What hindered that I should not use it then To have thy peace this night, to taste full greatness She answered: "That which hindered was thyself Where moth and rust doth corrupt and thieves do steal, Pilate broke in: "I would give much sesterces To buy that ill-time back, albeit, before, Death never spoiled my slumbers! What saidst thou 66 "Have I leave," she asked, "For my great Master's sake more to speak?” "I pray thee very humbly," Pontius said, "To speak as thou shalt deign." Thereat she rose Stateliest, and light of living love and truth How, surely, with the sad days ending there, New days were dawned and hope unknown to earth; In hour and way, and by the appointed hands- Through death's black gate, whose inner side none saw In the unfolded flower cup. "Which blest buds," 9.99 But many drew into the marble court, Silently, one by one, hearing those words 99 "Call them to horse! he cried, "for I will ride To Sepphoris, before the sun is high, If spurs can prick! One other watch spent here NOTES ON AUTHORS. Alighieri Dante (or Durante), (1215–1321) -Born in Florence, descended from an ancient family, but not one of the highest rank. He was born under the sign of the twins, considered by astrologers as favorable to literature and science. We know little of Dante's boyhood except that he was a hard student. Boccaccio tells us that he became very familiar with Virgil, Horace, Ovid, Statius and all other famous poets; and that, "taken by the sweetness of knowing the truth of the things concealed in Heaven, and finding no other pleasure dearer to him in life, he left all worldly care and devoted himself to this alone." Dante first met Beatrice Portinari at her father's house on May-day, 1274. In his own words, "Already nine times after my birth the heaven of light had returned as it were to the same point, when there appeared to my eyes the glorious lady of my mind, who was by many called Beatrice who knew not what to call her." He saw Beatrice only once or twice, but his worship was stronger for the remoteness of its object. Aristophanes. His birth year is uncertain. He is known to have been about the same age as Eupolis, and is said to have been "almost a boy " when his first comedy was brought out, 427 B. C. The most probable conjecture places his birth about 448 B. C. His father was a land-owner in Egina. Aristophanes was an Athenian citizen of the tribe Pandionis. His three sons were all comic poets. In "The Birds," Peisthetærus, an enterprising Athenian, and his friend, Euelpides, persuade the birds to build a city, "CloudCuckoo-borough," in mid-air, so as to cut off the gods from men. The plan succeeds; the gods send envoys to treat with the birds; Peisthetærus marries Basilea, daughter of Zeus. Some have found in "The Birds" a complete historical allegory of the Sicilian expedition; others, a general satire on the prevalence, at Athens, of head-strong caprice over law and order; others, merely an aspiration toward a new and purified Athens -a dream to which the poet had turned from his hope of a revival of the Athens of the past. Arnold, Edwin.-For sketch see No. 1 of this series. Byron, George Gordon Noel (1788-1824).-"The portrait of the most remarkable figure in the literature of this century is still too often made up on the principle of putting in all the shadows and leaving out all the lights,' writes the commentator in “Encyclopædia Britannica.” Not only the facts of Byron's own life, but even the records and traditions of his ancestry, are partially selected in this way. The poet's grandfather, Admiral Byron, who had as little rest on sea as the poet on land, had the virtues without the vices of the race. Farther down the family tree, the Byrons are found distinguishing themselves in the field. Seven brothers fought in the battle of Edgehill. None of the family would seem to have been stirred by the poetic impulse in the brightest period of English song; but under Charles II. there was a Lord Byron who patronized literature, and wrote verses. The poverty into which Byron was born, and from which his accession to high rank did not free him, had much to do in determining his career. That he would have written verses in whatever circumstances he had been born, we may safely believe; but if he had been born in affluence we may be certain that, with his impressionable disposition, he would never have been the poet of the Revolution - the most powerful exponent of the modern spirit. Sooner or later, as new phases of thought and sentiment supervene upon the old, his writings must pass out of the catalogue of popular literature, but his personality will always fascinate. Cervantes-Saavedra, Miguel de (1547-1616).—" Cervantes and Shakespeare died in the same year, and, according to the records, on the same day, April 23. By the reformed calendar of Gregory XIII., however, Cervantes died ten days before Shakespeare. It has been suggested that according to a Spanish custom, Miguel (Michael) may have been so called because born on St Michael's Day, Sept. 29. The first translator of 'Don Quixote into English was Thomas Shelton, whose translation of the first part appeared in 1612, three years before Cervantes had produced the second. It has also been translated into Latin, Italian, German, Dutch, Danish, Russian, Polish, and Portuguese. Cervantes, in this book, pleads, with the good humor of Shakespeare, through wit and fancy for the dominion of good sense." -Henry Morley, LL. D. Chaucer, Geoffrey (1340-1400).-There are few authors whose lives and works have occasioned more zealous search by antiquarians than has the life of Chaucer. It is to Mr. Furnivall that we are indebted for finally settling the parentage of Chaucer. How he was educated, whether, like Philogenet," the name which he assumes in the "Court of Love," he was of "Cambridge clerk," and how he was introduced to the notice of the court, is left to conjecture. At what periods of life Chaucer wrote we have no means of ascertaining. There are no manuscripts of any of his works that can be referred to his own time; the earliest of them in existence are not supposed to have been written till several years after his death. The only one of his works of which the date is fixed is the "Book of the Duchess; " if, as is taken for granted, this was written to commemorate the death of the wife of his patron, John of Gaunt, its date is 1369. "The Canterbury Tales ” are really, in their underlying design, an exposition of chivalric sentiment, thrown into contrast by its opposite. The spirit of chivalry is the vital air of all Chaucer's creations. All of his works are steeped in the nectar of the court; the perfume of chivalrous sentiment breathes from them all. Cowper, William (1731-1800).-This best of English letter-writers and the most distinguished poet of his day, was born November 26, at Great Berkhamstead, Hertfordshire. His father, who held the living of the parish, was chaplain to George II. His mother died in 1737, leaving two sons. William, who retained the most affectionate remembrance of his mother, embalmed her memory in one of the most affecting tributes that ever came from the heart of a son. At the age of six Cowper was placed at Dr. Pitman's school, Bedfordshire. His health was delicate, and he was, in consequence, exposed to the laughter and ridicule of his companions. Of a highly sensitive organism, these buffetings were keenly felt. Cowper brought nature to poetry, and his influence has been extensive and lasting. He is, to a certain extent, the prototype of Wordsworth. Indeed, many passages from The Excursion" read like extracts from "The Task." It is curious to observe in Cowper's verse that subjectivity which is supposed to be characteristic of more recent times. His ailings, his walks, his musings, his tamed hares. his friends, his indignation at slavery, his peculiar views of religion, are the things he delights to portray. "The Task" is a poem entirely about himself. While engaged in translating Homer, the sad melancholia of which he was a victim, returned, but was happily driven away by society and constant literary occupation. And no sooner was "Homer "given to the world than we find him engaged on an edition of Milton. The deepest dejection, alternating with fits of spiritual despair, hung over him to the end. He died peacefully, April 25. Dryden, John (1631-1700).-Born August 9, at Aldwinkle, Northamptonshire, of Cumberland stock. His family had acquired estates and a baronetcy, and intermarried with landed families in that county. His greatgrandfather is said to have known Erasmus, and to have been so proud of the great scholar's friendship that he named his eldest son Erasmus. This name was borne by the poet's father. The leanings and connections of the family were Puritan and anti-monarchical. Sir Erasmus Dryden went to prison rather than pay loan money to Charles I.; the poet's uncle and his father served on government commissions during the Commonwealth. Dryden's education was such as became a scion of such a family of squires and rectors. Dryden was not content with writing tragedies in rhymed verse. Taking it up with enthusiasm as the only thing which the Elizabethan dramatists had left for their successors to excel in, he propounded the propriety of rhyme in serious plays as a thesis for discussion, and made it a prominent question. A volume of miscellany, published in 1685, contained translations from Virgil, Horace, Lucretius and Theocritus; one issued in 1693, translations from Homer and Ovid. Toward the close of his career, the poet lent his gift to politics, and his fame profited by the connection. Eliot, George.-For sketch see No. 1 of this series. Fletcher, Giles (1584-1623).—The principal work by which he is known is one of the most remarkable religious poems in the language. Its full title is "Christ's Victory and Triumph, in Heaven, in Earth, Over and After Death." It is in four cantos, divided according to the suggestion of the title. The metre is an eight-line stanza, adapted from the Spenserian by the omission of the seventh line. Giles, like his brother Phineas, was a disciple of Spenser, whom he followed with more brilliancy and vigor than any poet of his time. In his best passages he attains to a rare sublimity and a rich, voluptuous music, which charmed Milton. It was his misfortune to live in an age that considered the poems of Marini and Gongora insuperable, and he strove too often to outdo these, his patterns, in grotesque conceit. But when he is carried away by his theme, and forgets to be ingenious, he attains an extraordinary solemnity and harmony of style. His description of the "Lady of Vain Delight,” in the second canto of his religious poem, has been greatly admired. Milton did not hesitate to borrow considerably from "Christ's Victory and Triumph," in his "Paradise Regained." Fontaine, Jean de la (1621-1695).-One of the most popular and original of French poets, born at Château Thierry, in Champagne, probably on July 8, and died in Paris, April 13. His father was "maître des eaux et forêts" a kind of deputy-ranger- of the Duchy of Château Thierry. On both sides his family was of the highest provincial middle class, but not noble; his father was also fairly wealthy. Jean, who was the eldest child, was educated at the grammar school of his native town; and at the end of his school days he had an idea of taking orders. He entered the Oratory in May, 1641, and the seminary of St. Magloire in October of the same year; but a short vacation proved |