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,"