ERNEST RENAN'S THEORY. Christianity is a fact. We sometimes hear of men who are said to 'deny' 'Christianity.' The expression is nonsense. Men cannot deny the sun. Christianity has been a visible thing, on this planet, for eighteen hundred years. It has done a heavy amount of work, which is very visible too. It is altogether too late in the day to 'deny Christianity.'... more...

MACCLESFIELD BRIDGE. This picturesque structure crosses the Canal towards the Northern verge of the Regent's Park; and nearly opposite to it is a road leading to Primrose Hill, as celebrated in the annals of Cockayne as was the Palatino among the ancient Romans. The bridge was built from the designs of Mr. Morgan, and its construction is considered to be "appropriate and architectural."... more...

At the stated meeting of the Survivors of the Philadelphia Brigade, Second Brigade, Second Division, Second Corps, Army of the Potomac, held at the above place, Tuesday evening, September 7, 1909, letters were read from Gen. Alexander S. Webb, who commanded the Philadelphia Brigade at the Battle of Gettysburg, July 1, 2 and 3, 1863, requesting the consideration of the Brigade Association to the most... more...

AN OLD-TIME SCENE. OOK at the picture, and see if you can tell what has roused all those children up so early in the morning. There is Mary in her stocking-feet. There is Ann in her night-dress. There is Tom, bare armed and bare legged.Why have they all left their beds, and run into the play-room in such haste? And why is little Ned, the baby, sitting up in the bed, as though he wanted to come too? It... more...

It was still early in the day when Walter left the cottage a second time. His heart was cheerful, and his movements light and rapid. Instead, however, of taking the road leading to the inn, he struck off in a zigzag path through the valley toward the Engelhorn, whose jagged and lofty peaks rose far up into the blue sky. After a short time he reached the large and splendid glacier that lies between the... more...

THE MODERN ALEXANDER'S FEAST OR, THE POWER OF SOUND. (An Ode for the Brandenburg Diet Day; a long way after Dryden.)["At the banquet of the Diet of Brandenburg, the GERMAN EMPEROR said:—'The assured knowledge that your sympathy loyally attends me in my work, inspires me with fresh strength to persevere in my task, and to advance along the path marked out for me by Heaven. To this are... more...

The Duke's Theatre, Dorset Gardens. The above theatre was erected in the year 1671, about a century after the regular establishment of theatres in England. It rose in what may be called the brazen age of the Drama, when the prosecutions of the Puritans had just ceased, and legitimacy and licentiousness danced into the theatre hand in hand. At the Restoration, the few players who had not fallen in... more...

ORIGIN OF A WELL-KNOWN PASSAGE IN HUDIBRAS. The often-quoted lines— "For he that fights and runs away May live to fight another day," generally supposed to form a part of Hudibras, are to be found (as Mr. Cunningham points out, at p. 602. of his Handbook for London), in the Musarum Deliciæ, 12mo. 1656; a clever collection of "witty trifles," by Sir John Mennis and Dr. James Smith.... more...

CHARACTER WRITINGS SEVENTEENTH CENTURY. Character writing, as a distinct form of Literature, had its origin more than two thousand years ago in the [Greek: aethichoi Chadaaedes]---Ethic Characters--of Tyrtamus of Lesbos, a disciple of Plato, who gave him for his eloquence the name of Divine Speaker--Theophrastus. Aristotle left him his library and all his MSS., and named him his successor in the... more...

COLOMBIA COLLEGE, NEW-YORK “It is intended that a large academy be erected, capable of containing nine thousand seven hundred and forty-three persons: which, by modest computation, is reckoned to be pretty near the current number of wits in this island,”—Swift’s Tale of a Tub. Instruction, manners, mysteries, and trades. One college is almost completed within her radius, and will be opened in a... more...