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,"