Chapter II: Front Matter (2)

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_.