Part II

,--_Giusti_.

GIUSEPPI GIUSTI, a notable Italian poet and political satirist, was born in Monsummano, May 12, 1809, and died in Florence, March 31, 1850. His first masterpiece was the poem "Dies Iræ," other pieces are: "The Boot," "The Crowned," "The Investiture of a Knight," and the satires written from 1847 to 1849.

Each hour until we meet is as a bird That wings from far his gradual way along The rustling covert of my soul--his song Still loudlier trilled through leaves more deeply stirr'd: But at the hour of meeting, a clear word Is every note he sings, in Love's own tongue.

"Winged Hours," Sonnet xv,--_Dante Gabriel Rossetti_.

DANTE GABRIEL ROSSETTI, the renowned English painter and poet, was born in London, May 12, 1828, and died at Birchington, Kent, April 9, 1882. Among his poetical works are: "Blessed Damozel," "Sister Helen," "The White Ship," "The House of Life," "The King's Tragedy," "Hand and Soul," and "Rose Mary." Also: translations of "Early Italian Poets."

To tremble, when I touch her hands, With awe that no man understands; To feel soft reverence arise When, lover-sweet, I meet her eyes; To see her beauty grow and shine When most I feel this awe divine,-- Whate'er befall me, this is mine; And whereabout the room she moves, My spirit follows her, and loves.

"Divine Awe,"--_George Edward Woodberry_.

GEORGE EDWARD WOODBERRY, a famous American poet and miscellaneous writer, was born at Beverly, Mass., May 12, 1855. He has written: "The North Shore Watch, and Other Poems," "History of Wood Engraving," "Life of Edgar Allan Poe," "The Flight and Other Poems," "North Africa and the Desert," "Shakespeare: An Address," "Great Writers," "Poems," "The Inspiration of Poetry," "Wendell Phillips," "Two Phases of Criticism," "Ideal Passion" (sonnets).

Work, and thou wilt bless the day Ere the toil be done; They that work not, can not pray, Can not feel the sun. God is living, working still, All things work and move; Work, or lose the power to will, Lose the power to love.

"Working,"--_John Sullivan Dwight_.

JOHN SULLIVAN DWIGHT, a noted American musical critic, was born at Boston, May 13, 1813, and died September 5, 1893. His noted poem is, "God Save the State."

Children are like grown people; the experience of others is never of any use to them.

--_Alphonse Daudet_.

ALPHONSE DAUDET, a distinguished French novelist, was born at Nîmes, May 13, 1840, and died December 16, 1897. He wrote: "The Little Thing: Story of a Child," "Letters from My Mill," "Monday Tales," "Fromont, Jr. and Risler, Sr.," "The Nabob," "Kings in Exile," "Numa Roumestan," "The Gospeller," "Sappho," "Tartarin," "Prodigious Adventures of Tartarin," "Tartarin in the Alps," "Port Tarascon," "Thirty Years of Paris," "Recollections of a Man of Letters," etc.

Columbia, Columbia, to glory arise, The queen of the world and the child of the skies! Thy genius commands thee; with rapture behold, While ages on ages thy splendors unfold.

"Columbia,"--_Timothy Dwight_.

TIMOTHY DWIGHT, a celebrated American Congregational clergyman, was born in Northampton, Mass., May 14, 1752, and died in New Haven, Conn., January 11, 1817. He wrote: "Observations on Language," "Essay on Light," "Greenfield Hill" "Travels in New England and New York," "Theology Explained and Defended," etc.

"You can never say too much about Coleridge to me," Rossetti would write, "for I worship him on the right side of idolatry, and I perceive you know him well." Upon this one of my first remarks was that there was much in Coleridge's higher descriptive verse equivalent to the landscape art of Turner. The critical parallel Rossetti warmly approved of, adding however, that Coleridge, at his best as a pictorial artist, was a spiritualised Turner.

"Recollections of Dante Gabriel Rossetti,"--_Hall Caine_.

SIR THOMAS HENRY HALL CAINE, an eminent English novelist, was born at Runcorn, Cheshire, May 14, 1853. His most noted works are: "The Deemster," "A Son of Hagar," "Recollections of Rossetti," "The Scapegoat," "The Shadow of a Crime," "The Manxman," "The Christian," "The White Prophet," "The Prodigal Son," "The Woman Thou Gavest Me," etc. Also: "The Drama of 365 Days," "Scenes in the Great War," "Britain's Daughters," etc.

Sooth 'twere a pleasant life to lead, With nothing in the world to do But just to blow a shepherd's reed, The silent season thro' And just to drive a flock to feed,-- Sheep, quiet, fond and few!

"Dolce far Niente," Stanza I,--_Laman Blanchard_.

SAMUEL LAMAN BLANCHARD, a noted British author and journalist, was born May 15, 1804, and died February 15, 1845. He published "Lyric Offerings," etc.; and edited numerous magazine journals.

The deeper the feeling the less demonstrative will be the expression of it.

--_Balzac_.

HONORÉ DE BALZAC, the greatest of French novelists, was born in Tours, May 16, 1799, and died in Paris, August 18, 1850. He wrote in all about 97 celebrated novels. Among them: "Le Vieille Fille," "Contrat De Marriage," "Le Colonel Chabert," "Les Chouans," "Pierrette," "Seraphita," "Les Employés," "Modeste Mignon," "Histoire Des Treize," "Début Dans La Vie," "Ursule Mirouet," "Eugène Grandet," "Cousin Pons," "Le Père Goriot," "Les Paysans," "Cousine Bette," etc., etc.

Les grandes ne sont grands que parceque nous sommes à genoux; Relevons nous.[3]

"Revolutions de Paris," Motto.--_Prudhomme_.

RENÉ FRANÇOIS ARMAND SULLY-PRUDHOMME, a famous French poet, was born at Paris, May 16, 1839, and died in 1907. He has written: "The Broken Vase," "Stanzas and Poems," "The Stables of Augeas," "The Wildernesses," "Revolt of the Flowers," "Reflections on the Art of Versification," etc.

To think, and to feel, constitute the two grand divisions of men of genius--the men of reasoning and the men of imagination.

"Literary Character of Men of Genius," Ch. II,--_Isaac Disraeli_.

ISAAC DISRAELI, a distinguished English literary essayist, compiler and historian, was born at Enfield in Middlesex, May 17, 1766, and died January 9, 1848. Among his writings are: "Curiosities of Literature," "Calamities of Authors," "Quarrels of Authors," "Miscellanies, or Literary Recollections," etc. Also: "Commentaries on the Life and Reign of Charles I."

A monument to Newton! a monument to Shakespeare! Look up to Heaven--look into the Human Heart. Till the planets and the passions--the affections and the fixed stars are extinguished--their names cannot die.

"Noctes Ambrosianæ," Vol. iii,--_John Wilson_.

JOHN WILSON (CHRISTOPHER NORTH), a noted Scottish writer, was born May 18, 1785, at Paisley, and died April 3, 1854. Among his works are: "The Isle of Palms," "The City of the Plague," "Lights and Shadows of Scottish Life," "The Trials of Margaret Lindsay," "The Foresters," etc.

Not alone to know, but to act according to thy knowledge, is thy destination,--proclaims the voice of my inmost soul. Not for indolent contemplation and study of thyself, nor for brooding over emotions of piety--no, for action was existence given thee; thy actions, and thy actions alone, determine thy worth.

--_Fichte_.

JOHANN GOTTLIEB FICHTE, a renowned German philosopher, was born at Rammenau in Upper Lusatia, May 19, 1762, and died at Berlin, January 27, 1814. Among his works are: "Foundations of the Whole Doctrine of Science," "Introduction to the Doctrine of Science," "The Doctrine of Science," "System of Moral Doctrine," "Man's Destiny," and his celebrated treatise, "Essay Toward a Critique of All Revelation."

The worth of a state, in the long run, is the worth of the individuals composing it.

--_John Stuart Mill_.

JOHN STUART MILL, a famous English philosophical writer, logician, and political economist, was born in London, May 20, 1806, and died at Avignon, France, May 8, 1873. Among the most important of his works are: "Essay on Liberty," "Logic," "Political Economy," "On the Subjection of Women," "Examination of Sir William Hamilton's Philosophy," "Auguste Comte and Positivism," and "Utilitarianism." His "Autobiography" appeared in 1873.

It was the calm and silent night! Seven hundred years and fifty-three Had Rome been growing up to might, And now was queen of land and sea. No sound was heard of clashing wars, Peace brooded o'er the hushed domain; Apollo, Pallas, Jove, and Mars Held undisturbed their ancient reign, In the solemn midnight Centuries ago.

"Christmas Hymn,"--_Alfred Domett_.

ALFRED DOMETT, a noted British statesman and poet, was born at Camberwell Grove, Surrey, May 20, 1811, and died in 1887. The best known of his works are: "Ranolf and Amohia, a South Sea Day Dream," and "Flotsam and Jetsam: Rhymes Old and New."

Awake, my St. John! leave all meaner things To low ambition and the pride of kings. Let us (since life can little more supply Than just to look about us, and to die) Expatiate free o'er all this scene of man; A mighty maze! but not without a plan.

"Essay on Man," Epistle i, Line 1,--_Alexander Pope_.

ALEXANDER POPE, the renowned English poet, was born at London, May 21, 1688, and died at Twickenham on the Thames, May 30, 1744. His most famous works are: "Homer's Odyssey," "The Iliad of Homer," translated, "Epistles from Eloisa to Abelard," "The Rape of the Lock," "The Temple of Fame," "Essay on Criticism," "The Dunciad," "Imitations of Horace," "Essay on Man," etc.

"It is more than a crime; it is a political fault,"--words which I record, because they have been repeated and attributed to others.

"Memoirs,"--_Fouché_.

JOSEPH FOUCHÉ (DUKE OF OTRANTO), a celebrated French statesman, was born May 21, 1759, and died in 1820. A few of his famous political pamphlets and reports are: "Réflexions sur le jugement de Louis Cofret," "Réflexions sur l'éducation publique," "Rapport et project de loi relatif aux Collèges," etc.

A sudden thought strikes me,--let us swear an eternal friendship.

"The Rovers,"--_J. H. Frere_.

JOHN HOOKHAM FRERE, a noted English poet, translator, and diplomatist, was born in London, May 21, 1769, and died in Malta, January 7, 1846. He produced: the "Prospectus and Specimen of an Intended National Work... Relating to King Arthur and his Round Table," known as "The Monks and the Giants"; a literary burlesque, and numerous translations.

A sound so fine, there's nothing lives 'Twixt it and silence.

"Virginius," Act v, Sc. 2 (1784-1862),--_James Sheridan Knowles_.

JAMES SHERIDAN KNOWLES, a famous Irish actor, lecturer and dramatist, was born at Cork, May 21, 1784, and died at Torquay, England, November 30, 1862. Among his dramas are: "Caius Gracchus," "William Tell," "Alfred the Great," "The Wife: a Tale of Mantua," "The Rose of Aragon," and his three masterpieces, "Virginius," "The Hunchback," and "The Love Chase."

Unconsciousness is one of the most important conditions of a good style in speaking or in writing.

--_Richard Grant White_.

RICHARD GRANT WHITE, an eminent American journalist, critic, and Shakespearean scholar, was born in New York City, May 22, 1822, and died there, April 8, 1885. Among his books are: "National Hymns: A Lyrical and National Study for the Times," "Memoirs of the Life of William Shakespeare, with an Essay Towards the Expression of His Genius," "Poetry of the Civil War," "Words and Their Uses," "England Without and Within," etc.

The bow was made in England: Of true wood, of yew-wood, The wood of English bows; So men who are free Love the old yew-tree And the land where the yew-tree grows.

"Songs of Action: Song of the Bow," etc. I,--_Sir A. Conan Doyle_.

SIR ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE, a renowned Scotch story and romance writer, was born in Edinburgh, May 22, 1859. His works include: "A Study in Scarlet," "The Sign of the Four," "The White Company," "The Great Shadow," "Adventures of Sherlock Holmes," "The Hound of the Baskervilles," "Adventures of Gerard," "Return of Sherlock Holmes," "Sir Nigel," "Through the Magic Door," "The Fires of Fate," "The Crime of the Congo," "The Lost World," "The Case of Oscar Slater," "The Valley of Fear," "A Visit to Three Fronts," "His Last Bow," etc.

I remember, I remember The fir-trees dark and high; I used to think their slender-tops Were close against the sky; It was a childish ignorance, But now 'tis little joy To know I'm farther off from heaven Than when I was a boy.

"I remember, I remember,"--_Thomas Hood_.

THOMAS HOOD, the great English poet, was born in London, May 23, 1799, and died there May 3, 1845. Among his poetical works are: "The Haunted House," "Whims and Oddities," "The Plea of the Midsummer Fairies," and "The Hostler's Lament," "The Bridge of Sighs," and "The Song of the Shirt."

Chance cannot touch me! Time cannot hush me! Fear, hope, and longing, at strife, Sink as I rise, on, on, upward forever, Gathering strength, gaining breath,--naught can sever Me from the Spirit of Life!

"Dryad Song," Stanza 4,--_Margaret Fuller_.

SARAH MARGARET FULLER, Marchioness d'Ossoli, best known as "Margaret Fuller," was born at Cambridgeport, Mass., May 23, 1810, and died in 1850. She wrote: "Art, Literature, and Drama," "At Home and Abroad," "Life Without and Life Within," and a collection of essays on "Women in the Nineteenth Century."

The object of science is knowledge; the objects of art are works. In art, truth is the means to an end; in science, it is the only end. Hence the practical arts are not to be classed among the sciences.

--_William Whewell_.

WILLIAM WHEWELL, a noted English philosopher and scientist, was born at Lancaster, May 24, 1794, and died at Cambridge, March 6, 1866. Among his works are: "History of the Inductive Sciences," "Philosophy of the Inductive Sciences," "Lectures on Political Economy," "Elements of Morality," etc.

If ever any poet stood in the white light of the beauty which we call poetry, it was Mrs. Browning. Her thoughts were as fire and her words were as fire.

"Lectures on English Literature," 1889, p. 135.--_Maurice Francis Egan_.

MAURICE FRANCIS EGAN, a distinguished man of letters, was born in Philadelphia, May 24, 1852 and died in 1923. His works include: "That Girl of Mine," "That Lover of Mine," "A Garden of Roses," "Stories of Duty," "The Life Around Us," "Lectures on English Literature," "A Primer of English Literature," "A Gentleman," "The Flower of the Flock," "Preludes" (poetry), "Songs and Sonnets," "Everybody's St. Francis."

Beneath the rule of men entirely great, The pen is mightier than the sword.

"Richelieu," Act ii, Sc. 2,--_Edward Bulwer-Lytton_.

EDWARD BULWER-LYTTON, LORD LYTTON, the renowned English novelist, poet and dramatist, was born in London, May 25, 1803, and died in Torquay, January 18, 1873. Among his famous novels are: "Eugene Aram," "Pelham," "Last Days of Pompeii," "Pilgrims of the Rhine," "Last of the Barons," "Ernest Maltravers," "A Strange Story," "Rienzi," "Devereux," "Falkland," "Harold," "The Coming Race," "The Caxtons," and three noted dramas, "Money," "Richelieu," and "The Lady of Lyons."

I rarely read any Latin, Greek, German, Italian, sometimes not a French book, in the original, which I can procure in a good version. I like to be beholden to the great metropolitan English speech, the sea which receives tributaries from every region under heaven. I should as soon think of swimming across Charles River when I wish to go to Boston, as of reading all my books in originals when I have them rendered for me in my mother tongue.

"Books,"--_Ralph Waldo Emerson_.

RALPH WALDO EMERSON, the famous American philosopher, essayist and poet, was born in Boston, May 25, 1803, and died at Concord, Mass., April 27, 1882. He wrote: "The American Scholar," "Man the Reformer," "Nature," "The Young American," "The Conduct of Life," "Letters and Social Aims," "Tribute to Walter Scott," "Society and Solitude," "Representative Men," "Miscellanies," "Essays," "Poems," "May Day and Other Pieces," etc.

Satire should, like a polished razor keen, Wound with a touch that's scarcely felt or seen.

"To the Imitator of the First Satire of Horace,"