Through the Year With Famous Authors Part 44

JOHN HOME, a well-known Scotch dramatist, was born in Leith, near Edinburgh, September 21, 1722, and died at Merchiston near Edinburgh, September 5, 1808. His most celebrated plays are: "Alfred," "The Fatal Discovery," "Agis," and his tragedy, "Douglas." He also wrote, "History of the Rebellion in Scotland in 1755-56."

Where are the cities of old time?

"The Ballade of Dead Cities,"--_Edmund William Gosse_.

EDMUND WILLIAM GOSSE, a famous English poet, essayist, and critic, was born in London, September 21, 1849. He has written: "On Viol and Flute,"

"The Unknown Lover," "Madrigals, Songs, and Sonnets," "Life of Jeremy Taylor," "French Profiles," "Coventry Patmore," "Life of Sir Thomas Browne," "Father and Son," "Henrik Ibsen," "Two Visits to Denmark,"

"Portraits and Studies," "Collected Essays" (5 vols.), "Life of Swinburne," "Lord Redesdale's Further Memories," "Three French Moralists," "Diversions of a Man of Letters," "Malherbe," etc.

How few take time for friendship! How few plan for it! It is treated as a haphazard, fortuitous thing. May good luck send us friends; we will not go after them. May favoring fortune bind our friendships; we will take no st.i.tches ourselves. Yet friendship requires painstaking. No art is so difficult, no craft so arduous.

Roll a ball of clay and expect it to become a rose in your hand, but never expect an acquaintanceship, without care and thought, to blossom into friendship.

--_Wells_.

HERBERT GEORGE WELLS, a distinguished English author, was born at Bromley, Kent, September 21, 1868. Among his many works may be mentioned: "The Wheels of Chance," "Certain Personal Matters," (essays), "The War of the Worlds," "The Sleeper Awakes," "Love and Mr. Lewisham,"

"Antic.i.p.ations," "The Sea Lady," "Mankind in the Making," "The Food of the G.o.ds," "A Modern Utopia," "The War in the Air," "Ann Veronica,"

"The New Machiavelli," "Marriage," "The Pa.s.sionate Friends," "An Englishman Looks at the World," "The World Set Free," "The Peace of the World," "The Research Magnificent," "What is Coming?" "Mr. Britling Sees it Through," "The Soul of a Bishop," "Joan and Peter," "The Come Back,"

etc.

Manners must adorn knowledge, and smooth its way through the world. Like a great rough diamond, it may do very well in a closet by way of curiosity, and also for its intrinsic value.

"Letter," July 1, 1748,--_Earl of Chesterfield_.

PHILIP DORMER STANHOPE, EARL OF CHESTERFIELD, a famous English man of affairs and of the world, was born in London, September 22, 1694, and died March 24, 1773. His "Letters to His Son" won for him everlasting literary fame.

A reply to a newspaper attack resembles very much the attempt of Hercules to crop the Hydra, without the slightest chance of ultimate success.

"Gilbert Gurney," Vol. II, Chap. I, _Theodore M. Hook_.

THEODORE EDWARD HOOK, a famous English wit and novelist, was born in London, September 22, 1788, and died August 24, 1841. He wrote: "Macwell," "Gilbert Gurney," "Gurney Married," "Births, Deaths and Marriages." "His Sayings and Doings," were published in 1824, 1825 and in 1828.

I never yet heard man or woman much abused, that I was not inclined to think the better of them; and to transfer any suspicion or dislike to the person who appeared to take delight in pointing out the defects of a fellow-creature.

--_Jane Porter_.

JANE PORTER, a distinguished English novelist, was born at Durham, September 23, 1776, and died at Bristol, May 24, 1850. Among her stories are: "Thaddeus of Warsaw," "The Scottish Chiefs," "The Pastor's Fireside," etc.

Within the rose I found a trembling tear, Close curtained in a gloom of crimson night, By tender petals from the outer light.

"Within the Rose I found a Trembling Tear,"--_Boyesen_.

HJALMAR HJORTH BOYESEN, a celebrated American novelist, was born at Frederiksvarn, Norway, September 23, 1848, and died in New York, October 4, 1895. He has written: "Idyls of Norway and Other Poems," "Tales from Two Hemispheres," "Ilka on the Hilltop and Other Stories," "A Norseman's Pilgrimage," "Gunnar," and "A Daughter of the Philistines."

When he writes of himself, how supremely excellent is the reading.

It is good even when he does it intentionally, as in "Portraits and Memories." It is better still when he sings it, as in his "Child's Garden." He is irresistible to every lonely child who reads and thrills, and reads again to find his past recovered for him with effortless ease. It is a book never long out of my hands, for only in it and in my dreams when I am touched with fever, do I grasp the long, long thoughts of a lonely child and a hill-wandering boy-thoughts I never told to any; yet which Mr.

Stevenson tells over again to me as if he read them off a printed page.

"Mr. Stevenson's Books," _McClure's Magazine_, Vol. 4, p. 289 1895,--_S. R. Crockett_.

SAMUEL RUTHERFORD CROCKETT, a distinguished Scotch novelist, was born in Little Duchrae, Galloway, September 24, 1862, and died in 1914. He has written "The Stickit Minister," "The Lilac Sun-Bonnet," "Lad's Love,"

"Joan of the Sword Hand," "The Dark o' the Moon," "The Banner of Blue,"

"An Adventure in Spain," "Maid Margaret," "Cherry Riband," "Flower o'

the Corn," "Kit Kennedy," "The Red Axe," "The Bloom of the Heather,"

"The White Plume of Navarre," "Anne of the Barricades," "Patsy,"

"Sandy," etc.

The breaking waves dashed high On a stern and rock-bound coast, And the woods against a stormy sky Their giant branches tossed.

"Landing of the Pilgrim Fathers,"--_Felicia Hemans_.

FELICIA DOROTHEA BROWNE HEMANS, a noted English-Irish poet, was born in Liverpool, September 25, 1793, and died at Redesdale, near Dublin, May 16, 1835. Her most famous works are: "Tales and Historic Scenes in Verse," "Songs of the Cid," "Lays of Many Lands," "The Siege of Valencia, the Last Constantine," and "Domestic Affections."

We can do without any article of luxury we have never had; but when once obtained, it is not in human nature to surrender it voluntarily.

"The Clockmaker,"--_Thomas Chandler Haliburton_.

THOMAS CHANDLER HALIBURTON (SAM SLICK), a famous Canadian author, was born at Windsor, Nova Scotia, September 26 (?), 1796, and died near London, August 27, 1865. He is best known by his famous "Sam Slick"

papers.

Honor is like the eye, which cannot suffer the least injury without damage; it is a precious stone, the price of which is lessened by the least flaw.

--_Bossuet_.

JACQUES BeNIGNE BOSSUET, a renowned French theologian, was born at Dijon, September 27, 1627, and died April 12, 1704. He wrote: "Discourse upon Universal History Down to the Empire of Charlemagne," "History of the Variations of the Protestant Churches," and the "Defense of the Famous Declaration Which the Gallican Clergy Approved Regarding the Power of the Church." His "Complete Works," in 46 volumes, were published 1815-19.

A life on the ocean wave!

A home on the rolling deep, Where the scattered waters rave, And the winds their revels keep!

Like an eagle caged I pine On this dull unchanging sh.o.r.e: O give me the flashing brine, The spray and the tempest's roar!

"A Life on the Ocean Wave,"--_Epes Sargent_.

EPES SARGENT, a celebrated American journalist, author and dramatist, was born in Gloucester, Ma.s.s., September 27, 1813, and died in Boston, December 31, 1880. His works include: "Change Makes Change," "The Priestess," "Wealth and Worth," "Peculiar: A Tale of the Great Transition," "Songs of the Sea," "Life of Henry Clay," "A Life on the Ocean Wave," etc.

Logic makes only one demand, that of science. But life makes a thousand. The body wants health; the imagination cries out for beauty; and the heart for love. Pride asks for consideration; the soul yearns for peace; the conscience for holiness; our whole being is athirst for happiness and for perfection.

--_Amiel_.