Holmes, Oliver Wendell, M.D., LL.D., Cambridge, Massachusetts, August 29, 1809—October 7, 1894, Boston, Massachusetts. He graduated from Harvard College in the famous Class of 1829, studied medicine and became a practitioner in Boston, and was appointed Professor of Anatomy in the Harvard Medical School in 1847. Although distinguished as a physician his fame is that of a man of letters gifted with a sense of humor which made him one of the wittiest men of his time. Besides important medical treatises he wrote essays, novels, biographical sketches, and poetry which brought him a great reputation in this country and in Great Britain. Much of his poetry is occasional verse, which he was often called upon to write, such as his “International Ode” to be sung to the tune “America” (“God Save the Queen”) on the occasion of the visit of the Prince of Wales in 1860. Oxford University gave him the honorary degree of D.C.L. in 1886. He was a member of Kings’ Chapel, (Unitarian) Boston, and two of his poems are about that church. He contributed The _Autocrat at the Breakfast Table_ to the opening issues of _The Atlantic Monthly_, 1857-58, published _The Professor at the Breakfast Table_ in 1859, _The Poet at the Breakfast Table_ in 1872. He wrote _Elsie Venner_, 1861, and two other novels. His poetry was published in _Songs in Many Keys_, 1861; _Humorous Poems_, 1865; _Before the Curfew_, 1888; and in his _Complete Poetical Works_, in 1895. Although he made a greater contribution to American hymnody than did any other of the “New England poets” of his era, except Bryant and Whittier, his hymns were incidental literary by-products, for he was not primarily a hymn writer. They include: 1. _Angel of peace, thou hast tarried too long_ Written in 1869. 2. _Father of mercies, heavenly Friend_, A prayer in time of war. Undated but between 1861 and 1865. 3. _Lead where the banners wave last to the sea_, Written as an American national anthem. It appeared in his _Songs in Many Keys_, 1861, entitled “Freedom, our Queen.” 4. _Lord of all being, throned afar_, (God’s Omnipotence) Included in _The Autocrat at the Breakfast Table_, 1848, under the title of “A Sun-day Hymn.” This is his finest hymn and has had widespread use in many collections. 5. _O Lord of hosts, Almighty King_, Entitled “Army Hymn,” and published in _The Soldier’s Companion_, a hand-book of hymns and scripture readings issued in the fall of 1861, by the American Unitarian Association, for use by soldiers in the Union Army. It is a fine hymn, but with several lines directly referring to the immediate situation which make it unsuitable for present use and which cannot be altered or dropped without mutilating the hymn. In the same collection he wrote an “Additional Verse” appended to “The Star-Spangled Banner,” beginning _When our land is illumined with Liberty’s smile_,