April 10, 2008
Reader’s Almanac: 4/10
Born today: Hugo Grotius, scholar, jurist, Delft, Netherlands, 1583; John Wilmot, Earl of Rochester, poet, wit, Ditchley Manor House, Oxfordshire, 1647; William Hazlitt, essayist, critic, Maidstone, Kent, 1778; Lew Wallace, novelist, poet, general, Brookville, Ind., 1827; Joseph Pulitzer, editor, publisher, Budapest, Hungary, 1847; "A.E." (ps. George William Russell), poet, journalist, Lurgan, Ireland, 1867; Horace Gregory, poet, critic, Milwaukee, Wis., 1898; David Halberstam, journalist, author, New York City, 1934; Paul Theroux, travel writer, novelist, Medford, Mass., 1941.
Died: Algernon Swinburne, poet, playwright, novelist, critic, London, 1909; Khalil Gibran, poet, New York City, 1931; Charles Nordhoff, aviator, author, Santa Barbara, Calif., 1947; Pierre Teilhard De Chardin, Jesuit author, paleontologist, philosopher, New York City, 1955; Evelyn Waugh, novelist, satirist, Combe Florey,
Somerset, 1966.
Quote for the Day: "Here lies our sovereign lord the king / Whose word no man relies on; / He never says a foolish thing, / Nor ever does a wise one." — John Wilmot, Earl of Rochester, written on the bedchamber door of Charles II (whose reply was "That is very true: for my words are my own, and my actions are my minsters'.")
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