Part 11

GEORGE WASHINGTON BUNGAY, a noted journalist and poet, was born in Walsingham, England, July 22, 1818, and died July 10, 1892. The best known of his many poems are: "The Creed of the Bells," and "The English Sparrow." He also wrote: "Abraham Lincoln Songster," "Pen Portraits of Illustrious Abstainers," etc.

Resolve to be thyself; and know, that he Who finds himself, loses his misery.

"Self Independence,"--_Coventry K. D. Patmore_.

COVENTRY KEASSEY DEIGHTON PATMORE, a celebrated English poet, was born at Woodford in Essex, July 23, 1823, and died in 1896. He wrote: "The Unknown Eros," "Amelia," "The Rod, the Root and the Flower," "The Angel in the House," "Principle in Art, and Other Essays," etc.

Truth is liable to be left-handed in history.

--_Dumas_, (Père).

ALEXANDRE DUMAS, the Elder, an illustrious French dramatist and romancist, was born at Villière Cotterets, Aisne, July 24, 1803 (?), and died near Dieppe, December 5, 1870. A few of his great romances are: "The Count of Monte Cristo," "The Three Musketeers," "Twenty Years After," "The Knight of Maison-Rouge," "Viscount de Bragelonne," "Queen Margot," etc., etc. Some of his historical romances are: "Joan of Arc," "Michelangelo and Raffaelle," "Louis XIV and His Age," etc. His most famous plays were: "Henri III. and His Court," "Antony," "Charles VII with His Grand Vassals," "Napoleon Bonaparte," "Mdlle. de Belle-Isle," "Marriage under Louis XV," "The Misses St. Cyr," etc. He also wrote entertaining narratives of his travels in Italy, Switzerland, Germany, Spain, North Africa, Syria, Egypt, etc.

Heaven is not reached at a single bound; But we build the ladder by which we rise From the lowly earth to the vaulted skies, And we mount to its summit round by round.

"Gradatim,"--_-Josiah G. Holland_.

JOSIAH GILBERT HOLLAND, a famous American poet and novelist and editor, was born at Belchertown, Mass., July 24, 1819, and died in New York, October 12, 1881. Among his works are: "Letters to the Young," "Life of Abraham Lincoln," "Plain Talks on Familiar Subjects," "Nicholas Minturn," etc. Also poems under the titles: "Bitter Sweet," "Kathrina," "The Mistress of the Manse," "Garnered Sheaves," etc.

The energies of our system will decay; the glory of the sun will be dimmed, and the earth, tideless and inert, will no longer tolerate the race which has for a moment disturbed its solitude. Man will go down into the pit and all his thoughts will perish.

"The Foundations of Belief,"--_Arthur James Balfour_.

RT. HON. ARTHUR JAMES BALFOUR, a distinguished English author and statesman, was born July 25, 1848. He has written: "A Defence of Philosophic Doubt," "The Foundations of Belief," "Essays and Addresses," "Economic Notes on Insular Free Trade," "Speeches" (1880-1905), on "Fiscal Reform," "Criticism and Beauty," "Theism and Humanism," etc.

I remember, I remember How my childhood fleeted by,-- The mirth of its December And the warmth of its July.

"I remember, I remember,"--_Winthrop M. Praed_.

WINTHROP MACKWORTH PRAED, a celebrated English poet, was born in London, July 26, 1802, and died in 1839. Among his best known pieces are: "The Red Fisherman," "Private Theatricals," "Every-Day Characters," "School and Schoolfellows," "A Letter of Advice," "Our Ball," "My Partner," "My Little Cousins," etc.

The more things a man is ashamed of, the more respectable he is.

"Man and Superman,"--_George Bernard Shaw_.

GEORGE BERNARD SHAW, a famous British author and playwright, was born in Dublin, July 26, 1856. He has written, "The Quintessence of Ibsenism," "The Sanity of Art," "The Perfect Wagnerite," "The Common Sense of Municipal Training," "Socialism and Superior Brains," "Common Sense about the War," etc. Also: "The Admirable Bashville," "Man and Superman," "John Bull's Other Island," "How He Lied to Her Husband," "Major Barbara," "The Doctor's Dilemma," "Getting Married," "Misalliance," "Fanny's First Play," "Androcles and the Lion," "Pygmalion," "Overruled," "Great Catherine," "The Music-Cure," "O'Flaherty, V. C.," "An Unsocial Socialist," "The Devil's Disciple," "Cæsar and Cleopatra," "The Man of Destiny," "You Never Can Tell," "Back to Methuselah" (cycle of plays), etc.

'Tis distance lends enchantment to the view, And robes the mountain in its azure hue.

"Pleasures of Hope," 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," Part I, Chap. II,--_Izaak Walton_.

IZAAK WALTON, a celebrated English author, was born in Stafford, England, August 9, 1593, and died at Winchester, December 15, 1683. His most famous work was: "The Complete Angler: or, the Contemplative Man's Recreation." He also wrote the biographies of a number of famous men, known as "Walton's Lives."

Happy the man, and happy he alone, He who can call to-day his own; He who, secure within, can say, To-morrow do thy worst, for I have liv'd to-day.

"Imitation of Horace," Book iii, Ode 29, Line 65,--_John Dryden_.

JOHN DRYDEN, the renowned English poet, was born at Aldwinkle, Northamptonshire, August 9, 1631, and died in London, May 1, 1700. His most famous works were: "The Hind and the Panther," "Alexander's Feast," and "Absalom and Achitophel," also a number of noted plays including: "Marriage à la Mode," "The Conquest of Grenada," "The Spanish Friar," "Don Sebastian," "All for Love," etc.

His temper was of that warm susceptible kind which is caught with the heroic and the tender, and, which is more fitted to delight in the world of sentiment than to succeed in the bustle of ordinary life. This is a disposition of mind well suited to the poetical character, and, accordingly, all his earliest companions agree that Mr. Home was from his childhood delighted with the lofty and heroic ideas which embody themselves in the description or narrative of poetry.... Mr. Home's favorite amusement was angling.

"Account of the Life of Mr. John Home," "Home's Works," Vol. I, pp. 6, 31,--_Henry Mackenzie_.

HENRY MACKENZIE, a noted Scotch novelist, essayist and miscellaneous writer, was born at Edinburgh, August 10, 1745, and died there January 14, 1831. He wrote: "The Man of the World," "Julia de Roubigné," "Works" (8 vols.), and "The Man of Feeling," his most famous work.

Yes, Walt Whitman has appeared. He has his place upon the stage. The drama is not ended. His voice is still heard. He is the poet of democracy--of all people. He is the poet of the body and soul. He has sounded the note of individuality. He has given the pass-word primeval. He is the Poet of Humanity--of Intellectual Hospitality. He has voiced the aspirations of America, and, above all, he is the poet of Love and Death.

"Liberty in Literature," In Re Walt Whitman,--_Robert G. Ingersoll_.

ROBERT GREEN INGERSOLL, a distinguished American orator, lecturer and lawyer, was born in Dresden, N. Y., August 11, 1833, and died at Dobbs Ferry, N. Y., July 21, 1899. He has published: "Some Mistakes of Moses," "Lectures, Complete," "Great Speeches," "Prose Poems and Selections."

Most women indulge in idle gossip, which is the henchman of rumor and scandal.

--_Octave Feuillet_.

OCTAVE FEUILLET, a celebrated French novelist, was born at St. Lô, August 11, 1821, and died at Paris, December 29, 1890. He wrote: "The Great Old Man," "The History of Sibylla," "Julie de Trécoeur," "A Marriage in High Life," "Story of a Parisienne," "La Morte," and his most notable work, "Romance of a Poor Young Man."

My mother says I must not pass Too near that glass; She is afraid that I will see A little witch that looks like me, With a red mouth to whisper low The very thing I should not know.

"The Witch in the Glass,"--_Sarah Morgan Bryant Piatt_.

MRS. SARAH MORGAN (BRYANT) PIATT, a noted American poet, was born at Lexington, Ky., August 11, 1836. Her best known works are: "A Woman's Poems," "A Voyage to the Fortunate Isles," "Dramatic Persons and Moods," "The Witch in the Glass," "An Enchanted Castle," etc.

How beautiful is night! A dewy freshness fills the silent air; No mist obscures; nor cloud, nor speck, nor stain, Breaks the serene of heaven: In full-orbed glory, yonder moon divine Rolls through the dark blue depths; Beneath her steady ray The desert circle spreads Like the round ocean, girdled with the sky. How beautiful is night!

"Thalaba," Book i, Stanza 1,--_Robert Southey_.

ROBERT SOUTHEY, an English poet and prose-writer, of great renown, was born in Bristol, August 12, 1774, and died March 21, 1843. He wrote: "A Vision of Judgment," "Joan of Arc," "Thalaba the Destroyer," "The Curse of Kehama," "Life of Nelson," "The Doctor," "Book of the Church," "Life of John Bunyan," "Life of John Wesley," "History of Brazil," etc.

One day thou didst desert me--when I learned How looks the world to men that lack thy grace, And toward the shadowy night sick-hearted turned,-- When, lo! the first star brought me back thy face!

"To Imagination,"--_Edith Matilda Thomas_.

EDITH MATILDA THOMAS, a famous American poet, was born in Chatham, Ohio, August 12, 1854. She has written: "A New Year's Masque," "The Round Year," "Children of the Seasons," "Babes of the Year," "Babes of the Nation," "Lyrics and Sonnets," "Heaven and Earth," "The Inverted Torch," "Fair Shadow Land," "In Sunshine Land," "In the Young World," "A Winter Swallow, and Other Verse," "The Dancers," "Cassia and Other Verse," "Children of Christmas," "The Guest of the Gate," "The White Messenger," "The Flower from the Ashes," etc.

Cruel is death? Nay, kind, he that is ta'en Was old in wisdom, though his years were few; Life's pleasure hath he lost--escaped life's pain, Nor wedded joys, nor wedded sorrows knew.

"On a Youth," Translated from Julianus,--_Goldwin Smith_.

GOLDWIN SMITH, a renowned English historian, essayist and educator, was born at Reading, Berkshire, August 13, 1823, and died June 7, 1910. He has written: "Irish History and Irish Character," "Foundation of the American Colonies," "England and America," "The Civil War in America," "Lectures on the Study of History," "Short History of England," "Life of Cowper," "Life of Jane Austen," "Guesses at the Riddle of Existence," "Reminiscences" (1910), "The Empire," "My Memory of Gladstone," etc.

Sweetest the strain when in the song The singer has been lost.

"The Poet and the Poem,"--_Elizabeth Stuart Phelps_.

ELIZABETH STUART PHELPS WARD, a celebrated American novelist, was born at Andover, Mass., August 13, 1844, and died in 1911. Among her many works are: "Ellen's Idol," "Gypsy Stories," "Men, Women and Ghosts," "Poetic Studies," "The Story of Avis," "Old Maid's Paradise," "Sealed Orders," "Beyond the Gates," "Songs of the Silent World," "The Gates Between," "A Struggle for Immortality," "The Life of Christ," "Trixy," "Walled In," and her most famous work, "Gates Ajar."

Flowers are Love's truest language.

"Sonnet,"--_Park Benjamin_.

PARK BENJAMIN, a noted American journalist, poet, and lecturer, was born at Demerara, British Guiana, August 14, 1809 and died in New York, September 12, 1864. Among his poetical pieces are: "The Old Sexton," "Poetry," "Infatuation," "The Nautilus," "To One Beloved," and "The Contemplation of Nature."

Among living authors Haggard is unquestionably first. I find two very remarkable qualities in Mr. Haggard's novels,--a power of imagination in which, for audacity and strength, he is unequalled since the Elizabethan dramatists. Secondly there is the mesmeric influence which he exercises over his readers.

--_Walter Besant_.

SIR WALTER BESANT, a distinguished English novelist, was born in Portsmouth, August 14, 1838, and died June 10, 1901. Among his noted works may be mentioned: "The Golden Butterfly," "Ready Money Mortiboy," "The Seamy Side," "Studies in Early French Poetry," "When George the Third Was King," "The French Humorists," "All Sorts and Conditions of Men," "Dorothy Foster," "All in a Garden Fair," "The Ivory Gate," "The Master Craftsman," "Beyond the Dreams of Avarice," "St. Katharine's by the Tower," "Armorel of Lyonnesse," "The Rebel Queen," etc. The first three works mentioned were written in collaboration with James Rice.

If on a Spring night, I went by And God were standing there, What is the prayer that I would cry To Him? This is the prayer: O Lord of Courage grave, O Master of this night of Spring Make firm in me a heart too brave To ask Thee anything!

"Moods, Songs and Doggerels," "The Prayer,"--_John Galsworthy_.