Through the Year With Famous Authors Part 34

"On a Fly drinking out of a Cup of Ale,"--_William Oldys_.

WILLIAM OLDYS, a distinguished English biographer and antiquary, was born July 14, 1696, and died April 15, 1761. He wrote: "The British Librarian," "The Life of Sir Walter Raleigh," "The Universal Spectator,"

etc.

Rise up, rise up, Xarifa! lay your golden cushion down; Rise up! come to the window, and gaze with all the town.

The Bridal of Andalla,--_John G. Lockhart_.

JOHN GIBSON LOCKHART, a renowned Scotch biographer and son-in-law of Walter Scott, was born at Cambusnethan, Lanark, July 14, 1794, and died November 25, 1854. He wrote: "Reginald Dalton," "Adam Blair,"

"Valerius," "Matthew Wald," "Life of Robert Burns," a volume of translations of "Ancient Spanish Ballads," and his most celebrated work, "Life of Sir Walter Scott."

But when the sun in all his state Illumed the eastern skies, She pa.s.sed through Glory's morning-gate, And walked in Paradise.

"A Death-Bed,"--_James Aldrich_.

JAMES ALDRICH, a noted American poet, was born at Matt.i.tuck, L. I., July 14, 1810, and died in New York, September 9, 1856. His most celebrated poem, "A Death-Bed," won for him great fame.

'Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house Not a creature was stirring,--not even a mouse; The stockings were hung by the chimney with care, In hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there.

"A Visit from St. Nicholas,"--_Clement Clarke Moore_.

CLEMENT CLARKE MOORE, a distinguished American poet and educational writer, was born in New York City, July 15, 1779, and died in Newport, R. I., July 10, 1863. He is best known by his famous poem, "A Visit from St. Nicholas."

"The history of our land will hereafter record the name of John Henry Newman among the greatest of our people, as a confessor for the faith, a great teacher of men, a preacher of justice, of piety, and of compa.s.sion."

From Purcell's "Life of Manning," Vol. II,--_Cardinal Manning_.

HENRY EDWARD CARDINAL MANNING, a famous English Roman Catholic prelate, was born July 15, 1808, at Totteridge in Hertfordshire, and died in London, January 14, 1892. Among his publications are: "Petri Privilegium," "The True Story of the Vatican Council," "The Temporal Mission of the Holy Ghost," "The Catholic Church and Modern Society,"

"The Internal Mission of the Holy Ghost," "England and Christendom,"

"Sin and Its Consequences," etc.

Though all the bards of earth were dead And all their music pa.s.sed away, What Nature wishes should be said She'll find the rightful voice to say.

"The Golden Silence,"--_William Winter_.

WILLIAM WINTER, a distinguished American journalist and dramatic critic, was born at Gloucester, Ma.s.s., July 15, 1836, and died in 1917. He has written: "Life of Henry Irving," "The Wanderers," "Stage Life of Mary Anderson," "The Queen's Domain," "Life of Edwin Booth," "The Convent, and Other Poems," "The Jeffersons," "English Rambles," "Life of Ada Rehan," "Thistle-down," "Poems," "Other Days, Being Chronicles and Memories of the Stage," "Life and Art of Richard Mansfield," "Vagrant Memories," etc.

A room hung with pictures is a room hung with thoughts.

--_Sir Joshua Reynolds_.

SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS, the great English painter, was born at Plympton Earls, Devonshire, July 16, 1723, and died in London, February 23, 1792.

His fifteen addresses delivered at the Royal Academy const.i.tute the well-known "Discourses of Sir Joshua Reynolds."

Whene'er I take my walks abroad, How many poor I see!

What shall I render to my G.o.d For all his gifts to me?

"Divine Songs; Song iv."--_Isaac Watts_.

ISAAC WATTS, a celebrated English clergyman and hymn-writer, was born at Southampton, July 17, 1674, and died at Theobalds, Newington, November 25, 1748. He wrote many religious works, among them: "The Improvement of the Mind," "Logic; or, the Right Use of Reason in the Inquiry after Truth," and his famous "Psalms and Hymns."

There is a limit to enjoyment, though the sources of wealth be boundless.

And the choicest pleasures of life lie within the ring of moderation.

"Proverbial Philosophy: Of Compensation," L. 15,--_Tupper_.

MARTIN FARQUHAR TUPPER, a famous English writer, was born in London, July 17, 1810, and died November 29, 1889. He published: "Geraldine and Other Poems," "My Life as an Author," etc. His fame, however, rests on his notable work, "Proverbial Philosophy," (1838-1867).

Novels are sweets. All people with healthy literary appet.i.tes love them: almost all women; a vast number of clever, hard-headed men.

Judges, bishops, chancellors, mathematicians, are notorious novel-readers, as well as young boys and girls, and their kind, tender mothers.

--_Thackeray_.

WILLIAM MAKEPEACE THACKERAY, the renowned English novelist, was born in Calcutta, India, July 18, 1811, and died December 24, 1863. Among his celebrated works are: "Irish Sketch-Book," "The Book of Sn.o.bs," "Barry Lyndon," "Comic Tales and Sketches," "A Shabby-Genteel Story," "Men's Wives," "Our Street," "Mrs. Perkins's Ball," "English Humorists of the Eighteenth Century," "Dr. Birch and His Young Friends," "Vanity Fair,"

"The History of Pendennis," "The History of Henry Esmond," "The Newcomes," "The Four Georges," "The Rose and the Ring," "The Virginians," "The Adventures of Philip," etc.

Les grandes douleurs sont les serres chaudes de l'ame.[1]

"Noirs et Rouges," Chap. XXI, p. 319,--_Cherbuliez_.

VICTOR CHERBULIEZ, a distinguished French romancist, was born at Geneva, July 19, 1829, and died in 1899. Under the name of "G. Valbert," he wrote: "A Horse by Phidias," "A Political Spain," "Foreign Profiles,"

"Art and Nature"; also, "Romance of a Respectable Woman," "Prosper Randoce," "Miss Rovel," "Samuel Brohl & Co.," etc.

Taine liked to say, that what he most admired in the works of Renan, was "that one could not see how it was done"; and he was right, if he meant only the style or the "phrase," which gives the impression of being born spontaneously, without effort and without art, under the pen of Renan.

--_Ferdinand Brunetiere_.

FERDINAND BRUNETIeRE, a celebrated French critic, and man of letters, was born at Toulon, July 19, 1849, and died December 9, 1906. Among his publications are: "etudes critiques," "Le Roman Naturaliste," "Histoire et Litterature," "Discours Academiques," "Discours de Combat," "L'Action Sociale du Christianisme," "Sur les Chemins de la Croyance," etc.

I know and love the good, yet, ah! the worst pursue.

Sonnet ccxxv, Canzone xxi, "To Laura in Life."

FRANCESCO PETRARCH, the greatest of Italian lyric poets, was born at Arezzo, July 20, 1304, and died at Arqua, July 18, 1374. He wrote: "Africa," "Memoranda," "Of Contempt of the World," "Of the Solitary Life," "Of the Remedies for Either Fortune," "Rime," "Of Ill.u.s.trious Men," "Metrical Epistles," etc.