Biography for Beginners

Biography for Beginners
Gilbert Chesterton

Biography for Beginners Being a Collection of Miscellaneous Examples for the Use of Upper Forms

INTRODUCTORY REMARKS

The Art of Biography
Is different from Geography.
Geography is about Maps,
But Biography is about Chaps.

SIR CHRISTOPHER WREN

Sir Christopher Wren
Said, "I am going to dine with some men.
"If anybody calls
"Say I am designing St. Paul's."

MIGUEL DE CERVANTES

The people of Spain think Cervantes
Equal to half-a-dozen Dantes:
An opinion resented most bitterly
By the people of Italy.

GEORGE BERNARD SHAW

Mr Bernard Shaw
Was just setting out for the war,
When he heard it was a dangerous trade
And demonstrably underpaid.

SIR HUMPHREY DAVY

Sir Humphrey Davy
Abominated gravy.
He lived in the odium
Of having discovered Sodium.

J. S. MILL

John Stuart Mill,
By a mighty effort of will,
Overcame his natural bonhomie
And wrote "Principles of Political Economy."

FRANÇOIS LISZT

The Abbé Liszt
Hit the piano with his fist.
That was the way
He used to play.

LORD CLIVE

What I like about Clive
Is that he is no longer alive.
There is a great deal to be said
For being dead.

KING EDWARD THE CONFESSOR

Edward the Confessor
Slept under the dresser.
When that began to pall,
He slept in the hall.

THE REV. JOHN CLIFFORD M.A., LL.B., D.D

Dr Clifford
And I have differed.
He disapproves of gin:
I disapprove of sin.

MESSRS CHAPMAN & HALL

Chapman & Hall
Swore not at all.
Mr Chapman's yea was yea,
And Mr Hall's nay was nay.