Sir Archibald Geikie: A Scottish geologist. Born in Edinburgh, 1835. Has written “The Story of a Boulder,” “A Class Book of Physical Geography,” and many other popular and scientific works on geological subjects.
Thomas Grimke: An American lawyer and philanthropist. Born in South Carolina, 1786; died, 1834.
Nathaniel Hawthorne: A distinguished American author. Born at Salem, Massachusetts, 1804; died, 1864. Wrote “The Scarlet Letter,” “The Marble Faun,” “The House of the Seven Gables,” “The Wonder Book,” “Tanglewood Tales,” etc. His style has been said to possess “almost every excellence—elegance, simplicity, grace, clearness, and force.”
Homer: The reputed author of the two great poems, the “Iliad” and the “Odyssey.” Supposed to have been born at Smyrna, or Chios, about one thousand years before Christ. The “Iliad” has been called “the beginning of all literature.”
Washington Irving: An American author and humorist. Born in New York, 1783; died, 1859. Wrote “The Sketch Book,” “History of New York by Diedrich Knickerbocker,” “Tales of a Traveler,” “The Alhambra,” “Columbus and his Companions,” “Mahomet and his Successors,” and many other works.
Charles Kingsley: An English clergyman and writer. Born in Devonshire, 1819; died, 1875. Wrote “Hypatia,” “Westward Ho!” “The Heroes,” “The Water Babies,” “Alton Locke, Tailor and Poet,” “Madame How and Lady Why,” several poems, and a volume of sermons.
Sir Edwin Landseer: The most famous of modern painters of animals. Born in London, 1802; died, 1873. His pictures of dogs and horses have seldom, if ever, been surpassed.
Edward George Bulwer-Lytton, Baron Lytton: A British novelist and poet. Born in Norfolk, England, 1803; died, 1873. Wrote “The Last Days of Pompeii,” “The Caxtons,” “My Novel,” and many other novels; also, several volumes of poems, and two dramas, “The Lady of Lyons” and “Richelieu.”
Sir Thomas Malory: A Welsh or English Knight, remembered for his noble prose epic, “Morte d’Arthur,” which he translated from the French. Born, about 1430.
John Henry Newman: An eminent English theologian. Born in London, 1801; died, 1890. Wrote many religious and controversial works, and a few beautiful hymns. In 1879 he was made cardinal-deacon in the Roman Catholic Church.