Periodicals Books

NOTES. TRADITIONAL ENGLISH BALLADS. The task of gathering old traditionary song is surely a pleasant and a lightsome one. Albeit the harvest has been plentiful and the gleaners many, still a stray sheaf may occasionally be found worth the having. But we must be careful not to "pick up a straw." One of your corespondents recommends, as an addition to the value of your pages, the careful getting... more...

NOTES. THE BREECHES, OR GENEVA BIBLE. Of this, the most popular edition of the Scriptures in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, we meet continually with erroneous opinions of its rarity, and also of its value, which the following brief statement may tend in a degree to correct. The translation was undertaken by certain reformers who fled to Geneva during the reign of Queen Mary; and is attributed to W.... more...

PONTEFRACT CASTLE, 1648. Pontrefact, a place of considerable note in English history, is situated about two miles south-west from Ferrybridge, nine miles nearly east from Wakefield, and fifteen miles north-west from Doncaster, in Yorkshire. The origin of the town is unknown; and the etymology of its name has been a matter of dispute, in which figures a monkish legend ascribing the name of Ponsfractus,... more...

THE FRENCH CHARACTER. The American character is now generally acknowledged to be the most cosmopolitan of modern times; and a native of this country, all things being equal, is likely to form a less prescriptive idea of other nations than the inhabitants of countries whose neighborhood and history unite to bequeathe and perpetuate certain fixed notions. Before the frequent intercourse now existing... more...

FIRE TOWER Throughout Scotland and Ireland there are scattered great numbers of round towers, which have puzzled all antiquarians. They have of late obtained the general name of Fire Towers, and our engraving represents the view of one of them, at Brechin, in Scotland. It consists of sixty regular courses of hewn stone, of a brighter colour than the adjoining church. It is 85 feet high to the cornice,... more...

NOTES. ROGER BACON: HINTS AND QUERIES FOR A NEW EDITION OF HIS WORKS. Victor Cousin, who has been for many years engaged in researches on the scholastic philosophy, with the view of collecting and publishing such of its monuments as have escaped the diligence of scholars, or the ravages of time, has lately made the discovery in the library at Douay of a copy of an inedited MS. of Roger Bacon, entitled... more...

I can see the excitement which this title arouses as it is flashed across the sierras, down the valleys, and into the various reading-rooms and parlors of the Golden City of the Golden State. As the San Francisco "Bulletin" announces some day, that in the "Atlantic Monthly," issued in Boston the day before, one of the articles is on "The Queen of California," what contest, in... more...

Hon. ALEXANDER HAMILTON RICE, LL.D. By Daniel B. Hagar, Ph.D. [Principal of the State Normal School, Salem.] Massachusetts merchants have been among the most prominent men in the nation through all periods of its history. From the days of John Hancock down to the present time they have often been called by their fellow-citizens to discharge the duties of the highest public offices. Hancock was the... more...

CHARLES CARLETON COFFIN. Among the emigrants from England to the western world in the great Puritan exodus was Joanna Thember Coffin, widow, and her son Tristram, and her two daughters, Mary and Eunice. Their home was in Brixton, two miles from Plymouth, in Devonshire. Tristram was entering manhood's prime—thirty-three years of age. He had a family of five children. Quite likely the political... more...

BRISTOL CATHEDRAL. There is given Unto the things of earth, which Time hath bent, A spirit's feelings, and where he hath leant His hand, but broke his scythe, there is a power And magic in the ruin'd battlement For which the palace of the present hour Must yield its pomp, and wait till ages are its dower. BYRON. The cathedral of Bristol is one of the most interesting relics of monastic... more...