Through the Year With Famous Authors Part 35

To sea! to sea! the calm is o'er, The wanton water leaps in sport, And rattles down the pebbly sh.o.r.e, The dolphin wheels, the sea-cows snort, And unseen mermaid's pearly song Comes bubbling up, the weeds among.

Fling broad the sail, dip deep the oar: To sea! to sea! the calm is o'er.

"To Sea!"--_Thomas Lovell Beddoes_.

THOMAS LOVELL BEDDOES, a noted English poet and dramatist, was born at Clifton, July 20, 1803, and died at Basle, January 26, 1849. He wrote: "The Improvisatore," and "The Bride's Tragedy," "Poetical Works"

(London, 1890), and "Letters" (London, 1894), were edited by Edmond Gosse.

Soft peace she brings; wherever she arrives She builds our quiet as she forms our lives; Lays the rough paths of peevish Nature even, And opens in each heart a little heaven.

"Charity,"--_Matthew Prior_.

MATTHEW PRIOR, an eminent English poet, was born at Wimborne in Dorsetshire, July 21, 1664, and died at Wimpole in Cambridgeshire, September 18, 1721. Among his noted works are: "Solomon," "Alma; or, the Progress of the Mind," and "Poems on Several Occasions."

How comes it to pa.s.s, then, that we appear such cowards in reasoning, and are so afraid to stand the test of ridicule?

"Characteristics," A Letter Concerning Enthusiasm, Sect.

2,--_Shaftesbury_.

ANTHONY ASHLEY COOPER, first Earl of Shaftesbury, a distinguished English statesman, was born in Wimborne, St. Giles, Dorsetshire, July 22, 1621, and died in Amsterdam, January 22, 1683. His notable work was: "Characteristics of Men, Manners, Opinions, and Times," a collection of his numerous writings.

Blithe wanderer of the wintry air, Now here, now there, now everywhere, Quickly drifting to and fro, A cheerful life devoid of care, A shadow on the snow.

"The English Sparrow,"--_George W. Bungay_.

GEORGE WASHINGTON BUNGAY, a noted journalist and poet, was born in Walsingham, England, July 22, 1818, and died July 10, 1892. The best known of his many poems are: "The Creed of the Bells," and "The English Sparrow." He also wrote: "Abraham Lincoln Songster," "Pen Portraits of Ill.u.s.trious Abstainers," etc.

Resolve to be thyself; and know, that he Who finds himself, loses his misery.

"Self Independence,"--_Coventry K. D. Patmore_.

COVENTRY KEa.s.sEY DEIGHTON PATMORE, a celebrated English poet, was born at Woodford in Ess.e.x, July 23, 1823, and died in 1896. He wrote: "The Unknown Eros," "Amelia," "The Rod, the Root and the Flower," "The Angel in the House," "Principle in Art, and Other Essays," etc.

Truth is liable to be left-handed in history.

--_Dumas_, (Pere).

ALEXANDRE DUMAS, the Elder, an ill.u.s.trious French dramatist and romancist, was born at Villiere Cotterets, Aisne, July 24, 1803 (?), and died near Dieppe, December 5, 1870. A few of his great romances are: "The Count of Monte Cristo," "The Three Musketeers," "Twenty Years After," "The Knight of Maison-Rouge," "Viscount de Bragelonne," "Queen Margot," etc., etc. Some of his historical romances are: "Joan of Arc,"

"Michelangelo and Raffaelle," "Louis XIV and His Age," etc. His most famous plays were: "Henri III. and His Court," "Antony," "Charles VII with His Grand Va.s.sals," "Napoleon Bonaparte," "Mdlle. de Belle-Isle,"

"Marriage under Louis XV," "The Misses St. Cyr," etc. He also wrote entertaining narratives of his travels in Italy, Switzerland, Germany, Spain, North Africa, Syria, Egypt, etc.

Heaven is not reached at a single bound; But we build the ladder by which we rise From the lowly earth to the vaulted skies, And we mount to its summit round by round.

"Gradatim,"--_-Josiah G. Holland_.

JOSIAH GILBERT HOLLAND, a famous American poet and novelist and editor, was born at Belchertown, Ma.s.s., July 24, 1819, and died in New York, October 12, 1881. Among his works are: "Letters to the Young," "Life of Abraham Lincoln," "Plain Talks on Familiar Subjects," "Nicholas Minturn," etc. Also poems under the t.i.tles: "Bitter Sweet," "Kathrina,"

"The Mistress of the Manse," "Garnered Sheaves," etc.

The energies of our system will decay; the glory of the sun will be dimmed, and the earth, tideless and inert, will no longer tolerate the race which has for a moment disturbed its solitude.

Man will go down into the pit and all his thoughts will perish.

"The Foundations of Belief,"--_Arthur James Balfour_.

RT. HON. ARTHUR JAMES BALFOUR, a distinguished English author and statesman, was born July 25, 1848. He has written: "A Defence of Philosophic Doubt," "The Foundations of Belief," "Essays and Addresses,"

"Economic Notes on Insular Free Trade," "Speeches" (1880-1905), on "Fiscal Reform," "Criticism and Beauty," "Theism and Humanism," etc.

I remember, I remember How my childhood fleeted by,-- The mirth of its December And the warmth of its July.

"I remember, I remember,"--_Winthrop M. Praed_.

WINTHROP MACKWORTH PRAED, a celebrated English poet, was born in London, July 26, 1802, and died in 1839. Among his best known pieces are: "The Red Fisherman," "Private Theatricals," "Every-Day Characters," "School and Schoolfellows," "A Letter of Advice," "Our Ball," "My Partner," "My Little Cousins," etc.

The more things a man is ashamed of, the more respectable he is.

"Man and Superman,"--_George Bernard Shaw_.

GEORGE BERNARD SHAW, a famous British author and playwright, was born in Dublin, July 26, 1856. He has written, "The Quintessence of Ibsenism,"

"The Sanity of Art," "The Perfect Wagnerite," "The Common Sense of Munic.i.p.al Training," "Socialism and Superior Brains," "Common Sense about the War," etc. Also: "The Admirable Bashville," "Man and Superman," "John Bull's Other Island," "How He Lied to Her Husband,"

"Major Barbara," "The Doctor's Dilemma," "Getting Married,"

"Misalliance," "f.a.n.n.y's First Play," "Androcles and the Lion,"

"Pygmalion," "Overruled," "Great Catherine," "The Music-Cure,"

"O'Flaherty, V. C.," "An Unsocial Socialist," "The Devil's Disciple,"

"Caesar and Cleopatra," "The Man of Destiny," "You Never Can Tell," "Back to Methuselah" (cycle of plays), etc.

'Tis distance lends enchantment to the view, And robes the mountain in its azure hue.

"Pleasures of Hope," Part I, Line 7,--_Thomas Campbell_.

THOMAS CAMPBELL, a Scottish poet, of great fame, was born at Glasgow, July 27, 1777; and died at Boulogne, France June, 15, 1844. The best known of his poems are: "Gertrude of Wyoming," "Pleasures of Hope,"

"Lochiel's Warning," "The Exile of Erin," "Battle of the Baltic," "Ye Mariners of England," etc.

Memory is a paradise out of which fate cannot drive us.

--_Dumas, Fils_.

ALEXANDRE DUMAS, THE YOUNGER, the renowned French dramatist and romancist, was born at Paris, July 27, 1824, and died November 28, 1895.

A few of his famous romances are: "A Woman's Romance," "Cesarine,"

"Camille," etc. Also, "The Divorce Question," "The Clemenceau Case,"

"The Natural Son," "The Friend of Women," "Claude's Wife," "The Danicheffs," "Joseph Balsamo," "Francillon," etc.