Chapter VI: Front Matter (6)

LUDOVICO ARIOSTO, an illustrious Italian poet, was born at Reggio, September 8, 1474, and died at Ferrara, June 6, 1533. His most famous work is: "Orlando Furioso."

None but God can satisfy the longings of an immortal soul; that as
the heart was made for Him, so He only can fill it.

--_Trench_.

RICHARD CHENEVIX TRENCH, a noted Anglican archbishop and poet, was born at Dublin on September 9, 1807, and died March 28, 1886. He wrote: "The Story of Justin Martyr, and Other Poems," "Sabbation," "Honor Neale, and Other Poems," "Poems from Eastern Sources," "The Study of Words," "English Past and Present," "A Select Glossary of English Words," "Notes on the Parables," "Notes on the Miracles," etc.

The vocation of every man and woman is to serve other people.

"What is to be done?" Chap. xl. Note,--_Tolstoi_.

COUNT LYOF ALEKSÉEVICH TOLSTOI, the great Russian novelist, was born on the family estate of Yasnaya Polyana in the government of Tula, Russia, September 9, 1828, and died in 1910. His most celebrated works are: "In What My Faith Consists," "Cossacks," "Sevastopol," "War and Peace," "Master and Man," "My Confession," "The Kreutzer Sonata," and "Anna Karénina."

A language cannot be thoroughly learned by an adult without five
years' residence in the country where it is spoken; and without
habits of close observation, a residence of twenty years is
insufficient.

--_P. G. Hamerton_.

PHILIP GILBERT HAMERTON, a distinguished English artist and art-writer, was born at Laneside, Lancashire, September 10, 1834; and died near Boulogne, France, November 5, 1894. Among his works are: "Etching and Etchers," "Thoughts About Art," "Painting in France," "The Quest of Happiness," "The Graphic Arts," "Contemporary French Painters," "Human Intercourse," "The Intellectual Life," and "A Painter's Camp in the Highlands."

A pleasing land of drowsyhead it was,
Of dreams that wave before the half-shut eye;
And of gay castles in the clouds that pass,
Forever flushing round a summer sky;
There eke the soft delights that witchingly
Instil a wanton sweetness through the breast,
And the calm pleasures always hover'd nigh;
But whate'er smack'd of noyance or unrest
Was far, far off expell'd from this delicious nest.

"The Castle of Indolence," Canto i, Stanza 6.--_James Thomson_.

JAMES THOMSON, a famous Scotch poet, was born at Ednam, September 11, 1700, and died August 27, 1748. His most celebrated poems are: "The Seasons," and "The Castle of Indolence."

Woman's grief is like a summer storm,
Short as it is violent.

"Basil," Act V, Sc. 3,--_Joanna Baillie_.

JOANNA BAILLIE, a celebrated Scottish poet, was born in Bothwell, Lanarkshire, September 11, 1762, and died at Hampstead, England, February 23, 1851. She wrote: "Plays on the Passions," and numerous poems and songs.

Blessed be agriculture! If one does not have too much of it.

"My Summer in a Garden: Preliminary."--_Chas. Dudley Warner_.

CHARLES DUDLEY WARNER, an eminent American journalist and miscellaneous writer, was born at Plainfield, Mass., September 12, 1829, and died in 1900. Among his noted works are: "My Summer in a Garden," "Backlog Studies," "My Winter on the Nile," "Life of Captain John Smith," "Washington Irving," "A Roundabout Journey," "Their Pilgrimage," "Book of Eloquence," "A Little Journey in the World," "As We Were Saying," "The Golden House," "The Relation of Literature to Life," "Studies in the South and West, with Comments on Canada," "That Fortune," etc. In collaboration with Samuel Langhorne Clemens (Mark Twain) he wrote: "The Gilded Age." He was editor of the "American Men of Letters" series, and of "The Library of the World's Best Literature."

The desire of love, Joy;
The desire of life, Peace:
The desire of the soul, Heaven:
The desire of God ... a flame-white secret forever.

"Desire,"--_William Sharp_.

WILLIAM SHARP, a distinguished British critic and man of letters, was born September 12, 1856, and died in 1905. Among his works are: "Humanity and Man," "The Conqueror's Dream, and Other Poems," "Dante Gabriel Rossetti," "Shakespeare's Songs, Poems, and Sonnets," "Sonnets of this Century," "Shelley," "Romantic Ballads," "Sospiri di Roma," "Flower o' the Vine," "Sospiri d' Italia," etc.

Thought is the wind, knowledge the sail, and mankind the vessel.

"Guesses at Truth."--_J. C. and A. W. Hare_.

JULIUS CHARLES HARE, a famous English divine and theological writer, was born at Valdagno, Italy, September 13, 1795, and died in England, January 23, 1855. He wrote: "Mission of the Comforter," "The Contest with Rome," "Vindication of Luther," and conjointly with A. W. Hare, "Guesses at Truth."

True resignation, which always brings with it the confidence that
unchangeable goodness will make even the disappointment of our
hopes, and the contradictions of life, conducive to some benefit,
casts a grave but tranquil light over the prospect of even a
toilsome and troubled life.

--_Humboldt_.

ALEXANDER VON HUMBOLDT, a renowned German scientist, was born in Berlin, September 14, 1769, and died there May 6, 1859. He wrote: "Voyages to the Equinoctial Regions of the New Continent," "Observations on Zoölogy and Comparative Anatomy," "View of the Cordilleras and of the Monuments of the Indigenous Races of America," and "Cosmos," his most celebrated work.

O years, gone down into the past,
What pleasant memories come to me
Of your untroubled days of peace,
And hours of almost ecstasy.

"_Reconciled_,"--Phoebe Cary.

PHOEBE CARY, a noted American poetess and prose-writer, was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, September 14, 1824, and died in Newport, Rhode Island, July 31, 1871. With her sister, she published many books, among them, "Poems of Faith, Hope, and Love," and "Poems and Parodies."

We always like those who admire us; we do not always like those
whom we admire.

"Maxim 294,"--_Rochefoucauld_.

FRANÇOIS, DUC DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULD, an illustrious French classicist and philosopher, was born at Paris, September 15, 1613, and died there March 17, 1680. His most celebrated works were: "Reflections, or Moral Sentences and Maxims," better known as "Maxims," and his "Memoirs."

Those families, you know, are our upper-crust,--not upper ten
thousand.

"The Ways of the Hour," Chap. VI,--_Cooper_.

JAMES FENIMORE COOPER, a famous American novelist, and historian, was born in Burlington, N. J., September 15, 1789, and died at Cooperstown, N. Y., September 14, 1851. A few of his celebrated novels are: "The Spy," "The Pilot," "Precaution," "The Pioneers," "The Last of the Mohicans," "The Prairie," "The Red Rover," "The Water-Witch," "Homeward Bound," "The Pathfinder," "The Deerslayer," "The Redskins," "The Ways of the Hour," etc.

I would not live alway: I ask not to stay
Where storm after storm rises dark o'er the way.

"I would not live alway,"--_William Augustus Muhlenberg_.

WILLIAM AUGUSTUS MUHLENBERG, a noted American philanthropist and Protestant Episcopal clergyman, was born in Philadelphia, Penn., September 16, 1796, and died in New York, April, 1877. He wrote: "A Plea for Christian Hymns," and many well-known hymns, among them: "Saviour Who Thy Flock Art Feeding," "Shout the Glad Tidings," and "I Would Not Live Alway."

We all know Mr. Lowell's brilliant qualities as a poet, critic,
scholar, and man of the world; but that in him which touches me
most strongly belongs to his relations to his country--his keen
and subtle yet kindly recognition of her virtues and her faults,
and the sympathetic power with which in the day of her melancholy
triumph, after the Civil War, he gave such noble expression to her
self-devotion, sorrows, and hopes.

"James Russell Lowell, The Critic,"--_Francis Parkman_.

FRANCIS PARKMAN, an eminent American historian, was born at Boston, September 16, 1823, and died at Jamaica Plain, Mass., November 8, 1893. He wrote: "The Oregon Trail: Prairie and Rocky Mountain Life," "History of the Conspiracy of Pontiac," "The Pioneers of France in the New World," "The Jesuits in North America," "La Salle and the Discovery of the Great West," "The Old Régime in Canada," "Count Frontenac and New France under Louis XIV," "Montcalm and Wolfe," and "A Half-Century of Conflict."

The essayist rises higher than the poet--witty, tender; wise in
human frailty, but never bitter.

"Personal Tributes to Dr. Holmes, the Writer," Vol. 7, p. 167
(1894),--_Hamlin Garland_.

HAMLIN GARLAND, a celebrated American story writer, was born in La Crosse, Wis., September 16, 1860. His works include: "Main Traveled Roads," "A Spoil of Office," "Prairie Folks," "Prairie Songs," "Crumbling Idols," "A Little Norsk," "Rose of Dutcher's Coolly," "Jason Edwards," "The Eagle's Heart," "Her Mountain Lover," "Hesper," "The Light of the Star," "The Long Trail," "Money Magic," "The Shadow World," "Victor Olnee's Discipline," "Other Main Traveled Roads," "A Son of the Middle Border," etc.

There's a magic in the distance, where the sea-line meets the sky.

"Forty Singing Seamen,"--_Alfred Noyes_.

ALFRED NOYES, a noted English writer, was born at Staffordshire, September 16, 1880. He has written, "Robin Hood," "Tales of the Mermaid Tavern," "The Winepress," "The Sea in English Poetry," "A Salute from the Fleet," "The Flower of Old Japan," "Poems," "Forty Singing Seamen," "Walking Shadows," "The Elfin Artist," (New Poems).

All reasoning is retrospect; it consists in the application of
facts and principles previously known. This will show the very
great importance of knowledge, especially of that kind called
Experience.

"Knowledge,"--_John Foster_.

JOHN FOSTER, a famous English author, and dissenting minister, best known as the "Essayist," was born near Halifax, Yorkshire, September 17, 1770, and died October 15, 1843. His fame rests chiefly on his celebrated "Essays." He also wrote: "Essay on Popular Ignorance," "Discourse on Missions," etc.

Whoever wishes to attain an English style, familiar but not
coarse, and elegant but not ostentatious, must give his days and
nights to the volumes of Addison.

"Life of Addison,"--_Samuel Johnson_.

SAMUEL JOHNSON, a renowned English critic, essayist, lexicographer, and poet, was born in Lichfield, September 18, 1709, and died in London, December 13, 1784. Among his many works may be mentioned: "Life of Richard Savage," "The Vanity of Human Wishes," "Life of Dryden," "Plan for a Dictionary," "The Rambler," "Irene," "The Idler," "Shakespeare with Notes," "The False Alarm," "Taxation no Tyranny," "Rasselas," "English Poets," etc.

Men are polished, through act and speech,
Each by each,
As pebbles are smoothed on the rolling beach.

"A Home Idyl,"--_John Townsend Trowbridge_.

JOHN TOWNSEND TROWBRIDGE, a celebrated American poet, novelist and general writer, was born in Ogden, N. Y., September 18, 1827, and died in 1916. He has written: "Martin Merrivale," "Neighbor Jackwood," "The Old Battle Ground," "The Drummer Boy," "The Three Scouts," "Coupon Bonds," "The Story of Columbus," "The Jack Hazard Series," "The Silver Medal Series," "The Emigrant's Story, and Other Poems," "At Sea," "The Pewee," "Hearts and Faces," "The Vagabonds," "The Book of Gold, and Other Poems," "The Start in Life Series," "The Tide Mill Series," "Poetical Works," "My Own Story," etc.

O Traveller who hast wandered far
'Neath southern sun and northern star,
Say where the fairest regions are!
Friend, underneath whatever skies
Love looks in love-returning eyes,
There are the bowers of paradise.

"The Bowers of Paradise,"--_Clinton Scollard_.

CLINTON SCOLLARD, a popular American poet and author, was born in New York, September 18, 1860. He has published: "Pictures in Song," "Old and New World Lyrics," "Under Summer Skies," "Lyrics and Legends of Christmastide," "Odes and Elegies," "From the Lips of the Sea," "Poems--A Selection from the Harvest of Thirty Years of Song," "A Christmas Garland," "A Knight of the Highway," "A Son of a Tory," "The Lutes of Morn," "Lyrics of the Dawn," "Footfaring," etc.

Let the soldier be abroad if he will, he can do nothing in this
age. There is another personage,--a personage less imposing in the
eyes of some, perhaps insignificant. The schoolmaster is abroad,
and I trust to him, armed with his primer, against the soldier in
full military array.

"Speech," January 29, 1828,--_Lord Brougham_.

HENRY PETER BROUGHAM, LORD BROUGHAM, a distinguished British statesman and author, was born in Edinburgh, September 19, 1778, and died at Cannes, France, May 7, 1868. His most important works are: "Lives of Men of Letters and Science," "Speeches," and "Sketches of the Statesmen of the Time of George III."

The soul of man is larger than the sky,
Deeper than ocean, or the abysmal dark
Of the unfathomed center.

"To Shakespeare,"--_Hartley Coleridge_.

HARTLEY COLERIDGE, a celebrated English poet, and man of letters, (son of Samuel Taylor Coleridge), was born at Bristol, September 19, 1796, and died in 1849. His writings include: "Biographia Borealis," "The Worthies of Yorkshire and Lancashire," "Essays and Marginalia," and some exquisite sonnets, published in the _London Magazine_.

When change itself can give no more
'Tis easy to be true.

"Reasons for Constancy,"--_Sir Charles Sedley_.

SIR CHARLES SEDLEY, a noted English dramatist, was born at Aylesford in Kent, September 20, 1639, and died August 20, 1701. Besides his tragedies and comedies, he wrote a famous song, "Phyllis."

In the first days
Of my distracting grief, I found myself
As women wish to be who love their lords.

"Douglas," Act I, Sc. i,--_John Home_.

JOHN HOME, a well-known Scotch dramatist, was born in Leith, near Edinburgh, September 21, 1722, and died at Merchiston near Edinburgh, September 5, 1808. His most celebrated plays are: "Alfred," "The Fatal Discovery," "Agis," and his tragedy, "Douglas." He also wrote, "History of the Rebellion in Scotland in 1755-56."

Where are the cities of old time?

"The Ballade of Dead Cities,"--_Edmund William Gosse_.

EDMUND WILLIAM GOSSE, a famous English poet, essayist, and critic, was born in London, September 21, 1849. He has written: "On Viol and Flute," "The Unknown Lover," "Madrigals, Songs, and Sonnets," "Life of Jeremy Taylor," "French Profiles," "Coventry Patmore," "Life of Sir Thomas Browne," "Father and Son," "Henrik Ibsen," "Two Visits to Denmark," "Portraits and Studies," "Collected Essays" (5 vols.), "Life of Swinburne," "Lord Redesdale's Further Memories," "Three French Moralists," "Diversions of a Man of Letters," "Malherbe," etc.

How few take time for friendship! How few plan for it! It is
treated as a haphazard, fortuitous thing. May good luck send us
friends; we will not go after them. May favoring fortune bind our
friendships; we will take no stitches ourselves. Yet friendship
requires painstaking. No art is so difficult, no craft so arduous.
Roll a ball of clay and expect it to become a rose in your hand,
but never expect an acquaintanceship, without care and thought, to
blossom into friendship.

--_Wells_.

HERBERT GEORGE WELLS, a distinguished English author, was born at Bromley, Kent, September 21, 1868. Among his many works may be mentioned: "The Wheels of Chance," "Certain Personal Matters," (essays), "The War of the Worlds," "The Sleeper Awakes," "Love and Mr. Lewisham," "Anticipations," "The Sea Lady," "Mankind in the Making," "The Food of the Gods," "A Modern Utopia," "The War in the Air," "Ann Veronica," "The New Machiavelli," "Marriage," "The Passionate Friends," "An Englishman Looks at the World," "The World Set Free," "The Peace of the World," "The Research Magnificent," "What is Coming?" "Mr. Britling Sees it Through," "The Soul of a Bishop," "Joan and Peter," "The Come Back," etc.

Manners must adorn knowledge, and smooth its way through the
world. Like a great rough diamond, it may do very well in a closet
by way of curiosity, and also for its intrinsic value.

"Letter," July 1, 1748,--_Earl of Chesterfield_.

PHILIP DORMER STANHOPE, EARL OF CHESTERFIELD, a famous English man of affairs and of the world, was born in London, September 22, 1694, and died March 24, 1773. His "Letters to His Son" won for him everlasting literary fame.

A reply to a newspaper attack resembles very much the attempt of
Hercules to crop the Hydra, without the slightest chance of
ultimate success.

"Gilbert Gurney," Vol. II, Chap. I, _Theodore M. Hook_.

THEODORE EDWARD HOOK, a famous English wit and novelist, was born in London, September 22, 1788, and died August 24, 1841. He wrote: "Macwell," "Gilbert Gurney," "Gurney Married," "Births, Deaths and Marriages." "His Sayings and Doings," were published in 1824, 1825 and in 1828.

I never yet heard man or woman much abused, that I was not
inclined to think the better of them; and to transfer any
suspicion or dislike to the person who appeared to take delight in
pointing out the defects of a fellow-creature.

--_Jane Porter_.

JANE PORTER, a distinguished English novelist, was born at Durham, September 23, 1776, and died at Bristol, May 24, 1850. Among her stories are: "Thaddeus of Warsaw," "The Scottish Chiefs," "The Pastor's Fireside," etc.

Within the rose I found a trembling tear,
Close curtained in a gloom of crimson night,
By tender petals from the outer light.

"Within the Rose I found a Trembling Tear,"--_Boyesen_.

HJALMAR HJORTH BOYESEN, a celebrated American novelist, was born at Frederiksvarn, Norway, September 23, 1848, and died in New York, October 4, 1895. He has written: "Idyls of Norway and Other Poems," "Tales from Two Hemispheres," "Ilka on the Hilltop and Other Stories," "A Norseman's Pilgrimage," "Gunnar," and "A Daughter of the Philistines."

When he writes of himself, how supremely excellent is the reading.
It is good even when he does it intentionally, as in "Portraits
and Memories." It is better still when he sings it, as in his
"Child's Garden." He is irresistible to every lonely child who
reads and thrills, and reads again to find his past recovered for
him with effortless ease. It is a book never long out of my hands,
for only in it and in my dreams when I am touched with fever, do I
grasp the long, long thoughts of a lonely child and a
hill-wandering boy-thoughts I never told to any; yet which Mr.
Stevenson tells over again to me as if he read them off a printed
page.

"Mr. Stevenson's Books," _McClure's Magazine_, Vol. 4, p. 289
1895,--_S. R. Crockett_.

SAMUEL RUTHERFORD CROCKETT, a distinguished Scotch novelist, was born in Little Duchrae, Galloway, September 24, 1862, and died in 1914. He has written "The Stickit Minister," "The Lilac Sun-Bonnet," "Lad's Love," "Joan of the Sword Hand," "The Dark o' the Moon," "The Banner of Blue," "An Adventure in Spain," "Maid Margaret," "Cherry Riband," "Flower o' the Corn," "Kit Kennedy," "The Red Axe," "The Bloom of the Heather," "The White Plume of Navarre," "Anne of the Barricades," "Patsy," "Sandy," etc.

The breaking waves dashed high
On a stern and rock-bound coast,
And the woods against a stormy sky
Their giant branches tossed.

"Landing of the Pilgrim Fathers,"--_Felicia Hemans_.

FELICIA DOROTHEA BROWNE HEMANS, a noted English-Irish poet, was born in Liverpool, September 25, 1793, and died at Redesdale, near Dublin, May 16, 1835. Her most famous works are: "Tales and Historic Scenes in Verse," "Songs of the Cid," "Lays of Many Lands," "The Siege of Valencia, the Last Constantine," and "Domestic Affections."

We can do without any article of luxury we have never had; but
when once obtained, it is not in human nature to surrender it
voluntarily.

"The Clockmaker,"--_Thomas Chandler Haliburton_.

THOMAS CHANDLER HALIBURTON (SAM SLICK), a famous Canadian author, was born at Windsor, Nova Scotia, September 26 (?), 1796, and died near London, August 27, 1865. He is best known by his famous "Sam Slick" papers.

Honor is like the eye, which cannot suffer the least injury
without damage; it is a precious stone, the price of which is
lessened by the least flaw.

--_Bossuet_.

JACQUES BÉNIGNE BOSSUET, a renowned French theologian, was born at Dijon, September 27, 1627, and died April 12, 1704. He wrote: "Discourse upon Universal History Down to the Empire of Charlemagne," "History of the Variations of the Protestant Churches," and the "Defense of the Famous Declaration Which the Gallican Clergy Approved Regarding the Power of the Church." His "Complete Works," in 46 volumes, were published 1815-19.

A life on the ocean wave!
A home on the rolling deep,
Where the scattered waters rave,
And the winds their revels keep!
Like an eagle caged I pine
On this dull unchanging shore:
O give me the flashing brine,
The spray and the tempest's roar!

"A Life on the Ocean Wave,"--_Epes Sargent_.

EPES SARGENT, a celebrated American journalist, author and dramatist, was born in Gloucester, Mass., September 27, 1813, and died in Boston, December 31, 1880. His works include: "Change Makes Change," "The Priestess," "Wealth and Worth," "Peculiar: A Tale of the Great Transition," "Songs of the Sea," "Life of Henry Clay," "A Life on the Ocean Wave," etc.

Logic makes only one demand, that of science. But life makes a
thousand. The body wants health; the imagination cries out for
beauty; and the heart for love. Pride asks for consideration; the
soul yearns for peace; the conscience for holiness; our whole
being is athirst for happiness and for perfection.

--_Amiel_.

HENRI FRÉDÉRIC AMIEL, an eminent Swiss essayist, poet, and philosophical critic, was born at Geneva, September 27, 1821, and died there, March 11, 1881. His writings include: "Millet Grains," "Study on Mme. de Staël," "The Literary Movement in Romanish Switzerland," etc. His famous "Journal" appeared after his death.

The dews of summer nights did fall,
The moon, sweet regent of the sky,
Silvered the walls of Cumnor Hall
And many an oak that grew thereby.

"Cumnor Hall,"--_William J. Mickle_.

WILLIAM JULIUS MICKLE, a noted Scottish poet, was born at Langholm, Dumfriesshire, September 28, 1735, and died at Forest Hill, October 28, 1788. He wrote: "Syr Martyn," "Almada Hill," "Cumnor Hall," etc.

Cobden is a man of an extremely interesting mind; quite the
opposite of an Englishman in this respect, that you never hear him
talk commonplaces, and that he has few prejudices.

"Correspondence,"--_Prosper Mérimée_.

PROSPER MÉRIMÉE, a renowned French essayist and litterateur, was born at Paris, September 28, 1803, and died at Cannes, September 23, 1870. He wrote: "Historic Monuments," "Historic and Literary Medleys," "Mateo Falcone," "Guzla," "Plays of Clara Gazul," and his most celebrated works: "Colomba" and "Carmen."

Time's corrosive dewdrop eats
The giant warrior to a crust
Of earth in earth and rust in rust.

"A Danish Barrow,"--_Francis T. Palgrave_.

FRANCIS TURNER PALGRAVE, a distinguished English poet and art critic, was born September 28, 1824, and died in 1897. He wrote: "Essays on Art," "Lyrical Poems," "The Visions of England," "The Life of Jesus Christ Illustrated from the Italian painters of the 14th, 15th and 16th Centuries," "Idylls and Songs," "Hymns," "Amenophis and Other Poems," "The Golden Treasury," etc.

"I have often noticed that almost everyone has his own individual
small economies--careful habits of saving fractions of pennies in
some one peculiar direction--any disturbance of which annoys him
more than spending shillings or pounds on some real extravagance."

"Cranford, Chap. V,"--_Mrs. Gaskell_.

MRS. ELIZABETH CLEGHORN GASKELL, a famous English novelist, was born in Chelsea, September 29, 1810, and died November 12, 1865. Among her notable works are: "Mary Barton," "Ruth," "Lizzie Leigh," "Sylvia's Lovers," "Wives and Daughters," "The Life of Charlotte Brontë," and "Cranford," her most celebrated work.

Here's to the maiden of bashful fifteen;
Here's to the widow of fifty;
Here's to the flaunting, extravagant quean,
And here's to the housewife that's thrifty!
Let the toast pass;
Drink to the lass;
I'll warrant she'll prove an excuse for the glass.

"School for Scandal," Act iii, Sc. 3.--_Sheridan_.

RICHARD BRINSLEY SHERIDAN, the renowned British dramatist and parliamentary orator, was born in Dublin, September 30, 1751, and died at London, July 7, 1816. His dramatic works include: "The Rivals," "The School for Scandal," "The Critic," and "The Duenna." His most famous speeches are: "The Perfumery Speech" and the "Begum Speech."

Der Unterliegende ist immer philosophisch gestimmt.[4]

--_Sudermann_.

HERMANN SUDERMANN, a celebrated German novelist and dramatist, was born at Matziken, East Prussia, September 30, 1857. Among his works are: "Dame Care," "In the Twilight," "Honor," "The Cat Bridge," "The Destruction of Sodom," "Brothers and Sisters," "Home," "Battle of the Butterflies," "Iolanthe's Wedding," "Once on a Time," "The Undying Past," "Das Hohe Lied," "Strand-kinder," "The Indian Lily," "Der gute Ruf," etc.

FOOTNOTES:

[1] I have often thought that however learnedly you may talk about it, one knows nothing but what he learns from his own experience.

[2] The style is the man himself.

[3] Nature made him, and then broke the mould.

[4] The losing side is always philosophically inclined.

OCTOBER

OCTOBER

I have read somewhere or other,--in Dionysius of Halicarnassus, I
think,--that history is philosophy teaching by examples.

"On the Study and Use of History," Letter 2,--_Bolingbroke_.

HENRY ST. JOHN, VISCOUNT BOLINGBROKE, a distinguished English statesman, author, and orator, was born at Battersea, October 1, 1678, and died there, December 12, 1751. His principal works are: "Letters on the Spirit of Patriotism," "Letters on the Study of History," "The Idea of a Patriot King," and "A Dissertation on Parties."

We join ourselves to no party that does not carry the flag and
keep step to the music of the Union.

"Letter to the Whig Convention, 1855,"--_Rufus Choate_.

RUFUS CHOATE, an eminent American lawyer, orator and statesman, was born at Essex, Mass., October 1, 1799, and died at Halifax, N. S., July 13, 1859. His "Works" (2 vols.) were published in 1863.

But I account it worth
All pangs of fair hopes crost--
All loves and honors lost,--
To gain the heavens, at cost
Of losing earth.

"Sir Marmaduke's Musings,"--_Theodore Tilton_.

THEODORE TILTON, a noted American journalist, lecturer, editor, and verse-writer, was born in New York City, October 2, 1835, and died in 1907. He wrote: "Thou and I," "The Sexton's Tale, and Other Poems," "Suabian Stories," "Tempest-Tossed," "Sanctum Sanctorum: or An Editor's Proof Sheets," etc.

Mr. Webster says of Mr. Adams: On the day of his death, hearing
the noise of bells and cannon, he asked the occasion. On being
reminded that it was "Independence Day," he replied, "Independence
forever!"

"History of the United States," Vol. vii, p. 65,--_Bancroft_.

GEORGE BANCROFT, a famous American historian and statesman, was born in Worcester, Mass., October 3, 1800, and died in Washington, D. C., January 17, 1891. His most famous work is the "History of the United States."

But Petrarch's highest merit by no means consists in this new
classic elegance; it consists in the fact that he was the first to
write freely of all things in the same way that a man speaks. He
was the first to throw aside all scholastic crutches, and prove
how much more swiftly a man could walk without leaning upon them.

"Machiavelli and his Times," (transl.) Vol. I,--_Pasquale
Villari_.

PASQUALE VILLARI, a distinguished Italian historian, was born at Naples, October 3, 1827, and died in 1914. His principal works are: "Niccolo Machiavelli and His Times," "Ancient Legends and Traditions Illustrating the Divine Comedy," "Essays Critical, Historical and Literary," "Teaching History," "The School and the Social Question in Italy."

Amongst the masses--even in revolutions--aristocracy must ever
exist; destroy it in nobility, and it becomes centered in the rich
and powerful House of Commons. Pull them down, and it still
survives in the master and foreman of the workshop.

--_Guizot_.

FRANÇOIS GUIZOT, an illustrious French historian and statesman, was born at Nîmes, October 4, 1787, and died at Val Richer, near Lisieux, September 12, 1874. He wrote: "History of the English Revolution," "Corneille and his Time," "The History of Civilization in Europe," "The History of Civilization in France," "Memoirs," "Shakespeare and His Times," "History of France for my Grandchildren," etc.

Religion, in its purity, is not so much a pursuit as a temper; or
rather it is a temper, leading to the pursuit of all that is high
and holy. Its foundation is faith; its action, works; its temper
holiness; its aim, obedience to God in improvement of self, and
benevolence to men.

--_Jonathan Edwards_.

JONATHAN EDWARDS, a famous American divine and theological writer, was born in East Windsor, Conn., October 5, 1703, and died at Princeton, N. J., March 22, 1758. Among his works may be mentioned: "The Great Christian Doctrine of Original Sin Defended," "An Inquiry into the Modern Prevailing Notions Respecting that Freedom of the Will which Is Supposed to Be Essential to Moral Agency," "A Dissertation Concerning the End for which God Created the World," and "The Nature of True Virtue."

We are far more liable to catch the vices than the virtues of our
associates.

--_Diderot_.

DENIS DIDEROT, a famous French philosopher and encyclopædist, was born at Langres, October 5, 1713, and died July 31, 1784. He wrote: "Philosophic Reflections," "A Skeptic's Walk," "The Nun," "Rameau's Nephew," "Little Papers," etc.

The world is a comedy to those that think, a tragedy to those who
feel.

Letter to Sir Horace Mann, 1770,--_Horace Walpole_.

HORACE WALPOLE, a famous English author and letter-writer, was born in London, October 5, 1717, and died there March 2, 1797. His works include: "Anecdotes of Painters in England," "The Castle of Otranto," "Historic Doubts on the Life and Reign of Richard III," "The Mysterious Mother," "Memoirs of the Last Ten Years of the Reign of George II," etc. His chief fame rests upon his celebrated letters, 9 vols., which were published in 1857-59.

No seed shall perish which the soul hath sown.

"Sonnet, Versöhnung, a Belief,"--_John Addington Symonds_.

JOHN ADDINGTON SYMONDS, a distinguished English critic and historian of literature, was born at Bristol, October 5, 1840, and died at Rome, April 19, 1893. He wrote: "Studies of the Greek Poets," "Sketches in Italy and Greece," "Introduction to the Study of Dante," "Shakespeare's Predecessors," "Sketches and Studies in Italy," and his greatest work: "The Renaissance in Italy."

"Freedom!" their battle cry--
"Freedom! or leave to die!

"The Black Regiment,"--_George H. Boker_.

GEORGE HENRY BOKER, a noted American poet and dramatist, was born in Philadelphia, Pa., October 6, 1823, and died there January 2, 1890. His plays include: "Anne Boleyn," "The Betrothed," "Calaynos," "All the World's a Mask," and "Francesca da Rimini." Also, "Poems of the War," "Sonnets," "Königsmark and Other Poems," etc.

The ripest peach is highest on the tree.

"The Ripest Peach,"--_James Whitcomb Riley_.

JAMES WHITCOMB RILEY, a celebrated American poet, was born at Greenfield, Ind., October 7, 1853, and died July 22, 1916. Among his writings are: "The Old Swimmin' Hole and 'Leven More Poems," "Green Fields and Running Brooks," "Child Rhymes," "Love Lyrics," "The Golden Year," "Songs of Summer," "The Rose," "The Riley Baby Book," "Songs of Friendship," "Songs of Cheer," "Old Schoolday Romances," "Songs of Home," "Down Around the River and Other Poems," "A Summer's Day and Other Poems," "All the Year Round," "Knee-Deep in June and Other Poems," "The Prayer-Perfect and Other Poems," "A Song of Long Ago," "When My Dreams Come True," "Away," "Do They Miss Me?" "Friendship," etc.

I think that saving a little child
And bringing him to his own,
Is a derned sight better business,
Than, loafing around the throne.

"Little Breeches,"--_John Hay_.

JOHN HAY, a famous American poet and prose-writer, was born in Salem, Ind., October 8, 1838, and died in 1905. His literary fame rests on his famous "Pike County Ballads."

Thy Soul ...
Is as far from my grasp, is as free,
As the stars from the mountain-tops be,
As the pearl in the depths of the sea,
From the portionless king that would be.

"Stanzas from Music,"--_Edmund Clarence Stedman_.

EDMUND CLARENCE STEDMAN, a distinguished American man of letters, was born in Hartford, Conn., October 8, 1833, and died in 1908. He wrote: "Nature and Elements of Poetry," "Poets of America," "Victorian Anthology," "Victorian Poets," "Poems Now First Collected," etc.

Backward, flow backward, O tide of the years!
I am so weary of toil and of tears--
Toil without recompense, tears all in vain!
Take them, and give me my childhood again!

"Rock Me to Sleep,"--_Elizabeth Akers Allen_.

ELIZABETH AKERS ALLEN, a noted American poet, was born at Strong, Me., October 9, 1832, and died in 1911. She wrote: "The Silver Bridge and Other Poems," and a volume of "Poems," the best known among them being: "Rock Me to Sleep, Mother."

Woodman, spare that tree!
Touch not a single bough!
In youth it sheltered me,
And I'll protect it now.

"Woodman, Spare that Tree!"--_George P. Morris_.

GEORGE POPE MORRIS, a celebrated American journalist and song-writer, was born in Philadelphia, October 10, 1802, and died in New York City, July 6, 1864. He wrote: "Poems," "The Little Frenchman," "Briercliff," and his famous song, "Woodman Spare That Tree."

It was acknowledged by Hume, that it was only in solitude and
retirement that he could yield any assent to his own philosophy.

"Essays,"--_Hugh Miller_.

HUGH MILLER, a distinguished Scottish geologist, was born at Cromarty, October 11, 1802, and died near Edinburgh, December 2, 1856. His most notable works are: "The Old Red Sandstone," "Footprints of the Creator," "Testimony of the Rocks," "Poems," "Scenes and Legends of the North of Scotland," etc.

There came to port last Sunday night
The queerest little craft,
Without an inch of rigging on;
I looked and looked,--and laughed!
It seemed so curious that she
Should cross the unknown water,
And moor herself within my room,--
My daughter! O my daughter.

"The New Arrival," St. I.--_George Washington Cable_.

GEORGE WASHINGTON CABLE, a famous American novelist, was born in New Orleans, La., October 12, 1844. He has written: "The Silent South," "The Creoles of Louisiana," "Old Creole Days," "Dr. Sevier," "Strange True Stories of Louisiana," "The Busy Man's Bible," "John March, Southerner," "The Negro Question," "Strong Hearts," "Kincaid's Battery," "Gideon's Band," "The Amateur Garden," etc.

I've wandered east, I've wandered west,
Through mony a weary way;
But never, never can forget
The luve o' life's young day!

"Jeannie Morrison,"--_William Motherwell_.

WILLIAM MOTHERWELL, a Scottish poet and antiquary of great fame, was born at Glasgow, October 13, 1797, and died there, November 1, 1835. His most famous works are: "Minstrelsy, Ancient and Modern," and "Poems, Narrative and Lyrical."

Absence makes the heart grow fonder;
Isle of Beauty, fare the well!

"Isle of Beauty,"--_Thomas Haynes Bayly_.

THOMAS HAYNES BAYLY, a noted English poet and novelist, was born in Bath, October 13, 1797, and died at Cheltenham, April 22, 1839. He wrote 36 dramas, including among them: "The Aylmers," "Perfection," and "The Legend of Killarney."

Be humble and gentle in your conversation, of few words, I charge
you, but always pertinent when you speak, hearing out before you
attempt to answer, and then speaking as if you would persuade, not
impose.

"Advice to his Children,"--_William Penn_.

WILLIAM PENN, a distinguished writer, and the founder of Pennsylvania, was born at London, October 14, 1644, and died July 30, 1718. Among his notable works were: "A Sandy Foundation Shaken," "Truth Exalted," "No Cross, No Crown," "Reasonableness of Toleration," and "Primitive Christianity Revived in the Faith and Practice of the People Called Quakers."

Come in the evening, or come in the morning;
Come when you're looked for, or come without warning.

"The Welcome,"--_Thomas Osborne Davis_.

THOMAS OSBORNE DAVIS, a famous Irish poet and journalist was born in Mallow, County Cork, October 14, 1814, and died in Dublin, September 15, 1845. His "Poems" and his "Literary and Historical Essays" were collected in 1846.

Farewell to Lochaber, farewell to my Jean,
Where heartsome wi' thee I ha'e mony days been;
For Lochaber no more, Lochaber no more,
We'll maybe return to Lochaber no more.

"Lochaber No More,"--_Allan Ramsay_.

ALLAN RAMSAY, an eminent Scottish poet, was born in Leadhills, Lanarkshire, October 15, 1686, and died in Edinburgh, January 7, 1758. His most noted works are: "Fables and Tales," "Tartana; or, The Plaid," "The Evergreen," "Fair Assembly," "The Tea-Table Miscellany," "Health," "Thirty Fables," and "Gentle Shepherd," his most celebrated work.

A man can't be too careful in the choice of his enemies.

"The Picture of Dorian Gray,"--_Oscar Wilde_.

OSCAR WILDE, a famous Irish poet and author, was born in Dublin, October 15, 1856, and died in 1900. Among his works are: "Poems," "The Picture of Dorian Gray," "The Happy Prince and Other Tales," etc.; also three noted plays: "Lady Windermere's Fan," "A Woman of No Importance," and "The Importance of Being Earnest."

Abstinence is many times very helpful to the end of religion.

--_Tillotson_.

JOHN TILLOTSON, a distinguished English archbishop, was born in Sowerby, Yorkshire, October 16, 1630, and died in London, November 22, 1694. His manuscript sermons were published after his death, with the "Rule of Faith," by Ralph Barker.

The fourteenth of February is a day sacred to St. Valentine! It
was a very odd notion, alluded to by Shakespeare, that on this day
birds begin to couple; hence, perhaps, arose the custom of sending
on this day letters containing professions of love and
affection.

--_Noah Webster_.

NOAH WEBSTER, the eminent American lexicographer and journalist, was born at West Hartford, Conn., October 16, 1758, and died in New Haven, May 28, 1843. He published "Sketches of American Policy," "Philosophical and Practical Grammar of the English Language," "A Compendious Dictionary of the English Language," and his _magnum opus_, "American Dictionary of the English Language."

In the Cross of Christ I glory,
Tow'ring o'er the wrecks of time;
All the lights of sacred story
Gathers round its head sublime.

"The Cross of Christ,"--_Sir John Bowring_.

SIR JOHN BOWRING, a famous English author and diplomat, was born in Exeter, October 17, 1792, and died there, November 23, 1872. Among his writings are: "Specimens of the Polish Poets," "Specimens of the Russian Poets," "Ancient Poetry and Romances of Spain," "Servian Popular Poetry," "The Flowery Scroll: A Chinese Novel," "The Kingdom and People of Siam," "Cheskian Anthology," and "A Visit to the Philippine Islands."

Kingsley's three masters were--in poetry, Tennyson; in social
philosophy, Carlyle; in things moral and spiritual, Frederick D.
Maurice; he was a much more passionate reformer than Tennyson; he
was far more genial and social than Carlyle. Not that he imitated
any of the three.

"Studies in Early Victorian Literature,"--_Frederic Harrison_.

FREDERIC HARRISON, a renowned English essayist, and publicist, was born in London, October 18, 1831. He wrote: "Order and Progress," "The Study of History," "Oliver Cromwell," "The Meaning of History," "Choice of Books," "Annals of an Old Manor House," "Chatham," "Life of Ruskin," "Memories and Thoughts," "Carlyle and the London Library," "My Alpine Jubilee," "National and Social Problems," "Among My Books," "The Positive Evolution of Religion," "Autobiographic Memoirs," "The German Peril," "On Society," "Jurisprudence and Conflict of Nations," "Obiter Scripta," "Novissima Verba," etc.

O sweet delusive Noon,
Which the morning climbs to find,
O moment sped too soon,
And morning left behind.

"Verses: Noon,"--_Helen Hunt_.

HELEN FISKE JACKSON ("H. H."), a noted American poet and miscellaneous writer, was born October 18, 1831, and died in 1885. Among her publications are: "Poems," "Bits of Talk," "Hetty's Strange History," "A Century of Dishonor," and "Ramona," her most famous work.

It is the common wonder of all men, how among so many million of
faces there should be none alike.

"Religio Medici," Part II, Sect. ii,--_Sir Thomas Browne_.

SIR THOMAS BROWNE, a celebrated English antiquary and physician, was born in London, October 19, 1605, and died in 1682. His principal work is "Religio Medici." After his death a collection of his fugitive pieces was published, followed by "Christian Morals," a collection of aphorisms.

The second day of July, 1776, will be the most memorable epocha in
the history of America. I am apt to believe that it will be
celebrated by succeeding generations as the great anniversary
festival. It ought to be commemorated as the day of deliverance,
by solemn acts of devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be
solemnized with pomp and parade, with shows, games, sports, guns,
bells, bonfires, and illuminations, from one end of this continent
to the other, from this time forward for evermore.

"Letter to Mrs. Adams," July 3, 1776.--_John Adams_.

JOHN ADAMS, an illustrious American statesman and publicist, and second President of the United States, was born at Braintree (now Quincy), Massachusetts, October 19, 1735, and died there, July 4, 1826. His most celebrated work was: "Defence of the Constitution and Government of the United States."

With spots of sunny openings, and with nooks
To lie and read in, sloping into brooks.

"The Story of Rimini,"--_Leigh Hunt_.

LEIGH HUNT, a famous English poet, critic, and essayist, was born in Southgate, October 19, 1784; and died at Putney, August 28, 1859. The most important of his works are: "The Story of Rimini," "Recollections of Byron," "A Legend of Florence," and "Sir Ralph Esher."

Most wondrous book! bright candle of the Lord!
Star of Eternity! The only star
By which the bark of man could navigate
The sea of life and gain the coast of bliss
Securely.

"The Course of Time," Book ii, Line 270,--_Robert Pollok_.

ROBERT POLLOK, a noted Scottish poet, was born at North Moorhouse, Renfrewshire, October 19, 1798, and died September 17, 1827. He published "Tales of the Covenanters," and his famous poem, "The Course of Time."

It is no easy task for anyone who has been studying his life and
works to set reasonable bounds to their reverence and enthusiasm,
for the man.

"Alfred the Great,"--Ch. 24,--_Thomas Hughes_.

THOMAS HUGHES, a celebrated English essayist and story-writer, was born at Donnington Priory, near Newbury, October 20, 1823, and died in 1896. He wrote: "Our Old Church: What Shall We Do With It?" "Rugby," "The Manliness of Christ," and his two celebrated works, "Tom Brown's School Days," and "Tom Brown at Oxford."

On their own merits modest men are dumb.

"Epilogue" to the "Heir at Law,"--_George Colman, the Younger_.

GEORGE COLMAN, THE YOUNGER, a famous English dramatist and humorous poet, was born in London (?), October 21, 1762, and died there October 17, 1836. He wrote: "Broad Grins," "Poetic Vagaries," etc. Among his comedies are: "The Iron Chest," "John Bull," and "The Heir-at-Law."

A noise like of a hidden brook
In the leafy month of June,
That to the sleeping woods all night
Singeth a quiet tune.

"The Ancient Mariner," Part V,--_Samuel Taylor Coleridge_.

SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE, a renowned English poet and philosopher, was born at Ottery, St. Mary, Devonshire, October 21, 1772, and died July 25, 1834. Among his famous works are: "Fall of Robespierre" (a play), "Moral and Political Lecture Delivered at Bristol," "Conciones ad Populum," "The Plot Discovered," "Poems on Various Subjects," "The Destiny of Nations," "Ode to the Departing Year," "Pears in Solitude," "Wallenstein," "Remorse, a Tragedy," "Biographia Literaria," "Aids to Reflection," etc. "The Ancient Mariner," was published in 1798, in a volume of "Lyrical Ballads," with Wordsworth.

If cruelty has its expiations and its remorses, generosity has its
chances and its turns of good fortune; as if Providence reserved
them for fitting occasions, that noble hearts may not be
discouraged.

--_Lamartine_.

ALPHONSE MARIE LOUIS DE LAMARTINE, an eminent French poet, was born at Milly, near Macon, October 21, 1790, and died at Passy, March 1, 1869. His greatest works were: "Poetic and Religious Harmonies," "Jocelyn," "Poetical Meditations," "New Poetical Meditations," "History of the Girondins," "The Fall of an Angel," "Confidences," "New Confidences," and the "History of the Restoration."

My country, 'tis of thee,
Sweet land of liberty,
Of thee I sing:
Land where my fathers died,
Land of the pilgrims' pride,
From every mountain-side
Let freedom ring.

--"America"--_Samuel Francis Smith_.

SAMUEL FRANCIS SMITH, a noted American clergyman and hymn-writer, was born in Boston, October 21, 1808, and died in 1895. He wrote: "Mythology and Early Greek History," "Knights and Sea Kings," "Poor Boys Who Became Great," and his famous hymn, "America."

Heart to conceive, the understanding to direct, or the hand to
execute.

"Junius" Letter XXXVII.

SIR PHILIP FRANCIS, a celebrated Irish-English public man and writer, was born in Dublin, October 22, 1740, and died in London, December 23, 1818. He won celebrity by the "Letters" signed "Junius," which appeared in the Public Advertiser of London, from 1768 to 1772.

Scatter the clouds that hide
The face of heaven, and show
Where sweet peace doth abide.
Where Truth and Beauty grow.

"Morning Hymn,"--_Robert Bridges_.

ROBERT BRIDGES, a renowned English author and poet, was born October 23, 1844. He has been poet-laureate of England since 1913. He has written: "Essay on Milton's Prosody," "Critical Essay on Keats," "The Growth of Love," "Eros and Psyche," "Prometheus the Firegiver," "Demeter, a Masque," "The Spirit of Man: An Anthology in English and French," "Ibant Obscuri," and some notable plays, among them: "Nero" (Parts I and II), "Palicio," "Ulysses," "Christian Captives," "Achilles in Scyros," "Humours of the Court," "Feast of Bacchus," etc.

... A Boswell and is not allowed to be, who has wild notions that
he is really a greater man than Johnson and occasionally
blasphemes against his idol, but who in the intervals is truly
Boswellian.

"Essays in English Literature,"--_Saintsbury_.

GEORGE EDWARD BATEMAN SAINTSBURY, an eminent English critic and literary historian, was born at Southampton, October 23, 1845. Among his numerous works are: "Primer of French Literature," "Short History of French Literature," "Marlborough," "Elizabethan Literature," "Essays in English Literature," "Essays on French Novelists," "Nineteenth Century Literature," "Sir Walter Scott," "A Short History of English Literature," "Matthew Arnold," "History of Criticism and Literary Taste in Europe," "History of English Prosody," "History of English Criticism," "The English Novel," "First Book of English Literature," "A History of the French Novel," Vol. 1 (1917) and Vol. 2 (1919).

The frivolous work of polished idleness.

"Dissertation on Ethical Philosophy, Remarks on Thomas
Brown,"--_Sir James Mackintosh_.

SIR JAMES MACKINTOSH, a distinguished Scottish lawyer, philosopher, and politician, was born at Aldourie, Inverness-shire, October 24, 1765, and died in London, May 30, 1832. Among his writings are: "History of England," "Life of Sir Thomas More," "Modern British Essayists," and "Dissertation on the Progress of Ethical Philosophy."

At the close of the day when the hamlet is still
And mortals the sweets of forgetfulness prove,
When naught but the torrent is heard on the hill,
And naught but the nightingale's song in the grove.

"The Hermit,"--_James Beattie_.

JAMES BEATTIE, a noted Scottish poet, was born in Laurencekirk, Kincardineshire, October 25, 1735, and died in Aberdeen, August 18, 1803. His writings include: "The Minstrel," "Dissertations Moral and Critical," "The Evidences of the Christian Religion Briefly and Plainly Stated," "The Elements of Moral Science," and his famous "Essay on Truth."

Wherever literature consoles sorrow or assuages pain; wherever it
brings gladness to eyes which fail with wakefulness and tears, and
ache for the dark house and the long sleep, there is exhibited in
its noblest form the immortal influence of Athens.

"On Mitford's History of Greece," (1824)--_Thomas B. Macaulay_.

THOMAS BABINGTON, LORD MACAULAY, a renowned English historian, essayist, poet and statesman, was born at Rothley Temple, Leicestershire, October 25, 1800, and died at Kensington, December 28, 1859. His most famous works are: "Lays of Ancient Rome," and the "History of England."

Behold! in Liberty's unclouded blaze
We lift our heads, a race of other days.

"Centennial Ode," Stanza 22,--_Charles Sprague_.

CHARLES SPRAGUE, a noted American poet, was born in Boston, October 26, 1791, and died there, January 22, 1875. He wrote: "The Family Meeting," "The Winged Worshippers," and "Curiosity." A collection of his works entitled "Poetical and Prose Writings," was published in 1841.

Whence are thy beams, O sun! thy everlasting light? Thou comest
forth, in thy awful beauty, the stars hide themselves in the sky;
the moon, cold and pale, sinks in the western wave. But thou,
thyself, movest alone.

"The Poems of Ossian," "Carthon Ossian's Address to the
Sun,"--_James Macpherson_.

JAMES MACPHERSON, a famous Scottish author, known as the author of the "Ossian" poems, was born at Ruthven, Inverness-shire, October 27, 1736, and died February 17, 1796. He published the "Poems of Ossian," consisting of "Fingal, an Epic Poem in Six Books" (1762), "Temora, an Epic Poem in Eight Books" (1764); he also wrote: "History of Great Britain" (1775).

No man is justified in doing evil on the ground of expediency.

"The Strenuous Life,"--_Theodore Roosevelt_.

THEODORE ROOSEVELT, a celebrated American politician and author, and twenty-sixth President of the United States, was born in New York City, October 27, 1858, and died January 6, 1918. He has written: "Essays on Practical Politics," "The Naval War of 1812," "Life of Thomas Hart Benton," "The Wilderness Hunter," "The Winning of the West," "Gouverneur Morris," "Ranch Life and Hunting Trail," "History of New York City," "Hunting Trips of a Ranchman," "The Outdoor Pastimes of an American Hunter," "African Game Trails," "Theodore Roosevelt: an Autobiography," "History as Literature," "Life History of African Big Game," "A Hunter Naturalist in the Brazilian Wilderness," "Fear God and Take Your Own Part," "A Book Lover's Holiday in the Open," "The Foes of Our Own Household," etc.

Life is mostly froth and bubble;
Two things stand like stone:--
Kindness in another's trouble,
Courage in our own.

Ye Weary Wayfarer. Finis Exoptatus.--_Adam Lindsay Gordon_
(Lionel Gordon).

ADAM LINDSAY GORDON (LIONEL GORDON), a noted Australian poet, was born October 28, 1833, and died June 24, 1870. His volumes of verse include: "Sea Spray and Smoke Drift," "Ashtaroth: A Dramatic Lyric," "Bush Ballads and Galloping Rhymes."

A man ought to read just as inclination leads him; for what he
reads as a task will do him little good.

"Life of Johnson," Vol. II, Chap. VI (1763),--_Boswell_.

JAMES BOSWELL, a famous Scottish biographer, was born in Edinburgh, October 29, 1740, and died in London, May 19, 1795. He wrote: "An Account of Corsica and Memoirs of Pascal Paoli," "Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides with Samuel Johnson," etc. His "Life of Dr. Samuel Johnson" is considered the most interesting biography that has ever been written.

N'est-on jamais tyran qu'avec un diadème?[1]

"Caius Gracchus,"--_Chénier_.

ANDRÉ MARIE DE CHÉNIER, a renowned French poet, was born at Constantinople, October 30, 1762, and died July 25, 1794. Among his writings were: "Liberty," "Invention," "Dithyrambic on the Tennis Play," and a beautiful elegy, "The Girl Captive."

Moan, O ye Autumn Winds!
Summer has fled,
The flowers have closed their tender leaves and die;
The lily's gracious head
All low must lie,
Because the gentle Summer now is dead.

--_Adelaide A. Procter_.

ADELAIDE ANNE PROCTER, an English poetess of great fame, was born at London, October 30, 1825, and died February 3, 1864. Her celebrated "Legends and Lyrics," went through many editions.

A studious decliner of honours and titles.

"Diary," Introduction,--_John Evelyn_.

JOHN EVELYN, a renowned English diarist, was born at Wotton, in Surrey, October 31, 1620, and died February 27, 1706. His writings are: "A Parallel of Ancient and Modern Architecture," "Sculptura, or the History and Art of Chalcography and Engraving on Copper," "Sylva," etc.; also his famous "Diary."

A thing of beauty is a joy forever;
Its loveliness increases; it will never
Pass into nothingness.

"Endymion," Book i,--_John Keats_.

JOHN KEATS, an eminent English poet, was born in London, October 31, 1795, and died in Rome, 1821. He wrote: "Endymion, a Poetic Romance," "Lamia, Isabella, the Eve of St. Agnes, and Other Poems," including, also, the unfinished epic, "Hyperion." "The Letters of John Keats to Fanny Brawne" appeared in 1878, and the "Letters to His Family and Friends" in 1891.

O Mother dear, Jerusalem,
When shall I come to Thee?
When shall my sorrows have an end?
Thy joys when shall I see?

--_William Cowper Prime_.

WILLIAM COWPER PRIME, a distinguished American man of letters, was born at Cambridge, N. Y., October 31, 1825, and died in 1905. He wrote: "Owl Creek Letters," "The Old House by the River," "Later Years," "Tent Life in the Holy Land," "Boat Life in Egypt and Nubia," "The Holy Cross," "Pottery and Porcelain of All Times and Nations," etc. He also wrote the famous hymn, "O, Mother Dear, Jerusalem."

FOOTNOTES:

[1] Is there no tyrant but the crowned one?

NOVEMBER

NOVEMBER

Every age has its pleasures, its style of wit, and its own ways.

"The Art of Poetry," Canto iii, Line 374,--_Boileau_.

NICOLAS BOILEAU-DESPRÉAUX, an eminent French critic and poet, was born in Paris, November 1, 1636, and died March 13, 1711. A few of his noted works are: "The Art of Poetry," "The Farewell of a Poet to the City of Paris," and his masterpiece, "The Reading Desk."

I am dying, Egypt, dying;--
Ebbs the crimson life-tide fast;
And the dark Plutonian shadows
Gather on the evening blast.
Let thine arms, O Queen, enfold me;
Hush thy sobs and bow thine ear;
Listen to the great heart-secrets
Thou, and thou alone, must hear.

"Antony to Cleopatra," St. I,--_William Haines Lytle_.

William Haines Lytle, a distinguished American general and poet, was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, November 2, 1826, and was killed at the Battle of Chickamauga, Tenn., September 20, 1863. His best-known poems are "Antony to Cleopatra," and "Jacqueline."

All men of whatever quality they be, who have done anything of
excellence, or which may properly resemble excellence, ought, if
they are persons of truth and honesty, to describe their life with
their own hand; but they ought not to attempt so fine an
enterprise till they have passed the age of forty.

--_Benvenuto Cellini_.

BENVENUTO CELLINI, a famous Italian sculptor, metal-worker, and writer of memoirs, was born in Florence, November 3, 1500, and died there, February 13, 1571. His "Autobiography" won for him an important place in letters.

So live, that when thy summons comes to join
The innumerable caravan which moves
To that mysterious realm where each shall take
His chamber in the silent halls of death,
Thou go not, like the quarry-slave at night,
Scourged to his dungeon, but sustained and soothed
By an unfaltering trust, approach thy grave
Like one that wraps the drapery of his couch
About him, and lies down to pleasant dreams.

"Thanatopsis,"--_William Cullen Bryant_.

WILLIAM CULLEN BRYANT, the celebrated American poet, was born in Cummington, Mass., November 3, 1794, and died in New York, June 12, 1878. His poetical works include: "The Yellow Violet," "Poems," "To a Water-fowl," "The Ages," "The West Wind," "June," "The Fountain and Other Poems," "Death of the Flowers," "The White-Footed Deer and Other Poems," "The Flood of Years," and his famous "Thanatopsis." He also wrote: "Letters of a Traveler," "Letters from the East," "Letters from Spain," etc.

Rock of Ages, cleft for me,
Let me hide myself in thee.

"Salvation through Christ,"--_A. M. Toplady_.

AUGUSTUS MONTAGUE TOPLADY, a distinguished Anglican divine, was born November 4, 1740, and died August 11, 1778. He is chiefly known as a writer of hymns and poems including: "Rock of Ages," and the collections entitled, "Poems on Sacred Subjects."

Beyond this vale of tears
There is a life above,
Unmeasured by the flight of years;
And all that life is love.

"The Issues of Life and Death,"--_James Montgomery_.