PAGE 7.--=François Coppée=, a noted French writer, was born at Paris in
1842. Although he was the writer of good French poetry and some successful
plays, he is best known to American readers by his charming short stories,
in which he depicts the life and aspirations of the common people. In his
later life he was an ardent Catholic, and as such wrote fearlessly in
defense of the rights of the Church in France. He died in 1908.
PAGE 14.--=John James Audubon=, a noted American ornithologist of French
descent, was born at New Orleans in 1780. Perhaps no other person has done
so much for the birds of America, or has described them so well, as he.
His drawings of birds are particularly famous. He died at New York in 1851.
PAGE 16.--=J. R. Marre=, is a contemporary Catholic writer whose poems are
well known to readers of _The Ave Maria_ and other religious periodicals.
PAGE 17.--=Rev. John Banister Tabb= was born in Virginia, March 22,
1845. He studied for the priesthood and was ordained in 1884. He is an
instructor in St. Charles College, Maryland. His poems are exquisite in
movement and diction no less than in richness of thought.
PAGE 18.--=Horace Binney Wallace=, a noted American lawyer and prose
writer, was born at Philadelphia, 1817; died at Paris, 1852. His best
known work, _Literary Criticisms_, was published after his death.
PAGE 23.--=Henry Coyle= is a contemporary Catholic poet residing at
Boston, Massachusetts. He is well known as a contributor to Catholic
periodicals. His first volume of poetry, entitled _The Promise of
Morning_, was published in 1899. His writings are characterized by deep
religious feeling no less than by rare poetic charm.
PAGE 24.--=Miguel de Saavedra Cervantes=, a celebrated Spanish poet and
novelist, was born near Madrid, 1547; died, 1616. His most famous work is
the romance entitled _Don Quixote_, which was first printed in 1605. It
has been translated into every language of Europe.
PAGE 43.--=John Henry, Cardinal Newman= was born at London in 1801. He
was educated at a private school until he entered Oxford, where he took
his degree before he was twenty. In 1822 he was elected Fellow in Oriel
College. In 1845 he left the Church of England for the Roman Catholic
Church. He wrote many sermons, treatises, and poems. In literary merit his
work ranks very high. He died in 1890.
=Rev. Thomas Edward Bridgett=, a noted priest and author, was born at
Derby, England, in 1829. He was the founder of the Confraternity of the
Holy Family for men, and much of his life was devoted to missionary work.
He was the author of numerous religious and historical works, among which
may be named, _The History of the Holy Eucharist_, _Life of the Blessed
John Fisher_, _Blunders and Forgeries_, etc. Father Bridgett died at St.
Mary’s Clapham, England, in 1899.
PAGE 56.--=William Cowper=, a celebrated English poet, was born in 1731.
He attended Westminster school and afterwards studied law. His most famous
poems are _The Task_ and the ballad _John Gilpin’s Ride_. He died in 1800.
PAGE 58.--=Rev. Frederick William Faber= was born in Yorkshire, England,
in 1814. He was an eloquent preacher, a brilliant talker, and had an
unsurpassed power of gaining the love of all with whom he came in contact.
His hymns are well known, and sung throughout the world. He founded a
religious community which was afterwards merged in the oratory of St.
Philip Neri. He died in 1863.
PAGE 75.--=John Greenleaf Whittier= was born at Haverhill, Massachusetts,
1807. At the age of eighteen he studied for two years at an academy near
his home. In 1829 he became the editor of a paper established at Boston to
advocate protective tariff. He was active in the cause of antislavery. He
died in 1892.
PAGE 82.--=Mary Lydia Bolles Branch= was born at New London, Connecticut,
in 1840. She is best known as a writer of stories for children.
PAGE 84.--=John Burroughs= was born in Roxbury, New York, in 1837. He
was the son of a farmer, but received a good college education. For eight
or nine years he taught school, and then became a journalist in New York
city. From 1861 till 1873 he was a clerk in the Treasury Department at
Washington. He finally settled on a farm at West Park, New York, giving
his time to literature and the observation of nature. His love of nature
has inspired most of what he has contributed to the literature of the
world.
PAGE 96.--=Aubrey de Vere=, an Irish Catholic poet, was born in 1788. He
belonged to a good family, and always had leisure to cultivate a naturally
refined taste. At first he wrote dramas, but later, poems, especially
sonnets. He was a true patriot, and pays many tributes of love to his
country in his historical themes. He died in 1846.
PAGE 97.--=Sir Walter Scott= was born at Edinburgh in 1771. His delightful
art of story telling, both in prose and poetry, has been excelled by few.
Among his most popular poems are _The Lady of the Lake_ and _Marmion_;
among his most popular novels are _Kenilworth_, _Ivanhoe_, _The Talisman_,
and _Old Mortality_. He died in 1832.
PAGE 106.--=Thomas Moore= was born at Dublin, Ireland, in 1779; died in
1852. He entered Trinity College, Dublin, at fifteen years of age. He
studied law, and in 1799 entered the Middle Temple, London. In 1803 he
received a government appointment to the Bermuda Islands and traveled
quite extensively in the United States. Among English Catholic poets he
holds a high rank.
PAGE 107.--=Andrew Lang= was born in Scotland in 1844; died at London in
1912. He pursued many different lines of literary work, and was one of the
most versatile writers of modern times. The number of volumes bearing his
name as author is surprisingly large.
PAGE 114.--=Lady Gregory= is the daughter of Dudley Presse, Deputy
Lieutenant of Roxborough, County Galway, Ireland. She has done very
valuable service to literature in preserving and editing many of the
early Celtic legends. Some of her publications are: _Poets and Dreamers_,
_Cuchullain of Muerthemme_, and _Gods and Fighting Men_.
PAGE 118.--=Helen Hunt Jackson= was born in 1831 at Amherst,
Massachusetts. In 1867 she wrote her first stories, and from that time
until her death books from the pen of H. H. were published with frequency.
She wrote verses, essays, sketches of travel, children’s stories, novels,
and tracts on questions of the day.
PAGE 120.--=St. Ambrose= or Ambrosius, one of the fathers of the Latin
Church, was born at Treves, A.D. 340; died, 397. He was the champion of
the Catholics against Arians and pagans; he became Bishop of Milan in 374.
He was the author of numerous hymns and other religious works.
PAGE 121.--=James Sheridan Knowles= was born at Dublin, Ireland, 1784. For
a time he held a commission in the militia, but became attracted to the
stage and entered the dramatic profession. He died in 1862.
PAGE 132.--=Washington Irving= was born in New York city, April 3, 1783;
died, 1859. His early schooling was not very systematic. When a young
man he began the study of law, but never followed the profession very
steadily. He is the most popular of the American writers of the early part
of the nineteenth century.
PAGE 152.--=Alfred Tennyson= was born at Somersby, England, in 1809. He
was educated at Cambridge, where he gained the Chancellor’s medal for his
poem _Timbuctoo_ in blank verse. In 1830 he published his first volume
of poems. Other poems followed quickly and soon became popularly known.
Tennyson’s poetry is distinguished by its rare quality and delicate choice
of language. He was for many years poet laureate. He died in 1892.
PAGE 158.--=Sister Mary Antonia= is an occasional and highly esteemed
contributor of verse to current Catholic periodicals.
PAGE 161.--=Miriam Coles Harris= is a contemporary Catholic writer whose
works have attracted considerable attention. The extract is from _A Corner
of Spain_, published in 1896.
PAGE 166.--=William Cullen Bryant=, a famous American poet, was born
at Cummington, Massachusetts, November 3, 1794. He entered Williams
College at the age of sixteen, but at the end of two years took honorable
dismission and engaged in the study of law. He was admitted to the bar in
1815; removed to New York in 1825; was editor of the _New York Review_ in
the same year; and in 1826 became connected with the _Evening Post_, with
which he continued until his death, which occurred in 1878.
PAGE 170.--=Conrad Von Bolanden= is the pseudonym of a contemporary German
Catholic writer, Monsignor Joseph Bischoff, who was born in August, 1828.
He was made a Papal Chamberlain to Pope Pius IX in recognition of the
merits of his efforts in the field of Catholic literature. He has written
much, finding the motives of his books in history and in the problems of
social life.
PAGE 174.--=Henry Wadsworth Longfellow= is often called the children’s
poet, partly because of his love for children and partly because of some
poems written for children. He was born in Portland, Maine, in 1807. From
1835 to 1854 he was professor of modern languages at Harvard University.
He died in 1882.
PAGE 178.--=John Gilmary Shea=, a brilliant Catholic writer, was born
at New York city, July 1824; died, 1892. He devoted most of his time to
literature instead of to the law, for which he was educated. Perhaps no
one has done more to preserve the history and language of the aborigines
of this country. _History of the Catholic Missions among the Indian Tribes
of the United States_, _Early Voyages up and down the Mississippi_,
_History of the Catholic Church in Colonial Times_, are some of his most
popular works.
PAGE 186.--=James Russell Lowell= was born at Cambridge, Massachusetts,
February 22, 1819. He died in the same house in which he was born, August
12, 1891. For many years he held the chair of modern languages in Harvard
University. He was a man who represented American culture and letters at
their best.
PAGE 188.--=Mother Mary Loyola= of the Bar Convent, York, England, is a
writer of more than ordinary power on the subjects dearest to every true
Catholic. Her book, _Jesus of Nazareth_, from which our selection is
taken, was written especially for American children and is dedicated to
them.
PAGE 196.--=Francis Scott Key=, author of “The Star-spangled Banner,” was
born in Frederick County, Maryland, in 1780. It was during the British
invasion in 1814, while he was detained on a British man-of-war within
sight of the bombardment of Fort McHenry, that Key wrote this beautiful
lyrical poem. He died at Baltimore in 1843.
PAGE 214.--=James Montgomery= was a Scottish poet, born in 1776; died in
1854. His poems, once very popular, are now almost forgotten.