All men of whatever quality they be, who have done anything of excellence, or which may properly resemble excellence, ought, if they are persons of truth and honesty, to describe their life with their own hand; but they ought not to attempt so fine an enterprise till they have passed the age of forty.
—Benvenuto Cellini.
Benvenuto Cellini, a famous Italian sculptor, metal-worker, and writer of memoirs, was born in Florence, November 3, 1500, and died there, February 13, 1571. His “Autobiography” won for him an important place in letters.
So live, that when thy summons comes to join
The innumerable caravan which moves
To that mysterious realm where each shall take
His chamber in the silent halls of death,
Thou go not, like the quarry-slave at night,
Scourged to his dungeon, but sustained and soothed
By an unfaltering trust, approach thy grave
Like one that wraps the drapery of his couch
About him, and lies down to pleasant dreams.
“Thanatopsis,”—William Cullen Bryant.
William Cullen Bryant, the celebrated American poet, was born in Cummington, Mass., November 3, 1794, and died in New York, June 12, 1878. His poetical works include: “The Yellow Violet,” “Poems,” “To a Water-fowl,” “The Ages,” “The West Wind,” “June,” “The Fountain and Other Poems,” “Death of the Flowers,” “The White-Footed Deer and Other Poems,” “The Flood of Years,” and his famous “Thanatopsis.” He also wrote: “Letters of a Traveler,” “Letters from the East,” “Letters from Spain,” etc.
Rock of Ages, cleft for me,
Let me hide myself in thee.
“Salvation through Christ,”—A. M. Toplady.
Augustus Montague Toplady, a distinguished Anglican divine, was born November 4, 1740, and died August 11, 1778. He is chiefly known as a writer of hymns and poems including: “Rock of Ages,” and the collections entitled, “Poems on Sacred Subjects.”
Beyond this vale of tears
There is a life above,
Unmeasured by the flight of years;
And all that life is love.