very stylish in dress. He was reserved and sensitive, and by many was thought to be cold and proud. Yet he was really a man of deep and warm emotions. His writings were at first ridiculed, causing him unhappiness most of his life. In his discontent and extreme sensitiveness he reminds one of Cowper. He was a very learned man, being a good botanist, zoologist, and architect. He was professor of history at Cambridge. 3. OLIVER GOLDSMITH. If the soul be happily disposed everything becomes capable of affording entertainment, and distress will almost want a name. ON HAPPINESS OF TEMPER. Oliver Goldsmith, one of the great masters of English, was born in Ireland, in 1728. He was burdened by poverty nearly all his life, and his ignorance of human nature and his total inaptness for business kept him in constant embarrassment. His great work "The Vicar of Wakefield" is a charming story of great purity and the richest humor. If If you will read it, you will learn just what kind of a man he was, for he is the original of the "Philosophical Vagabond" of the story. This book is such a masterpiece of good English that it is used in the schools of Germany for teach ing English, as Cæsar's works are used for teaching Latin. Mr. Goldsmith is also well known by two espe cially fine poems, "The Deserted Village" and "The Traveller." Besides these he wrote a history of England and also one of Greece. He has also a very interesting work called "Animated Nature," a description of animals. He lived a century later than Shakespeare, the dates of his birth and death being respectively 1728 and 1774. He was contemporary with Cowper in England and with Patrick Henry in America, and lived just before the time of Wordsworth, Scott, and Mrs. Hemans. A statue of Goldsmith has been erected in Westminster Abbey. [See pages 100, 259, 260.] 4. WILLIAM COWPER. Now stir the fire, and close the shutters fast, -WINTER EVENING IN THE COUNTRY. William Cowper lived from 1731 to 1800. He was the greatest poet of his time, and still ranks among the best. His life was clouded by great trouble, for which reason probably he did not publish his first volume until the age of fifty. He was naturally very timid and despondent. He suffered nearly all of his life from ill-health, and was at times even insane. He owed his best work to the friendly sympathy of two ladies; Mrs. Unwin, the kind, gentle wife of an English clergyman; and the witty, genial Lady Austin, whose lively conversation chased away the gloom from which he had tried in vain to escape. Lady Austin led him to write his two most famous poems : "John Gilpin's Ride" and "The Task," poems which made him instantly famous and which even now everybody delights to read. Cowper also wrote sixty-eight hymns, many of which are still sung in church services. [See page 110.] 5. GOETHE. He who is only half instructed ever errs and talks much. He who knows all is content with performing, and speaks little or late. Goethe was a great German poet, who lived from 1749 to 1832. [A long life extending clear through the American Revolution and all the conquests of Napoleon.] He surpasses all other modern poets, and finds a rival only in Shakespeare. At ten years of age he read and wrote several languages. He mastered nearly every department of knowledge; for he was skilled in law, medicine and natural science, besides being the great poet famed throughout the world. Yet he was never satisfied, always reaching out for more. He said, "Art is long; life is short. Judgment is difficult, opportunity fleeting." He worked and wrote to the very hour of his death, and his last words were "More Light." A handsome seal which was presented to him on his eighty-second birthday, by fifteen celebrated English authors, was inscribed with these words from one of his poems which is given you to read: "Without haste, without rest!" Goethe was greatly delighted with this gift. Goethe's prose story of "Wilhelm Meister" and his drama called "Faust are his greatest works. An American writer, Mr. J. S. Dwight, has distinguished himself by his fine translations of Goethe's poems. [See page 195.] 6. PATRICK HENRY. I have but one lamp by which my feet are guided, and that is the lamp of experience. I know of no way of judg ing of the future but by the past. APPEAL TO ARMS. This is one of the many spirited utterances which, over a hundred years ago, fell from the lips of Patrick Henry, the orator of the American Revolution, the mouthpiece of an indignant people. He was governor of Virginia and member of the House of Burgesses during most of the war. His thrilling speeches did much to keep up the spirit of the soldiers. In an age renowned for able statesmen, he was acknowledged the superior of all in powerful eloquence. Jefferson said he seemed to speak "as Homer wrote." He had a natural genius for inciting men. When silent he was stern-featured, stooping, and unprepossessing. The moment he spoke to an audience his figure was erect, graceful, and alive with force. His power to express feeling by a simple movement of a feature was extraordinary. The stern face would relax and grow soft, pensive, and gentle; or a withering rage would burn in his eyes; or mouth and voice would quiver with tenderest pathos. In private life, he was kind, very devout, good |