General Books

Published from 1849 to 1856 at Cincinnati, is to be re-established at Boston in February, 1887. When published formerly it was in its character and merits entirely unique, and, notwithstanding the progress of thirty-five years, its position is still unique, and in its essential characteristics different from all nineteenth century literature, and not in competition with any other publication. It was... more...

III. Maine, Thursday, July 20, 1837.—A drive, yesterday afternoon, to a pond in the vicinity of Augusta, about nine miles off, to fish for white perch. Remarkables: the steering of the boat through the crooked, labyrinthine brook, into the open pond,—the man who acted as pilot,—his talking with B——about politics, the bank, the iron money of "a king who came to reign, in Greece, over a... more...

THE NEW MARVEL IN PHOTOGRAPHY. A VISIT TO PROFESSOR RÖNTGEN AT HIS LABORATORY IN WÜRZBURG.—HIS OWN ACCOUNT OF HIS GREAT DISCOVERY.—INTERESTING EXPERIMENTS WITH THE CATHODE RAYS.—PRACTICAL USES OF THE NEW PHOTOGRAPHY. By H.J.W. Dam. PICTURE OF AN ALUMINIUM CIGAR-CASE, SHOWING CIGARS WITHIN. From a photograph by A.A.C. Swinton, Victoria Street, London. Exposure, ten minutes. N all the history of... more...

NOTES ON SEVERAL MISUNDERSTOOD WORDS. (Continued from p. 522.) Dare, to lurk, or cause to lurk; used both transitively and intransitively. Apparently the root of dark and dearn. "Here, quod he, it ought ynough suffice, Five houres for to slepe upon a night: But it were for an olde appalled wight, As ben thise wedded men, that lie and dare, As in a fourme sitteth a wery hare." Tyrwhitt's... more...

GENIUS. When Paul Morphy plays seven games of chess at once and blindfold, when young Colburn gives impromptu solution to a mathematical problem involving fifty-six figures, we are struck with hopeless wonder: such power is separated by the very extent of it from our mental operations. But when we further observe that these feats are attended by little or no fatigue,—that this is the play, not the... more...

NOTES. FOLK LORE. The First Mole in Cornwall; a Morality from the Stowe of Morwenna, in the Rocky Land.—A lonely life for the dark and silent mole! She glides along her narrow vaults, unconscious of the glad and glorious scenes of earth, and air, and sea! She was born, as it were, in a grave, and in one long living sepulchre she dwells and dies! Is not existence to her a kind of doom? Wherefore is... more...

The Manor of Stoke, with its magnificent mansion and picturesque park, is situate near the village of Stoke Pogeys, in the county of Buckingham, four miles north-west of Windsor. About two miles distant from Stoke lies the village of Slough, rendered famous by the residence of the celebrated astronomer, Sir William Herschel, and a short way further, on a gentle slope continued the whole way from Stoke,... more...

MOCHA. “Bon pour la digestion,” said the young Princess Esterhazy, when sent to bed by her governess without her dinner; we say the same of coffee; and hope the reader will think the same of Mocha, or the place whence the finest quality is exported. Mocha, the coffee-drinker need not be told, is a place of some importance on the borders of the Red Sea, in that part of Arabia termed “Felix,” or... more...

THE STRAND, ANCIENT AND MODERN. (Inscription copied from the original of the annexed Engraving.)In its ancient state, anno 1547.With the Strand Cross, Convent Garden, &c.With the Procession of Edward VI.And its Neighbourhood, anno 1700.Looking from Arundel House, northwards,With the Maypole and Garland.We have often, in our antiquarian notices of the Metropolis, touched upon the olden topography of... more...

On Henley street, in quiet Stratford town, there stands an old half-timbered house. The panels between the dark beams are of soft-colored yellow plaster. The windows are filled with little diamond panes; and in one of the upper rooms they are guarded with fine wire outside the old glass, which is misty with innumerable names scratched all over it. Poets and princes, wise men and foolish, have scrawled... more...