FOOTNOTE:

Years.Months.Days.Pius VI.,who reigned24614Hadrian I.“231017Pius VII.“2356Alexander III.“211123St. Silvester I.“2104

There is one numerical curiosity of a very remarkable character, which I must not omit.

The ancient Chamber of Deputies, such as it existed in 1830, was composed of 402 members, and was divided into two parties. The one, numbering 221 members, declared itself strongly for the revolution of July; the other party, numbering 181, did not favor a change. The result was the constitutional monarchy, which re-established order after the three memorable days of July. The parties were known by the following nicknames. The larger was commonly calledLa queue de Robespierre, and the smaller,Les honnêtes gens. Now, the remarkable fact is, that if we give to the letters of the alphabet their numerical values as they stand in their order, as 1 for A, 2 for B, 3 for C, and so on to Z, which is valued at 25, and then write vertically on the left hand the words,La queue de Robespierre, with the number equivalent to each letter opposite to it, and on the right hand, in like manner,Les honnêtes gens, if each column of numbers be summed up, the result is the number of members who formed each party.

12345678910111213ABCDEFGHIJKLM141516171819202122232425NOPQRSTUVXYZ

L—12L—12A— 1E— 5S—19Q—17U—21H— 8E— 5O—15U— 5N—14E— 5N—14E— 5D— 4T—20E— 5E— 5S—19R—18O—15G— 7B— 2E— 5E— 5N—14S—19S—19P—16181I— 9E— 5R—18R—18E— 5221

Majority221Minority181Total402

Some coincidences of dates are very remarkable.

On the 25th August, 1569, the Calvinists massacred the Catholic nobles and priests at Béarn and Navarre.

On the same day of the same month, in 1572, the Calvinists were massacred in Paris and elsewhere.

On the 25th October, 1615, Louis XIII. married Anne of Austria, infanta of Spain, whereupon we may remark the following coincidences:—

The name Loys[36]de Bourbon contains 13 letters; so does the name Anne d’Austriche.

Louis was 13 years old when this marriage was decided on; Anne was the same age.

He was the thirteenth king of France bearing the name of Louis, and she was the thirteenth infanta of the name of Anne of Austria.

On the 23d April, 1616, died Shakspeare: on the same day of the same month, in the same year, died the great poet Cervantes.

On the 29th May, 1630, King Charles II. was born.

On the 29th May, 1660, he was restored.

On the 29th May, 1672, the fleet was beaten by the Dutch.

On the 29th May, 1679, the rebellion of the Covenanters broke out in Scotland.

The Emperor Charles V. was born on February 24, 1500; on that day he won the battle of Pavia, in 1525, and on the same day was crowned in 1530.

On the 29th January, 1697, M. de Broquemar, president of the Parliament of Paris, died suddenly in that city; next day his brother, an officer, died suddenly at Bergue, where he was governor. The lives of these brothers present remarkable coincidences. One day the officer, being engaged in battle, was wounded in his leg by a sword-blow. On the same day, at the same moment, the president was afflicted with acute pain, which attacked him suddenly in the same leg as that of his brother which had been injured.

John Aubrey mentions the case of a friend of his who was born on the 15th November; his eldest son was born on the 15th November; and his second son’s first son on the same day of the same month.

At the hour of prime, April 6, 1327, Petrarch first saw his mistress Laura, in the Church of St. Clara in Avignon. In the same city, same month, same hour, 1348, she died.

The deputation charged with offering the crown of Greece to Prince Otho, arrived in Munich on the 13th October, 1832; and it was on the 13th October, 1862, that King Otho left Athens, to return to it no more.

On the 21st April, 1770, Louis XVI. was married at Vienna, by the sending of the ring.

On the 21st June, in the same year, took place the fatal festivities of his marriage.

On the 21st January, 1781, was thefêteat the Hôtel de Ville, for the birth of the Dauphin.

On the 21st June, 1791, took place the flight to Varennes.

On the 21st January, 1793, he died on the scaffold.

There is said to be a tradition of Norman-monkish origin, that the number 3 is stamped on the Royal line of England, so that there shall not be more than three princes in succession without a revolution.

William I., William II., Henry I.; then followed the revolution of Stephen.

Henry II., Richard I., John; invasion of Louis, Dauphin of France, who claimed the throne.

Henry III., Edward I., Edward II., who was dethroned and put to death.

Edward III., Richard II., who was dethroned.

Henry IV., Henry V., Henry VI.; the crown passed to the house of York.

Edward IV., Edward V., Richard III.; the crown claimed and won by Henry Tudor.

Henry VII., Henry VIII., Edward VI.; usurpation of Lady Jane Grey.

Mary I., Elizabeth; the crown passed to the house of Stuart.

James I., Charles I.; Revolution.

Charles II., James II.; invasion of William of Orange.

William of Orange and Mary II., Anne; arrival of the house of Brunswick.

George I., George II., George III., George IV., William IV., Victoria. The law has proved faulty in the last case; but certainly there was a crisis in the reign of George IV.

As I am on the subject of the English princes, I will add another singular coincidence, though it has nothing to do with the fatality of numbers.

It is that Saturday has been a day of ill omen to the later kings.

William of Orange died Saturday, 18th March, 1702.

Anne died Saturday, 1st August, 1704.

George I. died Saturday, 10th June, 1727.

George II. died Saturday, 25th October, 1760.

George III. died Saturday, 30th January, 1820.

George IV. died Saturday, 26th June, 1830.

FOOTNOTE:[36]Up to Louis XIII. all the kings of this name spelled Louis as Loys.

[36]Up to Louis XIII. all the kings of this name spelled Louis as Loys.

THE exact position of Eden, and its present condition, do not seem to have occupied the minds of our Anglo-Saxon ancestors, nor to have given rise among them to wild speculations.

The map of the tenth century in the British Museum, accompanying the Periegesis of Priscian, is far more correct than the generality of maps which we find in MSS. at a later period; and Paradise does not occupy the place of Cochin China, or the isles of Japan, as it did later, after that the fabulous voyage of St. Brandan had become popular in the eleventh century.[37]The site, however, had beenalready indicated by Cosmas, who wrote in the seventh century, and had been specified by him as occupying a continent east of China, beyond the ocean, and still watered by the four great rivers Pison, Gihon, Hiddekel, and Euphrates, which sprang from subterranean canals. In a map of the ninth century, preserved in the Strasbourg library, the terrestrial Paradise is, however, on the Continent, placed at the extreme east of Asia; in fact, is situated in the Celestial Empire. It occupies the same position in a Turin MS., and also in a map accompanying a commentary on the Apocalypse in the British Museum.

According to the fictitious letter of Prester John to the Emperor Emanuel Comnenus, Paradise was situated close to—within three days’ journey of—his own territories, but where those territories were, is not distinctly specified.

“The River Indus, which issues out of Paradise,” writes the mythical king, “flows among the plains, through a certain province, and it expands, embracing the whole province with its various windings: there are found emeralds, sapphires, carbuncles, topazes, chrysolites, onyx, beryl, sardius, and manyother precious stones. There too grows the plant called Asbetos.” A wonderful fountain, moreover, breaks out at the roots of Olympus, a mountain in Prester John’s domain, and “from hour to hour, and day by day, the taste of this fountain varies; and its source is hardly three days’ journey from Paradise, from which Adam was expelled. If any man drinks thrice of this spring, he will from that day feel no infirmity, and he will, as long as he lives, appear of the age of thirty.” This Olympus is a corruption of Alumbo, which is no other than Columbo in Ceylon, as is abundantly evident from Sir John Mandeville’s Travels; though this important fountain has escaped the observation of Sir Emmerson Tennant.

“Toward the heed of that forest (he writes) is the cytee of Polombe, and above the cytee is a great mountayne, also clept Polombe. And of that mount, the Cytee hathe his name. And at the foot of that Mount is a fayr welle and a gret, that hathe odour and savour of all spices; and at every hour of the day, he chaungethe his odour and his savour dyversely. And whoso drynkethe 3 times fasting of that watre of that welle, he is hool of alle manersykenesse, that he hathe. And thei that duellen there and drynken often of that welle, thei nevere han sykenesse, and thei semen alle weys yonge. I have dronken there of 3 of 4 sithes; and zit, methinkethe, I fare the better. Some men clepen it the Welle of Youthe: for thei that often drynken thereat, semen alle weys yongly, and lyven withouten sykenesse. And men seyn, that that welle comethe out of Paradys: and therefore it is so vertuous.”

Gautier de Metz, in his poem on the “Image du Monde,” written in the thirteenth century, places the terrestrial Paradise in an unapproachable region of Asia, surrounded by flames, and having an armed angel to guard the only gate.

Lambertus Floridus, in a MS. of the twelfth century, preserved in the Imperial Library in Paris, describes it as “Paradisus insula in oceano in oriente:” and in the map accompanying it, Paradise is represented as an island, a little south-east of Asia, surrounded by rays, and at some distance from the main land; and in another MS. of the same library,—a mediæval encyclopædia,—under the word Paradisus is a passage which states thatin the centre of Paradise is a fountain which waters the garden—that in fact described by Prester John, and that of which story-telling Sir John Mandeville declared he had “dronken 3 or 4 sithes.” Close to this fountain is the Tree of Life. The temperature of the country is equable; neither frosts nor burning heats destroy the vegetation. The four rivers already mentioned rise in it. Paradise is, however, inaccessible to the traveller on account of the wall of fire which surrounds it.

Paludanus relates in his “Thesaurus Novus,” of course on incontrovertible authority, that Alexander the Great was full of desire to see the terrestrial Paradise, and that he undertook his wars in the East for the express purpose of reaching it, and obtaining admission into it. He states that on his nearing Eden an old man was captured in a ravine by some of Alexander’s soldiers, and they were about to conduct him to their monarch, when the venerable man said, “Go and announce to Alexander that it is in vain he seeks Paradise; his efforts will be perfectly fruitless; for the way of Paradise is the way of humility, a way of which he knows nothing. Take this stone and give it to Alexander,and say to him, ‘From this stone learn what you must think of yourself.’” Now, this stone was of great value and excessively heavy, outweighing and excelling in value all other gems; but when reduced to powder, it was as light as a tuft of hay, and as worthless. By which token the mysterious old man meant, that Alexander alive was the greatest of monarchs, but Alexander dead would be a thing of nought.

That strangest of mediæval preachers, Meffreth, who got into trouble by denying the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin, in his second sermon for the Third Sunday in Advent, discusses the locality of the terrestrial Paradise, and claims St. Basil and St. Ambrose as his authorities for stating that it is situated on the top of a very lofty mountain in Eastern Asia; so lofty indeed is the mountain, that the waters of the four rivers fall in cascade down to a lake at its foot, with such a roar that the natives who live on the shores of the lake are stone-deaf. Meffreth also explains the escape of Paradise from submergence at the Deluge, on the same grounds as does the Master of Sentences (lib. 2, dist. 17, c. 5), by the mountain being so veryhigh that the waters which rose over Ararat were only able to wash the base of the mountain of Paradise.

The Hereford map of the thirteenth century represents the terrestrial Paradise as a circular island near India, cut off from the continent not only by the sea, but also by a battlemented wall, with a gateway to the west.

Rupert of Duytz regards it as having been situated in Armenia. Radulphus Highden, in the thirteenth century, relying on the authority of St. Basil and St. Isidore of Seville, places Eden in an inaccessible region of Oriental Asia; and this was also the opinion of Philostorgus. Hugo de St. Victor, in his book “De Situ Terrarum,” expresses himself thus: “Paradise is a spot in the Orient productive of all kind of woods and pomiferous trees. It contains the Tree of Life: there is neither cold nor heat there, but perpetual equable temperature. It contains a fountain which flows forth in four rivers.”

Rabanus Maurus, with more discretion, says, “Many folk want to make out that the site of Paradise is in the east of the earth, though cut offby the longest intervening space of ocean or earth from all regions which man now inhabits. Consequently, the waters of the Deluge, which covered the highest points of the surface of our orb, were unable to reach it. However, whether it be there, or whether it be anywhere else, God knows; but that therewassuch a spot once, and that it was on earth, that is certain.”

Jacques de Vitry (“Historia Orientalis”), Gervais of Tilbury, in his “Otia Imperalia,” and many others, hold the same views, as to the site of Paradise, that were entertained by Hugo de St. Victor.

Jourdain de Sèverac, monk and traveller in the beginning of the fourteenth century, places the terrestrial Paradise in the “Third India;” that is to say, in trans-Gangic India.

Leonardo Dati, a Florentine poet of the fifteenth century, composed a geographical treatise in verse, entitled “Della Sfera;” and it is in Asia that he locates the garden:—

“Asia e le prima parte dove l’huomoSendo innocente stava in Paradiso.”

But perhaps the most remarkable account of theterrestrial Paradise ever furnished, is that of the “Eireks Saga Vídförla,” an Icelandic narrative of the fourteenth century, giving the adventures of a certain Norwegian, named Eirek, who had vowed, whilst a heathen, that he would explore the fabulous Deathless Land of pagan Scandinavian mythology. The romance is possibly a Christian recension of an ancient heathen myth; and Paradise has taken the place in it of Glœsisvellir.

According to the majority of the MSS. the story purports to be nothing more than a religious novel; but one audacious copyist has ventured to assert that it is all fact, and that the details are taken down from the lips of those who heard them from Eirek himself. The account is briefly this:—

Eirek was a son of Thrand, king of Drontheim, and having taken upon him a vow to explore the Deathless Land, he went to Denmark, where he picked up a friend of the same name as himself. They then went to Constantinople, and called upon the Emperor, who held a long conversation with them, which is duly reported, relative to the truths of Christianity and the site of the Deathless Land, which, he assures them, is nothing more nor less than Paradise.

“The world,” said the monarch, who had not forgotten his geography since he left school, “is precisely 180,000 stages round (about 1,000,000 English miles), and it is not propped up on posts—not a bit!—it is supported by the power of God; and the distance between earth and heaven is 100,045 miles (another MS. reads 9382 miles—the difference is immaterial); and round about the earth is a big sea called Ocean.” “And what’s to the south of the earth?” asked Eirek. “O! there is the end of the world, and that is India.” “And pray where am I to find the Deathless Land?” “That lies—Paradise, I suppose, you mean—well, it lies slightly east of India.”

Having obtained this information, the two Eireks started, furnished with letters from the Greek Emperor.

They traversed Syria, and took ship—probably at Balsora; then, reaching India, they proceeded on their journey on horseback, till they came to a dense forest, the gloom of which was so great, through the interlacing of the boughs, that even by day the stars could be observed twinkling, as though they were seen from the bottom of a well.

On emerging from the forest, the two Eireks came upon a strait, separating them from a beautiful land, which was unmistakably Paradise; and the Danish Eirek, intent on displaying his scriptural knowledge, pronounced the strait to be the River Pison. This was crossed by a stone bridge, guarded by a dragon.

The Danish Eirek, deterred by the prospect of an encounter with this monster, refused to advance, and even endeavored to persuade his friend to give up the attempt to enter Paradise as hopeless, after that they had come within sight of the favored land. But the Norseman deliberately walked, sword in hand, into the maw of the dragon, and next moment, to his infinite surprise and delight, found himself liberated from the gloom of the monster’s interior, and safely placed in Paradise.

“The land was most beautiful, and the grass as gorgeous as purple; it was studded with flowers, and was traversed by honey rills. The land was extensive and level, so that there was not to be seen mountain or hill, and the sun shone cloudless, without night and darkness; the calm of the air was great, and there was but a feeble murmur of wind, and that which there was, breathed redolentwith the odor of blossoms.” After a short walk, Eirek observed what certainly must have been a remarkable object, namely, a tower or steeple self-suspended in the air, without any support whatever, though access might be had to it by means of a slender ladder. By this Eirek ascended into a loft of the tower, and found there an excellent cold collation prepared for him. After having partaken of this he went to sleep, and in vision beheld and conversed with his guardian angel, who promised to conduct him back to his fatherland, but to come for him again and fetch him away from it forever at the expiration of the tenth year after his return to Dronheim.

Eirek then retraced his steps to India, unmolested by the dragon, which did not affect any surprise at having to disgorge him, and, indeed, which seems to have been, notwithstanding his looks, but a harmless and passive dragon.

After a tedious journey of seven years, Eirek reached his native land, where he related his adventures, to the confusion of the heathen, and to the delight and edification of the faithful. “And in the tenth year, and at break of day, as Eirekwent to prayer, God’s Spirit caught him away, and he was never seen again in this world: so here ends all we have to say of him.”[38]

The saga, of which I have given the merest outline, is certainly striking, and contains some beautiful passages. It follows the commonly-received opinion which identified Paradise with Ceylon; and, indeed, an earlier Icelandic work, the “Rymbegla,” indicates the locality of the terrestrial Paradise as being near India, for it speaks of the Ganges as taking its rise in the mountains of Eden. It is not unlikely that the curious history of Eirek, if not a Christianized version of a heathen myth, may contain the tradition of a real expedition to India, by one of the hardy adventurers who overran Europe, explored the north of Russia, harrowed the shores of Africa, and discovered America.

Later than the fifteenth century, we find no theories propounded concerning the terrestrial Paradise, though there are many treatises on the presumed situation of the ancient Eden. At Madrid was published a poem on the subject, entitled “Patrianadecas,” in 1629. In 1662 G. C. Kirchmayer, a Wittemberg professor, composed a thoughtful dissertation, “De Paradiso,” which he inserted in his “Deliciæ Æstivæ.” Fr. Arnoulx wrote a work on Paradise in 1665, full of the grossest absurdities. In 1666 appeared Carver’s “Discourse on the Terrestrian Paradise.” Bochart composed a tract on the subject; Huet wrote on it also, and his work passed through seven editions, the last dated from Amsterdam, 1701. The Père Hardouin composed a “Nouveau Traité de la Situation du Paradis Terrestre,” La Haye, 1730. An Armenian work on the rivers of Paradise was translated by M. Saint Marten in 1819; and in 1842 Sir W. Ouseley read a paper on the situation of Eden, before the Literary Society in London.

FOOTNOTES:[37]St. Brandan was an Irish monk, living at the close of the sixth century; he founded the Monastery of Clonfert, and is commemorated on May 16. His voyage seems to be founded on that of Sinbad, and is full of absurdities. It has been republished by M. Jubinal from MSS. in the Bibliothèque du Roi, Paris, 8vo. 1836; the earliest printed English edition is that of Wynkyn de Worde, London, 1516.[38]Compare with this the death of Sir Galahad in the “Morte d’Arthur” of Sir Thomas Malory.

[37]St. Brandan was an Irish monk, living at the close of the sixth century; he founded the Monastery of Clonfert, and is commemorated on May 16. His voyage seems to be founded on that of Sinbad, and is full of absurdities. It has been republished by M. Jubinal from MSS. in the Bibliothèque du Roi, Paris, 8vo. 1836; the earliest printed English edition is that of Wynkyn de Worde, London, 1516.

[38]Compare with this the death of Sir Galahad in the “Morte d’Arthur” of Sir Thomas Malory.

THE END.

The Genius of Solitude.

THE SOLITUDES OF NATURE AND OF MAN;or, The Loneliness of Human Life. ByWm. Rounseville Alger.CONTENTS.The Solitudes of Nature.The Solitudes of Man.The Morals of Solitude.Sketches of Lonely Characters: or, Personal Illustrations of the Good and Evil of Solitude.Summary of the Subject.In one handsome volume. 16mo. Cloth. Price $2.00.“This volume is the result of much investigation, much meditation, and much experience; and is very comprehensive in its scope.... The author has shown the influence of solitude on every grade of mind and character, has discriminated its beneficent form and its morbid action, and has shown how it nurtures lofty thoughts as well as how it pampers self-will, and, in the throng of his personal illustrations, has indicated its effect on representative men of genius in almost every department of human effort.”—Boston Transcript.“We know of no work like it, and question whether any of its size has appeared in this generation with an equal amount of intellectual enrichment and stimulus, moral nutriment, and invaluable ethical instruction.”—The Liberal Christian.“This book is a worthy mate to Burton’s famous Anatomy of Melancholy. The fortunate reader may learn from it how to win the benefits and shun the evils of being alone.”—N. Y. Express.“We envy the heart of no one who, unmoved, and with tearless eye, can read them (The Solitude of theRuinand the Solitude ofDeath).”—West. Missionary.——Mailed, post paid, to any address, on receipt of the price, by the Publishers,ROBERTS BROTHERS, Boston.

THE SOLITUDES OF NATURE AND OF MAN;or, The Loneliness of Human Life. ByWm. Rounseville Alger.

CONTENTS.

The Solitudes of Nature.The Solitudes of Man.The Morals of Solitude.Sketches of Lonely Characters: or, Personal Illustrations of the Good and Evil of Solitude.Summary of the Subject.

In one handsome volume. 16mo. Cloth. Price $2.00.

“This volume is the result of much investigation, much meditation, and much experience; and is very comprehensive in its scope.... The author has shown the influence of solitude on every grade of mind and character, has discriminated its beneficent form and its morbid action, and has shown how it nurtures lofty thoughts as well as how it pampers self-will, and, in the throng of his personal illustrations, has indicated its effect on representative men of genius in almost every department of human effort.”—Boston Transcript.

“We know of no work like it, and question whether any of its size has appeared in this generation with an equal amount of intellectual enrichment and stimulus, moral nutriment, and invaluable ethical instruction.”—The Liberal Christian.

“This book is a worthy mate to Burton’s famous Anatomy of Melancholy. The fortunate reader may learn from it how to win the benefits and shun the evils of being alone.”—N. Y. Express.

“We envy the heart of no one who, unmoved, and with tearless eye, can read them (The Solitude of theRuinand the Solitude ofDeath).”—West. Missionary.

——

Mailed, post paid, to any address, on receipt of the price, by the Publishers,

ROBERTS BROTHERS, Boston.

Memoirs and Correspondence of Madame Récamier.

TRANSLATED and Edited byMiss Luyster. 1 vol., 16mo., with a finely engraved Portrait. Price $2.00.“The diversified contents of this volume can hardly fail to gain for it a wide perusal. It has the interest, in a greater or less degree, of history and romance; of truth stranger than fiction; of personal sketches; of the curious phases of an exceptional social life; of singular admixtures of piety and folly, of greatness and profligacy, fidelity and intrigue, all mingling or revealed in connection with the prolonged career of one who was, in certain respects, the most remarkable woman of her time.”—Boston Transcript.“With nothing like the talents which immortalized the author ofCorinne, Madame Récamier won herself a place of not less social influence among the men and women of her day. We must clearly look elsewhere than either to intellect, wealth, beauty, or all three combined, for the secret of that witchery which was so distinctive of her. There was something, we are led to infer, in her constitutional temperament, which, even beyond her delicate and indefinable tact, may afford the real clew to much of her mysterious ascendency. Love seems to have existed in her as a yearning of the soul almost entirely free from those elements of passion which are grounded in the difference of the sexes. There was in it not so much of the desire which centres in a single object, as of the emotion which seeks to diffuse itself over the very widest sphere of objects. It could thus be warm and deep, while pure and inaccessible to evil. Sainte-Beuve’s remark, that she had carried the art of friendship to perfection, helps us here to give the true key to her character. A warm and constant friend, she never admitted, never showed herself, a lover. Satisfied with the arrangement which gave her from an early age nothing more than the name and status of a wife, she could let her natural affection range with freedom and security wherever it met with a response that left intact her dignity and self-respect. Such coquetry as she showed arose rather from an instinctive desire to please and attract, than from anything approaching to a vicious instinct, or a silly desire to swell the list of her conquests. What seemed to begin in flirtation never went to the point of danger, and men who at first sight loved her passionately usually ended by becoming her true friends.”—The London Saturday Review.——Mailed, post paid, to any address, by the Publishers,ROBERTS BROTHERS, Boston.

TRANSLATED and Edited byMiss Luyster. 1 vol., 16mo., with a finely engraved Portrait. Price $2.00.

“The diversified contents of this volume can hardly fail to gain for it a wide perusal. It has the interest, in a greater or less degree, of history and romance; of truth stranger than fiction; of personal sketches; of the curious phases of an exceptional social life; of singular admixtures of piety and folly, of greatness and profligacy, fidelity and intrigue, all mingling or revealed in connection with the prolonged career of one who was, in certain respects, the most remarkable woman of her time.”—Boston Transcript.

“With nothing like the talents which immortalized the author ofCorinne, Madame Récamier won herself a place of not less social influence among the men and women of her day. We must clearly look elsewhere than either to intellect, wealth, beauty, or all three combined, for the secret of that witchery which was so distinctive of her. There was something, we are led to infer, in her constitutional temperament, which, even beyond her delicate and indefinable tact, may afford the real clew to much of her mysterious ascendency. Love seems to have existed in her as a yearning of the soul almost entirely free from those elements of passion which are grounded in the difference of the sexes. There was in it not so much of the desire which centres in a single object, as of the emotion which seeks to diffuse itself over the very widest sphere of objects. It could thus be warm and deep, while pure and inaccessible to evil. Sainte-Beuve’s remark, that she had carried the art of friendship to perfection, helps us here to give the true key to her character. A warm and constant friend, she never admitted, never showed herself, a lover. Satisfied with the arrangement which gave her from an early age nothing more than the name and status of a wife, she could let her natural affection range with freedom and security wherever it met with a response that left intact her dignity and self-respect. Such coquetry as she showed arose rather from an instinctive desire to please and attract, than from anything approaching to a vicious instinct, or a silly desire to swell the list of her conquests. What seemed to begin in flirtation never went to the point of danger, and men who at first sight loved her passionately usually ended by becoming her true friends.”—The London Saturday Review.

——

Mailed, post paid, to any address, by the Publishers,

ROBERTS BROTHERS, Boston.

Transcriber's NoteArchaic spelling is preserved as printed. Variable spelling is also preserved as printed, where both forms are recognised; for example, Gervase/Gervais of Tilbury, Sir John Mandeville/Maundevil.Unk-Khan is given as another name for Prester John. There is one instance of Un-Khan; however, this is in quoted material, and so is preserved as printed.Page46includes the phrase, "it was Saterday in Wyttson woke"; the word 'woke' may be a typographic error for 'weke', but as it cannot be ascertained for certain, it is preserved as printed.At page118, Hemingr is described as throwing a spear rather than shooting an arrow as challenged. This is presumably an error in the story, but is preserved as printed.Page168includes "He will rebuild the temple at Jerusalem, and making the Holy City the great capital of the world." The 'and making' may be an error for 'and make' or simply 'making'; as it is impossible to be sure, it is preserved as printed.Minor punctuation errors have been repaired. Hyphenation and accent usage have been made consistent.The following amendments have been made:Page21—Labavius amended to Libavius—"... Libavius declares that he would sooner believe ..."Page88—repeated 'a' deleted—"... possibly a little imaginative, for she wrote not unsuccessfully; ..."Page118—it at amended to at it—"... and aim at it from precisely the same distance."Page175—Wolffii amended to Wolfii—"This fragment is preserved in “Wolfii Lectionum Memorabilium centenarii, XVI.:” ..."Page215—omitted word 'on' added—"Helgi and his brother Thorstein went on a cruise ..."Page222—multiplication sign changed to plus—"... but the sum of the digits 1 + 8 = 9."The frontispiece illustration has been moved to follow the front matter. Other illustrations have been moved where necessary so that they are not in the middle of a paragraph.Advertising material has been moved from the beginning of the book to the end.

Transcriber's Note

Archaic spelling is preserved as printed. Variable spelling is also preserved as printed, where both forms are recognised; for example, Gervase/Gervais of Tilbury, Sir John Mandeville/Maundevil.

Unk-Khan is given as another name for Prester John. There is one instance of Un-Khan; however, this is in quoted material, and so is preserved as printed.

Page46includes the phrase, "it was Saterday in Wyttson woke"; the word 'woke' may be a typographic error for 'weke', but as it cannot be ascertained for certain, it is preserved as printed.

At page118, Hemingr is described as throwing a spear rather than shooting an arrow as challenged. This is presumably an error in the story, but is preserved as printed.

Page168includes "He will rebuild the temple at Jerusalem, and making the Holy City the great capital of the world." The 'and making' may be an error for 'and make' or simply 'making'; as it is impossible to be sure, it is preserved as printed.

Minor punctuation errors have been repaired. Hyphenation and accent usage have been made consistent.

The following amendments have been made:

Page21—Labavius amended to Libavius—"... Libavius declares that he would sooner believe ..."Page88—repeated 'a' deleted—"... possibly a little imaginative, for she wrote not unsuccessfully; ..."Page118—it at amended to at it—"... and aim at it from precisely the same distance."Page175—Wolffii amended to Wolfii—"This fragment is preserved in “Wolfii Lectionum Memorabilium centenarii, XVI.:” ..."Page215—omitted word 'on' added—"Helgi and his brother Thorstein went on a cruise ..."Page222—multiplication sign changed to plus—"... but the sum of the digits 1 + 8 = 9."

Page21—Labavius amended to Libavius—"... Libavius declares that he would sooner believe ..."

Page88—repeated 'a' deleted—"... possibly a little imaginative, for she wrote not unsuccessfully; ..."

Page118—it at amended to at it—"... and aim at it from precisely the same distance."

Page175—Wolffii amended to Wolfii—"This fragment is preserved in “Wolfii Lectionum Memorabilium centenarii, XVI.:” ..."

Page215—omitted word 'on' added—"Helgi and his brother Thorstein went on a cruise ..."

Page222—multiplication sign changed to plus—"... but the sum of the digits 1 + 8 = 9."

The frontispiece illustration has been moved to follow the front matter. Other illustrations have been moved where necessary so that they are not in the middle of a paragraph.

Advertising material has been moved from the beginning of the book to the end.

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