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IIS estimable lady, the writer of many novels, tales, and sketches,
was the daughter of a clergyman, and was born in England, in
1825. In 1865 she married Mr. George Lillie Craik.
"Buried To-Day" (p. 243) is sad, but beautiful.

Her

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WILLIAM MUNFORD.

HIS author was born in Virginia, August 15th, 1775, and graduated at William and Mary College. He studied law, but passed his life in various political positions. He published a volume of juvenile poems, and devoted much of his leisure to the translation of Homer's Iliad. He published many fine poems, one of which is in GEMS (p. 689). He died at Richmond, June 21st, 1825.

LADY CAROLINE NAIRNE.

AROLINE OLIPHANT, who, by marriage with the fifth Lord Nairne, became Lady Nairne, was born in Perthshire, Scotland, July 16th, 1766. She was very beautiful and highly accomplished. She undertook to write popular and elevating poems for the common folk about her. Her "Land o' the Leal" (or "the loyal"), was written in 1798, especially to comfort an afflicted friend. It is a world wide favorite, and therefore befits this volume. (See p. 421). It has been set to music, and in this form is a great favorite wherever known.

CAROLINE E. NORTON.

AROLINE ELIZABETH SARAH SHERIDAN, sister to Lady Dufferin, was born in England in 1808. When but ten years old, she and her gifted sister wrote and illustrated a small volume of poems. She issued many poems in rapid succession, her strength being in the line of ballads and songs. "Bingen on the Rhine," however, which this volume gives, is one of her best. She died June 15th, 1866.

FRANCES S. OSGOOD.

RS. FRANCES SARGENT OSGOOD, author of "Labor is Worship" (p. 619), was born at Boston, in 1812. She was an early contributor to the current periodicals. Her husband, Mr. S. S. Osgood, was an artist of considerable eminence. She has published seve

ral volumes of poems. Her death occurred in 1850.

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BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.

JOHN W. PALMER.

OHN WILLIAMSON PALMER, M. D., was born at Baltimore, April 4th, 1825. He studied medicine in Philadelphia; was city physician in San Francisco in 1849; afterwards went to China; then served as surgeon of the East India Company's service. "For Charlie's Sake" (p. 641), is one of his best poems.

MUNGO PARK.

UNGO PARK, the traveler, was born in Scotland, September 10th, 1771. He studied surgery at Edinburgh. He journeyed up the Gambia and visited the Niger in 1795-1797, suffering extreme hardships. In January, 1805, he took command of a military exploring party, despatched by the African Association and the British Government to trace the course of the Niger. Most of his party died of fever before the Niger was reached, only five white men being left out of fortyfour. They were afterwards treacherously attacked by a party of natives, and Park and all his company perished. His sketch on "African Hospitality" (p. 66), gives a peep into the heart of that dark continent.

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THEODORE PARKER.

HIS divine and author was born at Lexington, Mass., August 24th, 1810. He was distinguished for a precocious memory, learning by heart many pages of poetry, and knowing the names of all the trees and plants familiar to Massachusetts while but a child. He studied Latin, Greek and mental philosophy while a boy working on a farm; taught school at the age of seventeen, and entered Harvard College in 1830. He was proficient in many languages, including Syriac, Arabic, Danish, Swedish, Anglo-Saxon and modern Greek. He settled at Roxbury, as pastor of a Unitarian Church, in 1837, but soon became the leader of a school of theology, which differed widely from the conservative Unitarians. He continued preaching until January, 1859. He then went abroad for his health, and died at Florence, Italy, May 10th, 1860. "The Beauty of Youth" (p. 697), illustrates his lucid style.

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JOHN HOWARD PAYNE,

HE author of " Home, Sweet Home," was born in New York, June 9th, 1792. When but thirteen years old he wrote for a weekly paper, and two years later published twenty-five numbers of a

periodical called "The Pastime." For a time he was an actor in New York, Boston, and other American cities, also in London. He wrote the song "Home, Sweet Home," while he was U. S. Consul at Tunis, Africa, where he died, April 20th, 1852. His remains have lately been brought back to to his native country, and they now rest in his "Home, Sweet Home." A splendid monument now marks their resting place in Washington, D. C., by the munificence of Mr. Corcoran, the great banker.

JAMES G. PERCIVAL.

AMES GATES PERCIVAL, M. D., was born in Connecticut, September 15th, 1795. He graduated at Yale in 1815, and took a medical degree, and published several volumes of poetry. At Boston and New Haven he engaged in literary and editorial work; and assisted Noah Webster in preparing his great dictionary. He was distinguished as a linguist and geologist, and wrote much poetry, which was highly popular; but his poetry is deemed crude, and therefore has been to a great degree forgotten. He was of melancholy disposition, and was hard-pressed by poverty, actually ending his days alone in a wretched garret. His "Coral Grove" is a well finished poem (p. 678).

WENDELL PHILLIPS.

HIS distinguished orator was born in Boston, Mass., 1811. He entered Harvard College, from which he graduated in 1831. He then entered the Cambridge Law School, and was admitted to the Suffolk Bar in 1834. Mr. Phillips gained his first prominence as an orator in 1837, at a meeting in Boston to protest against the murder, at Alton, Ill., of the Rev. Elijah P. Lovejoy, the editor of an anti-slavery newspaper, who had been killed by a mob in that place. From this time Mr. Phillips devoted himself wholly and with untiring energy to the advocacy of the anti-slavery cause. It may fairly be questioned whether such an orator as Wendell Phillips ever spoke in America. The little extract on "Political Agitation," given on p. 506, is a clear, sparkling gem.

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JOHN PIERPONT.

Or on the Battle Field " (p. 531), is from the pen of John Pierpont, who was born at Litchfield, Conn., April 6th, 1785. He graduated at Yale College in 1804. He studied law, then theology, be came a pastor in Boston, was chaplain in the civil war, and died August 27th, 1866. He wrote and published various poems.

764

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.

EDGAR A. POE.

EW geniuses more brilliant than Edgar Allan Poe have ever lived. Read the selections from his pen, which appear in this volume, and be convinced of his amazing versatility and ability. His "Raven," his "Bells," and his prose sketches are peerless in their way. He was born in Boston, February 19th, 1809. Edgar was educated in England, and in Richmond, Va., but he contracted vicious habits and made no progress. He was appointed to West Point, but was expelled from that institution. In rags and poverty Poe pursued literary work at a later day, till in 1833 he made considerable reputation. His opportunities thereafter were brilliant, but he failed to improve them wisely. "The Raven" appeared in 1845. He died in Baltimore, October 7th, 1849.

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JOSEPHINE POLLARD.

ISS POLLARD is a resident of New York City, and has done much good work in poems and stories for juveniles. Her "First Party" (p. 414) well illustrates her unusually felicitous style of putting pleasant things. She has written many good hymns.

JOHN POOLE.

OHN POOLE, author of "Old Coaching Days" (p. 579), was born in England, in 1785, and died in London February 5th, 1872. The period through which he lived enabled him to speak so graphically on the theme selected for GEMS. He was author of a large number of successful dramas and farces, of which the best known are "Paul Pry," "Deaf as a Post," and "Turning the Tables." He also wrote novels, essays and character sketches, which take high rank for originality and racy humor. Poole enjoyed a pension from the government.

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NOAH PORTER.

OAH PORTER, D.D., LL.D., the distinguished President of Yale College, was born at Farmington, Conn., December 14th, 1811. He graduated at Yale College in 1831; was then tutor at Yale for three years, and then became pastor of a Congregational Church. In 1846 he was chosen professor of metaphysics and moral philosophy at Yale College, and was elected president of the same on the resignation of Dr. Woolsey in 1871. He is admitted to be one of the ripest and most scholarly of American metaphysicians, and his "Advice to Young Men" (p. 598), is worthy of profound attention.

NANCY A. PRIEST.

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SARGENT SMITH PRENTISS.

ARGENT SMITH PRENTISS, author of the tribute to New England on page 105, was born at Portland, Me., September 30th, 1808, and graduated at Bowdoin College in 1826. He practiced law and entered somewhat into politics. He lived for several years at the "Crescent City," of which he speaks in the selection given. He died at Longwood, near Natchez, July 1st, 1850. Senator Crittenden, of Kentucky, said of him: "It was impossible to know Mr. Prentiss without feeling for him admiration and love. His genius, so rich, and his manners, so graceful and genial, could not fail to impress those sentiments on all who approached him. Eloquence was part of his nature, and over his private conversation, as well as his public speeches, it scattered its sparkling jewels with more than royal profusion." Mr. Prentiss was, in fact, one of those ideal gentlemen of whom we hear much but see comparatively little.

E. PRENTISS.

RS. PRENTISS, who wrote "The Mystery of Life in Christ” (p. 233), has written much of this style of poetry. She is the author of "More Love to Thee, O Christ," and other devotional hymns. She also published "Stepping Heavenward," an excellent book.

MARGARET J. PRESTON.

ARGARET JUNKIN PRESTON was born about 1835. She was the daughter of the Rev. George Junkin, and wife of Col. J. T. L. Preston, professor in the Virginia Military Institute at Lexington, Va. She has published "Silverwood," "A Book of Memories," etc., and many writings in prose and verse, chiefly upon topics connected with the civil war. She has given a translation of "Dies Ira" also, which has been highly commended. Her "Hero of the Commune," on page 278, is a bright poem of French life.

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NANCY A. PRIEST.

VER the River" (p. 142) is the one poem of this lady. Her full name was Nancy Amelia Woodbury Priest. She was born at Hinsdale, N. H., in 1837. She married Lieutenant A. C. Wakefield in 1865, and died in 1870. Her poem appeared originally in the Springfield Republican, in August, 1857. It was extensively copied, and universally admired, as it well deserved to be. It is matter for general regret that so marked a genius wrote so little.