Not marble nor the gilded monuments
Of princes shall outlive this powerful rhyme;
But you shall shine more bright in these contents
Than unswept stone, besmear’d with sluttish time.
When wasteful war shall statues overturn,
And broils root out the work of masonry,
Nor Mars his sword nor war’s quick fire shall burn
The living record of your memory.
‘Gainst death and all-oblivious enmity
Shall you pace forth; your praise shall still find room,
Even in the eyes of all posterity
That wear this world out to the ending doom.
    So, till the judgment that yourself arise,
    You live in this, and dwell in lovers’ eyes.—William Shakespeare, Sonnet 55

Because he was baptized on April 26, and because of assumptions made by scholars about this fact in later centuries, and because he definitely died on April 23, a mere 52 years later, William Shakespeare’s birthday and his death day are celebrated today. He was possibly born 452 years ago today, and he died 400 years ago on this date.
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Today is the 46th annual Earth Day. This year’s theme is, “Trees for the Earth.”

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“He that can heroically endure adversity will bear prosperity with equal greatness of soul; for the mind that cannot be dejected by the former is not likely to be transported with the later.”—Henry Fielding, “Amelia”

Henry Fielding was born on this date in 1707. He was also the author of the novels Joseph Andrews; The History of Tom Jones, A Foundling; and Shamela.

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“You can always count on a murderer for a fancy prose style. Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, exhibit number one is what the seraphs, the misinformed, simple, noble-winged seraphs, envied. Look at this tangle of thorns.”—Vladimir Nabokov, “Lolita”

Vladimir Nabokov was born on this date in 1899.
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Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia visited Kingston, Jamaica, fifty years ago today. Over 100,000 people came to the airport to catch a glimpse of him. (Photo above.)

A religious movement had grown in Jamaica since the 1930s holding that the emperor himself was God incarnate, the Messiah, the “King of Kings.” Selassie’s birth name was Tafari and his pre-imperial title had been Ras (“duke”)—Ras Tafari—which the religion took as its name. The followers called themselves Rastafarians.

The Emperor never embraced the idea of his divinity, but he never denied it outright, either. “Who am I to disturb their belief?” he is reported to have said once. Today is a holy day in Jamaica, Grounation Day, the day the messiah himself visited Jamaica. A video from the day, below the fold:
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