Through the Year With Famous Authors Part 15

The school is the manufactory of humanity.

--_Comenius_.

JOHANN AMOS COMENIUS, an ill.u.s.trious 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 Ma.s.sachusetts 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," "a.n.a.lytic Theory of Probabilities," "Philosophical Essay on Probabilities," etc.

The love of truth is the stimulus to all n.o.ble 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, Ma.s.s., 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 Chateau-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 pa.s.s 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, Ma.s.s., 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, Ma.s.s., 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 G.o.d," "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 tresor qu'on deterre.[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_.

RENe DESCARTES, the ill.u.s.trious 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 Pa.s.sions," 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 Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam." 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.