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 judging 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 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 judging 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 humored, a wonderful story teller, and a lover of hunting and fishing; but like his English contemporary, Goldsmith, he was totally inapt for business. He was the first, during those stormy pre-Revolutionary days publicly to oppose foreign control. He lived from 1736 to 1799. [See page 138.] 7. WILLIAM WORDSWORTH. To me the meanest flower that blows can give William Wordsworth, a renowned English poet, lived between 1770 and 1850. His home was in the north of England, among the famous lakes of Cumberland and Westmoreland counties. He has made the lovely scenery of these lakes and hills immortal, as Washington Irving has the Hudson River. He with Sir Walter Scott, Coleridge, and Southey formed what is called the Lake School of poets, because they lived near these lakes. and wrote about the beauty of their scenery. Before that time, English poets were mostly of the Romantic School; that is, they thought they were obliged to write about foreign places and classic legends. Mr. Wordsworth especially lived in and loved nature; for this reason, his works made a great change in poetry. |