Page:Encyclopedia of Virginia Biography volume 3.djvu/193

 PROAIINENT PERSONS

159

were archaeology, geology, anthropology and Biblical history; his literary works are various, among which may be mentioned "The Recent Origin of Man," "Epoch of the Mammoth," "Man's Age in the World" ; he delivered a notable address at the Univer- sity of Virginia at the opening of the Brooks Museum ; he married a Miss Sharp, 0/ Norfolk; died September. 13, 1897.

Hope, James Barron, son of \\'ilton Hope, of Hampton, Virginia, and Jane Barron, his wife, daughter of Commodore James Bar- ron, was born in Norfolk. Virginia, March 23, 1827. He received his early education in the public schools, and entered William ajid Mary College, Williamsburg, Virginia, from which he was graduated in 1847. He then studied law, and began practice in Elizabeth City. He began writing at an early day. and achieved some literary repu- tation from a series of poetical sketches which were published in a Baltimore jour- iial, under the pen-name of "The late Henry Ellen, Esq." Upon the breaking out of the civil war, he entered the Confederate army, and reached the grade of captain and quar- termaster, and serving until the conflict was over. At the close of the war. when penni- less and crushed, he was made superintend- ent of the schools of his native town, and ar the same time was editor of the "Norfolk Landmark." He produced "Leoni di Monota" ill 1851 ; "A Collection of Poems" in 1859; "Elegiac Ode, and Other Poems" in 1875 ; and "Under the Empire, or, the Story of Madelon," in 1878. A poem of especial merit is "The Charge at Balaklava," which the "Literary Messenger" said, "combines all the wild and incongruous elements of battle, victory, defeat, death and glory, in its

triumph and rhythm." His verse is char- acterized by thought, dramatic elevation, and keen observation. Mr. Hope was in- vited by a joint committee of the United States senate and house of representatives, to deliver an address at the centennial of the surrender of Cornwallis at Yorktown, and read "Arms and the Man," which was highly praised as not containing a single common- place line. His devotion to "The Lost Cause" is shown in his memorial poems, which are noble and touching. In "Summer Studies" he has produced summer sounds and summer scenes. He never fully recov- ered from the exposure and hardships of the war period, and, after years of failing health, he died, September 15, 1887.

Venable, Charles S., born at Longwood, Prince Edward coimty, Virginia, April 19, 1827, son of Nathaniel E. Venable and Mary Embra (Scott) Venable, his wife. He at- tended the schools of his native county, and in 1842 was graduated from Hampden-Sid- ney College, where he tutored for three years in mathematics, and at the same time studied law. He was professor of mathe- matics, 1846-52, with the exception of one year spent in study at the University of Virginia. He also studied in the universi- ties at Berlin and Bonn, Germany. He then resumed his chair in Hampden-Sidney Col- lege, continuing until 1856, when he was elected professor of natural history and chemistry in the University of Georgia. After one year he accepted the chair of mathematics and astronomy in the Univer- sity of South Carolina, which he held until 1862. although absent on military service during the last two years, serving through- out the war, the last two years on the staf?