Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume IV.djvu/54

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46 CARY She began writing verses at the age of 18 years, and for the next ten years made frequent con- tributions in prose and verse to newspapers and magazines. She first attracted attention by some sketches of rural life published in the " National Era," under the signature " Patty Lee." The " Poems of Alice and Phoebe Gary," of which about one third were written by the latter, appeared in Philadelphia in 1849. In 1850 the two sisters removed to New York, where they devoted themselves with industry and success to literary labor. Alice became a constant contributor to the leading literary peri- odicals of the country, and her articles, both prose and poetry, were subsequently collected in volumes which were warmly welcomed both at home and abroad. She also wrote novels and poems which made their first appearance in book form. Her poems are characterized by a rare naturalness and grace, while her prose is remarkable for its realistic character and charming descriptions of domestic life. Her last illness was protracted and attended with much suffering, but was borne with pa- tience and cheerfulness. Alice Gary's pub- lished works, besides the volume above men- tioned, are: "Clovernook Papers," in two se- ries (1851 and 1853), and "The Clovernook Children " (1854), containing sketches of west- ern life and scenerv ; u Hagar, a Story of To- day " (1852) ; " Lyra and other Poems " (1853 ; enlarged ed., including "The Maiden of Tlas- cala," 1855); "Married, not Mated" (1856); "Pictures of Country Life" (1859); "Lyrics and Hymns" (1866); "The Bishop's Son" (1867); "The Lover's Diary" (1867); and " Snow Berries, a Book for Young Folks " (1869). IL I'lurbr. an American poetess, sister of the preceding, born near Cincinnati, Sept. 4, 1824, died at Newport, K. L, July 31, 1871. She contributed frequently to periodicals, but her writings were chiefly poems very different in style from those of her sister, being more buoy- ant in tone and more independent in manner. One of her earliest poems, " Near Home," writ- ten in 1842, attracted very general attention. Her household duties while living in New York with her sister interfered somewhat with her literary labor. Her published works, besides the contributions to the volume issued in con- junction with her sister, were : " Poems and Parodies " (1854) ; " Poems of Faith, Hope, and Love" (1868); and a large portion of the "Hymns for all Christians," compiled by the Rev. Dr. Deems in 1869. She wrote a very beautiful and touching tribute to her sister's memory, which was published in the " Lady's Repository " a few days before Jier own death. See "Memorial of Alice and Phoebe Gary, with some of their Later Poems," by Mary Clemmer Ames (New York, 1873). CARY, Archibald, an American patriot, born in Virginia about 1730, died there in September, 1786. His family was descended fror, 1 Henry Lord Hunsdon, and at the time of his death he was the heir apparent of the barony. He early became a member of the house of bur- gesses. In 1764 he served on the committee which reported the address to the king, lords, and commons, on the principles of taxation; and in 1770 was one of the signers of the " mer- cantile association," pledged to use no British fabrics thereafter, the design being to resist by practical measures the encroachments of the government. In 1773 he was one of the committtee of correspondence by which the colonies were united against parliament ; in the following year he was a member of the convention which appointed delegates to the general congress; and he served with great distinction in the convention of 1776. As chairman of the committee of the whole he re- ported the resolutions instructing the Virginia delegates in congress to propose independence. When the state government was organized he was returned to the senate, of which he was chosen president. At this time occurred the incident with which his name is most generally connected. The scheme of a dictatorship had been broached, and without his knowledge or consent Patrick Henry was spoken of for the post. In the midst of the general agitation Gary met Mr. Syme, Mr. Henry's half-brother, in the lobby of the assembly, and said to him : " Sir, I am told that your brother wishes to be dictator. Tell him from me that the day of his appointment shall be the day of his death, for he shall find my dagger in his heart before the sunset of that day." The project was speedily abandoned. Gary soon afterward re- tired to his estate of Ampthill, in Chesterfield co., where he died. He was n good represen- tative of the former race of Virginia planters, delighting in agricultural pursuits, in blooded horses, and improved breeds of cattle. He was a man of singular courage, and was called by his contemporaries " Old Iron." CARY, Henry Fiancis, an English clergyman and writer, born in Birmingham, Dec. 6, 1772, died in London, Aug. 14, 1844. lie early dis- tinguished himself by an " Ode to Kosciusko " and a volume of odes and sonnets. At Oxford he devoted himself to the study of the modern European languages. In 1797 he was appointed vicar of Bromley Abbot's. His translation into blank verse of the Ditina Commedia of Dante (1806-'14) gained him great celebrity. He also translated the " Birds " of Aristophanes, and some odes of Pindar. His continuation of Johnson's "Lives of the English Poets" from Johnson to Kirke "White, and his "Lives of the early French Poets," are meritorious produc- tions ; the latter were published anonymously in the " London Magazine " and in a volume edited by his son, the Rev. Henry Gary, in 1846. From 1826 to 1832 he was assistant li- brarian of the British museum, and received a government pension of 200. He edited edi- tions of Pope, Cowper, Milton, Thomson, and Young. He was buried in Westminster abbey, and his memoirs, by his son, with his literary journal and letters, were published in 1847.