.

SELECTION LXIII.

HENRY WARD BEECHER, an American clergyman and author, was born in Connecticut in 1813. Mr. Beecher has exerted a powerful influence upon the public sentiment of the United States. His powers as an orator are of the first rank. He has little sympathy with mere forms, in church or state, and, in his addresses from the pulpit and elsewhere, always goes directly to his point. He has always taken the liveliest interest in political affairs, having freely spoken and written against slavery and other political evils. He has been settled as a pastor three times,—at Lawrenceburg, Indiana, two years, beginning in 1837, at Indianapolis eight years, and over the Plymouth church of Brooklyn, N. Y., since 1847.

SELECTION LXIV.

THE HIGHLAND LIGHT HOUSE spoken of in this article has since been rebuilt, and now shows a Fresnel light. It is situated on Cape Cod, in Massachusetts.

SELECTION LXVI.

WILLIAM WIRT, an American jurist and author, was born in 1772, and died in 1834. In the trial of Aaron Burr, his learning and eloquence established his reputation as one of the first lawyers of the country. His sketches of the life and character of Patrick Henry entitle him to rank as one of the first biographers of America.

BLUE RIDGE is the most eastern of the principal ridges of the Appalachian chain of mountains. This range retains the name of Blue Ridge till it crosses the James river, from which, to the line of North Carolina, its continuation is called the Alleghany mountain: Through North Carolina into Tennessee, it again receives the name of Blue Ridge.

and statesman, was born He is celebrated for his

DEMOSTHENES, an Athenian orator about 385 B. C., and died 321 B. C. efforts against the schemes of Philip of Macedon for the conquest of Greece. His orations against this monarch are so excellent of their kind, that denunciatory harangues have come to be known as philippics. These orations exhibit the genius and patriotism of Demosthenes; but they failed to check the career of Philip, who soon mastered all Greece. He was equally unsuccessful against Alexander, and finally died by poison, administered by his own hand.

SOCRATES, a Greek philosopher, was born in Athens in 469

B. C., and died there in 399. He has been called the most illustrious example in history of a man actuated by purely moral motives, and is often spoken of as the creator of moral science. He spent his time in public,-in the walks, the gymnasium, the schools and the market place-talking with every one, without distinction of age, sex, rank, or condition, attracting listeners, during his later years, even from the remoter cities of Greece, but founding no school, teaching in no fixed place, writing no books. He was finally tried and executed on a charge of impiety. His punishment consisted in being compelled to drink the poison of hemlock. His death is considered a strong proof of the injustice and vindictiveness of the Athenian people.

SELECTION LXVII.

FELICIA HEMANS, an English poet, was born in 1794, and died in 1835. She began writing poetry quite early in life, and, after one or two failures, succeeded in gaining the attention of the public. Her poetry breathes a spirit of purity, and is marked by a gentle sweetness that has scarcely been equaled by any other author. Her works have been very popular in the United States.

SELECTION LXVIII.

PURITANS is a name given to the English nonconformists or to those persons who desired a wider separation from the Roman Catholic church than the established church of England afforded, and who advocated a simpler form of faith and worship than that established by law. The early settlers of New England were Puritans, who left England to avoid persecution.

SIR HENRY VANE, an English statesman, and governor of the colony of Massachusetts, was born in 1612, and executed on Tower Hill, London, in 1662. He was an unwavering opponent of Charles I., but was not friendly to Cromwell.

CHARLES FLEETWOOD was an English republican, who died in 1692. He served in the Parliamentary army during the time of Cromwell, and narrowly escaped being executed as a rebel when the Stuarts were restored to the throne in the person of Charles II.

TALUS was a brazen man made by Vulcan to guard the island of Crete. In the "Faery Queen" he is represented as an attendant upon Artegal, and as running round the island of Crete administering reproof to offenders, with an iron flail,

A

St. Dunstan, Abbot of Glastonbury, in England, was born 925, and died in 988. He subjected himself to great

austerities, and thereby secured an influence both in the church and in the state. He finally became Archbishop of Canterbury.

SIMON DE MONTFORT was a French crusader, born about the middle of the twelfth century. He was killed in 1218. He commanded in the merciless wars against the Albigenses, in Southern France.

ST. DOMINIC was born in Spain in 1170, and died in Italy in 1221. He was the founder of the order of Dominican friars. He is said to have encouraged De Montfort in the cruel persecution of the Albigenses.

SELECTION LXIX.

ISAAC MCLELLAN is an American poet, born in Maine, in 1806.

SELECTION LXXII.

JAMES R. LOWELL, an American poet, critic, and satirist, was born in Cambridge, Mass., in 1819. He is now professor of modern languages and belles-lettres in Harvard College. He is also editor of the Atlantic Monthly. An English critic, editor of the English reprint of his works, says: "The tone of his compositions is singularly high-minded, vigorous, and pure. Many of his pieces impress us forcibly with the idea of great power, of imagination scattering its wealth with singular profuseness, and of a daring originality of conception." Mr. Lowell's writings are very popular in the United States, and breathe forth a truly national and freedom-loving spirit.

DANTE, an illustrious Italian poet, was born about 1265. He occupies a very high rank as a poet, philosopher, and rhetorician. His great poem, the Divine Comedy, is considered the best in the Italian language. He died in 1321.

SELECTION LXXIV.

LORD BYRON, an English poet, was born in 1788, and died in 1824. As a poet he occupies a high rank, but as a man he had many very serious faults. He indulged in a morbid misanthropy, both in his writings and his social intercourse, which rendered his example and teachings very pernicious in their influence. He died in Greece, while attempting to aid that people in gaining their independence.

WILLIAM WORDSWORTH, an English poet, was born in 1770, and died in 1850. His first appearance as a poet was in the year 1793. His principal poem is entitled The Excursion. The grand characteristic of his poetry is his extreme sensibility to the changing phenomena of nature, and his accurate descriptions of them. His style is simple and sometimes vigorous.

HESIOD, one of the earliest Greek poets, is supposed to have lived in the time of Homer.

THE SPICE ISLANDS, or MOLUCCAS, are a group of islands in the Malay Archipelago.

HAROLD, LARA, AND MANFRED are heroes in Lord Byron's

poems.

THE TAGUS is a river flowing through Spain and Portugal.

CINTRA is a town of Portugal, remarkable for the picturesque beauty of its situation, and for its delicious climate. It has an ancient royal castle, and numerous villas.

MOUNT PENTELICUS is situated in Greece, 10 miles northwest of Athens. It was famous in ancient times for its great quarries of white marble.

THE RHINE is a river of Germany. It is noted for the beauty of its scenery and for the rich fields and vineyards which clothe its banks. It is much visited by tourists.

CLARENS, a village of Switzerland, is situated on Lake Ge

neva.

It commands a fine view of the lake and of the mountains on the opposite shore.

LAKE LEMAN, or Lake Geneva, is situated between Switzerland and the Sardinian States. Its waters have a peculiar deep blue color, are very transparent, and contain a great variety of fish.

EGERIA was a nymph in the Roman mythology, who was believed to have dictated to Numa Pompilius his wise laws, and to have instructed him respecting the forms of worship which he introduced. A grove was consecrated to her in the environs of Rome, and to strangers visiting that city the grotto and fountain of Egeria are still pointed out.

ROME is one of the most celebrated cities of the world, either in ancient or modern times. It has been the residence of the

Popes for about twelve hundred years.

PROMETHEUS is a character in the Greek mythology represented to have been chained by Jupiter to a rock in Mt. Caucasus, as a punishment for stealing fire from heaven and giving it to men, when Jupiter had withheld it from them.

PETRARCH, an Italian poet, was born in 1304, and died in 1374. He was very influential in perfecting the Italian language, and in restoring classical literature in Italy. His chief works are in Latin prose, Latin poetry, and Italian poetry. His chief poems are in praise of Laura, a lady of Avignon in France.

ROUSSEAU, a French philosopher and author, died in 1778. He first became generally known to the public by writing a prize essay, which placed him among the great writers of the age. One

of his most celebrated works is his autobiography, written under the title of Confessions.

MASTER STEPHEN is a name given to a country gull in Ben Johnson's comedy, Every Man in his Humor.

MINERVA PRESS was the name of a printing establishment ir London, noted for its trashy but popular novels.

SELECTION LXXV.

WILLIAM PITT, first earl of Chatham, an English orator and statesman, was born in 1708, and died in 1778. His figure, when he first appeared in Parliament, was graceful and commanding, and his voice remarkably pleasing and eloquent. He soon became a most powerful, vigilant, and patriotic opponent of unconstitutional and unwise measures. From 1757 to 1761 he was the ruler of England, and exerted an influence and wielded a power rarely equaled in history.

man.

WILLIAM PITT, an English statesman, son of the earl of Chatham, was born in 1759, and died in 1806. He was a remarkably precocious child, having at the age of fourteen the intellect of a His first speech in Parliament made a great impression, and Burke, on hearing it, exclaimed: "It is not a chip of the old block: it is the old block itself." Macaulay declares him to have been, at the age of twenty-five, the greatest master of the whole science of parliamentary government that ever existed. He was prime minister of England from 1783 to his death, with the exception of about one year.

T. B. MACAULAY, Baron, an English writer and statesman, was born in Leicestershire in 1800, and died in Kensington in 1859. Lord Macaulay was a man of brilliant powers and unquestioned integrity. In Parliament he was an earnest and able advocate of reform and liberal measures. Though not an extreme radical, he was always the enlightened and judicious friend of the people. During his four years of residence in India, he devoted his time to the improvement and codification of the laws of that vast province of the British Empire. In his code, among other excellent provisions, there was one for securing justice to the natives, by enabling them to take an appeal to the highest courts; but the code was not popular among the English officials in India, and was not adopted. Lord Macaulay occupied the highest rank, both as a speaker and a writer, a union rarely exhibited among Englishmen. His most important work is his History of England, covering the English Revolution of 1688.

WESTMINSTER is a city near London, in Middlesex County,

England.