Nicolas Copernicus, a famous Polish astronomer, was born at Thorn, Poland, February 19, 1473, and died at Frauenburg, Prussia, May 24, 1543. He wrote: “Revolutions of the Celestial Orbs (De Orbium Cœlestium Revolutionibus).”
I’m growing old, I’m sixty years;
I’ve labored all my life in vain.
In all that time of hopes and fears,
I’ve failed my dearest wish to gain.
I see full well that here below
Bliss unalloyed there is for none
My prayer would else fulfilment know—
Never have I seen Carcassonne!
“Carcassonne,” Translated by John Reuben Thompson, Stanza i,—Gustave Nadaud.
Gustave Nadaud, a well-known French composer and song-writer, was born in Roubaix, February 20, 1820, and died in Paris, April 28, 1893. He wrote a novel, “An Idyll,” and published “Songs,” “More Songs,” “Unpublished Songs,” and “New Songs.”
Lead, kindly Light, amid the encircling gloom,
Lead thou me on!
The night is dark, and I am far from home:
Lead thou me on:
Keep thou my feet; I do not ask to see
The distant scene: one step enough for me.
“The Pillar of the Cloud,”—John Henry Newman.
John Henry Newman, a celebrated religious writer, first in the Church of England, and later in the Roman Catholic Church, was born in London, February 21, 1801, and died at Birmingham, August 11, 1890. His principal works are: “Five Letters on Church Reform,” “St. Bartholomew’s Eve,” “Plain and Parochial Sermons,” “Loss and Gain,” “Verses on Religious Subjects,” “Essay in Aid of a Grammar of Assent,” “Lectures on Justification,” “The Arians of the Fourth Century,” “Tracts for the Times,” “Hymns for the Use of the Birmingham Oratory,” and “Apologia pro Vita Sua,” his most celebrated work.
John Smith was the most picturesque figure in the early history of America; and his writings are like him—bold, free, highly colored.
“An Introduction to the Study of American Literature,” (1896), —Brander Matthews.
(James) Brander Matthews, a famous American author, was born in New Orleans, February 21, 1852. Among his works may be mentioned: “French Dramatists of the Nineteenth Century,” “With My Friends,” “Studies of the Stage,” “Bookbindings, Old and New,” “Introduction to the Study of American Literature,” “Aspects of Fiction,” “A Confident To-morrow,” “The Historical Novel,” “Parts of Speech,” “Essays in English,” “Development of the Drama,” “Recreations of an Anthologist,” “Inquiries and Opinions,” “The American of the Future,” “A Study of the Drama,” “Molière,” “Shakespeare as a Playwright,” “These Many Years,” etc.