Through the Year with Famous Authors
by Mabel Patterson · English · Gutenberg #40412 · 510,282 chars · public domain (US)
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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
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*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THROUGH THE YEAR WITH FAMOUS AUTHORS ***
Transcriber's Notes: Obvious errors in punctuation have been silently
corrected.
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
Coelestium 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 a
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