Through the Year With Famous Authors Part 31

JOHN HORNE TOOKE, a celebrated English political writer and grammarian, was born at Westminster, June 25, 1736, and died at Wimbledon, March 18, 1812. His princ.i.p.al work was: "Epea Pteroenta (Winged Words); or The Diversions of Purley."

Live while you live, the epicure would say, And seize the pleasures of the present day; Live while you live, the sacred preacher cries, And give to G.o.d each moment as it flies.

Lord, in my views, let both united be: I live in pleasure when I live to thee.

"Epigram on his Family Arms,"--_Philip Doddridge_.

PHILIP DODDRIDGE, a distinguished English non-conformist divine, was born in London, June 26, 1702, and died in Lisbon, Portugal, October 26, 1751. Among his works are: "The Rise and Progress of Religion in the Soul," "The Family Expositor," and "Evidences of Christianity."

Lafcadio Hearn is a painter with the pen.

LAFCADIO HEARN, a noted American journalist and miscellaneous writer, was born at Santa Maura, Ionian Islands, June 27, 1850, and died September 26, 1904. He has written: "Two Years in the French West Indies," "Youma," "Some Chinese Ghosts," "Glimpses of Unfamiliar j.a.pan,"

"Gleanings in Buddha-fields," "Out of the East," "Kokoro," "Exotics and Retrospectives," "Shadowings," "A j.a.panese Miscellany," "Kotto,"

"j.a.panese Fairy Tales," "Kwaidan," etc.

Days of absence, sad and dreary, Clothed in sorrow's dark array,-- Days of absence, I am weary: She I love is far away.

"Days of Absence,"--_Jean Jacques Rousseau_.

JEAN JACQUES ROUSSEAU, the renowned French writer, was born in Geneva, June 28, 1712, and died at Ermenonville near Paris, July 2, 1778. Among his numerous works may be mentioned: "A Project of Perpetual Peace," "To the Archbishop of Paris," "Letters from the Mountain," "Consolations of My Life," "Memoir on the Shape of the Earth," "The Village Soothsayer,"

"Letter on French Music," "On Political Economy," "Letters to Voltaire," "Narcissus," "The Social Contract," "Letters on His Exile,"

and his famous, "Confessions."

So long as a ray of sunlight illumines her fields, Italy will reverence Alfieri as the first to give to tragedy a n.o.ble mission, to raise it from the dust in which it lay, and make of it the instructor of the people.

"Life and Writings," Vol. II,--_Mazzini_.

JOSEPH MAZZINI, a famous Italian patriot, was born at Genoa, June 28 (?), 1805, and died at Pisa, March 10, 1872. "Complete Works" (18 vols.), 1861-91. His "Memoirs" were published in 1875.

For right is right, since G.o.d is G.o.d, And right the day must win; To doubt would be disloyalty, To falter would be sin.

"The Right Must Win,"--_Frederick W. Faber_.

FREDERICK WILLIAM FABER, a distinguished English hymn-writer, was born in Calverley, Yorkshire, June 28, 1814, and died at the Oratory, Brompton, September 26, 1863. His collection of "Hymns" appeared in 1848.

Be silent and safe,--silence never betrays you.

"Rules of the Road,"--_John B. O'Reilly_.

JOHN BOYLE O'REILLY, a celebrated Irish-American poet and prose-writer, was born near Drogheda, Ireland, June 28, 1844, and died at Hull, Ma.s.s., August 10, 1890. He wrote: "Songs of the Southern Seas," "Moondyne,"

etc.

Don't you remember, sweet Alice, Ben Bolt?

Sweet Alice, whose hair was so brown; Who wept with delight when you gave her a smile, And trembled with fear at your frown!

"Ben Bolt,"--_Thomas Dunn English_.

THOMAS DUNN ENGLISH, a noted American writer, was born in Philadelphia, June 29, 1819, and died in 1902. He is best remembered by his famous song, "Ben Bolt."

Just take a trifling handful, O philosopher!

Of magic matter: give it a slight toss over The ambient ether--and I don't see why You shouldn't make a sky.

"Sky-Making." To Professor Tyndall,--_Mortimer Collins_.

MORTIMER COLLINS, a famous English novelist and poet, was born in Plymouth, June 29, 1827, and died at Knowl Hill, Berkshire, July 28, 1876. His novels include: "Who Is the Heir," "Sweet Anne Page," "The Ivory Gate," "The Vivian Romance," "The Marquis and Merchant," "Two Plunges for a Pearl," "Blacksmith and Scholar," etc. Also: "Idyls and Rhymes," "Summer Songs," and "The British Birds."

No historian who has yet written has shown such familiarity with the facts of English history, no matter what the subject in hand may be: the extinction of villeinage, the b.l.o.o.d.y a.s.sizes, the appearance of the newspaper, the origin of the national debt, or the state of England in 1685. Macaulay is absolutely unrivaled in the art of arranging and combining his facts, and of presenting in a clear and vigorous narrative the spirit of the epoch he treats.

Nor should we fail to mention that both Essays and History abound in remarks, general observations, and comment always clear, vigorous, and shrewd, and in the main very just.

"Library of the World's Best Literature," ed., Warner, p. 9386.--_John Bach McMaster_.

JOHN BACH MCMASTER, a renowned American historian, was born at Brooklyn, N. Y., June 29, 1852. He has written: "Brief History of the United States," "Cambridge Modern History," "A Primary School History of the United States," "Daniel Webster," "The Struggle for the Social, Political and Industrial Rights of Man," "Life and Times of Stephen Girard," and his most famous work, "History of the People of the United States."

Is she not more than painting can express, Or youthful poets fancy when they love?

"The Fair Penitent," Act III, Sc. I,--_Nicholas Rowe_.

NICHOLAS ROWE, a distinguished English dramatist and poet-laureate, was born at Little Barford, Bedfordshire, June 30 (?), 1674, and died December 6, 1718. He is best known as the translator of Lucan's "Pharsalia." He was the author of many successful plays, the most popular being: "Tamerlane," "The Fair Penitent," "Jane Sh.o.r.e," and "Lady Jane Grey."

Why thus longing, thus forever sighing For the far-off, unattained, and dim, While the beautiful all round thee lying Offers up its low, perpetual hymn?

"Why thus Longing?"--_Harriet Winslow Sewall_.

HARRIET (WINSLOW) SEWALL, a noted American poet, was born at Portland, Me., June 30, 1819, and died at Wellesley, Ma.s.s., February, 1889.

"Poems, with a Memoir," was published in 1889.

FOOTNOTES:

[1] He who flies can also return; but it is not so with him who dies.

[2] Brave men are brave from the very first.

JULY