I am reading again, the “History of England,” that of Smollett.... I have to the reign of George the Second, and, in spite of the dislike I have of Smollett’s language and style of writing, I am much entertained.—Burney, Frances, 1770.
“Early Diary,” ed. Ellis, Vol. I, p. 94,—Frances Burney.
Frances Burney—Madame D’Arblay, a celebrated English novelist, was born in King’s Lynn, Norfolk, June 13, 1752, and died in Bath, January 6, 1840. Among her noted works are: “Evelina, or a Young Lady’s Entrance into the World,” “Cecilia,” “Camilla,” and “The Wanderer, or Female Difficulties.”
Be good, sweet maid, and let who will be clever;
Do noble things, not dream them, all day long:
And so make life, death, and that vast forever
One grand sweet song.
“A Farewell,”—Charles Kingsley.
Charles Kingsley, the distinguished English novelist, poet, and philanthropist, was born at Holne, near Dartmoor, Devonshire, June 13, 1819, and died at Eversley, Hampshire, January 23, 1875. He wrote many novels, among them: “Hypatia,” “The Saint’s Tragedy,” (a drama in verse), “Alton Locke, Tailor and Poet,” “Westward, Ho!” “Yeast,” “The Water Babies,” (a fairy tale). Also “Lectures Delivered in America,” “Poems,” “Andromeda and Other Poems,” etc.
Land of Heart’s Desire,
Where beauty has no ebb, decay no flood,
But joy is wisdom, Time and endless song.
“Land of Heart’s Desire,”—William Butler Yeats.
William Butler Yeats, a famous Irish poet and writer of romance, was born in Dublin, June 13, 1865. He has written: “The Wanderings of Oisin,” “Celtic Twilight,” “Poems,” “The Secret Rose,” “Irish Folk Lore,” “Fairy Tales,” “Irish Stories,” “The Wind Among the Reeds,” “The Countess Kathleen,” “The Shadowy Waters,” “Ideas of Good and Evil,” “In the Seven Woods,” “Hour Glass and Other Plays,” “The King’s Threshold,” “Deirdre,” “The Green Helmet and Other Poems,” “Plays for an Irish Theatre,” etc.
It lies around us like a cloud—
A world we do not see;
Yet the sweet closing of an eye
May bring us there to be.