Зображення сторінки
PDF
ePub

LXXX.-UNA AND THE LION.

Page 418, Note 1.-EDMUND SPENSER was born in London about the year 1553. He was educated at Pembroke Hall, Cambridge, and on leaving the university proceeded to the north of England, where he was engaged for some time as tutor. While here he wrote the "Shepheards Calender," a series of twelve pastoral eclogues-one for each month. In 1580 he accompanied Lord Grey de Wilton, viceroy of Ireland, as his secretary. Having procured a grant of land in the county of Cork, he fixed his residence at Kilcolman Castle, and it was there that he wrote his great poem, the "Faerie Queene." In 1598, during the rebellion of the Earl of Desmond, his castle was stormed and burned by the rebels, and his infant daughter perished in the flames. The poet returned, broken-hearted, to London, where he died, it is said, in poverty, the next year.

Spenser, as will be observed, spelled words according to his own rules. His verses are arranged in stanzas of nine lines, the first eight being pentameters, the ninth a hexameter-called Spenserian stanzas. The apostrophe was not at that time used to denote the possessive case. The final ed of verbs and participles was usually pronounced as a distinct syllable.

GLOSSARY.

corse-body. From Lat. corpus.

divorced-separated (in the general sense of being parted from).
fortuned-happened.

perst-pierced. From O. Fr. perse, to beat, to push.

preace-crowd, throng.

ramping-leaping, bounding. From Fr. ramper.

salvage-savage. Lat. silvaticus, belonging to the wood.
stole a long loose garment reaching to the feet. A. S. stól.
undight-put off.

wight-person. A. S. wiht, a creature.

yrkesome―irksome, tiresome. Scot. irk, to weary.

ADDITIONAL READING SUGGESTED: The following passages from the "Faerie Queene": "The Procession of the Passions," book i. canto 4; "The Masque of Cupid," ii. 12; "The Gardens of Adonis," iii. 6; "The Cave of Mammon," "The Bower of Bliss," ii. 12; "Vision of Colin Clout," vi. 10.

ii. 7;

LXXXI.-DEMOCRACY.

Page 421, Note 1.-JOHN STUART BLACKIE was born in Glasgow, Scotland, in July, 1809. He studied in Scotland, Germany, and Italy, and in 1841 became professor of Latin literature in Marischal College, Aberdeen. In 1852 he was chosen professor of Greek in the University of Edinburgh, where he still remains. He has written many valuable works, including "Poems chiefly on Greek Mythology," "Poems, English and Latin," "Four Phases of Morals," "Lays of the Highlands," "Self-culture," "Critical Dissertations," etc.

LXXXIII.-SCENE FROM "THE MERCHANT OF VENICE."

Page 426, Note 1.—WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE was born at Stratfordon-Avon on the 23d of April, 1564. He was educated at the Grammar School of his native town; but, his father requiring him to assist in his business-that of a wool-dealer and butcher-he was taken early from school. At the age of eighteen he married Ann Hathaway, a farmer's daughter, and subsequently proceeded to London. The records of his early life are but scant, and much that has been written about him is merely conjecture. In London he rapidly acquired fame and fortune, and was enabled to retire from his profession at a comparatively early age. His works consist of thirty-seven dramas, the poems "Venus and Adonis," and "The Rape of Lucrece,” and a collection of Sonnets. He died in his native town on his birthday, 1616.

Our selection is from act iv. scene i. of "The Merchant of Venice," a comedy first printed in 1600. This play is generally considered the best of Shakespeare's comedies, and should be read in its entirety by every student of English literature.-See Rolfe's School Edition of Shakespeare's Works.

[ocr errors]

LXXXIV.

THE MAJORITY AND THE REMNANT.

Page 437, Note 1.-MATTHEW ARNOLD was born at Laleham, England, in 1822. He was educated at Winchester, Rugby, and Oxford. His first volume of poems was published in 1849. Among his best prose works are Essays in Criticism," "Culture and Anarchy," ""Literature and Dogma." In 1857 he was elected professor of English literature in Oxford University. He died in 1888. The selection given in this volume is a part of the address delivered by him on the occasion of his visit to America in 1885. 2.-MR. BRIGHT. John Bright, an English statesman (1811-1889). 3.-"Whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are elevated, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are amiable, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, have these in your mind, let your thoughts run upon these."

[blocks in formation]

Anacreon, 470.
annelid, 451.

bin, 454.

canny, 492.

Antony, 459.
apogeum, 456.

Apollonius, 471.

Apuleius, 465.
Arethuse, 496.

Armada, Spanish, 482.
armadillo, 467.
Arnold, Edwin, 458.
Arnold, Matthew, 500.

arrant, 494.
Arthur, King, 467.

Athene, 465.

Atlantis, 494.

[blocks in formation]

Birrell, Augustine, 478.

Blackie, J. S., 499.
Blackmore, R. D., 491.

Blackstone, Sir W., 488.
Blake, Admiral, 482.
Boleyn, Anne, 480.
Bolingbroke, Lord, 460.
boots, 496.

Boswell, James, 475.
bravery, 462.
breechin, 474.

Brewster, Sir D., 494.
Briareus, 483.
Bright, John, 500.
Brown, Dr. John, 474.
Browne, Sir T., 455.
Browning, Mrs., 481.
Browning, Robert, 486.
Brutus, 459.
buck, 474.

Bulwer-Lytton, 493.
Bunyan, John, 471.
Burke, Edmund, 487.
Burleigh, Lord, 488.
Burns, Robert, 452.
Byron, Lord, 469.

Canute, King, 462.
cap-a-pie, 467.
Capitoline Hill, 453.
carking, 492.

Carlyle, Thomas, 495.
casque, 468.

Cato, 459.

[blocks in formation]
[blocks in formation]
[blocks in formation]
« НазадПродовжити »