Prosper Mérimée, a renowned French essayist and litterateur, was born at Paris, September 28, 1803, and died at Cannes, September 23, 1870. He wrote: “Historic Monuments,” “Historic and Literary Medleys,” “Mateo Falcone,” “Guzla,” “Plays of Clara Gazul,” and his most celebrated works: “Colomba” and “Carmen.”
Time’s corrosive dewdrop eats
The giant warrior to a crust
Of earth in earth and rust in rust.
“A Danish Barrow,”—Francis T. Palgrave.
Francis Turner Palgrave, a distinguished English poet and art critic, was born September 28, 1824, and died in 1897. He wrote: “Essays on Art,” “Lyrical Poems,” “The Visions of England,” “The Life of Jesus Christ Illustrated from the Italian painters of the 14th, 15th and 16th Centuries,” “Idylls and Songs,” “Hymns,” “Amenophis and Other Poems,” “The Golden Treasury,” etc.
“I have often noticed that almost everyone has his own individual small economies—careful habits of saving fractions of pennies in some one peculiar direction—any disturbance of which annoys him more than spending shillings or pounds on some real extravagance.”
“Cranford, Chap. V,”—Mrs. Gaskell.
Mrs. Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell, a famous English novelist, was born in Chelsea, September 29, 1810, and died November 12, 1865. Among her notable works are: “Mary Barton,” “Ruth,” “Lizzie Leigh,” “Sylvia’s Lovers,” “Wives and Daughters,” “The Life of Charlotte Brontë,” and “Cranford,” her most celebrated work.
Here’s to the maiden of bashful fifteen;
Here’s to the widow of fifty;
Here’s to the flaunting, extravagant quean,
And here’s to the housewife that’s thrifty!
Let the toast pass;
Drink to the lass;
I’ll warrant she’ll prove an excuse for the glass.
“School for Scandal,” Act iii, Sc. 3.—Sheridan.
Richard Brinsley Sheridan, the renowned British dramatist and parliamentary orator, was born in Dublin, September 30, 1751, and died at London, July 7, 1816. His dramatic works include: “The Rivals,” “The School for Scandal,” “The Critic,” and “The Duenna.” His most famous speeches are: “The Perfumery Speech” and the “Begum Speech.”