, but his story, “Picciola,” won for him world-wide fame.

This hand, to tyrants ever sworn the foe,

For Freedom only deals the deadly blow;

Then sheathes in calm repose the vengeful blade,

For gentle peace in Freedom’s hallowed shade.

Written in an Album, 1842,—John Quincy Adams.

JOHN QUINCY ADAMS, an illustrious American statesman and publicist, and sixth President of the United States, was born at Braintree, Mass., July 11, 1767, and died in Washington, D. C., February 21, 1848. He published: “Letters on Silesia,” etc. The “Diary of J. Q. Adams,” and his “Memoirs” appeared after his death.

It is better in some respects to be admired by those with whom you live, than to be loved by them; and this not on account of any gratification of vanity, but because admiration is so much more tolerant than love.

—Arthur Helps.

SIR ARTHUR HELPS, a noted English essayist, historian and miscellaneous writer, was born at Streatham, Surrey, July 11, 1813, and died in London, March 7, 1875. Among his best works are: “Friends in Council,” “Companions of My Solitude,” “Realmah,” “Spanish Conquest in America,” “Casimir Maremma” (a romance), etc.

That man is blessed who every day is permitted to behold anything so pure and serene as the western sky at sunset, while revolutions vex the world.

—Henry D. Thoreau.

HENRY DAVID THOREAU, an eminent American writer, was born in Concord, Mass., July 12, 1817, and died there May 6, 1862. His works include: “Familiar Letters,” “Summer,” “Winter,” “Autumn,” “A Week on the Concord and Merrimac Rivers,” “Early Spring in Massachusetts,” “Poems of Nature,” “The Maine Woods,” “A Yankee in Canada,” “Excursions,” “Letters to Various Persons,” and “Cape Cod.”

And what is true of a shopkeeper is true of a shopkeeping nation.

Tract (1766),—Tucker (Dean of Gloucester).

JOSIAH TUCKER (DEAN TUCKER), a noted English economist and divine, was born at Laugharne, Carmarthenshire, July 13, 1712, and died November 4, 1799. His “Important Questions on Commerce” (1755), won for him great fame.

Fixed in a white-thorn bush, its summer guest,

So low, e’en grass o’er-topped its tallest twig,

A sedge-bird built its little bendy nest,

Close by the meadow pool and wooden brig.

“The Rural Muse. Poems: The Sedge-Bird’s Nest,”—Clare.

JOHN CLARE, a celebrated English poet, was born in Helpstone, near Peterborough, July 13, 1793, and died at Northampton, May 20, 1864. His “Poems, Descriptive of Rural Life and Scenery,” won for him great fame.

Busy, curious, thirsty fly,

Drink with me, and drink as I.

“On a Fly drinking out of a Cup of Ale,”—William Oldys.

WILLIAM OLDYS, a distinguished English biographer and antiquary, was born July 14, 1696, and died April 15, 1761. He wrote: “The British Librarian,” “The Life of Sir Walter Raleigh,” “The Universal Spectator,” etc.

Rise up, rise up, Xarifa! lay your golden cushion down;

Rise up! come to the window, and gaze with all the town.

The Bridal of Andalla,—John G. Lockhart.

JOHN GIBSON LOCKHART, a renowned Scotch biographer and son-in-law of Walter Scott, was born at Cambusnethan, Lanark, July 14, 1794, and died November 25, 1854. He wrote: “Reginald Dalton,” “Adam Blair,” “Valerius,” “Matthew Wald,” “Life of Robert Burns,” a volume of translations of “Ancient Spanish Ballads,” and his most celebrated work, “Life of Sir Walter Scott.”

But when the sun in all his state

Illumed the eastern skies,

She passed through Glory’s morning-gate,

And walked in Paradise.

“A Death-Bed,”—James Aldrich.

JAMES ALDRICH, a noted American poet, was born at Mattituck, L. I., July 14, 1810, and died in New York, September 9, 1856. His most celebrated poem, “A Death-Bed,” won for him great fame.

’Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house

Not a creature was stirring,—not even a mouse;

The stockings were hung by the chimney with care,

In hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there.

“A Visit from St. Nicholas,”—Clement Clarke Moore.

CLEMENT CLARKE MOORE, a distinguished American poet and educational writer, was born in New York City, July 15, 1779, and died in Newport, R. I., July 10, 1863. He is best known by his famous poem, “A Visit from St. Nicholas.”

“The history of our land will hereafter record the name of John Henry Newman among the greatest of our people, as a confessor for the faith, a great teacher of men, a preacher of justice, of piety, and of compassion.”

From Purcell’s “Life of Manning,” Vol. II,—Cardinal Manning.

HENRY EDWARD CARDINAL MANNING, a famous English Roman Catholic prelate, was born July 15, 1808, at Totteridge in Hertfordshire, and died in London, January 14, 1892. Among his publications are: “Petri Privilegium,” “The True Story of the Vatican Council,” “The Temporal Mission of the Holy Ghost,” “The Catholic Church and Modern Society,” “The Internal Mission of the Holy Ghost,” “England and Christendom,” “Sin and Its Consequences,” etc.

Though all the bards of earth were dead

And all their music passed away,

What Nature wishes should be said

She’ll find the rightful voice to say.

“The Golden Silence,”—William Winter.

WILLIAM WINTER, a distinguished American journalist and dramatic critic, was born at Gloucester, Mass., July 15, 1836, and died in 1917. He has written: “Life of Henry Irving,” “The Wanderers,” “Stage Life of Mary Anderson,” “The Queen’s Domain,” “Life of Edwin Booth,” “The Convent, and Other Poems,” “The Jeffersons,” “English Rambles,” “Life of Ada Rehan,” “Thistle-down,” “Poems,” “Other Days, Being Chronicles and Memories of the Stage,” “Life and Art of Richard Mansfield,” “Vagrant Memories,” etc.

A room hung with pictures is a room hung with thoughts.

—Sir Joshua Reynolds.

SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS, the great English painter, was born at Plympton Earls, Devonshire, July 16, 1723, and died in London, February 23, 1792. His fifteen addresses delivered at the Royal Academy constitute the well-known “Discourses of Sir Joshua Reynolds.”

Whene’er I take my walks abroad,

How many poor I see!

What shall I render to my God

For all his gifts to me?

“Divine Songs; Song iv.”—Isaac Watts.

ISAAC WATTS, a celebrated English clergyman and hymn-writer, was born at Southampton, July 17, 1674, and died at Theobalds, Newington, November 25, 1748. He wrote many religious works, among them: “The Improvement of the Mind,” “Logic; or, the Right Use of Reason in the Inquiry after Truth,” and his famous “Psalms and Hymns.”

There is a limit to enjoyment, though the sources of wealth be boundless.

And the choicest pleasures of life lie within the ring of moderation.

“Proverbial Philosophy: Of Compensation,” L. 15,—Tupper.

MARTIN FARQUHAR TUPPER, a famous English writer, was born in London, July 17, 1810, and died November 29, 1889. He published: “Geraldine and Other Poems,” “My Life as an Author,” etc. His fame, however, rests on his notable work, “Proverbial Philosophy,” (1838-1867).

Novels are sweets. All people with healthy literary appetites love them: almost all women; a vast number of clever, hard-headed men. Judges, bishops, chancellors, mathematicians, are notorious novel-readers, as well as young boys and girls, and their kind, tender mothers.

—Thackeray.

WILLIAM MAKEPEACE THACKERAY, the renowned English novelist, was born in Calcutta, India, July 18, 1811, and died December 24, 1863. Among his celebrated works are: “Irish Sketch-Book,” “The Book of Snobs,” “Barry Lyndon,” “Comic Tales and Sketches,” “A Shabby-Genteel Story,” “Men’s Wives,” “Our Street,” “Mrs. Perkins’s Ball,” “English Humorists of the Eighteenth Century,” “Dr. Birch and His Young Friends,” “Vanity Fair,” “The History of Pendennis,” “The History of Henry Esmond,” “The Newcomes,” “The Four Georges,” “The Rose and the Ring,” “The Virginians,” “The Adventures of Philip,” etc.

Les grandes douleurs sont les serres chaudes de l’âme.[1]

“Noirs et Rouges,” Chap. XXI, p. 319,—Cherbuliez.

VICTOR CHERBULIEZ, a distinguished French romancist, was born at Geneva, July 19, 1829, and died in 1899. Under the name of “G. Valbert,” he wrote: “A Horse by Phidias,” “A Political Spain,” “Foreign Profiles,” “Art and Nature“; also, “Romance of a Respectable Woman,” “Prosper Randoce,” “Miss Rovel,” “Samuel Brohl & Co.,” etc.

Taine liked to say, that what he most admired in the works of Renan, was “that one could not see how it was done“; and he was right, if he meant only the style or the “phrase,” which gives the impression of being born spontaneously, without effort and without art, under the pen of Renan.

—Ferdinand Brunetière.

FERDINAND BRUNETIÈRE, a celebrated French critic, and man of letters, was born at Toulon, July 19, 1849, and died December 9, 1906. Among his publications are: “Études critiques,” “Le Roman Naturaliste,” “Histoire et Littérature,” “Discours Académiques,” “Discours de Combat,” “L’Action Sociale du Christianisme,” “Sur les Chemins de la Croyance,” etc.

I know and love the good, yet, ah! the worst pursue.

Sonnet ccxxv, Canzone xxi, “To Laura in Life.”

FRANCESCO PETRARCH, the greatest of Italian lyric poets, was born at Arezzo, July 20, 1304, and died at Arquà, July 18, 1374. He wrote: “Africa,” “Memoranda,” “Of Contempt of the World,” “Of the Solitary Life,” “Of the Remedies for Either Fortune,” “Rime,” “Of Illustrious Men,” “Metrical Epistles,” etc.

To sea! to sea! the calm is o’er,

The wanton water leaps in sport,

And rattles down the pebbly shore,

The dolphin wheels, the sea-cows snort,

And unseen mermaid’s pearly song

Comes bubbling up, the weeds among.

Fling broad the sail, dip deep the oar:

To sea! to sea! the calm is o’er.

“To Sea!”—Thomas Lovell Beddoes.

THOMAS LOVELL BEDDOES, a noted English poet and dramatist, was born at Clifton, July 20, 1803, and died at Basle, January 26, 1849. He wrote: “The Improvisatore,” and “The Bride’s Tragedy,” “Poetical Works” (London, 1890), and “Letters” (London, 1894), were edited by Edmond Gosse.

Soft peace she brings; wherever she arrives

She builds our quiet as she forms our lives;

Lays the rough paths of peevish Nature even,

And opens in each heart a little heaven.

“Charity,”—Matthew Prior.

MATTHEW PRIOR, an eminent English poet, was born at Wimborne in Dorsetshire, July 21, 1664, and died at Wimpole in Cambridgeshire, September 18, 1721. Among his noted works are: “Solomon,” “Alma; or, the Progress of the Mind,” and “Poems on Several Occasions.”

How comes it to pass, then, that we appear such cowards in reasoning, and are so afraid to stand the test of ridicule?

“Characteristics,” A Letter Concerning Enthusiasm, Sect. 2,—Shaftesbury.

ANTHONY ASHLEY COOPER, first Earl of Shaftesbury, a distinguished English statesman, was born in Wimborne, St. Giles, Dorsetshire, July 22, 1621, and died in Amsterdam, January 22, 1683. His notable work was: “Characteristics of Men, Manners, Opinions, and Times,” a collection of his numerous writings.

Blithe wanderer of the wintry air,

Now here, now there, now everywhere,

Quickly drifting to and fro,

A cheerful life devoid of care,

A shadow on the snow.

“The English Sparrow,”—George W. Bungay.

GEORGE WASHINGTON BUNGAY, a noted journalist and poet, was born in Walsingham, England, July 22, 1818, and died July 10, 1892. The best known of his many poems are: “The Creed of the Bells,” and “The English Sparrow.” He also wrote: “Abraham Lincoln Songster,” “Pen Portraits of Illustrious Abstainers,” etc.

Resolve to be thyself; and know, that he

Who finds himself, loses his misery.

“Self Independence,”—Coventry K. D. Patmore.

COVENTRY KEASSEY DEIGHTON PATMORE, a celebrated English poet, was born at Woodford in Essex, July 23, 1823, and died in 1896. He wrote: “The Unknown Eros,” “Amelia,” “The Rod, the Root and the Flower,” “The Angel in the House,” “Principle in Art, and Other Essays,” etc.

Truth is liable to be left-handed in history.

—Dumas, (Père).

ALEXANDRE DUMAS, the Elder, an illustrious French dramatist and romancist, was born at Villière Cotterets, Aisne, July 24, 1803 (?), and died near Dieppe, December 5, 1870. A few of his great romances are: “The Count of Monte Cristo,” “The Three Musketeers,” “Twenty Years After,” “The Knight of Maison-Rouge,” “Viscount de Bragelonne,” “Queen Margot,” etc., etc. Some of his historical romances are: “Joan of Arc,” “Michelangelo and Raffaelle,” “Louis XIV and His Age,” etc. His most famous plays were: “Henri III. and His Court,” “Antony,” “Charles VII with His Grand Vassals,” “Napoleon Bonaparte,” “Mdlle. de Belle-Isle,” “Marriage under Louis XV,” “The Misses St. Cyr,” etc. He also wrote entertaining narratives of his travels in Italy, Switzerland, Germany, Spain, North Africa, Syria, Egypt, etc.

Heaven is not reached at a single bound;

But we build the ladder by which we rise

From the lowly earth to the vaulted skies,

And we mount to its summit round by round.

“Gradatim,”—-Josiah G. Holland.

JOSIAH GILBERT HOLLAND, a famous American poet and novelist and editor, was born at Belchertown, Mass., July 24, 1819, and died in New York, October 12, 1881. Among his works are: “Letters to the Young,” “Life of Abraham Lincoln,” “Plain Talks on Familiar Subjects,” “Nicholas Minturn,” etc. Also poems under the titles: “Bitter Sweet,” “Kathrina,” “The Mistress of the Manse,” “Garnered Sheaves,” etc.

The energies of our system will decay; the glory of the sun will be dimmed, and the earth, tideless and inert, will no longer tolerate the race which has for a moment disturbed its solitude. Man will go down into the pit and all his thoughts will perish.

“The Foundations of Belief,”—Arthur James Balfour.

RT. HON. ARTHUR JAMES BALFOUR, a distinguished English author and statesman, was born July 25, 1848. He has written: “A Defence of Philosophic Doubt,” “The Foundations of Belief,” “Essays and Addresses,” “Economic Notes on Insular Free Trade,” “Speeches” (1880-1905), on “Fiscal Reform,” “Criticism and Beauty,” “Theism and Humanism,” etc.

I remember, I remember

How my childhood fleeted by,—

The mirth of its December

And the warmth of its July.

“I remember, I remember,”—Winthrop M. Praed.

WINTHROP MACKWORTH PRAED, a celebrated English poet, was born in London, July 26, 1802, and died in 1839. Among his best known pieces are: “The Red Fisherman,” “Private Theatricals,” “Every-Day Characters,” “School and Schoolfellows,” “A Letter of Advice,” “Our Ball,” “My Partner,” “My Little Cousins,” etc.

The more things a man is ashamed of, the more respectable he is.

“Man and Superman,”—George Bernard Shaw.

GEORGE BERNARD SHAW, a famous British author and playwright, was born in Dublin, July 26, 1856. He has written, “The Quintessence of Ibsenism,” “The Sanity of Art,” “The Perfect Wagnerite,” “The Common Sense of Municipal Training,” “Socialism and Superior Brains,” “Common Sense about the War,” etc. Also: “The Admirable Bashville,” “Man and Superman,” “John Bull’s Other Island,” “How He Lied to Her Husband,” “Major Barbara,” “The Doctor’s Dilemma,” “Getting Married,” “Misalliance,” “Fanny’s First Play,” “Androcles and the Lion,” “Pygmalion,” “Overruled,” “Great Catherine,” “The Music-Cure,” “O’Flaherty, V. C.,” “An Unsocial Socialist,” “The Devil’s Disciple,” “Cæsar and Cleopatra,” “The Man of Destiny,” “You Never Can Tell,” “Back to Methuselah” (cycle of plays), etc.

’Tis distance lends enchantment to the view,

And robes the mountain in its azure hue.

“Pleasures of Hope,” Part I, Line 7,—Thomas Campbell.

THOMAS CAMPBELL, a Scottish poet, of great fame, was born at Glasgow, July 27, 1777; and died at Boulogne, France June, 15, 1844. The best known of his poems are: “Gertrude of Wyoming,” “Pleasures of Hope,” “Lochiel’s Warning,” “The Exile of Erin,” “Battle of the Baltic,” “Ye Mariners of England,” etc.

Memory is a paradise out of which fate cannot drive us.

—Dumas, Fils.

ALEXANDRE DUMAS, THE YOUNGER, the renowned French dramatist and romancist, was born at Paris, July 27, 1824, and died November 28, 1895. A few of his famous romances are: “A Woman’s Romance,” “Césarine,” “Camille,” etc. Also, “The Divorce Question,” “The Clemenceau Case,” “The Natural Son,” “The Friend of Women,” “Claude’s Wife,” “The Danicheffs,” “Joseph Balsamo,” “Françillon,” etc.

Of Courtesy it is much less

Than Courage of Heart or Holiness,

Yet in my Walks it seems to me

That the Grace of God is in Courtesy.

“Courtesy,”—Hilaire Belloc.

HILAIRE BELLOC, a celebrated English author, was born July 27, 1870. Among his works are: “Verses and Sonnets,” “Paris,” “Robespierre,” “Path to Rome,” “Hills and the Sea,” “Marie Antoinette,” “The Green Overcoat,” “The Mercy of Allah,” “General Sketch of the European War, 1st Phase,” “The Last Days of the French Monarchy.”

Beautiful Faith, surrendering to Time.

“Marpessa,” L. 62,—Stephen Phillips.

STEPHEN PHILLIPS, a noted English author and poet, was born near the City of Oxford, July 28, 1868, and died December 9, 1915. Among his poetical pieces are: “The Woman with the Dead Soul,” “Marpessa,” “The Wife,” “After Rain,” “Thoughts at Sunrise,” “Thoughts at Noon.” The first volume of his “Poems” appeared in 1897, and “New Poems” in 1907.

“It is a great blessing,” says Pascal, “to be born a man of quality, since it brings one man as far forward at eighteen or twenty as another man would be at fifty, which is a clear gain of thirty years.” These thirty years are commonly wanting to the ambitious characters of democracies. The principle of equality, which allows every man to arrive at everything, prevents all men from rapid advancement.

—Alexis de Tocqueville.

ALEXIS DE TOCQUEVILLE, a distinguished French publicist and writer, was born at Vermeuil (Seine-et-Oise), July 29, 1805, and died at Cannes, April 16, 1859. His writings include: “The Old Régime and the Revolution,” “Democracy in America,” and “Works,” 9 vols., which appeared in 1860-65.

She was good as she was fair,

None—none on earth above her!

As pure in thought as angels are:

To know her was to love her.

“Jacqueline,” Stanza 1,—Samuel Rogers.

SAMUEL ROGERS, a famous English poet, was born at Newington Green, London, July 30, 1763, and died in London, December 18, 1855. He wrote “The Voyage of Columbus,” “Italy,” “Human Life,” “Pleasures of Memory,” and “Jacqueline.”

He was utterly incapable of anything like baseness. No man could be more jealous of his honour; no man had a greater pride in being largely and loftily a man.

“Life of Robert Burns,”—John Stuart Blackie.

JOHN STUART BLACKIE, a notable Scottish author was born in Glasgow, July 31, 1809, and died in Edinburgh, March 2, 1895. His works include translations from the Greek and German; moral and religious and other philosophy; also, “Lays of the Highlands and Islands,” “Language and Literature of the Scottish Highlands,” “Wisdom of Goethe,” “Life of Burns,” “Essays on Subjects of Moral and Social Interest,” “Self-Culture,” etc.

FOOTNOTES:

[1] Great sorrows are the hot-houses of the soul.

AUGUST

AUGUST

All human race, from China to Peru,

Pleasure, howe’er disguis’d by art, pursue.

“Universal Love of Pleasure,”—Thomas Warton.

THOMAS WARTON, a distinguished English clergyman, critic, was born at Basingstoke, August 1 (?), 1728, and died at Oxford, May 21, 1790. He was poet-laureate of England in 1785. He wrote: “History of English Poetry,” etc.

Jealousy is the forerunner of love, and often its awakener.

—F. Marion Crawford.

FRANCIS MARION CRAWFORD, a celebrated American author, was born in Bagni di Lucca, Italy, August 2, 1854, and died in 1909. Among his noted works are: “Dr. Claudius,” “Mr. Isaacs,” “A Tale of a Lonely Parish,” “Zoroaster,” “With the Immortals,” “Sant’ Ilario,” “The Witch of Prague,” “Love in Idleness,” “A Rose of Yesterday,” “Don Orsino,” “Via Crucis,” “In the Palace of the King,” “The Heart of Rome,” “Fair Margaret,” and its sequel, “Prima Donna.”

Best they honor thee

Who honor in thee only what is best.

“The True Patriotism,”—William Watson.

SIR WILLIAM WATSON, a famous English poet, was born at Wharfedale, August 2, 1858. He has published: “The Prince’s Quest,” “Epigrams of Art,” “Wordsworth’s Grave, and Other Poems,” “Lachrymæ Musarum,” “Excursions in Criticism,” “The Eloping Angels,” “Odes, and Other Poems,” “The Purple East,” “The Year of Shame,” “The Hope of the World,” “Collected Poems,” “For England: Poems Written During Estrangement,” “New Poems,” “Pencraft; A Plea for the Older Ways,” “Retrogression,” “The Man Who Saw,” “The Superhuman Antagonists,” etc.

Ah woe is me, through all my days,

Wisdom and wealth I both have got,

And fame and name and great men’s praise;

But Love, ah! Love I have it not.

“The Way to Arcady,”—Henry C. Bunner.

HENRY CUYLER BUNNER, a celebrated American poet and story-writer, was born in Oswego, N. Y., August 3, 1855, and died in Nutley, N. J., May 11, 1896. He wrote: “A Woman of Honor,” “Airs from Arcady and Elsewhere,” “The Runaway Browns,” “Zadoc Pine and Other Stories,” “Jersey Street and Jersey Lane,” “The Midge,” “Short Sixes,” etc.

All love is sweet,

Given or returned. Common as light is love,

And its familiar voice wearies not ever.

.     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .

They who inspire it most are fortunate,

As I am now; but those who feel it most

Are happier still.

“Prometheus Unbound,” Act ii, Sc. 5.—Percy B. Shelley.

PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY, the renowned English poet, was born at Field Place, near Horsham, Sussex, August 4, 1792, and was drowned off the coast of Italy, July 8, 1822. Among his many works may be mentioned: “A Poetical Essay on the Existing State of Things,” “Queen Mab: A Philosophic Poem,” “Rosalind and Helen: A Modern Eclogue; with Other Poems,” “Hellas: A Lyrical Drama,” “Adonais: an Elegy on the Death of John Keats,” “The Cenci: A Tragedy,” “Prometheus Unbound: a Lyrical Drama,” “An Address to the Irish People,” “Alastor, or the Spirit of Solitude, and Other Poems,” “A Vindication of Natural Diet,” “A Refutation of Deism,” etc.

Opinions!—they are like the clothes we wear, which warm us, not with heat, but with ours.

—Walter Pater.

WALTER (HORATIO) PATER, a distinguished English literary and art critic, was born at London, August 4, 1839, and died at Oxford, July 30, 1894. He wrote: “The Renaissance: Studies in Art and Poetry,” “Marius the Epicurean,” “Imaginary Portraits,” “Appreciations,” “Plato and Plato-nism,” “The Child in the House,” etc.

There was something sinister and superb in the song of these shipwrecked and condemned creatures, something like a prayer and also something grander and comparable to the ancient and sublime, Ave Cæsar, morituri te salutant.

“La Petite Rogue,”—Guy de Maupassant.

GUY DE MAUPASSANT, a noted French novelist, was born at the Château de Miromesnil, (Seine-Inférieure), August 5, 1850, and died in Paris, July 6, 1893. Among his many works are: “In the Sunshine,” “On the Water,” “The Left Hand,” “The Sisters Rondoli,” “Peter and John,” “Strong as Death,” “Tales of Day and Night,” “Our Heart,” “A Wondering Life,” etc.

Il embellit tout ce qu’il touche.[1]

“Lettre sur les Occupations de L’Académie Française,” Sect. iv, Fénélon.

FRANÇOIS DE SALIGNAC DE LA MOTHE FÉNÉLON, an illustrious French theologian and writer, was born in the Château Fénélon, in Perigord, Dordogne, August 6, 1651, and died January 7, 1715. He wrote: “Life of Charlemagne,” “Exposition of the Maxims of the Saints Regarding the Inner Life,” “Fables,” “Treatise on the Education of Young Girls,” and his most noted work, “Telemachus.”

In the spring a livelier iris changes on the burnished dove;

In the spring a young man’s fancy lightly turns to thoughts of love.

“Locksley Hall,” Line 19,—Alfred Tennyson.

ALFRED TENNYSON, LORD TENNYSON, one of the greatest of English poets, was born at Somersby, Lincolnshire, August 6, 1809, and died at Aldworth, October 6, 1892. Among his famous works are: “Maud and Other Poems,” “Queen Mary,” “The Princess,” “The Foresters,” “Enoch Arden,” “The Holy Grail,” “Harold,” “The Idylls of the King,” “Tiresias,” “Locksley Hall Sixty Years After,” “Poems, Chiefly Lyrical,” “In Memoriam,” etc.

When Freedom from her mountain-height

Unfurled her standard to the air,

She tore the azure robe of night,

And set the stars of glory there.

“The American Flag,”—Joseph Rodman Drake.

JOSEPH RODMAN DRAKE, a noted American poet, was born at New York, August 7, 1795, and died September 21, 1820. Among his poetical works are: “The Culprit Fay,” “Abelard to Héloise,” “The American Flag,” etc.

There were few of Tennyson’s poems which I did not know by heart without any attempt to commit them to memory.

“Books Which Have Influenced Me,”—Canon Farrar.

FREDERICK WILLIAM FARRAR, a celebrated English clergyman, was born at Bombay, India, August 7, 1831, and died March 22, 1903. His most notable works are: “Life and Works of Saint Paul,” “The Witness of History to Christ,” “The Life of Christ,” “The Early Days of Christianity,” “Eternal Hope,” “The Origin of Language,” “Chapters on Language,” “Families of Speech,” “Language and Languages,” “Darkness and Dawn,” “The Voice from Sinai,” “The Life of Christ as represented in Art,” “Gathering Clouds,” and “The Bible, Its Meaning and Supremacy.”

That action is best which procures the greatest happiness for the greatest numbers.

“Inquiry concerning Moral Good and Evil,” sect. 3 (1720),—Hutcheson.

FRANCIS HUTCHESON, a distinguished Scotch educator and philosopher was born at Drumalig, Ulster, Ireland, August 8, 1694, and died in Glasgow about 1746. He was the author of “Inquiry into the Original of Our Ideas of Beauty and Virtue,” “Nature and Conduct of the Passions and Affections,” “System of Moral Philosophy,” etc.

Oh! say, can you see by the dawn’s early light

What so proudly we hailed at the twilight’s last gleaming?—

Whose broad stripes and bright stars through the clouds of the fight

O’er the ramparts we watched, were so gallantly streaming!

And the rocket’s red glare, the bombs bursting in air,

Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there;

Oh, say, does that star-spangled banner yet wave

O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave?

“The Star-Spangled Banner,”—Francis Scott Key.

FRANCIS SCOTT KEY, a noted American poet, was born in Frederick County, Md., August 9, 1780, and died at Baltimore, January 11, 1843. He is best known as the author of “The Star Spangled Banner.”

We may say of angling as Dr. Boteler said of strawberries: “Doubtless God could have made a better berry, but doubtless God never did”; and so, if I might be judge, God never did make a more calm, quiet, innocent recreation than angling.

“The Complete Angler,” Part I, Chap. II,—Izaak Walton.

IZAAK WALTON, a celebrated English author, was born in Stafford, England, August 9, 1593, and died at Winchester, December 15, 1683. His most famous work was: “The Complete Angler: or, the Contemplative Man’s Recreation.” He also wrote the biographies of a number of famous men, known as “Walton’s Lives.”

Happy the man, and happy he alone,

He who can call to-day his own;

He who, secure within, can say,

To-morrow do thy worst, for I have liv’d to-day.

“Imitation of Horace,” Book iii, Ode 29, Line 65,—John Dryden.

JOHN DRYDEN, the renowned English poet, was born at Aldwinkle, Northamptonshire, August 9, 1631, and died in London, May 1, 1700. His most famous works were: “The Hind and the Panther,” “Alexander’s Feast,” and “Absalom and Achitophel,” also a number of noted plays including: “Marriage à la Mode,” “The Conquest of Grenada,” “The Spanish Friar,” “Don Sebastian,” “All for Love,” etc.

His temper was of that warm susceptible kind which is caught with the heroic and the tender, and, which is more fitted to delight in the world of sentiment than to succeed in the bustle of ordinary life. This is a disposition of mind well suited to the poetical character, and, accordingly, all his earliest companions agree that Mr. Home was from his childhood delighted with the lofty and heroic ideas which embody themselves in the description or narrative of poetry.... Mr. Home’s favorite amusement was angling.

“Account of the Life of Mr. John Home,” “Home’s Works,” Vol. I, pp. 6, 31,—Henry Mackenzie.

HENRY MACKENZIE, a noted Scotch novelist, essayist and miscellaneous writer, was born at Edinburgh, August 10, 1745, and died there January 14, 1831. He wrote: “The Man of the World,” “Julia de Roubigné,” “Works” (8 vols.), and “The Man of Feeling,” his most famous work.

Yes, Walt Whitman has appeared. He has his place upon the stage. The drama is not ended. His voice is still heard. He is the poet of democracy—of all people. He is the poet of the body and soul. He has sounded the note of individuality. He has given the pass-word primeval. He is the Poet of Humanity—of Intellectual Hospitality. He has voiced the aspirations of America, and, above all, he is the poet of Love and Death.

“Liberty in Literature,” In Re Walt Whitman,—Robert G. Ingersoll.

ROBERT GREEN INGERSOLL, a distinguished American orator, lecturer and lawyer, was born in Dresden, N. Y., August 11, 1833, and died at Dobbs Ferry, N. Y., July 21, 1899. He has published: “Some Mistakes of Moses,” “Lectures, Complete,” “Great Speeches,” “Prose Poems and Selections.”

Most women indulge in idle gossip, which is the henchman of rumor and scandal.

—Octave Feuillet.

OCTAVE FEUILLET, a celebrated French novelist, was born at St. Lô, August 11, 1821, and died at Paris, December 29, 1890. He wrote: “The Great Old Man,” “The History of Sibylla,” “Julie de Trécœur,” “A Marriage in High Life,” “Story of a Parisienne,” “La Morte,” and his most notable work, “Romance of a Poor Young Man.”

My mother says I must not pass

Too near that glass;

She is afraid that I will see

A little witch that looks like me,

With a red mouth to whisper low

The very thing I should not know.

“The Witch in the Glass,”—Sarah Morgan Bryant Piatt.

MRS. SARAH MORGAN (BRYANT) PIATT, a noted American poet, was born at Lexington, Ky., August 11, 1836. Her best known works are: “A Woman’s Poems,” “A Voyage to the Fortunate Isles,” “Dramatic Persons and Moods,” “The Witch in the Glass,” “An Enchanted Castle,” etc.

How beautiful is night!

A dewy freshness fills the silent air;

No mist obscures; nor cloud, nor speck, nor stain,

Breaks the serene of heaven:

In full-orbed glory, yonder moon divine

Rolls through the dark blue depths;

Beneath her steady ray

The desert circle spreads

Like the round ocean, girdled with the sky.

How beautiful is night!

“Thalaba,” Book i, Stanza 1,—Robert Southey.

ROBERT SOUTHEY, an English poet and prose-writer, of great renown, was born in Bristol, August 12, 1774, and died March 21, 1843. He wrote: “A Vision of Judgment,” “Joan of Arc,” “Thalaba the Destroyer,” “The Curse of Kehama,” “Life of Nelson,” “The Doctor,” “Book of the Church,” “Life of John Bunyan,” “Life of John Wesley,” “History of Brazil,” etc.

One day thou didst desert me—when I learned

How looks the world to men that lack thy grace,

And toward the shadowy night sick-hearted turned,—

When, lo! the first star brought me back thy face!

“To Imagination,”—Edith Matilda Thomas.

EDITH MATILDA THOMAS, a famous American poet, was born in Chatham, Ohio, August 12, 1854. She has written: “A New Year’s Masque,” “The Round Year,” “Children of the Seasons,” “Babes of the Year,” “Babes of the Nation,” “Lyrics and Sonnets,” “Heaven and Earth,” “The Inverted Torch,” “Fair Shadow Land,” “In Sunshine Land,” “In the Young World,” “A Winter Swallow, and Other Verse,” “The Dancers,” “Cassia and Other Verse,” “Children of Christmas,” “The Guest of the Gate,” “The White Messenger,” “The Flower from the Ashes,” etc.

Cruel is death? Nay, kind, he that is ta’en

Was old in wisdom, though his years were few;

Life’s pleasure hath he lost—escaped life’s pain,

Nor wedded joys, nor wedded sorrows knew.

“On a Youth,” Translated from Julianus,—Goldwin Smith.

GOLDWIN SMITH, a renowned English historian, essayist and educator, was born at Reading, Berkshire, August 13, 1823, and died June 7, 1910. He has written: “Irish History and Irish Character,” “Foundation of the American Colonies,” “England and America,” “The Civil War in America,” “Lectures on the Study of History,” “Short History of England,” “Life of Cowper,” “Life of Jane Austen,” “Guesses at the Riddle of Existence,” “Reminiscences” (1910), “The Empire,” “My Memory of Gladstone,” etc.

Sweetest the strain when in the song

The singer has been lost.

“The Poet and the Poem,”—Elizabeth Stuart Phelps.

ELIZABETH STUART PHELPS WARD, a celebrated American novelist, was born at Andover, Mass., August 13, 1844, and died in 1911. Among her many works are: “Ellen’s Idol,” “Gypsy Stories,” “Men, Women and Ghosts,” “Poetic Studies,” “The Story of Avis,” “Old Maid’s Paradise,” “Sealed Orders,” “Beyond the Gates,” “Songs of the Silent World,” “The Gates Between,” “A Struggle for Immortality,” “The Life of Christ,” “Trixy,” “Walled In,” and her most famous work, “Gates Ajar.”

Flowers are Love’s truest language.

“Sonnet,”—Park Benjamin.

PARK BENJAMIN, a noted American journalist, poet, and lecturer, was born at Demerara, British Guiana, August 14, 1809 and died in New York, September 12, 1864. Among his poetical pieces are: “The Old Sexton,” “Poetry,” “Infatuation,” “The Nautilus,” “To One Beloved,” and “The Contemplation of Nature.”

Among living authors Haggard is unquestionably first. I find two very remarkable qualities in Mr. Haggard’s novels,—a power of imagination in which, for audacity and strength, he is unequalled since the Elizabethan dramatists. Secondly there is the mesmeric influence which he exercises over his readers.

—Walter Besant.

SIR WALTER BESANT, a distinguished English novelist, was born in Portsmouth, August 14, 1838, and died June 10, 1901. Among his noted works may be mentioned: “The Golden Butterfly,” “Ready Money Mortiboy,” “The Seamy Side,” “Studies in Early French Poetry,” “When George the Third Was King,” “The French Humorists,” “All Sorts and Conditions of Men,” “Dorothy Foster,” “All in a Garden Fair,” “The Ivory Gate,” “The Master Craftsman,” “Beyond the Dreams of Avarice,” “St. Katharine’s by the Tower,” “Armorel of Lyonnesse,” “The Rebel Queen,” etc. The first three works mentioned were written in collaboration with James Rice.

If on a Spring night, I went by

And God were standing there,

What is the prayer that I would cry

To Him? This is the prayer:

O Lord of Courage grave,

O Master of this night of Spring

Make firm in me a heart too brave

To ask Thee anything!

“Moods, Songs and Doggerels,” “The Prayer,”—John Galsworthy.

JOHN GALSWORTHY, a famous English author, was born at Combe in Surrey, August 14, 1867. His publications include: “The Man of Property,” “A Motley,” “Moods, Songs and Doggerels,” “The Inn of Tranquillity,” “A Sheaf,” Vol. I; “Beyond,” “A Sheaf,” Vol. II; “Saint’s Progress,” “In Chancery,” “Awakening,” “To Let,” etc. Plays: “The Silver Box,” “The Pigeon,” “The Eldest Son,” “The Skin Game,” “A Family Man,” etc.

The sun reflecting upon the mud of strands and shores is unpolluted in his beam.

“Holy Living,” Chap. i, 3,—Jeremy Taylor.

JEREMY TAYLOR, a renowned English theological writer, was born August 15, 1613, at Cambridge, and died at Lisburn, Ireland, August 13, 1667. His most celebrated works are: “The Great Exemplar of Sanctity and Holy Life,” “Discourse on the Liberty of Prophesying,” “The Rule and Exercise of Holy Living,” and “The Rule and Exercise of Holy Dying.”

The rose is fairest when ’t is budding new,

And hope is brightest when it dawns from fears,

The rose is sweetest wash’d with morning dew,

And love is loveliest when embalm’d in tears.

“Lady of the Lake,” Canto iv, Stanza 1.—Walter Scott.

SIR WALTER SCOTT, a Scotch novelist and poet of great fame, was born in Edinburgh, August 15, 1771, and died at Abbotsford, September 21, 1832. Among his many works may be mentioned: “The Lay of the Last Minstrel,” “Ballads and Lyrical Pieces,” “Rokeby,” “Marmion,” “The Lady of the Lake,” “Waverley,” “Guy Mannering,” “The Field of Waterloo,” “The Lord of the Isles,” “Rob Roy,” “Harold the Dauntless,” “Ivanhoe,” “The Bride of Lammermoor: A Legend of Montrose,” “Kenilworth,” “The Abbot,” “The Monastery,” “The Pirate,” “Tales of the Crusaders: The Betrothed, The Talisman,” “History of Scotland,” “Tales of a Grandfather,” “Essays on Ballad Poetry,” “The Eve of St. John: A Border Ballad,” “Life of Dryden,” “Life of Swift,” etc., etc.

Shakespeare—that is, English tragedy—postulates the intense life of flesh and blood, of animal sensibility, of man and woman—breathing, waking, stirring, palpitating with the pulses of hope and fear. In Greek tragedy the very masks show the utter impossibility to these contests or conflicts.

“Leaders in Literature,”—De Quincey.

THOMAS DE QUINCEY, a celebrated English author, was born in Manchester, August 15, 1785, and died December 8, 1859. Besides his numerous essays and papers on historical literary and miscellaneous topics, he wrote: “Confessions of an English Opium Eater,” “Letters to a Young Man Whose Education Has Been Neglected,” “Logic of Political Economy,” “Klosterheim,” “Leaders in Literature,” “Suspiria de Profundis: Essays on Style and Rhetoric,” “Joan of Arc,” “Autobiographic Sketches,” “Literary Reminiscences,” etc., etc.

Wee Willie Winkie rins through the toun,

Upstairs and dounstairs, in his nicht-goun,

Tirlin’ at the window, cryin’ at the lock,

“Are the weans in their bed? for it’s nou ten o’clock.”

“Wee Willie Winkie,”—William Miller.

WILLIAM MILLER, a noted Scotch poet, was born in Bridgegate, Glasgow, August 16, 1810, and died at Glasgow, August 20, 1872. He wrote: “Scottish Nursery Songs and Other Poems,” his best known poem being “Wee Willie Winkie.”

Be sure you are right, then go ahead.

—David Crockett.

DAVID CROCKETT, a celebrated American politician, hunter and humorist, was born at Limestone, Tenn., August 17, 1786, and was killed at Fort Alamo, San Antonio, Texas, March 16, 1836. He wrote: “Sketches and Eccentricities,” “Tour to the North and Down East,” his “Autobiography,” etc.

The greatest thing a man can do for his Heavenly Father is to be kind to some of His other children.

—Henry Drummond.

HENRY DRUMMOND, a distinguished Scotch geologist and religious writer, was born at Stirling, August 17, 1851, and died at Tunbridge Wells, England, March 11, 1897. His most famous works are: “Natural Law in the Spiritual World,” “The Ascent of Man,” “Tropical Africa,” “Pax Vobiscum,” “The Greatest Thing in the World,” “The Programme of Christianity.”

A proverb is one man’s wit and all men’s wisdom.

Quoted in “Memoirs of Mackintosh,” Vol. II, p. 473,—Lord John Russell.

LORD JOHN RUSSELL, a famous English statesman, was born in London, August 18, 1792, and died at Pembroke Lodge, Richmond Park, May 28, 1878. He is best remembered by his historical works, “Life of William Lord Russell,” “Memoirs of the Affairs of Europe” (2 vols.) “Correspondence of John, 4th Duke of Bedford,” etc.

It would be superfluous in me to point out to your Lordship that this is war.

“Despatch to Earl Russell,” Sept. 5, 1863.—Charles Francis Adams.

CHARLES FRANCIS ADAMS, an eminent American statesman, publicist, and miscellaneous writer, was born at Boston, August 18, 1807, and died at Boston, November 21, 1886. His best known work was: “Life and Works of John Adams.”

Sorrow and scarlet leaf,

Sad thoughts and sunny weather:

Ah me, this glory and this grief

Agree not well together!

“A Song for September,”—Thomas William Parsons.

THOMAS WILLIAM PARSONS, a distinguished American poet, was born at Boston, August 18, 1819, and died September 3, 1892. Among his writings are: “The Old House at Sudbury,” “Ghetto di Roma,” “The Magnolia,” “The Shadow of the Obelisk,” etc. He also made a metrical translation of Dante’s “Inferno.”

All that is beautiful shall abide,

All that is base shall die.

“Balder the Beautiful,”—Robert W. Buchanan.

ROBERT WILLIAMS BUCHANAN, a celebrated English author, was born in Warwickshire, August 18, 1841, and died in 1901. He wrote: “Idylls and Legends of Inverburn,” “Undertones,” “London Poems,” “North Coast Poems,” “Ballads of Love, Life and Humor,” “The City of Dreams,” “A Child of Nature,” “The Shadow of the Sword,” “Foxglove Manor,” etc.

Let’s learn to temper our desires,

Not harshly to constrain;

And since excess makes pleasure less,

Why, so much more refrain.

Small table, cozy corner—here

We well may be beguiled;

Our worthy host old wine can boast;

Drink, drink—but draw it mild!

“Les Petits Coups,”—translation of William Young,—Pierre Jean de Béranger.

PIERRE JEAN DE BÉRANGER, a famous French poet, was born in Paris, August 19, 1780, and died there July 16, 1857. Some of his noted songs are: “The Old Flag,” “Les Petits Coups,” “The Old Corporal,” “Roger Bontemps,” “Little Red Man,” “Little Gray Man,” “King of Yvetot,” “My Grandmother,” “The Marquis of Carabas,” and his “Autobiography.”

Attempt the end, and never stand to doubt;

Nothing’s so hard but search will find it out.

“Seek and Find,”—Robert Herrick.

ROBERT HERRICK, a renowned English poet and royalist clergyman, was born in London, August 20, 1591, and died at Dean Prior, Devonshire, October 15, 1674. He wrote: “Noble Numbers,” and “Hesperides.”

In the Confessions of St. Augustine, passion, nature, individuality only appear in order to be immolated to Divine grace. They are a history of a crisis of the soul, of a new birth, of a Vita Nuova; the Saint would have blushed to relate more than he has done of the life of the man, which he had quitted. With Rousseau the case is precisely the reverse; here grace is nothing, nature everything; nature dominant, triumphant, displaying herself with a daring freedom, which at times amounts to the distasteful—nay, to the disgusting.

“Life of Luther,” (translation),—Michelet.

JULES MICHELET, a famous French historian, was born in Paris, August 21, 1798, and died at Hyères, February 9, 1874. His principal works are: “History of France,” “History of the Revolution,” “Abridgment of Modern History,” “Of the Jesuits,” “Of the Priest, the Wife, and the Family,” “Of the People,” “Poland and Russia,” etc.

Who can blame me if I cherish the belief that the world is still young—that there are great possibilities in store for it?

—John Tyndall.

JOHN TYNDALL, an eminent British physicist and writer on science, was born at Leighlin Bridge, near Carlow, Ireland, August 21, 1820, and died at Haslemere, Surrey, England, December 4, 1893. He has written: “Philosophical Transactions in Glaciers of the Alps,” “Mountaineering in 1861,” “Dust and Disease,” “Hours of Exercise in the Alps,” “Sound: A Course of Eight Lectures,” “Nine Lectures on Light,” “Essays on the Use and Limit of the Imagination in Science,” “The Forms of Water in Clouds and Rivers, Ice and Glaciers,” “Essays on the Floating Matter of the Air,” “New Fragments,” etc.

Equality is one of the most consummate scoundrels that ever crept from the brain of a political juggler—a fellow who thrusts his hand into the pocket of honest industry or enterprising talent, and squanders their hard-earned profits on profligate idleness or indolent stupidity.

—James Kirke Paulding.

JAMES KIRKE PAULDING, a distinguished American novelist, was born in Dutchess County, N. Y., August 22, 1779, and died at Hyde Park, N. Y., April 6, 1860. Among his famous works may be mentioned: “The United States and England,” “Lay of a Scotch Fiddle,” “Letters on Slavery,” “The Diverting History of John Bull and Brother Jonathan,” “Koningsmarke,” “John Bull in America,” “Westward Ho!” “The Dutchman’s Fireside,” “Life of George Washington,” etc.

It matters not how strait the gate,

How charged with punishments the scroll,

I am the master of my fate,

I am the captain of my soul.

“To R. T. H. B.”—William Ernest Henley.

WILLIAM ERNEST HENLEY, a noted British poet, critic, and editor, was born at Gloucester, August 23, 1849, and died July 11, 1903. Among his works are: “Views and Reviews,” “Poems,” “London Voluntaries,” “Hawthorn and Lavender,” etc.

There is what I call the American idea.... This idea demands, as the proximate organization thereof, a democracy—that is, a government of all the people, by all the people, for all the people; of course, a government of the principles of eternal justice, the unchanging law of God: for shortness’ sake I will call it the idea of Freedom.

“Speech at the N. E. Anti-slavery Convention, Boston,” May 29, 1850.—Theodore Parker.

THEODORE PARKER, an American preacher and reformer of great celebrity, was born at Lexington, Mass., August 24, 1810, and died at Florence, May 10, 1860. He wrote: “Ten Sermons on Religion,” “Theism, Atheism and the Popular Theology,” and his most celebrated work: “Discourse on Matters Pertaining to Religion.”

With the greatest possible solicitude avoid authorship. Too early or immoderately employed it makes the head waste and the heart empty.

Tr. by S. T. Coleridge.—Herder.

JOHN GOTTFRIED VON HERDER, a distinguished German philosopher and historian of literature, was born at Mohrungen, August 25, 1744, and died at Weimar, December 18, 1803. Among his works are: “Voices of Nations in Song,” “Fragments on Recent German Literature,” “The Cid,” “Ideas for a Philosophy of the History of Mankind,” “Spirit of Hebrew Poetry,” etc.

Which I wish to remark,—

And my language is plain,—

That for ways that are dark

And for tricks that are vain,

The heathen Chinee is peculiar.

“Plain Language from Truthful James,”—Francis Bret Harte.

FRANCIS BRET HARTE, a celebrated American poet and short-story writer, was born in Albany, N. Y., August 25, 1839, and died in 1902. Among his many works are: “The Luck of Roaring Camp, and Other Sketches,” “The Heathen Chinee,” “Plain Language from Truthful James,” “Poems,” “East and West Poems,” “Echoes of the Foot-Hills,” “Poetical Works,” “Thankful Blossom,” “Drift from Two Shores,” “Flip and Other Stories,” “By Shore and Sedge,” “The Queen of the Pirate Isle,” “On the Frontier,” “Snow Bound at Eagle’s,” “Tales of the Argonauts and Other Sketches,” “A Waif of the Plains,” “Three Partners,” and “In the Hollow of the Hills.”

It is even at the present day important to direct careful attention to an erroneous conception of wealth, which was universal until the appearance of Adam Smith’s great work, in 1775.

“Manual of Political Economy,”—Henry Fawcett.

HENRY FAWCETT, a famous English political economist, was born at Salisbury, August 26, 1833, and died in Cambridge, November 6, 1884. His publications include: “Free Trade and Protection,” “Indian Finance,” etc. His celebrated work, “Manual of Political Economy,” won for him great fame.

Roger Bacon treated more especially of physics, but remained without influence.

“Lectures on the History of Philosophy,” tr., Haldane and Simpson, Vol. III. p. 92,—Hegel.

GEORG WILHELM FRIEDRICH HEGEL, an eminent German philosopher, was born at Stuttgart, August 27, 1770, and died at Berlin, November 14, 1831. Among his writings are: “On the Difference Between the Fichtean and Schellingian Systems,” “The Orbits of the Planets,” “Phenomenology of the Human Mind,” “System of Science,” “Principles of the Philosophy of Law, or the Law of Nature and Political Science,” “Encyclopædia of the Philosophical Sciences,” etc.

If we compare Daudet with Zola, we shall see that it is Daudet who is the naturalist novelist, not Zola. It is the author of Le Nabob who begins with observation of reality, and who is possessed by it, while the author of “L’Assommoir” only consults it when his seige is finished and then summarily with preconceived ideas.

“Les Contemporains,”—Jules Lemaître.

FRANÇOIS ELIE JULES LEMAÎTRE, a famous French literary critic and dramatist, was born in Vennecy (Loiret), August 27, 1853, and died in 1914. He is the author of five volumes of literary biographies, “Contemporaries: Being Literary Studies and Portraits.” Among his plays are: “La Revoltée,” “Deputy Leveau,” “The Kings,” “The Pardon,” etc. Also: “Médallions” (poems), “Petites Orientales” (poems), “Corneille and Aristotle’s Poetics,” “Myrrha Stories.”

The old prose writers wrote as if they were speaking to an audience; while, among us, prose is invariably written for the eye alone.

—Niebuhr.

BARTHOLD GEORG NIEBUHR, a great German historian, was born at Copenhagen, August 27, 1776, and died at Bonn, January 2, 1831. His writings include: “Roman History,” “Lectures on the History of Rome,” “Lectures on Ancient History,” “Grecian Heroic History,” “Minor Historical and Philological Writings,” etc.

Who never ate his bread in sorrow,

Who never spent the darksome hours

Weeping, and watching for the morrow,—

He knows ye not, ye gloomy Powers.

“Wilhelm Meister,” Book ii, Chap, xiii,—Goethe.

JOHANN WOLFGANG GOETHE, one of the greatest poets the world has ever known, was born at Frankfort on the Main, August 28, 1749, and died at Weimar, March 22, 1832. His most famous works are: “Sorrows of Young Werther,” “Erwin and Elmira,” “Stella,” “Prometheus,” “Iphigenia,” “Tasso,” “Wilhelm Meister,” and his greatest work, “Faust.” He also wrote: “Wilhelm Meister’s Apprenticeship,” “Fiction and Truth,” “Hermann and Dorothea,” “Elective Affinities,” “Wilhelm Meister’s Years of Travel,” etc.

Man should be ever better than he seems.

“The Song of Faith,”—Sir Aubrey De Vere.

SIR AUBREY DE VERE, a famous Irish poet, was born August 28, 1788, and died in 1846. Among his works are: “Julian, the Apostate: A Dramatic Poem,” “The Duke of Mercia: an Historical Drama,” “The Song of Faith, Devout Exercises and Sonnets,” “Mary Tudor: an Historical Drama,” was published after his death in 1847.

The thoughts that come often unsought, and, as it were drop into the mind, are commonly the most valuable we have, and therefore should be secured, because they seldom return again.

—John Locke.

JOHN LOCKE, an eminent English philosopher, was born at Wrington, near Bristol, August 29, 1632, and died at Oates (Essex), October 28, 1704. His philosophical writings include: “An Epistle on Tolerance,” “Essay Concerning Human Understanding,” “Two Treatises on Government,” etc. He also wrote: “Some Thoughts Concerning Reading and Study,” “Some Thoughts on Education,” “Elements of Natural Philosophy,” and many other works.

I do not know anyone who makes us feel more than Milton does the grandeur of the ends which we ought to keep always before us, and therefore our own pettiness and want of courage and nobleness in pursuing them. I believe he failed to discern many of the intermediate relations which God has established between Himself and us; but I know no one who teaches us more habitually that disobedience to the Divine will is the seat of all misery to men.

“The Friendship of Books,”—D. Maurice.

FREDERICK DENISON MAURICE, a celebrated English divine and theological and philosophical writer, was born near Lowestoft, Suffolk, August 29, 1805, and died in London, April 1, 1872. Among his works are: “Ancient Philosophy,” “Theological Essays,” “Modern Philosophy,” “Mediæval Philosophy,” “The Friendship of Books,” etc., and a novel, “Eustace Conway.”

Build thee more stately mansions, O my soul,

As the swift seasons roll!

Leave thy low-vaulted past!

Let each new temple, nobler than the last,

Shut thee from heaven with a dome more vast,

Till thou at length art free,

Leaving thine outgrown shell by life’s unresting sea!

“The Chambered Nautilus,”—Oliver Wendell Holmes.

OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES, a distinguished American man of letters, was born at Cambridge, Mass., August 29, 1809, and died at Boston, October 7, 1894. The most important of his works are: “Urania,” “The Iron Gate,” “Songs in Many Keys,” “Poems,” “Songs of Many Seasons,” “Elsie Venner,” “The Autocrat of the Breakfast Table,” “The Professor at the Breakfast Table,” “The Poet at the Breakfast Table,” “Soundings from the Atlantic,” “Our Hundred Days in Europe,” “John Lothrop Motley,” “A Mortal Antipathy,” “Ralph Waldo Emerson,” “Over the Teacups,” etc.

Men’s weaknesses are often necessary to the purposes of life.

“Joyzelle,” Act ii.—Maurice Maeterlinck.

MAURICE MAETERLINCK, a celebrated Belgian poet, was born in Flanders, August 29, 1864. Among his works are: “The Seven Princesses,” “The Blind,” “The Intruder,” “The Treasure of the Humble,” “Hot-House Blooms,” “La Princesse Maleine,” “Alladine et Palomides,” “Douze Chansons,” “La Sagesse et la Destinée,” “Le Temple Enseveli,” “The Double Garden,” “The Blue Bird,” “La Mort,” “The Light Beyond,” etc.

It is very foolish, and betrays what a small mind we have, to allow fashion to sway us in everything that regards taste; in our way of living, our health, and our conscience.

“The Characters,”—Jean de La Bruyère.

JEAN DE LA BRUYÈRE, a famous French moralist and satirist, was born in Paris, August 30 (?), 1645, and died at Versailles, May 10, 1696. His fame rests on his great work, “The Characters of Theophrastus, Translated from the Greek, with the Characters or Manners of this Century.”

If for widows you die,

Learn to kiss not to sigh.

“Widow Malone,” II, 33-4,—Charles James Lever.

CHARLES (JAMES) LEVER, a noted Irish novelist, was born at Dublin, August 31, 1806, and died at Trieste, June 1, 1872. He wrote: “Confessions of Harry Lorrequer,” “Charles O’Malley,” “Arthur O’Leary,” “Jack Hinton the Guardsman,” “Tom Burke of Ours,” “The O’Donoghue,” “Con Cregan,” “Roland Cashel,” “The Daltons, or Three Roads in Life,” “Luttrell of Arran,” “The Fortunes of Glencore,” “Davenport Dunn,” “Sir Brooke Fosbrooke,” “The Bramleighs of Bishop’s Folly,” “Lord Kilgobbin,” etc.

Ils sont si transparents qu’ils laissent voir votre âme.[2]

“The Two Beautiful Eyes,”—Théophile Gautier.

THÉOPHILE GAUTIER, a renowned French poet and novelist, was born in Tarbes, Hautes Pyrenees, August 31, 1811, and died near Paris, in 1872. Among his famous works may be mentioned: “Young France,” “Albertus,” “Poems,” “History of Romanticism,” “A Journey in Spain,” “Italy,” “Constantinople,” “Miltona,” “The Golden Fleece,” “Arria Marcella,” “Mademoiselle Dafne,” “The Nest of Nightingales,” “The Loving Dead,” “The Chain of Gold,” “Jean and Jeannette,” “The Tiger Skin,” “Spirite,” “Modern Art,” “The Arts in Europe,” etc., etc.

FOOTNOTES:

[1] He adorned whatever he touched.

[2] Eyes so transparent that through them the soul is seen.

SEPTEMBER

SEPTEMBER

Talent, like beauty, to be pardoned, must be obscure and unostentatious.

—Lady Blessington.

MARGUERITE, COUNTESS OF BLESSINGTON, a distinguished Irish descriptive writer and novelist, was born in Knockbrit, Tipperary, September 1, 1789, and died in Paris, June 4, 1849. Among her works are: “The Idler in Italy,” “The Idler in France,” “Conversations with Lord Byron,” etc.

The glorified spirit of the infant is as a star to guide the mother to its own blissful clime.

“Monody on Mrs. Hemans,”—Lydia H. Sigourney.

LYDIA HUNTLEY SIGOURNEY, a noted American author, was born in Norwich, Conn., September 1, 1791, and died in Hartford, Conn., June 10, 1865. She wrote: “Letters to Young Ladies,” “Letters to Mothers,” “Scenes in My Native Land,” “Voice of Flowers,” “Letters to My Pupils,” “The Daily Councelor,” “Gleanings,” (poetry), “The Man of Uz, and Other Poems,” etc.

Socrates, like Solon, thought that no man is too old to learn; that to learn and to know is not a schooling for life, but life itself, and that which alone gives to life its value. To become by knowledge better from day to day, and to make others better, appeared to both to be the real duty of man.

“History of Greece,”—Ernst Curtius.

ERNST CURTIUS, a renowned German archæologist and historian, was born at Lubeck, September 2, 1814, and died in 1896. He wrote: “Peloponnesus,” and his famous, “History of Greece.”

The fire upon the hearth is low,

And there is stillness everywhere,

And, like winged spirits, here and there

The firelight shadows fluttering go.

“In the Firelight,”—Eugene Field.

EUGENE FIELD, a noted poet and humorous journalist, was born at St. Louis, Mo., September 2, 1850, and died November 4, 1895. He wrote: “The Love Affairs of a Bibliomaniac,” “The Holy Cross, and Other Tales,” “Love Songs of Childhood,” “A Little Book of Western Verse,” and “A Second Book of Verse.”

Nothing can make a man happy but that which shall last as long as he lasts; for an immortal soul shall persist in being, not only when profit, pleasure, and honour, but when time itself shall cease.

—South.

ROBERT SOUTH, a famous English divine, was born at Hackney, Middlesex, September 3, 1634, and died July 8, 1716. A collection of his sermons was published in 1692 in six volumes.

The Grecian history is a poem, Latin history a picture, modern history a chronicle.

—Chateaubriand.

FRANÇOIS RENÉ AUGUSTE, VICOMTE DE CHATEAUBRIAND, a renowned French statesman, traveler, novelist and historical writer, was born at St. Malo, September 4, 1768, and died at Paris, July 4, 1848. Among his works are: “The Genius of Christianity” (his most famous work), “Atala,” “René,” and “The Natchez,” also “The Martyrs, or Triumph of the Christian Religion,” “A Journey from Paris to Jerusalem,” “An Essay on English Literature,” and translated Milton’s “Paradise Lost.”

Da dacht ich oft: schwatzt noch so hoch gelehrt,

Man weiss doch nichts, als was man selbst erfährt.[1]

“Oberon,” II. 24,—Wieland.

CHRISTOPHER MARTIN WIELAND, a celebrated German poet and prose-writer, was born in Oberholzheim, Suabia, September 5, 1733, and died January 20, 1813. He wrote: “Agathon,” “The New Amadis,” “The Golden Mirror,” and “Oberon,” his most famous work. He also translated the greater part of Shakespeare into German.

Husband and wife—so much in common, how different in type! Such a contrast, and yet such harmony, strength and weakness blended together!

—Ruffini.

GIOVANNI DOMENICO RUFFINI, a distinguished Italian littérateur, was born at Genoa, September 6, 1807, and died at Taggia, November 2, 1881. He published: “Lorenzo Benoni” (a romance), “Lavinia,” etc.; also, “Doctor Antonio,” his most famous book.

Le style est l’homme même.[2]

“Discours de Réception,”—Buffon.

GEORGE LOUIS LE CLERC, COMTE DE BUFFON, a famous French naturalist, was born at Montbard, September 7, 1707, and died April 16, 1788. His “Natural History,” won for him world-wide fame.

Natura il fece, e poi ruppe la stampa.[3]

“Orlando Furioso,” Canto x, Stanza 84,—Ludovico Ariosto.

LUDOVICO ARIOSTO, an illustrious Italian poet, was born at Reggio, September 8, 1474, and died at Ferrara, June 6, 1533. His most famous work is: “Orlando Furioso.”

None but God can satisfy the longings of an immortal soul; that as the heart was made for Him, so He only can fill it.

—Trench.

RICHARD CHENEVIX TRENCH, a noted Anglican archbishop and poet, was born at Dublin on September 9, 1807, and died March 28, 1886. He wrote: “The Story of Justin Martyr, and Other Poems,” “Sabbation,” “Honor Neale, and Other Poems,” “Poems from Eastern Sources,” “The Study of Words,” “English Past and Present,” “A Select Glossary of English Words,” “Notes on the Parables,” “Notes on the Miracles,” etc.

The vocation of every man and woman is to serve other people.

“What is to be done?” Chap. xl. Note,—Tolstoi.

COUNT LYOF ALEKSÉEVICH TOLSTOI, the great Russian novelist, was born on the family estate of Yasnaya Polyana in the government of Tula, Russia, September 9, 1828, and died in 1910. His most celebrated works are: “In What My Faith Consists,” “Cossacks,” “Sevastopol,” “War and Peace,” “Master and Man,” “My Confession,” “The Kreutzer Sonata,” and “Anna Karénina.”

A language cannot be thoroughly learned by an adult without five years’ residence in the country where it is spoken; and without habits of close observation, a residence of twenty years is insufficient.

—P. G. Hamerton.

PHILIP GILBERT HAMERTON, a distinguished English artist and art-writer, was born at Laneside, Lancashire, September 10, 1834; and died near Boulogne, France, November 5, 1894. Among his works are: “Etching and Etchers,” “Thoughts About Art,” “Painting in France,” “The Quest of Happiness,” “The Graphic Arts,” “Contemporary French Painters,” “Human Intercourse,” “The Intellectual Life,” and “A Painter’s Camp in the Highlands.”

A pleasing land of drowsyhead it was,

Of dreams that wave before the half-shut eye;

And of gay castles in the clouds that pass,

Forever flushing round a summer sky;

There eke the soft delights that witchingly

Instil a wanton sweetness through the breast,

And the calm pleasures always hover’d nigh;

But whate’er smack’d of noyance or unrest

Was far, far off expell’d from this delicious nest.

“The Castle of Indolence,” Canto i, Stanza 6.—James Thomson.

JAMES THOMSON, a famous Scotch poet, was born at Ednam, September 11, 1700, and died August 27, 1748. His most celebrated poems are: “The Seasons,” and “The Castle of Indolence.”

Woman’s grief is like a summer storm,

Short as it is violent.

“Basil,” Act V, Sc. 3,—Joanna Baillie.

JOANNA BAILLIE, a celebrated Scottish poet, was born in Bothwell, Lanarkshire, September 11, 1762, and died at Hampstead, England, February 23, 1851. She wrote: “Plays on the Passions,” and numerous poems and songs.

Blessed be agriculture! If one does not have too much of it.

“My Summer in a Garden: Preliminary.”—Chas. Dudley Warner.

CHARLES DUDLEY WARNER, an eminent American journalist and miscellaneous writer, was born at Plainfield, Mass., September 12, 1829, and died in 1900. Among his noted works are: “My Summer in a Garden,” “Backlog Studies,” “My Winter on the Nile,” “Life of Captain John Smith,” “Washington Irving,” “A Roundabout Journey,” “Their Pilgrimage,” “Book of Eloquence,” “A Little Journey in the World,” “As We Were Saying,” “The Golden House,” “The Relation of Literature to Life,” “Studies in the South and West, with Comments on Canada,” “That Fortune,” etc. In collaboration with Samuel Langhorne Clemens (Mark Twain) he wrote: “The Gilded Age.” He was editor of the “American Men of Letters” series, and of “The Library of the World’s Best Literature.”

The desire of love, Joy;

The desire of life, Peace:

The desire of the soul, Heaven:

The desire of God ... a flame-white secret forever.

“Desire,”—William Sharp.

WILLIAM SHARP, a distinguished British critic and man of letters, was born September 12, 1856, and died in 1905. Among his works are: “Humanity and Man,” “The Conqueror’s Dream, and Other Poems,” “Dante Gabriel Rossetti,” “Shakespeare’s Songs, Poems, and Sonnets,” “Sonnets of this Century,” “Shelley,” “Romantic Ballads,” “Sospiri di Roma,” “Flower o’ the Vine,” “Sospiri d’ Italia,” etc.

Thought is the wind, knowledge the sail, and mankind the vessel.

“Guesses at Truth.”—J. C. and A. W. Hare.

JULIUS CHARLES HARE, a famous English divine and theological writer, was born at Valdagno, Italy, September 13, 1795, and died in England, January 23, 1855. He wrote: “Mission of the Comforter,” “The Contest with Rome,” “Vindication of Luther,” and conjointly with A. W. Hare, “Guesses at Truth.”

True resignation, which always brings with it the confidence that unchangeable goodness will make even the disappointment of our hopes, and the contradictions of life, conducive to some benefit, casts a grave but tranquil light over the prospect of even a toilsome and troubled life.

—Humboldt.

ALEXANDER VON HUMBOLDT, a renowned German scientist, was born in Berlin, September 14, 1769, and died there May 6, 1859. He wrote: “Voyages to the Equinoctial Regions of the New Continent,” “Observations on Zoölogy and Comparative Anatomy,” “View of the Cordilleras and of the Monuments of the Indigenous Races of America,” and “Cosmos,” his most celebrated work.

O years, gone down into the past,

What pleasant memories come to me

Of your untroubled days of peace,

And hours of almost ecstasy.

“Reconciled,”—Phoebe Cary.

PHOEBE CARY, a noted American poetess and prose-writer, was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, September 14, 1824, and died in Newport, Rhode Island, July 31, 1871. With her sister, she published many books, among them, “Poems of Faith, Hope, and Love,” and “Poems and Parodies.”

We always like those who admire us; we do not always like those whom we admire.

“Maxim 294,”—Rochefoucauld.

FRANÇOIS, DUC DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULD, an illustrious French classicist and philosopher, was born at Paris, September 15, 1613, and died there March 17, 1680. His most celebrated works were: “Reflections, or Moral Sentences and Maxims,” better known as “Maxims,” and his “Memoirs.”

Those families, you know, are our upper-crust,—not upper ten thousand.

“The Ways of the Hour,” Chap. VI,—Cooper.

JAMES FENIMORE COOPER, a famous American novelist, and historian, was born in Burlington, N. J., September 15, 1789, and died at Cooperstown, N. Y., September 14, 1851. A few of his celebrated novels are: “The Spy,” “The Pilot,” “Precaution,” “The Pioneers,” “The Last of the Mohicans,” “The Prairie,” “The Red Rover,” “The Water-Witch,” “Homeward Bound,” “The Pathfinder,” “The Deerslayer,” “The Redskins,” “The Ways of the Hour,” etc.

I would not live alway: I ask not to stay

Where storm after storm rises dark o’er the way.

“I would not live alway,”—William Augustus Muhlenberg.

WILLIAM AUGUSTUS MUHLENBERG, a noted American philanthropist and Protestant Episcopal clergyman, was born in Philadelphia, Penn., September 16, 1796, and died in New York, April, 1877. He wrote: “A Plea for Christian Hymns,” and many well-known hymns, among them: “Saviour Who Thy Flock Art Feeding,” “Shout the Glad Tidings,” and “I Would Not Live Alway.”

We all know Mr. Lowell’s brilliant qualities as a poet, critic, scholar, and man of the world; but that in him which touches me most strongly belongs to his relations to his country—his keen and subtle yet kindly recognition of her virtues and her faults, and the sympathetic power with which in the day of her melancholy triumph, after the Civil War, he gave such noble expression to her self-devotion, sorrows, and hopes.

“James Russell Lowell, The Critic,”—Francis Parkman.

FRANCIS PARKMAN, an eminent American historian, was born at Boston, September 16, 1823, and died at Jamaica Plain, Mass., November 8, 1893. He wrote: “The Oregon Trail: Prairie and Rocky Mountain Life,” “History of the Conspiracy of Pontiac,” “The Pioneers of France in the New World,” “The Jesuits in North America,” “La Salle and the Discovery of the Great West,” “The Old Régime in Canada,” “Count Frontenac and New France under Louis XIV,” “Montcalm and Wolfe,” and “A Half-Century of Conflict.”

The essayist rises higher than the poet—witty, tender; wise in human frailty, but never bitter.

“Personal Tributes to Dr. Holmes, the Writer,” Vol. 7, p. 167 (1894),—Hamlin Garland.

HAMLIN GARLAND, a celebrated American story writer, was born in La Crosse, Wis., September 16, 1860. His works include: “Main Traveled Roads,” “A Spoil of Office,” “Prairie Folks,” “Prairie Songs,” “Crumbling Idols,” “A Little Norsk,” “Rose of Dutcher’s Coolly,” “Jason Edwards,” “The Eagle’s Heart,” “Her Mountain Lover,” “Hesper,” “The Light of the Star,” “The Long Trail,” “Money Magic,” “The Shadow World,” “Victor Olnee’s Discipline,” “Other Main Traveled Roads,” “A Son of the Middle Border,” etc.

There’s a magic in the distance, where the sea-line meets the sky.

“Forty Singing Seamen,”—Alfred Noyes.

ALFRED NOYES, a noted English writer, was born at Staffordshire, September 16, 1880. He has written, “Robin Hood,” “Tales of the Mermaid Tavern,” “The Winepress,” “The Sea in English Poetry,” “A Salute from the Fleet,” “The Flower of Old Japan,” “Poems,” “Forty Singing Seamen,” “Walking Shadows,” “The Elfin Artist,” (New Poems).

All reasoning is retrospect; it consists in the application of facts and principles previously known. This will show the very great importance of knowledge, especially of that kind called Experience.

“Knowledge,”—John Foster.

JOHN FOSTER, a famous English author, and dissenting minister, best known as the “Essayist,” was born near Halifax, Yorkshire, September 17, 1770, and died October 15, 1843. His fame rests chiefly on his celebrated “Essays.” He also wrote: “Essay on Popular Ignorance,” “Discourse on Missions,” etc.

Whoever wishes to attain an English style, familiar but not coarse, and elegant but not ostentatious, must give his days and nights to the volumes of Addison.

“Life of Addison,”—Samuel Johnson.

SAMUEL JOHNSON, a renowned English critic, essayist, lexicographer, and poet, was born in Lichfield, September 18, 1709, and died in London, December 13, 1784. Among his many works may be mentioned: “Life of Richard Savage,” “The Vanity of Human Wishes,” “Life of Dryden,” “Plan for a Dictionary,” “The Rambler,” “Irene,” “The Idler,” “Shakespeare with Notes,” “The False Alarm,” “Taxation no Tyranny,” “Rasselas,” “English Poets,” etc.

Men are polished, through act and speech,

Each by each,

As pebbles are smoothed on the rolling beach.

“A Home Idyl,”—John Townsend Trowbridge.

JOHN TOWNSEND TROWBRIDGE, a celebrated American poet, novelist and general writer, was born in Ogden, N. Y., September 18, 1827, and died in 1916. He has written: “Martin Merrivale,” “Neighbor Jackwood,” “The Old Battle Ground,” “The Drummer Boy,” “The Three Scouts,” “Coupon Bonds,” “The Story of Columbus,” “The Jack Hazard Series,” “The Silver Medal Series,” “The Emigrant’s Story, and Other Poems,” “At Sea,” “The Pewee,” “Hearts and Faces,” “The Vagabonds,” “The Book of Gold, and Other Poems,” “The Start in Life Series,” “The Tide Mill Series,” “Poetical Works,” “My Own Story,” etc.

O Traveller who hast wandered far

’Neath southern sun and northern star,

Say where the fairest regions are!

Friend, underneath whatever skies

Love looks in love-returning eyes,

There are the bowers of paradise.

“The Bowers of Paradise,”—Clinton Scollard.

CLINTON SCOLLARD, a popular American poet and author, was born in New York, September 18, 1860. He has published: “Pictures in Song,” “Old and New World Lyrics,” “Under Summer Skies,” “Lyrics and Legends of Christmastide,” “Odes and Elegies,” “From the Lips of the Sea,” “Poems—A Selection from the Harvest of Thirty Years of Song,” “A Christmas Garland,” “A Knight of the Highway,” “A Son of a Tory,” “The Lutes of Morn,” “Lyrics of the Dawn,” “Footfaring,” etc.

Let the soldier be abroad if he will, he can do nothing in this age. There is another personage,—a personage less imposing in the eyes of some, perhaps insignificant. The schoolmaster is abroad, and I trust to him, armed with his primer, against the soldier in full military array.

“Speech,” January 29, 1828,—Lord Brougham.

HENRY PETER BROUGHAM, LORD BROUGHAM, a distinguished British statesman and author, was born in Edinburgh, September 19, 1778, and died at Cannes, France, May 7, 1868. His most important works are: “Lives of Men of Letters and Science,” “Speeches,” and “Sketches of the Statesmen of the Time of George III.”

The soul of man is larger than the sky,

Deeper than ocean, or the abysmal dark

Of the unfathomed center.

“To Shakespeare,”—Hartley Coleridge.

HARTLEY COLERIDGE, a celebrated English poet, and man of letters, (son of Samuel Taylor Coleridge), was born at Bristol, September 19, 1796, and died in 1849. His writings include: “Biographia Borealis,” “The Worthies of Yorkshire and Lancashire,” “Essays and Marginalia,” and some exquisite sonnets, published in the London Magazine.

When change itself can give no more

’Tis easy to be true.

“Reasons for Constancy,”—Sir Charles Sedley.

SIR CHARLES SEDLEY, a noted English dramatist, was born at Aylesford in Kent, September 20, 1639, and died August 20, 1701. Besides his tragedies and comedies, he wrote a famous song, “Phyllis.”

In the first days

Of my distracting grief, I found myself

As women wish to be who love their lords.

“Douglas,” Act I, Sc. i,—John Home.

JOHN HOME, a well-known Scotch dramatist, was born in Leith, near Edinburgh, September 21, 1722, and died at Merchiston near Edinburgh, September 5, 1808. His most celebrated plays are: “Alfred,” “The Fatal Discovery,” “Agis,” and his tragedy, “Douglas.” He also wrote, “History of the Rebellion in Scotland in 1755-56.”

Where are the cities of old time?

“The Ballade of Dead Cities,”—Edmund William Gosse.

EDMUND WILLIAM GOSSE, a famous English poet, essayist, and critic, was born in London, September 21, 1849. He has written: “On Viol and Flute,” “The Unknown Lover,” “Madrigals, Songs, and Sonnets,” “Life of Jeremy Taylor,” “French Profiles,” “Coventry Patmore,” “Life of Sir Thomas Browne,” “Father and Son,” “Henrik Ibsen,” “Two Visits to Denmark,” “Portraits and Studies,” “Collected Essays” (5 vols.), “Life of Swinburne,” “Lord Redesdale’s Further Memories,” “Three French Moralists,” “Diversions of a Man of Letters,” “Malherbe,” etc.

How few take time for friendship! How few plan for it! It is treated as a haphazard, fortuitous thing. May good luck send us friends; we will not go after them. May favoring fortune bind our friendships; we will take no stitches ourselves. Yet friendship requires painstaking. No art is so difficult, no craft so arduous. Roll a ball of clay and expect it to become a rose in your hand, but never expect an acquaintanceship, without care and thought, to blossom into friendship.

—Wells.

HERBERT GEORGE WELLS, a distinguished English author, was born at Bromley, Kent, September 21, 1868. Among his many works may be mentioned: “The Wheels of Chance,” “Certain Personal Matters,” (essays), “The War of the Worlds,” “The Sleeper Awakes,” “Love and Mr. Lewisham,” “Anticipations,” “The Sea Lady,” “Mankind in the Making,” “The Food of the Gods,” “A Modern Utopia,” “The War in the Air,” “Ann Veronica,” “The New Machiavelli,” “Marriage,” “The Passionate Friends,” “An Englishman Looks at the World,” “The World Set Free,” “The Peace of the World,” “The Research Magnificent,” “What is Coming?” “Mr. Britling Sees it Through,” “The Soul of a Bishop,” “Joan and Peter,” “The Come Back,” etc.

Manners must adorn knowledge, and smooth its way through the world. Like a great rough diamond, it may do very well in a closet by way of curiosity, and also for its intrinsic value.

“Letter,” July 1, 1748,—Earl of Chesterfield.

PHILIP DORMER STANHOPE, EARL OF CHESTERFIELD, a famous English man of affairs and of the world, was born in London, September 22, 1694, and died March 24, 1773. His “Letters to His Son” won for him everlasting literary fame.

A reply to a newspaper attack resembles very much the attempt of Hercules to crop the Hydra, without the slightest chance of ultimate success.

“Gilbert Gurney,” Vol. II, Chap. I, Theodore M. Hook.

THEODORE EDWARD HOOK, a famous English wit and novelist, was born in London, September 22, 1788, and died August 24, 1841. He wrote: “Macwell,” “Gilbert Gurney,” “Gurney Married,” “Births, Deaths and Marriages.” “His Sayings and Doings,” were published in 1824, 1825 and in 1828.

I never yet heard man or woman much abused, that I was not inclined to think the better of them; and to transfer any suspicion or dislike to the person who appeared to take delight in pointing out the defects of a fellow-creature.

—Jane Porter.

JANE PORTER, a distinguished English novelist, was born at Durham, September 23, 1776, and died at Bristol, May 24, 1850. Among her stories are: “Thaddeus of Warsaw,” “The Scottish Chiefs,” “The Pastor’s Fireside,” etc.

Within the rose I found a trembling tear,

Close curtained in a gloom of crimson night,

By tender petals from the outer light.

“Within the Rose I found a Trembling Tear,”—Boyesen.

HJALMAR HJORTH BOYESEN, a celebrated American novelist, was born at Frederiksvarn, Norway, September 23, 1848, and died in New York, October 4, 1895. He has written: “Idyls of Norway and Other Poems,” “Tales from Two Hemispheres,” “Ilka on the Hilltop and Other Stories,” “A Norseman’s Pilgrimage,” “Gunnar,” and “A Daughter of the Philistines.”

When he writes of himself, how supremely excellent is the reading. It is good even when he does it intentionally, as in “Portraits and Memories.” It is better still when he sings it, as in his “Child’s Garden.” He is irresistible to every lonely child who reads and thrills, and reads again to find his past recovered for him with effortless ease. It is a book never long out of my hands, for only in it and in my dreams when I am touched with fever, do I grasp the long, long thoughts of a lonely child and a hill-wandering boy-thoughts I never told to any; yet which Mr. Stevenson tells over again to me as if he read them off a printed page.

“Mr. Stevenson’s Books,” McClure’s Magazine, Vol. 4, p. 289 1895,—S. R. Crockett.

SAMUEL RUTHERFORD CROCKETT, a distinguished Scotch novelist, was born in Little Duchrae, Galloway, September 24, 1862, and died in 1914. He has written “The Stickit Minister,” “The Lilac Sun-Bonnet,” “Lad’s Love,” “Joan of the Sword Hand,” “The Dark o’ the Moon,” “The Banner of Blue,” “An Adventure in Spain,” “Maid Margaret,” “Cherry Riband,” “Flower o’ the Corn,” “Kit Kennedy,” “The Red Axe,” “The Bloom of the Heather,” “The White Plume of Navarre,” “Anne of the Barricades,” “Patsy,” “Sandy,” etc.

The breaking waves dashed high

On a stern and rock-bound coast,

And the woods against a stormy sky

Their giant branches tossed.

“Landing of the Pilgrim Fathers,”—Felicia Hemans.

FELICIA DOROTHEA BROWNE HEMANS, a noted English-Irish poet, was born in Liverpool, September 25, 1793, and died at Redesdale, near Dublin, May 16, 1835. Her most famous works are: “Tales and Historic Scenes in Verse,” “Songs of the Cid,” “Lays of Many Lands,” “The Siege of Valencia, the Last Constantine,” and “Domestic Affections.”

We can do without any article of luxury we have never had; but when once obtained, it is not in human nature to surrender it voluntarily.

“The Clockmaker,”—Thomas Chandler Haliburton.

THOMAS CHANDLER HALIBURTON (SAM SLICK), a famous Canadian author, was born at Windsor, Nova Scotia, September 26 (?), 1796, and died near London, August 27, 1865. He is best known by his famous “Sam Slick” papers.

Honor is like the eye, which cannot suffer the least injury without damage; it is a precious stone, the price of which is lessened by the least flaw.

—Bossuet.

JACQUES BÉNIGNE BOSSUET, a renowned French theologian, was born at Dijon, September 27, 1627, and died April 12, 1704. He wrote: “Discourse upon Universal History Down to the Empire of Charlemagne,” “History of the Variations of the Protestant Churches,” and the “Defense of the Famous Declaration Which the Gallican Clergy Approved Regarding the Power of the Church.” His “Complete Works,” in 46 volumes, were published 1815-19.

A life on the ocean wave!

A home on the rolling deep,

Where the scattered waters rave,

And the winds their revels keep!

Like an eagle caged I pine

On this dull unchanging shore:

O give me the flashing brine,

The spray and the tempest’s roar!

“A Life on the Ocean Wave,”—Epes Sargent.

EPES SARGENT, a celebrated American journalist, author and dramatist, was born in Gloucester, Mass., September 27, 1813, and died in Boston, December 31, 1880. His works include: “Change Makes Change,” “The Priestess,” “Wealth and Worth,” “Peculiar: A Tale of the Great Transition,” “Songs of the Sea,” “Life of Henry Clay,” “A Life on the Ocean Wave,” etc.

Logic makes only one demand, that of science. But life makes a thousand. The body wants health; the imagination cries out for beauty; and the heart for love. Pride asks for consideration; the soul yearns for peace; the conscience for holiness; our whole being is athirst for happiness and for perfection.

—Amiel.

HENRI FRÉDÉRIC AMIEL, an eminent Swiss essayist, poet, and philosophical critic, was born at Geneva, September 27, 1821, and died there, March 11, 1881. His writings include: “Millet Grains,” “Study on Mme. de Staël,” “The Literary Movement in Romanish Switzerland,” etc. His famous “Journal” appeared after his death.

The dews of summer nights did fall,

The moon, sweet regent of the sky,

Silvered the walls of Cumnor Hall

And many an oak that grew thereby.

“Cumnor Hall,”—William J. Mickle.

WILLIAM JULIUS MICKLE, a noted Scottish poet, was born at Langholm, Dumfriesshire, September 28, 1735, and died at Forest Hill, October 28, 1788. He wrote: “Syr Martyn,” “Almada Hill,” “Cumnor Hall,” etc.

Cobden is a man of an extremely interesting mind; quite the opposite of an Englishman in this respect, that you never hear him talk commonplaces, and that he has few prejudices.

“Correspondence,”—Prosper Mérimée.

PROSPER MÉRIMÉE, a renowned French essayist and litterateur, was born at Paris, September 28, 1803, and died at Cannes, September 23, 1870. He wrote: “Historic Monuments,” “Historic and Literary Medleys,” “Mateo Falcone,” “Guzla,” “Plays of Clara Gazul,” and his most celebrated works: “Colomba” and “Carmen.”

Time’s corrosive dewdrop eats

The giant warrior to a crust

Of earth in earth and rust in rust.

“A Danish Barrow,”—Francis T. Palgrave.

FRANCIS TURNER PALGRAVE, a distinguished English poet and art critic, was born September 28, 1824, and died in 1897. He wrote: “Essays on Art,” “Lyrical Poems,” “The Visions of England,” “The Life of Jesus Christ Illustrated from the Italian painters of the 14th, 15th and 16th Centuries,” “Idylls and Songs,” “Hymns,” “Amenophis and Other Poems,” “The Golden Treasury,” etc.

“I have often noticed that almost everyone has his own individual small economies—careful habits of saving fractions of pennies in some one peculiar direction—any disturbance of which annoys him more than spending shillings or pounds on some real extravagance.”

“Cranford, Chap. V,”—Mrs. Gaskell.

MRS. ELIZABETH CLEGHORN GASKELL, a famous English novelist, was born in Chelsea, September 29, 1810, and died November 12, 1865. Among her notable works are: “Mary Barton,” “Ruth,” “Lizzie Leigh,” “Sylvia’s Lovers,” “Wives and Daughters,” “The Life of Charlotte Brontë,” and “Cranford,” her most celebrated work.

Here’s to the maiden of bashful fifteen;

Here’s to the widow of fifty;

Here’s to the flaunting, extravagant quean,

And here’s to the housewife that’s thrifty!

Let the toast pass;

Drink to the lass;

I’ll warrant she’ll prove an excuse for the glass.

“School for Scandal,” Act iii, Sc. 3.—Sheridan.

RICHARD BRINSLEY SHERIDAN, the renowned British dramatist and parliamentary orator, was born in Dublin, September 30, 1751, and died at London, July 7, 1816. His dramatic works include: “The Rivals,” “The School for Scandal,” “The Critic,” and “The Duenna.” His most famous speeches are: “The Perfumery Speech” and the “Begum Speech.”

Der Unterliegende ist immer philosophisch gestimmt.[4]

—Sudermann.

HERMANN SUDERMANN, a celebrated German novelist and dramatist, was born at Matziken, East Prussia, September 30, 1857. Among his works are: “Dame Care,” “In the Twilight,” “Honor,” “The Cat Bridge,” “The Destruction of Sodom,” “Brothers and Sisters,” “Home,” “Battle of the Butterflies,” “Iolanthe’s Wedding,” “Once on a Time,” “The Undying Past,” “Das Hohe Lied,” “Strand-kinder,” “The Indian Lily,” “Der gute Ruf,” etc.

FOOTNOTES:

[1] I have often thought that however learnedly you may talk about it, one knows nothing but what he learns from his own experience.

[2] The style is the man himself.

[3] Nature made him, and then broke the mould.

[4] The losing side is always philosophically inclined.

OCTOBER

OCTOBER

I have read somewhere or other,—in Dionysius of Halicarnassus, I think,—that history is philosophy teaching by examples.

“On the Study and Use of History,” Letter 2,—Bolingbroke.

HENRY ST. JOHN, VISCOUNT BOLINGBROKE, a distinguished English statesman, author, and orator, was born at Battersea, October 1, 1678, and died there, December 12, 1751. His principal works are: “Letters on the Spirit of Patriotism,” “Letters on the Study of History,” “The Idea of a Patriot King,” and “A Dissertation on Parties.”

We join ourselves to no party that does not carry the flag and keep step to the music of the Union.

“Letter to the Whig Convention, 1855,”—Rufus Choate.

RUFUS CHOATE, an eminent American lawyer, orator and statesman, was born at Essex, Mass., October 1, 1799, and died at Halifax, N. S., July 13, 1859. His “Works” (2 vols.) were published in 1863.

But I account it worth

All pangs of fair hopes crost—

All loves and honors lost,—

To gain the heavens, at cost

Of losing earth.

“Sir Marmaduke’s Musings,”—Theodore Tilton.

THEODORE TILTON, a noted American journalist, lecturer, editor, and verse-writer, was born in New York City, October 2, 1835, and died in 1907. He wrote: “Thou and I,” “The Sexton’s Tale, and Other Poems,” “Suabian Stories,” “Tempest-Tossed,” “Sanctum Sanctorum: or An Editor’s Proof Sheets,” etc.

Mr. Webster says of Mr. Adams: On the day of his death, hearing the noise of bells and cannon, he asked the occasion. On being reminded that it was “Independence Day,” he replied, “Independence forever!”

“History of the United States,” Vol. vii, p. 65,—Bancroft.

GEORGE BANCROFT, a famous American historian and statesman, was born in Worcester, Mass., October 3, 1800, and died in Washington, D. C., January 17, 1891. His most famous work is the “History of the United States.”

But Petrarch’s highest merit by no means consists in this new classic elegance; it consists in the fact that he was the first to write freely of all things in the same way that a man speaks. He was the first to throw aside all scholastic crutches, and prove how much more swiftly a man could walk without leaning upon them.

“Machiavelli and his Times,” (transl.) Vol. I,—Pasquale Villari.

PASQUALE VILLARI, a distinguished Italian historian, was born at Naples, October 3, 1827, and died in 1914. His principal works are: “Niccolo Machiavelli and His Times,” “Ancient Legends and Traditions Illustrating the Divine Comedy,” “Essays Critical, Historical and Literary,” “Teaching History,” “The School and the Social Question in Italy.”

Amongst the masses—even in revolutions—aristocracy must ever exist; destroy it in nobility, and it becomes centered in the rich and powerful House of Commons. Pull them down, and it still survives in the master and foreman of the workshop.

—Guizot.

FRANÇOIS GUIZOT, an illustrious French historian and statesman, was born at Nîmes, October 4, 1787, and died at Val Richer, near Lisieux, September 12, 1874. He wrote: “History of the English Revolution,” “Corneille and his Time,” “The History of Civilization in Europe,” “The History of Civilization in France,” “Memoirs,” “Shakespeare and His Times,” “History of France for my Grandchildren,” etc.

Religion, in its purity, is not so much a pursuit as a temper; or rather it is a temper, leading to the pursuit of all that is high and holy. Its foundation is faith; its action, works; its temper holiness; its aim, obedience to God in improvement of self, and benevolence to men.

—Jonathan Edwards.

JONATHAN EDWARDS, a famous American divine and theological writer, was born in East Windsor, Conn., October 5, 1703, and died at Princeton, N. J., March 22, 1758. Among his works may be mentioned: “The Great Christian Doctrine of Original Sin Defended,” “An Inquiry into the Modern Prevailing Notions Respecting that Freedom of the Will which Is Supposed to Be Essential to Moral Agency,” “A Dissertation Concerning the End for which God Created the World,” and “The Nature of True Virtue.”

We are far more liable to catch the vices than the virtues of our associates.

—Diderot.

DENIS DIDEROT, a famous French philosopher and encyclopædist, was born at Langres, October 5, 1713, and died July 31, 1784. He wrote: “Philosophic Reflections,” “A Skeptic’s Walk,” “The Nun,” “Rameau’s Nephew,” “Little Papers,” etc.

The world is a comedy to those that think, a tragedy to those who feel.

Letter to Sir Horace Mann, 1770,—Horace Walpole.

HORACE WALPOLE, a famous English author and letter-writer, was born in London, October 5, 1717, and died there March 2, 1797. His works include: “Anecdotes of Painters in England,” “The Castle of Otranto,” “Historic Doubts on the Life and Reign of Richard III,” “The Mysterious Mother,” “Memoirs of the Last Ten Years of the Reign of George II,” etc. His chief fame rests upon his celebrated letters, 9 vols., which were published in 1857-59.

No seed shall perish which the soul hath sown.

“Sonnet, Versöhnung, a Belief,”—John Addington Symonds.

JOHN ADDINGTON SYMONDS, a distinguished English critic and historian of literature, was born at Bristol, October 5, 1840, and died at Rome, April 19, 1893. He wrote: “Studies of the Greek Poets,” “Sketches in Italy and Greece,” “Introduction to the Study of Dante,” “Shakespeare’s Predecessors,” “Sketches and Studies in Italy,” and his greatest work: “The Renaissance in Italy.”

“Freedom!” their battle cry—

“Freedom! or leave to die!

“The Black Regiment,”—George H. Boker.

GEORGE HENRY BOKER, a noted American poet and dramatist, was born in Philadelphia, Pa., October 6, 1823, and died there January 2, 1890. His plays include: “Anne Boleyn,” “The Betrothed,” “Calaynos,” “All the World’s a Mask,” and “Francesca da Rimini.” Also, “Poems of the War,” “Sonnets,” “Königsmark and Other Poems,” etc.

The ripest peach is highest on the tree.

“The Ripest Peach,”—James Whitcomb Riley.

JAMES WHITCOMB RILEY, a celebrated American poet, was born at Greenfield, Ind., October 7, 1853, and died July 22, 1916. Among his writings are: “The Old Swimmin’ Hole and ’Leven More Poems,” “Green Fields and Running Brooks,” “Child Rhymes,” “Love Lyrics,” “The Golden Year,” “Songs of Summer,” “The Rose,” “The Riley Baby Book,” “Songs of Friendship,” “Songs of Cheer,” “Old Schoolday Romances,” “Songs of Home,” “Down Around the River and Other Poems,” “A Summer’s Day and Other Poems,” “All the Year Round,” “Knee-Deep in June and Other Poems,” “The Prayer-Perfect and Other Poems,” “A Song of Long Ago,” “When My Dreams Come True,” “Away,” “Do They Miss Me?” “Friendship,” etc.

I think that saving a little child

And bringing him to his own,

Is a derned sight better business,

Than, loafing around the throne.

“Little Breeches,”—John Hay.

JOHN HAY, a famous American poet and prose-writer, was born in Salem, Ind., October 8, 1838, and died in 1905. His literary fame rests on his famous “Pike County Ballads.”

Thy Soul ...

Is as far from my grasp, is as free,

As the stars from the mountain-tops be,

As the pearl in the depths of the sea,

From the portionless king that would be.

“Stanzas from Music,”—Edmund Clarence Stedman.

EDMUND CLARENCE STEDMAN, a distinguished American man of letters, was born in Hartford, Conn., October 8, 1833, and died in 1908. He wrote: “Nature and Elements of Poetry,” “Poets of America,” “Victorian Anthology,” “Victorian Poets,” “Poems Now First Collected,” etc.

Backward, flow backward, O tide of the years!

I am so weary of toil and of tears—

Toil without recompense, tears all in vain!

Take them, and give me my childhood again!

“Rock Me to Sleep,”—Elizabeth Akers Allen.

ELIZABETH AKERS ALLEN, a noted American poet, was born at Strong, Me., October 9, 1832, and died in 1911. She wrote: “The Silver Bridge and Other Poems,” and a volume of “Poems,” the best known among them being: “Rock Me to Sleep, Mother.”

Woodman, spare that tree!

Touch not a single bough!

In youth it sheltered me,

And I’ll protect it now.

“Woodman, Spare that Tree!”—George P. Morris.

GEORGE POPE MORRIS, a celebrated American journalist and song-writer, was born in Philadelphia, October 10, 1802, and died in New York City, July 6, 1864. He wrote: “Poems,” “The Little Frenchman,” “Briercliff,” and his famous song, “Woodman Spare That Tree.”

It was acknowledged by Hume, that it was only in solitude and retirement that he could yield any assent to his own philosophy.

“Essays,”—Hugh Miller.

HUGH MILLER, a distinguished Scottish geologist, was born at Cromarty, October 11, 1802, and died near Edinburgh, December 2, 1856. His most notable works are: “The Old Red Sandstone,” “Footprints of the Creator,” “Testimony of the Rocks,” “Poems,” “Scenes and Legends of the North of Scotland,” etc.

There came to port last Sunday night

The queerest little craft,

Without an inch of rigging on;

I looked and looked,—and laughed!

It seemed so curious that she

Should cross the unknown water,

And moor herself within my room,—

My daughter! O my daughter.

“The New Arrival,” St. I.—George Washington Cable.

GEORGE WASHINGTON CABLE, a famous American novelist, was born in New Orleans, La., October 12, 1844. He has written: “The Silent South,” “The Creoles of Louisiana,” “Old Creole Days,” “Dr. Sevier,” “Strange True Stories of Louisiana,” “The Busy Man’s Bible,” “John March, Southerner,” “The Negro Question,” “Strong Hearts,” “Kincaid’s Battery,” “Gideon’s Band,” “The Amateur Garden,” etc.

I’ve wandered east, I’ve wandered west,

Through mony a weary way;

But never, never can forget

The luve o’ life’s young day!

“Jeannie Morrison,”—William Motherwell.

WILLIAM MOTHERWELL, a Scottish poet and antiquary of great fame, was born at Glasgow, October 13, 1797, and died there, November 1, 1835. His most famous works are: “Minstrelsy, Ancient and Modern,” and “Poems, Narrative and Lyrical.”

Absence makes the heart grow fonder;

Isle of Beauty, fare the well!

“Isle of Beauty,”—Thomas Haynes Bayly.

THOMAS HAYNES BAYLY, a noted English poet and novelist, was born in Bath, October 13, 1797, and died at Cheltenham, April 22, 1839. He wrote 36 dramas, including among them: “The Aylmers,” “Perfection,” and “The Legend of Killarney.”

Be humble and gentle in your conversation, of few words, I charge you, but always pertinent when you speak, hearing out before you attempt to answer, and then speaking as if you would persuade, not impose.

“Advice to his Children,”—William Penn.

WILLIAM PENN, a distinguished writer, and the founder of Pennsylvania, was born at London, October 14, 1644, and died July 30, 1718. Among his notable works were: “A Sandy Foundation Shaken,” “Truth Exalted,” “No Cross, No Crown,” “Reasonableness of Toleration,” and “Primitive Christianity Revived in the Faith and Practice of the People Called Quakers.”

Come in the evening, or come in the morning;

Come when you’re looked for, or come without warning.

“The Welcome,”—Thomas Osborne Davis.

THOMAS OSBORNE DAVIS, a famous Irish poet and journalist was born in Mallow, County Cork, October 14, 1814, and died in Dublin, September 15, 1845. His “Poems” and his “Literary and Historical Essays” were collected in 1846.

Farewell to Lochaber, farewell to my Jean,

Where heartsome wi’ thee I ha’e mony days been;

For Lochaber no more, Lochaber no more,

We’ll maybe return to Lochaber no more.

“Lochaber No More,”—Allan Ramsay.

ALLAN RAMSAY, an eminent Scottish poet, was born in Leadhills, Lanarkshire, October 15, 1686, and died in Edinburgh, January 7, 1758. His most noted works are: “Fables and Tales,” “Tartana; or, The Plaid,” “The Evergreen,” “Fair Assembly,” “The Tea-Table Miscellany,” “Health,” “Thirty Fables,” and “Gentle Shepherd,” his most celebrated work.

A man can’t be too careful in the choice of his enemies.

“The Picture of Dorian Gray,”—Oscar Wilde.

OSCAR WILDE, a famous Irish poet and author, was born in Dublin, October 15, 1856, and died in 1900. Among his works are: “Poems,” “The Picture of Dorian Gray,” “The Happy Prince and Other Tales,” etc.; also three noted plays: “Lady Windermere’s Fan,” “A Woman of No Importance,” and “The Importance of Being Earnest.”

Abstinence is many times very helpful to the end of religion.

—Tillotson.

JOHN TILLOTSON, a distinguished English archbishop, was born in Sowerby, Yorkshire, October 16, 1630, and died in London, November 22, 1694. His manuscript sermons were published after his death, with the “Rule of Faith,” by Ralph Barker.

The fourteenth of February is a day sacred to St. Valentine! It was a very odd notion, alluded to by Shakespeare, that on this day birds begin to couple; hence, perhaps, arose the custom of sending on this day letters containing professions of love and affection.

—Noah Webster.

NOAH WEBSTER, the eminent American lexicographer and journalist, was born at West Hartford, Conn., October 16, 1758, and died in New Haven, May 28, 1843. He published “Sketches of American Policy,” “Philosophical and Practical Grammar of the English Language,” “A Compendious Dictionary of the English Language,” and his magnum opus, “American Dictionary of the English Language.”

In the Cross of Christ I glory,

Tow’ring o’er the wrecks of time;

All the lights of sacred story

Gathers round its head sublime.

“The Cross of Christ,”—Sir John Bowring.

SIR JOHN BOWRING, a famous English author and diplomat, was born in Exeter, October 17, 1792, and died there, November 23, 1872. Among his writings are: “Specimens of the Polish Poets,” “Specimens of the Russian Poets,” “Ancient Poetry and Romances of Spain,” “Servian Popular Poetry,” “The Flowery Scroll: A Chinese Novel,” “The Kingdom and People of Siam,” “Cheskian Anthology,” and “A Visit to the Philippine Islands.”

Kingsley’s three masters were—in poetry, Tennyson; in social philosophy, Carlyle; in things moral and spiritual, Frederick D. Maurice; he was a much more passionate reformer than Tennyson; he was far more genial and social than Carlyle. Not that he imitated any of the three.

“Studies in Early Victorian Literature,”—Frederic Harrison.

FREDERIC HARRISON, a renowned English essayist, and publicist, was born in London, October 18, 1831. He wrote: “Order and Progress,” “The Study of History,” “Oliver Cromwell,” “The Meaning of History,” “Choice of Books,” “Annals of an Old Manor House,” “Chatham,” “Life of Ruskin,” “Memories and Thoughts,” “Carlyle and the London Library,” “My Alpine Jubilee,” “National and Social Problems,” “Among My Books,” “The Positive Evolution of Religion,” “Autobiographic Memoirs,” “The German Peril,” “On Society,” “Jurisprudence and Conflict of Nations,” “Obiter Scripta,” “Novissima Verba,” etc.

O sweet delusive Noon,

Which the morning climbs to find,

O moment sped too soon,

And morning left behind.

“Verses: Noon,”—Helen Hunt.

HELEN FISKE JACKSON (“H. H.”), a noted American poet and miscellaneous writer, was born October 18, 1831, and died in 1885. Among her publications are: “Poems,” “Bits of Talk,” “Hetty’s Strange History,” “A Century of Dishonor,” and “Ramona,” her most famous work.

It is the common wonder of all men, how among so many million of faces there should be none alike.

“Religio Medici,” Part II, Sect. ii,—Sir Thomas Browne.

SIR THOMAS BROWNE, a celebrated English antiquary and physician, was born in London, October 19, 1605, and died in 1682. His principal work is “Religio Medici.” After his death a collection of his fugitive pieces was published, followed by “Christian Morals,” a collection of aphorisms.

The second day of July, 1776, will be the most memorable epocha in the history of America. I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated by succeeding generations as the great anniversary festival. It ought to be commemorated as the day of deliverance, by solemn acts of devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with pomp and parade, with shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires, and illuminations, from one end of this continent to the other, from this time forward for evermore.

“Letter to Mrs. Adams,” July 3, 1776.—John Adams.

JOHN ADAMS, an illustrious American statesman and publicist, and second President of the United States, was born at Braintree (now Quincy), Massachusetts, October 19, 1735, and died there, July 4, 1826. His most celebrated work was: “Defence of the Constitution and Government of the United States.”

With spots of sunny openings, and with nooks

To lie and read in, sloping into brooks.

“The Story of Rimini,”—Leigh Hunt.

LEIGH HUNT, a famous English poet, critic, and essayist, was born in Southgate, October 19, 1784; and died at Putney, August 28, 1859. The most important of his works are: “The Story of Rimini,” “Recollections of Byron,” “A Legend of Florence,” and “Sir Ralph Esher.”

Most wondrous book! bright candle of the Lord!

Star of Eternity! The only star

By which the bark of man could navigate

The sea of life and gain the coast of bliss

Securely.

“The Course of Time,” Book ii, Line 270,—Robert Pollok.

ROBERT POLLOK, a noted Scottish poet, was born at North Moorhouse, Renfrewshire, October 19, 1798, and died September 17, 1827. He published “Tales of the Covenanters,” and his famous poem, “The Course of Time.”

It is no easy task for anyone who has been studying his life and works to set reasonable bounds to their reverence and enthusiasm, for the man.

“Alfred the Great,”—Ch. 24,—Thomas Hughes.

THOMAS HUGHES, a celebrated English essayist and story-writer, was born at Donnington Priory, near Newbury, October 20, 1823, and died in 1896. He wrote: “Our Old Church: What Shall We Do With It?” “Rugby,” “The Manliness of Christ,” and his two celebrated works, “Tom Brown’s School Days,” and “Tom Brown at Oxford.”

On their own merits modest men are dumb.

“Epilogue” to the “Heir at Law,”—George Colman, the Younger.

GEORGE COLMAN, THE YOUNGER, a famous English dramatist and humorous poet, was born in London (?), October 21, 1762, and died there October 17, 1836. He wrote: “Broad Grins,” “Poetic Vagaries,” etc. Among his comedies are: “The Iron Chest,” “John Bull,” and “The Heir-at-Law.”

A noise like of a hidden brook

In the leafy month of June,

That to the sleeping woods all night

Singeth a quiet tune.

“The Ancient Mariner,” Part V,—Samuel Taylor Coleridge.

SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE, a renowned English poet and philosopher, was born at Ottery, St. Mary, Devonshire, October 21, 1772, and died July 25, 1834. Among his famous works are: “Fall of Robespierre” (a play), “Moral and Political Lecture Delivered at Bristol,” “Conciones ad Populum,” “The Plot Discovered,” “Poems on Various Subjects,” “The Destiny of Nations,” “Ode to the Departing Year,” “Pears in Solitude,” “Wallenstein,” “Remorse, a Tragedy,” “Biographia Literaria,” “Aids to Reflection,” etc. “The Ancient Mariner,” was published in 1798, in a volume of “Lyrical Ballads,” with Wordsworth.

If cruelty has its expiations and its remorses, generosity has its chances and its turns of good fortune; as if Providence reserved them for fitting occasions, that noble hearts may not be discouraged.

—Lamartine.

ALPHONSE MARIE LOUIS DE LAMARTINE, an eminent French poet, was born at Milly, near Macon, October 21, 1790, and died at Passy, March 1, 1869. His greatest works were: “Poetic and Religious Harmonies,” “Jocelyn,” “Poetical Meditations,” “New Poetical Meditations,” “History of the Girondins,” “The Fall of an Angel,” “Confidences,” “New Confidences,” and the “History of the Restoration.”

My country, ’tis of thee,

Sweet land of liberty,

Of thee I sing:

Land where my fathers died,

Land of the pilgrims’ pride,

From every mountain-side

Let freedom ring.

—“America”—Samuel Francis Smith.

SAMUEL FRANCIS SMITH, a noted American clergyman and hymn-writer, was born in Boston, October 21, 1808, and died in 1895. He wrote: “Mythology and Early Greek History,” “Knights and Sea Kings,” “Poor Boys Who Became Great,” and his famous hymn, “America.”

Heart to conceive, the understanding to direct, or the hand to execute.

“Junius” Letter XXXVII.

SIR PHILIP FRANCIS, a celebrated Irish-English public man and writer, was born in Dublin, October 22, 1740, and died in London, December 23, 1818. He won celebrity by the “Letters” signed “Junius,” which appeared in the Public Advertiser of London, from 1768 to 1772.

Scatter the clouds that hide

The face of heaven, and show

Where sweet peace doth abide.

Where Truth and Beauty grow.

“Morning Hymn,”—Robert Bridges.

ROBERT BRIDGES, a renowned English author and poet, was born October 23, 1844. He has been poet-laureate of England since 1913. He has written: “Essay on Milton’s Prosody,” “Critical Essay on Keats,” “The Growth of Love,” “Eros and Psyche,” “Prometheus the Firegiver,” “Demeter, a Masque,” “The Spirit of Man: An Anthology in English and French,” “Ibant Obscuri,” and some notable plays, among them: “Nero” (Parts I and II), “Palicio,” “Ulysses,” “Christian Captives,” “Achilles in Scyros,” “Humours of the Court,” “Feast of Bacchus,” etc.

... A Boswell and is not allowed to be, who has wild notions that he is really a greater man than Johnson and occasionally blasphemes against his idol, but who in the intervals is truly Boswellian.

“Essays in English Literature,”—Saintsbury.

GEORGE EDWARD BATEMAN SAINTSBURY, an eminent English critic and literary historian, was born at Southampton, October 23, 1845. Among his numerous works are: “Primer of French Literature,” “Short History of French Literature,” “Marlborough,” “Elizabethan Literature,” “Essays in English Literature,” “Essays on French Novelists,” “Nineteenth Century Literature,” “Sir Walter Scott,” “A Short History of English Literature,” “Matthew Arnold,” “History of Criticism and Literary Taste in Europe,” “History of English Prosody,” “History of English Criticism,” “The English Novel,” “First Book of English Literature,” “A History of the French Novel,” Vol. 1 (1917) and Vol. 2 (1919).

The frivolous work of polished idleness.

“Dissertation on Ethical Philosophy, Remarks on Thomas Brown,”—Sir James Mackintosh.

SIR JAMES MACKINTOSH, a distinguished Scottish lawyer, philosopher, and politician, was born at Aldourie, Inverness-shire, October 24, 1765, and died in London, May 30, 1832. Among his writings are: “History of England,” “Life of Sir Thomas More,” “Modern British Essayists,” and “Dissertation on the Progress of Ethical Philosophy.”

At the close of the day when the hamlet is still

And mortals the sweets of forgetfulness prove,

When naught but the torrent is heard on the hill,

And naught but the nightingale’s song in the grove.

“The Hermit,”—James Beattie.

JAMES BEATTIE, a noted Scottish poet, was born in Laurencekirk, Kincardineshire, October 25, 1735, and died in Aberdeen, August 18, 1803. His writings include: “The Minstrel,” “Dissertations Moral and Critical,” “The Evidences of the Christian Religion Briefly and Plainly Stated,” “The Elements of Moral Science,” and his famous “Essay on Truth.”

Wherever literature consoles sorrow or assuages pain; wherever it brings gladness to eyes which fail with wakefulness and tears, and ache for the dark house and the long sleep, there is exhibited in its noblest form the immortal influence of Athens.

“On Mitford’s History of Greece,” (1824)—Thomas B. Macaulay.

THOMAS BABINGTON, LORD MACAULAY, a renowned English historian, essayist, poet and statesman, was born at Rothley Temple, Leicestershire, October 25, 1800, and died at Kensington, December 28, 1859. His most famous works are: “Lays of Ancient Rome,” and the “History of England.”

Behold! in Liberty’s unclouded blaze

We lift our heads, a race of other days.

“Centennial Ode,” Stanza 22,—Charles Sprague.

CHARLES SPRAGUE, a noted American poet, was born in Boston, October 26, 1791, and died there, January 22, 1875. He wrote: “The Family Meeting,” “The Winged Worshippers,” and “Curiosity.” A collection of his works entitled “Poetical and Prose Writings,” was published in 1841.

Whence are thy beams, O sun! thy everlasting light? Thou comest forth, in thy awful beauty, the stars hide themselves in the sky; the moon, cold and pale, sinks in the western wave. But thou, thyself, movest alone.

“The Poems of Ossian,” “Carthon Ossian’s Address to the Sun,”—James Macpherson.

JAMES MACPHERSON, a famous Scottish author, known as the author of the “Ossian” poems, was born at Ruthven, Inverness-shire, October 27, 1736, and died February 17, 1796. He published the “Poems of Ossian,” consisting of “Fingal, an Epic Poem in Six Books” (1762), “Temora, an Epic Poem in Eight Books” (1764); he also wrote: “History of Great Britain” (1775).

No man is justified in doing evil on the ground of expediency.

“The Strenuous Life,”—Theodore Roosevelt.

THEODORE ROOSEVELT, a celebrated American politician and author, and twenty-sixth President of the United States, was born in New York City, October 27, 1858, and died January 6, 1918. He has written: “Essays on Practical Politics,” “The Naval War of 1812,” “Life of Thomas Hart Benton,” “The Wilderness Hunter,” “The Winning of the West,” “Gouverneur Morris,” “Ranch Life and Hunting Trail,” “History of New York City,” “Hunting Trips of a Ranchman,” “The Outdoor Pastimes of an American Hunter,” “African Game Trails,” “Theodore Roosevelt: an Autobiography,” “History as Literature,” “Life History of African Big Game,” “A Hunter Naturalist in the Brazilian Wilderness,” “Fear God and Take Your Own Part,” “A Book Lover’s Holiday in the Open,” “The Foes of Our Own Household,” etc.

Life is mostly froth and bubble;

Two things stand like stone:—

Kindness in another’s trouble,

Courage in our own.

Ye Weary Wayfarer. Finis Exoptatus.—Adam Lindsay Gordon (Lionel Gordon).

ADAM LINDSAY GORDON (LIONEL GORDON), a noted Australian poet, was born October 28, 1833, and died June 24, 1870. His volumes of verse include: “Sea Spray and Smoke Drift,” “Ashtaroth: A Dramatic Lyric,” “Bush Ballads and Galloping Rhymes.”

A man ought to read just as inclination leads him; for what he reads as a task will do him little good.

“Life of Johnson,” Vol. II, Chap. VI (1763),—Boswell.

JAMES BOSWELL, a famous Scottish biographer, was born in Edinburgh, October 29, 1740, and died in London, May 19, 1795. He wrote: “An Account of Corsica and Memoirs of Pascal Paoli,” “Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides with Samuel Johnson,” etc. His “Life of Dr. Samuel Johnson” is considered the most interesting biography that has ever been written.

N’est-on jamais tyran qu’avec un diadème?[1]

“Caius Gracchus,”—Chénier.

ANDRÉ MARIE DE CHÉNIER, a renowned French poet, was born at Constantinople, October 30, 1762, and died July 25, 1794. Among his writings were: “Liberty,” “Invention,” “Dithyrambic on the Tennis Play,” and a beautiful elegy, “The Girl Captive.”

Moan, O ye Autumn Winds!

Summer has fled,

The flowers have closed their tender leaves and die;

The lily’s gracious head

All low must lie,

Because the gentle Summer now is dead.

—Adelaide A. Procter.

ADELAIDE ANNE PROCTER, an English poetess of great fame, was born at London, October 30, 1825, and died February 3, 1864. Her celebrated “Legends and Lyrics,” went through many editions.

A studious decliner of honours and titles.

“Diary,” Introduction,—John Evelyn.

JOHN EVELYN, a renowned English diarist, was born at Wotton, in Surrey, October 31, 1620, and died February 27, 1706. His writings are: “A Parallel of Ancient and Modern Architecture,” “Sculptura, or the History and Art of Chalcography and Engraving on Copper,” “Sylva,” etc.; also his famous “Diary.”

A thing of beauty is a joy forever;

Its loveliness increases; it will never

Pass into nothingness.

“Endymion,” Book i,—John Keats.

JOHN KEATS, an eminent English poet, was born in London, October 31, 1795, and died in Rome, 1821. He wrote: “Endymion, a Poetic Romance,” “Lamia, Isabella, the Eve of St. Agnes, and Other Poems,” including, also, the unfinished epic, “Hyperion.” “The Letters of John Keats to Fanny Brawne” appeared in 1878, and the “Letters to His Family and Friends” in 1891.

O Mother dear, Jerusalem,

When shall I come to Thee?

When shall my sorrows have an end?

Thy joys when shall I see?

—William Cowper Prime.

WILLIAM COWPER PRIME, a distinguished American man of letters, was born at Cambridge, N. Y., October 31, 1825, and died in 1905. He wrote: “Owl Creek Letters,” “The Old House by the River,” “Later Years,” “Tent Life in the Holy Land,” “Boat Life in Egypt and Nubia,” “The Holy Cross,” “Pottery and Porcelain of All Times and Nations,” etc. He also wrote the famous hymn, “O, Mother Dear, Jerusalem.”

FOOTNOTES:

[1] Is there no tyrant but the crowned one?

NOVEMBER

NOVEMBER

Every age has its pleasures, its style of wit, and its own ways.

“The Art of Poetry,” Canto iii, Line 374,—Boileau.

NICOLAS BOILEAU-DESPRÉAUX, an eminent French critic and poet, was born in Paris, November 1, 1636, and died March 13, 1711. A few of his noted works are: “The Art of Poetry,” “The Farewell of a Poet to the City of Paris,” and his masterpiece, “The Reading Desk.”

I am dying, Egypt, dying;—

Ebbs the crimson life-tide fast;

And the dark Plutonian shadows

Gather on the evening blast.

Let thine arms, O Queen, enfold me;

Hush thy sobs and bow thine ear;

Listen to the great heart-secrets

Thou, and thou alone, must hear.

“Antony to Cleopatra,” St. I,—William Haines Lytle.

William Haines Lytle, a distinguished American general and poet, was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, November 2, 1826, and was killed at the Battle of Chickamauga, Tenn., September 20, 1863. His best-known poems are “Antony to Cleopatra,” and “Jacqueline.”

All men of whatever quality they be, who have done anything of excellence, or which may properly resemble excellence, ought, if they are persons of truth and honesty, to describe their life with their own hand; but they ought not to attempt so fine an enterprise till they have passed the age of forty.

—Benvenuto Cellini.

BENVENUTO CELLINI, a famous Italian sculptor, metal-worker, and writer of memoirs, was born in Florence, November 3, 1500, and died there, February 13, 1571. His “Autobiography” won for him an important place in letters.

So live, that when thy summons comes to join

The innumerable caravan which moves

To that mysterious realm where each shall take

His chamber in the silent halls of death,

Thou go not, like the quarry-slave at night,

Scourged to his dungeon, but sustained and soothed

By an unfaltering trust, approach thy grave

Like one that wraps the drapery of his couch

About him, and lies down to pleasant dreams.

“Thanatopsis,”—William Cullen Bryant.

WILLIAM CULLEN BRYANT, the celebrated American poet, was born in Cummington, Mass., November 3, 1794, and died in New York, June 12, 1878. His poetical works include: “The Yellow Violet,” “Poems,” “To a Water-fowl,” “The Ages,” “The West Wind,” “June,” “The Fountain and Other Poems,” “Death of the Flowers,” “The White-Footed Deer and Other Poems,” “The Flood of Years,” and his famous “Thanatopsis.” He also wrote: “Letters of a Traveler,” “Letters from the East,” “Letters from Spain,” etc.

Rock of Ages, cleft for me,

Let me hide myself in thee.

“Salvation through Christ,”—A. M. Toplady.

AUGUSTUS MONTAGUE TOPLADY, a distinguished Anglican divine, was born November 4, 1740, and died August 11, 1778. He is chiefly known as a writer of hymns and poems including: “Rock of Ages,” and the collections entitled, “Poems on Sacred Subjects.”

Beyond this vale of tears

There is a life above,

Unmeasured by the flight of years;

And all that life is love.

“The Issues of Life and Death,”—James Montgomery.

JAMES MONTGOMERY, a noted English poet and hymn-writer, was born at Irvine, Ayrshire, Scotland, November 4, 1771, and died at Sheffield, England, April 30, 1854. He wrote: “The World Before the Flood,” “The West Indies,” “Greenland,” “Original Hymns,” “Prose by a Poet,” etc.

Mensch, was du thust, bedenk das End,

Das wird die hochst Weisheit genennt.[1]

—Hans Sachs.

HANS SACHS, the famous German meistersinger, was born at Nuremberg, November 5, 1494, and died January 19 or 20, 1576. A complete collection of his works has never been published.

Make no man your idol; for the best man must have faults, and his faults will usually become yours in addition to your own. This is as true in art as in morals.

“Lectures on Art and Poems,”—Washington Allston.

WASHINGTON ALLSTON, a renowned American painter, poet, and romancer, was born at Waccamaw, S. C., November 5, 1779, and died at Cambridge, Mass., July 9, 1843. He wrote: “The Sylph of the Seasons and Other Poems,” “Monaldi,” “Lectures on Art and Poems,” etc.

Laugh and the world laughs with you,

Weep, and you weep alone;

For this brave old earth must borrow its mirth

But has trouble enough of its own.

“The Way of the World,”—Ella Wheeler Wilcox.

ELLA WHEELER WILCOX, a popular American poet, was born at Johnstown Centre, Wis., November 5, 1845, and died October 31, 1919. Among her volumes are: “Maurine,” “Poems of Passion,” “Poems of Pleasure,” etc. She is best known for her poem, “The Way of the World.”

As good be out of the world as out of the fashion.

“Love’s Last Shift,” Act ii.—Colley Cibber.

COLLEY CIBBER, a noted English dramatist, was born in London, November 6, 1671, and died there, December 12, 1757. Among his dramatic works are: “Love’s Last Shift,” “She Would and She Would Not,” “The Careless Husband,” and “Love Makes a Man.”

“Innocently to amuse the imagination in this dream of life is wisdom.” So wrote Oliver Goldsmith; and surely among those who have earned the world’s gratitude by this ministration he must be accorded a conspicuous place.

“Life of Goldsmith,”—William Black.

WILLIAM BLACK, a celebrated Scottish novelist, was born November 6, 1841, and died in 1898. Among his popular novels are: “Love or Marriage,” “In Silk Attire,” “A Daughter of Heth,” “Madcap Violet,” “Three Feathers,” “Yolande,” “The Strange Adventures of a Phaeton,” “Macleod of Dare,” “White Heather,” “Donald Ross of Heimra,” “Highland Cousins,” “Wild Eelin,” and his most famous work, “A Princess of Thule.” He also wrote a “Life of Goldsmith.”

The great deep ground out of which large historical studies may grow is the ethical ground,—the simple ethical necessity for the perfecting, first, of man as man, and secondly, of man as a member of society; or in other words, the necessity for the development of humanity on one hand and society on the other.

—Andrew Dickson White.

ANDREW DICKSON WHITE, a distinguished American scholar and diplomat, was born at Homer, N. Y., November 7, 1832, and died in 1918. He has written: “Outlines of Lectures on Mediæval and Modern History,” “The Plan of Organization for Cornell University,” “The New Education,” “Report on Co-Education of the Sexes,” “The Warfare of Science,” “Seven Great Statesmen in the Warfare of Humanity with Unreason,” “The Work of Benjamin Hale,” “Lecture on the Problem of High Crime in the United States,” etc.

The man who is so conscious of the rectitude of his intention as to be willing to open his bosom to the inspection of the world is in possession of one of the strongest pillars of a decided character. The course of such a man will be firm and steady, because he has nothing to fear from the world, and is sure of the approbation and support of heaven.

—Wirt.

WILLIAM WIRT, a renowned American lawyer and author, was born at Bladensburg, Md., November 8, 1772, and died at Washington, D. C., February 18, 1834. He wrote: “Letters of a British Spy,” “The Rainbow,” and his best known work, “Sketches of the Life and Character of Patrick Henry.”

How little know they life’s divinest bliss,

That know not to possess and yet refrain!

Let the young Psyche roam, a fleeting kiss;

Grasp it—a few poor grains of dust remain.

—Owen Meredith.

EDWARD ROBERT BULWER, EARL OF LYTTON (“OWEN MEREDITH”), an English poet and novelist of great fame, was born in London, November 8, 1831, and died in Paris, November 24, 1891. His writings include: “The Wanderer,” “Clytemnestra, the Earl’s Return, and Other Poems,” “Fables in Song,” “Glenaveril,” “King Poppy,” “The Ring of Amasis,” and his famous novel in verse, “Lucile.”

Such and so various are the tastes of men.

“Pleasures of the Imagination,” Book iii, Line 567.—Mark Akenside.

MARK AKENSIDE, a noted English poet, was born at Newcastle-on-Tyne, November 9, 1721, and died in London, June 23, 1770. His most famous work, “Pleasures of the Imagination,” won for him great fame.

Emotional effusions are like licorice root. When you take your first suck at it, it doesn’t seem so bad but it leaves a very bad taste in the mouth afterward.

—Turgenev.

IVAN SERGEYEVITCH TURGENEV, a celebrated Russian novelist, was born in Orel, November 9, 1818, and died in Bougival, near Paris, September 3, 1883. Among his numerous works may be mentioned: “Improvidence,” “Poems,” “The Conversation,” “Two Friends,” “Quiet Life,” “First Love,” “On the Eve,” “Hamlet and Don Quixote,” “Fathers and Children,” “Visions,” “The Brigadier,” “A Strange Tale,” “The Watch,” “Some One Knocks,” “The Dream,” “Song of Triumphant Love,” “The Old Portraits,” “A House of Gentlefolk,” “Poems in Prose,” etc., etc.

Every great book is an action, and every great action is a book.

—Luther.

MARTIN LUTHER, the illustrious church reformer, was born at Eisleben, in Saxony, November 10, 1483, and died there, February 18, 1546. Among his works may be mentioned: “The Babylonian Captivity of the Church,” “The Slave Will,” “Letters,” “Table Talk,” and the treatise, “Against Henry, King of England.”

Ill fares the land, to hastening ills a prey,

Where wealth accumulates, and men decay.

Princes and lords may flourish or may fade,—

A breath can make them, as a breath has made;

But a bold peasantry, their country’s pride,

When once destroy’d, can never be supplied.

“The Deserted Village,” Line 51,—Oliver Goldsmith.

OLIVER GOLDSMITH, the renowned English-Irish poet, novelist, and dramatist, was born in Pallas, County Longford, Ireland, November 10, 1728, and died at London, April 4, 1774. Among his celebrated works may be mentioned: “The Traveller,” “The Citizen of the World,” “The Good-Natured Man,” “She Stoops to Conquer,” “The Deserted Village,” and “The Vicar of Wakefield.”

Against stupidity the very gods

Themselves contend in vain.

“The Maid of Orleans,” Act III, Sc. 6,—Schiller.

JOHANN CHRISTOPH FRIEDRICH VON SCHILLER, the great German poet and dramatist, was born in Marbach on the Neckar, November 10, 1759, and died at Weimar, May 9, 1805. His greatest works are: “Inquiry into the Connection Between the Animal and Spiritual Nature of Man,” “Don Carlos,” “The Robbers,” “Fiesco,” “History of the Revolt of the Netherlands from Spanish Rule,” “History of the Thirty Years’ War,” “The Ghost Seer,” “Love and Intrigue,” “The Piccolomini,” “Maria Stuart,” “The Bride of Messina,” “The Maid of Orleans,” “William Tell,” etc.

Where did you come from, baby dear?

Out of the everywhere into the here.

“Baby” (Song in “At the Back of the North Wind”)—George Macdonald.

GEORGE MACDONALD, a famous Scottish poet and novelist, was born at Huntley, November 10, 1824, and died in 1905. Besides his numerous poems, he has written: “Annals of a Quiet Neighborhood,” “Robert Falconer,” “David Elginbrod,” “Wilfred Cumbermede,” “Malcolm,” “Sir Gibbie,” “What’s Mine’s Mine,” “Lilith,” “Unspoken Sermons”; also, “The Princess and the Goblin,” “At the Back of the North Wind,” etc.

I saw the lightning’s gleaming rod

Reach forth and write upon the sky

The awful autograph of God.

“The Ship in the Desert,”—Cincinnatus Heine Miller.

CINCINNATUS HEINE MILLER (JOAQUIN MILLER), a noted American poet, was born in Wabash District, Ind., November 10, 1841, and died in 1912. Among his works are: “The Baroness of New York,” “The Danites,” “Songs of the Soul,” “Songs of Mexican Seas,” “Collected Poems,” “’49, or the Gold Seekers of the Sierras,” etc.

Men have dulled their eyes with sin,

And dimmed the light of heaven with doubt,

And built their temple-walls to shut thee in,

And framed their iron creeds to shut thee out.

“God of the Open Air,”—Henry Van Dyke.

HENRY VAN DYKE, a distinguished Presbyterian clergyman and diplomat, was born in Germantown, Pennsylvania, November 10, 1852. Among his numerous works are: “The Story of the Psalms,” “The Poetry of Tennyson,” “The Christ Child in Art,” “The Friendly Year,” “The Ruling Passion,” “The Blue Flower,” “The Open Door,” “Select Poems of Tennyson,” “Music and Other Poems,” “Out of Doors in the Holy Land,” “The Spirit of America,” “The Story of the Other Wise Man,” “Poems in War Times,” “The Red Flower,” “Collected Poems,” “The Sad Shepherd,” “The Mansion,” “The Unknown Quantity,” “The Grand Canyon and Other Poems,” “The Lost Boy,” etc.

The rattling, battering Irishman,

The stamping, ramping, swaggering, staggering, lathering, swash of an Irishman.

The Irishman and the Lady, st. I, 3,—William Maginn.

WILLIAM MAGINN, a famous Irish scholar, poet and journalist, was born at Cork, November 11, 1793, and died at Walton on Thames, August 20, 1842. With Hugh Fraser, he founded Fraser’s Magazine in 1830. A partial collection of his writings is found in “Miscellanies” (1855-57), edited by R. Shelton Mackenzie. His best stories are “Bob Burke’s Duel with Ensign Brady” and “The City of Demons.”

As all the perfumes of the vanished day

Rise from the earth still moistened with the dew

So from my chastened soul beneath thy ray

Old love is born anew.

“Remembrance,” translated by George Murray,—Alfred de Musset.

LOUIS CHARLES ALFRED DE MUSSET, one of the greatest of French poets, was born in Paris, November 11, 1810, and died there, May 1, 1857. Among his writings are: “Tales of Spain and Italy,” “A Night of May,” “A Night of December,” “A Night of August,” “A Night of October,” “Letter to Lamartine,” “Hope in God,” “Nights,” “Emmeline,” “Titian’s Son,” “Frederick and Bernerette,” “A Play in an Arm-Chair,” etc.

The Angel of Death is the invisible Angel of Life.

“A Study of Death,”—Henry Mills Alden.

HENRY MILLS ALDEN, a celebrated American editor, poet, and prose-writer, was born at Mt. Tabor, Vt., November 11, 1836, and died October 7, 1919. Among his works are: “God in His World,” “The Ancient Lay of Sorrow,” “A Study of Death,” “Magazine Writing and the New Literature,” and “Harper’s Pictorial History of the Civil War” (with A. H. Guernsey).

This is my youth,—its hopes and dreams

How strange and shadowy it all seems

After these many years!

Turning the pages idly, so,

I look with smiles upon the woe,

Upon the joy, with tears!

—Aldrich.

THOMAS BAILEY ALDRICH, a renowned American poet, author, and essayist, was born in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, November 11, 1836, and died in 1907. His works include: “Marjorie Daw and Other People,” “Prudence Palfrey,” “Complete Poems,” “The Queen of Sheba,” “The Stillwater Tragedy,” “The Story of a Bad Boy,” etc.

I preached as never sure to preach again,

And as a dying man to dying men.

“Love breathing Thanks and Praise,”—Richard Baxter.

RICHARD BAXTER, an eminent English divine and author, was born at Rowton, Shropshire, November 12, 1615, and died in London, December 8, 1691. His literary fame rests chiefly on his celebrated work, “The Saints’ Everlasting Rest.”

Hail, Columbia! happy land!

Hail, ye heroes! heaven-born band!

Who fought and bled in Freedom’s cause,

Who fought and bled in Freedom’s cause,

And when the storm of war was gone,

Enjoyed the peace your valor won.

Let independence be our boast,

Ever mindful what it cost;

Ever grateful for the prize,

Let its altar reach the skies!

“Hail, Columbia,”—Joseph Hopkinson.

JOSEPH HOPKINSON, a noted American jurist and composer of the famous patriotic song, “Hail Columbia,” was born at Philadelphia, November 12, 1770, and died there, January 15, 1842.

My faith looks up to Thee,

Thou Lamb of Calvary,

Saviour divine!

Now hear me while I pray;

Take all my guilt away;

Oh, let me from this day

Be wholly Thine!

“My Faith Looks Up To Thee,”—Ray Palmer.

RAY PALMER, a distinguished American clergyman, and hymn-writer, was born at Little Compton, R. I., November 12, 1808, and died at Newark, N. J., March 29, 1887. He published: “Spiritual Improvement,” “Hymns and Sacred Pieces,” “Hymns of My Holy Hours,” etc. His best known hymn is, “My Faith Looks up to Thee,” which has been translated into twenty languages.

When I am here, I do not fast on Saturday; when at Rome, I do fast on Saturday.

“Epistle 36, To Casulanus,”—Saint Augustine.

SAINT AUGUSTINE, the most famous of the Latin fathers of the Church, and of patristic writers, was born in Tagasta, Numidia, November 13, 354, and died at Hippo, August 28, 430. His most noted works are: “City of God,” “Grace of Christ,” “Original Sin,” and his “Confessions.”

Viking gains are deep wounds, and right well they adorn if they stand on the brow or the breast.

Let them bleed!

—Tegnér.

ESAIAS TEGNÉR, an illustrious Swedish poet, was born at Kyrkerud, Wermland, Sweden, November 13, 1782, and died at Wexiö, November 2, 1846. He wrote: “Frithiof’s Saga” (epic ballads), “Axel,” “Nattvärdsbarned,” and his celebrated poem, “Svea,” crowned by the Swedish Academy.

To be honest, to be kind, to earn a little, and to spend a little less, to make upon the whole a family happier for his presence, to renounce when that shall be necessary and not to be embittered, to keep a few friends, but these without capitulation; above all, on the same condition, to keep friends with himself, here is a task for all a man has of fortitude and delicacy.

—Robert Louis Stevenson.

ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON, a Scotch novelist, poet and essayist, of great renown, was born in Edinburgh, November 13, 1850, and died at Apia, Samoa, December 3, 1894. Among his publications are: “Familiar Studies of Men and Books,” “An Inland Voyage,” “Edinburgh: Picturesque Notes,” “New Arabian Nights,” “Treasure Island,” “Prince Otto,” “A Child’s Garden of Verses,” “Kidnapped,” “The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde,” “Underwoods,” “Memoirs and Portraits,” “Ballads,” “The Merry Men and Other Tales,” “The Black Arrow,” “The Ebb Tide,” “A Foot-Note to History: Eight Years of Trouble in Samoa,” “David Balfour,” “Island Nights’ Entertainments,” “Essays and Criticisms,” etc.

“Comedies and novels end with the wedding of the hero,” he says in his autobiography; “for only the struggle, not the acquired position, lends itself to their treatment.”

—Adam Gottlob Oehlenschläger.

ADAM GOTTLOB OEHLENSCHLÄGER, a noted Danish poet, was born near Copenhagen, November 14, 1779, and died January 20, 1850. He has written: “The Life of Christ Annually Repeated in Nature,” “Poems,” “First Song of the Edda,” “Palnatoke,” “A Journey to Langeland,” “Earl Hakon,” “Axel and Valborg,” “The Little Shepherd Boy,” “Socrates,” “Hamlet,” etc.

Mutual love brings mutual delight,—

Brings beauty, life;—for love is life, hate, death.

“The Dying Raven,”—Richard Henry Dana.

RICHARD HENRY DANA (THE ELDER), an American poet and essayist of great fame, was born at Cambridge, Massachusetts, November 15, 1787, and died February 2, 1879. His poetical works include: “The Dying Raven,” “The Buccaneers,” “The Change of Home,” etc. Among his short stories are: “Edward and Mary,” and “Paul Fenton.”

The great artist ... is he who guides us into the region of his own thoughts, into the palaces and fields of his own imagination, and while there, speaks to us the language of the gods.

—Charles Blanc.

CHARLES BLANC, a distinguished French art critic, was born November 15, 1813, and died in 1882. He wrote: “A History of Painters of All Schools,” “The Treasure of Curiosity,” “Grammar of the Arts of Design,” “The Dutch School of Painters,” “Grammar of Painting and Engraving,” etc.

High office is like a pyramid; only two kinds of animals reach the summit—reptiles and eagles.

—D’Alembert.

JEAN BAPTISTE LE ROND D’ALEMBERT, an eminent French philosopher, mathematician and man of letters, was born in Paris, November 16, 1717, and died there, October 9, 1783. Among his works are: “Literary and Philosophical Miscellanies,” “Elements of Philosophy,” etc. He also wrote the “Preliminary Discourse,” or introduction to the great French Encyclopedia.

In seeking to represent the working classes, and in standing up for their rights and liberties, I hold that I am also defending the rights and liberties of the middle and richer classes of society.

From the “Speech on the Corn Laws” (1843),—John Bright.

JOHN BRIGHT, a distinguished English statesman, was born near Rochdale, in Lancashire, November 16, 1811, and died March 27, 1889. His “Public Letters,” appeared in 1885, and his speeches and addresses were published in the years 1867-69-79.

If my early friend, Dr. Thirlwall’s “History of Greece,” had appeared a few years sooner, I should probably never had conceived the design of the present work at all; I should certainly not have been prompted to the task by any deficiencies, and as those which I felt and regretted in Mitford. The comparison of the two authors affords indeed a striking proof of the progress of sound and enlarged views respecting the ancient world during the present generation. Having studied of course the same evidence as Dr. Thirlwall, I am better enabled than others to bear testimony to the learning, the sagacity, and the candour which pervades his excellent work.

“A History of Greece,”—George Grote.

GEORGE GROTE, a famous English historian, was born in Clay Hill, Kent, November 17, 1794, and died in London, June 18, 1871. He is best known by his celebrated work, “History of Greece.”

The Law is the true embodiment

Of everything that’s excellent.

It has no kind of fault or flaw,

And I, my Lords, embody the Law.

“Lord Chancellor’s Song,”—Gilbert.

WILLIAM SCHWENCK GILBERT, a celebrated English librettist and comic-poet and prose-writer, was born in London, November 18, 1836, and died in 1911. He wrote: “The Bab Ballads,” and several famous comic operas, among which are: “Pinafore,” “Patience,” “The Mikado,” “Ruddygore,” and “The Pirates of Penzance.”

And so I penned

It down, until at last it came to be,

For length and breadth, the bigness which you see.

“Pilgrim’s Progress: Apology for his book,”—John Bunyan.

JOHN BUNYAN, a renowned English author, was born in Elstow, Bedford, November 19 (?), 1628, and died in London, August 31, 1688. He wrote numerous works, the most famous being: “The Pilgrim’s Progress,” “Grace Abounding,” and the “Holy War.”

What is love, It is nature’s treasure,

’Tis the storehouse of her joys;

’Tis the highest heaven of pleasure,

’Tis a bliss which never cloys.

“The Revenge,” Act I, Sc. 2,—Thomas Chatterton.

THOMAS CHATTERTON, the famous young English poet, was born in Bristol, November 20, 1752, and died at London, August 25, 1770. He wrote numerous poems and plays, but he is best remembered as the author of the so-called “Rowley Poems,” which were collected and published by T. Tyrwhitt in 1777.

The first who was king was a fortunate soldier:

Who serves his country well has no need of ancestors.

“Mérope,” Act I, Sc. 3,—Voltaire.

FRANÇOIS MARIE AROUET DE VOLTAIRE, the illustrious French writer, was born in Paris, November 21, 1694, and died there, May 30, 1778. Among his famous works are: “Artemire,” “Mariamne,” “Letters on the English,” “History of Charles XII,” “Philosophical Letters,” “The Temple of Taste,” “Elements of Newton’s Philosophy,” “The Maid of Orleans,” “The Prodigal Son,” “Mérope,” “Discourse on Man,” “Poem on Natural Law,” “Candide,” “Semiramis,” “Amélie,” “Republican Ideas,” “Tales,” “Catechism of the Honest Man,” “Irene,” “Tancrède,” “Socrates,” “Century of Louis XV,” “The Bible at Last Explained,” “Zaïre,” “The Ingenuous One,” etc., etc.

Touch us gently, Time!

Let us glide adown thy stream

Gently,—as we sometimes glide

Through a quiet dream.

“Touch Us Gently, Time,”—Bryan W. Procter.

BRYAN WALLER PROCTER, an eminent English poet and man of letters, was born in Wiltshire, November 21, 1787, and died at London, October 4, 1874. Among his works are: “A Sicilian Story,” “Dramatic Scenes and Other Poems,” “Mirandola” (a tragedy), “English Songs,” “The Flood of Thessaly,” “Essays and Tales,” “Charles Lamb: a Memoir,” and the “Life of Edmund Kean.”

There are certain people whose biographies ought to be long; who could learn too much concerning Lamb.

“Adventures in Criticism,”—A. T. Quiller-Couch.

SIR A. T. QUILLER-COUCH, a celebrated English writer of fiction, was born in Cornwall, November 21, 1863. He has written: “The Astonishing History of Troy Town,” “Dead man’s Rock,” “The Splendid Spur,” “The Blue Pavilions,” “The Delectable Duchy,” “Wandering Heath,” “Adventures in Criticism,” “Poems and Ballads,” “The Ship of Stars,” “The Westcotes,” “The White Wolf,” “From a Cornish Window,” “Sir John Constantine,” “True Tilda,” “Brother Copas,” “The Vigil of Venus and Other Poems,” “Lady Good-for-Nothing,” “News from the Duchy,” “The Oxford Book of Ballads,” “Poison Island,” “Corporal Sam and Other Stories,” “Nicky-Nan Reservist,” “On the Art of Writing,” “Hocken and Hunken,” etc.

He who loves

God and his law must hate the foes of God.

“Spanish Gypsy, Bk. I,”—George Eliot.

MARY ANN EVANS (“GEORGE ELIOT”), the great English novelist, was born at Arbury Farm, Chilvers Coton, Warwickshire, November 22, 1819, and died in London, December 22, 1880. Among her many works are: “Scenes of Clerical Life,” “Adam Bede,” “The Mill on the Floss,” “Romola,” “The Spanish Gypsy,” “Agatha” (a poem), “Felix Holt,” “Daniel Deronda,” “Middlemarch,” “Jubal and Other Poems,” etc., etc.

Peel was, undoubtedly, as Lord Beaconsfield has said, a great member of Parliament; but he was surely much more than that, he was a great statesman, a great Minister. He must always rank among the foremost of English Ministers. The proud boast of Heine is that, if any one names the best half-dozen of German poets his name must be brought among them. If we name the best half-dozen of modern English Prime Ministers, we can hardly fail to bring in the name of Peel.

“Life of Sir Robert Peel,”—Justin McCarthy.

JUSTIN MCCARTHY, an eminent Irish politician, journalist, historian, novelist and miscellaneous writer, was born at Cork, November 22, 1830, and died April 24, 1912. He has written: “A History of Our Own Times,” “History of the Four Georges,” “A Fair Saxon,” “Lady Judith,” “The Story of Gladstone’s Life,” “Modern England,” “The Reign of Queen Anne,” “Reminiscences,” “The Story of an Irishman,” “Irish Recollections,” etc. Also the biographies of Sir Robert Peel, Pope Leo XIII, and W. E. Gladstone.

Spinoza was truly, what Voltaire has with rather less justice called Clark, a reasoning machine.

—Hallam on Spinoza.

BENEDICT SPINOZA, a renowned philosopher, was born at Amsterdam, November 23, 1632, and died at The Hague, February 21, 1677. He wrote: “Tractate on God and Man and Man’s Felicity,” “Theologico-Political Tractate,” and his most famous work, “Ethics Demonstrated Geometrically.”

Courtship consists in a number of quiet attentions, not so pointed as to alarm, nor so vague as not to be understood.

—Laurence Sterne.

LAURENCE STERNE, an English novelist of great fame, was born at Clonmel, Ireland, November 24, 1713, and died in London, March 18, 1768. His most noted works are: “Tristram Shandy,” “The Sermons of Mr. Yorick,” and “A Sentimental Journey Through France and Italy.”

Since the seventeenth century, we have had no poet of the highest order, though Shelley, had he lived, would perhaps have become one. He had something of that burning passion, that sacred fire, which kindles the soul, as though it came fresh from the altar of the gods. But he was cut off in his early prime, when his splendid genius was still in its dawn.

“History of Civilization in England,” Vol. II, p. 397 (1861),—Henry Thomas Buckle.

HENRY THOMAS BUCKLE, a distinguished English historian, was born in Lee, Kent, November 24, 1821, and died in Damascus, May 29, 1862. He is best known for his great work, “The History of Civilization in England” (2 vols. 1857-61). His “Miscellaneous and Posthumous Works” were edited by Helen Taylor in 1872, and a new edition by Grant Allen in 1880.

How oft my guardian angel gently cried,

“Soul, from thy casement look, and thou shalt see

How he persists to knock and wait for thee!”

And, O! how often to that voice of sorrow,

“To-morrow we will open,” I replied,

And when the morrow came, I answered still,

“To-morrow.”

“To-morrow,” Longfellow’s Trans. L. 9,—Lope de Vega.

LOPE DE VEGA, “TOME BURGUILLOS,” a renowned Spanish dramatist, was born in Madrid, November 25, 1562, and died August 21, 1635. Among his many works may be mentioned: “Jerusalem Conquered,” “Angelica,” “King and Peasant,” “Circe,” “Andromeda,” “Philomela,” “Orpheus,” “Proserpine,” “San Isidro,” “The Dragon,” “The Maid of Almudena,” “Journey Through My Country,” besides numerous sonnets, etc.

Oh for a lodge in some vast wilderness,

Some boundless contiguity of shade,

Where rumour of oppression and deceit,

Of unsuccessful or successful war,

Might never reach me more.

“The Task,” Book ii: “The Timepiece,” Line i,—William Cowper.

WILLIAM COWPER, an illustrious English poet, was born in Great Berkhamstead, Hertfordshire, November 26, 1731, and died at East Dereham, Norfolk, April 25, 1800. His works include: “Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey,” “The Task,” “Poems” (1798), etc.

What shall I do with all the days and hours

That must be counted ere I see thy face?

How shall I charm the interval that lowers

Between this time and that sweet time of grace?

“Absence,”—Frances Anne Kemble.

FRANCES ANNE KEMBLE, a noted English actress, was born in London, November 27, 1809, and died there, January 16, 1893. She wrote: “Recollections of a Girlhood,” “Recollections of Later Life,” “Journal of a Residence on a Georgia Plantation,” and her “Journal.”

I was angry with my friend;

I told my wrath, my wrath did end.

I was angry with my foe;

I told it not, my wrath did grow.

“Christian Forbearance,”—Wm. Blake.

WILLIAM BLAKE, a celebrated English poet and artist, was born in London, November 28, 1757, and died there, August 12, 1827. He has published: “Poetical Sketches,” “Songs of Innocence,” “Songs of Experience,” etc. His “Prophetic Books,” including: “Book of Thel,” “Marriage of Heaven and Hell,” “Book of Urizen,” “Book of Los,” “Book of Ahania,” “Jerusalem,” and “Milton,” are famous. His greatest artistic work is in “Illustrations to the Book of Job.”

What is philosophy? It is something that lightens up, that makes bright.

—Victor Cousin.

VICTOR COUSIN, a distinguished French philosopher, was born in Paris, November 28, 1792, and died at Cannes, January 2, 1867. He wrote: “Mme. de Longueville,” “Mme. de Hautefort,” “Jacqueline Pascal,” “French Society in the 17th Century,” “History of Philosophy,” etc. His translation of “Plato,” also won for him great fame.

Of gifts, there seems none more becoming to offer a friend than a beautiful book.

“Concord Days” (June Books),—Amos Bronson Alcott.

AMOS BRONSON ALCOTT, a noted American philosophical writer, and educator, was born at Wolcott, Conn., November 29, 1799, and died at Boston, March 4, 1888. His principal works are: “Orphic Sayings,” “Tablets,” “Concord Days,” “Table-Talk,” “Sonnets and Canzonets,” “Ralph Waldo Emerson: His Character and Genius,” “New Connecticut,” etc.

What the Puritans gave the world was not thought but action.

Speech, December 21, 1855,—Wendell Phillips.

WENDELL PHILLIPS, an American social and political reformer of great fame, was born at Boston, November 29, 1811, and died there, February 2, 1884. Among his writings are: “Can Abolitionists Vote or Take Office?” “The Constitution a Pro-Slavery Compact,” “Defense of the Anti-Slavery Movement,” “Review of Webster’s Speech of March 7th,” “Speeches, Lectures, and Letters,” “Addresses,” etc.

They are never alone that are accompanied with noble thoughts.

“Arcadia,” Book I,—Sir Philip Sidney.

SIR PHILIP SIDNEY, a famous English courtier and man of letters, was born at Penshurst in Kent, November 30, 1554, and died at Arnheim, October 17, 1586. His best known works are: “Arcadia,” “Sonnets,” “Apology for Poetry,” and a versified translation of the “Psalms.”

I’ve often wish’d that I had clear,

For life, six hundred pounds a year;

A handsome house to lodge a friend;

A river at my garden’s end;

A terrace walk, and half a rood

Of land set out to plant a wood.

“Imitation of Horace,” Book ii, Sat. 6,—Jonathan Swift.

JONATHAN SWIFT, the celebrated English prose satirist, was born in Dublin, November 30, 1667, and died there, October 19, 1745. He wrote: “Advice to the October Club,” “Tale of a Tub,” “Meditation upon a Broomstick,” “Battle of the Books,” “Project for the Advancement of Religion,” “Public Spirit of the Whigs,” “A Modest Proposal,” “Drapier’s Letters,” “Remarks on the Barrier Treaty,” “Sentiments of a Church of England Man,” and “Gulliver’s Travels,” his most important work.

Forth we went, a gallant band—

Youth, Love, Gold and Pleasure.

“Last Song,”—Mark Lemon.

MARK LEMON, a noted English playwright, was born in London, November 30, 1809, and died at Crawley in Sussex, May 23, 1870. Among his comedies and dramas are: “Hearts Are Trumps,” “Lost and Won,” “Arnold of Winkelried,” “Domestic Economy,” etc.

There are two times in a man’s life when he should not speculate; when he can’t afford it, and when he can.

—Mark Twain.

SAMUEL LANGHORNE CLEMENS, (“MARK TWAIN”), the distinguished American humorist, was born in Missouri, November 30, 1835, and died in 1910. He has written: “The Innocents Abroad,” “Huckleberry Finn,” “A Tramp Abroad,” “The Jumping Frog,” “Old Times on the Mississippi,” “Roughing It,” “Tom Sawyer,” “The Prince and the Pauper,” “The Gilded Age,” “Pudd’nhead Wilson,” “Following the Equator,” “A Double-Barreled Detective Story,” etc.

FOOTNOTES:

[1]

Man, think of thine end, whatever thou doest,

That will be counted as wisdom the truest.

DECEMBER

DECEMBER

What is the greatest bliss

That the tongue o’ man can name?

’Tis to woo a bonnie lassie

When the kye comes hame!

“When the Kye Comes Hame,” st. 2,—James Hogg.

JAMES HOGG, a famous Scotch pastoral poet, was born in Ettrick, December 1, 1770, and died at Eltrive Lake, November 21, 1835. He wrote: “Poems and Songs,” “The Mountain Bard,” “Scottish Pastorals,” and “The Queen’s Wake,” his most famous work.

In the soul of Keats, if ever in a human soul at all, there was a portion of the real poetic essence—the real faculty divine.... His most obvious characteristic, I repeat, is the universality of his sensuousness. And this it is, added to his exquisite mastery in language and verse, that makes it such a luxury to read him.

“Wordsworth, Shelley and Keats,”—David Masson.

DAVID MASSON, a noted Scottish author, was born at Aberdeen, December 2, 1822, and died in 1907. He wrote: “The Life of Milton in connection with the History of His Time,” “Essays, Biographical and Critical,” “British Novelists,” “Recent British Philosophy,” “Carlyle Personally and His Writings,” “Edinburgh Sketches and Memories,” etc.

Strange to the world he wore a bashful look,

The fields his study, nature was his book.

“The Farmer’s Boy: Spring,” L. 31,—Bloomfield.

ROBERT BLOOMFIELD, a celebrated English poet, was born at Honington, December 3, 1766, and died in Shefford, in 1823. Among his poetical pieces are: “The Milk Maid,” “The Sailor’s Return,” and his most famous poetical work, “The Farmer’s Boy.”

In books lies the soul of the whole Past Time; the articulate audible voice of the Past, when the body and material substance of it has altogether vanished like a dream.

“Heroes and Hero-Worship: The Hero as a Man of Letters,”—Thomas Carlyle.

THOMAS CARLYLE, a Scotch biographer, historian, and miscellaneous writer of great fame, was born at Ecclefechan, December 4, 1795, and died in London, February 4, 1881. Among his celebrated works may be mentioned: “Life of Schiller,” “Wilhelm Meister’s Apprenticeship,” a translation; “The French Revolution,” “Life and Letters of Oliver Cromwell,” “German Romance,” “Heroes, Hero-Worship, and the Heroic in History,” “Chartism,” “Past and Present,” “Life of Sterling,” “Friedrich II,” “Latter-Day Pamphlets,” “Inaugural Address at Edinburgh,” etc.

Give me the lowest place: or if for me

That lowest place too high, make one more low

Where I may sit and see

My God, and love Thee so.

“The Lowest Place,”—Christina G. Rossetti.

CHRISTINA GEORGINA ROSSETTI, a renowned English poetess, was born in London, December 5, 1830, and died December 29, 1894. Among her works are: “The Prince’s Progress,” “Sing-Song: A Nursery Rhyme Book,” “Seek and Find,” “Speaking Likenesses,” “A Pageant, and Other Poems,” “Letter and Spirit,” “Annus Domini: A Prayer for Each Day in the Year,” “Verses,” and her most celebrated work, “Goblin Market.”

Right as a trivet.

“The Ingoldsby Legends, Auto-da-fe,”—R. H. Barham.

RICHARD HARRIS BARHAM, a famous English poet, was born in Canterbury, December 6, 1788, and died in London, June 17, 1845. Under the nom de plume of “Thomas Ingoldsby,” he wrote the celebrated “Ingoldsby Legends.” He also wrote: “Life of Theodore Hook,” “My Cousin Nicholas,” etc.

What is worth doing is worth doing well; and with a little more trouble at first, much trouble afterwards may be avoided.

Max Müller, “Letter to John Bellows,” July 18, 1866, from “Life” (by His Wife) I. XV,—Max Müller.

FRIEDRICH MAX MÜLLER, an eminent German-English Sanskrit scholar and comparative philologist, was born at Dessau, December 6, 1823, and died in 1900. He has written: “History of Ancient Sanskrit Literature,” “Science of Language,” “Chips from a German Workshop,” “Science of Religion,” “Essays on Language, Mythology, and Religion,” “Science of Thought,” “My Autobiography,” “Last Essays,” appeared after his death, also, “Life and Letters of the Right Honorable Friedrich Max Müller,” by his wife.

Liberty of the imagination is the most precious possession of the novelist.

—Joseph Conrad.

JOSEPH CONRAD, a renowned English author, of Polish parentage, was born December 6, 1857. Among his works are: “An Outcast of the Islands,” “The Nigger of the Narcissus,” “Typhoon,” “The Mirror of the Sea,” “The Secret Agent,” “Under Western Eyes,” “Some Reminiscenses,” “Chance,” “Within the Tides,” “Victory,” “The Shadow Line,” “The Arrow of Gold,” “Rescue,” “Notes on Life and Letters.”

A wet sheet and a flowing sea,

A wind that follows fast,

And fills the white and rustling sail,

And bends the gallant mast.

And bends the gallant mast, my boys,

While like the eagle free

Away the good ship flies, and leaves

Old England on the lee.

“A Wet Sheet and a Flowing Sea,”—Allan Cunningham.

ALLAN CUNNINGHAM, a noted Scotch poet and miscellaneous writer, was born in Keir, Dumfriesshire, December 7, 1784, and died in London, October 30, 1842. His best known works are: “Lord Roldan,” “Paul Jones,” “Sir Marmaduke Maxwell,” and his most famous work, “Critical History of the Literature of the Last Fifty Years.”

Out in the lonely woods the jasmine burns

Its fragrant lamps, and turns

Into a royal court with green festoons

The banks of dark lagoons.

“Spring,”—Henry Timrod.

HENRY TIMROD, a famous American Southern poet and author, was born at Charleston, S. C., December 8, 1829, and died at Columbia, S. C., October 6, 1867. His “Poems” appeared in 1860.

You k’n hide de fier, but w’at you gwine do wid de smoke?

“Plantation Proverbs,”—Joel Chandler Harris.

JOEL CHANDLER HARRIS, a noted American journalist and story writer, was born at Eatonton, Georgia, December 8, 1848, and died July 3, 1908. He has written: “Daddy Jake, the Runaway,” “The Folk-Lore of the Old Plantation,” etc. He is best known, however, by his famous “Uncle Remus” sketches.

Now came still evening on, and twilight gray

Had in her sober livery all things clad;

Silence accompany’d; for beast and bird,

They to their grassy couch, these to their nests,

Were slunk, all but the wakeful nightingale;

She all night long her amorous descant sung;

Silence was pleas’d. Now glow’d the firmament

With living sapphires; Hesperus, that led

The starry host, rode brightest, till the moon,

Rising in clouded majesty, at length

Apparent queen unveil’d her peerless light,

And o’er the dark her silver mantle threw.

“Paradise Lost,” Book IV, Line 598,—John Milton.

JOHN MILTON, one of the greatest of English poets, was born in London, December 9, 1608, and died there November 8, 1674. His most famous works were: “Paradise Lost,” “Paradise Regained,” “Comus,” “Lycidas,” “L’Allegro,” “Il Penseroso,” “Samson Agonistes,” “Areopagitica,” “The Tenure of Kings and Magistrates,” and the “Defence of the English People.”

And ne’er shall the sons of Columbia be slaves,

While the earth bears a plant or the sea rolls its waves.

“Adams and Liberty,”—Robert Treat Paine, Jr.

ROBERT TREAT PAINE, JR., a celebrated American poet, was born in Taunton, Mass., December 9, 1773, and died in Boston, November 13, 1811. He is best known as the author of two songs, “Rise, Columbia,” and “Adams and Liberty.” Among his poems are: “The Invention of Letters,” and “The Ruling Passion.”

Virtue often trips and falls on the sharp-edged rock of poverty.

—Eugene Sue.

EUGENE SUE, a famous French romancer, was born in Paris, December 10, 1804, and died at Annecy, July 3, 1857. He wrote: “Kernock the Pirate,” “History of the French Navy,” “History of the War Navies of All Nations,” “The Seven Deadly Sins,” “Martin the Foundling,” “The Mysteries of the People,” “The Jouffroy Family,” “The Secrets of the Confessional,” “The Mysteries of Paris,” and “The Wandering Jew.”

Jesus was the first great teacher of men who showed a genuine sympathy for childhood. When He said, “Of such is the kingdom of heaven,” it was a revelation.

—Eggleston.

EDWARD EGGLESTON, a distinguished American historian and novelist, was born in Vevay, Ind., December 10, 1837, and died in 1902. Among his noted works are: “The Circuit Rider,” “The End of the World,” “Roxy,” “The Hoosier Schoolmaster,” “The Graysons,” “The Faith Doctor,” “Queer Stories for Boys and Girls,” “The Hoosier Schoolboy,” “Schoolmasters’ Stories,” “Mr. Blake’s Walking-Stick,” “School History of the United States,” “Household History of the United States,” “First Book in American History,” “The Beginners of a Nation,” “The Transit of Civilization,” etc.

Oh the heart is a free and fetterless thing,—

A wave of the ocean, a bird on the wing!

“The Captive Greek Girl,”—Julia Pardoe.

JULIA PARDOE, a noted English historical and miscellaneous writer, was born at Beverly, Yorkshire, December 11 (?), 1806, and died in London, November 26, 1862. Among her many works are: “Traditions of Portugal,” “City of the Sultan,” “Louis XIV and the Court of France,” “The Jealous Wife,” “The Court and Reign of Francis I,” “Marie de’ Medici,” “Episodes of French History During the Consulate,” “A Life Struggle,” and numerous lyrics.

A place in thy memory, dearest,

Is all that I claim;

To pause and look back when thou hearest

The sound of my name.

“A Place in Thy Memory,”—Gerald Griffin.

GERALD GRIFFIN, a famous Irish novelist, poet and dramatist, was born at Limerick, December 12, 1803, and died at Cork, June 12, 1840. He wrote: “Tales of the Munster Festivals,” “The Collegians,” “Holland Tide: or Munster Popular Tales,” “The Invasion,” “Gisippus, or the Forgotten Friend,” “Tales of My Neighborhood,” etc.

“That Flaubert was one of the greatest writers who ever lived in France is now commonly admitted, and his greatness principally depends upon the extraordinary vigour and exactitude of his style.”

GUSTAVE FLAUBERT, a renowned French novelist, was born at Rouen, December 12, 1821, and died there, May 8, 1880. Among his writings are: “Salammbô,” “The History of a Young Man,” “The Temptation of St. Anthony,” “Three Stories,” and “Madame Bovary,” his greatest novel.

The nightingale appear’d the first

And as her melody she sang,

The apple into blossom burst,

To life the grass and violets sprang.

“New Spring,” No. 31 (“Book of Songs”),—Heine.

HEINRICH HEINE, an eminent German poet, was born at Düsseldorf, December 13, 1799, and died at Paris, February 17, 1856. Among his works are: “Pictures of Travel,” “Almansor,” “Radcliff,” “Poems,” “Book of Songs,” “New Poems,” “History of Recent Polite Literature in Germany,” “The Salon,” “Doctor Faust,” “The Romantic School,” “Shakespeare’s Maids and Matrons,” “The Romancers,” “Miscellaneous Writings,” etc.

Life comes before literature, as the material always comes before the work. The hills are full of marble before the world blooms with statues.

“Literature and Life,”—Phillips Brooks.

PHILLIPS BROOKS, a famous American clergyman of the Episcopal Church, was born in Boston, December 13, 1835, and died there, January 23, 1893. He published many volumes of sermons and lectures, including: “Letters of Travel,” “Lectures on Preaching,” and “Essays and Addresses.”

The germs of all truth lie in the soul, and when the ripe moment comes, the truth within answers to the fact without as the flower responds to the sun, giving it form for heat and color for light.

—Hamilton W. Mabie.

HAMILTON WRIGHT MABIE, a celebrated American essayist, critic, and editor, was born in Cold Spring, N. Y., December 13, 1846, and died in 1916. His works include: “Norse Stories Retold from the Eddas,” “My Study Fire,” “Short Studies in Literature,” “Nature and Culture,” “Books and Culture,” “Work and Culture,” “Works and Days,” “Backgrounds of Literature,” “The Great Word,” “What and How to Read,” “Writers of Knickerbocker,” “American Ideals, Character and Life,” “Japan To-day and To-morrow,” etc., etc.

Go, forget me! why should sorrow

O’er that brow a shadow fling?

Go, forget me, and to-morrow

Brightly smile and sweetly sing!

Smile,—though I shall not be near thee;

Sing,—though I shall never hear thee!

“Go, forget me!”—Charles Wolfe.

CHARLES WOLFE, a distinguished Irish clergyman and poet, was born at Dublin, December 14, 1791, and died at Cove of Cork (now Queenstown), February 21, 1823. His literary fame rests wholly upon his “Burial of Sir John Moore.”

Just to let thy Father do

What He will;

Just to know that He is true,

And be still.

Just to follow hour by hour

As He leadeth;

Just to draw the moment’s power

As it needeth.

Just to trust Him, that is all!

Then the day will surely be

Peaceful, whatsoe’er befall,

Bright and blessed, calm and free.

“The Secret of a Happy Day,” St. I,—Frances Ridley Havergal.

FRANCES RIDLEY HAVERGAL, a noted English poet and religious writer, was born at Astley, Worcestershire, December 14, 1836, and died at Swansea, Wales, June 3, 1879. She wrote: “The Four Happy Days,” “Under the Surface” poems; “Royal Graces and Loyal Gifts” (6 vols., 1879), “Under His Shadow,” etc.

Then here’s to the oak, the brave old oak,

Who stands in his pride alone!

And still flourish he, a hale green tree,

When a hundred years are gone!

“The Brave Old Oak,”—H. F. Chorley.

HENRY FOTHERGILL CHORLEY, a famous English critic and miscellaneous writer, was born in Blackley Hurst, Lancashire, December 15, 1808, and died in London, February 15, 1872. He wrote a famous play, “Old Love and New Fortune,” and several novels, among them: “Conti,” “The Prodigy,” and “The Lion.”

Where an opinion is general, it is usually correct.

“Mansfield Park,” Chap. II,—Jane Austen.

JANE AUSTEN, a renowned English novelist, was born in Steventon, Hampshire, December 16, 1775, and died in Winchester, July 18, 1817. Her most famous works are: “Mansfield Park,” “Sense and Sensibility,” and “Pride and Prejudice.”

A sacred spark created by his breath,

The immortal mind of man his image bears;

A spirit living ’midst the forms of death,

Oppressed, but not subdued by mortal cares.

“Written After Recovery from a Dangerous Illness,”—Sir H. Davy.

SIR HUMPHRY DAVY, an eminent English chemist, philosopher and man of letters, was born at Penzance, Cornwall, December 17, 1778, and died at Geneva, Switzerland, May 29, 1829. He wrote: “Consolations in Travel, or the Last Days of a Philosopher,” “Chemical and Philosophical Researches,” “On the Safety Lamp and on Flame,” etc.

For of all sad words of tongue or pen,

The saddest are these: “It might have been!”

“Maud Muller,”—John Greenleaf Whittier.

JOHN GREENLEAF WHITTIER, a renowned American poet, was born at Haverhill, Massachusetts, December 17, 1807, and died at Hampton Falls, New Hampshire, September 1892. Among his noted poems are: “Barbara Frietchie,” “Skipper Ireson’s Ride,” “Snow-Bound,” “Maud Muller,” “My Playmate,” “Laus Deo,” “My Birthday,” and “The Tent on the Beach.”

A charge to keep I have,

A God to glorify;

A never dying soul to save,

And fit it for the sky.

“Christian Fidelity,”—Charles Wesley.

CHARLES WESLEY, a famous English clergyman and poet, was born at Epworth, Lincolnshire, December 18, 1708, and died in London, March 29, 1788. He was called “the poet of Methodism,” but many of his beautiful hymns are used in all denominations of the Protestant church.

’Tis noon;—a calm unbroken sleep

Is on the blue waves of the deep;

A soft haze like a fairy dream,

Is floating over wood and stream;

And many a broad magnolia flower,

Within its shadowy woodland bower,

Is gleaming like a lovely star.

“To An Absent Wife,” St. 2,—George D. Prentice.

GEORGE DENISON PRENTICE, a distinguished American journalist, poet, and author, was born at Preston, Conn., December 18, 1802, and died January 22, 1870. He published in 1860, “Prenticeana” a collection of pointed paragraphs. His other works are: “Life of Henry Clay,” and “Poems.”

There is no to-morrow; though before our face the shadow named so stretches, we always fail to o’ertake it, hasten as we may.

—Margaret J. Preston.

MARGARET JUNKIN PRESTON, a celebrated American author, was born in Philadelphia, Pa., December 19 (?), 1825, and died in 1897. She has written: “Silverwood” (a novel), “Old Songs and New,” “Cartoons,” “Beechen-brook,” “Colonial Ballads,” “For Love’s Sake,” “Aunt Dorothy,” etc.

Man is his own star; and that soul that can

Be honest is the only perfect man.

Upon an “Honest Man’s Fortune,”—John Fletcher.

JOHN FLETCHER, the renowned English dramatist, was born in Rye, Sussex, December 20 (?), 1579 and died in London, August, 1625. A few of his famous plays are: “The Wild Goose Chase,” “The Loyal Subject,” “Monsieur Thomas,” “The Faithful Shepherdess,” “A Wife for a Month,” “Wit Without Money,” “The Chances,” “Bonduca,” “The Mad Lover,” and “Rule a Wife and Have a Wife.” His name has always been associated with that of Francis Beaumont, and together they wrote many plays; but the beforementioned works were written by Fletcher alone.

Whenever a snowflake leaves the sky,

It turns and turns to say “Good-by!

Good-by, dear clouds, so cool and gray!”

Then lightly travels on its way.

“Snowflakes,”—Mary Mapes Dodge.

MARY ELIZABETH MAPES DODGE, a noted American editor, poet and author, was born in New York City, December 20 (?),1838, and died in 1905. She has written: “Irvington Stories,” “Along the Way” (poems), “Theophilus and Others,” “The Land of Pluck,” “Donald and Dorothy,” “The Golden Gate,” “Poems and Verses,” and “Hans Brinker, or the Silver Skates,” her most famous work.

Je crains Dieu, cher Abner, et n’ai point d’autre crainte.[1]

“Athalie,” Act. i, Sc. I,—Racine.

JEAN BAPTISTE RACINE, the illustrious French dramatist, was born at La Ferté-Milon, December 21, 1639, and died at Paris, April 26, 1699. His greatest works were: “The Thebaid,” “The Pleaders,” “Alexander,” “Berenice,” “Bajazet,” “Esther,” “Athalie,” “Mithridates,” “Iphigenia,” “The Chaplain’s Wig,” “Phædra,” “Nymphs of the Seine,” “Letters,” and “Abridgment of the History of Port Royal,” his last dramatic work.

The world is a wheel, and it will all come round right.

“Endymion,” Chap. lxx,—Benjamin Disraeli.

BENJAMIN DISRAELI, Lord Beaconsfield, an eminent English statesman and novelist, was born in London, December 21, 1804, and died April 19, 1881. Among his celebrated works are: “The Young Duke,” “Vivian Grey,” “Venetia,” “The Rise of Iskander,” “Henrietta Temple,” “The Revolutionary Epic,” “Sibyl,” “Tancred,” “Lothair,” and “Endymion.”

To be really cosmopolitan a man must be at home even in his own country.

“Short Studies of American Authors: Henry James, Jr.,”—T. W. Higginson.

THOMAS WENTWORTH HIGGINSON, a distinguished American poet, essayist and novelist, was born in Cambridge, Mass., December 22, 1823, and died in 1911. Among his writings are: “Atlantic Essays,” “Out-Door Papers,” “The Afternoon Landscape,” “Life of Margaret Fuller,” “Short Studies of American Authors,” “Young Folks’ History of the United States,” “Concerning All of Us,” “Cheerful Yesterdays,” “Old Cambridge,” “Contemporaries,” “Henry Wadsworth Longfellow,” “Part of a Man’s Life,” “Life of Stephen Higginson,” etc.

I have a liking old

For thee, though manifold

Stories, I know, are told

Not to thy credit.

“Ode to Tobacco,”—Charles Stuart Calverley.

CHARLES STUART CALVERLEY, a noted English poet and humorist, was born at Martley, Worcestershire, December 22, 1831, and died February 17, 1884. He wrote: “Verses and Translations,” and “Society Verses.”

If I had a device, it would be the true, the true only, leaving the beautiful and the good to settle matters afterwards as best they could.

—C. A. Sainte-Beuve.

CHARLES AUGUSTIN SAINTE-BEUVE, the great French literary critic, was born at Boulogne-sur-Mer, December 23, 1804, and died at Paris, October 13, 1869. He wrote: “Literary Critiques and Portraits,” “Literary Portraits,” “History of Port Royal,” “Contemporary Portraits,” “Picture of French Poetry in the Sixteenth Century,” “Meditations in August,” “Consolations,” “Poems,” his celebrated “Monday Talks,” etc.

We learn wisdom from failure much more than from success. We often discover what will do by finding out what will not do; and probably he who never made a mistake never made a discovery.

“Self-Help,”—Samuel Smiles.

SAMUEL SMILES, a famous British author, was born at Haddington, Scotland, December 23, 1812, and died, April 16, 1904. He wrote: “Lives of the Engineers,” “Industrial Biography,” “James Brindley and the Early Engineers,” “Lives of Boulton and Watt,” “Life of Thomas Telford,” “Life of George Stephenson,” “The Life of a Scotch Naturalist” (Thomas Edward), “Robert Dick,” “George Moore,” “Men of Invention and Industry,” “Life and Labor,” “A Publisher and His Friends,” “Jasmin,” “Josiah Wedgwood,” “History of Ireland,” etc. Also, “Self-Help,” “Character,” “Thrift,” and “Duty.”

Her air, her manners, all who saw admir’d;

Courteous though coy, and gentle though retir’d;

The joy of youth and health her eyes display’d,

And ease of heart her every look convey’d.

“The Parish Register, Marriages,” Part ii,—George Crabbe.

GEORGE CRABBE, a celebrated English poet, was born in Aldborough, Suffolk, December 24, 1754, and died at Trowbridge, Wiltshire, February 3, 1832. His most famous poems are: “The Parish Register,” “The Village,” “Tales in Verse,” and “The Borough.”

Still so gently o’er me stealing,

Mem’ry will bring back the feeling,

Spite of all my grief revealing

That I love thee,—that I dearly love thee still.

“La Sonnambula,”—Scribe.

AUGUSTIN EUGÈNE SCRIBE, a distinguished French dramatist, was born in Paris, December 24, 1791, and died February 20, 1861. His collected “Œuvres,” (76 vols. 1874-85), contains all his works.

She is fair as the spirit of light,

That floats in the ether on high.

—Adam Mickiewicz.

ADAM MICKIEWICZ, the most celebrated of Slavic poets, was born near Novogròdek, Lithuania, December 24, 1798, and died at Constantinople, November 26, 1855. Among his famous works are: “Crimean Sonnets,” “Lectures on Slavic Literature,” “The Books of the Polish People and of the Polish Pilgrimage,” the ballad, “Dziady,” and three famous epics: “Pan Tadeusz,” “Conrad Wallenrod,” and “Grazyna.”

There is no better motto which it (culture) can have than these words of Bishop Wilson, “To make reason and the will of God prevail.”

“Culture and Anarchy,”—Matthew Arnold.

MATTHEW ARNOLD, an eminent English poet, essayist and critic, was born at Laleham, December 24, 1822, and died at Liverpool, April 15, 1888. His principal works are: “Empedocles on Etna,” “The Strayed Reveler and Other Poems,” “New Poems,” “Essays in Criticism,” “Lectures on the Study of Celtic Literature,” “Culture and Anarchy,” “Friendship’s Garland,” “Mixed Essays,” “Irish Essays,” “Last Essays on Church and Religion,” and “Discourses on America.”

It is not enough to do good; one must do it the right way.

“On Compromise,”—John Morley.

JOHN MORLEY (VISCOUNT MORLEY), a renowned English statesman, essayist, editor, critic and biographer, was born at Blackburn, Lancashire, December 24, 1838. He has written: “Life of Oliver Cromwell,” “Life of Gladstone,” “Life of Cobden,” “Sir Robert Walpole,” “Studies in Literature,” “Cromwell,” “Literary Essays,” “Notes on Politics,” “Recollections,” etc.

Well may your hearts believe the truths I tell:

’Tis virtue makes the bliss, where’er we dwell.

“Oriental Eclogues,” I, Line 5,—William Collins.

WILLIAM COLLINS, a celebrated English poet, was born in Chichester, December 25, 1721, and died there, June 12, 1759. His principal works were: “Ode to Evening,” “The Passions,” “Ode on the Death of Thomson,” and the “Dirge to Cymbeline.”

Who dares this pair of boots displace,

Must meet Bombastes face to face.

“Bombastes Furioso,” Act I, Sc. 4,—William Barnes Rhodes.

WILLIAM BARNES RHODES, a noted English dramatic writer, was born December 25, 1772, and died November 1, 1826. He wrote: “The Satires of Juvenal, Translated into English Verse,” “Epigrams,” and his famous burlesque, “Bombastes Furioso.”

The curfew tolls the knell of parting day,

The lowing herd winds slowly o’er the lea,

The ploughman homeward plods his weary way,

And leaves the world to darkness and to me.

“Elegy in a Country Churchyard,”—Thomas Gray.

THOMAS GRAY, the renowned English poet, was born at Cornhill, London, December 26, 1716, and died at Cambridge, July 24, 1771. He wrote: “Ode to Adversity,” “Progress of Poesy,” “The Bard,” “Ode on a Distant Prospect of Eton College,” and his most famous work, “Elegy in a Country Churchyard.”

It may well wait a century for a reader, as God has waited six thousand years for an observer.

“Martyrs of Science” (Brewster),—John Kepler.

JOHANNES KEPLER, a German astronomer of great fame, was born at Weil, Würtemberg, December 27, 1571, and died at Ratisbon, November 15, 1630. His most famous work was: “New Astronomy, with Commentaries on the Motions of Mars.”

Among men of letters Lowell is doubtless most typically American, though Curtis must find an eligible place in the list. Lowell was self-conscious, though the truest greatness is not; he was a trifle too “smart,” besides, and there is no “smartness” in great literature. But both the self consciousness and the smartness must be admitted to be American; and Lowell was so versatile, so urbane, of so large a spirit, and so admirable in the scope of his sympathies, that he must certainly go on the calendar.

“Mere Literature and Other Essays,”—Woodrow Wilson.

WOODROW WILSON, a famous American educator and author, and twenty-eighth President of the United States, was born at Staunton, Va., December 28, 1856, and died at Washington, D. C., February 3, 1924. His works include: “Congressional Government: A Study of American Politics,” “The State: Elements of Historical and Practical Politics,” “Division and Reunion,” “Epochs of American History,” “An Old Master, and Other Political Essays,” “Mere Literature and Other Essays,” “George Washington,” “A History of the American People,” “Constitutional Government in the United States,” “The New Freedom,” “When a Man Comes to Himself,” “On Being Human.”

Selfishness is the greatest curse of the human race.

“Speech,” Hawarden, May 28, 1890,—William E. Gladstone.

WILLIAM EWART GLADSTONE, the eminent English statesman, essayist, and translator from the classics, was born in Liverpool, December 29, 1809, and died in 1898. His works include: “Studies in Homer and the Homeric Age,” “Church and State,” “Juventus Mundi,” “Homeric Synchronism,” “Gleanings of Past Years,” etc.

The tumult and the shouting dies,—

The Captains and the Kings depart,—

Still stands thine ancient sacrifice,

An humble and a contrite heart.

“Recessional,”—Rudyard Kipling.

RUDYARD KIPLING, a renowned English short-story writer, poet, and novelist, was born at Bombay, India, December 30, 1865. Among his writings are: “Life’s Handicap,” “Mine Own People,” “Many Inventions,” “Soldiers Three,” “The Light That Failed,” “The Seven Seas,” “Barrack Room Ballads,” “The Jungle Books,” “Captains Courageous,” “The Day’s Work,” “Stalky and Co.,” “Just So Stories for Little Children,” “Kim,” “The Five Nations,” “Traffics and Discoveries,” “Puck of Pook’s Hill,” “Actions and Reactions,” “Rewards and Fairies,” “The Harbour Watch” (a play), “The New Armies in Training,” “France at War,” “Fringes of the Fleet,” “A Diversity of Creatures,” “The Years Between,” etc.

Die Todten reiten schnell.[2]

“Lenore,”—Bürger.

GOTTFRIED AUGUST BÜRGER, an eminent German poet, was born at Molmerswende, near Ballenstedt, Anhalt, December 31, 1747 (or January 1, 1748), and died in Göttingen, June 8, 1794. He wrote: “The Parson’s Daughter,” “The Wild Huntsman,” “The Song of the Brave Man,” “Kaiser and Abbot,” “The Robber Count,” “The Wives of Weinsberg,” and his most famous ballad, “Lenore.”

“Isn’t God upon the ocean

Just the same as on the land?”

“The Tempest,”—James Thomas Fields.

JAMES THOMAS FIELDS, a noted American publisher and author, was born at Portsmouth, New Hampshire, December 31, 1817, and died in Boston, April 24, 1881. He published: “Underbrush,” “Yesterdays with Authors,” etc.

In winter, when the dismal rain

Comes down in slanting lines,

And Wind, that grand old harper, smote

His thunder-harp of pines.

“A Life Drama,” Sc. ii,—Alexander Smith.

ALEXANDER SMITH, a famous Scottish poet, was born in Kilmarnock, December 31, 1830, and died at Wardie, near Edinburgh, January 5, 1867. Among his poetical works are: “City Poems,” “Edwin of Deira,” and “A Life Drama,” his most famous work. His prose works include: “Miss Oona McQuarrie,” “Alfred Hagart’s Household,” “Dreamthorpe,” “A Summer in Skye,” etc.

FOOTNOTES:

[1] I fear God, dear Abner, and I have no other fear.

[2] The dead ride swiftly.

APPENDIX

APPENDIX

A bad neighbour is as great a misfortune as a good one is a great blessing.

“Works and Days,” Line 346,—Hesiod.

HESIOD, a renowned Greek poet, born at Ascra in Bœotia, and lived in the ninth century (?), B.C. Among his writings are the: “Theogony,” “Works and Days,” “The Shield of Hercules,” etc.

“The Homeric Poems are the earliest literary product of the world which has survived to our day, and they lie at the fountain-head of all the later literature of Europe.”

HOMER, the greatest of epic poets, author of the “Iliad” and “Odyssey.” The date of his birth has never been known, but is generally set at the eighth or ninth century B.C.

The fox said the grapes were sour.

—Æsop.

ÆSOP, a famous Greek fabulist, lived in the seventh century, B.C.

Procure not friends in haste, and when thou hast a friend part not with him in haste.

—Solon.

SOLON, the renowned Athenian legislator, lived about 638-559 B.C. The constitution which he gave to Athens, made him famous.

What is beautiful is good, and who is good will soon also be beautiful.

—Sappho.

SAPPHO, a celebrated Greek poet, was born in the Island of Lesbos, about 612 B.C. Little is known of her life. Only fragments of her poems remain. We have in complete form a “Hymn to Aphrodite” and an “Ode to a Beautiful Girl.”

Wine is wont to show the mind of man.

“Maxims,” Line 500,—Theognis.

THEOGNIS OF MEGARA, a famous Greek elegiac poet, flourished in the latter half of the sixth century B.C. Over one thousand of his verses have come down to our time.

With the exception of Heraclitus, Parmenides is the greatest of the pre-Socratic Greek thinkers.

—Parmenides.

PARMENIDES, a celebrated Greek philosopher of the fifth century B.C., was born at Elea in Southern Italy. He wrote one famous work on philosophy entitled: “On Nature.” It was divided into three sections, “Proem,” “Truth,” and “Opinion,” but only fragments of this work have come down to our time.

A lip like Persuasion’s calling on us to kiss it.

—Anacreon.

ANACREON, a famous lyric poet, of Greece, was born at Teos, in Ionia, 562 (?) B.C., and died 477 B.C. A few of his authentic compositions have come down to our times.

We count it death to falter, not to die.

Jacobs I. 63, 20,—Simonides.

SIMONIDES, a renowned Greek lyric poet, was born in the Island of Ceos about 556 B.C., and died about 468 B.C. Some of his famous “Epigrams,” have come down to our times.

By nature men are nearly alike; by practice they get to be wide apart.

—Confucius.

CONFUCIUS, the head of Chinese religious and social philosophy, was born about 551 B.C., and died 478 B.C. He wrote: “Analects,” etc., and is credited with having compiled the “Ancient Poems.” His last work is called “Annals of Lee” or “Spring and Autumn.”

Much knowledge of things divine escapes us through want of faith.

—Heraclitus.

HERACLITUS, a renowned Greek philosopher, born in Ephesus, about 535 B.C., died about 475 B.C.

Time as he grows old teaches many lessons.

“Prometheus,” 981,—Æschylus.

ÆSCHYLUS, the greatest of the Greek dramatists, was born at Eleusis, Attica, 525 B.C., and died at Gela, Sicily, 456 B.C. Of his numerous works only seven tragedies remain, “The Suppliants,” “The Persians,” “The Seven Against Thebes,” “Prometheus Bound,” “Agamemnon,” “Choephori,” and “Eumenides.”

He is gifted with genius who knoweth much by natural talent.

—Pindar.

PINDAR, the greatest of the Greek lyric poets, was born at Cynoscephalæ near Bœotian Thebes, 522 B.C., and died at Argos, about 450 B.C. The Alexandrine scholars divided his poems into 17 books, comprising Hymns, Pæans, Dithyrambs, Encomia, and Songs of Victory.

Fortune is not on the side of the faint-hearted.

—Sophocles.

SOPHOCLES, the great Greek tragic poet, was born at Colonus near Athens, about 495 B.C.; and died about 405 B.C. His seven great tragedies are: “Antigone,” “Electra,” “Ajax,” “Trachiniæ,” “Philoctetes,” “Œdipus Tyrannus,” and “Œdipus at Colonus.”

The saying “Call no man happy before he dies” was ascribed to Solon.

—Herodotus, I, 32.

HERODOTUS, “The Father of History,” was born at Halicarnassus, in Caria, about 490 B.C., and died at Thurii, in Magna Græcia, between 428 B.C. and 426 B.C. His “Exposition of History” in nine books, won for him everlasting fame.

Moderation, the noblest gift of Heaven.

“Medea,” 636,—Euripides.

EURIPIDES, a great Greek tragic poet, was born at Athens, about 480 B.C., and died about 406 B.C. Nineteen of his dramas have come down to our time: “Alcestis,” “Andromache,” “Hecube,” “Bacchæ,” “Helena,” “Electra,” “Heraclidæ,” “The Mad Hercules,” “The Suppliants,” “Hippolytus,” “Iphigenia at Tauris,” “Ion,” “Iphigenia at Aulis,” “Medea,” “Orestes,” “Rhesus,” “The Trojan Women,” “The Phœnissæ,” and “Cyclops.”

Extreme remedies are very appropriate for extreme diseases.

Aphorism i,—Hippocrates.

HIPPOCRATES, a noted Greek philosopher and writer, termed the “Father of Medicine,” was born according to Soranus, in Cos, in the first year of the 80th Olimpiad, i.e., in 460 B.C. The earliest Greek edition of the Hippocratic writings is that which was published by Aldus and Asulanus at Venice in 1526.

You think that upon the score of fore-knowledge and divining I am infinitely inferior to the swans. When they perceive approaching death they sing more merrily than before, because of the joy they have in going to the God they serve.

“In Phaedo,” 77,—Socrates.

SOCRATES, the renowned Athenian philosopher, was born at Athens, about 470 B.C., and died 399 B.C. He left no writings, but his philosophical method and his teaching are to be found in the works of his contemporaries and disciples.

Envy doth merit like its shade pursue.

—Aristophanes.

ARISTOPHANES, the greatest of the Greek writers of comedy, (448-380 B.C.), was born at Athens. Only eleven of his 44 plays have come down to us. They are: “The Knights,” “The Clouds,” “The Wasps,” “The Acharnians,” “The Peace,” “The Lyristrate,” “The Birds,” “The Thesmophoriazusæ,” “The Frogs,” “The Ecclesiazusæ,” and “Plutus.”

Trees and fields tell me nothing, men are my teachers.

—Plato.

PLATO, the renowned Greek philosopher, was born at Athens, about 427 B.C., and died there 347 B.C. Among his famous dialogues are: “Apology,” “Lysis,” “Charmides,” “Laches,” “Protagoras,” “Meno,” “Gorgias,” “Io,” “Euthyphro,” “Crito,” “Phædrus,” “The Sophist,” “The Politician,” “Parmenides,” “Symposium,” “Phædo,” “The Republic,” “The Laws,” etc.

Excess of grief for the deceased is madness; for it is an injury to the living, and the dead know it not.

—Xenophon.

XENOPHON, a famous Greek author, was born at Athens, about 430 B.C., and died in Corinth, about 355 B.C. He is the author of: “Encomium of Agesilaus,” “Horsemanship,” “Hipparchicus,” “Cynegeticus,” “Cyropædeia,” “Lacedæmonian Polity,” “Hieron,” “Athenian Finance,” “Symposium,” “Apology of Socrates,” “Œconomicus,” and his most celebrated works, the “Hellenics” and “Anabasis.”

Our Theocritus, our Bion,

And our Pindar’s shining goals!—

These were cup-bearers undying,

Of the wine that’s meant for souls.

“Wine of Cyprus,”—E. B. Browning.

THEOCRITUS, the greatest of Greek bucolic poets, lived in the first half of the third century B.C. Thirty-one of his idyls and pastorals and a number of his epigrams have been preserved.

No excellent soul is exempt from a mixture of madness.

—Aristotle.

ARISTOTLE, the most renowned of Greek philosophers, was born at Stagira, Macedonia, 384 B.C., and died at Chalcis, Eubœa, 322 B.C. He wrote numerous treatises on philosophy.

There is one safeguard known generally to the wise, which is an advantage and security to all, but especially to democracies as against despots. What is it? Distrust.

“Philippic 2,” Sect. 24,—Demosthenes.

DEMOSTHENES, a renowned Athenian orator, was born about 384 B.C., and died at Calauria, 322 B.C. Besides his numerous orations, he wrote the “Olynthiacs” and the “Philippics,” and his great speech, “On the Crown.”

Amnesty, that noble word, the genuine dictate of wisdom.

—Æschines.

ÆSCHINES, a great Athenian orator, rival of Demosthenes, lived 389-314 B.C.

A good man never dies.

“Epigrams,” X,—Callimachus.

CALLIMACHUS, a renowned Greek poet, born in Cyrene, flourished in the third century B.C. Besides his tragedies, comedies, elegies and hymns, he wrote the epics, “Hecale” and “Galatea,” a “Hymn to Jupiter,” and an “Epitaph on Heracleitus.”

Patience is the best remedy for every trouble.

“Rudens,” Act II, Sc. 5, 71,—Plautus.

TITUS MACCIUS PLAUTUS, a celebrated Roman comic poet, was born at Sarsina in Umbria, about 254 B.C., and died at Rome about 184 B.C. His “Captives” has been declared “the best constructed drama in existence.”

Buy not what you need, but what you must have; what you do not need is dear at a penny.

—Cato.

MARCUS PORCIUS CATO, THE CENSOR, a famous Roman statesman and pamphleteer (234-149 B.C.) He wrote many tractates on different subjects, but only one of them, “On Farming,” has come down to our times. Of “Beginnings” we have only a few fragments.

“Polybius of Megalopolis in Arcadia must rank as the third Greek historian, Herodotus and Thucydides being first and second.”

POLYBIUS, a celebrated Greek historian, was born at Megalopolis in Arcadia, 204 B.C., and died 122 B.C. His “Histories,” won for him great fame.

The quarrels of lovers are the renewal of love.

“Andria,” Act III, Sc. 3, 23,—Terence.

TERENCE, the renowned Latin writer of comedy, was born at Carthage, about 185 B.C., and died about 159 B.C. Among his writings are: “Andria,” “Hecyra,” “Heautontimorumenos,” “Eunuchus,” “Phormio,” and “Adelphi.”

While the sick man has life there is hope.

“Epistolarum ad Atticum,”—Cicero.

MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO, the prince of Roman orators, a distinguished writer on philosophy, rhetoric, morals, etc., was born at Arpinum, 106 B.C., and died 43 B.C. Among his treatises on the art of oratory are: “The Orator, to Marcus Brutus,” “Of the Orator,” and “Brutus, or of Illustrious Orators.” His philosophical writings include: “The Academics,” “Tusculan Disputations,” “Of Definitions of Good and Evil.” Of discussions of moral questions, we have the practical treatise, “Of Mutual Offices.” Theological questions are examined in the two treatises, “Of Divinations” and “Of the Nature of the Gods”; also the treatises, “Of Old Age,” “Of Friendship,” “Of Consolation.” The letters of Cicero are extant to the number of 864, under the titles: “To Intimate Friends” (16 books), “To Atticus” (also 16 books), “To Quintus,” his brother, (3 books), and “Correspondence with M. Brutus” (in 2 books).

Wine and other luxuries have a tendency to enervate the mind and make men less brave in battle.

—Cæsar.

CAIUS JULIUS CÆSAR, the great Roman general and writer of memoirs, was probably born about 100 B.C.; killed March 15, 44 B.C. Besides his famous “Commentaries,” he wrote a grammatical treatise, “On Analogy,” but it has not come down to our times.

What is food to one man may be fierce poison to others.

“De Rerum Natura,” IV, 637,—Lucretius.

TITUS LUCRETIUS CARUS, a renowned Roman poet, was born about 98 B.C., and died 55 B.C. His one work, “On Nature,” in six books, is considered one of the greatest of Latin didactic poems.

I hate and love—the why I cannot tell But by my tortures know the fact too well.

“Two Chords,” (translation of Sir Theodore Martin),—Catullus.

CAIUS VALERIUS CATULLUS, the greatest of Roman lyric poets, was born at Verona, 84 B.C., and died 54 B.C. A number of his compositions have come down to our time, The most celebrated are those “To Lesbia,” “The Boat,” and “Address to Himself.”

Numero deus impare gaudet. (The god delights in odd numbers.)

“Eclogæ,” 8, p. 75,—Virgil.

VIRGIL, the greatest of Roman epic poets, was born at Andes near Mantua, October 5, 70 B.C., and died at Brundisium, September 21, 19 B.C. He wrote the “Georgics,” “Bucolics,” and the epic, “The Æneid,” in 12 books.

If you wish me to weep, you yourself must feel grief.

“Ars Poetica,” 102,—Horace.

HORACE (QUINTUS HORATIUS FLACCUS), the great Latin lyric poet, was born at Venusia, Italy, December 8, 65 B.C., and died at Rome November 27, 8 B.C. He wrote: “Satires,” “Epodes,” “Odes,” and his famous “Epistles.”

Wit is the flower of the imagination.

—Livy.

LIVY, the great Roman historian, was born at Patavium (Padua), 59 B.C., and died there A.D. 17. He wrote the “History of Rome from the Founding of the City,” in 142 “books,” many of which have been lost.

Perjuria ridet amantum Jupiter.[1]

—Tibullus.

ALBIUS TIBULLUS, a renowned Roman poet, was born about 54 B.C., and died probably in 19 B.C. Three books of his elegies have come down to us.

Qua pote quisque in ca conterat diem.[2]

—Propertius.

SEXTUS PROPERTIUS, the great Roman elegiac poet, was born at Aassisium, about 50 B.C., and died about 15 B.C. His poems consist of four books.

In my opinion, he only may be truly said to live, and enjoy his being, who is engaged in some laudable pursuit and acquire a name by some illustrious action or useful art.

—Sallust.

SALLUST, a famous Roman historian, was born about 86 B.C., and died at Rome, about 34 B.C. He wrote: “The Conspiracy of Catiline,” and “The History of the War Against Jugurtha.”

A good man possesses a kingdom.

“Thyestes,” 380,—Seneca.

LUCIUS ANNAEUS SENECA, an illustrious Roman philosopher, was born at Corduba, in Spain, about the year 4 B.C., and died A.D. 65. Many of his writings have come down to our time, among them 124 “Epistles to Lucilius,” containing exhortations to the practice of virtue: “On Providence,” “Anger,” “Of Benefits,” and “Natural History Questions,” also, several tragedies, among them, “Phædra,” “Thyestes,” and “Medea.”

Habit is stronger than nature.

—Quintus Curtius Rufus.

QUINTUS CURTIUS RUFUS a notable Eoman historian, was born about the first century A.D. He is the author of “De Rebus Gestis Alexandri Magni” (Deeds of Alexander the Great), in ten books, the first two of which are lost.

The best plan is, as the common proverb has it, to profit by the folly of others.

Natural History, Book xviii, Sect. 31,—Pliny the Elder.

PLINY THE ELDER, a celebrated Roman compiler of encyclopædic knowledge, was born at Novum Comum, (Como), A.D. 23; and died A.D. 79. He wrote: “A Natural History” in 37 books, compiled from more than 2,000 volumes.

Hunger is the teacher of the arts and the bestower of invention.

—Persius.

AULUS PERSIUS FLACCUS, a famous Latin satiric poet, was born at Volaterræ in Etruria, 34 A.D., and died A.D. 62. He wrote six satires, and they are all extant.

A liar should have a good memory.

“Institutionis Oratoriæ,” iv, 2, 91,—Quintilian.

QUINTILIAN, the famous Roman rhetorician, was born about A.D. 35, at Calagurris (Calahorra), Spain, and died about A.D. 95 or 96. His great work, “Institutionis Oratoriæ,” is one of the most renowned classical works on rhetoric.

Alta sedent civilis vulnera dextræ.[3]

“Pharsalia,” I, 32,—Lucan.

MARCUS ANNAEUS LUCANUS (LUCAN), a celebrated Latin poet, was born at Cordova, Spain, A.D. 39, and died at Rome, A.D. 65. He is best known by his epic poem, “Pharsalia.”

Quid crastina volveret ætas,

Scire nefos homini.[4]

“Thebaid,” III. 562,—Statius.

PUBLIUS PAPINIUS STATIUS, a famous Roman poet, was born at Naples, about A.D. 45, and died there, about A.D. 96. His chief work is, “The Thebaid,” an epic poem in twelve books.

Difficulties are things that show what men are.

“Discourses,” Chap. xxiv,—Epictetus.

EPICTETUS, a celebrated Greek Stoic philosopher, was born at Hierapolis in Phrygia, about A.D. 50. No works of his have come down to our time, but his maxims were collected and published in the “Encheiridion,” or Handbook, and the “Commentaries” in eight books.

The gods looked with favour on superior courage.

—Tacitus.

PUBLIUS CORNELIUS TACITUS, a great Latin historian, was born about A.D. 54. He wrote the dialogue “De Oratoribus,” the “Annals,” the “Agricola,” the “Germania,” (“On the Manners of the Germans”), and his “History.”

No man ever became extremely wicked all at once.

“Satire ii,” 83,—Juvenal.

JUVENAL, the renowned Latin poet, was born at Aquinum, about A.D. 60, and died about A.D. 140. Sixteen of his famous satires are extant.

Never do a thing concerning the rectitude of which you are in doubt.

“Letters,” Letter xviii, 5,—Pliny the Younger.

PLINY THE YOUNGER, a noted Roman orator, nephew of Pliny the Elder, was born at Comum, A.D. 61, and died about 113. Of his numerous forensic works, only one oration is extant, “The Panegyric,” also his “Letters.”

To conduct great matters and never commit a fault is above the force of human nature.

“Life of Fabius,”—Plutarch.

PLUTARCH, the celebrated Greek moralist, practical philosopher, and biographer was born at Chæronea in Bœotia. The year of his birth and death are not known, but he was very old at the death of Trajan, A.D. 117. He wrote: “Parallel Lives,” and many “Moral Treatises,” including “The Education of Children,” “The Right Way of Hearing,” “Precepts About Health,” “Cessation of Oracles,” “The Pythian Responses,” “The Retarded Vengeance of the Deity,” “The Dæmon of Socrates,” “The Virtues of Women,” “On the Fortune of the Romans,” “Political Counsels,” “On Superstition,” “On Isis and Osiris,” “On the Pace of the Moon’s Disk,” “On the Opinions Accepted by the Philosophers.”

A boy of five years old serene and gay,

Unpitying Hades hurried me away.

Yet weep not for Callimachus: if few

The days I lived, few were my sorrows too.

—Lucian.

LUCIAN, the celebrated Greek satirist, was born at Samosata, in northern Syria, about 120 A.D., and died about 200 A.D. Among his writings are: “Praise of Demosthenes,” “Dialogues of the Gods,” “Dialogues of the Sea Gods,” “Dialogues of the Dead,” “The True History,” “Lucius; or The Ass,” “Death of Peregrinus,” “The Fisherman,” “The Sea Voyage, or Votive Offerings,” “The Sale of Lives,” “Alexander, or The False Prophet,” “Hermotimus,” etc.

Neither fear, nor wish for, your last day.

Epigram x, 47.13,—Martial.

MARTIAL, a famous Latin poet, was born at Bilbilis, Spain, A.D. 50 (?), and died in Spain, 102 (?). His fame rests upon his “Epigrams” in fifteen books.

Suetonius says of the Emperor Titus: “Once at supper, reflecting that he had done nothing for any that day, he broke out into that memorable and justly admired saying, ‘My friends, I have lost a day!’”

“Lives of Twelve Cæsars” (Translation by Alexander Thomson),—Suetonius.

SUETONIUS, a famous Latin chronicler, grammarian, and critic, flourished in the early part of the second century of our era. His works include: “Distinguished Orators,” “Illustrious Grammarians,” “Lives of the Cæsars,” etc.

When I am at Rome I fast as the Romans do; when I am at Milan I do not fast. So likewise you, whatever church you come to, observe the custom of the place, if you would neither give offence to others, nor take offence from them.

“Advice to St. Austin on Sabbath Keeping,”—St. Ambrose.

SAINT AMBROSE, one of the fathers of the Latin Church, born at Trèves, Gaul, probably A.D. 340, died at Milan, April 4, A.D. 397. His writings include: “Of the Duties of the Clergy,” “Hexæmeron,” hymns, etc. He became bishop of Milan in 374.

Socrates said, “Those who want fewest things are nearest to the gods.”

“Socrates,” XI,—Diogenes Laertius.

DIOGENES LAERTIUS, a famous Greek compiler of anecdotes, flourished about A.D. 200-250, a native of Lærte in Cilicia. He wrote a collection of notes and memoranda (in 10 books), “On the Lives, Teachings, and Sayings of Famous Men.”

None can injure him, who does not injure himself.

—Chrysostom.

ST. JOHN CHRYSOSTOM, a noted Greek Church father, born in Antioch, Syria, 350 (?), and died at Comana, 407. His works, comprising homilies, commentaries, liturgies, epistles, etc., can be found in 13 volumes, fol. (1718).

Quis legem det amantibus? Major lex amor est sibi.[5]

—Boëthius.

BOËTHIUS, a famous Roman didactic poet and statesman, was born between 470 and 475, and died about 525. His celebrated “Consolation of Philosophy” won for him lasting fame.

Heav’n but the Vision of fulfill’d Desire,

And Hell the Shadow of a Soul on fire.

“Rubáiyát,” Stanza lxvii,—Omar Khayyám.

OMAR KHAYYÁM, a celebrated Persian poet, mathematician, and astronomer, was born at Nishapur, in 1050 (?), and died there in 1123 (?). His fame rests on the “Rubáiyát,” or “Quatrains,”—four-line stanzas with the third unrhymed. Fitzgerald’s was the first English translation to make these quatrains widely known.

“Abélard was almost the first who awakened mankind in the ages of darkness to a sympathy with intellectual excellence ... Abélard was the first of recorded name, who taught the banks of the Seine to resound a tale of love; and it was of Eloïse that he sang.”

PIERRE ABÉLARD, a famous French scholastic philosopher and theologian, was born near Nantes, 1079, and died April 21, 1142. His romantic and tragic love for Héloïse is told in his “Story of My Misfortunes.”

Jesu! the very Thought of Thee

With sweetness fills the breast,

But sweeter far Thy face to see

And in Thy presence rest.

“Saint Bernard’s Hymn,”—Bernard of Clairvaux.

BERNARD OF CLAIRVAUX, ST. BERNARD, a renowned French theologian, church father, and saint, was born at Fontaines, near Dijon, in 1091, and died at Clairvaux, January 12, 1153. He wrote five books on “Reflection,” and his famous hymn, “Jesu, the Very Thought of Thee,” is popular in the churches of our day.

“Unless the spirit of wisdom and understanding had been with me and filled me, I had never been able to construct so long a work in such a difficult metre.”

—Bernard of Cluny.

BERNARD OF CLUNY, a famous French monk and poet, who flourished in the twelfth century, is best known for his noted work, “On Contempts of the World.”

“If St. Francis had been less of a poet, he would have been less of a saint.”

ST. FRANCIS D’ASSISI, a renowned Italian preacher, and poet, founder of the Franciscan order, was born at Assisi in Umbria, Italy, 1182, and died October 12, 1226. The most famous of his hymns is the “Canticle of the Sun.”

He who learns the rules of wisdom, without conforming to them in his life, is like a man who laboured in his fields, but did not sow.

—Sadi.

SADI, one of the greatest of Persian poets, was born at Shiraz, in 1184, and died in 1291 (?). He wrote: “Bustán,” or “The Fruit Garden,” and “Gulistán,” or “The Rose Garden,” also his “Divan.”

The best perfection of a religious man is to do common things in a perfect manner. A constant fidelity in small things is a great and heroic virtue.

—St. Bonaventura.

SAINT BONAVENTURA, an Italian theologian and scholar of great fame, was born at Bagnarea, 1221, and died in 1274. His real name was Giovanni di Fidenza. He wrote: “Life of Saint Francis,” “Progress of the Mind Towards God,” etc.

“To an absolute purity of life, St. Thomas added an earnest love of truth and of labor.”

THOMAS AQUINAS, a great mediæval theologian and philosopher, was born at Aquino in the kingdom of Naples, about 1225, and died at Fossa Nuova, March 7, 1274. Among his works are: “Sum of Catholic Belief Against the Heathen,” “Exposition of All the Epistles of St. Paul,” and his most famous work, the “Sum of Theology.”

No greater grief than to remember days Of joy when misery is at hand.

“Divine Comedy,” Canto V, Line 121,—Dante.

DANTE ALIGHIERI, the greatest of Italian poets, was born in Florence 1265, and died in Ravenna, September 14, 1321. He wrote: the “New Life,” the “Banquet,” and the “Divine Comedy.”

O, marvelous power of the Divine seed, which overpowers the strong man armed, softens obdurate hearts, and changes into divine men those who were brutalized in sin, and removed to an infinite distance from God.

—John Wyclif.

JOHN WYCLIF, a renowned scholar, was born near Richmond, England, about 1324, and died December 31, 1384. His great work was the translation of the entire Bible into English.

Who that well his warke beginneth,

The rather a good ende he winneth.

“Confessio Amantis,”—Gower.

JOHN GOWER, a noted English poet, was born in Kent in 1325 (?), and died in London in August (or September), 1408. Among his works are: “Voice of One Crying” (Vox Clamantis), “Mirror of Meditation” (Speculum Meditantis), and “Lover’s Confession” (Confessio Amantis).

Full wise is he that can himselven knowe.

“The Monkes Tale,”—Geoffrey Chaucer.

GEOFFREY CHAUCER, the father of English poetry, was born in London (?), 1328 or 1340, and died there October 25, 1400. He wrote: “Troilus and Cressida,” “The Parliament of Fowles,” “Boke of the Duchesse,” “The House of Fame,” “The Legend of Good Women,” and his most famous work, “Canterbury Tales.”

Man proposes, but God disposes.

“Imitation of Christ,” Book I, Chap. 19,—Thomas à Kempis.

THOMAS À KEMPIS, a renowned German mystic, was born at Kempen, near Cologne in 1380, and died in 1471. He was the author of the “Imitation of Christ,” which is said to be the most popular book in the world, with the exception of the Bible.

“The one certain thing about Sir Thomas Malory is, that he wrote the first and finest romance of chivalry in our common-tongue,—the ‘Morte d’Arthur.’”

SIR THOMAS MALORY, the British author of the renowned “Morte d’Arthur,” was born about 1430, and died after 1470.

“If Froissart, by his picturesque descriptions, and fertility of historical invention, may be reckoned the Livy of France, she had her Tacitus in Philippe de Comines.”

PHILIPPE DE COMINES, a celebrated French chronicler, was born at Comines, about 1445, and died at the Château of Argenton, October 17, 1510. His famous “Memoirs” won for him great fame.

I know everything except myself.

“Autre Ballade,” i,—François Villon.

FRANÇOIS VILLON, a renowned French poet, was born in 1431, and died 1460 (?). He wrote: “The Greater Testament,” and the “Smaller Testament: Its Codicil”; a collection of poems and a volume of “Ballades.”

A heart which is void of the pains of love is not heart;

A body without heart woes is nothing but clay and water.

Turn thy face away from the world to the pangs of love;

For the world of love is a world of sweetness.

“Love” (Translation of S. Robinson),—Jami.

’ABD-URRAHMÁN JAMI, the last of Persia’s classic poets, was born in Jam, Khorasan, in 1414, and died in May (?), 1492 or 1493. His best known works are: “The Abode of Spring,” “The Chain of Gold,” “The Loves of Joseph and Zuleika and of Mejnun and Leila.”

E duobus malis minimum eligendum.[6]

“Adages,”—Erasmus.

DESIDERIUS ERASMUS, a renowned Dutch humanist, was born at Rotterdam, 1465 or 1467, and died July 12, 1536. He wrote a noted volume of “Colloquies,” a collection of “Adages,” and a celebrated satire, “The Praise of Folly”; besides numerous works on the ancients—Cicero, Seneca, Aristotle, St. Augustine, St. Jerome, etc.; also a noted treatise on “Free-Will.”

There are few husbands whom the wife cannot win in the long run, by patience and love.

—Marguerite de Valois.

MARGUERITE D’ANGOULÊME, or DE VALOIS, Queen of Navarre, and famous for her stories, poems and letters, was born in 1492, and died in Bigorre in 1549. She is best known in literature by the celebrated “Heptameron,” a collection of tales; “Pearls of the Pearl of Princesses” (poems), and her “Letters,” which were published in 1841-42.

One inch of joy surmounts of grief a span,

Because to laugh is proper to the man.

“To the Reader,”—François Rabelais.

FRANÇOIS RABELAIS, the greatest of French satirists, was born at Chinon, Touraine, about 1495, and died in 1553. His fame rests upon the two works, “Gargantua,” and “Pantagruel.”

A chip of chance weigheth more than a pound of it.

Courtier’s Life,—Sir T. Wyatt.

SIR THOMAS WYATT, a distinguished English poet and diplomatist, was born at Arlington Castle, Kent, in 1503, and died at Sherborne, October 11, 1542. He wrote many poems, chiefly love sonnets after the Italian manner.

Therefore, if to the goodness of nature be joined the wisdom of the teacher, in leading young wits into a right and plain way of learning; surely children kept up in God’s fear, and governed by His grace, may most easily be brought well to serve God and their country, both by virtue and wisdom.

“On Gentleness in Education” (From “The Schoolmaster”),—Roger Ascham.

ROGER ASCHAM, a famous English scholar and prose writer, was born at Kirby Wiske, near Northallerton, in 1515, and died in London, December 30, 1568. His most noted works are: “Toxophilus,” and “The Schoolmaster.”

Time shall make the bushes green;

Time dissolve the winter’s snow;

Winds be soft, and skies serene;

Linnets sing their wonted strain:

But again

Blighted love shall never blow.

“Blighted Love” (trans., Lord Strangford), st. 3,—Luiz de Camoëns.

LUIZ DE CAMOËNS, Portugal’s greatest poet, was born at Lisbon, in 1524 or 1525, and died June 10, 1580. He is best known by “The Lusiads,” which is considered the national epic of Portugal.

The stone that is rolling, can gather no moss,

Who often removeth is sure of loss.

“Five Hundred Points of Good Husbandry Lessons,” St. 46,—Tusser.

THOMAS TUSSER, a noted English poet was born at Rivenhall, Essex, in 1527, and died in London about 1580. He was the author of “Five Hundred Points of Good Husbandry, United to as Many of Good Housewifery,” etc.

I cannot eat but little meat,

My stomach is not good;

But sure I think that I can drink

With him that wears a hood.

“Gammer Gurton’s Needle,” Act. II,—Bishop Still.

BISHOP JOHN STILL, a celebrated English writer of comedy, was born at Grantham, in Lincolnshire, in 1543, and died February 26, 1607. He is reputed to be the author of “A Ryght Pithy Pleasant, and Merrie Comedy, Intytuled Gammer Gurton’s Needle.”

I was so free with him as not to mince the matter.

“Don Quixote,” The Author’s Preface,—Cervantes.

CERVANTES, a renowned Spanish romancist, was born at Alcalà de Henares in 1547, and died at Madrid, April 23, 1616. Of his many romances and stories, his fame rests entirely on his celebrated work, “Don Quixote.”

Who will not mercie unto others show,

How can he mercy ever hope to have?

Faerie Queene, Book V, Canto II, St. 42,—Edmund Spenser.

EDMUND SPENSER, the famous English poet, was born about 1552, and died at London, January 13, or 16, 1599. Among his works are: “Amoretti,” “Four Hymns,” “The Shepherd’s Calendar,” “Astrophel,” “Complaints,” “Daphnaida,” “Colin Clout’s Come Home Again,” and “The Faerie Queene,” his most famous work.

If all the world and love were young,

And truth in every shepherd’s tongue,

These pretty pleasures might me move

To live with thee, and be thy love.

“The Nymph’s Reply to the Passionate Shepherd,”—Sir Walter Raleigh.

SIR WALTER RALEIGH, the celebrated English admiral, was born at Hayes in Devonshire, in 1552, and was executed, October 29, 1618. His poems were not published until 1814, his “Miscellaneous Writings,” in 1751, and his “Complete Works,” in 1829.

Live or die, sink or swim.

“Edward I” (1584?),—Peele.

GEORGE PEELE, a famous English dramatist, was born in 1553 (?), and died in 1597 (?). He wrote: “The Arraignment of Paris,” “The Chronicle History of Edward I,” “The Battle of Alcazar,” “The Old Wives’ Tales,” “David and Bethsabe,” “Sir Clyomon and Sir Clamydes.”

Calvin was incomparably the wisest man that ever the French Church enjoyed.

—Richard Hooker.

RICHARD HOOKER, one of the greatest glories of the English Church, was born in Exeter, in 1553, and died in 1600. Among his famous works may be mentioned: “Ecclesiastical Polity,” “The Nature and Majesty of Law,” “Scripture and the Law of Nature,” “Defence of Reason,” etc.

Goe to bed with the Lambe, and rise with the Larke.

“Euphues and his England,”—John Lyly.

JOHN LYLY, a renowned English dramatist, was born in 1554, and died in London, 1606. He is known principally by his two books, “Euphues, or the Anatomy of Wit,” and “Euphues and His England.”

He that loves a rosy cheek,

Or a coral lip admires,

Or from star-like eyes doth seek

Fuel to maintain his fires,—

As old Time makes these decay,

So his flames must waste away.

“Disdain Returned,”—Thomas Carew.

THOMAS CAREW, a noted English poet, lived about 1598-1639. He wrote numerous poems, mostly songs and odes. He also wrote a masque, “Cœlum Britannicum.”

Young men think old men are fools; but old men know young men are fools.

“All Fools,” Act V, Sc. I,—George Chapman.

GEORGE CHAPMAN, a renowned English dramatist, and translator of Homer, was born in Hitchin, Hertford, 1559, and died at London, May 12, 1634. Among his comedies and tragedies are: “All Fools but the Fool,” “May Day,” “Bussy d’Amboise,” and “The Tragedy of Charles, Duke of Byron.” His version of Homer is renowned.

Though men determine, the gods do dispose; and oft times many things fall out betweene the cup and the lip.

“Perimedes the Blacksmith” (1588),—Greene.

ROBERT GREENE, a celebrated English dramatist, was born in Norwich, about 1560, and died in London, September 3, 1592. He wrote: “History of Orlando Furioso,” “Comical History of Alphonsus, King of Aragon,” “Honorable History of Friar Bacon and Friar Bungay,” “The Scottish Historie of James IV,” etc.; also two noted tracts, “Never Too Late,” and “Greene’s Groat’s Worth of Wit Bought with a Million of Repentance.”

Come let us kiss and part,—

Nay I have done, you get no more of me;

And I am glad, yea, glad with all my heart

That thus so clearly I myself can free.

Shake hands forever, cancel all our vows,

And when we meet at any time again,

Be it not seen, on either of our brows,

That we one jot of former love retain.

“Come Let Us Kiss and Part,”—M. Drayton.

MICHAEL DRAYTON, a noted English poet, was born near Atherstone in Warwickshire, in 1563, and died in 1631. He wrote: “The Shepherd’s Garland,” “Poly Olbion,” his most famous work, “Sir John Oldcastle” a drama, and “Poems Lyrick and Pastorall,” including the famous “Ballad of Agincourt.”

Who ever loved that loved not at first sight.

“Hero and Leander,”—Christopher Marlowe.

CHRISTOPHER MARLOWE, a renowned English poet and dramatist, was born at Canterbury, about 1564, and was killed at Deptford, June 1, 1593. He wrote: “Tamburlaine,” “The Jew of Malta,” “Life and Death of Dr. Faustus,” and “Edward II,” his most famous work.

Do not be troubled by Saint Bernard’s saying that hell is full of good intentions and wills.

“Spiritual Letters,” Letter xii,—Francis De Sales.

SAINT FRANCIS DE SALES, a famous French ecclesiastic and devotional writer, was born in 1567, and died in 1622. He wrote: “Introduction to the Devout Life,” “A Treatise on the Love of God,” etc. He founded the Order of the Visitation.

The world’s a stage on which all parts are played.

“A Game of Chess,” Act. V, Sc. i,—Thomas Middleton.

THOMAS MIDDLETON, a noted English dramatist, was born about 1570, and died in 1627. He produced, “A Game of Chess,” and with William Rowley, “A Fair Quarrel,” “The Changeling,” “The Spanish Gipsy,” etc.

To add to golden numbers golden numbers.

“Patient Grissell,”—Thomas Dekker.

THOMAS DEKKER, a famous English dramatist, was born in London, about 1570, and died after 1637. Among his plays are: “The Shoemaker’s Holiday,” and “Old Fortunatus.” He also wrote: “The Wonderful Year,” “The Bachelor’s Banquet,” etc.

I loved thee once, I’ll love no more,

Thine be the grief as is the blame;

Thou art not what thou wast before,

What reason I should be the same?

He that can love unloved again,

Hath better store of love than brain:

God send me love my debts to pay,

While unthrifts fool their love away.

“Woman’s Inconstancy,” St. I,—Sir R. Ayton.

SIR ROBERT AYTON, a notable Scottish poet, was born in his father’s castle of Kinaldie in 1570, and died in London in February, 1638. Ayton is supposed to have been the author of “Auld Lang Syne,” which was remodeled by Burns.

Drink to me only with thine eyes,

And I will pledge with mine;

Or leave a kiss but in the cup,

And I’ll not look for wine.

“The Forest: To Celia,”—Ben Jonson.

BEN JONSON, a celebrated English dramatist, was born in London, in 1572 or 1573, and died August 6, 1637. He wrote two famous comedies, “Every Man in His Humour,” and “Every Man Out of His Humour,” and numerous poems.

Reason is our soul’s left hand, Faith her right.

“To the Countess of Bedford,” St. 7,—John Donne.

JOHN DONNE, a famous English poet and clergyman, was born in London, in 1573, and died March 31, 1631. His famous “Satires” won for him great fame. A collection of his sermons were published in 1897.

As it fell upon a day

In the merry month of May,

Sitting in a pleasant shade

Which a grove of myrtles made.

Address to the Nightingale,—Richard Barnfield.

RICHARD BARNFIELD, a noted English poet, was baptized at Norbury, Staffordshire, June 13, 1574, and died in 1627. He wrote: “The Affectionate Shepherd,” “Cynthia, with Certain Sonnets,” “The Encomion of Lady Pecunia,” “The Passionate Pilgrim,” etc.

Seven cities warred for Homer being dead,

Who living had no roofe to shrowd his head.

“Hierarchie of the Blessed Angells,”—Thomas Heywood.

THOMAS HEYWOOD, a famous English dramatic poet, was born in Lincolnshire (?), about 1575, and died in London (?), 1650 (?). Of all his poetry and prose his fame rests upon “A Woman Killed with Kindness,” “The Wise Woman of Hogsdon,” “Love’s Mistress,” etc.

Death hath a thousand doors to let out life.

“A Very Woman,” Act V, Sc. 4,—Philip Massinger.

PHILIP MASSINGER, a celebrated English dramatist, was born at Salisbury, in 1583, and died at the Bankside, Southwark, March, 1640. Among his famous plays are: “The Duke of Milan,” “The Fatal Dowry,” “A New Way to Pay Old Debts,” “A City Madam,” “A Very Woman,” etc.

It is always good

When a man has two irons in the fire.

“The Faithful Friends,” Act I, Sc. 2,—Francis Beaumont.

FRANCIS BEAUMONT, a renowned English dramatist, was born in 1584, at Grace-Dieu, Leicestershire, and died in London, March 6, 1616. He has always been associated with John Fletcher, and together they wrote many famous plays, among them: “The Coxcomb,” “King and No King,” “The Faithful Friends,” “Philaster,” “The Maid’s Tragedy,” “The Knight of the Burning Pestle,” and “The Scornful Lady.”

Diamond cut diamond.

“The Lover’s Melancholy,” Act I, Sc. I,—John Ford.

JOHN FORD, a famous English dramatist, was baptized at Islington in Devon, April 17, 1586, and died about 1640. His best plays are: “The Lover’s Melancholy,” “The Broken Heart,” and “Love’s Sacrifice.”

Be wisely worldly, be not worldly wise.

“Emblems,” Book II, Emblem 2,—Francis Quarles.

FRANCIS QUARLES, a celebrated English sacred poet, was born in Rumford, Essex, in 1592, and died September, 1644. His most famous works were: “Emblems, Divine and Moral,” “Argalus and Parthenia,” and the “Enchiridion.”

Plato, Aristotle, and Socrates are secretaries of Nature.

“Letters,” Book ii, Letter xi,—Howell.

JAMES HOWELL, a noted British author, was born at Abernaut, in Carmarthenshire, in 1594, and died in November, 1666. Of all his works, his “Letters,” the “Epistolæ Ho-Elianæ” (four volumes issued in 1645, 1647, 1650 and 1655) are best known, and his elaborate allegories are forgotten.

Actions of the last age are like almanacs of the last year.

“The Sophy,” A Tragedy,—Sir John Denham.

SIR JOHN DENHAM, a noted English poet, was born in Dublin, 1615, and died in London (?), March 15 (?), 1669. He translated the “Æneid,” and produced “The Sophy,” a tragedy, and “Cooper’s Hill,” a famous poem.

I have ever thought,

Nature doth nothing so great for great men,

As when she’s pleas’d to make them lords of truth.

Integrity of life is fame’s best friend,

Which nobly, beyond death shall crown the end.

The Duchess of Malfi, Act V, Sc. 5,—John Webster.

JOHN WEBSTER, a famous English dramatist, was born near the end of the sixteenth century. Some of his dramas are: “The White Devil, or Vittoria Corombona,” “The Duchess of Malfi,” “Appius and Virginia,” and “The Devil’s Law Case.”

My mind to me a kingdom is;

Such present joys therein I find,

That it excels all other bliss

That earth affords or grows by kind;

Though much I want which most would have,

Yet still my mind forbids to crave.

—Edward Dyer.

SIR EDWARD DYER, a noted English courtier and poet, was born at Sharpham Park, Somersetshire, and died in 1607. He had a great reputation as a poet among his contemporaries, but very little of his work has survived. “My Mind to Me a Kingdom Is,” is universally accepted as his.

The assembled souls of all that men held wise.

“Gondibert,” Book II, Canto v. Stanza 37,—Sir William Davenant.

SIR WILLIAM DAVENANT, a celebrated English poet, was born at Oxford, in 1606, and died April 7, 1668. He wrote numerous poems and plays, and succeeded Ben Jonson as poet laureate of England. Besides his poetical works, he wrote an epic, “Gondibert,” and an opera, “The Siege of Rhodes.”

’Tis expectation makes a blessing dear;

Heaven were not heaven if we knew what it were.

“Against Fruition,”—Sir J. Suckling.

SIR JOHN SUCKLING, a noted English poet, was born at Whitton, Middlesex, in 1608, and died in Paris, about 1642. He is noted for his love poems. A complete edition of his works appeared in 1874.

When Greeks joined Greeks, then was the tug of war!

—Nathaniel Lee.

NATHANIEL LEE, a celebrated English dramatist, was born in 1653 (?), and died in 1692. Among his plays are: “Nero, Emperor of Rome,” “Theodosius,” “The Rival Queens, or the Death of Alexander the Great,” etc.

He that imposes an oath makes it,

Not he that for convenience takes it;

Then, how can any man be said

To break an oath he never made!

“Hudibras,” Part II, Canto II, Line 377,—Samuel Butler.

SAMUEL BUTLER, a famous English satirist, was born in Strensham, Worcestershire, 1612, and died in London, September 25, 1680. His most important works are: “Ode to Duval,” “Characters,” “The Elephant in the Moon,” and “Hudibras,” which won for him world-wide fame.

Whoe’er she be,

That not impossible she,

That shall command my heart and me.

“Wishes to his Supposed Mistress,”—Richard Crashaw.

RICHARD CRASHAW, a noted English poet, was born in London, about 1613, and died in 1650. His poems were collected by an anonymous friend and published under the titles of “Steps to the Temple,” “Sacred Poems,” and “The Delights of the Muses.”

I could not love thee, dear, so much,

Lov’d I not honour more.

“To Lucasta, on going to the Wars,”—Richard Lovelace.

RICHARD LOVELACE, a famous English poet and dramatist, was born in Woolwich, Kent, in 1618, and died in 1658. He wrote: “The Scholar,” a comedy, “The Soldier,” a tragedy, and “Lucasta,” a volume of poems.

A mighty pain to love it is,

And ’tis a pain that pain to miss;

But of all pains, the greatest pain

It is to love, but love in vain.

—Abraham Cowley.

ABRAHAM COWLEY, a noted English poet and essayist, was born in London, 1618, and died at Chertsey, Surrey, July 28, 1667. He wrote: “The Mistress,” “Poems,” and numerous Virgilian elegies, essays, and love-songs.

Dear, beauteous death, the jewel of the just!

Shining nowhere but in the dark;

What mysteries do lie beyond thy dust,

Could man outlook that mark!

“They Are All Gone,”—Henry Vaughan.

HENRY VAUGHAN, a celebrated British poet, known as “The Silurist,” was born in Newton, Brecknockshire, Wales, in 1621, and died in April, 1695. His works are: “Olor Iscanus: Select Poems,” “The Bleeding Heart,” “Ejaculations,” “The Mount of Olives; or Solitary Devotions,” and “Thalia Rediviva.”

God helps those who help themselves.

“Discourses on Government,” Ch. II, Pt. xxiii,—Algernon Sidney.

ALGERNON SIDNEY, a noted English republican patriot, was born at Penshurst, Kent, in 1622 (?), and died in London, December 7, 1683. His “Discourses on Government” appeared in 1698.

Fortune is always on the side of the largest battalions.

“Letters,” 202,—Mme. de Sévigné.

MARIE DE RABUTIN-CHANTAL, MARQUISE DE SÉVIGNÉ, a celebrated French letter-writer, was born at Paris, in 1626, and died at the Castle of Grignan, in Dauphiné, April 18, 1696. The best edition of her “Letters” appeared in 1818-19.

Let free, impartial men from Dryden learn

Mysterious secrets, of a high concern,

And weighty truths, solid convincing sense,

Explain’d by unaffected eloquence.

“On Mr. Dryden’s Religio Laici,”—Earl of Roscommon.

WENTWORTH DILLON, EARL OF ROSCOMMON, a noted Irish poet, was born in 1630, and died January 21, 1685. His reputation as a didactic writer and critic rests on his blank verse translation of Horace’s “Ars Poetica,” and “Essays on Translated Verse.”

Great families of yesterday we show,

And lords, whose parents were the Lord knows who.

“The True-Born Englishman,” Part I, Line I,—Daniel Defoe.

DANIEL DEFOE, the famous author of “Robinson Crusoe,” was born in St. Giles Parish, Cripplegate, in 1660 or 1661, and died near London, in 1731. Among his works are: “The Storm,” “Apparition of Mrs. Veal,” “Robinson Crusoe,” “Further Adventures of Robinson Crusoe,” “King of Pirates,” “Duncan Campbell,” “Mr. Campbell’s Pacquet,” “Memoirs of a Cavalier,” “Captain Singleton,” “Moll Flanders,” “The Highland Rogue,” “Colonel Jacque,” “Cartouche,” “John Sheppard,” “Account of Jonathan Wild,” etc.

To die is landing on some silent shore

Where billows never break, nor tempests roar;

Ere well we feel the friendly stroke, ’tis o’er.

“The Dispensary,” Canto iii, Line 225,—Samuel Garth.

SIR SAMUEL GARTH, a renowned English physician and poet, was born in Yorkshire (?), in 1661 (or at Bolam, Durham, 1660), and died in London (?), January 18, 1719. His famous poem “The Dispensary,” won for him great fame. He also translated “Ovid,” and wrote numerous epigrams.

Though her mien carries much more invitation than command, to behold her is an immediate check to loose behaviour; to love her was a liberal education.

Tatler, No. 49,—Richard Steele.

SIR RICHARD STEELE, a celebrated British author and dramatist, was born in Dublin, in 1672, and died at Llangunnor, Wales, September 1, 1729. He wrote: “The Tender Husband,” “The Christian Hero,” “The Lying Lover,” etc. However, his fame rests chiefly upon his connection with the Tatler and the Spectator.

Remote from man, with God he passed the days;

Prayer all his business, all his pleasure praise.

“The Hermit,” Line 5,—Thomas Parnell.

THOMAS PARNELL, a noted Irish poet, was born in Dublin, in 1679, and died in 1718. His best known poem is “The Hermit”; his other noted poetical works include: “The Hymn to Contentment,” “The Night Piece on Death,” and “The Fairy Tale.”

Procrastination is the thief of time.

“Night Thoughts,” Night I, Line 393,—Edward Young.

EDWARD YOUNG, an illustrious English poet, was born at Upham, Hampshire, in 1684, and died at Welwyn, April 12, 1765. Among his works are: “The Revenge,” “Busiris,” “The Love of Fame,” and his masterpiece, “Night Thoughts.”

Friendship is the balm as well as the seasoning of life.

—Richardson.

SAMUEL RICHARDSON, a renowned English novelist was born in Derbyshire, in 1689, and died July 4, 1761. All of his books are in the form of letters. His best known works are: “Clarissa Harlowe,” “Pamela,” a continuation of it in 1741, followed by “Sir Charles Grandison.” His “Correspondence” was published in 1804 by Anna Lætitia Barbauld.

If the heart of a man is depress’d with cares,

The mist is dispell’d when a woman appears.

“The Beggar’s Opera,” Act II, Sc. I,—John Gay.

JOHN GAY, a famous English poet, was born near Barnstable, Devonshire, in 1685, and died at London, December 4, 1732. He wrote: “The Fables,” “The Shepherd’s Week,” “Rural Sports,” “Trivia, or the Art of Walking the Streets of London,” “The Wife of Bath,” etc. Also “The Beggar’s Opera.”

Heed the still, small voice that so seldom leads us wrong, and never into folly.

—Mme. du Deffand.

MARIE ANNE DE VICHY-CHAMROND, MARQUISE DU DEFFAND (MADAME DU DEFFAND), a celebrated French wit and letter-writer, was born in Burgundy, in 1697, and died at Paris, September 24, 1780. Her correspondence with Horace Walpole was published in 1780; with d’Alembert, and other renowned Frenchmen, in 1809; with Voltaire, in 1810, and with the Duchess de Choiseul and others in 1859.

One kind kiss before we part,

Drop a tear and bid adieu;

Though we sever, my fond heart

Till we meet shall pant for you.

“The Parting Kiss,”—Robert Dodsley.

ROBERT DODSLEY, a noted English poet, was born at Mansfield, Notts, in 1703, and died in 1764. He published “The Muse in Livery,” (a volume of verse), and some notable plays, among them: “The Toy Shop,” “The King and the Miller of Mansfield,” and “Sir John Cockle at Court.”

Alas! by some degree of woe

We every bliss must gain;

The heart can ne’er a transport know

That never feels a pain.

“Song,”—Lord George Lyttelton.

LORD GEORGE LYTTLETON, a distinguished English statesman and man of letters, was born at Hagley, Worcestershire, in 1709, and died, August 22, 1773. His best known prose works are: “The Conversion and Apostleship of St. Paul,” and “History of Henry II.”

Of right and wrong he taught

Truths as refined as ever Athens heard;

And (strange to tell!) He practised what he preached.

“The Art of Preserving Health,” Book IV, Line 301,—John Armstrong.

JOHN ARMSTRONG, a celebrated English physician and poet, was born about 1709, and died September 7, 1779. He is best known by his famous poem, “The Art of Preserving Health.”

Whoe’er has travell’d life’s dull round,

Where’er his stages may have been,

May sigh to think he still has found

The warmest welcome at an inn.

“Written on a Window of an Inn,”—William Shenstone.

WILLIAM SHENSTONE, a celebrated English poet, was born at the Leasowes, near Halesowen, Shropshire, in 1714, and died there, February 11, 1763. His best known poems are: “The Pastoral Ballad,” “Written in an Inn at Henley,” and “The Schoolmistress.” His “Essays on Men and Manners,” “Letters,” and “Works” were collected and published after his death.

Born in a cellar, and living in a garret.

“The Author,” Act II,—Samuel Foote.

SAMUEL FOOTE, a noted English wag, impersonator and comic playwright, was baptized January 27, 1720, at Truro in Cornwall, and died at Dover, October 21, 1777. Of his popular plays the most notable are: “The Minor,” “The Liar,” and “The Mayor of Garratt.”

Facts are stubborn things.

Translation of “Gil Bias,”—Smollett.

TOBIAS GEORGE SMOLLETT, a renowned British novelist, was born at Dalquhurn, Dumbartonshire, Scotland, in 1721, and died at Monte Novo, near Leghorn, Italy, October 21, 1771. A few of his numerous works are: “The Regicide,” “The Adventures of Roderick Random,” “Advice,” “The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle,” “The Reprisals,” “The Adventures of Ferdinand, Count Fathom,” “The Expedition of Humphry Clinker,” “Travels,” “Reproof,” and “Compendium of Voyages and Travels.”

There’s nae sorrow there, John,

There’s neither cauld nor care, John

The day is aye fair,

In the land o’ the leal.

“The Land o’ the Leal,”—Lady Nairne.

LADY NAIRNE (CAROLINA OLIPHANT), a famous Scotch poet, was born at Gask, Perthshire, in 1766, and died there, 1845. She wrote: “The Land o’ the Leal,” “Caller Herrin’,” and “The Laird o’ Cockpen.”

Too late I stayed,—forgive the crime!

Unheeded flew the hours;

How noiseless falls the foot of time

That only treads on flowers.

“Lines to Lady A. Hamilton,”—William Robert Spencer.

WILLIAM ROBERT SPENCER, a noted English poet and wit, was born in 1770, and died in 1834. Among his best known pieces, which were published in a collection of his poems in 1811, were “Beth Gelert,” and “Too Late I Stayed.”

Abide with me from morn till eve,

For without Thee I cannot live;

Abide with me when night is nigh,

For without Thee I dare not die.

“Evening,”—John Keble.

JOHN KEBLE, a celebrated English religious poet, was born at Fairford, Gloucestershire, in 1792, and died at Bournemouth, Hampshire, in 1866. His fame rests on the renowned work, “The Christian Year,” which he published anonymously in 1872.

Reproof on her lip, but a smile in her eye.

“Rory O’More,”—Samuel Lover.

SAMUEL LOVER, a famous Irish novelist and song-writer, was born at Dublin, in 1797, and died July 6, 1868. He wrote: “Legends and Stories of Ireland,” “Songs and Ballads,” including, “The Low-Backed Car,” “Widow Machree,” “The Angel’s Whisper,” and “The Four-Leaved Shamrock.” Also: “Handy Andy, an Irish Tale,” “Treasure Trove,” “Rory O’More, a National Romance,” “Metrical Tales and Other Poems,” and edited a collection of “The Lyrics of Ireland.”

On this I ponder

Where’er I wander,

And thus grow fonder,

Sweet Cork of thee,—

With thy bells of Shandon,

That sound so grand on

The pleasant waters

Of the River Lee.

“The Bells of Shandon,”—Father Prout (Francis O’Mahony).

FRANCIS O’MAHONY (“FATHER PROUT”), a noted Irish journalist and poet, was born in Cork, about 1804, and died in Paris, in 1866. He published “Reliques of Father Prout,” “Facts and Figures from Italy,” etc.

I’m very lonely now, Mary

For the poor make no new friends;

But oh, they love the better still

The few our Father sends.

“Lament of the Irish Emigrant,”—Lady Dufferin.

HELENA SELINA (SHERIDAN) LADY DUFFERIN, a noted English poet, was born in 1807, and died June 13, 1867. Her songs and lyrics were collected into a volume, and edited by her son.

For death and life, in ceaseless strife,

Beat wild on this world’s shore,

And all our calm is in that balm

Not lost but gone before.

“Not Lost but Gone Before,”—Caroline Elizabeth Sarah Norton.

CAROLINE ELIZABETH SARAH NORTON (HON. MRS. NORTON), a distinguished English author, was born in London, in 1808, and died in 1877. She wrote a pamphlet on “English Laws for Women in the Nineteenth Century,” “The Dream and Other Poems,” “A Voice from the Factories,” “Aunt Carry’s Ballads,” “Lives of the Sheridans,” etc.

FOOTNOTES:

[1] Jupiter laughs at the perjuries of lovers.

[2] Let everyone engage in the business with which he is best acquainted.

[3] The wounds of civil war are deeply felt.

[4] Man is not allowed to know what will happen to-morrow.

[5] What law can bind lovers? Love is their supreme law.

[6] Of two evils, the least should be chosen.

INDEX

INDEX

A

Abélard, 299

Adams, Charles Francis, 187

Adams, John, 228

Adams, John Quincy, 159

Adams, Sarah Flower, 44

Addison, Joseph, 107

Æschines, 291

Æschylus, 287

Æsop, 285

Agassiz, J. L. R., 125

Aguilar, Grace, 131

Akenside, Mark, 243

Alcott, Amos B., 257

Alden, Henry Mills, 247

Aldrich, Anne R., 99

Aldrich, James, 161

Aldrich, Thomas B., 247

Alembert, J. B. L. d’, 251

Alfieri, Vittorio, 14

Allen, Charles Grant, 46

Allen, Elizabeth Ackers, 223

Allingham, William, 66

Allston, Washington, 241

Ames, Fisher, 87

Amiel, Henri F., 214

Anacreon, 286

Andersen, Hans Christian, 80

Aquinas, Thomas, 301

Arago, Dominique François, 47

Arbuthnot, John, 102

Ariosto, Ludovico, 201

Aristotle, 290

Armstrong, John, 319

Aristophanes, 289

Arnold, Sir Edwin, 136

Arnold, Matthew, 277

Ascham, Roger, 304

Auerbach, Berthold, 50

Aurelius, Marcus, 93

Austen, Jane, 271

Austin, Alfred, 127

Ayton, Sir Robert, 309

Aytoun, William E., 142

B

Bacon, Francis, 19

Bagehot, Walter, 30

Baillie, Joanna, 203

Bailey, Philip J., 97

Balfour, Arthur James, 168

Ballantine, James, 137

Balzac, Honoré de, 116

Bangs, John Kendrick, 124

Bancroft, George, 220

Barbauld, Anna Lætitia, 142

Barham, Richard, 265

Baring-Gould, Sabine, 23

Barlowe, Joel, 69

Barnfield, Richard, 310

Barrie, James Matthew, 112

Barnes, William, 43

Barrow, Isaac, 140

Barton, Bernard, 25

Baxter, Richard, 248

Bayly, Thomas Haynes, 225

Beattie, James, 232

Beaumarchais, P. A. C. de, 20

Beaumont, Francis, 311

Beddoes, Thomas L., 165

Beecher, Henry Ward, 146

Beers, Ethel L., 11

Beethoven, Ludwig von, 87

Belloc, Hilaire, 169

Benjamin, Park, 183

Bennett, Arnold, 124

Bentham, Jeremy, 38

Bentley, Richard, 21

Benton, Thomas Hart, 63

Béranger, Pierre Jean de, 188

Berkeley, George, 62

Bernard of Clairvaux, 300

Bernard of Cluny, 300

Besant, Walter, 184

Beyle, Marie Henri, 20

Bierce, Ambrose, 134

Birrell, Augustine, 17

Bismarck, Otto E. L. von, 79

Black, William, 242

Blackie, John Stuart, 171

Blackmore, Sir Richard, 135

Blackstone, Sir William, 158

Blair, Robert, 93

Blake, William, 257

Blanc, Charles, 250

Blanchard, Samuel L., 116

Blossington, Countess of, 199

Blind, Mathilde, 68

Bloomfield, Robert, 263

Boker, George Henry, 222

Boëthius, 299

Boileau-Despréaux, 239

Bolingbroke, Viscount, 219

Boner, John Henry, 25

Borrow, George, 155

Bossuet, Jacques B., 213

Boswell, James, 235

Bourdillon, Francis W., 69

Bowring, Sir John, 227

Boyesen, H. H., 212

Brandes, George, 31

Bridges, Robert, 231

Bright, John, 251

Brillat-Savarin, 79

Brontë, Charlotte, 95

Brooks, Phillips, 270

Brougham, Lord, 209

Browne, Charles Farrar, 100

Browne, Sir Thomas, 228

Brownell, Henry Howard, 32

Browning, Elizabeth Barrett, 58

Browning, Robert, 111

Brunetière, Ferdinand, 164

Bryant, William Cullen, 240

Bryce, James, 113

Buchanan, Robert W., 188

Buckle, Henry Thomas, 255

Buffon, Comte de, 201

Bulwer-Lytton, Edward, 122

Bungay, George W., 166

Bunner, Henry C., 176

Bunyan, John, 252

Bürger, August G., 280

Burke, Edmund, 10

Burleigh, William Henry, 29

Burney, Frances, 138

Burns, Robert, 20

Burroughs, John, 82

Burton, Robert, 33

Bushnell, Horace, 90

Butler, Samuel, 314

Byrom, John, 51

Byron, Lord, 19

C

Cable, George W., 224

Cæsar, Julius, 292

Caine, Hall, 116

Calderon, Pedro, 14

Calhoun, John C., 66

Callimachus, 291

Calvin, John, 158

Calverley, Charles Stuart, 275

Campbell, John, Duke of Argyle, 103

Campbell, Thomas, 169

Camoëns, 305

Canning, George, 89

Carew, Thomas, 307

Carlyle, Thomas, 264

Carman, Bliss, 91

Carroll, Lewis, 22

Cary, Phoebe, 205

Cato, the Censor, 291

Catullus, 293

Cawein, Madison J., 69

Cellini, Benvenuto, 239

Cervantes, 306

Chalmers, Thomas, 65

Chamisso, Adelbert von, 25

Channing, William E., 86

Chapman, George, 307

Chateaubriand, Viscomte de, 200

Chatterton, Thomas, 252

Chaucer, Geoffrey, 302

Chénier, André Marie de, 235

Cherbuliez, Victor, 164

Chesterfield, Earl of, 211

Chesterton, Gilbert, 126

Child, Lydia, M., 36

Choate, Rufus, 219

Chorley, Henry F., 271

Churchill, Charles, 32

Chrysostom, St. John, 299

Cibber, Colley, 242

Cicero, 292

Clare, John, 160

Clarendon, Edward Hyde, 42

Clarke, McDonald, 141

Clay, Henry, 89

Cleveland, Grover, 66

Cobbett, William, 60

Clough, Arthur Hugh, 3

Coleridge, Hartley, 209

Coleridge, Samuel Taylor, 230

Colman, George, Jr., 230

Colman, George, Sr., 101

Collins, Mortimer, 149

Collins, William, 278

Collins, William Wilkie, 7

Comenius, 72

Comines, Philippe de, 303

Comte, Auguste, 16

Confucius, 287

Congreve, William, 83

Conrad, Joseph, 265

Cooke, Rose Terry, 40

Cooper, James Fenimore, 205

Copernicus, 42

Corneille, Pierre, 133

Cousin, Victor, 257

Cowley, Abraham, 315

Cowper, William, 256

Crabbe, George, 276

Craik, Dinah M., 94

Cranch, Christopher P., 60

Crashaw, Richard, 314

Crawford, Francis Marion, 175

Creasy, Sir Edward S., 18

Crébillon, Prosper de, 11

Crockett, David, 186

Crockett, Samuel R., 212

Cunningham, Allan, 266

Curtis, George William, 46

Curtius, Ernst, 199

D

Dana, Richard Henry, 250

Dante, 301

Darley, George, 156

Darmesteter, Agnes M. F. R., 50

Darmesteter, James, 73

Darwin, Charles Robert, 37

Daudet, Alphonse, 115

Davenant, Sir William, 313

Davies, Sir John, 56

Davies, W. H., 94

Davis, Thomas Osborne, 226

Davy, Sir Humphry, 272

Deffand, Madame du, 318

Defoe, Daniel, 316

Dekker, Thomas, 309

Deland, Margaret, 45

De Ligne, 113

Demosthenes, 290

Denham, Sir John, 312

DeQuincey, Thomas, 186

Descartes, René, 75

De Vere, Sir Aubrey, 194

DeVere, Aubrey Thomas, 8

Dewey, Orville, 73

Dibdin, Charles, 64

Dickens, Charles, 33

Diderot, Denis, 221

Dillon, Wentworth, Earl of Roscommon, 316

Diogenes, Laertius, 298

Disraeli, Benjamin, 274

Disraeli, Isaac, 117

Dobell, Sydney, 83

Dobson, Austin, 16

Doddridge, Philip, 147

Dodge, Mary Mapes, 274

Dodsley, Robert, 318

Domett, Alfred, 118

Donne, John, 310

Dorr, Julia C. R., 38

Doudney, Sarah, 13

Dowden, Edward, 109

Doyle, A. Conan, 120

Drake, Joseph Rodman, 178

Draper, John W., 110

Drayton, Michael, 308

Drummond, Henry, 187

Dryden, John, 180

Dufferin, Lady, 322

Dumas, Alexandre, the Elder, 167

Dumas, Alexandre, the Younger, 169

Du Maurier, George, 59

Dunlop, John, 70

Dwight, John S., 115

Dwight, Timothy, 115

Dyer, Edward, 313

E

Ebers, George, 55

Edgeworth, Maria, 3

Edwards, Amelia B., 134

Edwards, Jonathan, 221

Egan, Maurice Francis, 122

Eggleston, Edward, 268

Eichendorff, Joseph von, 61

Eliot, George, 254

Emerson, Ralph Waldo, 123

English, Thomas D., 148

Epictetus, 296

Erasmus, 303

Euripides, 288

Evelyn, John, 235

Everett, David, 73

Everett, Edward, 89

F

Faber, Frederick W., 148

Falconer, William, 36

Farrar, Frederick W., 178

Fawcett, Henry, 192

Fénélon, 177

Feuillet, Octave, 181

Fichte, Johann G., 118

Field, Eugene, 200

Fielding, Henry, 96

Fields, James T., 281

Finch, Francis M., 136

Fiske, John, 74

Fitzgerald, Edward, 75

Flaubert, Gustave, 269

Fletcher, John, 273

Foote, Samuel, 319

Ford, John, 311

Forster, John, 80

Foster, John, 207

Fouché, Joseph, 119

France, Anatole, 92

Francis, Sir Philip, 231

Franklin, Benjamin, 13

Freneau, Philip, 4

Frere, J. H., 119

Froebel, Friedrich, 94

Froude, James A., 97

Fuller, Margaret, 121

Fuller, Thomas, 141

G

Galsworthy, John, 184

Garland, Hamlin, 206

Garnett, Richard, 49

Garth, Samuel, 316

Gaskell, Mrs. Elizabeth C., 215

Gautier, Théophile, 196

Gay, John, 318

Gibbon, Edward, 100

Gilbert, William S., 252

Gilder, Richard Watson, 34

Gilfillan, Robert, 156

Giusti, Giuseppi, 114

Gladstone, William E., 279

Goethe, 193

Goldoni, Carlo, 47

Goldsmith, Oliver, 244

Gordon, Adam Lindsay, 234

Gosse, Edmund, 210

Gower, John, 302

Grant, Ulysses Simpson, 101

Grattan, Henry, 154

Gray, Thomas, 278

Greeley, Horace, 30

Greene, Robert, 308

Griffin, Gerald, 269

Grillparzer, Franz, 12

Grimm, Jacob, 5

Griswold, R. W., 39

Grote, George, 251

Guérin, Eugénie de, 9

Guizot, François, 220

H

Haeckel, Ernst, 40

Haggard, Sir Henry Rider, 143

Hale, Edward E., 81

Haliburton, Thomas C., 213

Hallam, Henry, 157

Halleck, Fitz-Greene, 157

Hall, Bishop, 153

Hamilton, Alexander, 9

Hamerton, Philip G., 202

Hardy, Thomas, 132

Hare, A. J. C., 63

Hare, Julius C., 204

Harris, Joel, Chandler, 266

Harrison, Frederic, 227

Harte, Francis Bret, 191

Havergal, Frances R., 271

Hawkins, Anthony Hope, 35

Hawthorne, Nathaniel, 155

Hay, John, 223

Hayne, Paul Hamilton, 4

Hazlitt, William, 87

Hearn, Lafcadio, 147

Heber, Reginald, 95

Hegel, Georg W. F., 192

Heine, Heinrich, 269

Helps, Sir Arthur, 159

Hemans, Felicia, 213

Henley, William E., 190

Henry, Patrick, 125

Heraclitus, 287

Herbert, George, 80

Herder, Johann G. von, 191

Herodotus, 288

Herrick, Robert, 189

Hesiod, 285

Heyse, Paul Ludwig, 64

Heywood, Thomas, 311

Higginson, Thomas Wentworth, 275

Hildreth, Richard, 143

Hippocrates, 288

Hobbes, Thomas, 83

Hogg, James, 263

Holland, Josiah Gilbert, 167

Holmes, Oliver Wendell, 195

Home, John, 209

Homer, 285

Hood, Thomas, 121

Hook, Theodore, E., 211

Hooker, Richard, 307

Hopkins, Mark, 31

Hopkinson, Joseph, 248

Horace, 293

Horne, Richard Henry, 3

Housman, Alfred E., 71

Howe, Julia Ward, 123

Howell, James, 312

Howells, William Dean, 55

Hughes, Thomas, 229

Hugo, Victor, 47

Humboldt, Alexander von, 204

Hume, David, 100

Hunt, Leigh, 229

Hutcheson, Francis, 179

Huxley, Thomas Henry, 110

I

Ibsen, Henrik, 67

Ingelow, Jean, 65

Ingersoll, Robert G., 181

Irving, Washington, 81

J

Jackson, Helen Fiske, 228

James, Henry, 91

Jami, 303

Jefferson, Thomas, 80

Jerome, J. K., 108

Jerrold, Douglas, 5

Johnson, Samuel, 207

Jonson, Ben, 310

Joubert, Joseph, 111

Juvenal, 296

K

Kant, Emmanuel, 96

Keats, John, 236

Keble, John, 321

Kemble, Frances A., 256

Kempis, Thomas à, 302

Kepler, Johannes, 279

Key, Francis Scott, 179

Khayyám, Omar, 299

Kingsley, Charles, 139

Kipling, Rudyard, 280

Klopstock, Friedrich G., 153

Knowles, James S., 120

Kotzebue, A. F., 109

L

Laboulaye, E. R. L., 15

LaBruyère, Jean de, 196

La Fayette, Madame de, 65

La Fontaine, Jean de, 157

Lamb, Charles, 35

Lamartine, 230

Landor, Walter S., 24

Lang, Andrew, 76

Lanier, Sidney, 31

Laplace, Marquis de, 72

Larcom, Lucy, 144

Layard, Sir Austen Henry, 57

Lecky, William E. H., 70

Lee, Nathaniel, 314

Le Gallienne, Richard, 18

Leibnitz, G. W. von, 155

Lemaître, François, 193

Lemon, Mark, 259

Le Sage, 112

Lessing, Gotthold E. von, 19

Lever, Charles, 196

Lewes, George Henry, 93

Lincoln, Abraham, 36

Livy, 293

Locke, John, 194

Locker-Lampson, Frederick, 126

Lockhart, John G., 161

Longfellow, Henry W., 48

Lovelace, Richard, 314

Lover, Samuel, 321

Lowell, James Russell, 43

Lubbock, Sir John, 102

Lucan, 295

Lucian, 297

Lucretius, 293

Luther, Martin, 244

Lyly, John, 307

Lyte, Henry Francis, 131

Lyttleton, Lord George, 319

Lytton, Earl of, 243

Lytle, William Haines, 239

M

Mabie, Hamilton Wright, 270

Macaulay, Lord, 233

Macdonald, George, 245

Machiavelli, Niccolo, 108

Mackay, Charles, 71

Mackenzie, Henry, 180

Mackintosh, Sir James, 232

Macleod, Norman, 132

Macpherson, James, 233

Madison, James, 64

Maeterlinck, Maurice, 195

Maginn, William, 246

Mahaffy, John P., 48

Malory, Sir Thomas, 302

Mann, Horace, 110

Manning, Henry Edward, 162

Marguerite d’Angoulême, 304

Markham, Edwin, 98

Marlowe, Christopher, 308

Marryat, Frederick, 158

Martial, 298

Martineau, Harriet, 138

Marvell, Andrew, 75

Massey, Gerald, 126

Massillon, Jean Baptiste, 145

Massinger, Philip, 311

Masson, David, 263

Matthews, Brander, 41

Maupassant, Guy de, 177

Maurice, Frederick D., 194

Mazzini, Joseph, 148

Meredith, George, 37

Mérimée, Prosper, 215

Merivale, Charles, 59

McCarthy, Justin, 254

McMaster, John B., 149

Michelangelo, 58

Michelet, Jules, 189

Mickiewicz, Adam, 277

Mickle, William J., 214

Middleton, Thomas, 309

Mill, John Stuart, 118

Miller, Cincinnatus H., 245

Miller, Hugh, 224

Miller, William, 186

Milman, Henry Hart, 36

Milton, John, 267

Mitchell, Donald G., 89

Mitchell, S. Weir, 39

Molière, 12

Montagu, Lady, 123

Montaigne, 50

Montesquieu, 14

Montgomery, James, 240

Moody, William V., 157

Moore, Clement Clarke, 161

Moore, Edward, 68

Moore, Thomas, 125

More, Hannah, 29

More, Sir Thomas, 33

Morley, John, 277

Morris, George Pope, 224

Morris, Sir Lewis, 145

Morris, William, 70

Motherwell, William, 225

Motley, John Lothrop, 90

Moulton, Louise C., 88

Muhlenberg, William A., 206

Müller, Friedrich Max, 265

Musset, Alfred de, 247

Myers, Frederick William Henry, 32

N

Nadaud, Gustave, 42

Nairne, Lady, 320

Neale, Walter, 18

Newman, John Henry, 41

Newton, Sir Isaac, 6

Niebuhr, Barthold Georg, 193

Noel, Thomas, 113

Norton, Lady Caroline, 322

Novalis, 108

Noyes, Alfred, 207

O

Oehlenschlager, Adam G., 250

O’Keefe, John B., 145

Oldys, William, 160

Oliphant, Margaret Wilson, 82

O’Mahony, Francis, 321

O’Reilly, John Boyle, 148

Osgood, Mrs. Frances, 141

Otway, Thomas, 57

Ouida, 6

Ovid, 67

P

Paine, Robert T., Jr., 267

Paine, Thomas, 24

Paley, William, 146

Palfrey, John G., 108

Palgrave, Francis T., 215

Palmer, Ray, 248

Pardoe, Julia, 268

Parmenides, 286

Parker, Theodore, 191

Parkman, Francis, 206

Parnell, Thomas, 317

Parton, James, 35

Parsons, Thomas W., 188

Pascal, Blaise, 141

Pater, Walter, 177

Patmore, Coventry K. D., 166

Paulding, James K., 190

Payne, J. Howard, 135

Peele, George, 306

Pellico, Silvio, 145

Penn, William, 225

Pepys, Samuel, 45

Percy, Thomas, 90

Persius, 295

Petöfi, Alexander, 4

Petrarch, 164

Phelps, William Lyon, 5

Phillips, Stephen, 170

Phillips, Wendell, 258

Piatt, Sarah M., 181

Pierpont, John, 85

Pindar, 287

Plato, 289

Plautus, 291

Pliny, the Elder, 295

Pliny, the Younger, 297

Plutarch, 297

Poe, Edgar Allan, 17

Pollok, Robert, 229

Polybius, 291

Pope, Alexander, 119

Porter, Jane, 211

Praed, Winthrop M., 168

Prentice, George D., 273

Prescott, William H., 109

Preston, Harriet W., 12

Preston, Margaret J., 273

Priestley, Joseph, 63

Prime, William Cowper, 236

Prior, Matthew, 165

Procter, Adelaide Anne, 235

Procter, Bryan Waller, 253

Propertius, 294

Q

Quarles, Francis, 312

Quiller-Couch, A. T., 253

Quincy, Josiah, 20

Quintilian, 295

R

Rabelais, François, 304

Racine, 274

Raleigh, Sir Walter, 306

Ramsay, Allan, 226

Randall, James Rider, 15

Randolph, Thomas, 140

Read, Thomas, B., 62

Reade, Charles, 134

Renan, Joseph Ernest, 49

Reynolds, Sir Joshua, 162

Rhodes, James Ford, 107

Rhodes, William B., 278

Richardson, Samuel, 317

Richter, Jean Paul, 67

Riley, James Whitcomb, 222

Ritchie, Lady Anne, 136

Roberts, Charles G. D., 9

Robertson, Frederick W., 30

Rochefoucauld, François Duc de la, 205

Roche, James J., 128

Roe, E. P., 59

Rogers, Samuel, 170

Roland, Madame, 65

Rollin, Charles, 24

Roosevelt, Theodore, 234

Rossetti, Christina G., 264

Rossetti, Dante Gabriel, 114

Rostand, Edmond, 79

Rousseau, Jean Jacques, 147

Rowe, Nicholas, 149

Ruffini, Giovanni, 201

Ruskin, John, 34

Rufus, Quintus, 295

Russell, Lord John, 187

Russell, William Clark, 46

S

Sachs, Hans, 241

Sadi, 300

Saint Ambrose, 298

Saint Augustine, 249

Sainte-Beuve, 275

Saint Bonaventura, 301

Saint Francis D’Assisi, 300

Saint Frances De Sales, 309

Saintine, J. X. B., 159

Saint-Pierre, Bernardin de, 16

Saint-Simon, 13

Saintsbury, George, 232

Sallust, 294

Sand, George, 153

Sangster, Margaret E., 44

Sappho, 286

Sargent, Epes, 214

Saxe, John G., 131

Scarron, Paul, 133

Scheffel, Joseph V. von, 39

Schelling, Friedrich, W. J. von, 21

Schérer, Edmond, 86

Schiller, 245

Schlegel, Friedrich von, 61

Schopenhauer, Arthur, 43

Schurz, Carl, 56

Scollard, Clinton, 208

Scott, Sir Walter, 185

Scribe, Augustin Eugène, 276

Sears, Edmund H., 85

Sedley, Sir Charles, 209

Seegar, Alan, 144

Sénancour, de, 57

Seneca, 294

Sévigné, Marquise de, 315

Sewall, Samuel, 72

Sewell, Harriet W., 150

Shaftesbury, Earl of, 166

Shakespeare, William, 97

Sharp, William, 204

Shaw, George Bernard, 168

Shelley, Percy B., 176

Shenstone, William, 319

Sheridan, Richard B., 216

Sherman, William T., 34

Sidney, Algernon, 315

Sidney, Sir Philip, 258

Sigourney, Lydia H., 199

Sill, Edward R., 102

Simms, William Gilmore, 92

Simonides of Ceos, 286

Sismondi, 112

Smart, Christopher, 88

Smiles, Samuel, 276

Smith, Adam, 133

Smith, Alexander, 281

Smith, Goldwin, 183

Smith, Samuel F., 231

Smith, Sydney, 132

Smollett, Tobias George, 320

Snider, Denton J., 8

Socrates, 289

Solon, 285

Sophocles, 288

South, Robert, 200

Southey, Robert, 182

Spencer, Herbert, 101

Spencer, William Robert, 320

Spenser, Edmund, 306

Spinoza, Benedict, 255

Spofford, Harriet Prescott, 82

Sprague, Charles, 233

Staël, Madame de, 96

Statius, 296

Stedman, Edmund Clarence, 223

Steele, Sir Richard, 317

Sterne, Laurence, 255

Stevenson, Robert Louis, 249

Still, Bishop John, 305

Stockton, Frank R., 84

Stoddard, Elizabeth B., 111

Stoddard, Richard Henry, 154

Stowe, Harriet Beecher, 139

Stubbs, William, 143

Sue, Eugene, 267

Suetonius, 298

Suckling, Sir John, 313

Sudermann, Herman, 216

Sully-Prudhomme, 117

Sumner, Charles, 6

Swedenborg, Emanuel, 23

Swift, Jonathan, 258

Swinburne, Algernon C., 84

Symonds, John Addington, 222

Symons, Arthur, 51

T

Tacitus, 296

Taine, Adolphe H., 95

Talfourd, Sir Thomas Noon, 21

Talleyrand, 37

Tasso, Torquato, 61

Taylor, Bayard, 10

Taylor, Jeremy, 185

Tegnér, Esaias, 249

Tennyson, Alfred, 178

Terence, 292

Thackeray, William Makepeace, 163

Thaxter, Mrs. Celia, 142

Theocritus, 290

Theognis, 286

Thiers, Louis, Adolphe, 92

Thomas, Edith M., 182

Thomson, James, 203

Thoreau, Henry D., 160

Tibullus, Albius, 294

Tieck, Johann Ludwig, 127

Tillotson, John, 226

Tilton, Theodore, 219

Timrod, Henry, 266

Tocqueville, Alexis de, 170

Tolstoi, Count Lyof, 202

Toplady, A. M., 240

Tooke, John H., 146

Trench, Richard C., 202

Trollope, Anthony, 98

Trowbridge, John T., 208

Trumbull, John, 98

Tucker, Josiah, 160

Tupper, Martin, 163

Turgenev, Ivan, 244

Tusser, Thomas, 305

Twain, Mark, 259

Tyndall, John, 189

U

Uhland, Johann L., 99

V

Van Dyke, Henry, 246

Vaughan, Henry, 315

Vega, Lope de, 256

Verlaine, Paul, 74

Vigny, Alfred de, 71

Villari, Pasquale, 220

Villon, François, 303

Virgil, 293

Voltaire, 253

W

Wallace, Alfred Russel, 7

Wallace, Lewis, 87

Waller, Edmund, 56

Walpole, Horace, 221

Walton, Izaak, 180

Ward, Elizabeth Stuart Phelps, 183

Ward, Mrs. Humphry, 137

Warner, Charles Dudley, 203

Warton, Thomas, 175

Washington, George, 43

Watson, William, 175

Watts, Isaac, 163

Wayland, Francis, 62

Webster, Daniel, 15

Webster, John, 312

Webster, Noah, 227

Weisse, C. F., 22

Wells, H. G., 210

Wesley, Charles, 272

Wesley, John, 140

Whately, Richard, 29

Whewell, William, 122

Whipple, Edwin Percy, 60

White, Andrew D., 242

White, Henry Kirke, 68

White, Richard G., 120

Whitman, Walt, 127

Whittier, John Greenleaf, 272

Wieland, Christopher, 201

Wilcox, Ella Wheeler, 241

Wilde, Oscar, 226

Willard, Emma, 45

Williams, Theodore C., 154

Willis, Nathaniel P., 17

Wilson, Alexander, 156

Wilson, John, 117

Wilson, Woodrow, 279

Winter, William, 162

Winthrop, John, 10

Wirt, William, 243

Wither, George, 137

Wolfe, Charles, 270

Woodworth, Samuel, 11

Woolson, Constance F., 58

Woodberry, George E., 114

Wordsworth, William, 86

Wotton, Sir Henry, 74

Wyatt, Sir Thomas, 304

Wyclif, John, 301

X

Xenophon, 290

Y

Yeats, William Butler, 139

Young, Edward, 317

Z

Zangwill, Israel, 38

Transcriber's Notes: Obvious errors in punctuation have been silently corrected.

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Table of Contents

THROUGH THE YEAR WITH FAMOUS AUTHORS BY MABEL PATTERSON

JANUARY

FOOTNOTES:

FEBRUARY

FOOTNOTES:

MARCH

FOOTNOTES:

APRIL

FOOTNOTES:

MAY

FOOTNOTES:

JUNE

FOOTNOTES:

JULY

FOOTNOTES:

AUGUST

FOOTNOTES:

SEPTEMBER

FOOTNOTES:

OCTOBER

FOOTNOTES:

NOVEMBER

FOOTNOTES:

DECEMBER

FOOTNOTES:

APPENDIX

FOOTNOTES:

INDEX

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