Part 15

... 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," Book i,--_John Keats_.

JOHN KEATS, an eminent English poet, was born in London, October 31, 1795, and died in Rome, 1821. He wrote: "Endymion, a Poetic Romance," "Lamia, Isabella, the Eve of St. Agnes, and Other Poems," including, also, the unfinished epic, "Hyperion." "The Letters of John Keats to Fanny Brawne" appeared in 1878, and the "Letters to His Family and Friends" in 1891.

O Mother dear, Jerusalem, When shall I come to Thee? When shall my sorrows have an end? Thy joys when shall I see?

--_William Cowper Prime_.

WILLIAM COWPER PRIME, a distinguished American man of letters, was born at Cambridge, N. Y., October 31, 1825, and died in 1905. He wrote: "Owl Creek Letters," "The Old House by the River," "Later Years," "Tent Life in the Holy Land," "Boat Life in Egypt and Nubia," "The Holy Cross," "Pottery and Porcelain of All Times and Nations," etc. He also wrote the famous hymn, "O, Mother Dear, Jerusalem."

FOOTNOTES:

[1] Is there no tyrant but the crowned one?

NOVEMBER

NOVEMBER

Every age has its pleasures, its style of wit, and its own ways.

"The Art of Poetry," Canto iii, Line 374,--_Boileau_.

NICOLAS BOILEAU-DESPRÉAUX, an eminent French critic and poet, was born in Paris, November 1, 1636, and died March 13, 1711. A few of his noted works are: "The Art of Poetry," "The Farewell of a Poet to the City of Paris," and his masterpiece, "The Reading Desk."

I am dying, Egypt, dying;-- Ebbs the crimson life-tide fast; And the dark Plutonian shadows Gather on the evening blast. Let thine arms, O Queen, enfold me; Hush thy sobs and bow thine ear; Listen to the great heart-secrets Thou, and thou alone, must hear.

"Antony to Cleopatra," St. I,--_William Haines Lytle_.

William Haines Lytle, a distinguished American general and poet, was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, November 2, 1826, and was killed at the Battle of Chickamauga, Tenn., September 20, 1863. His best-known poems are "Antony to Cleopatra," and "Jacqueline."

All men of whatever quality they be, who have done anything of excellence, or which may properly resemble excellence, ought, if they are persons of truth and honesty, to describe their life with their own hand; but they ought not to attempt so fine an enterprise till they have passed the age of forty.

--_Benvenuto Cellini_.

BENVENUTO CELLINI, a famous Italian sculptor, metal-worker, and writer of memoirs, was born in Florence, November 3, 1500, and died there, February 13, 1571. His "Autobiography" won for him an important place in letters.

So live, that when thy summons comes to join The innumerable caravan which moves To that mysterious realm where each shall take His chamber in the silent halls of death, Thou go not, like the quarry-slave at night, Scourged to his dungeon, but sustained and soothed By an unfaltering trust, approach thy grave Like one that wraps the drapery of his couch About him, and lies down to pleasant dreams.

"Thanatopsis,"--_William Cullen Bryant_.

WILLIAM CULLEN BRYANT, the celebrated American poet, was born in Cummington, Mass., November 3, 1794, and died in New York, June 12, 1878. His poetical works include: "The Yellow Violet," "Poems," "To a Water-fowl," "The Ages," "The West Wind," "June," "The Fountain and Other Poems," "Death of the Flowers," "The White-Footed Deer and Other Poems," "The Flood of Years," and his famous "Thanatopsis." He also wrote: "Letters of a Traveler," "Letters from the East," "Letters from Spain," etc.

Rock of Ages, cleft for me, Let me hide myself in thee.

"Salvation through Christ,"--_A. M. Toplady_.

AUGUSTUS MONTAGUE TOPLADY, a distinguished Anglican divine, was born November 4, 1740, and died August 11, 1778. He is chiefly known as a writer of hymns and poems including: "Rock of Ages," and the collections entitled, "Poems on Sacred Subjects."

Beyond this vale of tears There is a life above, Unmeasured by the flight of years; And all that life is love.

"The Issues of Life and Death,"--_James Montgomery_.

JAMES MONTGOMERY, a noted English poet and hymn-writer, was born at Irvine, Ayrshire, Scotland, November 4, 1771, and died at Sheffield, England, April 30, 1854. He wrote: "The World Before the Flood," "The West Indies," "Greenland," "Original Hymns," "Prose by a Poet," etc.

Mensch, was du thust, bedenk das End, Das wird die hochst Weisheit genennt.[1]

--_Hans Sachs_.

HANS SACHS, the famous German meistersinger, was born at Nuremberg, November 5, 1494, and died January 19 or 20, 1576. A complete collection of his works has never been published.

Make no man your idol; for the best man must have faults, and his faults will usually become yours in addition to your own. This is as true in art as in morals.

"Lectures on Art and Poems,"--_Washington Allston_.

WASHINGTON ALLSTON, a renowned American painter, poet, and romancer, was born at Waccamaw, S. C., November 5, 1779, and died at Cambridge, Mass., July 9, 1843. He wrote: "The Sylph of the Seasons and Other Poems," "Monaldi," "Lectures on Art and Poems," etc.

Laugh and the world laughs with you, Weep, and you weep alone; For this brave old earth must borrow its mirth But has trouble enough of its own.

"The Way of the World,"--_Ella Wheeler Wilcox_.

ELLA WHEELER WILCOX, a popular American poet, was born at Johnstown Centre, Wis., November 5, 1845, and died October 31, 1919. Among her volumes are: "Maurine," "Poems of Passion," "Poems of Pleasure," etc. She is best known for her poem, "The Way of the World."

As good be out of the world as out of the fashion.

"Love's Last Shift," Act ii.--_Colley Cibber_.

COLLEY CIBBER, a noted English dramatist, was born in London, November 6, 1671, and died there, December 12, 1757. Among his dramatic works are: "Love's Last Shift," "She Would and She Would Not," "The Careless Husband," and "Love Makes a Man."

"Innocently to amuse the imagination in this dream of life is wisdom." So wrote Oliver Goldsmith; and surely among those who have earned the world's gratitude by this ministration he must be accorded a conspicuous place.

"Life of Goldsmith,"--_William Black_.

WILLIAM BLACK, a celebrated Scottish novelist, was born November 6, 1841, and died in 1898. Among his popular novels are: "Love or Marriage," "In Silk Attire," "A Daughter of Heth," "Madcap Violet," "Three Feathers," "Yolande," "The Strange Adventures of a Phaeton," "Macleod of Dare," "White Heather," "Donald Ross of Heimra," "Highland Cousins," "Wild Eelin," and his most famous work, "A Princess of Thule." He also wrote a "Life of Goldsmith."

The great deep ground out of which large historical studies may grow is the ethical ground,--the simple ethical necessity for the perfecting, first, of man as man, and secondly, of man as a member of society; or in other words, the necessity for the development of humanity on one hand and society on the other.

--_Andrew Dickson White_.

ANDREW DICKSON WHITE, a distinguished American scholar and diplomat, was born at Homer, N. Y., November 7, 1832, and died in 1918. He has written: "Outlines of Lectures on Mediæval and Modern History," "The Plan of Organization for Cornell University," "The New Education," "Report on Co-Education of the Sexes," "The Warfare of Science," "Seven Great Statesmen in the Warfare of Humanity with Unreason," "The Work of Benjamin Hale," "Lecture on the Problem of High Crime in the United States," etc.

The man who is so conscious of the rectitude of his intention as to be willing to open his bosom to the inspection of the world is in possession of one of the strongest pillars of a decided character. The course of such a man will be firm and steady, because he has nothing to fear from the world, and is sure of the approbation and support of heaven.

--_Wirt_.

WILLIAM WIRT, a renowned American lawyer and author, was born at Bladensburg, Md., November 8, 1772, and died at Washington, D. C., February 18, 1834. He wrote: "Letters of a British Spy," "The Rainbow," and his best known work, "Sketches of the Life and Character of Patrick Henry."

How little know they life's divinest bliss, That know not to possess and yet refrain! Let the young Psyche roam, a fleeting kiss; Grasp it--a few poor grains of dust remain.

--_Owen Meredith_.

EDWARD ROBERT BULWER, EARL OF LYTTON ("OWEN MEREDITH"), an English poet and novelist of great fame, was born in London, November 8, 1831, and died in Paris, November 24, 1891. His writings include: "The Wanderer," "Clytemnestra, the Earl's Return, and Other Poems," "Fables in Song," "Glenaveril," "King Poppy," "The Ring of Amasis," and his famous novel in verse, "Lucile."

Such and so various are the tastes of men.

"Pleasures of the Imagination," 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.