ment. In 1834 he received an appointment which called him to India. Afterwards, at different periods, he sat in Parliament, served as Secretary of War, and Paymaster of the Forces. He did not live to complete his History of England" which best of all displays the skill of its master as a recorder of past events. He stands out pre-eminent, among English classics, both as an historian and essayist, for his writings are abounding in vigorous, clear, concise English, true to detail and matter. Some of his finest essays are those on Bunyan, Johnson, and Dryden. His best poems are "Lays of Ancient Rome."

He was raised to the peerage only two years previous to his death, which occurred, December 28, 1859.

GEORGE GORDON BYRON (LORD BYRON). (1788-1824).

LORD BYRON was born in London, January 22, 1788. He was the son of a widowed mother whose devotion brought upon him the ridicule of his playmates. When ten years of age he went to Newstead Abbey with his mother to succeed to the title and estates of William, the Fifth Lord Byron. He was precocious but willful and always sensitive about the malformation of one of his feet. Byron had many affairs of the heart and finally was married, the 2nd. of January, 1815. This proved to be a most unfortunate marriage, culminating in a separation in a twelve-month. His eventful life ended in Western Greece, the 19th of April, 1824, while he was yet in the prime of manhood.

"Childe Harold's Pilgrimage" is considered his deepest work. His was a prolific pen, hence it will be sufficient to mention only some of his important poems, viz: "The Giaour," "The Corsair,' "The Corsair," "Lara," "The

Siege of Corinth," "Mazeppa," ," "The Island,” “Hours of Idleness"—a collection of poems-and last, and least to be recommended, is "Don Juan." Some of his most popuar songs are Maid of Athens," "Stanzas on Leaving England," "The Day of My Destiny is Over," etc.

CHARLES READE. (1814-1884.)

CHARLES READE was born in the summer of 1814. He was far from an amiable boy, and even before he arrived at the dignity of trousers, seems to have had a penchant for scraps. His novels, "It Is Never Too Late to Mend" and "The Cloister and the Hearth" are widely read in America as well as in England. "The Cloister and the Hearth" is a historical romance written just before "Romola," consequently Reade was irritated when George Elliot offered her book to the reading public, although there is a wide dissimilarity in these books. He was always offended when any author entered his field and resented this entrance with caustic remarks.

His dramas, for the most part have been only moderately popular. "Peg Woffington," which is drawn from "Masks and Faces," written in 1852, is an exception, for it takes well everywhere on the stage. "Put Yourself in His Place" is one of his most popular novels. He died in 1884.

THOMAS CARLYLE.

(1795-1881).

THOMAS CARLYLE was born at Ecclefechan, December 4, 1795. He was reared among the peasantry and his heart was always turned to the people from whence

he came. There was so much tenderness and sweetness in the nature of this great man that his name can but be called with reverence. He married Jane Welsh, a bright and beautiful woman, who in after years became an invalid.

Carlyle's "Life of Schiller" is beautiful and pathetic. His "Sartor Resartus" is read all over the world. Among his other works may be mentioned "Heroes and Hero-worship," "The French Revolution," "Cromwell's Letters and Speeches," and "History of Frederick II., commonly called Frederick the Great." Although the ties were strong that bound him to the spot at Haddington Cathedral where his beloved wife was buried and although Westminster Abbey too was offered, he had a desire to be gathered to his people." Always unostentatious, he requested just before his death on February 5, 1881, that he might rest at Ecclefechan near the grave of his widowed mother. What a concourse of lowly peasantry and workmen followed him to his grave!

It was Carlyle who wrote "We sit as in a boundless phantasmagoria and Dream-grotto. But Him, the unseen Being, whose work both Dream and Dreamer are, we see not; except in rare, half-waking moments suspect not. In that strange Dream how we clutch at shadows, and Sleep deepest when we are fancying ourselves most awake. This Dreaming, this somnambulism is what we on Earth call Life; wherein the most, undoubtedly, wander, as if they knew their right hand from their left; yet they only are wise who know that they know nothing."

ALFRED TENNYSON. (1809-1892).

LORD TENNYSON was born in Lincolnshire, at Somersby, England, August 6, 1809. His father was a preacher. Tennyson's first poems were published in 1827-ten years before the beginning of the Victorian Era-together with some poems by his elder brother Charles in a little volume entitled "Poems by Two Brothers." Their modesty forbade the use of their names. Wordsworth, at that time was laureate of England. Before Her Majesty's accession to the throne Tennyson had written "The Lady of Shalott," "The Miller's aughter," "Dream of Fair Women," "The May Queen," "Lady Clara Vere de Vere," and other poems. After Wordsworth's death in 1850 Tennyson was created laureate, yet before this the world had read and appreciated his "Morte d'Arthur," "Dora,” "The Talking Oak," "The Lord of Burleigh," "The Princess," and "In Memoriam." "Timbuctoo" was his prize poem at Cambridge University. "Queen Mary," "Becket," and "Harold" are his dramas. Probably none of his poems are so popular as "Lockley Hall." Laurence Hutton in speaking of "Locksley Hall Sixty Years After," says "The words have not withered, nor has the roof tree fallen; the rain, or hail, or fire, or snow of this more than half century have not harmed or shaken it. The old arm is as strong as the young, and strikes as telling blows."

He died October 6, 1892. It is said that he was reading the Dirge in Shakespeare's "Cymbeline" when the end came.

CROSSING THE BAR.

Sunset and evening star,

And one clear call for me!

And may there be no moaning of the bar
When I put out to sea.

But such a tide as moving seems asleep,

Too full for sound and foam,

When that which drew from out the boundless deep Turns again home.

Twilight and evening bell,

And after that the dark!

And may there be no sadness of farewell

When I embark.

For tho' from out our bourn of Time and Place

The flood may bear me far,

I hope to see my Pilot face to face

When I have crossed the bar.

WILLIAM MAKEPEACE THACKERAY. (1811

1863.)

WILLIAM MAKEPEACE THACKERAY was born in Calcutta, India, in 1811. He was Dicken's rival but friend. One was a loyal supporter of the other.

His first book "Vanity Fair," is considered by many the finest novel in English Literature. His book on 66 Snobs " is a most humorous work. Other works are "Round About Papers," "The Newcomes," "Henry Esmond" and "The Virginians."

His daughter Mrs. Anne Thackeray Ritchie is a woman of remarkable brilliancy and has herself written much for the press. A few years ago she sent to Har