William Schwenck Gilbert, a celebrated English librettist and comic-poet and prose-writer, was born in London, November 18, 1836, and died in 1911. He wrote: “The Bab Ballads,” and several famous comic operas, among which are: “Pinafore,” “Patience,” “The Mikado,” “Ruddygore,” and “The Pirates of Penzance.”
And so I penned
It down, until at last it came to be,
For length and breadth, the bigness which you see.
“Pilgrim’s Progress: Apology for his book,”—John Bunyan.
John Bunyan, a renowned English author, was born in Elstow, Bedford, November 19 (?), 1628, and died in London, August 31, 1688. He wrote numerous works, the most famous being: “The Pilgrim’s Progress,” “Grace Abounding,” and the “Holy War.”
What is love, It is nature’s treasure,
’Tis the storehouse of her joys;
’Tis the highest heaven of pleasure,
’Tis a bliss which never cloys.
“The Revenge,” Act I, Sc. 2,—Thomas Chatterton.
Thomas Chatterton, the famous young English poet, was born in Bristol, November 20, 1752, and died at London, August 25, 1770. He wrote numerous poems and plays, but he is best remembered as the author of the so-called “Rowley Poems,” which were collected and published by T. Tyrwhitt in 1777.
The first who was king was a fortunate soldier:
Who serves his country well has no need of ancestors.
“Mérope,” Act I, Sc. 3,—Voltaire.
François Marie Arouet de Voltaire, the illustrious French writer, was born in Paris, November 21, 1694, and died there, May 30, 1778. Among his famous works are: “Artemire,” “Mariamne,” “Letters on the English,” “History of Charles XII,” “Philosophical Letters,” “The Temple of Taste,” “Elements of Newton’s Philosophy,” “The Maid of Orleans,” “The Prodigal Son,” “Mérope,” “Discourse on Man,” “Poem on Natural Law,” “Candide,” “Semiramis,” “Amélie,” “Republican Ideas,” “Tales,” “Catechism of the Honest Man,” “Irene,” “Tancrède,” “Socrates,” “Century of Louis XV,” “The Bible at Last Explained,” “Zaïre,” “The Ingenuous One,” etc., etc.