Thus began the most famous controversy in the annals of literature, which raged for several hundred years. Among the claimants to the honor of having written this book were Bernard of Clairvaux, Giovanni Gerso, an Italian monk of the twelfth century; Walter Hilton, an English monk; John Gerson, Chancellor of Paris; John Gerson, Abbot of Vercelli, and Thomas a Kempis. What would seem to be conclusive evidence that Thomas a Kempis was the author is the fact that the _Imitation_ was written for chanting. Carl Hirsche compared the manuscript copy of the _Imitation_ of 1441 which he found in the Bourgogne Library in Brussels with other writings of Thomas a Kempis, also marked for chanting, and found great similarity between the _Imitation_ and the works admitted to have been written by Thomas a Kempis. The _Imitation_ has been a favorite book with many persons. Mrs. Jane L. Stanford, who showed such remarkable faith in the university which Leland Stanford founded and who made many sacrifices to save it in critical periods, always carried a fine copy of Thomas a Kempis with her. Miss Berger, who was Mrs. Stanford's secretary and constant companion for over fifteen years, told me that whenever Mrs. Stanford was in doubt or trouble she took up the _Imitation_, opened it at random and always found something which settled her doubts and gave her comfort. THE RUBA'IYAT Edward FitzGerald's version of the _Ruba'iyat_ was the first to appeal to the western world. It has been reproduced in countless editions since it was first issued in London in 1859. Dole in the _Ruba'iyat of Omar Khayyam_ (Boston, 1896) gives a fairly complete bibliography of manuscripts, editions, translations and imitations of the Quatrains. Five hundred quatrains from the original Persian, translated metrically by E. H. Whinfield, were issued in London, 1883, while Payne made a poetical translation, reproducing all the metrical eccentricities of the original Persian, which he called "_The Quatrains of Omar Khayyam_, now first completely done into English Verse from the Persian, with a Biographical and Critical Introduction" (London, 1898). Heron Allen has added a valuable book in _The Ruba'iyat of Omar Khayyam_: A Facsimile of the Manuscript in the Bodleian Library, Translated and Edited (Boston, 1898). One of the best editions of the _Ruba'iyat_ is a reprint of FitzGerald's various editions, showing the many changes, some of which were not improvements, and the quatrains that were dropped out of the final version, with a commentary by Batson and an introduction by Ross (New York, 1900).