TO-DAY'S ANNIVERSARIES.

Press, Volume LXVII, Issue 14052, 25 May 1911, Page 11

TO-DAY'S ANNIVERSARIES.

MAY 25th. Groeory VII (Hitdebrand), one of the mostfamoua of tbe Bopes, died. .. 108S Calderon, Spain's greatest dramatist, died . •» • • • i <*■*•*"* Great Plague "at . (brought from tho Levant; lasted nearly a. year: 60,000 people parisned: splcniiid heroism of Jtiishop Bolaunc* and Chevalier Kose) .. •• l<-° Lord Lytton; great novelist, born .. icw Kalph Waldo .Emereoii, American os.ayist, born .. •• •• le0( * Dr. Wm. Paley, author of Theology," "Evidences of Chnstianity," died ... ... ' •« «*} E Malone, Shakespearian critic, died 13l_ First isauo oi "The Preaa" appeared 1861 Disputes with -daoria; thoy expel British settlers near .mow Plymouth and plough tho land- .. -• 1879 Edward Bulwer Lytton.—As a child this brilliant man was a dovourer or books, and at an early age took to rhyming. About tho of seventeen he published "Israel and Other Poems," and about the same time was "changed for life" by a liopeless, tragic, first love. His college career ended, he acted to perfection the young man of fashion, and in his twenty-fourth year contracted an unfortunate marriage. His mother was against the union from the first, and the fact tliat sho withdrew supplies from her son was, however sad for him, a great gain for literature, for, as he was thrown almost entirely upon his own resources, it called forth a marvellous literary activity. His wants while the estrangement lasted were to be supplied "out of his r«el[-stored portfolio, his tcemin_; brain, and his indefatigable industry." During the next ten years he produced twelve novels, two poems, one political pamphlet, one play, besides numerous miecellania. His first success came with "Pelhain," and then came "Paul Clifford," a marvellous idealisation of the highwayman, as "Eugene Aram" is of the murderer, and the CTeatly-admired and exquisitely fanciful "Pilgrims of the Rhine." Then followed what nre considered his j_reatest works. 'The Last Days of Pompeii," which enables us to breathe the very air, as it were. of the bygone civilisation."Rienzi," «<Vho T.aafe of the_la___ii__tt____.

thrilling presentation of the mighty Warwick, (the "King Maker"). Harold," the last of the toaxon kings and his love for Edith, and the domestic trilogy, "My Novel," etc. His plays. "The Lady of Lyons/ "Richelieu. "Money " etc.. were equally successfill "linlwer Lvtton entered Parliament in his twenty-eighth year, sitting first as a Protectionist Liberal and then veering round to Conservatism. His deafness hindered him from shining as a debater, but he made himself a successful orator. For one brief year (1858-59), he was Colonial Secretary, but his tenure of office was memorable for the forming into distinct colonies the vast territories of Queensland and British Columbia. He was raised to the peerage in 18GG, and died seven years later in his seventieth year, and "was buried in Westminster Abbey.

Dr. William Palcy.—This celebrated divine was a son of a minor canon uf Peterborough Cathedral. ' In his sixteenth year he entered Christ's College, Cambridge, as a sizar, and led for tho first two rears an idle and dissipated life, but thereafter mended his ways, became a severe student, and somewhere near his twenty-fifth year became a fellow and tutor of his college, and a lecturer on moral philosophy. About eight years later he married, and nfror holding various country livings, was at len_th elected to a prebendial stall in Carlisle Cathedral. When he was a little over forty years of age ho published his "Principles of Moral and Political Philosophy," for which he received £1000. Ho propounds therein a form of what is known as utilitarianism. Five years yater appeared ,what is probably his most original work, "Horse Paulina?," a defence of tbe New Testament against the view that it 'is a cunningly devised fable. It was followed by his famous "View of the Evidences of Christianity," which was long a textbook among modern Christian defences, and still is much, sought after, although the bases of controversy have shifted. Honours now came upon the author. He received a stall at St. Paul's, and several other lucrative positions. When he was past "middle age, he became subject to a painful disease, but tliis did not prevent him persevering with perhaps the most popular of his works, "Natural Philosophy." Dr. Paley died in his sixty-second year.

Edniond Malone. —Born in Dublin. Malone, after a distinguished university career, was fortunate enough to he left a fortune, after which he retired to London to devote himself to literary pursuits. His first work was a "supplement" to Steeven's edition of Shakes]icare, but his own edition of the dramatist did not appear till many years afterwards. It was warmly received, especially tho essays on tho "History of the Stage" and the "Genuineness of tho Three Plays of Honry VI." As an editor, he was remarkable for great good sense, extensive research, and a becoming respect for the text of tho earlier editions. Among his miscellaneous writings he published a posthumous edition of the works of his friend, the great painter, Sir Joshua Reynolds. After his own death, which occurred in his seventy-first year, he loft behind a large mass of materials for another edition of Shakespeare, which at length anpenred in 1821, and as "Variorum Shakespeare," is known and valued by students of the author.