EXPLANATORY NOTES.

315

Page 74.-Nathaniel Hawthorne was born in Salem, Mass., in 1804. He graduated at Bowdoin College in 1825, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and President Pierce being members of his class. He early turned his attention to literature; but his first efforts received little encouragement. In 1850 his “Scarlet Letter" was published, and at once made him famous. By that book, "The House of the Seven Gables," "The Marble Faun" and "Our Old Home"-a series of sketches of English subjects-his title to the first place among American writers of romance was amply confirmed. His "Twice-Told Tales" and "Mosses from an Old Manse" are especially attractive to young readers. He died at the age of 59.

Page 76.-Thomas Bailey Aldrich, an American poet, born at Portsmouth, N. H., 1836.

Page 77.—Victor Hugo is a famous French novelist. In one of his books, "Les Miserables," he describes the passage of a fugitive through the sewers of Paris.

Page 82.-Sherwood was a vast forest in England, frequented, according to tradition, by Robin Hood and his men, a romantic band of robbers.

Page 84.-Robert Dodsley, a bookseller, was born near Mansfield, England, in 1709. He wrote several tragedies, and was the friend of Dr. Johnson and other eminent literary men.

Rev. Richard Chenevix Trench, an eminent English divine and writer, was born in 1807.

Page 85.--Robert Bruce, king of Scots, was born in 1274. He waged war for many years against the English, who claimed the sovereignty of Scotland. He died in 1329.

Page 86.-Lord James of Douglas and Edward Bruce were two friends of King Robert Bruce.

Page 89.-"Dexter" is a famous trotting-horse.

Pegasus is the fabled steed which poets were supposed to ride when composing verses.

Seven-league boots have existence only in fairy stories. They were said to enable their wearer to walk at prodigious speed.

Page 91.-Richard S. S. Andros was a native of Berkley, Mass. He wrote a few poems of marked merit.

Page 95.-Malibran, a famous singer and actress, was born in Paris, in 1808, and died in 1836.

Page 100.—J. T. Trowbridge is a native of Monroe county, N. Y., and was born in 1827. He wrote "Neighbor Jackwood," "The Vagabonds," etc., and many popular stories for young readers, among which are the "Brighthope" and "Jack Hazard" series.

Page 101.-Cologne, a perfumed liquid, so named because it was originally made in Cologne, Germany.

Page 102.-Macbeth is one of Shakespeare's plays.

Banquo is the name of a character in the same, whose ghost is supposed to appear.

Page 103.-Louisa M. Alcott, one of the most popular writers of the day, is a native of Concord, Mass., and the daughter of A. Bronson Alcott. She is the author of "Little Women,” “Little Men,” “An OldFashioned Girl," etc., which have had a wide circulation, and are universally admired for their brightness and naturalness.

Charles Mackay, a British author, was born at Perth in 1812. He has published several volumes of poems and songs, some of which have attained great popularity.

Page 105.-James Anthony Froude, the historian, was born in Devonshire, England, in 1818, and graduated at Oxford University. His “History of England from the Fall of Wolsey to the Death of Elizabeth" is a work of great merit.

Page 107.-Lord Cornwallis commanded the British army that surrendered to Gen. Washington at Yorktown, Va., in October, 1781. With this event the Revolutionary war ended.

Page 108.-William Wirt, a distinguished lawyer and statesman, was born at Bladensburg, Md., in 1772. He was Attorney-General of the United States from 1817 to 1829. His principal literary work was the Life of Patrick Henry, one of the earliest and ablest American patriots. He died in 1834.

Page 109.-" Pinta" and "Saint Maria" were the names of two of Columbus's vessels.

Castile is the name of a province which forms a part of the kingdom of Spain.

Page 113.-James Gates Percival was born in Berlin, Conn., in 1795. He was eminent in science and literature.

Page 114.-Theodore Hook, a novelist and wit, was born in London, in 1788. His contributions to literature were short-lived, and to-day are almost forgotten. He died in 1841.

EXPLANATORY NOTES.

Page 118.-Nebo is a mountain in Palestine.

317

Jordan is a river of Asiatic Turkey, and forms the eastern boundary of Palestine.

Page 119.-Eyry is the name of an eagle's nest.

Celia Frances Alexander is the wife of a clergyman residing a Strabane, in Ireland. She is the authoress of several beautiful hymus and sacred songs.

Page 120.-George Bancroft, the historian, was born at Worcester, Mass., in 1800. His greatest work is a History of the United States in ten volumes, to the preparation of which he devoted more than thirty years of labor.

Ethan Allen was a commander of American troops in the Revolutionary war, and the captor of Ticonderoga, which was a fort on the west shore of Lake Champlain, in the State of New York. The once famous fortifications are now in ruins.

Page 122.-Florence Percy is the pen-name of Mrs. Elizabeth Akers Allen, a native of Maine. She is the author of "Rock me to Sleep, Mother," and many other popular poems.

Page 123.-Don Gomez was a minister of Spain at the time of Columbus's discovery of America in 1492.

The Tagus is the principal river of Portugal.

Page 124.-Genoa is a large seaport city in Sardinia.

Vinet is one of the literary names of Epes Sargent, a Bostonian, best known as the compiler of an excellent series of school reading books. He has also a reputation as a poet and novelist.

Page 125.-James Henry Leigh Hunt was born near London in 1784. He was a genial poet and an able critic. He died in 1859.

Page 128.-The Dee is a river in Scotland.

Page 129.-Krilof, a celebrated writer of fables, was born in Russia, in 1768, and died in 1844.

Page 131.-Solomon was an ancient king noted for his wisdom. Dr. Samuel Johnson was a famous English author who lived in the last century. He compiled a Dictionary of the English language, and wrote many books, one of the best of which is "Rasselas." Hampstead is a suburb of London.

Galileo was an astronomer who first discovered that the earth moved around the sun.

Pisa is a city in Tuscany, Italy, famous for its Leaning Tower.

27*

Sir Samuel Brown was a celebrated civil engineer.

The Tweed is a large river which divides, in part, England and Scotland.

James Watt, an Englishman, born about one hundred years ago, is generally esteemed as the inventor of the steam-engine.

The Clyde is one of the principal rivers of Scotland.

Page 132.-The Thames Tunnel is a passage-way constructed beneath the waters of the river Thames in London.

Samuel Smiles is a native of Haddington, England, and was born in 1816. He is the author of several very valuable books, including "Self-Help," "Character," and "The Life of George Stephenson."

Page 133.-Fitz-James and Roderick are personages who figure in Sir Walter Scott's poem, "The Lady of the Lake." The former was the assumed name of the Scottish king.

Page 135.-Richard H. Dana was born at Cambridge, Mass., in 1815. In early life he was a sailor, and wrote a book called "Two Years Before the Mast," which is a very entertaining and instructive narrative of life at sea.

Page 137.-Mrs. Felicia Hemans was born in Liverpool, England, in 1794. She wrote many poems of great and thoughtful beauty.

Page 138.-Charles Sprague was born in Boston in 1791, and is still living. He is best known as the author of an ode on Shakespeare, The Winged Worshippers" and other poems.

Page 139.-Helvellyn is a mountain in Cumberland. It is one of the highest peaks in England.

A lake is called a "tarn" in the Scottish highlands.

Page 140.--William Wordsworth, one of the greatest of English poets, was born in Cumberland, England, in 1770, and died in 1850.

Page 145.-T. B. Aldrich. See note to page 76. The "Story of a Bad Boy," from which this extract is made, is an excellent book for the

young.

Page 150.-Horace Smith, a writer of humorous prose and verse, was born in London in 1780. He and his brother James wrote "Rejected Addresses."

Page 153.-Harriet Beecher Stowe was born at Litchfield, Conn., in 1812. She is the author of many books, the most famous of which is "Uncle Tom's Cabin." She is the daughter of Rev. Dr. Lyman Beecher, and the sister of Henry Ward Beecher.

EXPLANATORY NOTES.

319

Page 154.-William Tell was a Switzer (Swiss) patriot who resisted the Austrian tyrant Gesler.

Page 156.-Murillo and Sebastian were famous painters of Seville, one of the chief cities of Spain.

Page 162.-Ascott R. Hope is an Englishman, and a teacher by profession. He has written several books, including "A Book about Boys" and "A Book about Dominies."

Friedrich Adolf Krummacher, born in Westphalia, Germany, in 1768, was a distinguished theologian, and wrote many religious poems for children.

Page 164.-Fanny Fern (Sarah Payson Willis) was born in Portland, Maine, in 1811, and died in 1873. She was a sister of N. P. Willis, the poet. She was twice married, her second husband being James Parton, the writer. She wrote "Fern Leaves," "Little Ferns," "Ruth Hall," and other books, which have been very popular.

Rev. John Pierpont was born in Litchfield, Conn., in 1785. He was first a lawyer, then a clergyman, was an active reformer, and a poet of good reputation.

Gen. Joseph Warren, an eminent patriot of the Revolutionary war, was killed in the battle of Bunker Hill. This hill is in Charlestown, Mass.

Page 165.-Edinburgh is the chief city in Scotland, and was formerly its capital.

Jacobite was the name given the supporters of James, called the Pretender, who claimed the right to the throne of England in 1745.

Holyrood House was in ancient times the principal royal edifice in Edinburgh.

Page 168.-Alfred Tennyson, Poet Laureate of England, was born in 1807. His "Idyls of the King" are esteemed his finest compositions.

Page 173.-Timothy S. Arthur was born in Newburg, N. Y., in 1809, but for many years has lived in Philadelphia. He is a favorite among young readers as the author of "Lights and Shadows of Real Life," ""Tales for Rich and Poor," etc.

Page 174.-Hartley Coleridge was the eldest son of the celebrated English poet and philosopher Samuel Taylor Coleridge. He wrote good verse and better prose. As a writer of verse he is best known by his sonnets, which are very highly esteemed.

Page 175.-" The Thirty-nine Articles" was the name given to