Chapter XXXII: Act IV: Scene I (6)

POR. It is not so express'd; but what of that?
'Twere good you do so much for charity.

SHY. I cannot find it; 'tis not in the bond.

POR. Come, merchant, have you anything to say?

ANT. But little; I am arm'd, and well prepar'd,-- Give you your hand, Bassanio; fare you well! Grieve not that I am fallen to this for you; For herein fortune shows herself more kind Than is her custom: it is still her use, To let the wretched man outlive his wealth, To view with hollow eye, and wrinkled brow, An age of poverty; from which lingering penance Of such a misery doth she cut me off. Commend me to your honourable wife; Tell her the process of Antonio's end, Say, how I lov'd you, speak me fair in death; And, when the tale is told, bid her be judge Whether Bassanio had not once a love. Repent not you that you shall lose your friend, And he repents not that he pays your debt; For, if the Jew do cut but deep enough, I'll pay it instantly with all my heart.

BASS. Antonio, I am married to a wife, Which is as dear to me as life itself; But life itself, my wife, and all the world, Are not with me esteem'd above thy life; I would lose all, ay, sacrifice them all Here to this devil, to deliver you.

POR. Your wife would give you little thanks for that,
If she were by, to hear you make the offer.

GRATIANO. I have a wife, whom I protest I love; I would she were in heaven, so she could Entreat some power to change this currish Jew.

NER. 'Tis well you offer it behind her back;
The wish would make else an unquiet house.

SHY. These be the Christian husbands: I have a daughter; Would any of the stock of Barrabas Had been her husband, rather than a Christian! [_Aside_. We trifle time: I pray thee pursue sentence.

POR. A pound of that same merchant's flesh is thine; The court awards it, and the law doth give it.

SHY. Most rightful judge.

FOR. And you must cut this flesh from off his breast;
The law allows it, and the court awards it.

SHY. Most learned judge!--A sentence; come, prepare.

POR. Tarry a little;--there is something else.-- This bond doth give thee here no jot of blood; The words expressly are a pound of flesh: Then take thy bond, take thou thy pound of flesh; But, in the cutting it, if thou dost shed One drop of Christian blood, thy lands and goods Are, by the laws of Venice, confiscate Unto the state of Venice.

GRA. O upright judge!--Mark, Jew!--O learned judge!

SHY. Is that the law?

POR. Thyself shall see the act: For as thou urgest justice, be assur'd Thou shalt have justice, more than thou desirest.

GRA. O learned judge!--mark, Jew; a learned judge!

SHY. I take this offer then,--pay the bond thrice,
And let the Christian go.

BASS. Here is the money.

POR. Soft. The Jew shall have all justice;--soft;--no haste;-- He shall have nothing but the penalty.

GRA. O Jew! an upright judge, a learned judge!

POR. Therefore prepare thee to cut off the flesh. Shed thou no blood; nor cut thou less nor more, But just a pound of flesh; if thou tak'st more, Or less, than just a pound,--be it so much As makes it light, or heavy, in the substance, Or the division of the twentieth part Of one poor scruple,--nay, if the scale do turn But in the estimation of a hair,-- Thou diest, and all thy goods are confiscate.

GRA. A second Daniel, a Daniel, Jew!
Now, infidel, I have thee on the hip.

POR. Why doth the Jew pause? take thy forfeiture.

SHY. Give me my principal, and let me go.

BASS. I have it ready for thee; here it is.

POR. He hath refus'd it in the open court;
He shall have merely justice, and his bond.

GRA. A Daniel, still say I; a second Daniel!--
I thank thee, Jew, for teaching me that word.

SHY. Shall I not have barely my principal?

POR. Thou shalt have nothing but the forfeiture,
To be so taken at thy peril, Jew.

SHY. Why then the devil give him good of it!
I'll stay no longer question.

POR. Tarry, Jew; The law hath yet another hold on you. It is enacted in the laws of Venice,-- If it be proved against an alien, That by direct or indirect attempts He seeks the life of any citizen, The party 'gainst the which he doth contrive Shall seize one half his goods: the other half Comes to the privy coffer of the state; And the offender's life lies in the mercy Of the duke only, 'gainst all other voice. In which predicament, I say, thou stand'st: For it appears by manifest proceeding, That, indirectly, and directly too, Thou hast contriv'd against the very life Of the defendant; and thou hast incurr'd The danger formerly by me rehears'd. Down, therefore, and beg mercy of the duke.

GRA. Beg that thou may'st have leave to hang thyself: And yet, thy wealth being forfeit to the state, Thou hast not left the value of a cord; Therefore, thou must be hanged at the state's charge.

DUKE. That thou shalt see the difference of our spirit, I pardon thee thy life before thou ask it For half thy wealth, it is Antonio's; The other half comes to the general state, Which humbleness may drive unto a fine.

POR. Ay, for the state; not for Antonio.

SHY. Nay, take my life and all, pardon not that: You take my house, when you do take the prop That doth sustain my house; you take my life, When you do take the means whereby I live.

POR. What mercy can you render him, Antonio?

GRA. A halter gratis; nothing else, for God's sake.

ANT. So please my lord the duke, and all the court, To quit the fine for one half of his goods; I am content, so he will let me have The other half in use, to render it, Upon his death, unto the gentleman That lately stole his daughter; Two things provided more,--That for this favour, He presently become a Christian; The other, that he do record a gift Here in the court, of all he dies possess'd Unto his son Lorenzo and his daughter.

DUKE. He shall do this; or else I do recant
The pardon that I late pronounced here.

POR. Art thou contented, Jew; what dost thou say?

SHY. I am content.

POR. Clerk, draw a deed of gift.

SHY. I pray you give me leave to go from hence: I am not well; send the deed after me, And I will sign it.

DUKE. Get thee gone, but do it.

GRA. In christening, thou shalt have two godfathers; Had I been judge, thou should'st have had ten more, To bring thee to the gallows, not the font.

[Exit SHYLOCK.

_Shakespeare._

* * * * *

THE FAITHFUL HOUSEWIFE.

I see her in her home content,
The faithful housewife, day by day,
Her duties seem like pleasures sent,
And joy attends her on her way.

She cares not for the loud acclaim
That goes with rank and social strife.
Her wayside home is more than fame;
She is its queen--the faithful wife.

When summer days are soft and fair,
And bird-songs fill the cottage trees,
She reaps a benison as rare,
As her own gentle ministries.

Peace shrines itself upon her face,
And happiness in every look;
Her voice is full of charm and grace,
Like music of the summer brook.

In winter when the days are cold,
And all the landscape dead and bare,
How well she keeps her little fold,
How shines the fire beside her chair!

The children go with pride to school,
The father's toil half turns to play;
So faithful is her frugal rule,
So tenderly she moulds the day.

Let higher stations vaunt their claim,
Let others sing of rank and birth;
The faithful housewife's honest fame
Is linked to the best joy on earth.

* * * * *

SCENE FROM RICHELIEU. Enter JULIE DE MORTEMAR

RICHELIEU. That's my sweet Julie! why, upon this face Blushes such daybreak, one might swear the morning Were come to visit Tithon.

JULIE (_placing herself at his feet_). Are you gracious?
May I say "Father?"

RICH. Now and ever!

JULIE. Father!
A sweet word to an orphan.

RICH. No; not orphan While Richelieu lives; thy father loved me well; My friend, ere I had flatterers (now I'm great, In other phrase, I'm friendless)--he died young In years, not service, and bequeathed thee to me; And thou shalt have a dowry, girl, to buy Thy mate amid the mightiest. Drooping?--sighs?-- Art thou not happy at the court?

JULIE. Not often.

RICH, (_aside_). Can she love Baradas? Ah! at thy heart There's what can smile and sigh, blush and grow pale, All in a breath! Thou art admired--art young; Does not his Majesty commend thy beauty-- Ask thee to sing to him?--and swear such sounds Had smoothed the brow of Saul?

JULIE. He's very tiresome,
Our worthy King.

RICH. Fie! Kings are never tiresome Save to their ministers. What courtly gallants Charm ladies most?--De Sourdioc' Longueville, or The favorite Baradas?

JULIE. A smileless man--
I fear and shun him.

RICH. Yet he courts thee!

JULIE. Then
He is more tiresome than his Majesty.

RICH. Right, girl, shun Baradas. Yet of these flowers Of France, not one, in whose more honeyed breath Thy heart hears Summer whisper?

_Enter_ HUGUET.

HUGUET. The Chevalier De Mauprat waits below.

JULIE. (_starting up_). De Mauprat!

RICH. Hem! He has been tiresome too!--Anon. [_Exit_ HUGUET.

JULIE: What doth he? I mean--I--Does your Eminence--that is-- Know you Messire de Mauprat?

RICH. Well!--and you--
Has he addressed you often?

JULIE. Often? No-- Nine times: nay, ten;--the last time by the lattice Of the great staircase.(_In a melancholy tone_.) The Court sees him rarely.

RICH. A bold and forward royster!

JULIE. _He_? nay, modest,
Gentle and sad, methinks,

RICH. Wears gold and azure?

JULIE. No; sable.

RICH. So you note his colours, Julie? Shame on you, child, look loftier. By the mass, I have business with this modest gentleman.

JULIE. You're angry with poor Julie. There's no
cause.

RICH. No cause--you hate my foes?

JULIE. I do!

RICH. Hate Mauprat?

JULIE. Not Mauprat. No, not Adrien, father.

RICH. Adrien! Familiar!--Go, child; no,--not _that_ way;--wait In the tapestry chamber; I will join you,--go.

JULIE. His brows are knit; I dare not call him
father! But I _must_ speak. Your Eminence--

RICH. (_sternly_). Well, girl!

JULIE. Nay, Smile on me--one smile more; there, now I'm happy. Do not rank Mauprat with your foes; he is not, I know he is not; he loves France too well.

RICH. Not rank De Mauprat with my foes? So be it. I'll blot him from that list.

JULIE. That's my own father. [_Exit_ JULIE.

_Sir Edward Lytton Bulwer._

* * * * *

"DIOS TE GUARDE."

FROM THE SPANISH. God keep thee safe, my dear, From every harm, Close in the shelter of His mighty arm! So, when thou must look out Over earth's noise and rout May thy calm soul be free From all alarm.

Or if He shall ordain, He, the Most Wise, That woe shall come, that tears Shall dim thine eyes, May He still hold thee near, Dispelling doubt and fear, Giving thy prostrate heart Strength to arise.

And when His night comes, love, And thou must go, May He still call to thee, Tenderly, low, Cradled upon His breast Sinking to sweetest rest, God have thee safe, my dear, And keep thee so.

* * * * *

TO HER HUSBAND;

_Written in the prospect of death_, 1640.

How soon, my dear, death may my steps attend, How soon't may be thy lot to lose thy friend, We both are ignorant. Yet love bids me These farewell lines to recommend to thee, That, when that knot's untied that made us one, I may seem thine, who in effect am none. And, if I see not half my days that's due, What Nature would God grant to yours and you. The many faults that well you know I have Let be interred in my oblivious grave; If any worth or virtue is in me; Let that live freshly in my memory. And when thou feel'st no grief, as I no harms, Yet love thy dead, who long lay in thine arms; And, when thy loss shall be repaid with gains, Look to my little babes, my dear remains, And, if thou lov'st thyself or lovest me, These oh, protect from stepdame's injury! And, if chance to thine eyes doth bring this verse, With some sad sighs honour my absent hearse, And kiss this paper, for thy love's dear sake, Who with salt tears this last farewell doth take.

_Anne Bradstreet_

* * * * *

PASSING AWAY

Was it the chime of a tiny bell,
That came so sweet to my dreaming ear,
Like the silvery tones of a fairy's shell,
That he winds on the beach so mellow and clear,
When the winds and the waves lie together asleep,
And the moon and the fairy are watching the deep,
She dispensing her silvery light,
And he his notes as silvery quite,
While the boatman listens and ships his oar,
To catch the music that comes from the shore?--
Hark! the notes on my ear that play,
Are set to words! as they float, they say,
"Passing away! passing away!"

But, no; it was not a fairy's shell,
Blown on the beach so mellow and clear:
Nor was it the tongue of a silver bell
Striking the hours that fell on my ear,
As I lay in my dream: yet was it a chime
That told of the flow of the stream of Time,
For a beautiful clock from the ceiling hung,
And a plump little girl for a pendulum, swung,
(As you've sometimes seen, in a little ring
That hangs in his cage, a canary bird swing)
And she held to her bosom a budding bouquet,
And as she enjoyed it, she seemed to say,
"Passing away! passing away!"

Oh, how bright were the wheels, that told Of the lapse of time as they moved round slow! And the hands as they swept o'er the dial of gold Seemed to point to the girl below. And lo! she had changed;--in a few short hours, Her bouquet had become a garland of flowers, That she held in her outstretched hands, and flung This way and that, as she, dancing, swung In the fullness of grace and womanly pride, That told me she soon was to be a bride; Yet then, when expecting her happiest day, In the same sweet voice I heard her say, "Passing away! passing away!"

While I gazed on that fair one's cheek, a shade
Of thought, or care, stole softly over,
Like that by a cloud in a summer's day made,
Looking down on a field of blossoming clover.
The rose yet lay on her cheek, but its flush
Had something lost of its brilliant blush;
And the light in her eye, and the light on the wheels,
That marched so calmly round above her,
Was a little dimmed--as when evening steals
Upon noon's hot face:--yet one couldn't but love her;
For she looked like a mother whose first babe lay
Rocked on her breast, as she swung all day;
And she seemed in the same silver' tone to say,
"Passing away! passing away!"

While yet I looked, what a change there came! Her eye was quenched, and her cheek was wan; Stooping and staffed was her withered frame, Yet just as busily swung she on: The garland beneath her had fallen to dust; The wheels above her were eaten with rust; The hands, that over the dial swept, Grew crook'd and tarnished, but on they kept; And still there came that silver tone From the shrivelled lips of the toothless crone, (Let me never forget, to my dying day, The tone or the burden of that lay)-- "PASSING AWAY! PASSING AWAY!"

_Pierpont_.

FROM THE FIRST ORATION AGAINST CATILINE.

How far wilt thou, O Catiline, abuse our patience? How long shall thy madness outbrave our justice? To what extremities art thou resolved to push thy unbridled insolence of guilt! Canst thou behold the nocturnal arms that watch the palatium, the guards of the city, the consternation of the citizens; all the wise and worthy clustering into consultation; this impregnable situation of the seat of the senate, and the reproachful looks of the fathers of Rome? Canst thou, I say, behold all this, and yet remain undaunted and unabashed? Art thou sensible that thy measures are detected?

Art thou sensible that this senate, now thoroughly informed, comprehend the full extent of thy guilt? Point me out the senator ignorant of thy practices, during the last and the proceeding night: of the place where you met, the company you summoned, and the crime you concerted. The senate is conscious, the consul is witness to this: yet mean and degenerate--the traitor lives! Lives! did I say? He mixes with the senate; he shares in our counsels; with a steady eye he surveys us; he anticipates his guilt; he enjoys his murderous thoughts, and coolly marks us out for bloodshed. Yet we, boldly passive in our country's cause, think we act like Romans if we can escape his frantic rage.

Long since, O Catiline! ought the consul to have doomed thy life a forfeit to thy country; and to have directed upon thy own head the mischief thou hast long been meditating for ours. Could the noble Scipio, when sovereign pontiff, as a private Roman kill Tiberius Gracchus for a slight encroachment upon the rights of this country; and shall we, her consuls, with persevering patience endure Catiline, whose ambition is to desolate a devoted world with fire and sword?

There was--there was a time, when such was the spirit of Rome, that the resentment of her magnanimous sons more sternly crushed the Roman traitor, than the most inveterate enemy. Strong and weighty, O Catiline! is the decree of the senate we can now produce against you; neither wisdom is wanting in this state, nor authority in this assembly; but we, the consuls, we are defective in our duty.

_Cicero._

* * * * *

THE INEXPERIENCED SPEAKER.

The awkward, untried speaker rises now, And to the audience makes a jerking bow. He staggers--almost falls--stares--strokes his chin-- Clears out his throat, and.. ventures to begin. "Sir, I am.. sensible"--(some titter near him)-- "I am, sir, sensible"--"Hear! hear!" (they cheer him). Now bolder grown--for praise mistaking pother-- He pumps first one arm up, and then the other. "I am, sir, sensible--I am indeed-- That,.. though--I should--want--words--I must proceed And.. for the first time in my life, I think-- I think--that--no great--orator--should--shrink-- And therefore,--Mr. Speaker,--I, for one-- Will.. speak out freely.--Sir, I've not yet done. Sir, in the name of those enlightened men Who sent me here to.. speak for them--why, then.. To do my duty--as I said before-- To my constituency--I'll ... say no more."

* * * * *

SKETCHES OF AUTHORS.

ADDISON, JOSEPH, born May 1st, 1672, at Milston, Wiltshire, son of the Rev. Lancelot Addison, was educated at the Charterhouse and at Magdalen College, Oxford. He was destined for the church, but turned his attention to political life, and became eventually a member of parliament, and in 1717, one of the principal Secretaries of State. He first rose into public notice, through his poem on the battle of Blenheim, written in 1704, and entitled, _The Campaign_. He was chief contributor to _The Spectator_. His tragedy of _Cato_, produced in 1713, achieved a great popularity, which, however, has not been permanent. He died on June 17th, 1719. As an observer of life, of manners, of all shades of human character, he stands in the first class.

ALDRICH, THOMAS BAILEY, an American poet, born at Portsmouth, New Hampshire, 1836. He has been an industrious worker on the newspaper press, and is the author of Baby Bell, a beautiful poem of child-death. He has published his collected poems under the title of _Cloth of Gold_, and of _Flower and Thorn_. He is also a prose writer of considerable note, having an exquisite humour. His published novels are _Prudence Palfrey_, _The Queen of Sheba_, _The Still-water Tragedy_, etc.

AYTOUN, WILLIAM EDMONDSTOUNE, an eminent critic and poet, born in Fifeshire, Scotland, in 1813. He studied law, and was appointed Professor of Rhetoric in Edinburgh University in 1845, and was closely connected with _Blackwood's Magazine_ for many years. He was a poet of the highest order, and his _Execution of Montrose_, and the _Burial March of Dundee_, are two noble historical ballads. He was author of the celebrated _Lays of the Scottish Cavaliers_, _Bon Gaultier Ballads_, _Firmilian_, _a Spasmodic Tragedy_, _Bothwell_, _Poland, and other Poems_, _The Life and Times of Richard Coeur de Lion_, etc. Died August 4th, 1865.

BEECHER, HENRY WARD, a celebrated author and divine, born at Litchfield, Connecticut, on the 24th of January, 1813. He studied at Amherst College, where he graduated in 1834. In 1847, he became pastor of Plymouth Church (Congregational), Brooklyn. He is one of the most popular writers, and most successful lecturers of the day in the United States. He has published, _Lectures to Young Men, Life Thoughts_, a novel entitled _Norwood_, etc.

BRONTE, CHARLOTTE (Currer Bell). A popular English novelist, born at Thornton, Yorkshire, April 21st, 1816, was a daughter of the Rev. Patrick Bronté. In 1846, in conjunction with her sisters--Anne and Emily-- published a small volume of poems. It was as a writer of fiction, however, that Charlotte achieved her great success, and in 1848, her novel of _Jane Eyre_, obtained great popularity, and brought the talented author well merited fame. She afterwards published _Shirley_ and _Villette_, both very successful works. In June, 1854, she married the Rev. Arthur B. Nicholls, but after a brief taste of domestic happiness, she died at Haworth, March 31st, 1855. _The Professor_, her first production (written in 1846), was published in 1856, after her death.

BROWNING, ELIZABETH BARRETT, one of the most gifted female poets that have ever lived, the daughter of Mr. Barrett, an opulent London merchant, born near Ledbury, Herefordshire, about 1807. She began to write verse when only ten years of age, and gave early proofs of great poetical genius. At the age of seventeen, she published _An Essay on Mind, with other Poems_, and her reputation was widely extended by _The Seraphim and other Poems_, published in 1838. In 1846, she was married to Robert Browning, the poet, and they lived for many years in Italy. In 1851, she published _Casa Guidi Windows_, the impressions of the writer upon events in Tuscany, and in 1856, appeared _Aurora Leigh_, a poem, or novel in verse, which is greatly admired. "The poetical reputation of Mrs. Browning," says the _North British Review_ (February, 1857), "has been growing slowly, until it has reached a height which has never before been attained by any modern poetess." She died at Florence, June 29th, 1861.

BROWNING, ROBERT, a distinguished English poet, born at Camberwell, London, in 1812. He was educated at the University of London, and in 1836 published his first poem, _Paracelsus_, which attracted much attention by its originality. He has been a voluminous writer, and of all his works, _Pippa Passes_, and _The Blot in the Scutcheon_, are perhaps the best. The _Ring and the Book_ appeared in 1868. He is considered by some critics as one of the greatest English poets of his time, but is not very popular.

BRYANT, WILLIAM CULLEN, an American poet, born at Cummington, Massachusetts, November 3rd, 1794. At the age of ten years he made very creditable translations from the Latin poets, which were printed, and at thirteen he wrote _The Embargo_, a political satire which was never surpassed by any poet of that age. He wrote _Thanatopsis_ when but little more than eighteen, and it is by many considered as his finest poem. In 1826 he became one of the editors of the _Evening Post_, which he continued to edit until his death. He published a complete collection of his poems in 1832, and in 1864. Among his prose works are, _Letters of a Traveller_, and in 1869 he published a translation of Homer's _Iliad_, which is an excellent work. Washington Irving says of Bryant: "That his close observation of the phenomena of nature, and the graphic felicity of his details, prevent his descriptions from becoming commonplace." He died June 12th, 1878.

BURNS, ROBERT, the national poet of Scotland, was the son of a small farmer, and was born near the town of Ayr, on January, 25th, 1759. His early life was spent in farming, but he was about emigrating to the West Indies, when the publication of a volume of his poems, in 1786, which were very favourably received, determined him on remaining in his native land, and he proceeded to Edinburgh, where he made the acquaintance of the distinguished men of letters of that famous city. His reception was triumphant, and a new edition of his poems was issued, by which he realised more than £500. In 1788 he was married to Miss Jean Armour (Bonnie Jean), and soon after obtained a place in the excise, and in 1791 he removed to Dumfries, where he spent the remainder of his life. He died on July 21st, 1796. Nature had made Burns the greatest among lyric poets; the most striking characteristics of his poetry are simplicity and intensity, in which qualities he is scarcely, if at all, inferior to any of the greatest poets that have ever lived. "No poet except Shakespeare," says Sir Walter Scott, "ever possessed the power of exciting the most varied and discordant emotions with such rapid transitions."

BYROM, DR. JOHN, an English poet, born at Kersal, near Manchester, in 1691. He contributed several pieces to the _Spectator_, of which the beautiful pastoral of _Colin and Phoebe_, in No. 603, is the most noted. He invented a system of shorthand, which is still known by his name. Died at Manchester in 1763.

BYRON, GEORGE GORDON NOEL (Lord), an English poet and dramatist of rare genius, was born in London, January 22nd, 1788. He was educated partly at Harrow, and in 1805 proceeded to Trinity College, Cambridge. While at College he published, in 1807, his _Hours of Idleness_, a volume of juvenile poems, which was severely criticised in the _Edinburgh Review_. Two years later he published his reply, _English Bards_ and _Scotch Reviewers_, a satire which obtained immediate celebrity. In 1812 he gave the world the fruits of his travels on the continent, in the first two Cantos of _Childe Harold's Pilgrimage_. The success of this was so extraordinary that, as he tells us, "he awoke one morning and found himself famous." He then took his seat in the House of Lords, but soon lost his interest in politics. In 1813 he published _The Giaour_, and _The Bride of Abydos_, and in 1814, _The Corsair_. In January, 1815, he married Anne Isabella Milbank, only daughter of Sir Ralph Milbank, but the marriage was an unhappy one, and she returned to her father's in the January of 1816. In April, 1816, Byron left his country with the avowed intention of never seeing it again, and during his absence he published, in rapid succession, the remaining cantos of _Childe Harold_, _Mazeppa_, _Manfred_, _Cain_, _Sardanapalus_, _Marino Faliero_, _The Two Foscari_, _Werner_, and _Don Juan_, besides many other smaller poems. During his residence on the Continent, his sympathies for Grecian liberty became strongly excited, and he resolved to devote all his energies to the cause, and left Italy in the summer of 1823. He arrived in Missolonghi on January 10th, 1824. On February 15th he was seized with a convulsive fit, which rendered him senseless for some time. On April 9th he got wet, took cold and a fever, on the 11th he grew worse, and on the 19th he died, inflammation of the brain having set in. Among the most remarkable characteristics of Byron's poetry, two are deserving of particular notice. The first is his power of expressing intense emotion, especially when it is associated with the darker passions of the soul. "Never had any writer," says Macaulay, "so vast a command of the whole eloquence of scorn, misanthropy and despair.... From maniac laughter to piercing lamentation, there is not a single note of human anguish of which he was not master."

CAMPBELL, THOMAS, an eminent British poet, born at Glasgow in 1777. In 1799 he published _The Pleasures of Hope_, of which the success has perhaps had no parallel in English literature. He visited the continent in 1800 and witnessed the battle of Hohen-linden, which furnished the subject of one of his most exquisite lyrics. _Gertrude of Wyoming_, published in 1809, is one of his finest poems. He wrote several spirited odes, etc., and other literary work, has placed his fame on an enduring basis. He died at Boulogne, in 1844, and was buried in Westminster Abbey.

CARY, ALICE, an American author, born near Cincinnati, Ohio, about 1822. She first attracted attention by her contributions to the _National Era_, under the name of Patty Lee; she afterwards published several volumes of poems and other works, including _Hagar_, _Hollywood_, etc. Her sketches of Western Life, entitled _Clovernook_, have obtained extensive popularity. She died, February 12th, 1871.

CARY, PHOEBE, a sister of Alice, has also contributed to periodical literature and in 1854 published a volume entitled _Poems and Parodies_. She died July 31st, 1871.

COLERIDGE, SAMUEL TAYLOR, an eminent English poet and critic, born at Ottery St. Mary, Devonshire, October 21st, 1772. In 1796, he published a small volume of poems and in 1797, in conjunction with Mr. Wordsworth, he formed the plan of the Lyrical Ballads, for which he wrote the _Ancient Mariner_. In 1800 he removed to Keswick, where he resided in company with Wordsworth and Southey, the three friends receiving the appellation of the Lake Poets. He wrote several excellent works, of which _Christabel_ is the best. He led a somewhat wandering life and died on July 25th, 1834. As a poet, he was one of the most imaginative of modern times, and as a critic his merits were of the highest order.

COLLINS, WILLIAM, an eminent English lyric poet, born at Chichester, in 1720. He was a friend of Dr. Johnson, who speaks well of him. His best known work is his excellent ode on, _The Passions_, which did not receive the fame its merits deserve. Before his death, which occurred in 1756, he was for some time an inmate of a lunatic asylum.

COWPER, WILLIAM, a celebrated English poet, originally intended for a lawyer, and appointed as Clerk of the Journals in the House of Lords at the age of 31 years, but his constitutional timidity prevented him from accepting it. He had to be placed in a lunatic asylum for some time. He was born at Berkhampstead in 1731. In 1767 he took up his abode at Olney, in Buckinghamshire, where he devoted himself to poetry, and in 1782 published a volume of poems, which did not excite much attention, but a second volume, published in 1785, stamped his reputation as a true poet. His _Task, Sofa, John Gilpin_, are works of enduring excellence. In 1794 his intellect again gave way, from which he never recovered, and he died at Dereham, in Norfolk, April 25th, 1800.

CROLY, REV. GEORGE, a popular poet, born in Dublin in 1780. He was for many years rector of St. Stephen's, Wallbrook, London, and was eminent as a pulpit orator. His principal works are: _The Angel of the World_; a tragedy, entitled _Cataline_, _Salathiel,_ etc. He died November 24th, 1860.

DICKENS, CHARLES, one of the most successful of modern novelists, was born at Landport, Portsmouth, February 7th, 1812. Intended for the law, he became a most successful reporter for the newspapers, and was employed on the _Morning Chronicle_, in which paper first appeared the famous _Sketches by Boz_, his first work. The _Pickwick Papers_ which followed, placed him at once in the foremost rank of popular writers of fiction. His novels are so well known that any list of their titles is superfluous. In 1850 he commenced the publication of _Household Words_, which he carried on until 1859 when he established _All the Year Round_, with which he was connected until his death, which occurred very suddenly at his residence. Gad's Hill, Kent, on June 9th, 1870. He left his latest work, _The Mystery of Edwid Drood_, unfinished, and it remains a fragment. It was not merely as a humorist, though that was his great distinguishing characteristic, that Dickens obtained such unexampled popularity. Be was a public instructor, a reformer and moralist. Whatever was good and amiable, bright and joyous in our nature, he loved, supported and augmented by his writings; whatever was false, hypocritical and vicious, he held up to ridicule, scorn and contempt.

DRYDEN, JOHN, a celebrated English poet, born at Aldwinckle, Northamptonshire, August 9th, 1631. He was educated at Trinity College, Cambridge, where he received his degree of M.A. He removed to London in 1657, and wrote many plays, and on the death of Sir William Davenport he was made poet laureate. On the accession of James II. Dryden became a Roman Catholic and endeavoured to defend his new faith at the expense of the old one, in a poem entitled The Hind and the Panther. At the Revolution he lost his post, and in 1697 his translation of _Virgil_ appeared, which, of itself alone is sufficient to immortalize his name. His ode, _Alexander's Feast_, is esteemed by some critics as the finest in the English language. He died May 1st, 1700.

GOLDSMITH, OLIVER, one of the most distinguished ornaments of English literature, born at Pallas, Ireland, in 1728. He studied at Trinity College, Dublin and afterward at Edinburgh. He traveled over Europe, on foot, and returned to England in 1756, and settled in London. It was not until 1764 that he emerged from obscurity by the publication of his poem entitled _The Traveller_. In the following year appeared his beautiful novel of the _Vicar of Wakefield_. In 1770 he published _The Deserted Village_, a poem, which in point of description and pathos, is beyond all praise. As a dramatist he was very successful and he produced many prose works. He died in London on the 4th of April, 1774.

GRAY, THOMAS, an English poet of great merit, born in London in 1716. He was educated at Eton and Cambridge and in 1738 entered the Inner Temple, but never engaged much in the study of the law. In 1742 he took up his residence in Cambridge, where, in 1768, he became professor of modern history. The odes of Gray are of uncommon merit, and his _Elegy in a Country Churchyard_ has long been considered as one of the finest poems in the English language. He died in July, 1771. He occupied a very high rank in English literature, not only as a poet, but as an accomplished prose writer.

HALLECK, FITZ-GREENE, an American poet, born at Guildford, Conn., July 8th, 1790. He became a clerk in the office of J. J. Astor, and employed his leisure moments in the service of the Muses. In 1819, in conjunction with his friend, Joseph R. Drake, he wrote the celebrated _Croaker Papers_, a series of satirical poems which brought him into public notice. On his martial poem, _Marco Bozzaris_, published in 1827, his fame principally rests, although he has written other pieces of great merit. He died November 19th, 1867.

HARTE, FRANCIS BRET, a native of Albany, N.Y., has written short stories and sketches of Californian life, and several poems in dialect, of which _The Heathen Chinee_, is the most celebrated. He possesses great wit and pathos, and has been very successful in novel writing, and also in writing for the stage.

HEMANS, FELICIA DOROTHEA, an excellent English poet, born at Liverpool, September 25th, 1794, was the daughter of a merchant named Browne. Her first volume of poems was published in 1808. In 1812 she married Capt. Hemans, but the marriage was a very unhappy one and they separated in 1818. She is the most touching and accomplished writer of occasional verse that our literature has yet to boast of. "Religious truth, moral purity and intellectual beauty, ever meet together in her poetry." She died in Dublin, in 1835.

HOLMES, OLIVER WENDELL, M.D., a distinguished American poet, author and wit, was born at Cambridge, Mass., August 29th, 1809. He studied law, but soon left it for medicine, and took his degree of M.D. in 1836. In 1847, he was appointed Professor of Anatomy and Physiology in Harvard University. He early began writing poetry, publishing a collected edition of his poems in 1836. He is a genuine poet, and as a song writer, has few if any superiors in America, excelling in the playful vein. He is best known by his series of excellent papers, contributed to the _Atlantic Monthly_, under the title of _The Autocrat of the Breakfast Table_, published in 1857-8; _The Professor at the Breakfast Table_ and the _Poet at the Breakfast Table_. He has also written some successful novels, one of which, _The Guardian Angel_, is one of the best American novels yet produced. He has also written able works on subjects connected with his profession.

HOOD, THOMAS, a famous poet, humorist and popular author, born in London in 1798. He was the son of a bookseller, served an apprenticeship as an engraver, but soon betook himself to literature. In 1821 he was sub-editor of the _London Magazine_. His novels and tales were less successful than his humorous works. Among his most popular poems are:--_The Song of the Shirt, The Bridge of Sighs_ and the _Dream of Eugene Aram_. In the latter years of his life--which was one of prolonged suffering--he was editor of _The New Monthly Magazine_. As a punster he is unrivalled, and some of his serious poems are exquisitely tender and pathetic. In all his works a rich current of genial humour runs, and his pleasant wit, ripe observation and sound sense have made him an ornament to English literature. He died March 3rd, 1845.

HUNT, J. H. LEIGH, a popular English poet, born at Southgate, near London October 19th, 1784. He early turned his attention to literature, and obtained a clerkship in the War Office, which he resigned in 1808, to occupy the joint editorship (along with his brother John) of the _Examiner_. Their boldness in conducting this paper led to their being imprisoned for two years and fined £500 each, for some strictures on the Prince Regent which appeared in its columns. He was a copious writer and his productions occupy a wide range. _Rimini_, written while in prison, is one of his best poems. Prof. Wilson styles Hunt "as the most vivid of poets and the most cordial of critics." He died August 28th, 1859.

INGELOW, JEAN, a native of Ipswich, Suffolk, born about 1826, is the author of several volumes of poems, the first of which ran through 14 editions in five years. She wrote _A Story of Doom_ and other poems, published in 1867, _Mopsa the Fairy_ in 1869, and several prose stories, etc.

IRVING, WASHINGTON, a distinguished American author and humorist, born in New York City, April 3rd, 1783. He studied law and was admitted to the bar, but soon abandoned the legal profession for literature. In 1809 he published his Knickerbockers History of New York, a humorous work which was very successful. His works, are very numerous, including the famous _Sketch Book, The Alhambra, Conquest of Granada, Life of Columbus, Life of Washington_, etc., etc. For easy elegance of style, Irving has no superior, perhaps no equal, among the prose writers of America. If Hawthorne excels him in variety, in earnestness and in force, he is, perhaps, inferior to Irving in facility and grace, while he can make no claim to that genial, lambent humour which beams in almost every page of Geoffrey Cravon. He died November 28th, 1859.

LAMB, CHARLES, a distinguished essayist and humorist, born in London, Feby. 18th, 1775, and educated at Christ's Hospital. In 1792 he became a clerk in the India House, a post he retained for 33 years. He was a genial and captivating essayist and his fame mainly rests on his delightful _Essays of Elia_, which were first printed in the _London Magazine_. His complete works include two volumes of verse, the _Essays of Elia, Specimens of the English Dramatic Poets_, etc., etc. For quaint, genial and unconventional humour, Lamb has, perhaps, never been excelled. He died December 27th, 1834.

LONGFELLOW, HENRY WADSWORTH, the most popular and artistic of all American poets, was born in Portland, Maine, Feby. 27th, 1807. He graduated at Bowdoin College in 1825, and one year afterwards was offered the professorship of Modern Languages at that Institution, which he occupied until 1835, when he accepted that of professor of Modern Languages at Harvard, which he continued to hold until 1854, when he resigned the chair. His poetical works are well known and are very numerous, the most noted of his longer pieces being _Evangeline, The Golden Legend, Hiawatha, Courtship of Miles Standish_, etc. All his poetical works are distinguished by grace and beauty, warmed by a greater human sympathy than is displayed in the writings of the majority of eminent poets. He relies chiefly for his success on a simple and direct appeal to those sentiments which are common to all mankind, to persons of every rank and of every clime. He wrote only three prose works, _Outre-Mer, Hyperion and Kavanagh_, and a few dramas, all of which deserve to rank with the best American productions. _Evangeline_ is considered "to be the most perfect specimen of the rhythm and melody of the English hexameter." He died at Cambridge, Mass., March 24th 1882.

LOWELL, JAMES RUSSELL, a distinguished American poet, critic and scholar, born in Cambridge, Mass., February 22nd, 1819. He graduated from Harvard, in 1838, and was admitted to the bar, but soon abandoned law as a profession and devoted himself to literature. His _Biglow Papers_ first made him popular, in 1848. In 1857, on the establishment of the _Atlantic Monthly_, he was made editor of that popular magazine. His prose works consisting chiefly of critical and miscellaneous essays, "show their author to be the leading American critic, are a very agreeable union of wit and wisdom, and are the result of extensive reading, illuminated by excellent critical insight." His humour is rich and unrivalled and he seems equally at home in the playful, the pathetic, or the meditative realms of poetry. In 1880, he was appointed Envoy Extraordinary to Great Britain, which office he held until 1885.

LYTTON, LORD, Edward George Earle Lytton Bulwer Lytton, a distinguished novelist, poet, dramatist and politician, was born May, 1805. He was the son of William Earle Bulwer, and owes his chief fame to his novels, some of which are among the best in the English language, notably _The Caxtons, My Novel, What will He do with It?_ and _A Strange Story_. As a playwright he was equally successful; he was the author of The Lady of Lyons--the most popular play of modern days;--_Richelieu, Not so Bad as we Seem_, the admirable comedy of _Money_, etc. A man of prodigious industry he showed himself equal to the highest efforts of literature; fiction, poetry, the drama, all were enriched by his labours. As a politician he was not quite so successful. In 1866 he was raised to the peerage as Baron Lytton. He assumed the name of Lytton, his mother's maiden name, in 1844, on succeeding to the Knebworth estates. He died January 18th, 1873, and was buried in Westminster Abbey.

LYTTON, EDWARD ROBERT BULWER, The son of the preceding author, better known perhaps by his _nom de plume_, Owen Meredith, born November 8th, 1831. He entered the diplomatic service in 1849. and has represented the British Government with great distinction. His chief works are _Clytemestra, Lucile, The Wanderer, Fables in Song, The Ring of Amasis_, a prose romance, etc.

MACAULAY, THOMAS BABINGTON, a celebrated historian, orator, essayist and poet, was born at Rothley Temple, Lincolnshire, October 26th, 1800. From his earliest years he exhibited signs of superiority and genius, and earned a great reputation for his verses and oratory. He studied law and was called to the Bar, commencing his political career in 1830, and in 1834 he went to India, as a member of the Supreme Council, returning in 1838 to England, where for a few years he pursued politics and letters, representing Edinburgh in the House of Commons, but being rejected, on appearing for re-election, he devoted himself to literature. During the last twelve years of his life his time was almost wholly occupied with his _History of England_, four volumes of which he had completed and published, and a fifth left partly ready for the press when he died. Besides the _History_ and _Essays_, he wrote a collection of beautiful ballads, including the well-known _Lays of Ancient Rome_. In 1849 he was elected Lord Rector of the University of Glasgow, and in 1857, his honours culminated in his elevation to the peerage as Baron Macaulay. He died on the 28th of December, 1869.

MILTON, JOHN, An immortal poet, and with the exception of Shakespeare, the most illustrious name in English Literature, was born in Bread Street, London, on December 9th, 1608. He graduated at Cambridge, and was intended for the law or the Church, but did not enter either calling. He settled at Horton in Buckinghamshire, where he wrote his _Comus, L'Allegro, Il Penuroso_, and _Lycidas_. He took the side of the Parliament in the dispute with King Charles I. and rendered his party efficient service with his pen. About 1654 he became totally blind, and after serving the Protector as Latin Secretary for four or five years, he retired from public life in 1657. In 1665, the time of the Great Plague, he first showed the finished manuscript of his great poem, _Paradise Lost_, which was first printed in 1667, this immortal work being sold to a bookseller for £5! He afterwards wrote _Paradise Regained_, but it is, in all respects, quite inferior to _Paradise Lost_. He died in London, on the 8th of November, 1674.

MOORE, THOMAS, a celebrated poet, born in Dublin, May 28th, 1779, and was educated at Trinity College in that city. He studied law but never practised. He published two volumes of poems previous to the production of _Lalla Rookh_, his masterpiece, which was highly successful and was published in 1817. His works are very numerous and some of them are extremely popular, the best being _Lalla Rookh_ and _Irish Melodies_. As a poet he displays grace, pathos, tenderness and imagination, but is deficient in power and naturalness. He died February 26th, 1852.

POE, EDGAR ALLAN, a distinguished American poet and prose writer, born in Baltimore in 1809. He was an entirely original figure in American literature, his temperament was melancholy, he hated restraint of every kind and he gave way to dissipation, and his life is a wretched record of poverty and suffering. But the _Bells, The Raven_ and _Annabel Lee_, his principal poetical works, are wonderfully melodious, constructed with great ingenuity, and finished with consummate art. He wrote several weird prose tales and some critical essays. He died at Baltimore, under circumstances of great wretchedness, October 7th, 1849.

POPE, ALEXANDER, a popular English poet and critic, born in London, May 22nd, 1688. During his childhood he displayed great ability and resolved to be a poet. His _Pastorals_ were written at the age of sixteen. He wrote a large number of poems, the most celebrated being; the _Essay on Criticism, The Rape of the Lock_ and the _Essay on Man_. He also published translations of Homer's _Iliad_ and _Odyssey_. His talent for satire is conspicuous in the _Duncaid_. He possessed little originality or creative imagination, but he had a vivid sense of the beautiful, and an exquisite taste. He owed much of his popularity to the easy harmony of his verse, the keenness of his satire, and the brilliancy of his antithesis. He has, with the exception of Shakespeare, added more phrases to the English language than any other poet. He died on the 30th of May, 1744.

PROCTER, ADELAIDE ANNE, an English poet, born in London, October 30th, 1825. She was a daughter of Bryan Waller Procter (Barry Cornwall). She was a contributor to _Household Words_ and _All the Year Round_, and published in 1858, a volume of poetry, _Legends and Lyrics_. A second volume was issued in 1861. She died February 3rd, 1864.

READ, THOMAS BUCHANAN, a distinguished American artist and poet, born in Pennsylvania, March 12th, 1822. He visited England and also spent several years in Florence and Rome. He wrote several good poems, but his _Sheridan's Ride_, brought him more popularity than any of his previous works. He died May 11th, 1872.

ROGERS, SAMUEL, an eminent English poet, born in London, July 30th, 1763. He was a rich banker and enabled to devote much leisure time to literature, of which he was a magnificent patron. His best works are _Pleasures of Memory, Human Life_, and _Italy_, the last appeared in a magnificent form, having cost £10,000 in illustrations alone. Died December 18th, 1855.

SAXE, JOHN GODFREY, a humorous American poet, born in Vermont, in 1816. He has been most successful in classical travesties and witty turns of language, and he has won a good place as a sonneteer. A complete edition of his poems (the 42nd) was published in 1881.

SCOTT, SIR WALTER. An illustrious Scotch author, novelist and poet, born in Edinburgh, August 15th, 1771. He was called to the bar in 1792, and being in circumstances favourable for the pursuit of literature, he commenced his poetical career, by translating several poems from the German. In 1805, he published the _Lay of the Last Minstrel_, and became at once one of the most distinguished poets of the age. It was speedily followed by _Marmion_ and the _Lady of the Lake_ (1810), and many other poems, all of which added to his fame. In August, 1813, he was offered the position of poet-laureate, which he declined. But he was destined to add to his already great reputation as a poet, by a success equally as great in the realms of prose fiction. In 1814 appeared _Waverley_, published anonymously, and its success was enormous. It was quickly followed by the other volumes of the "Great Unknown," as Scott was now designated, amounting in all to twenty-seven volumes. In 1820 he was created a baronet and his degree of success had been unparalleled and had raised him to apparent affluence, but, in 1826, by the failure of two publishing houses with which he was connected, he was reduced to bankruptcy. He set himself resolutely to redeem himself from the load of debt (£147,000) but, although successful, his faculties gave way before the enormous mental toil to which they were subjected. He died at Abbotsford, Sept. 21st, 1832. In addition to the poetical works and the Waverley Novels, Scott was the author of many other popular works, too well known to need mentioning here.

SHAKESPEARE, WILLIAM.--The greatest poet of England, born at Stratford-on- Avon, Warwickshire, April 23rd, 1564. Unfortunately the materials for a biography of the poet are very meagre, and are principally derived from tradition. He appears to have been well educated, married very early, when about nineteen years of age, his wife, Anne Hathaway, being then twenty- six. Shortly after this he left Stratford for London, where he became an actor and eventually a writer of plays. His first printed drama (Henry VI., part II.) was issued in 1594. In 1597, he purchased the best house in his native town, and about 1604 he retired to Stratford, where he spent the last twelve years of life, and where he is supposed to have written many of his plays, but we have no means of determining the exact order in which they were composed. He died April 23rd, 1616. His works are of world-wide fame, and need not be enumerated here. The name is often spelled SHAKSPEARE.

SHELLEY, PERCY BYSSHE.--An eminent English poet, born near Horsham, Sussex, August 4th, 1792. He studied at Oxford, from whence he was expelled for publishing a _Defence of Atheism_. He made an unhappy marriage and soon separated from his wife. He published _Queen Mab, Alsator_, and in 1817 the _Revolt of Islam_. In 1818 he left England, to which he was destined never to return. In July, 1822, (July 8th), while residing at Leghorn, he went out on the Gulf of Spezzia, in a sail boat, which was upset in a squall, and the poet perished. In addition to the poems already mentioned he wrote _The Cenci_, _Adonais_, _Prometheus_, and a number of smaller pieces. As a poet he was gifted with genius of a very high order, with richness and fertility of imagination, but of a vague and partly unintelligible character.