NOTES FOR THE USE OF TEACHERS AND PUPILS. ABBREVIATIONS: Ar.-Arabic; A. S.-Anglo-Saxon; Du.Dutch; Fr.- French; Gael.-Gaelic; Ger.-German; Gr.Greek; Lat.-Latin; Mid. E.-Middle English; Mid. Lat.Middle Latin; O. Eng.-Old English; O. Fr.-Old French; pro.-pronounced; Span.-Spanish. I. THE FIRST ENGLISHMEN. Page 11, Note 1.-JOHN RICHARD GREEN was born at Oxford, England, in 1837. He was educated at Magdalen Grammar School and Jesus College, Oxford. When about sixteen years of age, Gibbon's "Rome" fell into his hands; and " from that moment the enthusiasm of history took hold of him." In 1860 he left Oxford to perform the duties of curate in one of the poorest parishes of London. Here he learned, as perhaps no other historian had ever learned it before, what the life of the people meant; and here he planned and wrote his "History of the English People," a work which wrought a revolution in the methods of historical research and study. The book was published in 1874. Mr. Green died in 1883. "I know what men will say of me," he said; "they will say, 'He died learning.' 2. TEUTONIC FAMILY. The ancient Teutons, or Germans, including the Anglo-Saxons, Scandinavians, and the ancestors of the modern Germans. 3. TACITUS (tǎs' I tus). Caius Cornelius Tacitus, a Roman historian, born A.D. 55, died at about the age of sixty years. Among the best translations of his works is that by Church and Brodribb (1868). 4.-CEORLS. Churls, countrymen, common-folk.-EORLS. Earls, chiefs, leaders. 5.-Mooт. Assembly. From A. S. motian, to meet, to assemble. 6.-CHRISTIANITY. The conversion of the English to Christianity did not occur until after their settlement in Britain. Its beginning dates with the mission of St. Augustine, and the baptism of Ethelbert, King of Kent, about the end of the sixth century. But the English people did not entirely abandon paganism until a much later period. 7.-WEYLAND'S SMITHY. See the episode of Wayland the Smith, in "Kenilworth," by Sir Walter Scott. 8.-CLOUDESLEY. See the ballad of "Adam Bell, Clym of the Clough, and William Cloudesley," in Percy's "Reliques of Ancient English Poetry." The legend of William Tell, especially that portion of it which relates to his wonderful skill in archery, probably originated in the ancient myth of Ægil. PRONUNCIATION.-Hōl' stein (hōl' stine); Fries land (freez'land); Elbe (ělb); çeòrls; eorls; wit' an; Eos' tre; Wyrd; weird; Nic' or; Tiw (tū); Ægil (ē' ğil). ADDITIONAL READING SUGGESTED: Knight's "History of England," vol. i., chap. i.; the first chapter in Thierry's "Norman Conquest"; Palgrave's "History of the Anglo-Saxons"; Green's "The Making of England." II. TOWN AND COUNTRY. Page 17, Note 1.-SAMUEL SMILES was born in Haddington, Scotland, in 1816. He was educated for a surgeon, but after practising for some time in Leeds he became editor of the Leeds Times. He was afterwards, for many years, secretary of the Southeastern railway. He has written several interesting and valuable works, chiefly on industrial and social themes, among which the most popular are "Self-Help," "Thrift," "Duty," "Life and Labor." He has also written several biographical works: "Life of a Scotch Naturalist," "The Life of George Stephenson and his Son, Robert Stephenson," ," "Robert Dick, Baker of Thurso," etc. 2.-DR. GUTHRIE. Thomas Guthrie, a celebrated Scotch preacher and philanthropist (1803-1873). He was the author of several religious works, and for some years editor of the Sunday Magazine. 3.-LA ROCHEFOUCAULD (lä rosh foo kō'). A French writer and philanthropist (1747-1827). 4.—WALTER BAGEHOT (baj'ot). An English writer on economics and philosophical subjects (1826-1877). ADDITIONAL READING SUGGESTED: Selections from Smiles's "Self-Help" and "Life and Labor." III. THE LADY CLARE. Page 20,Note 1.-ALFRED, LORD TENNYSON, was born at Somerby, in Lincolnshire, England, in 1809. His first volume of poetry appeared in 1830, and was republished in 1842. Since then his fame as a poet has steadily increased. In 1850 he succeeded Wordsworth as poet-laureate of England. His more important longer poems are "The Princess, a Medley" (1847); "In Memoriam" (1850); “Maud" (1855); “The Idylls of the King" (1858); "Enoch Arden" (1869). The selection here presented is a specimen of the poet's work in lighter vein. It was first published in 1842. 2.-TROW (trō). Believe, trust. From A. S. treowian, to believe. 3.-DOWN. A tract of poor, naked, hilly land, chiefly used for pasturing sheep. From A. S. dûn, a heap, a hillock, ADDITIONAL READING SUGGESTED: Selections of old ballads from Percy's "Reliques" and from Allingham's "Ballad Book.” IV. SOME LESSONS LEARNED IN NATURE'S SCHOOL. Page 24, Note 1.-HUGH MILLER, the celebrated geologist, was born in Cromarty, Scotland, in 1805. The only education he received was at the burgh school of his native town, and yet his writings are so easy and graceful, his descriptions exhibit such a happy blending of poetry and fancy, that he has been compared, in style, to Goldsmith. He began life as a stonemason, but his devotion to science and his literary proclivities early displaying themselves, he was promoted to occupations more congenial-first to a clerkship in a bank, then to the editorship of a newspaper in Edinburgh. His works are "My Schools and School-masters" (from which this extract is selected), "Scenes and Legends of the North of Scotland," "The Old Red Sandstone," "The Testimony of the Rocks," etc. At the time of his death, in 1857, he was the editor of The Witness, an Edinburgh newspaper. 2.-FRITH OF CROMARTY. An inlet in the north-eastern part of Scotland. 3.-TANGLE. A species of sea-weed growing at or below low-water mark, and sometimes used for food. 4. STRAITEN. Make tense or tight. 5. PRESTO. Quickly, suddenly. From Sp. presto, quick. 6. LAMINARIA AND FUCI. Different kinds of sea-weed. 7.-CAVIARE (ka veer'). The roes of certain large fish, prepared and salted. A popular article of food in Russia. 8.-ANNELID. An articulate animal having an elongated body formed of numerous rings or ring-like segments. 9.-SETE (sē tā). Bristles; stalk-like appendages. 10.-CYCLOPEAN (cy clo pe' an). Relating to the Cyclops; vast, gigantic. Cyclopean walls are massive ancient walls, built of unhewn stone. 11.-Tyrian purple was a celebrated dye, formerly prepared at Tyre from certain shell-fish. The secret of its manufacture has been lost. 12. See Shakespeare's "Macbeth," act v. scene 5, 1. 44. 13.-CONGENER (cōn' je ner). A thing of the same genus. 14.-CALIPH VATHEK (ka' lif vath' ek). The hero of "Vathek, an Arabian Tale," by William Beckford (1760-1844). The story was originally written in French in 1782, and was completed by the author in three days and two nights. It was one of the most popular tales of its time. 15. For the story of Samson and the honey, see Judges xiv. 5-9. PRONUNCIATION.-Crom' ar ty; Agassiz (ag' a see); Căr' a this; ta răn' tu la; fo ra' men măg' num. ADDITIONAL READING SUGGESTED: Other selections from Hugh Miller's "My Schools and School-masters"; C. C. Abbott's "Upland and Meadow"; Thoreau's "Walden." V. THE OLD MAN AT THE GATE. Page 31, Note 1.-DOUGLAS WILLIAM JERROLD, dramatist, novelist, and miscellaneous writer, was born in London, 1803. In his tenth year he was sent to sea, but after serving two years was apprenticed to a printer in London. His nautical drama," Black-eyed Susan " (1829), first brought him into notice, but his subsequent dramatic writings were of a far higher char acter. Mr. Jerrold was one of the leading contributors to Punch. He is best known in America as the author of "Mrs. Caudle's Lectures." In 1852 he became editor of Lloyd's Weekly Newspaper, which post he held till his death, in 1857. His collected works are published in six volumes. 2. SCHOOLMEN. The philosophers of the Middle Ages, who devoted their attention chiefly to points of abstract and useless speculation. 3. SHEPHERDS. See Luke ii. 8. 4.-GLEBE. gleba, clod. 5.—PER DIEM (Lat.), per day. Ground, soil. From Lat. 6.-LAZARUS. The rich man may uncover his head to the pauper.-DIVES, from Lat. dives, rich. For the parable of Lazarus and Dives, see Luke xvi. PRONUNCIATION.-Halfpence (ha' pençe); moor; effron' tery; Chertsey (ches' sy). VI.-MAN WAS MADE TO MOURN. Page 36, Note 1.-ROBERT BURNS was born in 1759 in Ayrshire, Scotland; died in 1796. "The most convincing proof that the gift of poesy is not the result of learning overmuch' is found in the fact that Burns was born a peasant, and that his education was only in accordance with his station." He threshed in the barn, reaped, mowed, and held the plough before he was fifteen. In 1784, after his father's death, he attempted farming at Mossgiel, but was not very successful. He resolved to leave Scotland, and received an appointment to a clerkship in Jamaica; but just on the eve of his departure he learned of the success of a volume of his poems, which had just been published at Kilmarnock, and, instead of embarking for the West Indies, he proceeded at once to Edinburgh. There he was received, with great show of favor, into the best society of the time. "His name and fame flashed like sunshine over the land: the shepherd on the hill, the maiden at her wheel, learned his songs by heart, and the first scholars of Scotland courted his acquaintance." He settled down upon a farm at Ellisland, in Nithsdale; but his habits were such that he failed in its management. He was then appointed exciseman at Dumfries; and there, five years afterwards, he died. ADDITIONAL READING SUGGESTED: George William Curtis's oration on Robert Burns (Harper's Fifth Reader, p. 260); Whittier's and Longfellow's poems on Robert Burns; Carlyle's "Essay on Robert Burns." VII. THE SCHOOL AT DOTHEBOYS HALL. Page 39, Note 1.-CHARLES DICKENS was born at Landport, near Portsmouth, England, in 1812. He received but an indifferent education in the common schools and in an attorney's office. His first literary work was a series of sketches written for the Morning Chronicle in 1834, over the signature "Boz." The first number of the "Pickwick Papers" appeared in 1837; "Martin Chuzzlewit" was published in 1844; “Dombey and Son" in 1846; and "David Copperfield," the best of his novels, in 1849. In 1850 Mr. Dickens became editor of Household Words, a weekly periodical, published in London. This paper being discontinued in 1859, was succeeded by a similar publication, entitled All the Year Round. Many of Dickens's novels ap- 99 66 ADDITIONAL READING SUGGESTED: Ward's "Life of Charles Dickens" (English Men of Letters); selections from "Old Curiosity Shop," Dombey and Son," and "David Copperfield." VIII. JERUSALEM BY MOONLIGHT. Page 48, Note 1.-BENJAMIN DISRAELI (Lord Beaconsfield) was born in London in 1805. He was educated at home and by private tutors. His first novel," Vivian Grey," was written in 1826, and at once made him famous. In 1838 he was elected member of Parliament. He was made Chancellor of the Exchequer in 1852, and became Prime-minister in 1868, and again in 1874. He died in 1880. Among his numerous novels the best known are Coningsby," "Tancred," "Lothair," and "Endymion." This selection is from "Tancred." Lord Beaconsfield's ancestors were Jews, and this fact may explain some of the passages in this extract so eulogistic of the Hebrew race. 2.-MOUNT OLIVET. A hill on the east side of Jerusalem, separated from the city by the brook Kedron. The garden of Gethsemane (geth sẽm' a ne) was the place in which Christ spent the night preceding his crucifixion.—JEHOSHAPHAT. The name of a deep valley near the wall of the city. 3.-SION AND CALVARY. Celebrated hills of Jerusalem, the former being the site of David's tower, the latter that of the crucifixion of Christ.-CAPITOLINE AND AVENTINE. Two of the seven hills of Rome.-MALVERN AND CHILTERN. Ranges of hills in England. 4. CHILD OF HAGAR. Ishmael. Here denotes the Arabs, the descendants of Ishmael. The temple referred to is the celebrated Mosque of Omar. "Sarah's chosen one," the Jews, the descendants of Isaac. 5.-BETHESDA'S POOL. A pool in Jerusalem whose waters were believed to possess healing qualities. 6. Tradition relates that Christ twice sank under the burden of the cross. 7.-Almost nothing is known of Melchizedek, his entire story being comprised in two or three verses of the Scriptures. Gen. xiv. 18. 8.-TITUS. Jerusalem was destroyed in the year 69, by the Romans under Titus, the son of the Emperor Vespasian. 9. THE LAW-GIVER. Moses. -THE MONARCH. Solomon. -THE TEACHER. Jesus Christ. 10. THE MOST CIVILIZED OF ITS KINGDOMS. France, during the time of the Revolution and the reign of Napoleon Bonaparte (1793-1815).-CLOVIS. Founder of the Frankish monarchy (465-511). 11. The church of Notre Dame, in Paris. |