Part 3

I have had playmates, I have had companions, In my days of childhood, in my joyful schooldays. All, all are gone, the old familiar faces.

"Old Familiar Faces,"--_Charles Lamb_.

CHARLES LAMB, the great English essayist, was born in London, February 10, 1775, and died at Edmonton, December 27, 1834. Among his essays may be mentioned: "Essays of Elia," "Last Essays of Elia," and his famous work, "Tales from the Plays of Shakespeare" (Mary and Charles Lamb).

Too fair to worship, too divine to love.

"The Belvedere Apollo,"--_Henry Hart Milman_.

HENRY HART MILMAN, a celebrated English clergyman, historian, and poet, was born in London, February 10, 1791, and died near Ascot, September 24, 1868. He wrote: "Fall of Jerusalem," "History of Christianity under the Empire," "History of the Jews," and his most important work, "The History of Latin Christianity down to the Death of Pope Nicholas V."

High in his chariot glow'd the lamp of day.

"The Shipwreck," Canto I, III; L. 3,--_Falconer_.

WILLIAM FALCONER, a noted Scotch poet, was born February 11, 1732, and died in 1769. He wrote: "The Demagogue," a "Universal Dictionary of the Marine," and numerous odes, satires and poems; the most famous of his poems being "The Shipwreck."

Genius hath electric power Which earth can never tame, Bright suns may scorch and dark clouds lower, Its flash is still the same.

"Marius Amid the Ruins of Carthage,"--_Lydia M. Child_.

LYDIA MARIA CHILD, a famous American prose-writer, was born in Medford, Mass., February 11, 1802, and died in Wayland, Mass., October 20, 1880. Among her numerous works may be mentioned, "Philothea," "Fact and Fiction," "Looking Toward Sunset," "Miria: A Romance of the Republic," "Hobomok," "Aspirations of the World," etc.

Let us have faith that right makes might; and in that faith let us to the end, dare to do our duty as we understand it.

"Address," Cooper Union, New York City, Feb. 27, 1860,--_Abraham Lincoln_.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN, the great "War President," was born in Hardin County, Ky., February 12, 1809, and died at Washington, D. C., April 15, 1865. His "Address," at the dedication of the National Cemetery at Gettysburg, Pa., and his "Second Inaugural Address," won for him everlasting fame.

We will now discuss in a little more detail the Struggle for Existence.

"The Origin of Species," Chap. iii,--_Charles Robert Darwin_.

CHARLES ROBERT DARWIN, the famous English naturalist and philosopher, was born at Shrewsbury, February 12, 1809, and died April 19, 1882. He wrote: "The Descent of Man and Selection in Relation to Sex," "The Expression of the Emotions in Men and Animals," "A Naturalist's Voyage," "On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection," etc.

God's rarest blessing is, after all, a good woman.

"The Ordeal of Richard Feverel,"--_George Meredith_.

GEORGE MEREDITH, a noted British novelist and poet, was born at Portsmouth, Hampshire, February 12, 1828, and died May 18, 1909. Some of his famous works are: "Evan Harrington," "Harry Richmond," "Ordeal of Richard Feverel," "Rhoda Fleming," "Vittoria," "The Adventures of Harry Richmond," "Beauchamp's Career," "The Egoist," "The Tragic Comedians," "Diana of the Crossways," "Poems and Lyrics of the Joy of Earth," "Ballads and Poems of Tragic Life," "A Reading of Earth," "One of Our Conquerors," "The Amazing Marriage," etc.

Ils n'out rien appris, ni rien oublié.[1]

--_Talleyrand_.

CHARLES MAURICE DE TALLEYRAND-PÉRIGORD, a celebrated French diplomat, was born at Paris, February 13, 1754, and died at Valencay, May 17, 1838. His "Memoirs" were first published in 1891-92 in (5 vols.); his "Correspondence with Louis XVIII, during the Congress of Vienna," in 1881, his "Diplomatic Correspondence," in 1889-91 in (3 vols.) and "Unpublished Letters of Talleyrand to Napoleon, 1800-1809," in 1889.

O golden Silence, bid our souls be still, And on the foolish fretting of our care Lay thy soft touch of healing unaware!

"Silence,"--_Julia Caroline Ripley Dorr_.

MRS. JULIA CAROLINE (RIPLEY) DORR, a noted American poet and novelist, was born in Charleston, S. C., February 13, 1825, and died in 1913. Her works include: "Afternoon Songs," "Daybreak, an Easter Poem," "Poems," "Lanmere," "Expiation," "Farmingdale," "Bermuda," "Sibyl Huntington," and "A Cathedral Pilgrimage."

Oh, for the simple life, For tents and starry skies!

"Aspiration,"--_Israel Zangwill_.

ISRAEL ZANGWILL, a renowned English-Jewish novelist, was born in London, February 14, 1864. He has published: "The Premier and the Painter," "The Bachelors' Club," "The Big Bow Mystery," "The Old Maids' Club," "Children of the Ghetto," "Merely Mary Ann," "Ghetto Tragedies," "The Master," "The King of Schnorrers," "Without Prejudice," "The Mantle of Elijah," "The Next Religion," "Plaster Saints."

Nature has placed mankind under the government of two sovereign masters--pain and pleasure.

--_Jeremy Bentham_.

JEREMY BENTHAM, a distinguished English writer on ethics and jurisprudence, was born February 15, 1748, and died in 1832. His collected works (11 volumes) were published in 1843, and include: "A Fragment on Government," "View of the Hard Labor Bill," "Rationale of Punishment and Rewards," "Introduction to the Principles of Morals and Legislation," "The Panopticon, or the Inspection House," "Manual of Political Economy," "Poor Laws and Pauper Management," "Constitutional Code," etc.

A poet is the translator of the silent language of nature to the world.

--_R. W. Griswold_.

RUFUS WILMOT GRISWOLD, a distinguished American journalist and prose-writer, born in Benson, Vt., February 15, 1815, and died in New York, August 27, 1857. His works include: "Poets and Poetry of America," "Poets and Poetry of England in the Nineteenth Century," "Prose Writers of America," "Female Poets of America," etc.

Up anchor! Up anchor! Set sail and away! The ventures of dreamland Are thine for a day.

"Dreamland,"--_Silas Weir Mitchell_.

SILAS WEIR MITCHELL, a distinguished American physician, poet and novelist, was born in Philadelphia, February 15, 1829, and died January 4, 1914. He has written: "In War Time," "Poems," "Hephzibah Guinness, and Other Stories," "Hugh Wynne," "The Adventures of François," "The Red City," "Westways," "Complete Poems," etc.

Noth lehrt auch die Könige beten.[2]

"Der Trompeter von Säkkingen, Drittes Stuck,"--_Scheffel_.

JOSEPH VIKTOR VON SCHEFFEL, an eminent German poet and novelist, was born at Karlsruhe, February 16, 1826, and died April 9, 1886. He wrote: "Gaudeamus," "Ekkehard," "Mountain Psalms," and his famous epic poem, "The Trumpeter of Säkkingen," which won for him great fame, and has reached more than 250 editions.

It is probable that for many millions of years but one climate prevailed over the whole earth, which very closely resembled, or even surpassed the hottest tropical climate of the present day.

"Change of Climate and its Influence on Life," from "History of Creation."--_Ernst Heinrich Haeckel_.

ERNST HAECKEL, a renowned German naturalist, was born at Potsdam, February 16, 1834, and died in 1919. Among his most famous works are: "On the Division of Labor in Nature and Human Life," "On the Origin and Genealogy of the Human Race," "Life in the Great Marine Animals," "The Arabian Corals," "The System of the Medusa," "A Visit to Ceylon," "Riddle of the Universe," "Natural History of Creation," "Souvenirs of Algeria," "Monoism as Connected with Religion and Science," etc.

Darlings of the forest! Blossoming alone When Earth's grief is sorest For her jewels gone-- Ere the last snow-drift melts, your tender buds are blown.

"Trailing Arbutus,"--_Rose Terry Cooke_.

MRS. ROSE (TERRY) COOKE, a noted American poet and short-story writer, was born at West Hartford, Conn., February 17, 1827, and died at Pittsfield, Mass., July 18, 1892. Her complete poems were published in 1888, and her stories were published in book form under the titles: "Somebody's Neighbors," "Root-Bound," "The Sphinx's Children," "Happy Dodd," "Huckleberries," "Steadfast," a novel, appeared in 1889.

He [Hampden] had a head to contrive, a tongue to persuade, and a hand to execute any mischief.

"History of the Rebellion," Vol. iii, 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_.