Part 5

Try it for a day, I beseech you, to preserve yourself in an easy and cheerful frame of mind. Compare the day in which you have rooted out the weed of dissatisfaction with that on which you have allowed it to grow up, and you will find your heart open to every good motive, your life strengthened and your breast armed with a panoply against every trick of fate, truly you will wonder at your own improvement.

--_Richter_.

JEAN PAUL FRIEDRICH RICHTER, the celebrated German philosopher and humorist, was born at Wunsiedel, Bavaria, March 21, 1763, and died at Bayreuth, November 14, 1825. His noted works were: "The Country Valley," "Titan," "Flower, Fruit, and Thorn Pieces," "The Invisible Lodge," "The Life of Quintus Fixlein," "The Jubilating Senior," "Introduction to Aesthetics," "Hesperus," "Wild Oats," etc.

This is the charm, by sages often told, Converting all it touches into gold: Content can soothe, where 'er by fortune placed, Can rear a garden in the desert waste.

"Clifton Grove," L. 130,--_Henry Kirke White_.

HENRY KIRKE WHITE, a noted English poet, was born at Nottingham, March 21, 1785, and died October 19, 1806. He published: "Clifton Grove, a Sketch in Verse with Other Poems," which was dedicated to Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire. He also wrote numerous religious verses.

In George Sand's finest work there is a sweet spontaneity, almost as if she were an oracle of Nature uttering automatically the divine message. But, on the other hand, when the inspiration forsakes her, she drifts along on a windy current of words, the facility of her pen often beguiling the writer into vague diffuseness and unsubstantial declamation.

"Life of George Eliot,"--_Mathilde Blind_.

MATHILDE BLIND, a celebrated German-English poet, was born in Mannheim, March 21, 1847, and died in London, November 26, 1896. Among her writings are: "Life of George Eliot," "Madame Roland," "The Heather on Fire," "Ascent of Man," "Dramas in Miniature," "The Prophecy of St. Oran, and Other Poems," "Songs and Sonnets," and "Birds of Passage."

Time still, as he flies, brings increase to her truth, And gives to her mind what he steals from her youth.

"The Happy Marriage,"--_Edward Moore_.

EDWARD MOORE, a famous English dramatist and fabulist, was born at Abingdon, March 22, 1712, and died in London, March 1, 1757. He wrote: "Fables for the Female Sex," "Gil Blas," "Poems, Fables, and Plays," "Dramatic Works," etc.

The Night has a thousand eyes, And the Day but one; Yet the light of the bright world dies With the dying sun.

The Mind has a thousand eyes, And the Heart but one; Yet the light of a whole life dies When Love is done.

"Light,"--_Francis W. Bourdillon_.

FRANCIS W. BOURDILLON, a noted English poet, was born March 22, 1852. He has published: "Among the Flowers and Other Poems," "Ailes d'Alouette," "A Lost God," "Bedside Readings," "Sursom Corda," "Nephele," "Through the Gateway," "Aucassin and Nicolette," "Prelude and Romances," etc.

Some shall reap that never sow And some shall toil and not attain.

"Success,"--_Madison Julius Cawein_.

MADISON JULIUS CAWEIN, a distinguished American poet, was born in Louisville, Ky., March 23, 1865, and died December 7, 1914. Among his works are: "Blooms of the Berry," "The Triumph of Music," "Lyrics and Idyls," "Days and Dreams," "Moods and Memories," "Accolon of Gaul," "Intimations of the Beautiful," "Red Leaves and Roses," "Undertones," and "Poems of Nature and Love."

I sing the sweets I know, the charms I feel, My morning incense, and my evening meal, The sweets of Hasty Pudding.

"Hasty Pudding," Canto I,--_Joel Barlow_.

JOEL BARLOW, a famous American poet and statesman, was born in Redding, Conn., March 24, 1754, and died near Cracow, Poland, December 24, 1812. He wrote: "The Vision of Columbus," "The Columbiad," "The Conspiracy of Kings," and his celebrated poem, "Hasty Pudding."

O thrush, your song is passing sweet But never a song that you have sung, Is half so sweet as thrushes sang When my dear Love and I were young.

"Other Days,"--_William Morris_.

WILLIAM MORRIS, a celebrated English poet and writer on socialism, was born near London, March 24, 1834, and died at Hammersmith, October 3, 1896. His poetical writings include: "Defence of Guenevere and Other Poems," "Life and Death of Jason," "The Earthly Paradise," "Love Is Enough," "Poems by the Way," "The Story of Sigurd," etc. He also wrote: "The House of the Wolfings," "The Roots of the Mountains," "Hopes and Fears for Art," etc., and translated the "Æneid" in 1876, and the "Odyssey" in 1887.

Oh, dinna ask me gin I lo'e ye: Troth, I daurna tell! Dinna ask me gin I lo'e ye,-- Ask it o' yoursel'.

"Dinna Ask Me,"--_John Dunlop_.

JOHN DUNLOP, a noted Scottish song-writer, was born March 25 (?), 1755, and died at Port Glasgow, September 4, 1820. His Most famous song is, "Oh, Dinna Ask Me Gin I Lo'e Ye," which won for him great fame.

The stately ship is seen no more, The fragile skiff attains the shore; And while the great and wise decay, And all their trophies pass away, Some sudden thought, some careless rhyme, Still floats above the wrecks of Time.

"On an Old Song,"--_William Edward Hartpole Lecky_.

WILLIAM EDWARD HARTPOLE LECKY, a distinguished English historian, was born in Dublin, Ireland, March 26, 1838, and died in 1903. Among his works may be mentioned: "History of the Rise and Influence of the Spirit of Rationalism in Europe," "The Leaders of Public Opinion in Ireland," "A History of England in the 18th Century," "A History of Ireland in the 18th Century," "Democracy and Liberty," "A History of European Morals from Augustus to Charlemagne."

When I was one and twenty I heard a wise man say: "Give crowns and pounds and guineas But not your heart away."

"A Shropshire Lad,"--_Alfred Edward Housman_.

ALFRED EDWARD HOUSMAN, a noted English poet, was born March 26, 1859. Among his poetical pieces are: "A Shropshire Lad," "The Recruit," "The Street Sounds to the Soldiers' Tread," "The Day of Battle," "On the Idle Hill of Summer," "Loveliest of Trees," etc.

The army is a good book to open to study human life. One learns there to put his hand to everything, to the lowest and highest things. The most delicate and rich are forced to see living nearly everywhere poverty, and to live with it, and to measure his morsel of bread and draught of water.

--_Alfred de Vigny_.

ALFRED VICTOR, COMTE DE VIGNY, a celebrated French writer, was born in Loches, March 27, 1799, and died in Paris, September 17, 1863. His works include: "Cinq-Mars," "Consultations of Dr. Noir," etc. He also wrote several plays, "Chatterton" being the most famous.

But the sunshine aye shall light the sky, As round and round we run; And the truth shall ever come uppermost, And justice shall be done.

"Eternal Justice," Stanza 4,--_Charles Mackay_.

CHARLES MACKAY, a noted Scottish poet, journalist, and miscellaneous writer, was born at Perth, March 27, 1814, and died in London, December 24, 1889. He wrote: "Voices from the Mountains," "Voices from the Crowd," "The Salamandrine, or Love and Immortality," etc.

The school is the manufactory of humanity.

--_Comenius_.

JOHANN AMOS COMENIUS, an illustrious theologian and educator, was born at Nivnitz (?), Moravia, March 28, 1592, and died at Amsterdam, November 15, 1670. He has written: "Gate of Languages Unlocked," "World of Sense Depicted," "Great Didactics, or the Whole Art of Teaching Everything," etc.

We shall be judged, not by what we might have been, but what we have been.

--_Sewall_.

SAMUEL SEWALL, a distinguished American jurist, was born in Bishopstoke, England, March 28, 1652, and died in Boston, January 1, 1730. He wrote: "The Selling of Joseph," "The Accomplishment of Prophecies," "A Memorial Relating to the Kennebec Indians," "A Description of the New Heaven," His "Diary" was published in the "Collections of the Massachusetts Historical Society."

I have lived long enough to know what I did not at one time believe--that no society can be upheld in happiness and honor without the sentiment of religion.

--_La Place_.

PIERRE SIMON, MARQUIS DE LAPLACE, a renowned French mathematician and physical astronomer, was born at Beaumont-en-Auge, March 28, 1749, and died at Paris, March 5, 1827. His works include: "Exposition of the System of the Universe," "Mechanism of the Heavens," "Analytic Theory of Probabilities," "Philosophical Essay on Probabilities," etc.

The love of truth is the stimulus to all noble conversation. This is the root of all the charities. The tree which springs from it may have a thousand branches, but they will all bear a golden and generous fruitage.

--_Orville Dewey_.

ORVILLE DEWEY, a noted American clergyman and man of letters, was born in Sheffield, Mass., March 28, 1794, and died there, March 21, 1882. Among his works are: "Discourses on Human Nature," "Discourses on the Nature of Religion," "The Problem of Human Destiny," etc.

One thing only in this world is certain--duty.

"Selected Essays,"--_James Darmesteter_.

JAMES DARMESTETER, a distinguished French Orientalist, was born at Château-Salins, March 28, 1849, and died October 19, 1894. Among his writings may be mentioned: "Ormazd and Ahriman," "Iranian Studies," "Origins of Persian Poetry," and "Selected Essays."

You'd scarce expect one of my age To speak in public on the stage; And if I chance to fall below Demosthenes or Cicero, Don't view me with a critic's eye, But pass my imperfections by. Large streams from little fountains flow, Tall oaks from little acorns grow.

"Lines written for a School Declamation,"--_David Everett_.

DAVID EVERETT, a noted American journalist and miscellaneous writer, was born at Princeton, Mass., March 29, 1770, and died at Marietta, Ohio, December 21, 1813. He wrote: "Common Sense in Deshabille or the Farmer's Monitor," "The Rights and Duties of Nations," and "Darenzel, or the Persian Patriot."

I am but a gatherer and disposer of other men's stuff.

"Preface to the Elements of Architecture,"--_Sir Henry Wotton_.

SIR HENRY WOTTON, a famous English diplomatist, poet, and miscellaneous writer, was born at Boughton, Malherbe, Kent, March 30, 1568, and died at Eton, December, 1639. He wrote: "State of Christendom," "Poems," "Elements of Architecture," etc.

From the very beginning Freeman's historical studies were characterized on the one hand by philosophical breadth of view, and on the other hand by extreme accuracy of statement, and such loving minuteness of detail as is apt to mark the local antiquary whose life has been spent in studying only one thing. It was to the combination of these two characteristics that the pre-eminent greatness of his historical work was due.

"A Century of Science and other Essays,"--_John Fiske_.

JOHN FISKE, a renowned American historian, was born at Hartford, Conn., March 30, 1842, and died at Gloucester, Mass., July 4, 1901. He has written: "Outlines of Cosmic Philosophy," "The Unseen World," "Darwinism," "American Political Ideas," "The Critical Period of American History," "The Idea of God," "The American Revolution," "The Beginnings of New England," "The Discovery of America," "Dutch and Quaker Colonies in America" (1899), "Civil Government of the United States," "The Mississippi Valley in the Civil War," "Old Virginia and her Neighbors," 2 vols., etc.

(Et) le malheur est bien un trésor qu'on déterre.[3]

"Amour,"--_Paul Verlaine_.

PAUL VERLAINE, a celebrated French poet and story writer was born at Metz, March 30, 1844, and died at Paris, January 8, 1896. He wrote: "Saturnine Poems," "Gay Festivals," "Memoirs of a Widower," "Stories Without Words," "Love," "Dedications," "Good Luck," "My Hospitals," etc.

When anyone has offended me, I try to raise my soul so high that the offence cannot reach it.

--_Descartes_.

RENÉ DESCARTES, the illustrious French philosopher, was born at La Haye, Touraine, March 31, 1596, and died at Stockholm, February 11, 1650. His works include: "Discourse on Method," "Meditations in Elementary Philosophy," "Philosophical Beginnings," "Dioptrique," "Meteors," "Geometry," "Treatise on the Passions," and "Letters to the Princess Elizabeth."

The world in all doth but two nations bear-- The good, the bad, and these mixed everywhere.

"The Loyal Scot,"--_Andrew Marvell_.

ANDREW MARVELL, a famous English poet and satirist, was born at Winstead, Yorkshire, March 31, 1621, and died in London, August 18, 1678. He wrote: "The Nymph Complaining," "The Rehearsal Transposed," "Horatian Ode on Cromwell's Return from Ireland," and his well-known "Poems on Affairs of State."

Whether we wake or we sleep, Whether we carol or weep, The Sun with his Planets in chime, Marketh the going of Time.

"Chronomoros,"--_Edward Fitzgerald_.

EDWARD FITZGERALD, a renowned English poet, was born at Bredfield House, near Suffolk, March 31, 1809, and died June 14, 1883. Among his writings are: "The Mighty Magician," "Six Dramas from Calderon," and "The Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám." These are all translations of foreign poems.

There's a joy without canker or cark, There's a pleasure eternally new, 'Tis to gloat on the glaze and the mark Of China that's ancient and blue.

"Ballades in Blue China,"--_Andrew Lang_.

ANDREW LANG, a noted English poet, story-teller and literary critic, was born at Selkirk, Scotland, March 31, 1844, and died in 1912. Among his works are: "Letters to Dead Authors," "Helen of Troy," "Ballads and Lyrics of Old France," "Custom and Myth," "Myth, Ritual, and Religion," "Ballades in Blue China," etc.

FOOTNOTES:

[1]

God sends His highly favored ones Into the wide, wide world to roam.

[2]

Bear ye! Bravely endure; Just one short hour-- And thy dark room with sunshine glows.

[3] Misfortune is in truth a treasure we unearth.

APRIL

APRIL

Dis moi ce que tu manges, je te dirai ce que tu es.[1]

"Physiologie du Goût,"--_Brillat-Savarin_.

ANTHÈLME BRILLAT-SAVARIN, a distinguished French author, was born April 1, 1755, and died in 1826. His fame rests on the noted work: "Physiology of Taste."

Wir Deutschen furchten Gott, sonst aber nichts in der Welt.[2]

"Speech in the Reichstag," 1887,--_Prince Bismarck_.

OTTO EDWARD LEOPOLD VON BISMARCK, the renowned German statesman, was born at Schonhausen, April 1, 1815, and died in 1898. "Bismarck's Letters" won for him a place in literature.

Without doubt I can teach crowing: for I gobble.

"Chantecler," Act. i, Sc. 2,--_Edmond Rostand_.

EDMOND ROSTAND, a noted French dramatist, was born in Marseilles, April 1, 1868, and died in 1918. His notable plays include: "Les Romanesques," "La Princesse Lointaine," "La Samaritaine," "Cyrano de Bergerac," "L'Aiglon," "Poems," "Les Musardises," "Pour la Grèce," "Un Soir à Hernani," "Les Mots," "Chantecler," "Le Cantique de l'Aile," "Le Printemps de l'Aile," etc.

The God who gave us life, gave us liberty at the same time.

"Summary View of the Rights of British America,"--_Thomas Jefferson_.

THOMAS JEFFERSON, a distinguished American statesman, was born at Shadwell, Va., April 2, 1743, and died at Monticello, Va., July 4, 1826. He wrote: "Notes on Virginia," "Autobiography," "Correspondence," etc. The Declaration of Independence was also written by him.

Michael Angelo has expressed in colors what Dante saw and has sung to the generations of the earth.

(Miserere) "In the Sistine Chapel," from "The Improvisatore" (Translation by Mary Howitt),--_Hans Christian Andersen_.

HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN, a renowned Danish poet and story writer, was born at Odense, April 2, 1805, and died August 4, 1875. He wrote: "The Poet's Bazar," "Only a Fiddler," "The Picture Book Without Pictures," "The Improvisatore," and his celebrated "Wonder Tales" for children. Among his dramatic compositions are: "Raphaella," "The Two Baronesses," "The Flowers of Happiness," etc.

Genius and its rewards are briefly told: A liberal nature and a niggard doom, A difficult journey to a splendid tomb.

"Dedication of the Life and Adventures of Oliver Goldsmith,"--_John Forster_.

JOHN FORSTER, a noted English biographer and historical writer, was born in Newcastle-on-Tyne, April 2, 1812, and died in London, February 2, 1876. He wrote: "Life of Charles Dickens," "Statesmen of the Commonwealth of England," "Life of Oliver Goldsmith," "Biographical and Historical Essays," etc.

Sweet day, so cool, so calm, so bright, The bridal of the earth and sky.

"Virtue,"--_George Herbert_.

GEORGE HERBERT, a celebrated English poet, was born in Montgomery Castle, Montgomeryshire, April 3, 1593, and died at Bemerton, Wiltshire, in 1633. His most noted poems are: "Sweet Day, So Cool, So Calm, So Bright," "Virtue," "Life," "Love," "Discipline," "Holy Baptism," etc.

The almighty dollar, that great object of universal devotion throughout our land, seems to have no genuine devotees in these peculiar villages.

"The Creole Village,"--_Washington Irving_.

WASHINGTON IRVING, the renowned American historian, biographer, and man of letters, was born in New York, April 3, 1783, and died at "Sunnyside," near Tarrytown, N. Y., November 28, 1859. His principal works are: "The Alhambra," "Mahomet and His Successors," "Conquest of Granada," "The Sketch Book," "Bracebridge Hall," "Life and Times of Christopher Columbus," "Companions of Columbus," "Life of Washington," "A Voyage to the Eastern Part of Terra Firma," a translation; "Life of Oliver Goldsmith," "Astoria," "History of New York, by Diedrich Knickerbocker," "The Poetical Works of Thomas Campbell," "The Rocky Mountains: Journal of Captain B. L. E. Bonneville," etc.

To look up and not down, To look forward and not back, To look out and not in, and To lend a hand.

Rule of the "Harry Wadsworth Club," from "Ten Times One Is Ten," 1870,--_Edward Everett Hale_.

EDWARD EVERETT HALE, a distinguished American divine and prose-writer, was born in Boston, Mass., April 3, 1822, and died June 10, 1909. Among his writings are: "The Man Without a Country," "My Double and How He Undid Me," "Ten Times One is Ten," "The Skeleton in the Closet," "In His Name," "Ups and Downs," "Philip Nolan's Friends," "The Kingdom of God," "East and West," "Ralph Waldo Emerson," "Memories of a Hundred Years," "We, the People," "Prayers in the Senate," "Foundations of the Republic," etc.

Ah, happy world, where all things live Creatures of one great law, indeed; Bound by strong roots, the splendid flower,-- Swept by great seas, the drifting seed!

"The Story of the Flower,"--_Harriet P. Spofford_.

HARRIET ELIZABETH (PRESCOTT) SPOFFORD, a noted American poet and novelist, was born in Calais, Me., April 3, 1835, and died August 15, 1921. Among her noted works are: "New England Legends," "Poems," "Ballads about Authors," "The Marquis of Carabas," "A Master Spirit," "In Titian's Garden," "The Thief in the Night," "The Amber Gods, and Other Stories," "In a Cellar," etc.

No surer does the Auldgarth bridge, that his father helped to build, carry the traveller over the turbulent water beneath it, than Carlyle's books convey the reader over chasms and confusions, where before there was no way, or only an inadequate one.

--_John Burroughs_.

JOHN BURROUGHS, a famous American essayist, was born in Roxbury, N. Y., April 3, 1837, and died in 1921. He has written: "Winter Sunshine," "Fresh Fields," "Wake-Robin," "Birds and Poets," "Locusts and Wild Honey," "Sharp Eyes," "Signs and Seasons," "Riverely," "The Light of Day," "Ways of Nature," "Camping and Tramping with Roosevelt," "Under the Apple Trees," etc.

There must always be, we presume, however age and experience may modify nature, a certain inability on the part of a woman to appreciate the more riotous forms of mirth, and that robust freedom in morals which bolder minds admire. It is a disability which nothing can abolish.

--_Mrs. Oliphant_.

MARGARET WILSON OLIPHANT, a well-known Scotch novelist, was born April 4, 1828, and died in 1897. Among her numerous works may be mentioned: "Zaidee," "The Story of Valentine and His Brother," "In Trust," "A House Divided Against Itself," "Sir Tom," "The Cuckoo in the Nest," "English Literature at the End of the Eighteenth and Beginning of the Nineteenth Century," "Victorian Age of English Literature," "Makers of Florence, Venice, and Rome," "The Reign of Queen Anne," "The Makers of Modern Rome," "William Blackwood and His Sons," etc.

For words are wise men's counters,--they do but reckon by them; but they are the money of fools.

"The Leviathan," Part i, Chap. iv,--_Thomas Hobbes_.

THOMAS HOBBES, a renowned English philosopher, was born in Malmesbury, April 5, 1588, and died at Hardwick Hall, Derbyshire, December 4, 1679. A few of his many works are: "De Cive," "Human Nature," "De Corpore Politico," and "Leviathan, or the Matter, Form, and Power of a Commonwealth," considered his masterpiece.

For blessings ever wait on virtuous deeds, And though a late, a sure reward succeeds.

"The Mourning Bride," Act V, Sc. xii.--_Congreve_.

WILLIAM CONGREVE, an eminent English dramatist, was born in Bardsley, near Leeds, April 5, 1670, and died at London, January 19, 1729. Among his comedies are: "The Double Dealer," "The Mourning Bride," "The Old Bachelor," and "Love for Love."

It is a zealot's faith that blasts the shrines of the false god, but builds no temple to the true.

--_Sydney Dobell_.

SYDNEY THOMPSON DOBELL, a famous English poet, was born at Cranbrook, in Kent, April 5, 1824, and died in 1874. He wrote: "England in Time of War," and two noted poems, "The Roman" and "Balder." "Thoughts on Art, Philosophy and Religion," appeared after his death.

I think it will be generally conceded that, at the time of his death, Mr. Lowell occupied the position of the foremost American citizen. In public regard, at home and abroad, his name naturally headed the list of prominent Americans. Looked upon as a man of letters, as a representative of our country in foreign lands, or in any of the various positions in which he appeared before the public, there was no one to whom it was the custom to name James Russell Lowell as second. Without occupying the highest rank in any of his vocations, he stood in front of his fellow-citizens, because he held so high a rank in so many of them.

"Personal Tributes to Lowell, the Writer," Vol. 5, p. 187,--_Frank R. Stockton_.

FRANK RICHARD STOCKTON, a celebrated American author, was born in Philadelphia, April 5, 1834, and died April 20, 1902. Among his popular works may be mentioned: "Rudder Grange," "The Lady or the Tiger," "The Casting Away of Mrs. Leeks and Mrs. Aleshine," "The Dusantes," "Tales Out of School," "Adventures of Captain Horn," "The Great Stone of Sardis," "The Watchmaker's Wife and Other Stories," "Pomona's Travels," "Mrs. Cliff's Yacht," "Kate Bonnett," etc.

Pleasure with pain for leaven, Summer with flowers that fell, Remembrance fallen from heaven, And Madness risen from hell, Strength without hands to smite, Love that endures for a breath; Night, the shadow of light, And Life, the shadow of death.

"Atalanta in Calydon," Chorus,--_Swinburne_.