Today is Resurrection Sunday and also the birthday of Christopher Smart, a poet and writer of popular songs, who was at least border line mentally disturbed. He wrote a famous poem about his cat, Geoffrey, and how said cat worshipped the Lord. He also wrote a poem called Song to David about David and the Psalms and how God speaks through the psalms of David.

Samuel Johnson on Christopher Smart, from The Life of Johnson:
“Madness frequently discovers itself merely by unnecessary deviation from the usual modes of the world. My poor friend Smart showed the disturbance of his mind, by falling upon his knees, and saying his prayers in the street, or in any other unusual place. Now although, rationally speaking, it is greater madness not to pray at all, than to pray as Smart did, I am afraid there are so many who do not pray, that their understanding is not called in question.”

Concerning this unfortunate poet, Christopher Smart, who was confined in a mad-house, he had, at another time, the following conversation with Dr. Burney.
BURNEY. “How does poor Smart do, Sir; is he likely to recover?”
JOHNSON. “It seems as if his mind had ceased to struggle with the disease; for he grows fat upon it.”
BURNEY. “Perhaps, Sir, that may be from want of exercise.” J
JOHNSON. “No, Sir; he has partly as much exercise as he used to have, for he digs in the garden. Indeed, before his confinement, he used for exercise to walk to the alehouse; but he was carried back again. I did not think he ought to be shut up. His infirmities were not noxious to society. He insisted on people praying with him; and I’d as lief pray with Kit Smart as any one else. Another charge was, that he did not love clean linen; and I have no passion for it.”

I missed the following authors who recently had birthdays:

April 7:
Hugh Blair, Scottish professor of rhetoric (1718-1800): “Worry not about the possible troubles of the future; for if they come, you are but anticipating and adding to their weight; and if they do not come, your worry is useless; and in either case it is weak and in vain, and a distrust of God’s providence.”
Mary De La Riviere Manley (1663-1724), British writer who was a political ally of Swift: “No time like the present.”
John Sheffield, 3rd Earl of Mulgrave, Duke of Buckingham and Normanby, English courtier, soldier, statesman, essayist and poet (1648 – 1721): “Learn to write well, or not to write at all.”
William Wordsworth, English romantic poet (1770-1850): “To begin, begin.”
(That’s about as succint as Wordsworth ever got.)

April 8:
Phineas Fletcher, English poet (1584-1650): “Ah, Foole! faint heart faire lady n’ere could win.”
William Wycherley, Restoration dramatist (1641-1715) “Women serve but to keep a man from better company.”
I could turn Wycherley’s quotation around and add that his attitude wouldn’t win many ladies either.

I found this on Max and Liz Goss’s blog: a column in National Review Online on the importance of the Battle of the Alamo. The author first reprints Travis’s letter to the people of Texas and the world:

To the People of Texas & all Americans in the World ?
Fellow Citizens and Compatriots ?

William Barret Travis Lt. Col.

Then, he goes on to say that “it would be a serious mistake to underestimate the influence of Alamo imagery on almost every generation of American youth.” Yeah, go Texas!!

Margaret Oliphant (1828-1897) was a Victorian novelist, born either on April 3rd or 4th. (I found both dates.) She wrote and had published over 100 novels in her lifetime; she said that she was so prolific because she relied on her writing to support her extensive and extended family. She outlived her husband and all seven of her children. Her novels are about English country life, religion, and male/female relations. Oliphant was said to be Queen Victoria’s favorite novelist. I think I’ll add one of her books to my reading list, perhaps Miss Marjoribanks, “a comic narrative of domestic and clerical life.”

I like this quote: “Oh, never mind the fashion. When one has a style of one’s own, it is always twenty times better.” I don’t know which of her novels this one comes from, but I definitely agree with the sentiment.