Part I

, Line 7,--_Thomas Campbell_.

THOMAS CAMPBELL, a Scottish poet, of great fame, was born at Glasgow, July 27, 1777; and died at Boulogne, France June, 15, 1844. The best known of his poems are: "Gertrude of Wyoming," "Pleasures of Hope," "Lochiel's Warning," "The Exile of Erin," "Battle of the Baltic," "Ye Mariners of England," etc.

Memory is a paradise out of which fate cannot drive us.

--_Dumas, Fils_.

ALEXANDRE DUMAS, THE YOUNGER, the renowned French dramatist and romancist, was born at Paris, July 27, 1824, and died November 28, 1895. A few of his famous romances are: "A Woman's Romance," "Césarine," "Camille," etc. Also, "The Divorce Question," "The Clemenceau Case," "The Natural Son," "The Friend of Women," "Claude's Wife," "The Danicheffs," "Joseph Balsamo," "Françillon," etc.

Of Courtesy it is much less Than Courage of Heart or Holiness, Yet in my Walks it seems to me That the Grace of God is in Courtesy.

"Courtesy,"--_Hilaire Belloc_.

HILAIRE BELLOC, a celebrated English author, was born July 27, 1870. Among his works are: "Verses and Sonnets," "Paris," "Robespierre," "Path to Rome," "Hills and the Sea," "Marie Antoinette," "The Green Overcoat," "The Mercy of Allah," "General Sketch of the European War, 1st Phase," "The Last Days of the French Monarchy."

Beautiful Faith, surrendering to Time.

"Marpessa," L. 62,--_Stephen Phillips_.

STEPHEN PHILLIPS, a noted English author and poet, was born near the City of Oxford, July 28, 1868, and died December 9, 1915. Among his poetical pieces are: "The Woman with the Dead Soul," "Marpessa," "The Wife," "After Rain," "Thoughts at Sunrise," "Thoughts at Noon." The first volume of his "Poems" appeared in 1897, and "New Poems" in 1907.

"It is a great blessing," says Pascal, "to be born a man of quality, since it brings one man as far forward at eighteen or twenty as another man would be at fifty, which is a clear gain of thirty years." These thirty years are commonly wanting to the ambitious characters of democracies. The principle of equality, which allows every man to arrive at everything, prevents all men from rapid advancement.

--_Alexis de Tocqueville_.

ALEXIS DE TOCQUEVILLE, a distinguished French publicist and writer, was born at Vermeuil (Seine-et-Oise), July 29, 1805, and died at Cannes, April 16, 1859. His writings include: "The Old Régime and the Revolution," "Democracy in America," and "Works," 9 vols., which appeared in 1860-65.

She was good as she was fair, None--none on earth above her! As pure in thought as angels are: To know her was to love her.

"Jacqueline," Stanza 1,--_Samuel Rogers_.

SAMUEL ROGERS, a famous English poet, was born at Newington Green, London, July 30, 1763, and died in London, December 18, 1855. He wrote "The Voyage of Columbus," "Italy," "Human Life," "Pleasures of Memory," and "Jacqueline."

He was utterly incapable of anything like baseness. No man could be more jealous of his honour; no man had a greater pride in being largely and loftily a man.

"Life of Robert Burns,"--_John Stuart Blackie_.

JOHN STUART BLACKIE, a notable Scottish author was born in Glasgow, July 31, 1809, and died in Edinburgh, March 2, 1895. His works include translations from the Greek and German; moral and religious and other philosophy; also, "Lays of the Highlands and Islands," "Language and Literature of the Scottish Highlands," "Wisdom of Goethe," "Life of Burns," "Essays on Subjects of Moral and Social Interest," "Self-Culture," etc.

FOOTNOTES:

[1] Great sorrows are the hot-houses of the soul.

AUGUST

AUGUST

All human race, from China to Peru, Pleasure, howe'er disguis'd by art, pursue.

"Universal Love of Pleasure,"--_Thomas Warton_.

THOMAS WARTON, a distinguished English clergyman, critic, was born at Basingstoke, August 1 (?), 1728, and died at Oxford, May 21, 1790. He was poet-laureate of England in 1785. He wrote: "History of English Poetry," etc.

Jealousy is the forerunner of love, and often its awakener.

--_F. Marion Crawford_.

FRANCIS MARION CRAWFORD, a celebrated American author, was born in Bagni di Lucca, Italy, August 2, 1854, and died in 1909. Among his noted works are: "Dr. Claudius," "Mr. Isaacs," "A Tale of a Lonely Parish," "Zoroaster," "With the Immortals," "Sant' Ilario," "The Witch of Prague," "Love in Idleness," "A Rose of Yesterday," "Don Orsino," "Via Crucis," "In the Palace of the King," "The Heart of Rome," "Fair Margaret," and its sequel, "Prima Donna."

Best they honor thee Who honor in thee only what is best.

"The True Patriotism,"--_William Watson_.

SIR WILLIAM WATSON, a famous English poet, was born at Wharfedale, August 2, 1858. He has published: "The Prince's Quest," "Epigrams of Art," "Wordsworth's Grave, and Other Poems," "Lachrymæ Musarum," "Excursions in Criticism," "The Eloping Angels," "Odes, and Other Poems," "The Purple East," "The Year of Shame," "The Hope of the World," "Collected Poems," "For England: Poems Written During Estrangement," "New Poems," "Pencraft; A Plea for the Older Ways," "Retrogression," "The Man Who Saw," "The Superhuman Antagonists," etc.

Ah woe is me, through all my days, Wisdom and wealth I both have got, And fame and name and great men's praise; But Love, ah! Love I have it not.

"The Way to Arcady,"--_Henry C. Bunner_.

HENRY CUYLER BUNNER, a celebrated American poet and story-writer, was born in Oswego, N. Y., August 3, 1855, and died in Nutley, N. J., May 11, 1896. He wrote: "A Woman of Honor," "Airs from Arcady and Elsewhere," "The Runaway Browns," "Zadoc Pine and Other Stories," "Jersey Street and Jersey Lane," "The Midge," "Short Sixes," etc.

All love is sweet, Given or returned. Common as light is love, And its familiar voice wearies not ever. * * * * * They who inspire it most are fortunate, As I am now; but those who feel it most Are happier still.

"Prometheus Unbound," Act ii, Sc. 5.--_Percy B. Shelley_.

PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY, the renowned English poet, was born at Field Place, near Horsham, Sussex, August 4, 1792, and was drowned off the coast of Italy, July 8, 1822. Among his many works may be mentioned: "A Poetical Essay on the Existing State of Things," "Queen Mab: A Philosophic Poem," "Rosalind and Helen: A Modern Eclogue; with Other Poems," "Hellas: A Lyrical Drama," "Adonais: an Elegy on the Death of John Keats," "The Cenci: A Tragedy," "Prometheus Unbound: a Lyrical Drama," "An Address to the Irish People," "Alastor, or the Spirit of Solitude, and Other Poems," "A Vindication of Natural Diet," "A Refutation of Deism," etc.

Opinions!--they are like the clothes we wear, which warm us, not with heat, but with ours.

--_Walter Pater_.

WALTER (HORATIO) PATER, a distinguished English literary and art critic, was born at London, August 4, 1839, and died at Oxford, July 30, 1894. He wrote: "The Renaissance: Studies in Art and Poetry," "Marius the Epicurean," "Imaginary Portraits," "Appreciations," "Plato and Plato-nism," "The Child in the House," etc.

There was something sinister and superb in the song of these shipwrecked and condemned creatures, something like a prayer and also something grander and comparable to the ancient and sublime, _Ave Cæsar, morituri te salutant_.

"La Petite Rogue,"--_Guy de Maupassant_.

GUY DE MAUPASSANT, a noted French novelist, was born at the Château de Miromesnil, (Seine-Inférieure), August 5, 1850, and died in Paris, July 6, 1893. Among his many works are: "In the Sunshine," "On the Water," "The Left Hand," "The Sisters Rondoli," "Peter and John," "Strong as Death," "Tales of Day and Night," "Our Heart," "A Wondering Life," etc.

Il embellit tout ce qu'il touche.[1]

"Lettre sur les Occupations de L'Académie Française," Sect. iv, _Fénélon_.

FRANÇOIS DE SALIGNAC DE LA MOTHE FÉNÉLON, an illustrious French theologian and writer, was born in the Château Fénélon, in Perigord, Dordogne, August 6, 1651, and died January 7, 1715. He wrote: "Life of Charlemagne," "Exposition of the Maxims of the Saints Regarding the Inner Life," "Fables," "Treatise on the Education of Young Girls," and his most noted work, "Telemachus."

In the spring a livelier iris changes on the burnished dove; In the spring a young man's fancy lightly turns to thoughts of love.

"Locksley Hall," Line 19,--_Alfred Tennyson_.

ALFRED TENNYSON, LORD TENNYSON, one of the greatest of English poets, was born at Somersby, Lincolnshire, August 6, 1809, and died at Aldworth, October 6, 1892. Among his famous works are: "Maud and Other Poems," "Queen Mary," "The Princess," "The Foresters," "Enoch Arden," "The Holy Grail," "Harold," "The Idylls of the King," "Tiresias," "Locksley Hall Sixty Years After," "Poems, Chiefly Lyrical," "In Memoriam," etc.

When Freedom from her mountain-height Unfurled her standard to the air, She tore the azure robe of night, And set the stars of glory there.

"The American Flag,"--_Joseph Rodman Drake_.

JOSEPH RODMAN DRAKE, a noted American poet, was born at New York, August 7, 1795, and died September 21, 1820. Among his poetical works are: "The Culprit Fay," "Abelard to Héloise," "The American Flag," etc.

There were few of Tennyson's poems which I did not know by heart without any attempt to commit them to memory.

"Books Which Have Influenced Me,"--_Canon Farrar_.

FREDERICK WILLIAM FARRAR, a celebrated English clergyman, was born at Bombay, India, August 7, 1831, and died March 22, 1903. His most notable works are: "Life and Works of Saint Paul," "The Witness of History to Christ," "The Life of Christ," "The Early Days of Christianity," "Eternal Hope," "The Origin of Language," "Chapters on Language," "Families of Speech," "Language and Languages," "Darkness and Dawn," "The Voice from Sinai," "The Life of Christ as represented in Art," "Gathering Clouds," and "The Bible, Its Meaning and Supremacy."

That action is best which procures the greatest happiness for the greatest numbers.

"Inquiry concerning Moral Good and Evil," sect. 3 (1720),--_Hutcheson_.

FRANCIS HUTCHESON, a distinguished Scotch educator and philosopher was born at Drumalig, Ulster, Ireland, August 8, 1694, and died in Glasgow about 1746. He was the author of "Inquiry into the Original of Our Ideas of Beauty and Virtue," "Nature and Conduct of the Passions and Affections," "System of Moral Philosophy," etc.

Oh! say, can you see by the dawn's early light What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming?-- Whose broad stripes and bright stars through the clouds of the fight O'er the ramparts we watched, were so gallantly streaming! And the rocket's red glare, the bombs bursting in air, Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there; Oh, say, does that star-spangled banner yet wave O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?

"The Star-Spangled Banner,"--_Francis Scott Key_.

FRANCIS SCOTT KEY, a noted American poet, was born in Frederick County, Md., August 9, 1780, and died at Baltimore, January 11, 1843. He is best known as the author of "The Star Spangled Banner."

We may say of angling as Dr. Boteler said of strawberries: "Doubtless God could have made a better berry, but doubtless God never did"; and so, if I might be judge, God never did make a more calm, quiet, innocent recreation than angling.

"The Complete Angler,"