Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 5).djvu/227

Rh made his first essays as a poet, publishing in the "Courier" several lyric poems in !S4:{-'4. He settled in Philadelphia in 184(i, and visited Europe in ls."iO. In 1853 he went again to Europe, and devoted himself to the study and practice of art in Florence and Rome till 1858. He afterward spent much time in Philadelphia and Cincinnati, but in the last years of his life made Rome his principal residence". While in the United States during: the civil war he gave public readings for the benefit of the soldiers, and recited his war-songs in the camps of the National army. He died while making a visit to the United States. His paintings, most of which deal with allegorical and mythological subjects, are full of poetic and graceful fancies, but the technical treatment is careless and unskilful, betraying his lack of early training. The best known are "The Spirit of the Waterfall," " The Lost Pleiad," "The Star of Bethlehem," "Undine," "Longfellow's Children," "Cleopatra and her Barge," and " Sheridan's Ride." He painted portraits of Elizabeth Barrett Browning, the ex-queen of Naples, George M. Dallas, Henry W. Longfellow, and others. His group of Longfellow's daughters was popular in photographs. He turned his hand occasionally to sculpture, producing one work, a bust of Sheridan, that attracted much attention. He possessed a much more thorough mastery of the means of expression in the art of poetry than in painting. His poems are marked by a fervent spirit of patriotism and by artistic power and fidelity in the description of American scenery and rural life. His first volume of " Poems" (Phila- delphia, 1847) was followed by " Lays and Ballads " (1848). He next made a collection of extracts and specimens from the " Female Poets of America" (1848), containing also biographical notices and portraits drawn by himself. An edition of his lyrics, with illustrations by Kenny Meadows, ap- peared in London in 1852, and in 1853 a new and enlarged edition was published in Philadelphia. A prose romance entitled " The Pilgrims of the Great St. Bernard" was published as a serial. " The New Pastoral," his most ambitious poem, describes in blank verse the pioneer life of a family of emigrants (Philadelphia, 1854). The more dra- matic and imaginative poem that followed, entitled "The House by the Sea" (1856), gained for it more readers than had been attracted by its own superior merits. Next appeared " Sylvia, or the Lost Shepherd, and other Poems " (1857), and " A Voyage to Iceland " (1857), and the same year a collection of his "Rural Poems" was issued in London. His " Complete Poetical W r orks " (Bos- ton, 1860) contained the longer and shorter poems that had been already published. His next narra- tive poem was " The Wagoner of the Alleghanies," a tale of Revolutionary times (Philadelphia, 1862). During the civil war he wrote many patriotic lyrics, including the stirring poem of " Sheridan's Ride," which was printed in a volume with " A Summer Story " and other pieces, chiefly of the war (Philadelphia, 1865). His last long poem was " The Good Samaritans " (Cincinnati, 1867). The fullest editions of his " Poetical Works " were print- ed in Philadelphia (3 vols., 1865 and 1867).

READE, John, journalist, b. in Ballyshannon, Donegal, Ireland, 13 Nov., 1837. He was educated at Portora royal school, Enniskillen, and at Queen's college! Belfast, came to Canada in 1856, and established the " Montreal Literary Magazine." He afterward was connected with the Montreal " Gazette," and for three years was rector of La- chute academy. At the same time he studied theology, and was ordained in 1864 a clergyman of the Church of England by Bishop Fulford, and in thai c-iipiicity MTved in the eastern townships. In isiis-'il Mr.' Reade had charge of the Church of England journal in Montreal, and since 1874 he has been employed on the staff of the Montreal " Gazette " as literary editor. He has contributed to every magazine or review that has been estab- lished in Canada since 1860, and has made transla- tions from the Greek, Latin, French, German, and Italian. In 1887 he was elected president of the Montreal society for historical studies, and he was one of the original members of the Royal society of Canada. Among other works, he has published " The Prophecy, and other Poems " (Montreal, 1870) ; " Language and Conquest " (1883) ; " The Making of Canada" (1885); "Literary Faculty of the Na- tive Races of America " (1885) ; " The Half-Breed " (1886); "Vita Sine Liberis" (1886); and " Aborigi- nal American Poetry" (1887).

'''READY. Samuel''', philanthropist, b. near Balti- more, Md., 8 March, 1789 ; d. in Baltimore, 28 Nov., 1871. He received a common-school education, learned the trade of a sail-maker, worked in the government navy-yard at Washington for several years, returned to Baltimore about 1815, and en- gaged in the business of sail-making, which he pursued with success till 1846, and after that the lumber business till 1861, when he retired. Having observed the helpless condition of poor girls who frequented his lumber-yard and wharves, he deter- mined to establish an institution for female or- phans. He obtained a charter in 1864, and, having no immediate family, left $371,000, constituting the bulk of his fortune, as an endowment for the Samuel Ready asylum. The fund increased after his death, providing an invested capital of $505,- 000, after the expenditure of $151,000 on land and buildings. The institution, which is in the north- ern part of Baltimore, was opened in 1888. The children who are admitted are maintained without expense to them, and are educated in industrial pursuits.

REAGAN, John Henninger, senator, b. in Sevier county, Tenn., 8 Oct., 1818. From an early age he was engaged in various occupations, which included ploughing, chopping wood, keeping books, running aflat-boat on Tennessee riv- er, and managing a mill, and through his diligent labor earned sufficient money to procure a good education. Before he was twenty years old he went to Nat- chez, and in 1839 removed to Texas. He soon enlisted in the force to expel the Cherokees from Texas, and was selected by Gen. Albert Sid- ney Johnston as one of a picked escort for dangerous service, but declined the offer of a lieutenancy, and became a surveyor. He penetrated into the Indian country about the Three Forks of Trinity, and was engaged in surveying that region about three years. His was the first party that escaped massacre by the Indians. In 1844 he began the study of law, and in 1848 he received his license to "practise. In 1846 he was elected colonel of militia and probate