Henry Thomas Buckle, a distinguished English historian, was born in Lee, Kent, November 24, 1821, and died in Damascus, May 29, 1862. He is best known for his great work, “The History of Civilization in England” (2 vols. 1857-61). His “Miscellaneous and Posthumous Works” were edited by Helen Taylor in 1872, and a new edition by Grant Allen in 1880.
How oft my guardian angel gently cried,
“Soul, from thy casement look, and thou shalt see
How he persists to knock and wait for thee!”
And, O! how often to that voice of sorrow,
“To-morrow we will open,” I replied,
And when the morrow came, I answered still,
“To-morrow.”
“To-morrow,” Longfellow’s Trans. L. 9,—Lope de Vega.
Lope de Vega, “Tome Burguillos,” a renowned Spanish dramatist, was born in Madrid, November 25, 1562, and died August 21, 1635. Among his many works may be mentioned: “Jerusalem Conquered,” “Angelica,” “King and Peasant,” “Circe,” “Andromeda,” “Philomela,” “Orpheus,” “Proserpine,” “San Isidro,” “The Dragon,” “The Maid of Almudena,” “Journey Through My Country,” besides numerous sonnets, etc.
Oh for a lodge in some vast wilderness,
Some boundless contiguity of shade,
Where rumour of oppression and deceit,
Of unsuccessful or successful war,
Might never reach me more.
“The Task,” Book ii: “The Timepiece,” Line i,—William Cowper.
William Cowper, an illustrious English poet, was born in Great Berkhamstead, Hertfordshire, November 26, 1731, and died at East Dereham, Norfolk, April 25, 1800. His works include: “Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey,” “The Task,” “Poems” (1798), etc.
What shall I do with all the days and hours
That must be counted ere I see thy face?
How shall I charm the interval that lowers
Between this time and that sweet time of grace?
“Absence,”—Frances Anne Kemble.
Frances Anne Kemble, a noted English actress, was born in London, November 27, 1809, and died there, January 16, 1893. She wrote: “Recollections of a Girlhood,” “Recollections of Later Life,” “Journal of a Residence on a Georgia Plantation,” and her “Journal.”