David Masson, a noted Scottish author, was born at Aberdeen, December 2, 1822, and died in 1907. He wrote: “The Life of Milton in connection with the History of His Time,” “Essays, Biographical and Critical,” “British Novelists,” “Recent British Philosophy,” “Carlyle Personally and His Writings,” “Edinburgh Sketches and Memories,” etc.

Robert Bloomfield, a celebrated English poet, was born at Honington, December 3, 1766, and died in Shefford, in 1823. Among his poetical pieces are: “The Milk Maid,” “The Sailor’s Return,” and his most famous poetical work, “The Farmer’s Boy.”

Thomas Carlyle, a Scotch biographer, historian, and miscellaneous writer of great fame, was born at Ecclefechan, December 4, 1795, and died in London, February 4, 1881. Among his celebrated works may be mentioned: “Life of Schiller,” “Wilhelm Meister’s Apprenticeship,” a translation; “The French Revolution,” “Life and Letters of Oliver Cromwell,” “German Romance,” “Heroes, Hero-Worship, and the Heroic in History,” “Chartism,” “Past and Present,” “Life of Sterling,” “Friedrich II,” “Latter-Day Pamphlets,” “Inaugural Address at Edinburgh,” etc.

Christina Georgina Rossetti, a renowned English poetess, was born in London, December 5, 1830, and died December 29, 1894. Among her works are: “The Prince’s Progress,” “Sing-Song: A Nursery Rhyme Book,” “Seek and Find,” “Speaking Likenesses,” “A Pageant, and Other Poems,” “Letter and Spirit,” “Annus Domini: A Prayer for Each Day in the Year,” “Verses,” and her most celebrated work, “Goblin Market.”

Richard Harris Barham, a famous English poet, was born in Canterbury, December 6, 1788, and died in London, June 17, 1845. Under the nom de plume of “Thomas Ingoldsby,” he wrote the celebrated “Ingoldsby Legends.” He also wrote: “Life of Theodore Hook,” “My Cousin Nicholas,” etc.

Friedrich Max MÜller, an eminent German-English Sanskrit scholar and comparative philologist, was born at Dessau, December 6, 1823, and died in 1900. He has written: “History of Ancient Sanskrit Literature,” “Science of Language,” “Chips from a German Workshop,” “Science of Religion,” “Essays on Language, Mythology, and Religion,” “Science of Thought,” “My Autobiography,” “Last Essays,” appeared after his death, also, “Life and Letters of the Right Honorable Friedrich Max MÜller,” by his wife.

Joseph Conrad, a renowned English author, of Polish parentage, was born December 6, 1857. Among his works are: “An Outcast of the Islands,” “The Nigger of the Narcissus,” “Typhoon,” “The Mirror of the Sea,” “The Secret Agent,” “Under Western Eyes,” “Some Reminiscenses,” “Chance,” “Within the Tides,” “Victory,” “The Shadow Line,” “The Arrow of Gold,” “Rescue,” “Notes on Life and Letters.”

Allan Cunningham, a noted Scotch poet and miscellaneous writer, was born in Keir, Dumfriesshire, December 7, 1784, and died in London, October 30, 1842. His best known works are: “Lord Roldan,” “Paul Jones,” “Sir Marmaduke Maxwell,” and his most famous work, “Critical History of the Literature of the Last Fifty Years.”

Henry Timrod, a famous American Southern poet and author, was born at Charleston, S. C., December 8, 1829, and died at Columbia, S. C., October 6, 1867. His “Poems” appeared in 1860.

Joel Chandler Harris, a noted American journalist and story writer, was born at Eatonton, Georgia, December 8, 1848, and died July 3, 1908. He has written: “Daddy Jake, the Runaway,” “The Folk-Lore of the Old Plantation,” etc. He is best known, however, by his famous “Uncle Remus” sketches.

John Milton, one of the greatest of English poets, was born in London, December 9, 1608, and died there November 8, 1674. His most famous works were: “Paradise Lost,” “Paradise Regained,” “Comus,” “Lycidas,” “L’Allegro,” “Il Penseroso,” “Samson Agonistes,” “Areopagitica,” “The Tenure of Kings and Magistrates,” and the “Defence of the English People.”

Robert Treat Paine, Jr., a celebrated American poet, was born in Taunton, Mass., December 9, 1773, and died in Boston, November 13, 1811. He is best known as the author of two songs, “Rise, Columbia,” and “Adams and Liberty.” Among his poems are: “The Invention of Letters,” and “The Ruling Passion.”

Eugene Sue, a famous French romancer, was born in Paris, December 10, 1804, and died at Annecy, July 3, 1857. He wrote: “Kernock the Pirate,” “History of the French Navy,” “History of the War Navies of All Nations,” “The Seven Deadly Sins,” “Martin the Foundling,” “The Mysteries of the People,” “The Jouffroy Family,” “The Secrets of the Confessional,” “The Mysteries of Paris,” and “The Wandering Jew.”

Edward Eggleston, a distinguished American historian and novelist, was born in Vevay, Ind., December 10, 1837, and died in 1902. Among his noted works are: “The Circuit Rider,” “The End of the World,” “Roxy,” “The Hoosier Schoolmaster,” “The Graysons,” “The Faith Doctor,” “Queer Stories for Boys and Girls,” “The Hoosier Schoolboy,” “Schoolmasters’ Stories,” “Mr. Blake’s Walking-Stick,” “School History of the United States,” “Household History of the United States,” “First Book in American History,” “The Beginners of a Nation,” “The Transit of Civilization,” etc.

Julia Pardoe, a noted English historical and miscellaneous writer, was born at Beverly, Yorkshire, December 11 (?), 1806, and died in London, November 26, 1862. Among her many works are: “Traditions of Portugal,” “City of the Sultan,” “Louis XIV and the Court of France,” “The Jealous Wife,” “The Court and Reign of Francis I,” “Marie de’ Medici,” “Episodes of French History During the Consulate,” “A Life Struggle,” and numerous lyrics.

Gerald Griffin, a famous Irish novelist, poet and dramatist, was born at Limerick, December 12, 1803, and died at Cork, June 12, 1840. He wrote: “Tales of the Munster Festivals,” “The Collegians,” “Holland Tide: or Munster Popular Tales,” “The Invasion,” “Gisippus, or the Forgotten Friend,” “Tales of My Neighborhood,” etc.

Gustave Flaubert, a renowned French novelist, was born at Rouen, December 12, 1821, and died there, May 8, 1880. Among his writings are: “SalammbÔ,” “The History of a Young Man,” “The Temptation of St. Anthony,” “Three Stories,” and “Madame Bovary,” his greatest novel.

Heinrich Heine, an eminent German poet, was born at DÜsseldorf, December 13, 1799, and died at Paris, February 17, 1856. Among his works are: “Pictures of Travel,” “Almansor,” “Radcliff,” “Poems,” “Book of Songs,” “New Poems,” “History of Recent Polite Literature in Germany,” “The Salon,” “Doctor Faust,” “The Romantic School,” “Shakespeare’s Maids and Matrons,” “The Romancers,” “Miscellaneous Writings,” etc.

Phillips Brooks, a famous American clergyman of the Episcopal Church, was born in Boston, December 13, 1835, and died there, January 23, 1893. He published many volumes of sermons and lectures, including: “Letters of Travel,” “Lectures on Preaching,” and “Essays and Addresses.”

Hamilton Wright Mabie, a celebrated American essayist, critic, and editor, was born in Cold Spring, N. Y., December 13, 1846, and died in 1916. His works include: “Norse Stories Retold from the Eddas,” “My Study Fire,” “Short Studies in Literature,” “Nature and Culture,” “Books and Culture,” “Work and Culture,” “Works and Days,” “Backgrounds of Literature,” “The Great Word,” “What and How to Read,” “Writers of Knickerbocker,” “American Ideals, Character and Life,” “Japan To-day and To-morrow,” etc., etc.

Charles Wolfe, a distinguished Irish clergyman and poet, was born at Dublin, December 14, 1791, and died at Cove of Cork (now Queenstown), February 21, 1823. His literary fame rests wholly upon his “Burial of Sir John Moore.”

Frances Ridley Havergal, a noted English poet and religious writer, was born at Astley, Worcestershire, December 14, 1836, and died at Swansea, Wales, June 3, 1879. She wrote: “The Four Happy Days,” “Under the Surface” poems; “Royal Graces and Loyal Gifts” (6 vols., 1879), “Under His Shadow,” etc.

Henry Fothergill Chorley, a famous English critic and miscellaneous writer, was born in Blackley Hurst, Lancashire, December 15, 1808, and died in London, February 15, 1872. He wrote a famous play, “Old Love and New Fortune,” and several novels, among them: “Conti,” “The Prodigy,” and “The Lion.”

Jane Austen, a renowned English novelist, was born in Steventon, Hampshire, December 16, 1775, and died in Winchester, July 18, 1817. Her most famous works are: “Mansfield Park,” “Sense and Sensibility,” and “Pride and Prejudice.”

Sir Humphry Davy, an eminent English chemist, philosopher and man of letters, was born at Penzance, Cornwall, December 17, 1778, and died at Geneva, Switzerland, May 29, 1829. He wrote: “Consolations in Travel, or the Last Days of a Philosopher,” “Chemical and Philosophical Researches,” “On the Safety Lamp and on Flame,” etc.

John Greenleaf Whittier, a renowned American poet, was born at Haverhill, Massachusetts, December 17, 1807, and died at Hampton Falls, New Hampshire, September 1892. Among his noted poems are: “Barbara Frietchie,” “Skipper Ireson’s Ride,” “Snow-Bound,” “Maud Muller,” “My Playmate,” “Laus Deo,” “My Birthday,” and “The Tent on the Beach.”

Charles Wesley, a famous English clergyman and poet, was born at Epworth, Lincolnshire, December 18, 1708, and died in London, March 29, 1788. He was called “the poet of Methodism,” but many of his beautiful hymns are used in all denominations of the Protestant church.

George Denison Prentice, a distinguished American journalist, poet, and author, was born at Preston, Conn., December 18, 1802, and died January 22, 1870. He published in 1860, “Prenticeana” a collection of pointed paragraphs. His other works are: “Life of Henry Clay,” and “Poems.”

Margaret Junkin Preston, a celebrated American author, was born in Philadelphia, Pa., December 19 (?), 1825, and died in 1897. She has written: “Silverwood” (a novel), “Old Songs and New,” “Cartoons,” “Beechen-brook,” “Colonial Ballads,” “For Love’s Sake,” “Aunt Dorothy,” etc.

John Fletcher, the renowned English dramatist, was born in Rye, Sussex, December 20 (?), 1579 and died in London, August, 1625. A few of his famous plays are: “The Wild Goose Chase,” “The Loyal Subject,” “Monsieur Thomas,” “The Faithful Shepherdess,” “A Wife for a Month,” “Wit Without Money,” “The Chances,” “Bonduca,” “The Mad Lover,” and “Rule a Wife and Have a Wife.” His name has always been associated with that of Francis Beaumont, and together they wrote many plays; but the beforementioned works were written by Fletcher alone.

Mary Elizabeth Mapes Dodge, a noted American editor, poet and author, was born in New York City, December 20 (?),1838, and died in 1905. She has written: “Irvington Stories,” “Along the Way” (poems), “Theophilus and Others,” “The Land of Pluck,” “Donald and Dorothy,” “The Golden Gate,” “Poems and Verses,” and “Hans Brinker, or the Silver Skates,” her most famous work.

Jean Baptiste Racine, the illustrious French dramatist, was born at La FertÉ-Milon, December 21, 1639, and died at Paris, April 26, 1699. His greatest works were: “The Thebaid,” “The Pleaders,” “Alexander,” “Berenice,” “Bajazet,” “Esther,” “Athalie,” “Mithridates,” “Iphigenia,” “The Chaplain’s Wig,” “PhÆdra,” “Nymphs of the Seine,” “Letters,” and “Abridgment of the History of Port Royal,” his last dramatic work.

Benjamin Disraeli, Lord Beaconsfield, an eminent English statesman and novelist, was born in London, December 21, 1804, and died April 19, 1881. Among his celebrated works are: “The Young Duke,” “Vivian Grey,” “Venetia,” “The Rise of Iskander,” “Henrietta Temple,” “The Revolutionary Epic,” “Sibyl,” “Tancred,” “Lothair,” and “Endymion.”

Thomas Wentworth Higginson, a distinguished American poet, essayist and novelist, was born in Cambridge, Mass., December 22, 1823, and died in 1911. Among his writings are: “Atlantic Essays,” “Out-Door Papers,” “The Afternoon Landscape,” “Life of Margaret Fuller,” “Short Studies of American Authors,” “Young Folks’ History of the United States,” “Concerning All of Us,” “Cheerful Yesterdays,” “Old Cambridge,” “Contemporaries,” “Henry Wadsworth Longfellow,” “Part of a Man’s Life,” “Life of Stephen Higginson,” etc.

Charles Stuart Calverley, a noted English poet and humorist, was born at Martley, Worcestershire, December 22, 1831, and died February 17, 1884. He wrote: “Verses and Translations,” and “Society Verses.”

Charles Augustin Sainte-Beuve, the great French literary critic, was born at Boulogne-sur-Mer, December 23, 1804, and died at Paris, October 13, 1869. He wrote: “Literary Critiques and Portraits,” “Literary Portraits,” “History of Port Royal,” “Contemporary Portraits,” “Picture of French Poetry in the Sixteenth Century,” “Meditations in August,” “Consolations,” “Poems,” his celebrated “Monday Talks,” etc.

Samuel Smiles, a famous British author, was born at Haddington, Scotland, December 23, 1812, and died, April 16, 1904. He wrote: “Lives of the Engineers,” “Industrial Biography,” “James Brindley and the Early Engineers,” “Lives of Boulton and Watt,” “Life of Thomas Telford,” “Life of George Stephenson,” “The Life of a Scotch Naturalist” (Thomas Edward), “Robert Dick,” “George Moore,” “Men of Invention and Industry,” “Life and Labor,” “A Publisher and His Friends,” “Jasmin,” “Josiah Wedgwood,” “History of Ireland,” etc. Also, “Self-Help,” “Character,” “Thrift,” and “Duty.”

George Crabbe, a celebrated English poet, was born in Aldborough, Suffolk, December 24, 1754, and died at Trowbridge, Wiltshire, February 3, 1832. His most famous poems are: “The Parish Register,” “The Village,” “Tales in Verse,” and “The Borough.”

Augustin EugÈne Scribe, a distinguished French dramatist, was born in Paris, December 24, 1791, and died February 20, 1861. His collected “Œuvres,” (76 vols. 1874-85), contains all his works.

Adam Mickiewicz, the most celebrated of Slavic poets, was born near NovogrÒdek, Lithuania, December 24, 1798, and died at Constantinople, November 26, 1855. Among his famous works are: “Crimean Sonnets,” “Lectures on Slavic Literature,” “The Books of the Polish People and of the Polish Pilgrimage,” the ballad, “Dziady,” and three famous epics: “Pan Tadeusz,” “Conrad Wallenrod,” and “Grazyna.”

Matthew Arnold, an eminent English poet, essayist and critic, was born at Laleham, December 24, 1822, and died at Liverpool, April 15, 1888. His principal works are: “Empedocles on Etna,” “The Strayed Reveler and Other Poems,” “New Poems,” “Essays in Criticism,” “Lectures on the Study of Celtic Literature,” “Culture and Anarchy,” “Friendship’s Garland,” “Mixed Essays,” “Irish Essays,” “Last Essays on Church and Religion,” and “Discourses on America.”

John Morley (Viscount Morley), a renowned English statesman, essayist, editor, critic and biographer, was born at Blackburn, Lancashire, December 24, 1838. He has written: “Life of Oliver Cromwell,” “Life of Gladstone,” “Life of Cobden,” “Sir Robert Walpole,” “Studies in Literature,” “Cromwell,” “Literary Essays,” “Notes on Politics,” “Recollections,” etc.

William Collins, a celebrated English poet, was born in Chichester, December 25, 1721, and died there, June 12, 1759. His principal works were: “Ode to Evening,” “The Passions,” “Ode on the Death of Thomson,” and the “Dirge to Cymbeline.”

William Barnes Rhodes, a noted English dramatic writer, was born December 25, 1772, and died November 1, 1826. He wrote: “The Satires of Juvenal, Translated into English Verse,” “Epigrams,” and his famous burlesque, “Bombastes Furioso.”

Thomas Gray, the renowned English poet, was born at Cornhill, London, December 26, 1716, and died at Cambridge, July 24, 1771. He wrote: “Ode to Adversity,” “Progress of Poesy,” “The Bard,” “Ode on a Distant Prospect of Eton College,” and his most famous work, “Elegy in a Country Churchyard.”

Johannes Kepler, a German astronomer of great fame, was born at Weil, WÜrtemberg, December 27, 1571, and died at Ratisbon, November 15, 1630. His most famous work was: “New Astronomy, with Commentaries on the Motions of Mars.”

Woodrow Wilson, a famous American educator and author, and twenty-eighth President of the United States, was born at Staunton, Va., December 28, 1856, and died at Washington, D. C., February 3, 1924. His works include: “Congressional Government: A Study of American Politics,” “The State: Elements of Historical and Practical Politics,” “Division and Reunion,” “Epochs of American History,” “An Old Master, and Other Political Essays,” “Mere Literature and Other Essays,” “George Washington,” “A History of the American People,” “Constitutional Government in the United States,” “The New Freedom,” “When a Man Comes to Himself,” “On Being Human.”

William Ewart Gladstone, the eminent English statesman, essayist, and translator from the classics, was born in Liverpool, December 29, 1809, and died in 1898. His works include: “Studies in Homer and the Homeric Age,” “Church and State,” “Juventus Mundi,” “Homeric Synchronism,” “Gleanings of Past Years,” etc.

Rudyard Kipling, a renowned English short-story writer, poet, and novelist, was born at Bombay, India, December 30, 1865. Among his writings are: “Life’s Handicap,” “Mine Own People,” “Many Inventions,” “Soldiers Three,” “The Light That Failed,” “The Seven Seas,” “Barrack Room Ballads,” “The Jungle Books,” “Captains Courageous,” “The Day’s Work,” “Stalky and Co.,” “Just So Stories for Little Children,” “Kim,” “The Five Nations,” “Traffics and Discoveries,” “Puck of Pook’s Hill,” “Actions and Reactions,” “Rewards and Fairies,” “The Harbour Watch” (a play), “The New Armies in Training,” “France at War,” “Fringes of the Fleet,” “A Diversity of Creatures,” “The Years Between,” etc.

Gottfried August BÜrger, an eminent German poet, was born at Molmerswende, near Ballenstedt, Anhalt, December 31, 1747 (or January 1, 1748), and died in GÖttingen, June 8, 1794. He wrote: “The Parson’s Daughter,” “The Wild Huntsman,” “The Song of the Brave Man,” “Kaiser and Abbot,” “The Robber Count,” “The Wives of Weinsberg,” and his most famous ballad, “Lenore.”

James Thomas Fields, a noted American publisher and author, was born at Portsmouth, New Hampshire, December 31, 1817, and died in Boston, April 24, 1881. He published: “Underbrush,” “Yesterdays with Authors,” etc.

Alexander Smith, a famous Scottish poet, was born in Kilmarnock, December 31, 1830, and died at Wardie, near Edinburgh, January 5, 1867. Among his poetical works are: “City Poems,” “Edwin of Deira,” and “A Life Drama,” his most famous work. His prose works include: “Miss Oona McQuarrie,” “Alfred Hagart’s Household,” “Dreamthorpe,” “A Summer in Skye,” etc.

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