And Otway, Radcliffe, Schiller, Shake speare's art, Had stamped her image in me, and even so Although I found her thus, we did not part, Perchance even dearer in her day of woe Than when she was a boast, a marvel and a show. I can repeople with the past; and of And of the happiest moments which were Within the web of my existence, some From thee, fair Venice! have their colors caught. BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. MARY RUSSELL MITFORD. MISS ISS MITFORD, the only child of a physician, was born at Alnsford, Hants, England, December 16, 1786. At the age of ten she began her education at Chelsea with Miss Rowden, a lady of a literary taste, to whom Lady Caroline Lamb, Miss L. E. Landon and Fanny Kemble also owed their education. She completed her studies at fifteen, and before she reached the age of twenty she published three volumes of poetry; but it was not to poetry, but to the drama and prose-writings, that she owes her reputation. All her dramas were well received. Rienzi, which was performed in A. D. 1828, was a great success. Our Village ranks as one of the best of her prose There are some feelings time cannot be- writings; it was published in five volumes. numb, The first volume appeared in A. D. 1824, and Nor torture shake, or mine would now be the last in A. D. 1832. She received a cold and dumb. But from their nature will the tannen grow Loftiest on loftiest and least sheltered rocks, pension from the government in the year 1838. She continued her literary work to the close of her life. She died January 10, 1855, at Swallowfield Cottage, near Reading. Her works are voluminous and still find Rooted in barrenness, where naught be- many readers. low Of soil supports them 'gainst the Alpine shocks Of eddying storms; yet springs the trunk, and mocks THIS HANNAH MORE. HIS author and poetess was the daughter of a village schoolmaster, and was born at Stapleton, Gloucestershire, England, The howling tempest, till its height and on February 2, 1745. She received her frame education at a seminary in Bristol kept by Are worthy of the mountains from whose her two elder sisters. She wrote verse at a blocks Of bleak gray granite into life it came, And grew a giant tree: the mind may grow very early age. In 1773 she published her first drama, entitled The Search after Happiness, and in 1774 her tragedy of Regulus. She made the acquaintance of Garrick, and through him became acquainted with Dr. John- | Herts, England, A. D. 1809, and died at Flor son, Burke, and Sir Joshua Reynolds, by whom she was introduced to their literary circle. At this period she wrote for the stage, and her tragedies of Percy and The Fatal Falsehood were produced at Covent Garden and enthusiastically received; but in the height of her success she stopped writing for the stage, on account of religious scruples. She devoted the labors of her pen during the balance of her life to the advancement of religion and education, and in this field she was singularly successful. "A pleasing incident in her later career was her affectionate interest in the boy Thomas Babington Macaulay, who resided a considerable time with her, and doubtless owed something of his extraordinary literary career to her watchful care." She died at Clifton, September 7, 1833, leaving a fortune of one hundred and fifty thousand dollars, one-third of which was bequeathed to benevolent purposes. Her complete works were published after her death, in eleven volumes, and many of them are still in demand. ELIZABETH BARRETT BROWNING. ence, Italy, June 29, 1861. She has been called England's greatest poetess. Her poems are sympathetic and her style is original. EL ELIZA COOK. LIZA COOK was born in Southwark, London, A. D. 1817. At a very early age she became a contributor to the leading periodicals of the day. In the year 1840 her first poetical work was published in England, and in 1844 was reprinted in the United States. Her poems are pure, sweet and sympathetic. Among her most popular pieces are "The Old Arm-Chair," "Home of the Heart," "The Old Farm-Gate" and "I Miss Thee, My Mother." In September, A. D. 1849, she began the publication of Eliza Cook's Journal. New editions of her poems have been published from time to time both in England and the United States, and are yet widely read. ESOP. THIS distinguished poetess was original-SOP, a celebrated fabulist, said to have ly Miss Barrett. In A. D. 1846 she was married to the poet Robert Browning, with whom she resided many years in Italy. Her education was a liberal one, embracing the study of the classics. At the age of seventeen she published her first work, entitled An Essay of Mind, and Other Poems. This was followed in A. D. 1838 by "The Seraphim,” and in A. D. 1850 the first collection of her works was published. The last productions of her pen (Poems Before Congress) were published A. D. 1860. She was born at been born at Phrygia, 600 в. C. He was as deformed in body as accomplished in mind, and was originally a slave at Athens and at Samos. Having gained freedom by his wit, he travelled through Asia Minor and Egypt and attached himself to the court of Croesus, king of Lydia. Sent by that monarch an embassy to Delphos, he so offended the inhabitants by the keenness of his sarcasms that they hurled him from a rock into the He was killed 560 B. C. His history appears to be altogether legendary. sea. upon THOMAS WRIGHT. |