and from that time became an active journalist. His railway sketches, under the title "The World on Wheels," were peerless. All his works were immensely popular. He is a popular lyceum lecturer also.

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JEFFERYS TAYLOR.

BRIGHT little juvenile poem, an improvement of the old story of the milkmaid who counted her chickens before they were hatched, is given on page 199. It is from the pen of Jefferys Taylor, an English writer, who was born in 1792, and who wrote chiefly for the young, being distinguished for his quaint, practical manner of putting his thoughts. He died August 8th, 1853.

JEREMY TAYLOR.

EREMY TAYLOR, D.D, was born in Cambridge, England, in 1613. He entered Caius College in 1826, and waited at the public tables for support. After graduating he gained the friendship of Bishop Laud, and in 1636, obtained a fellowship at Oxford. In 1642 his rectory was sequestered by Parliament, and he was forced to take refuge in Wales, where he supported himself by teaching, and wrote some of his best works. As a preacher and as a writer, he occupies a high place. "Useful Studies" (p. 292) is a characteristic effusion from his pen. He died at Lisburne, Ireland, August 13th, 1667.

ALLRED TENNYSON.

ENGLAND'S present poet laureate was born in 1809 in Lincolnshire. He graduated at Cambridge, and was early distinguished for poetic ability, gaining the Chancellor's Medal in 1829. His reputation as a poet grew slowly, however, and it was not until 1842 that he really became famous. Since that time he has stood confessedly as the world's first poet. Every one of the ten selections given in GEMS, from his poems, is exquisitely beautiful in its line. On the death of Wordsworth in 1850, Tennyson was appointed poet laureate.

THOMAS OF CELANO.

NE of the grandest hymns ever written is the old Latin Dies Iræ, a translation of which is given on page 456. Its author was Thomas, a Franciscan monk, born near the beginning of the thirteenth century, at Celano, a Neapolitan village. This wonderful poem

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has had the highest encomiums from such critics and scholars as Mozart, Haydn, Goethe, Schlegel, Dryden, Scott, Milman, etc. Dr. W. R. Williams, of New York, perhaps the first scholar of America, critically describes this hymn as "combining somewhat of the rhythm of classic Latin, with the rhymes of the medieval Latin, treating of a theme full of awful sublimity, and grouping together the most startling imagery of Scripture as to the last judgment, and throwing this into yet stronger relief by the barbaric simplicity of the style in which it is set, and adding to all these its full and trumpet-like cadences, and uniting with the impassioned feelings of the South, whence it emanated, the gravity of the North, whose severer style it adopted." It is a poem that may be studied and dwelt upon, with ever increasing profit and delight.

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LORD EDWARD THURLOW.

ORD THURLOW was an eminent English lawyer, born in Norfolk, in 1732. He was sent to Cambridge, but he was compelled to leave without a degree on account of his refractory conduct. He afterwards studied law. In early life he was an intimate friend of the poet Cowper. He rose rapidly in his profession, and obtained the rank of king's counsel in 1761. He died September, 1806. His legal eminence was deemed by many to be due to happy accidents, rather than to real ability. His "Patient Stork" (p. 450) is a good poem.

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JOHN TOWNSEND TROWBRIDGE.

HE author of "The Vagabonds" (p. 130) is well known through that poem, as well as by the other two from his pen given in this volume. He was born in Monroe county, N. Y., in 1827. He wrote considerably for the "Atlantic Monthly," and has been much enjoyed as a writer of light literature.

JOHANN LUDWIG UHLAND.

HLAND was a celebrated German poet, born in 1787. He studied law and took the degree of LL.D. He was a member of the representative assembly of Wurtemburg in 1819, and in 1830 was appointed professor of the German language and literature at Tübingen. He published a rich collection of patriotic songs. As a poet, he was characterized by simplicity, tenderness, and deep religious feeling, as "The Lost Church" (p. 622) shows. He died, November, 1862.

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CHARLES DUDLEY WARNER.

HIS gentleman, author of three extracts in GEMS, was born in Plainfield, Mass., September 12th, 1829. He graduated at Hamilton College, practiced law in Chicago, and became a journalist in Hartford, where he now resides. His publications meet with very general favor.

GEORGE WASHINGTON.

ASHINGTON, the first President of the United States, was born in Westmoreland county, Va., February 22d, 1732. He was left an orphan when but twelve years of age and inherited a large estate. His early education was defective. He had some rough frontier experiences, in the early Indian wars, but he abandoned the army for civil pursuits. On the opening of hostilities in the Revolutionary War, he was unanimously chosen to command the American forces. He accepted it on the condition that he was to receive no salary. At the close of the war he laid down his commission. Then it was he issued his address to his troops, given on page 408. He was unanimously chosen first President of the newly-organized Federal government. The organization started on March 4th, 1789, but the inauguration of Washington was delayed till April 30th, when it took place, in New York City, and he delivered the address from which the selection on page 603 is taken.

Washington was strongly urged to serve a third term in the presidency, but he refused, and retired to private life at Mount Vernon. Here he enjoyed the repose and the many honors he had so nobly earned. He died. at Mount Vernon, Va., from a short illness, December 14, 1799.

DANIEL WEBSTER.

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HE great Daniel Webster was born at Salisbury (now Franklin), N. H., January 18th, 1782. He received only a limited education, and was greatly indebted for his early instruction to his mother. He completed his preparation for college in the family of Rev. Samuel Wood, of Boscawen, and entered Dartmouth College in 1797. He was considered the foremost scholar of his class. He was decidedly proficient in the classics and English literature, and was distinguished conspicuously in the debates of the college societies. Several of his collegiate addresses found their way into print. He graduated in 1801 and began the study of law. He soon rose to eminence at the bar where Samuel Dexter, Joseph Story and Jeremiah Mason were at the height of their fame. He was nominated and elected to Congress by the Federalists in

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1812. Taking his seat in the special session of May, 1813, he was appointed to the committee on foreign affairs, and made his maiden Congressional speech June 10th, 1813.

Webster was afterwards admitted to practice in the Supreme Court at Washington. He then devoted himself with great zeal to the practice of his profession, and gained rank among the most distinguished jurists of this country. He added to his world-wide fame as an orator by his address at the laying of the corner-stone of the Bunker Hill Monument, June 17th, 1825, and by his eulogy of Adams and Jefferson, delivered at Faneuil Hall, Boston, August, 1826. He served as Secretary of State under President Harrison, and was continued in office by President Tyler. He died at Marshfield, October 24th, 1852, and was buried in his family vault in the cemetery of that town. "Crime Self-Revealed," from one of his pleas in a murder case (p. 632), is a matchless piece of oratory.

THOMAS WESTWOOD.

OICES AT THE THRONE" (p. 527) was written by Thomas Westwood, who was born at Enfield, England, November 26th, 1814. He led an active business life, and was, for twenty-five years, director of a railway company in Belgium. He has been a frequent contributor of verses to the London "Athenæum and Gentleman's Magazine," and is author of several volumes of very excellent poems.

EDWIN PERCY WHIPPLE.

DWIN PERCY WHIPPLE was born at Gloucester, Mass., March 8th' 1819. He received his early education in the public schools of Salem, and at the age of fourteen, he began to write for a newspaper. He then applied himself to banking for many years. Since 1860, he has devoted himself to literature, being a frequent contributor to current periodicals, and a popular lyceum lecturer. He also enjoys considerable reputation as a critic, his skill in this department being illustrated by his clear analysis in "The Power of Words" (p. 665.)

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HENRY KIRKE WHITE.

HIS author is better known simply as Kirke White. He was an English poet, born in 1785. As a child he was remarkable for precocity, and he soon distinguished himself in ancient and modern languages, music and natural philosophy. Having made seve

ral random contributions to the "Monthly Mirror," he ventured to publish a collection of poems, which attracted the notice of Southey, who became his warm friend and generous patron. White entered St. John's College, Cambridge, in 1804. Severe application to study was too much for his constitution, and he fell into a rapid decline, and died October, 1806. His works were published by Southey, with a very interesting biography. "The Star of Bethlehem" (p. 469) is one of the finest gems of poetry.

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MRS. A. D. T. WHITNEY.

HE LITTLE RID HIN" (p. 482) is as bright and well told an Irish legend, of the fabulous order, as can readily be found. It was written by Mrs. Adeline D. Train Whitney, who was born at Boston, Mass., in 1824. Her husband is Seth D. Whitney, of Milton, Mass. She has long been a favorite contributor to the current magazines, especially those for the younger readers.

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JOHN G. WHITTIER.

HE QUAKER POET," as John Greenleaf Whitter has been familiarly called, is a native of Haverhill, Mass., where he was born in 1807. After an academic education he devoted himself to journalism. He also had some political experience, but in 1840 he settled at Amesbury, Mass., where he still resides. He has written extensively, both in prose and poetry. Sixteen splendid selections from Whittier are given in GEMS. Like Washington Irving, Whittier never married.

CARLOS WILCOX.

ILCOX was an American poet, born at Newport, N. H., October, 1794. He studied theology and began to preach. In 1822, he published the first book of a poem called "The Age of Benevolence." He gained a high reputation for eloquence. He died in 1827. His poem on page 219 is beautiful in sentiment and structure.

J. A. WILEY.

AMES A. WILEY, D.D., is an eminent divine of the Free Church of Scotland. He published the "History of Protestantism," "Edom in Prophecy," and other valuable works. His sketch, given on page 690, illustrates the charming style in which he deals with historic detail, investing his narrative with the attractiveness of romance.