Chapter VII: Front Matter (7)

JAMES MONTGOMERY, a noted English poet and hymn-writer, was born at Irvine, Ayrshire, Scotland, November 4, 1771, and died at Sheffield, England, April 30, 1854. He wrote: "The World Before the Flood," "The West Indies," "Greenland," "Original Hymns," "Prose by a Poet," etc.

Mensch, was du thust, bedenk das End,
Das wird die hochst Weisheit genennt.[1]

--_Hans Sachs_.

HANS SACHS, the famous German meistersinger, was born at Nuremberg, November 5, 1494, and died January 19 or 20, 1576. A complete collection of his works has never been published.

Make no man your idol; for the best man must have faults, and his
faults will usually become yours in addition to your own. This is
as true in art as in morals.

"Lectures on Art and Poems,"--_Washington Allston_.

WASHINGTON ALLSTON, a renowned American painter, poet, and romancer, was born at Waccamaw, S. C., November 5, 1779, and died at Cambridge, Mass., July 9, 1843. He wrote: "The Sylph of the Seasons and Other Poems," "Monaldi," "Lectures on Art and Poems," etc.

Laugh and the world laughs with you,
Weep, and you weep alone;
For this brave old earth must borrow its mirth
But has trouble enough of its own.

"The Way of the World,"--_Ella Wheeler Wilcox_.

ELLA WHEELER WILCOX, a popular American poet, was born at Johnstown Centre, Wis., November 5, 1845, and died October 31, 1919. Among her volumes are: "Maurine," "Poems of Passion," "Poems of Pleasure," etc. She is best known for her poem, "The Way of the World."

As good be out of the world as out of the fashion.

"Love's Last Shift," Act ii.--_Colley Cibber_.

COLLEY CIBBER, a noted English dramatist, was born in London, November 6, 1671, and died there, December 12, 1757. Among his dramatic works are: "Love's Last Shift," "She Would and She Would Not," "The Careless Husband," and "Love Makes a Man."

"Innocently to amuse the imagination in this dream of life is
wisdom." So wrote Oliver Goldsmith; and surely among those who
have earned the world's gratitude by this ministration he must be
accorded a conspicuous place.

"Life of Goldsmith,"--_William Black_.

WILLIAM BLACK, a celebrated Scottish novelist, was born November 6, 1841, and died in 1898. Among his popular novels are: "Love or Marriage," "In Silk Attire," "A Daughter of Heth," "Madcap Violet," "Three Feathers," "Yolande," "The Strange Adventures of a Phaeton," "Macleod of Dare," "White Heather," "Donald Ross of Heimra," "Highland Cousins," "Wild Eelin," and his most famous work, "A Princess of Thule." He also wrote a "Life of Goldsmith."

The great deep ground out of which large historical studies may
grow is the ethical ground,--the simple ethical necessity for the
perfecting, first, of man as man, and secondly, of man as a member
of society; or in other words, the necessity for the development
of humanity on one hand and society on the other.

--_Andrew Dickson White_.

ANDREW DICKSON WHITE, a distinguished American scholar and diplomat, was born at Homer, N. Y., November 7, 1832, and died in 1918. He has written: "Outlines of Lectures on Mediæval and Modern History," "The Plan of Organization for Cornell University," "The New Education," "Report on Co-Education of the Sexes," "The Warfare of Science," "Seven Great Statesmen in the Warfare of Humanity with Unreason," "The Work of Benjamin Hale," "Lecture on the Problem of High Crime in the United States," etc.

The man who is so conscious of the rectitude of his intention as
to be willing to open his bosom to the inspection of the world is
in possession of one of the strongest pillars of a decided
character. The course of such a man will be firm and steady,
because he has nothing to fear from the world, and is sure of the
approbation and support of heaven.

--_Wirt_.

WILLIAM WIRT, a renowned American lawyer and author, was born at Bladensburg, Md., November 8, 1772, and died at Washington, D. C., February 18, 1834. He wrote: "Letters of a British Spy," "The Rainbow," and his best known work, "Sketches of the Life and Character of Patrick Henry."

How little know they life's divinest bliss,
That know not to possess and yet refrain!
Let the young Psyche roam, a fleeting kiss;
Grasp it--a few poor grains of dust remain.

--_Owen Meredith_.

EDWARD ROBERT BULWER, EARL OF LYTTON ("OWEN MEREDITH"), an English poet and novelist of great fame, was born in London, November 8, 1831, and died in Paris, November 24, 1891. His writings include: "The Wanderer," "Clytemnestra, the Earl's Return, and Other Poems," "Fables in Song," "Glenaveril," "King Poppy," "The Ring of Amasis," and his famous novel in verse, "Lucile."

Such and so various are the tastes of men.

"Pleasures of the Imagination," Book iii, Line 567.--_Mark
Akenside_.

MARK AKENSIDE, a noted English poet, was born at Newcastle-on-Tyne, November 9, 1721, and died in London, June 23, 1770. His most famous work, "Pleasures of the Imagination," won for him great fame.

Emotional effusions are like licorice root. When you take your
first suck at it, it doesn't seem so bad but it leaves a very bad
taste in the mouth afterward.

--_Turgenev_.

IVAN SERGEYEVITCH TURGENEV, a celebrated Russian novelist, was born in Orel, November 9, 1818, and died in Bougival, near Paris, September 3, 1883. Among his numerous works may be mentioned: "Improvidence," "Poems," "The Conversation," "Two Friends," "Quiet Life," "First Love," "On the Eve," "Hamlet and Don Quixote," "Fathers and Children," "Visions," "The Brigadier," "A Strange Tale," "The Watch," "Some One Knocks," "The Dream," "Song of Triumphant Love," "The Old Portraits," "A House of Gentlefolk," "Poems in Prose," etc., etc.

Every great book is an action, and every great action is a book.

--_Luther_.

MARTIN LUTHER, the illustrious church reformer, was born at Eisleben, in Saxony, November 10, 1483, and died there, February 18, 1546. Among his works may be mentioned: "The Babylonian Captivity of the Church," "The Slave Will," "Letters," "Table Talk," and the treatise, "Against Henry, King of England."

Ill fares the land, to hastening ills a prey,
Where wealth accumulates, and men decay.
Princes and lords may flourish or may fade,--
A breath can make them, as a breath has made;
But a bold peasantry, their country's pride,
When once destroy'd, can never be supplied.

"The Deserted Village," Line 51,--_Oliver Goldsmith_.

OLIVER GOLDSMITH, the renowned English-Irish poet, novelist, and dramatist, was born in Pallas, County Longford, Ireland, November 10, 1728, and died at London, April 4, 1774. Among his celebrated works may be mentioned: "The Traveller," "The Citizen of the World," "The Good-Natured Man," "She Stoops to Conquer," "The Deserted Village," and "The Vicar of Wakefield."

Against stupidity the very gods
Themselves contend in vain.

"The Maid of Orleans," Act III, Sc. 6,--_Schiller_.

JOHANN CHRISTOPH FRIEDRICH VON SCHILLER, the great German poet and dramatist, was born in Marbach on the Neckar, November 10, 1759, and died at Weimar, May 9, 1805. His greatest works are: "Inquiry into the Connection Between the Animal and Spiritual Nature of Man," "Don Carlos," "The Robbers," "Fiesco," "History of the Revolt of the Netherlands from Spanish Rule," "History of the Thirty Years' War," "The Ghost Seer," "Love and Intrigue," "The Piccolomini," "Maria Stuart," "The Bride of Messina," "The Maid of Orleans," "William Tell," etc.

Where did you come from, baby dear?
Out of the everywhere into the here.

"Baby" (Song in "At the Back of the North Wind")--_George
Macdonald_.

GEORGE MACDONALD, a famous Scottish poet and novelist, was born at Huntley, November 10, 1824, and died in 1905. Besides his numerous poems, he has written: "Annals of a Quiet Neighborhood," "Robert Falconer," "David Elginbrod," "Wilfred Cumbermede," "Malcolm," "Sir Gibbie," "What's Mine's Mine," "Lilith," "Unspoken Sermons"; also, "The Princess and the Goblin," "At the Back of the North Wind," etc.

I saw the lightning's gleaming rod
Reach forth and write upon the sky
The awful autograph of God.

"The Ship in the Desert,"--_Cincinnatus Heine Miller_.

CINCINNATUS HEINE MILLER (JOAQUIN MILLER), a noted American poet, was born in Wabash District, Ind., November 10, 1841, and died in 1912. Among his works are: "The Baroness of New York," "The Danites," "Songs of the Soul," "Songs of Mexican Seas," "Collected Poems," "'49, or the Gold Seekers of the Sierras," etc.

Men have dulled their eyes with sin,
And dimmed the light of heaven with doubt,
And built their temple-walls to shut thee in,
And framed their iron creeds to shut thee out.

"God of the Open Air,"--_Henry Van Dyke_.

HENRY VAN DYKE, a distinguished Presbyterian clergyman and diplomat, was born in Germantown, Pennsylvania, November 10, 1852. Among his numerous works are: "The Story of the Psalms," "The Poetry of Tennyson," "The Christ Child in Art," "The Friendly Year," "The Ruling Passion," "The Blue Flower," "The Open Door," "Select Poems of Tennyson," "Music and Other Poems," "Out of Doors in the Holy Land," "The Spirit of America," "The Story of the Other Wise Man," "Poems in War Times," "The Red Flower," "Collected Poems," "The Sad Shepherd," "The Mansion," "The Unknown Quantity," "The Grand Canyon and Other Poems," "The Lost Boy," etc.

The rattling, battering Irishman,
The stamping, ramping, swaggering, staggering, lathering, swash of
an Irishman.

The Irishman and the Lady, st. I, 3,--_William Maginn_.

WILLIAM MAGINN, a famous Irish scholar, poet and journalist, was born at Cork, November 11, 1793, and died at Walton on Thames, August 20, 1842. With Hugh Fraser, he founded _Fraser's Magazine_ in 1830. A partial collection of his writings is found in "Miscellanies" (1855-57), edited by R. Shelton Mackenzie. His best stories are "Bob Burke's Duel with Ensign Brady" and "The City of Demons."

As all the perfumes of the vanished day
Rise from the earth still moistened with the dew
So from my chastened soul beneath thy ray
Old love is born anew.

"Remembrance," translated by George Murray,--_Alfred de Musset_.

LOUIS CHARLES ALFRED DE MUSSET, one of the greatest of French poets, was born in Paris, November 11, 1810, and died there, May 1, 1857. Among his writings are: "Tales of Spain and Italy," "A Night of May," "A Night of December," "A Night of August," "A Night of October," "Letter to Lamartine," "Hope in God," "Nights," "Emmeline," "Titian's Son," "Frederick and Bernerette," "A Play in an Arm-Chair," etc.

The Angel of Death is the invisible Angel of Life.

"A Study of Death,"--_Henry Mills Alden_.

HENRY MILLS ALDEN, a celebrated American editor, poet, and prose-writer, was born at Mt. Tabor, Vt., November 11, 1836, and died October 7, 1919. Among his works are: "God in His World," "The Ancient Lay of Sorrow," "A Study of Death," "Magazine Writing and the New Literature," and "Harper's Pictorial History of the Civil War" (with A. H. Guernsey).

This is my youth,--its hopes and dreams
How strange and shadowy it all seems
After these many years!
Turning the pages idly, so,
I look with smiles upon the woe,
Upon the joy, with tears!

--_Aldrich_.

THOMAS BAILEY ALDRICH, a renowned American poet, author, and essayist, was born in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, November 11, 1836, and died in 1907. His works include: "Marjorie Daw and Other People," "Prudence Palfrey," "Complete Poems," "The Queen of Sheba," "The Stillwater Tragedy," "The Story of a Bad Boy," etc.

I preached as never sure to preach again,
And as a dying man to dying men.

"Love breathing Thanks and Praise,"--_Richard Baxter_.

RICHARD BAXTER, an eminent English divine and author, was born at Rowton, Shropshire, November 12, 1615, and died in London, December 8, 1691. His literary fame rests chiefly on his celebrated work, "The Saints' Everlasting Rest."

Hail, Columbia! happy land!
Hail, ye heroes! heaven-born band!
Who fought and bled in Freedom's cause,
Who fought and bled in Freedom's cause,
And when the storm of war was gone,
Enjoyed the peace your valor won.
Let independence be our boast,
Ever mindful what it cost;
Ever grateful for the prize,
Let its altar reach the skies!

"Hail, Columbia,"--_Joseph Hopkinson_.

JOSEPH HOPKINSON, a noted American jurist and composer of the famous patriotic song, "Hail Columbia," was born at Philadelphia, November 12, 1770, and died there, January 15, 1842.

My faith looks up to Thee,
Thou Lamb of Calvary,
Saviour divine!
Now hear me while I pray;
Take all my guilt away;
Oh, let me from this day
Be wholly Thine!

"My Faith Looks Up To Thee,"--_Ray Palmer_.

RAY PALMER, a distinguished American clergyman, and hymn-writer, was born at Little Compton, R. I., November 12, 1808, and died at Newark, N. J., March 29, 1887. He published: "Spiritual Improvement," "Hymns and Sacred Pieces," "Hymns of My Holy Hours," etc. His best known hymn is, "My Faith Looks up to Thee," which has been translated into twenty languages.

When I am here, I do not fast on Saturday; when at Rome, I do fast
on Saturday.

"Epistle 36, To Casulanus,"--_Saint Augustine_.

SAINT AUGUSTINE, the most famous of the Latin fathers of the Church, and of patristic writers, was born in Tagasta, Numidia, November 13, 354, and died at Hippo, August 28, 430. His most noted works are: "City of God," "Grace of Christ," "Original Sin," and his "Confessions."

Viking gains are deep wounds, and right well they adorn if they stand
on the brow or the breast.
Let them bleed!

--_Tegnér_.

ESAIAS TEGNÉR, an illustrious Swedish poet, was born at Kyrkerud, Wermland, Sweden, November 13, 1782, and died at Wexiö, November 2, 1846. He wrote: "Frithiof's Saga" (epic ballads), "Axel," "Nattvärdsbarned," and his celebrated poem, "Svea," crowned by the Swedish Academy.

To be honest, to be kind, to earn a little, and to spend a little
less, to make upon the whole a family happier for his presence, to
renounce when that shall be necessary and not to be embittered, to
keep a few friends, but these without capitulation; above all, on
the same condition, to keep friends with himself, here is a task
for all a man has of fortitude and delicacy.

--_Robert Louis Stevenson_.

ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON, a Scotch novelist, poet and essayist, of great renown, was born in Edinburgh, November 13, 1850, and died at Apia, Samoa, December 3, 1894. Among his publications are: "Familiar Studies of Men and Books," "An Inland Voyage," "Edinburgh: Picturesque Notes," "New Arabian Nights," "Treasure Island," "Prince Otto," "A Child's Garden of Verses," "Kidnapped," "The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde," "Underwoods," "Memoirs and Portraits," "Ballads," "The Merry Men and Other Tales," "The Black Arrow," "The Ebb Tide," "A Foot-Note to History: Eight Years of Trouble in Samoa," "David Balfour," "Island Nights' Entertainments," "Essays and Criticisms," etc.

"Comedies and novels end with the wedding of the hero," he says in
his autobiography; "for only the struggle, not the acquired
position, lends itself to their treatment."

--_Adam Gottlob Oehlenschläger_.

ADAM GOTTLOB OEHLENSCHLÄGER, a noted Danish poet, was born near Copenhagen, November 14, 1779, and died January 20, 1850. He has written: "The Life of Christ Annually Repeated in Nature," "Poems," "First Song of the Edda," "Palnatoke," "A Journey to Langeland," "Earl Hakon," "Axel and Valborg," "The Little Shepherd Boy," "Socrates," "Hamlet," etc.

Mutual love brings mutual delight,--
Brings beauty, life;--for love is life, hate, death.

"The Dying Raven,"--_Richard Henry Dana_.

RICHARD HENRY DANA (THE ELDER), an American poet and essayist of great fame, was born at Cambridge, Massachusetts, November 15, 1787, and died February 2, 1879. His poetical works include: "The Dying Raven," "The Buccaneers," "The Change of Home," etc. Among his short stories are: "Edward and Mary," and "Paul Fenton."

The great artist ... is he who guides us into the region of his
own thoughts, into the palaces and fields of his own imagination,
and while there, speaks to us the language of the gods.

--_Charles Blanc_.

CHARLES BLANC, a distinguished French art critic, was born November 15, 1813, and died in 1882. He wrote: "A History of Painters of All Schools," "The Treasure of Curiosity," "Grammar of the Arts of Design," "The Dutch School of Painters," "Grammar of Painting and Engraving," etc.

High office is like a pyramid; only two kinds of animals reach the
summit--reptiles and eagles.

--_D'Alembert_.

JEAN BAPTISTE LE ROND D'ALEMBERT, an eminent French philosopher, mathematician and man of letters, was born in Paris, November 16, 1717, and died there, October 9, 1783. Among his works are: "Literary and Philosophical Miscellanies," "Elements of Philosophy," etc. He also wrote the "Preliminary Discourse," or introduction to the great French Encyclopedia.

In seeking to represent the working classes, and in standing up
for their rights and liberties, I hold that I am also defending
the rights and liberties of the middle and richer classes of
society.

From the "Speech on the Corn Laws" (1843),--_John Bright_.

JOHN BRIGHT, a distinguished English statesman, was born near Rochdale, in Lancashire, November 16, 1811, and died March 27, 1889. His "Public Letters," appeared in 1885, and his speeches and addresses were published in the years 1867-69-79.

If my early friend, Dr. Thirlwall's "History of Greece," had
appeared a few years sooner, I should probably never had conceived
the design of the present work at all; I should certainly not have
been prompted to the task by any deficiencies, and as those which
I felt and regretted in Mitford. The comparison of the two authors
affords indeed a striking proof of the progress of sound and
enlarged views respecting the ancient world during the present
generation. Having studied of course the same evidence as Dr.
Thirlwall, I am better enabled than others to bear testimony to
the learning, the sagacity, and the candour which pervades his
excellent work.

"A History of Greece,"--_George Grote_.

GEORGE GROTE, a famous English historian, was born in Clay Hill, Kent, November 17, 1794, and died in London, June 18, 1871. He is best known by his celebrated work, "History of Greece."

The Law is the true embodiment
Of everything that's excellent.
It has no kind of fault or flaw,
And I, my Lords, embody the Law.

"Lord Chancellor's Song,"--_Gilbert_.

WILLIAM SCHWENCK GILBERT, a celebrated English librettist and comic-poet and prose-writer, was born in London, November 18, 1836, and died in 1911. He wrote: "The Bab Ballads," and several famous comic operas, among which are: "Pinafore," "Patience," "The Mikado," "Ruddygore," and "The Pirates of Penzance."

And so I penned
It down, until at last it came to be,
For length and breadth, the bigness which you see.

"Pilgrim's Progress: Apology for his book,"--_John Bunyan_.

JOHN BUNYAN, a renowned English author, was born in Elstow, Bedford, November 19 (?), 1628, and died in London, August 31, 1688. He wrote numerous works, the most famous being: "The Pilgrim's Progress," "Grace Abounding," and the "Holy War."

What is love, It is nature's treasure,
'Tis the storehouse of her joys;
'Tis the highest heaven of pleasure,
'Tis a bliss which never cloys.

"The Revenge," Act I, Sc. 2,--_Thomas Chatterton_.

THOMAS CHATTERTON, the famous young English poet, was born in Bristol, November 20, 1752, and died at London, August 25, 1770. He wrote numerous poems and plays, but he is best remembered as the author of the so-called "Rowley Poems," which were collected and published by T. Tyrwhitt in 1777.

The first who was king was a fortunate soldier:
Who serves his country well has no need of ancestors.

"Mérope," Act I, Sc. 3,--_Voltaire_.

FRANÇOIS MARIE AROUET DE VOLTAIRE, the illustrious French writer, was born in Paris, November 21, 1694, and died there, May 30, 1778. Among his famous works are: "Artemire," "Mariamne," "Letters on the English," "History of Charles XII," "Philosophical Letters," "The Temple of Taste," "Elements of Newton's Philosophy," "The Maid of Orleans," "The Prodigal Son," "Mérope," "Discourse on Man," "Poem on Natural Law," "Candide," "Semiramis," "Amélie," "Republican Ideas," "Tales," "Catechism of the Honest Man," "Irene," "Tancrède," "Socrates," "Century of Louis XV," "The Bible at Last Explained," "Zaïre," "The Ingenuous One," etc., etc.

Touch us gently, Time!
Let us glide adown thy stream
Gently,--as we sometimes glide
Through a quiet dream.

"Touch Us Gently, Time,"--_Bryan W. Procter_.

BRYAN WALLER PROCTER, an eminent English poet and man of letters, was born in Wiltshire, November 21, 1787, and died at London, October 4, 1874. Among his works are: "A Sicilian Story," "Dramatic Scenes and Other Poems," "Mirandola" (a tragedy), "English Songs," "The Flood of Thessaly," "Essays and Tales," "Charles Lamb: a Memoir," and the "Life of Edmund Kean."

There are certain people whose biographies ought to be long; who
could learn too much concerning Lamb.

"Adventures in Criticism,"--_A. T. Quiller-Couch_.

SIR A. T. QUILLER-COUCH, a celebrated English writer of fiction, was born in Cornwall, November 21, 1863. He has written: "The Astonishing History of Troy Town," "Dead man's Rock," "The Splendid Spur," "The Blue Pavilions," "The Delectable Duchy," "Wandering Heath," "Adventures in Criticism," "Poems and Ballads," "The Ship of Stars," "The Westcotes," "The White Wolf," "From a Cornish Window," "Sir John Constantine," "True Tilda," "Brother Copas," "The Vigil of Venus and Other Poems," "Lady Good-for-Nothing," "News from the Duchy," "The Oxford Book of Ballads," "Poison Island," "Corporal Sam and Other Stories," "Nicky-Nan Reservist," "On the Art of Writing," "Hocken and Hunken," etc.

He who loves
God and his law must hate the foes of God.

"Spanish Gypsy, Bk. I,"--_George Eliot_.

MARY ANN EVANS ("GEORGE ELIOT"), the great English novelist, was born at Arbury Farm, Chilvers Coton, Warwickshire, November 22, 1819, and died in London, December 22, 1880. Among her many works are: "Scenes of Clerical Life," "Adam Bede," "The Mill on the Floss," "Romola," "The Spanish Gypsy," "Agatha" (a poem), "Felix Holt," "Daniel Deronda," "Middlemarch," "Jubal and Other Poems," etc., etc.

Peel was, undoubtedly, as Lord Beaconsfield has said, a great
member of Parliament; but he was surely much more than that, he
was a great statesman, a great Minister. He must always rank among
the foremost of English Ministers. The proud boast of Heine is
that, if any one names the best half-dozen of German poets his
name must be brought among them. If we name the best half-dozen of
modern English Prime Ministers, we can hardly fail to bring in the
name of Peel.

"Life of Sir Robert Peel,"--_Justin McCarthy_.

JUSTIN MCCARTHY, an eminent Irish politician, journalist, historian, novelist and miscellaneous writer, was born at Cork, November 22, 1830, and died April 24, 1912. He has written: "A History of Our Own Times," "History of the Four Georges," "A Fair Saxon," "Lady Judith," "The Story of Gladstone's Life," "Modern England," "The Reign of Queen Anne," "Reminiscences," "The Story of an Irishman," "Irish Recollections," etc. Also the biographies of Sir Robert Peel, Pope Leo XIII, and W. E. Gladstone.

Spinoza was truly, what Voltaire has with rather less justice
called Clark, a reasoning machine.

--_Hallam_ on _Spinoza_.

BENEDICT SPINOZA, a renowned philosopher, was born at Amsterdam, November 23, 1632, and died at The Hague, February 21, 1677. He wrote: "Tractate on God and Man and Man's Felicity," "Theologico-Political Tractate," and his most famous work, "Ethics Demonstrated Geometrically."

Courtship consists in a number of quiet attentions, not so pointed
as to alarm, nor so vague as not to be understood.

--_Laurence Sterne_.

LAURENCE STERNE, an English novelist of great fame, was born at Clonmel, Ireland, November 24, 1713, and died in London, March 18, 1768. His most noted works are: "Tristram Shandy," "The Sermons of Mr. Yorick," and "A Sentimental Journey Through France and Italy."

Since the seventeenth century, we have had no poet of the highest
order, though Shelley, had he lived, would perhaps have become
one. He had something of that burning passion, that sacred fire,
which kindles the soul, as though it came fresh from the altar of
the gods. But he was cut off in his early prime, when his splendid
genius was still in its dawn.

"History of Civilization in England," Vol. II, p. 397
(1861),--_Henry Thomas Buckle_.

HENRY THOMAS BUCKLE, a distinguished English historian, was born in Lee, Kent, November 24, 1821, and died in Damascus, May 29, 1862. He is best known for his great work, "The History of Civilization in England" (2 vols. 1857-61). His "Miscellaneous and Posthumous Works" were edited by Helen Taylor in 1872, and a new edition by Grant Allen in 1880.

How oft my guardian angel gently cried,
"Soul, from thy casement look, and thou shalt see
How he persists to knock and wait for thee!"
And, O! how often to that voice of sorrow,
"To-morrow we will open," I replied,
And when the morrow came, I answered still,
"To-morrow."

"To-morrow," Longfellow's Trans. L. 9,--_Lope de Vega_.

LOPE DE VEGA, "TOME BURGUILLOS," a renowned Spanish dramatist, was born in Madrid, November 25, 1562, and died August 21, 1635. Among his many works may be mentioned: "Jerusalem Conquered," "Angelica," "King and Peasant," "Circe," "Andromeda," "Philomela," "Orpheus," "Proserpine," "San Isidro," "The Dragon," "The Maid of Almudena," "Journey Through My Country," besides numerous sonnets, etc.

Oh for a lodge in some vast wilderness,
Some boundless contiguity of shade,
Where rumour of oppression and deceit,
Of unsuccessful or successful war,
Might never reach me more.

"The Task," Book ii: "The Timepiece," Line i,--_William Cowper_.

WILLIAM COWPER, an illustrious English poet, was born in Great Berkhamstead, Hertfordshire, November 26, 1731, and died at East Dereham, Norfolk, April 25, 1800. His works include: "Homer's Iliad and Odyssey," "The Task," "Poems" (1798), etc.

What shall I do with all the days and hours
That must be counted ere I see thy face?
How shall I charm the interval that lowers
Between this time and that sweet time of grace?

"Absence,"--_Frances Anne Kemble_.

FRANCES ANNE KEMBLE, a noted English actress, was born in London, November 27, 1809, and died there, January 16, 1893. She wrote: "Recollections of a Girlhood," "Recollections of Later Life," "Journal of a Residence on a Georgia Plantation," and her "Journal."

I was angry with my friend;
I told my wrath, my wrath did end.
I was angry with my foe;
I told it not, my wrath did grow.

"Christian Forbearance,"--_Wm. Blake_.

WILLIAM BLAKE, a celebrated English poet and artist, was born in London, November 28, 1757, and died there, August 12, 1827. He has published: "Poetical Sketches," "Songs of Innocence," "Songs of Experience," etc. His "Prophetic Books," including: "Book of Thel," "Marriage of Heaven and Hell," "Book of Urizen," "Book of Los," "Book of Ahania," "Jerusalem," and "Milton," are famous. His greatest artistic work is in "Illustrations to the Book of Job."

What is philosophy? It is something that lightens up, that makes
bright.

--_Victor Cousin_.

VICTOR COUSIN, a distinguished French philosopher, was born in Paris, November 28, 1792, and died at Cannes, January 2, 1867. He wrote: "Mme. de Longueville," "Mme. de Hautefort," "Jacqueline Pascal," "French Society in the 17th Century," "History of Philosophy," etc. His translation of "Plato," also won for him great fame.

Of gifts, there seems none more becoming to offer a friend than a
beautiful book.

"Concord Days" (June Books),--_Amos Bronson Alcott_.

AMOS BRONSON ALCOTT, a noted American philosophical writer, and educator, was born at Wolcott, Conn., November 29, 1799, and died at Boston, March 4, 1888. His principal works are: "Orphic Sayings," "Tablets," "Concord Days," "Table-Talk," "Sonnets and Canzonets," "Ralph Waldo Emerson: His Character and Genius," "New Connecticut," etc.

What the Puritans gave the world was not thought but action.

Speech, December 21, 1855,--_Wendell Phillips_.

WENDELL PHILLIPS, an American social and political reformer of great fame, was born at Boston, November 29, 1811, and died there, February 2, 1884. Among his writings are: "Can Abolitionists Vote or Take Office?" "The Constitution a Pro-Slavery Compact," "Defense of the Anti-Slavery Movement," "Review of Webster's Speech of March 7th," "Speeches, Lectures, and Letters," "Addresses," etc.

They are never alone that are accompanied with noble thoughts.

"Arcadia," Book I,--_Sir Philip Sidney_.

SIR PHILIP SIDNEY, a famous English courtier and man of letters, was born at Penshurst in Kent, November 30, 1554, and died at Arnheim, October 17, 1586. His best known works are: "Arcadia," "Sonnets," "Apology for Poetry," and a versified translation of the "Psalms."

I've often wish'd that I had clear,
For life, six hundred pounds a year;
A handsome house to lodge a friend;
A river at my garden's end;
A terrace walk, and half a rood
Of land set out to plant a wood.

"Imitation of Horace," Book ii, Sat. 6,--_Jonathan Swift_.

JONATHAN SWIFT, the celebrated English prose satirist, was born in Dublin, November 30, 1667, and died there, October 19, 1745. He wrote: "Advice to the October Club," "Tale of a Tub," "Meditation upon a Broomstick," "Battle of the Books," "Project for the Advancement of Religion," "Public Spirit of the Whigs," "A Modest Proposal," "Drapier's Letters," "Remarks on the Barrier Treaty," "Sentiments of a Church of England Man," and "Gulliver's Travels," his most important work.

Forth we went, a gallant band--
Youth, Love, Gold and Pleasure.

"Last Song,"--_Mark Lemon_.

MARK LEMON, a noted English playwright, was born in London, November 30, 1809, and died at Crawley in Sussex, May 23, 1870. Among his comedies and dramas are: "Hearts Are Trumps," "Lost and Won," "Arnold of Winkelried," "Domestic Economy," etc.

There are two times in a man's life when he should not speculate;
when he can't afford it, and when he can.

--_Mark Twain_.

SAMUEL LANGHORNE CLEMENS, ("MARK TWAIN"), the distinguished American humorist, was born in Missouri, November 30, 1835, and died in 1910. He has written: "The Innocents Abroad," "Huckleberry Finn," "A Tramp Abroad," "The Jumping Frog," "Old Times on the Mississippi," "Roughing It," "Tom Sawyer," "The Prince and the Pauper," "The Gilded Age," "Pudd'nhead Wilson," "Following the Equator," "A Double-Barreled Detective Story," etc.

FOOTNOTES:

[1]

Man, think of thine end, whatever thou doest,
That will be counted as wisdom the truest.

DECEMBER

DECEMBER

What is the greatest bliss
That the tongue o' man can name?
'Tis to woo a bonnie lassie
When the kye comes hame!

"When the Kye Comes Hame," st. 2,--_James Hogg_.

JAMES HOGG, a famous Scotch pastoral poet, was born in Ettrick, December 1, 1770, and died at Eltrive Lake, November 21, 1835. He wrote: "Poems and Songs," "The Mountain Bard," "Scottish Pastorals," and "The Queen's Wake," his most famous work.

In the soul of Keats, if ever in a human soul at all, there was a
portion of the real poetic essence--the real faculty divine....
His most obvious characteristic, I repeat, is the universality of
his sensuousness. And this it is, added to his exquisite mastery
in language and verse, that makes it such a luxury to read him.

"Wordsworth, Shelley and Keats,"--_David Masson_.

DAVID MASSON, a noted Scottish author, was born at Aberdeen, December 2, 1822, and died in 1907. He wrote: "The Life of Milton in connection with the History of His Time," "Essays, Biographical and Critical," "British Novelists," "Recent British Philosophy," "Carlyle Personally and His Writings," "Edinburgh Sketches and Memories," etc.

Strange to the world he wore a bashful look,
The fields his study, nature was his book.

"The Farmer's Boy: Spring," L. 31,--_Bloomfield_.

ROBERT BLOOMFIELD, a celebrated English poet, was born at Honington, December 3, 1766, and died in Shefford, in 1823. Among his poetical pieces are: "The Milk Maid," "The Sailor's Return," and his most famous poetical work, "The Farmer's Boy."

In books lies the soul of the whole Past Time; the articulate audible
voice of the Past, when the body and material substance of it has
altogether vanished like a dream.

"Heroes and Hero-Worship: The Hero as a Man of Letters,"--_Thomas
Carlyle_.

THOMAS CARLYLE, a Scotch biographer, historian, and miscellaneous writer of great fame, was born at Ecclefechan, December 4, 1795, and died in London, February 4, 1881. Among his celebrated works may be mentioned: "Life of Schiller," "Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship," a translation; "The French Revolution," "Life and Letters of Oliver Cromwell," "German Romance," "Heroes, Hero-Worship, and the Heroic in History," "Chartism," "Past and Present," "Life of Sterling," "Friedrich II," "Latter-Day Pamphlets," "Inaugural Address at Edinburgh," etc.

Give me the lowest place: or if for me
That lowest place too high, make one more low
Where I may sit and see
My God, and love Thee so.

"The Lowest Place,"--_Christina G. Rossetti_.

CHRISTINA GEORGINA ROSSETTI, a renowned English poetess, was born in London, December 5, 1830, and died December 29, 1894. Among her works are: "The Prince's Progress," "Sing-Song: A Nursery Rhyme Book," "Seek and Find," "Speaking Likenesses," "A Pageant, and Other Poems," "Letter and Spirit," "Annus Domini: A Prayer for Each Day in the Year," "Verses," and her most celebrated work, "Goblin Market."

Right as a trivet.

"The Ingoldsby Legends, Auto-da-fe,"--_R. H. Barham_.

RICHARD HARRIS BARHAM, a famous English poet, was born in Canterbury, December 6, 1788, and died in London, June 17, 1845. Under the nom de plume of "Thomas Ingoldsby," he wrote the celebrated "Ingoldsby Legends." He also wrote: "Life of Theodore Hook," "My Cousin Nicholas," etc.

What is worth doing is worth doing well; and with a little more
trouble at first, much trouble afterwards may be avoided.

Max Müller, "Letter to John Bellows," July 18, 1866, from
"Life" (by His Wife) I. XV,--_Max Müller_.

FRIEDRICH MAX MÜLLER, an eminent German-English Sanskrit scholar and comparative philologist, was born at Dessau, December 6, 1823, and died in 1900. He has written: "History of Ancient Sanskrit Literature," "Science of Language," "Chips from a German Workshop," "Science of Religion," "Essays on Language, Mythology, and Religion," "Science of Thought," "My Autobiography," "Last Essays," appeared after his death, also, "Life and Letters of the Right Honorable Friedrich Max Müller," by his wife.

Liberty of the imagination is the most precious possession of the
novelist.

--_Joseph Conrad_.

JOSEPH CONRAD, a renowned English author, of Polish parentage, was born December 6, 1857. Among his works are: "An Outcast of the Islands," "The Nigger of the Narcissus," "Typhoon," "The Mirror of the Sea," "The Secret Agent," "Under Western Eyes," "Some Reminiscenses," "Chance," "Within the Tides," "Victory," "The Shadow Line," "The Arrow of Gold," "Rescue," "Notes on Life and Letters."

A wet sheet and a flowing sea,
A wind that follows fast,
And fills the white and rustling sail,
And bends the gallant mast.
And bends the gallant mast, my boys,
While like the eagle free
Away the good ship flies, and leaves
Old England on the lee.

"A Wet Sheet and a Flowing Sea,"--_Allan Cunningham_.

ALLAN CUNNINGHAM, a noted Scotch poet and miscellaneous writer, was born in Keir, Dumfriesshire, December 7, 1784, and died in London, October 30, 1842. His best known works are: "Lord Roldan," "Paul Jones," "Sir Marmaduke Maxwell," and his most famous work, "Critical History of the Literature of the Last Fifty Years."

Out in the lonely woods the jasmine burns
Its fragrant lamps, and turns
Into a royal court with green festoons
The banks of dark lagoons.

"Spring,"--_Henry Timrod_.

HENRY TIMROD, a famous American Southern poet and author, was born at Charleston, S. C., December 8, 1829, and died at Columbia, S. C., October 6, 1867. His "Poems" appeared in 1860.

You k'n hide de fier, but w'at you gwine do wid de smoke?

"Plantation Proverbs,"--_Joel Chandler Harris_.

JOEL CHANDLER HARRIS, a noted American journalist and story writer, was born at Eatonton, Georgia, December 8, 1848, and died July 3, 1908. He has written: "Daddy Jake, the Runaway," "The Folk-Lore of the Old Plantation," etc. He is best known, however, by his famous "Uncle Remus" sketches.

Now came still evening on, and twilight gray
Had in her sober livery all things clad;
Silence accompany'd; for beast and bird,
They to their grassy couch, these to their nests,
Were slunk, all but the wakeful nightingale;
She all night long her amorous descant sung;
Silence was pleas'd. Now glow'd the firmament
With living sapphires; Hesperus, that led
The starry host, rode brightest, till the moon,
Rising in clouded majesty, at length
Apparent queen unveil'd her peerless light,
And o'er the dark her silver mantle threw.

"Paradise Lost," Book IV, Line 598,--_John Milton_.

JOHN MILTON, one of the greatest of English poets, was born in London, December 9, 1608, and died there November 8, 1674. His most famous works were: "Paradise Lost," "Paradise Regained," "Comus," "Lycidas," "L'Allegro," "Il Penseroso," "Samson Agonistes," "Areopagitica," "The Tenure of Kings and Magistrates," and the "Defence of the English People."

And ne'er shall the sons of Columbia be slaves,
While the earth bears a plant or the sea rolls its waves.

"Adams and Liberty,"--_Robert Treat Paine, Jr._

ROBERT TREAT PAINE, JR., a celebrated American poet, was born in Taunton, Mass., December 9, 1773, and died in Boston, November 13, 1811. He is best known as the author of two songs, "Rise, Columbia," and "Adams and Liberty." Among his poems are: "The Invention of Letters," and "The Ruling Passion."

Virtue often trips and falls on the sharp-edged rock of poverty.

--_Eugene Sue_.

EUGENE SUE, a famous French romancer, was born in Paris, December 10, 1804, and died at Annecy, July 3, 1857. He wrote: "Kernock the Pirate," "History of the French Navy," "History of the War Navies of All Nations," "The Seven Deadly Sins," "Martin the Foundling," "The Mysteries of the People," "The Jouffroy Family," "The Secrets of the Confessional," "The Mysteries of Paris," and "The Wandering Jew."

Jesus was the first great teacher of men who showed a genuine
sympathy for childhood. When He said, "Of such is the kingdom of
heaven," it was a revelation.

--_Eggleston_.

EDWARD EGGLESTON, a distinguished American historian and novelist, was born in Vevay, Ind., December 10, 1837, and died in 1902. Among his noted works are: "The Circuit Rider," "The End of the World," "Roxy," "The Hoosier Schoolmaster," "The Graysons," "The Faith Doctor," "Queer Stories for Boys and Girls," "The Hoosier Schoolboy," "Schoolmasters' Stories," "Mr. Blake's Walking-Stick," "School History of the United States," "Household History of the United States," "First Book in American History," "The Beginners of a Nation," "The Transit of Civilization," etc.

Oh the heart is a free and fetterless thing,--
A wave of the ocean, a bird on the wing!

"The Captive Greek Girl,"--_Julia Pardoe_.

JULIA PARDOE, a noted English historical and miscellaneous writer, was born at Beverly, Yorkshire, December 11 (?), 1806, and died in London, November 26, 1862. Among her many works are: "Traditions of Portugal," "City of the Sultan," "Louis XIV and the Court of France," "The Jealous Wife," "The Court and Reign of Francis I," "Marie de' Medici," "Episodes of French History During the Consulate," "A Life Struggle," and numerous lyrics.

A place in thy memory, dearest,
Is all that I claim;
To pause and look back when thou hearest
The sound of my name.

"A Place in Thy Memory,"--_Gerald Griffin_.

GERALD GRIFFIN, a famous Irish novelist, poet and dramatist, was born at Limerick, December 12, 1803, and died at Cork, June 12, 1840. He wrote: "Tales of the Munster Festivals," "The Collegians," "Holland Tide: or Munster Popular Tales," "The Invasion," "Gisippus, or the Forgotten Friend," "Tales of My Neighborhood," etc.

"That Flaubert was one of the greatest writers who ever lived in
France is now commonly admitted, and his greatness principally
depends upon the extraordinary vigour and exactitude of his
style."

GUSTAVE FLAUBERT, a renowned French novelist, was born at Rouen, December 12, 1821, and died there, May 8, 1880. Among his writings are: "Salammbô," "The History of a Young Man," "The Temptation of St. Anthony," "Three Stories," and "Madame Bovary," his greatest novel.

The nightingale appear'd the first
And as her melody she sang,
The apple into blossom burst,
To life the grass and violets sprang.

"New Spring," No. 31 ("Book of Songs"),--_Heine_.

HEINRICH HEINE, an eminent German poet, was born at Düsseldorf, December 13, 1799, and died at Paris, February 17, 1856. Among his works are: "Pictures of Travel," "Almansor," "Radcliff," "Poems," "Book of Songs," "New Poems," "History of Recent Polite Literature in Germany," "The Salon," "Doctor Faust," "The Romantic School," "Shakespeare's Maids and Matrons," "The Romancers," "Miscellaneous Writings," etc.

Life comes before literature, as the material always comes before
the work. The hills are full of marble before the world blooms
with statues.

"Literature and Life,"--_Phillips Brooks_.

PHILLIPS BROOKS, a famous American clergyman of the Episcopal Church, was born in Boston, December 13, 1835, and died there, January 23, 1893. He published many volumes of sermons and lectures, including: "Letters of Travel," "Lectures on Preaching," and "Essays and Addresses."

The germs of all truth lie in the soul, and when the ripe moment
comes, the truth within answers to the fact without as the flower
responds to the sun, giving it form for heat and color for light.

--_Hamilton W. Mabie_.

HAMILTON WRIGHT MABIE, a celebrated American essayist, critic, and editor, was born in Cold Spring, N. Y., December 13, 1846, and died in 1916. His works include: "Norse Stories Retold from the Eddas," "My Study Fire," "Short Studies in Literature," "Nature and Culture," "Books and Culture," "Work and Culture," "Works and Days," "Backgrounds of Literature," "The Great Word," "What and How to Read," "Writers of Knickerbocker," "American Ideals, Character and Life," "Japan To-day and To-morrow," etc., etc.

Go, forget me! why should sorrow
O'er that brow a shadow fling?
Go, forget me, and to-morrow
Brightly smile and sweetly sing!
Smile,--though I shall not be near thee;
Sing,--though I shall never hear thee!

"Go, forget me!"--_Charles Wolfe_.

CHARLES WOLFE, a distinguished Irish clergyman and poet, was born at Dublin, December 14, 1791, and died at Cove of Cork (now Queenstown), February 21, 1823. His literary fame rests wholly upon his "Burial of Sir John Moore."

Just to let thy Father do
What He will;
Just to know that He is true,
And be still.
Just to follow hour by hour
As He leadeth;
Just to draw the moment's power
As it needeth.
Just to trust Him, that is all!
Then the day will surely be
Peaceful, whatsoe'er befall,
Bright and blessed, calm and free.

"The Secret of a Happy Day," St. I,--_Frances Ridley Havergal_.

FRANCES RIDLEY HAVERGAL, a noted English poet and religious writer, was born at Astley, Worcestershire, December 14, 1836, and died at Swansea, Wales, June 3, 1879. She wrote: "The Four Happy Days," "Under the Surface" poems; "Royal Graces and Loyal Gifts" (6 vols., 1879), "Under His Shadow," etc.

Then here's to the oak, the brave old oak,
Who stands in his pride alone!
And still flourish he, a hale green tree,
When a hundred years are gone!

"The Brave Old Oak,"--_H. F. Chorley_.

HENRY FOTHERGILL CHORLEY, a famous English critic and miscellaneous writer, was born in Blackley Hurst, Lancashire, December 15, 1808, and died in London, February 15, 1872. He wrote a famous play, "Old Love and New Fortune," and several novels, among them: "Conti," "The Prodigy," and "The Lion."

Where an opinion is general, it is usually correct.

"Mansfield Park," Chap. II,--_Jane Austen_.

JANE AUSTEN, a renowned English novelist, was born in Steventon, Hampshire, December 16, 1775, and died in Winchester, July 18, 1817. Her most famous works are: "Mansfield Park," "Sense and Sensibility," and "Pride and Prejudice."

A sacred spark created by his breath,
The immortal mind of man his image bears;
A spirit living 'midst the forms of death,
Oppressed, but not subdued by mortal cares.

"Written After Recovery from a Dangerous Illness,"--_Sir H.
Davy_.

SIR HUMPHRY DAVY, an eminent English chemist, philosopher and man of letters, was born at Penzance, Cornwall, December 17, 1778, and died at Geneva, Switzerland, May 29, 1829. He wrote: "Consolations in Travel, or the Last Days of a Philosopher," "Chemical and Philosophical Researches," "On the Safety Lamp and on Flame," etc.

For of all sad words of tongue or pen,
The saddest are these: "It might have been!"

"Maud Muller,"--_John Greenleaf Whittier_.

JOHN GREENLEAF WHITTIER, a renowned American poet, was born at Haverhill, Massachusetts, December 17, 1807, and died at Hampton Falls, New Hampshire, September 1892. Among his noted poems are: "Barbara Frietchie," "Skipper Ireson's Ride," "Snow-Bound," "Maud Muller," "My Playmate," "Laus Deo," "My Birthday," and "The Tent on the Beach."

A charge to keep I have,
A God to glorify;
A never dying soul to save,
And fit it for the sky.

"Christian Fidelity,"--_Charles Wesley_.

CHARLES WESLEY, a famous English clergyman and poet, was born at Epworth, Lincolnshire, December 18, 1708, and died in London, March 29, 1788. He was called "the poet of Methodism," but many of his beautiful hymns are used in all denominations of the Protestant church.

'Tis noon;--a calm unbroken sleep
Is on the blue waves of the deep;
A soft haze like a fairy dream,
Is floating over wood and stream;
And many a broad magnolia flower,
Within its shadowy woodland bower,
Is gleaming like a lovely star.

"To An Absent Wife," St. 2,--_George D. Prentice_.

GEORGE DENISON PRENTICE, a distinguished American journalist, poet, and author, was born at Preston, Conn., December 18, 1802, and died January 22, 1870. He published in 1860, "Prenticeana" a collection of pointed paragraphs. His other works are: "Life of Henry Clay," and "Poems."

There is no to-morrow; though before our face the shadow named so
stretches, we always fail to o'ertake it, hasten as we may.

--_Margaret J. Preston_.

MARGARET JUNKIN PRESTON, a celebrated American author, was born in Philadelphia, Pa., December 19 (?), 1825, and died in 1897. She has written: "Silverwood" (a novel), "Old Songs and New," "Cartoons," "Beechen-brook," "Colonial Ballads," "For Love's Sake," "Aunt Dorothy," etc.

Man is his own star; and that soul that can
Be honest is the only perfect man.

Upon an "Honest Man's Fortune,"--_John Fletcher_.

JOHN FLETCHER, the renowned English dramatist, was born in Rye, Sussex, December 20 (?), 1579 and died in London, August, 1625. A few of his famous plays are: "The Wild Goose Chase," "The Loyal Subject," "Monsieur Thomas," "The Faithful Shepherdess," "A Wife for a Month," "Wit Without Money," "The Chances," "Bonduca," "The Mad Lover," and "Rule a Wife and Have a Wife." His name has always been associated with that of Francis Beaumont, and together they wrote many plays; but the beforementioned works were written by Fletcher alone.

Whenever a snowflake leaves the sky,
It turns and turns to say "Good-by!
Good-by, dear clouds, so cool and gray!"
Then lightly travels on its way.

"Snowflakes,"--_Mary Mapes Dodge_.

MARY ELIZABETH MAPES DODGE, a noted American editor, poet and author, was born in New York City, December 20 (?),1838, and died in 1905. She has written: "Irvington Stories," "Along the Way" (poems), "Theophilus and Others," "The Land of Pluck," "Donald and Dorothy," "The Golden Gate," "Poems and Verses," and "Hans Brinker, or the Silver Skates," her most famous work.

Je crains Dieu, cher Abner, et n'ai point d'autre crainte.[1]

"Athalie," Act. i, Sc. I,--_Racine_.

JEAN BAPTISTE RACINE, the illustrious French dramatist, was born at La Ferté-Milon, December 21, 1639, and died at Paris, April 26, 1699. His greatest works were: "The Thebaid," "The Pleaders," "Alexander," "Berenice," "Bajazet," "Esther," "Athalie," "Mithridates," "Iphigenia," "The Chaplain's Wig," "Phædra," "Nymphs of the Seine," "Letters," and "Abridgment of the History of Port Royal," his last dramatic work.

The world is a wheel, and it will all come round right.

"Endymion," Chap. lxx,--_Benjamin Disraeli_.

BENJAMIN DISRAELI, Lord Beaconsfield, an eminent English statesman and novelist, was born in London, December 21, 1804, and died April 19, 1881. Among his celebrated works are: "The Young Duke," "Vivian Grey," "Venetia," "The Rise of Iskander," "Henrietta Temple," "The Revolutionary Epic," "Sibyl," "Tancred," "Lothair," and "Endymion."

To be really cosmopolitan a man must be at home even in his own
country.

"Short Studies of American Authors: Henry James, Jr.,"--_T. W.
Higginson_.

THOMAS WENTWORTH HIGGINSON, a distinguished American poet, essayist and novelist, was born in Cambridge, Mass., December 22, 1823, and died in 1911. Among his writings are: "Atlantic Essays," "Out-Door Papers," "The Afternoon Landscape," "Life of Margaret Fuller," "Short Studies of American Authors," "Young Folks' History of the United States," "Concerning All of Us," "Cheerful Yesterdays," "Old Cambridge," "Contemporaries," "Henry Wadsworth Longfellow," "Part of a Man's Life," "Life of Stephen Higginson," etc.

I have a liking old
For thee, though manifold
Stories, I know, are told
Not to thy credit.

"Ode to Tobacco,"--_Charles Stuart Calverley_.

CHARLES STUART CALVERLEY, a noted English poet and humorist, was born at Martley, Worcestershire, December 22, 1831, and died February 17, 1884. He wrote: "Verses and Translations," and "Society Verses."

If I had a device, it would be the true, the true only, leaving
the beautiful and the good to settle matters afterwards as best
they could.

--_C. A. Sainte-Beuve_.

CHARLES AUGUSTIN SAINTE-BEUVE, the great French literary critic, was born at Boulogne-sur-Mer, December 23, 1804, and died at Paris, October 13, 1869. He wrote: "Literary Critiques and Portraits," "Literary Portraits," "History of Port Royal," "Contemporary Portraits," "Picture of French Poetry in the Sixteenth Century," "Meditations in August," "Consolations," "Poems," his celebrated "Monday Talks," etc.

We learn wisdom from failure much more than from success. We often
discover what will do by finding out what will not do; and
probably he who never made a mistake never made a discovery.

"Self-Help,"--_Samuel Smiles_.

SAMUEL SMILES, a famous British author, was born at Haddington, Scotland, December 23, 1812, and died, April 16, 1904. He wrote: "Lives of the Engineers," "Industrial Biography," "James Brindley and the Early Engineers," "Lives of Boulton and Watt," "Life of Thomas Telford," "Life of George Stephenson," "The Life of a Scotch Naturalist" (Thomas Edward), "Robert Dick," "George Moore," "Men of Invention and Industry," "Life and Labor," "A Publisher and His Friends," "Jasmin," "Josiah Wedgwood," "History of Ireland," etc. Also, "Self-Help," "Character," "Thrift," and "Duty."

Her air, her manners, all who saw admir'd;
Courteous though coy, and gentle though retir'd;
The joy of youth and health her eyes display'd,
And ease of heart her every look convey'd.

"The Parish Register, Marriages," Part ii,--_George Crabbe_.

GEORGE CRABBE, a celebrated English poet, was born in Aldborough, Suffolk, December 24, 1754, and died at Trowbridge, Wiltshire, February 3, 1832. His most famous poems are: "The Parish Register," "The Village," "Tales in Verse," and "The Borough."

Still so gently o'er me stealing,
Mem'ry will bring back the feeling,
Spite of all my grief revealing
That I love thee,--that I dearly love thee still.

"La Sonnambula,"--_Scribe_.

AUGUSTIN EUGÈNE SCRIBE, a distinguished French dramatist, was born in Paris, December 24, 1791, and died February 20, 1861. His collected "Oeuvres," (76 vols. 1874-85), contains all his works.

She is fair as the spirit of light,
That floats in the ether on high.

--_Adam Mickiewicz_.

ADAM MICKIEWICZ, the most celebrated of Slavic poets, was born near Novogròdek, Lithuania, December 24, 1798, and died at Constantinople, November 26, 1855. Among his famous works are: "Crimean Sonnets," "Lectures on Slavic Literature," "The Books of the Polish People and of the Polish Pilgrimage," the ballad, "Dziady," and three famous epics: "Pan Tadeusz," "Conrad Wallenrod," and "Grazyna."

There is no better motto which it (culture) can have than these
words of Bishop Wilson, "To make reason and the will of God
prevail."

"Culture and Anarchy,"--_Matthew Arnold_.

MATTHEW ARNOLD, an eminent English poet, essayist and critic, was born at Laleham, December 24, 1822, and died at Liverpool, April 15, 1888. His principal works are: "Empedocles on Etna," "The Strayed Reveler and Other Poems," "New Poems," "Essays in Criticism," "Lectures on the Study of Celtic Literature," "Culture and Anarchy," "Friendship's Garland," "Mixed Essays," "Irish Essays," "Last Essays on Church and Religion," and "Discourses on America."

It is not enough to do good; one must do it the right way.

"On Compromise,"--_John Morley_.

JOHN MORLEY (VISCOUNT MORLEY), a renowned English statesman, essayist, editor, critic and biographer, was born at Blackburn, Lancashire, December 24, 1838. He has written: "Life of Oliver Cromwell," "Life of Gladstone," "Life of Cobden," "Sir Robert Walpole," "Studies in Literature," "Cromwell," "Literary Essays," "Notes on Politics," "Recollections," etc.

Well may your hearts believe the truths I tell:
'Tis virtue makes the bliss, where'er we dwell.

"Oriental Eclogues," I, Line 5,--_William Collins_.

WILLIAM COLLINS, a celebrated English poet, was born in Chichester, December 25, 1721, and died there, June 12, 1759. His principal works were: "Ode to Evening," "The Passions," "Ode on the Death of Thomson," and the "Dirge to Cymbeline."

Who dares this pair of boots displace,
Must meet Bombastes face to face.

"Bombastes Furioso," Act I, Sc. 4,--_William Barnes Rhodes_.

WILLIAM BARNES RHODES, a noted English dramatic writer, was born December 25, 1772, and died November 1, 1826. He wrote: "The Satires of Juvenal, Translated into English Verse," "Epigrams," and his famous burlesque, "Bombastes Furioso."

The curfew tolls the knell of parting day,
The lowing herd winds slowly o'er the lea,
The ploughman homeward plods his weary way,
And leaves the world to darkness and to me.

"Elegy in a Country Churchyard,"--_Thomas Gray_.

THOMAS GRAY, the renowned English poet, was born at Cornhill, London, December 26, 1716, and died at Cambridge, July 24, 1771. He wrote: "Ode to Adversity," "Progress of Poesy," "The Bard," "Ode on a Distant Prospect of Eton College," and his most famous work, "Elegy in a Country Churchyard."

It may well wait a century for a reader, as God has waited six
thousand years for an observer.

"Martyrs of Science" (Brewster),--_John Kepler_.

JOHANNES KEPLER, a German astronomer of great fame, was born at Weil, Würtemberg, December 27, 1571, and died at Ratisbon, November 15, 1630. His most famous work was: "New Astronomy, with Commentaries on the Motions of Mars."

Among men of letters Lowell is doubtless most typically American,
though Curtis must find an eligible place in the list. Lowell was
self-conscious, though the truest greatness is not; he was a
trifle too "smart," besides, and there is no "smartness" in great
literature. But both the self consciousness and the smartness must
be admitted to be American; and Lowell was so versatile, so
urbane, of so large a spirit, and so admirable in the scope of his
sympathies, that he must certainly go on the calendar.

"Mere Literature and Other Essays,"--_Woodrow Wilson_.