A contemporary of such literary giants as Jonathan Swift, Alexander Pope and George Berkely, Richard Steele was born in Dublin in 1672. He was baptized in the church of Saint Bride (since demolished) and the country house at Monkstown in County Dublin where he grew up cannot be identified.
My late father suffered greatly at school because of being left-handed, or a ciotóg, as we say here in Ireland. He was beaten regularly and forbidden to use his left hand for writing. The result was that he taught himself the most beautiful script with his right hand, though he never received any acknowledgement from the teacher for his efforts.
The African American Frederick Douglass was born into slavery on a plantation in Talbot County, Maryland, in February 1818. Born Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey, the social reformer, orator, writer and statesman later changed his name to Frederick Douglass. He was reared by his grandmother, who was a slave.
