POETRY AND GENERAL LITERATURE.

The past but lives in words: a thousand ages
Were blank, if books had not evoked their ghosts,
And kept the pale, unbodied shades to warn us
From fleshless lips.

-BULWER

BOOKS, AUTHORS AND TITLES.

The term Bible means The Book.

Homer is called the "Father of poetry."

Thackeray's first success was "Vanity Fair.”

Even Milton stumbled into "mixed metaphor."

Boswell has been termed the "prince of biographers."
Poems giving instruction on certain subjects are called didactic.
The last six books of Spenser's "Faerie Queene" were lost at sea.
Roman authors all dedicated their works to some friend or patron.
The Early English Text Society made its first publication in 1864.
The authors of the seventeenth century wrote slavish "dedications."
The oldest book extant, Egyptian papyrus, is assigned to 2000 B. C.
"Read much, but not many works," is the advice of Sir W. Ham-

ilton.

A man may play the fool in everything else but poetry, says Montaigne.

Mr. W. E. Ellsworth, of Chicago, paid $14,800 for a Gutenberg Bible in 1890.

Only two odes and a few fragments survive of all the great lyrics of Sappho.

When burned in 640, A.D., the Alexandrian library had 700,000 volumes.

A few scattered verses are all that remain of Ennius, the "father of Roman poetry."

Books in their present form were invented by Attalus, king of Pergamus, in 887 B.C.

A rare edition of Bocaccio was bought by the Duke of Marlborough, in 1812, for $11,500.

The German government has paid $50,000 for a missal that belonged to Henry VIII. of England.

Sandys' "Ovid," published 1626, was the first contribution of this country to English literature.

Pastoral is the term applied to the poetry and literature that professes to depict shepherd life.

Novelists make funny blunders. "Massachusetts cotton plantation."

Amelia B. Edwards speaks of a

John Ruskin, who never published a volume of poetry, so-called, is the latest poet-laureate of England.

The art of poetry is to touch the passions, says Volta, and its duty is to lead them on the side of virtue.

The term biblioklept is a euphemism which softens the ugly word book-thief, by shrouding it in Greek.

Shelley said that "poetry is the record of the best and happiest moments of the happiest and best minds."

With the foundation of Harvard, 1636, may be hailed the dawn of literature in what is now the United States.

A Turkish name for the nightingale is bul-bul, and it has been introduced into English poetry by Byron and Moore.

The most successful instance of a long-continued literary partnership, was that of the French novelists, Erckmann and Chatrian.

America has given to the English language its most scientific grammarian, Lindley Murray, and its greatest lexicographer, Noah Webster. Wordsworth defined poetry as "the breath and finer spirit of all knowledge, the impassioned expression which is the countenance of all science."

It is generally conceded that our greatest literary production, up to date, is that entitled, "Declaration of Independence," 1776, by Thomas Jefferson and "others."

The term Barmecides Feast is applied to an imaginary feast which takes its name from the story of the barber's sixth brother in the "Arabian Night's Entertainment."

It is manifest, says Sir Philip Sidney, that all government of action is to be gotten by knowledge, and knowledge best, by gathering many knowledges, which is reading.

Alastor is the name of the mythical house demon, the "skeleton in the closet," which haunts and torments a family. Shelley has a poem entitled Alastor, or the Spirit of Solitude.

Chap books were small stitched tracts written in popular style and sold by the chapmen. The chap books of the seventeenth century are valuable illustrations of the manners of that time.

The first English newspaper was the English Mercury, begun in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, and was issued in the shape of a pamphlet. The Gazette of Venice was the original model of the modern newspaper.

Columbine is the female mask of the Italian improvised plays, variously figuring as the attendant of Pantaloon's daughter, or, occasionally, as the daughter herself. In English pantomime plays she is the betrothed of Harlequin.

Cinqué Cento is an Italian contraction for "one thousand five hundred" and a current term for the style in art and literature, which arose in Italy about or after the year 1500. It thus represents the revival of classical taste.

The so-called Aldine Editions were works from the press of Aldus Manutius, at Venice, celebrated for their binding and beautiful types. Many first editions of the Greek and Latin, as well as Italian classics, were printed by Aldus.

Dénouement, a French term naturalized in this country, is applied generally to the termination or catastrophe of a play or romance; but, more strictly speaking, to the train of circumstances solving the plot and hastening the catastrophe.

The newspapers of India are published in many languages, and it is said that those in the native tongues are more widely circulated and read, in proportion to the number of copies printed, than is the case anywhere else in the world.

The oldest newspaper in the world is said to be the British Press, which was first issued in 1662 and has just celebrated its 231st birthday. Three years later the London Gazette appeared, being published at Oxford on account of the plague in London.

The troubadours were the minstrels of Southern France in the eleventh, twelfth and thirteenth centuries. They were the first to discard Latin and use the native tongue in their compositions. Their poetry was either about love and gallantry or war and chivalry.

The Capulets and Montagues were two noble families of Verona, whose feuds have been rendered familiar by Shakspeare's tragedy of "Romeo and Juliet." Dante in his "Purgatorio" (VI.) alludes to the same. The story of Romeo and Juliet forms one of Bandello's famous tales.

Saga (Icel. "a tale") is the term applied to a heroic tale among the Scandinavian nations, especially the Icelanders. The old literature of Iceland is rich in Sagas, supposed to have been committed to writing about the twelfth century. Some of the Sagas have been translated into English.

The Trouvères were the minstrels of the twelfth, thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. ployed was the "Walloon" or "Langue d'oil." were satires and romances, tales of knavery and historical traditions.

north of France in the The language they emThe themes they sang adventure, legends and

There are 753 periodicals and newspapers in Russia, which contains a population of one hundred millions. According to the statistics of 1892 there were 19,573 in this country, and a population of say sixty-five millions. The newspapers in Russia, however, are misnamed. They dare not print the news.

The artistic representation in continuous narrative of the life and character of a particular individual is called a Biography. It may be either a mere curriculum vitæ, detailing only the historical sequence of the incidents of a man's life, or it may be an elaborate attempt at an analysis of his character and a complete reconstruction of the whole motives of his actions.

Biblical students take much interest in "Bel and the Dragon," an apocryphal book of the Old Testament in which the writer aims to warn some of his brethren against the sin of idolatry. Appearing first in the Septuagint, there is no evidence that it was ever accepted by the Jews as inspired. Jerome considered it a fable, but the Council of Trent declared the book canonical in 1546.

The Ancient Mariner is the hero of a poem by Coleridge. For the crime of having shot an albatross (a bird of good omen to seamen), terrible sufferings are visited upon him, which are finally remitted through his repentance; but he is doomed to wander over the earth, and to repeat his story to others as a warning lesson.

Aladdin is the name of the hero of one of the tales of the "Arabian Nights." He is presented with a "wonderful lamp," the genius of which appears whenever desired, and performs miraculous services. By means of this lamp Aladdin explores a vast cave, obtains enormous wealth, and marries the daughter of the Sultan.

Tennyson's beautiful poem, "Enoch Arden," has an interesting plot. The hero is a seaman wrecked on a desert island, who returns home after the absence of several years, and finds his wife married to another. Seeing her both happy and prosperous, Enoch resolves not to mar her domestic peace, so he leaves her undisturbed, and dies of a broken heart.

A club was organized at Venice in 1400, by some ladies and gentlemen who wore blue stockings, and thus came to be known as the Blue Stocking club. It appeared in France in 1590 as the bas bleu, and in 1780 was transported to England. The name "blue stocking" is still given to women who are vain and pedantic at the expense of womanly duty and grace.

Grub Street is thus described in Dr. Johnson's "Dictionary": "Originally the name of a street near Moorfields in London, much inhabited by writers of small histories, dictionaries and temporary poems, whence any mean production is called Grub-street." Andrew Marvell used the name in its opprobrious sense, which later was freely used by Pope, Swift and the rest.

Any two lines which rhyme together may be called a couplet; but the term is more frequently used to denote two lines which contain the complete expression of an idea. Pope, as has been said, reasons in couplets. For example:

'Tis with our judgments as our watches, none

Go just alike, yet each believes his own.

A Madrigal is a short lyric poem, generally on the subject of love, and characterized by some epigrammatic terseness or quaintness. It was written, as a rule, in iambic meter, contained not less than six or more than thirteen lines, and ran chiefly upon three rhymes. The name is also applied to the music for a simple song sung in a rich, artistic style, but without musical accompaniment.

The term Black Letter (Black Letter) came into use about 1600, and is now applied to the types that are most generally known as Gothic. The first printed books imitated every peculiarity of the contemporary manuscripts; and as printing was first practised in Germany and the Netherlands, the first types were copies of the letters in use in those countries in the middle of the fifteenth century.

The art of foretelling the future by opening the Bible at random, and placing the finger on a chance passage, which is supposed to apply to the person pointing to it, is called Bibliomancy. In the fifth century its use was prohibited by the Council of Vannes, and again in the sixth century by the Councils of Agde and Orleans. It is said to have been introduced into England after the Norman Conquest. It is referred to by Tennyson in Enoch Arden.

The Minnesingers were love-poets, contemporary in Germany with the House of Hohenstauffen. Though called love-singers some of their poems were national ballads, and some were extended romances. Walter of Vogelweide was by far the best of the lyrists; Heinrich of Veldig was the most naive and ingenuous; Hartman the most classical; Wolfram the most sublime, and Gottfried the most licentious.

The original "Maid of Athens," rendered famous by Byron's song, "Maid of Athens, fare thee well!" was Theresa Macri. Twenty-four years after this song was written, an Englishman sought out "the Athenian maid," and found a beggar without a single vestige of beauty. She was married and had a large family; but the struggle of her life was to find bread to keep herself and family from positive starvation.

The expressive title of Lyric has been given to a certain species of poetry because originally accompanied by the music of the lyre. It is rapid in movement, as befitting the expression of the mind in its emotional and impassioned moments, and naturally its principal themes are love, devotion, patriotism, friendship, and the Bacchanalian spirit. It was a favorite form among the ancient Greeks and Romans.

The Iliad is the tale of the siege of Troy, an epic poem in twentyfour books, by Homer. Menelaos, king of Sparta, received as a guest Paris, a son of Priam, king of Troy. Paris eloped with Helen, his host's wife, and Menelaos induced the Greeks to lay siege to Troy, to avenge the perfidy. The siege lasted ten years, when Troy was taken and burnt to the ground. Homer's poem is confined to the last year of the siege.

Verse without rhyme is called "blank" verse. The term is especially applied to the heroic verse used in English dramatic and epic poetry, unrhymed iambic pentameter. Milton's Paradise Lost is a most notable example. The name is applied more widely to unrhymed lines, irrespective of their length, from such examples as the "Hiawatha" of Longfellow, which contains eight syllables in its lines, to his "Evangeline,' which has as many as sixteen or even more.

She was the drudge of the While the elder sisters were

Cinderella is the heroine of a fairy tale. house, "put upon" by her two elder sisters. at a ball, a fairy came, and having arrayed the "little cinder-girl" in ball costume, sent her in a magnificent coach to the palace where the ball was given. The prince fell in love with her, but knew not who she was. This, however, he discovered by means of a "glass slipper" which she dropped, and which fitted no foot but her own.

Famed in song and story is the Lorelei, or Lurlei, a rock which rises perpendicularly from the Rhine, to the height of four hundred and twenty-seven feet, near St. Goar. It used to be dangerous to boatmen, and has a celebrated echo. But the name is best known from Heine's song of the siren who sits on the rock combing her long tresses, and singing so ravishingly that the boatmen, enchanted by the music of her voice, forget their duty, and are drawn upon the rock and perish.

Ali Baba was a poor Persian wood-carrier, who accidentally learned the magic words, "Õpen Sesame!" "Shut Sesame!" by which he gained entrance into a vast cavern, the repository of stolen wealth and the lair of forty thieves. He made himself rich by plundering from these stores; and by the shrewd cunning of Morgiana, his female slave, the captain and his whole band of thieves were extirpated. In reward of these services Ali Baba gave Morgiana her freedom, and married her to his own son.

U. I.-8