FOOTNOTES:

Attempt the end, and never stand to doubt;Nothing’s so hard but search will find it out.“Seek and Find,”—Robert Herrick.

Attempt the end, and never stand to doubt;Nothing’s so hard but search will find it out.

“Seek and Find,”—Robert Herrick.

Robert Herrick, a renowned English poet and royalist clergyman, was born in London, August 20, 1591, and died at Dean Prior, Devonshire, October 15, 1674. He wrote: “Noble Numbers,” and “Hesperides.”

In the Confessions of St. Augustine, passion, nature, individuality only appear in order to be immolated to Divine grace. They are a history of a crisis of the soul, of a new birth, of aVita Nuova; the Saint would have blushed to relate more than he has done of the life of the man, which he had quitted. With Rousseau the case is precisely the reverse; here grace is nothing, nature everything; nature dominant, triumphant, displaying herself with a daring freedom, which at times amounts to the distasteful—nay, to the disgusting.“Life of Luther,” (translation),—Michelet.

“Life of Luther,” (translation),—Michelet.

Jules Michelet, a famous French historian, was born in Paris, August 21, 1798, and died at Hyères, February 9, 1874. His principal works are: “History of France,” “History of the Revolution,” “Abridgment of Modern History,” “Of the Jesuits,” “Of the Priest, the Wife, and the Family,” “Of the People,” “Poland and Russia,” etc.

Who can blame me if I cherish the belief that the world is still young—that there are great possibilities in store for it?—John Tyndall.

Who can blame me if I cherish the belief that the world is still young—that there are great possibilities in store for it?

—John Tyndall.

John Tyndall, an eminent British physicist and writer on science, was born at Leighlin Bridge, near Carlow, Ireland,August 21, 1820, and died at Haslemere, Surrey, England, December 4, 1893. He has written: “Philosophical Transactions in Glaciers of the Alps,” “Mountaineering in 1861,” “Dust and Disease,” “Hours of Exercise in the Alps,” “Sound: A Course of Eight Lectures,” “Nine Lectures on Light,” “Essays on the Use and Limit of the Imagination in Science,” “The Forms of Water in Clouds and Rivers, Ice and Glaciers,” “Essays on the Floating Matter of the Air,” “New Fragments,” etc.

Equality is one of the most consummate scoundrels that ever crept from the brain of a political juggler—a fellow who thrusts his hand into the pocket of honest industry or enterprising talent, and squanders their hard-earned profits on profligate idleness or indolent stupidity.—James Kirke Paulding.

—James Kirke Paulding.

James Kirke Paulding, a distinguished American novelist, was born in Dutchess County, N. Y., August 22, 1779, and died at Hyde Park, N. Y., April 6, 1860. Among his famous works may be mentioned: “The United States and England,” “Lay of a Scotch Fiddle,” “Letters on Slavery,” “The Diverting History of John Bull and Brother Jonathan,” “Koningsmarke,” “John Bull in America,” “Westward Ho!” “The Dutchman’s Fireside,” “Life of George Washington,” etc.

It matters not how strait the gate,How charged with punishments the scroll,I am the master of my fate,I am the captain of my soul.“To R. T. H. B.”—William Ernest Henley.

It matters not how strait the gate,How charged with punishments the scroll,I am the master of my fate,I am the captain of my soul.

“To R. T. H. B.”—William Ernest Henley.

William Ernest Henley, a noted British poet, critic, and editor, was born at Gloucester, August 23, 1849, and died July 11, 1903. Among his works are: “Views and Reviews,” “Poems,” “London Voluntaries,” “Hawthorn and Lavender,” etc.

There is what I call the American idea.... This idea demands, as the proximate organization thereof, a democracy—that is, a government of all the people, by all the people, for all the people; of course, a government of the principles of eternal justice, the unchanging law of God: for shortness’ sake I will call it the idea of Freedom.“Speech at the N. E. Anti-slavery Convention, Boston,” May 29, 1850.—Theodore Parker.

“Speech at the N. E. Anti-slavery Convention, Boston,” May 29, 1850.—Theodore Parker.

Theodore Parker, an American preacher and reformer of great celebrity, was born at Lexington, Mass., August 24, 1810, and died at Florence, May 10, 1860. He wrote: “Ten Sermons on Religion,” “Theism, Atheism and the Popular Theology,” and his most celebrated work: “Discourse on Matters Pertaining to Religion.”

With the greatest possible solicitude avoid authorship. Too early or immoderately employed it makes the head waste and the heart empty.Tr. by S. T. Coleridge.—Herder.

With the greatest possible solicitude avoid authorship. Too early or immoderately employed it makes the head waste and the heart empty.

Tr. by S. T. Coleridge.—Herder.

John Gottfried von Herder, a distinguished German philosopher and historian of literature, was born at Mohrungen, August 25, 1744, and died at Weimar, December 18, 1803. Among his works are: “Voices of Nations in Song,” “Fragments on Recent German Literature,” “The Cid,” “Ideas for a Philosophy of the History of Mankind,” “Spirit of Hebrew Poetry,” etc.

Which I wish to remark,—And my language is plain,—That for ways that are darkAnd for tricks that are vain,The heathen Chinee is peculiar.“Plain Language from Truthful James,”—Francis Bret Harte.

Which I wish to remark,—And my language is plain,—That for ways that are darkAnd for tricks that are vain,The heathen Chinee is peculiar.

“Plain Language from Truthful James,”—Francis Bret Harte.

Francis Bret Harte, a celebrated American poet and short-story writer, was born in Albany, N. Y., August 25,1839, and died in 1902. Among his many works are: “The Luck of Roaring Camp, and Other Sketches,” “The Heathen Chinee,” “Plain Language from Truthful James,” “Poems,” “East and West Poems,” “Echoes of the Foot-Hills,” “Poetical Works,” “Thankful Blossom,” “Drift from Two Shores,” “Flip and Other Stories,” “By Shore and Sedge,” “The Queen of the Pirate Isle,” “On the Frontier,” “Snow Bound at Eagle’s,” “Tales of the Argonauts and Other Sketches,” “A Waif of the Plains,” “Three Partners,” and “In the Hollow of the Hills.”

It is even at the present day important to direct careful attention to an erroneous conception of wealth, which was universal until the appearance of Adam Smith’s great work, in 1775.“Manual of Political Economy,”—Henry Fawcett.

It is even at the present day important to direct careful attention to an erroneous conception of wealth, which was universal until the appearance of Adam Smith’s great work, in 1775.

“Manual of Political Economy,”—Henry Fawcett.

Henry Fawcett, a famous English political economist, was born at Salisbury, August 26, 1833, and died in Cambridge, November 6, 1884. His publications include: “Free Trade and Protection,” “Indian Finance,” etc. His celebrated work, “Manual of Political Economy,” won for him great fame.

Roger Bacon treated more especially of physics, but remained without influence.“Lectures on the History of Philosophy,” tr., Haldane and Simpson, Vol. III. p. 92,—Hegel.

Roger Bacon treated more especially of physics, but remained without influence.

“Lectures on the History of Philosophy,” tr., Haldane and Simpson, Vol. III. p. 92,—Hegel.

Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, an eminent German philosopher, was born at Stuttgart, August 27, 1770, and died at Berlin, November 14, 1831. Among his writings are: “On the Difference Between the Fichtean and Schellingian Systems,” “The Orbits of the Planets,” “Phenomenology of the Human Mind,” “System of Science,” “Principles of the Philosophy of Law, or the Law of Nature and Political Science,” “Encyclopædia of the Philosophical Sciences,” etc.

If we compare Daudet with Zola, we shall see that it is Daudet who is the naturalist novelist, not Zola. It is the author of Le Nabob who begins with observation of reality, and who is possessed by it, while the author of “L’Assommoir” only consults it when his seige is finished and then summarily with preconceived ideas.“Les Contemporains,”—Jules Lemaître.

“Les Contemporains,”—Jules Lemaître.

François Elie Jules Lemaître, a famous French literary critic and dramatist, was born in Vennecy (Loiret), August 27, 1853, and died in 1914. He is the author of five volumes of literary biographies, “Contemporaries: Being Literary Studies and Portraits.” Among his plays are: “La Revoltée,” “Deputy Leveau,” “The Kings,” “The Pardon,” etc. Also: “Médallions” (poems), “Petites Orientales” (poems), “Corneille and Aristotle’s Poetics,” “Myrrha Stories.”

The old prose writers wrote as if they were speaking to an audience; while, among us, prose is invariably written for the eye alone.—Niebuhr.

The old prose writers wrote as if they were speaking to an audience; while, among us, prose is invariably written for the eye alone.

—Niebuhr.

Barthold Georg Niebuhr, a great German historian, was born at Copenhagen, August 27, 1776, and died at Bonn, January 2, 1831. His writings include: “Roman History,” “Lectures on the History of Rome,” “Lectures on Ancient History,” “Grecian Heroic History,” “Minor Historical and Philological Writings,” etc.

Who never ate his bread in sorrow,Who never spent the darksome hoursWeeping, and watching for the morrow,—He knows ye not, ye gloomy Powers.“Wilhelm Meister,” Book ii, Chap, xiii,—Goethe.

Who never ate his bread in sorrow,Who never spent the darksome hoursWeeping, and watching for the morrow,—He knows ye not, ye gloomy Powers.

“Wilhelm Meister,” Book ii, Chap, xiii,—Goethe.

Johann Wolfgang Goethe, one of the greatest poets the world has ever known, was born at Frankfort on the Main, August 28, 1749, and died at Weimar, March 22, 1832. His most famous works are: “Sorrows of Young Werther,” “Erwin and Elmira,” “Stella,” “Prometheus,” “Iphigenia,” “Tasso,” “Wilhelm Meister,” andhis greatest work, “Faust.” He also wrote: “Wilhelm Meister’s Apprenticeship,” “Fiction and Truth,” “Hermann and Dorothea,” “Elective Affinities,” “Wilhelm Meister’s Years of Travel,” etc.

Man should be ever better than he seems.“The Song of Faith,”—Sir Aubrey De Vere.

Man should be ever better than he seems.

“The Song of Faith,”—Sir Aubrey De Vere.

Sir Aubrey De Vere, a famous Irish poet, was born August 28, 1788, and died in 1846. Among his works are: “Julian, the Apostate: A Dramatic Poem,” “The Duke of Mercia: an Historical Drama,” “The Song of Faith, Devout Exercises and Sonnets,” “Mary Tudor: an Historical Drama,” was published after his death in 1847.

The thoughts that come often unsought, and, as it were drop into the mind, are commonly the most valuable we have, and therefore should be secured, because they seldom return again.—John Locke.

The thoughts that come often unsought, and, as it were drop into the mind, are commonly the most valuable we have, and therefore should be secured, because they seldom return again.

—John Locke.

John Locke, an eminent English philosopher, was born at Wrington, near Bristol, August 29, 1632, and died at Oates (Essex), October 28, 1704. His philosophical writings include: “An Epistle on Tolerance,” “Essay Concerning Human Understanding,” “Two Treatises on Government,” etc. He also wrote: “Some Thoughts Concerning Reading and Study,” “Some Thoughts on Education,” “Elements of Natural Philosophy,” and many other works.

I do not know anyone who makes us feel more than Milton does the grandeur of the ends which we ought to keep always before us, and therefore our own pettiness and want of courage and nobleness in pursuing them. I believe he failed to discern many of the intermediate relations which God has established between Himself and us; but I know no one who teaches us more habitually that disobedience to the Divine will is the seat of all misery to men.“The Friendship of Books,”—D. Maurice.

“The Friendship of Books,”—D. Maurice.

Frederick Denison Maurice, a celebrated English divine and theological and philosophical writer, was bornnear Lowestoft, Suffolk, August 29, 1805, and died in London, April 1, 1872. Among his works are: “Ancient Philosophy,” “Theological Essays,” “Modern Philosophy,” “Mediæval Philosophy,” “The Friendship of Books,” etc., and a novel, “Eustace Conway.”

Build thee more stately mansions, O my soul,As the swift seasons roll!Leave thy low-vaulted past!Let each new temple, nobler than the last,Shut thee from heaven with a dome more vast,Till thou at length art free,Leaving thine outgrown shell by life’s unresting sea!“The Chambered Nautilus,”—Oliver Wendell Holmes.

“The Chambered Nautilus,”—Oliver Wendell Holmes.

Oliver Wendell Holmes, a distinguished American man of letters, was born at Cambridge, Mass., August 29, 1809, and died at Boston, October 7, 1894. The most important of his works are: “Urania,” “The Iron Gate,” “Songs in Many Keys,” “Poems,” “Songs of Many Seasons,” “Elsie Venner,” “The Autocrat of the Breakfast Table,” “The Professor at the Breakfast Table,” “The Poet at the Breakfast Table,” “Soundings from the Atlantic,” “Our Hundred Days in Europe,” “John Lothrop Motley,” “A Mortal Antipathy,” “Ralph Waldo Emerson,” “Over the Teacups,” etc.

Men’s weaknesses are often necessary to the purposes of life.“Joyzelle,” Act ii.—Maurice Maeterlinck.

Men’s weaknesses are often necessary to the purposes of life.

“Joyzelle,” Act ii.—Maurice Maeterlinck.

Maurice Maeterlinck, a celebrated Belgian poet, was born in Flanders, August 29, 1864. Among his works are: “The Seven Princesses,” “The Blind,” “The Intruder,” “The Treasure of the Humble,” “Hot-House Blooms,” “La Princesse Maleine,” “Alladine et Palomides,” “Douze Chansons,” “La Sagesse et la Destinée,” “Le Temple Enseveli,” “The Double Garden,” “The Blue Bird,” “La Mort,” “The Light Beyond,” etc.

It is very foolish, and betrays what a small mind we have, to allow fashion to sway us in everything that regards taste; in our way of living, our health, and our conscience.“The Characters,”—Jean de La Bruyère.

It is very foolish, and betrays what a small mind we have, to allow fashion to sway us in everything that regards taste; in our way of living, our health, and our conscience.

“The Characters,”—Jean de La Bruyère.

Jean de La Bruyère, a famous French moralist and satirist, was born in Paris, August 30 (?), 1645, and died at Versailles, May 10, 1696. His fame rests on his great work, “The Characters of Theophrastus, Translated from the Greek, with the Characters or Manners of this Century.”

If for widows you die,Learn tokissnot to sigh.“Widow Malone,” II, 33-4,—Charles James Lever.

If for widows you die,Learn tokissnot to sigh.

“Widow Malone,” II, 33-4,—Charles James Lever.

Charles (James) Lever, a noted Irish novelist, was born at Dublin, August 31, 1806, and died at Trieste, June 1, 1872. He wrote: “Confessions of Harry Lorrequer,” “Charles O’Malley,” “Arthur O’Leary,” “Jack Hinton the Guardsman,” “Tom Burke of Ours,” “The O’Donoghue,” “Con Cregan,” “Roland Cashel,” “The Daltons, or Three Roads in Life,” “Luttrell of Arran,” “The Fortunes of Glencore,” “Davenport Dunn,” “Sir Brooke Fosbrooke,” “The Bramleighs of Bishop’s Folly,” “Lord Kilgobbin,” etc.

Ils sont si transparents qu’ils laissent voir votre âme.[2]“The Two Beautiful Eyes,”—Théophile Gautier.

Ils sont si transparents qu’ils laissent voir votre âme.[2]

“The Two Beautiful Eyes,”—Théophile Gautier.

Théophile Gautier, a renowned French poet and novelist, was born in Tarbes, Hautes Pyrenees, August 31, 1811, and died near Paris, in 1872. Among his famous works may be mentioned: “Young France,” “Albertus,” “Poems,” “History of Romanticism,” “A Journey in Spain,” “Italy,” “Constantinople,” “Miltona,” “The Golden Fleece,” “Arria Marcella,” “Mademoiselle Dafne,” “The Nest of Nightingales,” “The Loving Dead,” “The Chain of Gold,” “Jean and Jeannette,” “The Tiger Skin,” “Spirite,” “Modern Art,” “The Arts in Europe,” etc., etc.

[1]He adorned whatever he touched.

[2]Eyes so transparent that through them the soul is seen.

SEPTEMBER

Talent, like beauty, to be pardoned, must be obscure and unostentatious.—Lady Blessington.

Talent, like beauty, to be pardoned, must be obscure and unostentatious.

—Lady Blessington.

Marguerite, Countess of Blessington, a distinguished Irish descriptive writer and novelist, was born in Knockbrit, Tipperary, September 1, 1789, and died in Paris, June 4, 1849. Among her works are: “The Idler in Italy,” “The Idler in France,” “Conversations with Lord Byron,” etc.

The glorified spirit of the infant is as a star to guide the mother to its own blissful clime.“Monody on Mrs. Hemans,”—Lydia H. Sigourney.

The glorified spirit of the infant is as a star to guide the mother to its own blissful clime.

“Monody on Mrs. Hemans,”—Lydia H. Sigourney.

Lydia Huntley Sigourney, a noted American author, was born in Norwich, Conn., September 1, 1791, and died in Hartford, Conn., June 10, 1865. She wrote: “Letters to Young Ladies,” “Letters to Mothers,” “Scenes in My Native Land,” “Voice of Flowers,” “Letters to My Pupils,” “The Daily Councelor,” “Gleanings,” (poetry), “The Man of Uz, and Other Poems,” etc.

Socrates, like Solon, thought that no man is too old to learn; that to learn and to know is not a schooling for life, but life itself, and that which alone gives to life its value. To become by knowledge better from day to day, and to make others better, appeared to both to be the real duty of man.“History of Greece,”—Ernst Curtius.

“History of Greece,”—Ernst Curtius.

Ernst Curtius, a renowned German archæologist and historian, was born at Lubeck, September 2, 1814, and diedin 1896. He wrote: “Peloponnesus,” and his famous, “History of Greece.”

The fire upon the hearth is low,And there is stillness everywhere,And, like winged spirits, here and thereThe firelight shadows fluttering go.“In the Firelight,”—Eugene Field.

The fire upon the hearth is low,And there is stillness everywhere,And, like winged spirits, here and thereThe firelight shadows fluttering go.

“In the Firelight,”—Eugene Field.

Eugene Field, a noted poet and humorous journalist, was born at St. Louis, Mo., September 2, 1850, and died November 4, 1895. He wrote: “The Love Affairs of a Bibliomaniac,” “The Holy Cross, and Other Tales,” “Love Songs of Childhood,” “A Little Book of Western Verse,” and “A Second Book of Verse.”

Nothing can make a man happy but that which shall last as long as he lasts; for an immortal soul shall persist in being, not only when profit, pleasure, and honour, but when time itself shall cease.—South.

Nothing can make a man happy but that which shall last as long as he lasts; for an immortal soul shall persist in being, not only when profit, pleasure, and honour, but when time itself shall cease.

—South.

Robert South, a famous English divine, was born at Hackney, Middlesex, September 3, 1634, and died July 8, 1716. A collection of his sermons was published in 1692 in six volumes.

The Grecian history is a poem, Latin history a picture, modern history a chronicle.—Chateaubriand.

The Grecian history is a poem, Latin history a picture, modern history a chronicle.

—Chateaubriand.

François René Auguste, Vicomte de Chateaubriand, a renowned French statesman, traveler, novelist and historical writer, was born at St. Malo, September 4, 1768, and died at Paris, July 4, 1848. Among his works are: “The Genius of Christianity” (his most famous work), “Atala,” “René,” and “The Natchez,” also “The Martyrs, or Triumph of the Christian Religion,” “A Journey from Paris to Jerusalem,” “An Essay on English Literature,” and translated Milton’s “Paradise Lost.”

Da dacht ich oft: schwatzt noch so hoch gelehrt,Man weiss doch nichts, als was man selbst erfährt.[1]“Oberon,” II. 24,—Wieland.

Da dacht ich oft: schwatzt noch so hoch gelehrt,Man weiss doch nichts, als was man selbst erfährt.[1]

“Oberon,” II. 24,—Wieland.

Christopher Martin Wieland, a celebrated German poet and prose-writer, was born in Oberholzheim, Suabia, September 5, 1733, and died January 20, 1813. He wrote: “Agathon,” “The New Amadis,” “The Golden Mirror,” and “Oberon,” his most famous work. He also translated the greater part of Shakespeare into German.

Husband and wife—so much in common, how different in type! Such a contrast, and yet such harmony, strength and weakness blended together!—Ruffini.

Husband and wife—so much in common, how different in type! Such a contrast, and yet such harmony, strength and weakness blended together!

—Ruffini.

Giovanni Domenico Ruffini, a distinguished Italian littérateur, was born at Genoa, September 6, 1807, and died at Taggia, November 2, 1881. He published: “Lorenzo Benoni” (a romance), “Lavinia,” etc.; also, “Doctor Antonio,” his most famous book.

Le style est l’homme même.[2]“Discours de Réception,”—Buffon.

Le style est l’homme même.[2]

“Discours de Réception,”—Buffon.

George Louis le Clerc, Comte de Buffon, a famous French naturalist, was born at Montbard, September 7, 1707, and died April 16, 1788. His “Natural History,” won for him world-wide fame.

Natura il fece, e poi ruppe la stampa.[3]“Orlando Furioso,” Canto x, Stanza 84,—Ludovico Ariosto.

Natura il fece, e poi ruppe la stampa.[3]

“Orlando Furioso,” Canto x, Stanza 84,—Ludovico Ariosto.

Ludovico Ariosto, an illustrious Italian poet, was born at Reggio, September 8, 1474, and died at Ferrara, June 6, 1533. His most famous work is: “Orlando Furioso.”

None but God can satisfy the longings of an immortal soul; that as the heart was made for Him, so He only can fill it.—Trench.

None but God can satisfy the longings of an immortal soul; that as the heart was made for Him, so He only can fill it.

—Trench.

Richard Chenevix Trench, a noted Anglican archbishop and poet, was born at Dublin on September 9, 1807, and died March 28, 1886. He wrote: “The Story of Justin Martyr, and Other Poems,” “Sabbation,” “Honor Neale, and Other Poems,” “Poems from Eastern Sources,” “The Study of Words,” “English Past and Present,” “A Select Glossary of English Words,” “Notes on the Parables,” “Notes on the Miracles,” etc.

The vocation of every man and woman is to serve other people.“What is to be done?” Chap. xl. Note,—Tolstoi.

The vocation of every man and woman is to serve other people.

“What is to be done?” Chap. xl. Note,—Tolstoi.

Count Lyof Alekséevich Tolstoi, the great Russian novelist, was born on the family estate of Yasnaya Polyana in the government of Tula, Russia, September 9, 1828, and died in 1910. His most celebrated works are: “In What My Faith Consists,” “Cossacks,” “Sevastopol,” “War and Peace,” “Master and Man,” “My Confession,” “The Kreutzer Sonata,” and “Anna Karénina.”

A language cannot be thoroughly learned by an adult without five years’ residence in the country where it is spoken; and without habits of close observation, a residence of twenty years is insufficient.—P. G. Hamerton.

—P. G. Hamerton.

Philip Gilbert Hamerton, a distinguished English artist and art-writer, was born at Laneside, Lancashire, September 10, 1834; and died near Boulogne, France, November 5, 1894. Among his works are: “Etching and Etchers,” “Thoughts About Art,” “Painting in France,” “The Quest of Happiness,” “The Graphic Arts,” “Contemporary French Painters,” “Human Intercourse,” “The Intellectual Life,” and “A Painter’s Camp in the Highlands.”

A pleasing land of drowsyhead it was,Of dreams that wave before the half-shut eye;And of gay castles in the clouds that pass,Forever flushing round a summer sky;There eke the soft delights that witchinglyInstil a wanton sweetness through the breast,And the calm pleasures always hover’d nigh;But whate’er smack’d of noyance or unrestWas far, far off expell’d from this delicious nest.“The Castle of Indolence,” Canto i, Stanza 6.—James Thomson.

“The Castle of Indolence,” Canto i, Stanza 6.—James Thomson.

James Thomson, a famous Scotch poet, was born at Ednam, September 11, 1700, and died August 27, 1748. His most celebrated poems are: “The Seasons,” and “The Castle of Indolence.”

Woman’s grief is like a summer storm,Short as it is violent.“Basil,” Act V, Sc. 3,—Joanna Baillie.

Woman’s grief is like a summer storm,Short as it is violent.

“Basil,” Act V, Sc. 3,—Joanna Baillie.

Joanna Baillie, a celebrated Scottish poet, was born in Bothwell, Lanarkshire, September 11, 1762, and died at Hampstead, England, February 23, 1851. She wrote: “Plays on the Passions,” and numerous poems and songs.

Blessed be agriculture! If one does not have too much of it.“My Summer in a Garden: Preliminary.”—Chas. Dudley Warner.

Blessed be agriculture! If one does not have too much of it.

“My Summer in a Garden: Preliminary.”—Chas. Dudley Warner.

Charles Dudley Warner, an eminent American journalist and miscellaneous writer, was born at Plainfield, Mass., September 12, 1829, and died in 1900. Among his noted works are: “My Summer in a Garden,” “Backlog Studies,” “My Winter on the Nile,” “Life of Captain John Smith,” “Washington Irving,” “A Roundabout Journey,” “Their Pilgrimage,” “Book of Eloquence,” “A Little Journey in the World,” “As We Were Saying,” “The Golden House,” “The Relation of Literature to Life,” “Studies in the South and West, with Comments on Canada,” “That Fortune,” etc. In collaboration withSamuel Langhorne Clemens (Mark Twain) he wrote: “The Gilded Age.” He was editor of the “American Men of Letters” series, and of “The Library of the World’s Best Literature.”

The desire of love, Joy;The desire of life, Peace:The desire of the soul, Heaven:The desire of God ... a flame-white secret forever.“Desire,”—William Sharp.

The desire of love, Joy;The desire of life, Peace:The desire of the soul, Heaven:The desire of God ... a flame-white secret forever.

“Desire,”—William Sharp.

William Sharp, a distinguished British critic and man of letters, was born September 12, 1856, and died in 1905. Among his works are: “Humanity and Man,” “The Conqueror’s Dream, and Other Poems,” “Dante Gabriel Rossetti,” “Shakespeare’s Songs, Poems, and Sonnets,” “Sonnets of this Century,” “Shelley,” “Romantic Ballads,” “Sospiri di Roma,” “Flower o’ the Vine,” “Sospiri d’ Italia,” etc.

Thought is the wind, knowledge the sail, and mankind the vessel.“Guesses at Truth.”—J. C. and A. W. Hare.

Thought is the wind, knowledge the sail, and mankind the vessel.

“Guesses at Truth.”—J. C. and A. W. Hare.

Julius Charles Hare, a famous English divine and theological writer, was born at Valdagno, Italy, September 13, 1795, and died in England, January 23, 1855. He wrote: “Mission of the Comforter,” “The Contest with Rome,” “Vindication of Luther,” and conjointly with A. W. Hare, “Guesses at Truth.”

True resignation, which always brings with it the confidence that unchangeable goodness will make even the disappointment of our hopes, and the contradictions of life, conducive to some benefit, casts a grave but tranquil light over the prospect of even a toilsome and troubled life.—Humboldt.

—Humboldt.

Alexander von Humboldt, a renowned German scientist, was born in Berlin, September 14, 1769, and died there May 6, 1859. He wrote: “Voyages to the Equinoctial Regions of the New Continent,” “Observations on Zoölogy and Comparative Anatomy,” “View of the Cordilleras and of the Monuments of the Indigenous Races of America,” and “Cosmos,” his most celebrated work.

O years, gone down into the past,What pleasant memories come to meOf your untroubled days of peace,And hours of almost ecstasy.“Reconciled,”—Phoebe Cary.

O years, gone down into the past,What pleasant memories come to meOf your untroubled days of peace,And hours of almost ecstasy.

“Reconciled,”—Phoebe Cary.

Phoebe Cary, a noted American poetess and prose-writer, was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, September 14, 1824, and died in Newport, Rhode Island, July 31, 1871. With her sister, she published many books, among them, “Poems of Faith, Hope, and Love,” and “Poems and Parodies.”

We always like those who admire us; we do not always like those whom we admire.“Maxim 294,”—Rochefoucauld.

We always like those who admire us; we do not always like those whom we admire.

“Maxim 294,”—Rochefoucauld.

François, Duc de la Rochefoucauld, an illustrious French classicist and philosopher, was born at Paris, September 15, 1613, and died there March 17, 1680. His most celebrated works were: “Reflections, or Moral Sentences and Maxims,” better known as “Maxims,” and his “Memoirs.”

Those families, you know, are our upper-crust,—not upper ten thousand.“The Ways of the Hour,” Chap. VI,—Cooper.

Those families, you know, are our upper-crust,—not upper ten thousand.

“The Ways of the Hour,” Chap. VI,—Cooper.

James Fenimore Cooper, a famous American novelist, and historian, was born in Burlington, N. J., September 15, 1789, and died at Cooperstown, N. Y., September 14, 1851. A few of his celebrated novels are: “The Spy,” “The Pilot,” “Precaution,” “The Pioneers,” “The Last of the Mohicans,” “The Prairie,” “The Red Rover,” “The Water-Witch,” “Homeward Bound,” “The Pathfinder,” “The Deerslayer,” “The Redskins,” “The Ways of the Hour,” etc.

I would not live alway: I ask not to stayWhere storm after storm rises dark o’er the way.“I would not live alway,”—William Augustus Muhlenberg.

I would not live alway: I ask not to stayWhere storm after storm rises dark o’er the way.

“I would not live alway,”—William Augustus Muhlenberg.

William Augustus Muhlenberg, a noted American philanthropist and Protestant Episcopal clergyman, was born in Philadelphia, Penn., September 16, 1796, and died in New York, April, 1877. He wrote: “A Plea for Christian Hymns,” and many well-known hymns, among them: “Saviour Who Thy Flock Art Feeding,” “Shout the Glad Tidings,” and “I Would Not Live Alway.”

We all know Mr. Lowell’s brilliant qualities as a poet, critic, scholar, and man of the world; but that in him which touches me most strongly belongs to his relations to his country—his keen and subtle yet kindly recognition of her virtues and her faults, and the sympathetic power with which in the day of her melancholy triumph, after the Civil War, he gave such noble expression to her self-devotion, sorrows, and hopes.“James Russell Lowell, The Critic,”—Francis Parkman.

“James Russell Lowell, The Critic,”—Francis Parkman.

Francis Parkman, an eminent American historian, was born at Boston, September 16, 1823, and died at Jamaica Plain, Mass., November 8, 1893. He wrote: “The Oregon Trail: Prairie and Rocky Mountain Life,” “History of the Conspiracy of Pontiac,” “The Pioneers of France in the New World,” “The Jesuits in North America,” “La Salle and the Discovery of the Great West,” “The Old Régime in Canada,” “Count Frontenac and New France under Louis XIV,” “Montcalm and Wolfe,” and “A Half-Century of Conflict.”

The essayist rises higher than the poet—witty, tender; wise in human frailty, but never bitter.“Personal Tributes to Dr. Holmes, the Writer,” Vol. 7, p. 167 (1894),—Hamlin Garland.

The essayist rises higher than the poet—witty, tender; wise in human frailty, but never bitter.

“Personal Tributes to Dr. Holmes, the Writer,” Vol. 7, p. 167 (1894),—Hamlin Garland.

Hamlin Garland, a celebrated American story writer, was born in La Crosse, Wis., September 16, 1860. His works include: “Main Traveled Roads,” “A Spoil of Office,” “Prairie Folks,” “Prairie Songs,” “Crumbling Idols,” “A Little Norsk,” “Rose of Dutcher’s Coolly,” “Jason Edwards,” “The Eagle’s Heart,” “Her Mountain Lover,” “Hesper,” “The Light of the Star,” “The Long Trail,” “Money Magic,” “The Shadow World,” “Victor Olnee’s Discipline,” “Other Main Traveled Roads,” “A Son of the Middle Border,” etc.

There’s a magic in the distance, where the sea-line meets the sky.“Forty Singing Seamen,”—Alfred Noyes.

There’s a magic in the distance, where the sea-line meets the sky.

“Forty Singing Seamen,”—Alfred Noyes.

Alfred Noyes, a noted English writer, was born at Staffordshire, September 16, 1880. He has written, “Robin Hood,” “Tales of the Mermaid Tavern,” “The Winepress,” “The Sea in English Poetry,” “A Salute from the Fleet,” “The Flower of Old Japan,” “Poems,” “Forty Singing Seamen,” “Walking Shadows,” “The Elfin Artist,” (New Poems).

All reasoning is retrospect; it consists in the application of facts and principles previously known. This will show the very great importance of knowledge, especially of that kind called Experience.“Knowledge,”—John Foster.

All reasoning is retrospect; it consists in the application of facts and principles previously known. This will show the very great importance of knowledge, especially of that kind called Experience.

“Knowledge,”—John Foster.

John Foster, a famous English author, and dissenting minister, best known as the “Essayist,” was born near Halifax, Yorkshire, September 17, 1770, and died October 15, 1843. His fame rests chiefly on his celebrated “Essays.” He also wrote: “Essay on Popular Ignorance,” “Discourse on Missions,” etc.

Whoever wishes to attain an English style, familiar but not coarse, and elegant but not ostentatious, must give his days and nights to the volumes of Addison.“Life of Addison,”—Samuel Johnson.

Whoever wishes to attain an English style, familiar but not coarse, and elegant but not ostentatious, must give his days and nights to the volumes of Addison.

“Life of Addison,”—Samuel Johnson.

Samuel Johnson, a renowned English critic, essayist, lexicographer, and poet, was born in Lichfield, September 18, 1709, and died in London, December 13, 1784. Among his many works may be mentioned: “Life of Richard Savage,” “The Vanity of Human Wishes,” “Life of Dryden,” “Plan for a Dictionary,” “The Rambler,” “Irene,” “The Idler,” “Shakespeare with Notes,” “The False Alarm,” “Taxation no Tyranny,” “Rasselas,” “English Poets,” etc.

Men are polished, through act and speech,Each by each,As pebbles are smoothed on the rolling beach.“A Home Idyl,”—John Townsend Trowbridge.

Men are polished, through act and speech,Each by each,As pebbles are smoothed on the rolling beach.

“A Home Idyl,”—John Townsend Trowbridge.

John Townsend Trowbridge, a celebrated American poet, novelist and general writer, was born in Ogden, N. Y., September 18, 1827, and died in 1916. He has written: “Martin Merrivale,” “Neighbor Jackwood,” “The Old Battle Ground,” “The Drummer Boy,” “The Three Scouts,” “Coupon Bonds,” “The Story of Columbus,” “The Jack Hazard Series,” “The Silver Medal Series,” “The Emigrant’s Story, and Other Poems,” “At Sea,” “The Pewee,” “Hearts and Faces,” “The Vagabonds,” “The Book of Gold, and Other Poems,” “The Start in Life Series,” “The Tide Mill Series,” “Poetical Works,” “My Own Story,” etc.

O Traveller who hast wandered far’Neath southern sun and northern star,Say where the fairest regions are!Friend, underneath whatever skiesLove looks in love-returning eyes,There are the bowers of paradise.“The Bowers of Paradise,”—Clinton Scollard.

“The Bowers of Paradise,”—Clinton Scollard.

Clinton Scollard, a popular American poet and author, was born in New York, September 18, 1860. He has published: “Pictures in Song,” “Old and New World Lyrics,” “Under Summer Skies,” “Lyrics and Legends of Christmastide,” “Odes and Elegies,” “From the Lips of the Sea,” “Poems—A Selection from the Harvest of Thirty Years of Song,” “A Christmas Garland,” “A Knight of the Highway,” “A Son of a Tory,” “The Lutes of Morn,” “Lyrics of the Dawn,” “Footfaring,” etc.

Let the soldier be abroad if he will, he can do nothing in this age. There is another personage,—a personage less imposing in the eyes of some, perhaps insignificant. The schoolmaster is abroad, and I trust to him, armed with his primer, against the soldier in full military array.“Speech,” January 29, 1828,—Lord Brougham.

“Speech,” January 29, 1828,—Lord Brougham.

Henry Peter Brougham, Lord Brougham, a distinguished British statesman and author, was born in Edinburgh, September 19, 1778, and died at Cannes, France, May 7, 1868. His most important works are: “Lives of Men of Letters and Science,” “Speeches,” and “Sketches of the Statesmen of the Time of George III.”

The soul of man is larger than the sky,Deeper than ocean, or the abysmal darkOf the unfathomed center.“To Shakespeare,”—Hartley Coleridge.

The soul of man is larger than the sky,Deeper than ocean, or the abysmal darkOf the unfathomed center.

“To Shakespeare,”—Hartley Coleridge.

Hartley Coleridge, a celebrated English poet, and man of letters, (son of Samuel Taylor Coleridge), was born at Bristol, September 19, 1796, and died in 1849. His writings include: “Biographia Borealis,” “The Worthies of Yorkshire and Lancashire,” “Essays and Marginalia,” and some exquisite sonnets, published in theLondon Magazine.

When change itself can give no more’Tis easy to be true.“Reasons for Constancy,”—Sir Charles Sedley.

When change itself can give no more’Tis easy to be true.

“Reasons for Constancy,”—Sir Charles Sedley.

Sir Charles Sedley, a noted English dramatist, was born at Aylesford in Kent, September 20, 1639, and died August 20, 1701. Besides his tragedies and comedies, he wrote a famous song, “Phyllis.”

In the first daysOf my distracting grief, I found myselfAs women wish to be who love their lords.“Douglas,” Act I, Sc. i,—John Home.

In the first daysOf my distracting grief, I found myselfAs women wish to be who love their lords.

“Douglas,” Act I, Sc. i,—John Home.

John Home, a well-known Scotch dramatist, was born in Leith, near Edinburgh, September 21, 1722, and died atMerchiston 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.

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 stitches 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.

—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,” “Anticipations,” “The Sea Lady,” “Mankind in the Making,” “The Food of the Gods,” “A Modern Utopia,” “The War in the Air,” “Ann Veronica,” “TheNew Machiavelli,” “Marriage,” “The Passionate 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.

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.

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.

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.

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