Horace Walpole turns to the letters and argues that: Walpole's numerous letters are often used as a historical resource. In one, dating from 28 January 1754, he coined the word serendipity which he said was derived from a "silly fairy tale" he had read, "The Three Princes of Serendip". The oft-quoted epigram, "This world is a comedy to those that think, a tragedy to those that feel", is from a letter of Walpole's to Anne, Countess of Ossory, on 16 August 1776. The original, fuller version appeared in a letter to Sir Horace Mann on 31 December 1769: "I have often said,
Horace Mann Jr. is credited with the discovery of more than 100 species. Horace Mann Jr. was born in Boston on February 25, 1844. He was the eldest of three sons of education reformer Horace Mann and his second wife, Mary Tyler Peabody Mann, and the grandson of Nathaniel Peabody. Mann was educated by his parents, who believed in teaching through hands-on study, at home in West Newton, Massachusetts. In 1853, the family moved to Yellow Springs, Ohio, where the elder Horace Mann established Antioch College. Although not old enough for college enrollment when first they arrived, young Horace had an inquisitive mind