Book vii

,--_Edward Hyde Clarendon_.

EDWARD HYDE, EARL OF CLARENDON, a celebrated English historian and statesman, was born at Dinton, Wiltshire, February 18, 1609, and died at Rouen, France, December 9, 1674. His famous works are: "History of the Civil War in Ireland," "History of the Rebellion and Civil Wars in England," "Essay on an Active and Contemplative Life."

The earth is not the center of the universe.

--_Copernicus_.

NICOLAS COPERNICUS, a famous Polish astronomer, was born at Thorn, Poland, February 19, 1473, and died at Frauenburg, Prussia, May 24, 1543. He wrote: "Revolutions of the Celestial Orbs (De Orbium Coelestium Revolutionibus)."

I'm growing old, I'm sixty years; I've labored all my life in vain. In all that time of hopes and fears, I've failed my dearest wish to gain. I see full well that here below Bliss unalloyed there is for none My prayer would else fulfilment know-- Never have I seen Carcassonne!

"Carcassonne," Translated by John Reuben Thompson, Stanza i,--_Gustave Nadaud_.

GUSTAVE NADAUD, a well-known French composer and song-writer, was born in Roubaix, February 20, 1820, and died in Paris, April 28, 1893. He wrote a novel, "An Idyll," and published "Songs," "More Songs," "Unpublished Songs," and "New Songs."

Lead, kindly Light, amid the encircling gloom, Lead thou me on! The night is dark, and I am far from home: Lead thou me on: Keep thou my feet; I do not ask to see The distant scene: one step enough for me.

"The Pillar of the Cloud,"--_John Henry Newman_.

JOHN HENRY NEWMAN, a celebrated religious writer, first in the Church of England, and later in the Roman Catholic Church, was born in London, February 21, 1801, and died at Birmingham, August 11, 1890. His principal works are: "Five Letters on Church Reform," "St. Bartholomew's Eve," "Plain and Parochial Sermons," "Loss and Gain," "Verses on Religious Subjects," "Essay in Aid of a Grammar of Assent," "Lectures on Justification," "The Arians of the Fourth Century," "Tracts for the Times," "Hymns for the Use of the Birmingham Oratory," and "Apologia pro Vita Sua," his most celebrated work.

John Smith was the most picturesque figure in the early history of America; and his writings are like him--bold, free, highly colored.

"An Introduction to the Study of American Literature," (1896),--_Brander Matthews_.

(JAMES) BRANDER MATTHEWS, a famous American author, was born in New Orleans, February 21, 1852. Among his works may be mentioned: "French Dramatists of the Nineteenth Century," "With My Friends," "Studies of the Stage," "Bookbindings, Old and New," "Introduction to the Study of American Literature," "Aspects of Fiction," "A Confident To-morrow," "The Historical Novel," "Parts of Speech," "Essays in English," "Development of the Drama," "Recreations of an Anthologist," "Inquiries and Opinions," "The American of the Future," "A Study of the Drama," "Molière," "Shakespeare as a Playwright," "These Many Years," etc.

To be prepared for war is one of the most effectual means of preserving peace.

"Speech to both Houses of Congress," Jan. 8, 1790,--_George Washington_.

GEORGE WASHINGTON, the illustrious American statesman and first President of the United States, was born at Pope's Creek, Westmoreland County, Va., February 22, 1732, and died at Mt. Vernon, Va., December 14, 1799.

Natural ability can almost compensate for the want of every kind of cultivation; but no cultivation of the mind can make up for the want of natural ability.

--_Schopenhauer_.

ARTHUR SCHOPENHAUER, a renowned German philosopher, was born at Dantzic, February 22, 1788, and died at Frankfort-on-the-Main, September, 1860. He wrote: "The Fourfold Root of the Principle of the Sufficient Cause," "The World as Will and Representation," "On Vision and Colors," "The Two Fundamental Problems of Ethic," "Parerga and Paralipomena," etc.

And while the wicket falls behind Her steps, I thought if I could find A wife I need not blush to show I've little further now to go.

--_William Barnes_.

WILLIAM BARNES, a celebrated English poet and philologist, was born in Dorsetshire, February 22, 1800, and died in Winterbourne Came, in October, 1886. He wrote many works on philology, and a series of "Poems of Rural Life in Dorsetshire Dialect," "Poems of Rural Life," etc.

No man is born into the world whose work Is not born with him. There is always work, And tools to work withal, for those who will; And blessed are the horny hands of toil.

"A Glance behind the Curtain,"--_James Russell Lowell_.

JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL, the great American poet and critic, was born at Cambridge, Mass., February 22, 1819, and died there August 12, 1891. Some of his works are: "The Bigelow Papers," "A Year's Life," "Poems," "Under the Willows and Other Poems," "My Study Windows," "Among My Books," "Latest Literary Essays and Addresses," "Heartsease and Rue," "Political Essays," "Democracy, and Other Addresses."

Nearer, my God, to Thee! Nearer to Thee! E'en though it be a cross That raiseth me. Still all my song shall be, Nearer, my God, to Thee! Nearer to Thee!

"Nearer, my God, to Thee!"--_Sara Flower Adams_.

SARA FLOWER ADAMS, a noted English hymn-writer, was born at Great Harlow, Essex, February 22, 1805, and died August, 1848. She wrote many lyrics and hymns, the most popular of which is "Nearer, My God, to Thee!"

Never yet was a springtime Late though lingered the snow, That the sap stirred not at the whisper Of the southwind, sweet and low; Never yet was a springtime, When the buds forgot to blow.

"Awakening,"--_Margaret Elizabeth Sangster_.

MARGARET ELIZABETH (MUNSON) SANGSTER, a celebrated American poet and prose-writer, was born in New Rochelle, N. Y., February 22, 1838, and died in 1912. Among her writings are: "May Stanhope and her Friend," "Little Kingdom of Home," "Good Manners for all Occasions," "Radiant Motherhood," "Easter Bells," "Little Knight and Ladies," "Lyrics of Love," "Fairest Girlhood," "Eleanor Lee," "A Little Book of Homespun Verse," "Women of the Bible," "The Story Bible," "From My Youth Up--an Autobiography," "My Garden of Hearts," and her famous poems, "Our Own" and "Are the Children at Home?"

To St. Paul's Church Yard to my book-sellers ... choose ... "Hudibras," both parts, the book now in greatest fashion for drollery, though I cannot, I confess, see enough where the wit lies.

"_Diary_," Dec. 10, 1663,--_Samuel Pepys_.

SAMUEL PEPYS, a famous English diarist, was born in London, February 23, 1633, and died there May 26, 1703. His fame rests on the remarkable "Diary" that bears his name.

Rocked in the cradle of the deep I lay me down in peace to sleep; Secure I rest upon the wave, For Thou, O Lord! hast power to save. I know Thou wilt not slight my call, For Thou dost mark the sparrow's fall, And calm and peaceful shall I sleep, Rocked in the cradle of the deep.

"Rocked in the Cradle of the Deep," Stanza I,--_Emma (Hart) Willard_.

EMMA (HART) WILLARD, a noted American educator, historian, and poet, was born at New Berlin, Conn., February 23, 1787, and died at Troy, N. Y., April 15, 1870. She has written: "A History of the United States," "Universal History in Perspective," etc. She also wrote: "Rocked in the Cradle of the Deep," and much other verse.

By one great Heart, the Universe is stirred: By Its strong pulse, stars climb the darkening blue; It throbs in each fresh sunset's changing hue, And thrills through low sweet song of every bird.

"Life,"--_Margaret Deland_.

MARGARET WADE DELAND, a famous American author, was born at Allegheny, Pa., February 23, 1857. She has written: "John Ward, Preacher," "The Old Garden and Other Verses," "Old Chester Tales," "Dr. Lavendar's People," "The Common Way," "The Awakening of Helena Richie," "An Encore," "The Iron Woman," "The Voice," "Partners," "The Hands of Esau," "Around Old Chester," "The Rising Tide," etc.

While we read history we make history.

"The Call of Freedom,"--_George William Curtis_.

GEORGE WILLIAM CURTIS, a distinguished American author, was born in Providence, R. I., February 24, 1824, and died at Staten Island, August 31, 1892. His works include: "The Howadji in Syria," "Nile Notes of a Howadji," "Manners upon the Road," "Lotus Eating," "Prue and I," "Potiphar Papers," "Trumps," etc.

If Goldsmith had to struggle socially against the disadvantages of poverty, intellectually it cannot be doubted that poverty very amply compensated him. His circumstances forced him to be an unwilling spectator of scenes, and the companion of men of whom affluence or his laziness would have kept him ignorant. His "Citizen of the World," indeed, is an epitome of London life as it was exhibited to the observer of that age.

"Goldsmith and La Bruyère," _The Argosy_, p. 265,--_William Clark Russell_.

WILLIAM CLARK RUSSELL, a noted English-American novelist, was born in New York City, February 24, 1844, and died in 1911. Among his numerous sea stories and novels are: "The Wreck of the Grosvenor," "A Sailor's Sweetheart," "My Watch Below," "A Sea Queen," "Jack's Courtship," "A Strange Voyage," "The Frozen Pirate," "The Death Ship," "Marooned," "The Romance of Jenny Harlowe," "The Good Ship Mohock," "Overdue," "The Ship's Adventure," "Abandoned," "Voyage at Anchor," "Yarn of Old Harbor Town," etc.

All flowers, it would seem, were in their earliest form yellow; then some of them became white; after that a few of them grew to be red or purple; and finally, a comparatively small number acquired various shades of violet, mauve, lilac, or blue.

"The Colors of Flowers,"--_Grant Allen_.

GRANT ALLEN (CHARLES GRANT BLAIRFINDIE ALLEN), a celebrated English naturalist, essayist, and novelist, was born in Kingstone, Canada, February 24, 1848, and died October 24, 1899. His most noted works are "The Devil's Die," "Under Sealed Orders," "Recalled to Life," "The Woman Who Did," "Strange Stories," "The British Barbarians," "Science in Arcady," "Vignettes from Nature," "Colin Clout's Calendar," "The Color Sense," "Colors of Flowers," "Flowers and Their Pedigrees," "Force and Nature," etc.

Bello è il rossore, ma è incommodo qualche volta.[3]

"Pamela," I, 3,--_Goldoni_.

CARLO GOLDONI, a noted Italian comedy-writer, was born in Venice, February 25, 1707, and died at Paris, January 6, 1793. He wrote: "The Good Father," "The Singer," "Pamela," "Belisarius," "The Venetian Gondolier," "Rosamond," and "The Coffee House."

Let us reckon upon the future. A time will come when the science of destruction shall bend before the arts of peace; when the genius which multiplies our powers--which creates new products--which diffuses comfort and happiness among the great mass of the people--shall occupy in the general estimation of mankind that rank which reason and common sense now assign to it.

"Eloge on James Watt."--_Arago_.

DOMINIQUE FRANÇOIS ARAGO, an eminent French astronomer and physicist, was born near Perpignan, February 26, 1786, and died in Paris, October 2, 1853. Among his publications are: "Popular Lectures on Astronomy," "Meteorological Essays," "Biographies of Scientific Men," and his own "Autobiography."

A queen devoid of beauty is not queen; She needs the royalty of beauty's mien.

"Eviradnus," V,--_Victor Hugo_.

VICTOR HUGO, the great French novelist, was born at Besançon, February 26, 1802, and died at Paris, May 22, 1885. His most famous works are: "Odes and Ballads," "New Odes," "The Orientals," "Various Odes and Poems," "Twilight Songs," "Inner Voices," "Sunbeams and Shadows," "Autumn Leaves," "Songs of the Streets and Woods," "The Four Winds of the Spirit," "The Legend of the Ages," "Notre Dame de Paris," "The Last Day of a Condemned Man," "Claude Gueux," "Napoleon the Little," "Les Misérables," "The Man Who Laughs," "Acts and Words," "History of a Crime," "The Toilers of the Sea," etc. Also numerous plays, among them, "Amy Robsart," "Cromwell," "Hernani," "Lucretia Borgia," "Marie Tudor," and "Esmeralda."

These deeper questions cannot be treated in this short appendix to Descartes' life. They are mentioned here merely to show how he was to modern thought what Socrates was to Greek philosophy. Far greater, too, was he than Socrates, in the range of his influence. In every department of his thinking--in his first philosophy, his theology, his physics, his psychology, his physiology--he sowed the dragon's teeth from which sprang hosts of armed men, to join in an intellectual conflict, internecine, let us trust, to their many errors and prejudices, but fraught with new life and energy to the intellectual progress of Europe.

"Descartes,"--_John Pentland Mahaffy_.

JOHN PENTLAND MAHAFFY, a distinguished Irish classical scholar and historian, was born at Chapponnaire, Switzerland, February 26, 1839, and died in 1919. Among his publications are: "Social Life in Greece," "Rambles and Studies in Greece," "Greek Life and Thought," "Greece Under Roman Sway," "History of Classical Greek Literature," "The Silver Age of the Greek World," "The Empire of the Ptolemies," etc.

Sail, on, O Ship of State! Sail on, O Union, strong and great! Humanity with all its fears, With all the hopes of future years Is hanging breathless on thy fate!

"_The Building of the Ship_,"--_Longfellow_.

HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW, one of the greatest of American poets, was born at Portland, Me., February 27, 1807, and died at Cambridge, Mass., March 24, 1882. His celebrated works include: "Voices of the Night," "Hyperion," "Poems on Slavery," "Ballads and Other Poems," "The Spanish Student," "Poets and Poetry of Europe," "Evangeline, a Tale of Acadie," "The Seaside and the Fireside," "The Golden Legend," "A Volume of Poems," "Song of Hiawatha," "Poems," "Courtship of Miles Standish," "Tales of a Wayside Inn," "A New England Tragedy," "Excelsior," "The Skeleton in Armor," "The Building of a Ship," etc.

A grain of sand leads to the fall of a mountain when the moment has come for the mountain to fall.

--_Ernest Renan_.

JOSEPH ERNEST RENAN, the renowned French Semitic-Orientalist; historian, philologist, and essayist, was born at Treguier, Brittany, February 27, 1823, and died at Paris, October 2, 1892. Among his numerous works may be mentioned: "General History of the Semitic Languages," "The Life of Jesus," "Marcus Aurelius," "Studies in Religious History," "Questions of the Day," "Recollections of My Youth," "New Studies in Religious History," "Discourses and Conferences," "Dialogue of the Dead," "The Song of Songs," and "Ecclesiastes."

Samuel Pepys stands at the head of the world's literature in his own department.... Pepys' "_Diary_" has been frequently compared with Boswell's "_Life of Johnson_," and with justice in so far as the charm of each arises from the inimitable naïveté of the author's self-revelations. Boswell had a much greater character than his own to draw, but Pepys had to be his own Johnson. It is giving him no excessive praise to say that he makes himself as interesting as Johnson and Boswell together.... Another Milton is more likely to appear than another Pepys.

"The Age of Dryden,"--_Richard Garnett_.

RICHARD GARNETT, a noted English librarian and author, was born at Litchfield, February 27, 1835, and died April 13, 1906. He wrote: "Primula," "Io in Egypt," "Idylls and Epigrams," "The Queen and Other Poems," "Collected Poems," "The Twilight of the Gods," "A Short History of Italian Literature," "Essays in Librarianship and Bibliophily," etc.

You hail from Dreamland, Dragon-fly? A stranger hither? So am I And (sooth to say) I wonder why We either of us came!

"To a Dragon-fly,"--_Agnes M. F. R. Darmesteter_.

AGNES M. F. R. DARMESTETER, a distinguished English poet, was born in Leamington, February 27, 1857. Her writings include: "A Handful of Honeysuckle," "Lyrics," "Retrospect," "Arden," a novel, "Emily Brontë," "The New Arcadia and Other Poems," "An Italian Garden, a Book of Songs," "The End of the Middle Ages," "Essays and Questions in History," "Life of Renan," "Collected Poems," "The Fields of France," "The Return to Nature," "The French Ideal," "Twentieth Century French Writers," "Madame de Sévigne," etc.

How many worthy men have we seen survive their own reputation!

"Of Glory," Chap. xvi.--_Montaigne_.

MICHEL EYQUEM DE MONTAIGNE, the illustrious French moral philosopher, was born at Château Montaigne, Perigord, February 28, 1533, and died September 13, 1592. His remarkable "Essays" won for him world-wide fame.

In Nature there is no dirt, everything is in the right condition; the swamp and the worm, as well as the grass and the bird--all is there for itself. Only because we think that all things have a relation to us, do they appear justifiable or otherwise.

--_Auerbach_.

BERTHOLD AUERBACH, a renowned German novelist, was born at Nordstetten, Wurtemberg, February 28, 1812, and died at Cannes, France, February 8, 1882. He wrote: "The Educated Citizen, a Book for the Thinking Human Mind," "Poet and Merchant," "Spinoza," "The Professor's Lady," "Little Barefoot," "Joseph in the Snow," "Edelweiss," "New Life," "The Head Forester," "The Villa on the Rhine," "Waldfried, a Family History," "Black Forest Village Stories," "After Thirty Years," and his most noted work, "On the Heights."

The first, and perhaps the final impression we receive from the work of Robert Browning is that of a great nature, an immense personality.

"Introduction to the Study of Browning,"--_Arthur Symons_.

ARTHUR SYMONS, a celebrated writer of prose and verse, was born in Wales, February 28, 1865. His publications include: "An Introduction to the Study of Browning," "Days and Nights," "Silhouettes," "London Nights," "Amoris Victima," "Studies in Two Literatures," "The Symbolist Movement in Literature," "Images of Good and Evil," "Collected Poems," "Plays, Acting, and Music," "Cities," "Studies in Prose and Verse," "Spiritual Adventures," "A Book of Twenty Songs," "The Fool of the World," "Studies in Seven Arts," "Cities of Italy," "The Romantic Movement in English Poetry," "Knave of Hearts," "Figures of Several Centuries," "Tragedies," etc.

Take time enough: all other graces Will soon fill up their proper places.

"Advice to Preach Slow,"--_John Byrom_.

JOHN BYROM, a noted English poet, and writer of hymns, was born at Kersel Cell, near Manchester, February 29, 1692, and died in 1763. He wrote a famous poem "Colin and Phoebe." A collection of his poems was published in 1773.

FOOTNOTES:

[1] They have learned nothing, and they have forgotten nothing.

[2] Danger teaches even kings to pray.

[3] The blush is beautiful, but it is sometimes inconvenient.

MARCH

MARCH

That friendship only is, indeed, genuine when two friends, without speaking a word to each other, can, nevertheless, find happiness in being together.

--_George Ebers_.

GEORGE MORITZ EBERS, a famous German Egyptologist and novelist, was born at Berlin, March 1, 1837, and died August 7, 1898. Among his noted works are: "The Sisters," "The Emperor," "Serapis," "Joshua," "Cleopatra," "Homo Sum," "Uarda," "The Bride of the Nile," and "An Egyptian Princess," his most celebrated work.

Until after the war we had no real novels in this country, except "Uncle Tom's Cabin." This is one of the great novels of the world, and of all time. Even the fact that slavery was done away with does not matter; the interest in "Uncle Tom's Cabin," never will pass, because the book is really as well as ideally true to human nature, and nobly true. It is the only great novel of ours before the war that I can think of.

"My Favorite Novelist,"--_Munsey's Magazine_, Vol. 17, p. 22, 1897.--_William Dean Howells_.

WILLIAM DEAN HOWELLS, a celebrated American novelist and poet, was born at Martinsville, O., March 1, 1837, and died in 1921. Among his numerous works are: "Italian Journeys," "Poets and Poetry of the West," "Poems," "A Day's Pleasure," "A Little Girl Among the Old Masters," "Indian Summer," "Modern Italian Poets," "The Shadow of a Dream," "A Little Swiss Sojourn," "My Year in a Log Cabin," "My Literary Passions," "Impressions and Experiences," "A Previous Engagement," "Certain Delightful English Towns," "Through the Eye of the Needle," "Fennel and Rue," "Imaginary Interviews," "The Seen and Unseen in Stratford-on-Avon," "Years of My Youth," "A Modern Instance," "The Lady of the Aristook," "The Rise of Silas Lapham."

Much like a subtle spider which doth sit In middle of her web, which spreadeth wide; If aught do touch the utmost thread of it, She feels it instantly on every side.

"The Immortality of the Soul,"--_Sir John Davies_.

SIR JOHN DAVIES, a noted English poet and judge, was bom in Tisbury, Wiltshire, March 2, 1570, and died December 7 or 8, 1626. He wrote: "Know Thyself," "The Orchestra," and "Hymns to Astraea."

Of the generations of American statesmen that followed those of the Revolutionary period, few will live as long in the memory of the people, and none as long in the literature of the country, as Daniel Webster.

"Library of the World's Best Literature," 1897, ed. Warner, Vol. 38, p. 15725.--_Carl Schurz_.

CARL SCHURZ, a famous German-American journalist and statesman, was born near Cologne, Prussia, March 2, 1829, and died in 1906. His most celebrated speeches are: "The Irrepressible Conflict," "The Doom of Slavery," "The Abolition of Slavery as a War Measure," "Life of Henry Clay," "Eulogy on Charles Sumner," etc.

Go, lovely rose! Tell her that wastes her time and me That now she knows, When I resemble her to thee, How sweet and fair she seems to be.

"Go, Lovely Rose,"--_Edmund Waller_.

EDMUND WALLER, a renowned English poet and parliamentarian, was born at Coleshill, March 3, 1605, and died at Beaconsfield, October 21, 1687. He published a volume of poems in 1645, and another in 1664.

O woman! lovely woman! Nature made thee To temper man: we had been brutes without you. Angels are painted fair, to look like you: There's in you all that we believe of heaven,-- Amazing brightness, purity, and truth, Eternal joy, and everlasting love.

"Venice Preserved," Act i, Sc. 1,--_Thomas Otway_.

THOMAS OTWAY, a noted English dramatist, was born at Trotton, near Midhurst, Sussex, March 3, 1652, and died in April, 1685. His famous plays include "Don Carlos, Prince of Spain," "The Orphan, or the Unhappy Marriage," "The History and Fall of Caius Marius," "Venice Preserved, or a Plot Discover'd," etc.

When money represents many things, not to love it would be to love nearly nothing. To forget true needs can be only a feeble moderation; but to know the value of money and to sacrifice it always, maybe to duty, maybe even to delicacy,--that is real virtue.

--_De Sénancour_.

ETIENNE PIVERT DE SÉNANCOUR, a distinguished French writer, born at Paris, March 4 (?), 1770, and died at St. Cloud, January 10, 1846. He wrote: "Reveries on the Primitive State of Man," "Love According to Primordial Laws, and According to the Conventions of Society," "Free Meditations of an Unknown Solitary on Detachment from the World," "Isabella," and "Obermann," his most celebrated work.

I have always believed that success would be the inevitable result if the two services, the army and the navy, had fair play, and if we sent the right man to fill the right place.

"Speech in Parliament," January 15, 1855,--_Sir Austen Henry Layard_.

SIR AUSTEN HENRY LAYARD, a celebrated English traveler, was born at Paris, March 5, 1817, and died July 5, 1894. Among his publications are: "Nineveh and Babylon," "Early Adventures in Persia, Susiana, and Babylonia," "Nineveh and Its Remains."

Deep brown eyes running over with glee; Blue eyes are pale, and gray eyes are sober; Bonnie brown eyes are the eyes for me.

"October's Song,"--_Constance F. Woolson_.

CONSTANCE FENIMORE WOOLSON, a well-known American poet and novelist, was born at Claremont, N. H., March 5, 1848, and died at Venice, January, 1894. Her principal works are: "Rodman the Keeper," "For the Major," "Anne," "East Angels," "Horace Chase," "Jupiter Lights," and "Castle Nowhere."

As when, O lady mine! With chiselled touch The stone unhewn and cold Becomes a living mould. The more the marble wastes, The more the statue grows.

"Sonnet," Translation by Mrs. Henry Roscoe,--_Michelangelo_.

MICHAELANGELO BUONAROTTI, one of the greatest of Italian sculptors and poets, was born at Caprese, March 6, 1475, and died at Rome, February 18, 1564. His "Poems" were published in 1863, and a volume of "Letters" in 1865.

God answers sharp and sudden on some prayers, And thrusts the thing we have prayed for in our face, A gauntlet with a gift in't.

"Aurora Leigh,