"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_.
JOHN GALSWORTHY, a famous English author, was born at Combe in Surrey,
August 14, 1867. His publications include: "The Man of Property," "A
Motley," "Moods, Songs and Doggerels," "The Inn of Tranquillity," "A
Sheaf," Vol. I; "Beyond," "A Sheaf," Vol. II; "Saint's Progress," "In
Chancery," "Awakening," "To Let," etc. Plays: "The Silver Box," "The
Pigeon," "The Eldest Son," "The Skin Game," "A Family Man," etc.
The sun reflecting upon the mud of strands and shores is
unpolluted in his beam.
"Holy Living," Chap. i, 3,--_Jeremy Taylor_.
JEREMY TAYLOR, a renowned English theological writer, was born August
15, 1613, at Cambridge, and died at Lisburn, Ireland, August 13, 1667.
His most celebrated works are: "The Great Exemplar of Sanctity and Holy
Life," "Discourse on the Liberty of Prophesying," "The Rule and Exercise
of Holy Living," and "The Rule and Exercise of Holy Dying."
The rose is fairest when 't is budding new,
And hope is brightest when it dawns from fears,
The rose is sweetest wash'd with morning dew,
And love is loveliest when embalm'd in tears.
"Lady of the Lake," Canto iv, Stanza 1.--_Walter Scott_.
SIR WALTER SCOTT, a Scotch novelist and poet of great fame, was born in
Edinburgh, August 15, 1771, and died at Abbotsford, September 21, 1832.
Among his many works may be mentioned: "The Lay of the Last Minstrel,"
"Ballads and Lyrical Pieces," "Rokeby," "Marmion," "The Lady of the
Lake," "Waverley," "Guy Mannering," "The Field of Waterloo," "The Lord
of the Isles," "Rob Roy," "Harold the Dauntless," "Ivanhoe," "The Bride
of Lammermoor: A Legend of Montrose," "Kenilworth," "The Abbot," "The
Monastery," "The Pirate," "Tales of the Crusaders: The Betrothed, The
Talisman," "History of Scotland," "Tales of a Grandfather," "Essays on
Ballad Poetry," "The Eve of St. John: A Border Ballad," "Life of
Dryden," "Life of Swift," etc., etc.
Shakespeare--that is, English tragedy--postulates the intense life
of flesh and blood, of animal sensibility, of man and
woman--breathing, waking, stirring, palpitating with the pulses of
hope and fear. In Greek tragedy the very masks show the utter
impossibility to these contests or conflicts.
"Leaders in Literature,"--_De Quincey_.
THOMAS DE QUINCEY, a celebrated English author, was born in Manchester,
August 15, 1785, and died December 8, 1859. Besides his numerous essays
and papers on historical literary and miscellaneous topics, he wrote:
"Confessions of an English Opium Eater," "Letters to a Young Man Whose
Education Has Been Neglected," "Logic of Political Economy,"
"Klosterheim," "Leaders in Literature," "Suspiria de Profundis: Essays
on Style and Rhetoric," "Joan of Arc," "Autobiographic Sketches,"
"Literary Reminiscences," etc., etc.
Wee Willie Winkie rins through the toun,
Upstairs and dounstairs, in his nicht-goun,
Tirlin' at the window, cryin' at the lock,
"Are the weans in their bed? for it's nou ten o'clock."
"Wee Willie Winkie,"--_William Miller_.
WILLIAM MILLER, a noted Scotch poet, was born in Bridgegate, Glasgow,
August 16, 1810, and died at Glasgow, August 20, 1872. He wrote:
"Scottish Nursery Songs and Other Poems," his best known poem being "Wee
Willie Winkie."
Be sure you are right, then go ahead.
--_David Crockett_.
DAVID CROCKETT, a celebrated American politician, hunter and humorist,
was born at Limestone, Tenn., August 17, 1786, and was killed at Fort
Alamo, San Antonio, Texas, March 16, 1836. He wrote: "Sketches and
Eccentricities," "Tour to the North and Down East," his "Autobiography,"
etc.
The greatest thing a man can do for his Heavenly Father is to be
kind to some of His other children.
--_Henry Drummond_.
HENRY DRUMMOND, a distinguished Scotch geologist and religious writer,
was born at Stirling, August 17, 1851, and died at Tunbridge Wells,
England, March 11, 1897. His most famous works are: "Natural Law in the
Spiritual World," "The Ascent of Man," "Tropical Africa," "Pax
Vobiscum," "The Greatest Thing in the World," "The Programme of
Christianity."
A proverb is one man's wit and all men's wisdom.
Quoted in "Memoirs of Mackintosh," Vol. II, p. 473,--_Lord John
Russell_.
LORD JOHN RUSSELL, a famous English statesman, was born in London,
August 18, 1792, and died at Pembroke Lodge, Richmond Park, May 28,
1878. He is best remembered by his historical works, "Life of William
Lord Russell," "Memoirs of the Affairs of Europe" (2 vols.)
"Correspondence of John, 4th Duke of Bedford," etc.
It would be superfluous in me to point out to your Lordship that
this is war.
"Despatch to Earl Russell," Sept. 5, 1863.--_Charles Francis
Adams_.
CHARLES FRANCIS ADAMS, an eminent American statesman, publicist, and
miscellaneous writer, was born at Boston, August 18, 1807, and died at
Boston, November 21, 1886. His best known work was: "Life and Works of
John Adams."
Sorrow and scarlet leaf,
Sad thoughts and sunny weather:
Ah me, this glory and this grief
Agree not well together!
"A Song for September,"--_Thomas William Parsons_.
THOMAS WILLIAM PARSONS, a distinguished American poet, was born at
Boston, August 18, 1819, and died September 3, 1892. Among his writings
are: "The Old House at Sudbury," "Ghetto di Roma," "The Magnolia," "The
Shadow of the Obelisk," etc. He also made a metrical translation of
Dante's "Inferno."
All that is beautiful shall abide,
All that is base shall die.
"Balder the Beautiful,"--_Robert W. Buchanan_.
ROBERT WILLIAMS BUCHANAN, a celebrated English author, was born in
Warwickshire, August 18, 1841, and died in 1901. He wrote: "Idylls and
Legends of Inverburn," "Undertones," "London Poems," "North Coast
Poems," "Ballads of Love, Life and Humor," "The City of Dreams," "A
Child of Nature," "The Shadow of the Sword," "Foxglove Manor," etc.
Let's learn to temper our desires,
Not harshly to constrain;
And since excess makes pleasure less,
Why, so much more refrain.
Small table, cozy corner--here
We well may be beguiled;
Our worthy host old wine can boast;
Drink, drink--but draw it mild!
"Les Petits Coups,"--translation of William Young,--_Pierre
Jean de Béranger_.
PIERRE JEAN DE BÉRANGER, a famous French poet, was born in Paris, August
19, 1780, and died there July 16, 1857. Some of his noted songs are:
"The Old Flag," "Les Petits Coups," "The Old Corporal," "Roger
Bontemps," "Little Red Man," "Little Gray Man," "King of Yvetot," "My
Grandmother," "The Marquis of Carabas," and his "Autobiography."
Attempt the end, and never stand to doubt;
Nothing's so hard but search will find it out.
"Seek and Find,"--_Robert Herrick_.
ROBERT HERRICK, a renowned English poet and royalist clergyman, was born
in London, August 20, 1591, and died at Dean Prior, Devonshire, October
15, 1674. He wrote: "Noble Numbers," and "Hesperides."
In the Confessions of St. Augustine, passion, nature,
individuality only appear in order to be immolated to Divine
grace. They are a history of a crisis of the soul, of a new birth,
of a _Vita Nuova_; the Saint would have blushed to relate more
than he has done of the life of the man, which he had quitted.
With Rousseau the case is precisely the reverse; here grace is
nothing, nature everything; nature dominant, triumphant,
displaying herself with a daring freedom, which at times amounts
to the distasteful--nay, to the disgusting.
"Life of Luther," (translation),--_Michelet_.
JULES MICHELET, a famous French historian, was born in Paris, August 21,
1798, and died at Hyères, February 9, 1874. His principal works are:
"History of France," "History of the Revolution," "Abridgment of Modern
History," "Of the Jesuits," "Of the Priest, the Wife, and the Family,"
"Of the People," "Poland and Russia," etc.
Who can blame me if I cherish the belief that the world is still
young--that there are great possibilities in store for it?
--_John Tyndall_.
JOHN TYNDALL, an eminent British physicist and writer on science, was
born at Leighlin Bridge, near Carlow, Ireland, August 21, 1820, and
died at Haslemere, Surrey, England, December 4, 1893. He has written:
"Philosophical Transactions in Glaciers of the Alps," "Mountaineering in
1861," "Dust and Disease," "Hours of Exercise in the Alps," "Sound: A
Course of Eight Lectures," "Nine Lectures on Light," "Essays on the Use
and Limit of the Imagination in Science," "The Forms of Water in Clouds
and Rivers, Ice and Glaciers," "Essays on the Floating Matter of the
Air," "New Fragments," etc.
Equality is one of the most consummate scoundrels that ever crept
from the brain of a political juggler--a fellow who thrusts his
hand into the pocket of honest industry or enterprising talent,
and squanders their hard-earned profits on profligate idleness or
indolent stupidity.
--_James Kirke Paulding_.
JAMES KIRKE PAULDING, a distinguished American novelist, was born in
Dutchess County, N. Y., August 22, 1779, and died at Hyde Park, N. Y.,
April 6, 1860. Among his famous works may be mentioned: "The United
States and England," "Lay of a Scotch Fiddle," "Letters on Slavery,"
"The Diverting History of John Bull and Brother Jonathan,"
"Koningsmarke," "John Bull in America," "Westward Ho!" "The Dutchman's
Fireside," "Life of George Washington," etc.
It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate,
I am the captain of my soul.
"To R. T. H. B."--_William Ernest Henley_.
WILLIAM ERNEST HENLEY, a noted British poet, critic, and editor, was
born at Gloucester, August 23, 1849, and died July 11, 1903. Among his
works are: "Views and Reviews," "Poems," "London Voluntaries," "Hawthorn
and Lavender," etc.
There is what I call the American idea.... This idea demands, as
the proximate organization thereof, a democracy--that is, a
government of all the people, by all the people, for all the
people; of course, a government of the principles of eternal
justice, the unchanging law of God: for shortness' sake I will
call it the idea of Freedom.
"Speech at the N. E. Anti-slavery Convention, Boston," May 29,
1850.--_Theodore Parker_.
THEODORE PARKER, an American preacher and reformer of great celebrity,
was born at Lexington, Mass., August 24, 1810, and died at Florence, May
10, 1860. He wrote: "Ten Sermons on Religion," "Theism, Atheism and the
Popular Theology," and his most celebrated work: "Discourse on Matters
Pertaining to Religion."
With the greatest possible solicitude avoid authorship. Too early
or immoderately employed it makes the head waste and the heart
empty.
Tr. by S. T. Coleridge.--_Herder_.
JOHN GOTTFRIED VON HERDER, a distinguished German philosopher and
historian of literature, was born at Mohrungen, August 25, 1744, and
died at Weimar, December 18, 1803. Among his works are: "Voices of
Nations in Song," "Fragments on Recent German Literature," "The Cid,"
"Ideas for a Philosophy of the History of Mankind," "Spirit of Hebrew
Poetry," etc.
Which I wish to remark,--
And my language is plain,--
That for ways that are dark
And for tricks that are vain,
The heathen Chinee is peculiar.
"Plain Language from Truthful James,"--_Francis Bret Harte_.
FRANCIS BRET HARTE, a celebrated American poet and short-story writer,
was born in Albany, N. Y., August 25, 1839, and died in 1902. Among his
many works are: "The Luck of Roaring Camp, and Other Sketches," "The
Heathen Chinee," "Plain Language from Truthful James," "Poems," "East
and West Poems," "Echoes of the Foot-Hills," "Poetical Works," "Thankful
Blossom," "Drift from Two Shores," "Flip and Other Stories," "By Shore
and Sedge," "The Queen of the Pirate Isle," "On the Frontier," "Snow
Bound at Eagle's," "Tales of the Argonauts and Other Sketches," "A Waif
of the Plains," "Three Partners," and "In the Hollow of the Hills."
It is even at the present day important to direct careful
attention to an erroneous conception of wealth, which was
universal until the appearance of Adam Smith's great work, in
1775.
"Manual of Political Economy,"--_Henry Fawcett_.
HENRY FAWCETT, a famous English political economist, was born at
Salisbury, August 26, 1833, and died in Cambridge, November 6, 1884. His
publications include: "Free Trade and Protection," "Indian Finance,"
etc. His celebrated work, "Manual of Political Economy," won for him
great fame.
Roger Bacon treated more especially of physics, but remained
without influence.
"Lectures on the History of Philosophy," tr., Haldane and
Simpson, Vol. III. p. 92,--_Hegel_.
GEORG WILHELM FRIEDRICH HEGEL, an eminent German philosopher, was born
at Stuttgart, August 27, 1770, and died at Berlin, November 14, 1831.
Among his writings are: "On the Difference Between the Fichtean and
Schellingian Systems," "The Orbits of the Planets," "Phenomenology of
the Human Mind," "System of Science," "Principles of the Philosophy of
Law, or the Law of Nature and Political Science," "Encyclopædia of the
Philosophical Sciences," etc.
If we compare Daudet with Zola, we shall see that it is Daudet who
is the naturalist novelist, not Zola. It is the author of Le Nabob
who begins with observation of reality, and who is possessed by
it, while the author of "L'Assommoir" only consults it when his
seige is finished and then summarily with preconceived ideas.
"Les Contemporains,"--_Jules Lemaître_.
FRANÇOIS ELIE JULES LEMAÎTRE, a famous French literary critic and
dramatist, was born in Vennecy (Loiret), August 27, 1853, and died in
1914. He is the author of five volumes of literary biographies,
"Contemporaries: Being Literary Studies and Portraits." Among his plays
are: "La Revoltée," "Deputy Leveau," "The Kings," "The Pardon," etc.
Also: "Médallions" (poems), "Petites Orientales" (poems), "Corneille and
Aristotle's Poetics," "Myrrha Stories."
The old prose writers wrote as if they were speaking to an
audience; while, among us, prose is invariably written for the eye
alone.
--_Niebuhr_.
BARTHOLD GEORG NIEBUHR, a great German historian, was born at
Copenhagen, August 27, 1776, and died at Bonn, January 2, 1831. His
writings include: "Roman History," "Lectures on the History of Rome,"
"Lectures on Ancient History," "Grecian Heroic History," "Minor
Historical and Philological Writings," etc.
Who never ate his bread in sorrow,
Who never spent the darksome hours
Weeping, and watching for the morrow,--
He knows ye not, ye gloomy Powers.
"Wilhelm Meister," Book ii, Chap, xiii,--_Goethe_.
JOHANN WOLFGANG GOETHE, one of the greatest poets the world has ever
known, was born at Frankfort on the Main, August 28, 1749, and died at
Weimar, March 22, 1832. His most famous works are: "Sorrows of Young
Werther," "Erwin and Elmira," "Stella," "Prometheus," "Iphigenia,"
"Tasso," "Wilhelm Meister," and his greatest work, "Faust." He also
wrote: "Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship," "Fiction and Truth," "Hermann
and Dorothea," "Elective Affinities," "Wilhelm Meister's Years of
Travel," etc.
Man should be ever better than he seems.
"The Song of Faith,"--_Sir Aubrey De Vere_.
SIR AUBREY DE VERE, a famous Irish poet, was born August 28, 1788, and
died in 1846. Among his works are: "Julian, the Apostate: A Dramatic
Poem," "The Duke of Mercia: an Historical Drama," "The Song of Faith,
Devout Exercises and Sonnets," "Mary Tudor: an Historical Drama," was
published after his death in 1847.
The thoughts that come often unsought, and, as it were drop into
the mind, are commonly the most valuable we have, and therefore
should be secured, because they seldom return again.
--_John Locke_.
JOHN LOCKE, an eminent English philosopher, was born at Wrington, near
Bristol, August 29, 1632, and died at Oates (Essex), October 28, 1704.
His philosophical writings include: "An Epistle on Tolerance," "Essay
Concerning Human Understanding," "Two Treatises on Government," etc. He
also wrote: "Some Thoughts Concerning Reading and Study," "Some Thoughts
on Education," "Elements of Natural Philosophy," and many other works.
I do not know anyone who makes us feel more than Milton does the
grandeur of the ends which we ought to keep always before us, and
therefore our own pettiness and want of courage and nobleness in
pursuing them. I believe he failed to discern many of the
intermediate relations which God has established between Himself
and us; but I know no one who teaches us more habitually that
disobedience to the Divine will is the seat of all misery to men.
"The Friendship of Books,"--_D. Maurice_.
FREDERICK DENISON MAURICE, a celebrated English divine and theological
and philosophical writer, was born near Lowestoft, Suffolk, August 29,
1805, and died in London, April 1, 1872. Among his works are: "Ancient
Philosophy," "Theological Essays," "Modern Philosophy," "Mediæval
Philosophy," "The Friendship of Books," etc., and a novel, "Eustace
Conway."
Build thee more stately mansions, O my soul,
As the swift seasons roll!
Leave thy low-vaulted past!
Let each new temple, nobler than the last,
Shut thee from heaven with a dome more vast,
Till thou at length art free,
Leaving thine outgrown shell by life's unresting sea!
"The Chambered Nautilus,"--_Oliver Wendell Holmes_.
OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES, a distinguished American man of letters, was born
at Cambridge, Mass., August 29, 1809, and died at Boston, October 7,
1894. The most important of his works are: "Urania," "The Iron Gate,"
"Songs in Many Keys," "Poems," "Songs of Many Seasons," "Elsie Venner,"
"The Autocrat of the Breakfast Table," "The Professor at the Breakfast
Table," "The Poet at the Breakfast Table," "Soundings from the
Atlantic," "Our Hundred Days in Europe," "John Lothrop Motley," "A
Mortal Antipathy," "Ralph Waldo Emerson," "Over the Teacups," etc.
Men's weaknesses are often necessary to the purposes of life.
"Joyzelle," Act ii.--_Maurice Maeterlinck_.
MAURICE MAETERLINCK, a celebrated Belgian poet, was born in Flanders,
August 29, 1864. Among his works are: "The Seven Princesses," "The
Blind," "The Intruder," "The Treasure of the Humble," "Hot-House
Blooms," "La Princesse Maleine," "Alladine et Palomides," "Douze
Chansons," "La Sagesse et la Destinée," "Le Temple Enseveli," "The
Double Garden," "The Blue Bird," "La Mort," "The Light Beyond," etc.
It is very foolish, and betrays what a small mind we have, to
allow fashion to sway us in everything that regards taste; in our
way of living, our health, and our conscience.
"The Characters,"--_Jean de La Bruyère_.
JEAN DE LA BRUYÈRE, a famous French moralist and satirist, was born in
Paris, August 30 (?), 1645, and died at Versailles, May 10, 1696. His
fame rests on his great work, "The Characters of Theophrastus,
Translated from the Greek, with the Characters or Manners of this
Century."
If for widows you die,
Learn to _kiss_ not to sigh.
"Widow Malone," II, 33-4,--_Charles James Lever_.
CHARLES (JAMES) LEVER, a noted Irish novelist, was born at Dublin,
August 31, 1806, and died at Trieste, June 1, 1872. He wrote:
"Confessions of Harry Lorrequer," "Charles O'Malley," "Arthur O'Leary,"
"Jack Hinton the Guardsman," "Tom Burke of Ours," "The O'Donoghue," "Con
Cregan," "Roland Cashel," "The Daltons, or Three Roads in Life,"
"Luttrell of Arran," "The Fortunes of Glencore," "Davenport Dunn," "Sir
Brooke Fosbrooke," "The Bramleighs of Bishop's Folly," "Lord Kilgobbin,"
etc.