"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_.
ALGERNON CHARLES SWINBURNE, an eminent English poet, was born in London,
April 5, 1837; and died April 10, 1909. His publications include: "Poems
and Ballads," "The Queen Mother and Rosamond," "Bothwell," "Songs of the
Springtides," "A Century of Roundels," "The Sisters," "Studies in Song,"
"Songs of Two Nations," "Chastelard," "Ode on the Proclamation of the
French Republic," "Songs Before Sunrise," "Atalanta in Calydon," "Under
the Microscope," "Tristram of Lyonesse and Other Poems," "Marino
Faliero," "A Midsummer Holiday and Other Poems," "Locrine," a tragedy, a
third series of "Poems and Ballads," "Astrophel and Other Poems," "The
Tale of Balen," "Rosamund, Queen of the Lombards," a tragedy, etc.
From every place below the skies
The grateful song, the fervent prayer,--
The incense of the heart,--may rise
To heaven, and find acceptance there.
"Every Place a Temple,"--_John Pierpont_.
JOHN PIERPONT, a well-known American clergyman and poet, was born in
Litchfield, Conn., April 6, 1785, and died in Medford, Mass., August 27,
1866. He wrote: "Airs of Palestine, and Other Poems," also, his famous
poem "Warren's Address at the Battle of Bunker Hill."
It came upon the midnight clear,
That glorious song of old,
From angels bending near the earth
To touch their harps of gold:
"Peace on the earth, good-will to men,
From Heaven's all-gracious King!"
The world in solemn stillness lay
To hear the angels sing.
"The Angels' Song,"--_Edmund Hamilton Sears_.
EDMUND HAMILTON SEARS, a noted American clergyman, religious writer and
poet was born in Sandisfield, Mass., April 6, 1810, and died at Weston,
Mass., January 14, 1876. He wrote: "Regeneration," "Pictures of the
Olden Time," "Athanasia," "Christian Lyrics," "The Fourth Gospel: the
Heart of Christ," "Sermons and Songs of the Christian Life," "Christ in
the Life," etc.
Dreams, books, are each a world; and books, we know,
Are a substantial world, both pure and good.
Bound these, with tendrils strong as flesh and blood,
Our pastime and our happiness will grow.
"Personal Talk," Stanza 3,--_William Wordsworth_.
WILLIAM WORDSWORTH, the great English poet, was born at Cockermouth,
Cumberland, April 7, 1770, and died at Rydal Mount, April 23, 1850.
Among his noted works are: "The Excursion," "Lyrical Ballads," "The
Prelude," "Peter Bell," "The Waggoner," "Sonnets," "Yarrow Revisited and
Other Poems," "Poems," "An Evening Walk," etc.
I sing New England, as she lights her fire
In every Prairie's midst; and where the bright
Enchanting stars shine pure through Southern night,
She still is there, the guardian on the tower,
To open for the world a purer hour.
"New England,"--_William E. Channing_.
WILLIAM ELLERY CHANNING, a distinguished American theologian, was born
at Newport, R. I.; April 7, 1780, and died at Bennington, Vt.; April,
1842. His works were published in 1848, and comprise the following:
"Youth of the Poet and Painter," "Thoreau the Poet-Naturalist,"
"Conversation in Rome Between an Artist and Catholic, and a Critic,"
etc.
There came a new poet who, to the science of rhythm, the resources
of expression, the gift of epic narration, the deep feeling for
nature, to all the caprices of a delightful fancy, to all the
favorite ideas, noble or morbid, of modern thought, knew how to
join the language of manly passion. Thus, as it were summing up in
himself all his forerunners, he touched all hearts; he linked
together all admirations; he has remained the true representative,
the last expression and final, of the poetic period to which he
belongs. Tennyson reigns to-day almost alone in increasing and
uncontested glory.
"Taine's History of English Literature," _Essays on English
Literature_, tr. Saintsbury, p. 87,--_Edmond Scherer_.
EDMOND SCHERER, a celebrated French essayist and critic, was born in
Paris, April 8, 1815, and died at Versailles, March 16, 1889. Among his
writings are: "Miscellanies of Religious Criticism," "Letters to my
Pastor," "Criticism and Belief," "Miscellanies of Religious History,"
etc.
I consider biennial elections as a security that the sober second
thought of the people shall be law.
"On Biennial Elections," 1788,--_Fisher Ames_.
FISHER AMES, a famous American statesman and orator, was born at Dedham,
Mass., April 9, 1758, and died there, July 4, 1808. He wrote many essays
and orations.
Music should strike fire from the heart of man, and bring tears
from the eyes of woman.
--_Beethoven_.
LUDWIG VON BEETHOVEN, a renowned German composer, was born at Bonn,
April 9, 1770, and died at Vienna, in 1827. Besides his numerous musical
productions, he won literary fame by his "Correspondence" and "Brentano
Letters."
Indolence is a delightful but distressing state; we must be doing
something to be happy. Action is no less necessary than thought to
the instinctive tendencies of the human frame.
--_Hazlitt_.
WILLIAM HAZLITT, a celebrated English prose-writer and critic, was born
in Maidstone, Kent, April 10, 1778, and died in London, September 18,
1830. He wrote: "The Spirit of the Age," "Characters of Shakespeare's
Plays," "Lectures on English Poets," etc.
Riches take wings, comforts vanish, hope withers away, but love
stays with us. Love is God.
--_Lew Wallace_.
LEWIS WALLACE ("LEW WALLACE"), a famous American general, lawyer, and
novelist, was born at Brookville, Ind., April 10, 1827, and died in
1905. Among his notable works are: "The Fair God," "Ben Hur," "The Life
of Gen. Benjamin Harrison," "Commodus: a Tragedy," "The Boyhood of
Christ," "The Prince of India," etc.
Bend low, O dusky Night,
And give my spirit rest,
Hold me to your deep breast,
And put old cares to flight.
Give back the lost delight
That once my soul possest,
When Love was loveliest.
"To-night,"--_Louise Chandler Moulton_.
LOUISE (CHANDLER) MOULTON, a noted American poet, story-writer, and
critic, was born in Pomfret, Conn., April 10, 1835, and died August 10,
1908. She wrote: "The True Flag," "This, That and the Other," "Juno
Clifford," "Bed-Time Stories," "Firelight Stories," "Stories Told at
Twilight," "In the Garden of Dreams," "Poems," etc.; also, "Miss Eyre
from Boston and Other Stories," "Lazy Tours in Spain," etc.
Thus, when a barber and a collier fight, the barber beats the
luckless collier-white; the dusty collier heaves his ponderous
sack, and big with vengeance, beats the barber-black. In comes the
brick dust man, with grime o'er spread, and beats the collier and
the barber-red; black, red, and white, in various clouds are tost,
and in the dust they raise the combatants are lost.
"The Trip to Cambridge" in "Campbell's Specimens of the British
Poets," Vol. vi, p. 185,--_Christopher Smart_.
CHRISTOPHER SMART, a famous English poet, was born at Shipbourne, Kent,
April 11, 1722, and died May 21, 1771. His works include: "Translation
of the Psalms of David," "The Hilliad: An Epic Poem," "Song to David,"
"Power of the Supreme Being," "Poems," "Poems on Several Occasions,"
etc.
Give me the avowed, the erect, the manly foe,
Bold I can meet,--perhaps may turn his blow!
But of all plagues, good Heaven, thy wrath can send,
Save, save, oh save me from the _candid friend_!
"New Morality,"--_George Canning_.
GEORGE CANNING, an English statesman, orator, and writer of great
distinction, was born in London, April 11, 1770, and died at Chiswick,
August 8, 1827. He wrote: "The Needy Knife-Grinder," "The Rovers," etc.
When I am dead, no pageant train
Shall waste their sorrows at my bier,
Nor worthless pomp of homage vain.
Stain it with hypocritic tear.
"Alaric the Visigoth,"--_Edward Everett_.
EDWARD EVERETT, a famous American statesman, was born at Dorchester,
Mass., April 11, 1794, and died January 15, 1865. Among his writings
were: "Mount Vernon Papers," "Defense of Christianity," "Orations and
Speeches," etc.
The gentleman [Josiah Quincy] cannot have forgotten his own
sentiment, uttered even on the floor of this House, "Peaceably if
we can, forcibly if we must."
"Speech," Jan. 8, 1813.--_Henry Clay_.
HENRY CLAY, an eminent American orator and statesman, was born in
Hanover, Va., April 12, 1777, and died at Washington, D. C., June 29,
1852. His "Complete Works," were edited in 1857.
Coquetry whets the appetite; flirtation depraves it. Coquetry is
the thorn that guards the rose,--easily trimmed off when once
plucked. Flirtation is like the slime on water-plants, making them
hard to handle, and when caught, only to be cherished in slimy
waters.
"Reveries of a Bachelor,"--_Ik Marvel_.
DONALD GRANT MITCHELL ("IK MARVEL"), a famous American novelist and
essayist, was born at Norwich, Conn., April 12, 1822, and died in 1908.
He wrote: "Dream Life," "My Farm of Edgewood," "Doctor Johns," "Bound
Together," "Wet Days at Edgewood," "English Lands, Letters and Kings,"
and his most noted work, "Reveries of a Bachelor."
Every white will have its blacke,
And every sweet its soure.
"Sir Cauline," from "Reliques of Ancient Poetry,"--_Thomas
Percy_.
THOMAS PERCY, a noted English poet, was born at Bridgenorth in
Shropshire, April 13, 1728 or 1729, and died at Dromore, Ireland,
September 30, 1811. He wrote: "The Hermit of Warkworth," the song, "O
Nanny, Wilt Thou Gang Wi' Me?" and published a collection of old ballads
and songs under the title "Reliques of Ancient English Poetry."
No creature lives that must not work and may not play.
"Work and Play,"--_Horace Bushnell_.
HORACE BUSHNELL, an eminent American clergyman, was born near
Litchfield, Connecticut, April 14, 1802, and died at Hartford, Conn., in
1876. Among his numerous works may be mentioned: "Christian Nurture,"
"God in Christ," "Christ in Theology," "The Vicarious Sacrifice,"
"Nature and the Supernatural," "Moral Uses of Dark Things," "The Age of
Homespun," "Forgiveness and Law," "Work and Play," "The Character of
Jesus," "Christ and His Salvation," etc.
Monuments! What are they? The very pyramids have forgotten their
builders, or to whom they were dedicated. Deeds, not stones, are
the true monuments of the great.
--_Motley_.
JOHN LOTHROP MOTLEY, a famous American historian and diplomatist, was
born at Dorchester, Mass., April 15, 1814, and died in Dorsetshire,
England, May 29, 1877. Among his works are: "Rise of the Dutch
Republic," "History of the United Netherlands," "Causes of the Civil War
in America," "Life of John of Barneveld," etc.
Not much talk--a great, sweet silence.
"A Bundle of Letters," Letter IV,--_Henry James_.
HENRY JAMES, a distinguished American novelist and miscellaneous
prose-writer, was born in New York, April 15, 1843, and died in
February, 1916. Among his numerous works may be mentioned: "Roderick
Hudson," "A Passionate Pilgrim and Other Tales," "The American," "French
Poets and Novelists," "Daisy Miller: a Study," "A Bundle of Letters,"
"The Diary of a Man of Fifty," "Washington Square," "A Little Tour in
France," "The Portrait of a Lady," "The Bostonians," "The Tragic Muse,"
"Partial Portraits," "The Real Thing and Other Tales," "The Private
Life," "The Wheel of Time," "The Princess Casamassima," "Essays in
London and Elsewhere," etc.
There paused to shut the door,
A fellow called the Wind,
With mystery before,
And reticence behind.
"At the Granite Gate,"--_Bliss Carman_.
BLISS CARMAN, a celebrated Canadian poet, was born at Fredericton, N.
B., April 15, 1861. He has written: "Low Tide on Grand Pré: A Book of
Lyrics," "Songs from Vagabondia," "Behind the Arras: A Book of the
Unseen," "A Winter Holiday," "Christmas Eve at St. Kavin's," "Ode for
the Coronation," "Pipes of Pan No. I," "Pipes of Pan No. II," "The
Kinship of Nature," "The Friendship of Art," "The Poetry of Life," "The
Making of Personality," "Sappho," "Daughters of Dawn," "Oxford Book of
American Verse," "Earth Deities," "April Airs," etc.