[Page 24.]—Miguel de Saavedra Cervantes, a celebrated Spanish poet and novelist, was born near Madrid, 1547; died, 1616. His most famous work is the romance entitled Don Quixote, which was first printed in 1605. It has been translated into every language of Europe.
[Page 43.]—John Henry, Cardinal Newman was born at London in 1801. He was educated at a private school until he entered Oxford, where he took his degree before he was twenty. In 1822 he was elected Fellow in Oriel College. In 1845 he left the Church of England for the Roman Catholic Church. He wrote many sermons, treatises, and poems. In literary merit his work ranks very high. He died in 1890.
Rev. Thomas Edward Bridgett, a noted priest and author, was born at Derby, England, in 1829. He was the founder of the Confraternity of the Holy Family for men, and much of his life was devoted to missionary work. He was the author of numerous religious and historical works, among which may be named, The History of the Holy Eucharist, Life of the Blessed John Fisher, Blunders and Forgeries, etc. Father Bridgett died at St. Mary’s Clapham, England, in 1899.
[Page 56.]—William Cowper, a celebrated English poet, was born in 1731. He attended Westminster school and afterwards studied law. His most famous poems are The Task and the ballad John Gilpin’s Ride. He died in 1800.
[Page 58.]—Rev. Frederick William Faber was born in Yorkshire, England, in 1814. He was an eloquent preacher, a brilliant talker, and had an unsurpassed power of gaining the love of all with whom he came in contact. His hymns are well known, and sung throughout the world. He founded a religious community which was afterwards merged in the oratory of St. Philip Neri. He died in 1863.
[Page 75.]—John Greenleaf Whittier was born at Haverhill, Massachusetts, 1807. At the age of eighteen he studied for two years at an academy near his home. In 1829 he became the editor of a paper established at Boston to advocate protective tariff. He was active in the cause of antislavery. He died in 1892.
[Page 82.]—Mary Lydia Bolles Branch was born at New London, Connecticut, in 1840. She is best known as a writer of stories for children.
[Page 84.]—John Burroughs was born in Roxbury, New York, in 1837. He was the son of a farmer, but received a good college education. For eight or nine years he taught school, and then became a journalist in New York city. From 1861 till 1873 he was a clerk in the Treasury Department at Washington. He finally settled on a farm at West Park, New York, giving his time to literature and the observation of nature. His love of nature has inspired most of what he has contributed to the literature of the world.
[Page 96.]—Aubrey de Vere, an Irish Catholic poet, was born in 1788. He belonged to a good family, and always had leisure to cultivate a naturally refined taste. At first he wrote dramas, but later, poems, especially sonnets. He was a true patriot, and pays many tributes of love to his country in his historical themes. He died in 1846.