Through the Year With Famous Authors Part 37

--_Walter Pater_.

WALTER (HORATIO) PATER, a distinguished English literary and art critic, was born at London, August 4, 1839, and died at Oxford, July 30, 1894.

He wrote: "The Renaissance: Studies in Art and Poetry," "Marius the Epicurean," "Imaginary Portraits," "Appreciations," "Plato and Plato-nism," "The Child in the House," etc.

There was something sinister and superb in the song of these shipwrecked and condemned creatures, something like a prayer and also something grander and comparable to the ancient and sublime, _Ave Caesar, morituri te salutant_.

"La Pet.i.te Rogue,"--_Guy de Maupa.s.sant_.

GUY DE MAUPa.s.sANT, a noted French novelist, was born at the Chateau de Miromesnil, (Seine-Inferieure), August 5, 1850, and died in Paris, July 6, 1893. Among his many works are: "In the Sunshine," "On the Water,"

"The Left Hand," "The Sisters Rondoli," "Peter and John," "Strong as Death," "Tales of Day and Night," "Our Heart," "A Wondering Life," etc.

Il embellit tout ce qu'il touche.[1]

"Lettre sur les Occupations de L'Academie Francaise," Sect. iv, _Fenelon_.

FRANcOIS DE SALIGNAC DE LA MOTHE FeNeLON, an ill.u.s.trious French theologian and writer, was born in the Chateau Fenelon, in Perigord, Dordogne, August 6, 1651, and died January 7, 1715. He wrote: "Life of Charlemagne," "Exposition of the Maxims of the Saints Regarding the Inner Life," "Fables," "Treatise on the Education of Young Girls," and his most noted work, "Telemachus."

In the spring a livelier iris changes on the burnished dove; In the spring a young man's fancy lightly turns to thoughts of love.

"Locksley Hall," Line 19,--_Alfred Tennyson_.

ALFRED TENNYSON, LORD TENNYSON, one of the greatest of English poets, was born at Somersby, Lincolnshire, August 6, 1809, and died at Aldworth, October 6, 1892. Among his famous works are: "Maud and Other Poems," "Queen Mary," "The Princess," "The Foresters," "Enoch Arden,"

"The Holy Grail," "Harold," "The Idylls of the King," "Tiresias,"

"Locksley Hall Sixty Years After," "Poems, Chiefly Lyrical," "In Memoriam," etc.

When Freedom from her mountain-height Unfurled her standard to the air, She tore the azure robe of night, And set the stars of glory there.

"The American Flag,"--_Joseph Rodman Drake_.

JOSEPH RODMAN DRAKE, a noted American poet, was born at New York, August 7, 1795, and died September 21, 1820. Among his poetical works are: "The Culprit Fay," "Abelard to Heloise," "The American Flag," etc.

There were few of Tennyson's poems which I did not know by heart without any attempt to commit them to memory.

"Books Which Have Influenced Me,"--_Canon Farrar_.

FREDERICK WILLIAM FARRAR, a celebrated English clergyman, was born at Bombay, India, August 7, 1831, and died March 22, 1903. His most notable works are: "Life and Works of Saint Paul," "The Witness of History to Christ," "The Life of Christ," "The Early Days of Christianity," "Eternal Hope," "The Origin of Language," "Chapters on Language," "Families of Speech," "Language and Languages," "Darkness and Dawn," "The Voice from Sinai," "The Life of Christ as represented in Art," "Gathering Clouds," and "The Bible, Its Meaning and Supremacy."

That action is best which procures the greatest happiness for the greatest numbers.

"Inquiry concerning Moral Good and Evil," sect. 3 (1720),--_Hutcheson_.

FRANCIS HUTCHESON, a distinguished Scotch educator and philosopher was born at Drumalig, Ulster, Ireland, August 8, 1694, and died in Glasgow about 1746. He was the author of "Inquiry into the Original of Our Ideas of Beauty and Virtue," "Nature and Conduct of the Pa.s.sions and Affections," "System of Moral Philosophy," etc.

Oh! say, can you see by the dawn's early light What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming?-- Whose broad stripes and bright stars through the clouds of the fight O'er the ramparts we watched, were so gallantly streaming!

And the rocket's red glare, the bombs bursting in air, Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there; Oh, say, does that star-spangled banner yet wave O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?

"The Star-Spangled Banner,"--_Francis Scott Key_.

FRANCIS SCOTT KEY, a noted American poet, was born in Frederick County, Md., August 9, 1780, and died at Baltimore, January 11, 1843. He is best known as the author of "The Star Spangled Banner."

We may say of angling as Dr. Boteler said of strawberries: "Doubtless G.o.d could have made a better berry, but doubtless G.o.d never did"; and so, if I might be judge, G.o.d never did make a more calm, quiet, innocent recreation than angling.

"The Complete Angler," Part I, Chap. II,--_Izaak Walton_.

IZAAK WALTON, a celebrated English author, was born in Stafford, England, August 9, 1593, and died at Winchester, December 15, 1683. His most famous work was: "The Complete Angler: or, the Contemplative Man's Recreation." He also wrote the biographies of a number of famous men, known as "Walton's Lives."

Happy the man, and happy he alone, He who can call to-day his own; He who, secure within, can say, To-morrow do thy worst, for I have liv'd to-day.

"Imitation of Horace," Book iii, Ode 29, Line 65,--_John Dryden_.

JOHN DRYDEN, the renowned English poet, was born at Aldwinkle, Northamptonshire, August 9, 1631, and died in London, May 1, 1700. His most famous works were: "The Hind and the Panther," "Alexander's Feast,"

and "Absalom and Achitophel," also a number of noted plays including: "Marriage a la Mode," "The Conquest of Grenada," "The Spanish Friar,"

"Don Sebastian," "All for Love," etc.

His temper was of that warm susceptible kind which is caught with the heroic and the tender, and, which is more fitted to delight in the world of sentiment than to succeed in the bustle of ordinary life. This is a disposition of mind well suited to the poetical character, and, accordingly, all his earliest companions agree that Mr. Home was from his childhood delighted with the lofty and heroic ideas which embody themselves in the description or narrative of poetry.... Mr. Home's favorite amus.e.m.e.nt was angling.

"Account of the Life of Mr. John Home," "Home's Works,"

Vol. I, pp. 6, 31,--_Henry Mackenzie_.

HENRY MACKENZIE, a noted Scotch novelist, essayist and miscellaneous writer, was born at Edinburgh, August 10, 1745, and died there January 14, 1831. He wrote: "The Man of the World," "Julia de Roubigne," "Works"

(8 vols.), and "The Man of Feeling," his most famous work.

Yes, Walt Whitman has appeared. He has his place upon the stage.

The drama is not ended. His voice is still heard. He is the poet of democracy--of all people. He is the poet of the body and soul. He has sounded the note of individuality. He has given the pa.s.s-word primeval. He is the Poet of Humanity--of Intellectual Hospitality.

He has voiced the aspirations of America, and, above all, he is the poet of Love and Death.

"Liberty in Literature," In Re Walt Whitman,--_Robert G.

Ingersoll_.

ROBERT GREEN INGERSOLL, a distinguished American orator, lecturer and lawyer, was born in Dresden, N. Y., August 11, 1833, and died at Dobbs Ferry, N. Y., July 21, 1899. He has published: "Some Mistakes of Moses,"

"Lectures, Complete," "Great Speeches," "Prose Poems and Selections."

Most women indulge in idle gossip, which is the henchman of rumor and scandal.

--_Octave Feuillet_.