ished work of Virgil, his "Georgica," is an agricultural poem: its object was "to recommend the principles of the ancient Romans, their love of home, of labor, of piety, and order; to magnify their domestic happiness and greatness; to make men proud of their country on better grounds than the mere glory of its arms, and extent of its conquests. . . . To comprehend the moral grandeur of the 'Georgics,' in point of style the most perfect piece of Roman literature, we must regard it as the glorification of Labor."

But the poem with which his name is coupled for all time is his epic poem, the Æneid. This was written during the last eleven years of his life: he proposed to devote three years more to polishing and completing the poem, but died without having given it his final touches. It is said, that for this reason he expressed a wish when on his death-bed, to burn the poem; but his friends would not gratify him, and it was published without alteration by Varius and Plotius.

In the year 19 (B.C.) Virgil was seized with a sudden illness, and died in a few days at Brundusium, Sept. 22, in his fifty-first year.

In accordance with his request, his body was conveyed to Naples for burial. His tomb, on the hill of Posilipo, is still visited by tourists from every land.

The Eneid is an epic poem in twelve books, and treats of the following events:

When Troy was taken by the Greeks, Æneas, carry ing his aged father Anchises on his back, and leading his wife and son, escaped from the burning city, intending to go to Italy, the original birthplace of his family.

The wife was lost, and the old father died; but, after numerous adventures by sea and land, Æneas and his son Ascanius arrived in Italy. Latinus, the king, re

ceived him kindly, and soon promised him his daughter Lavinia in marriage. But she had already been be trothed by her mother to Turnus; and the king, finding no other way out of his dilemma, proposed that the rivals should settle the dispute by combat. Turnus was slain. Æneas married Lavinia, and succeeded his father-in-law upon the throne.

Dr. Brewer, in "The Reader's Handbook," gives the following outline of the Eneid:

"Book I.-The escape from Troy. Æneas and his son, driven by a tempest on the shores of Carthage, are hospitably entertained by Queen Dido.

"Book II. Eneas tells Dido the tale of the wooden horse, the burning of Troy, and his flight with his father, wife, and son. The wife was lost and died.

"Book III.-The narrative continued. with on the way, and the death of his father.

The perils he met

"Book IV. - Dido falls in love with Æneas, but he steals away from Carthage; and Dido, on a funeral pyre, puts an end to her life.

"Book V. - Æneas reaches Sicily, and celebrates there the games in honor of Anchises. This book corresponds to the Iliad, XXIII.

"Book VI. — Æneas visits the infernal regions. This book corresponds to Odyssey, XI.

"Book VII. — Latinus, King of Italy, entertains Æneas, and promises to him Lavinia (his daughter) in marriage; but Prince Turnus had been already betrothed to her by the mother, and raises an army to resist Æneas.

"Book VIII. Preparations on both sides for a general war.

"Book IX. - Turnus, during the absence of Æneas, fires the ships, and assaults the camps. The episode of Nisus and Euryalus.

"Book X.-The war between Turnus and Æneas. Episode of Mezentius and Lausus.

"Book XI.-The battle continued.

"Book XII.- Turnus challenges Æneas to single combat, and is killed."

THE NEW YORK

IC LIARY.

ATOR, LENOX AND

TILDEN FOUNDATIONS.

in Central India. It is probably founded on some real war between the early Aryan invaders of Hindostan and the indigenous inhabitants.

The Mahâbhârata, supposed to be of later date, consists of about two hundred and twenty thousand lines, divided into eighteen books.

From these epics, there appear to have been two dynasties in ancient India, the solar and the lunar.

Rama belonged to the first, and Bhârata to the second. Five brothers, the descendants of Bhârata, are the heroes of the Mahâbhârata; and episodes in the lives of these heroes occupy three-fourths of the poem.

The Puranas are derived from the same religious system as the two epics.

They relate more fully their mythological legends. The gods, Siva and Vishnu, are almost the sole objects of worship in the Puranas.

These Puranas, eighteen in number, are in the form of dialogue, and contain one million six hundred thousand lines.

Mr. Talboys Wheeler has recently incorporated the epics of the Hindoos (much abridged) in his "History of India."

257. CATHEDRAL OF ST. ISAAC.

By far the most important church in St. Petersburg is the great Cathedral of St. Isaac, built between the years 1819 and 1858; and it is one of the largest and most expensive buildings in modern Europe.

The church is a rectangle with four porticos, - two with eight, and two with sixteen, columns each, which are of rose-colored granite, and, after Pompey's Pillar and the column of Alexander in St. Petersburg, are