Through the Year With Famous Authors Part 36

Of Courtesy it is much less Than Courage of Heart or Holiness, Yet in my Walks it seems to me That the Grace of G.o.d is in Courtesy.

"Courtesy,"--_Hilaire Belloc_.

HILAIRE BELLOC, a celebrated English author, was born July 27, 1870.

Among his works are: "Verses and Sonnets," "Paris," "Robespierre," "Path to Rome," "Hills and the Sea," "Marie Antoinette," "The Green Overcoat," "The Mercy of Allah," "General Sketch of the European War, 1st Phase," "The Last Days of the French Monarchy."

Beautiful Faith, surrendering to Time.

"Marpessa," L. 62,--_Stephen Phillips_.

STEPHEN PHILLIPS, a noted English author and poet, was born near the City of Oxford, July 28, 1868, and died December 9, 1915. Among his poetical pieces are: "The Woman with the Dead Soul," "Marpessa," "The Wife," "After Rain," "Thoughts at Sunrise," "Thoughts at Noon." The first volume of his "Poems" appeared in 1897, and "New Poems" in 1907.

"It is a great blessing," says Pascal, "to be born a man of quality, since it brings one man as far forward at eighteen or twenty as another man would be at fifty, which is a clear gain of thirty years." These thirty years are commonly wanting to the ambitious characters of democracies. The principle of equality, which allows every man to arrive at everything, prevents all men from rapid advancement.

--_Alexis de Tocqueville_.

ALEXIS DE TOCQUEVILLE, a distinguished French publicist and writer, was born at Vermeuil (Seine-et-Oise), July 29, 1805, and died at Cannes, April 16, 1859. His writings include: "The Old Regime and the Revolution," "Democracy in America," and "Works," 9 vols., which appeared in 1860-65.

She was good as she was fair, None--none on earth above her!

As pure in thought as angels are: To know her was to love her.

"Jacqueline," Stanza 1,--_Samuel Rogers_.

SAMUEL ROGERS, a famous English poet, was born at Newington Green, London, July 30, 1763, and died in London, December 18, 1855. He wrote "The Voyage of Columbus," "Italy," "Human Life," "Pleasures of Memory,"

and "Jacqueline."

He was utterly incapable of anything like baseness. No man could be more jealous of his honour; no man had a greater pride in being largely and loftily a man.

"Life of Robert Burns,"--_John Stuart Blackie_.

JOHN STUART BLACKIE, a notable Scottish author was born in Glasgow, July 31, 1809, and died in Edinburgh, March 2, 1895. His works include translations from the Greek and German; moral and religious and other philosophy; also, "Lays of the Highlands and Islands," "Language and Literature of the Scottish Highlands," "Wisdom of Goethe," "Life of Burns," "Essays on Subjects of Moral and Social Interest,"

"Self-Culture," etc.

FOOTNOTES:

[1] Great sorrows are the hot-houses of the soul.

AUGUST

AUGUST

All human race, from China to Peru, Pleasure, howe'er disguis'd by art, pursue.

"Universal Love of Pleasure,"--_Thomas Warton_.

THOMAS WARTON, a distinguished English clergyman, critic, was born at Basingstoke, August 1 (?), 1728, and died at Oxford, May 21, 1790. He was poet-laureate of England in 1785. He wrote: "History of English Poetry," etc.

Jealousy is the forerunner of love, and often its awakener.

--_F. Marion Crawford_.

FRANCIS MARION CRAWFORD, a celebrated American author, was born in Bagni di Lucca, Italy, August 2, 1854, and died in 1909. Among his noted works are: "Dr. Claudius," "Mr. Isaacs," "A Tale of a Lonely Parish,"

"Zoroaster," "With the Immortals," "Sant' Ilario," "The Witch of Prague," "Love in Idleness," "A Rose of Yesterday," "Don Orsino," "Via Crucis," "In the Palace of the King," "The Heart of Rome," "Fair Margaret," and its sequel, "Prima Donna."

Best they honor thee Who honor in thee only what is best.

"The True Patriotism,"--_William Watson_.

SIR WILLIAM WATSON, a famous English poet, was born at Wharfedale, August 2, 1858. He has published: "The Prince's Quest," "Epigrams of Art," "Wordsworth's Grave, and Other Poems," "Lachrymae Musarum,"

"Excursions in Criticism," "The Eloping Angels," "Odes, and Other Poems," "The Purple East," "The Year of Shame," "The Hope of the World,"

"Collected Poems," "For England: Poems Written During Estrangement,"

"New Poems," "Pencraft; A Plea for the Older Ways," "Retrogression,"

"The Man Who Saw," "The Superhuman Antagonists," etc.

Ah woe is me, through all my days, Wisdom and wealth I both have got, And fame and name and great men's praise; But Love, ah! Love I have it not.

"The Way to Arcady,"--_Henry C. Bunner_.

HENRY CUYLER BUNNER, a celebrated American poet and story-writer, was born in Oswego, N. Y., August 3, 1855, and died in Nutley, N. J., May 11, 1896. He wrote: "A Woman of Honor," "Airs from Arcady and Elsewhere," "The Runaway Browns," "Zadoc Pine and Other Stories,"

"Jersey Street and Jersey Lane," "The Midge," "Short Sixes," etc.

All love is sweet, Given or returned. Common as light is love, And its familiar voice wearies not ever.

They who inspire it most are fortunate, As I am now; but those who feel it most Are happier still.

"Prometheus Unbound," Act ii, Sc. 5.--_Percy B. Sh.e.l.ley_.

PERCY BYSSHE Sh.e.l.lEY, the renowned English poet, was born at Field Place, near Horsham, Suss.e.x, August 4, 1792, and was drowned off the coast of Italy, July 8, 1822. Among his many works may be mentioned: "A Poetical Essay on the Existing State of Things," "Queen Mab: A Philosophic Poem," "Rosalind and Helen: A Modern Eclogue; with Other Poems," "h.e.l.las: A Lyrical Drama," "Adonais: an Elegy on the Death of John Keats," "The Cenci: A Tragedy," "Prometheus Unbound: a Lyrical Drama," "An Address to the Irish People," "Alastor, or the Spirit of Solitude, and Other Poems," "A Vindication of Natural Diet," "A Refutation of Deism," etc.

Opinions!--they are like the clothes we wear, which warm us, not with heat, but with ours.