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BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.

JAMES T. FIELDS.

AMES T. FIELDS, A. M., is a well known author and publisher. He was born at Portsmouth, N. H., December 31st, 1817. So marked was his talent that he read an anniversary poem before the Mercantile Library Association, of Boston, Mass., when in his eighteenth year, and again in 1848 he read another poem, "The Post of Honor," before the same scholarly society. He was a member of the firms, Ticknor, Reed & Fields, Ticknor & Fields, and Fields, Osgood & Co., for twentyfive years, up to January, 1871. In 1849, 1854 and 1858, respectively, he published volumes of his poems for private distribution. He edited the "Atlantic Monthly " from 1862 to 1870. He has repeatedly visited Europe, and has enjoyed the acquaintance of the leading literary men of the world. "The Tempest " (p. 208) gives a beautiful mid-ocean incident.

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BENJAMIN FRANKLIN.

ENJAMIN FRANKLIN, famous as a statesman and philosopher, was born in Boston, 1706. His discoveries in electricity give him a permanent place in scientific history. He deserves high honor for his services to the cause of liberty also. He began public life in the struggle between the Pennsylvania Assembly and the old proprietary Governors. He proposed to the several States what afterwards became the basis of their confederation. He was sent on a mission to England regarding the obnoxious Stamp Act; afterwards was Ambassador to France, and finally, Minister to England. In his personal bearing Franklin was sedate and benevolent. "Men instinctively felt his worth, and submitted themselves to his wisdom. Except Washington, whom in many qualities he much resembled, this country yet ranks among her dead nowhere so great a man." He died in Philadelphia, in 1790, and was buried in the old graveyard at 5th and Arch streets, where his sepulchre can be seen by the passers-by. The incident of his arrival in Philadelphia (p. 657), written by his own hand, will be read with interest.

FERDINAND FREILIGRATH.

ERDINAND FREILIGRATH, a German poet and patriot, was born at Detmold, in 1810. His earlier years were passed in mercantile pursuits, but in 1838 a volume of his poems appeared and quickly placed him in the front rank of poets. In 1848 he took part in the revolution in Germany, and in the same year suffered impris

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onment for publishing his poem, "The Dead to the Living." After two months' confinement, he was tried and acquitted. He finally retired to England and engaged again in mercantile pursuits. He died in 1876. "The Lion's Ride" is one of the most spirited of all poems.

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PHILIP FRENEAU.

HIS American poet and journalist was of French descent. He was born at New York in 1752. During the Revolutionary War he wrote many satirical and burlesque poems against the Tories. He also made several voyages as captain of a merchant-vessel. About 1790 he became a clerk to Thomas Jefferson, who was then Secretary of State. Freneau afterwards became editor of the "National Gazette," published at Philadelphia, and notorious for its fierce attacks upon the administration at Washington. He died near Freehold, New Jersey, December, 1832. The Indian's "Death Song" is one of the best of his poems.

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JAMES ANTHONY FROUDE.

HIS distinguished English author was born at Totness, Devonshire, in 1818. He was educated at the University of Oxford, where, in 1842, he carried off the highest prize for the English Essay. In the same year he was elected Fellow of Exeter College. He published a novel, called "Shadow of Clouds;" also "The Nemesis of Faith," a theologico-philosophical novel, and many other works. He contributed to the "Lives of the English Saints," and for a short time edited "Fraser's Magazine." His historical sketches have been especially valued, and one of the choicest of them is given in GEMS.

MRS. F. D. GAGE.

RANCES DANA GAGE was born at Marietta, Ohio, October 12th, 1808, and became the wife of J. L. Gage, Esq. She was early distinguished as a temperance speaker and lecturer on slavery and woman's rights. In 1853 she went to St. Louis, where she suffered severely for her peculiar opinions and acts. She served without pay in the care of sick and wounded soldiers from 1861-1865. She is the author of a volume of entertaining "Poems;" also "Elsie Magoon," and of many widely known and admirable pieces for the young, written under the nom de plume of "Aunt Fanny." "The Housekeeper's Soliloquy" is one of her lighter and more facetious efforts.

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JAMES A. GARFIELD.

HE late honored President of the United States, James Abram Garfield, was born in Cuyahoga county, Ohio, November 19th, 1831. After an early life of a very laborious kind, he graduated at Williams College, Mass., in 1856. He became a teacher, a lawyer, a College President, and, in 1859, a member of the Ohio Senate. He entered the army at the outbreak of the civil war, and distinguished himself in its severest experiences, until he was called from the field to represent his home district in Congress. Here he became an active and influential member, and retained his place there for eighteen years, until he was called to the Presidency of the United States.

All Garfield's productions, whether speeches or letters, were finished with the most painstaking care. Selections from them, such as are given in this volume, are true and pure gems of thought. Every intelligent reader must enjoy them and be profited by their reading. The prosperous career of Garfield during the brief term of his presidency, and the sad circumstances of his untimely death, are too fresh in the hearts of the whole world to need rehearsal. He died September 19th, 1881.

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EDWARD GARRETT.

RS. ISABELLA MAYO, is the personage hidden behind the pseudonym which heads this article. Her writings were gathered under the general title of "Occupations of a Retired Life." The incident wrought out in "The Unbolted Door," is said to be founded on fact, and aptly illustrates a mother's love.

CAROLINE GILMAN.

AROLINE HOWARD GILMAN was the daughter of Samuel Howard, of Boston, and was born October 8th, 1794. She married the Rev. Dr. Samuel Gilman, a Unitarian clergyman of Charleston, S. C. She edited the first juvenile paper issued in this country, "The Rosebud," which appeared in 1832. She has written many poems.

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JOHANN WOLFGANG GOETHE.

Is distinguished poet was born August 28th, 1749, at Frankforton-the-Main. He came of a rich and highly respected family. and received a varied and very excellent education. Under his father's direction the boy was taught drawing, music, grammar,

rhetoric, languages, and natural history. His mother taught him to judge characters as they appeared in social intercourse, to understand life as seen in the streets, and to make frequent excursions into Fairyland. In the nineteenth year of his age, he entered the University of Leipsic. After taking his degree in law, he returned in 1771 to Frankfort, and began to write poems and minor critical essays for periodicals. In 1775, the Duke of Weimar invited Goethe to take up his abode at court, which invitation was accepted, and from 1776 Weimar became his residence. A warm and noble friendship sprang up between the duke and the poet; and Goethe occupied, at different times, many honorable positions in the Ducal government, that of a Minister of State crowning all, for thirteen years. He then resigned all offices, and retired to private life. He died in Weimar, March 22d, 1832, and lies interred in the Ducal burial vault beside the Duke, Charles Augustus, his friend through so many years. The selections from Goethe given in GEMS, illustrate in one case the statesman-like mind of the poet, and in the other his lighter vein.

JOHN B. GOUGH.

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LL the English speaking world is familiar with the name and work of John B. Gough, the famous temperance worker and lecturer. He was born at Sandgate, Kent, England, August 22d, 1817. He came to this country when but a boy, and became a bookbinder. He was addicted to intemperance during the years of his early manhood, but in 1843, he threw off this terrible curse and became a temperance lecturer; since which time, his fame as an orator has scarce had a rival. He resides at West Boylston, Mass. "Buying Gape Seed" is one of his most effective stories. It always makes a decided hit.

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JAMES GRAHAME.

HIS author's reputation rests mainly on his one famous poem, "The Sabbath," given on page 610. It is conceded to be one of the finest compositions of its kind. Its author was born in Glasgow, Scotland, in 1765. He studied at the University of Glasgow; practised law for a time; entered clerical orders in 1809; became curate at Shipton, in Gloucestershire; and died in 1811. He published "British Georgics," "The Birds of Scotland," etc. When Grahame had completed "The Sabbath," he published it anonymously. He was very anxious to know his wife's judgment on the work. He therefore gave her the poem to read, he walking the floor nervously as she read. When through, she

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said, "Ah, James, if you could write such a poem as that, it would be worth your while to try." This praise confirmed him as a poetic writer.

THOMAS GRAY.

AD Thomas Gray written nothing more than his immortal "Elegy in a Country Churchyard," his fame would have been permanently established. Indeed all that he ever did or wrote, borrows lustre from the Elegy, rather than sheds new lustre on it, or its author. Gray was born in London, December 26th, 1716. He had much difficulty in securing his education, but he finally graduated at Cambridge, in 1739. He then traveled extensively, and on his return settled at Cambridge and devoted himself wholly to literary work. His occasional articles on travel, etc., are justly esteemed models of English composition. He began his Elegy about 1742, but did not finish it till 1749, and then it lay unpublished till 1752, when it appeared anonymously in the "Magazine of Magazines." It won its way to highest favor at once, passing rapidly through several editions. The scene of the poem is the old churchyard at StokePogis in Buckinghamshire. He is said to have begun the poem while sitting in the burial ground itself. His remains now rest in this place.

The original manuscript of the Elegy, with many erasures and interlineations, and written upon two foolscap sheets, was sold, in 1875, for two hundred and thirty pounds sterling. Gray died July 30th, 1771.

FRANCIS W. P. GREENWOOD.

RANCIS WILLIAM PITT GREENWOOD, D.D., was born in Boston, February 5th, 1797. On graduating at Harvard College in 1814, he studied theology. He began his ministry in the New South Church in Boston, but remained in it only a single year because of a pulmonary affection. He passed several years abroad, but after his return became colleague pastor with Dr. Freeman of King's Chapel, Boston. Three years later he became sole pastor, and, as far as health would allow, discharged all the duties. He died August 2d, 1843. The one selection of his given in this volume, is a beautiful description of the "Poetry and Mystery of the Sea."

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THOMAS CHANDLER HALIBURTON.

HIS humorous and popular English author was born in Nova Scotia, about 1802. In early life he practiced law. He obtained great celebrity by his "Clockmaker, or the Sayings and Doings of Sam